Independent Record Label | Est. 2009
Wilmington, North Carolina

 
 

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Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Meet Wilmington North Carolina Indie Rock Band Lauds

[Repost by Blood Makes Noise; by Neil Sabatino, December 20, 2022]

Lauds’ debut full-length Imitation Life is a lush, aural tapestry of blissed-out guitars against a backdrop of rhythmic tension woven by the five-piece, Wilmington, NC-based band. The lyrics of the 10 tracks ping-pong between anxious introspection and the search for fleeting bits of contentment in life, like the best empathetic, reflective autumnal rock of the second Brit invasion era. On songs like Wasted Hours, 24 and Rust, the elegantly anguished vocals wash over the listener like the waters of Cape Fear and the Atlantic Ocean that dominate the Wilmington landscape, evoking the “post-surf stupor” that songwriters J. Holt Evans lll and Mckay Glasgow feel after a day riding its waves. We caught up with the band to ask them about what inspires them and how they formed:

How did the band form and what does the band name mean? 

MK: We had become friends when another band I play with recorded an album at Holt III and Boyce’s dad’s home studio.  Holt II (their dad) had told me that Holt III would be interested in some of the new demos we were making.  I met up with him and found out he had some demos as well and I really liked them.  Then we got together with our friend Rett Nabell and started writing.  Within the first months we released a single and started playing shows, even got an opening spot for Futurebirds on their tour.  Since then, the lineup has changed some and currently it’s the original three and our good friend Gavin Campbell playing bass.  As far as the name, I had always liked religious words as band names.  We wanted it to be one word and sonically interesting.  We landed on Lauds which is the name of an early morning prayer service in the Anglican Church.  The echoey cathedral-like associations seemed cool to us and our style of music and applied with some of the kind of Southern gothic artwork and literature that we like. 

JHEIII:   I also really like bands with one syllable names: Sleep, DIIV, Mourn, Wire, Blur etc. 

Previous musical projects? How'd you first get into music? 

The boys had the advantage of growing up with a very musical father who played in numerous rock bands and steeped them, and subsequently me, in shoegaze and British indie bands like Suede, Ride and My Bloody Valentine.  We’ve all been in other bands but all agree that this is closest to the music we want to make.  We are drawn to hooky, loud guitar music. 

First concert that you ever went to? 

JHE III: I think the first show that I bought tickets for and went to myself was maybe seeing the Love Language (legendary North Carolina band) at this place called the Soapbox in Wilmington when I was in high school. Was an amazing bar that put on all ages shows and you could do your laundry on the first floor. Wilmington hasn't ever really recovered from it shutting down. They turned it into a waffle house. 

MK: One of the first local to Wilmington shows I went to was seeing He is Legend when I was maybe 14.  We still like their music a lot and have gotten to know some of the guys.  First big National show I went to was probably seeing Bloc Party and Minus the Bear in Winston Salem. 

What's your writing process like? 

MK: Holt and I are the primary songwriters but everyone contributes ideas. We have been pretty reflective over the last couple years figuring out life and where we are going.  We talk a lot about our lives and relationships as friends.  Our lyrics have been pretty introspective up to this point but there is collaboration on all instrumentation, lyrics and artwork in our band. 

What other artists or songs inspire your music? 

JHE III: Figured I would take this one as the resident nerd 

1.  92 degrees-Siouxsie and the Banshees: Tinderbox is really the record that got me into this band. My parents didn’t listen to Siouxsie very much so I kind of discovered them on my own and was blown away. The production is just incredible and the guitars really sparkle on this song. The way the guitar melodies underpin her vocals throughout the song was really inspiring to me when writing lead parts for songs like ‘24’ and ‘Somehow’ on the record. 

2. Here's Where the Story Ends- The Sundays: I adore the Sundays and this record in particular is one of my favorites. Completely guilty of trying to ape the 12 string strummed acoustic sound from this song on our song "Rust". 

3. Slowdive-Slowdive: This is such a beautiful song. Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead's vocals really evoke a sense of yearning and McKay and I feel like we try to channel similar feelings in the songs that we write for Lauds. I also love it when bands are self referential, and I guess in this case they are also referencing the Banshees. 

