Crash Symbols

Cream Dream is Teddy Ouwerkerk, a Long Island based designer and...

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:18:48 -0400

Cream Dream is Teddy Ouwerkerk, a Long Island based designer and producer with a flair for combining disco, soul, and funk circa 1970 with house and contemporary beat-making. Cream Dream: Collected gathers his first three self-released EPs, issued prior to the release of his free-to-download debut album Love Letter; the Paradiso and Total Babe EPs, as well as his mixtape Spliffy Beats vol. 1 and two muggy bonus tracks from the same period. It’s the first such compilation of his prior work, but it turned out too well and the tape’s way too good looking for it to be our last.

Pick up a copy from our bandcamp page.

Perhaps our most notoriously overdue cassette, the ill-fated...

Wed, 01 May 2013 08:58:02 -0400

Perhaps our most notoriously overdue cassette, the ill-fated PBUH037, which we pressed last year but had to sit on until… well, just about now. Featuring reworks of artists that run the gamut from the Cyclist to Barry White, these are some of the best remixes we’ve ever had the opportunity to put to tape (if you know our proclivities, you’ll know we’ve pressed more than most). Thanks to Beau himself for the incredible packaging design on this one.

“Beau Sorenson was born and grew up in remote northwestern Wisconsin, where it doesn’t necessarily take a village to raise a garage band; at least when you can count on the intervention of drum machines and a four track recorder. Sorenson’s interest shifted to synths as the 80s were losing their flavor, amassing ‘a small pile’ of them alongside as many other homemade pieces of equipment. Now a studio engineer with diverse credits, running the gamut from Sparklehorse and Death Cab For Cutie to Czarbles and Testa Rosa, Sorenson’s intimate knowledge of the equipment he uses gives him ample range for experimentation, a quality particularly palpable in his remixes. A small but growing appendage to his more technical work, Sorenson’s moniker Beaunoise reveals the fullness of his kaleidoscopic aural impulses – remapping the work of others through the refractive prisms of pop culture and contemporary technology. More so than his own more abstract compositions, remixing serves as a technical and personal laboratory for Sorenson to explore new production techniques, though also to test perception; to enjoy and admire a song enough to deconstruct and rebuild it with respect for a range of potential outcomes. This is the first release to collect his remixes. With several other projects slowly simmering on the backburner, Remixes serves as a strong counterpoint to his previous ambient work.”

Stream it below or click through here to order the tape.

<a href=”http://crashsymbols.bandcamp.com/album/remixes” data-mce-href=”http://crashsymbols.bandcamp.com/album/remixes”>Remixes by Beaunoise</a>

Here’s video of our buddy the Cyclist playing a short live...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:31:38 -0400

Here’s video of our buddy the Cyclist playing a short live set at the Boiler Room! Check out his new album from Leaving Records/Stones Throw - do yourself a favor and get the cassette version, it’s one of Leaving’s finest.

Happy Release Day! We’ve been shipping copies of Space...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 08:41:42 -0400

Happy Release Day! We’ve been shipping copies of Space Junk since last Friday, but today’s the album’s official release date. Activity at the USPS will be particularly vigorous today, robust even, as we stand dutifully in line to ship a tote-bag full of cardboard squares we’ve filled with music-loaded vinyl rounds, though eventually we’ll come home to wait for the reviews. I must be getting old, because this mediocre review from the 405 just seems funny - seems like the album wasn’t psychedelic enough for him, but he also intimates not liking psych music on principle, so go figure.

Order a copy of Space Junk on vinyl from our bandcamp.

In the meantime, check out the latest single from the album, “You & I” - premiered last week over on Pitchfork.

“Proposed by lo-fi recorder and pop auteur Emily Reo, the...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 08:11:24 -0400

“Proposed by lo-fi recorder and pop auteur Emily Reo, the Clubhouse Split collects songs from four similarly active female musicians, enlisting Johanne Swanson, aka Yohuna; Rebecca Doerfer, aka Brown Bread; and Malee Bringardner, aka MoonLasso. Though each is animated by their own unique projects, the impetus for the Clubhouse Split came from a mostly independent discovery and appreciation of each other’s music, the final gaps in familiarity being filled as each musician accepted in succession Reo’s invitation to collaborate on a split cassette. Their music is elegant, elaborately realized, and fully apprehended - each has been towing their own line for years at the heart of an expanding “post-colonial” music economy (no stuffed-shirt labels for these ladies).

Though the whole of human history is difficult to perceive for ‘most’ humans, because female voices are so thoroughly undocumented prior to recent centuries, tension in the form of radically opposite self-conceptualizations leaves thinkers of different genders designing their ideal self according to rules that sometimes don’t translate. That isn’t to say that women don’t have role models, just that we live in the throes of a protracted realignment. Progress as a species is the pace of our collective re-investment in the integrity of transcendent principles - in the face of an undesired state, we conceive of an ideal and (ideally) progress toward it. These four women have made it their work to model positivity and strength in the pursuit of a ‘public’ creativity, brooking no compromise and allowing their sincerity to play out across their respective bodies of work.

