News

Date

February 25 2021

Written By

Adam Harding

Dumb Numbers - Scars

Written By Adam Harding - February 25 2021



So happy to share our new single "Scars", the first new recording in 5 years by the Adam/Bonnie/Murph/Steve line-up!




"Scars" is dedicated to the memory of our friend Jonathan Lee Horne, with proceeds going to Jonathan's family to help cover medical and funeral expenses. Jonathan was a good friend and a very vocal supporter of Dumb Numbers. Jonathan was excited to begin cutting the handmade lathes for this song. We miss him terribly. Big thanks to Moose for stepping in and finishing the lathe-cuts.


FUCK CANCER




About the music:


In July 2018, I met up with Murph at Sonelab in Easthampton, MA for a quick recording session with recording engineer Justin Pizzoferrato (Dinosaur Jr, Pixies, Sebadoh, Sonic Youth). Murph was on fire, and I was super excited to be playing one of J's personal Jazzmasters through Frank Black's 1964 JMI Vox AC30! I have always had a certain level of self doubt every time I record (imposter syndrome), but I felt we really captured some magic and I was happy to attribute this to the tools I was given. The melody for this song came to me in a dream and I was lucky enough to have captured it upon waking before it evaporated (in almost 3 decades of making music, I’ve only been able to remember four or five of these dream melodies).


The session felt really inspired but we never got around to finishing any of the songs. Fast forward to 2020 and we're all in lockdown in our separate quarters around the world, so I asked Bonnie and Steve to finally help finish "Scars" from the safety of their own isolated locations in Melbourne, Australia. "Scars" is also Bonnie's first post-stroke recording since suffering an Ischemic stroke in December 2019 and we are so proud of her (a year ago Bonnie was stuck in a hospital bed with zero mobility and the initial prognosis that she may never be able to play guitar again. She had to basically relearn how to play guitar and she's still a way better player than me!). And as an extra special little cherry on top, our friend Elissa Rose (who had previously performed spoken word on the Stranger EP in 2017) also contributes backing vocals.


"Essence//Existence" is another Adam/Bonnie/Murph/Steve jam that originally appeared on Dumb Numbers II, but I always had a severe case of demoitis with this song. Steve's original demo bass was super gnarly and did this crazy high note thing during the breakdown at 3:01 that I always missed on the album version, so this new mix reinstates Steve's original demo bass track from 2015. This mix also showcases an alternate guitar take by Bonnie, and some additional lyrics which I removed from the album version for reasons that no longer feel important. This song was born during some spirited jams with Murph at Bedrock Rehearsal in LA. We never got to tour the second Dumb Numbers album, and one of my biggest regrets was not being able to play this song live and discovering what it might have become as a live beast, especially during the instrumental breakdown. "The great wah off” as Steve describes it!


Both of these songs have been freshly mixed by Justin Pizzoferrato at Sonelab in Easthampton, MA and mastered by Pete Lyman at Infrasonic Mastering
in Nashville, TN.


- Adam Harding


Date

February 04 2021

Written By

Joyful Noise Recordings

Feb WLS 2021: Joshua Virtue

Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - February 04 2021

The first installment of the 2021 White Label Series is Joshua Virtue Jackie's House -- curated by Lala Lala's Lillie West.

I was introduced to Joshua Virtue by stumbling into a show of theirs at the Empty Bottle with their project Free Snacks. I took an out of focus video on my phone. Later their music collective Why? Records performed with me, Sen, & Nnamdi last January at one of the best shows I've ever been a part of.  
Jackie's House, which was made during the first two weeks of quarantine in part to raise money for their mother, sister and grandmother, is my favorite thing Joshua has made. A self described "emergency album," it goes all over the place sonically and in subject - really showcasing Joshua's versatility and talent as a rapper and producer. It's both nostalgic and new, it moves between being very personal, big picture, and everything in between, it's both angry and sensitive. I just think it's really smart and really beautiful and I should let the record and Joshua speak for themselves. I am thinking about listening to it in a car in different seasons. Thank you to Joshua for the opportunity to share. I hope you all love the record as much as I do.
—Lillie West
Curator
    Joshua Virtue - Jackie's House
    1. the year 1
    2. Boxspring
    3. Arc
    4. Squirrel
    5. Armed Revolt Simulator
    6. nightingale
    7. Fenti Face
    8. Phil (feat. Rahim Salaam)
    9. 12 Billion Wulong! (feat. Ruby Watson and Malci)
    10. Trader Joe's
     
