The Wolfhounds on Oddbox Records

Track 4 on the A-Side of the infamous C86 cassette released by NME almost 30 years ago now (yikes) featured The Wolfhounds alongside The Soup Dragons, The Mighty Lemon Drops (one of my first shows at a college near where I lived probably 6 years after this came out) and The Wedding Present among others. The definitive document came to represent the 'indie' scene which hadn't been nailed down like this previously. Though this article by Alistair Fitchett sheds an entirely different light on this diverse scene and the mistake of overcategorization...

The Wolfhounds released material through 1990 before splitting up and getting back together for the 20th anniversary reunion of their first single Cut the Cake in 2005. Things must have gone alright and they entertained coming up with new material and here we are at the present where they've released a new single on Oddbox Records 27 years after getting together.

Appropriately enough the first track "Cheer Up" kicks off with that melodic jangle electric picking up right where they left off. It's not that surprising, these guys were doing exactly what they wanted back then and obviously continue to do so with a cheer up / fucking cheer up lyric in a deceptively sunny pop style. The guitar is the essential piece of this sound, a cool laid back strum creating that solid foundation to lay everything else on...the straight ahead beats, and lead layers. David Callahan also didn't skip a beat heading down this shiny positive sounding road with a hint of ridicule. Don't wallow in self pity, get on with it, which they make seem possible in the tracks unpretentiousness.
B-Side's "Security" finds the jangle working against this tom/kick downbeat and David's vocally going to a Smiths kind of place for me here, that headstrong lead vocal that can hit on all sorts of off the path melodies hiding in this seemingly basic rhythm. This stripped down guitar/tom structure builds up verse by verse to an epic chorus with the guitars shifting over to an almost sliding thick shimmer. But if you come up with a decidedly pop stomp beat like this, it's practically writing itself and is infinitely replayable. "The Devil Looks After Her Own" you see what they did there? Flipping expectations again before you even know what happened. Break out the acoustic which is the only backing necessary behind these vocals, at the end of the day, this guy has a great vocal style without going off into obviously trained areas. It's got that simplicity without being self conscious. They even bend these metallic chords and it could be there's been a couple layers of electric here the whole time. This whole electrified thing could just be a passing fad though, we'll have to see.

Singles going home alone - 2013 Matador

Oh gosh, new year of singles from Matador, this time it's going to be one every MONTH! Starting with Jeff Novak....damn.

For 2013, we’ll be doing a single every month, plus a special secret bonus 7″ at the conclusion, plus a yet-to-be-determined container for all the singles (wooden box? carrybag made from human flesh? a tote bag Altamont manufacture for free? ). The first single in the series is a pair of new songs from Cheap Time founder Jeffrey Novak, followed by an entry from Matador alumni Superchunk in February (one original backed with a cover of SS Decontrol’s “Glue”). The tentative schedule looks like this :

Jan 29: Jeffrey Novak – I Never Knew I Knew So Much / B-7
Feb 19: Superchunk – I Hate History / Glue
Mar 26: Cian Nugent – TBA
Apr 23: Lower Plenty / Dick Diver – split 7″
May 21: Bits Of Shit – TBA
June 11: Royal Headache - TBA

There's nothing else to say.... except save one of the 750 for me. I have to leave something for my wife to get me for xmas. Thank you.

Ultras S/C's on Cass Records

Just heard about this Ultra S/C single from Ben over at Cass Records, featuring Cheetah (Immortal Lee County Killers, Quadrajets) Swank (Soledad Brothers, Pewabic Pottery) and Jemina (Be Your Own Pet, Cheap Time). First of all when was Jemina in Cheap Time? Where have I been...Jeff Novak and Jemina? Have to track that down, I'm curious what kind of duo vocal that would be, and how her typically dirty scuzz punk would work with Jeff's intensely crafted glam rock.
Well, this debut single from Ultra S/C seems to be a similar kind of combination of like parts. Sounds like it should be a real meaty blues punk sound if that soundcloud track is any indication. Jemina has a pretty ridiculous vocal, she manages to scream in her upper register while still sounding like there's a lot of control there. Nestled in this echo it's a real thick, clean sound. The guitar has that crisp electric distortion, jacked up high treble range...even going for a screaming wah. Nice to hear this kind of rowdy noise again...that track below completely devolves into losing their shit at the end, crashing everything actually kind of drowning Jemina out which shouldn't be possible, but they're pushing this pummeling noise all the way to the end.

You can pick this up from Cass Records, sample a completely different track "Black Face Time" below.

Little Miss and the No Names 6 song EP on Rigid / Headbones Records

Little Miss and The No Name's didn't exactly prepare me for this sludgy, dark metal punk trapped on this disc, neither did the meticulously crafted screened canvas cloth cover, in color no less. I put this single on and turned my back to go check out this packaging and the scuzziest dubbed over cassette metal gurgled out of the speakers. Starting with "CCM", it's scary fucking metal....made all the more so because it sounds like it was recorded just outside the metal razorwire cage these guys have been confined to. That didn't stop some madman from going into this den of filth to hit record and make it out alive with the tape. Really, the sound quality on this thing is something else. Completely unmanufactured anti-dolby made shallower by jamming three tracks on a side at 33...well that's what it said on the inner label anyway. Only now just realized this girl's vocals are a little....well....manly and switched it to 45. Now that makes a lot more sense. But I'll tell you what it's no less frightening, Rebecca's hoarse scream delivery is pretty nuts. That also changes this lyric in "CCM" about overpopulation and chemical castration. Brief bursts of punk lyrics in that brutal hardcore style with virtually no low end... now I'm not complaining, I'm already testing my new neighbors patience with this horror. "Mind" has ONJ and Paulie Unsaturated (that's a perfect descriptor for these guitars) actually coming in with a backup response to Rebecca's vocal dealing with the weird shit going on in her head. Here's the place to get it out, and I'm guessing this live show is as dirty as this sounds. But again if this sounded all crystal clean and polished I'd be suspect along with everyone else. "Dirty Sheep" finds the thin sludge bleeding together and somehow the cymbals are the quietest thing in this mix. This one is about not being punk because you all do the same shit. Tell me about it. The tiny way that this does warm my heart on a cold night in the big city is that there is a band like this out there in Boise Idaho, (that's really where they're from) who if I pulled my shitty car into town they would probably be my only friends. I know young 7inches in the country would have gladly gone to their shows just because it would have probably pissed someone off...and even if you have no idea what your pissed about and are a complete idiot like I was...well it's better than a lot of other ways of life I've seen out there where the people live far apart and vote republican. This is the quinessential 7inches story: put together this punk band in Boise, play like hell, make no money, it's all for fun, your job sucks, and press a record like this.
The B-side keeps up this speed with "Perfection" about how useless that even is, this is pure pissed off noise...it really doesn't get more pure of a sentiment than this. You make something this much on the fringes of commercial ROCK, you really don't care what anyone thinks...it's just sad when that cleaned up punk garbage actually turns into a Vans tour or something. I know...all music is great, those guys worked hard too, and I want to believe it started as authentic as this, but where do you draw the line? As soon as people start making money there's a downward spiral? The stakes are higher I guess.
This would be a welcome soundtrack for feeling lonely and pissed in the garage with basically no prospects of getting out of the shithole where your parents are focing you to live.

