Earlier this month, Austin-based punk band Guiding Light released their debut album Fear On My Own Time via Post Present Medium. Composed of drummer Charles Powell, vocalist Elise Cook, guitarist John Morales, and bassist Rachel Kirk, Guiding Light create music that is bold, and gloriously so. Honing instrumental fixations that combat the dead ends of our societal collapse, these songs burst with intensity and linger with purpose as Guiding Light break through the isolation and unease that absorbs our world.
I know that Guiding Light came together in a rather serendipitous manner, where the instrumentation was complete without a lead vocalist, and vice versa, lyrics written without a band. Now that you see your debut LP about to be released, what was it like to write an album all together as a fortified unit?
It was really easy. We work well together. It was easy when we met, which is what made it so fun for us, and I’d argue it’s even easier now that we write as a unit!
The recording process for Fear On My Own Time was split up into two sessions with a 6-month gap in between. What did that lapse in time offer to these songs and the final product that we get to experience?
Honestly, the only reason there was a gap in between recording was because we didn’t have all the songs done yet, and some members are in other bands who had their own things happening. We didn’t want to rush. I think the result of having time between recording allowed life to happen and therefore themes of the album became more complete.
The songs across this album range in focus from the aftermath of a relationship ending to the overreaching fascism that we are all living in now.What does it mean to you as not just individuals, but members of a community to write and explore these topics of very human problems and faults?
What else is there to write about?
The phrase “Fear on my own time” is a stunning depiction of agency and what we let into our day to day. Can you tell me more about what that phrase means to you and why you saw it fitting to name the album?
I mean, it’s whatever you make of it.. not to sound like a prick. At the time that I wrote that track, I felt like my life was falling apart and I was living in so much fear. I knew that at the end of the day it was my own choice how I would deal with those fears, how much time I would devote to fear, whether that was worth anything or not. I think a little bit of fear is good when you’re making something. Only a little bit, though. The phrase itself was the title of the record in my head LONG before we finished all the songs.
How do you all plan to celebrate the album’s release?
We’re having a release party at Tweedy’s in Austin on August 21st!
Tweedy’s is the spot, and it was the spot before it was Tweedy’s. Half of us work there, we all spend a lot of time there. It was, in our minds, THE place to celebrate. It is also my (Elise’s) birthday when the record comes out. Believe it or not, that date was not my suggestion, just happy coincidence.
All roads lead to Tweedy’s…
You can listen to Fear On My Own Time out now via Post Present Medium.
As a small music journal, we rely heavily on the work of independent labels to discover and share the incredible artists that we have dedicated this site to. Whether through press lists, recommendations, artist connections, social media support or supplying physicals, these homemade labels are the often-unsung heroes of the industry. Today, the ugly hug is highlighting the work of our friends over at Post Present Medium, who are celebrating 25 years of label operations.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Post Present Medium. Looking back on it, how has this label shaped your life as both a music fan and someone invested in the work?
Wow, yeah 25 years is a quarter of a century, so it’s a long time no matter how you look at it. I love the label, I love the artists I work with. I get to stay in tune with new music and happenings because of the people I work with and their affiliates. It feels like a Gesamtkunstwerk sometimes, something that is all consuming, building it while wearing many hats. I appreciate music and bands more by working on the label that is for sure! It’s an art project, a small business, a maker space, a very long wooden table where we all gather for soup and bread I mean, it’s everything and anything really.
Gun Outfit
Did you have any initial goals as you started to share releases under the PPM name? Have you seen them shift around at all the more you put out?
Initially it was to be a part of something that was happening around me. I was heavily into going to shows that were happening in the American underground in the mid to late 90’s in Southern California. Mostly Punk, Hardcore, Indie and all the adjacent stuff. I realized the importance of indie labels early on as a youngster getting into bands and labels like SST, Alternative Tentacles, Dischord, so I was looking to be something like that, a name and house for a collective mindset of vibes. Goals still pretty much the same I must say.
Syko Friend
What were some of the first few releases you put out? How did you find them and how did you approach the releasing process?
The first band I put out was The Intima from the PNW. I saw them play down at The PCH club in ‘99 or 2000. I thought they were great. They were mining this British post punk that not a lot of folks were doing then, and they had the politics of Th Ex or other anarchist types that I really dug too. Very cool and interesting band. I approached them about a 7” for a brand-new label and they didn’t hesitate to say yes! I had no distribution or anything, so I winged it. I designed and silk screened the covers myself, photocopied the inserts etc. I didn’t sell too many. The next record was for a band I was in at the time called Wives. Nobody else was going to release it and I remembered I had a label basically, so we did it. From there it had a focus on LA stuff for the next couple years.
