Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
I had lunch with my good friend and artist Stella Lai (above) this afternoon. You might recall her cover art for Giant Robot 58, her contributions to Giant Robot Biennale 2, or her Mr. Chiizu app. She informed me that the software for embellishing photos, which recently began offering a theme by Junko Mizuno, launched a feline Christmas package today.
Fans of mainstream romantic comedies and arty head-scratchers will wish that Save The Date was either funnier or weirder. But fans of indie comics will feel right at home with its understated storytelling, awkward-but-honest banter, and minutest of details. Right away, I was stoked to see a couple of titles by first-time scriptwriter Jeffrey Brown going into an IKEA bookshelf and a cat getting out of a box–inside jokes for Brown’s followers checking out his first screenplay. And there are other references that were made for subculture dwellers like me: The Blue Hearts’ garage hit from Japan, “Linda Linda,” many shots of The Smell, and a cameo by Brown that you’ll miss if you blink. The One A.M. Radio‘s soundtrack is rad, too.
Having just posted interviews with singer/guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach and drummer Adam Pfahler about Blackball Records‘ 20th anniversary reissues of Jawbreaker’s Bivouac and Chesterfield King, you probably could have guessed that bass player Chris Bauermeister would be next. Read on, and then order the thick, pristine vinyl or beautifully remastered CD for your listening pleasure. They come out TODAY, so you can pick them up at your favorite local record shop as well. I love all of Jawbreaker’s albums, but these two releases are my favorites. The guys were playing out of their minds, mixing post punk craft, literary but raw lyrics, and noisy-but-beautiful sadness at its roughest. Here’s what Chris has to say about them…
"This is circa 1991 at our Sycamore Street apartment. Note Zen Arcade and old-school tape recorder for sampling off TV." - Adam Pfahler
The 20th anniversary reissues of Jawbreaker’s Bivouac LP and Chesterfield King EP come out tomorrow. On the heels of our previous dialogue about the remastered vinyl, Jawbreaker’s drummer and Blackball Records honcho Adam Pfahler set me up with singer/guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach, who was kind enough to discuss the albums, revisit the time period, and hash over old cover songs. And once again, Adam provided vintage Polaroids.