Ned Oldham - Let's Go Out Tonight on Gold Robot Records's

Hunter is at it again with another single from his Gold Robot label, I've lost track of how many singles he's actually put out this year already...and then this arrives the other day...the first solo release from Ned Oldham. Now when Gold Robot says it's Ned solo, they mean it...completely written,played, and recorded by Ned in Baltimore, MD.

"The One Light"
The very first line about swans making their way before night and just before the moon becomes the one light...it's that kind of imagery that you can't manufacture, it takes a real combination of musician and writer, of which this family has been blessed in spades to not just get away with this but elevate it to something bigger than the sum of it's parts.
It also sounds informed by real folk music, the kind that's passed down, sung at every kind of family get together through generations. Maybe it's the slight echo, it's not hard to imagine some kind of holy place where this song has been performed for years and this just happens to be one of the many interpretations.
It's beautifully recorded acoustic and when he lays on the layers of harmonized vocals with just a few notes of bass it's hard to imagine it getting any better.

"Black Dick Pierce"
The thing is, you catch yourself hearing little familiar phrasings or even lyrics and can't help but wonder about this family...it makes sense they would grow up literally sounding the same but
brothers can be so different. I remember being as surprised seeing Palace or I guess Will Oldham was going on tour with his brothers for the Drag City Review at Tramps in '95. They passed around a bottle of Jack Daniels on stage, and I wished my family played CCR songs on acoustic guitars on my front porch. There's that vulnerability in his voice, like Townes Van Zandt, it comes with an inherent authenticity, and he uses every register to

"If Tomorrow Comes Again"
I love this unexpected bass that's meant for the speaker cone push of vinyl, right there the track takes on an epic feel with just a few notes....you're doing yourself a disservice if you only ever hear this on computer speakers. Ned's got a different vocal quality on this one, it's higher in the mix, a little raspier while the twangy fingerpicked acoustic is joined by harmonica and deeper layers of electric. It's turned all the way up to hear every nuance, and that's where he sucks you in for a heartbreaking finish.

This sleeve art from Kevin Earl Taylor is just twisting the knife in deeper, those hands coming out of the dark water and the swans not knowing any better, living their lives. It feels like people have to destroy everything in their own way. Sometimes you lie in bed at night and if you start to think about all the innocent creatures in the world stuck out in the cold, or in the thunderstorms, no where to go....it just makes you want to cry.

Pressed on dark blue clear vinyl, with digital download code, get it on Gold Robot Records.

This 3 song EP is the first solo release by Ned Oldham. Recorded in Baltimore at the Blue Third Floor and released as a limited edition 7" record on colored vinyl, these are the latest recordings from the ringleader of The Anomoanon and assorted other projects. The EP, titled Let's Go Out Tonight, carries a lot of weight in the 3 songs; though steeped in Americana and folk traditions, the tracks showcase Ned's penchant for bitter/bright lyrics and beautiful compositions.

Tracklist:

A1: Ned Oldham - The One Light [mp3]
A2: Ned Oldham - Black Dick Pierce
B1: Ned Oldham - If Tomorrow Comes Again

Jason Urick on Fan Death Records

"This is Critical" is the side I was most concerned about. The sleeve is a black and white photo of a pile of handguns, brass knuckles, saws and tire irons, like a police evidence room, and whatever is contained in the grooves could go some scary places.
Thankfully it's not a hardcore assault to the senses as much as it slowly hypnotically creeps its way into your subconscious. There's so many rising and falling sounds...deep rumbles that don't even register out of the speakers until they're halfway through their cycle.

What makes a successful "noise" single anyway?

1. It has to be made up of mostly unrecognizable sounds.
2. It has to use time as much as a lack of melody as an element of composition, i.e. even if its seemingly droning noise there will be a subtle change when compared to where the piece started out.
3. It helps if there's no rhythm for the sounds to get caught up in.

They are the best to review from my standpoint because they lend themselves to virtually any interpretation by default. You're never wrong and abstract instrumental music can be the best to write to anyway. Immediately its a soundtrack to something. Without a specific place-able sound there are no "players"so any imagery isn't distracted by imagining what any of these people look like and especially what they're saying. The sounds are completely alien and you're left with nothing but to wonder how it's being created and what situation spawned them. You wander...but it will always evoke something other than the idea that you are actively listening to music.

"Invisible Map" on the B-Side is a photo of the loot that the A-Side weapons took from their victims. Rings, pocket watches, spoons...there's an obvious cause and effect here, joined by the two sides. Jesus, I'm almost convincing myself singles have everything to do with that good and evil dichotomy. Black and white...the A-Side and the B-Side.
It's also reminding me of William Basinski's Disintegration Loops..or Decasia. It's super extended at 33 1/3 speed, really neverending and takes the entire time to slowly evolve. I think at times I hear human voices? But at this kind of slow speed, it could be anything. It gets vaguely electronic at points, like a digitally manipulated voice that's been resampled, slowing it down further and further like some kind of Richard D James sample.
Both of the sides sound like they've been already playing for some time and we just happened to stumble in on them. Setting down the needle sounds like the tape playing is only then just winding up...getting up to speed. "Invisible Map" isn't as ominous sounding as "This is Critical" thanks to a shimmery the heavens are parting synth sound that keeps working it's way up through the background.

It's really the only time I think a 7" just doesn't do this the proper justice.

Jason has a great interview/video at pitchfork of all places.

Get it from Fan Death Records.

Ancient Crux / Norse Horse split on La Station Radar Records

Just got a couple of overseas releases all the way from France courtesy La Station Radar. I first heard of these guys after reviewing that Terror Bird co-release with Atelier Ciseaux. Looks like they've been out for a while releasing cassettes from Dirty Beaches and split LP's with Jeans Wilder...so I was looking forward to hearing how these two sides on this one would fit into that story.

First of all ...the sleeve by icinori is great, it folds out into another giant illustration printed on the reverse, once you pry it out of the mylar. They took great liberties with the ancient/norse theme both bands names lend themselves to. Tiny knights and chain mail fighting in a psychedelic landscape of exploding color boxes and pieces of a solar system.

