Karl Hendricks tribute compilation! OUT LP is out! Mint Mile 12″ too! Shows! More!
Our friend Karl Hendricks died in January 2017. He was 46.
Karl was one of the best songwriters of this generation (or any other) but he was an even better father than he was a musician, and a thorough inspiration to many as a husband, dad, artist and business owner who carried himself with a quiet dignity through some unspeakably lousy times.
The collection of Karl Hendricks covers “The Wheel & The Alphabet” (with artwork by Dana Lechtenberg) is our perpetual tribute to the “bard of Pittsburgh.”
Some tracks come via dear friends, others from people who just loved the music of The Karl Hendricks Trio.
They’re arranged by artist alphabetically as a nod to something Karl said about there being two perfect inventions in the whole world: “the wheel and the alphabet.”
New songs will be added as they are completed and I hope that people will come across this page and be inspired to record their own.
Including you.
All proceeds from this digital compilation will go to Karl’s wife and children.
You can purchase “The Wheel and the Alphabet: A Tribute to Karl Hendricks” here, where you will also find additional information about each artist and their song.
“Swim Buddies,” the debut full-length by Kalamazoo’s OUT, is available today!
It is very good (and very blue).
This record is an emotional wallop culminating a year of fizzy water, cold basement practices, h.o.t. basement practices, Yahtzee with Buddies, trips to the beach, broken gear, tea, fixed gear, MRIs, bike rides, walks and a metric tonne of good vibes on the regular.
OUT is Isaac Turner, Chafe Hensley and Mark Larmee – also of the acclaimed Michigan rock/roll band Minutes – joined in this new endeavor by TJ Larmee on the bass guitar.
The anthemic-yet-intimate album’s title “Swim Buddies” hints at the pull that Lake Michigan (and Lake Superior, when they can get there) has on the band. TJ and Mark were married on the shores of that gorgeous beast, and it’ll forever be connected to the band and this record in all the right ways. You should really swim at sunset sometime to get the full Technicolor panoramic trip.
OUT’s music is all about the interplay between seemingly simple lines (vocal blurts / guitar riffs) that come together to make a whole larger than parts. Water, and the lack of water, worms its way in the songs: dust and silt covering the Earth after we’ve finally ruined it; flood waters rising to consume the entire town (it’s something we did, pretty sure); the water we need to fill us up after foolhardy endeavors. The water is always there, and its absence will be crucial.
Digital files can be downloaded / streamed from any of the following locations:
iTunes : eMusic : Bandcamp : Amazon : Google Play
Physical vinyl (limited to 300 copies and going fast) can be ordered direct from Comedy Minus One here.
If you would like your favorite North American record store to stock this title, please ask them nicely to order from Revolver.
For TV / Film licensing, please contact Lyle Hysen at Bank Robber Music – [email protected]
The second Mint Mile 12″ “The Bliss Point” (cmo037) is in stores!
Digital files can be downloaded / streamed from locations such as the following:
iTunes : Bandcamp : Amazon : Google Play : eMusic
Physical vinyl (limited to 500 copies) can be ordered directly from Comedy Minus One here.
Hear the song “City of Speed Traps” here.
The record was made in Chicago with some crucial bits applied in Portland, Oregon.
We like four-song EPs because we cannot bury a song in the middle of Side B. Nothing is transitional. Everything either leads off or finishes an experience.
We are on an endless search for the optimal conditions of existence. Comfort, companionship, warmth. Gentle insistence. A lack of manufacture. To convince ourselves that we are alive and we make the most of our time. To fail to regret, to avoid the sense on our deathbeds (if we’re lucky and have them) that we spent too much time focused on the wrong things. To be not always distracted, not always preoccupied, but if lost to lose ourselves in love and joy. To take in the world raw, as wide and wonderous and ugly and terrific as it is.
So that’s what this record is about.
Hope you enjoy it.
Tim Midyett
Chicago 2016
MM on this record is:
Tim Midyett (Silkworm, Bottomless Pit) – vocals, baritone guitars electric and acoustic, piano, bass on Youngold, ARP, writing, some engineering and mixing
Matthew Barnhart (Tre Orsi) – bass except Youngold, most engineering and mixing
Jeff Panall (Songs: Ohia) – drums
Andy Cohen (Silkworm, Bottomless Pit) – regular electric guitar
Howard Draper (Tre Orsi) – lap steel on Speed/Bellflower/Park, organ, that burbly broken synth on Youngold
Justin Brown (Palliard) – steel guitar on Park/Youngold
For TV / Film licensing, please contact Lyle Hysen at Bank Robber Music – [email protected]
Speaking of Mint Mile, there is one additional MM track not found on either “The Bliss Point” or the group’s debut 12″ “In Season & Ripe.”
Mint Mile’s cover of Silkworm’s “Punch Drunk” is exclusive to the “The National 4-Track Compilation” on Sump Pump Records alongside Mike Watt, Franklin Bruno, Joe Jack Talcum and other noteables. The collection is limited to 200 copies and we don’t expect these LPs will be around long, so order quickly here!
Upcoming shows:
Tuesday, March 14
The General
South Bend, IN
The Rutabega with Analecta, Hiram-Maxim
Saturday, April 9
The General
South Bend, IN
OUT and The Rutabega with The Bismarck and Korean Jeans
Sunday, April 10
Shakespeare’s
Kalamazoo, MI
OUT and The Rutabega with The Bismarck and Korean Jeans
Friday, March 24
Union Hall
Brooklyn, NY
SAVAK with Lake Ruth, Gold Muse and DJ Slist
Saturday, March 25
Once Lounge
Somerville, MA
SAVAK with Lake Ruth, Gold Muse and DJ Bad Squirrel
For full details on the above shows, click here.
Can you do us a favor? Through some digital wizardry, the “old” CMO Twitter account is now @jonsolomon, so if you want news / updates from the label, please follow @comedyminusone instead. Or better yet, both!
Comedy Minus One also has a Facebook page and a relatively new Instagram page for those of you who dig such things.
Stores and distributors are welcome to contact us about stocking these titles. Comedy Minus One is distributed directly in North America through Revolver. European customers can contact Day After for our wares.
Canadian, UK and Australian distribution sought.
Thanks!
Jon Solomon
Comedy Minus One
comedyminusone.com