MIDRIFF RECORDS is an independent record label, formed in 2001 by The Beatings with the intention of releasing our own albums, and music from other artists we like.
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January 30th, 2012 We’ve given you a month to settle into 2012 and we hope you are comfortable and sitting down because big things are happening at the Midriff camp this year and we hope that you’ll continue to come along for the ride. 2012 is a special year for us because it’s our 10 year anniversary (observed) as marked by our first official release, the much ballyhooed first full length by Boston’s The Beatings titled “Italiano”. Here is how we are celebrating a decade of DIY indulgences.
This year, Radio at 379-381 Somerville Ave, Somerville, MA will be helping to celebrate our birthday by hosting a series of Midriff Records nights at the club. Once a month we will be taking over the entire club to curate some of the most exciting and unusual bills around. With their two floors and two stages Radio is the perfect place to indulge us. The main stage will host super bills combining Midriff bands and bands we dig, while the downstairs will present less traditional club acts and more interactive activities. Magicians, escape artists, drunken karaoke, a thing we are calling “Minor Celebrity Quarters”, games, oddities, pony rides and much more to keep the action going in-between the upstairs sets. It’s going to be a hoot. The first in the serise is this Thursday, Feb. 2nd and features Eldridge Rodriguez, Lucky Dragon, M.G. Lederman and Greg Lyon w/ magician and escape artist Eric Robitaille on the Moe’s Lounge stage. We invite you to come out for what promises to be a full evening of music, mirth and fun. Help us kick off a year long party. You’re expected. Check the Midriff Records Shows page at the beginning of each month to see what we have planned.
As mentioned before, this year marks the 10th anniversary of The Beatings’ “Italiano”, an album that the Washington Post picked as their #5 Editor’s pick on their “Best of 2002″ list (it beat Eminem), Punk Planet raved about, the Village Voice routinely cheered when previwing The Beatings NYC shows at the time, LA Weekly championed, Mojo featured, The New York Times dug and their hometown of Boston completely ignored. Well Boston, we believe in second chances… don’t blow it. To celebrate the album’s birthday, the band will be playing “Italiano” in its entirety as part of our residency at Radio on Friday March 23. More info on that show to come. Expect a circus.
We have a bunch of releases planned for the new year as well. Keep an eye out for an Ep from Age Rings this Spring and full lengths from Lucky Dragon, M.G. Lederman, Greg Lyon, Eldridge Rodriguez and more. Singles aplenty can pop up at any time, so check the Midriff site often. We will pass along details as they arise.
Blogs, bla blogs, bla blogs (sung to the tune of Sisqo’s “Thong Song”)…
In 2012, we will be launching the Midriff Blog which will be an easy way to keep up with all things Midriff and beyond. Content will include: tips on launching and running your own indie/DIY label, a monthly roundtable discussion podcast featuring musicians, astists and special guests discussing industry and issues of the day… possibly drunkenly, music blogs reviewed; titled “Burnt Bridges”, recipes, gardening tips, artwork, tour stories, poetry, videos and much more. Fun and informative. If you’ve ever lost sleep wondering how and why we do what we do, this will be your salvation.
Keep an eye out for a serise of short Midriff “bumper” videos featuring interviews with the folks who have been involved with Midriff over the last decade talking about our little label. Expect interviews and stories from our artists, tour mates, artists who designed our album covers, booking agents, talent buyers, bloggers, writers, etc. to start showing up on the Midriff Youtube Channel and our blog/site. We are patting ourselves on the back and so should you.
New or not familiar with Midriff Records or our bands and releases? Well, we want you to have intimate knowledge of our operation so we will be making it easier to get to know us and keep supporting us in 2012. Starting in March we will be drasticly reducing the prices of our back catologue. How drastic, you ask? Stop by www.midriffrecords.com after March 1st to find out. We think you’ll be pleased. With the state of the record buying industy in shambles we want to encourage you to support indie/DIY labels like ours so we are making it easier to own our product through proper and legal channels. Lost your hard copy of The Beatings “Holding onto Hand Grenades”? Pick up a new one at half the cost. Interested in hearing how ahead of their time Kudgel was but were too scared to shell out 13 bucks? Get it for the cost of a latte in March. This will be for a limited time and while supplies last, but it’s our gift to you for supporting us lo these last 10 years or checking us out for the first time.
On a sad note, Get Help has called it a day after 5 years active, two full lengths and a slew of singles. The band which featured songwriters Tony Skalicky (of The Beatings) and Mike Ingenthron played their final show Jan. 6th, 2012 at the Trash Bar in Brooklyn, NYC. Get Help garnered a lot of critical acclaim in their short time together including nods in Popmatters and the NPR music blog All Music Considered, as well as having had their songs placed twice on PBS programing and spots for the NBA. We salute our brothers in arms, bid them farewell and paciently await the ineveviable reunion somewhere down the line. Get Help… they will be missed.
