Yeah, that's an Eschatone icon, not a Rebellion icon. This post is about the label. It involves private discussions that I've been cleared to take public - because the folks at Eschatone would like to know what you think.
It's no big secret that I am one of the partners in Eschatone Records. I'm not comfortable listing the other partners' names here without asking first (and there's no reason for me to call around and do that right now), but suffice to say there are several of us. (The other guys are content to let me, as the most experienced blogger on staff, do most of the, uh, public outreach. For better or for worse.)
Eschatone's mission was clear from day one: it's all there on the ABOUT US page and it hasn't changed since we opened the site. We love packaged albums - the fusion of music and design, the liner notes and hi-fi sound. And we've sought to capture all that with our well-produced and highly designed mass-market compact discs.
It's been a year and a half since we started Eschatone; now, six CDs and a vinyl 7" later, we're fairly convinced that - ready? - the vinyl record, not the compact disc, is the best way to fulfill Eschatone's promise.
First of all, vinyl sounds better. It's not an issue of fidelity (though CDs are now mastered for maximum loudness with very little regard for dynamic range, which effectively kills any sonic edge they might've had over vinyl) - there's just something more inviting about the tonal quality of music played off vinyl. We've A/B'd the digital master files from The Valley Arena with the 7" release a zillion times, and it's no contest. The vinyl single is simply a more appealing listen. It's more dimensional and dynamic. And I hate to use this cliche, but it really is warmer.
Many - most? - music consumers rip newly-purchased CDs (if they buy them at all) immediately to their computer's media player, and listen to them exclusively as compressed MP3 files both at home and on the go. These consumers are never experiencing the music at full fidelity. The euphemism "CD quality" is all but meaningless.
Then there's the issue of packaging. I think we've done a heroic job keeping the Eschatone catalogue lookin consistently sharp despite the fact that no matter how many panels we add to the Digipak, we can't overcome the sad physics: each panel is less than a quarter the size of one side of a 12" vinyl album cover. Looking through my CD collection, I have to admit that most of my all-time favorite package designs - even the ones conceived specifically for compact disc - would've been better delivered in a larger format.
At one point a while back, we considered teaming up with some of our favorite visual artists to develop an Eschatone poster series - having them design gig posters for our musical roster and then producing signed and numbered editions - but that would make us a poster studio, not a record label. Now, though, we're considering a way to bring the two together.
Many labels, including our lil' sis JAXART, have already adopted a very interesting digital/analogue model: they combine a digital-download retail release with limited-edition collectible vinyl. They skip the CD format altogether. This is what we're considering - and we want to take it to a whole new level.
Eschatone has two releases on tap for the spring. There's Michael Bassett's beautiful new full-length, soft verges, and a three-song single from The Hanslick Rebellion. We plan to offer these digitally, through iTunes, emusic, Snocap, Amazon's new digital download service, and all other major providers. That's nothing new for us. But instead of pressing CDs this time, we've partnered with two great artists, Justin Lloyd and Arturo Vega, to pull out all the stops with signed, numbered limited edition vinyl releases.
Justin, who has created t-shirt and album art for countless indie bands and is the mind behind the incredible Black Sea clothing line, is designing the packaging for Michael Bassett's album; Arturo, best known as Creative Director for the Ramones (he's the guy who designed the eagle logo that's on half the t-shirts in your dresser drawer), is whipping up a design for the Hanslick Rebellion 12" single. No limits have been placed on either artist; Eschatone will accommodate any ink, foil, varnish, die cut, and paper stock they request, no matter how unorthodox.
Both releases will be pressed into black virgin 180-gram vinyl in a limited edition of 300 copies, with the back covers hand-signed and numbered by both the musical and visual artists. They'll come shrinkwrapped - sealed after they're autographed, for maximum protection. They'll be sold only through Eschatone.com (although we will likely make them available to select retailers who specialize in this sort of thing). When you order one from this site, you'll instantly get a link to download the album as MP3s so you can enjoy the music right away. And the MP3s we provide with the sale will be deluxe - encoded at a much higher sample rate than is offered at digital retail.
We figure the records will most likely be priced at about $30 to start. Like any fine art edition, the price will rise as the pressing sells out (so as more of them are purchased, the value of each copy goes up). The long-term goal is to combine the beautiful work of Eschatone musicians and the best visual artists into great-sounding art objects that hold tons of collectible value, yet remain affordable to the average music fan (if you'd spend $40 on a t-shirt and $150 on a concert ticket, then this is pretty much a bargain).
So our question to you: does that sound good? Is there anything about this plan that you might do differently, or think we should consider? If you're reading this, it's most likely because you're interested in the label or our artists, so please e-mail and tell us... is this the kind of thing you would enjoy having in your collection?
Obviously we would, but we're a bunch of fuckin weirdos over here.
What a great time we had in Hamburg! And what a great way to end the tour! The venue was packed and everybody was in the mood for a real good time. Thanks to everybody that showed up yesterday. And as long as we are on the subject of thanking: We now want to - again - officially thank One Fine Day for bringing us along. We had the greatest of times! And we also want to thank their manager Melle who made all of it possible. And then we also want to thank One Fine Day´s merch and over all good guy Carsten who not only took care of our merch stuff for most of the gigs but also is the greatest guy to travel around with.
And last but certainly not least we want to thank crazy Axel. Not only for making a surprise visit on stage as Santa during the last show but also for taking care of our instruments and setting everything up each night.
If you want to knwo what real luxury is for a musician on tour just spend a day with Axel. Normally the worst part of being a punk-rocker low on the musical food chain is to worry and take care of your stuff. But this time we got a taste of the good life on the road. After unloading the van and putting the gear somewhere in the club it miraculously found its way on the stage and in the right spot. And when it was time to rock all we had to do was to put our arms in the air and let Axel hang the guitar around us and start playing. Man, never mind sex, drugs, and rock´n´roll - a backliner is the greatest part on tour! Espescially if you have one like Axel. One time I caught him soldering the bass amp on stage 5 minutes before showtime.
Now that we are back and not at the mercy of some club owner´s Wi-Fi we will add some more pictures to the previous posts and try to get rid of some of the typos made in the drunken daze of the road.
That´s all folks - for now! Soon it will be the studio again - can´t wait.
thorsten, olli and steffen
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