All tracks mastered by Megan Peterson, Knack Mastering.
SubFamily Records logo designed Mark Lerner, Rag and Bone Shop.
Additional design by Peter Keehn
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Hiding Behind Sound, “No Looking Back”
From the upcoming SFR release Words Escape (SFR 104, spring 2018)
The revelatory songwriting coming-out of the drummer Sammi Niss (Laura Stevenson, Matt Pond PA, Frankie and his Fingers), Hiding Behind Sound’s luminous debut was co-produced with Kevin McMahon (Titus Andronicus, Real Estate, Widowspeak). On nine atmospheric and dynamic “space twang” tracks, Sammi utterly shocks her closest associates with the deftness of her guitar playing, the hurt cool of her songwriting, and her stunning production acumen. Words Escape was written and recorded before, during, and after Sammi’s treatment for stage IV non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2015. She is in full remission and back on the road.
American Film History, “Gut”
From the upcoming SFR release Be content with your light, child (SFR 103, spring 2018)
Former Frankie and His Fingers frontman Frank McGinnis explores indie guitar pop with synthy ‘80s undercurrents and grooves that hearken back even further at times to the rock of yachts. The rural upstate New Yorker has long been recognized as a modern rock singer/player/writer with a fiercely viable skill set. Nothing about that has changed, but AFH finds McGinnis in a fertile state of transition and experimentation. Soaring, impassioned, subtly retro and fully contemporary, Be content with your light, child was produced with Jeremy Backofen (The Felice Brothers, Frightened Rabbit, Mice Parade) and features SFR team member and Frank’s longtime bandmate Sammi Niss on drums.
Peter Naddeo, “Brandywine”
From the upcoming SFR release Stubborn Horse (SFR 106, spring 2018)
Long-time Laura Stevenson guitarist and Brooklyn scenester Peter Naddeo is a DIY pop mastermind, writing and arranging songs that strike most listeners as a cross between the articulate guitar slinging of Big Star, the moody melodic sophistication of Elliott Smith, and a modern indie take on the grandeur of solo George Harrison, and worthy of comparisons to all of the above. His long-in-the-making full-length Stubborn Horse is a dazzling testimony to what one person can build alone in a bedroom.
Macrofone, “Liverpool, NY”
From the upcoming SFR release Everything is Birds (SFR 105, summer 2018)
Lavish at times, at others stark and intimate, Macrofone is a melancholy-pop collaboration between multi-instrumentalists John Burdick, Sammi Niss, and Eamon Burdick. Macrofone began as a prank and evolved into a real, ambitious writing and recording project. The rockstar dream post-mortem “Liverpool, NY” features lead vocal performances by Rhett Miller (Old 97’s) and Don Giovanni recording artist Laura Stevenson.
Mark Donato, “Necessary Evil”
From the upcoming SFR release At the literal crack of dawn (SFR 102 winter, 2018)
The veteran and pathologically prolific NYC/Catskills artist writes literate, generous, resonant, and hooky songs about the world inside and the world at large. His loose-but-tight band features bassist Mark Lerner (Rosine, Life in a Blender, John Linnell), drummer-to-the-stars Eric Parker (Joe Cocker, Steve Winwood, Ian Hunter), and SFR team member John Burdick on guitar. At the literal crack of dawn is Donato’s sixth solo record. He has also performed with John Linnell of They Might Be Giants, Amy Allison, The Oswalds, and more.
Battle Ave., “Night Light” (demo)
“Night Light” finds the veteran upstate/BK indie rock band Battle Ave. writing and exploring in the dark, lunar space between releases. Founded in 2008 by songwriter Jesse Alexander and drummer Sammi Niss, Battle Ave. has released two full-lengths that set Alexander’s beguiling melodies and legit, modernist poetry in dramatic, textural ways: the epic War Paint, and the atmospheric Year of Nod, both produced by Kevin McMahon.
The Sweet Clementines, “Bobby Murcer”
The eccentric New Paltz-based smart-pop quintet is led by songwriter/guitarist and music critic John Burdick. Somewhere between Chopin and a shambolic pop classicism, unafraid of either “J” word (jazz or jam), The Sweet Clementines augment traditional rock instrumentation with vibraphones, violins, sophisticated vocal counterpoint and subtle electronic accents. Owners of a huge body of smart and elegant songs, the Sweet Clementines have released two full-lengths:, 2011’s though it were the kiss of death, and 2016’s Lake Victoria. On “Bobby Murcer,” the band forsakes its baroque complications in favor of a short, mid-tempo rocker about low expectations and a famous Yankee center fielder.
released December 1, 2017