Sokea Piste on Peterwalkee Records

Peterwalkee Records sent over this hardcore wax from Sokea Piste, a Finnish 4 piece making full use of a dual layered guitar attack that continue to explore what happens after rock went punk.
A-Sides, "Kollektiivinen Paniikki" (I appreciate the english translation of the lyrics on the insert) has these guys shaking out brief power chords that are the furthest thing from pop punk, they favor a dirtier sound, the melody is anything but a chance to party. I know that they're pissed off without even looking at the translation insert.
Although you don't even need to know necessarily what they're railing against, but it helps when they eloquently make as much sense as this. It's protest music, plain and simple, they have a lot of beef and anywhere in the world it ends up as some form of this. Hard and fast, loud and heavy.
The nice thing is that this feeling is even happening in somewhere as far away as Finland, there's this marginalized part of society everywhere that ends up working it out like this, (wasn't there that doc about middle east heavy metal...)it's completely crazy it exists and makes perfect sense at the same time. Sokea is Piste and yell this one out, stopping with that precise drop of the hat.
Next up on this side, "Ala Ajattele Kuolemaa", goes on about death, again, in really smart ways. I'm into the lyric, especially after revisiting Refused, thanks to their reunion tour...and this also sounds more and more related to this straight ahead post-punk sound...a little bit of Fugazi's penchant for experimental guitar directions while driving the track dead ahead. The Mission of Burma big guitar sound with minor keys and mono-melodies.
B-Side's "Imbesilli Jattilainen" is about a giant, maybe literal...but is the worst parts of society. Lots of feedback distortion dissonance over a steady great bassline, the whole thing slowly building up, all kinds of guitar as noise, weirdo layers, off key and bent, a little Blonde Redhead. I need more of that guitar experimental stuff in my life...not in melody or the way the instrument is played, but when you examine that brutal raw distorted chord and deal solely with it's delivery....those tiny elements that change this into post-whatever...like this last bit of clone pedal effect melody that's taking the whole thing out.

I've seen these giants in Skyrim and they are not to be messed with...trust me, don't make that mistake.


Peterwalkee recs says:

SOKEA PISTE from Finland (members of KYKLOOPPIEN SUKUPUUTTO, MANIFESTO JUKEBOX)create chaotic, driving, and noisy punk rock with odd time signatures and freaked out guitars! Somewhere bewteen Mission of Burma, No Hope for the Kids, and Steel Pole Bath Tub, SOKEA PISTE is a murderous crush of perversity, paranoia, twisted visions of blind rage, solitary insanity and silent thoughtful violence. 500 copies pressed, 100 on yellow vinyl (mail order only). Silk screened covers, sticker, and digital download with bonus track from upcoming LP!.

Heavy cardstock screened sleeve, on black vinyl with color lyric insert.

Thee Spivs on Almost Ready Records

Here we go kids gather around it's time for another release from Almost Ready Records, this one from Thee Spivs sounds like it should be on their Last Laugh reissue imprint, but noooooo, these guys just got together like 5 years ago...in the UK, you dummy, and I'm hooked on their stripped down garage-y pop ways. I think I got a little too comfortable not looking farther than Nashville for the pop punk, and this is reminding me of the rest of the freaking world...like what happened to the french punk stuff that was happening not too long ago on Les Disques Steak? These guys are holding it down overseas and reminding me about that punk history.

A-Side's, "It's True" has the most raw energy, somehow it stays stripped down and raw as hell but with a big, really full sound. The crashes are still just peaking out, but there's lots of low end....I think it's just a weird sound to have the best of both worlds like this, the separated lows but still dabbling in the low-fi gunkyness that is just classic punk...building on those roots, not reinventing anything, but unpretentiously looking back at that era again, borrow and build. This three piece delivers on what I'm hearing about their live energy, getting it down on this record. When they count it off, it explodes, every verse from Ben Edge is matched by the rest of the band, back and forth, the classic call and response, paying homage to everything I've ever heard coming from this part of the world in the late '70s.
When a single can capture a performance like this, and elude to a tiny sample of what they must be like live, it's going to make you want to catch them live or immediately after the show you go find the merch table...that's the point of the 7" format. Making even more sense when looking back at what this sound is paying homage to.

