Dispatch 50: Explosion or Implosion: ATTN:Magazine Thinks the Latter

Dispatch 50: Sounds like Jack at ATTN:Magazine in England had a really good experience while listening to our album for review. He writes about the implosion sensibility of the record, an inward look as opposed to an outward expression of the album. He then paints a really great visual picture with words.
 ATTN:Magazine is based in Bournemouth, England and features interviews, articles and reviews on new experimental music and sounds.
 Read the review here.

Dispatch 49: DS Peligro Vinyl Now Available at MCL Bandcamp!

Thao's Sunday LP with poster insert

Dispatch 49: The DS Peligro album Thao's Sunday is out and  available at the MCL Recording Bandamp store along with the previously released digital download! It was made available with a record release celebration in Venice, Ca. on Oct.15th, just in time for xmas.
 Sit back and enjoy. It's a dark rock album with roots in dub and guitar rock. These eleven fantastic tracks tell a full story that is ripe for interpretation by the open mind of the listener.
  The classic black vinyl 12" album comes with partial dimensional printing on the jackets and the usual for all MCL albums, an inserted handprinted 11x17 poster. All the designing and printing was done at MCLscreenworks. Instead of the boring old download card, all our records have a card inserted prompting one to email us here at MCL Recording and we will send you a digital version for free. (I here the interns are throwing in freebies now and then!).
 Thao's Sunday is available here.

Dispatch 47: Solar Maximum Releases New "Black Triagles/ExtraDimensional Love EP"

Dispatch 47: MCL Recording Co is happy to announce the release of the new EP by the ultimate drone lords, Solar Maximum. The EP features 2 heavy droning, yearning tracks. As Bill Boethius in England says about the EP, "what a beautiful contrast - the lightly skipping vocals over the deep lugubrious drones ... and yet the vocal is unsettling to .. opens out to a dark and immense dimension. This sets the mind to endlessly speculate on the black triangles on a subliminal level..."
Check it out for yourselves. Fortified with Poetry by pallasCatfight.

Dispatch 46: Solar Maximum Release Full Live Performance Video

Dispatch 46: On a warm summer evening in early September, Solar maximum did an intimately live in-store performance at Hercules Records in Berkeley, Ca. A single stationary camera documented their performance.

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 32: Solar Maximum interview on Bay Area Band Show podcast!

Dispatch 32: Solar Maximum is the featured interview this week on Steve O'Sullivan's podcast called Bay Area Band Show released at iTunes.  We went over to his place in San Mateo, sat in front of the mics and talk for a bit about what we do and kinda how we do it. He plays some music off the new album as well as the single Circular Logic. Thanks Steve, we had a blast.
 He's always interested in talking with musicians in and around the bay area, hit him up at www.thebayareabandshow.com

The Sunday Edition #4: Poetry, videos, JFK?

[For your Sunday afternoon reading and/or viewing pleasure, we present vol.4 of THE SUNDAY EDITION at Music for closetLames. A bit of this, a bit that, maybe art, whatev's. May include contributions from friends, associates, accomplices, not to exclude detractors, and maybe even us sometimes. So, kick back and dig in...]

(Page 1)
A poem By Heather Salazar

Oh yes - the city sound
It fills up in aroud you
carries you down
slick black gum dotted
sidewalks like a river
it muffles, screetches and clicks
is greater than the sum
of its hearts
the sun of its heart
it heaves and moans
drowns out
the sounds
of ancient voices
ancient vices
oh it rises up
crests and pulls us under
crashes around as
you sit with your coffee
going cold
as you sip with your
heart going cold
and it buzzes there
about four feet high
like a cloud like fog
you can wrap up in it
wrap it up
and there's nothing like it when it stops







oh you can hear it
you can sing it to me
send it to me
we can harmonize rise above
rise with it
we can ride it

oh yes find
the right corner and it
- the sound -
will resonate just right
to drown out
ameliorate
anxiety, mistakes
all that crap you ate
the crap you hate
it will make you forget
how to fake
forget to make way
to plan your escape
 

(Page 2): A video by DS Peligro

TRANSMISSION ALPHA - Master Mix from David Spero Peligro on Vimeo.



