What's happening at Bearos Towers
01/04/07 New Releases for 2007
They
say the music business always goes into post-Christmas hibernation. It's equally
true of smaller labels who's bosses are also contending with day jobs which
seemed tolerable with the promise of seasonal festivities but in the harsh
light of a new year you know something's got to be done! (again) This preamble
is just in way of apology for not updating the website for so long and noticing
that I'd been in exactly the same predicament this time last year. Anyway,
it's all sorting itself out and I can get back to the important business of
bringing you great music.
First up is the long awaited and tragically posthumous Grover
- Live (Bearos061) The 3" CD contains
three tracks:
1. Sweet Leaf - a storming, Butthole-esque version of the Black Sabbath
classic
2. You Made Me Realise - an extended, freeform take on the My Bloody
Valentine favourite
3. Like A Bunny - always a crowd pleaser, this is a classic live version
of Grover's debut single (Bearos003)
Tracks 1 & 3 were recorded at Grover's last ever gig (Halloween 2003)
with guest guitarist Andy Parker (Sally, Katastrophy Wife) who later went
on to form Einstellung with Simon Rider and Steve Hough. The packaging has
been almost 2 years in the making (actually only a couple of afternoons, the
rest was pondering and pontification) and involves laminated leaves and hand
made paper. Needless to say it's very limited!
The
debut Mills & Boon album (Bearos069)will
be with us any day now - with members of Og's Bunkadoo Band and Chinook you
know it's going to be a psychedelic rites of passage with Zappa, Barrett,
Beefheart and Don Cabellero as your spirit guides. The band have a fascination
with Jesus & pork rinds and claim links to the Bavarian Illuminati. They've
a website that doesn't work and a MySpace
site they can't access (but you can and hear two great tracks taken from the
album - Jimmy Porter and No Waiting) They are currently flaying
people alive with their sporadic live shows and have captured their passion
perfectly on these recordings. There's also an edit of another track, Witch's
Cradle, on this year's free ATP CD and you can find more details
on this below.
Still
in production are Lazarus Clamp Death To Technicians! (Bearos068)
and The Baker Boys Piedmont Log Rolling (Bearos070) - just to
prove it here's a picture of how far we've got!
This will be the 4th album by Lazarus Clamp but as they never managed
to release the 3rd we might be doing initial copies as a limited double pack.
Described by the BBC Collective as "More post rock than Shellac,
more Alt-country than Ryan or Rex, and quirkier than Smog. A great British
band to rival all those cool yank acts" they've been associated with
Bearos since our early days and released the excellent Left-handed
7" (Bearos008) back in 2000. Here's
a link to their MySpace
site for a preview of what they are up to these days.
The Baker Boys are Gavin Baker (Billy Mahonnie, Jet Johnson - Bearos029,
Glider - Bearos017, Meets Guitar - Bearos030)
and his father Dave. Their debut release was on the Bearos040
compilation and last year they released their debut album Driftwood Boats
on Unlabel. Using acoustic guitar and mandolin they are described as being
a mixture of 1920s Americana with English, Irish and Norwegian folk giving
a fresh and contemporary feel to their nostalgic vibe. Have a listen to the
tracks on their MySpace
site and tell me you're not impressed!
Tracks from these two albums are previewed on the free ATP CD (details
below)
We're
almost into All Tomorrow's Parties season and I'm really looking forward
to my return trips to the new site at Butlins in Minehead. We've joined forces
with Victory Garden, Static Caravan, Fortuna Pop, Pickled Egg, WYAIWYA and
Vacuous Pop Recordings to bring you another free compilation of great tracks
from our recent and forthcoming releases.
The 29-track CD, provisionally called Free Money (after the Patti Smith
track and our "80p" picture), includes tracks by DJ Downfall, The
Phil Collins 3, Youthmovies, Men-An-Tol, Dragon Or Emperor and The Butterflies
of Love.
The Bearos tracks are:
Richard Burke - So Quick (taken from the mini album "Roscrea"
Bearos055)
The Baker Boys - Redwing (taken from the album "Piedmont Log Rolling"
Bearos070)
Lazarus Clamp - Your Song (taken from the album "Death To Technicians!"
Bearos068)
Clair Horton - Puppet (taken from the album "Time Stands Still"
Bearos060)
Mills & Boon - Witch's Cradle (edit) (taken from the album "Mill
& Boon" Bearos069)
We'll have 1000 copies to give away each weekend with a few copies available
on request for those of you not lucky enough to attend. Catch us when you
can or visit the record stalls on the Sunday lunchtimes.