SKiN GRAFT News for You's

B A L L P E E N ( ! ) B U L L E T I N S

updated: December 19th, 2007

IN THE NEWS:

SECRET SANTA SALE
vv - extended until January 7th!!!
CAMEL & GREYHOUND
vv- endorsements run amok!
ATHLETIC AUTOMATON
vv - vinyl LP is MIA!
FLYING LUTTENBACHERS
vv - are history!
FIRST RELEASE OF 2008?
vv - KOENJIHYAKKEI "Hundred Sights Of Koenji" CD!

Salütes Sound Seekers ( ! )
SKiN GRAFT's Ace Reporter, "Jazzy" Joe Romita here with another staggering summary of the frankly phenomenal feats fathered at the famed fount of flabbergast... the forever favored, far-from faddish, far-flung frontiersmen of the fashionable Fort SKiN GRAFT!!!! Face front, frenzied ones!!!!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Homeslices!! It’s Jazzy Joe with another nipple-hardening narrative of newsworthy notes and nonsensical name-dropping from the nation's numero-uno non-entity of noisemakers and no-good-nicks! It’s been a while, so plant your posterior pronto and lets get down to today’s show business!!

ITEM! In our last update, Mark broke the news on the SKiN GRAFT SECRET SANTA SALE (you'll find all of the details in the update below). As the sale’s end date approached, a torrent of hopeful, heart-churning emails poured in - praying, pining and pleading for an extension to the dynamic deals and discounts delivered therein.... Seems that many of the Graft faithful have not got quite enough dimes squirreled away - and are betting that Santa will be sticking cold hard cash under the tree in lieu of coal this year.

Far be it from Skin Graft to close the year by pulling a Scrooge. Our Department of Public Welfare has taken pity on your penny-pinched plight and THE SKiN GRAFT SECRET SANTA SALE has been extended through JANUARY 7th, 2008!!! Now all may throw their Christmas cash into the SKiN GRAFT Fount of Fabulousness, enabling you to glom onto even more glamorous Graft goodies to beautify your personal audio archive or stuff in the stocking of a certain sweetie you've set in your sights. Order soon and order often ( ! ), no amount of pleading will prevent us from pulling the plug come January 7th!!! To see the deals, go to the SKiN GRAFT Shop and click the SANTA BOX in the upper left hand corner. Please note that you CAN mix and match sale items with regularly priced items in the shop.

Additionally, the last of the items for this year's eBay sale are about to go up. We've got lots of hard to find, not so hard to find, rare and oop noise & hardcore LP's, CD's, 7" and other odds and ends up for the bidding HERE. The ebay seller id is SINRAFT (nicked from the bootlegging outfit of the same name), but these auctions are indeed legit. Merry X-Mas!

ITEM! As the planet’s premiere purveyor of mixed-up, mind-staggering melodies, it should come as no surprise to our listeners that corporate America has long been beating on the SG HQ door, hoping to solicit endorsements from our rollicking roster of rockers. Yes, from Actifed to Zenith, it seems that nothing spells surefire sell through like a nod from the Skin Graft elite. Despite the enormous sums of money flaunted in our freckled faces, our artists have always resisted the easy buck - time and time again uniformly turning down offer after offer.

Imagine our surprise, sitting around the office engaged in our usual activity of coffee breaking and clock watching, when we paged through the new issue of Rolling Stone to find none other than our own AIDS Wolf and a host of other acts name dropped in a massive advert for Camel Cigarettes! Unlike Fred Flintstone’s stint as a Winston cigarette pitchman, neither the band nor the label received any compensation - or had any knowledge of this apparent advocation in advance of it’s publication! In response, Kill Rock Stars, Touch And Go and Skin Graft collaboratively composed an open letter addressing this bizarre turn of events and it has been signed by a gaggle of other less-than-pleased labels including Lovepump United, Audio Dregs and Lucky Madison. Rolling Stone and Camel have offered no comment, but they had best put on the their Sunday best cause the bands and no less than NINE State’s Attorney General are Lawsuiting up. To get the full skinny, Jazzy invites you to visit THE DAILY SWARM and the following links at Pitchfork:

CAMEL & ROLLING STONE UNDER FIRE FOR ADVERT

LABELS SEEK APOLOGY FOR CAMEL ADVERTISEMENT

BANDS SUE CAMEL, ROLLING STONE OVER AD

But the asinine advocating doesn't end there! No sooner had the ink on the Camel Cigarette ad dried, when word comes our way that RUINS was unwittingly drafted into endorsing Greyhound Bus Lines!!!! Folks, Jazzy always shoots straight with you - truth is stranger than fiction. Here’s the report, again courtesy of Pitchfork.

