Debo Band and Kiddid on Electric Cowbell Records

Another genre and mind expanding single from Electric Cowbell, who are truly documenting pretty much whatever they feel worthwhile. Like Feeding Tube Records, or Harding Street Assembly Lab, these are goldmines of underground music that would never make it to vinyl, let alone any form of release whatsoever.

I have mixed feelings about Henry Rollins, or I thought I did, but his piece in the LA Weekly, 'Hungry for New Music', about turning 50 and staying open minded to new music couldn't have been more appropriate for sitting down with this single. Really that's the same kind of spirit I wanted to approach this blog with from day 1.
There's too much great music out there without even looking for it, and this format is inherently usually connected to the very bands creating it...forget about the collectible aspect, the vinyl arguments, and the tangibility of the artifact for a second...it's always been about that search for new music, and being open to stuff exactly like this. The most far reaching challenging sounds have always come from 7 inches, and always will.

This single from Electric Cowbell is no exception. Every single release of theirs is a jumping off point to a completely new area of music I would have otherwise never have come across but knowing it's being expertly curated by Jim Thomson I know these are all going to be worth looking into.

The A-Side 'Adderech Arada' from Debo band was recorded live in Ethiopia, 2009. The first thing I'm into is this tuba sounding bassline. Then the heavily distinct vibrato vocals, firmly planting this in that middle eastern part of the world. A chorus of background ladies repeat his melodies back at him in what could easily be a bouncy theme song on a bollywood soundtrack. The snake charming clarinet or oboe and brass sound There's even a snake charmer oboe/clarinet section with big kettle drums...it's an impressive entire orchestra coming together where each section has it's own unique foreign timings and phrasings. I'll use this as another great jumping off point to dive into that foreign crate next time especially if I see Ethiopia credited on the label.

The B-Side remix by Keddid takes the timeless sound of the Boston based band and jams it definitively into the 21st century. It starts with a thin version of the A-Side played through an old AM radio until the beat takes over and the whole thing comes into focus. Kiddid approaches the vocals off the original composition as sound fragments to be scratched and repeated over the breakbeat while the low tuba sound bassline of the original has been replaced by electronics.
This contemporary interpretation would be what parts of modern Ethiopia or India could sound like in clubs there. They're going for that idea when you combine those genres and musicians that wouldn't know about or work with each other and that;'s what Electric Cowbell is doing...exposing an audience to things they definitely wouldn't come across usually any other way.

Electric Cowbell still has copies of this one, but I've noticed they are out of stock on a few titles, so don't wait around.

"Adderech Arada" is a beloved traditional Ethiopian song about a woman who, after breaking out of her lawful marriage, falls into sin by traveling to Arada, or Addis Ababa's red-light district. and falling into sin. Recorded live in Ethiopia in May 2009, Debo Band's version of Adderech Arada is inspired by the Haile Selassie I Theater Orchestra's recording arranged and conducted by Nerses Nalbandian. And on the flipside, Kiddid's haunting remix deconstructs Debo Band's performance with elements of dub, ambient electronica, and experimental hip-hop.

Cerebral Ballzy on Moshi Moshi

First of all the Cerebral Ballzy tweets are fucking hilarious, I remember one of them was something about going to look up the lady sex offenders wherever they were playing so they could get lucky.
I don't know how one engineers in the studio this Suicidal Tendencies historic sound - - you probably don't sit around and think about it too much. They stay authentic to the music, they make me believe, like Japanther, that they're going to be playing this kind of sk8 punk hardcore forever, and you'll question why it stopped in the first place. They have nothing on their agenda, they're alright playing shows their own way.
Look at popular music from the time of H-Street videos, Bones Brigade, Gleaming the Cube...is anyone still listening to that shit? No! But do you still throw on the Gorilla Biscuits or 7 seconds once in a while? Of course you do.
I think what I love about Cerebral Ballzy, even more than their name, or their grip tape single is that there was no need for any of this...there wasn't a huge market demand for this sk8 punk nostalgia to come back...there aren't a million copycat bands out there, or managers putting bands together for a couple of remember-when bucks.
I've built them up too much probably, after all they wouldn't be who I think they are if they were conscious of any of this stuff. Keep skating and playing music, it doesn't get any better than this. Unpretentious fun, in the tradition of the greats before them.

I mean take this song, "Insufficient Fare", it's what the turnstyle lcd says when your card runs out...so perfect. They're NY, and watching that black and white video jumping the turnstyle and dicking around the city makes me feel young again.

B-Side "Don't tell me what to do." Nuff said.

This is an interesting choice for Moshi-Moshi and I respect both of them a little more for working together on this one.

They play March 31st at the Cake Shop. I will be there with a ballzy crest sewn on my messenger bag.

Snake Flower 2 on Southpaw Records

I think I got in on this single from Snake Flower 2 when Southpaw records had that package deal to pick this up with a limited live Ty Segall full length...I've been slowly trying to pick up all of Ty's releases and finally get caught up. There was a while there where Ty had at least 3 albums out all at once, and I couldn't even get them all, let alone listen to them.
Thinking about Matthew and having had Bare Wires and his solo full length in constant rotation I had to take extensive time out of my work day to come up with the official 2011 Garage Punk Gods top 5 list as of 2-24 in the final forever order, for all time (I can't even write that as a joke, and yes there are six).