"Taped Up" is another study in being able to straddle this solid, put together/spontaneous, raw sound. Keeping it short, they power chord away the punk, getting poppier this time.
I wanna go home / but it's taped up.
I get the feeling these guys had some experience with the police tape, the fact they would write about that says something. There's a surfy 'oh yea' chorus stuff that's really glamming up this track, make a party out of the beach ghetto sound. I can't help but hear the Clash or The Adverts here either. They're really working in the footsteps of all those classics, and headed there themselves.

Get this one from Almost Ready records.

U.S. Girls on Calico Corp. Records

Got a couple of records in from a new label, Calico, from our neighbors to the north... Toronto, Canada to be exact. Founded by Meghan from U.S. Girls and Slim Twig, comes Calico Corp. Records...and the first two releases are singles from the co-founders. This isn't the first time they've been in close musical proximity, they recently shared a split 12" on Palmist Records...I've been a fan of U.S. Girls for a while now so I picked this one first to throw on the turntable.

I know it's going to be lazy to compare her to Zola Jesus again, but I really mean it as a compliment, after all they have a lot in common...a real dark aesthetic, melted electronics, using experimental rhythms and sounds. Both pull it off in a professional way, singing their damn heads off, obviously classically trained and turning that incredible vocal towards the more avant garde, pushing themselves musically...sure there's subtle differences, but they have to be listening to each other, and there's always room for more talent like this.

"The Island Song" from side A, has that overwhelming  dread feel, dark repeated chords, her major classic vibrato ringing through here, and damn if it isn't almost so catchy and melodic I start to suspect it's got to be part of that glitch dance craze.... But it's impossible to mistake this for a dance party, there's just too many layers of darkness. Maybe it's that plodding drum machine, maybe the layers of  tracks, the peaking out of her uncontainable vocal, but when she gets into that chorus...it doesn't matter, those things all go away. With nothing to support her but these imperfect electronics, and a warbly organ, she delivers an unsettling performance.
It's what I want every time I go back to listen to Siouxsie...she has her moments, but this is exactly the kind of update I've been looking for. Meghan is extending that line of goth, minimal history in a contemporary way that ends up better on the other side.
The vocal is effortless, just when you think she's trying, turns out that was just getting warmed up. This combination is perfect for 7" gold, bordering on too messed up to listen to all the time, a little scary even, and the unnatural sounds shouldn't add up to be this compelling of a tune...and that's when they really got you.
On the B-Side's, "High School Poetry" Meghan is pulling a melody out of these layers of DJ Shadow type collage loops with a theremin sounding whine. All these echo'd phrases sound like they're pulled off synth dance 12" remixes of all kinds, a channeled piano from the other side. Occasional vinyl scratching could remind you of those Portishead combinations. This one is a  lumbering, punchy track, mixing up her operatic delivery with an almost staccato hip hop speed. It isn't full of hooks like the first side, just building a solid, equally as unsettling, nightmare.

Proof she's going to be able to create interesting results with literally anything.

Xerox collage black and white sleeve on blue cardstock with download card.
Suck up that shipping and get it straight from the source, Calico Corp. Records...along with the Slim Twig single...

The Cassettes on Flannel Gurl / Chapeau Records

Got another single today in my shipment from Flannel Gurl Records, this one from The Cassettes. FG has taken it upon themselves to record and release Southwest Virgina's artists. The rest of the state can suck it! This one couldn't be further stylistically from their last release, Buck Gooter, but if this is what the region is fostering, then so be it.
This is a seven inch from a band called the Cassettes, with turn of the century graphics on the sleeve. Did this tiny, handwriten style of the old days have anything to do with the painstaking effort it took to typeset everything? They had to pack the info all on one sheet? The Cassettes are also packing the instrumentation into 3 era bending tracks. Folky carnival ensemble epics.

A-Side's "I've Been gone" sets the epic orchestral tone with chimes, acoustic guitars, cello's, and a twangy wet reverb electric guitar, among others....the liner notes list an impressive mass of musicians that are all arranging their own two cents in...including something called a Contra bass? Had to look that one up. Very Decembrists sounding feel here, a clever narrative, enacted with spectacles, those cut out puppet stop motion animations from Monty Python...or Albert Nobbs!
All kinds of ancient references to bygone days, huge themes of love... the seasons, more old stuff, the seas...this is going to be all about traveling. Precious mandolin, finger picking as fast as possible. Pleasant carnival music for Amelie...seems nice.

