The Record Machine

Sam Billen did a podcast for his hometown Lawrence.com about the release of his new record Headphones and Cellphones that comes out next week. He also seems to mention his love of Surge a few times. They played the entire new record but more like a dvd commentary with an interview over the top of it.

Listen to the podcast: Here

Also Sam’s CD Listening & CD Release Party is on Friday at the Wonderfair Art Gallery. Be prepared for Piñata’s and pretzels.

More info on Wonderfair: Here

We have launched a brand new sampler where you can stream and download tracks from several of our upcoming records. Check it out over at www.therecordmachine.net/sampler.

Next week is our second A Night of Record Machine-ness in Kansas City for the summer. The last one was a great sucess. We had about 200 or more people packed into Bryce’s house for so much fun they almost fined us. This time we are having it at a proper venue: The Czar Bar. It will be to celebrate Perhapsy coming to Kansas City in support of their new record. They will be joined by Capybara and Sam Billen. It is going to be a great night and hopefully we can pack out 200+ people in Czar Bar so please come out. It also got a nice write up in the Pitch.

Also Perhapsy is going to be tour this week. Here are all the dates

7/30 Nashville, TN at The 5 Spot w/ Natalie Prass, Action!, Denney and the Jets, Daniel Pujol
8/1 Louisville, KY at Derby City Espresso w/ Parade Schedule and Great Grand Sons
8/2 Bloomington, IN at The Pourhouse w/ Parade Schedule and Heavy Hometown
8/3 Chicago, IL at Darkroom w/ Plenum and Distractions
8/4 Iowa City, IA at The Picador w/ The Wheelers and Scheusch
8/5 Kansas City, MO at Czar Bar w/ Sam Billen and Capybara
8/6 Oklahoma City, OK at Sauced
8/7 Denton,TX at Hailey’s w/ Sleep Whale, Dear Human and Eco -Toll
8/8 Jackson, MS at Sneaky Beans
8/9 East Nashville, TN at a House Show

Interstates Photo by: Bobby Giles

Both Interstates and Max Justus have been getting some great responses from their MP3’s of the Month.

Interstates released their remix of Brooke Waggoneer Eyes O’ Eyes last month and we got this response:

I’m going to get lost today. I’m going to stare into her eyes again and never come out – I can feel it. I know it’s going to happen, my senses are tingling inside me, like pins-and-needles in my limbs, like a heart attack, or falling upside down. She will be home soon, she will walk through the front door and she will want me to look at her. God, I have to do this everyday and every time it’s more dangerous! It feels like I’ve lost myself, her grey/blue eyes just pull me in – a world inside a world, deep and loved.

Full Review: Ear Garden

Interstates also played a show with Wovenhand and did a Podcast with Sojourn Music.

Max Justus Photo by: Scuddr

We have been getting the word out on Max Justus first off we sent out Ctrl_Alt_Dance video and MP3’s earlier this month. The folks at Idolator really loved it:

He revels in just making beats and bleeps and throwing them out there, and there’s always a hint of softness and beauty behind the retro goodies. It’s rare that this kind of thing strikes me as emotionally generous and fun.

Stuart Bury directed a video for Justus’ “Ctrl_Alt_Dance” that also has a simple warmth to it, matching the glassy beauty of the track. It’s little more than animated drawings of cute robots dancing. Sometimes the robots get a little nasty, but that’s about it. And I love it.

Full Review: Idolator.com

Ear Garden Picked up the on first single Seven from Five Leaping Leopards:

I’m trapped inside an old arcade-machine with clouds, quarters and a warm neon sky. I’m fighting evil with a special kind of super-power called a ’sweet, sweet love-axe’. I’m not singing, just dancing, waving, dying to the sounds of quiet machines and tiny pixel monsters with big bad smiles

Full Review: The Ear Garden

Earlier this week we sent out his latest single from Five Leaping Leopards called Altered Beast which you can hear on his myspace:

Darker, richer, and much more in the realm of dubstep, the track Altered Beast is a side of Max Justus you didn’t hear in our previous post.

Full Review: Above the Fold

And lastly we couldn’t agree more with The Culture of Me

This kid has something genius inside of himself that he wants to share and for fuck’s sakes, you all better listen up.  Do not miss out on this kid.

Full Review: The Culture of Me

Max Justus has some new press from Culture of Me. The writer breaks it down into 3 different points for us:

One, he makes some of the more beautiful, often instrumental only laptop electronica we’ve heard in 5 years or so. Two, Justus has offered up his first two records, Ophelia and Talk To Strangers, for free to download off his MySpace page and he’s dropping his third record, Five Leaping Leopards, later this year.  And three, anyone who seriously remixes C&C Music Factory’s “Everybody Dance Now” so well that we actually want to post it is worth their weight in gold.

Full Review: Here

Limmerick Ox that wrote about Max earlier this week covered Interstates:

If anything, their hypnotic, spacey, synth-loving grooves will help soothe the aggravations which accompany long-range car travel these days.

Full Review: Here

Interstates debut record Run Run garnishes press from its hometown paper the LEO Weekly:

The influences vary on many of the songs, but most of the tracks start off with a stripped-down, slower melody that eventually builds into an explosive jam. “Open Your Ears” feels like a primer for the rest of the album, but doesn’t hinge too much on the electronic backbeats of many of the other songs. “Sudan” is ambient and earthy, with a euphoric, harmonious climax.

Full Review: Here

Things have been fairly quiet since State Bird got home from tour. But don’t let that fool you. They are working on perfecting their upcoming Cornerstone performance. We have had some new press come in for them from Alarm Magazine.

"Listening to State Bird ’s songwriting duo Coby Hartzler and Jared Riblet talk about their respective styles in the studio is like listening to the Odd Couple’s Oscar and Felix talk about the ideal cleanliness of an apartment."

Full article: here

We also found a few new videos from their last tour. The videos were taken from a house show they played in Los Angeles.

A Voice As Old As Fire

I Saw The Light