BEST OF 2014

Year end show! Darren and I are back at it, the big show, coming back to figure out the years best singles of 2014.
My picks are limited just to the stuff that people sent me during the year and Darren sticks to stuff technically released this year...weird.
We talk about upcoming records from both of our labels including the crazy press coverage of Darren's Piss and Hair single the worlds first single made with human hair (and not really piss).

Darren from Velocity of Sound:

10 - Accordion Crimes / Glass Hits split on Snappy Little Numbers
9 - Dinosaur Jr. "Fade into you" on Subpop Records.
8 - Conor Oberst on Nonesuch Records
7 - Kelly Stoltz on Stroll on Records
6 - Night Sun on Burger Records
5 - Shannon and the Clams / Guantanamo Baywatch on Suicide Squeeze Records
4 - Yonatan Gat on Joyful Noise
3 - Morgan O’Kane / Ezekiel Healy split on Fat Elvis Records
2 - Ryan Adams on PAX-AM
1 - Old Head on Mind Cure Records

Jason:

10 - Birds in Weather - self released
9 - POW! on Grazer Records.
8 - Mystery Date on Pinata Records
7 - Wimps on Help Yourself Records
6 - The Sweets on Bleeding Gold Records
5 - Todayshits on Randy Records
4 - Broncho on CQ Records.
3 - Paul Messis on 13 O'Clock Records
2 - Personnel on Double Dot Dash Records
1 - Thigh Master on Tenth Court Records

Thanks everyone for reading and sending in records. You are all winners. Listen below.

7inches podcast interview with Chris at Modern Vinyl

Over the past few episodes Darren and I seem to have been referencing Modern Vinyl almost every show and it was high time we tracked down the founder, Chris to find out how he keeps up with his insane amounts of posts about new releases and the idea that we can all get rich by flipping records on ebay or on websites about vinyl for that matter.

Turns out it's SUPER EASY.

SUBSCRIBE AND LISTEN ON ITUNES.

Picks for this week are the "Sunderberry Dream" Fuzz single from In the Red with a King Crimson cover on the B-Side and Darren picks a black friday Record Store Day split on Subpop with Shearwater covering Rhinnaha and Low covering Frank Ocean’s “Novacane”.

We also start a rumor that Mikal Cronin is Charlie Moonheart aka Charles Moothart? Maybe we're the last to know.
Correct us at the 7inches voicemail - (347) 770-1469.

Episode 5 is up

7inches podcast - xml link for subscription
or search itunes for 7inches

Darren and I talk about a guy selling his store on ebay, the third man records turkey seven inch giveaway, Gemini is still up for sale at some mail order in England (cancelled -ed), Mogwai has a new album on Subpop with a bonus single (we love this trend).
My pick this week is the Sebadoh bonus single from Joyful Noise. Darren picks 2 (cheater) The Goodbye Boozy Warm soda tour single and The Polyvinyl Records compilation "I Need You Bad" curated by Sonny and The Sunsets.

Modern Vinyl is in the middle of a Velocity of Sound giveaway, a signed copy of the smoke pressing of The Lees of Memory. Enter by the 24th.

7inches hotline - (347) 770-1469

Obits on stint/subpop

Obits have a debut single on Stint Records (ST71):
“One Cross Apiece” b/w “Put It in Writing”.

I saw this being distro'd on Sub Pop and the fanatic review/listing from Stint records. I know every label is excited about their releases, I would be too. But maybe 'this record will change your life' is either joking or they say that about everything. I just can't take it seriously. What is actually going on here? But they caught my interest:

“The shot heard ‘round the world. The two best songs ever written by the best band in the world. Best guitar and bass playing and skin beating. The best lyrics ever sung. This record will change your life and give you a new start. Best packaging, easily. Genius. Mensa, mensa, mensa! Makes everybody else look real bad. Buy the shit out of this record.”—Lonnie Manx, Stint Records

I mean....really? It sounds like they didn't have anything specific to say...other than this is the greatest single ever? How? How about this is Rick Froberg from Hot Snakes and Drive like Jehu? Do those names not mean anything to anyone anymore? Or is he trying to distance himself from the history?
The vocal is unmistakable...it's completely Hot Snakes style, half yelling...but here is a very particular phrasing or melody's he sticks to that you can pick out right away.
I missed out on Drive like Jehu...I knew it was the beginning influence on Emo, but I might have been past it already with the Promise Ring. I think that might be one fallout from the MP3-age...the amount of time you stay within a genre or line of thinking has shrunk. The cycle has gotten smaller and I move on in a week or so after I've exhausted everything.