PPM HQ
What are some memorable releases that you have worked on over the years? Either releases that taught you something about running a label, those that you were more involved in or just those that you found enjoyable to work on.
So many. A few are the first Mika Miko 7”. I screened that one myself and we all glued the 7” covers together. It was fun to work with Abe Vigoda on their records, their album Skeleton was a pretty big one. I was briefly distributed by Touch & Go during that era. It was cool to work with Mississippi Records and co release the Chalk Circle record. They were an all female punk band from Washington DC in the early 80’s. We collected all the stuff they had on Comps and some unreleased stuff. Jeez, this is hard. Gun Outfit are amazing, and I am glad I got to work on those first few records with them. Very inspiring people.
Mika Miko
Debt Rag
Going through your catalog, PPM has a vast variety of styles and artists. How do you find the artists you work with? What makes you excited to put something out?
I usually find new artists from going to shows or getting tipped off by friends. People on the label will tend to hip me to stuff they think I will like. It works sometimes! I just can’t put everything out unfortunately, not that I want to obviously, but there are a lot of records I get sent that I think are cool and should be out in the world, but I just can’t do it. I get excited by artists I like and once we get to know each other we usually become friends and then we just keep doing this thing together. We keep rolling until it doesn’t make sense anymore. More often than not it keeps making sense.
Chronophage
Flaccid Mojo
How does your own experience playing and putting out music in your own band No Age shape the way you run the label? ‘
Being in No Age gives me the artist perspective. So, I tend to think of things from that side of the coin. What is fair or honorable. What would I like to happen on tour from a label. How much support do I need, when are too many emails just too many. What not to do. What to do better, hopefully.
Miranda Spatula/The Spatulas
Do you have anything on the horizon for Post Present Medium?
Coming soon we have an excellent new LP from The Spatulas who are really great, you already know this. A new Double LP from NYC pranksters Callahan & Witscher, not to say it’s funny, it’s serious stuff, but it’s smart and can make you chuckle and hold your breath at the same time. Guiding Light from Austin just signed on, they are fast punk-y stuff with German / English vocals. It’s wonderful, that will be out in the summer. AND it’s 25 years, so we are going to throw a party in LA mid-August, be on the lookout for that as well.
Today, Bloomington-based band The Spatulas return with their new single “What Carries Me Through Frozen Blue”, the second track shared ahead of their new album A Blue Dot out May 15th via Post Present Medium. Through several lineup changes and shifting homebases, what has stayed consistent in the world of the Spats is songwriter Miranda Soileau-Pratt, who has always found unique ways to make the project an extension of her creativity. Bringing in guitarist Luke Einsiedler, bassist Elijah Bodish, and drummer Greg Witz, A Blue Dot is the marker of where these changes have all organically led to, finding The Spatulas in their strongest form yet.
“Watch my bubbling pot boil over when I forgot”, Soileau-Pratt sings ahead of wiry guitars that fall like the hair of a mut, as “What Carries Me Through Frozen Blue” piles up loose sonic strains through natural deliveries. The Spatulas have never been a project to dwell on the impact, but rather find common ground with the humdrum that thumbs the scale of our lives, no matter how little we may notice it. And it’s in that subtlety where the shifting melodic patterns become something of a fresh start; “a sparkle of something simple in my eye”, Soileau-Pratt sings out as tones shift to-and-fro. And as the band moves on, the guitars sing like sporadic thoughts of to-do’s and daydreams amongst the clambering drums, throwing caution to the wind as the band sears the track with both a newfound invincibility and their instinctual care.
“What Carries Me Through Frozen Blue” is released alongside an accompanying music video featuring novelty characters, found footage and a dedication to the memory of Buzz “Poochie” Wallace. Watch the video by James Wallace here.
A Blue Dot is set to be released May 15th via Post Present Medium. You can preorder the album now on vinyl.
Every Wednesday, the ugly hug shares a playlist personally curated by an artist/band that we have been enjoying. This week we have a collection of songs put together by Donna, Adam, Cody, and Blake of the Austin to New York-based band, Chronophage.
