Friday, September 9, 2022
OUT NOW: "U2 (Means to an End)" by Kim Ware and the Good Graces
The third single from the upcoming album Ready [co-released with PotLuck] by Kim Ware and the Good Graces, titled "U2 (Means to an End)" is out today on all digital platforms! For fans of Bettie Serveert, Bright Eyes, and The Mountain Goats. 🎸
OUT NOW: JPW ‘Something Happening / Always Happening’ [LP]
the debut album by Jason P. Woodbury, host of Aquarium Drunkard's weekly Transmissions podcast and Range and Basin on Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard with dublab. Featuring musicians Zach Toperek of Young Mothers (FLR001), Zane Gillum of KITIMOTO (FLR044), and produced by Michael Krassner of Boxhead Ensemble, the album has received praise from media outlets such as MTV News: “A desert broadcast from the past where remnants of space-age pop mingle with an undeniably easy (and breezy) feeling you might've found out Topanga in 1972.”
CLICK HERE now or visit your favorite digital music platform to give it a spin. If you live in Phoenix, Arizona, stop by The Dirty Drummer tomorrow (Sept 10) at 8pm to catch JPW live in concert for the Record Release Party, or visit Stinkweeds + Zia Records to pick up your copy of ‘Something Happening / Always Happening’ on vinyl record — which by the way is almost SOLD OUT! We only have (6) copies left ourselves, so if you were planning on mail ordering the album from us directly, you’d better CLICK HERE immediately. Thank you, everyone, for the support with this fantastic album. Enjoy the music! 🖤
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Hear Kim Ware and the Good Graces' Glittering "Palisade Peaches"
[Repost from The Boot; by Rachel Cholst, September 6, 2022]
Hearty road warriors The Good Graces — a shifting collective lead by Kim Ware — reconcile their past, present, and future on their upcoming album Ready, out Sept. 16 on Fort Lowell Records. The band's new song, "Palisade Peaches," channels grief and nostalgia into a smooth, '90s college radio-style track.
Ware comes by the sound honestly. After making music with the high-caliber talent in the Atlanta indie rock scene for 16 years, decamped to her home state of North Carolina just as the pandemic hit.
Ware chugged through it all, launching the Kimono My House livestream concert series on Facebook with her friend Andy Gish. The series launched a still-active community that spreads across the globe, with almost 8,000 active members. The series made the jump from the virtual world to reality in March 2022 with a four-day festival in Atlanta that featured 60 musicians.
For Ready, Ware turned to producer Jerry Kee (Superchunk), a natural fit for her brand of jangle rock: catchy and crafted with discipline. "Palisade Peach" is no exception.
"I’ve been fortunate to attend Song School in Lyons, Colorado, a few times over the past several years," explains Ware. "When I went in 2019, two months after my dad had passed away, on the last day, I was in a workshop with Cara Luft. We started just sharing stuff, going around the circle, talking about what we had learned that week. The man beside me wanted to share a song he had just finished."
This songwriter's idea sparked Ware's own creativity — and memories.
"The refrain was, 'My baby's eating peaches, and she's growing up too fast,'" Ware explains. "I couldn't believe it because, while my dad was not at all musical (never even listened to the radio), I thought, if my dad were to write a song, this would be it. He was a peach farmer, and I grew up around peaches. So I shared that with the group, and the man sitting directly across from me looked at me, eyes wide, and said, 'Have you ever had a Palisade peach? They get ripe on both sides!' I was like, I'm writing that s--- down!"
According to Ware, the Palisade peach is worth the hype. One of her friends, Barry, ran out and got one for her.
"It was AMAZING. I so wished my Dad could taste it," Ware says. "I thought I knew a lot about peaches. And when I first went to Song School, I thought I knew a lot about songs. No matter what we might think we’re an 'expert' in, there’s still plenty to learn and experience."
Music fans have a few chances to see Kim Ware live before the end of 2022 rolls around. Currently, Ware has performances scheduled in North Carolina and South Carolina through the coming weeks.
You can find a full list of concert dates and ticketing information at Kim Ware and the Good Graces' official website.
