Blood Sister on Unpiano Book (Records)

Not even a month ago I covered Blood Sister's first release and now I find out about this independent book publisher who decided to make the San Francisco based trio their first vinyl release on their not at all a record label. I personally hope it starts more of trend getting small publishers and equally micro labels to collaborate with audio materials for their stories and vice versa - like Zoo and a Movie's long form comic which inspired the 4 song EP that went with it, it's something that very very rarely happens. Maybe this is the first step or maybe Unpiano just couldn't help themselves. I get it.

A-Side's "Why Would You" opens with the track's signature glitchy guitar (?) melody pushed through broken electronics and bending through path cables in a sort of watery Blank Dogs sound. These live drums are essential and you either go full circuit or have that balance of human drumming to keep things interesting live and this slappy static snare isn't going to be mistaken for polish or anything. Mostly guitar based in a Jesus and Mary Chain dense fog, it's weird when they subtract layers and there's still more working underneath. Magicians that conjure a catchy melody out of hazy chaos. You wouldn't begin to know how these pieces fit together and it makes for compelling listening every time. Call it lo-fi, but that's like saying a book is a lo-fi movie, it's just it's own mysterious thing. Dual guy girl vocals that also is the key to humanizing this sort of thing, making it even more haunting if the all black packaging didn't make you interested already. Sounds like an apocalyptic My Bloody Valentine or The Swirlies through a portable speaker that guy plays surf rock on under the bridge in the park. This is another document supporting that yet to be recorded full length.
B-Side's "Bart Simpson" only muddies the water further. This dark guitar chaos has something to do with the cartoon character? You can sort of hear that kooky twisted surf sound they create with swirling distortions shifting these melodies around with multiple chorus pedals and phasers...? Who knows, I can't help but get caught up in this sound, it's completely foreign like Gary War. Broadcast from another galaxy, proof of intelligent life but just try to enjoy it. The beachy woooooo's could be the cowabunga to Bart's presence here, all I know is I want to go listen to Barbed Wire Kisses again.

Get it from Unpiano Books direct.

Church Bats on Windian Records subscription series #3

Todd from Brooklyn's Church Bats was friends with Windian Records founder Travis Jackson before his passing early last year. They had always talked about putting a single out on the label so when the torch was passed to Eric Brady he included their latest as part of their ongoing subscription series. Windian has always felt like a label with a real clear direction when it comes to releasing contemporary punk garage bands and revisiting a lot of incredible forgotten singles thanks to Travis. The Church Bats are in good company and had the direct blessing from Travis himself. Since that tragedy, Todd has stepped up the bands efforts in remembrance of their friend and Travis' influence and spirit continues on now in Windian as well as The Church Bats.

A-Side's "Foreign Land" opens with a measure of jangly brittle riffs before the heavy hulk beat breaks in, Shingo is attempting to bash a hole right through the skins with a serious part of the budget set aside for for drum repair. Todd uses a doubled up vocal and what sounds like multiple guitars speeding through big fist changes, waiting for a measure so the huge solo can scream in over wrists firing in a snarly Blues Explosion sound. Riding the frequency right into the edge of the hissy peaks, boost the treble and mic a tweeter back through the board. It's full of static and crackle rushing this punk to the end in case somebody pulls the plug. It's always hard to capture this sort of spontaneous high energy sound like their coming right out of the speakers, playing directly in the room, but they nailed it.
B-Side's "Half Man, Half Shellfish" slowly wrings out this riff, twisting the neck between two chords in a meandering ocean roll. Slight shift up the register in that traditional blues scale. Dirty and crunchy sounding, it's all about how you bend your knees on this one. Turning out to be an instrumental that refuses to speed up in any way, trudging through molasses at night, the sun is going down and all kinds of animals are coming out for dinner. Bring out the broken bottle neck slide and make those strings squeal working it's way into a sewer surf sound with more gutteral distortion than reverb but this is that mix of spilled beer and alcohol that seeps into the wood bar. It can not be manufactured.

Get it from Windian. Have you even been paying attention?

Nervous Twitch on Punk Fox Records

Knowing better than to have any idea what expect from the Punk Fox label, I let this four piece from Leeds, UK, Nervous Twitch walk me through the past fifty years of music history across the two sides of this single. It's weird that I find myself going back to those girl groups from the '50s thanks to Guantanamo Baywatch or yesterday's single from Susan practically daily but you'd be crazy not to hear the direct thread between The Shangri-La's and something like Personal and the Pizzas. These guys start out in the early '50s and head straight into post punk that round peg in the square hole.

A-Side's "Jonny's got a gun" blasts right into that chorus lyric right along with a three chord jangle at spastic speed, whoever came up with their name gets a free drink. Erin on vocals and has got it out for this Jonny character, who's been historically maligned in so many songs. Bash that sentiment out on the fretboard, 'got a gun' repeated that over and over in the garage, cranking on chords, tracking harmonies together updating The Angels "Boyfriends Back" and uping the stakes. Enter huge reverb on "And we did" with muted clicking chords to slow things down. A toy xylophone sounding electric plunged under water and held down with weights. I like this slower, down low vocal sounding like the Midnight Snaxxx leather jacket harmony with the attitude of The Coathangers. Greaser '50s vibe with a tambourine and warbling wah of a reverb coiled up and sprung down the stairs like a slinky. The drums have that shallow cardboard box feel, a nice mix of homemade and studio sounding, nailing that crafty quality of these sort of reenactments. They should open for Shannon and the Clams or Hunx of course, there's room for more of this winking nostalgia.
B-Side's "Modern World" opens with a heavy Wire sounding bass line that shifts into post punk reggae Clash sound. Erin is right in the front of this mix, slightly blown out with a jagged vocal delivery over stabs of new wave strings between this stutter jangle. More ominous and bleak sounding until they hit that chorus and it's almost a hyper maximum density shoegaze. They seem to have absorbed the past fifty years and playing through all of it across these two sides, can't decide? You don't have to, play it all.

