Spangish Fly on Electric Cowbell Records

Spangish Fly sent me a copy of this single that had been previously been out of stock at Electric Cowbell, but is sinceback up for purchase. Spanglish Fly brings back memories of living on 42nd Street and seeing those weird pills and herbal supplements for sale at every bodega....some kind of weird viagra? Maybe. Is this the audio equivalent? I'm positive this will have a better chance than those packets of who knows what.
Sexy.
Let's find out.

The A-Side, "Think (Pensamiento)" has Erica Ramos on breathy emotional vocal duty on this one, basically reminding the audience forget about your troubles, remember the good times and dance. It's purely celebratory music, and again I'm way out of my element here in general. I've never heard of 90% of the influences they list on their myspace. Still, it's making me want to relisten to that Buena Vista Social Club Soundtrack, that's probably the last time I ventured into latin funk territory like this. That will probably make these guys cringe, but you gotta start somewhere.
The horn section really drives the melody of this, with a huge array of percussion and recognizable piano (?) progressions providing that rhythm funk foundation. The fact this is essentially a cover of the 5 royales is insane. Like the James Brown reinterpretation it's completely changed, there isn't an immediately recognizable piece of the original. More than just latin funkifying the original, like those novelty lounge tracks, this sounds to me like a classic reinterpretation. You're a fan of the sentiment, and this is more of a homage through a Spanglish filter.
It's an amazingly expertly engineered mix, everything is perfectly captured.... that bass groove must be heard on vinyl. The smack of every conga, that bleating trumpet, really impressive recording.

The B-Side, "Let My People Bugalù" begins with a slow groove bassline and building rhythm section. I'm completely impressed by this kind of massive orchestral instrumentation. Little punctuated sections at the end of a verse part, mostly instrumental. Nice smooth trumpet solo with a guiro washboard style rhythm throughout.
The title lyric just comes in during a breakdown section at the end, a group harmony...the song pauses for this statement.

It's one thing to listen to this sound on 7inch vinyl, but to experience a band like this live, whole different story. This 7inch captures a crystal clear separated clean mix of this funk, but can I imagine this outside?...that would be an entirely different uncaged animal. They should work out some kind of dancefloor.

From Electric Cowbell Records who will always remind me of the insane diversity of music out there, and if you think you're some kind of expert about music in general...you're an idiot.

For their Electric Cowbell debut, Spanglish Fly gives the Latin soul treatment to Think! Spanglish Fly takes a tune that was an r&b hit for the 5 Royales in 1957, that is better known as James Brown's 1960 proto-funk smash. and radically re-arranges it to create "Think (Pensamiento)" a sizzling Latin dance floor burner--just like the 1960s boogaloo groups might have covered it.

Whitman - No Babies 5" split anomoly on Folktale records

Chris at Folktale Records sent me this freakishly small 5" record, the likes of which I dumbly can't say I have another example of anywhere actually....the great thing is that it fits into a CD-R record 7" style sleeve, which honestly almost made me put it in the pile of CD's I'll never get to. Sorry about that Chris, lesson learned, and let it not be said that 7Inches covers the occasional non 7inch from time to time.

No Babies on the A-Side (?, there's not even room in the gutter for matrix labels) does "Morlocks take Manhattan". Why does this seem so crazy, it's throwing me off just looking at this thing...it's kind of like altogether reinventing the CD format. Here's this object that's the same feel essentially, but only has two tracks....take that CD's!
This side has No Babies sounding clearly like they're in a live room space, performing all together, one take, starting very quietly at first with the hint of a low string instrument, a cello maybe and a post punk off time beat. Minimal electric notes pierce
the soothing female vocals, but it's short lived. They explode into Foot Village bursts of spastic tempo rhythm with yelling vocals and saxophone (?) squeals. These organic sounding additions sound great being a part of this raw performance, and I think I'm questioning exactly what's there because of the sheer free form cacophony style in this middle section. There have to be a heck of a lot of people jammed into this basement space and that deliberate dynamic contrast catches you off guard. I appreciate the vocal about riding in the pouring rain, just barely forgetting about the past few weeks of nothing but and bringing a change of clothes to work again because I just can't bring myself to wear rainpants AND a jacket. Pointless.

Whitman offers, "Here's to denying our existence" on the other side which has an equally minimal soft beginning. Slow acoustic loud picking and a chorus of layered vocals, like an old John Davis single, without the crazy accent....and they then also bang in heavy distortion meltdowns on the left then the right channels making you jump...it could be from a cassette, massively hissy and dense with the layers of destruction.
This brief lyric is all the track needed:
"About a quarter of me hopes that you're happy - and the rest of me hopes you're dead."
This can't be longer than 60 seconds...and the only trouble I'm finding with this format is you have to be really careful about placing the needle down - just a hair past the starting point of this and my turntable wants to automatically reset the needle back to the beginning. Whitman is working on kickstarting his long overdue full length with various packages of color vinyl and playing in your livingroom. Oh the shows I would have in my aptartment like Aimee Mann in Portlandia if I win that lottery I never play.

Not only is it the tiniest record, and reason enough to pick up but, it's packed with a nice printed lyric insert, catalog and download card, with a great skull painting on the cover which is mirrored on the record inner label as well... overall a nicely put together package, with some equally as unusual efforts from both these bands.

Get this one from Folktale Records who have a ton of great releases:

This record starts off with the forlorn and familiar plucking of Los Angeles based, Whitman's guitar, which is shortly joined by shaky vocals that deliver some of his most brutally honest and straight forward lyrics yet. Then things take a bit of a turn as your ears get pummeled with shrieks of white noise and tape garble. A short but haunting journey, showing you Whitman at his best. On the flip side, current Oakland residents No Babies start their song off with a catchy beat, bass clarinet, and vocals that are surprisingly melodic. This is a pleasant surprise for anyone who is used to their energy packed live shows, but it doesn't last long, the beat picks up and chaos ensues, leaving you with an exhausted but satisfied feeling in just under two minutes. This is a one time pressing of 549 5" records on black vinyl. They come in full color covers with art by Anthony Fonda and Christopher Payne and include a lyric sheet and MP3 download card.

Tonetta, Vol. II on Black Tent Press

I'm a little obsessed with Tonetta, and the awesome guys at Black Tent Press sent me his latest full length to review. I've been working on it forever, because I approach full length releases like 10 singles. There's some words over in the forum about this enigma.

Check it out and pick this up from Black Tent Press. It will be one of the most original things you hear all year.

Sharp Ends + Krang - 2 new singles from The Mammoth Cave Recording Co.

2 new singles today from the Mammoth Cave Recording Co, both of which I'm told are in short supply so this is your final Friday warning! If you like what you hear, head over to the Mammoth Store and pick these up.

First up is Krang and this Sabbath meets Wooden Shjips description is perfect..I would even throw a little Dead Meadow in there for the crushing low end coming out of my speakers right now.
"Speed of Tent" on the A-Side kicks off with overblown drums and a rumbling bassline. Super heavy slow warbly vocals and low end riffage complete this heavy heavy psyche metal. It's great they really captured the hugeness of this sound, you might as well have just walked into that dark, smoke filled room you could hear from the street. I hope these guys have some earplugs or those gun range headsets, or they'll have a Mission of Burma situation on their hands if they don't already.
Then on the B-Side, they start out with a muddy acoustic and tambourine, far off ghostly howls accompany a heavy delay vocal, but never fear the wall is coming...you can hear the storm clouds forming and they hold off for just long enough to keep that tension rising. When it breaks, the solid melody they've been steadily burning gets one plateau higher and they wah-wah through epic solos. I can't get enough of this completely live, bleeding into each other sound.

This one is over here.

