Saturday, February 23, 2013

Cassette God Lobs Kindness

Fat History Month - Safe & Sound (Hidden Temple Tapes)


matt robidoux and olivia kennet are the master minds behind one of my new favorite back yard labels called HIDDEN TEMPLE TAPES. Matt was kind enough to give me a bunch of new HT releases at a SPEEDY ORTIZ show a few weeks ago in boston so i'll try my best to return the favor by giving a shout to the (new tape) of (old stuff) by the boston based sloppy "sad rock" (not emo) duo FAT HISTORY MONTH.

A few biases here: FHM has a cult following, and I am part of that cult. I've probably listened to FUCKING DESPAIR (their vinyl LP debut in 2011 on SOPHOMORE LOUNGE) hundreds of times and know just about every word to all the songs. On top of that, Sean and Mark (the two wonderful/miserable fucks that make up the band) are my dear friends and I love them to death.

So here we have another brilliant release/(sort of) reissue called SAFE AND SOUND that is a MUST HAVE for anyone that likes this band or thinks they might be interested in liking them. It's somewhat different from their studio masterpiece FUCKING DESPAIR in that it's stripped down and raw, even bluesy at times - somewhat more similar to their live performance. As usual, the song writing, lyrical intellect, sound quality, and performance is absolutely STELLAR - the tunes are sad and beautiful, and loose enough to differentiate themselves from the usual cold and stiff "indie rock" duo groups that try to achieve this aesthetic. call me crazy FHM fans, but this could be favorite release of theirs thus far… 

so if you are a PAINED SOUL with a sense of humor that can relate to sad rock music then this tape is highly recommended, as is all of FHM's releases. SO GIT EM SOON BECAUSE THEY TEND TO SELL OUT VERY QUICKLY!

LISTEN HERE

PURCHASE  HERE

ALSO -

FHM has a new record coming out on sophomore lounge/exploding in sound called BAD HISTORY MONTH and they are going on 6 WEEK TOUR with PILE… scope a preview of the new record on their bandcamp page and make sure to see them in a town near you:

SPRING TOUR WITH PILE 
3/22 CAMBRIDGE MA- MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS 
3/23 BUFFALO NY 
3/24 DETROIT MI 
3/25 CHICAGO IL - ABBEY PUB 
3/26 MILWAUKEE WI - QUARTER'S 
3/27 MINNEAPOLIS MN - MEDUSA 
3/28 OMAHA NE - O'LEAVERS 
3/29 DENVER CO 
3/30 SALT LAKE CITY UT 
3/31 MISSOULA MT - OLE BECK VFW POST 209 
4/1 BELLINGHAM WA - CABIN TAVERN 
4/2 SEATTLE WA - THE BLACK LODGE 
4/3 PORTLAND OR - EAST END 
4/4 ARCATA CA - THE CRESCENT HOUSE 
4/5 YUBA CITY CA - THE CAVE 
4/6 SAN FRANCISCO CA - HEMLOCK TAVERN 
4/7 OAKLAND CA - FRACTAL MIND GAZE HUT 
4/8 SAN FRANCISCO CA 
4/9 SANTA BARBARA CA 
4/10 LOS ANGELES CA - ORIGAMI VINYL 
4/11 SAN DIEGO CA - TIN CAN ALE HOUSE 
4/12 TEMPE AZ 
4/13 FLAGSTAFF AZ - A LIVING ROOM 
4/14 ALBUQUERQUE NM 
4/15 AMARILLO TX - THE 806 
4/16 DALLAS TX 
4/17 AUSTIN TX - 
4/18 HOUSTON TX - NOTSUOH 
4/19 NEW ORLEANS LA - ONE EYED JACKS 
4/20 PENSACOLA FL - THE HANDLEBAR 
4/21 BIRMINGHAM AL - THE FORGE 
4/22 NASHVILLE TN - THE OWL FARM 
4/23 LOUISVIKLLE KY 
4/24 BLOOMINGTON IN - SOUND WORKSHOP 
4/25 PITTSBURGH PA 
4/26 PHILADELPHIA PA 
4/27 NEW BRUNSWICK NJ 
4/28 BROOKLYN NY - DEATH BY AUDIO 
4/29 ALLSTON MA 

Saturday, November 24, 2012

January FATS/PATS Just Do It Nike Tour is Booked, 2 New/Old Tapes Available Now, Safe&Sound Reissue Tape coming soon, Exploding in Sound Sampler


