The First Museum by Lisa/Liza. Full album at prettypurgatory.bandcamp.com. 


Artwork by Shane Butler. 

Lisa/Liza - The First Museum

Maple Syrup, off of John Wayne Frankstein, the debut album by Family Planning.  Full album at prettypurgatory.bandcamp.com. 

Family Planning - Maple Syrup

Eternal Motherfucker II, the new split from Berkeley, California psych-folk crew AFRAID and Maine spectral-pop savant Jared Fairfield. Dark, heavenly vibes. Technicolor in all the transcendent hues. True-blue cosmic American music.  

Out November 4th on Pretty Purgatory.

Jared Fairfield - Silent Earth

The first track off 'Holy Times', the new record by Snaex. Produced by Caleb Mulkerin (Big Blood, O'Death, Swans, Larkin Grimm). Snaex is Chriss Sutherland of Fire on Fire, Cerberus Shoal, & Olas and Chris Teret of Company.

Stream & buy the album at bit.ly/HolyTimes.

Snaex - Foreign Homes

North America, the debut solo album by Will Graefe (Okkervil River, Landlady, Larkin Grimm, Petra Haden) hits the world via Pretty Purgatory on June 23rd. Pre-order it at bit.ly/willgraefe. 
--
North America is a collection of songs written on the road. Solitary and pastoral, it reconciles the brash melodicism of Aaron Copland and Sonny Sharrock with the ornate storytelling of Joni Mitchell and Cass McCombs. These are songs of deceit, folly, addiction, wanderlust, and persistent yearning, but there is a defiant optimism in their melodies.
 
Recorded between February and August of 2016 at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn, North America features NYC luminaries such as Joan Wasser (Joan as Policewoman), Shahzad Ismaily (Sam Amidon, Bonnie Prince Billy, Tom Waits), Benjamin Lazar Davis (Cuddle Magic, Okkervil River), Alec Spiegelman (Woods, White Hinterland), and frequent collaborator Jeremy Gustin (Star Rover, Marc Ribot, Albert Hammond Jr.). Sam Evian (Celestial Shore) engineered and mixed, capturing the songs in dark, earthy tones.
 
Will Graefe has spent the last decade touring relentlessly as a guitarist for Okkervil River, Larkin Grimm, Petra Haden, Landlady, and many others. This is his first official solo album and the first record to feature his voice. North America is out June 23rd on Pretty Purgatory.

Will Graefe - Blood Feather

Will Graefe - Boys

The Matt Sheffer Songbook, Vol. 1 hits the world via Pretty Purgatory on June 16th. Pre-order it at bit.ly/sheffersongs. 

-- 

A decade ago, before Friend Roulette had formed, the band’s future members were all friends with a singer from Houston named Matt Sheffer. Matt had the most beautiful, powerful voice. Though he wasn't much for alcohol, he could still go to karaoke bars and hustle for free drinks anytime he felt like it. Even more impressive than his voice was his compositional brilliance. He would spend days at a time crashing on his own couch (he had a bedroom, but seldom used it), recording songs on Garageband using his laptop's built-in microphone, leaving the apartment only to buy more Diet Coke & Ritz crackers. Every so often, he’d ask someone if they’d like to hear what he was working on. Without fail, he'd present an utter masterpiece, that despite its crude recording, was a radio-ready instant-classic.

Sadly, Matt was his own greatest adversary and harshest critic. Shortly after bringing these incredible songs to life, he would inevitably doubt whether they were any good at all. He disavowed entire albums of material, removing them from his Myspace page, only to start the process all over again. Eventually, Matt gave up his fraught musical pursuits in Brooklyn for the slower pace of Austin, TX. After a long period of inactivity, Matt finally returned to the world of left-field pop over the last few years, trickling psychedelic epics into the ether with his eccentric and uniquely-Sheffer sextet, Zettajoule. 

