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Louse

Passions Like Tar

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***"Like some mutated phantom lurking in the shadows, Cincinnati based new-wave punks Louse emerge into light with their debut LP Passions Like Tar- a heady and sullen collection of post-punk hits. Louse have been crafting hypnotic, dense gothy anthems since forming in 2021, and continue to do so with Passions like Tar. Since their conception, the group consistently deliver 80’s era-correct, modulated, guitar-driven punk that is informed by bands like Killing Joke, Bauhaus, and Christian Death, but delivered with their uniquely coloured angular riffs and fevered, anguished vocals. Fret not, because you can expect more of their beautifully warped vision executed on Passions Like Tar… out on Feel It Records in 2024. Passions Like Tar is a collection of intense, evocative songs that traverse a sunless landscape roving between dancy hits like “Thieves” to more spatial, gloomy tracks like “A Potter’s Field”. The songs are stylistically linked by the band's lush guitar and synth arrangements, epically crooned dismal lyrics, and tightly wound primitive drum parts that pulse and prod like amphetamine fueled detonations . The song-structures skew from linear and driving to thoughtfully plotted ballads with an intentionally executed scope. Despite the record's diverse palate, these songs collectively create a cohesive, original, and warped vision of a cryptic yet accessible post-punk dystopia. The band has clearly rallied to create a visceral yet thoughtful record that will gel with seasoned goths and new punks in exploration alike. Louse's Passions like Tar is another glorious reason to shuffle this wild and beautiful...

Citric Dummies

Trapped in a Parking Garage

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"Jeff Goldblum takes a deep breath and initiates the teleportation sequence, unaware that lurking in the corner of the telepod are three greasy eighth grade boys quoting their favorite lines from Kids In The Hall sketches. The sequence initiates; a crack of static; a horrible flash of white hot light. Dramatically backlit and shrouded in fog, what emerges from the adjacent telepod is not so much man-child as teenage lobotomy. The camera jumps to a tight shot on the receding hairlines of three dumb assholes: “Look out world…” they whisper with an off-putting wink into the camera. “I’m eatin’ Arby’s.” This is the CITRIC DUMMIES and that is a reference to their song lyrics! Yes, you do not have to ask: this shit is dumb. Lyrics like “I'm driving a piece of shit because I am a piece of shit” dumb. I hear fear in their voices: this is both a reference to Lee Ving’s phlegm and the fact this band is naked and lost in a parking garage, “A traffic cone used for modesty (It’s not a giant orange dick, you see)”. But unlike FEAR, this band does not hate you, for they are too busy hating themselves. “Fuck you!” you yell at them, and they know why. When you see these Citric Dummies (and oh, you simply must!), you will notice their jackets—matching in satin, unique in color. A bassist in green satin, like a lime, and bald (not unlike a lime…). Guitarist? In lemon yellow; he...

Drin, The

Elude the Torch

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The Drin forge further into their own captivating world of sound on their fourth album, Elude the Torch. Since 2021, the Cincinnati group has released one strikingly original album per year, crawling closer to the aether with a driving, reverberated rhythm. The Drin's current sextet lineup is at a new height—loose, yet focused and commanding. Deep layers of saxophone, synthesizer, percussion, strings and opaque environments stir with flickering emotion across Elude the Torch, while D McCartney's nebulous verbiage and grim auguries paint landscapes within the rock ‘n roll murk.

Marcel Wave

Something Looming

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Marcel Wave write eulogies for tragic actresses, ancient riverbeds and concrete obscenity. Their inaugural sonic instalment Something Looming is part trades club symphony, part itchy serenade, and part wistful lament. As their heady concoction of ‘Meades meets Pat-E-Smith meets Kirklees Borough Council’ gets prepped to be formally baptised on a dank stage near you, Upset the Rhythm and Feel It Records have dutifully stepped in to deliver its songbook to the masses on both sides of the pond. Formed when Lindsay Corstorphine and Christopher Murphy of Sauna Youth and brethren Oliver and Patrick Fisher of Cold Pumas were summoned by northern ink-slinger Maike Hale-Jones, Marcel Wave’s debut offering is a walk through a smoke-filled pub with yellowing wallpaper and all eyes on you. It’s a chronicle of the death of the docklands, the decline of industry, of the high street, of civic pride, of civilisations, of hopes and dreams. As Hale-Jones delivers the bad news in her low, West Yorkshire brogue, Corstorphine adds the bells and whistles via the frantic pulsations of a wheezing Hohner organ in tandem with Fisher O’s rasping guitar. MW are completed by the throbbing basslines of Murphy and Fisher P’s fervent rhythms. The title itself sets the tone for the listener. There’s a sense of foreboding in Hale-Jones’ lyrics which sit at the quintet’s core—elegiac, sardonic and piquant in equal measure. A mixture of narrative epilogues and inward paeans, her words weave tales across a broad thematic church. Crooked tales of urban renewal and the...

Bermuda Squares

Outsider

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***As corny as it sounds, you can’t help but describe Bermuda Squares as a Minneapolis supergroup. Ringleaded by singer/guitarist Tony Milek, the band comprises members of Sinks, Neo Neos, Citric Dummies, Color TV, green/blue, Retainers, Dummy, the Soviettes, IV, and Awesome Snakes. That pedigree alone provides a good idea of where you’re heading here. Clever pop for dumdums. Well crafted knuckledragging catchy fuzz hammered out meticulously by idiots.

