1. Blank chipboard 2. Coated chipboard 3. Printed flat 4. Glued, assembled and wrapped

The packaging of music has fascinated me for years. I have always had a fetish for CDs, cassettes and LPs. When CDs were packaged in larger rectangular cardboard boxes (probably to be more like a rectangular record) I used to keep the front and backs of the boxes and hang them on my wall. I lamented the record companies going the way of just shrink wrapping and stickering the cases closed. Those stickers still piss me off.

When I decide on what packaging I am going to use for a particular release it typically comes down to whether I am going to make the packaging myself or if I am going to find outside help. Every release Aphonia produces has a specific design goal and this usually stems from the art and cover design itself. In years past both Ben and I would design some artwork ourselves (with input from the artists) and we still do from time to time. Lately we have preferred the input of artists and designers. A lot of whom, do this very incredibly beautiful work without pay or only by trade.

When I end up with a proof for artwork it is at that point I figure out exactly what it will take to have the artwork translate to a hard copy. Over the years I have whittled down what kind of packaging and process seems to work the best. In recent years, I have come up with a unique process to creating physical releases with real impact… and it hasn’t been an easy process. For instance, it has taken a great deal of wasted paper and ink to transform a rather drab, yet sturdy, chipboard blank into one of our more recent releases L.A. Lungs Letting It All Bunch Up shown below.

This past week I have been assembling this release and it is the result of several years of refining the do-it-yourself look but with the challenge of making it look polished. The process involves many steps and personalizes each and every copy that is purchased. First, we have raw ingredients, purchased from several vendors. I have found what chipboard, paint and inkjet printable CD-Rs work best for our limited means. Yes, I use CD-Rs. We have had professionally pressed CDs and vinyl done for us, but not everyone needs 300 or 500 copies to sell. Ultimately, the argument about whether a professionally pressed CD is better than a CD-R will persist no matter what arguments I offer here. That is what the “Comments” section is for!

After printing directly on the brown flats with my large Canon Pixma Pro for so long, it was always apparent that colors just did not pop. Most of the time this hasn’t mattered so much. Having so many releases based on black and white designs makes the end translation, from PDF to paper, quite simple and predictable. Even so, black on brown doesn’t have enough contrast. After experimenting with different coating inks, I found one white water soluble ink that works well to provide a white base on the chipboard. The effect of which can be seen below.

Why do this to brown chipboard? Why not buy white pre-coated blanks or bleached chipboard? Well, for whatever reason the brown chipboard always made the inkjet printing appear sharp, while the coated ones would smear and the bleached ones would bleed. This just isn’t an issue with the brown chipboard.

I then print the inkjet color on top of the dried white chipboard surface and get varying results based on thickness of the white ink on each blank. Since I coat each blank by hand, this lends each piece a hand painted/crafted look. No single piece is quite alike as you can see more clearly by a group of these blanks lined up below.

So obviously, they are still flats and must be glued together and this is when the assembly line begins. I glue the flats together and stamp the serial numbers on each one.Simultaneously, I am burning each silver coated, silver bottomed CD-R. I often have two computers burning at once, at a low burn speed. Once I have completed the printing and gluing of the jackets and the burning of the CDs I move on to create the design and print the disc art – that is, actual imagery on the face of the physical disc.

Just as the outer cases have been given serial numbers, the actual CD-Rs themselves all have sequential serial numbers. Each disc is prepared in the disc printing software with the serial number and then printed. This process can take a great deal of time as this is a product that is made from the ground up.

The first five completed pieces with serial numbers hand stamped on.

So this was brief but it might beg the question: why bother telling the world what this process is? To me, I find a certain satisfaction from producing these releases, from taking simple ingredients and making something that is ultimately worth more than the sum of its parts. The other part of it for me is that it embodies the intention of the artists who spend years of their lives cultivating and refining their process, their composition, their sound. Although not many of our artists elucidate their process or intention, as art is left more for interpretation and we would prefer to leave it that way. After all the art isn’t for the artists alone – it is for the audience.