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| Kim Ware; photo by John McNicholas |
Sunday, September 4, 2022
Saturday, September 3, 2022
al Riggs on JPW 'Something Happening / Always Happening'
"Very few music journalists are good musicians themselves, and vice versa. Because I'm cooler than you i had the chance to hear this album nearly a year ago and it finally arrived in wax form on my doorstep today. Jason P. Woodbury (JPW) is a lovely person and this album rules." ~ al Riggs
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| Pictured: al Riggs |
Friday, September 2, 2022
OUT NOW: "Palisade Peaches" by Kim Ware and the Good Graces
The second single from the forthcoming album Ready [co-released with PotLuck] by Kim Ware and the Good Graces, titled "Palisade Peaches" is out today on all digital platforms! For fans of Kathleen Edwards, Joni Mitchell, and Gillian Welch. 🍑
Moyamoya "spring guide to fashion" - Live from The Barn, Jacksonville FL; circa 2015
CLICK HERE to order Moyamoya's sophomore album Hawn -- originally released on December 24, 2018 as a Digital LP only; now available on vinyl record for the very first time!
For fans of Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, This Will Destroy You, and Tortoise
Thursday, September 1, 2022
Audio Explorations 'ActionReaction'
[Repost from Aural Innovations; by Scott Heller; July 2002, Issue #20]
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This is a Florida duo who recorded this excellent CD in Boston in 2001. They create melodic, dreamy, sometimes upbeat rock songs. The lyrics focus on the dark side of human nature and painful relationships. The opening number, "Nine Down One To Go", describes a painful relationship in a special way and is a fast paced song with a dreamy flow to it. The next track, "Go Away", starts off as a bass heavy driven rock song but slowly builds. I really like the way the buzzing synths are used to enhance the sound. These guys have been compared to Galaxie 500, Mazzy Star and Swell, but I don't know these bands, so I can't tell you more. If you like this type of stuff, I think you will dig this CD. Excellent material, well played, executed and varied. A very cool documentary about the recording of the CD as well as some live footage appears at the end of the CD.
Fort Lowell Records is very proud to share with you that for the 20th Anniversary, we will be releasing Audio Explorations' ActionReaction on vinyl record for the very first time!
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
The Must-Hear Songs by Phoenix Musicians of August 2022
[Repost from Phoenix New Times; by Chris Coplan, August 29, 2022]
We recently told you all about JPW, the sleek desert rock (sorry not sorry) project from local writer/music guru Jason P. Woodbury. But we're not the only ones excited about JPW's upcoming album, Something Happening / Always Happening. Writer Kevin Murphy went as far as kickstarting his So Much Silence blog after eight years to debut another track. Whereas "Halfway to Eloy" felt a bit more breezy, Woodbury said "Always Happening" is a "10-minute psych epic about eternalism blessed by Lenny Kaye." Enjoy.
JPW, "Always Happening"
We recently told you all about JPW, the sleek desert rock (sorry not sorry) project from local writer/music guru Jason P. Woodbury. But we're not the only ones excited about JPW's upcoming album, Something Happening / Always Happening. Writer Kevin Murphy went as far as kickstarting his So Much Silence blog after eight years to debut another track. Whereas "Halfway to Eloy" felt a bit more breezy, Woodbury said "Always Happening" is a "10-minute psych epic about eternalism blessed by Lenny Kaye." Enjoy.
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
JPW Song Premiere "Always Happening"
[Repost from So Much Silence; Kevin Murphy, August 25, 2022]
“Kevin, crazy idea.”
I wasn’t expecting that text from Jason Woodbury, let alone opening up this site to write something here for the first time in (gulp, checks notes) EIGHT years.
It’s not surprising Jason reached out, asking if I wanted to check under the hood and rev this thing up to premiere a song off his upcoming album “Something Happening/Always Happening” (due out Sept. 9 on Fort Lowell Records). He’s already had wonderful — and well-deserved — praise for the project heaped his way in Pop Matters, MTV News and in this great Phoenix New Times feature. Not sure if you read the part about me not updating this site in eight (8) years, but there’s not a lot of visibility I could offer here. The music blog hype machine dried up long ago.
