A swirling fire of new Cool Ghouls!

As the last days of summer fall off the calendar, California – as is custom – has fallen under a great wave of wildfire. We peek over our sunglasses at the looming forest, swept asunder by nature’s fury. We cast our glance to the city; and indeed, the Mission is engulfed in flames. We close our eyes, and lo! Projected onto our meager hungry brains, it is A Swirling Fire Burning Through the Rye, the brand new LP from SF’s Cool Ghouls!

Cool Ghouls A Swirling Fire Burning Through The Rye Cover

We, you, and I have been waiting a good many months for the boys to pull through with another foot-stomping, tension-melting, inner-eye blinking masterpiece, and it has finally arrived, mixed, re-mixed, mixed again, mastered and ready to find purpose, glistening on your turntable. This new album, recorded by the notorious Sonny Smith and mixed by Mikey Young (Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring), delivers on all the expected levels, and then some. The songwriting has matured, the harmonies have grown tighter, and the songs are imbued with a new sense of sonic adventure. Infectious and utterly compelling, A Swirling Fire will lay waste to mere saplings of the post-digital age. This is real rock and roll!!! Available 11/11 (wish day) on limited (300 copies) deluxe swirling fire-colored vinyl from Empty Cellar and on cassette from Burger Records.  Pre-order yours here.  And… if you still have doubts, check out lead single “The Mile”, which debuted over at Noisey (Vice):

…and the follow-up “And It Grows” over at Brooklyn Vegan:

…and the follow-up to the follow-up “What A Dream I had” over at Wondering Sound:

On “The Mile,” the first single from A Swirling Fire Burning Through The Rye, the SF band touch on classic 60s rock like The Byrds, CSNY, and more, astonishing their way through multi-part harmonies on the Sonny Smith-recorded (Sonny & the Sunsets), Mikey-Young-mixed (Total Control, ECSR) track.” — Noisey (Vice)

Release date: November 11th (Pre-order here)

Tracklist:
1. And It Grows
2. The Mile
3. What A Dream I Had
4. Orange Light
5. Insight
6. Get A Feelin’
7. Across The River
8. Reelin’
9. New Moon
10. Sweet rain

Praise For Cool Ghouls:

The San Francisco-based quartet blends psychedelic and upbeat into their rhythms and vocals to produce a sound that’s wholly unique. And we love them for it.— FILTER

Their Tim Cohen-produced self-titled presents a group who has contributed to San Francisco’s indie rock fabric where the exhaled chord rhythms of yesterday ghost through the great tomorrow that never knows— Impose Magazine

Perfectly lo-fi without being a caricature, you can picture how well this song will go over as you look around and actually see green grass.— KCRW

Cool Ghouls’ eponymous album hit all the right buttons for spring around here, laying wide open and loose with the kind of breezy pop gems that feel good year after year.— Raven Sings The Blues

It is uncontrived and unapologetically filled with joy in the most refreshing way.— The Bay Bridged



New Grace Sings Sludge (of The Sandwitches) cassette!!!

Empty Cellar Records is very happy to announce the addition of Grace Sings Sludge (Grace Cooper of The Sandwitches) to our roster, and we’d like to present to you her latest self-released album, Red Light Museum, to kick off the celebration.

Red Light Museum is the third installment of home recordings from Grace Sings Sludge. Following two limited edition cassette releases with San Francisco’s Secret Seven Records, This Time It’s Personal and Last Year’s Friend, Red Light Museum offers ten new emotionally captivating songs in Grace’s inimitable style. From title to title Grace Sings Sludge gives us an exclusive peek into a new chapter in her own personal hell/heaven. Narrated by her stunning vocals and accompanied by sparse layers of guitar, piano, samples and drums (courtesy of Dic Stusso), each listen reveals another subtlety in the mix – a cinematic clue – to help us put the pieces together. Keeping with tradition, the album artwork is drawn and painted by Grace Cooper; and this time, each cassette version comes with a unique hand-drawn original (priceless) mini-artwork. Available in cassette (hand-dubbed by Grace) and digital.  Get it from us HERE or directly from Grace HERE!

Check out the video for ‘Difficult to Luv’ over at Raven Sings The Blues.

Grace Sings Sludge – ‘Difficult to luv’ from Empty Cellar on Vimeo. Directed by Culita of Tirando Terror

…and the VHS video for ‘Such a vision’ over at My Old Kentucky Blog.

Grace Sings Sludge – ‘Such a vision’ from Empty Cellar. Dedicated to the loving memory of its director Johnnie Roberto Russell.

Tracklist:
1. Difficult to Luv
2. Bullshit Ceremony
3. Haunt Me Albert
4. Such A Vision
5. S. Sludge
6. Red Light Museum
7. The Change
8. Fanatical Fanny
9. A Sore Place
10. …and Only