We’re thrilled to welcome the legendary Antietam to the Dromedary family, and to announce the forthcoming release of The Counting Game, out September 4.

Antietam has long been a band we’ve admired, one of the bands that helped shape the community that welcomed us when we started Dromedary in the 1990s. A band associated with the great Homestead and Carrot Top labels, fronted by Tara Key, one of the great postpunk guitarists.

I guess we first met some time in the early 2000s, maybe at a Speed the Plough show, almost certainly at Maxwell’s. Over the years we would bump into Tara at Yo La Tengo Hanukkah shows and chat for a while; she was always friendly and warm, and at some point around 2015 or so we booked a show at the Mercury Lounge with Antietam, Philadelphia’s Honey Radar, and NYC’s Big Bliss.

Just before the venue opened, a fire broke out underground outside the venue, filling the place with smoke and chasing everyone outside. They wound up canceling the show that night due to the fire, and we had to try again a few months later. At that point, the joke – Tara Key is such a smoking guitarist that the Mercury Lounge caught fire – became one I’ve repeated so many times I’m sure everyone I know is sick of it.

Antietam played the first Dromfest in 2023, and their set was so explosive that it was hard to believe such sounds were coming out of these three pleasant people – after their set they sat outside for a photo session with Sleepyhead to accompany a joint interview that would appear in a subsequent issue of Maggot Brain.

The following year, at Dromfest, we began talking about making a record together. The band had recently released their brilliant EP Pitch & Yaw, and the idea of doing a full-length album together was almost too much to comprehend. And yet here we are, adding this amazing artist to the Dromedary roster. The Counting Game will be available on vinyl, CD, and the high-res digital format of your choice from all the soulless, sterile digital platforms. If you preorder it now, you’ll get an immediate download of the album’s single, “Way Too Well.”