(Page 3): The JFK Assasination
I've always been interested in the fateful events of  Nov 22, 1963 in Dealy Plaza, Dallas, Tx. Presented here are a couple of podcasts by professor Jerry Kroth from Santa Clara University that really shed a lot of light on the events of that day. I hope you enjoy them. -Sammy

Sunday Edition, Vol. 1: Conversation on the subject of The Fall

[For your Sunday afternoon reading pleasure, we present the first volume of THE SUNDAY EDITION at Music for closetLames. A bit of this, a bit that, may include writing from friends, associates, accomplices, not to exclude detractors, and maybe even us sometimes. So, kick back and dig in...]

CONVERSATION on the subject of THE FALL.
Byline: John Middle, Oakland, CALIFORNIA

My old friend Tim Ascough recently regaled me with a dense and expectorant sodden missive on the subject of his intense loathing of THE FALL. As a long time FALL fan I have been made aware of such feeling many times before by many people from many different walks of life. Particularly in the early 80's (when I was initially developing my appreciation of their music) I found myself on the receiving end of negative feedback ranging in tone from incredulous and disbelieving to hostile and annoyed upon playing THE FALL or bringing them up in conversation. Certainly I was never taken aback as THE FALL have a sound and musical angle that can only be described as difficult, abtruse, challenging, ramshackle, cacaphonic and so on ... and so on. Mark E Smith, THE FALL's only permanent fixture at this juncture has a vocal style that de-emphasizes range and key by way of skewing more in the direction of squeaks, mumbles, hard consonants and hard-talk. I generally assumed that I would be alone in my affinity with their din. Back then THE FALL as a band were not considered "cool" at any level. Mark E Smith was considered an annoying but persistent fixture on the "scene" by most. The band dressed "wrong". Their Link Wray/Beefheart/Van Der Graaf Generator/Iggy Pop/CAN/FAUST/Velvet Underground/Country and "Northern" influences were over most peoples heads. They slagged off your favorite band without hesitation in the media...etc etc. When you met folks who were into THE FALL back then you came across a certain type of music fan. 'Committed' in a word. The type of music fan who understood that great music is oftentimes only revealed as such by way of repeated listening. You have to 'earn' the privilege. FALL fans loved the 'differences' they heard....Wrong notes over right 'business as usual' notes. THE FALL are about uncompromising vision in combination with committed creative execution. THE FALL for a huge portion of their career pursued these qualities in the face of overwhelming commercial disdain and public disinterest. Mark E Smith is certainly a known and respected cultural renegade THESE days. The dogged persistence that has characterized his 'career' in its entirety has paid off ultimately. The last 5 years have been good to him at a public level. Vindication... Lets not forget though that THE FALL have been in business since 1977. They have completed 25 original albums. They have released 50 singles. They have issued 50 live and compilation albums. Mark was a dock worker prior to being in the band. He believes in hard graft and testicular fortitude. '' Nothing has happened since 1977 to STOP Mark from 'doing his thing'.....Of course the truth is that his experience in the biz has been rife with the typical (and at times uber-typical) challenging situations and problems. He has endured thirty years worth of such moments to state the obvious. Throughout, he has kept rolling ever onwards. We are after all talking about the music business....SHOW BUSINESS. Mark has evidently faced down the type of 'shit' that stops most bands in their tracks by album 3 if they are lucky AND determined. THE FALL are of Mancunian stock and represent the grit and "no mithering please" nature of the place to the core. Personally, I am into the idea of having a strong 'work ethic', be it in music, art, sport or whatever. Hard work is tough to ignore or downplay ... It can't be "bullshitted" if you know what I mean. It resonates. What about