Fuck Montreal - Winter Mange on Stumparumper

Massive EP from these Canadian Halifaxers up today from Stumparumper.
You know, googling Fuck Montreal isn't easy, there's a lot of anger towards the place I thought was doing pretty well, music-wise...I'm assuming it has something to do with some sports bullshit, but maybe for this band it's a purely sexual thing towards the city. Or there is a huge feud with Halifax and Montreal...maybe Montreal is Canada's Seattle...Yea, fuck Seattle. Nice.

'Alarm Clock' the first track on the A-Side: I remember going to their myspace a year back when Pat announced he might be pressing a single from these guys and liking them immediately. It had a little bit of the synth-punk sound I've been missing since '06, but then there was a kind of Blood on the Wall, indie 90's filter of anything goes. This EP only takes their influences even crazier places, and baffles expectation.

France 1954: I'm getting it now, these guys are like the Swirlies...taking weirdo chances on crazy sounds. Fuck Montreal has more of an edge though, not so twee, but that could just be history looking unfavorably on the Swirlies, I still love them. The drum machine rhythm track is great, her echo vocals here are calling up a little YYY's feel, but with their old experimental wacko sounds they used to embrace more. My favorite, but nothing like anything else on the single.
'Winter mange' then goes, believe it or not... 90's grunge. Heavy Harvey Milk-style sustained guitars, but they never had vocals like this bratty punk. It's even Mudhoney...that superfuzz bigmuff era. Trying to be heavier than anything else. Fuck Montreal have no fear, and no definitive sound. I love a band like this taking huge chances, alienating an audience. Like this video for 'Bucket of Blood'...they certainly aren't vegetarian...but it's always in a way that makes sense. Chickens are delicious...just raise them responsibly, and kill them humanely. It's really not so crazy....but as a video...well, they have view and it might not end up being so popular...but maybe that's the set up with a band name like 'Fuck Montreal'... They're good.
This could be a B-Side on an old Sonic Youth single, with Kim Gordon loosing her shit, FM's lady is a mix of an angry KG and Karen O on this one, they're freaking chameleons.

Pluto changes gears yet again to a sludgy psyche experiment...even though they are everywhere stylistically on this EP, and it's all intelligently done. Huge gong and tambourine...the whole thing is just hanging from a plodding beat, and again, Jenn or Blair (not sure, I think it's the same vocalist throughout) took this tiny bit of a groove and worked it into a creepy melancholy melody. This one my favorite, forget what I said before.

The B-Side then says 'Oh you thought that first side was interesting?... Well that was our pop side.'
'The Rabbits' actually gets all sad, the acoustic tone, and bare minimal percussion, thin organ...I think she's actually singing about a garden? Jesus...it's like the second coming of the Unicorns! I've made far too many comparisons to other bands, but you can't pick just one...there's so many great things going on here.
Then 'Beachglass' is one of the guy members goes a capella with a slow solo piano, and a few triangle hits are all it takes to bring everyone down.
'I pour Bees on myself', has crazy acoustics, there's a wind instrument played a couple notes back and forth while Jenna or Blair sings in a bathroom. The tracks get layered from the oboe someone had in the closet. It dies in the end.

I had no choice but to mention every track, otherwise you wouldn't believe me.

This is that band I always wanted to be in, where everyone brings a bunch of weird shit to the table, no judgements, no predetermined direction...but everyone has a great kind of songwriting sensibility to combine into something, not groundbreaking in little pieces, but as a whole band it would never have happened any other way.

I got one of the swirly red ones...not sure if any of these are left, but head over to Stumparumper and pick this up (for just 3.50$!), or better yet go pledge on his kickstarter page, it's going to be the same with shipping so support this label putting out gems like this. It's an insanely mature and varied release for essentially a band playing with rock archetypes, but honestly one of these will get you. I can't imagine a full length. Deerhoof is consistent compared to these guys.

"Winter Mange" is Fuck Montreal's debut vinyl release after countless previous releases on just about every other kind of media available (tape, cdr, vhs, who knows what else?), and it's a stunner. Over 14 minutes of music is crammed onto this small platter, taking full advantage of a format that is too often relegated to carrying 4 minutes of music...TOTAL. This is rare music - it comes from a space that you or I can't know...it has always been here, and will still be around for download after everyone's gone. There is nothing in the way except the sound.

The Last Rapes of Mr Teach on Les Disques Steak records

Les Disques Steak, who put out that tour Tyvek single a little while back, are at it again sending me their latest. I have to hand it to the production/art on these things, they are serious.
The sleeve is excellent as usual, heavy card stock screen printed. The green reproduced above doesn't do this fluorescent color justice. It's just great...the detail in the brown pen coloring, all the hieroglyphs, and the two color layers of raised ink, a little off register in places, it's amazing. Check out this guy PRT's myspace, he's been doing their flyers and it's all this wood cut, high contrast, primitive stuff...

The Last Rapes of Mr Teach...that's one hell of a name...I don't know what to say... at least they're done right?...with the raping? 4 Tracks at 33 1/3 from these French imports, and damn this is a grungy, punk blowout. They would have had me at 2.

Like Ty Segall, on 'Blood of Another Man' they've reinvented this familiar garage 60's sound with almost comical massive shitty surf reverb. The guitar is really bright, all rhythm, with sort of lost layered nasal vocals. It's full of overblown fuzzy hooks, and doesn't stop barreling through both ears. This one is mixed and recorded loud.
Last Rapes fits in exactly with the current crop of garagers from Hozac, Woodsist, Captured Tracks...they are making a case for some kind of universality with this stripped down raw recording. Everyone loves it, when the feeling is there, the rest is just audio semantics.
'I saw a corpse' is such a stand in for old Stones, or Sonics it's ridiculous. Slightly English mod sounding, with some honkeytonk... whatever that is. The sound quality is all there. It's scary sometimes how I think I might have been able to trick my Dad with some of the stuff I'm listening to these days. Especially on vinyl, I could just slip it in there and see if he even noticed. This one might be a little too textured...he'd probably check the stylus, the speaker connections...but the unmistakable era is here.