The Ancient Crux side is Travis from Murrieta, CA masterminding a very Fresh & Onlys slightly surf sound on two laid back tracks. "Benevolent Void", the first one, might even nod to huge echo surf lines like Ty Segall, but it's when it all gets massive distortion at the end of this one it really gets going. I like the barely delivered vocals, just hinting at melody, buried in robotic plate reverb. Like F&O, it's a solid stress free tune, the melody being front and center, whatever direction he's going, and it's sticking.
In "Pushed out of my hands" Ancient takes a few decades steps back into almost a 50's slow picking ballad, the strained ballad vocals here even follow along in the garage sweetness "...then I pushed out my hands / the blood gushed out gradually" ???? and something is a little off. It's a sincere un-relateable sentiment in the form of this harmless crooner. I love the dirty sloppy massive reverb solo right in the middle of this one firmly placing it in 2010, and sustaining the mystery.

Norse Horse, also from CA on the reverse side starts things out with "Meat Whale", a slide electric woodblock-y meandering ride with lots of layers of vocals....sounding like a real chorus of vocalists at times. It's a sea lullaby rocking back and forth on the water, hypnotizing and bizarre in it's Animal Collective drum circle complexity. "Shoodikids" then changes direction and lands on the island adding layers of tropicalia with a Hawaiian slide guitar this time. Sort of a looped sample Ducktails meets Black Dice direction...monstrously slowed down vocals, shimmery electric, cowbell, shakers.....it's definitely completely unique, it has a clear direction that isn't ever obvious and remains completely re-playable.

Great split from two bands united by geography that weirdly end up on this label far far away from home. The kind of single that just makes me want to hear more of both... even after hearing a couple songs each, I'm only more interested.... I know this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Hand-numbered and only 300...Get it direct from La Station Radar, email first to work out postage or check the usual distro's...I bet Fusetron or SS would be able to add this to an import order.

travis von sydow is ancient crux
Ryan beal is norse horse
recorded / live contributions with friends as tyler haran (twin lion), sam woodson and more...
they have already some killer songs out on Family Time Records...

this split comes with a killer art work by french duo inconiri from france
cover to open like a book (with a flap)
artwork outside / inside...

OUT NOW !!!!

For Ex-Lovers Only on Magic Marker Records

3 tracks today from For Ex-Lovers Only on Magic Marker Records. Ex-Lovers are based in Orlando, FL and I could see this being a part of the sunny 3 coast fuzz movement that's really been flourishing the past couple of years. This blown out sound fits into a part of that Best Coast, Frankie and the Outs, Big Troubles scene that might be a case for this kind of pop emerging from the outer edges of North America.

Coffin is a great A-Side to introduce these guys. Real gritty fuzz guitar and flat percussion, reminding me of The Yips raw rehearsal space sound. Layered on top is healthy amount of distortion, a real nod to JAMC but with a somewhat cheery outlook that keeps changing. The pattern they settle into has distinct parts but they're really pushing the arrangement to keep it interesting...it stays catchy and uptempo while still being a little mysterious.
The B-Side, "Lover's Heart" has a fast kick drum rhythm that vinyl makes great use of reproducing in all it's deep bass glory, a couple of nicely mic'd acoustics duplicate the bass sounds for the tin can vocals. They go for contrast between a shimmery chorus guitar melody and building cymbal crashes. I can't help but think it takes a lot to leave a track like this perfectly at this 7" length. God knows all of these could have been longer, but then it's always better to come away just getting into it than it going on too long. An indie pop sort of Minutemen. This is the song, leave it, it's perfect.

"Scraps" (Mono) is an example of the next to nothing instrumentation approach they take to write their brand of a K-Rec, Sarah pop song...acoustic guitar and tambourine with fistfulls of harmony. It doesn't ever go over the edge and get too cutesy, they just have these punky toy xylophone inspired brief songs of sincerity.

White vinyl, minimal monochromatic sleeve that reminds me of a Pains of Being Pure at Heart single, available for cheap (4.50) with digital download from Magic Marker Records.

Not Not Fun Bored Fortress singles Club Year 4!

Just got an email from NNF about new singles from Pocahaunted and Robedoor, probably Pocahaunted's last ever on the label....that would be exciting enough, and I was going to mention them today but just underneath was this announcement about Bored Fortress Year 4? Change of plans....I just was talking with Mike from Soundscreendesign about their 400 page 7" book, Touchable Sound...and guess what was in there...on practically a whole page? The Bored Fortress club year 2 singles...the ones silkscreened in different colors, with corresponding leaf glitter glued all over them...this is a chance to own a piece of history!!
It's like the franklin mint, only with awesome shit!
Why wasn't that in an email?

Looks like a great lineup this upcoming year...and another release from Robedoor? No Age? Ducktails? Not Not Fun has been curating the most interesting music and packaging forever....and this subscription will be no exception.
I'm rambling, but really I better get over there before it's gone.
I'm going to have to try to see what else is lying around the house I can put on ebay.
Get it.

But wait until I do.

Bored Fortress
Year Four
7" Club

NNF200-NNF205—6x7"

After a two-year hiatus NNF's split singles club is back in operation, with an all new roster of bands and visual artisans. All subscribers will receive two split 7 inches every other month – beginning August 15th and running until December – as well as club-exclusive gifts. Please select U.S. or INTERNATIONAL depending on your location (note: int'l orderers can pay using the paypal button, no need to email first unless you are ordering other items as well).

This year's bands include:
-Wet Hair
-Sex Worker
-Gnod
-Ducktails
-Infinite Body
-Taterbug
-Psychic Reality
-No Age
-High Wolf
-Robedoor
-Peaking Lights
-Rangers

This year's artists include:
-Carlos Gonzalez
-Zully Adler
-Robert Beatty
-Cody DeFranco
-Julien Langendorff
-Spencer Longo

Dead Gaze preorder on Firetalk Records

I talked with Cole about his Dead Gaze project a while ago now after he sent me a CD-R of some tracks he'd been working on and I was so glad to see this single announced on Facebook yesterday from Firetalk Records...

