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.

The Demon Beat / Elephant Child split on Funny/Not Funny

Got this split dirge of a classic rocker in from Funny / Not Funny Records, home of the Whatever Brains and that Mystic Fortress Sessions Vol. 1 with The Super Vacations and Eternal Summers. F/NF have been one of those great homegrown labels from two friends who love music and want to do their part releasing stuff from their talented friends. I completely understand the feeling and support the hell out of the sentiment behind what these guys are doing...and pretty much everything so far has been really great, including this beefy classic rock split from The Demon Beat and Elephant Child.

The A-Side from The Demon Beat has the catchy title of "Teenage Wasteland"... does this have anything to do with that Who song? Oh absolutely fucking not. Dirty. big beefy chords, I love to hear the grit flying off the strings. The guitar stops for a second? What? There's the bassline. Pounding drums and distortion yelling, with a lot of soul. These guys are channeling southern sludge rock and coming up with a damn dirty groove while doing it... of course really. Fitting in a slice of solo. Like an energetic Black Keys, without being so self aware or make love to you vocals. Next up, "Change the Subject" has those solid guitars mixed as loud as humanly possibly, echo'd and sort of doubled down. Smashing plate vocals, he's got it, but this guitar completely drowns out the whole thing, a big fuck you to the rest of the track here. Is this intentional? Strong as hell groovy complex finger pick part. A squirt of Natural Child with heavier roots. Just as fun lovin' and sweaty with bubble letters playing in the classic rock sandbox. Big melodic solo based somewhat on the previous rhythms. Mute the whole mess towards the end, and they come away with two winners; beefy rifftastic tracks.

Elephant Child then does "Under the Bridge Part 2" ( I think this is following the trend of The Whatever Brains song "Rapper's Delight II). Is it like the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Hell no! As dirty as the flip side, this heavy gated crunch is pushed to the limit. More rooted in a punk pop sound maybe, a Walkmen kind of spaz-folky sound. Heavily separated solo, they have such an effects chain going it's almost dialing into that Fucking Champs nerdtastic sound. Taking it up a notch with big delay and completely shit kicking riffs... nothing but a prog breakfown, all the guitars roam free then come back together in that weird distortion harmony - all the sine waves syncing up. A different song, slow bluesy dirt. The range of gutter electric on this single is fucking groundbreaking. They've gotten sad and go off in that Iron butterfly range of introspective metal. Cathartic release of blues. Dying vocals matching this barely hanging on piercing electric. Letting loose and bursting at the levels, it almost starts to loose steam in the volume dept. probably because they had to dial it back or risk the whole thing running into overdrive at the end of this thing. A massive effort charging all over the place - epic and full of riffs? How can that go together?

Get it from Funny/Not Funny Records



Happy Independence Day.

The Diamond Center on Funny/Not Funny Records

Ben down at Virginia's Funny/Not Funny Records sent me a few of his latest releases including this one from locals The Diamond Center, started in 2007 by Kyle Harris and Brandi Price who finally settled in Richmond and picked up a few more members to record this massive extended playing shoegaze psych single.

A-Side "California" is performed at such a sludgy pace, I was really convinced it could be at the wrong speed until that feathery vocal from Brandi kicked in. It's a great compliment to this doom psyche, just booming. After listening to it a few times I'm sure there's some tape manipulation going on in the beginning, ever so slowly increasing the tempo so that bulk of impossibly somber tempo isn't as shocking.
I'm imagining the slow dips simultaneously from the guitar and bass section are just part of a standard performance.
It's a sweet airy vocal, reminding me of Bethany Constentino's sunny surf delivery, but drawn out, matching the volume of this instrumentation. Making what should be a kind of downer Dead Meadow sound into a happy place. The moments when the rest of the band comes in behind this vocal is just overwhelming. They found this riff and just pound it over and over across the whole side...with Brandi belting out these etherial vocals. Playing with an almost silent middle section, this creepy organ working against a phasery electric, taking things down to an even slower moment. Of course the whole thing comes back stronger than before that clasic rock see saw rattling the speakers. A long running 33rpm side getting completely majestic and impossibly enormous.

B-Side's "Bells" finds another pounding, huge riff arragement to play with, the organ playing a bigger role in the sludge this time. The vocals sound like they might not be from Brandi this time and delivered right alongside this warped electric they almost turn into their own bizarre watry effect...sitar sounding. The drums dropping into just kick and snare, the changes are subtle and come on heavy, a crunchy electric over the chorus becoming that wall of rhtyhmic psych; hyptnotic and repeating. This one is just as epic, lulling you into that false sense of end of the track fade out. This is a panoramic track, taking shoegaze and psych played at volume to deliver another ridiculously massive track.