This is where I part ways with the artists on our label. Yes, ultimately, these discs are for an audience as well. We call them customers or distributors but that is not really who they are for, that is their function. The CDs true purpose is create an artifact, a fetishized product for the artist to profit from and for the audience to desire.

The first of these is “Gravitational Collapse.” Those of you who are familiar with Myello Electronic’s first release “Composites and Variations on Forms” would recognize “Gravitational Collapse” as gloopy and trippy as ever. I mention this one first because between all three releases there is a palpable growth pattern that one can track through time.

The second in this trio of unreleased gems is “Amour Fou.” We reported back in late 2007 on Mr. Farrell’s participation in Gabriel Bacon and Paul Schrag’s “Environmental Aesthetics.” Myello Electronics was commissioned to create on-site recordings of Cooling Tower No. 5 from an uncompleted nuclear reactor. The original blog post goes on to say:

Today, massive remnants of the project remain, including Cooling Tower No. 5, which was selected as the site of the Environmental Aesthetics residency program. The concrete tower rests beside the Chehalis River, rising nearly 500 feet in the air, its 15-foot-thick concrete wall encircling four acres of grass covered soil. To date, the structure has remained gated and largely unused. The Satsop Residency aims to reinterpret this epic monument as a sublime environment with the potential to function as an all encompassing artistic medium, emphasizing the interplay between site-specific sonic art, seemingly obsolete industrial architecture and the natural environment.

Read the entire post from December 2007, here. “Amour Fou” is a swirling, gliding, abstract and obscure ambient tribute to Cooling Tower No. 5.

In the intervening years we have not only a change in tone and sonic inclination but a change in name as well. Farrell began to produce more dance-able, techno-y, tunes under the moniker Adger Bacid. This toe tapping, house-y and tribute-like record comes as a breath of fresh air and truly shows Farrell coming out the other side of Cooling Tower No. 5 with some freshness.

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Artwork: Nina Pratchios

Few artists on our label get the online attention that Mirror Mirror receives. For this Spokane, Washington based psychedelic rock group, no other outlet has been so successful as their YouTube channel.

The band has truly reached online fandom, especially in Europe, where video artists continually post versions of their most popular tracks. True to the murky, underwater and downright dark overtones to the record, the videos can be repetitive, oblique and ultimately spacey.

We certainly expect new and great things from Mirror Mirror this year.

With “Nights in Hedonia” (Mangled Bohemians second release within a year’s time) we find ourselves tuning into a bizarre radio station. A transmission from an AM radio, from some basement of mid 60s folk psychedelia. Enjoy!

Divorce Party are David Slaga of the unrelenting drums, Ryan St. Claire’s guitar strains, Joe Biggerstaff raising the dead with his bass and Miguel Baptista Benedict supplying what I can only describe as the amplified vocal death knell of music itself. These souls wreak havoc in their short debut EP entitled “Astrocengertion Oporium.” Available in three formats, LP, CD and download (a first for Aphonia Recs). Described as “more spasm than song” Divorce Party indeed delight with a quick lightning bolt of an EP.

We hope you enjoy!

Buy Now! $2 Download $5 CD and a 12 inch on it's way.

Our first vinyl only (download too, naturally) release is a full length, 4 track explosion of sound. Anyone who has seen Mr. Johnson’s recent performances knows that his elaborately constructed mounted slide animations are indeed like little explosions… at least when they are contained within their tiny 35 mm mounts. When projected though, they become galaxies, bleached (literally) impressionistic fields and hills, the beheaded forks of flames and larger than life globules. This release is, in it’s sonic signature, the same. No one is more happy (and relieved) than Derek M. Johnson for this release. It has been a project spanning nearly 2 years of continuous effort on his part and as he pointed out late in the mixing process, “I don’t even know if it is good or not.”

The first track “FKXMS,” is a negative homage to the cultural train wreck that most of us weather called “holiday season.” The track embodies (or perhaps disembodies) the latent disgust that most of us feel during the “most wonderful time of the year.” By “feel” it, I am suggesting that we somehow know how crass our culture has become but shrug it off as a function of living in the land of plenty. “FKXMS” is a not-so-abstractly expressionistic feat of shear violence. The assault, at times, seems to be directed solely at the instrument itself – the cello. The bow squeals and thrums across strings that pronounce the likelihood of their immanent death.