    Follow Joshua Virtue online: BANDCAMP / TWITTER / INSTAGRAM

    If you are a White Label Subscriber, check the White Label Digital Downloads page to grab the digital: 

    https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/pages/wls-digital-downloads
     

    Date

    December 09 2020

    Written By

    Joyful Noise Recordings

    WLS - December 2020

    Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - December 09 2020

    The final installment of the 2020 White Label Series is Raging Slab Sisterslab and the Boogie Coalition: Vol. I  -- as curated by THE Dale Crover.
    Raging Slab! Being some what of a late comer to them, they had a few records out already, but I had heard their current record at the time Dynamite Monster Boogie Concert and was hooked on them! So much so that I wrote a fan letter to the band and got one back from one of their three slide guitarists, Elyse Steinman!  This was the start of a long friendship with Elyse, her husband and lead singer/ guitarist Greg Stzrempka and bassist Alec Morton.  
    Elyse and Greg lived on a farm in a remote area of Pennsyltucky. I visited the farm a few times and discovered that they were huge collectors of kitschy, 60’s/ 70’s pop culture art/ toys/ film and huge lovers of all kinds music. We had similar tastes. I ended up playing drums with them for a few shows and some recording when the band was in between drummers. It was a real blast and they were fun people to hang and play music with!
     
    In the summer of 2014 I got an email from Elyse telling me she’d been diagnosed with lung cancer. Ugh! This was not going to get her down though. She told me that music would be the cosmic healer. She told Greg that she wanted to sing and record songs that she loved. I immediately wrote back and offered to play drums. This piece of wax that you hold in your hot, little hand is the result of those recordings.
    Elyse passed away March 30, 2017 after a three year battle against cancer. One of her requests was that a rock concert be held in her honor. There were two, one in NYC and one in LA. I played with the band in Los Angeles. There was a lot of love for Elyse in that room and I could feel her presence while performing.
     
    I’d like to thank Joyful Noise for giving me the opportunity to curate a record. I’m happy to have found a home for these recordings. I’d also like to thank Greg! I know this was a hard task to finish. And Alec, for his input. Elyse would be so happy about all of this! Forever in our hearts! Boogie!

     

    —Dale Crover
    Curator
    Raging Slab
    Sisterslab and the Boogie Coalition: Vol. I
    (December 1, 2020)
    1. Teachin' Blues
    2. Beggar's Day
    3. Be Stiff
    4. Billy Joe Young
    5. Slow Death
    6. Devil
    7. Friendzy
    8. As Long As I Live
    Follow Raging Slab online: BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

    If you are a White Label Subscriber, check the White Label Digital Downloads page to grab the digital: 

    https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/pages/wls-digital-downloads

     

    Date

    November 11 2020

    Written By

    Joyful Noise Recordings

    WLS - November 2020

    Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - November 11 2020

    November's While Label Series record is the Buckets Interstate Demo  -- as curated by Ken Layne (Desert Oracle).
    San Francisco was so cheap in the 1990s that people would move there when they ran out of money. You could get around on a $35 monthly MUNI pass, cable cars included, and there was always a rundown Victorian in need of another roommate. There were plenty of bar jobs, temp jobs, restaurant jobs, part-time work that afforded the luxury of doing the important stuff: boozy nights, bookstore afternoons, art and music.

