1) Mythbusters Spinoff
This spring, my MVR business partner Kris Dorr and I were flown out to Los Angeles for a while to help the former Mythbusters crew do a thing. We can't tell you what that thing is, but you can find out for yourself on December 9th, if you have Netflix. Supposedly, our episode will be the first one of the series. It's called White Rabbit Projects. Hopefully we don't get totally cut out or look like complete Rubes.

2) New Zealand Pilgrimage
If you've been following PIAPTK for the last ten years, you will remember that I started the label by ordering lathe cuts from the OG Godfather, Peter King. He's still doing his thing, just like he has for the last 30 years, and to celebrate my 38th Birthday and the 10th Birthday of PIAPTK, I am making a pilgrimage down to Ashburton, NZ to meet the Lathe Wizard of NZ. This has been a dream for over a decade and I finally have the opportunity to do it. If you've got any tips, tricks, or hookups and connections down under, please hit me with them.

Releases from Jad Fair, Wooden Wand, Surfer Blood, Reptar, Salesman, ALL CD-Record Series releases, Homely Singles Blind Date Club Releases, Keith John Adams, Southerly, Casper and the Cookies, Norfolk & Western/Graves, Anni Rossi/Whitman, Golden Boots, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Amo Joy!, Javier, Solid Home Life, Devin James Fry, Grey Waves, The Crash That Took Me, Lazer Zeppelin, Saturday Looks Good To Me, Impossible Shapes, Karl Blau, Graves, Gift Machine, Nate Ashley, Carcrashlander, etc are ON SUPER SALE!

Check out the overstock sale HERE!

4) Record Cutters for Sale!
Want to cut your own records? Well, in order to raise money, I'm having to thin the lathe herd again. All of these machines are fully functional, restored, come with a starter pack of blanks and needles, and tech support or training in Tucson to get you rolling. I've got 5 lathes available ranging from beginner suitcase units for $1800, mid-range more versatile units for $3750, up to the big bad boys, Stereo hi-fi diamond cutting lathes if you got the budget and want to really go hard for $8500. For more info, email me at peopleinapositiontoknow---at---yahoo---dot---com.

New Soild Gold Style LP! Be Gulls – Dead Giveaway – Little Wings + Lee Baggett Cover the Grateful Dead on their iPhones
****Please note that this is a preorder... we dont have the LPs, yet. Supposedly they are going on the press early next week, once the pressing plant solves a couple technical problems. Usually, I would wait until we had the records in hand, but the Scott McMicken "In Your Dreams" LP is hot on its' heels (hopefully in time for Xmas!) and we really need to get this record out before that one arrives.****

I know that EVERY indie rocker in the known universe is giving props to the Dead these days (as they should), but this release has been in the works for YEARS. So, please don't think we are some sort of Johnny Come Latelys... Also, lest you forget that Be Gulls also covered Cassidy on the Be Gulls 2 boxset that PIAPTK released in 2009.

Have I told you that I love Little Wings? Because I do. I REALLY REALLY do. I love Little Wings almost as much as I love Kristofferson, but I’ve loved Little Wings longer, so I guess that would make it a tie. I love Little Wings. Like, so much I wish I could marry them, but alas, Man/Musical Project unions are still illegal in all 50 States and Puerto Rico, and I don't see that changing under Trump. Be Gulls is the side project of Kyle Field and Lee Baggett from Little Wings.