Get this by contacting Chris dot punkfox at gmail or their bandcamp page.

San Kazakgascar on Lather Records

Sometimes it's crazy when I realize I covered a bands previous single seven years ago. San Kazakgascar has been around for at least nine years now, an incredible feat for any band, let alone a four piece of experimental mideastern psych featuring a clarinet from Sacramento. I have to hand it to a group clearly out to please themselves and in the process create truly unique weirdness.

A-Side's "First Nation Spy" opens with a heavy kick thud and bouncy bass groove, a clicking tightly wound guitar melody is poised to spring out of the reverb with a heavy picked push on those strings ricocheting off the frets, definitely recorded live. That clarinet is an amazing touch, out of nowhere it pops into this soundtrack to a middle eastern Repo Man. The vocal hums along in the same minor key structure as this springy sitar sounding guitar. Plenty of weirdo percussion layers of triangles and shakers to keep the hookah smoke wafting. It's a psych sounding Turing Machine; plenty of tension in the chase sequences obscured by the smoke from the chronic. Loose and hectic they're still at it, flying that very specific freak flag.
B-Side's "Last Man Standing" smacks a tight conga drum while that bass nails the same notes somehow with a southern pacific, snake charmer feel in this dream mirage. It looks like there's water up ahead but it's this four piece just channeling their primitive side and you're witness to this raw, eastern seance. Really great anti-guitar tones out of that electric. This one happens to finally break into a darker, ominous feel, telepathically growing at the right moment. Jed Brewer's vocal about being the last man in an apocalypse among the pools of fracking water hits close to home. Just when you thought this was some futuristic fusion, like a klezmer Godspeed You Black Emperor they drag it back into the strange combinations of things happening today.

On black vinyl from their bandcamp page or Lather Records.

Makeouts on Radio Obligato Records

Even Stockholm, Sweden can't escape the snotty garage sound covering the globe. I like to imagine there isn't a city on the planet that doesn't have it's own drunken mess of a stripped down three or four piece garage band recording songs about pizza, drinking and the opposite sex on whatever recording devices are available. There is something decidedly classic about the instrumentation and impulse. It also selfishly means there's going to be a lot more seven inches to talk about. The Makeouts are a four piece that don't care where they're from only they've found blood ties with the likes of Hunx and Ty overdriving distortion, drums - vocals into the red. With a couple of full length releases on Bachelor records, their last single was nine years ago so lets face it those guys were probably influenced by The Makeouts in the first place.

A-Side's "All about you" rushes in with machine snare, high twisted multiple shreiking guitar melodies and bass running up the fretboard pushing the limits of the VU meters hitting the edge of that plastic box. A massive party sound, the whole band yelling in the back of this ensemble sound, somehow remembering to keep this on track in hyper Matthew Melton style in that sweet combination of speed and melody. Anyone that's opened for Jay Reatard is automatically good with me and there's a hardcore Nobunny feel to this, centered on melody but mostly out for speed and tough greaser vocal that sounds like the end of the party with a sinister undertone, made extra scratchy on this pressing. Pining for this relationship and sounding unbalanced and manic like the narrator in Blood Visions, off his medication and hopefully harmless?
B-Side's "I can't help myself" is subtitled '(ode to record collectors)' on the front sleeve cranks in a scratchy lead guitar strut, thuddy caveman smash drums and a stumbling second lead walks right into that shop with the boxes of dollar records out in the sidewalk. Completely snotty and coming on like a worn adverts single with no sleeve. The lyrics I'm catching are hilarious; comments on the message boards, reissues, driving hours to go look through a garage, stacking shelves to get satisfaction. It hits a little too close to home, but then this'll be the first song to actually address my serious problem. I'm not going to admit it though. They start to really pound away into a dirge version of the track just as it fades out though. Guess we have to wait for the import seven inch with the alternate B-Side.

I found it at this Swedish distro or head over to radio obligato.

Not from this single but you get the idea:

The Belltowers on Market Square Records

I honestly don't think I can think of anyone as single mindedly committed to the '60s psych pop sound as Paul Messis. It's one thing to have the ear and technical skill to pull off flawless updates like he has on his own full length records but now he's started a label and released records from contemporary artists working in the same paisley nostalgia on Market Square Records. His dedication to the reexamination of the sound of that era has got me rereading Jim Derogatis' Turn on Your Mind and tracing this experimental/super produced period into today. The Belltowers out of Orlando, Florida are taking that double hollow body jangle, tight snare precision and bass into a future psych that's drawing on those influences in completely authentic ways. Of course the four of these guys play a huge variety of instruments according to the liner notes, which is just about required for this sound.