A break between tracks of the sea and a locomotive steam whistle for "Far Too Long" to break in with a theremin solo. Lots of big echo on these vocals and a slide guitar finds it's way front and center.
They seem to be working with every possible genre and time period at once, borrowing bits and pieces from all of them. All the band members sing along with their own echo and harmonies before it gets cowboy again, acousticly dusty...this is what steampunk is right? That weird future past mix of really nice looking design... that isn't practical at all.
Makes sense then that this was recorded everywhere from a monastic hillock in sweden to a cabin in VA.
The B-Side, "Watchers", has a false start of banjo, accidentally hitting the strings, getting ready on the stool, motioning to the orchestra assembled in the barn. This is that kind of folk music and slow rock combination, balanced between the traditional and the pop. I worry about them touring in multiple vehicles and with these massive piles of instruments. Shelby is sounding like Mark Lannegan or Nick Cave. There's fireflies and chinese lanterns, gather round, there's huge stories here about the inception of the band, all of their travels, the huge mess of instruments... it's nice they found each other.
It turns into an acoustic slow jam, with twinkling moog and crickets.
A locked groove of crickets to go on forever. I'm going to go fall asleep now.
Best use of a locked groove 2012. They had to scratch a message in the gutter between the locked groove that hits the center label...most impressive Bontai mastering nyc.

On black vinyl, with lot's of other color variations and collector packages at Flannel Gurl Records, a postcard for keeping in touch, all kinds of Chris Ware-ish fine print exactly the opposite of what fne print usually says. "A sound recording from our hearts to your soul" TM. (Secret messages in the gutter.)

Moscow Moscow Moscow on Eradicator Records

Two things came to mind with this single, first I wonder if Eradicator records has anything to do with the Kids in the Hall and the ski mask character running around racketball courts, and then the band name being Moscow Moscow Moscow, all I hear is an annoying girl from the Brady Bunch. I'm lame.

Eradicator looks to be distro-ing everything from Almost Ready's entire catalog to The Hussy to The Spits, so this single is starting out in good company, but at the same time I wasn't expecting a 4 song EP of no-wave surf instrumentals from this duo of escaped prisoners* (see above sleeve).

A-Side's "Surfin' USSR" has a direct sounding scuzzy, one note at a time melody with all the rough slide sound of fingers on heavy guage strings and appropriately spazz wipeout style drums. Let's play melodies, since we're from the former soviet union we don't know English, don't expect vocals.
"Feeling Squamish (A Love Song)" is more of this bizarre rigid surf sound, but this drummer is on speed or something, he just seems to be playing twice as fast as any of this calls for, in a great way. The guitar is getting into layered chords this time, fancy picking and an acoustic is back there somewhere. My favorite track, hearing those messed up harmonies, letting the melody get twisted around into each other.
"North of Vomit" starts to sound like Half Japanese, they're a little bit more damaged here, the unassuming melodic pieces fitting together like a puzzle, but maybe its just the ways it's played that comes off like some kind of experimental jam. This one is pretty rough, the near misses keep this feeling pretty raw and spontaneous, not like Stalin's lockstep marching.
"Hammer, Sickles and Girls" Vocals! Repeat the title! They are taking this russian thing seriously, what was up with that Born in the USSR song? I want these guys to cover it all. A Link Wray Prinzhorn Dance School style, or an art brut science project. I bet these guys met in art school, this has thesis project written all over it. The conceptual look, down to the titles, hell they're a living museum to fascist style. We. Are. Rocking. out. Yeah! Down with the US. Makes the whole thing seem kind of ridiculous, was there ever really a cold war? We weren't really going to shoot nukes at the russians right? I mean that would have destroyed the whole planet!!! Dummies.

On red vinyl handnumbered in half cut sleeve, Eradicator says:

Dennis the Red menace and Red Sonja did it again. Hopefully this record want cause as many death threats as their first record. Red Sonja is truly the most talented guitar player kicking up dust as she stomps around on her Tetris cubes while Dennis follows Reds beautiful guitar lines with some of the most primitive drumming around.
They say that when it's cold in Russia you should throw another Moscow record on the turn table to warm things up. Here's four more songs to get you through those mid season blues. Three original instruMental stompers and one fucking blazer of a shouter.
Limited to 100 PHOTO COVERS ON RED VINYL
Limited to 100 SHAPES COVERS ON RED VINYL

Tyvek 'Mary Ellen Claims' on X! Records

Here's another one in from X! Records, this one from waaaay back in their catalog from the guys in Tyvek, looks like X! repressed their first effort, and I'm glad to see you can still pick this up, it's a touchstone from the beginnings of this whole Useless Eaters, Cheap Time, Ty, Jay era of trashy garage-rock. The kind of thing that pays homage to the Sonics or Kinks while trading it all in for a no apologies, anti engineered sound that says, we don't want or need to clean this mess up. Take it or leave it.