The Impetus for this record...
I’ve been to a LOT of shows. Big ones, tiny ones, theaters, house parties, etc. But hands down, one of the most moving and amazing show experiences of my entire life happened in the mid-to-late-aughts (2007?). I was in Anacortes, WA for What The Heck Fest, a weird little DIY festival in a tiny fishing town that was organized by Phil Elverum, and featured a pretty consistent cast of characters drawing heavily from the K Records and related rosters. After a very late night of watching music, night swimming, drinking, possibly smoking things that were, at the time, illegal in Washington State, and generally sucking the marrow out of the bone of life, I went to sleep in my tent, which, along with dozens of other tents, was set up in Karl Blau’s back yard. I was awoken a few hours later at about 9 am to the sounds of two acoustic guitars around the smoldering fire pit (10 feet from my..uhhh…feet). It was Kyle Field and Lee Baggett playing Box of Rain. For the next hour or more, they sat alone (everyone else was asleep) playing Grateful Dead songs and talking and just generally enjoying each other’s vibes. I lay silently in my tent, vibing on the vibes of them enjoying the others’ vibes. Heavily posi hangover healing vibrations in the vibosphere that morning. That morning is burnt into my brain like the birth of my daughter or the day I met Kristofferson and got to give him a copy of the 2xLP Tribute PIAPTK released. I’ve been begging Kyle and Lee to record an album that attempted to recreate that morning for years. Now, it is finally seeing the light of day.

And they finally did. And it is great! Here is the track listing and liner notes:

Be Gulls
Dead Giveaway
A
Mexicali Blues 3:56
Shake Sugaree 5:07
Box of Rain 4:01
Ship of Fools 5:24
B
Stella Blue 5:52
Eyes of the World 13:55
All songs by The Grateful Dead. Recorded to various cell phones by Kyle Field, Lee Baggett, (Aram Stith, and Ned Oldham of The Anomoanon appear on Mexicali Blues).

As is Soild Gold’s style, it is limited to physical analog formats: 100 tapes and 200 LPs sold on translucent gold vinyl, 30 of which will be randomly inserted and have Red, White, and Blue splatter. Comes in bootleg style jackets with a 12x18” poster of a picture of Lee B’s desk in the mid-90s, because, inquiring minds want to know… what Lee B’s desk looked like in the mid-90s.

Gratis Test Pressing Guessing Game: If you want to add some change onto the end of your purchase, i.e. $20.37, and your change amount matches the number that Lee B chose, you will also receive a free copy of the test pressing. If you don’t guess correctly, your change (and any additional dollars you want to contribute) will be used to buy beer for the Soild Gold Packing Party that we throw to help assemble these monsters. You have no idea how much time, money, and expertise goes into making something look this quick, cheap, and amateur.

BUY THEM HERE!

Listen to it here: https://soundcloud.com/piaptkshop

Well, hopefully you've come out of your alcoholic stupor due to whatever your reaction to the outcome of this totally miserable clusterfuck of an election and need a little retail therapy and art in your life.

In this episode:
1) New Business Model
a) Foxx Bodies - ST 2x10"
b) Lee (Baggett) Gull and The Graves 2x10"
2) Nothing else... weird, huh?

1) New Business Model Overhaul for PIAPTK:
I know I whine a lot about how hard it is run this weirdo money pit of a label. It’s a ton of work and it sometimes feels like I’m casting this amazing shit out into a void to a world that couldn’t possibly care less. But, if you are reading this, you obviously care (at least a little), so I’m preaching to the choir. I catch a lot of shit from people because some of my releases sell out way too fast, but on the flip side of that, I also make too many of some releases that nobody has heard of/won’t bother listening to sound samples of/or just don’t like, and they end up sitting on my shelf forever. So, to try to strike a balance, I’m going to try something new. Well, not totally new, we toyed with it a few years ago with the RSTVMO Saturday Singles Series. We are now going to be a lot of records in this new “Made to Order” format.

Made To Order Production on select releases:
To give everyone at least a week to order, and to prevent having a ton of money tied up in records that don’t sell, we will now start doing one-week preorders on some items before we make them. So, here is the formula for copies produced: Number of Preorders + 10 (to sell after the preorder) + 33% free to the artist copies + 5 PIAPTK Archives copies. And that will be it. Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mam/Man. Then it will take a couple weeks to get them together and shipped out (but I guess that’s nothing new around the PIAPTKsphere, unfortunately (but always remember, we never slack… delays are almost never within our control. PIAPTK is a label that’s never sleepin’ run by a dude who’s always creepin’)).