We think that this is the best 7" we've released so far. Two heavy-psych brain-warpers, think Wooden Shjips if all they ever listened to was Black Sabbath and smoked way more dank. Krang embody the pure spectacle of their psychedelic stoner-rock - crushing rhythms, screaming guitar solos and a dude blaring away on a clarinet making the most ungodly sounds. They destroy. You've been warned.

Next up is the Sharp Ends, and this single is actually a reissue of a self released 7inch they put out in 2009 that just 100 people had the luck of picking up...well not anymore! This 4 song EP is back out having been unearthed in the lower reaches of the Cave, and it's another great production, getting that live room sound just right, sound waves reverberating around, for that unhinged garage psyche feel, keeping their dark character and what I'm sure is exactly what you'd get on stage.
The A-Side's title track, "Broadview Pressure Test" is made up of a massive rhythm section, huge room sound drums and the low end bass and gritty guitar. The vocals are captured just above this wall, with just the right amount of distortion that comes from yelling your face off. They keep this quieter dark section playing off the all out chorus...damn, like Warsaw...there's that raw rock feel that's focused on a driving melody.
"Panic Button" quickly establishes a rising scale riff, and the vocals here just barely layered with echo, this guy is great, here it comes off as that nervous blown out post punk Bauhaus. A great burst of
"Vacant City" goes south with a little bluesy bent, definitely getting garage, with just an overwhelming amount of low end driving this train.
"Can't Say No", these recordings are dense, still frantic and dark, but energetic..and it's a great combination. Instead of brooding on this style, they sound like they're exorcising it.

Get this one here.

Reissue of Sharp Ends self-released 4-song 7" EP that came out in an edition of 100 and sold out in 24 hours back in December 2009, and in my humble opinion, the best Sharp Ends best songs from when they were fresh and hungry. Deadly serious here, we've been itching to reissue this since it was released.

Manikin - Keep Dancing Charlie - on Super Secret Records

Richard over at Super Secret Records was kind enough to send me his latest release from Austin based Manikin, who have been around for at least 10 years and this one had me looking back at Super Secret's catalog to backtrack this Texas post punk bands sound.

The A-Side, "Minority Rules":

I forget where it was the other day that I randomly heard 'At Home He's a Tourist", but it sent me off on yet another Gang of Four listening party super party (as MP3's no less, hopefully ebay will rectify that sad situation already) and I'm floored that these guys are essentially carrying this sound around perfectly in 2011. Entertainment! sounds as good to me and literally timeless, as the first time I heard it start to finish, and that bare bones, minimal sound is exactly what Manikin is up to on this track, down to the vocals. That similar spoken, hardly a melody vocal delivery, the strong determined foundation bassline and basically experimental guitar noise that evolves into the chorus... granted Manikin here gets more traditionally blues rocking at points and the rat distorted bass comes off as synth. Everything drops out halfway through for that echo vocal only section and that staccato gated guitar sound right out of that jittery, nervous post punker playbook.
It's even reminding me of The Sediment Club, who I wish would have a full length out already, that similar socially abstract lyric, and no-wave sound.

"Hole" on the B-Side has Alfonso and Alyse singing together over the slightest power chord back and forth melody with muted harmonics and steady 1,2 beat. It's a great sound the two of them playing off one another in a weird sort of anti-harmony. There's just a great disordered guitar performance on this one that illustrates Alfonso's talents to be perfectly in jumpy time, to solo squealing feedback with an array of delay. It's got that spontaneity every time you hear it, working independently from the rhythm section while supporting this great abstract lyric, devolving along with the state of mind of it's subject.

This is a great one, down to the military stripes and stencil font inner label design, so glad they released these two gems from a recent recording session (new album?). 300 copies, the first 100 on red, paypal $6 to supersecretrecords at hotmail.

Ratas del Vaticano on Volar Records

Here's another one from Volar Records, probably old news by now, but I'm just getting around to putting it on the turntable and already I can see that these 4 tracks are going to be monsters, hardly taking up half of the side of a 45. More than just their name, the reverse sleeve has the track titles in spanish, specifically these guys are from Monterrey, Mexico and even my rudimentary high school spanish could figure out Ratas del Vaticano is Rats of the Vatican (I hope)...or maybe in the Vatican? Who cares.... it's furious punk, recorded as raw as anything from the heyday of the genre.

The A-Side "All authority is a joke (which does not make me laugh)" I love translating these song titles, they just get better and better.
The fact that this is coming from Mexico just makes me think about how it's even more punk to write in your own language...of course, let's stop thinking English has to be the default way to communicate in music. When my brother was in Denmark, it seemed sad to me that all the bands he came across had to write everything in English just to have any kind of future outside of their own country. Good music, played like this with the kind of energy and punk shouldn't matter if you understand every word. There are plenty of live Germs shows that I don't understand a word of, Darby had his own messed up inebriated language.

"Would be cool that there was no law", the dual guy/girl vocals are right up in front, like any self respecting flat out punk should be, with that flat instrument distortion sound, no low end, two people yelling as loud as anything about anarchy. I don't think it has to be nostalgic or quaint...people aren't that jaded are they...and look at the revolutions going on around the planet. All of them should have this soundtrack. I don't want to mix politics and 7inches but if the punk fits... this kind of sentiment is always going to be valid. Musicians like this are as important as the press in

The B-Side, "I can not stop", has a more forward sounding guitar driving this melody and the guy/girl vocals are back, leaving room this time for the song to stretch out a little and get a power chord chorus going. There's even a fade out
"I seek no problems with authority" this one feels like it could have something in common with the echo-y garage sounds from Nashville, at full speed of course, but the distortion in the vocals, and gritty texture reminds me of something off Teenage Hate and that guitar screech from one speaker to the other is a nice touch.

Get this one from the Volar Records blog, another lable I can barely keep up with the slew of quality releases from these guys. Opening minds and ears.
And if this is definitely your bag, Siltbreeze has a full length from these guys which should have about 2000 songs on it.

Railcars preorder on Gold Robot Records

Hunter at Gold Robot Records sent in a copy of a new single from Railcars which is available now to have a listen to... last time I heard Railcars was on a 12" full length from Stumparumper records, which was an incredibly dense wall of sound with ever rising and fading melodies, this stream of consciousness ambient, packed Eno dream/nightmare.

But this single is a different side of Railcars, featuring two different female vocalists over early tracks and the really interesting part is getting some insight into his live or rehearsal space process, like that Animal Collective Crack Box.
These are extremely raw, and I'm a sucker for demo versions on the seven inch single, it's what they were almost made for. Have another look at a new side of an artist, a place for them to defy their own conventions a bit. This is especially true when reviewing the final result like the Stumparumper full length.
The A-Side, "B's Skeleton" is much more minimal than anything else I've heard from, you get a sense of this tiny physical room on the recording, but also picking out the individual elements of the instrumentation, the array of unique sounds that go in and out with the press of a trigger.
The stuttered cheap drum machine, in an odd formation, along with the organ melody carries this along essentially but Biljana Mirkovski's vocal work has an intensity that comes from being distorted and working in a sort of Portishead sexy whisper. The feedback squeals into the PA and Biljana says, "I'm sorry". Her emotional breathy vocals versus this real exchange between musicians is really interesting. It can all be that much more interesting by subtracting nearly everything but an underwater, distant kettle drum, a kick beat and one organ note. These are great insights into deconstructing Aria's process, the pieces of rhythms that get expanded later, or really taken to this sonic end game he seems to be striving for.
The B-Side "Saints are Waiting" has Dasha Bulatova (I'm starting to wonder if these names aren't part of some kind of pseudonym requirement for being in the band) singing against live drums, and lo-bit synth sounds, but that could be the limitations of the cheap boombox mic in this huge space this time. Again Aria's making full use again of these minimal rhythms and beat patterns. The practice piano on the other side of the room sound brings back those memories of playing alone for a minute when no one else is around to judge.
This track leaves me with a whole lot more respect for Railcars as a grounded melodic act, that full length was almost impenetrably dense, almost overwhelming. It was exciting to pick through the huge pile of sound to find a structure, and it's definitely challenging, but these stripped down live demos are what has sold me on taking quite a few more listens to the longer pieces, hearing the skillful work ethic and raw talent. The compositions and melody, not that it wasn't all there before it's just you wonder a little sometimes how much that aesthetic might be hiding something as much as it's working in entirely new ways

Go preorder this single from Gold Robot Records, even if you're completely unfamiliar with Railcars, it's really experimental and crafty. I respect Aria even more after this quiet, softer, broken down side. Maybe that full length is way beyond what I can even understand, it took this back-in-time demo to catch up.