Get this from Rigid Records. I recommend the super deluxe canvas version housed in a black envelope with lyric insert, stickers and pieces of their soul. You're going to have to go over to their myspace if you want to hear this insanity.

They must be doing something right if Rigid Records site was hacked?

Mad Nanna on Soft Abuse Records

Soft Abuse put out this single a couple of weeks back from Mad Nanna, another prong of the Australian invasion that snuck up on me. I was just listening to Almost Ready's 12" split between UV Race and Eddy Current...a great live show from 2008 previously on cassette. Is it about time to declare a Flying Nun type era for Australia? Is this the second wave anyway? Where does Mad Nanna's ramshackle rock fit into those punk garage sounds?
I also remember not long ago Quemada Records introducing me to Mad Nanna and this sound feels like it's carrying on those underground, stick a tape in the cassette player and hit record sessions. "My Two Kids" has the warm hum of ungrounded cables, a loose jangle electric guitar chord seems to be slightly played a little different everytime. Those same three chords can sound like an entire range of tempos, meanwhile this pounding percussion beat is vainly attempting to speed things up. A harmonium or possibly sax bleats away?... It's hard to tell, the delivery of this thing is slightly out of sync with the concrete melody that everyone else is sort of adhering to while they get all avant jazz over this Velvets heroin haze rhythm. It's a kind of beautiful mess that reminds me of that Pumice 10" from Soft Abuse also, laying it all on the line. There's no tricks here, it's like a giant baby with a sledgehammer, get out of the way.
B-Side, "I'm not Coming Here" Find things in a different space entirely, the jangle not even bothering to move up or down the scale but in a tighter space maybe. Still blasting vocals through a PA system, way out of range of decipherability, and the electric/sax coming together in a weird similar place. When it finally reaches into a new chord for a measure, it sounds weird. Let this droning jam go on forever. JI wouldn't mind sitting back on the beer stained couch of the practice room and close my eyes and zone out to this for a while. It's easy to reenact in my own apartment actually. If they could stick this little gem into a locked groove, well who knows how long it would play. live audience claps, if I'm drunk enough I will too.

Turns out there's ANOTHER single with this exact track lineup of different versions from Unwucht Records.

This sleeve reminds me of one of my favorite photographers Richard Billingham. Disposable camera flash photography. Just like the music, nothing polished or fake, thank you very much. Liquid white out writing over the photo, send it to the printers. Watch the water go down the drain's counterclockwise mate.

J Dilla - Donuts boxed set on Stones Throw Records

I watched that Tribe Called Quest doc the other day, Beats Rhymes & Life and it's a really great film about those guys, who I guess I didn't take that seriously looking back on that time period. I liked the Low End Theory a lot and even got into Q-tip a little while later, but that film made me rethink those guys in a whole new way. I had to go on ebay in the middle of it to bid on a few records. They had some disagreements, but really seem like nice guys. They even mention J Dilla, then I got this email about this box set of his stuff? Completely inspiring, I love that Stones Throw goes to these lengths for packaging along with the impressive mark they are making on all of underground hip hop. Not that I have any idea about what I'm talking about.
But go listen to those samples on their order page...it's an education.

People Bomb on Fin Records

North Korea, Cambodia, Ronald Reagan, these were the easy targets of late '80s punk. As a little jimmy growing up in the countryside of upstate NY, before the days of the internet, these were important tracks of rebellion for the young author responsible for 7inches. It's since become well worn territory for everything loud and fast, but what if punk ran out of things to protest? You'd invent them.

East Korea is one those not so progressive authoritarian places imagined buy the not even old enough to vote band, People Bomb out of Seattle. They got together for a recording session with the brothers from Seacats, previously released on Fin as well, and ended up with these couple of tracks, among others. It's a kinetic, frantic pop sound incorporating the speed and dogma of punk. You take an idea like this fictional part of the world and use it a stand in for a whole lot of wrongs because to name them individually is pointless. Throw away the rules, and make some room for the new kids.

"East Korea" starts out with a possible attempt at their national anthem, a slow snare march, smashing cymbals and loose laid back electric...probably not something they'd be into exactly, but also functions as that misleading punk start. They drop into synth tinged quick barreling drum rolls with this repeating four chord melody. Bass and some barely audible distortion fall in line under lead vocal Garrison's dystopian vision and quivering yelp of "EAST KOREAAAAHH!". Rapid fire vocals over punchy pop menace recalls those old school ideas of punk protest also being a damn fine tune, almost to their detriment. A conflict of having a good time with some bad ideas. Or you make it fun to sink the hooks in, and then the lyric creeps up
The children never lie / the ones you love will never die
Sounds like a great place...maybe a little too great...or People Bomb is an arm of East Korea! It's made out of people!
"Pale White Paint" on the B-Side takes things a little slower and Garrison steps up in the mix with a soul barritone serious side going after a different kind of power structure. This time it's a little closer to home and the ignorance going on down the street, it's all painted pale white, not to offend anyone or inspire any kind of ...well anything. A bleak picture from People Bomb delivered in this laid back almost lounge style in another attempt to mess with expectations. Loose jangle, warbling groove that is dying to break out of this box that echo's this trapped atmosphere. You don't want to end up like the creeps in this song do you?

On sunshine yellow opaque vinyl with printed inner sleeve of liner notes and a map of East Korea and it's many places of interest. Get this direct from Fin Records.

Asobi Seksu/Boris Split on Polyvinyl / Sargent House

Hey Black Friday shoppers...better off staying at home and picking up this holiday/shop day single on Polyvinyl from Asobi Seksu and Boris who cover each other...it's a preorder, but hopefully you could get this in time for xmas for the stocking.

Asobi Seksu are one of those bands I missed somewhere along the way, I know they've been around for over ten years and combine a sort of shoegaze with electronics and their cover of Boris' "Farewell" sounds to be applying those elements to the Boris massive wall of sound, especially when this thing takes off. Shimmery elements float under Yuki's upfront omnipotent vocal andlike the original it takes time to build and even when you know it's coming, the payoff is more insane than you imagined. They make this one completely their own while changing it entirely....the way the best covers can.
Boris takes a glitchy hammer to backwards samples, and push "Neu Years" into a cavernous hard space. Whirring mechanics grind and flail around this double kick beat and dreamy vocals. Haven't heard this kind of electronic approach from these guys before, and it's a new side of density to their ever changing style. A single that pushes both of these bands who toured together into new areas.

Get it from Polyvinyl Records, or Sargent House.

As part of Record Store Day's Black Friday event, former tourmates Asobi Seksu and Boris will be releasing a special split 7".

Limited to just 1000 copies, the record finds each band covering a song from the other.

Includes download code for both songs + two tracks from each band's discography.

The vinyl was pressed in collaboration with Sargent House and is available for pre-order in our store now.

Pre-orders ship Dec. 3. Available in stores Nov. 23.

