Natural Child - White Man's Burden on Infinity Cat Records

Ended up catching Liquor Store and Natural Child over the weekend at Union Pool for their split 7" release on Almost Ready...and I almost got one...

Guys let me give you some advice...if you see a split single of your dreams out there on the table and no one is there selling merch you have to WAIT...stand there all night, because when you come back after a set or two, they're going to be sold out. If you have to physically pick it up with your bare hands and just stand there holding it like an idiot...then YOU DO IT. I learned my lesson when Seth told me they sold the last two on the table. What a sad beginning of Halloween. Very scary.

But the show was awesome, Liquor Store, yea buddied all kinds of punk, got to hang out with a bunch of good friends and Natural Child are so damn fun live with that classic rock stoner massive groove sound, they're just fun to watch. Having the best time, fucking around with the lyrics, changing them to Monster Mash, and just the sweet southern harmony from this sludge blues. I don't care who's done it before them, no one has ever taken it as not seriously as these three. Don't miss them, they will win you over by being simultaneously nice and out of their minds in the best way.

That's why the photo on the sleeve of the single I did end up picking up last night is so perfect. They genuinely want to hang out together and have the best attitude on stage. Liquor Store and Natural Child seem to go about writing the same way, take primal, hilarious points of view, in Liquor Store's case, it's with more of a hardcore punk sound about being an American man or eating a trash sandwich, while Natural Child sings a lot about weed and getting 'strange'... but they don't ever sound like they're selling it. On paper they're both impossible.

This single is green marble vinyl from Infinity Cat, who Billboard Magazine just named the 10th best indie label! I mean Billboard Magazine? That's like Nirvana winning a grammy....completely irrelevant, but still crazy that some big dumb institution like that actually noticed something like these guys....now that I think about it, it's kind of scary.

I thought the A-Side to this one "White Man's Burden", might be an alternate version of "White People" from 1971 but no... it's another take on the tongue in cheek idea of what exactly are white dudes blues?... surely some kind of oxymoron to begin with and maybe that's why they have the blues in the first place? Their lack of actual problems? It's sort of this ridiculous feel-bad-for-me track that's also saying they know exactly how dumb that sounds, but it can still rock as long and deep as Thin Lizzy.

The B-Side's " Ray Thompson's Blues" is another less than serious blues track about wanting to be in Miami, drunk on the beach, quitting your job, proving your girlfriend wrong with a pocketful of weed....see what I mean, these are troubles that more responsible people would be pissed off about, but it's up to guys like this to sincerely not give a fuck and make you love them for it. It comes off as an adult Beach Boys, the alternate Stones verision of the Jacuzzi Boys. Dreaming of the beach instead of sounding like one.

"Bang my Head" can't help but sound like 'Do wah ditty" to me, that rhythm and even melody keeps popping in my head, but the harmony lyric delivery from Seth and Wes thankfully takes it somewhere else, the way they're yelling to each other. I forget half of their songs, and it's like I'm hearing them for the first time again but I still catch every ridiculous honest truth:

"I can live my life like a maniac." ...or be forced to have sex with someone you didn't want to have sex with or smoke crack....all of which they make sound pretty funny...definitely guys.

Oh shit, but both of their singles on Infinity Cat are actually sold out! Or are they? No surprise there I guess. Go see them and get these from the merch table AFTER you grabbed them and waited patiently. That's your burden...those are your blues.

I'm so sad for you.

Write a freaking song about it.

Knifey Spoony on Orifice Dorm Records

The Knifey Spoony dudes from Oakland, sent the very first vinyl offering on their own Orifice Dorm Records label. That circle graphic showcasing a monsters crazy genitalia is actually from a window cut out of the printed sleeve, probably by hand. I bet you anything if I asked if they would do that again, they would say, "Not in your life". Handcutting 300 giant circles? It looks cool with that insert peeking through, but someone's hand is severely cramped...not like that isn't par for the course with this shredding, scuzz-punk...even if I keep hearing some variation of that "Ace of Spades" riff running through my head. Especially on the first track "Art Show Press Pass", this one is Suicidal Tendencies speed hardcore, blistering speed recorded in the back of the room, because that speaker is smoking, and the mics aren't that good in the first place. The speed metal fingers are flying with distorted vocals. Great title, it's easy to pick on the art world, all the good artists just start bands anyway, so you're left with the monocled, chain watch wearing ponces. I hope Knifey is going to lock them in the stairwell. They keep consciously changing up the rhythm on this, a sludgy, slow beating, slamming on the cymbals, to bringing back that pause for the metal licks to show off just a little bit. The next one "Retro Poser Enema", (man they are hitting all the focus groups) slows things down for the most part, sounding more classic rock, the squealing fudgy riff a little blues this time. I love that KS's next target is an old nomadic loser in a psychedelic band, I get it, there's a lot of really stupid things happening in the world and the only way I want to hear about it is punked out on a seven inch, nothing will get me more fired up that hearing about idiots for 3 or 4 minutes. They have to be the party starters, where you feel like something interesting is gong to happen tonight, they aren't too cool to be playing for you.
The B-Side seems to be credited to John Fogerty, "Heeeeey Tonight!!!!", but I'm pretty sure they didn't exactly spell it like this. Nice way to sneak this one in...it's got a lot of low end balls, while still sounding as thin as How will I smile tomorrow... except with Steve O's (different one) screamy core. It starts out as a warbled hissing found tape, I don't know what's going on at the beginning of this, but I'm ready for it to blow up any second. Crackling humming cables, the wind blowing across a tape deck built in mic. Some panned back and forth drums come in and an unfamiliar guitar riff and when did they start sounding this together? This could be some Dead Meadow demo tape, a cover they put down live, just blown apart...there's an album I like to play called my 'man' album, it's really effective if I'm fighting in some 1st person shooter, just shooting and shit blowing up, and it's that Harvey Milk (is it weird I forget about the assassinated politician?) live album The Pleaser...this song would sound great on that. Serious man music, I'm going to virtually break something.

Anyway I like when a real bad ass band names themselves something so completely ridiculous they probably have to fight regularly about it. It shows they aren't afraid to throw down, in fact they are sort of taunting you...like another band I used to know, Kolostomy Fag.

Something Men on EzPz Records

Got an email from Joe about checking out a single from his band, the Something Men, on EzPz Records. He was nice enough to ship this one from across the pond, so that means this one is going to be an import (local disto below -ed)...but take a chance on this one before the whole European union breaks up over Greece and there's no more mail period.....ever.
"Birdy Roof" on the A-Side has a pretty massive reverb sound cutting wide through the whole snotty blues sound. Vocally it's a high register nasal sort of Hunx sound, you can almost hear the grin and the sweaty leather vests. It sounds like they're faithfully recreating that slow blues shuffle up and down the fret scale, with a wet, almost surf mix. The distanced snarly vocal would be right at home in the Nashville scuzzy distortion blues, or Florida's laid back snot surf. Sounds like something similar conceptually must be going on over in their part of the world that appreciates the same things that made the Jacuzzi Boys or Nodzzz.
The B-Side "Mud Brown Mistress" seems to expand out of that classic sounding blues to a more melodic trash rock, a sibling of Cheap Time or even Personal and the Pizzas. The far off reverb vocals are still here and jangly big Rickenbacker guitars this time go for broke in finger bending solo's. There's no rhyme or reason to this meltdown except being informed by those Kinks or Velvets almost punk departures from rock structure all together...you could even go back to some of the singles on France's ownLes Disques Steak for comparison. This sound is going to live on in every generation, raw stripped down setup of melodic rock, lots of reverb for the vocals and guitar, make it catchy. These guys are gong to open for shannon and the Clams soon.