Ming Donkey and his One Man Band on Ultra Low Fidelity Mississippi Records

This foggy, grey, nearly rainy again morning for the 5th or 6th day in a row in NYC brought me this single from Ming Donkey and his One Man Band waiting on the stack next to ye olde turntable. Pretty much appropriate for today's mess of weather.

The sleeve is exactly how a dirty, raw, stripped down blues sound should be presented; handmade with imperfections and Ming is most definitely a one man band, as a bunch of flickr pics will attest. Not only did he perform this single live but it was written, recorded and designed(!) one weekend in July. The matte ink was probably printed on heavy card stock the same day, a thick layer feels like an old house that could weather and peel over the years and scrape off in your hands. The 2 color ink passes even miss some areas of the blue sky in that unique way with the brown cardstock showing through for the banners of song titles. The vinyl is a grey marble swirl and the inner black and silver label looks like it's based on an old blues design. Really thoughtful package.

The A-Side, "Waiting on the Georgia Line" is a syrupy, sludgy, lonesome blues, and at first I was expecting to hear a Bob Log III, JSBX high speed combination and instead it's a slow, raspy Tom Waits singing in an abandoned metal shack. Ming's more melodic, but that similar kind of growl.... or Doo Rag slowed down to 16rpm. It's a kind of folksy blues that you know you haven't heard this before but it's familiar, playing with those standard arrangements. The real draw for me would be to see these live, and his crossroads coordination. He's got a modern blues sadness down, with the sincerity and super rough vocals, plus all the credibility of actually living in the area he's talking about, playing live by himself all over the state - you can hear it.
I love this huge reverb ungrounded hum, that plugging the guitar in sound that's being used here in the background to get a sort of thunder effect running throughout.

The B-Side "Lil Cross-Stitch Bitch", there's nothing like that back and forth electric scale riff and a wailing harmonica over a 1,2 beat, back and forth between the snare and kick...it's the primal stuff this genre is made of. Add these washed out distorted vocals, mic'd at the end of a sewer pipe and you have a little bit of the sound of this one. Slow enough to feel that suffering pain of trudging though it, but leaving it just pounding along to shake your head at. I love this modern blues that combines all that whiskey and broken bottle slide guitar into something like this, even better the idea of this solo musician roaming around on his own, it's working in that tradition of this kind of southern artist. I'm all for more people picking up the Doo Rag torch and running with it. There's a huge period of The White Stripes that no one can deny is just perfect. The sound of believing in that mindset so clearly, there's not one tiny bit you can fake it. It depends almost entirely on the performer.

This one might be on ultra low fidelity Mississippi records, but I can't find them anywhere, but the truth is, it's been recorded pretty damn clear, the raw guitar, the harmonica, kick thumps...are all recognizable. I'm just hoping there's no overdubbing here because that really wouldn't make any sense for a one man band. You can definitely get it from Dead Broke Records or maybe sending Ming and email at another_small_town_death at hotmail.

Bern & the Brights - self released

Catherine, through a Ben Franklin connection, ended sending her Bern & the Brights latest self released single, which came out appropriately enough on record store day. 2 tracks on this single from the NJ based band, "Starchild" and "Lost in the Sea", Bernadette Malavarca and Catherine McGowan share songwriting and vocal duties on both, starting with A-Side's,"Starchild". This minimal, catchy electric guitar melody accompanies Bernadette's quivering powerful vibrato, it's a unique vocal phrasing that literally sounds like she's grinning. They go through the range of crystal produced folk pop, a little jumpy reggae beat with quick strumming and those rim shots, and then a ska-ish brass section, a dash of rhythm and blues in the vocal, and finished with a phaser organ. Watching a couple of youtube videos about their process you can't help but be impressed by the lengths they went to record everything live, the entire band playing at once, separated in isolation booths, dropping the guitar and running out into the hallway to play a steel drum part.
The whole effort seems to be honestly spreading the good time in a poppy folk way, there's a sense of optimism to everything, with a left of center lean, like Rilo Kiley or even Tegan and Sara especially in the next track, "Lost in the Sea" with these two strong vocals working with each other over this acoustic foundation, they get a chance to show off those great harmonies that they probably come up the first try. The beachy slow strum of a reverb guitar comes in with tight strung toms and takes this track into surf rock territory, but that's a reach, they're able to play and write across genres, but are willing to invite all kinds of instrumentation into the mix, not shying away from the distortion and synth melody towards the end of this one. There's no telling track to track where Bern & the Brights are headed, but it won't involve trips to bummer city.....ever.
I almost heard a bit of the Bowerbirds unusual melody structures here, but without the mysterious melancholy, they just can't help but to sound cheery, wearing this enthusiasm on their sleeves. I'll tell you what though, if you had to pick a band to travel for days on end in a van, it would easily have to be these guys. I'd probably end up a lot less of a jerk, and who knows that could even rub off with just the single.

They also happen to be playing tonight in Seaside Heights, NJ, where you can pick up a copy of this or contact them directly at bern_music at yahoo and don't be a jerk...or who knows, maybe you're looking for a cure.

The Me You Us Them / Bloody Knives split 7" on Triple Down Records

This came in from the folks at Triple Down Records, which is another label based here in NY I'm just hearing about. Like a broken record...I know...not even funny. This one is a split from two bands, Me You Us Them also out of Brooklyn and Bloody Knives from Austin, Texas who actually took a sample from Me You Us Them's debut album and worked with it on their B-Side track. The whole thing sprang from a drunken night on tour, bets were made against better judgment, promises to press a split....and here it is, that's exactly the way it happened.

Me You Us Them is up first with their track, "Research", as soon as the needle hits the record, a crazy bunch of layers of guitar unleashed in a repeated melody that keeps switching between the dual (at least) distortion. The lead vocals are yelling, even getting metal at times. You're scared to hear exactly what this guy might be saying, in a slightly quieter section I caught 'Do your own / do your own / research.' Clearly there's a lot of technical skill going through these rhythmic changes, maintaining this rapid fire delivery, it must be like watching fireworks; I have no idea how it all happens, the chemistry, and planning, but it's cool to watch.
They are after and get a huge sound, that could be almost Battles in tone. This melody might as well be a synth sound with the harmonics woven together in sync, with that punk punch in the face of At The Drive In.
Guess what else? They're playing Piano's May 29th.

Bloody Knives, have an equally layered, dense sound with a softer (?) more swirly take on their track, "I was talking to your ghost". For all I know this entire background staticy loop is from MYUT, you can't separate this haze in any way. Vocally it's got more in common with Film School, or that postmodern shoegaze, MBV inspired sound. There's even a slightly similar (in feel anyway), riff tying this fast industrial inspired tempo together. They have a lot more aggression, and rock happening in their instrumentation, but the vocals float on top, clearly and fighting against this high tempo swirl. Turns out it's just two guys from Austin with what must be a hell of a lot of gear to create this impressive sound live.

