Hozac   Page 3

Electric Eels

Accident / Wreak And Roll

Hozac

***Another devastating chunk of festering midwest proto punk from the inimitable ELECTRIC EELS, and the second installment in our singles series with these scurrilous sub-creatures of Ohio's rich musical history chucks forth two more cauterizing cuts of whiplash thug rock your thin plane of existence just might not survive without. "Accident" is another BRIAN MCMAHON-penned brain-scrambler and features not only the angelic DAVE E. on vocals, but also features Brian on vocals as well, coalescing into a tangled mess of treble-stabbing noise that's just as life-reaffirming as it is polarizing. You just don't get threats of sound like this anymore, and the stained path of insanity combined with the ambivalence that comes with being drawn toward something that's so sinister, yet so seductive, is a feeling you really have to dig deep to find. The bonus here (as if you needed a bonus), is the rarely heard MORTON/MCMAHON/MAROTTA "Wreck And Roll" composition from the 3x10" Those Were Different Times boxed set, which shows their unique ability to create a pop masterpiece inside of a trainwreck, and another reason why the eels are so not-of-this-earth and were too far ahead of their time to even be measured. First pressing of 600 copies on black vinyl.  

Band In Heaven, The

The Boys Of Summer Of Sam

Hozac

***Summer is gone, friends, and with the cold bleak months that lie ahead of us in the Midwest, we're excited to unleash another unsettling dose of the band in heaven, churning forth two more direct hits of skull-softening Middle-Eastern tinged space rock destined to drain the fluids from your ears, while seductively stealing your valuable organs for the black market. Since our last release with this West Palm Beach, Florida unit, they've kept true to their style, creating a sinister apparitional vibe out of an inanimate round grooved object, and devolving into a pit of repetition, begging the question, is it heaven or hell? Mastered by Spacemen 3's SONIC BOOM, you can't help but feel the soiled sordid psychedelic residue sticking to the dark corners of both tracks here, pulling together even more blackness from this Florida sunshine than ever previously imagined, and settling the tone for the worst case scenario.   From the fringes of it's echoing, searing riffs to the cold and unusually cruel rhythms eclipsed only by the penetrating repetition, the band in heaven is the answer to a question you still don't understand, and another reason to look past your outdated boundaries and dive head-first into the undulating abyss. Just as with their debut 7" EP, this new single traps you in a vertigo-inducing vortex of modern psychedelic reverberation, washing you over with waves of petrochemical pleasure, as it takes root deep in the farthest recesses of your mind.

Connections

5 Imaginary Boys

Hozac

***This modern Columbus, Ohio pop band flashed before us via KEVIN ELLIOT, previously of 84 NASH and one of the guys with great musical taste at the Agit Reader that we'd corresponded with over the years, and we're so glad it did. CONNECTIONS intersect at points we normally might be reluctant to tread, a la the dreaded "indie rock" misnomer, but if you listen close, this is much more than just a tossed off GBV reference you see in every review they've garnered so far. I can hear Let It Be-era Replacements, the sorely missed Dogmatics, and numerous other forgotten mid 80s bands "too raw for the the college rock crowd," yet still fitting snugly into the central Ohio "sound" that's become limitless in its reach. Already three albums deep into their career, Connections admirably went with the seminal Anyway label, who have released everything underground Ohio-style from Mike Rep & The Quotas, New Bomb Turks, and Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments to Jim Shepard's V-3, as well as Obnox, and in doing so, solidified their heritage in a long line of influential acts.  The 5 Imaginary Boys EP combines five glimpses into the Connections' melodically off-kilter, yet always honest and bitter world, taking perfectly strung-out pop to another level of sardonic simplicity in each burst after bleeding burst. If you're already familiar with them, this record will only drive home the fact that they're on the cusp of their run, firing off spotless songs in short form, yet with...

England’s Glory

City Of Fun / Shattered Illusions

Hozac

***We've had some pretty crazy moments with the HoZac Archival series, and this is by far one of the most impressive feats to date. ENGLAND’S GLORY was the first performing band lead by UK songwriter PETER PERRETT, later known across the world for his work with the critically-acclaimed ONLY ONES, and a band somewhat still shrouded in mystery due to a lot of misinformation between previous releases. Recorded in late 1971, "right before the holidays" according to Perrett, the privately-issued album later coined The Legendary Lost Album was released in an edition of only 25 copies, given to friends and family, and quickly languished into obscurity before it's immediate effects could be realized. The album sounds like quite nothing else of the era, avoiding the folk rock glut as well as the country-rock impulses, this album soars through the highs and lows of the real heartbeat of 1970s rock'n roll and sounds startlingly modern, even over 40 years later. One thing that does ring similarly right off the bat of course, is how close it sounds like the Transformer-era Lou Reed material, and that's not exactly incorrect, but if you re-examine the fact that this material sounded like Transformer, while Reed was still yet to reach that settled-in style is another point to be examined. Could Ronson & David Bowie have got ahold of one of the 25 copies and figured it'd be an easy template to swipe? Yeah, Bowie never copied anything else from anyone, so we doubt it.

