“Aria Jalali, the man behind the San Francisco/Los Angeles-based Railcars, has taken on no easy task. Many have stepped up to the Kate Bush plate, and as many have failed. It seems better to go for broke than keep close to the original, and Jalali is certainly triumphant in doing so. Managing to keep a glint of Kate’s 80s alive while drowning the track under a thick wall of noise-rock, his is a version that bypasses the pop in favor of exploring the song’s production elements, which as with Bush, Jalali did himself.” -RCRD LBL
RCRD LBL | Premiere: Railcars - Hounds Of Love
Stroll on over to the bandcamp if you’d like to snag a copy now. 
Late last night the awesome folks from 20 Jazz Funk Greats premiered “Big Sky”, the lead single from railcars’ cover of Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love, on Altered Zones. We’ve been incredibly eager to share this release. I remember last year when Aria told me he had the idea to cover such a beautiful record. The moment that Dwight and I started up Crash Symbols, I knew we had to put this one out, and it didn’t take much at all to convince Aria of the same (seeing as we’re FMLY). Having teamed up with the folks at AMDiscs to help this one see not only a tape release, but also an LP release, well that just makes it that much better.
The Cyclist is Andrew Morrison, an 18 year old native of Derry, in Northern Ireland, where he uses a £20 keyboard - whose constant errors generate random noises and extra tones - to make techno filtered through a sort of dark futurism. Named for Natalia Goncharova’s painting The Cyclist, Morrison’s music seems to emerge from the same singularity as the Russian futurists, with a constant flow and shuffling rhythm that creates its own realism in the distinctiveness and potential failings of frail technology.
MP3 ::
The Cyclist - Technicolor!
The Cyclist - Technilama
Preorder the limited edition cassette over yonder - you’ll be able to download the digital on May 17.
Why is it called Fred Durst Sex Tape? We’re not 100% on that. Whatever the case, our recent Crash Symbols split with Denver’s School Knights and Pacific Pride is an inspiration to long-suffering students and west coasters alike, offering a pairing of exuberant garage pop with moodier, lo-fi rock, that - according to our buds at Speaker Snacks - may ” just punch you in the gut and leave you gasping for air on some half-melted snow-bank.” We can get on board with that.
MP3 ::
School Knights - You Read Books?
Pacific Pride - Maachu Pichu Meet
Preorder the limited edition cassette over yonder.
There was a time when the cassette was the most prominent medium of listening to and sharing music. In the 90s came an abrupt takeover by CDs, leaving audio cassettes completely in the dust. Now, with the continual acceleration of the Internet age, we all aspire for something more tangible to hold onto with the music that we know and love.
This desire brings us back to cassettes and their comeback, providing listeners with their favorite independent music—all wrapped in a charming little package accompanied by thoughtful artwork.
Just recently, Crash Symbols and Rebel reinforced this idea by spontaneously teaming up to release a collaborative collection of limited edition cassette tapes. Though coming from two opposite sides of the United States, we both share a love for tapes and recognize their importance in the independent music experience that is so vibrant in contemporary culture. This, in turn, leaves us incredibly proud to be part of such a welcoming community of DIY music releasing entities.
First in the collection is the newest release from Zeadron, the one-man project of musician/songwriter Jack Heffron. For five months Heffron has been diligently compiling his most thought-provoking release yet, Hold My Hand? No. The debut LP from the 17-year-old Orange County native is a sonic experiment spanning a wide spectrum of styles, incorporating elements from garage, dubstep, drum & bass, house, hip-hop and Heffron’s own instrumental background in guitar. Abstract noises from Heffron’s own vocal box, a pencil to a book, shaking a vitamin jar, and the bold thumps of hitting a desk are just a few of the DIY sounds that were recorded during the process of Hold My Hand? No. Through the heavy use of different effects, the sounds Jack achieves are completely unique in musical aesthetic, setting his work apart from any genre stereotyping.
Apart from his self-created sounds are carefully positioned samples from Aretha Franklin, Vashti Bunyan, various YouTube singers, and even contemporary artist Rihanna. Blurred and rough, his vocal samples experiment with pitch changes and heavy delays, floating from phrase to phrase seamlessly. ”I wanted something scratchy, raspy, but soft feeling,” Heffron says of his craftwork. Drawing on his earlier roots of guitar driven music, Heffron includes instrumentation in a couple of tracks, including far-off and melodic “Trainer.Saw93 MB”. So what exactly is Hold My Hand? No about? “I had an idea,” says Heffron, “that it isn’t present in every single song, but it’s mainly about ugly people, lonely people, thinking people, and eccentrics. Hold My Hand? No, when you say it, is very blunt and doesn’t make much sense. However, I think the bluntness of it is so brutal and hurtful but also darkly comedic.” Hold My Hand? No gives voice to a landscape of dark images and self-exploration through sounds and compositions both new and old.
Brian Vu, Rebel Magazine
MP3 ::
Zeadron Del Gomez - Down Face/Face Down
Zeadron Del Gomez - Trainer.SAW93 MB
Head over to the Crash Symbols bandcamp to preorder the limited edition cassette.
SPORTS’ “Prizefighter” was just featured on MagicRPM’s latest mixtape. Download the whole thing here.
& don’t forget to check out their self-titled debut on yon Crash Symbols bandcamp.
Two Bicycles - “Sunset”
In the bromantic spirit of two-thirds of SPORTS somehow meeting in Paris, the whole band agrees that this is the record that they’ve each been waiting years to make. Though for years the record they expected to make was indie-rock, SPORTS began as an attempt to shift gears into a dance project, which none of them had ever really done before. Their eight song debut LP shows how that initial goal has mellowed into some hefty electronic pop, evoking a melodramatic, nostalgic 80s, lent a modest flare by Zeljko McMullen’s (Shinkoyo Records) mastering. Enjoy.
MP3 :: SPORTS - Prizefighter
Head over yonder to buy a copy of the limited edition cassette.
It’s been a long time coming, but Jheri and I are proud to finally unveil the preorder for Two Bicycle’s new album The Ocean. According to Jamison this is an opus of sorts and we’re both incredibly proud to be releasing it on our imprint, Crash Symbols. The cassettes are beautiful and they’ll probably ship out a little in advance of the actual release date, so you might want to consider hustling. We’re not expecting these to last very long at all.
The new Two Bicycles record is one of the most personal records I’ve made to date. Even though there aren’t any vocals on the record, I feel that I’ve expressed myself more clearly than I have on any other release I’ve done. Although this is a “side project”, I take these songs as seriously as I do the songs for the Teen Daze project. The record tells the story of a night spent at sea. The beauty and hope that comes with the watching of the sun set, swimming in the moonlight and looking back at life back on land in fondness and happiness. But as the night falls, and the endless ocean reveals itself as the chaotic, exilic wilderness, the main character begins to feel isolated and on edge. The ocean can bring both optimism and fear, hope and loneliness. The album was recorded in my bedroom, at the base of Mt. Cheam in Chilliwack, BC, from November 2010 to January 2011.
MP3 :: Two Bicycles - I’m Not Afraid To Wait For You
Head over yonder to preorder a copy of the limited edition cassette.
