LIFE LIKE

DAMNED DOGS: CRESCENT

2011-12-13T23:30:00.000-08:00

Life Like 39
DAMNED DOGS "Crescent" C-40
SOLD OUT
Edition of 40
Released October, 2011
2nd ever tape from the reclusive and shimmering DAMNED DOGS. Two full sets from a recent tour of the Pacific Northwest, with stops in Olympia, Portland and the spot where they filmed the Twilight movies. Woodwinds, spectral delay, soft crooning electronics and harsh noise bursts in a beautiful, beachy landscape. These sets hint at the upcoming sounds from the Dizawgs through a rough lens throwing more scattered shards. Look forward to a completely refined full-length in 2012, when all lines are erased and all truths are made to vapor. What? I don't know.

OUR BROTHER THE NATIVE: RHYTHM HYMNS

2011-12-13T23:00:00.000-08:00

Life Like 41
OUR BROTHER THE NATIVE "Rhythm Hymns" C-40
$7PPD/$10 OVERSEAS
Edition of 50
Released October, 2011
This was supposed to be a cassingle style release of the lead off track from OBTN's new record "Vows", but once one person does a remix, EVERYBODY wants to get in on the action. Here we have the original song "Rhythm Hymns"; a terse composition, packed with tense vocal trade-offs, glistening strings and off-kilter horn sections... and then 7 chewed up and spit on the wall revisions by the likes of AMBASSADEURS, CITY CENTER, JAPAN AIR CEDARS, KOHWI, THE ANDREAS LUST, DAVID KARSTEN DANIELS and CANTILEVER. All exclusive, all strange, all blue tapes.

DEEP SLEEP

2011-12-13T22:30:00.000-08:00

Life Like 42
DEEP SLEEP C-46
$7PPD/$10 OVERSEAS
Edition of 50
Released October, 2011
Leipzig, Germany's best punk band is 206, and DEEP SLEEP is their kraut-experimental-freek scene offshoot. Solidly rooted in a punk background, but owing more to the gooey synths of Cluster and off-time rhythms of Faust than any straightforward sounds. Seven extended tracks of pulsing instrumental tangents, sick undercurrents and subatomic bliss.

SHELLEY SALANT & FRED THOMAS: DUO

2011-12-13T19:00:00.000-08:00

Life Like 43
SHELLEY SALANT & FRED THOMAS "Duo" C-40
Edition of 40
Released in conjunction with Ginkgo Records, October 2011
SOLD OUT
For a recent performance, Shelley and I wrote a 20 minute piece for two drum kits and two electronic set ups. Most of it consisted of totally free drumming and percussion, bashing out ringing sounds over fluttering mini-synth and electric piano loops. The theme was to look deep into the tumultuous nature of all things around us and dig through it to find some kind of peace below. After the gig, we got together and recorded the piece, along with two other explorations on the same theme. Total high energy free sounds, not unlike the Frank Lowe/Rashied Ali "Duo Exchange" LP, Ayler without horns or the Andrew Cyrille record on Actuel. RHYTHM FREE!

DEFECTS MIRROR

2011-12-13T18:30:00.000-08:00

Life Like 44 * 72 page zine/book * Edition of 100, released October 2011
$10 PPD / $14 OVERSEAS

DEFECTS MIRROR is a collection of collages and randomized cut-ups mostly created this summer when I was staying in Portland and Olympia. The summer was spent not playing music, not making tapes, not doing anything EXCEPT working daily on this book. 72 pages of dark art, mostly wordless, grabbing thrown out images from whatever was nearby and recontextualizing them into even deeper nonsense. Themes include; devil heads, Jerry, several characters from Freaks & Geeks, birds with tongues, Zolly, nets, Darby Crash, black and white rainbows, spheres and the gopher from Caddyshack. 8 1/2" X 11" coffee-table style in a classic zine format. Really strange images that I spent the entire summer conjuring. AND LIFE LIKE'S FIRST FORAY INTO PRINT!!!!

CORPSEKISSER UK TOUR + MP3s OF SOLD OUT CASSETTES

2011-12-11T14:55:00.001-08:00

Our flagship artists and generally illusive NYC duo Corpsekisser are heading over to the UK for a few shows. Their debut LP "Cry Laughing" was released a little over 20 months ago and this is the tour for it!! The band is truly amazing, and though the album is great, their live show is a different monster completely, and needs to be seen to fully understand their might. If you are anywhere near to these three shows, check them out:

Friday, January 6:
Manchester, Comfortable on a Tightrope (http://comfortableonatightrope.blogspot.com/)

Sunday, January 8:

Glasgow, Good Press Gallery (http://goodpressgallery.co.uk/) with Waiters, Thoth

Tuesday, January 10:

London, Power Lunches (http://www.upsettherhythm.co.uk/) with Way Through

The band also recently finished a track for our upcoming "Lifers" comp, expected in early 2012. Their song "This Is Not A Revenge" is in line with the creepyness-factor of the album, and rules a lot. They made a video for it, too!!

In other news, I'm working on uploading links to free mp3 downloads for all of our out-of-print cassette releases. As of this post, we've got up links to Sail, Laker Girls, many of the City Center and Swimsuit tapes, and big thanks to Nick Ripley for getting me rips of the Child tapes and the first Settle tape!!! Soon all or most will be up there for the world to partake of eventually!THANKS!!!

XELA: "DUNWICH DREAMS"

2011-09-11T02:27:00.000-07:00

Life Like 40 * 2-sided Lathe cut 7" * Edition of 10, released September 2011

Sold out but the mp3s can be downloaded here!

