August 1999 Parasol Newsletter

Issue #22

We've made some recent changes to the Parasol website, so if you haven't visited www.parasol.com lately, please check it out and let us know what you think. The shopping cart is still under construction, but we're adding new content daily. On the label side you'll find more timely information about band tours and current releases. The Parasol Mail Order section on the front page includes scans of all featured titles of the month with hot titles added as they arrive. We've also added an interview section that will be a monthly feature, hopefully becoming more frequent in the near future. First up for August will be an interview with Parasol faves Green Pajamas. If you're unfamiliar with any of the band's recent releases for Camera Obscura or their original version of Material Issue's hit "Kim the Waitress," we highly recommend their Beatles-influenced mix of psych and folk and pop and rock. In the coming weeks we'll also activate our "Upcoming Releases" section where we'll list and describe forthcoming albums of note. Finally, the new Quickspace and Very Secretary CDs will appear ANY DAY. Let's call it August 3rd. They'll be featured prominently on the web when they arrive.

SPOTLIGHT!

Nick Rudd-One Track Mind CD
(Par-CD-038) $10.00

Welcome back. Nick Rudd returns to the recorded form with his first CD in over six years. Parasol Records' first full-length release, Par-CD-001, was Forever by the "band" Blown, a front for Nick. At the time CMJ wrote,

"…if you jive on the woeful guitar sounds of Neil Young and the spangly jams of R.E.M., then you'll have no problem bonding with Blown…Weaving twisting, blues-scale solos through simple chord structures, rudimentary tempos, and low-tenor vocals, this Mid-Western trio is perhaps most conveniently described as a cross between Uncle Tupelo and the Feelies…"

Since that release, Parasol's Geoff Merritt provided a standing offer to release any album that Nick delivered. After a few 1997 sessions with Adam Schmitt, Nick stepped back, and decided to wait for a better time. In early 1999 former Weird Summer band-mate Bob Kimbell offered to record Nick's album in a setting similar to the Jack Logan/Bob Kimbell Little Private Angel CD that was recorded fast and cheap, was critically well-received, and led to a major label deal for Jack Logan at Capricorn. The result of those sessions is One Track Mind. If more pedigree is what you need, consider:

· Nick's band Turning Curious recorded the 1983 album Soul Light Season with producer Mitch Easter. At the time, Peter Holsapple said that Nick's songwriting was among the best in the country.

· Nick teamed with Velvet Crush's Ric Menck and Paul Chastain in the pre-VC outfit Big Maybe. Try finding that 7" single.

· Adam Schmitt covered a Nick Rudd song for a Warner Brothers promo-only sampler. Try finding that CD.

· Nick has played guitar or bass in the 1990s with Weird Summer, Angie Heaton's Gentle Tamers, and Lonely Trailer.

Boot Camp-As You Were CD
(Par-CD-046) $10.00

Boot Camp, based in Dallas since 1991 (with a Stamford, CT resident as lead vocalist!) finally delivers their long promised debut CD of muscular power pop...with a few surprises. After releasing a superb 7" single on Parasol in late 1997, Boot Camp offers this limited edition 7 song + CD co-produced by Adam Schmitt and Boot Camp leader Ken Gullic. In addition to the Brian Leach (Sugarbuzz) and Adam Schmitt performances on the blistering cover of Neil Sedaka's '70s smash "Bad Blood," As You Were contains guest appearances from Cheap Trick's Robin Zander and ex-Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick, on "Rise And Shine." And, the opening track "Spent" was featured on the Pop Culture Press CD sampler available at 1999's SXSW. As You Were is glorious one-stop shopping for the '70s pop culture fanatic who thinks that the current batch of new rock bands have strayed too far.

"Armed with a bruising, incandescent rock sound reminiscent of vintage Cheap Trick, Boot Camp's debut CD-EP carries a potent aural kick. Highly recommended."-Ken Sharp-author of Overnight Sensation: The Story of the Raspberries and contributor to Reputation is a Fragile Thing: The Story of Cheap Trick.

"Hard rock and pure pop that fits nicely alongside your Love Gun and Heaven Tonight CDs. Boot Camp's a perfect sonic vacation away from today's stale music sense."-Ron Albanese, publisher of One On Four (world's only all Cheap Trick magazine)

COMING SOON

Quickspace-Precious Falling CD due August 3

Very Secretary-Standing In The Shade CD due August 3

June & the Exit Wounds-"a little more Haven Hamilton, please" LP including bonus 7" with two new songs! Due in August

Life On Mars-TBA (New project featuring Brian Leach) CD due in August

Doleful Lions-TBA CD due in September

Best Boy Electric-Songs of Latitude and Longitude (New project from John Nichols, ex-Low) CD due on Grand Theft Autumn in September

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…

…Raygun and CMJ New Music Monthly have just offered up their opinions of Novak's self-titled debut CD, and we're happy to share them with you. After comparing Novak to Stereolab, CMJ continues, "Airy flute passages inevitably recall Mercury Rev, while the toy xylophone and gritty tape loops and rhythm tracks instill a rough-hewn post-rock quality. Tops among several high points is 'Fruit Cooler,' in which circular flute and guitar figures percolate for six minutes before an unexpected refrain releases the tension. A skill for repeated, deceptively facile melodies make the disc's eight extended tracks pass all too quickly." Raygun chimes in, "In addition to accordion and flute, we hear…children's toys, chimes, Jew's-harp, and tape manipulation. When these ingredients combine perfectly, as on the dreamy fantasia 'By Peggy's Well,' the effect is like walking into your closet and coming out in NeverNeverLand."

SOME PARASOL RELATED ARTIST ANSWERS SOME QUESTIONS

Vitesse's Josh Klein

1. Mixing session you wish you could have attended-Brian Eno-Here Come The Warm Jets

2. Songs you think you probably shouldn't like but just can't help yourself-"'Deepest Bluest (Shark's Fin)' by LL Cool J, from the Deep Blue Sea Soundtrack, that Roxette song from Pretty Woman, and the Cyndi Lauper Goonies song 'Goonies (Are Good Enough)'. But why shouldn't I like these? What's not to like?"

3. Favorite record that you can't find on CD- "Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1 - out of print! For shame!"

4. First Concert- "U2, Joshua Tree Tour, the Spectrum in Philly in 1987 or 1988."

5. Favorite Bass Player-Peter Hook

Josh Klein is the Chicago-half of the duo Vitesse. He and his partner, Nashville based Hewson Chen, first recorded music together for a class at The University of Chicago, and recorded the band's debut album, A Certain Hostility, in 1 ½ days. This past spring the album charted TOP 10 on college stations around the country, including #1 at Stanford's station KZSU, on the strength of its Magnetic Fields-like qualities. The sublime cover of Cheap Trick's "Southern Girls" didn't hurt. Josh is visiting Nashville this summer to record more songs, which we expect will become the follow up to A Certain Hostility.

The Archive July 1999