***“Mike Etten is a songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist based in New York City. One of the founders of the Brooklyn DIY venue and collective Le Wallet, Etten recorded and played in various experimental, chamber, punk and country projects throughout the last decade, including PC Worship, Ashcan Orchestra and Dougie Poole. Amidst extensive touring and performing, Etten started writing his long-awaited solo debut, Love Wash, a twisted slice of fringe Americana, composed of carefully crafted and self-recorded song experiments that are equally catchy and off-kilter. Love Wash opens with 'Across the Flats' and closes with its title track, both upbeat ballads that build from scorched drones into momentous sprawling pop songs that help ease in and out of the album, which features contributions from co-PC Worship collaborators (LEYA’s Adam Markiewicz on violin and NYC drum shredder Greg Fox). The second and third tracks 'Drive' and 'Saints' carry the subtle intensity that opens the album, with unpredictable instrumentation, chord changes and arrangements. This vibe is revisited later in the album on 'Dune House' and 'Hidden Away,' all of which are sonically rich, unraveling, dark, introspective and powerfully optimistic. The rest of Love Wash is comprised of catchy, borderline alt-country hits with a twisted Nashville tele vibe, featuring pedal steel and vocal contributions from fellow Dougie Poole band members Tristan Shepherd and Francesca Caruso. Love Wash has a natural flow throughout, however the one real outlier is the well placed and hyper paced middle child of the album 'Dredging Up Old Blues,' a...
LP $21.85
10/01/2021
***Nana Yamato’s brilliance lies in a profound imagination that confronts the isolation and claustrophobia of Tokyo life, without losing grasp of the whimsy and romance of girlhood. “I think Tokyo is a lonely city,” says Nana. “It’s more like an empty city. It’s like there’s nothing in it but buildings. A big stadium was built, but the Olympics were postponed. It’s empty.” Yet it’s hard to ignore the romance the artist has with the streets that she walks; Japanese and English vocals sing about the lights and sounds of the city, as if there’s no place else she could exist. Each song on Before Sunrise, her debut album, is a secret hidden in the late-night glow of a young girl’s bedroom, created in the precious witching hours of the teenage heart, before dawn returns with the tedious demands of adulthood. The self-expression that was not nurtured in school or in her family is finally set free on opening track “Do You Wanna”: “Dreams are gone far away from reality / I climb up the hill, that tumbles to the ground, every time I try”. Dreams, and the language of living inside one’s imagination, are the prevailing theme of Before Sunrise. Yamato describes her style as “critical fantasy”, a fitting label for a sound that exists as much in a carefree daydream as they do in a crowded subway. Nana’s debut LP, much like her previous 7” records released under the ANNA moniker, is a strictly DIY affair. Yamato sings and...
LP $23.95
03/05/2021
***Out now for the first time on vinyl! The world first heard PILL on their self-titled cassette release on Dull Tools. And the world took note. Evan Minsker, writing for Pitchfork, says “they are loose with form, they pack in a lot of ideas, and they successfully deliver an emotionally complex narrative where joy is accompanied by an impossible-to-ignore undercurrent of danger. The band's debut outing is enigmatic—a Dull Tools record through and through—but it's also well crafted, full of stellar performances and unflinching lyrics.” The band then signed to Mexican Summer, releasing their debut LP. Shortly after, prolific in a way that has become a hallmark of Dull Tools artists, they release another cassette, 2017’s “Agressive Advertising”. If one thought the self-titled cassette couldn’t get more acerbic and confrontational, Agresstive Advertising proved them wrong. Now both releases are available on one LP. This LP is an important document of New York City’s DIY scene and one of the best bands to emerge from it. Pill are an ever present force in NYC’s scene. Playing small clubs like Baby’s All Right, DIY spaces like Silent Barn and even the Museum of Modern Art. When the art and culture of New York is examined in, much in the way we examine culture from the past, you can bet that Pill will be a shining example of this moment in time.
LP $17.75
04/27/2018
***BACK IN STOCK!!! Received a 7.2 rating from Pitchfork. The debut solo album from A. SAVAGE (aka ANDREW SAVAGE of PARQUET COURTS). "The songs on Thawing Dawn form a guided tour through the romantic environs of A. Savage’s mirrored mind. While some were written recently, other tunes were penned over the past decade. For one reason or another, these compositions didn’t land with any of Savage’s other groups, and instead are presented now as a distinct collection... These ten songs were recorded by a cast of friends in JARVIS TAVENIERE's Thump Studios in Brooklyn. Members of WOODS, ULTIMATE PAINTING, PC WORSHIP, EZTV, SUNWATCHERS and PSYCHIC TV all lend their talents. Savage’s voice, once shouted into mosh pits, now glides confidently above its backing band. Thawing Dawn marks the arrival point for Savage as a sensitive and skilled vocalist. Includes a download.
LP $17.75
10/13/2017
***BACK IN STOCK!!! What began as a recording project between multi-instrumentalist BOB JONES and sound engineer JONATHAN SCHENKE led to an un/self-titled record in 2014. The album’s adventures in fractured electronic pop garnered attention in The New Yorker, Interview Magazine, and FADER, while Pitchfork described the “beautiful” textures as “grim and subdued but so rich you could raise tomatoes in them.” With the addition of kinetic light sculptures operated by visual artist CHRISTOPHER DUFFY, the recording project became a performing one. The group played Moogfest 2014, toured the US with Shabazz Palaces, and shared the stage with a diverse set of acts from Dan Deacon and !!!, to Parquet Courts and Protomartyr, to SURVIVE and US Girls. Their collaboration extended into the contemporary art world through performative sound sculptures and immersive installations of light and sound. The ‘Moment of Inertia’ EP (2015) and ‘Prisms’ soundtrack (2016) are comprised of compositions written for this context. Eaters (the new album, the band) carefully crafted over the course of two years at Doctor Wu’s in Brooklyn, NY marries rich pulsing electronics, driving beats, and guitar pyrotechnics. It is literal and figurative “art-rock” An exploration of light, shadow, expansion, and transformation. It speaks to the vulnerability and resilience of the human spirit in the modern age.
