Kitten Forever "Pressure" double 7" on Guilt Ridden Pop Records

The first single from the Coathangers was abrasive, snotty punk. It was a ridiculous (Don't touch my shit!) loose mess that sounded like the most fun you could have while sounding like a bad ass. Mostly attitude but crafting rough punk that had to be taken seriously. You can hear the influence of Bikini Kill or Be Your Own Pet but they didn't have this sense of humor and bite. This Minneapolis trio, Kitten Forever just put out a full length in the form of two seven inch singles on Guilt Ridden Pop.

A-Side's "Get Loud" has all three of them chanting 'We've got nothing to lose' in this call and response circling the wagons, this is how this record is going to play out. It's a battle. Just drums in a Foot Village homage and the perfect intro to Kitten Forever. "Cry Baby" leans on a scuzzy bass line like Death From Above, singing like distorted Kim Gordon with that post punk distance, massive feedback comes rising out of the depth, heavy tom strikes, like primitive punches, repeating 'D R U N K / are you ok?' It's a serious question. Just genius lyrics, not too worried about the details, this is the big picture and those real moments. The tom snare beat takes over every note of this is a force."Little Beasts" Liz Elton on another track half singing launching into a dirty punk vocal. The subtle politics here give this extra depth while being rocked. "Rat Queen" Laura on vocals, bashing snare and short bursts of repetitive looped guitars, spitting vocals, drop down to no effect bass and a bubblegum garage 'wooooo'. Back and forth from hard and heavy into quiet, there's that chance to reflect and try to remember what these guys are called again?. They compliment each others styles and even more impressively switch instruments every track. Like Love Is All or White Lung completely going for this hard punk sound with tons of melody and attitude.

On B-Side's "Mission Statement" the feedback drops into a muddy underwater baseline that oscillates between treble heavy scratchy and opaque. Completely not self conscious they want to make out all night but are sick of the bullshit, sick of you. "Blood Song" sounds more experimental they create a huge muddy mess. This path is twisted and tangled until reaching this angelic chorus and a moment of peace - it doesn't happen often with these guys. Fix the speakers and brace for impact. Handclaps and a cappella, these guys are sounding better and better and the volume dial keep creeping past the line for the neighbor. "Famous Friends" they won't let go of this energy, more chanting, talky vocals from Corrie this time, since they've completely swapped instruments again. They manage to come up with that same energy without things getting too comfortable. It's not going to be easy to play live, keeping the setlist in order of who's on what, but maybe they swap depending on what night or city they're playing. It's just plain bad ass, they know the material back and forward and it's got to force them to keep this simple and raw.

C-Side's (it wasn't enough that they put seven songs on a single, why not go for another six!!?) "Double Disco" is brutish and primal, a blueprint for bands who just had their first practice. GO for it, loud with as many changes as you can manage. Blow out the PA because they need to hear this down the street. "Black Ice" Liz on vocals here is a little more delicate working in a melody over a tom and bass, but I should have known this was just to catch you off guard until the feedback distortion forces itself in. Muffle the drum track and this whole record seems to be devolving into some kind of Wire meets Young Marble Giants, minimal but fast, loud and catchy. On "Dirt Nap" we have the usual elements we've been talking about this whole time but somehow this could be a different band. The Yips for god sake, blown out, completely dirty but reaching for this gleaming shiny pop ring. That Beat Happening style vocal, confessional and homemade but screaming at the top of your lungs. This keeps going in surprising directions. I love the Yips so much and this sounds exactly like Bonfire in a Dixie Cup, shit I love that record.
D-Side "Diamond Ring" launches right into a lyric about picking up the phone, they always get right to the point with washes of a fucked up humming guitar. To the point and experimental punk? How did they know exactly what I wanted.
"Prey On" - It's like they just can't help themselves, with bass lines like these they better just keep things going. Maybe like that youtube video of divorce playing under a bridge they capture that crazy energy in every one of these tracks. I hope they have a couple songs left for their next record. What am I talking about? I love this deliberately out of tune vocal. Really dirty bass, they play with the room spaces a lot for weird tones, the guitar, everything is in the same room bleeding all over each other in the best way.
"Pressure" is like Sleater Kinney in melody but they cram a lot more vocals into their two minutes. fJust like Charlie Sheen must have felt like when he was snorting buckets of coke in that interview. Larger than life, making insane grandiose claims that no one else even thought of. I'm sure they can pull this off - wait, they just did.

