Goner   Page 2

Cobra Man

Toxic Planet

Goner

Released alongside the full length video from The Worble skate collective, Toxic Planet is Cobra Man’s follow up to their 2017 debut album New Driveway Soundtrack and is their second for Memphis, TN based Goner Records. The band initially formed to create music for a series of skate videos for Thrasher Magazine, which is how Goner founder Eric Friedl (The Oblivians) discovered the band.  This is an album for a new way of life. The Los Angeles power disco duo blends the essence of classic disco funk, the raw power of warehouse punk, and the supernatural qualities of their favorite slasher films to create something unique. This record marks a step forward in production, arrangement and instrumentation from their more stripped down effort, making their sound more dynamic while still managing to retain that raw vitality that characterized their debut.  These songs bring sounds both mysterious and obscure into the late night purple light on a smoke-filled dance floor. It’s a place you do not know, you’ve only heard of it. If there’s one thing you do know, the future is: Toxic Planet.

Crown Court

Mad In England

Goner

***AVAILABLE AGAIN!!!  Each consecutive Crown Court record has been an incremental improvement in songcraft and sonics. That being said, this is their tightest, toughest release to date. The Mad In England EP is a welcome continuation of elements from the instant classic Capital Offence LP, but steeped in some extra mean laddish swagger. “Mad in England” typifies the Crown Court sound, grabbing your collar out of the gate with barbed wire guitars and stomping drums that roughhouse through verse and chant for just over two minutes. The accompanying tracks are two bare-knuckle rippers that hit like you had it coming all along. This is classic Oi! done right with a Chiswick 'tude and across the board punk appeal.

Bênní

The Return

Goner

Benny Divine’s impressive musical CV includes quantities such as The Gary Wrong Group, Wizzard Sleeve and Nashville’s prolific purveyor’s of Foghat-pop, Natural Child, but it was just a short year ago that Goner gave wide release to the Bênní debut album, I & II, which launched the new sub-genre we now know as “Hi-NRG New Age” and had its creator casually glancing over his shoulder for the rumored mobs of outraged Skyfax, Mannheim Steamroller and Windham Hill Records loyalists that could never quite catch up to his live performances, as they were not listed in back issues of TV Guide and Reader’s Digest: Large Print Editions. Whereas I & II was, as its title explicitly implicates, the combination of two previously-released cassettes, The Return is a nine-track song-cycle composed for the full-length format. Imagine this album as an alternative historical narrative: not as a source of soundtrack afterthought, but rather the initial spark of inspiration for an entire ’70s sub-genre of gritty crime and science fiction films. Additionally, the fuzzy electro-pop chops are just as impressive as the spacey burps and gurgles that made his debut so gripping.

Bobo, Harlan T.

A History Of Violence

Goner

Once the intro to opener “Human” gives way to its fully-realized sonic purpose, it’s obvious that Harlan T. Bobo’s fourth proper album, A History of Violence, is quite different from his previous body of work. The classic historical emotional heft of a songwriter trying to make sense of life’s chaos—think mid-’70s Lou Reed, especially Coney Island Baby—is a thread running through the album’s mid-tempo tracks like “Human” and the miniature literary tragedy that is “Nadine.” The punchier tracks on the album, like “Spiders,” conjure very early Green On Red, what X’s mid-’80s output could have been, or even the roots-rock tendencies of overlooked genius Cass McCombs. This album highlights Bobo’s whiskey-and-cigarette-informed vocal style, and on the more intimate tracks, a distorted ear candy that warbles into increasingly sunken, uncomfortable places, like that of the songwriter with which comparisons have followed Bobo throughout his career: the late Leonard Cohen. But there is a richer canvas on which to work this time out, not to mention a decidedly heavier and darker one. The album was recorded in Memphis with Doug Easley, who has previously worked with Cat Power, Pavement, Wilco, Sonic Youth, Jon Spencer, and Jeff Buckley. Bobo also brought in Steve Selvidge (The Hold Steady, Bash & Pop) on bass and Jeff “Bunny” Dutton (Action Family) on guitar, along with regular contributors Jeff Bouck (Polyphonic Spree) and Brendan Spangler (Viva l’American Death Ray). The result is a naturally dynamic album that seems equally at home with howling guitars and heavy bass...

