A night out in New Paltz showcases rising DIY label

It's a noisy Saturday night in New Paltz. Up a narrow flight of stairs, kids crowd into an emptied living room, a sea of alterna-haircuts, muscle shirts, Pabst Blue Ribbons and DSLR cameras with fogged lenses spilling over into the kitchen and stairwell. Dean Engle and Steven Barry, together comprising Pizzza Time, crouch over their instruments; the somehow triumphant electro-fuzz they produce combines with the room's sweaty haze and the eerie blue light cast by a television in the corner to create a moment that feels special, in a home-grown and messy sort of way.

Pizzza Time is but one of a number of Hudson River Valley-based bands involved with Responsible Records (RR), a cassette label run by Engle and Nolan Conaway, both State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz students with strong ties to the local music scene. A handful of their RR labelmates have joined them tonight for day one of Responsible Fest, a low-key but lively gathering of musicians involved with the burgeoning label.

By Engle's approximation, the beginnings of RR can be chalked up to necessity, self-motivation and snacks. "Nolan and I were eating pizza over the summer (a frequent activity) and we started discussing New Paltz music," he wrote in an e-mailed statement. "So many of the local bands were making really worthwhile music, but no one ever recorded their songs.  We began lamenting the lack of a central group or label to catalog all of this impressive output. Then we realized that we should quit whining about it and start a label."

As is evident from Responsible Fest's packed line-up and enthusiastic showgoers, getting interest from bands was not difficult. Engle alone is involved with Minor Constellations, QUARTERBACKS, Ken Griffey Junior and the aforementioned Pizzza Time; other acts include Tom Christie, cooltombs, Honor Roll Breakfast and Neato Fleets, the project of Vassar's Frances Chang '11. Wrote Engle, "The only unifying characteristic of the bands on Responsible Records is that they are all based in the Hudson Valley. Actually, there's a second similarity, too.  No one on the label is famous at all."

Though there does seem to be some stylistic continuity between many RR acts, with a heavy emphasis on a college radio-friendly lo-fi aesthetic, there are no rules regarding the genres of bands involved. While Tom Christie plays charming acoustic indie-folk, Ken Griffey Junior, which features both Engle and Christie and describes itself as "Star-Wars themed hardcore," played a set at Responsible Fest that was if anything reminiscent of basement hardcore shows I attended in middle school put on by bands with names like Arc of Vomit. When I failed to vacate the mosh pit in a timely fashion, I took a punch to the stomach from one of the many sweaty men in muscle shirts. However, Engle did add one stipulation: "Our only bias is against jam bands," he stated. "There are a lot of boring New Paltz jam bands, but we ignore them."

The choice to distribute releases via cassette may seem counterintuitive, given the impending obsolescence of music as a physical medium; you can't even rip the damn thing to your iTunes library. But given that Responsible Records isn't designed to accommodate wide releases or make that much money, this is part of the medium's charm. Explained Engle, "We put the releases on tape because blank cassettes are fairly cheap to purchase and the format is uniquely physical. We could burn the releases to CD-R, but then the purchaser would just pop the CD into his/her computer and rip the files."

But, he continued, "We're actually mostly a digital label. Our releases are available for free download from our website to ensure the best possible sound quality, but if people want a physical copy of an album they really like, they can purchase a tape." Engle shies away from the notion that releasing on cassette lends a more authentic aesthetic; however, those possessing an affinity for all things analog or whose outdated car stereos only play tapes will be no doubt be pleased with the hand-drawn and surprisingly professional packaging the cassettes come in.

And no small amount of work goes into making those tapes. Whereas producing a CD-R can be as simple as burning something on iTunes while you update your Facebook, "We use the college's one color printer to print the tape inserts and we use a single tape deck to make the cassettes one by one," stated Engle. "Making tapes for five hours is not a whole lot of fun." DIY (that is, do it yourself), particularly as music geeks look back with a collective sigh of nostalgia on homegrown scenes like those formed around Olympia, Washington's K Records and Washington, D.C.'S Dischord Records in the early 1980s, is not all lo-fi fun and games.

"DIY is a falsely romantic concept," wrote Engle. "If these artists were not our friends and we did not really love their music, we'd do something else (like sleep! or exercise!). We do it because we want to and we do it ourselves because it's the only option."

If the eager throngs of New Paltz music fans present at Responsible Fest can serve as any indication, Responsible Records is doing something right. And though currently the majority of the label's attention is being focused on New Paltz groups already included in its lineup—as a goal, noted Engle, "I want to make SUNY New Paltz a really cool place to go to college to get back at Vassar for waitlisting me"—the community is by no means closed off at the city limits.

"Even though we're based in New Paltz, we care more about the quality of the music than if someone is from [New Paltz] or not," said Engle. "I grew up in Poughkeepsie and when I was in high school I went to a lot of NoVice shows, which is how I first heard Neato Fleets. Two years later, Frances is about to release a tape on RR."

He invites interested Vassar students to participate either as musicians or as listeners. Though he and Conaway have their hands full with upcoming releases, "If a band has 25 minutes of solid material and wants to release a cassette," he stated, "Nolan and I are always interested in taking a listen. The label is still really new, but I'm sure our geographic scope will widen as our catalog increases."

If Vassar bands are interested in playing a show in New Paltz, or if a student is organizing an event and wants bands from New Paltz to play, Responsible Records can be reached at responsiblerecords@gmail.com. For those looking for a low-commitment introduction to the New Paltz scene, several RR acts, including Tom Christie, Pizzza Time and dalliances, will be performing at this Sunday's Lakefest alongside Vassar performers. Additionally, showdates and a plethora of free downloads and some rather nifty posters can be found at the label's website, www.responsiblerecords.com.