Joseph Kyle of _Big Takeover_ magazine has remarked several times about the dramatic musical departure of The Mommyheads on _Vulnerable Boy_. The Mommyheads have always been one of indie rock’s more progressive bands, if “progressive” means “consistently evolving;” their style began as an experimental pop sound, slowly evolved into more straightforward, Beatlesque pop, eventually detouring into jam-band boogie. Since their 2008 reunion, however, they’ve been exploring similar avant garde territory to Deerhoof and Radiohead, while simultaneously looking backward, to the prog-rock sounds of early Genesis and King Crimson.

So now you could say the Mommyheads are _truly_ “progressive.” _Vulnerable Boy_ has helped the band find a new home with fans of modern prog, the record’s new sound keenly observed and respected when Kyle reviewed _Vulnerable Boy_ earlier this year.

JK spent some time interviewing The Mommyheads’ Adam Elk about _Vulnerable Boy,_ his songwriting, and the band in general. “Check it out here.”:http://www.bigtakeover.com/interviews/the-vulnerable-boys-of-the-mommyheads

2013 is Dromedary Records’ *20th birthday*.

All throughout this year, we’ll be doing the self-congratulatory “It’s our birthday” thing, with special shows, ultra-cool releases, and a new, reinvigorated Dromedary. We’re changing the way we’re doing things, pretty much from the ground up. We’re getting smaller (to the extent that’s possible), more localized, more DIY while still retaining our global reach through our online and distribution partners.

All this starts with a *brand new website* – which you can see here. The site has a cleaner look, and is a responsive site – meaning it’s designed to work with mobile and tablet devices, as well as whatever size monitor on which you’re viewing.

There’s a new music player (with much less music), which is not driven by Flash so you’ll be able to use it on your iPhone. We’ll keep the player limited to just a handful of choice cuts, and we’ll update it regularly – so keep visiting to hear what we’re playing, because a lot of times you’ll hear stuff that’s not available. Demos, acoustic tracks, live recordings, all kinds of stuff.

We’ve also dispensed with the Dromedary Blog as a way to disseminate news. No longer will you have to go to two different places to discover what we’re up to. *This* page is now where you’ll find every single update we have to make – whether it’s an ‘official’ piece of label news or just a snarky observation. Because of that, we’ve added a comments function here, so that you can engage in a dialogue with us about whatever we’re posting. Since we also want to communicate with you in as many ways as possible, we’ve also made it easier for you to sign up for our email list. *We promise we’re not spammers*. Our email list typically contains free music, info on new releases, info on upcoming shows, and other interesting stuff that you’ll enjoy reading.

Most noticeable, however, is the brand new e-commerce store. We’ve abandoned our old platform in favor of the one offered by Bandcamp. Bandcamp is becoming a standard in online music distribution, and it allows us quite a bit of versatility that our old online store did not. Three key pieces of this for you to know: First, we have *dramatically* reduced the prices of all our releases – standard releases are now just $5.00 for the digital download, and $7.00 for a CD, with EPs and singles even less. *Every* CD purchase now comes with a free and immediate digital download of the title you’re buying – so if you buy the Mommyheads’ new CD _Vulnerable Boy_, we’ll ship it to you ASAP, but you’ll get the ability to download it *immediately* as part of your purchase.

Second, due to the Bandcamp platform, you’ll now be able to get our releases in just about every digital format you can imagine: high-quality MP3, FLAC, AAC, ALAC, or Ogg Vorbis.

Third, we’ve gotten rid of the Zazzle merch store. Zazzle is cool, and gave us the ability to offer you all sorts of super-cool Dromedary merch, from coffee mugs to skateboards. But the truth of the matter is that the Zazzle stuff was kinda sterile. In the coming year, we’ll be introducing some hand-made Dromedary merchandise that you’ll hopefully enjoy more than a digitally-printed skateboard deck. And hopefully we’ll be offering merch from some of our bands, too, so this will become your one-stop shop for all things Dromedary.

Lastly, we’ve introduced a “Shows” section of the site. We want you to come see our bands live. But if you haven’t “liked” us on Facebook yet, you really haven’t had a reliable way to keep up to date on which of our bands (and bands in our extended family) are playing, and where. So we’ve now got a Shows page that we’ll keep updated as best as we can.