     

    I washed up there in late 1992, having bummed around Eastern Europe for a while. Because I’d spent a memorable night carousing with Giant Sand in Prague, when I saw they were playing San Francisco’s Bottom of the Hill, I took the bus down to Potrero. The opening band started up just as I got my first beer, and within half a song I had relocated to the edge of the low stage.

     

    The music they played stuck right in my soul and have been there ever since. It was one of those rare moments when you walk into a bar and everything feels like a movie—and you’re in it, along with all these beautiful people: punks and bums and booze-bags, spirits high despite the usual load of troubles on everybody’s back.

     

    The group was called the Buckets. What you’ve got here is a platter of demo/single songs they put out themselves, or on minuscule 45 labels, in the era of grunge and alternative. “Postmarked Virginia” and “I Wrote This Song”—both performed that long-ago night at the bottom of Potrero Hill—are perfect country compositions, better than anything of the Nashville or Alt-Country of the time. The rockers had a bit of grunge, and all their music has soul and sincerity far beyond the jokey truck-driver premise of the band; none of them drove big rigs, as far as I know.

     

    Earl Butter and Wanderlean Taters were the heart of the Buckets, loaning themselves from the oddball folk group Ed’s Redeeming Qualities, but each lineup I saw in those years was terrific. I brought everybody I knew to see the Buckets, and nobody ever regretted it.

     

    —Ken Layne
    Curator
    the Buckets
    Interstate Demo
    (November 1, 2020)
    1. Postmarked Virginia
    2. Seven Babies
    3. I Wrote This Song
    4. Beer Belly
    5. Cowgirls
    6. Western Star
    7. Buckets Theme
    8. Pony Express
    We encourage you to follow the Buckets online and buy directly from the artist! BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

    If you are a White Label Subscriber, check the White Label Digital Downloads page to grab the digital: 

    https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/pages/wls-digital-downloads

     

    Date

    October 01 2020

    Written By

    Joyful Noise Recordings

    WLS - October 2020

    Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - October 01 2020

    We are incredibly excited to present to you, October's While Label Series record, Stephen, Radar of Small Dogs  -- as curated by Liz Harris.

    Stephen is a late 80’s Kiwi-pop project fronted by David Kilgour (the Clean). Radar of Small Dogs was originally released as a CD compilation on Flying Nun Records in 1993, and is presented here, for the first time on vinyl, digitally remastered from the original analogue master tapes.
    A little over a decade ago, in New Zealand, my tour mate Stefan told me about Stephen, the band in which, the joke went, initially there was no one actually named Stephen. Naming my own pop band Helen a while later might have borrowed from this idea a little.
    Somewhat inexplicably it all felt like…a description of place or experience I could relate to (rare feeling), but from a maddening distance; wrong hemisphere, a few decades too late. I suppose this describes ideal pop music in some ways— being able to tap into another’s experience, but with just enough distance, a sort of labyrinthian charm, to make you curious, to be pulled in. An invitation to discover what the heart of the connection is and in doing so perhaps unwind some curiosity in your own life. These songs carry a magnetic charm, the blush of nostalgia; many sound like a crush to me, bubbling for a moment with an emotion coming from down deep, light-hearted but fierce.  Clever songs, wistful and deep, but not worked-over to the point of wilt. Anyway, I won’t try to romanticize or describe Radar of Small Dogs much more— the record speaks for itself. The brief but wobbly-perfect projections of a kiwi pop band made up of a David, an Alf and a Geoff.
    —Liz Harris
    Curator
    Stephen
    Radar of Small Dogs
    (October 1, 2020)
    1. Loved By You
    2. Little Audrey
    3. Don't Know Why
    4. Thinkin' About You
    5. Tape Machine
    6. Windy Day
    7. Blowing
    8. Crystal
    9. Spins You 'Round
    10. Mary Had A Steamboat
    11. Tender Shoots
    12. Glover
    13. Splash Yre Jewels
    14. Kills All My Fun
    15. Relic (live)
    16. Hedgehogs (live)
    We are sold out of our subscriptions for this year, so we encourage you to follow David Kilgour online and buy from the artist direct! WEBSITE

    If you are a White Label Subscriber, check the White Label Digital Downloads page to grab the digital: 

    https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/pages/wls-digital-downloads

     

    Date

    September 03 2020

    Written By

    Joyful Noise Recordings

    WLS - September 2020

    Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - September 03 2020

    We are pleased to present September's 2020 White Label Series selection Gun Outfit, Clean Runs The Thread as chosen by Mary Lattimore.

