Pitchfork

Reasons to read no further: you don't much care for left-field ambient and psychedelia, you hate limited editions and exclusive clubs, your favorite band is Train, you're allergic to vinyl. Still with us? Awesome, because the Melted Mailbox subscription-based singles club has arrived. The club promises to showcase old and new experimental musicians doing what they do best.

This first series will treat paying subscribers to seven one-sided 12" vinyl singles of unreleased material by Ariel Pink, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Sunroof!, Old Bombs members Carlos Giffoni and Dino Felipe, Old Time Relijun frontman Arrington De Dionyso, and OOO. The records arrive in bi-monthly groupings, and while the first pair has already shipped, it's not too late to join and get the whole set. For the collector in everyone, the 12"s will be limited to 700 subscription-exclusive copies, and include etchings on the music-less side.

Quoted on the Mailbox website, Ariel Pink described his contribution as an "epic 17-minute prog-pop suite, literally recorded [on] September 11th, 2001, inspired and addressing the hot-off-the-press adrenaline rush of our nation in shock, caught in real time." Um, Haunted Graffiti as the voice of a nation?

While you chew on that one, club contributor KFW said of his piece: "It's about 15 minutes long-- mostly guitar/computer music with a bit of analog. Pretty damn nice sounding right now. An epic, even..." It would probably be safe to assume the rest of the singles will generally follow Melted Mailbox's credo: "homemade experimental aesthetic with a warm psychedelic feel." We can definitely dig that.

As if all this weren't tantalizing enough, the first series also promises swag galore, including a "special surprise," CD-Rs from unannounced contributors, bonus mp3s, a poster, postcards, stickers, pins, and buttons, all lovingly packaged in a home-made box.

And now the interactive kicker: subscribers to the club are encouraged to send in their own work to be included in a special "meltedmailbox mix." Gentlemen (and gentlewomen), start your four-tracks and boot up your Pro Tools!