Robotic Empire - holiday updates, DISCOUNT COUPONS, etc!

Well folks the absurd holiday insanity is already rearing its ugly head here in the USA, and in order to avoid a post-office kamikaze we're "shutting down" the Robotic Empire - Online Store early this year. Come December 10th we can no longer guarantee orders will arrive in time for Christmas. That's right, if you want a present for you or someone else to show up before Xmas, get that order in NOW. We will continue to pack and ship orders as normal after the 10th, but make zero promises about them actually arriving before the end of the year if you order after December 10th.

That being said, we're also stoked to announce that we're running a holiday promotion where all orders over $100 are entitled to 10% off AND a free t-shirt. We're trying to de-scrooge a bit and are offering up a free "Destroyer Zombies" Robotic Empire t-shirt to anyone who orders over $100... just let us know you're preferred size and color (comes on a black or white t-shirt) and we'll hook it up as long as the supplies last.

HOLIDAZE is the coupon code to get 10% off all $100+ orders, and here's how you redeem it: Add stuff to your cart and check out as usual. After you sign in with PayPal, you get taken back to the Robo Store and THERE is where you enter in the HOLIDAZE redemption code, and right below in the "notes" box is where you should put in your preferred size and color t-shirt for the free "Destroyer Zombies" t-shirt.

Just a little early holiday cheer from the Robo camp. Hit up the Robotic Empire - Online Store for all kinds of good tunes, clothes and other crap. Not a whole lot of distro updates this month, been busy juggling lots of other life-changing/affirming stuff. Regardless, here's the latest:

NEW ITEMS & RESTOCKS (for late November):
* Deadsea - Desiderata 12" (Chrome Leaf) - $12.99
* Deadsea - Self-Titled CD (Chrome Leaf) - $11.99
* Glissade - Further - BLUE COLORED VINYL 2x12"+CD (Deep Space) - $16.99
* In First Person / Storm The Bastille - Split 12" PINK COLORED VINYL (Protagonist) - $10.99
* Liquid Limbs - Orquid - MAROON w/ CREAM HAZE COLORED VINYL 12"+CD (Sound Study) - $14.99
* Melt Banana - Three Studies for a Crucifixion 8" - $12.99
* North - Ruins 12"+CD CLEAR COLORED VINYL (Cavity) - $13.99
* Robots And Empire - Omnivore CD (Trip Machine) - $7.99
* Teenage Cool Kids - Queer Salutations CD (Protagonist) - $10.00
* Tournament - Swordswallower CD (Trip Machine) - $7.99
* Tweak Bird - Whorses 7" (Challenge Throne) - $6.99
* Valkyrie - Man Of Two Visions CD (Noble Origin) - $10.99

NEW ITEMS & RESTOCKS (from early November):
* Ampere - All Our Tomorrows End Today - BLUE COLORED VINYL 10" (Ebullition) $10.99
* Breather Resist - Patent Cruciform - CASKET SHAPED PICTURE DISC 10" (King Of The Monsters) $9.99
* Catalyst, The / Mass Movement Of The Moth - Two Thousand And Six Six Six CD (Electric Human Project) $8.99
* Cattle Decapitation - Human Jerky - PICTURE DISC 12" (Accident Prone) $11.99
* Envy / Jesu - Split - WHITE COLORED VINYL 12" (Conspiracy) $17.99
* His Hero Is Gone - Fifteen Counts Of Arson 12" (Prank) $9.99
* His Hero Is Gone - Monuments To Thieves 12" (Prank) $9.99
* Holy Sons (member of Grails, OM) - Decline of the West 12" (ABC Group) $10.99
* Ingrid - Tryangle Cassette (Cosmic Debris) $4.99
* Nadja / 5/5/2000 - Tumpisa - 180 GRAM - 12"+CD (Accident Prone) $17.99
* Off Minor - Innominate 12" (Golden Brown) $9.99
* Orchid - Chaos Is Me - YELLOW COLORED VINYL 12" (Ebullition) $11.99
* Otesanek - Self-Titled CD (Electric Human Project) $8.99
* Panicsville / Wether - Split Cassette (No Horse Sh!t) $4.99
* Reversal of Man - This Is Medicine CD (Ebullition) $9.99
* Various Artists - Deadly Sins - 4x7" Box Set (Hater of God) $10.99
* Yaphet Kotto - Syncopated Synthetic Laments For Love CD (Ebullition) $9.99


