As many of you saw on our twitter and tumblr today marks our 7th anniversary. All this week we will be giving out some new music we are excited about. Today we are super excited to present to you the new ep from State Bird entitled Holy Spirits. For those of you that follow State Bird or the label know that this record has been a long time coming. It was recorded late last year at Tiny Telephone Booth in San Fransisco by Ian Pellicci(Deerhoof, Rogue Wave). The new ep finds State Bird treading new ground and new sounds. After a condensing to a smaller line up they focused and recorded 5 of their best songs to date.

State Bird – Holy Spirits Apple Lossless for $5.00

Get the song Good Vibes and 7 other songs on our new Spring Sampler that can be found at www.therecordmachine.net/sampler.

Update: State Bird – Holy Spirits is now available on Itunes . We are keeping the apple lossless available since it better quality then what you can buy on Itunes.

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

On Tuesday I was invited down to Lawrence to share a lot of new Record Machine releases with Richard Gintowt’s Lawrence.com Podcast. I played several new songs from upcoming releases. You can hear songs from State Bird, Max Justus, Perhapsy, Capybara, The Parade Schedule, Sam & Dan Billen, Caleb Winn and new solo song from Sam Billen.

Listen to the Podcast at Lawrence.com

First thing first we have a few exciting upcoming Kansas City shows. One is a not so secret basement show on July 18th with State Bird, Max Justus, Parade Schedule, and Capybara. We aren’t going to release the address for the show for another week. So keep your eyes on twitter for more infomation. We also have another showcase we are throwing on August 5th at Czar Bar with Capybara, Perhapsy, and Sam Billen. So that is 6 of our bands coming to KC in just a short time.

Capybara

We have signed Kansas City band Capybara and are going to re-release a new mastered version of their debut record Try Brother next month. They are going to be on tour for over 3 months from August to December. The tour will cover all parts of the country so you will have plenty of time and options to hear them.

Sam & Dan Billen

Sam & Dan Billen have worked on creating a documentary soundtrack for Porubsky’s Deli in Topeka. The record will also come out next month as a digital only release. Sam has also recorded a digital ep for us that we will be releasing next month as the song of the month.

The Parade Schedule

We are shooting for a September release of The Parade Schedule – Seeds To Be Planted, Trees To Be Cut.They are going to be going playing several shows in July and August. Check the shows page for information. We are going to be launching their first song of the month next week with their song Old.

Check the shows page for more info on all of them.

Whew that was a mouthful!

In case you skipped going to the front page of the website you should return to it and stream the entire new Perhapsy record. It is only going to be up for a limited time so check it out while you can.

Perhapsy – Perhapsy: Full Album Stream

Also earlier this month we shared some Cobra songs for our Song of the Month and I couldn’t help but repost Cobra’s most recent song. It is the original version of one my favorite State Bird songs “I Don’t Luv U Anymore”. He also gives an update that he is almost finished recording the Cobra record and that State Bird is working on their new record. Remember to keep checking his blog for more songs.

Link: Cobra website(www.jacobra.squarespace.com)

Video: Cobra – Natural Light Redux

Cobra is an ever evolving solo project from Coby Hartzler of State Bird. Each week Coby posts a new song to his blog(www.jacobra.squarespace.com). The blog is a interesting glimpse into a new project as it develops and prepares for full on debut later this year. At times the songs are a bait and switch evolving from simple lo-fi folk and building into full on post-rock. Other times they are the same complex folk songs that you have come to expect from Coby. You might even see some of these songs turn into State Bird songs as is the case with Uh Oh from their 4 New Songs ep. Here is just a sampling of some of our favorites. Go check out the rest of the songs and bookmark for a weekly visits.

Link: Cobra(www.jacobra.squarespace.com)

• Perhapsy- Perhapsy (The solo debut of Derek Barber from The Winston Jazz Routine and Every Gentle Air)
• Sam Billen – Untitled. (The second solo record and first on Record Machine from former Billions front man Sam Billen)
• Caleb Winn- Untitled (The solo debut from Caleb Winn from The Winston Jazz Routine, State Bird, and Every Gentle Air)
• Max Justus- No Mercy (Max Justus already has a follow up to last years Five Leaping Leopards. From the songs we have heard so far the title is pretty fitting)
• State Bird – Untitled (State Bird is also ready to follow up their last record Mostly Ghostly)
• Of Asaph – We Draw Crowds(Anthology) (An anthology of songs from the pre-Interstates band from Alex O’nan and Kyle Noltemeyer)

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Over the long weekend we found this fan video made for The Golden Glowing Mask and wanted to share it with you. Enjoy.

Here is a moment we have been wanting to share with you for a long time. You can even go over to Pitchfork.tv and check this video out with several others(yes that pitchfork). This video has been several months in the making. Countless hours were put into the stop animation of the video by TRM partner Mike Russo. Hopefully the song and video make you want to get out of your seat and dance right along with us.

