Kid Icarus - imaginary songs and aluminum hits on Summersteps Records

Dear 12"'s,

Just wanted to let you know, just posted some words about Kid Icarus' latest album Imaginary Songs and Aluminum Hits from Summersteps records.

Click over to the forums section.

Sincerely,

Jason

Desaparecidos - Saving $$$$$$$$

I posted a million years ago about the infamous Desaparaceidos single, the regularly went for upwards of 300 bucks, but even the full length just weeks ago went for around 100. I never thought I would listen to the sweet sounds of this Conner Oberst side project on vinyl, let alone ever even hear the tracks on that single.
Then this email announced this morning from Saddle Creek they repressed the LP with the bonus 7"!...didn't see this coming at all.

Desaparecidos made me rethink the entire idea of a modern protest album. They weren't new ideas, anti-suburbia, anti-war, but they weren't ever delivered with this condemning sentiment and punk volume in the 2000's. As flawed or naive as the possibility is, it's completely pulled it off lyrically and musically. Why even attempt this hoarse screaming detail about jeans, SUV's, samples of girls talking about the perfect guy, or a recording of a conversation about tiny towns was a perfect union. I still can't think of anything in this decade that's as powerful as every single track on this album and attempts to tackle politics and social commentary. It's Diary turned outwards on strip malls and ambition. Look at this sickness.... no one can fault this attempt...and really it unfortunately hasn't aged a day. It's fucking flawless from beginning to end. I'm expecting great things from that single as well.

See... I don't see it as just spending 18$, I just saved $382.

Look at me, talking about money. I have no soul.

Desaparecidos save me.

Get it from Saddle Creek.

For the first time in 4 years, Read Music/Speak Spanish is available on high quality 180g vinyl!

AND for the first time ever the non-album tracks from The Happiest Place on Earth single are included as a bonus 7"!

Rapid Cities / mOck split on Love/Hate Records

This single from Love/Hate Records, like the split with Tragwag from yesterday also has a Brickmower connection. Those guys get around, actually just noticed they're in Brooklyn, Nov 4th. Might just have been a coincidence, but I'm pretty sure that's how this ended up in the 7Inches mailbox. This split single is from rapid cities and mOck, Rapid Cities just finished a tour with mOck and they must have played with Brickmower at some point being from New Brunswick, N.J.....N.J. could use more of this polished post-hardcore sound. There's nothing wrong with a great melodic complex foundation, you can be just as angry.

Then there's the title, "Techno After Party?", uh oh. But no, the insert card actually has the lyrics, which completely explained this and added another level to the track. Frustration over a shared bill with people dancing to techno. I get it, I could see this...what kind of scenes exist anymore? Is it all just a mess of genre smashing? or You'll dance to anything?. I like the idea that all of these things could come together and be appreciated on some level....not like Judgement Night, but that there could be a mixed show of guys all working in interesting ways that cross over more subtly. Enough to be appreciated by the other group of dudes there to see it. That's what's great about the Fucking Champs, and even Ween, their audience is all over the place. But after playing a show to a disinterested crowd and they started raving out...it would be make me throw my hands up. At least that's what I'm getting out of this...it's pretty abstract in that great way. Sunny Day Real Estate lyrics.

I'm also not going to say it's like Fugazi, that's obviously too easy..and aren't there any other bands working in this melodic heavy way with understandable vocals? Complex changes where rhtyhms are forced to fit together, almost to see if this is really going to work. It's well thought out, playing on the classic elements of the genre, intricate distortion, off rhythm, unnatural changes. The quiet breakdown, overlapping melody, repetitive vocals over the crunk, crunk of muted chords, that understated buried yell.

The mOck side, from Germany, are pushing this sound as well, testing the complexity of the pieces. I think this math, post hardcore sound is always going to work for me. I feel smart...at least these guys are busting their ass, rehearsing, playing with the rhythm structure. I have to put it on another level immediately. I just wonder with a band like this...it reminds me of the Sailors or Bronze situation...they must be a little isolated and have to play with those terrible pointless split bills as well?....but maybe I'm just thinking about that because of Rapid Cities.

They break off into instrumental sections with lots of what has to be fret tapping, it almost feels proggy even. The vocals are even more abstract in this one, but that's to be a little expected.

Solid, interesting, smart post punk rock....And it's $4???!!!! On clear blue vinyl from Love/Hate Records. Wait...who hates records?

Released August 2010

Track list: "Techno After Party" + "After After Party" (Rapid Cities),

"Count / Release" (mOck)"[mOck's Count/Release] manages to create a sense of alarm and heightened emotion while still applying the relatively minimalist direction that they’ve chosen... “Techno After Party” is easily one of the best songs that [Rapid Cities has] recorded... The song simply rocks in a way that good post-hardcore often can." - Built On a Weak Spot

Includes free digital download

Blue transparent vinyl $4 (U.S. only)

Gnarly Whales / Tragwag split on Swamp Cabbage / Broken Records

Tragwag or That Really Awesome Guy with a Guitar sent this split single from his band and Gnarly Whales. Heavy acoustic guitar, sounding a lot like the Mountain Goats, especially 'Seinfeld is a pretty good tv show' which doesn't have anything to do with that song title as far as I can tell....or it was loosely inspired by sad feelings of it ending? Either way, he's got that John Darnielle reach in the upper registers...the same talky delivery and frantic strumming. "Two Weeks" as well could easily be a long lost Goats track. Imperfect sincerity and emotion. I'm nostalgic for those guys sometimes, that was a time period of Sebadoh, John Davis and the Mountain Goats pretty much constantly...that acoustic guitar collecting dust sounded good again. Hell, even Beck made me think about going to that open mic. What the hell did I know about anything. Tyler's joined by Ali on Banjo and vocals on Texas Sky, which completely reminds me of those days buying anything K Recs or Kill Rock Stars.