'It's all over' keeps this great bassline groove going under the surf guitar slight changes and solo tropic soul melody. The vocals are the best, they have that garage, overblown gritty sound massively in front, really driving every one of these tracks. It's got a little Nodozz in there, it's a fun trip, complete with off key moments, misspellings...the human moments of imperfection that just make this better.

I had to include a video from these guys, the sound quality sucks but french dudes are literally throwing themselves at these guys in the middle of their set. They hopefully can come through NYC and play with The Beets or Woods....Times New Viking.

Order direct from disquessteak (at) gmail.com or get it from the usual distros...it's a perfect release in every way. These 'last rapes' guys are the new ipad of France.

The Ostrich - Mt Fuji in Red on Mammoth Cave

How is it such a tiny world? I barely start looking into this last one, The Ostrich from Mammoth Cave and it's Chris from the Sharp Ends. Turns out he and the drummer, Mike went from Ostrich to the Sharp Ends.
This sleeve is classic punk, printed + cut out at home. It's a war photograph. I think Pearl Harbor...a bunch of ships from the air circling around on the back. It's massive destruction, a turning point in civilization...world war...so I was guessing this might be a tad bit heavier than the Sharp Ends direction...not really, there's a pretty clear line from this to the sharp ends.
So what's the difference? Well, The O is cleaner sounding, not the sort of direct blues garage direction let's say, more sinister then party garage. It's definitely dark vocally, the instrumentation maybe puts this into slightly laid back psyche/rock at times, thanks to the organ but it's more frontman heavy with Chris' delivery here, it's a little funhouse clown menacing this time. Kind of tough and a touch goth and mixed way out front.

Mt Fuji in Red has this great opening percussion part and the chorus is harmonic feedback alternating with chords...it's a great sound. If anything this sounds a little too together, something about the mix puts everything on the same level. This one ends with lots of spooky screaming theremin, and it's going rockabilly here for some reason. Leave it to the Cramps to have completely co-opted that 'instrument'.
The B-Side track 'Rabies' steps things up a bit, and it gets pretty raw....this is a precursor to the Ends definitely. It shows how much the way it's recorded is effecting the sound...this could be on a Sharp Ends single, if it had more life and texture to the recording...the performance is there.

Dig it from the Cave that is Mammoth:

After the demise of The Ostrich, enigmatic front-man Chris Zaijko and drummer Mike Bressanutti went on to form Sharp Ends to great success (selling out their debut show at Broken City in Calgary with people eager to find out if Sharp Ends could live up to The Ostrich's legacy). Needless to say, the rest is history.

We were lucky enough to find two boxes of Mt. Fuji in Red (the 2nd 7", and my favourite of the two - "Rabies" alone is worth the price of admission!), and have about 30 left, so act quickly.

Dan Friel - Obsoleter on Spooky Tree

I get financially why it was probably necessary to put this out on cassette 5 years ago, but I for one am super glad this is on wide groove 45 high speed 12" vinyl. Nice screened cover from Shawn Reed of Racoo-oo-oon too, which is just a bonus.
The frequencies have room to breathe, the compression is limited...and you can hear it. This is a true remaster of the original material... I mean if I want to get super nerdy about it, it's going to sound the best on vinyl like this, not hissy cassette. That would add it's own layer of something else...and it's not even tapes fault...I don't trust the shitty tape players I have. I don't care about them, never cleaned them, they have bad headphone jacks. They're a bucket full of problems I have to listen through. But I've taken the time to clear up all these problems with the record player usually, so I can trust it to be a listening neutral experience. It's as close to what the original artist intended. You might as well listen to a karaoke version of the song...I mean that could be interesting too, to have that interaction with the material...

So here we are as close to the intention as possible, and I'm still questioning the sonic limitations of my equipment. It'll never end. Dan Friel is fucking with the peaking of synth sounds, there are no nice, clean tones to be found anywhere. I like that most percussion rhythms sound like they're cobbled together from glitchy synths , it's something you don't notice at first, but it's clear he's taking massive control over all of the textures. So much so that you don't want to necessarily introduce that standard 808 drum machine...it's not going to add anything to the sound. At this point it's almost ignorable as a stand in for an actual beat. These are far better.

The first track, 'Obsoleter' has a sustained bellowing tone twisted faster and slower, to a distorted beat. A melody sounds like it's breaking through the mass of effects that can't quite contain it. As a member of Parts and Labor, this is someone who is just heavily acquainted with sound manipulation. It's always rooted in some kind of rhythm though, but whatever the original sound is, it's really being beaten to death.
'Pink Helicopters' uses a vocal melody screamed into a guitar pickup, and the electronics here start to get really gamey, almost decades ago videogame soundtrack...well not so much soundtrack as just button actions. Then a tropical melody breaks in, which varies between pan asian and 8bit Ducktails. I have to hope this is recreated live with 25 little blinking boxes in front of him and not standing behind a laptop. It also makes for a more interesting performance, I'm watching it being created, although I guess that takes a more intimate space to make that make sense. I keep remembering seeing Ducktails once and Matt was crouching, moving all over the tiny space to keep up with the evolution of the tracks I recognized, but clearly were just templates for another experiment.
'Intervention '05' has this epic U2 quality to it...you can sense the build up from the very beginning, like the robot streets-have-no-name program is running. There's some theremin sounding work over an increasingly pulsating beat and it all sort of ends before it can go down a dreaded dance attack mode, I appreciate how concise his constructions are, there's no filler moments or long stretches of ambiance...it's clearly got a destination, and one hell of a complex way of getting there.

God dammit! All the toasters lead to his myspace. I tried them all! His other work over on that page is equally sonically interesting. He's really pushing the sounds...I'm already lost on the direct reference and he's always taking everything one step further.

Spooky Tree has done a major service releasing this, and it's one more jenga piece pulled on the west coast sound/noise domination of NNF.

