Black Orphan on Volar Records

This Black Orphan single just came in with a batch of Volar's latest...I actually remember this Melchior/F&O's split from a long time ago and it looks like they've been busy this past winter.
So I put this on, not really knowing where that mask face was taking me and damn if you don't go one minute from stripped down primal rock to nightmare electronic death in the space of a few minutes in the world of singles, that's 7inches. This single is a 4 song, mini EP from Black Orphan which I know Mr. Sniper would greatly appreciate.

The A-Side, 'Metal Leg' is a chopped heavily gated fuzz guitar with live drums and all kinds of ancient synth sounds glitching. There's a deep hardly discernible Sisters of Mercy vocal gothing away under the definitely home recorded sounding affair. The claustrophobia and the alienation that these sort of sounds inherently have when patched straight onto magnetic tape, bounced down, and dubbed.

The next one, 'Asteroids' is surprisingly melodic once you get under the haze of layered guitars, that trebly click from a disembodied drum track rising out of the underwater hiss. A phasery warbling vocal gives this ominous bass heavy track some breathing room and catchiness. This theremin-like solo is a nice touch. 'Asteroids' is almost sing-a-longable except that there isn't a human voice to recognize. There's humanity is all over these changes and it still has the warped sensibility of a more experimental Lou Barlow cassette collage. When it either gets sick of hearing it's own voice that it injects this machine and dehumanizing effect into the mix to stay surprising especially to the creators.

The front of this sleeve even echo's Blank Dogs mask iconography. Of course it's always creepy to have this human stand-in staring back at you, whose lack of expression never changes, it's a good choice for the robots. Then on the reverse there's some kind of disturbing nail ridden man doll. A bit heavy handed maybe, but why not scare off the alt country scene looking for a good cry and maybe appeal to the metal crowd.

'Doorways', from the B-Side keeps this intense hyper layered, 4track guitar sound going. Also like Blank Dogs, when you finally get down to that base melody, it sticks with you. It's not easy to unearth, and the harsh electronics keep pushing back but that's all part of the challenge here.
'Slain' has a decidedly goth feel, digital tom pad rhythms and (actual) organ sound with electronics. Here a real human voice only can whisper 'Ahhhh' in a quiet wail. The sounds are sci-fi - detached from any organic instrumentation or even those sounds that attempt to mimic an instrument. They get into the machines and program the sine waves, the envelopes so this hissy bleep isn't going to remind you of anything out there in the natural world.
These sounds have that unsettling quality because they only exist in synth, it's a subconscious instrument and Black Orphan is aware that it's not a cheap imitation of life, but another form altogether.
So it stays creepy, they even exploit the atmosphere and it's caught between the dawn of synth days and the nihilism and alienation of a punk sound. It's all slightly hidden, shrouded in being captured on second rate equipment. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Disturbing in that subtle intellectual cold way, rejecting the huge sound metal surface horror and getting deeper into something that's hard to leave behind.

Waiting for more of the intersection of angsty high school 7Inches and the realities of real problems 7inches.

If anything else on the label remotely resembles this single, I'm going to have to do some ordering from Volar Records, like the Destruction Unit LP, Dirt Dress 7", Pope Anything 7", Cold Pumas 7" super pack for $30 bucks!

Thee Ludds on Hodad Records

I don't know what a 'ludd' is, and all I think of is some kind of really dense 'lad', but what Thee Ludds sound like makes perfect sense: raw, primal garage low budget frankenstein rock which just so happens to be out of the UK, but honestly I wrote this entire thing before I actually noticed.

The A-Side, 'Where to Begin' is hitting a pretty nostalgic place for me, I don't know if it's that hockey game organ or the snarling, bad boy Cramps distorto vocals. It's got all kind of roots in that B-movie style... bowling with flame tattoo's and those matte black hot rods with no engine cover. I came across someone describing The Troggs as 'caveman' rock and I really can't think of anything better to describe this scuzzy bash sound, it's minimal, take away the blues sliding, emotional influence and get down to the basics, happy or sad, good or bad.Iis this time signature 1/2? Kick snare, kick snare.
My friend Matt in his first band, like all of us, lied and said he could play drums. I always saw him counting to himself when he played live 1,2,3,4...1,2,3,4. it's nothing against drummers...I've heard all the jokes, but that's all it really took to play. Thee Ludds agree, don't overthink this, if it's fast with this half howl, curled upper lip vocal and this organ filtered through that extra gain knob then it would be impossible not to get something worthwhile out of this.
I'm taking the little bit of theatrics and combining it with this '50s sort of pop art illustrated sleeve and guessing they know what I'm talking about.
As time goes on, there are better bands around today working in those offshoots of genres better than when it was happening in it's hey day. Like these guys take surf and evolve it into the parking lot to play chicken for pink slips, with rolled up cuffs....then what? Motorcycles and meth, machete's...you can see where it quickly evolves.
'Skin and Bones' on the B-Side then uses a tom instead of a kick for a super caveman tom-tom rock? Jesus this keyboard almost lands the whole thing squarely into psyche if the lead vocals weren't so scary and distorted. They're the perfect length songs recorded in 'moronophonic' according to the inner label, which is all minimal and Helvetica. They even got nostalgic on the handwritten note they included, and listed their email address that ended in 'googlemail.com?" They are consistently a time warp!
But they really nail this surf tiki torch sound, with a Screamin' Jay Hawkins feel it's completely wild, unleashed, and over in two minutes.
That's a damn good 45.
It reminds me of an old Cococoma single, the hand drawn comic graphic, limited color pallete...it says punk and homemade and garage all at once. I knew who I was going to hear before the needle even hit the record.
It's exactly like The Mummies via the Sonics, so dead on, it's scary, believe me I've been playing them back to back...it's horror garage, these guys have it...everyday and halloween.

Get this burner from Hodad's bigcartel store, this is going to take some airmailing to get stateside, so either demand it from those good importers, SS, fusetron, midheaven etc...or have it converted through the magic of paypal. Jesus, can you imagine 15 years ago if you wanted this you'd have to go get pounds somewhere and send an airmail letter?
Welcome to the future... not you Thee Ludds...everyone else.

Gardens and Villa on Cool Summer Records

There's a new label in town, Cool Summer records and they happened to send me their latest from Gardens & Villa out of Santa Barbara, CA. A 4 piece combining an off kilter mix of soul and new wave in the way the Talking Heads had no clear musical agenda.

The A-Side, 'Black Hills' builds a foundation synth bassline with pop shimmery melodies on top. Chris Lynch has a really unique vocal, high register with a bit of wavering vibratto. This bassline is keeping the track solidly in an indie dance place, but laid back and subtly working this groove, stopping to take a smooth nostalgic turn here and there to the point that this doesn't come off as electronic at all. Every sound is there to support the song. Hints of high electric guitar can weirdly at times remind you of Moon Pix and it's the breathy layered melody and they way they seem drawn to those unusual front and center sounds.

B-Side, Orange Blossom opens with a cheap drum machine rhythm, huge slap bass and bigger handclaps. It's definitely found a soul in the electronics and thanks to the idiosyncratic vocals it's sounding a lot like new wave and that classic early period of minimal experimentation. Gary Numan, Herbie Hancock... Thomas Dolby, with a heavy injection of '70s soul from Sly and the Family Stone or Stevie Wonder.
Completely bizarre, Garden & Villa isn't going for the easy, tight, catchy beats of electronic acts working in similar directions. They sound like their intent on creating experimental ballad pop with unusual rhythms and instrumentation. Exactly like the Talking Heads, it's a clear, unusual vision down completely untread paths.
In an interview for The Santa Barbara Independent they described the spontaneous process of hitting on this bass sound and having a great time with taking the groove really seriously. That's exactly how I imagine both of these tracks came about, you sort of have no choice, when this unconscious rhythm appears, it takes complete control and you really can't escape it.

Heavy on the technical sound but delivered like a Sunday afternoon, the songwriting is the star here and their decisions to keep just the minimal hooks and changes to keep things moving. A seriously unusual single from a group of bearded guys perched on the roof of a shed with stalks of corn coming up to their ankles, but then again maybe not.
It comes out of the sort of world where these sounds aren't a novelty but just the tools that were given. it's separated from the baggage of electronic glitch dance to become rabidly individual.

