Thanks to everyone who came to a show, made something in the studio, or hung out in our backyard.  We had a great time being a small part of Portland’s musical community.  

Badlands is no longer in a cul de sac in Northeast, and we won’t be booking any more shows.  The studio is joining forces with Banana Stand Media, a Portland DIY mainstay.  Tim’s been helping them record live shows since the spring, and has already mixed their release from Fanno Creek.  Moving into the larger space and contributing to their collection of equipment is an exciting step forward.  

As sad as it is to end Badlands, we’re happily moving on to new projects, including new music, releases, and collaborations.  Tim recently worked with Towering Trees at the Banana Stand, and is planning the next album from Hip Hatchet.  Alex will be playing shows on the east coast with Ben Seretan, our resident last November and collaborator for In Two.  Jake has partnered up with Nick Principe and is playing drums in Port St. Willow.

Thanks again Portland, it was a blast.

Some tracks recently (or not so recently) recorded and/or mixed at Badlands:

PHOTOS FROM 8/11 ACOUSTIC SHOW

These boys are first up tomorrow, so be sure to get here at 1.  Howth is second, then Animal Eyes finishing it up.

FACEBOOK

AN OUTDOOR BRUNCH-TIME SHOW IN OUR BACKYARD.  BRING REFRESHMENTS.

FACEBOOK EVENT

ANIMAL EYES

HOWTH

FANNO CREEK

CONCEIVED AT AND IN BADLANDS

yvynyl:

Ben Seretan & The Early - Drive

Ben sends me this 7:43 opus along with the following letter:

Mark,

I would like to talk to you about some music I’ve made with friends, music that for me gives an audible texture to feelings of warmth, gratitude, and laughing doubled over in uncontrollable fits. Music that I personally think kicks ass.

Just this past Saturday my three friends and I found ourselves unexpectedly free, cut loose from all obligations until Monday morning in a minivan with a full tank of gas. We were in Richmond, Virginia. I had slept on a near-stranger’s floor. Marley the black cat had cut my leg up pretty bad the night before. We were offered unlimited free PBR all night. My ears were ringing with the sound of guitars and crash cymbals.

For me, when adrift in America with many hours of sunlight left in the day, there is only one thing to do: go swimming. We headed east towards the beach. Many hours of traffic later, we were pulling into a state park on the coast of Virginia. The sun was getting low, our shadows stretched out. We saw wild, dappled ponies grazing in the salt marsh, the foal walking unsteadily. Covered in mosquito bites, we arrived at the shore. We dropped our things and ran into the Atlantic, hooting and hollering. After a while, Jake the drummer looks over at me floating on my back. “Ecstatic Joy,” he says. I stare at him blankly - was he reading my tattoo aloud? I have the words scrawled on my chest. No. “That’s what we had just now.”

Back in November of 2011 I dropped everything here in Brooklyn and flew out to Portland, OR for about two weeks. My friends - the ones I was just swimming with in Virginia - were at the time running a house venue/recording studio in a picturesque cul-de-sac in Northeast. They had a yard and a beautiful kitchen, an old rose colored church pew on the porch, and a fully functional recording studio in the little wooden cube of a garage adjoining the main house. They called the place Badlands. My friends also play in a band called the Early, a ferocious two-electric-guitar-and-tumbling-drumkit instrumental trio. Me, I usually play alone, just me and my electric guitar, singing. The idea was this: we would record a collaborative album. Ben Seretan & the Early. My half-finished songs, my singing - their intensity, their place, their collage of sounds and noise.

We didn’t know how to work at first, really. I played them bits of things I had been working on, often revealing the sometimes painfully embarrassing origins of certain lyrics. They listened. We talked about shit. We hung out. We had Thanksgiving together on a table made out of an extra door and a couple of saw horses. We saw our friends play. We stood shivering in the garage playing guitar for hours on end. We wrote together, listened to music on a hi-fi. We drank beers, cooked dinner, went to people’s houses for parties. We recorded. I fell over laughing a few times when we finally got super loud and crazy. We rehearsed for our one full band show. I slept on a couch the entire time. We went to the bluffs to watch the sunset. We did karaoke and walked through the neighborhood. And then it was time for me to go.

The result of this collaboration is “In Two,” an album of eight songs. And it bears the imprint of everything we did in those two weeks, all of the drunken stumbling and mutual affection, all of the positive language and blissful labor, all of that idea that there is an abundance of goodness available to you. And Jake proved that to me again while we swam with the sun at our backs. Ecstatic Joy.

You can listen here.

Thanks for reading,

Ben

Read more Letters to YVYNYL

This was record was written and recorded at Badlands. We also ate Thanksgiving together.

Check it out…

theearly:

It’s done! The record we made with Ben Seretan is called In Two. It’s the honest result of four friends writing a whole record together in two weeks.

DOWNLOAD “IN TWO” PAY-WHAT-YOU-WANT HERE: http://intwo.bandcamp.com/

You can also stream it…

theearly:

In Two - our album as Ben Seretan & The Early - comes out on Friday.  The whole thing will be available fo pay-what-you-want download on this Bandcamp page. There will also be a limited edition of 250 vinyl copies of the record. Details on that soon!

We’re so psyched on everything that we want to share this with you now. A track from In Two. Enjoy.

poster by John Glouchevitch

We’re having a show in our living room this Sunday, May 20th.  Our spring Artist in Residence, Jeannot (aka John Glouchevitch), will be performing songs from his upcoming EP currently being recorded in our studio.  Jeannot will be opening the evening, followed by Goose & Fox, with Alameda closing out the night.  It’s also a birthday celebration for Badlands resident Philippe (of Hip Hatchet), who is producing Jeannot’s record.  We hope you’ll join us for a night of beautiful acoustic music in an intimate setting.

See the Facebook event here.

Badlands’ biggest bud Port St. Willow finally put out his record today. It’s masterful. You should find your headphones and listen to it right now.

Congrats, dude. 

portstwillow:

Good morning!

Here is my new record.  All of it.  It’s nice to listen to all the way through, or in two halves.  On the floor, or looking out the window of something moving.

There are no singles, though it is built from many pieces.  It is easily the largest project I have ever completed and could never have finished it without the love and support of so many others.  

Thank you.  For all of it. 

I really hope you enjoy listening. 

xo, Nick