B A L L P E E N ( ! ) B U L L E T I N S
updated: December 13th, 2006
FLASH UPDATE:
AIDS WOLF
VS ATHLETIC
AUTOMATON
GATEFOLD VINYL LP's ARE IN
|
Available
as a Gatefold sleeved vinyl LP, Compact Disc or as a specially
priced Gatefold LP & CD set. Place orders at the PAYPAL
Shop HERE or send payment
to the P.O. Box above. Orders are shipping now and will include
a free full-color 3' x 2' AWVAA / HOLY SMOKES poster-newsletter
for a limited time.
|
PRE
Treasure Trails
7" single
NOW in STOCK.
(all remaining copies on BLUE VINYL)
Full length coming in 2007. Details are below.
BIG'N
LIVE IN CONCERT:
REUNION SHOW!
Friday, December 16th
at The EMPTY BOTTLE
(CHICAGO)
Moving Sale! Lots of hard to find, not so hard to find, rare and oop LP's, CD's, 7" and other odds and ends are up for grabs HERE. More stuff going up in the days to come. Thanks!
updated: November 25th, 2006
SKiN GRAFT REX
COAST-TO-COAST-TO-COAST-TO-COAST
IN THE NEWS:
vv Clash Of The Life-Force Warriors!
vv Gatefold vinyl LP and Compact Disc!
vv and band page update!
vv This year's X-Mas Deal: $12 for Picture Disc & CD Set!
vv Both are in-stores now...
vv POSTER-NEWSLETTER issue 3
vv Features full-color posters of AWVSAA and
vv HOLY SMOKES! Measures nearly 3 feet by 2 feet!
vv New office, old world!
vv In 2007 - and 7 inches? We got 'em!
Salütes Sound Seekers ( ! )
SKiN GRAFT's Ace Reporter, "Jazzy" Joe Romita here with another staggering summary of the frankly phenomenal feats fathered at the famed fount of flabbergast... the forever favored, far-from faddish, far-flung frontiersmen of the fashionable Fort SKiN GRAFT!!!! Face front, frenzied ones!!!!
MARK'S ( ! ) MOPEBOX
Hi Everybody,
This is Mark writing. I'm the founder of SKiN GRAFT Records... and I should begin by informing you that, earlier today, I sent news desk reporter Jazzy Joe Romita packing.
More on that a little later. It looks like I'm going to be responsible for handling this edition of the Ballpeen Bulletins, so please understand that while my enthusiasm may not reach the crescendo of Jazzy's, I'm no less excited about each and every one of the items on today's agenda. Okay, so - as Jazzy would say "Let's pitter-past the petty preliminaries" - and get down to the music business...
( ONE: ) Alrighty, first up is the AIDS WOLF VS. ATHLETIC AUTOMATON album. Leading up to the release it's become apparent that a few folks need some clarification on just WHAT this album is - it's not really a split album per se... There are a few AIDS WOLF songs - and there are a few ATHLETIC AUTOMATON songs, but the BULK of the album is indeed by a band named AIDS WOLF VS ATHLETIC AUTOMATON. We have a press guy here named Charlie Nite and it's his job to impart this sort of thing, so let's let him do his duty:
In the wake of their respective debut albums, Providence's ATHLETIC AUTOMATON and Montreal's AIDS WOLF came face to face; stripped bare of armor, draped in amour, wielding weapons of choice. With the battle lines drawn, each band tallied forcefully, committing individual tracks to tape. But as the war waged on, members defected from side to side, new alliances were formed and hard lines blurred. What emerged from the battlefield was an entirely new entity: bloodied, unbowed, and undefeated.
Recorded by Radwan Moumneh at One Hundred Sided Die in Montreal and Patrick Crump in Lincoln, Rhode Island, Skin Graft Records presents "Clash of the Life-Force Warriors" on dueling formats: as a compact disc and gatefold-sleeved vinyl LP. Athletic Automaton is guitarist Stephen Mattos, formerly of Arab on Radar; and drummer Patrick Crump, Pellum 123 expatriate. Aids Wolf is concussionist Hiroshima Thunder, and singer Special Deluxe, paired with guitarists Barbarian Destroyer and Him, The Magi. Aids Wolf Versus Athletic Automaton is all of the above: legion, two-in-one, long-haired on free stages... and the dawn of a new age, a crystalline declaration of independence for an uncivilized world.
Okay. So we've got the CD's here now and they've turned out great. I wish I could say that the vinyl was great as well, but unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, the LP's have been delayed a few weeks. We'd instructed the manufacturer to position a silent lock groove at the end of side 2, and as a bonus - following the lock, we've added an extra track beyond the end of the album. Sure enough, the cutting of the groove has turned out to be problematic and the initial test pressings have been rejected - setting production behind just a bit.
Sigh.
For those interested in this sort of stuff, here's a drawing made to illustrate the problems on the first go round:
So anyway, the LP's will be shipping from the plant before the end of November - and at this point, the vinyl probably won't make it's way into stores until January. But we're taking orders now and we'll send the LP's out to mailorder customers as soon as we get them.
We're offering a special deal on a set including both the Gatefold LP and the CD (plus the poster-newsletter mentioned below) at a discounted price. For those in the US and Canada who order before the vinyl gets here, we'll ship the CD's first and the LP's will follow. Overseas customers, unless you want to pay double the postage, we'll ship the LP & CD together. We've posted an MP3 from each of the three bands at the AUDIO page: From AIDS WOLF "Letter To Al Johnson", from ATHLETIC AUTOMATON "Pantstathlon" and from AIDS WOLF VS ATHLETIC AUTOMATON "Collecting Past Debts ". And YES - we've also added the extra track to the CD, so there's no penalty for the turntable deficient. You can place orders at the PAYPAL Shop HERE or send payment to the P.O. Box up top.
( TWO: ) On a related note, even as I type, AIDS Wolf are touring Europe. The dates are HERE. - And their band page has been updated HERE.
( THREE: ) About a decade before AIDS WOLF and ATHLETIC AUTOMATON joined forces as one act, two other SKiN GRAFT bands, Tokyo's SPACE STREAKINGS and Chicago's MOUNT SHASTA teamed up and recorded an album as their very own cross-country supergroup. With the holidays approaching, it seemed totally appropriate to make this year's X-Mas special a BIG discount on a Picture Disc and CD set of the SHAKUHACHI SURPRISE "Space Streakings Sighted Over Mount Shasta" album. Now that they've disbanded, I'd imagine there's a fair amount of folks out there who haven't heard either band, much less their collaboration, so as way of introduction to some of the great bands past, BOTH the PICTURE DISC LP and CD are available as a SET for $12.00 through the end of the year. That's cheaper than either the LP or CD separately WHOLESALE. The set comes with everything you see in the picture above. The CD includes a full color art
