OUT NOW: “From the River to the Sea: The Horrible Truth About Palestine – a Fundraiser for the United Palestinian Appeal”

Audio Antihero is back and out of retirement for a wonderful benefit compilation for United Palestinian Appeal featuring Frog, Cloud, Magana, bedbug, Megadead (Benjamin Shaw), Kahlil Ali, CHUCK, Laptop Funeral, Broken Shoulder, HARDCOREBAE, Melissa Lozada-Oliva and more.

“It’s been over a year since Audio Antihero last released any music and I’d no plans to bring the label back. But the endless atrocities committed by Israel remind me that we all have to do something to help and openly object. And this is something small that I still kinda know how to do.

The compilation is primarily intended to raise funds for the UPA’s essential work in Palestine. But I also want to show our solidarity with the Palestinian people and our opposition to the Israeli government as well as our own. We cannot be too polite or too afraid to acknowledge that Palestinians are living under apartheid and that even protected classes (children, the disabled, medics, protestors and journalists) face constant acts of racist military violence and assination which are clearly defined as war crimes. These acts of genocide are supported, defended and funded by so many of our own governments. We don’t have the luxury of feeling unable to comment on this one sided “conflict.”

The artists that appear here span and merge genres like Hip-Hop, Indie Rock, Contemporary Classical, Alternative Pop, Freak Folk, Electronica, Ambient, Drone, Folk Punk, Bedroom Pop, Lo-Fi, Garage Rock, Psychedelica and beyond. These contributors include longtime Audio Antihero roster members, debuting and established artists, award winning composers, published authors and in CHUCK’s case, an artist coming out of several year hiatus to show their support for the cause.

From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free.” – Jamie (they/them) – Audio Antihero / Broken Broken Bastard

Track List:

1. Kahlil Ali – Marsha
2. SuperKnova – Night’s a Bitch
3. Laptop Funeral – A Familiar Feeling (feat. Port Lucian & Turi)
4. HARDCOREBAE – no indictment / hang yourself 
5. Melissa Lozada-Oliva – I Love You in My Dead Grandfather’s Button Down
6. Frog – Rubbernecking (Live in Edinburgh)
7. Nicholas Nicholas – Hardtime Hologram
8. Eddie Violet – Parachute (feat. AYMAN)
9. mhauesh // مهاوش – Uncle Mansour’s Cabin // كوخ العم منصور
10. Magana – Say My Name
11. bedbug – the last generation to go to hell 
12. Broken Broken Bastard – Dead Kennedys (feat. Megadead)
13. Megadead – Chief of the Dead
14. Toothpaste – روح
15. Cloud – Good Things
16. CHUCK – Only One I Know
17. Josaleigh Pollett – Something Pretty
18. Brivele – In Dokh Zing Ikh
19. Jonny Teklit – Praise Song 
20. Alex Chilltown – Drone (Demo)
21. Broken Shoulder – Transit 
22. PHONODELICA – 1896 [Extended Version] (feat. Huda Asfour)

Out Now / PWYW: Benjamin Shaw – “There’s Always Hope, There’s Always Cabernet” (Remastered & Expanded)

Hi hi,

Yesterday we released a remastered and expanded reissue of Benjamin Shaw‘s debut album. It comes with eleven (11) bonus tracks. It’s free / PWYW on Bandcamp.

Pre-Save to Spotify

“Originally released in late 2011, this was only the second full-length album that Audio Antihero Records had released (after Nosferatu D2’s debut in 2009). We sank a lot of love, time and energy into it and back then it felt like both the beginning and the end of something. But I’m not sure it was much of either. Ben has made a lot of very different records since and for now we’re both still here. But it was and still is a strange and special album.

