Live at Spirit Store - Al Scorch Country Soul Ensemble

Gray Sky is ecstatic to announce its newest release, Live the Spirit Store from the Al Scorch Country Soul Ensemble. This great record, which documents a live show in Ireland's Spirit Store, will be released on May 13, 2015.  Grafting literate, character-driven songs and Mid-American roots onto a post-punk DIY sensibility, Chicago-based songwriter, performer and instrumentalist Al Scorch is at the forefront of a bold musical frontier. A songwriter, vocalist, claw-hammer banjoist and rambunctious force of nature, Scorch –– solo and with his shifting collective of musicians –– regales audiences across the U.S., the UK and Ireland, “…breathing fire and brimstone,” as Alan Harrison, No Depression testifies.

This record captures Al Scorch and the Al Scorch Country Soul Ensemble at their very best: live, sweaty, raucous and real.  

LIMITED EDITION OF 500 BLUE VINYL 180 GRAM LPS.

PRE-SALE: May 1, 2015
OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE:  May 13, 2015
$12.00

Rough Housing - Keith John Adams

The fantastic new album from our favorite British BBC correspondence Keith John Adams.  Roughhousing is another LP crammed full of clever and witty pop gems.


There is a free download of Music In my Feet at keithjohnadams.bandcamp.com.   

This is a co-release with People in a Position to Know (Arizona), Red Wig Records (Amsterdam) and Vacilando '68 (London). 

Rad!

RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 1, 2014

PURCHASE NOW HERE: www.grayskypress.com

Putting Cigarettes Out in My Sleep - Jeffrey Whitelaw



DIGITAL VERSION ON SALE NOW. 

Gray Sky Micro Press # 2:  Jeffrey Whitelaw lives, works, writes and attends school in Seattle, Washington.  He is a regular contributor to Pop Wreckoning and has also written for KEXP.org and other publications.  He is currently thinking of six ways to prove to you that you're wrong.

Mr. Whitelaw's prolific tendencies have produced a large body of work, speaking to the essence of the alone, to the undending spirals of desperation, to the last whispers of the battered but not yet broken hope.

Putting Cigarettes Out in My Sleep is a collection of mostly unpublished writings of Mr. Whitelaw, from 1999 to 2012.  It is a compelling and often heartbreaking read offering blunt insight into the past and the future of a unique and unapologetic writer.

LIMITED EDITION PAPERBACK 
OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE:  APRIL 6, 2013
SOLD OUT

 DIGITAL VERSION
 AVAILABLE FOR KINDLE: NOW 
@ AMAZON.COM

Between Love and Nothing at All - The Society of Poor Academics (featuring The J. Arthur Keenes Band)

GRAY SKY MICRO PRESS No. 9 - Between Love and Nothing at All is the newest EP by Norwegian lo-fi naive pop electronicThe Society of Poor Academics.  On this go-around, the band is fortunate to be accompanied by The (wonderful and inspiring) J. Arthur Keenes Band. With two versions of their contagious offering Weekend backed with two additional fine tracks, Between Love and Nothing at All is instantly listenable and immediately memorable.  It is a pleasure to listen to and is another piece of the ever-growing jigsaw puzzle that is tSoPA. 

DIGITAL RELEASE DATE:  January 29, 2014

LIMITED EDITION of 50 8" CLEAR, SQUARE LATHE CUT RECORDS  RELEASE DATE: February 5, 2014

DIGITAL VERSION AVAILABLE NOW AT:

Double Happiness - Various Artists

 GRAY SKY MICRO PRESS  7   Double Happiness is a compilation of songs celebrating love, happiness and life and, in particular, the marriage of Jeff Thompson and Yuwen Huo. Life is short and goes on forever. Love is forever, and far too short. We are all one. Nothing ever ends. The beginning hasn't arrived. "And now we never have to eat ice cream by ourselves."

This six song EP of original recordings is being released as a limited edition 8 inch lathe cut record of 125 copies artfully manufactured by the master cutter Mike Dixon of lathecuts.com, and featuring original art by the wonderful and talented Emily Timm of Bloomington, Indiana, who is a singer and multi-instrumentalist in several bands, including the Inky Skulls, Ghost Mice and Tooth Soup.

