Pictures Taken Indoors - Part Two

A poster for a show that happened at Death By Audio in February of 2009 that was made by Rob Erickson of Visual Mechanics. This is Oliver Ackermann's bed. He doesn't use it very often. This is quite possibly the single most listened to record at the loft, right up there with The Mummies "Never Been Caught" and Lionel Ritchie. The record is JEFF: The Brotherhood's "The Boyz R Back In Town". This is how we fix holes in the wall. We have all the latest techmologies here at Death By Audio studios. This is the rack above the mixer where we keep the good shit like liquor.

Welcome to the Death By Audio Records storeroom. Everything is arranged by gravity.

This is Joe and Doug in the DBA studio working on DBA-006 - a split 7" between Pursesnatchers and Coin Under Tongue.

Pictures Taken Indoors - Part One

Mac's uncle draws a calendar like this every freaking year and gives them out as gifts. Just... damn.

This is the skateboard rack next to the front door. It seems a little understocked right now. This is Aaron from Sisters chillin' in his room, back when he lived in the DBA loft. He is known for his uncanny, mutantesque reading abilities. This is an art piece George is working on. It's thousands of holes punched from confidential envelopes. This is another art work from George, with thousands of jewels, hole punched confidential envelopes, and the handwritten line ,"Don't make fun of my Friday night..." over and over again. The line is from a song performed by the band Xiu Xiu. These are two floatation devices for children that are tied up into the ceiling above George's art studio room. He hade a resin sculpture of these, the two animals' heads being replaced by two human hands forming a vagina. This is a picture of a used spinning firework wheel nailed in close proximity to a smoke detector.

A Small Collection of Signs

The loft's population is in constant flux, therefor its inhabitants must sometimes leave notes or signs to communicate with their fellow ranchers. Bands blowing through town are a major contributor to these postings, as well as house rules declared in moments of clarity by individuals clinging to their sanity within this constantly swirling hellhole party prison. Take a gander!

This is a brilliant idea. It used to say 8:45 to 9PM but apparently someone has amended it to 8:45 AM to 9PM. That's obviously a joke so this rule has been civilly disobeyed. If only they had Wii remotes in the shape of dusters and mops...

That's a lil dish goin' "Yay". Lot's of people tend to eat in this place which is weird because it's basically a hobo fallout shelter. Wine glasses here have a shelf life of 30 minutes and sometimes you're washing plates in screenprint ink with a sponge that looks like a used Dr. Scholl's pad , but hey.... well, no, it is pretty shitty. Paper plates are available by request.

These notes are like brother and sister.

This is one of the first "Marc Ramsey" tags ever in Brooklyn. Dude is blowing up like Tit Brace or Turkey Clit or whoever those famous taggerz are. Normally we don't let people tag the house, but it's Marc Ramsey and he loves us and it's sprayed on the door to the spray paint room.

This all started because Dirty On Purpose confiscated Coin Under Tongue's lucky band sandwich. It has since been completely ignored like an email from Prince Nashid informing us we've won the Zimbabwe lottery. Or a soundman asking us to turn it down or else he turn off the PA. Whatever, dude.

That's where the TRASH goes, in that big ass can next to the stairs,with the pen used to keep dart scores hanging above it, pointing into the hoop you should aim all your balled up electric bills. You've been a wonderful audience.

57% of Coin Under Tongue's 1st album NOW FREE

Any human with a computer can now download four sevenths of Coin Under Tongue's debut album, Coin Under Tongue/Hussies At Bay, by clicking on THESE WORDS (link fixed!!! - thankx) . These tracks have been remastered, whatever that means. This zip file contains the bands' calling card "Coin Under Tongue", the emo-garage ode to rolling, "Roll Child", and TWO MORE! We would have let loose the whole album but 2 of the tracks are being rerecorded because a lot has changed at DBA since this album was recorded on 4-track. AND one of the tracks ("High Until We Die") has already been rerecorded and released for free HERE. (the watercolor above was done by Michel Gondry)

WE LOVE CLEVELAND UPDATE::::::--- The killer rock blog I Rock Cleveland has proclaimed "Coin Under Tongue" & "Shaven Clean" as its Top Jam(s) of The Week. Here's what it says: "With the gnarliest guitar sound outside of A Place to Bury Strangers, it's only a matter of time before Coin Under Tongue blow out their amplifiers, blow out the electricity to whole city blocks, and blow up all over this thing we call the internet. Still, without a full length to their name, but getting closer, Death by Audio Records has released another four-song suite for free download via their website. Like their last internet release, the So Far EP, the tracks on Coin Under Tongue/Hussies at Bay, can be tough to peg down. All purpose, doom, post-punk, post-industrial, ear-bleeding feedback rock is a little unwieldy, and doesn't fit nicely into with the current trend of shortened speak. So, we'll say rad static, as in, turn up the volume on "Coin Under Tongue" and "Shaven Clean" and lose yourself in the rad static. "