Gnarly Whales out of Florida have a slight Doo Rag leaning, all room mic'd cheap acoustics, flat drums, or some kind of percussion, combined with The Dead Milkmen's humor and punk. First of all if I see 5 tracks on your side of a split? I'm into that, no solos, no extended jams or ambient electronics to be had here. Nothing is off limits for these guys, God loves incest, the movie 2012 was bullshit and fuck the RIAA...so of course I'm on board. You don't have to take yourself so fucking seriously, you want to start a band and talk about all the dumb shit in the world...I don't think there's enough of that gong around. Sure douche's blog about how much they love Necco wafers or Code Red Mountain Dew, and no one gives a shit. But in acoustic punk folk song form with the rest of the band punctuating the chorus with a 'hey hey hey' it's going to be a good time and would get my attention if I happened to hear this out behind some shitty bar. They make an impression and have the DIY, who gives a fuck, love it or leave it spirit. I might just be getting older, but I'd take this over most hardcore bursts of noise...it's just not going to make it on a mixtape I'd make for my mom. She still has a cassette player. Well maybe the 2012 song, if she saw that piece of crap.

My only beef with this single is why is Fuck the RIAA censored? Even on the insert. I could see if the printing place had some objection or were just being hard asses, you can barely see it...but then even the track God Loves Incest? Incest is obscured? I appreciate the sentiment, but then to not print those terrible words on the sleeve but the xeroxed insert as well? Insanity. And kind of defeats what the song is even about! At least it's on the disc label.

Get it from Tragwag's webstore. All different colors of vinyl with a download code and inserts.

Future Islands / Lonnie Walker split on Friends Records

Checked out Future Islands last night at Mercury Lounge and was actually hoping that they might have copies of this at their merch table but no dice. It's insane to just watch Sam onstage, he's a complete maniac, working himself up into a frenzy, grabbing at himself, possessed. Singing like no one else...I have to track down some of his earlier projects to hear where this sound came from. It's completely unique...here's this new order sounding bass over a drum machine and he's just losing his shit, growling every word. It was packed, and any kind of movement was near impossible, but I could see him willing this energy into everything. And then he's a normal guy, telling stupid jokes, shooting the shit while they work on a fucked up cable...and then it's back to beating himself up. You get something of an idea what Iggy Pop might have looked like confronting an audience. It's not dangerous, just the same kind of bizarre. They played Ink Well last night and it's one of the slower plodding ballads with swirling synth and his soul crooning rage.

Meanwhile Lonnie Walker is at a contemporary take of southern country, story songs, electric fingerpicking. It's a weird mix, brought together by a shared geography.

Get it from Friends Records.

Future Islands and Lonnie Walker both grew up in North Carolina, mostly near the beach. Core members of each group have been life-long friends, have at times played in the same band, and also went off to college together. While one group churns out synth pop that will make your heart twist and your feet bounce, the other supplies country punk fit for any type of DIY hoedown.

SHIPS NOVEMBER 2010

Soccer Mom at Rosebud Diner, Boston

I happened to catch Soccer Mom this weekend at Rosebud Diner, no that's not a new venue in Williamsburg, I happened to be in Boston over the weekend and randomly ended up finding out they were playing not far from my friend Matt's house. It's actually behind the diner itself, there's some kind of giant wrap around bar with pool tables, booths and carpeting.
I'm more than just into their single, and that goes especially after seeing them live. Mostly it was the volume, I haven't been so deafened since deciding at Boris that I really needed to remember to bring earplugs everywhere. Just keep them in my bag. Did I bring them to see Soccer Mom? No. Did I regret it? No...my ears did though, but it's been a while since I gave in to a massive wall of sound. Things are going to ring for a bit the next day, and serve as yet another reminder I want to still be able to hear someday, but once in a while it's worth it to hear everything in earsplitting detail. Both Dan and William have an insane control over the swirling pedal fog that's continuously in the red. They aren't ever going for that loud/quiet/loud, it's one peak level of sound live, the textures change, but the volume stays the same. Dan grinds the neck pointed straight into the stage in front of his amp and the feedback barely rises above Williams already dense layering of distortions.
It's the direction I wanted all of this to go from the single. I liked the references on the vinyl, I just didn't want it to sound to structured, too rehearsed, if that makes any sense. The deep, serious vocals on Bill Cosby in Glamorous Chains reminded me of I Love you but I've Chosen Darkness
But after the first minute of being completely overwhelmed, I just looked at Matt and we were both glad we made the trip...it's doesn't go in a constrained pop direction, you can hear they want to bring the noise, it just happens that they also play along together near perfectly so the changes all work with Danielle's minimal melodies underneath....it makes High on Dad even better in front of you....and that they would put a near instrumental that goes from catchy melodic to devastating on the B-Side...


Great, great show, Soccer Mom has tons of amazing material and hopefully there's another single in the works, but I'd be happy with just more of anything from these guys.

Pick up their first single at their new website or check out both tracks. Hopefully they start posting some new demo's or something over there. I'm kicking myself I didn't at least try to record their set.

Casual Friday's singles mixer - get ready to click the paypal button

Oh man, People in a Position to Know Records have just announced preorders for a slew of picnic plate 7"'s! I don't even understand how that's possible but Christmas got me into their stuff as of late and I jumped on that one...the rest of these guys I don't really know, but they're all letterpressed sleeves...this is just an amazing project. I hope he collects them in some kind of box. Amazing.

Hello! It has been predictably busy in PIAPTK HQ. Over the summer, we've been focusing on putting the new record lathes to work making one-sided flexi singles out of picnic plates. The "tonal coloring" and slight loss of fidelity that these records have hopefully adds to the experience and gives the songs a new flavor. You are helping to save a poor innocent picnic plate from the indignity of being used to hold hot wings and then carelessly discarded. They sound much better than you'd ever imagine.
And the covers were all hand-letterpressed, with hand-set type at the Community Print, Olympia's own community owned print shop. They are little pieces of art, in my opinion.

NOW, onto the Preorders. These will ship within the next week or two.

Benoit Pioulard - Little a Strongly More Grow I Picnic Plate
Lathe 7": - $5
On loan from Kranky, Benoit Pioulard churned out a harmonium version of a beautiful, echoey anthem for a one-sided picnic plate. Comes in Hand-set Letterpressed covers. Only 66 made! You can check out the original version of the tune at his Myspace
Perhaps I'm biased, but I think the Harmonium version is even better than the original!

Black Prairie - Blackest Crow Lathe Cut Picnic Plate 7": - $5
This is a one-sided single from Black Prairie (Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee and Nate Query from the Decemberists). A great old timey bluegrass tune. Comes in hand-set letter pressed covers. Only 111 made!

