07 Jan 2012 — Henning Lahmann
With all those ramblings about Brooklyn and LA it nowadays feels like the music scene of America's Second City (do they still say that anyway?) is not getting the attention it would presumably deserve (barring some
prominent exceptions), but on the other hand, maybe that is only my detached trans-Atlantic perception. In any case it's a delight to see someone boosting Chicago's underground fellowship, and
Teen River, the recently founded tiny cassette imprint that's being operated by
Solid Melts-affiliate
Katrina Stonehart and some other equally mysterious dude (?) named Gordon, is the most wonderful example of raw artistic fervor that I've come across in ages. The venture is admirably low-profile yet also highly ambitious, aiming at putting out at least ten tapes each month (!) from fabulous exponents of the Chicago-based weirdo scene. I've been told that everyone involved in Teen River is "drowning in fun", and honestly I can't help but feel a growing amount of sincere happiness in light of such candid and unabashed, truly "indie" enthusiasm.
Below, take an exclusive look at the brand new video for "Reference Slides" by Earth Masters (aka George De Moura of
Total Reality International), taken from his
Ex-GF cassette that's part of Teen River's just released, massive 20-tape January batch (after the already pretty impressive first 12-tape batch released in December):
Also check out some other tunes, go
here for even more, check the complete list of tapes
here, and write/paypal directly to teenrivertapes@hotmail.com to get your hands on some of the beautiful, authentically DIY tapes (2 for $5, 5 for $10, 20 for $40, plus shipping - try to beat that).
