Origami Records Sets Up Shop at The Echo on Mondays in March!

Origami Records will enjoy a March residency at The Echo featuring more Origami artists including Wait.Think.Fast, Summer Darling, Writer, and Dame Satan.

The Monday-night residency also highlights the grand opening of Origami Vinyl, the label's vinyl-only record shop two doors from the Echo on Sunset Blvd.

The Line-Up

Monday, March 2

Summer Darling - Writer - The Hectors - The Monolators - DJ Velvet Touch

Monday, March 9

Wait.Think.Fast - Summer Darling - Shiloe - Two Guns - DJ Christopher Roman of Get Yer Rocks Off!

Monday, March 16

Wait.Think.Fast - Dame Satan - VOICEsVOICEs - The Late Birds

Monday, March 30

Summer Darling - Wait.Think.Fast - Kissing Cousins - Future Ghosts

The Echo

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

1822 Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90026

And Now We Have a Treehouse!

Well not really, but we did just finish building our little loft area floor.  The loft will be used mainly as the office and for storage, but it will also double as our space for bands to do in-store performances and what-not.  pretty cool, huh?

I gotta say, this is probably the most fun labor intensive project that i've done so far in the shop.  It took me back to the days of building treehouses and forts in my backyard. When me, my brother and our friends would find any scrap wood laying around and hammer it in to some poor tree.  Whoever could climb the highest would always land the prime spot.  Well, it has been about 20 years since I have really picked up a hammer and taken a shot at any sort of carpentry work, so I was bit nervous initially about making this project a success.

First, off I enlisted Jeff Oonchitti and his trusted '92 Toyota pick-up to go buy some wood.  I wanted to be sure that the wood we purchased was all used stuff.  No need to cut down more trees for this project.  So Jeff and I headed down to Pacoima (yeah, i didn't really know where that was either) to go see the ReUse People.  The ReUse People are a non-profit organization that deconstructs buildings and other structures to keep these materials out of landfills and other waste sites and resells them to people like me.  If you ever need wood, or other building supplies, be sure to check these guys out before heading to Home Depot.  Not only is everything extremely cheap, but you are doing the environment a favor as well.  

So, Jeff and I grabbed a bunch of 2x4's and some plywood and then headed down to Ryan Mulroney of RTM Furniture's shop to borrow a portable table saw. We shot the shit for awhile, then headed back to the store where we got set up and started cutting and hammering away.  

The job took us a couple of days, but we were extremely stoked on how it all came together considering we have absolutely no experience in carpentry.  Not to toot our own horns or anything but we were pretty impressed with our measurements and the fact everything came out even and flat.  Not bad for some guys who like records!

Shout outs to Jeremy Balko and Jedrek Speer for their quick help and lending of a Skil Saw and Jig Saw.

The Foundation is Set!

May we never have to work on floors again!  

What a taxing experience.  This kind of torture was probably eliminated when Obama made the Army Field manual as the only accepted form of interrogation.  Alex, Stentz, and Brandon all helped me chisel, scrape, and hammer to get this drywall-like stuff off the floor.  Once that was all done it looked pretty good and I was thinking of adding some stain to it. 

 

(before stain after chisel)

The next morning I went to what is turning into my new hang, the local Home Depot, to check out what they had.  Blame it on the sleepiness or lack of coffee, I picked up concrete paint in the black variety and headed back to the shop.  With paint roller ready to go, I covered the entire floor up in a couple of hours.  Happy with my efficiency and the ability to be done working by 1pm, I met up with some friends and grabbed some food. 

The next day I get up and head down to the store to find the floor black (duh!), and I mean BLACK.  Like the kind of black that if you walk on with shoes, you see the entire lap made around the space.  NOT GOOD!   This was definitely not going to work for a retail space.

(this paint should've been named Danzig black)

After yelling a couple of expletives I headed back to Home Depot to pick up paint stripper. Back at the store with paint roller in hand, I proceed to attack about 10 square feet over a period of 6 hours.  Not only was the stuff messy, but the progress was going at a snail's pace.  I felt defeated and had to rethink my plan.  This is when I called my old friend David Oh, who owns a couple of markets in Los Angeles.  He directed me to Jorge Morales of J&C Commercial Maintenance.  Not only was Jorge the nicest guy in the world, he said he could do the floors in a day for cheap!  Life save, floor saved, conscience cleared.

(Present Day)

They may not look like much to you, but it's exactly how we want them.  Worn out, warehouse looking floors.  We are kinda going for this whole used/vintage turn of the century look and we couldn't be happier.