Not all releases will fit into this model, but the plan is to try to use it for any release that fits. For right now, we will have two series’ that will be done this way:

2x10” Album Series: This will be a series of albums that I love that will be issued/reissued on double 10” lathe cuts, made to order after a one week preorder. Some will be new albums, some will be older albums that have been important to me, but they will all be (in my eyes) total classics.

The first two in the series are:


1a) FOXX BODIES – ST Album 2x10"
Foxx Bodies are a Tucson Riot Grrl/Boyy band. They rule and are taking Tucson and the West Coast of the US of A by storm. They are coming to a town near you very soon, and if you like angry womyn and dudes with facial hair/facial glasses playing surf influenced garage punk, you would be foolish to miss them. But just as a primer, pick up their ST Debut album on Double 10” in gatefold chipboard sleeves with tip-on style full color foldover.

PICK IT UP HERE!

Listen to some audio here: https://soundcloud.com/piaptkshop

1b) Lee Baggett & Graves – ST 2x10"
Lee Baggett is a weirdo, a shredder, a chiller, a gardener, and an all around incredible sweetheart of a surf/skate/hang dude. He’s got a weird Neil Young Meets Daniel Johnston type of hippie outsider vibe that always makes for some challenging, but rewarding, listening. It exists in between the realms of what you understand about music and that which is beyond you, but it glides back and forth between these zones quickly and fluently, creating a feeling that never quite lets you drop your guard, but permeates your psyche and massages your soul. It sometimes feels like he is channeling an AM Radio station from an alternate reality. Years ago PIAPTK released a 3 EP set called Summer Grass on three 10”s. Since then, Lee has been busy going back to school, playing with Little Wings and occasionally recording some things here and there. (Check out his excellent split with Bob Thayer on Curly Cassette). But, in honor of the oncoming fall and retreating summer, Lee teamed up with Greg Olin and The Graves to record Lee Gull and The Graves, an ode to the disappearing warmth of another year. Greg adds his silky smooth, sexy chill stoner lounge production and musicianship to Lee’s Gram Parsons on Acid songwriting style resulting in a beautiful new masterwork to usher in the winter.

PICK IT UP HERE!

Listen to some audio here: https://soundcloud.com/piaptkshop

Hey y'all!

It’s been a dry couple months (or at least it has felt like it), here in PIAPTKtown. I’ve been traveling like crazy for work with Mobile Vinyl Recorders: Palm Springs, Chicago, Indianapolis, Portland, New York City, Bethel CT, Danfield OH, Newburgh NY, The Hamptons, Charlotte NC, Atlanta, etc. With near future stops in Nashville, Atlanta (again...twice…), Miami, NYC, Philly, Richmond, New Zealand, and Australia. But, my main obsession/compulsion/addiction/money pit also known as PIAPTK is always on my mind/heart. And the near future is going to be full of releases I’m excited about. I can’t quit you, even if you’ve quit me. I’m the weirdo stalker record label creeping outside your inbox telling you about a band that might be your new favorite if you didn’t pull the curtains and call the cops/unsubscribe. That’s metaphorical of course. I’m too busy/apathetic to creep around your actual window.

Upcoming Releases from: Scott McMicken, Michael Nau, Eric Slick, Wooden Wand, Be Gulls (Little Wings + Lee Baggett), Lee Baggett + Graves, Will Johnson (Centro-matic, Monsters of Folk), Ohioan, Foxx Bodies, American Monoxide, Sloppy Joe and the Cruise, Golden Boots, Dread Cat & The Transitional Wave, and a ton of others….

Please Note that it might take a week or so to get new orders out. We are crazy busy round here.

