News

Date

April 07 2021

Written By

Joyful Noise Recordings

Announcing: Lou Barlow 'Reason to Live'

Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - April 07 2021

Today we are pleased to announce the new album from the hairy man behind Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, and The Folk Implosion...The one and only, Lou Barlow!

Over the last 18 months, we at Joyful Noise have engaged in an experiment with Lou Barlow known as the "Artist Enabler Club". This incredible series consisted of countless new and archival songs being released in limited formats to club members – and had the effect of creating a ton of amazing music that wouldn't have existed otherwise. The culmination of this creative experiment is the new LP, Reason To Live.

Featuring 17 new songs, this is Lou Barlow’s first full-length in 6 years (since 2015's Brace The Wave). A special early edition of Reason To Live (complete with unique hand-made artwork) was recently distributed amongst Lou's loyal Artist Enabler Club members. But on 5/28 the album will be released for the rest of the world – available on Light Blue Vinyl, CD, Light Pink Cassette, & Digital.

“People have this vision of me as this heartbroken, depressed guy, but this record feels so true to who I am, to this rich life I now have full of people I love,” he says. “The songs culminated over the last five years to show that music has returned to its central comforting role in my life. Now I’m home.”

Welcome home, Lou.

Available now, on Light Blue Vinyl, Light Pink Cassette, CD, & Digital. Order here!

Listen to Lou's latest single, "Over You," below!

 

Lou Barlow
Reason to Live
Release Date: May 28, 2021

  1. In My Arms
  2. Reason To Live
  3. Why Can't It Wait
  4. Love Intervene
  5. Privatize
  6. I Don't Like Changes
  7. Clouded Age
  8. Over You
  9. How Do I Know
  10. Cold One
  11. Thirsty
  12. Maumee
  13. Lows and Highs
  14. Paws
  15. Tempted
  16. All You People Suck
  17. Act of Faith

Date

April 01 2021

Written By

Joyful Noise Recordings

April WLS 2021: David Ferguson

Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - April 01 2021

Our second installment of the 2021 White Label Series is:

David Ferguson
Songs of “Cowboy” Jack Clement
Curated by Will Oldham

The first time I met David Ferguson on his home turf, we rendezvoused in a parking lot in central Nashville and his first words were “Get in the car, we’re going to Cowboy’s.” I think Ferg’s car at the time was a Lincoln Continental, white. I don’t know what I expected when I reached out to reconnect with Ferg (we’d met on a session in Los Angeles a few years prior), but this unforgettable visit to the Cowboy Arms Hotel and Recording Spa was nowhere in my mindscape. Ferg marched me in through the front office, introducing me to Alamo Jones on the way, and into Cowboy’s back office where Jack Clement held court. “Let’s pick one, Cowboy!” Ferg gently hollered, and they pulled instruments down from the wall and went right into a song I recognized from a Louvin Brothers record, “I’ll Be All Smiles Tonight”. Each time they hit the chorus (encouraging me to join in) both Ferg and Cowboy got these hideous grimaces on their face; their exaggerated, hilarious comical “smiles”.

Easily one of the greatest nights of music I have ever experienced was a formal celebration of the legacy of then-still-living Cowboy Jack Clement.

It was a star-studded event, and the absolute highlight was Cowboy himself getting ‘persuaded’ to hit the stage at the end of the evening to perform a handful of his standard performance repertoire, including the Rolling Stones “No Expectations” and Sandy Mason’s interior monument “When I Dream”. If you are going to pay tribute to a great musician, for god’s sake do it while s/he is alive.

David Ferguson and Jack Clement had a wild and unique relationship. Part mentor/student, part father/son, boss/employee; all friend/friend. When Jack was in his final months, part of how Ferg processed his imminent departure was in the making of this record of songs Clement had written. (Cowboy plays dobro and sings on “Guess Things Happen That Way”) Ferg is a great friend and a great man of music, and he is generous in sharing what he has and what he knows. Nobody else could have made this record, and it ranks as one of my favorite collections of recorded songs, as well as one of my favorite representations of humanity, in music or outside of it, that I’ve been blessed to be aware and in the proximity of.

