The Sex Rays "She Thing" on Big Action Records

The Sex Rays first single from Pinata seemed to be all garage business and on their latest from Big Action they took things way off into psych mountain where they were trapped in a cave in and the only way out was to break up their B-Side track into two pieces. Also seems to be something of a conceptual album about relationship problems. What began as a straightforward bluesy garage stomper where you know where you stand got confusing and - thanks to the drugs - completely irreparable.

"She Thing" has a thick riff out there all alone mixed with a little blues and see saw stomp. A bass backs it up sinking further this into a deep groove and is joined by another loose grinding distortion winding things up. Ben on vocals has that raspy whisper that never gets louder than the melody, no matter how big this thing keeps getting he's keeping his cool. They change up the key and climb into another verse of huge production. 'Ahhhh's' blend into the harmony, a contrast to the real sleazy solo that ends this track....or so you thought. Another riff appears out of the haze with broken in the red drums, almost eerie surf style tremolo that blows out into pure psych. I was hoping this was going to be another track entirely but it seems like an after effect of that She Thing, the spring reverb coiling up to strike sounding like the beginning of the Mummies.
B-Side's up for track title of the year "He's trying to work it out with his girlfriend and then the LSD kicks in..." which was actually that reverb surf number that started at the end of the A-Side. It gets weirder with the whammy bar involved as the drums start to gradually fall away. The delay pedal cranked to 11 blinks notes in and out like a string of fucked christmas lights trails flying. Then of course the out of key organ sound slices through this 'not so bad of a trip yet' to push him over the handle on reality. The explosion of huge psych is where things must have really gone wrong. I'm going to guess that they don't end up working it out. The last half of the track is in outer space floating with asteroids, the reverse vocals from an answering machine message which I hope is the message that inspired the track. Completely insane and almost turning the track creepy. A real disturbed thing to come home to.

Pick this up on Big Action Records.

Bird Sounds on Big Action Records (& Printing)

The best tracks can be recorded in the middle of deadlines with that struggle to finally put a record out. In the case of Bird Sounds this EP was a rush to document their work before their drummer moved away. Not that any part of the production suffers in any way, they've got a clean, concise sound working for them but the things that are harder to fake like that energy, throwing yourself into a final recording are what's going to make this special. They've got nothing to lose, these three minutes chunks are going to be their legacy forever stamped into melted pellets of vinyl. DONT FUCK IT UP GUYS.

A-Side's "Country" opens with a snare kick stompy back and forth rhythm with a pop almost punk sounding jangle chords with a punchy Joe Strummer delivery from Matt and/or Jason who I think basically both take on vocals for this whole EP. Trading verses and waiting for the moment to open up these chords and plow straight through amps. Lots of layers, both screaming "I had a dream I saw you naked!" increasing this plateau from the thin jangle to immense sandstorm, a freaking epic storm opens up on those plains. It wasn't like this minutes ago, they sneak up on you and crank bendy chords into string breaking blues. On "Seen It Coming" a somber melody opens with the thud of toms and a vocal delivery with plenty of distance in a kind of Modest Mouse off kilter manic a capella. The whole feel of this track slowly slides into a primitive country sound with the chant of leather around the campfire. A raw sounding bass line plugged straight into that console with that Violent Femmes boing is the last sound you'll hear.

On B-Side's "Ben Frank" the reel to reel tape winds up to speed with a warble of Unwound style piles of distortions, a chorus and phaser walking down the aisle before breaking up into jagged stabs at new chords. Those chords get big ideas and start hanging out with the cymbals, staying out late, walking each other home after work. It's obvious now looking back they were really meant to be together. They needed each other to make this bashy rock mean something. Those cymbals are only a memory now but you only have to lift the needle a few inches back to remember the good old days.

Get this from Big Action Records who also are a print shop now (?) Who else would have done this massive screen printed four panel poster art as the sleeve. Really really nice stuff.

Rabbit Holes on Big Action Records

If you’re even listening to seven inch singles, you should have some knowledge of what your Grandma would refer to as ‘Punk’. Singles were pretty much the only outlet for a lot of those early bands few people cared about at the time. Today just about any jerk can get a couple of bucks together and get serious putting their garage or home recorded project on vinyl. So to call this punk is doing it a bit of a disservice, it’s too solid to think of this as the only outlet for this underappreciated genre. This trio, Rabbit Holes from Minneapolis, MN works with all that history behind them and still wanted this to be the format for their update on punk.