NOW RUINS IN GREYHOUND ADVERTISEMENT?!?

Due to this bizarre turn of events and following the lead taken by Madonna in her 120 million dollar deal with Live Nation (to handle the licensing of her name & likeness for other’s commercial advantage), we have now assigned our own to Charlie Nite to oversee Skin Graft and it’s artist’s endorsement endeavors. It is clear that having a product branded with the Skin Graft seal of approval is more important now than ever before to corporate America, and we are more than happy to oblige if the lump sum tips our personal scales of justice. So, in the months to come, you’ll no doubt be seeing ATHLETIC AUTOMATON pitching Gatorade and STRANGULATED BEATOFFS hawking for the Walt Disney Theme Parks. Marlboro, HOLY SMOKES await your offer.

ITEM! Along with the pleas for an extension to the SECRET SANTA sale, the second most emailed query at Camp SKiN GRAFT of late is “Where the heck is that ATHLETIC AUTOMATON “A Journey Through Roman’s Empire” Import vinyl LP you told us was up and coming?” That, friends, is a helluva a question - and one we’d like an answer to as well. The rights to the vinyl edition were granted to Spain’s TRECE GRABACIONES many moons ago – and said label was to have had the vinyl ready to debut alongside the CD format we sprung this Fall. Then, with the release date upon us, came word that TRECE was running a bit behind and hoped to have it to us by October. - - - - - And then all communication on their end came to a halt. At this point TRECE GRABACIONES have in their possession the vinyl LP master and all of the artwork designed specifically for the LP. We have zilch.

We haven't gotten word of any tragedy befalling Jordi or the label - and we sincerely hope all is well. We’ve made every effort to find out what is going with the AA LP, but our efforts have netted us nothing, so if you would like to encourage TRECE GRABACIONES to get on the ball and enlighten us all, try emailing Jordi at cortaunyas@trecegrabaciones.com. For the time being, we have plenty of copies of ATHLETIC AUTOMATON’s latest in the digital format to go around - and while it doesn’t perform well on the turntable, in the CD player it remains undefeated. Visit the SKiN GRAFT Paypal Shop to score a copy.

ITEM! And Jazzy can’t let this update pass without acknowledging that, after 16 years of uncompromising excellence, our old pal Weasel Walter has decided to lower the curtain on The FLYING LUTTENBACHERS. As you may know, Weasel had been releasing the latest Luttenbachers work on his UG EXPLODE imprint of late, and he offered this statement as to why he’s decided to draw the Luttenbachers to a close at this time:

"over the last two or three years it was starting to seem like i was keeping this mess going just to "prove something" - to myself, to my friends, to my enemies, etc. i guess what i was trying to prove is that nothing could stop the band. that's not a very good reason to have a band, honestly. the serious lack of support and recognition for the flying luttenbachers had drained me almost completely by late 2006. i was a nervous wreck and momentum was at an absolute zero. around november of this year, i realized there really was nothing to "prove" by keeping it going, i felt free and decided to end it on an artistic high note, the new album "incarceration by abstraction". this is the best decision for me. i don't regret anything the band has done, but it's simply time to move on. i'm not done making music yet - not by a long shot. how and why i make music has to be looked at in a different light. there's got to be a way to do this without killing myself for it. i continue to play in xbxrx, recently joined burmese and will focus on my improvised music options next year, including writing more material for large ensembles. if people think they're going to "miss" the flying luttenbachers, my suggestion is that they listen a little closer to the music the band has already made. i assure you that there's plenty left to chew on inside of those recordings. perhaps if i feel like a wider audience is ready for it, we'll reappear, but until then we've done all we can do. any more would be quixotic and futile."