1/14-1/26 Tour w/ New England Patriots

1/14 mon Brooklyn, NY Death By Audio
1/15 tues New Brunswick, NJ  The Alamo
1/16 wed Richmond, VA Bauhaus
1/17 thurs Athens OH Casa Nueva
1/18 fri   Cincinnatti,OH Baba Budans 239 West McMillan Street
1/19 sat. Nashville, TN Tower 2 at the WTC 3929 Gallatin Pike 
1/20 sun Murfreesboro, TN Frankie Avalon house w/gnarwhal, piss bath?
1/21 mon Atlanta, GA The Office
1/22 tues Asheville, NC The Get Down
1/23 wed Raleigh, NC Yerducken House
1/24 thurs Harrisonburg, VA The Crayola
1/25 Ewing, NJ
1/27 Sun tt th bears, Berfest

Just dropped a bunch of records and tapes off at Weirdo and Armageddon Records.

Also
Made 100 more of these badboys, there's copies at Weirdo Records and Armageddon in Cambridge.


http://fathistorymonth.bandcamp.com/album/bad-history-demos

We sold out of our first 7",
Safe & Sound
Hidden Temple's reissuing it on cassette with 2 extra songs plus 5 secret first demos on the b-side.
 That'll be done by January.
Here's some fine music journalism written about it recently:
Oops! Earlier in this 7-Inch Roundup I was talking about the Bedroom Suck label, saying how the bands they released were all Australian, and how I was writing up everything I thought I had by 'em, but I was wrong on both counts. Not only did I find another 7" on Bedroom Suck near the bottom of the ol' pile (I'm almost done!), it's by a band that is NOT from Australia! They're from America even, Boston to be exact, and they're called Fat History Month. I'll admit, I thought Fat History Month were going to sound like Fat Day, who are also from Boston and have a band-name that starts with the adjective Fat. But I was completely wrong, because Side A "Safe & Sound" is a sweeping moody near-instrumental that's downright heavy and lovely and gently proggy . . . not what I was expecting . . . it might reveal emo roots a little after the song goes on awhile, especially when, right before the song ends, a guy singer comes in for one single meek but heartfelt verse . . . but shit, I just keep thinking how much better they are at it than, like, Mogwai. I'm picking on Mogwai because they're boring, but also because they're somewhat popular, and both bands use a certain type of post-spaghetti western, post-Slint guitar style to evoke big wind-swept landscapes. Thing is, Mogwai shows you the landscape, but they never get any wind sweeping through it. They just expect you to say "awesome photo" for a whole hour. Fat History Month is actually pretty adept at getting some wind sweeping through their emo-prog landscapes, which makes the "photo" living and three-dimensional. Surprised to learn that there's just two members, a singer/guitarist and a drummer, because they have a full sound.
-Blastitude 
I agree pal, Mogwai stinks, I'm glad we ripped off Do Make Say Think instead. 
You can still order the vinyl from Bedroom Suck in Australia, here



Speaking of Hidden Temple, they also just put out this tape of Pile's demos, looks pretty sseeewweeeetttt,

you can order one here:

Hidden Temple

also, finally made some Museum of Fat History tapes, old out of print stuff, our first tape + the shaq history tape on the a-side and 10 live covers and oldies on the b-side,  21 songs total, plus a road map of fat history.
Available here:
http://fathistorymonth.bandcamp.com/album/museum-of-fat-history-vol-1
and at Wierdo and Armageddon Records. 

Finally, these sweet dudes are helping us put out our next record, they made a sampler of us and all the other bands they REP:

Exploding In Sound Records

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Some kind words in Portuguese

The genre? Some say it's Skittle Rain, without me having no prior knowledge of this classification, the stamp is from Sophomore Lounge Records, and the release was in 2011, August. Fucking Despair, is one of the albums of the band Fat History Month, and the first fully own. The chemistry between drummer Mark and vocal / guitarist Sean is amazing, the instrumental banda is mingled, the lightness and the feeling in the music tax is to envy for many bands.

The sound of Despair Fucking beautiful as shown in the first track of the album, Free As A Cat, which begins with a beat and a melody lighter more chaotic. It is in Nature, sixth track on the album, we see the potential of being realized banda, which to me, is the best track on the album, with its nearly seven minutes.
Fat History Month has only 343 registered listeners on last.fm, as has tags the words "guitar", "90s", "drums", "duo", among others. One of those bands that nobody knows but everyone should know. The talent of these two guys is incredible, a gift to the ears.

they like pile too.
 sweet


also, made more of these new demos if you didn't get one: