The Suburban Homes EP on Market Square Records

I first thought of Trouble in Mind Records when I heard Paul Messis' insanely perfect psych releases, they both had a special affinity for the late '60s garage/psych sounds. Then I found out that Paul started his own label, Market Square like Bill and Lisa and this morning I just noticed that Paul is credited as writing the songs on this scuzzy late '70s punk 45 from the Suburban Homes. I thought it was impressive to have absorbed the great parts of the '60s the way he did but hearing the equal amount of attention to the trashy raw sounds on this is mind blowing. This guy has an incredible ear and now there's literally nothing he can't do.

A-Side's "Suburban Home" has the shittiest guitar sound blasted out of a 4 watt amp, a contact mic taped to the busted plastic grille. The vocals are close - too close run through the mixer after the fact, if they even used one, let's face it they sound era appropriately like they sang into a tape deck with the rest playing just outside the bathroom. Talking about shopping filled with disgust and keeping the whole sound as thin and loose as possible. Rehearsal and production would completely ruin this. These guys would either make a drunken mess out of the live set or if you caught them before that beer that pushed them over the line it would be the best thing you ever saw.

B-side's "Pseudo-intellectuals" has a completely different guitar crunch on this one and the blown out vocal crammed through the all tweeter PA like they took a page out of Sing Sing or Almost Ready reissues, also reminding me of Home Blitz in sheer dirty pop energy. Burying the vocals with a bass back there somewhere but it's all in this delivery, close to the mic and then walking back hard like you don't care, we wanted to get this track down but really just because we're bored. The way that Gang of Four did it with a cool detachmeent these guys are going for hot, sweaty and loose, nothing controlled or post punk about it. That scuzzy distortion is fantastic with that energy of every frantic moment of fighting boredom. You can hear that battle, that bit of the suburbs, the tract houses outside the city limits that are always trying to push things down. The fill comes a little too quick because they couldn't hear the vocal and they're pressed for time.

Hanging around the art gallery / pseudo-intellectual

On "D.I.Y." the tom drives this jangle and a better track doesn't exist about DIY. The way he runs out of breath at the end of the first verse, like the Johnny Ill band if they just broke up with only their cassette demo behind. The perfect anthem to the idea of cobbling unlikely things together with whatever is lying around. The snare is second hand, the vocals don't land on the beat and the guitar strums get lost in their own rhythm. It's about energy and the passion to make something. "D - I - Y!" becomes a battle cry, fuck they nailed this thing, laughing right at the end of this with the tape rolling.

Just to put the icing on this shit cake, there's a square of medicated toilet tissue inside. Of course I had to smell it, what a creep.

Market Square says:

The Suburban Homes, is the fifth 7" release on West Sussex, UK based Market Square Recordings. The Suburban Homes are a DIY punk band from Crawley West Sussex and during a weekend recorded this their first EP, influenced by DIY bands of the 70s and early 80s, The Suburban Homes takes influences from such groups as The Desperate Bicycles, Swell Maps and The Mekons.

The record is limited to 300 copies and comes in three different coloured sleeves (white, blue & yellow) the record also contains inserts and 70s toilet paper.

Get it imported direct from the band.

Negative Scanner on Trouble In Mind Records

I really appreciate the eclectic mix of artists on Trouble in Mind, I'm still listening to the '80s pop 3108 record that just came out not to mention the baroque psych of Jacco Gardener or prog garage of The Resonars for that matter but then they go and drop something like this single from Negative Scanner, a hyper precise punk and I have to remind myself not to start assuming anything about a single release except where to paypal.

A-Side's "Ambitious People" launches right into the track with metallic heavy jangle guitar with incredible vocals from Rebecca Valeriano-Flores yelling abstract bursts rising in intensity with a Sex Pistols prime '70s cut sounding chord change - a real punk ride up the scale. They let these strings fly bouncing all over the boards, the clang and rattly vibrations intact through this high tempo precision punk. All I can hear is that bass rattle like they mic'd the strings themselves. Rebecca's vocal is perfect, switching from a melodic style to a rapid fire burst of punching syllables. These guitars seem to take a hint from that structure and equally strum all the way to hard choppy sections. It's such a plowing forward punk that wastes no time, there's nothing extra, no embellishments, just dense and pure. "Evening News" comes on such intensity and massive punk fast leanings with a lot more melody in this one and a vibrato waver in the vocal, which is fantastic like a restrained Shannon and the Clams. She's got a naturally gifted vocal with power and a delicate touch when she wants it. Like a combination of Love is All and Chin Chin frantic and not overly hardcore or distortion just for it's own sake, it's that great talented balance of ... and thats how this track ends literally in the middle of a verse. Wow talk about leaving you wanting more.

B-Side's "R.I.P" cuts big riffs in pieces, even more of a bumpy ride, a string of potholes scored as toms and incredibly Rebecca's vocal doesn't seem to follow any of this coming up with a barrage of spit and punch on their own, in conversational rapid bursts. The guitar has a moment to breathe and you hear a hardcore Feelies or Pylon's weird origin which was folk informed new wave, one foot in the past of hardcore and the other in some kind of unknown future. All as incredibly fast as possible, the perfect material and delivery on a EP like this that's hard to forget.

Get this from TROUBLE IN MIND Records - OUT TODAY

Is there a full length coming? You bet. 2015.

J.C. Satan - Italian Summer on Trouble in Mind Records

Punk Pop Garage is universal. From the Australian bubbly scuzz I’ve been hearing from UV Race or Eddy Current Suppression Ring to this layered thick fuzz Ty style punk from Los Dos Hermanos or this latest single out from fellow frenchman JC Satan on Trouble in Mind Records. This sound isn't the product of some local scene. Getting back to stripped down unpretentious roots is being done all over the world and is easily crossing borders with sounds like this.

A-Side's "Italian Summer" has a thick, open space tom with a tambourine just underneath that cracks open into a hard pop psych. Layered doubled up vocals stepping on each other over a hyper stylized warbling electric coming from the upper left of this sonic room. There isn't possibly enough space for this to spread out though, the gasping riffs take over for a measure or two but this has all the kaleidoscopic feeling of the Resonars or Jacco Gardner with even more elements. Even more experimental trials just under the surface. It's definitely not adhering to the traditional kind of psych or pulling from those historic tested sounds. Picking this thing apart is where it gets fun, the number of acoustics and open mic'd cigar box guitars with all the different depths all working with and against each other. This is some kind of sparkling gutter psych that feels like it has more to do with Ty or White Fence then the '60s stuff.

B-Side's "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" opens on the best tom sound, that tight whack in a polished room, the echo off the walls with synth style guitar riffs are just the right type of pop for this rhythm. They can hardly contain themselves becoming a Bass Drum of Death kind of power and density here. This has just completely crossed the line having very little to do with the psych I thought I was hearing on the A-Side. Unless it's completely crossed into more of a Captain Beefheat weirdo with slices of guitar coming together unpredictably and impossibly. They commit to a reckless chaotic sound that keeps landing on the beat somehow, it's classic rock and swirly pop, a tough combo to balance and I'm still not sure where this fits into my idea of Trouble in Mind and that's why it's great. They just expanded on what the label is known for while being at home alongside real idiosyncratic talent.