Electric Sunset - Destroyer Picnic Plate 7": - $5
Former Desolation Wilderness frontman, Nick Zwart, just released a killer album under the name Electric Sunset on K Records. It's got the same dreamy shoegaze that Desolation Wilderness had, but in a more electronic and synthy vein. Destroyer is a killer new track that
recently debuted on K's Zip-Pak (which you should definitely check out if you are a fan of music in it's digital form). Only 100 made, in hand-set letterpressed covers.

Amo Joy - "Straight To Plate" Live to Lathe Picnic Plate 7"+ CD: - $7
In the middle of their last West Coast tour, Amo Joy (one of my favorite psych pop bands out these days) took a day off in Olympia and spent all day recording live, straight into my three Presto 6N Record lathes. They recorded 7 songs, 5 times each. Each lathe added it's own unique coloring, and on average only two of the three lathes provided a usable recording. We also ran an output from the mixer into my computer to record raw digital versions of the amazing power-pysch-pop tunes. We then spent the night hand-making covers for all of them. Puff Paint,
Collages, paintings, etc were all employed. Every one of these records is unique. The performance was a one-time deal. Includes a CD-R with one performance of each song. Only 70 made! If you buy more than one copy, I will make sure that you get different songs for each one.

Christmas - Santa Cruz Picnic Plate Lathe 7": - $5
One of Olympia's best live bands, Spazz-Post-Psych-Surf-Punkers Christmas made this for their US tour. You can check out Santa Cruz and other tracks at their Myspace. It comes in hand-set Letterpressed covers... Only 55 made.

Lazer Zeppelin - Jane Jane Picnic Plate Lathe 7": - $5
Lazer Zeppelin is back with a brand new track called Jane Jane. As fuzzy and lo-fi and beautiful as you would expect. It comes in a letterpressed cover, which is only embossed... no ink was harmed in the making of this cover. You can check out a live version of Jane Jane on their Myspace. Ltd Ed of 77.

Safe - Carolina Picnic Plate Lathe 7": - $5
I saw San Francisco electronic duo Safe at a festival on a farm this summer and they blew me away! So, here is a single of their new track Carolina. In hand-set letterpressed covers. Ltd ed of 55.

Next up is the annual David Bazan single from Suicide Squeeze... they just make me say, another year already! Haven't been into them lately, but I also have that disease where since I already have the first 4 or 5, I'm stuck having to get the rest. Just like this fucking Star Wars in 3D! I'm going to have to see it. I'm a sick person!
A bunch of different colors so you can make sure you go insane picking them all up on top of everything else.

DAVID BAZAN
"WISH MY KIDS WERE HERE" b/w "I HEARD THE BELLS ON CHRISTMAS DAY"

Here we go. The seventh installment of David Bazan's Christmas Singles Series has arrived. Suicide Squeeze Records has it – limited to 1000 copies (200 Orange, 400 Opaque Red, 400 Opaque Yellow). This 7-inch EP opens with a Bazan original, a heartbreaker of a track titled, "Wish My Kids Were Here." The flip revisits an old favorite, Longfellow's "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," an update on a song he first recorded/released, in 2002, at the start of the series. The holidays promise transcendence, just around a corner. But Bazan knows better: things get pretty hopeless when family and true friendship are left behind. Music helps, certainly, songs can help to save us at such times...

Then Trouble in Mind Records comes out with another batch of 4 singles...I definitely am going to pick these two up...Personal & the Pizza's awesome punk pop and Wounded Lion doing their Muppet Babies track. I think it's hilarious those guys used to have all these songs about star wars and muppet babies on their myspace. Talk about a piece of work.

TIM018: Personal & the Pizzas "I Want You" b/w "(Don't Trust No) Party Boy" - P & da P's are back and this time they're getting a little sensitive. NOT SOFT, no way, man... but a little more down to heart maybe... a little more PERSONAL...know whut I mean? The A-side "I Want You" is right up there with those great mid-tempo Ramones ballads - Is it about a girl or a pizza? Don't know, don't wanna know...all we know is it's one killer tune. The B-Side, "(Don't Trust No) Party Boy" is a warning to all you out there that think that you can tame a "Party Boy"...well, It ain't happening and all you're gonna end up with is a big fat "I told you so." Leave it to Personal to teach you all a lesson or two (or three?) The single comes housed in the Trouble In Mind factory sleeve, includes a download code, & the first press comes on randomly mixed colored vinyl!

TIM019: Wounded Lion "Pointed Sticks" b/w "Muppet Babies" - So you think you know the glam rock, huh? Well, L.A.'s Wounded Lion are here to school you otherwise by serving up one killer mutant Gary Glitter (via Lamps) sludge glam masterpiece on this 7-inch! The A-Side, "Pointed Sticks" is no ode to the Canadian power poppers of the same name, but it's sure to stick in your head for days & get those club feet a'tappin'! The B-Side is a surreal exploration of the story of Oedipus via a forgotten Saturday morning gang... THE MUPPET BABIES. We probably shouldn't say anymore other than the fact that this single is literally and figuratively two sides of one of the most creative bands going these days. The single comes housed in the Trouble In Mind factory sleeve, includes a download code, & the first press comes on randomly mixed colored vinyl!

Then Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records had to go and press this single from Sourpatch...I swear I have one of their earlier singles and loved it...unassuming indie, guy/girl vocals...really having a good time with the sound, a little shoegaze, a little twee. When you can combine all of these good times into one single then you've really got something. Another, better, kinder, gentler high school time....and it's an EP with 4 tracks...they're all great. If Nodzzz and the Softies got too wasted and woke up with each other.

SOURPATCH - Mira Mija - Happy Happy Birthday To Me - HHBTM 125
"Four friends switching off song writing duties over four tracks on what might be the best single this year. I could make up some crap to try to sell you this record, but I think Keenan Dowers of the Three Imaginary Girls sums this band up perfectly. 'I've been a fan of this band since last San Francisco popfest when they blew me away with their Tiger Trap-esque perfect indie pop punk and swooning boy girl vocals, and this was by far the best show I've ever seen them play. They are living proof that hardcore drummers should also always also be in indie pop bands. For a band that is heavily influenced by Rose Melberg's louder endeavors, you could tell they were nervous to be opening up for Go Sailor, but they channeled their nervous energy perfectly to produce a little slice of indie pop heaven.'" Limited to 500 copies in a silkscreen sleeve w/ digital download.

