| Influences | RELEASES:
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Purchase the CD directly from CD Baby, though you will get the most for your buck if you purchase it direct from
THE NORTH POLE
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NPR 018
Squarcicatrici
"Squarcicatrici"
CD
Squarcicatrici is a jazz splattered afro-punk musical ensemble from Italy fearlessly lead by Jacopo Andreini (L'enfants Rouge, OVO, Rollerball). Squarcicatrici utilizes extreme dynamics and presents whispered paintbrush sketches and then sculpts rich brass sound with the fury of a sledgehammer. Interpreting his twelve new compositions of aggressive intensity, Jacopo Andreini has assembled an international line-up which includes Enrico Antonello (Pangolinorchestra), Erwan Naour (Les Hurlements d’Leo), Thollem McDonas, Samuele Venturin (Motociclica Tellacci) and a remix by Bosnian dub heroes Vuneny. Accompanying the cd is an original essay by Brazilian sociologue Chico Caminati titled "Preto são todas as cores, branco é ausência de cor!" written expecially for this album and it can be read also on http://cteme.sarava.org/Main/EX-pretobranco
Squarcicatrici is an explosion of worldwide musical stylings. Aggressive Afro-Punk rhythms blend with Bossa Nova guitar and screaming American Jazz Cats. I can hear Fela, Rollerball, Fanfare Ciocărlia, Tom Waits, Jobim, ZU, and tons of other influences that I can't identify. Featuring male and female vocalists in French and Italian. This disc is so good...so, so good and I love every nuance of it. "Squarcicatrici" is produced worldwide through a network of independent labels; Frigorifero Prod., San Giuseppe Records, Burp Publications, Wallace Records, North Pole Records and Nillacat. Buy it here.
NPR 016
Rollerball
"Two Feathers"
180 gram LP w/CD/DVD or CD/DVD
Fourteen albums in and fifteen years deep, Rollerball, bring their outward bound song structures laced with dark jazz and noise funk back to the US via Portland label, North Pole Records. A living / breathing recording ethic, five European tours, constant West Coast presence, and underground cred that can’t be beat, Rollerball, is an established institution influencing what bands sound like in Portland, Oregon and throughout the world. Two Feathers is Rollerball’s first domestic release since 2005’s Catholic Paws/Catholic Pause. The past two albums, Rollerball and Ahura were available only on avant super label, Wallace Records based in Italy, a country that has long championed Rollerball.
The rhythm section, Gilles on drums and Monte Trent Allen on bass, drop extended deep grooves and lock-step rhythm changes, anchoring Two Feathers‘ sound with wizened authority and practiced ability. Amidst layers of intriguing percussion, electronic murk, and the damp acoustic hollowness of Amanda Mason Wiles’ saxophone poetry, Mae Starr weaves intricate and inventive keyboard magic. Her fingers swallowed by rings that stream up and pounce down the keyboard, evoking powerful vocalists like PJ Harvey or June Tyson, and casting spells over a rapt audience.
Hard to describe and impossible to pin down, Rollerball, has been praised throughout their storied career by The Wire, Pitchfork, Brainwashed, Blow Up, Fake Jazz, The Oregonian, Terrascope, Mercury, Stranger, etc., and played on radio stations around the world. They have released music on Roadcone, Cochon, Silber, Jalopy Grotto, Nillacat, Pacific Wonderland, and Felina y magia in the States and Bar la muerte, Wallace, and Hysm in Italy. Rollerball has been compared to Sun Ra, New Order, Cereberus Shoal, JOMF, Califone, and Can.
Two Feathers is packaged as an LP with CD/DVD included or as a gatefold CD/DVD card wallet. The DVD includes music videos from the nineties and into the new millenium, as well as, The Three Brunos, a film by Starbage Hands featuring tour footage and performances by Rollerball, OVO, and Ronin in Italy and Slovenia in 2005. Long time saxophone collaborator, Jacopo Andreini (L’enfants Rouge, Squarcicatrici), performs throughout the DVD. The CD also features Scott Rosenberg (Pink Mountain) on saxophone.