Jay Reatard
Ty Segall
Seth Sutton
Jeff Novak
Matthew Melton
Daniel Dimaggio

The only reason I even attempted making the list is to put them down in the same group and imagine they got together for one album and worked it out for an unlimited amount of time and of course, no budget. I mean what qualities are these guys hitting dead on?
It would have to be a minimal setup, not too crazy effects on the guitar which is front and center in every track. Just classy raw, crunchy distortion with at least one reverb pedal available. The songwriting starts with that instrument on every track. Not too many changes, but of course they have that incredible catchiness. They would have multiple choruses, informed by classic '60s garage rock, possibly a slight distortion on the vocal as well. It would be recorded with not more than 3 mic's, one somewhere near the kit, one jammed into the screen of the amp and one for vocals. It goes without saying they can all get away with leather jackets and moustaches, it's important to have that bad ass factor.
Matthew Melton is an important piece of that puzzle, the secret songwriting genius, stepping away from the textures that can be overused, he goes strictly classic...like Jeff Novak, from another era. They just got off the time machine and guess what, things aren't really that different when it comes to this style of classic rock and roll. Write a good bare bones song with the same shit everyone's been using for years...isn't that harder?
So if this guy is starting a side project...count me in. I don't even need to hear it. I never get sick of anything he's ever done.
Southpaw has it.

SNAKE FLOWER 2 - Memory Castle - Southpaw - SOUTHPAW 018 - 7" - $ 6.00
***SNAKE FLOWER 2 is fronted by prolific and amazing song writer MATTHEW MELTON who also fronts the glitter fuzz champs BARE WIRES. Four songs of killer psyched out fuzz pop. Limited press of 300 copies.

CUSACK / LASER GEYSER split 7" on Avant! Records

Just heard about this split single that Avant! Records has available in their distro from two straight up power rock bands out of Italy.

Laser geyser, is up first, great name, it's two ridiculous weird words strung together but completely describes this explosion of frantic post-pop. 'Supervacuum' has a frantic power-chord feel, the thin sounding, punchy, big riffs of Hot Snakes. The unabashed, powerful, produced sounds of compressed layers of distortion, abrupt cuts. Equal parts late '90s emo and hardcore energy, they craft these densely guitar driven rock with multiple layers of spoken/yelled vocals that keep the tracks propelled at insane speed.
'Useless Crash', has more of this exhausting guitar, but they break down to a muted chord chorus section, which is one of those great moments when a band can contain themselves to make a bigger impression by holding out for just a second. It's never about sheer volume, but how quiet you get right before everything comes back in at once.

I wonder if Cusack is named for America's sweet boy, John, but then I would guess everything done somewhere else has to be US-centric...sheesh. Meanwhile this gets even closer to that faster/ screamer Hot Snakes aesthetic or that ATDI side project Sparta...for a while that's all I wanted to hear was those guys and be completely blown away by that massive energy over and over. It's addictive to keep this side playing...
'Prayer for a weak', starts off slow, just a lone guitar riff and builds into those layers of simply distorted guitars running as fast as they can. It's an impressive performance conveying this incredible energy and technical craft.
'In a trice', the vocals on this one go almost hardcore, definitely a rougher, raw feel. Not concerned with melody anymore, they want to see how far they can push themselves and keep the poppiest chords in rotation. The guitars are all up front, change the chorus on a dime, it's all about stringing these huge ballsy riffs together, reminiscent of Bleach.
Impressive tracks from both of these bands keeping that Drive like Jehu, Joan of Arc combination of hardcore and headbanging layered production more than alive.

Avant! suggests getting in touch first before placing an order direct and they can work something out with the insane shipping. You can also try from Cusack's bigcartel store. But I'm betting fusetron and SS will carry these as well, so go check there locally in the mean time.

Brosby Kills and Kash on Eastern-Watts Records

This single came to me via Chris from Unread Records, this one from a new label Eastern Watts Records. Their first one is a 3 song EP from Brosby, Kills and Kash.

This sleeve feels nostalgic, there's something about 2 pieces of color xerox surrounding the vinyl that just says, 'We want to keep this small and intimate.' Like the late '90s, those 'Asshole' Sebadoh sleeves were xeroxed and crayon colored in. You can do it inexpensively and have more of a personal connection with the artist.
This collage masking tape framed photo of the moon reflecting that water, it looks exactly like an old Eric's Trip single or Palace music variation. An immediate loneliness there, you can already hear the single acoustic bouncing over that dark water.

Lonely is the Night on the A-Side is uptempo strumming of single notes pounded out (almost Barlow style) that turns into a layered complex weave of melody and three part harmonies, it's one of those tracks that's always been all about the vocals. The minimal instrumentation is the barest of foundation for the vocal setup. There's a little '70s road feel to it, you get that they're actually going for that supergroup classic rock American sound.
'If we get back to San Francisco...'
A clap stomping rhythm drives this one, it's that deluxe heavily choreographed, upper register singalong on the highway, keep the spirits up on the trail track...a warm electric solo comes in with a harmonica and electronic(?) mouth harp.

It eventually slows down to a crawl as they pull in and transition's to 'Old Brigade', there are more harmonies here, but they've transitioned into some lonesome accordion chords panned back and forth across the speakers and closer mic'd vocals. There's a lot of room in the recording and this close vocal style is almost a little like Sam Beam's. The quiet moments of just a slow nylon acoustic melody being plucked out, right before the instrumentation starts back in again is one of those great moments where holding back nails it home. The guitars sound just slightly out of tune, the strings periodically bent slightly, and the 'boom' and 'pow' whispered vocals are a great scratch percussion track that definitely belongs in this final cut. The whole bands harmony comes in right at the end, a sort of choir moment right before it fades out.