Hand assembled sleeve and classic checkerboard center sleeve that is a reflection of this throwback sound on the German Label EZPZ Records, go check out the B-Side on their soundcloud page:

EZPZ is proud to present to you all the debut 7 inch single from UK's best kept secret, SOMETHING MEN. All copies come in a hand glued sleeve with hand-stamped inners. Limited to 300 only! EZPZ001

Also locally this is distro'd from Sorry State.

Love of Diagrams - In My Dream single

I forget how I came across this one...might have been a facebook post on their page, weird way to find out about a single, but when it comes to Love of Diagrams, I just want to find out somehow about their next project... and it's a seven inch preorder at that. I'll warn you, it isn't going to be cheap, coming from Australia...not sure if it's the exchange rate or what but 10 bucks plus 10 more shipping to Brooklyn. Yikes.
But it also looks like you're getting this direct from those guys, they are sitting at a desk and taping up the 7" mailer and filling out the customs form, so you're going to pay for that kind of personal attention, not to mention 2 new tracks, the A-Side, "In my Dream", feels like they're tipping towards a Brilliant Colors, Reading Rainbow more pop sound...but I'll admit I've been stuck on Mosaic since '07, and have to get caught up with their other more recent full length, but those sludgy, huge riffs seem to have been traded in for a focus on more layered pop melody. At least on first listen. I'm glad I was able to catch them once at Death by Audio, thousands of miles from home...even better live.
The B-Side, "Too Long", is of course my favorite, not just because it's the B-Side dammit...but because it reminds me of "Ms V Export", that driving swaying rhythm right from the beginning that is just huge, great vocal harmony in this one...which seem to overall be recorded lighter somehow so they have a more indie pop sound, closer to Dog Day, or Grass Widow.

They're great... go check out their bandcamp page, where you can order this direct from those guys, and like those credit card commercials...that's priceless.

This will Destroy You / Bleached preorders on Suicide Squeeze

Keep forgetting to mention these two preorder singles on Suicide Squeeze who thankfully are still making a deliberate effort to keep their long, varied history of releasing historic singles alive, continuing with this one from This Will Destroy You. Just when I thought I couldn't possibly listen to another instrumental album after weeks of Explosions, Red Sparrowes, Pelican, Mogwai, The Fucking Champs and Mono, these guys came along and made me realize there's still room left for at least one more. When they are creating tracks as epic as this, "Black Dunes" from the A-Side and checking out this video, first of all, I don't know how this ends up fitting on a single, maybe at 33, but it's a live document of concert footage so it's not exactly the album version, and secondly lately they sound like they are getting closer and closer to that dark, dark Sparrowes sound... that Locrian territory of utter despair, real Godspeed apocalypse now....just hopeless. It doesn't make you want to go triumph at something the way Explosions does, or have the overt agression of Pelican...it just washes over you with hopelessness. At least this track does...but not being a fan of remixes, the B-Side is a little disappointing not being an unreleased TWDY track, at the same time I am curious what a Holy Other might do with a track like this...that bonus cd of Explosions remixes are alright once in a while. Looking forward to this, plus they are doing a cool thing of 100 copies of 5 different colors, so you can go crazy deciding if you need one of each.

Great.

Then I noticed their preorder for another Bleached single, the sisters of Mika Miko who had a great one on Art Fag that I just missed out on...great cover. I'm an idiot.

They have that sort of indie garage, junk pop sound, a bunch of melody, not too complicated, how it ends up just sounding cool is something you can't pin down. So to make up for it, this single can be had from Suicide Squeeze on solid red if you get in on this preorder.

Bromp Treb / Horaflora split on Yeay! Records

This one came in from Yeay! Records out of Turnersfalls, MA (is that from It's a wonderful life?) and between these guys who have been steadily releasing stuff since '91 (!) and Feeding Tube...MA is definitely hogging it's share of experimental eclectic LP's...there are so many to order...but this one is a split single between Bromp Treb and Horaflora.

Back in 2008 I came across Bromp Treb on the Breaking World Records label and after looking that post over again I immediately recognize this hyper dense mash of samples and tones in disparate bursts of rhythm. This time it feels like Neil on this track, "Readinessmax" is going for a more mechanical sound, or let's say the pieces here are definitely taken off a turntable, giving away more about the process this time, going traditional DJ style with the whirring slow down, speed up of the hand manipulated record. The array of samples are from dub beats, sub basslines, which really pushes the limits of vinyl, and wouldn't sound the same any other way. I'm beginning to wonder if the entire piece isn't constructed entirely out of turntable mechanics...and somehow this is a table full of the same record, being messed around with in this extremely chaotic way. The rhythms never seem to repeat for long...it's chopped up, but not digitally...that might be the point here. A record proof of concept, the way your grandpa used to DJ.
The Horaflora side, "Glibbertonne", is coming at this chaotic structure from an almost purely digital angle, these glitches and bloops only exist out of the headphone jack of the electronics that made them, there emerges an overall very primitive rhythm, from sounds that could be an early TRS-80 drum circle. Dog range clicks, the vacuum tubes don't care if you can hear this sine wave...maybe it's for the robots. The call to revolt. How do digital warbles like this sound strangely like dripping water? Why isn't there some kind of plug-in that will let you draw out a waveform on the timeline filled in with pure tones and then you could trace something like a drip? Maybe Horaflora is doing that. Is that a locked groove? Not yet, just a skipping beat...actually had to get up and go watch the needle visibly vibrating and bouncing back a few grooves each revolution. That's a low ass frequency. Has anyone ever put a locked groove right in the middle of a piece? That's what I honestly thought was going on here...you have to physically move it over the lock to hear the rest. That's something that cassettes or cd's could never do. It's a new piece every time.

The sleeve is what really makes this unique, designed by Sightlab, it's a laser cut custom font with a random color image behind it (mine is a microscopic view of fireants eating a cactus). Turns out it's both band names, which I was pretty sure of previously, out of the corner of my eye, I swear I could read it, but then they are 180 degree mirroring each other and I was convinced it was just ornamental. Great design, impossible to do any other way, the detail of this cut out is only possible with lasers, the edges are burnt, and the rubberstamp on the reverse brings it all together.

Get this one from Yeay! Records. An artifact in more ways than one.

John Wiese 100 7" Retrospective at Family gallery in LA

I'm just realizing that John Wiese needs a serious in depth study from the 7inches archivists, he is a rabbit hole of projects and collaborations in all aspects of noise...so as seemingly impressive as 100 singles are, after looking at the list of bands on wikipedia he's been a part of or worked with over the years, I wouldn't expect anything less. From Sun O))) to Merzbow, Sissy Spacek to Wolf Eyes, this retrospective in LA at the Family gallery would be a perfect place to start. I'm imagining you can take the singles out of their sleeves and listen to them on the record players in the gallery. I actually pulled out a single I had in the noise section of the shelves on Mike Shiflet's defunct Gameboy label called "Soun - An Anonymous And Random Compilation / Composition" which is a collection of 100 sound samples from John, Matmos, Bastard Noise and Greg Davis among others...at least 3 from John, solo, as Sissy Spacek and Amps for Christ with John Wiese. Now that I'm looking at this list of artists on the back of the sleeve it's surprising how many more I recognize now, this compilation is a mini-show in and of itself. I have to start looking up the rest of these guys.
This single a pretty interesting mess of sounds that really illustrate the range of experimentation that is happening in this badly named genre where really anything goes. From the subtle quiet experiments built out of some interesting process to an attempt to outright damage speakers, every kind of artist at work, pushing and exploring the idea of music, or even the idea of sound itself.

Sad I can't actually make it out to this one, hope it makes it in some form here to NY, but in the meantime there is a signed catalog for the exhibition which is going on the shelf next to Touchable Sound.

Justin Pearson - How to lose friends and irritate people on Soundscreen Design

Soundscreen Design is back with another pushing the limits package design, collaborating with original artists and then on this project in particular taking it one step further in making the tiny record itself more than just the usual seven inch.