That’s it for February. As always you can get info on your rosters coming and goings at www.midriffrecords.com. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and check in on the site often, as things change. Feeling stylish? Get a Midriff Records T-Shirt at the Midriff Store and buy our albums there or where ever albums are sold. New shirt styles will be coming soon and the old ones won’t be re-printed (they are how we mark the passage of time) so if you dig it, get it now. If you find a store that doesn’t have our catalogue, ask them to order it or let us know and we’ll do your danmest to get it there.
So, come celebrate our 10th Anniversary (Observed) with us all year. Thanks for the support and lets stay in touch for another 10 years!!! “20 Years of Midriff Records… (Observed)” has a nice ring to it.
December 8th, 2011
Happy Holidays!!!
Midriff Records is proud to present the holiday event of the season. Just in time for Christmas, it’s Eldridge Rodriguez’s Christmas on the Allston-Brighton Line (release date 12/12/11). This EP marks the artist’s second release of the year and follows up the critically acclaimed full length You Are Released that we released Spring ’11. Christmas on the Allston-Brighton Line contains three original soon to be modern holiday classics that capture all the urban, post-industrial stress, loneliness and confusion of the season. We describe the album as Christmas nostalgia for a neurotic future. Christmas on the Allston-Brighton Line is the first release in a yearly tradition and a promise of three more holidays EPs over the next three years. So much spirit! And in the spirit of giving, when you purchase and/or download Christmas on the Allston-Brighton Line directly from the Midriff Records Online Store you’ll receive as bonus material down loadable, print ready alternate CD album cover artwork and a printable album songbook so you can sing along as you carol door to door. Christmas on the Allston-Brighton Line is currently a digital only release and will be available on all the online music stores you frequent. You can also check out http://onesheet.com/eldridgerodriguez/ and friend him at https://www.facebook.com/eldridgerodriguez .
Eldridge Rodriguez will also be performing Friday Dec. 16 at Porter Belly’s in Brighton Ma as part of a benefit for Cradles to Crayons. Cradles to Crayons is a wonderful local charity with the mission of providing to children ages 0 to 12 some of the most important basics of life—free of charge. These basics include clothing, school supplies, toys and more. All the physical goods that children need to be safe, protected from the elements, and ready to learn. You can find out more about the charity at http://cradlestocrayons.org/boston . E.R. will be doing a special acoustic performance which will include, and probably be the only performance of, tracks from the new holiday Ep. Lets celebrate together.
We had a super year and want to thank you all for your support of our roster and albums. We released six albums in 2011 that we are very proud of and have more planned for 2012. So while we are all pondering our “Best of” lists, please don’t forget the indies that you enjoyed this year. Albums like:
Age Rings- Black Honey
Eldridge Rodriguez- You Are Released
Louder My Dear- What’s The Matter With You, Rock?
Get Help- The Good Green Earth
Greg Lyon- Nowhere Near Poughkeepsie
… and now the instant holiday classic, Christmas on the Allston-Brighton Line. We did a bunch this year; Midriff Day Party down at SWSX w/ The Beatings, Get Help, Greg Lyon, ER, Dallas Higgins, These United States, Baby Baby and Kingsly Flood, tours, shows, new friends… and we couldn’t have done it without you all. Thanks for supporting us and keeping us afloat in 2011. 2012 promises to be even bigger as we officially observe our 10 years in operation with new albums, ep’s and digi singles and a series of parties that showcase our roster. I hope you’ll join us again. Thanks again everybody… happy holidays and have a super new year.
November 10th, 2011 With regard to upcoming shows, Eldridge Rodriguez and Age Rings will be NYC together for two upcoming shows. You want to be there. It’s going to be a hoot. Here are the details:
Sat. Nov. 19th at Pianos – 158 Ludlow Street, New York City • 212.505.3733
Info at http://www.pianosnyc.com/showroom/eldridge-rodriguez-11192011
Tix info at the link above or http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=4084445 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/290047698E819521?dma_id=235
Sun. Nov. 20 at Public Assembly – 70 North 6th Street (between Kent + Wythe) Brooklyn, New York, 11211
Info at http://www.publicassemblynyc.com/?page_id=7
Two chances for the metro NYC area to catch two of our bands. Come on out!!!! We implore you!
