Hey y'all!

It’s been a dry couple months (or at least it has felt like it), here in PIAPTKtown. I’ve been traveling like crazy for work with Mobile Vinyl Recorders: Palm Springs, Chicago, Indianapolis, Portland, New York City, Bethel CT, Danfield OH, Newburgh NY, The Hamptons, Charlotte NC, Atlanta, etc. With near future stops in Nashville, Atlanta (again...twice…), Miami, NYC, Philly, Richmond, New Zealand, and Australia. But, my main obsession/compulsion/addiction/money pit also known as PIAPTK is always on my mind/heart. And the near future is going to be full of releases I’m excited about. I can’t quit you, even if you’ve quit me. I’m the weirdo stalker record label creeping outside your inbox telling you about a band that might be your new favorite if you didn’t pull the curtains and call the cops/unsubscribe. That’s metaphorical of course. I’m too busy/apathetic to creep around your actual window.

Upcoming Releases from: Scott McMicken, Michael Nau, Eric Slick, Wooden Wand, Be Gulls (Little Wings + Lee Baggett), Lee Baggett + Graves, Will Johnson (Centro-matic, Monsters of Folk), Ohioan, Foxx Bodies, American Monoxide, Sloppy Joe and the Cruise, Golden Boots, Dread Cat & The Transitional Wave, and a ton of others….

Please Note that it might take a week or so to get new orders out. We are crazy busy round here.

1) Little Wings – The Shredder Trilogy 8” Pic Disc
My love for Little Wings is no secret. Kyle Field ranks very high in my top five favorite songwriters. His songs run this strange gamut of playfully innocent childrens tunes, extremely dark and brooding, to weirdo stream of consciousness freestyling. You never know what you will get from one Little Wings album/performance to the next, but you always know that it will be engaging, unique and very well done. Little Wings albums also have common threads that run through them; chord patterns and vocal melodies and lyrical themes that re-appear in different songs on different albums. One of the best examples of that is the “Shredder Trilogy”. A 3-part tale, spread out over three different albums of the rise and fall of a neighborhood skateboarding legend, known only as “The Shredder”. Despite being a seemingly lighthearted and silly sounding concept, it’s actually a very poignant and emotional story of the fall from glory of a former champion and his struggle with getting older and becoming irrelevant and out of style. Something that a lot of people can (especially myself) relate with. The Shredder Trilogy is a narrative that has been one of my favorite pieces to return to for over a decade, and I’m unbelievably happy to be able to present it, in it’s entirety, in a physical format. It comes on an 8” picture disc, in heavy duty pic disc sleeve with side spine and is limited to 100 copies, only 65 of which we have for sale.

Want to check it out? Youtube it! (I Can't put it on Soundcloud)

Want to buy it? Click Here!

2) PIAPTK Grab Bags + Free Rarities/Test Pressing Bonuses (from some of our biggest bands and fan favorites: Flaming Lips, Grandaddy, Scott McMicken, Jeffrey Lewis, Little Wings, R Stevie Moore, Wooden Wand, Golden Boots, etc.

Have you been looking for a reason to really dig into PIAPTK? Maybe you’ve bought a handful of releases in the past and “really like the idea of the artists on PIAPTK” but not actually bought more than a couple things? Don’t know what to buy? Want your art forcefed to you ala Vinyl Me, Please (but at less than half the price??) Well, you are in luck. Now PIAPTK is offering a Grab Bag Starter Pack of amazing, mind blowing, life changing (perhaps that is hyperbole…) releases replete with a FREE super rarity, not available anywhere else. These are not simply back stock we are trying to dump. ALL in print releases (along with the listed out of print rarities and test pressings) will be represented in these grab bags.

Only 30 of these packages will exist and every one will have some crazy release that is out of print (some of which command hundreds of dollars on eBay and Discogs).

Also includes a DIY silkscreened PIAPTK/Soild Gold tote bag that was made from a discarded Burger Records tote bag (Long story, but they were being thrown away, and we couldn’t have that).

You get:
7x LPs (value up to $105)
3x 7”s (value up to $17)
4x Lathe cut singles (Value up to $50)
4x CD-Record Lathe Cuts (Value of $28)
PIAPTK/Soild Gold Tote bag, hand silkscreened over discarded Burger Record Tote Bags (ask for the story, if you care) (Value: PRICELESS)
Total value of $200.00 PLUSSSSSS
A FREEEEEE PIAPTK Out of Print Rarity or Lathe Cut (value up to $300+)

Each of these bags is different, cost only $150, and each will randomly include one of the following, free rarities.

