As if life wanted to send me a message it knew I would ignore, I’m sad to report that my recording equipment has blown up.

My 16-track set up bit the dust during the Friday night of Budget Rock 10, so not only am I temporarily unable to use it, the last bands I attempted to record with it were Personal & the Pizzas, the re-united Statics, and the almighty Rip Offs, who played one of the most amazing sets I’ve ever witnessed. Yet none of what I captured will ever see the light of day because it all sounds like complete shit, and not the good kind (AKA “lo-fi”), but digital garbage.

It looks my equipment is repairable but it’s going to take awhile and require money I don’t have, now that I have a baby on the way as well as two new releases out Lemon Session (Von Zippers and Zulus). So, if you’ve been holding out on buying records from me but come to this site for the free downloads, please consider buying some records. You won’t be sorry if you do since they’re all rad.

Now onto what this post was supposed to be about: my recent recordings (pre-blow up) of Raw Nite.

Raw Nite is the newest project to feature the vocal-stylings of Rob Vertigo, the Bay Area’s favorite record store employee. Providing the musical platform for him are two dudes from Vertigo’s other bands: John Laux from Tractor Sex Fatality on guitar and Kyle Runyon from Butcher Cover on drums. As you can tell from the tracks, the band takes the aesthetic of Butcher Cover’s simplified, lo-fi hardcore and applies to ’90s’ noise rock a la Pussy Galore and Soul Crusher-era White Zombie. Yes, it’s that good.

Provided for your enjoyment is a mix of studio and live tracks. The live tracks were from their second show ever, which was at the Stork, and consists of a board recording melded with what was captured on my shitty handheld recorder. The studio tracks come from a recent recording I produced in my garage before it was gutted, where I used a Tascam 388 for the basic tracks and a 6-track cassette recorder for mixdown and overdubs.

Get ready to have your face melted off.

It’s the week after my 31st birthday, so it’s time to get off my ass and start doing something responsible and doesn’t pay.

Though I’ve been side-tracked by big projects at work and baby-making at home, I have finished mixes on the recordings from the SS10 shows. Sadly, I can’t tell you what’s going to happen with them as I’m still in the dark, but you’ll be seeing some posted here soon.

I recently grabbed a decent recording of Raw Nite, which features members of Tractor Sex Fatality and the Lemon Session “Bromeos” known as Butcher Cover. The shit is pretty much ready-to-go, so you should be seeing some songs from their set at the Stork Club up here sooner than later.

The big news? It looks like I’ll be recording the Budget Rock shows, once all the bands give me the okay. Keep your fingers crossed for that.

That being said, those waiting for the next two releases on Lemon Session should be happy to know that they will be arriving at my house in the next day or two.*

Click on the pictures on the right to order the singles. Thanks, and please tell your friends to buy some goddamn records.

*They arrived today, 9/30/2011, just after I posted this.

Hey, great seeing you again! Thanks so much for coming by and grabbing some free stuff. This post is a real treat for those who love lo-fi live recordings of crazy punk bands — if it were the 90s, you’d be trading this shit on cassette.

But before you go running off to download the free songs posted below, make sure you take a second and check out the releases page. We got records in the can, ready to go and the only thing that’s stopping us is the money part. All that I ask is that if you like what you see and hear here, buy some records.

Anyway, I’m hours away from having huge chunks of my throat cut out, and adopting a diet of ice cream and
Percocet. This week’s recording is from the Homostupids, the best spastic punk band out there right now.

Unlike my most recent posts, this isn’t from a show recorded months or years ago. It’s from March, so I am definitely patting myself on the back for this post.

Sadly, though the show was full of energy and chaos, it wasn’t the band’s tightest set, as exemplified by their opening number, Beneath The Blackman (my fave song), which practically fell apart (and I didn’t post below.) The bass player was asking for weed earlier in the night and I think he had found some right before they took the stage…

Still, this was a fucking great set that also included hits like “Apeshit” and “Fishboys” as well as shack shakers from their newest LP, “Strawberry, Orange, Peach, Bananna.” One of which, Starman, was thrown in their twice, probably for inside joke purposes.

