7Inches - Singles awards of 2010 extravaganza- PT 3 - hello 2011

Finally.... best singles of the year:

Dirty Beaches - on Italian Beach Babe Records - I just hope more people can get their hands on this one, or he does a stateside single soon on someone's label...cool, detached, minimal home recorded awesome, with completely unique world influences.
Tonetta - Get it Going on Black tent Press - Oh Tonetta, where do I begin? Completely inspiring weirdness from Toronto (!?). The videos almost ruin the music they are so freaking amazing. A thousand thanks to Black Tent for putting this and TWO full length albums out now.
Useless Eaters - Mr. Oscillations on Mastermind Records - Everything Seth does is punchy to the point punk pop with a great layer of crisp distortion across everything. I hope it never ends. Everything so far has been on cassette and 7"....I never thought I'd say it, but enough already. I want a full length.
Sore Eros - Blackburn Recordings - Incredible hazy, melodic weirdness in line with the genius of Ariel Pink and Gary War. Completely mindblowingly complex. I have to catch this live this year.
Ariel Pink (round and round) - 4AD - I don't care how many times I hear this, it gets better and better. He works across genres in the most authentic and sincere way, with tons of experimental pop strewn across every track. There's a sad nostalgia to all of Before Today, that title now makes sense.
Sediment Club - on Soft Spot records - I still can't get over the ragged, simple, new wave from these guys. They're playing Jan 2nd.
Bare Wires - on Southpaw Records - So glad they ended up putting out a single from the guys that did Artificial Clouds, a record I played at least once a week because I wanted to. Mathew Melton is a serious bad ass.


RIP: Blessure Grave, Jay Reatard




Greatest Book ever written award goes to Touchable sound from Soundscreen design : A clear winner, no contest really, everything I ever wanted from a book: that it's entirely about the greatest single design of the past 20 years, every page in full color. The closest I'll get to ever seeing a lot of these historic pieces of art.

See you monday, happy new year.

7Inches - Singles awards of 2010 extravaganza- PT 2

The Already Overpriced Single award goes to Best Coast, there have been plenty of repressings of this on Art Fag, but they keep flying off the preverbial ebay shelves at ludicrous prices...kind of reminds me of the old Vivian Girls singles, it's like people wanted them to be rare already or something. It's nice to know there are super fans checking this stuff out and willing to shell out serious money for them, so I'm not complaining. $82 for this Best Coast single is very tempting sometimes...that's almost 1/10th of pressing your own!



Winner of single 7" that has no business being pressed, but I'm so glad they did:

Portal 13 Globes on Chrome Leaf Records. Of course they are better live. I was actually a little scared they were going to sacrifice something on stage, or hang themselves...like a snuff film amusement park. Extreme is always good, they do it the best. When these two worlds came together at the merch table I was seriously protecting this thing in my bag the whole way home.


Least wanted single (two years running): Brian Jonestown Massacre, not only that it's always listed for 9.99 or some nonsense. It had to be listed at least every week for the entire year, not selling once. Haven't you spent at least 10x that in listing fees? Throw it away already.
Dig! is the worst documentary.... not the way it's made...but both of those terrible bands make me sick...and of course the Dandy Warhols would be successful over BJM. Indie Rock? Get lost. Overrated creeps. The worst pathetic druggies with delusions of grandeur...sadly full of themselves. I might have even liked the part towards the end when they fight with each other in front of 10 fans...but then they probably staged it thinking that anyone gives a shit.



Best packaging for a single: It's a tie between PIAPTK's wedding album of handcut picnic plate lathe singles in the shape of hearts, his letterpress plate series and the Records Digest book/lathe cut series that all came out this year and Sonny Smith's 100 singles art show and boxed set.
Both of these are so insane/amazing that I couldn't choose. An amazing amount of work all for the love of the single. We don't deserve it and I hope you get over to their sites and pick these up because I'd like to see both of them continue their unique brand of sadomasochism.



Best new 7" label: Olde English Spelling Bee, congrats guys, there is no way I can even keep up with your releases let alone research all of these insane bands. I'm officially overwhelmed. The tip of the iceberg was the Big Troubles single, and they've been around since 2009. Still the best.


Special award this year for the longest band name with a single: The world is a beautiful place and i am no longer afraid to die on Top Shelf Records, I like their massive instrumental, emo, post sound, they do it right. You can't even abbreviate that.



Noisiest split single goes to (split decision): Mucky the Ducky and Hexlove and Aids Wolf and Satanized on badmaster Records, two singles that push the limits of what is even music, and that's a good thing.


Most obvious sign of the 7" apocalypse: Scion is not only promoting live garage shows at the Knitting factory but pressing records, which are unbuyable...it's one thing someine there has crazy taste and puts together shows, have free streaming songs from these bands on their 'radio' station but then to go and press records, you have no chance of getting? Thank god for ebay.

7Inches - Singles awards of 2010 extravaganza - PT 1

Worst B-Side remix 2010.

This one pretty much kicked this whole list off the beginning of last year sometime.
Remixes have always pissed me off, especially when they waste the B-Side of a 7 inch, they are predictable and always boring, and nothing made less sense for a remix then the stripped down messy garage of the Coathangers. A real bummer of a single from Suicide Squeeze.