In 2016, Friend Roulette decided that they had a responsibility to record some of Matt's old songs as an act of preservation. After rearranging the material for their unique instrumentation and adding some ensemble elements of their own, they yielded The Matt Sheffer Songbook, Vol. 1, a loving tribute to a talented friend and a strange body of music that without, the band would not likely exist. Though they did not compose the song's skeletons themselves, the album feels like a Friend Roulette origin story, like their self-titled debut seven years late. It's through this deep-rooted musical kinship and ESP-level chemistry that they've created something greater than Matt could've in his crippling bouts of self-doubt, yet also greater than they could've without his clear vision as their guiding light. A decade ago, Matt Sheffer had already mastered an uncompromising and ever-adventurous all-in pop sound, that same sound that Friend Roulette has chased for its existence, and one that still sounds shockingly modern today.

Friend Roulette - Joan

Teton's debut album Candy Spelling hits the world via Pretty Purgatory on July 21st. Pre-order it at bit.ly/candyspelling.

--
Teton is the brain-child of Elizabeth Lovell and Sam Klickner, both raised in small, rural towns in Southern Illinois. Klickner, a music school drop-out, primarily self-taught performer and improviser, has recorded five records as the drummer of Chicago’s Wei Zhongle, while Lovell, a classically-trained pianist, fronted various outfits in the midwestern DIY universe, eventually cutting her teeth in composition, while working on a research facility in Antarctica. Soon after their romantic collision, the duo relocated to Portland, Oregon to join bassist and fellow, former-Illinoisan Jef Hill. Following a year of intense rehearsals, the band recorded their debut with long-time friend and collaborator David Allen (of International Anthem) and began touring the West Coast. 

The band’s debut, Candy Spelling, is a six song collection of contrapuntal art-pop that synthesizes the disparate traditions of 80’s icons like Kate Bush and Prefab Sprout with the dualistic prog of bands such as Magma and Henry Cow, while taking notes from medieval music and contemporary chamber music. Across lyrical themes of companionship, labor, birth, and the manifestation of intent, Teton delivers a specific sort of abstraction; one which is physically embodied in the album’s artwork (designed by Klickner), with it’s surrealist figurative and architectural forms, painted in dark gradients of burgundies and purples. 

Candy Spelling is a flowing Dalinian songscape, salted with intertwining melodicism that is rarely found in a power trio. Throughout, it's hard to believe that the sounds are being made live by only three people, as the music delivers five musical voices. Lovell delivers vocal lines polyrhythmically against her own quilted, double synth accompaniment. Klickner and Hill provide an erected, powerful back bone — a detailed trellis of rhythm and counter melodies. Of course, there are momentary guest features on the album from Portland luminary Andrew Auble and Wei Zhongle clarinetist John McCowen.

Teton’s intensely personal sound is perhaps partly the result of the couple’s lifestyle as artist polymaths: Lovell is a clothing and fiber artist; Klickner, a filmmaker and visual artist. Their combined aesthetic across forms is uncanny, dreamlike, and mystifying, with rich dichotomies at play. The songs are both masculine and feminine; delicate and aggressive; welcoming and merciless. Within these 25 minutes of music resides a fantasy world, sustained on dream-logic and chaotic symbolism. Teton embodies their mountainous namesake —a bold and towering ecosystem of taught, woven voices charged with an emotional richness found only in the intimacy of lovers.

Teton - Strike It Rich

Teton's debut album Candy Spelling hits the world via Pretty Purgatory on July 28th. Pre-order it at bit.ly/candyspelling.

--
Teton is the brain-child of Elizabeth Lovell and Sam Klickner, both raised in small, rural towns in Southern Illinois. Klickner, a music school drop-out, primarily self-taught performer and improviser, has recorded five records as the drummer of Chicago’s Wei Zhongle, while Lovell, a classically-trained pianist, fronted various outfits in the midwestern DIY universe, eventually cutting her teeth in composition, while working on a research facility in Antarctica. Soon after their romantic collision, the duo relocated to Portland, Oregon to join bassist and fellow, former-Illinoisan Jef Hill. Following a year of intense rehearsals, the band recorded their debut with long-time friend and collaborator David Allen (of International Anthem) and began touring the West Coast. 

