Interview with Eric from La Corde

It finally Friday, but not just any Friday...this one includes a beautiful Monday. It's time for a very special episode of 7Inches, this time with La Corde, who sent me their single just a week or so ago. I talked with Eric who was drinking beer in the park talking to the 7Inches on the cell phone...it was a vision of my future this weekend.
We talked about some band history, influences, how their single was recorded and even the politics of music...without the Dead Kennedys would I even know where cambodia was?
Here's a bunch of totally nice guys, putting out a single themselves and getting it out there. On their myspace you can check out these tracks and a bunch of shows they are playing this weekend all over the northwest coast. Go see them live, or listen to this interview down below since you have a whole extra day.
Or, if you really have time, download it, and put it on your whatever!
I'm really phoning it in!
Did I mention 'Every Day' does not include holidays?

Eric copeland on Post Present Medium Records

Wow where did the time go? I'm thinking about the holiday weekend almost every minute...it's eating into my 7" time. Here's a single from a really consistently interesting member of Black Dice who have created some truly memorable electronic glitchy collage albums. I don't know if like Quentin Tarrantino he looks cliche because he's been assimilated so completely into visual culture, and in Black Dice's case audio, that they seem average. You had to be there I guess....but give them a listen these days, they've continued to work in extremes and creating really interesting sounds apart from a boring laptop scene, live they keep the performance aspect of summoning these surreal sounds....and they change, let's not forget, you could just hit play on the sequencer and stand there.
I forget sometimes about that huge connection between Black Dice and the Animal Collective guys, and then there's even that direct collaboration with Avery, Terrestrial Tones. When I sit down to think about this period of time and Brooklyn in music, with the woodsist bands/label, captured tracks, paw tracks/animal collective, I mean I get a little excited to have been here and seen little pieces of it, to live down the street from the address on the record, to see these guys at random empty basements...I'm not saying your city isn't awesome either, I'm just appreciating for a second.
Anyway Eric is a great artist on top of this sound insanity and there's a cool poster in this, that's already more than enough reason but guess what, Gun Outfit has a full length out too....remember how you had your eye on that Best Coast single?
Well it's gone.
Lesson learned.

Post Present Medium says:

Eric Copeland is an experimental musician based in New York. He is a core
member of Black Dice and forms half of the duo Terrestrial Tones with Animal Collective’s Avey Tare. This is a 7” of two epic EC solo tracks.The A Side “Doo Doo Run” is a great twisted and mutilated dub like jaunt through the murk. It keeps you moving along in any pace you seem to choose. The B Side “Fundinkdeath” is an almost garage rock gone through the tubes, some would say a pop.

Grey Goods - the singles EP on 1928 Recordings

Just a quick note today about Grey Goods, I'm going to be catching these guys tonight at Grasslands and hopefully picking up one of their singles. Keep in mind this is merely one of the three singles they have out right now...all on their myspace, they even have a deal with one paypal button for all three, that's a hell of a start, and I say put the whole album out on 7".
I first heard about these guys through the 1928 records amazing cigarbox 7" and I was into them right away, it went right along with the Soft Pack kick I've been on for a while.
Over on Grey Goods myspace I was re listening to them this morning and getting a little nostalgic for the Violent Femmes, don't get me wrong, it's not exactly the same vocal whine as Gordon, but it has that same directness and strength in the vocal mix, there's nothing distracting or added for the sake of sounding full. It's uncomplicated, with that same kind of vulnerability...it's sparse, there's nothing to hide behind. Those kind of songs you can only write because it just comes to you that way, there's no expectations, no master plans. You like them. They work. It's for yourself almost.

There's something about this back to basics catchy songwriting that's going to live on way past the low-fi fuzz resurgence...it's all related, but the heavy texture is going to scream 2009-2010 for some recordings out there. Sometimes you want some stripped down solid rock, 4/4 snare/kick with slightly off tune plain old electric. If you can record songs with this energy and simplicity then you literally are capable of anything.

So it looks like after Portal, I'll be headed over to Glasslands for a completely different scene with Grey Goods. It's going to be one hell of a Wednesday night...

Stop the presses...over at Rollo & Grady I find out Trevor McLoughlin is the brother of Soft Pack guitarist Matty McLoughlin! Crazy.

Go give both of these tracks a try over at 1928 recordings...

Most of you already know that we have two seven inches coming out in the next two/three weeks, and a digital EP that is available on itunes etc right now. The 7"s can be ordered through 1928 Recordings, Insound.com, and we'll have copies with us at these shows.