Vacation

Rare Earth

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"Vacation’s new album Rare Earth comes at a time when the powder keg of civilization as we know it is particularly vulnerable to the spark that swallows our very existence. Rare Earth is an album that exists on account of this fact; lyrically and sonically in meditation of it. It’s an album that evokes at once the ominous churning of the Bizarros, the drone & dirge of Screaming Urge, and the melodic cushion of the Replacements’ tender years. Nine albums into their discography, Vacation remain true to shrill atmospheric ambience in tribute to Pere Ubu while retaining the hard-edged accessibility that was signed, sealed, and delivered to sensitive degenerates by the likes of the Ramones and Guided By Voices. Rare Earth delivers all of this in a uniquely sparkling package; almost tactile in relation to their live experience. It’s this Cincinnati power-quartet’s most explosive album yet, out Spring 2024 on Feel It Records."—Amos Pitsch (Dusk, Tenement)

The Ar-kaics

See the World on Fire

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The Ar-Kaics are back with See the World on Fire, their first new album in six years. It’s also the first release from this newly-minted partnership between Feel It Records and the bands’ own imprint, Dig! Records; with Bachelor Records delivering a European edition. Expect eight new tunes of dark, moody, rollicking garage psych not altogether dissimilar from their previous output (across two LPs and a mess of singles). What you get here is the next chapter. All written and recorded in singer-guitarist Johnny’s bedroom / garage (pictured on the album cover), it’s a concept album based on the concept of making an album—on their own, from the brink. But don’t just take our word for it… “The Ar-Kaics out of Virginia are pretty groovy. They got THAT sound, man.”—Marc Maron

Lysol

Down the Street

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'Down the Street' is the latest EP from Seattle punks LYSOL, following 2021's 'Soup for My Family'. The four piece lineup of Anthony Gaviria, Xtine Lundberg, Chad Ringo Bucklew, and Noah Earl Fowler waste no time on this EP, with all four tracks clocking in at two minutes or less. Perfectly executed hardcore punk with a touch of Pacific Northwest guitar rock in the mix. LYSOL have yet again kicked down a steamroller of a record that matches their power as a live band.

Why Bother?

Serenading Unwanted Ballads

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Serenading Unwanted Ballads is the fifth album from Iowa's WHY BOTHER? and a testament to the fact that they will never make the same record twice. Full of twists, their unique approach to Midwestern synth punk becomes their own sound of Gothadelic, weirdo madness. Several of these tracks make their first vinyl appearance after surfacing on previous EPs and singles, while a newer mix of "Some Don't Dance" speaks to the unwavering creativity of the group. "Testify", recorded by friend (and contributing song writer) Aaron, while serving his life sentence at Anamosa State Prison, adds a layer of originality and bleakness to these unwanted ballads. WHY BOTHER? have made yet another album by themselves, for themselves, and for anyone else willing to be serenaded by the doom of what awaits in the shadows. Feel It Records is proud to be the ONLY record label that can offer you such things. Edition of 300 copies.

Choncy

20X MULTIPLIER

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From the foxhole of the Rust Belt, Choncy fleshes out a frenzied, multifaceted approach to punk with their sophomore album, 20X MULTIPLIER. The Cincinnati four-piece delivers an intoxicating 9-song 12” tinged with personality and dumb luck following Community Chest, their 2023 debut on Feel It Records. 20X MULTIPLIER was recorded to tape at The Bomb Shelter in Nashville by Joe and Jack Tellman, providing a raw and unhinged sound. Choncy hones in on their sonic persona by bridging the gaps between angular post-punk and abrasive hardcore, pushing their sound to its absolute limits. With a chaotic mix of relentless bass, sharp drums, splintering guitars, and off-kilter vocals, Choncy provides a glimpse into the grotesque realities of life. Lead single "Dead Meat" shows the group putting their own spin on contemporary punk, segueing into "Default", an anthem for those who will be forever indebted to the neoliberal institutions. The album is filled with profit margins, budget cuts, and man-made horrors beyond your comprehension. Choncy’s 20X MULTIPLIER displays a maniacal yet ingenious approach to punk that can only be compared to hitting a slot machine jackpot or maybe committing tax fraud and running for the Secretary of Defense. Let this record be a proclamation of what could have been - if only they knew the right numbers to pick.

Follies, The

Permanent Present Tense

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A new beginning with familiar roots. No matter how you slice it, Permanent Present Tense is a high test trek to the forefront of rock'n'roll's boundless canvas. The Follies have spent a collective lifetime in dark, amplified dives (see: Vanity, Vexx, Ajax, Twisted Thing for more) but their approach here is different, and firmly rooted in the present. Sure, these ten tracks have that compact, New-York-Fuckin'-City drive that's innate to the five boroughs, but let's talk about the sheer quality songwriting and arrangement on display here. Permanent Present Tense has both the roots and the refinement that transcend the usual debut album. Fashion and genre are thrown down the fire escape in favor of memorable hooks and words that have immense replay value. Think Love and Arthur Lee, or even the Kinks' own Arthur. Brit pop & pub rock shouldered up to the shimmering guitar jangle of Haight-Ashbury, but arranged by Punks. Perhaps you'll remember this album differently, but the one sticking point to the Follies is their collective ability to synthesize the past into the present throughout ten utterly bulletproof tracks.

