Top 5 Tour Singles

Just posted a piece at Bowery Presents of my top 5 tour singles....it doesn't get more specific than that.

Hiatus Alert!....but first 2 new ones on Stumparumper Records

I'm going on a brief hiatus until the 4th, I might post a few reviews I've been working on but nothing regular until I'm back in 2010...just wanted to quickly mention these two new releases Pat just put out in time for the holidays...this amazing 4-way split with Banned Books, Granny Frost, Hoop Dreams and Fuck Montreal...

I asked these bands to come up with a Christmas song, original or otherwise, and they all delivered on a level about 6 stories higher than I had ever hoped. Banned Books kicks things off with a punk song about what might or might not happen with the snowman sitting in your front yard. Granny Frost turns up the bass fuzz for a scathing (and non-sequitur) take on the holiday season. Hoop Dreams rocks from the perspective of Joseph, step-father of Jesus, and Fuck Montreal close it out with their rendition of "Do You Hear What I Hear?". Front cover art by the enigmatic MC Nugget, back cover by the H.A.N.S.! I sincerely hope you all enjoy this - it's perfect ending to a very tumultuous and, at times, frustrating year. But we done good. Thanks bands and loyal customers! See you all in the '10s.

Plus a 7 track mini EP from Fuck Montreal...I love the stuff on their myspace, super fuzz echo-y female fronted dirty electro punk.
Both are super cheap 3.50! Go and spend that 10 bucks grandma put in your christmas card on these beauties.
See ya.

2009 in 7"'s - The Year End Wrap up - MIX

Let's face it, it's time to do that end of the year/best of list...well I have a couple to mention.
Haven't posted a podcast in a few weeks because I've been working on a massive best of '09 mix...go get it here. (It's a little over an 1:20, 77mb) Or listen in the player on the lower right.

My humble favorites in no particular order....

Useless eaters - Agoraphobic on Goodbye boozy records
Fresh and onlys - I'll tell you everything on Dirty knobby records
Wavves - So bored on Young Turks records
Cold cave - Sex ads on Hospital productions
Cheap time - Woodland drive on In the red records
Real estate - Fake blues on Woodsist
Sonic youth - Pay no mind on Matador records
Nodzzz - Good times crowd on What's your rupture records
Ariel pink - Flashback on cooler cat records
Ty segall - Cents on Goner records
Brilliant colors - Takes so little on Captured tracks
Blessure grave - Reduce you to black smoke on Down in the ground records
Dum dum girls - A long hair on Hozac records
Blank dogs - Waiting on In the red records
These are powers - Cockles on Abl records
The whines - Insane ok on Just for the hell of it records
Idle times - Million miles away on Hozac
Adam payne - ...if you... on malt duck records
Shannon and the clams - Blood on Weird hug records
Little girls - Youth tunes on Captured tracks
Kurt vile - I wanted everything on Kraak records
Jack rose - Mr. rose visits Washington DC on Kraak records
Blitzen trapper - War is placebo on Sub pop
Gary war - Anhedonic man on Hell yes records
Kurt vile - He's alright on Matador records
Eat skull - Double wasted on Dulc-i-tone records
Psychedelic horseshit - too many hits EP - let down (and hangin around) on Columbus Discount records
The Mayfair set - Already warm on Captured tracks

Happy Holidays!

The Parish - Storm Driven Bird EP on Gold Robot Records

Here's another one from Gold Robot this morning, from a band, The Parish, which are based out of Oakland, CA and sport some decidedly smooth-- a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll tracks on this 4 song EP.
Like the sleeve, it's the sound of lazy fishin' and throwing the catch in the back of your old Toyota...take a double exposed Polaroid and stick it on the fridge...it's just one of those perfect days.
The first track 'Through the boughs' has high falsetto layered vocal harmonies from guitarists Andy and Zac, who also split the songwriting on the single. Graham, from the Roman Ruins single yesterday plays drums...virtually everyone in the band has vocal credits listed and when Kim on the organ chimes in for the choruses, it makes that huge religious sound complete.
Excellently recorded and mixed, everything is cleanly separated and punchy, from the bright tremolo guitar to the bass organ melodies.
'Humboldt County Line' is another huge sing a long, maybe it's that Hammond organ that's making me think of Elvis Costello, minus his vocals of course, throw in a hint of a sunnier Wilco.
'Wishbook' on the B-Side uses a waltz off-beat sparingly along with slide guitar for this brief little faraway number. It's probably so they can take their time with Dummy in Trouble's rolling bassline and organ and blow out finish. It's a somber not so much sad as just reflecting. The slide is back again on this one and when it fades out, it's not over...it's just beginning to take off.