Dead Leaf Echo / Slowness split on Green Fuse Records

The Brooklyn four piece Dead Leaf Echo sent in this split single they did with Slowness on Green Fuse Records a few weeks back. A little less than a year ago I listened to another single of theirs on Custom Made Music which actually compelled me to mention Oscar Wilde? I'll give them this, I'm still into this nostalgic sound, which has elements of Ride, Curve, Lush...all the one name English shoegaze sounds and can't help but recall that time period for me. Along with Slowness out of San Francisco, both sides are forcing some rethinking about the contemporary relevance of the genre for me on grey Thursday.

For instance the DLE-Side's "Act of Truth has that perfect late '80s tone from something like OMD, the airy vocals, the background of heavy chorus guitars... this utter sense of weightlessness and optimism, beyond just the pleasant pop of Psychedelic Furs or Modern English. Dead Leaf Echo aren't driven by anything other than the appreciation of these huge, cavernous, breathy sounds. Ana B. on guitar and keys (keytar?) works back and forth with Christo, he takes on the verse while she oo and ah's behind the scenes, that perfect gaze element: the female vocal. The production on this thing is impeccable, you have all the skill and craft of a gleaming monolith like The Flaming Lips but under a cloud of melody, this thick fog that never really settles for the whole track, almost becoming psychedelic. It's still catchy and aspiring to that pop place, just by default taking it's sweet time and enjoying the ride. It's a great sound that doesn't necessarily have to be also buried under recording limitations, the hiss and fuzz is all in your head on this one. Fantastic airy, romantic throwback track. I'm nostalgic today maybe...and definitely tired from the turkey. My wife also just told me about DIIV and it's all coming together and blowing my mind.

The B-Side from Slowness, "Race to Mars" is right away a perfect compliment, working in the big delayed effects.... maybe digging deeper into this beat possibly which is a little higher in the mix, but the higher register vocals of Geoff are already up there and are doing fine without the angelic feminine element...it can never hurt really, but it's nothing that feels missing. Nice addition of a kind of sitar sounding electric, bouncing off the walls in a solo pause. I like this whole idea in the genre of introducing a haphazardness with the plethora of effects. You know basically what's going to happen, but let's face it, they're doing a lot of the work and it's kind of exciting, walking into the unknown like that on any given track...from either of these two really. You have to recreate this and it's going to be near impossible. In fact you are probably going to be the only one who knows how to even pull this off. My favorite kind of shoegaze.

Nice, thick handscreened grey sleeve with red ink. Stamped inner labels and download cards, a real farmers market style single, lovingly raised free range by Green Fuse Records. Pick this up now or it's going to be part of The Seven Inch Revolution! Count me in.

You can give it a listen over here on their soundcloud page, no embed code on the single release, but here's a remix by DLE, which is Dead Leaf Echo I'm assuming, and also maybe a good way for a band to approach a track as an alternate version I hate that word remix so much.



Slowness' side:

Drgn King on Bar None Records

Got a single in today from Drgn King on Bar None Records across the river in Hoboken, hopefully doing alright in the wake of that ridiculous storm that rolled across the city. Drgn King based in Philly is the combined effort of Dominic Angelella and Brent “Ritz” Reynolds, coming from the same place as yesterday's Wishes and Thieves single in a lot of ways. Dominic was playing in just about every band and genre around town while Brent was holed up, freelancing behind the sound boards producing hip hop...somehow these two get together and start writing what became the tracks from this single and their self released full length, "Paragraph Nights" out in 2013. It's that long road story of countless hours of paying dues combined with an incredible amount of experience across genre's, when finally given the opportunity to put it all together you end up with "Holy Ghost" the A-Side track.
A stompy 4/4 beat bashes out of the clear silence, an alternating kick and snare/clap setting up the rock solid foundation for Dominic to soulfully deliver his catchy laid back layered vocal that can run up into that high falsetto range no problem. It's no surprise this is cleanly produced all kinds of surprises working in layers in service of this straightforward rock beat. It's exactly the kind of thing you can almost hear how these layers could have been constructed in this collaborative process when you start with something just asking to be filled out in this way. Applause and weirdo synth flourishes, that playful, exhaust-the-catalog-of-samples quality give this a kind of Flaming Lips feel, like something off Yoshimi, so unbelievably huge and shiny, it's impossible to not be attracted to it's scale and ambition.
B-Side's "Son of Wolfman (ft. Peedi Crakk) comes out with a dark distorted dance beat with Dominic machine gun ratcheting vocals over a deep groove synth and double time percussion hits. Going almost industrial with this chugging along, gravelly direction, there's a hint of far east melody structures, an almost airy flute element breaks through the menace. Peedi shows up and raises the bar on this crazy vocal rhythm while the backbeat randomly drops out behind his rhymes which don't stop to pause for a single breath.

Get this from Bar None Records who says:

Singer/songwriter Dominic Angelella and hip hop producer Ritz Reynolds are the masterminds behind Philly group DRGN KING. This unlikely duo met by chance at a recording session - Dom had been playing in almost every band in town and Ritz had been hunkered down in the studio producing tracks for the likes of The Roots and Mac Miller. Discovering a mutual love of The Flaming Lips and Wu Tang, they set out on a song cycle that led to Paragraph Nights, their debut full length due out January 2013. Their debut single, "Holy Ghost" is a positive, fun loving pop song with an infectious beat that simply leaves you in a good mood. Bruce Warren (WXPN/Paste) says, "This is otherworldly soulful pop for now people."

Wishes and Thieves - self released

This single from NYC based four piece, Wishes and Thieves came in from Jeff over at Tijuana Gift Shop. Over at Hopeless Thunder in an interview Nancy Hoang did with the band, lead singer Jolanda Porter joined up with the three piece, she was looking for a band and they were writing the instrumentals that went on to become the tracks on their Lighthouse EP. As working musicians you've got to be able to collaborate and draw from various styles and the four of them are definitely bringing that crazy mix of influences into this project. You can hear a dense, heavily manipulated electronic sound, the epic synths are introduced, alongside unusual rhythms and Jolanda vocally is hard to draw attention away from...but they still manage to put together a complete package where this is all working on the same level and it doesn't feel like two separate combined entities.

A-Side "Forest Fire" has a slow atmospheric start, but that's because they have some huge plans brewing...it isn't long before it's a massive, heavily produced, throbbing almost dance track that continues to climb to epic, soaring places with attention to detailed constructed minutiae and melody. Almost with a new wave homage it twinkles in quiet bells and a clickity rimshot beat, deliberately thin and restrained in service of Jolanda's vocals, which remind me of Verity Susman from Electrelane. A powerful high register, thick delivery that can switch into a hushed whisper. Toms pick up that rimshot beat for rolling crash cymbals to completely blow this thing into Maps territory...hair raising. It's the kind of production, like huge blockbuster movies, when done right, you end up with something that makes a case for the hours of studio time, pouring over those details instead of one take in your garage with a 4-track. They both have their place, but to hit the emotional highs here takes special talent in more than just the performance.
"Starry Eyed" on the B-Side equally turns understated electronics into a full on Postal Service dense feeling electronic number. Jolanda is somehow successfully juggling this jagged melody in spite of the skipping around, impossibly programmed rhythms (I'm guessing they have to be the way this sounds unplayble)...it's impressive, and to do it with any kind of soul, getting some kind of impassioned feeling into the inherently calculated construction is always the challenge on this sort of thing, but it sounds damn good on vinyl. To be able to turn up those clicks, hugely gated snare hits, and alien tones past where you should be able to, without a hint of distortion becomes almost novel. It's an aberration like Relations and ...Music Video?. The attention to detail and combining the machine made sounds with the organic construction of a group versed in nearly every way of putting notes together is a rare thing.