LP $17.75
05/12/2017
***WAREHOUSE FIND!!! A longtime live favorite in New York City, FUTURE PUNX P are finally releasing their brilliant first LP This Is Post-Wave. Essentially a dance punk record, with frank and intelligent lyrics, but a demand to be not taken too seriously. For fans of !!!, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Devo Teenage Cool Kids, Touring Europe/UK in September 2015 and the USA in November 2015. Edition of 500 copies.
LP $17.75
11/27/2015
***BETH ISRAEL seem to get noisier and more dissonant as their pop sensibility becomes more refined. The Loaner, the band's third release and second cassette on Dull Tools only reemphasizes the relative solitude and obscurity that the group exist in. Not unlike the bizarre avant-pop of Tommy Jay or Tronics, homage is paid to a variety of musical traditions, while maintaining a core sound. Acid-casualty sound collage and cinematic baroque trash tie together tunes that some would call "synth punk" but Beth Israel would just call "music". I can't tell you much about Beth Israel, the band or the individuals that make up its membership. Rumor has it that the longtime duo is now a touring trio. Truth or underground gossip? Catch them on their tour of the USA to find out.
MC $6.00
05/26/2015
***The latest offering from Brooklyn's preeminent post wave ensemble. “Dull Tools is the record label run by Andrew Savage, of Parquet Courts, and Chris Pickering, of Future Punx. Next month the label will put out the first Future Punx EP, I’m So Inspired, on 11/11. This follows two 7-inches from the synth-centered 5-piece, one of which was a split with Parquet Courts. Sonically, the two bands draw from different corners of the post-punk spectrum, but their attention to intricate lyrics and sprawled-out deadpan deliveries are points of common ground. Along with the announcement of their new release, Future Punx also have a new video for “Spike Train”, a meditation on dreams, perception, and positive thinking. The video is dark and shadowy, with quick-moving bursts of light and color, much like the song itself. Check it out below, along with all upcoming Future Punx dates.”
12" $14.25
04/07/2015
***It may come as a surprise that a band called FUTURE PUNX is so indebted to the past. And the present for that matter. But it shouldn't. Future Punx make little distinction between past, present and future; rather this New York City outfit recognizes three dimensions to a greater musical whole, gleaning equal influence from each. The past year has seen the Punx become one of the Big Apple's best live bands, stealing the show from headliners and locals alike. Now for the first time, the band has a physical artifact to mark their place in music history/future. On this double A side (because let's face it, both songs are hits) FuturePunx make their mark on 2014 AD. The empire built by synth punk, new-wave and no-wave is the ancestral point of origin for Future Punx' "Post-Wave". But as Horselover Fat would declare in Philip K. Dick's epic Valis, "the empire never ended".
7" $7.25
04/29/2014
***Received a 7.1 rating from Pitchfork. For most of us, Austin's elusive BETH ISRAEL are still very much a mystery. Those lucky enough to hear their eponymous 2013 cassette tape would far outnumber those lucky enough to catch one of their few live sets. When listening to Dental Denial, the duo's debut LP, one hears that the lonesome dark-pop that sparked underground curiosity contains a new and exciting depth. Clearly benefiting from economy, within Beth Israel's sparseness lies a refreshing sense of restraint that suggests English post-punk and NDW. Yet underneath the drum-machine precision of Dead Bodies lies an oddball humor that seems to wink at you from across dance floor. Like the weird loner kid that sat in the back of class, Dental Denial is equal parts menacing and alluring. Catchy, danceable and curiously surreal, this record will satisfy those of us who have been waiting eagerly to hear what these Texans will do next.
LP $17.50
04/22/2014
***YUPPIES was formed in the summer of 2007 by JACK BEGLEY, KEVIN DONAHUE and NOAH STERBA in Omaha, Nebraska. United by mutual teenage boredom and a desire to perform live, the three became known for sloppy, frantic, yet energetic live performances and worse-than-dirt low-fidelity recordings. The first single, released on Grotto Records in 2008, captures the immediacy and urgency of their catchy, raw basement recordings. After cutting their teeth touring basements all over the midwest, Yuppies added JEFF SEDREL on bass in 2010. The addition of Sedrel allowed the band to evolve their sound out of the simplistic pop tunes into something more mature, thought out and robust. With the band’s initial energy and rawness still intact, a new realized, cohesive sound can be heard on Yuppies' debut LP on Dull Tools (run by ANDREW SAVAGE of PARQUET COURTS). Omaha writer Tim McMahan asserts, "Yuppies don’t so much play songs as perform ebb-and-flow music that, when it does have a semblance of songcraft, can be driving and catchy and inspired. The rest of it will leave you bent over, coughing up blood." Accolades for the band have reached beyond the confines of Omaha. And Savage states Yuppies are "heavily indebted to the loner-poets that came before them, as if the band is playing This Nation's Saving Grace era Fall via William Boroughs. Yuppies make no effort to guide you along their dreary tour of the midwests' industrial slums, from the onslaught, you are expected to keep up the pace." Yuppies...
LP $15.50
09/17/2013