Bad Times

Streets Of Iron

Goner

In 1998, things were going south for friends Jay Reatard, Eric Oblivian, and King Louie Bankston. In between broken relationships, shattered homes, dissolving bands, and feeling low down, a collaboration was proposed. Jay and Eric trekked down from Memphis with some songs and ideas for songs, listening to Funkadelic and bad Killed By Death-styled punk songs for the six hours to see Louie in New Orleans. One day was spent learning songs, one day recording songs. Eventually they played one show in Normal, IL, opening up for Guitar Wolf. The result of this recording was a blast of punk, garage punk, and psychedelic mayhem. Indeed, the hours listening to Funkadelic did pay off. Jay stole some lyrics and some heavy fuzz solo style from George Clinton and the gang. Eric stole a couple songs from Japanese punk legends Friction and Texaco Leather Man, and tried to mention his favorite sumo wrestler Konishiki whenever possible. Fittingly, when Jay and Eric returned to Memphis, Jay found all his belongings—clothes, guitars, amplifiers—out on his front lawn, as his mom had returned to their house and kicked him out while he was away. Bad Times, indeed!  A release on Sympathy For The Record Industry combined tracks from this session and from their one live show, and has become a cherished collector’s item going for top dollar on the secondhand market. This edition restores the original tracks from the recording session—Eric’s “Wrong Way To Love” and Jay’s “Lick On My Leather,” eliminating two live...

Nots

Live At Goner Records

Goner

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  Memphis' beloved NOTS recorded live at Goner Records. Last copies of an undistributed RSD 2017 LP released in an edition of 500 copies. Great sound, great atmosphere, great show!

Quintron

Europa My Mirror

Goner

This is the first book from New Orleans musician and inventor Quintron—a short, multi-layered tome that pays tribute to a dangerous life on the road. The setting is Europe, but the book is just as much about the illusions of American identity. A not-so-glamorous life of rock ’n’ roll is pulled apart to reveal blood vessels that run beneath the obvious. The tales are funny and thrilling and mostly true... someone almost dies on every page. Renowned puppeteer and filmmaker Panacea Theriac (aka Miss Pussycat) contributes drawings throughout. Foreward by novelist and psychoanalyst Tim Lachin. “If Dr. Frankenstein were working with raw material from Madame Curie, Delia Derbyshire, James Brown, and Wilhelm Reich, the result might be something like Quintron. Underground inventor, composer, record maker, impresario, and performer par excellence. There is nothing and no one like him and this is his first book and it’s a gas!” —Ian Svenonious “Great reading! Microtel description was right on. Stockholm to Helsinki ferry was always a Dead Moon curse. How do you get 86’d out of a cafeteria? Way cool.” —Fred Cole, Dead Moon

Cobra Man

New Driveway Soundtrack

Goner

Fearlessly drop into Goner Records’ first foray into the sunny summer skateboard scene: Cobra Man’s debut album showcases the wild-ass energy of The Worble skateboarding, perfectly interpreted through the minds of long-haired session musicians of ’80s Los Angeles. This infectious neon celebration will surely freshen the spirits by satisfying the search for classic innovation and fun. Follow us as we push further down the driveway, the New Driveway.

Bênní

I & II

Goner

Hailing from an H Class planet far across the cosmic highways, Bênní makes “hi-NRG New Age” music. A pivotal member of bands Wizzard Sleeve / Gary Wrong Group, Heavy Lids, Roman Gabriel Todd’s Beast Rising Up Out Of The Sea, and many more, Bênní was born from Benny Divine’s personal need for new music to listen to while driving his space craft long distances. Tired of Van Halen’s 5150 and Zebra’s self-titled album on his journeys, he began creating sci-fi landscapes and ethereal soundtracks of his own. Often times primitive, the music can go from Vangelis to John Carpenter, to ’80s dungeon electro band Warning and into vintage arcade game circuitry within the blink of an eye. “The thing to me that has always kinda set the Memphis / New Orleans punk scenes apart from other places is that music and musicianship always outweighs high concept or the typical sneering “fuck you” attitude of other places. Benny Divine is a musician with a capitol M and its no accident that within a year of his coming to New Orleans (from less than an hour up the Gulf), he began to influence the local landscape as much as any of us who had been here and doing it for decades. Benny is special, especially for a young dude. He never overplays; he always listens; he’s funky as a church lady; and his memory for parts and complicated song structure is unmatched in anyone I have ever worked with.... Plus he’s chill...

