Vintage ITAV Music Trove Unearthed!

LANSING, MI -- Whitney Spotts, lead singer of 80s cover band Starfarm and former chanteuse of indie-punk shredders Bit, uncovered a rare stash of 12 original pressings of ITAV's first official release while on an expedition to clean her desk.  Spotts, realizing the rarity of these mini-LP sleeved CDs (catalog numbered ITAV 004), brought them to ITAV's world headquarters, eliciting yelps of surprise and delight from ITAV's staff.

"We haven't seen this thing in years," said ITAV founder Peter Richards, rifling through the small stack of slightly worn sleeves, "and all the discs are still pristine!"

Indeed the sleeves show some wear, like your uncle's record collection -- slight spine creases, bent corners, and a little sun-fading of some of the bright colors; yet the Kinko's-produced liner notes and the the professionally pressed CDs inside look like they're being handled for the first time.

ITAV's first release, a 20-track compilation called First-Hand Accounts, Theories, And Their Repercussions that was distributed for free in 2006, boasts an intriguing tracklist of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Texas musicians, and stands as an important document of the eclectic middle-period of this past decade:

Canada - Hooray For Shipwreck

Nick Schillace - Green Green Grass (live on WCBN)

Jen Sygit - Writer's Block

Rubber Band Banjo - Winter Safety Rules

Oh My God - Funhouse Mirror Mother

Phil Avalos & The Quiet Lanes - Got

The Mnemonic Devices - Young James

That's Him! That's The Guy! - Angry. Vengeful.

Stare Into The Sun - Run

Bit - Love Song

The Casionauts - Dr. Chocula Web-MD

Animal - Art Party/Wizard Of Wor

XU - Horns And Halos

Pat Zelenka - Platypus And Dolphin

Rattling Wall Collective - Citizen

Bradford - Forget It

Freel - Ghosting

Brickburner - The Future Doesn't Need Us

The Strawberry Explosion - Baby Baby Boo!

Sam Corbin - Please Come Home

Among the gems on the comp were many previously unreleased tracks and hard-to-find rarities.  The entire collection was mastered by Scott Bozack at Thin Black Line Studios in Williamston, Michigan.  It was pressed in a limited edition of 1,000 copies which were quickly distributed, and the CD disappeared into the golden glow of local music history.  Or so everyone thought.

So, what will become of these dozen, ridiculously out-of-print copies of the original edition?

"ITAV 004 was meant to be a free document," says Richards.  "That was the original deal with the artists -- that we would get their music out to lots of people, and in return they would put their best musical foot forward, give us great material to work with.  I learned a lot putting that comp together.  It's great to see that it still exists.  It's like running into an old friend."

ITAV plans to give away these slightly worn copies of First-Hand Accounts, either with purchase of some of our other releases or to individuals who make a good case for why they should have one.  In other words, free to a good home!  But we'd rather give them to people who will genuinely enjoy them than to someone who just likes to amass free stuff.  So tell us, in the comments, if that person is you!  Let us know how it won't cost us anything extra to give you a copy, how it will make us feel good, or how it will make someone else feel good.  Offer good while supplies last.