A-Side's "Here To Stay" lets that acoustic slowly set the hazy parts per million ratio and expand the cloud right into a verse vocal piled with harmonies and doubled up takes, leaning towards the same '60s period Neil Young. An organ peeks out of the mix before a couple of solo's with decidedly new millennium effects, but they weren't ever setting out to be a cover band. "This love is here to stay." That's more like it, I equate this foggy bliss with the hypnotism that comes from that connection and this song takes those classic groundwork and relevantly expands on those ideas dropping you into the head over heels sound of first dates and the sun coming up.
B-Side's "Lovin' You (Leading Me On)" opens with that high treble shiny guitar line alternately picking and strumming into the opening verse from Paul Mutchler but I'm a little worried about their being taken advantage of. This far out psych shouldn't be about this downer side of love right? It figures that they're so dedicated to this sound they've missed the signs, blindly falling for it. The instrumentation of this mind altering sound is always complex and a twelve string lays down a foundation rhythm while the tambourine shakes in multiple time signatures. Thomas Miller on drums has that perfect frantic skittery energy for this mid tempo groove feeling like it's leading the rest of the track waiting for the melody to catch up, jabbing triple time fills at every turn. I'm getting a massive "Turn Turn Turn" vibe from this too. Multiple layers of harmony and talent.

Pick this up from 13 O'clock records here in the states. They're carrying a ton of great releases across the board from The Young Sinclairs to The Ar-Kaics, practically the entire catalog of just plain good psych.

Barons EP on Underground Communique Records

Barons is the all too familiar story of friends who were in countless bands in their collective pasts and didn't mean to start a new band after ending up in Pittsburgh together. Underground Communique posthumusly released a previous project, Voice in the Wire which got everybody in the same place for reunion shows and before you know it, new songs were written, lots of hanging out and their drummer Nick practically forced them to take this new thing, Barons, seriously. A few years later their in deep and Underground Communique collected four tracks of hardcore pop punk on their debut EP.

A-Side's "Wartime Lullaby" scrapes down strings to explode into heavy hitting drums and the tight compressed distortion sounds of the dual guitars from Jon Barker and Mike Rock reminding me immediately of Atombombpocketknife or Braid. The way they let everything go and conjured completely bonkers energy in massive blasts of chunky chords. Like the Promise Ring or Cap'n Jazz they've got a mature hardcore punk that you can't help but get swept up in. Impressive that the four vocalists (What Nick can't sing?) trade off lines and blend into each others energy and tone, they were meant to be together already, that sort of sound or enthusiasm can't be forced.
"Uncommon Ground" has Zack carrying this opening vocal singlehandedly next to the distorted layers of melody before the rest of this thickens up. There's something about this Sunny Day Real Estate sound, the way it's so completely raw and personal that's easy to relate to in those tougher coming of age times. These guys are really giving it everythign in a more than sincere way that has to make even cynical robot audiences feel something dammit, especially this track about losing friends and drifting apart. Makes me want to give them a god damn hug already.
B-Side's "Hitman" opens with an old time radio sample about rich guys dying disgraced and I'm suddenly into these guys applying some of this manic energy in a political way with lyrics about a part of society that doesn't actually do anything. Take it from the band from steel city to be pissed about the one percent. They may be doing themselves a disservice by making it sound so catchy but they trust you'll dig deeper. They give you a history lesson in "Berkman Needed Target Practice (But Had The Right Idea)" about the anarchist Alexander Berkman who tried to assassinate Henry Clay Frick of Carnegie Steel in Pittsburgh in revenge over his ordering to kill striking workers. He managed to shoot him twice and even stab him a few times but failed to finish Frick and inspire the oppressed american people to rise up. Heavy stuff that you can trust these five guys to blow up into catchy power punk that's about more than 'things suck' or 'we broke up'. More inspiring than an 'A' patch on a demin jacket, they make intelligent powerful tracks.

Get it from Underground Communique Records. Black or Pink vinyl.

Susan on Volar Records

I don't know if there's such a thing as 'the sound of summer' or if densely layered pop can evoke that season but I'm willing to try anything at this point. The sweaty pop from the LA based trio of Susan is a pretty good start to at least start thinking about some warmer weather with teeth. It could be that laid back feel to a huge set of layers that reminds you of being too hot to move, the humidity settling in like an invisible cloud...but once you start paying attention to the lyric, you'd better not get too comfortable.

A-Side's "Just Call it" bounds in with a layered blast of vocals and fuzzy chords in a polished post Vivian Girls dense shoegaze sound of jangle and harmony. Something of a combination of Grass Widow and Frankie Rose or the off balance rhythms of Crystal Stilts, heading right for big harmonies and playing with the back and forth of channels answering each others vocal in a snarly Go Go's sound. Belinda Carlisle played drums for the Germs, believe it or not. It's a real crazy mix of throwing vocals around in all directions, stepping on each other, the airy mix packed with takes and takes of voices. This track is about the existential dilemma still around today, to call or not to call, especially since you're going to get that person on the other end of the phone. Well maybe that's easier these days, don't get me started about having to talk to a girls parents. They break for 'oooo's' and that three chord jangle spreads out for a bit, rounding the whole thing out nailing a weird half step rhythm finish.
B-Side's "Frenchie" slams in cut up blocks of chords, their jabbing of post punk sliding into a weirder chorus, making a little bit of fun of an angst ridden dude. This sugary pop is taunting and switches from a rigid chant to a laid back groove with that push and pull, sending mixed messages to the annoying poser. Screeching feedback squeals right into a delayed solo that pretty much destroys everything. "Pancake" rides on with heavy three chord rushes and the eerie harmony from these three in overdrive. You might have been impressed with their three part harmony before but here it's a real solid dense impenetrable fog of sugar. Forcing an unmelodic rhythm that works only because they will it into repetition with a chorus inspired by the classic '60s girl group sound ending with a pillowy "...I hope you die alone."