1) Little Wings – The Shredder Trilogy 8” Pic Disc
My love for Little Wings is no secret. Kyle Field ranks very high in my top five favorite songwriters. His songs run this strange gamut of playfully innocent childrens tunes, extremely dark and brooding, to weirdo stream of consciousness freestyling. You never know what you will get from one Little Wings album/performance to the next, but you always know that it will be engaging, unique and very well done. Little Wings albums also have common threads that run through them; chord patterns and vocal melodies and lyrical themes that re-appear in different songs on different albums. One of the best examples of that is the “Shredder Trilogy”. A 3-part tale, spread out over three different albums of the rise and fall of a neighborhood skateboarding legend, known only as “The Shredder”. Despite being a seemingly lighthearted and silly sounding concept, it’s actually a very poignant and emotional story of the fall from glory of a former champion and his struggle with getting older and becoming irrelevant and out of style. Something that a lot of people can (especially myself) relate with. The Shredder Trilogy is a narrative that has been one of my favorite pieces to return to for over a decade, and I’m unbelievably happy to be able to present it, in it’s entirety, in a physical format. It comes on an 8” picture disc, in heavy duty pic disc sleeve with side spine and is limited to 100 copies, only 65 of which we have for sale.

Want to check it out? Youtube it! (I Can't put it on Soundcloud)

Want to buy it? Click Here!

2) PIAPTK Grab Bags + Free Rarities/Test Pressing Bonuses (from some of our biggest bands and fan favorites: Flaming Lips, Grandaddy, Scott McMicken, Jeffrey Lewis, Little Wings, R Stevie Moore, Wooden Wand, Golden Boots, etc.

Have you been looking for a reason to really dig into PIAPTK? Maybe you’ve bought a handful of releases in the past and “really like the idea of the artists on PIAPTK” but not actually bought more than a couple things? Don’t know what to buy? Want your art forcefed to you ala Vinyl Me, Please (but at less than half the price??) Well, you are in luck. Now PIAPTK is offering a Grab Bag Starter Pack of amazing, mind blowing, life changing (perhaps that is hyperbole…) releases replete with a FREE super rarity, not available anywhere else. These are not simply back stock we are trying to dump. ALL in print releases (along with the listed out of print rarities and test pressings) will be represented in these grab bags.

Only 30 of these packages will exist and every one will have some crazy release that is out of print (some of which command hundreds of dollars on eBay and Discogs).

Also includes a DIY silkscreened PIAPTK/Soild Gold tote bag that was made from a discarded Burger Records tote bag (Long story, but they were being thrown away, and we couldn’t have that).

You get:
7x LPs (value up to $105)
3x 7”s (value up to $17)
4x Lathe cut singles (Value up to $50)
4x CD-Record Lathe Cuts (Value of $28)
PIAPTK/Soild Gold Tote bag, hand silkscreened over discarded Burger Record Tote Bags (ask for the story, if you care) (Value: PRICELESS)
Total value of $200.00 PLUSSSSSS
A FREEEEEE PIAPTK Out of Print Rarity or Lathe Cut (value up to $300+)

Each of these bags is different, cost only $150, and each will randomly include one of the following, free rarities.