First impressions from the crapity crap myspace tracks of a live cakeshop show is they sound like that modern garage sound going around with bands on Rob's House records. Kind of Atlanta, driving chunky, a little sneery, really guitar driven...all power chords. You know what... my description is even worse.

No age - Teen Creeps - on subpop

'Teen Creeps' is always the one I play when I'm playing them first for someone, it has all the elements of a good no age song...that kind of up front washed out vocals, and weird rhythm.. the way it uses that late 90's quiet to overwhelming wall of sound formula in a new, immediate way. They can't wait 15 seconds into the track before a tiny melody blows up into two hundred waves of guitar. Just two people...it's staggering.
They really do recreate this sound live. They do have some electronics and are turning on the loops as much as they turn the guitars up to 11. They are both integral to the sound....I'm jealous...it's amazing, you and your best friend could kick this much ass....or come up with as much melody out of the murk of fuzz. I really can't comprehend the sounds going on behind the scenes here. But as much as I love a stripped down sound, they add just enough to keep it completely interesting.
I mean I guess you can get a little annoyed they are probably blowing up too fast, the live shows can't be as good as the tiny venue's they played when they didn't care. It takes a hold of everyone. Let's face it, they are trying to become a business....to affect some kind of change if they are lucky. I'm not going to fault them with trying to make this their living. I can't fault anyone for that...if you have enough fans, then good for you. Could we get along without your new sound? Sure....does the world need another genre, or album for that matter? Not really.
But I would try to do the same thing in a minute and so is the kid down the block who got a guitar for xmas. Then what? I want to know about some new shit, but then a bunch of people like it and I'm going to get pissed? This is a never ending cycle.
Am I a hippie for thinking that it wouldn't be so bad if the world was a bunch of bands all buying each other's music?

Maybe.

Did I mention the B-side is exclusive?

Get it.

Pick your poison....from Sub Pop:

New No Age 7" on Sub Pop released in time for the upcoming Shred Yer Face Tour with Los Campesinos and Times New Viking.
TRACKLISTING:
1. Teen Creeps
2. Intimate Descriptions

Or Insound.
Is it too much to hope one of the singles in the club could be from these guys? They love the singles...it's only a matter of time.

Pissed jeans -Don't need smoke...7" on subpop

Don't Need Smoke to Make Myself Disappear / Love Clown

Punk seemed at some point to have taken over the seven inch format...it went from purely a single 2 song single to a mini EP/album. This is a world I have just barely scratched the surface. I know the major players, and I went thru a Dead Kennedy's, Fugazi, Bad Brains etc phase.
I think there is a huge history of revolution with the 7" being this cheap distribution object to get the music out at shows, through the mail, it's weirdly kept records alive for a new audience...in punk, reggae, rock and roll in general. The punk side seems to be going strong with the number of new bands 7"'s and collectors of punk message boards I come across.

Anyway... Pissed Jeans is in this long tradition of punk rock and this guys voice reminds me of Rollins in that kind of tough guy yelling. I have the full length and need to spend more time with it, but this is raw, stripped down playing in a shitty bowling alley or your friends backyard.

This is still available on subpop. They have consistently managed to keep releasing relevant, interesting music. Someone is making all the right choices there. It really runs the spectrum, they seem to have the financial means to promote all their stuff and still have the street cred. Plus they were pretty much my entry point for 7"'s in general. I probably have more subpop singles than from any other label...and it's all quality in one way or another.

Pissed Jeans are a rock and roll combo from Allentown, PA and this single is their first release on Sub Pop. They’ve previously released a full-length called Shallow and a 7” single (“Throbbing Organ” b/w “Night Minutes”), both on Parts Unknown Records. Because we have yet to read a better description (or come up with one ourselves…) of their music than the one provided by their singer Matt in an interview on blastitude.com, the following: “The idea was to start a different kinda punk band focused on dead ended carnal cravings, sexual depression…that sort of thing. Mainly we just wanted to bludgeon the listener with dull, monotonous droning rock music that just sucks the energy out of you, the musical equivalent to watching a toilet flush.” We at Sub Pop Records could not possibly be more excited to release a full-length of this dull, monotonous droning rock music later this year. So, that’s what we’re going to do.

Wooden shjips on sub pop

Subpop snagged these guys after just a 10" release, which they gave away for free and a 7" of SOL '07 Pts 1&2.
Now the hype might be turning a lot of people off straight away, and I don't blame them, I've been hearing about this myth everywhere. I don't know... where they have even played live? Not that that's suspect, maybe they are trying to keep the mystery going as long as possible.
It's great if you play a track in itunes and then go to their myspace and then another layer starts playing on top there. Some of these tracks remind me of a flashback scene music.