NPR 015
Rainstick Cowbell
"yeah, it hurts"
7" clear vinyl
Hot off the release of his debut album, “fireants” (NPR 11), Scott Arbogast is back and ready to rumble; and if his anger and scorn weren’t deep enough on the aforementioned album, this new 7” titled “yeah, it hurts” will leave you gasping for air. Rainstick Cowbell’s chiming guitar carries the sweet voice of Arbogast on a bitter riff driven wind, and the lyrics are biting at your skin. I hope these two songs weren’t written for me or you, cause with song titles like, “Meth dealers on the light rail corridor” and “I really fucking hate you right now” Arbogast is swinging his fascist killing machine someone’s way. It’s acoustic hardcore folk punk, and it’s super intriguing. If you wanna fight the power, this is a good bullet to put in your gun, and fire in the face of all those that stand between you and your freedom. Epic in scale, intimate in detail, this is poetry and music intertwined around philosophy, history and ugly truths – laced with fragile hope. Rainstick Cowbell conjures up the great personal/political songwriters, like Billy Bragg, Woody Guthrie and Ani D'Franco, if they were more pissed..
NPR 014
Road Race
"The Adventures of Rocketboy and Egypt"
CD with 3D cover and glasses
Road Race does it again. Another album of finished songs born as they were recorded. As Kirkland Leach plays keyboard and sings songs about his life and fantasy life you wonder, "Is he really Rocketboy, and is he really going to save the day?". He's 9. He plays keyboard and his mighty left hand keeps your feet and head moving while his right smites down his enemies with ferocious melody. We are glad we signed him when he was 7 cause when he's Hannah Montana's age, he'll be just as big... probably, and we hope. Kirk, the renaissance kid from North Portland, runs Blue Jay Records, and has made thousands of handmade cdrs, tapes, videos, dvds, audiobooks, comic books, and drawings. This is a compilation of songs we licensed from him and are culled from the albums; Marley, Rock So Clever, Blossom, Rock Mix 203, and Whiskers. The 3D cover is a drawing by Kirk, but the glasses and effect are done by the 3D genius Ray Zone. The music features members of the North Pole House Band; Shane de Leon, Gilles, and Bill Horist. The hi fidelity songs were recorded at Studio Olivia and the lo fidelity songs were recorded at the North Pole. Really you gotta hear it to believe it. Our best bet.
-500 copies with 3D glasses.
-3D by Ray Zone
-Cover art by Kirkland Leach
-Features Bill Horist (guitar), Gilles (drums)
-Produced by Shane de Leon and Starbage Hands
NPR 013
North Pole Record Number 13
Label Sampler CD
North Pole Records Number 13 is our first label sampler and we have it packed with singles, exclusive cuts, upcoming tracks, and missed hits. The Pink Widower, Rainstick Cowbell, Miss Massive Snowflake featuring DJ Faccia di merda, Road Race, Bob Corn, Larry Yes, Dramady, Rollerball, and Bill Horist all lend a song or two. We already knew we were Portland, Oregon's best label but this proves it. 250 copies were distributed to The Benefactor Magazine where you can purchase the magazine and comp for $5. Really good deal. The Benefactor is an art and literature magazine that is brimming with creative juice. If you buy anything here at North Pole Records, you will get a free copy of the disc upon request. So just start asking for stuff, you never know.
Free with any order upon request
NPR 012
Bob Corn
"We don't need the outside"
CD
North Pole Records is proud to release Bob Corn's new album "We don't need the outside" in the United States. Bob Corn is the songwriting vehicle of Tizio Sgarbi, from the rural Italian countryside, and his music reflects the sparseness and beauty associated with a farming life. His soft guitar, tender lyrics, and hopeful songs are filled with longing, hushed harmonies, brushed drums, and broken English. The sound is captivating; with Tizio sounding like a shy Leonard Cohen or a sleepy Bonnie "Prince" Billy.