This one I knew early would make the list too....from the Mammoth Cave Recording Co.
Winner of best insert 2010 is from their Bloodstains across Alberta single. At the same time hilarious and personal, it tied the whole Alberta theme together explaining the references and the ache's and pains of recording all these maniacs...hands down wins the best Canadian single category as well..nice work, there's something for everyone on this diverse 10 way split, that reminds me, this one won for most tracks on a single as well. That's three gold singles coming your way...a new record.


Winner of best xmas themed single is the angelicly vocaled, Shannon and the Clams on 1,2,3,4 Go. They aren't ruining Christmas at all....You know, I haven't actually heard this, but I'm into the couple of singles they've put out so far, capturing that garage nostalgia, wrapping it in pop punk and giving it to you in new ways...and Shannons voice is ridiculous. This better have been under the tree or Santa hates you.
I honestly think I haven't ordered this yet is because they tell you how many copies are left....so I keep putting it off.

Jack White won in two categories this year:

Most expensive single.... by a longshot was this Dead Weather test pressing that went for $3200 from a live show at the 3rd man store...photo booth pics, handpainted sleeve, signed by all members. This is all Jack White, creating an entire blackmarket for records, controvertially putting 3rd man stuff directly on ebay and all with a not great band...impressive.

He also winds hands down the coveted 7inch prize for format innovation, with the Triple Decker Record®, and the hair record:

Finally for PT1.....Best single not actually reviewed on 7Inches:
Home Blitz - 'Perpetual Night'.
Any label want to step up and give this guy another single? I tracked down the full length, and he just gets better and better. The Northeast answer to Seth's Useless Eaters. Fucking great raw garage no-fi whatever....none of those labels matter, it's great, frantic, the 4-track's on fire songs...this B-Side Searchers cover 'Murder in my Heart' is game changing. The art doesn't need to shock you because the music on that single is better than anything all year.

More tomorrow from snowed in 7Inches.

That's the best xmas gift of all.

Happy Holidays from 7inches

My end of year lists are up at Bowery Presents and Ecstatic Peace, and I'm counting the votes for the 7Inches awards, back Monday.

Hopefully there's singles under the tree this year.

Big Deal - Homework on Records Records Records Records

Got an email about this single from a new UK label: Records Records Records Records, from the band, Big Deal.

Oh Jesus... just the acoustic guitar and Alice's vocals on the first few bars of 'Homework' are enough reason to start a label just to press this single and be satisfied if this is the only thing that you put out into the world. The solo, distant fingerpicked guitar, the tight, echo English vocals from the duo are just painful, raw nostalgic emotion. Like 'Crosses' from Jose Gonzalez or the Speed Trials single from Mr. Misery...the melody is enough to bring back the saddest day of high school, alone in your room, broken up about a destined-to-fail relationship that felt like the most important thing that would ever happen. The weight, the finality of your pathetic situation, the inevitable...She can't do her homework, can't concentrate. You want someone to care this much about anything.
It's definitely not for the kids in high school now, hooked on Slip Knot...I get it, they have to fight back in every possibly way, but after the dust settles and there's a moment alone to reflect...it's all here.
And it's why this immediately creates a million imitators, it's so stripped down and basic, it has to be easy to duplicate, right? There's nothing to the track but 2 vocals and a guitar, anyone could hit record and get this kind of perfect heartbreak...some might get close, but not like these two.
Where do bands starting out get the confidence to put this out as an A-Side of their first single? It's either genius amazing, or just completely luck of the luck, but then the B-Side cover of Big Star's 13 confirms they know exactly what their up to, and have been aching in those sincere ways. It's a perfect cover that changes the original , slowing down the melody, both Alive and Kacey delivering the lyrics where you recognize every word, but you're not sure how. They bring that 'Homework' minimalism to Big Star....

There's not a lot of people that could capture the right mood for these tracks, let alone write vocals that are equally as crushing as the sparse instrumentation. It's a perfect storm of simplicity and submission. They've been there and put it down in this little unassuming track 'Homework', and are only multiplying the sadness.

Big Deal is Kacey Underwood and Alice Costelloe. They both sing, they both write and they both play guitar. In the summer of 2010 they got tired of plugging things in, wearing ear plugs and waiting around. Bored with making fun of each others band’s they decided to start one together, writing and recording in their bedrooms.

Big Deal conjur up woozy, lo-fi folk, understated and discreet music for the early hours, both beautiful and fragile. With a First Sight piece in The Guardian coming after just their second show, it’s fair to say that there is something a little special going on here – the dual vocals combining to great effect across “Homework” and on their cover of arguably Big Star’s most enduring song, “13”.

Start slashing wrists.... this will only be available to those brave enough to trust this fragile piece of wax will actually make the 4000 mile journey intact...but then that's sort of what these songs are about.

You're probably better off.

Birds and Arrows / Billy Sugarfix's Carousel on 307 Knox Records

Here's a split from a new label, 307 Knox records, out of North Carolina...they've actually been around since 2004, but are new to me despite putting out material from Future Islands, Gray Young and this split from Birds and Arrows and Billy Sugarfix's Carousel.

The A-Side from married duo, Birds and Arrows, is an exclusive track to the single: "Pride of Lions". It's all built around a slow folk acoustic melody and Pete's vocals at first. The way the percussion part during a break follows each syllable of a refrain sounds familiarly '70s...that sort of sad sounding huge production. Like Songs from a Room it's built out of sparse, simple instrumentation, a hint of a clarinet, triangle, or a flute, just for a moment...you forget it was even there because the focus of this song is on the two of their harmonies. This exercise in subtlety is a welcome style of restraint, they hold back all of their powers until Andrea starts belting out the title lyric towards the end, against Pete's own slightly offset direction....and as everything builds just to that point of meltdown it just drops off to the end...another nice change from that blown out catharsis moment.

