We're happy to announce we'll be releasing Dear Human's debut EP on March 26th through Gutterth Records!
Please join us that evening, Friday March 26th, to celebrate the release at Rubber Gloves in Denton with performances by Dear Human, Geistheistler, Handbrake, New Science Projects and Babar.
Ken Shimamoto wrote a great article on Tommy Atkins for the Fort Worth Weekly today.
Tommy Atkins (1974-2010)
"Tommy Wayne Atkins, bassist for the Fort Worth experimental hard-rock trio The Great Tyrant, was found dead at home last Thursday afternoon. His two longtime friends and bandmates, Jon Teague and Daron Beck, worried when he didn't show up for band practice Wednesday night, and Teague became more concerned when the manager of the Half Price Books where Atkins worked called Thursday to ask if he'd seen his friend. Atkins had struggled with depression for years. His trough of despond was deep, and he left by his own hand. Atkins was revered by his musical peers for the monolithic wall of sound that issued from his Sunn bass amp and his somewhat menacing, monk-like stage presence. Atkins' favored tone was the deepest and darkest tectonic rumble imaginable, one that you felt through your solar plexus before you heard it. He and Teague, who'd played together for half their lives, formed the heaviest -- and, some would argue, the best -- rhythm section in town. When they interlocked their syncopations, you could imagine them conjuring a lumbering behemoth -- and making it dance. On his own, Atkins recorded atmospheric ambient soundscapes under the rubric The DSA Working. From Halloween 1998 to Easter Sunday 2005, Atkins played with Teague, keyboardist Doug Ferguson, and guitarist Eric Harris in Yeti, a trailblazing, jazzy progressive rock outfit. Following Ferguson's death in February 2002, their sound became heavier, with Atkins and Teague splitting keyboard duties. Yeti released two albums, 2000's Things To Come and 2004's Volume, Transcendence, Oblivion, and disbanded following their second tour of the West Coast. Since coalescing in early 2006, The Great Tyrant blended gothic horror and doom-metal influences, played hypnotically theatrical live shows, and wrote and recorded a steady stream of new material. To date, only a 7-inch single and four-song EP (2007's Candy Canes) have been released. In the wake of Atkins' passing, Teague and Beck announced that they will continue performing together but not as The Great Tyrant. "This isn't the kind of band where anyone can be replaced," Beck said. They plan to release the two albums completed with Atkins, as well as some of his solo music. "Thankfully," Beck said, "everything we wrote together was recorded." Last Sunday, a benefit show to raise funds to cover Atkins' cremation costs was held at the recently refurbished Kessler Theater in Oak Cliff. The event was organized by Darktown Strutters chanteuse Kara Howell, who managed to negotiate free use of the theater, the services of 13 bands, a DJ, projection artists, Gutterth Productions' P.A., and food from an Oak Cliff pizzeria on just three days' notice. Friends of Atkins will gather to share memories of him on Sunday at Lola's Saloon-Sixth, and another memorial show will be held there in May. Donations are being accepted via a Paypal link: http://www.tinyurl.com/TommyAtkins. "This broke our hearts," Beck said. "We really loved Tommy, and we knew he had a lot going on in his head. He was a crazy, private genius: super-intelligent, soulful, and sensitive. The outpouring of support since this happened has made us realize that a lot of people cared a lot more [about Tommy] than we knew. But he always viewed himself differently than other people did." Atkins was a shy and private individual; a connoisseur of challenging music, film, and literature; and a generous spirit known to his friends for his searching intellect and quiet humor. His departure leaves a hole in the local musical landscape -- and in the hearts of his family and many friends -- that will never be filled."
Tommy Atkins Memorial
Sun at Lola's Saloon-Sixth, 2736 W 6th St, FW. 817-877-0666.
Our friend, and talented musician, Tommy Atkins (of Yeti and The Great Tryant) passed away this week.
To help offset the memorial/funeral costs there will be a Benefit Show at The Kessler Theater in Dallas today with performances by The Black Dots, Tre Orsi, Hentai Improvising Orchestra, Nervous Curtains, NAXAT, Orange Coax, Darktown Strutters, Corporate Park, Drug Mountain, PVC Street Gang, Akkolyte and Yells At Eels. All proceeds from the show will be donated.