1. Obsoleter
2. Pink Helicopters mp3
3. Intervention '05
4. Glass Kite
5. Imploder
6. Untitled '05

Vinyl release of Dan Friel's out of print 2005 EP (originally released on cassette by Night People). Featuring artwork by Shawn Reed (Wet Hair, Raccoo-oo-oon, Night People). Friel has been making primitive electronic music under his own name and as part of the Brooklyn-based noisepunk band Parts & Labor since 2001.

Myelin Sheaths - 'Do the mental twist' on Horizontal Action Records

Paul from Mammoth Cave is currently touring with the Myelin Shealths who have this single out on Hozac, so I thought I'd give this a listen before I continue on with the latest singles on the Cave. Looks like they have one more show this month if you are in the Lethbridge area on the 31st, you are going to see these guys somewhere...probably the Red Dog Diner.

'Do the Mental twist', which should be the A-Side if I'm not wrong has an insane amount of reverb and delay distortion ricocheting around in a haze... the layers just keep piling on. Is that a cymbal crash or all treble chords? This is classic garage, fed through the indecipherable machine. Not insanely overdone, it's still a party, not a statement. The back and forth blown out vocals from Martine and Cassandra (or just one of those two) are perfect on every track, it's surfy and greaser punk with a little blues, and all balls. Cavernous drums and nearly arty feedback take this to another level, it's all blown out on the smallest speakers.
'Drugstore pharmacy' ups the ante with some weirdo gary war wavering organ, in front of the wall of echo vocals. It's managing to still be in a total wash of sound with the melodies desparately holding it together, definitely more than a sum of it's parts somehow.

I can't stress enough the recording process on these tracks will keep you guessing, expertly crafted to just be on the verge of a solid waveform.
The tone on this is perfect, they are doing everything right.

Paul was recently interviewed for The New Canadian Modern about the Sheaths and you should check that out here.

Get it from Hozac.


Just a quick note as well, Patt from Stumparumper Records launched a kickstart project to keep the label alive, he's put out a ton of stuff this year and there are some great deals on packages of singles and full lengths if you pledge by April 24th, so if you haven't picked up his singles...now is the time. I should be covering his latest this week as well, looking forward to that.

Bash Brothers - 5 song EP on Vinyl Guru Records

Bash, or Bash Brothers is two friends Lindsay Coulton and Kristjanne Vosper. Like the truly solo 4-track bedroom project, I have a special place on my 7" shelves for duos. Is there something magic about two people having to work a little bit harder than a 3 piece to make some serious noise? Is it the intimacy of the rehearsals, performances, traveling on the road that make it less work in some ways, that makes it more willing to take chances or indulge weirdo tracks? It's a special rock and roll situation...The White Stripes, Handsome Furs, The Yips, Ween, the list goes on and on. Before I read the liner notes it wasn't even an issue...it's not something that's obvious on the single. Pounding overdriven drums, a little too loud, just the way I like 'em, fuzz pedal bass, or a crazy destroyed amp, punch in the vocals after a couple of takes, and you have a 5 song 7" EP like this.

Kristjanne has that destroyed raspy vocal like Jemina Pearl, or the Coathangers style scream/yelling, which is impossible to have playing without noticing the insane choice of lyrics like:
'I had a party hat on when I came out of my mom!'
'My aunt gave me lots of soap now I smell me wherever I go!'
At first I have to admit, it was a little direct, maybe the lyrics too obvious...I don't need completely obscure poetry or something, but then this could get old quick, but the last track 'Rat Jacket' has completely won me over, 'Rat Jacket! You don't know what's right or wrong!' and by the end they crack themselves up and have to stop playing in the middle of the track. It's not tongue in cheek party music, it's punk, but they aren't going to stab you either. Classic first band, nothing to do, fuck off wanker punk that isn't taking things too seriously.
Then on 'Modern Day Robinhood', it gets all Sleater Kinney, another completely ridiculous premise, but the harmony they pull is great. As soon as I stopped taking them so seriously it was a million times better, that's my cynical fault. It's sounding more and more like a Ween side project, with really authentic garage Yips sound.

But then maybe it was this profile from the stay at home blog on these two that really drove it home, they're having a good time and it's obvious. I get can get behind people who are in it for the sheer fun of playing and pressing a single. I bet they've never even been to SXSW.

Did I mention it's a hand numbered, white vinyl, big hole 45? I think it was pressed by Vinyl Record Guru, which is not a label, but an actual pressing plant?
It's available in the K Recs shop....or maybe contact them directly on their myspace? Mammoth Cave forwarded this along, so they may carry copies as well. That's the best I can do.
Pathetic.

Sharp Ends on Mammoth Cave Recording Co.

In the same batch of releases from Mammoth Cave was this Sharp Ends (why do I keep thinking of split endz....jesus) single. The sleeve reminded me of a teepee release a while back...black and white line drawing of something tribal, but then it's a head eating another head. Get that tattoo around your bicep jerk-off!
Then I'd respect you.
Crack Trap the first track on the A-Side...A tom-centric beat and bassline supports this Fugazi sounding plucked harmonic melody with dark deep vocals that's taking me back to listening to Peter Murphy on cassette, but PM never rocked like this. There's no pretentiousness cutting you up. It's dense intelligent post punk, there's no repetition, the vocals found their place back in the mix, but somehow has a dialogue with itself, back and forth, layered and then single line. Damn it's really bringing back Fugazi like crazy, the more I hear this, the chorus call and response, the energy...and I mean that in the way that there isn't a specific sound Fugazi ever really had, you could just hear the distinction between them and everyone else...in the details.

'Loaded Hearts' on the B-Side is more frantic, I'm even recalling the Replacements here, it's brief, full of more power-ish chords, a little more raw. Rocking with the layered vocals just out of reach and attempting to get the party started this time instead of encourage the dread so much. Just completely solid, they've got something. Mammoth Cave dug out a pretty amazing gem. I'm looking for the Hozac single now as well, I get the feeling every single thing is going to be just as interesting.

