We made it through another shitty year!
Despite releasing less than we maybe ever have in 2021 and supply chain issues making it next to impossible to set a solid release date, 2021 was a pretty great year for Dirt Cult Reecords all things considered. We’re really proud of the releases we did manage to push out the door, including NEIGHBORHOOD BRATS – Confines of Life LP, NEEDLES//PINS – S/T LP, POSTAGE – S/T 12″, INJECT THE LIGHT – The Apocalypse is Boring cassette, and MODERN CYNICS – Auditory Postcards cassette.
Because we released so few records this year, we teamed up with our BFFs at Dead Broke Rekerds to bring you a pay what you want sampler featuring a song from every 2021 from each label and some awesome art from Tom Lowell. You can download that here
Unfortunately, many of the things we planned on releasing last year were pushed into 2022, but it does mean we have a stacked few months in front of us, including the Schedule 1 LP and Jenny – Trajinero 7″ that are shipping now! We’ve also go LPs from Dead Years and The Roxies, both from Germany, that SHOULD be shipping in February. I’m saying this with more confidence than I’ve had in a while, because the records are pressed and just waiting to make their way over the ocean. They should be here soon, unless Covid shuts the borders down again, which I don’t see happening.
In addition to what we have planned on the front end of the year, Postage and Bothers are both returning with new LPs, which have been sent to the plant. Not sure on the release dates on those, but let’s say…fall maybe???
Both Dead Years and The Roxies are up for pre-order now. I know that pre-ordering records is a bit of a frustrating crapshoot these days, but it helps us stay afloat as we naviage pumping a ton of money into releases that take months and months to actually hit our door. It’s been somewhat upsetting to say no to a lot of great stuff this past year because we simply don’t have the money to fund a new release because it’s all wrapped up records that will get released someday.
Here’s some info about the new records we have up in the site now.:
Scheudule 1 – Schedule 1 12″ (shipping now)
Order via our mailorder site (best if you want several things)
Listen/order via Bandcamp
Schedule 1 delivers your contraband in four equal measures. Created in the Pacific Northwest by students of the Old World. Post-punk mixed with influences in Oi, Hardcore, Emo, cut with hard-hitting melody, clarion declaration, and laced with bittersweet. The band started right before Covid went on lockdown and somehow managed to record an incredible batch of songs without ever having the benefit of playing a show. Featuring members of Bishops Green, Dead Cells, Candy(BC) and Systematik.
FFO: Red Dons, The Wipers, The Estranged, Criminal Code, New Order, Blitz
Jenny – Trajinero b/w Kids of Today 7″ (shipping now)
Order via our mailorder site (best if you want several things)
Listen/order via Bandcamp
JENNY “Trajinero b/w Kids of Today” is the sophomore EP by Justin Maurer (CLOROX GIRLS, MANIAC, SUSPECT PARTS, L.A. DRUGZ) featuring a little help from his friends Jacobo Fernandez (LAS BRUSCAS, LES TRAGIQUES, DESOBEDIENTES) and Gabriel Lopez (ESPECTROPLASMA, SONIDO GALLO NEGRO) as well as his former bandmates in LA DRUGZ who play on the B-Side “Kids of Today”.
“Trajinero” is JENNY’s debut Spanish language single with the B-side “Kids of Today” sung in English. “Trajinero” was conceived during Maurer’s visit to Mexico City in November 2020. Maurer, Fernandez, and his girlfriend Corey were enjoying a Sunday afternoon boat ride in the swamps of Xochimilco, Mexico City, and Maurer was fascinated by the rough and tumble trajineros who expertly manned their hand-painted gondolas in the canals. Over a bottle of ice-cold Don Julio Blanco, Maurer and Fernandez envisioned a plot where a lovelorn working-class trajinero must commit crimes to keep his upper-middle class fresa girlfriend happy. Loosely based on the plot of Emilio “El Indio” Fernández 1943 film Maria Candelaria, our protagonist commits a crime of passion and ends up in jail. He makes a plea to himself for his own happiness and survival, a passionate cry of “Ni Carcel/Ni Ella/Ni Nerds” which translates to “Not jail, not her, not nerds.” (The Mexican Spanish equivalent of nerds, ñoños, is sung on the final word of the song.)