Nots

Cruel Friend / Violence

Goner

Latest from Memphis' NOTS! "Cruel Friend" combines excellent riffage with near-Hawkwind levels of linear soarage and soak from the synths, with Natalie Hoffmann's dominating presence on vocals intact. "Violence" creepy crawls without guitars in a synthier, stealthier attack. With this release NOTS are moving into a whole new level of potency, able to deal in speed and aggression and slow-motion menace. Simply amazing.

Golden Pelicans

Disciples Of Blood

Goner

The third thug rock masterpiece from these Orlando miscreants lays waste to the land with gruff voice and loud, raw guitar backed by in-pocket bass and drums. As of late, their boot-stomp beat has been ringing true across the land—born of Slade and AC/DC, Rose Tattoo and Coloured Balls, it’s the sound shared by punkers Slaughter And The Dogs and modern acts such as Melbourne’s Power. Golden Pelicans blends this blast with only the strongest essences of punk, hardcore, and metal on Disciples Of Blood, their latest album. Guitar attack has been given more space to do its damage, and the band moves into a new, even more aggressive direction. Check out the cover, once again by Mac Blackout—this time the mayhem has been taken from black and white into full-color carnage. Just as their live shows are guaranteed ceiling-breakers, this album rages from note one to note last, perfect to accompany late-night speeding through residential back alleys, smashing bottles and crashing into trash cans. “Break the cosmos, with your mind!” seems an appropriate and possible goal when screamed at you by vocalist Erik Grincewicz. And remember... it ain’t psychedelic until you kill someone, and this record is psychedelic as hell.

Aquarian Blood

Last Nite In Paradise

Goner

Aquarian Blood is a crew of six (sometimes seven) Memphis degenerates from assorted generations playing hypnotic, synth-y tracks whose main ruminations are cults, the paranormal, and other obscurities—whirlwind, weirdo punk soaked in the brain-goo pouring out of the ears of an acid freak. Led by husband and wife duo JB Horrell (Ex-Cult, Moving Finger) and Laurel Ferdon (Nots, Moving Finger), the project began as bedroom recordings that yielded two now out-of-print tapes of total trippiness on the ZAP cassette label, and one completely unhinged monster of a single on Goner. Last Nite In Paradise is their debut album.

Couteau Latex

Hostile Environment

Goner

Debut single from the new project by Lise Sutter (The Staches, Maraudeur) and Seth Sutton (Useless Eaters). Recorded in Geneva, Switzerland. Mastered by Mikey Young.

Blind Shake

Celebrate Your Worth

Goner

The Blind Shake, three intense men from Minneapolis creating dense, mystical music: in 1974, Bernie Taupin, feeling on top of the world as Elton John’s “Rocket Man” soared up the charts in 1972, suffered a sudden sense of vertigo outside the Spanish villa where he was vacationing. In a beam of black light he saw and heard the future of the future, a loud vision of The Blind Shake, making music that made Elton John’s “starman as everyman” song seem like so much pastel tissue paper, wet and dissolving in a pretty porcelain toilet. The real deal, Celebrate Your Worth is an intense web of connections of bands and sounds unknown to Taupin, strange sounds from Chrome through Bailter Space through Michael Yonkers and John Reis and with tendrils extending throughout an incredible universe of fantastic unknown bands and sounds. “What the hell am I doing?” Taupin cries, now on his knees, staring at the sky. Witness the Blind Shake in all their mystical, wonderful strangeness and energy.

Nots

Cosmetic

Goner

The second full-length statement from Memphis’ Nots, Cosmetic fearlessly attacks the rough edges between desire, deceit, appearance and reality. Not chanting down Babylon, Natalie Hoffmann screams straight into its face. In this Game Of Death, Nots run through the maze of mirrors with sledgehammers— oh, the sound of mirrors smashing—let’s smash some more! Nots are still a wild guitar band, but above and below the guitar, bass and drum pound, Alexandra Eastburn’s analog synth blurps melodies and nonsense, teasing squiggles of freedom which defy the false grid of modern life. With Hoffmann on guitar and vocals, Eastburn on synth, Charlotte Watson beating drums, and Meredith Lones steering a solid path through the chaos on bass, Nots are neither content with the smug “stare at your shoes” approach of bands from both coasts, nor an Earth-hugging “we need to get back to nature” hippie cop-out. There might not be any answers here. That might be the point. Nots have arrived at the next level of their attack with confidence and music that lays waste to the wasteland without romantic attachments..

Nots

Cold Line

Goner

A teaser 7-inch to the upcoming second album from Memphis’ Nots. Features an alternate version of the album cut “Cold Line,” backed with a cover of The Normal's “T.V.O.D.”

