mrfuriousrecords.com – Dharmic *DUBS* out now!!

Month: May 2007

  • More Russian, Bandit Ties, and the Weekend in Music

    Cory translated the Russian blog that linked to The Silent Woods:

    Style: [indi]-[folk], acoustic [indi]- fate. Extremely unoriginal [indi]- fate and [indi]-[folk] under the acoustic guitar with inconsistent high man (sometimes [duetnym]) [vokalom]. It is recorded in the bedroom in Cory, is on top somewhere superimposed synthesizer and all this only is processed on the computer (obviously it is, as a minimum, passed through [garmonayzer]). This simple and unassuming domestic record, is not more. Minus is mark for the [sintezatornuyu] inaccuracy. 3/5

    They seem pretty bummed about it, but still gave the record 3 of 5 stars!

    I wonder if the “high man” is the harmony-singer (me) or the higher-pitched notes-singer (Cory).  Because the “inconsistency” could be my f’d up harmonies or Cory’s live vocals.  I wonder what “garmonayzer” is.

    Cory and I continue to be super-happy about the album.

    5*C plays tomorrow night at RecordBar with Flee the Seen and Kill Hannah, which is pretty cool.  It’s early/all-ages; we play at 5 PM sharp, and the show will be over by 8:30.  Still light out then.

    I’ve been expirimenting with new accessories for my stage look, including the “casual ascot,” the “bandit tie,” the “theater scarf,” and the “faux-scot.”  High hopes.

    I read www.pitchforkmedia.com every day, but listening to the Forkcast this morning for a couple hours I am dismayed at the blandness of the playlist’s eclecticism.  Paradox?  It all seems to indie-predictable, including the pop-dance stuff and the Lil Wayne fetish.  I’d like to hear more metal, more lo-fi, more pop *songs,* and more roots/folk/world stuff.  New songs from Okkervil River and Au were really good.  LCD Soundsystem is always solid.

    -h

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  • Musings

    It’s Wednesday, but the middle-of-the-week blogging in the aftermath of The Silent Woods isn’t ideal.  I’ll return to Saturday postings this very weekend.

    Tonight 5*C is playing in the finals of 93.3’s Best Local Band contest; winner opens for the very big Red, White, & Boom! show in a few weeks.  Whether we win or not, we’ve made a bunch of friends, so that’s a victory.  The Kill Hannah show on Sunday night will be rad no matter what.

    Speaking of The Silent Woods, at least 407 individuals have downloaded a song or more from it!  We love the Internet Archive’s new download-counter, for sure.  And thanks for the link, this-blog-in-Russian!

    Listening-wise, I’ve been on a big Elvis Costello kick.  TV on the Radio.

    Haven’t been able to start You Have To Wear the Boots rehearsals yet.  I’m super-looking-forward to it, though.  You guys have no idea.  -h

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  • Update

    Keeping it short.

    If you’re in KC, come see Five Star Crush tonight at Blaney’s in Westport, 9 PM, and stay ’til the end to vote for us to play at Red, White, and Boom this summer.

    The new counting process at archive.org has been really encouraging for us; Cory Kibler’s The Silent Woods is at 339 downloads as I write.

    With Cory’s record out, my plan is to begin rehearsing for Sally Ride’s You Have To Wear the Boots in my free time.  Because the plan is to record the basic guitar/vocal tracks live  to tape (not digital), it’s going to take some practice.

    Last Friday 5*C played in Lindsborg, KS at Bethany College’s Swedestock event.  Because of a cancellation, we were asked to play as long as possible, so in addition to the regular set we dug up re-worked versions of “Strange,” “Ghosts,” “Kalispell,” and other odds and ends.  The bandshell in the park was still painted for last summer’s production of South Pacific.  The kids were mostly hanging out in the shade, eating burgers, which was cool.  Sun in our eyes and hot.  It was fun.