(Space Clothes) Ok, this is that part of the movie where this girl went to a party, she doesn't know everyone and someone drugs her. She's stumbling around, people are laughing... there's all kinds of psychedelic shit happening around her. Then she goes out into the woods to get some air and a serial killer is watching her through the bushes and comes to kill her. Luckily she blacks out and the track ends.

God dammit if there isn't something really exciting about hearing this kind of distortion, just a bunch of long hair biker/hippies destroying their shit, all the way to 11...they have made shoegaze dangerous.

Track Listing:
1. Loose Lips
2. Start to Dreaming

WOODEN SHJIPS "Loose Lips / Start To Dreaming" (Sub Pop) 7" 3.98
We shouldn't have to say very much at all about this brand new 7” from beloved local dronerockers Wooden Shjips, considering how many of their recent full length we sold, same with the self released 7” and 10” (which were included as a bonus disc on the first pressing
of the Holy Mountain full length, all gone now, sorry). It seems like we could just whisper the words 'Wooden Shjips” into the internet and all of these 7”s would suddenly just disappear, only to re-appear moments later on turntables around the world. Which, when you think about it, is basically what is about to happen right now.

“Woooooooodennnnnnnnssssshhhhhhhhjjjiiiiiipssssssss……”

The A side is classic Wooden Shjips, taking all of their influences and whipping them into a droney druggy blur. Whooshing distorted riffing, heavy on the phaser (so heavy at times, it sounds like maybe it's not just the guitar, like they ran the whole record through a phaser), some warped Stereolab style organs, simple krautrocky drumming, and those hypnotic Jim Morrison / Nick Drake deep crooning vocals. Think a super psychedelic Sabbath, or a heady
mix of Flying Saucer Attack, Spacemen 3 and Loop. Cyclical and hypnotic, with a strange almost new wavey chord change / breakdown smack dab in the middle.

The flipside is way more poppy and less droney, a slow psychpop drift, with serpentine guitars, and a gradually increasing tempo, the guitar getting all tangled up with the whirring organ, the
whole thing fuzzy and softly propulsive, but with a surprisingly garage-y vibe, reminding us of a more drugged out Sonics, or a more spaced out Fuzztones, especially in the main melody and the higher than usual vocals. Both new tracks are pretty kick ass and fans will most definitely not bee disappointed. And even though the full length on Holy Mountain has only been out for about two months, these new tracks already have us chomping at the bit for another new full length!

CSS {OFF THE HOOK} PT1+2

off the hook / meeting paris hilton css suxxx version
off the hook / poney money honey

Why do I like Cansei de ser sexy as opposed to say... the klaxons? I don't know, what are you asking me for? I guess they don't seem like they have an attitude. Klaxon is really trying hard and they are trying hard to convince you. They would be doing cool stuff in high school and not letting anyone into their cool 'gang'. Big deal, you're probably doing stupid shit anyway. Ok I really really liked the video, it was an 80's low-fi nightmare home movie. I love it, but I think I was so blinded by this I didn't hear the music....shit it's bands like this that make me go get the album.
Anyway, so CSS...I couldn't even find this on subpop's site yet...and they better be selling it. If this is import only I will break some legs. The other two from SP were really great. They haven't done wrong by me yet and I would go so far as to get both of these.

Css-off the hook part one-off the hook is taken from the fantastic css debut album on the sub pop label, its propably one of their more guitar heavy tracks featuring a very funky bassline and sounding like some indie pop take on the tom tom club, features off the hook along with meeting paris hilton css suxxx version, february 2007-7"-sub pop-€3.99

Css-off the hook part two-off the hook is taken from the fantastic css debut album on the sub pop label, its propably one of their more guitar heavy tracks featuring a very funky bassline and sounding like some indie pop take on the tom tom club, features off the hook along with new track poney money honey, february 2007-7"-sub pop-€3.99

Those descriptions are from Road recs.
Wait a second Picadilly has them for .99 pounds...still nothing from subpop. I don't think they care anymore.

Fields of Gaffney

This is not a new discovery by any stretch, but I just came across it the other day and have to admit I had no idea even about the subpop eric gaffney release, which is still available, let alone this split 7 inch, which is the only other solo thing released since sebadoh, who I heard are mounting some kind of reunion tour, after B-low finishes work on the new dinosaur jr. album? Crazy.

Get it on Morc records

Fields of Gaffney / Pernath: "split single"
7 " ep - released february 2004

four new songs bringing the lofi-era back to life. Fields of gaffney is the new band of Eric gaffney, co-founder of sebadoh. though his releases over the past ten years have been very rare, he has lost nothing of his songwriting talents: these songs can easily stand the comparison with the songs he wrote for the critically acclaimed albums 'III' and 'bubble and scrape'. this is his first single since his contribution to sub pop's singles club in 2000.