Get this on black vinyl direct from Wishes and Thieves.

The Nubs on Last Laugh Records

Last Laugh has done it again and reissued this single from what had to have been one of the only punk bands I've ever heard of coming out of New Hampshire, The Nubs, but then again according to Henry Weld's well documented page of early New England punk singles he has GG Allin in the NH column of punk....and you learn something new everyday. Somehow I had no idea that piece of work came from the LIve free or die state. Easily their greatest folkhero. The Nubs however have the unique distinction of recording these tracks at NCS studios right before GG, and you can only imagine what the hell that studio was like if bands like this are showing up in the early '80s. Who was the lucky engineer at the boards when The Nubs settled in to put some super scuzz, metal-punk down on tape.

A-Side's "I Don't Need You" has a buried super fuzz effect on an electric driving this straight into METAL, reminding me of Hot Lunch's southern heavy stoner sound. These guys seem to be walking the line of Sabbath and that Mentally Ill single with BJ Branch delivering these vocals up in a high Johnny Rotten register...being almost that screamy Judas and occasionally ending lyric questions with that rising yelp.
The sentiment is a real shot to the self esteem:
I don't need you /'cause I got me
The band backing him up in a weird low response harmony to these up front slight echo vocals. There's some serious rolling drum fills, and this bassline is flying along supporting this attitude which is definitely punk, in that call to fight something. Far all the sad bastard music that's out there, I gotta hand it to punk, at least it tries to fight back and refuses to let the listener wallow in any kind of slow poetry. Catchy, solid-fuzz-bouncy kind of pop track about how you are the best. Forget about those jerks. The kind of history lesson I can relate to.
B-Side's "Dogs" then goes in a bizarre psych direction, stabby organ/moog sounds and literally an epic prog joke about a human dog person maybe being some kind of alien?...from the 'dogs' point of view, lots of barking by the band. A groovy bass line but definitely a typical B-side where this couldn't have been meant to ever be taken very seriously. Clever lyrics about all of the doings of this dog guy, and a crazy breakdown queen-ish section panning barks across the channels, I guess you just have to be yourself. Another lesson from The Nubs, who cares what society wants, you go be a dog if you want. Like Iggy. Or DMX.

Killed by death has more info over here.

Last Laugh says:

Nubs frontman BJ Branch crawled across the same beer-soaked stages as hometown pals the Jabbers, logging hundreds of gigs in the New England area during the band's six-year existence. The fuzzbox shredding on "I Don't Need You (Cause I Got Me)" has long stood in fine mix tape company sandwiched between the Mentally Ill and the Maids. Recorded in 1979 at NCS studios in New Hampshire, the Nubs left behind plenty of negative vibes for a young Kevin Allin to soak up while recording his LP tracks shortly thereafter. Transferred straight from the analog masters, and guaranteed to sound just as twisted 33 years later.

A-Side here:

Brute Heart on Water Wing Records

You guys know Water Wing Records by now right? Alex used to co-own the great Mississippi Records and has gone on to start this offshoot label out there in Portland and that's as far as you need to get in his resume to know this release is coming from a guy who takes his releases pretty damn seriously. He sent me a copy of their latest single from Brute Heart a Minneapolis based three piece who have already put out a few things on M'ladys Records and now get the Water Wing stamp of approval as well with these two versions of "Wildfire".

The A-Side straight up version of the track is a weird combination of elements and influences all under the umbrella of this hypnotizing reggae dub sound. Imagine if Grass Widow's complex off kilter rhythms and harmony patterns went in a Clash direction and embraced some of that King Tubby doubled reverb sound? On paper it couldn't possibly make any sense. Oh yea and add a viola in place of an electric guitar, which I wouldn't have possibly known if I didn't check out these liner notes, completely haunting, innovative substitution. Crystal Myslajek, on bass, is after those slow reggae influenced dub lines, and that viola goes under serious overdriven reverb for that groove to take this into a completely unexpected place. She and Jackie trade off layering vocals in completely different registers for a swirling dream psych opposite of anything resembling Grass Widow in final product actually. Then Crystal Brinkman (that's right two Crystal's) pulls out this completely off base percussion pattern that had me questioning if there wasn't some sort of manipulation after the fact with her live performance. It's impossibly halting, without a natural sort of pattern. It's really impressive, until you starting listening to the rest of the pieces, which are constantly raising that bar. This entire track is playing with some interesting directions that at first seem obvious, then completely baffling...and that's where I'm at. Still figuring out where they ended up with this complex, unique sound.
The B-Side (don't call it a remix) is a reconstructed version by Alex Yusimov and Jason Powers who sound like they might be pushing the reverb a little bit further, but still highlighting their own weird brand of dub. Emphasizing the vocal, a heavier delay, real bottom of the canyon viola shrieking and bouncing off the walls. Feeling a bit darker as well under these heavier blankets of psych and opting for the straight bass and drum stutter strum ragga sound. Emphasize the core elements for the dancehall mix. 12" DJ cut coming soon.

They also did a live performance where they scored The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari? Please tell me this could be some kind of release that you could play at home along with the movie? That could be a whole new era of silent theater. Different bands interpreting maybe that same particular film? How many singles would that be? I'm going insane.

Pick this up over at Water Wing Records, on black vinyl in center hole cut heavy card stock tropical sleeve...which in hindsight makes perfect sense.

Brute Heart is Jackie Beckey, Crystal Brinkman, & Crystal Myslajek, from Minneapolis. The bass, drum viola trio has been effectively blowing minds since 2007. BRUTE HEART has unleashed two LP's, as well as a killer 7" on M'LADYS. Now they have reached down into a deep reverb tank and pulled out "Wildfire", the A side to their new WATER WING 45rpm. Dub rhythms and pulsating bass lines collide with their usual layers of underwater vocals. Like their SOFT ABUSE LP, "Lonely Hunter", "Wildfire" was recorded by Minneapolis engineer, Mike Wisti (Mother Of Fire, Skoal Kodiak). In true dub fashion, on the flip is a re-mix of "Wildfire" deconstructed and rebuilt by the recording studio team of Alex Yusimov (Mirah, Grass Widow) and Jason Powers (Grails, Scout Niblett). Digital Download Included.

