Sunday...one more day left of vacation. Time to reflect - hot, humid, and strenuous, but also lush and enjoyable time in DC for the fourth. A chill Wednesday. Hot and humid, but also... [go to the website to read the rest of the article, download mp3s and more]
Vehicle Blues ' Gabe Holcombe makes the kind of noisy, small room lo-fi that brings all sorts of images into a solitary listener's mind. On last Fall's " 177 ", Holcombe used throbbing rhythms and tape hiss to create a sense of breaking out of a claustrophobic cage. Here on "Oscar Bought a Boat"- - a track set for release on a brand new cassette for Bridgetown Records -Holcombe is escaping yet again. This time around, the situation seems much less dire. Guitars well up in balls of feedback and static and bounce merrily around the track while Holcombe gently croons out [...]
Here's the a-side and title track of Vehicle Blues ' new cassingle Koz Park that's part of Bridgetown Records ' immense summer batch. Jangly, noisy and reverb-heavy as ever, Gabe Holcombe's purest guitar-wash glory is clear-cut "bedroom shoegaze" (Kevin Greenspon) for those who do know both the downsides of dull happiness and the upsides of splendid melancholia. Order the cassette over here . Vehicle Blues - Koz Park
Bridgetown Records is one of those wonderful labels quietly putting out release after release covering a whole range of styles and genres from psych to ambient to experimental, and pretty much all points in between. They've been in touch to remind us there are 15 new releases on Bridgetown, including the label's first DVD, and a video album by Former Selves . The rest of the albums are by Vehicle Blues , Kevin Greenspon , Sea Oleena , Jon Barba , Chicken Sandwich , Grizzel Toe/Hermit Convention , Sundrips [...]
Vehicle Blues — Mountain Girls Vehicle Blues , singular project of Gabe Holcombe and one of my favorite things to roll out of Bridgetown headquarters, just dropped a split tape with Trudgers on Hi Shadow Records (forthcoming on Gabe's own Lillerne Tapes ). Above you can hear the booming excerpt "Mountain Girls", which commands a melodic squall big enough to level a city. Catch another VB contribution, East River Pipe cover "Sleeping With [...]
Last night, I finally received the soundfiles of the eagerly awaited split release between Chicago, Illinois shoegaze devotee Gabe Holcombe aka Vehicle Blues and the musically more, say, pragmatic but by no means less passionate California dude Brent Mitzner, known for the honest and bare lo-fi rock'n'roll he creates as Trudgers . And the term "split release" never made more sense, as it is not only an artistic but also a commercial collaboration, the C32 being put out jointly by Brent's and Gabe's very own little imprints, Hi Shadow Records and Lillerne Tapes , [...]
Panda Riot Whoop! There it is! Friday, it is, rather. Unfortunately, there's no more Chicago football to be watched and obsessed over, but there are plenty of great music options this weekend including Panda Riot at Simone's Bar , Michael Lux and the Bad Son s at the Bottom Lounge , Dorain Taj at the Double Door and so much more. Let's get to it, shall we? FRIDAY [...]
Chicago's Gabe Holcombe aka our beloved and before introduced fuzzed-out bedroom dream project Vehicle Blues has released a new split c10 cassette tape together with New Jersey's lonely shoegaze girl Jen Paul / No Lakes , on his own tiny yet very rad label Lillerne Tapes . Both artists contribute two tunes each that all provide the perfect soundtrack for these days of falling leaves and fading sunlight, short pieces that let us feel this season and the short days that lie ahead of us, with walls of guitar fuzz heavily drenched [...]
My friend Kevin over at Bridgetown sent over this great summer sampler featuring ten tracks from Weed Diamond , Ancient Crux, Vehicle Blues and more. Download the mix here: http://www.mediafire.com/?wmzj 1dzzzuzvmon And then you can grab their 7-album package HERE .
In La Puente, a rather small community somewhere in LA county, Kevin Greenspon spends his days with something that's becoming more and more rare in our all-digital internet age: Running the one-man miracle Bridgetown Records , he has devoted himself to packing and sending strictly limited CDr and cassette tape releases by hand picked artists, most probably without ever even getting close to be in the black. Of course, those small imprints have always existed, but it probably needed that nostalgia-infused cassette revival [...]