XELA madman John Twells agreed to do up an exclusive 2-song lathe with me about a year ago. There's no tying the Xela name down to a specific sound, and a slew of one-off tapes, small-run LPs and collaborations left me with no real idea of what was gonna come my way. Two intense depression-ditch analog synth menageries in the style of Klaus Schulze's more frozen moments or John Carpenter's horror movie soundtracks, totally killer and spun with this queasiness I can't really explain.

Now! This was to be an edition of 50 copies, released in the end of 2010. The bad news---- due to circumstances completely outside of the control of Xela or myself, it's now edging up on the end of 2011 and there are and ever will be only ten copies of this lathe. The good news? The ten existing copies look, sound and are completely amazing. One of the best lathe cuts I've seen, just a shame there's not more to go around. A long-winded explanation of what went wrong at every turn isn't really necessary or productive, but I will say that this is one of the best, and sadly the most limited release the Life Like has done.

After my copy and two artist copies, I have only 7 for sale, on a first come, first dibs order. Plus there's some financial annoyances with this one, too, so they're costing more than they would if there were the proper amount made. Of course, these were gone in like 24 hours. Bummer! Mp3s are up now, though!!

Songs: Cemetary Mane / The Marching Dead

SWIMSUIT: SURFIN' RAT SHIRT

2011-09-05T11:22:00.000-07:00

Sold on May tour.

STREIGHTS: "SUBTLE TORSO"

2011-09-05T11:17:00.000-07:00

Life Like 38 * C-30 Cassette * Edition of 25, released July 2011

Sold Out

The Albuquerque noise scene is intense! I met these harsh humans when I was passing through in May, and they seemed to have a good vibe, their sound sounded interesting so sight-unseen I asked them to do a tape. HOLY FUCK, wasn't even prepared for what came through. Side A is a collage of extreme harsh noise/hectic processed found sounds/pure killing. Side B is a documentation of their live sound, which is a deep industrial-style smashed into an early 80's hardcore approach. Except it's just two drummers, noise and screamy/powerelectronics vocals. One of the more abrasive tapes on the Life Like, a real gem from the eerie desert. Negative youth are still represented in all corners.

Tracklisting:
1.Here Stir The Subtle Torso.. 2.Negative Youth 3.Lavesux 4.In This Land 5.Closed In 6.Crimespeak

MOTHER WHALE: "THE ISLAND"

2011-09-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

Life Like 37 * C-40 Cassette * Edition of 30, released July 2011 * Sold Out

Detroit experimental collective Mother Whale have been coming into their own lately doing different permutations of their freaked rock/folk/whatever-goes sound. Shows can be noisy, sprawly, glam-ish or kraut-y depending on the day, and their releases are taking that varied approach, too. When we did a show together back in January I asked them to do a tape for the label, and "The Island" was the result, yet another extension of their growing experiment. Recorded in a single day, based on a dream, "The Island" jumps from panic attack electronics to downer folk and then to strange sound poetry. Kinda in the same vein as "Family Creeps" era Woods or Incredible String Band if they found a mini-moog and a bag of tainted mushrooms and went for it. One of their most out there releases yet, a great sign of where things are going. Tan motif in the tapes and art.

Tracklisting:
1.The Garden 2.Salamander Song 3.The West Side Of The Island 4.Fauve 5.Balboa 6.The East Side Of The Island 7.Come The Viking Ships 8.The Squid And The Sun

BAD INDIANS: "NOT HAVING ANY FUN"

2011-09-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

Life Like 36 * C-20 Cassette * Edition of 40, released June 2011

Sold Out

Bad Indians have hit a serious stride since they moved back to Michigan from Brooklyn (my favorite genre! "Michigan-Brooklyn-Michigan") and have been playing and recording non-stop. This line-up and this phase of songwriting finds them in a super strong Velvets-via-Kiwipop garage/hook-heavy stomp. The New Zealand influence is especially strong on "Not Having Any Fun" (note the Clean cover) as is boy-girl trade offs on vocal duties and some really subtle echo grime in the production. Like the pop-friendliest moments of the Gun Club or the swampiest moments of the Chills, and maybe some of the band's strongest material to date.

Songs: 1.See The Sun 2.All Over Now 3.Try To Get By 4.They Don't Need To Know 5.Sons & Daughters Of King Fred With Bare Feet 6.Baby Had To Go 7.Anything Could Happen 8.Building Insulation

BILLOWING: "SKY TRIALS"

2011-09-05T11:11:00.000-07:00

Life Like 35 * C-30 Cassette * Edition of 15, released June 2011 * Sold Out

Scott DeRoche on prepared guitar, me on electronics /my new 4-track looper and manipulating Scott's guitar thru my mixer, we had a translucent-if-not-transcendent living room jam to get ready for ouyer opening slot at a Wolf Eyes show, yielding two side-long space-outs. More beautiful and less scary than last summer's LP, this is like the meditative wash of a kraut-rock record without the drums or bass pushing it anywhere, or the nature-zone ruminations of middle-period Black Dice with vocal cut-ups and strange string gurggles. Super-limited and all the art is unique hand-collaged style.

Songs: 1.Sky Trails 2.Sky Trials

CITY CENTER: "HIGHWIRE DAYS"

2011-09-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

Life Like 34 * C-30 Cassette * Edition of 40, released May 2011 * Sold Out

On top of the brand new record on K and the Swimsuit Sand Box with solo tapes, I wanted to put a tape together of some of the stuff me and Ryan were working on before he started planning his move. While we're still gonna collaborate on recordings thru the mail, there's something to be said for the hours and hours he and I have spent in various practice spaces just throwing it all at the wall and existing in non-time/real-time/life-time/all-the-time. You can't overdub that kind of connect, and I'm sad to see it changing. This tape is pretty Ryan-centric, with his songs, singing, etc for a half-dozen untitled song sketches or starts. Typically dark, hopeful and jammy in an unglued way. I LOVE YOU MAN!!!!!