From what I remember Cole has some amazing tricks up his sleeve every track and, "Take me home or I die alone" is no exception. I know it's going to be inspiring, that he's been listening to everything, taking it in, and filtering it through Dead Gaze. The tape speeds up and a melodic guitar (?) line leads heavily reverb/echoed drums pounding in. The vocals are super warbly phasered out with some delay and he somehow makes this unsettling vocal sound like another hazed out pop song. Synth sounds break in and they're almost '90s teen high school movie finale or My Bloody Valentine under the jangly fuzz of guitar melody. The tracks I heard years ago were just the beginning obviously.
"Emanuel Can't Come Close Enough", the B-Side has the slow burn layered build up of Beach Fossils with that same outer space vocal. Great live drum track, which I'm sure he even played himself that talented bastard. I love Dead Gaze.
Pop enough to put it a seven inch because a full length might be too much to take in all at once...and these two deserve to be studied and revered on the sweet, sweet vinyl.

Check out both of these tracks from Get Off the Coast and preorder this badboy from Firetalk Records.

Whatever Brains on Funny/Not Funny Records + Sorry State Records

This co-release from Whatever Brains comes via Funny/Not Funny Records and Sorry State Records. F/NF released a great split single from The Alphabet and Invisible Hand a while back I liked a lot. This sleeve was leading me to believe this was some kind of hypnotic sound collage, or dark minimal electronic nightmare...surprisingly it was neither. Maybe it's the anthropological photo of some strange ritual...or the masks and tinted black and white photo...but it's off. Unsettling.

"Rappers Delight II", starts out with some very snotty nasal vocals and this haphazard half swing beat is just setting you up for the super production landslide that's going to follow. I'm thinking of Les Savy Fav the way they repeatedly smack you upside the head when you're convinced that track wasn't going that way. Switching it up from track to track, starting loud right out of the gate, using fidelity challenged percussion tracks...there's never a hint of where any of it's going.
Does this have anything to do with the Sugar Hill Gang track? Absolutely not. I thought I was reading how these guys had something to do with some garage-something or other, it seems like that early direction must have been abandoned for full use of all a studio has to offer. And good for them, you have to start somewhere, but how a band evolves are where it's real nuts are. God knows we have enough bands recording with inferior equipment, these guys make use of every knob, the mysterious things that I as a sometimes home recorder, listener will never understand, or even see. The audio nerd tape op message boards I struggle to decode keeps it's secrets safe with Whatever Brains. When this track picks up by the end it's fist pumping it's devil horns. Huge gritty evil chords right after another in their clearest, louder than hell, attack.
I still love that about LSF, for better or worse, they are out there on their own path, proving with sheer longevity that they were going to keep writing interesting stuff. They can take the best parts from a full studio sound and force them into that kind of anthemic art rock. It just seems to work with all the twists and turns intact. Especially on the next track, "Village Sewer", the stepped up tempo and yelling hoarse style vocals are right along with Tim Harrington's delivery.* There's a constant homage going on, borrowing from this classic rock, power chord, monster ballad place and keeping it moving at the same time enough never to become repetitive.

The B-Side "What Makes a Man Make What Makes a Man Start Fires?" is making the case airtight. I really think this could be a Tim led side project....damn, how could you pick up from a place it took them well over 10 years to get to? If this is just the beginning, then I'm a little too excited at the possibilities of where this might go....if you know what I mean.

I'm going to go pull a 7" out from the LSF section and see if I'm completely insane.

Four months since the release of “Nesting,” the Whatever Brains return with their fourth single, “Rapper Delight II”. The Brains pump the brakes on this one, slowing the tempos down for two-thirds of the single without losing any of their lo-fi garage-rockish intensity. Sandwiched between the up-beat Belle & Sebastian lyric-ripper “Village Sewer”, the Clockcleaner-esque “What Makes a Man Make ‘What Makes a Man Start Fires’” and “Rappers Delight II” are destined to be classic porch jammers this season waiting for the charcoal to light up. The single offers Raleigh’s Brains production value and reverb levels at their best as they definitely “stepped up their game.” Perfectly jangly when needed, the single is the perfect compendium to staying awake well beyond the point of reason. Just remember it’s not passing out if it's in your own bed.

If this sounds like your bag then F/NF has another single, "Nesting" which they will put together in the same seven inch box and charge you less than usual for it.

It's a Whatever Brainer.

Get this one from Funny/Not Funny Records or Sorry State Records

* I think Tim Harrington and Zach Galifianakis if they aren't already would be best friends.

Chen Santa Maria on 333 Recordings/Zum Records

Zum records sent this single over from Chen Santa Maria and the 333 Recordings label, who I haven't heard from since the Girl Talk single that came out years and years ago it seems they're back with this co release with Zum and their signature hole punched edition system.

Chen Santa Maria are working with sounds that must take ages to construct. It's layers of distorted sounds you can't place, that dreamy, haunting, full of delay, masterpieces...the fact that the equipment used to craft these two was stolen is a damn shame, but I'm sure that kind of thing for Chen isn't so much a setback as it is an opportunity for future happy accidents to create something even more ear bending than these two tracks. But I'm partial to complex instrumental music of all kinds, from the Don Cab to the John Fahey's, there's no obvious message to get in the way, no vocals to distract you from just listening...and maybe that's what makes it so easy to fail when attempting this, you're pretty exposed, twisting knobs, so it better be good. Let alone in an already crowded genre with classically trained composers getting in on the act. That being said these two sides are both great.

"Jefferson Chopper", on the A-Side does invoke the obvious helicopter blade imagery with a harsh intermittent stutter that gives way to another primal electronic sound underneath; the sine wave hum of a cable, they even slow it down to it's most elemental...AC, the wave bounces down the cable and then back to the source. They will these kind of sounds out of nothing, and it's something that is instantly recognizable as inhuman. I appreciate that they celebrate the source. They are sounds that could only be made out of a mess of patch cables, at the end of a chain...you're not sure what that knob is even doing anymore, it can't be repeated in the lab, try to just capture it with a microphone, which is only going to really capture part of it anyway. It's definitely challenging and I wouldn't have it any other way.

The B-Side, "Great Society" takes that utopian mindset in instrumentation and builds up the delayed loops and quiet rumblings into one great climax, that's always ultimately how it's going to end after all. You can take the view that you should live in the present or give in to the idea it's all going to fail eventually, society, the sun, the universe. Chen Santa Maria is choosing the latter. It's also the sounds of inevitable progress, harsh, repetitive machinery, clanking away at something. Getting ever louder, taking over everything, drowning out the other sounds. The machine gun distorted guitar riffs layered and off set, become almost a didgeridoo; low, warbling, primal. It's almost as if they're working that last smash of the climax backwards from the beginning, some kind of reverse big bang theory. It was there all along, waiting to reveal itself. Even when the climax is over, there's a few machines sticking it out, mindlessly repeating their tasks.

I'm writing some kind of trashy sci-fi short story when I hear them, but really.... they manage to do a lot with the limited amount of time here and without falling into what you would imagine is the usual sound for sound's sake. There is plenty of thought behind this and it's easily as interesting anything Black Dice has done recently...a great sample of things to come given the room to really stretch out live or full length.

CHEN SANTA MARIA
Jefferson Chopper/Great Society 7"
zum030/333-007
numbered green 1 through 49
numbered orange 50 through 109

The duo of George Chen and Steven Santa Maria document another phase in their half-decade collaboration of improvised sonic experiments. This co-release with 333 (7" single series that has worked with Deerhoof, Girltalk, Crack: We Are Rock) captures the band playing with rhythmic elements recorded with Brian Tester (Bulbs, Triangle) in pastoral Berkeley, CA. The pedals and effects used for this recording were stolen shortly afterward so this is the last of this type of sound, not by choice but necessity. Having toured Europe and UK in Spring 2010 (opening for Mount Eerie, High Places, Talk Normal, and Weasel Walter), CSM continues its California campaign. Numbered edition of 250.

Get it from Zum Records.

The Falklands 'Stephanie' on Clamour Records

Got this single in the other day from the Falklands out of Edmonton, Alberta.
For such a downer cover sleeve, a solitary figure caught in the rain, walking down an alley, the '80s power chords caught me off guard.
This A-Side, 'Stephanie' could easily fit into the rock ballad sound of Boston or Chicago...one of those classic rock chorus driven power house tracks with serious crunch and melody...and being about a girls name doesn't hurt (see Angie, Melissa, Joanna). But they go poppier than the dead serious sincerity of those 70's ballad supergroups, injecting some of the catch and showmanship of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists or the Thermals. It's a clean cut, ultra produced sound that continues with "Jeez Louise" and this track has a sort of an English fell, maybe a punched up Orange Juice, with a reggae sounding guitar riff and straight ahead layered vocals.... they get saxophone points as well.
The Falklands are two timing the girls on either side against each other.... I think. They are bound to be jealous. It's a good thing they're separated.

Get it from the band direct: thefalklands [at] gmail [dot] com

Tracklisting:
Side A: Stephanie
Side B: Jeez Louise

Released: September 2009

Although recorded in April, before Spring Break!, this 7" was released sometime in September 2009 after our first Western Canada tour. Recorded by Doug Organ at Edmontone Studios, Stephanie b/w Jeez Louise (also referred to as a S/T 7") charted in on CJSF. Hot wax! Mike Garth of The Operators fame added some saxophone on the B-Side.

Interview with Darian from Edible Onion Records

Darian from Edible Onion Records sent me his latest split single of his own project Br'er and the Hermit Thrushes and last week I ended up giving him a call about his handmade, small run label.
You can download it here.

They also have a pretty incredible handmade book accordion style CD compilation featuring watercolors from Darian and a slew of Philly artists, you can pick up at his website.

Sample tracks on the podcast from Edible Onion Records featured are:
Br'er - Endometriosis and The Chord and the Fawn - Right as rain

Little Gold on Heartbreak Beat Records

Little Gold, another band from Brooklyn I've never come across before, but then again, that's never surprising...I think it would literally be impossible to even claim to have even heard of all the bands in Brooklyn that have even been around 2 or more years.
Little Gold is a little like their name, unassuming and shiny...this is a sort of nostalgic Brooklyn, the broken down warehouses of Greenpoint's waterfront, the creaking of an old storefront sign. It's a sort of country alt-loneliness that can come from being surrounded by so many people. Little Gold is drawing on that long tradition of modern country, which is based more in mood than NASCAR and cowboy hats. Like Fleet Foxes or Bon Iver they start with a standard instrumentation of electric guitar and drums but instead pick up the pace into almost pop areas. It's no surprise Christian was in Woods, this shares a similar sensibility...a classic rock sound focused on pure melody.

"Totally Fucked!" the A-Side is probably referring to indiscretions in a motor home, but delivered at pop speed with backup harmonies, the tragedy becomes something to sing along to. A xylophone melody takes it almost over the top working against the idea of being totally fucked, it really doesn't seem so bad. The B-Side, "Chainsaw" is equally ominous turned back on itself into pop rock about cutting off his arm, and other self mutilation. It's definitely a contradiction, turning what could be easily oppressive sentiments into practically fun...until you start paying attention again.

Appropriately on clear gold vinyl from Heartbreak Beat Records.

Granny Frost + Brick Mower split on Viking on Campus Records

Eric from Brick Mower contacted me through our mutual connection at Stumparumper Records, Pat, who recently started releasing cassettes including a Brick Mower handmade EP C-28. This split between Brick Mower and Granny Frost (who was also a part of Pat's Holiday single) is out on the Viking on Campus label, run by Eric himself. The circle of seven inches keeps spiraling back in on itself.

