Archives for posts with tag: Tenement

tenement-bmv2

Mastering Tenement “Bruised Music Vol. 2” on Grave Mistake Records.

“In the summer of 2009, Appleton, Wisconsin punk group Tenement prepared to embark on yet another trip across the United States in their 1986 Dodge short bus. Like their recording sessions of the time period, their method of travel was often grueling and economical. They played with brutal honesty and they lived with brutal honesty. After a violent incident that resulted in a lot of blood, a lot of broken glass, and the dismissal of half of the rhythm section from the group, this behavioral pattern would ultimately lead to the demise of the first major lineup of the band, and usher in a new era of introspection and experimentation.

In 2011, their first two full length records, Napalm Dream and TheBlind Wink, were released only a few months apart and lead to Tenement’s widespread recognition as one of America’s most notable melodic punk bands. Four years later, they released what many critics, from The New York Times to Rolling Stone, viewed as their major statement and first big achievement- Predatory Headlights. Their new singles collection, brought to you by Grave Mistake Records and Toxic Pop Records, represents the time between the release of their early LPs and their 2015 sprawling double album.

Bruised Music, Volume Two is not only a collection of singles, but really a collection of transitional tunes that would form the basis of their present sound and distance them from their early juvenile aesthetic and more simplistic approach to the punk idiom. Eric Mayer joined the group on drums at the onset of this period, and two original members Amos Pitsch and Jesse Ponkamo, on guitar and bass respectfully, continued as the melodic force. Much of the material heard within was recorded at home on 8 track machine and cassette recorders; though a small portion of it was engineered and mixed by Napalm Dream and Predatory Headlights’ production mastermind, Justin Perkins. These selections have a distinct sheen and lend a signature quality to the record as a whole.

You’ll hear the first inkling of Tenement’s interest in the fusion of classical stringed instruments and pop music in “Wouldn’t Let You Go”, an instrumental piece called “Jet Slug” that sits somewhere between Pavement and Ferrante & Teicher, the chunky blown out punk/pop of “Blast Exhaust” and “Taking Everything” which seem too aggressive to label simply as “pop punk” yet too melodic to label as “hardcore”, the acoustic ballad “Your Sway…” with Nick Drake-esque chord patterns. You’ll hear the twinkling pianos of “Perverse Universe” and the jangling, sparkling guitars and lush vocal harmonies of “Paper Airplanes”, and it will sound so achingly familiar yet so hard to generalize or pin down. This is the very sorcery of Tenement, and on Bruised Music, Volume Two, the spell is stronger than ever.

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Fourteen Tracks in all, including material compiled from the TakingEverything EP, split 7″ w/ Culo, split 7″ with Cheeky, Freak Cast in Iron”Sick Club” 7″ single, Puke and Destroy Vol. 2 7″ compilation, and split 7″ w/ Screaming Females. All material has once again been mastered for this release by Daniel Husayn at North London Bomb Factory.”

But it here!

tenement

Mastering Tenement “Bruised Music Vol. 1: Singles 2006-2009” LP on Grave Mistake and Toxic Pop Records.

“Tenement mopped the floor with conventional showmanship the second they walked in the door. With their eyes closed and their heads tilted toward the heavens, they’ve been known to stand still in the spotlight and let their glorious noise ring out, naked and uninhibited. This isn’t a hateful noise, but it is a sincere one that if received by a perceptive audience, can tug at the gut and induce a primal shiver from the mind to the heart. Perhaps this honesty can be attributed to their Midwestern stereotype, or perhaps they are in fact true outsiders among their Rock and Roll peers. No matter which, the curiosity that is Tenement began in 2006 with a series of loose demo recordings and singles that married the genres of “Pop” and “Punk” without being explicitly “Pop Punk” and to many, represented the power and urgency of Hardcore without actually conforming to the genre itself. These recordings have been compiled here by Grave Mistake Records and Toxic Pop Records for their new collection LP, Bruised Music, Volume One, which covers Tenement’s output on record between the years 2006 to 2009.

The influence of 80’s punk is strong in the bulk of the material on Bruised Music, likening the feeling of The Descendents or The Replacements. However, this comparison might seem lazy when you keep in mind that the members of Tenement had long schooled themselves on everything from The Beatles to Big Star, Sun Ra, Coltrane, Black Flag, Husker Du. Obscure hardcore punk to Brill Building pop music and all points in between. The period of time represented in this collection is a period of growing pains that paved the way for them to become the band that they are today, and the band that they will be many years from now. It’s the birth of a strong creative force; the musicians together learning to crawl, and the great American outsider pop group taking its first steps. Grace and elegance go out the window on this one. It’s clumsy and ugly at times. Its breath stinks and its pimples show. It talks loudly in a quiet room. It speaks its mind and spares no sensitivity. It’s Tenement’s Bruised Music.”

**********************************
The first of two instalments of singles collections from Wisconsin’s TENEMENT will be officially out March 10th! Bruised Music Volume One will feature Tenement’s earliest material, compiling a total of ten tracks taken from the Tenement Sucks tape, Dead Broke and Dirt Cult Records mixtape compilations, split w/ Used Kids, split w/ Friendly Fire, False Teeth 7″, and Icepick 7″. All of the material has been remastered by Daniel Husayn at North London Bomb Factory for one cohesive and superb sounding anthology.

You can hear the remastered version of the song “Spaghetti Midwestern” streaming over at IMPOSE now alongside a quick interview about the release.