The B-Side has Billy Sugarfix's Carousel doing 'If There's a Secret'. Mr. Sugarfix has a nasal sounding Billy Bragg singer-songwriter vocal mixed way out front and the title of this project gives you some idea as to the laid back half carnival fantastic feel. It's not exactly a realistic interpretation of his heartbreak...the eclectic instrumentation lives in that fantasy world. He's also working with a lady friend who's got an impressive trained vibratto getting that similar great conversational duo feel but in this case trading sections back and forth between them, not harmonizing so much and not talking to each other story-wise. The guy character seems to be going over this failed relationship in grocery stores....record stores...can't face the reality, while she doesn't seem very affected from her side, maybe even encouraging the attention. Their vocal styles are nicely contradictory, which makes sense in this contemporary folk ballad.

It's a well matched single for both bands styles. The big orchestration that never goes over the top with both of their duo guy/girl vocals, given the same ingredients end up in two completely different directions. Billy ends up with a lighthearted They Might be Giants feel to a classical lost love storytelling song and Birds and Arrows bring the sad, married Bowerbirds style.


This 7" is on sky blue mottled vinyl housed in a hand sewn wallpaper sample with huge gothic, victorian band titles silksceened on the front. It's the best kind of handmade package worthy of the limited 7" color single. 6 bucks from 307 Knox Records.

Birds and Arrows has not made vinyl records yet. Note we said yet.This is their first and by far not their last.
This limited run of mixed color vinyl (no two are alike) features Billy Sugarfix's Carousel on the flip side. Limited 500 handmade jacket
"Pride Of Lions" a brand new track from Birds and Arrows is not available anywhere else. It will however show up at some point on their next full length release. The covers for this 7" were handmade by all the artists and they too are pretty special.
We hope you enjoy this collectible record. Digital download included.

Prinzhorn Dance School on DFA

I like Prinzhorn Dance School. They had some great singles off their first album, the glitchy gated guitar sound they get is great. It's the barest, sparsest pop... the Gang of Four and The Fall sound taken to it's extreme. The balls to create this minimal, it's almost acapella, or a poetry art project. I know that sounds like crap, but they pull it off. I won't be putting this on after a long day, this is in the challenging pile of work that sends me back through those previous bands looking for some explanation of how this works and where they could be possibly be coming from. Chanted lyrics, like Bauhaus (the art style), there's so little there, it's great, and a little bit creepy because it's so extreme on that side of the spectrum.

Like I tried to make this review.

That's my excuse for today.

Get it from DFA direct or any of the usual mailorder places...

PRINZHORN DANCE SCHOOL - Seed, Crop, Harvest - DFA - DFA2255 - 7" - $ 9.25
***PRINZHORN DANCE SCHOOL announce their return with new single, "Seed, Crop, Harvest." We haven't heard a thing from TOBIN PRINZ and SUZI HORN for three years (their debut LP was released on DFA back in 2007) but they've been far from work-shy. They toured extensively, then came home and built their own bespoke recording studio (The Red Shed)--and learned how to use it. Time consuming endeavors which saw them drop off the music radar. Which might just explain the title of the equally charged B-side "Off The Radar, Off The System."

Aids Wolf/Satanized split on Badmaster Records

Aids Wolf...of all the animal names out there this at least gives you an idea of where this is probably going. If you said experimental noise insanity, you would be completely right.
It's kind of liberating sometimes to listen to something that you know won't be enjoyed by anyone else. It's got very little to do with the actual sound itself... more the very act of just accepting this arrangement, these distorted vocals which can't be about anything pleasant makes you part of the subset that owns this 7" and who can reject everything.
Just putting this on the turntable says "There is nothing that will shock me, and there is nothing I won't try."
You'd also be hard pressed to meet an asshole at one of these shows.
AIDS-Wolf are so anti-establishment that instead of attending the show with a group of murderers and convicts, they are all music nerds like yourself who are just saying "Bring it on." We all can't wait for the band to start playing and clear the room of casual listeners.

There is an entire underground here in one side of a single. A vocabulary a majority of people are probably unfamiliar with. You can grasp tiny pieces, a hint of a repeatable rhythm or a word from the vocal, but it's mostly alien. It isn't ever about volume and just indiscriminate layers of noise. Throbbing Gristle established the art to pushing the limits, you can hear the carefully planned experience they've been crafting. The years of music it takes to get to this experimental place means that should put them at the top of anyone's list. But the problem is always in acceptance and the narrowing base of listeners a forward thinking a project like this inevitably becomes. They belong to that group of singles, I'm glad exists, but it's rare to commit this to careful study. But they've deliberately set it up that way.

The B-Side, Satanized has an off kilter, jazz-math, metal vibe with appropriately distant recorded-in-a-metal-box vocals.
They make very clear they can play, that's the reason no one could dismiss this...it isn't just noise or the shitty facsimile you would hear from a fictional bad ass band in a movie. Why is that always a joke...a bad stereotype when a periphery character's avant-garde music is played? The music supervisor should know better. If your trained in classical composition, you should be aware of this end of the spectrum, or you're worthless.
There's a huge amount of rhythmic changes. I wonder why the vocals stay that same I'm-in-hell growl tone. Why aren't they experimenting as much vocally? Is that the weakness in this endgame?
It's just a statement about the whole noise genre, not Satanized. They make perfect sense and for me have the musical talent to get away with it. I just think if I'm listening, then we've all agreed we're here for the ride, push it. I'm on board...give it to me.