Spray Paint

Feel The Clamps

Goner

2015’s quick succession of two full-length albums by Austin, TX, trio Spray Paint—Punters on a Barge in June on Australia’s Homeless Records followed by Dopers via Austin’s Monofonus Press—showed the band repeatedly visiting some proverbial “next level” relative to the steady developmental trajectory framed by their preceding 2012-2014 arrival-and-vision-quest phase (itself a three-album, three-7-inch chunk of catalog not appropriate for dismissal). At the risk of corniness in conveying the sterling truth, Feel the Clamps could be considered to represent drummer Chris Stephenson, guitarist Cory Plump and other guitarist George Dishner arriving at a “next level,” but next after what? They appear to have skipped a few. It would be inaccurate to call Feel the Clamps the band’s “definitive” document because it only “defines” where the band is at this stage, and the impressive distance between right now and the trio’s genesis less than five years ago. Spray Paint is hyper-prolific because these guys have something that needs to stay up in the world’s grill. A rapid-fire output is sometimes confused with “worth a shit.” You know why the world is choked with aggressively mediocre music? Because the aggressively mediocre are really, really prolific and have amazing work ethics. But Spray Paint is no relation to the stylistic transients who couch-surf sub-genres in what should be a new movement tagged “try-too-hardcore.” Their linear path of inspiration suggests there won’t even be a language to describe what the trio is making five years from now. Feel the Clamps will clear the fence...

Spray Paint

Bogans And Hoons

Goner

Teaser 7-inch EP from Austin's best band. Feel the clamps, motherfuckers! Features four tracks—"Shit Me To Tears," "Bogans," "Heavy Loiter," and "Screwed Batsman"—none of which appear on their brand new Feel The Clamps full-length.

Angry Angles

S/t

Goner

This 17-song collection comprises the complete studio recordings (including five unreleased tracks) of Angry Angles, the Jay “Reatard” Lindsey and Alix Brown project that came together shortly after the mid-2005 demise of the former’s long-running primary endeavor, The Lost Sounds. The sheer immensity of Lindsey’s musical discography relative to the artist’s demise in January of 2010 at the age of 29 is an undeniably impressive attribute of his legacy. But unlike other artists with massively prolific output, Lindsey’s militantly self-imposed standard of quality control assured this project was not simply a prolonged demo or practice session for what came next—his landmark solo debut Blood Visions. Sure, extraneous live documents reveal a handful of set items that turned up on that album, and there’s more than a passing riff among the songs collected here that did the same. Ms. Brown herself even appeared on that album’s “I See You Standing There” and “We Who Wait.” But Blood Visions didn’t really “come next” at all. Angry Angles’ musical demise, at some point during the latter half of 2006, was a direct result of Brown and Lindsey’s demise romantically. In fact, the release of Blood Visions in October of 2006 was to be followed closely by a proper studio full-length by Angry Angles, with the latter receiving heavier promotion.  And unlike much of the man’s discography, this was not “The Jay Show” all the way. Brown wrote three of these tracks: the amazing “Apparent – Transparent” as well as no-slouches “In My...

Segall, Ty

Ty Rex

Goner

The Ty Rex corner of Ty Segall’s oeuvre represents the nom-de-rock behind which the artist puts his spin on favored Tyrannosaurus Rex and T. Rex compositions. With previous releases now dwelling in out-of-print nether-regions, the album compiles the six-song Ty Rex EP (a.k.a. Ty Rex I, originally released by Goner as a limited edition 12-inch for Record Store Day 2011) and the two-song Ty Rex II 7-inch (RSD 2013). As if this wasn’t enough of a corrective gesture, Ty Rex is expanded to include a previously-unreleased cover as a bonus—but first…  For those who missed out on this nook of Segall’s rapidly-growing footprint across the rock landscape, here is a cursory rundown: The compilation showcases a nice balance between T. Rex’s ’67-70 psych-folk incarnation under the name Tyrannosaurus Rex and the better-known pioneering and perfecting of glam-rock that defined the initial ’71-73 era under the shortened T. Rex moniker. Kicking things off is the thick, woozily rocking interpretation of “Fist Heart Mighty Dawn Dart,” one of two covers pulled from Tyrannosaurus Rex’s fourth and best album, 1970’s A Beard of Stars. Segall then double-dips into the consummate T. Rex (and for that matter, the entire glam-rock movement) achievement, The Slider, with a rendition of “Buick MacKane” followed by an excellent dirtying-up of the title track.  Clearly executed with the ear and understanding of a super-fan, next up is Segall’s awesome tackling of “Woodland Rock” an Electric Warrior outtake that also surfaced on the B-side to 1971’s non-album “Hot...

