CHUH Music is the digital music BRANCH of J.M.I. Recordings.

CYRUS CHESTNUT & WARREN WOLF - CHARMED

Gorgeous live duet from the two virtuosos recorded in Baltimore released in partnership with Brown Brothers Recordings. Digital release only now available on all DSPs. CHUH-1/BBR-3

JAMES CARTER/CYRUS CHESTNUT/ALI JACKSON/REGINALD VEAL - GOLD SOUNDS

2005 release of music by ad-hoc quartet covering songs by indie rock band Pavement. Recorded at Electric Lady Studios. CD Only. CHUH-4/BBR-1. Please send a check or money order to Chuh Music at 212 East 57th Street, 16 A, NYC, NY 10022 to order CD. $25 in USA; $58 in Canada and Mexico. $60 elsewhere on Earth. All prices include shipping. CHUH-4/BBR-1

BARDONIA

Epic debut album from Rod Hohl & Steve Mandel released in partnership with Mandel’s Bardonia Records. Recorded and mixed at Electric Lady Studios. Originally released 2002. CD Only. CHUH-2/BP-1

MONROE

Sophomore triumph from Rod Hohl & Steve Mandel released in partnership with Bardonia Records. Recorded and mixed at Electric Lady 2003-2004. Released on 12” vinyl 2023. Vinyl Only. CHUH-3/BP-2

STUDEO RATZ - THE NIGHT SURROUNDING

(BEST OF THE STUDEO RATZ)

Longtime collaborators Steve Mandel (Producer/Engineer/Songwriter) & Jeff DeOliveira (Guitarist/Songwriter) cull the very best from their first 6 albums during this first era of The Ratz (mid to late 2000’s). A double platter/gatefold affair, the vinyl version is in the works as well as a streaming sequence with 2 bonus tracks.

CHUH-9

“We are the Ratz. We use the wrong mikes. We hang out in driveways. We like imported wines and beers and Mexican brick weed. We sweat nobody. We are the best fucking band since The Stones. These are the smash hits. These are the fucking songs that came straight out of our cheap erotic minds. Listen up.”

FUTURE RATZ - MARBLE COMPOSITION

(BEST OF THE FUTURE RATZ)

Longtime collaborators Steve Mandel (Producer/Engineer/Songwriter) & Jeff DeOliveira (Guitarist/Songwriter) cull the very best from their final 6 albums of the second era of The Ratz (late 2000’s) as well as from their final 2 albums (2020-2024). A double platter/gatefold affair, the vinyl version is in the works and a streaming sequence with 2 bonus tracks.

CHUH-10

“The Story Of The Ratz”

(S. Mandel)

This is the story of The Studeo Ratz.  When the Ratz first met, there was no band.  Rat #1 had been dealing in lyrics for many times while Rat #2 had been fingering guitars for many rat years, which are the same as human years.  Soonly though, 2 independent bands began popping up but not necessarily energizing the College Park or surrounding area.

Rat #1’s band was the Ingrown Toenails.  A folk-rock outfit of the worst kind.  Singing his crapola into a broken mike, and then overdubbing a double vocal on his dual cassette deck.  Still, these were the foundationals for futures he could never imagine.  The Toenails had some small successes with songs like, “Twist and Turn,” “It’s a Breeze,” and “Where It All Comes From And Where It All Goes.”  At this time, Rat #1 was writing with Jellyroll Levine and Deaux Vogin, primarily, and also had 2 radio splashes with Drew Kantor, a song about freedom called, “The Last Days,”  and the bubblegummy “Gunpowder Falls.”

  Rat #2 started Sociable Insects, a postmodern blues experiment that never worked despite all the Jack Daniels they poured on top of it.  His woman cared for him and bathed him constantly.  He recorded alone most of the time, late at night with television for companionship.  Sometimes, he would write with a friend, usually a drug addict or another drunk, like Eddie Qualter or Robert Gaffney.  Most people say that his wife was not only his muse but also the one calling the shots, ala Nancy Reagan.

While Rat #1 toiled with words and Casios, Rat #2 found himself drunk and drooly in a blank world filled with empty bottles and riffs.  And oh yeah, Eddie’s Box.

Nobody remembers how it happened but one night the Ingrown Toenails and Sociable Insects started writing and recording together. Before long, they had a slew of songs in the can. Songs like “Alex,” “Blind Spot,” and “Crazy How I Feel.”  A collection of songs that would later constitute the collection called, “Tadpole.” Yet they maintained separate bands. Yet they maintained separate bands. 

Years turned to months and months turned to days.  Their collective catalog grew like a loose hair and the product piled high into the Maryland sky.  Sociable Insects morphed into Nude Dead Bodies.  The Ingrown Toenails continued on, collaborating with other not able bands like Gooch Meatball and later, Scorch, Rearview and Max Greene.  

By the time their university days were long over, Rat #1 began writing and recording exclusively with Rod Hohl, a songwriter he met while cleaning toilets at Electric Lady.  Together they made 4 albums, “Bardonia,” “Monroe,” “Treetops” and “Twin Rivers.”

Also around this time, Rat #1 embarked on a rap career calling himself, among other things, Jew-C, and another mission statement he named, “Schmin,” a 6-hour rant in song form.  

Meanwhile, Rat #2 was not doing as well.  Living and working odd jobs in central Jersey, he spent his nights struggling with his guitar, many, many nights simply staring at it as he ate, drank and smoked himself into an almost unrecognizable life form.  Thankfully, Eddie’s Box was still around to document whatever musical scrawls Rat #2 was able to scratch out during those darkish times.

More years passed, and everyone faded.  Steve Porter was missing.  Nude Dead Bodies long disbanded, Rat #2 turned to his longtime friend Hemmel to help him drink.  Together they recorded distorted ideas that would later become classics like “I Will Bring You The Bomb.”

Rat #1 hit hard times too.  His marriage ending, his mistress demanded, his dog dying, his recording career retarding, he recluded to his sister’s basement in Connecticut to regroup and recalibrate his thoughts and motives.  The Ingrown Toenails, finally in the past where they belonged, Rat #1 birthed Messenger Dog - a vehicle to continue his songwriting and recording.  Upon scampering to to Philadelphia, Messenger Dog was soon renamed Terrible Trouble.  The music continued to breathe, somehow.

It was at this point, Rat #1 in Philly and Rat #2 in Red Bank, that the Studeo Ratz were finally born.  The Ratz, at peace with their failures and their other failures, proceeded to begin recording what became an epic 5 album run.  “This Is To Be,” a coming of age piece  seemed to emerge out of nowhere based on loosely put together tracks like “Hopeless” and “These Doors.” Their second album, “Some Them Twist It” erupted out of the ashes of the first.  Still finding a voice that would express the true depth of a rat, this album came forth with “Afraid Of The Blues” and other classics like “Miniature Town.”  Album 3 was called “Scab Hammin’” and seemed to be a return to form for the Ratz, simplifying their efforts like “Cookie Jar” and “Summerband” with great effect.  At this point, the Ratz kicked it into overdrive with their fourth record titled “The Exact Opposite of Stealing Drums.” Reaping fire like “I Will Bring You The Bomb,” “Fit of Sunshine” and Double Click Your Vanity,” this album soars with the Ratz finally putting it all together.  Right on time too because they were about to make their masterpiece.  In 2009, the Studeo Ratz released their final album.  It was called “Frisbee!!” and takes the listener on an audio journey into outer space.  From those albums came a greatest hits package entitled, “Olive Twister.”

After thatz, The Studeo Ratz became The Future Ratz and released 9 more albums. Their new effort, “Rodenticide” is planned for release in 2026.