Exit Stencil Recordings

Exit Stencil Recordings is an American independent record label based in Brooklyn. The label was founded by Brandon Stevens in 2002 in Cleveland, Ohio. Ryan Weitzel joined in 2004 with Paul Murphy following shortly afterward to form the core of the label. The label is named after a play on the word existential. During the time in Cleveland, Ryan and Brandon helped operated a short lived multipurpose warehouse space called Parish Hall and the Miller Weitzel Gallery which both served as the labels home base. The spaces were centered on creative endeavors with a DIY ethic.
Although Exit Stencil Recordings moved their offices to Brooklyn in 2010, the label continues to be the flagship label of Cleveland indie music. The label operated a digital and analog recording studio in the Waterloo Arts District of Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood from 2008 - 2010. The eclectic sounds of Exit Stencil Recordings disparate member bands is simply explained by the owners' personal tastes, but the bands are each recognized for doing something creative in their respective genres.
The label is distributed nationally and internationally by The Orchard, who handles both physical and digital distribution for the label.
Many bands on the label have garnered critical acclaim from large media outlets. The first Exit Stencil Artist to be reviewed on Pitchfork Media was Blake Miller, when his 2006 debut album "Together with Cats" garnered a 7.4 rating from the site.
For example, Robin Hilton from NPR's All Songs Considered, chose the song "Silence" off their debut album "Search," as a "Song of the Year" in 2011. In 2012, Herzog was highlighted in CMJ Magazine for a "scene report" about their hometown of Cleveland. More recently, in 2014 Herzog received a 7.2 rating from Pitchfork Media for their album Boys.
The 2013 re-issue of the 15-60-75 (The Numbers Band) debut album, Jimmy Bell's Still in Town had linear notes written by the longtime editor of Rolling Stone Magazine, David Fricke. The reissue also received a 5 star rating from the London Guardian newspaper, an 8/10 rating from PopMatters, and a 4/5 star rating from Blurt Magazine.
In 2013, the New Lou Reeds were featured in the esteemed music critic Julian Cope's book of music writings, "The Copendium," and were included on the 2xCD that accompanied the books publication
In 2015, CMJ premiered a video for the Exit Stencil Recordings artist, Great Father, song "Nobody Likes A Long Goodbye," calling the song "...a lovely, lyrically pointed reflection on leaving, featuring strikingly plaintive acoustic lilting and subtly double-tracked vocals"
Bands
* The Numbers Band
* Robert Kidney
* Extra Medium Pony
* Chomp
* Company
* Herzog
* HotChaCha
* Mystery of Two
* Great Father
* New Lou Reeds
* Dreadful Yawns
* Home and Garden
* Filmstrip
Past Bands
*roué
*This Moment in Black History
*Spanish Prisoners
*Coffinberry
* Blake Miller
* Like Bells
Discography
*ESR 042 Great Father - Bicentennial Blue (2015) LP
*ESR 041 Filmstrip - Moments of Matter (2014) LP
*ESR 040 The New Lou Reeds - Screwed (2014) LP Reissue
*ESR 039 Herzog - Boys (2014) CD / LP
*ESR 038 Company - Bird Skulls (2013) (File, FLAC, MP3, EP)
*ESR 037 Extra Medium Pony - 11868 (2013) (File, FLAC, MP3, Album)
*ESR 036 The Numbers Band - Jimmy Bell's Still In Town (reissue) (2013) LP
*ESR 035 Chomp - Buddha Jabba Momma (2012) LP
*ESR 034 Company - Dear America, (2012) LP
*ESR 033 Herzog - LP
*ESR 032 HotChaCha/Summer People - Do It (2011) LP
*ESR 031 Company - Holy City (2011) LP
*ESR 030 Herzog - Search (2011) LP
*ESR 029 Dreadful Yawns - Picnic (2010) LP
*ESR 028 HotChaCha - Fantastic Static (2010) EP
*ESR 027 The New Lou Reeds - Hit Songs (2010) LP
*ESR 026 Mystery of Two - Color Me (2010) Cassette
*ESR 025 Like Bells - Palma (2010) LP
*ESR 024 HotChaCha - The Hardest Working Telescope and the Violent Birth of Stars (2009) LP/CD
*ESR 023 Mystery of Two - the album (2009) LP
*ESR 022 Blake Miller - Burn Tape (2009) CD/Cassette
*ESR 021 Like Bells - Like Bells (2009) LP/CD
*ESR 020 Mystery of Two - Gravity (2008) Digital Single
*ESR 019 Dreadful Yawns - Take Shape (2008) LP/CD
*ESR 018 HotChaCha - Rifle, I knew you when you were just a pistol (2008) EP
*ESR 017 roué - Totally F***ing Totally (2007) EP
*ESR 016 Spanish Prisoners - Songs To Forget (2008) LP/CD
*ESR 015 ESR Oil And Water Sampler (2007) CD
*ESR 014 Blake Miller/Julie Sokolow - Tomorrow Sorrow/Pathetic Fish (2007) Single
*ESR 013 Mystery of Two - Arrows Are All You Know (2007) CD
*ESR 012 The Dreadful Yawns - Rest (2007) CD
*ESR 011 This Moment In Black History - About Last Night (2006) 7" Single
*ESR 010 Blake Miller - Together with Cats (2007) CD
*ESR 009 The New Lou Reeds - Top Billin' (2006) CD
*ESR 008 The New Lou Reeds - Looking for a Boogaloo (2006) 7" Single w/ Shandi Records
*ESR 007 Home and Garden - History and Geography w/ bonus I Spent My Vacation (1982, remastered and reissued 2005) EP
*ESR 006 roué - upward heroic motive (2005) CD
*ESR 005 Mystery of Two - self-titled (2004) EP
*ESR 004 The New Lou Reeds - Screwed (2003) CD
*ESR ??? This Moment in Black History - The Cleveland Finger EP (2003) CD
*ESR 002 Coffinberry - The Spins (2002) EP
*ESR 001 CD Brandon Stevens - The Person With The Telescope Is Me (2002) EP
Compilations
*ESR Oil And Water Sampler (2007)

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