The Flaming Lips – Good Vibrations 4 sided Eulerian Disc
Scott McMicken – In Your Dreams (UNRELEASED! The actual record won’t be released for months) Test Pressing!! TWO OF THEM inserted randomly in bundles!
Scott McMicken “IT” Test Pressing
Scott McMicken “In Your Dreams” Test Pressing
Scott McMicken “IT” Yellow Soild Gold LP (just sold on eBay for $300)
Scott McMicken “IT” Splatter Soild Gold LP (Probably worth a Billion $$$$ on the open market)
Grandaddy – Arm of Roger Yellow LP on Soild Gold
Grandaddy – Arm of Roger “Mustard and Ketchup Splatter LP on Soild Gold (ltd to 35 copies)
Grandaddy – Arm of Roger Yellow TEST PRESSING
Floating Action – Research Test Pressing (Ltd to 10 Copies)
Of Montreal – NOLF Postcard
Eric Slick – Out Of Habit Yellow LP
Eric Slick – Out oF Habit Splatter LP
Eric Slick – Out of Habit Black Vinyl Test Pressing
Little Wings – Made it Rain Test Pressing (one of only 10 copies on black vinyl)
Golden Boots – White Skeleton X-Ray flexi disc – pressed onto a REAL X-Ray
R Stevie Moore – Saturday Singles Series Lathe Cut 7”s – 2 different singles for the free price of one.
4 Way Split Northwest Test Pressing: Karl Blau, Graves, Gift Machine & Nate Ashley
4 Way Split Midwest Test Pressing: Saturday Looks Good To Me, Emily Jane Powers, Impossible Shapes & Side Projects.
Grey Waves – Void 7” Test Pressing
Sugar Candy Mountain – 666 LP test Pressing
Jeffrey Lewis – Outtakes…. LP Test Pressing
American Monoxide “In Flight Mode” LP Test Pressing
Briana Marela – I Don’t Belong to You 7” Lathe Cut
Forest Fallows – At Home Test Pressing
R Stevie Moore – You Came Along Just In Time Letter Pressed Picnic Plate 7” + Eli Moore Letter Pressed Picnic Plate
Wooden Wand – Born Bad – Silkscreened First Copy

Pick One Up Here!

3) Baby Gas Mask Distro: West Foot Forward Tucson Split 7” Series
Baby Gas Mask Records are my buddies. We share a studio space, Seth from BGM does PIAPTK’s Fulfillment, and they run a killer home studio here in Tucson, where they record tons of local bands. Some of those recordings end up on their West Foot Forward Series. Two similar bands go head to head on one 7” in hand silkscreened and spray painted covers. Each one is unique and represents some of the best that Tucson has to offer. Listen to some samples of them here: https://soundcloud.com/babygasmaskrecords

Currently Available:
Sun Bones/Best Dog Award
Ghostal/Garbowski
Katterwaul/Head Over Heart
Rising Sun Daughter/Laura and the Killed Men

Git'Em!

4) Golden Boots Tropical Trio – H.A.L.T. Tape Distro
The Golden Boots Tropical Trio consists of Dimitri and Ryen on guitar, Jeff Grubic (Haboob) on Sax and new member Omnichord on Bass and Drums. New tunes, covers, and reworkings of Golden Boots classics (Including the first official recording of Monster Kiss, a tune covered and made famous by NoBunny (who was one of the first Golden Boots drummers, 15 years ago). H.A.L.T. will eventually come out on PIAPTK in 2x10” Lathe Cut form, but until then, whet your whistle with it in the “other analog format”.

Get One!

5) Orkesta Mendoza - ¡Vamos A Guarachar! Cassette – Soild Gold Co-Release with Baby Tooth Records
Sergio Mendoza Y La Orkestra are Tucson staples, playing Psychedelic Mambo featuring members of Golden Boots, Fur Family, Calexico, Andrew Collberg Band, backing up Sergio Mendoza. They tour all over the world, and Soild Gold is super excited to co-release their new album on cassette with our buddies at Baby Tooth Records (the tape subsidiary of Wooden Tooth Records). This is a preorder. All tapes will ship on or before November 11^th, 2016.

AQUI!

6) Natural Child - Freakin' Weekend VI Tape – We bought a few copies of this killer live set on cassette from our friends at Shed House Records. Natural Child is a band PIAPTK has been pursuing for years to no avail, so this is as close as we get (so far).

Available here!

Thanks again for still coming around! Love, Mike.

American Monoxide – Web Content FINALLY here!