Pick this up from Volar Records, green or black vinyl.

White Town "I Wanna Be Your Ex" on Golly Jane Records

White Town is the project of Jyoti Mishra who had a #1 hit song in the UK back in '97 with the song "Your Woman" a gender bending track about being in love with someone who REALLY can't reciprocate. It's a sort of G Love track that plays with rhythms and junky, odd tones in a quirky late '90s way. He's continued to create music and this single comes 25 years (bad math - ed) later with another melted electronic pop song on the Golly Jane Record label.

A-Side's "I Wanna Be Your Ex" comes in with heavy square waves building into a massive mix of airy synths and Jyoti's vocal that slides in over top of this in one take, no auto tuning according to the liner notes. It's a spinning, chaotic track that fills up all available free space in the wave and as was the case in "Your Woman" makes the absolute best out of a potentially messed up situation. Heavy amounts of programming and midi sequencing, all of the sinks in the house thrown at this thing, the months of tinkering left to that one take, an interesting idea. An orphan of late '90s Depeche Mode and The Postal Service building and building the bonkers multi tracking until the very last second.
B-Side's "Rainy Day" was one of his earliest songs rerecorded in one take again with just an acoustic, capturing his intimate performance, very much what a great B-Side should be, you get that stripped down insight into the process especially of older material that the artist is still in love with. It sounds like this single is trying to get at the scope of his twenty five year career in two sides of a tiny record. A noble enterprise.

Pick this up from Golly Jane Records on yellow heavy vinyl.

Kappa Chow on Kiss the Void Records

Joe from Kappa Chow has a point in this interview with Secret East. The five piece from New Brunswick Canada have pretty much no online presence, no bandcamp, no Facebook, no site of any kind in a deliberate move to get those people who really want to hear it to pick it up. You'll have to email Joe directly and see if he's willing to ship this south of the border but you can get a feel from the video from A-Side's "Jump" which starts out slow and sinister as a distanced sax and big distortion sounds wash together while a stripped down tom/snare kit bangs away in the middle of a huge cave. Playing with psych reverb big sounds Halcyon her vocal with a solid melody in this late '80s sounding combination of Psychedelic Furs, Martha and the Muffins and midwest experimental stuff like Pere Ubu. These swashes of wide harsh guitar sounds alongside the classy sax could also be some kind of Siouxsie B-Side. Joe is back there with his response to Jump and making sure the high scratchy guitar stays unclassifiable and weird, grinding the gravelly distortion into dust. Mostly it's the slow groove of this one with the unusual instrumentation that makes me nostalgic for psych 'alternative' of the '90s. Doesn't sound like much else out there at the moment in a good way.
B-Side "Something Better to Do" spins up with a real crunchy succession of riffs in a jam fueled country bbq kicker. Joe and friends are all delivering vocals around the campfire, standing up crowded into the mic. Pounding out caveman beats with extra tambourine, invite everyone, blast the sax way out there in the field, we'll pick it up. Turn the amps up just outside the kitchen, this is real celebration psych that has pieces of Beat Happening or The Brian Jones Massacre. A real collaboration about loss and loneliness but the track sounds like anything but. Get friends together, play some music in the garage - feel better.

Get it from the band direct, email Joe at jchamandy at hotmail. Video for 'Jump' below:

Exorcisms - self released #2

I just connected the dots today that Hannah from the Exorcisms was a vocalist in all the White Murder singles I covered a while back. The only things they have in common might just be the tempo and punk spirit of both projects. Listening back to Exorcisms first single, this one further fuses their glitter garage sound with hardcore pop letting loose with an ugly mess of guitars and noise.

A-Side's "Scripted Lines" opens with an overdriven crunchy guitar over caveman toms and sliding headfirst into a bobbing burst of muted chords for the verse. David Lopez is delivering these lyrics without calculation sticking to instinct of where they'll land, separating thoughts in aid of this tempo and sound. It explodes into a brief moment of fills and hyper melody for the refrain that comes back with it's own distorted cut up memories blasting chords like the Hot Snakes. Breaking into an obscene crunch and the suffocated squeal of a solo before repeating that whole thing all over again, sticking to the explosive parts even more. The arrangement is dizzying, the back and forth between tempos forcing room for the guitar to stick it's head out just before they go into a tunnel again somehow getting faster and pounding harder all the way to the end.
On B-Side's "This Might Hurt a Bit" harmonic reverb chunky notes are all that accompanies David and Hannah while they lay out this lyric nearly a cappella before going revival prom night with jangly guitars and that shit eating beat. The slow dance is broken up by a Jesus Lizard/Bleach style convention of gravelly fuzz that deliberately brought serious pyro to the gymnasium. David keeps that crooner vocal style going on the top of this heavily compressed crunch that eventually takes over becoming the center of the universe. They really let the decibels go and sucker punch you at the end, making off with your date. All I can hear is incredibly thought out arrangements and a microscopic level of detail in the guitar performance and sound. Who the hell is going to step up and put out their third single? DIY 'aint cheap.

Go get this from these guys direct on their band camp page.

Matthew Melton "Outside of Paradise" on Southpaw Records

I think it says something when the copy I ordered of Outside of Paradise on Southpaw Records comes a few days before the review copy they sent. I blindly order anything involving Matthew Melton. It's guaranteed to be good, starting back with Bare Wires there isn't anything I haven't worn out listening too. I'd go as far as to say anything that anything Matt puts out on his own label Fuzz City Records is worth picking up also. "Outside…" is a collection of his solo material from the past seven years picking up where Still Misunderstood left off. He's insanely prolific and it makes sense that the same energy of the garage, the forces of springy reverb and power chords would propel his creative momentum. The energy inherent in this style would of course translate into output and not just in his own recorded material but even in producing bands like Shannon and the Clams, Hunx and Adam Widener defining the sound of Oakland, CA.

