Raymond Brake / Rebar split

I so want to distribute the Raymond Brake's 1995 full-length, Piles of Dirty Winters, but label Simple Machines claims to have copies available for purchase. It's a predicament--but hang on.

I want to say I e-mailed the label years ago on this topic and never heard back. This means its website's catalog or contact info is simply out of date, or--I dunno, something else.

Until I resolve this, the plan is as follows: You will enjoy this 1994 split 7" between the Raymond Brake and fellow Greensboro-based North Carolinians Rebar.

And soon I will follow up with a Piles post availing a few great songs from it. I hope you like these terms. The Raymond Brake deserves more air.

"Hailing from Greensboro, N.C., the Raymond Brake was in a unique position at a remarkable time," Simple Machines' page on the band states. More:

With access to the 'young rock' that was pouring out of nearby Chapel Hill from Superchunk, Polvo and Archers of Loaf, you might think that they'd just have become another indie rock band. But they didn't fall into such an easy trap. Greensboro is a small town, and the Raymond Brake boys wrote incredibly complicated songs that showed their influences but mimicked none. They didn't have the luxury of being caught up and brought down as the poster children of any useless hypothetical movement. They didn't sound like another local older band that kicked ass...because there wasn't one.

Rebar, too, was stellar. And their side of this 7" sounded great at 45- and 33-rpms. Almost sounded like they slowed the recording before applying the vocals. Anyway, neat effect.

It also seems in line with the band's reason for being. From its (old-looking) website:

In the summer of '93, a love of electronics and a hankering for pawn shops inspired the creation of something weird.

Yep, Jae and Sanders weren't your average couple of folks fulfilling their dreams of being in a rock band. Armed with some crappy hand- me-down instruments, and a good bit of inspiration from NoMeansNo, Led Zeppelin, and Wings™(?), these kids formed Lazer Geek. The result? Several songs that were to become property of Rebar, Inc. - and a few weird cover songs morphed into ska tunes. For some reason or another, Brent Dunn and Greg Sigmon overheard the racket and saw that it was good. Thus, in the blustery Autumn of 1993, Rebar was born. And by December 16th, they were ready to thrill the throngs of attendees at Sander's roommate's birthday party. It was fun, and the kids loved their twisted blend of doped-out art rock and straight-up pop. Now you, the reader, must be thinking "sheesh, are you kidding me? Did anyone REALLY like this crap"?

Listen here.

TITLE: Raymond Brake / Rebar split 7"
LABEL: Crunchy Record Stuff
YEAR: 1994
TRACKS:
The Raymond Brake - "Davliks" / Rebar - "Transparent"