"It’s Not Alright" has such a clear vision this track knows exactly where it's going. Its still got that scrapy punk feel but these guys have obviously been playing it long enough not to mess around with those settings. This is straight ahead in perfect Husker Du minor chord yelling, an epic punk that keeps going higher and higher with a real anthemic mix. It’s got plenty of changes and massive Hot Snakes style density but has me going back to classic punk, the late '70s stuff that wasn’t thinking so hard about what came before it. It's all new still relying on bare bones chords but this has explored every crevice of the arrangement without being overworked. There's a blurb about the Buzzcocks in the insert and I can hear their pop punk running through the center of this. Sliding up frets from the lower range of the neck, too thick to be The Adverts or Wipers sound the melody they hit with for that title lyric is what takes this into a great place.

B-Side’s "I Ain’t Coming Back Tonight" cranks up the tempo and launches right into this more of a greaser garage sound here, with a killer verse melody. I don't know if Jon is primarily writing this but there are aspects on par with Jeff Novak, the clarity and catchiness - it's nothing obvious - they almost have so much going on at points it hits a No Age dense fuzz, but they keep pulling this back down into the gutter. That punk gutter I don't mind shuffling around in. It's fun down here, there's a lot of junk and garbage but you can really let loose around that bit of glam chords, these are heart racing tracks and I love these screened matchbook style sleeves. Doing it yourself.

Did anyone tell the Big Action guy logo that he’s the freaking creepiest? Is that the guy from texas chainsaw massacre? Get this from Big Action Records.

Podcast interview with Adam Widener

I got a chance to talk to Adam Widener after he sent me his single on Big Action Records, we got to emailing back and forth about his zine, Plastique Pop. He sent me his latest on Fuzz City (will post about that soon) and told me he toured with Bare Wires, one of my all time favorite bands, so I had to hear about touring with those guys and the recording of his latest.

Adam sent me a couple of unreleased tracks to include "One Foot in Front of the Other" plays first and later when he talks about how it came into being as well as "Babe, Don't Feel Blue" around the 22 minute mark.

We get into how he got hooked up with Big Action Records, his crazy awesome insert and the Zygoteens split with the hussy and the video shoot ay Coney island for "Groovy Intuitions" embedded below.

Right click to download here, 27mb.

Adam Widener on Big Action Records

This single came in from Adam himself, who sent along a great old zine of his, Plastique Pop which was done kind of recently and I got a little nostalgic for the old xeroxed 20 page diaries from all over the country and if a single or live show was mentioned, it was the best thing ever and purchased immediately. Adam's mag was super professional and had some pretty awesome interviews with bands I know now, but that he was covering years ago. You need to know he's got this kind of extensive music background before putting this single on.

A-Sides "Crime in the City" does this awesome thing I'm jealous of... I'm listening to the sound of a record needle being dropped onto a record. But wait...I just did that? It's maddening and genius, really hilarious actually. You can tell right away from PP this guy is seriously dedicated to the entire scene, to all the people around him, encouraging them, putting out their stuff... a lot like Paul from Mammoth Cave or Bobby from Kind Turkey. Their dedication runs deep and it's the kind of support that's across the board awesome. They will get a piece of my future lottery money winnings to press singles forever. This is a legally binding statement, I am of sound mind and body.

