Own Records ~ Catalogue

Trouble Books have cultivated another garden lush with colorful and odd sounds, loops, and drones to walk through and explore. Beautiful pop songs blossom from under synthesizer swells and guitar clouds, later to be buried in noise or drift off into ambient atmospherics. A unique, yet warm and welcoming, home-recorded album. RIYL: The Microphones, Broadcast, Brian Eno.

Chihei Hatakeyama is a sound artist and musician living on the outskirts of Tokyo. He polychromes memory-evoking soundscapes with various recorded materials of electric and acoustic instruments such as electric guitars, vibraphone and piano. With releases on Kranky, Room 40, Under the Spire, Hibernate Records, Magic Book Records and Spekk (as Opitope), he has quickly established a solid and unique footing in the emotive ambient music genre. RIYL: Stephan Mathieu, Greg Davis, Lawrence English, Celer.

The Green Kingdom is Michael Cottone, a graphic designer and sound artist based in Michigan. His compositions blur the line between soundscape and structure, utilizing a variety of processed acoustic and electronic sources, sampled textures and field recordings. RIYL: Mountains, Shuttle358, Fenton, The Boats, Sawako, Harold Budd.

Named after the abandoned dance hall in which it was recorded, The Bowery is a breath-taking debut album for Australian musical collective, Firekites. Formed in 2005 by Tim McPhee and Rod Smith, the band has blossomed organically, twirling between half-awake folk and lo-fi electronica. With vocals and guitar provided by McPhee of instrumental architects The Instant, backing vocals offered by Jane Tyrrell of powerful hip-hop act The Herd, and members of Pivot, Charge Group and Josh Pyke's touring band, Firekites are an accomplished group of songwriters who have married lush composition with musical subtlety. RIYL: Nick Drake, Kings of Convenience, Radiohead, Elliott Smith, The National.

In his "Songs for Babes", Mike Tolan has captured the faces of our Great Recession. Talons' might not make much sense in whatever utopia or dystopia awaits our world a decade from now, but the part-time workers, young mothers, and anxious girlfriends in these songs resonate strongly in our nervous & disappointed early 21st century. Janky folk guitars, diverse fumbling instrumentation, ambient sounds and field recordings, crunch-wrapped together under resigned singing from Mr. Tolan himself. Timely and wonderful. RIYL: Will Oldham, Hayden, M. Ward.

Own Records T-Shirt

100% cotton American Apparel "light blue" color shirt with white ink on front.

BOY: 2001 Fine Jersey Short Sleeve T-Shirt available in Men's sizes S, M, L and XL.

GIRL: 4305 Baby Rib Basic Short Sleeve T-Shirt available in Women's sizes S, M and L.

"Their sound exists on a knife edge, balancing perfectly between emotion-fueled freedom and complete fragility. Well-controlled silence, mountain-sized whirling soundscapes and orchestral intermissions." This stunning debut from the Sydney four-piece has won universal praise in their native country for its flowing beauty, ambition and genre-defiance. Put simply, Charge Group play loud dynamic rock music (with an electric guitar, a violin, an electric bass and a set of drums) that can instigate sorrow, health, rapture, rapid eye movement, toothache and intrusive self-assessment all at once. They will light your way home then welcome you at the door with a punch in the guts. RIYL: Dirty Three, Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Low.

Trouble Books had been releasing limited-edition recordings from their drafty Akron, Ohio living room for several years before sitting down with blank cassettes to collect all of their best ambient, experimental pop ideas onto one album. Recorded during the cold, abbreviated daylight of early winter, “The United Colors of Trouble Books” is all tape warmth, drifting guitar swells, diverse instrumentation, and lopsided loops. RIYL: The Microphones, Yo La Tengo, My Bloody Valentine.

Squares on both sides, project of Munich and Berlin based multi-instrumentalist Daniel Buerkner, arranges silent guitars, pianos, chimes and melodicas to create cautious and intimate compositions. On indication, his third album to date, Buerkner’s singing forms clear superior structures that are fragmented by subtle electronics and field recordings from a temple market in Kyoto. Closeness and reduction, contrasted with playful elements remain the focus of indication, which features guest appearances by Yasuhiko Fukuzono (aka aus). RIYL: Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Nathan Michel, Gastr Del Sol, Mark Hollis, The Books.

180 gr. heavy black 12” vinyl in a beautiful gatefold sleeve

Uzi & Ari have awakened! In contrast to their previous effort, "Headworms" exposes a very lucid and exuberant band with a newfound urgency. I imagine Shepard standing on a chair in the center of a room, encumbered by a large coterie of instruments, dancing wildly, dipping his brush into the palette of sounds that surround him to fashion just the right rhythms and crescendos to color his canvas. RIYL: Radiohead, Múm, Sigur Ros, The National.