Portal on Chrome Leaf Records

Holy shit, I forgot I'm going to see this Wednesday...let's just say when a metal band with a guy who plays with a cuckoo clock on his head from Australia finally makes it to Brooklyn...you get tickets months ahead of time and see that shit.
It has to be the most extreme sounding, theatrical metal I've heard of in a long time, pure gutteral growling, the most evil sounding vocals....but the clock and tuxedo jacket puts this in a new context for me. It makes so little sense outside of the usual metal symbolism I'm completely into it. They are taking all aspects of this to the ultimate limit, the guitar is technically insane, the spectacle is completely weirdo. They raised the bar. If you want to attempt this, it's going to take a lot of dedication to be in the same league with these guys.
Is that what happens when this extreme technical metal is transformed through our aussie underground counterparts? It's because they are hanging upside down isn't it. I don't know if that has much to do with it, or this is down under's answer to Norweigan Black Metal. There will be books about the cultural conditions that led to this specific branch of metal.
It's going to be insane, and this single on Chrome Leaf better be at the merch table because other than aquarius records (search for Portal) this is going to be impossible to get...and you'll want it after watching 5 seconds of this video:



Aquarius says perfectly:

PORTAL "Lurker At The Threshold" (Chrome Leaf) 7" picture disc 9.98
These masked mysterious weirdo death metallers just drifted through town, their show, like their sound, a grim, almost dada-esque twist on classic death metal, a swirling chaos of gnarled buzzing riffage, blasting loose limbed drumming, and the creepy grunts and growls of hooded front man 'The Curator', the whole band masked and draped in black, spewing huge swells of twisted sonic malevolence.
All three Portal full lengths were huge favorites around here, every one a dizzying assemblage of warped blackness and fractured death metal fury, murky and muddy and washed out, frenzied and freaky and gloriously fucked up. Visually and sonically like a metal Faxed Head, Portal's death metal bears only a slight resemblance to regular death metal, which is precisely why it's so appealing.
This super limited picture disc 7” compiles 2 of the 3 songs from Portal's 2006 demo tape Lurker At The Threshold, and while re-recorded versions of both these songs found their way on to the Outre full length, these older, more raw (believe it or not) versions are well worth checking out. “Omnipresent Crawling Chaos” explodes in a blast of murky metallic grind, frenzied and frantic, but so blurred and smeared as to render it a strange shadowing deathmetalscape, all lurching and lumbering and blasting, a swirling black sonic cloud. “13 Globes” is another chunk of blown out grinding metal crush, but with some cool woozy warbly minor key melodies, stuttering start stop rhythms, and insane tangled riffage, all wrapped in a melted murky lo-fi blacknoize gauze.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES! Pressed on super thick 70 gram vinyl, super striking picture disc adorned with creepy Lovecraftian artwork, either already out of print or darn close, so get one while you can...

japantherninasonik on Wantage records

The latest single from Japanther on Wantage Records teams them up on a one sided picture disc with ninjasonik who are also from my fair borough Brooklyn. Japanther has been doing splits like this with all kinds of fellow Brooklyn bands...I'm thinking of their juiceboxxx single from a while back. You'd think that this kind of pop punk would be weird paired with a gungy underground hip hop, but I think it's about sharing the same attitude about music. They play the same trashy spaces, even opening for each other. They don't have some kind of chip on their shoulder about a genre. I think they want to bring it all together and nightly expose their fans to artists doing the same thing. And it goes both ways...I looked up juiceboxxx and now Ninjasonik because of these guys. I'm assuming Ninjasonik's track on this one is 'Internet bitch', like Japanther they aren't taking themselves too seriously either...I got a myspace/I got a gmail/I got the facebook /You're on the internet bitch. It's dancy, all beats, a little old school weirdo electronic, dark, but their making their own scene. 'Negative thinking tight pants' could easily be a Japanther song, fast minimal drum machine and organ backing, all about the chorus hook...stop hating on tight pants. It's all coming from the same place and having crossover fans that can appreciate the DIY underground from any genre.

Wantage also has some Japanther full length color LP's I don't think I've seen anywhere else. It's crazy that logo on the 7" is made up of both of their names...and then in the description they talk about making it in the basement? That's what I want to know about....can you get picture discs printed with the two sides and you melt them together with an image in the middle? This is a new world.

japantherninasonik s/t 7” (wantage) - Friend-bands Japanther (Screamers/Misfits/Beach Boys worship) and Ninjasonik (self-described punk/club/crunk) decided at some point early in 2009 to record a couple songs together. The results are presented here. And how. We're extra proud of this thing because A) it's a hand-screened gem we did right here in the ol' Wantage cellar with some Plastijet ink, too little ventilation, and B) it features an absolutely cool piece of text-graphic from Japanther bro Kevin Bouton-Scott. It's a translucent, label-less 7" with a hand-screened, limited and numbered print on each copy. This was a hard-fought 7", and After a friggin' heapin' helping of bullshit with the pressing plant, we've got these things, finally. Japanther need no introduction around these parts, and Ninjasonik have been busily making a name for themselves in the u.g. hip-hop/punk rock realm like few others. This record deals topically with the ease with which the internet is used primarily as a tool for shit-talking, and Pop Rocks candy.
Limited to 550 numbered, hand-printed copies and 550 clear blue copies in covers (released once the hand-printed copies sell out.

