Korean Gut on Mammoth Cave Records

Paul Lawton passed this Korean Gut single on to me at a show he was doing with The Ketamines over a year ago it seems like now. It's always so generous of anyone to share their releases and he handed me a handful at their show to have a listen to when I could get a chance. This is long sold out from Paul's label, Mammoth Cave Records and the band have since broken up but I still wanted to make sure anyone interested in an instrumental surf Tiki Men sound would seek this out on discogs or one of those auction sites.

On A-Side's "Your Misery, Our Benefit" a couple of notes open the melody into the staple primitive stomp rhythm, blown out and recorded by Paul himself with the jangle and static high ranges emphasized for that frantic feel. When they sat down to actually record this the mics caught TOO much of the hardcore surf sound, hitting that melody and then riding it like those waves in to shore. "If You Want" has all that garage hissy sound of Frankie and the Outs and her tambourine on the toms. The bass really barrels through - even at 45 it's dominating the entire waveform and peaking brown tones on the speakers. Like the Ar-kaics they nail that modern loose garage sound switching gears, still incredibly precise and complex but shaking it at the same time. Whistle track in the left channel, a descendent of the Shannon and the Clams sound with doubled up serious vocals. Strong reverb and a perfect fit for a member of The Ketamines to committ to tape or hard drive - whatever.

B-Side's "The Creeper" opens into a low end splash. That's the thing, it's like the middle has been cut right out of this and I really like the place these lyricless tracks get to, swampy and southern weeping willows at midnight with a hint of those waves breaking, a merging of voodoo and surf boards? "Gingold" has a fast countoff into huge tom hits and whoops from the band in the back of this instrumental quickness with an acoustic and that lead electric riding more in the middle. They get the rhythm going and find that tiny sweet spot to slide a lead melody, the echo always strong, with more of a chorus sound. Sounding almost eastern influenced with this particular cluster of minor key elements but that hollaring from the back of this room is exactly how this track should feel. The cymbals and high crashing parts are muted in favor of this run straight down the hill as fast as possible. You get excited and your legs start to give up they can't run any faster and that fall is coming.

Get this from your collector scum back alleys.

The Sharp Ends first EP rereleased on Mammoth Cave

Another one from the Mammoth Cave haul Paul bestowed on me after his show with the Ketamines at Death by Audio, this one is a really amazing reissue of a four song EP from the Calgary post punk band, The Sharp Ends who sadly have already moved on...hopefully to start another project someday at least. I can't imagine guys as passionate and talented as this just selling off their equipment and riding off into the sunset.

"Broadview Pressure Test" the first track on the A-Side is raw with that simple, crunchy distortion effect on the electric and a simple, just plain elegant chord progression. Dirty and meaning busines right out of the gate. It's almost eerie even and raises the hair on the back of your next, it's so rough and it has to be because these guys have to have an insane control over whats about to come next, and they absolutely do. This power lower end groove is taken over with this bassline, Chris has a great distanced vocal matched by the energy of this blown out crashing performance...this overwhelming tension creeping up all around is genius, saving it up. It's a perfect balance of those dynamics, if you find yourself not getting enough of this massive punch in the chorus you aren't alone, they've designed this exactly to leave you feeling a little bit empty. Great call and response melodies between the bass and guitar. They've got it pretty much perfect here and I wonder if it has anything to do with that buddist question if a bands music gets better once they're not around anymore.

"Panic Button" has a great layered tone, and Chris' vocal here is going real late '80s Bauhaus, not that I hear any kind of goth vibe from these guys, it's definitely pure punk, their revved up chord progressions are incredibly unique and bores itself right into the center of the melody. They have to crank it right up and out of the park though, all jittery and post punk with a Gang of Four jagged spazz robot. Completely impressive, you remember how it sounded inspiring? Well after this one you want to just quit your own band because if these guys felt like they couldn't make it?....then forget it. Were they just too hard on themselves?

B-Side's, "Vacant City", sorts out this hyper riff with off kilter chords, not quite fitting together being more of a jam funk sort of a groove with the bassline separated, riding it's own rails. Bursts from distortion electric, or out of tune bashes, they're wiling to go to this ugly place because when they come back for the chorus it fits together perfectly. They're one of those inspiring bands that makes you want to pick up that dusty guitar again (until you start playing a few chords). Dig delay and echo on his vocals here, the words trailing off into this epic bouncing ping pong ball avalanche.
"Can't Say No" starts with a creaky scrape down the strings and an unconscious head shaking bassline starts, pretty classic in that it's just great songwriting, minimal, pounding drive. Blowing out the chorus, in between a pummeling march beat where everything drops out for the great distortion sound of just the guitar. A tom march section clears things out for a brief rest before the panic starts again. They're just accomplishing amazing noises with the eletric here, Daniel Christiansen knows what brief bursts of together chords and melody to something exactly the opposite of what should work. That's a delicate balance of tight rehearsal and skill all the way to complete reckless experiments. Fake end to this and it all crashes back on itself.