And yet, that was sort of the point for Jason. It’s just the kind of selfless and kindhearted people he and his wife, Becky, are. This was less about promotion and more about connection, a “fun way to honor SMS and the ‘blog era,'” as Jason put it.
Jason was a regular contributor here back in the heyday, and it was pretty obvious then (as it is now) his taste and talent are unimpeachable. No surprise he’s been such a longtime stalwart — writer of words, host of podcasts — over at the legendary Aquarium Drunkard, among many of the hats he’s worn.
It was, perhaps, kismet that Jason reached out this week. I recently began a massive undertaking of re-ripping my CD collection (I’ve made it all the way through “E”!), which sent me on a nostalgic trip — about music and this site, which I’ve often thought of reviving, a topic I’ve subjected Jason to countless times. And he’s always offered a positive word of encouragement.
He’s been such a champion over the years for so many others, it’s nice to be able to return the favor, however small. In the same way Jason has worked tirelessly to cultivate our scene, he’s similarly developed such a unique vibe on this solo debut, a meditative montage of low-key psych — sounds lovingly warped and reformed in the way only someone who has spent a lifetime in the desert can synthesize.
The premiere here, “Always Happening,” is the album closer, a 10-minute trip built on a short loop from Link Cromwell’s “Crazy Like a Fox.”
“For much of my debut record, I kept the songs really short, as I was very uninterested in overstaying my welcome,” Jason said. “But ‘Always Happening’ is a song where Michael Krassner rightly suggested we let it drift outward. He added these celestial electric guitar leads and synths and recruited Laraine Kaizer-Viazovtsev to play violin. I get lost in it each time I listen to it, still.
“I emailed Lenny Kaye to ask for his blessing. I didn’t hear back for a while, and I let a lot of self-doubt eat at me regarding the situation. Then I got over myself and thought of all the unread emails in my inbox. I sent a follow-up note and Lenny responded back almost right away with a really kind missive. “It is amazing the lifeline of ‘Crazy Like A Fox’…and I’m surely happy to hear it utilized in such a consciousness expanding manner…Sounds like my kind of trance and dance.” Blessed by Lenny. You can hardly even believe it.”
Thanks to Jason for the music and the opportunity … perhaps there won’t be eight years between posts again.
Monday, August 29, 2022
Mark your calendars, Wilmington NC!
Saturday, September 24th... Waterline Brewery will be hosting the annual Wilmington Record Show from 11:00am-5:00pm! Fort Lowell Records, along with other Wilmington-based record labels — Eccentric Pop Records and Ruined Records — we be the featured record labels selling our respective catalogs, while friends Black Wax Records, Gravity Records, The Fuzzy Needle, Record Krate, Record Bar, School Kids Records, and others will be slinging new and used vinyl from their stores. Don't miss it!
Sunday, August 28, 2022
Kim Ware and the Good Graces rank #1 with NACC!
For the week of August 23, 2022, Fort Lowell Records' own Kim Ware and the Good Graces ranked #1 with the North American College and Community (NACC) Radio Chart for Folk music with Ware's new full length album, Ready, due out September 16th!
Saturday, August 27, 2022
Record Release Concert Announcement
Desario will perform live in concert on Friday, September 30th at The Starlet Room in Sacramento, California, along with Ghostplay and Fawns of Love, to celebrate the release of their fourth studio album Signal and Noise. Tickets at $12.00 in advance, and $15.00 the day of show. Doors open at 7:00pm, and the show begins at 8:00pm.
Friday, August 26, 2022
OUT NOW: JPW "Always Happening" [Digital Single]
JPW is the moniker for Jason P. Woodbury, host of Aquarium Drunkard's weekly Transmissions podcast and Range and Basin on Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard with dublab. Today, JPW's third single -- "Always Happening" -- from the debut album -- Something Happening / Always Happening -- is out as a digital single on all platforms. For fans of Nels Cline, Brian Eno, Lambchop, Hayden Pedigo, and Pure X.