Check out both of these tracks on their soundcloud and get it direct from Me You Us Them's store. Cover art by Sami Jano and Jake McCown hand silk-screened on French paper.

The limited edition vinyl + download release contains one new song from each band. Inspired by their multiple tours together, the bands pay respect to one another while issuing playful challenges -- Bloody Knives with a repurposed sample from a song on Me You Us Them's 2010 debut "Post-Data", and MYUT by focusing their punk ethos and playing harder than ever before.

Both songs were mixed at The Bunker Brooklyn by Aaron Nevezie for cohesiveness and textural consistency.

Your needle will beg for forgiveness. "Do your own do your own do your research..."

The Art Museums on Dul-ci-tone Records

Art Museums...the full length from Woodsist was recommended to me by Tim from Herizon when we ended up hanging out when he was passing through a while back, he told me about so many bands and I happened to remember this one and picked it up the next day, it basically doesn't take much for me to pick up a new album, I could read about it forever, but one little mention by someone I just met sends me headed to the record store the next day to pick all of it up. And it turns out I freaking loved it, like one of those movies you know nothing about going in, ends up being the best. In that way I hope I'm not ruining anything for anybody, but then again if you got this far, you probably know about the Art Museums already anyway, and you'll want to get this single. First of all, they hardly tour, there's no picking this up at their merch table anytime soon...and frankly I was beginning to wonder if this was sort of a one off concept album of a group distilling all of these electronic pop influences, in the most ultra modern, post everything way. I love the harmonies and unemotional vocals, the unusual percussion, the subtle use of synth.

But I'm thinking "S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G." is getting closer to the '80s? Maybe it's that one particular synth sound and the mechanical handclaps....but then again, these tiny laptop speakers can't possibly do Art Museums justice. when I finally put on that full length, there's a huge depth to these sounds, massive low ends, and layers to that electronic hi-hat, like Martin Hannett type of recording. You build on that minimal sound to come up with something new. Their whole sound comes off as groundbreaking and nostalgic at the same time.

"Feel like Dreams", is heavily into the cheap, bare bones drum machine, and this one gets Belle and Sebastien for me or Magnetic Fields even, thanks to the really weird instrumentation and the vocal range. There's a bit of Devo to this as well, they just give in to that mechanical sound, the synths are used as synths...the attempt at pop music that sort of misses and becomes better. They clearly have a skill for picking the right sounds, and that's half the battle sometimes. The melodies write themselves on ancient equipment. Every time you hear a new sound, music is fun again. These guys are into that discovery process, you can hear it. It's like audio archeology.

Get this one from Dul-ci-tone Records:

THE ART MUSEUMS "S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G."/"Feel Like Dreams" 7"
(Dulc-i-Tone TT 014)
$6.00 plus shipping in the U.S.
The sleepy beauty of the Art Museums' debut album Rough Frame (Woodist) appeared seemingly out of nowhere, but their apparent off-the-cuff casualness and unpretentious brilliance come as the logical bubbling up of years absorbing the arcane musical corners of the 60s, 70s, and 80s - where utopian folk visions, pop-art obsessions, giddy punk and new wave sheen all make perfect sense. The few who have seen The Art Museums have been lucky to hear bits of their backlog of as-yet-unreleased songs,and now the first treasures are finally seeing sunlight: 'Feel Like Dreams' is a boyish reverie that soars along pre-prog Genesis-style keyboard chords above crisp drum machine cracks. It's all rally unexpected and works like you wouldn't believe! And S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G? Well, without hyperbole, we can say that it is, to us, the most enjoyable one minute, forty-five seconds put on tape in a long, long time. The Style Council stripped of pomp and set to a thunderous low-end rumble, 'S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G' is disposable in all the right ways, the perfect mod-pop soundtrack to your no-longer-dull walk down the street. REALLY! Beautiful full-color, heavy-duty glossy glued sleeves. First pressing of 500.

Amos Lee on Blue Note Records

Just got this single in from Blue Note Records, who are thankfully still pressing 7-inches, from Philly native Amos Lee. He's got a mess of releases on Blue Note and has put in time on tour with Nora Jones and his latest full length, which includes the A-Side, Windows Rolled Down is backed and produced by Calexico, and features Sam Beam and Willie Nelson among others. He's definitely caught the ear and attention of whole lot of talented musicians willing to put their support behind this fourth full length.

This single has two tracks from the great Amos Blue Note vaults, "Windows are Rolled Down" and exclusive B-Side track, "Angel".

The A-Side, "Windows are rolled down" has this acoustic opening which I'm sure points to the origins of this singer/songwriter track, Amos writes with that classic structure in place before moving on to these lonesome arrangements. It's the key to a fully realized big studio track like this. Make sure you've got the foundation...but of course those plans have been drafted time and time again by Amos. The track is a little but country with the quiet slide guitar that rolls in, a far off groundwork of distortion and a piano riffing off this acoustic melody.
The lyric overall describes a hopeful scene even with the vocal 'I'm fixing to die'... it's all in Amos' classy delivery, a little raspy authenticity working to ground this massive arrangement.
The lyric takes place in a car of course - the steering wheel, the roads - ingredients for a sad rear-view-mirror-look at how you ended up in this current situation with the windows rolled down through the pouring rain and blazing sun. Imagine those external forces don't matter, you can't ignore it, leave it all outside, while you're trapped in the dry, climate controlled interior. The journey is going to be made in the middle of it all, taking the good with the bad. You can't shelter yourself.

"Angel" on the B-Side is somewhere between Motown that sad '60s soul, Amos works between smooth vibrato and gravelly feeling around the rimshots and heavy reverb. This kind of vocal is classic and I'm mystified how songs like this are crafted out of thin air, independent from the minimal instrumentation, which put together by Calexico, it's no surprise they hold back and leave room for the undisputed star of the performance.
This is an empty streets song, going back to an era and geography of real soul, to mention the great Otis Redding is going to be a mistake but that hint of horns in this arrangement is all I can compare it to. There's also hints of country here like Vic Chestnut or Townes Van Zandt but an altogether different unique kind of tortured vocal.
An insanely refined sad ballad on the jukebox.

Not sure where you can purchase this heavy frisbee of vinyl, but send me an email for a chance to win an autographed copy of this, thanks to Blue Note who says:

Amos Lee has completed recording of Mission Bell, his fourth album for EMI's Blue Note Records, and his richest and most fully formed album to date. Mission Bell, which was produced by Joey Burns of the acclaimed band Calexico, displays both range and cohesion, an array of emotions unified by Lee's eclectic taste and distinctive vocals. With a remarkable set of guests-including Lucinda Williams, Willie Nelson, Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), Priscilla Ahn, Pieta Brown, and James Gadson-and the musical backing of Calexico, the album marks the arrival of Amos Lee as a mature artist who continues to explore his musical and thematic interests.

Moon Pool + Dead Band on Cass Records

Got a couple new ones in last week from Cass Records, who have been chugging away since at least 2006? I'm thinking of an old Black Lips / Dirtbombs split, the Trachteneburg Family Slideshow Players or Lee Marvin Computer Arm. Really? Get with the program, they've been around since before 7Inches even existed. This is Ben Blackwell from Detroit with a hefty amount of writing and podcast experience in addition to putting his money where his mouth is, completely into the scene and a huge inspiration for 7Inches.

So I threw (carefully) this one from Moon Pool & Dead Band on the turntable this weekend.
I love this sleeve, super mysterious, like a freedom of information act document that's been censored, most of the cryptic info has been censored out...with minimal old typewriter font, blurry and double-struck on the reverse, printed directly on the paper 45 sleeve itself..... an old mystery, asking to be deciphered.