The Flaming Lips – Good Vibrations 4 sided Eulerian Disc
Scott McMicken – In Your Dreams (UNRELEASED! The actual record won’t be released for months) Test Pressing!! TWO OF THEM inserted randomly in bundles!
Scott McMicken “IT” Test Pressing
Scott McMicken “In Your Dreams” Test Pressing
Scott McMicken “IT” Yellow Soild Gold LP (just sold on eBay for $300)
Scott McMicken “IT” Splatter Soild Gold LP (Probably worth a Billion $$$$ on the open market)
Grandaddy – Arm of Roger Yellow LP on Soild Gold
Grandaddy – Arm of Roger “Mustard and Ketchup Splatter LP on Soild Gold (ltd to 35 copies)
Grandaddy – Arm of Roger Yellow TEST PRESSING
Floating Action – Research Test Pressing (Ltd to 10 Copies)
Of Montreal – NOLF Postcard
Eric Slick – Out Of Habit Yellow LP
Eric Slick – Out oF Habit Splatter LP
Eric Slick – Out of Habit Black Vinyl Test Pressing
Little Wings – Made it Rain Test Pressing (one of only 10 copies on black vinyl)
Golden Boots – White Skeleton X-Ray flexi disc – pressed onto a REAL X-Ray
R Stevie Moore – Saturday Singles Series Lathe Cut 7”s – 2 different singles for the free price of one.
4 Way Split Northwest Test Pressing: Karl Blau, Graves, Gift Machine & Nate Ashley
4 Way Split Midwest Test Pressing: Saturday Looks Good To Me, Emily Jane Powers, Impossible Shapes & Side Projects.
Grey Waves – Void 7” Test Pressing
Sugar Candy Mountain – 666 LP test Pressing
Jeffrey Lewis – Outtakes…. LP Test Pressing
American Monoxide “In Flight Mode” LP Test Pressing
Briana Marela – I Don’t Belong to You 7” Lathe Cut
Forest Fallows – At Home Test Pressing
R Stevie Moore – You Came Along Just In Time Letter Pressed Picnic Plate 7” + Eli Moore Letter Pressed Picnic Plate
Wooden Wand – Born Bad – Silkscreened First Copy

Pick One Up Here!

3) Baby Gas Mask Distro: West Foot Forward Tucson Split 7” Series
Baby Gas Mask Records are my buddies. We share a studio space, Seth from BGM does PIAPTK’s Fulfillment, and they run a killer home studio here in Tucson, where they record tons of local bands. Some of those recordings end up on their West Foot Forward Series. Two similar bands go head to head on one 7” in hand silkscreened and spray painted covers. Each one is unique and represents some of the best that Tucson has to offer. Listen to some samples of them here: https://soundcloud.com/babygasmaskrecords

Currently Available:
Sun Bones/Best Dog Award
Ghostal/Garbowski
Katterwaul/Head Over Heart
Rising Sun Daughter/Laura and the Killed Men

Git'Em!

4) Golden Boots Tropical Trio – H.A.L.T. Tape Distro
The Golden Boots Tropical Trio consists of Dimitri and Ryen on guitar, Jeff Grubic (Haboob) on Sax and new member Omnichord on Bass and Drums. New tunes, covers, and reworkings of Golden Boots classics (Including the first official recording of Monster Kiss, a tune covered and made famous by NoBunny (who was one of the first Golden Boots drummers, 15 years ago). H.A.L.T. will eventually come out on PIAPTK in 2x10” Lathe Cut form, but until then, whet your whistle with it in the “other analog format”.

Get One!

5) Orkesta Mendoza - ¡Vamos A Guarachar! Cassette – Soild Gold Co-Release with Baby Tooth Records
Sergio Mendoza Y La Orkestra are Tucson staples, playing Psychedelic Mambo featuring members of Golden Boots, Fur Family, Calexico, Andrew Collberg Band, backing up Sergio Mendoza. They tour all over the world, and Soild Gold is super excited to co-release their new album on cassette with our buddies at Baby Tooth Records (the tape subsidiary of Wooden Tooth Records). This is a preorder. All tapes will ship on or before November 11^th, 2016.

AQUI!

6) Natural Child - Freakin' Weekend VI Tape – We bought a few copies of this killer live set on cassette from our friends at Shed House Records. Natural Child is a band PIAPTK has been pursuing for years to no avail, so this is as close as we get (so far).

Available here!

Thanks again for still coming around! Love, Mike.

American Monoxide – Web Content FINALLY here!

Well, we know you’ve waited forever, but the LPs have finally arrived for American Monoxide’s Electro-Pop opus, Web Content. In case you haven’t heard, the pressing industry is totally awful these days. Missed deadlines, broken promises, no communication, etc. And it happens with almost every plant. We had to rush the preorders due to a PR campaign (which fell a little flat, due in no small part to the fact that none of the records were ready.) and then we left everyone hanging because WE were hanging. PIAPTKville was a sad place for a while. That is one large reason that PIAPTK usually sticks to lathe cuts, because we can control everything in the process. But I digress…

The LPs are here, they look/sound great, and they will be shipping out ASAP!

In case you haven’t ordered one yet, I wanted to introduce you to all the variants from all the labels. Dimitri and I handpicked these labels because we love them all and they all put together something unique for the release, and they are available in a variety of price points.