Justin sounds like a maniac renaissance man, his myspace is full of so many remixes, side projects, spoken word and weird videos....it doesn't seem to ever be about what you think you're getting into, as going along with the fact this is going to be part of his epic ride.

So this collection of book/zines and flexi disks is just an extension of his usual practice. Sounds like the books are stories about fronting DJ duo acts in order to give them some kind of punk cred, and all the misadventures that inevitably come out of that touring mess. Sort of reminding me of that Slow Death comic single....listen to the band and read about the adventures...great idea. It's even like those read along books with a 45 I used to get as a kid about star trek or batman...very cool, and coming from soundscreen, these will be printed with the craziest standards.

Get this one from Soundscreen Design, publishers of the greatest book ever written: Touchable Sound

Cured Pink / Penguins split on Vacant Valley Records

This single came from halfway around the globe via Vacant Valley Records out of Melbourne Australia. A white vinyl split single between Cured Pink and the Penguins. If you believe that sleeve, Cured Pink is whipping a guitar with a chain and Penguins are carefully performing some kind of underground open heart surgery in their rehearsal space...with a drill. Their faces have been obscured to protect their identity, but the photos are enough to make this single go immediately to the front of the line. I kept imagining what these would sound like.

The Cured Pink track, "4:40" on the A-Side, delivers on that guitar whipping. Bad guitar. A single repeated pile of tones...some strummed chords, a bunch of single notes, some hit objects, far away metal objects. Some massive long delay thunder sounds, a sort of whine, from a bowed string? Low howls, metal pots and pans (according to the liner notes, played by unidentified children...pretty good). The entire track, Andrew McLellan is vocalizing lyrics with a heavy echo...which is probably that huge concrete studio he's in. But how does it make you feel 7inches? Well, it's a lot like a dungeon nightmare. Where there's some kind of machine, the repetitive thudding of a huge amount of never ending work. The voice far away screaming isn't too happy to be there. It ends up possibly hypnotizing the workers/slaves involved so the insanity takes longer to set in, and they throw themselves into the blast furnaces. It's a grim recording made from going out in the world and field recording these rooms and nontraditional musical objects...in that way it is awesome. His car was also broken into while he was banging away in the studio. At first I thought, "Did he have a microphone in the car? Oh, no he means that just sucked." The louder it's played, it gets exponentially disturbing.

The Penguins track, "4:17", (coincidentally these are also the length of the tracks) is more traditionally composed with heavy hit big room drums, all sorts of banging loops are repeated while a heavy distorted guitar works against this tom exercise, with bursts of crunch. This time signature only changes by which hit is being emphasized and the velocity of the instrumentation. It's a logical contrast to Cured Pink now sounds decidedly organic compared to this mechanical robotic rhythm. I'm almost convinced this percussion track could have been sampled together...it's a little too perfect. That goes for the guitar as well. Cut and paste the scuzzy chord together with a hundred others. It's got that The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste feel in the heavily gated guitar. There's some whispery growls and when a trombone eventually comes in it takes a while to actually hear it, providing this weird sliding unsettling terrible carnival feel. By the end of this, an entire orchestra is going at the stomping rhythm like that Ajemian brothers backwards "Into The Void".

Contact Peter at vacantvalley@gmail dot com for mail order, especially if you're not local to Australia. Pure white vinyl, with detailed recording insert (nice) and mysterious photo sleeve.

Stacian on Moniker Records

Stacian is the solo electronic future vision of Stacia Standoff. She's alone in creating a lot of dark electronics with distant layers of vocals over the laser storm. Listening to this, I keep trying to figure out what it is exactly...where the line is... that makes compositions built out of mechanical, synthesized sounds like this either fall into a purely dance type of genre, or lately a dark apocalyptic future. These foreign, very specific tones that have traditionally been used in techno, trance, glitch...all those variations and when a piece is using the same sounds essentially, but it's clearly creating something else. It isn't utilitarian from the conception maybe? It literally will have the same rhythms even...so why is Stacia able to elevate these tones into something mysterious and haunted instead of fist pumping? It's obvious from the first tones cut into vinyl where this lands on that scale...I don't know I guess you can use a guitar for a million different genres, so it's about these tools being taken back away from that mindless party for a more interesting purpose. Artists like Blank Dogs, Gary War, Ducktails, Zola Jesus are similarly reworking these abandoned instruments to take them in a new direction. It's enough to easily tear down any memory of the raves...it's maybe interesting in the way it is so disposable? No one is going to give a shit about any club artist or DJ in a year...I don't know, I'm not going to get anywhere today figuring where that mode of production fits into electronic work like this.

The A-Side, "Blood Sugar" is, while sounding very dark, a fast tempo track, with all of those base wave sounds. The capturing of very birth of a synth sound, the hard ninety degree envelope, a single glitch tone, untouched by effects. Stacian builds up and layers melancholy rhythms one after another. I really think you get something unique about listening to this on vinyl, those sub bass overtones that have to get lost on tiny ipod headphones...oh well, everyone knows that already. it just feels like you cleaned out your ears for the first time when this piece starts diving into the lower scale for a measure. The whole piece becomes more and more layered, the pitch wheel more liberally applied, the oscillating sounds more frantic. This is definitely contemporary but fits and pays homage to the very beginnings of electronic music.

"Metal Mountains" on the B-Side is really closely related to that unsettling darkness of Blank Dogs, bare bones distorted drum machines, everything just slightly peaking in the red, the problems of using this barely held together equipment allowing for these impossible to duplicate moments of alien pop chaos. The main melody is just as strong and catchy as what makes this minimal synth genre ultimately so interesting. It's more than an experimentation, it solves the problems, overcoming everything pushing it away from you in the end.

"Micro Trauma" has a underlying layer of a possibly middle eastern scale type of vocal with a heavy Kraftwerk feel melody. The fast brief bleating scale of synth, except on this one, like all of Stacian it's under a patina of scratched opaque windows. In that, god forbid, lo-fi way it nods at that history of these sounds. Maybe it's trying to recapture that feeling again by adding layers of age. (The hipstamatic app for the iphone).

I'm getting way over my head for a 7" blog post. I loved every minute of this, it's complex and weirdo and expanding on those minimal synth days through the lens of someone who knows that history and takes it from there. Solid and impressive.

Go check out some of her work on her bandcamp page and pick up this black vinyl, minimal screened sleeve with insert from Moniker Records.

The Limiñanas tour single on Trouble in Mind Records

Got this one in from an offshoot label of Trouble in Mind, "TIM" Records, wait...that's what I thought they were called already? The band is The Liminanas, who are a married couple or siblings with that last name, could be from France...this unusual sleeve for TIM is a tour only single with two tracks from a minimal Young Marble Giants meets the layered cycles of Stereolab.

The A-Side of this one finds the pair alternating between french and english vocals repeating "I've got a trouble in mind", which must have been pretty cool for the members of Cococoma/CEO's of TIM to have a band like this basically write their theme song...which is completely appropriate after all. My friend used to say, well he still does, that the Turing Machine isn't just mathy post rock but a new genre - car chase soundtrack music. The Liminanas are working with their own cool, detached approach to a french beach soundtrack. Instead of the surfing and budweiser, you have cigarette smoking parties and wear ray bans...maybe ride scooter moped things around, with baguettes. It's kind of fancy, but that could be that anything in french sounds a little intimidating. The vocals here of course have a distant relation to Nico, with human emotion this time, and even the restrained guitar strums have a little Velvet reverb to them. They're making a lot out of very little, and I'm definitely into where this pop psyche '60s sound could go on a full length.

The B-Side, “Je m’en Vais” brings a heavy synth rhythm and the hyper tambourine again. These wrists are getting tired. The lady vocals this time are different from the A-Side, and they list two contributors, Mu and Nadge on the center label. There's more relation to Stereolab than just a language in these repetitive, hyptnotizing lines of melody. The whispery layered cool vocals are putting you into a deep sleep.....The full length, and their other single is all sold out from TIM themselves, but at the count of three you will pick this up at Permanent in Chicago, and even Florida's Dying Records.