A: Crack Trap
B: Loaded Hearts

Fresh off their debut on Chicago's Hozac Records, Sharp Ends deliver their 2nd of three 7"s coming out in Fall 2009 (with each single decreasing in availability). For this single, Sharp Ends combine their post-punk/early Joy Division vibe with decidedly more of a pop sensibility, even displaying elements of power-pop on the b-side, Loaded Hearts. The killer here is the a-side Crack Trap, which has one of the catchiest guitar hooks we've heard in some time. Essential.

The Moby Dicks on Mammoth Cave Recording Co.

Paul from 7,10,12 has diverted his energies as of late from his great blog into The Mammoth Cave recording Co. and playing bass for The Moby Dicks who have this single on MC. Paul was kind enough to send all of the Cave's releases so far which I'll be highlighting this week and hopefully getting him on the phone to talk about his label and the Dicks.

This sleeve has been sitting on top of my speaker for about a week and it makes me hungry, or want to puke every time, what can I say it depends. Right now, I'm hungry, but when I think about spelling Moby Dicks in condiments, it get me...I think I hate mustard, that yellow shit kind. I'm about to turn into 7inchslam for a minute as I get into Poutine. I once saw Anthony Bourdain go to Montreal in an episode of No Reservations and have Poutine...it was a god damn revelation. It has to be the most amazing, laziest perfect group of food aside from nachos. It's the kind of thing that came from some genius who said, I like these things: french fries, meats, mash potatoes, gravy, but put cheese on top, not just any cheese but cheese curd. I don't know exactly why that's so awesome but it is. There's one place on 2nd Ave near 7th street that actually has Poutine, I'm sure it's a sad pathetic version of the stuff served at the Red Dog Diner in Lethbridge, Alberta, but it's as close as I'm going to get in NYC. Apparently they have cheap hot dogs and now have been immortalized by the Dicks on the A-Side 1st track of this single. In classic pop punk Ramones fashion they pound out, harmonize, and state the obvious:
The Red Dog Diner has cheap hot dogs / and the place is run by frogs
The chorus rules this one, there's drunks trying to start a fight...if I ever find myself near Alberta I'm making a special visit. This is fist pumping with a punchy bassline. The vocals are layered and really, I know more bands then the Ramones, but this is just such a direct reference for me. The melody... the slightly layered 50's greaser vocals.
The next track ' Fuck off baby' sounds like it's the 2nd part of 'Ballad...' there;'s no break on the vinyl, and again, the lyrics aren't some obscure personal hidden project, he just wants to be clear:
'Why don't you fuck off baby / get lost'
The drums are flat and distorted, like a piece of sheet metal and there's a weird bass synth sound shooting in giving it all that ominous feel. This time it's serious. The fun loving, hard drinking band is gone, they are pissed. Makes sense.
The B-Side rounds it out with 'Mike Molloy' a more howling blues rock track where he's asking 'does she love me?' to Mike? It's probably one of those drunken nights where Mike was sitting at the bar and you're a mess, and it's because of a woman of course.
Finally there's a cover(?) of Hubble Bubble's Pogo Pogo. Don't know the original, but I love that they changed it up a bit to be about a lake monster called Ogo Pogo. It's classic fucking around with friends, these friends just happen to be able to actually play their instruments.
It's got the sloppy fun of Personal and the Pizza's and the blues rock scuzz of the Oblivians, get this one from the Mammoth Cave Recording Co.:

A1: Ballad of The Red Dog
A2: Fuck Off Baby
B1: Mike Molloy
B2: Ogo Pogo (Hubble Bubble Cover... kind of)

Comes with Download Code
Myspace

The Moby Dicks are a three piece (bass/guitar and two super shitty tom drums duct taped together) featuring two current members of Myelin Sheaths (HoZac single coming soon!) and two past members of Endangered Ape (RIP).

I wont hesitate to say that this 7" has it all - songs about a rad French-Canadian Hot Dog joint in the heart of the Canadian Bible-Belt ("Ballad of the Red Dog"), girls ("Fuck Off Baby" and "Mike Molloy" - a song named after the proprietor of the local record shoppe, but actually about girls) and a mythical Lake Monster ("Ogo Pogo", which is actually a cover of Hubble Bubble's "Pogo Pogo" with the words changed around). Fans of Nobunny, Hunx, Personal and the Pizzas will love this.

Jeans Wilder / Best Coast split on Atelier Ciseaux Records

Atelier Ciseaux, which I just translated as 'Workshop Scissors', (great name) just let me know about their latest from Best Coast and Jeans Wilder this weekend...just available today...it's a little more than usual with shipping (about 10 euros), but that's not so bad really. I don't know who is carrying this stateside, so that might be the only option. AC put out that Lucky Dragons single a little while back and have plans for a US Girls one shortly...they are really pulling out the stops working with only great bands.
Haven't heard of Jeans Wilder, but paired with Best Coast, it's got to be good. It actually sounds like he's coming from a sort of Ariel Pink place, with no-fi pseudo casio preset beats, out of place reggae rhythms with falsetto vocals singing 'your such a motherfucking t0ugh guy'...I love it. There's a weirdo sitting in his car in the mall parking lot, into classic dubstep lusting after the girl at starbucks ruining her life with some jock asshole...so he goes home and writes this masterpiece. I love it.

Bethany from Pocahaunted has been indulging her pop side with Best Coast and what can I say, it's completely unexpected coming from that uber-experimental place, but I'll admit I'll probably end up putting this on more. Or let's just say sometimes my ears don't need a challenge anymore, they don't mind super delayed reverb and vocals that get lost in washed out harmonies...it's dreamy. She's a California surf inspired Zola Jesus...the same amazing vocal chops but she's got a more positive outlook on things. It's sunny on the boardwalk, there's no jersey shore jerk-off's fighting each other, just rides and balloons...or maybe you're just high...It's a great sound...US Girls next makes perfect sense....or the Dum Dum Girls could be in a 3 way split?
I didn't mean it like that.
We got a situation.