the music? Well .... you develop your craft thru repetition right? THE FALL have gone thru a lot of repetition. The craft is accordingly in good shape. Its not the typical 'craft' mind you. It is born of a contrary nature. It is about the advantages of making music while NOT being a musician. I DON'T SING I JUST SHOUT .....ALL ON ONE NOTE....SING SING SING SING.....LOOK AT ME I JUST STING......YOUR HEART OUT. Mark is in his 50's these days. Listen to his last three albums and see if you can pick up on a softening of his approach to creating music. NO NOSTALGIA resides therein. Instead you will find odd and unique sounds and noises. Techno synths in rockabilly shirts. Industrial grind in cod-cabaret sequins. Punk meets APHEX TWIN by way of a detour through a ROCHDALE working mans club. FOOTBALL HOOLIGAN ANTHEMS and freestyle crap-raps. His hips may have proven fragile but his ears are those of an athletic elephant, greedily filtering the RIGHT frequencies for the NEW sounds to add to the OLD new sounds. Head music with energy. VALUES and having an ANGLE. No love songs..... Mark like myself would rather read a HORROR STORY. The Mills and Boones preoccupation of modern pop music is somewhat narrow right???? RIGHT? What if we make the atmospheric presence of a song its HOOK? BAD DRUGS and PARANOIA. BACK STABBING and RIP-OFFERY. Y'know life....... Thats without going into the BAD stuff. The 'wirey' out of tune guitars that chicken scratch at your psyche. The "drums being kicked down the staircase" BIG BEAT.....Gary Glitter meets JAMES BROWN uptown. The purposefuly anemic but HUGE and turgid bass undulations. ONE NOTE SOLOS. Mark scratching on the microphone so that it sounds like someone or something is trying to scrape its way OUT OF YOUR SPEAKERS upon playback. LO FI NO FI .....RIGHT FI.....FEE FI thumbed noses. "TURN THOSE BLOODY SPACE INVADERS OFF - UHHH" ... keyboard tone setting. And to top it off......from my perspective at least the funniest and most interesting lyrics in modern music. BOB DYLAN FANS TAKE ELEVATOR TO 13th floor AND EXIT THIS DIATRIBE BY WAY OF WINDOW PLEASE.... An example of this lyrical prowess......I could pick any of a thousand. Check this one out for example..... It's about methedrine related insomnia....squalid ciity living...creeping paranoia and worry. Such that you cannot....WALK THE FLOOR AT NIGHT IN PEACE. Pacing the floor y'gedditt? Such conditions must be the fault of another.....CITY HOBGOBLINS perchance??? CITY HOBGOBLINS Spiders know these things Gremlins know these things Tap, tap, tap, tap You think it's the pipes But who turns on the lights? Our city hobgoblins Ubu le Roi is a home hobgoblin at night always ready. City hobgoblins Infest my home at night They are not alright Ten times my age One-tenth my height Our city hobgoblins Buzz of the all-night mill Ah but evil Emigres from old green glades Pretentious eh? Our city hobgoblins They'll get yer I saw Queen Victoria on the back of a large black slug Where? in Piccadilly, Manchester Our city hobgoblins They stay I say We cannot walk the floor at night in peace At night in peace At night in peace ME NOW.....So in closing I leave you with this thought. Tim knows his music. He perhaps makes several good points about MARK. He is undoubtedly a man with a strong sense of self. He may well have a large ego. He is unruly, disagreeable and contrarian in nature it would seem. I have never properly met the man so can't really be the judge of such matters. His empirical history provides us with one obvious elemental truth about Mr. Smith. He is a survivor. Plain and simple. In my view.... He is a working class success story from Manchester who succeeded through bloody minded persistence and self-belief. Begrudge him or commend him...Your choice. MARK COULD NOT CARE LESS either way I imagine. A genius ????? God knows. HIP PRIEST? (stolen from Burroughs...notebooks out plagiarists) No such thing. A haggard "speedy" snaggle toothed POET LAUREATE for the terminally disenfranchised. YES... I believe so. and a lot more besides when you really get into it....

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 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!