BRRR "Tone Poems" cd-r (self released/2004)

Tone Poems is the second release from Brrr, and it most likely my favorite release from them, though the reality is that I love every single song that this band wrote and recorded. It is a release that have played with a great deal of regularity since it came into my possession several years ago. Thank you Herbie for not only writing great music but also for sending it my way! I definitely recall listening to Tone Poems intensely for a period of time when I first got it. It was the perfect soundtrack on a lonely morning in a cold office wanting to just sleep or stare out the window or whatever. The six songs on Tone Poems found themselves on constant repeat as the elicited a calm in my being that I have seldom been able to cull from any other music before. It was a feeling a liked.

For those of you who missed my previous posting about Brrr's first cd-r Summer Songs (Part One) and are unfamiliar with Brrr they were a indie pop project masterminded by Herbie Schellenberger of Brown Recluse and Pet Milk fame. The music was somber and subtle but most certainly pop, but pop that tugged at your heart as opposed to tapping your toes. So if you like stuff like Jens Lekman (whom they cover on this release), Thanksgiving, Mt Eerie, etc than you may want to check this out. Tone Poems is a collection of six beautiful yet fragile bordering on ambient (as mood not sound) crooners. The instrumentation is varied but the key is that everything is subtle. In fact very few records I have listened to over the years has been to capture subtly as well as Brrr does on Tone Poems. I feel joy when I hear these songs but at times particularly with "Remember Me" and "The Waves" I am nearly brought to tears. But good tears as in that perhaps I'd put these songs on when I'd be down and just the mood and melodies bring a calmness to me that I am able to see the beauty in all that is around me a little more clearly. I know it may sound corny but it is totally true. Funny thing about "The Waves" is that I originally preferred the original recording (which I wish I had a mp3 of) but I grew so accustomed to this version that I can't imagine the song any other way at this point. Anyhow, enough jibber jabber just download Tone Poems as I am 100% positive you will love it as much as I do.

Brrr Tone Poems track listing

1. 21 December
2. The Waves
3. Something About Birds
4. If  You Were the Topic on Jeopardy
5. Remember Me
6. Crickets, Just Visiting

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Brown Recluse Sings "Selected Hymns (of the Evening Tapestry)" cassette (Dead Format/2008)

When I first starting ripping my cassette collection this is the one that I was really psyched to rip regardless of it being a fairly recent release. I searched high and low for a mp3s. Heck, I am friends with one of the dudes in the band and one of the guys that run the label yet for some reasons no matter how many times I asked I couldn't get any mp3s of this awesome collection of songs that I could listen to in the early morning at my old office job or on those rainy days where I just want to stare into nothingness and get lost in a album. Selected Hymns (of the Evening Tapestry) is the perfect album to get lost in as the songs have this lo fi recorded in a dusty old bare room vibe to it, a very raw under produced indie pop album. And when I say under produced I don't mean that in a sloppy, let's make everything sound like shit on purpose way but where every sound is just raw, live production which when acoustic guitars and vocals are the driving element in music is a style that my ears prefer. Following up their wonderful debut cdep Black Sunday, Brown Recluse Sings' Selected Hymns (of the Evening Tapestry) is a wondrous collection of eleven instant indie pop songs to cap of the period of the band where they added "Sings" at the end of their name. Not sure why they dropped it, I rather liked that touch, giving a really traveling folk or gospel kind of vibe.

And as it turns out several of the songs that appear on Selected Hymns (of the Evening Tapestry) have been re-recorded with full arrangements for the new Brown Recluse album, Evening Tapestry on Slumberland Records  which I highly recommend you pick up. It is rather impressive how the secluded serenity of the songs on this cassette were transformed into something even grander. It is nice to see something transform a embryonic state to something fully fleshed out, and especially when the original renditions found on Selected Hymns (of the Evening Tapestry) are so strong. The talent that Brown Recluse's principal songwriter Timothy Meskers has for crafting perfected melodic indie pop tunes and for exhibiting such incredible vocal skills is a real treat to someone who has been surrounded by tone deaf would be vocalists for most of my time involved in independent music.

As much as I enjoy relevant music from my generation and current projects peers are working on I'd seldom tag the phrase timeless to much of if, but the music Brown Recluse creates is absolutely timeless. I have played their music for people who don't even like indie music or travel those circles and those people have responded "who is this? this music is great."- meaning that their music, like all great music transcends any silly genre or tag one subscribes to. Fear not you indie clown doctors afraid that your mom will dig this and eventually find her way to borrowing your Pavement bootlegs and your Sarah Records singles- Brown Recluse is definitely a indie band but a above that a great band.  Bias aside, and this is as a music lover speaking, I would be hard pressed to find another current band making better indie pop than Brown Recluse.

Before you get to the free downloading of Selected Hymns (of the Evening Tapestry) do the smart thing and head on over to Slumberland to pick up the new Brown Recluse album Evening Tapestry as well as their previous 12 inch The Soft Skin, which is easily one of my favorite records in recnt years. For you lazy bastards I'll even provide links.