The B-Side's 'Joy to the World' as with all good B-Side's gets a little more experimental with a foundation of live room sounding drums. When the chorus vocal 'Joy to the World' starts it's a slowed down, deep vibrato with these minor piano chords, the entire thing could have been pitch shifted somewhere along the way, but it's far from any kind of church hymn. There's a distortion hissy undertone running underneath the whole track which threatens to fall apart. The piano eventually running off in fisted chords, the distortion gets thicker and the vocals adds more layers of this monster chorus. It's a hymn to some kind of collapse, the last minutes before the end.
It all fades away to reveal a little bit of sunshine at the end, with a simple acoustic melody and buried piano. They leave the listener thankfully with some kind of hope.

They have a unique take on the home recorded experimental folk sound, and the name says it all, they pay a kind of homage to that power '70s harmony classic rock sound while pulling out some tricks to keep it anything but.

Kevin is one of the members of BKK and the founder of Eastern Watts Records. This whole venture sounds very familiar, loving the format and deciding to throw his hat in the ring according to this interview.

Get it from the Eastern Watts Records site.

Two massive 7" offerings - Thank you vinyl gods. Thank you.

Here's two 7" singles collections that look pretty amazing, haven't heard either of them yet, but in case you missed these, get ready for a big paypal hit.

Poking around yesterday led me to this label, Noyes Records out of Halifax, NS, and their subscription series, being kicked off by freaking DOG DAY. I have pages and pages somewhere rambling on about their first album, which I have to put together someday, and after seeing them at the Cakeshop, they are one of my all time favorite super indie rock bands, up there with The Organ, Love of Diagrams...oh the mix tapes I could make.
Of course I want to hear what Dog Day is up to these days, and $40 is really reasonable...you'll definitely be hearing more about the label and this series as I get into reviewing these.
Get this one from Noyes Records.

Noyes Records is releasing eight 7" singles over the next 10 months as part of our new Singles Series. Each record will be by a different artist and each record will be pressed as follows:

100 on color vinyl
200 on black vinyl

The colour vinyl will be only available through us as part of a subscription series (ensuring you get all 8 records). The black vinyl will also be available as a subscription (for the completists), but will also be available through limited distro channels and on merch tables across the planet. Each record will come with a download code for your digital needs.

Subscriptions cost $40 + shipping (free for Halifax, more for everywhere else) for the 8 months*. You'll get the records plus other goodies like pins and posters. You will also receive a promotional code which gives you 25% off the Noyes store for the duration of the series. The promotional code is good for everything that we have in stock with the exception of the series itself.

The above artwork is for the first single in the series.

NRSS-001 - DOG DAY - "Scratches" b/w "Belle" and "Give Me Light". Purple vinyl. Starts shipping late March.

Upcoming: Cousins, Duzheknew, Play Guitar, Doug Mason, Cold Warps, Homo Duplex, and We Need Secrets.

I was just thinking about Jay the other day, thanks to this amazing piece by Andrew Earles about the late bad ass genius, and looking over a Dischord email, which by this point I pretty much have everything I could want from those guys...thanks to them keeping everything in print, and my late night drunken ability to still be able to click a mouse convinced I have to have this or that on vinyl.
I saw Ian in this documentary about DIY, the Pelly Twins talked about the other day and I don't ever mind my hard earned bucks going to completing my Dischord collection. He was such a great guy to lend an interview to the project...pretty much every hardcore, punk doc....He was even in the Mission of Burma doc...he genuinely always seemed like a good guy trying to help everyone out with whatever he could outside of any kind of corporate machine....Yea!
Anyway, he's awesome, completely aside from Fugazi and I don't need an excuse to come up with something else I 'need' to have on vinyl, but then they had to go and put out this 2x7" comp with Jay on it.
Not sure if this will remain in print forever, but I have to hear it immediately anyway. New Jay is essential.
Thanks Dischord.

Tracklist
1. Jay Reatard - Venom Victims Wine
2. Tractor Sex Fatality - Judas Order
3. Vilent Lovers Club - Phone Call from a Corpse
4. The Mistreaters - Cannibal Lust
5. The Radio Beats - Brasshead Smash
6. Trailer Park Tornados - Within These Walls

The Balkans - Edita V on Double Phantom records

Woody the bassist from the Balkans emailed me about another single Double Phantom Records put out from these guys and is available for preorder...it comes out officially in a few days and they've definitely been developing their sound over the past year or so since their first handmade 7" - they're getting more experimental and taking chances with complex instrumentation combining it with their loose indie punk rock beginnings.

Edita V,on the A-Side takes you right into the already droning looped bass distortion, a foundation for a spazzy electronic sounding beat...that's certainly a new direction for these guys, but the layers of indie jangle guitars from Frankie and Brett still have this great back and forth interchanging rhythm happening, Frankie starts this intricate lead part, a complex, high, picked melody while Brett meanwhile is coming up with these great supporting changes, picking up that lead and making it his own when Frankie gets into the jagged bursts of strumming.
This one also reminds me of the energy of The Walkmen's "Rat", Frankie has that gravely, hoarse straining delivery and the whole tempo on this is frantic. They really manage to balance this tight, punchy pop full of tension and a loose punk attitude. Really great A-Side... they've been hard at work.

Cave on the B-Side
There's a little reverby surf sound on this one, a tambourine makes an appearance, with the band backup oooo's. This one could be related to the Gray Goods in it's easy minimalist stylings, an effortless catchy sunny track, with a strong melodic Real Estate vibe, and a hit off Wavves for good measure. Pure indie rock good times, two solid tracks that have The Balkans working out some new directions, pushing those melodies around and making room for the off beat, the complex guitar lines and an accident or two.