    Gun Outfit
    Clean Runs The Thread
    (September 01, 2020)
    1. Song in Silhouette
    2. Like Fire
    3. Lineage
    4. Another Lifeform
    5. Time Slips Away
    6. Domelight
    7. High Planes Drifter
    8. We'll See
    9. Felt Myself a Beast
    10. Absent Mind
    11. Buried Deep
    12. Clean Runs The Thread
    13. Fade Out

    Upon moving to Los Angeles from Philly, I found the change to be disorienting, coming from this very deeply communal vibe of music and art and neighborhood friendship (with a bit of darkness and some solid middle fingers) in contrast to this sunlit and flower-strewn city of beach culture and music work and everyone scattered a drive apart. Although I welcomed the change and the wintertime technicolor, Los Angeles felt alien in a way, but when I met my friends in Gun Outfit and heard them play, I saw a layer that could be home.

    Gun Outfit reminds me of the best parts of playing music: the clear freedom and beauty in trying something out, no preciousness or posing; the fun of collaborating with different people and jamming to see what happens but being thoughtful about it because it's your favorite thing. It's a language I love, and you can't fake it--it rings so true when you hear it.

    So, I'm thrilled to be able to help present this compilation of some songs from past tapes put together just for this White Label Series, some re-worked or added onto—each with its own miniaturized history in there—and the sound of human connectedness and harmonies, new but familiar. Although it's released in this strange time when we can't really hang out except at a distance, this record feels like the opposite of a sterile quarantine, feels like the best warm company.

    Mary Lattimore
    -Curator

    ____________________________________________________________________
    We are sold out of our subscriptions for this year, so we encourage you to follow Gun Outfit online and buy from them direct! EMAIL / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM

    If you are a White Label Subscriber, check the White Label Digital Downloads page to grab the digital:

    https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/pages/wls-digital-downloads
     
     

    Date

    August 06 2020

    Written By

    Joyful Noise Recordings

    WLS - August 2020

    Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - August 06 2020

    We are pleased to present August's 2020 White Label Series selection Thelma, The Only Thing as chosen by Liz Pelly.

    Thelma
    The Only Thing
    (August 01, 2020)
    1. Stranger Love
    2. Sway
    3. Warm Guts
    4. No Dancing Allowed
    5. Take Me To Orlando
    6. Stephen
    7. Never Complain
    8. Solitaire
    9. Chosen Ones

    I met many incredible musicians during my time working at the Brooklyn art space Silent Barn. One of them was Thelma, the songwriting moniker of Natasha Jean Jacobs. When I heard her 2019 sophomore album, I was immediately struck: The Only Thing is a beautiful, strange, swelling synth-pop record, with shredding string arrangements and eclectic, expressive vocals. I was struck, too, by its sharp lyrics, some of which chronicle the inherent heaviness of living in a body, of invisible and internalized pains. Yet there also seemed to be an intriguing droll humor to these songs.  

    The Only Thing quickly became one of my favorite albums of the year. It wasn’t until after a few months of listening on repeat that I learned more about the struggles Jacobs faced in making and releasing it—about how during the process, she faced a number of medical emergencies including being diagnosed with a rare soft tissue disease that made it hard for her to even hold a guitar anymore. As a result, she wrote the skeleton of this record with one hand on a tiny synth while in recovery from surgery. “It was the first time I was able to enjoy making music in a few years,” she wrote in 2019. “I was reunited with the feeling that making music is The Only Thing that makes me feel a very particular and necessary sense of being alive.”