You can get a copy of your very own from Cool Summer Records.

OBN III's on Super Secret Records

This single came in from Super Secret Records the other day, a new band out of SS's hometown, Austin, the OBN III's, who are probably still exhausted from the massive band endurance project that is SXSW. Hopefully they had a hometown advantage so while everyone was getting trampled by horse cops, they were reminding jaded tastemakers the reasons why anyone even comes to a live show, because the band is playing awesome music.
The A-Side 'No way to rock and roll' is introduced by Orville...out of the scratchy silence, just him on a mic: 'Alright - this is no way to Rock and Roll' and the song takes off in spot on Stooges, Kinks style. Like the caveman rock of The Troggs, the craft is completely secondary, not in a bad way, they are solid enough musicians, but they drive this track forward by sheer enthusiasm, the mic levels aren't checked, it's bleeding into the red. No one is worried about Orville getting too close to the mic, there's no wussy popscreen...because this was the best take, completely live. It's the sound of a band for god sakes, not the silence of layers of digital tracks, not the artificial addition of texture or hiss, it's all natural, blues influenced, of course, rock. Stripped down, the informal, improv delivery, make this one completely inspired...you hear it with Ty Segall, Jeff Novak, Home Blitz, it's like there's nothing else they can or want to be doing. Sheer will power is going to get these guys out there, and this single is a really impressive first impression. Definitely thanks to Orville's talky, Iggy delivery and attitude, 'Oh Yea, I really care about your record label...nobody gives a shit! Nobody gives a shit!', in pure disgust. This really hits home in the context of SXSW. I'm sure bands are out there busting their ass, but in that scene it's all under the umbrella of label showcases and hype...what do I know, I just read the tweets, but it seems like it can be just as much about a madhouse of missed opportunities, networking and everything except the music.
The OBN III's are playing with the rock that led to punk, new wave...the things the Stones, or the Sonics had that's still important, obviously when you hear it reinterpreted like this. What truly raw garage band doesn't end up getting all meta and singing about rock and roll itself? Always the good ones, it's simultaneously a driving force of primal rock while condemning the excess bullshit that surrounds the music, dragging it down. Genius.

The B-Side, 'Got more Love' gets even closer to that dirty garage blues. Really caveman pounding....kick tom crash, kick tom crash, with a little bit of infinity echo psyche knobs turned on the vocals. Like the Soft Pack, Orville could match Matt in that balance of nihilist attitude and energy. They both take this historic rock and completely let it loose in a contemporary way, now it isn't burdened by being new and something trendy, it's almost antique. The really good antique that they can't make anymore because everything is cheaper mass produced and I buy art to hang on my walls at Target. OBNIII's don't settle for that...anyone buying singles doesn't settle for that...this is a perfect combination.
Two tracks of blinder driven roots garage rock. Impressive, authentic Dirty, scuzzy, rough amazing effort on both sides. Get it from Super Secret Records, 200 black, 100 color with a no-fi handpainted looking sleeve.

Amazing Ghost on Electric Cowbell Records

This single came in with a batch from Electric Cowbell, purveyors of all the uncategorizable music on the outskirts....is there a jazz/funk underground? Of course. EC is here to document it...I mean honestly before 6 months ago I couldn't have named a single local band in these styles and the whole time there was a homegrown industry with Electric Cowbell at the center. Kind of like Helvete in Norway, just a different jam.
Amazing Ghost is the latest project from New Haven native Eddie Pren, formerly of Pencilgrass and if there's one thing you can consistently bet on, this is going to be more of the same kind of genre-bending dance-electronic soul that sounds like was going on in his previous project.

The A-Side cuts loose with 'I gettupa', an uber produced, layered, dance track with Eddie's laid back straight ahead vocal style, a stark contrast to the handclap dense, swirling pop synth percussion instrumentation. It's a deadpan style vocal repeating 'When I fall down, I gettupa', like any successful dance track it proves you can repeat almost anything over a catchy beat and get away with it. The style is a weird, sincere homage to rock-pop, like some kind of B-52's/Les Savy Fav hybrid. I'm even thinking of Why?, the borderline shimmery electro-pop excited to show you it's homemade hand. Completely orchestral in arrangement, it takes crazy talent to wrangle the whole thing into this rainbow, unicorn highway crime scene.
There's even a 'CD finished burning' ding in there somewhere because I half looked around for a second...who the hell is burning a CD?

The B-Side 'Tiny little raindrops', like the Flaming Lips they have the skill and experimental drive to pull off passionately singing about tiny raindrops and snowflakes over a basic synth melody. The horns come in to give it that dose of smooth soul just like sexy Sax man
busting out Careless Whisper in a mall food court, Amazing Ghost is playing with conventions, keeping it lighthearted in everything but delivery.
Check out a digital 5 song EP on their bandcamp page or press play on the video for a visual taste of their special brand of insanity. Very close to something on Tim & Eric's awesome show. Flying carpets, pegasi, lazers, like the tracks: throw it in the pot, make it catchy deliberately dance-y and the rest will take care of itself.

amazing ghost's 'i getuppa' from Amazing Ghost on Vimeo.

Get it from Electric Cowbell who says:

Amazing Ghost from the fertile music scene of Richmond, Virginia includes members of Bio Ritmo, Fight the Big Bull (David Karsten) and The Great White Jenkins which is a strong testament to their impressive musical backgrounds. They sound like an assimilation of Gary Numan/Ultravox/Flying Lizard's swirling keyboard embellishments, "nothing but a party y'all" late70's/early 80's hip hop sensibilities, and 21st century lido shuffling. They are downright impossible to resist--as evidenced by their catchy-as-fuck debut 45-RPM single on Electric Cowbell Records. On the A-side, "I Gettupa", vocalist/bassist/bandleader Eddie Prendergast employs the everyman spoken/sung dynamics of punk poet John Cooper Clarke, channeling "Million Dollar Legs" by the Outlaw Four as keyboardists Bob Miller and Toby Whitaker prolong the unbridled party anthem with looping, non-linear sonic support. "Tiny Raindroz" ventures into the usually insipid realm of 1980's balladry and ever-so-subtly turns John Hughes's cinematic heartstring pulling into a slightly funky, tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek homage to tender moments. As with virtually everything they do, these tunes haunt you long after the record has ended.

Mystery 7inch player

I have enough trouble lusting after 7 Inches, I don't need to start getting into components and speakers and needles...it's a dangerous road...but then this looks pretty amazing, playing records from underneath...and I love that it's 45 specific...you can't put those big records on there! It looks like it's from the '60s, so this could be the last one...either way it's priceless.

Thanks Ryan.

White Fence on Afterlife Records

Got word from Byron at Afterlife Records about a White Fence single just out on the heels of his full length 'In Growing Faith' on Woodsist. If you happen to live by Aquarius records out in San Fran, they should have some color vinyl in the Afterlife clothing store across the street, us mailorder dudes get the black vinyl, but hey, this is White Fence....who cares!

Their first full length on Make a Mess has been in rotation now for a while, and of course you ordered his latest from Woodsist with a description like this. I thought the Fresh and Onlys kind of represented a new path psyche could have gone down, the perfect example of a band picking up the torch and continuing full speed ahead...or the Art Museums in an entirely different way, but the White Fences are so completely in line with the sound from that era it's uncanny. He's really taking this to a pitch perfect psyche update place, I mean I know I've used that reference before to various things, but these guys are the realest of deals, so close to the era, I just had an old timer ask me what I was listening to. I'm dead serious. He said, "...never heard of them'

Is it me of does the full length on Make A Mess get completely different like halfway though the album, all of a sudden it gets a lot grungier, Tim goes the full spectrum of this psyche sound, massive delays and the most paisley, bubble projected light things you've ever heard and then they're back down the other side to a real dirty gritty garage, so lo-fi it's all distorted, like the 2" reel to reel with the input turned up to 11. It's working all the possibilities of the period so well.