TaughtMe's songs are solemn and restless. Vows or confessions are sung amidst a canvas of shifting instrumentation and unexpected sounds. Their 3rd album, "Lady", is more sparse an offering than those prior, with the narrator stepping further into the foreground as the accompaniment weaves or bobs behind him. "Lady" has been said to resemble a children's 'pop-up' book and there is indeed a sense of youthful wonder throughout. But the album does not remain buoyant, and several times it succombs to melancholy and a weariness that begs.

Sleepworks is a lush creation that flows naturally. Guided by Kael Smith’s gently melodic vocals, pop-hooks and poetic lyricism, and supported by the teamwork of keyboardist Matt Herron and the deep undercurrent of Jme White’s multi-instrumentation and inventive production. Sleepworks is exemplified by a strong group of 10 songs including the sweet and lithe “Sister’s Curiosity,” the perfect buoyant pop of “Caldas” and hypnotic layers of “The Living Desert.” R.I.Y.L – The Notwist, Brian Eno, Idaho or The One AM Radio

Double vinyl 2 x 12” in a beautiful gatefold sleeve
+ European tour poster (free until stock lasts)
+ Shipping costs included

On their third full length, Rest, Brooklyn based Gregor Samsa expands on their affinity for minimal, classical instrumentation mixed with manipulated sound and male/female vocals. This album demonstrates a more focused and refined sound, with an emphasis on piano and the integration of new instrumentation such as the clarinet, vibraphone and celeste.

Weird, warm, and captivating, Brooklyn-based trio the Dust Dive returns with Claws of Light, a collection of songs that evoke “a deftly manipulated Americana.” The album was recorded by Jason Loewenstein (Sebadoh, Fiery Furnaces), who was compelled to contribute drums on several tracks. Violin, guitar, piano, acoustic reed organ, musical saw, sampled radios, field recordings, and uncommonly vivid verse soar with gritty equanimity and “mythological twang.” RIYL: Dirty Three, Camper Van Beethoven, Roy Orbison, Bonnie Prince Billy, Ennio Morricone, Radar Brothers, Daniel Johnston.

Over the last five years Worrytrain, living outside of Chicago, has quietly surfaced. From tapping cinematic and experimental fields, to blending genres such as modern classical and noise. The instruments most often heard are mandolin, piano and cello making melodies that are often gentle yet violent. RIYL: Rachel’s, Stars of The Lid, Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt, A Silver Mt. Zion.

Six Twilights' music music is a collection of carefully recorded bits of hushed, delicate male and female vocals, warm acoustic guitars and melancholy piano all rearranged in non-repetative patterns which sometimes resemble songs in the traditional sense and sometimes veer more towards ambient electronic atmospheres. The accompaning DVD is a visual counterpoint to the music: tiny moments of nostalgic, essentialized forms swaying and bending to the warm rushes of sound. RIYL: Fennesz, Sigur Rós, Carissa's Wierd, Marcus Pop, Múm, Hood, RF.

Based in Austin, TX, Bexar Bexar creates instrumental pieces using damaged analog electronics, acoustic guitars, and digital manipulation. With his sophomore release, Tropism, Bexar Bexar, trades the beats and rhythms of Haralambos for dense oceany drones and melancholy guitar melodies. Over multiple listens Tropism's subtle details slowly come to the surface. RIYL: Fennesz, Labradford, Brian Eno, Mountains, Bibio.

Channeling all of the lovely, tinkly, shimmery sounds under the sun, It is Freezing Out features an array of creeping melodies, translucent blips and bleeps and precise arrangements. RIYL: Múm, Sigur Rós, Radiohead, Björk, The Postal Service, Efterklang.

After the release of two stellar EP's, Gregor Samsa delivers their much anticipated debut full length. 55:12 is an eight song journey submerged in dreamy, multi-layered atmospherics. The band blurs the lines of ambient and indie, from heavy and dark one moment to hushed and serene the next, all while angelic guy/girl vocals drift overhead. Mixed by Brian Paulson (Slint, Wilco, Beck).

Their unconventional sound borrows from ill American landscapes, edge-city teenage hangouts, and overgrown, overlooked places. The trio's songs possess the quirky sincerity of a youth recital while burrowing into decidedly mesmerizing, urban pastoral, and ghostly terrain. RIYL: Smog, Palace, Dirty Three, The Velvet Underground.

Talk Like Blood heralds the advent of the new 31Knots. Having released a string of critically acclaimed albums on Michigan-based label 54°40' or Fight!, 31Knots return with arguably their finest and most challenging album to date. Recorded by Jay Pellicci (Erase Errata, Deerhoof) and Scott Solter (Spoon, Okkervil River).

31Knots fuses complex rhythms with jagged guitars for mathematical songs that zig-zag through changes and anxious start-stop riffs, calling to mind Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse, the Ex, and even Fugazi's more challenging work.

Young band from Richmond, Virginia, Gregor Samsa blends the dynamic range of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the melodic subtleties of Slowdive, Low and The Cocteau Twins, and the swirling guitar maelstrom of my Bloody Valentine into a fusion of hushed atmospherics and disorienting noisescapes.