Podcast - old news - we got you covered

Darren and I are back with the leanest out of date news. All the records that are long sold out because we aren't CNN. Like the Damaged Bug Record from Castleface. Possibly this Bill Callahan Dub record and this Sore Eros / Kurt Vile split. I bet this craziness from Numero Group is sold out and maybe this Mac Demarco singles club or a Quasimoto shaped disc - gone. At least you can watch A trailer for the new Stones Throw doc and listen to Darren's report on a Kool Keith show from back in the day.

Go subscribe or listen over here.

We are watching this vinyl doc called VINYL for next weeks episode with Travis from Buckflix.tk

7Inches - Singles awards of 2010 extravaganza- PT 3 - hello 2011

Finally.... best singles of the year:

Dirty Beaches - on Italian Beach Babe Records - I just hope more people can get their hands on this one, or he does a stateside single soon on someone's label...cool, detached, minimal home recorded awesome, with completely unique world influences.
Tonetta - Get it Going on Black tent Press - Oh Tonetta, where do I begin? Completely inspiring weirdness from Toronto (!?). The videos almost ruin the music they are so freaking amazing. A thousand thanks to Black Tent for putting this and TWO full length albums out now.
Useless Eaters - Mr. Oscillations on Mastermind Records - Everything Seth does is punchy to the point punk pop with a great layer of crisp distortion across everything. I hope it never ends. Everything so far has been on cassette and 7"....I never thought I'd say it, but enough already. I want a full length.
Sore Eros - Blackburn Recordings - Incredible hazy, melodic weirdness in line with the genius of Ariel Pink and Gary War. Completely mindblowingly complex. I have to catch this live this year.
Ariel Pink (round and round) - 4AD - I don't care how many times I hear this, it gets better and better. He works across genres in the most authentic and sincere way, with tons of experimental pop strewn across every track. There's a sad nostalgia to all of Before Today, that title now makes sense.
Sediment Club - on Soft Spot records - I still can't get over the ragged, simple, new wave from these guys. They're playing Jan 2nd.
Bare Wires - on Southpaw Records - So glad they ended up putting out a single from the guys that did Artificial Clouds, a record I played at least once a week because I wanted to. Mathew Melton is a serious bad ass.


RIP: Blessure Grave, Jay Reatard




Greatest Book ever written award goes to Touchable sound from Soundscreen design : A clear winner, no contest really, everything I ever wanted from a book: that it's entirely about the greatest single design of the past 20 years, every page in full color. The closest I'll get to ever seeing a lot of these historic pieces of art.

See you monday, happy new year.

Sore Eros on Blackburn recordings

Sore Eros (why does that sound dirty?) is a recent addition to the Blackburn Recordings label who just put out this single from Robert Robinson, the driving force behind this psyche-folk project.
The thing is... these tracks should be soothing - even comforting, the layers of subtle washes of plucked melodies on acoustic guitar are calm, the slow tempo kind of lulls you into a brief hypnosis, but the vocals are completely unsettling. Maybe it's that they're a little too delicate...they sound like they're about to break at any moment... just cracking slightly off key. Robert's breathy, daydream delivery is mic'd super close and he's straining to push out a lyric, but the whole track is sitting on top of him. It manages to be a bit of a children's song, its managing to keep a structure while it's slowly falling apart.

The A-Side 'Taal Compass', keeps a monolithic haze going without a repeatable direction.
The weird part is how interesting this way of thinking is, I mean literally you are directly listening to someone who does not conventionally put melodies together. Exactly like Gary and Ariel...I wouldn't have thought this kind of unique songwriting was happening in so many places...it's just unrecognizable.
Right towards the end of 'Taal Compass' there's a simple electric guitar line that for a second actually sounds like a moment on an old pavement single. I'm thinking about how much this is kind of related...a different time and place they might be on the same bill...as a laid back more psychedelic strain of the goofy indie rock.

Now here's a generalization for you, there are a few guys I would say working in this style of wall-of-psyche-folk-sound: Woods, Gary War...even the Fresh and Only's...I think it's pretty closely related to the shoegaze scene in the 90's, not in style but content...and attack. I think the elements are there, the energy, the intense layering....minus the earsplitting volume. It's a negative approach to songwriting; take everything in dense layers, actually use all 24 tracks and then start stripping away the central part of the melody to get at an entirely new unexpected direction of the song....of course leaving room for the essential part of the whole thing...that your brain fills in the blanks between that static and hiss in ways you couldn't even play...and are completely personal.

I think it says a lot that Gary War lent his synth work on the B-Side track 'Wide Open', I know it got me to track this down.
Wide Open is even more freeform than the A-Side, lots of heady electronics, and vocals that are merely a heavily echoed arrangement of sounds really...just oh's and ah's.

This single depends on what your goal is: to be challenged by something that isn't obviously gunning to kick out the party jams.

Psych-pop masters Sore Eros return with a brand new single on Blackburn! Both “Taal Compass” and b-side “Wide Open” (which features space age post-punk hero Gary War on synths) are slow burners that reveal an understated majesty, but their style and execution suggest wildly different mindsets. The title track is plaintive, with songwriter and lead man Robert Robinson’s vocals emerging organically from the analog distortion that coats the song. Flip the record over for an atmospheric epic that builds gracefully to an overwhelming crescendo that certainly earns the name “Wide Open."

Get it from Blackburn Recordings.

What kind of an angry god is paypal, that I am forced to appease him almost daily?

Just want to also let you know about another review of a 12"er by The Late Virginia Summers I posted in the forum...it's a really great full length of instrumental intellectual rock. Can't wait for the vinyl to fianally be pressed. Get in on it before the 100 copies are spoken for.