I love that TIM contacted me about this one, you'll have the weekend to check out the streaming A-Side at TIM or Sick of Love from Slovenly and get ready to order this one on Tuesday from Mind Trouble:

The first edition of the “Italian Summer” single comes housed in the Trouble In Mind factory sleeve, is pressed on randomly mixed vinyl, includes a download code & is limited to 500 copies!

Klaus Johann Grobe - Traumhaft on Trouble In Mind Records

The thing I really love about Trouble in Mind is the serious lengths they go to to curate this psych pop collection of artists. At first I thought it was a pretty incredible exclusive to have landed Jacco Gardner and brought his genius Cabinet of Curiosities to the world, but this latest single from Klaus Johann Grobe is just as mind blowing and off my radar. In a world where anyone can post their recordings online I think TIM becomes more important as an editor of the impossible amount of stuff out there. They're that cool friend who's always telling you about some crazy new band they saw or heard. They do all the work and you just have to click a few buttons to get records right to your door. IT"S ALMOST TOO EASY.

Weirdly related to that B-Side of Walter Hus' yesterday the A-Side of "Traumhaft" opens with a real coincidence of cool organ tones and strong bass lines that BROMP over this with German vocals proving that these kind of grooves transend any lyric, in this case it's completely irrelevant. Like those louge compilations, or a Besson soundtrack there's a mysterious european element closely tied to the '60s and delivered almost too clean and weird to actually have been created them. Theremin volleys with tom fills and that organ feels like something from The In Sound From Way Out the way they tapped into those primal deep grooves, it's almost a crossover with Electric Cowbell or Colemine and The Paperhead. It recalls that era while being so obviously in its own element. You feel smart just listening to the crazy feedback groove loops of reverb. It's kicking throughout, bouncing echo fills, like Stereolab playing with those clever, hyptnotising loops of rhythm. I miss Empire Tomato Ketchup and this fills up that empty place. Five minutes of endlessly shifting psych pop grooves.

B-Side "Nicht zu stoppen" brings in that bass to establish a big structure right in the center of this. The spoken word vocal is distanced and distorted far off from the mic, delayed into oblivion which works as an instrument since I'm not getting it as meaning anyway, having been reduced to these repeated sounds. It's damn good and they work the repetive nature of this track, that last vocal repeating into infinity. It's got that Histoire De Melody Nelson rock and roll colliding with classic elements into this pre hip hop; a future that's trapped in amber with '50s organs and deviled eggs. Bizarre crafty food colored entree's that I've only seen in cook books. This is that future where we still haven't reached the moon and cars have fins, trapped in this endless loop of groovy baby yea! A super crazy world all it's own.

Turns out this is a reissue of a single on Sunstone Records in the UK which is long sold out, same goes for this once word gets out. pick it up from the Trouble in Your Mind Records. I call the 'Trouble in Bank Statement Again' records.

Jacco Gardner "The End Of August" on Trouble in Mind Records

I've been making a mistake thinking of Jacco Gardner and Cabinet of Curiosities as any sort of psych. He considers these exclusive tracks on his latest from Trouble in Mind, baroque-pop. It's an important distinction, instead of the foggy haze that attempts to simulate an altered consciousness Jacco's concoction has the lofty precision of orchestral chamber music, the layers of dense instrumentation crafted into pop phrases. The hash and tie dye sheets on the wall have been replaced with medieval tapestries and quaaludes.

A-Side's "End of August" has a smooth, cool, chorus guitar, I can't even describe the layers of effects here, the warped and gilded ornamentation is so heavy. I get it, it's easy to attach 'psych' to anything dense and carefree and this is too skillfully done. The level of craft is similar to Paul Messis which is to say the details have been completely agonized over and worked to an inch of their life. I'm sure these two would have war stories from the studio, the tracks scrapped or just not up to standards. This is perfection, the lofty vibes of uncategorizable elements, wind, clouds, capturing that sunny haze; a kaleidoscope tunnel vision of rolling down a hill. Layers of harmony in his vocal the end game of tracking instrumentation, a defining moment when music went from played live to entirely studio based, this baroque pop is taking that idea to some kind of mathematically impossible end place. Jacco is here, years later, and he picked up that smoldering torch and soaked it in gasoline. This deserves intense study like a good Ariel Pink track, there's enough material here for a thousand songs.

B-Side's "Notus" puts the reverb right into toms and rim shots. The guitar can't ever just be through one effect, we're talking about blowing minds, you need a minimum of five layers of all different warm warbles wrapped in different picked styles, weaving a heated blanket while you're lying there. It's warm before you even realize it, like heated car seats. Where did this come from? A pause for organ keys that starts to give away it's synth roots to take over the track. Is this the culmination of hours of sludgy jams? It's so perfectly clear and executed that it doesn't give away it's background at all, just try to imagine a demo of this. Jacco will make you want to just throw your 4-track out the window and quit. You can't even attribute this to today's technology - you hear something like this and no amount of gear can make the average jerk sound like this. It's the rare culmination of talent and then having access to a real studio and production. It almost never happens.

Head over to Trouble in Mind to listen on their flash player...or better yet, you know he's great, just paypal them already. B-Side below:

Proto Idiot on Trouble In Mind Records

Andrew Anderson from The Hipshakes has been chasing garage punk pop since 2003, getting the fellow shakes together when they were 15 in Sheffield, England and put out releases the next few years with Slovenly, Tic Tac totally and Goner among others. Proto Idiot is something of a solo release from Andrew but the Hipshakes facebook shows no signs of a split anytime soon, just a case of being prolific.
An old article from Loud and Quiet mentioned that The Hipshakes opened for Cococoma on their first tour and even put out a split single and it all made sense, of course Bill and Lisa would be in touch with Andrew, ready to release whatever he recorded next.

A-Side's "You're Wrong" has a great guitar jangle reminiscent of The Feelies or So Cow's exuberant gleaming pop with minimal chords and tight percussion, it's a succinct perfect little detail that makes a huge statement in a simple song about being wrong. Multiple guitars, a slow strummed electric over acoustic buried back there, is deceptively simple. These layers aren't obvious or trying to create some kind of mysterious haze almost shocking to hear something so anti-psych perfectly taught and wrangled together - a junkpile compressed into a John Chamberlain cube. It's a song that will be inadvertently stuck in your head on the first play through, hours later humming it on your way home from the store only to put it on again just to get the lyric right. When he says “You're wrong / You're wrong / You're so fucking wrong” that last ‘fucking’ is thrown in there, an extra dig from the narrator, a smile on his face. He's caught you with your pants down, exceedingly pleased with himself.