Dojo Cuts on Colemine Records

If you were wondering, like I was, what that picture of Australia was doing mashed into the Colemine logo on this single from Dojo Cuts... well, it's because Terry has gone to the other side of the earth in his search for contemporary soul and funk. If you are an exceptional case, Colemine is coming for you, geography makes no difference. This time, the Ohio based label must have been after the wakka-wakka jazzy electric funk from this eight piece and the eyes closed, clear blue pipes of Roxie Ray. on "You Make Loving Real Easy" she's the obvious focus, playing with the dynamics of her delivery, playing off the band... down in the calm, whispery quiet to matching the bursts from this substantial horn section. All in a sort of matter of fact, no nonsense style, one minute it's completely low and quivering, holding back, letting you in on this intimate moment and the next second she busts loose in a celebration of "....making love real easy" the double meaning no accident. She's a little bit on the prowl, out to go get whatever she wants with that talking wah creeping up behind her. It would be easy to focus on Roxie's expression and personality but don't overlook this great arrangement, the drumming in particular, this guy makes them really whisper right along with Roxie...there's nothing like that fade out breakdown when the whole funking thing comes back in.
Teh B-Side, "Love Me Right" finds warm reverb strumming leading the intro to this one. I'm also hearing that real unique raspy, maybe Janis side, or Otis Redding when he busts out on "Try a Little Tenderness", it doesn't matter what you're into, that will change you. Every little moment she's talking about is just killing her, letting you in on this inner monologue with this kind of distance that makes you feel a little bit voyeuristic, but you aren't going to stop this midway. Huge twangy surf solo...so slow, you can hear the pick practically scraping the strings, you can keep turning this up, and when she's joined by the rising brass, no one will mind this is entertaining the whole block.

I'm also really getting into these plain sleeves, the whole idea that the art doesn't even play into your impression before you play this, completely about the music. There's something pure about that idea... and these look completely timeless, like they just stepped out of a crate from the late '60s.
Get down in the Colemine Records and add this one to your cart.

Friends of Caesar Romero on Snappy Little Numbers Records

Snappy Little Numbers are extending their reach from Denver to Friends of Caesar Romero who started out when Joseph Kerr of relocated to Phoenix, AZ withand borrowed an 8 track cassette recorder. I love those giant unweildy machines, there's just something about hitting record and the wheels turning. I'm betting these couple of tracks were from some of those very sessions. Like Adam Widener, Joseph is whittling down huge barren chunks of gleaming pop punk into these under two minute bursts.

"Red Headed Strangler" on the A-Side kicks off with a heavy metallic strum, keeping things all up in that treble side of the EQ. Joseph's vocals have this manic, high register layered quality that's just due to the bursting energy of this thing. I'm also kind of hearing that Matthew Melton layered harmony rising above the ham fisted power chords. It's all warm reverb and mad punching of these strings. Could have been a distant Hot Snakes cousin or going further back to that Rocket From the Crypt shiny chrome plated feel.
The B-Side, "Tammys of Tomorrow" fades in some backmasked melody, is this the devil poking his head on that 8track cassette? This time FOCR is slowing things down a bit and getting into that way back garage sound...not in texture, though things are slightly peaking out, more in that chorus harmony. Still jabbing at chords, violently bobbing, but this high harmony stuff keeping it way away from anything sinister, or biker movie related. Throbbing kick and snare caveman style huge pounding, I can almost even hear a Kurt Heasley vocal thing going on here, but he's on my mind lately. That melancholy of unrequited garage love, surf guitar solo panned across the stereo field. I know how you feel.

Snappy's signature factory sleeve on sort of a blue grey vinyl...that United Records mud color with messages in the gutter from Snappy Little Numbers Records.

This Frontier Needs Heroes - 8" Picture Disc on PIAPTK Records

I met up with Mike from People in a Position to Know Records a few months back to catch Owen from Advance Base at his show over at the Rock Shop in Brooklyn. Lots of drinks in he told me about his up and running lathe cutting operation and this pyramid shaped picture disc from This Frontier Needs Heroes, an alt-folk duo of Brad and Jessica Lauretti. I can't imagine doing the research and putting together a real working disc cutting operation in your garage... having the space for multiple lathe cutters and all their replacement parts. I have enough trouble keeping my turntable working sometimes. But then again Mike's realized the dream of being able to cut his own records. Whatever he wants on disc, any of your own side projects, friends bands, no one to stop you from cutting together a mix record...the possibilities are endless...like a pyramid shaped picture disc maybe? Exactly.
It also takes a label like People in a Position to Know to be out there championing artists like This Frontier Needs Heroes who are probably right down the street and I would have never come across them. It's really the best to sit down one morning completely ignorant of what these guys are going to sound like, just trusting PIAPTK and setting down the needle on "2012". The track starts with some barely audible distorted vocal that announces the band and title when a garage, '60s sounding drum kit fill pounds in, like on the percussion from Peter Bjorn and John, there's a distanced cavernous sound to all these minimal elements. It gives everything an immediately homemade huge sound that reminds me a lot of Woods, or Wooden Wand...simply approaching the songwriting without a lot of gimmicks. It just comes down to this melody and the back and forth of Brad's lead and Jessica's angelic harmony. Far off rock steady snare, fingerpicked acoustic, a triangle clang, slow tambourine...it's a dreamy indie folk rooted in that garage soul sound. That heavy wall of sonics like the Shangri-la's, a similar catchiness and texture. Now I have to go see if these guys have a full length out.

Pick up this impressive hand cut (in multiple ways) 8" picture disc from PIAPTK. The black and white pyramid is housed in a heavy handscreened cardstock sleeve, all basically a one man operation at this point. I think he's got a machine to make polyvinyl bags for these too. When the apocalypse comes 7inches might still have releases to write about thanks to Mike.
His lathe is available for all your weirdo cutting jobs. I'm sure he's up for anything and even has a referral program where if you mention 7inches for example, then if I place an order (and I will) then I get a couple extra discs free.

I know people have had trouble, (myself included) with certain lathe cutting places that haven't exactly panned out, but I can safely say Mike isn't going anywhere. He's got literally tons of pressing equipment he's now hoarded in his house, along with the releases from a label going on 15 years now so he's not going anywhere....even if he wanted to....and this disc quality sounds amazing by the way. The picnic plate lathe's he's cut previously are amazing for their own specific sonic weirdness, but honestly you wouldn't know this one was lathe cut at all, but I'm sure if you want a few extra layers of hiss you guys could work something out.
Highly recommended, this record, the label, the entire vinyl empire Mike has built. A class act.
He is not paying me.

The Super Vacations - Heater Part II on Funny/ Not Funny Records

The Super Vacations are a real family affair. Two generations of music experience came together on their fuzzy, garage full length, Heater Part II on Funny/Not Funny Records. Rob and his brother Ryan make up The Vacations along with Mike Hill, Bladen Day and Ross Guthrie. Then Senior Ulsh brought his thirty years experience working as a professional sound engineer in Virginia Beach with a diverse group of artists such as Missy Elliott and Crystal Gayle into the studio with his sons. Having a serious recording engineer taking you and your brother to soccer practice must have had an immeasurable influence on the core of The Super Vacations’ dark psych sound that walks the line between a minimal new wave post punk and full blown mind altering psych. It’s an uncategorizable mix they are further refining on their third full length record.

“Faded Leather Jacket” the first track on the A-Side sets the rest of the tone for the album, pumping out their trademark rough, headbanging haze. Piles of rhythm guitar build under the electric reverb. Rob’s vocals are dark, delivering his pop Cramps sinister sound in a low baritone. It’s a chaotic kind of shoegaze that further buries itself under the packed dense layers, somehow finding room to expand in the chorus. The way they build catchy melodies out of this dizzying fog is similar to the way Mike Sniper from Blank Dogs was able to coax a damaged tune out of the finicky layers of imperfect electronics. Like this idea of a faded leather jacket, the best ones need to be broken in, worn all the time, like experimenting with this sound, there’s years of distilling this pop-psych into what finally ended up on vinyl.

