You suckers just got double April Fool'd! That's right, the fool was a fake fool, and it actually is iamerror! It drops today! New art, new tracks, fully sanctioned and made in conjunction with the man himself! Enjoy IAE for the first time on vinyl!
I know I say “literally” a lot when it comes to some of these band announcements, but often it catches me off guard that the stars have aligned in such a way that some of these records can exist. This band is no exception. When you have a conversation about people/bands that pushed boundaries and defined and invented genres, you can’t do that without mentioning Peet. It is with the upmost reverence that I humbly announce that WV035S is QUITE LITERALLY Trout Yogurt!
I don’t expect a lot of you teenagers to share my affinity for IAE. I think they’re kind of lightning in a bottle, and the context of the internet and the kind of music being developed alongside them really is important context. There aren’t too many bands that just say “fuck it” and pioneer a genre. And while I know a bunch of internet historians are going to jump down my throat for saying IAE invented Nintendocore, I think that is not the point. IAE is the household name. The polish. The Oreo to the Hydrox.
Sometimes a visionary just does something and it “clicks” – and I think the fact that here we are in 2021, still having heated conversations about the man and IAE shows what a force peak MySpace music aka IAE is.
IAE is the culture. It’s MySpace incarnate. The Frankenstein bastard of emulators and chiptune and nostalgia and grind. It’s a nostalgia inception – I will never stop waxing poetic about a cybergrind band using 8-bit music and screaming over top of it. At its core it shouldn’t work. It should have been a throwaway project that remained a blip on the history of post-internet music. But it captivated us. And I think looking back, we can all appreciate what was trying to be done and see this as the true peak of scene kid aesthetic.
If you ask Peet, he’ll tell you that I’ve been messaging him about doing IAE and Monomate since WV started. I have such a respect for him as an artist – but I always figured that IAE was a case of “something he’d rather move on from.” Having such a big part of your identity as a musician tied to something like IAE can be a double edged sword I imagine. Especially when this material and artwork is constantly being bootlegged and ripped. I think the best way to preserve the legacy of IAE and to give it the real sanctioned release it has always deserved, the WV platform serves its purpose. It’s truly a “here, shut the fuck up” type of arrangement, and I can’t thank Peet enough for the opportunity.
I think from a MySpace histroy perspective, you can't talk modern cybergrind or any kind of 8-bit adjacent genre without talking about Peet, IAE and Monomate. Hopefully this is the first piece of this puzzle - IAE on vinyl is a watershed moment and I hope you're as excited for it as i am. I think it'll be a fantastic first step for more of this genre to follow(?)
Now on to the pressing itself. This one time press has a high bar to live up to, and with the gravity of being the official press for IAE, Peet and I worked to make it as fun and encompassing as possible. It’s truly been a fun collaboration, and I’m really stoked for you to see the final product on these.
Art was handled by Alex Eckman-Lawn who dialed up the textural properties of the original, loaded it with asides and winks and nods, and brought it in to the Facebook era. It immediately evokes IAE, while being new enough to garner some discussion. I’m super pleased by his take on the source material. Not to be outdone, Kai at Lab 13 lent his skills as well for the formatting, layout and inserts. All the IAE content you want is packed inside – you’ll flip when you see it!
Audio was handled by Zach at Third Eye Studios again. What he’s done with these tracks is nothing short of a miracle. You’ve heard the YouTube rips – get ready for the real thing!
These 333 copies will be presented over six variants:
50 Splat Kracko (Wax Vessel Signature)
50 Metapod Probably Kicked Your Ass (Wax Vessel Signature)
50 The Reason We Pressed This Is to Show How
Dedicated We Are to Nostalgia (Wax Vessel Signature)
50 Iceclops
100 Trout Yogurt
For this special occasion, WV will be offering a Founder’s edition, band picked variant limited to 33 copies (because then it’s a run of 333 which is half of 666 do you get it).
33 PeteySucksNutz (Bootlegger Signature) on good ‘ol fashioned WV natural PVC (if you’re a Nintendocore audiophile of some sort???)
1.5x thickness Matte single pocket jackets
Double sided matte full color insert
Black polylined innersleeves
Gold foil numbering
Stuffed into polybags
I'm so incredibly honored to be given the opportuinity to work with Peet on IAE. And Peet being the stand up guy he is, proposed that 100% of the profit be donated to RAINN - which is exactly what we'll be doing then! An official release, some good looking records, and we get to support a great cause!
Preorders will be up Friday, April 2nd at 1:00pm CST.