Timmy’s Organism

Singles & Unreleased Tracks

Hozac

***TIMMY VULGAR, Detroit's favorite son, and most ambitiously amphibious creative force doesn't need much of an introduction to anyone familiar with subversive punk music over the past decade and a half. He's been such an irreplaceable figure in each of his musical endeavors since his emergence in such legendary acts such as the EPILEPTIX and CLONE DEFECTS back in the late 1990s, right up through his shape-shifting efforts in the mollusk-like HUMAN EYE and the prog-soaked REPTILIAN FORCEFIELD, and straight into his latest nerve-numbing scatterbomb known simply as TIMMY’S ORGANISM. We've been lucky to have bore witness to Timmy's metamorphosis many times over during these crazy years, and with this unit coming as close as it gets to "solo material," you the listener, can get an intimate encounter to vacuuming up the pieces of Mr. Vulgar's shattered heart, spread over two full LPs worth of out-of-print 7" singles, and for the dedicatedly faithful, an entire album's worth of unreleased tracks. This massive 2LP Singles & Unreleased Tracks collection is a cranium-swelling blast of his best tracks from the numerous 7" releases on Sacred Bones, Bat Shit, Goner, Douchemaster, Goodbye Boozy, Cass, and Hozac, along with unreleased tracks from his deep vault of garishly nightmarish goodies you've still not yet laid ears upon. Spanning a full spectrum of deranged styles, from the intimidating visceral to the rivetingly morose, this collection might just expose you to another side of Timmy you never knew existed, and yet another reason to hang on for...

Kritzler, Jimi

Noise In My Head - Voices From The Ugly Australian Underground

Hozac

***Noise In My Head documents the music, songwriting, aesthetics and struggles of fifty of Australia’s most innovative and significant bands and artists currently at the creative peak of their careers. The book provides a rare insight into the critically heralded cult music scene in Australia. The author, JIMI KRITZLER, is both a journalist and a musician, and is personally connected to the musicians he interviews through his involvement in this music subculture. The interviews are extremely personal and reveal much more than any interview granted to street press or blogs. They deal with not only the music and songwriting processes of each band, but in some circumstances their struggles with drugs, involvement in crime and the death of band members. The book is complimented by previously unpublished photographs of all bands interviewed. The Australian underground scene in the last five years has been heralded not only in Australia but also in Europe, and particularly in America. Known as the ‘Australian Invasion,’ many of the bands interviewed in this book have received a great deal of hype and press in America, with many of the bands signing to American record labels. Bands featured in the book, such as The Drones, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Royal Headache, Uv Race, Circle Pit, HTRK, Lost Animal, Oren Ambarchi, Total Control, Witch Hats, Deaf Wish, Blank Realm, New War, Holy Balm, Fabulous Diamonds, The Garbage and The Flowers, Straight Arrows, xNoBBQx, Naked on the Vague, Kitchen’s Floor and My Disco are all on American record...

Cozy

Button By Button

Hozac

***Following a string of smash hit singles, electrifying television appearances, and countless nights spent driving fans wild in sold out arenas across the globe, COZY is ready to unveil the fruit of their labor, Button by Button. By now all of Cozy’s singles are regarded as timeless classics by teenagers worldwide, but as thrilling as those 45's are, they merely hint at the full blown denim majesty Cozy have unleashed on Button by Button. This is the cutting edge of the teenage sound! From the rousing opening chords of the title track, to the glitter maelstrom of the closing number "Sidepiping," Cozy have produced a danceable, full-length masterpiece of unadulterated teen pop perfection! Countless bands have been influenced by Cozy over the years—including such chart busters as Slade, Angel, and the Bay City Rollers—but none have been able to duplicate the pulse-pounding excitement Cozy produces with each and every record they release! Now YOU can find out why COZY MANIA is spreading across the globe like wildfire, by purchasing THE record of the year, THE next multi-platinum sensation, THE undisputed masterpiece of teenage pop that is Button by Button. First pressing of 550 copies on black vinyl, includes mega poster and mega download.

Games

Little Elise / About Me

Hozac

***As if you hadn't already had enough good times to last you a lifetime, Atlanta-cum-Brooklyn's finest power pop band, GAMES returns with a knockout second single after the waves of adulation from their debut LP laid waste to the hordes of second-class pop attempts littering the countryside. Executing pure pop such as the caliber that Games delivers on a consistent basis calls for a depth of influence that reaches far beyond the typical touchstones, so it's no wonder that one of the heads of Sing Sing Records is writing these classics, not to mention, an ex-member of two of the finest bands of the last two decades, BUSY SIGNALS and CARBONAS. Here, Games delivers two more modern classics that sound so refined, you'll swear you've heard these songs somewhere before in your subliminal consciousness. Completely devoid of any trashy attempts at the commodified "corny-framed sunglass garage pop," Games rips through the chaff and carves out two more reasons to feel alive, with a sparkling production touch from none other than DAVE RAHN, and now employing Atlanta's head of good times, BARRERACUDAS’ WARREN BAILEY on guitar, it's just another essential part of your Summer soundtrack.

