Aura Vortex Records

Three-sibling band @robotslide ‘s album 𝘾𝙃𝙄𝙈𝙋𝙎 is out today on Aura Vortex Records! Self-recorded and produced by the band in their DIY garage studio, the album evokes a dreamstate, the scenery constantly changing, shifting subtly from one unexpected moment to the next. Find it on vinyl, CD, cassette, or digital download on bandcamp, and streaming everywhere Robot Slide is: Matt, Jake, @toadyolo and @liammoore @mnightchalamet plays cello on ‘the old toad’ and ‘later bloom’ @blinkslide trombone on ‘Layers’ @itscarleyo plays bass clarinet on ‘Atom’ Album Photography and Design by Jake Olson Mixed by @jasonemcglone Mastered by @alecness Band Photo taken at Mall of America Super Smash Bros tournament by Mom

Indie psych-pop-rock-pop-snacks band @spaceportband album Cut the Lake is out today on Aura Vortex Records! Find it on vinyl, CD, or digital download on @bandcamp , and streaming everywhere. 🔪🌊✨ Minneapolis-based trio Spaceport return with their second album, Cut the Lake, a collection of warm, introspective songs exploring small moments of transportation within daily life, all with the band’s unique mix of indie rock, folk, classical, and ambient/electronic sounds. If their debut Window Seat was a sci-fi movie, this record is a fantasy novel. All songs written, arranged, and performed by Spaceport Lyrics by @m.nightchalamet and @toadyolo @m.nightchalamet - Vocals, guitars, cello, synthesizer (tracks 7, 10) @toadyolo - Drums, percussion, additional vocals (track 6) @liammusicmoore - Bass, acoustic guitar (track 9) Matt Olson (@robotslide ) - Synthesizer (tracks 1-4, 9), piano (track 10) @kenanserenbetzmusic - Clarinet (track 5, 9, 10), flute (track 5), saxophone (track 3) @doublec1992 - Cornet (tracks 2, 5, 10) @slowwhale - Pump organ (tracks 4, 9) @yesterato_wolfe - Lap steel (track 2) Recorded and engineered by @tveitbakk at @pachydermstudios and @heavyjean at @salonsonics Additional recording and engineering by @kenanserenbetzmusic , @m.nightchalamet , @toadyolo , @robotslide , and @yesterato_wolfe at their home studios Mixed by @nat.harvie Mastered by @alecness Collages by @phibstuff Album photos by @toadyolo and @m.nightchalamet Artwork layout and design, and band photos by @slopmotion

Witchy glam folk chanteause @carlisleevanspeckmusic new album “The Lines in My Hands” is out today on Aura Vortex Records! Find it on bandcamp, some streaming services, and (coming soon) vinyl! 💃🦑🌝 “The Lines in My Hands” is a lush and otherworldly journey to the inmost core of living and dying. With incisive storytelling, shimmering full band arrangements, and haunting vocals, Carlisle gives voice to the here and the beyond. Album credits: @carlisleevanspeckmusic - vocals, chorus, guitar, piano, harmonium, bandurria @willowwatersmusic - double bass, mandolin, electric guitar, horns, chorus  @peteromorrow - acoustic and electric guitars, chorus @lars.e.johnson - drums (2, 3, 5, 6, 9), chorus @zackbaltichmusic - drums (4, 7, 8) @annadolde - saxophone (1, 4, 7, 9) @lordwooffff - vocals (1, 9, 10) Aubrey Weger - violin (2, 6, 8) @mikey.marget - cello (2, 6, 8) Joe Peterson - organ (9)  Recorded at The Nettle Bed, Minneapolis MN, March 2023 - March 2025 Piano and track #10 recorded at Grape Escape, St. Paul MN, March 2024 - January 2025 Organ (track 9) recorded at Calvary Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, MN January 2024 All songs written by Carlisle Evans Peck Engineered by Carlisle Evans Peck, Peter Morrow, Willow Waters, and Matt Olson @robotslide Mixing by @jasonemcglone at @thehideawaympls , Minneapolis, MN Mastered by @robschlette at Anthem Mastering Cover photo + artist photo by @madisongiesguy_photo