On fluorescent pink and orange vinyl with essential pink lyric insert from Guilt Ridden Pop Records.

Gospel Gossip on Guilt Ridden Pop /Old Blackberry Way Records

Guilt Ridden Pop out in Minneapolis sent in a new single from a local three piece playing a layered shoegazey pop from Gospel Gossip. A split label release with Old Blackberry Way, I have a little bit of trouble putting them alongside stuff like Slowdive or My Blood Valentine because of lead vocalist Sarah Nienaber's super distinct sound. There's no burying her contribution in among the distorted electrics here...the times they blow this into pure fuzz is pretty measured...a great combination of restrained highs and focused pop.

A-Side's "Atlantic Blue" is undeniably rooted in that fuzzy sound in it's massive echoing crash cymbals, huge textural guitars and synths washing all over the place. Sarah feels barely loud enough to rise out of this hissy sound even though her melody and raspy vocal style is easily taking this over....even better then she appears for a brief measure in this nearly five minute song because it leaves you wanting more of this sort of late '70s Stevie Nicks sound. The instrumentation continues to build long after she's stopped with the electric layers piling higher and higher, the collection of elements continuously turning over into an ever growing sound. It's like Sarah's had her time in the beginning of this and then the distortion starts to take over completely. Either the narrator's voice left or it was the impetus for this overwheling instrumentation that seems to come in and plateau out to the end. The lonely few strums all by themselves at the end gives you a sense of how massive these chords are and the effects riding throughout the track. Even with the vocal restraint, this is epic because it started this avalanche.

B-Side's "Behind" kicks in with a slow pop beat of isolated snare and loads of jangle guitar. Sarah's vocals this time get a jump on things up front and that smokey style all echo'd in the back gives this an 80's teen soundtrack kind of soul. A lot more to say this time but still the band wastes no time when she gives them a break to come in with a solo wash of reverb and the cymblas growing into a sheer wall of hiss. There's serious vocal ability here and for as pop as this goes, it still feels serious...there's a little brightness melodically this time but there's no sunny days here. It's an unusual combination of classic elements mic'd in a cavern, the vocals all the way in the back in an attempt to give the layered electrics here a fighting chance. She's got the ability to, in the middle of this slightly pop track, keep it completely depressing...well let's say melancholy. The next one, "Sad Machines, starts with a solitary Young Marble Giants bassline and guitar restraint slowly building from the back of this in a Rebecca Gates, Spinannes feel here, filtered through ride or lush. Always slightly buried, like she's having to make an enornmous effort to deliver the vocal... it's still the hardest thing she's going to have to do. Of course this one blows up at the end, her vocals on a massive delay this time, verses piling up on one another, almost taking this to a scary place. They have a handle on these dynamics, it's a completely satisfying sound. Lyrics about photographs and the seaside, she's not overselling any of this, it's got enough interesting guitar work to keep this unexpected. The washes of distortions and off kliter messy solos are sort of avant garde or at least experimental. Somehow they keep the fact they are going to get this big a complete secret. You never really see it coming. All at 45 in a great package full of mystery. On clear vinyl with download card in a beautiful handscreened collage sleeve with matte scratchy ink.
Get it from Gospel Gossip's bandcamp page.

IS/IS "Vowel Movements" on Guilt Ridden Pop Records

Got another single in from Guilt Ridden Pop Records, this one from the band Is/Is, (not the metal band note the slash - not the guitarist either) from Minneapolis, a three piece creating some completely blown out, peaking, drone haze. I wouldn't even put this in the shoegaze category because of this underlying sense of dread at work on both of these tracks. I also appreciate the wordplay of the title track, it's very fitting to the mass of volume they manage to squeeze into the grooves of this long 33 1/3 single.

