Our Official Website - Now Live!

We've spent some days in research & development, with our lab coats and safety goggles on. And finally, we are pleased to roll out this specimen known as the label's official website! It should serve as a one-stop shop for most things related to the label and will be sure to continue improving over time. Oh, it's easy to remember the address too. We encourage you to check it out and poke around.

www.ilovetohaterecords.com

Secret Photos' new single, "Red Lights," is available for free download on our Bandcamp page, along with an extra B-side track. "Red Lights" will be a track on the full length record, Layers, which will be released by i love to hate records later this summer.

Who are Secret Photos? Led by the honest tenor of Shaun Weeden (formerly of seminal New Jersey hardcore band, Purpose), Secret Photos perform electronic beats mixed with live drums/percussion, driving guitars, warm bass grooves, and electronic keyboards to produce live sets that are refreshing and unpredictable. Secret Photos cast also includes Mark Weinberg (Risk Relay, Trinitron) and Ernest Intorella (Rosario Focus).

mOck LP available, listening party

The mOck LP is now available for purchase in both physical and digital formats from our Bandcamp!

So far, the LP has been receiving some glowing reviews and coverage:
"mOck is an album of uncompromising creativity and rigorous artistic integrity, but it’s also a very listenable and appealing slab of contemporary rock music." - Oliver Aditi
"mOck is one of those good, old-fashioned awesomely impressive debut works. It balances math and post-rock superbly and has that sheen, fresh, new car smell. For a year that has been pretty barren as far as noteworthy music is involved, these guys have proved otherwise, which is why they have earned a nomination for album of the year." - 402 Productions
"This is a most accomplished debut album and very much worth checking out." - Collective Zine
Also, check out this interview with Conrad, mOck's drummer, recently featured in CMJ.

To celebrate the release of the record, we are hosting a vinyl celebration / LP listening party featuring DJ Gregorious and Borne, DJs hailing from northern New Jersey who will be spinning tracks from their personal record collections, as well as select cuts from the mOck LP.
The celebration will be taking place on Thursday, May 17 @ The Lamp Post in Jersey City. The event is free and will be starting at 10 PM. The Lamp Post is located at 382 2nd St., near the Grove Street PATH station.

I'd also like to take a moment to announce that the next release from i love to hate records, which will be coming up some time this summer, is a full-length CD titled "Layers" from the band, Secret Photos. Secret Photos features ex-members of New Jersey hardcore and indie bands such as Purpose, Risk Relay, and Rosario Focus. Check out a music video for a track called "Priveleged," featured on one of their previous releases.

That's all for now - enjoy your may flowers if they're not hesitating to bloom.

mOck LP - now taking pre-orders!

Along with Coraille (who will be taking orders in Europe), we are happy to be releasing the self-titled, debut LP from Berlin's mOck. If you’re unfamiliar with mOck, they play an innovative, clever, and pleasant brand of post-hardcore, math rock, indie rock, whatever you prefer to call it. They’ve toured with bands such as Future Islands, Joan of Arc, and Algernon Cadwallader, and released a few singles on 7" records and compilations to date.

The record has been pressed on 500 slabs of black vinyl and is dressed in glossy full color jackets boasting beautiful photographic cover art, all of which have arrived from the plant and are ready to get in mailers to be sent your way. Some professional cooks have been in the kitchen on this one, including John McEntire, who is known for his studio work on records for artists such as Broken Social Scene, Bright Eyes, and The Fiery Furnaces, and for his musicianship in bands such as Tortoise and The Sea and Cake.

You can now stream the record in its entirety and/or pre-order the LP from our Bandcamp. All pre-orders include a free digital download of the LP and a free copy of mOck’s 2010 split 7” with Rapid Cities, also released on this label. Pre-orders will ship before the official release date: Tuesday, April 17. Recommended for fans of bands like Q And Not U, Braid, or Pinback.

Starting this weekend, mOck will be touring Europe with Victor Villareal (Cap’n Jazz, Owls, Joan of Arc). They also have released a split 7” together, now available to order from Joyful Noise Recordings or directly from mOck.

For those who are a bit more local on the stateside, and want to pick up a copy in person, I will be throwing a listening party with DJs at the Lamp Post in Jersey City on May 17 [tentative date]. Will post details on that soon.