Middle-Man Records

06/12/2024

KILL CODE a the new project featuring members of Theyhungusfrompowerlines and Coma Regalia. Sink your teeth into the debut release "x/t" which delivers 4 songs of emotive hardcore in just around 6 minutes and pick up a KILL CLUB VESSEL while you're at it.

4 track album

30/10/2024

Thank you This Noise Is Ours

Labels: Convulse Records/I.Corrupt Records/Listen To Aylin Records/Middle-Man Records/Pundonor Records/Zegema Beach Records Formats: Vinyl/...

30/10/2024

Every 6 months or so for the last 10 years someone will post about this band in an online forum. I remember the first time I heard them I was just blown away by the dichotomy of their sound. Ranging from beautiful and serene to utter chaos it was kind of everything I wanted in a band. Recently a friend (from Indiana) of mine randomly posted a flier from a show he played down in Florida with them. He didn't have much of a recollection of them but I'm constantly blown away by how small the world of hxc/punk can be. I reached out via the band's bandcamp page and chatted for an hour with one of the guitarists. Give it a listen wherever you do your podcasting but more importantly, check out Carlisle!

3 track album

21/10/2024

Had Joe from Auxiena Saint on the podcast. Did this conversation right when I first started getting sick so special thanks to Joe for being a trooper and keeping things moving while I was coughing and carrying on (which I edited out later). Enjoy this wonderful conversation now wherever you podcast.

3 track album

14/10/2024

Managed to drag myself downstairs and edit the podcast I recorded a while ago with Tommy Davis from Hassan I Sabbah. Iodine just released their small, but impactful discography if you've never had the chance to check them out. Give the chat a listen wherever you do that kinda thing

4 track album

30/09/2024

This week on the podcast I chatted with my pal Ian A. formerly of Iwakura/Untold Want, Product Lust and others and now of the wonderful bands Fatalist and Tender Object. It was a lot of fun getting to catch up with him. Gonna post the Fatalist bandcamp in the comments. Take 5 minutes and check it out ASAP

3 track album

23/09/2024

This week on the podcast I spoke with Franky from the band Bloom Dream. They just released their debut album "It Didn't Have To Be This Way" on Zegema Beach Records and it's a doozy. Check out the episode, listen to the album and then go check them out on tour if they come near you.

3 track album

16/09/2024

HEY! Spoke with Sofia, the vocalist of Heaven Through Violence and ...And It's Name Was Epyon for the podcast. Had a lovely time chatting with her and am so stoked on the new music she told me is coming along the way. Listen to the episode and hear all about it!

3 track album

09/09/2024

Chatted with Felix from Emma Goldman for today's episode. A big part of the conversation was the importance of DIY at the local level. Give it a listen and get pumped for new stuff from them coming soon!

3 track album

06/09/2024

Near the end of Ache/Emelie we had been asked by a label out of the UK called Leaves Records to record a 7" and we didn't have a drummer. I asked my friend Alex Eaton to do the drums on the recording as we had played lots of shows with his old band The Renaissance Affair and I'd always loved his style. We recorded the record, which went all the way to test presses and then the label disappeared, owing the plant more money than we could raise to finish the record. We played a show or two with Alex on drums after that but as far as I knew he couldn't commit to the band. We kept looking for a permanent drummer but after a while it felt hopeless and the band lost it's steam.

After the dissolution of that band, I more or less thought it was impossible to find people who wanted to play the kind of stuff I wanted to play and resigned myself to writing songs that no one was likely to ever hear. A couple years had passed, though, and Alex was living in Lafayette and going to Purdue and we started talking over AIM about playing together. He suggested we should ask Ryan Shepherd, who also played in The Renaissance Affair, to play bass. Shep had a really thoughtful writing style which was sensible in a way that I never have been and I always really enjoyed his company as well so it was more or less decided.

