{"title":"Lumpy Records","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"donkey-bugs-ancient-chinese-secrets-12-new","title":"Donkey Bugs: Ancient Chinese Secrets 12\"","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cstyle type=\"text\/css\"\u003e\u003c!--\ntd {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}\n--\u003e\u003c\/style\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-sheets-value='{\"1\":2,\"2\":\"Clevos DBs have created a bizarro left field masterpiece. Strange, mystical, mysterious - I just can’t remember the last time I was so debilitated by music. Some songs bring to mind the best late 00s drum machine punk bands such as Spider\/Catatonic Youth, others move into industrial territory a la Monte Cazazza (especially “ABCs of Lust”). And a peppering of dub to boot! There are Multiple personalities behind the mic – a regular vocalist, a Russian woman, Kate Bush, a cheese loving northerner. The vocals really shine, some of the most confident lyrics I’ve heard. Definitely an unrestrained feel to the entire album (feedback as an instrument???) a la the Residents – the first time I heard it reminded me of the first time I heard Duck Stab, completely mind bending. Not for everyone but I’m completely smitten. \"}' data-sheets-userformat='{\"2\":513,\"3\":[null,0],\"12\":0}'\u003eClevos DBs have created a bizarro left field masterpiece. Strange, mystical, mysterious - I just can’t remember the last time I was so debilitated by music. Some songs bring to mind the best late 00s drum machine punk bands such as Spider\/Catatonic Youth, others move into industrial territory a la Monte Cazazza (especially “ABCs of Lust”). And a peppering of dub to boot! There are Multiple personalities behind the mic – a regular vocalist, a Russian woman, Kate Bush, a cheese loving northerner. The vocals really shine, some of the most confident lyrics I’ve heard. Definitely an unrestrained feel to the entire album (feedback as an instrument???) a la the Residents – the first time I heard it reminded me of the first time I heard Duck Stab, completely mind bending. Not for everyone but I’m completely smitten. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOur take\u003c\/b\u003e: Debut release from this new Cleveland project, and while Cleveland is a city that produces a lot of head-scratcher records, this might be the head-scratchiest of them all. Donkey Bugs build songs around sparse drum machine rhythms and vocals with other instruments (mostly synths, from the sound of it) weaving in and out, but it would a big stretch to call this synth-punk. The label’s description mentions the Residents, and that’s the closest comparison that I can think of. Like the Residents’ music, Donkey Bugs’ songs feel deconstructed, with anything familiar or conventional purged, leaving only a weird, distorted skeleton of a song. The melodies and lyrics are also bizarre and surreal. They remind me of the songs that I make up when my partner goes out of town and I get three or four days into being alone. At that point I go a little crazy and make up strange little songs about my cat or what I’m making for dinner or whatever, and at their weirdest they might resemble something on this record. I hesitate to mention it because no one out there might agree, but something about this record reminds me of Royal Trux in places, though Donkey Bugs’ music is far more sparse (as the description mentions, it’s even dub-y in places) and less chaotic. If you’re looking for punk or hardcore you won’t find it here, but if you’re a Cleveland punk mega-fan (particularly the weirder stuff from that scene) or you’re the person who seeks the weirdest, most surreal music you can find this may be something you can hang with.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lumpy Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8659301761075,"sku":"180715303","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0255\/7539\/products\/IMG_6850.JPG?v=1531694844"},{"product_id":"sweettoothsugarrush20097","title":"Sweet Tooth: Sugar Rush 2009 7”","description":"\u003cp\u003eTo celebrate LR's 100th release we decided to do a special 10th anniversary pressing of the Sweet Tooth - Sugar Rush demo from 2009, which all members of the band agree is the best recording any of us have ever been on. I play drums on this and I don't know how the hell it came out so well. We are all very proud of it and to that end I've gone all out on the packaging: Hand stamped records, Obi strip and a 12 page zine with essays by key players, pictures, flyers, zine interviews and a list of all 62 shows we played - all stapled to a double sided cardstock sleeve, all Riso'd in house.