Out of the Shadows

(Artwork by Jason@Fast Friends Inc)

A vinyl-only indie record label has sprouted in Norfolk and is releasing some interesting discs by a handful of bands both from here at home and far away. SHDWPLY Records posted the following bulletin this week:

"Go ahead unleash the gates and tell the whole planet about the release with WICKED POSEUR and LITTLE TROOPER split 7" on SHDWPLY RECORDS. The record will be released in a first pressing qty: 500 on splatter colored vinyl from the prisms of saturns teet'. No record will look the same. The artwork will consist of a high quality card stock cover with a four color silkscreened masterpiece. Available Aug."

"Wasn't Ready" is the Little Trooper tune on the split 7'' while "Acrylic Tomb" by Wicked Poseur, a band from Houston, Texas, is on the flipside.

Tonight, I spoke to Matt Beck, one of three folks who run the SHDWPLY label, and he said that the little cottage industry has been humming. A review last month on Pitchfork Media of a tune by Baltimore's Teeth Mountain helped spread the word about the label.

"We do everything ourselves. If it doesn't make sense for everybody, then we just don't do it," Beck said. "We split everything 50-50 with the bands ... All we know is we are selling records. We have a way of doing things and it's working."

Three SHDWPLY bands will go out on a national tour together this summer: Norfolk's Super Vacations, Brooklyn's Gary War and Baltimore's Teeth Mountain. Before all that excitement gets started Super Vacations have two hometown gigs scheduled, both at The Boot: June 25 and July 9.