Velvet Davenport on SHDWPLY Records

Shdwply recently released this single from The Velvet Davenport. The sleeve is great, reminiscent of the NNF demented cut and paste collage, so right away I have to go check out their myspace. At first all I saw was the words Ariel Pink and Gary War and jumped to the conclusion this was a Roman Soldiers sort of situation...man, that Gary collaborates all over town...which makes me think I have to listen to his full length again. It's such a great collection of sounds, it's one giant entity to me that I sit down with and evolves over two sides...I get caught up in it...maybe it's just kind of mysterious to begin with? It definitely helped Blank Dogs...I mean you kind of make up a better story than the press release anyway...nobody knows where this guy is from, what gear he's using. It's like there's some kind of time machine effect? It is pretty cool to hear a crackly reverb sounding plug in on garageband...just for a second it's believable, but still insanely produced....to think that could be reduced down to a single plug in is just ridiculous...but that didn't stop me.

I'll start with the B-Side 'Run' since it's VD by themselves, this has all the sensibilities of AP, it's got that nostalgic aesthetic, but very grounded in 70's psyche, like MV+EE, laid back hippies time traveled to the SHDWPLY studios, like Bill and Ted. Too high to notice they were in 2010, they wrote some jams, laid down the flute tracks, lit some candles, tie dyed some stuff...I'd be completely against this direction if there wasn't that modern dark edge to this...starting with that disembodied mask-face.

The A-Side 'Get Out', the one with Ariel & Gary (that's got the sound of a side project right there), has all of the patina you'd expect of the three of these entities coming together. It sounds like all those era's they reference at once, the static from 70's, the earnest disillusionment of the 80's, a little indie guitar thrown in for good measure....or maybe that's just me attaching all my own memories to the nostalgic sound they've always been creating... it sort of lends itself to that, by listening to it through wax paper, you make up the parts you aren't actually hearing?

They have a free download of their cassette release 'Happy Endings' here. This single is a pretty great start for these guys and it's immediately going to be filed in the unfile-able weirdo section of the vinyl shelf.

While you're at it, Shdwply is releasing a new Ducktails single, so get on both immediately. I'm shocked this is still available with this Ariel & Gary contribution.

“Our previously loved psychedelic friends, Velvet Davenport have just sent over their newest slice of 60’s infused pop. On their recent LA vacay they met up with like minded nostalgists Ariel Pink and Gary War, the resulting “Get Out” is an acid flashback into a more liberal state of mind. This will be the a-side b/w of “Run” which is set for release as a 7″ on, the appropriate, Shdwply Records. Also, check out the free downloads that Velvet Davenport has available at their myspace…”
-Weeklytapedeck.com

Sacred Bones preorder special editions + podcast Ep 43 (wavvvvvves)

Gary War...I think I already missed his full length that came out on Shdwpy....(actually he just got back to me...the repress is available for $12)...this is mostly in line with the minimal dark low fi synth stuff I've been getting into lately. Dead Luke, SIDS, Blank Dogs...get in line guys...I can't get enough of this goth/synth/psyche avalanche.
They really can't release this stuff fast enough...more limited editions, cassettes that degrade after you play them, recorded over 8 track tapes....it's flying off the shelves.
Gary and Mike Sniper even team up on another soon to be impossible to find project called 'Roman Soldiers'. That's a super group if I ever heard one.
It really sounds like these are all found recordings in some goodwill...someone at sacred bones stumbled on this suitcase full of tapes a few years ago and is slowly going to release them over the next few years.
I would believe that story. There would be no live shows, then someone would try to cover the songs to come up with new material...the mythology would go on forever.

There's a free download of Gary's Album here... but I'll be damned if I can figure out zshare or whatever the fuck, but it's also at Ongakubaka. Email gary directly (gregarywaratgmaildotcom) and get yourself an LP.


From Sacred Bones records
Side A: Zontag
Side B: Don’t Go Out Tonight

Sacred Bones presents the followup release to last year’s New Raytheonport full-length LP on Shdwply Records. Gary War’s keyboard and tape manipulations exist in the loner sphere somewhere between the Legendary Pink Dots’ keyboard driven take on UK psychedelia and current fellow travelers like the Pink Noise. Like the LPD or Ariel Pink (to whom he’s garnered comparisons since the debut LP release) the odd experimental arrangements and off-kilter instrumentation never stray very far from melancholy pop song structures rooted around a catchy hook and melody.

So excited to hear this one...I'm pulling out all ariel pink and Jandek....this is that 70's that I'll pretend existed instead of the shit one that did.

Pink Noise single can be preordered here.

Don't know too much about them, except everything I've been reading was all over Dream Code...thought I'd give this a try...there's two more I didn't know anything about so I let them go...it seems like this past week everyones got a new release from something I want to hear...the 7" economy seems to be doing pretty well.

Limited Edition Screen-printed jacket with tipped-in photograph.
Pink Noise's MySpace
Side A: Gold Light Side
B: Prince Charlies Revenge

Canadian 2-piece The Pink Noise return for their second release on Sacred Bones. Last year’s Dream Code LP ended up topping most people's best of 2008 lists. Electronic and organic drumming with keys with staccato punk guitar blasts--think the Residents played through a Big Muff. A double sider of deranged bedroom punk that shames the dozens of one-man-bands hunched over a Tascam trying to make a cheap knockoff of the original. The record sounds like it was mastered through a boombox onto a thriftstore cassette. The Jerkwave cassette release, the previous 7-inch single, and their track on World’s Lousy (both on Almost Ready Records) are all long gone.


Here's the Wavves set from Underground Lounge as promised. Episode 43. (30min-mp3)
Just a few words...I just had a feeling watching Nathan that this wasn't the usual show of someone with some interesting sounds going on, some flavor of the minute...all hype and no substance....good for a sunday, put it on once in a while (like old skull)...it was a lot more... It could just be that kind of 'don't know any better' genius songwriting, unencumbered by everything going on, when you don't care where it fits into music, you don't care someone else sounds like that, uses that pedal, that your songs all sound the same...but that's what is so great about it. Sure he's young, and that's what makes it even better.