GTG RECORDS

Head over to the new GTG bandcamp page to download The Metaphorical Steven, a new 15 song compilation from GTG Records. This compilation is available for free (although donations are welcome) and features a window into where GTG is at in the first half of 2011. All of the songs on this compilation were released in the last 12 months, with 5 of the songs currently being unavailable anywhere else. An early look into new releases from The Plurals, Small Houses, Josh David and the Dream Jeans, The Break-Ups, and middleman can be heard, as well as a live recording of a new song from our friends in Calliope, and highlights from the recent excellent output of Frank and Earnest, The Hat Madder, Narc Out the Reds, Honah Lee (new album on GTG in June!), Drinking Mercury, Jason Alarm, Fade to Black, CrookedSound,and Stargrazer round out the set. Download away and enjoy! The compilation was sequenced by The Plurals while on tour, and our friend Dave Dunn in Denver, CO whipped together the artwork (and coined the title) while hanging out in Denver. In every way, this compilation is a snapshot of this particular moment in time, and we hope everyone enjoys it.

3/30 – Jet lagged, loopy Plurals played at Triple Nickel Tavern in Colorado Springs, CO, beginning our week-long love affair in Colorado. Lots of cool locals and Damian is a cool promoter. Crashed hard afterwards.
3/31 – Worked away on “The Metaphorical Steven” (more info forthcoming). Hung out with friends old and new, went up to Boulder, CO to play an open stage night at The Catacombs Bar. Great bar, cool open mic, weird but nice town.
4/1 – Super fun show at Pourhouse in Loveland, CO. We ended up essentially running sound for the first band, the excellent all female indie quintet The MurderARR, and then unleashing a rockin’ set on the composed clientele. Very positive reception, evidently too loud for some, but we did very well. We partied with the MurderARRs and new friends at a really cool pad (hot tub included) in Loveland.
4/2 – Went to our obligatory Waffle House between Loveland and Denver. Hopefully that will fill the quota. Got a last minute show at an awesome club in Denver called The Rockaway Tavern. The bar staff was awesome and (most of) the people hanging out were really cool. The band scheduled to close the night tried to sneak onstage and take our slot – we had to get the manager to tell them they were supposed to close the show. These total fucking lame asses actually LEFT THE SHOW and didn’t play. We played an adrenaline-infused set and laughed our asses off when we realized these lamewads (who were all in their late 30s at least) couldn’t cut playing at midnight on a Saturday.
4/3 – Fun show at a wicked dive bar in Denver called The Lion’s Lair. Denver County Death March opened the show, and their singer Garth helped us score a gig for the following night. Our set was really fun, probably our best of the Colorado dates, with the awesome Nate King Band following us. This wasted guy named Ben closed out the show with a barely coherent solo acoustic-punk set that ended with him sitting on the bar. Super rad bartender Michelle put us on a show the following night at 3 Kings Tavern in Denver (giving us a 3 night stand in this fair mountain town).
4/4 – Hung out in the mountains by Sedalia, CO with Dave, one of our gracious hosts and now-artwork-contributor. Mindblowing scenery. That’s the best way to put it in a few words. Our pick-up show at 3 Kings Tavern was awesome – we were opening for a burlesque show (Ooh La La Burlesque to be exact) and thus performed our set in our underwear. Ooh La la was totally fun, and a kick ass jazz combo that I didn’t catch the name of closed out the night.
4/5 – Day off. Feels weird, but nice.

Thank you so much to Dave Dunn and Mark Kole for putting us up for a solid week in Colorado. Thanks to Dave and Katie Thompson for hanging out and being such great friends.

tommyplural

I’ll post something comprehensive for sure, but here’s a quick round-up of highlights of The Plurals 2011 tour so far:
3/24 – had to get our tire rim welded before we left, and consequently pulled up to Firehouse Pizza in Normal IL right as we were supposed to be setting up; the set went well. Fantastic venue. Great sets by Off With Their Heads and Fake Boys.
3/25 – the whacky ancient GPS we were using sent us through 100 miles of run-down small towns in Missouri. Our show had gotten moved to a garage (“Detto’s Barn”) in Liberty, MO, with a small but great crowd. Locals Meat Mist, Sealegs, and Regretter were great.
3/26 – Detto’s dad treated us to Cracker Barrel in the morning. Played at a great club in Omaha, NE called The Slowdown – local band Millions of Boys was excellent.
3/27 – Drove down to St. Louis (oh, these crazy tour routes) and nearly lost our minds. Met up with Michigan friends at one of said friend’s sister’s house. Learned to Flabongo. More info forthcoming.
3/28 – Magical day at the St. Louis zoo. Played at a neat little club called Cicero’s with a cool band from Austin called Mobley. After the show we went to the bar Blueberry Hill, which is way more interesting than the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
3/29 – Played a loose but fun set at a great bar in Lawrence, KS called the Replay Lounge, with a great local band called Vegetable. Ended up driving through the night after an interesting evening with some locals. Crashed in the van at some rest area for awhile.
3/30 – I’m in Denver. That John Denver guy was not full of shit.