So thinking back to 2006, this is exactly what I remember liking about the Tyvek tracks on the "Summer Burns" double 7" from What's Your Rupture. It's impossible to objectively take a listen to this, hindsight being what it is, but maybe it's an even more important document now at what I think was the beginning of a whole lot of this sound.

"Mary Ellen Claims" has a scratchy guitar, the treble turned all the way up, recorded with everything just peaking out. There's no depth in the drum track, just a thin smack of the snare slapping away. It's really related to that garage '50s or '60s(?) stripped down rock. A brief track, but what wouldn't be with those elements, you've got to get in there, slap the hooks together, can you hear the guitars? Great. Barely enough time to find working mics. What are you trying to undermine the whole thing? There's a great melody here, Kev sounding like an old AM radio held up to the mic, the guitars starting to feedback into themselves, the waves colliding briefly almost synth-like and fading out. This was six years ago? Totally classic touchstone, as fun and loose as the day it was recorded.

"Honda" on the B-Side, has to be one of the best Tyvek tracks, imagine their high peaking garage sound with Kev frantically asking:

Can you drive a Honda, like I can drive a honda?
Can you drive an escort? A fucking escort?
Can you drive a Geo all the way to Rio?

Totally inspired, and I hope someone who didn't know anything about these guys could hear the value in this reinvention of another splinter of post-punk.
So many questions about cars, and there's some kind of weird connection to the Sidewalk single - they really have some thoughts about modes of transportation. The big time bassline, and variety of textures on these guitars, from the shittiest, thin scrawl to a surf slight reverb. Kev is really losing his mind, the only lower end coming off that punk bass riff. This big, surf strum, and crackling vocals...it belongs in that wing of the West coast garage resurgence section, in the glass case next to "I Don't Wanna Smoke Marijuana" You should be as ashamed as I was I somehow missed picking this one up. Get over to X!! (and get that Johnny ILL Band single, I'm still playing that one).

The "For Booking" phone number on the inner label brings a tear to my eye.

Printed right onto the white paper sleeve, with that Tyvek random typewriter narrative running down the streets of this crazy cityscape.

The reverse says this was recorded in Brooklyn...and they list their myspace page! What a missed opportunity for that company, they had people using their crap product from the beginning to the bitter end. Good riddance...what a black eye to see that terrible reminder of the worst music ghetto ever.

Primary Structures - Self Titled on Gold Robot Records

Hunter over at Gold Robot has again gotten more into the full length arena, making that huge leap onto the bigger 12” vinyl and sent this one in from Primary Structures.

The four piece has evolved out of a couple of San Francisco/Oakland bands; Lady Genius and Volunteer Pioneer, after having met in art school of course, named after an exhibition in 1966 of minimal artists like Donald Judd and Sol Lewitt. I wonder how many spring out of performance art pieces and kill two birds with one stone.
Kyle Williams then, put down the paintbrush and for Primary Structures is on vocals and synth. I have a hard time figuring out how these bouncy indie pop tracks were composed with nothing but his background underpinnings of subtle melody, but then again it mostly comes from his strong vocal direction, which sound like a more balanced Alec Ounsworth from Clap your Hands or a classically trained Jens Lekman...in other words, a real class act. He’s got a slight vibratto to everything, reaching high falsetto notes without the straining work.
The first track on the A-Side, “Jet Set” sets a synth heavy tone that gives way to shiny guitar pop, with an inspired bassline from Brian Caraway that carries this one solidly beyond just being clever and into a real inspired groove. As nervous and claustrophobic sounding the vocals might be when getting into David Byrne paranoia, he stays far more loose and melodic. The kind of pop album that isn’t coming off as too serious, it doesn’t sound like they have an agenda or master plan, it’s just based around poppy sounds at the heart of those summer days in San Francisco.
“The Farm” shows off more of the complex back and forth between Brian and Jason Byers on guitar. Off kilter rhythms working together, but staying completely separate. Brian really knows exactly where to inject bass, it’s never timid and they thankfully let him go nuts with this two note break that steals the track. Matt Stromberg on drums has been playing particularly polyrhythmic patterns and on “Balsa Tree” things get to sounding like the Dodo’s... that nontraditional rock beat of a rim shot stick pattern opposite a complex kick. It doesn’t wear out it’s welcome though, eventually going epic and Kyle takes this one into a sad place which is out of step for this record which most of the time sounds like some kind of celebration.
The last one on this side, “Cannibals”, has Kyle back into that jittery place, going straight for the super pop, only the catchy moments...the way that Dog Day or Ski Lodge aren’t saddled with a massive wave of hype but more concerned with melodies that are going to keep delivering long after this side is over. Clever transcriptions of this melody take it higher up the scale, which Kyle manages to keep up with in his high power vocal. It could almost become one of those old Smiths records to pull out on a Friday night and sing along to.
The more I hear this, the more it starts to slowly sound like Entertainment!’s simple, disarming melodies, with Kyle really selling his vocal instead of the post-modern can’t-be-bothered. I can respect someone who takes their entertaining seriously.