    Her medical condition also led to challenges finding label support for the record, due to her decreased ability to tour. She ended up self-releasing the album on cassette instead, and perhaps was better off for it. But hearing this part of The Only Thing’s story was a reminder of how the demanding touring expectations of today’s music economy can take a toll on the body and how, as Jacobs has discussed, ableist attitudes create a spectrum of barriers in all corners of the industry. I’m glad that the White Label Series can give these songs a vinyl pressing outside of those unfair and often invisibilized pressures.

    - Liz Pelly

    ____________________________________________________________________
    We are sold out of our subscriptions for this year, so we encourage you to follow Thelma and buy from the artist! BANDCAMP / FACEBOOK / TWITTER

    If you are a White Label Subscriber, check the White Label Digital Downloads page to grab the digital:

    https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/pages/wls-digital-downloads
     
     

    Date

    July 27 2020

    Written By

    Joyful Noise Recordings

    Announcing: Safe In Sound

    Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - July 27 2020

    Introducing: Safe In Sound
    Home Recordings From Quarantine

    Struggle and isolation often spawn great art. In this strange moment of history, we can't help but see the potential for creation... With all of our artist's sidelined from touring and regular life plans, we decided to commission the artists of Joyful Noise to record a new song from within their quarantine environment.

    Released today, Safe In Sound - Home Recordings From Quarantine features songs from 20 diverse artists, each written and recorded while isolated at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The 2xLP collection features new songs from a wide variety of artists, including Swamp Dogg, Deerhoof, Kishi Bashi & El Ten Eleven, C.J. Boyd & Will Oldham, Helvetia, The Ophelias, Kramer, Rob Crow & his kids, Thor Harris, Mike Adams At His Honest Weight, No Joy & Josh Kastner, Jad Fair & Hifiklub, Tall Tall Trees, SUUNS, Good Fuck, Dumb Numbers, Sound of Ceres, Magic Sword, and Ohmme. 

    The album is now available in its entirety via Joyful Noise website or Bandcamp. Available for download, and limited edition 2xLP White Vinyl (w/ instant download). 100% of the money goes to the artists, or to a charity of their choice. 

    Thank you for supporting. 
    <3 JNR

    Order Here

    VIDEOS MADE FROM QUARANTINE
    SHARE PLAYLIST:

     

    Date

    July 15 2020

    Written By

    Joyful Noise Recordings

    Announcing - Psychic Temple - HoTH

    Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - July 15 2020

    Greetings Music People,

    We are happy to announce the release of Psychic Temple's epic 20 song, double LP, Houses of the Holy.

    Behind it all is Chris Schlarb, mastermind and grand architect of Houses of the Holy. To construct this opus double album, while trying to dispel the myth that all double albums contain fluff, Chris decided to lead four existing bands into the realm of Psychic Temple.

    Each side of this gorgeous vinyl platter evokes a slogan of emotion. Beginning with (side A) Cherry Glazerr Songs of Love! Tenderness! Madness! Suicide!; flipped to (side B) Chicago Underground Trio Songs of Family! Music! Poverty! Dreams!; and new disc (side C) The Dream Syndicate Songs of Rebellion! Isolation! Hope! Escape!; to euphoric orchestral closer (side D) Xololanxinxo Songs of Spirit! Triumph! Unity! Reflection!.

    The album is available on Digital, 2xLP Black Vinyl, and limited VIP edition (350 hand-numbered copies on beautiful pink and vintage yellow vinyl with heavy black splatter). Vinyl is packaged in a deluxe gatefold spot-printed jacket.

    First single and available now: "Why Should I Wait?" featuring The Dream Syndicate. STREAM the single here. 
    VIP vinyl is pressed to Pink + Yellow with heavy Black Splatter, limited to 350 hand-numbered copies! Deluxe, spot-printed gatefold jacket.