The front cover art actually makes me think I've been taking him too seriously all along since he's resorted to cutting and pasting himself in the middle of the woods or on a raft in space. He's always been a bad ass, posing next to old bikes, exclusively wearing jeans and leather jackets never shaving that mustache but I didn't expect this obviously subversive side to spell it out. But then I think that's what sets this apart from Ty or Seth, it's that wink along with the attitude. It's not as bluesy or grimy sounding as either of those two and has always had one foot over the wall of '60s sound but it's got a sense of humor that maybe isn't so obvious.

Outside of Paradise seems to combine surf and sandy beach together with packs of motorcycles and echoes from late '60s girl groups like The Shirelles or The Angels. In 2015 the sound is full of nostalgia while being deliberately dirty and honest. Flipping ideas about love through the use of guitar tone and recorded fuzz. He's after tracks that are going to be exciting with roots in ultra familiar themes and a verse/chorus structure that's perfection like the title track. It's the tightest most concise songwriting, there isn't a note that overstays it's welcome. Every track is a unique burst of punk that's obviously in the same family but took completely different paths.

He's got an uncanny ability to turn a simple distorted melody into an amazing chorus. He's delivering the same blindingly syrupy punk as in Warm Soda, it's such a part of his DNA. It should be a joke he's so good at it, but you can't study this as intensely only to parody it. He takes the drum sounds on this record as serious as the spectrum of guitars from the brittle tin foil high hat tones and bass pounded into that pillowy cinder block. He's forever exploring distorted buzz and finding new variations his whole life, impressively changing that instrument every track. It's a garage-soul-punk record from a guy trapped in the single speaker mono am radio on the workbench out in the garage. It's a well oiled, elegant piece of circuitry that's classic and cool. It's not an expensive or rare model just a perfect solution to listening to two sides of perfection.

Get this from Southpaw Records.

1/6 and The Public Opinion 6 split single on Hope Street Records

The story goes that while The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra were in the studio working on their latest full length when members 1/6 (Aaron Stephanus) and Lamine Sonko both came up with solo tracks for this single on Australia's Hope Street Records. They just couldn't help themselves - too much material is never a bad thing.

The A-Side track "Cosmetic Love" was born out of an old studio session at Hope Street from the PutBacks, the guitar smoothly transitioning from a lonesome solitary groove, emerging out of a shimmery cymbal as the intro to a shuffle back beat fires up and 1/6 builds a massive rapid-fire narrative about a relationship lost. A detailed play by play that walks through the feelings of this loss, going over events to see if there's anything he missed, where things went wrong. The introspection works against this groove decorated with bass phrases, slow building organ and brass from POAO's producer Tristan Ludowyk making something of a funk hybrid, the lyric working more like spoken word than traditional hip hop.
On B-Side's "Jappo", The Public Opinion 6, the rhythm section from POAO takes that same abandoned sketch and reworks the percussion and bass right off the bat with more layers and an expanded brass section. That guitar drops out and they end up completely taking this one in a new direction with Lamine delivering his vocals with a huge cavernous room echo almost going dub, taking massive liberties with the tempo his lyric at one point going from double time over this not laid back tempo and sliding right into the chorus with a smooth vibrato.

Get this one here in the US from Fatbeats.

By Default By Design on 3345 Music / Bye DD Records

By Default By Design seems to be the solo project of Craig Crafton who has been working in various capacities in the music business for at least the last ten years. Moved by the birth of his son wrote and recorded the A-Side of this single and then a classic Bob Marley cover for the B-Side. You can't find fault with a dad creating this kind of time capsule for his son. He can't grow up with Justin Bieber CD's in his collection right? I want to think it isn't inevitable.

"New Best Friend" opens with a repeated single note fingerpicked line on an acoustic that doesn't elude to the weird electronica that opens up in this first verse. Like Tunng it has that unlikely combination of super produced organic sounds bent into right angle circuitry from the shifting metallic pitches of the multiple layers of guitars to sharp hissy smashes of percussion. The vocals are pushed through a robotic phaser his individual lines of subconscious thoughts broken up and stepping on each other in an almost shoe gaze place. You can hear the lengths he's gone in every second to push this into that catchy pop experimental home recorded territory but this has been polished multiple times without even a chance to get dirty. Chorus effects, buttons pushed, piano, drum machines, tweak the EQ a bit more. Being a relatively new father myself I'm a completely biased audience and I'm sure his son is going to be proud to play this ten years or so from now for inspiration himself.

The B-Side "3 Little Birds" is a Bob Marley cover of course that I'll admit to singing at sing a long at the coffee shop with my own son so again he's pushing those buttons again. There's a heavy electronic dub vibe to this in skittering toms and rim shots with a bass line that's straight synth. The vocals again are buried under vocoders and range transposers…I'm going to assume a music engineer/producer wouldn't dare soil this track with use of the dreaded auto tune and this is used more not correct an imperfect performance but to expand the vocal into it's own muddy area of electronic reggae. Even more than that he's taking great liberties with the original material which is what anyone should be attempting when paying homage to a staple track like this.

Get this on baby blue swirl vinyl from BDBD direct.