There's a great story behind every single and it's what ultimately makes you wnt to care about this band, and reading on this insert how much Paul and the local scene there cared about these guys makes you want to also. Bottom Line, this is a fantastic monument to a band that Paul obviously loved greatly, I can't think of anything better than a tribute like this. These guys should count themselves lucky to have people that seriously gave a shit. Fickle lady history doesn't ever give you second chances like this.

On white vinyl with beer can tab and insert with the final interview.

Get it from Mammoth Cave Recordings.

The Famines on Reluctant Records

I went to see The Ketamines a while back at Death by Audio to finally meet up with Paul from Mammoth Cave (and plays with The Ketamines) who I've been talking to on the internet tubes for years...sadly there was a lineup change and I MISSED THEM. Terrible, especially since he gave a shout out to 7inches and everything. I'm a jackass, but we did get a chance to hang out and he loaded me up with about a million of his records and stuff they've been distro-ing at the Cave including this Famines single (and the most badass glow in the dark Ketamines shirt ever).
I forgot how much I liked their other single and that this is a duo! The perfect setup for some of the most interesting music created...they didn't disappoint before and this single is another stellar example of their unique, minimal, complex punk.

A-Side's "Free love is a sales technique" features a gritty acoustic coming on fast and furious leaving you wondering if this isn't the wrong speed...but insane speed is The Famines. High twingey PLAANGS from the electric, it neever really slows down... all this manic treble electric goes away and you end up with a steady single drone beat under this hectic kit pounding. I love these vocals. Paul never steers me wrong and this is completely amazing. I was compelled to order that full length collection on Mammoth Cave immediately. That thin scream over the instrumentation here is easily overwhelming the melody, he's screaming in an empty room. Poor sucker. This ridiculous speed is incredibly precise and controlled, a frightening kind of off kilter precision. Even the brief bursts of distortion hardly have a chance to fade. The drop out to the bassline and empty room drums is that great kind of tension where it's decpetively quiet, biding it's time. The best kind of reprive. Switch to toms, then crash the way through to end of this one.

The inner label printing is all blurry, like an old doublestrike typewriter, and a crazy wallpaper collage of old condom ad's. There's your free love. Turns out Raymond designs all the bands stuff, including all kinds of other graphics for print stuff, lots of serious posters on his etsy page.

B-Side, "The First World War" has that scuzzy bass sound back, just bursts of hummmm and rimshot sticks in separate timings hitting the side of this snare, maybe a woodblock? These guys are fantastic songwriters, both equally contributing and important to the skeleton and bare lines, ready to explode post punk. The most dangerous kind. The electric runs patterns up and down the fretboard off on it's own melody. The obvious way is to build this up to loud after loud section which seems to never actually happen here. Barely on the edge of distortion every line, yeling on the edge of that needle in the red. God damn great anti-war track on top of everything else. I would put this up there with The Happiest Place on Earth.
Abstract lyrics about nerve gas, germans, not too many specifics, just the idea that these were all democracies undone with guns. It's smart powerful complex songwriting with modern weapons; the guitar and drums, they make this track sound like an aggressive attack itselves. Crunchy distortion right in the gut. March snare roll, never obvious, always switching the expectations up, completely great. I will be looking out for everything they do in the future.

Black on black business card with insert details from Reluctant Recordings.

Sold out at the source, but Raymonds own etsy page has some of these long sold out singles for sale. Mind blowing below:

Red Mass on Dusty Medical Records

Got this one in from Dusty Medical Records from a band I've been slowly running into more and more lately, Red Mass. First they were a part of last years Hozac Hookup Klub series and then I spotted one on Mammoth Cave not long ago and then this one showed up in the mailbox from Dusty Medical...I almost entertained the idea there could be another Red Mass out there, and especially since this one sounded so different from the Klub release I heard, but then everything I'm reading about them talks about a huge rotating ensemble of members they have in this loose collective.
So I wasn't expecting this blasting out dirty garage power punk track....with all these possible members getting their tambourine solos, or backup vocals in there, I was imagining this ending up in a more experimental psych place. Not in the least, it's tight and peaking out all over the red, head banging and raw. Like this "To All the Good People" which has a layer of harsh crunch over broken speakers, and their pop hook compressed into a real smoker, bursting chords, the bass and drum section just trying to keep up with a guitar centric garage rager. All full of that delayed distorted vocal, the band even drops out for a measure while Choyce sings "..to all my good people, No! You'll never gonna catch me alive!" He's sort of relating to 'the people' and then sounding like everyone's against him...that weirdo paranoia is coming across at an all out frantic pace, total rebel's in the school parking lot, you better get the fuck out of here, shit going down with the brickbats and chain spike things.