Liquid Diamonds

Aw Maw / Long Ago

Hozac

***As time passes, the legitimacy of SONNY VINCENT’s repertoire just grows stronger and more impressive with each new unearthed segment of his seminal years. As you will undoubtedly recall, the issue of the debut 7" from FURY as the first release in the HoZac Archival series in late 2012 was just the starting point, as here we have uncovered an even lesser-known band during those uncategorizable early/mid ‘70s years when so many styles of "underground rock" were interweaving. Sonny's incredible recollection of these early years in his career are mind blowing, and the fact that he's been able to hold onto so many scraps of completely unknown and sorely unexposed NYC punk history in the luggage trunks he's moved back & forth across the Atlantic several times since the 1970s, is even more staggering. If you remember from the FURY release, Sonny Vincent's first band in NYC was DISTANCE in 1971, the band that played shows with Suicide's earliest incarnation, and during the era when that band coined the term "punk" in relation to a style of music for the first time anywhere. So as were the ways of those times, Vincent formed band after band trying to find something that worked, and repeatedly took stabs at recording and performing live in the pre-CBGB/Ramones era, but sadly it seemed, no one was listening. Flash forward to 1973 and Sonny's latest active band on the town is known as LIQUID DIAMONDS, an even rawer 3-piece than FURY, this band wasn't as...

Miss Destiny

House Of Wax / The One

Hozac

***If your ear wasn't already glued to the ground of the current Australian global invasion, here's yet another critical piece of the noise to sate your begging orifices in the form of the debut 7" single from MISS DESTINY. Stemming from the mind of HARRIET HUDSON, once known as a peripheral figure in the CIRCLE PIT live sound, as well as half of SOUTHERN COMFORT (with Angie Bermuda) and RATSACK, Hudson's secret weapon of the most druggy, wirey, and most importantly, witchy guitar solos stitching up a gravelly pair of unsettling mid-tempo punk numbers like a freshly slaughtered corpse, will no doubt have your skin crawling and your jaw on the floor.

Rep, Mike and the Quotas

Mama Was A Schitzo

Hozac

***This archival 1975 7" featuring two tracks that fit into the earliest era of MIKE REP’s canon, came to the surface a few years back on a quickly out-of-print import single, to which we are remedying this month, and making available for your agonizing ear holes once again. As far as midwest punk legends go, Rep is one of the most often overlooked, but one whose influence and involvement span across decades of underground classics, so don't be content with an existence unfulfilled and delve into the sickening and refreshing world of the Columbus/Harrisburg underground, and the brilliant savagery screaming out of these grooves. 

Straight Arrows

Rising

Hozac

***Since releasing It’s Happening in 2010, STRAIGHT ARROWS have been touring the USA, releasing albums in the UK, cassettes in the USA, 7” singles in the USA and Italy, gracing the stages of the Sydney Opera House for Vivid Festival and headlining Sydney Town Hall as part of Sydney Festival. Who said punk isn’t high culture? Amongst all the madness, touring, recording, working, the Straight Arrows were writing their follow up album Rising. The result? Dancing music. Garage Punk nuggets that will get you up out of your dronesome slumber and force some serious rug cutting antics. This is hairy fuzzed out psychedelic garage pop without the patchouli-scented kaftans. Is it reckless? Is it fun? YEAH! Derr....it’s a new Straight Arrows record.

Man, The

Carousel Of Sound

Hozac

***Chicago curb-job executives. Edtion of 375 copies.

Mary Monday

I Gave My Punk Jacket To Rickie

Hozac

***SF Bay area's first active punk band, opening for the Ramones in '76 at Savoy Tivoli. Record release in early '77 pre-dates all West Coast female-fronted punk bands, Bags, Avengers & Nuns, Alley Cats, etc. Possibly the first?

Nones

Midwestern Family Values

Hozac

***Chicago is luckily a large enough city to engulf a multitude of polarizing bands, and one of the best and most ominous of the darker side of the spectrum is the powerhouse known as NONES. Originally forged as an exact opposite blueprint of the archetype female-fronted punk group, this band is a fully-BACKED female force of contention with one deranged and sufficiently blurred frontman slashing forth and breaking the stereotype into micro shards of glass you will never be able to completely pick out of your fine upholstery. As far away from the over-flogged “garage” tagged sound as possible, thereby wrecking the career opportunities of budding music critics, Nones are a riveting, throbbing, mutating single-celled organism growing fins as you read this, constantly evolving into the next life form, yet reliably antagonizing with each live performance. As their two 7″ EPs had first signaled within their soiled grooves, this debut LP is an anthropomorphic anomaly of audio art, shedding it’s skin and eating it’s young between pummeling chord changes, it grasps at the real desperation and de-evolution around us all, churning all that bad karma into a screaming wall of damaged reality. Edition of 400 copies.

Southern Comfort

Suzanne

Hozac

****Australian drug pop masterpiece features Angie Bermuda (Circle Pit/Ruined Fortune/Straight Arrows) and Harriet (Circle Pit/Miss Destiny). Edition of 400 copies.