Luz De Vida 12" benefit compilation on Fort Lowell Records

Fort Lowell Records went and upped the stakes on their 7" single series of Tucson based bands and went all out recently for a 12"...on yellow vinyl! But the radical departure from the 45 format isn't the real story here...this is a benefit album for victims of the Tucson tragedy. It's a pretty amazing homegrown compilation of bands and a label that wanted to help. They looked at what they know how to do, and donated it to the families of the victims of a really terrible tragedy. When you pick this up from Fort Lowell Records, the proceeds are going to the Tucson Together Fund... in this case, buying a record can directly make a difference.

James got this extensive release together of local bands for the vinyl.... you've got previous Fort Lowell artists Tracy Shedd and Dead Western Plains, along with a Giant Sand track from another FL contributor, Howe Gelb. There's also tracks from heavy hitters, Calexico, Rainer and Holy Rolling Empire among others. There's even a live cover of "A Change is Gonna Come" from Chango Malo which is exclusive to this vinyl release.

Let me start right out by saying, it feels bad even talking about these tracks in any kind of way, I mean, this is such an unselfish idea from everyone involved that it's a foregone conclusion it's good...you can't possibly listen to this any other way.

The A-Side starts out with The Dead Western Plains and their heavily layered, optimistic sound, bouncing along with a Brian Wilson experimental edge. A familiar direction for this oddly named local band...I don't think I'm wrong in thinking this complex dance sound doesn't bring to mind a lonesome prairie. I keep confusing them with someone else. The Kiss & Tells have this great nostalgic '60s girl group sound, but I hear the Shangri-La's in everything these days. Big, belted vocals, backup harmony, and on vinyl, it completes the great detached layering feel, making it instantly timeless...in fact I wouldn't be surprised if you told me this was a revered Tucson band from 30 years ago.

Rainer includes a homemade, live room sounding track, with steel guitar and what sounds like an upright bass. A real south western folk sound, from the late Rainer Ptacek. Mariachi Luz de Luna, collaborators with Calexico, gets traditional on their track that might be right at home in another universe with the neo-traditional acts on Electric Cowbell. Giant Sand plays dirty using a chorus of little girls in the chorus...didn't see that one coming...aren't Howe's somber, blues vocals enough? Apparently not.

The live cover of "A Change is Gonna Come" from Chango Malo includes a horn section and is a strong contribution of the classic material. Tracy Shedd lifts the B-Side up with a Magnetic Fields sounding "Encourage Me", the unusually warbly guitar and her layered harmonic vocals reminded me a lot of some of Claudia's contributions. La Cerca is a indie guitar-pop patch of Tucson and Calexico gets introspective again with their especially Iron & Wine sounding track "Absent Afternoon". (Do they need to be compared to anyone? No. Nice going.) I'm just saying be careful with this one. Lenguas Largas is buried in swirly-shoegaze with their dreamy "Such a Thing" while Holy Rolling Empire switches gears again with a flamenco ballad on "Gabynda (Yolanda)". It's a diverse collection of the various sounds of Tucson, a reflection of the people coming together to help out neighbors. It's that simple.

This Saturday in fact, Fort Lowell is having a Record Release Benefit show at The Rialto Theatre in Tucson, AZ. The showcase will feature artists from Luz de Vida, such as Kiss & The Tells, Reno Del Mar, Mariachi Luz de Luna, HAIRSPRAYFIREANDGIRLS, Tracy Shedd, La Cerca, Golden Boots, Silverbell, Rich Hopkins, and Tom Walbank. All proceeds will go to the Tucson Together Fund, and patrons will receive $5.00 off the price of the vinyl record or digital download card of Luz de Vida when purchased at the showcase.

Get this one from Fort Lowell, giant yellow 12" vinyl, an edition of 1500 copies compiling a crazy array of sounds from the Tucson, AZ part of the country, while supporting a truly good cause.

Bryan Lewis Saunders on Private Leisure Industries Records

Got this 12" in from Private Leisure Industries, a full length from Bryan Lewis Saunders, who turns out to be an album of stand-up tragedy. This got me thinking about the late '90s when KRS had their "Wordcore" single series...I forgot that their first release was a split spoken word album... (actually the first 10! - ed), and I remember a friend working at a station upstate and playing a lot of this guy... I can't find his name or album anywhere....all I remember is some kind of beat behind him while he talked about how 12 packs of soda are so cheap they really start fucking with you thinking you could start selling soda...eating fast food, not having any money...sort of like Slacker, but angry...just bitching about everything. But this poetry slam stuff seemed to be going around during that period....don't forget John S. Hall, detachable penis, the resurgence of The Beats appreciation...Gap khaki ad's with Kerouac, apple ad's with Ginsburg, unpublished letters anthologies, documentaries...a huge show at the whitney...I think it was around this time that Burroughs did some kind of collaboration with Kurt Cobain? Or Henry Rollins putting out spoken word and poetry books....I guess looking back there was a fair amount of dealing with this untapped genre. It wasn't just artists reading their already published work anymore it was coming up with material that was specific only to the recorded piece. I feel like that's where we get to Bryan...sure there's a huge 20 page xerox booklet in the liner notes with the lyrics to the tracks, but I feel like these three specific pieces are so tied to the sounds happening in concert that it hopefully elevates it beyond just spoken word? At least I think that would sort of be the next logical step for anyone bringing this back.

There's three massive tracks here all titled "Bedbugs 1-3". The first one gets into a tragic relationship with a pretty messed up girl, with a droning nightmare background. His slightly distorted vocals, weirdly phrased, half singing at times, are at points delivered with a low measured unemotional repeated rhythm and other times he breaks out of character to get scary, or pan the story back and forth across the speakers. It's not a story with a narrative plot, I think a lot of it comes off as disjointed prose diary entries, as weird as that waking dream must have been. Or really high composition notebooks.

It's also reminding me of Joe Frank and his awesomely weird stories on NPR Sunday nights...he's a lot like Bryan, coming up with a whole experience, it's not just a reading, but using all audio to create this weird atmosphere.

This second track is tough.. thanks to a morse code style beeping that repeats on and on for the entire half side of the A-Side, with Bryan barely drunk mumbling underneath. The shrill high pitch tones at random intervals....I'm sure it was thought out enough to represent something, but I haven't been able to properly get through this one. It's impossible to pay attention to what he's saying, and maybe that's the point. An audio bedbug is caught in this one, always there, impossible to get rid of.

The B-Side starts out with an entertaining tv channel 11 report about a bedbug infestation, and interviewing some guy who talks about wearing layers of clothes and tucking them in...I got news for him, in Greenpoint everyone has bedbugs...you either have a reaction to their bites or you don't...it's like mice or roaches...deal with them. They are totally disgusting, but what are you going to do? Honestly the solution is worse than the problem...spraying everything you own with poisons...wrapping everything in plastic for months. They live forever. Bryan really fucking hates these things....I don't blame him. I just know resisting is completely futile. Unless everyone in brooklyn...in the world deals with them all at once. They'll just come from the apt next door...it will make you insane and take over your life. I understand where Bryan is coming from...it's hard to listen to his whispered clinical diagnosis of the problem. I honestly don't want to hear it...it's completely paranoid...the ramblings of a madman....but this is where Bryan's at by the end of this ordeal. I sympathize.

I will play this for the kids trick or treating.

Truly terrifying.

Private Leisure Industries Records

The Slow Death on Silver Sprocket Records/Comics #1

My friend Liz, who actually designed a seven inch cover for a show we did, contributed to this massive comic/single from Silver Sprocket Records...she sent me a copy and I had to talk about what a cool idea this is, bringing comics and singles together.