A-Side's "Vowel Movements" wastes no time getting right to an overwhelming riff, like Broken Water they are working somewhere in the middle of heavy hitting rock with that in the red sound of a long lost, buried underwater recording. The sound is huge at any volume, the kick drum is thumping from a few rooms away, it's a perfect wall of sound that takes real mixing and engineering skill to put together. It's the kind of haze that plays tricks on exactly what you're hearing, is that distortion or surface noise? They're playing in a cathedral, the waves bouncing back off the marble walls when it gets to what must be a chorus, there's still a change in . Vocally, Sarah on bass or Sarah on guitar, (I've been trying to hear if there's a back and forth going on) is creating another what might as well be an instrument, huge reverb on lyrics barely caught, delayed and delivered slow...that's where you get that vowel movement probably. This mammoth winds down with a heavy echo oooo ooooo, angels descending after the world was torn apart. I love this sound. There's nothing like being so completely overwhelmed live like this...there's no vocals, no guitar, no bass anymore....just an environment to bring earplugs and dig in.

The B-Side track, "Blackest Beat", it's no wonder I'm getting a dark vibe coming off the is/is haze, the distorted imagery, this dense sound of dissonanance...this title. It could almost pass into metal territory, the way Locrian straddles that unholy line. This track has just a hint of a bass groove, giving this side some lightness, but I swear there has to be some keyboards somewhere in this mix (there aren't - ed) or that's the sound of the very limits of human hearing reproduced on vinyl, all of those bouncing waves get into sync for a moment. They subtly change tempo in percussion only for the verse which features more of that mysterious fuzzy ethereal vocal. I really love this sound that you can simultaneously really work for in trying to pick it apart, or just let it be that overwhelming single sound...but they're working with more than volume, and based on these two tracks and the fact that I've almost worn out my broken water full length, I'm glad there's more of this approach out there.

Pure white vinyl with creepy double exposed black and white sleeve, digital download included and track info on the reverse. This one is from Guilt Ridden Pop Records, buy it over at stickfigure distro or contact the band directly at isisisaband at gmail.

Dragons Power Up!/Puppies and Trains split on Guilt Ridden Pop Records

After over 6 years of posting about seven inch vinyl, have I talked about every label out there? No way.
I'm not even talking about labels that just started up in the past year...in fact liz just mentioned The Art of the Underground Records the other day that has been compiling their subscription series for the past 4 or 5 years! Never heard of them.
My point is, this is a deep, and even with the internet, endless pit of discovery.
Here's another label, Guilt Ridden Pop Records, who sent over their latest split between Dragons Power Up! and Puppies and Trains, both from St. Paul, Minnesota along with Garrison Keillor...or at least he talks about their hometown, a lot. So now that you have that context, forget it, both of these guys are going for big, slickly produced, classic pop rock.

Puppies and Trains, submit "Behold A Pale Puppy" on their side, and let me just say that their drummer is a complete maniac. Truly some kind of technical feat of speed, but not completely over the top either. It keeps the whole thing glued and racing. The chorus, with it's Guided By Voices layered vocal feel, and indie power chords is dominated by this power hitter, he's clearly the hardest working one on this track. No, that's not fair, but you know those jokes about drummers...they don't apply to Jimmy Olson, so stop giving him shit! Thankfully he gets a brief break during the verses with the relaxed indie strum but it's all being built back up for the massive come back about every 30 seconds. Maybe that's what's making this feel practically like a punk pop track, blown out energy with an indie rock foundation, reminding me of My Valuable Hunting Knife.

The other side has Dragons Power Up! and their track, "Sea Legs". They get a slow tempo groove going with big power chords fading out to feedback for a full measure...they have that indie pop style of Apples in Stereo with a post-punk array of changes, measured bursts of changes that could well be miniature Tortoise movements. It's all leading to this epic chorus by the finish where all the ocean narrative comes to a head:
But your compass is golden!
and your sextant is golden!
and the horizon is golden!
and your sealegs are golden!
In a sort of prog rock synth backed grand finale. Everything looks pretty good today, the ships on course, everythings going to be alright. Like the Annuals single, Brother, it comes as a bit of a surprise just how giant a sound they manage to work up. Kermit's got a great vocal here, subtle melodies, up front in the mix, working on this sea story, changing phrasing along with the stumbling rhythm and when he hits that epic finish, you get it.

On red vinyl, with download codes. I would say email the label directly at guiltriddenpop-at-aol and ask about getting a copy...or from the bands facebook pages, links above.