Portland, Oregon’s perennially groovy Ten Dollar Recording Company label boasts a swelling roster shot right through with homegrown Cascadian psych, lush neo-soul, organic dub, late-night closet rock, freak-folk, soundscapist collage, and other musical experiments. TDRCo is still plowing full steam ahead after over a decade's worth of kaleidoscopic releases, with not a single damn given about what's currently hot or in season on the charts. And with so much variety and talent on their bench, there's almost definitely something here for anyone with ears enough to hear. An obvious strain of melodic experimentation seems to have gotten the better of many of TDRCo’s artists, and there’s a host of elements here that stem from a bygone era, mined at this present juncture to solidly backward-looking yet forward-leaning pyschedelic effect.
TDRCO ARTISTS : Tobias Berblinger - Reed Burnam - Mo Douglas - Human Shaped Earth - Ryan Massad - Mariya May - Anthony Mudrick - Thomas Mudrick - Nodding Tree Remedies - Prince Joely - Silvertron Youth Choir - Step into the Kitchen - What in Your Heart Can Put You in a Trance - Chance Wiesner |
To longtime followers of Portland's always stellar Ten Dollar Recording Co, it's no secret that one of the label's most notable and long running sounding boards is a steadfast in-house appreciation of seismically deep, experimental dub. And to wit, no one is blowing more smoke (metaphorical and otherwise) onto those vinyl grooves than resident TDRCo soundscapist Prince Joely. Back at it with full length Dog Water, Joely is in top form on an album that smokes and smolders its way from one multipolar musical conflagration to the next, while yet maintaining a graceful, playful fluidity throughout. Always hewing close to the genre's gyrating home base of groove, Dog Water, and Joely's output in general, manages to avoid dub's more unfortunate (and numerous) forays into the smoked out, hacky sack landscape of cliche tropes that define so many other releases. Along with frequent TDRCo collaborators Mo Douglas and Mariya May, Prince Joely charts his own path on Dog Water, employing the dub frame as an exploratory tool first and foremost but running the voodoo down to often unexpected places, employing melody and cadence and repetition in a way that feels fresh and engaging. Initial jumping off points become deeper dives into an ambient, subterranean world beat that's both front and center as well as soundtrack fantastica. Tracks like "Enjoy Your Life", "Black Light Tan", and "Day Dream Juice" take their time to simmer and swagger, gently cooking on a steady, low heat, alongside downtempo forays like "Dark Orange Nebulous" and "Fresh Rains". and unexpectedly hybridized forays into alien melodic territory on tracks like "The Empathizer (Sha Na Na)" and "Stop Drop & Roll". Cook up another batch of that collie weed and corn bread, this one is gonna go all night. (Reed Burnam) |
Instrumental Vignettes |
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Ten Dollar Recording Co. is delighted to release the inaugural single by Dirty All Summer. Spotlighting harmonizers Ryan Massad & Mariya May, "Revolution Evolution" is a rousing, mind-bending psych pop kickoff arriving January 13th, 2024 for streams and downloads. |
It goes without saying at this point that Portland's own Mo Douglas is no stranger to a mean groove. Over a small pile of albums released over the past 7 or 8 years (sometimes multiple albums per year), Mo and co-collaborator Mariya May have been steadily tweaking a musical formula through a slew of projects and albums that stitches their varied inspirations into a seamless patchwork that, once assembled, sounds like nothing else - deftly fusing harmony, lightness, and ambience onto some often seriously ass-shaking music. Largely instrumental and always in service to the greater melody, Mo Douglas albums are a steady stream of colorful, suggestive vignettes that are fully fleshed out pieces in their own right, yet always suggestive of that eternal jam where the music doesn't ever stop.
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by Step Into The Kitchen Official Video by Bobby Nelson Release Date: September 22, 2023
"Communicating a Concern" is the new video from the album Sounding Lovely! by Portland-based Step Into the Kitchen. Borrowing from a wide, melodic pastiche of genre and mood and fusing the lot into a layered and harmonious soundscape, "Communicating a Concern" works as several musical pieces in one linear track, resolving thusly into bleary sonic groove, upbeat hum and syncopation, and singsong bass-laden dubscape. Step Into the Kitchen's resident songsters Mariya May and Mo Douglas have for years fashioned sturdy musical bedrock out of tossing the rubble of their wide range of influences into the tumbler, and then grooving on the idiosyncrasies that shake out. "Communicating a Concern" charts the shores of similar territory, with the track sailing easily between familiar ports and unknown waters, culminating in a color wheel flow of feel and melody that's vaguely familiar but wholly original. Stockholm, Sweden-based Bobby Nelson adds an additional layer of visual interest with his similarly flow-form produced video, hazily introducing celestial imagery and clandestine alien observers in the night sky as a compliment to May and Douglas' more earthbound musical sensibilities. They are among us, and you should give them a listen. (Reed Burnam) |
Cover Art + Design: RYAN MASSAD
STEP INTO THE KITCHEN
DOWNLOAD/STREAM: TDRCO, Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music
It's unusual to discover an album wherein all the tracks hold together so well that you find yourself under a kind of spell for its duration. "Sounding Lovely!" by Step Into The Kitchen kicks off with Mariya May's beautiful harmonic oooh's and then drops the listener into a melodic groove that may have you dancing before making way for a dreamy horn blasting in from another dimension, reminding one of filmmaker/composer Mike Figgis. Trance-inducing, wildly spontaneous, and dusted with cosmic pixie dust, "Sounding Lovely!" is tribal and wild and joyous and reverb-y - an enormous success in mood exhalation and world-creation. "Sounding Lovely!" provides maximum engagement for the senses, and in the end you're like "No! Don't go away..." (Robert G. Nelson) MARIYA MAY & MO DOUGLAS TENOR SAX: PETER QB STEREOPHONIC MASTERING: TIMOTHY STOLLENWERK VIDEO: "Just Living is a Kick" from Sounding Lovely! |
PLAYLIST: "TDRCO: My Heart Unraveled" |
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Hazy and unfolding like a slow summer evening, Mariya May's unaccompanied live rendition of recent studio single "Made of Stars" lilts gently towards the darkened sky on an updraft of lightly picked guitar and silky vocals. Stripped of ornamentation and captured at the source, the acoustic version of "Made of Stars" puts a spotlight on May's considerable vocal talent, as well as her ear for melody. Recommended summer listening! (Reed Burnam) |
Good & Cool Release "Old Work Truck" b/w "Under The Palm Fronds"
If the mid-winter dregs are bumming you out, a couple of new tracks from Portland-based Good & Cool should be ample fodder to keep your turntable warm until that Spring sunshine is upon us again. A joint side project of TDRCo stalwarts Mo Douglas and Prince Joely (while not attending to their myriad other musical work), Good & Cool has proven themselves capable of seamlessly hopping genres in favor of laying down a solid groove with self-assured efficiency.
