Hozac   Page 5

Fungi Girls

Turquoise Hotel

Hozac

***The unlimited charm of Texas strikes again as FUNGI GIRLS release their first 7-inch single this month, following up an impressive 12-inch EP debut on Play Pinball! Records last fall, both of which will have you twitching with unexpected enthusiasm. The guys that comprise this power trio are all still barely over the legal driving age, but still not even close to the drinking age, so when the surprising and wise-beyond-their-years modern psychedelic/gaze sounds first bolted from our speakers, we had to do something about it. Their first impression sits heavily on the unique and subdued vocals that seem to lightly hover over the hazy, yet complex arrangements, forming an incredibly atmospheric blast that doesn't really sound like anything else. These promising teenagers somehow harness the confidence and proclivity to emulate compelling mid-tempo lo-fi pop songs that eerily deliver hooks that stick, and come out with a sound all their own that you'll no doubt be hearing more of soon. Look for the Fungi Girls full length LP on HoZac to hit record stores later this year, and dive into their world head-first with this seductive single. 500 on black.

People’s Temple

Make You Understand

Hozac

***This Lansing, Michigan gang of renegade teenagers has been extremely prolific in the last few months, and as the time quickly passes by, even better songs have evolved, as this three-track EP will undoubtedly prove. Taking the band down a darker path, PEOPLE’S TEMPLE straddles the line between simple garage intentions and certain lysergic after effects, causing these songs to take on a Golden Dawn/13th Floor Elevators vibe that's basically supposed to be impossible without sounding corny. The band's epic Stacy Sutherland-style "Jim Jones" is already a stone cold classic, but the A-side's authentic, yet unconventional and out-of-time slashings will be turning heads instantly as well, as their loner psyche hits just keep on coming. Look for The People's Temple debut LP soon on HoZac and blast your brain into outer space with this sizzling teaser, guaranteed to rot your eyeballs and turn your hair white with prolonged exposure. 500 copies on black vinyl.

Sleepovers

Secret

Hozac

***You know Summer is finally here when the jangle pop kicks in full-blast, and nothing encapsulates the warm breeze and excitement of great times to come than the debut 7-inch EP by Chicago's SLEEPOVERS. Formed from members of the good-time party folks from THE BOLD ONES (twins DAN and DOYG) and THE YOLKS (NATHAN), the Sleepovers hit the nail on the head with irresistibly catchy songs that instantly summon images of beach parties, beach bonfires, and beach balls bouncing around in your head, all to a snappy power pop soundtrack that Joey Levine himself would gush over. It's a shame that most attempts at modern bubblegum songs can't sound this natural, but the real 'secret' in the Sleepovers' repertoire is the exhilarating dual vocal interplay between newlyweds Dan & ANNIE, laying on the sugar by the truckload, perfectly humming along with the pumping Farfisa, and those impeccable hooks. The raw innocence and delirious danceability these three guys and girl conjure up at each live performance only proves further that when it comes to uncut bubblegum pop brilliance, Sleepovers are Chicago's finest specimen, and a band you can't miss both live and now on record. 500 on black wax.

Outer Minds

Bloodshot Eyes

Hozac

***Chicago's explosive and underrated OUTER MINDS have finally come to the surface after simmering in the underworld in several different incarnations over the past few years, and with unbelievably great results. Sharpening their sound into a legion of ‘60s pop/psych textures and nuances normally reserved for the baroque set with their impeccable glockenspiel-laden arrangements, Outer Minds weave a rich web of sound around impossibly perfect hooks and deliver an impressive EP worthy of your immediate attention. Led by ZACH MEDEARIS (BLACK BEAUTIES, LOVER!) and A-RON ORLOWSKI’s (BASEBALL FURIES, Lover!, DIRGES) fine assemblage of rough-cut harmonies, the band has gone through more name and roster changes than most, but once the current lineup coalesced into the tight-knit unit performing today, everything fell into place to create this sumptuous wall of sound that will blow your little mind to bits.