Impressive 4 color screened sleeve with that rough matte ink, smelling like the printmaking room. Purple splattered 33 rpm vinyl...on Badmaster Records, who is also having a crazy vinyl sale, one LP and 2 singles for $15.

Mrs. Magician on Thrill Me! Records

Mrs. Magician sent this in to the dirty basement which is the 7inches record shelter. It's like a reverse bomb shelter...protecting the rest of the world.
The A-Side hit the turntable and I waited for some kind of drone noise project to disturb the neighbors based on this smoking hospital patient sleeve but instead "There is no God" is sounding sweet...major blissed out vocal harmonies, a couple of trained voices...singing a hymn to...well, no one anymore. Sort of a general '60s garage combined with some more modern gazing of the shoes. A little bit Woods, when their harmony almost drives the entire song. The laid back guitar is secondary, they can throw all the weirdo samples they want into it, but the song is basically the same.
For such a heavy sentiment like the destroying of thousands of years of faith, it seems like they're making the best of it. It's not really a big deal.
Then they go and blend the slightest hint of electronics into what is definitely a reverb soaked garage '60s sort of surf with contemporary fuzz.
This track is brief, you can see it barely takes up half of the 45, you don't notice, they really pack in the loads of harmony with a little dream-pop background haze in what has to be less than two minutes. A new band called Beach Boys and Mary Chain. I have to keep getting up to start it over...my only complaint.

The B-Side title, "I'm going to hang out with the lesbians next door and drop acid" should have clued me into the psyche edge the guitar has on this one, mellowing out on waves of sustained distortion and ludes... the old Jesus and Mary Chain rears its head. They have left such a freaking impression on everyone after. Maybe they just got there first?
There's some greaser in there too, a little bit of danger...attitude; the misfits B-movie sound of the '60s. But that could be due to the sickening brightness of the A-Side. I'm jaded now.
This track is more free form, there's less melodic structure...I have to think again about those JAMC songs where you can't believe they got away with that sound the year it was released, especially the B-Sides where they weren't trying so hard for any kind of hit. Just seeing how far they could take that sound.

Mrs Magician walks that line of angry unhinged, no wave noise/feedback distortion and can't we all get along too damn catchy doobie jams. The vocals are buried in the reverb, the instrumentation is mixed even lower so this becomes a solid mass of twinkling pop where that vocal follows it's own kind of logic, thankfully not tied to the swirling feedback, sustained haze.
I could hear this working with that Slow Animal sound in a way, the Mrs. is a little happy, maybe too happy if you know what I mean. This works off the fuzz vibe in an irrational way, but then again on paper the Fresh & Onlys don't really seem like they would be as great either.
What is it with this laid back Real Estate vibe of finding that catchy groove and thinking that's enough? God dammit, it shouldn't be that easy...where's the sweat, and work?


45RPM with a punch out center, very considerate, from Thrill Me! Records. No link on their myspace, I think they want you to email them:
thrillmerecords(at)gmail.com

Anklebiter on P-Low/Vinfiz! Records

This is another single my friend Amy gave me after we saw The Corin Tucker band, which by the way is a Sleater Kinney offshoot project, not a bluegrass shitkicker band. I questioned for a second why she'd be into that, but I'm an idiot.

I have no idea what year this comes from, but I'm going to guess late nineties (1990-1999, FL - ed) There is a particular sound that bands could get just with a 4-track or 2" tape if they were really lucky that sounds big and expensive these days...or there's so much no-fi dirty sounding static and fuzz for the past few years that it's jaded the way I'm hearing any audio that calls itself music.
The I wonder if it had to do with a lot of bands around this time maybe were still trying to emulate that commercial sound? Thinking maybe they could work within the system somehow... if you sound like the other guys but do something really interesting musically, we can make a difference.
I'm not shitting on these guys at all. I just know what a revelation it was to have all that blasted apart by Sebadoh, and it may not have anything to do with popular sound...it could just have been important for them to step away from the rehearsal space recordings. If we're spending some bucks at a studio, let's do it right. It's exciting. I understand. That being said the answer isn't always in burying everything under 2 tons of concrete. That only goes so far.
The graphic elements give away this era as well, lots of faux diagrams, arrows and math. But this sound isn't going in that complex masturbatory direction, it's more expressive and loose, and difficulty in math is different for different people. Things I call math probably are common sense to some people.
The thing I do love about the sleeve itself is the track info and the band title are both printed on a cardstock not really glued to anything, just floating aorund loose in the mylar sleeve...or maybe once a long time ago they were glued and now just barely stick.
There are elements that would become Sunny Day Real Estate, or were already Joan of Arc or Promise Ring. They're fast and loud, breaking the hardcore up with layers of slightly off-time vocals never singing together, that's the emo-choir.
Then again that sound thing could just be that this was pressed at 33 and you just inherently loose a lot of the depth which gives hardcore that thin flat sound because the actual sound that gets recorded is secondary. Then putting it on vinyl is an afterthought.
These guys are pulling off the emotional rock (was it even indie at this point? It feels wrong to call it that.



