In The Red   Page 5

Sultan, Mark

Whatever I Want

In The Red

 Mark Sultan, better known as BBQ of one-man band and The King Khan & BBQ Show fame, has been pounding out his own stew of R&B, rockabilly, garage, doo-wop, psychedelia, punk and whatnot since he was a mere child fronting Montreal’s Spaceshits. Releasing a slew of albums and touring relentlessly, Sultan has established quite a reputation as a songsmith and vocalist of the highest caliber. Recently he went into the studio and ended up more than two albums’ worth of material. After trying to whittle it down to one LP, In The Red decided to simply release it all (well, most of it, anyway). Whatever I Want, Whenever I Want is two separate vinyl LPs and one abridged CD. This material represents Sultan’s most adventurous and varied songwriting to date. He ditched his normal stripped-down / lo-fi approach in favor of a more full-bodied sound and replaced his one-man recording technique with a complete band, all to stunning results. Whatever I Want, Whenever I Want features a number of his musician friends; Dan Kroha of The Gories, Erin Wood of The Spits, Cole Alexander and Jared Swilley of the Black Lips and Bradford Cox, to name a few, all contributed. It has something for everybody: soul stompers, doo-wop weepers, a dash of hardcore and even an Ultravox cover!  “Mark Sultan doesn’t simply revive old sounds and old excitements; he ingests them, digests them, and regurgitates them as something new and personal. There’s something playful and ominous about Sultan’s sound, a gentle creepiness...

Sultan, Mark

Whenever I Want

In The Red

 Mark Sultan, better known as BBQ of one-man band and The King Khan & BBQ Show fame, has been pounding out his own stew of R&B, rockabilly, garage, doo-wop, psychedelia, punk and whatnot since he was a mere child fronting Montreal’s Spaceshits. Releasing a slew of albums and touring relentlessly, Sultan has established quite a reputation as a songsmith and vocalist of the highest caliber. Recently he went into the studio and ended up more than two albums’ worth of material. After trying to whittle it down to one LP, In The Red decided to simply release it all (well, most of it, anyway). Whatever I Want, Whenever I Want is two separate vinyl LPs and one abridged CD. This material represents Sultan’s most adventurous and varied songwriting to date. He ditched his normal stripped-down / lo-fi approach in favor of a more full-bodied sound and replaced his one-man recording technique with a complete band, all to stunning results. Whatever I Want, Whenever I Want features a number of his musician friends; Dan Kroha of The Gories, Erin Wood of The Spits, Cole Alexander and Jared Swilley of the Black Lips and Bradford Cox, to name a few, all contributed. It has something for everybody: soul stompers, doo-wop weepers, a dash of hardcore and even an Ultravox cover!  “Mark Sultan doesn’t simply revive old sounds and old excitements; he ingests them, digests them, and regurgitates them as something new and personal. There’s something playful and ominous about Sultan’s sound, a gentle creepiness...

Spits

S/t (5th Album)

In The Red

Everyone’s favorite space-age mutant skate punks The Spits are back with their long-awaited fifth album (self-titled, as were the previous four) and these twelve new action-packed songs of apocalyptic, fuzzed-out, over-driven madness do not disappoint. Going strong now for over fifteen years, smashing the windows and tearing down the walls every time they roll through town, these truly vicious visionaries have cooked punk down to its most powerful base form, crawling like Neanderthals through the muck and creating a flaming trail of hits that’ll take quite a fit of dementia to ever forget. A perfect distillation of punk’s original open-ended weirdness and modern music’s serrated salvation, The Spits have proven themselves to be no one to fuck with, over and over again. True headliners, never to be followed and for good reason. One of the only modern bands to have several of their songs covered by their contemporaries, The Spits have already done so much but still have so much more ahead, as they continue to influence anyone with a penchant for irresistible punk music, played like there’s nothing to lose. The Spits - "My Life Sucks" by forcefieldpr

Cop Warmth

S/t

In The Red

***The debut release from Houston, TX's newest noise mongers. Five tracks of ugly noise rock that will melt your face. Edition of 500.

