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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!