Remember, every time you download or stream GROW on any digital music platform, you are making a financial donation to the North Carolina New Hanover County NAACP. Your contribution will be used to help ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.
Moved by the horrific Memorial Day murder of George Perry Floyd Jr. at the hands of four Minneapolis Police officers, Fort Lowell Records presents GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter, arriving on October 30th.
The project, focused on Wilmington, North Carolina, is a response to the racial injustice continuously displayed by law enforcement across the United States of America.
Friends of the formerly Tucson, Arizona-based label involved with GROW have donated their own talents to allow 100% of the sales from the record to endow the New Hanover County NAACP with working capital to help Fort Lowell’s newly adopted local community.
GROW must be brought to the attention of our country because of Wilmington, North Carolina’s history: being the location of The 1898 Massacre and only successful American Coup D’État. People deserve to know about our suppressed past, and learn what this one specific community is doing today to make it better for the future
GROW is an effort to help address the dire effects of racism in America.
A personally curated collection of regional artists, GROW arranges a sampling of the vast indie rock talent exhibited within The Port City. Both new and old, all embrace the alternative rock ‘n’ roll sound that Fort Lowell Records promotes.
Big Takeover is deeply pleased to host the video for one of the three never-before-heard compositions from previous recording sessions found on this album. The track “Comfortable Town” is from Summer Set, an indie pop outfit who have been active beyond the Carolinas since 2001 and contains members of the band De La Noche.
The hazy dreaminess of the synth-pop single is mirrored in the video clip which shows a ballerina-type dancer slowly going through her dance moves at the start. The footage then transitions to an art studio where the physical form is drawn, sculpted, and celebrated in all its complex beauty.
The litany of images of the video clip are a meditation upon the passage of time and the ephemeral nature of life that can be captured in an artistic way…
We are very excited to share with you that Summer Set "Comfortable Town" is now available as of today on all digital music download and streaming platforms.
The album GROW will be released in its entirety on Friday, October 30, 2020, and the vinyl record is available for pre-order now from Gravity Records, Modern Legend, and Yellow Dog Discs. 100% of the sales from GROW will be donated to the North Carolina New Hanover County NAACP to help ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. GROW is an effort to help address the dire effects of racism in America; thank you in advance for your support. - Fort Lowell Records
I’m a big fan of Tracy Shedd, The Band and the Beat, and Fort Lowell Records– all efforts of some combination of Shedd and James Tritten. They (in Fort Lowell form) have a new compilation coming out called GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter. The label explains that “The project, focused on Wilmington, North Carolina, is a response to the racial injustice continuously displayed by law enforcement across the United States of America. Friends of the formerly Tucson, Arizona-based label involved with GROW have donated their own talents to allow 100% of the sales from the record to endow the New Hanover County NAACP with working capital to help Fort Lowell’s newly adopted local community. GROW is an effort to help address the dire effects of racism in America.”
In advance of the record, they’re releasing four singles, and we have the honor of premiering Tracy Shedd’s single/video for “Holding Space.” The video is here:
The song is an icy, stark, downtempo electro framework with Shedd’s inviting vocals lifting the proceedings. “Are you listening?” she asks over a rubbery bass guitar, Casio-esque tinny synths, and distant tambourine clink. “Holding space / make it a better world” she croons over the chorus, as the instrumentation cheers slightly to meet the hopeful lyrics. The song isn’t long (2:59), keeping things tight and urgent. This is especially reflected in the coda of the song, which shudders to a sudden halt, leaving the listener with a sense of incompleteness that fits the lyrics. The accompanying video focuses on moving shots of horses and plants (particularly flowering ones, plus the spiky/beautiful aloe plant), but with a cold, desaturated color palette reflecting the dim light of the song’s sonic world. It’s a unique, interesting song with a tightly connected video.
You can also listen to “Holding Space” via SoundCloud:
Back in 2015, John Staton of the Wilmington Star News described Life of Saturdays as "the best Wilmington band no one's ever heard of." Five years down the road, and that's not so much the case anymore - even non-Wilmingtonians might already know/love Life of Saturdays; if not by name, perhaps by note, thanks to the band's song "If U R Alive" being featured in an episode of Vice Principals (please allow me to save you some searching - season 2, episode 7).
For the uninitiated, I'm thrilled to be able to introduce you to Life of Saturdays through this here video premiere. The video you're watching, for the unreleased "That Kind of Love," is special - not only because it's a gem in its own right, but because it's part of the Fort Lowell RecordsGROW compilation (full name of the record being GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter). The record is officially released on October 30, and features songs from Wilmington/Wilmington-adjacent artists. 100% of sales from the album will be donated to the New Hanover County NAACP, so your purchase will go to an extremely worthwhile cause.
You'll be hearing more from me about GROW in the very near future, but let's get back to Life of Saturdays.
"That Kind of Love" is all sorts of intriguing. The beguiling beat hints at the early 2000s slink of Ladytron, the sort of sound that makes for a glorious good time, underpinned by an acute sense of unflinching resignation. The vocal interplay between John Jeremiah Sullivan and Jessie Williams is both warmly complementary and far out free-wheeling. Sullivan, the band's ringleader, and Williams both have the kind of rambling, offbeat vocal styles made for storytelling, and both imbue Sullivan's lyrics with a poignancy that hits hard.
The more I listen to "That Kind of Love," the more I keep thinking to myself, "Magnetic Fields." Sullivan seems to have a knack for spinning yarns, but there's something sardonic about the lyrical realism mixed in with his vibrant, poetic tendencies. At times diverging from one another, Sullivan and Williams consistently find their own ways to yank the heartstrings, while also doing plenty of damage together. The song's video certainly hits the spot, a collection of grainy moments pulled from vintage movies, with plenty of Hollywood kisses adding dramatic effect to the cinematic feel of the song.