Hierophants

Parallax Error

Goner

Hierophants are an original rock and roll group in 2015, and their songs are brief, to the point, every one a potential hit single. Hierophants are not an oldies group, they are not a glitter group, they don’t play boogie music and they don’t play the blues. The Australian quartet consists of Zak Olsen, Daff Gravolin, Paris Richens and Jake Robertson. They started in 2010 when Olsen moved from the coast north of Sydney down to Geelong and found himself hanging out with a bunch of teenage, paisley-clad skaters who swapped their Vans for boots at night, snuck into the pubs and started a dozen bands. Olsen and Robertson did some recordings one weekend, asked the two best-looking people they know to join them live, and the four have been writing songs altogether ever since. Olsen, the guitarist, rocks with such free-spirited abandon that his sound has been compared to Lou Reed donking Mark Mothersbaugh over the head with his guitar. Richens, the keyboardist, is an arch villain whose diminutive frame stands aloof left (or right) of stage. Gravolin plays bass guitar and is the acknowledged handsome one of the group, while Robertson is the drummer whose chimp-like playing underpins the band’s simian sound. Hierophants mostly originate from Geelong and kids who grew up there either became musicians, college students or surfers. Hierophants are a little of each; their sound is not unlike throwing one’s calculator in the ocean.

Shadow In The Cracks

S/t

Goner

Brothers Jim and Mike Blaha constitute 66.6% of Minneapolis’s best export this side of Target: The Blind Shake. Rounded out and beaten forward by co-founder Dave Roper, the trio exercises undeservedly antiquated practices, such as: (1) marrying quality-control with a hyper-prolific release and touring schedule; (2) allowing the resultant discography to boast an uncommon variety and scope; (3) what might be the best live show in contemporary garage-punk / related underground; and (4) appropriating garage-punk, class-of-1990 noise-rock and blunt-force post-punk, out of which emerges a largely proprietary mountain of scuzz-pop menace.  If the brothers’ new endeavor, Shadow in the Cracks, was a “side project” in quality of sound and aesthetic, the term would’ve landed in the opening sentence. However, the world deserves to consider the nine-song, self-titled debut on its own terms. Everything here is natural; nothing is overt or a convenient diversion obscuring a deficiency in song-craft. Reverb is used but only where it makes total sense—on the vocals, where it accentuates the mood and menace of each song. This record is not here to distribute hi-fives and constant positive affirmation. It is about how the universe can gradually compound the duller negativities of life and state of mind; the conditional negation of contentment when maintaining survival mode.  Shadow in the Cracks “refers to the darker part of the dark,” explains Jim. “We decided to create a new band after the first song was written. It felt much different to us that it sort of got us...

Black Abba

Betting On Death / Civilized

Goner

BLACK ABBA'S DEBUT! Featuring Carl, Burt Sampagne, Pelican Pow Wow's Sarah Mason, Buck Biloxi, Carly Greenwell, Cher II, The Real Snuffleupagus, and Sam Delucia.   Relentlessly depressing grinding and screeching in your ear- they may be nice people individually, perhaps, but as Black Abba they are dangerous and DO NOT CROSS THEM!  Raw primal scream that will remind me of Titmachine, Kleenex, Drunks with Guns, ShitDogs and more, when I sober up.

Reatards

Grown Up Fucked Up

Goner

Shortly after the release of Teenage Hate, the debut album from the Reatards, an 18-year-old Jay Reatard started working on a new album. He was spitting out punk rock anthems a mile a minute at this point, so a new record made sense. And what else was there to do? He’d quit school a couple years back so a normal day for Jay meant he was bumming around midtown Memphis winding people up.  At this point, Eric Friedl had introduced Jay to Meghan Smith, via mail or phone or something. And they became fast friends. Smith and Blake Wright ran Empty Records out of Seattle, and the label made plans to release Grown Up Fucked Up. After a complete mess of a European tour with the Persuaders, Jay came back and recorded the album with some help from his girlfriend at the time (and future Lost Sounds bandmate) Alicja Trout. It soon became clear that there was a harder edge to everything. While Teenage Hate had been nasty, it was rooted in the Crypt / Oblivians scene of scuzzy rock, with covers of Fear, but also Buddy Holly. Grown Up Fucked Up was a power pogo into Killed By Death-style punk rock. The songs jumped off the record and grabbed you by the throat. They were passionate, ridiculous and utterly authentic. It wasn’t too long afterwards that he put out the equally amazing “Your So Lewd” single (now included on the album as well). Like everything Jay did, he...

