Cooling Pie Records

Cooling Pie Records: An Adoption Agency or a Record Label?

The Kaplan family dynasty contiues with Cas Kaplan, brother of Wes Kaplan (of Craters fame). Cas' band is called Day Sleeper and we're glad to welcome them into the Cooling Pie family. And yes, now that they are part of the family, it means that Spencer and I are Day Sleeper's new parents. Make sure you guys do your chores or I'll take away your drum machine! Huzzah!

On a more serious note, Drop Your Sword will go up on this blawg on January 10th. Coincidenally, Day Sleeper's gonna be playing a show with some friends at the Middle East upstairs the same day to celebrate the release. The show starts at the rock and roll hour of ONE PEE EM (1 PM) so come celebrate lunchtime with Day Sleeper!

In the meantime, go check out Day Sleeper's myspace page and get excited about the FUTURE.

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CP004 ::: AVA LUNA - TALES OF A NEW YORK CITY PEDESTRIAN (originally released in 2005)

Click to download 'New York City Pedestrian' in its sexy MP3 glory

Here's the masterpiece. Originally recorded throughout 2004 and 2005 at Ari Zeiguer's house in the Bronx, "Tales..." is an record that I'm very proud to stream up here. The first time I heard this record, I was a junior in high school and I was sitting in Ari's dorm room, stoned out of my wits. He asked if I wanted to hear his band and I absolutely did not--for me, there's nothing worse than listening to crappy bands when I'm stoned. I want the good shit: slow, hard music in waltz time. Maybe that makes me weird. Anyways, it's not that there was anything particular about Ari that gave me cause to think his band would suck, it's just that, you know, I'm a skeptical person and I really wanted to listen to Radiohead or something. So he puts on this little record and...suprise, I nearly wet myself.

First track "Love" gave me my Radiohead fix and with that satisfied, I was able to enjoy the rest of the album for what it is: classically arranged rock music minus any "prog" pretensions. I fucking hate prog. Seriously. But I love this album. I think "My Summer" might still be the best song that anybody I know personally has ever recorded. "Song for a Movie" ended up getting redone for Ava Luna's next record Lemming which we'll toss up on the site soon. "Sandpaper" has a real, live choir on it. How do you do it Carlos? I do not know. All I can say is that I invite you to enjoy this album with all (two) of us at Cooling Pie Records. Do drop us a line and tell us what you think!

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The Spectrum

Click this baby to enlarge it...completely fascinating. More Cooling Pie artists to be added soon...

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CP005 ::: THE CRATERS - KISSING/SAMBA PARTY

This here's gonna be the album/double EP thing that shoots us to stardom for sure. The Craters consist of a dude named Wes and a dude named Jared. I begged these guys for a while to let me try to make their recordings sound more "hifi" and "crisp" and other stupid things like that. I think I missed the point because when they delivered this double EP set, I flipped a shit. I remember driving around Austin and bopping my head to the 1-2 punch of "Like You Used To Know" and "Baby". "Sonic On My Sneaks" is a harsh tranquilizer, "Lear Jets" is extremely unsettling. I was lucky enough to get to work on the mix for Bellyache and afterwards, it was stuck in my head for days. The hooks aren't always immediate; this isn't Tal Bachmann™ or anything, but they're definitely there and the payoff is always strong. They still won't let me give them new drum samples but fuck, these guys are so fucking talented they hardly need em. Stream it for free here, tell your friends you helped them get to the top, and:

Cooling Pie is proud to be the Japanese/European/African label for the Craters. On the American internets, they're also represented by Amazing Wow

We're also going to have hard copies of the double EP for sale up here ASAP. You will know when it happens.