Grazia

In Poor Taste

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In Poor Taste is the debut EP from London's Grazia—written and recorded by Heather Dunlop and Lindsay Corstorphine. Often referential—In Poor Taste pulls inspiration from the high and low brow, but mostly the low. Grazia pays homage to everything from The Fall to cheap lingerie brands in a campy pastiche of 80’s new wave and pop. In Poor Taste is all about having a lot of fun while delving into your worst, core self.

Corker

Distant Dawn

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"Distant Dawn" is the latest single from Cincinnati post-punks Corker, following their 2023 debut album on Feel It. While that album reveled in a dense and dark aesthetic, informed by coldwave and industrial landscapes, "Distant Dawn" is a bright and refreshing take on classic post-punk. Layers of angular guitar, synth, and percussion build upon the strength of Corker's rhythm section, cementing their powerful new live presence as a five piece. Recorded at a countryside farm, "Distant Dawn" finds Corker at their most natural and uninhibited - a wonderful first taste of their forthcoming 2024 album.

Cosmo Jimmy

Under That Dress

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Poontang Twang, Cosmo J., David Kossoff, and Nigel Partridge make up the band Cosmo Jimmy. This foursome hails from a town that has a beaver for the town mascot named Seymour Of Hamilton. The album was recorded at Songgram studios in early 1987, produced by Tommy Marolda (The TOMS, Richie Sambora, Smithereens). Members of Cosmo Jimmy played the local Jersey circuit when they decided to record their song “Batteries Not Included” for a movie soundtrack project, but the movie was never released. The song became a single for the new Scorpio Records label. The 12 track album was then green lighted to be recorded with song influences ranging from XTC to the Rolling Stones. Using analog recording equipment including Tascam 16 track DBX recorder, Tascam 24 track mixing board, Hammond B-3, Magnatone and Vox guitar amps, Yamaha Baby Grand Piano, Gibson and Fender guitars and bass, Hohner Harmonica, Vibraphone and Ludwig Drums, the album was recorded within a two week period. Under That Dress was scheduled for release on Scorpio Records - and despite making it all the way to test pressings, the album never saw the light of day. 36 years later, Feel It Records (responsible for recent reissues of Marolda's late-70's recordings as the TOMS) is proud to issue the Cosmo Jimmy album for the first time ever.

Wet Dip

Smell of Money

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Singularity. A quality that rarely reveals itself in the overloaded data and screen glow of the twenty-twenties. From deep in the heart of Texas - the trio known as Wet Dip are that jarring, lightning strike of sound like nothing before them. Sisters Sylvia and Erica Rodriguez grew up in the arid, isolated Panhandle region of Texas before making their way to Austin and forming Wet Dip with Daniel Doyle. After meeting Caufield Schnug and Lira Mondal of Sweeping Promises during their time in Austin, Wet Dip made plans to venture up to the Sweeps' new home studio in Lawrence, Kansas to record Smell Of Money, their debut album. These nine tracks scream something new. The stark honesty of Sylvia's lyrics and vocal delivery, alternating between English and Spanish, is something to behold. Underneath that, Wet Dip treat us to a no-wave ride into the future. No one else sounds like this. You'd even be hard pressed to notice the renditions of the Pixies "Silver" and Gloria Trevi's "Pelo Suelto" in the context of how Wet Dip operates. They reimagine the bland canvas of contemporary Austin into something new, exciting, and jarring. And that's the beauty of Wet Dip, because they do it seamlessly and with a belief in themselves that's not only something to be celebrated, but all their own.

Spllit

Infinite Hatch

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Cut from a magnetic, jagged edge of the Louisiana underground, Spllit open up an entirely new can of worms on 'Infinite Hatch'. A dozen new originals, mined from the minds of Marance and Urq, prove to be quite the follow-up to their introductory 2021 effort, 'Spllit Sides'. Transitioning from home recording project to roadworthy live unit - anchored by Raegan Labat (bass) and Ryan Welsh (drums) has worked wonders for Spllit's style. Their approach to composition remains wonderfully fried - a galaxy of textured sonic synapses, totally wired and deeply imaginative. Yet, in the midst of this collision of sounds, there's beauty. Anxieties transcend into swirling dual-vocal pop art experimentalia, while guitar work taps into something Magical. Spllit's old friend MIDI again contributes to the smokestack of layered tracks, though somehow - IT ALL MAKES SENSE. Crystalline soundscapes from humid human minds. 'Infinite Hatch' is a rare flavor, strikingly different based on how you approach it, yet cohesive. Spllit are triumphant sonic chemists, cooking in the avant-lab that's way, way out there.