For the August Song of the Month we actually have 3 songs! It is the rest of the new State Bird EP entitled 4 New Songs. They recorded the songs live with a few overdubs before their appearance at a summer festival. Originally there was only 50 copies made but we all loved the songs so much we wanted everybody to get their hands on it.  Feel free to download and pass around the ep. If you want to support the band please purchase their full length Mostly Ghostly.

4 New Songs as a zip file is available at: Download

Each song is available to listen and download individually at the songs of the month page.

From Tuneage

“I Don’t Love U Anymore” comes off their upcoming EP 4 New Songs and does a great job of showcasing what the band does well. Plus, for a title that implies downtrodden subject matter, the song is surprisingly bouncy, and I think it’s a great song for the pre-Friday blues.

Full Review: Here

From Mixtape Maestro:

Sampling musical textures from the Caribbean, South Africa and other sources of exotic noise, “Anymore” makes the always-awkward confessional ring with a jangly, effervescent glee.

Full Review: Here

Interstates debut record Run Run was reviewed by our French friends Beehave.fr

In French:

Run Run illuminera votre été de moments forts dans n’importe quel contexte, et il y a fort à parier que vous deviendrez vite accros aux souvenirs qu’évoqueront pour vous les géniales mélodies de cet album.

Translation:

Run Run will illuminate your summer(s) with powerfull moments whatever you go through, whatever you’re up to, and wherever you are. And you can bet you’ll get hooked to all the memories those marvelous tunes will print into you.

Full Review: French / English Translation

Our newest artist Max Justus got a review of his first single called Seven. A Limmerick Ox called it:

With backbeats steadier than the Rock of Gibraltar, synth pads glowing like sharp, glittering neon, and keystrikes coming at you like laser beams, it’s your smooth, sunglasses-at-night theme for whenever it’s just you against the naked city.

Full Review: Here

New Press:

Instrumental Analysis:

You have hollering, chants, horns and intermittent walls of sound. Throw in some Pilgrims and you’d have one hell of a party.

Full Article: Here

Quiet Color:

I never thought I’d like a track called “I Saw the Light” not by Bat for Lashes. My itunes is confused.

Full Article: Here

Photo: Interstates at recent show at Louisville record store Ear X Tacy

Interstates debut record Run Run is now available for download from Itunes.They have also finished posting all the parts of their tour documentary which you can watch here.

This month’s song is brought to you by State Bird.  If you have followed the label at all this year you would know how much State Bird has been at work. They have spent quite a bit of the year on tour and promoting Mostly Ghostly. Right before they headed off to Cornerstone this year they decided to record 4 new songs live at their home studio.  "I Don’t Love U Anymore" is one of the ep’s many gems.

Don’t forget to download last month song by Interstates- Welcome Insight

State Bird just released a recording session for Daytrotter.com. For those not familar with the site they have bands come in and record 4 songs live and post a new band Monday – Friday.  State Bird did new versions of Marching Through The Wilderness, The Golden Glowing Mask, I Saw The Light, and The Hollerin’ Mountains. Here is what daytrotter had to say about them:

But mostly, State Bird give the goods that are certainly uncertain, capitalizing on tangents and toasting all of their various influences to make a groove train anchored by words that seem uplifting and positive – filling hearts with love, getting enough rest and basking in light that could be the Lord’s or it could just be a super sunny ass day. It’s kind of immaculate and luscious no matter the source.

Full Article and Downloads: Here

They have also recorded an ep aptly entitled 4 New Songs. They sold out of all the copies that they made for the festival but for now you can listen to two new songs via their myspace.

"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

Video at The Monitor

State Bird executes musical feats that carry a high degree of difficulty for indie-rock bands. During Friday night’s show, the band incorporated heavy doses of funk (shimmering guitar, “Low Rider” percussion, falsetto vocals) and ended a tune with a drum circle (after bongos were surreptitiously placed next to the non-percussionist members).

Full article at Pitch.com

Coby Hartzler and Jared Riblet pen gorgeous, slightly off-kilter pop anthems that tread ground that might be familiar to fans of Pavement or Modest Mouse, but perform them like 60s love children who were raised in a thrift store.

Full Article at Westword.com

State Bird even recorded this acoustic video of I Saw The Light on a off day in New York City.

Interstates leaves for their first tour today. They well be traversing the countryside with their good friends Foxhole. Today also marks the pre-order of their debut Run Run.

Pre-order Run Run here.

Tour Dates:
May 2 @ The 930 Listening Room in Louisville, Kentucky
May 3 @ Capital Arts Theatre in Bowling Greene, Kentucky
May 4 @ One to One Studio in Jackson, Mississippi
May 5 @ Notsuoh in Houston, Texas
May 6 @ Mohawk in Austin, Texas
May 7 @ Monks in Abilene, Texas
May 8 @ The Monolith in Tulsa, Oklahoma
May 9 @ Main Street Cafe in Kansas City, Missouri