So the A-Side, 'Patsy', has a repeated hypnotic beat with a slightly glitchy solo synth electronic sound that works as the primary melody over those Daft Punky subsonic bass rhythms...it's pounding away... this understated beat, really giving it a chance to sink in, like a stereolab rough backing track, listen carefully because that slow change the beat is going through, isn't really happening. Learning this is from Detroit, it makes perfect sense...this sound is sort of those forgotten synth sounds, maybe a little less hip then the latest plug ins. It's like time stopped in this dark warehouse and this sound was left to evolve in it's own style vacuum. It's definitely sounding dark, like that angry dance that's a solo experience in the corner. The way the main back beat is buried, the last thing they're trying to do is move asses. It's the long decay of this techno house sound, either the far off last echo, or the first reemergence.
The B-Side, 'Patsy (Jack Ruby Version) sounds to get even lower, like hearing that breakdown section from LCD Soundsystem where they're playing across the street in the basement. It's all low bass beats, and muffled midrange. The Jack Ruby changes are subtle, maybe even making it more mysterious, and buried deeper in the layers of rubble, the main voices and melodies are now distinctively absent and it's like an experiment to see if this buried rhythm can still work.

Get this one from the rock that is Cass Records, releasing great packaging and bands since at least 2006. That's not their motto.

Moon Pool & Dead Band
MAMA-058 "Patsy" b/w "Patsy (Jack Ruby Version)
Oh shit! What happens when a dude from the Sights/SSM hooks up with one of the geniuses behind noise-mongers Wolf Eyes? Old-school Detroit techno jams, plain and simple. This single is MP&DB's debut on vinyl and the dirty danceable vibe is undeniable. Analog synthesizers and sequencers to the max. This may be just the thing Electrifyin' Mojo needs to hear to bring his ass out of retirement.

Two Tears on Kind Turkey Records

Didn't want to forget about this Kind Turkey release from Two Tears, which is Kerry Davis of the Red Aunts, who are taking the seat-of-the-pants, who-needs-to-learn-chords attitude and applying it to a bluesy garage aesthetic. Taking that initial gut reaction to rock, which has proven over and over again you can will a band into existence simply with the right bad attitutude. Take all those years of relying on your stage presence for a show, and then get some tight, rocking craft involved....and you've got this Two Tears incarnation.

The A-Side, 'Eat People' has a bragging bad ass blues ethic: I'm a cannibal / I like to crunch / right through the bone with a foot tapping forward beat, raw and gritty guitar, a sort of JSBX over the top Cramps style blues. Kerry's using this layered, snide, snarling vocal that's letting you know she's in control... in fact most live reviews mention kicking and stomping boots...she's a bad ass cannibal singing, "Eat People, Baby!" Ok, let's do this. (?)

Heisse Hex, is praying to god above, but with a Ouija board and animal blood, not the cute letterman jacket, daddy's little girl way....so right away I'm on board. Take that nuclear family '50s scene and give it some balls. She's almost a completely different singer than the "Eat..." track, no effects...it's almost sweet, actually trying to be a tender ballad from the homecoming Queen, but again....this is coming from a cannibal.
It also helps to add another level to this delivery in exotic foreign languages....because Heisse Hex sounds way better than Sexy Witch...you just couldn't get away with that in any song, but there it is, and you know it's dirty before you even google translate it.

"Senso-Unico" features some long reverb, slow guitar tempo vibratting into silence. Just a couple of chords and the title vocal repeated over the sludgy riff, taking it's sweet time you let you really try to figure out if you're all in with this Unico, or maybe not tonight. Anyone singing "I hate my life!" is either going to have a good time or too much trouble to deal with....this "One-Way" isn't made any clearer by the explanation at the end of the track in Italian. (?)

Kerry Davis takes all of this rock experience from her beginnings which made something out of nothing... the feeling of rock, without any actual skill. Two Tears then takes simple progressions and repeating melodies of garage riffs that are also held together by this sheer will of Kerry's vocals. This is the damn song, pay attention.

Or I'll kick you.

Bloodstains across British Columbia on Mammoth Cave Records

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

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

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

Fat History Month on Bedroom Suck Records

Jeff from Fat History Month sent me their single a couple weeks back now, and it's been blowing my mind all last night. I can't stop thinking about it...and it's not even specific melodies. I have to listen to it constantly because I can't recall them. The minimal safe pictured on the cover should have been a hint, it's understated, and maybe not the kind of safe you immediately think of. This is so concise, restrained and emotional, they get into the dynamics of Explosions in the Sky, those really beautiful little melodies and at the same time experimental and as complex as Jim O'Rourke and Gastr Del Sol. An amazing set of compositions from a duo out of Boston.

"Safe & Sound", on the A-Side just has an insane amount of dynamics, I love this quiet guitar that creeps out of nowhere, and picks up in bursts to this expansive melody. To get this range of sound on vinyl this perfectly silent at points is a feat in itself. The repetitive structures come across like June of '44 or Tortoise tracks, classically influenced, complex. The percussion right along with it equally as intricate, with valleys of slow... down to next to nothing, it's completely quiet.

They have this huge warm reverb on the guitar, bouncing all over everything...really a duo like this are the only combination this loose structure can work with, to be so inherently in tune with each other and getting these subtle changes, or giant transitions with a look. You just have to know what each other are about to do in a pretty telepathic way. I think that live it must allows for a more free-form performance, it doesn't always have to be about this military memorization in hours of rehearsal, with the two of them, I'd bet they could improvise (and have) an entire show.

The tiny piece of a verse, close mic'd and barely sung that leads into another plateau of guitar is like Slint. It's massive epic explosiveness and unnatural guitar, they aren't power chords, they aren't singing.

You get an idea of this from their bandcamp page, which has a track called just 'Safe', now I'm thinking this A-Side is actually two tracks? (I would say 99% it is- ed) Damn, that's good.

The B-Side, "Here Comes the Sun", starts with a single lonesome chord, repeated, waiting for the sound to completely disappear before hitting it again. I'm also getting a Harvey Milk tension...and the sound of this room, the scrape of the chords, the experimentation and minimalism, a hint at distortion, plucked harmonics. Are they still playing? It's always about to start, and end.
This can be played so loud, trying to catch everything and when it picks up, it's natural. The vocals here eventually too are up close with another layer of yelling far off in the background, but it's this constantly shifting guitar work I'm completely into. The changing rhythms and melodies with perfectly balanced drums, from the subtle passages to crash fills. I think it comes from appreciating a straight guitar sound, letting everything breathe, actually paying attention to the instrument with a huge space. More than a really nice melody (they won't let it hang around long anyway) it's playing with the idea of the guitar being able to work as everything, an entire orchestra, and they pull it off.

It's coming as close to that complex, math, instrumental, indie rock as I've ever heard. A pitch perfect single with a xerox insert of the recording info and lots of shoutouts to all the friends that made it happen.

Initially I was worried that this was only available from the Australian label, BedroomSuck Records, but thank god you can get it from Fat History Month direct on their blog. Not that I don't think airmail from Australia isn't worth it. If you don't want this single after checking out the video...I don't know if we can still be friends.

By the Throat - One Good Night EP on Winter St. Records

Got this in the other day from Chris at Winter Street records, who is also a member of this hardcore 4 piece out of Boston, By The Throat. Of course they've all come from a long line of previous projects mentioned in the one sheet that led them to this concoction of aggresive punk.

This 5 song EP, (in true hardcore style) doesn't even have song titles listed anywhere and I started wondering if this might even be like one long concept single, like Zen Arcade. What's more hardcore than just saying fuck it to individual songs...here's our sound, it's meant to be taken as a whole experience. They keep this stripped down feel consistent and I like the classic way this is recorded, it might have something to do with the 33 speed, but the guitars have that low in the background quality, the way guitar was supposed to sound in harcore, with a little of that metal distortion sound, and loud up front vocals...lyrically it's introspective, look at what's going on in your own life, don't blame these external forces, stop being a dick, essentially.