Hopefully you’ll like all the enhancements we’ve developed here.

And of course, we would be *nowhere* if it wasn’t for our pal Jim Santo of Allegra Media, who designed the whole thing according to our exacting (and very fickle) specifications. Jim, a longtime friend who’s been designing web applications for as long as there’s been a web, is a great guy to work with. Check out his “company site”:http://www.allegramedia.com for more info.

We are thrilled to announce the upcoming release of _Vulnerable Boy_, the brand-new record by *The Mommyheads*!

Out this July, _Vulnerable Boy_ reflects the changing direction of the band, with a much more adventurous, prog-oriented approach enveloping their pop songwriting aptitude. The result is a collection of masterful pop songs and excellent musicianship, recalling the best of “prog-pop” artists like Todd Rundgren/Utopia, Queen, XTC and more recently, Field Music.

Fans of The Mommyheads’ early music will welcome the varied instrumentation and quirkiness of the songs, while fans of their more recent work will appreciate their trademark pop craftsmanship.

We’ll have more information for you as we get closer to the street date, but for now, check out the video for the album’s first single (which will be available soon for free download), “Skinny White Uptight.”

It is with great pride and pleasure that we announce the newest member of the Dromedary family, musician/poet/author *David Rat*.

Our awesome respect for indie rock history is no secret; almost all the bands on the label have had some historical impact on our musical development. David Rat, through his work with NYC No Wave pioneers Rat At Rat R, helped shape not only _our_ development, but that of some of the most important artists ever to strap on a guitar and release an indie album.

We’ve been following David’s resurgence as an artist and a creative voice for several years. His poetry and excerpts from his memoir _Happy Ending_ are inspiring tales of New York City’s underbelly from Rat’s formative years, his struggles with inner demons and how he has drawn strength from the birth of his son.

David Rat is a teacher, a poet, and a musician. His latest musical work is a powerful blend of noise rock, politics and peace. We’re thrilled to be able to present to you a *FREE* digital single this fall, featuring “Dancing With the Starving” b/w “Me,” followed by a full-length LP in mid-2013.

That’s right, it’s August again, and that means it’s time for the best show you’ll see all year – *Camelfest 2012*.

This year we’ve crammed six of New Jersey’s very finest rock and roll acts into one day. *Saturday, August 25*, join us at the legendary Maxwell’s of Hoboken, and hear:

• Stuyvesant
• The 65’s
• Gold Streets
• Cinema Cinema
• The Brixton Riot
• Bern & the Brights

Admission is $10, and all proceeds will go to benefit “Roots & Wings of New Jersey”:http://www.rootsandwingsnj.org/ – a dynamite local organization staffed by the greatest people around. Roots & Wings helps young adults who have aged out of the foster care system in New Jersey, by providing them with job and life skills training, safe housing, and medical care.

Follow all the developments on this year’s Camelfest on the “Camelfest website”:http://www.camelfest.com

(with thanks to Greg Ginn and SST Records for the bumper sticker, circa 1990)

The brainchild of a friend of the NJ/NY indie music scene, *Indiependence Day* seeks to recognize independent artists and labels by asking music fans to *BUY INDEPENDENT* on July 4, 2012.

According to organizer Mike Daly, “When you buy music by an independent label or artist, you’re supporting a small business. In many cases, you can have a direct and meaningful impact on someone’s livelihood by buying their music and recommending it to others. Please support indie labels and musicians on the day our nation celebrates its independence. Because freedom isn’t free, and music shouldn’t be, either.”

We couldn’t agree more.

On July 4, for *one day only,* we’re going to offer you *50% off* any title that you buy from our online store. That goes for CDs or downloads. And, as always, we’ll be sure to include some goodies with each order.

When checking out, to redeem your discount, enter the coupon code *INDIE2012*.

The 50% discount is good for whatever music you buy – no matter how much, or how little, you get it half price*. The discount code is only good on our website, and it expires at midnight on July 5 – so be sure to place your order *ON JULY 4.*

For links to more great labels, visit www.buyindiemusic.org

* – discount does not apply to merch – music only!