4. Hide- Secret Shame: Secret Shame are an incredible band from Asheville. This track with its bassline and vocal hook is a real ear-worm. A buddy of mine and I went to see them earlier this year at Ruby Deluxe in Raleigh and we were completely blown away by their energy and just how good the songs were. Lena, their vocalist is incredible and absolutely belts it live. I love their new record and and while not an explicit influence on our music I feel as though we operate in similar spheres sonically so I wanted to shout them out. 

5. The Disillusionist- The Church: Menacing song. Not expressedly political but seems to gain poignancy with each passing year. Marty Wilson-Piper and Peter Koppes guitar-interplay is definitely an influence on our sound. Priest = Aura is such a great record. 

6. In Blur- Deafheaven: This was probably my favorite track of 2021. I love that it’s a bit of an homage to Vapor Trail by Ride. I’m a huge Deafheaven (and Ride) fan and the more post rock oriented bits of their songs are definitely an influence on us. I still probably listen to ‘Sunbather’ all the way through once a week. 

7. Return of the Roughnecks- The Chameleons: Riff after riff after riff after riff. Profound and powerful lyrics. An all time moment for us as a band was opening up a solo acoustic show for Mark Burgess this summer. Lovely guy and a dream come true for us. 

8. When I turn 50- Dulce Hombre: Dulce Hombre is our friend Jeff Corkery’s solo project. We wrote the song Distant Images together and he is one of the best musicians and guitar players I know. His first EP as Dulce Hombre is incredible. Mix of dancehall, Costello type power pop, surf rock. Sounds like drinking mojitos all day by the pool with your friends. 

9. Burnt Almonds- Mute Swan: James, the boss of our label Fort Lowell, showed me this band who I believe are from Tucson. Guitars, bass, drums, all locked to kind of make one big mega-riff. Super hypnotic. The record this song is on ‘Only Ever’ is unreal in the car. Would love for Lauds to play with them some day. 


What's the live experience like and your philosophy on playing live? Do you think the music live should be identical to the recorded version or should it be it's own thing? 

As a band you are always working to make the live show better.  I feel like we have found the right pieces to do that.  We don’t have a lot of theatrics.  We put a lot of effort into just getting through all the parts as cleanly as we can while also trying to put feeling into the vocals.  We are really working on recreating some of the background vocals from recordings being featured more in live shows.  We are also trying to connect more with the crowd.  It used to feel like we were just trying to survive shows because there was a lot of moving parts with pedals and riffs that were 10 percent above our abilities at the time.  Now we have gotten better and it feels like we can have fun.  It’s also cool to see people singing out there.  That means a lot to us. 

Has the band tour? What has the touring experience been, best shows? worst shows? 

MK: We haven’t really toured but we have played shows in the Triangle and are getting more traction in Winston Salem and western NC.  Best show is definitely getting to open for Mark Burgess of the Chameleons at Monstercade in Winston Salem.  We haven’t had any terrible shows from a crowd or venue standpoint.  But I do remember feeling the most stressed out about playing a show in the triangle the Sunday after thanksgiving. It was rainy and we left some gear and we’re all feeling stressed about whether we had done enough to promote it.  It actually turned out fine and we all agreed we needed to be better prepared if we were going to be going on the road.  We’ve had opportunities to get on the road more but we’ve been learning from weekend trips and waiting to put out an album til now. 

What's up next for the band? 

MK: We’ve already been recording new stuff and we will either have a new batch of EPs or album within the next year.  It took us a long time to get our self titled EP out but I feel like we have been cooking since then and feeling more certain about the type of songs we want to write.  We are also working more on visuals for our music.  We’ve known that it is important but haven’t taken the time u til recently to work with some of our visual artist friends.  Be on the look out for those! 

Thursday, December 22, 2022

New Year's Eve

Join us Saturday, December 31st at Satellite Bar & Lounge in Wilmington, North Carolina for our New Year's Eve celebration, featuring a live concert performance by Kicking Bird — who's debut album Original Motion Picture Soundtrack will be released in the new year (more to come on that) — followed by a Let's Dance DJ Set by Fort Lowell Records!

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Fort Lowell Records is a Teenager now!