Spanning several years, Chronophage have always mixed the witty and the weary, leading with a bold heart who knows that perfection is a waste of time. Last July, Chronophage released their latest EP, Musical Attack: Communist + Anarchist Friendship in which the band rips through societal ills and personal quips with what feels to be fresh and inherently hearty practice, these songs lending relief like the dripping discharge of an A/C unit 6 floors up on the hottest day of the year – meddling in the pool of what could be and how it really is. And to their credit, these songs are in no way hopeless, but rather refuse to blow smoke in just any direction. Utilizing loose structures, drenching unconditional melodic prose with the levity of tinkering keys and brash guitars, Chronophage linger in the purity of the ol’ reliable that’s living somewhere between triumph and defeat.
About the playlist, the crew shared;
Here is a playlist! Just a bunch of shite we’ve been listening to (we at this point is Donna, Adam, Cody, and Blake, all in NYC except Adam on tour in Europe with our friend Jana Horn!), on a personal note I would further recommend people check out Controlled Bleeding, who I have been listening to a ton in the last year. Frederic Rzewski, great composer in the left-wing tradition of Cardew, Wolff, and Andriessen. Love the Waterboys, lots of pop music on here but of course have to remind people to listen to PUNK every day lest we chance to forget the fertile field from whence we first took seed. Adam with some Tejano music that it sounds like Austin Powers dubbed over. Chopin- why not? Blake of course is very into Scritti Politti recently, and made a meme involving them and other playlist citizen, Aztec Camera. Wee bit of Akashic synthesizer impressions, no longer palate cleanser but indeed the main course— OOPS! ALL INTERLUDES. Hardrock Gunter is my dad’s uncle, I love showing people this. He coined the term “RockNRoll.” As for us—we’ve got a new album on the way (well, we are still extracting the raw materials from the mine, but it is of course necessary to do this before anything else can happen) on PPM records, and had an EP come out last year, and are gearing up for our “baller year”… can’t wait!
You can listen to Musical Attack: Communist + Anarchist Friendship and other releases from Chronophage now as well order vinyl from the LA-based label Post Present Medium.
Written by Shea Roney | Photo Courtesy of The Spatulas
Every Wednesday, the ugly hug shares a playlist personally curated by an artist/band that we have been enjoying. This week we have a collection of songs put together by Bloomington-based songwriter, Miranda Soileau-Pratt, of the band The Spatulas.
Back in the Spring of 2024, The Spatulas released their debut full-length album, Beehive Mind, a collection of songs that feel like a bracing artifact, formative at the heart of punk-rock antiquity but sobering in the guts of Miranda’s poetic perspectives. Amongst loose structures, flicked guitars and percussive movers, The Spatulas don’t dwell on impact, but rather carry stories of empathy, passion, imperfection and grief with such care in the band’s unique scheme of simpleness. Along with bandmates Jon Grothman (bass), Lila Jarzombek (guitar) and Kyle Raquipiso (drums), these tracks sway with both color and grit as the Spatulas play off of what’s around them. And it’s in the obvious, or otherwise, overlooked, where Miranda’s words don’t drag their feet when exploring the familiar, but rather ask what it means for these instances to become familiar to us in the first place.
About the playlist, Miranda shared;
“It’s been quite the journey from Oregon, to Cambridge Mass, to Bloomington but I’m so happy to live in the Midwest now! Couldn’t have made it without my old ’96. I’ve been listening to most of these songs for many years. All are inspiration for the Spatulas’ sound, in particular for the forthcoming album “A Blue Dot” (Post Present Medium). Since beginning the band with my husband, Elijah, in 2020, we have been inspired by music that lends itself to the musical amateur. Simple song structures and minimal chord changes allow people to play without much concern for theory, (Television Personalities, The Clean, JJ Ulius). An open-mindedness towards the timbre of one’s instrument gives a freedom to express without much concern for technical skill. Many singers presented on this playlist showcase that same lack of inhibition, (Dead Moon, Armand Schaubroeck, WWH, Jim Shepherd). I like lyrical gravity, songs that tell a humanistic story, promote compassion and self-actualization, (Thunderclap Newman, Barbara Dane, Jacob Milstein). I also value complex arrangements, and can go there sometimes with my own lyrics, but tend towards simplicity. More than anything else, this playlist shows my appreciation for mainly classic punk and rock & roll from around the world and captures my headspace during a time of transition.”
You can listen to The Spatulas’ catalog now, as well as Miranda’s latest release, Around and About You, a collab with Nowhere Flower (Lila Jarzombek). Miranda was also a member of the Oregon-based band, The Blimps.
the ugly hug 