Vehicle Blues is Chicago resident Gabe Holcombe, and his shoegazey bedroom dream pop is something so deep and absorbing in the most beautiful way possible it will warm your heart from first listen, an aimless lonely late night cruise to shake off the day's burdens. Behind thick layers of reverb, Gabe's quiet voice evokes feelings of loss and hope at the same time, leaving us at least a little more relieved than before. The two brand new tunes that Gabe has most kindly sent to us will be featured on upcoming Vehicle Blues releases, the absolutely brilliant [...]
Vehicle Blues: Changer The folks at Bridgetown Records gave us word of a new release from Vehicle Blues , the Chicago-based solo project of Gabe Holcombe. While Holcombe's put out a handful of material on small-scale labels (such as his own Lillerne Tape Club), the 4-song Changer EP is his first "professionally manufactured" recording. Vehicle Blues' songs may sound simple at first listen, but layered beneath their infectious melodies are stories of a "lonely and alienating move from Kansas [...]
There is something peculiar or even backwards about the coexistence of analog and digital. I'm speaking mostly about cassette culture. Physical stuff. Maybe we don't even like all of this lo-fi, distorted, ambient stuff- but like the punk movement, we do it because of the context, or climate of our culture. It's a revival of nostalgia, suggesting the progress of modernity isn't always the supreme route, so why not deviate from it all? Convenience? Boring. There's a lot of life left in the DIY culture, evident in every music blog, bedroom project and mixtape circulating on the internet. And it's [...]
I've just spent the last several hours working on a lengthy piece for print which talks about cassettes and their DIY ethic. That being said, I'm a bit tapped. But at the same time I feel like it's the perfect time to give some love to the latest release by Kevin Greenspoon's Bridgetown Records label. Their latest release, Vehicle Blues ' Changer, is the first professionally-manufactured CD. Changer also represents the first pro-release by Vehicle Blues' Gabe Holcombe, who for years has produced extremely limited runs of his previous bedroom recordings, and relying almost solely [...]
mp3: Vehicle Blues - Changer Kevin from Bridgetown Records sent me news of their first pro-cd release, Changer by Vehicle Blues . Here's the title track, a jam Kevin himself couldn't resist singing a little bit of backup on. You can scoop up Changer by itself or as part of one of the many awesome package deals Bridgetown has running right now (8 albums for 28 bucks?!?).
Here is a lazy blogger's round-up of some of the new tracks that we've come across and enjoyed over the past few days and weeks, some of which might tickle your ears in a good way. The Moondoggies delivered a cracking album in 20082s Don't Be A Stranger and have a follow-up due in September titled Tidelands . In the meantime they are releasing a five track limited EP of songs that didn't make the new album, and which will mostly be sold on tour or via Hardly Art . This track [...]
Avec son bolide, Vehicle Blues aurait pu effectuer de nombreuses sorties de route... Mais rien n'y fait, il file, pied au plancher. C'est à nouveau chez Bridgetown Records que nous le retrouvons avec un nouveau cd « Changer ». Je me demande comment rester si paisiblement installer dans son canapé, quand commence le rythme effréné de la guitare, véritable chevaux sous le capot. Gabe Holcombe est réellement un pilote hors du commun, Kevin Greenspoon un co-pilote hors pair. On avale ici les kilomètres dépassant la limitation de vitesse autorisé ! Qu'importe le risque cela [...]
Vehicle Blues est un terreau contre le vacarme vrombissant. Mélangeant le style noise, drone, punk et rock. Une sorte de combustibles pour grosse cylindrée, nouveau carburant pour le trafic. Et puis, et puis surtout il y a un titre qui se dégage de l'album, le premier d'ailleurs, « Punks On Transit », qui ouvre la voie comme une sortie d'autoroute. Il suffit alors de prendre la bretelle « Sortie Chicago », où l'on entends au loin la voix de Gabe Holcombe. Là, pour moi c'est comme s'il n'y avait plus personne au volant, je me suis engagé en pilote [...]
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