A Frames / 333 - 4066897

This expansive triple LP A-Frames comp comes from SS Records, and they explain this release at length. Here’s the cut & paste:

“For S.S. Records fiftieth release we are very, very, very proud to announce the A Frames 333 triple album. Back in 2000, when SS, Sr. first saw the A Frames, he knew he had to start a new record label to release their stuff. And with the help of SS, Jr., that is what he did. From the Plastica 45 to two critically aclaimed full lengths and a couple more 45s, the A Frames/S.S. relationship remained so solid that when the A Frames jumped to Sub Pop records, the S.S. production team of Chris Woodhouse and Scott Soriano went along for the ride. So now, after years of talk, SS and the A Frames have gathered their singles and e.p.s together with a whole bunch of demo recordings, outtakes, and unreleased tracks for a 42 song, triple album set.

“Wow! Forty two songs, that is a lot!” you are thinking, “Is all of it good?” Damn it, yes! First off, 333 comps all the songs that appeared on 7"s released by S.S. and Royal Records, plus one compilation track. Second, almost every A Frames song was demo’d on 4-track before it was played out and recorded proper. By the time the public got to hear the demo’d songs, some of them had been radically altered or rearranged…and some never made it past demo. We listened to dozens and dozens of demos and cherry-picked the best and most unique. And, third, from the A Frames first recordings in 2000 and those with Woodhouse to the abandoned AF4 LP, the band has generated plenty of outtakes, quality music that didn’t quite fit on an album or never got paired with a B-side for a 45. We also dug through those. All in all, the A Frames and SS sorted through nearly 80 songs in order to create this statement of a set.

From the onset the A Frames have blown away fans and critics. Their first two singles received much praise, setting up their 2002 debut album for many mentions as the record of the year, called “one of the few great American rock records” by Thurston Moore and Byron Coley. Their second album received even more praise, as did the handful of singles they after, as well as their third album Black Forest. The A Frames are one of the few bands never to have released a bad or mediocre record. We thought about that when assembling 333, for we didn’t want this one to be a dud. We are very confident that like the neutron bomb that blasted the A Frames off, we have one hell of a post-punk explosion here."

Released: July 26, 2010

A Frames / Black Forest - SP668

Having each cut their musical teeth many years prior on bands like Cows, Butthole Surfers, and Scratch Acid, Seattle’s A Frames formed during the late ‘90s and began collectively designing their own brand of stripped-down neo-modern experimental noise. Erin Sullivan’s angular, angry guitars and bleak, deadpan lyrics march over Lars Finberg’s robotic trashcan beats and Min Yee’s stirring, sexy low end. Over a handful of now collectible 7"s and two albums, the A Frames have issued minimalist, propulsive songs about apocalyptic cultural shifts and surveillance strategies. More textural and complex, Black Forest retains the rawness of their earliest releases; the album is a cold, sterilized cacophony that illustrates meltdowns, laser love and greed. The A Frames make anachronistic analog dance hits and post-modern blues ballads for binary code casualties.

Released: March 22, 2005

A Frames / A Frames - SS003

The A Frames’ debut album on SS Records. And here’s what SS Records has to say about it…

“Debut album that can claim to be one of p. rock’s great debut albums or “one of the few great new American rock records” (Byron Coley/Thurston Moore). You know you’ve been told to buy this record by god knows how many friends and don’t think that shitty download is what you really need. This is a ultrafucking masterpiece of punking genius."

A Frames / A Frames 2 - SS006

The A Frames 2nd album, also released by “SS Records”: And, here’s what the folks at SS Records have to say about it…

“Screw on your thinking cap, pap, cuz this fucker is not the first album. It takes the first and goes sideways into new areas but still holds down the goddamn fort. It IS everything the hypes says, mainly all the good things you like about punk’s past updated and shaken up. Produced by Woodhouse, SS, & A Frames.”