Jazz adjacent sonic explorer @rossclowsermusicindustries debut album “𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.” is out today on Aura Vortex Records! Find it on bandcamp, CD, and with a zine! 🌠🌌🌠 Drawing on a myriad of different influences, including jazz, free improvisation, post-rock, minimalism, afrobeat, and more, “this is how we move through time.” is a kaleidoscope of styles, sounds, and approaches. Carefully constructed, yet open to new interpretations, each composition on the album provides a jumping off point for a close knit group improvisation and exploration. Featuring Ross Clowser on guitar, Joe Strachan on piano, Josh Granowski on bass, and Tarek Abdelqader on drums, the album emphasises individual contributions to a cohesive, vibrant group sound. It’s music that celebrates our relationships to the world around us, to the passage of time, and to each other, because after all, that’s how we move through time - together. Photo credit: Nik Nerburn @datanodata Album cover art: Ross Clowser Guitar/Compositions: Ross Clowser Piano: Joe Strachan @joellistrachan Bass: Josh Granowski no socials Drums: Tarek Abdelqader @abdelgarderon Recorded and mixed by Mason Meyers @moosehatmeyers at Greenway Recording @greenwayrecording_mpls Mastered by Kevin Feidt @masteringthemaster

Lo-fi indie-rock project @loud_sun ‘s new album “A Pile of Light” is out today on Aura Vortex Records! Find it on cassette on bandcamp, or streaming everywhere 🕯️🌏🕊 ABOUT “A PILE OF LIGHT”: “A Pile of Light” is Andrew Jansen’s fourth record as Loud Sun, a decades-long self-recording project.  He uses the project not just to craft melodies and lyrics; it’s a way of digging deep into the subconscious. The process often feels like a collaboration with their “shadow self”—a way of confronting and embracing the parts of themselves that are hidden or unexplored.   The album leans towards nostalgic infused rock, pop and folk.  album credits: all songs written, record, produced by Andrew Jansen recorded in the basement of Gray House🏠⬜️ Matty @robotslide contributions on track 6 & 12 album cover photo taken by Luke Twyman @triple.denim

Chamber pop septet @sisterspecies album Lena in the Bog is out today on Aura Vortex Records! Find it on vinyl, CD, or cassette on bandcamp, and streaming everywhere. On “Lena in the Bog”: Minneapolis chamber-pop septet Sister Species’ fourth studio album “Lena in the Bog” is a collection of 10 songs written from March of 2020 to January of 2023. Inspired by accordionist/songwriter Emily Kastrul’s best friend’s dying dog Lena, “Lena in the Bog” is full of clear and bright arrangements that grew out of dark and murky times. The band shapeshifts through meadows and asphalt, the songs belonging to buzzing screens as much as they belong to the cicadas. Like the bog itself, Sister Species’ arrangements are dense and inviting, each instrument a symbiotic species, with the three-part trumpet section blanketing the songs like moss. Album credits: Emily Kastrul (@sisterspecies )- vocals, accordion, piano, songwriting @jakebjazz - trumpet, backing vocals @lars.e.johnson - drums @bassheavii - bass, backing vocals @doublec1992 - trumpet @stenjohnsonmusic - trumpet @willowwatersmusic - guitar, backing vocals Featuring - backing harmonies by Matt Olson of @robotslide (track 2) Recorded and mixed by @jasonemcglone at The Hideaway Studios Mastered by @robschlette at Anthem Mastering Photography by @if.phxtxgraphy Album art and layout by @slopmotion

@willowwatersmusic  new album “𝑰 𝑹𝑰𝑺𝑬, 𝑰 𝑭𝑨𝑳𝑳” is out today on Aura Vortex Records! “A long-form meditation on love, grief, settling, and acceptance” - Carlisle Evans Peck Find it on vinyl on bandcamp, and streaming everywhere 🍃🎹🌊 ABOUT “𝑰 𝑹𝑰𝑺𝑬, 𝑰 𝑭𝑨𝑳𝑳”: After the spellbinding complexity of her 2023 release The Friction I Demand, Willow Waters returns with 𝑰 𝑹𝑰𝑺𝑬, 𝑰 𝑭𝑨𝑳𝑳 : an album warm and intimate with clarity, like the world lit by setting sun or a room by lamplight. Songs rise and fall in an ecosystem of soundscapes and fluttering piano textures - flowing in and out of focus like moths flitting into a circle of flame. 

