#madebymorphius

Our longtime friends, the DC-based rock band, Deleted Scenes have announced via their Facebook page that they are officially calling it quits after nearly ten years as a band.

Morphius manufactured four previous Deleted Scenes releases including Birdseed Shirt and the vinyl 12” for their BedBedBed EP & Young People’s Church of the Air (2013).

While we’re sad to hear they are parting ways, we are thankful for the ten years of awesome music they shared with their fans and are ecstatic that we got a chance to work with them on so much of it.

If you are feeling nostalgic, you can snag a copy of their debut album, Birdseed Shirt or their acclaimed 2nd full-length, Young People’s Church of the Air from seeofsound.com/morphius, or digitally from iTunes. You should also check out their 2014 release, Lithium Burn.

While you’re at it why don’t you check out one of Matt Dowling’s new projects like The Effects or Paperhaus, which he just joined this year.  Or order a copy of Morphius XX, which features a radically different remix of one of their coolest songs, “English as a Second Language,” which was done right here at Lord Baltimore Recording Studio.

A few years ago a group of DC-based musicians opened a DIY venue and community living space in The District called The Paperhaus. Those same musicians also formed a band of the same name and on the eve of the release of their debut album will play a show at 9:30 Club with Loud Boyz, Baby Bry Bry & The Apologists, and DJ Ayescold.

Starting as a duo nearly five years ago, Alex Tebeleff and Eduardo Rivera have been staples in the DC music scene for a while now and Paperhaus has become one of the most popular local bands. Earlier this year, they added two new members and have been touring nation-wide in anticipation of their debut, full length album. 

We highly recommend making the short drive down to DC to see them play the 9:30 Club, certainly one of the best venues in the country, but if you can't they are playing a show at Metro Gallery this month with local favorite, Ed Schrader and legendary guitar virtuoso, Yonatan Gat (formerly of Monotonix).  

Also, take a trip down to DC to go to a show at The Paperhaus venue. Since its inception, there have been several other DIY spaces that have popped up in DC, partially due to the creative community that Paperhaus, both the band and the venue, have cultivated. 

The new Paperhaus album includes themes of self expression, awareness of being, and community and strikes a nice balance between catchy indiepop, 60s psych rock and 80s punk. 

Below you can listen to the single, "So Slow" which premiered on Alt Citizen on Monday morning. 

Paperhaus was #madebymorphius and you can pre-order a copy of it from seeofsound.com/morphius or on iTunes. 

TOUR DATES:

THROWIN’ BACK to April 2012, when we pressed this stellar album, The Electronic Anthology Project of Dinosaur Jr., which was a collaboration between Brett Nelson of Built to Spill and J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. The album dropped on Record Store Day that year. The color purple (J Mascis’ favorite) was the premise for the album’s classically simple, vibrant design—purple jacket & center label, on purple virgin vinyl. 

A new exclusive re-mix of Dinosaur Jr.'s classic track, “Sludgefeast,” is also featuredon the vinyl and CD of our upcoming release Morphius XX: Twenty Years of Breaking Records, which drops this month.  The release celebrates the last 20 years of Morphius and all the great bands we’ve had the pleasure of working with with exclusive material by more than 25 artists. 

Accomplished composer and musician, Lindsay Cooper played in legendary experimental prog-rock bands like Henry Cow and in jazz ensembles like the Mike Westbrook Orchestra. She sadly passed away in 2013 but has left an incredible legacy of experimental jazz and rock music. She also founded the Feminist Improvising Group, scored feature films and wrote for television, dance, radio and theater. 

On January 13th, ReR Megacorp will release Lindsay Cooper Rarities Volumes 1 & 2, which you can pre-order now. Make sure to check out other great titles from ReR Megacorp, including the aforementioned Henry Cow, plus critically acclaimed Faust, This Heat, Art Bears and several hundred other releases. 

If you're fortunate enough to be highly mobile or live anywhere near London, you can also see an event on November 21st featuring four legendary bands coming together from points halfway across the earth to perform Lindsay’s music as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival. Among the four is Henry Cow (1968-1978), who had previously said they’d never re–form.  Lindsay's tremendous influence meant enough to change their minds.

THROWIN' BACK

Back in 2008, Baltimore avant-psych post-no wave act, Hymnen recorded, mixed, and mastered inferno in Vogue right here at Lord Baltimore Recording Studio.  This intensely eclectic blend of experimental rock, jazz and psychedelic was released by Morphius Records later that year. 

Hymnen was apparently a couple years too far ahead of their time and broke up shortly after the release to pursue other endeavors, but this masterful release has finally started to catch fire over the last two years.

So we're taking the time to celebrate, Inferno in Vogue!

Inferno in Vogue was #madebymorphius and you can download it from iTunes or get the CD for just $7.49 at seeofsound.com/morphius. The final track, "Buyer's Remorse" is an epic, 13 minute banger. 

THROWIN' BACK 

Morphius Records founder David Andler, heard the first minute of “Negative Thinking” by Australian punk band The Death Set in 2005, looked over at A&R Director Emily Rabbit and immediately said “Call 'em up, we should sign this band.” Soon after the conversation, Johnny Siera & Beau Velasco were on a flight to Baltimore. 

Once settled, they played their first US show at the Talking Head Club on Davis Street (the original Ottobar spot) and finished up mixing and mastering for their To EP, which was released on the newly formed Rabbitfoot/Morphius imprint, spearheaded by Emily Rabbit herself. 

Morphius loved working with The Death Set, and we dearly miss Beau. Before his untimely passing just over five years ago, Beau helped Johnny leave an unforgettable impression on the band's audiences, most of whom wondered how long into the set it would be before most of their gear was destroyed.  The answer was usually "not very."  Beau also helped us complete the construction of Lord Baltimore Recording Studio, where the band's next release Rad Warehouses, Bad Neighborhoods was mixed and mastered.

Following the great success of the band, Emily left to form Rabbitfoot PR and work with Spank Rock, Ami Dang other great artists.  Now based out of Brooklyn, The Death Set is still touring. They came through Baltimore and played a packed show at The Crown last summer.

THROWIN' BACK

In 1997, Morphius Records released Third Harmonic Distortion’s self-titled debut album. The raw, energetic banger was compared favorably with  landmark albums by Archers of Loaf, Built to Spill, Drive Like Jehu, and other 90's powerhouse bands. On Morphius’ upcoming 20th anniversary release, Morphius XX: Celebrating 20 years of Breaking Records (out Dec. 2nd), we're reissuing a hidden track that appeared on this CD but was hidden so well that most of their fans never heard it.  The song is called "Cleaning The Grit," and features vocals by JV "Buck" Carey.  Buck played drums on all the band's other songs, and you probably know him from his awesome playing on most of Arboretum's albums, but this lone track he sang on was pretty amazing.

You can get your copy of Third Harmonic Distortion s/t from seeofsound.com/morphius