Those CDs you find at a performance, or if you are lucky, at shops that will carry them on a consignment basis, or available by mail-order. The one in a thousand CD. The small press run by a local, regional or break-out artist. Tell us about some that you have, why you have them, or how you found out about the artist. My origianl thought was of the growing number of small press CDs I know I now have in my collection. Some I enjoy quite a bit. These are folks that seem to be able only to afford a press run of 1000 CDs, usually on their own label. If what you have you know is from a slightly larger run, like 3,000 or 5,000 tell us about that too.23 responses total.
I have many in the collection now, but I'll point out a few.
The Juggernaut Jug Band - "Perhaps you don't recognize us..."
I went to the Dearborn Homecoming festival this year and last year
when I first heard these guys up on a stage, playing some old favorites
, some in jug band style, including Ukelele Lady. I stopped for a
good listen when they announced their orginal "Drive-In Show". I
got hooked into listening. Now some of you may know something about
jub band music, it's America's 'skiffle' music, from out of Louisville,
Kentucky where they play jugs (you blow into them), a real wash-tub
bass, wash board, tin-can, cow-bells, along with the more traditional
guitar, electric bass, trumpet and violin(fiddle). They did a Doors
tune "People Are Strange" is a very unique style. They also got
heavy and did up Led Zepplin's "Back Dog" and got those over 60
to dance to it too. http://www.mi.net/e.c.web/jugg.html
Tom Smith - Plugged. Ann Arobor's own Tom Smith, the World's
Fastest Filker now on CD. I have known Tom for the past 10 years,
seen him at many SF cons/filk cons. My field recordings of him
have been heard on Dr. Demento (Domino Death, Smurf Medly). Now
from this CD we have heard "On-Line Religion" and "Psychic Voicemail
Hotline" on Dr. Demento. Many know him, put his product has sold
in the less than thousand. If you hate the "Spam, Spam Spam" of
our electronic media, the song may worth the price of the CD for
relief it provides. http://www.izzy.net/~tomsmith
I don't know how small a run it's from, but I've got Descent of the Astral Canary by Eye Guy, a local band or local ex-band or ex-local band or something. I've never seen any copies of it even in local stores, I just bought it from my friend Claire, who's the lead singer/chanter/mutterer's girlfriend.
Neil Woodward, picked up two at last night's concert "Life, Love & Food songs" and "in the year of the dog." This Union Lake multi-instrument musician is talented. New acoustic music, most are original tunes, done folk style. P.O. Box 31, Union Lake, Michigan 48387. no known web page.
I have one that's a VERY small print run -- I think maybe 200? The band is called Quiver, and the CD is also that. Kinda poppy, kinda alternative, but the lead singer is one of my favorite co-workers, and I still get a kick out of listening to it and envisioning my co-worker singing like that!
I don't even own it, technically... I have some dub tapes of two Levitz albums from a friend in Toronto who somehow ended up with printed CDs. *Nobody* has heard of the Levitz, but they're really, really cool. Well, not to everybody. They're a bit raw for the record labels.
re:2 500 copies, I think she said. (I'm not entirely sure... that was a long time ago!)
Sounds right.
I wonder if she still has any, now htat I've got money, finally.
If she doesn't, I might be convinced to make you a dub.
That would be cool, but I should talk to her first
Oh. Do tapes count? While I'm still on the topic from the previous item, I've also got Poignant Plecostomus' tape Pecher Pour Plasir. Only four songs, but well worth owning.
I'll use this to record my annoyance at the latest jazz marketing fad, which is to take classic albums from the 1950s and 1960s, make one short run of 1000-5000 copies, dump them on the market as collectors' items, and then take them out of print again. I'm looking for a copy of Lee Morgan's album LEE WAY with the blue cover, should anyone see it. Fantasy and Blue Note seem to be the chief culprits here.
RE #12 The musical equivalent of "Beanie Babies," ken. :<
It's unfortunate, isn't it.
You can partially thank Thurston Moore for this.
What do small jazz releases have to do with Sonic Youth?
We're in the small run CD item, Mike.
Thurston Moore's craving for his jazz collection have driven prices up and make rare things even rarer.
Wasn't Thurston Moore the exceedingly rich gentleman on _Gilligan's Island_?
Heh...that would be Thurston *Howell the III*
ohhhhhhh....rightrightrightrightright......okay, got it.
It's understandable, there are lots of similarities. ;-)
(Marginal Prophets, _Twist The Knob_. it's a print run of 3000 or so, each hand-numbered. music is in the vein of early Beastie Boys, although the samples are really what make the album. POI: none of the samples were cleared, for reasons stated in the liner notes, but they're all listed. I've thought of looking up bands based on the sample information.)
You have several choices: