The Mount
The Sun Also Rises
scum stats: limited (200? 500?) one-sided flexi-disc
From the Sugar Records concern, a partnership inspired by COVID times emanating from Jonah Swilley and Mattiel Brown (you know, of Mattiel fame). The group itself seems to include Swilley himself along with Marshall Ruffin and Jordan Manley, and they self-describe the music as "Garage Gospel or Minimalastic(c) American Mythological Music or Agnospelism(c)."
I'm not all that into having to label things, but of note are solid tambourine backbeat, deceptively dangerous accent vocals and a clean guitar just languorously melting through the whole thing...letting you know that I'm impressed by the release and the strong "manifesto" declared on the Sugar Records website. It arrived to me, unsolicited, in a print 'zine form including a Sugar Records sticker, temporary tattoo, t-shirt (salmon's not my color but I wore it anyway), a type-written letter and two copies of this flexi-disc.
Surely...a good way to get my attention.
In the spirit of sharing the wealth, the spare copy of this flexi goes to the person who posts the best COVID-related comment. Maybe you got your shit together and finally started gardening. Wrote that grant proposal. Lost some weight by choice. Or maybe you didn't and are just eeking by and a flexi-disc in the mail would make your day. Or maybe you've actually run with the bulls in Pamplona? I'm not here to judge...well, kinda...but this is my lazy-ass way of checking in on you kids here. Sending love and good vibes out to all of you, take care of yourselves.
I think it is so cool that you give away limited release records regularly. Keep it up Ben! Thanks! And I did like the record.
Due to being an essential work I was on the job the whole last six months either calling people or in the past 3 months seeing them in-person (I’m a social worker) so I didn’t get to “quarantine at home” like much of the world. DESPITE that, in March/April I was able to build a kickass tricked out play structure for my two children fully equipped with a stainless steel, swings, and a sandbox. Now it feels almost normal out there in the real world save for kidnapping plots and wearing a mask all day……
I’m no hero but when everything was locked down I was able to catalog my whole record collection on Discogs so I would stop by doubles of little feat albums and other albums I thought I didn’t have. I mean what else was there to do.Thanks for all the people who work on the front lines during this covid stuff. Stay safe!
I’m able to work from home full time for the first time in my life. I’ve been digging hanging out with my family and playing records while I work. Homeschooling is difficult, but we will get through it. Much props to all yall essential workers.
Not about me but my son. He and his band, Sam The Astronaut, finished his dream album ‘Midnight Carlight’ in July and started releasing singles in June. The logistics of releasing a album during Covid has been a bit heartbreaking for him but he soldiers on. Just about every penny they had went into the making of the record and their promotional budget was going to be playing live shows. Doing it the old fashioned way, going town to town and city to city. Seeing him spin up new business and project plans multiple times has been inspiring for accepting events and moving on. This pandemic and other events has gotten me down multiple times these past six months but seeing his album released was a big high point of the summer, and more importantly seeing my son grow and adapt has been everything a parent could ever wish for. They have a livestream show on October 24. If you enjoy synth driven pop music that aspires to make you wiggle your butt you can check out the details here, https://sam-the-astronaut.square.site/. In the words of Dr. Bonnie henry “Be Kind, Be Calm and Be Safe”.
I didn’t choose my career for any sort of recognition, but if being able to vent a little about being an ICU doc in Houston can offer some perspective (and potentially a sweet prize from Ben), then so be it! Numbers have fortunately gone down a bit over the past 2 months, but it’s still out there and still taking a huge toll on our communities. This site is likely full of caring and respectful people, so I’m probably speaking a little into an echo chamber by telling everyone out there to please continue to practice social distancing, wear a mask, and wash your hands regularly. It sucks; we’ve all had so much of our lives put on hold or even canceled completely, but that’s still better than what over 200k American families have been through. Stay safe! (Also, this song is great!)