Happy Birthday, Fort Lowell Records! On this day (December 21), thirteen years ago (2009), our record label was born out of the love and admiration for artists within our community. It all started from a conversation with Zach Toporek from Young Mothers allowing us to release two of their songs for our first 7inch, aided by the sale of our yellow 1976 CJ5 Jeep (AKA: A ‘Rock Crawler’, with 35" tires and a 4" lift kit; damn I miss her) to help fund that project, as well as a few other records — including our second release “I’m Afraid of Everything” by …music video? (pictured here).  Thank you, everyone, for the continuous support. 2023 is going to be an awesome year for Fort Lowell Records, which will include new releases Lauds, infinitikiss, MindsOne & Rizzy, Blaine Long & Jon Rauhouse, Kicking Bird, Brian Lopez, Blab School, James Sardone, Fuzz & Mac, Dead Cool, Naïm Amor, Summer Set, and more! Happy Holidays! 🍰

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

WL//WH Weekly Shoegaze / Dreampop / Psychedelic / Indie Tips

[Repost from White Light // White Heat; by Fabrizio Lusso, December 13, 2022]

WilmingtonNorth Carolina Dream Pop /Jangle Rock /Shoegaze band Lauds “Somehow” the second single from their 2023 debut album ‘Imitation Life’ via Fort Lowell Records

Second preview from next year’s debut LP for North Carolina‘s 5-piece weaves nostalgic introspective dreamy haze pitched with billowy jangly 6-string chimes, through a skittery scrum of obsessively winding and shimmering guitar melodies laced with wistful glistening strains, underpinned by sinuous limber basslines and shaky drums, to shudder with mercurial radiance over bittersweet romantic vocals, longing in loving memories amid sparkling angsty auras of starlit muses.

CLICK HERE TO PREORDER 'LAUDS' ON VINYL

Friday, December 16, 2022

OUT NOW: 'This Water is Life, Vol. II' ft. Haji P. + Color Temperature

This Water is Life is a self-sustained and ongoing series of split EPs with two express purposes: to highlight new hip-hop / indie rock music from Southeastern North Carolina, as well as to provide a platform for Cape Fear River Watch and Coastal Plain Conservation Group to deliver up-to-date authoritative reports on the health of the Cape Fear River Basin for both human beings and wildlife.


Volume II features Haji P. and Color Temperature.


Haji P. (short for Pajamas) is a North Carolina based multi-talented artist, who is heavily influenced by 80s / 90s pop culture.  As the illustrator 'HP Fangs', he is known for drawing big teeth on things. Haji is also a Middle / High School Art Teacher at the Glow Academy, has always been in youth advocacy and development, and uses the word “dope” – a lot.  Haji P.'s last musical release was his album, 'Neighborhood Kid', and he is sometimes found rapping with the San Francisco based collective, Rec League.


Color Temperature is the moniker for multi-talented multi-instrumentalist Ross Langdon Page; known for his musical contributions to AZZA, Lauds, Seeking Madras, and Tumbleweed, as well as his work as a professional photographer. "The River" was written from the perspective of a leaf traveling through the Cape Fear River in North Carolina, beginning at the mouth and passing through the polluted waters of the Chemours chemical plant—the company responsible for dumping Gen X into the drinking water of residents—before passing through Wilmington, NC and floating out into the vast ocean.


CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW


NOTE: The vinyl release of This Water is Life, Vol. II sold out during pre-orders.  You can enjoy This Water is Life, Vol. II, along with Volume I, on Fort Lowell Records' Bandcamp page, as well as all Digital Music Platforms.

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

REVIEW: Lauds 'Imitation Life'

[Repost from Whisperin’ and Hollerin’; by Simon Phillips, December 7, 2022]

Imitation Life is the debut album by Lauds who come from Wilmington North Carolina, that sounds like it's a hotbed for dream pop. Lauds are McKay Glasgow and J.Holt Evans III and friends.

The album opens with "Parallel" a quite laid-back fey dreamscape of whose guitars will slowly open your mind up ready for the rest of Imitation Life as they give their best for you.

"Somehow" is gauzy dream pop with crystalline guitars to envelop you in its warm embrace to help you through winter while making sure you don't look back as you focus on the only things that really matter.

"24" feels like it's 24 bars of insistent bass with guitars sparkling over the top of that bassline, Gossamer vocals whisper in your ears, it's very relaxed and yet rather persistent as it repeats and evolves over the course of those 24 minutes hours and days.

