Thursday, May 12, 2011

Bloodstains across British Columbia on Mammoth Cave Records




I will always look to Paul formerly from 7,10,12, currently Weird Canada and now Mammoth Cave (Records and studio!) to keep me informed about what's going on in garage, punk, etc in Canada.... Hell, everywhere. I love that Mammoth Cave has taken a local approach to highlighting great bands I didn't know about period, or have roots in our neighbors to the north. Taking an even more hands on approach they asked all the bands from in this case British Columbia to write original material about the province and got 14(!) tracks across a measly 7 inch. That's a first.
Talk about a split 7 inch...expertly curated, a wealth of new material from bands you already love and bands that you should.

Like Nu Sensae for instance, who does a tribal, ghost-punk hushed, layered, vocal creepfest, a pretty major shift from what I remember last time I heard these guys.
Then there's White Lung, another band off my radar for a while... this track reminded me of that first single and how far they must have come, this is like a beefy experimental punk track, filling the These are Powers void in my heart. Layers of vocal, and melody at speed.
The Shearing Pinx? I didn't know they were from BC? Post punky guitar bursts with a blues garage chanting 'GOLDEN SPRUCE!'. Ha. Awesome.
Needles//Pins do a raw, scuzzy little melodic number, very pop punk...a little bit NoBunny, that clean jangle guitar, with a big melody and weird attitude about "changing politics".
Manic Attracts is another band that deserves more attention, playing hugely blown out layers of treble distortion and far off echo vocals, a real screamy, full of guts JAMC sounding piece that then goes punk/ Joan Jett in an echo chamber. The energy they wring out of this minute is impressive... Shannon & the Clams underwater.
Indian Wars has a throwback, grungy Hunx kind of sound, the extra dreamy echo, bottle clinking, a rockabilly party, and then Young Mums bring back that snotty Yips, raw feel...man I love that cocksure basement sound, like the Pens or the first Coathangers LP. Fun as hell.
And that's just a tiny sample of this incredible single.
I can't get over how complete these tracks are, real strong material across the board and stuff that isn't going to ever show up anywhere else, let alone offering a little insight to this area north of Vancouver and Seattle. Totally consistent, I hear the Shearing Pinx track and think, why didn't I find out where they were from and see what other bands are from that part of the world? Thanks Mammoth Cave.

Check out their soundcloud track of the entire thing and order a copy from Mammoth Cave on white vinyl, from what I hear it's disappearing fast...like the pure snow that probably still covers this part of the globe. Damn I don't know how they do it. I guess there's nothing else to do sometimes but hole up in the garage and basement and play some music.
Bottom line, this single is just going to lead you 200 other places, like back in the old days they used to put a split single in a zine or a flexi disc. It's that sort of an idea but done completely right.

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