-Will Oldham
Curator
    David Ferguson - Songs of “Cowboy” Jack Clement
    1. Gone Girl
    2. Guess Things Happen That Way
    3. Fools Like Me
    4. Baby Is Gone
    5. Somebody Bought My Old Home Town
    6. The Old Swimming Hole
    7. Ballad Of A Teenage Queen
    8. I Know One
    9. I've Got A Thing About Trains
    10. The West Canterbury Subdivision Blues
    11. Take Me Home
    12. The Air Conditioner Song
       
      Follow curator Will Oldham online: WEBSITE

      If you are a White Label Subscriber, check the White Label Digital Downloads page to grab the digital: 

      https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/pages/wls-digital-downloads
       

      Date

      March 16 2021

      Written By

      Joyful Noise Recordings

      Announcing: Kishi Bashi 'Emigrant EP'

      Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - March 16 2021

      The 26-minute Emigrant EP is a lush bluegrass-inspired album referencing the brutal history and harsh climate of the American West. Arranged and recorded over the last year (in Emigrant, Montana), this EP serves as a time capsule of the 2020 condition as it meditates on the anxieties of the COVID-19 pandemic, the comforts of nature, the pains of resource-fueled conflicts, and the resiliency that emerges from struggle. 

      Available now for Pre-Order, the Emigrant EP is released on Digital, Mountain Spring Clear 12" Vinyl, and Limited Edition VIP Vinyl. The VIP Edition is pressed on the unique vinyl color pictured below – which we're calling "Mountain Peak" vinyl – and is limited to 500 hand-numbered copies, including an exclusive bonus flexi-disc with full artwork. 

      Listen to the new track "Wait for Springtime" right here!

      The VIP Edition is limited to 500 hand-numbered copies on 'Mountain Peak' colored vinyl. VIP Edition includes an exclusive Bonus Track, pressed on square, yellow 7" flexi-disc, and including this incredible artwork by Cristina Daura! The track is an intimate rehearsal version of a cover by Regina Spektor, titled "Laughing With (Friday Evening Rehearsal with Charlie the 3 Legged Dog)." (*SOLD OUT*) 

      'Mountain Spring' Clear 12" Vinyl and digital formats are still available. Order any format here!

       

      Kishi Bashi
      Emigrant EP
      Digital: April 2, 2021
      Physical: May 21, 2021

      1. Cascades
      2. Wait for Springtime
      3. Laughing With
      4. Early Morning Breeze
      5. Those Days Are Gone
      6. Town of Pray

      Date

      February 25 2021

      Written By

      Adam Harding

      Dumb Numbers - Scars

      Written By Adam Harding - February 25 2021



      So happy to share our new single "Scars", the first new recording in 5 years by the Adam/Bonnie/Murph/Steve line-up!




      "Scars" is dedicated to the memory of our friend Jonathan Lee Horne, with proceeds going to Jonathan's family to help cover medical and funeral expenses. Jonathan was a good friend and a very vocal supporter of Dumb Numbers. Jonathan was excited to begin cutting the handmade lathes for this song. We miss him terribly. Big thanks to Moose for stepping in and finishing the lathe-cuts.


      FUCK CANCER




      About the music:


      In July 2018, I met up with Murph at Sonelab in Easthampton, MA for a quick recording session with recording engineer Justin Pizzoferrato (Dinosaur Jr, Pixies, Sebadoh, Sonic Youth). Murph was on fire, and I was super excited to be playing one of J's personal Jazzmasters through Frank Black's 1964 JMI Vox AC30! I have always had a certain level of self doubt every time I record (imposter syndrome), but I felt we really captured some magic and I was happy to attribute this to the tools I was given. The melody for this song came to me in a dream and I was lucky enough to have captured it upon waking before it evaporated (in almost 3 decades of making music, I’ve only been able to remember four or five of these dream melodies).


