HARDLY ART
Here’s what the Sub Pop Megamart has from our friend label Hardly Art.
AVAILABLE NOW
We Are Loud Whispers / Suchness - SBL-73068
We Are Loud Whispers is a dreamy duo featuring Sonya Westcott (Arthur & Yu) and Ayumu Haitani (4 Bonjour’s Parties). Suchness, their debut LP, displays intricate electronic orchestration, loops, and effects, while relaying an organic ease. Assembled over emails sent between Seattle and Japan, Suchness transcended geographical and language barriers – and traditional ideas of what a “band” is – in its making.
Released: May 7, 2013
Colleen Green / Sock it to Me - SBL-73064
Colleen Green always wears sunglasses onstage. Colleen Green is long hair and getting high. Colleen Green’s first full-length for Hardly Art, Sock it to Me, is grounded in pure pop. Colleen Green’s multi-tracked, emotive vocals take an enormous leap forward, evoking all-time heroes such as Rose Melberg and Tina Weymouth, with every drum-machine-tracked song awash in the dreamy slacker romanticism of California.
Released: March 19, 2013
Grave Babies / Crusher - SBL-73067
Grave Babies are a band whose sound might suggest the need for drugs that stabilize mood, while also creating a desire for ones that enhance them. The center of Grave Babies’ sound is the sonic equivalent of thwarted desire – and on Crusher, their first LP for Hardly Art, Grave Babies take the harder approach: doing what they’ve always done, but doing it better. All LPs include a download code.
Released: February 26, 2013
Lost Animal / Ex Tropical - SBL-73066
Lost Animal’s music comes at you in layers: familiar, then mysterious; catchy, then saturated and atmospheric. Lost Animal finds Jarrod Quarrell (pictured on the cover there) using his keyboard to explore new sounds and evoke distant locations. Ex Tropical is the debut LP from Lost Animal. All LPs include a download code.
Released: January 29, 2013
Black Marble / A Different Arrangement - SBL-73063
A departure from Weight’s calculated coldwave formalism, A Different Arrangement surveys a wide variety of sounds, from radiant, bouncing ebullience to layers of sentimental synth melodies and Stewart’s resonant, reverb-smeared baritone; at times so distinctly manipulated and sculpted as to be otherworldly. All LPs include a download code.
Released: October 9, 2012
Unnatural Helpers / Land Grab - SBL-73040
Unnatural Helpers churn out hit songs like allergic sneezes, but they also are culled from the ditches of modern society, stolen from the ranks of working class yahoos. Pain, Doubt, Fear, Hate, Anger, Guilt, Regret, ad nauseum: it’s all here. Recorded in Seattle with Kurt Bloch and Eric Randall.
All LPs include a download code.
Released: September 25, 2012
Seapony / Falling - SBL-73062
Recorded at Olympia’s Dub Narcotic Studios, Falling is the second full-length LP from Seapony, and an album primed for autumnal enjoyment, handily conjuring the placid atmosphere of a Northwest summer’s twilight days. While remaining a record of disarming grace, Falling injects palpable rock energy into Seapony’s patented sun-kissed sound. All LPs include a download code.
Released: September 11, 2012
Fergus & Geronimo / Funky Was the State of Affairs - SBL-73057
Fergus & Geronimo return with Funky Was the State of Affairs, a sixteen-track weirdo-opus about aliens, mind-control, conspiracy theories, and intergalactic courtship. Also: numbers, symbols, parties, Heather Strange, and LSD. Get with it, clone drone! All LPs include a download code and come housed in a fancy old-school tip-on jacket.
Released: August 7, 2012
Deep Time / Deep Time - SBL-73061
Austin’s Jennifer Moore and Adam Jones are truly one-of-a-kind. For years you’ve known them as YellowFever, but now, know them as Deep Time. The same singular brand of oddball art-pop is still here, striking as ever, with a new name and renewed energy. Listen in and join their psychedelic coccoon. All LP include a download code.