Songs: Everyday / Dicey / Lawless / Rubicon / Weird Talk By The Lake Following Eleven Hour Drive / Highwire

SAIL

2011-09-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

Life Like 33 * C-40 Cassette * Edition of 40, released May 2011
Sold out but you can download the mp3 version here.

Deep vibes from Ypsilanti maven Raphael. Been trying to get this tape to see the light of day for almost a year!!! This is a live recording of a one-man show from early January. Bird sounds, wah funnels, woodwinds, sunbeam phasers, stoned-to-the-bone remembrance dish. Midway between Sun Araw and some '73 Grateful Dead audience tape. Confusing and beautiful! Three untitled jams.

BOX OF SAND

2011-09-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

Life Like 32 * 3-Cassette Box Set * Edition of 50, released May 2011 * Sold Out

You can download the City Center mp3s here.
You can stream/download the Skinny Wrists mp3s here.
You can stream/download/order the vinyl of the Swimsuit record here.

What in the holy hell is this??? Well, Swimsuit toiled hard to finish our first full-length record, in hurried hopes that it would be pressed to vinyl in time for tour. It's not. It will be by the time we get back, but we gotta sell something to get by... Tape copies are great, but maybe there are some folks out there who want a little bit more. We understand. The Box Of Sand is a tour special like no other. We got a copy of the blissful self-titled Swimsuit tape in there, but what the fuck are the other two tapes? THEY'RE SPLIT TAPES FEATURING NEW SOLO STUFF FROM EVERY MEMBER OF SWIMSUIT!!! I know, it's almost impossible to get your head around it, but Dina, Fred, Shelley & Amber all sat down and made mini-albums for this box. Skinny Wrists, City Center, Avery Feral and Shelley, all exclusive songs just for these tapes. Packaged in an old-school 3-tape box, the vibes are pouring out like rain out of the clouds. Numbered and strictly limited, too many songs to list. This is the must-have memento of tour!!!

ROYL SPACE

2011-09-05T11:07:00.000-07:00

Life Like 31 * C-16 Cassette * Edition of 25, released May 2011

Sold Out

Brand new Grand Rapids duo. Blown-out and full-force youth freakout jams with the energy of modern day hardcore/spazz punk but the uneasy disconnect of the early 90's Louisville scene. "Tweez"-era Slint or Wire-style guitar lines and heavy, fast punk vibes. Amazingly urgent like a hundred bee stings that heal immediately and then you walk to the store and get some Mountain Dew, not sure exactly what just happened. Yellow cassette shells and yellow-tinged art.

Songs: Aged / Corners / Double Match / Guardian's Shadow / Hot Pretzel / Montana Take 2

SWIMSUIT

2011-09-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

Life Like 30 * C-30 Cassette * Edition of 50, released May 2011

Sold Out on cassette but available digitally and on you can order the vinyl here.

The first full-length album from Swimsuit!!!! The best and brightest versions of ten of our first songs. Semi-instrumental, semi-surfy, all dream-laden vocal harmonies and good time summer shine vibes. I can't say much more except that this is the capsule that we set out to make, exactly. ESSENTIAL LIFE!! We sold this cassette on tour, and it's all gone, but the LP is available from Speakertree Records.

Songs: Evaporation / Mongoose / Town In My Mind / The Grit / Empire / Rat Pack / At The Falls / Outside Your Window / Winter Water / Sunlight

SWIMSUIT: "LIFE STYLE"

2011-09-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

Life Like 29 * C-40 Cassette * Edition of 50, released May 2011 * Sold Out

Shelley threw a showcase gig of all the bands on her label (Ginkgo Records, so amazing, must be checked!) for part of the annual Hamtramk Blowout festival. Swimsuit played last at the end of a somewhat epic night, throwing down a set so raw and falling-apart-beautiful when I heard the tape I was like.... Jesus.. Is that really our band? Sounds like a 40 minute scream of exuberance/despair or maybe like those Joy Division bootlegs where all the amps keep breaking and they eventually play everything thru the bass amp. Really rugged and electric sound, and a bunch of new songs.

Songs: Mongoose / Evaporation / The Grit / Glow Machine / Dolphins / Doesn't Get Any Better Than You / The New Beat / Town In My Mind / Outside Your Window / Chandra

MILD MANNERS: "EXCUSE ME"

2011-09-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

Life Like 28 * C-20 Cassette * Edition of 30, released May 2011 * Sold Out

Detroit long-timer Nathan Lee Shafer moved out to LA some years ago, but has been throwing amazing jams at us from '92 to present. I won't bore you all with the laundry list of past miracle bands, but this human being is responsible for a lineage of strange and beautiful music. "Mild Manners" is a perfect continuation of this other-worldly grab-bag of good, with 20 minutes that can't sit still inside themselves. What does it sound like? What doesn't it sound like???!!! Each side starts with a tape-hiss Dayton-esque power pop number and quickly evaporates into freeform like no one's even capable of understanding. Mostly instrumental, ping-ponging from 4-track disco to breakbeat movie-sample four-on-the-floor electronica, some weird Morricone-style soundtracky stuff... it never ends. A perfect reminder of the days when a tape release could encapsulate humor, songcraft and who-gives-a-fuck at the same time. Makes sense, considering the material here spans a recording era of 1998-present. Not one to miss, and anyone who was even remotely close to Ypsilanti near the end of the last century will need a copy immediately.

