***REISSUED!!! Cats and Dogs hit the street in June of ’93 and represented a quantum leap from everywhere ROYAL TRUX had previously broadcast from. Their innate feel for disparate styles had been demonstrated over the course of three wildly diverse albums, but Cats and Dogs wove diversity expertly throughout its eleven songs, all united by an interest in rhythmic rock and roll. There was the mulch of grunge, a lean stand of retro-soul, plumes of psychedelic vapor and a thudding post-garage all of which was flung out venomously as if owed to no-one. It sounded like fun—the laughs that had always been encoded in Trux songs were warmer this time around. Their planet had drawn eerily close to earth; we were almost able to read the signs from where we stood.
LP $23.75
12/13/2019
***Not a greatest hits - but an epic starting point - tracks taken from multiple albums throughout the bands history. On yellow vinyl in an edition of 1,000 copies. BLACK FRIDAY 2019 RELEASE - - STREET DATE 11/29/2019.
***REISSUED!!! As we steer ourselves away post-haste from the (semi-arbitrary watershed) year 2000 (or 2001, if you’re that kind), many among us are still unsure of which stance to prefer: that of the forward-looking visionary elite or the historically-informed cult of the sentimentalist. Confusing times, but timely times for the reissue of ROYAL TRUX’s 1998 “masterpiece” (according to many, though we are inclined to believe that all of their releases were equally masterful), Accelerator. This album split the difference and intersected both angles to create an ass-kicking music machine that still confronts today with its dialed-out production values rendering ten tunes of glittering platinum hooks and colored by numbers with hooligan-outfitted choruses. Received an 8.8 Best New Reissue rating from Pitchfork.
LP $25.50
04/12/2019
***REISSUED!!! The final ROYAL TRUX album to be released while they were still a live, touring entity, Pound for Pound promised another new world of classic rock in the new millennium. Royal Trux had been flying the flag (well, actually a bunch of different flags) in the name of rock and roll since the beginning—while simultaneously, and with a cynical grin, manipulating styles to get across to certain crowds and mindsets. Two interests at the same time: rock and roll, and the short con. In ‘98, Royal Trux had emerged from their Virgin contract buyout, proudly bearing the brand of SELL-OUT! tattooed on their forehead by the angry mini-hordes of indie rock. As always, out was in and the only direction was UP. Accelerator and Veterans of Disorder provided Frankensteinean takes on the anti-narrative of their career arc, to show the indie-hordes that perhaps these guys hadn’t changed after all. Well, of course they had, but that wasn’t really the point. Remember: rock and roll, and the short con. With a production almost as clean and lean as David Briggs’ mix of Thank You, Pound for Pound plays like the follow-through to the two Virgin Records, but separated by four years and a flurry of other releases, just to keep you guessing. Knowing Royal Trux, this was the beginning of nothing—the next album was just as likely to slide into another direction—and as it transpired, Pound for Pound was the last go-round for the muse and bliss of Royal Trux,...
LP $19.50
10/21/2014
CD $13.75
10/21/2014
***REISSUED!!! Glimmer twins NEIL HAGGERTY & JENNIFER HERREMA keep on truckin' with their eighth album of the dwindling 1990s. Ten new songs showcasing their love for classic rock and an acute ability to fuck it up nicely. A "right on and rock on" to that. (STREET DATE - 11/19/2013)
LP $17.75
11/19/2013
CD $13.75
11/19/2013
***CHECK STOCK!!! Received an 8.0 rating from Pitchfork. REISSUED!!! 1998, and according to the press, ROYAL TRUX were back in action. The Virgin era, regarded as a wilderness period by some, were brought to a definitive close with the release of Accelerator back on Drag City and Domino in April of that year. Unbeknownst to their former handlers at the major label, the combination of wack-ass knob twisting and crowd-pleasing singalongs reflected some absurdly inverted sense of What People Wanted, and reaction to Accelerator was loud and fevered. A European tour was required ASAP, and a band was quickly assembled. Several slots were filled with Drag City players: AERIAL-M’s DAVID PAJO (also late of SLINT, TORTOISE and STEREOLAB) on bass, and Drag City utility man RIAN MURPHY drafted in to sing and play tambourine. The X-factor was drummer JON THEODORE. Recruited from the Oberlin, OH group GOLDEN, he brought incredible chops into play, but his bright sound and personality would be dealt with in typically Darwinian Trux fashion. In advance of the tour, several domestic shows were scheduled, and the players arrived at Royal Trux’s rural Virginia ranch ready to rehearse, only to be told that a recording session was the first order of business. Given the powerful response to Accelerator, an EP would be needed soon—and with a long European tour impending, what better time than the present? In short order, the three songs were recorded, along with a fourth, a cover of Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing” which...
CD $12.00
06/18/2013
12" $13.75
06/18/2013
***BACK IN PRINT!!! Received an 8.8 Best New Reissue rating from Pitchfork. REISSUED!!! As we steer ourselves away post-haste from the (semi-arbitrary watershed) year 2000 (or 2001, if you’re that kind), many among us are still unsure of which stance to prefer: that of the forward-looking visionary elite or the historically-informed cult of the sentimentalist. Confusing times, but timely times for the reissue of ROYAL TRUX’s 1998 “masterpiece” (according to many, though we are inclined to believe that all of their releases were equally masterful), Accelerator. This album split the difference and intersected both angles to create an ass-kicking music machine that still confronts today with its dialed-out production values rendering ten tunes of glittering platinum hooks and colored by numbers with hooligan-outfitted choruses.
LP $17.25
10/09/2012
CD $13.75
10/09/2012
BACK IN PRINT!!! Received an 8.2 rating from Pitchfork. This 32-song bomb was dropped on a highly suspect America back in the early winter of 1997. It was a celebration of—and no tombstone upon—the then-major label act known as ROYAL TRUX, RTX and/or “these guys suck,” depending on whom you were reading. The songs were collected from along the various ways they’d passed by from 1988 to around the time they were signed to Virgin in 1994. The title really says it all, without delivering strictly on the promise; rather than divide the album into sections dedicated to each of the above, the singles, live and unreleased tracks were scrambled in unchronologic / anthropomorphic / anti-idiomatic fashion to represent a living, breathing entity built of contradictions, rhythm, gleeful exploitation of limitations and clichés, the short con (and when you finally notice, they’d slip into the long one) and above all, total commitment. This was a band to which the word “definition” had no meaning, other than as the punch-line to a variety of jokes that we won’t bore you with right now. You may never understand unless you sit in a crouch for three days, on the balls of your feet with the knees pointing out like arrows before you. And then maybe you’ll know how it feels. Some people in this life have no choice, they’ve been Indians since the day they were born. Others take it upon themselves. This was Royal Trux. And when Maker’s Day finally...
2XCD $18.15
11/08/2011
3XLP $31.25
11/08/2011
***The latest in butt-bumping and head-scratching sonic freaky love from the songwriting partnership of dimmer twins NEIL & JENNIFER. Five tracks of aggressive psych-funk jamming, jungle-themed tribal blues riffing, and delirious smashing rock. Produced by ADAM & EVE to achieve the ultimate in dirt.
CD $11.25
01/08/2001
12" $13.75
05/20/2014
CD $13.75
09/27/1996