So one day Adam gets to recording and finds Big Action to release this, with exposure to the entire scene he's influenced by a ton of poppy punk with lots of vocal hooks, from the very beginning this thing has a lot of tunes to prove...or maybe finally get out. They've been building up into these punchy, frantic one man tunes, it's all boiling over,
"Lowest Common Denominator Rock" next is coming off like a stuttered Devo, kind of manic, forced sound. Awkward as hell, weird effects on the bass or guitar sounding like synth. Great just echo'd enough vocals. Consolidating and distilling down all of that pop rock harder stuff, everything played by Adam, which I still find impressive. To keep this kind of manic weirdo energy when it's just you laying down track after track. You have to be completely committed to this stuff with no hesitation but still be excited about it. I can see this impressive work ethic that's bound to get him somewhere in whatever direction he chooses. Did Jay Reatard just write all those tracks on Blood Visions right out of the gate? No way...frankly that's why I admire him more. He worked the shit out a hundred bands and toured incessantly, not that just that's going to get you anywhere either...but it won't make this just a right place in the right time situation. He's been preparing, and it's just taken everyone long enough to notice.
Side W has "Cola Kids Hanging out in the Bubble Dome" the weirdest pop song, the stuttery quality of this is catching up to him in an interesting way. It's sort of a caged surf sound, like a new demo button on a casio, there's a layer of this real structured methodolgy to this '50s feel going off the rails in a robotic way. Turning Japanese? "ccmmykk" has this instrumental feel at the beginning and then bursts into this title chorus which is about those colors on the printer, the mechanical Mr Roboto sound going on about such a crazy subject. It's the kind of idiosyncratic stuff like this right out of the gate that is further proof this sort of thing has been slowly building, he's been absorbing it all for years and it's coming out miles ahead of where it should be.

Great insert in an almost Chris Ware style about playing the record, and registering the record... and caring for the record. I'm a sucker for all of the nerdy ephemera surrounding vinyl. I have record player dish towels. I don't give a shit! I like em.

It also mentions this was recorded at a Hollywood Inn Express? This might be the name of a studio but I'm hoping it was a hotel room somewhere in LA. That about sums this up. A weird message in a bottle. Finding someone's stack of personal photos in the gutter.. a lot of specifics are missing but there's a big story here.

Get it from Big Action Records, sample below.

Metal Ghost / Porcupine split on Big Action Records

Got this split in from Big Action Records out of Minnesota, another label that's been quietly chugging away since the late nineties, putting out bands they like from their neck of the woods...another real inspiration of DIYGD. That's with an extra 'god damn' at the end because a lot of people have great ideas or talk about putting records out, "Man, I could have put out a record with whatever band, but it didn't work out". These guys are doing it, year after year, spending their money on making records..and breaking even! Which I am kind of shocked about, only because it seems to be damn hard from everything I've heard...but probably it's because they know what's happening in their neighborhood intimately, they know what's good, who they want to behind. But enough about all of that, let's get to this split from Metal Ghost and Porcupine.

Metal Ghost is a duo from Copenhagen and Berlin, ex-members of 18th dye and playing heavy hitting drums and all varieties of scuzzy bass. This particular track, "Did You Know That" is labeled the (kindi frost winter mix) and normally the idea of remixes would put me off right away...the band filtered through someone with dance intentions? That never works out well, but in this case I honestly didn't even realize until checking out the label later. It has a pretty nice shine to the whole track, it's sounds huge and produced, but nicely there's nothing that sounds totally out of place or for the sake of putting your fingerprints all over everything. The best remix DJ just might be the one you don't even know is there. This is feeling a lot like Deerhoof's weirdo rhythms and anti-hooks, strange repetitions of odd timings plus a Death From Above blown out bass sound and groove. Heike's delicate layered vocal plays against the gritty metal edges and electronic percussion, it's packing the most possible contrast into the duo. Decidedely head banging, she packs short bursts of lyrics in between huge solid groove phrases. There's a brief moment of all handclaps and distorted bass... who doesn't love those kinds of breakdowns? Then even getting Blonde Redhead post rocky...super solid and structured.

The B-Side from Porcupine, "Rooftops", starts out with a echo-y layer of half-sad picking that bursts into a funky bass groove fashioning a tiny equation with intricate picking and downward strums. The slightly distorted vocals working on their own path, completely separate from the main melodies...really thought out, and pushing those little details to their limits. Porcupine is also playing around with a similar huge pop sound, straining into the mics during the chorus over an equally mathy foundation, and even those center stage basslines. A lot like Pinback with a dose of something like The Walkmen, building that epic height of layered unnatural vocal for a brief moment of not-enough. High falsetto math rock indie emotion. They aren't just pencil pushers.

Fold out 3 color matte ink on cardstock on spicy mustard color vinyl, band stickers and download card on Big Action Records.