Bob Corn has kept busy the past few years touring Europe and releasing albums on the Fooltribe label in Italy. We became interested, when Miss Massive Snowflake toured with him in Germany in 2008. The stars have aligned and the fields are fertile. The time is right for Americans to hear what Italians can do with the same tools as us. Help spread the word.
-Touring the USA in March and April 2009
-Slipsleeve packaging makes it an inexpensive choice
-The follow up to the Bob Corn / Larry Yes split 7" (NPR 10)
-Posters, promotional items available
NPR 011
Rainstick Cowbell
"fireants"
Letterpressed CD digipak with 12 page booklet.
Scott Arbogast from the defunct Creepy Old Trucks now wields the moniker Rainstick Cowbell. He's left behind the bass and the drummer of his prior outfit, for an emotional excursion on acoustic guitar with tight strumming, severe picking and tense open spaces. His literary lyrics lament heroes past against snapshots of his own raw emotions. Hailed as the Acoustic Agitator, Rainstick Cowbell instigates, castigates and prognosticates about the world's weary state with an open heart and a bitter tone.
Epic in scale, intimate in detail, this is poetry and music intertwined around philosophy, history and ugly truths – laced with fragile hope. Rainstick Cowbell conjures up the great personal/political songwriters, like Billy Bragg, Woody Guthrie and Ani D'Franco, if they were more pissed..
NPR 010
Larry Yes / Bob Corn
"Love Calls"
7"
Love Calls is an international collaboration of artists and labels. A 7” vinyl memento released between North Pole Records (American) and Fooltribe Dischi (Italian). This sweet collaboration of native Oregonian music / love channeler, Larry Yes, and Italian farmer / wanderer, Tiziano Sgarbi, aka Bob Corn has each artist performing an original song and then covering a song by the other.
Bob Corn sings in poignant accented english with an acoustic guitar. Songs of longing, memory, and love. His grammar may be incorrect but his observations are unique descriptions of transatlantic truths. Larry Yes continues the strumming as well as bringing swooning horns and suitcase drums along for some moments of stoned wandering.
Larry Yes has released 5 solo cds over the past 10 years and recorded / toured Europe and America solo and in Art of Flying, Six Foot Sloth, and The Pink Widower. Bob Corn has two cds on Fooltribe and is probably playing somewhere in the world as you read this.
-500 copies.
-Letterpressed covers courtesy of Starbage Hands
-Love Calls European Tour October 08
-Love Calls American tour March 09
NPR 009
Road Race:
"Get to the Point" cdr
North Portland wunderkind, Kirkland Leach's, first release on North Pole Records but definitely not his last. Kirk is a 9 year old boy and, "playing keyboard at two years old, that's when I started keyboard...", are the words that tumble from his mouth. He has recorded his astute observations of the human condition along with that keyboard on hundreds of cassettes, as well as making illustrated audio books of his writings. Very Prolific and really good. Daniel Johnston and Def Leppard with a bit of autistic megalomania thrown in. We love it. Features Shane de Leon on drums. Road Race Rocks!!!
NPR 008
The Pink Widower:
"The Enchanted Realm of the Pink Widower" cd and mp3
The Pink Widower’s ringleader, The Jed, has left behind the melancholic slow songs that were an integral characteristic of his former band, Six Foot Sloth, in favor of juiced up rock that is part Lee Perry, with the stoned out horns intact, part Blue Oyster Cult mystic rock, and all summer good times. “The Enchanted Realm of the Pink Widower” comes out with horns wailing, rhythms shuffling, excellent songcrafting, and funky bass on the first track “Crimson Eyes”, and continues with serious groove and tasty guitar licks throughout it’s ten song debut. Not content to just get the audience tranced out to low end throb and sweet hooks, the Jed, employs lyrical wit to weave stories of crimson eyed kids, baby elephants, and motorcycle mechanics with emotion and a voice that can woo, spurn, or enchant.