"Cee Dee Lamb" feels like you are broiling that lamb on skewers of delicate guitar lines that build as the Lamb begins to char slightly is it rotates and enervates. The vocals make for an oblique background texture diving in and out of the music.

"Don't Mind" sounds rather sun dappled and laid back with a gentle psychedelic edge to it. The vocals have a sense of regret even as they tell you they Don't Mind it still feels like they really do care.

"Wasted Hours" feels like a song for all the time we wasted in lockdown, as well as all the time they've wasted waiting around for someone to show up, the super steady drumming allows the guitars to swell and rise and go off a little as they sound like Postal Blue or Orange Juice.

"Rust" has the vocals cocooned in reverb and echo set against the dreamy guitars that makes this almost feel like an anorak anthem.

"Distant Images (Ft Dulce Hombre)" has the hardest guitar line of the album as it cuts across the speaker's rapier style before the dreamier laid-back guitars come back like they have overdosed on early Soup Dragons singles while they try to comfort you in this gossamer cocoon.

"Wait Forever" could be about waiting for answers to the questions about your love as they are so intent on making sure the guitars mesh perfectly and the drums are spatially just how they ought to be that they forgot to tell us any relevant answers as we carry on waiting.

The album closes with "Misplace A Night" that I assume is about, getting so totally mashed that you haven't a clue what day of the week it is, let alone where you are, or what you were meant to be doing, as this gently intoxicating piece of Pastel shaded dreaminess leaves you coming down wondering what happened to your Cardigans during that night.

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Aquarium Drunkard :: 2022 Year in Review


JPW—Something Happening / Always Happening: Aquarium Drunkard’s own Jason P. Woodbury ventures into the heart of cosmic Americana with a high, tender voice and songs as serene as the Arizona desert. Jolts of organ, gently plucked guitars, and the sputters of the Rhythm Ace drum machine lend a timeless quality to his band’s shimmering, mirage-like arrangements. Slow down and get lost in the haze.


Monday, December 12, 2022

Music Year-End List || Dennis’ Favorite Albums of 2022

[Repost from Add to Wantlist; by Dennis, December 7, 2022]

2. KITIMOTO || Vintage Smell

[Indie Rock, US || Fort Lowell Records] The Phoenix, Arizona-based quartet’s debut album is diverse, bewitching and addictive, colors outside the lines of genres and expectations, with intense guitar duels, poetic lyrics and convincing vocals. It surprises and amazes me every time.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER 'KITIMOTO' ON VINYL

Friday, December 9, 2022

OUT NOW: Lauds "Somehow" [Digital Single]

The second single "Somehow" from Lauds' spectacular debut album Imitation Life is out now on all digital platforms.   ""Somehow" is gauzy dream pop with crystalline guitars to envelop you in its warm embrace to help you through winter while making sure you don't look back as you focus on the only things that really matter." ~ Simon Phillips, Whisperin’ and Hollerin’

Lauds Imitation Life is due out January 20, 2023

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

HCTF premiere - Color Temperature: The River

[Repost from Here Comes the Flood; by Hans Werksman, November 30, 2022]

Ross Langdon Page, who goes by the stage name Color Temperature takes part in the second installment of This Water is Life series. Each EP has one side of hiphop and one side of indie music. The release supports a good cause: keeping tabs on Cape Fear River Basin in North Carolina by Cape Fear River Watch and Coastal Plain Conservation Group. He contributed the sprawling track The River, a piece that speeds up and slows down like its title suggests. Part ambient, part left-field danceable indie rock, and sprinkled with synths and spoken word, he created a journey that you don't want to end.

Langdon Page explains: "The Cape Fear River in North Carolina is 191 miles long. About 2/3 of the way to the ocean lies the Fayetteville Works Chemours manufacturing plant, which has been poisoning the drinking water of hundreds of thousands of NC residents since the mid-1980s. “The River” is a 13 minute 48 second journey down the Cape Fear, through the eyes of a leaf - first falling from its tree at the mouth of the river in Raven Rock State Park, traveling through the toxic waters near the plant, past the town of Wilmington, NC, then eventually floating out into the ocean."