Maurer has been a student of the Spanish language for a couple of decades with stints living and working in both Spain and Mexico. Native Spanish speaker and homegrown chilango, Fernandez, helped him with the lyrics – scrawled quickly during an acoustic rehearsal on the rooftop of his Mexico City apartment a few days before entering T-Vox Studios to record.
Covid-19 was in full swing in Mexico City in November 2020 when “Trajinero” was laid down and Maurer, Fernandez, and engineer Gabriel Lopez all double masked in the studio which is attached to the Lopez family home in Aragon; near the airport where Maurer had his flight home a few hours later. He nearly missed his flight, but a stone-cold hit was recorded. Lopez’s uncle Miguel Angel was dancing around the studio throughout the session which the boys took to be a good sign. Along with engineering and mixing the single, Lopez also played lead guitar and Vox Organ.
“Kids Of Today” is a catchy banger recorded by Grammy award-winning engineer Mark Rains at Stationhouse Studios Los Angeles. The uptempo B-side features former LA DRUGZ bandmates Cezar Mora (THE BAD MACHINE, THE WAYWARD CHAPEL), James Carman (REFLECTORS, MANIAC, IMAGES), and Johnny “JD” Reyes (REFLECTORS) handily backing Maurer up.
Dead Years – Dead Years LP (shipping in February)
Pre-order via our mailorder site
Song premiere via The Bad Copy
Maybe you’re already familiar with the Bielefeld conspiracy, which posits that the German town and its inhabitants don’t actually exist. Like most conspiracy theories, it’s utterly batshit – but if you can sufficiently warp your own sense of logic, you might just find yourself believing it. Which brings us on to thoroughly excellent punk band Dead Years – the fact that they profess to being from Bielefeld might not be the irrefutable proof required to debunk the theory, but it’s certainly enough reason for you to want to move there and live in their shadow for the rest of yr life.
Dead Years emerged fully formed in 2020, courtesy of an excellent four-song demo that opened with a notably mighty cut called ‘Cloaks’ and only got better from there. Three of those four songs return on this, their self-titled debut album – amped up and sounding better than ever. This is a record that hijacks the raw-throated immediacy of 00s punk faves like Fifth Hour Hero and Young Livers and laces it with a dark angularity that feels like a thoroughly modern take on post-punk – Iceage, Protomartyr, Facs, you know the drill.
Happily, though, Dead Years’ sound is very much their own. With lead vocals shared between their three members (guitarist Jonas, bassist Juli and drummer Hannes), sometimes even within the space of the same song, they storm through these 11 tracks with an immediacy and sense of purpose that cuts straight through the speakers and carves its way into your subconscious, especially on highlights like ‘Able To Run’ and ‘A Dead Truth’. By the hypnotic four-note riff that guides the epic intro to penultimate track ‘Clockworks’, you’ll have surrendered entirely to their persuasive charms and you’ll know that this record is destined for repeat plays, not to mention your undying devotion. We’d better hope that Bielefeld – and by extension Dead Years – actually do exist, ‘cause this album is too damn good for mere theory.
– Will Fitzpatrick
Dead Years from Bielefeld/Germany was founded in January 2019 by Julia, Hannes and Jonas. Hannes and Jonas had already played in Ruins together, Julia and Jonas were in Pointed. Further current and former bands are Mayak, Gloom Sleeper, Patsy O’Hara and Shoyu Squad. Dead Years released a four-song demotape in early 2020, due to the pandemic first shows only followed in 2021. Their first LP was recorded at the Tonmeisterei-studio in Oldenburg/Germany and will be out on My Ruin (Europe) and Dirt Cult Records (USA) on February 18!
The Roxies – Don’t Wanna Dance Because I’m Told Too LP
Pre-order via our mailorder site
Song premiere via The Bad Copy
Infectious power pop/garage rock from Berlin. Fans of The Briefs, Fashionism, and Clorox Girls will not be disappointed. Split release with Family Spree Records in Europe. Nothing is streaming yet but be looking for that soon!
Oh and in other big, news Neighborhood Brats are heading out on a big tour with Pears! They’re probably coming to a city near you and you should probably go see em! 
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