“Be” is something different altogether. It is simmering, slightly sad, slightly creepy and nearly meditative. Developing slowly over a thickening bed of subtle loops, “Be” realizes itself in stages and seems to be somewhat like a soundtrack set to deep sea phosphorescent life forms evolving before your eyes. It echoes and ebbs underneath mournful legato swells. This track is befitting Mr. Johnson’s most recent slide show animations, though feels succinctly composed and intentional.

Side B brings us two very different pieces from the first side. “Fete de la Patience” is a Scott Stobbe piece performed here with great clarity. Its direct quality is in disarming contrast from the first two tracks. “You’re Welcome to Play” divides and conquers the entire record, bringing a quiet, solitary cello plucking figure to a lush and full crescendo (and multitracked cello thickness) that gives the record a denouement fitting for such a diverse set of pieces.

We couldn’t more excited to offer our first LP vinyl release by our great musician and friend, Derek M. Johnson. He has performed at more of our showcases and supported our artists for years by recording cello tracks, promoting their shows, etc. Mr. Johnson’s dedication to music has culminated in this record. It is just the beginning, however. Expect much more from DMJ in the coming months!

Derek M. Johnson

Mangled Bohemians(PDX) and My Empty Phantom will be embarking on their summer west coast tour this Saturday August 27th. Starting at the Josephine in Seattle with locals Forest Friends to kick off the tour.

08/27-The Josephine-Seattle,WA

08/28-The Comet Tavern-Seattle,WA

08/29-The Alice Coltrane Memorial Coliseum-Portland,OR

08/30-Backspace-Portland,OR

08/31-The Ella St. Social Club-Portland,OR

09/01-The Black Forest-Eugene,OR

09/02-Cafe Coda-Chico,CA

09/04-Gamma Space-Oakland,CA

09/05-The Trip-Santa Monica,CA

Press:

“Mangled Bohemians create the same sort of hazy, eerie experimental pop music as our Leading Lady of Fuzz, Liz Harris. But while Grouper’s music sits just left of the pop dial, Mangled Bohemians make guitar music that sounds like it’s coming from outer space. The band’s new LP, At the Edge of Earth, sounds foreign and slightly off-putting until you really listen to it closely and notice all the wobbly details, intersecting guitar lines, and hidden melodies that make it a perfect soundtrack to any late-night comedown. “  Michael Mannheimer, Willamette Weekly

“Portlands Mangled Bohemians play a mellow brand of psychedelia that expertly balances languidness and eeriness—think Spacemen 3′s “Call the Doctor.” It can be viewed as a kind of fluid, shivery freak folk that provides an escape valve into another dimension where time and responsibilities aren’t crushing you into urgent activity; you can sense that Mangled Bohemians’ music offers a portal to the infinite.”  Dave Segal, The Stranger

“Mangled Bohemians like their sometimes tour mates Jackie O Mother f**ker have elements of experimental music and folk music that don’t really fit into either category.”  Ben Meyercord, Crappy Indie Music-The Blog

Click to read Isaac Aronson's review

Isaac Aronson’s recent review of Tetsuya Hori’s record entitled “Dried Fish Is Just Good As Bait“ is chock full of healthy critique and praise. Aronson begins his review with skepticism over Hori’s claim that:

“My pieces do not have concept. That is my concept. The concept develops in the head of the listener.”

Aronson opines that statements like these are often parroted by artists whose ideas “really only make sense to them.” Or something like that. His latent skepticism is quickly brushed aside and rightly finds in Dried Fish:

“…a beautiful album with a surprising array of emotions… Dried Fish blurs the line between instrument and object, allowing the listener to truly get lost in the piece and explore the emotions within.”