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere's the writeup my brother Rik did for it: \"You have here in your hands the posthumous vinyl release of the debut “Sugar Rush” demo tape by Sweet Tooth, a band that was cultivated for several years in basements of suburban Southwestern Illinois by a bunch of bored teenagers who only wanted to play faster and harder than everyone else in the then-dwindling St Louis hardcore scene. The cassette was originally recorded circa November 2009 in our parents basement located less than 100 feet away from acres of corn fields in O’Fallon, Illinois by local engineer Mikey Crotty. Now it all seems like a blur, and it probably did back then too, but the music and performances were always unapologetically earnest and the energy was undeniable, which generally resulted in nothing less than chaos when the band would play live. It was always a mixed bag, you never knew what you were going to get..maybe the band would attack the crowd, or attack each other, and anything that wasn’t bolted to the ground had a chance to go flying at any given moment. \"Who will be going to the hospital tonight?”, I often wondered, and on more than one occasion it would be one of us. With danger as fuel and the misanthropy of mundane Midwest life fanning the flame, the only goal was to push the limits and destroy all that we could. \"Who cares?”, you might ask. Well, probably no one anymore, but this recording is a testament to a moment in time when the only things that mattered were exceeding the boundaries and violating all the rules. This one is for the Tooth heads, the ones who thrashed and slammed through broken glass and flying shopping carts (thank you Cleveland!), who laughed in the face of danger and reveled in every moment of personal peril, all while wearing demented smiles and laughing with glee. For those who love blistering hardcore punk and embrace the opportunity to let it all loose, and for those who have since left us entirely too soon. Rest in peace Bad Brando (2019), you will be missed. To the rest (you know who you are), I sincerely thank you for your participation in all the dumb fun we had. There will be no reunion, but if you play this record at full volume in a filthy basement and start somersaulting across the floor and punching holes in the wall you may be able to recreate that familiar feeling that was once such an important imprint of our music in those formative years.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFFO Void, Koro, Infest, No Comment, H100s, Nine Shocks Terror\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lumpy Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":31454119821363,"sku":"191217909","price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0255\/7539\/products\/801fcc2101fb8e7a55063f1081dffe431efc813b.jpg?v=1577147817"},{"product_id":"theinhumanwewillbuildbwcheapnovocain7","title":"The Inhuman: We Will Build b\/w Cheap Novocain 7\"","description":"\u003cp\u003eLR is thrilled to present a 45 from Tucson, AZs THE INHUMAN. These two tracks are complete lo fi degenerate punk, recorded in a bedroom in Tucson sometime in 1983, plucked from forgotten demo tapes and pressed for the first time ! Another testament to the genius of the 80s Tucson scene, which wouldn't have sounded out of place on the Red Snerts or Cleveland Confidential comps. FFO Bobby Soxx, Mr Science, Jimmy Smack, KBD Punk\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOur take\u003c\/b\u003e: Two-song single from this very obscure bedroom recording project from Tucson, Arizona in 1983. According to the liner notes, the Inhuman only played one show and the person behind the project didn’t do much else that we would have heard of, so it’s a miracle that these tunes found their way from an old cassette to 7” vinyl in the year 2020. The songs are cool, too! They build both songs around primitive drum machine rhythms augmented with synth, guitar, and vocals, and have a creepy, sinister vibe. The a-side lurks in the shadows with a vibe like Suicide, while the b-side gets more confrontational, giving it a Screamers-type menace. If this recording had gotten out back in the day, this would be a $200 single.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lumpy Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":31454119854131,"sku":"191217910","price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0255\/7539\/products\/3712ead5e3bbc68ef39d3a96f3660f803cbcce80.jpg?v=1577147863"},{"product_id":"210407918","title":"The Mind: Open Up The Window and Leave Your Body 12\"","description":"My favorite time of day is the millisecond around 5:08am when a glitch causes gravity's suspension just long enough to reset your tiny toxic prejudices, your color palette, your misaligned spine. The cause of your death - some distant past, now - revealed by screeching tires as you walk to the store for a Nutter Butter, or intuited by the metronomical drip of your faucet as you lay down to \"sleep.