The band’s debut, Candy Spelling, is a six song collection of contrapuntal art-pop that synthesizes the disparate traditions of 80’s icons like Kate Bush and Prefab Sprout with the dualistic prog of bands such as Magma and Henry Cow, while taking notes from medieval music and contemporary chamber music. Across lyrical themes of companionship, labor, birth, and the manifestation of intent, Teton delivers a specific sort of abstraction; one which is physically embodied in the album’s artwork (designed by Klickner), with it’s surrealist figurative and architectural forms, painted in dark gradients of burgundies and purples. 

Candy Spelling is a flowing Dalinian songscape, salted with intertwining melodicism that is rarely found in a power trio. Throughout, it's hard to believe that the sounds are being made live by only three people, as the music delivers five musical voices. Lovell delivers vocal lines polyrhythmically against her own quilted, double synth accompaniment. Klickner and Hill provide an erected, powerful back bone — a detailed trellis of rhythm and counter melodies. Of course, there are momentary guest features on the album from Portland luminary Andrew Auble and Wei Zhongle clarinetist John McCowen.

Teton’s intensely personal sound is perhaps partly the result of the couple’s lifestyle as artist polymaths: Lovell is a clothing and fiber artist; Klickner, a filmmaker and visual artist. Their combined aesthetic across forms is uncanny, dreamlike, and mystifying, with rich dichotomies at play. The songs are both masculine and feminine; delicate and aggressive; welcoming and merciless. Within these 25 minutes of music resides a fantasy world, sustained on dream-logic and chaotic symbolism. Teton embodies their mountainous namesake —a bold and towering ecosystem of taught, woven voices charged with an emotional richness found only in the intimacy of lovers.

Teton - Gay Honey

Forêt Endormie's debut album Étire dans le ciel vide hits the world via Pretty Purgatory on October 20th. Pre-order an LP, cassette, or CD at bit.ly/foretendormie. 

Forêt Endormie is the genre-melding chamber ensemble led by guitarist and composer Jordan Guerette, known widely for his work with American black metal luminaries Falls of Rauros. Formed in 2016 in the "Forest City" of Portland, Maine, Forêt Endormie draws as much from the forms and fantasies of 20th century French composers Erik Satie and Olivier Messiaen, as they do the melancholic Neo-folk of Tenhi and Sol Invcitus and heavy minimalism of drone pioneers Earth. 

Their debut record Étire dans le ciel vide (French for "stretch into the empty sky") finds the band deep in a singular sonic world, both immersed in western classical tradition and entirely apart from it. The instrumental make-up of cello, violin, piano, vibraphone, electric guitar, and voices sets up infinite possibilities: delicate melodies, interwoven rhythms, and lush, ever-moving harmonies. This is music replete in unapologetic romanticism, but with complexity and intricacy that never protrudes through its melodicism. The pieces, while airy and full of light, move with mournful grace like the heavy-hearted doom and dark Americana found in Falls of Rauros' sui generis black metal. Throughout the record's eight tracks, there is a certain, inescapable weight-- the pieces delve into the omnipresent anxiety and isolation of modern life, through the words of 19th century poet Paul Verlaine, as well as Guerette's own-- yet an inexorable beauty, purity, and sense of hope is always shining through.
credits

Forêt Endormie - L'angoisse

Back in February of 2016-- maybe 2015— we, Friend Roulette had a great offer to go do two shows in Virginia.  Even though we love, love, love our audience in Richmond and Harrisonburg, a two show run wasn’t quite enough to make the drive make sense. So we contacted Alex Tebeleff of the band (and then house venue of the same name) Paperhaus about putting together a DC show. He had another idea. Record an album at his house. His bandmate Ricky had just moved into the basement with a bunch of mics, a huge mixing board, etc. We had new songs. It was just enough to justify the whole trip. 