Super Wild Horses

Fifteen

Hozac

***HoZac Records is proud to announce the much anticipated debut album by Melbourne duo SUPER WILD HORSES. It's rare that such a striking balance between tough and tender can be executed as well as it has on this long-player, bridging post-punk simplicity with savagely primitive propulsion, all wrapped up in a scratchy indie-pop envelope, sealed and delivered right into your vulnerable skull. Super Wild Horses are two Melbourne gals who switch between guitar, drums and keyboard. Formed in 2009, they play taut, minimal and decidedly garage based pop music that relies heavily on dual harmonies over sparse arrangements. Following the release of their one sold-out EP in 2009, they have played around Australia with the likes of Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Jon Spencer, The Drones and My Disco, including a much-talked about Golden Plains Sunday morning set. In addition to this, they have garnered an international cult following and had a song featured on a Bonds TV commercial. The band's debut album, Fifteen is a heady concoction of hits, from the softly crushing sunny pop tracks that seduce and mesmerize on contact, to the impossibly catchy, noise-laden numbers that channel these ladies' choppy expertise of stripped-down tension and texture. Recorded by ECSR’s MIKEY YOUNG, this breakthrough album perfectly captures the chunky guitar/drum wallop and ripe vocal melodies. Truly an original sound in these modern times, which reflects nuances of alt-pop heroes from Dolly Mixture to The Breeders to later-era Bikini Kill, with all the hooks in between. Don't miss their...

V/a

Hookup Klub Round One

Hozac

***Yes, its finally here, all on one handly format for accessing the hottest cuts from the first Round of the HoZac singles club, along with two previously unreleased BONUS TRACKS by TEEPEE and IDLE TIMES. This compilation spans the first ten elusive subscription-only 7-inch records released from 2009-2010, featuring rare tracks by DUM DUM GIRLS, WOVEN BONES, BOX ELDERS, FLIGHT, WHITE MYSTERY, TEEPEE, IDLE TIMES, MOTHER OF TEARS, ART THIEVES, and TEETH (the elusive Blank Dogs/Spider side project), and is not to be missed.

Woven Bones

In And Out And Back Again

Hozac

***WOVEN BONES need no announcement to herald their arrival, but as their irresistibly iridescent hazy pop grime drills itself deeper into your soft skull, it's best to just stand back and experience them exploding out of your speakers. Like the eardrum-shattering noise pop icons that came before them, Woven Bones blaze their own trail of lascivious loudness and controlled snarl that's just what the world needs right now, and the perfect soundtrack to your screwed-up summer. The debut album, In and Out and Back Again delivers nine heart-stabbing hits that just keep hitting back, so without further hesitation, we give you the debut album that explodes heads on contact, by your new favorite band, Woven Bones.

Rayon Beach

Memory Teeth Ep

Hozac

***“We get really excited about bands sometimes, right? Well folks, RAYON BEACH are one of the most head-blasting, endorphin-rushing musical anomalies we've stumbled across in a while, and these six tracks of exotic punk psychedelia are just what the doctor ordered. Located terrestrially in Austin, TX but borne of outer limits only imagined by acid casualties trying to find where Syd Barrett lives, Rayon Beach take us on an incredible ride through surreal soundscapes and off-center arrangements, and pull it all together under a tight black umbrella, soaked in afterbirth and glowing like weird moon rocks. With aural slices so scrappy and inspirational, they effortlessly conjoin shards of obscure noise, not unlike the uncategorizable brilliance of The Deviants, Swell Maps, and The Soft Boys, in that inescapable running of the primal Pink Floyd nuance through the chainsaw-style state of mind. With no Gold edition, and only 550 black vinyl copies available of this high-powered 12" EP's maiden pressing, you might want to jump all over this before it's morphed into something unrecognizable from it's original state. Watch out for Cryptic Scissor as well, a side-project emanating from Rayon Beach and Woven Bones as part of the next round of the HoZac Hookup Klub, coming soon.”—HoZac

Medication

This Town

Hozac

***The debut album from New Milford, Connecticut's melodic saving grace, MEDICATION. The one-man home-recording project has built itself up into a fully-automated live band over the past year, but the seductive recordings contained herein, lush in their simplistic, beautiful morosity, and minimally-orchestrated fragility, have continued to seep into the fabric that defines the season better than any other modern contenders. MIKEY HYDE’s songwriting development is steeped in the winning revelatory combination of isolation and reverberation, and as the static-laden echoes rise and fall against the imaginary backdrop of your mind, it's tough to fight off the therapeutic effects Medication will have on your physical and mental well-being. As if self-prescribing music like this hasn't been the answer to society's ills all along, playing the first full-length by Medication in times of despair or hopelessness like these has never been more important. Catch the band live on tour with The Dutchess & The Duke out east this January, too!