Mouthbreathers

Anxiety

In The Red

***The debut single from this incredible four piece punk rock band from Lawrence, KS. Two totally bad-ass blasts of aggro pummel. Recorded by RONALD MILLER of Kid Congo & the Pink Monkey Birds. Edition of 500.

Cormans, Thee

Halloween Record W/ Sound Effects

In The Red

Re-pressed in time for Halloween!  Fiends! Ghouls! Creeps! In the grand tradition of Frankie Stein and His Ghouls and The Deadly Ones, Thee Cormans present Halloween Record w/ Special Effects—a bona fide Halloween rock ’n’ roll album just in time for the only holiday that matters.  The Southern Californian biker / surf instrumental combo has been bashing out their brand of Davie-Allan-and-the-Arrows-meets-The-Ventures-on-meth thrash for several years now. Theirs is a sound informed by scratched-up ’60s instrumental records, KBD punk singles and exploitation B-movies chock full of monsters, bikers and mayhem. What this group of weirdos does to the surf instrumental genre is the same as what The Mummies did to Pacific Northwest ’60s rock back in the ’90s—they speed it up, drag it through the mud, pour a can of politically incorrect attitude over the top and call it a pie. In this case, the pie is filled with rubber bats, plastic fangs and novelty shrunken heads. Halloween Record w/ Special Effects will make you shriek, rattle and roll! These are spine-chilling sounds guaranteed to make you shiver. Flesh-ripping guitar playing! Skull-pulverizing drum beats! Gore-spattering bass lines! Spooky, hair-raising sound effects! The bloody horror of this record is positively sinister. You will hate yourself if you miss it! In The Red is not legally responsible for death caused by heart failure or fright as a result of listening to Halloween Record w/ Special Effects. In other words, this record is not for sissies. ...

Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds

Gorilla Rose

In The Red

Gun Club co-founder. Gunslinger for The Cramps. Six-string stylist for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The legendary Kid Congo Powers named his new album Gorilla Rose after the artist / performer. As a teenage boy, Powers met Gorilla Rose in the emerging LA punk scene of the ’70s through seminal weirdo band The Screamers. He recalls, “Gorilla was a close and constant presence and influence on The Screamers and me as a young pup. He was to The Screamers like Bobby Neuwirth was to Dylan—a jester of sorts, sparking many of their great lyric ideas. I still think Gorilla Rose is the most fabulous nom de plume in history. His unsung specter was in my mind a lot last year so I decided to title the album Gorilla Rose to honor his name and bring him into rock ’n’ roll’s ongoing conversation.” While editing his fan club newsletters at a haunted Hollywood house, a teenage Powers was also exposed to the sounds of Neu, Nico, Billie Holiday and Goblin’s soundtrack to the film Susperia, and along with Gorilla Rose, these past influences found their way into the Kid’s new full-length. To record the album, Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds grabbed producer Jason Ward and hightailed it back to the magik gymnasium at The Harveyville Project, a high school in Kansas and also the scene of the crime of their much acclaimed 2009 release Dracula Boots. Kiki “El Coyote” Solis on bass and Ron “The Cap’n” Miller on...