Released: July 10, 2012
Magic Trick / Ruler of the Night - SBL-73053
Ruler of the Night is acclaimed songwriter Tim Cohen’s second LP under the Magic Trick portmanteau. Together with vocalists Noelle Cahill and Alicia Vanden Heuvel (Aislers Set), and James Kim (Kelly Stoltz’s band), Cohen has crafted a lush, absorbing, and alternately uplifting and devastating pop tapestry. All LPs include a download code.
Released: June 12, 2012
Broken Water / Tempest - SBL-73060
The Olympia three-piece Broken Water— a sometimes noisy, sometimes droning, often pretty and subtly poppy band—is very much a product of its hometown. After a number of shape-shifting releases, the band has managed the rare feat of evolution in the service of a signature sound, wild experimentation that ultimately works as a harness, locking down the music’s unique and idiosyncratic internal logic. Tempest is their second full-length LP and first for Hardly Art. Recorded at Buzz or Howl studios with Stan Wright. All LPs include a download code.
Released: May 29, 2012
K-Holes / Dismania - SBL-73059
NY’s K-Holes have returned with Dismania, the group’s second full-length and first for Hardly Art. Dismania comes packed with the same kind of sinister, feverish punk skronk the New York quintet (featuring former members of Golden Triangle and the Black Lips) is known for. It’s a dark, brutal, menacing trip; the sound of escape with the sheen of redemption, fueled by the low, thundering beat of tribal divination. All LPs include a download code.
Released: May 1, 2012
Grave Babies / Gothdammit - SBL-73058
Submerging achingly pretty melodies in fathoms-deep oceans of solvent distortion, Grave Babies are unlike any other band in Seattle, and Gothdammit is their newest release: a 12" EP featuring five brand new tracks. Limited pressing on black vinyl. All 12"s include a download code.
Released: April 17, 2012
La Sera / Sees the Light - SBL-73051
The second LP from La Sera is ten new tracks of peppy break-up pop brimming with defiance and bitter sweetness, recorded with Rob Barbato (The Fall, Darker My Love) in California. Where the first La Sera album was super-dreamy in its layered vocals, Sees The Light is more direct, more aggressive; almost a soundtrack to a lost drive-in movie classic. This is not an album for half-hearted partakers in the heartache scene: just an all-consuming love for punk as pop and pop as punk. All LPs include a download code.
Released: March 27, 2012
TacocaT / Take Me to Your Dealer - SBL-73056
Everyone’s favorite palindrome band, TacocaT, is back with four new songs, collected here on a new 7". The Take Me to Your Dealer EP crams all of the charming, Seattle-centric punk hits onto this little slab, which covers lyrical ground from everyone’s least favorite bus route, to a renowned cat magazine, to vaporizers, and more. So much more. Limited pressing on black vinyl.
Released: March 13, 2012
Hunx / Hairdresser Blues - SBL-73052
Hairdresser Blues is the first solo record from front man Hunx, and features all Hunx, all the time (minus drums, played by Daniel Pitout). Listen in as Hunx sings on about love, hairspray, and rollers, all backed by contagious pop melodies with streaks of glam, garage, and the Dunedin Sound in its hair. Recorded with Ivan Julian (Richard Hell & the Voidoids) in NY. All LPs include a download code.
Released: February 28, 2012
Black Marble / Weight Against the Door - SBL-73054
Black Marble is one of the latest and greatest additions to the Brooklyn synthwave lexicon, and Weight Against the Door is their debut release, which manages to be bleak, punk, electronic, and uplifting all at once. A download of the EP is included with the 12".
Released: February 14, 2012
Seapony / Sailing - SBL-73049
Well well well, if it isn’t the first new Seapony material to surface since their debut LP, Go With Me, was released earlier this year. “Sailing” is a subdued, earwormy number, featuring added acoustic guitar layers and delicate instrumentation. “I Saw You” is the more upbeat track, which is why we did the sensible thing and put it as the b-side. Take that, logic. Limited press on black vinyl.