The B-Side with “Land of Terror” is literally bringing a Morrissey vocal to mind. Where does someone get the idea to deliver a vocal like this...to be so emotionally invested, it’s a little bit more naked than something like Johnny Ill Band’s jokes. There’s no tongue in cheek, meta joke here, just solid, straightforward songwriting.
“Bad Krevznacht” is the standout track on this side, a little more rowdy and unpredictable. Kyle’s vocal works differently when paired with this angular rock, he’s got to work a little harder to be heard.
Just like that lens flare on the cover, Primary Structures have managed to capture that right moment, straddling that line of serious, attention to detail, pop while managing to sound like they’re having a good time doing it.

Get this one from Gold Robot Records, a great release...after that whole thing posted by Mike over at Captured Tracks...I know Gold Robot is coming from the same place. It's gone beyond just the format being enough to be outside the taint of commercialism. You need to dig deep into the core philosophy of a label.

Johnny ILL Band on X! Records

3 dudes from Detroit decided Johnny Ill needed a band for his no-wave punk 4-track recordings and ended up with this third single on X! Records.

A-Side's "In the wintertime" couldn't have come across my desk at a more perfect time. It has to be dumb luck that this was pressed in time for the freezing going on today. They're reading everyone's mind here with a Detroit slant, the lackadaisical sound usually associated with the West Coast and groups like Nodzzz or the Fresh and Onlys took a scuzzy garage turn when talking about the pure damn cold, and how all everyone does is talk about the cold. The track starts with a reverse tape rewind, the reels flying backwards for a second. Johnny's vocals are up front with a little distortion, close, and unfiltered in your face about the many shitty things about the winter, and I can't disagree with a single one. There's even a classic break where the vocals are out there all by themselves at the beginning of a verse and then the whole thing explodes, like Wounded Lion, the band is filling out this sound in the drunken party style that was almost handcrafted for these guys.

I Don't Wanna Smoke Marijuana = In the Wintertime. All people want to do is drink some tea.

Here's the idea, a couple obvious straightforward observations, a shit stomping jangly electric, kick drum 4/4 beat. A tiny xylophone beats away in the background keeping the whole thing light. The layered backup vocal is that great kind of unprofessional. It's earnestly trying to match a clunky harmony. Sloppy organ, I like your attitude boys. You won me over pretty much right away.

The sloppy pen notebook drawings on the front of the sleeve, the weird caricatures on the reverse, dripping with sincerity, goofy as hell, they'd probably buy you a drink after their show. They have a kidnap van that says "Mylie Syrus concert shuttle" scrawled on the side it. It's effortless punk, except punk sounds like too much work, I'd just be worried at X! that these guys are going to get high all day and smoke the records.

Every 7" single could benefit from having a portrait of the recording engineer on the inner label by the way.

The B-Side, "Matt Larson" is in the band, this is just such balls, so over the top ridiculous that if I was ever out, I'm in again. Matt sounds smart, he went to college. There's a bunch of other stuff about him. I appreciate their Dead Milkmen style of storytelling. These mundane details over a stuttered devo kind of spazz lockstep rhythm. Putzy solo, a few notes repeated, stiff armed, with a tongue hanging out. Great great great.

"Dan Braun" is another dude, not in the band, but I get that he hates everything, especially these guys, and they hate the shit out of him. HE sounds like the worst. I actually cracked up about the way he smokes a pack a day. It's so funny, I forget about the music. I want my friend to hear the lyrics. Did you catch that?
Fade out 4-track demo acoustic line, which is also gold. Consider this a perfect release.

Extra points for having a really nice website with virtually nothing on it. They got that about that far and then went to someone's house to jam and got drunk again. Also I hope the 'tabs' section is going to be ascii tabs of these tracks so I can play along.
Definitely looking up this full length, like Natural Child, minus the southern sleeze.