'Harness' on the A-Side, has this multivocal harmony that's just totally blown out and on fire, plowing full speed ahead... damn if this isn't a close relation to what I've heard from Jeff Novak lately actually. They are both mining this late '60s, '70s sound for all it's worth coming up with a better version than the original. Something like this really highlights how much culturally the landscape has changed, if you take away the actually sounds and the instrumentation itself your left with vocals and delivery, which brings this decidedly into today. The combination of this distance and the fuzzed out, wired metal guitar solo, which unexpectedly turns backwards on itself and phases in and out devolving right to the end. Psyche done so well, you get some kind of contact high.

The Pool, on the B-Side is pretty damn clear, and his vocals have that high register nasal quality which is unlike anything I've heard up to this point. Super psyche randomly juxtaposed lyrics 'Fingernails go purple from the cold / saving your clippings/ just a drink of leather." The fact this is the one man project of Tim Presley is blowing my mind. It's got the straight ahead classic style of Kurt Vile, you almost can't believe this style can still be compelling when done right. Expertly crafted, just minimal, jangly electric, there's no way to break this down into pieces, they work so well together. Slightly folksy, but completely modern...it's what you want psyche-pop to be...new all over again. Great piece of work.

Afterlife via Aquarius says:

If you're anything like us, you can't get enough of the woozy, '60s laden sounds of White Fence. And if his latest release on Woodsist isn't enough to quench your thirst for psych-pop jangle, feast your eyes (and ears) on this hot new 7" featuring a stellar, unheard, unreleased song. Released by our friends Afterlife (rad clothing shop across the street from aQ), this slab of washed out psychedelic pop is exactly in line with past WF releases. Blaring fuzz guitar, catchy hooks and diluted melodies, all melted and warped into a unique brand of 'white light, white heat' drug-rock.
"The Pool" is completely new to us, a relaxed, slow burning trip into a blurred summer afternoon. Reminds us of Texas trippers Pure Ecstasy. Distant tambourine, chiming guitar and layers of tape hiss drift together into a wash of melodic goodness. Our favorite thing about WF is beneath all these layers of grit and haze are well crafted songs that only leave us wanting more. Don't miss out on this gritty pop gem! - (aquarious records)

Record Store Day 2011- Releases

Once again, record store day is coming, 3 weeks away on April 16th your local record store should have some new stuff. Just a quick note today to say the giant PDF list was just released of what's going to be out there, broken down by national releases and then regional exclusives and records that are part of Record Store day but may be released later also?
It's not a huge year for the singles, there's that Mastodon/ZZ Top split of course I have to hear, maybe a Wavves single? Probably won't make it this far northeast, and I've been meaning to check out Wild Flag.
I think the full lengths actually win this year with Tomboy, a Sonic Youth 12" exclusive for the day, another Ty Segall release, a Television live LP and Mississippi John Hurt re-release.

Anyway, I'll take any excuse to buy things because otherwise I'll never be able to hear them.

Go get the PDF and check it our for yourself.


Lower Dens "Deer Knives" b/w "Tangiers"
Mastodon/ZZ Top Just Got Paid
SonicYouth Whore's Moaning
The Dodos "So Cold"
Wild Flag "Future Crimes" b/w "Glass Tambourine"
CSC Funk Band A Troll's Soiree
Deerhunter Memory Boy
Segall, Ty Ty Rex
Panda Bear Tomboy
Wavves Thorns / TV Luv Song

The Prefab Messiahs on Almost Ready Records

Kris from The Prefab Messiahs contacted me the other day about a single from his band just released on Almost Ready Records. ARR has released an amazing series of 'The World's Lousy with Ideas' compilation volumes that featured everyone from Nothing People, Nobunny, Pink Noise and Eat Skull long before they even showed up on anyone's radar including the Perpetual Night single from Home Blitz that had me tracking down that album when they played live at Don Pedro's.
Turns out The Prefab Messiahs existed only two short years in Worcester, MA putting out a full length, 'Devolver' before spitting up and taking things bigger places, due to those usual circumstances that happen outside of music. Damn everything else!
I found various member listings and Gary War is even listed as having been a member, and has something from the Messiahs in the works on his own label, Fixed Identity.

The A-Side, 'Franz Kafka', is of course about the novel, The Metamorphosis and literally they take on the protagonist's dilemma lyrically, with a real post nervous edge. Vocally the discovery of turning into a giant beetle is introduced by Doc with a manic screamy energy. This track is immediately closer to punk, getting almost bubblegum catchy in a bridge, and a gritty solo leads to Xerox's verse delivered in what sounds like his trademark tongue in cheek monotone...reminding me of Mark Mothersbaugh's style vocal. The garage rock races ahead, the source tapes fading in and out along with the changes in distortion. It sounds like it's recorded completely live, howls and all. The track ends with a party scene....that has to be better than that downer of a book.

'Prefab Sun' from the B-Side: The ringing treble they get off one of the guitar tracks is completely insane and probably impossible to duplicate, definitely one of those amazing moments you take advantage of. Jangly and just plain fun, I'm not associating this today as having so much to do with '60s psyche as it does straight ahead raw garage rock with the enthusiasm that comes from a dedication to doing something completely honest, that's what allows them to pull off these lighthearted tracks with an effortlessness that everything can sound like this if you want it to. Sort of like Wounded Lion, or Nodzzz, there's nothing better than a band setting it's sights on doing something for themselves when other people happen to like it. They almost convince you in sheer likeability, it's concise and completely worthy of reconsideration and reissue by Almost Ready. Could you imagine a subscription series? I can.

I have no idea of the historic context to place this alongside what else was possibly happening in the world at this point, let along this area of MA, but in the current climate of punchy garage rock, this is one of those bands, you could say ahead of their time, or that artists have come back around to appreciate the same things the Prefab Messiahs inherently knew.


Preview these tracks at their bandcamp page and then get it from the Prefab's directly or contact Almost Ready for a copy

Features: art & layout from Prefabs singer Xeth "Xerox" Feinberg and band photos by Bobb Trimble (the bands friend, guru, and sometime producer)

Quiet Lights on Old Flame Records

This is the first single from Brooklyn's own Quiet Lights and it's a hell of an epic single. Two A-Sides that need to be experienced with as much range as possible on those big speakers you found in the garage. They spent a lot of time on this, the least you could do is respect the effort with a decent turntable for gods sake. No son of mine is going to listen to this on those pathetic computer speakers, I don't care if they're external!

The A-Side 'No more canyons' starts with slowly strummed just barely reverb guitar, saving the punch for about 40 seconds in which will make you jump. The bass rhythms, along with a steady tom creates a nice metronome drone underneath until it goes a step higher with the next plateau of sound. They get every bit epic as Mogwai, shoegaze doesn't describe the rocking waves of sound, the massive highs and lows here... and the crystal clear statement they're making. Shoegaze for me usually sounds like throwing all the sounds on top of each other with uncontrollable effects and those happy accidents that happen afterwords from trying to pick it apart the weird harmonics take come to the surface. It's almost completely subjective, varying with the listener.
Quiet Lights sound anything but accidental, there's no sign of that chaos, only skillful execution, everything is separated and recorded perfectly. Huge room drums, layered echo vocals getting lost in creating this massive distance, the track is bigger than anything. A violin even creeps in for the second chorus, expertly mixed in, that high single voice echoing her vocals and somehow adding to this metal, Red Sparrowes wave of sound that they deliver multiple times in a single track.

The B-Side, 'Break trouble wait' begins with a tom rhythm, restrained guitar melodies at first, like the Big Sleep, tension is another instrument. The slow vocal melody is so memorable and unlike any other direction of the song. The bass this time is working twice as hard as anything else, pushing the track faster than the deceptive BPM. When the guitar turns distorted, and the haunting vocal starts to quiet down - get ready, this thing impossibly gets even bigger than the A side, the combination of that massive space sound... where everything is far away, the spectacle of an entire arena is then reduced to just nothing.

They make even robots feel.

It almost does them a disservice to lump them in with shoegaze, there's far more subtlety and sheer power here that puts it in the more recent era of bands like Mono or Boris who are trying to physically overpower you. They aren't looking at their feet, they're trying to hold on. Seriously pushing the limits of that quiet/loud forumla to a new place that works so damn well. Overwhelming.... an extremely talented band who couldn't possibly have anything left for a full length after this.