Released: November 22, 2011
The Sandwitches / The Pearl - SBL-73048
“The Pearl” 7" presents two brand new tracks from San Francisco’s Sandwitches, both of which showcase their unique vocal phrasing and warbly Americana-tinged creations. This is the first material to follow the band’s acclaimed Mrs. Jones’ Cookies LP, and both songs are exclusive to this 7". Nothing else sounds quite like The Sandwitches, and vice versa. Limited pressing on black vinyl.
Released: November 8, 2011
The Beets / Let the Poison Out - SBL-73045
The Beets are the best band to ever exist from Queens, NY, and this is their third full-length record. Recorded with Gary Olsen of the Ladybug Transistor, Let the Poison Out is a collection of 13 songs about letting the poison out of your system. Semi-metal cover artwork by Matthew Volz. Expect references to the Ramones, Howard Stern, and dead people. All LPs include a download code. THE BEETS!
Released: October 24, 2011
Gem Club / Breakers - SBL-73039
Gem Club is music, made by Christopher Barnes and his collaborators, cellist Kristen Drymala, and vocalist Ieva Berberian; Breakers is their masterful debut LP.
Released: September 27, 2011
Shimmering Stars / Violent Hearts - SBL-73041
Violent Hearts is the debut LP from Shimmering Stars. Filtered through years of Spector records and awash in an echo chamber of dark reverb, Shimmering Stars specialize in crafting subtle, lilting pop for both bedroom loners and sock hop slow dancers alike. All LPs include a download code.
Released: September 13, 2011
Carissa's Wierd / Tucson - SBL-73042
The first new recordings from Carissa’s Wierd in over 7 years. This 7" features two brand new songs from the seminal northwest band, both exclusive to this release. Recorded at Mysterious Red X with Ben Kersten and featuring the band’s original lineup. First pressing on black vinyl.
Released: September 13, 2011
Jacuzzi Boys / Glazin' - SBL-73037
Glazin’ is the new full-length from Jacuzzi Boys.
Released: August 30, 2011
Xray Eyeballs / Sundae - SBL-73044
The first two new tracks from Xray Eyeballs since their debut LP (Not Nothing) was released on Kanine in early 2010. “Deja Vu” was produced by Chris Coady (Beach House, Blonde Redhead). First pressing of 500 on translucent blue vinyl.
Released: August 30, 2011
Gold Leaves / The Ornament - SBL-73038
The Ornament is the first ever full-length record from Gold Leaves, the new project of Grant Oslen (Arthur & Yu). Recorded and co-produced by Jason Quever (Papercuts) and featuring guest appearances from Thao Nguyen (Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, Thao & Mirah), Amy Blaschke (Night Canopy), and The Moondoggies.
Released: August 16, 2011
Hunx & His Punx / Too Young To Be In Love - SBL-73034
Too Young To Be In Love is the first fully-realized Hunx and His Punx album, and the group’s first for Hardly Art. It was recorded in New York City by Ivan Julian—one of the founding members of inimitable NYC punk legends Richard Hell and the Voidoids. This record was made in the same studio that one of Hunx’s idols, Ronnie Spector, once recorded in. While it is preceded by the Gay Singles LP (True Panther Sounds/Matador Records, 2009), a collection of hard-to-find and out-of-print 7" singles, Too Young To Be In Love is the first proper studio record from Hunx and His Punx.
Released: March 29, 2011
Circle Pit / Slave - SBL-73033
Following two 7" releases and a debut LP on Siltbreeze last year, we are proud to announce a brand new 7" from Circle Pit for Hardly Art. These Australian noise-makers have stepped back from their raucous sludge and instead crafted two moody, synthed-out slow-burners for this double A-side. Limited pressing on white vinyl.
