December 4, 2020

Bandcamp Friday: Sweeping Promises + Man-Eaters LPs repressed!

Happy Friday everyone, and thanks to all who took part in our Cyber Monday sale. I want to start out by congratulating Sweeping Promises on earning a spot in NPR Music's 100 Best Songs of 2020, with "Hunger for a Way Out" coming in at number 82! Their debut album is back in print today, see below for more details. Another great album we released in 2020 is Man-Eaters' Gentle Ballads for the Simple Soul, which is also back in print, alongside a brand new music video for "Baptized in Spit". What a bunch of rockers.  New cassette releases from The Cowboys and Star Party just arrived and are ready to ship now! Be back with one final update to round out 2020, stay tuned for many exciting new projects in the new year ahead.

Sweeping Promises - Hunger for a Way Out LP [fourth pressing/500 + special random color copies]

What started as a bit of pressing plant experimentation has turned into a wonderful Bandcamp Friday exclusive. At the end of the second pressing of Hunger for a Way Out, our friends at Blue Sprocket Pressing ran a small batch of random color vinyl copies, which came out beautifully. There are 25 for sale, exclusively on Bandcamp, with 100% of sales benefitting Trust Tree, a small nonprofit arts and music camp for girls based in Little Rock, Arkansas. Lira from Sweeping Promises, who grew up near Little Rock, says, "What I love about Trust Tree is the environment of complete creative freedom the organizers strive to give to the girls who participate. I also admire the dedication of Trust Tree's team as nonprofit music and arts educators, a doubly noble effort in my opinion."  We also uncovered a few extra SP t-shirts (also exclusively on Bandcamp), with all proceeds being added to the donation to Trust Tree. We've also got a fresh new pressing of good old black vinyl LPs back in stock on both Bandcamp and our site. Stay tuned for more to come from Sweeping Promises in 2021!

Man-Eaters - Gentle Ballads for the Simple Soul LP [second pressing/100 on cheetah print gold/black vinyl]

Our favorite gang of Chicago rockers, Man-Eaters, have turned in a spectacular new video for "Baptized in Spit", just in time to coincide with the repress of their Gentle Ballads for the Simple Soul LP! We've done up an eye-catching 100 copies on "cheetah print" vinyl - a gold ripple base with black swirls. You'll have to trust us that it will look cool as hell when the records are pressed next week. You can preorder on Bandcamp or directly on the site. In the meantime, check out this glorious video.

Directed by Nando Espinosa Herrera and dedicated to Nick Sick.

RIP Nick Sick. Many knew Nick as the man behind Cowabunga Records, or from his days fronting Chicago's Birth Deformities (with Nathan Gattis who went on to form Man-Eaters). Cowabunga was one of the first labels that I mailordered from in high school and I was thrilled when Nick reached out to offer releasing a Slugz 7" after our first 7" EP came out on Feel It in 2011. Nick and I would have epic email correspondences (if you knew him that comes as no surprise :) and would talk records for hours whenever we would see each other on tour. He was a hardcore punk fanatic. The last time I saw him was on Fried Egg tour last year, when he drove over 10 hours round trip just to see our closest Midwest date to where he was living. One of the things I'll always remember Nick saying was, "You'll never know how much I love your band". That sums up just how genuine of a person he was. You'll be missed my friend, rest easy...

Birth Deformities and Slugz on our last night of tour - July 4, 2012 in Philadelphia.  RIP Nick (far right) and Sean (bottom left).

Cowboys + Star Party cassettes shipping now!

Shipping now! A brilliant new cassette EP from one of our favorite groups, The Cowboys, and a demo of fuzzy dream pop from newcomers Star Party. Last call for official Cowboys, Star Party, and Toms T-shirts! Ordering will stop after Sunday.