Street date: 2008-10-20

At his Rare Book Room Studio in Brooklyn, Nicolas Vernhes worked closely with Schaefer and Korinth to hone their sound. Vernhes has made records with Black Dice, Animal Collective, Cat Power and the Fiery Furnaces to name a few. More than mere points on the map, however, we find each of these places out of the Palms biography present in the music as well, whether in the echoes of German kosmische musik, like Faust and Klaus Schulze, or the Midwestern plains evoked in the spare and expansive sounds of Der Koenig or New Moon. New York and Britain creep through as well in traces of the Velvet Underground and the Jesus and Mary Chain as much as in the enervated dance music of Boundary Waters. There are other geographic coordinates: The plaintive, expansive Monte Alban, named for the ruins of a Zapotec temple in Oaxaca, and of course Honolulu of the title, which derives from the role call of international time zones on the BBC News where Korinth has worked for several years. While It's Midnight in Honolulu is a dark album, one finds as well an almost utopian thread - for instance in the prevalence of nature, and even a call for a "new nature" on Boundary Waters.

Street date: 2008-09-22

Necima is Lia Ices' debut full length album, produced by Nicolas Vernhes at the Rare Book Room in Brooklyn, NY. This album was born on the piano and with the voice, drawing up feelings we get when we listen to the inspired songwriting of our old favourites; those artists who created a new sound for themselves that begged others to follow. Both Lia and Nicolas were eager to experiment with the arrangement and instrumentation of the songs and called in a number of talented friends including David Muller (Fiery Furnaces, Dopo Yume), Andy Macleod (White Magic, Bright Black) and Robbie Lee (I and Ear records, Love as Laughter). What came to follow is an eight song stream of tulip/double helix lyrics braided together by a rainbow of sounds; among them, gemshorn, a large Colombian hand drum, White album-era electric guitar, organs, bass clarinet, and at its backbone of course, Lia's voice and piano.

Street date: 2008-08-25

Living Bridge is a 25 song, 2CD collection of new and unreleased songs by bands who have previously recorded at the Rare Book Room Studio in Brooklyn, New York. It was produced by Nicolas Vernhes (owner and operator since 1995) and marks Rare Book Room Records' first release. These are not out-takes; all the songs but one were recorded for the exclusive purpose of this collection. To help make all these different styles of music flow as an album, the bands were also encouraged to create long intros and outros (when appropriate) so the songs could cross-fade into one another, creating an organic way to proceed through the collection. In its essence, Living Bridge is a mix tape made with loving dedication with and for the musicians who have helped shape the Rare Book Room.