Nicely done solid alt-country from The Parish

From Gold Robot Records:

A1 - Through the Boughs
A2 - Humboldt County Line
B1 - Wishbook
B2 - Dummy in Trouble [mp3]

From Amelia Raitt of eMusic: "Oakland group The Parish revels in the sound of sunshine, pairing bright, breezy harmonies with loose guitar jangle. The Parish blend hundreds of disparate influences: there are hints of early REM, a little bit of Muswell-era Kinks, even a little bit of Creedence. "Dummy in Trouble" slows the whole formula down to a kind of sluggish crawl, a late-summer haze that creeps and expands. This brief glimpse of the group's sunshine sound is the ideal tonic for winter afternoons.

Designed Entropy on Gold Robot Records

Hunter from Gold Robot Records was kind enough to send along some of his latest 7" releases of this past year, which I'll be getting to in the next few days/weeks....it was a lot. He currently has a Railcars single still available, and a European tour 12"just finished, and it looks amazing...I'm working on a review of the Railcars full length from Stumparumper and have to pick up a copy of this single from GRR. Randomly I picked up the Bonnie Prince Billy single he put out a while back and it's amazing...it will be grabbed if this place ever goes up in flames.

So I started with this interesting looking 4 way split from a bunch of artists I have no previous experience with....which made this an obvious choice. That's the beauty of these little pieces of vinyl, they free the wallet up just a little for some experimentation.
The sleeve even delivers on the entropy promise with the opening for the record being 180 degrees from where you think it should be, and then the back image is counterclockwise from there...controlled chaos.
The first track from Bomarr 'Exchanges among systems' takes a page from Kraftwerk's pure analogue synth sounds that reproduce great on vinyl. There's nothing like being in the middle of nowhere with a copy of Transeurope Express played as loud as possible...it's a life changing experience. A slow, cool calculated track based around variations of simple ancient drum machine patterns with plodding sustained synth...in it's purest form... the foundation. Alien.
Copy's up next with 'Karate eyes', a pure dance driven catchy as heck instrumental track coming from a place closer to this decade. You'd think one great melody would be enough, but they keep building on one another, and dropping out, swapping basslines for leads...it could go on a lot longer in it's pure optimism. It's impossible to fault the pure craftsmanship of the otherwise common elements.
But sooner or later you have to flip this over to check out Meanest Man Contest's Takitani Edit. MMC has a 7" of their own on GRR, which I recognized up next. It's a subtle arrangement of live samples...piano, kettle drums...all those eclectic one note foreign percussion sounds. They're all pulled from the closet to provide their own weird rhythm for some Xiu Xiu sounding vocals.
There's a great sample of what I'm pretty sure is William Burroughs talking about the 'inevitable rat race'...classic.
Roman Ruins (who it happens, plays with Beach House) rounds the disc out with another pretty optimistic sounding electronic based track 'Plea for Permanence'...(a great title against the band name), the sunny electronics joined by acoustic guitar slowly make their way to meet a Menomena sounding huge room drum kit beat deliberately mic'd close and loud which elevates this another floor or two, if it wasn't high enough already.
It's a satisfying peek into 4 electronic artists brought together by GRR in an exploration of music's various architecture.

Tracklist:
A1 : Bomarr - Exchanges Among Systems
A2 : Copy - Karate Eyes
B1 : Meanest Man Contest - Takitani Edit
B2 : Roman Ruins - Plea For Permanence

All pressed on opaque goldish, swirly vinyl. Nice.

Gold Robot says:

The first entry in the Designed Entropy series features exclusive tracks by 4 different artists inspired from a common starting point. As a cohesive unit, this EP explores the relationship between design, structure, and humanity. Suggested reading to accompany the listening experience: "Atlas of Novel Tectonics" by Jesse Reiser.

