Dispatch 55: Solar Maximum perform LIVE at The Octopus in Oakland!

Dispatch 55: Northern California's ultimate drone lords, Solar Maximum venture out of their quiet El Cerrito HQ to perform for the masses at The Octopus Literary Salon in DT Oakland. The experimental psychedelic duo of Sammy and Heather Salazar are performing with friends Matt Baldwin, a folk psyche guitarist from the Berkeley, Ca folk-psyche scene of the mid-2000's and former Brian Jonestown Massecre alum and Birdman Records artist Brian Glaze &Tiffany's.
 The show is billed as a Night of Psyche and Drone and judging by the weight of the bill, its promises to be a fun evening on both counts.
 Solar Maximum start the night performing their Ritual of Duality at 10pm sharp, followed by folk psyche troubadour Brian Glaze & Tiffany's. Berkeley, California folk-electronic-psyche wizard rounds out the evening.
 The Octopus Literary Salon (2101 Webster) in DT Oakland, Ca. is a cafe & bookstore that hosts events ranging from book readings, poetry, to music and more.
 The Night of Psyche and Drone starts at 10pm and goes til midnight.

Dispatch 52: 4 New Thoughts by pallasCatfight

musician and poet pallasCatfight

Dispatch 52: "Both the price and reward of incarnation" is the latest poetic audio offering by pallasCatfight, an alter ego of SF bay Area based poet and musician Heather Salazar. Using just her voice, and knowing just when to break the pause, the thoughts about desire and emotions she delivers becomes a very intimate conversation.
 The poems were released on MCL Recording Co. thru the pallasCatfight Soundcloud page.
 Heather pallasCatfight is one half of psyche-drone duo Solar Maximum.

Dispatch 44: We are Now MCL Recording Co.

 Dispatch 44: Introducing our new name, MCL Recording Co. Same great bands, same great label, great new updated name. Contact us at mclrecordingco@gmail.com

Dispatch 41: Solar Maximum's Uranian Fire vinyl LP available July 25!

Dispatch 41: We are very happy to announce that our 1st experimental psychedelic album "Soundtrack: Event I Uranian Fire" will be available on 12" black vinyl Monday, July 25th (around 9 PM Pacific)! They will be available thru our label Bandcamp (musicforclosetlames.bandcamp.com) and BigCartel (http://handprintedbymclscreenworks.bigcartel.com/) stores. Heavy drone! Super limited run of only 143 pieces! They come in hand-printed and numbered jackets and (usually) a cool screen printed 11x17 in. poster insert.
This whole offering, inside and out, was conceived and executed by Heather and me (Sammy) just for you! We hope you enjoy it.
First one down, NEXT!!!
Always on Music for closetLames!

Dispatch 39 (Sunday Edition): From an imminent release to 6k bags of Cheetos! MCL happenings.

11x17 Poster insert for Uranian Fire

Dispatch 39: A little update of the lots going on at MCL HQ.

Ready for Imminent Release!

Solar Maximum is putting the final touches on the very limited vinyl 12" version of Uranian Fire, screen-printing the jackets and poster inserts. Only 143 hand numbered pieces will be available thru the MCL Big Cartel store, our bandcamp store and in brick-and-mortars around the SF Bay Area. The digital version of Uranian Fire has been getting some nice reviews so far and we are very excited to finally be releasing the album. Watch here for release date really really soon!

In the mean time, along with rehearsing for a live show debut, Solar Maximum has released another single track titled 'Empires' on our Soundcloud page. Come by and check it out and let us know what you think. Here it is:

Thao's Sunday

We are very, very excited to announce that the DS Peligro album titled Thao's Sunday is off to the presses for an October 2016 vinyl release on MCL. The album was written, recorded and produced by DS himself, curated by Heather and then mastered by Matt Kelley in San Francisco. The album artwork was designed by Sammy (Solar Maximum and MCLscreenworks).

DS is a one man experimental sound fiend. There's no way to accurately describe the genre, or even the time period of his tracks. One has to experience the prolific nature of this man's output to understand it. The passion and vision that come thru consistently are mesmerizing. Check him out!

PallasCatfight has been busy in studio recording and has released a few tracks thru her soundcloud page recently.

 What's Wrong With Me is a rocked up punk song with loud screamin' guitars and an equally loud and bratty vocal! This Pallas track was dug up outta the archives and as soon as it hit the ground it was on the run! Look for a couple more from Heather's archive to surface in the comin' months. 

Dispatch 38: An Informative Song About Birds of Prey - A New PallasCatfight Single

Heather Salazar is PallasCatfight.