999999999

White Devils

Hozac

***Isn't it insane that we are STILL mining some incredible bands and side projects from the MySpace heyday? Yes, those days of throwing your identity to the wind and any baggage your previous band(s) carried, and creating an entirely new musical persona, a shedding of the skin, nothing to hold anyone back from investigating. Someday this will be looked back on as a phenomenon, but we can tell you that already, and 999999999 are one of the many great ‘side projects’ such as Spider, Nice Face, Black Orphan, Blank Dogs that we built this label on during that golden era, all who found themselves uploading tracks and ‘putting on the mask,; avoiding any comparisons to previous work or prejudice based on external criteria. For fans of the pivotally punk Brookline, MA rulers TUNNEL OF LOVE, who effortlessly decapitated crowds during the mid 2000's, this 999999999 concoction cooks down the Macbain brothers' formula into a glistening and gristling pop serum no one could have expected. Anthony Macbain started recording as 999999999 as far back as 2004, and we have rescued four face-fucking, skin-scathing, and filthy pop gems from his quiver, presented here on vinyl for the first time. Instantly drawing comparisons to King Tuff and Sic Alps, this EP sizzles with nasty fuzz, yet rolls like a river, and will leave you panting for more, aching to have your "face carved on the side of a mountain." We are proud to present such a crucial and raw underground slab of pure...

Electric Eels

Jaguar Ride

Hozac

***This is still hard to even fathom, let alone anywhere near realistic, but HoZac Archival Records is proud to present a little piece of history for you here, which, if you are still unexposed, will knock your "punk clock" back a few years, resetting your concept of what punk evolved from, where punk germinated from, and how unhinged the Midwest (Ohio in particular) was in comparison to the East & West Coasts in the days before the Ramones & Sex Pistols records littered the land. The Cleveland-based (and formerly Columbus) ELECTRIC EELS were unrivaled in terms of sonic mayhem for 1974/1975, especially for the Midwest, where extremities in music were very much unwelcome and were not given the opportunities that the art scenes of the coasts got to foster. Despite the fact that this band was the starting point for not only NICK NOX, later of THE CRAMPS, it must be understood that this was not composed, blues-based Stooges-style grunt, gorgeous VU-type noise, glammy Alice Cooper-style grime, or high-frequency bombast like the MC5. This was an entirely new species emerging from the primordial ooze of the fertile crescent of a cesspool that birthed the 70s version of punk as we know it, this was true madness captured on tape, catchy and infectious insanity flowing through the air that never, EVER had a chance during it's time, and this is one of the reasons the eels have such creedence. It's no surprise that it wasn't until worldwide punk was in full...

People’s Temple

Musical Garden

Hozac

***So at this point, the Lansing, MI band, PEOPLE’S TEMPLE are pretty much an institution here at HoZac, and their anxiously awaited third LP is finally here and ready for you to sink your teeth into. Not necessarily an album formed in pre-conceived theme, akin to their debut, and More For the Masses, but similar to how the Rolling Stones' Between The Buttons or The Seeds' Fallin' Off The Edge albums represented a collective of songs put together with vasty different styles, due to the sheer abundance of material, yet an impressively cohesive arrangement of their always expanding strains of rock'n roll. With Musical Garden, the band shows no signs of slowing down in their increasingly dynamic range of songwriting, bridging across various sonic experiments with textures through their effortlessly effective delivery, and their increasingly apparent studio prowess, which shines even brighter on this explosive new full length.  Both sets of brothers in People's Temple are integrally active in the songwriting process, and there are more than a few curveballs in this new album. The game-changing 'Male Secretary,' almost unrecognizable compared to the bulk to the PT output, throbs forward as a sizzling slab of gnarly, progressively fuzzed-out glam rock, meticulously built around an atypical song structure that deftly challenges the boundaries of their contemporaries. And with the recent 21 year-old status reached by the band's youngest member GEORGE, they quickly proved that they didn't even have to play the "teenage band" card over the past few years to...

Radar Eyes

Positive Feedback

Hozac

***We’re excited to be releasing our third RADAR EYES 7”. On the toes of their sophomore LP, also due out on HoZac this year, this single slings two tracks that really define a new direction for the band. Since the last release, Radar Eyes have gone through a line-up change, now including RUSS CALERWOOD, known from such Chicago luminary bands as THE BRIDES, THE DIRGES, and most recently, THE RUNNIES. And for those who couldn’t keep their ears off the their “Shakes” or “Miracle” singles, don’t fret, that soaring psych-pop and those twangy guitar harmonies haven’t eluded their deep clutch on modern rock’n’roll songwriting. The A-side, “Positive Feedback,” has the same brilliant and glorious vocal interplay and ardent guitar strangling that sold us on them years ago, and all your panting over the Paisley Underground and JAMC comparisons will still be relevant, and we guarantee it will get you laid.