Ego on Maximum Pelt Records

Hell, I had no idea Magick Ian from Maximum Pelt was in Ego. Damn makes sense, should have read this Midwest action interview sooner. Of course he started the label years ago xeroxing cassette covers of his own stuff for friends and now has a freaking empire of vinyl releases. I want to believe you can still make a meager living off releasing great music like this and keeping things simple.
The thing I'm into about Ego is this hybrid scuzzy garage and psych sound, both of my favorite things. They dive in deep to both ends of that pool and (DANIEL RICO - ed) is (also) great on vocals, real out of control with a touch of the Make Up, perfectly weird for this sort of thing.

A-Side's "Can't Shut It Off" opens on crazy little shuffle beat with a telephone ring or something else I can't put my finger on. It's a live, in the room sound open to those little mistakes, not that there's any on that great jangle muzzled guitar and a fantastic blown out yelling-into-the-void vocals that bounce with a reverb twist ending the verse in a swirly psych phaser spiral. The vocals are half yelping and not worried about sounding conventional, instead it's almost that creepy Angus Andrew from the Liars sound, but he's just having way too good of a time and taking you with him. They hammer this solid quirky little melody and it blooms toward the end of this opening up with layers and climbing an epic plateau just to moon the rest of the canyon. Ripping off the rest of their clothes they dance around this '70s riff watching the trails, smashing beer bottles and starting way too big of a bonfire. The forest service is called. They hide in the woods. Hope they didn't leave any ID in their pants.
B-Side's "Sunlight" is that morning after and the sun is just starting to burn away the wet from the grass, but the haze from fog or that bonfire is still smoking away blowing in their direction, the guitars starting to shake off sleep. The toms build speed and tempo settling into a bobbing groove with some fancy finger-work before attempting that epic climb again with dueling guitars. They pause to break for the night on a cave ledge and Magik is more subdued, singing from the back of that cave he's turned into his carpeted airbrushed van. Like some kind of hermit man on the mountain Jim Morrison he bellows away, scaring off the wildlife.

Get this from Maximum Pelt Records on brown/orange marble vinyl.

Platinum Boys on the Windian Records subscription series #3

It's hard to listen to a track that mentions anything about a girl being 18. It immediately can come off as being old dirty creep music reminding me of Poison or really most of the overindulgent hair metal '80s. It's funny now but I don't think those guys had a sense of humor. Five seconds of The Decline of Western Civilization part II is evidence for any midwestern parents. It is still possible to do it like The Platinum Boys who, like Matthew Melton or Natural Child can reference those long hair days of the '70s in a half serious way or better yet like in this track have the girl mentioned not turn out to be some sort of object but a real bad ass.

A-Side's "Candy" opens on a scuzzy blues soul riff bending it's way into the first few seconds that quickly gets whipped into shape having been mined right out of the classic '70s southern rock sound. They take the elements of rock they know, the raw instruments that don't need anything but a loud as hell amp and all the things that have stayed classic. Take those two guitars and bass and drums and do what they were always meant to do. The exact kind of windows down, endless desert miles between tiny bars sound with the entire band singing together like that god damn Allman Brothers. A little bit of a glam rock if glam rose out of the backwoods bar circuit, strictly beer in a can, trucking patches and ripped jean jackets. A trailer park glam sound because they have this sound buttoned up and settle into this massive groove right away riding it down the highway. They're from Milwaukee? This isn't some kind of hilarious put on, they live in those sleeveless T's because they're fucking comfortable.
B-Side's "Wild Child" fades into feedback and some harder living chords, slowly laying things out there for that second guitar to pile on a wailing solo. Coming off like a rowdier bluesy Dead Meadow those drums drop in to help speed things up for the vocal buried out in the backyard of this gritty chord fueled bull. Big room sound on that snare which they highlight by dropping down to nothing for a throaty guitar drop they can't help but repeating. Some of the thickest guitars known to man, drowning everything else out, turned up feels pretty damn good. Bring an amp to the cabin in the woods for this one. When that lyric fades off into the sunset these two guitars pick things up for a Fucking Champs southern synth meltdown sound that has me searching for that full length.

Even if you can't pick up this whole series or cherry pick this record listen to the track below, ballsy american rock at it's best. Full length (which should be purchased based on the cover alone) is SOLD OUT from the boys, but Dusty Medical still has some.

Shaky Shrines "Satanic Panic" on Velocity of Sound Records

Just got the news early this week that I could finally talk about this great Shaky Shrines single Darren sent in recently. Today, April 2nd, this scuzzy reverb monster is finally released on Velocity of Sound Records. Shaky Shrines are a five piece from Pittsburg that came about when Braden Faisant got together with Nate Hanson to dive deep into the occult psych heavy delay of Wooden Shjips and Suicide and then combined it with monster movie hotrod spring reverb on this latest single from VOS Records. They are serious about their graveyard aesthetic and foreign psych sounds - check out this interview with Pittsburgh City Paper and especially their website for neon nintendo zombies in a graveyard. I still dream about video games like that.