Check out a couple tunes from the album here: https://soundcloud.com/americanmonoxide-38622606

VARIANTS!

1) PIAPTK – Ltd Ed unique “psychedelic letter” lathe cut. – I’m really happy with how these turned out. Each disc was swirl painted into the shape of one of the letters of “American Monoxide Robot Walk PIAPTK”. There were two sets of the title made. Then, one of each letter was scanned in and used to generate the cover art, which was printed directly onto the 7” cardboard sleeve. Only 50 copies made.

BUY IT HERE

2) Soild Gold – Per the Soild Gold usual, these are just Dimitri and I fucking around at the local Office Max making weird, blown out, shitty-as-possible-looking bootleg style covers. Includes a crappy looking poster (AND the pro-printed standard LP sleeve). And to further the Giving-Lots-Of-Fucks-About-Looking-Like-We-Give-Zero-Fucks vibe that we strive for at Soild Gold, we reused all the bad Forest Fallows LPs rather than throwing them away.

BUY IT HERE

3) Almost Halloween Time – Unique Oil Paintings - My love and admiration for this label cannot be understated. Each of this labels' releases comes in a UNIQUE, HAND PAINTED cover with hand written track and album info. And these are not just some quick thrown together paintings, these are frame worthy art. Luigi is unbelieveable, and each one is a different variation on a theme. You should buy their entire discography RIGHT NOW.

BUY IT HERE

4) Lazy Boy Recordings – Private Browser Variant - This label was a wild card. I didn’t know them that well when they came on board, and they are relatively new, but DAMN, did they knock it out of the park with their variant on this one.

Their description: Web Content Interactive "Private Browser" variant; concept cover and interactive insert(s). The inserts- housed in a old school cpu floppy disk, which in return is housed in a old school CPU album cover... are a locked file containing the lyrics and hand drawn fly artwork. You will have to align the 5 transparent sheets at the proper angles to unlock the art. Once the art is revealed you can now unlock the binary code revealing the lyrics to web content once you've jumped through a few more hoops. All artwork is screen printed, graphically designed, hand drawn, hand made items fastened together by a number of talented artists. This is a piece that you really have to see to believe.

BUY IT HERE (coming soon)

5) Baby Gas Mask Recordings - The Baby Gas Mask Records edition of the LP comes housed in a vintage heavy-duty plastic library sleeve, with an exclusive cassingle featuring 2 album tracks and 3(!!!) exclusive tracks slipped into the card catalog pocket. All of the cassette labels are uniquely hand-colored!

BUY IT HERE

6) Wooden Tooth Records – Includes a Cassette single with bonus track, "Circuit Board Snowman," in a handmade DIY O Card.

BUY IT HERE

7) Hocus Bogus Records – They haven't quite gotten theirs finished yet, but their stuff always looks rad, so take a chance and pick this one up! The Hocus bogus zine is a zine/record hybrid book. The zine contains pages filled with art and articles while the cover of the zine is a semi flexi lathe cut record, allowing the entire book to be played on a turntable! Anything but bogus.

BUY IT HERE

8) Web Content – Dimitri's "Manger's (sic) Special" Bundle – Includes LP Version of Web Content and In Flight Mode plus an American Monoxide “Selfie Design” Tote Bag (Limited to 10 available) Can probably get it autographed if you are in to that kind of thing. Just put a note in the bandcamp checkout.

BUY IT HERE

Wow. WTF? 3 emails in less than a month? Maybe I'm listening to the people who said in the survey "You should send out more emails", or maybe I'm trying to get people who don't care to unsubscribe from the email list because I'm 3 people away from having to pay Mailchimp for the upgraded pay plan. Or maybe I'm just broke and need some traveling money, or perhaps I want all these records that I've been working so hard on to see the light of day. It's actually all of the above.

Some of the things I'm up to this summer when I'm not making too many releases:
1) Mobile Vinyl Recorders will be cutting records at Pitchfork Festival and Afropunk Festival this summer. Pickathon - I won't be working, but my kid and I will be there to hang out and camp. If you are around, email me and let's say hello!
2) Lathe Cut Camp 4 - Is full, but let me know if you are interested in a winter camp.

Preorder Updates:
Sugar Candy Mountain are on their way to me! They should ship very soon!
CD-Records - Should have already shipped.
Forest Fallows - Going out this week!
Grey Waves - Going Out This Week as well!
American Monoxide Web Content - We have approved test pressings, just waiting on the plant. But, check out the final product of the PIAPTK bonus lathe cut below.
Saqqara Mastabas - STILL waiting on the pressing plant. Hopefully soon!

In this email:
1) Jeremiah Green (Modest Mouse) CD-Record
2) SM WOLF - Vinyl/Reel to Reel Hybrid
3) Haboob - ST LP
4) American Monoxide PIAPTK Bonus lathe cuts unveiled
5) Meet Fulfilling Sounds! Our fulfillment dude!