Citric Dummies

Zen And The Arcade Of Beating Your Ass

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***"Bursting out of a burning trash heap like some mutated, blitzed skeleton in a leatherjacket, Citric Dummies thrash their listeners with a heavy dose of pulverizing punk madness on their latest LP Zen and The Arcade of Beating Your Ass. The Minneapolis based trio have previously released a handful of endlessly infectious records on US and Euro labels like Erste Theke Tonträger, Fashionable Idiots, and Another Label- luring in unsuspecting punks with their aberrant, tuneful noise. Citric Dummies rip turbocharged, catchy songs riddled with big hooks that are inhaled like paint fumes by fans of niche KBD gems and classics like The Ramones and The Misfits. The band has signed with Feel It Records to release their most dialed and corrosive record to date- a pièce de résistance for LSD enthusiasts and jabronis alike. Produced by Erik Nervous (known for his own project as well as production work with The Spits and Liquids), Zen and The Arcade of Beating Your Ass Is a masterclass in unpretentious and unrelenting party punk. The cover is a clever mockery of Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade waving a friendly middle-finger paying homage to the punk heroes of yore. Citric Dummies power through 14 songs in 23 minutes in a psychotic frenzy. The songs conjure chaotic and hilarious glimpses into the everyday life of a hesher self-deprecating, taking copious amounts of illicit substances, and kicking the teeth out of the phonies that step in their way. Sonically, Citric Dummies have honed their knuckle-dragging craft, and sound...

Erik Nervous

Immaturity

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Erik Nervous (aka Erik Hart to his folks) has produced at least an E.P. a year since 2015, releasing his music on a long list of American indies, such as Warm Ratio, Total Punk, Neck Chop, Lumpy, and Digital Regress. There was a short break for the COVID-19 pandemic, but even then, Erik hooked up with two friends, as the Beta Blockers. Erik also happens to be one of the top punk recording engineers in the Midwest and has been playing synth in the Spits since 2021. Immaturity marks the return of Erik Nervous as a solo artist. The thirty-nine minute long playing rock album will be co-released by FatCat (UK) and Feel It (US) on November 3, 2023. As a kid, at the turn of the millennium, Erik was immersed in 1970s and `80s pop culture - sugary cartoon fair, from Scooby-Do to Yogi Bear, musically from Prince to Olivia Newton John and John Travolta’s turn in Grease. It was actually an obsession with the Harmonix Guitar Hero II video game that got Erik into making his own music. He learnt how to play drums via their subsequent Rock Band series. After buying a cheap acoustic guitar from Target, while in 5th or 6th grade, he received an electric one for Christmas a few years later. He insists that he still uses this instrument for 90% of his recording. Starting out teaching himself how to multi-track, etc. with an iPad and Garageband, Erik then went retro and bought a...

Why Bother?

Calling All Goons

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Would it be October without a new WHY BOTHER? album? We first heard from the Iowa group with 2021's "A Year of Mutations" and they have not looked in the rear view mirror since. "Calling All Goons" is WB?'s fourth album in three years - a lexicon for the freaks, a beacon of hope amidst the digital deluge, or just a true artist's piece depending on how you see it. And that's the beauty of WHY BOTHER? They are the enigma. A band that extends from the roots of Midwestern punk while adding something new to the conversation. This is the kind of rare phenomenon that is outwardly difficult to describe...so step inside the world of WHY BOTHER? for the 13 songs spread across "Calling All Goons".

Hard Copy

12 Shots Of Nature

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***"Groundbreaking bands typically don't function as stars hanging in the night sky for all to gaze upon. Rare talent functions more accurately like tectonic plates, mutating their surroundings deep underground by bulldozing the pre existing turf. These kinds of musicians who regenerate and evolve our world by forging new creative languages that future artists will liberally borrow from and build upon. Richmond, Virginia may seem like a surprising location for seismic catalysts, but Hard Copy now joins an elite list of RVA bands moving sound in unexpected and earth shaking directions. Destruction! Invention! Rebirth! Once upon a time there was Honor Role who deconstructed midwest hardcore and carved out a path for what eventually would become mathrock. Combining empathy wrapped in anger, a following generation would use this template to birth post-hardcore and a 2nd wave emotional music. A bit later came Labradford who were atmospheric scientists creating pulsating soundscapes bathed in drone. Their music was so devastatingly unique that Kranky willed themselves into existence to release their debut for which this historic label was built upon and continues to lead the way in experimental music. I can't help but to include Hard Copy among this kind of revelatory innovation. They are subtle shapeshifters of synth driven post-punk. At their core, we find unorthodox art rock for which Talking Heads and Pere Ubu belong, but it is stretched taut like taffy into trance-inducing, long form motorik musings. Singular vocals act as a secondary percussion. Bass lines double as a metronome...

Sugar Tradition

More Sugar

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Oh boy, now we're cooking. Now we're in the court of Sugar Tradition. Only a city like their hometown of Detroit could foster such a refined appreciation of rock'n'roll, r&b, and garage punk - and Sugar Tradition clearly have IT. The trio, consisting of Antonio Keka (guitar/vocals), Kevin Irwin (drums), and Arlo Betley (bass) are a complete force of nature live - contemporaries of the Stools, Toeheads, and 208. They're also fresh off a tour supporting none other than the Detroit Cobras. Sugar Tradition have managed to capture that raw, driving Motor City sound in damn near perfect form on 'More Sugar', their vinyl debut on Feel It Records. "Rockin' Baby" kicks things into gear, anchored by a driving piano line that plays off a pounding rhythm section, allowing Keka's guitar and vocals to rule the high end of the mix. There's some tasteful harmonica and tambourine peppered throughout, but it's the raw, fuzzed-out sonics heard best on "Don't Leave Me" that may just steal the show. Oh yeah, did we mention the roaring rendition of Chuck Berry's "Come On"? It's all recorded live, too. A stupendous fourteen minutes at 45 RPM. Sugar Tradition are one of the brightest sets of young heads on the face of planet rock'n'roll right now, and 'More Sugar' proves that to a tee. (STREET DATE - 10/13/2023)

