November 11, 2007

Today's Hotness: Revelation Records, Metal Hearts, Assembly Now

Revelation Records>> According to this engrossing interview with Revelation Records head Jordan Cooper, a second notable documentary about the hardcore punk scene -- in addition to the excellent "American Hardcore," this one focusing on the New York Hardcore scene that produced legendary acts like BURN, Quicksand, Judge and Bold -- has been underway for some time. Originally helmed by krsnacore posterboy and former Youth Of Today and Shelter fronter Ray Cappo, the film is nearly complete, although Cappo apparently had to switch his focus to his own work and family matters. Says Cooper, "I agreed to take it over and find someone to finish it which is something I'm in the process of doing. It will definitely come out, but there are more interviews to get and we're pretty much starting from scratch with the editing." We're particularly excited to see this, as by the time we got turned onto New York Hardcore in 1990, the scene was pretty much dead.

>> Notable neo-slowcore duo Metal Hearts has officially disbanded, according to this MySpace bulletin. Anar Badalov is busy with his new band Travels, which just released its first full length, while Flora Wolpert Checknoff is apparently traveling (weird coincidence, no?) and has posted some solo material online here. The erstwhile Baltimore-based act released the full-length Socialize in 2005 on Suicide Squeeze. We reviewed the record here. The title track is wholly mesmerizing and excellent and you can download it from the band's MySpace. We'll save you the trip and post it below. Bradley's Almanac has more info about Travels and an MP3 here; dig it.

Metal Hearts -- "Socialize" -- Socialize
[buy Socialize from Newbury Comics here]

>> The New York Times presents this morning a very interesting examination of so-called 360 (as in 360 degrees) record deals. One interesting thing we learned was that the label concern Fueled By Ramen is affiliated with Atlantic Records. Granted, none of the indie bands we follow will likely ever score a major label deal, let alone a "360" deal, but it is interesting to note what the growing trend is at the top of the food chain, and how it is viewed -- by both proponents and detractors -- by the capital I industry. Read the whole piece here.

>> Did we mention London indie rock foursome Assembly Now is recording a full-length record? It's true. To date we think the band has only released three singles, all of which are very good. So good, in fact, that at least as of now Assembly Now's "It's Magnetic" is in our top ten most played tracks of 2007 in ITunes. We'll likely do a year-end list of favorite albums and songs, so consider this information a bit of a preview. Here are our favorite records of 2006.

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