A reason why we need labels like X!, who have their shit together, or Almost Ready because you know Liquor Store can't even be bothered to DIY, that's what makes them great, don't mellow out their buzz with pressing details and color separation and sales and shit.

Get it from X!, who know a good thing when they hear it. Thankfully there's more from this label coming up which I have high hopes for, and for that matter, a full length from Johnny Ill.

The Diving Bell - 'China my china' on FIN Records

Fin Records out on the other coast in Seattle has scoured every last stationary supplier for these crazy colored paper sleeves for their singles. I've never seen anyone use this turquiose before. I wonder if they're all handcrafted at the FIN headquarters, along with the embossing of every mylar sleeve...going the distance in production for their late, a second single from The Diving Bell.

A-Side's "China, my China" kicks off with a staccato indie guitar riff, when suddenly underpinnings of acoustic and bass take over in their big, expansive sound that was at work on their last one. Andy's baritone vocal is back too, sounding like an optimistic Peter Murphy, filling the track, front and center. There's a nice breakdown part with a thin church organ tempo to slow things down for a second to punch it back up again.
Can't decide if this track is about this character, China... or the country. Or if they're deliberately confusing the two. From geography to a mood and back again. Lots of call and response in Andy's vocal, a thin, compressed version of himself singing back during that chorus. Upbeat, with a real groovy double time bass rhythm driving this way into sparkling, handcrafted, small batch pop.
B-Side's "Cross Dressing friends" then takes things into slow spin disco ball territory with that title vocal, the first line. Vocally getting a little more depressed and bluesy, the lights are going down. The guitar working on those big strumming riffs with a bigger tremolo. Huge drawn out solo over a rhodes organ is the name of the game here...getting real classic.
This narrator is basically trying to get the friend to relax...I like how specific he is on this one:

tomorrow go back to delivering babies
tomorrow go back to running this country

I won't ruin the end, but they won't be playing cuba anytime soon.

Clear vinyl, handnumbered, heavy green sleeve from FIN Records, ancient science textbook illustrations...apparently this is the second part of a tryptich. Collect them all.

No BS Brass on Electric Cowbell Records

The thing I love about Electric Cowbell is that they're wholeheartedly behind a band that names themselves the No BS Brass band and who puts, "Take on Me" on the A-Side. That's right, the Ah-ha cover.

Even then their version doesn't immediately give away where it's headed, there's a damn lot of horns blasting away, which makes sense right? But it's hard to wrap your head around the work and physical instruments in this recording space, I would guess there's at least 8 guys blasting away, mostly in a lower key and then taking over that recognizable lyric with a low burping of tuba? I can't imagine the nightmare of trying to mic all these instruments at once. The range of multiple horns taking on bassline parts, harmonizing the verse, overlapping 'take me on / take on me', building that chorus and synth with marching band precision. It's all done in a real loose, live style, beyond just the joke of reinventing this song, you can hear as much as they care about the arrangement. The breakdown piece of the original ends in the band stepping up to their mics and singing the ba da ba bop bop finish....it's a fun, nostalgic song to reference and twist it in a nearly classical way....why not commit this to vinyl?

The B-Side then , "Dr. Willy" (written by Reggie Pace) utilizes those beefy low end bleats of the trombone and tuba section, creating an almost weird kind of experimental shuffle, nearly jazz, but always focused on the cyclic rhythm. A slow, rim shot and muted high hat, makes this feel like a spy theme. Slowly a dead, bottom register note from a single tuba rumbles this low end, it's out of nowhere and and rivals any low rider brown note. An alien note, so awesomely out of place it needs to be played back to really take it in and dial up the lower EQ to test those speakers. It makes me smile every time. I think a lot more kids would take up the tuba if they realized this kind of sound was possible. It would have made band a lot better.
The trumpet/trombone section gets a chance to break out of this structured bassline and groove out, working through all kinds of manic scales. I'm still waiting for that mammoth chasm of a note to come on back through.
Both sides are just serious lung power with a sense of humor, which ought to get No BS Brass some attention in the right ways.