Later tracks like “Ruby” and “Hexxing” aren’t afraid to push the limit of their frantic psych. Rob has combined his doubled up vocal with layers of higher register harmonies for thick sounding tracks with a surprising sinister edge. It’s not the loose paisley gateway psych from Strawberry Alarm Clock but instead something that might be pushing a conscious altering state completely over the edge. The percussion is heavy hitting, staring straight ahead, maintaining that driving beat without a lot of flourishes. The Vacations seem to be about the density of their sound, without distractions from the solid wall. It’s a punk-psych that inherently demands a certain speed and energy because everything is served up in under two minutes.

“El Ray” is one track that gets a little more relaxed, almost working towards a lush, new wave sound, dropping out for moments to breathe. It even draws on more of a late ‘90s sound from alternative bands, exploring the depths of rock guitar like Teenage Fanclub, with some of Yo La Tango’s effortless indie jangle.
Not afraid of extremes, they prod their melodic fog into straight feedback that shines through on “Above / Below”, which takes that high pitch loop right up a huge plateau of distortion. Rob’s lofty vocal emerges, as always, soaring above this fuzzy freight train without a trace of optimism. He gets away with that divide because in the end it’s so catchy and instantly likeable.
Saving the best for near last, “Kitchen Lites” drives home a slow strum guitar progression, bringing in a classic Modern English sound that all at once is an eerie shoegaze classic. Clearing room to breathe they drop the rhythm down to near molasses speed and end up with something you can nearly dance to, if you weren’t worried about something lurking just around the corner.

The Super Vacations have put together new versions of material from recent singles, creating a cohesive album of blinding bursts of psych, through combinations of unsettling haze and blistering speed. But to have your Dad work on your album is probably the best endorsement of all.



Pick this up from Funny/Not Funny Records.

Lilys / Big Troubles split on Speakertree Records

I've somehow managed to keep my big mouth shut about this single Blair told me about a few weeks ago, I think we happened to talk about the Lilys or something and this came up. The Lilys and really Kurt Heasley are one of those bands that really had to grow on me...I think it started with A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns which had all of that layered speaker melting epic guitar with his trademark harmony work, which of coure took on a life of it's own in future releases. Partially it was hard to know what to make of it, but like Deerhoof or Xiu Xiu, the more I keep putting this on, (sadly I only have some old MP3's) the more I appreciate what a freaking genius Kurt is. I do have that Nanny in Manhattan single which is what blew it all open for me. This hyper Pet Sounds aesthetic... just incredibly complex songwriting that must have been impossible to recreate live.
A friend who had some success in the late '90s went to record their full length with Kurt in an old Colt 45 warehouse and the process working with him sounded completely amazing. The ideas he brought to the table as a producer made me rethink that entire idea, how much he loved working with other artists and being able to put his own touch on these bands just starting out....really inspiring.

"Well Traveled is Protest" is one of those moments, and I've probably built it up now way too much of course, but while it's playing you already want to restart it because it's actually happening...a new track! I'm missing things, it's going by too fast...completely dense with that flowing distinctly Lilys harmony that reminds me of the garage '60s kinks sound or all progressive rock filtered through an experimental take on every sound that hits the wax. One measure of reverse guitar... a piercing whistle organ note grinding through the whole pile, there's hardly a repeated section, the whole thing is always changing. He gets away with these Malkmus style lyrics and bizarre english glam harmonies. There's a little of that indie rock goofy style and Cheap Time's devotion to that layered T-Rex huge sound. It's baffling the places this track goes, the folk style style start, the pavement refrain, the Ziggy Stardust chorus. I pray this leads to rereleasing his previous material and a new record.

Big Troubles hit me a couple years back with a couple of singles I picked up on Olde English Spelling Bee and I can see how they're completely related in their own dense pop approaches. Big Troubles is playing with a nostalgia sound and all kind of fuzz and hiss, in unexpected directions... maybe experimenting more with what they can get away with surrounding a pop song and the recording process....both of these guys are about the process...a heavy involved process that results in tracks that take a lot of serious examination while being able to appreciate them on that surface pop level. It's up to you.

This historic single is up for presale over at speakertree, I had to post about it before I even got my review copy because I'm sure this isn't going to be out there very long.
I've also been digging that Swimsuit album, especially the back photo...it's got a kind of Brilliant Colors, Broken Water kind of indie brut sound, swapping guy girl vocals...just raw and pop and punk all at the same time.

Woollen Kits on Trouble in Mind Records

Going through the pile I grabbed this Trouble in Mind single straight away because these records have been nothing but absolute hits from bands I just haven't come across any other way these days. They're really out there mining new stuff for themselves that just so happens to be stuff everyone else should be into. Including this single from Woollen Kits, a three piece out of Australia, unpretentiously hobbling together that sincere, heart on their sleeves garage-y sound. The sort of thing that's really baffling, there's nothing obviously to point to, the sum of it's parts infinitely more valuable than breaking it down. That won't stop me from trying.

A-Side's "Shelly" wastes no time in getting right into the heart of this rawkus chorus style sound. Huge sounding guitars, everything slightly blown out, the raw sounding hoarse distortion to just in the red vocals, but it's all because these guys are really letting the studio have it. They tried their best to set the levels up right, but when they got right down to it, the track and this energy takes over, blowing out the needles and those blinking eq lights. Oh well what are you going to do, you can hear that in exchange for that anal attention to detail, you get fantastically catchy riffs and laid back vocals working in their own just off melody. Like Natural Child's goofball antics combined with Yuck's indie pop style, Woollen Kits seem to be working both sides of that fence, but keeping it a great song at the end of the day. You don't hear any sort of master plan, or responding to trends.
Last week at the Word bookstore music bookclub, we talked about the Throbbing Gristle album, 20 Jazz Funk Greats and I got the sense the whole thing was a series of unsuccessful attempts to comment on the state of music in the late '70s, you had weirdo disco tracks with deliberately out of sync drum machines, but all that intellectualizing doesn't end up with anything I want to play over and over. It's this kind of instinctual, gut reaction to creating fuzzed out pop that doesn't have to have any gimmicks. It manages to be accessible and damn fun...which I would argue is harder than just throwaway critiques on popular culture. Yeah this sucks and we know it...so there. I guess I tend to want to really enjoy this maybe because it seems to be removed from the conversation. They're over there in Melbourne, Australia taking all those records they grew up with and ending up with another classic.
"Down Your Street" seems to take a bit more time working into this slow more of a beatup garage sound this time with a heavy echo on the vocal reminding me of that Rob's House release from the Fe Fi Fo Fums, or a jazzed up Velvets Track. The right out of the box jangle that goes back before indie and into that psych repetition sound to expand minds. The band and lead vocals (everyone is named Tom) trading this groovy chillout vibe back and forth. It's not a sound that has anything to do with the summer or the beach, even though it might at first sound like that sunny day. They haven't probably thought about it that much, like Nodzzz, this is just a couple of great snapshots that you really appreciate. Are they going to end up at MOMA....well, let's just see.