In the spirit of good will and basic arithmetic, the Clubhouse split offers eight songs and four genuine exemplars for anyone cognizant. If you include the packaging designers, that total raises to six; much thanks to artist Kaley Dickinson and designer Liz Pavlovic for their contributions.”

Order the Clubhouse split here.

Clubhouse Split by Emily Reo, Yohuna, Brown Bread, MoonLasso

Spin Magazine shared “Sometimes Happy, Sometimes...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 13:03:00 -0500

Spin Magazine shared “Sometimes Happy, Sometimes Sad” this morning - the first single from Halasan Bazar’s Space Junk LP. Check that out here.

Peep back here soon for a new single, album preorder information, and God knows what else.

Lil Kids’ Lopato-produced album Slow Rainbow has been...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 15:29:51 -0500

Lil Kids’ Lopato-produced album Slow Rainbow has been circulating digitally for a little while now, you can read a bit about mainstay Adam Kane in Interview Magazine and check out some of his more recent releases at the Lil Kids bandcamp. Still, even with another new album on the horizon, Slow Rainbow has been one of our favorite albums for the last year; Lopato’s unorthodox beats and transcendent sample work forming the perfect skeleton for Kane’s whimsically pragmatic lyricism. The partnership is versatile and Lopato’s production facilitates an impressive range on Slow Rainbow, Kane’s readings ably completing each collaboration with just the right kind of swagger.

We’re happy to share it! Cassettes will be shipping out later this month, but feel free to stream the album and preorder tapes on our bandcamp.

Slow Rainbow by Lil Kids

Only a few weeks away from the one year anniversary of our...

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 15:35:11 -0500

Only a few weeks away from the one year anniversary of our cassette
release of their last EP, (Love) That’s All, Welcome Back Sailors unveil a video for none other than the tape’s third track. The twilit sequence of footage for “Flesh & Blood” was produced by their fellow Italian, Francesco Brunotti, whose eye for imagery drew rather a lot from the song; a shot of Andy Warhol’s “Silver Clouds” installation in Pittsburgh even brings the band’s conceptual universe closer to our West Virginia base than we or the band has managed to date.

In February Night-People Records will release Kraken, the...

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 07:32:32 -0500

In February Night-People Records will release Kraken, the follow-up EP to unhappybirthday’s debut album with Crash Symbols, Sirup, joining our friends and Crash Symbols alums Featureless Ghost on the Iowa City imprint. It’s only the first in the band’s beautiful plans for 2013.

Portals shared a first teaser yesterday; aLogan Owlbeemoth produced video for the title track, previously only demoed in the band’s Live in Paris tour EP. The track itself is an exciting promise of versatility and a strong instrumental counterpoint to darker cuts on their debut.

Spectral Park

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:46:20 -0500

Earlier today, ThisIsFakeDIY unveiled the a new single from British psych-rocker Luke Donovan, aka Spectral Park, announcing details of his debut full length’s proper release February 4th on Mexican Summer. We couldn’t be happier to say that we’ll be handling the cassette, which we’ll elaborate on in more detail next month.

In the meantime, “Ornaments” is one of our very favorite tracks from the album and you have it in your power to preorder the record on vinyl here. Go with God.

Stream/Download: Spectral Park - “Ornaments”

The folks over at The Fader showing our girl Little Spoon some...

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 13:14:00 -0500

The folks over at The Fader showing our girl Little Spoon some love!

The cuties over at PORTALS just premiered a new track from our...

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 12:29:33 -0500

The cuties over at PORTALS just premiered a new track from our upcoming tape with the loveliest of ladies, Little Spoon. Give it a listen and then go ahead and pre-order the tape. We can guarantee this one will go fast.

While we make preparations for Halasan Bazar’s 12”...

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:07:00 -0500

While we make preparations for Halasan Bazar’s 12” LP Space Junk, enjoy a new album of demos for their 2012 cassette with Moon Glyph, How to Be Ever Happy. The band’s public speaking appendage, Fredrik, describes the album: “a 12 song collections of demos from 2008-2011 reconstructing our casette from last year How to Be Ever Happy in alternative versions. See it as an entertaining companion to the real album, not an artistic statement or anything. Enjoy!”

Check out the demos here and look into the aforementioned cassette on Moon Glyph’s website.

&amp;lt;a href=”http://halasanbazar.bandcamp.com/album/how-to-be-ever-demoed” data-mce-href=”http://halasanbazar.bandcamp.com/album/how-to-be-ever-demoed”&amp;gt;How To Be Ever Demoed by Halasan Bazar&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

Though Digitalis released and sold out of its vinyl edition...