If you are unable to attend and would still like to help, you can DONATE HERE.
Please join us tonight at Hailey's in Denton to celebrate the album's release
with performances by The Timeline Post, Dust Congress and Drink To Victory.
"Welcome back, troopers. It's that time of the week again to present our selection for the Poster Of The Week. Let's see how many of you agree/disagree this time around, shall we? Anyway, on to this week's winner... It seems that Gutterth Productions attracts a lot of graphically-inclined talent (whether it's the musical talent themselves or their creative comrades) because the production company is once again attached to this week's selection. Announcing The Timeline Post's CD release show for their album Slow Descent (also featuring Dust Congress and Drink To Victory), this poster sets the mood, drawing directly from the album's artwork. This gloomy, organic, yet sophisticated poster designed by Brian, Erik and Owen of The Timeline Post (who also designed the album art) is a great example of continuing the aesthetic through and through between the promotional materials and the album itself. It helps ensure that everyone will be able to recognize the connection, and hopefully pick up a copy of the album while they're at it. As Brent Frishman of Gutterth, who himself has designed some past winners and submitted this selection, said in his submission email, "It's pretty simple, but reflects the artwork used within the album as well as including the same handwritten/scanned in type." Indeed. Out of another horse's mouth, fellow art-appreciator and consummate creative critic Robert Wilonsky noted, "It looks like the independent film version of a rock show. Or a poster for a David Gordon Green movie." Wonder where he got that second thought from. Hmmm.... See what you want to see, but I love the texture and lo-fi color palette, apparently borrowing hues from nature's various terrain. Regardless of what the actual source is, the balance in both color and space is pretty perfect, allowing the white hand-done type to really draw the viewer's focus to the important information without it being overbearing. Subtle and yet bold at the same time--just as it's both haunting and innocent--I think this poster acts more like a Spike Jonze joint, myself. In the end, as a visual creative, I'm lured to this, and thus, I'm drawn to what it's heralding. Keeping it simple: Only the basic info is tastefully represented, and it's easy to ingest while maintaining aesthetic integrity. Overall, the poster is very memorable, thus making it successful in communication (not to mention the fact that it makes me want to give a listen to this new album). If it's anything like what I'm looking at, I'm sure I would really enjoy it.
."
Our friends Nervous Curtains will be releasing their debut album "Out Of Sync With Time" tonight!
with a free release party with the Darktown Strutters at Good Records in Dallas.
We're participating in a NX35 daytime Panel discussion on Saturday, March 13 at Sweetwar Grill & Tavern.
"House shows are nothing new. However, alternative venues are so popular now that artists can completely bypass traditional venues and experience significant success. Still, traditional venues are valid and important pieces of the DFW region’s live music landscape. Only a few years ago many artists looked to promoters to book and spread the word about their shows. Now, artists operate as both booking agents and promoters via online social networking applications. As we move forward in an economy disheveled by real estate market collapse, will the live music landscape alter even further?"
We're excited to announce we'll be hosting a showcase as part of this year's NX35 Music Conferette!
Please join us at Andy's on the Square, Thursday March 11th for the NX35: Gutterth Showcase
with performances by History At Our Disposal, The Great Tyrant, New Science Projects, Nervous Curtains and The Timeline Post. Single show tickets will be available at the door.
The eleventh episode of the Gutterth Podcast features songs by The Great Tyrant, RTB2, Fair To Midland, Nervous Curtains, The Slow Burners, Record Hop, Dust Congress, New Science Projects, History At Our Disposal, Delmore Pilcrow, Picc Line, Yells At Eels, DIIV, The House Harkonnen, and an exclusive interview and live acoustic recording with The Timeline Post.