The River will be released via Fort Lowell Records. This Water is Life, Vol. II is available for pre-order here (vinyl - 100 handnumbered copies, digital). Hiphop artist Haji P. contributed four tracks that take up the A-side of the EP. Release date: December 16.

Tuesday, December 6, 2022

LISTEN: Lauds Share New Single “Somehow"

[Repost from Rock & Roll Globe; by Ron Hart, November 29, 2022]

The Wilmington, NC-based band’s fantastic debut LP Imitation Life out in early 2023

Somewhere between the jangle of classic American college rock and the shimmer of late 80s / early 90s Britpop exists the music of Lauds.

Based out of Wilmington, NC (where they filmed Dawson’s Creek back in the day), the five-piece group will be releasing their illuminating full-length debut Imitation Life on January 10. 2023 via the rising Fort Lowell imprint. And one can clearly recognize the way by which BBC Radio resonates across the Atlantic Ocean and beneath the surfboards of songwriters J. Holt Evans lll and Mckay Glasgow on the latest single from the forthcoming LP, “Somehow.”

“’Somehow’ is one of the more uplifting tracks on the record. It’s about reciprocated feelings and the willful fog that covers you at the beginning of a new relationship,” Glasgow explains of the song. “We did bring in some heavy guitars to smear the background a bit, but overall it is a very upbeat song musically and lyrically.”

The Rock & Roll Globe is honored to officially premiere “Somehow” this morning on the site. If you could imagine the idea of Ride’s Nowhere if it was released on I.R.S. Records, you will love Lauds.

Lauds (Image: Mary Hannah Riley)

Monday, December 5, 2022

'This Water is Life, Vol. II' Listening Party

Join us tomorrow night Tuesday, December 6th — at Satellite Bar & Lounge here in Wilmington NC to hear the latest This Water is Life EP Volume II — featuring Haji P. + Color Temperature!  The needle drops on the record at 6:00pm, and we will be spinning This Water is Life, Vol. II until 8:30pm, mixing it in along with some other fun music!  And don't forget, Block Taco is right there to make it a Taco Tuesday night, so we will see y'all then!

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

New Trucker Hats are available!

"SUPERFAN OF FORT LOWELL RECORDS"

CLICK HERE TO ORDER NOW

Brand New Music by Lauds + Color Temperature

Visit these websites  Rock & Roll GlobeBig Takeover, and Here Comes the Flood  to hear the latest music by both Lauds and Color Temperature, only available through these websites for the next few weeks until the official release dates for each record:

Lauds "Somewhere"

Color Temperature "The River"

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

JPW, now on Yellow Vinyl!

Phoenix, Arizona's own Jason P. Woodbury performs music under the moniker JPW.  His debut album Something Happening / Always Happening sold out of its first pressing before it was ever released to the public.  So, we placed an order for a second pressing of this masterpiece, but this time on YELLOW VINYL, and they are here ready to ship out, just in time for the holidays!


"It’s a collection of songs you might hear on the radio after a cosmic camping trip, familiar but far off. Songs for stepping out of the spaceship to crack a cold one on a blurry summer day, taking a moment to enjoy the smell of freshly cut grass." ~ Aquarium Drunkard

"Plays like 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." ~ MTV News

"A cosmic rock roadtrip." ~ PopMatters

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Premiere: inifinitikiss’ “in the same vibration that pothos green grows” (and Fort Lowell Records interview!)

[Repost from Independent Clauses; by Stephen Carradini, November 10, 2022]

In 2014, Fort Lowell Records took a leap of faith and asked me to do something that I had never done before in 12 years of being a blog: premiere a record. (I still have my vinyl copy of the Good Graces’ Close to the Sun framed and hanging on my wall to mark the momentous occasion.)

When I dramatically changed the genres I review and listen to in 2018, I noted that “I’ll probably be a pretty bad premiere partner for the near future, as I don’t quite know how to talk about the stuff I’m geeking out on yet.” So it’s with astonishment and gratitude that I present to you one of the first ambient premieres I’ve ever done–for none other than Fort Lowell Records.
“in the same vibration that pothos green grows” is the first single from infinitikiss‘ ambient music (yes, it’s really called that–I can’t make up this amount of serendipity).