CSC Funk Band on Electric Cowbell Records

It's funny how all of a sudden you get hit with a bunch of sounds that you wouldn't have put together but somehow seem related by more than coincidence. Both of the bands I happened to catch at CMJ led me to this single from Electric Cowbell Records. Here's a nine piece funk band recording in a basement in Bushwick? What the hell do I know about funk...well nothing much. I have to preface this listening by saying it's normally a genre I seek out, or even own in any form. What does CSC sound like? Well they did a damn good job of capturing anything but a basement sound, they have to be commended for that, although what would a lo-fi recording in this genre sound like? That could be interesting, really just plain skilled musicians like this recorded with a crappy boombox? Why not. Everyone else can do it. Then I checked out the lineup on myspace:

All star band killing it featuring Colin L (usaisamonster), Matt Mottel (talibam), Matt Clarke (Ostinato), Jimmy Thomson (Gwar), Jesse Lent (Monte Vista), Jonny Matteo(La Fundacion), Dave Kadden (Invisible Circle), Wes Buckley (Dick Heaven), a horn section. bongos. solos. psychedelic.

The A-Side Bad Banana Bread, Jesus I'm at a loss here...it's not George Clinton style, 70's funk..at least not to me....you know there's just no way to not sound like an ignorant asshole here....An oboe is not something I normally hear or associate with funk. There are definitely some groovy basslines and that stunted slap electric. The horn sections are of course nicely blasting away. Huge echo cowbell in the middle. The amount of talented musicians in the NY area is mind boggling.

The B-Side Caneca, definitely has a cowbell in there also and this track sounds more frantic, how do you get that electric sound? The all treble jangle that's completely distinct to the funk. The horn section is really dirty, cracking all over the place, a little overblown, brassy...or someone has a muffle in there. Throw a solo in there and it starts to go south of the border. What can I say, there's a world of contemporary funk out there, I just didn't think it was happening on my doorstep. Nuts.

Electric Cowbell Records has one waiting for you on black vinyl with xerox insert in their webstore:

When flipping though singles in the new bin how do you not pick up a 45 for a band that has got 4 alternate names on it? CSC Funk Band, aka CSC Racket, aka Newtown Creek Playboys, aka Thrift Store Find, aka Fuck The Funk Band. Whatever they want to call it, the Bad Banana Bread single is definitely (and defiantly) more James Brown then James Murphy, and more acid-fried Funkadelic than either, given Colin Langenus's ripping leads and Dave Kadden's completely bonkers, Ethiopiques-tinged oboe solo. This is some low-down dirty toxic North Brooklyn sludge funk.

Caneca features some mighty fast-funk, guitar-based instrumental grooving. Reminiscent of Remain In The Light-era Talking Heads but with with more of a sense of Bushwick loft party-urgency that begets bongos and cowbells blazing on steroids. A succinct two-and-a-half minute burner that climaxes two-thirds of the way through when the band halts in mid-gallop to shout in unison CANECA!!!

CMJ - Br'er at Lit Lounge - 10-19-10

I caught up with Darian from Edible Onion Records at the Lit Lounge for his show with Br'er, it was a perfect compliment to Emanuel earlier in the day, the classical instrumentation at this intimate venue...well maybe that's not exactly the right word...the Lit Lounge basement is barely one step up from the Charleston...there's some weird couches built into caves areas. At least there's a bar in the back, but it's what makes NY venues great, use every crazy possible space.
Benjamin Schurr is the mastermind and vocalist behind Br'er and they brought an eclectic array of instrumentation, Benjamin was at points playing a harmonium and kick drum while Darian switched mid song between glockenspiel and bass clarinet. The recordings are just bases to jump off with completely different live reinterpretations. On a track I didn't recognize, the cellist, out of nowhere, created that saw-like high warble with a sustained operatic soprano vocal.
Br'er is densely packed with metaphorical imagery, and Benjamin ranges from a quiet controlled vibrato to an impassioned tortured delivery. Lyrically unsettling, they do everything to separate themselves from any kind of sentimental, comfortable pop. It's full of Siamese twins and strangely ugly things that have a voice. They have a single minded direction that isn't like anything else.



It's like you stepping into that forgotten sideshow tent on the edge of the carnival, like Neutral Milk Hotel, Br'er is taking you in bizarre emotional directions with sounds you're unlikely to hear together like this.

CMJ - Emanuel and the Fear at the Livingroom

CMJ is on in NY, and I caught a show courtesy of Paper Garden Records this afternoon from Emanuel and the Fear. I've been meaning to catch these guys and have an excuse to have a beer in the middle of the afternoon before they head out on a month long european tour.
I read they were known for a massive orchestral section and they brought a nine piece to the livingroom stage. 2 violins, trumpet, trombone, flute, cello, synth...just ridiculous. I kept imagining how they expanded into this size, auditioning people..how they were going to get everyone overseas and jammed into one van. Like in "Jimmie's Song", they just want to play in a rock band, but don't let anyone tell any of these bands at CMJ that it isn't a full time job on top of whatever else you have to end up doing to pay the bills.
Emanuel definitely brings a soul, almost blues feel to the table, combined with Liz's harmonies and the complexity of perfectly working pieces...
It's live that these tracks are unstoppable...to hear arrangements like this live reminds me of Beirut... it's like hearing these instruments for the first time. Recordings will never be the same as coming face to face with the impressive arrangements like this in the same small room.
People used to play music like this, with no amplification night after night for themselves, a few friends. I can't get past the amazing amount of time and effort on stage, coming together in epic indie pop ways. They aren't just bringing a classical backing arrangement. Everyone is on the same rock page...it's the kind of thing that makes all those middle school recitals worth it...if they could have told the 12 year old me you will use this to rock like this one day I might have stuck with it.

Thomas Patrick Maguire on Weemayk Music

Justin from Weemayk Music (why didn't I get that until just now?) sent their latest single in from Thomas Patrick Maguire. Both of which are new additions (to me) in the insane web of labels and artists that is Brooklyn....or actually more east in Queens I think for Thomas.