Well, we know you’ve waited forever, but the LPs have finally arrived for American Monoxide’s Electro-Pop opus, Web Content. In case you haven’t heard, the pressing industry is totally awful these days. Missed deadlines, broken promises, no communication, etc. And it happens with almost every plant. We had to rush the preorders due to a PR campaign (which fell a little flat, due in no small part to the fact that none of the records were ready.) and then we left everyone hanging because WE were hanging. PIAPTKville was a sad place for a while. That is one large reason that PIAPTK usually sticks to lathe cuts, because we can control everything in the process. But I digress…

The LPs are here, they look/sound great, and they will be shipping out ASAP!

In case you haven’t ordered one yet, I wanted to introduce you to all the variants from all the labels. Dimitri and I handpicked these labels because we love them all and they all put together something unique for the release, and they are available in a variety of price points.

Check out a couple tunes from the album here: https://soundcloud.com/americanmonoxide-38622606

VARIANTS!

1) PIAPTK – Ltd Ed unique “psychedelic letter” lathe cut. – I’m really happy with how these turned out. Each disc was swirl painted into the shape of one of the letters of “American Monoxide Robot Walk PIAPTK”. There were two sets of the title made. Then, one of each letter was scanned in and used to generate the cover art, which was printed directly onto the 7” cardboard sleeve. Only 50 copies made.

BUY IT HERE

2) Soild Gold – Per the Soild Gold usual, these are just Dimitri and I fucking around at the local Office Max making weird, blown out, shitty-as-possible-looking bootleg style covers. Includes a crappy looking poster (AND the pro-printed standard LP sleeve). And to further the Giving-Lots-Of-Fucks-About-Looking-Like-We-Give-Zero-Fucks vibe that we strive for at Soild Gold, we reused all the bad Forest Fallows LPs rather than throwing them away.

BUY IT HERE

3) Almost Halloween Time – Unique Oil Paintings - My love and admiration for this label cannot be understated. Each of this labels' releases comes in a UNIQUE, HAND PAINTED cover with hand written track and album info. And these are not just some quick thrown together paintings, these are frame worthy art. Luigi is unbelieveable, and each one is a different variation on a theme. You should buy their entire discography RIGHT NOW.

BUY IT HERE

4) Lazy Boy Recordings – Private Browser Variant - This label was a wild card. I didn’t know them that well when they came on board, and they are relatively new, but DAMN, did they knock it out of the park with their variant on this one.

Their description: Web Content Interactive "Private Browser" variant; concept cover and interactive insert(s). The inserts- housed in a old school cpu floppy disk, which in return is housed in a old school CPU album cover... are a locked file containing the lyrics and hand drawn fly artwork. You will have to align the 5 transparent sheets at the proper angles to unlock the art. Once the art is revealed you can now unlock the binary code revealing the lyrics to web content once you've jumped through a few more hoops. All artwork is screen printed, graphically designed, hand drawn, hand made items fastened together by a number of talented artists. This is a piece that you really have to see to believe.

BUY IT HERE (coming soon)

5) Baby Gas Mask Recordings - The Baby Gas Mask Records edition of the LP comes housed in a vintage heavy-duty plastic library sleeve, with an exclusive cassingle featuring 2 album tracks and 3(!!!) exclusive tracks slipped into the card catalog pocket. All of the cassette labels are uniquely hand-colored!

BUY IT HERE

6) Wooden Tooth Records – Includes a Cassette single with bonus track, "Circuit Board Snowman," in a handmade DIY O Card.

BUY IT HERE

7) Hocus Bogus Records – They haven't quite gotten theirs finished yet, but their stuff always looks rad, so take a chance and pick this one up! The Hocus bogus zine is a zine/record hybrid book. The zine contains pages filled with art and articles while the cover of the zine is a semi flexi lathe cut record, allowing the entire book to be played on a turntable! Anything but bogus.

BUY IT HERE

8) Web Content – Dimitri's "Manger's (sic) Special" Bundle – Includes LP Version of Web Content and In Flight Mode plus an American Monoxide “Selfie Design” Tote Bag (Limited to 10 available) Can probably get it autographed if you are in to that kind of thing. Just put a note in the bandcamp checkout.

BUY IT HERE