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LP
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S-S 006LP
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"The A Frames' second album -- appropriately titled 2 -- is the classic followup to their stellar debut. Influenced by their heroes Wire, the A Frames were not content to make their sophomore full-length a copycat of their first. Instead, they took their post-punk-cum-KBD / garage sound and expanded and twisted it. Recorded in a weekend by Chris Woodhouse, it is one of the best albums of the '00s. 'Finally, someone has released a worthy followup to Gang of 4's Entertainment,' wrote Go Metric. Blank Generation countered with 'You can throw all the Gang of Four / Fall / Wire references you want at this band, but all I can say is that the A Frames are quite simply creating some of the most captivating sounds around. Their second fulllength is even weirder than the first, adhering to the robot-wave construction of their first record, but tinkering with the formula enough to keep it sounding new.... These guys have put themselves yet another step or two ahead of the crowd with a record that may even be better than their first.' Maximum Rocknroll said, 'this sucker is flat-out classic... [Woodhouse] is starting to look like the Trademark of Quality for raw artgarage.' Roctober cooed, 'Though it seems impossible for robots to have souls this is basically the lost, brilliant, organic Kraftwerk LP (where they added guitars). This is so futuristic it makes my vision hurt.' The original 2003 vinyl pressing of 2 sold out in three months. S-S Records let it go out of print, but, like with the first album, the label has often been asked the question 'Are you ever going to release it again?' The answer is: Yes!"
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LP
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S-S 003LP
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"Originally released in 2002, the A Frames' debut album was a sleeper. That is hard to believe today, as the record has been called 'one of the few great new American rock records' (Byron Coley and Thurston Moore, Arthur), 'the best American rock record I've heard since 100 Flowers' (Jon Solomon, WPRB), and 'a truly amazing record made by a truly amazing band with a truly amazing sound' (Mitch Cardwell, Blank Generation). But back when it came out, people were slow to pick up on it. In 2002, S-S Records was still a young 'un, Seattle was recovering from a decade of grunge-commercialism, and punk rock had settled into a steady 1-2-3-4 count. The A Frames post-post-post punk, with its high energy angles and primitive smarts, was a bit new to the ears. A few people dug their first two singles, but most folks weren't quite ready for a garage punk attack on Wire, Devo and Joy Division... or so they thought. As more and more people heard the A Frames' debut, more and more became diehard fans. The record started to get rave reviews and make year-end 'Best Of' lists. Those skeptical of the hype listened to the record and found that the praise was well-founded ('It's rare to have an album this solid from top and bottom without an ounce of fluff or duff -- it is deserving of any accolades heaped upon it,' Jack Cole, Pataphysics Research Journal). Even with universal props, it took more than a year to sell out of the single vinyl pressing of 500. In another two years, though, the record started fetching good money on auction and record selling sites. It has now been thirteen years since A Frames' A Frames was first released and demand has not slackened. Though long out-of-print, S-S Records still gets requests from fans to repress it. So here it is!"
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