My memory gets a little fuzzy on the timeline from when we first started getting together and the time we recorded the album. With Alex's help, I was recording snippets of songs and sending them to him and each week we'd get together and work on the parts that he and Shep liked the best. I seem to remember the first song coming together more or less in the first practice. The part where it gets fuzzy is that this was a band that operated in a way unlike any band I'd been in before. I said the first song came together in the first practice, which it did, but I remember we'd routinely try different things in it, and other songs as they came along. We tinkered with everything so much. It introduced me to compromise and the restructuring ideas and ultimately would lead me to some very freeing thoughts regarding songwriting which I had been struggling with to that point.

Over the course of the school year we had constructed the songs you hear now and we had decided to record them ourselves basically at the end of the semester before Alex would graduate and leave town. He brought over a spare computer and we did the drums, gave me a crash course on using reaper to record and left the computer and his Peavey Windsor head here. In the meantime Shep had recorded his bass parts in Alex's apartment kitchen across town using the bass I still use on all my recordings to this day. It took me longer than I would have liked but I got it done. Alex retrieved the computer and amp and mixed the album, I believe in between moving out of town and a million other things he had going on. To say he did a great job is an understatement. I think it's probably the most well produced record I've ever been a part of.

In the end, I owe them both more than I can say. They were friends when I didn't have many, they believed in the music we were creating together and they pushed me and themselves to create an album which took really big swings and I'm still immensely proud of to this day. So much so, actually, that I'm still referencing in my current work. Thank you Alex and Shep. Playing music with you two was an honor and a privilege.

If you're still reading this, we'd love for you to take 45 minutes and listen to the album. It's quite an investment in time over anything else I've done but I think getting the full picture of it is worth it. Thanks for everything.

6 track album

03/09/2024

This week I chatted with my pal Meredith Haines about her new band Latter, her noise project MAIR and the work that she does at Soft Noise Skillshare. Listen to the episode if you're not familiar with her work, Latter's debut album is going to blow y'all away.

3 track album

26/08/2024

Chatted with Justin from New Forms for this week's episode. Had a really nice time overall but particularly the part where we talked about how we encounter and deal with a difference of opinions in a band setting was something that some folks will probably get a lot out of. Give it a listen wherever you do that kinda thing.

4 track album

19/08/2024

New episode up with Adam Lake, formerly of Mass Movement of the Moth, currently of Prisoner. He also was in a band called Dance Danse el Capitan which was a new one to even me prior to the days leading up to our chat. The screamo well giveth and giveth. Have a listen at the link or wherever you do your podcasting.

3 track album

13/08/2024

https://gofund.me/78b69ac6

The weekend before last I got a court summons over a portion of debt amounting to about $2000. I've been working pretty much non stop selling records etc and have come almost to the halfway point. I called today to see what my options were and I found out it's a lot worse than I thought. The company actually owns 3 accounts and I'm being summoned on all of them. The person on the phone says they should have all been delivered the same day but I only got one packet. At any rate, this is no longer something I can manage selling records (for well under cost). Please consider sharing and donating. Everything is hard. I love you.

Doing Middle-Man Records has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life… Shawn Decker needs your support for Support Edie in Overcoming Debt Crisis

12/08/2024

This week I chatted with my pal Sarah Maloney of the long running Indiana post rock band Analecta. If you like gear talk, this one's for you.

3 track album

05/08/2024

Chatted with my new pal Rachel Hines of Eyewash for this week's podcast. Have you heard their new single "Bound"? What a fantastic track. Can't wait for more from them. Give the episode a listen and find out what they're up to now :)

3 track album

05/08/2024

It's no secret I made a mess of my life with the debt I accrued doing the label. I got served a new set of papers (on a Sunday, no less) over a portion of that debt roughly adding to $2000. I'm trying to sell 400 records, tapes, CDs or zines to cover that. $5 for entertainment of any kind is an absolute steal these days. I've got records by all these bands and more. DM me if you want to pick something up. Thanks.

venmo:
paypal: [email protected]

29/07/2024

Had a chat with Kyle from Violent Abuse and Simp for the podcast. If you haven't heard the Violent Abuses demo we released on Middle-Man Records earlier this year, you should take 7 minutes to do so. We chat a lot about the extra stuff that comes sometimes with being in a band like making the merch and doing shipping and stuff. It was much more fun than it sounds. Give it a listen!

4 track album