On an unrelated note, Midheaven sent out an email yesterday with a pretty sweet holiday 7" from Moon Duo...who knew these scary-psyche maniacs had a couple of Christmas songs in them:

New holiday themed single from MOON DUO. ERIK and SANAE add more lilt to the season than any combination of egg nog and booze ever will. On the B side the duo wrap a coat around the classic Goat Head Soup deep cut "Winter."

From Midheaven.

Interview podcast with Boston's Soccer Mom

I talked with William Scales and Dan Parlin of Soccer Mom a few weeks back after catching a show of theirs in Boston.
Their "Bill Cosby in Glamorous Chains" single has really grown on me and I wanted to find out the mysterious history of Soccer Mom, some of the gear they were using for that massive, overwhelming sound and of course why they chose the lowly 7" single for their first release.
On the way to that very show in fact, my friend Matt and I hatched a plan to see if they would be a part of an art show we'll be putting on January 21st at Kayafas Gallery:

What Are We Doing? is on view January 21 through February 20, 2011 at Gallery Kayafas. Works on view include a selection of 10 photographs and 14 videos from the series of intervention projects called 14 Actions For 14th Street commissioned by Art In Odd Places in 2009. Also on view are The Bridge {refrain} created for The Work Office project at the DUMBO Arts Festival, which features a set of custom 7" albums recorded on site, and Would Sol LeWitt Approve? -- a musical performance of LeWitt's rules for Conceptual Art. There will be screenings of the short film What Are We Saying? during the run of the exhibition.

---

Gallery Kayafas is located at 420 Harrison Ave in Boston

Soccer Mom, among others, will be making an appearance and reinterpreting, Would Sol LeWitt Approve?... bringing both of my favorite things in the world together.
A recording of that performance will probably make it's way onto a 7" in the future...it was only a matter of time...

Download the interview here. (MP3 29min)

Olympus - Bold Mould on Soft Abuse

Been working on a mammoth review of this full length from Olympus on Soft Abuse.

A collaboration between Stephen from Pumice and Kraus from The Aesthetics.

2 by Umberto Lenzi on Saxon Gregory productions???

I'm always on the lookout for crazy shit like like this, the sleeve alone was almost enough, but then I read it's two movie trailers from Umberto Lenzi? That's just crazy enough to be awesome. I don't know that director, but this is the country that thought of an underwater zombie shark fight, so I'd be curious to hear the trailers for this insanity. Both of which you can hear in their entirety from Juno Records, so why you have to have this pressed on vinyl..I have no idea, but then again this is coming from someone who has a blank single from Hot Lixx Hulihan, US air guitar champion, so I guess I am their target audience after all.
Now if these were trailers someone came up with separate from a movie that was actually made? That might be just insane enough to be completely genius.

Then again, this same label/I-don't-know-what, Saxon Gregory Productions released an entire LP split between Steven Segall and John Claude Van Dam trailers? Now that's fucking genius!

Who is Gregory Saxon!

Midheaven's got it.

Arc in Round at Mercury Lounge 12-8-10

Anytime a band goes from a controlled studio setting to recreating those recordings live, it can be a tricky proposition. Especially for the dense, hazy fog of shoegaze which can notoriously be a technically unpredictable animal.
But guitarist, Jeff Zeigler wrangles sound for a living, producing various Philly bands including the headliners at last night show, War on Drugs at his own Uniform Recording Studios.
So it makes perfect sense that given his technical prowess, Arc in Round would easily be able to tame the layers of atmospherics that make up the tracks from their EP. It also helps they've been playing together for years...initially under the name 'Relay' before renaming themselves after a Disco Inferno track. The sound is influenced heavily by the shoegaze heyday, but they seem to walk a line between experimental drone and dream-pop, they have no problem unpacking the melody into noise and vice versa.
But what compels a contemporary band to continue to explore this genre? It has to be that element of surprise that comes from building that pile of sounds and attempting to keep it together during the breaks and changes. Sounds start to appear you had nothing to do with, a harmonic, or combination of elements you couldn't have hoped to plan turns into something greater than the sum of it's parts. That has to be part of the attraction for a band even with the technical challenges...and that's what makes it a great thing live. it forces the audience to stop trying to pick apart the individual pieces and just give in to the work as a whole.


The vocals from Mikele and Jeff are almost indistinguishable as a lyric, they function completely as another instrument. Buried under an echo they're a humanizing element in the otherwise foreign sounds that come out of the chains of pedals and synths.

But for the sound, their setup actually seemed relatively simple. That's the smartest thing to do with this sound, and in the end allows for the most possibilities... after all it’s not even about reverb if you believe Kevin Sheilds. They made it look pretty effortless and for me it especially works when I honestly have no idea who is creating a particular noise, between Jeff and Mikele, the upper register sounds turning into melody have to coming from one of the pair but neither of their playing is giving it away. Ian and Matt on bass and drums keep the tracks driving ahead always poppy and consistently changing while keeping the haze grounded in catchy consistent rhythms.



They create those epic swells that creep up like EITS, but without the massively changing dynamics, the stops and starts...once the the wall starts, the rising tides are subtle...next thing you know, you can't reach the bottom.

They're more than carrying a torch for the genre, they're taking the conceptual idea's of this overwhelming sound past it's early endpoint. They are probably the best example I've heard of current shoegaze, (for lack of a better term), and like their contemporaries, earplugs are highly recommended.