Granny Frost is Kevin Oliver out of Chicago working in the classic 4-track cassette genre, but not in those hushed 3AM bedroom acoustic recordings way. I remember from the 4-way xmas split that lyrically it's weird associations, non-sequitur's, "the future / is a photo / of a mirror" a little Beck, and Why?, anything goes, with a slight hip hop feel. There's a sense of humor in this I appreciate, like Eohippus, it's tinkering away...finding a beat or melody you can't help but work with, even going out to a rehearsal space and getting the room sounds from the amps.
This couldn't be further away from a sensitive 'Why'd she do it to me?' home record...real phat beats lead "Seed of Chaos", into a Pop Will Eat Itself, or Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine area (Can't remember the last time I thought about them)...machine gun drum programming and distorted guitars with the gleam of all things superpop...and executed with a 4-track is the perfect fit. Instead of the mountains of microphones and isolation booths, it's replicated with the cheap things at hand...like building the statue of liberty out of pennies. In the end it's better than the real thing it's trying to duplicate.

The xeroxed black and white sleeve of singles like this can lead to the best kind of originality. I'm easily swayed the opposite way with awesome handmade packaging, but the minimalism of this cut up collage imagery takes me back to my early days of randomly buying singles blind because of the DIY stylings. Brick Mower is from Keansburg, NJ and feels a lot like that classic xerox sleeve sound from those late '90s. Like good old Eric's Trip or the Loewenstein tracks from Harmacy...there's a blunt, homemade rock aesthetic. It's ok to be a little sloppy, with a nod to unprofessionalism, you don't want it to sound too good, or even lo-fi. It's smart punk with distorted huge chord guitar, combined with awkward vocal melodies the likes of experimental tracks on Freed Weed. "Cul de Sac": The jazz intro sounds like it was already on the tape right before they hit record. Then it's on to the live sludgy guitar rock based in catchy melody and vocals about "driving around in circles again", it's obviously born out of boredom and a garage to rehearse...the recipe for KRS, KRecs, the pacific Northwest DIY. The second track, "Garden Variety" is my favorite, back and forth vocals that sound punched in, quiet and loud, thin and homemade, like the Song's About Chris single, or a surprisingly rocking Sebadoh track. Sometimes you don't have to try so hard to innovate, or react against a scene, you just write what comes natural and end up with a classic. The jazz pokes through again, and I'm ready for a breakdown sound collage from a mini-cassette.

Get it from Viking on Campus or the Stumparumper distro:

Viking on Campus Records brings ya this slab of vinyl, a split between brick mower and Chicago's Granny Frost (the second split release we've done together). 2 brand new songs from brick mower, and two new tunes from Granny Frost. Limited to 300 on hand numbered vinyl.

Bloodstains Across Alberta on Mammoth Cave Records

Saved the best for last in Mammoth Caves massive singles onslaught. This one is by far their most ambitious with 10 tracks from various Canadian artists loosely based on their home province and compiled this massive EP.

The A-Side tracks even have the Myelin Sheaths, "Chinook Party", the most shocking part is that I just found out these guys are from Canada? Weren't they on Hozac? They bring the layered distortion, and a fist pumping chorus.
The Tension Slips, "Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump", is sort of a cheer, like "S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y night", sort of that same bubblegum punk anthem, and I thought for a second they might be talking about a night in Buffalo, NY, where you could easily get your head smashed in if you were jumped, which is also very common in Buffalo. But then I remember Alberta is waaayy over there by Montana, so there must be some other equally awesome city or bar they are referring to.
The Moby Dicks even weigh in with a muddier than usual effort, "Frostbite". The levels are punished, and they stop halfway through...probably too drunk. They aren't really talking about anywhere in particular, more like everywhere in all of Canada, I imagine. When the snow finally comes around, it's there to stay. I hate upstate.

Some of the B-Siders, like The Famines: P.L.C.A, are always riding those input lines right over the red. They blast one out here almost creating a solid wave of sound, they can create maximum noise somewhere in Lightning Bolt dB range.
Fist City sounds like Fuck Montreal, (which I'm sure they appreciate on many levels), tons of raw, sloppy, energy with windows of perfect punk melody, they don't try to protect. It's not something precious. They find a crystal vase in the trash, and they smash it against the wall for the fuck of it.
The Radians have a huge vocal delay and masses of effects maxed out pushing it into punk psyche. "You know... You know, you got it".
Outdoor Miners, "Colly Shaw", have a post punk intelligencia lean, working through ultra long delayed vocals, coming off somewhere between Husker Du's gutsy chords and The Errors alchemy.

I don't have to know what chinook's are or that Death/Methbridge is about Lethbridge, Mammoth Cave has put together a great compilation with a shitload of scuzzy garage talent that happens to be from Alberta. Like other contemporary local scene capturing labels, Fort Lowell or Harding Street Assembly Lab they're providing access to an entire part of the world I know I would have only accidentally come across and never made the connection. That's the best kind of seven inch label, that doesn't just release the music by great artists but collaborates with them, bringing new music that really wouldn't have otherwise existed into the rest of the world. This is a perfect single...it doesn't happen everyday.

Hopefully there are some of these left since we're way late to the party, eh?. Hoser! Drink beer and piss on a fire. What the hell was the McKenzie Brothers movie about anyway?

The liner notes are insanely enlightening...I have to go listen to this thing again now.

Mammoth Cave Records.

MCR 010 – Bloodstains Across Alberta 7”
Featuring: Topless Mongos, Myelin Sheaths, Tension Slips, The Moby Dicks, Grown-Ups, Famines, Fist City, Radians, The Throwaways, Outdoor Miners

We asked 10 of our favourite Alberta bands to write a 1 minute song loosely about their home province and two months later we got this. I daresay it came out way better than we anticipated. Seriously, this record rules pretty hard, with every band turning in short blasts of amazing. In fact, even though we made this single for the Wyrd Alberta Travelling Festival, we have plans to do a BC edition (w/ Indian Wars, Dead Ghosts, Student Teacher, B-Lines… lots more) and then maybe more after that.

1st pressing 300 Black (Only 83 left after Wyrd Alberta travelling Fest).

Gold-Bears on Magic Marker Records

Magic Marker Records have a couple of new releases including this single from Gold-Bears out of Atlanta, GA of all places. Magic Marker is based in my dream city, Portland, and I'm afraid by the time I get to actually stay there for a while, a lot of people will have also already also discovered how great you are. That's a good thing...I guess I'm just a little jealous...and then to hear this being pressed? This only pushes me one step closer.