Sadly, I could not include the sweet shit talking, such as when the band announced they would play the song Starman and some dude exclaimed that he had the movie on LaserDisc. The singer/guitarist then replied, “We’ll play that shit for you and your fucking laser disc, which you probably didn’t pay for, fucktard!”

*Audio nerds, take note: I didn’t use the full setup, just a Zoom h4 and a Rode NT4.

Well, I missed the weekly deadline I gave myself, but at least I made the second week! Yep, I’m staying alive and moving along, lining up a bunch more recordings to give away for free. Just last week I captured both Little Queenie and the almighty HOMOSTUPIDS, which I should be getting up sooner rather than later. (Sadly, my recording device corrupted the amazing 1/2-hour set from Butcher Cover and its proving to be impossible to salvage.)

By the way, thanks to everybody who started buying up singles from the Lemon Session Singles Club 2010 once they were made available for individual purchase. Note to all interested — the Aluminum Knot Eye records are being bought up a few at a time, so make sure to buy one before they’re gone.

This week’s free download? A live Sex Church recording from October 2010.

This was recorded when the band went on a tour through the west coast to who-knows-where (I know I forgot.) I rushed over to the First Church Of The Buzzard, in a crappy part of west Oakland, and could only bring my 2-track recorder.

Though I had to search for a sweet spot during Butcher Cover’s set (thereby only getting half of it…. uggh) it was perfect for Sex Church’s modern psych set. After Butcher Cover’s blast of blown-out insanity and the amount of dope smoking going on in the venue (if only the church’s congregation knew!), the crowd was primed for goth-tinged space jams that Sex Church brought.

Afterward, Sex Church came back to my place and became the first rock band to stay at my new house. Sadly, the jacuzzi wasn’t up and running yet, so our rock star partying was limited to beers and episodes of “Louie” on my DVR.

From this idea’s inception it took me 11 months to get to this point. Personally, I don’t think that’s too long of a time to get eight records ready to sell, but if it is, I would love to know.

In theory it shouldn’t be that hard to send a CDR to someone in a different part of the country and have them turn it into a record. Yet it is, because:

A. You actually have to talk to two or three people;
B. You have to have the grip of money that’s required to be sent with it.

Oh, and one quick note: I’m doing this so I can start a label and put out more records you’d want. So, to make yourself feel better when you’re buying this, you can tell yourself you’re helping start a non-profit.

Lemon Session Singles Club 2010

Subscription options

Option 1 - 8 Shipments $65.00 Option 2 - 4 Shipments $55.00 Option 3 - Local $45.00 Option 4 - Payment plan $12.00

Email list

After months of compiling this, here it is, the Lemon Session Singles Club 2010. Only eight records, but all previously unreleased material.

The 2010 lineup:
Rib Cages
Teenage Nightwar
Terrible Twos
Butcher Cover
Unnatural Helpers
Blowtops
Steeples
Aluminum Knot Eye

Cover art provided by the most talented Rob Vertigo, singer for Butcher Cover.

There are no real restrictions, but for those outside the US will have to pay the difference in shipping costs.

Option 1: 8 Packages:
For $65, you’ll receive a single every month of 2010, except for January, April, July and October.

Option 2: 4 Packages:
For $55, you’ll receive two singles each package, mailed out in February, May, August and November.

Option 3: Local pickup (for Bay Area residents only):
For $45, you’ll be able to pickup records on an almost monthly basis at 1234 Go! Records.

419 40th Street
Oakland, CA 94609-2508
(510) 985-0325

You’ll need to sign up for the mailing list above to find out when the new records have been dropped off.

NEW Option 4: Payment Plan:
For 5 payments of $12, you get all the records, but the packages only come after you pay.

So you won’t feel surprised or gypped by what you receive, here’s a sampler of all the bands, including 3 songs that will be on three of the singles in the club.