Mess Folk

Something I Remember

Hozac

***Nova Scotia's underground punk output has been sorely ignored by most of the world, and with the debut 7-inch EP by Sydney's brilliantly belligerent MESS FOLK, hopefully a little more light will be shed on this systematically-neglected barren frontier. With an immediate slop/savant aesthetic that conjures a drooling, drugged-out, and agitated ball of putrescence, Mess Folk keep their blurry message straight to the point and deliver three devastating punk cuts simmering in anxiety, depression, and the delusional inner turmoil that sets in after months of cabin fever. The deranged, discombobulated vocals go so perfectly with the frantic razored guitar slashings and choppy songwriting that eeks out resemblances of discarded Electric Eels and Urinals ruination/infatuation, radiating with a sticky familiarity you just can't quite put your finger on. Anyway you cut it, Mess Folk have arrived and it's gonna take a hell of a lot of zit cream and/or stain remover to eradicate their slimy presence from the ugly face of modern punk.

Mickey

She’s So Crazy

Hozac

***When it comes to local bands in Chicago, it definitely goes in phases, as no one would have assumed a band such as MICKEY with its assortment of random ex-band members could have come up with a sound this ridiculously compelling. Rather than run down the list of their various past projects, it's best to take Mickey for exactly what they've become: a top-notch gutter-level glitter punk band that runs circles around everyone else, both live and now on record. What makes them special are the combined forces of experienced and inexperienced nuances that really shine on their recordings and will soon show the world how their now signature brand of glammed-up/dumbed-down shambolic pop music can hold up incredibly well under any circumstances. Everything from the unexpectedly touching T.Rex-style backup vocals on the show-stopping, "She's So Crazy" to the heartfelt and brazenly-delivered innocence they muster up on the already-classic "I Am Your Trash," Mickey are quickly becoming Chicago's most notorious and best-loved band and we couldn't be more excited to offer their debut single for your adoring eardrums.

Myelin Sheaths

Do The Mental Twist

Hozac

***Yet another Canadian entry in HoZac’s new batch, Lethbridge (about 100 miles south of Calgary), Alberta's MYELIN SHEATHS have boldly thrust themselves forward and erupt here with an incredibly powerful debut 7-inch featuring blistering production that jumps out of the grooves, and a wall of noise/pop vocals that sends chills down your spine and raises all hairs unshaven. As each song contained within offers up a thundering blast of icy guitars and pulse-pounding rhythms, each more intense than the last, Myelin Sheaths have found a perfect platform to desecrate the chill and melt the frozen wilderness around them. The endlessly reverberated dual male/female vocals blend together on the B-side's “Drugstore Pharmacy” so well that you can feel the sky open up and suck you straight into heaven, as it washes away the troubles clouding your weary consciousness. Like if someone plugged the entire C86 sound into a fried-out supergenerator, Myelin Sheaths have the potential to skyrocket straight to the top of your list of new favorites.

Nerve City

Red Tops

Hozac

***As raw and bitter as the north winds blowing off the Virginia mountaintops, HoZac is proud to serve you a platter of new songs to ease the winter solitude with three impeccably satisfying noisy folk vibrations from NERVE CITY. As you may already know, Nerve City is one of the brightest home-recording projects that's been exploding into a gripping live band, all the while holding a line of desperate tension and aggressive simplicity that climbs inside your skull within seconds and never really leaves. With a strong handle on jangling ‘60s guitar instrumentation and misanthropic melody, coupled with brash, shell-shockingly savage recording methods and songwriting that's so far above its peers, it's time you warmed up a spot in your withered soul for Nerve City before they blow up in your face. Look for their debut LP coming soon on Sweet Rot, along with a 12-inch EP on Sacred Bones right around the corner as well. Recommended if you like: Medication, Kurt Vile, Teepee, Thee Oh Sees 

Girls At Dawn

Never Enough

Hozac

***When HoZac first heard the crudely innocent recordings of Brooklyn's newly formed GIRLS AT DAWN, it was hard to recall which sunk in first, the jangling and angelic pop hooks, or the interwoven and uniquely eerie Rosemary's Baby soundtrack-style backup vocals that accompany them. It really doesn’t matter, as their songs have that special something that stick right out and make the hairs on all our collective necks stand straight up. Their debut 7-inch single, hauntingly self-produced, loaded with home recorded goodness, and played by three girls who effortlessly knock out great, simplistic and inescapable songs that swim around in your head and don't let go. Quite like the hypnotic, mythological sirens who lured ancient sea captains into pits of despair, these songs seem just pure enough, until it's too late to turn back and they've hooked you unforgivably. Look for The Girls At Dawn on the Rough Trade Indie Pop '09 compilation, along with an upcoming 12-inch EP on Captured Tracks, as well.

