Pastel Hell - Drugs For Function

Excellent single off debut Endless Righteous Mourning LP due out August 18th 2017.

N Godard - I’m not Read to Stop

pierreism:

‘Percolator (Paste Studios Session)’ by Charly Bliss

So raw, I love her. Don’t miss the record version! 

 @Juliettamusic - Beach Break 

Tall Juan - Getting Cold

Tezeo - Rocket (2014)

// Letters to YVYNYL //

Cedar & Soil - Al-Go-Rythms

/ Lebanese-American George Abi-Hanna wrote me a few years ago with a story and song. Now, he wanted to send me some more to share in a new social climate. His words made my own anxiety about the energy coursing through everyone’s minds these days feel a little calmer. He considers how we might treat one another, especially our fellow Americans, and how to use ways that may help us move forward. This new piece is strongly political in all the best ways: empathy, tolerance, hope. 

Dear Mark,

I hope this letter finds you well. In light of the current political climate I feel the need to share some thoughts I had hoped needed not be said. As songwriters, our lyrics more often than not a product of lived experience and conveyed in the first person. I hope my rather personal song, “Al-Go-Rhythms” will be welcomed by listeners much like I have been welcomed in my adopted home here.

My decision to live in the US was a very deliberate one. It was in New York City that I found my safe haven. I came here for grad school and wound up prolonging my visit for the sake of music. Finally, the reason I’m staying is for the life I have made for myself, the people I have met, and the culture of openness and hospitality I have experienced. It will always be inspiring, seeing people of different backgrounds living together, sharing values of mutual respect and tolerance, irrespective of nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs. If we truly live in the land of the free, it is tolerance and respect of one another that makes this freedom possible, and it is with bravery we accept the differences between us all to contest the current rising tide of fear-mongering and xenophobia.

I’ve mentioned in a previous letter how disparate sonic cultures from around the world make their way into my music, and I feel that my sound would have not been conceived anywhere else but here. Made possible by the hospitality of friends from and in America, originally from Haiti, Cuba, Germany, and from all over the Middle East; finding common ground, sharing great music, good food and memorable times. It is through such interaction between cultures that America’s greatness lies, as this is something I’m sure you can relate to, living in "the City of Brotherly Love,” Philadelphia.

As an Arab-American hailing from a turbulent region, I can say that these are the principles people seeking shelter hold most dear. A ban on people based on their religion and nationality only enforces the life-threatening prejudices these same people are escaping from. We take for granted the ability to choose where we want to live or what to believe in - we Americans can practically travel anywhere and get an entry visa on arrival - whereas countless others don’t have that luxury. When silence bespeaks consent, I’m glad to see our remaining right to free speech and assembly be put to full effect. The eruption of peaceful marches and protests in the name of values we all hold dear, is an expression of the very soul of our country. Like many of us, this election year and its result has me shaken to the core. However, I’m glad to say that the emerging worldview espoused by the current administration does not find its reflection in my beliefs, or in any of my friends’ for that matter. And even if it did, I hope we could still preserve a modicum of mutual respect.

The song “Al-Go-Rythms” is about the bizarre unfamiliarity of this election, which has since become the norm. But it’s also about the love that keeps me and my circle of friends sane amidst the chaos. The song’s framework was born from a voice message that my grandmother left me, where she can be heard opening and shutting doors and ends with her saying “–now he’s gone” (in colloquial Lebanese Arabic). This seemed appropriate to sample on a song about the media building up a giant they once thought could be contained, as he now attempts to reshape the country through a narrow perverted lens. Like many here, I treat others with the deserved respect and hospitality especially at a time when the rest of the world choose to keep their doors open to us.

This thought set off a scavenger hunt through public domain archives for inspirational footage to illustrate my sentiment. The product of which shape-shifted into a fictional music video about the power of peaceful assembly. My well-intentioned version of an alternative fact, since such “facts” should solely lend themselves to the imaginative pursuit of artistic expression… rather than influence politics. I’m not a proponent of explaining the intentions behind my music and videos to the point of granularity, as I believe in the power and enjoyment of open interpretation. However, in exceptional times like these, I feel the need to write this letter in order to be exceedingly clear about what I stand for. By speaking my mind through song and image, here is my modest contribution towards reversing these tides of intolerance.

with Love and Respect,

George

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Tei Shi - Keep Running

Norwegian Arms - West Queen West

 / I was just listening to Animal Collectives early record Sung Tongs and then I played my bud Keith Birthday’s newest release. He came down from NYC and played some of this new work more acoustically at the benefit show I ran a few weeks ago, but certainly feeling the relationship to how early AC’s stuff influenced him. 

premiere: Pastel Hell - Each Day We’re Slain

KNOX - Thirst

// Letters to YVYNYL //

Pastel Hell - Love & Dementia

 / Bending a song’s tempo within itself will also bend its mood. The work of Alex Fox Tschan dissociates itself within each phrase it makes. In this song, the character is looking at a woman who “runs a lifestyle blog, which means she does nothing at all.” The ultra modern references in that oh-god-I-hate-myself sort of self loathing makes his work is more complicated than it at once appears. Let it soak, let it marinate a bit before you trust the story. And let his letter tell you more.