      The session felt really inspired but we never got around to finishing any of the songs. Fast forward to 2020 and we're all in lockdown in our separate quarters around the world, so I asked Bonnie and Steve to finally help finish "Scars" from the safety of their own isolated locations in Melbourne, Australia. "Scars" is also Bonnie's first post-stroke recording since suffering an Ischemic stroke in December 2019 and we are so proud of her (a year ago Bonnie was stuck in a hospital bed with zero mobility and the initial prognosis that she may never be able to play guitar again. She had to basically relearn how to play guitar and she's still a way better player than me!). And as an extra special little cherry on top, our friend Elissa Rose (who had previously performed spoken word on the Stranger EP in 2017) also contributes backing vocals.


      "Essence//Existence" is another Adam/Bonnie/Murph/Steve jam that originally appeared on Dumb Numbers II, but I always had a severe case of demoitis with this song. Steve's original demo bass was super gnarly and did this crazy high note thing during the breakdown at 3:01 that I always missed on the album version, so this new mix reinstates Steve's original demo bass track from 2015. This mix also showcases an alternate guitar take by Bonnie, and some additional lyrics which I removed from the album version for reasons that no longer feel important. This song was born during some spirited jams with Murph at Bedrock Rehearsal in LA. We never got to tour the second Dumb Numbers album, and one of my biggest regrets was not being able to play this song live and discovering what it might have become as a live beast, especially during the instrumental breakdown. "The great wah off” as Steve describes it!


      Both of these songs have been freshly mixed by Justin Pizzoferrato at Sonelab in Easthampton, MA and mastered by Pete Lyman at Infrasonic Mastering
      in Nashville, TN.


      - Adam Harding


      Date

      February 04 2021

      Written By

      Joyful Noise Recordings

      Feb WLS 2021: Joshua Virtue

      Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - February 04 2021

      The first installment of the 2021 White Label Series is Joshua Virtue Jackie's House -- curated by Lala Lala's Lillie West.

      I was introduced to Joshua Virtue by stumbling into a show of theirs at the Empty Bottle with their project Free Snacks. I took an out of focus video on my phone. Later their music collective Why? Records performed with me, Sen, & Nnamdi last January at one of the best shows I've ever been a part of.  
      Jackie's House, which was made during the first two weeks of quarantine in part to raise money for their mother, sister and grandmother, is my favorite thing Joshua has made. A self described "emergency album," it goes all over the place sonically and in subject - really showcasing Joshua's versatility and talent as a rapper and producer. It's both nostalgic and new, it moves between being very personal, big picture, and everything in between, it's both angry and sensitive. I just think it's really smart and really beautiful and I should let the record and Joshua speak for themselves. I am thinking about listening to it in a car in different seasons. Thank you to Joshua for the opportunity to share. I hope you all love the record as much as I do.
      —Lillie West
      Curator
        Joshua Virtue - Jackie's House
        1. the year 1
        2. Boxspring
        3. Arc
        4. Squirrel
        5. Armed Revolt Simulator
        6. nightingale
        7. Fenti Face
        8. Phil (feat. Rahim Salaam)
        9. 12 Billion Wulong! (feat. Ruby Watson and Malci)
        10. Trader Joe's
         
        Follow Joshua Virtue online: BANDCAMP / TWITTER / INSTAGRAM

        If you are a White Label Subscriber, check the White Label Digital Downloads page to grab the digital: 

        https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/pages/wls-digital-downloads
         