On crazy marble brown vinyl from Trouble in Mind Records. The track below should send you to the website.

Thresholder self released single

This single from Thresholder came in the other day from Mike W, and other than this pretty abstract tumblr, I've had some trouble finding out anything about these guys. If it weren't for the Styrofoam Drone there would be literally nothing online anywhere. I can take an air of mystery...but really... no bandcamp, no soundcloud, I tracked down a video, but literally the only way to hear any bit of Thresholder is to put the record on. This hazy cloud of mystery bleeds over to the vinyl with it's chorus-y, doubled guitar cloud and slowly building rhythms of "Beyond the Far Horizon". A couple of echo'd guitars play off each other alongside delicate sounding cymbal work from A.S., building up this slightly sinister rhythm for booming drum hits. A massive, cavernous sound that only comes through on vinyl...those toms benefit from this kind of room to rumble along with the long delay of guitars and doubled vocals that flutter in, breathy and deliberately abstracting any kind of meaning in it's buried delivery.
The track manages to work around these two distinct feelings, this soaring optimistic instrumental chorus section with high register guitars in all out twinkly solo mode and the primal sounding, heavy hitting verse sections with possibly sinister vocal delivery. It's all done in a dense shoegaze style, building up the layers and tearing them back down. By the time they hit the end of this it's an abrupt screech of organ keys? Which I didn't even hear creeping up. I keep listening for it in the mix and missing it, but then I keep forgetting how we ended up here in the first place.
The B-Side "Cold Sun" has them determined to pick up that tom centered pace and this feels more like Pop. 1280, that jangle fog coming out if the garage this time. A little bit more greaser style, sunglasses and attitude. An east coast Jacuzzi Boys... taking the spring reverb of Ty and the psych from the Fresh and Onlys and turning this smoke to 11. This driving rhythm pounding away, the guitar strums as much of a percussion hit as these thundering drums. That distance awash over everything, this is being played from the next house over, the next town over. Phaser sweeps and metallic jangle, two guitars and drums coming from underneath you, buried in the earth.

You don't get to live tomorrow / You just get to be today

On black vinyl, with secret gutter messages and handstamped cautions on the center label, that pic must have been taken in Queens? I'm guessing near the Socrates Sculpture park on the picturesque LIC side, send these guys an email and it's yours. neilson133 at gmail.com

This video below is from the B-Side track, "Cold Sun" live from the Quarc HQ, which is out in Ridgewood, Queens, a venue with even less info....these guys are ghosts.

Dimples on Holy Smoke Recordings

I don't know how I ended up with this latest from Dimples on Holy Smoke Recordings except that I remember writing about their previous single from Mexican Summer not that long ago...a rather ridiculous post attempting to combine another artist who went by the name "Dimples" back in the '80s, who my friend Travis brought to my attention many years ago. These guys aren't related at all, but I think a lot of those early impressions of that Mexican summer release sound like this new Dimples hasn't missed a beat, they're still after this tough, slicker than garage goofball sound, that's taking itself pretty seriously in a great way.

"Boundless Love" has this chorus guitar effect that strums in like "Jumping someone else's train", I hear it every time, but instead of Sean Penn...I mean Robert Smith you get this tough guy singing about the road...he never wanted to be put in this position, mayor of the night. Beggars are asking kings questions...how can they get away with this? it's like Ween in it's crazy sincerity, throwing themselves right on the rock genre. Into the vortex of motorcycles and machine guns. It's really freaking catchy and maybe it's the exact right set of lyrics that just had to go with this rough and tumble riff. It writes itself when you come up with this biker garage jam. It's not parody, just digesting all these rock tropes coming up with riding on the back of his superbike. I can see this sort of related to The Johnny Ill band or The Zoltars... the almost deadpan style, with a wink. Throw in some emotional synth and a soaring phasery solo for good measure. Explore this almost stereotype idea of a 'boundless love' like some Bryan Adams sentiment and play it for all it's worth. Beating the dead horse like the wild west days. That reminds me, is this a drum machine? It's so mechanical, those snare hits are machine gunned in there...like their turning this into almost a Dirty Beaches, Mattress or Suicide kind of vibe...a mutated future, with a hologram tough guy.
B-Side "Halogen Credenzas (live)" is a real slow jam with big room drum hits bouncing all over the hollow space. This is a great sound for his baritone toughness and their mellow side of slow tremolo and really seducing with these vocals. It blows up for a second and then quietly works a saxaphone in? There's hi-hat splashes, a jazzy undertone alongside the subtle horn section. Great capture of every string all the way to rock the hell out of this last chorus, blasting that title lyric. It's epic and maybe getting further into Ween territory for me, without the changing genres, just adopting this persona from another decade and really inhabiting it...a single song turning apocolyptic and abstract. A massively long track that got all the ultra quiet moodyness of this one and the crisp blown out live energy of a real performance? At this point who knows with this guy, he's keeping me guessing...like this sweet video, which totally changed the song for me, I don't think I realized the absurd comedy here until now. I'm half questioning if this is even the actual band here in the video? That would take this to another level.

Bel Argosy - The Wreck of Bel Argosy on Donkey Town Records

The guys from Bel Argosy based here in drying out Brooklyn let me know about their latest single, The Wreck of Bel Argosy, a four song EP that according to the xerox insert, took somewhere around two years. Is it because they were assembling a 40 piece orchestra and helicopters with amps and 50 drummers in a spiral? No.
Basically, if you aren't one of those massive rock and roll superstars you probably have a job and friends that take up a lot of your time...and I know that's no excuse, and no one should be whining about not 'making it', but where's the celebration in just doing something that you love without caring who likes it? Not to be above any kind of criticism, or some legally disturbed outsider artist, but isn't that the great thing about all this readily available technology? I'd much rather have a million racist weirdos on a CB radio than the government controlling who gets to talk and when.
I was watching this no wave documentary Blank City and it seems like that whole NY scene in the early '80s, whether film or art or music was just done by people that could have cared less that no one twittered about it or hell... even wrote about it in their zines. They wanted to make crazy shit period. The one (?-ed) down side to Facebook and Twitter is this idea of self awareness to some microscopic degree that might prevent you from doing something. I get that Ariel Pink is fucking fantastic, but that shouldn't stop you from messing around with a shitty 4track. If you love carving Abraham Lincoln busts out of erasers, you can have meetups with those other weirdos (I just made that up, and of course it exists).
My dumb point is, I wish Billy didn't apologize for any of this, even if it did immediately let me know that their hearts in the right place for 7inches. There's no 'label' behind this, no marketing. They just made some music. Some damn fine, no-fi, scuzzy tracks that are catchy and hopefully find an audience. Should they be making more of this? Yes.
A-Side's "Into the Distance" has this great overall tone like the stuff from Eric's Trip, something like garage punk with the liberal use of big sweeping chords, lots of layered live feel with the thin, experimental home recording mic sound. Like Home Blitz, the cymbals peak out in that hissy, thin way....I love this handmade sound when it's authentic like this, a diamond that shouldn't ever be polished. This goes from a Dump sounding jangly indie number into proper Cheap Time glam rock, the vocals are mixed perfectly into this, or should I say imperfectly perfect. Reverse solo? Yes.
It just gets better with "P-Centric" which has this kind of off kilter slightly Pixies thing, a slight accent vocally, you have no idea where this is coming from, it's half sung, building up into a near mental breakdown on some of these verse but it always comes back to this dense harmony chorus. A demo maybe from early Blood on the Wall, there's something about this energy, when you forget everything about doing something for someone else. Did Lou Barlo think about anyone even hearing those cassettes? Well, maybe he did, but it's obvious he wasn't thinking about the current state of music when he made them. I think you can actually hear when someone is making music for a commercially viable audience and when they're not. Or when they're doing it deliberately, there's a strategy for staying 'authentic' by doing something no one likes too. There's a lot of slippery slopes here, I can't figure it all out.
B-Side's "Yer Business" keeps up this under the gun production with a cheerier pop sound, and those glam harmonies, maybe going back further to those flower periods of the Stones, they didn't sound very tough, you can hear the smiles in the singalong chorus, leaning more towards being as approachable as possible. All jangle and two part harmonies with a little bit of distortion. This chorus that changes the chord progression right into that minor shift is just great, phaser jangle on the chorus, those little touches that you wouldn't deliberately have an engineer at a studio pushing for, they have that playfulness written all over them, not too serious, but they still care...
"World's Not Me" might even have a drum machine for a second? The dynamics on this record keep changing in great ways, this unashamed rock that could be an old Dead Milkmen track (in texture only)...not that they don't have this kind of goofy vibe, just toned WAY down compared to Big Lizard. That hissy smash of the crash is back, and this song is basically saying to make a judgement call, everything isn't ok, you don't have to be alright with bad stuff. Hate it, it's alright. Well that's not going to apply to this single. Get it from Bel Argosy themselves.