Available domestically from Double Phantom or overseas from the good folks at PureGrove.

Check out this live performance of Edita V from and IndieATL session if you haven't paypal'd already.

Brainstorm -Beast in the Sky on Lasercave Records

Here's a crazy duo of Adam and Patrick out of Portland, OR called Brainstorm.
Lasercave, an art collective have released this tangible seven inch single among other things and these two rip through a really eclectic mix of styles and rhythms across the two tracks. The duo itself is it's own amazing rock category, stripping the creation and performance process down to just two people. An equal split of influences. You're going to have to collaborate at some point as a performing musician, and if one other person out there can deal with you for weeks in a van, while creating equally weirdo counter moves to your compositions...then you're going to end up with something that not many people can duplicate.

On 'Beast in the Sky' the closest thing I keep comparing them to is Abe Vigoda's crazy tropical, timpani almost synth percussion guitar... it's mathy, full of impressive time changes and rhythms with elements of funk...or that improv free jazz? They must know when they hit on that perfect weirdo melody and get to that Mahavishnu Orchestra place. It doesn't have so much to do with indie stylings as it does with hitting a groove with those classic influences. There's even a carnival organ melody, working against the heavily distorted guitar work. The sounds clearly serve the overall melody here, there isn't an overall ,aster plan so much as constant experimenting.
The internal call and response signing: Patrick starts every verse and Adam comes in right after in echo time about a very real god-like creature who lives in the sky and controls everything. It's a stretch but this collective myth idea might be in tandem with the fusion of primal drumming elements and vocal harmonies, they're going back to the basics in rhythms and musical forms, like those age old beliefs.

The B-Sides, 'Word up, Upward' is a slower more sparse composition with little bursts of vocals, the two of them harmonizing just far enough apart to get a Devo or David Byrne manic breakdown feel. The fact they aren't exactly harmonizing is what gives this one a weird tension also. There are people out there who could tell you exactly what influences make this up, what parts of the world a particular progression come from, all I know is they aren't the usual rock influences. Adding a tuba (I can't believe that's true, but this live review confirmed it) is just an example of how far they are willing to go...does it get Proggy? For a second maybe, but they always bring the songs back from avant-garde experimentalism with catchy heavy riffs for a measure or two, and they know how to use those moments sparingly. Like when it picks up near the end with a real raw, grungy guitar melody and double time handclaps which switches between open bluesy huge to muted impressive fingerpicking. You won't be able to predict where these songs are about to go, what melody is coming next, even upon multiple listens, they have created this equation that by the time you get to the end, you don't remember how it started or what you were trying to prove in the first place.

This 7" is on marbly grey vinyl from Lasercave.
Better yet, check out this great video from the intothewoods.tv series documenting bands playing at home....it's better than these bunch of stupid words I've been writing:

Hanging Coffins on Malt Duck Records

Melissa at Malt Duck sent their latest over from a band out of Eugene, OR called Hanging Coffin. You might think you're in store for some angry bummer no-fi scream fest, but actually these guys are surprisingly melodic, a sort of surf coast goth sound. A lot like Nothing People or even one of my favorite bands, Deadbolt. I found out about them around a punk rock high school phase, and I realized by taking this horror music so completely seriously, it was funny...and better than those dudes trying so hard t be bad asses. Hanging Coffin (or Clanging Dolphins) have that baritone, scary sounding Misfits delivery. The whole thing has a forgotten antiqued photo texture, these are long lost rediscovered recordings from a suburban dungeon. But I'm making it sound way too evil,...let's say like Nothing People, they're something off about their nostalgic sound. They're looking back with some kind of prejudice...an anti-romanticism. The past wasn't that great, nothing ever is.

'Bombers and Blues', the first track on the A-Side definitely has this surf foundation, heavy reverb wet electric, fast finger picking over that Dick Dale slow strum, all coming together with this great percussion rhythm, which keeps this moving in a really catchy pop direction....you wouldn't think they had anything to do with that Bauhaus dark sound yet. The surf even gets slightly eastern, world sounding and you have core elements of Killing an Arab...weird dark pop.
The next one, 'Ladies Upstairs' adds that '60s Rhodes psyche keyboard to the reverb mix, and the vocals this time are a lot more aggressive and nightmarish...unintelligible yelling, just frightening. They must really hate their neighbors. There's a repetitive Velvets sound here but then vocally it's going to a much darker place. You can't hear this level of release and just think it's informed by west coast surf alone.
The B-Side, These Little Creatures, then get back to that stereotype west coast mellow surf with the far away back of the cave drums. The vocals are even run through a phaser and the combination works. Just when they start to fall into faithfully reenacting that previous period, they go and update the sound like this, taking those chances, borrowing from that period and making it their own.
They have a pretty great unique sound, a little nostalgic psyche, with a surf goth minimalism. I know Wavves is obsessed with those titles, but it really fits.

Look for them on the next Worlds Lousy with Ideas comp, plus the first 100 copies come with a cassette of even more psyche dread. Pick this one up, put it on a mix with Mattress, Nothing People, and Deadbolt... or the Mummies, Dick Dale...maybe a track from Blank Dogs or Los Llamaradas - it would seriously impress your friends...how do you do it?

300 on black vinyl, the first 100 get that cassette FOR FREE! Malt Duck Records.

300 Pressed on Black Vinyl. First vinyl release by this Eugene, OR group. First 100 copies will include a limited edition cassette EP.

