Black Cross, Blue Sky Mile & More Upcoming Initial Releases

Initial Records have announced
their release schedule for the end of the year and first few months of 2004.
Click below to check it out. December 16th will see a 7" records by both
Black Cross (titled Roll Up Your Sleeves) and Breather Resist (titled The
Second Half). Blue Sky Mile's Sands Once Seas hits stores on January
20th along with Harkonen's Dancing. Singer / songwriter
Peter Searcy
releases his album Couch Songs on the 17th of February. March 16th will see the
release of
Black Cross' Bloody Widows record along with the complete
discography of The National Acrobat Volume Zero.

IRL21 BLACK CROSS Roll Up Your Sleeves 2-song 7"
Out December 16, 2003
A new limited edition 2-song 7" from BLACK CROSS, recorded in Louisville
by Sebadoh member Jason Loewenstein. You saw them on tour all Summer with
Thursday, Give Up The Ghost, Every Time I Die, This Day Forward and more! Their
follow up to the groundbreaking, critically acclaimed album Art Offensive, Roll
Up Your Sleeves continues in their quest to push the boundaries of hardcore and
punk rock all the while melding the personal and the political in a whirlwind of
passion.
"Best New Music" Editor Pick - "In 26 minutes Art Offensive
updates hardcore by years. Dragging hardcore forward, kicking and
screaming." - CMJ Monthly July 2003
***
IRL22 BREATHER RESIST The Second Half 2-song 7"
Out December 16, 2003
A new limited edition 2-song 7" from Louisville's BREATHER RESIST,
recorded in Chicago by Scott Adamson at Semaphore Recording. You saw them on
tour this Fall with Converge! Featuring BLACK CROSS member Evan Patterson on
guitar, BREATHER RESIST unleashes an unrelenting wave of potent, searing heavy
music. Hailing no allegiance to metal nor its bastardized offspring, BREATHER
RESIST takes its cues alternately from the brutal noise of the AmRep era, the
precise pummeling of the Jesus Lizard, and the pure rage of Kiss It Goodbye.
***
IR60 BLUE SKY MILE Sands Once Seas 9-song CD
Out January 20, 2004
Providing a common ground between current faves like THURSDAY, BRAND NEW and
TAKING BACK SUNDAY and melodic hardcore classics like DAG NASTY, BLUE SKY MILE
carves a new path by learning from their influences, not mimicking them.
Originally hailing from various points across the US and converging in Seattle,
BLUE SKY MILE formed in early 2001. Consisting of five, self proclaimed
'twenty-something college students, graduates, and dropouts," BSM's
self-effacing humor belies the grandiose leanings of their musical output.
Precise, interlocking guitar work runs behind the acid-tongue of singer Jerry
Kansky, spitting his diatribes with a bittersweet melodic passion. Produced and
recorded by Joel Brown at Hall Of Justice studios (owned by Chris Walla of DEATH
CAB FOR CUTIE, home base studio of Barsuk Records), Sands Once Seas tackles and
conquers weighty lyrical themes and extraordinary musical ground. Standing head
and shoulders above their contemporaries, BLUE SKY MILE at once embraces their
musical roots and lays waste to all comparisons. A mixture of intricate indie
rock, melodic hardcore sensibilities and dazzling, inspired emotional rock takes
BLUE SKY MILE into the stratosphere of today's musical heavyweights.
***
IR57 HARKONEN Dancing 5-song CD
Out January 20, 2004
Art rock hard rock? Is there such a thing? Can the foot stomping quality of
AC/DC, soaring melodic angst of NIRVANA, mathematic thunder of MELVINS, and arty
aggression of THE JESUS LIZARD be woven into a snarling form of progressive
hardcore? We say it can, and HARKONEN alone are the captains of this journey.
Initial Records is very proud to release the newest EP from HARKONEN, entitled
"Dancing" and serving as the follow-up to their massive Hydra Head
album "Shake Harder Boy." With production duties courtesy of Seattle
studio god Jack Endino (producer of NIRVANA, MUDHONEY, MURDER CITY DEVILS, TAD,
AFGHAN WHIGS, SOUNDGARDEN, SEAWEED, MELVINS) prepare yourself to be flattened.
***
IR61 PETER SEARCY Couch Songs 12-song CD
Out February 17, 2004
Legendary Louisville, KY singer/songwriter PETER SEARCY (singer of SQUIRREL
BAIT, BIG WHEEL and STARBILLY) is currently completing Couch Songs, an entirely
acoustic album recorded at his home studio, to be released early 2004 on Initial
Records. This will be SEARCY's first release since 2000's acclaimed Could You
Please And Thank You (Time Bomb), his debut as a solo artist.
***
IR59 BLACK CROSS Widows Bloody Widows 15-song CD
Out March 16, 2004
Initial will be releasing a collection from Louisville's stalwart
punk/hardcore/noiserock powerhouse BLACK CROSS tilted Widows Bloody Widows. This
deluxe packaged disc will include the songs from the limited edition Roll Up
Your Sleeves 7", the out of print Screaming 7", the out of print first
EP (as BLACK WIDOWS) Stops A Beating Heart, an outtake from the Art Offensive
sessions, and an outtake from the Screaming sessions. This CD is a must-have for
any fan of the band as well as an excellent starting point for anyone curious
about Louisville's genre-bending iconoclasts BLACK CROSS.
***
IR62 THE NATIONAL ACROBAT VOLUME ZERO Complete Discography CD
Out March 16, 2004
The complete recordings from the infamous Louisville noise core technicians.
Members went on to form BLACK CROSS, CHRISTIANSEN, BREATHER RESIST. A momentous,
exhaustive collection of every single song the band ever recorded ­ including
Can't Stop Casper Adams CD, It's Nothing Personal CD, For All Practical Purposes
Is Dead CD, The National Acrobat CD, a SEX PISTOLS cover song, as well as all
their compilation and hidden tracks. Acrobats attack!