B-Sides's "The truth about Baby Jane" then applies this distorted collage of '50s garage loose jam to an acoustic handclap melody. This is where a larger group of the members got together to worship and ended up with some form of weird psych-sounding guitar which bursts into the scene during the chorus, a whole different animal. It's great for something more mellow like this to have that power punk to fall back on at a moments notice. There's a high pitch synth screeeeee over the oooo and ahh's, don't try to pin them down man, you're gonna get burned.
Now it's ramshackle vocals, smacking handclaps, warbling out and down vocals, a high reverb twang electric that rises out of this ultra slow phaser sound that eventually is joined by some static fuzz laser busting in on the left side, obliterating this folk campfire feel. This whole thing is slowly going to completely break. The truth about baby jane seems to be that she's about to lose it. Or she went nuts in some kind of drug freak out, or was abducted by aliens. Yep, That's the one.

Wacky old magazine collage art all over this sleeve, on black vinyl from Dusty Medical Records

Check out this sample from their Mammoth Cave single while yer at it:

Three new ones from Mammoth Cave Records

Got a little Mammoth Cave preview today... I'm beginning to put MC in the hard-to-keep-up-with pile of people like Trouble in Mind and Captured Tracks....by the time I'm done writing this and checking out their latest releases... I'm not sure why I even bother...these guys know what they're doing...you gladly pay them to do all the work. What are you doing wasting their time looking around? reading bio's?...take Lantern, a perfect example, bad ass, stripped down, ultra roots blues, spazz garage rock...distorto vocals, something like a reincarnation of Bob Log III. They tour with at most 6 pieces of equipment, ready to play in about 10 minutes, rock out for twice as long and blow out the shit out of there.

For what it's worth, Vice named them, best band in philly.

Lantern – I Don’t Know 7” (MCR 019)
A: I Don’t Know
B: Out of Our Heads
300 Copies / Black Vinyl / Large Hole / Digital Download
Art: Liza Czech

Following up to killer cassette releases on Night People and Electric Voice, this is Lantern's debut 7" single. Zachary Fairbrother and Emily Robb were the brains behind Oman Ra II, a band we loved a great deal (the Oman Ra II / Dirty Beaches split cassette will never leave my van). "I Don't Know" sounds like a 'roided out Bo Diddley and "Out of Our Heads" which sounds like it could have been included in the Stooges Rough Power bootleg. Lantern have been on tour throughout the USA for the last month and a half, and I guarantee that you won’t have trouble selling these.

Next, we remember the Moby Dicks and their single about a local eating establishment, here they team up with B.A. Johnston, who seems to be a sort of Joe Jack Talcum, or John S Hall type of loveable weirdo fixture. The Moby Dicks recreate their favorite B.A. classics, like this "You're gonna miss me when the zombies come", which is about all the ways we're going to think about the good times even after we're walking around dead zombies. That's nice. The sleeve is also.

(2) B.A. Johnston with The Moby Dicks 7” EP
A1: Robot World
A2: You’re Gonna Miss Me When the Zombies Come
A3: McDonald’s Coupon Day
300 Copes / Black Vinyl / Large Hole / Digital Download
Art: Paul Hammond

We have been huge fans of B.A. Johnston for some time now - a song and dance/comedy/folk. Neil Hamburger's delivery with David Lee Roth's stage antics, B.A. Johnston is the last true vaudevillian entertainer left on the planet. He tours Canada constantly, playing 250-300 shows per year to the point that he has become somewhat of a national icon. And we love him. The Moby Dicks re-create three of their favourite B.A. Johnston “songs” - "Robot World" (off B.A.'s classic album "Call Me When Old and Fat is the New Young and Sexy"), "You're Gonna Miss Me When the Zombies Come" (off "Stairway to Hamilton"), as well as the previously unreleased "McDonald's Coupon Day."

FInally the Mandates are up next with a precise post rock sound, the amps have been cleaned up, maybe even polished, the grille's replaced...that shitty ungrounded hum is even gone. They can even yell without distortion, that starts to feel novel actually...punchy, clean power punk that sounds like it was recorded with a bunch of talented young ones. The way it should be. Did you know anything about a scene in Canada? Now you do. Well, get these singles and you will.

I also swear there is a hot gentlemen on gentlemen's magazine which I hope these guys are named after.

Mandates – Photo in My Wallet 7” EP
A: Take You To the Dance
B1: Photo in my Wallet
B2: So Much for Saturday Night
150 Copies / Black Vinyl / Small Hole / Digital Download

How many good bands does Calgary, AB need to have before people start taking it seriously as the current hotbed of Canadian Rock 'N Roll? The Mandates are just the latest example of how good things are getting. Straight-up punk/powerpop in the vein of Carbonas or Exploding Hearts. "Photo in my Wallet" alone makes this worth having, and we are already almost sold out of this record (50 left).

Go check out any of Mammoth Cave's stuff on their bandcamp page and order direct from them here.

Bloodstains across British Columbia on Mammoth Cave Records

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

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

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