"Tally" on the A-side is working in that golden age of indie rock, of crystal clear layered vocals on top of jangle to screaming distortion guitar. The melodies carry all these tracks, and there just isn't room for anything that hasn't been well thought out and meticulously combined into punky power pop perfection. There isn't a moment that doesn't belong, a repeated section that's necessary. The punk part is the single-minded focus on the main melody and transferring some of that frenzied energy and the power pop side is keeping up with sharp bursts of jagged chords.

But the best track from Gold-Bears is coming on the B-Side, (of course). I have to admire the sheer speed of the twee leanings of "Jezzer". These frantic high register vocals, almost reminding me of Ben Gibbard or John Darnielle in some kind of fit. I don't know if they realize, even with a seven inch, they still have a couple of minutes left. It's the perfect archetype indie pop song, packed with numerous hooks, overwhelming insane catchiness and is over way too soon. They better hold on to the drummer who can execute these fills and rhythms with this kind of technical speed, like Dog Day's Lydia, it explodes with exuberant, bouncy pop. The sort of song 7"'s are made for, a perfect tiny package highlighting that gem of a song and allows for easy repeat.

The last track, HK Song takes advantage of it's rest of the side with slow melodic acoustic guitar and a hint of analog synth. What ties all of these together is that real lyric writers sense of conveying a very personal situations without being forced. That's the trick to this kind of punchy indie, how do you get specific without alienating and still being relevant in a few months...they stay universal and unique at the same time thanks to great vocals that sound conversational and effortless. It's the fine line of not being too clever for clever's sake...and there's none of that here...they're completely sincere and I'm looking forward to hearing what they might do with a full length situation.

The monochrome pink sleeve, which is a photo of a street in Japan maybe? The text on a bus is throwing me. This 3 song, white vinyl release is available from Magic Marker Records, who just celebrated their 10th anniversary....yikes.

Mucky the Ducky and Hexlove on A Record Arts Records

I'm on KDVS' mailing list... and their top 30 weekly email list has taken a long time to decipher. At first it was 30 bands I'd never heard of and slowly over the years of keeping an eye on the singles I would recognize more and more bands on their list.... it's always served as a kind of important document of what's happening at any given week in new music. If I missed something, chances are I should go investigate every one of these guys. I wonder if they actually keep track?...Anyway it just seemed like the college radio station near me growing up...at any given moment they were playing something I hadn't heard of and I couldn't get enough...I even subscribed to Reflex magazine because you got a free flexi disc every month...

DJ's are the insiders....thinking about singles as much as humanly possible, more than the guys at the record stores even. They're free to draw from any given decade making connections between them. It makes sense...you want to look for new material for your show, and maybe play something for someone else...getting someone out there as excited as you are about this single that came in.

The internet has saved radio in weird way, streaming shows and podcasts, I wouldn't have had a chance listen regularly to Mark's podcast in Vancouver, Chocolate Grinder, or WFMU. No matter how many times it happens, there's something exciting about hearing that song you recognize being played right now by someone else.

I say this because, these are the guys that make up Mucky the Ducky, and when Sean emailed me about a project he and a few other KDVS DJ's had going, well I definitely wanted to hear it. I think Sean Johannessen headed up the project, also recording and mastering this nightmare soundscape. Rather than slowly lead the listener in a journey, a gradual eye opening collage, they get an enormous noise going from the very moment the needle starts spiraling inward. And why not? This is a god damn single after all, we don't have all day...this one is entitled "Our neighbors Racoons" (sic) which made me think it's some kind of verb...the Racooning of the neighbors. It's chaotic, haunting, delayed, hyper noise that gradually starts to sort itself out into a calm droning hum. Live drums are a plus and I imagine it takes a lot to keep an anti-time signature like this. There's a sound that's almost saxophone-like, maybe a theremin? It's the same kind of squeals and bursts from the '60s free jazz era of Coltrane....
It's interesting they're working almost backwards like this, going from a sort of no era catharsis to ambient synth.
Damn, is that a Casio SK-1 human voice? Balls.

Zac Nelson's, Hexlove is on the flipside, also at 33. These are still chaotic but in a more organic sounding way, manipulated bells, and wind instrument sounds, but maybe that's just the impression I'm left with. I'm partial to the second track, which surprisingly adds vocals to a piece, "Eye Write Who Wins", which has this Vangelis sounding synth under unrhythmic percussion sounds. Like something Gastr Del Sol they have their own logic, completely separate from the glitches and backwards meanderings of the electronics. The last track is barely there, straining to hear if that shimmering mirage is getting closer or just about to fade out again.

The sleeve is a foldover matchbook cardboard cover with all kinds of silkscreen antics all over it, transferring into the sleeve, creating yet another layer of dried ink. I know mine isn't even attempting to look like anyone else's, this is layers and layers of pattern, like the freaking beautiful mailer it was packaged in:



I love this NNF aesthetic, it says "I'm challenging your shit!", like the noise inside. I get excited.
Handmade silkscreen with splattery sky blue vinyl...from A Record Arts Records.

Hexlove (Portland, OR - Porter Records, Holy Mountain, Weird Forest) is the solo work of Zac Nelson (who hand screened all of the cover art and has played in numerous groups outta PDX and Sacramento over the last so many years including Who's Your Favorite Son God?, Chll Pll (w/ Zach Hill of Hella), Prints, and Trawler Bycatch).

Mucky the Ducky (Davis, CA) is an improv collective comprised of KDVS DJs and members of Sholi (Quarterstick) and Afternoon Brother (Dreamsheep, Life's Blood).