Useless Eaters 'Sucked in' on goner records

I've been listening to Useless Eaters 'Agoraphobic' single since I picked it up after seeing him open for Jay at Le Poisson Rouge a while back and he's got a couple of new ones now at Goner, like this 'Sucked in' single. I love the sound he's getting on these singles, huge reverb, stripped down punk melodies. Sort of surf....always punk with raw, effortless vocals, but the punchy melodies are perfect...'I don't want to go out / I don't want to socialize / Agoraphobic / that's what they call me'
It's drawing from all these garage/punk influences and it's channeled through someone whose kind of realizing he's got to start from scratch anyway. Throw out the history and move on...but of course you can't. He's smartly remembered, been influenced enough to have had it stick. It's garage pop perfection, down to the recording...it's all messy, peaking all over the place. Like Nathan from Wavves it's just forward thinking...putting the blinders on and racing ahead. I hope he can keep this momentum forever. If Jay is involved/supporting in some small way....then he's a pretty good chance of keeping it.
But it really came together live...It's rare to have that experience hearing someone play for the first time and completely get blown away...it's ridiculous he's 19 or something. It's like I'd heard them all before, and I wanted to again immediately.
Perfect example is 'Malfunction' at his myspace, the melody against the bursts of echo and distorted vocals. It's reckless. You lose this fearlessness as the years go by and self consciousness creeps in.
You see that?...I'm going to stay positive...what an old asshole I am.

I can't wait to finally get a full length...and who's going to put it out? Goner? Shattered Records?

USELESS EATERS - Sucked In - Goner - 52 GONE - 7" - $ 5.75
***Using cheap amps, cheap mics, and cheap tricks, Seth Sutton has created a fantastic and fascinating body of work as Useless Eaters. Taking his name from a snotty Vomit Pigs track from a snotty Killed By Death compilation, Sutton has aligned himself with the losers, the forgotten, and the never-were-knowns of "back in the day." Think Legionaires Disease, or The Trend, or Tampax, or Unnatural Axe--all fantastic bands content to dwell in the gutter, spewing out noxious, humorous, untamed punk rock with cheap and nasty equipment.Barely out of high school, Sutton has absorbed all the lessons of punk rock's first thirty years and avoided the traps of sentimentality, phoniness, and the urge to impress anyone outside of the band. Useless Eaters hate fashion, hate proficiency, hate snobbery, and probably hate you.Singles on Jay Reatard's Shattered Records, Italy's Goodbye Boozy, and other obscure vinyl outposts worldwide are spreading the sound. Useless Eaters are the real deal. Get in on it now, and share the secret. Or don't--Useless Eaters really don't care.

Get this one and the shattered records single from Goner.

Urthquake - last known address 7" on Spooky Tree Records

To round out the latest Spooky Tree Records releases, Bob Gratis, aka Urthquake has this offering to the world of northeast noise 7", which turns out to be his first release on vinyl...the split with Noise Nomads came after this one.

After hearing his side on that split from last week, I knew a little what to expect as this sleeve is really almost misleading. I thought it would (and almost still did) think it would be the usual death metal...all the signs were there....the gothic font...a black and white skull... especially the insert, which has a lengthy obituary about Bob saying he was 'found dead in his garage apartment....apparently from a home-made guillotine device.' I checked around online, and I'm pretty sure this isn't true...but it still has me guessing. This of course influences how I'm listening to it now...like some kind of suicide note.

But instead of growling satanic evil, you get on 'Last Known Address' a metronome kick drum machine with a haunting, minimal, no effects electric guitar...which might be a sample, it kind of drifts to and away from the hypnotizing rhythm. It rides along with the beat at times and then slightly veers off path...it's really delicate and is the eerie foundation for the distortion blasts of vocals that are mixed pretty low...sounding like plucked strings with the gain at 11, screechy Marshall stack metal...but there's just a hint of a human voice behind it...I think the bursts of air from words gives it away, but just barely. To have any idea of what he's saying you have to turn to the insert: Last known address / In decline / In demand.