I have to catch this live April 1st at Cameo gallery, which will be in serious danger of collapse.
This was made for epic landscapes and edges of cliffs in thunderstorms.
I would love to see battle of the bands scene in Scott Pilgrim with Quiet Lights and The Big Sleep, Brooklyn will break.

Get it from Old Flame Records who possibly has some of that blue vinyl left:

Recorded in June of '10 with Jason LaFarge (SWANS) at Seizure's Palace and mixed with John Congleton (Clinic, The Walkmen), The Big Fear shows Quiet Lights at their most vulnerable and ambitious.

No More Canyons leaps and swells with longing.

Available for streaming Jan 20th and purchase/vinyl on Feb 15th. Look for The Big Fear to be released spring 2011.

Break Trouble Wait from Quiet Lights on Vimeo.

The Sandwitches - Duck, duck...Goose. EP on Empty Cellar Records

Full length review of The Sandwitches, Duck, duck....Goose! One sided 12" on Empty Cellar Records over here in the full length message board. Etherial, ancient vocal folk songs, from great distances.

Son Cats on For Arbors For Satellites Records

Oh Shit, Son Cats are from Portlandia... by way of a new label out of Southbury, CT?
Ahhhh, but they are a duo, the exact same makeup as the Hussy as a matter of fact, Alex on guitar and Jasmine on Drums. Jasmine also did the cat sleeve logo (for some reason at a quick glance I kept mistaking this for So Cow) But this is no Snacks, instead, teeth barred and sunglasses you're looking at an alley cat - a blues cat even. He almost looks even happy?...or is slightly electric.

'O'Dell' on the A-Side just has a real honest casual home recorded sound. It's straight ahead banging rock, no added layers of texture, just get a pretty decent way to capture the sound and hit record. Cymbals and kick are the driving force. They keep switching up this rhythm in only a way a duo can do, big chords with a real dirty crunchy distortion to them, swapping out for the jangly electric to belt out the vocal. I'm starting to think this O'Dell they're talking about might be a missing cat?
O'Dell where have you gone?

Alex especially takes it into a psyche place here with an eastern sounding solo towards the end. It's the freakout interlude that happens inevitably on a road trip. That cat stumbles into some nip one night.
You have to work harder to get this sound as a duo, to fill in the space. There's nothing to hide behind, those big blue riffs have to come from somewhere. Everyone's looking at you to make it happen.

'1971' on the B-Side finds Alex playing a subtle blues scale groove with Jasmine's jazzy backbeat. He comes in story singing vocals minimally about 1971 of course. Jasmine comes in with a weird catlike yowl harmony. A real big rock distortion screams in for the chorus of course, they don't build the tension like this to not have that release of a blues solo take over. The rhythm gradually builds to double time and Jasmine has to watch it playing along with the changing dynamics. They take it one step further adding a warm Rhodes organ psyching the whole thing up. This one is my favorite of the two, playing with a weird harmony vocal, the two of them working together, building the garage blues sound through psyche influences, that I wonder what other paths they might go down.
1971, and Son Cats themselves are a reinterpretation of this eccentric past. Neon cars and Elvis. Even by then they were nostalgic. That's where you get the psyche from, blending eras without a grasp on reality all the past all those icons are interchangeable. You can carry a blues track into the garage and then on an acid trip. Like John Spencer Blues explosion, the references get blurred, the actual date doesn't matter. What you remember, or better yet, what you think it was like becomes an entirely new thing.
Son Cats has that modern nostalgic combination that resembles a very specific past that never happened - all cool, fidoras and mirror shades and play a tie dye guitar.

Super neon graphic print on heavy cardstock with inserts on black vinyl from For Arbors For Satellites.

Death Kit on Fort Lowell Records

James has put together another killer package from Fort Lowell, this time looking westward to LA's Death Kit who aren't without an Arizona connection. August on drums (or death kit?) used to play with Tracy Shedd while Jessica and Whitney are from another Fort release, Wet & Reckless. For the new year and new look, the Fort has brought the Tuscon Community Darkroom into the fold on art duties and the silhouetted, fly fishing under seagulls sleeve. You don't really know anything about seagulls? No problem.
The Birdman has an insert with popular FAQS about the birds, the organization works to rescue neglected and unwanted birds in Tuscon. The levels of connections are endless and I haven't even gotten to the solid apricot color vinyl yet.

Death Kit was formed in response to the lack of laptop-free electronica bands in LA. Which is surprising, I would expect somewhere out there is a scene all about dance culture, with a bunch of venues and fans. You wouldn't think to form a band like this if there wasn't. God knows it's never easy to introduce the plethora of technology it takes to create this sound, it certainly doesn't make a performance easier.
On the A-Side, 'Devadesi', comes in with that heavy synth laden sound while keeping the guitar work front and center in a New Order way. There's still room for the human element in the performance. A very live, tom driven percussion holds the dance rhythm while a falsetto vocal plays with this loose concept of the Devadesi, who were prostitutes for Hindu dieties. This otherworldly theme fits right into the massive swirling pop leaning dance-rock. Riding right in the middle of precise technology and live vibrations, like !!! or I love you but I've chosen darkness, it's always catchy with a hint of that shameless adoration of good old pop synth melodies while keeping it grounded and live. They've definitely succeeded in what they've set out to do.

The B-side finds another Tuscon connection with ...Music Video?, remixing Death Kit's track, 'I can make you love me.' Their sensibilities are a perfect match and this has to be completely thanks to Fort Lowell immediately putting two and two together. The natural pairing has ....Music Video? even recording and engineering additional instrumentation to the point where I don't even consider this a traditional remix in the usual sense, they've taken the basic vocal and melody and reinterpreted the track. A real collaboration more than an entity putting their stamp on the original tracks. It makes all the difference to have a band coming from the same aesthetic working on your baby. This one feels even more hopeful and optimistic than the A-Side, maybe it's the soaring vocal progressions and the synth is humanized and tweaked to work as the original melody but still improvised and raw. The vocals sound like they have a hint of autotune in there or this guy just has a meticulously precise voice.
Keeping with their slightly creepy themes, the title is repeated, 'I could make you love me', which of course is the worst thing you want to hear being on the receiving end of that conversation, but like the vision and instrumentation, Death Kit is convincing enough to try it, and you wind up getting caught up in the moment on the backlit dancefloor and give in, forcing you to love them.

This video sheds some light on their whole songwriting process, the fact that they can pull this off live, acoustic and all and that they choose to take it to the singles electronica place, really shows the foundation is there, that's whats important.

DEATH KIT "DEVADASI" from Gorillacoustic.com on Vimeo.

Get it from Fort Lowell or Death Kit

Elastic No-No Band - Paradise by the dashboard...on Weemayk Music

Justin sent his latest single from his label Weemayk Music in the other day and as you can see, it's a pretty sweet red/pink split for Valentine's day. Turns out not only is it a cover of Meatloaf's Paraside by the Dashboard Light but it's split by movement among 4 bands, including Justin's own Elastic No-No Band, which I thought had something possibly to do with the elusive anonymous No Neck Blues Band. You be the judge.
Housed in one of those thick picture disk mylar foldover sleeves that says, 'Who needs a printed sleeve when you have a color combo like this?' Let the vinyl speak for itself.
It's an ambitious project, to spring for this crazy color split and then to cover this classic song across two sides. Turns out the original was pressed on one side of a 45 (must have been at 33?) making it the longest single side ever*. Surely that must have been broken by some noise act by now?
The obvious benefit of reexamining a standard like this is to hear the song without the baggage of the various Meatloaf versions. Honestly I haven't paid attention lyrically like this before, and Weemayk takes it a step further to have 4 bands pick apart the various movements and put them back together as one giant single.
The A-Side, from Elastic No-No starts out with a heavy slide guitar bar band stylings or honeytonk blues feel interpretation, faithful to the melody, doing away with the soul and massive glam feel of the original to focus on it's essential live elements. Slow it down with a bit of '50s greaser dirty country delivery. Definitely an improvement.

What the hell is this baseball broadcast interlude by Huggabromstick? Did I miss this in the original? Apparently. Innuendos and all... how many sadistic radio Dj's played this around about the time they knew this epic struggle between the sexes was actually taking place? Thankfully, they change the sacrilegious disco section into something listenable and jazzy. The announcer delivery for this remake is monotone, going through the motions. The protagonist isn't even trying. The game is totally fixed. It slowly devolves into an ancient film sample, the needle stuck on the record.