Corporation Town, the A-Side seems like it may have inspired the look of this minimal, all UPC sleeve, but lest you think this is some kind of protest, acoustic guitar style, Thomas is taking it in a kind of reserved direction, like those classic Hayden 4-track albums. Understated in a slow tempo, mixed just right, his vocals, close mic'd, just breaking through the melody. It's like later Elliot Smith, the fully developed stuff on XO, and I think like Elliott he's playing all the backup instrumentation. It has that same devastating sentiment when you get in there to pay attention to the lyrics. It's not an angry protest at all, but a reluctant observation, the city and all it's industry doesn't have anything to do with the individual people that make it. I can appreciate an artist who has more to say than autobiographical love songs.
The flip side, Divorce Man, has Thomas working in more stripped down acoustic stumming, sounding like Paul Westerberg on this one, going after a character divorced from everything. You can hear the years of experience playing live on this one. He's been comfortable behind his instrument for a while and is taking all that experience in raw songwriting and fully realizing it into these two.
I love the classic looking old school labels on the vinyl from Weemayk. It reminds me of looking through stacks of singles in that crazy basement thrift store up the street.

Get this straight on clear green vinyl from Weemayk Music:

The "Corporation Town" / "Divorce Man" single is available now as a download from all major outlets and is available as a green vinyl 7-inch on Amazon.com and direct from WeemaykMusic.com.

Tooth Ache on father/daughter Records

Another single came my way from father/daughter Records, home of that great Family Trees single, this one from a practically local artist Tooth Ache out of Burlington, VT.

There's a fine line between The Cosmetics and someone like Zola Jesus, in core structure. It's more than just a lean towards minimal instrumentation and a recording aesthetic difference. The tone is decidedly more sinister. Maybe I'm just talking about what they consist of when you examine the pieces...mechanical rhythms, synth melodies. So essentially it's up to the delivery to separate it from something to hit the dance floor. If you even want to separate it. I have to a little to get away from that soulless dance music that gets pumped out of terrible clubs.
Alexandria Hall has a more understated, softer voice than Zola, but the underlying mood is the same for me. It's so ghostly, the vocals fade into pure melody on the A-Side "Skin". Once I found the lyric insert the song changed, the obscure hints at narrative, it could probably stand on it's own and the way she sets this on the mechanics of beats is unique. There's nothing happening in the instrumentation that would lead to this delivery. Sort of an angelic U.S. Girls in idiosyncratic melody, her voice can carry both of these tracks with even less than we're given.

Th B-Side, "Lazarus", is more of her otherworldly vocals over clicks and deep moog. It's somber and cold and the vocals show up like a sparrow in the post nuclear landscape. Just all of a sudden it makes sense, where have you been?

How this comes out of VT, I don't understand, but then maybe this is a case for the lessening gap between geographic musical styles. Or that talent doesn't pay attention to where it grew up.

Get this and Family Trees at Father/Daughter Records.

I want to hear what they release next.

Friday Singles meltdown

Having been hard at work on reviews lately, I often fail to get a chance to post about 7"'s that just came out, or are available for preorder.
This Shannon and the Clams holiday single was announced yesterday from 1,2,3,4 Go Records. It's already Christmas this year and they were smart and must have gotten started on this a while ago..and they look so jazzed about the holiday! Oh joy! It looks like one of those Kmart portraits...they set up a tree and everything.



From 1,2,3,4 Go Records:

THIS IS A PRE-ORDER! SHIPS NOVEMBER 30TH 2010.

BLACK VINYL LUMP OF COAL edition. Limited to 100 copies!

The Clams ruin yet another family gathering! This one on christmas of all days!!! Bless em they're trying to make up for it with four christmas classics! Only available for the holiday season! 600 copies total are being made this year!

1. Melekalikimaka
2. All I Want For Christmas Is You
3. Blue Christmas
4. Fat Daddy

Now wait a second...the color vinyl on the site is 4.99, but the lump of coal, black edition is 5.99? It's bizzarro xmas prices.



Bringing more holiday spirit is Blessure Grave is at it with a split with Bestial Mouths. They tease with an acoustic and then bring it heavy with toms and their weird timing. Bestial Mouths sound like a good combo, minimal, heavy echo vocals and that feeling of dread.

Blessure Grave / Bestial Mouths Untitled 7” Split + mp3 code

Blessure Grave follow up their full length debut showcasing yet another hit single, while Los Angeles’s Bestial Mouths make their debut proper blasting through two epics loaded with torrential vocals and synthesizer led melodies. These bands do not upset, this is an excellent split single.

From Family Time Records



Then Stones Throw had to go and release this massive set that reminds me to go I have to go watch that 45 battle with DJ shadow on netflix again.

Ten 7-inch singles. Hip-hop music from the Stones Throw archive never before on 45, selected by Peanut Butter Wolf.

Debuted at our 10/10/10 event in Los Angeles, this is a box set of ten 7-inch singles - hip hop music from the Stones Throw archive never before on 45, selected by Peanut Butter Wolf. This will be released October 25, 2010, and is available now exclusively on Stones Throw's web store.

Finally this Blackbird Blackbird single on Firetalk Records. Warbly electronic haze with buried vocals. Playing all over overwhelming CMJ which is coming up this weekend...along with the WFMU record fair. Yikes.

As prolific as he wants to be San Francisco's Blackbird Blackbird drops an undeniable gem with the help of Emily Reo. Get lost in the shimmery production and ride a dream boat down a river of bliss. Dig!

