Low and behold, the GHASTLY CITY SLEEP vinyl is finally done! Only like 9 months late, what? Better late that never birthing this beast though, as this self-titled debut turned out beautiful on vinyl. Two jackets printed up at Ross Ellis (with a thick spot varnish on the outer one) house the fine vinyl made by Pirates Press. This is the first job we've hand-assembled in years, and it was definitely worth having a billion extra boxes in-house for, as the end-result is pretty stellar! We made 1165 of these total, with the total pressing info as such:
* 275 on VANILLA (opaque cream with a tiny bit of white splatter)
* 275 on SMORE (opaque brown mixed with opaque cream)
* 275 on COGNAC (metallic gold mixed with translucent green)
* 210 on BLACK
* 130 (rejected) TEST PRESSES with alternate packaging
The test press version is only being sold along with the regular album, and these are now available through the Robotic Empire Online Store!
GHASTLY CITY SLEEP is mainly comprised of Virginia-to-NYC transplants who've converted their audio pallet from former chaos (CITY OF CATERPILLAR, MAJORITY RULE) into blissful rock-based ambience. Channeling the ghosts of SIGUR ROS and MOGWAI's past blended with powerful guitars, keys, varied percussion and just about everything in between. The multitude of layers involved here are accompanied by a warm, haunting array of vocals... all helping GHASTLY CITY SLEEP craft simply epic songs. Two tracks from this self-titled debut can be heard online here: http://www.myspace.com/GhastlyCitySleep
These LPs will ship out roughly around the time of the band's record release show on December 15th, and will be amongst our last shipment trip for the year as we're not filling any new orders received after December 10th. The US post offices are just far too nuts around Christmas time to even try fighting the crowds. We'll be accepting orders during this break, but won't start shipping again until after the new year... so if you want stuff, now is the time to get it!
Speaking of "stuff", along with this beautiful GHASTLY CITY SLEEPdebut, we have just (again) re-pressed the vinyl versions of RED SPAROWES and TORCHE's debut albums, along with the deluxe TORCHE followup, In Return on 10"+CD (together).
The TORCHE Self-Titled Reissue 12" has been re-pressed as the first press is now sold out. Touring their asses off with MOGWAI, ISIS, JESU and BARONESS since its release definitely hasn't hurt, so we pressed up 1000 more! Pressing info is as follows for this second press:
* 250 on BURGUNDY (dark opaque maroon)
* 250 on CHOCOLATE COIN (metallic gold mixed with opaque brown)
* 250 on HOLY WATER (a weird amalgamation of clears)
* 250 on SAKE (clear with cloudy opaque white mixed in)
This is the gatefold, fully re-mixed and re-mastered edition of TORCHE's debut album... which has been completely reworked from the ground up due to the band's overall dissatisfaction with the original release. This new version is a much more accurate representation of the band with an even heavier (and clearer) mix than the original, also containing an all new bonus track originally recorded during the initial tracking (but only recently receiving some absolutely epic vocal treatment) and expanded artwork.
Along with this, TORCHE's In Return 10"+CD has been re-pressed as well. Everyone who's pre-ordered this second pressing will have their order shipped out on Friday, December 7th. These are now in-house and ready to roll so please order way through the Robotic Empire Online Store. The pressing info for this second pressing is as follows:
* 400 on ASTEROID
* 400 on MAROON SWIRL
* 400 on OPAQUE DARK PINK
* 400 on TRANSLUCENT GREEN SWIRL
* 200 on TRANSLUCENT RED w/ BLUE "PLANETS"
* 200 on CLEAR w/ BLACK "PLANETS"
It sure doesn't feel like it, but it's been three years since TORCHE's eponymous debut, and now they return with a blistering new release fittingly titled, well, In Return. This monstrous, seven-song, 20-minute EP pushes TORCHE's musical extremes even further as the "poppy" songs are far more catchy, and the "heavy" songs are infinitely more crushing. The band continues to explore every side of their multi-faceted personas, presenting their darkest, heaviest and most infectious work to date!
In Return is also Robotic Empire's most obsessively ridiculous packaging yet; a beautiful full-color John Baizley design as a gatefold 10" jacket with a printed innersleeve and a die-cut that holds the companion CD in place, all housed in a thick mylar bag with a two-color sticker. Yep, this deluxe colored vinyl comes with a musically-identical CD counterpart so you don't have to deal with any digital download hassles if you simply want this thing on your computer. However, you'll definitely appreciate the physical nature of this true beast once you see and hear TORCHE's absolutely mammoth new release, as this truly is the most over the top packaging we've done to date!