Wighead - William & Edward Frontage EP on Triumphant Walrus and K-Sur Records

Evan included a handwritten note with his single mentioning Brian Wilson, Magic Kids and the Flaming Lips among others as influences for his project, Wighead...that's a hefty set of specific brands of idiosyncrasy...and I had to hear where this single was headed.
Weirdly enough it's related to Talibam! only with an organic, folk direction. Similarly bent of breaking the verse chorus verse cycle sticking to a quirky narrative about vintage characters.
The sleeve art even has that Neutral Milk Hotel aesthetic. A creepy portrait of twins that's just a little off. A romanticized olde time that has to be so warped by our inevitably wrong reinterpretation... it probably never even existed that way.
The medley of the A-Side suits their brand of pop-tales, avoid the typical song structure at all costs. I have to admit I'm not quite sure where the breaks are between tracks and it's working almost in a theatrical way, those miniature movements introducing a larger melodic structure, setting the stage for a conventional chorus of backing vocal ahhhhh's and wooooo's under the hand-claps. There's a vulnerable, childlike quality of Chris' vocals, which balances this super melodramatic, epic sound to the arrangements.
Chris at times even sounds a little like Ben Lee. It isn't ever perfect, a little naive, slightly twee even. Or like the Firey Furnaces they give the overwhelming sound and instrumentation a decidedly pop feel. It's all fantastic, fairy tale land. Not as terrifying as Br'er, or as consistently heart breaking as NMH, they live closer to Jens Lekman...that parable under the dense layered multi-instrumental compositions, A sort of They Might be Giants combined with the Decemberists.

The B-Side has the protagonist literally falling in love with a body....of water.
The amount of silence after that track, "Bad Idea" is almost criminal...at least a minute of vinyl record silence!? They definitely got me though when it came back in with that reprise of "Never Go Home" sung by a late night drunken choir. There's a lot of heart here and a great effort in bringing a new direction to this style. They do it in a really accessible way versus the inherent distance that usually happens with this intellectualized indie orchestra. They have a huge skill set that they are determined to put to use, but as much as it's insanely ambitious, they keep it down to earth in subject and execution...like The Unicorns, they're having fun after all.

On purple swirl vinyl with a printed insert of the two creepy guys staring at you again, following you around the room full of Victorian furniture around a huge fireplace...gold frames and a greyhound with a monocle is listening to Wighead on one of those old Victrola's with a megaphone attached to the needle.

Turns out Chris has laid Wighead to rest and set his sights on NYC, according to the Independent Cause in Tulsa.
You can get this from Insound or hear it for yourself at their bandcamp page.

Talibam! Cosmoplitude on Electric Cowbell/ESP-Disk Records

Talibam! is a hell of a name, and that sleeve isn't giving anything away except it's obviously a two man project with Kevin Shea and Matt Mottel. I sort of thought this was going to be a minimal Avant Garde classical style single...maybe it's the political moniker...or those two serious dudes standing back to back...there's nothing to let you in on this free form stylized, mashup-collage barely contained on the two sides.
The A-Side "Crusin' the Cookie Isle"...is impossible to describe what sounds are being created. You have to get into the thought behind these seriously disjointed genre's to make any kind of sense of it. Everything feels mechanical, like 14 sound collages running at once. A little bit cold. Or a winter carnival, let's say. The it gets hip hop. TV samples and news reports over NYC radio station surfing. The only thing I can even semi-relate this to is the free form anti-style of Zappa or Captain Beefheart. The key is not ever knowing what to expect.

The title, "Cruising the cookie isle" actually makes perfect sense. Ask them to go get their favorite, they refuse to decide...let's face it, they're all delicious. You're splitting hairs...take all the bags of cookies, unwrap them and make a pile in the cart...crush them into a giant cookie of a track.

The B-Side "Cosmic Attitude" also subscribes to changing the rhythm every measure in some sort of masochistic test of anti-repetition. In addition to playing every pad on the drum machine for the entire track by hand.
If Girl Talk actually wrote some music of his own it might possibly sound like this...well, he would want it to anyway. But it has to keep this touch of bizarre, and it should keep it as loose as Talibam!. The schizophrenic feeling this could go in any direction any given second. It's proof of agility...old school '80s house, Devo synth to falsetto rap with porno samples.
I can imagine what the rehearsal space looks like...an episode of hoarders.
It's an hours worth of WFMU's eclectic programming distilled down into a 3 minute 7" which in this case can be a great thing, it's as skilled and crafted to the second as any math prog rock monster... it's an overwhelming, messy side. But every Diner/24 restaurant culture has it's version of french fries with everything...Canadians call it Poutine, diners in Jersey call it Disco Fries, but basically the concept is the same...if all of those ingredients are good separate then it's going to be even better going down all at once.

Take this Billy Joel clip for example:



Wasn't that better?

Get this one from Electric Cowbell or ESP-Disc:

COSMOPLITUDE is a sexy, ultra-limited-edition 45rpm 7" single co-released by ESP Disk' and Electric Cowbell Records. This historic album not only marks Talibam's first-ever single and 20th record, but also ESP's first single in their legendary 40+ years as a vanguard label. Side A's 'Cruisin the Cooke Isle' and side B's 'Cosmic Attidude' are ready for Dj spins on Milano fashion runways, in Brooklyn punk basements, or at hot tub parties from Vegas to Tibet... Ka-ching + Ohm = KA-BONE! Cosmoplitude is a transcendent, compassionate cosmic attitude emanating from and permeating through everything -- space/places/animals/stimuli/desires/gut feelings. If you can catch on to the cosmop, the obstacle course of notated expectations, shifting brightness and energy standards, daily costume changes, uber-media-mind-chip commentary, and cultural/political flux will all suddenly transform into an inspired/extinguished altered state of disjointed iconic impressions giving birth to positive urban countenance and lavish peace. Talibam' Cosmoplitude will improve your own personal cosmoplitude, GUARANTEED.