"woke up too early and burned a bunch of cd-r's to take to the HIO extravaganza at j&j's pizza in denton -- four each of the first session from 10.17.2009, the live 12.19.2009 recording from 1919 hemphill, and the session with patrick crossland from 12.27.2009. wound up leaving them on the "merch table" in the pizza parlor's basement. hopefully someone will want them and they won't wind up in the dumpster. wrote a bunch of record reviews and tried vainly to take a nap before mr. horn came to pick me up to drive up for the gig. denton has a weird thing to it. everyone i saw looked kind of depressed and unhealthy -- or maybe it's just the recent weather. recycled books and records is always a treasure trove and i'm amazed/depressed at the number of good jazz cd's they have in stock (multiple copies of what appears to be the entahr black saint catalog -- guh). put back a don pullen solo piano album and a beefheart bootleg in favor of freedy johnston's this perfect world (ultra-depressing jangle-pop fave from my last go as a rekkid store geek) and john cale's paris 1919 (my favorite album of his after the solo live fragments of a rainy season, which i now have on dvd, although it has fewer songs than the cd). j&j's is located right on the town square, next door to an overpriced (terry sez) musical instrument store. they throw a decent pie that they're pretty proud of; too bad we didn't know that bandmembers get free pie and schlitz until after terry paid for one (the last two slices of which we wound up leaving in the back hallway; sloppy loadout). hembree and his friend were already there when we arrived, while hickey and marcus showed up awhile later. also saw a friend of my middle daughter's who's been to dinner at the house and ty stamp from violent squid, who was there with some buds making up song names for a band called whiskey lizards. vexed uk went first. terry had spent the last couple of days building two light boxes michael briggs had requested, which michael fitted with red halogen lamps that were fairly blinding when he turned them on -- one way to handle the situation of not liking to be seen onstage. their blend of sarah's voice and small instruments with michael's voice, guitar, and electronics (all of it liberally slathered with F/X) was as intriguing as always. aunt's analog from austin were LOUDER THAN FUCK. i was upstairs when we started and it was almost painfully loud up there. they soon emptied the basement except for michael and his gutterth pal brent frishman -- and hembree and his friend. the upstairs dining room cleared out pretty thoroughly too, after which one of the j&j's folks informed michael that "if the rest of the bands are going to be this loud, you might as well pack up and leave now." yells at eels were vibrantly exploratory as usual, and the night's performance had a little extra something -- a sense of playfulness, perhaps -- owing to the size of the attentive crowd, i'd guess. aaron gonzalez thought it'd be funny to bait the house for bitching about the noise -- not really on in my opinion; as the bathroom graffiti at the wreck room used to say, "don't shit where you eat." his father dennis spun spells from his trumpet like a sorcerer, both with and without the octave effect from his whammy pedal, and when aaron and his brother stefan kicked off the pounding intro to "document for toshinori kondo," stefan channeling gene krupa with his relentless kick drum, you could feel the room starting to levitate. aaron sat in on bass and voxxx with HIO, which on this occasion also included sarah alexander, michael briggs, marcus brunt, matt hembree, matt hickey, terry horn, and your humble chronicler o' events. hembree played small instruments and sarah read from romance novels and erotica in a variety of accents. i couldn't hear either of them well enough, but terry, who was better positioned to hear the whole ensemble, said it sounded fine out front. hembree recorded it and we're anxious to hear. the drive home was uneventful, thankfully without the thunderstorms that were predicted, and it was good to get home to my sweetie and the cats. always is. looking forward to lola's 6th with the better death and underground railroad next saturday, when hembree will be playing the small instruments exclusively (no bass) and we'll have the luxury of an andre edmonson mix."
"Brought to us by Brent Frishman (who's no stranger to having his work around these parts) of Gutterth Productions, this poster couldn't be ignored.
Promoting Episode XLI (41 to you non-Romans) of Gutterth's showcase series, Brent himself says, "The poster was made to have an old traditional Victorian feel, to juxtapose the lineup; since the bands playing the showcase are of a more noise/ambient/improv/experimental nature."
This is exactly why we ask you to tell us a little about the poster--some story behind why you chose a given particular style, etc.--so we can all hear it from straight from the designer's mouth. Feeling very "steam-punk" to me, the Victorian influence is very evident with the colors and the flourish/decorative motif. I am a sucker for this emerging style (although cringing for the moment when it becomes yet another trite trend, if it hasn't already), especially when combined with another archetypal style to create something "new" and different. Although, here, I'm not really seeing that, aside from the weathering that's been added for some textural detail. Nevertheless, it's a pretty poster."
