Northern-Spy Records

Hey all. This is Colin L. (USAISAMONSTER, CSC Funk Band, Bullroarer, MassDist) and this is what I’m doing…

I’m working on my 2012 album entitled COL. That’s taking up most of my time. I’m thinking about it and working on it a lot. Its all getting planned in my head. And all the moves are getting made. I’m handing it off in December. Gonna take that long.

But I’m also making another album, more like a cassette, but neither. I’m gonna mix these out there outtakes and side jams and whatever new recorded gems. Weirder, maybe more noisy, less focused, not COL, looser, random, more, but just plain fun jams. Whatever I want. Having fun with our Tac board and our studio. Sorta a song a month, on the side. Sorta another record. Its all exciting to me.

NSPY is gonna release these jams digitally, systematically, and periodically on the internet for free and for ya’ll.

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NSPY NOTE: CLICK "READ MORE" BELOW FOR NOTES ON EACH TRACK!

Northern-Spy Records  [FMA / home] first appeared in late 2010 when -- in one seemingly fluid motion -- the staff that revitalized ESP-Disk split off, launched a shiny new label, and whipped up a diversely talented roster that includes many FMA favorites (Bird Names, Arrington de Dionyso / Old Time Relijun, Jooklo Duo, Colin Langenus Orchestra / USAISAMonster, Eleven Twenty-Nine). With their freeform approach, I had a hunch the N-Spy staff were in tune w/ our efforts here on the Free Music Archive, and the hunch was verified when they swooped in to sign Dan Melchior the day after he debuted Catbirds & Cardinals here on our site. I became really intrigued by the label's model after talking with Colin Langenus, and hearing his excitement at having found a label with a full staff who was actually investing in his future. So when N-Spy approached us with mp3s to share -- including promo mp3s, web exclusives, and archival projects like Colin Langenus' Mass Dist, I took that as an opportunity to interview Label President Tom Abbs and learn a bit more.

FMA: You don't see a lot of new labels popping up these days, so what are the origins of Northern-Spy?

Tom Abbs: I had started working at ESP-Disk about three and a half years ago. Bernard Stollman the founder would put ads on Craigslist, and we all found our way there, really trying to revive that label. There ended up being so many management problems that we decided to move on and do our own thing. We were actually trying to bring more new sounds into that label too.

FMA: Yeah, I mean an artist like Talibam finding a home on ESP somehow made sense to me. And Barnacled, with this great record that had actually been originally recorded back in 2003...

TA: Yes, and we found it under a desk. People were sending stuff to Bernard, and he wouldn't listen to it, so it had ended up on the ground somewhere -- literally the CD-R was underneath a desk foot -- and we found it, kept playing it. I didn't know who Barnacled was, but we just loved the music, and there was an email address on the disk, so that's how that happened.

FMA: Well sometimes that's the case when labels when they're run by just one person -- I mean, how could they possibly keep up with all the submissions? But with the team who revived ESP-Disk moving on to Northern-Spy, you're working with this more traditional label model where you have in-house staff specializing in different tasks...

TA: At ESP-Disk, I had assembled a staff to do the publishing, to do the PR, a really good financial guy, so when we left ESP we had that intact. That was the core of our business plan. If it was just me, it would be much more limited in what could do, but since I had this really strong team that had worked together for a few years, it enabled us to really hit the ground running.

FMA: I was talking to Adam [Downey, Northern Spy Marketing Director / Head of A & R] the other day about how Colin Langenus from USAISAMONSTER has this great solo album that's been floating around for a while, I actually have an unmastered CD-R version of it from several months ago, and it was gonna be issued on this label that I personally love from Providence RI, the Corleone label, but I know that label's just run by one guy, who's also on the side running a restaurant and doing tons of other things. So when Northern Spy came along, it sounds like this was actually done with Corleone's blessing. And I guess the point is that artists are more comfortable with a label that has all these different arms working for them...(cont.)

I, Colin Langenus and my best friend Jonah Rapino put out our first cassette tape in 1994. We called our label Massive Distribution and since we have released 110 albums and counting. Our goals were simply getting our friends and our own many projects out there! I think initially I thought this would be a precursor to something greater. I really thought many of the Massdist artists were geniuses that would be discovered by the masses immediately! Jonah was never this naive. Eventually Massdist became to me essentially an archive and another reason to keep busy, releasing improv or one off bands. Massdist has given me a lot of joy.

Here are a few Massdist releases from over the years. Maybe we'll put more up here. These are some of my favorites, or just albums that I didn't have anymore and wanted to hear again.

Thanks to Jason Sigal and the FMA for the invite! And thanks to Northern-Spy Records for the help!

In the summer of 2009, USAISAMONSTER played their "LAST SHOW EVER" at an absolutely packed Market Hotel. Justin Farrar summed up a common sentiment for fans of the group when he wrote in a Village Voice article, "This sucks balls, people". Now, thanks to the efforts of Jeff Halpin / Van Meter Productions, we can again experience those final moments.

the USA is A Monster: Close to Me from Jeff Halpin on Vimeo.

the USA is A Monster: Voices To Be Heard from Jeff Halpin on Vimeo.

the USA is A Monster: Frozen Rainbows from Jeff Halpin on Vimeo.

the USA is A Monster: Florida from Jeff Halpin on Vimeo.

the USA is A Monster: Skraling from Jeff Halpin on Vimeo.

the USA is A Monster: Cocaine Wedding from Jeff Halpin on Vimeo.

the USA is A Monster: Grey Owl from Jeff Halpin on Vimeo.

the USA is A Monster: No More Forever from Jeff Halpin on Vimeo.

Check out pictures from the gig via Impose Magazine. Check out pictures from the gig via Brooklyn Vegan Justin Farrar's article "God Bless the USA is a Monster" published in the Village Voice THE LAST ALBUM IS AVAILABLE NOW ON CD AND LP!