Only $3 the Mother Z’s and Argyle Wishlist. 6 songs of indie-pop perfection! Buy it now! (pictures to come)

Due to “popular demand” The Cryogenic Strawberries new EP Candy Coated Kafka Cassette Copy.

$4, Buy it, it’ll make you look arty.

First Ugly Singles Club Release!
Wild Zeros and The Pneumonias!

The purpose of Ugly Singles Club is to provide an invaluable platform for Garage rock bands to get their music to fans on a subscription basis.  For $40* a year USC is going to send fans one cassette single a month**.  Each cassette will be 20 minutes long and contain whatever it is each band sees fit to put on there.

It will provide a steady stream of good new music for the fans hungry for this kind of music, and a captive audience for the bands who always want to get more listeners.

Since USC is just starting however, we’re also going to provide the fans with a limited chance to get back issues with a limited edition supply of copies of each release to be split between the label and band.  This will also be a great way for the band to sell these and get some extra money from the release.

Or buy it soon from our catalog!  But they won’t last!

http://amesprogressive.org/2010/02/06/issue/solo-projects-diy-record-labels-operate-in-ames/

Solo Projects: DIY Record Labels Operate in Ames

* Author: Nate Logsdon

February 6th, 2010 · No Comments

Independent and underground music is driven by passionate individuals who engage in DIY projects. DIY record labels have an important role in the national indie music scene because they provide an important service at a low rate to cash-strapped bands that need help bringing their music to regional and national audiences. Countless bands release records without any label support at all, but bands that want wider distribution and more attention for their releases often seek the assistance and services of a label.

Independent labels are like independent bands: they operate on a small budget, they target a relatively small but very specific audience, they are personal projects of passion, and they are run according to the DIY ethic of self-motivated action.

Two Ames residents who run their own DIY record label recently spoke to the Ames Progressive about their operations.

Pinnacle Records
Darren Hushak’s label Pinnacle Records began as a project to help release CDs made by his friends when they were in high school in Ankeny. “It actually started as a recording studio thing – just an idiot kid at home with a couple microphones – and eventually it kind of turned into a label,” he said. Although he still occasionally makes recordings, his primary activities now are online promotion and physical distribution of releases.

Hushak uses online resources like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Last.fm to expose the music to as many people as possible. “The step beyond that,” he said, “is if they hear it, can they easily find it and buy it?” He also sends out copies of albums to college radio stations and urges DJs at Iowa State’s KURE 88.5 to play music that Pinnacle has released.

The label’s roster is made up entirely of bands he knows personally, or bands for whom he has run sound at one of the local venues where he works as a sound technician. Pinnacle’s releases have included two ambient electronic albums by Blutiger Fluss, an indie-folk EP by Finn Miles, and a pleasant pop-rock release by The Magazines. The most recent Pinnacle release is Astrum Mos Veho Vos Domum, a full-length record by Modern Day Satire, an indie post-rock band based out of Ankeny whom Hushak has known for years.

Pinnacle Records is not a registered business; it is a DIY promotion and distribution resource. Hushak envisions the label as a “cohesive family of bands.” Although he is willing to provide his services free of charge, the bands on the Pinnacle roster sometimes voluntarily give a portion of the money they make from sales to Hushak. But there is no fixed amount decided by contract. Hushak assists his bands in their endeavors but he doesn’t want to own them. “The way I work, Pinnacle Records is not an exclusive deal,” he said. “I’m not gonna be jealous if a band suddenly gets on another record label.”

Workerbee Records
Edward Bignar has been involved in Ames music for over a decade. In the early ‘00s, while the BiFi Records label operated in Ames, Bignar started a label called Low Fidelity Living which released a series of compilation albums and splits. Bignar was a friend and supporter of the BiFi crew and collaborated with people in that scene. The Low Fidelity Living label went on hiatus for a few years and now has evolved into Workerbee Records, the label Bignar operates today.

In the past year, Bignar has resumed his series of compilation albums. The past two discs have emphasized indie pop and experimental music. His next release, entitled PaperCityNoiseMaker, will be a compilation featuring all garage rock. He is also at work on a compilation of avant-garde music called no. As with his older comps, a number of the artists on the discs are based out of Ames or central Iowa. His latest release includes Ames musicians such as Jordan Mayland, Dot Coma, Andy Mitchell, You Are Home, and Nuclear Rodeo, as well as Midwest artists like Ember Schrag and Electric Needle Room. But he has also included tracks by bands from all over the country and the world.

In addition to the compilation series, Workerbee Records has five bands on its roster. Like Pinnacle Records, Workerbee operates on the basis of personal agreements rather than formal contracts. “It’s a verbal agreement, handshake deal where I make X amount of copies and normally give about half of them to the band and then we both try to sell them,” he said. After splitting up the copies of the records, the band keeps 100 percent from the units they sell and Bignar does the same.