A-Side's "Satanic Panic" comes on with a big rough tom sound and scuzzy shrill riffs. Braden is on vocals with a greasy Cramps style of big reverb pinging off cinder blocks and tile. They swerve from that low end groove to a solo shriek of a chorus taking big turns in melody and structure keeping the energy high like Les Savy Fav. The opposite philosophies of this keep running up against one another; that rough back alley riff and this catchy chorus track title that's the life of the party. They pay close attention to these scuzzier moments, really making them shine and this solo towards the end is run through a busted amp cone, full of the metallic frequencies like a french horn.
B-Side's "Ketamine" starts off with messy electronic bass blurping under loose tom's while a wailing strung out guitar blares away over reverb PA's. A couple characters chant "100 mg of intravenous Ketamine / that is the answer / to the questions you've been asking" getting louder and louder about it eventually taking the rest of this instrumentation with them. Things are weirdly separated in the mix leaving dead spaces possibly my residual flashback to this really good shit. It blows out with garage enthusiasm and mixes in the swirly hard to reach places of psych. Once it picks up this kind of steam it isn't letting anyone get out. The track slams into a wall and all that's left is a hubcap slowly rolling away form this complete obliteration. On the reverse sleeve is an upside cross under a rainbow. Really - that says it all.

Get it from the Velocity of Sound Records who guarantee not to make a penny on any release, they are priced at cost. Why? Because Darren loves music god dammit. And if you're reading this so do you.

The Goochi Boiz double EP on Windian Records

This posthumus double EP from The Goochi Boiz may be their final vinyl document. Turns out the three dudes that recorded both sides of this at different times four years ago have since moved on to different cities and projects. Windian has put together the ultimate tribute with two separate EP's separated by a year on both sides. Moving chronologically start with the "'Oops!" side recorded in Oakland in 2011 released on Burger Records and then move on to 2012's "Fast Food for a Teenage Soul" recorded in one week in Brattleboro, VT where band member Francis Carr is also a part of The Happy Jawbone Family Band which in retrospect is going to explain a lot.

This is the schizophrenic record of a close friendship that resulted in manic burst of creativity. A rare thing when it results in something as enjoyably goofy and pop as this. They experiment every other track, moving from hyper garage to laid back, ramshackle sludge pop. You could imagine the roller coaster of these frantic sessions everything coming together at once, hardly able to sleep afraid you might lose something forever.

The 'oops! side recorded in Oakland (while the neighbors got more and more annoyed, the liner notes say) starts with "Gimme What I want" and a rough chord structure with a great vocal from the Boiz singing as deep as possible alongside a high falsetto. If it weren't for this oddball vocal you might mistake this for a serious deep groove taken from southern '70s rock. "Freak Magnet" brings things into a '60s garage and chord structure if you blasted it through a broken PA from a block away. This pace brings something to the sound, the vocals are one take and the scuzzy pedal is all bass like a slow grinding underwater drill. "Boca Italia" must be the track those neighbors were complaining about. They couldn't be recording a hit record? How they could capture this racket? The lows are just as fuzzy as these highs, singing in a snotty monotone with always great lyrics, completely loose and free with a tight Matthew Melton pop structure, never longer than it should be. "Bummer in the Summer" like Sebadoh or The Jacuzzi Boys this could all fall apart any second. It's the sound of saying "fuck it" and managing to get that good take in spite of themselves. "Banana Split" gets into obnoxious "wooooooo's" as high as possible with a wink. They know this is ridiculous and they'll have the best time doing it at the loudest volume they can manage to jam into the tape. I'll take this attitude over the self serious punk world where everything sucks and we're going to kick your ass because you're straight edge or not whatever the fuck. It feels like the garage equivalent of The Unicorns, writing catchy half hilarious tracks that have a sense of humor. "Flashflood" gets instrumental with a slow ominous baseline, until they yell "FLASHFLOOD!" and it's the perfect sort of example I'm talking about, completely silly and awesome. They aren't afraid to be goofy and almost make you have a great time listening to it. So many tracks, you can't even absorb the last thing before you're spinning to the next. They doom themselves to a certain kind of failure because they make a record this goofy. These guys don't have the self promotion or business sense to push themselves on the world because if they did they wouldn't be able to create this. "oh yea /oh yea /oh yea / big hole!" your guess is as good as mine. "This guns for hire" - the sound of a gunshot fires into loud scuzz and there's a lot of Jay Reatard in here too, at least the Blood Visions stuff which was raw around the edges, plowed into a tascam on their own, an equal scream into the void when maybe no one is listening - you can get a sound like this. "Shroud of night" wraps up this fantastic collection only to be topped by the second side where the goof spreads into a few more genres beyond this Nobunny shine.

The Fast Food for a Teenage Soul side opens with "Dilettante" with bouncy handclap induced energy that sounds like it's spinning fast even though it's most definitely on 33. This sprints like Hunx and the Punx tapping into extreme bubblegum snot. It's a perfect sound for this character, exactly how she would want her song, shiny and sweet vomit. The Goochi Boiz are taking their mix seriously with this punchy chorus, stirring up a real muddy mess and the stage is the only thing to tear them away from this party. "Vietnam" is classic fast Ramones, sounding like a cover with fast ripping chords and explosion samples and the band screaming in pain - a direction those forest hills punks would never go being a little too serious and awkward sometimes. They wrangled some massive kettle drums on "Why You Gotta be Mean to Me?" or it's the biggest tuned down tom with slow drone lyrics. Like a Randy Records release, the band's all singing in the background having had a few too many by the end of this session and the beat can barely keep it together in the best way. It's the sound of the middle of the afternoon in summer and its too hot to move. Don't forget the tiniest toy piano solo that says "Time is going by too fast" and why you gotta be so damn serious everywhere else in your damn life? "You're Melting" is drumming with pieces of cardboard with crazy energy again because they can't stick to a formula, changing minute to minute. They do keep coming back to this spazzy snotty harmony sound as soon as they get into a downer junk blues track like "Everything I do is Wrong". Like one of those sloppy songs on One Foot in The Grave they're ok with putting these tracks under a microscope and giving you a tiny middle finger. "Stewin in my Juices" has a great pop punk feel and I'm starting to think of this record like some kind of alternate reality Pure Guava. It's got all the same kind of weird collaborative qualities and inside jokes and bonkers sounds like the ones in this piece after the chorus; a siren of synth and broken electronics. "Neon Brain Splatter" is another one of those monotone punk tracks played by people who have some idea of punk but miss the entire target in their own deliberate way with everything landing on the beat like a trio of frankensteins. I think the track "Dill Pickles" is a sped up recording of the Who or some other washed up dad rock in the way that it says we're moving on old man. Kill your idols. This is what your rock sounds like totally ruined. "Something's Missing" gets back to the frantic proceedings with great lyrics, the whole band singing, in and out of harmony, the guitars racing, almost stumbling over the cymbal crashes and barely keeping up with itself. An amazing snapshot that deserves revisiting over and over, the reach of material covered here shouldn't even be attempted and rarely comes together like this.