Sweater Girls on Happy Birthday to Me Records

I love the Softies, maybe it was because I'm now reminiscing about that high school time of my life, but to find something that wasn't going to make my ears bleed...something that was borderline cutesy, there was something kind of interesting about it... that somehow it was as awkward as the time period. No one understands and everything is so freaking sad...and eventually you get sick of the Smiths and the Cure, so here come the Softies. They took the depression and made it twee. To this day I can't say exactly what it is about their sound...maybe because it's so minimal, and all harmony...but mostly it's the melodies. Like Belle and Sebastian, they really work in unexpected ways, it was so stripped down, there was nothing but almost acapella. They were a guilty pleasure of course, not someone I would go around telling everyone about, like Morrisseys solo career. I loved Bona Drag, but it was strictly for the headphones, late at night, or the back of the bus. Flipping the tape over and over...maybe that's why my generation loves random because that was such a luxury, having songs back to back from great albums you loved...no wading through the ok ones...the radio sucked so it would never happen there, it was up to you to spend an entire night fast forwarding and pressing 'play & record'.
Young whippersnappers you take random for granted...and smart playlists that will make up a weekly top 10 countdown for you? Is it all leading down a more and more self centered existence? I want bands that write songs only for me? What about that shitty shared experience...something to rail against like Happy Harry Hardon.

This brings me to the Sweater Girls, who sound way more confident, no mumbling, or harmony that's so saturated you lose the words and they become a MBV electric wall. I forget which Softies album it is...Rhode Island? The guitar is so sparse, and there are just moments of silence in between the super slow chords....it's completely farmhouse in the middle of nebraska winter. Sweater Girls might actually be closer to Bunnygrunt...it's the same happy go lucky, smart little non sequitors, with cats eye glasses...not so serious...they even throw in a slight english accent. You could see this being played in Ghostworld, or don't make me think about it...that annoying I'm pregnant and precocious movie. But don't let that ruin them. It can be cool to be super uncool? Do whatever you want. Sweater Girls are in the same family of jangly guitars, but add some drums and xylophone and effects on the vocals, mix it way up front and press a 7" with an argyle sleeve. Where's my anorak cardigan whatever-the-fuck?
Just checked out the label 'Happy Birthday to Me.' and guess who's on it? BunnyGrunt, Rose Melberg....I honestly had no idea....they've really cornered the market. They know what they want and you can be sure if you have any idea what I'm talking about above then you've ordered the entire catalog.
Let's knit a scarf together for our cats.

I'm serious.

The SWEATER GIRLS “Do the Sweater” 7″
Do the Sweater / Fingers Crossed / Haven’t Got a Clue three song debut EP by this smooth California 5 piece will be quick to be a hit on turntables all across the nation. Think the Softies, the Crystals, and the Marine Girls and you are getting close to the perfection that is this single. If the songs don’t charm you the 2 color silkscreen board stock sleeve w/ insert and digital download will. Get them while you can…..you might want to order a second copy for ebay.

On a totally different front, check out this bad ass interview my friend Josh did with Dillinger Escape Plan...after reading this, I have to get into those guys one of these days, not sure how I missed them.

Atole on Community Library Records

I was reminded of Community Library last night and their Units rerelease (on white vinyl even...) which amazingly are still available direct. But even better than reissuing this band I'm just getting into is the fact they're really trying to keep it in print for whoever wants it. Sure they're doing the white version for people who can't wait, and want to feel special...like I guess me, and then a black vinyl version that will just be pressed forever. That's great, I mean I get that years later a record that no one paid attention to is sought after and valuable. That makes sense to me, but a purple swirl nirvana seven inch on sub pop? Why is that $20? But then who am I to judge, that's really fucked up...we're both on the funny farm let's face it. Anyway get what you want...what do I care...I'm just glad that if I wanted this on vinyl I don't have to track down some auction copy. Hopefully they're doing more of this in the future and in this vein of legendary awesomeness.
In the meantime they have this single from Atole, who are based in Portland (the best city), and sound nothing like what anyone would expect Portland to be. Hyper electronics with Captain Beefheart out of tune vocals. It's cheap sounding robot polka waltz with bizarre vocals, and I'm not even talking about the content at all, I don't think that's possible to even decipher...I mean they're really going for a very focused insanity with this one. I do appreciate an electronic project that goes a little Devo in how out there they're willing to go vocally. It's going to take some getting used to for the average listener.
Some of the tracks from their myspace are pure instrumental dance, the same sounding kind of house/whatever stuff to me, but maybe these are remixes? The A-Side track on Local Cut is a different story all together...just anti-singing vocals. Was he even listening to the playback? Or was he singing to a click track....they must have tried that. Ok, it's in tune, just slightly off and cracking, and loud...the point is, it's nothing close to the usual dance, Dan Deacon, LCD, Girltalk sweat party...they won't have an easy segue if they open for the usual DJ sets...in a good way.

Really the best part is those bad ass heiroglyphics on the sleeve....no even more than that is the pop up art inside...I don't know how it works exactly, but that is a first.

Points also for a band you can easily google.

Get it from Community Library (it's a .net? These guys are serious.)

Portland’s hometown heroes Atole join Community Library with their 7” single debut, “Strike Zone.” This single is a perfect slice of Atole’s intense and wonderful contradiction: tightly wound uptempo synth punk subverted by founder Manny Reyes’ spazzified bilingual exclamations. The band has been having tremendous momentum as Portland sound/scene/dance makers, and this single is a perfect snapshot of their live intensity and future direction. This release comes in anticipation of a full length album on fellow traveler label Audio Dregs. We’ve seen Atole evolve through many formats and costumes and collaborators to the definitive ‘band’ lineup on this 7”. Reyes’ life partner Tim Ferrell plays on synths and laptop, Marius Libman (aka Copy) playing bass guitar, and the inspirational energy of Mike Conroy on drums.