Class

If You've Got Nothing

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"The Artist works in a museum And that museum is rocknroll In a world of meme punk rockabilly grandads It’s the classicists that really have something to say. Straight lines, hooks, and a clear path to your heart. They might not be dbeat heart throbs But no one else can give you that feeling that you can hold on to a moment Like you are driving too fast down route 60 And it’s never going to end. In 20 years when you skulk the dark alleyways of wherever punk’s red fern grows, they won’t be talking about Dwight Twilley, the Looks, or the Nerves, they will be looking for a little CLASS." —Tobi Vail and Hayes Waring

Alicja Pop

I'm Here I'm There / Not Gonna Be Dumb

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***Illustrious Memphian creative Alijca Trout (Sweet Knives, Lost Sounds, River City Tanlines) returns with a new single under her solo-slash-group venture, Alicja-Pop. Following in the haunting garage-pop reverberations of 2021's, "Howlin'", A-pop weave together a crisp double-A side of wistful r'n'r gold. "I'm Here I'm There" rides a driving rhythm beneath Trout's icy cool and confident layered vocals. Both propulsive and ethereal - stretching seamlessly to the flip, "Not Gonna Be Dumb", a euphoric dip into post-punk. Coated in synth and a piercing guitar lead, chants of "Time...it wa-a-a-aves you on" harmonize in a chilling finish to Alicja-Pop's latest slice of brilliance.

Optic Sink

Glass Blocks

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***Expanding on the magnetic, minimalist post-punk frontier first chartered on their 2020 Goner debut, Optic Sink return with their second album, Glass Blocks. Hot on the heels of their recent EP on Spacecase Records, the Memphis trio of Natalie Hoffmann, Ben Bauermeister, and Keith Cooper ventured out to Lawrence, Kansas to record at the home studio of Caufield Schnug (Sweeping Promises). The resulting seven originals and a rendition of LiLiPUT's A Silver Key Can Open An Iron Lock, Somewhere define Optic Sink and their remarkable style with a clarity and power seldom realized in a studio setting. Hoffmann and Bauermeister command the high end of the mix with a gamut of perfectly dialed synth and percussive tones while Cooper's bass serves as rhythmic anchor. There's far more to dive into, whether it's the cold, driving beat of "Modelesque" or the minimal, percussive brilliance heard on "Glass Blocks". Perhaps the best part of the formula is the sheer amount of natural energy that gleams through the mix. Like a warm refraction of musical chemistry and originality, Optic Sink have struck gold with Glass Blocks.

Leopardo

Solo Recordings 2019-2022

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"Tasked with creating the idyllic segues of Wes Anderson’s new reboot of The Shining, Romain Savary puts you in a box with a fox, a computer from 1998 and a bottle of port. It isn’t garden variety, it’s simply a garden; there are bulbous purples and meek yellow-oranges, and where they begin and end is anyone’s guess. It isn’t the pastoral Impressionism of the prior Leopardo LP, on which you can almost hear the sunshine, taste the mountain tops. Just as the Velvets often lived in the oblivion of sunbeams, Leopardo knows the finer things in life are quiet anticipation, rigorous conversation on a scenic drive, minneolas, gusts of wind. Like with the band Cheveu (remember?) you can’t help speculating on a film out of tunes like “Temperature”. There are people who enjoy reading Rimbaud on oceanic vacation as much as they like blowing lines off a washing machine in a Midwest winter basement, and this is for that type of lifer."—Brandon Gaffney

Single Bullet Theory

C. '79

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"My first image of Single Bullet Theory was a little oasis of attitude on a flatbed truck in an empty lot in conservative downtown Richmond, Virginia, during a music festival in 1977. I’d had enough of drunken preppies and good ole boys. I wanted a sound to match my mood. Single Bullet Theory was the right band for the moment. They didn’t sound like any band in town. They didn’t look like one either. The lead singer, alternating between guitar and sax, wore his dark hair Prince Valiant style, with a tailored white jacket and a large shiny saxophone pin on his lapel. They absolutely tore it up, and afterwards my ears rang for three days. The band had formed in 1976 from the ashes of Big Naptar, Crossbreed, and X-Breed, bands which had mixed cover songs and originals with a garage, punk feel. Their edgy style matched their origins in the bohemian art school culture of Richmond’s Fan District neighborhood in the 1970s, as a fresh wave of music flowed from New York and England brandishing an aggressive sound with a clever attitude to match. SBT took that sound further – loose, high energy and, with three guitars, loud. They made their name playing free warehouse parties and half-dollar cover shows at local bars. In early 1978 the band played at an art opening party for Andy Warhol at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in the staid heart of Richmond. More than 6,500 people mobbed the place. This...