Rating the album 9 out of 10, Aronson plainly has explorative ears and writes with passion about one of our recent additions to the label. We couldn’t be happier. Go read the whole thing over here, but before you do so listen to the record below and purchase a limited edition CD that includes a gigantic 15 inch X 15 inch full color poster.

Jason Campbell (front) and Mirror Mirror/Photo: Jordan Beauchamp

Spokane, Washington’s local weekly The Inlander has delved deep into Jason Campbell’s music in a recent article entitled “Lonely Are the Brave” detailing his band Mirror Mirror’s recent climb up the Spokane club and bar scene. What isn’t apparent in the write-up is that Spokane has, over the years been a kind of incubator of Campbell’s darkly romantic gloom-rock. A native to Spokane, Campbell spent years playing in Spokane in the 90s with several different bands. He bounced between Olympia and Portland for awhile also playing and recording music but never quite clinching the momentum to garner this kind of write-up. On the other hand, maybe people just weren’t paying attention.

Spokane is an arid city with remarkably distinct seasons that stands alone amongst farmland and Ponderosa Pine covered hills. It’s heart lies in a valley in Eastern Washington – the last major outpost on Interstate 90 before the expanse of the Great Plains. It is the largest city between Seattle and St. Paul, Minnesota. It is a large enough burg that it touts itself as the capitol of the Inland Empire. A moniker that once had us all speculating about David Lynch’s announced film of the same name (it actually references a place in Southern CA). Was it (Inland Empire) about our strange hometown? Lynch spent time in Spokane having been born in nearby Missoula, Montana. As Spokane doesn’t seem to have many local celebrities – unless you count Craig T. Nelson and a few sports stars – our artsy crew took pride in the fact that Lynch walked our streets and that his movies might have been influenced by the truly odd characters and landscape Spokane exhibits. It is a conservative stronghold in mostly blue Washington, but it also has a very rich array of subcultures that thrive purely on their own fuel. Nary a word in the local press was printed about the underground scenes, underage church basement noise shows and DIY warehouse raves in the 90s. Spokane has seemed to morph from a culturally starved backwater to a more viable petridish of the arts. The local press is now starting to take notice.

Spokane has garnered many detractors, myself among them. One thing is clear however, Spokanites know good music when they hear it. After it is the hometown of Ben L. Robertson (drums/Aphonia co-founder) and Campbell. Both spent significant amounts of time on both sides of the cascades and it seems fitting, if not perfect, that the Mirror Mirror would reform and receive the notice that Olympia, Seattle and Portland collectively neglected.

Indeed, there is a hint of David Lynch in the music of Mirror Mirror. I can see Campbell as sharing crooning company with Julee Cruise, Lynch’s oft utilized anti-diva. His vocals are part of lyrical canvas both vague and specific, full of shadows and mystery. It is a fitting soundtrack to a city that stands alone near the precipice of the the Great Plains, which is to say, near something huge.

Read the article here. Listen below. Purchase here.

The Aviator (click to listen) marks a more ambitious turn for Vering. Coming in at 24 minutes, The Aviator consists of a single “narrative” track. Although the CD has yet to ship, you can catch Unicorns on their midwest/northeast tour and pick one of the limited 100 copy release. The release supports Vering’s vision to engage the elderly in contemporary art. Read more about that here.

YOU LIVE HERE TOO / UNICORNS IN THE SNOW EASTERN US TOUR:

8/8  St. Louis, MO @ The Lemp Neighborhoods Art Center
8/9 Chicago,  IL @ The Ball Hall
8/10 Cleveland, OH @ Boo Box
8/11 Rochester, NY @ Meddlesome Lab
8/12 Troy, NY @ 51 3rd St.
8/13 Northampton, MA @ Feeding Tube Records
8/14 Cambridge, MA @ Cambridge YMCA
8/15 Brooklyn, NY @ Death by Audio
8/16 Baltimore, MD @ Red Room
8/17 Pittsburg, PA @ Garfield Artworks
8/18 Cincinatti, OH @ The Mockbee

Click on the image below to read about Vering’s ambitious aims as a performance artist and musician. Hers is a truly unique and inspired vision. Enjoy!