The Moviegoers on Mangoose Records

The sound on the Moviegoers single is a little bit like the photo on the sleeve. It's staged, it's nodding to commercial photography, pin up mags, but there's something off, the car isn't perfectly clean, her expression is trying-to-please a little too hard, and the background is too 'suburban street'...another words, it's real.
There's more than a hint of nostalgia for the '90s here, Sarah records, Slumberland, that jangle indie guitar shoegaze.
The A-Side, Big High School has dual guy/girl vocals....it's a little twee maybe, if that even can still make sense anymore. Earnestly fuzzy, complete with a keyboard melody that seals the deal, couldn't be more perfect and when the MBV guitar swirls in and they lyrically recall, what else? High School. I'm completely sold. I couldn't be more of a sucker for high school nostalgia when you're getting to know a small circle of friends actually making real decisions about your life and fucking up big time. Everything is earthshattering. I played Copper Blue at full volume in the attic when that jerk started dating my best friend...see?
That's what this is doing.
The superfuzz guitar sound is perfect...and it's way too brief. But they want to play with that quiet breakdown section, the melody jangle and then blow it all out again.
Musically it's all about a nostalgic era, deceptively upbeat with an air of depression and then the lyrics reminisce. It's a perfect combination.
"Riding shotgun in cars"....It's almost a duet, an older-now ex-couple, home for the holidays. The saddest indie pop situation. Remember the 405 single from DCFC? Well, it's not going to make you almost sick with regret...you can still half dance to it.

I have to admit I was a little skeptical of The B-Side, 'Avalanche'. Were they going in a too self referential direction? Too many pop culture mentions? But it's just a little Leonard Cohen for a moment, but they pull you back in when it all goes massive shoegaze again. It's that slow plodding swirl that sets up a real downer. Did I say this was twee? What the fuck?
They ooze that kind of nostalgia, I don't know if it's the angelic backup vocals from Jessica, or if anything so clean sounding just makes me think fondly of the early days of Alternative music?
To top it off, it's another dysfunctional relationship, a sad story that takes place in Brooklyn (?!) and it sounds like some sort of drunken one night stand between two people already in a relationship with each other.

Neither of these tracks protagonists end up happy, and that's the stuff of driving around all night feeling sorry for yourself.

In the best randomly made by a friend who's a girl mix tape way.
What does that even mean?
I have to get back to my adult life.

But first, get this from Mangoose Records.
Articulately clever lyrics on the reverse side of the sleeve, and a handmade download postcard inside.

Samuel Locke Ward and Darren Brown - Full Length review

This was one of those big records, I think they're 12"'s?
I care about them just as much as singles....but have to be banished to the depths of the forums. I don't want the 45's getting any ideas.

From Grotto Records.

Slow Animal - theFUNsun on Jaxart records

Just heard about this duo of New Jersey, Slow Animal...NJ seems to be on everyone's radar thanks to Ducktails and Real Estate's dreamy suburban melodies, and Slow Animal sounds like they're channeling that melancholy into fuzzy reverb drenched pop. The spaz side of the shore. Just the two of them create a massive hyper sunny sound. Imagine the FIRST Wavves album (King of the Beach is terrible) with two hazy vocalists, it's the same effortless energy, completely catchy melodies that deserve repeat with lots of harmonized whaaaooo's. Even add some No Age huge dynamics, slow it down for a second and then crash in again. It's going to be a bouncy sweaty live show.

The A-Side, the FUNsun, is a perfect example of the vocal back and forth, proving the bass guitar will not be missed. When did that start? It makes the most sense I guess...you could count the number of bass/drums bands on one hand, but this distorted reverb and drums sound is becoming the standard. Instead of that solid melody, you go for a sound that completely overtakes you with treble, and let's face it, you can always work out some sort of bassline with the guitar. It keeps the direction tight, no need to mess with extra members adding to the already perfect sound.
Is it the beach? It's also that '50s, Del Shannon, or Shangri La's pop wall of sound, combined with the debut energy of pleasing yourself and everyone else in the process.
They both have to be ON to perform this, like Matt and Kim there's an infectious energy, it's an all or nothing sound....and it's not even their best!, (why Sitting Here wasn't an A-Side sheesh), maybe that's just me...that guitar rhythm and the tambourine snare hits with both vocals flying harmonies all over the place...it's the more minimal attack and when it finally blows it makes it that much better.

This tiny pressing of their first single with an exclusive B-Side will definitely be gone soon.

The first 7 inch from New Jersey's Slow Animal.

Only 250 total. THAT'S IT! Once they're gone, they're gone! Includes exclusive b-side "Saturday Mourning"

Check out their video for theFUNsun, where they enjoy all kinds of abuse from the off camera crew, and get this one from Jaxart records.

Lillie Ruth Bussey /Non-canon split on Actual Records

Aaron sent this single in from a recording he made at the Slingluff Gallery in Philly a little less than a year ago of Lillie Ruth Bussey and Non-Canon, two local artists I wouldn't have come across any other way.
I really like the collage sleeve and notes all over the reverse with photos from the gallery of different artists work, it's bringing all these things together, and I get a sense of what the space is about...actually providing a space for people to look at work and hear music. Not like the galleries in Chelsea where they could care less if my anonymous, broke ass walks in to actually look at the work.
Lillie's side: She's got a lower register voice that's immediately reminding me the old days of listening to PJ Harvey's, Rid of Me. It's not overly precious. There's an amazing voice in here, but she doesn't need to show off...in fact she's hardly louder than a whisper at points. She makes a point to wail on the acoustic to really drive the song home. Playing with the dynamics it goes delicate again, with muted strings as soon as it starts to get string breaking.
The second track gives away the live space, some clinking glasses with Lillie introducing the track...really Aaron made a great recording of the experience, you wouldn't know this was a real, natural space, with a last minute setup. Her voice is ridiculously wavering, with a natural tremolo, and very different from the previous track. The songs are always about her voice though...she doesn't even need any accompaniment. The silence in between notes is just as important as the melody.

Non-Canon, does 'Chemical Flowers', complete with a massive bass drum hit with a mallet sound which is a sort of reminiscent of the Dodo's, quiet, brooding and ready to explode. Really minimal, just acoustic guitars and tambourine keeping time.
The vocals here as well are fantastic, like the Bowerbirds, it's really unique, unusual phrasing and the rest of the band backs in lower harmonies. The room sound captured is perfect, it almost gets a tiny bit of echo bouncing off the walls. You can't help but be caught up with his emotion when he starts belting out the title of the track towards the end. It's a great somber contemporary sort of folk track from another great vocalist and band in Philly. I'll be looking into these guys.