Colorado Springs tonight!

tommyplural

So, if you haven’t noticed, the website has been overhauled. It’s still a bit of a work in progress (not every CD is for sale in the info/ catalog section yet, but soon will be) but it’s pretty much here. Click on each of the artist pages above for photos, bios, songs, discography, and links to their respective individual websites. Poke around a bit and let us know what you think! If you’re not a part of the GTG mailing list, just send an e-mail to gtgrecords at gmail dot com and you’ll get a monthly round-up of GTG haps.

Aside from the revamping of the website, the other main undertaking in the immediate GTG circle has been the booking of a midwest, southwest, and west coast tour for The Plurals. Check out the The Plurals page for the tour dates. This is all part of the promotional cycle for the upcoming release of the brand-new Plurals full-length The Plurals Today, The Plurals Tomorrow: A Futurospective, due out May 21st. With all sorts of time and money wrapped up in the tour process, we could use as much help as possible with the whole “Plurals cause,” so we’re offering a pre-sale deal that includes, for the nifty price of $7, a copy of the new album, an exclusive CD of outtakes, acoustic versions, live recordings, and cover songs, and a poster to those who contribute to the pre-sale cause. Order between now and May 1st to get these goodies – this will be the only way to get this bonus CD (and remember that The Plurals are recording engineers and visual artists themselves, so we won’t be half-assin’ this package).

Yet another download-only record available! Head on over to Fade to Black’s web site to download, at your own price, the brand new album “Live in Lansing.” The career-spanning set is available in lossless high quality audio WAV file version as well as a mp3. Set your own price, and profits from the album are going to the Greater Lansing Food Bank. Very cool!

Hey! Timmy Rodriguez has completed his first solo album under the Sleeping Timmy moniker, entitled “What World?” Download the whole album for free here. Also, on the topic of GTG members’ extracurricular activities, make sure to check out the It Takes A Village to Make Records website. There’s going to be a lot of cool things coming out this year on the ITAV label, that’s for sure.

Hello. I’m posting my (TommyPlural) and Sylas (ex-MK Ultra Culkin)’s GTG top 10 of 2010. If any others want to throw something like this up, please, feel free. As it stands, we’re already 1 GTG release into 2011 (Drinking Mercury – “Words,” see below) and already I think it’s going to be an even stronger showing than last year.

TommyPlural’s top 10 of ’10 (in chronological order):

The Hat Madder – Dreamsicle
Narc Out the Reds – As Hipsters Do
Honah Lee – Sobered, So Bored
MK Ultra Culkin – Tobey’s Cheerleading Death Song
Frank and Earnest – Mr. Holland’s Otis
the Cartridge Family – Girl U Want
Frank and Earnest – Whip It
Narc Out the Reds – Freedom of Choice
CrookedSound – Beth
The Break-Ups – Sure Know Something (generally I can’t really justify putting something that I played on on one of these lists, but with this being recorded a full year before it’s completion/ release I feel pretty disconnected from it by now, and Frankie’s vocal delivery just totally rules, so, sue me).

Honarables:
The Plurals – Conifer Oberst (what began as essentially a demo on Snowhawk 2009 became one of my favorite things I’ve recorded on the “Austin Gump” EP, thanks to the inspired playing from my Plural siblings and the guiding hand of Isaac Vander Schuur in the producer chair).
The Guest Stars – Hard Luck Woman (No secret: I don’t like KISS, but Roy turned this Rod Stewart rip-off into a yearning “All Shook Down”-esque ballad. The Replacements were fans of KISS, so I guess this kind of sort of makes sense).
Calliope – Through Being Cool (One of my favorite bands of all time releases their first new recording since 2004 on a GTG comp, and it’s awesome).
Dr. Device – Smart Patrol/ Mr. DNA (The “Explosions” comp rules, and I like almost every single track, but Dr. Device totally kills this one).
the Cartridge Family – Rock and Roll All Nite (Personal victory: tCF in the studio sounds like tCF live on this cut, which, in my opinion, is amazing).