I remember this AC/DC tribute double single featuring Shellac that came with a comic...which surprisingly is still in print over here. There's another one with Will Oldham that id definitely out of print. The label says there is a 12" bootleg of both of these put together on one 12"...and that is pretty nuts.

This is a great really cohesive look into The Slow Death through stories told to Daryl Gussin at the long running Razorcake (seven inches also connect the dots) and illustrated by Mitch Clem about personally catching them once in San Antonio. Put the clear blue vinyl record on and sit back in that patchy, cat hair filled courdurois easy chair and read about the bands adventures while listening to an EP of their stuff? The only thing that could make this better is one of those smell machines with a cartridge full of BO, Beer and broken dreams to complete the experience.

The Slow Death is punk pop in the style of clean, punchy layered guitars...shiny production, muted power chords, jumping up to the mic, bouncing back to power wrist crank out the punk...and you start to respect it all just a little bit more after reading about hellish road trip experiences to SXSW Does anyone have a good time there? I swear I've heard nothing but terrible things....I'm sure Austin is great, I want to see it someday, but no where near the time that festival is going on. I'm even debating CMJ this year, but enough side things happen outside the scope of the official events that seem to have some good bands...plus I think in NYC you don't even really notice the influx of people, they're absorbed immediately into the mobs of NYC a lot better than Austin I'm guessing. Anyway it's not even an unusual story, you could talk to any band who's toured a few times and you'd get some variation on this story. It makes me snuggle even further down into the couch and have another sip of whiskey, thinking about being in the middle of nowhere like this. You start to appreciate your stupid little safe corner of the world a little more. These guys travel thousands of miles to endure a lot of abuse. I don't envy that...the bands that play at Death by Audio, the Cakeshop, Party Expo...they're getting there with a million stories like this right behind them. I won't get sick of it, and Mitch's equally crisp style...completely works with SD's optimistic pop punk. There's more stories, but you have to get this one yourself to check them out.

Is issue two coming? I'd love to see this happen with all kinds of bands...if this turned into a series I'd have to get every one. Impeccable package, super well designed an executed, they went all out on this printing and pressing. Get this one on (bad idea?) blue and white vinyl from Silver Sprocket Records with download code.

Liz's cover: (Super Matt and I flying together thanks to the power of Soccer Mom)

Death by Steamship on Whoa! Boat Records

This came 12" in from Whoa! Boat Records, a full length from Death By Steamship.

This is going to sound bad, I guess you have to be in the right mindset for this, and it's not just because these guys are from Seattle, but this reminds me so much of the movie Singles, and specifically Citizen Dick...the attitude of these tracks, the kind of 'growing-up-sucks', apathetic, beginning of slacker sound which is too nostalgic, but I get the feeling from these guys of a complete and total sincerity, which comes off as almost hardcore at times. There's no pretention from the songwriting, in the arrangements or in the photo of the band sitting at a coffee table in the middle of a bridge. I miss parts of the country like that. I think this sound has a place in that anti-scene, where a couple of guys can get together and just make music after work.

From track one on the A-Side, "Tangible Things" which is railing against the people bitching about technology, essentially, it isn't really helping to complain and you're old and just sound out of touch...it's a sentiment I think I definitely agree with and never would think to commit it to hard rock like this. I especially like "my ears are bleedin', baby / from listening to NPR", man, I've been there. It's all delivered with Jason's raw, hoarse vocals...he's been yelling for years. The band always works on a pretty classic, straight up, clean instrumentation: guitar, bass, drums...recorded analog (the insert says) and mastered by none other than Matt Shane at Masterdisk...crazy. There's something comforting in this sound, taking me back to a grunge '90s sound that's playing around with the edges of straight classic rock...some of the riffs are harder, some of the progressions get prog...the bass is even given a front seat on "Moorage Fees" with some experimental guitar feedback melody and the rest of the band joining in on the chorus.
On "Cuter Girls Ride Bikes", after some street samples, Jason continues to sound a little like Ian Svenonius or Mike Muir from Suicidal Tendencies, just solo bassline and his perpetually blown out vocals here, but what he's singing about is what I'm completely into...it's abstract, and so weirdly specific, probably autobiographical. I think what he's getting at on this track is this girl maybe has his car? She ended up taking his car, or got it in the divorce? Or she's just a crazy stalker he's trying to avoid, chanting the plate number in his head. It's not the kind of stuff that a great lovesong makes, but makes you god damn original that's for sure. This one has a slow rolling sludge rhythm that picks up into double kick metal. KEEP LOOKING AT THE PLATES! The lyric insert is essential.

Side B side starts with the track, "Hipster Holiday", I thought this was going to be another condemnation of williamsburg, but actually, if they're the characters here, they are gong surfing at night somewhere near Portland? Taking the amtrak train, drinking in the dining train? This sounds like the rain, as fast and agressive as they get, there's just an overall sort of surrender to a bigger melancholy. This gets really oppressive on Diablo Y Dinero, a ride cymbal rhythm keeps time for a slow dirge of distortion, that gigantic storm coming in just over the horizon on the cover. The minute of acoustic funk, where they lighten things up only let's you in on the monotony of career and lack of money. It's never an optimistic picture with these guys. The fact that it also sounds timeless and from that slacker '90s era, maybe is as telling as any other indicator about the state of things.

Basically a long EP at 45rpm, it's a completely consistent document from probably the most sincere thing on vinyl from a group of guys hanging out in the middle of a bridge in the woods. Bitching about technology, health insurance, mortgages, not having 401k's...put your feet up on that shitty coffee table, have another beer in a can. It's those kind of stabs at reality that are so fucking precious...you can sing about anything and these kind of very particular truths are Death By Steamship.

From Whoa! Boat Records.

BROTHER MITYA AND FRIENDS on Folktale Records

Got a single from Brother Mitya and Friends from Folktale Records. Brother Mitya is based on the west coast and has a fragile acoustic style of folk that's being expanded upon with a variety of instrumentation on this release.

"The Terror" on the A-Side, starts out with a buried bossanova sounding organ beat, like something from the Maya Tone on Arise Therefore off in the distance. I like when the mechanics like this are exposed, maybe just for a metronome, but then kind of disregarded, exiled to the back of the track eventually overrun by live recorded drums. I like that contrast on something understated like this. It's sort of putting that mode of production in it's place...keep the beat, or function in the demo, but I also need a human. A first just Hilal and a guitar, the piece quickly expands, and I love the almost disappearing falsetto vocal dealing with all these terrors. Loneliness, alienation, but dealt with very specifically in the lyrics, very specific situations referred to that are still universal and maybe are real terror, because they aren't a monster or ghost...they just make you do stupid things because you're scared in the parking lot after an interview. It's all delivered in a quiet, not rushed, contemplation..while also sounding like it's all going to fall apart, he can barely express the situation without giving something of himself away. The terror chanters serve to unsettlingly sound like the choir they are...out on the lawn, in the middle of the suburban street with the trumpet layered, and distant fades the track out.

B-Sides' "Tenderness" then ups the ante with viola, cello and pedal steel. Both of these tracks are so well put together, it's hard to think of this coming off a single....they have the production of something very serious...and classic. Hilal on this track breaks the silence with that acoustic accompanied by the cello at first, which is joined by that viola...all of a sudden it's like those Nick Drake tracks that took a while to get into because of that after the fact instrumentation, the orchestral arrangements. Hilal has a pronounced room echo on his vocal here, each syllable louder than the last, mic'd right off a PA, with a really weird backup chorus of high maybe pitch shifted "Sha la la". A western slide steel changes that chorus. Lyrically, these are great tracks, he's got a real interesting writing style, packed with an insane amount of depth to a tiny paragraph, it will take a while to decipher on this one, but I think you'd keep hearing new things all the time. Eventually this one takes a turn to a '70s smooth jazz bass feel, and I would love to hear just this extended for an entire track. A classical '70's Candi Staton. The thing is, all of these changes are subtle, you don't hear them coming, it isn't abrupt. He's sneaking a lot of things that shouldn't work in here...or are overused at the very least, but it really doesn't ever go near that line. Really nice stuff. I could take a full length of this.