Released: March 29, 2011
Dizzy Eyes / Let's Break Up the Band - SBL-73032
Debut 7" from Vancouver, BC’s Dizzy Eyes! A taut trio of rock and roll / guitar pop anthems, composed during the eight months of the band’s existence. Dizzy Eyes is currently on hiatus. Long live Dizzy Eyes! Limited pressing on black vinyl.
Released: March 1, 2011
Colleen Green / Green One - SBL-73031
Colleen Green’s first release for Hardly Art! Four tracks of lovely, catchy, fuzzy songs that range from ’80s pop goulash to psychedelic drone; from ’90s power punk to homemade Sebadoh-style songs of heartache. Limited pressing on black vinyl.
Released: March 1, 2011
Fergus & Geronimo / Unlearn - SBL-73028
Unlearn—an 11-track doo-wop spiked salute to the anti-establishment—is the first-ever of all time full-length from the duo Fergus & Geronimo.
Released: January 18, 2011
The Moondoggies / Tidelands - SBL-73019
There is something inherently calming about large bodies of water. In times of emotional duress, standing at the edge of an ocean watching the waves roll in and out, centers the spirit in a way that standing on terra firma cannot. Kevin Murphy (lead vocals, guitar) chose to title the Moondoggies’ new album Tidelands in part because of a remote area outside his old stomping grounds of Ketchikan, Alaska where he used to go to escape from civilization. More importantly, as the sly recurring themes of water throughout the Seattle quartet’s second full-length underscore, these are songs crafted to provide solace, sense, and cause for celebration in a world fraught with turmoil. …
Released: October 12, 2010
Carissa's Wierd / You Should Be at Home Here - SBL-73021
Long OOP, now back in print, this is the second release from seminal northwest band Carissa’s Wierd.
Released: October 12, 2010
Carissa's Wierd / Songs About Leaving - SBL-73022
Long OOP, now back in print, this is the third and final release from seminal northwest band Carissa’s Wierd.
Released: October 12, 2010
Carissa's Wierd / Ugly But Honest - SBL-73020
Long OOP, now back in print, this is the first release from seminal northwest band Carissa’s Wierd.
Released: October 12, 2010
Woven Bones / I've Gotta Get - SBL-73018
Austin trio Woven Bones’ debut 7" on Hardly Art! Pummeling swamp-garage, wolfman rock, angry acid trips, psyched-out noise pop and lovelorn snarls, all on one fine 7".
Released: August 10, 2010
Carissa's Wierd / They'll Only Miss You When You Leave: Songs 1996-2003 - SBL-73015
A wise man once said, “sometimes you gotta say ‘what the fuck,’ make your move… saying ‘what the fuck’ brings freedom.” Carissa’s Wierd took those words to heart. Over the course of three studio albums and several cross-country tours, that WTF spirit informed their every move, yielding some of the most distinctive music to emerge from Seattle, anthologized for the first time on They’ll Only Miss You When You Leave: Songs 1996-2003.
Released: July 13, 2010
Unnatural Helpers / Cracked Love & Other Drugs - SBL-73013
The Unnatural Helpers have been banging around Seattle for a few years now as the perennial hobbyhorse of singer / drummer / songwriter / sole consistent member Dean Whitmore, who has also spent time with such Seattle outfits as the Intelligence, Welcome and Dipers. Despite the myriad lineup changes over the years, the band has managed to retain and expand on its original sound in a steady and cohesive way—anyone who has witnessed the live show over the years will be well familiar with the band’s taut, muscular guitar-rock, driven by Whitmore’s whip-tight drumming and usually caustic, often self-deprecating vocals. Oh, and the songs are always short. Very short.