Tracklist:
Side A: "Strike Zone"
Side B: "Dirty Bird"

Panda Bear Paw Tracks Preorder

The great Panda Bear singles hunt is on this summer, starting with this preorder from Insound, which was literally the only place I found it so far...nothing from Paw Tracks or anyone else you can give money to to guarantee you hear what direction he's headed next.
Speaking of that direction, I'm deliberately waiting for the needle to hit this record. Think of the difference between Strawberry Jam and Merriweather...it's almost two different bands, tow very different approaches to sound, first they took the muddled freak folk jam sound and cleaned it up so you could even understand (well at least hear) what they were talking about, which was baffling. All of this only to mash it into a real sound of the moment in Merriweather. If that's going to stand up in future decades it's only going to be because it was the OK, Computer of the year. enough amazing chances with experimentation and electronics to close the book on everyone else. That was it.
Then Person Pitch became what Pet Sounds should have been...all the hype of that album I never got I could relate to hearing this for extended periods of time in commuting or just zoning out doing dishes. Except every time I would think, I'm really going to study this and take notes, I would inevitable end up enjoying myself and putting the pen down. I imagine that happened to Timothy Leary a few times.
But where Panda could go next is anyone's guess...is Lisbon Portugal going to effect this? I'd definitely bet on it...will it be some kind of El Guincho, folk, flamenco, Gregorian chant hybrid? Probably. The point is, it's probably not going to be anything like Person Pitch, but equally as amazing because if nothing else the members of Animal Collective have proven they are willing to commit to completely out there ideas and sounds and are talented enough separately to pull them off. Not only did they take a chance on an OK, computer moment, but they follow it up over and over with something that keeps raising the bar.
I should probably set up a news alert from Google for this one, but maybe they just press more of these so it isn't a situation like 'Pills', I'm glad I got one early, but based on the prices of some of those auctions this could be out there on a lot of turntables.

La Corde - Self Released

La Corde is 'the rope' en francais...and is that the feminine tense? 'Le' is masculine and 'La' is feminine right? That always seemed so weird of a language to actually change the participle based on what sex you're talking to. That figures...I have to be honest. I mean these days the weirdness of it is lost completely, but there was a time when the sexes were so unequal it was built into the way you communicated.
There's just weird lines there I want to make sure to avoid in my language of choice. Think of the shenanigans that happen with gender neutral people, or drag queens, post-op transsexuals....Hermaphrodites. What a mess. My advice cultures... stay away from it altogether. You will be judged years later, and annoy high school kids everywhere having to deal with the sex of an object?!!!....romance language my ass.
A band named The rope...well that's pretty ominous sounding, let's tie a noose? And it's the female incarnation of rope...I'm just going to leave that one alone entirely.

Back in Salem, on the A-Side they're creating this real interesting moody tone, it's definitely post punk, the vocals are mixed way back and delivered with a restrained At the Drive In feel. Sort of warbly, through a phaser maybe, not as direct and obscure but coming from a dark sounding place. It's a cold mix, everything sounding a little alien, but it's not minimal, there's a lot of rocking going on without relying on grimy distortion to align it with the aggressive punch you in face punk. They're going for a lot of delay, a mass of guitar packed together with bass and drums all leveled out into a solid wall. At the same time it's subtly working to undermine itself...with a little bit of that contradiction. The rock and the reality...it's not a rallying call to action as much it sounds like they're resigned to the fuck ups in history...and big surprise, it's going to happen again.
Built on a weak spot had some points I would agree with, the post punk coldness mixed with a little experimentation, it's really mired down in these waves of guitar that still manage to sound like samples coming from somewhere else, and then the energy of the whole effort makes it something to be taken very seriously.

'Urban Burqua' is my favorite side, isn't that the case with B-Sides? This screeching guitar feeding back into a delay loop, creating melody out of something seemingly impossible to control. It's a great sound. There' s a little bit of 70's theatric power guitar combined with off kilter dissonant Fugazi...the possible politics in the title kind of gives me hope that someone, however misguided it usually ends up, is still trying to effect political change through rocking the fuck out...maybe it's been doomed forever because it always looks pathetic and useless later? Or is rock just working indirectly to rile things up....but should everyone stop trying? This isn't a dance party or catchy garage, there's more at work here.

It's definitely exciting to hear where they are going, there's a huge range of possibility for this sound and I'm going to be checking back in with guys, eager for a full length.

Ordering one of these hand numbered singles can be done over at www.lacordesf.com or by contacting them direct at lacordesf(at)gmail.com.