As a member of her newly adopted community -- Wilmington, North Carolina -- and a contributing artist to GROW, Tracy Shedd is using music to speak out about the racial injustice continuously displayed by law enforcement across the United States of America with her song "Holding Space". GROW will be released in its entirety on Friday, October 30, 2020, and the vinyl record is available for pre-order now from Gravity Records, Modern Legend, and Yellow Dog Discs. 100% of the sales from GROW will be donated to the North Carolina New Hanover County NAACP to help ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. GROW is an effort to help address the dire effects of racism in America; thank you in advance for your support. - Fort Lowell Records
Life of Saturdays is a band from Wilmington, North Carolina -- made up of John Jeremiah Sullivan [New York Times Magazine Author], Jessie Adair Williams [Owner of Edge of Urge], and Nicholas Christian Laudadio [Associate Professor of English at UNCW] -- who released an amazing album titled So How We Seem back in 2015 ((we strongly recommend you check it out)). During those recording sessions many years ago, Life of Saturdays fortunately recorded and handful of additional tracks that were not included on their album. One of those songs is "That Kind of Love," and thanks to Life of Saturdays' own interest to help address the dire effects of racism in America, we are all able to enjoy their song "That Kind of Love" as a part of GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter. Officially today -- Friday, October 9th -- their song from GROW is now available as a 'Digital Single' ahead of the albums release on Friday, October 30th. Remember, every time a song from GROW is downloaded or streamed from a digital music platform, the North Carolina New Hanover County NAACP receives all of the revenue as working capital to help ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. So as Shannon said, "LET THE MUSIC PLAY" ((such a great song))! Know we love you. Be well, be kind, and enjoy. - Fort Lowell Records
If so, then you are likely aware of our dear friend Mr. Kenyata Sullivan; a person who we personally are very thankful to have in our lives; for Wilmington NC would simply not be our home if it weren't for Kenyata. We first met Kenyata at The Exchange -- an old vintage clothing store once located at the corner of Grace & 2nd that used to host concerts in their back room -- while our previous band Audio Explorations was on tour in 1996. We've been close friend ever since, and couldn't be more excited to share this...
Fort Lowell Records is very proud to announce the first single from GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter is for Kenyata Sullivan's second musical project -- The Majestic Twelve -- and their song "Amphibious Vehicular Love". The track, written ((coincidentally)) twelve years ago, is available now on all digital music download and streaming platforms. In addition, our friends at Here Comes the Flood are premiering the music video for "Amphibious Vehicular Love" today.
So pull up your favorite digital platform and search for "Amphibious Vehicular Love" to play the song now. Then head over to Here Comes the Flood to watch the music video. Remember, every time you play "Amphibious Vehicular Love" you are actually helping ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination... so keep the music playing all day long!
Starting this week, each Friday of October we will feature the release of one song 📻 + music video 📺 from GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter, beginning with The Majestic Twelve "Amphibious Vehicular Love" on Oct. 2nd [premiered by Here Comes the Flood], then Life of Saturdays"That Kind of Love" on Oct. 9th [premiered by Fuzzy Logic], followed by Tracy Shedd"Holding Space" on Oct. 16th [premiered by Independent Clauses], and Summer Set "Comfortable Town" on Oct. 23rd [premiered by Big Takeover Magazine], then finally the big finally of the month being the official release of the full compilation album on Oct. 30th! We couldn't be more excited for October to be here so we can begin sharing the amazing music of GROW with you. Stay tuned to our Instagram + Twitter each week for further updates, and remember to place your pre-order today with Gravity Records, Modern Legend, or Yellow Dog Discs-- and be sure to pick up a few extra copies to give out to the kids on Halloween as a 'treat' 🎃; they'll love it! Remember, ALL / 100% / EVERY PENNY 💰 of the sales of GROW will be donated to the North Carolina New Hanover County NAACP, so there is EVERY reason you could buy two, three, or ten copies of GROW and gift them to family and friends -- your money is going to help ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. So do it, today -- order GROW -- now! Thank you in advance for your support! ♥️
Tuscon based alternative rockers La Cerca have reinvented themselves with an ambient album, A Nice Sweet Getaway, with touches of post-rock and heavy use of delay. The "Gloomy Vista Way" single, with its drawn out guitar chords, is part Ry Cooder and part Brian Eno. A sense of foreboding that something bad is about to happen is almost tangible, but as long as it sounds this good, that's not a problem. The video was directed by Jason Marrano.
The A Nice Sweet Getaway album will be released on September 25 via Fort Lowell Records. It's available for pre-order here.
Tuscon based alternative rockers La Cerca have changed course (and line-ups) quite a few times. Still, even for longtime followers of the band it comes as a surprise to see them releasing A Nice Sweet Getaway, a full-on, dark ambient album. They even used a basic two-track recording device, and had to cope with the limitations that came along with it.
Echo, delay and reverb were put to good use to create an atmosphere that is not particularly safe or soothing. They point to the dangers that are hiding in the great wide open, with pulsating rhythms and swaths of guitar that are both welcoming and issuing a warning. A Nice Sweet Getaway flows as a continious piece of music and should be enjoyed as such. This kind of music does not allow outside interference, so better disconnect the phone and other things that can break the spell.
A Nice Sweet Getaway will be released via Fort Lowell Records. Release date: September 25.