Now that this is done and the painting of the walls is complete, we are going to start building the floors for the lofted office space/storage area.  More on that tomorrow...

xo

Neil

The Records Are Coming! The Records Are Coming!!

As we do construction on the store to get it ready for business, my home has turned into vinyl heaven.  Orders are starting to flow in from labels like SubPop, Matador, XL, Anticon, In The Red, Touch and Go, and 4AD.  With over 2,000 records on order, my living room is beginning to resemble some sort of maze rather than a place to kick back and watch a Lakers game.

I invited Stentz, Foye, Ben, Heather, and Meredith to help me check in the stock and write cool little blurbs about each record.  yep, I said it, EACH record.  We've always loved it when we go into record shops and see little write-ups on records but always wished there was more coverage.  So we decided that we should go ahead and have something for our entire inventory in hopes to introduce and inform our customers what exactly it might be that they are looking at.

Here is an example of one that we wrote:

The Breeders - Mountain Battles

"Words cannot describe the glee I felt when I heard the Breeders were releasing a new album. "Mountain Battles" captures the essence of the album I fell in love with as a teenager (Last Splash) yet adds subtle layers of groovy, atmospheric, timeless structure that manages to break new ground"

It was definitely a full day and we probably only got through 100 titles.  But the flowing supply of Tecate (which should sponsor us considering how much of it we drink to keep the spirits high and the motivation rolling) and yummy pizzas from Two Boots made the time fly.

Paint Party!!

Hello again vinyl lovers!

Quick update on the extremely successful Origami Vinyl Painting Party...it's done! The space looks great. We finished in one day due to the mighty efforts of Neil, me and our good friend Jacqueline. Here are some pictures of our Origami progress.

Many thanks as well to the kind folks at the Echoplex for lending us their extension ladder.

More to come soon. Hooray!

Progress!

Obama ain't the only one making shit happen...

Our last post was a while ago. You're about to forgive us after hearing how busy we've been. Photos to come. The following are examples of the aforementioned shit that has since happened, consequently keeping us from blogging:

• Stairway To Heaven - Did I say "Heaven"? I meant "lofted storage space". Origami slash Neil has acquired one spiral staircase as donated by the like-minded heads and hearts of Creative Environments of Hollywood.
• Vintage Speakers - Mr. Sean Foye has secured some vintage speakers for the store from his audiophile father... who definitely knows a thing or two about a thing or two.
• Wine Crates - Neil has received his second of several shipments of used wine crates. Wine crates as merchandising... so sophisticated.
  
• Order! Order! - The final stock order is in and the labels are officially on board.
• Floored - Neil and the Seans, both Foye and Stentz, finished removing all particle boardish dry wall stuff from the concrete floors. A first attempt at cleaning and finishing the floors has proven very taxing and a professional by the name of Jorge has been contacted.
• Two Boots Pizza! - Congratulations and thank you to our neighbors at Two Boots Pizza! They opened to the public last Friday and have already fed us in good ol' fashioned neighborly style. We have yet to sample the entire menu, mainly because we're hooked on the Cleopatra Jones. All in due time... this is the beginning of a delicious friendship.
• Echo Park Taco Truck - self-explanatory.
  

Thanks again for all the support, especially support in the form of labor for pizza. Please stop by tomorrow if you feel like joining the first ever Origami Vinyl Painting Party!

Chelan releases "Summer Machines" today on Origami

Hey friends! Today is an exciting day for us as we see the release of Chelan's new album "Summer Machines". The album is available in all digital outlets including iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, Amazon, etc. and features cover art by Kime Buzzelli. I have posted some links below to download the first single, "No Better Than We" as well as a link to the iTunes and Rhapsody stores.

Chelan
"No Better Than We" (mp3)
from "Summer Machines"
(Origami Music)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album

If you aren't familiar with the band, Chelan is the recording product of Jennifer Grady and Justin Hosford. You may know Grady from the solo project of Adam Stephens of Two Gallants fame and for her work with Emily Jane White. Hosford and Grady were also in a band called the Waxfire from Olympia, Wa. Justin now lives in Los Angeles and Jennifer in San Francisco and they completed the record with some quick flights and file sharing. Combining Grady's folk roots with Hosford's more rock leaning influences, the album translates both of those elements into acoustic based compositions that weave into vast electronic dreamscapes. To check out some songs from "Summer Machines" check out Chelan's Myspace Page.

Chelan "Summer Machines" tracklisting
01. No Better Than We
02. Warmth
03. Over the Course
04. What They All Would Want
05. Faultlines
06. Track 6
07. Endlessly
08. You Are
09. Six Weeks in Seattle