By the B-Side, it's time to seal the deal with Schwervon! who switches the duet roles. The male lead is trying to convince the female side to take this moment more seriously in this update. And after he just got to third! The nerve. Really live sounding, the drums are big and the guitar frantically raw. In this minimal version they play up the layered offset vocal and get all indie rock in this section. It's a pretty dead on mix of bands, they transition nicely into each other and stylistically make sense, if they really didn't hear each others interpretations before putting this together than they amazingly were all on the same page.
Finally The Leader come in for the narrators reality check to finish it out with just minimal drums and stripped down bassline. The dual vocals, half Cramps and Lucinda Williams take it out to the end.

Listen to the entire thing here. Pure 7" porn. NSF7"W.



Justin, what is that crazy light show console?....that thing is bad ass.

Meat Loaf's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" remade by FOUR BANDS!
Part I. Paradise by ELASTIC NO-NO BAND
Part II. Baseball by HUGGABROOMSTIK
Part III. Let Me Sleep On It by SCHWERVON!
Part IV. Praying For The End Of Time by THE LEADER.
Available on red vinyl, pink vinyl, or red/pink split. (When you order, we'll email to find out which color you want.)

Get it from Weemayk Music's Facebook page.

(*needs additional citation for verification)

Bare Wires on Robot Elephant Records

Sebastian from Robot Elephant let me know about his label's latest release from Bare Wires which I think officially was available since yesterday, just don't blame me for the overseas shipping. I'm just glad there's another single from Mr. Melton and company no matter where you have to track it down. Sebastian is hopeful some distro over here will carry copies and I say, 'Duh yea, they better.' If there are any left.
Bare Wires have been honing this raw gritty garage sound into a shiny, polished glam, along the same trajectory as Jeff Novak, or Smith Westerns. It's epic, produced and follows in the footsteps of the legends of the genre; Gary Glitter and of course T Rex without the stage theatricality. They're Ramone's in style, while keeping that bigger than life attitude, because you have to have that performance side down to pull this off. I'm still waiting to see this in person, April 7th at Public Assembly and no doubt will read endlessly about them at SXSW, but for now this single will have to do.

The A-Side, 'Don't ever change' has a glam beach boys sound, that 'east coast girls are hip' melody, with big riffs, and a chorus-y reverb vocal. The snare hits are firecracker slaps, or distorted samples even...the guitars are both mirroring this laid back rhythm. It's A sludgy sex-rock ballad about staying the same. Specifically about the greatest rock fodder era; high school, and a girl who sounds like a real nerd but Melton foretells a bleak future for the cool dudes in class giving her a hard time. That's something, turning Shelia is a punk rocker on it's head, actually endorsing studying, even going so far as to end up with the video heroine in the end. Take that enemies of rock and roll. Bare Wires are making self esteem, and being yourself cool.

Fire up the B-Side, 'Ready to go', these handclaps are essential to this massive cleanly punk pop. It sounds effortless, but damn, you know it takes forever to get these crisp changes, the rhythms jump all over from one hook into the next, just genius songwriting, especially the understated solo or the backing falsetto muppet chorus of 'Yes, he's ready to go'. It's playing right on that border of self awareness, it's not merely an imitation of the era, it's a solid nod and update in style and content. To call it a B-Side is an insult, sir! This is a double A side single! Bringing that whole overblown glam arena rock mess back down to the people in a smaller venue with just plain solid songwriting.

At the very least you can give it a listen over on their soundcloud page...and don't blame me if you end up springing for shipping.
Demand it from Fusetron, Midheaven or Goner dammit!
Our school children deserve the good influence of Bare Wires.

Harvey Milk at Union Pool 3-13-11

Harvey Milk went on last night in the first of their three shows at Union Pool. Having listened to 'Courtesy and Goodwill...' since it was reissued on Chunklet I was wondering how this stuff would translate live.
First of all I now realize no matter how loud I dial it up at home, praying the dude next to me isn't home, this is meant to be heard at full volume with all of it's floor shaking rumbling and silences. Union Pool was the perfect place to be close enough to hear Creston's vocals when the droning cut out and he starts a verse sounding like Mark Lanegan, bluesy, deep and perpetually hoarse.
There's nothing like hearing the long drawn out tones from a single note of distortion held as long as possible, the bass not even being played anymore, it's just the cranked up hum of a cable, the sustained loop of a fraction of a note. That goes to another burst of distortion, barely a riff, two chords that wouldn't normally make sense together just because they're ne after the other now have to be considered in a sort of fractured melody. It's like hearing the beginning of the universe of rock, the big bang of metal, just emerging out nothingness.
It's a lesson in appreciating distortion, letting it take these huge breaths and then almost completely fading out, the entire performance is just as tension filled as the albums, always poised to take the sound into a full out technical meltdown, they seem to bide their time the entire hour, never pushing it over the cliff and giving into any number of the riffs and doom rhythms. It's literally impossible to follow, and just when they hit a repeatable groove for a minute, it's gone, they move on immediately into a new time signature.
They announced they were play 'Human Kindness' straight through and then play 'as long as we physically can as long as we don't have to play an encore.'
When he starts playing a distortion, feedback solo in 'I just want to go home' it has all the expression and inventiveness of the most experimental band. If you think anyone can play these two notes and wait long intervals between cymbal crashes, well - you are an idiot. The sheer training and rehearsal it must take to be able to not only technically and precisely execute these changes at this dirge tempo, but then to tame a loop of feedback into melodic tones? They aren't like anything else you're going to see or hear live.

They combine this amazing experimental drone sound with Preston's just end of the world vocal that isn't the usual indecipherable growling. He sings with the same power of the drone chords, slow, but with an intense theatricality. He's pushing himself again to that same place of creating these tracks, sometimes blending his vocals into a weird off harmony with the droning. As much as they push the dynamics of pure tempo, he does the same vocally. Everything dropping out to just his quiet, lonesome, actually nice singing and electric undistorted guitar. For a minute you forget the epic punishment that's been dominating the entire set, because it doesn't feel like it's about pushing extreme's, this is just their own idiosyncratic vision, from the very beginning.
I kept thinking of seeing the Swans recently and how much I'd heard about their live show, and Michael Gira, how it all started the same way, it was so outside of any box, not because they specifically combined genres of sound or some extreme, but for more than anything else...their pure originality. If the Swans started to point out where the thinking man's metal could go then Harvey Milk is almost writing the end of that chapter. They do this drone, sludge so well and with this history behind them, and the fact that their latest albums are maybe some of their best work, there's no end for them anytime soon.

Fielded - White Death EP on Sophomore Lounge Records

Here's a long playing 33 1/3 7", from Fielded, which essentially is a solo project by Lindsay Ann Powell, who recorded and played everything on this 4 song and still the thing that stands out for me is this amazing voice.

The 'White Death' EP is appropriately pressed on white vinyl inside a black and white sleeve.
It couldn't come at a better time following yesterdays Trophy Wife. Equally as minimal and haunting Fielded get a different kind of ghostly. Using synth sounds instead of organic live instrumentation it sounds even more etherial and ominous, except of course for Lindsay's vocals which are very close to Zola Jesus or Terror Bird with even a hint of folk melancholoy like Beth Tacular (is that her real name?) from theBowerbirds. It keeps the whole affair from getting too depressing actually, it's just too good.

'Garden Lace' slowly fades in, just barely audible. Lindsay is exploring the human voice as a pure instrument from the first track. Heavily effected warbling echo whispers under a definitive melody, taking over this essentially acapella track and deconstructing the vocal into syllables and sounds. Take away the content it has an inherent trouble in communicating anyway. You get a feel for the content before you can even understand the words (thankfully provided on the xerox insert).

The title track brings in more electronics but the beat is a vocalized set of layered breaths. The track is immediately way too catchy and repeatable for the chorus of layered vocals angelically together singing about a 'White Death'. That shouldn't want to make you bounce. I'm feeling guilty because it's heavy stuff. Slightly goth, like Siouxsie and the Banshee or a restrained Knife this one is just as epic in it's insettling melody and rhythm. The same unusual instrumentation and experimentation are important to Fielded. It's not enough to have a voice like this with an innate sense of melody that could work all on it's own, you have to have the willingness to go in completely uncharted territory that makes this something special.