Atelier Ciseaux says:

We forgot what time it was. You keep on talking about a Pavement's song that crashes your heart into a wall. The stereo is murdering hit tunes by Connie Francis, Nirvana and The Beach Boys. Kissing for the first time. A twinge in the throat. Then doing it again.

Previously heard as Fantastic Magic with partner-in-crime Nathan Williams (Wavves), Andrew Caddick (Jeans Wilder) claims to be a "Tough Guy" but deep down is nothing but sensitive.

Best Coast is a long love letter to California. Written by Bethany Cosentino, once half of psychedelic/primitive duet Pocahaunted.
Ghost pop. Lo-fi surfing on asphalt wore away by the late sixties. Two tracks haunted by the summer. A tidal wave in a bathroom.

Limited pressing of only 350 copies (+ digital download) available on January 18th, 2010. Thanks again to Jérémy Perrodeau for the artwork!

Podcast Interview with Hunter from Gold Robot Records

Talked with Hunter this past week about his label, Gold Robot Records. Just reviewed a bunch of great singles he sent me from his Oakland, CA based label.
In the podcast we talked about how the label started, the Designed Entropy 7" series, future projects and the infamous Bonnie Prince Billy single...it's an amazing story, download it here (30mb) or listen on the streaming player on the lower right.

Some of the music featured on the podcast is from the Gold Robot sampler Vol. 1 which can be downloaded in it's entirety here.

Christmas on Endless Latino Records

The Endless Latino label, who have a Shearing Pinx 12" that I'll have to check out, just released this single from Christmas out of Olympia, just in time for the holiday, I think.

It's sparsely live sounding, with a count-off before every track. Emily on vocals is heavily echoed in that garage aesthetic, seriously self assured and belting out, 'Winter..... never come home!' She's really pleading with the season, it's a rain dance for the Spring, she's literally trying to will Winter away one way or another. It's got both hands drenched in reverb surf, with a sort of unpretentiousness like the Jacuzzi Boys, or Wounded Lion...Or even a garage psychobilly Pocahaunted. She's got that mysterious haunting voice, that draws you in and then scares the hell out of you. A little possessed.

On the B-Side in 'Gut' Emily's really unleashed, she must love this sound as much as I do, the shrieks fading out in the echo, at this point she's pushing the rest of the band to keep up. If she isn't playing the echo, she's yelling vocals as fast as they come to her. It's a little over a minute of ghost-punk.
'Castle', this one is a little more restrained...well, quiet in a unsettling way, relying on a eerie bassline, and before you know it you're in a haunted castle. There's a little Deadbolt in here as well, with the rockabilly guitar melodies that punctuate the silences of echo with bursts of chords.

You really have to hear Pies on their myspace, along with all these tracks from the single, it's a little different, practically instrumental, but they're making this psyche-crampsy sound all their own.

Distributed on the classic K Recs who says:

Christmas is a psych-dance-punk band from Olympia, Washington. Toxic surf, reverb mirrors, sinewy grime and polish (and Polish). This single includes three songs: "Winter," "Gut" and "Castle," on the first 7" from Endless Latino.

This 45 rpm corker includes an MP3 download code. "Lydia Lunch meets Scratch Acid meets current and past San Francisco sounds" - Jon Dwyer (Thee Oh Sees, The Coachwhips)

JAY ----FUCK!

God damn, just heard about Jay Reatard...what a shame. Nothing about how he died.... so fucked up.
I was just reading that piece J. Barrett did about him in Best Music Writing '09. I've been trying to contact him because in it he quotes Jay as saying Blood Visions was a concept album:

"only a few people caught on to that. ...It's about this stalker guy. I put myself into this exaggerated, sensationalized character where I just took my own personality and multiplied it by 10. Some dude wrote his senior thesis about it and posted it online. It was like 16 pages, where he breaks down every song. I think he was the only person who got it. It was wicked man - it's like he was on acid or something. He got everything right."

I would like to think he was possibly talking about this review I did of Blood Visions in April '08 for Vinyl Fanatics who I wrote for very briefly.

But then again I'm a self centered blogger ass.

Na na na ......I miss.......you.

CROCODILES / GRAFFITI ISLAND / DUM DUM GIRLS / PENS split on Art Fag Records

This is one hell of a split, I'm surprised is still available. I first heard Pens from Mark's show out of Vancouver, PopDrones, I highly recommend his podcast, especially the 2 best of '09 shows, they are killer. I think he even played this single, which I saw I made a note about but never posted...just checked and ordered a copy from Midheaven:

CROCODILES / GRAFFITI ISLAND / DUM DUM GIRLS / PENS - Four Way Split - Art Fag - AF 005 - 7" - $ 7.00

***A four-way split 7-inch from these up-and-coming young faves. You get CROCODILES' "Hollow Hollow Eyes," GRAFFITI ISLAND's "Moon Tan," DUM DUM GIRLS' "Brite Futures," and PENS' "The Weekend Starts Here."

A 4-way split is guaranteed to have at least one band you're interested in, between the 4 of these guys their fans should have picked up every one. The Crocodiles, for instance have sold out on every other single...this is the last one left!
The Dum Dum Girls sound is that crazy Crystal Stilts echo chamber overload, with sort of Zola Jesus vocals...I mean that's a supergroup combo sound right there. The Hozac single, and captured tracks released are excellent. I love those girls, I hope to see them in NY at some point, I missed them too much.... That's right, they are coming to Mercury Lounge at the end of Feb.
Been hearing tons about the Crocodiles. They were on that 3 way split with blessure grave, the Down in the ground one, have to go back and pay attention...see that's what these spits are all about. They made enough year end lists to get my attention, didn't realize they were on Fat Possum, they seem to be going in all kinds of directions lately. I have to say I kind of trust this, if they are willing to release Wavves and Townes Van Zandt on the same imprint...well, I'll go along for that ride.
Graffiti Island, another band I've been coming across but haven't given them a proper listen. They have 4 import singles that I can't bring myself to pay shipping for, so this is the next best. I keep wondering if I saw them at Monster Island...or I'm confusing them with Christmas Island. Wow, a lot of choices there.
Last up is Pens, like I said I owe Mark, I can't get enough of these guys...and their from the UK? What!? Way to go... but of course it's too bad they won't be touring here anytime soon. Their full length is that perfect mix of tune, no-fi, punk, melody and 80 track livingroom jams. Like the Yips, who I romanticise, but just were the punk duo no fidelity ideal. Pens are just great, this is the track I'm getting this for. The rest honestly is just a bonus.

