Rudy De Anda - Closet Botanist - VINYL LP

2nd Grade is a power-pop band based in Philadelphia. Fronted by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Peter Gill (of Friendship, Free Cake For Every Creature, and Flurry), the songs recall the jangly power pop ballads of Big Star, and the lo-fi short and sweet gems of Guided By Voices. From memories of love and loss in the form of recalled favorite songs on forwardly titled InchFavorite SongInch, to the pains and regrets associated with growing up on InchBad IdeaInch, 2nd Grade's music embodies a playful and romantic nostalgia in a poignant and relatable way.1. W-22. Trigger Finger3. Velodrome4. Something I'll Have to Remember5. Baby's First Word6. 100 Hrs7. Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider8. Shooting from the Hip9. Over and Over10. Bye-bye Texas11. You're So Cool12. My Bike13. Sunkist14. Not in the Band15. Sucking the Thumb16. Boys in Heat17. Jazz Chorus18. Try to Be on My Side Now19. When You Were My Sharona20. Maybe I21. Summer Interlude22. Flavor of the Week23. Summer of Your Dreams24. Steven's

In 2020, Rudy de Anda moved his homebase out of California for the first time. He was headed East. Somewhere in the back of the U-Haul, among the boxes and baggage, was a mostly finished record. Upon arriving in Chicago, Rudy quickly found the final pieces of his new LP, Closet Botanist. It's due out April 28, 2023, on Colemine/Karma Chief Records. The album was recorded in Austin, Texas at the Electric Deluxe recording studio. The space is owned and operated by Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas), who helped produce and engineer Rudy's new LP. InchIn the past, I've done most of my recording in California, Inch Rudy explained. InchThe new location changed the vibe. The band and I were 100% focused on the process.InchRudy's previous releases have grown synonymous with California sunshine. He was born in Los Angeles and spent most of his formative years in Long Beach. InchPeople often tell me my music reminds them of the beach and the sun, Inch Rudy said of his older songs. Closet Botanist isn't a total departure from Rudy's beachy, psych-rock roots, but it does sound more mature. InchThese songs are personal to me. More than ever before, I was able to get to the point and get some things off my chest. It's about lost love and lost friendships - it's more visceral than any music I've made before.InchMost of the songs were written back in California with the help of Rudy's previous bandmates. InchTu MiradaInch was one of the first songs he wrote in Chicago. Then, a local friend helped him find InchHey Mr. Sun.Inch Rudy connected with Blake Rhein (Durand Jones and the Indications) during the final weeks of writing. InchHe showed me a song and asked if I wanted to record it. I hadn't done that before, but I loved the song. It felt like I had found the missing piece.Inch To get the sound just right, Rudy called his California bandmates to the studio. Jon Rivera played bass, Daniel

On their twelfth full-length InchPaleobotanyInch, Botanist take us back more than 70 million years to a time when dinosaurs ruled the planet and early forests began to turn to coal. InchPaleobotanyInch comes with all the trademark characteristics that set Botanist apart from all other metal acts on this planet. Lyrically, the band from San Francisco, CA revolves around species of plants - in a clean break from the usual genre stereotypes like Satan, dragons, and booze. Their music clearly has it's foundation anchored in 'metal', but instead of 6-string guitars the Americans use 110-string hammered dulcimers. To the confused horror of traditionalists, Botanist fit these percussion-stringed folk instruments with magnetic pickups and distort them through various perverse means that range from amplifiers via analogue tape to digital manipulation. The resulting sound is as unique as spectacular.