On 'Late come to stay' her voice is stronger than ever over a slow tempo bare bones thin drum machine beat and low bass electronics. A little bit paralyzing, this is an ancient hymn trying to work through the bad times. A cold, dark, 'We will overcome' full of metaphors and stream of consciousness cut-up lyrics. It's a dream, not a nightmare. The themes of light and whiteness sound hopeful in the face of terrible experiences she's singing about and the mournful vocal delivery. Eventually a slow primitive beat comes in to further obscure the meanings.
It's increasingly melodic and abstract. There's really an amazing voice at work here, I obviously can't get over it, and the fact that this all was created single handedly is all the more impressive. She's the complete package of talent and experiment. It's an incredibly varied EP, not showing off, just letting you in on this hazy dream that begins and ends with Fielded.

Get it from Sophomore Lounge Records.

Picking up and sweeping forward with this home-sewn, four-song 7", White Death is Fielded's first release since stunning us with Terrageist (Catholic Tapes, 2010), the Chicago Music Award-nominated full-length for which her praises were sung by Kevin Hufnagel (of Dysrhythmia, in his Top Ten Albums of The Year) and Foxy Digitalis, referring to Fielded as "a collection of all the best moments of Bjork, which makes her better." The White Death 7" is a special, limited-edition pressing of 250 (150 black/100 white) with art direction by Mikie Poland (Aethletics) and hand-printed/fold-over jackets by Dan Davis (Kin Ship Press).

Oh, why thank you.

Trophy Wife S/T EP on Private Leisure Industries

Not to be confused with the Trophy Wife out of DC/philly, Trophy Wife from Murfreesboro, TN, just outside of Nashville sent their latest single on Private Label Industries to me the other day, and I should be used to a band not ever having anything thematically to do with the place they currently reside except for this description:

... Murfreesboro's Trophy Wife have managed to forge their own brand of dark pop music seemingly inspired by the haunting specter of the many Civil War era cemeteries and battlefields surrounding them.

It's all relative...here I am thinking about stereotypical Nashville and country music, and turns out it was the civil war graveyard down the street influencing this. I think the same is true about a band in Brooklyn, you can imagine it's all about fixie bikes and smoking cigarettes, but it turns out they like going down to the East River and watching the sunset. One minute I think geography has everything to do with a band and the next, nothing.

The A-Side first track, 'Widows', begins like a dark night in a graveyard, half talking, low whispering voices, with barely a melody, bizarre instrumentation like xylophones. Mostly a terrible dream, but the echo-y, ethereal, vocals make the whole thing sound like mythical alien harpies trying to imitate the human construct of music, they've heard a few songs, but never sang or played an instrument, and it follows the rules just barely.
God bless this Pocahaunted feel, it's completely improv sounding, they have an overall vision and then play loosely within that structure, mostly haunting and nightmarish, it creeps louder and louder. A '70s horror movie moment, a psychological one, fucking with your head.
'Light Socket' is even more minimal, it sounds like plinking wine glasses, and then a violin makes an appearance, but the most puzzling is the chorus 'Somebody jizzed in a light socket?' Yes, that's what they're saying.
Their sound is new wave and primitive but mostly frightening, due to the high echo harmonies that contrast so completely with a weird bare bones structure that isn't trying to be pleasant at all. It's exciting when something comes so far out of left field so confidently like this. There's no clue how they arrived here, there aren't any references left to give it away. Am I witnessing some secret seance?
This reminds me of a folk/organic These are Powers, her similar lone, almost terrifying vocal, the tribal, primitive rhythms....or lack of them alltogether.

The B-side, 'Aunt Palatka' has a raw, messy out of tune guitar jarring you out of the distant woodwind melody, they're both equally in their own compositionally abstract worlds. It's weird how I start to focus on the sound of the crackles and pops of the vinyl, like Gastr Del Sol, it's heavily composed and deliberate. Then the vocalizations start, mournful howling, buried under echo. I think that can be the most compelling thing about the female voice is that ability to be singing lyrics, but in such a high register, they sound abstracted. I know they're forming words but you can't understand them.
'In the Water' is a single tambourine and a harmonized melody. That was the most shocking thing about Gastr Del sol at the time, this lack of instrumentation when everyone else was piling it on, layers of distortion, these guys were making very deliberate weirdo music...it's made out of different instruments but that sensibility is present. This builds up to a tom fueled attack while the four members harmonize about the Mexican border. It's the weirdest avant garde beach boys inspired cover you've ever heard. It has to be near impossible to recreate this accurately, this must be a rough sketch for a long conceptual piece about dread. It's honestly hard to get through numerous listens because there's just so little to hold onto, more importantly, like a good scare, everything starts to look sinister around you, the shadows, some wind outside...it wasn't like that a few minutes ago. This is powerful and challenging, exactly something I would expect from the NNF label, people pushing boundaries and this does just that.

PLI is made up of the members of Trophy Wife and if this is any indication here's hoping they have some like minded friends up for a seven inch. That double LP comp of bands is probably an amazing place to start.

This single is housed in an equally obscure, nicely printed 2 color silkscreen on chipboard. As little information as the record itself, belying any frame of reference, anything that you might mistake for a trend or fad, as if there was any danger of that. Really a bizarre unique sound which should be played at 33, or maybe not.

Tonetta 777 - Get it Going on Black Tent Press Records

Tonetta, where do I begin?

In my small office, Tonetta has developed a massive fan base. All it took was a few seconds of any one of his videos to convince my co-workers this was something amazing and worth looking into, or away from in horror. Now the mere mention of his name turns another boring day at the cubicles into another screening of half naked, S&M masked, tutu performances from a true genius. A simple recitation of song titles from Volume II is enough to send people scattering to the exits. Tonetta is polarizing, it's not that you can claim you don't 'get it', what he creates makes perfect sense to everyone and you either hate his confrontational, primitive direction, or you don't.

The Tonetta story starts like any great idiosyncratic completely original artist: by recording at home with whatever devices are on hand and then handing out cassettes to anyone who'll listen. Don't get me wrong the video work is essential to truly understand the levels of performance included in the recorded tracks. I kind of wish I hadn't first seen the videos myself because now it's impossible to listen to his work without imagining what visual scenario Tonetta would dream up to accompany his mechanical pop.
But strip away the star wiped videos of a leather speedo wearing NSFW lip syncing 50 year old and what are you really left with?

'Get it going' kicks off the A-Side with a weirdo layered beat, even for Tonetta, this one has whispering booms and way more vocal percussion then I've noticed before. He's delivering the verse in a primitive naive rap style informed by the first five years of hip-hop.
You can't help but read into the 'Get it going' part of the lyric and conclude that this is a buildup to getting intimate although Tonetta would never use those words. He is a completely unhinged male libido that's made the later in life journey into the far reaches of his buried and repressed libido and said, 'Fuck it, who do I have to impress? This is me, take it or leave it.' There's no compromise with Tonetta and it's immediately liberating for the listener while being somewhat shocking to hear the sort of intimate bedroom details of a 4-track retired Lou Barlow with one thing on his mind.
In the same way this recent business with Charlie Sheen is so fascinating to watch. Here is a persona, raw and completely exposed, making no apologies. It's not that the viewer wishes they could do that , but the idea of having 'tiger blood' or singing about a 'hot little fuck' comes from that primitive fight place in the mind that is more and more repressed thanks to our cushy, technology and bulk food filled lives. It's also a reminder that any good apocolypse movie is true, we're about 3 days, maybe a week away from total anarchy and chaos if you take away plumbing and refrigeration. Tonetta is a reminder of the evil, the subversive...the perversions that exist. You don't have to like it, but it's undeniably a part of humanity.
I hear a lot of Ariel Pink in these two tracks, at this point he's been perfecting his own necessity by invention lo-fi style that's unique by default. They've both arrived at the same place, they have the same will to create, Ariel as a reflection of a combination of decades of music genres and Tonetta as therapy, but the determination to write music is the same.