I don't think any of thee tracks show up anywhere else, I didn't look too extensively, but they should be exclusive to this...right? Wait, the Pens myspace calls the track I thought was called 'High in the Cinema', 'The weekend starts here'? Oh crap. Well that's a great song. One of their best. Why don't I ever check that before I paypal? I don't have any answers. I order first and ask questions later.

Get it from Midheaven, I think I said this before but I'll be damned if I can't find the Art Fag site, or blog...just the myspace, it keeps jumping to some bullshit ad's search pages....what the hell?! I want to order your records!

Matress - Low Blows on Malt Duck Records

In some far off future, there is a terrible shack of a bar in a back alley on another planet, and Rex Marshall of Mattress makes his living (just barely) singing with a sequencer (if that's what they still call it) for a few bucks that found their way into his tip jar. A Han Solo Tom Waits...you'd be glad to see him I'm sure, if you stumbled across his show. You'd thank him for here was some bit of humanity left in this definitely messed up apocalypse. Mattress recalls a long gone past... romanticising the cabaret or vaudeville acts and updating them with electronic sounds that are ancient, but always sound like that unobtainable future.
And if you had a record label in that broken worlds, you'd release it like Malt Duck has, only it's 2010...and this record is simultaneously ahead and behind of it's time. Is that timeless?

This anti-time clear vinyl full length ended up on my turntable thanks to Melissa at Malt Duck, I mentioned Mattress' single when they first released it and wasn't expecting this distinct, even more specific direction from the band. It's been refined into a really unique vision, shedding any kind of easy reference.
I can't help but picture a sort of a lounge-y Glen Danzig with the tech minimalism of Blank dogs, but where Mr. Sniper takes a basically pop song approach, Mattress goes a Velvet Underground direction with monotonous rhythms trapped in amber, amazing because they still exist, that they've been plucked from the abyss of unused sounds and given new life. It's a tribute to automation...the assembly line. They are almost naturally occurring electronic sounds that used to have a purpose...a hum of an oscillator, a transformer. They are just background to an industrial age, Mattress might as well be out there singing a capella in the factory yard to the rhythm.
They're Kraftwerk era sounds, the beginning of making pure music out of tweaking sine waves with knobs and switches. What goes with the minimal single note unpolyphonic score to this sci-fi film that got the future so wrong? It's the emotional crooning of a washed up star. But it's so wrong, it makes sense.

This world is dark, and I imagine while recording you've been heavily drinking, and more than once you lull yourself to sleep with the sweet fabrication sounds of metal clanging through the headphones. I'm beginning to feel in on the joke, especially on 'Penny for your Thoughts'. Two notes banged out by robots, those long mechanical arms from a long since closed car factory...it's all they do, back and forth, high and low. But to sing like this... It's truly cracking me up in the best way. I'm laughing with him. It's the way he commits to this persona and anti-music that completes the scene. Oh, Suicide... how many bands have you inspired?
"Don't It' is so murky and slow, the bpm doesn't even register. His question, 'Don't it make you wanna lose your mind?' can be easily answered. I remember an interview with Black Dice where they talked about being interested in overwhelming the audience completely, literally changing your perception through the noise. I think an album of this is doing the same thing really, you spend time in this world and it's going to make you think about everything differently. Recordings that effect you on that level are never easy, but that's a gift, dear readers.

This is made for vinyl and the insane bass vibrations from the low end synth. It's mostly not going to shake the house, but these little moments that catch you off guard...that sound was in there? Do I turn it down? No. Shake the neighbors.
If I was listening to this on cassette, 10 years ago (20- ed) I'd throw the thing out, it's obviously time to get a new one...or the batteries are going to their slow death, barely enough left to spin the tape...you'll never dance to this, just stand there motionless and watch the weirdness unfold.

This piece of future weirdo synth can be had for just 10$! Malt Duck Records.

Leave off the last 'S' for savings.

Nothing People on Permanent Records

Just finished up a review of Nothing People's full length Late Night from last year on the message boards because I saw Permanent Records, Chicago came out with this new single from those guys.
Printed like a wedding invitation, it's great packaging and I'm sure just as great a single. In fact one of the tracks 'Enemy with an Invitation' is on their myspace. It doesn't remind me of anything from Late Night. Sounds like a fast one with even different style vocals...I swear if I had to identify their tracks in the middle of a bunch of this dark sort of garage, lots of effects style, it would be hard to pick them out...and I'm saying that's one of their strengths, mind you.
They don't have an insanely distinctive sound that's painting them in a corner. Something that gets played for a week or two straight and then maybe enough. And it's my own fault. I wonder if it's the inherent construction of Wavves, the peaking distortion, muddy drums, major chords or the fact that it was the best thing I heard for a few weeks....not to add to the backlash...I still listen to it, but only if it comes up organically, I have to say I'm not seeking it out as much these days.
Like Sonic Youth when I was in high school. I couldn't name a song or even all their albums, but I knew when I was going on a roadtrip it would be one of the tapes I always grabbed...it's just undeniably good. it has a consistent quality I keep going back to. I know Nothing People are the same....Late Night is one of those inconsistent, unpigeonholable albums I keep going back to. I have to track down that first one now definitely.
They are changing all the time, getting better and better.