"A meditative montage of low-key psych." ~ So Much Silence
Thursday, August 25, 2022
As JPW, Jason P. Woodbury Transcends Into the Desert Rock Ether
[Repost Phoenix New Times; by Chris Coplan, August 22, 2022]
When you talk of ecosystems, there's this idea of "lynchpin" species. Those animals that are vital to sustaining a specific system; the capelin, for instance, serves this role for regions like the North Atlantic.
Without attempting to embarrass or hyperbolize, Jason P. Woodbury is our own capelin.
Since the mid-2000s, he's done it all: musician (including KITIMOTO); record store employee (Zia); writer and editor (Phoenix New Times); and host (Wastoids and Aquarium Drunkard). He's helped foster our robust local scene for years by applying his immense passion and deep curiosity. It's a story worth exploring as Woodbury commences a new journey: a solo career as JPW.
Woodbury's early love of music started, as it should, with Dave Matthews Band — until he quickly became enamored with punk. It’s a true snapshot of his lifelong, multifaceted obsession.
"Music was a thing I felt deeply connected to that was beyond a hobby or an interest," he said recently at the Linger Longer Lounge. "It was pretty quick that I recognized that I'd become obsessed with the idea of it."
At that time, Woodbury would make some lifelong connections, including Zane Gillum, who plays on JPW's debut album, Something Happening / Always Happening. But it wasn't long before Woodbury found his other great love: writing about music.
"I think that my relationship with [music] was less focused on me playing it all the time," he said. "Although that was a big part of it. I also wanted to tell my friends what records they should be listening to."
And, while he kept playing music for himself alongside pals like Gillum, Woodbury eventually gave up any "aspirations" for life as a writer and editor.
Then, of course, the world went and changed.
Woodbury said that as COVID-19 reared its head, he picked up his guitar more regularly. That led him to record an album with the aforementioned KITIMOTO, June's truly excellent Vintage Smell. It was that solidarity that largely sparked the JPW project.
"I think it was the process of being in a band with friends and getting to add touches to songs and not have to be the sole songwriter," he said. "It engaged a part of the creative side of my brain that I missed and that I hadn't engaged so much."
But it was different still. A decade-ish away, and his efforts to work through big ideas and emotions, pushed Woodbury into a new place musically.
"So what happened — maybe it's getting older or maybe it's devoting myself more or less to a kind of spiritual practice — but all of a sudden, when I started working on this record, I had a couple songs tumble out that were very, very spontaneous," he said. "They felt like they came from someplace that wasn't my head."
He's referring to cuts like "Cruel in Time" and "Wealth of the Canyon," which exemplify the album's overt sense of ease and a commitment to emotionality over technical prowess.
"They happened in a matter of just a couple of days," Woodbury added. "They just came out and were recorded in ways I'd never recorded. I was utilizing loops and drum samples. I listened back to them, and I heard in them a quality that I'd just never been able to hear from my own music."
To some extent, this wellspring of creation was a chance for Woodbury to counter what he'd taught himself as a professional writer/editor.
"When I'm doing something more journalistically, you have to have a quality filter on," he said. "You're mediating and filtering everything you're thinking through these differing sorts of criteria. What had always locked me up in the past in all the bands I was in, where I was the main creative force, I struggled with turning off the quality filter in the early stages."
But the music helped him see things clearly, and he found ways to counter and create more freely.
He added, "And then the other thing, of course, is anytime you're a critic who puts music out, it's impossible not to ask yourself, 'Are these good?' Or, 'Are people going to look at this?' I found myself surprised and shocked for the first time in my life to say that I wouldn't care because I like them."
Woodbury's "transformation" also came as he's accepted himself as a proper utility player. He referenced the Brian Eno book A Year with Swollen Appendices, in which the legend talked about how "less technically adept" players are often his favorite (like the bassist from James, per Eno’s example).
"And I identified with that," Woodbury said. "Sometimes what they're doing might be the simplest thing that's happening, but it adds an ineffable quality to the recording. I realized some time while we were making the KITIMOTO record, the simplest ideas I had were often the most potent ideas."
The JPW record expands on those ideas: Keeping it simple doesn’t mean keeping it boring.