Tracklisting:

1. A Lasting Love 2. World Peace 3. Paris Extra 4.Diamond in the Rough 5.Shoot Me With Your Best Shot 6.Excuse Me Part 1 7.Excuse Me Part 2

MIGHTY CLOUDS: "MIGHT RAIN"

2011-09-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

Life Like 27 * C-40 Cassette * Edition of 50, released May 2011 * Sold Out

Shortly after making a cool little inside-your-head pop record (Life Like #21 over here), the band known as Mighty Clouds booked and embarked on a three-week tour of Europe. The travel was strange and beautiful and the audiences were receptive, confused, delighted, drunk and rabbleroused completely. I played guitar and did loops, Betty Barnes sang worked the sampler and our friend Viktor played bass for most of the tour. I took my remote recording equipment along and captured a wide swatch of what it sounded like to roam from one end of the wilderness to the other. I'm not joking about the wilderness, either. These cut-up and re-collaged recordings were made in underground bunkers in Sweden, a squat and a forest in Germany, a restaurant in Finland and other various locales. Stripped-down and ethereal pop songs with a strange negative space, a few new songs not on the album, but wait... A ton of mangled cover songs, too?? Kate Bush, John Cale, The Cure and Depeche Mode amongst them? Clouds clearing layout motif with baby-blue centric cover art and cassette shells.

Songs:
1.I Could Have Told You Your Name Then 2.New Life 3.Miracle 4.Pictures Of You 5.Winter Wonder Land 6.Past Lives 7.Wavelength 8.Mighty Cloud 9.Skeletons Join Hands 10.Everything Counts 11.Spinning Away 12.Cloudbusting

DAYTIME TELEVISION: "CLICK HERE"

2011-09-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

Life Like 26 * C-30 Cassette * Edition of 30, released March 2011 * Sold Out

Cloud of strange smoke/Internet genius/maven at large Jónó Mí Ló returns to us with his first Daytime Television physical release in about a year! "Click Here" is a hazed... no, murked stumble through a sketchy basement, a disused roller rink where the DJ was 20 years ahead of their time. Slowed and syruped samples, strange ghost whispers and photos of grainy tv screens running in projected dreams on the wall. Amazing cut-up psyche vibes, including a side-long mega jam on the B-side. Only 30 copies made on killer orange tapes. Jono has been working mostly on video stuff lately, which is a strong visual counterpart to his drenched musical output. Look at the picture of the scene above (*thanks Amber for the photo*) and you'll have a pretty good idea of what you're listening to. AMAZING!!

SETTLE 2

2011-09-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

Life Like 25 * C-22 Cassette * Edition of 30, released February 2011 * Sold Out

In the fall I got a track from my friend Rob Theakston in Lexington Kentucky, no explanation, just a sick, slowed-down beautiful wash, and he called it Settle. We did up a tape with his track and a weirdo remix I did on the flip, and they disappeared pretty quick. It was a blast, and Rob suggested we do another installment soon, only vice versa; I'd do the original and he'd rework it.

Deep into the winter months this has happened, and here are the results. Two tracks of murked out, winter-depression synths, gasping for air while hoping to drown at the same time. The original track "Dead Hour" is a bundle of rookie mistakes in a reverb cone, like a six pack on an empty stomach. Stereo delay gets crumpled up in a den of sleeping lions. It's not so much that they're going to wake up and eat you, it's just that they smell so fucking bad! Have you ever smelled a lion? They stank! Theakston's remix is subtle glitchiness and tweaked crumbling washes on the same page. Winter horrors, heavy late-night hopelessness. Both tracks are 11 minutes exactly. This looks like it could be a regular thing, and so far so good. Limited to 30, already gone.

CITY CENTER: "FLORIDA SNOW"

2011-09-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

Life Like 24 * C-30 Cassette * Edition of 50, released February 2011
Sold Out but you can download the mp3s here.

It's not uncommon for at least one above-average set of cabin fever shut-in jams to come out of the endless doldrums of the harsh winters in Michigan. Every year most of the musicians I know who live here report of getting into a mode where it's too cold and miserable to do anything but stay in and work on sounds, usually with some pretty killer results. I don't know what my deal was last week, but in a single day, I somehow managed to get super into that zone myself, writing, recording and mixing most of the songs on this cassette of all new material, as well as a few duds that didn't make the cut. But here's the thing: Instead of the formless improvised wash you might expect from a one-day stand, the songs somehow came out in a highly varied and highly composed manner, going into territory City Center hasn't been in a long time. The spectral nausea drone that the band has been floating it's songs on top of for the last year or so is present, but every other track is a straight-up sad and melancholy indie rock song, going back to the roots and coming off like Sebadoh, Elliot Smith or "One Foot In The Grave" era Beck. What the hell?! Every song is drenched in a winter hue, like houses viewed from the outside eternally, lights in windows in a ceaseless dimming. Really beautiful full-color art and sick aqua cassettes as well.

Track Listing: 1.New Town 2.Long Days 3.Snow Day 4.Bella 5.Jay 6.Florida 7.Soft Talking 8.Garbage Scene 9.Stones

SETTLE

2011-09-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

Life Like 23 * C-40 Cassette * Edition of 30, released November 2010
Sold out but you can download the mp3s here.

Out of the blue one day my main mellow Rob Theakston (former Michigan head, relocated to Lexington KY to rule and school) send me a track and says "Hey I don't know.. maybe do something with this?", and I listen and it's amazing. Exactly what I need to hear at exactly that moment. Potentially informed by how beautiful that Justin Bieber song sounded when slowed down 4000%, Rob (performing as Settle) slows prepared guitar and computer twitches into the soft, juvenile laughter of angels, or maybe the sound of remembering that President's Day when you skipped school and got really high on over-the-counter trucker speed, with nothing to do, and nothing to say, but somehow feeling more perfect and content than you'd remembered before. The sweetest kind of ambient sounds I've heard in a minute, and exactly 15 minutes of uninterrupted love.