I’ve been trying to shut down Audio Antihero for a long time but among myriad other things, Ben’s music always feels like that perfect “one last job” which drags me back in for yet another run of dead media. It always seems so perfect to team up with my big pal to share something sad and sarcastic just before I turn out the lights. We’ve done this multiple times now and it’s never quite stuck. It’s hard to resist the opportunities that free/pwyw digital releases offer to give folks one last chance to catch something different from an artist who always deserved a much better record label. Maybe it’ll stick this time. Either way, Ben will keep creating beautiful music for himself and for you.” – Jamie (Audio Antihero Records)

Nice CD copies of the original release available here – bnjmnshw.bandcamp.com/album/theres-always-hope-theres-always-cabernet

Previous Press for Benjamin Shaw:

“A piece of work that could stand the test of time…The solitude is palpable.” – Gold Flake Paint

“It’s a reminder that some of the most powerful emotions can bloom from the simplest of raw moments, and Shaw is an expert at crafting just those instances.” – Drowned in Sound

“You wouldn’t want everyone (or anyone else) to sound like Benjamin Shaw but I’m delighted someone does.” – The Line Of Best Fit

“A wonderful beast.” – DIY Mag

“Benjamin Shaw is an outcast, a loner, a maverick and a freak. All of these are compliments.” – CLASH Music

“Pop’s outsider…” – The 405

“Puts you right beside its maker as he helplessly glares at himself in the mirror. But the music that soundtracks those dark moments is as beautiful as it is morose.” – The Alternative

“Though to focus on terrible feelings as a beginning and end is to miss the point.…To flatten this into the trope of anti-social introvert misses the true admixture of forces at work—the guilt, the shame, the dreams impossible to achieve. The promises that could never be kept, the nostalgia for things that never existed.” – Various Small Flames

“A chameleon of genres, the Melbourne-based Shaw has drifted through washes of shoegaze and fields of electronica, melding dissonant drones and folk affectations into an incredibly singular and raw brand of confessional music, its ennui palpable.” – Dimestore Saints

“Imagine yourself sitting in an empty room. All the lights are off…Your nails dig into the back of your head and you tug at your hair, wondering how hard you could pull before you finally rip it out of your skull. That’s what it feels like to listen to Benjamin Shaw.” – Atwood Magazine 

OUT NOW: Benjamin Shaw – Live at donaufestival (free/pwyw)

Hi friends,

Delighted to finally release Benjamin Shaw‘s Live at donaufestival album. It’s free / pwyw and it documents his long trip from Melbourne to Krems, Austria to play his first show in five years. It sounds unlike any show he played before it and includes numerous songs he would never have had the opportunity to play live before that. It’s a beautiful release and already one of my favourites. I hope you enjoy it.

Listen: Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music

Previous Press for Benjamin Shaw:

“A piece of work that could stand the test of time…The solitude is palpable.” – Gold Flake Paint

“It’s a reminder that some of the most powerful emotions can bloom from the simplest of raw moments, and Shaw is an expert at crafting just those instances.” – Drowned in Sound

“You wouldn’t want everyone (or anyone else) to sound like Benjamin Shaw but I’m delighted someone does.” – The Line Of Best Fit

“A wonderful beast.” – DIY Mag

“Benjamin Shaw is an outcast, a loner, a maverick and a freak. All of these are compliments.” – CLASH Music

“Pop’s outsider…” – The 405

“Puts you right beside its maker as he helplessly glares at himself in the mirror. But the music that soundtracks those dark moments is as beautiful as it is morose.” – The Alternative

“Though to focus on terrible feelings as a beginning and end is to miss the point.…To flatten this into the trope of anti-social introvert misses the true admixture of forces at work—the guilt, the shame, the dreams impossible to achieve. The promises that could never be kept, the nostalgia for things that never existed.” – Various Small Flames

“A chameleon of genres, the Melbourne-based Shaw has drifted through washes of shoegaze and fields of electronica, melding dissonant drones and folk affectations into an incredibly singular and raw brand of confessional music, its ennui palpable.” – Dimestore Saints

“Imagine yourself sitting in an empty room. All the lights are off…Your nails dig into the back of your head and you tug at your hair, wondering how hard you could pull before you finally rip it out of your skull. That’s what it feels like to listen to Benjamin Shaw.” – Atwood Magazine

OUT NOW: Frog – “Count Bateman” plus new free/pwyw releases from Benjamin Shaw, Fighting Kites and Broken Shoulder

Count Bateman the killer new album from Frog is out now! Listen on Bandcamp and Spotify.

