The Record Machine

So 2009 has been such a crazy year for The Record Machine. I love this time of year. I feel like personally I start winding down a bit and get to look back over the last year and see how far we have come and start to dream on how much father we can get next year. So first off let me talk about 2009. We released 6 records which is twice as many in a single year then any year in the past. Every one of them are amazing and I believe so much in all of them and I am so thankful that so many of you have too. If you didn’t keep up with us here is what we released:

Perhapsy – Perhapsy
Max Justus – No Mercy
Capybara – Try Brother
The Billen Brothers – The Porubsky’s Soundtrack
Sam Billen – Headphones and Cellphones
The Parade Schedule – Seeds To Be Planted, Trees To Be Cut

Such wonderful music there. We also released so many great songs and ep through this website that I am proud of. I think the Song of The Month project is only going to blow up more. Sam Billen’s Remover record will be released as one song a month for the next year. We also have some really great stuff planned over the next year. To look at the future here is what we have in the works: A new Max Justus record, New State Bird EP, Saharan Gazelle Boy(solo record from Darin of Capybara), Split 7″ with Cowboy Indian Bear and It’s True, A physical release of the Porubsky’s Soundtrack. And that is just the stuff we should have out before May! There is a lot more question marks on when things will be finished but I think we should have at least 6 records in 2010 if not more.

As our tradition over the last few years I have been collecting Best Of Lists from all of our bands, graphic artists, and other companies we work with. I always enjoy seeing what others are listening to and end up finding a release or two that might not have heard of otherwise.

Nathan Reusch (co-owner of The Record Machine)
Top 10 Records I didn’t release
(Note- This is the first year we had too many releases to even try to figure out where they are in my list.)
1. Fruit Bats – The Ruminant Band
2. Grizzly Bear – Veckamist
3. Here We Go Magic – Here We Go Magic
4. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
5. Bear In Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth
6. Deastro – Moondagger
7. St. Vincent – Actor
8. Real Estate – Real Estate
9. Washed Out – Life of Leisure / High Times
10. Neon Indian – Physic Chasms

Mike Russo (co-owner- The Record Machine)
10: phoenix
9: hyperdub
8: deloreon
7: underwater peoples comp
6: discovery
5: Salem – we make it good mix series vol. 11
4: pictureplane
3: animal collective
2: Wavves
1: teengirl fantasy
bands I would love to put on this list, but didn’t actually have a full album (I. e. promising for next year): joker, the laze, OoOOo, windsurf, miike snow, torro y moi, yeasayer, and viernes.

More best of lists after the break:
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Click here to buy TRM’s 5 2009 Releases for just $15

2009 has been one of the biggest years in Record Machine history and we wanted to celebrate that with an awesome offer for you. From now until the end of the year we are running a special where you purchase all 5 full lengths we have released this year in one special download for just $15. That is a cost of just $3 a record and that is a saving of $35 dollars. You will get these really great releases:
1. Perhapsy – Perhapsy (Released in June)
2. Max Justus – No Mercy (Released in July)
3. Capybara – Try Brother (Released in September)
4. Sam Billen – Headphones & Cellphones (Released in November)
5. The Parade Schedule – Seeds To Be Planted, Trees To Be Cut (Released in December)
Or if you want an old fashioned cd feel free to head over to our online store and pick up any of our records with this 10% off coupon: “record10friends”

Click here to buy TRM’s 5 2009 Releases for just $15

Also Popwreckoning sent out a writer to review our showcase last week at Czar Bar. She has way too many amazingly nice things to say about us and even more amazing words about our great bands:

To sum it up, everyone, everything, every instrument and even every piñata was brimming with life Friday night for The Record Machine’s Holiday Showcase. Kansas City and its wide range of musicians and the people who love them pullulated with energy, indeed making it a holiday night to remember

Read the full article and see some pictures here: Popwreckoning

Also RIP Winne the Pooh and Hipster Ethan piñatas that we had that night. You are sadly missed.

We are excited to launch our first holiday compilation entitled The More The Merrier Christmas. The compilation was curated by Sam Billen as he hand picked all the artists that appear. It features classic and new songs from Sam Billen, Nathan Philips(The Winston Jazz Routine), Andrew Connor(Ghosty), Joshu, Taylor Hollenbeck(Old Canes) and Andy Smith with Brian Lee and His Orchestra(Paper Route). You can stream and download the entire comp below and post it on your blog or social networking site.

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Tomorrow is our first Holiday Showcase. We are quite excited about having Capybara, Max Justus, Sam Billen and Motorboater all together on one bill. It is the perfect way to start off your holiday season. Please come out and support everyone.

Capybara – Magpies

When Capybara was out on tour they realized that they were going to be in the same place as our above capybara buddy Caplin Rous. They thought it would be perfect opportunity to have some capybara convergence. So they sang him their song Magpies.

This week we have had all sorts of great promotions with them first off 96.5 The Buzz had them come in and do an interview on Sunday night for the local show. We had a great time and they invited them to come back Today and play a few songs on the air. So we have acoustic versions of 2 songs below. They also were featured this week in the Pitch.

And finally Tuesday was the release of The Parade Schedule’s debut album Seeds To Be Planted, Trees To Be Cut. We are offering Backyard as the first single as a free download above. Please check it out and feel free to post the mp3 player on your blog or myspace if you like it. You can pick it up over on itunes.

Purchase a physical copy for $10.00

For this week and this week only (12-1 till 12/11*extended) you can stream and purchase the entire new Sam Billen record for only $2. And if you can’t afford that give us your email address and get the song Different Lives for Free!! Please share these widgets with your friends on facebook, myspace, twitter or whatever you might do.

The Record Machine Holiday Showcase

(poster by Rob Mitchell)

Also we are throwing our very own first Holiday Showcase here in Kansas City on December 11th. It is at The Czar Bar and will feature Max Justus, Capybara, Sam Billen and Motorboater. In celebration of the show we are giving away a holiday showcase sampler where you can download the show poster and a song from each band TRM band playing the show.