Menards split with Noah Eagle

Buy the Tape - Paypal $10
Stream it - YouTube - Bandcamp
Download it - Nextcloud

Sometimes I wonder about having a solo project that uses a wide variety of styles. Like, most popular bands only make one specific style of song, and once they have a hit, their sound becomes more specifically focused on the sound of their hit. And before long, all of their songs sound almost exactly the same. With Super Famicom I never did that, which was probably not a very smart career move. In 2020, Noah Eagle asked me to do a split with him, and I said yes. It was always in my plans to start a punk band that played punk for grown-ups. It was going to be called Menards. Instead of playing grown-up punk, Menards ended up playing true midwestern emo. I made up fictional people who are supposedly in the band, playing 2nd guitar, drums, and bass. It makes me seem cooler, having access to a set of musicians with my exact skill level, playing exactly how I would like them to.

Balrogs by Super Famicom

Buy the Tape - Paypal $10
Stream it - YouTube - Bandcamp
Download it - Nextcloud

In 2018, I had been sitting on a lot of songs for a long time, and I wanted to record them really well. A very daunting prospect, considering the lack of external encouragement I felt I'd been receiving to record new music. So instead of recording old, smart songs, I decided to write a bunch of new stuff without putting much thought into it. Often a piece of work isn't improved by puttig extra time and thought into it. Balrogs turned out to be, possibly, by my best-sounding Super Famicom album thusfar, and the playing on it's fairly tight, considering how it was very much thrown together. It was finished in 2019, but I had some complications with getting it released on tape. I didn't want to release it myself, because I wanted to have some form of extra help in promoting my release, and getting it heard. Also, I was hoping to collect a little more external encouragement for recording my next album. That didn't work out, so I released the tape myself.

FAQ

Q: Why do you still make tapes?
A: I like the things I create to have a physical form of some kind, something that can't be erased if I change my mind about some little detail. I like to collect things my friends have made, like tapes and books. I like having a home for those things. So I make tapes, not a lot because I don't sell a lot. If PJ Records is a business, it's not the kind of business that makes products for a profit.

Q: Why do you have a blog?
Because I want to practice writing for readers. I don't have very high standards with the words I write for just myself.

Q: Will PJ Records release my awesome tape?
A: No. This isn't that kind of label. However, I like to do splits, and I have a lot of ideas for fake bands that I could do for a split tape with your awesome music project.

Q: Will you review my album/thing?
A: Probably if you ask nicely. I don't trust authority, so I don't want you to trust that I know what's good and what's bad. Instead of writing Reviews, I like to think I'm writing Reports, like Book Reports.

Q: Why do some of your new tapes cost $10?
A: In the 1990s when a new album was released on cassette, the store would charge $10. 30 years later, most new goods have more than doubled in cost. There was once a saying 'If it ain't cheap, it ain't punk'. But physical releases used to need to be cheaper, for the sake of accessibility. That's not the case anymore. Some of my tapes cost less because they are old and taking up space.

Q: What if I have a question that isn't listed here?
A: Feel free to use the comment section.