\" You get just the faintest phantom odor of a plane you've been to before and will visit again. And yet you go on, day in and day out, heading towards something in this world, trying to get somewhere. The simulation has programmed it as Free Will™ in the shiny-marble flesh-computer at your top, but Artificial Intelligence has been infiltrating the Arts for a minute now - like a video game designer making their game more difficult. Just look at Scriabin's Mysterium. People were flipping! Babies recited Paradise Lost and Himalayan farmers contracted to wave Mountain Fishtails at the ether were plucking their toenails out in uncanny jubilee! This is how humans evolve, after all. A sentient grain of sand from somewhere far, far away enmeshes itself in the cultural fabric of a point in time - a little germ, fecundated by the permutations of human chaos, trying to shatter your pretty fragile brain for the sake of rebuilding it. AI has gotten much more tactful recently. Enter: The Mind. You won't know how many forks in the road this record decided for you until 2036. I wager it'll be sometime in June, around 5:08am... (Brandon Gaffney)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOur take\u003c\/b\u003e: We last heard from the Mind in 2019 when Drunken Sailor released their first album, \u003cem\u003eEdge of the Planet\u003c\/em\u003e. The Mind is a cryptic bunch (zinester Brandon Gaffney’s description for Lumpy tells you essentially nothing about it), but reaching back into my files, I find the Mind is a cross-country project featuring members of Homostupids, Dry Rot, Pleasure Leftists, Cosmic Sand Dollars, and more. In case those names mean nothing to you, let me sum it up for you in meme speak: it weird. There’s something Residents-y about the Mind’s presentation, how they insist on misdirecting you and not revealing too much about what is behind the music. While this might frustrate a newsletter writer just trying to whip up a fresh variation of “if you like X, you might like Y,” it forces you to take the music on its own terms, and the Mind has a lot of terms. Lots of the lyrics are about space and technology (“The Pod,” “Magna Carta of Space,” “Voices of a Distant Star”), the vocals are charismatic and melodic (their singer reminds me of Elise from Brain F≠), and the music is all over the place, sometimes post-punk-y, sometimes more electronic, sometimes new age-y, and often quite melodic and catchy. The aggressive eclecticism keeps me from getting on firm footing as a listener. That might turn off someone less adventurous, but I recommend putting this on, turning off the lights, and letting it take you where it’s going to go. ","brand":"Lumpy Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39680829915321,"sku":"210407918","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0255\/7539\/products\/themind.jpg?v=1618092477"},{"product_id":"210407919","title":"M.A.Z.E.: II 12\"","description":"Rejoice, the most feverish expression from Japan's top group is finally available on vinyl record! Pogo for the people in the back, 9 raucous wave punk songs snaked straight to the dome. True political and societal dissent often postured by today's bands, laid out in cool fashion over smart, tense guitar and bass interplay-- but undeniably fun! Bombs away music, pacing panther through the circus bars music-- Eriko's vocals might remind one of Plastics' Chica Sato, but sung with more deranged intent. Punks slamming to the disco beat. Tatsuya's slick guitar parts chime like bells at the plant, driving the songs like a blistering flash from the sun. Urgent songs by shiny people in the new style, great music for no future. (Ian Teeple)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOur take\u003c\/b\u003e: Lumpy Records released a 12” from Japanese punk band M.A.Z.E. back in 2019, and \u003cem\u003eII\u003c\/em\u003e is their new album, also on Lumpy Records. M.A.Z.E. fits right in with the Lumpy Records crew. M.A.Z.E. doesn’t have Lumpy’s penchant for very low fidelity, but they share the label’s appreciation for Devo-inspired quirkiness and an assertively creative approach to punk rock. On \u003cem\u003eII\u003c\/em\u003e, M.A.Z.E. reminds me of Warm Bodies, and while they’re not as fast and their guitarist isn’t as virtuosic as underground axe god Ian Teeple, the knotty rhythms and out of the box vocal approach are similar. M.A.Z.E. never settles into a groove on \u003cem\u003eII\u003c\/em\u003e; like the Fall or Can, each song has its own unique pulse, and the players build out from that central rhythmic structure, not so much jamming as playing a cool part and then changing to a different, also cool part. Weird Punk, Egg Punk, Devo-Core… however you want to describe it, if you’re into labels like Lumpy and Erste Theke Tonträger, M.A.Z.E. should be on your radar.","brand":"Lumpy Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39680830046393,"sku":"210407919","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0255\/7539\/products\/maze.jpg?v=1618092591"},{"product_id":"211201907","title":"Rik and The Pigs: The Last Laugh 12\"","description":"Feeling Lower than the Dow Jones Industrial Average? Me too, but this record is helping. When I heard it I finally believed that one guy with long hair and a green shirt who told me “Those Cats Can Really Play!” Rik and his deplorable Pigs imploded in 2018 but not before recording two final sessions in California - one with Mike Kriebel (The Beat Sessions guy), another with Tony Santos. They skipped town before paying the bill, but we’ve stepped in to pick up the tab