I asked though, "This is only one track, do you have something for the flip?" "Eh, do like a Child remix or something." So I did, taking the source material from Rob's Eno-leaning piece down the path of sadness and loss, composing a more noise-centric movement of the symphony having more in common with Kevin Drumm, Belong or MBV's fuzzy interludes than the Gas/Boards Of Canada vibe of the original. All recorded live and straight to two-track with no edits. This is a great one, and it went super quick. Anyone want dibs on a vinyl reissue, just holla!!

SWIMSUIT: "DOLPHINS/HEART LOVE"

2011-09-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

Life Like 22 * Black vinyl 7" * Edition of 300, released November 2010 * Sold Out

Is it raining outside? Is it dark on the beach at night? Does love exist? Is there a way into the future that we can all agree on? Yes, yes, yes and yes, and if you don't believe it, put your faith in the fact that the 1st ever 7" record by Swimsuit is here and it's here now!!! Many months in the making, this release follows two well-loved demoish tapes, a few compilation appearances and so many shows of true ragged joy. Recorded by the band with a little more production (but not too much) than the tapes, we have here two songs. The original wave-rider "Dolphins" feels like being threatened by a shark and then saved at the last minute by a pad of giggling sea creatures. Then on the b-side we have the band's cover of 60's free-jazz hero Albert Ayler's "Heart Love", a peace-love-poetry-and-wait-a-second-I'm-crazy-as-hell kinda go-go jam.

MIGHTY CLOUDS

2011-09-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

Life Like 21 * White Marble Vinyl LP * Edition of 500, released October 2010 * Sold Out
C-60 Cassette * Edition of 70, released November 2010 * Sold Out

Productive times! This record wasn't scheduled to come until late November, but they were early so here we go.... Brand new band from ex-Saturday Looks Good To Me star vocalist and official Swedish transplant Betty Marie Barnes and myself. Betty does all the singing, I do all the music. 10 new original songs and a Morrissey cover! Dream-like, spare, direct, strange and still catchy as hell. 180 gram vinyl, pressed on cloud-colored wax!! Sick.

I know what you're saying though... "Fuck Records! I only like tapes!" Me, too, which is why we have a special cassette version of this record up for pre-order. Side A is the eleven songs from the record pictured above, and side B is the complete recording of the band's first live set, happening in Ypsilanti on November 24th. I know, it's a great idea, right?? This edition of 70 is up for pre-order as the show hasn't happened yet, but they'll be shipped out the week after and the live set will be more than just bad-sounding versions of the same songs on the record. We got some tricks up the sleeve, up the tape deck.
You can stream the whole record here!

Track Listing:
1.Past Lives 2.Skeletons Join Hands 3.New Life 4.Mighty Cloud 5.Spell It Out 6.Miracle 7.I Could Have Told You Your Name Then 8.Fierce Love 9.Certain People I Know 10.Stay Single 11.Now Is The Time When All The Children Sleep

CURTAINS: "MELTED"

2011-09-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

Life Like 20 * C-40 Cassette * Edition of 30, released November 2010 * Sold Out

We met Dash Lewis when he set up a City Center show in Chapel Hill, NC for us over a year ago. This incredibly sweet and excited young man got the venue, made the flyer, contacted the press and even headlined the show, bringing a ton of people out. The project he did that night started with some insane glowing spectral synth ambiance and quickly 180'd into some serious (read: non-ironic, actually really good) hip hop, Dash running through rhymes like only a pro can. Occasionally over the months that passed he would send me random mp3s, always differing wildly. Curtains is the name he's working under now, and though it's free of any beats and rhymes, "Melted" is a record of wide extremes. Blown out pop songs criss-cross lengthy ambient passages, and then drop out right back into sample-mutilation with heavy percussion elements. Never too much of one gets into the other, just some killer, thought-out jams running in tandem with washy extended synth zone-outs. A full-length's worth of material free of filler, offering a peek into the bedroom in Dash's mind. "Melted" about sums it up!

Track Listing: 1.White Hot Feeling 2.Drove Home 3.Plotting To Kill 4.Melted 5.Let You Die 6.Puddles

CUJO: "WALLSTREET"

2011-09-05T09:59:00.000-07:00

Life Like 19 * C-20 Cassette * Edition of 30, released November 2010 * Sold Out

Michigan youth touched-by-the-hand-of-God, Knox Mitchell and Anthony Viviano have collabed on many a strange and beautiful jam. Knox's label Green Records and Tapes is responsible for a dearth of Midwest noise releases, pretty close to unrivaled in sheer ambition and sonic craziness. Cujo is the name of the duo's submission to the Life Like, and it's a watery grave of dying electronics and horrified tape sounds. A slowly-building glut of sound, layers added upon layers until the feeling of exploration becomes that of obsessive compulsion. By the time the semi-coherent guitar elements come in to clean up the machine guns and the mice still alive in their traps, it becomes clear that there's no hope. Recorded January 2009-September 2010, two tracks, one per side. Once a certain kind of sickness gets inside your house, to get it out, you've got to build a new house.

RACECARDRIVER: "KID ICARUS 2"

2011-09-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

Life Like 18 * C-15 Cassette * Edition of 30, released November 2010 * Sold Out

Ann Arbor reclusive sound-master racecardriver shows up here and there. Be it his sick tape for I Had An Accident or the exceedingly rare live performance, there's a fuzzy, joyful delirium to the sounds that Gary comes up with using the simplest, most sparing setup. "Kid Icarus 2" is no exception; a distant dream of nature buried by winter snow, melting with the strains of the early-risers alarm clock to start again. Five blissed-out pieces of wonderment and the strange beauty of things everyday. Awesome lilly-pad style cassette shells.

