The end of another year.

I just finished packing a pile of mailorders and thought I’d give an update on the label and it's seventh year in 2009. It was a crazy ass year for me and the one-man Perpetual Motion Machine. Definitely the busiest, most insane year of the label yet, with a pile of new releases from the likes of old and new friends Kowloon Walled City, The Catalyst, Litany For The Whale, and Ancient Sky. All of this kept me busy to no end and on my toes throughout the year. I couldn’t have made it without everyone that supported the label. So thanks to those who ordered records and supported the bands on the road, the amazing writers, bloggers and twitter-ers, distros and stores, and everyone else who gave a damn about the bands and their releases.

Kowloon Walled City’s debut full length, Gambling on the Richter Scale, came out in late September on 12” vinyl with cd included and was also made available for free digital download. The response for this has been really astounding and the first pressing is running low, so pick it up if you haven’t yet. So far it’s received a great response from the press as well, with solid reviews from Decibel, Metal Hammer, Rocksound, Lambgoat, Aquarius Records, and many others. The band is playing a few California shows in January with Fight Amp and is starting to make plans for a more extensive tour later in the spring. Check out the PMM store for copies of the 12"+CD, their first EP and some shirts.

The Catalyst’s first full length, Swallow Your Teeth came out on LP and CD in August, and I’m down to my last couple copies of the limited color versions of the LP. They did a short tour with LftW this fall, including what I hear was a pretty bad ass show at The Fest, and have been playing a lot of pretty rad shows around Richmond these past few months. They are gearing up for their second trip to Europe, which will take place in April-May 2010. More details on that over here.

Litany for the Whale recently returned home from their first US tour and having been playing a bunch of shows around the Bay Area this winter, while working on new songs for a couple future releases. Their debut 12” EP, Dolores, is still available from PMM and Molsook, though our limited color versions for mailorder are running low. The cd version came out in September on Teenage Disco Bloodbath Records and the release has been picking up a good amount of well-deserved praise from places like Decibel, Outburn, Rocksound and several others.

Ancient Sky are playing a slew of shows in January and February after a bit of a hiatus, though guitarist/singer Brian Markham recently returned from a European tour with his quieter two-piece project Timber Rattle. If you haven’t done so yet, check out their debut LP, available for order here.

I don't have any solid release plans for 2010 yet, but will have an update on that in the near future. In the meantime, I'm taking a breather from this crazy past year of releases. Keep your eye on the online store for several new distro items and imports in the coming weeks. Thanks for reading and thanks for the support.

-Paul / The Perpetual Motion Machine

(Photo: Litany for the Whale, 11.10.09 Mass Art, Boston, MA Photo by Reid Haithcock)