This sound can't help but be nostalgic for me, and I think hardcore sort of always will be historically. Everyone first get into this sound in high school listening to all kinds of different genre's and this immediately speaks to being pissed off and having this kind of insane destructive energy. On this 7 inch I just hear skating in the garage and listening to Suicidal Tendencies, How can I laugh..., (there's no better band name poster to scare the parents than that one) which always seemed to be the go to cassette for acting like idiots and falling on our faces...or elbows...or knees. You need to have this soundtrack for testing the boundaries of acceptable behavior. At the Taco Bell...the Mall parking lot.
Not to say this is some kind of rehashing of that sound at all, in fact they hit on all the things I honestly still liked about it, the rawness, the energy. It isn't fast just to be fast, they're catchy, coming in together for the chorus, a little bit party, not altogether against everything or overly political, or indecipherable yelly vocals.
Really though, What's a more honest, sincere statement than this? They obviously enjoy this style and want to contribute to the long history as straightforward as possible, but there's literally no other motive in hardcore that I can see except for wanting to hang out with your friends and play music you would listen to. It's a part of American history you can actually be a little proud of...that I can't find any problem with. I sort of imagine myself out in the yard fixing the lawnmower, I'm listening to a classic hardcore station on 'radio', Black Flag and DRI and my kids are making fun of my old person music. Whatever, they're probably into future Lady Gaga or something.

Sitting right in the middle of the speakers I'm getting a massive separation of guitars, all the way panned left or right, I keep thinking something is behind me almost, coming from another part of the apartment. It doesn't sound like it gets too caught up in a lot of the unbending ideology of the hardcore sound either, the multiple layered chord progression at the beginning of the second side could go in so many directions, sort of post punk and then busts that apart with that sound of scratching the strings all the way down the neck, to signal, this party is now getting started.

I love this sleeve, a 3 color linoleum cut, really thick wet looking ink, great color, the epitome of DIY. I like this acknowledgment right off the bat, you get a pretty good idea of what's inside...and even better someone had these all spread out drying in their kitchen. You're holding this object that someone gives a damn about...every single one.

Get it from Winter St.'s bigcartel page complete with insert of bad ass black and white show photos and download card. I like when there's a mess of stuff inside, but I HATE these plasticy crinkly resealable fold over sleeve things! I want to pick up a single and slid it out onto the turntable, not fight with the thing sticking back to itself 10 times. The first thing I do is throw those things away. But then I'm good and mad and need some breaking shit music, so in that way it makes sense.

Nullsleep/Cuddlemagic split on Audio Ergo Sum Records

Alec from Cuddle Magic contacted me with their latest single, a split on Audio Ergo Sum Records with Nullsleep, AES looks looks to be a fairly new label in Brooklyn, I just missed an inaugural show from them a few weeks ago that included both of these bands, and they successfully funded a kickstarter project of which this single might be a part of that. I forgot to take a pic last night, one too many cocktails, hence the mockup single above, this one came in a plain paper sleeve, but the label was much nicer than mine.

The A-Side, "Dirty ROM Dance Mix" is from Nullsleep an 8-bit electronic artist (wow, I'm redundant) Jeremiah Johnson out of NYC who put together a dense what can only be described as a barrage of low res sampled beats and glitchy electronics over stomping low beats. He's also co-founded 8bitpeoples an artist collective with a love for all things early computers and video games, he also happens to be playing Saturday the 21st as part of the Blip Festival at Eyebeam.

I think the only reason I ended up caving in and buying a gameboy at some point was for that crazy camera and printer attachment, (and tetris) to blow up the images in a printmaking class, but it also had some kind of music composer program built in the camera cartridge that I used to mess with. It was so time consuming, but I was amazed at how much control you had from this ridiculous device over the sound. Then you could place the sounds in a timeline and add effects...I knew someone was probably making amazing music with this thing, someone with way more patience then me.
This single, and Nullsleep is one of those crazy conceptual projects I personally love... and Jeremiah's really taken this line of thought to it's endgame...there isn't a sound used here that came after probably 1990...some of the technology used to manipulate this stuff after the fact is probably current, so this combination of ancient bleeps gets even weirder when manipulated in ways they couldn't have been given that era's limitations.
I think sometimes about the early Moog sounds compared to the sounds that showed up in Atari and Nintendo's that was in a lot of ways such a step backwards...granted it's own important step in commercializing the tools, but still, they're so primitive. I guess that goes for any technology, you can't believe we could ever get to the iphone looking at a TRS-80, or Commodore 64. Yes I'm old. I walked barefoot to school.

I admire this kind of blinders-on approach to music, he's carved out such a niche of experimentation, I can't even objectively listen to this and place it into a category of music, let alone compare to another artist. It's art project madness that I'm so glad someone took to this extreme place. There's nothing like it....and on vinyl just is such an audio oxymoron...that he would take it this next step and get it on this format? Although if anything is going to reproduce these alien frequencies records will be the closest thing to the source.
There's so much going on here, it takes multiple listens to get a handle on deciphering the bassline and hearing melodies being deconstructed, plus it's got a Girl Talk feel of recognizing that particular resolution of synth from Tempest or Mario, you swear it's directly lifted...or this is some underground game mixed together, but then the pieces are scattered, broken up, stuttering over each other in that cut up, highly edited way, reminding me of Aphex Twin...a real commitment and hours of composition to put together four minutes on a side of a 7 inch. I wonder how much of this is produced live, out of the cheap electronics, and how much is pre-composed....it's pretty staggering....and it sounds just as good at 45 rpm by the way.

Next up is Cuddlemagic's track, "Don't Forget", and it has a lot of those jagged electronics in common with Nullsleep combined with folk vocal harmonies and classical instrumentation appearing throughout. The electronics here are a little more camouflaged, more natural (?) sounding...although after just hearing the A-Side I guess anything is going to sound closer to a sound that exists in nature. The track opens with some of these kind of sounds, and vocals which can be described by the band name perfectly, they're Eq'd thing, lots of middle, no low end, and are joined by some lady harmonies...really another band spending endless amount of time putting these pieces together in a surprising way.
From the looks of their site, it's the work of a 10 person collective creating this minimal landscape. The thin sounding lyric stream of consciousness echoes the cut up gated electronics, like an unconscious fragment of memories over this classic groove Tortoise feel of melody. Remember when they did that album with Will Oldham? It's reminding me of that harsh mechanical sound mashed together with exotic instruments...a xylophone or a lonesome trumpet. A folk classical future sound. It's even reminding me of The Postal Service at points...is that a terrible comparison? Is that album completely dated and overplayed?
They combine this epic composition consisting of various movements with that ultra electronic edge, also a little like Tunng, the juxtaposition of that classic smooth sound and a jarring unnatural click.
The lyric 'Dont forget to fuck / up what you have" really sticks with me and I'm glad is committed to vinyl. A nice pause in between there for effect.

They will be playing tomorrow night at The Sycamore, out there in Prospect Park South. Two insanely different ends of the spectrum bands I never heard of playing within a week of each other...Damn you NY I will never keep up!

Couldn't find a direct paypal button listed on either of their sites, so I suggest contacting Cuddlemagic directly at cuddlemagic at gmail for a copy of this, or maybe Nullsleep will have copies at Eyebeam, or try the label direct.

