Ojet Records Comes Back to Life, With Lance Walker’s Bull Thieves

Got some good news today from a somewhat unexpected area…

Way back when I first moved here and started being awed & amazed by the cool, cool music being made ’round H-town, a guy named Mark Caperton was starting a brand-new record label, 76.2% Records. He put out some truly incredible stuff by now-long-dead folks like Schrasj, Clouded, & Celindine/Trompedo before shifting gears and relaunching a new label, Ojet Records, with Gram Lebron of Schrasj (lately of Rogue Wave) and Lance Walker of Jessica Six, Port Vale, & solo deal The White Papers.

Ojet trundled on for another half-decade or so, putting out some great, great stuff by Lucky Motors, Sad Like Crazy, Port Vale, & others, before Caperton decided to move up north to Austin. The label went “on hiatus,” and that was pretty much all I’d heard about it since 2004 or so.

‘Til now, anyway. Apparently Ojet is now officially back off hiatus, although I dunno how long that’ll last. They’ve got a new album on the way from The White Papers, which Lance has kicked back to life from his new-ish home up in NYC, and coming up even sooner than that, Lance’s new band Bull Thieves are about to release their own self-titled full-length.

Lance was kind enough to send a copy of the forthcoming album my way, and I’ve finally gotten off my ass and taken a first listen — it’s interesting stuff, a lot heavier and more electronic than what I’d heard from him in the past, but it’s still weirdly addictive. Somber, serious vocals plus Chicago post-rock arrangements, the occasional hip-hop twinge, and nearly solid-sounding guitars; pretty damn promising.

Anyway, I’m psyched to hear the label’s once again a going concern (and yeah, they’ll also be making past releases available digitally, which is a cool thing, too). Virtual high-five to Mark & Lance, right here…