Released: April 27, 2010
Golden Triangle / Double Jointer - SBL-73011
Brooklyn’s greatest natural resources are rats, crime and dirt. Out of this ugly and overpriced ex-industrial vermin ranch has risen a band that are so loud and full of life that they not only make it bearable but they almost make the squalor seem charming and full of possibility. Golden Triangle is a band of three girls and three boys who play music that’s loud, spooky, and will make you aroused and ambitious when you experience it live. Their previous three EPs and cassette are all sold out and gone. Their forthcoming debut full length, Double Jointer, is what is happening now. Recorded over a two week period at Key Club Recording Company with producer Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House, Blonde Redhead), Double Jointer has the speed and catchiness of the current garage / weird-punk / lo-fi shit with some profoundly goth under-currents and some no-wave guitar over-currents. The instruments have that good/bad blown out quality and the spectral lady singers are commanding and demanding, all knowing entities. Lead-off track “Cinco de Mayo” starts out with some slow, strummy surf-guitarmanship and gets faster and faster until the dam bursts and in come the siren vocals which sound like the band is howling derisive laughter at you. This is just the beginning, and the feverish tambourine crash-fest continues unabated until the aural house appropriately burns down with a slithering guitar line on epic album closer “Arson Wells.”
Released: March 2, 2010
Sub Pop / Sub Pop/Hardly Art 2009 CMJ Poster - 30000899
Designed by our own Sasha Barr, this poster shows the astounding lineup that Hardly Art and Sub Pop put together for CMJ 2009. Silk screened.
Released: January 26, 2010
The Dutchess & the Duke / Sunset / Sunrise - SBL-73009
Sunset / Sunrise, a slump-dodging opus that takes the dark, raw beauty of the band’s debut and scales it up to distinctly luminescent heights, thanks to a graceful synthesis of painfully earned creative maturity and thoughtful production under Greg Ashley’s adroitly tuned ears. The Gris Gris frontman’s analog-equipped, Bay Area studio was the ideal space for Jesse Lortz and fellow vocalist and guitarist Kimberly Morrison to arch their intimate musical dialog into the larger shape they had envisioned. Much of what colors Sunset / Sunrise‘s ten tracks is the confidence the duo acquired during extensive touring throughout 2008 in support of their debut, _She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke_.
Released: November 12, 2009
Le Loup / Family - SBL-73008
At the core of every contented family is a sense of balance, an emotional push-and-pull that helps stabilize the entire unit. A similar equilibrium anchors Le Loup’s second album, Family. Recorded in a remote cabin and a Maryland basement, the record finds the middle ground between tribal rock and sonic experimentation.
Released: September 22, 2009
Talbot Tagora / Lessons in the Woods or a City - SBL-73007
Lessons in the Woods or a City is presented as a series of lessons. Lessons that present a lesson that presents a lesson – in a lesson. A series of abstractions for the senses. A sound shaped for an ear which suggest a thought. A thought for a vehicle in a vehicle in a vehicle. Presented by fish on a circle to fish on a circle – as they change through a vehicle in time. Intended to take your time while you think about time. Time – A measurement. A clock – a tool in measurement – included on a CD player. 33.333 – a number – a tool in a tool in measurement – revolutions per minute- included on a record player. Tools used in the summer, fall, winter, or spring- tools explaining a revolution – a year – in a revolution in a revolution.
Released: July 21, 2009
Pretty & Nice / Get Young - SBL-73006
Tucked away in a basement somewhere on the outskirts of Boston, there is a secret lair filled with motley recording equipment, and a neatly organized cache of guitars, synths and other flashing electronics. The stockpile of gadgetry is owned and operated by three young gentlemen who call themselves Pretty & Nice.
Released: October 7, 2008
The Pica Beats / Beating Back the Claws of the Cold - SBL-73005
For all there is to be said about the power of the present in the endlessly cannibalizing tradition of pop music, it’s often the uncanny intangibility of timelessness that so separates the wheat from the chaff—a music aware of both the past and present, and yet discernibly apart from either moment in time. It is a tightrope tread by many, and often with perilous consequence. And yet, in the most literal sense of the word, timelessness is the very currency Seattle’s The Pica Beats make their stock in trade: that is, a sound both of and apart from our time.