Incredible illustrated sleeve from Kristina Collantes, who happens to sing backup on both of these tracks. The style and this expression reminded me of Adrian Tomaine....that detached contemporary style...printed on off purple white stock. Black vinyl with download card from Folktale Records.

One Fathom Down - The Humms split on Odd Box Records

Just getting to the final installment of the first batch of singles from Odd Box Records, this one featuring One Fathom Down and The Humms, strange bedfellows to be sure, One Fathom Down is rocking a reverbed surf instrumental sound, while The Humms go for the home recorded acoustic folksong.

I never need an excuse to talk about Deadbolt, but One Fathom Down isn't going to let me get away that easy... this leather clad three piece comes out of London, with their day of the dead mexican imagery, the Ed "Big Daddy" Roth rat tatoos, and instrumental surf guitar. What struck me as immediately similar to Deadbolt is their own mashup of influences that no one else has ever put together....the horror movie themes, the reverb with real B-Movie creep. Like the Cramps, but missing the joke...they are the scariest band in the world because they never hint at a sense of humor. For halloween do yourself a favor and listen to Tiki Man on a lonely dark forest road in the middle of the night. Works every time.. One Fathom Down sound like a similar serious surf rock act, where these disparate influences come together as a straight ahead power surf combo. They get rough with a loud raw, gritty sound, that gets into those classic blues rhythms and sounds, especially on "Supercritical Ocean" with the huge cymbal crashes, the pounding riffs.
On "Breaking the Law" they go for a more Dick Dale whammy bar sound, a lighter melody, the guitars are the center more than usual, which brings me to the point of these guys aren't just the typical garage reverb surf artists, there's technically a lot going on here, this high screachy solo at the end a perfect example, it comes on at a ridiculous pace and is inhumanly executed. I like a band that finds an idiosyncratic niche like this and then completely excels at it to almost take it somewhere else. See Portal or Aphex Twin.

The Humms, out of GA, started recording about 4 years ago from a haunted trailer, toured extensively, and released a glow in the dark single recently. When you're exposed to a thin crackly sounding acoustic number like this it... for better and worse... gives mixed messages about the band as a whole. Was this the lead singer working on a demo in his trailer...or is this typical of what they usually bring to the table? In the latter's defense the sound does start to round out with far off slow, cushy cymbal hits, snare roll and a backup vocal 'oooo'...all of it adding up to a ghostly kind of full folk rock, that has been carefully crafted with all sorts of layers of harmony and a pretty serious fingerpicked centered acoustic that builds it's way out of just a simple 3 chord melody into faster and more complex structures as the track goes on.
The fact that this is coming from a UK label Odd Box, does make sense for the almost accented, nasal vocals here, looking at their site, I wasn't sure I had the same Humms actually based on this track that could be a minimal Kinks, Billy Bragg sounding story song...well Billy Bragg might be a bit much, but let's say theres some strong '60s over the pond influences at work here, which might not have anything to do with Odd Box. It's a track that stays complex and bouncy while talking about Jupiter, maybe the same god of war Jupiter? and his trials and tribulations of a regular life...the sad and pop together.

The weird thing about these records is I've finally gotten used to is the center label which says on the B-Side "Side 1 is One Fathom Down, Side B is The Humm", all on the same label which is on the opposite side, and it's no help to look at the inner matrix # which is *****/A on both sides!... I don't know either of these guys in a lot of cases, and here I end up thinking that acoustic folky ballad is One Fathom Down for a bit, until double checking online that those 3 dudes with greaser haircuts can't possibly be playing the "Jupiter" track...

There are still subscriptions from Odd Box available....all six releases can be yours...all at once....no waiting, for 24£...whcih shouldn't be too bad at this point exchange-wise, isn't the world economy going to shit?

Psycho on Patac Records

Here's another single from, Psycho on the Boston-centric hardcore label, Patac Records. The last thing I expected was this jagged sawblade looking vinyl when I pulled it out from the sleeve. Incredible....looks like they had to start cutting the tracks way inside to allow room for working out the blades, but then how did they cut those into each vinyl? That's completely insane...there must have been some kind of jigsaw form or something. Another step after they're pressed...a shit-ton of work. I honestly have no idea how you would do that on a scale of 500 or so like this. Lucky mastered these at least... and then they were pressed somewhere else? And maybe then cut/melted somewhere else? Damn, Patac had the idea it would work with Psycho...putting the needle on the record, that sawblade is a nice touch.

Sounding an awful lot like Suicidal Tendencies, on "Vertigo", the first track...but that probably jut says more about the last time I was listening to this stuff. To know there is this kind of well documented and supported scene in Boston is great...it's almost intimidating, and Patac is giving you plenty of places to start. They really have nailed down this sound and it's players throughout the genre's history. Turns out these guys have been around since 1982, breaking it off in 1994, and coming back 16 years later with this 4 song EP. Why? Probably because they can't stop playing. This grindcore is always going to be a part of them, obviously. They could help shape a new scene.

Wouldn't it be weak to say "Well, I grew up, so I had to quit"....you loved it in the first place..what changed? You got older? Who cares! I swear if a band gives up like that, you almost have to discount their body of work a little. I guess they never had that drive. It's easy to load up your shit every night at 18, and play as fast as possible, but to hear these guys keeping this up on the uncomfortable "Animal", is more hardcore than anyone under 20. The real balls come when your band has been around for 30 freaking years and then crush you with a punk EP like this.

"Religious" on the B-Side, is as condemning as you can imagine, the vocal rhythm back and forth of Cody is overlapping, delivered at inhuman speed. They always seem to find an internal rhythm that doesn't seem to repeat in any regular way...well it breaks out at the beginning and ends with a solo, but I think it's just to mess with you.

"Legalize Murder" features lyrics written by GG, I don't know if this was based on some published writing he did, or it was some kind of spoken word track...or is this what he said at NYU when he was sticking the banana up his ass? However they found it, they ended up making it my favorite track. (They actually recorded with GG on "Freaks,Fags, Drunks and Junkies" (1987) - ed) Going almost Black Flag with a party on punk version of "Fucking Pigs! Legalize Murder!" railing heavy headbanging chords, this is a rally cry for occupy wall street. They need some punk rock attitude down there to really make a change. Forget the drum circles, play "legalize murder(ing the rich)" and I'll happily be down there.

Sawblade black vinyl with double sided sleeve, with lyrics and liner notes inside.

Boston's own godfathers of grind are back with a brand new platter of splatter! Four raging tracks that are gaurenteed to give your turntable a real kick in the ass. This is the first new set of recordings in fourteen years. PSYCHO formed in 1982, and stood out in the Boston scene due to their unique blending of hardcore punk and thrash metal. Bands like PSYCHO, CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and THE ACCUSED laid down the groundwork for modern mainstream acts like MUNICIPAL WASTE and TOXIC HOLOCAUST. This record has been die-cut into a 'sawblade' shape, and limited to 600 copies, the first 150 are on red vinyl.

Stag - Don't Lead With Your Heart - on Fin Records

This Stag single came in from Fin Records out of Seattle, who make it clear with singles like theses, they're about releasing material they are completely behind, for no other reason then they appreciate these artists and want to get their material out there into the world. It's what every seven inch label I track down and buy singles from is doing on some level, but Fin goes to pretty nuts lengths in the package details, hence the $10 pricetag. But down to the pink inner sleeve, they're going after those insane electric pink shades inspired by the sleeve graphic, even embossing the mylar sleeve with a "Fin" notary stamp. The vinyl itself is a pretty unique lavender color I haven't seen anywhere either...almost purple, with a lot of white tint.