Get this one from Electric Cowbell, still exploding turntable needles after all these years:

No BS! Brass Band is a powerful brass band that embraces the spirit of New Orleans into its original East Coast modern funk. Their danceable arrangements are outstandingly well thought-out and organized, drawing inspiration from funk, jazz, klezmer, calypso, and Led Zeppelin. On Side-A the boys take on a cover of the classic 80′s hit by A-Ha “Take on Me” and the results are a rousing a second line without a parading permit. “Dr. Wily” on on the flip side is an original penned by lead trombonist Reggie Pace-currently on tour with Bon Iver. With a flight-of-the-bumblebee urgency this tune simply shreds and hits you in the face like a brass knuckle brass band sandwich. Comes with cover art and heavy gauge crystal-clear vinyl sleeve.

Ariel Pink + R. Stevie Moore on PIAPTK Records

Just got word from Mike over at People in a Position to Know Records that I can finally talk about this amazing handmade single that he just put out. If you have to have everything from R. Stevie or Ariel Pink (because of the amazing B-sides, let’s face it) then you’re going to want to just immediately stop reading and head over there to pick this up. Limited, handmade lathe cut, acrylic MIRROR and freaking amazing. I know in theory, you should be able to cut playable grooves into any kind of plastic, but to see it in practice like this on a mirror backed clear surface is really unique. There won't ever be a another single like this...and that's before you even drop the needle.

Even more amazing than the track itself is the fact that PIAPTK has managed to put both of these artists together. Whether this is a tape or email exchange between Stevie and Ariel, or they actually were sitting next to each other in an isolation booth, it’s a pretty amazing document of a collaboration between generations of underground innovators.
Fashion has finally caught up with appreciating both Ariel and Stevie and I’m just happy they got together for a moment....like William Burroughs and Kurt Cobain, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, that’s almost enough on it's own. I almost don’t even need to hear it, and it can't be judged the same way as their solo releases...it's enough that they each did their unique thing together. They had a few words, played a few chords and history was made for an afternoon.

This crazy medium of this record itself is almost like being able to listen to the original cassette tapes, wound on a misshapen reel, and somehow you're even closer to the source material. The curtains are pulled back on the whole mysterious process just a little more than usual. Stevie begins the single sided track, “SteviePink Javascript” with a few low words after you get used to the amazing amount of hiss coming off this acrylic mirror, which for these two is an essential element. It’s another instrument, a layer to free them up for this improv back and forth jam. A distinctively warbled rhythm for Ariel comes up out of this pre-intro, as if all the tracks on his latest cassette scratch tape just run right into each other, there’s no beginning or end, just an abrupt change in tempo and the sound of the tape head turning on record.
Stevie’s whispering gives way to a synthy bassline, an odd rhythm with some vocal beatboxing and those synthy keys, from the Scared Famous era. Stevie’s almost autotuned or just buried under a variable reverb. This isn't your typical duet, they're stepping all over each other, Ariel busting into a high falsetto chorus over Stevie telling Ariel he’s thinking about running for Senate and if he’ll be his running mate. It’s informal, a chance to collaborate and appreciate each other for a minute... they’re fans and here get to literally play off each other lyrics, responding to the last line, a warped call and response.
Ariel starts:

you tell your friends about me and I'll tell mine about you
nice to meetcha
now... what do you call this music Stevie?
Ariel dreams
SteviePink / You do great shit
You’re better than I am
put a snare here right?
no, you're out of your mind

Ariel and Stevie half rap at points and Ariel breaks into his soul layered falsetto vocals, sometimes creating the guitar sound vocally and other times...well I'm not sure. This has to be well over 5 minutes, winding between their styles in a plodding broken AM see-saw rhythm. Stevie references the Prince line about partying like it’s 1999 and Ariel replies

Too much R&B it's all your fault
have your layer call my lawyer

Beyond the incredible track that was cut into this thing, every single piece of this single is recycled or repurposed. The 'vinyl' itself from mirrored acrylic plastic, each one handcut on Mike's 1940's lathe, each cover handscreened on this a crazy grip tape type of hologram material, even the insert describing the whole process is paper from a garage sale.

This is where I get to the bad news part, this is such an incredible document, I am legitimately sad that only 87 other people are going to be able to hear this. I know that's the point of something this homemade both musically and so intimately handmade, but it's so important, it's got to be shared int he future.

If you're reading this late and PIAPTK is out, go pick up R. Stevie's Phonography, as completely mindblowing and an early blueprint of Ariel. I respect both of these guys so much, Ariel for introducing me to Stevie and Stevie for making this kind of handmade folk pop before I was even born. So inspiring... and with a back catalog like this thankfully it's going to be a million years to make my way through everything.