Nots

Virgin Mary

Goner

“Virgin Mary” is the synth-induced followup single to Nots’ debut LP, We Are Nots. Recorded half on Natalie Hoffmann’s four-track in the industrial dazed storage unit where the band practices, and half in Burgundy Studios with Keith Cooper (the rock ’n’ roll warlock responsible for capturing the two previous Nots 45-RPM assaults), “Virgin Mary” delivers hellish synth and guitar that swirls around the hypnotic rhythm section as the band simmers into the sonic void.  “[‘Virgin Mary’] finds the band back in the studio with Keith Cooper, the guy who recorded their first two singles. While it certainly sounds like a Nots song, there’s a significant departure from We Are Nots: Alexandra Eastburn’s synthesizer isn’t centrally responsible for the song’s melody. Instead, it burbles in the background, giving the track an unsettling and celestial undertone. And Natalie Hoffmann’s voice howls, her ever-unsteady and unpredictable guitar needles into the frame. Here, the rhythm section, Charlotte Watson and Madison Farmer, come off as the track’s ever-churning center. Nots aren’t exactly reinventing themselves—it’s familiar, but feels new. If this is a portent of their next moves, though, the impending chaos ought to be interesting.” —Pitchfork

Aquarian Blood

Savage Mind

Goner

AQUARIAN BLOOD’s first offering was a cassette only batch of Father Yod/Manson Family cult punk hippie creepy crawl home recordings by JB Horrell (Ex-Cult, Moving Finger) and Laurel Ferdon (Moving Finger, formerly of Nots). But their live show is a six-piece heavy freaked out proto punk squall – chock full of synth burps, fuzzed out violin, guitar squeal and the ferocious vocals of Ferdon. Their debut single captures both aspects of the band, with the full band blowout on the two A-side tracks and the B-side a new home recording that is less unhinged but just as engaging.

Giorgio Murderer

Lazer Lord

Goner

Second single from Buck Biloxi’s mesh-shirt-wearing synth punk alter-ego is every bit as dumb, brutal and amazing as his debut on Goner last year. Only one man in the world can use a keyboard to create a sound so raw and primal. On Lazer Lord, GM tells us about what it takes to be a true Lazer Lord. It is so powerful it needed its own outro. Computer Simulation is on the B-side for a reason. You must own it.

Hierophants

I Don't Mind / The 16th

Goner

True Wave from zak jake davey and P.P.  Records on Eskimo Blood, Anti-Fade, Birds Love Fighting and Goodbye Boozy. Melbourne weird pop. You want it. Connections: Ausmuteants, Frowning Clouds, ORB.

Sick Thoughts

Beat On Beat

Goner

Sick Thoughts is a Baltimore-based band consisting of the teenaged Drew Owen and assorted neighborhood louts. But usually just Drew. Although his early music began in the Reatards / Dead Boys / Carbonas classic punk rock, crash-and-burn aesthetic, on recent releases he has progressed into less-obvious yet thorny and personal DIY / KBD territory. A relentless recording machine, he has released many singles and LPs on many labels. This is by far the best yet.

Nots

We Are Nots

Goner

A longtime collaboration between Natalie Hoffmann (guitar) and Charlotte Watson (drums), Nots has evolved into its wildest incarnation yet. Now featuring Madison Farmer on bass and Alexandra Eastburn on synthesizer, the Memphis band follows up their first two singles on Goner Records with their guitar-driven, synth-laden debut LP.  We Are Nots was put to tape over the summer by Doug Easley and arrives just in time to land a spot on your Top Ten of 2014.  “There’s a constant post-mortem and excavation of the Memphis music underground by vultures of both the Euro and American varieties. Bands form, toil and scheme, mutate, play and record only to wither away in the seemingly unrelenting wall of indifference. Plod ahead a few years, label X or label Z discovers and excavates the musical rubble as much for autocratic as historic purposes. A gold star and a box of records to the winner. “Nix the assertion Nots are a side project, a spin off, a revival of some fashionable subset of your record collection. Evolving headstrong, their white noise is without compromise or concession. Brass venom yelled atop a torrent of twisted guitar shards, so human, barbed and unruly. Obliterate the retroactive retreat; Nots are now.” —John Hoppe