Earlier this year, SKiN GRAFT released THE FLYING LUTTENBACHERS “Destroy All Music Revisited” CD, which documents the formative punk-jazz era of the band. Just today, this review landed in the Skin Graft in-box from ALLABOUTJAZZ.COM, so we suggest you give that a look. And wily old Weasel is not through here at Camp Skin Graft, even as the Jazzy One types, Weasel is hard at work mixing AIDS WOLF’s next magnum opus, scheduled for release next year!

- - - - And that friends and lovers brings us to the end of yet another broadband broadcast year. It’s been a year filled with ups and downs; from the highs of brand spanking new full lengths from the likes of PRE and The CHINESE STARS to the lows of unsanctioned bootlegs and cigarette endorsements, it's been a year we won't soon forget. All of us are working here to insure that next year proves to be more glorious than ever before - and Jazzy is tickled pink to announce for the first time anywhere that we’re going to kick it off with none other than the stateside debut of KOENJIHYAKKEI’s first album “Hundred Sights of Koenji” in a radically remixed and remastered presentation! Watch this space for more details!

Yes, It’s going to be a great 2008 at Skin Graft Records and we’re planning on spending it with you, so keep a light on and fluff up that extra pillow (we just hope you don’t snore)!!!

Excel-sore!

"JAZZY" JOE ROMITA

MORE NEW NEWS:

updated: December 3rd, 2007

SALE INSTRUCTIONS:

( ! ) Go to the SKiN GRAFT Shop and click the SANTA BOX in the upper left to go to the SALE PAGE.

( ! ) DISCOUNTED PRICES are ONLY at THE SALE PAGE ( ! ) NOT on the Regular Shop Pages ( ! )

FREE SHIPPING in the USA & Canada
OVERSEAS customers must add shipping charges.

You CAN mix and match Sale Items with regularly priced items in the Skin Graft Shop.

Thanks!

updated: November 21st, 2007

The BRISE-GLACE LPs are sold out (but it lives on in the venerable CD format). We do have a few STRANGULATED BEATOFFS LP's remaining. If you missed out this time around, there's another special deal coming up in honor of the holidays- so check back soon!

Our year-end eBay sale of lots of hard to find, not so hard to find, rare and oop noise & hardcore LP's, CD's, 7" and other odds and ends is up HERE. The ebay seller id is SINRAFT (nicked from the bootlegging outfit of the same name), but these auctions are indeed legit. More stuff will be going up in the days to come.

Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving,

-Mark

updated: November 18th, 2007

Vinyl Warehouse Finds: Revisited!

Hi Everybody,
This is Mark writing.

ITEM! Earlier this year I wrote that we'd uncovered a box of the original pressing of the BRISE-GLACE "When In Vanitas.." LP. When it was originally released, the vinyl sold out very quickly, but this little batch was returned to us from a European distributor. Before we put the remaining copies on sale, a few LP's were put on reserve and set aside, but those were never claimed, so rather than sit on them, I'm going to put them up here.

The sleeves all have a small bend in one of the four corners, but they are still in the original shrinkwrap and are otherwise like new. We have a very limited supply and will sell them 'til they're gone for $13.00 each. BRISE-GLACE was the band formed by Jim O'Rourke along with Darin Gray (Dazzling Killmen, You Fantastic!, Grand Ulena), Thymme Jones (Cheer-Accident, You Fantastic!) and Dylan Posa (Cheer-Accident, The Flying Luttenbachers). Jim, Darin and Thymme would also go on to team up with Zeni Geva's K.K. Null to record the YONA-KIT album. You can read about BRISE-GLACE HERE, photos are HERE and an MP3 can be found in the MP3 Archive at the Audio page HERE.