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Portland-based troubadour Tobias Berblinger presents the vinyl reissue of his 2018 album The Luckiest Hippie Alive, released on October 6th, 2022. Berblinger played a release show that same day, at the Laurelthirst Public House in Portland.
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Prince Joely Delivers New Single:
July 2, 2022A new track from Prince Joely, "The Empathizer (sha na na)" unveils hypnotic mystique throughout its steady evolution. Initial guitar whimpers build steadily with a twangy allure. Swooning vocals -- "but now we know how it feels," -- offer further enticement, converging amidst the playful organs and guitar-laden pulses. A lingering, ghostly guitar line closes the track with a satiating glow, reminiscent of Wire's atmospheric art-rock. "The Empathizer (sha na na)" intoxicates with its debonair progressions and anesthetic vocal refrains. (Mike Mineo, Obscure Sound) |
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Step Into The Kitchen to trip out on a spaghetti space western, thru a sepia-toned kaleidoscope world of the in-between. Sure, you can meditate on your way to a funky party, but we're blasting all the way to the outer realms today. Words escape but still voices ring out and envelope you - don't worry, it's cozy in here. We're going all the way to the edge, and oh yeah, we'll be rewarded for our efforts. Talk about a vibe shift, this latest jam from the otherworldly collective is a true perception-altering adventure, not to be taken lightly. Check your measurements and sift accordingly, this is "A Fruitful Tenure". (Bryan Bruchman) | ||
What in Your Heart Can Put You in a Trance Release New Single"A Midnight So Sweet"Release Date: March 20, 2022
Out on March 20, 2022, the newest single from Portland's own What in Your Heart Can Put You in a Trance is shaking off the saturnalia blues and getting busy tilling up some equinox groove sure to raise the mercury. Plowing through the late winter miasma, "A Midnight So Sweet" is shot through with the silky feel of a warm, late night summer slow grind, deftly winding layers of nocturnal dancehall-infused haze and midnight psy-guitar slink around the ankles of vocalist Mariya May's forever sultry musings.
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Ten Dollar Recording Co. Presents
SPLIT EP by Thomas Mudrick & Mariya May | ||
Portland Band "STEP INTO THE KITCHEN" release debut EP Soups and Starters
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Mo Douglas Releases 8th Solo AlbumMo Douglas - the master chef multi-instrumentalist of Portland’s Ten Dollar Recording Co. - does it again, cooking up the groovy instrumental jams and bestowing upon our ears the best recipes for love, all on dog-eared pages fresh from your mama’s favorite magazines. Mo’s perfectly imperfect concoctions are hand-crafted to bring a smile to your face and open up your mind - psych, funk, soul, dub, jazz, garage rock, but most important of all a perpetual groove - swirling throughout the record as the flavors mingle. Mariya May Releases Third Solo AlbumPortland-based singer/songwriter Mariya May's third solo full-length Kiki & Mel's Drive-Time Circus arrived on cassette and on your streams January 7th, 2021. A prolific singer, songwriter, and collaborator, May's presence can be found all over numerous other projects from labelmates across the TDRCo back catalogue, in addition to her own predilections towards penning intimate, sprawling, and dramatic indie-folk. With the playful, hummable, and at times wistfully melancholic Kiki & Mel's Drive-Time Circus, May adds yet another feather to her cap and another album to her steadily growing canon that's sure to be a shaft of sunlight through your winter window. Throughout, May's inner muse shines bright, and you'll be finding yourself wanting to give this one a second listen before heading out to dive further into her extended catalogue of quality releases. (Reed Burnam) Reed Burnam ReleasesA hummable take on modern malaise, Reed Burnam's new single "Funeral Selfie" is party mix of acapella vocal, neo-Motown groove, West African guitar, and tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Definitely a must for your post-lockdown grooves. Keep an ear open for Reed's new single, out on Portland's ever-tuned in Ten Dollar Recording Company. TEN DOLLAR RECORDING CO. PresentsCD & DIGITAL |