Over the course of 10 months, Dan Hutchinson of Sump Pump Records invited 13 local bands from Des Moines, Iowa, to contribute to a new record. ‘The Des Moines 4 Track Compilation, Volume One,’ features those bands recording on -- you guessed it -- a 4-track “studio.” First shipments went out Saturday, and the record is available as a special edition vinyl LP, limited to 500 copies.

“I wanted to release a compilation that was representative of the music of Des Moines,” Hutchison says on Sump Pump’s BandCamp page. “All the bands were asked to contribute one unreleased song, four minutes or less. The decision to use the 4-track to record them was to level the playing field for everyone: creating a consistency by allowing access to the same engineer and equipment, the same options and the same limitations.”

The bands that participated in ‘The Des Moines 4 Track Compilation’ vary in “age, genre [and] personal connections.” As Hutchison puts it, “I wanted to capture a black and white snapshot of what these bands sound like when you’re standing right in front of them.”

Hutchison handled the recording of all the tracks, and every song was captured on the same machine, a Tascam 414 MKII 4-track cassette Portastudio.

4 Track Portastudio
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The LP was mastered by Maria Rice at Boston’s Peerless Mastering, with Dave Eck of Lucky Lacquers in Wisconsin handling the lacquers -- eventually being pressed at Rainbo Records in Canoga Park, California.

Check out the track list below (as well as stream the entire album), and if you want to get a feel for the music coming out of Des Moines, head over to Sump Pump’s BandCamp to pick up the LP.

‘The Des Moines 4 Track Compilation, Volume One’ Track List
1. ‘Black Friday’ -- The Seed of Something
2. ‘Black Capes On Blondes’ -- Mantis Pincers
3. ‘No Sympathy’ -- John the Bastard
4. ‘Bo(a)rders’ -- The French Dials
5. ‘Canna What?’ -- Dresden Style
6. ‘Last Call’ -- Wolves In the Attic
7. ‘Spirit Compass’ -- Druids
8. ‘Replacement’ -- Love Songs for Lonely Monsters
9. ‘God Job, Little Man’ -- Fetal Pig
10. ‘Genghis Kong’ -- Skin of Earth
11. ‘Testimonial’ -- Eric Kennedy
12. ‘Black Cat, White Cat’ -- Annalibera
13. ‘Adopt a Highway’ -- Gloom Balloon

'The Des Moines 4 Track Compilation, Volume One' Trailer

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