The B-Side, ...As well as you should' uses a similar structure...the most basic kick beat and stripped down slight reverb electric, strummed really slowly which is interrupted by massive waves of heavily delayed distortion from another guitar and vocals that match the guitar in texture. It's an interesting way to solve the vocal problem in this genre...
I have to admit, most times the words black metal will bias me immediately to expect the growl deep vocals, speed percussion and power chords...and unless you're really in that world daily the nuances of bands techniques are lost on me...what can I say, it's all the same? Urthquake has just battle-axed that idea to pieces. It's just what black metal needs...someone to defy expectations and apply the punk DIY aesthetic to the doom. A Blank Dogification of the metal...one guy in his garage, messing around making guillotines, watching horror movies and messing with a tried and true formula, putting his own bloody fingerprints all over it. Or as the gutter says 'True New Jersey Black Ambient Metal'

Get this one from Spooky Tree, who says:

Bob T. Roller follows up his 2008 CD compendium with a 7" of true New Jersey satanic suicidal black ambient metal. Urthquake's first vinyl release.

He has a full length from Spooky as well...I wonder where he would go with 70 minutes of available space....

Diagram A/Chrome Jackson split on Spooky Tree Records

Last up this week is another single from Spooky Tree Records, this one a split with Diagram A and Chrome Jackson.
The sleeve is a pretty good idea of the sonic aesthetic direction both of these guys are going. Out of focus collages of chain link fences, old glued together newspapers, scratchy negatives from photos...all taken in hell.
Chrome Jackson is Stephen Mattos from Arab on Radar infamy. I've only heard about their live show years ago...that entire Providence no wave scene that they're now down in the books as founding. So where does that leave CJ on this side of the split? The insert says this track 'The Icicle Men March' was recorded in April this year at 88.1 Brown Student Radio.
First of all forgive me if I talk about this at the wrong speed...I think it was 33, but then I convince myself it's too drone-y and slow, that it has to be 45, but that's a little thin sounding, maybe hyper, so 33 it is.
Maybe it's the melody played back with low sample quality...but something is making this guitar sound like a kettle drum, with layers of distortion...and when it jumps, or autotunes the lower notes and starts panning back and forth, it completely rumbles. This is why this track is best heard on vinyl. I know your pathetic desk stereo you play the ipod through is not going to sound like this. No way. It's a hellish kind of scale melody repeated, played frantically until it fades out.

It's artists like this that constantly renew my faith in the guitar as a valid instrument forever. It's never going away...it's the blankest slate to future generations. If you are bored with performing with a guitar, then it's you because there are sounds no one has ever heard still waiting. Maybe this is musician's music...kind of only blowing your mind when you start to deconstruct it as a performer, but then there are still assholes that say they could paint a soup can. THAT'S NOT THE POINT!
Diagram A's side 'Artery Drawing Anterio' sounds based more in the digital world, meaning he is triggering something that translates into a digital sound that's then of course completely fucked with. I think that's the other side of the guitar that keeps it so vital is the physical performance when creating this noise, you have to really interact with this object that adds something to the sound (of course) that is going to change every time. Not that it isn't present here, it's just not a guitar, but the idea is the same. Diagram A sounds like it relies on the unknown a little to get some of this sound. This is handmade electronic circuit bent style...the sounds are cleaner and harsher. Every possible open space in the waveform hasn't been filled up with hiss. It's more minimal and carefully constructed sounding with no consideration for a vibrating string...it's just a mechanical sound that goes on forever...or until you flip the switch. It makes me want to pull out the Justice Yeldham single from Load.
Check out some instrument construction on his blog. These noises don't make themselves.

This is another great single in Spooky Tree's series of solo noise artists. Quickly becoming the Not Not Fun of the Northeast...solid singles with just enough taste of these guys to look them up and start tracking down full lengths, to hear where individually they'll go when given some space. I haven't heard anything with a recognizable melody for days and I just want more.

That reminds me about this piece at PS1 this weekend, Saturday 4PM:

Daniel Perlin performs Re: construction, an attempt to simultaneously build a model house and create an audio composition based on the sounds of its construction. Referencing both Robert Morris' Box with the Sound of its Own Making (1961) and the sampling work of Matthew Herbert, Perlin makes full use of hammers, screw drivers, and other tools for their physical and sonic capabilities.

I want to hear either of these guys build (or take apart) their electric guitars for a double sided seven inch. Or the sound of a seven inch being pressed!
Ok, now I'm getting stupid.

Sonny and the Sunsets full length on Soft Abuse Records

Soft Abuse mentioned this full length from Sonny and the Sunsets when I reviewed a couple of their singles a little while back and looking further into Sonny I found a Tim Cohen/F&O's connection so I had to give it a listen and it's been sinking in this past week.