"You Can't Hide" has a beefy start, slow and pop with a ‘60s slant very much rooted in The Kinks embroidered garage sound, thanks to this this grand gesture, a choir or voices behind him. There are always little experiments in the instrumentation, the snare sounds gurgly and his jangle here seems to have an acoustic metallic strum buried here somewhere. It’s a bumpy, hazy ride that isn't necessarily connected to psych ground. A toy guitar plinks away somewhere in the mix, a layered lackadaisical pop pile that’s exactly like his songwriting. Andrew is leading you around not trying to shock or dazzle with crazy twists and turns but like label mate Jacco Gardener building on classic riffs and in the process becoming completely new again because of their own unique take.
More proof there isn’t a single thing you won’t like on Trouble in Mind and I'm literally shocked listening to every release that they’ve managed to unearth another artist like this I've never come across anywhere else. T.I.M. pressed this up on dark purple vinyl in their company sleeve.

Check out the A-Side from another release on his bandcamp page below:

The Marble Vanity on Slow Fizz Records

Not to be confused with Fuzz City, (maybe that's just me?) Slow Fizz Records out of Chicago released this single from The Marble Vanity sometime in the beginning of last year. The label site appears to have been hacked by an online gambling presence or it’s part of their elaborate ruse to make this difficult to track down as Bill and Lisa eluded to in this interview at Philthy Mag. You might recognize those names as members of Cococoma and tastemakers at Trouble in Mind Records. Along with Andrew Anderson from The Hipshakes (who happened to be staying with Bill and Lisa at the time) and Emma Hospelhorn from the Hollows they put together The Marble Vanity’s tracks with garageband in a small home office, not that it even seems possible with the impressive production on this clear vinyl. Influenced by the very fringes of psych pop bands that were part of the second wave of bubblegum freakout, names I’ve never heard mentioned before like the The Index, The Yellow Balloon or The Bachs, they’ve managed to emulate that second generation of glam psych in an effort to further evolve paisley pop way past its domesticated roots.

"You Can't Step on a Rainbow" opens with an elaborate harpsichord twinkle and a rolling tom fill. The handclaps take over a shiny rhythm bopping along and I don't remember Bill ever sounding as smooth on Cococoma as with this layered doubled harmony. Definitely not ever getting as high as the epic transcendent moment towards the end of the second chorus when an entire horn arrangement blows in. The lyrics are killer, perfectly nailing that hazy goof style You can’t step on my heart / Like you can’t step on a rainbow . Delivered completely sincere and raising the stakes on the laid back psych era in starting to throw catchy pop punches. It's rolling with attitude and when he sings Girl you can’t put me under your spell / You / You know I was born to raise hell in his marshmellowy delivery it’s almost flipping this overblown orchestral production into a parody of itself in the best way.

B-Side’s, “My Love Has Gone” is a cover of another artist I’ll be checking out shortly, Del Shannon. Written by Ross Watson, the track here has Bill’s take on Del’s ultra falsetto, which always seemed so crazy to me that was ever a thing in ‘50s pop. They follow the dense orchestration of the original with all sorts of baroque elements, layers of xylophone and flute. The way Bill just misses the heights of Del's vocal is endearing, and another tip that as much as it’s a sincere homage it's also playing around with those ideas. If they’re having fun with the vocals, the rest of this production is dead serious in piling on the ornate decoration. From tambourine/snare hits and muffled toy piano The Marble Vanity is capable of just about anything, and it’s a powerful tribute to Del.

Get it at the moment from Goner or Permanent Records along with their self titled full length they managed to ‘throw’ together while hanging out in the front office, between packing up T.I.M. orders…and touring…and having a baby.

Mirrorism on Trouble in Mind

Sometimes you can make an argument for a band's sound making sense coming from a certain part of the world. It's rainy and depressing in Seattle so of course you'd end up with a sludgy grunge. Nashville...well maybe there just happens to be an insane amount of like minded artists who play fuzzy garage...uh BBQ? But then there are other times when a band like Mirrorism from Ferrara, Italy doesn't fit into any half brained regional theories, their sound is such an original jittery mix of post punk, hardcore and psych. (When do you apply so many genre's it's time to make up a new one? Three seems close) Did I mention the new look for TIM? They changed their company sleeve to a '70s americana "Battle of the Network Stars" look, very 4th of July.

"Night flight" is minimal, electric, raw and nervous like Prinzhorn Dance School covering the Fall. You have to love this underground messy start to the track in a rehearsal space lightly tapping crash cymbals in the middle of the night repeating "If I...If I could" before an echo, dark anti-pattern of thuds winds up. This has aspects of The Makeup or even Ian Svenonius' later project Weird War. Mirrorism sound like they at least philosophically are coming from that similar unique place with bizarre tom patterns and off kilter noises, like this sax bleating, willing to go free jazz for a second, nothing is off limits in their "refusal to make sense of any kind of artistic output". With everyone chanting "color / shape / pigment" it turns into a culty creep fest, a great pointless description of fine art on the wall. Twangy guitar bends the shit out of those metal strings. Just as suddenly it stops. They are in and out, got a job to do. Stop trying to deconstruct it dummy.

B-Side's "Exit the Loop" has more of a jangle in the post hardcore, more like chilly Wire sounds, could be something about how immediate sounding and captured this is with a '60s garage psych flair, borrowing from a bunch of seemingly disparate sources to end up in an unsettling place. Echo vocal with conviction, battling with these sounds, finding an uneasy compromise. Throwing themselves into this, beating out new shifts in tempo and genres.

Ge this from Trouble in Mind, You can hear the A-Side over there and below is from their cassette release on Bored Youth Records and the B-Side on this one.

Jacco Gardner on Trouble in Mind Records

I've learned that no matter how much I try to keep up with seven-inch labels there's just no sense in beating yourself up. Things are going to slip through the cracks. Talking about one single every day simply isn't enough. It's great that there are so many singles being released these days but it's sad when you miss out on gems like this Jacco Gardener single from Trouble in Mind. The 24-year Old Dutch multi-instrumentalist is working on some incredible contemporary psych that reminds me of fellow TIM artist The Resonars who blew me away not long ago with his “Long Long Thoughts” single. Jacco has a similar dense incredibly crafted hazy psych that feels uncannily close to the apex of ‘70s psych.

A-Side’s "Where Will You Go?" has an acoustic strum fading into glorious sun rising psych, beams of lens flaring psych…he’s also literally singing about the sun with reverse sampled drums. It’s like I’ve never heard a string section and vocal match so perfectly in tone that they almost combine into one new thing entirely. A twinkly synth and odd melodies take over with a Middle East inspired chord progression and dreamy piles of shakers and separated channels… if there’s one thing that psych does really well its to create a crazy sense of space. Some of those early tracks from Revolver or Pet Sounds must have been benchmarks to test stereo systems in hi-fi shops. You blow that record out in one of those sound controlled rooms in the back of the store and you’re almost lightheaded right there on your lunch break. This is a dizzying warbly haze of xylophone, swirling distortions, and reverb dial twisting, from plate to spring and back again. Piled on percussion sounds with outlandish arrangements, like the sleeve of his full length Cabinet of Curiosities, you’ve stumbled into an unbelievable place. Who cares about anything but putting this on again.