1. New CD-Record Series Disc - Jeremiah Green from Modest Mouse!
Jeremiah Green has been my favorite drummer since the night I heard Lonesome Crowded West in a dorm room in Bruce Hall in 1997 at The University of North Texas. I remember where I was sitting, who I was with, what I was drinking. And I finally got the chance to work with him. In addition to drums, he also makes some beautiful electronica.

Pick it up here! And you can now listen to ALL Cd-Record tracks here!

2. S.M. Wolf - Vinyl/Reel to Reel Hybrid

HEAR IT HERE!

S.M. Wolf is the new(er) project of Amo Joy frontman, Adam Gross. This is the second in a series of Dual-Analog releases with two formats in one package (the first being the American Monoxide/Wight Lhite Magic Mirror Lathe cut/Cassette). It includes a lathe cut 7" screwed onto the front of It. It will play the same song, The Awful Spring, on both your Turntable AND your Reel to Reel deck! It also takes some inspiration from one of PIAPTK's earliest releases, the Golden Boots Bland Canyon 10". Like that release, The Awful Spring arrives to you incomplete and requires purchaser customization before you can complete the set.

All tapes were dubbed in Adam Gross' basement on used 7" reels. Some were blank, and some were prerecorded, with everything from Tito Puente to happy birthday messages to grandma. So, some include non-SM wolf bonus tracks! We hope you enjoy whatever is on there!

The complete package is considered to be:
1) Reel/Lathe combo
2) Insert & "Color Your Own" Box, in it's YOU-COLORED VERSION
3) SM Wolf 20 Fountain Paintbrush set (markers)
4) 4" lathe cut record with "The Awful Spring pt. 2" companion song. (NOT INCLUDED.. see below)

However, the package DOES NOT INCLUDE the 4" in it's initial mailing. In order to receive it, you must color your box with the SM WOLF Fountain Paintbrush set and post a photo and tag PIAPTK and SM Wolf on some form of social media and then we will send it to you, or, you can pick it up from the band in Indianapolis (you must still tag us both). WE REALLY WANT YOU TO COLOR THIS BOX.

Instructions:

Step One: Color Box & Take Photo
Step Two: Post photo on Social Media and tag SM WOLF and PIAPTK
Step Three: Send a link or a screenshot via email to: peopleinapositiontoknowshop@yahoo.com AND fulfillingsounds@gmail.com.

Why do we make you jump through hoops? Because we love you and want you to interact with us. We want your box to be one of a kind. We want you to value this record because it was a collaboration between you, the label, and the band. It makes it more valuable and fun for everyone.



3. Haboob - ST - Golden Boots' Side Project Jazz Odyssey!
Haboob are a freaky weird Instrumental Jazz/Prog/Funk/Psych band and can be loosely described as a Golden Boots side project, as many of the main players are also in Golden Boots. Led by Jeff Grubic (who frequently plays sax and keys with Golden Boots), Haboob is usually made up of 3 or 4 of the following dudes, who are all Golden Boots: Ryen Eggleston, Andrew Collberg, Ben Schndeider, and Dimitri Manos. Along with organist Nick Letson (who is my roommate and also played on the upcoming Golden Boots LP). Free form Jazz explorations in front of festival sized crowds... and retirement homes, wealthy dinner party attendees and noise show-goers.

Only 100 copies! on Red with Blue flame vinyl! In hand-silkscreened covers! Hand numbered!

Check it out here: https://soundcloud.com/piaptkshop/sets/haboob-st

PICK ONE UP HERE!



4. American Monoxide - Web Content PIAPTK Lathe bonus
As with most projects, I know where I plan to take them, but I never really know where they are going to end up until they are there. This is one of those times. I really love this concept, which came together one piece at a time, and almost wish I had used it for a standalone release, and not just an add-on, but here it is.

Each of these discs was hand cut/peeled by me, and hand dip-painted by my daughter. Each disc has a psychedelic letter that, when combined, spell out the band, title (Robot Walk), and label. Then I scanned them in, combined, and printed them out on 7" sleeves.

Check out a couple tunes from the album here: https://soundcloud.com/americanmonoxide-38622606


There are still a few PIAPTK versions available for PREORDER HERE.

Also, a second plea... for the love of all that's holy, PLEASE check out Almost Halloween Time Records. They are co-releasing this record and are UNBELIEVABLE. If you appreciate vinyl record packaging as art, there is NO WAY you won't love them!!!!


5. Meet Seth of Fulfilling Sounds!
Anybody that has followed PIAPTK and paid any attention or cares at all, knows that I have a million irons in the fire always. I'm also out of town over half the days out of the year, so I can't package all of the orders like I did in the old days. Luckily, my buddy Seth, who owns Baby Gas Mask Records, started a fulfullment company and does the mailing for us and dozens of other bands and labels. He rules. If your orders are delayed, it's not because of him, it's because of a pressing plant, most likely. But, if you ever have problems with an order, I will probably answer the email, but he will be the man making it right. Check out Baby Gas Mask and Fulfilling sounds and give them a "Like" on FB!

