Blog: The Record Machine

Well in addition to one of our highlight's of last year we are also proud to announce Middle of the Map Fest is coming back! The dates will be April 5th - 7th. Which will include an extra date of bands and more. Also we are allowing the first 250 people to get a ticket at last year's price! So act now and get one as a Holiday Gift. It really was one of the most amazing things that happened last year. The Record Machine was able to invite a lot of really great bands and [...]

"Late Night Bikes" sounds expansive and warm; it is catchy and, in places, perfect. It's road music for a generation of kids who have done nothing but move, sliding in long, languid figure-eights under a street light in a parking lot, down a lonely highway and through a few weird decades. Via 32ftpersecond

Two Record Machine artists coming together on one wonderful piece of wax to show off new songs. Soft Reeds Born of a twelve-year labor of heartache and love, Soft Reeds is the brainchild of Ben Grimes (formerly of Astralwerks' The Golden Republic), a Chicago native whose roots grip firmly in the '77 Berlin sounds of Brian Eno, David Bowie and Iggy Pop, while embracing the richness of American indie rock. Originally started in 2007 as Grimes' post-TGR solo project, Soft Reeds became a full band in 2009, and released the critically acclaimed 'Soft Reeds are Bastards' in [...]

Just a few months ago Max Justus released his full length Mercy. On his new ep entitled Signs & Wonders Max keeps moving farther and farther away from the original beat making and to continue darker sound. The light peaking through at the end of the tunnel though is the addition of Max's vocals on all the songs. Tracks like Flesh and Doa are the stand out's and engage the listener with thoughtful lyrics. Pick up the new ep on Itunes.

Late in the summer before the release of their fabulous 4 song 12" we recorded a living room session with our band Ad Astra Arkestra. It was an intimate session and night of fun with a few of them in their living room. They played a few different songs including the previous posted cover of Don't Let Me Down . This song however is the final song on their 12" and its humdinger. It shows off how things can get a little rowdy and the unknown finds a way of happening. Pick up the Ad Astra Arkestra 12" [...]

Via Yvynyl : Kansas City's Dan Eaton makes frenetic mellow music. It's got that slow rumbling bass that you feel in your solar plexus on a big system, but is just chill enough for a late night makeout sesh. Throw in some 80s synth hooks and a warped glitch-art video and you'll understand where he's going with this. Nathan at The Record Machine tells me the video was "inspired by Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper designs." Directed by Mike Russo + Dan Eaton. Sport LP is out now.

Here it is kids, the proof that this songs needs to be your new anthem. Here we see State Bird rocking their hometown Dover Ballroom and bringing it. Simply put State Bird = Face Melt.

Almost exactly a year ago we released a new ep from Saharan Gazelle Boy called Strange Teen Heart. We also released a few videos for a few of the songs made by multi instrumentalist member John Paul Giago. Well he is back at again this time with a video for Amy Needs A Vacation. Our good buddy yvylnyl was awesome enough to give us a premiere for it and call it favorite from last fall. Saharan Gazelle Boy has mostly been on hold while Capybara has been finishing their new [...]

Here is the brand new album from State Bird! We are excited to release their third full length album Healin The Pain. It was recorded at the Bunker in Brooklyn and then Mixed at John Vanderslice's studio Tiny Telephone Booth. It is a full on departure of everything you previously had heard from the band. it takes the sound that they started to do last years Holy Spirits ep and takes it a step even further. Gone are the neo-folk sounds before and replaced with walls of guitar fuzz. Jam on! Pre-order the 123 for Healin The Pain [...]

• State Bird - Healin The Pain

The debut release for Ad Astra Arkestra is now available on iTunes . You can stream the entire record above. It will make its debut on 123 vinyl next month. I Hear Local Music called the first single Reverse Fishing "It's paranoid, unhinged and epic" We feel like that is a pretty apt description. Check out their living room session for Don't Let Me Down on our youtube. Pre Order the 123 below and get a copy as soon as it comes in.

Here is the brand new ep Spiriting from our band Continents. The band is the work of multi-instrumentalist Jim Button. On recordings Jim does all the instruments and then live he is backed by Rusty Scott and Casey Burge(Minden). The song The Perfect Circle was originally featured on Yvynyl . Which described it as: His sound is honest psych-rock, a treasure trove of ear kissing-licks with just the right amount of spaced-out weirdness. You can buy his new ep Spiriting here for $5 before its available on itunes or anywhere else: [...]

Here is the video for the second single Lessons from the new Motorboater from Sport. The songs has already been on sites like XL8R and Impose. Like the rest of the album Lessons falls into the perfect for summer vibe.

The debut 73 from Minden is now available. We pressed 500 copies in a green with a marble stripe. They turned out to look really beautiful and sound great. Minden will be doing a quick tour up to NYC in October with The Soft Reeds. Pick up this release from this hot new band while they are still available: Purchase

• therecordmachine - Vacation

Video: Ad Astra Arkestra - Slowbird Blues (Live at Middle of the Map Fest) So things have been busy over here in Record Machine land. We still have been recovering and getting things together since Middle of the Map Fest (you can follow the coverage on the site). It was an overwhelming success and I think it will lead to many more festivals in future! But till next year it is back to business as usual. We are excited to have a few new bands in our midst with Minden and [...]

Over the last few years Max Justus has been cooking up his own brand of dance and electronic grooves for Kansas City's The Record Machine label. His latest album Mercy is his third for them. While Mercy still finds Max expanding his signature grooves and brooding electronic tones it focuses more on vocal approach and songwriting. Max's last few albums have been primarily instrumental affairs while Mercy finds him lending his voice to bolster his compositions. Mercy still retains a few pop gems and dance hall grooves but the overall tone of the album is more dark and foreboding then [...]

Here is the newest video for our band Lazy. It features wonderfully fitting live HD footage of all their antics. You never quite know what you are going to get when you see them live but you do know that it will be good time and you are sure to be entertained.

We are very excited to announce that this spring we are working together with Ink magazine to bring a brand new music festival to Kansas City. It means a lot to us that we were able to bring the kind of world class entertainment that we were and have ours bands and our friends sharing the stage with them. I am really excited to see what it does for the Kansas City Music community. Line - Up so far: The festival will feature Daniel Johnston, Two Door Cinema Club, Cursive, Margot & The Nuclear So [...]

We are excited to announce the new 73 ep from Lazy! After signing with us this summer Lazy has been in the studio and recorded 6 songs for their debut. The 73 will be available on 100 red vinyl and 200 black vinyl. The 73 will be available on or before January 18th. But if you pre-order it today you will get an instant download. Now if for some reason you don't collect vinyl and would just like to get the mp32s you can get those today. They will be available for just $2.00 until its on Itunes [...]

Here is new video for our band Continents. The video is for Future Waves from their debut Land of Plenty. The video was made from archival footage by the band's mastermind Jim Button. Continents will be playing this Friday with Breathe Owl Breathe, Saharan Gazelle Boy and David Bennett at Bridgeport in the Crossroads District of Kansas City.

We're excited to launch the video for Strange Teen Heart, the title track off of Saharan Gazelle Boy's dreamy EP. Directed by John Paul Giago, the video exudes the nostalgic wonder and imagination of one of SGB's favorite subjects — the achy, twitterpated hearts of our youth. Also this will be the last week that you can purchase Strange Teen Heart for just $2. Starting next Tuesday it will be available on iTunes. Take a look and enjoy! Purchase