The Beach Boys had their classic album Pet Sounds, now DC Comics has Young Animal Sounds.
Set for release on Record Store Day 2017, Saturday, April 22, is a 12-inch picture disc on the Warner Bros. label from Young Animal frontman Gerard Way, featuring two song’s inspired by the comic book series be co-writes with Jon Rivera, Cave Carson has a Cybernetic Eye.
DC’s new Young Animal imprint is spearheaded by Way, a pop star and occasional comics writer who has had success in both realms. He co-founded and sang lead for the group My Chemical Romance, and also won an Eisner Award for The Umbrella Academy. Young Animal seeks to put a “mature readers” spin on DC super heroes, somewhat like Vertigo of old, but with perhaps an even more purposefully experimental, avant garde approach. The titles of the line include the latest revival of The Doom Patrol, along with Cave Carson, Mother Panic, and Shade the Changing Girl, with Bug! The Adventures of a Forager slated to hit comics shops in May.
Although Doom Patrol is the nominal flagship of the line, it has experienced some scheduling hiccups and is reportedly on indefinite hiatus after Issue #6 comics out in July, leaving Cave as the venerable member of the group, with his 7th issue set for release this Wednesday, April 19.
Two new recordings from Gerard Way include “Into The Cave We Wander” and “Poggy’s Cavern,”
both previously released, according to modern-vinyl.com on cassette at New York City Comic Con. The songs were co-written with MCR guitarist Ray Toro, who plays on the record.
The latter song has been listed by some sources as “Pogi’s Cavern.” The disc comes in a clear vinyl sleeve along with a 40-page comic book (some sources claim its a 32-pager) featuring art from four of Way’s Young Animal comics published by DC, and a 1-inch by 17-inch poster drawn by Nick Derington.
One inch?? That’s what the Record Store Day website claims (it’s also the source for the “Poggy” and 40-page comic tidbits), but we’ll go with the NME.com, which says its an 11×17 poster.
Either way, the special record is reportedly limited to just 5,000 copies worldwide.
Way has recently said on his website that he is at work on a new solo album, writing:
“I am always writing music, I am very lucky that way—there is always an idea and something that inspires me, even if it takes me a minute to figure out what I want to say, which is what really creates the space between releases,” he wrote. “I am about to convert a structure on our property into a recording studio, which actually won’t take a lot of work as the space is already pretty perfect. Great drums sounds and church ceilings. Secret echo chambers. I look forward to making some really weird stuff here, and mine for the really hard to get diamonds.”
He added: “Moving into the new year, my focus will become split into music and comics, now that Young Animal is running well it gives me more breathing room to make sounds, some of which may even be connected to the comics.”
If you can’t get to Record Store Day you can listen to Way’s new Cave song below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEZO07zBBKo]