Early Press for Count Bateman:

“When an album comes along and feels something like an old friend, comforting and familiar yet full of new tales to share and with these a sense of growth and evolution, you know it’s one to keep close. Such is the new record Count Bateman from cult NYC band Frog.” – London In Stereo

“Count Bateman will become the summer record you need for the rest of time. Essential and sentimental. A classic already.” – Circuit Sweet

“Frog are like Matisse, painters of windows and fixtures that open in an expanse of neighborhoods, cities and stories. Count Bateman is an open window from which air enters and often there is also a hurricane breeze…” – Monolith Cocktail

“No matter how different the record might sound, this is still assuredly Frog. Different gear, a member down, no longer confined to Queens and still the spirit remains, that boundless energy determined to orbit closer and closer to whatever it means to be an American. That Frog is constantly changing, borrowing different influences and styles and geographic inspiration, only strengthens such a quest, living as we are through a time of nebulous identity, where ‘American’ means everything and nothing.” – Various Small Flames

“…Danny Bateman reveals himself all throughout Count Bateman as one of the sharpest songwriters operating in the realms of lo-fi pop in 2019. This is really, really good stuff, folks.” – A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed

“Count Bateman, as well as an experimentation in sound, is equally an experiment in loneliness, an attempt, as Danny puts it, “to wear all the hats”, All the record’s characters are just different parts of Danny’s mind, different conjuring experiments laid to tape, with an end result of a record that is made entirely in the image of its creator, and couldn’t sound any better for it.” – For the Rabbits

“‘Count Bateman’ is a powerful and personal record that tries to make some kind of sense of the perplexing and puzzling modern world.” – Spectral Nights

“…Puts Frog squarely in Manhattan, bumming cigarettes and binge drinking. He’s aloof, but still secretly hopes to fall in love, playing Sade in the car with whomever is on the receiving end of this song’s phone line.” – Sawdust & Gin 

“Frog is a half-remembered dream or a dreamt memory; Count Bateman a nostalgic autobiography.” – Beautiful Freaks

“Take my word for it: Queens-based band Frog have something great in store with newly-announced third LP Count Bateman, representing a new high point in their distinctive “Wyrd-Americana” sound.” – SOMETHINGGOOD

“Whatever guise the future of Frog takes, it’s just nice to know that there is a Frog, whether that’s alone in America, or pen pals across the pond. Long live Frog.” – Crackle Feedback

Plus, we’ve also recently released a stack of killer free / pay-what-you-want releases from Benjamin Shaw, Broken Shoulder and Fighting Kites. Go grab those now:

OUT NOW: “Live at Kulak’s Woodshed” / Tyler Taormina talks to Even As We Speak

Hello again,

Another lovely free/pwyw release for you. Cloud‘s gorgeous Live at Kulak’s Woodshed audio and video live album is available now Bandcamp, Spotify and YouTube.

Incidentally, Tyler Taormina spoke to his longtime heroes Even As We Speak (Sarah Records / Emotional Response) about memories bitter and beautiful as well as their audio appearance in his debut feature film Ham on Rye. Visit Various Small Flames to read this sweet conversation.

OUT NOW: Tempertwig – “FAKE NOSTALGIA: An Anthology of Broken Stuff”

Tempertwig (1999-2004) were a three piece from South London. They featured Ben and Adam Parker of the acclaimed groups Nosferatu D2 and The Superman Revenge Squad Band. The cult work of Ben and Adam Parker has found fans at Public Radio International, Drowned in Sound, Gold Flake Paint, DIY Mag, BBC Radio, TLOBF and many more.

Listen / Buy: Bandcamp (Limited Edition Cassette & Digital) / Spotify / Other Services

FAKE NOSTALGIA: An Anthology of Broken Stuff is a collection of Parker brothers material from their early and urgent days. Lyrical, frantic, minimalistic and eclectically unpredictable, theirs is a sound which has launched labels a decade apart. This collection is released by Audio Antihero Records, who formed in 2009 to release Nosferatu D2’s lone album, and, the fledgling Randy Sadage Records label, who are debuting in 2019 to release this Tempertwig anthology. This music means a lot to a few.

