Sea Records // Ate Something Bad

July 9th - Sea Records Exhibition & Ate Something Bad Book Launch

The Basement - York

So we're throwing a party. Nowt new there. Only this time we're going the whole damn way. Live music, some djing, an exhibition, a Q&A, some projections, and two new releases, one of which is a book! Not bad eh. ATE SOMETHING BAD by Adam Hell http://atesomethingbad.wordpress.com/ ... A cartoon diary of sorts, a sketch or two a day for a year. A series of simple, and quite beautiful illustrations embracing life's highs and lows. Funny, sad, childish, and vulgar, yet always honest and regularly insightful. Mr Hell blogged these doodles daily, Sea has put them all together in one chunky book, and quite frankly it looks super. These will be for sale, (for the first time ever!!) on the night for £10. There will also be a budget priced Sea Records compilation available too. More of a 'Greatest Misses' than a sampler, the CD only comp will feature carefully selected tracks from the last six years. There will only be fifty of them, then that's it. SEA RECORDS EXHIBITION http://www.searecords.co.uk/ In the six years since Sea's inception, there's been little song and dance made. The hard work and beautiful artistry is being celebrated with an exhibition in the City Screen Bar, and previewed in The Basement and this very party. LIVE MUSIC Alisia Casper - beautiful folk Sexy Death - A Broken Arm and a Stink Tap perform their disgraceful disco rap Stink Taps - Skew wiff, honest song-smithery The Basement, York. 8pm-Midnight, Sat. 9th July, 2011. £4adv/£5otd. http://www.searecords.co.uk/ SEA RECORDS : 2005-2011 A personal waffle, of sorts. I'll never forget being handed the 'Witchi Tai To' 12” by Ambulance. It's textured brown card sleeve had some ace white images printed on the front, subtle text and found inside was a sweet, oversized, black print. Exactly the kind of record that screams 'Play me!'. So I did, instantly. The a side was a looping, layered pop beauty - a five minute version of a native Indian chant, often covered over the years. Wow. Turned it over and the fucker just got better - a sludgy, riff heavy instrumental owing as much to Sabbath as anything - and a complete contrast to Witchi Tai To. Without really knowing, I was holding the first ever release on Sea Records. It was 2005 and in hindsight, it was both a very memorable occasion and also in some ways, a life defining one. Ambulance performed at the first two Please Please You shows in 2005/6, and at many others until they split up last year. Founded by Ambulance guitarist Dom Berry and label cohort Jim Robinson, Sea went quickly from being a home for that band, to being a home for many others too. Over the next five years Sea went on to release music by Wolf People (their first ever ep), Liverpool psych-instrumentalists Mugstar, skiffle-y wonder trio Les Cox (Sportifs), brutal punkers Broken Arm, the remarkable Alisia Casper, a second, stunning Ambulance ep and (Steve West from Pavement's) Marble Valley. Wolf People have since become the first British band to sign to Jagjagwar, home of Dinosaur Jr., Bon Iver, Black Mountain and more top acts. Mugstar are now signed to Important Records alongside Merzbow, Acid Mothers Temple and numerous other greats. Mugstar recorded the last ever Peel Session and did a split single with Mudhoney. Many of the artists on Sea Records are friends, and the collaborative spirit encouraged by the label is one of the reasons it's so special. Side projects and solo projects are plentiful amongst Sea's back catalogue, and many are gems too. The music is clearly highest on the agenda, and you'll not find a duff release on the label, but much like legendary indie's 4AD, SST, K Records and the like, packaging and cover art is also of high consideration. The simple, and very fetching Lifeboat EP series are hand stamped and numbered - Ambulance's 'Bells And Whistle's' ep is a work of art I couldn't begin to try and compliment enough. So in 2011, Sea Records still maintains the same principles. They continue to release beautifully packaged, fine music, by good people. Watch out for new releases, occasional parties and perhaps another of the now legendary dj sets.