Saint-Loup Records

new lotte kestner covers album

2011-06-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

The new Lotte Kestner covers album Stolen was released on June 1, Saint-Loup Records' second release. A homemade bonus EP is also available with the 12 track album for an additional $5 here. Also available through the usual suspects of iTunes and Cd Baby, and soon to be released on Bandcamp straight from the artist.

stolen, mastered

2011-04-26T15:32:00.001-07:00

just got back the masters for the covers album in the mail. about to listen.

april for saint-loup

2011-04-24T23:24:00.000-07:00

April was a good first month for the label. On the 1st, Sounds Like People came out and the official website went up (that would be here). Sergius had his first kind reviews from Slowcoustic and Fensepost. He played his first Seattle show at the Tractor Tavern and I got to sing harmonies, and Jeremy and Meredith from Mount Forgotten accompanied on pump organ and violin. The audience was silent and seated. It looks as though his next show will be mid June on Vashon Island, singing with the likes of Kirsten Wenlock, perhaps on a farm.

Last week I sent out the second Lotte Kestner album, a collection of covers, for mastering (J.J. who also did Sergius' album) and I'm just waiting to get that back and give it a listen through. My friend Violet has lent some of her photographs for the album art and everything is just about ready for pressing. Then more cd duplication. I have been working on this album for a few years, mixing it myself, being more choosy about the arrangements and performances since I didn't do the songwriting part. Due to come out in June, Saint-Loup's second release.

April 1 Album Release

2011-04-02T15:38:00.001-07:00

Saint-Loup now has a proper website and a first release. SOUNDS LIKE PEOPLE by Sergius Gregory is now on iTunes, CD Baby, and in the Saint-Loup Records on-line store. Album release show on April 12 at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle.

playing in Seattle

2011-03-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

the album will be out on April 1, and to commemorate it Sergius will be playing his first-ever Seattle show at the Tractor Tavern on April 13. i will be joining him on vocals, and his friend Jeremy from Mount Forgotten is playing a pump organ.

singing in Queen Anne

2011-03-04T14:30:00.000-08:00

i'm not sure exactly how many years it's been since Sergius and i first started writing each other and sending songs, it must be at least 5. but now that he is settled in Seattle, at least for the time being, and getting a band together to play some shows around his album release, i at last met up with him last night in the room he's renting in Queen Anne. our new business relationship perhaps took some of the pressure, or some of the theatricality, out of what would've been a purely wistful long-lost songwriting soul mate type of reunion if i'd flown out to Alaska to play music with him as we often talked of doing. we pretty much got down to business and he started playing songs and asking if i knew all the words so i could sing back ups at his shows. "do you know this one?" he kept asking and i laughed because i know most of his songs better than i know my own.

we passed my guitar back and forth, moving the capo up and down, playing our songs and teaching each other vocal parts. it was strange hearing how similar it sounds when we both play arpeggios, and his voice was like a naturally verbed out male version of mine. kind of eerie and amazing to hear in person. so we'll be singing together soon when his album comes out, and i want to get his voice on the new lotte kestner album, and maybe one day we'll write the ep together that we've talked of for years.

going to see him and play some more soon... and then the business meeting will be over and the pressure of 5 years. and i'll be able to just listen to him. can't wait for you all to hear him too.

feb 15- mailed off for duplication

2011-02-15T14:53:00.000-08:00

caught. at the volunteer park water tower

2011-02-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

saint-loup stamp

2011-01-24T15:33:00.000-08:00

saint-loup now has a logo, drawn by kirsten murray. i met her in edinburgh in the fall of '09. trespassers william was recording a podcast for "off the beaten tracks" and kirsten was taking pics. we met up for dinner that night before our show, and afterward we went dancing in a scottish brit-pop club until the early hours of the morning. later followed by the flu.

over. at the volunteer park water tower

2011-01-21T16:29:00.001-08:00

Previous Articles: Anna-Lynne Carries a Torch for Sergius Gregory

2010-11-24T23:01:00.000-08:00

Rock Torch asked me to recommend an artist to their readers... as i am wont to do, i talked about Sergius. this was just a few weeks before we decided to go ahead and put out the album together.

Here is the Rock Torch piece.

Previous articles: Sergius Gregory Making Quiet Music in Homer, Alaska

2010-11-19T12:07:00.000-08:00

back in my Identity Theory days, working as the music editor, i wrote this piece on Sergius. this was April 2009, and i had just unofficially interviewed him over the phone. he was finishing up the songs that would later become Moulting Season, the fourth of the five albums he sent me this fall. for one of the songs (Mysterious Bark) he borrowed the words of a Nietzsche poem, singing in this beautiful scratchy voice. i had to turn it off the first time i heard it because the combination of the dark words and the piano chords and his close-up voice made me feel dizzy and almost frightened. music can be powerful.

here is the link to that first article

Check out music from Sergius Gregory

2010-11-17T16:54:00.001-08:00

Post 1

2010-11-16T21:23:00.001-08:00

I've been listening to Sergius Gregory's music on line for four years, and we've been talking on the phone back and forth from Washington to Alaska, telling each other stories that sometimes turn into songs, mailing each other new things we're working on. I send things to him general delivery, as he doesn't have a mail box. When I ride on a noisy bus full of people coughing, the iPod comes out and i shuffle through 30 of his songs. When I can't sleep. When I get on an airplane. When I need to get in the mood to write something. I've never met him in person (though there have been some tragic almosts) but his music has been a constant in every one of my days for the last few years. The most beautiful music, and never put onto a piece of plastic to be kept forever. So about a month ago we decided to draw up a contract. I would get a business license for a record label and he would send me all the songs he has.

I'd like to keep a record of this process, of Sergius' first printed album (he sent me 5 albums' worth of songs and we compiled 12 of our favorite ones from his earlier works, with plans to release his most recent work right after) and my first attempts to go from self-promoting musician to someone-else-promoting musician. A lot has already happened in the last month so I'll elaborate on that later. But I decided to start a blog today after seeing some photos that my friend Paul Elam (who plays music as Fieldhead) took on a recent trip to Churchill, Canada. Gave me something visual to connect to.

The album was already sent off to mastering yesterday so I'll probably do some backtracking and go over how we chose songs and artwork and things like that. I imagine in the next few months we'll actually meet in person. Perhaps this is all a greedy way of me finally getting my hands on a Sergius Gregory album after all these years. I'm excited.