Bathetic Records - 3 new singles

Bathetic Records just let me know about 3 new singles they just released, the first one I gave a listen to was this Age Wave single, from Ren Schofield which is completely composed of electronics, but not in an overwhelming way. The glitches slowly build up into the mix and this super experimental manipulated sound can be so interesting, it's really reminding me of Rioji Ikeda and his dataplex or +- albums. "Telephone Dreams" on the A-Side takes a very exacting, scientific approach to the manipulation...still with plenty of room for those happy accidents, while taking the time to listen for the right moments and bring that aggressive sound to work in front of the slow repeated, far away, subtle sounds. It feels weirdly natural, even though it's built out of alien mechanical sounds, there's an organic feel to this repetitive waves interrupted by chaos.

Listen to a sample of this and buy from Bathetic here:

Age Wave is Ren Schofield, known best for his stints as God Willing and as a member of such noise-dog legends as Dynasty and Mercy Light -- among others. With Age Wave, Schofield channels a less distorted sound, as he experiments heavily with tape loops and a Juno-106. The outcome is a textural, sci-fi-cadelic workout, bringing to mind various aspects the likes of Tangerine Dream, Experimental Audio Research, Eliane Radigue, Bee Mask, and more.

Next up is Wreaths, a Wisconsin duo of Nathaniel Ritter and Troy Schafer. The A-Side, "The Reigns" starts with a dense array of organic sound, a harpsichord, violin, mandolin and an unsettling tom rhythm. The vocals are in some unrecognizable ancient tongue (no it's english - ed) and it has that sort of tribal folksong feel, a reinterpretation of norse shanty songs. Rowing songs from below the decks, the only thing those guys had day after day was this haunting melody. It's dark, I can't imagine this could possibly a joyous song recognizing a happy occasion...or else these sailors are in bad shape.
Once I realize they're actually singing in English, I think it's the delivery that's so foreign and chanting sounding, it's masking any understanding. I could also hear a Buddhist or Gregorian chant inspiration, or even Tibetan throat singing of multiple layered harmonics. There's a lot of traditional harmonies that show up throughout, and it could be gradually taking you on a journey of music history, getting closer and closer to traditional western sounds after starting from such a primal place.

Wreathes unleashes their epic debut single The Reigns b/w Full Turn. This daring 7" is the triumph of Wisconsin duo Nathaniel Ritter and Troy Schafer, who started their dark music intimacy within a preceding band, the well-beloved Kinit Her, and have since been involved with a slew of other projects including Burial Hex, The World On Higher Downs, Rain Drinkers, Compass Hour, Circulation of Light, and The Second Family Band.

This one is available from Bathetic here.



Finally up is High Wolf and their A-Side, "Free Your Energy Field", this is going to a psychedelic electronic place, full of distorted delayed loops and subtle electronic rhtyhms. Combined with a lot of traditional eastern instrumentation; conga's, and deep almost didgeridoo sound. It's sounding to me like a more straight ahead middle eastern Ducktails, the same approach with gradual shifts in rhythm and melodic lines over the length of the piece, new parts sneaking up on the listener ending up in a completely different place then where it began.

Currently living in Djakarta, the mysterious High Wolf has garnered attention with his releases through LA's Not Not Fun, his own Winged Sun Records based in France, as well as Iibiis Rooge, a collaborative effort with Neil Campbell of Astral Social Club. After hearing our sold out Wet Hair/Rene Hell split 7", High Wolf approached Bathetic with the idea of doing a 7" - we couldn't tell him no. Recalling the drifting, shambolic spirits of artists such as Sun Araw, Forest Swords, and Beaches & Canyons-era Black Dice, his repetitive, psychedelic structure is paving it's own meditative road for others to be a part of.

Super interesting, experimental acts covering all angles from Bathetic, who look to also be releasing a slew of cassette releases, the sign of a truly experimental label giving NNF a run for their money. If I lived near a real salvation army I would buy one of those old dual cassette decks...hell if I had the giant space of anywhere but NYC, I would be one of those people on that show with stereo equip, old electronic toys and records everywhere.

Masterdisk - inside mastering vinyl and cutting records

If you haven't been following Scott Hull's insanely informative blog about all aspects of vinyl records...and I mean everything from cartridges down to the groove itself...go deeper down the rabbit hole with his 13 part blog post over at the Masterdisk blog.
I read Masterdisk was going to be having a hands on vinyl class/event at their offices in midtown and I signed up figuring I should learn a little about mastering for when I start pressing my own singles at the very least decide if it was necessary to the process, but I had no idea we were going to actually get into the lathe cutting room, and watch the cutting process.

I knew mastering was an intermediate step between the recording process and finally getting it onto vinyl, but what do they actually do to the source recording?

Randy Merrill described Mastering as putting together a consistent package together, EQ-ing and compressing the sound to give it a greater depth and we listened to a bunch of examples on ridiculously impressive neighbor terrorizing speakers. He deals with everything from determining the space between tracks, to making everything flow as an entire piece, and the process is different for a vinyl master versus cd, of course. The expectation is CD's most likely will be looking for a hotter, louder mix but those same compressions and EQ are going to be different for vinyl. Randy said it's usually a more relaxed, more natural level when thinking about vinyl, but that he needs to watch dynamic high frequency information like cymbals or vocal "esses", which turns into an even more interesting problem once you physically get into cutting into a lacquer master. On the other end, low frequency stereo is hard for the lathe to reproduce (and I wonder if your ear can even distinguish stereo bass), so normally lower end frequencies are mastered to a mono signal.
He really got into the details of the process which I completely appreciated, I'm not that familiar with the specific gear, but as an overall concept to enhance a listening experience seeing what's possible with mastering is pretty incredible.
But this is just the first step in the vinyl process, when it ends up at the lathe technician, he's got an entirely different set of problems to deal with.


That's when we got to where the magic of cutting actually happens, the mastered tracks are sent as a single file 'side' to the lathe tech, who has to contend with grooves per inch, cutting depth, spacing and those challenging "esses".
This cutting machine was state of the art in 1982, it's one of the rare models to actually contain a 4 bit 'computer' which helps control a variable speed screw, allowing for adjustment on the fly of the space between grooves. This is a huge advantage if the entire side is longer than from 18-20 minutes, you're going to seriously have to find a place to start jamming grooves closer together, but what really started to get interesting is when he started demonstrating the physical difference between a cymbal crash for example on the outside of a disk, which could travel as much as say 4 inches, versus that same cymbal crash on the last track, close to the inside ring might only have an inch of groove. Under a microscope we got a chance to see that massive wavy cut the high frequencies created. Not only do the grooves have to allow space between for reproducing that dynamic, but the cutting head itself has to be heated to a much higher temperature to accurately cut into the hard lacquer, as opposed to a bass note which can travel the length of an entire revolution. You start to see where there's a low tolerance for any one step in the process.
It's also amazing to start to look at music in this time based spiral, the entire thing from one groove to the next is traveling at a different speed than it's neighbor. It's also why bands actually had to consider not having high frequency heavy tracks when finishing out a side, they would go for the ballad, or the slow track. Back in those days of only records, musicians would come down the hall and pick up a reference lacquer like this, to listen at home. They also told us once these completely 'cure' they really isn't going to degrade like I previously thought, they can be reliably played like any other vinyl into eternity.
If you're going to go on and press thousands of these, at this point the disk would be shipped to the pressing plant and sprayed with a thin coat of silver and electroplated with nickel to come up with the metal stamper. At that point you could even make negatives of this master for multiple stampers and send them out to other plants, etc. All these different pressing plants are actually included in the matrix numbers of vinyl, and the seriously hardcore could tell you if that pressing was a good year for that plant, or how many generations out the stampers were.

The key to a good record starts with the band and a good source recording, but the mastering process is as important as any one of these steps int he chain, these guys know the technical side of physically committing sound to vinyl. It doesn't matter if it's a quiet folk recording or blown out, in the red garage punk, if you go that far to press it, take the extra step to put it down for the rest of history right. It's a highly esoteric process that takes people with an insanely specialized area of expertese to perform, I have a huge respect for these guys making the magic happen at the end of the day.