La Muenca de Sal & Anthony Reynolds -Blues for Bobby Solo- on Chaffinch records

Chaffinch records was kind enough to contact me a few weeks back and airmail this single over from from Anthony Reynolds and La Muenca de Sal from halfway across the world to 7Inches headquarters.
There's a long line of singer/songwriters who make their way through the changes and trends of the contemporary musical landscape and stick to their definitive style and vision with an endless streaming supply of material. Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits or Scott Walker, who Anthony admittedly shares his aesthetic went as far as to write a definitive biography of the enigmatic singer, they all have an idiosyncratic musical point of view and honestly don't seem like they have much use for a popular audiences approval. They have accolades enough from their peers and basically wrote their own way into the scene by sheer will power and this purely personal vision.
The AA Side 'It's a Wonderful Life' really provides a backdrop for Anthony's baritone machismo, sounding like Peter Murphy or recent era Bowie. It's a produced dark superstar vocal style...it's Bono in the desert wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses in front of a windmachine. It's songs about black coffee, getting drunk one night stands...in a mysterious foreign cafe. It's all a little unclear, at times it's bordering depressing, but done a pop style, maybe that's the point...that opposition of seemingly upbeat tempo's against the tragedy. Even a little claustrophobic at times, he's singing right on top of you, smothering the listeners, mixed way on top of the instrumentation which is barely there. Anthony's vocals are clearly the spotlight from his menacing whisper to belting out a chorus.
'Be my next ex-girlfriend' goes a little electronic with subtle piercing percussion clicks, against a classical piano...th subject is a typical failed romance, it starts out under the wrong circumstances and is helped along by alcohol and bad decisions...I don't know who's worse off, the narrator, or the girl who maybe doesn't see it coming. The fact they're both kind of OK with the arrangement is even more depressing. But you wouldn't know it from the groove. Anthony seems to be trying to get some kind of pleasure out of playing out the misfortune of all his characters.

Puzzlingly, the insert, which I thought were lyrics to one of the tracks here, is actually from a forthcoming book of poetry... he can't stop....whatever form his work is going to take...I'm always amazed at the crazy stories behind every lowly piece of 7" vinyl pressed out there.

Available from Chaffinch Records.

Nu Sensae on Critiscum Internationale

I just bumped into Nu Sensae from yesterdays post, they are split # 2 on Swill Children, next thing I knew I was on their myspace looking at this single on Critiscum Internationale. Then, it always happens this way, I read a post from Weird Canada about a huge festival they curated with Paul from Mammoth Cave Records that Nu Sensae was a part of in Vancouver. Sometimes things all come together like this and I think 'OK, I'll look them up already! Shit!' So here I am listening to some pretty intense bass and screaming from Andrea...they are a drum and bass duo not going so much punk as just straight ahead pummeling rock, manic tempos, playing as fast as possible with a hint of melody but the vocals completely drive the sound like Be Your Own Pet, a little snarl, lots of attitude. That 'I don't give a fuck' Kim Gordon delivery with more raw aggression. They're the kind of band that could only exist on these recordings in the way they do thanks to countless live shows honing this force. Everything starts with a bang and distorted basslines. I was a little surprised to find out it was just the two of them actually, it's an amazing racket...and really all it does it makes you want to catch them in a basement somewhere kicking ass.

Couldn't find a site anywhere for Critiscum Internationale so I think the best thing to do to would be to contact nusensae(at)gmail.com for a copy of this.

Swill Children split series

I stumbled across this new label Swill Children Records, who, ambitiously is starting out with a split series... the more I see splits, the more I think they make the most sense for the format. If you go to the trouble of pressing a vinyl 7", the best you could hope for it to at least get rid of them all and press another one...that's the best case scenario to make the whole enterprise self sustaining. The best chance of doing that is one kick ass artist, and hope there's enough interest, or get two, bet on the spread...not that there's any chance with the artists represented here that there's going to be any trouble, but in the whole scheme of things, let's say.
There's always a huge art element that goes into any single, or music for that matter really, the look, the whole aesthetic is hugely important to provide clues to where the artist or label is coming from but when a label itself has a point of view and then combines it with great music under that umbrella....well it's a new era of labels with this definitive aesthetic...you can easily name a slew of them: Hozac, Columbus Discount, In the Red, Tic Tac Totally, hell even Sub Pop, or Merge who started it all. But when a single combines one of a kind at objects with the unique music artifact, it's elevating the entire work, and let's face it, just plain giving into the fetish of getting this limited object.
Swill Children, led by founder and showing artist in his own right Jesse Hlebo recently started this Sorrow/Jubilence split series:

Three splits curated by Jesse Hlebo addressing the themes of sorrow and jubilance.
Each record is in an edition of 333, are all cyan colored vinyl with custom printed covers (each will be different in some manner)

With music by:
Lucky Dragons/Weekend
Okie Dokie/Nu Sensae
Ty Segall/Mikal Cronin

The first single with Lucky Dragons and Weekend is an insanely reasonable $7, direct from the Swill. Impose Magazine has a sample of the Lucky Dragons track here. I'm only vaguely familiar with them from a couple other singles, and it fits in nicely with Ducktails kicks I get on every once in a while. This would even fit alongside Gary War, for that meditative mix of sound collage, questionable time period view. I like this direction that Lucky Dragons is going...it's subtle and smart, so many times you get hit over the head with piles of noise, that adds up to a confused nightmare. He's deftly wielding little melodies and loops in a real journey, you don't exactly remember how it started or where you're going, but it's great. Weekend, however I haven't been able to actually track down their sound very easily, but I'm guessing it's similar based on this description:

THIS RECORD:
Lucky Dragons' track 'We Lost' is a hauntingly meditative piece that is at once nostalgic and fearful.
Weekend's 'Squawk' juxtaposes field recordings of birds with sharp, hypnotic beat, culminating in a manner one could almost consider Caribbean.