        Date

        December 09 2020

        Written By

        Joyful Noise Recordings

        WLS - December 2020

        Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - December 09 2020

        The final installment of the 2020 White Label Series is Raging Slab Sisterslab and the Boogie Coalition: Vol. I  -- as curated by THE Dale Crover.
        Raging Slab! Being some what of a late comer to them, they had a few records out already, but I had heard their current record at the time Dynamite Monster Boogie Concert and was hooked on them! So much so that I wrote a fan letter to the band and got one back from one of their three slide guitarists, Elyse Steinman!  This was the start of a long friendship with Elyse, her husband and lead singer/ guitarist Greg Stzrempka and bassist Alec Morton.  
        Elyse and Greg lived on a farm in a remote area of Pennsyltucky. I visited the farm a few times and discovered that they were huge collectors of kitschy, 60’s/ 70’s pop culture art/ toys/ film and huge lovers of all kinds music. We had similar tastes. I ended up playing drums with them for a few shows and some recording when the band was in between drummers. It was a real blast and they were fun people to hang and play music with!
         
        In the summer of 2014 I got an email from Elyse telling me she’d been diagnosed with lung cancer. Ugh! This was not going to get her down though. She told me that music would be the cosmic healer. She told Greg that she wanted to sing and record songs that she loved. I immediately wrote back and offered to play drums. This piece of wax that you hold in your hot, little hand is the result of those recordings.
        Elyse passed away March 30, 2017 after a three year battle against cancer. One of her requests was that a rock concert be held in her honor. There were two, one in NYC and one in LA. I played with the band in Los Angeles. There was a lot of love for Elyse in that room and I could feel her presence while performing.
         
        I’d like to thank Joyful Noise for giving me the opportunity to curate a record. I’m happy to have found a home for these recordings. I’d also like to thank Greg! I know this was a hard task to finish. And Alec, for his input. Elyse would be so happy about all of this! Forever in our hearts! Boogie!

         

        —Dale Crover
        Curator
        Raging Slab
        Sisterslab and the Boogie Coalition: Vol. I
        (December 1, 2020)
        1. Teachin' Blues
        2. Beggar's Day
        3. Be Stiff
        4. Billy Joe Young
        5. Slow Death
        6. Devil
        7. Friendzy
        8. As Long As I Live
        Follow Raging Slab online: BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

        If you are a White Label Subscriber, check the White Label Digital Downloads page to grab the digital: 

        https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/pages/wls-digital-downloads

         

        Date

        November 11 2020

        Written By

        Joyful Noise Recordings

        WLS - November 2020

        Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - November 11 2020

        November's While Label Series record is the Buckets Interstate Demo  -- as curated by Ken Layne (Desert Oracle).
        San Francisco was so cheap in the 1990s that people would move there when they ran out of money. You could get around on a $35 monthly MUNI pass, cable cars included, and there was always a rundown Victorian in need of another roommate. There were plenty of bar jobs, temp jobs, restaurant jobs, part-time work that afforded the luxury of doing the important stuff: boozy nights, bookstore afternoons, art and music.

         

        I washed up there in late 1992, having bummed around Eastern Europe for a while. Because I’d spent a memorable night carousing with Giant Sand in Prague, when I saw they were playing San Francisco’s Bottom of the Hill, I took the bus down to Potrero. The opening band started up just as I got my first beer, and within half a song I had relocated to the edge of the low stage.

         

        The music they played stuck right in my soul and have been there ever since. It was one of those rare moments when you walk into a bar and everything feels like a movie—and you’re in it, along with all these beautiful people: punks and bums and booze-bags, spirits high despite the usual load of troubles on everybody’s back.

         

        The group was called the Buckets. What you’ve got here is a platter of demo/single songs they put out themselves, or on minuscule 45 labels, in the era of grunge and alternative. “Postmarked Virginia” and “I Wrote This Song”—both performed that long-ago night at the bottom of Potrero Hill—are perfect country compositions, better than anything of the Nashville or Alt-Country of the time. The rockers had a bit of grunge, and all their music has soul and sincerity far beyond the jokey truck-driver premise of the band; none of them drove big rigs, as far as I know.