"There's a lot of repetition on the record," Woodbury said. "Because I want to establish a groove. … Let that exist for two, three minutes, and then get out. Look, if you're only going to make this one record, make sure it's the 'you' record as much as possible, which even extends to the project name. I can't come up with another dumb band name; I'm just going to call it JPW."
Aside from Eno, Woodbury leaned into another hero, Neil Young, who he said talks about the idea that "the closer you are to the raw idea, the more likely you've got something that's interesting or pure." That helped in making certain decisions, even as collaborators Zach Toporek and Michael Krassner had insights.
"[Toporek] was like, 'I want to fix this.' And I'm like, 'Nah, man, we got it.' And he says, 'I don't think we did,'" Woodbury said. "I have to violently wrestle it away from him and take it over to my lair and turn it into what it becomes. It's a real question I have with myself. Are you being impatient? Or are you on to something? There's something that caught initially; those are the things that I feel most attracted to."
It also helped that this somewhat transcendent approach fed into Woodbury's lifelong aspiration: being more like a personal hero, comics writer/mystic Alan Moore.
"I want to be a mystic," he said. "I don't know if I am. That's the idea, and that's what strikes me as the most romantic and most interesting idea, the version of me that I find most attractive. I think I just find myself more and more drawn to the idea that without awe and wonder and mystery, life is a suspect proposition."
Just don't expect him to worship serpent gods. If anything, embracing mysticism is to further the true magic of communing via one's art.
"I'm interested in the kind of cultural storytelling that we engage in," he said. "There's a symbiotic relationship to it, and so I've become more interested in these ideas of what narratives take root through art, and how those things break into the real world in their own weird ways. This thing [an album track] started rattling around in my head and now it's out of my head and it exists in a form that [everyone] can listen to."
Part of that mysticism "shtick" is also for Woodbury to further codify and celebrate his beloved home in the Southwest. He readily recalls growing up in Coolidge, channeling some other bigwigs.
"The Southwest and Arizona is a deeply weird place. I think we've produced deeply strange musicians, from Sun City Girls to the Meat Puppets," he said. "Lee Hazlewood, Duane Eddy, and Waylon Jennings all worked at a [Coolidge] radio station, KCKY-AM. I didn't actually hear that growing up, they were long gone by the time I came of age, but at some point, I found myself very interested in and connected to the idea that there's a musical history that is uniquely Arizona. I wanted to listen to that station in my mind, hearing those voices on the air, and tap into the spirit I imagined up."
So does that make Something Happening / Always Happening a desert album?
"I didn't try to do a desert record," he said. "[This is] the place where I have a root in the ground. It's a place that I understand on some level, and the parts of it that I don't remain intriguing to me. I didn’t want [Arizona] to be a punchline on The Daily Show or The Simpsons; just make a record about your weird experience in this place. So it’s about Arizona, but it's about my imagined Arizona."
He added, "A friend asked if I was OK with this being called desert rock. I have to be honest: I'm really OK with people calling it anything they want as long as somebody's listening."
To an extent, the album wasn't even the end goal. Woodbury said he "didn't keep notes or write down the chords," and mentioned playing live as an afterthought. Instead, the record was representative of something he did for himself as a person.
"A big part of this record coming to existence was me allowing myself the freedom to create a thing," he said. "And allowing whatever else happens now to also happen and not worry about it and not stress and curate the experience."
Just don't expect him to worship serpent gods. If anything, embracing mysticism is to further the true magic of communing via one's art.
"I'm interested in the kind of cultural storytelling that we engage in," he said. "There's a symbiotic relationship to it, and so I've become more interested in these ideas of what narratives take root through art, and how those things break into the real world in their own weird ways. This thing [an album track] started rattling around in my head and now it's out of my head and it exists in a form that [everyone] can listen to."
Part of that mysticism "shtick" is also for Woodbury to further codify and celebrate his beloved home in the Southwest. He readily recalls growing up in Coolidge, channeling some other bigwigs.