Chronicity on Obscurist Press Records - '06

Here's a single from the band Chronicity, courtesy my friend Amy, and a pile of singles from Obscurist Press Records she gave me after a bowery show. Never came across these guys before today and up to this point, the Obscurist singles have been pretty punk, even hardcore. This one takes a post punk, slightly minimal approach to the similar politically charged material. Recorded in '06, it's got a bare bones Gang of Four sound but with this Pete's lyric content you almost overlook the instrumentation entirely because the lyrics absolutely take center stage cleverly strung together.
The problem with specific political bands like this is that you end up preaching to the converted....which is fine, I don't see why there's some kind of pressure to change anything. They want to rock, and why not rock about something that means something to these guys. Well then they might as well be singing about nothing? I don't know the answers to this stuff...it's a very specific genre/audience and I personally have never been able to sort out these questions
It's novel to hear this kind of direct protest post punk coming out of the UK.

The first track, 'War on the Poor' just goes to show things are fucked up everywhere...the govt's of the world do messed up things...that's pretty much a fact everywhere. I still get a little nostalgic for thinking 'fuck yea!' for every injustice, in high school when you first start to really question every idea. Now I just think, 'There is some serious bullshit going on and why aren't I doing anything about it?' What's the point of this stupid blog anyway? Why am I listening to pointless songs about girls and rock and roll?
I can't fault them for trying, if anything I get depressed, not by the content but because I don't feel like I can do anything about it. The greatest scam the powers that be pulled is making politics so boring you can't be bothered to even care about it.

The next one, 'Wealth and Hell Being', has got a nice Shellac groove going with a super crunch treble distortion, the bursts of melody. Pete's got a spoken word type delivery on this one about everything from obesity to climate change. It's a little bit Dead Kennedys with (believe it) more personal despair than Blank Dogs on some days. Almost goth in it's nihilism, but June of 44 and Shellac in delivery.

Then as much as they go for specific jugulars, they get abstract with B-Side's 'Banned from the Academy', I mean....who can't relate to public school and that whole disaster. The real problem there is I can't think of how it would be a good experience. If it's not the institution being shitty, then it's the people you go there with. It's always some version of hell when you're in the middle of it. The stuttered guitars on extra rapid fire, repeated angular basslines, the bass strummed in moments of low power chords and the guitar answering back in high bent distortion squeals. The snare hitting on every spoken syllable, the melody built around disparate instrumental phrases, which fit Pete's jabbing vocal style, which now I'm thinking has a huge relation to 'Tourist' or 'Love like Anthrax' from Gang of Four. Instead of feeling completely helpless this track in the end seems to be celibrating DIY, naming spaces like ABC no RIO and that's a welcome glimmer of hope.
Academy Fight song is mentioned, but he's a pacifist.

The next one, Elvis Prison Guard, has a funny line about Johnny Cash and I have to play that off this title...I guess their could have been a weird rivalry between those two... Johnny Cash obviously coming out on top, the Folsom Prison album, being thrown in jail himself, ....while Elvis joined the army.
If shellac went into specifics it might sound a little like this.
It's definitely post punk, the very definitiion of that sound. The drum track vs guitar vs bass. They are all on their own separate paths and then rearrange the whole thing to match each other rhythmically. It's not lost on me that this anti-establishment music is so completely lock step fascist.
Another contradiction: you get out your frustration at this system through music and then what? Is it better to hold it in and let the repression build to the breaking point? Are they working against exactly the ideas they're trying to change? I don't want to be so critical but this sentiment leads you to question everything, including their own tracks. So they succeeded in a weird defeatist way? They probably have me exactly where they wanted.

This mathy, science sleeve should be covered with xerox cut outs of cops beating protestors or someone burning themselves alive...instead they try to get me with math equations? Another thing that bores me to death.

Still available from Obscurist Press Records

Dana Jewell on Underwater Peoples

Underwater peoples has been steadily putting out great singles since the Real Estate releases from way back when, and then the Ducktails full lengths and I've been into the Big Troubles 7"'s , so when I saw this single from Dana Jewell I had to go check him out.

Dana had a track included on UP's compilation, and the only thing I could find was this one track on avissart's blog, "Come on Baby". It's a dense track with a mess of instrumentation, his layers of vocals rising, repeating 'way-oh' with lots of echo, a sort of hypnotic sunny psyche, something like Panda Bear, or folky Ducktails. A real homemade sound and broken out of the bedroom thanks to layers of vocals, handclaps, cowbell, the sound of a song evolving on it's own, once this groove starts it completely takes over, and Dana's along for the ride in the middle of a mellow party happening out in the backyard. A tropical party, with those hawaiian hats Alex Bleeker wears. Maybe an umbrella in a drink.

Chocolate Bobka has some video of Dana at the Market Hotel just him fingerpicking on an electric about his family, and it's an entirely different sound, the confessional singer songwriter, who isn't putting on a persona. He's got some songs he'd like you to hear. Not sure then what's going to end up on this EP, but with that solid songwriting foundation and skill combined with the homemade layers of psyche, it's going to be a good one.

Dana Jewell - Wants 7" (UPS008)
A1: Wants
A2: Girls
B1: Girls Pt. 2
B2: My T-Train Girl
PREORDER - FEBRUARY 22 RELEASE
Dana Jewell Wants 7": Wants is a collection of songs written and performed by one of our most introspective and romantic of friends. Dana's love of beautiful women and deep thought shines through on each hand wrought track. His vinyl solo-debut is guaranteed to get you feelin'. Dana is also the proud father of Wild Animal Kingdom Records.

Preorder it from Underwater Peoples Records.