The line up for this EP is pretty incredible. San Francisco's Magik*Magik Orchestra provides a stark yet lush version of the Mountain Goats' beautiful 02-75, with Minna Choi on vocals and piano, and featuring a sublime violin accompiment by Rob Moose of Antony & the Johnsons. Simon Joyner offers up the beautiful and soulful Only Gold Was Good Enough for you, a dreamy ode to love and a reluctant, melancholy farewell to loneliness. Finishing up side one is Franklin Bruno with Infant Changing Table, his gleeful and somehow romantic shout-out to spontaneous whoopie. Seminal experimental punk band Wckr Spgt starts off side two with a blast, and their rocking tune, Wedding Harmony Song, offers an incredible insight into love and deeper themes of togetherness and hope. Next up is indie pioneer John Vanderslice and his weird, fantastic, noise-pop love song to the City of San Francisco, Li Po Lounge. And winding everything up with beautiful awesomeness is lo-fi electronica Norwegian wunderband The Society of Poor Academics, and their perfect little pop piece Since That Day. Wow!

Digital version available for a limited time at Digital Double Happiness

Forty copies of this EP were given to guests of Jeff and Yuwen's wedding. The remaining copies were given to the recording artists and to friends of Gray Sky Micro Press. We all love each other. We all love you.


released 07 September 2013
Mastering by Nathaniel Sabatino, Loveland Studios.


The Rising Cost of Livin’ High and Lovin’ Hard: A Tribute to Kris Kristofferson - Various Artists


GRAY SKY PRESS # 6 

Produced entirely by the incredible Michael Dixon from People in a Position to Know, Gray Sky has the honor of co-releasing this record through pure acts of fortuitious inadvertence.  A ton of great tracks and a fantastically packaged double LP.  Only a few of these left, so get them while you can.  Below is Mr. Dixon's description of this vinyl double LP.


The Rising Cost of Livin’ High and Lovin’ Hard: A Tribute to Kris Kristofferson:

Kristofferson’s music might not be quite as well known as his buddies Waylon, Willie, and Johnny, (who he was in a super-group, The Highwaymen, with) but amongst songwriters in the know, he is just as highly respected. Rhodes Scholar, helicopter pilot, songwriter, janitor, actor, heartthrob, and all-around Renaissance Man. His history is just as legendary as any of his outlaw country counterparts.
And now, PIAPTK Records wants to pay homage to this living legend and his songwriting through a new double LP full of amazing artists putting their own personal spin on his classic tales of ne’er-do-wells, miscreants, ladies men, hard luck heroes, and misunderstood every-men battling the devil. We contacted all of the friends and artists that we have worked with over the years, and within months, we had over 35 incredible submissions.
Tracks by Advance Base, Wooden Wand featuring the Scrivener, Little Wings, Simon Joyner, Golden Boots, Calvin Johnson, Turner Cody, Karl Blau, The Blank Tapes, The Gifted Children, Assateague, An Experiment, RFK Heise, Ohian, Wckr Spgt, The Gift Machine, Great Lakes, New Science Projects, Amo Joy!, The Ocean Floor, Southerly, Daring Ear, Matt Hopper, Good Saints, Bob Simpson, and the Black Swans.
$24.99 (comes with MP3 downloads)

Tooth Soup - Tooth Soup

GRAY SKY PRESS # 5 - To celebrate the fifth Gray Sky Micro Press Release, I am happy to present a 4 song EP by the incredible Bloomington-based band Tooth Soup.  The band is Chris, Emily, Gary and Mitch the Champ. Each member handles their own song:  Chris is on Farewell to All Things Familiar; Emily on Once upon a Time in Zilm; Gary on Veiled Warnings and Wasted Weekends; and Mitch the Champ on the Chicken of the Sea.  Each is song is absolutely top notch on its own (though I admit to having a slight song-crush on Chicken of the Sea, in particular).  Thanks to everyone for all of the support.  Thanks to the band for making these awesome tracks.  Cover art by Emily.  7 inch, clear lathe cut, limited edition of 50 copies, each hand-numbered (by me). PRIVATE PRESSING

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