Get this one on Funny/Not Funny Records:

Funny / Not Funny Records is proud to present The Diamond Center's second foray into wax by releasing the California / Bells 7". Utilizing every inch with grooves, much like the record before it, these two tunes are able to take you on a lush psychedelia filled dreamquest for a swooning 13 minutes. Fuzzed guitars, waning organs, minimalist drum lines, a dualistic yet harmonious approach to vocals, and mastery of dynamics as a whole that only comes from perfect practice all culminate to bring you one of our most epic releases to date. This vision came into being at the Magic Twig Community's Mystic Fortress, the same studio birthplace as our 14th release, giving you, the listener, yet another round of fully realized and quality recordings. Spin this single and transcend into the truth we speak.

These tracks are not from the F/NF single, but you can get an idea:

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.

Invisible Hand / Borrowed Beams of Light split on Funny / Not Funny Records

I remembered how much I was into the Invisible Hand single from last year and I started with that side first.
From the sleeve it looks like they're trying to say both of these bands share at least 2 members...look close... or they're 2 sets of twins who started rival bands? That would be pretty awesome.
F/NF packed 2 tracks on each side from each band, and the first one from Invisible Hand, 'Video Games' has a fuzzy kind of early Lilys feel, the same kind of density of melodic changes and blown out energy. It's such a force from the first drum stick count-in that just when you start to follow the melody, they go in a new harmonic direction. Invisible Hand isn't going to give you a whole lot of opportunities though to anticipate what's happening or even join in. You have to sit in awe as they pack the lyrics and change pieces into larger disparate structures that don't ever seem intuitive. I can't help but think of the Lilys again in that way. Those instrumental gymnastics.
'Your Parents Watch' (yikes) takes a more stripped down approach to that complex melody structure...there's more of an epic soaring quality to this arrangement and when the hook repeats, this time you catch on and really dig in. They have an amazing sense of rhythm, these all work together somehow and the guitar is perfectly balanced in this controlled chaos. He's working with a real distinct vocal style, combined with this dancy indie pop, it's taking me back to Clap Your Hands...., say what you will but that first album still hold up as a neo-Talking Heads concept album.

The Borrowed Beams of Light side starts out with "Julie (What's that spell?)" which jumps back musically at least a good 30 years, and it's a little scary that not one person in either of these bands was probably even born in the 70's, let alone have grown up absorbing this music in their formative years, so how in the hell did they completely nail this sound? This one is truly a lost recording of a forgotten Posies style, nearly import band. Sort of smooth psyche, a layered far off vocal with plenty of chorus-y guitar. There's just a far off feel... super classic, almost easy listening prog rock, that could easily be disguised in a k-tel reissue...it's practically a period piece. A Sunday afternoon AM track that's inherently sad just in the way it's put together with the vocal distance.

The second track "Kids are great!!!" has a sort of bluesy scale that eventually turns frantically country western (?), or is part of that carnival era of the Kinks. The vocals are almost yelling in a drunken Pogues way, but it's about the Kids!!! There's a brief harmony breakdown moment before the shit kicking starts again. Bu then that's what I imagine 'the kids' do, rage and then pass out.
It's a little indie hybrid like Deer Tick, borrowing from that genre and kicking it into ho-down gear.

Get it from Funny / Not Funny, who says:

I’m not sure where to place the era this sounds like. Sorta mid-70’s yacht rocker, but also kinda 90’s indie rocker. Either way, its solid. These Virginians are making afternoon workin’ on the car in the yard music. Skipping stones down by the river music. Drinkin’ beer at the town’s summer carnival music. These are the film scenes I’m inventing in my head while listening to it, anyway.

Whatever Brains on Funny/Not Funny Records + Sorry State Records

This co-release from Whatever Brains comes via Funny/Not Funny Records and Sorry State Records. F/NF released a great split single from The Alphabet and Invisible Hand a while back I liked a lot. This sleeve was leading me to believe this was some kind of hypnotic sound collage, or dark minimal electronic nightmare...surprisingly it was neither. Maybe it's the anthropological photo of some strange ritual...or the masks and tinted black and white photo...but it's off. Unsettling.

"Rappers Delight II", starts out with some very snotty nasal vocals and this haphazard half swing beat is just setting you up for the super production landslide that's going to follow. I'm thinking of Les Savy Fav the way they repeatedly smack you upside the head when you're convinced that track wasn't going that way. Switching it up from track to track, starting loud right out of the gate, using fidelity challenged percussion tracks...there's never a hint of where any of it's going.
Does this have anything to do with the Sugar Hill Gang track? Absolutely not. I thought I was reading how these guys had something to do with some garage-something or other, it seems like that early direction must have been abandoned for full use of all a studio has to offer. And good for them, you have to start somewhere, but how a band evolves are where it's real nuts are. God knows we have enough bands recording with inferior equipment, these guys make use of every knob, the mysterious things that I as a sometimes home recorder, listener will never understand, or even see. The audio nerd tape op message boards I struggle to decode keeps it's secrets safe with Whatever Brains. When this track picks up by the end it's fist pumping it's devil horns. Huge gritty evil chords right after another in their clearest, louder than hell, attack.
I still love that about LSF, for better or worse, they are out there on their own path, proving with sheer longevity that they were going to keep writing interesting stuff. They can take the best parts from a full studio sound and force them into that kind of anthemic art rock. It just seems to work with all the twists and turns intact. Especially on the next track, "Village Sewer", the stepped up tempo and yelling hoarse style vocals are right along with Tim Harrington's delivery.* There's a constant homage going on, borrowing from this classic rock, power chord, monster ballad place and keeping it moving at the same time enough never to become repetitive.