Track Listing: 1.Bird Rattler 2.Night Rider 3.Deer Foot 4.Owl Child 5.Bear Ghost

CLOUD RAT / XTRA VOMIT

2011-09-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

Life Like 17 * C-16 Cassette * Edition of 100, released October 2010 * Sold Out

Someone says "If you aren't now, you never were." and someone else says "You can never go home again." and I say "Ladies and gentlemen, if you can never go home again now, you were never home." and what I mean to say by that is... CLOUD RAT! XTRA VOMIT!! OUR FIRST HARDCORE TAPE ON THE LIFE LIKE!!! Not trying to get hung up on genres, I feel like a likemindedness is running through all music and when a band says "We reject oppression in all it's forms" I like what they sound like no matter what they play. Swimsuit played a show up in Grand Rapids and at the venue we say a flyer for an upcoming hardcore show with Mt. Pleasant band Cloud Rat on the bill. I thought it was a radical name, so I looked them up and it turned out they were fucking amazing!! Female screamy vocals in a three-piece fast-as-fuck grindcore style??? See above if you need any more convincing or amazing. I cold called them up out of nowhere and asked if they wanted to do a tape, and they said they did have a tour coming up with their friends XTra Vomit from Muskegon, maybe they could record a split tape for the occasion... Done and done. XTra Vomit is dual vocals, also fast and insane, but more hardcore, less metal-influenced. Both sides rip in a serious way and in some raw territory that we haven't seen this side of late 90's/early 2000's VFW hall all ages heaviness. Includes lengthy punk-style lyric sheet/liner notes. Easily one of our most exciting releases and not to be slept on. The bands got 50 of the 100 tapes and sold them all on tour already so don't miss your chance to get one! Catch tour dates, get free downloads and keep in touch over at the cloud rat blog.

Track Listing:
CLOUD RAT: 1.My Body The Performance Machine 2.Magnolias 3.Conveyor Belt 4.Clear 5.Powerlines 6.The Germ Of Love
XTRA VOMIT: 1.Agri-Business 2.Crutches 3.Focused On A Dream 4.Long Distance 5.Static 6.Define Everything Yourself 7.Finger In A Wound 8.Everyone Will Lose

CITY CENTER: "NEW BEGINNINGS ACADEMY"

2011-09-05T09:50:00.000-07:00

Life Like 16 * C-30 Cassette * Edition of 50, released October 2010 * Sold Out

The 2nd proper CC full-length "REDEEMER" is done, and slated for release on K Records in March 2011. As with any record from a band prone to experiment and possibility, there were as many songs left off the record as were left on. "New Beginnings Academy" (lovingly named after a private school in Ypsilanti on Michigan Ave.) is a collection of stuff recorded at the same time as the Redeemer sessions. Was it a matter of "making the cut", (like the 45 takes of "TV EYE" on the Stooges Fun House box set??)??? Not as much as setting the tone, keeping the vibe, and seeing what songs liked each other and which ones had to be seated at different tables. I gotta say, though, I wonder if some of these were the keepers, or if it's just two different sides of the same record. Some demos, some more high-energy stuff that we played live all spring, some washy glow and more.

Track Listing:
1.Raw Life 2.Remove Ya 3.After Hours 4.Covered In Night 5.Cats In The Yard 6.New Beginnings Academy 7.Let's Go Die 8.Winless 9.Misstep

LONG DISTANCE POISON

2011-09-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

Life Like 15 * C-50 Cassette * Edition of 100, released October 2010 * Sold Out

Supremely excited to offer up to the world the first release from Brooklyn synth trio Long Distance Poison. Erica Bradbury and Nathan Cearley work two vintage synthesizer set ups and the illustrious Casey Block plays treated guitar, dipping our heads into a well of tempered psychedelics, krautrock drone, slow-building waves of horror and joy. Nobody is really doing instrumental synth/drone stuff quite like these guys are, in a sparkling yet understated kind of mulit-parted slow-motion explosion. Not only is it a killer debut by a really exciting group, it's also the slickest cassette on the label thus far! Just look at that pro-dog style... 50 minutes long?? All-analog reel-to-reel mastering?? Printed shells? Matching baby blue shells and outer cases? Fractal butterflies full color artwork?? DON'T. EVEN. TRIP!!!! Oh wait, do trip! Trip out harder than once imaginable while jamming this tape and regret nothing!!!

Track Listing: 1.Baby Ghosts 2.Day Bat

STRANGE BREW

2011-09-05T09:40:00.000-07:00

Life Like 14 * One-Sided 12" Lathe Cut * Edition of 50, released October 2010
Sold out, you can download the track here.

Michelle Birawer; Cali native. Michigan noise lady. Lover of the band Pavement yet still a practitioner of harshness. Short-set rocker. Cassette-champ. Favorite to bloggers e'reywhere.. This super-limited lathe cut LP is 11 minutes of the kind of Strange Brew shit that was happening early on this year, even though in live form it would probably be more like 4 minutes. Chimes and bells ring in a gentle meditation, steeped deep in what sounds like an audible cloud of pot-smoke in some burned-out basement. But while the predictable turn would be to snooze into some kinda hippie chant/drone, Strange Brew instead slowly transforms the basement into dungeon with evaporating reverb coils, haunted chains across the floor, nauseated gamelan sounds and faint sounds of barking dogs in the distance. Guttural, tense, evil and still somehow friendly and care-free???!!! Easily one of the best releases the Life Like has put together so far, and it was on hold for so long because the original 50 copies made were lost somewhere between Germany and Michigan. Hope you like NOISE, Atlantic Ocean! Morgan Daniels (Bad Thoughts) guests on melodica and percussion.