KITTEN - on The Control Group

This plain sleeve single came in from KITTEN the other day, not an easy name to research on google, at least when trying to stay focused on seven inch reviews, and I couldn't help but think of another charismatic frontwoman, Chan Marshall and her pet project, Cat Power. Possibly an ode to the inspiration, or an early incarnation, the similarities don't end there, She's got a huge voice and drives both of these tracks with that same intensity.

Their A-Side, "Kill the Light" has a booming tom drum line under muted power chords providing an about-to-explode tension to showcase Chloe's formidable voice. They continue to build a pretty epic guitar line the song reaching higher and higher peaks, matching her vocal energy. All breathy and emotionally heavy, when she gets to belting the chorus, she's still got more left somehow. There's a freight train quality to this track, like 'Maps', with the repeatability and power indie leanings, or something off PJ Harvey's raw Rid of Me. It's equally as produced, working the range of dynamics, bringing the instrumentation back down for Chloe to near whisper just before she devastates the chorus again.

The B-Side, "With a Whip", the (garage mix). I was expecting to have been recorded in a garage, maybe some kind of demo, but instead they're really teasing this song out with all kinds of breaks and changes in percussion or tempo, a little dirtier sounding guitar, plenty of effects, the phaser/distortion. Vocally I can't help but hear the Karen O sounding, grungy, screeching of someone with an insane amount of control and talent singing about this this Kitten character full of contradiction. Not at all what she seems. Not unlike Chloe herself.
It's also going to surprise you, as it did me, that she's 15.... or maybe 16 by now, and based on the songwriting and vocal skills here, she's just getting started.

You can get one of these from the bands website, Insound or if you live on the west coast, she's in the middle of a lengthy tour over there and I'd bet these are at the merch table, but tell her this one deserves a proper sleeve.

Catwalk on captured tracks

Captured Tracks are already up to their second single by Catwalk, out of Oxnard, CA. I thought I still have one of his singles from Yay! at least two years ago, turns out it's the same guy and he's still crafting catchy pop, giant reverb on the vocals, swirly shoegaze wall of guitars.

One by words is driven by this deep bassline groove and the hi hat, with huge guitars way off in the background. When you can tame that chaos into pop like this, there's nothing better. The massive echo can at times remind me of that nostalgic '60s garage sound and then they take it just to the point of indie rock '90s underground pop.

Home is exclusive to the B-Side. I keep coming back to that Beach Fossils full length because it's perfect beginning to end, really consistent and so weirdly simple sounding, the guitar, just odd enough percussion...I could go on. Catwalk is a super pop evolved Beach Fossils sound, the same deceptive simple melodies and great songwriting that will get you through the rest of the terrible winter snowdays. Two hits, this B-Side will be missed.

Thank god for facebook, you can listen to it over there. I really hope their are kids out there tonight starting bands and putting the tracks on facebook, or bandcamp...or mediafire for god sake, Oh Yay I booked us a show! Really? Where? The Titanic!
Can't wait.

CATWALK- "ONE BY WORDS" 7"
Catwalk's 4th 7" (2nd on C/T) is the beautiful "One By Words." Washed in echoed guitar and propelled by a pulsating bassline, "One By Words" is an instant classic. "Home" is another winner and will be exclusive to this 7". Look for the debut Catwalk LP later this year as well as a short tour with Pains of Being Pure At Heart on the West Coast.

Get it from Captured Tracks, who hopefully will be instrumental in bringing these guys to the East Coast soon.

Coyote Slingshot - Oblivion Fever Forever on Super Secret Records

Dom from Coyote Slingshot is back... almost a year later with another single on Super Secret Records, this one entitled the Oblivion Fever Forever EP and it's 3 tracks from his recently expanded live band.
The A-Side sounds like it's sort of split into two tracks (at least on the myspace), I still think it's one connected piece, the track list either says 'Sleeptight, ya morons' or Sleeptight is the first track and Ya Morons is the second. There's not really a break between the tracks, so I'm guessing they're meant to be together. This long intro piece of Sleeptight has all of Dom's wavering raw vocals and an acoustic guitar. Almost cracking himself up in the beginning he seems to be taking his own liner notes to heart: 'If we cannot laugh in the face of sadness, why laugh at all?' I'm reminded a little of an old John Davis single or Conor Oberst. Nearly acapella, Dom drives the melody singlehandedly with his raw, spontaneous sounding vocal delivery captured by a single mic in the middle of a big room with what sounds like a band rehearsing just through the wall next door. There's something sad about that moment, literally Dom is trying to make himself heard above the annoying clatter next door. He counts off and a kick drum thumps in with guitars and keys. A chorus of voices join the scene and it's definitely a 'Fevers & Mirrors' moment...an artist in complete control but breaking down right in front of you. His vibrato voice breaking, half laugh, half cry. You can't expect many people to legitimately get top this place and then to capture it on vinyl is an art itself beyond this catharsis.
The B-Side, Jump Rope, starts with a high register far off flute sound, that gives way to massively blown out drums and guitar. Dom is letting go again in an even higher pitch vocal, yelling over the instruments in order to hear himself. In both of these tracks, he's competing with these kind of outside elements, just to make himself heard. He's feeling tiny and insignificant, no one notices, passing on the street until his devastating sentiment starts. Coyote states in the liner notes it's 'a devotional song for a girl emblematic of small town confusion', the lofty inspirations are right in line with his approach, these are the sounds of desperation, of being completely overwhelmed and lost. The drums get a little lost themselves at times, barely keeping up, but again Coyote is concerned with the raw emotion of a first take, imperfections and all. The flute comes back to take it out and I also got a little Jeff Magnum cacophonous carnival sound here, the result of really pushing rhythms and the collaboration into some weird places...when a chorus sings these sentiments...it's a little creepy.
This effort is decidedly different than the last single which given the density of his controlled one man, home recorded project, has definitely loosened up with the same unhinged vocal performance. He's letting go of the layers that made up the previous release, opting instead to invite that chaos in through other performers, after all it's not a world that can be so easily controlled by a single individual. It takes collaboration to allow for a compromise of other ideas, and leave Dom to what he does best: focus on that complete breakdown.
The extensive xerox liner notes over textbook photos of hyena's makes this feel even more like peering into his diary entry.

