Commercially Inviable Records

James Summerfield and his new band will be recording his fourth album in July 2011. It will be released as a ’name your price’ download and as a strictly limited CD. Although we do not have an official release date, it’s likely to be available before Christmas 2011.

In the meantime, James is inviting you to suggest the title for his new LP. This is from his website:

“If you would like to order a signed hard copy of the album with artwork etc, then send an email to james@jamessummerfieldmusic.com stating your name and address, then we will reserve you a copy and make contact with you once the official release date is confirmed (please note, you do not have to pay at this stage). James would also like to hear your ideas for album titles so make sure you email your suggestion before August 2011, and if it makes it, you’ll get a free copy!”

To help you make your suggestion we’ve made 6 demo tunes available as a free download on our Bandcamp site. The winning entry will receive a credit in the sleeve notes, signed copies of the CD, and various other goodies. Also, and if you’re not too far away from Birmingham, we’ll see if we can get James and his band to come and play a special show just for you and your mates.

You can also suggest your title over on Twitter. James is @jwsummerfield and we are @cominrecoreds, or you can use the hashtag #namejslp in your post and we’ll find it.

Enjoy the tunes and get thinking!

Hello everyone,

We’re gearing up for a bunch of releases on Commercially Inviable over the coming months and as a preview we’ve added a track from each to our Bandcamp page. You can listen to the songs there, or here on the player below. The sampler is also available as a free download.

A little general information about the releases, with more specific skinny for each release to tag along in due course.

“Dorset County Breakdown” by The Docherty Brothers will be the first in a new series of ultra-limited EPs that we’ll begin releasing into the wild this spring. We’ll follow this up with an EP from Young Runaways, “There Is A World Outside“, and another, as-yet-untitled EP, from Fields of Ypres. All 3 acts are new to the good ship Commercially Inviable, so please treat them gently.

We have a few more of these limited EPs up our sleeve, from friends old and new, so keep ‘em peeled. Physical copies of these EPs will be rare as hens’ teeth and available at gigs, or via mail order, only. Digital sales will, of course, be available online in all good music stores. 

To go next to these lovingly-crafted EPs in your record collections we’ll also be releasing the 2nd LP from Friends of the Stars, “Faiths Meat Kiosk“, which is finally complete, raring to go and sounding great. The album will be available on CD and download, and also in a very special limited edition. More details on that soon!  

Alongside these new releases we also have some digital re-issues in the pipeline. In 2008 we released James Summerfield’s 3rd LP, “Count To 10 & Start Again” and whilst we’ve been waiting for him to put the finishing touches to his 4th record, we’ve managed to get his first two LPs from cold storage and will be giving them a full, worldwide digital release for the first time. “Hailah, Hailah” (from 2004) and “Paint The Road” (from 2006) were CD-only upon their original releases but will finally see the ones-and-zeros light of day shortly, as will a LIVE EP, from 2005, that James recorded during shows he played in support of the Hailah, Hailah LP.

Additionally, and also on the re-issue tip, in time for their EP release on the label we’ll also be giving the full digital treatment to Young Runaways’ superb debut LP, a record that took them to all the way to Glastonbury, ”The Boy & The Beartrap“.

We hope you enjoy the songs.

Some months ago we sent a crack squad of Commercially Inviable artists to Somerset to play some songs in a garden shed. All of the bands had a great day and one of them, World of Fox, wrote about it on his blog and we re-published it here. (LINKY)

The reason for the journey was for the bands to record sessions for Songs From The Shed, a brilliantly quirky folk music website that does exactly what it says on the tin - Bands arrive, they are filmed playing in a shed and then the videos go online.

It seemed like a perfect fit for the bands on the label and so when got in touch with Jon, the owner of the shed, we were delighted when he invited us down.

Jon has been plodding along at his own pace for a while now and has quietly gone about recording almost 60 separate sessions. However, and for reasons apparently unknown to Jon himself, it seems that this week the rest of the world has started to cotton on to the great things happening in his shed.

Earlier this week Jon mentioned on his Twitter feed that The Daily Express had written about Songs From The Shed.