Advertisement

Escorts

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***So long as there has been madness, there has been art that tries to arrest its shape, art that tries to capture its lack of coherency and fashion something beautiful out of the stupidity. On Escorts, Advertisement leans into the romance of such foolish, magical thinking. The LP—their second, following 2020’s American Advertisement—is an impressionistic ode to the tragic comedy of contemporary life. Advertisement metabolizes the sounds of good nights gone awry with startling clarity, shifting effortlessly from glossy, leather-doused glam rock to glitching, Kraut-inspired spirals, Scott Walker-tinged empty pub revelries to industrialized club loops. Running off the back of American Advertisement, as well as a string of standalone singles with Hardly Art Records and Fire Talk Records, Advertisement devoted the bulk of the intervening years between LPs to touring alongside the likes of The War on Drugs, Surfbort, Sheer Mag, Spiritual Cramp, and Narrow Head. Throughout the course of the American Advertisement tour cycle, the band became increasingly disaffected with the stylistic limitations of the live band oriented, English-invasion-meets-Americana rock ethos that defined their first LP. In search of something more formally exciting, Advertisement scattered across the country, landing in between Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York City. They proceeded to piece together the tracks for Escorts in a piecemeal fashion, passing a slurry of Frankensteined home-demos back and forth over email in what became a slow, methodical exchange of ideas. Advertisement reconvened in Los Angeles during the summer of 2022 to record Escorts, enlisting the help of engineer/mixer...

Corker

Falser Truths

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***From a city quickly gaining steam as a minor post-punk mecca, Corker emerge from the Cincinnati underground with their debut full length, Falser Truths. Corker are the proverbial fly in the ointment—soaking up every glorious facet of the past while swirling new thoughts and sounds into one highly engaging debut. Corker were first introduced to popular consciousness with 2021's A Bell That Seems To Mourn on Cincinnati's own Future Shock Recordings, headed by Dakota Carlyle (Crime Of Passing, The Drin, The Serfs). Following several tours of the Midwest and surrounds, Corker began recording Falser Truths in 2022—the same year Feel It Records transplanted their operations to Cincinnati. What seems like an almost-inevitable partnership began with Feel It issuing the 'Lice' single just as 2023 arrived. Paired with eight additional tracks recorded and mixed just over the Kentucky line at The Lodge with John Hoffman, Falser Truths is not only intelligent, but bold, charismatic, and free. There's little restriction to Corker's formula—whether they're lifting latent fingerprints of the post-punk past, rendering landscapes of Industrial wasteland, or bending rhythm and tone with Krautish ambition—the end result is resoundingly original. Genre purists be damned! Corker stand apart from their contemporaries on Falser Truths—an album realized by a fresh set of eyes and ears, driven far beyond the earthly bounds of now.

Cowboys, The

Sultan of Squat

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***Everybody’s here, so let’s play ball! Tried and true rock n' roll stalwarts The Cowboys return after a brief hiatus with their delightful sixth LP, Sultan of Squat. This grounded yet adventurous new album marks the reunion of the original lineup, featuring Keith Harman (vocals/keys), Mark McWhirter (Guitar), Zackery Worcel (Bass), and Jordan Tarantino (drums). It is nothing short of a glorious return to form, a long player hoping to bring a smile to the ears of listeners. Sultan of Squat furthers the band's trajectory into themselves, polishing off thirteen songs filled with dubious characters, whimsical retreats, and even the odd love song. As with previous releases, The Cowboys refuse to make their bed in any single genre. Lead track, “The Sultan of Squat'' opens the album with an earworm salute to America’s pastime while lofting a lyrical curveball of dark, defeated humor. The boys kick it into high gear, playing with the finesse and dexterity ten years as a band instills. It's automatic - whether they're launching into classic Midwestern garage punk (“Raining Sour Grapes”), dialing things back to piano-driven power pop (“Token Drifter”), or western slide guitar pop-rock ballads ("She's Not Your Baby Anymore"), The Cowboys are simply incredible across “Sultan of Squat”. This could well be The Cowboys' finest hour as a group, and six albums in—that's no easy feat. The best of the Midwest is back under the bright lights, pouring collective blood, sweat, and tears into a sound equal parts then and now. LP includes...

Beef

s/t

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***BEEF first began appearing in various basements and dives of Cincinnati on Labor Day, 2022. BEEF is the brainchild of drummer/lead vocalist Takoda Hortenberry, first joined by his wife Ally on keys/vox, and a cast of players in Richmond, Virginia. Following a slew of singles, an EP, and a relocation to BEEF's true home of Cincinnati, a new lineup featuring bassist John Hoffman (Vacation) and fellow Richmond expat/guitarist Sam Richardson was born. Influences include: punk, sex, violence, and red meat. BEEF recorded their entire eight song set on eight track tape just over the river at The Lodge in Dayton, KY in early 2023. Hoffman engineered and mixed the madness, Caufield Schnug (Sweeping Promises) mastered it, and Richardson's prolific Feel It imprint will be releasing BEEF's self-titled debut album on a 45 RPM 12" in an edition of 300 copies. (STREET DATE - 8/04/2023)