Blind Shake

Breakfast Of Failures

Goner

Minneapolis three-piece The Blind Shake crafts dense, massive locomotive music—powerful sounds with the ability to careen through one cinematic, post-apocalyptic chase scene after another. The band’s latest album Breakfast of Failures comes clanging and crashing through these confused times. Fronted by brothers Jim and Mike Blaha along with friend Dave Roper on drums, the trio was tunneling through the underground since before telephones could talk. With six full-length albums to their credit, several singles, three collaborations with psych legend Michael Yonkers and another with downstroke warrior John Reis, The Blind Shake continues to push the sliding scale between catchy punk songs and pitch-red noise.  “The Blind Shake is at once spacey, primitive futuristic, and brutal: a kind of backyard extraterrestrial minimal surf-punk party. One guitar, one baritone guitar, a fuckload of reverb, and a drummer who deserves an Olympic medal.” —SF Weekly

Ausmuteants

Order Of Operation

Goner

Jake Robertson and Billy Gardner started Ausmuteants in late 2011 in Geelong, Australia, after having played since teenagers in trad garage bands (The Frowning Clouds and The Living Eyes, respectively). Per the norm for good-looking rebels who play by their own rules, they cracked the shits, broke loose with just a synth and drums and, in early 2012, knocked out the Split Personalities tape. The addition of Melbourne’s loose-unit Marc Dean on bass followed, and soon after, ex-Canberran hardcore non-guitarist Shaun Connor on guitar. Their second album Amusements (note: not self-titled) comes from this fledgling time as a full band, with a heavy dose of the duo’s songs. Since the runaway international success of that record and playing every second weekend in Melbourne, they’re rocked-out full-tilt with all four members writing and singing new songs—23 of which were recorded live with vocal overdubs in the basement of an old ice cream factory by Mikey Young, then mixed and mastered in his idyllic coastal abode. Again the band and their Australian label Aarght! Records strained the friendship with song picks, agreeing on thirteen to make up Order of Operation. This record is better than Amusements any way you cut it: songs, lyrics, delivery and sound. It opens with Connor’s forehead- and thigh-slapping musical and lyrical debut, “Freedom of Information.” From there, songs range from balls-to-the-wall punkers (“Felix Tried to Kill Himself”; “Boiling Point”), well-considered workouts (“Family Time”; “Tunnel Vision”) and unguarded tenderness (“Wrong”; “Looney Bin”). Even people who couldn’t stand their...

So Cow

The Long Con

Goner

After years of recording as one man in several sheds, The Long Con is the first full-on, full-band recording from Ireland’s So Cow. Brian Kelly is this time joined by long-time foil Jonny White on bass and the pride of Dublin, Peter O’Shea, on drums. It’s also their first album to be recorded in a studio and, if that isn’t enough, has an honest-to-goodness producer involved, namely Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier. Recorded live over the course of four or so days, the album is an attempt to capture So Cow’s live sound, as opposed to the overdub-happy chaos that marked the debut LP, 2009’s best-of-up-to-then compilation So Cow, and 2010’s Meaningless Friendly. The album was recorded in Ballyheigue in County Kerry, hitherto and probably-now-still most famous as the birthplace of the guy who coined the term “entrepreneur.” Saunier and the band ran through the process at a fairly spectacular pace, most likely inspired by the wi-fi being out of order. The Deerhoof man himself makes an appearance on “Say Hello,” a pretty-much-improvised final day runabout. The Long Con follows on from the sufficiently varied Meaningless Friendly and their half of Out Of Season, a split LP with Dublin’s Squarehead, in that it zips around styles in a way that, to this day, makes their friends find them “hard to describe.” The band themselves are of the mind that they sound like The Chills or McLusky, but they’ve lost all perspective at this stage so don’t go taking their word...

Bobo, Harlan T.

Too Much Love - 10th Anniversary Edition

Goner

Goner Records is proud to present a special tenth anniversary edition of the Too Much Love CD from Memphis artist and musician Harlan T. Bobo (Viva L’American Death Ray Music). Featuring backing musicians from members of The Reigning Sound, Fuck, and Viva L’American Death Ray Music, Too Much Love was recorded at Easley McCain Studio. Upon its release, the album was hailed as the best Memphis record of the last five years by the city’s Memphis Flyer. Find out for your own self.