Dispatch 38: PallasCatfight, aka Heather, has released her latest single "Seven Modes of Hunting." 
Like the headline reads, it's an informative song about birds.
Self produced and recorded at MCLscreenworks with music by Solar Maximum, Seven Modes of Hunting is yet another in the line of spoken word poetry, delivered in a package of swirling sounds and heavy emotion. A delivery style that leaves some tingling and has been compared at times to Throbbing Gristle. PallasCatfight and Solar Max are working on a spoken word EP for release later in the year.
 The song has been released on Heather and Sammy's Music for closetLames label thru the PallasCatfight soundcloud page and available for purchase at the MCL Bandcamp page.
 Heather Salazar is PallasCatfight and is also one half of "the ultimate drone lords" Solar Maximum, an experimental psychedelic duo with fellow musician and husband Sammy Salazar. Based in the SF bay area city of El Cerrito, Ca., they have been making music and art together since 1995 and have had the Music for closetLames label
since 1998.

Dispatch 37: Phonic theE Bomber Remixes Solar Max! SICK!!

Dispatch 37: In a really cool development from the maniacal mind of artist Phonic theE Bomber comes the sickest remixes of tracks from the Solar Maximum album Soundtrack Event I: Uranian Fire. (The album is available now at Bandcamp for streaming, 12" LP available really soon on black vinyl).
 The psychedelic as f#*k video remixes are totally beyond explanation (just how we like it!) and will certainly "render you susceptible to suggestion!" as Phonic said it. Look out!  Phonic goes all the way on these! They were originally posted to his YouTube page and shared thru his Facbook page.
 Phonic theE Bomber is a musician and visual artist as well as business owner in Oakland, Ca. He is a DJ and a member of the MCL musical collective known as Her Majesty theE Spleen as well as a whole lotta other things. He's an intense and busy man.

Dispatch 36: PallasCatfight/Solar Max Collabo Featured at CaliperMusic Blog Today!

I Know this is All in My Head by palaceCatfight

Dispatch 36: Lots going on these days with MCL artists PallasCatfight and Solar Maximum. They have the featured song at the CaliperMusic Blog today! I Know its all in My Head is the first PCF/SM collaboration track released a few weeks ago thru our soundcloud and Bandcamp pages and features a nice haunting vocal by PallasCatfight over an equally haunting track by Solar Maximum.
 PallasCatfight is essentially Heather Salazar and friends. Heather is also 1/2 of the Solar Maximum duo so she is all over this track! Nice work, H.
 Solar Maximum have been busy as heck these days making lots of great new friends with these international collaborations, releasing ones with DS Peligro in L.A, Trauma in Germany, the Dali of Guitar noise Bill Boethius in England, Mihaly Wulfen in Budapest, Hungary and palaceCatfight right here in-house. All of these can be heard at our bandcamp and souncloud pages. Come by and check them out if you have'nt already, some great stuff there!
 Its always exciting to see our music featured and we are always thankful for the exposure! Thanks Matt!

Dispatch 35: PallasCatfight and Solar Maximum release another collaboration!

 "When the Well of Tears is Dry but you're not Finished Crying"- palaceCatfight

Dispatch 35:  Solar Maximum and PallasCatfight have been keeping busy in studio making a batch of collaboration tracks together and having a great time releasing them thru the Solar Maximum soundcloud page and our Music for closetLames Bandcamp page where you can purchase these collabos as singles. Collect them all!
 The latest work is titled "When the Well of Tears is Dry but you're not Finished Crying". PallasCatfight is essentially Heather's project (along with various backup players) where she is vocalizing, mostly poetry these days but there is a new 3 song EP in the works for the near future which features Heather singing called Biggest Brat on the Block. Look out for that soon here on MCL. 

Dispatch 34: Solar Max Uranian Fire LP test pressings approved!

Dispatch 34: The test pressings for the Solar Maximum LP titled Soundtrack Event I: Uranian Fire (MCL343)

have arrived at MCL HQ and have been approved. The album will be available for pre-order soon thru the Music for closetLames bandcamp page. It will be a limited numbered release of approx. 143 copies (rare black vinyl) so get on it before they are gone.
 The LP jackets and poster inserts will be handprinted at our sister screen shop MCLscreenworks. Check back soon for availability.
In the mean time, the digital version of the album can be heard and purchased here at the MCL bandcamp page along with plenty of other cool music from the MCL family! Lets go!

Dispatch 33: New Solar Maximum single Devils Thrill (Moments1&2)

Dispatch 33: Devil's Thrill is the psychedelic and transcendental new single by Solar Maximum, our resident stoner jam-heads and their brand of minimalist riffage, once called a metal haiku. The track comes in at just under 14 min, so prepare yourself right, get comfortable, sit back and enjoy. The relaxing will come when you close your eyes and let the Devils Thrill fill ya. Come on, it won't hurt ya. It feels good to let the music flow right thru...anyway you dig it, we hope you do...

Dispatch 28: DS Peligro Track Featured at CaliperMusic Blog!