LIMITED TO 500 COPIES

A - Fade To White (Feat. Emily Reo)

B- Letting Go

THIS IS A PRE ORDER
THIS 7 INCH WILL SHIP ON OR BEFORE NOVEMBER 23rd 2010

Cloudland Canyon on Bathetic Records

Bathetic Records, who have been releasing sounds by Jeans Wilder and King Dude on the most obscure format: cassettes have broken the cycle and pressed this 7" vinyl from Cloudland Canyon, which is actually a real place in Georgia (thanks google) and gives these track titles entirely new meaning.
The sleeve isn't giving away anything other than a lot of squinting and holding it away from your face. I think a car on the reverse is about to hit this deer turning away from the camera...an all too familiar scenario where I grew up. If you didn't shoot it in the first few weeks of hunting season, then you hit it on the way to school, but that never stopped anyone from hanging it from a tree in their front yard.
The point is, Cloudland Canyon seems to be all about those hazy memories and nightly reoccurring dreams with no meaning. Or do they?
The A-Side Mothlight Pt 2 has no beginning or end, really. Where it picks up, the rhythms have already been rambling away in the canyon at dawn and this 6 minute piece was simply captured like a field recording for the chain of pedals vocals to be added later that day. It's definitely got imprints of that psyche, shoegaze sound from England not so long ago, and it slightly veers off that direct course every now and then with a weird electronic sound that almost gets Gary War on you but like I said this underlying metronome of haze is unstoppable. The instrumentation is separated in it's own directions adding to the swirl. If you do it right, it gets hard to tonally pick it apart. The vocals are so changed, they start to get heard as another sound coming from something electronic.
The B-Side "In the Cold" seems to be more subtly bringing the haze. Understated loops in a Ducktails style way off in the distance drive this one where the vocals are even more unrecognizable that the previous side. I think you have to have a fair amount of restraint to not have this kind of thing get away with you. To keep it as hushed as this...it's a massive secret, no matter how loud you turn it up, it's not going to become overwhelming. Warm Jets with a beat.

From Bathetic Records on appropriately swirled multicolor vinyl with dreamy color insert.

CLOUDLAND CANYON
"Mothlight, Part 2" b/w "In The Cold"
33 rpm 7"

Tracklist:
A1. Mothlight, Part 2
B1. In The Cold

Bathetic is proud to release, not only the first single from the upcoming Cloudland Canyon full-length LP, Fin Eaves (coming out on Holy Mountain), but also our first 7" vinyl release! We're very happy this chunk of dreamscaped atmosphere could serve as our first venture into vinyl territory.

Cloudland Canyon are widely respected for their shimmering approach to music, a combination of elements as varied as krautrock, shoegaze, pop, and drone. "Mothlight, Part 2" is a perfect first single and represents the band's slight re-direction into the more uptempo, catchier nooks and crannies of their vibe. Don't miss out on this!

Limited First Edition of 300.

Almost forgot to mention CC still has copies of a split they did with Citay, covering galaxie 500 tracks available on their blog....

Derek Lyn Plastic - The Smell of my Room Vol 1: Drug Sounds

Full length CD release review from Atlanta's punker Derek Lyn Plastic.
Vol 1 of 4. Drug Sounds.
In the forums.

Family Trees on father/daughter Records

Family Trees is just freaking gorgeous, like that fragmented, overexposed double negative photo on the sleeve. It's all that's left of that vacation. Shimmery guitars and guy/girl harmonies informed with some of that West coast surf reverb. The echo is tighter here, and it just slightly leans towards a '50s kind of girl group sound. A full arrangement of huge room kick drums and tremolo electric guitar with vocalizations all throughout.

The A-Side "Dream Talkin" makes use of brilliant pieces of almost minimal melodies that come and go so quickly, it takes a few plays to appreciate completely. For instance, in between verses a heavy over-driven reverb guitar plays along with a hint of xylophone...or bells (?) but there is a bassline that breaks out from the background at an entirely different speed that is so damn catchy. I'm torn...I wish it was the focus of the entire song, but that's why Family Trees are so good...to hold this back? You'll always been craving these moments...and they just pile them on anyway. The back and forth harmonies with the ooooo's, tambourines and shakers: it does all of this things really succinctly and briefly, like the Fresh & Onlys pop haze, with more melancholy and space.

"Baby Come Back" has this moment of harmony, the way it changes...the combination of melody in the chorus is dead on Jens Lekman...if he fronted a caffeinated Belle and Sebastian. The way they find a sound, like strumming the electric near the tuning pegs to get that great harp chime sound....but it's barely audible under the vocal harmonies, it adds more than just the typical homage sound to that era, it improves on it. Well... it makes it sound more than contemporary...and it's not just because it's this sunny pop that's been going on lately. It's understated, they gently coax the tracks together. Just barely stepping on the kick pedal, grazing the strings. It's weird to hear this hushed, huge reverb sound. They've hit on a combination of perfect pop-psyche sound with really intricate songwriting.

I can't get over this first side, both of these are such great tracks, they did you the favor of putting the A and B side together, so they could etch the other side...wait, there's another track?

"Know one will ever know" on the B-Side. Here they keep up this somber, deadpan echo vocals with Amanda's backup ahhhhhh's and joining in for the chorus. There's no formula here, you can hear the layers of construction beyond just a clever melody. I know this might not be a compliment to some people, but it's that same feeling listening to the Vivian Girls first single on Woodsist. Comforting and new.

On clear vinyl with xerox inserts from the Family and father/daughter with digital download card....Get it from father/daughter Records.

Dream Talkin is the debut 7″ from Brooklyn’s Family Trees, available now on clear vinyl, limited to 400. The trio cranks out delicious, pocket-sized beach pop jams that leave you thirsty for more.

Puerto Rico Flowers on Fan Death Records

Puerto Rico Flowers is the latest solo project from John Sharkey III of Clockcleaner, and what exactly is going on in this single is up for debate.
I'm not that familiar with Clockcleaner, but enough to know it sounds nothing like this. I also know that he's happy to fuck with peoples expectations... reading about Clockcleaner opening for Negative Approach they covered one of their songs as slowly as possible, trying to incite some kind of riot. Wikipedia also says something about Babylon Rules in a sort of Big Black Goth genre, so maybe this is some sort of extension of that idea as a solo artist?
Or like Cold Cave, did he take Clockcleaner as far as it could go and the only thing that makes sense aesthetically is to translate the punk into a cold wave goth?

"Voice of Love" on the A-Side starts out with a droning background synth for fuzzed out bass and drums to come in. The vocals are mixed way up front and John's vocals are that back of the throat, slightly affected classic new wave sound...Christ it's reminding me of OMD, some kind of sincere stab me in the face and end it, uber emotional direction.