The whole record feels as if the breakdown of Friction has given way to a quieter but rarified landscape. 𝑰 𝑹𝑰𝑺𝑬, 𝑰 𝑭𝑨𝑳𝑳 is solidly a piano record - there are no driving and scorching guitars in this story. Even as this is Willow’s quietest album, beneath the surface is a grating tension that keeps the audience enthralled. The album is like grieving - the iterative cycle of tensing and releasing that never really ceases. In the final song, “Let the Tides”, the grief is finally laid bare. Willow throws up her hands, admitting there are simply no answers or resolutions to her seeking. The band sighs and cries like a rising tide, waves of strings with them, behind Willow’s proclamations. “I don’t know what the fuck I’m trying to say” she sings - and that is precisely where works of art such as this come in. album credits: @JT_Bates_ - Drums (2, 4, 6, 8, 10) @ry_ann_aurora Bass (2, 4, 6, 8, 10) @margetmusic - Cello (4, 8, 10) @m.nightchalamet - Cello (4, 8, 10) @annadolde  - Alto Sax (2, 6) Thomas Strommen - Tenor Sax (8) @peterbreenmusic   - Synth (8) @carlisleevanspeckmusic , @lordwooffff , @sisterspecies , @bassheavii , @margetmusic @slowwhale - Vocal Harmonies (8) @willowwatersmusic - Songwriting / Arranging, Vocals, Piano, Electric Piano, Electric Guitar (4), Acoustic Guitar (6), Alto Sax (11), Trumpet (11), Tuba (11), Mod Synth (8, 10), Production, Recording @jasonemcglone Recording / Mixing - Hideaway Studios @robschlette   Mastering - Anthem Mastering @babyyyypeacchhhh - Album photography

Self-Titled EP from Adam Zahller's Wheel Eternal is out today on Aura Vortex Records!! Warm, if a little acidulous, songs. Adam Zahller writes, plays and sings them, backed by a band of murderously virtuosic pentatonic bad-boys. Terroir from the liminal space between rust belt and corn belt imparts something inscrutable. Fingerstyle acoustic guitar is salient, convincing some that this must be "americana". 🙉🫗🤼 On bandcamp + streaming! Songs by Adam Zahller Played by: @t01vo @tobyramaswamy @joellistrachan @taylorjamesdonskey Engineered by @grahamachen Recorded live with no overdubs at @futurecondostudio in Minneapolis. Album art by @blinkslide

Modern brass band @mcnastybrass ‘s new album "MNBB" is out today on Aura Vortex Records! MNBB is McNasty Brass Band’s second studio album, and stretches the traditional instrumentation of horns and drums into new dance and funk territory. 🎺🎷🥁 Find it on vinyl and digitally on bandcamp, and streaming everywhere! ABOUT "MNBB": “MNBB” represents McNasty Brass Band’s growth as a band over the past decade. In this record you hear a new maturity in each individual musician as well as a new level in the group as a whole. album credits: @pistolpetesuttman - snare drum @lars.e.johnson - bass drum @azoreanmello - sousaphone @jakebjazz - trumpet, lead vocals [track 4] @helgesonriley - trumpet @fihner32 - trumpet @codyleducmusic - trombone @stenjohnsonmusic - trombone, lead vocals [track 1] @a_aronlevin - tenor saxophone @elliottwachsmusic - baritone saxophone record and mixed by @jasonemcglone at Hideaway Studios mastered by @robschlette at Anthem Mastering album art by @emilyolsondesigns