Ruined Fortune

S/t

Hozac

***RUINED FORTUNE is the freedom rock project of NIC WARNOCK (Sydney, Australia) and ANGIE GARRICK (global citizen). Although their debut full-length retains some of the heavy-glitter/garbage punk moves displayed on their Bulls Eye 7” (R.I.P. Society Records, 2012), much of this record is heading down a different path. Hardly the sum of Nic and Angela’s other projects (SOUTHERN COMFORT, BED WETTIN’ BAD BOYS, CIRCLE PIT, MODEL CITIZEN, STRAIGHT ARROWS, EXOTIC DOG, ANGIE), Ruined Fortune is a group with a strong interest in communicating via the medium of rock ‘n’ roll as well as “other” sonic territories. Crude demos and open-ended concepts for an album were created before the duo headed to Brisbane for two days in a real-deal studio. CURED PINK mainman ANDREW MCLELLAN was in the captain’s chair with DANIEL SPENCER (BLANK REALM) and JOE ALEXANDER (Bedroom Suck Records, PER PURPOSE etc) sharing the role of hired help behind the drum kit. What really makes this record this record? The bits in between the would-be hits, the tension between Angie’s intuitive and Nic’s pedantic approach to making music and McLellan’s persistence in fuckin’ around with everything, ya know “studio-as-instrument” to the max. Repetitive rockers book-end the more disorientating material that nods towards Chrome, Throbbing Gristle and Xpressway Records incorporating cheap casio keyboards/drum machine combos, cassette 4 track, piano and metal percussion. The result is an album that has an agenda similar to Live, Singles, Unreleased era Royal Trux or the first couple of Alternative TV records in its love...

Brats, The

Quaalude Queen

Hozac

***When guitarist RICK RIVETS left the fledgling NEW YORK DOLLS in 1973, he didn't switch gears so much as he just assembled one of the toughest US Glam rock bands of the era, THE BRATS, who with the help of Whiplash Records, released their debut single, one of the first independent "underground" singles to come out of the New York scene, along with Television's "Little Johnny Jewel." Released initially in 1974 on a defective pressing, it quickly slipped into obscurity until in 1976 when the label re-issued the 7" while that version of the band was no longer active, resulting in poor distribution and ultimately a failed release based on it's incredible potential. We have gone through the archives with the folks at Whiplash Records and culled out superior versions of theses two classic glam rock cuts, both cleaner and louder than ever presented before. Some may recall the vicious cover of "Be A Man" by SF Bay Area punk legends, The Infections on their debut LP as possibly their first exposure to the Brats, so its with great excitement to add the Brats to the roster of HoZac Archival with this sparkling and powerful proto-punk debut single, now presented with the trashy clarity and gritty city ugliness painfully intact. First pressing of 600 copies Black vinyl.

Epicycle

You’re Not Gonna Get It - 1978-81

Hozac

***Like a snotty bottle rocket shot out of The Damned’s dressing room and straight into the gut of Cheap Trick, suburban Chicago's sorely under appreciated teen punk pioneers, EPICYCLE, were left out by most modern historical accounts of Midwest underground music of the time, which is such a shame. We here at HoZac first contacted the band about 10 years ago when researching our Trunk City Punk: Chicago Underground 1976-81 feature article for Horizontal Action Magazine, so it was only natural as we evoled into a record label that we needed to rescue these tracks from the cracks of history. With this compilation LP, we present to you the original punch this band was trying to deliver with their three incredible singles, and tracks from their sole LP, along with some pre-razored demos from their earliest sessions, when they were angry, young, and unstoppable.  Although the band were ambitious enough to do everything themselves (back when that didn't need an annoying acronym), they went above and beyond and even started their own record label, Circkle, and released three singles, an LP, and a handful of singles for other bands, all within a span of a few years, yet it just wasn't enough, despite some key local supporters in the rock'n roll underground. One of their earliest and most enthusiastic champions was none other than Subterranean Pop fanzine editor, and future Sub Pop Records co-founder, Bruce Pavitt, before he left the Midwest for Evergreen University. It was clear that Pavitt...

First Base

S/t

Hozac

Wait, is this a new band? We've positioned this incredible debut LP along with our Archival series batch for good reason, as FIRST BASE are one of the purest bands you're likely to come across, a true pop milestone so authentic and airtight, you'll swear you've heard these chords before. Originally one of the 'mystery bands on MySpace" from the mid-2000's, FIRST BASE released a string of much loved singles & EPs but kept a low profile despite being an active performing band in their hometown of Toronto, but it wasn't their intent to be anonymous. If you'll recall, they gained a wider appreciation after Personal & the Pizzas covered their iconic "Nobody Makes My Girl Cry But Me" which pushed them further onto the underground pop radar, and they returned the favor by covering " I Don't Feel So Happy Now" on their last EP. But affiliations aside, FIRST BASE are going to leave a deep scar on your world, and they'll be dumping sugar and syrup deep in those wounds with every repeated listen of this incredible pop debut. Like Jesus & Mary Chain fronting the Ramones, covering Joey Levine, FIRST BASE are pure honey-dripping salvation from the sadistic world we're trapped inside, a true ray of sunshine on an otherwise cloudy day, just try to not melt away.

True Believers

Accept It!

Hozac

***MIKE REP and TOMMY JAY are two of the Midwest's most unheralded 70s songwriters who are only just beginning to get their due in the underground circles thanks to reissues from Siltbreeze and Columbus Discount Records, and we here at Hozac have been huge fans from the sidelines for years, so after booking Mike & Tommy to play our Blackout Fest this year, we decided to hit them up for a reissue of this often overlooked gem in their quiver. TRUE BELIEVERS was the first actual "band" that "played live" of all of Mike & Tommy's projects and along with Tommy's brother, THE GENERAL, these three songs are just as pivotal, perfect and proto-punk'd as possible for these Ohio outsider icons. Originally recorded in 1979 and released on the New Age label in 1980, it's been one of the hardest releases of their canon to pin down, so we're beyond excited to make this missing link of Ohio new wave history available once again, at a reasonable price, because we all know you need more of Mike & Tommy Jay in your life. All three of these incredible tracks were only added as CD-bonus material previously so now is your chance to grip these in their original state, GUSTO HUNGRY! First pressing of 600 copies Black vinyl.

