The links on this page are to bands and organizations that we consider to be part of our extended family. Some of them we've helped out with CD releases, some are run by old friends. Some are just folks that we think are cool as hell and deserve our recognition. Though we can't claim any official idealogical or financial connection with any of them (everybody's got to cover their asses these days), we have been blessed to have these people be a part of our lives. Please check out their sites, read their information, listen to their music, support their causes. Please feel free to email us if you'd like any more information on any of these folks.
From Tiny Mix Tapes:
At Tiny Mix Tapes, we provide both up-to-date and dated news, reviews, interviews, and articles on different genres in the vast music world, including independent releases, major label releases, and even self-releases. Contrary to what you may think, we don't do it because we are paid; contributing to Tiny Mix Tapes is 100% voluntary. The little money that we do receive in donations is used to fund the server. Tiny Mix Tapers are a bunch of over-achievers, and our primary jobs range from studenting, teaching, receptioning, cooking, and being full-time girlfriends of past models, to curing cancer and supplying Merriam-Webster with new words like "studenting" and "receptioning." It does help, of course, that two of our core members have been diagnosed with mild to medium cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia. We like to refer to these two writers as "troubled geniuses" in the vein of Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf. In short, we are all geniuses who deserve jobs at Rolling Stone and/or Hustler. We write because we get off on it -- it is a sheer love of music and a unified obsession with Sundafyllir Mostrarskegg La Resistance that keeps Tiny Mix Tapes in greased, working order.
We've been starting to add some articles over at Minnewiki, A site setup by Minnesota Public Radio to catalogue information about the Minnesota music scene. Though we're mostly focused on Chicago these days, we have some folk still in Minneapolis, and more importantly, thats where our roots are. More than anything we don't want to see knowledge about great bands we grew up on like Tang, Marcus Noise, Push On Junior, and so many others that are no longer around to disappear. We're hoping to encourage others who were a part of the scene in Minnesota to go over to their site and make additions for what you remember. We'll be throwing a message board up here soon to hopefully spur some discussions about it.
Pragma Studios is a local recording studio in Chicago run by a friend of ours. They have great equipment and a comfortable, professional space with a great view of the chicago skyline from the control room. Hopefully we'll be doing some work here soon for upcoming acts on the label, but in the meantime, if you're looking for competitive rates from a great studio in Chicago, this is a great place (and you can even maybe record with one of our own there).
MP Shows has been doing their best to keep all ages music alive and well in the Chicago area. Though we haven't had much chance to work with them up to this point, we hope to as our presence in the Chicago area increases. They have hosted a show for relative as well as some old friends of ours like The Appleseed Cast, Mates of State and The Cardinal Sin. We've gotta give MP Shows credit for keepin it real.
The Empty Bottle is one of the coolest venues in the chicago area. From their site: In 1992 the Empty Bottle started out as a cat-ridden hole-in-the-wall bar in Ukrainian Village (just south of Wicker Park) where you could get any one of nine beers for a buck-fifty or less, play pool for 50 cents, and find everything from Monster Magnet to Bill Monroe on the jukebox... read on here
The Sustainable Energy for Economic Development (SEED) project is a community-based renewable energy campaign (local to Minnesota) started in 1993. Four organizations: Clean Water Fund, Minnesotans for an Energy-Efficient Economy, The Minnesota Project and the Sustainable Resources Center, have joined forces to work with farmers, rural leaders and organizations, and energy advocates to build a stronger base of support for renewable energy development in the state. The goals of the project are to broaden the base of support for renewable energy to develop as much renewable electricity in the state as possible, to sustain existing momentum despite increasing market pressure against renewables, and to do this in ways that provide direct benefits to the host rural communities.