November 7th, 2011  New Midriff roster addition, M.G. Lederman, has helped to organize a great Billy Ruane tribute show at Radio, in Somerville, MA this Thurs. 11/10 featuring Mary Lou Lord, Reid Paley, Thalia Zedek Band, Hilken Mancini, Michael Tarbox and M.G.Lederman himself!! Details at the FB link here.
November 5th, 2011 Age Rings new release Black Honey is released today and is already getting tons of praise. Swing over to our Store to purchase it. Thanks for the support. Here is a link to another high honor for the band; The Ryan’s Smashing Life blog naming Black Honey Album of the Month.
In other RSL/Midriff news, we just got notification from our friends at the blog that The RSL commercial spot – which features The Beatings (both at the beginning of the spot and throughout providing the soundtrack; “Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained” from Late Season Kids) is officially in the TV38 circulation. It will air every day. Here’s Saturday’s Schedule, so go watch it on the TV:
Everyone’s Hero (movie) – 4:00pm
Big Bang Theory – 7:25pm
The Office – 11:06pm
70’s Show – 2:56am
Hope to see everyone tonight at Radio in Somerville for the Age Rings record release party. Thanks, everybody!!!
November 4th, 2011  With the release of our newest album, Age Rings: Black Honey, hitting the general public tomorrow, we thought it prudent to let everyone know what the folks who make it there business to know were saying about it.
“Upon first listen to “Black Honey’’ from Boston’s Age Rings – and let’s get out of the way right off the top that you should listen to it – you might be taken aback at the album’s breadth of song styles. It shifts seamlessly from the bar-rock and chunky-piano riffing of “Important Guy’’ to the Pixies-ish bass-buzz and fuzz of “Rock and Roll Is Dead,’’ to the schizophrenic screaming of “Lemonade,’’ with detours into a looping, loping, Beck-ian drawl, and wounded balladry that would make Conor Oberst weep. It’s like listening to two entire albums worth of material at once.” – Luke O’Neil, Boston Globe
“In the final analysis it is likely time well-spent: Black Honey is one of the very best records of 2011″ – Jay Breitling, Clicky Clicky Music Blog
“Ted Billings didn’t grow up listening to Beach Boys, but he surely got it right when it comes to making great music. “Black Honey” has two of the most important features for a musician: identitiy and (generates) empathy.” – Diogo Antonio Rodriguez, Brazilian Dish
“…we’ve become well acquainted with Black Honey and it’s intellectual and charming pop songs” – Bryan Hamill, The Ash Gray Proclamation
Those are the early results and more accolades are on the way. The album officially drops everywhere online tomorrow but we couldn’t wait and made it available today exclusively in the Midriff Records Store. Want to know when Age Rings is coming to play in your town? Click over to our Shows page and see when and where! Very exciting stuff! Don’t sit there gawkin’… don’t ignore it… go buy the album!
Links to the full articles are below.
Boston Globe
Clicky Clicky Music
Brazilian Dish
Ash Gray Proclamation
November 3rd, 2011 Originally self-released by the band as a double album earlier this year, the version of Black Honey that we are releasing is streamlined to 14 tracks to create a distinct, concise and wholly original album and concept. Age Rings are a fixture on the regional club scene and have steadily been building a strong national base.
Their first album, Look…The Dusk is Growing was released in 2006 to national critical acclaim, breaking the top 10 CMJ new music chart. Age Rings’ song writer and front man, Ted Billings, writes intelligent narratives following the stories of world weary heroes, always battling themselves on the edge of despair and hope. Very few songwriters can switch so authentically and comfortably between the self deprecating optimism on “Head Up High” and the second guessed suicide of “Ender”. Black Honey is a very special album; a sincere take on modern life that doesn’t rely on musical fads, trends or traditionalism and creates a fresh sound that lies between pop and rock with strong hints of noise.
You can find Black Honey in the Midriff Records Store in MP3 format.
Rock and Roll is Dead [mp3]
Lemonade [mp3]
September 8th, 2011  We’re proud to announce we’ve signed Boston’s Age Rings to Midriff! We’re looking forward to releasing their double-album Black Honey in November. Age Rings is an American rock music group from Boston, Massachusetts, consisting of singer/songwriter and guitarist Ted Billings, bassist Andrew McInnes, guitarist/keyboardist Jhai Sinnatamby and drummer Steve Sherwin. Their first album, Look…The Dusk is Growing was released in 2006, to national critical acclaim, breaking the top 10 CMJ new music chart. Their music has been compared to Wilco and Spoon, and relies heavily on melody and classic songwriting, while concurrently pushing boundaries and the limits of themselves and the studio. Check out their upcoming live appearances on our Shows page, and watch this page for more details about the release of Black Honey.
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