    The band that followed us was really good.  They gave me that discovering-a-great-band-at-an-outdoor-festival feeling I haven’t had in a long time.  At the time they were Amsterband, but on Sunday they changed their name to Ha Ha Tonka.  I’ve been listening to their sh*t-kicking indie record, Buckle in the Bible Belt, nonstop since then.  Visit their MySpace page and hear “St. Nick on the Fourth in a Fervor.”

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  • THE SILENT WOODS / Cory Kibler

    Download all via .zip from archive.org

    1- The Silent Woods
    2- Joanna (You Forgot the Time)
    3- How We Can Know
    4- The Fast Track To Success
    5- The Lonely Lumberjack
    6- Easy Kill
    7- Top Secret Pizza Party
    8- Into The Fire
    9- Violently Real Reality

    Co-release with Lone Prairie Records

    Cory

  • Vote for 5*C ASAP – Tonight or Tomorrow!

    http://www.mylocalbands.com/promos/fobcivic/vote.asp

    If we win, we’ll open for Fall Out Boy this Saturday night in KC!  THANKS!

    -h

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  • Cory Kibler to Have CD Release Party

    Permalink via the Lincoln Journal-Star

    By ALEX HAUETER / Lincoln Journal Star

    Friday, May 04, 2007 – 02:54:41 am CDT

    A career in music is hard, and getting started can be expensive, so Cory Kibler is in it to just enjoy himself. In fact, he has no problem just giving away the fruits of his labor.

    Although the recording industry and established artists have objected to the spread of music online, the Internet has been a valuable tool for up-and-coming musicians to share their work. Kibler and his friend, producer C. Howie Howard, who works with local bands Skink, Robot, Creep Closer! and the Killigans, have taken that to another level.

    The two friends started Mr. Furious Records in September 2004. In the label’s short history, it has released 19 albums.

    Without pressing a single CD.

    Mr. Furious Records takes advantage of the Creative Commons Public License to release its artists’ work for free online. The label was born out of a need for artists to be able to get their music out there without losing money.

    “We felt it would make music a lot more fun if we took the monetary aspect out of it,” Kibler said.

    Kibler, the frontman of Robot, Creep Closer!, used to play around Southeast Nebraska in a band called Shacker, but said it was frustrating to spend money on studio time and CDs that people weren’t interested in.

    Howard has faced the same problem.

    “The economics of selling music on CDs got stressful,” he said. Bands will often pay for 1,000 CDs but sell only 200 or 300 and barely manage to break even.

    Something had to give, and the idea for the low-overhead Mr. Furious was born.

    Howard runs the label from his home in Kansas City, Mo., pays about $160 per year for Web hosting and uses recording and mixing equipment he already owns for his for-profit work with artists.

    Starting a Web label is something anyone could do, he said.

    “Somebody could do it for a couple hundred bucks with a four-track machine,” he said.

    Despite the label’s low cost and the free exchange of music it allows, Kibler stressed that the contributing musicians — mostly friends from the Midwest and his old home in California — all take it seriously.

    “We want the recordings to be studio quality and the songs to be totally legit,” he said.

    Howard added that the downloads are all variable bit rate mp3 files, which makes them of equal or better quality than music purchased from sites like iTunes.

    Kibler’s new CD, “The Silent Woods,” will be Mr. Furious’ 20th release, and he’s celebrating Wednesday with a release party at Duffy’s Tavern. To keep with the spirit of Mr. Furious, he’ll be giving away copies of the CD, which consists of nine original folk songs he’s written over the past three years and recorded this winter.

    For Robot, Creep Closer! fans, the release party will offer a look at Kibler’s mellower side. In his solo work, he attempts to tell stories that his listeners will relate to rather than being highly personal.

    “The solo songs are so much more mellow, and not just because it’s acoustic guitar and vocals,” he said. “In Robot, Creep Closer! we’re all about being ridiculous. We try to put on a show so that people will be into us even if they don’t like all our songs.”

    Reach Alex Haueter at 473-7254 or at ahaueter@journalstar.com .

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