One of my favorites, the first track, 'Too Young to Burn' is warm layers of acoustic guitar and organic percussion; slightly faded to the left snaps and handclaps. It's just the start of that gather-round-the-campfire folk 60's sound... which is present throughout 'Tomorrow is Alright'. There's a timeless quality you can't put a finger on to sort out the exact elements... but still it's contemporary sounding.... not so much a throwback that it's losing it's own identity, the most successful kind of combination of influence. He recreates that folk/pop sound from the 60's or 70's but without being too nostalgic, too faithful to details.
But it doesn't completely stay in that era either...from the slightly country bluegrass of 'Stranded', to the slow Velvets nihilistic slow echo of 'Death Cream' it seems Sonny just takes whatever style works for the content...or his rambling ways translate into genre hopping....all while being catchy enough to unconsciously sing along with the vocals.
Something like 'Strange Love' is a classic 50's echo harmony ballad with off tune ancient piano. The sort of musician who grew up playing all over the place, soaking up the styles from everywhere, not playing with visions of rocking the next ATP festival, but making enough in tips to get that guitar fixed and move on to the next town.
He writes with unselfconscious sentiment and the idealized hopes about love, or the visions of society like in 'Planet of Women'...well in that case it's kind of a sci-fi, duet conversation with Tahlia Harbour. Men being slaves...willing slaves....there's nothing you have to read into, it's storytelling, good-times, sunny west coast roadtrip sounds.

Amoeba's blog has an interview with Sonny... tons more info about the album and it's various guest appearances and connections.

500 copies of vagabond soul from Soft Abuse:

Sonny & the Sunsets' debut album will be available 17 November via LP / DL.
The album is a co-release with the SF label Secret Seven, who you might know from the brilliant Tim Cohen (Fresh & Onlys, Black Fiction) solo LP from earlier this year.

Sonny & the Sunsets are a beautiful west coast thing. Birthed from the sand, the surf, and twilight campfires down in Ocean Beach, Sonny & the Sunsets’ busted beach-pop songs spark recollections of doo wop's otherworldly despair, the kitchen sink savoir faire of The Raincoats, a touch of humor from the Michael Hurley school, and the positive possibilities exuded by Jonathan Richman. Helmed by the acclaimed singer/songwriter, playwright, comic book author & onetime troubadour pianoman Sonny Smith, The Sunsets have featured a revolving door lineup that now includes Kelley Stotlz (Sub Pop) and Tahlia Harbour (Dry Spells, Citay). Others like John Dwyer (The Oh Sees, etc.), Tim Cohen (The Fresh & Onlys, Black Fiction) and Shayde Sartin (The Fresh & Onlys, The Skygreen Leopards, etc) cosmically appeared to contribute to the debut LP, Tomorrow is Alright.

Tomorrow is Alright is limited to 500 copies. An illustration from the heralded artist Chris Johanson (Deitch Projects, Awesome Vistas label) adorns the sleeve.

...and the first 50 copies get a comic written by Sonny...

Urthquake/Noise Nomads split single from Spooky Tree Records

Darrin from Spooky Tree sent me a nice note and their latest batch of singles and I started with this first split from Noise Nomads and Urthquake who just finished touring together not long ago and I missed them at the Cinders Gallery.
In doing some research about Noise Nomads I think I found out that Jeff Hartford has something to do with Woods? I know Shepherds is (a) members of Woods....but some poster said they recognized one of the guys from Woods in Noise Nomads...so the internet said it, I believe it.
If that's true then that is one talented group of guys driving all kinds of amazing sound...and right in my backyard. It's insane, and I'm a little jealous...the Woodsist label, all the side projects... Silent Barn...it's an entire flowchart scene in and of itself.