These guys are playing Spike Hill in Williamsburg, right off the bedford stop, ride your bikes I think that L train could still be out of commission... this Wednesday actually, and I'll bet that doesn't happen very often.

Cheap Time on Sweet Rot Records

There's no one out there like Cheap Time. There's no one so faithfully working in this Dictators, Richard Hell, Dolls vein, bringing back all that over the top glam rock sound in a way that's even better than the original stuff. It's not a surprise really, everything Jeff Novak has a hand in ends up with this incredible polish and energy.

"Other Stories" on the A-Side is probably the biggest late '70s pop punk sounding rock track yet from these guys. Driven by this rough, gutsy uncomplicated guitar chord sound, Jeff snarls through bad ass rock and roll lyrics about your sister being a bitch and matching twins with tattoo's on their arms, it's working on both levels. At first all I can hear is this blown out rock wall, power chords and piano stabs, it's got their signature tough and catchy sound while still sounding like they're half messing around, goofing on the whole scene and then a few plays later the lyrics start coming in over this punk kidney punch and it just gets better and better. These guys are the whole package making smart, impeccably crafted epic pop punk that gets even better live.
Flip it over and the B-Side "In This World" plays with this back and forth sort of punky blues rhythm, they're really getting more and more punk leaning these days from the sound of this single. The chorus of Jeff's singing "Nothing in the this world will do!" and the muted heavy burst chord ending on this one carries this weird kind of tension through Jeff's maniacal snotty delivery. That timeless nihilism with a sweet layered piercing solo. You really have to pat attention when someone puts together a list of grievances like this. The most exciting praise of that Johnny Thunders, Stranglers, Stiv Bators early punk sound, with his own thick, meaty production chops to take this to another level. You already know if you have to have this, if they weren't nice enough to send this along I'd be looking for it at any record store that was still open in the metro ny area. I know it doesn't make much sense.

Get this from Canada's Sweet Rot Records who reminded me:

Back in March 2007, Sweet Rot’s second ever release was the debut 7″ by Cheap Time. A couple of years later we released a single by front man Jeffrey Novak. Now Sweet Rot is pleased to continue the collaboration with a new two-song 7″ which comes hot on the heels of the band’s quite great “Wallpaper Music” LP on In the Red Records. These two new songs – “Other Stories” and “In This World” – are a prime example of what a 70s sounding glam punk single should be – short, well written and produced, and super catchy. We feel these songs perfectly complement each other and think fans of the band’s previous work will too.

Spider Bags and The Love Language cover JAY REATARD! on Tangible Formats Records

Holy crap, just found out about this yesterday on twitter of all things, mostly I'm just scrolling away down a huge list of weird pointless junk that never ends, let's face it, it's a time killer and it fits my 7" vinyl ADD disease. If you can't say it in a couple of sentences, it's probably not going to get me to check it out, but I happened to just catch Mr. Reatards name in a post from Tangible Formats that stopped me dead in my tracks. I had to reread it a few times...covers?...of Jay Reatard?....I can't think of a vinyl release...really any release with Jay covers, and from such respected bands, this wasn't just a weird gross cashing in, it's a tribute in the best possible way. It's also crazy I just happened to mention the Spider Bags single from Sophomore Lounge just the other day, so to see Dan involved with this makes this as close to a serious memorial as you could ever hope for. Complete reverence for the material and a real personal connection, in fact Wes even says "Jay was a friend of his and Dan was hesitant to release a Reatard cover. Later in the week, Stu, (from The Love Language) back from tour, played Dan his cover. Dan thought it was great and said he'd do it.Spider Bags used to play The Reatards song "Out Of My Head Into My Bed". So they dusted it off and recorded it in one session". Then Wes took it a step further putting these onto handmade, one at a time, lathe cut picture discs. Out of control. It's one of those amazing objects that I would drool over...and I'm just glad I got a chance to pick one up for freaking nothing!

The Spider Bags "Out Of My Head Into My Bed" has that blown out Spider energy all over this, even getting that off kilter melody spot on, the messy guitar, that power chord harmony. It gives me a huge smile to think about Jay maybe hearing this and being as psyched as I am hearing this. They blow this out, real live sounding, it must have been just hitting the right moment, feeling it, having already played it a million times live. Any more takes and you'd be in danger of second guessing the intention of this...and it's perfect.
The Love Language, (even better I know nothing about these guys, because a perfect split also exposes you to new stuff of course), get it on with a garage prom slow jam version of "Nightmares", which is fantastic, changing the original serial killer minded track into almost a sensitive love song. Reduced and distilled into that slow dance track, perfect chorus vocal floating alongside this huge reverb. Plenty of harmony, tambourine and triangles...dammit. I'm getting all emotional.

Oh god, please go watch the video of this picture disc spinning, that pretty much pushed this over the edge. An early god damn christmas gift from heaven. The first 50 are picture discs, but you better thank Wes that he pressed some regular ones on black vinyl or not only would this hurricane thing be getting on your nerves but now you CAN"T EVEN HEAR A DAMN AWESOME SINGLE! GET IT!...(and throw him a couple extra bucks....(he's only asking for a minimum of $5, but you go ahead and change that number in the paypal thingy)

Don't forget this Jay site endorsed LP based on that movie that was out a little bit ago, I think it has unreleased tracks? But honestly I already paypal'd. Just mention Jay and I'll throw money at you...I'm that broken up about it. Anything in a sad attempt to bring him back.