Press for ‘FAKE NOSTALGIA’:

“Angled hooks, mathematical elasticity, and unbridled ferocity, the Parker brothers are the lost pioneers of the indie-emo scene.” – Cereal and Sounds

“It’s a cliché to say that the Parkers were ahead of their time – but it’s certainly true that the songs on FAKE NOSTALGIA are as relevant now as when they were recorded almost twenty years ago.” – Beautiful Freaks

“It may have been written almost twenty years ago, yet listening to this collection, Tempertwig feel like they were not a band who ever really tried to fit in, as such they sound as fresh and intriguing now as they ever did.” – For the Rabbits

“It’s simply stunning and sounds like the future even though it’s over 15 years old.” – The Devil Has the Best Tuna

“Melancholic, tired anger…classic Parker brothers, the vulnerable honesty balanced with an unceasing self-consciousness, the cost of trying to communicate candidly in a culture that Mark Fisher labels ‘capitalist realism’—where everything has long since been used up and commodified, and nothing new can emerge.” – Various Small Flames

For more from the Parker Brothers, check out these albums from Nosferatu D2 and The Superman Revenge Squad Band.

“Elder Statesman: Nine Long Years of Audio Antihero Records” + 30% Off Entire Catalogue

Elder Statesman: Nine Long Years of Audio Antihero Records is a free/PYWY label sampler documenting the last nine years of Audio Antihero (but released a few months late).

Plus, you can get 30% off anything on our Bandcamp with the discount code “americannightmare” – just enter the code at checkout. Codes expires on Friday the 22nd of Feb tho!

For a heap more nice news, check out the latest Audio Antihero newsletter.

 

Out Now: Frog – “Whatever We Probably Already Had It”

The day is here! New Frog!

Buy Digital & Cassette on Bandcamp!

Plus, it’s streaming on Spotify and everywhere else.

“Frog returns and is alive with tales of sadness, hysteria and delusions. Though the narratives are ambiguous and chimerical, each feel personal and poignant. The cult of Frog will only get bigger.” – Cereal & Sounds (Album Premiere)

“One of the most emotionally gripping tracks we’ve heard this year…There’s so much happening within every second of this song to latch onto.” – The Grey Estates (“Something to Hide” premiere)

“Locked between the unstoppable force of self-deprecation & the immovable object of the American Dream.” – Various Small Flames (“American” premiere)

“Frog continue to exist outside of musical fads and trends, a welcome moment of quiet contemplation in the sometimes hectic modern world, a subtle, stunning triumph.” – For the Rabbits (“Bones” premiere)

The amazing “Kings of Blah” documentary is out now (and free via Vimeo) too:

Thank you all.

p.s these tapes look nice – buy one:

New Frog Record! Nov 30th! Pre-Order!

It’s been a long time since Kind of Blah but Frog will be issuing their Whatever We Probably Already Had It at the end of the month. Limited cassettes and lossless digital Go pre-order on Bandcamp and check out the singles on Spotify.

The “Something to Hide” single was premiered on The Grey Estates.

The “American” single was premiered on Various Small Flames.

Follow Frog on: Bandcamp / Twitter / Spotify / Facebook / Instagram

Out Now: Benjamin Shaw – “Megadead”

Benjamin Shaw‘s Megadead album is out now. You can get it from Bandcamp digitally for $1 (or more), plus there’s tapes ($5) as well as CDs (from Kirigirisu Recordings).

Listen / Buy: Bandcamp / Spotify / Kirigirisu Recordings / More Services

“Your nails dig into the back of your head and you tug at your hair, wondering how hard you could pull before you finally rip it out of your skull. That’s what it feels like to listen to Benjamin Shaw’s new single…There is something so intensely private about his work, like he is somehow reaching through your headphones and speaking to a part of you which you didn’t know existed. It’s quite rare that a song can make you feel everything at once.” – Atwood Magazine 

“A chameleon of genres, the Melbourne-based shaw has drifted through washes of shoegaze and fields of electronica, melding dissonant drones and folk affectations into an incredibly singular and raw brand of confessional music, its ennui palpable.” – Dimestore Saints