Giorgio Murderer

Primitive World

Goner

Giorgio Murderer is Buck Biloxi’s synthetic doppelgänger, doppelgängbanging all over the place. All over your face! Where Buck Biloxi’s guitars stumble and crumble, Giorgio Murderer’s cheap synthesizer burps and passes out. Confused malevolence remains intact. This four-song EP includes a cover / homage / tribute / re-enactment of Three-Six Mafia’s “Studio Time.”

Nots

Fix / Modern

Goner

***“Fix” is the second 7-inch from Memphis’s all xx trio Nots, featuring Natalie Hoffmann, former Ex-Cult bassist, on guitar, Charlotte Watson from Manateees on bass, and Laurel Ferdon from Moving Finger on the drums. Following their debut Goner release, the Dust Red EP, this single is a whirlwind of razor-shard guitar and vocals for fans of the raw post-punk shriek. Get ready for their debut LP, recorded by Doug Easley and out on Goner Records this November.

Ex-cult

Midnight Passenger

Goner

Received a 7.0 rating from Pitchfork. Ex-Cult’s Midnight Passenger is the result of a never-ending obsession with the open road. It’s the sound of five people spending the last year in countless dive bars and disgusting motel rooms, sleeping on dozens of dirty floors. Since recording with Ty Segall in 2012 the band hasn’t come up for air, putting under their belt four US tours and tons of weekend trips with the likes of Segall, OBN III’s and Captive. In these sanme dive bars across the USA Ex-Cult truly found their sound. While some of the songs were played for audiences as early as January 2013, it wasn’t until a West Coast tour in June that the blueprint for Midnight Passenger really started to form. Taking pieces of every tour back home with them, the band honed a sound that captures the desperation of the first record while integrating new techniques of negative noise. Recorded by Doug Easley in January 2014, Midnight Passenger delivers ten songs meant to be heard together, each one following a different, damaged storyline. The buzz-saw guitars, krautrock rhythms and sneering vocals are all still present, but with Midnight Passenger, Ex-Cult adds a few layers of psychedelic slime to their sound.

Ex-cult

Ties You Up

Goner

A special Record Store Day 2014 release, the Ties You Up single was recorded in Los Angeles, California, by Ty Segall at his house in Glassell Park.  A-side “Ties You Up” is featured on the new Ex-Cult album Midnight Passenger (out April 29th), but this is a different version featuring Zumi Rosow of the K-Holes on saxophone. Both songs were recorded one afternoon in early 2013, before Segall drove to Santa Monica to play with his band Fuzz. Ty Segall + Ex-Cult = Psychedelic Brutality.

Ausmuteants

Amusements

Goner

***Ausmuteants are four twenty-nothings from Geelong, Victoria, raised on a diet of seminal avant punk like Chrome and the Screamers. Letʼs not mention Devo—as a two-piece, Jake Robertson (synth, guitar) and Billy Gardener (drums) flushed that obsession with the release of their Split Personalities album in 2012. They’ve since added Marc Dean and Shaun Connor on bass and guitar, respectively, and worked ’60s songwriting ideas, disco rhythms and a subtler brand of theft into finely crafted pop songs, recording 22 in early 2013. Aarght! Records picked the best twelve for Amusements, reissued on vinyl domestically by Goner. Ausmuteants are liked by Vice and Dangerfield despite (or because of) their synthesizers, their swearing and their youthful good looks. For what it’s worth, Ausmuteants do not like Vice or Dangerfield.

Moving Finger

Smokin The Crack Of Dawn

Goner

***MOVING FINGER—don't call it a side project. Featuring power couple JB HORRELL and LAUREL FERDON (of EX-CULT and NOTS respectively), along with PATRICK GLASS (NOISE CHOIR) and NATALIE HOFFMAN (Ex-Cult, Nots), Moving Finger takes psychedelic punk to a level that few dare to tread. Fantastic, forward-thinking avant-punk that reminds us of the early days of UK or Cleveland experimentalism in the late ‘70s where primitive technique and ambitious ideas lead to some great music. Edition of 400 copies.   "Sounding like they could have been featured on the off—kilter punk compilation Cleveland Confidential alongside bands like the Styrenes and the Easter Monkeys, Moving Finger are an exercise in primitive noise, stripping songs to the bone before thrashing through them altogether. It's a formula that worked well for hardcore bands in the early 80s and it works here too."—Memphis Flyer