Next Javelin 12″ on Thrill Jockey Offers Custom Screening

If you saw my post about the 12″ subscription series on the Chicago-based Thrill Jockey label, you saw that the Brooklyn-based electronic group Javelin provided covers for their release by custom screening LP sleeves they found in bargain bins. The one I got was an early Nonesuch release– a Scott Joplin compilation.

For the band’s follow-up 12″ due to drop on February 16, 2010 they are offering a unique opportunity. If you send in an album cover before January 18th you can have your copy of the 12″ screened in a cover of your choosing! Obvious choices might be an LP of a local high school choir or high school band from the 70’s that recorded an LP– I see a lot of those in the bins. Maybe you have duplicates of a favorite release– I have multiples of Days of Future Past by the Moody Blues for example– from upgrading. These are just two examples of covers you might choose that have unique significance to you.

If you send $5 and a hoodie or teeshirt, they’ll screen that to give you a unique Javelin article of clothing. Very cool. Thrill Jockey stated in a recent e-mail that if you didn’t have a sleeve to send in, there would be more sleeve selected by the band available. Keep in mind that this is a release of 500– so if you plan to participate get your sleeve and mail it to Thrill Jockey!

Here’s how it works:

1) You pick a jacket out and mail it here:

Thrill Jockey Records P.O. Box 08038 Chicago, IL 60608

2) On the inside of the jacket you need to write your name, address, and
email. This is how we will identify which one is yours when you place your
order.

3) When you place your order with our mail order department, be sure to
include MY JACKET in the order message. We will then match up your details
and send you your unique copy!

4) As an added bonus for our special mail order customers, if you include
$5 and a t-shirt or hoodie, we will have your article of clothing screenprinted
and turned into a piece of unique Javelin merchandise and sent back with
your record!

Feel free to send in your jacket as soon as you like – no need to wait until
you’ve ordered the records. As long as you follow the above instructions,
we’ll make sure your 12″ comes in the record jacket you sent.

For more information/instructions, please email: orders@thrilljockey.com

“Number Two” is set for release on February 16th and everyone who sends
in a jacket will be notified in advance of when they can actually place
the order. Of course, if you’d rather cast your lot with Fate, we’ll be
printing up a handful of random jackets just like last time as well.

Click Here to visit the website of Javelin

New EP from Javelin on Thrill Jockey with Limited-Edition Thrift Store Sleeves

Javelin is an electronic duo from NYC that is steeped in the tradition of old school cratedigging and cut up sampling. They’ve gained a lot of notice over their first self-released cassette Jamz n Jemz which Pitchfork gave a 7.4 rating saying, “At a time when it seems like everyone’s roommate is cooking up bargain-bin symphonies, Javelin stand out like two heady chefs, turning canned food classics into tiny little pieces of inspired, inverted gourmet reimaginings.” They gained the attention of David Byrne who has signed them to Luaka Bop for their first full length to come out next year.

Thrill Jockey will be releasing two EPs from Javelin leading up to their label debut. The first self-titled EP is limited to 500 on vinyl and is part of the amazing Thrill Jockey subscription. The best part is that each of the sleeves are pulled from thrift store vinyl and are screened by Crosshair Screenprinting and Design in Chicago who were responsible for the amazing Spring 2007 Tortoise tour poster. See the streaming player below for closer “TWYCE” to see examples of the covers. I didn’t count them, but maybe all 500 are in the display? Lots of interesting cover selections both obscure and familiar– play “spot the cover” at home!

The tracks on the 5-track EP are new with the exception of “Lindsey Brohan” which was on Jamz n Jemz. The version of “Lindsey Brohan” on this EP is prepended with the Jamz n Jemz opening “skit” “Snow Aorta” where someone is interviewed about jumping expensive bikes into water.

This EP will be followed with another EP on Thrill Jockey early next year.

Click Here to visit the Javelin EP page on Thrill Jockey’s site where you can listen to streaming samples.

Click Here to visit the Javelin MySpace page.



Thrill Jockey Announces 12″ Subscription Club!

Thrill Jockey Records has always been very accommodating to it’s collector fans by providing exclusive limited-edition releases– usually in the form of some vinyl pressing. Releases that come to mind are the super-cool Records Toreism release for Record Store Day 2009, The limited-edition Plum boxset of 7″es, well and every vinyl pressing of their albums are limited to 1000 for the first run!

Thrill Jockey has announced a 12″ Subscription Club! The first series (optimistically keeping my fingers crossed for future ones!) will be for 7 very rare 12″es– some of these you can only get in the subscription, some of them guarantee you to get one before they are generally available. The lineup of acts providing releases is great– a mixture of long-time acts on the label and some new and future acts!

Already the demand has been so great that they have had to substitute a release that ran out. Although this isn’t too surprising because some of these releases are less than 500 pressings! In the case of the Pit Er Pat 12″ there was only 300!

The subscription ships in three packages.

Package #1 (Ships immediately)

Pit er Pat – “High Time Remix(thrill 12.31) Early subscribers got in on the remainder of the 300 hand-numbered pressings of this release which included remixes of tracks off the band’s new album High Time. Cool hand-assembled sleeve with art cards glued to each side.

The Fiery Furnaces – “The End is Near” (thrill 12.32) The rest of the orders will be filled with the remainder of this release– so now this is OOP! One album track, one “radio” edit, an alternate version and an unreleased track make this a great replacement for the Pit er Pat 12.

Tortoise – “Beacons of Ancestorship Remixes – Eye / Mark Ernestus (thrill 12.34) Tortoise’s first new remix 12″ since 1998’s T.N.T. pair of 12″es. This one has a gorgeous cover done by Andrew Paynter who did the cover of Beacons as well as the video for “Prepare Your Coffin.” The Eye remix is the same remix that is available on the Japanese version of Beacons. “Gigantes” remixed by Mark Ernestus. This is a 45 RPM pressing! 1500 copies, so I’m sure this will be available on tour and on the Thrill Jockey store.

Package #2 ( Ships in October)

Thank You – “Pathetic Magic” (thrill 12.35) Limited edition pressing of 300. Two new studio track and three remixes.

Pontiak – “Sea Voids” (thrill 12.33) Limited press of 500 with hand-printed covers. New material recorded before they went on tour with Earthless.

White Hills – “Dead” (thrill 12.36) 1000 copies. Three brand-new songs and a remix of “Oceans of Sound.”

Package #3 (Ships in November)

Javelin – TBA (thrill 12.37) Limited edition of 500. Just found out about Javelin through this club. A pair of guys from NYC who craft J Dilla-influenced electronica (my opinion). Their self-released CD was raved about by Pitchfork. Cool stuff I wouldn’t have expected from Thrill Jockey. 5 song release with covers that are recycled from vintage album jackets they found at thrift stores (hopefully they don’t smell musty!!).

Mi Ami – TBA (thrill 12.38) One of the casualties of the stop of new releases from Quarterstick/Touch and Go was Mi Ami. Their newest album and debut on Quarterstick was released the same day the label announced layoffs and ceasing new releases. It appears that Mi Ami just took their business across town to Thrill Jockey and will have a new release next year.

The price of the subscription is $84 (U.S.–$98 Canadian, $122 International) for the seven 12″es which includes shipping! In addition club member will get one of the Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary record bags that were sold at the shows in December 2007.

Click Here to Read More about the Thrill Jockey 12″ Subscription Series.