Cop City / Chill Pillars

Gift Shop

Hozac

***Once in a while a new life form will come to the surface, emerge from the primordial ooze and crawl ashore, develop legs where its fins used to be, and spearhead an unknown species into the world, and we can't think of anything more apt to try and wrap our heads around the mellifluous, other-worldly sounds coming from the warped brains of COP CITY / CHILL PILLARS. Their debut LP on Florida's Dying was a breakthrough in pop music no one saw coming, a delusional, charmingly repetitive, future/primitive ride through their tunnel-visioned world of vaporizers and jazzercisers, that you never quite recover from. The vocals are what corners you first, sounding like a trio of sub-sea level zombies huffing canned air in an Office Max parking lot in search of hooks, not brains, and by the time their DEVO-esque guitar tone knocks your head back, they've already invaded your orifices and have planted their seed deep within. It takes pretty big balls to have a sound this against the grain in this day and age, and with the perfected minimalism Cop City / Chill Pillars have honed into their own space-junk sound, it's with great excitement that we get to shove this deranged slab of spoiled pop music into the world.

Heavy Times

Fix It Alone

Hozac

***Chicago's most hated band on the world's most hated record label, what could go wrong? But don't believe what you've read in the papers, HEAVY TIMES are certainly back with their massive third album, mainlining 18 tracks in 33 minutes for maximum impact to your safely guarded danger zones, and simultaneously scoring the soundtrack to your summer of sickness. Picking up where the razored edge of Jacker left off and screaming off into the stratosphere where their heavenly guitar interplay weaves a complicated yet natural web around their unique and peerless punk sound, Heavy Times have raised the bar undoubtedly, and you'd better be ready. Recorded with COOPER CRAIN from Bitchin' Bajas/CAVE, this album jumps out of the grooves and shakes you senseless from one song style to the next, displaying a range and variety most modern punk bands wouldn't even understand, let alone be able to keep up with. Through all the dizzying highs, the sobering lows, and the creamy middles, Heavy Times are quickly mastering their form roght before our eyes and it's never been more evident as on the Fix It Alone LP, one incredible album that's a benchmark for modern punk, with all the hooks you just can't find in books.

Shocked Minds

S/t

Hozac

***Just when the world thought it was safe from the clutches of the primal punk sneer of the CARBONAS, SHOCKED MINDS have exploded up from the underground as the brand new JOSH MARTIN-fronted (also in EX-HUMANS, TESTORS) vehicle with hooks that kill as well as they drill. And with original lineup Carbonas members DAVE RAHN (also in GENTLEMAN JESSE & HIS MEN) and JEREMY THOMPSON (also in GAMES) rounding out the ranks, it's dead set to stick in your brain like a parasite, just the way you'd expect from these long-admired Atlanta punk figureheads. But don't let that get you distracted, Shocked Minds steer their cantankerous and razored residual noise into concise blasts of exactly what you want, glazed over with refreshing nuances of the Dead Boys, Testors, The Damned and Heartbreakers, and with closer listens, shards of the ‘70s Belgian punk creme de la creme like Mad Virgins, Revenge 88, and Raxola. Songs executed so painfully tight and impeccably produced by Mr. Rahn for pinpoint perfection, you might not even notice that obscure cover by The Eat hiding in there, and it's gonna hit you like a ton of bricks.

Verma

Chrome

Hozac

***Chicago's imminent heavy psych heavy hitters VERMA have burst upon the city like a tornado inside of an Aurora Borealis, lighting up the sky with kaleidoscopic, soaring vocal explosions, and an implacable undulating rhythm that sets off reverberations that can be felt by "the heads" several states away in every direction. With an unwavering kraut rock backbone and spidery guitar lines interwoven through their impenetrable maze of haze, somewhere off in the distance, lead vocalist WHITNEY JOHNSON’s lofty siren's scream penetrates the dense fog and coalesces their darkly throbbing waves into two sides of sinister psychedelic noise that will make your heart beat right out of your chest. Although not as driftingly ethereal as their previous releases, of which, their latest was composed for a soundtrack, these two bursts of catastrophic high-energy throb showcase their intensely controlled detonations, which blast off this 7" slab like a demon cast from the heavens and right into the frontal lobe of your fragile mind.

Winter Bear

Jump In The Fire

Hozac

***WINTER BEAR is the latest project from ERIN DORBIN, the multi-talented singer/songwriter/guitarist from the sorely missed CAVE WEDDINGS, who takes the reigns here and knocks out two summertime classics, brimming with the sunshine-soaked pop perfection you should expect from this underground pop songwriting champ. After relocating to the Milwaukee area after the demise of Cave Weddings in 2009, Dorbin spent a few months in the all-girl band THE SPECTRAS before settling in for the colder months and writing her spectacular solo material, in our opinion some of the best she’s ever produced, and we’re ecstatic to release the debut Winter Bear single into the wild this summer. The snarling girl group toughness shines through the heavenly layers of vocals like a diamond in the dark, combining to form a tightly wound pop rocket, conjuring a Nikki Corvette fronting The Reigning Sound, or Shangri-Las meets Shannon & the Clams sound running through the outtakes of Buddy Holly’s songbook, gushing through these two songs on the debut single that we guarantee you won’t be able to stop playing. Absolutely ripping pop songs that don’t let up or get soft in the middle.

