by David Wilikofsky
In a world of information overload, how can you reliably discover great new music? For us, the answer is record labels. Great labels act as a stamp of quality; for the best, any album they put out is well worth your time. Labels need our support now more than ever, so if you like what you hear please head over to their site and order some music!
The hardest part about writing this feature is choosing the albums to profile; every label we’ve picked so far has a huge back catalog of stellar releases. This week has proven to be the hardest yet, because we’re taking on the Feeding Tube discography. Feeding Tube is both a record label and store based in Florence, Massachusetts. The label is prolific to say the least; Byron Coley, one of the label heads, has been quoted as saying the label tries to release at least one LP per week. In reality they surpass that. Their Discogs page (as of this writing) boasts almost 800 releases. Within those records you’ll find almost every sound imaginable. Given the volume and variety, it’s incredibly challenging to choose just five records. This list would probably change if you asked us next week, but here’s what we’re feeling today as an entry point into the world of Feeding Tube.
RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA | RUTH GARBUS Merrill may have been the Garbus sister that exploded into the mainstream with tUnE-yArDs, but Ruth’s records are no less deserving of your attention. Constructed mostly with guitar and vocals, the compositions are at once lush and sparse. The songs are almost impossibly delicate, with Garbus’s vocals floating above the fragile, almost ambient melodies. It’s a beautifully crafted set of modern folk songs that sounds timeless.
TOMMY JAY AND THE GENRAL | FLORIDA SONGS With song titles like “Hard, Loud and Fast” and “Gonorrhea Blues”, you can tell that Florida Songs is going to be a good time before hearing the first notes. Once the album starts, all your suspicions are confirmed. Tommy Jay has been kicking around the Colombus, OH rock scene for decades, playing in bands like Ego Summit and Tommy Rep and the Quotas. This album, his third release under his own name, is an outrageously fun set of rock anthems. Blast this one loud.
SEND FLOWERS | STATE CHAMPION State Champion don’t release records often, but when they do it’s worth paying attention. Send Flowers, their most recent offering, is a masterwork. Country tinged rock pairs with incredible lyrics; this could easily be a long lost Silver Jews album. Also worth noting: Feeding Tube collaborates with many other record labels. This one was released in collaboration with Sophomore Lounge, but co-releases with labels like Cardinal Fuzz and Astral Spirits are also worth special attention.
SILK | MAXINE FUNKE Maxine Funke channels the intimate folk ballads of greats like Sibylle Baier, Vashti Bunyan and Connie Converse on her third album Silk. While most tracks are straight ahead minor key folk songs, Funke’s more experimental tendencies show on tracks like “bulbs and perennials”, a drifting ambient piece. This is an album that creates its own sonic universe, and you feel lucky to have glimpsed it when the record ends.
FIGURINES | THE DOOZER On their sixth album, The Doozer crafts a modern avant-pop odyssey. You can hear echoes of everything from the psychedelic pop of Syd Barrett and Cleaners From Venus to the jangle pop of classic Flying Nun releases, but these elements combine into something that sounds completely original. I love the electronic touches on tracks like “Red Eye Coming” and “Masks”, which make those tracks sound especially hallucinatory.
We usually end these pieces with upcoming releases to look out for; in Feeding Tube’s case, we’ll just direct you straight to the source. I can tell you that I’m looking forward to upcoming albums by Sex Tide and Joseph Allred, but I also know that whatever they have planned will excite me in one way or another. Take some time to browse their website and get lost in their world; we’ll almost certainly be coming back to it for a part two.