I got a copy on clear blue vinyl at 33 1/3.


Super Secret Records say to you:

New Cayote Slingshot 7" out now. You can sample his sound at his myspace. The seven inch is for sale at $6 each, this includes shipping and paypal fees.

Paypal to supersecretrecords(at)hotmail.com for a copy, 100 color, 200 black.

The Zoltars on Sundae Records

The Zoltars are a 2 piece from Austin, TX and have that relaxed west coast minimal sound of Wounded Lion, or Brooklyns own junk punkers, German Measles or the slack rock Jacuzzi Boys from the bottom coast...basically, this minimal garage sound isn't tied to any sort of geography, they happen to be from Austin, but this sound is coming from all sides lately.

In "Party at the Batcave", they take something so pop culturally forbidden as the Batman franchise and turn it into a funny, but not gimmicky song. Like Wounded Lion got away with songs about Degobah, it's ridiculous on paper, but the fact they even tried to enter such geek territory is totally punk rock. Or like Nodzzz, their naif songs about karaoke, their naive changes...the amount of heart it takes to get you to listen for more than one hit is amazing.
They use a thumping tom rhythm with just a little distortion on the guitar, with that sloppy, we're having too much fun delivery. But A duo is forced to be minimal by design, then they pick these idiosyncratic topics so obscure it's almost an inside joke.

"Voodoo" then takes this in a surf, monotone direction...with all the art brut of the Fall. It's a dirty garage minimal scuzzy sound. Hardly sung vocals, like pulling teeth, it sounds like it takes a great effort to get these guys together and record to tape, but a great example of creating something compelling out of 2 notes; their back and forth, high low high low, the vocals even follow that up and down melody on B-Sides, "Misanthrope".

Once we finally get to Homicide, they take this primal, raw sound and translate it into the content as well. It's the basic info, she hates this dude, wants to kill him....and well I won't ruin the end.
Here's another simple guitar melody with minimal drums. The Zoltars are constantly having to fight against the minimalism. To work with next to nothing. You have to combine Prinzhorn Dance School with No Age to get this kind of post punk and their satisfying quiet loud punch.
There's nothing better than a primal duo sound. They wear those influence on their sleeve but then their talent makes something simple the best.
Just like that whole movement in food, on Top Chef or whatever. Get back to simplicity. Your grandma made the best cookies because it was the basic ingredients done classically.. the way it's been done forever.
The Zoltars have a simple recipe, guitars+drums, a little bit of harmony with a dash of the everyday mundane, and then punk the whole thing out with some nihilism. The humor will draw you in and then the garage stomp keeps you listening.

They have this scribble high school notebook sleeve, from Booneboone.com and like the Intelligence, Mess Folk or Fresh and Onlys it's a perfect symbol of their formative years single, it's freshman class where you haven't learned all the history that's going to teach you what exactly not to do anyway.

In an art class once there was this guy I was so jealous of because he would just come up with this complete bat shit crazy stuff. Scripts that would be impossible to shoot, paintings that you couldn't paint - I wanted to think like that. To be so completely separated from reality, that only the idea mattered. The Zoltars actually pull this off musically without even breaking a sweat, they've come up with an EP of four songs that stand alongside Wounded Lion or German Measles. Damn them, this is good.

I know 5 years from now I'll still be listening to NoDzzz and singing along like a maniac and it will lead me again to this single. I can hear they have to be genuinely nice guys even with the songs about Homicide they sound like they just picked up their instruments in the best way. They haven't learned anything about bad music yet. If you can catch a band at this point, it's pure gold. This EP is The Zoltars "I don't want to smoke marijuana"...the start of something good.

Get this one from Sundae Records...only 5 bucks!

Dead Leaf Echo on Custom Made Music

Dead Leaf Echo, out of Brooklyn, contacted me about their latest single on Custom Made Music...now what's sadder than a a dead old leaf on the ground? Well, maybe the fact that it's probably autumn which could be even more depressing than winter because the long, dark, cold end is coming. You aren't in the middle of it yet, but there's no stopping the end. Not to get too sad bastard on you, Dead Leaf Echo are self proclaimed 'nouveau romantics' which I take to have all the goth leanings of the Victorian, Oscar Wilde era and not the nearly satanic, eyeliner Bauhaus goth. Just like the 7" sleeve, you can't really see that object clearly, you're not even sure what you're looking at, it's out of focus, monochromatic. Didn't Oscar Wilde have an opium problem...or was that Baudelaire? Probably both.

