The precarity of DIY music, coupled with rapid shifts in music trading/sharing/purchasing technology, makes it unfortunately easy for good pieces of work to go missing. The Haphazard Archive Series, created by Rory Svekric, strives to dig up some works that maybe you’ve never heard, or maybe are difficult to find these days, and bring them up into the light once again. It might give you a taste of some bits and pieces of Kalamazoo’s music history, or perhaps you’ll find your new (old) favorite local band. Maybe you’ll feel compelled to do your own digging, and find a bit of history that no one ever planned to preserve.

“I moved to Kalamazoo in 2007 and immediately started learning a lot about grace and heartbreak. These five songs were the start of writing about the messy parts of me instead of big concepts or other people’s stories. I was grappling with coming out of the closet, homesickness, falling in love with my best friend, dropping out of college, re-evaluating my friendships back home, and being an all-around less-shiny version of myself than I was comfortable with. Ten years later, I find myself being pulled back to these songs, reminding myself what love can feel like when it’s new and chaotic but not at all cynical.” — Jes Kramer

“Jes is my hero. In her music I hear sincerity and humor and love, deep affection; it gave me permission to fall deeply and hideously in love with all my friends. My side of this split is all Great Value Jes.” — James Duke, aka Lovestranger MD

Mint Extract City was originally released by Curious Lacunae in March 2010. This re-release was preserved, prepared, and duped by Rory Svekric. All sales of this tape, digital and physical, will be donated to Movimiento Cosecha Kalamazoo.