ITEM! Also uncovered on my trip to the USA were a few copies of STRANGULATED BEATOFFS debut LP, Days Of Our Lives on vinyl! This record is an import, very rare and is sequenced differently from the CD version. All of the covers are bit beat up - (I've never seen a true mint copy) and these are also in very limited supply. We'll sell them 'til they're gone for $13.00 each. For those unfamiliar with the Beatoffs, they are mysterious - and info is not readily available, but you can read about Days Of Our Lives HERE, band photos are HERE and an MP3 of Satan's Pool Party can be found in the MP3 Archive at the Audio page HERE. (Scroll all the way down to the (Co-Release / Distributed Archive).

For those who'd like both the LP and CD formats of BRISE-GLACE and STRANGULATED BEATOFFS, we've got a special deal similar to the vinyl / CD bundles we offer from time to time on new releases. These won't last long.

And as was reported last time, we've got in copies of DA BLOODY GASHES "Pedal To The Metal" LP, the first band to team AIDS Wolf's own Chloe Lum and Yannick Desranleau, plus Bobo Boutin, who went on to become a founding member of Les Georges Leningrad. An MP3 has been added to the MP3 Archive at the Audio page HERE. (Also all the way down in the Co-Release / Distributed Archive). You can read more about DA BLOODY GASHES in the update below.

For online ordering, visit the PAYPAL SHOP. For check & money order instructions, details are at the CATALOG Page. Please email me to reserve copies of the warehouse find LP's if you prefer to send payment by post. Quantities are limited!

ITEM! AIDS WOLF forwarded the video up top from their Halloween show in NYC. They are all over the place this month, so don't miss them. Their show dates (and others!) are HERE.

And meanwhile, the reviews on the ATHLETIC AUTOMATON and PRE full length albums continue to roll in and are generally quite positive (?).

And the PRE/AIDS WOLF bootleg single and calendar set has got head's scratching the world over. Here's a link to a brief new article on PRE at PAPER THIN WALLS.

ITEM! The SKiN GRAFT FAN ART Gallery has received a particularly handsome update. This time we have "Hot Hits Cat" by Master Caterpillar and an untitled "Skin Graft collage" by Francoise Massacre. To see the the gallery's new acquisitions and for info on how you can contribute to our virtual museum, visit the CAMPGROUNDS page HERE and Click FAN ART GALLERY!

ITEM! Last year, just before Christmas, I put on a moving sale at eBay in honor of my transatlantic relocation. I'm not moving again this year, but I've got some more special items to offer - Lots of hard to find, not so hard to find, rare and oop LP's, CD's, 7" and other odds and ends are up for grabs HERE. The ebay seller id is SINRAFT, nicked from the bootlegging outfit of the same name, but rest assured that these auctions are indeed legit. More stuff will be going up in the days to come!

That's all for today -
- Thanks for visiting!

Mark

MORE NEW NEWS:

updated: November 2nd, 2007
CMJ Wrap Up

Hi Everybody,
This is Mark writing. I'm back from my jaunt to the states and despite jetlag and what I later found out was an honest to goodness concussion (just a mild one), the Knitting Factory show was a real hoot. A couple of pics follow below...

AIDS WOLF at CMJ
photo courtesy of Nate Dorr (Impose Mag)

MADE IN MEXICO at CMJ
photo courtesy of Nate Dorr (Impose Mag)

PRE at CMJ
photo courtesy of Rebecca Smeyne (Village Voice)

RUINS Alone at CMJ
photo courtesy of Kathryn Yu (Pitchfork)

There are so many people I should thank, but here I'd like to publicly extend gratitude to Michelle of Panache and Jake of Lovepump for putting me up in NYC, plus Maria of Blueghost, Mookie of LPU, Kevin Darouian for his great poster, and of course AIDS WOLF, PRE, MADE IN MEXICO, RUINS and ALL of the bands who made the evening such a special event.

PRE, RUINS and MADE IN MEXICO have all headed back home - but AIDS WOLF's tour is just getting started. The dates are HERE.

And here's one very special item today:

ITEM! Last time, Jazzy filled you in on the PRE/AIDS Wolf release and this time I've got news a rarely heard pre-AIDS Wolf long player that we've been able to get ahold of... Just arrived and shipping out now, are copies of Total Zero's DA BLOODY GASHES "Pedal To The Metal" LP, the first band to team AIDS Wolf's own Chloe Lum and Yannick Desranleau, plus Bobo Boutin, who went on to become a founding member of Les Georges Leningrad.