'MMM Mama' the B-Side has the typical frantic pop Tonetta copyright backbeat, all shakers and tambourine... a hell of a lot of tambourines, always. No fills. It has a sideshow, vaudeville sensibility, and he's taking the chorus to a primal place. On this track he focuses on the over-modulated, distorted vocals of 'Mmm Mama oh Mama' which essentially becomes a vocal bassline over lyric. There's always an incredible amount of sex in any given Tonetta song complete with not so subtle innuendo every other verse in case you're completely deaf. It's the stereotyped expression that sex is on the mind every 30 seconds manifested into song.
It's also the first time I've heard a higher pitch shifted backing vocal.

Combine this raw, self expression with the fact that he's not going to be playing anywhere, ever and it makes me appreciate that this single even exists let alone the two full lengths that BT has put out on vinyl. His genius is immediately evident and unrepeatable. And here's my measure of genius, when I try to imagine an artist of the future that could possibly cover this or even bring anything worthwhile to the table...it's impossible. Tonetta is timeless, in his own demented world and I want to spend time there for more than just novelty...sometimes maybe it's because I can leave.

Black Tent Press had the good sense to take the packaging over the top as well, a 3 color serigraph print and fleshy colored vinyl makes the physical record as special as Tonetta himself.
The fact that Black Tent Press is taking chances (well, really how could you not press this) like this, to recognize the genius makes me want to immediately be up for buying everything they put out in the future.

For further reading, see Grandma knows best, Tonetta under review. It's like 7Inches, if I talked about Tonetta everyday.

In fact if you've gotten this far, and want to hear the man for yourself, Black Tent has graciously supplied me with a copy to give away. Email me (jdean99 at gmail) singing the praises of Tonetta and I will pick a winner by March 16th.

Full length review coming of Vol II, to follow in the forum section shortly.

Hussle Club - Loose Tights on Mishka NYC Records

From the sleeve credits, Hussle Club is Prince Terrence. Bass, drums, vocals....all done by the Prince. And you might think, Prince? who does this guy think he is? But, he can pull this off, just based on the heavy, super produced sound on both sides, let alone his bad ass attitude in this video just walking around the city. What can I say? - I'm buying it, he's got the talent and style to make something that feels authentic.

'Loose Tights', on the A-Side has some big electronics that slowly creep in, Terrence has amazing control over these technical sounds, building the instrumentation layer by layer. The synth percussion's and basslines are produced huge on the electronic dance side, with roots back to OMD, Camouflage, or Celebrate the Nun, not so much in instrumentation, but style. This really gets into the middle of the ring with some heavy alt-dance hitters, part MGMT dance, with a darker side, like the old school depresso's, Robert Smith and Budgie. Record labels have to be shitting themselves that a talent like this basically can probably have more success without them altogether. He's definitely got his sound nailed already. Vocally he's a serious Peter Murphy, the deep sinister delivery.
But it's hard to relate to this, like my friend once said about watching Connor Oberst live, there's this genius over there playing on stage and you just don't feel like you can even get near it. It's going to feel distanced just because of his god damn overwhelming talent. We aren't going to be friends, he's a superstar already, since he was born. Just plain different.

So many serious warnings on the sleeve, 'Adults Only' ...I would expect that on a Sex Worker single but not this produced electronic pop with a dark slant. Instantly it's a seedier side of dance, underground. I haven't heard anyone exactly working like this in a while. To have put this together singlehandedly is an achievement and the choice of the Cult cover, to reexamine this era, is uncharted.

Hussle Club - She Sells Sanctuary (The Cult) by Мишка Bloglin

The Cult cover of Sanctuary on the B-Side is the second single from Mishka NYC that's pulled out a cover on the B-Side and I end up appreciating this song again. The guitar riff is the star second only to Terrence's perfect homage delivery. Is some of this stuff is overlooked? There's untapped value in that era when 'alternative' groups had that support and label resources to create their best work.
It's what B-Sides were meant for, a surprising departure from the main direction of the band while nodding to the roots. The idea that music as a whole is going to keep feeding on itself long into the screaming synth solo and Terrence's cover about the world dragging you down.
The Prince kicks it up in the updated chorus, giving it a new energy vocally. He manages to more than pull off that tough baritone sound. The Hussle Club infuses the classic track with a pretty hefty synth bassline and twice the beats. Another reason to hear this as it was intended on sweet vinyl is otherwise you'll just never get this bass delivery in any other format. The nuances of the spitting low waves when the sound reaches the bottom and it starts fading and breaking apart... sputtering and popping cones. If the Cult would have ever issued a DJ 12", this would have been the mix. The original song is forever changed and that's the best kind of cover.

Get it from Mishkanyc Records. You have two choices, the regular old black vinyl, or clear white swirl with a shirt.

Will Simmons - Rain Tonight EP on Unread Records

Here's another single from Will Simmons on long-running, Unread records. I think some of the first singles I got over four years ago were from Chris at Unread there and they have since completely inspired me to be able to press singles myself. A label can be this unpretentious, this sincere with no ulterior motive but to press stuff he was into for his friends and getting great artists out there into the world. That's why he's still around years later while I'm just writing about them.
I'm all talk, obviously.

'Rain Tonight', the first track on the A-Sid inevitably sounds like The Minks I was just listening to all afternoon probably in that same minimal way, how the notes are held forever. Also sounds like a Gold Robot single from Roman Ruins vocally, emotionally and physically close, a (Smog) feel...the slow songwriting school.
'Most Office Theme' I want to hear more of right away. I love the diversity of the 7" EP but then the one you really like it far too short, the on,y down side. Layers of plucked chords, their harmonies... this might be my favorite track, so many inspiring ideas here in less than a minute.
I love to hear a raw experimentation like, 'Chase Scene' which would be another sketch if it weren't for the brass section orchestration. The sparse, live room drum sounds with a back and forth of utilitarian guitar and bass against the frantic rim shot beat is at the perfect place, way more planning than a jam but not overdeveloped. Slow building horns over a little bit of a menacing tune.

This 5 the 2011 7" vinyl equivalent of an old '90s Sebadoh tape. You don't know what's coming next...it's not concerned with coherency or an overall concept. It's showing off just a little bit maybe, getting off on this genre jumping. Who doesn't have these pieces without a home lying around forgotten in the depths of shoe boxes full of cassettes. Sometimes the only way to exorcise those ideas is to put 6 minutes on two sides of a seven inch.
The liner notes, as you would expect are as massive as the track list. Really extensive notes from Will and a writer friend of his.I get off especially on reading these two takes on each track. I, of course can relate to taking every song seriously and spending time with them as their own entities - the weird paths they take. I'd love to see more of this, the combination of my two favorite things, listening to music and reading about it. You know how many albums I've come to love through appreciating someone else's experience of the artist?

Will Simmons strength is listening to what the song is telling him, what direction any particular piece needs to go because he can execute all of it. The slight flamenco of 'Tiptoe on Tiles' to the pop 4 track of 'Blue Blonde' to cheap Casiotone beats under sweet reverb on 'Spy theme'. Which is channeling instrumental suspense music so familiar I know it's been used somewhere. Beyond just genre is his willingness to experiment with tones...I think he's got a steel drum or is that a synth. He's taking chances, transforming the lowly everyday sounds into complex compositions. I respect the process of elevating these sounds to something else. This process leads to the best kind of music. The self-made music that handicaps itself from the beginning because whatever success you find at the end is going to be based on your talent putting it together. You won't be fooling yourself, hitting on a few lucky chords recorded on a terrible tape payer so people mistake the production quality and energy for talent.

Get it from Unread Records.

pittsburg has more then three rivers flowing through it. will simmons breathes in and out the tainted oxygen, rubs the rust from the steel strings, and lets another batch of tunes take hold. even though these songs were recorded over the past (how long has it been? ie: see catalog number) half dozen years, and it has been a good decade or so since the last proper simmons release, these two sides go down smooth...and keep you guessing as to what exactly has passed you by? here we see seven short snippets that glimpse as much into the past as they do towards the future. will has always had a knack for grasping the "tone" and this disc is not short on tone. you get haunting beauty. wispered melody. long drives into the early morning fog. oh - and an instant classic quirky pop song or two. limited to an initial pressing of 100 copies in silkscreened sleeves. includes digital download.