Get this one from Permanent Records directly:

New 7in - Nothing People, like Wooden Shjips, are one of our generations great bands, that doesn’t tour much. Unless you live in or around their hometown of Orland, California or you happened to pick up one of their excellent releases on S-S or HoZac, you may not have ever heard of them, but those who have, love them. On previous releases, they’ve blended influences such as Chrome, Hawkwind, Roxy Music, and obscure proto-punk bands like Twinkeyz into a sound that’s all their own. This new limited edition 7”, housed in a texured glue pocket sleeve with gold foil stamping on the exterior, is the first release featuring former Monoshock member Doug Pearson! This release includes two of their most rockin’ numbers to date. Limited to 100 white vinyl copies and 500 black copiesl!

Ecstatic Peace Live Performance Poll

I was invited to contribute my top 10 live shows to the Ecstatic Peace end of the year poll....you can check those out here.
Tons of great contributors...from Thurston Moore to Brian Turner at WFMU and Tobi Vail from Kill Rock Stars...an entertaining read as always. I appreciate those guys asking me. It's an honor for my tiny useless music blog, and makes me feel like I'm doing something someone cares about.
Get over yourself.

Railcars 'Cathedral with No Eyes' on Stumparumper Records

Well, fuck me, I've actually listened to this Railcars 12" (sort of single...well EP) at 33, and not until I checked out the sample MP3 from Stumparumper of 'Castles' did I finally set the trusty turntable on 45...that information might be hidden in the excellent artwork by Claudia O'Steen somewhere on the sleeve or inner labels , but I'll be damned if I can't find it...it's the most intricate collage/drawing/sketch of (I think) Saint Edmund...who is the central figure in this conceptual noise pop album.
Railcars or Aria Jalali and co. are currently tearing up both coasts and then off to Europe...he's been in LA the past few nights, go check out his myspace for the lengthy list of venues.
He does a great job of tying all of these tracks together with little subtle sounds and melodies that keep popping up...it's not just a bunch of things loosely maybe fitting together and naming it all under one theme...this has gone the distance to create really one cohesive album...a journey having to do with Saint Edmund, his life, rebirth and martyrdom.
Like the myth of Edmund...you'll never know exactly what the truth is or what you're listening to, it's the kind of complex layered ambiance that can start out mistakenly as background but rises out of the haze to grab your attention regularly. It's going to get turned up to catch just exactly what is going on. And even then it's just going to get more confusing. It will sound better...but it becomes more and more alien. Heavy distortion on everything, processing the process, effect the effects...then throw the whole thing on vinyl...wait! First a ring modulation... Is there a problem with the stereo? The needle? It's time to troubleshoot everything to throw on that 'control' record to figure out levels...was this mastered this way? Then a clear as day sound will pierce through distorted layers and reaffirms Railcars knows exactly what he's doing.
It's pretty frantic, and maybe that's why I mistakenly tried it at 33 the first time, somehow I don't think anyone would be actually compelled to get up on the dancefloor, it just gives everything a kind of carnival, all-is-not-right with this picture sound, especially the ever present bell sounds that add a creepy cheery pied piper call.
The vocals are so manipulated on every track, it's no use trying to make sense of them, it's another piece of the cocktail meant to be mixed in completely, not trying to stand out, just blend into a well proportioned experience, an abrasive soundscape boxed set of sound. The noise/ambiance of 'Life of Saint Edmund (ponds)' seamlessly flows into 'Castles', building on the glitchy, weirdo synth sounds that quickly start to fade into the rising waves of hiss and distortion, the melodies just barely afloat...like looking out at those waves for something...a flash of a life preserver, anything recognizable....and that's as far as I got...I know something is catching my attention when I go to listen to it numerous times trying to focus and pick it apart only to get lost halfway through...was there a song break? Is that the same melody coming back in this track? I lost it again...it's relentless pounding noise.
I actually get a little sad I have to break this up when I go to flip over to the B-Side...would this actually benefit from being on CD?
Blasphemy!

It also comes with a great color print insert by Stephanie Davidson, if you are one of the first 100. If you really want to make me happy, tell Pat 7inches sent you. This is a fantastic release from a great label.
Pat dove headfirst into starting Stumparumper this last year and keeps putting out really interesting stuff. I have to get to the christmas 4 way and the Fuck Montreal singles...soon.
I'm jealous...for all the thinking I do about it, Pat made it happen.
Guess what my New Years resolution is?

Lonnie Eugene Methe 'Hey Jack' on Unread Records

Chris, from the long running Unread Records sent his latest single from Lonnie Eugene Methe to the 7inches NY office and I'm grateful as always. Turns out he's got a bunch of limited edition lathe's coming out soon and a flexi disc/book series! I'm going to hopefully get him on the phone to talk about these upcoming releases and what he's been up to the past 5 years or so releasing whatever strikes him in Baltimore.

This recording just aches sadness from the needle drop. It's reflecting this hard hard winter most of the east coast is increasingly finding itself in these days. A premonition of what I'm sitting in, and just made it out of a few days ago.
Maybe it's the huge room piano sound, or just the mic catching a breath a little too close, not many people can get away with this kind of outpouring of emotion, but Lonnie pulls it off easily without any vocal or musical gimmicks. Stripped down songwriting...just good writing period. Thankfully the lyrics are reproduced on the reverse sleeve because he's got a knack for this heartbreaking narrative. It's laid out, not too cleverly, just simply in a way you wish you could.
In 'Calendar Work', lines about never ending time and physical work...in such a beautiful way. I think that's what can ultimately get you through the overwhelming sadness, is the simple arrangement, and sincerity. It has to be heard...you'll make it through. Like Bill Callahan, but in a higher vulnerable register, they are classic reminiscences of the mundane. It's not a grandiose statement of the state of things...it's a note on a napkin, a scratch on the wall of the bathroom. The everyday...and those are the things that can be the most illuminating.

Turns out a couple of years ago now Chris sent Outer Space Gamelan (a damn good site that I still miss) a cassette release from Methe and he had this light to shed on the mysterious performer:

The legend here is that Christopher Fischer moved into Lonnie Eugene Methe (of a band called Naturaliste - know em? I don't)'s old house and found a tape in the rafters of the house and persuaded Methe to let him release it.

