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 54: Psych-Out with New Single "Defines the Time" by SMDS

Dispatch 54: MCL Recording Co is pleased to make available the third SMDS offering titled Defines the Time.  A droning 7 minute psych trance grove that moves and slithers around on the hot desert sand like a snake. A video for the track was also released today.
 The track was recorded by Sammy and Heather at MCL then produced, mixed and mastered by DS at Casa Mar Vista.
 SMDS is the collaboration between Sammy and Heather's Solar Maximum, the dual bass psyche-drone duo and dark experimental sound artist DS Peligro. All are MCL Recording artists and have multiple releases available in digital and limited edition vinyl at the MCL Bandcamp site.
       

                

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 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 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 31: Bill Boethius with Solar Maximum on "Maxed Out"

Dispatch 31: Another astounding track has been produced using the set of tracks (Solar Selfies) we made available as a project for different artists to play too, with, for, about etc. to see what kinda unique music come out of each artists approach. We have been duly impressed ever time!
 This time we asked the "Dali of Guitar Noise," Mr Bill Boethius to take a stab. Maxed Out is the track he gave (and named)! Full of texture and screaming guitars, the track explodes...a few times!
Give it a listen and then maybe listen again! Have fun.

Here is a playlist of all the collaboration tracks we have made available thus far.

Dispatch 30: The Ravens Eye by A Solar Trauma

Dispatch 30: Hello everyone, we are very excited to announce the release thru our Soundcloud page of a new collaboration track by Solar Maximum with Trauma called The Ravens Eye. Bill Boethius says about this track, "...great textures...and...awe inspiring riffage." Once again, Trauma took a track, worked his magic and what we offer here is the result. We hope you enjoy it!



Here is a playlist of thge collaboration track released so far.

Sunday Edition vol.3 - Poems, Music and Orbs...thats a nice Sunday!

[For your Sunday afternoon reading and/or viewing pleasure, we present vol.3 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): More prose from the twisted mind and pen of John Middle.

  A precedent a funeral pyre. A lawyers recurring dream... A digital glitsch... Over driven in solid state... A march of skinny pennies... A sonnet sung in machine code... Sodomy and Victories made of ego and boredom. We are RIGHT They are WRONG Sad WORDS (STOLEN from poems and forced into hard labor by Matthew Bender TM) A rainbow scorched black and hideously crooked. Technicalities and leverage. Your child is starving. Mine is anorexic. A future unlimited Cast into irons. blinkered. Simplified. Lobotomized. and writhing. Justice cost an arm and a leg. Clapping now not an option.... hopping mad. That sound? (It's SUCTION>) HEX cast. TORT law. TOXIC MOLD "I OBJECT" perfect DIS-FUNKtion. Injunction. S and M SO HIP it hurts Love distracts RESTRAINT Brown shirt. A submarine became A SUNKEN BOAT. Harmonic distortion. An eye of GOAT.

(Page 2): Ramones Live New Years Eve 1977. (Ramones - Its Alive!) My favorite Ramones concert.

(Page 3): Her Majesty thee Spleen...We play for the orbs. Often times at jams we are accompanied by orbs who come out to dance to the hypnotic sounds of the Spleen. This is a fine example of the spectacle. Any thoughts?

Dispatch 29: SMDS Booty-Shakin' with "Sammy daBass" Dirty Single!!

Dispatch 29: The Solar Maximum and DS Peligro collabo SMDS is at it again with a little experimental funkay bizznezzzz! Busting thru genres and the ages, Sammy daBass (the New York Dirty No Soap Mix!) has a funky old school booty-shakin' hip hop feel with a cool modern sound.  DS produced this track straight over the top! Its available for just $1 at our Bandcamp page. Enjoy. Introducing SMDS...we will seeya at da club...

                                   

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!