SC001
Edition of 333 cyan colored vinyl
All covers unique risograph prints

////////////////

Looking forward to the third split with Ty Segall which should be available soon...

Velvet Davenport on SHDWPLY Records

Shdwply recently released this single from The Velvet Davenport. The sleeve is great, reminiscent of the NNF demented cut and paste collage, so right away I have to go check out their myspace. At first all I saw was the words Ariel Pink and Gary War and jumped to the conclusion this was a Roman Soldiers sort of situation...man, that Gary collaborates all over town...which makes me think I have to listen to his full length again. It's such a great collection of sounds, it's one giant entity to me that I sit down with and evolves over two sides...I get caught up in it...maybe it's just kind of mysterious to begin with? It definitely helped Blank Dogs...I mean you kind of make up a better story than the press release anyway...nobody knows where this guy is from, what gear he's using. It's like there's some kind of time machine effect? It is pretty cool to hear a crackly reverb sounding plug in on garageband...just for a second it's believable, but still insanely produced....to think that could be reduced down to a single plug in is just ridiculous...but that didn't stop me.

I'll start with the B-Side 'Run' since it's VD by themselves, this has all the sensibilities of AP, it's got that nostalgic aesthetic, but very grounded in 70's psyche, like MV+EE, laid back hippies time traveled to the SHDWPLY studios, like Bill and Ted. Too high to notice they were in 2010, they wrote some jams, laid down the flute tracks, lit some candles, tie dyed some stuff...I'd be completely against this direction if there wasn't that modern dark edge to this...starting with that disembodied mask-face.

The A-Side 'Get Out', the one with Ariel & Gary (that's got the sound of a side project right there), has all of the patina you'd expect of the three of these entities coming together. It sounds like all those era's they reference at once, the static from 70's, the earnest disillusionment of the 80's, a little indie guitar thrown in for good measure....or maybe that's just me attaching all my own memories to the nostalgic sound they've always been creating... it sort of lends itself to that, by listening to it through wax paper, you make up the parts you aren't actually hearing?

They have a free download of their cassette release 'Happy Endings' here. This single is a pretty great start for these guys and it's immediately going to be filed in the unfile-able weirdo section of the vinyl shelf.

While you're at it, Shdwply is releasing a new Ducktails single, so get on both immediately. I'm shocked this is still available with this Ariel & Gary contribution.

“Our previously loved psychedelic friends, Velvet Davenport have just sent over their newest slice of 60’s infused pop. On their recent LA vacay they met up with like minded nostalgists Ariel Pink and Gary War, the resulting “Get Out” is an acid flashback into a more liberal state of mind. This will be the a-side b/w of “Run” which is set for release as a 7″ on, the appropriate, Shdwply Records. Also, check out the free downloads that Velvet Davenport has available at their myspace…”
-Weeklytapedeck.com

U. S. Girls preorder on Atelier Ciseaux Records

U. S. Girls, who I haven't actually sat down and listened to an entire full length yet, so all of her singles will have to do...actually I think the only other track I have from her is on the 4 way philly split from Kraak Records so I have to get on these 2 full lengths from Siltbreeze. Remi from Atelier Ciseaux records let me know about this single he's releasing June 15th, and is up for preorder now.

Meghan Remy is U.S. Girls and what she does with the haunting electronics and a disembodied heavily effected voice is remarkable.

'Lunar Life' is an example of how an artist with nothing at their disposal can literally pull songs out of thin air. There's hours of tinkering and a love of unnatural sounds throughout. Recreating this is going to be problematic, but can allow for amazing reinterpretations of these heavily sculpted specific tracks. A tiny cheap demo organ beat provides the base for a warbly organ that matches her distorted vibrato cries. Towards the end Meghan is singing along with a high pitch mess of an organ melody and the two start to harmonize in a magic way that becomes another sound on it's own. Like Zola Jesus, she's playing within a barest of bones structure, the delay and looped repeating melodies become haunting and hypnotic. It's a scary desolate world sometimes.

'Take Over Dynamix' features a warped simple guitar melody with ungrounded cable crackle, background minimal drums and vocal sounds. Her vocals are always buried, barely discernible
from the monotony of machines, they are the only sign of humanity almost struggling to reach the surface in this kind of overwhelming oppression. There's nothing like it.

If you really want this, don't ask how much it's going to cost to ship trackable from AC in France, money is no object!
The only saving grace might be shooting fusetron an email letting him know how much this needs to be distro'd stateside.

U.S. Girls - Lunar Life
7’’ + mp3s
300 copies - silkscreened artwork on recycled paper
A. Lunar Life
B. Intro/ Take over Dynamix
U.S. GIRLS = Meghan Remy / Artwork by Meghan Remy
Atelier Ciseaux #04 / 2010
OUT JUNE 15 th
helloatelierciseaux@gmail.com
www.atelierciseaux.com/
www.myspace.com/atelierciseaux
www.myspace.com/usgirlsss
Thank you !