The track itself is an expansive piece drawing on the subtle tensions between a roughed-up arpeggiator pattern and the round tones of a bright acoustic guitar. The programmed and gently distorted synth puts forward pressure on the track; the lazy, expansive, elegant acoustic guitar notes slow the track down. The space between those motions is the heart of the song. Even with the texturing on the arpeggiator, the piece is warm and sunny, evoking hammocking on back porches and laying in summery fields.


If the song above piques your interest, the album will be pressed on chartreuse green translucent vinyl via Fort Lowell: you can order it here. (Look at that snazzy mock-up! You know you want one.) The album releases February 17, 2023.

And while, usually, my premieres would stop there, this one was too astonishing to let go at just that. So I took it upon myself to talk with James Tritten, the label head of Fort Lowell records. I wanted to know: how did y’all end up listening to ambient too? And how did you come across infinitikiss? James was so gracious that he not only gave me answers to those questions, but he made a Spotify playlist of his favorite ambient tracks. (The interview has been condensed for clarity and length.)

Stephen (IC): infinitikiss is an ambient record. How did that come about, and how did you get involved in ambient?

James Tritten (JT): It starts with The Band and the Beat [ed: James and his wife Tracy Shedd’s electronic duo. We’ve covered them too.] So basically, Nic Jenkins is infinitikiss. We met him when we were living in Raleigh, around the time we were touring around the region. We were booking a leg all the way through Florida and back, and I just picked up his name between the Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina.

He lived between the two cities, and so I reached out to him. And we ended up playing a couple of shows with Nic. Nic and Tracy and I, but specifically Nic and Tracy, really, really hit it off. Like, they were brother and sister immediately. They were just kindred spirits.

I think it was like the first night we played with him, it was the end of the set. She got him after the show and she’s like, Nic, I wanna record a record with you. And that would’ve been probably 2015 or 2016. So then fast forward that conversation: when we decided that we were gonna record another Tracy Shedd record, Nic was it. If you look at the credits on The Carolinas record, it’s Tracy, me and Nic Jenkins.

So, Tracy and I took a little trip across the US this last May and we spent time with Nic. He’s now in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We got there, we spent a couple of days with him, which was beautiful. Somewhere in that conversation I must have spoken about the first ambient record that Fort Lowell had the privilege to release, and that’s the La Cerca record: A Nice Sweet Getaway. That came out in 2020. I remember recommending it to Nic at some point. It was later that he made a note [on Instagram] like, “wrapping up an ambient record,” and then I reached out to him then to say, “Well, hey, could I hear it?” That’s all it was. Could I hear it?

So we, Tracy and I, we just fell in love with it within–I don’t even think I was halfway through the record yet, and I was already like texting him, “Hey, can we talk about putting this out?”

This is a true statement when I say that I literally start every Saturday and Sunday listening to that La Cerca record. And we’ve been doing it for two years now. And the minute I got Nic’s record, it’s now both records. They’re just both of ’em side by side. It’s just such a beautiful way to start a day. It’s so just peaceful and it just, it just brings you into the day.

IC: So, tell me about this playlist!

JT: I literally spent my entire weekend making this playlist. I’m so excited. I’m really proud of it.

Ambient music starts with that, at my core, I’m a shoegazer. Tracy and I, we grew up with shoegaze. Like we were going to the club when it was like, “Here, let me introduce you to a band called My Bloody Valentine. You know, they just put out an EP.” And it’s really weird. It’s really noisy, you know?

So as a shoegazer, the goal was always to just get your guitar to sustain as long as it could. You know, one strum and then just this ever-sustained echo or whatever it was–reverb, whatever. This would’ve been like ’92, maybe ’93. I had four Roland Space Echoes. Four. Not one. Four.

IC: Just in case.

JT: No, I played through every one of them! That’s how obsessed I was with sustaining the guitar. Four of them. And I’d even loop ’em. I knew how to cover the erase head and you can create loops out of it and stuff. So I just became obsessed with these things. They were very much part of my instrumentation, as much as the guitar was. Well that led me to Brian Eno’s Discreet Music. So it’ll be the first song on the playlist. In my opinion, that is just the utmost epitome of ambient music.

And then I purposely, you know, I gave you La Cerca right following that because I just, I think it is on par with what Brian Eno does. And I know that’s a bold ass statement to say.