'Half Truth' the A-Side track is a part of that ultra dreamy shoegaze sound, a huge sweeping layered melody with airy synth that gets right to the place 'Sometimes' from My Bloody Valentine does. Dead Leaf layers in the echo vocals while the guitar drowns in choruses and phasers, LG sings breathy and close to the mic over infinitely sustained guitars and they work combining equal elements of psyche and shoegaze ...really both of those genres were trying to achieve an altered mindstate.
It's a plodding, shoegaze drone....a rolling epic number with heavy studio work...it could take days to create the perfect atmospheric sample for any particular section. Waves rolling in... the inspiration for the rocking, back and forth basslines. You could imagine if the Crystal Stilts fast forwarded into the '90s from that '60s psyche point, how the this layered shoegaze would be a natural fit for the (now) old dudes. I'm working on that fan fiction.

'Babyeyes', an exclusive B-Side to this single is decidedly more uptempo then the previous side and I like when this sound takes the make you shake route, the vocals, so stylized, remain almost unrecognizable with layers of Ana's backup vocalizations alongside this instrumentation. Breathy ahh's, adding to the swirl late '90s shoegaze spiral sound of the track. This is an authentic composite of dancy uptempo shoegaze pop, they stay optimistic and drive out the gloom with their shimmery choruses all over everything.

Get this one from Custom Made Music.

Victory and Associates - Hurry up Shotgun - self released split lathe

The fine people at single piece slate have struck again, making vinyl records happen lovingly handcrafted in their shop, I imagine like a fine piece of New England furniture, or like a 7" Amish collective, working only in the traditional ways of records, ignoring all technological advances...this time they've cut a split featuring Victory and Associates and Hurry up Shotgun who were nice enough to send 7Inches one of these clear, thick slabs of vinyl.

"Turn Down the Guitars" is the title of the rack from V&A and I know what you're thinking, "But that goes against everything these guys stand for!", and you'd be right, turns out this is a protest song against the sound guy at every venue telling them to turn down the most important element in their arsenal. Hilarious lyrically

he's not horsing around / its a constant standoff / that's the reason this song features the bass / no reverb is needed

but then they composed the track to take it one step further, punching in bursts of guitars over mostly bassline, finishing with some over the top Eddie Van Halen soloing.
What I can appreciate about these guys beyond the punchy power chords, and frontman Conan Neutron's (name, perfect) attitude, is that they're going for broke every time, like Hot Snakes, that massive post-punk energy - the all out party time rock, loud as hell...obviously that's why they run into trouble with the man trying to bring them down! At the risk of alienating future venues they want you to know they want to rock god dammit! Any band would appreciate this, and should be covered on personal mix tapes and passed around back stage at Bannaroo.

The Hurry Up, Shotgun track "Paths" is dishing out an aural beating of funk-punk, a mix of complex repeated guitar melodies, that progressive bassline and interlockign percussion all off on it's own...which right away takes me back to the days when I still respected Red Hot Chili Peppers and their combination of styles I hadn't ever come across before. Borrowing across genre's, taking their own idiosyncratic parts from everything. I guess you could even go further back with combination's that Fishbone or Bad Brains pioneered. The energy is similar, and you can hear the decades of rock that came before it in the changes. They don't ever let up with this completely bizarre core rhythm and frantic, almost metal vibrato vocals. It all comes down into a slow melodic power drone to take the track out on the metal side of things. These two have played together on local bills and this split single brings both of their comparably intense performance styles in friendly competition with each other.

Football Etc. on Count Your Lucky Stars Records

This came to me a little while back and with the Superbowl being this weekend (right?), this might be the most appropriate time of all to throw this single on from Football Etc. out of Houston.

"Away Game", on the A-Side has a Tortoise type of production sound; ultra clean, super tight, with spaces between the instrumentation, highlighting the almost free jazz informed melodies that go through an impressive amount of changes. Lindsay's voice just happens to soar above these mathy guitar rhythms, nothing seems to last longer than a measure, playing with the quiet/loud/quiet dynamics of electric picking with minimal basslines, just waiting to fill out the field. James' complex fill patterns slowly turn this sort of random chaos into the giant master plan.
It has the unlikely sound of a band succeeding at adding vocals to epic Explosions, or Don Cab tracks that are somehow equally as compelling. But I think it really came together last night as I was trying to remember these two tracks, and they started unconsciously combining with Sunny Day's Diary, the stutter, muted chords, just waiting a half step to delicately smash in a wall of distortion...without the overt angst and straight out emo yelling from Jeremy Enigk. Not that I didn't love that, but Football etc's Lindsay comes off softer, more Blonde Redhead - never going for the screaming stereotype. Like a similar 3 pieces, Broken Water, or The Big Sleep they have a giant, heavily layered sound with similar understated, melodic semi-shoegaze vocals.

On the B-Side, "XXL" they continue the Football themed track listings, which don't stop at this single either - their album entitled, The Draft reads like Friday Night Lights; 'Safety", "First Down" .... "Sideline". I think I can assume Texas takes Football pretty seriously, and like Soccer Mom, it just happened to be the most unlikely name won out. Not that there was anything in the meaning of Sunny Day Real Estate that had much to do with the music in any way either.

This track starts right out of the gate with a heavy layer of chords, and a compressed, tight smack of a snare. They continue to feel almost instrumental with Lindsay's elongated syllable vocals, which completely remind me of "Circles" that balance out the complex melodies. The lyrics work individually in a sort of haiku prose, almost becoming sound, they just provide an abstract layer to the core melodies, which continue to build over and over, bringing it back down to just muted chord strumming. They create an incredible momentum that keeps showing up again at the last minute to push you back over that cliff.

football, etc. – Away Game/XXL 7”
Released by Count Your Lucky Stars Records, strictly no capital letters records, and Keep it Together Records, August 2010.
Run of 1000; black vinyl.
Track Listing:
Side A: Away Game
Side B: XXL

Get this one from Count Your Lucky Stars Records.