         

        Earl Butter and Wanderlean Taters were the heart of the Buckets, loaning themselves from the oddball folk group Ed’s Redeeming Qualities, but each lineup I saw in those years was terrific. I brought everybody I knew to see the Buckets, and nobody ever regretted it.

         

        —Ken Layne
        Curator
        the Buckets
        Interstate Demo
        (November 1, 2020)
        1. Postmarked Virginia
        2. Seven Babies
        3. I Wrote This Song
        4. Beer Belly
        5. Cowgirls
        6. Western Star
        7. Buckets Theme
        8. Pony Express
        We encourage you to follow the Buckets online and buy directly from the artist! BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

        If you are a White Label Subscriber, check the White Label Digital Downloads page to grab the digital: 

        https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/pages/wls-digital-downloads

         

        Date

        October 01 2020

        Written By

        Joyful Noise Recordings

        WLS - October 2020

        Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - October 01 2020

        We are incredibly excited to present to you, October's While Label Series record, Stephen, Radar of Small Dogs  -- as curated by Liz Harris.

        Stephen is a late 80’s Kiwi-pop project fronted by David Kilgour (the Clean). Radar of Small Dogs was originally released as a CD compilation on Flying Nun Records in 1993, and is presented here, for the first time on vinyl, digitally remastered from the original analogue master tapes.
        A little over a decade ago, in New Zealand, my tour mate Stefan told me about Stephen, the band in which, the joke went, initially there was no one actually named Stephen. Naming my own pop band Helen a while later might have borrowed from this idea a little.
        Somewhat inexplicably it all felt like…a description of place or experience I could relate to (rare feeling), but from a maddening distance; wrong hemisphere, a few decades too late. I suppose this describes ideal pop music in some ways— being able to tap into another’s experience, but with just enough distance, a sort of labyrinthian charm, to make you curious, to be pulled in. An invitation to discover what the heart of the connection is and in doing so perhaps unwind some curiosity in your own life. These songs carry a magnetic charm, the blush of nostalgia; many sound like a crush to me, bubbling for a moment with an emotion coming from down deep, light-hearted but fierce.  Clever songs, wistful and deep, but not worked-over to the point of wilt. Anyway, I won’t try to romanticize or describe Radar of Small Dogs much more— the record speaks for itself. The brief but wobbly-perfect projections of a kiwi pop band made up of a David, an Alf and a Geoff.
        —Liz Harris
        Curator
        Stephen
        Radar of Small Dogs
        (October 1, 2020)
        1. Loved By You
        2. Little Audrey
        3. Don't Know Why
        4. Thinkin' About You
        5. Tape Machine
        6. Windy Day
        7. Blowing
        8. Crystal
        9. Spins You 'Round
        10. Mary Had A Steamboat
        11. Tender Shoots
        12. Glover
        13. Splash Yre Jewels
        14. Kills All My Fun
        15. Relic (live)
        16. Hedgehogs (live)
        We are sold out of our subscriptions for this year, so we encourage you to follow David Kilgour online and buy from the artist direct! WEBSITE

        If you are a White Label Subscriber, check the White Label Digital Downloads page to grab the digital: 

        https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/pages/wls-digital-downloads

         

        Date

        September 03 2020

        Written By

        Joyful Noise Recordings

        WLS - September 2020

        Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - September 03 2020

        We are pleased to present September's 2020 White Label Series selection Gun Outfit, Clean Runs The Thread as chosen by Mary Lattimore.

        Gun Outfit
        Clean Runs The Thread
        (September 01, 2020)
        1. Song in Silhouette
        2. Like Fire
        3. Lineage
        4. Another Lifeform
        5. Time Slips Away
        6. Domelight
        7. High Planes Drifter
        8. We'll See
        9. Felt Myself a Beast
        10. Absent Mind
        11. Buried Deep
        12. Clean Runs The Thread
        13. Fade Out

        Upon moving to Los Angeles from Philly, I found the change to be disorienting, coming from this very deeply communal vibe of music and art and neighborhood friendship (with a bit of darkness and some solid middle fingers) in contrast to this sunlit and flower-strewn city of beach culture and music work and everyone scattered a drive apart. Although I welcomed the change and the wintertime technicolor, Los Angeles felt alien in a way, but when I met my friends in Gun Outfit and heard them play, I saw a layer that could be home.