On Halloween of 2016 PIAPTK will turn 10 years old. By that time, I'm guessing we will have close to 250 releases.

In honor of that, and as a present to myself, I'm making a Vanity Coffee Table Book! The book will include images and anecdotes for EVERY SINGLE RELEASE that PIAPTK, Soild Gold, The IVL, and probably a few other weird ancillary projects that even the most diehard PIAPTK followers (if there are any) don't even know exist.

Every PIAPTK release has a story. Blood, Sweat, and Beers/Tears/Jeers went into each and every record I've released. Most of them involve waiting on pressing plants, serendipity, random coincidences, garage sales/thrift stores, having to correct (my own) fuckups, taking those fuckups and turning them into new ideas, steep learning curves, telling myself that PIAPTK has run it's course and needs to end and then immediately finding a project I can't pass up.

I need your help to make this happen. I am notoriously horrible about keeping good records of my .... ummm...records. I've tried to keep at least a few of each release, but many of them, especially in the early days, had unique covers, and at best, I have crappy cell phone photos of them.

What can you do? If you have some of these releases (see list below), and would be willing to take nice, square, well lit photos of them (or even better, scan them or take them to a copy/print shop and have them scanned), I will give you: 1) eternal gratitude, 2) Credit in the book, and 3) a free copy of the PDF/Ebook and/or a printed version of the book at actual cost.

Here is what I need to get good scans of:
Golden Boots Handmade LPs
Golden Boots – Burning Brain Collage LPs
191-Globelamp- ShaLaLove 7”
178- Anthony Junior – Magical Evening With 12” Lathe Cut
164 – Grey Waves – Faith/Void 7”
159- LABRYYYNTH – Wrecking Ball (Alt Vers) Lathe Cut
95-Meowtain – Hex/Piggybackrider
83. Viking Moses/Joey DeMarco – Hand painted Covers
73. Amo Joy! Across Nichthemeron 2x8” book
69. Wckr Spgt – Today I Saw Turtles 5x7” flexi
63. Amo Joy - "Straight To Plate" Live to Lathe Picnic Plate 7"
52. Lazer Zeppelin – Highway Hypnosis 12’ Lazerdisc
48. Arrington deDionysio – Unique Lathe Cuts
43. Arrington deDionysio ‘s Malikat Dan Singa Lathe Cut 7”
37. Golden Ghost – Unimaginative Body LPs
31. New Science Projects
14. Casper and the Cookies/Keith John Adams Split Faux Pic Disc 8”
04. Viking Moses – Lands of the Pink

Do you have any of these? Please send me a quick cell phone shot of the handmade covers you have. I will probably put 3-8 images of each handmade record into the book. Some of them are more unique than others. If your covers are the ones I'm looking for, I will PAY for you to take them and get them scanned professionally if you don't have a scanner.

Also looking for customer quotes/stories/anecdotes/one off promo things, etc. Throughout the years, I've interacted with a lot of you. I've sent out weird random shit in packages. Do you have any kind of strange photos or items that I've sent you that are meaningful in some way? Or anything else that you would like to say? I'd love to hear about it and include it in the book.

Want to Sell some oldies? As I went through my archives I realized that there are some records that I either have zero or only one copy of, and I would REALLY like to buy some back from people who no longer want them. Here is what I need:

Golden Ghost: Unimaginative Body
Viking Moses/Joey DeMarco Pic Disc
Miniature and PResidential - LP
New Science Projects 8"
Viking Moses/Joey Demarco Hand made sleeve 7"
Tender Forever/Angelo Spencer Heart Shaped discs

Please email me anything that you think might be interesting toPIAPTKBOOK@YAHOO.COM!

In this Update:

1) PIAPTK Palm Springs Pool Party at the Ace Hotel - July 22-24.
2) Grey Waves - VOID LP
3) Spaceface - Sun Kids 8" transperency pic disc
4) Forest Fallows - At Home LP!
5) Previous Preorder Updates
6) Survey Feedback
7) Lathe Cut Camp 4: Winter 2016

1. FREE PIAPTK Palm Springs Pool Party! July 22-24, 2016
After the last email blast I was beyond honored to be approached by The Ace Hotel in Palm Springs (one of the coolest/hippest/hipsteriest hotel chains in the world) to curate a PIAPTK/Lathecuts.com weekend. "Do a lathe cut camp and a PIAPTK pop-up shop, or whatever you want" he said. What he didn't bargain for was that, in typical PIAPTK fashion, I decided to take it much farther than necessary and blow the entire budget on a weekend full of so much goddamn vinyl programming and fun that your head will spin. Live vinyl cutting, MOOG modular synthesis classes, Mini-Lathe Cut Camp, DJs, PIAPTK showcase (Little Wings, Sugar Candy Mountain, Pall Jenkins, The Blank Tapes, Cy Dune (mems of Akron Family)), DJs, Hip Hop Pool party with some rad Tucson hip hop crews, Indie Label Popup Shop, Used Vinyl Record Swap, Industry Panel Discussion, etc. This weekend is going to be so ridiculous. And so FREE. If you are in the LA area and have a label, sell used records, etc (or know someone who does) and want to be a part of the action, please email me!