"Summer's Game" highlights another aspect to psych I almost forgot about, you have to be gifted with a great vocal that can rise up in this high register without any problems and work well in layers. This is perfectly done, and the mastery of every instrument… of piano … harpsichord. Like that story of Keith Richards learning the sitar just for Paint It Black just to say “yea, that’s it I’m done with that mate”. It’s searching for that perfect sound and if it’s this harpsichord well get on with it. Plus with this massive overwhelming sound you have to be able to arrange a string section, if not play it yourself over 24 tracks. It’s an expression of freedom in huge, manifest destiny sound. Here are all the ideas of making music piled into one track. To do that well is impressive if not a miracle… everything is perfectly placed. I haven’t described one single bit of the actual sound here, but rest assured it's perfect brain bending psych. A dictionary perfect example of how far the genre has come and surpasses the original stuff by miles!!!!

Sold out at the source, no surprise, but still available from Insound and Midheaven. Trouble in Mind has just released his full length with both of these tracks as well.

The Paperhead on Trouble in Mind Records

Here's one from The Paperhead on Trouble in Mind Records that must have come out a while back now, but honestly...who can really keep up with everything out there? Vinyl sales are up, new labels start every day and I'm not complaining...I think it's just when something this great comes out of nowhere I'm smacking myself in the head. What freaking took me so long? Pathetic.

A-Side "Pictures of Her Demise" solidifies TIM's place as the label to go to for this impressive, glam psyche-pop starting with everyone from Jeff Novak to The Resonars and finally this one from the Paperhead which is a shining example of that blown out, epic late '60s pop-psych. The whole period of experimentation right before glam and punk...I haven't heard something this complex and packed with abbreviated shifting melodies since that Jeff Novak single on Sweet Rot that made my top 10 of last year. The Paperhead sound on this one is the kind of thing that expands on that whole genre just a little bit more with a loose, raw garage sound. This recent resurgence of layered pop psych lately might be the ultimate case for home recording technology affecting a bands ability to revisit a genre so completely like this. Artists that might have not ever had access to the studio capabilities can now pile on the layers...this 'aint no 4track people.

The trio starts out with a peppery, bouncy bassline, twice as fast as the rest of this tempo with thin drums pushed way to the back, mic'd paper thin, not muddy, just a weird representations of what drums would sound like on a quartz radio across the street. Then they really pile on those Kinks style harmonies, complete with slight English affectations. Jangle guitar? This thing has that acoustic metal chingy sound in spades, but to pack the melodies in side by side like this is impressive. It might as well be the late 60's if you look at the guys sitting on the steps of a monument... this sort of thing is that Bright Eyes sort of genius to me, so alien from anything you could ever imagine putting together. I just sit there in awe of this complex stuff, it's almost off putting but they keep winning me back because of this unbelievable melody.

B-Side "She is above me" has a false start of a melody...and then...now I don't know the Beatles at all, really, no one listened to music in our house and I just skipped that period basically...and now I'm too old to appreciate it. I sadly know too much...and they are ruined for me...but this side has that same kind of weird playfulness and layered off kilter harmonies like Bungalow Bill or something from the White album? God I know nothing.. That "Tomorrow Never Knows" from Mad Men? Which actually had me reconsidering those guys. This has that slow, molasses push getting caught right in the center avalanche of dense melody. It's creeping along with tambourines and organs...a perfect ridiculously accurate sound that is perfectly executed. I would believe you if this was some kind of reissue. I'm calling it now, they've been sitting on this reel to reel for years. Has anyone seem these guys in person?

Go over to the label's site and listen to the sample over there, this is completely impressive and uniquely revisiting this style impeccably.

On marble swirl red vinyl with a monochrome slick printed sleeve this time...a first for Trouble in Mind.

Woollen Kits on Trouble in Mind Records

Going through the pile I grabbed this Trouble in Mind single straight away because these records have been nothing but absolute hits from bands I just haven't come across any other way these days. They're really out there mining new stuff for themselves that just so happens to be stuff everyone else should be into. Including this single from Woollen Kits, a three piece out of Australia, unpretentiously hobbling together that sincere, heart on their sleeves garage-y sound. The sort of thing that's really baffling, there's nothing obviously to point to, the sum of it's parts infinitely more valuable than breaking it down. That won't stop me from trying.

A-Side's "Shelly" wastes no time in getting right into the heart of this rawkus chorus style sound. Huge sounding guitars, everything slightly blown out, the raw sounding hoarse distortion to just in the red vocals, but it's all because these guys are really letting the studio have it. They tried their best to set the levels up right, but when they got right down to it, the track and this energy takes over, blowing out the needles and those blinking eq lights. Oh well what are you going to do, you can hear that in exchange for that anal attention to detail, you get fantastically catchy riffs and laid back vocals working in their own just off melody. Like Natural Child's goofball antics combined with Yuck's indie pop style, Woollen Kits seem to be working both sides of that fence, but keeping it a great song at the end of the day. You don't hear any sort of master plan, or responding to trends.
Last week at the Word bookstore music bookclub, we talked about the Throbbing Gristle album, 20 Jazz Funk Greats and I got the sense the whole thing was a series of unsuccessful attempts to comment on the state of music in the late '70s, you had weirdo disco tracks with deliberately out of sync drum machines, but all that intellectualizing doesn't end up with anything I want to play over and over. It's this kind of instinctual, gut reaction to creating fuzzed out pop that doesn't have to have any gimmicks. It manages to be accessible and damn fun...which I would argue is harder than just throwaway critiques on popular culture. Yeah this sucks and we know it...so there. I guess I tend to want to really enjoy this maybe because it seems to be removed from the conversation. They're over there in Melbourne, Australia taking all those records they grew up with and ending up with another classic.
"Down Your Street" seems to take a bit more time working into this slow more of a beatup garage sound this time with a heavy echo on the vocal reminding me of that Rob's House release from the Fe Fi Fo Fums, or a jazzed up Velvets Track. The right out of the box jangle that goes back before indie and into that psych repetition sound to expand minds. The band and lead vocals (everyone is named Tom) trading this groovy chillout vibe back and forth. It's not a sound that has anything to do with the summer or the beach, even though it might at first sound like that sunny day. They haven't probably thought about it that much, like Nodzzz, this is just a couple of great snapshots that you really appreciate. Are they going to end up at MOMA....well, let's just see.

On crazy marble brown vinyl from Trouble in Mind Records. The track below should send you to the website.

The Wrong Words on Trouble in Mind Records

Just got this single in from old faithful, Trouble in Mind Records, ever pressing away in Chicago and this one from The Wrong Words seems to be following up on that Resonars single with more glammy, sweet, infinite layered garage pop. This time the trio from San Francisco feels slightly looser than the impressively balanced Resonars, but after that same devotion to the vocal harmony, which is the best part of these records at the end of the day. You can't nail a catchy pop song like this without the study of great vocalists before you and The Wrong Words combine psych and bubblegum garage to unreachable heights with Josh Miller's vocals.