Last but certainly not least, we are honored to announce that TORCHE took the #1 position in Decibel Magazine's "Top 40 Albums of 2008" issue! We are so proud of our dudes that we dedicated an entire blog entry to this momentous occasion. It probably needs little reminder, but Meanderthal is available in an over-the-top vinyl package from Robotic Empire (found here in our Online Store), and on the CD format from Hydra Head Records. We're knocking off three bucks from the asking price for the LP until the end of the year as a little encouragement to the folks who haven't picked up the deluxe vinyl edition yet.

That's it for now, get those holiday orders in before December 10th!

* Robotic Empire - Online Store
* Robotic Empire - News / Archive / Blog

TORCHE's Meanderthal = #1 Abum of the Year in Decibel Magazine!

There's been a lot of praise for TORCHE in the press this year, and we've been quietly enjoying the articles, features and reviews surrounding their latest Meanderthal album. But we can't hold our tongue on just how stoked we are to be a part of TORCHE's legacy as we announce their securing the #1 Album of the Year position in Decibel Magazine's year-end issue! This is almost overwhelming to us, as we've been working with TORCHE since day one (and co-released Meanderthal with Hydra Head) and are totally proud and happy for one of the hardest-working bands we've ever been fortunate enough to work with.

That many writers are feeling the same way about the band we saw so much potential in early on, has gratifyingly culminated in the #1 Album of the Year position in easily our favorite music magazine going today. It can be hard for an independent magazine to uphold integrity when fear of upsetting advertisers is always looming, but Decibel has always managed to give honest, well-written reviews and simultaneously feature cutting edge bands that many other mags would deem "too underground" to make them worth covering. We have been honored to work with this band, and are pumped that Hydra Head has done such a killer job promoting and taking the reins with the beast known only as TORCHE!

(click the images below to see larger versions)


It is also no small footnote that TORCHE has secured the #2 position on Pitchfork's "Show No Mercy" column's year-end picks as well:
Steve Brooks' approach to stoner rock's always included hooks, only nothing as pronounced, polished, or immediately addictive as the 13 tracks comprising Torche's second full-length: If radio wasn't a wasteland Meanderthal would cross over -- it's precision pop. People have described the Miami band as the Melvins chewing bubblegum, but on "Healer" or "Grenades" they sound more like a sludgy, doom-y Superchunk (or, at times, a non-suck Foo Fighters). The album's still plenty knotty and heavy (see opener "Triumph Of Venus" if you want technical guitar riffs), but it also features some of the best hooks of the year in any genre. Last time I spoke with Brooks he worked in a pizza shop. If there's any justice in this world, that's changed.

It probably needs little reminder, but Meanderthal is available in an over-the-top vinyl package from Robotic Empire (found here in our Online Store), and on the CD format from Hydra Head Records. We're knocking off three bucks from the asking price for the LP until the end of the year as a little encouragement to the folks who haven't picked up the deluxe vinyl edition yet.

JESU / ENVY split 12" available now in the Robotic Empire Online Store!