BUY Brown Recluse "Evening Tapestry"
BUY Brown Recluse "The Soft Skin"

Brown Recluse Sings Selected Hymns (of the Evening Tapestry) track listing
1. Hobble to Your Tomb
2. Foreign Correspondent
3. Impressions of a City Morning
4. Cattail Bouquet
5. Evening Tapestry
6. Monday Moon
7. Ascending the White Mountain
8. Summer
9. Wooden Fingers
10. Rinse Off the Newsprint
11. Alpha 60

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BRRR "Summer Songs (Part One)" Cd-r (One Forest/2004)

In similar fashion to how I kicked off Here On This Island with a entry from the band whom led me to start my label, with Away From This Island I'd like to get things rolling with a release by a band who was the first non Long Island band to have a release on Rok Lok. For years I was solely interested in releasing records for bands from Long Island and the creative circles that I was traveling in. However, on the first night of a tour my band Yes Sensei embarked on in the summer 2004 we stopped off in Bethlehem, PA and played a show at a awesome community space called The Globe (RIP). Playing Lehigh Valley has always been an incredible experience but this time was even more special than usual as the last band of the evening was a real treat, a somber and fragile  indie pop band called BRRR. The setup consisted of two guitars (one acoustic & one electric), bass, drums, cello and trumpet. From the first note to the last I was absolutely mesmerized. We got to hang out with them and go to party afterwards where somehow after only one day of tour we made a swimming pool absolutely filthy which was a joke revisited every time Yes Sensei came back to Lehigh Valley. Anyhow, everyone at the show was awesome and we got to talk to the cats in BRRR and they were super nice. I picked up their cd-r Summer Songs (Part One) and we played it in the van whenever Adam would let us take out The Get Up Kids cd...  For the remainder of the tour while on those long drives or those nights where I escaped to find some personal space my mind kept on replaying BRRR's set in my head. When I returned home I found their Myspace page and I listened to every song at least 5 times in the first sitting except a song called "The Waves" which I easily listened to no less than a dozen times consecutively. Not sure why but something about that song grabbed me (and still does) in a way not much music can. I needed to speak with the genius behind this music again immediately...

I got in touch with the main guy behind BRRR Herbie Schellenberger and was just flat out with him out of the gate-I wanted to put out a record for BRRR. And plans were immediately made for the self titled 7 inch that I put out on Rok Lok later that year. The songs on the 7 inch as well as the bonus cd-r that only came with pre-orders exceeded my expectations but it brought everything full circle from where my introduction to the band began months earlier. BRRR came down a few times to Long Island to play shows and it was awesome, especially the time they played in my living room. Initially there were plans to follow up the 7 inch with a full length 12 inch but that never happened as Schellenberger continued to focus his efforts on his other project Brown Recluse who have just released their second 12 inch on Slumberland Records this week. In addition to playing in the wonderful Brown Recluse, Schellenberger is also playing in a awsome indie pop/shoegaze band called Pet Milk. I highly recommend that you check out all of his projects, he is talented musician and it really shows in everything he does.

The 7 inch I put out for BRRR is one of my favorites but I always come back to Summer Songs (Part One) as it represents the songs I first heard that wonderful night in Bethlehem. If you like moody bedroom indie pop like Jens Lekman, Mt.Eerie or Thanksgiving than I highly recommend you give BRRR a listen. The song "Mayfield" has made its way onto several mix tapes that I have made over the years. In addition to Summer Songs (Part One) and the self titled 7 inch there was another cd-r called Tone Poems that is quite possibly the band's finest work.. There were a couple of compilation appearances as well as a limited cassette that collected a sampling of the band's out put  A Small Collection of Old Songs on Chrysanthemum, Etc. One of their last shows was a trek down to Long Island playing the Smithtown Masonic Temple and I recorded the whole set. In addition to some older tunes they played a few songs that were never recorded and to my knowledge never used for another project. I need to find the time to rip those tunes. In August of 2008 I was able to convince Herbie (along with his Brown Recluse band mate Timothy Meskers) to do a "reunion set" as part of Rok Lok Fest, celebrating the 10 year anniversary. It was nice to hear those songs performed live again. Below I have posted the BRRR discography as I know it, though I don't recall the names of the compilations that they appeared on or what tracks. I am fairly certain both were exclusive tracks. If anyone has any info please pass it along.

BRRR discography
-Summer Songs (Part One) cd-r (One Forest)* two pressings. First in a DVD case. Second in polybag
-Tone Poems cd-r (self released)
-s/t 7 inch (Rok Lok Records) 200 on black vinyl, 100 on clear vinyl. 30 pre-order editions w/ clear vinyl, gold numbered paper record sleeve, a bonus hand stamped cd-r w/ 2 bonus tracks, and one inch pin. 30 test press editions w/ alternate cover art and hand stamped labels were made as well
-A Small Collection of Old Songs cassette (Chrysanthemum, Etc)

Summer Songs (Part One) track listing
1.Little Bug
2. Mayfield
3. Muddy Pawprints
4. Untitled
5. Smiles of a Summer Night
6. Dusk

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