What I, Matt Meade, the guitarist in Friend Roulette, really loved about this session was that I was completely checked out. Up to this point in the band’s life, I usually played “leader", and in studio settings, I would spend my time pacing back and forth, staring at the clock watching the minutes pass, worrying if we were going to get everything done, worrying about the parts other people were playing… generally annoying the fuck out of everyone. When we headed south for this trip, I had just finished a good 28 days straight of working long hours and was about as tired as I'd ever been. When we arrived, I recall immediately going into my usual nervous studio mode upon walking into the house. Then I encountered Ricky. Ricky might be the slowest engineer-producer we've ever worked with. The pace was “okay, so that snare sounds pretty good, bass sounds good, let’s go have a smoke and then maybe get some guitar sounds" whether the band was smoking or not. I felt like there was a spliff sparked in between every take. It gave us lots of time to think about what we were doing... or not think at all. As soon as we had all the basic tracks and I had done my few vocals, someone gave me a Klonopin or Xanax or something and I just laid on the floor of the studio and went to sleep for 5 hours. I woke up around 11pm to the sounds of cheering and bottles being cracked, because the album was done.

Then we waited. Friend Roulette loves to wait. We just waited and waited until finally we decided to get Mr. Jeff Berner to mix it. We mixed it in one day with the guy and then we waited some more. I was on a boat in Mexico when I decided this album needed a 4th song. I knew very clearly what song It had to be as it was ringing in my ears. It was a song that John Stanesco, Friend Roulette EWI master, had written for his senior recital in college 6 years prior. I arranged it, Julia wrote lyrics for it, and we recorded it in my home studio. And then we waited some more, until we got offered some more free studio time to record the drums and bass to finish the track out. 

Nw we’ve got a four song record that only took about that many years to make. What these songs are about I don't quite know, but as I’ve revisited them, I’ve realized there's something timely about them. You might think “Black Hole” was written in response to the kind of shit we’re dealing with today with that shitbird we call president. "Clocks" is somewhat of a self-hatred self-realization song. “Wash n' Burn" has heavy escapist themes to it. And I think “Blacked Out” may just literally be about your cell phone dying while you're blacked out. There’s gotta be some useful metaphors in that. Anyhow, these are really just my guesses. Lyrically these songs are sparse, yet perhaps direct and incisive, too. We hope people will actually make something out of them for themselves, as we, Friend Roulette have resigned to letting them exist just as they are and nothing more. 

"I Want Out" hits the world November 16th via Pretty Purgatory.

Friend Roulette - Black Hole

from Peter Broderick​ & Friends Play Arthur Russell​, released 12/25/18. 

Ten Arthur Russell-penned tracks, spanning driving country, far-out disco, lilting folk, and even a pair of songs previously unavailable in any form. Featuring contributions by Brigid Mae Power​, Ora Cogan, members of Arthur's family, and others. A loving tribute to an unparalleled musical spirit. 

Vinyl, cassettes, and free downloads are available at prettypurgatory.bandcamp.com. Streaming everywhere music is found.

Peter Broderick - That's Us/Wild Combination

From Peter Broderick & Friends Play Arthur Russell, a loving tribute to the inimitable songwriter-composer-cellist-producer-multi-instrumentalist-one-of-a-kind-musical-mind. Featuring contributions from Brigid Mae Power, Ora Cogan, Hamilton Belk, members of Arthur Russell's family, and more. Out now on Pretty Purgatory. Cassettes, vinyl, and free download at prettypurgatory.bandcamp.com. Streaming everywhere music is found.

Peter Broderick & Friends Play Arthur Russell

That's Us/Wild Combination

The debut solo album by Glass Ghost songwriter-keyboardist Eliot Krimsky, out February 22nd on Pretty Purgatory. Sprawling orchestral ambience and incisive hook-heavy electro-pop. Songs of fear, despair, humanity, and hope. Powerful, affirmative anthems of and for this moment.

Pre-order on cassette, CD, and digital via prettypurgatory.bandcamp.com.

Eliot Krimsky - Darkness

Eliot Krimsky - Fear

Record Label • Portland, ME, USA • est. 2014

Jordan Holtz
EDT
Diamanda La Berge Dramm
Eliot Krimsky
Peter Broderick
Teton
Woodpainting
Friend Roulette
Will Graefe
Forêt Endormie
Wei Zhongle
Lisa/Liza
Afraid
Yairms
Family Planning
Ada
Jared Fairfield
Snaex
Jacob Augustine
Bad Braids
The Milkman's Union

Pretty Purgatory

Popular tracks