Released: October 7, 2008
The Moondoggies / Don't Be A Stranger - SBL-73004
There is a popular chapter of American mythology that pertains to The Highway. It tells of a two-way ribbon of blacktop running endlessly through our past to our future, linking city to country, offering escape and motion and freedom to travel anywhere the imagination might wander. In this chapter, The Highway is both means and end, metaphor and reality. And down that mythical Highway there is a Bar. Inside that Bar is a Stage. On that Stage is a Band. That Band is the Moondoggies.
Released: October 7, 2008
The Dutchess & the Duke / She's the Dutchess, He's the Duke - SBL-73003
The DUTCHESS and the DUKE: Kimberly Morrison and Jesse Lortz. Two kids hanging out together, growing up together, having fun together. Two kids pissed off at each other, picking on each other, blaming each other, calling each other’s bullshit. Two kids playing in all sorts of bands for years. Sometimes together, many times apart. Through all the years they’ve known each other, however unforeseen, however ridiculous, the result has always been inevitable……
Released: July 7, 2008
Hardly Art / Hardly Art Gray - 2000299
Hardly Art t-shirt designed by Ghostshrimp.
Released: May 9, 2008
Le Loup / The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly - SBL-73002
During certain periods in life, creativity goes beyond serving as an outlet for dealing with stress, beyond being a welcome distraction, and becomes a compulsion. It is at this moment, when creation starts to bridge the gap between superfluity and intrinsic necessity, that some of the best art is realized. For Sam Simkoff, the creative force behind Le Loup, a similar cathartic tumult resulted in The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium Assembly.
Released: August 31, 2007
Arthur & Yu / In Camera - SBL-73001
Leaving childhood memories behind can be a troublesome thing, whether it’s a cherished object, a dream, or just playing around with friends. Given that their name is derived from childhood nicknames, it would be fair to say that Arthur & Yu know a thing or two about the process. Comprised of Seattle residents Grant Olsen and Sonya Westcott, Arthur & Yu have made an album that grapples with the idea of growing up and of letting go, creating a small space in which to drift away. With soft, layered vocals that float over textural acoustics, In Camera is an audible effigy of a time past, and an album made for forgetting and remembering.
Released: June 19, 2007
NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
Hausu / Total - SBL-73070
The beauty of rock-music lies in the expanse of terrain that it encompasses as a definition. Total aims to acknowledge that freedom; it is at times melodious and at others dissonant, all in all, a finished product, a totality. With this in mind: Total is the debut LP from Portland’s Hausu, and the band’s first for Hardly Art.
Released: June 25, 2013
Shannon and the Clams / Dreams in the Rat House - SBL-73069
SHANNON AND THE CLAMS are rumored to be from NOW in Oakland California and comprised of Shannon Shaw (vocals, bass), Cody Blanchard (vocals, guitar), and Ian Amberson (drums, vocals). Dreams in the Rat House is their first LP for Hardly Art. From pop ballads to doo woppers, bomp stompers and punk rippers, country clippers and some psych-o trippers, it’s all R’n’R and it’s all right there in the Clams’ hooded velvet trick bag. Ya feel lucky, punk?
Released: May 21, 2013
Grave Babies / Pleasures - SBL-73043
A searing goth platter from Seattle, WA. Two brand new, blown-out tracks of dark pop brilliance on a first pressing of 500 on clear vinyl. Put it on headphones and listen to blood pour out of your ears.
Released: August 16, 2011
La Sera / Devils Hearts Grow Gold - SBL-73029
7" from La Sera, featuring a track from the self-titled full-length, La Sera and a b-side exclusive to this release. Black wax.
Released: January 18, 2011
Carissa's Wierd / Carissa's Wierd Poster - 30002990
This here 3-color poster was designed by Sasha Barr of The New Year in honor of the Carissa’s Wierd reunion show at the Showbox in Seattle, WA on July 9th, 2010. Limited edition run, individually signed and stamped by the designer, 18″ × 24″ and printed on high-quality 100lb stock.
Released: August 4, 2010