Other new stuff and restocks that have come to the Robotic Empire Online Store in within the past week or so includes the following:
* Ampere - "All Our Tomorrows End Today - BLUE COLORED VINYL" 10" (Ebullition) - $11.00
* Ampere / Sinaloa - "Split" 12" (Ebullition) - $12.00
* Battle of Mice - "A Day of Nights" CD (Neurot) - $10.00
* Black Cross - "Severance Pays" CD (Auxiliary) - $12.00
* Black Cross - "Sink, Knives and Chrome" CDep (Auxiliary) - $7.00
* Brainworms - "Which Is Worse - CLEAR w/ SPLATTER COLORED VINYL" 12" (Rorschach) - $10.00
* Brainworms - "Which Is Worse" CD (Rorschach) - $8.00
* Catalyst, The - "Marianas Trench - CLEAR COLORED VINYL" 12" (Self Released) - $9.00
* Chamberlain - "Exit 263" 12" (Hometown Caravan) - $10.00
* Chamberlain - "Five Year Diary" 2x12" (Hometown Caravan) - $14.00
* Coliseum - "Goddamage" CD (Auxiliary) - $10.00
* Coliseum - "No Salvation - SILVER w/ WHITE SPLATTER COLORED VINYL" 12" (Auxiliary) - $14.00
* Eulcid - "Hope, And Songs To Sing" 12" (Altin Village) - $12.00
* Final - "3" 2xCD (Neurot) - $12.00
* Grails - "The Burden of Hope" CD (Neurot) - $10.00
* Grails - "Redlight" CD (Neurot) - $10.00
* House of Low Culture - "Edwards Lament" CD (Neurot) - $10.00
* Iron Lung / Agents Of Abhorrence - "Split - GREY COLORED VINYL" 7" (Missing Link) - $8.00
* Japanther / The Good Good - "Split" 7" (Altin Village) - $7.00
* Japanther - "Master Of Pigeons" CD (Menlo Park) - $10.00
* Japanther - "Yer Living Grave" CD (Menlo Park) - $10.00
* Made Out Of Babies - "Coward - BROWN w/ SPLATTER COLORED VINYL" 12" (Neurot) - $15.00
* Made Out Of Babies - "Trophy" CD (Neurot) - $10.00
* MGR (member of ISIS) - "Nova Lux" CD (Neurot) - $10.00
* Monarcs / Thank God - "Split - WHITE COLORED VINYL [limited to 110]" 10" (Mashnote) - $11.00
* Neurosis - "Enemy Of The Sun" CD (Neurot) - $10.00
* Neurosis - "Given To The Rising - BLACK / WHITE / SILVER COLORED VINYL" 2x12" (Neurot) - $25.00
* Neurosis - "Souls At Zero" CD (Neurot) - $10.00
* Neurosis - "Times of Grace" CD (Relapse) - $10.00
* New Idea Society - "The World Is Bright And Lonely" 12"+CD (Altin Village) - $12.00
* Om / Current 93 - "Split - CLEAR COLORED VINYL" 10" (Neurot) - $14.00
* Om / Current 93 - "Split - PURPLE COLORED VINYL" 10" (Neurot) - $14.00
* Om / Current 93 - "Split - RED COLORED VINYL" 10" (Neurot) - $14.00
* Orchid - "Chaos Is Me - YELLOW COLORED VINYL" 12" (Ebullition) - $12.00
* Orchid - "Dance Tonight / Revolution Tomorrow - BLUE COLORED VINYL" 10" (Ebullition) - $11.00
* Pink Razors - "First Degree - WHITE COLORED VINYL" 7" (Rorschach) - $5.00
* Plows - "Those People" CD (Self Released) - $7.00
* Portraits of Past - "01010101 - BLUE COLORED VINYL" 12" (Ebullition) - $10.00
* Prideswallower - "Lifeswallower" CDep (Auxiliary) - $7.00
* Pusher - "Self-Titled" CD (Auxiliary) - $10.00
* Red Sparowes - "At The Soundless Dawn" CD (Neurot) - $10.00
* Red Sparowes - "At The Soundless Dawn - CLOUDY SKY COLORED VINYL" 2x12" (Robotic Empire) - $20.00
* Red Sparowes - "At The Soundless Dawn - STORMY SKY COLORED VINYL" 2x12" (Robotic Empire) - $20.00
* Red Sparowes - "Every Red Heart Shines Toward The Red Sun" CD (Neurot) - $10.00
* Sleep - "Vol 2 - Size: Small" T-Shirt (Self Released) - $15.00
* Sleep - "Vol 2 - Size: Medium" T-Shirt (Self Released) - $15.00
* Sleep - "Vol 2 - Size: Large" T-Shirt (Self Released) - $15.00
* Tarantula Hawk - "Self-Titled" CD (Neurot) - $10.00
* They And The Children - "Thoughts on Becoming a Ghost" CD (Tor Johnson) - $8.00
* Yaphet Kotto - "We Bury Our Dead Alive" CD (Ebullition) - $10.00
* Young Widows / Plows - "Split - BLUE COLORED VINYL" 7"+CD (Auxiliary) - $7.00
* Young Widows - "Settle Down City" 12" (Auxiliary) - $14.00
That's the main news right now. For everyone wondering exactly when the ISIS Shades Of The Swarm box set will be done, well we still don't have an exact date for you. With so many different parts to this massive job, there's no way to say exactly when it will be done just yet. There's no pre-ordering for this happening either, so another post will be made when we're ready to announce it for sale.
And finally, the CAPSULE debut album Blue will be entering production next week as well. The artwork and master are both done and this album is going to be pressed as both formats together (12" + CD). We're REALLY stoked on how this is shaping up, and a recently mastered version of "Symptom Of Spectacle" has been posted online here: http://www.myspace.com/CapsuleFL. We're thinking about doing another pre-order for this one, possibly with some kind of tie-dye'd t-shirt...
More on all that soon, in the meantime the Robotic Empire Online Store will be closing down for the holidays on December 10th so get those orders in early if you want stuff. Thanks!
