The new CD from Watts Ensemble titled “Crime and Time” is out now. The CD is a two part suite, one for crime and one for time. So yeah. These guys are amazing. Watson (watts) was in the Pope, Bipolar Bear and ton of other punk bands. Then he decided to be a composer and formed a 17-piece jazz orchestra. This is a great mixture of 60’s jazz and swing soundtrack music. Elements of Roland Kirk, Tom Waits and Bach all mashed into a two-part suite of genius modern jazz music.

Here’s a quick bio on Watts Ensemble as odds are you’ve never heard of them:

The Watts Ensemble was born out of equal parts curiosity and ignorance. Brian Watson, who at the time had no idea what the circle of fifths was, embarked on a self induced dare to see how far he could take an idea. Would it be possible for a drummer with almost no musical training to not only write music for a large ensemble, but to possess the gumption to recruit, rehearse and record with said group, all the while hoping that his music wasn’t so mundane or ridiculous as to drive away any or all of the players. Luckily for the world, the answer is “indeed he could!”

After weeks of scouting on the information super-highway, the normal highway, and the train station, Brian Watson found the group of talented and awesome players that now make the Watts Ensemble what it is. Months of Monday night rehearsals in a garage with nothing but beer and cheer as compensation has now resulted in a full length album entitled “Two Suites for Crime & Time.”

While the music on “Two Suites” borrows heavily from other sources, there are enough influences converging on top of one another so as to render the music original. Though the “Suite for Crime” is inspired by the Crime Jazz and Soundtrack Music of the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s, it in no way attempts to simply recreate a carbon copy of music past. Elements of the present are just as prevalent as elements of yesterday.

The “Suite for Time” is a longer and more cohesive piece, inspired quite literally by what each season represented to the composer. And while there are four movements, one for each season, it is most definitely not a re-imagined version of Vilvadi’s landmark work, this you can be sure. It is much stranger than all of that.

So the Oh Sees “Zork’s Tape Bruise” LP+CD combo is again sold out. 1000 copies were printed on clear vinyl and all have been consumed. Bummer

Nerve City is doing well still and if you haven’t heard it before, here’s a track dummy:

Nerve City – Ccrawll

Beyond that, there’s some new stuff in the Distro store from John Dwyer’s old Dig that Body Up, It’s Alive hardcore jams from a badass label Rock is Hell. Also look out for more distro items from AVANT! in Italy with some great Movie Star Junkie’s LP’s, lots of stuff from the master of all great records, Sacred Bones and some other stuff to throw in the mix. Thanks for making the last few releases so successful. We appreiciate it.

So in the future, here’s what we’ve got coming up in a sort of numerical order that may in fact change at any given time:

1. Watts Ensemble – “Crime and Time” CD
2. Pink Noise – “Graffiti Youth” LP
3. Uphill Gardeners – Unknown as of yet CD split with Olfactory Records
4. Bipolar Bear / Hiroshima Rocks Around – Split 12″
5. Flight – TBD 10″

Plus we got another one or two releases that will probably rule your record players. Stay tuned! Fuck yeah!