Plastic Crimewave Sound

Shockwave Rider

Hozac

***For years, this Chicago scuzz-punk psychedelic prog machine has been turning heads as the Midwest's answer to Hawkwind, Can and other mind-expanding primordial brain-fryers. At long last, and after years of preparation, HoZac is proud to unleash the quintessential 7-inch single from PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE SOUND as they obliterate the blistering biker-psych formula, blasting the shrapnel deep into the innerspace of your mind. Presented here is their epic "Shockwave Rider," edited down from its 6-plus-minute format for maximum loudness and divinity. Featuring a lead guitar line from VEE DEE’s NICK D’VYNE that will turn your hair white and stir up your endorphins before it even hits the first chorus, all while displaying the gnarly heaviness that PCWS have made all their own.

Sharp Ends

Northern Front

Hozac

***Calgary, Alberta has been unearthing gem after gem of exciting new post-punk outfits recently, and SHARP ENDS are the "gateway drug" into that inner circle people been waiting to find. With an icy Tubeway Army/Joy Division/Crisis vibe that blackens the circles under your eyeballs and causes your pores to contract with its clammy, cold-wave simplicity, this is the foreboding sign of impending doom we’ve been so anxiously anticipating from the mysterious North. If this alluringly stark, and monolithically dark pop piques your interest, don't pass up the chance to grab this, the Sharp Ends debut single.

Wizzard Sleeve

Make The World Go Away

Hozac

***NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!!! Just as the harrowing chill of summer's slow death drifts across the land, the skin-crawling death-punk masterpiece debut LP from Alabama's confederate glue-wave goth 'tards, WIZZARD SLEEVE hits the shelves and drags all the sinister vibrations from the ugly side of psychedelia right up front where it belongs. As their influences have cited, and the self-described trinity of Chrome, Crime and Creedence settles into place in your chemically-damaged skull, and the unexpectedly danceable hits from their string of vile, self-depreciating 7-inch singles are reborn with a devastatingly murky effect that will drag you down into a hole faster than any over-the-counter anti-anxiety cocktail you've ever ingested. Like Peter Murphy sucking on a tailpipe, Wizzard Sleeve are the end of the line for your happy good times and the start of a new atrocious standard in head-expanding, zooed-out and shut-in true punk weirdness that won't be getting many brownie points with mom, dad, church leaders, or parole officers anytime soon.

Langston, Richard

Pull Down The Shades - GARAGE Fanzine 1984-86

Hozac

***The incredible sound of New Zealand from Flying Nun Records and Xpressway in the 1980s-90s is the stuff of legend. Hozac Books proudly presents Richard Langston’s ultra-obscure fanzine GARAGE, capturing the original six issues from 1984-86 at long last, in book form. Including new interviews and essays from the NZ underground’s luminaries among the likes of Alec Bathgate, David Kilgour, Roy Montgomery, Shayne Carter, Bill Direen, George Henderson, Francisca Griffin, Ronnie van Hout, Chris Heazlewood, Peter Jefferies, Stephen Cogle, Hamish Kilgour, Tom Lax, Stuart Page, Martin Phillipps, Bruce Russell, John Halvorsen, Dean Allen, Robert Scott, Brian Turner, Gary Olson, David Swift, Roger Shepherd, and don’t forget those incredible photos of The Clean from Carol Tippet. GARAGE chronicled the creative explosion of music that came out of the South Island, New Zealand in the late 70s and 80s – from The Enemy, The Clean, The Chills, The Verlaines, The Bats, The Builders, Victor Dimisich Band, Scorched Earth Policy …to The Great Unwashed and Straitjacket Fits. These are first-hand accounts and reports as the Flying Nun scene emerged as a force in the international underground music scene. Just like the music it covered, GARAGE was a bedroom-creation – typed, glued, and stapled together – that came to be read by music fans around the world. This book makes the six issues available in print for the first time since they were published in the mid-80s. It includes sixteen recent interviews with many of the leading songwriters, performers, and key figures in the...