Selected by The Montreal Mirror as a pick to click in their 2001 "Noisemakers" issue. Chloe had this to say when asked about what genre the band belonged: "We can't be part of the rock 'n' roll clique because we don't fuckin' wear eyeliner.

Following is MRR's original review:

And Rick Tremble's SNUBDOM review, circa May 2001:

Wet paper bag, a thing of beauty & balls! Da Bloody Gashes' debut LP rears its ugly, primordial head, PEDAL TO THE METAL!

A dinosaur, let's say a Deinonychosaurs from the Cretaceous period (translation: "terrible claw lizard," human height, agile, ferocious & predatory) resurrects & lumbers out of a tar pit in the middle of town, limbs dripping gooey & constrained. As if hatching from a sinewy rotten egg inside the hot, fetid, volcanic bowels of earth, it lashes out, defying any notions of cuteness associated w/ the newborn. Confused by its 21st century surroundings, it'd sink its slashing claws into the first bystander unlucky enough to be in the way if it weren't for the sticky molasses-like tar binding its extremities. It flops to the ground, trying to punch its way out of a wet paper bag. Anguished, guttural screams emit with more gurgling than intended, unaccustomed to expressing itself since millions of years & it's only a matter of time before it cleans itself off & strikes indiscriminately. Destructive force of nature mercifully shackled by plodding, stomping rhythm section for its own sake & ours. Strutting music for the manacled.

Guitarist Suhrid Manchada's infectious noodling & intentionally deteriorating, garage-fuzz feeding back & blurting, recurring, staccato, anticlimactic, atonal punches on cue evokes the sounds of screeching, crashing cars dodging Deinonychosaurs' swipes. Drummer Katie Fairmond seems to prefer riding on earsplitting "crash" symbols (as opposed to "ride" symbols), providing a tinitus inducing white noise backdrop of constant shattering glass depicting a bloodbath of Deinonychosaurs inadvertently bodychecking scores of city-dwellers through storefront windows. Her primal, tribal thumping might've been what woke the critter up in the first place. Bassist/guitarist Yannick Desranleau provides thundering dinosaur footsteps that can be felt miles away, down to the bone, dog whistle-like, triggering a natural-born sixth sense all critters possess that something, somewhere, has gone terribly wrong. "Wish I had a wishing well; wish my problems all away," rages singer Chlo‘ Lum. Stuttering & stammering to the prolonged, amplified, buzzing static of a bad guitar jack as if to collect her thoughts & bide her time in the middle of having her own sensibilities assaulted, she rips into (dead serious) fury the kind of which might send Deinonychosaurs scampering back to the netherworld (out of humiliation).

For online ordering, visit the Everything Else section of the PAYPAL SHOP. For check & money order instructions, go to the CATALOG Page. Quantities are limited!

Haven't finished unpacking - so I've gotta get to that - and am anxious to see if this new Mac OS Leopard (picked up on my last day in the US) lives up to the hype.

Bye for now -
Mark

MORE NEW NEWS:
updated: October 15th, 2007

Salütes Sound Seekers ( ! )
SKiN GRAFT's Ace Reporter, "Jazzy" Joe Romita here with another staggering summary of the frankly phenomenal feats fathered at the famed fount of flabbergast... the forever favored, far-from faddish, far-flung frontiersmen of the fashionable Fort SKiN GRAFT!!!! Face front, frenzied ones!!!!

Exhibit A:
confiscated sinraft web banner

Let's cut to the chase!! Your merciful media messiah has breaking news....

ITEM! Uncovered at Austrian customs, the PRE / AIDS WOLF "Live Dates" bootleg 7" single has been seized by Skin Graft Records for lawful distribution worldwide. Originating in Russia by the rogue record label SINRAFT Records, this vinyl record includes unauthorized live recordings of Montreal's AIDS WOLF and London's PRE, packaged in a full color 8 page calendar of compromising band photos.