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:53:00 -0500

Though Digitalis released and sold out of its vinyl edition of Nightrunners, the second (more or less) album from Altar Eagle, last year, delays kept the cassette edition trapped at our pressing plant until just before Christmas (just after the onslaught of obligations began to tumble over us). Hence the delay, but we’re eager to get these guys shipping so read up on a the release and stream some songs below before ordering a copy at our bandcamp. If you’ve already bought the LP, the cassette edition still has plenty to recommend itself - namely, an exclusive track-by-track remix album on the b-side of the tape, with treatments from producer Cosmic Sound, Ghibli, and Ricardo Donoso just to list a few.

“When the adjective optimistic is used to describe electronic pop music, the sounds of treacly, unimaginative boy-girl duos with musical knowledge so primitive they make Beat Happening look like Beethoven in comparison often come to mind. A highly welcome change of pace, Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Altar Eagle pen mature, subtle electronic pop songs with a finely honed appreciation for sounds and dynamics” -The Needle Drop

“Everybody knows that Brad Rose is a busy man. Lucky for us, dear reader, he still finds time to sit down with his wife and kick out stellar pop music under the Altar Eagle banner.” -OMG Vinyl

“Nightrunners is their neon-hazy [second album], perhaps slightly more industrial pop oriented, with strong traces of the early 4AD records they grew up with. Eden’s voice takes a leading role, contrasting her dreamy sweetness with Brad’s raspy, steppin’ drum machine patterns and layers of synth, guitar and electronics. The robust delicacy ‘Carousel Ocean’ is the perfect example, at once whimsical yet calculated and even noisy, while the rest of the LP passes through an alternating weather system from the dark clouds and driving pace of ‘Runaways’ to the gauzy shimmer of ‘Piglette’ and the churning turmoil of ‘Get Over It’ to fractured, Morr style techno-pop on ‘No Spring Till Summer’ or the jagged noise pop of ‘Hologram’.” -Boomkat

<a href=”http://crashsymbols.bandcamp.com/album/nightrunners” data-mce-href=”http://crashsymbols.bandcamp.com/album/nightrunners”>Nightrunners by Altar Eagle</a>

Purchase the cassette here.

The boys from unhappybirthday just started offering a free...

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 08:52:36 -0500

The boys from unhappybirthday just started offering a free download of their new live EP recorded during a recent show in Paris. Click through to their bandcamp to download, it’s only free for the next week.

Paris by unhappybirthday

Pitchfork reviewed Wish on Wednesday! Though we’re not of...

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:26:00 -0500

Pitchfork reviewed Wish on Wednesday! Though we’re not of a mind on the album, let’s (you and I, sensible reader) bond in knowing that we disagree on the same points. Check that out here.

In other news, Soft Riot’s extensive treatment (remix would be a demerit) of “Dont Let Me Down” premiered the same day on FADER. Click through here to read their post or just stream the track below. While you’re at it, we’re down to our last cassette copies of Wish over on bandcamp.

Stream/Download: Window Twins - Don’t Let Me Down (Soft Riot’s Wormhole Version)

New Halasan Bazar video, clipped from various bits of footage...

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 15:30:20 -0500

New Halasan Bazar video, clipped from various bits of footage shot by Jean Painlevé. Can’t wait to share some news regarding their upcoming LP with us, though we’ll probably be in a position to show some of the packaging designs in the coming weeks. In the meantime, their cassette How to Be Ever Happy is still available from Moon Glyph, though their supply is dwindling.

littlespoonduhh: single from my upcoming release with crash...

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:32:37 -0500

littlespoonduhh:

single from my upcoming release with crash symbols.
recorded in my bedroom
mixed/mastered by jake yuhas
album art by patrick farchione

w/<3

Windy & Warm: Rare Pleasures

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:39:34 -0400

Windy & Warm: Rare Pleasures:

windyandwarm:

One of the most bedroom-appropriate albums I’ve listened to as of late is Ghibli’s latest release, Rare Pleasures. The title accurately describes the sample-based smooth, silky house vibes that the Edmonton resident, Thomas Michael, delivers…

The folks at Windy & Warm just shared some lovely words about our cassette with our favorite house producer that rides a moose through the plains of Venus.

Welcome, to our Outlands “über post”. This week our...

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:09:51 -0400

Welcome, to our Outlands “über post”. This week our new pressing of their EP went on sale and you can grab a copy here - we’ve got some spare press copies of other albums floating around so everyone that orders today will get their choice of another in print Crash Symbols title. Just mention the name of the tape you’d like in your paypal comments section when you check out.

We also wanted to point y’all toward a couple of spectacular instances of “press” for the band. First off, a groovy mix that the duo made for I Vacation in Your Hell, one of the better named blogs we’ve had the pleasure of brushing up against. You can check that out here. This is Fake DIY also recently premiered a Text Beak & DEFA remix of their song “Com Ocean”, clearly much beloved of remixers. That one’s up to stream at DIY.

Now that we’ve solicited your business and attention, here’s a streaming version that you don’t even have to click through a link to get to.

Godspeed!

Outlands EP by Outlands