Silicone Prairie

Vol. II

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***Ever since releasing My Life on the Silicone Prairie Vol. I in 2021, Ian Teeple has been riding a creative high. Whether you've noticed his incredible visual art, witnessed the cathartic Silicone Prairie live band, or know Ian as the newest member of Snõõper—his driving, free-spirited energy abounds. Silicone Prairie have transcended landlocked guitar punk/jangle into new realms on Vol. II. The album manages to color outside the lines of genre, blurring worlds of sound together beautifully. Cloudy bedroom pop tangles with fields of flute, warbled tape editing, thick fuzzed guitars, and a sage sense of introversion. My Life on the Silicone Prairie Vol. II is a deeply personal, ethereal ride through the mind of Ian Teeple, joined by friends from Kansas City and abroad. "You can’t really listen to Silicone Prairie on record without noticing the laborious production and limber musicianship. Take for one, the way organized horns and muffled jungle beast roars harmoniously make themselves adjacent. Or the polarity of the bass and guitar, the grace of every instrument when it peeps. It has a raw edge though, the idiom and architecture does not impede the visceral, emotional content. It’s about form AND heart AND realness, the more rigorous AND open AND boiled down, the more wrenching. It communicates in introspections and outbursts. The vocal can lilt with melancholy only to turn with smug angst within a phrase. For all its forethought, the end result pends until the application of the last stroke. There is nuance and humanity...

Private Lives

HIT RECORD

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***The debut album from Private Lives is a bold proclamation—HIT RECORD. From their humble beginnings as a quarantine bedroom project to the full-fledged rock'n'roll unit they've become, Private Lives set up ten tracks and strike 'em down in one smooth release. Part of the current wave of Montréal underground talent alongside Tha Retail Simps, Hélène Barbier, and Liquid Assets (to name a few)—Private Lives debuted in 2022 with their scorching self-titled EP on Feel It. Those five cuts are stitched into PL's vinyl debut, re-sequenced with new material that finds the four piece at the height of their collective powers. With Jackie Blenkarn's cool and confident vocals riding high in the mix, the group hammer out an impressive debut full length anchored by the strength of "Trust In Me," "Misfortune," and the title track, "Hit Record." There's not a moment of hesitation across these twenty-seven minutes. Whether it's the overarching simplicity of the r'n'r/garage-mined guitars, underlying pop charm, or deeper post-punk melodies—HIT RECORD—is both cathartic and familiar—a truly impressive combination of heart-meets-cool. As Private Lives wind the album away in the psychotic build of "Dark Spots," the Quebec quartet leave us with a captivating debut that begs to be spun again and again. (STREET DATE - 7/14/2023)

Sweeping Promises

Good Living Is Coming For You

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***"For more than a half century, underground music revolutionaries have taken a whack at the mundane mainstream like a piñata. England punks spat 'NO FUTURE' at germ-free adolescents. Ohio new wavers devolutionized mankind with whips. Athens art school students chomped at hero worship. MetroCard-carrying riot grrrls rebirthed the bomp with a gasoline gut. In 2020, Sweeping Promises read our pandemic minds with Hunger for a Way Out. In 2023, they return with a new message: Good Living Is Coming For You. At first glance, this nouveau wave slogan offers hope wrapped around relief. At first listen, we realize this may actually be a warning. Darker still, a threat. ***CHECK STOCK!!! Received a 7.8 rating from Pitchfork. A band famous for their unfussy, monolithic anthems, Sweeping Promises elegantly ravage us again with another future classic. They return as a fist of velvet rose petals roaring inside a compact wrecking ball. Gone is the Boston brutalist ambience of their subterranean concrete laboratory and the revelatory single mic recording technique. In its place, a retired and resplendent nude painting studio in Lawrence, Kansas, bathed in light with high ceilings and hardwood floors. Guided once again by their surrounding architecture, a reverb-rich space remains the defining element at the heart of their highly stylized sound. A watery ghost from the golden age of art-punk now wields sharper knives and more microphones. If the mood of HFAWO was hungry, GLICFY is RAVENOUS. In 2023, appetite is addressed in new ways: Power struggles are aired in...

Motorbike

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***"Jerri fell off his moped so we started a band."—Motorbike. From that wreckage, a five piece rock'n'roll group was born. The cast: a familiar gang of Cincinnati players fronted by Welsh expat Jamie Morrison. Motorbike began writing and recording their self-titled full length in 2022 at Jerri's Checkered Flag Studios. The resulting twenty-six minutes make up one of the best r'n'r records to ever come out of the Queen City. Motorbike sound discernibly rugged and Midwestern. Loud, guitar-driven punk rock. Yet they can actually play more than three chords! From the hard-driving, rhythmic rush of "Throttle" to the tuneful power-Brit-pop anthem, "Spring Grove," Motorbike are living life in the fast lane and ruling every last second of it. A perfect ratio of beer drinking to hell raising. The boys execute these nine tracks like a band that's been around for closer to ten years than just ONE! Words can only do so much justice to the sonic caliber of Motorbike and the mileage that their debut full length is going to track well into the future.

It Thing

Constant State / P.C.H.