STATLER BROS. @ HOME SWEET HOME - July 31st

If you follow this blog, you might remember a post a long, long time ago about a noise/free/jazz project called The Statler Bros. , that consists of Joe (Coin Under Tongue), John, and wunderdrummer David. Just to recap, The Statler Bros. use two feedback looping rigs, no "real" instruments, and a jazz drummer. Not feedback, like "oww, that high pitch sound is killing me!" more like "wow, this sounds like 2001, space invaders, and fax machine static!" They will be playing (and recording) a show tomorrow, this Friday at around 8:30 PM at Home Sweet Home, which is just south of the Bowery Ballroom. IF you like dive bars and taxidermy, come on by. Also on the bill is our friend NATE and Nature Program. After the show is complete, the audio recording of the show will be posted here for the bees that are too busy.

UPDATE!!! - (Live tracks added below.)

right click or opt/cntrl click to download

Statler Bros. - Unexpanded

Statler Bros. - Piñata

Nathan W. McKee - How Did We Get Here?

Nature Program - Live Jam (?)

Potato Survey Result Are In

After months of polling, we still couldn't decide which is the best way to serve potatoes. It ended up being a four way tie between Tater Tots, Mashed, French Fries, and Hash Browns. Please take the time to vote in our new survey, WHO IS THE GREATEST ROCK GUITARIST OF ALL TIME? (the survey is located on the right sidebar)

DBA Showcase Review from Radio Flyer

When: July 15

Where: Death By Audio "Obviously, I wouldn't miss a show featuring two of my midyear Bands to Watch in 2009 playing in their own home space, which also happens to be the city's best DIY venue. Yeah, hottt.

I named Coin Under Tongue a band to watch without having heard them live. It was a bit of a gamble, but the recorded material was so strong, it seemed worth the risk. And after all, the Death By Audio collective (A Place to Bury Strangers, Dirty On Purpose, Grooms/Muggabears, etc) has yet to produce a band that falls short of amazing.

But nothing prepared me for exactly how amazing CUT would be live. The band pumped the room so full of smoke you could barely make out the folks in front of you, let alone the stage. Then, as they slowly emerged from the murk, the band cranked out some of the heaviest, nastiest post-hardcore I've ever heard.

The distorted bass crashes through like a drunk mammoth but the man behind the sound, George Wilson (oddly enough, formerly of slowcore dream-pop outfit Dirty on Purpose) is anything but clumsy, shredding some deliciously difficult riffs. The similarly-lumbering guitar cuts like a slow-motion buzz saw while Joe Kelly howls death metal renditions of secretly lovable melodies.

The band seemed a little underrehearsed for the show, stumbling more than once. This would have bothered me more, but truthfully, it was kind of nice to see the band, though skilled, are not infallible virtuosos. I was also pleasantly surprised by the variety the band offered, some songs more gentle or even downright pretty, some faster and post-punkier, some cleaner and some noisier - you'd be hard put to accuse this band of always sounding the same.

I was excited to catch Jeff the Brotherhood knowing nothing about them, but just based on the fact that they were selected to play between CUT and Sisters. Tennessee duo set up on the floor, and though that might have been just to speed up the transition between their set and Sisters', it seemed to be an ultimate gesture of solidarity. Literally playing from the midst of their not-quite-moshing audience, the band made the fans as much a part of the experience as they themselves were.

The downside, unfortunately, was not being able to see the band, except when guitarist Jake Orrall climbed on top of the amps on stage for a moment of rock-hero posing. Still, it was worth it.

The entire set found me unsuccessfully groping for a reference point - though JtB doesn't sound particularly "out there," they aren't easily pigeon-holed either. There are guitar-heavy moments that take a page straight from the classic rock and metal book, while just as often, the band sounds like a tidied up lo-fi pop outfit.

Whatever it was, the songwriting was superb and the performance thrilling. JtB sound most like some lost classic from greatest moments of the 1980's American indie scene, but like a sonic chameleon, the band wouldn't sound out of place much of anywhere. It would just sound damn good. [MySpace] Rounding out the night was Sisters, another personal favorite. Last time I saw them live, I was impressed but not blown away. This time, the band left no question of their pure awesomeness. There's something awkward about the band's two members - I could just imagine them as dorky third graders. But if they ever were, they certainly aren't dorky now.

Banging out a constant stream of lo-fi gems, Sisters are punk rock in a totally unclicheed way. Though they have some technical skill and their songs are not simplistic, the duo seems more interested in crashing and smashing and making a racket than in playing carefully. I'm not a fan of the prerecorded parts, only because I like seeing music produced right in front of me, when I'm at a show. Still, those parts weren't too many or too involved, just an invisible third person when an invisible third person was needed.

Cramped full of hooks and bright melodies, Sisters' music is pretty hard not to love. They wouldn't even need such evident concentration and effort and such unabashed enthusiasm to win over their audience, but putting this great of a live show with this great of songs is a combination you don't want to miss. "

RADIO FLYER REVIEW LINK