The second track from Noncanon is the dj Ruxbin & Shane SixTen re-edit which grinds in a huge vibe synth keyboard sound over a brief version of the track, which sounds slightly remastered and cut up. It doesn't get overly percussive, but that analog wave sound is punishing the speakers.

Get it from Actual Records.

PANDA BEAR!

You should all thank Darren, who clued me into the latest panda bear single preorder at Domino USA!
They're gone before I can even post this!

Hallelujah.

Vacation, till tuesday.

G. Green on Malt Duck Records

Oh Christ tell me that baby is sleeping!

GGreen is back with his second single, this time it looks like a band has formed, and it's taken a turn from the home recorded inside the brain space of G. and has spread to 3 other members and I think his material definitely benefits. It's one thing to come up with something in the middle of the night, delirious and fuzzy. I appreciate that specific vision, I want to hear it, but it's another thing entirely to make this leap and put together a group of people to add their take on things and even play live. Like Mess Folk,....it just gets better. You have to stand there night after night and belt this out, the vocals aren't quite as idiosyncratic...it's more desperate and I like it.

It's even like German Measles or Home Blitz, sort of punk, quirky, nerdy, raw...the song is the most important thing...there's enough rehearsal that they don't come off like the Germs or something...don't kill the audience. You're kidding yourself if you think it's shocking...it'll be original if you don't try. Does this guy even know he's good?

'Looks' is the only track up on the myspace, and jesus it could be a lost Nodzzz track, I can hear the x-ray glasses. I just like a mess like this, it isn't too garage, or even lo-fi...just playing catchy tracks with fucking feeling.

Take a listen to a live version of Mouth on the Floor, it's a totally different feel than the Out of Order single. The crowd is really screaming at the end, it sounds like a dungeon nightmare...kind of a weird idea.

Keep putting these 7" out. It's shaping up to be the start of something good.

::::NEWS FROM MALT DUCK RECORDS::::

G.Green 7-inch 'I Will Not Withdraw This Statement' now available on Malt Duck.
$4

Come on now.... how do you not like this guy after checking out his recording session?

Mazes on Suffering Jukebox Records

Suffereing Jukebox is a brand new label over in the UK, who just released this single from Mazes. I was just thinking about the Lilys recently and what Kurt Heasley might be up to recently. I think hes still in LA, somewhere near Lou Barlow. That stuff really used to completely take me by surprise, they were in such a subgenre off by themselves. He was definitely a genius, the mod/psyche/pop sound was completely his and no one else's. He got me to appreciate some of that C86 sound and like the Lilys' Brief History of Amazing Letdowns, the Mazes seem to be comfortable with not settling on a particular wave of this sound, going from dirty garage, to catchy indie pop. It's nice to hear that experimentation, they aren't settled on anything yet...I'm willing to go along for this and future 7" single rides.

The A-Side, 'Cenetaph', reminds me of that 90's English laid back guitar-centric sound, a rowdy pop Belle and Sebastian with the leanings of Kurt's unique harmony and manic happy chord changes. It's immediately catchy, but not as precious ultra produced as some of later Lilys, there's a loose raw feel to the performance, and it's vocally they're off and running making this one unique.
I noticed they toured with So Cow and that feels like a perfect fit with the B-Side 'Go-Betweens', it's rough, a little bit punk, power pop and then the vocal melody softens it up a bit, it could even be twee for tough guys...what can I say they're a contradiction at the very least.

Not to mention that their other single 'Bowie Knives' on sex is disgusting records doesn't sound like either of the two on this single. Nice work. I like all three and for completely different reasons...surprising.

Available direct from Suffering Jukebox who will airmail that little piece of wax over....or better yet, it's also locally available from Goner.

Mac Blackout on Sacred Bones Records

Sacred Bones recently released a stack of singles/full lengths and I've been slow to catch up to their latest batch of releases but I read this draft post title as having something to do with computers...like the sad mac of death icon that used to come up sometimes ...or a lot if you were dicking around with start-up disks and that BS. It also reminds me of Blank Dogs....that generic name...Mac, dog, house, sam combined with a feeling of alienation. Mac Blackout, Blank Dogs....the same end result band name.
Musically he's not far off either...a sort of punk Gary War, instead of the ambient, buried vocals, Mac is pretty upfront and direct in his experiments. I think I prefer this to the sort of lack of direction in Deerhunter...that meandering kind of slow paced jam essentially...it repeats, there's hardly anything going on. Even Eno I have to say can be fucking boring...it never gets me going....sure it's background music...OK, you succeeded. I know that's the point, but it's not anything I think needs to be consciously made. Even something like Mac's 'Cold Hearts Will Burn Tonight', as insane video game blipy mess as it gets it has more balls than all of Deerhunter.
However none of the tracks from this single are on his myspace, so I'm really guessing to the specifics, but essentially it's a sort of home recorded one man project with a Suicide vocals sound. The same electronics caught in a void of era and It even sounds a little like Ariel Pink...if you can possibly believe one single could actually combine any of these references...but it's impossible to place this into a specific timeframe. I have to say that's when these things get really exciting for me. It's not about a trendy sound that's programmed into the latest korg...it's been so displaced from a frame of reference that it's new again.
The sleeve says, 'I'm punk', fuck you. and Mac looks like he has a hundred or so singles on other labels, come check them out with me.

Sacred Bones presents a new solo single from ex-Functional Blackouts and current Daily Void man Mac Blackout that sounds that could have been made either in the year 1980 or 2980. “Don’t Let Your Love Die,” a driving synth driven tune that almost goes pop—albeit in a very Alexander Robotnik kind of way—sounds like it might as well have been recorded on an NES console. On the B-side “Sometimes” is a dirge like midtempo song that goes beyond the obvious comparisons to the Helios Creed/Damon Edge orbit and at times recalls Sacred Bones label-mate Gary War and even Mac’s other project, Daily Void.

Get it from Sacred Bones, who has an amazing doc about Naked on the Vague that was successfully funded on kickstarter. Damn.