The Pink Widower is ready to take you to an Enchanted Realm where Morrissey talks shop with Bob Marley and wizards convene in Christian homes. You should check it out.
-Features members of Dramady, Six Foot Sloth, Rollerball, Ape Shape, and Larry Yes.
NPR 007
Miss Massive Snowflake:
"Queen's Headache" cd and mp3
Queen's Headache is the first full length cd by Miss Massive Snowflake, who is Shane de Leon
(ex-Rollerball vocalist and trumpeter). The music is lush and orchestrated with an abundance of horns,
percussion, and electronics. The songs are short, the message is huge, and de Leon has brought in lots of
kids to do his lyrical dirty work about stopping the war and loving each other. Two of the vocalists
are under ten and the other singer besides de Leon is Portland's love master himself, Larry Yes. Queen's
Headache is an extremely fun, funky, and timely album that is filled with quality songs and ideas. The feel
is somewhere between an atheistic Danielson Famile, an anarchistic Prince, and a less technical Zappa.
NPR 006Dramady:
"Better Forever" cd
Dramady Features Zac Stanley (Narwhal vs. Narwhal, Six Foot Sloth, Miss Massive Snowflake) and Amanda Mason Wiles (Rollerball, Narwhal vs. Narwhal, Six Foot Sloth). "Better Forever" is a funky affair between this dynamic duo who double as lovers. Rhythm driven with the sweetest melodies on top. You will love it. Artwork and Printing by Starbage Hands so you know it is the jam of the year.
NPR 005
Remora: 
"Songs I Sing" enhanced cd w/ 5 videos
Since 1996 Brian John Mitchell has been recording guitar based music under the name
Remora. While performing live, Brian has been known to sing short acapella tunes while
tuning or changing his guitar strings. These songs are often humorous, always strange, and
usually jar the audience from it’s cerebral haze. After a Western US Tour with Rollerball in 2005,
Shane de Leon (Rollerball) asked Brian to record these acapella songs so that he could
release them for his label, North Pole Records. With a label already dedicated to the release,
Mitchell began collecting songs and eventually recorded them with long time friend Jessica
Bailiff. North Pole Records was duly impressed and is happy it’s fifth release is Remora’s
“Songs I Sing”. The covers were letterpressed by Starbage Hands and are wonderful to hold
and look at. Enjoy this vocal only release by one of America’s greatest underground artist.
Songs I Sing collects 9 original songs by Remora as well as a few personal favorites,
“We will fall” by The Stooges, “Heartworms” by Coil, “Sores” by Rollerball, and a passage from
the book of Job. This is an enhanced cd which features a video by Starbage Hands for the
song “Sores”.
Letterpressed Digipak 13 songs + video
NPR 003 Bill Horist:
"What You Could See If I Hear" -
Live In Portland DVD
DVD Includes the audio tracks as .wav files so that you can download them to your computer.
Filmed, designed, and letterpressed, by Starbage Hands
NPR 002Miss Massive Snowflake:
"Miss Massive Snowflake" 3"cdr
Guitar and vocal songs with horns and electronic orchestration about family and friends.
Performed by Shane de Leon and Kathryn Seifert.
full color cover and lyric sheet.
Out of Print
NPR 001
Miss Massive Snowflake:
"Bender" 3"cdr
8 page full color comic and 10 song 3" cdr
letterpressed covers and inner cd sleeve by StarbageHands
Out of Print
NPR 000
Miss Massive Snowflake: 
Shh Shh Snowman
Christmas and Winter themed songs.
MMS does one original song, a Prince song, a Rollerball song, some George Michael samples with an outstanding rap by Miss Massive Snowflake.
Hand printed covers by the ever lovable, Starbage Hands.
OUT OF PRINT |
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