Here is the tentative schedule!

PIAPTK Recordings & Lathecuts.com Present: Palm Springs Vinyl Pool Party?/Hootenanny?/Summer Camp?
Join us for a weekend celebrating the history, science, technology, and art of vinyl records! There will be Industry/Artist Panel Discussions, A Live Vinyl Recording Booth, Indie Vinyl Label Pop Up Shops, A Used Vinyl Record Swap, Hip Hop Pool Party, Poolside DJs, and Concerts. Curated by Michael Dixon PIAPTK Recordings and Lathecuts.com.

Friday, July 22 –
10pm – 2am - Junkbin Jukebox - Join PIAPTK/Lathecuts.com founder, Michael Dixon, AKA DJ Bored-Er Lord, in the Amigo Room for a night of Obscure, Private Press, and Deep Cut Forgotten Honky Tonk Country 45s and LPs

Saturday, July 23rd-
11-5pm – Indie Label Pop Up Shop – Some of the best labels focusing on vinyl records and the art of packaging will be on-site displaying and selling their releases. PIAPTK, Soild Gold, Joyful Noise, Burger Records, Wooden Tooth, Baby Gas Mask, Folktale, Dionysus Records, Lightning Records, Fine Print Zine, Philthy Phonographic Records, Kerchow Records, and Hocus Bogus and more TBA.
12-1 pm – Lathe Cut Camp – The vinyl mastering record lathe and cutting process has remained relatively unchanged for more than 100 years. Come get an up close look at the equipment and process that makes up the first step of the vinyl pressing process.
1-2 pm - Moog Camp - Moog will be here hosting a modular synthesis class and debuting their new synth modeling app!
12-3pm – Live Vinyl Recording Booth – Come out and play a Moog, sing a song, recite a poem, or tell a joke and walk away with your own one-off record!
11-5pm – Poolside - Hip Hop Pool Party – Join Lando Chill and Jivin’ Scientists for an afternoon of live performances and Dj Sets.
6-7:30 pm – Industry Panel Discussion/Q&A – Meet movers and shakers from all areas of the vinyl industry. JJ Golden (Vinyl Mastering, Golden Mastering), Nathan Sabatino (Audio Engineer, Loveland Studio), Jake Ingalls (Guitarist, Spaceface/The Flaming Lips), Jake Sullivan/Kellen Fortier (Owner, Wooden Tooth Records).
10pm – 2am – Show with Little Wings, Sugar Candy Mountain, Pall Jenkins (Three Mile Pilot, Blackheart Procession, Mr Tube and the Flying Objects), The Blank Tapes and Cy Dune (mems of Akron Family).

Sunday. July 24th –
11-5pm – Record Junkies Used Vinyl Swap – Used and rare record dealers from all over the Southwest will be on hand selling everything from rare psych, dollar bin country, modern reissues, to classic rock staples.
12-1 pm – Lathe Cut Camp – The vinyl mastering record lathe and cutting process has remained relatively unchanged for more than 100 years. Come get an up close look at the equipment and process that makes up the first step of the vinyl pressing process.
1-2 pm - Moog Camp - Moog will be here hosting a modular synthesis class and debuting their new synth modeling app!
2-5 Recording Booth – Come out and play a Moog, sing a song, recite a poem, or tell a joke and walk away with your own one-off record!
11-5pm – Poolside – DJs spin whatever summer jams seem like a good at the time.

2. Grey Waves - VOID LP (with bonus lathe cut!)

Debut record from Seattle band, Grey Waves! Bonus lathe cut 7" in handmade covers available to the first 50 orders! 300 hand assembled/stamped/numbered jackets, hazy purple records and a lyric zine designed by Alison Pate.

Add on the Grey Waves - Faith/Void pressed 7" for only $4.99 (usually $6.99!)

If you haven't heard Grey Waves, they are sort of a Gothy/Grungy Replacements! Listen to some here! https://soundcloud.com/grey-waves

PICK THEM UP HERE!

Spaceface is going on tour! And to celebrate the occasion, we made a special Lathe cut 8" picture disc with two brand new songs! With art by Annie Lynch, these beautiful 8", double sided pic discs are limited to 81 copies and come in custom made heavy duty picture disc sleeves with a transparency side bar. Also, we used some new prototype cutting needles on these, and the fidelity is a serious step up from our previous cuts. We are really looking forward to getting more of the needles made and using them on all of our lathe cuts!

Listen to it here!

BUY THEM HERE!