The shades of pink throughout the 7" is really appropriate to this heavily produced, traditional power rock 5 piece. It can't be anything but an optimistic statement, and they seem to have a pretty positive spin on everything, even if the lyrics might be hinting at something else. In "Don't lead with your heart", for example, even though it's a sort of hindsight advice to the events that transpired, it's pretty straightforward catchy guitar pop track. Steve's vocals can't be anything but pretty and you know this character is going to be alright. Things didn't work out between them, but no one is in jail. They probably still get together for coffee...but not in a sad depressing way.

"Ides of March on the B-Side, takes this power classic rock formula and adds a horn section from the first measures. Slowly building into the electric distortion. I actually thought I was hearing some kind of synth at first but it setting up this huge windmill chord section and it sounds like something right out of Tommy. The same epic rock musical storytelling that changes subtly again into a late '90s big alternative sound, like Soul Asylum, or the Lemonheads. Back when rock was trying to take back something sincere from the hair metal, the theatrics, the artificiality, but still keeping that structure, the power rock, the big clean sound. So it makes sense when you see this band is made up of members of That Petrol Emotion and Alcohol Funnycar, among others. There's a long history here of creating that alternative, and this single is no exception.

Get this one from Fin Records who says:

The five members of Stag are seasoned musicians, who have spent years on the Seattle club scene, but managed to become veterans without letting cynicism overtake them. These are people playing together because they enjoy it, and for little other reason. Singer Steve Mack was also the lead vocalist of That Petrol Emotion, a highly praised UK band from the eighties. Ben London played guitar and sang with Alcohol Funnycar, Sanford Arms, and Burning Rivers, and does the same in Stag, in addition to writing all the songs. Bass player Pete Everett broke his teeth with Tuffy, before joining Seattle’s the Mellors. Drummer Rob Dent has played with Jackie on Acid, Kingsly, and Sanford Arms. Guitarist Lincoln Barr is the singer/songwriter behind Red Jacket Mine.

The record was cut!

Just sifting through the documentation now, but the record was cut, no major disasters, the weather was awesome, great turnout from friends and just people enjoying the day.... the bands were incredible, Animal Hospital's experimental dense layers of rel to reel and built up samples, Ashcan Orchestra's impressive anything goes percussion setup, bowed xylophones and welded metal gears, Tree Of Tenere's (members of Soccer Mom) instrumental rock and even getting Bobby from the Hussy to acoustic garage rock over the phone, that was a truly surreal moment in the lathe room.

Thanks to everyone that came out, and to Masterdisk, especially Alex DeTurk for working the lathe cutter. It's what I imagine Nasa missions were like. You're in a windowless room listening to audio, talking to people who may as well be a million miles away, placing mic's and adjusting levels, there's only one time to get this. You have one shot.

Really incredible job. Alex and James took the time out of a perfect Saturday to sit in there with us and try something hopefully totally new. We should have the audio rip of the disk us to preview at some point, and tons more pictures.

LIve! From 14th Street! with Art in Odd Places and Masterdisk

Hey there, just wanted to let everyone know about this project happening tomorrow on 14th and 10th ave, NYC. At 2PM in the park between the west side highway and 10th ave, right in the center of the grassy hill there we will be cutting a record, live.

A while back I went to Masterdisk in midtown to check out their mastering facilites and learn a little bit about what goes into cutting the lathe master that gets plated and stamps out the records that we buy in a store. Checking out the lathe cutting room with Alex and watching him cut a record in front of us was pretty amazing. After seeing a tweet from them around the same time about wishing they could throw the lathe cutter into a truck and cut a live record...well that got us thinking...couldn't we live stream a performance to the lathe cutting room a few blocks away instead?

At the same time Art in Odd Places was having their annual public art project across 14th Street and having worked with that great festival before we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to attempt this under the umbrella of AiOP with the help of Masterdisk and 4 great bands.

Since this project is about communication and what happens in the translation between technologies we then wanted to tie in some of those recording landmarks with the bands pieces.

Matt asked Kevin from Animal Hospital to work with the earliest recorded audio from Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville's phonautograph. A demented lo-fi scratchy tune from possibly Édouard-Léon himself.

I talked to Pat from Ashcan Orchestra to listen to the first radio broadcast off the coast of MA in 1906 to see what they'll come up with.

Finally we gave our friends in Soccer Mom (10" out on sweaters and pearls!) an image of the voyager disk for inspiration.

Matt suggested we could go one step further and call in a band to play over the phone and that's when we thought of The Hussy in WI.

The three bands will play live for each side of the record and Matt and our trusty technicians/photographers Jim Manning and Rob Coshow will capture it all, while I'm at Masterdisk with engineer Alex DeTurk making sure it's coming through and watching the record being cut. When it's finished I'll jump in a cab and head down to the park to listen to the record with the bands and anyone who decides to show up.

I'll be posting pieces of the final audio and some video of the performance in the coming weeks. I'm excited, the weather looks like it's going to hold out, and it should be a pretty crazy spectacle on a Saturday afternoon. Go check out these bands, they're all super great guys for working with us, and I hope it's as exciting for them.

The Mystic Fortress Sessions Vol. 1 Super Vacations / Eternal Summers split on Funny/Not Funny Records

Just got this split in from Harrisonburg, VA's Funny/Not Funny Records, a single under the ominous sounding possible series(?), The Mystic Fortress Sessions, Vol.1 from two Virginia buddies Eternal Summers and a band close to our heart over at Sweaters and Pearls Records, The Super Vacations. Looks like the Mystic Fortress, like all well named forts, is a recording studio where all 4 of these tracks were laid down. It could be the start of a series from these two bands or other acts recorded at the fort?...or it's just an spooky long name.

The A-Side from The Super Vacations features "Picnic" up first. As hazy, summertime as their titles are on this one, with their poppy aesthetic and layered harmonies of vocals, they continue to sound a little dark to me. It's such a weird combination of sunny dread, with all the post punk minimal basslines, and minor key melodies. Even Rob's vocals which blend into this haze can't possibly be celebrating what comes to mind when I hear "picnic". Don't get me wrong it's not ironic, they sincerely feel like Real Estate's type laments about suburbia that come off as sad and nostalgic. Maybe it's this understated way this whole instrumentation is put together, they don't seem to rely on a whole lot of effects or sub par recordings, just the slightly unsettling way it's crafted. Like listening to The Wire, it's all in the economy....or what you might call "songwriting". When you get to the second track, "Beer League", it's no less creepy with the inflection from Rob's vocals, his combination of rising and falling emphasis along with a high (female?) falsetto accompaniment. They're walking that line between a dense experimental psyche and this dark minimal post punk...I don't think I've really heard that in their previous work before...but go listen for yourself. Seriously, like 50 first dates, I wake up everyday excited because I've never heard all these singles! Look at them all!

I'm just hearing Eternal Summers for the first time, who start off with B-Side's "On My Honor", it's a surprise to hear the mellow rhythm and soothing etherial vocal from Nicole, which only amplifies how I'm sure about that eerie tension of the Super Vacations on the flip side. To be basically working under the same premise to come to these completely different conclusions in a lot of ways makes me question the entire scientific community. It's like an uptempo Softies, that dreamy voice of Rose Melberg it's impossible to get sick of. There's the same sort of indie jangle in the guitar, but with a very deliberate nod to the Velvet Underground, here's the riff, listen for the subtlety, getting down into the slow psyche area of things...then on "Half the Time (stripped down version) they're making me rethink The Sundays place in psyche...it's not an album I would revisit, but in rural upstate NY before the internet, I can't tell if I made way more out of that album then should be acceptable. This track is reminding me of that period of time when I probably listened to that a lot...and again, I haven't heard it in years, I think vocally, the slight delay, the chorus, where the sounds are almost turning into the background instrumentation, I'm not sure anymore of where the lyric started. Add tremolo warbly guitar strums and it adds up to a shoegaze sort of revisit sound, that is most definitely the sound of an Eternal Summer.