Genrefluid jazzy folk rock outfit @willowwatersmusic new album "The Friction I Demand" is out today on Aura Vortex Records! "A dark night of the soul that has never felt this groovy" - Carlisle Evans Peck Find it on CD or cassette on bandcamp, and streaming everywhere ✨🖤🌗 ABOUT THE FRICTION I DEMAND: Willow Waters is no stranger to shadows. Yet on her expansive, fractallate new record “The Friction I Demand”, she does not merely sing of the darkness, she invites us all to an underworld nightclub where she is both riveting emcee and chanteuse backed by a virtuosic orchestra. A Virgil to our Dante, a Charon to our lost souls, Willow becomes our guide on a musical journey like no other, all the way to death and back. As she sings on the stirring opener “Theater of the Absurd”: “Take me down to the bottom of the ocean/Take me down below”. And we follow. Willow is a multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire, and her decades of relationship with her musical craft show their flying colors in the magnificent composition of this record. She blends a sweeping soundscape of inspirations into a genre that has no parallel, ranging from the jazz-infused skitter of “Death Brings Renewal”, to the crooning balladry of “The Friction I Demand” and the blistering rock and roll of “Hollowed Bones”. A dark night of the soul that has never felt this groovy. @julia.floberg - Cello (7) @gingerbonessoundkitchen - Guitars (1, 4, 6) @carlisleevanspeckmusic , @friendly_hawkmoth , & @sisterspecies - Vocal Harmonies @annadolde - Alto Sax Thommas Strommen - Tenor Sax @peterbreenmusic - Piano, EP, Synth @ry4now - Bass @lars.e.johnson - Drums Willow Waters - Songwriting / Arranging, Lead Vocals, Piano (1, 2, 3, 7), Guitars, Mandolin (3), Trumpet / Trombone / Tuba (5, 9), Melodica (7), Aux Percussion (7, 8, 9) Recorded and Mixed by @jasonemcglone at Hideaway Studio Mastered by @robschlette at Anthem Mastering Released by @auravortexrecords Album artwork by @ry4now Artist photo by @madisongies

Coming up next week: WILLOW WATERS & THE EARTH TONES “The Friction I Demand” ALBUM RELEASE with Bad Posture Club The Cedar Cultural Center Thursday, May 4th 7pm doors; 7:30 music $15 adv, $20 day of All ages cut-out flyer by @slopmotion text-photo flyer by @willowwatersmusic , with photo by @madisongies @badpostureclub @thecedar

Soft-pop indie rock trio @spaceport ‘s debut album “Window Seat” is out today on Aura Vortex Records! 🪟 Window Seat is a collection of contemplative and catchy pop/rock songs arranged with sci-fi synths, crunchy guitar, cello, horns, bass, and drums. Find it digitally and on CD on bandcamp, and streaming everywhere. ABOUT “WINDOW SEAT”: Arianna Wegley takes classical sensibilities and morphs them into catchy pop hooks for music that is both dark and dreamy, alien and earthbound, conversational and profound. Spaceport’s debut album “Window Seat,” comprises sounds of ethereal synths, layered vocals, effected cello and extended string techniques, distorted guitars, bright trumpets, and sublime clarinets. Disparate textures are arranged in seamless, delicate harmony, and a sensitive, driving rhythm section brings the songs home with a life and energy essential for any good pop song.   Arianna’s colloquial yet cryptic lyrics are anthems for anxious times, a poetic meandering through observations of a daily life that’s full of funny riddles, bleak monotony, and deep mystery. In parallel with shadowy undercurrents of reflection and introspection throughout the album, Arianna’s lyrics achieve buoyancy and fun by means of her soft-spoken, sprawling delivery. Much like a home video, she says what she sees, but it’s unclear how she feels; a non-confessional diary entry. Pervasive irony and secretive humor is carefully balanced with slant-rhymes and homophones intended to shroud clarity and invite the listener to uncover multiple meanings in everything. Credits: All songs written by Arianna Wegley @m.nightchalamet - Vocals, synths, electric/acoustic guitars, baritone guitar, cello @liammusicmoore - Bass, additional vocals (tracks 2, 6, 9) @toadyololo - Drums @molsonson - Acoustic guitar (track 1), additional mixing/recording (track 1) @sisterspecies - Additional vocals (track 4) Joe Wegley - Trumpet (track 5) Carley Olson - Clarinet (track 8) @loud_sun - Acoustic guitar (track 9) Recorded by Arianna Wegley at home and Todd Olson at Aura Vortex, St. Paul Mixed by @loud_sun at the Gray House Mastered by @robschlette at Anthem Mastering Artwork by @slopmotion