The A-Side "I Will Change Your Mind" leads this off with a complex bouncy electric rhythm with Josh belting out his sunny pop verses barley straining at these almost falsetto vocals, he's just on the edge of his range. He manages to run through a hidden scale on any given lyric, creating entire melodies out of a single word. The acoustic running throughout over this bass line also taking liberties with any straight line, but not overly rehearsed or trying to nail some impossible phrase. It's an absurdly sunny take on a late '90s rock, something like The Posies or the equally glam pop sounds of something like Jeff Novak or Gentlemen Jesse. They are devout purveyors of the harmony, it rules this track, and Josh's vocal control makes it impossible to sing along to unfortunately, not that that's going to stop you, but remember this guy is a professional. A gritty, loud solo breaks up this otherwise almost TOO perfect of a sound, kind of like that last "....your mind!!" which deliberately breaks that interlocked harmony for just a second long enough to remind you we're supposed to be having fun right?
"How to Keep a Straight Face" on the B-Side reminded me that these guys are from the very birthplace of psych, and draw on those far out sounds to pound away a real crazy trip, complete with a heavy wah guitar. Kind of like those well crafted places the Lilys went. Honestly the only reason I really went back to the Beatles catalog....(it's a long story) is because of Kurt Heasley and Elliott Smith who made it seem alright to be mining that stuff again, and paying real attention to the nuts and bolts of songwriting. I don't want to learn either...but honestly how long can you go on deliberately ignoring the actual craft? Not that it's overly apparent here, there's a natural delivery here that isn't trying so hard to overcomplicate things. Tim Cohen is further down this psych-hole than The Wrong Words but the laser focus on the songwriting and vocals (in a far different register) are here. It's tripping right out that era at times, like polished Apples in Stereo. If it didn't have this easygoing vibe it would be suspect somehow. What am I, some kind of Narc?

Pick this one up on dark purply marble vinyl with download card from Trouble in Mind Records. Click this link for a sample of the A-Side....and wouldn't you know it, this single will have to tide you over because the LP is SOLD OUT.

One of our absolute favorite bands is back with a killer new single! This two-songer is the perfect follow-up to their TiM debut LP from last March. All the elements are here that made their full-length so great; the guitar work, thumping bass and drums, great lyrics, and the same one-two, eff-you pop-punch.

"I Will Change Your Mind" has singer/guitarist Josh Miller hitting some new highs not only in guitar riff-ery but hitting those vocal high notes like he is some kind of power-pop Rob Halford - it’s a real roller coaster of a tune, that takes the listener on a journey through the melodic vocabulary of folks like Roy Wood, Nick Lowe & Paul Collins without losing their own personal voice. The flip, "How To Keep A Straight Face" kicks open the door & stomps in with a killer riff & some down and dirty wah-wah action, before smartly swaying into a great laid back northern California-cool melodic feel not-unlike Boz Scaggs jamming with the Barracudas. A terrific teaser for what’s on the horizon from this trio!

Not from this single, but here's an idea:

The Resonars on Trouble in Mind Records

The Resonars is the solo project of Arizona's Matt Rendon, playing and recording everything himself on this single from Trouble in Mind's Solo Series. It's a huge, dense pop psyche sound that the likes of Jeffrey Novak and White Fence have been pursuing with equally unique contemporary twists and results. Reaching way back into those '60s garage sounds and gleaming songwriting to recreate the spirit of that complex layered sound all by himself, which like Adam Widener's single, takes this into an entirely new level of genius. A really unbelievable EP of four tracks of catchy super pop that is more than just a taste of what Matt is capable of.

"Long Long Thoughts" launches right into a heavy vocal harmony, doubling up the la la la's in spectacular fashion over the quick bopper tempo of high hat and bass. The big start runs into a pure british invasion rock blown out sound, picked rhythm guitar and handclaps, building those chord changes quick up the scale. It's a combination of that sweet harmony and bubblegum garage pop melody with a harder intense edge that is rooted completely in The Moody Blues, Troggs and of course, as Matt would attest, The Who. It's so completely dead on in tone and style that comes from absorbing an insane amount of this era. So unapologetically bubbly and optimistic, he's building on those epic formula's while paying sincere homage to them at the same time. Shooting up the charts and playing top of the pops.
"Sit Right Down" breaks out that acoustic as the foundation for more big time vocal harmonies which this era was just as much known for as the rock, slightly psych but grabbing right on to this see saw rhythm. It's just the intro for the classic rock to start, jumping a few years forward in evolution, picking up that shaker and getting right down with that dirtier warm guitar tones, sliding this into T Rex territory. He's belting out these sugary lyrics in a high register, impossibly hitting those sweet spots in any harmony and switching into this heavier ricked out section. It's scary.
B-Side's "Paint My Window Green" starts off with Matt's signature doubled up harmonies right over the lyric on this one. Leading to a great back and forth, singing with himself as lead and the rest of the band taking the alternate verses. It's a dizzying display of technical psych pop, punchy chords, ever reaching bass meanderings, with a real handle on this inherently dark slant of the whole genre with this title chorus. There's even time for a bluesy solo in between the dense harmonies.
Finally "Stumbling on Stones" takes that kind of honkeytonk ramshackle blues approach to this one for a brief intro before the sweeping harmonies take over, bopping around as heavily as everything across this single. An impressive pace to keep up, with a few false stops that don't even feel like he's shortchanging this piece, but he can't possibly keep this tempo up? Mindblowing take on an entire era, faithfully reinterpreted and executed. I would half believe you if this turned out to be an elaborate hoax of lost recordings.

On dark olive green vinyl in the signature Trouble in Mind sleeve,
get it from TIM who says:

Is it possible that the energy and genius created by the entire membership of The Hollies, The Move and The Who could be embodied in one guy living in Arizona? You just might start to believe it after giving this 7-inch a spin. Matt Rendon is the one man hit machine behind the Resonars, writing & recording every instrument & singing every note all by his lonesome. This 4-song EP (and the third installment in our "Solo Series") represents his first collection of new material in almost three years, after releases on Get Hip, Star Time & Burger Records, focusing his paisley-tinted vision with one ear in the past & his eyes on the future.

These tracks hit the sweet-spot between the bittersweet harmonies you love about "Evolution" era Allan Clarke and Graham Nash with the triumphant guitar and off-the-chain drum fills of a "Who Sell Out"-era Pete Townshend and Keith Moon. You’ll be hooked from the first La’s of "Long Long Thoughts" till the last faded notes of "Stumbling On Stones." HOO BOY, you’re going to need a new needle after you get through with this one - sorry ‘bout that.

Here's that first track from the single:

The Limiñanas tour single on Trouble in Mind Records

Got this one in from an offshoot label of Trouble in Mind, "TIM" Records, wait...that's what I thought they were called already? The band is The Liminanas, who are a married couple or siblings with that last name, could be from France...this unusual sleeve for TIM is a tour only single with two tracks from a minimal Young Marble Giants meets the layered cycles of Stereolab.