CHILD: "WATER"

2011-09-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

Life Like 13 * C-20 Cassette * Edition of 50, released September 2010 *
Sold out but you can download the audio here.

It was hot as fuck in Michigan this summer, and if you've talked to me for even ten minutes, you know that I'm not a big fan of the 100 degree day. I'm beyond stoked that things have cooled off, and along with memories of a burning summer, I spent some time working on/wishing with this tape, trying to will the rain to fall on the land, summon the cooling vibes of a storm breaking or find a river to wade in while the sun pressed down on everyone. Two pieces of hectic and grumbly noise, all source material derived from water sounds. The results are not as refreshing as you may imagine (this is not chillwave, or chill or wave or anything) much more-so the sound of seeking out the water cause shit is too hot. Oppressed/oppressive vibes and gentle rain that's too exhausted to collect in puddles. Confused and great. Blue cassettes.

SWIMSUIT: "PEACE GULL"

2011-09-05T09:29:00.000-07:00

Life Like 12 * C-30 Cassette * Edition of 50, released July 2010
Sold out but you can download the mp3s here.

With the summer sun above us and the mist of the lakes all around, it was only a matter of time before the next wave of Swimsuit sounds came washing onto shore. From the depths of many a jam session comes an album's worth of all-instrumental surfy/dreamy new tunes. Ten songs drift in and out of each other in various states of fidelity and completion, lilting and beautiful sometimes and at other times we're skateboarding over tiny stones on the way to 7-11 for a slaphappy late night snack. Beautiful full-color artwork and magenta cassettes bring this whole package together.

Track Listing:

1.Night 2.Doves 3.Run Around 4.L.D.B. 5.Basement 6.Sweets 7.Outside Your Window 8.Town In My Mind 9.May 18th 10.Full Moon

RED NIGHT: "IRRECONCILABLE"

2011-09-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

Life Like 11 * C-30 Cassette * Edition of 30, released July 2010 * Sold Out

Mysterious origins of both sound and geography here. Jeff Myers from Tempe, AZ was living in the stony berg of Arcata, California for a time, working by day and laying down some completely insane sounds in a strange attic room by night. At some point he split town and out of the experience he sent me over a master disc with several pieces of harsh noise, desert crumble and broken fuzz arrangements. No song titles and a project name written in sanskrit. These jams sound seriously like some kinda dark labyrinth journey, with heavy west coast sunshine soaked vibes, always kinda leaning on the edge of sunstroke. Red velum covers and red cassettes, wandering through the red night into a helpless dawn.

BILLOWING

2011-09-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

Life Like 10 * C-40 Cassette * Edition of 50, released July 2010 * Sold Out

Back in the summer of 2007, Scott DeRoche (Beak Full of Rubies, Lullaby Family, etc.) and I got together in an underground cavern and recorded a CDR of some pretty frightening shit over a few high-gravity beers and quite probably some upset spirits. In the spring of 2010, with some finally less-hectic schedules, we reconvened and named the duo Billowing, working in an actual studio one night on more than an hour's worth of material. "Cruel Summer" is the most realized and detailed of these sessions, Scott on prepared guitar, bass and electronics, and myself working with my electronics set up and various wind instruments, percussion, tapes, static, etc. The dub heartbeat flows and pulses but there are unholy footsteps in the hallway you can hear scantly. Vertigo-stereo delay and gargling frogs run out at the toll of the death knell. Early 2000's Black Dice filtered through an ECM style electro-acoustic veil, but also an undertone of Goblin-style soundtracks or the pained psychedelia of a heavy Jodorowsky influence.

The self-titled cassette is the remainder of the sessions, equally terrifying and strange, but also extended and more improvisational and spacious in composition.

BILLOWING: "CRUEL SUMMER"

2011-09-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

Life Like 9 * Black Vinyl One-Sided LP * Edition of 100, released July 2010

Sold out, but you can download the sounds for free over here.

PATIENT TO PATIENT

2011-09-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

Life Like 8 * C-40 Cassette * Edition of 50, released June 2010
Sold out but you can download the mp3s right here!

The debut release from Ryan Howard's (City Center) first real-deal solo project. A full-length's worth of material, long sprawling drone or gently icy sonic wash. Looking out over the Pacific Coast Highway for the first time through eyes mired in the unrelenting mindset and heart-crunch of endless Midwest winter feelings. Amazingly unplaceable drone-sounds, from a place pre-Emeralds and post-Boards of Canada, but not really paying homage to either. This is a winner, and you should probably get one of the 50 tapes before someone releases a double-gatefold next year and you're just way too late to the party!

Track Listing:

1.Corona 2.Forestport Tower 3.N6NKS 4.In Tangier 5.Natural Radio 6.Green Pine 7.Lake McConaughy 8.Daytimers 9.Nighttimers 10.In The Backyard

DAYTIME CHILD

2011-09-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

Life Like 7 * C-20 Cassette * Edition of 25, released June 2010 * Sold Out

With a Climax Denial show in Ypsi coming up and no opening act to speak of, Miles suggested that me and Jono (Daytime Television, Laker Girls, Polo, the internet) get together and do a collab. to warm things up. The show wasn't too bad, even tho batteries in half my shit died and I had to wing it pretty hard. The jam at the practice space the day before, however, was a notch above. The gentler side of harsh noise (?) with Jono on gut-busted sampler and percussion, and me tweaking a mixer wired infinitely into itself through several different delays. Feedback dub, raw life drum-free drum circle, glittering broken cymbal exploding and vanishing in an instant. Awesome palm-tree covers kind of set the scene for the sounds, as well.