IC: Hey, you know, shoot your shot!

JT: I think it’s great. These examples on the front end that are these shoegaze bands that we were listening to. I mean, at the end of the day, ambient music is shoegaze minus the rhythm section. I mean, really! It’s true!

So that is where I just started aggressively collecting music like that. My dad ended up getting me introduced to bands like Tangerine Dream and Synergy, some of that older stuff, you know, the Barry Cleveland I’ve got there. Harold Budd, you know Harold Budd. Obviously you can kind of tie that into Brian Eno. But you can quickly see how it goes from this world of shoegaze stuff into this world of like old seventies-ish electronic music.

IC: I see … I love Johan Johansson. I see that on here. I love Spiritualized, Squarepusher, AphexTwin. American Analog Set. I love that you have–this is the more guitar-oriented ambient, right? The way I came into ambient is the opposite direction from the more synthesizer-heavy stuff into quieter and quieter and quieter and quieter until I ended up at ambient.

This is really fascinating for me. It will be really exciting for me because a lot of these were not in the path that I took to get to Brian Eno and then points beyond.

JT: I appreciate that actually, because I purposefully did that. I felt like, “I really need to tell my story with ambient music.” And I’m coming at it from a guitarist point of view. That’s the truth. You never would associate a band like American Analog Set with the word ambient.

IC: Yeah. But you put it in there and it makes sense.

JT: Yep. Well, I don’t know if you’re familiar with that track and what it is specifically. It was part of the Darla Records Bliss Out series. The Windy and Carl track came from the same exact series. It was a series of 12 inch EPs that they did. And my understanding is that that is what they were pushing the artist to do. I don’t know if the word ambient was being directly given to them. But that American Analog Set 12-inch is nothing like any of the albums. It’s completely different.

And so that song, in my opinion, it qualifies to a degree of ambient. There’s a couple of tracks in there where’s there’s a bit of a beat or rhythm that kind of comes in, enough that someone may challenge it.

IC: I think that’s part of it. I mean, ambient doesn’t have to be all clouds of synthesizers, right?

Thank you for talking with me about this “new” fascination that I have that goes back a decade, but is still basically new because we’ve only been writing about it for short period of time. I’m looking forward to more, more ambient records from y’all!

JT: I thank you even more for the opportunity to help promote the record and get it out. It really does mean a lot. —Stephen Carradini

James Tritten of Fort Lowell Records

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

'The Devil's Stomping Ground' movie features Fort Lowell Records artists

This Wednesday, November 16th, Jonathan Landau's movie The Devil's Stomping Ground will have its world premiere at the 28th Annual Cucalorus Film Festival here in Wilmington, North Carolina.  This independent film features music from Fort Lowell Records' own Sean Thomas Gerard, The Majestic Twelve, Tracy Shedd, and Kim Ware and the Good Graces.

The premiere will be held at Thalian Hall and starts at 7:00pm.  You can buy tickets here.

There will be an after party for The Devil's Stomping Ground, which will be held at Hi-Wire Brewing, and will include live musical performances from Sean Thomas Gerard, The Majestic Twelve, and Kim Ware, starting at 9:00pm following the movie premiere.

Watch the Trailer here:

Saturday, November 12, 2022

Highly Recommended w/ JPW

[Repost from HI54; by Jeremy Sroka, November 3, 2022]

* Providing the A's to the 5 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Q's today is JPW — a creator out of the Sonoran Desert who recently dropped the excellent Something Happening / Always Happening on Fort Lowell Records, the first pressing of which has already sold out, but you can now get in on the 2nd-pressing on yellow vinyl (and you can catch the track ‘Wealth of the Canyon’ on the HI54 Mix CD ‘420 ALL DAY’) // JPW photo by Sam Means

#1 - WHAT IS THE ONE ALBUM (OR EP OR SONG) THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE THE VERY NEXT MUSICAL THING THAT EVERYONE PRESSES PLAY ON THE NEXT TIME THEY FIND THEMSELVES THINKING “WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NOW”?
As a lifelong Star Trek fan, I was chuffed when psychedelic instrumentalist Frank Maston included a Trek song, “Beyond Antares,” in his recent Aquarium Drunkard Lagniappe Session.