Following is the original solicitation from SINRAFT records:

HERE IS THIRD RELEASE OF ILLICIT RECORDINGS OF SINRAFT RECORDS. LIVE RECORDED ON LONDON FROM KOSTYA DROBIK. INCREDIBLE AROUSE GUARANTEES. DOUBLE SUPER LIVE RECORDINGS OF NO WAVE ROCK!!! BOTH GROUPS IN SKIN GRAFT RECORDS.

AIDS WOLF IS CRAZY BAND OF MONTREAL ON CANADA!!! (HEARING LIKE "ARAB IN RADAR"!) PRE IS MAD BAND OF LONDON ON THE GREAT BRITAIN!!! (HEARING LIKE "MELT-BANANA"!) TOGETHER IS TWICE INTENSITY!!!! BONUS IS IMPROBABLE RECORD SLEEVE CALENDAR OF PRE AND AIDS WOLF GIRLS AND BOYS NO SHIRTS IN FULL COLOURS!!!! IS SUPER SEXY 2!!!

And So...

But that's not all! The seizure also included copies of the silhouette edition of the second SINRAFT bootleg: the controversial STRANGULATED BEATOFFS "inxs" double 7" that reproduced all four sides of the original Skin Graft Records STRANGULATED BEATOFFS "Porky The Pig and Bess" 2 x 7" - catalog number GR02! This edition, illegally issued weeks after INXS' vocalist died of rumored auto-erotic asphyxiation - is being made available as an accompaniment to the PRE/AIDS WOLF seizure set for a nominal fee!

Statement from Walt Freleng, legal department, SKiN GRAFT Records:

After consulting both bands, we have decided to make this unsanctioned PRE / AIDS WOLF release available for lawful distribution. Skin Graft Records takes the protection of its artist's rights very seriously. This record and its packaging are flagrant violations of those rights and its production is an entirely unethical and reprehensible act. It is our intention to prosecute the parties responsible to the fullest extent, and we hope that the swift kick dealt to the perpetrator's very minor intellectual properties will serve as a warning to other would be pirates.

For online ordering, visit the SKiN GRAFT PAYPAL SHOP. For check & money order instructions, go to the CATALOG Page. Orders are shipping now.

ITEM! The big CMJ showcase is nearly upon us! It goes down Friday, October 19th at New York City's legendary Knitting Factory and will feature performances from MADE IN MEXICO (USA), AIDS Wolf (Canada), RUINS alone (Japan) and PRE (United Kingdom). For all of the details, scroll down to the previous update below - and to see the "just-released" show poster by artist Kevin Darouian visit the TOURS page!

ITEM! BEHIND THE SCENES DEPARTMENT: PRE's "Epic Fits" is out now and early reviews are starting to come in. So far, so good - with ORGAN naming it "the album of the week" HERE and SUBACULTCHA giving it the stamp of approval HERE. Plenty has been written on the swank, limited edition metal box packaging of the first pressing of the PRE CD, but Jazzy found this cryptic piece of instructionage from the elder Graftsmen showing the Skin Graft shitworkers just how to assemble the entire package prior to it's release. This is the kind of behind the scenes thrill ride you guys never get to see, so Jazzy's dug it out of the email box and it put it up for you HERE. And if that's not enough, take a look at these instructions to the shipping department on how to MAKE A BIGGER BOX!

ITEM! In anticipation of their upcomng tours, both the AIDS Wolf and RUINS band pages have been updated! You can get a gandering over HERE. For all of the tour dates, including PRE, MADE IN MEXICO and more, check the TOURS page!

And below is a pic of our FALL 2007 advert, if you'd like to use this in your zine, flyer mail-out or just want to hang it on your fridge, give the mini a click to grab a hi-resolution copy in glorious black and white!

Friends, the dark side is calling once again so I leave you with the immortal words of Randolph Martin Hughes: "Neopalita tinipok Repartos!", which, when translated, comes out something like...

Excel-sore!

"JAZZY" JOE ROMITA

Click HERE for MORE new NEWS ( ! )