Local folk legend Cheryl Wheeler was in studio last week with producer Kenny White. Backing her up was an A-Team of local musicians: Kenny on keys, Duke Levine and Bobby Keyes on guitars, and the stellar rhythm section of Marty Ballou on bass and Marty Richards on drums and catashes. Three songs were cut in two days, all of them about a very special feline companion, who’s ashes even made an appearance on “Cat’s Birthday” as a shaker. And you know what? It sounded GREAT!

If you’ve been watching the World Series or any major sporting event for the past month, you’ve probably seen this commercial. Mixed here at Camp Street, this track is a stand out from their album “Dying To Say This To You.”

Check out The Sounds Here

Producer/engineer Matthew Ellard was in over the weekend mixing local band Clarias assisted by Alex and a lot of students! Now producer Tom Polce has moved in with CBS recording artist Will Dailey. Will’s been on some big time tv shows lately and there’s lots more info on his website www.willdailey.com They’re tracking for a new album through the 1st.

After a rock and roll laden previous week, its gettin’ funky ’round here again at Camp Street. Zap Mama’s visionary lead siren Marie Dualne is in today tracking vocals and she’s brought Philadelphia native -now Boston resident G Love, with her. There’s some great YouTube footage of Ms. Daulne and Mr. Love performing together live–see it here.

Although we launched our web store a couple of months ago, we now have the infrastructure in place to offer full album downloads directly from our servers. We are very excited to be able to offer digital content completely independent of any sort of ‘middle man.’ We’ve even got a fancy flash jukebox so that you can get a taste of what our artists have to offer. Check it out by clicking the “Store” link found at the top of this page. Right now you can purchase Joshua English’s ‘Kill For Sport’ full length album, available in both vinyl and digital download format, and John Powhida’s ‘Funny Bunny and the Dirty Birdy’ 4 song EP available in high resolution mp3 format. We will continue to make improvements and add content, so check back often. We’d also like to thank all of the people that have already purchased downloads and have been patient with us while we were working out the bugs. Thanks for your support and for your feedback!

It’s been a guitar heavy week or so here at the studio. We’ve had a double dose of home town rock with Taxpayer wrapping up a full length and Clouds flying in to track an EP. Good thing we acquired a fresh stack of 9 volt batteries as both bands gave our pedal collection a good work out.

Clouds invaded Camp Street this weekend to bust out 4 songs of fury to be released in 12″ vinyl format this spring by Hyrdrahead Industries. Clouds hits the Middle East Downstairs Thursday, October 16th with Doomriders and the Bronx before heading out for a six week jaunt across the U.S. with labelmates, Torche, and then a week with Boris. (How’s that for a cluster of name droppings?)

Taxpayer have been tracking their second full length over the course of this past year. We’ll be putting the final touches on a 13 song offering in the next couple of days. You can see pictures of Taxpayer in the studio with many shots of our handsome engineers at taxpayermusic.com

Available for a limited time is the first of a series of digital download EP’s by John Powhida.  The first installment is a 4 Song EP called ‘Dirty Birdy and the Funny Bunny.’ John will also be selling a CD version of the EP when he opens up for Todd Rundgren, but unless you are planning on trucking down to New Jersey for that one, you can slake your thirst for all things Powhida at the Camp Street Records store.   Check out the title track. It’s a hit.

Today is also the official release date of Joshua English’s ‘Kill For Sport.’  Those of you who put in your pre-order, keep an eye on your mailboxes.  They should get to you later this week or very early next week depending on where you live.

Paul had a successful weekend at the flea market in Rhode Island and came back with some lost treasures. Amongst the booty was an original Project/one DR-II turntable and a 1958 Voice of Music Model 714 ‘Tape-O-Matic’ 1/4″ 2 track tube tape machine. He also scored a killer lost 45 from a 70’s Massachusetts band called, ‘Cat’s Ass.’

The A side, ‘Mexico,’ was co-written by Victor ‘Moulty’ Moulton of the legendary Cape Cod-based band, the Barbarians. Moulty also gets a recording/producing credit on the liner notes. Here is the only info we could find on this record: “After the early ’70s recordings, sightings of Moulton and the other Barbarians were rare. During the new wave of the mid-’70s, Moulton wrote the A-side of a single for the band Cat’s Ass. In an exclusive interview on March 20, 2002, Moulton told All Media Guide “The song “Mexico” was written for my friend Bruce Silver (to perform).” Silver passed away in 1999 in a freak boating accident while on vacation with his wife, and the single was one of the few appearances of a new Moulty song on record during the ’70s.” (from http://www.answers.com/topic/moulton-crater)

We can only assume that Bruce Silver is Cat’s Ass lead singer, ‘Kwik Silva,’ who’s pleasantly cracked vocals are somewhat reminiscent of our very own, Jake Brennan. Fortunately, the songs are as good as the cover art. ‘Mexico’ is a lost garage classic complete with cave man drums and a ripping tenor sax. Check it out:

And the B-side, ‘Tantaliza’

We were pretty enthused and amused by this record, so thought we’d share it with you. We’ll be sharing more solid gold could-a-beens and rare-do-wells in the future, so check back to see what’s on the platter. If you know anything more about Cat’s Ass, give us a shout: camp.street.studios@gmail.com

It’s feeling downright Autumnal today, as we dive head first into the mixing of the new record by Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles. The air is crisp and the Ampex two-track is rolling. Drawing from contemporary influences, Sarah lends her lovely voice to new renditions of Lemonheads , Any Trouble, and Magnetic Fields songs. Throw in some catchy originals, shake well and voila! The perfect recipe for what engineer Adam Taylor calls, ‘Pub Rock For the New Millenium.’

The boys are doing a mix of the new John Powhida track, ‘Dirty Birdie.’ Powhida weaves a tale of outlaw romance set to a musical backdrop that would do Prince and late-70’s disco-Bowie proud. Its rocking on the big Urei 813 speakers as this very post is being written, permanently and happily embedding itself into the playlist in this author’s head.

From the ‘Better Late Than Never’ department, we finally received the ‘Kill For Sport’ test pressing. The verdict: success! We should be getting the actual records by the 8th of October, and they will be subsequently be shipped out to all the fine folks who have put in their pre-orders. Thanks!