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***Enigmatic four piece It Thing return with a new 7” single, their first release since 2021's ‘Syrup’ LP. Offering two tracks, "Constant State" and "P.C.H.", It Thing deliver on the visceral, raw energy that they left us wanting for. On this occasion, Marthouse Records (AU) team up with Feel It Records (US) for a broader release. Formed in Nipaluna/Hobart’s beloved Brisbane Hotel beer garden in early 2019 over a thirst for classic punk rock - and without much else to do, It Thing's ‘Syrup’ LP saw the then-Tasmanian band explode onto the worldwide underground like a shot in the dark. Emerging from small town obscurity, they delivered a record packed with power pop/proto-punk gold. Gimmie Zine put it best: “Bold, loud, with hook ramming into hook, It Thing deliver 9 tracks that zip by at the speed of light with an inspired cleverness and simplicity.” As It Thing hammer through their latest single, the endearing simplicity and rawness almost places the listener in the room with the band - or the basement, as it were. Recorded in the basement of the house the songs were written in, frontperson Charlotte Gigi calls it, "A last hurrah for the old It Thing headquarters before the defection." The band have since succumbed to the gravitational pull of Naarm/Melbourne to link up with label mates Dr. Sure’s Unusual Practice, Gut Health, Bench Press, et al. (STREET DATE - 6/23/2023)

Stools, The

R U Saved?

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***The Motor City does it again, folks! From the birthplace of some of the most significant sounds of the past sixty-odd years, the Stools are certainly no exception to Detroit's musical legacy. The trio's self-professed "Nuggets vs. Killed By Death" sound is back in full effect on R U Saved?, which could be considered the first proper Stools full length after a slew of EPs and singles. Whether you're just hearing 'em for the first time or have been tuned in through past releases on Drunken Sailor, Goodbye Boozy, Third Man, and Big Neck—the Stools are at the top of their game here in 2023. Twelve songs in twenty-three minutes, a blaze of bluesy punk damage born from a steady diet of the Stooges, Negative Approach, and the Gories with a dash of that far-gone Memphis sound in the mix. The Stools are a fine-tuned unit across R U Saved?—an album chock full of replay value from the raw, unpretentious, and industrious Detroit trio. (STREET DATE - 6/02/2023)

Good Looking Son

Confirmed Bachelor

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***The all-encompassing bid to mid-thirties singledom, sung from that lonesome, soulful heart of Good Looking Son is here to awaken 2023. Following 2021's debut Fantasy Weekend EP—the Cincinnati project anchored by Keith Harman (the Cowboys) on vocals and piano returns in roaring fashion with ten new originals, finished off with a nostalgic rendition of a Bee Gees classic. Jerome Westerkamp's Checkered Flag Studios are once again the perfect basement analog backdrop for a caterwauling trip into blurry sixties-esque melodies, baroque tongue-in-cheek pop dashes, and liquored flurries of vocal brilliance that blossom across Confirmed Bachelor. The musicianship of the Queen City shines through with Westerkamp, joined by fellow Vacation (and Tweens) member John Clooney, and Andrew Jody (Barrence Whitfield & the Savages, Long Gones) contributing to the dynamism of tracks like "Long Form Girlfriend" and "Kathy's Coming." There's a certain twisted middle-American pop thing that Good Looking Son clearly bend towards the future. The next level...who knows? But enough to at least nod that discerning ear forward while jangling keys drive the shot clock past double zero, that's for sure. GLS leave this thing covered in glitter and great songwriting—castaways afloat in a vessel navigating one boozy mess of dirty water and sunshine pop. First pressing of 300.

Morwan

Svitaye, Palaye

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***Svitaye, Palaye is the third album from the Kyiv, Ukraine post-punk project, Morwan. The album was supposed to be the logical continuation of the previous album Zola-Zemlya, which was released in 2020. Initially, when conceiving the album in 2021, it was intended to be lighter, melancholic and somewhat danceable while maintaining the basic sonic style and aesthetics of the previous albums. However, the Russian invasion in Ukraine slowed down the work and made serious changes to the general idea of the album. The main theme of the album is the war. There are no specific stories or descriptions of the events of the war. It's more of an abstract and emotional thing. First impressions, moods or emotions experienced during certain events. Pain of loss, sadness, fear, hatred, anger, and aggression are all part of Svitaye, Palaye.

Disintegration

Time Moves for Me

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***From the minds of Haley Himiko (Pleasure Leftists), Noah Anthony (Profligate) and Christopher Brown (Cloud Nothings), Disintegration's Time Moves for Me EP transcends the post-punk and synth pop sounds of the past into something entirely new and futuristic. The Cleveland group recorded these four songs in summer 2022 and self-released them on cassette shortly after. Himiko's soaring vocal range carries the EP forward atop a mix of sounds that draw from the worlds of minimal synth, programmed percussion, noise rock guitar, and pure pop melody to create an incredible seventeen minute debut. Feel It is proud to present Time Moves for Me on a vibrant 45 RPM 12" and cannot wait to hear what Disintegration does next!

Why Bother?

A City of Unsolved Miseries

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***Mason City, Iowa's WHY BOTHER? return with A City of Unsolved Miseries, their third album in as many years. Their patented basement recording setup has yet again captured something magical, thirteen originals in all. From the fringes of a small, landlocked Midwestern city—Why Bother? have honed in on a punk sound that is original, self-driven and shows no signs of slowing. Swirling in darker thematics, such as the still unsolved 1995 disappearance of Mason City TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit, the album speaks to every outcast living out their days underneath dark, grey skies. However the music strikes you—Why Bother? have defined yet another chapter of their enigmatic existence with the genius sounds captured on A City of Unsolved Miseries. First pressing limited to 300 copies.