🎸🤘 Mike Five 🤘🎸

#NowPlaying Band Of Skulls, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey. Nice bit of gritty bluesy garage rock on a Friday evening after a long, busy week. Big guitar riffs, great vocal harmonies, hard hitting drums. Love it!

Ah maybe because I didn’t put the https:// in front of it. Didn’t realise that made a difference!

Just recorded a test episode of The Inner Sleeve podcast on video. Let’s see how the editing goes but the plan is for you to be able to actually see us in season 2… coming soon!

#NowPlaying Shanghai Treason, Sonder. I can’t resist a good folk-punk album. It’s in my DNA, my dad took me to see Pogues, Motörhead, The Damned, and others that made it impossible to resist. This album is on the heavy side, think Flogging Molly from Yorkshire, with more banjo. Well worth a listen!

#nowplaying The Contortionist, Intrinsic. This double LP dives into a world of sci-fi inspired prog-metal. Weird time signatures and atmospheric melodies spliced with heavy riffs and a precise drums. That doesn’t even really do it justice to be honest. Cool vocal too. Worth a listen.

Lights And Lines Music Collective and Record Label. The label is an exercise in curation and personal taste. Think of the collective as a cooperative enterprise. We recognise that real power comes from below, not above. We embrace the opportunity to use art to build communities, tell stories, and change minds. Shortlisted for Best Label 2021 by Listen With Monger!

Some people are getting albums for free - good for them, no questions asked. Some are putting a bit in the pot to support the artist.

Overall, more people get access to great quality new music, and the artists make more than when we put a price tag on it.

Win/win

www.lightsandlines.bandcamp.com

Contrary to popular opinion I don’t believe that charging a few quid and adding .79 / .59 / .99 at the end will really encourage you to buy a digital album.

Actually I’ve decided recently that digital downloads on the Lights and Lines Bandcamp will remain free / pay what you want.

And guess what?👇

It captures a rich history of catchy indie-pop tunes from a band who were, in the early days at least, mostly famous for being a great live band. They toured with The Smiths and Neil Young to name a couple. Some absolute classics on here, well worth a listen!

#NowPlaying James, Fresh as a Daisy. I’m a big album guy, interested in the good / bad / ugly of a project, poured out lovingly across 40-70mins. And James also have some fantastic albums worth exploring, but this Singles comp is an absolute must-have for me. 👇

#NowPlaying Big Brother and the Holding Company, Cheap Thrills. An old one today, 1969 I think. Janis Joplin on vocals before she went solo. This album includes crowd noises to give the impression of a live album, even though it’s not. Very cool bluesy-garage-soul sounding psychedelia. Great fun!

Today’s choice is an obvious one! It’s #BandcampFriday and @gozergoodspeed.bsky.social’s Escape Hatch Fever is now available on sexy, sexy vinyl. The first Lights and Lines release on record - an important milestone for our little label. So of course this is today’s #NowPlaying post!

#BandcampFriday announcements on the way… but before that - what should I be checking out today?

Awesome, sounds great!

Cheers, mine is definitely more on the raspy side than the growl side. For most of my musical life I’ve worked with singers and met them get on with it. More recently I’ve tried to sing more, lots of takes though as I tend to wander out of tune quite quickly 😂

I feel like I kind of managed this, but mostly by not actually being a very good singer in the first place! Smoking and drinking helped 🤣

Free code for you as someone who shares in the struggle. Redeem at lightsandlines.bandcamp.com/yum

It’s #BandcampFriday and we’ve got plenty of cool things to share including FREE downloads on EVERYTHING and 40% off all albums on CD. Check it out on lightsandlines.bandcamp.com and read all about what’s going on via our newsletter www.lightsandlines.substack.con

#BandcampFriday announcements on the way… but before that - what should I be checking out today?

Personally I’m about authenticity. In a world full of AI slop it’s a stand out thing for me, and the label. We tell people what we’re doing, what things cost, and if you ask I’ll explain why - all while trying not to do anything disingenuous along the way.

Makes sense to me.

Quite a few have since bombarded me with automatic email cadences which I instantly unsubscribe to. Result - I’ve got 2 CDs at a reasonable price, but I feel disappointed about it, and they can’t contact me again. Who actually wins here?

👇

So 2 CDs for say £15-£20 in total. I have no problem with that, it’s perfectly reasonable. But I didn’t need to be brought through this weird funnel.

👇

When you checkout the vast majority also try to sell you their other releases. I’m not 100% against this, I’m interested enough to buy one so makes sense. But these are usually billed as ‘X% off’ and yet somehow still cost £10-£15, ironically with free postage.

👇

Almost all have a long landing page with a whole life story. For me this is a big turn off. Same as when I click a recipe, I don’t want to read 15 pages about your aunt sally making this when your parents died or whatever. I want to know how many carrots and what temperature to put the oven on.

👇

- Click to find out the postage is the price of a CD. So far between £7 and £15 seems to be the norm

Out of curiosity I’ve clicked through and bought a few I like the sound of, despite my absolute hatred for this disingenuous ‘free but not free’ model, I was curious.

👇

I get fed a lot of ads for ‘free’ CDs. Most of the time they follow the same basic pattern:

- Tell me I’m special. The algorithm must love me because I found this great offer.
- Tell me the CD is completely free, i JUST pay the postage

👇

It’s not a particularly expensive one or anything like that, but the sound is decent - and like you I dig the VU Meters!

Apparently you like vinyl so here’s Lost Chimes self titled debut album, an indie-folk escape into another world that’s full of hidden gems! It’s a beautiful, raw, lo-fi recording which focuses on powerful songwriting, well-thought through instrumentation and Gemma’s superb vocals. Love this album.

PS You can say it loud, quiet, to the camera, facing away, pronounce it however you like… the more variety the better I guess!

Looking for people to send me a video of them saying “Pink Moustache” for a project. Bit of fun to support a future release. You will of course be credited.

Send via Dropbox / Drive / WeTransfer or equivalent to contact@headlightsandwhitelines.com with the subject Pink Moustache.

Thanks!

#NowPlaying Arxx - Wrong girl, Honey. Cool, punky, noisy, alternative EP. Strong vocals, catchy tunes, and the whole thing has a cool grunge undertone. Plus orange vinyl, cool right?

#NowPlaying Corrosion of Conformity, Wiseblood. It’s heavy metal Monday! Ok I kid made that up… This is a great album though, blues-tinged, southern sounding metal with proper groove, great melody, and some top quality tunes. Love it.