Go see Spaceface live:

6/30 STL, MO @ Heavy Anchor w/ Minor Characters
7/1 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas w/ Minor Characters
7/2 Grand Rapids, MI @ On The Moon w/ Hi-ker + Mikaela Davis
7/3 Toronto, ON @ The Piston w/ Ginger Ale and the Monowhales + Mikaela Davis
7/4 Montreal, Quebec @ Divan Orange w/ Wizaards
7/5 Albany, NY @ The Hollow w/ Mikaela Davis
7/6 Boston, MA @ Middle East w/ Magic Island
7/8 NYC, NY @ Alphaville w/ Corbu
7/9 Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle w/ Needlepoints & Gods
7/10 Ashbury, NJ @ The Yachtsman w/ Needlepoints and Gods
7/13 D.C. @ DC9 w/ Paperhaus
7/14 Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle
7/16 Birmingham, AL @ Syndicate Lounge w/ Swear Tapes

5. Forest Fallows - At Home LP

FINALLY the vinyl version of this excellent LP from Tucson's Forest Fallows have arrived! This will be your new summer time jam! Influenced by early/mid 90's indie rock like Yo La Tengo and The Sea and Cake, with a fresh atmospheric psych twist, Forest Fallows in one of my favorite bands (and full disclosure, next door neighbors).

This is a co-release with Joyful Noise. The first pressing come in hand silkscreened covers, with a bonus track (which won't be on subsequent pressings of the LP) called Comfort Lime, and is on "Comfort Lime" Green Vinyl with hand-stamped labels. Hand numbered out of 350 copies.

Listen to the Entire Album HERE!

The story of this record is LONG, TWISTED, and FRAUGHT with FRUSTRATION. It involved 16 months, 4 rejected test pressings, a rejected first run of records, 2 phone calls a week for 8 months, countless broken promises, the new owner of a pressing plant telling me my "little indie label can fuck off and never come back, because (they) were going to be pressing MAJOR LABEL records, and didn't need my business.". Do not ever press records with a plant in Dallas, TX that used to have two letters separated with an & sign for a name and was bought out by an opportunist "business man" who owns a record store (and now pressing plant) named after a woman.

BUY FOREST FALLOWS "AT HOME" HERE!

5. Preorder Updates

So, it's no new story that pressing plants are backed up, unreliable, and a constant pain in the ass of an independent label. This goes for CD manufacturers as well as vinyl pressing plants. If you preordered the Saqqara Mastabas, American Monoxide or Sugar Candy Mountain LPs, or any of the new CD-Records, we are REALLLLLY hoping these things come in soon. We've been told that they will "ship next week" for the last month. One of these days, it really will happen (hopefully it won't end up taking 16 months like the Forest Fallows LPs did). We will ship them out as soon as they arrive, PROMISE.

New CD-Records (Nau, RudyWaltz, Floating Action) - these finally arrived the day before I left on vacation in Colorado, and I woke up at 6AM to get them cut before I left. We started shipping them out on Friday, so they should arrive soon!

6. Survey Results

I sent this survey out last time, and had an overwhelming response… My guess is that only people who actually LIKE the label read the emails, and therefore took the survey, but I’m super flattered and inspired by the responses I got. Most of them were extremely positive.

There were a few pieces of “need improvement” feedback that I got. I wish I could respond to each survey personally, but, like an idiot, I forgot to include a field for name/email address, so despite the fact that I would probably recognize a lot of your names from years of patronage, I have no idea who said what. So, to address the big concerns for those who posted them (and those who didn’t), below are my feedback to your feedback.

PLEASE ALWAYS FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME PERSONALLY AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON.

If you didn't take the survey last time, but want to, you can do so here!


In business school (can you believe I have a marketing degree???), they say to never publicly respond to your weaknesses, but here I go.

International Shipping:
I know this is expensive, unfortunately, there is NOTHING I can do. The USPS has almost tripled their international shipping prices since I started this label 10 years ago. I would love to get international distribution, but I make/sell so few records, and my releases are so limited (out of necessity), that no international distro will touch me. The more you buy each time, the cheaper the shipping gets per item.


Lathe Cut Lo-Fidelity vs Pressed Records:
Some people requested I do more pressed records vs lathe cuts because of the lower fidelity of lathe cuts. I am ALWAYS working on improving the fidelity of lathe cuts. Unfortunately, the only way to improve the fidelity is to quadruple the price due to an insane difference in the cost of the materials, cutting needles, and hi-fi capable machines for higher fidelity lathe cuts. I wish that EVERY record I did could be a pressed record, but unfortunately, I honestly don’t sell many pressed records. 90% of pressed records I’ve released (even though they are all limited to 300-500 copies) are still in print, (aka haven’t broken even, financially). Also, because of the labor intensive nature and (and usually found/thrifted/garage sale/dumpstered) unique materials and processes involved, I wouldn’t be able to do nearly as cool packaging if I had to make more than 75-100 copies of something. And a lot of the weird formats (shaped discs, eulerian circles, etc) that people really seem to like are completely impossible to make as pressed records. I try really hard to keep a balance. Records that MIGHT sell enough to press through a plant, I do, and ones that are either not possible, or require being kept limited due to artist obligations are done as lathe cuts.