        Gun Outfit reminds me of the best parts of playing music: the clear freedom and beauty in trying something out, no preciousness or posing; the fun of collaborating with different people and jamming to see what happens but being thoughtful about it because it's your favorite thing. It's a language I love, and you can't fake it--it rings so true when you hear it.

        So, I'm thrilled to be able to help present this compilation of some songs from past tapes put together just for this White Label Series, some re-worked or added onto—each with its own miniaturized history in there—and the sound of human connectedness and harmonies, new but familiar. Although it's released in this strange time when we can't really hang out except at a distance, this record feels like the opposite of a sterile quarantine, feels like the best warm company.

        Mary Lattimore
        -Curator

        ____________________________________________________________________
        We are sold out of our subscriptions for this year, so we encourage you to follow Gun Outfit online and buy from them direct! EMAIL / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM

        If you are a White Label Subscriber, check the White Label Digital Downloads page to grab the digital:

        https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/pages/wls-digital-downloads
         
         

        Date

        August 06 2020

        Written By

        Joyful Noise Recordings

        WLS - August 2020

        Written By Joyful Noise Recordings - August 06 2020

        We are pleased to present August's 2020 White Label Series selection Thelma, The Only Thing as chosen by Liz Pelly.

        Thelma
        The Only Thing
        (August 01, 2020)
        1. Stranger Love
        2. Sway
        3. Warm Guts
        4. No Dancing Allowed
        5. Take Me To Orlando
        6. Stephen
        7. Never Complain
        8. Solitaire
        9. Chosen Ones

        I met many incredible musicians during my time working at the Brooklyn art space Silent Barn. One of them was Thelma, the songwriting moniker of Natasha Jean Jacobs. When I heard her 2019 sophomore album, I was immediately struck: The Only Thing is a beautiful, strange, swelling synth-pop record, with shredding string arrangements and eclectic, expressive vocals. I was struck, too, by its sharp lyrics, some of which chronicle the inherent heaviness of living in a body, of invisible and internalized pains. Yet there also seemed to be an intriguing droll humor to these songs.  

        The Only Thing quickly became one of my favorite albums of the year. It wasn’t until after a few months of listening on repeat that I learned more about the struggles Jacobs faced in making and releasing it—about how during the process, she faced a number of medical emergencies including being diagnosed with a rare soft tissue disease that made it hard for her to even hold a guitar anymore. As a result, she wrote the skeleton of this record with one hand on a tiny synth while in recovery from surgery. “It was the first time I was able to enjoy making music in a few years,” she wrote in 2019. “I was reunited with the feeling that making music is The Only Thing that makes me feel a very particular and necessary sense of being alive.”

        Her medical condition also led to challenges finding label support for the record, due to her decreased ability to tour. She ended up self-releasing the album on cassette instead, and perhaps was better off for it. But hearing this part of The Only Thing’s story was a reminder of how the demanding touring expectations of today’s music economy can take a toll on the body and how, as Jacobs has discussed, ableist attitudes create a spectrum of barriers in all corners of the industry. I’m glad that the White Label Series can give these songs a vinyl pressing outside of those unfair and often invisibilized pressures.

        - Liz Pelly

        ____________________________________________________________________
        We are sold out of our subscriptions for this year, so we encourage you to follow Thelma and buy from the artist! BANDCAMP / FACEBOOK / TWITTER

        If you are a White Label Subscriber, check the White Label Digital Downloads page to grab the digital:

        https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/pages/wls-digital-downloads
         
         

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