This was swiftly followed by an article in The Times, which no-one can link to because of Rupert’s paywall and so therefore may or may not exist, and then there was a mention and an interview on Tony Livesey’s BBC Radio 5Live show. You can listen to Jon on the wireless by clicking on this BBC iPlayer link. The interview kicks in at 54 minutes.

With all of the press attention heading Jon’s way it’s rather lucky that we’d previously agreed this week to make the first of our four Commercially Inviable sessions available online.  We chose the marvellous folk collective Gurdan Thomas to appear first in order for their session to coincide with the release of their album, “The Fat Lady Sings”. Here’s on off the 4 videos in the session:

You can view all 4 videos over on the Songs From The Shed site.

We hope you enjoy the session. We’ll keep you posted on when each of the other 3 from World of Fox, James Summerfield and Richard Burke appear online.  We also hope to send Friends of the Starsdown to Somerset at some point in the near future to complete the Commercially Inviable set.

Last weekend the vast majority of the Commercially Inviable stable of acts took a day-trip down to Somerset.  The reason for the trip was for each of them to record a session for the very lovely Songs from the Shed. World of Fox takes up the tale on his blog

“so, last saturday we all went down to north somerset where we ate sarnies, drank beer, snoozed in a hammock and played a few songs in a shed, captured on a camcorder by a lovely chap called jon. it’s quite a big shed, but even so it was quite a squeeze for gurdan thomas, given that there was five of them, and one was playing a tuba

the shed is an old billet hut and is stuffed full of fascinating detritus. one thing that caught my eye was an old magnetic theatre toy that i had when i was about four!

it was a thoroughly nice day out and some of us popped over to nearby clevedon for a glimpse of the seaside (well, the severn estuary, but close enough for a bunch of brummies). it has a nice pier:

i haven’t seen the finished videos, but i’ve a feeling they’ll be pretty good. jon will be posting them up on his website in the next few weeks, and obviously i’ll keep you posted when they’re up.”

Likewise, we can’t wait to see the results. A big thanks from us at the label to Jon from Songs from the Shed for accomodating 4 acts on the same day. Watch this space for links to the videos!

James Summerfield’s ‘Count To 10 & Start Again‘ LP recently had a 3-stars-out-of-4-star review in UK Country/Folk magazine, Maverick.

For those who missed the print issue, here’s that review in full..

Next Thurday 15th October in association with the lovely people from Colour, we’re launching World of Fox’s “Everything is For the Best” album with a special Commercially Inviable evening at The Victoria in Birmingham.  It should be a great night and it would be fantastic to see you there.

When you start a record label you are warned by lots of people about the unfortunate litany of independent record labels who start, with good intentions, and then fold after just a few releases.  World of Fox’s “Everything Is For The Best” is the 5th release on our label, and the 3rd full length album by a Brummie artist, and we’re naturally very proud to have gotten this far.  It’s a long, hard process hawking independent music in the 21st century and whilst we might not necessarily be pulling up any trees just yet, we’re still kicking and looking forward to a huge 5 (FIVE!) releases in 2010.

The following info is from the Colour website.

We’ve teamed up with Birmingham’s own Commercially Inviable Records to celebrate the recent launch of Simon Fox’s new album, Everything Is For The Best. Simon will be supported by label mates and good friends James Summerfield, Friends of the Stars and Richard Burke.

Expect a night of luminous, contemporary takes on folk tradition, with collaborations between the musicians and Colour DJs playing some of the best leftfield folk, indie and Americana. We’ll be projecting vintage slides and there will be homemade cakes.

About the Artists

World of Fox

Simon Fox is one of the region’s most talented folk musicians and he’s just released a new album via Birmingham label Commercially Inviable. Featuring gentle fingerpicking laid over swirling, mesmeric backgrounds, it’s a captivating record that reveals itself slowly, unfurling a great range and depth beneath it’s beguiling exterior.

For the best part of a decade Simon was the leader of post-rock outfit Grover, which is evident on Everything Is For The Best in the immersive atmospherics that add a twist to the pastoral folk guitar that eddies above. This makes the extended instrumental passages coursing through the album a beautiful place to lose yourself a little. Lyrically, Fox playfully adapts tried-and-true verse and rhyme structures to tell modern tales of lost loves, existential malaise and drunken belligerence.

Stream: Everything is for the Best in full.

