Black Diet release another Good One!

When Mugsy told me that Black Diet's new album was to be titled The Good One, I immediately thought the obvious extension was that their debut, Find Your Tambourine, was now by default The Bad One. This came as a shock! Remember, this was an album, recorded pretty much live in a weekend, that captured the immediacy of their concerts and is infused with all sorts of accidental beauty that can only come from not fussing too much. Well, apparently Black Diet feel it was a rush job, and they were eager to move on. It's a great impulse to look forward and move in new directions. Artists that strive for longevity need to reinvent themselves and find new muses to keep fresh and feel relevant. Though I certainly still adore their debut, I can say with sincerity that The Good One is indeed very good.

The album opens with David Tullis doing that great snare-kick-tom-kick-tom-kick-snare-kick count-off into Jonathan publicly revealing his ambivalence about Minneapolis. "State Line" is a great song; our icy outpost gets so wrapped up in itself that it's surprisingly rare to hear an artist admit that, yes. Sometimes it sucks here. And it's catchy as hell. "Fever" shows us that Black Diet has indeed grown and expanded their bag of tricks since FYT. More than any other of their songs, "Fever" channels CBGB's-era new wave in the same way The Stones did on Some Girls. "Brother" treats us to another thematic departure from songs about sex. We're allowed to eavesdrop on JT's intimate conversation with his brother. Musically, this covers similar ground to FYT's "Cry", but it's given more emotional depth by Jonathan's vulnerable lyrics.



"Do A Little Wrong" is the album's showpiece, with all musicians and voices in beautiful form. "Used to Be In Love" and "Loving Me Still" are perfect pop gems (the latter featuring a very Garth Hudson organ solo from Sean Schultz!). "Find a New Love" brings us the deepest groove, locked into an almost Kraut-rocking rhythm section with scorching dual guitars from Schultz and Mitch Sigurdson. Saved for last, "Calls" with its single voice and electric guitar is the least-produced song on the record. When paired with FYT's "Don't Sleep Alone", it almost acts as a bookend for their first two albums. It shows me that these two albums should not be pitted against one another, but enjoyed as two acts.

Black Diet have been a very ambitious band since we met them (and probably before that, too). They never feel fully satisfied with anything they do, always feeling that at least one thing could have been better executed. That's an important thing in an artist, but I truly hope they take a moment in the near future to reflect on all they've accomplished in the last couple years. They've made two truly great albums that defy simple genre labels, and have pushed both themselves and their peers forward.

If you're in the Twin Cities, come to their Release Party at First Avenue. It'll be fun, for sure.

Friday, July 24

8:00 PM

First Avenue Mainroom

with

JC Brooks and The Uptown Sound

Red Daughters

Southside Desire

Released! Black Diet's Find Your Tambourine is real, and it's beautiful.

Black Diet's album is finally coming out. Find Your Tambourine has been labored over since they were still JT and The Sloppy Seconds, since they had a different drummer and backup vocalist. The making of this record has seen Black Diet change and grow and become the absolute tightest original soul band in the Twin Cities. After abandoning several attempts at translating their sly enthusiasm and expert craftsmanship to digital media, the sextet arrived in Mike Wisti's basement 24-track Albatross Studio to start again and for the first time, finish. The resulting album is exactly what you'd want and expect. A clear, urgent batch of soul songs with just the right amount of accidental beauty.

Piñata at SXSW 2014! The Journey South.

Damien says: Trevor's headed back to Austin, and this year he's traveling with fellow Piñata representative, Southside Desire bandmate, and wife, Marvel Devitt. The stakes are little higher than in 2013, as Piñata artists Black Diet are performing at an official SXSW showcase after winning Vita.mn's Are You Local contest. Let's follow along as Trevor and Marvel schmooze and booze with the world's tiredest, day-drinkingest tastemakers and hitmongers. Here's Trevor's first check-in.

Hello There!
We are headed back to Austin, TX for the year's biggest and most exhausting music festival. Who knows where in town we will end up and who or what we will see and hear. Here's how we got out of town.

Tuesday March 11:
Marvel and I had a pretty stressful day from the get go. So many things to list and too much backstory for it all to make sense. Regardless, we made everything happen as best we could and got dropped off at one of the coolest apartments in the Twin Cities. This domicile was the home of Mr. Jacob Quam, local drummer extraordinaire and owner of a very nice 2001 Chevy Tahoe. We picked Dan Larson and Bree Ward in Uptown and Ryan Anhorn in Owatonna. With the crew assembled, we set off on an overnight ride that would take us 1170 miles south on 35 and through 6 very enjoyable states. Like the deadly Iowa and Nebraska.

Piñata Hit Parade occurred, and it was fun!

All photos by Katie McGuire. 