Slow Animal on Jax Art

I previewed this single from Slow Animal on Jax Art a while back and I finally got to spinning it this weekend...

The A-Side, The FUNsun, really nails the beach reverb with the unnatural volume, plus the mass of No Age… except that Slow Animals harmonies sound a little sad…it's not an angelic pet sounds harmony, they hit those minor chord harmonies (what do I know) that come from those monks who take a vow of silence except for their songs for God that sound like death. A general air of sadness to this track.... event as it keeps growing. Maybe it's the distance, singing from way back in that cave, or I'm really projecting.
I also made a note about it being "a catchier beach fossils" and I think what I meant is it's got that dreamy washed out haze sound, but it's fast and frantic, there's nothing relaxing about these guys. There's a sense of urgency to hearing through some kind of filter and they thoughtfully included the earplugs before it even starts playing.

Like I mentioned before…it's very similar to Wavves and I hope that reference doesn't haunt them too much, it's got the same big sickeningly catchy distortion, but the vocals are more buried or something. It's just a great sound that isn't going to go away…and it shouldn't... It's not the sound of the first Wavves album I'm sick of. They've got all the hollow sounding fuzz and stomping distortion with high pitch ooooo waaaa ooooo's you would expect from the early era Nathan stuff.
But it's a quintessential A-Side. You can't fault them for choosing this for a first impression. It's exactly what you would expect from a 7" single for a band without anything else yet to their name. Something to play over and over.

The B-Side, "Saturday Mourning" gives you a little bit of an idea of where they're going to take this layered wet echo. It's punched up on this side with sloppier vocals and the classic, "I'm bored" aesthetic. The harmonies are barely here….it's definitely not as surf on this side but more leaning heavily on indie rock borrowing from the guitar-centric bands of the 90's.
It's a succinct sentiment with all of that distance sonically but without the tired vapid content. The sun, surfing, all of that shit. It's observing more of those teenage ideals that hurt. Breaking down the world again. It's got that realism that Best Coast probably could do with more of. It's even echoed thematically in the vocals which again aren't ever sickeningly sweet. The right amount of hazy, catchy rock that deceptively sounds like it couldn't give a shit…. But honestly, not care a damn about trying for a sound or posture.

I'm surprised there are still copies of this, but that won't last...I have high hopes for someone else finally taking this sound a new place and I'm looking ofrward to finding out Dec 16th at Glasslands.

Brickmower on Stumparumper and The World is a Beautiful Place....on Topshelf Records

Pat has a new single out on his label, Stumparumper Records, this one is from NJ'ers, Brick Mower and was pressed by Single Piece slate, who I'm actually using myself to get a couple of 7"'s pressed for an art show in Boston...which I'll post about later.
"Garden Variety", still gets me, it's so rocking indie Eric's Trip in a perfect way. I've really been into that Merge book lately and this brings that all back..the avalanche of guitar rock singles in rows at the record store....do you get the xerox self released rock out garage single or another sad bastard Palace or Sebadoh single on Homestead. Brick Mower would fall into the first category... you want to see them live, with the singalong chorus, with a touch of weirdo in there, what is that slacker?...it's not pop punk.... they're just in that sincere genre....Fuck.... Garden Variety is on again...I want to hear these latest tracks.

Stumparumper says:
Brick Mower 'Box Turtle' floppy lathe cut 7" out now!!

We have a new release, and it's a very special one, for several reasons. Firstly, it's from those fantastic indie-punks Brick Mower, who have been tearing it up lately. But also! - it's a lathe cut 7", something we haven't done here at Stumparumper since our very first release almost 2 years ago (!!!!!!!!). But also also! - it's a totally new kind of lathe cut 7". It's called a 'floppy' because it's bendable, but it's nowhere near the thinness of a flexi. It occupies the space between normal vinyl and a flexi. It's cool. Plus, this new lathe cut has much improved sound quality over STUMP-01. This one was cut by a company in Seattle and, no offense in the direction of New Zealand, it sounds better than the ones Peter King cut for us way back when. But it doesn't end there! The 7" covers were designed and hand-silkscreened and super thick paper by one of our favorite artists, Ryan Duggan from Chicago. He's quickly becoming a premier poster artist and when you catch a glimpse of the illustration he did for this, you'll understand why. This release is hand-numbered to 50 copies, and we're already down to the last 16!! So get one now! http://www.stumparumper.com/merchandise.htm
(p.s. I know $8 is a lot for a 7", but each part of the final product is expensive and it's limited to 50 copies, and these things drive the price up. sorry, i know it sucks, but we're still losing money!)