Whoever they are, Noise Nomads have the A-Side of this vinyl 'Soaked Blanket'. It starts off with really low bit sampled synth keyboard running through a ringtone effect, at least that's what I think anyway, this is really an exercise in trying not to examine the recording too much. The squeals, pitch shifted, homemade electronics bleeps...it's all layered on top of each other. The whole thing is slowed down towards the end, like someone holding their finger on the tape hole...see the old four track is good for something. It seems to all get more chaotic...I keep trying to listen if it's actually true...what parts are repeating...but it's impossible. Like a nightmare in a hong kong toy factory, the room where they product test all the beeping toys for longevity has caught on fire...you can watch it melt through the blast shielded door. Or listen to their last cries on this side thanks to Spooky Tree.
The Urthquake side is another solo noise maker, Bob Gratis, with a track 'Intra Muros'
this actually has some structure to it, with repeated regular synth sounds, and heavy effected guitar (?) that comes off as cymbals practically. It's an old videogame soundtrack you don't remember, or an 80's martial arts movie training/travelling montage. Like the sleeve, it's a moody, scary day in ancient greece, but eighties style. That era of naivety of new sound. It's a preset on this thing called a synthesiser...it's going to change everything! Everyone's using it!
Then the massive explosion and a shattering of glass completely scares everyone in the room...I don't know what the hell that just was, but it sounded like the end of the world. I think our hero just karate chopped a huge crystal castle. I would authentically believe this was created 20+ years ago.
Excellent.
Great weirdo noise split from Spooky Tree records go get it...more to come...

Hell On Earth 15 song demo on Trigger on the dutendoo records

Tim from Trigger on the Dutendoo records sent this to me with a huge pile of full length releases he's been putting out over the years which I'm going to get to shortly, but this was in the last pile of seven inches and I just got to it this morning.
From another early project called Hell on Earth, according to the liner notes it was released sometime 1997 or early 98 on a four track, weirdly enough Kevin Debroux from Pink Reason plays bass on this early Wisconsin artifact...in fact I found this post over on Terminal Boredom from Kevin:

I just got a copy of the Hell On Earth - Early Years: Hell Never Let's Go pt. 1 7" from Trigger on the Duten Doo. It was recorded in 1997 and features ME on bass. I can't explain how beautiful and ridiculous this is. From the same label that brought you Holy Shit!'s Jazz Phase. It's fifteen tracks of WEIRD THRASH. We played with bands like Dropdead, Diskonto, Crudos, From Ashes Rise, Talk Is Poison, Misery, Insurrection, Code 13 and just about every touring hardcore band that came through Wisconsin during the late 90's. We were a band's band. The favorite band of all the bands that got good writeups in places like Heart Attack, Profane and MRR although we never got much respect from the zinesters and respected figureheads in the scene as we were the most drugged out group of weirdos and outcasts in the scene.

It turns out all the members at one point or another from Coreyfukingfeldman have ended up in Pink Reason...my mind is officially blown this morning.
Now keep in mind it's super low quality recording of essentially thrash metal at super speed the tracks end up around 30 seconds, probably recorded live, press record and call it a day. That being said it actually is mixed at decently enough volumes...and it's bringing back some memories of my first recording experience.
I don't know how Dave found out I had a 4-Track or how I ended up at his house recording his metal band. Dave was the kind of guy who carved satanic shit into desks in the art room, and told everyone to fuck off. It was a tiny town, I played music had some faggy bands and Dave was 100% metal. The only thing I really remember was having their vocalist do a separate track with headphones in the attic and someone's mom practically breaking down the door and fucking up the takes yelling about the devil's music, she didn't want that in her house etc.
They screamed at her to shut the fuck up...my ears were already bleeding and I was pretty sure someone was going to get killed in the middle of the woods.
I wish I could find that tape, especially the outtakes.
The other thing I remember about Dave was that he used to hook up the bottom part of his Marshall stack to his stereo in his car somehow, it took up the entire back seat, and I thought that was pretty cool.
See this is what I'm getting from these metal demo's, fucked up times indeed. I think everyone really starts from this place, or anyone over 30 let's say. You hear Metallica, Ozzy, get a guitar for christmas and start a band with distortion chords and growly vocals. It might not last long, but you did it...admit it.
You just didn't press it on vinyl like Tim did.

He saved you a lot of trouble.