The A-Side of this one finds the pair alternating between french and english vocals repeating "I've got a trouble in mind", which must have been pretty cool for the members of Cococoma/CEO's of TIM to have a band like this basically write their theme song...which is completely appropriate after all. My friend used to say, well he still does, that the Turing Machine isn't just mathy post rock but a new genre - car chase soundtrack music. The Liminanas are working with their own cool, detached approach to a french beach soundtrack. Instead of the surfing and budweiser, you have cigarette smoking parties and wear ray bans...maybe ride scooter moped things around, with baguettes. It's kind of fancy, but that could be that anything in french sounds a little intimidating. The vocals here of course have a distant relation to Nico, with human emotion this time, and even the restrained guitar strums have a little Velvet reverb to them. They're making a lot out of very little, and I'm definitely into where this pop psyche '60s sound could go on a full length.

The B-Side, “Je m’en Vais” brings a heavy synth rhythm and the hyper tambourine again. These wrists are getting tired. The lady vocals this time are different from the A-Side, and they list two contributors, Mu and Nadge on the center label. There's more relation to Stereolab than just a language in these repetitive, hyptnotizing lines of melody. The whispery layered cool vocals are putting you into a deep sleep.....The full length, and their other single is all sold out from TIM themselves, but at the count of three you will pick this up at Permanent in Chicago, and even Florida's Dying Records.

Apache Dropout on Trouble in Mind Records

Here comes another release in Trouble in Minds hectic catalog schedule, this one from a newcomer to me, Apache Dropout, a trio out of Indiana. They put out a full length on Family Vineyard not too long ago and are working with those classic psyche, layered haze sounds that fit right into a Fresh and Onlys or Jacuzzi Boys laid back pop-burnout aesthetic. The full lengths I find myself putting on when I can't be bothered to keep flipping the record. Did I just say that?

The A-Side, "Shot Down" explodes with a dense phaser jam, the melody twisting around in the middle of that swirl to emerge with Sonny's almost bowie-esque vibrato vocals. There's a lot of texture you would expect in reworking the '60s garage, lots of room reverb, huge sound on the crash cymbal, or gong?..it trails off forever. This meaty see-saw riff is a combination of bass and inseparable low end distortion, all buried in the low end and being made for vinyl, allowing for that huge separation between the mud and the shimmery treble. It breaks for a moment with heavy reverb twinkling melody, and a hit shaker, to transition back into the heavy haze, the whole time being surprisingly catchy, up there with Tim Cohen's repeatability.
B-Side's, "Sister Burnout", has the dirtiest distorto guitar open the floodgates of a tambourine, tom-tom caveman rhythm. The vocals have a subtle crunch of hiss, Sonny goes from this cool detached delivery to belting out alternating verses with wolf howl. The melody shifts from straight ahead left, right stomping to jangly muted double time fills...it's a damn quick one, but that's alright for the 7inches.

Go check out some of the tracks from that full length at their bandcamp page.

This one is available on mixed tan marble vinyl from TIM and if you don't find a bunch of things to put together an order (new wax museums, night beats, novak...the pizzas!) then you just aren't looking...I also got a patch which went immediately on my bag with hot glue...who needs sewing...thanks guys!

This Bloomington, IN trio took just about everybody by surprise with their LP released earlier this year on Family Vineyard; a full-tilt, f'ed-up, psyched-out boogie-fied garage stomper filtered through the musical ghosts of bands both past & present, & we here at TiM HQ are pleased as punch to be releasing this two-song rager hot on the heels of that debut thrill-ride! "Shot Down" is a mutant Troggs stomp soaked in the sweat of John Lee Hooker & bops along like the bastard child of the Ohio Express & Sun Ra. The flipside - "Sister Burnout" is a barn-burning head-banger that ratchets up the intensity & sounds like an amphetamine-fueled sword fight between The Shadows Of Knight & The Deviants, with singer/guitarist Sonny Alexander testifying like a tweaked out Richard Hell. This is full-on sanctified-psych - drop the needle on the wax & become a believer! The first press of this 7-inch is on mixed vinyl, is housed in the Trouble In Mind factory sleeve & includes a download code!

Jeff Novak Solo EP on Trouble in Mind

New solo work from Jeff Novak on Trouble in Mind Records...you know I think I've been battling with TIM's packaging direction for a release myself, on one hand the generic sleeve keeps prices down, the singles are only $5 after all,you can spend the money to put more great artists out into the world, maybe put it into booking studio time.... but then you're basically left with a record in a white paper sleeve...and that's punk rock and everything....I just know I'm always into color vinyl and handmade prints and stuff, but maybe that's wrong? Getting caught up in all that ancillary crap when it should always be about the music...of course you love this object of course, but the single is about turning around new music, the latest and experimental tracks from an artist you've been completely into. I respect this approach, but I'll always get caught up in paper stock and inks and stencils, hanging sleeves from clotheslines in the kitchen to dry.
But if you're looking from new music from one of glam garage's best, then TIM has answered your prayers to the glitter gods with this 4 track EP. The single always feels like home for Jeff, I can only absorb this stuff in small doses, an entire album is overload, it's almost overwhelming...I think I still haven't listened to 'Fantastic Explanations...' nearly enough, or as many times as I have the singles, 'Woodland Drive' was the perfect, complex, catchy 3 minutes, that deserves the sort of careful study that a single forces you to consider.
The one preview track off his latest, 'Back at the Bottom' has Jeff getting this insane harpsichord feel out of an electric guitar melody which gets echo'd the nect time it comes around on piano. Complex delicate sounding riffs that he keeps on the wrong side of the tracks. The natural talent is ridiculous, an insane multi-intrumentalist who balances a history of garage and punk against a glam Bowie oddity era, hitting the best of both. You can't pin him to either...and every live show meets expectations. I hope Jeff is around a long time.

Kind Turkey has a great recent interview over here.

Nothing is going to replace Jay, but Jeff is doing a pretty good job of not making me think about it too much.

TIM025: Jeffrey Novak 4-song Solo EP
The second installment in our brand new SOLO SERIES! Jeffrey Novak is one busy dude. Since his teen years, he's been writing, recording & releasing music as a one-man band, with his groups the Rat Traps & Cheap Time, and under his own name as a solo artist. We've always thought Jeffrey was one talented fella, so we're pleased as punch to be releasing this 4-songer! Culled from sessions that were to be his third solo album (the second due out in April 2011 on In The Red), this EP finds Novak sharpening his focus, exploring & expanding on territories he touched on in his first self-released solo outing 'After The Ball' - Kinks-ian maudlin, John Cale-ish ballads, & the glammy flourishes that peppered Eno's first couple of solo records all mixed into four songs of regret, loss, & disappointment. The first press of this EP comes on randomly mixed vinyl, is housed in the Trouble In Mind factory sleeve and includes a download code.

Casual Friday's singles mixer - get ready to click the paypal button

Oh man, People in a Position to Know Records have just announced preorders for a slew of picnic plate 7"'s! I don't even understand how that's possible but Christmas got me into their stuff as of late and I jumped on that one...the rest of these guys I don't really know, but they're all letterpressed sleeves...this is just an amazing project. I hope he collects them in some kind of box. Amazing.

