One of the most beautiful voices and greatest champions of social justice of the last century passed away this morning. Joan Baez is said to have been so moved by her presence that she once dropped to her knees to kiss her feet. Rest in peace Mercedes Sosa.

“I was killed a thousand times. I disappeared a thousand times, and here I am, risen from the dead. . . . Here I am, out of the ruins the dictatorship left behind. We’re still singing.”
— Mercedes Sosa

The Two Sides Of Tim Cohen is back in press! Empty Cellar & Secret Seven Records have pressed another 250 LPs. You can pick up a copy for yourself at our store. It is distributed by Revolver.

There is a great print feature by Jennifer Maerz about Tim Cohen and The Two Sides… in the San Francisco Weekly today. Check it out

… and read what other people have said about it recently and before:
Blurt
The Bay Bridged
Mystery Theater
Expressway To My Skull

Not so long ago, we received an email from Dan at Ash From Sweat Records. They are a great label out of Denver, Colorado that also put out a split 7″ featuring Joseph Childress. We made a trade, and now we have that 7″ available at our online store. It kills. Joseph and Strangers Die Everyday put forward a beautiful track each, the pairing couldn’t be better. Joseph plays a stunning rendition of “White Castle Creek Mother” the only track to surface from his 2007 recording sessions with Chris Adolf of Bad Weather California. Drawing on chilling imagery of the personal & collective history of the plains in Wymoning on which he worked ranch – as told to him by a young girl – “White Castle Creek Mother” features a beautifully subdued full band arrangement, a rarity for Joseph’s recordings. Strangers Die Everyday contribute a beautiful multi layered post-rock composition. In the vein of Godspeed You Black Emperor and Explosions In The Sky, their untitled track achieves a remarkable level of lush intensity despite sparse instrumentation, and but one electric instrument, a bass guitar, amidst a cello, violin, and drums. 480 copies exist on grey vinyl with full color artwork by Aaron Ray.The packaging is rad too. We have 10 available.

 

I have recently come to realize that bloggers might be one of independent music’s greatest allies. Not that we didn’t kind of already know; but really, I am not sure that we could have gotten the word out about “The Two Sides of Tim Cohen” if it wasn’t for all the help we received from music writers online. As we were preparing to release of the Joseph Childress / White White Quilt – Split (Water Tower) 7″, we came across several great blogs that feature 45’s & 7″ records exclusively.

Here are just a few of the ones we found (there are many more out there):
7 Inches
I Think I Hate My 45s
Dereks Daily 45s
7 Inch of the Day
7 Inches from the Underground

We are fortunate enough to be currently featured on Jason Dean’s 7 Inches blog, for the Water Tower Split. You can read Jason’s review of that record here. He also invited us to do an interview for his podcast. You can access that podcast at this post. We are honored. Hopefully I did not make a fool of myself in the interview.

Speaking of Joseph Childress… He will be playing tomorrow (Sun 9/20) at Yoshi’s Songwriter’s Sunday with two others, Roberto Miguel & Mason Lindahl. Check it out if you can.

8:00pm-Midnight
1330 Fillmore at Eddy
San Francisco
$5

…and speaking of 7 Inches, the Sandwitches finished recording their acoustic 7″ e.p. for Empty Cellar Record at the Garden Chamber this week. It will be titled Duck, Duck, Goose. They will be mixing the record with engineer/producer Wymond Miles when he gets back from tour with the Fresh & Onlys. Can’t wait to hear it!

-Arvel

Our favorite twisted old-timey garage trio, The Sandwitches, is committing a three song E.P. to tape today in our very own Garden Chamber Studios. They are in good hands with Wymond “Creature Man” Miles of the Fresh & Only’s at the controls. The E.P. will be available on a 7″ from Empty Cellar Records in late October, just in time to haunt your Halloween. In the mean time, you can see them live on the record release tour for their Debut LP, How To Make Ambient Sadcake, on Turn Up! records, & watch these great videos shot by The American Opry (below):

The Sandwitches Tour Dates with Jonesin’:

The Sandwitches at Cafe Du Nord, San Francisco

The Sandwitches at Amnesia, San Francisco