Bloodstains Across Alberta on Mammoth Cave Records

Saved the best for last in Mammoth Caves massive singles onslaught. This one is by far their most ambitious with 10 tracks from various Canadian artists loosely based on their home province and compiled this massive EP.

The A-Side tracks even have the Myelin Sheaths, "Chinook Party", the most shocking part is that I just found out these guys are from Canada? Weren't they on Hozac? They bring the layered distortion, and a fist pumping chorus.
The Tension Slips, "Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump", is sort of a cheer, like "S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y night", sort of that same bubblegum punk anthem, and I thought for a second they might be talking about a night in Buffalo, NY, where you could easily get your head smashed in if you were jumped, which is also very common in Buffalo. But then I remember Alberta is waaayy over there by Montana, so there must be some other equally awesome city or bar they are referring to.
The Moby Dicks even weigh in with a muddier than usual effort, "Frostbite". The levels are punished, and they stop halfway through...probably too drunk. They aren't really talking about anywhere in particular, more like everywhere in all of Canada, I imagine. When the snow finally comes around, it's there to stay. I hate upstate.

Some of the B-Siders, like The Famines: P.L.C.A, are always riding those input lines right over the red. They blast one out here almost creating a solid wave of sound, they can create maximum noise somewhere in Lightning Bolt dB range.
Fist City sounds like Fuck Montreal, (which I'm sure they appreciate on many levels), tons of raw, sloppy, energy with windows of perfect punk melody, they don't try to protect. It's not something precious. They find a crystal vase in the trash, and they smash it against the wall for the fuck of it.
The Radians have a huge vocal delay and masses of effects maxed out pushing it into punk psyche. "You know... You know, you got it".
Outdoor Miners, "Colly Shaw", have a post punk intelligencia lean, working through ultra long delayed vocals, coming off somewhere between Husker Du's gutsy chords and The Errors alchemy.

I don't have to know what chinook's are or that Death/Methbridge is about Lethbridge, Mammoth Cave has put together a great compilation with a shitload of scuzzy garage talent that happens to be from Alberta. Like other contemporary local scene capturing labels, Fort Lowell or Harding Street Assembly Lab they're providing access to an entire part of the world I know I would have only accidentally come across and never made the connection. That's the best kind of seven inch label, that doesn't just release the music by great artists but collaborates with them, bringing new music that really wouldn't have otherwise existed into the rest of the world. This is a perfect single...it doesn't happen everyday.

Hopefully there are some of these left since we're way late to the party, eh?. Hoser! Drink beer and piss on a fire. What the hell was the McKenzie Brothers movie about anyway?

The liner notes are insanely enlightening...I have to go listen to this thing again now.

Mammoth Cave Records.

MCR 010 – Bloodstains Across Alberta 7”
Featuring: Topless Mongos, Myelin Sheaths, Tension Slips, The Moby Dicks, Grown-Ups, Famines, Fist City, Radians, The Throwaways, Outdoor Miners

We asked 10 of our favourite Alberta bands to write a 1 minute song loosely about their home province and two months later we got this. I daresay it came out way better than we anticipated. Seriously, this record rules pretty hard, with every band turning in short blasts of amazing. In fact, even though we made this single for the Wyrd Alberta Travelling Festival, we have plans to do a BC edition (w/ Indian Wars, Dead Ghosts, Student Teacher, B-Lines… lots more) and then maybe more after that.

1st pressing 300 Black (Only 83 left after Wyrd Alberta travelling Fest).

Myelin Sheaths - 'Do the mental twist' on Horizontal Action Records

Paul from Mammoth Cave is currently touring with the Myelin Shealths who have this single out on Hozac, so I thought I'd give this a listen before I continue on with the latest singles on the Cave. Looks like they have one more show this month if you are in the Lethbridge area on the 31st, you are going to see these guys somewhere...probably the Red Dog Diner.

'Do the Mental twist', which should be the A-Side if I'm not wrong has an insane amount of reverb and delay distortion ricocheting around in a haze... the layers just keep piling on. Is that a cymbal crash or all treble chords? This is classic garage, fed through the indecipherable machine. Not insanely overdone, it's still a party, not a statement. The back and forth blown out vocals from Martine and Cassandra (or just one of those two) are perfect on every track, it's surfy and greaser punk with a little blues, and all balls. Cavernous drums and nearly arty feedback take this to another level, it's all blown out on the smallest speakers.
'Drugstore pharmacy' ups the ante with some weirdo gary war wavering organ, in front of the wall of echo vocals. It's managing to still be in a total wash of sound with the melodies desparately holding it together, definitely more than a sum of it's parts somehow.

I can't stress enough the recording process on these tracks will keep you guessing, expertly crafted to just be on the verge of a solid waveform.
The tone on this is perfect, they are doing everything right.

Paul was recently interviewed for The New Canadian Modern about the Sheaths and you should check that out here.

Get it from Hozac.


Just a quick note as well, Patt from Stumparumper Records launched a kickstart project to keep the label alive, he's put out a ton of stuff this year and there are some great deals on packages of singles and full lengths if you pledge by April 24th, so if you haven't picked up his singles...now is the time. I should be covering his latest this week as well, looking forward to that.