The Motion Sick and Golden Bloom split single on the Sleepy West Records

These two Boston area bands came my way for review via this split single on Sleepy West Records. Turns out when they say 'VS.' on the sleeve they really mean we're into each others' music and are going to prove it with a serious cover of our buddies. It's not a 'VS.' so much as a (heart). Or maybe the rivalry is in the idea of 'wait until you hear what we're going to do with your song'. The stakes are high, you want to impress the other band, but still of course change it just enough to keep it new...maybe even something you'd put into your own set, that wouldn't be so over the top different it never makes sense.
These two are perfectly suited for each others material, which is an aggressively produced pop full of slightly off the path instrumentation, and punchy, up front vocals...with an obvious sense of wink humor. Jack Black just threw your sad bastard cassette tape at you and put these guys on for a Monday turn it up to 11 mix and what are you going to do about it? Probably cry.

The Golden Bloom looks to be the one man project of Shawn Fogel and he covers Motion Sick's '30 lives', playing with the original more mellow tempo at the start and then busting into muted distortion punk pop turning the original into the beginning of building tempest. Like Banned Books, it changes rhythms/sounds on a dime, adopting drum machines for a phrase, then back into precisely engineered kick pattern. It's maddeningly upbeat, the 'ba ba's', sung with manic abandon...it is about 30 video game lives after all...he even goes so far as to breakdown into a Contra cheat code chant. 'up, up, down, down....' Wait, who said we were changing lyrics?

But not to be outdone, The Motion Sick turn 'Doomsday Devices' into a full blown near orchestral production in their own right, horns, slide electric, xylophone, Rhodes organ...they're all building away in layers fading in and out...giving the Golden Bloom track a mellow Wilco, alt-country sounding feel to this cover. It's definitely changing the meaning of 'using my Doomsday Devices'. Originally, Shawn gave it an off kilter tongue in cheek delivery...when all these bad things happen that drive him insane, this time Motion Sick kind of actually mean it, in the bad evil genius not funny way. You know, like that Human Centipede guy.

Get it from The Motion Sick direct.

Golden Bloom and The Motion Sick collide in this head-to-head clash of the pop titans. Golden Bloom covers The Motion Sick's "30 Lives" and The Motion Sick covers Golden Bloom's "Doomsday Devices"

100 Records Sonny Smith show + R. Stevie

(covers top-left to bottom-right by: Kyle Field (Little Wings), Chris Johanson, Scott Hewicker, Kyle Ranson)

Arvel sent me an email about this amazing show in San Francisco Endless Nest dubbed 'The most ambitious show of all time' from Sonny Smith of Sunny and he Sunsets. Sonny asked 100 artists to illustrate 100 7" covers and Sonny came up with persona's for each band and recorded A and B Sides for each one. Amazing.
There's mysterious mention of all of these being released at some point and you can check out some of the covers on Turn up Records blog. It's a great idea, but the scale is insane...I wonder how long he's been working on this project, and I hopefully can't wait to hear these eventually. Are some going to actually be pressed as singles? This would be an entire discography of a decades worth of material for a label....massive. I hope they press a massive catalog with the covers and a box set of CD's, or maybe just put codes in there for the downloads at least.

Then I caught this email yesterday morning about a live remote show WFMU is doing at the gallery, so I'll be listening to this later today.

Live Remote from San Francisco Gallery 16's "100 Records"
Friday, May 7th, 3pm - 6pm on Put the Needle On the Record with Billy Jam
Musician/ artist/ curator Sonny Smith has a unique exhibit at San Francisco's Gallery 16 entitled "100 Records” featuring the cover art for one hundred records by 100 bands/artists that never existed but were dreamt up by Smith who commissioned a hundred artists to create cover art for these singles. The remote broadcast’s in the middle of the exhibit where Smith will be among the many guests along with Gallery 16's Griff Williams, Live Human, DnZ, Z-Man, B-Cause, and more.

But in the meantime I thought I'd post some R. Stevie Moore at Mercury Lounge opening for Ariel this week. The show was epic, Ariel and the Haunted Grafitti, contrary to everything I'd read about his infamous live show, were great. Really amazing...but then to catch Stevie opening for him? It was too much. I've just barely scratched the surface of his insane catalog and live he was completely in his own world. The in between song banter is the best...I don't know when songs ended or started, it was a medley of rehearsed, improv material with random spoken word moments about Lindsey Lohan? After each song he would crumple up a piece of paper and throw it into the audience...once after eating it.

Download here, it's about 20min.

Burning Yellows on Hozac

You know I have to say I'm just a fan of Hozac period, I never know what to expect, washed out no-fi layered psyche, or snotty garage punk, but it doesn't matter. That's why I blindly subscribe...where did I find out about Dum Dum Girls? Through Year 1 of the Hozac Hookup Klub.
Here's the Burning yellows who are not a part of the klub, just out there on their own for ordering, there's a heck of a lot of reverb on both sides of this, the echo-y far off treble heavy guitars, and breathy hazy buried vocals...just creating that daydream reverb sound.
The A-Side Urinal Cakes is a little U.S.Girls, all cheap machine beats with echo layered vocals and holy shit! Two members of the Whines! I've been listening to their 'Hell to Play' full length like crazy! Well that's it, this laid back Dum Dum girls sounding side project is going to be great.
What the heck, I still love this sound, and paired with canned metronome beats is great...it sounds like one of those tiny organ's preset rock switches. Super promising sound from these guys already recording great straight up rock as it is....