It’s an honor for us to be able to get all of this early material back into print and in one place (including the first vinyl appearance for a handful of these songs), and we hope that this release will find its way into the ears of many more people who will enjoy and appreciate the formative years of a prolific, captivating, and truly inspiring band.

Bruised Music Volume One is a split release with the wonderful Toxic Pop Records, and the record will be available for preorder the second week in Februrary.

This year is shaping up to be quite a productive and momentous year for Tenement, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to get the ball rolling with this retrospective release.

Upcoming Tour dates:

2/22 Milwaukee, WI @ Cocoon Room
2/23 Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups *
2/24 Ithaca, NY @ Community School of Music and Arts *
2/25 Hoboken, NJ Stevens Institute of Technology *
2/26 Allston, MA @ Great Scott #
2/27 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church #
2/28 Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory (early and late shows) #
3/01 Washington DC @ The Dance Institute of Washington *
3/02 Durham, NC @ Pinhook *
3/03 Atlanta, GA @ 529 Bar *
3/04 Nashville, TN @ The East Room *
3/05 Cincinnati, OH @ Frankl Church *
3/21 Milwaukee, WI @ Cocoon Room
5/13 Hortonville, WI @ Standard Projects
6/05 Calgary, Alberta @ Garbage Daze III Festival* w/ Priests, Vacation
# w/ Screaming Females, Priests, Vacation

Buy it here!

 

tenement

Mastering Tenement “Bruised Music Vol. 1: Singles 2006-2009” LP on Grave Mistake and Toxic Pop Records.

“Tenement mopped the floor with conventional showmanship the second they walked in the door. With their eyes closed and their heads tilted toward the heavens, they’ve been known to stand still in the spotlight and let their glorious noise ring out, naked and uninhibited. This isn’t a hateful noise, but it is a sincere one that if received by a perceptive audience, can tug at the gut and induce a primal shiver from the mind to the heart. Perhaps this honesty can be attributed to their Midwestern stereotype, or perhaps they are in fact true outsiders among their Rock and Roll peers. No matter which, the curiosity that is Tenement began in 2006 with a series of loose demo recordings and singles that married the genres of “Pop” and “Punk” without being explicitly “Pop Punk” and to many, represented the power and urgency of Hardcore without actually conforming to the genre itself. These recordings have been compiled here by Grave Mistake Records and Toxic Pop Records for their new collection LP, Bruised Music, Volume One, which covers Tenement’s output on record between the years 2006 to 2009.

The influence of 80’s punk is strong in the bulk of the material on Bruised Music, likening the feeling of The Descendents or The Replacements. However, this comparison might seem lazy when you keep in mind that the members of Tenement had long schooled themselves on everything from The Beatles to Big Star, Sun Ra, Coltrane, Black Flag, Husker Du. Obscure hardcore punk to Brill Building pop music and all points in between. The period of time represented in this collection is a period of growing pains that paved the way for them to become the band that they are today, and the band that they will be many years from now. It’s the birth of a strong creative force; the musicians together learning to crawl, and the great American outsider pop group taking its first steps. Grace and elegance go out the window on this one. It’s clumsy and ugly at times. Its breath stinks and its pimples show. It talks loudly in a quiet room. It speaks its mind and spares no sensitivity. It’s Tenement’s Bruised Music.”

**********************************
The first of two instalments of singles collections from Wisconsin’s TENEMENT will be officially out March 10th! Bruised Music Volume One will feature Tenement’s earliest material, compiling a total of ten tracks taken from the Tenement Sucks tape, Dead Broke and Dirt Cult Records mixtape compilations, split w/ Used Kids, split w/ Friendly Fire, False Teeth 7″, and Icepick 7″. All of the material has been remastered by Daniel Husayn at North London Bomb Factory for one cohesive and superb sounding anthology.

You can hear the remastered version of the song “Spaghetti Midwestern” streaming over at IMPOSE now alongside a quick interview about the release.

It’s an honor for us to be able to get all of this early material back into print and in one place (including the first vinyl appearance for a handful of these songs), and we hope that this release will find its way into the ears of many more people who will enjoy and appreciate the formative years of a prolific, captivating, and truly inspiring band.

Bruised Music Volume One is a split release with the wonderful Toxic Pop Records, and the record will be available for preorder the second week in Februrary.

This year is shaping up to be quite a productive and momentous year for Tenement, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to get the ball rolling with this retrospective release.

Upcoming Tour dates:

2/22 Milwaukee, WI @ Cocoon Room
2/23 Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups *
2/24 Ithaca, NY @ Community School of Music and Arts *
2/25 Hoboken, NJ Stevens Institute of Technology *
2/26 Allston, MA @ Great Scott #
2/27 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church #
2/28 Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory (early and late shows) #
3/01 Washington DC @ The Dance Institute of Washington *
3/02 Durham, NC @ Pinhook *
3/03 Atlanta, GA @ 529 Bar *
3/04 Nashville, TN @ The East Room *
3/05 Cincinnati, OH @ Frankl Church *
3/21 Milwaukee, WI @ Cocoon Room
5/13 Hortonville, WI @ Standard Projects
6/05 Calgary, Alberta @ Garbage Daze III Festival* w/ Priests, Vacation
# w/ Screaming Females, Priests, Vacation

Buy it here!

 

One Way Ticket 7

Check out my article from the February’s One Way Ticket Zine.

As you may have heard North London Bomb Factory has a column each issue featuring bands that I have been working on.

The new issue (#8) is at the press now and out soon. Make sure you grab a copy, especially if you’ve had your record mixed or mastered here.

OWT Column 7