Because of the DIY nature of the label, Bignar is able to follow his own tastes in music when adding bands to his roster. The bands on Workerbee are spread around the world and across the sonic spectrum. They include the noisy Detroit-based rock band Murder Mystery, a semi-electronic experimental country band from London called The Swansea Recreation Center, and a quirky acoustic pop act from Kansas City called Electric Needle Room. The newest band on his label is a chill electronic band from the U.K. called Ten. “They literally e-mailed me up and were like, ‘Hey, you wanna put out a limited edition of our CD?’ and I was like, ‘Sure. I like the music,’” he said.

Beyond Their Labels
Hushak and Bignar are both involved in the central Iowa music scene beyond the operation of their labels. Bignar and his partner Emily West also produce inexpensive posters and flyers at Prints Copy Center, where she works, and manufacture buttons for bands under the name Drunken Buttons. They also sell locally produced records and zines on commission at Prints, providing a much-needed space for local underground artists to sell their work.

Hushak runs sound at many of central Iowa’s best venues: The M-Shop, DG’s Taphouse, The Vaudeville Mews, People’s Court, and the Hoyt Sherman Theater. He also hosts a local music show on KURE, playing music by local bands like the Poison Control Center, Keepers of the Carpet, Ely Falls, and many more.

Hushak and Bignar have both started projects that are embedded in the musical community of mid-Iowa and support independent music. “I wanted to do something that was for the greater good of music,” Hushak said. “As opposed to making money.”

(republished without permission)

So I got a package today bent in half an wrapped in plastic.

Only took ‘em 20 days! Thank you USPS!

You know I’m kidding, I love you Post Office!

P.S.:  The CD is fine, and the trepidation that is “no.” continues.

This is amazing! Paypal us $3 (usa) $5 (int.) to workerbeerecords@gmail.com and it’ll be yours! The best garage rock in this world, or any others. There’s no excuse for not buying a copy, it could change your life!  I’m honestly humbled and honored just being able to put this thing out.

Look at this awesome amazingness!

1. Lil Daggers – Hungry
2. Puffy Shoes – Lazy Seventeen
3. Murder Mystery – Kremlin
4. Crappy Dracula – Secrets of the Powerful Textbook Lobby
5. Brown Ghosts – Silver Hands
6. The Ex-Boogeymen – If You Love Me (Let Me Go)
7. The Magic Words – Don’t Ask Me Why (early 4-track demo version)
8. Death Valley Sleepers – Let Heaven Know
9. Thunder Bunny – Lollipop
10. No Cars – 123456
11. The Super Vacations- Moss
12. Monkey V. Robot – You Can’t Help Me
13. PAGEANTS – Crushin’ Diamonds With Her Teeth
14. (the) Snot Rags – Daydream
15. The Ornitheologian – Your Kisses Are Going To Waste
16. THE ViGNETTES – Comic Book Heroes 3.0
17. Slow Human Escape – We Belong To Satan
18. Wild Zeros – I Want You
19. the Japanese-Lovers – Happy Now
20. The Pneumonias – Somethin’ to Do
21. Two Tears – Wiggle Like A Worm
22. Thee Fine Lines – “I’ve Got My Eye On You” (new version)
23. Waylon Thornton and the Heavy Hands – Sheddin’ My Skin
24. Velma and the Happy Campers – Parking Lot #3 AKA The Parkinglot is Doomed

$8

Limited Ed. of 30!

Only 15 of them will be for sale in the US!

Fluffy ambient music from the UK, great blissed out music.

Order NOW!

Ugly Singles Club is a primarily “garage rock” cassette singles label recently founded by Workerbee Records. For a yearly subscription fee of $40 ($60 international) we are trying to find a home for both bands and fans of the worldwide garage rock scene.

Each release on USC will be strictly limited to the number of subscribers plus 10 limited edition copies that will be split between the bands and Workerbee Records.

Starting off Ugly Singles Club will be starting off this February with our first cassette from Lil Daggers (FL) this will be the cassette version of their upcoming self released 7”. And will be followed in February by a split between two great garage bands from France Wild Zeros and The Pneumonias.

If you order before February 1st you’ll get a free copy of our garage CD-r comp PaperCityNoiseMaker!

USC won’t be something that you’ll wanna miss out on! Subscribe today!!!

Are You in a Garage or Psych Rock band? We’d Love to hear you! Email us at vicarelm@gmail.com

lofi5
download (Archive.org)
download (mediafire)

We’ve been told that there’s been sharing of this compilation on SoulSeek, and other file sharing services.  I must reiterate that this to be completely encouraged!   If anybody out there knows how to hook me up with setting up torrent files for LoFi5 and all the previous ones, let me know.

Jad Fair
Unbunny
my cell phone is better than your cell phone
You Are Home
Murzik
Ember Schrag
Shortpants Romance
Dot Coma
Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk
Soft Skin Now Acne
Poland
Electric Needle Room
Jordan Mayland
Nuclear Rodeo
Swansea Recreation Centre
Robert Church and the holy community
People’s Pop Ensemble
The Mother Z’s
Matty Cries
if it ain’t breakfast don’t fix it
Andy Mitchell
murder mystery
Casey Jones
The Cryogenic Strawberries