http://vimeo.com/7459881

We've put together a 2009 preview & 2008 overview compilation, sort of as a distraction from how Maine's longest season has been kicking our asses, but also to commemorate a new rock n roll photography exhibit at the Portland Museum of Art. The comp was given to visitors at one of the opening events for the exhibit.

Download a .ZIP file of this entire compilation:

Peapod Recordings Winter 2009 [82mb]
Winter 2009 Comp // Individual Tracks

What are we gonna do now? [Chriss Sutherland - Worried Love]

Stats and Demographics [Huak - forthcoming EP]

New Armor [Cerf-Volantes - forthcoming album]

Settle Down, rough mix [Company - forthcoming album]

Death Machine [Cougars Kill Cobras - VS.]

Color Spills In, rough mix [Honey Clouds - forthcoming album Fall on the Honey Clouds]

The Holiday Fair [Dan Blakeslee (featuring Audrey Ryan) - The Holiday Fair Christmas EP]

Untitled, rough mix [R2T2 - forthcoming album]

Terry Head [South China - unreleased]

Clara Harris [Dead End Armory - forthcoming Collected EPs]

Yardcats [Hearts by Darts - Hearts by Darts]

Sweet Storms [The Hands of the Wrong People - Spring Flakes]

Tangible and Smoove, rough mix [Wesley Hartley - forthcoming solo album]

23 days [Harpswell Sound - remixed for an unreleased Angioplasty Media comp]

Amelia Earhart [Brown Bird - The Bottom of the Sea]

Man, it's been a long time, but we've been very busy. We've got a ton of new releases planned for the first part of this year:

First up is Chriss Sutherland's Worried Love, the 2nd solo album from this founding member of Cerberus Shoal and Fire on Fire. Instrumentally more lush & dense than his amazing debut, Me In A Field, Worried Love features Fire on Fire members Caleb & Colleen (also Big Blood), Micah Blue Smaldone (who's solo debut you should immediately pickup if you haven't, beautiful album) and Tom Kovacevic, along with Jerusha Robinson (South China/Brown Bird) and many other incredible players.

Chriss will be touring this March in support of Worried Love with the new 5-piece lineup of Brown Bird.

Huak have finished a new 5-song ep that will be out this winter. Check out a couple of the new songs on their myspace page.

Honey Clouds have almost completed work on the "studio" follow-up to last years Earl Grey Demos.

Dead End Armory are at work on the follow up to their debut full length Hope You're Good. Also look for an album compiling both of their debut eps very soon.

Brown Bird are also working on their follow up to The Bottom of the Sea, recording live in the studio with the new 5 piece band, plus Micah Blue Smaldone on upright bass.

We're very excited to release a compilation of Andrew Frederick's Cerf-Volantes recordings. Gorgeous finger picking and harmonies.

The former Brooklyn-based quartet Company will release their new album on Peapod, a combination of recordings from both Portland and NYC in fall 2008.

Hearts by Darts are hard at work on their follow up to their self-titled 2008 debut.

South China are doing pre-production for their debut full-length. Look for some experimentation ala Jeremy's solo project Drab Pony on this record.

And finally,  Dan Blakeslee will be recording his long awaited country album, live in a Berwick barn sometime this summer.

Thanks!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/peapodfest08/

SPACE // Saturday Aug. 30 // 8:00 (sharp!) - 1:00 // $8 // 18+



We're very excited about the first ever gathering of peapod recordings artists from all over at Portland's SPACE Gallery! The festival features many of Portland's favorite indie artists such as Chriss Sutherland, South China, Dead End Armory and Cougars Kill Cobras, along with the first ever performance from Baltimore's Hearts by Darts, a rare set from Berlin, Germany's The Hands of the Wrong People, and the first performance from Baltimore's Nord Express in over 10 years.