Things That Sell Out Too Fast
This one was kind of confusing to me. At least 75% of people listed this somewhere in their survey. Very few of my releases sell out in less than a week. Usually, anyone that opens my email in a timely manner is able to get them. The reasons that they are limited when they might be highly sought after are:
1) They are uniquely handmade by the artist: in which case, the artist only WANTS to make 50. And then they want some to keep for themselves. Therefore, we only have 25-30 to sell.
2) The artist has other label obligations that require a TINY run. Scott McMicken, Flaming Lips, etc are great examples of this. Their official labels would NEVER agree to a full run that was kept in print. We are only able to work with artists of this caliber because what we do is so weird, limited, and immediately out of print. Would I love to keep these releases in print forever and actually make a little money on them? Sure! Unfortunately, that isn’t possible. I’m honored to just be able to work with these artists at all, and I have to do so on their terms.

Sound Samples
This is another one that confused me. Almost everyone requested more sound samples, but we’ve tried for the last year to upload everything to soundcloud and include it both on the site description and in the email. I will try harder to make it more apparent where you can hear the tunes in the future!


Website difficulties
Some people reported having a hard time navigating the site. The platform we use is FAR from ideal, but I’ve done the best I can to categorize everything and link from the artist page. I’m too busy making these fucking things to sell them appropriately, and I admit that I’m not super thorough and organized with it, but there are several different ways to navigate the site (clicking on the ALL category will take you to all products in reverse chronological order).

More newsletters?
My philosophy has always been to not send out too many emails. I always wait until I have at least 4 or more things to talk about before I send out an email. Because I, personally, ignore or immediately delete, all emails from companies that send out too much spam unless they are few and far between. So, I usually save up and drop multiple things at once. This also plays into the ridiculous shipping cost debate. I would love for people to be able to lower their overall cost by being able to buy several things at once, rather than buying/shipping a new thing every week or two.

Shipping Time/Preorders
A few people mentioned the wait time for shipping. Sometimes we have to release things as preorders, before they are ready/back from the plant. We have to do this for several reasons. 1) The record is being pushed through a PR company. 2) The artist is touring 3) The pressing plant is backed up (as always) 4) we have a new email going out and won’t do another for a month or two. 5) we are broke as hell and need to pay the final payment on the run.

Also, these things are really time consuming to make. I’m only one man, but I do have an awesome buddy (his name is Seth) that does the majority of mailing now (thank GOD). But, he only mails out once or twice a week (largely because we don’t get enough orders to justify daily trips down to the studio and then to the post office). We are a tiny weirdo indie label run by people who are out of town a lot, not a mega-corp like Amazon. Believe me when I say, we never make you wait longer than absolutely necessary. I am the most instant gratification guy in the world, and I will never slack (and neither will Seth). We are conscientious about getting things out as soon as humanly possible.

Pricing
Most people that listed this qualified it by saying they understood why things were expenses. Records and Lathe cuts are insanely expensive to make, in materials, in time, in packaging. AND, because all of our releases are one time pressings and we don’t really sell on-going digital on most of them (we made $138 on over 100 digital releases available through our site in 2015), we pay the artists up front in VERY generous artist copy percentages of 35-50% of the run. This is NOT 35-50% of PROFIT, this is of actual copies. Meaning that if we make 100 copies of a record that we sell for $10 that costs us $6 a disc (cutting time, labels, packaging, needle wear, materials, poly bags, etc) to make ($600) and we give the artist 35 copies, we sell 65 copies for $650, netting us a cool $50 profit. And we keep a few for our self, so at best we break even. Also figure in the fact that many records (pressed records especially) never sell out at all. Even some lathe cuts take YEARS to sell out (we’ve still got some of the 100 hand-colored copies of the excellent Juston Stens lathe cut from 2011, if you are interested). So any potential profit is sitting in unsold copies of records that will be buried with me in the Maricopa County Landfill when I die. PIAPTK, as of Dec 2015 was $76,000+ in the negative. And that isn’t accounting for the $49,000 in inventory (most of which probably won’t sell) that we have taking up space in the studio. So, a total of 1/8^th of a MILLION dollars is how much I’ve lost so far on this label in the last ten years. And that’s ok. Just understand that I always try to keep the pricing as reasonable as I can.

TAKE THE SURVEY HERE!



7. Lathe Cut Camp 4: - Winter 2016

We've sold out the last 3 Lathe Cut Camps, and are now looking to book one for the winter. If you are seriously interested, please email me at lathecuts@yahoo.com and let me know which dates work/don't for you and I will try to schedule around ya! For more info on the lathe cut camps, go here!