It available from Tim at trigger.on.the.dutendoo (at) gmail

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone Instrumental 7" on Stationary Heart Recordings

A1. tomjustice_instr
B1. whitejetta_instr
B2. whitecorolla_instr

John from Stationary Heart wrote me an actual letter (mailed...with a stamp!) about his labels latest release from Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. It's a play on the DJ plain sleeve stamped 7" with the traditional instrumental tracks which eventually became part of the Vs. Children sessions among others. Apparently these tracks existed as instrumentals for a long time while he wrote and recorded the lyrics. They really started out as independent tracks on their own, that might not have ever had lyrics before they became a part of an album...it's an interesting way to look at it...I guess he felt they deserved a life on their own...as almost karaoke versions, or fodder for remix projects, or as in my case, it took me a while to really make the connection with the vocal/album material, they feel so different...definitely Casiotone sounding, starting with catchy sampled break beats, or cheap drum machine. Add subtle, slight synth with quirky time signature change-ups, alien sounds, unexpected pieces right next to each other. That's all there, but minus the story, I was reaching to remember the original.

I've been a fan of Owen from CFTPA since I heard about about his now mythologized conceptual idea of betting someone he could make an entire album with the cheapest Casio available. Ever since that first album the project has evolved of course, but in the best possible way.

I was talking with a friend the other day about that inevitable evolution of a band. The way producers/labels get involved and start introducing instruments and influences to the artist, which changes the sound, in the way they've changed all their other artists they worked with....usually for worse. A 30 piece orchestra is layered into the sound, studio musicians who worked with other greats are brought in for solo's, ...it just seems to always follow that overproduced formula. Unless a band/individual is strong willed enough to say no, or know exactly what they are trying to achieve, then it's going to eventually be a diluted mess...I'm thinking of Bright Eyes, Built to Spill...lately they have lost the things that made me like them in the first place.
This isn't the case with Casiotone...instead it seems to be this ever evolving project, he's willing, maybe even forces himself to take his music in all kinds of directions....soundtracks, ringtones, instrumental recordings. It feels to me like he's more of an artist who happens to record audio. He's ready to change the context and medium for the music, for whatever the situation dictates. A site specific musician if you will.
But this isn't even his first 7" in this direction. He scored the soundtrack for Laurel Nakadate's film 'Stay the Same Never Change', even recording ringtones for the characters in the film...putting it all together for an extensive 7" from OIB Records.
I just love that there are the albums, which are the museum shows...the almost overwhelming side of the artist. It's hard to absorb it all in one sitting...it takes weeks. Then there are these little public projects or individual paintings you can take home for a while, borrow them, live with them, and all of a sudden that album has changed. I got a chance to crack open the journal for a few pages thanks to Stationary Heart.


Stationary Heart has a few of these left, available directly from their website.
Or you can get it direct from Owen along with a bunch of his other 7" experiments.

The Mantles on Slumberland/Dulc-i-tone = Slumbertone Records

Just got this single from The Mantles in my Slumberland order the other day, and it seems like it's already sold out from them but they mention giving Dulc-i-tone a try to see if they have any left.
I saw the Mantles open for Ty Segall at Death by Audio a little while back...there was an insane art party/sculpture in the space and it was a little hard to properly see/hear these guys, so I was waiting to hear how this single would pan out before I made the leap to seek out their full length on Siltbreeze.
The A-Side 'Bad Design' has a lot more little details going on in the bassline then I heard that night..it can be hit or miss there with the sound quality, and I understand they're working with near nothing and never a soundcheck so it was pretty muddy. There's a lot more subtly melodically and less mess. He sounds a bit like a hoarse Joe Strummer with JB from the Crystal Stilts delivery. Or maybe it's the melody that sounds like the Stilts on this one, the organ underneath...I could hear a cover version easy.
'Rachael' on the B-Side seems like the stronger track, this is really capturing that California counterculture era of rock, with a little bit of a garage slant to the whole thing. It doesn't feel like it's grounded in any kind of trend...unless there's a post-psyche thing that you could actually put a finger on, it's got it's own romanticised vision of the 60's, those bubble light things, paisley maybe...it could be the echo, or the attitude...a little laid back, but then with a dark side freak-out from a biker gang. It's all there. The beach, cars, drugs, the desert...The marbled vinyl and handstamped labels.

MANTLES "Bad Design" b/w "Rachel" 7" (IWIWAS 000001).
Thrashed out in the basement on a slow Sunday afternoon, the brand new "Bad Design" has the lazy drive of a "tougher" Bats -- hungover with a shot voice and a negative attitude. It's also notable for being the recording debut of newest Mantle, key-tickler Matt Kallman (also of Magic Bullets). On the flip, "Rachel" is a zoned-out and inescapably psychedelic album out-take. With a sinister hook, and dark vibes care of producer Greg Ashley, it's a b-side but definitely not a cast-off.