Georgiana Starlington

Paper Moon

Hozac

***The long-awaited debut album from JULIE and JACK HINES’ (members of K-HOLES, ex-BLACK LIPS) GEORGIANA STARLINGTON has made it's way home, and you may not know it yet, but this is one album you'll keep coming back to, as it'll surely be filed right next to your other "therapeutic" LPs which pull you through the inevitable bad times. Conjuring the ghostly, foggy desolation of driving through the desert in the darkness just before dawn, while highway hypnosis takes hold and your mind wanders into a state of restlessness, Paper Moon hits the sweet spot on the first track and never lets up. But don't expect any sort of hideous K-Holes-style punk skronk here, Georgiana Starlington utilizes the oft-overlooked and iconically lonesome lap steel guitar sound to great effect, drizzling a honest and raw pure country warmth over these songs like falling magnolia blossoms. What may come as most surprising here is the incredibly clear, yet tortuously sparse instrumentation presented on this debut LP, with a seductive backdrop of breathy nuances, all humming along to a long forgotten cowboy lullaby that does an impeccable job at achieving the elusive state of inner peace. Like Johnny & June Carter Cash picking through the Velvet Underground's songbook, or if the Gun Club and Mazzy Star met in some alternate universe and cobbled together a collection of hazy death ballads for the future generations, this debut LP by Georgiana Starlington is a pinnacle of quietly perfected dreamy pop which will move mountains. A massively...

Black Bug

Reflecting The Light

Hozac

***“A terrifying throb of sinister synthesizers, endless shadows, and mysterious dried blood, this transplanted Swedish band now evading the authorities in Bordeaux, France is a seductively subtle nightmare you won't be able to pull yourself away from. Breaking out from their insidious debut LP's screech and grind, the reborn BLACK BUG carries their torch even further down the dimly-lit well of desperation, creating a far more atmospheric, horror film soundtrack-type feel between it's gnarled bursts of blown-out Spits-style synthpunk energy. Cold-blooded robotic rhythms permeate every track, ushering in an instant sense of forboding and unsettling visions of the human race, completely overrun by androids with TV screens for faces. But under all the dark animosity, frigid song patterns, and morbid melodies, lies an album of incredible songs destined to haunt your abysmal nights, and chill your bones to no end.” —VictimofTime.com

Population

White Crosses

Hozac

***Emerging as a new direction from key members of Chicago's Pilsen hardcore scene, comes the starkly contrasted POPULATION, seeping out of the darkness with a pummeling morosity, frantic Factory Records hooks, and the grim misery of drowning while dreaming. What comes out is an impeccable specimen of jarring post punk force, met with melodic flourishes and kept in time with a furious rhythm pulling you deeper into their irresistible web. Just as how Christian Death uniquely emerged from shards of the California hardcore community over 30 years ago, this tightly-wound unit delves deep into the early ‘80s underworld, artfully intertwining tenebrous synth lines with desolate bass runs to form a monolithic, impenetrable coldness that always hits the spot, even in the dead of winter.

Rainbow Gun Show

Cinderella Sizzle

Hozac

***Its not every day that we stumble upon a great new unexposed Chicago band doing something different, but today is that day, and we can't wait to lavish their irresistible pop noise on such an unassuming public. Formed as a bedroom synth pop project a few years ago, and now fully realized as a powerful live unit, RAINBOW GUN SHOW have arrived at the right place at the right time, and that doesn't seem to happen very often anymore. With their unusually cerebral production, a series of interestingly intricate melodic bridges, all liberally doused in handclaps and inebriated confidence beyond their years, they've managed to pull ahead of their contemporaries and carve out a spot in Midwest underground pop history with their incredibly effective and effervescent hooks & snarls, as evidenced on both spectacular sides of this debut single. Don't wait for your neighbors to catch on, grab ahold of Rainbow Gun Show's startling debut single and hang on tight!

Schonwald

Mercurial

Hozac

***Don't let the Germanic name fool you, the first Italian band signed to HoZac and one we've been excited to unleash for months, SCHONWALD emerge here on their US debut single slithering with unsettling vibes right from the start. This two-piece unit has been surreptitiously dwelling in the shadowy corners of the European underworld for a few years now, releasing their debut LP in 2009 and performing at festivals with the likes of UK Decay, Schonwald are now encroaching on world submission with the unleashing of their long-anticipated "Mercurial" single. A chilling and hopelessly bleak drum-machine rhythm sets the tone, parting the waves of rippling darkness into a massive surge of inescapable, hushed-yet-crushing electronic melancholia. European post punk at it's finest, ALESSANDRA and LUCA of Schonwald create a pulsing, black-lit atmospheric electronic vibration so cold, hypnotic, and simple, it's perfect for our endlessly frozen world. 