Get it from Windian Records, who says:

A THREE-PIECE ORIGINALLY FROM BOULDER, CO FEATURING MEMBERS OF THE HAPPY JAWBONE FAMILY BAND, THEE GOOCHI BOIZ WERE WELL KNOWN FOR THEIR FRANTIC & FRENETIC LIVE SHOWS. WHILE SADLY ON AN INDEFINITE HIATUS AFTER TREVVOR, THOMAS AND FRANCIS MOVED ON TO OTHER PROJECTS AND LOCATIONS, WINDIAN RECORDS WON'T LET THAT STOP YOU FROM ENJOYING THESE REMASTERED TRACKS AVAILABLE ON OUR FAVORITE FORMAT FOR THE FIRST TIME .

Eliot Pride "Warm Blood" self released

Just read that Eliot is moving off the mean streets of williamsburg pictured on the cover (I think you mean the expensive streets -ed) and headed off to Nashville which is where his sound on his EP should be right at home. He's following the long tradition of a guy and an acoustic guitar that can come out of early southern country or west village folk. It can be political or highly personal, backed by an entire band or sit out there all alone but it's got to be sincere.

On A-Side's "Warm Blood" he's backed by a huge instrumental section of lonesome reverb guitars and lap steels, pouring on the sadness in this uptempo track about this lost character drunk driving. You'd expect to hear a baritone vocal about the convoy but Eliot has this slightly slurred mixed to the middle delivery like an ancient southwestern storyteller emerging from the tumbleweeds. Still is has a lot in common with Giant Sand or Calexico - skilled at being sorrowful. "Stitched up" is Eliot on an acoustic with an open wound that needs closing. Comes in with huge choir harmonies wanting a drink. Could be the character's origin story from Warm Blood. Pain and trouble just leeds to more of the same guys. I think the problem on both of these is the tone though, they still want to be somewhat catchy tunes and this is serious dark stuff that he's tackling. Unless it aims to be the sort of thing to catch you off guard until you start to pay attention to the lyric.
B-Side's "Henry Lee" has that stripped down sound of a single acoustic opening this side before the band starts joining in, also probably about Henry Lee Lucas which again brings things down into depression town with sweet harmony from Katie Turner. He's got that narrative americana folk sound and the female backup vocal is way too tender of a sound to be dealing with this so by now I've got to think he's some kind of tune sadomasochist. He can't wait for you to figure out what he's singing about. "Home" is a pretty sweet lonesome track about playing a punk show. This is the kind of shit I can get behind. It sounds like that shitty distance between towns in the middle of the country. Possibly unintentionally sadder than the rest of this record, this feels like he knows what he's talking about, not these abstract ideas about drunk driving and serial killers - but maybe that's just me.

Get it from Eliot's bandcamp page. Blood red vinyl of course.

Mako1972 on Snappy Little Numbers Records

My yardstick for screaming style vocals and complex intricate guitar lines at deafening volume is At The Drive In. Mako1972 feel like they also remember the massive void left by those guys years ago on this Hubba Bubba color vinyl from Snappy Little Numbers.

A-Side's "Cannonball Lecture" immediately reminded me of those odd, hyper high melodic cycles that ATDI would pull out of some dexterous progression which had no sense of order, just looping chaos. Luke on vocals here has a pretty insane style of straight hardcore screaming and controlled vibrato so completely different it has me wondering if another band member wasn't backing this up anywhere. The high power phrases work on layers of chunkier palmed power chords and the bass and guitar seem to be following each others lead. It's post rock that works out the equations beforehand in long form on the chalkboard to get controlled bursts of instrumentation that go off in succession taking down that abandoned casino with a plunger. Dissonant chords are stacked up and time signatures are halved into weird fractions. It's that new math that these guys must have went back to school for because from here it sounds impossible to figure out.
B-Side's "Even Ghosts Perish" takes a slower trudging approach to this fingerpicked cycle over far off drums in a cave. This could be an example of working with their various influences and incorporating them as a group coming from all sorts of places. It's something of an instrumental Planes Mistaken for Stars melody that suddenly gets muted into low end chunks and Luke appears from some kind of lofty reverb place this time with more of that controlled warble like late '70s metal. This keeps climbing onto an epic plateau above the huge landscape. Not so concerned with precision this time more like hitting the open road where you don't ever see speed limit signs or people for days.

Pick this up from Denver, Colorado's own Alan Lomax, Snappy Little Numbers Records.