Behind The Wilderness of the Battle Elf
“People are hungry for stories. It's part of our very being. Storytelling is a form of history, of immortality too. It goes from one generation to another." -Studs Terkel
Is it an action in idiocy to maintain a record label these days…or even worse to be a part of three separate labels? Or is it four? Every label owner I speak to talks about how hard the work is…how small the revenue margins have become as there are fewer places to sell records…vinyl (yes!) or whatnot. The rise of streaming: yes, your music is available around the world, but the headlines all read that the artists and labels are not compensated nearly enough (some services like Qobuz are definitely better than others).
The result of the difficulty is that labels have been forced to evolve their business models, may it be offering dozens of limited edition colored vinyl around a single release, or putting out to market less physical product with hopes of creating the demand for downloadable releases, or confabbing more lifestyle-centered branded product, traveling the country with pop-up stores to sell said product…or just stopping producing as many titles…feature only slam dunk artists. Yes, there are labels that have rosters and catalogs that are successful; they very much do exist and should be supported and celebrted. But those are the unicorns.
But putting out records is addictive…finding music you love and helping bring it to the world. I will never forget the first release I ever worked on when it showed up finished to my office door: the year was 1991 and the release was an EP by the Flaming Lips entitled: Wastin' Pigs Is Still Radical featuring the single Talkin' 'Bout The Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants To Live Forever) which would be featured on the Lip’s first long-player Hit To Death In The Future Head. I remember hand gluing the 8 x 14 inch cover of the first Birdman release, The Commode Minstrels in Bull Face with Nodding Turfan (yes, those bands!?) in 1994, before realizing that Birdman Records would eventually become a legit independent label (you can read about that here). I have been releasing records ever since.
As long as you are releasing records that you love, that thrilling feeling when they first show up on your doorstep never gets old. It is a major endorphin hit: taking the record out of the cardboard box it comes in, looking at it as if it was a gem, throwing it on the turntable and basking in the brilliant, warm audio. It is great when the record sells out…manages to eke out a smidgen of coin, in fact it is necessary. But that moment before the record goes on sale, when it is yours and only yours for that moment on the turntable: that is special.
I experienced that incredible feeling this week when in the mail came the newest Birdman release, Battle Elf. The name suggests some kind of prog metal outfit, but this trio, whose members come from various corners of the universe converging in Detroit, sound more like Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Ash Ra Temple than Brutal Truth or early Scorpions. A little Knitting Factory free jazz, a little spacey krautrock heartbeat. Those are the markers these journeymen (journey people?) stake as they venture down into dark depths.
The band features guitar aficionado Chris Peters in concert with Infinite River’s Gretchen Gonzales blasting out noisy mortar all framed by David Hurley on traps…and his framing is very reminiscent to that offered up by the likes of Klaus Dinger from Neu! or Jaki Liebezeit from Can. The sonic harmonic hegemony between Gonzales and Peters driven so beautifully by Hurley: that is what perked up my ears, exciting me about the project. The four pieces that make up the two sides of their debut record 10 offer a wide spectrum of their worlds, from the thick, Egyptian blood red waters of Behind The Wilderness, to the softer Sweet Sister Ray cosmos of Stops Pretty Places.
We only made a limited 300 copies of the record (you can snag one here), and you can check it out on all the streaming services. Battle Elf. 10. The first recorded ponderings of a trio that creates huge, beautiful landscapes and who give me a huge reason for continuing to put records out!
Releasing records is a beautiful thing. Once a record man, always a record man. Take the bird from the Birdman….
The Most Valuable Releases Sold on Discogs in April 2025
That hardcore band The Fix might not have pressed too many records, but they keep selling on discogs for insane prices. The last time their single sold, it sold for $12,995. This past month it sold for $15,000. Woah. That makes a Velvet Underground debut record ("the Bananana Cover”) selling at $6,492 sound like nothing! Or maybe not. What other list do you find The Misfits, Sonny Rollins, Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney and Bad Brains hanging out? Always interesting…
Rock's Back Pages: Bob Merlis on Warner Bros. + Little Feat + Neil Young audio
I love the Rock’s Back Pages podcast, where a bunch of ancient music journalists interview vets about their career. There are so many good episodes telling stories that even an ambitious liner-notes consumer like myself have not heard. I have known Bob since I started interning at Warner Bros. as a late teenager. He was the head of the PR department and so knowledgable about the early days of rock n roll (and so much else). Two walls of his office were completely covered with two images: one, a close up facial shot of a fully-toothed smiling Freddie Fender, and the other, the classic album cover of Swamp Dogg sitting atop a white rat. Post-Warner era found Merlis and David Less starting Memphis International Records, an independent label that released some great Jim Dickinson records, a killer Carla Thomas live record and equally stellar records by Harmonica Frank Floyd and the enigmatic bluesfarmer Alvin Youngblood Harte. His time with the Rock’s Backpagers is good time.
Most expensive sales on Abe Books from January to March 2025
OK…as a collector I love these kind of lists.
Does television get better than this: a five minute piece on Marshall Allen, celebrating his new Jazz Master award for a lifetime of innovation, his new solo record, and the intergalactic philosophy behind the music he plays? Incredible piece, it only took the Arkestra 80 years to get into the mainstream! One thing…and you can help me here…the journalist kept pronouncing Sun Ra as “Sun Ruh”…I have always promounced it “Sun RAH.” Which is right? Is it Ruh like Phó?
A-list star to play SF Giants fan in movie that’s already generating Oscar buzz
Go Giants!!!!!
The excerpt is a great read from a master music story weaver: “As the year passed, Haight Street, the main commercial corridor of the neighborhood, began to transform. Business after business catering to the students and other youth renting the flats opened their doors. The previous residents had fled to the suburbs during the 1950s; the newcomers were pursuing an explicitly anti-suburban impulse. The first store intended for them was Mnasidika, a Mod clothing shop at the corner of Haight and Ashbury owned by a woman named Peggy Caserta, which opened in April 1965.”
My Visit with My Dead Father’s Brain
Incredible weekend read: “I came to the brain bank because I wanted to learn how his brain was contributing to science. And I came for my own reasons. I have always wondered about my dad’s mind, how it worked, why it told stories, and how our family stories going back generations shaped his life. What I learned was emotional and startling, particularly when the neuropathologist explained to me what my dad’s brain revealed about how he died. My visit helped me find the deeper connection with my dad that I had yearned for growing up.”
Checker on Checker: “Now, there was that controversy back in the day [laughs], where I told them that, because of what we’ve done in the music industry, the Hall should erect a statue of Chubby Checker in its courtyard inviting everyone in to rock ‘n’ roll. Everyone got so angry about that.” And while we are talkin’ Chubby, it’s always a good time to dig into his swampy 1971 release Chequered!
Well In Ruined Courtyard
By: Adrienne Rich