"rain, tonight"
"most office theme"
"chase scene"

"tiptoed on tiles"
"blue blonde"
"spy theme"
"loose boots"

Blanch Blanche Blanche on Feedling Tube Records

Oh man, the video for this track is perfect, as weird as the music it's describing, a mess of static and overdubbing for the minimal glitchy keyboard, with half a melody....you know I remember getting all excited about Crystal Castles when that demo thing leaked, and just sounded as raw and fucked up as some of the sounds here. Too bad. I think I get excited about that Units sound, using this set of instruments in the spirit of how they were made, not to imitate a sound, but as an entirely new set of tools. The Units got as close as anyone to delivering on that promise of punk without the guitars, and I think the latest resurgence of Zola Jesus, Blank Dogs...even Soft Moon, are working in that ideology. The beginnings of a band like this are always the most exciting. The rules aren't defined yet, everything is being tested as they work it out. At least that's what I like to think.
The video is exactly how I wanted this sound to be, it's no tech, dirty...I wonder if I like this because it brings the human part back into the electronics when the cables aren't grounded, the knob is broken and nothing works right....that makes sense to me. I can relate to the terrible plague that is technology.
Damn you blog!

And these guys are from Brattleboro? Damn I love that town. L:ike Charlie Sheen says about partying, 'What's not to love?' They have at least 3 vinyl record stores for a population of 12,000, my kind of place, Blanche Blanche Blanche should just set up in the middle of that gazebo in the center of town and rock these jams.

If you can't go check them out at one of the numerous awesome Feeding Tube Records live instore performances (holy crap... sore eros!, Wet Hair! Sediment Club!) then at least pick up this single.

Feeding Tube says:

BLANCHE BLANCHE BLANCHE "Talk Out Loud b/w Water To Wine"
45pm Single in an Edition of 500

We are beyond excited to finally have the first single by Blanche Blanche Blanche in our grubby little mitts, and you will be too! Two warped pop hits by the most perfectly matched couple in Brattleboro VT: Sarah Smith and Zach Phillips. This warrants repeated back to back flipping on your turntable. As a keyboard and vocal duo they create a complete sound-picture, but they've also got a great live band called Easy Street. Hey, their heads fly around and stuff!!!! They've got a tape and an LP coming out on Night People later this year (yeah!) and their video for this single was featured on Pitchfork (ick!). Scroll down and read the interview with Sarah, the singer, in French Vogue (?) $5 plus shipping

The Connoisseurs of Porn on Buzz Records

When you get a single with a band title like Connoisseurs of Porn it sets the bar pretty high for some sort of extreme insanity.
Then you take a look at the black and white cover of the single, photos of fences and barbed wire and a couple of weird bastards with bags on their heads with eye holes cut out of course. Oh is this Burial Chamber Trio you ask? No...but close.
The harsh shellac inspired chords on 'Peasant Terror' screech from the opening seconds on this - but wait, this isn't going to be one of those noise experiment in how long a listener is going to tolerate this. A bassline and drums work on under the skee-ee-eech. As a whole they have a dirty, raw sound, in the way that they probably recorded off hours in a dominatrix dungeon (which might actually work out for a band).
The guitar rides that line between pure feedback and the harmonics that are chords nicely with a half tin can and no effects at all vocals.
Even when I catch the lyric, 'My profession is teaching young ones...' it doesn't bother me, it wouldn't surprise me he was an elementary school teacher...and I'm sure he's better than most teachers out there.

'Chicken' has more of that insane guitar sound that the vocals try to match here, in anti-melody. This one has a little of that rumbling hardcore metal/rap sound, the off kilter rhythms, with each instrument desperately fighting for it's individuality, leaning on the ground shaking bursts of progressions and pauses.
The manic vocals get layered towards the end and this surprisingly brief track doesn't go overboard on that hammering sound.
I'd like to hear these guys keep pushing some of these ideas, it's headed towards something really unique, vocally they're already there. Half yelling, upper register releases following in no one's footsteps. The guitar matches the human weirdness while the band keeps it from getting too experimental, it's got those familiar pop structures and staying well on the fringes of traditional rock.

Housed in appropriately enough a brown paper inner sleeve, just like the really hardcore magazines from the days of old. I would love to see the subscriber list of Hustler magazine. I mean that group is truly living on the absolute fringes of society. The sleeve is a mix between pumpkinhead and saw imagery, made all the more scary by the lack of color.
Can I also just point out that for a band named Connoisseurs of Porn I wasn't expecting a nice handwritten, legible note with nothing but nice things to say about the blog. Is that almost a stereotype at this point? For every band that has a crazy persona it's equally inverse to their nice manners? Something like that... and what are these guys doing making music anyway? Being connoisseurs of Porn has to be a neverending job.

Get it from Buzz Records.

Featuring tracks 'Peasant Terror' and 'Chicken'7'
Recorded and Mixed by The Connoisseurs of Porn
Mastered By Jason Ward (Eliott Smith, Social Distortion)

New Years Evil / The Black Tambourines Split on Art is Hard Records

Here's another new label out of the UK, Art is Hard Records.
It's so true - don't let Mr. Brainwash fool you, this art stuff takes a lot of work, take these two bands for instance. Do you come up with sounds like this the first time you rehearse? Hell no, that's the reality behind every seven inch. Sure, it's just the beginning, but to even get to this point...well I have to hand it to all these guys out there recording and pressing sweet vinyl. Depressingly if The Collapse is right, there's only so much petroleum left, the world reserves have passed their peak and it's all downhill from here....for raw materials...population... so you need to cherish every one of these. But I'm having major trouble with the idea that someday there won't be anything left to press vinyl with, because I'll still have the turntable running off solar or hamster power or something. Nevermind the horror of the apocalypse.

New Years Evil, from the SW of UK starts their A-Side, 'Shame' out with a killer lone bassline and beat, Pixies style. What did bands do before that strategy? Did they ever think about the bass as a lead instrument before? Big mistake guys. New Years Evil have learned that lesson.

Massive feedback comes in over this foundation and jangles forward, with a huge room echo on everything. I'm all for controlling feedback in interesting ways, nothing says this thing is about to go off the rails like that squeal. Pure '90s crisp distortion eventually wins out with dual harmonic riffs. It's a little bit punk, mostly indie. I can even hear that Soccer Mom complexity and energy...a similar slightly passionate buried vocal. A little like The Replacements, who always seemed to go for that perfect melody from one song to the next, and not have any kind of master plan. Does this record work in some kind of conceptual way as a whole? Does it matter? Here's a bunch of tracks that are great in their own weird ways, like everything Blood on the Wall throws at it can stick.
'Is that a problem?....it's just a shame', chorus will stick with you. It's classic in that it's got everything you need: big, rocking choruses and a whisper verse following those pixies dynamics...A deadly raw solo to the end of this keeps this pummeling energy up as the screeching swirls back and forth across the channels.

The Black Tambourines track, 'Tommy' starts with a slow, wet, retro reverb picked guitar which counts off into a scuzzy attack of battling chord progressions. The vocals are recorded with that huge shoegaze chorusy echo effect and the rest of the band is working under a bit of a '60's garage umbrella. Definitely less-fi than the previous side, it even goes a little Wavves towards the end with the harmonic wooo's catching up to the fuzz...breezing it over to a sunnier west coast laid back sound. Keeping it simple and totally catchy. It's a little bit like Slow Animal from a while back, indie, catchy, fuzzy, repeat.
Hands down a great split by two bands I definitely want to hear more of for the same reason: they're damn good...enough experimentation to keep the tracks solidly separate from others in the genre. Complete with a super creepy childhood snapshot sleeve...and New Years Evil definitely has something to do with that horror movie...I'm convinced.

On Art is Hard Records who hopefully will have some sort of stateside distro because it deserves to be picked up locally. Check with or try to convince Midheaven, or fusetron....you know the rest.

1. New Years Evil - Shame
2. The Black Tambourines - Tommy


A split 7” between Exeter’s New Years Evil (like No Age covering the Wedding Present) and Falmouth’s The Black Tambourines (Black Lips if they were from Cornwall not Atlanta). Each 7” comes with an additional download of a 5 track EP and double sided artwork created by each band. The first 30 orders came with a limited edition photo print from some of our favourite south coast photographers.