'Wounds of Winter' has an extra layer of tape hiss, and pop, from a boombox or 4-Track in Omaha but when you capture something like this, none of that matters. It can't be duplicated, it's an imperfect snapshot and you fill in the rest of the blanks. The room he's in, the at a weather outside, if it's the middle of the night, or early morning...but it's far away from anything.

That's what kills me about Neon Indian or Dan Deacon etc, the weird forced feeling of fun. It could exist at party , in the background and it wouldn't bother me, in fact it would sound right at home...and live it creates a feel of having a good time...but I think that's what's suspect, the forced soundtrack to a party. I guess I don't feel like a one man party, so this doesn't ever get played at home when I want to study something, really let it sink in. It's a distraction and I think, I don't want to watch Die Hard again...where's the documentaries?

There's no better way to experience the intimacy of an acoustic personal project like this...just don't expect to feel better about anything when it's over.

Myth or not, I'm super glad this made it to 7 inch vinyl, the most intimate human scale format for just 5$ PPD from Chris at unreadrecords (at) hotmail.com.

Tired Old Bones on Skeleton Head Records

I got an email from Dustin and his new label Skeleton Head Records, turns out I know him through my friend (and always entertaining podcast co-host) Matt Nash. He was kind enough to send me his first 7" release from Tired Old Bones. He told me he screened the sleeve's himself and they are truly amazing. 4 Color offset on heavy cardstock it has that grainy matte ink feel like nothing else.
The first thing I did was pull it out of the mylar bag and unfold it...that sad jpg above does it no justice, it's really an amazing effort for any single, I'm tempted to go find a frame, but I can't find it in myself to break up the family. The entire packaging is all out, the vinyl is marbled orange and it even comes with a printed CD with a couple of bonus tracks for good measure, labeled a la steve albini: 500 RPM. (Wiki confirms this as the inner ring speed although it varies during play....hey, if you're going to be that specific I have to check.)

Tired Old Bones is from Allston, MA and the story goes Jesse,drums and Neal, bass were looking to start a new project after Bismark and Bury the Needle and happened upon a show with Bridget playing a hammond organ, and when she sang...the rest was history. Bridget has an expressive voice that's equally strong yelling the chorus as it is laying out the verse narrative out from the echo. She's got the pipes and she knows how to use them, like Shannon and the Clams, it's bluesy, from a classically rock place. It doesn't belong in the seedy bars, or maybe it's that contrast that will work.
On 'Country Circus' when Bridget's vocals get layered it's time for the huge chorus in this slightly rockabilly rock country feel track that sways back and forth into all out windmill rock territory. The guitar has a little of that distorted cramps blues style...a menacing surf melody basted in reverb. The organ keeps pulling me back into a psychedelic classic rock sound which just confirms the variety of influenced being pulled together.

'Do Not Disturb' the B-Side is about staying in bed, something I can always relate to, built on a tom beat with a fuzzy bassline, washes of sustained reverb peeking in here and there. I keep thinking live this has to be an impressive performance if she's giving half of the effort here.
Hammering it home with the last line, exhausted....'Let me sleep'. Well, you deserve it.

My second home would be Boston if I ever decided to move away from NYC. It's a small big town in a lot of ways, the huge college presence can be really exciting and insanely annoying, everyone knows everyone else somehow and it's always seemed pretty supportive of a great music and art scene. But then I'd have to interact with people more instead of obsessively posting about singles.
Distractions.

Get it from Dustin at Skeleton Head or Tired Old Bones.

You can buy them from us at Tired Old Bones live shows or mail order them here. $7 each in person or $9 each post paid. Paypal is the easiest- our account is dub1127(at)hotmail.com - but you can also send a check or money order made out to Dustin Williams. Skeleton Head Records
95 Jamaica St. #3
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

Roman Ruins on Gold Robot Records

Back from the holidays...the insane snowy weather delayed 7Inches for a day... but safely back in NYC I reached back into the review pile to pick up where I left off with Gold Robot Records and their first release back in Feb '07 from Roman Ruins aka Graham Hill. Also from the Oakland area, I think I mentioned previously on that 4 way split on GRR that he also provides percussion for The Parish, Beach House and I even read Brightblack Morning Light.

That dreamy laid back sound of Beach House is every different from this laptop solo project on this vinyl release. The A-Side 'Releasing Me' is an upbeat electronic layered pop song essentially. A carefully crafted concerned-with-minutiae pop song. More than just an experiment, it sounds like Graham is in love with the process of recording...taking all these disparate elements, acoustic, synth, distinct electronics, and weaving them together for just a moment, building a melody for a measure and then mixing it up again. A game of adding and subtracting. A challenge to himself every note, to see if that unusual sound can work for just a second. It's not nearly enough to write a song that sounds good...it's going to hold up to repeated listens just for the amount of tinkering involved all built on a base of minimal dense drum machine claps and high hat.
It's an interesting choice coming from a drummer, and I'm starting to think I hear live drum sounds coming and going...it wouldn't surprise me if there was a subtle back and forth between the human and machine percussion. That would be exactly the kind of thing I would expect he's doing and I don't even realize it. Vocally it's just as complex, layers of verses, back and forth, on top of each other in the chorus, sounding a bit like Why? at times. That experimental let's see how many chord/time changes I can mash into a few brief minutes all while keeping the melody humming.
The B-Side 'Your House'. A minimal opening of guitars and layered vocals are where you get a sense of his pure songwriting skills, but he's been waiting to hit you with the definitely machine sounding percussion from an old electronic organ preset button. Only after the fact I can say he's really been holding back on this one to build the layers of percussion straight to a massive finish. When they all come in, it sounds like a completely different track. You can literally hear the separation, he's been messing with me the whole time. It's the back and forth between the programmed and improvisation that is Grahams strength, combined with an endlessly complex arrangement that makes this a standout for solo 4-track bedroom projects.

Get it from Gold Robot, who just announced a bunch of Railcars remixes yesterday which I have to get. That reminds me of Stumparumpers Cathedral with no eyes full length review I have to finish up. That was played and loved by the office holiday party.