because we think it’s a great value. The Pigs, man…those guys are the laziest delinquent sort of pig slobs ever born, but at least they’re well rehearsed. They’re salty from marinating in the degenerate RNR Dick Manitoba, Cheetah Chrome and Dave E gave us long ago and it shows. Ricky the cunning wordsmith delivers with weasel verve, as one with an actual Venus in Taurus would. There’s a rawness and honesty here that has more to do with 80s hardcore than the modern garage rock scene that has embraced them. “Lifes A Bust” is the hit - a scorching groove that lasts 7 minutes 26 seconds and still somehow feels too short. Play it at the bar and the people over 40 will be tapping their toes. “The Last Laugh” is probably a great gift for your father or father’s father, get it while it’s hot!\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOur take\u003c\/b\u003e: \u003cem\u003eThe Last Laugh\u003c\/em\u003e compiles tracks from two (very different) recording sessions Rik \u0026amp; the Pigs did just before they broke up in 2018, performing a mix of new songs and older ones that had appeared on the small pile of singles and tapes the band released over a couple of years. Rik \u0026amp; the Pigs had a distinctive sound that imbued snotty, early 80s-style punk (think Negative Trend or the Lewd) with a Stones-y swagger and a penchant for catchy choruses. The a-side tracks on \u003cem\u003eThe Last Laugh\u003c\/em\u003e were recorded by Mike Kriebel (of Shout Recordings \/ the Beat Sessions), giving the Pigs a clear and beefy sound that’s very different from the fuzzy lo-fi recordings they put out when they were active. Rik \u0026amp; the Pigs sound great in hi-def, particularly on “Life’s a Bust,” a punk blues that adds two additional minutes of negativity to the version that appeared on a Feel It Records single in 2016. The b-side’s recording, courtesy Tony Santos, is rawer and fuzzier like the Pigs’ previous records. While the recording is nastier, the material is even more anthemic, particularly the Dead Boys-esque “It’s Alright.” More than just outtakes or leftovers, \u003cem\u003eThe Last Laugh\u003c\/em\u003e is as good as anything Rik \u0026amp; the Pigs released when they were toast of the scene, and I’m glad Lumpy Records got this into the world for the faithful still carrying Rik’s torch.","brand":"Lumpy Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42124895486206,"sku":"211201907","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0255\/7539\/products\/rikiandthepigs.jpg?v=1639330090"},{"product_id":"221028912","title":"Trauma Harness: Ten Years of Trauma 12\"","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“They are always different, They are always the same” - Trauma Harness are secret Heads. I grew up with these three boys and they have had a huge impact on my life. Josh, Andy, and Johnny were all playing awesome Rock n Roll back in 2007 when I met them in Belleville, IL. It was a legendary time for DIY gigs there - kids would turn out in droves and dance for every band and then after we’d all end up in a parking lot somewhere acting like idiots all night. It’s wild to think we’ve been friends for 15 years now. By 2011 each of their respective bands from before had ended and Trauma Harness was born. Over the past decade they’ve proven themselves year after year as talented songcrafters, committed hardworkers and fanatics of rock n roll. It’s rare that a band survives this long and stays interesting but somehow they’ve done it; they’ve cracked open a solid cohesive sound unconfined by the parameters of genre. For me, John Peel’s above quote about The Fall is just as applicable to Trauma Harness as it feels reductive to call them a post punk band, a synth pop band, a power pop band, etc. Much like The Fall, Trauma Harness has created a whole world of their own. They’ve been a constant pulse in the Lumpy Records catalog since the very beginning with four tapes, two 45s, and two lps released on the label since 2012. And thus I couldn’t think of a higher note to end on then by one more TH record - a collection of my favorite pop songs by them that have only been released digitally or in very limited cassette runs over the past decade. Fifteen tracks of blissful midwest gloom pop for all freaks, heads and ninnies. Cry for the death of Lumpy Records but rejoice that Trauma Harness will likely still be making kickass rocknroll from the nursing home in 50 years. Art by the talented Eric Mayer (Tenement, Bored Straight). \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThis is the last LR release. #107\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lumpy Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43654205800702,"sku":"221028912","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0255\/7539\/products\/traumaharness.jpg?v=1667061673"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0255\/7539\/collections\/lumpy.jpg?v=1527700204","url":"https:\/\/www.sorrystaterecords.com\/collections\/lumpy-records.oembed","provider":"Sorry State Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}