Category Archives: News

Out Today: Civic Mimic

Last year, we were stoked to release the “Bait”/”Couch Cooking” 8″ by New Jersey’s *Glazer*. We’d already thought they were among New Jersey’s best bands, and after playing their various records on the *Signal to Noise* radio show on WFDU and having them as guests, we got to know them a little and they’re among New Jersey’s *nicest* bands as well.

When Jeff Hersch shared his first *Civic Mimic* release, it blew us away to the point where we almost immediately asked if he’d be into doing something on Dromedary. _Deep Clean_ is the result of that initial discussion. Three outstanding songs that showcase the angsty, math-punk of Glazer but with a more angular edge. It’s available now in all digital and streaming formats, but we highly recommend the limited-edition lathe-cut 7″. Just be sure to pick it up quickly, because we don’t repress lathe-cuts – when they’re gone, they’re gone!

Brand new Civic Mimic video on Big Takeover!

_Big Takeover_ premieres the new track “New Paint” by *Civic Mimic*, from the _Deep Clean_ single, which is out TOMORROW on all digital formats, plus limited-edition lathe-cut 7″.

Check it out “here”:http://bigtakeover.com/news/VideoPremiereNewPaintbyCivicMimic

Next up: “Don’t Change”

This week’s *Smallpox* cover is a song that virtually everybody likes.

It’s “Don’t Change,” originally recorded by INXS.

Smallpox’ Daniel Smith explains “INXS always seemed like one of those bands that, aside from a handful of songs, weren’t really all that great. But that handful of songs? _Damn_.”

“The first thing I remember hearing was ‘The One Thing,’ which was sort of good in an ‘eh’ kind of way. It’s not like you’d change the channel if the video came on MTV but it’s not like you ere going to run out and buy the album, either.”

“Then they release ‘Don’t Change’ as a single and _holy shit_. One of those fucking perfect pop songs that when you first hear it, every time you get to the end, you have to start over. And then you finally go buy the album, and the rest of it is pretty much blah. And really, that kind of sums um INXS for me – the occasional _holy shit_ but mostly, blah.”

Stream it “here”:https://dromedaryrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-covers-album, where you can buy the download for a dollar or the entire year’s worth of covers – so far, seven – for $18, and have immediate access as we upload them.

Preorder Now – Civic Mimic

We are thrilled to announce the latest installment in our limited-edition lathe-cut picture disc series: _Deep Clean,_ by *Civic Mimic*.

Civic Mimic is the pandemic quarantine project of (new dad!) Jeff Hersch of the band Glazer, who has released *four* excellent titles under this name since the pandemic began. When we heard the first one, we practically fell over ourselves asking him if he’d want to do a Civic Mimic record for our lathe-cut series. Thankfully, he did!

On April 2, we’ll be releasing _Deep Clean,_ our latest lathe-cut and the newest Civic Mimic record. If you purchase the record from our webstore, you get the limited-edition picture disc, plus the digital files in the format of your choice!

You can preorder it now, and we’d suggest you get one quick, because there will be no re-presses – once they’re gone, they’re gone!

And Now, for Something Completely Different

If you’ve been following along, you know that since the beginning of the year, we’ve been releasing a new cover song by *Smallpox* every other week, which we are offering for a dollar each, or for $18 for the entire album, imaginatively called _The Covers Album_.

We can promise you that there will be some surprises, and this week’s cover is one of them: Olivia Newton-John’s “Hopelessly Devoted To You,” popularized on the soundtrack to the movie _Grease_.

And while the _Grease_ soundtrack can be found for fifty cents in the used bin of every record store in America, the Smallpox version of this song is only available “here”:https://dromedaryrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-covers-album.

From Daniel Smith of *Smallpox*:

_”No fuckin’ way, dude.”

That was Bob’s (Smallpox drummer Bob Diamond) response about that one. Actually, at first I think he thought it was a joke and just laughed at me. Luckily, his girlfriend at the time was a huge _Grease_ fan.

For the record, it wasn’t a joke. Nor was it meant to be ironic in a hipster kind of way. My childhood crush on Olivia Newton-John goes back to 1974 (way before the movie, in kid years). And as much as I’ve never really been a big fan of country music, I’ve always been a sucker for female vocalists: off the top of my head, Karen Carpenter, Connie Francis, Rita Coolidge, Roberta Flack, Skeeter Davis, Pat Benatar, Teri Nunn, Dale Bozzio, Aimee Mann, Sade, Sinead O’Connor, Fiona Apple, Sara McLachlan, Tori Amos, Liz Phair, Imogen Heep, Bjork, Lana Del Rey…

But growing up, I was in fucking love with Olivia Newton-John. And there goes any street credit that I once might’ve had._

Next up: “Tea in the Sahara”

We’re a couple days late with this one, but the latest cover from *Smallpox* is a haunting version of “Tea in the Sahara,” originally recorded by The Police. Thus far, the covers they’ve chosen have been all over the map, but a Police cover seemed, well, the least likely. Except that they’re Daniel Smith’s favorite band.

“Yeah, The Police are my favorite band ever,” explained Smith, “but I sort of hate Sting. And the thing is, I know for a fact that I’m not alone on this, so unless there’s another great band out there that everybody loves but hates the singer, including (and maybe especially) the band itself, I’m pretty sure that makes them the greatest band of all time.”

“There’s all the infamous stories about what a passive-aggressive asshole the guy was,” continues Smith, “like about how Andy and Stewart were only allowed to contribute two songs per album. Or how he refused to play on Andy’s song “Behind My Camel” and even went so far as to (literally) bury the tapes just to keep the song off the album. The song, by the way, went on to win a Grammy for best rock instrumental.”

“So yeah,” Daniel explains, “I LOVE The Police. But Sting can go get ebola.”

Enjoy the cover “here.”:https://dromedaryrecords.bandcamp.com/track/tea-in-the-sahara