Sylas’  GTG Top 10 of ’10:

Disclaimers:

1. I haven’t heard all the releases of the year, therefore I mean no disrespect to a handful of the artists by my limited knowledge of each individual release.
2. This is totally biased by the fact that 3 of the bands, which take a significant chunk of my list, are among my personal favorite local bands, period.  But it’s my list so I guess that’s ok.
3. I couldn’t single anyone out on the cover comps.  Too many good ones…so I left a space for many, rolled into one
4. This list would definitly have changed a bit if Edible Intention would have got their stuff out this year because they would definitly have a few tracks on here.
5. Ditto Josh David / Dream Jeans if I had recordings in my possession.
6. I haven’t heard “Austin Gump” or the latest Snowhawk yet, due to no other reasons than that I’ve been busy / out of the loop / lame for the past month.  Said contents may have, once again, shifted this list.
7. I’m not nominating MK because I’ve heard from reliable sources that those guys and gal didn’t write or play any of their material.  They had some big major label people come in and do everything and I know all about it.  In fact, I heard they broke up when a producer was about to reveal the awful truth to the press.  OK, that guitar player seemed pretty cool to me, but the rest of them….come on now!  Bunch of wankers.  That said, whomever the studio fill-in was who did the guest “urination” on track 1….Bravo!  That was a great performance.  No, actually I figure it’s arrogant to nominate one’s self and as much as I like Duran Duran’s “Rio” album, I remember being taken aback at Simon LeBon selecting it amongst his Top 5 “best of the 80’s albums” on some program once upon a time.  I don’t see any real  comparisons between Mr. LeBon and myself, but I think it illustrates my position.  That said, I don’t think we recorded anything as good as the following peeps and I don’t hold it against anyone else who may nominate themselves.
8. I saw Honah Lee play a bitching version of The Who’s “Boris The Spider” one night at the Camel So Hidden last year and if it were released, I’d probably have to squeeze that on here as well.

SO, with these stipulations in mind….in random order as I can’t choose a definitive one, here you go:

Plurals – Party It Up 3
Plurals- Sheep Dive
NOTR- As Hipsters Do
Plurals- Won’t Come To You
Hat Madder- Dreamsicle
Honah Lee- I Hate My Job
NOTR- One Dolar Embrace
Stargrazer- 35,797
Hat Madder- The Streets Don’t Lie
Tie between a bunch of people on the Devo and Kiss releases.  I’ll just leave it as that rather than picking between all of them cuz it would take too long.

Yes indeed, believe it or not, GTG godfathers Drinking Mercury are releasing a new EP in just two days. These six tracks are culled from the sessions for the group’s as-yet-untitled long awaited full-length album due out this summer. The album features art and layout by longtime GTG friend Ashley Anderson (webmaster of the long forgotten .com site from a few years back) and mastering by ex-MK Ultra Culkin string slinger Sylas Semen. Thanks gang!

Sean Bradley of Lansing Music TV was kind enough to write up a pre-release review of the new EP here. Sean calls the EP “infectious and instantly recognizable,” and we hope that translates to everyone that hears it.

Here’s the “official” press release regarding the album:

On Saturday, January 22nd, 2011, Michigan-based band Drinking Mercury will release the EP “Words.” While the band is currently based in Lansing, the group consists of four longtime friends from Ionia County – Kevin Adams (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Michael Boyes (vocals, guitar, ukulele), Tommy McCord (guitar, vocals), and Timmy Rodriguez (bass, vocals) – and has existed in varying forms since 2000. The band’s sound is rooted in psychedelic melodic rock with folk and shoegaze leanings throughout. “Words” is the first release from the band since 2006 and stands as both a document of where the band has been and a preview of what to expect from a full-length album by the group due out in the summer of 2011. Recorded in the last few months of 2010 by the band members at the GTG House studio in Lansing, the six songs on “Words” feature writing contributions from all four members of the band, with the songs having been written over the course of the band’s existence. Opener “Hey Hey Sally” features Michael on lead vocals and was one of the first songs the band worked on when Timmy joined in 2008; a slightly different arrangement of the song will appear on the forthcoming Drinking Mercury album. Second track “Grateful Day” also features Michael on lead vocals, with a different arrangement and recording of the song also slated for the album. “The 8th” is one of the first songs written by the band (in 2001) and features Tommy on lead vocals. Fourth song “Remmy” also features Tommy on lead vocals and has its roots in a 2002 song called “Reminisce” that was composed in a punkier phase of the band, with several years of re-writing and re-arranging culminating in this recording. “Noisemaker” features Timmy’s first lead vocal turn in Drinking Mercury, with a more jubilant side of the band showing through. Michael returns to the lead vocal position for closer “The Day Before,” an acoustic song dating from 2003 that was resurrected into a building, epic, full band arrangement for this EP. Serving as both a crash course in the decade-long evolution of Drinking Mercury and a teaser for a long overdue full-length from the band, “Words” is a welcome appearance from a band that has quietly existed for over a decade. Drinking Mercury releases “Words” with a live appearance at Mac’s Bar on January 22nd, also featuring Mason’s Case, Elliot Street Lunatic, and The Playback.