Hello! It has been predictably busy in PIAPTK HQ. Over the summer, we've been focusing on putting the new record lathes to work making one-sided flexi singles out of picnic plates. The "tonal coloring" and slight loss of fidelity that these records have hopefully adds to the experience and gives the songs a new flavor. You are helping to save a poor innocent picnic plate from the indignity of being used to hold hot wings and then carelessly discarded. They sound much better than you'd ever imagine.
And the covers were all hand-letterpressed, with hand-set type at the Community Print, Olympia's own community owned print shop. They are little pieces of art, in my opinion.

NOW, onto the Preorders. These will ship within the next week or two.

Benoit Pioulard - Little a Strongly More Grow I Picnic Plate
Lathe 7": - $5
On loan from Kranky, Benoit Pioulard churned out a harmonium version of a beautiful, echoey anthem for a one-sided picnic plate. Comes in Hand-set Letterpressed covers. Only 66 made! You can check out the original version of the tune at his Myspace
Perhaps I'm biased, but I think the Harmonium version is even better than the original!

Black Prairie - Blackest Crow Lathe Cut Picnic Plate 7": - $5
This is a one-sided single from Black Prairie (Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee and Nate Query from the Decemberists). A great old timey bluegrass tune. Comes in hand-set letter pressed covers. Only 111 made!

Electric Sunset - Destroyer Picnic Plate 7": - $5
Former Desolation Wilderness frontman, Nick Zwart, just released a killer album under the name Electric Sunset on K Records. It's got the same dreamy shoegaze that Desolation Wilderness had, but in a more electronic and synthy vein. Destroyer is a killer new track that
recently debuted on K's Zip-Pak (which you should definitely check out if you are a fan of music in it's digital form). Only 100 made, in hand-set letterpressed covers.

Amo Joy - "Straight To Plate" Live to Lathe Picnic Plate 7"+ CD: - $7
In the middle of their last West Coast tour, Amo Joy (one of my favorite psych pop bands out these days) took a day off in Olympia and spent all day recording live, straight into my three Presto 6N Record lathes. They recorded 7 songs, 5 times each. Each lathe added it's own unique coloring, and on average only two of the three lathes provided a usable recording. We also ran an output from the mixer into my computer to record raw digital versions of the amazing power-pysch-pop tunes. We then spent the night hand-making covers for all of them. Puff Paint,
Collages, paintings, etc were all employed. Every one of these records is unique. The performance was a one-time deal. Includes a CD-R with one performance of each song. Only 70 made! If you buy more than one copy, I will make sure that you get different songs for each one.

Christmas - Santa Cruz Picnic Plate Lathe 7": - $5
One of Olympia's best live bands, Spazz-Post-Psych-Surf-Punkers Christmas made this for their US tour. You can check out Santa Cruz and other tracks at their Myspace. It comes in hand-set Letterpressed covers... Only 55 made.

Lazer Zeppelin - Jane Jane Picnic Plate Lathe 7": - $5
Lazer Zeppelin is back with a brand new track called Jane Jane. As fuzzy and lo-fi and beautiful as you would expect. It comes in a letterpressed cover, which is only embossed... no ink was harmed in the making of this cover. You can check out a live version of Jane Jane on their Myspace. Ltd Ed of 77.

Safe - Carolina Picnic Plate Lathe 7": - $5
I saw San Francisco electronic duo Safe at a festival on a farm this summer and they blew me away! So, here is a single of their new track Carolina. In hand-set letterpressed covers. Ltd ed of 55.

Next up is the annual David Bazan single from Suicide Squeeze... they just make me say, another year already! Haven't been into them lately, but I also have that disease where since I already have the first 4 or 5, I'm stuck having to get the rest. Just like this fucking Star Wars in 3D! I'm going to have to see it. I'm a sick person!
A bunch of different colors so you can make sure you go insane picking them all up on top of everything else.

DAVID BAZAN
"WISH MY KIDS WERE HERE" b/w "I HEARD THE BELLS ON CHRISTMAS DAY"

Here we go. The seventh installment of David Bazan's Christmas Singles Series has arrived. Suicide Squeeze Records has it – limited to 1000 copies (200 Orange, 400 Opaque Red, 400 Opaque Yellow). This 7-inch EP opens with a Bazan original, a heartbreaker of a track titled, "Wish My Kids Were Here." The flip revisits an old favorite, Longfellow's "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," an update on a song he first recorded/released, in 2002, at the start of the series. The holidays promise transcendence, just around a corner. But Bazan knows better: things get pretty hopeless when family and true friendship are left behind. Music helps, certainly, songs can help to save us at such times...

Then Trouble in Mind Records comes out with another batch of 4 singles...I definitely am going to pick these two up...Personal & the Pizza's awesome punk pop and Wounded Lion doing their Muppet Babies track. I think it's hilarious those guys used to have all these songs about star wars and muppet babies on their myspace. Talk about a piece of work.

TIM018: Personal & the Pizzas "I Want You" b/w "(Don't Trust No) Party Boy" - P & da P's are back and this time they're getting a little sensitive. NOT SOFT, no way, man... but a little more down to heart maybe... a little more PERSONAL...know whut I mean? The A-side "I Want You" is right up there with those great mid-tempo Ramones ballads - Is it about a girl or a pizza? Don't know, don't wanna know...all we know is it's one killer tune. The B-Side, "(Don't Trust No) Party Boy" is a warning to all you out there that think that you can tame a "Party Boy"...well, It ain't happening and all you're gonna end up with is a big fat "I told you so." Leave it to Personal to teach you all a lesson or two (or three?) The single comes housed in the Trouble In Mind factory sleeve, includes a download code, & the first press comes on randomly mixed colored vinyl!

TIM019: Wounded Lion "Pointed Sticks" b/w "Muppet Babies" - So you think you know the glam rock, huh? Well, L.A.'s Wounded Lion are here to school you otherwise by serving up one killer mutant Gary Glitter (via Lamps) sludge glam masterpiece on this 7-inch! The A-Side, "Pointed Sticks" is no ode to the Canadian power poppers of the same name, but it's sure to stick in your head for days & get those club feet a'tappin'! The B-Side is a surreal exploration of the story of Oedipus via a forgotten Saturday morning gang... THE MUPPET BABIES. We probably shouldn't say anymore other than the fact that this single is literally and figuratively two sides of one of the most creative bands going these days. The single comes housed in the Trouble In Mind factory sleeve, includes a download code, & the first press comes on randomly mixed colored vinyl!

Then Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records had to go and press this single from Sourpatch...I swear I have one of their earlier singles and loved it...unassuming indie, guy/girl vocals...really having a good time with the sound, a little shoegaze, a little twee. When you can combine all of these good times into one single then you've really got something. Another, better, kinder, gentler high school time....and it's an EP with 4 tracks...they're all great. If Nodzzz and the Softies got too wasted and woke up with each other.