The B-Side "When your Lonely Heart Breaks" is a Neil Young cover, which John manages to appropriately give the full goth treatment. The arrangement continues ultra minimal with ethereal Cure synth and distorted bass plodding along...it must be half speed of the original. John sings in a frontman baritone, like Mattress...he really turns it into a Love Will Tear us Apart sort of anthem. It's a great cover choice, and takes the song in a completely new direction...the best kind of cover. You appreciate the core writing of Neil and then get a sense of how it translates into an entirely new genre. His singing fades away from the mic at points, it sounds like he's taking this seriously, but I can't help but think of this kind of new wave character in the style of Dave Gahan with his sunglasses in the studio, holding one side of the headphones to his head and laying it on.

I mean, god bless this guy if he can get away with going in whatever direction strikes him...this no wave synth stuff can take itself way to seriously...they could use a dose of someone fucking with the whole genre, seriously or not. I guess no one knows where this leaves Clockcleaner, or where this solo project is going....Get this one from Fan Death Records.

THE NEW BIBLE - Touchable Sound from Soundscreen Design

I talked with Mike Treff from Soundscreen design about the amazing book he co-curated with Brian Roettinger, and Diego Hadis about US 7" record design. It goes further than just a coffee table book of reproductions of 7" sleeves, they approached the book with the idea that the modes of production should be just as important as the graphic "art" itself.
Of course I completely agree...the thing that truly makes the 7" great a lot of times has to do with the handmade nature of the object as much as the artwork on the sleeve....or the music inside for that matter. I think they are tackling a whole new angle in history of the 7", a history that's just getting started.


But they didn't just stop with the information about singles, the press runs, the designers, they made the book itself a similar handmade artifact. All of the 7"'s were sent in by collectors around the US, photographed and reproduced in full color, which let's face it you'd be crazy not to do, but there's different paper stocks and page sizes. It's like McSweeneys and 7inches came together...they created a piece of art as amazing as the singles inside they celebrate, except that they will press this for whoever wants it...which is not the case with anything pictured in this book.

If you have ever thought about starting a label and pressing a 7", or just bought your first 7" from your favorite band on tour, this book is an essential resource.
If you think you know everything about 7"'s, and your collection is complete...this book will prove you wrong...and educate you about something you can actually use in the real world.

7"'s are freaking awesome.

Thanks Mike.

Download the interview here.

Now available for pre-order is Soundscreen’s latest book, Touchable Sound: A Collection of 7-inch Records from the USA.

In an era that advocates streamlined product, and music at the click of a mouse, Touchable Sound celebrates those independent-minded bands and labels that make their own records and relish the opportunity to produce labor-intensive one-off artifacts. As Henry H. Owings puts it in his introduction, the book honors “those who invest countless hours of themselves to further their art. It’s about having an attention to detail and a disinterest in the bottom line.”

Organized by region, Touchable Sound focuses on unique, exquisite examples of American 7-inch-record packaging. Spanning nearly 25 years, it lovingly documents the obscure and the hard-to-find with help from musicians, artists, and label owners. Many of these records-by bands as diverse as the Locust, Olivia Tremor Control, Angel Hair, Stereolab, Los Crudos, the Melvins, and more—have never before been seen by a wide audience, and were originally pressed in extremely limited editions.

Curated by Brian Roettinger, Mike Treff, and Diego Hadis, the book features over 300 records and 600 bands that have set the bar for record packaging and design. The official release is set for October 5th, but make sure you reserve your copy by pre-ordering.

Univox "Lying Fuck" on Roir Records

This came in the other day from Roir Records...haven't heard of Univox out of Philly before and the name has something to do with including a chorus of vocals from all band members, which I'm hearing in "Pi". Or they're admirably trying to take the focus off of any kind of lead singer.
It also has to be a little tongue in cheek, the blown out fuzzbox chorus of lead guitars, Haggar inspired rock scream vocals, and booming drums. There's definitely a pop leaning edge combined with some kind of southern anthemic brawl sound. Maybe it's just that sleeve photo...there's going to be a barbecue on the porch tonight, and someone's going to get hurt.

The next track "I'm a lying fuck" is a low tempo acoustic number? Josh has a baritone crooner Peter Murphy serious voice that can jump back to yelling at the drop of a hat. They like to work these contradictions, in content and sound.... Or, like I said they're into messing with the listener. With a countdown, it finally it breaks out into "Pi" territory, and the rest of the band is singing along, waving guitar necks all over the place.

The B-Side "Cannonball" is not a cover of the Breeders....and I'm confused who is usually lead vocals, was that Josh on the A-Side? But I guess that's half the point. This back and forth baritone and soprano vocals is a nice harmony over the kick and bass breakdown...they have an energy that comes through in every track, and as much as they're swapping influences, they're going after whatever era they're in with everything they've got.

This one is on Roir Records who have been around almost as long as I've been alive...show some respect.

Tracy Shedd / Wet & Reckless split on Fort Lowell Records

Google will tell you Wet & Reckless is some kind of lesser DUI charge and a lot of people seem interested in working out it's legal definition online. In this case it's a four piece out of LA and the A-Side of a split from Fort Lowell with Tracy Shedd.

Wet & Reckless is rocking a sloppy, jangly indie guitar sound all under toe of that girl group ooooo's chorus sound of decades earlier. The hint of vocal reverb and tambourine/snare combined with a Built to Spill sound of bent warbling guitar strings. It's optimistic pop punk, granted lyrically it isn't all sunshine "Fill my boots /with heavy rocks....I was built / to go down, down, down" but It sounds like a contemporary combination of that side of the country, minus the deliberate fidelity challenged sound. Their working with a kinder gentler indie sincerity...informed, I'm sure, by the sunny west coast.
But damn, does Seattle have to pay for your weather?
Do you ever even get sad?
This just sounds like the sickening idea I have of the Pacific...the sun, beaches, wax on wax off, harmonizing....well adjusted. Just don't expect me to sympathize with your happy go lucky ways. We have seasons in Brooklyn!

