Tea First Media
https://teafirstrecordsmedia.blogspot.com
August 2012:
Portland Phoenix Applesauce Love:
Our old friends at TEA FIRST RECORDS have assembled a few honeypots for us this summer. The first is a trio of long-playing cassettes of radical dub interpretations from electronic artist ARTIE APPLESEED. The magisterially packaged Applesauce Trilogy unfurls nearly three hours of gorgeously deconstructed dub and IDM forms, beats bobbing like buoys in a sea of compressed melodies and electronic skronk. Weird, wild, and mindful of the soul. AA's got his hands in the second and third releases, too (he's the label impresario, after all). One's the second installment of a series titled Dracula Songs, a chilling and delicate sojourn with post-noise plucker b, and the third's a split with BLIND PELICAN, the sparse and lyrical post-rock work of musician Douglas W. Milliken. For the surfeit of reggae-rooted bands in the area, it's astounding to note that Appleseed's forays into the outer realms of dub are the only of their kind to hit tape. Visit teafirstrecords.blogspot.com, where the label's radio station might be a good intro.
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Avant Music News Review of Selbyville's Mansions:
The clarity of the forthright plucking of the steel-stringed guitar of Selbyville is stunning. Like throwing open the sash windows for the first time that spring and having a hummingbird fly into the room At irregular intervals, a guest instrument chimes in – cello, violin, glockenspiel, even trombone twice, putting down some nice, dark panelling on the floor – and gentle loops and effects adorn the garden surrounding the house.
This is the house of Artie Fischer, “one lone and humble dude” living in Portland, Maine, according to a local magazine. And along with Derek Kimball and Michael Kamin, “Mansions” is a Martha Stewart interior as if tweaked by Pablo Picasso, folk music for people who aren´t all that earnest but not weird enough to get the contemporary “freak” take on it. The most “out” track is “Morning Drone”, but its crackles and long-held, deep notes are more reminiscent of having a good stretch before getting out of bed. The sun is always shining in.
There´s apparently a vigorous hybrid folk/electronica/whatever scene in Maine and New Hampshire and Tea First seems to have quickly been embraced for its eclectic tasting menu of releases. For Tea First is proving, like its older, more experienced sister Time-Lag, to be anything but a niche label – subsequent releases by Fischer and company have dabbled in “transcendental music collage”, drone and dub reggae.
Mansions on Bandcamp HERE
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July 2012:
Free Compilation Download HERE of:
No Source Netlabel NS050 Compilation featuring tracks from Artie Appleseed & pEACEFANg
a review of tracks off the upcoming Unstoppable Death Machine LP (tea006) from A. Appleseed :
read review here
the long awaited and most excellent "Until Dark" video (animation/direction by Derek Kimball)
Until Dark by Selbyville
Also: "Born Tying Knots" from the upcoming Selbyville album. Beautiful.
Born Tying Knots by Selbyville
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The USM Free Press recently published THIS review of Selbyville's 'Quiet until the Thaw" album.
Thanks Jakob!
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Friends of Tea First, No Source Netlabel, just release a self-titled ep from pEACEFANg (click below)
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The good people at Foxy Digitalis gave tea002 Graham 'Grimpen Mire'
a 10/10
From the good people at Terrascope Online:
" an album of quiet instrumental ambience from <Mass.>. Opening with a steady thrum of white noise, reverberated chords and soft, slow notes billowing over the top of this foundation, the music is slow and minimal in classic Eno mode...You have to have a certain strength of vision to make this kind of music work, and Graham has it..."
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Selbyville - Mansion 2 (Part 1-Teaser)
An exclusive clip from the upcoming Selbyvile album
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The good people at Foxy Digitalis gave tea001 Selbyville "Quiet until the Thaw" LP
a 7/10
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Selbyville's song "Quiet the Uproar" is featured on the No Source Netlabel's debut compilation. Click on the photo for a free download!
