AAAAAAHHHHH!!!! WE ARE SO PROUD AND EXCITED!!! Melanie’s handsome male counterpart, Peter, just got his album onto iTunes. You can buy the download for $9.99 (just search for “Peter Rainbeau”on iTunes) or vinyl records are available through peterrainbeau.com, or in person at Icon or Clinton Street Records! Melanie herself did the cover art, and many wonderful Iconians contributed vocals, musical skills, and beer-drinking to the effort. Granted, we are not totally objective, but objectively we can say that this record is so amazing, beautiful, and totally unique. Woo hoo!!!! Listen to it!!! It will fill you with sparkles.
HOLY CRAP!!! After almost a year of hard work by Peter and tons of awesome friends and family, Peter’s vinyl is done, the mp3s are live, and YOU CAN BUY his amazing mister-piece! Starting today you can buy the vinyl at Icon, and over Peter’s website, peterrainbeau.com, or through bandcamp.org. You should go to Peter’s website to check out the cover art! It’s so rad.
The cover was hand drawn (sooooooo many hours), lettered, laid out by Melanie, and printed by our dear friend Adam Porterfield. Super rad die-cut sleeve with reversible lyrics insert (you’ll see). AND if you buy the record you can hear several Icon artists (namely Melanie and Alena) singing background vocals on a couple tracks!
WE ARE SO EXCITED.
The marvelous Peter Rainbeau in action with Ted Pecchio! Working on tracking a couple days before heading into the studio to mix. We’re in the last 48 hours of Peter’s Kickstarter campaign and I (Melanie) have a couple things to report: last night I got to listen to the final mixed versions of the songs they’ve completed thus far, and it was mind blowing. So, so, so amazing. If you’re wondering what Peter’s music is like, think Leonard Cohen, ELO, Marc Bolan, Roy Orbison, and Hoagy Carmichael all rolled into one magical package.
Speaking of packages, my dear friend Adam from Golden Rule Design and I are collaborating on the design for the vinyl and holy crap. Peter’s getting only 200 super special vinyl records printed that are going to be gorgeous works of art. Colored vinyl, gold dust sleeve, hand separations and screenprinting—even if you don’t have a record player you’ll want one. They’re going to be stunning!
We’re almost there, help get us over the mark AND reserve one of the vinyl copies of the album—if you don’t you’re going to be really jealous of those who did.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1551528150/peter-rainbeau
Only a few days left to buy yourself the satisfaction of a life’s dream completed! That’s right, you can BUY CREATIVE ACHIEVEMENT for literally $1 by contributing to Peter’s kickstarter! His album becomes your album; his hard work is your hard work! You can brag to your friends, “I helped make this awesome album” and for once it’ll be true!
$10 gets you a download of “your” album and $25 a limited release vinyl copy, but you can seriously give as little as you want. $1, $2, it all helps!
The clock is running out to pre-order/help support the BEST ALBUM EVER. The illimitable Peter Hurteau needs help mixing and mastering his seriously amazing, beautiful, crazy awesome first album. $10 gets you a digital download, $25 gets you a super limited vinyl pressing AND a download. Sweet deal!
Trust us, you want this album!!! If you have doubts, just check out how awesome the kickstarter video is: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1551528150/peter-rainbeau. Two words: cat saddle! Three words: chicken wizard costume!
That’s right! Melanie’s fellow (who is, incidentally, the most wonderful, funny, insanely talented and awesome person on the planet) is raising money to mix, master, and press vinyl of his first official album! It is absolutely beautiful, and features the vocal and instrumental stylings of many friends, some of whom work at Icon! A $10 kickstarter donation gets you an mp3 download of the album; $25 for vinyl and download, other rad prizes….
Melanie’s dude/fellow/partner/best friend/favorite/significant other, Mr. Peter Hurteau, is releasing his first album!! He needs money for mixing, mastering, pressing vinyl, and printing a very limited release of the record. The album is FREAKING AMAZING. Seriously beautiful and complex and unlike anything you’ve ever heard. Amazing.
NOW YOU CAN HELP MAKE IT A VINYL REALITY!!!
Do it!!!!
Melanie loves Dead Moon!!
Four Dead Moon albums available at the shop for only $13 apiece, including Range Rats, a COUNTRY album made by Dead Moon in 1985, but just released recently. It is SO AWESOME.
Pictures were for a post on our retail blog: velvet-empire.blogspot.com, ch-ch-ch-check it out!
While we’re talking about it, what do y’all think about Velvet Empire? Good name? Does it make you want to buy stuff?
Love!!!
WE HAVE RECORDS!!!
Got our first shipment in; these are all from Mississippi Records; we’ll be getting a bunch more by next week! Listening station coming in the next few weeks, although you can always read our expert reviews, and then you don’t even need to listen to stuff. Trust us.
Record Review: Abner Jay, Folk Song Stylist
This album is incredible. It’s the kind of record that you buy and can’t stop listening to, because it stirs deep feelings inside—it’s like there’s something in it that you can’t quite get at, and you want to keep listening to figure out what it is.
One of the amazing things about this album is the diversity of its sounds. Like Jay’s other album we’re carrying, “True Story of Abner Jay,” what’s most amazing about his music are the chameleon, addictive melodies. Songs breeze through southern blues, folk, gospel, and rock. This is a cleaner, more polished sound than “True Story,” but both are amazing. His musical intellect shines through all the songs, which range from fanciful to political, and are all gut-wrenching. The richness and range of his voice is incredible.
There are too many standouts on this album to list, but I’ll mention ‘Lord Randal’ because I’m listening to it right now—it really gets me. I’m a sucker for 60s/70s folk renditions of traditional Irish/Scottish ballads a la Joan Baez, and this is in that ilk, although way more awesome. It starts off as haunting vocals, and then an amazing poppy, almost African-sounding drum and rhythm guitar come in. Love it. Many of the songs are political, and all are deeply historical and self-aware, referencing musical and social history.
Eric, owner of Mississippi Records, says that Abner Jay is his favorite artist on the label, and it’s easy to understand why. If you buy one record, this may be it!
Records will be available at Icon tomorrow (Wednesday)! For real!
Record Review #1: Last Time Around
First of all, how awesome is this record cover? When I picked this up, Eric from Mississippi Records said, ‘It sounds like the cover looks,’ which is a pretty spot-on comment. A selection of gospel songs from diverse artists.
Spacey electric guitar under traditional gospel songs, with an eerie, haunting sound throughout. Equal parts ghostly, godly, and psychedelic. My favorite is probably the last song of the album, the female, 60’s-vibe rendition of ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’ by Theotis Taylor.
Definitely worth buying, this album is rad.
Records will be available at Icon starting on Saturday (hopefully)!
We are so, so thrilled to announce that we will be carrying records from Portland’s amazing Mississippi Records label.
We are HUGE fans of Mississippi Records, and if you’re not, get ready, because you’re about to be. Eric Isaacson, who owns the label and record shop of the same name, issues records that might otherwise be lost forever (we personally own some AMAZING southern field recordings from the early 1900s south that Miss. Records released), or never released in the US. He specializes in old southern folk and blues, as well as contemporary African music, and all kinds of other amazing, beautiful, weird, interesting stuff. Not to mention a little band called DEAD MOON (this is where we fan out hard. Dead Moon is the best band ever and we love them).
We’ll be posting pictures and little reviews of the records to tickle your fancy. Records will be available starting Friday or Saturday this week, and very soon we’ll have a record player/listening station so that you can come in and give things a listen!