BEDOUINS

2011-09-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Life Like 6 * C-30 Cassette * Edition of 50, released June 2010 * Sold Out

One of the sole remainders of this way-too short lived Ann Arbor/Detroit band of last summer past. I think they played like 4 or 5 shows total, and this was one of the last, recorded by Ryan in a super-spycam style. Total bar-room chatter overtaking the music sometimes, you can hear full conversations between Shelley and Ryan, Eliza kinda yelling, the usual. The songs are some really strong strange pop, following the lineage of bands like The Vasalines, Beat Happening, Raincoats, Gories, the Pastels and the like.

Track Listing:

1.Persepolis 2.I Fell In 3.One Time 4.French Song 5.13 Yr. Olds 6.Girlfriend's Dead 7.Big League Chew 8.He Said, She Said

Bedouins myspace is here.

LAKER GIRLS

2011-09-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Life Like 5 * C-20 Cassette * Edition of 25, released May 2010
Sold Out but you can download the mp3s here.

Washed over and hyper analogue reel-to-reel(talk) beach jams. Recorded to a fading reel-to-reel in magical mono, Laker Girls is heavily processed instrumental dream sounds from Jono (Daytime Television) Travis (Polo) and Fred (me). Mellower and more intimate than you may expect, one of the nicest moments of the start of spring.

CHILD: "FIRST SET"

2011-09-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

Life Like 4 * C-20 Cassette * Edition of 20, released May 2010 *
Sold out but you can download the mp3s here.

After fucking up hard and not being able to play the gig at Knox's barn cause I couldn't get a ride, I played the first Child set in Ann Arbor on May 12, 2010. The night before I practiced it twice, and even though the set itself was about four minutes long, this tape has two 9 1/2 minute versions of the composition. Different in form and execution, but recognizably the same piece. The second Child release, this one leaned way harsher and less ambient, but is already a memory! Video of the entire performance below.

Track Listing: 1.First Set 2.First Set (Variation 2)

SWIMSUIT: "DEMO"

2011-09-05T07:58:00.000-07:00

Life Like 3 * C-30 Cassette * Edition of 100, released May 2010
Sold out but you can download the mp3s here.

Five song dolphin demo by beach babies. Superband of many dreams made up of Shelley (ex-Tyvek), Amber (Dos Hermanos), Fred (City Center) and Dina (Secret Twins). Mostly instrumental, super tapey underwater jams, destined to be the stuff that people say they liked better, once any other stuff comes out. All songs repeat on both sides, but side B has an extra layer of exorbitant reverb to up the Black Tambourine/early MBV faction.

photo by Neil Allen-Flowers

The tape is long gone, but you can download the songs and artwork here for free.
Swimsuit myspace over heahhh....

CITY CENTER: "OFF THE PIG"

2011-09-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

Life Like 2 * C-60 Cassette * Edition of 50, released March 2010 * Sold Out

Sold mostly on 2010 spring tour, this is the extra reel from the past several ill-fated screenplays in the City Center basements. A solid hour of hyper random, with stuff that never got released, got rejected, got remixed or got forgotten. Some drone, some buried pop songs, a weird interview with a drunk dude in Texas. A long look into the hallways of time (and medicine?). Full-color covers and liner notes, with cover art and anti-pig sentiment jacked from the Panthers.

Track Listing: 1.Fall On Your Face 2.Automatic 3.Winter Everywhere 4.Hold Back The Rapture 5.Golden Hour 6.Raspberry Leaf (Demo) 7.The White Witch 8.New YYYear (Daytime Television Remix) 9.Better Not 10.untitled 11.Andy

CORPSEKISSER: "CRY LAUGHING"

2011-09-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

Life Like 1 * Black Vinyl One-Sided LP/Spraypainted 2nd side * Edition of 200, released February 2010
$14 PPD / $25 OVERSEAS

The first release on a label is really an important, key move. It can set the tone for whats to come, and will no doubt be looked to for the roots of all successes or failures that follow it. I'm pretty stoked to have the first thing to come out on the Life Like be 20 minutes of sound that truly makes you feel like you've gone crazy and can't remember the last time you weren't insane. Corpsekisser encapsulates the mindset of the troubled child that doesn't want to feel better. You can hear parts of the so sick you feel euphoric sounds of early 90's Siltbreeze while the male/female tandem vocals and too-hazy-to-be-brutal recording calls to mind "Twin Infinitives" era Trux. AKA THIS RECORD IS FUCKED AND AMAZING! Silkscreened and spraypainted covers and the blank side of the LP has spraypainted stencils of skeleton feet.

Artist Bio:
Corpsekisser began during the tumultuous and difficult summer of 2004. Inspired by the nostalgia soaked creepiness of child-voiced horror movie soundtracks (Amityville Horror, Poltergeist, “1, 2, Freddy’s coming for you”), the duo of Heather Anderson and Ethan Swan intended to document that year with sufficiently troubled songs. At times disembodied, at times frantic, their voices lurk among the sounds of glockenspiel, guitar, dollar-store keyboard and toy piano. After six years of DIY shows in Portland and New York, Corpsekisser is proud to release their debut record. Recalling the deliberated, mundane dread of the Shadow Ring’s early bedroom days or perhaps a zombie version of Brigitte Fontaine & Areski’s musical wandering, “Cry Laughing” is a haunted, opaque, and occasionally gentle LP.

Track Listing:
1.Pull Needle Through 2.Sleeping Sickness 3.Lists 4.I Don't Want To Go 5.Creepy Doll 6.Honeybeak 7.Run Me Over 8.Spiders Get Everywhere 9.This Time Every Day 10.Pre-Programs 11.Smaller Animal 12.Lipstick Off

Corpsekisser Myspace here.