A Little Bit at a Time: Spacebomb Family Rarities

A Little Bit at a Time is a celebration of our artists and a collage of what Spacebomb has become since its inception in 2011. It’s a time capsule in which artists from across Spacebomb’s label, management, publishing, and production divisions are all featured. And it’s a phrase that Spacebomb founder Matthew E. White has kept, written on a notecard in orange marker, at the center of his workplace and studio since before he ever had a real workplace or studio. “It’s a reminder to always invest in the long game,” White says. “Nothing happens at once, things are a result of many, many tiny decisions that build on each other to break down walls or open doors. I try to live and work with that in mind, but I think, especially in the music business where immediacy is so highly valued, it is extra important to continue to remind myself to not sacrifice immediacy for quality.”

It is natural, and has been the case, that Spacebomb is often covered exclusively as a record label. But since the beginning, Spacebomb has offered support to artists in a diverse range of ways. “We are, of course, a label, and are proud of that work,” White says. “But we also work with artists as a publisher, as management partners, as a production destination, and as a studio. It is our intention in this compilation to highlight all of those relationships, as that is a much more holistic way to take this family portrait.”

All proceeds from Bandcamp sales of the album and tracks will be passed along to the artists.

TRACKLIST

1. Spacebomb House Band – High Hands
An unheard track from the center of the Spacebomb universe, produced by Cameron Ralston

2. Angelica Garcia – It Don’t Hinder Me – Mango Peel Version
Spacebomb recording artist Angelica Garcia offers a new version of her Cha Cha Palace track, co-produced by Trey Pollard

3. Pure Bathing Culture – Pray For Rain – Eagle Rock Version
Spacebomb Publishing songwriters Daniel Hindman and Sarah Versprille team up with producer and engineer Carlos De LaGarza for this alternate, never-before-heard version of “Pray For Rain.”

4. Laura Veirs – Song for L. Cohen
Demo by management client Laura Veirs written after Leonard Cohen’s death. “Leonard Cohen is one of my all-time favorite songwriters. His music conjures the deepest poetry, mysteries and magic.” – Laura Veirs

5. The Waterboys – And Then You Walked In The Room
The Waterboys came to Spacebomb’s Trey Pollard for string and horn arrangements on the 2017 album Out of All This Blue. This is an alternate instrumental version of that album’s “Love Walks In.”

6. Sleepwalkers – Why Am I So Sad
Spacebomb recording artists. “It never got out of the demo stage when it was recorded years ago but that’s kind of the beauty of a one-take song like this.” – Sleepwalkers’ Michael York

7. Jackie Cohen – Old Friends
Spacebomb recording artist Jackie Cohen wrote and recorded “Old Friends” in Kevin Basko’s basement the day before their last big European tour. Cohen says, “It’s sort of about misunderstanding adulthood – thinking you’re done changing, and finding out in a blaze of glory you’re not even close.”

8. Cocoon feat. Matthew E. White – Up For Sale – Live at Montrose Studios
France’s Cocoon came to Spacebomb to produce his 2016 album Welcome Home. While in Richmond, he and White recorded this stripped back version of the album’s “Up For Sale” at our friends Montrose Studios.

9. Tim Heidecker – Boogie Bear
Management client Tim Heidecker’s song co-written with his child, and a precursor to new music out soon…

10. Trey Pollard – Etudes for Four Hands: No. 1, “Out Of Doors”
Trey Pollard is a Spacebomb House Band member, recording artist, and songwriter. This is the first part of a seven-part series of etudes for four hand piano (two people on the same piano), written specifically for two intermediate level players, not for professional piano virtuosos.

11. Cameron Ralston & Brian Jones – Rally ‘Round the Flag
Spacebomb House Band bassist and songwriter Cameron Ralston improvises with drummer Brian Jones.

12. Landon Elliott – House is a Prison (3:23am)
Management client Landon Elliott wrote “House is a Prison” in 2018 but never recorded it until mid-COVID-19 health crisis. “During this widespread isolation, the song really became known to me,” Elliott says.

13. Karl Blau – On the Inside
The very first Spacebomb production client, Karl recorded his album Out Her Space with us in 2011 alongside Matthew E. White’s Big Inner sessions.

14. Andy Jenkins – Table by the Morning
Spacebomb recording artist and songwriter Andy Jenkins offers a never-before-heard song “Table by the Morning,” with Alan Parker on pedal steel.

15. Good Dog Nigel feat. Kate Bollinger – Ain’t it Funny
Management client Good Dog Nigel enlists friend of Spacebomb Kate Bollinger.

16. Charlie Fink – Wild Life
Charlie Fink (of Noah and the Whale) came to Spacebomb in 2017 for production on his album Cover My Tracks. “Wild Life” was inspired by the New York Times obituary of wildlife photographer and socialite, Peter Beard. “It was a pleasant escape during the lockdown to sit in the mind of a man who lived his life on the African plains and in Studio 54,” Fink says.

17. POSER – Song for Kurt Moon
Alan Parker, one of the greatest guitarists of our generation and no stranger to Spacebomb productions, struts his stuff on this Andy Jenkins co-written song. Alan also appears on “Table by the Morning” and “Toyota Corolla”

18. Bunny Chanselle – Late Lover
From Spacebomb House Band’s Pinson Chanselle, “Late Lover” is part of a fake unfinished, unreleased ambient video game soundtrack.

19. Dan Croll – Grand Plan – 414 Demo
Dan Croll came to Spacebomb in 2019 for production on his album Grand Plan. “It’s one of the first tracks I wrote when I uprooted my life from the UK to the USA,” Croll says. “Written and recorded from the foot of my bed in Koreatown on a Tascam 414 as I debated what brought me to make such a move, and how ill prepared I was.”

20. Matthew E. White – Toyota Corolla
Spacebomb founder and house band member Matthew E. White offers an instrumental composition and improvisation from the recording sessions for his highly anticipated forthcoming record. Featuring an incredible collection of Richmond talent, White begins to blur the lines between the jazz world he trafficked in before his debut album Big Inner and the more traditional songwriting forms he has focused on since. A wonderful sneak peek at a lot of exciting music to come.

We’d also like to take some space to recognize Adrian Olsen’s contribution to this body of work – including multiple recording, mixing, and mastering credits – a reflection of our converging relationship over the past handful of years. Adrian not only has become our go-to recording and mixing engineer, but a true creative and spiritual partner in a tremendous amount of the music we have made recently.

SB038

Digital compilation
Release date: July 3, 2020

Download/Stream

Art direction and design by Travis Robertson
Executive produced by Ben Baldwin, Dean Christesen, and Matthew E. White

© 2020 Spacebomb Records. All Rights Reserved