Fury

Flying

Hozac

***Here it is folks, the first ever Hozac Archival release, and man is it a whopper. The 40th anniversary first edition of two unissued 1972 cuts by New York proto punk group, FURY, fronted by a young SONNY VINCENT, who would later etch out his stain on the wall of punk history in the TESTORS and an illustrious solo career. These two tracks were recorded and shopped around to record companies in the early 1970s, only to have their dreams quashed due to lack of interest, and the band, subsequently disillusioned and restless, disbanded without any real document of it's existence. Sonny quickly started up another band upon Fury’s demise, LIQUID DIAMONDS, in 1973, and never looked back (Liquid Diamonds debut 7" coming soon on Hozac as well!), so it's with such great excitement that we thrust forth this debut Fury single, an explosive fireball of rock'n roll mayhem aimed straight at your groin, the way it was intended, in the perfect, screaming 45 rpm format. Bonehead cruncher? Yer damn right, this criss-crossed between heavy-handed biker rock and thug pungk supreme, dripping with chain grease and burnt skin, a true ball-crushing, tit-ripping rock'n roll gem for the ages, sadly unreleased and completely unknown during it's time. Sonny's signature style is immediate, even at this early of an age, the seething vocals are incredible, sounding much like his better-known later Testors material, yet with such an over-the-top proto punk hammer damaged sound drilling away in the background, you'll feel your life...

Games

S/t

Hozac

***This is one of those records you won't know how you've lived without, and you probably have no idea how bad you need it. A pristine, timeless pop album with all the subtleties and effervescence of those misty classics of the Pre-Punk Powerpop era, constructed and rebuilt into an airtight, flawless specimen of the original form. Not that you'd expect any less from the purveyor behind Sing Sing Records, but JEREMY THOMPSON has been honing this sound for years now, previously in the frantically jagged BUSY SIGNALS and the early incarnation of the CARBONAS, along with longtime cohort DAVE RAHN, whose production of the debut GAMES LP is nothing short of breathtaking. Taking the same cues as The Raspberries, Big Star, Rockin' Horse, Shoes, and Milk 'N Cookies did well before the codification of New Wave, Games is a crystal-clear shot in the arm to the current state of rock'n roll, a genuine reflection, an instant hit, and something for New Yorkers to be proud of. LP edition of 550 copies with poster insert.

Heavy Times

I'm Single

Hozac

***Man oh man, HEAVY TIMES are on a roll. Creatively, they're in a league of their own right now, tightening their grip on the rawest pop hooks in such a refreshing way, it's dumbfounding, especially on this new 3-track 7" EP, which signifies a distinct lead-off point for their intensely effective evolution. While their caterwauling Jacker LP laid the pressure on thick, combining their other-worldly pop hooks with the brutality and animalistic instinct of blurred punk aggravation, they always conjure an image of a band on the brink of collapse, yet they continue to churn out pop gems this pinpoint precise. Out of all of the crop of currently important bands in the Chicago underworld (and there are quite a few right now), Heavy Times are truly unique, carving out instantly infectious songs that straddle two tiers of guitar interplay that weave their way into your skull immediately, causing a surge of invigoration and leaving an obscure trail of nuances that will leave you thirsting for more. Edition of 475 copies.

Mil Mascaras

Fuzz / I Said So Far

Hozac

***When we first found this band of wild punk women near the end of the French Glue Wave awakening in the early 2000s, what stuck out the most was their incredible stripped-down sound, and most notably a lack of synths in a world of warbling home-recorded analog insanity, which was literally pouring out of the French landscape on an almost daily basis. This was such an exciting time to be able to finally stream music recorded spontaneously from across the world in the privacy of your own home, and MIL MASCARAS was one of the most sorely overlooked bands from the Parisian undreground during that time, only sharing one side of split single with Crash Normal as their sole vinyl output. We decided to rectify that injustice and picked out three of their most snarling unissued hits, presented here posthumously yet inevitably, and hopefully you'll be just as shellshocked as we are as to their absence in the pantheon of modern French Punk. Edition of 375 copies.

People’s Temple

More For The Masses

Hozac

***THE PEOPLES TEMPLE have righteously returned with a sliver of their next wave, and with the anxiously awaited follow-up to their debut LP Sons of Stone, we have a band on our hands here with their heads clearly going in the right direction. The Lansing, Michigan snarlers have constructed their sophomore LP, More For The Masses, with a taste of what they’ve been working on since their last outing, and it’s got us seething with excitement to share it with the world. The new songs show a bold advance in the songwriting structure, with intricate arrangements, incredibly diverse new directions not far off from the pioneering material spurned forth from the iconic ‘60s band Love. We're talking flashes of primitive baroque pop and British 'Fading Yellow'-style songs, albeit not absent of their illustrious fuzz guitar flourishes we've all come to love and expect, laid on thick. More For The Masses is a perfect example of what Peoples Temple do best, a direct shot to the dome of perfect rock’n roll snarl, classic pop, head-expanding fuzz, those two-part vocal harmonies, and an ever-compelling riff that takes you over the edge and back within minutes. Peoples Temple have built on their unusual knack for crafting original pop music sounding like it’s been stripped out of the ashes of time, only to emerge with some of the most creatively exciting sounds coming out of the Midwest in years.