The 331 Club hosted the first ever Piñata Records Hit Parade on Saturday. We gave away CD samplers and donut holes, and we all had a lot of fun.

News for the undead of winter.

Whoops! No updates since September? Well, we're still a record label. And we're looking forward to a flurry of activity coming very soon.

Black Diet > most other bands!

Black Diet was selected for the Best New Bands Showcase of 2013 showcase at First Avenue! This is really exciting for us, because it's proof that hard work can really go recognized. They've been averaging like 7 shows a month for the last year, and getting better every time I see them. A lot of years the Best New Bands showcase feels stacked with bands stuck together from parts of old popular local bands and just put out their first press release, but Black Diet have seriously been paying their dues. Hats off! They'll be sharing the mainroom on Thursday Jan 30 with Allan Kingdom, BBGUN, Frankie Teardrop, Fury Things, GRRRL PRTY and Southwire. It's going to be a great night.

Piñata Records Hit Parade February 15 at 331 Club!

We're doing our first label showcase! Come see all of the bands directly associated with Piñata on one night at the 331 Club in NE Minneapolis. We will have a very limited edition of CD compilations of songs from our 7" releases and new tracks from all the bands, too. And there will be no cover! Here's the rundown:

331 Club (University and 13th Ave NE)

Saturday February 15 

9:00 PM

No cover!

(in chronological order)

Mystery Date

Black Diet

Narco States

Southside Desire

New Releases!

No firm dates yet, but we do know that PIN-004 will be Mystery Date's new 3 song seven inch "You and Your Sister" b/w "Lightspeed Romance"/ "The One That You Really Want". I love Mystery Date and am very proud to be putting out this record. Over a year ago, Trevor and I saw them play at Memory Lanes bowling alley with Narco States and when we heard "Lightspeed Romance" we immediately knew it was time to expand our label roster. Black Diet have finished recording their debut LP Find Your Tambourine, and it sounds just as fresh and live as you would hope. That should be out in the spring or early summer. Narco States and Southside Desire have also been spending a bunch of time in studios getting ready for new records. 

Narco States just put out an awesome little 4-way split 7" with Fuck Knights, Mary Allen & The Percolators and Mystery Train on Sir Gregory Records. All those bands are great and the record is absolutely worth checking out.

Southside Desire and Black Diet's Split EP is almost here...




Black Diet drummer David Tullis made this, which was very nice of him, indeed. Pre-orders from the Piñata webstore are still available.

Release party:

July 21st
Palmer's Bar: Palmfest

Full Sunday lineup:
July 21
215 The May North
330 Farmhouse Band
445 Javier and the Innocent Sons
600 Mr. Hyde
715 Southside Desire
830 Black Diet
1000 The Sex Rays
1100 The Union Suits
1215 Mary and the Percolators

$5 admission, $7 for the record, which includes a download.

Southside Desire / Black Diet Split 7" Pre-orders

Pre-orders of the Southside Desire / Black Diet Split 7" EP are now available. When you pre-order the record, you get immediate download of the entire thing. Pretty cool! Here's the songs. The full press release is after the jump. 

 

News: spilling forth like so much candy from a beaten piñata.

Damien sez:

Whoa, it's been too long since I've checked in. Let's get to it.

We changed our webstore. It's now being hosted via Big Cartel, so it has nicer cart features and things like that. If you look at it now, you'll be excited to see a new product...

PIN-003!

Piñata at SXSW: Part 2

 Trevor E checks in again, with sound guy insight and Midwestern grace.

3/14/13

Hey there, folks!

Here is a rundown of Day 2 in Austin (Day 4 on the Road).

Piñata at SXSW: Part 1

None of the bands affiliated with Piñata Records had the money, free time, or, I guess, the burning desire to get in the van and head to Austin to fight for attention at South By Southwest this year. However, Trevor E (bassist from Southside Desire) and Jonathan Tolliver (lead vocalist of Black Diet) hitched a ride with Minneapolis stompers The 4onthefloor. Here's Trevor's first dispatch from I-35.

3/13/13

Hey there folks! So here's a recap of the first 3 days of Jonathan and my first trip to SXSW...

Day 1: Departure delayed 3 hours due to a certain party member’s long goodbye in the bathroom at Muddy Waters. This led us to hit the worst blizzard I have ever been in ever. Icy roads, high winds, total white-out conditions, 20 mph on 35S. Terrifying. We set out to meet the 4onthefloor bus in Ames, IA. We made it to Williams, 30 miles north and got a hotel. Beers were had.
Musical Side Note. Listened to Spoon: Gimme Fiction and Haphduzn & Dimitry Killstorm: Whittier Alliance, both for the first time and they were both great albums.
Flavorful Side Note: Always get the salad bar as your side from the little diners. You need the roughage and if you don't get it as your side and you order it later, they'll charge you full salad bar prices.