DS Peligro

Dispatch 28: Always nice to announce that Caliper Music has featured another MCL artist as the daily feature on the blog. This time around its experimental sound addict DS Peligro and his track "One Minute Funk" (which actually clocks in at 4:44 but hey, are we splittin hairs here?...). A super quirky track that makes you feel good.
So much more over at his soundcloud page. Headphones on, volume up, enjoy! ...Always on Music for closetLames.

Dispatch 27: MCL Welcomes DS Peligro to the label!

Dispatch 27: We are beyond excited to welcome DS Peligro to the ever-dysfunctional Music for closetLames family! From the moment we made contact via the mysterious ways of the internet (soundcloud in particular) we knew we had found a gem, a kindred spirit.
 A self-described AUDIO ADDICT!!! DS is legit from the start. As a kid in the early 70s he was recording everything from toilet flushes to construction sites to the bass guitar he pulled out of the garbage. And then layering sounds on an old reel-to-reel he salvaged from a fire.
At age 10 his dad gave him a CB Radio which he used to harrass local CBers with his very first radio program  "The Bubba Jones Show." Despite threats and near-constant attempts to triangulate his position, he was never discovered.  Then he moved on to dubbing cassettes and taping them to telephone poles. He was leaving them on the counters at local record stores.
In the early 80s, DS was quickly accepted into the tiny dark underground art scene. He had a 'highly unusual' setup of tape machines, effects units, a cheap synthesizer, and electric bass and one cymbal. His sound was raw, twisted, loud and distorted - so much so that he was often ushered out, and sometimes forcibly ejected from his own performances!
The late 80s were a mash-up of drugs, home recording, confusion, pirate radio (transmitted from his Mazda), and countless failed romances. Since then he's worked doing location sound and restoration for adult films, for radio stations (MARS FM 103.1), tv stations (KCBS, KTLA), and LA Theatre Works,
And he just can't stop! He's still recording!
 So head on over to his soundcloud page and take it all in! The quality and the pace of his output is stunning. Lots to hear. We will be including a couple DS Peligro tracks on our 2016 Music for closetLames sampler along with Her Majesty TheE Spleen, Palace Catfight, closetLames, Leather Pills and Solar Maximum. This year is gonna be hot!

Dispatch 26: First Solar Max and Trauma Collabo made Available!

Dispatch 26: We are very happy to announce a new collaboration project with sound artist Trauma in Germany. We met on Soundcloud and were instantly mutual fans. Trauma's offerings are a bit more electronically based than Solar Max and so we thought it might lead to a cool mashup! It has! Here is the first part of said mashup! Birthday Party is now beating like a heart! Trauma employs the Kaossilator on this exclusively. Take a listen and let us know what you think! More to come soon!

Dispatch 24: Solar Max at Bay Area Band Show

Dispatch 24: Waking up to the sun shining brightly and the birds'a singing, we thought what a cool way to spend this afternoon, heading across the San Francisco bay to record a podcast with Steve O'Sullivan and his Bay Area Band Show, www.thebayareabandshow.com
  We talked about all kinds of stuff from what got us into music to how we make this music, technically speaking. Also touched on a bunch of other things that we have going on with the band, the album and the record label.
 Steve has been a huge fan of music his whole life, and as he was wondering how he could pursue these musical fascinations for himself and his children, his podcast was born. He doesn't play an instrument or sing but he does have the curiosity bug and the love of music. So the connection. The bridge. The Bay Area Band Show. Artists love to talk about ourselves and our projects and Steve loves to listen and learn! A match made in his garage studio. We talked for about an hour then wrapped it up. We are only his third band to come in and chat and he's in the process of putting a few podcasts together before going live on iTunes. We can't wait, Steve!

 He's also interested in talking with anyone about possibly being on his show so if you're interested, hit him up at steve@thebayareabandshow.com, he would dig that!

Dispatch 23: Heather Caught in Palace Catfight!

Heather Salazar of Solar Max and Palace catfight owning the bass!

Dispatch 23: We have started re-mixing a few Palace Catfight (a project of Heather's) tracks to be included on the Music for closetLames sampler this spring. Look for a sneak peek on our soundcloud page coming up very soon.
 Palace Catfight is a project Heather has worked on and off for many yrs. Vocalizing over loopy analog beats that we've created together with an old keyboard rhythm thing along with screamin gtr and bass.  Lyrics about confusion, defiance and chaos. Rhythms reminiscent of Sleaford Mods in their repeatative nature.
 Watch for this, its gonna kick-ass!

Dispatch 14: SOLAR MAX band shot and fact sheet!

Dispatch 14: A new band shot by B. Salazar and the Uranian Fire fact sheet. These are part of our digital kit, including bio, links and some blog/ radio mentions and plays. Tues Dec.8th is the street date for Uranian Fire and we are stoked!