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CP003 ::: ALEX WHYTE - SILENT SPACE

Recorded and mixed by Julian Fader
Alex Whyte - Acoustic guitar, trombone, vocals
Julian - Drums, electric guitar
Adrienne Lloyd - Bass
Billy Mintz - Additional treatments on 1, 6

Alex and I recorded this EP at Buck's Rock summer camp in the summer of '06 in a wooden shed. All of the songs were recorded before midnight and 5 AM and I think there's definitely a lot of that vibe on here. Alex is a pro: pretty much all of these are first or second takes. The last track is actually New York-based percussionist Billy Mintz tinkling around on the piano--we went to the shed to record one evening and found Billy "composing" this piece. I quickly set up a mic and recorded it without his knowledge. As far as I'm aware, he still doesn't know he's on the record but I kind of like it that way. Billy, if you see this, the minute we get paid for this album, we'll buy you a beer. Or a car.

Get Billy Mintz (and Alex Whyte) paid:

You can also purchase a copy of the album at http://cdbaby.com/cd/alexwhyte. We'll have a direct link up soon...

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CP002 ::: AVA LUNA - THE CHILD IN THE SKY (originally released in 2003)

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD AVA LUNA - THE CHILD IN THE SKY.zip

To understand The Child In The Sky, all you need to do is check out that tracklist. Six songs break the six minute mark and there are 18 total tracks, including a remix! Looks like a Kanye album or something...but it's not. The Child In The Sky is the solo handiwork work of a young Carlos Hernandez, who's currently dominating Brooklyn's burgeoning "east-of-Williamsburg-hipsterish-semi-legal-we-won't-card-if-you-don't-tell warehouse/basement/loft" in a far different, newer incarnation of Ava Luna. They rock now but there's a purity to this album that I love. From what I understand, a 17 year old classical-pianist Carlos decided to record a rock song ("Co-Operation/Suspense") and the rest of the album grew out of these first attempts. Nobody was ever supposed to hear this music; it's an artist making art for his own sake. And yet, I think some people will like it. Some will probably hate it. If you like Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Procol Harum, or the first King Crimson album, you'll probably like this. If you like Dan Deacon, Garth Brooks, or Dave Matthews (ever seen these three in a list together), you probably won't. In fact, if you like Garth Brooks, please get off of this site. Now.

REVIEWS:

"the child in the sky is like SO bad" - Carlos Hernandez, 2008.

If that doesn't tell you enough, then I don't know what will. Enjoy. And donate.

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CP001 ::: SPENCER TRICKER - LOGIC

Recommended/Lucky Numbers: 1,5,6,11

Produced by Julian Fader and Spencer Tricker @ Hot Water Studios, Fourth Floor Lounge, & Buck's Rock
Mixed by Julian
Mastered by Dr. Toby "The Doc" Mountain
Spencer and Julian play all instruments except:
Ian Moskowitz - Bass, wooden frog on 10
Ellie Kahn - Violin on 5
Ira Fader - complex and yet subtle guitar solo on 4
Madeleine McMillan & Sasha Winn - Vocals on 11

Oh lordy...here we go. This release is CP-001, our very first release and it's the debut album by Cooling Pie Records co-founder Spencer "the illFantastic" Tricker. The album was painstakingly crafted over two years in various dorm rooms, bedrooms, living rooms, basements, and other dens of iniquity. Upon its initial 2006 release, it sold about 16 copies and as a result, we're streaming it here for free. If you like what you hear, please follow the following steps:

1. ask for Spencer's number in the comments section. Really, I'll give it to you.

2.DONATE

3. BUY

4. Repeat.

What the Online Illuminati have to say:

"Spencer Tricker has to have one of the most arresting voices I've heard in some time."
-SKATTERBRAIN

"[...] Spencer Tricker divides his time between New York City and Florida, all the while doing his student thing and setting down sincere sounds in bedroom- and basement-style recordings. The pleasant surprise of it is his vocal sound, which even in demos lets a little gut and world-weariness seep through."
-Hello Gina

"Spencer has a great voice and a knack for writing beautiful songs!"
-Hits in the Car

"There's something striking and beautiful in his simplicity: his arrangements, as sparse as they may be at times, accompany his voice beautifully"
-Who Needs Radio?

"More than once I’ve found myself mentally comparing Tricker’s voice to Ray Davies of the Kinks. It’s seductive but unthreatening, and pleases the ear to a perfect degree. There’s nothing synthetic about it; it’s pure, unaltered talent."
-The Whit Online (Rowan University, NJ)