• 7:00 Doors open


• 8:00 Chriss Sutherland


• 8:20 Dan Blakeslee (Boston, MA)


• 8:40 Nord Express (Baltimore, MD)


• 9:00 Honey Clouds


• 9:20 The Hands of the Wrong People (Berlin, Germany)


• 9:40 Dead End Armory


• 10:00 South China


• 10:20 Hearts by Darts (Baltimore, MD)


• 11:00 Brown Bird


• 11:20 Huak


• 11:40 Nathan Halverson (Columbia, SC)


• 12:00 Cougars Kill Cobras

Now Available from Peapod Recordings!

mp3s
Dog
Four Letter

The Hands of the Wrong People is the musical vehicle of Scotland-bred, Berlin-based visual artist Dominic Hislop, accompanied live and on album by drummer Robert Wiesner, and most recently by bassist Plus Fox live. They released 2 eps in Germany, and Spring Flakes is their first full length.
Dominic's songs draw from such seemingly disparate genres such as 80s Scottish pop, 90s Chicago style post-rock and contemporary underground folk. Imagine the jazz-influenced rock of Karate mixed with the pseudo-Chic funk of Orange Juice and the pop jangle of early Aztec Camera, and you begin to get a sense of the sound of Spring Flakes. The album addresses relationships & politics in the same breath, becoming a subtle form of protest music performed on the deceptively traditional lineup of amplified acoustic guitar, drums & bass.

If you're in or near Berlin, make sure to catch their CD release at West Germany on July 3, with Erste Stufe Haifisch and Getting Up Every Morning.

Mail order from Peapod Recordings! iTunes, eMusic and other digital outlets available soon!

Available from peapodrecordings.com, iTunes, eMusic, toneVENDOR, Carrot Top Distribution/Saki Store and select record stores.

brown bird
bottom of the sea


brown bird's sound ranges from simple sea-shanty style folk to complex counterpoints with an eastern european flavor. their influences of indie rock, classical music, and old american hymns rise and fall within their songs like whitecaps on a dark and stormy sea.

brown bird's newest full-length, the bottom of the sea, is a collection of very old and brand new songs recorded in chronological order in February 2008. The album is more stripped-down and traditionally song oriented than the earlier releases, with beautiful vocals and instrumentation from fellow brown birds jeremy and jerusha, along with annie palmer and eliza blue.

Dave will be on an extensive national tour in support of the album this summer. Check their MySpace page for details.

"Frontman and songwriter David Lamb is like an ancient foundation peeking up through wild grass, deeply rooted but whipped raw by the elements."
— Sam Pfeifle, Portland Phoenix

the ice and snow haunt me still


dead end armory
hope you're good


Equal parts Texas-style indie rock and New England wintercore. The often cited comparison of Willie Nelson meets The Pixies is apt — Hartley's southern croon recalls the legendary Texan's heartfelt delivery, and the 4 piece rock band's sound ranges from spare, solemn songs that bring to mind The Red House Painters, early Low, and of course, the Red Headed Stranger, to the cacophonous noise of Sister-era Sonic Youth or classic Crazy Horse.

"DEA combine fire and ice musicianship with unpredictable meter changes, sharp guitars, and mellow, haunting vocals to create one of the most interesting sounds in the downtown scene."
— Bill Reese, Good Times

treasures by the ounce


hearts by darts
self-titled debut


Baltimore's Hearts by Darts started as a recording project by Sei Petersen and Mike Evitts after the demise of their band Sharky. They began crafting songs from the ground up, drawing from a diverse range of influences including 60s soundtrack music, 80s shoegaze, 90s indie rock, and Julee Cruise's lovely Twin Peaks songs. With the addition of Wendy Weihs' understated vocal style and intriguing lyrics (often referencing mathematical rules and impossible, far away locales), Hearts by Darts have succeeded in crafting a dream pop landscape that is simultaneously springtime and atmosphere, comforting and strange.

prime


honey clouds
earl grey demos


"... i am definitely diggin their sound which is very reminiscent of early pavement, velvet underground, the fall, east river pipe, etc. i love the use of the jangly guitar, it always goes far with me. will definitely be reporting on these guys in the future."
— Captain's Dead

"The guitars alternately jangle a la early R.E.M. and crunch like Crazy Horse. Killer riffs abound. The new group's exuberance is palpable ..."
— Chris Busby, The Bollard

color spills in
spinning from tops