The real surprise is that Scott and the rest of the guys at masterdisk took time after their work day to illuminate the process for a bunch of vinyl lovers.... you go home and look at the rows of vinyl in a completely new way. From beginning to end, there's an amazing amount of people involved in the process, from the band down to the guys operating the hydraulic press, or a guy sitting at his kitchen table gluing together sleeves, and hand numbering 7 inch vinyl.
Not to brag but this is why I love NY, to have an opportunity to visit a place like this, and see the mystery firsthand....throwing back the curtain made people who love vinyl already, now look at these discs with more reverence.

I would come every Sunday and it would never get old.

Go follow the masterdisk blog and if they offer this again, go down there and check out how that record makes it to the turntable, or seriously consider contact them if you're involved in pressing records.

Victory & Associates - Kickstarter funded album

If you remember Victory and Associates, you'll remember this review of their previous release on Seismic Wave Records...looks like they're after a full length release of their high energy party....they think you're probably ready....but do you want it on vinyl? Can you handle putting the needle on the record of this meltdown fireshow?
V&A are letting the listeners decide.
I think every band should be using Kickstarter to have the option for a vinyl release that might not otherwise happen. If they think they can't put up the massive funds for an all out gatefold, 180 gram release, then make sure the people that want it can collectively put up the money. It makes perfect sense.
I don't know how kickstarter is making money though...maybe they take a percentage if something is successfully funded?
You could have a label like Hozac put up next years subscription club like this...or a label that's never done it before. It's like an advance sale, but there's a third party to hold responsible and not just take your subscription money and run. You know who you are picture disc series...and album leaf label.


Go kickstart this full length, they have 9 days left. Don't bitch later when you can't get this on vinyl.

The Mack / The Party Girls split series on Louisville is for Lovers Records

This split came in from a label out of Kentucky, Louisville is for Lovers Records and I love the whole idea they put together for this 7" series. This summer they are putting on a series of shows where the bands featured will have a split single they'll give attendee's with the price of admission. 4 shows, 4 7"'s: in total, 8 bands. You can subscribe to all the shows beforehand and then pick up the single at the door...for less than $10 bucks a show. Genius way to get excited about the music and then walk away with a record from local bands. Lucky you there's a few left from these shows and they're selling them at the Louisville is for Lovers online store.... including this split from The Mack and The Party Girls.

The Mack Side is singer/songwriter Jeff Shelton who plays nearly everything who's joined by a rotating cast of musicians this time Pete Townsend (!) came over from England to play drums. This side is mastered by Paul Oldham, who I've noticed has been mastering a bunch of singles from all kinds of micro labels like LIFL, and subdued songwriting like this. Gold Robot, Empty Cellar I remember worked with artists mastered by Paul.

'Love Habit', the first one on the A-Side has a real quiet, low, restrained feel, which seems to be the standard for The Mack. He's a real storyteller, narrative driven artist. He seems to just need the most basic, hardly heard backup, loose jazz-rock behind him. Always lots of space around everything, huge pauses to breathe and get acquainted with the whole picture... it's the situation Jeff designs, a classic formula that's worked since the beginning of this sort of thing. Dateless and like Jason Molina, or Vic Chestnut, I can imagine an alien planet where they could take whatever was considered an instrument and write a song.

'Free No More' has Jeff continuing the bare bones instrumentation, hardly a guitar melody but massive bassline this time (that could just be the vinyl) with a slight warm organ, sort of a jazz feel to this one. Jeff has just a hint of nasal Dylan to the vocal but definitely the same dense imagery, and clever unexpected rhyme and the folk rock style of the master and captures that concise simple sentiment, proving you don't have to write anything more than exactly what you mean.
I don't wanna be free no more / I wanna belong to you
But to put it like that is the hard part, Jeff gets to the point of the track without an epic chorus or fancy finger picking. The sentiment drives the song, this kind of songwriting based around a strong vocal melody captured so clean, leaves you a little raw. He's got nothing to hide behind.
A slow whiskey sipping, porch and a rocking chair, sun going down music, which is how I imagine all the land of Kentucky to be.

Shelton is also a part of the B-Side's group, The Party Girls which features his brother on vocals and bass. I've since found out the band is no longer recording and playing around and these are two unreleased tracks from their '90s/00's output, 'In the White House' and 'Checks Cashed'.

'In the White house' has a free jazz, experimental feel with electric guitar muted notes with that harmonic 'twing' that rides the sound out into into feedback. It's all held together by a main groove bassline and brother John belts out his vocal, punctuating the stops and starts of this complex rhythm.

'Checks Cashed' looks to be a solo song from member Ben Herning, and gets way out there into the experimental zone, home recording style. Far off distorted sampled vocals that start overlapping over a barely audible guitar bassline, repeating 'Checks cashed' which works as a rhythm for the main vocal. The guitar screams into feedback for a second and it really gets quiet, maybe once the check is cashed, well, that's it, it's spent right on the rent. The guitar changes, and starts coming out of the background, completely free form vocals, layers of tracks changing speed, getting a little dark. The howling and bird screech starts, all far far off in the distance right up to the end.

It's great to hear the range of Jeff's work, and that those slow direct folksongs can be informed by these experiments, and freeform work. it only makes me like the A-Side more.

All on marble purple vinyl from Louisville is for Lovers Records.

Cusack on Bitten by the Rest Records

The good dudes from Cusack sent me another one of their singles after their I reviewed their split with laser geyser a little while back, relistening to "prayer for the weak", it still gets me. I'm still in shock when I realize anyone reads this mess and secondly that these guys are from Italy and sadly won't be playing around here anytime soon.
Cusack, as a band name, still strikes me as funny, but then again, this cover of sweet boys could easily have given him a run for his money back in the Say Anything days. It also says a lot about their sound, no nonsense, straight ahead post-hardcore in the professionally produced vein of Hot Snakes. This isn't a fashion show, they're focused on this sound, and are damn good at it. I must have listened to Automatic Midnight and Suicide Invoice a million times, like At the Drive in, they had an energy and sheer force that would literally keep me up sometimes. Cusack finds that same sweet spot, a golden riff and melody combined with that powerful lead vocal that always seems to deserve another spin.

Holy wood on the A-Side, (that's not a typo) they get right down to business finding one of those perfect power punk melodies. These guys really have this sound down, and every crunch of the guitar is recorded perfectly. The vocals have got a little bit of that Jello Biafra delivery, a little bit of vibrato in there and Rick Froberg's serious deep yell.
The layers of guitars working with each other and completely solid drumming, it also is taking me back to Sparta, when that rock formula is elevated by a group of guys dedicated to this craft of writing the most head bobbing song possible.

The B-side Operation Planet X, keeps changing on you, they find little pockets of rhythm and then switch it up, with those great starts and stops out of nowhere. The vocals are real hoarse on this one as he's giving it all up. Not as fist pumping melodic as the A-Side but that's probably just because I can't keep up. It's fast and bordering on hardcore...they can go from that almost too pop anthemic A-Side to bringing it back to older schools of hardcore. Could it be any closer to the Hot Snakes aesthetic? No...it's dead on.

Bitten by the rest Records seem to have that great punk DIY attitute, helping out bands, creating a mini scene of zine's and shows and records that should really spring up everywhere. If nothing else, god bless the internet for getting like minded people like this together with other mini scene's all over to press records and produce for the art of it. I swear if I win the lottery I'll start an endowment to pass out money no strings attached to projects/labels like this. But you can start by sending a contribution of 5 euros to Cusack's big cartel page, or ask those distro's that carry said imports.