The B-Side "What Makes a Man Make What Makes a Man Start Fires?" is making the case airtight. I really think this could be a Tim led side project....damn, how could you pick up from a place it took them well over 10 years to get to? If this is just the beginning, then I'm a little too excited at the possibilities of where this might go....if you know what I mean.

I'm going to go pull a 7" out from the LSF section and see if I'm completely insane.

Four months since the release of “Nesting,” the Whatever Brains return with their fourth single, “Rapper Delight II”. The Brains pump the brakes on this one, slowing the tempos down for two-thirds of the single without losing any of their lo-fi garage-rockish intensity. Sandwiched between the up-beat Belle & Sebastian lyric-ripper “Village Sewer”, the Clockcleaner-esque “What Makes a Man Make ‘What Makes a Man Start Fires’” and “Rappers Delight II” are destined to be classic porch jammers this season waiting for the charcoal to light up. The single offers Raleigh’s Brains production value and reverb levels at their best as they definitely “stepped up their game.” Perfectly jangly when needed, the single is the perfect compendium to staying awake well beyond the point of reason. Just remember it’s not passing out if it's in your own bed.

If this sounds like your bag then F/NF has another single, "Nesting" which they will put together in the same seven inch box and charge you less than usual for it.

It's a Whatever Brainer.

Get this one from Funny/Not Funny Records or Sorry State Records

* I think Tim Harrington and Zach Galifianakis if they aren't already would be best friends.

The Alphabet / The Invisible Hand split on Funny/Not Funny Records

This just in from another new label out of Harrisonburg, VA, Funny/Not Funny Records, with a couple of bands The Alphabet and The Invisible Hand and I only needed to hear this once to make it a contender for one of the best of 2010. I know it's early, but something like this makes you just want to remember not to forget. All of a sudden Virginia is completely on my radar with this label and Harding Street Assembly Lab. Is there any particular sound you can put your finger on? This split single says, 'Hell no.'

The Alphabet A-Side, 'Repeat' destroys... completely out of nowhere, all energy and mathy melody that explodes every other verse into cymbal crashes and guitar heights, this sounds amazing on vinyl...get an idea from their myspace, but it's just a thin sample of the full indie massive sound.
I'm reminded of Lync, Cap'n Jazz those bands that I keep going back to, that more than just captured that time for me, they're still classic, for the songwriting, the raw energy. I think they could only have been made that time in their lives where everything has to be all out in the smartest most naive way. There's nothing to lose, maybe no one is listening, it doesn't matter, it's immediate, there's one chance to do this right. These guys have got that. Completely exposed and raw, with all the rocking energy they can possibly muster for this amazing 4 minutes. It's captured perfectly, huge drums, clean bursts, they know exactly what they want to get down, there's no room for too much delay or reverb, that would step on the next change.
The harmonics, bent notes, the repeating guitar melody is just bordering on impossible. The vocals are slightly distorted and borders on falling apart emotionally. Matt's yelling, but always completely controlled. They even have it in them to change it up halfway through just in case you got too comfortable, just to smash it all apart again and again.
This is definitely on 'repeat'. Complete genius.

B-Side The Invisible Hand's 'Death Bellows 45' is a more contemplative bedroom project in the same raw exposed way. Acoustic strumming all underneath atmospheric rising loops, layered vocals from Adam Smith are perfect. Cheap metronome clicks and static environmental sounds providing this platform for a subtle vocal melody. From the rest of the tracks on their myspace, this is a complete departure. A technical intimate whisper against their usual rocking style.
And hell this local newscast loves them.

Both of these guys are serious finds and I'm glad to have been exposed to both of them.

Get it from Funny/Not Funny, not to be confused with Not Not Fun, the best $5 you'll spend on a single. Download code included.

Somewhere on either side of Mount Afton, Virginia, the best bands you haven’t heard yet are warming up their tube amps and plugging in their weathered Stratocasters in cramped, dingy basements. Harrisonburg, Va.-based Funny / Not Funny Records crystallizes this moment by pairing together the Shenandoah Valley sounds of Charlottesville’s The Invisible Hand and Harrisonburg’s The Alphabet.

Both of these sides are great, and I'm definitely going to be looking out for their full length stuff in the future, and Invisible Hand is actually coming to Bruar Falls on the 13th, can't wait.