We knew when we committed to releasing an album every month we had some great new releases in the pipe for everyone to enjoy in 2010. I have to say that while every release in our catalog has a certain special place in our hearts this one does for me for several reasons. Saharan Gazelle Boy – Airplanes Can’t marks TRM’s 20th release in just under 7 years. While that might not sound like much it is pretty awesome for us a label to get to that point. This release is also the first release to have several songs recorded at my own home. For those not familiar with the name Saharan Gazelle Boy it is the solo project of Darin Seal from Capybara. Airplanes Can’t encapsulates everything I love about bedroom pop. As with these releases you will be able to hear a stream of the album and if you can’t afford the $2.00 you can download just a song for your email address.

One Too Many Mornings has been one of the hits of Sundance. We have been excited to have Capybara involved in the score. I had a chance to watch the movie for the first this past weekend and I can genuinely say that it was truly a great film. In addition to being a great film Capybara did such a good job highlighting the moments. This is their first new music that are releasing as a band since Try Brother and it gets me really excited to see what is next. We decided we wanted to make the score as much of an awesome deal as the movie is:

And last but not least please do yourself a favor and head over to:
www.onetoomanymornings.com and pick up a copy of the film.

A few months back we ran a remix contest for Capybara and we got several great remixes from everybody. You can hear them on the Capybara website. We were extremely excited to get this awesome remix from John Bersuch(from more KC bands than you can count). It was the clear winner in all of our minds. Thanks to everyone that submitted something and we are still taking more remixes on the Capybara site. Pictures to come soon from the unveiling party.

Download: Capybara – The Wimp (Wimpybara The Cap by John Bersuch)

We are also excited to let you know that One Too Many Mornings is debuting this week at Sundance. A couple of months ago they contacted Capybara and asked if they could write a score for their movie. This is the first new material to be recorded since last years Try Brother. Check out the trailer below featuring new Capybara music:

Unlike many other movies at Sundance One Too Many Mornings will be releasing the movie via their website the day after they premier it at Sundance for a digital download. From the little bits and pieces I have seen and heard it well worth the 10 bucks for a digital download if not more then that for the other packages.

In addition to new material for the movie Darin Seal from Capybara is releasing a solo album with us next month as Saharan Gazelle Boy. It will be part of $2.00 albums special. We will have some previews up of it real soon but till then you can hear some older songs on his myspace.

And you won’t have to worry about Capybara disappearing either. In 2010 they will continue to be writing new material and playing shows. They will also be releasing more tour videos from last years tour.

The other day I was out with a friend and we were making jokes about how 2010 is like living in the future. We were at a movie and we were watching the previews thinking “Man movies in the future are going to suck”. Well the statement has stuck with me and got me thinking about the future of music, and what I want to do with it. I felt like this was a good time to launch some new things for our website. One of the things I have been wanting to do is release albums for $2.00. So we are going to be releasing at least one album a month from our website for $2.00. If we don’t have a new release to do at the moment we will do something from our back catalog. The album will also be streaming from our website and you will be able to post the player on your facebook, blog, twitter or whatever social network you would like. I think this will be a great way for people to pick up something new and not feel too guilty about it.

Our first album that we will be releasing with this new tradition is The Parade Schedule – Seeds To Be Planted, Trees To Be Cut. Even though it came out last month we wanted more people to get a chance to pick up this album at this price. It is the long awaited debut from Louisville singer/songwriter Matt Kinder. The album has been in the works for just over 2 years and I am very excited to help Matt get it out. It is a very honest and mature debut album for someone that I think will be around for a long time.

The Parade Schedule is also going to be out on the road this month to support the album this month here are the dates:
January 8th CD Release Party at the 930 in Louisville, KY w/Peter Bradley Adams
January 29th at Czar Bar in Kansas City, MO w/Oriole Post and Grizzly Hands
January 30th at The Firebird in St Louis, MO w/Owen Pye
January 31st at TBA in Cincinnati, OH

or if you can’t afford $2.00 you can download the song Backyard for free below.

Update: Sale has now ended. Thanks everyone that purchased.

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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