We can also hope this is the beginning of an entire album collaboration, it sounds too damn fun and completely a part of both of their processes. It's a perfect match. There's no doubt this is going to be gone. I'm happy Mike gave me the chance to hear it and let you guys know about it first, now go pick up this incredible artifact...and hey in the future apocalypse you could even use it to shave or something...it's a win win!

(Even joking about that, I get a little upset.)

Baby Erection - self released

Here's how to start out the week right, look through the stack of singles that are up next and pick the one with the best name. A self released single from the Brooklyn based band, Baby Erection.
What possessed me to try to google image search their name for a pic of the sleeve, I don't know. Terrible idea, I mean....really disturbing results, and now I'm on some kind of government watch list. Thanks guys!

The A-Side's "Lon Chaney Blues" is built out the thinnest, jankey sounding wrecked electric guitar. It's the kind of raw, broken amp sound that would make Ty segall jealous. Nick is on lead vocals, straining to be heard above the crazy rec room racket pouring onto the mic hanging from a duct taped 'x' in the middle of the ceiling. He's distorted as hell, yelling all kinds of abstract things about the silent film star who was known for his crazy monster makeup effects, so it seems like perfect garage fodder for a misunderstood misfit point of view...by the way who told these guys about Lon Chaney? These are his blues alright...originally recorded on a 4-track cassette it's got all the character of the Siltbreeze Yips records..all stripped down as raw as they day they were recorded. A dirty, crying mess. Like the Liquor Store / Natural Child split...going for it in the rehearsal space, the cymbals peaking all over the place, and played together live, so when you stumble a little bit, it's just the way it goes...give it some character as we like to say int he biz. Pure and simple. Big time feedbacking mess by the end, and a little growling...the Lon Chaney monster is not happy, it's definitely Cramps or a Nodzzz punk kind of feel...or that single from Mess Folk on Hozac, completely damaged, sincere punk.

The B-Side then is the big band standard, "Baby erection Boogie" really sounding like the opening from California Uber Alles, the smooth jazz bassline, don't forget to tip the waitress, clinking glasses and forks. The guitar really kicks in and goes completely instrumnetal, picking up with a classic "wooooooo". They just rock the tempo completely out, throw a spazz solo on here as it falls all apart. Something creepy and classic about this one.
Hell, if they can get this down on cassette in someone's shared rehearsal space over here in Brooklyn then I should think they'd be up for opening for Big Shots or Liquor Store one of these days.

Scuzzy, home recorded garage junk crap, self released by the band, which to me says more than anything else...having a complete hand in this beginning to end, the most accurate representation of the sound.

On Black big hole, jukebox vinyl with handnumbered insert card, check out their bandcamp page, or like them and email babyerection(at)gmail.com to get a copy and on that watch list.

Fire Eyes on Random Acts of Vinyl

This one was flown in direct over the Atlantic from Random Acts of Vinyl, which I found out was formed by Palm Springs, a UK band with a major DIY attitude. This single is one of their latest releases from the band Fire Eyes a duo with Sally Megee and Paul Beat, who are both dishing out the back and forth vocals over this basic, lonesome western package.
The A-Side's "Cherry Black" is definitely evoking a Suicide cowboy sound, or a country-alt Dirty Beaches without the sonic medium textures, a really clear version of that spirit of sadness. Sally begins this conversation when she asks "What're you doing with that gun in your hand?" and Paul answers her back in his deep JAMC style vocal. They even introduce a massive glitchy synth solo in the middle of this slow bluesy stomper. I'm even thinking about a country fried Prinzhorn Dance School...a similar absence of crazy layers, just a heavy tom rhythm and tambourine, long distance reverb dusty guitar, and a couple of chords. This abstractly seems to be about a Bonnie and Clyde story, setting the scene, like the Neil Young Deadman soundtrack....one of my favorites...if I could only find that on vinyl...
The B-Side, "Out of Dust" is heading even further into the desert with a simple mic'd acoustic guitar, steel strings and all...and Sally is massively reverb'd into another dimension, like a mescaline dream, in the bottom of the grand canyon, a surfy sustained guitar wavering in out of the dust. A violin creeps into the background and those tumbleweeds really start to blow. It's a subtle vision with Fire Eyes, no distractions from recording technique, they've managed to create all this kind of imagery out of elements which individually shouldn't necessarily add up to this neo-country. The convertible rusted classic cars and sunglasses...a Julee Cruise Calexico sound.
How'd they do that.

Get it from Random Acts of Vinyl, preview the tracks, here on their Soundcloud page.