"The Southwest and Arizona is a deeply weird place. I think we've produced deeply strange musicians, from Sun City Girls to the Meat Puppets," he said. "Lee Hazlewood, Duane Eddy, and Waylon Jennings all worked at a [Coolidge] radio station, KCKY-AM. I didn't actually hear that growing up, they were long gone by the time I came of age, but at some point, I found myself very interested in and connected to the idea that there's a musical history that is uniquely Arizona. I wanted to listen to that station in my mind, hearing those voices on the air, and tap into the spirit I imagined up."
So does that make Something Happening / Always Happening a desert album?
"I didn't try to do a desert record," he said. "[This is] the place where I have a root in the ground. It's a place that I understand on some level, and the parts of it that I don't remain intriguing to me. I didn’t want [Arizona] to be a punchline on The Daily Show or The Simpsons; just make a record about your weird experience in this place. So it’s about Arizona, but it's about my imagined Arizona."
He added, "A friend asked if I was OK with this being called desert rock. I have to be honest: I'm really OK with people calling it anything they want as long as somebody's listening."
To an extent, the album wasn't even the end goal. Woodbury said he "didn't keep notes or write down the chords," and mentioned playing live as an afterthought. Instead, the record was representative of something he did for himself as a person.
"A big part of this record coming to existence was me allowing myself the freedom to create a thing," he said. "And allowing whatever else happens now to also happen and not worry about it and not stress and curate the experience."
That doesn't mean, though, Woodbury hasn't performed, with recent shows being shared sets with Toporek's band, Dadweed. But even those gigs are a chance to further explore his muse.
"It's a nice way to open the songs up because I have no real desire for the songs to always be presented exactly the same for each show," Woodbury said. "Or, that the record version is the version. A good song can withstand almost anything you put it through."
Aside from more dates, Woodbury and Toporek are nearly done with JPW's second album, which could arrive sometime in early 2023. (Expect a single possibly soon, Woodbury teased.) He said it's a much different record, with influences of "1970s folk records and ‘90s trip-hop stuff."
So, does that mean that Woodbury the Writer is hanging it up indefinitely for Woodbury the Rocker?
"Writing is too important to me to leave entirely," Woodbury said. "And I've had moments of realization and epiphany and transcendence through that means as well. Both are acts of empathy in which you're able to create a space for yourself and others to feel a thing or explore a thing or unpack a thing with you. I want to do more of both."
Something Happening / Always Happening will be released September 9 via Fort Lowell Records. The record release show is set for Saturday, September 10, at The Dirty Drummer, 2303 North 44th Street; tickets are free and doors open at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
2002 SXSW Picks & Sleepers
[Repost from The Austin Chronicle; by Kate Messer, March 8, 2002]
Audio Explorations | North Floridian duo James Tritten and Steven Haley's new sophomore CD, ActionReaction, out on North Carolina's Eskimo Kiss, is chimey and chirpy, in that hard-driving early Cure way. One minute they're drubbingly langorous, like a mean, lazy beating, the next, very American and Analog, if you know what we mean.
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Fort Lowell Records is very proud to share with you that for the 20th Anniversary, we will be releasing Audio Explorations' ActionReaction on vinyl record for the very first time!
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Monday, August 22, 2022
The Modern Folk on JPW 'Something Happening / Always Happening'
"Jason Woodbury (JPW) is best known as a music journalist - but like Peter Laughner, his deep engagement w/ music as a writer has led to some equally deep output as a musician - his debut LP is perfect, eccentric desert pop, ranging from minimal grooves to lush psych-tinged jams." ~ The Modern Folk
CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER JPW VINY NOW
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| Pictured: J Moss of The Modern Folk |
Sunday, August 21, 2022
Moyamoya "sorry I called you he-man" live at Grantski Records, Augusta GA; Sept 14, 2016
CLICK HERE to pre-order Moyamoya's sophomore album Hawn -- originally released on December 24, 2018 as a Digital LP only; now available on vinyl record for the very first time!
"A harsh excursion replete with vintage beeps and purrs." ~ Here Comes the Flood; December 8, 2018
PS: Happy Birthday, Richard Dudley of Moyamoya!
PS: Happy Birthday, Richard Dudley of Moyamoya!
Saturday, August 20, 2022
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