SOURPATCH - Mira Mija - Happy Happy Birthday To Me - HHBTM 125
"Four friends switching off song writing duties over four tracks on what might be the best single this year. I could make up some crap to try to sell you this record, but I think Keenan Dowers of the Three Imaginary Girls sums this band up perfectly. 'I've been a fan of this band since last San Francisco popfest when they blew me away with their Tiger Trap-esque perfect indie pop punk and swooning boy girl vocals, and this was by far the best show I've ever seen them play. They are living proof that hardcore drummers should also always also be in indie pop bands. For a band that is heavily influenced by Rose Melberg's louder endeavors, you could tell they were nervous to be opening up for Go Sailor, but they channeled their nervous energy perfectly to produce a little slice of indie pop heaven.'" Limited to 500 copies in a silkscreen sleeve w/ digital download.

Night Beats on Trouble in Mind Records

Trouble in Mind is back again with more bands they want you to get to know through a little how-ya-doin' known as the seven inch vinyl. This latest is from The Night Beats. How these guys manage to squeeze 4 tracks of massive drawn out psyche this EP is a feat in itself. I appreciate that they've probably made the choice to compact these jams a little to get more of a sampling of their sound on the 7". A lot of them sound like the psyche-jam is just getting started when they had to fade it, or they're going for that straight garage punch in the form of a brief echoed screaming nightmare solo.
As I'm going through these latest batch of singles and throwing them on here and there, I had to get to this one next...all the tracks start out with that mellow laid back vibe and then blow up into insane solo's...completely ridiculous. The highest notes, echoed with sustain, are the high points, taking it from drone psyche to practically metal. When it starts to fade out you think 'why are 7"'s only 4 1/2 minutes? Couldn't they have made them 8"? What the hell.'
All I keep waiting for on H-Bomb is the freakout electric ending...there's a ton of echo and it's right on that line of garage and psyche. Shadows in the Night sounds like it's getting a little more current stylistically, it's taken the vocal sound to a sort of early goth place...a sinister Bauhaus huge room sound. Like those haunted house cassettes...I can't tell if it's the type of echo that's making this nostalgic or the arrangement.
'They came in through the window' is so authentic sounding and the solo here at the end is even more amazing then the H-Bomb one...this is a little scary sounding, just a little Cramps, that leather jacket biker rockabilly...it's almost too perfect.

I'm no psych expert, I barely know of a few bands, 13th floor elevators...the usual, so I'm sure people could mine these references exactly, but it's safe to say this single would get along nicely in a set with the Dirty Beaches and Sic Alps.

They are playing tonight somewhere in NY called Seance Houseparty....maybe that's exactly what it is? Or some new weirdo warehouse space. Might take some work to find them, unless you're into seances.

Sticks and Stones on Trouble in Mind Records

Trouble in Mind hooked me up with some digital files of their latest 4 pack offering of 7" singles. They just keep pumping these out and from bands like Sticks N Stones, who I really need to hear, obviously.

This is pure punk pop, reminding me of Cheap Time, it has an insane polish with dual guy/girl vocals from Paul and Natalie, and it takes the super macho edge off the usual kind of garage sneer. I want to party and jump around, not slice wrists.
It's recorded with a pretty harsh treble edge, even the bass is missing a real low end, it places this even more in a sort of '70s era AM classic rock. Completely at a breakneck speed, there's no place in either of these sides for any kind of pause, it's verse, verse, change key, chorus, back down, repeat at least ten times. They sound like literally pushing that envelope of speed and power changes, all staying together...thanks to having played in a bunch of prior bands I'm sure.

I love that this sound is coming out of Milwaukee too, it's sort of the last place I would think of. I picture Milwaukee as a sort of Midwest version of Pittsburgh, trying to figure out what to do with itself after the industry has all left town. Just holding on to it's colleges and warehouses...so of course a scene like this would spring out of the reinvention. Sticks N Stones are out there geographically making some damn good lemonade out of the couple of lemons left. I'm painting a bleak picture, but it would make sense to have a beacon of almost bubblegum punk rise out of the wreckage.


Just one of the latest singles from Trouble in Mind...it's far from over:

This follow up to their debut single on Dusty Medical picks up where that hot slab o' wax leaves off - hitting you square in the gut with two stabs of sharp pop perfection! A veritable Milwaukee "super-group' of sorts featuring Paul Kalfahs and Jon Heibler from Catholic Boys, & Natalie Clark from the Tears (and all three from the Tuff Bananas!), Sticks N Stones keeps it lean & mean, slicing off riffs from 70's & 80's Power Pop (and a nick or two from classic 60's bubblegum) with rapid-fire intensity calling to mind such great Midwestern bands as Cheap Trick, Shoes, & the Kind. "Is It You" is a spastic spark of self-examination & "Telling The Truth" is a pounding plea for the listener's trust - it ain't no lie!
The single comes housed in the Trouble In Mind factory sleeve, & first press comes on randomly mixed colored vinyl, & includes a download code!

Trouble in Mind 4 way! Ty Segall

Just heard about this amazing 4way split of covers from Trouble in Mind records. They've been putting out a ton of stuff this year from the Fresh & Onlys and Ty Segall, and this is the 12th release already! Damn. That's the way to kick off a label.
I can't get enough of Ty Segall, he's got such a great fuzz guitar sound on every single I've ever heard, and his reverb vocals...how he can pull this off with just guitar is impressive, there's a whole new sound there, it's more than just a rehash of the whole garage genre. It's great simple songwriting that doesn't show any sign of letting up anytime soon.
He killed it at DBA and Mercury Lounge, I overheard him talking with someone after the ML show saying he blew it, but I don't know what the fuck he was talking about. Seriously, don't be so hard on yourself.
Cococoma have been rocking their straight ahead dirty rock forever, all chorus with occasional organ, classic garage style. They've been doing it since the early days, and starting this label is just icing on the cake. White Wires have the whole, hanging out let's jam and get some pizza, oh and rock some jams thing down. I'd maybe want to hear this a little more raw, it's recorded a little too nice, but then again, it might get lost in the sea of we want to sound like shit. But then I check out Charlie and the Moonhearts and those frantic layers of delay and reverb sound so freaking good... to have everyone covering these classics is pretty amazing.
I have to hear this.

It doesn't show up yet on T.I.M.'s site but Midheaven's got it:

Various
4-Way Covers Split (PRE-ORDER: SALEABLE APRIL 6TH)
PS, US San Francisco savant TY SEGALL tackles the Bob Seger System's fiery political number "2+2=?", Chicago's COCOCOMA rip thru the Wipers' "Messenger", Ottawa punks the WHITE WIRES cover "That's the Way A Woman Is" (popularized by the Ohio Express), & San Fran/LA garage surfers CHARLIE & THE MOONHEARTS close it out with a banging version of Love's classic "Seven & Seven Is"!!! ONE TIME PRESSING ON WHITE VINYL LIMITED TO 1000, INCL. DOWNLOAD CODE
TroubleInMind-012
45
$8.25