It probably was their name that stuck with me whenever I came across it, so when I saw Topshelf records was releasing their first single, I went to go check out the tracks at their bandcamp page. The track names are equally epic and I have no idea how they're going to jam all of these onto a 7". It's sort of a Cap'n Jazz scream yourself hoarse along with a studio full of friends melodrama, combined with the massive dynamics of Explosions in the Sky, the complex intricate changes, to rock out walls of sound. But they even seem to ignore typical song structure at times reminding me of Firey Furnaces Blueberry Boat, that narrative story structure that dictates the direction of the melody...I'm into their completely unique direction in this kind of indie hardcore direction. Topshelf has 3 different color variations for $5:

Today we are thrilled to announce that we’ve got The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die’s spectacular debut EP 7” Formlessness now available for pre-order here. The first pressing ofFormlessness is 500 which we've split over 4 different colors. We have two different options: Single 7 Inch and a4 Pack (which includes every color of the album and is ONLY limited to 15).

Released earlier this year and taking some not-so-obvious cues from the likes of trail blazers like Sunny Day Real Estate or American Football, Formlessness plays like every record we love — but never quite just ONE in particular — and that’s our favorite part about it. The band has grabbed hold of classic moments like the more spastic buildups on a Kickball record or even the quieter lulls of Slint’s Spiderland in an entirely fresh and down-right invigorating direction. With the release of Formlessness, TWIABP are quickly joining the ranks of their peers like Annabel and Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate).

We’re ecstatic to be offering this record on vinyl. The first twenty-five orders will receive a FREE 2 song cassette titled “Josh Is Dead” and one random pre order will receive a free test press of the record with their order.

The Grapefruit Record club and Yuck single on Fat Possum

I wrote about this single Lonnie Eugene Meth had out on Unread Records a while back (which is still available from Unread). I loved his hushed 4-track bedroom recording sound few people can get away with no matter how accessible recording technology becomes. He emailed me the other day about a pretty amazing 12" record subscription series from Grapefruit Records he's going to be a part of.

Curated by fellow Omaha legend, Simon Joyner and composer Ben Goldberg you get a full length release every 3 months for the year...from who else besides Lonnie? Well... how about Lambchop, Richard Youngs and 200 Years which is awesomely a side project (?) with Magik Markers and Six Organs of Admittance members.

It's a good thing they accept gift subscriptions because I'm going to get someone who really likes me to spring for it.

I'm completely behind this model for distributing music...get people to support it on this small scale where the artists benefit directly from the fans...they release some unique material and we get super limited stuff that will make browsers of the record shelf drool.
Kind of like Jack White pressing his own stuff on 3rd man Records. Sure, I'll never be able to own any of it, but I'm glad it exists, and he's pioneering new formats of vinyl, which is pretty freaking nuts.
They joke about it being like the sub pop club without the singles, but it's done in the same spirit, and curated by people or an institution with a specific personal point of view.

They're only taking orders from Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day where all 300 subscriptions will be gone forever. Don't get all Jack White ebay on them.

Grapefruit Records is a subscription-only record club founded by Simon Joyner and Ben Goldberg to release exclusive and limited, vinyl-only LPs by dedicated artists, both known and yet-to-be-known. The only qualification required for artist participation is that both Ben and Simon love the music. Annual subscriptions include four quarterly released full-length LPs and a deluxe, hard-shell box to house the series of records that make up that year's roster of artists. The artists on Grapefruit are on loan and ever-changing so no subscription cycle will ever be the same.
By selling subscriptions directly to the public we avoid many of the expenses which make it difficult for traditional labels to make a profit. There are no promotional expenses, no distributor fees, and no returns. Since the number of subscriptions sold tells us exactly how many records to manufacture for a given year, we are able to pay all the participating artists up-front without ever having to worry about a record "breaking even" first. Additionally, the label's subscription-only distribution concept allows the established artists to share their audience with the lesser known artists featured on an annual roster. Grapefruit's mission is to expose fans to exclusive, challenging new music on vinyl while ensuring that the musicians actually get paid for creating their art.

The Tennis show last night reminded me of this single from Yuck, who I've been meaning to check out, the A-Side on this single "Georgia" has those layers of indie pop and fuzz with dual guy girl vocals. It's catchy and 90's guitar indie, which sounds good to me. If I'm not insane, they also have a sort of experimental mogwai giant sound slant at times as well. Interesting stuff. This will be gone fast.

Research Laboratory of Electronic Progress - self released

Stephen from across the pond took a chance on the postal services (and lost) with his project Research Laboratory of Electronic Progress. Here's a photo from his site of the 7" pressed....those bastards! Turns out he's since moved on to other projects, but the tracks still exist on 7" vinyl if you drop the lab a line.

If the tracks posted on his website are any indication, I'm having a heavy Clockwork Orange soundtrack flashback. It's the sounds that are distinctly from the dawn of the synth. The first circuits were just soldered together, the first crazy bastard that attached a speaker to the end of those resistors. When just the sound of an analog wave was so amazing, it didn't even matter if you played an entire album of Bach. The heavy waves were such a novelty, everyone had to try to include them in their band. These tracks were probably recorded to tape as there's a distinct hiss and texture to most of these melodies. The obsolete heavy massive analog synths paired with distorted-to-hell samples. It's not overwhelming, jam packed with every clever sound and excerpt...just subtle and completely anti-organic sounds.

Like Jason Urick it's not coming from a DJ place, with the pressure to work the experiments into a rhythm, they have their own internal clock and sound.... they could be the cheapest thrift store synths run through a million processes or Stephen broke into Robert Moog's personal museum.

There's even a Ducktails feel to the more somber pieces... a source material Matt would use as a starting place...a piece of melody that hints at a cultural location but contains parts of everything. Particularly #4 on his home page.

I don't see why if you're into DJing yourself or classic analog synth experimental work you wouldn't import this direct from the artist.