Jim And The French Vanilla is the solo project of Jim Blaha from The Blind Shake.  This is his 3^rd album under the Jim And The French Vanilla moniker, but the first to be made widely available. (the first 2 came out on CDR-only and limited-to-100 LP, respectively)

The first 2 albums were acoustic, one-man-band affairs, but on Afraid Of The House, Jim (along with his brother/bandmate in Blind Shake Mike Blaha) expands to a full band sound, to astonishing effect.  The basic songwriting retains the incredibly distinctive mystical, other-worldly atmosphere of The Blind Shake, but the instrumentation and sound are both stripped down to their essence, dialing way back on the heavy-psych stamp of the Blind Shake at their heaviest.

Raw, feral, but incredibly CATCHY, Afraid Of The House covers a wider sonic pallet than one might pick up on at first. From poppy to heavy, from atmospheric to wild, Afraid Of The House reflects a wide range of ideas and emotion, while maintaining surprising consistence throughout.

Always prolific, Afraid Of The House comes out a mere 2 months after the latest Blind Shake album, Celebrate Your Worth, released in November on Goner Records. Other recent releases include Shadow In The Cracks, Swami John Reis And The Blind Shake, and others that I’m sure we’re forgetting.

We here at Dirtnap Records have long been huge fans of the Blaha brother’s output. We were JUST thinking that we should give these guys a call and ask about working together sometime, when the demo that became Afraid Of The House landed in our mailbox, via Max “Dirtnap A&R” Desharnais, of Sonic Avenues fame. If that ain’t serendipity, we don’t know what is.

1. When You’re Down
2. I’m Just Sitting Here
3. Back Home
4. Take It To The Grave
5. Not Even War
6. Eye For An Eye
7. Grow Like Rabbits
8. Psychic Killer
9. I Have To Slow Down
10. Green Curtains
11. Lonely Man

Our dear, dear friend Jonny Cat (of Jonny Cat Records, Chemicals, The Triggers etc fame) has been diagnosed with cancer.

From now until further notice, every time you download The Triggers – Shoot Your Mouth Off from Bandcamp, we’ll donate the purchase price + $10 (so if you download the album for $7, we’ll donate $17) to Jonny’s health fund.

So please show your support, and fuck cancer!

https://dirtnaprecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-triggers-shoot-your-mouth-off-benefit-download

Excited to announce that JIM AND THE FRENCH VANILLA have joined the Dirtnap roster!

Afraid Of The House, their debut for the label will be released on Feb. 10th.

In the meantime, check out the first Mp3 here:

http://clrvynt.com/jim-and-the-french-vanilla-im-just-sitting-here/

Out now! First 200 copies on RED vinyl, mailorder only!

Stream the whole thing at: http://www.stereogum.com/1911197/stream-drakulas-raw-wave/music/album-stream/

Drakulas present Raw Wave. Raw Wave is a collection of songs told from the different points of view of various characters in a fictional metropolis in our not too distant past.  A bustling city center not unlike Times Square in the 70’s filled with sin and sex is the backdrop where gangs, street preachers, sex addicts, pimps, prostitutes and pornographers live and work.  People of this world describe the time period of these songs as the Raw Wave. A wave of new analog technology that hit the city wiping away many of the mores and pretense of the past.

Drakulas are from Austin, TX and feature members of Riverboat Gamblers and Rise Against, among others. This is their debut LP, following a 7” on Red Scare. This pretty much nails the sound the Texas branch of the extended Dirtnap family is infamous for. Vibrant, high energy, and dangerously catchy, Raw Wave is tailor-made for fans of The Marked Men, The Dickies, and vintage-era Riverboat Gamblers/High Tension Wires, with a killer recording by Mark Ryan and Jeff Burke at Cool Devices Studio in Ft. Worth, TX.  And then there’s the lyrics, high-concept/low-brow weirdness that could only have come from the twisted mind of Gamblers frontman Mike Wiebe. Call it a super-group if you must, but don’t call it a side-project.

Track List:

1. I’m Getting Out
2. Sonny Tsu
3. Beta Max
4. My Name In Your Mouth
5. Headphones/Slit Throats
6. Neon Town
7. VHS
8. Venus Retreat
9. Fist Fight At Ponchos
10. Stepping On Glass

Sonic Avenues “Disconnector” tour starts it’s US leg on the 19th! If you live within 2000 miles of any of these shows, we expect to see you there!