Get it straight from Hozac or Parasol distro who says:

Burning Yellows
Urinal Cakes b/w Drought
PS, US Debut single from Portland, OR's sublime & apparitional BURNING YELLOWS. Look for them to continue to daze & mesmerize onlookers with their dreamy, fuzz-laden pop vibrations that will leave you glassy-eyed & converted within minutes. An atmospheric VU-rhythmic throb encapsulate your senses & lures you into their reverberated world & echo-saturated vocals wash over you like a chemical bath
HoZacRecords-053
45

Deerhoof vs Oneone on Someone Good Records

Deerhoof has long been supporters of the lowly single format and they're always finding new ways to elevate it with something extra like their Matchstick picture disc and always with unreleased material. This single is no exception. The Deerhoof track 'Sealed with a Kiss' is a new version of the chopped up instrumental...I'm guessing, of course I couldn't find it anywhere, but this title is new so I'm sure this is going to be a different version. Not that I'll ever hear it, but that's a different story.
This is great because I don't think I would have even checkout the band their paired with; Oneone and they're a perfect fit with Deerhoof's particular vocal delivery and off kilter rhythm combinations. It may as well be a Deerhoof side project, there's no doubt they have been influenced by these legends who have been paving their own road for years now.

All of this just makes it a damn shame this is gong to be impossible to get, but I had to mention it anyway because anything Deerhoof is worth going to these lengths to get, even if it means ordering from the land where toilets flush backwards and it upwards of 18$ AU (who knows if that includes shipping to the states). Not only am I jealous Christmas is in the summer but they are going to be able to pick this up no problem like the shrimp is on the barby. If I ever even lay eyes on this it will be a miracle.

From Someone Good Records:

In celebration of their Australia and New Zealand tour in 2010, Deerhoof and OneOne team up for a special limited edition 7’’. Loosely inspired by the old-school Jamaican Dancehall 7’’s, this lovely little slab of vinyl comes packaged in a yellow gold slip with a deluxe screenprint and photo insert with lyrics and whatnot. Two killer exclusive tunes - Deerhoof’s Sealed With A Kiss (version) and OneOne’s OneOne Theme (Version).

Home Blitz 'Perpetual Night' on Almost Ready Records

It's pure coincidence that this release also happens to be on Almost Ready Records, home of the World's Lousy comps, but I've been hearing about Home Blitz's full length being amazing from Terminal Boredom. I couldn't actually find this single for sale on their blog...might be sold out at the source, or it's just going to be at one of his 3 shows in NYC soon.
After hearing the A-Side, Perpetual Night on his myspace, I am definitely going to pick this up.

I got a single of his a few years back 'live outside' and I remember reading in the liner notes it was recorded live on the side of the road in some park in NJ, and that basically sold me. Anyone who had the conviction enough to drag a drum kit, amps and guitars and a 4 track to perform a live show in the middle of nowhere sounded bad ass to me. The tracks inside were just what I wanted...raw, barely held together little pop gems, pretty much Jonathan Richman style, one take...literally the thing that has been going on since the dawn of garage rock bands. But God damn if this hasn't evolved into some kind of jumpier, more effected Jeff Novak, all with an early stones blues rock...there's even I think a touch of that piano...awesome. Completely catchy, bare bones, the melody is perfect. Can't wait to hear the B-Side of this one.

He's playing all over NY the next few months hopefully he'll have copies of his full length June 18th at the Cakeshop.
You can contact Daniel directly at ddimaggi(at)gmail.com he mentioned he has some copies on his myspace or get it from Fusetron who says:

*Artist: HOME BLITZ
Title: Perpetual Night
Format: 7"
Label: Almost Ready
Country: USA
Price: $6.00
"Perhaps Daniels most accomplished recordings to date. Mastered loud and clear by John Golden. Full color / heavy weight pocket sleeves. If you buy one modern single this year...this be it!" - Almost Ready.

Young Mothers on Fort Lowell Records

Fort Lowell, who I talked to a little while back, just released this single for Record Store day and is available on their blog. Young Mothers are from Fort Lowell's backyard in Tuscon and James randomly came across them after sticking around after a friends band and seeing them play live.
Zachary Toporek is the lead singer/songwriter force behind this single.

The A-Side 'Come on, the cross', has a real Doug Martsch vocal style that comes out in the
minor chord changes all within that major melody, harmonized into layers of optimism. Definitely pop, the vocals are the centerpiece mixed way up front, and it has all the guitar work from a Built to Spill track. Harmonic solos and Zack goes the range from falsetto to layered growl, that's the difference between their similarly heavily produced guitar, Zack allows himself a greater range of emotion and is at home equally on acoustic as he is working within this layered studio arrangement.

The B-Side James told me was one of those tracks that he'd always had in mind to record but wasn't fitting into their full length easily...that's the story of every great B-Side. 'Good Swords' is an acoustic layered fingerpicking hushed track, very much Elliott Smith style. Half whispered, pushing the vocal out and really letting go towards the end again going further than Elliott ever would, demanding your attention. One of those slow burns that completely destroys with subtlety and impressive intricate guitar.

On Fort Lowell a pale green vinyl, handnumbered with digital download card.