"Do you know who else loves music? Gutterth Productions. The labors of love from Michael Briggs and Brent Frishman result in podcasts, albums, shows, artwork and some of the best promotion this side of the metroplex. They have an impressive roster of musicians they have worked with and that includes today’s featured band, The Timeline Post.
There hasn’t been much said about The Timeline Post but I expect there to be once they release their newest album, Slow Descent, next week. This rock outfit from Denton brings dramatic highs and lows into their music that draws relative lines to Muse. And that’s not a bad comparison. The epic chorus of their title track furthers the similarities but the ethereal choir in “Three” shows that they aren’t just some copycat rock band. I look forward to hearing the rest of the new album although it is a shame I can’t it to their CD release party next Friday at Hailey’s. Guess that means I’ll have to try and catch them as well as New Science Projects at Gutterth’s showcase at NX35 on the opening night of the festival, huh?"
We are extremely excited to announce we will be releasing The Timeline Post's new album "Slow Descent" on Friday, February 26th through Gutterth Records! Please join us that evening at Hailey's in Denton to celebrate the album's release with performances by The Timeline Post, Dust Congress and Drink To Victory. "a slow descent has come"
"Alright team, let's huddle: I know I've been away for a little while, but I'm back, and ready to make this week's pick for DC9's Poster of the Week. So let's not waste any time, OK? Ready... BREAK! That's about as sporty as I can get, folks--and it's quite the antithesis of this week's selection, brought to us by the folks at Gutterth Productions. Designed by Brent Frishman, this piece lives comfortably within the aesthetic we've come to expect from Gutterth: organic, imperfect, sincere, and at times, rustic. In other words, quite beautiful. For the full breakdown, let's go after the jump. Visceral to say the least, this piece borrows from both the institution of found objects/images and the resurgent lo-fi trend of imperfect type, whether also found (potentially) or intentionally created to appear less-than-digital. Juxtaposing these two modes (a turn-of-the-century sepia-toned mustachioed portrait and the modern-yet-obsolete hand-pressed plastic labels) evokes the craftiness and, shall I say "mystery" that seems to rise to the surface. The placement and color choice of the type is perfectly askew and haphazard enough to maintain the aforementioned mystery. But separating the band names from the other information--namely, the gentleman's magnificent crumb-catcher--actually highlights the information itself. (You will at least remember that this show is going down January 23--I guarantee that.) The inclusion of Gutterth's insect mark doesn't even take away from the overall piece, but acts as a nice little detail, bringing the whole look full-circle."
GR012 Daniel Folmer: The Roaring Twenties
GR013 New Science Projects: Poison Culture
GR014 The Heartstring Stranglers: Last Days In The Prussian Era
GR015 Daniel Folmer: Dead End
GR016 Today We Find: Ourselves
GR017 Vexed UK: Meditation Music
GR018 Compilation: Two
GR019 Ryan Thomas Becker: Neighborhoof
Some of our friends:
Balmorhea: All Is Wild, All Is Silent
Balmorhea: All Is Wild, All Is Silent Remixes
Delmore Pilcrow: Worn To The Weft
Doug Burr: The Shawl
Dust Congress: Regurgitate Sunshine State
Drink To Victory: DIIV2
Florene: Taped
Florene: Florene
Geistheistler: Live
Geistheistler: Live
Kaboom: Blood
Mount Righteous: Open Your Mouth
RTB2: In The Fleshed
Sarah Jaffe: Even Born Again
Shiny Around The Edges: Holly Roller
Sleep Whale: Houseboat
The House Harkonnen: Vol.6
The Paper Chase: Someday This Could All Be Yours V01
The Slow Burners: Why We Fight
The Spectacle: Learned Hopelessness
The Zanzibar Snails: Journey Into Amazing Caves
True Widow: True Widow
Notes From Underground: Notes From Underground
The beginning of 2010 looks pretty solid as well.
(The Timeline Post, Dear Human, New Science Projects)
Check back for details/updates over the next week.