Tracy Shedd with "Tear it up" on the other side appropriately takes things in that mysterious noir side direction of the surf city. This is what happens at night when you have a population isolated by their cars, and little separate houses with picket fences....you get introspective...you drink...and are all alone. Maybe it's the vocal quality though that I'm reading into...a bit Sarah Dougher, or the Spinnanes delicate haunting rock sound. It's definitely at home on a lynch set, velvet curtains, singing into a lightbulb. Or it's the slow strum of the tremolo electric with harmonic mandolin working into a dreamy Mazzy Star feel.

It's a bi-polar roller-coaster ride of flipping sides. I'm always into the color vinyl FL presses, this one is blood red, and the dual sided monochromatic printed sleeves...the usual great package from the Fort of singles that is Lowell.

Broken Water on Fan Death Records

I still play the hell out of Broken Water's full length from Night People, "Whet", it's immediately so familiar...it definitely brings back Goo and Repetition...experimental, voluminous trio rock. They must love this stuff as much as I do, to have come up with these sincere tracks that go some new places and fit right into the most revered and played section of the record shelves.

"Normal Never Happened".
They have it nailed. Down to the cryptic title. Grungy off tuned guitar melody, that sludgy slower feel rock rolling in and out that plays off the following fast hi-hat section and harmonized vocals between Abigail and Kanako (I'm assuming Jon is the dead on Thurston vocal). They're raising the bar...it's one thing Unwound never had was that back and forth between Sara and Justin. They have an ear for those complex masses of distorted harmonies that come out towards the end on this track...they go from all delicate and Bloody Valentine to bowel breaking Mudhoney. It's authentic as hell, it's in every second of this. More than lost tracks from all the influences they bring to mind, it's a case in point for you only get to this point by working through you're history. They really could go anywhere from here...
To sound this good already?

"Faux King Vogue", these are the vocals that are dead on Thurston, in the best way...to even try to pull this off proves they're just doing their own thing. A melodic picked electric melody goes from folk to jangly indie to steeple crushing almost Pelican metal. They obviously don't mind sounding like anyone...they have to know they do...but it doesn't matter, when it's done like this, they pay homage and innovate at the same time, continuing a line of thinking that I don't think is ever really gong to be finished. Great guitar tones that defined an entire decade, Jon pushes that sort of grunge sound into a huge pile, like the Big Sleep, the layers of low dissonant distortion. The song construction, drum recording, fading feedback...it's more than reminding me of an entire decade of Sonic Youth and Unwound... it's more than nostalgic, it might be a wake up call to get back to some basics...guys this is serious.

God knows I love Unwound, and this is very nearly filling that giant gaping wound. It's so great to think about some kid in Olympia coming across these guys and then working backwards to those ancient classic influences. Hearing that shit for the first time, after being blown away by this.

They also get major points for letter pressing all their singles so far, and these have random ink splatters all over the front. it's the kind of thing that makes the 7" so great...someone went through each one and flung the ink and hung it over the kitchen table from a clothesline to dry...and the best part is the blue cardstock sleeve was re-appropriated from some elementary classroom exercise hanging folder. Genius.


Another must have from Fan Death Records.

Jeans Wilder -Simpler Times on La Station Radar Records

Jeans Wilder showed up a while back on this split with Best Coast from Atelier Ciseaux. I remember liking his take on the super fuzzy, no-fi, shitgaze sound. Glad to see there was this 7" in the works of some solo material, thanks to La Station Radar. Three tracks: Simpler Times, Burnt Toast and Cold shoulder

"Simpler Times" is using a sort of organ percussion primitive beat heavy on the reverb. I know this entire style gets shit on by critics and labels alike, but when it's done well it can still be interesting...and I'd say it might even take some balls to work like this following in what people could so easily dismiss. You're going to really have to be innovative or confident to think you're going to get away with this these days....and he readily owns up to it calling himself "lo-fi", which I guess can be good that Jeans knows there's a larger history at work...or it's trying on a label...but that's definitely not the case here.
I like Jeans' myspace description under "Influences" he says "old 45's played at 33", I'm definitely hearing that sludgy warped slow tempo at work in everything on this single.

There's layers of vocals, all in different harmonies with a staggering amount of instruments sounds. Maybe I can relate to this kind of construction, throwing everything you have at the recording process and then gradually strip elements away. Take a huge equalizer, and focus in on frequencies...the whole time bouncing it back down to 2 tracks. I understand It's too hard to start with a blank canvas, give him a huge cube of marble to chip away at. He'll come up with something. I think that's essentially what's going on in "lo-fi"...that's what I'd like to believe anyway. Gary War starts with all known frequencies...pressing the Pink Noise button and then filters all the other things out to get tracks.

From Jeans Wilder on the B-Side we actually get some acoustic guitar...I think people forget (I know I do) that Bill Callahan started out as the lowest no-fi-er back on his first couple of albums, and it's reminding me of that, super raw... the best kind of mess. Just taking an acoustic, which is of course a part of the singer/songwriter classic aesthetic and then getting that to work in new lo-fi ways. This dares to veer off melodic course...the vocals get screwy, falsetto and experimental. There a bass or synth sound that is so overblown it's taking up the whole sound wave.
Cold shoulder gets as minimal as the sleeve.... all with just an electric, tambourine...or closed hi hat and massive cloudy vocals. A holy shit guitar explosion shatters the mood, the messiest anti-guitar playing ever committed to vinyl. Sheer madness. I like that the three of these tracks are really going in all different directions...which equals the potential for something really groundbreaking.
I won't be surprised to see more and more of his work getting attention over the next year. It's going to be one of the great examples in lo-fi and is going to remain surprising.

Cold graphic style for this one...that I see working for the whole sound. If you can remember the days of "Industrial", where it was about machines virtually creating the sound, then lo-fi is some kind of alternate industrial. There's so little of the actual person playing music behind the sound, this genre could kind of be an extension of that anti-human sentiment of the late '90s. Hmmmmm.

Get another hit 7" overseas import style from La Station Radar...or check the usual distro's: SS or Fusetron.

andrew Caddick is jeans wilder

Past releases :
- split with Jen Paul Lp - 12 inch on la station radar (link here),
- split with best coast(7inch) on Atelier ciseaux
- many tapes ( on Night People - bathetic Records - trivial pursuit)

We are also pleased to announce the first LP of jeans wilder
"NICE TRASH"
will be out this fall
on la Station Radar and Atelier Ciseaux
(CO-RELEASE)