MP3s: Leaves Me Blind / Yarlington Mill / Idiocracy / Witness (.zip)

James Summerfield

Last year’s Count To 10 and Start Again (one of our favourite albums of 2008) saw James Summerfield working through the fallout and self doubt caused by divorce, but with a lightness of touch, dark and strange humour and his finely-honed, fantastic ear for melody to tell sweet tales of the biggest blows. Live, James is a revelation: delicate, hushed Americana and folk songs full of beautiful sadness. James has recently supported fellow Midlander Scott Matthews on his UK tour and has previously opened for Josh Ritter and Richmond Fontaine.

MP3s: Films / Another Day With You Is Like Torture / Once / Films (.zip)

Friends of the Stars

Entering their seventh year together and soon to release their second album, Friends of the Stars aren’t a band who like to rush things – nothing about their songs feels forced or unnatural, which is why their country and folk debut Lighting and Electrical took two years to come out, as the band selected songs from hundreds they’d stepped into over the years. On stage, Anna Russell’s vocals take the centre, often with the rougher-edged harmonies of Craig and Cam in accompaniment.

MySpace

Richard Burke

In a similar way to Simon, Richard initially liked things a little louder – his previous band The Starries played melodic indie rock and toured with Idlewild, before splitting in 2003. Since then, Richard has focused on weaving the melodic surge of indie music with more traditional folk music, influenced by Elliott Smith, Jason Molina and Will Oldham

The celebrate the appearance of 3 Commercially Inviable artists at the 2009 Moseley Folk Festival we’ve put together a package for you…

James Summerfield, World of Fox and Friends of the Stars will all tread the boards at various points this weekend at the sold-out, 4th annual festival and for a limited time only, you can purchase each of their albums for a bargain total price of £15 (including postage).

The Moseley Folk Festival bundle includes….

Friends of the Stars - Lighting & Electrical (COMIN003)

James Summerfield - Count To 10 & Start Again (COMIN004)

World of Fox - Everything is for the Best (COMIN005)

Hope to see you at the festival!

TEAM INVIABLE

NAS PRESS RELEASE: 21st May 2009

James Summerfield supports National Autistic Society with album and tour

Birmingham singer-songwriter, James Summerfield, is supporting the National Autistic Society (NAS) by donating £1 from his latest album ‘Count To 10 & Start Again’ and collecting money for the charity at all of the gigs on his upcoming tour as he supports Scott Matthews.

The tour will take him from his home town of Birmingham to Nottingham, Oxford, Cardiff, Manchester, Bristol, Dublin, Glasgow, London, Leeds and Wolverhampton.

James said: “Autism is a cause very close to my heart as I have worked with children and adults with autism in the past. I hope that people will dig deep at the gigs and donate as much money as possible to the NAS as I know they work hard to support people with autism all over the country.”

NAS Head of Fundraising, Steve Cheshire, said: “We are really greatly to James for his generosity in supporting us in this way. Autism is a serious, lifelong and disabling condition that affects around 1 in 100 people. As a charity, we are dependent on donations and fundraising to continue to provide services and support to as many people as we can.”

For more information on James’ album and tour, please see www.jamessummerfieldmusic.com. For more information on autism, please see www.autism.org.uk

Please contact Kimi Gill on 0115 847 3528 or 07946 590614 or email kimi.gill@nas.org.uk for more information, interviews, photos

DOWNLOAD ORIGINAL DOCUMENT - PLEASE DISTRIBUTE TO YOUR MAILING LISTS

Commercially Inviable artists Friends of the Stars, James Summerfield and World of Fox now have pages on Bandcamp.

You can listen to entire albums, download selected tracks and share with friends, all within the individual Bandcamp windows.

It’s what all the cool kids are doing, you know.

Friends of the Stars

James Summerfield

World of Fox

In these times of viral interweb videos and social networking portals, charmingly quaint Commercially Inviable recording artiste James Summerfield recently played a live set on the wireless to promote his “Count to 10 and Start Again” album.  

To listen to James playing live and being interviewed, and also read the feature on BBC Radio WM’s site simply follow the link

Thanks to Brett Birks at BBC WM for sorting the interview. 

Enjoy

TEAM INVIABLE