A small but strong update for this week, as we may be the first folks in the US to be selling the incredible new JESU / ENVY split 12"! Our brethren at Conspiracy Records over in Europe released this beast, and we're stoked to have been able to import some copies! Here's a photo, followed by part of the release description:


ENVY have never left their emotionally unstable path of heavy postrock oaths, but again they've cracked open it's core and stripped the sound down to it's epic essence. Always passionate and persistent, most motivational products create unrealistic expectations but stay blind in the mist. Resembling a dose of insomnia, ENVY blaze like a grey wind through the cream of the Japanese screamo-postrock crop. Shuffling forward with solitude and starring at a dying light, an unknown glow. Splendid emotionally layered riffs and carved drums guide, and give understanding of despair. Deeply wandering through thick clouds of post-hardcore guitar dust, musically channeling the remorseless pieces that lead to the dark side. They continue to swing like an eternal pendulum.

Ever since it's formation in 2003, guru Justin K. Broadrick has let no one come even close to the throne. On this new JESU slab he incorporates melodic twisted pop elements with downtempo heavyness, creating a stark textured vessel intoxicated by the minimalism of cold techno drama. JESU holds on to the feeling of eternity, still being a modern day flymachine, yet never losing a transient sight. In a world where lies and reality constantly transform, we need new frames of thought. New bricks in the wall, and new days off to rethink how we'll spend our days off.

Yeah, doesn't fully make sense but what this boils down to is that this is a badass split, of two badass international bands. The packaging for this release is top notch too, with a study outer jacket housing the printed innersleeve, all with appropriately stark artwork by Hydra Head/ISIS' Aaron Turner. The vinyl itself is heavy, although probably not quite 180 gram. The pressing of this stunning split LP was 2000 total, all on colored vinyl: 500 on transparent blue, 500 on metallic gold, 700 on solid white and 300 on silver. We got everything but the silver vinyl (the bands themselves are the only way to get it), and unfortunately the mystic unicorn & dolphin puzzles are not included. Limit of 1 per color per customer please.

These, and thousands of other items, can be found over at the Robotic Empire - Online Store.

A handful of other things have come in since the last update, so here are this week's NEW ITEMS & RESTOCKS:

* Catalyst, The / Mass Movement Of The Moth - Two Thousand And Six Six Six CD (Electric Human Project) $8.99
* Cattle Decapitation - Human Jerky - PICTURE DISC 12" (Accident Prone) $11.99
* Envy / Jesu - Split - BLUE COLORED VINYL 12" (Conspiracy) $17.99
* Envy / Jesu - Split - GOLD COLORED VINYL 12" (Conspiracy) $17.99
* Envy / Jesu - Split - WHITE COLORED VINYL 12" (Conspiracy) $17.99
* Holy Sons (member of Grails, OM) - Decline of the West 12" (ABC Group) $10.99
* Nadja / 5/5/2000 - Tumpisa - 180 GRAM - 12"+CD (Accident Prone) $17.99
* Otesanek - Self-Titled CD (Electric Human Project) $8.99
* Panicsville / Wether - Split Cassette (No Horse Shit) $4.99

Not our biggest update ever, but we do encourage you to check out the last few updates in our insanely archived new blog. That link there will take you to all the "online store" tagged blog entries of late.

That's it for now, hit up the Robotic Empire - Online Store!

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11/06/08 update: forgot to mention a few other NEW ITEMS & RESTOCKS for this same update:

* Ampere - All Our Tomorrows End Today - BLUE COLORED VINYL 10" (Ebullition) $10.99
* Breather Resist - Patent Cruciform - CASKET SHAPED PICTURE DISC 10" (King Of The Monsters) $9.99
* His Hero Is Gone - Fifteen Counts Of Arson 12" (Prank) $9.99
* His Hero Is Gone - Monuments To Thieves 12" (Prank) $9.99
* Ingrid - Tryangle Cassette (Cosmic Debris) $4.99
* Off Minor - Innominate 12" (Golden Brown) $9.99
* Orchid - Chaos Is Me - YELLOW COLORED VINYL 12" (Ebullition) $11.99
* Reversal of Man - This Is Medicine CD (Ebullition) $9.99
* Various Artists - Deadly Sins - 4x7" Box Set (Hater of God) $10.99
* Yaphet Kotto - Syncopated Synthetic Laments For Love CD (Ebullition) $9.99

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