One Shrimper is not for Trump’s tariffs

AP reporting this morning:

After decades of plunging prices and a dwindling workforce, Shrimpers are cheering President Donald Trump’s tariffs 

Yo, fellow shrimpers, you are letting me down over here. I am sure Donny can afford a gilded washing machine with a 30% tariff paid for by our tax dollars, that he will turn a blind eye to the bill for labor that the great unwashed leave next to his freshly laundered Chunky Dumpy Humpies (POTUS brand cloth diapers) but shrimpers don’t have that luxury. Let’s get together and discuss. I have this incredible new record by Fake Nudes that Bill Chen and I want to share with you over our next meal on our working class rafts.

New Son of Buzzi record on Shrimper announced

Zurich’s Sebastian Bischoff is Son of Buzzi, a self taught finger style guitar player whose unique manner of playing is compounded on his new record by the world of producer Michael Potter. Previous outings on Cardinal Fuzz, Stoned to Death and Dadaist are comprised of his instrumental guitar pieces sometimes coupled with synthesizers or his no-input mixer to create other worldly ambience and noise. Bischoff’s compositions capture the resonance of the instruments used and importantly, that of the environment he records in, be it a kitchen, an abandoned balcony or in the case of this record, a hut.

Son of Buzzi’s latest album, Ein Hase, ein Phönix, ein Schwan was recorded on guitar in December of 2024 inside a hut in the Ticino Mountains in Switzerland alone over a long weekend. The electronic accompaniments were recorded in Zurich and arranged together with Michael Potter (The Electric Nature). The title cut evolved over a series of Bischoff’s tour of USA, and defines the marriage of the impressionistic with the concrete on this gorgeous album of alchemy and transformation that engulfs the senses as the slow reveal of these unique pieces unfold.

The limited edition CD is out May 16th and is available to preorder here and here.

Jad Fair and Samuel Locke Ward unleash Pure Candy LP

If there is an antidote for these times that serves as a lift, a reminder that all politics are personal and in the personal there is hope, this record is the one for me in 2025. The real estate of our souls has no room for ill working agents. The hearts that don’t beat to be purchased, heads with teeth built right in for emergencies, those are my kind. I will be damned if I am not seeing angel wings form on itty bitty cat haunches, halos on Irish Setters, golden auras spilling all over the sidewalk that used to be darkened shadows of passers by, I mean like, every time that I play this record out the front door this happens. Pick it up at an independent record store or an independent distributor and use daily, as directed. Pure Candy.

Jad’s installation of paper cuttings and drawings opens today at Space 1026 in Philadelphia and runs through March 28th!

TM Givens “Diaries and Letters” book is out now on Bamboo Dart Press

What we see in this series, apart from the beautifully recognizable style of artist TM Givens, is the constricting space of pandemic-era living. Compared to his Garden Prayers series on Pelekinesis and the recent Coffee Shop drawings, whose fluid lines and outward observations express a sense of openness and connection, these drawing convey the isolation and claustrophobic feelings we experienced during those confining times. The lines are darker and more erratic, the shading is aggressive, the focus is razor-sharp and singular. The addition of writing around each drawing creates a thick boundary that encases the artwork in an uneasy narrative. The words are descriptive, the observations mainly hopeful, the frustration real and persistent. Diaries and Letters is available now.

Jad Fair and Samuel Locke Ward “The Good Stuff”

I confess, I fall in love with every record that I issue. So imagine how it feels to be loved back by that record. I mean the actual sleeve and insert and electric yellow marbled vinyl, and the labels on side one and two. Hell, the LP labels themselves do more for me than that eighteen hour of TM that I did last week, and that was a real doozy. I go out in the front yard and I don’t care who is there, coyotes, hawks, venomous passer by, not today. I just flip the vinyl over, A to B for hours at a time. I don’t then just walk through that front door, I tap dance. I tap right into the kitchen with a lit up cheshire grin and I build a shrine on a ten foot platter, an eighteen course meal for my family to eat, and don’t even know that I am doing it.

A record built only on love and joy and perseverance by Jad Fair and Samuel Locke Ward reaching out through the darkness with rechargeable batteries is landing, issued by Shrimper and Stationary (Heart) on March 7th. I ain’t writing ad copy. Play this video put together by Jad, hear them Locke Ward musical dynamics coupled w/ Jad’s lyrics and voice and you might find yourself doing the same. Aloo Gobi sandwiches, french fried ice cream, tres leche spaghetti, empty them cupboards and make way for pure candy.

Trailer for TM Givens Diaries and Letters book on Bamboo Dart Press premieres

Tm Givens’ Diaries and Letters is out on February 25th. On display in his latest is his always beautifully recognizable drawing style. combined with the constricting space of pandemic-era living. Compared to his “Garden Prayers” series on Pelekinesis and the recent Coffee Shop drawings, whose fluid lines and outward observations express a sense of openness and connection, these drawing convey the isolation and claustrophobic feelings we experienced during those confining times. Below is the short trailer for this lovely book.

Gail Butensky Bamboo Dart Press book and New Yorker piece

Dog Faced Hermans photo (c) Gail Butensky

Gail Butensky has been one of my favorite photographers for decades. I am sure if you are reading this, you have seen some of her photography on your favorite record covers, zines, publications or online. It was a thrill to issue her book Every Bend on Bamboo Dart Press a few years back. The book features some of her iconic shots of The Minutemen, Big Black, The Butthole Surfers among others, but also her lovely shots of California deserts, runaway trains and empty resorts. There is running commentary in the Bamboo Dart Press book about each photo chosen from the thousands upon thousands that Butensky has shot which is illuminating. Check out this lovely piece on her in The New Yorker.