20 YEARS BEHIND US! ONWARD TO THE NEXT 20!

 Greetings Friends, Family, and Music Enthusiasts,

Happy holidays to all.  We truly hope the rough year that was 2020 found you and yours as happy, healthy and safe as can be.  As rough as the year was, here at NotRock it has also been a year of celebration! Twenty years have passed since the inception of NotRock and boy has a lot happened in that time.  From our very first shows (under the moniker NotRock Productions), to our first physical music release (the dreaded 4-Band Sampler Cassette), to a slew of compilations (both holiday and regular), to many other releases involving countless hours of cutting, folding, and silk screening.  Although we didn't release much as far as new music this year, we did get to spend a lot of time digging through the archives, unearthing many a treasure and putting together a comprehensive collection of music commemorating our 20th year.  Say hello to the NotRock 20th Anniversary Compilation: Volume 1.  This comp is a deep dive best of, collection of songs taken from every one of our releases. There are 75 songs in all and every one of them are annotated by all the artists that brought them to life! Looking back on all this great art has been nostalgically exciting, inspiring,  and humbling.  It's been an honor to work with so many fantastically creative minds over the years and we want to thank them for allowing us to be the custodians of their great and important art, hopefully documenting and preserving it for many, many many, years to come.  Behold the first in what will be a two volume set: 

The other new release of 2020 was actually the unearthing and proper treatment of record that has long been on the shelf.  Back around 2005 Ralph (of Do Nothing Machine, Feu de Joie, and Please Exist) had planned on releasing music that he had written and performed all himself.  He recorded the drums to 4-Track cassette, transferred them over to James' computer where James mixed them.  Then Ralph recorded and mixed everything else by himself  on his computer ending up with one hell of a debut alum.  For years it sat unreleased because Ralph had always planned to "redo them better" and he even did record a lot of them over with James engineering but they all remained unfinished.  Years passed and every few months John would plead with Ralph to just release the original version, that it was a great sounding record and the world deserved to hear it.  Eventually Ralph caved and we can happily finally say we digitally released his debut CHUDLEY: Sugar And Razorblades this past summer.  It's a record that is not to be missed and one that is more than worthy amongst our NotRock catalog. Here it is finally!   

In other NotRock news:

- Please Exist are done tracking instruments for their forthcoming epic double album "Storytellers In Straightjackets.  

- Hides A Well continues to write music but in limited fashion due to the pandemic.  

- Khantra had plans to record a 6 song EP last spring but pandemic put that on hold until further notice. 

- Reynolds 853 finished writing their debut album "John Adam and Dan Vs. Jean Claude Van Dam" and are slated to record it later this month! 

That's all the fun and exciting news for now.  Until next time, be kind, take care and check out these...

Recent Releases: 

 

10 YEARS OF HOLIDAY COMPILATIONS!

Season's Greetings everybody!

As we close out another year it seemed like a good opportunity feature our latest compilation as well as a look back on previous volumes.  This year we celebrate by releasing the milestone TENTH volume of the NotRock Holiday Compilation.  TEN YEARS!  We can't believe it either.  Time sure does fly.  A lot of creative minds put a lot of hard work into these compilations so sit back and check out a decade's worth (176 songs!) of wintery, holiday tunes. 



There it all is folks.  We hope you enjoy these compilations as much as we do.  We are honored to have released so much incredible music from so many talented artists over the years.  Thanks to everyone who has contributed their time and talents to making these records possible and lastly thank YOU for taking the time to listen to these recordings and for supporting independent music.   While this is not that last of the NotRock Holiday Comp we will be taking a break from them to focus on other releases in 2019.  Happy Holidays Everybody!  Be kind, be well, be happy. See ya in January.

XOXO - J.T.F.

CALL TO ARMS FOR THE NOTROCK HOLIDAY COMP VOLUME 10!

Hello Comrades,

- It seems another year is is coming to a close and with it we begin our preparations for our annual HOLIDAY COMPILATION!  This will be our TENTH year doing this!!!  Can you believe that?  Time sure does fly.   We are super excited to be doing this for a tenth year however depending on how enthusiasm for / outcome of the comp turns out, it may be the last year for the holiday comp.  We've always enjoyed doing these comps but they are a lot of work and when it becomes pulling teeth to get submissions we have to evaluate if it's a good idea to keep doing them annually or put our time and resources into another project.  Time will tell but if you like these and like participating then be sure to get your songs in by November 26th!  And tell your friends.  All are welcome so the better we do with receiving content the more likely we'll keep doing these fun holiday albums in the future. 

- As with previous years we are accepting songs both original and covers that pertain to the holiday season or winter in general.  If you choose a cover song please let us know what it is to ensure we don't have duplicates.  High quality audio files (WAV or AIFF) must be sent to us via our facebook messenger or notrockrecords@gmail.com by NOV. 26th.  If you have a song and that will be ready soon after the 26th let us know and we'll see if we can fit it in.  Sometimes, but not always, there's a little wiggle room.  If you have any questions or concerns please let us know.  Hit us up on facebook or our email.  For examples of previous holiday compilations please check out our bandcamp page. We look forward to hear all the great music everyone comes up with as well as sharing it with you!

Since it's been awhile since our last post here's a general update for all things NotRock.

- Last winter we officially released Khantra's legendary live on WFMU set from the Pat Duncan show in 2005.  This has always been available to stream via WFMU's web archives but here we present it with it's proper track listing and with mastered audio for the first time!  It is available on Khantra's bandcamp page for free download.

- Please Exist is busy writing their next epic LP but before that they are releasing 5 new songs in a three-way split with their buds DEJA GRAVY and MOOT POINT.  The release is in the final mixing stages right now and is expected to be released early 2019.  Before then P.E. will have a new song on the forthcoming holiday comp.

- Hides A Well has finally started to track the final two songs that will complete their third LP.  This is a record that has been in the works for a long time now.  Some of the tracking began back when they were recording the Small Town Museums LP.  There's a bit more work to be done on this record but it is hoped to be released before the end of the year.  More to come on that next month.

Well that's all the news thats fit to print this month.  We'll see y'all back here soon with updates on all those releases.   Until then have fun, be happy, be kind and take care.  Oh and get cracking on those Holiday submissions!!!

Cheers,

- J.T.F.