Written by Wilbur Hatch and featuring lyrics written by Trek’s “other Gene,” showrunner Gene Coon—whose progressive beliefs majorly influenced the franchise—Maston takes the “23rd century love song” in a library music direction, evoking the synthed out sound of vintage Italian films. Here’s hoping he does a whole album of Trek tunes, I’d be way into it.

#2 - WHAT IS THE ONE MOVIE OR TV SHOW THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE NEXT IN EVERYBODY’S NETFLIX QUEUE (OK, DOESN’T HAVE TO BE NETFLIX, WE’RE ALL INTERNET ADULTS HERE AND KNOW HOW TO FIND ANYTHING ONLINE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER)?
Gone way before its time after only two fantastic seasons, Lodge 49 was a great show about the persistence of magic and meaning set against a backdrop of Southern California mundanity.
Part hermetic/alchemical rabbit hole, part The Big Lebowski, part Office Space, it’s ultimately a show about the power of community and the sacred nature of connectedness. It’s deeply funny but also touching, grounded in blue collar realites but given over to magical realism, and the cast is fantastic. Its golden hour vibe and surf and psych-pop soundtrack was a major influence on Something Happening/Always Happening.  
#3. I (AND BY “I” I MEAN “THE PERSON THAT IS READING THIS”) AM GOING TO THE LOCAL BOOK STORE (OK, MAYBE THE LOCAL LIBRARY FIRST) TO FIND THE VERY NEXT BOOK THAT I WILL BE PUTTING SOME EXTREMELY VALUABLE ‘ME-TIME' ASIDE FOR. WHICH BOOK WOULD YOU GET, IF YOU WERE ME (AND, I SUPPOSE, YOU HADN’T ALREADY READ WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO SUGGEST)?
A Manual for Cleaning Women, Lucia Berlin. This collection of short stories is tough and terse, which makes the sporadic bursts of tenderness that much more moving. Berlin’s sentences are usually short. She leaves plenty unsaid, which allows more space to wander into these semi-autobiographical tales from the deserts of Mexico, the southwestern US, and Chile.
She’s got one story included in here, “My Jockey,” about tending to a wounded jockey in an emergency room, that only takes one and a half pages to paint the most vivid, human scene. 
#4 - WHAT IS THE ONE WEBSITE (OR JUST ANY OLD INTERNET THING: APP, GIF, SERVICE, WHATEVER) THAT YOU WOULD GET REALLY DOWN IN THE DUMPS ABOUT IF IT WERE TO SUDDENLY GO AWAY?
I probably laugh at something @DRIL posts on Twitter once a day. I guess you can find out who @DRIL actually is if you look, but I’ve never had any interest in knowing the IRL person behind the account. I prefer to only engage with the disembodied prophetic and puerile digital cypher who appears in my feed.
Rather than screenshot a favorite, here’s a picture of my copy of Dril Official “Mr. Ten Years” Anniversary Collection, which is both 1) the only physical book collection of tweets that has ever needed to exist and 2) going to come in handy if the servers really do melt away someday.
#5 - AND FINALLY… PLEASE GIVE ONE COMPLETELY UNAIDED RECOMMENDATION THAT YOU THINK EVERYONE SHOULD START DOING / USING / WATCHING / EATING / THINKING / QUITTING / ETC-ING TO MAKE THEIR LIVES A LITTLE BIT MORE BETTER AND/OR BEARABLE.
I’ve been playing around with that weird state right before I wake up in the morning, when I start stirring and coming out of deep sleep. I’ll focus on feelings of universal wholeness or “imagine” the sensation of a enveloping cosmic love. These moments feel gentle and comforting in general, just kind of nice zones to float through and exist in, but a few have taken on an ecstatic quality. It makes for a nice way to begin a day.  
Of course, there are lots of mornings where I hit snooze two or three times too, which can be very nice too.
OK folks, there you have it. Things that JPW thinks you should consider incorporating into your day/life. Before you log off and go get ready to wake up different in the mornings, make sure to follow JPW on the Instagram / Twitter and then also give ‘Wealth of the Canyon’ a listen below…

…and if you like what you’re hearing, go do some further jpw-flavoured audio exploring over on the Bandcamp / Spotify.