     Pre-Order Here!

    Additional Formats:

    2xLP Black Vinyl
    Digital

     

     

     

    All pre-orders come with first single "Why Should I Wait?" feat. The Dream Syndicate instant digital download.


    FULL BIO:
     
    Psychic Temple mastermind Chris Schlarb believes that “there is no double album that would not be improved by removing its worst songs and making it a single album.” But with his new 2xLP release, Houses of the Holy, Schlarb sets out to prove himself wrong.
     
    In 2016, Schlarb opened BIG EGO, a commercial recording studio in the same Long Beach neighborhood where he grew up. There he produced everyone from Terry Reid and James Gadson to Swamp Dogg and Jim Keltner. A year later, he began work on Houses of the Holy: his own attempt at solving the double album puzzle.
     
    In the modern history of rock music, the double album stands as the ultimate creative indulgence, a moment for an artist to make their grand statement amid the excess of four sides of vinyl. And yet, there is not one double LP that escapes the curse of filler: “Wah-Wah” on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass; “Night Flight” on Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti; “Piggies” on The Beatles’ White Album; “Angel” on Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk.
     
    Schlarb’s solution: take four existing bands and lead them into the realm of Psychic Temple.
     
    Side A, recorded in the Joshua Tree desert with Cherry Glazerr, is five whiskey-fueled songs of love, madness, and suicide. Side B delivers the legendary Chicago Underground Trio, reunited after nearly 20 years, who wrap their unmistakable sound around songs written by Schlarb, Jerry David DeCicca and James Jackson Toth.
     
    On the precipice of entering their fourth decade as one the world's great rock bands, The Dream Syndicate explode when plugged into the Psychic Temple Universe, evidenced on Side C. As euphoric closer, the words of  Side D is a euphoric closer, featuring the words of cosmic street poet Xololanxinxo, supported by the album's largest ensemble: full orchestra, double rhythm section, and gospel choir.
     
    To hear Schlarb tell it, these four sides are the only Houses of the Holy that one ever need visit.

    Date

    July 13 2020

    Written By

    Joyful Noise Recordings

    WLS - July 2020

    Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - July 13 2020

    We are pleased to present July's 2020 White Label Series selection Beaver Sheppard, Downtown as chosen by Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint.

    Beaver Sheppard
    Downtown
    (July 01, 2020)
    1. Downtown
    2. No One Knows
    3. Full Moon
    4. Pain Go Away
    5. Everything At Once
    6. I Can Only See You
    7. Just Say I’ll Try
    8. My Oh My
    9. The City My Father
    10. Chameleon
    “Shortly after Adam Harding contacted me to pick a release for the WLS, I found myself driving around the hinterlands of northern New South Wales with my friend Sam Shephard (Floating Points). As we’re soundtracking this micro-road trip, Sam plays an incredible Richard Vilalobos track, teeming with brushy drum samples and warped vocals. He tells me the tale of Beaver Sheppard, a friend of a friend who would broadcast his demos at his own restaurant. 

    Villalobos had dined there, the soundtrack piqued his interest and they collaborated on the track "A Tornado Brain (Villalobos Inretro Baby Remix)”. It was one of the most exciting pieces of music I’d heard in an age. 

    The story was so jammed with humor and kismet, I took it as a glaring sign that Beaver’s music had to be my choice for WLS. I contacted him shortly afterwards. He was not only enthusiastic to engage, he wrote an entirely new album for the occasion. 

    I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Thanks Beaver!”
    Love, Stella Mozgawa
    ____________________________________________________________________
    We are sold out of our subscriptions for this year, so we encourage you to follow Beaver Sheppard and buy from the artist! BANDCAMP / FACEBOOK / WEBSITE

    If you are a White Label Subscriber, check the White Label Digital Downloads page to grab the digital:

    https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/pages/wls-digital-downloads
     
     

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