Welcome to the happenings page for RAW Kinder at Home Office
Records. This is the place to tune in for What's Up Documentation and
information on the Kinder, their recordings, and all of what's
moving
and shaking in their slice of the world. We update as often as we have
news
to bring you (and enough hours in the day to bring it).
Where's that CD already?: The first RAW Kinder solo recording project is being pressed even as you read this page. That wispy sound you just heard is a collective sigh of relief and wonder. The 23.5-minute 5-song EP (album to follow, in the fullness of time) will be released on July 29, 1998. To check out the cover art and our plans for the CD Release Party at CB's Gallery visit this link. This lush and moody mini-album was recorded early this year in New York City and produced with intimate and meticulous care by Resident Music Guy Dan Snyder. If you've heard RAW Kinder before, you've never heard them like this. If you haven't heard them yet, hey: let's get with it! You'll be hearing them now, and on into the future.
This CD will be released as a limited edition, for Internet sale here at Home Office Records and at RAW Kinder gigs. We will place the disc directly at selected music stores, and once that happens there will be a list of those discerning venues maintained here at this site. Want to see this specialty collectible stocked in your area? Drop us an e-line so we can find out where you are and what's the hot music spot nearby. Vote early and often.
Speaking of voting, the band made its second appearance this year at the Intel New York Music Festival -- their early showcase on July 15 at The Spiral (between Amy Fairchild, soon to play this year's Newport Folk Festival, and New York's Alice Texas) showed the new confidence, consistency and ease that six months in and out of the studio can bring. RAW Kinder was lodged for the entire course of the Festival in the top ten list of Internet-voted IntelFest bands, ranging up as high as #3 and down as low as #7 (where they finished)! That's out of over 300 bands in the Festival, so kudos to the Kinder Core for turning out and voting.
RAW Kinder's tight uptempo set was recorded and Netcast worldwide by Online TV, as was an interview with Charlie, Ian and HO's Mr. Cyrano chatting on about the effects on Internet technology on the music biz, all three standing shoulder to shoulder in Union Square Park for the filming. If they ever tell us when these will be re-run, we'll let you know.
Looking backward: Recording through the dark months of this El
Niño winter, RAW Kinder took a break from the regular round
of
performances in and around the East Village. They're back now. Keep an
eye
on our HO Gigometer™ for new concert
dates
as they come! We're looking forward to seeing you, again or for the first
time.
It Happened Last Winter: Back in late October, the first rough recordings for the coming EP were laid down in The Shack, on a sandy Long Island spit over a full moon weekend in the midst of a full moon high tide. It was an elemental experience, marred somewhat when Paul the Sound Guy capsized The Lizard and fell into the Bay during an ill-conceived fishing break. (You can't make this stuff up.) The music was magical, performed to the crackle of the log fire and the howl of the generator. Out the full-height windows churned a sweeping expanse of water, mist and chilly sky (and ducks, too).
In November the Kinder packed up again and headed out for a second shot under the elements. The weekend was a glorious pastiche of warning wind and coming winter. Water rose high around The Shack, and trips to market tracked along submerged roads, past deserted beaches and through cold, lashing storm gusts. Rain by the sea stirs the soul and challenges the heart, and while none of the Shack recordings actually appears on the forthcoming CD, that atmosphere is there as mute backdrop. The rain you'll hear tracked into the background of "Damp" (one of the five EP cuts) is real New York rain, not canned stuff from a set of samples.
The originally-scheduled Valentine's Day release date for the CD has, of course, come and gone (as dates tend to do). And this is worth the wait. Join our RAW Kinder e-mailing list down t'bottom of this page to keep up to speed on gig and release information...
It Happened One Night: After long and careful deliberation, RAW Kinder signed a recording contract with Home Office Records on November 23rd, becoming the first band to officially join their dreams to ours. Wish us luck! The event took place at 85 Down on Avenue A, in the presence of Chef Joe, and fine wining (or beering) and dining followed. Especially that delicious pork loin with bourbon- cherry sauce, phew. Amazing.
It Happened Last May: And, of course, RAW Kinder's first
recordings
are still with us on Burner, our Home Office Records
compilation CD
of music by five exceptional downtown artists who work at, drink at, hang
out at or
are otherwise connected with the East Village beer bar
d.b.a. RAW
Kinder
contributed four stunning tracks -- nearly 25 minutes' worth of music --
to this "best-kept secret" indie
release, and it is fine work indeed. You can read more about this
eclectic, unusual
album by following the link here,
and if it whets
your palate then drop in to our nifty
little on-line
store and order that puppy. While you're there, check out the other
choice goodies
from our indie friends and acquaintances.
Gig Roundup and Summer News: If you were with us this summer,
you'll remember
that July rocked in with a RAW Kinder appearance at the Intel
New York Music
Festival (once better known as the Macintosh Music Festival),
which packed
a zillion bands into a zillion clubs and Netcast most of them worldwide.
The Kinder
gained some notoriety as one of only a handful of bands to file their
submission to the festival over the Internet and get accepted into the
gala
lineup. This tidbit generated a mention in The New York Times by
rock
critic Neil Strauss, and was followed by a write-up
in the CyberTimes by Internet tracker Lisa Napoli. RAW
Kinder
took the Friday-night stage at CB's Gallery during the Festival just
before a
performance by Ivy Markaity (who later joined us at a HO
Night
at CB's Gallery in October, this time warming the stage for the
Kinder), and the house was rocked.
The IntelFest was followed by a blur of gigs all through the East Village. High points? A packed August Internet Cafe show, where all sorts of new material (including "Indian River") had its public debut, and first visits to ragtag tiny Hotel Galvez on Avenue B and Lach's rocking home room, The Fort at Sidewalk Cafe down on Avenue A. RAW Kinder also anchored three crowded HO Nights at CB's Gallery, joined by Burner fellows and label-mates Pawnshop and the estimable downtown talents of artists like Brian Dewan, Professor & Maryann, Dave's True Story, Li'l Mo & the Monicats and bluecowboys (who also appear on Burner).
As always, for an electronic reminder for RAW Kinder gigs and your
e-hot e-line to all and sundry Kinder news and commentary, tap a
couple
of keys here to join the bona fide, accept no substitutes Kinder Core
mailing list!
So this is where we're going; want to see where we've been? The last two editions of this News Page are available in the Archive Department. Watch those creaky stairs...