GTG’s little experimental upstart cousin/subsidiary record label now has it’s very own blog, here:  http://itavrecords.blogspot.com/

While ITAV has some exciting stuff lined up for 2011, it’s not enough to blog about all the time… so I’m planning to blog just as much about all of your musical exploits and endeavors!  The fun has already started, with a brief history of ITAV 2006-present, including our first three releases and some breaking news about what’s next — and a whole lot of name-dropping of past and present Lansing bands!

One of the things that’s next (but that doesn’t get mentioned over at the ITAV blog, because, well, it’s still in its formative stages) is 3-artist/3-song digital 3-way singles!  Who wants to do one?  The idea is, three single-worthy songs (per single) from 3 different artists.  I’ve mentioned the idea so far to The Hat Madder, The Playback, Narc Out The Reds, Fields Of Industry, Double Saginaw Familiarity, and a few other of all y’alls… I’d love to see it be a cross-label venture that knits together various disparate corners of the mid-Michigan scene (and beyond!)  It could also be a great place for one-off experiments, for example I’m having a very inspiring time working with a vocalist from the Detroit area, Rachel Yezbick.  I sent her an instrumental track and she laid some vocals on it that pushed it into this sort of edgy postpunk/electro/Massive Attack realm…wow is all I can say.  We’re saving that one for early summer.  I want to do a whole series of them.

A full-blown ITAV website is in the works for a late February launch.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Does anyone else feel like 2010 was a banner year for local music, and for some of our friends in the extended GTG/BMP/Silver Maple Kill/AvE etc. family especially?  In no particular order, here are 10 of the songs from this past year’s GTG releases that have really stuck with me:

Narc Out The Reds: I Was Evil That Year — man I love this song, with its loping, building guitar line.
Frank And Earnest: ’87 — I dig the whole album, but I compulsively twist the volume knob when this one starts.
The Plurals: Won’t Come To You — off a great EP that displays throughout how multi-faceted The Plurals can be while still cranking out noisy pop.
Small Houses: Last Last One — Jeremy keeps pushing the normal conventions of acoustic songwriting into new and unexpected shapes.
The Hat Madder: Salt & Lime Wastes Time — gets caught in my head for days at a time.
Crookedsound: Beth — one of the best interpretations of this song ever.
Middleman: Comin’ Home — I think I like it better than the original!  A lot better.
Josh David & The Dream Jeans: Oh Santa — a lot of post-punk angularity crammed into one song that also serves as a roast of Ryan Horky.
Calliope: Through Being Cool — clearly, Calliope is far from being done with cool.
Dr. Device: Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA — the two tribute albums are an embarrassment of riches.  Even the sonically compromised Lightning Bugs song — which gets unfairly blasted, elsewhere on the internet — was clearly a fire-breathing, foot stomping performance.  But then again, I’m a person who can listen to the live audience tape of The Minutemen’s “Fanatics” and catch the melody while most people just think it’s Merzbow or something.  Anyway, I digress — Dr. Device mixes a nice bouquet of robotic tones in with motorik guitars and bursts of spazzcore just in the first minute of this medley.  I likes.

In the runner’s up and/or bands not on GTG categories:  Drunken Barn Dance’s “Winter’s Tale” off of Grey Buried is — if you’ll forgive the cliché — a barn burner that (as I expound on in my as-of-yet unpublished best Michigan music of 2010 mega-article) lands squarely between Uncle Tupelo’s Still Feel Gone and Neil Young’s Live Rust. Fields Of Industry’s “I’ve Never Been To New York” has the sort of Sterling Morrison-esque chiming guitars and propulsive psych-rock groove that initializes their impressive Trouble House album in a fashion that keeps me hitting the repeat button.  Steve Leaf’s “Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God” off We Are Ghosts, fields some risky lyrics in what is otherwise a gently artistic indie-folk song.  White Pines’ “Armor” off of The Falls, just one of the great songs by Joe Scott off an album that was released to much acclaim and seems to just be gathering steam.

— Peter