News / Records

Premiering here, we've got the music video for album track "Reamin Explain." It's a pretty cool video, and I kind of love the opening bit of spoken word as well as the guttural kick when the song really hits. In the mood for story time, maybe some philosophy on Sunday? This is a pretty rad content from Shell of Shellshag talking about the upcoming record: 

"I remember going to shows back in the 90's knowing in advance that I wasn't going to stay for all the bands, I'd just slip in to buy 7 inch records from the merch table and head home in a jiffy.

Back then, there was no other way to hear a band's music. No other way! The bands I was interested in put out their own records, forced themselves on to shows, booked tours almost no one knew about, and gained their fans one by one, day by day. These bands didn’t have distribution, no records in the record store; unless the band themselves walked them in and put them on consignment. There was no internet. No way to hear this music without taking possession of a physical item and taking it to a machine for playback. So I would buy these records at shows, go listen at home and trip out. it was the only pipeline to underground music I knew of at the time. 

Flash forward to 2021. Jen Shag and I, collaborating with our compadre Ian Vanek (x-Japanther), are releasing his band Howardian’s latest album “Too Big to be Quiet” on Starcleaner Records.

What is an album now? Many of the vinyl records we buy and sell are still in the shrink wrap because it is so much easier to listen to in other ways. Compact Discs? useless! Cassette tapes? A little cooler, but ultimately almost as limited as vinyl and CDs. You got a Sony Walkman do ya? Maybe an old Discman from eBay? TBH that's cool, but ultimately it still feels like shooting myself in the foot repeatedly.

So I’ll just say it then, what the hell are we all making physical records for? Why is it still necessary to have an accompanying vinyl record or cassette with new music when so many listen to music another way? I don’t know. Nobody does! I keep moving forward with the world, always hoping to find a reason to make things harmonious. I hope you do too.

Ian was here in Brooklyn with us and we were talking about doing something with HOWARDIAN's newest album, we dreamt of doing something new, trying to expand our idea of what an album is and what it can be for.

We decided to make a custom drum key, as a replacement for the vinyl record and/or cassette tape. I sculpted and designed this drum key for Starcleaner's "Noize Toys" series. The art is  based off of the album cover created by Lily Garcia in Brooklyn.

The drum key is packaged like a toy and comes with a ten song bandcamp download code. This drum key/album is exactly the same as a vinyl record, except far more useful. What is an album anymore? It is music delivered with a physical item covered in art chosen by the band. This drum key is Howardian’s new album and it’s called “Too Big to be Quiet”. Do you want to know what it sounds like? Buy a drum key, the future is here."

I mean, like I said, drum keys are gold. You can preorder the album here, and dig into the chunky track and video below.