A stop-gap single for their just-completed tour, this Slumberland/..Dulc-i-Tone co-release is only available via mailorder from the labels. Limited to 300 copies, all swirly color vinyl, the single features two exclusive songs not available on the brand new Siltbreeze LP.

The full length is at the Siltbreeze and you can hear the 'Bad Design' track from The Mantles thanks to Slumberland here if there's absolutely no more. Sorry.

New singles on Ketchup Cavern Records

I forget how I came across these latest from Ketchup Cavern, but I remember getting their first release from Seagull, 'The conqueror worm' and loving the insane noise/static of the one side and thinking, 'One side?, it doesn't cost any more to put something on the other side? Is this some kind of cruel waste of wax? Was I supposed to carve a groove out myself and consider that the untitled track?' Well, Ketchup Cavern is back at it confusing me again, this time with a Sissy Spacek single sided 7" (see below for the KC video). 22 songs in 3.5 minutes, it's bursts of electronics/screaming/drums...nice. I'm a fan of John Weise and his millions of projects...he seems to love the 7" format and has an impossible to keep up with discography.
But what I really want to get a hold of is the Robedoor single..not just because it's double sided (?!) but because for some reason I thought they broke up or something...maybe I'm thinking of Pocahaunted? Or I just haven't seen anything from them in a while, but here's two new tracks of ambient spookiness from those guys at 33 of course, pushing the format, and theirs to it's limits of reproduction.

Hey Santa, can I forward you blog posts?

Get them from Ketchup Cavern...

Andrew Cedermark / Family Portrait split on Underwater Peoples Records

Underwater Peoples alerted me to their latest split single from Andrew Cedermark and Family Portrait, both of which I've heard nothing from before, so a single is always the best place to start. These two are completely matched in downright soothing classic catchyness.

A1: Andrew Cedermark - Untruth

A2: Anderw Cedermark - Hard Livin'

B1: Family Portrait - Super Cool

B2: Family Portrait- Mega Secrets

The track I heard from Andrew's side was 'Hard Livin'', which starts out with a lone bass kick drum against rim shot sticks, add a little acoustic under a full sounding chorus electric finger picking and it's got a sort of country sound without getting too sentimental. And that's as far as that comparison goes, it's rock made out of the simpler things, the overlooked elements of a band working together, playing off each others sounds.
All the way from the clicking rhythm into a epic crawl eventual climax that takes you by surprise a couple of times. The layers of vocals are understated, a little distant...working behind the instrumentation building layers against the picking melody punctuated by increasingly distorted accompaniment. It's sad and overpowering... fading out to an ungrounded guitar hum giving away the room sound. Andrew is putting the live cards on the table...this is built in a real space, with the pain and suffering that takes. I have to say I don't know Titus Andronicus, but I'm going to be looking into them, as it seems I've got another Tim Cohen situation on my hands.

The Family Portrait track 'Mega Secrets' has that overblown warm dirty sound that's sounds fed through tiny muffled broken speakers from a station just out of reach. They take a great repeated melody and just let it ride through the amps, it's tinny, jangly guitar, nearly screeching with treble, with that Real Estate momentum. The big difference here is lead Evan who restrains himself in a moody deep moan for most of the track so when he lets loose towards the end with
'I can't do anything right...' the vocals peaking in the red, it really gets you.

I don't want to round peg Underwater Peoples sound into that Real Estate square hole, but I can't get past it. It's that classic melodic rock I keep appreciating. Real Estate really has grown on me...the layers of effects on guitars, the slow grind...I know it doesn't sound like anything new, and that's why it's harder describing it? There is something really interesting about this sound coming from NJ, and U.P. are capturing it...the Woodsist/Captured Tracks of NJ. Go get it from Underwater Peoples.

Today, We're announcing the release of a split record from Andrew Cedermark (Born in beautiful Glen Rock, NJ/Formerly of Titus Andronicus) and Family Portrait (Frontman Evan Brody hails from Ridgewood, NJ). Despite all the tracks being painstakingly recorded, we might as well have just taped one of our house parties. Nine times out of ten, this split was the bill. - Underwater Peoples