Hey Mark,

Hope you’ve been having a great summer man. Just wanted to drop a line about retiring Lunifred Benjamin. It does’t mean what it used to & it had gotten quite tiring to preface/spell-out each damn time I was asked. Plus, Pastel Hell sounds like the new tunes I’m making & it fits with my general sardonic blonde vibe I guess…

I just finished an EP on Friday. It’s 5 songs & is available on the links below. A video & full LP are coming… I always tend to keep relatively silent about sharing my personal life. I prefer to let the music speak for itself because the lyrics are very honest & autobiographical.

That said, I appreciate how you’ve always been on the lookout for the substance & context surrounding the music. I want to share some of the bullet points (dark impending pun not intended) with you. I owe that much to ya after you were so kind to pump me up from obscurity almost 2 years ago.

I’m from very rural Virginia & was raised by my father (who is from Philly & went to Lower Merion btw). My mom is a beautiful soul whom I’m very much like, but she is also bipolar.

I’ve made original music since I was 14 but it sucked until college. Possibly because at Virginia Tech I lost a couple friends, & nearly lost a best friend, to what was still the largest mass shooting in America until Orlando… but that event was also the thing that woke me up and made me more vibrant & grateful. But it also significantly scarred me in a way I did not realize until years later. I stayed in Blacksburg another year, then moved to NYC in 2009 with my band, The House Floor (all Virginia Tech folks like my good buds in Wild Nothing).

Somehow The House Floor got on All Songs Considered within 3 months of living here. Then in 2010 we got courted by Secretly Canadian for a while. We even made it out to Bloomington to meet them, but I was having a tough time emotionally & was abusing pills then. I ended up getting into a drunken argument out there with the main guy Chris. Still so ashamed to this day of that era in my life, but he is a gracious dude & we’ve remained pen pals over the years. I think he could tell I was not myself during that visit. I ended up breaking up that band in early 2012 because I wanted to try some different things. But we had a good run! One rad LP & shows with Mr. Twin Sister here and War on Drugs down in Virginia.

For nearly a year in 2012-2013 I lived in the back of my car after a bad break up. I was a casual cocaine user from 2010-2012, but became a heavy daily user eventually. That lasted WAY too long… until I got pulled over for a DUI in May of 2013. Thankfully & very luckily no one was hurt. But that shameful event may have saved my life. Whatever aggregating depression that I wasn’t acknowledging from all the aforementioned shit finally caught up to me. I got sober & sorted my life out after that. I think/hope I’ve finally dealt with the things I needed to, because nowadays I can drink & confront tragedy without getting pulled back into old habits.

I hope that my music sounds like it’s coming honestly from the person above. It’s the only thing in the world (other than bartending apparently) that i’m pretty good at. I thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to read this. I hope you enjoy the new music. Thank you wholeheartedly, Mark. Be well, bubba. 

-Alex

Tell me a story at Letters to YVYNYL.

// Letters to YVYNYL //

premiere: Strange Parts - Weathersby

 / I keep telling everyone that talent grows here in Philly. 

Hi Mark,

It’s a true pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Attia Taylor! I’ve been following YVYNYL for a MINUTE. It’s true, I’ve been a reader/listener since my days as a teen on the Philly music scene. Thank you for existing and putting out good music.

I’ve since moved to NYC to follow my dreams and now here I am 6 years later doing something of that nature in research for a woman’s health non-profit. Moreover, in that time I have been working with my musical soul-mate, Corey Duncan of Oh! Pears to write a full length album. We sent emails across the country (he lived in Seattle at the time) with drum tracks, lots of humming, ambulances in the background, and a lot of mumbles. After some trips to Seattle and too much two buck chuck, we had an album.

Fast forward to about a year later I went down to Philly and Corey flew in to start recording the full length album with Jeff Zeigler in the middle of winter. We recorded for about three or four days but decided to lay down my vocals toward the end. The morning of the day I was to record all of my vocals I fell on an icy driveway, hit my head, and broke two of my teeth. My boyfriend rushed me to the hospital and his childhood dentist came in on a weekend to bend my front tooth back in place. Immediately after my trip to the dentist I went to the studio and youtubed how to sing through a lisp (chewing gum while singing does not work). This was one of the most physically painful and truly empowering experiences of my life. Never forget!

With all this said, our album is finally finally finished. Strange Parts is here and there are no lisps to be heard.

! Let me know if you’re into it. Otherwise, if you don’t respond to this I’ll be forced to look for a mailing address.

All the best, Attia T.

P.S. – We’re opening for Adia Victoria at Johnny Brenda’s on October 17th.

Submit your story to Letters to YVYNYL.

Miniature Tigers - Crying in the Sunshine

Norwegian Arms - Resource Sucker