Pretty sure these are exclusive to this release and is limited to just 300 on black vinyl with digital download code.... F/NF says:

Funny / Not Funny Records is proud to present "The Mystic Fortress Sessions Vol. 1." This record celebrates the creativity captured at the lair of the Magic Twig Community. For the first edition we bring you the pairing of long time friends Eternal Summers and The Super Vacations. From start to finish this release delivers rolling pop riffs and timeless melodies that in combination create the perfect vibe for any summertime release. This body of work speaks for itself, so make sure to order this limited, must have, release before it's gone.

Hyena / Elephant split on Laughable Recordings

Got this split single from Hyena and Elephant in from Greg at Laughable Recordings, who also happens to be a part of both of these projects according to the liner notecard. He mentioned that Mark Fede of Fat History Month! recorded these and the tiny world of seven inches gets smaller by a few degrees.

The A-Side from Hyena starts off with "Prayers on Tape" a quiet background cassette recording slowly makes it's way towards the room instrumentation. The layers of static, a woman talking fast rewound and played on top of each other sets the hushed bedroom recording feel of the track. Tiny pieces of snare, and guitar noodling creeps in through the samples which fade into a restrained acoustic guitar and high register barely audible vocals. The vocals become layered and the composition builds in a vaguely Bright Eyes style, with that exhausting tension, any minute this thing is going to explode, which it absolutely does by the end, a mass of free form percussion and distortion that literally sounds like it continues into the next track, "Yup, the sun is up". Hugely orchestrated and rocking, I'm reminded of the operatic prog style of Sunset Rubdown, there's an amazing amount of dense composition at speed, that has impressive changes with a huge range of emotion, the tiny cracking lyric with a back of the room scream. "Waning Days" is almost a slow country track, just strained vocals and tiny smatterings of electric, a minimal melody built on the strength and direction of this truly unique voice. Belting out a high heartbreaking warble in the middle of the quiet, setting you up as much as possible for the rock ruckus it evolves into that echo's this desperate fight feel of the whole side.

Elephant takes on 4 tracks on the B-side of this one, starting with "Southern Manners". Working in an equally grandiose style, this has all of the density and carnival effort of An Airplane over the sea where it's impossible to dissect what out of this storm is exactly creating the melody. It's a neighborhood VFW hall band at the gazebo, the individual pieces hard panned on separate speakers at points. The vocals are deep and deliberately phrased in the middle of this loose massive sound pot, which overflows into warped string guitars, and falling down the stairs percussion hits. This fades out right into "Wisecracks" which has a trembling organ, acoustic and the deep vocals about fireworks and couches paired up with a high airy vocal from Eve. This one also goes nuts by the end, it's something that I don't think is ever obviously seen for miles. Like Blueberry Boat, it's beginning to feel really like one extended piece, just broken into movements by the natural pauses. "Sand in Your Nails" is eerily quiet, broken chords and slight echo on the vocal... creaking chairs in the background that again can't help but gradually build almost immediately, they're in love with that sweet release of a moment of epic dynamics against the sparse musical landscape.

With "Silent Movie Masterpiece" I'm a little struck by how there aren't any choruses to immediately grab on to, the stream of consciousness storytelling tracks have their own weird rhythms, rising and falling, carefully implemented. I wouldn't be surprised if there was actual sheet music written at some point to keep this straight. A unique country fair ride you've never seen it before, it's probably not safe, but that just makes you get in line faster.

You can check out all the tracks on the labels bandcamp page and then pick this up from Laughable Recordings, an edition of 250 on black vinyl with insert liner notes.

The Loud on Payper Tiger Records

Got another overseas import to talk about today, from a UK label Payper Tiger Records, the band is The Loud and they sound to be working in a loose garage-y glam style, especially on this title track, "Amy's gonna get you", that ultra scuzzy dual guitar sound bouncing around that defines this one from the first riff. I can't help but get that Gary Glitter rhythm from "Rock and Roll (part2), you know the one....HEY! Vocally they carry that dirty sound further into his own slight distorted lyrics that grow into a blowout chorus, yelling like hell, a little of The Walkmen energy that makes that chorus stick with you for another play. It sounds like this girl is bad news, but he likes it. What are you going to do. The enthusiastic produced glam of T-Rex or the Smith Westerns meeting the indie pop energy of Ted Leo or Babyshambles. It's really working minimally with hardly anything at times, just a solid groove so when the layers of synth sounding guitars kick in, it's pretty over the top.

The B-Side sounds like a home recorded acoustic track (the best kind), called "Jodie Foster", this one manages to have that same energy as that A-Side, this guy really owns this all out style, you can hear the tiny room he built this in, not that it stops the raw lay it out vocals. You wouldn't know it started as some kind of demo once the bass and organ lay their own parts in, that's really successfully done the whole time thinking, this guy has that kind of natural ability to write something like this stuck in a room by himself.

You can check out both tracks on The Loud's bandcamp page, and pick this one up from Payper Tiger Records.

Soccer Mom - You are not going to heaven - EP on 100m Records and Sweaters and Pearls Records

Got another release today from my own Sweaters & Pearls label.

If you would have told me I would be a part of 3 releases in the same year I would have...well the S&P accountants would have said "No way", but there's just been so much great stuff that I've really wanted to support and they just all came together pretty much at the same time. In the best way...this was by far the most ambitious project to date. Soccer Mom signed recently with 100m Records and said they were putting out this 6 song EP, they've always been huge vinyl fans and it made sense to see if we could put together a vinyl version of the release. When I saw the sleeve design Will had come up with, money was no object! I had always wanted to check out letterpressing a cover sometime, but the way it's pressed, the Soccer Mom and the album title are covered by a wraparound vertical graphic, such a cool idea. It was beyond anything I'd ever come across and couldn't wait to have it in hand.

Soccer Mom has been evolving a lot since that first single. There's still a lot of '90s classic fuzz throughout this whole EP, taking all kinds of unconscious influences and coming up with their really unique take the classic sound. There's times when I'll catch a dead on Dinosaur Jr. style melody in "(A) Natural history" one minute and then Dan's vocal will have Lee Ranaldo natural detachment the next.

It's got all the looseness of those catchier Sonic Youth tracks, when they veer towards melody, finding that line that just makes sense, Soccer Mom is playing around with a similar experimental guitar approach, the unnatural sounds and combinations of rhythm and melody. They're distilled down into melody you can't over think. It's the track that works no matter how many times you perform it. The first song to warm up in the rehearsal space, because it's just fun.

"American shirt (Eagle Flag 911)" most closely resembles that Loveless style haze, the layers of guitar are working in a dense chorus and distanced slide echo. I wouldn't be surprised if this was days in a studio, but I've seen them play live and all of these odd sounds are incredibly coming from Will and Dan, and at incredible volume. Like The Big Sleep it's overwhelming to see live, the structures are all there, it starts to sound like it's coming from somewhere else, it takes up the space like nothing else. Or "Unwanted Sounds" which has layers of distorted huge guitars, both an intricate picked melody and massive MBV style dense walls done in a bouncy optimistic indie feel. When Dan comes in with an epic far off chorus vocal it adds up to a pop vision of Broken Water.

In "Celebrity Unrest", they find a hard distorted groove that starts out at that massive height and continues on that plateau the whole track, building another melody on top of melody, and like "High on Dad" just when you think it might be instrumental, Dan comes in vocally unable to hold back anymore. I love that economy...when there's something to say, come in. If the great mathy guitar back and forth on "Salty Wyoming" works somehow like two completely separate loops then that's it.

So glad I could have a tiny part in spreading the word and I just want to say to everyone who's picked up anything from the label, thanks a lot.

Go get this one from Sweaters and Pearls Records...or 100m records...(the price including shipping is the same).