Oh Sees, Thee

Castlemania

In The Red

***BACK IN STOCK ON NEW PURPLE VINYL!!!  Received a 7.6 rating from Pitchfork.  San Francisco’s incredibly prolific Thee Oh Sees are back with another full-length album of original tracks plus a smattering of covers. While the group’s previous releases on In The Red, Help and Warm Slime, showcase their amped-up, reverb-drenched garage-psych pummel, on Castlemania, John Dwyer and company take a more low-key approach. Dwyer himself describes Castlemania as “summer-y and poppy”; on many of the tracks, electric guitars are jettisoned for acoustic, and the normally echo-laden vocals are a bit clearer. Happy pop melodies, sweet and somber tunes, psychedelic moves galore, cover versions of The Creation and the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and at least one garage stomper all rub elbows on Thee Oh Sees’ “sunshine pop” album. Its release couldn’t be more perfectly suited to the time of the year when the sunny skies return and the flowers start blooming. The vinyl for Castlemania is a three-sided double LP housed in a beautiful gatefold sleeve with a fourth side featuring an etching by William Keihn, who also did the fantastic cover art. Watch for Thee Oh Sees to return later this year with another full-length of pulverizing, heavy stomp. In the meantime, relax and enjoy Castlemania.  “John Dwyer deserves a star on the underground garage-punk walk of fame.” —Stereogum  “This San Francisco garage-punk quartet made for my first real holy-shit moment of this year’s SXSW; I had no idea these guys were so...

TV Ghost

Mass Dream

In The Red

Taking their name from the phenomenon of analog television frequency disturbances, Lafayette, Indiana’s TV Ghost conjures an especially sludgy and punishing brand of art-punk. They began making a name for themselves in 2007, when their first 7-inch, Atomic Rain, was released by Die Stasi Records, also home to the noisy likes of Pink Reason and Zola Jesus. TV Ghost’s sinister sound—which echoes the Scientists, Suicide and The Cramps’ ’70s output—and frantic live show won them an underground following; a 12-inch EP on Die Stasi, a single on Columbus Discount Records and their debut album, Cold Fish, followed in 2009 with several rounds of touring the US in support. The band’s trek across Europe in 2010 left a trail of busted gear, annoyed booking agents and new fans behind them. TV Ghost’s sophomore full-length was recorded by Greg Ashley (Gris Gris), and Mass Dream is by far their clearest and most coherent release to date. While sacrificing none of the band’s scuzz-punk dementia, this album is far less dense and impenetrable than its predecessor; Ghost frontman Tim Gick’s lyrics are clearer and his complex song structure a bit easier to get a handle on. That said, this is still blood-boiling, spastic and down right evil music by anyone’s standards. Live, there are few who can match them. Their sets are explosive, destructive and out of control. Gick howls as if his bowels are being extracted through his gluteus, while his eyes roll back in his head and the rest of the...

Uv Race

Homo

In The Red

VINYL INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON!!! 2007 saw the first recording from Melbourne, Australia’s The UV Race—a self-released tape featuring four songs of primitive thud, minimal assemblage and high-energy expression. Over the next three years the band has continued to show dedication to these themes with a string of cassettes and singles and their 2009 self-titled debut full-length, and their sophomore album Homo delivers on the promise of these early releases. Working again with Eddy Current Suppression Ring guitarist Mikey Young at the recording and mixing stages, The UV Race developed the songs over several sessions. Their willingness to explore is clear, from the psychotic bedroom confessional of “Girl in My Head” with its confident teen-heat swagger, to the seven-minute closer “Homo,” where nods to the Ramones enclose a psychedelic freak-out reminiscent of the closing minutes of The Stooges’ Funhouse. In between, the band explores influences ranging from their Australian proto-punk and garage fascinations to American country, Krautrock and UK post-punk, citing the Velvet Underground and the Saints as influences.

Davila 666

Tan Bajo

In The Red

VINYL INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON!!! Hailing from San Juan, Puerto Rico, Davila 666 plays fierce Spanish-language garage-pop with gang vocals, tambourines, pop hooks, guitar licks and even a touch of psych here and there. Elements of early Stones, Jesus and the Mary Chain, Dead Boys and ’60s girl groups are all evident in Davila’s sound. Since their 2008 self-titled debut album, they’ve released a slew of singles and EPs on labels like HoZac, Rob’s House and Douchemaster. The album even received a coveted cassette release on Burger, a garage rock signal that “they’ve arrived” if ever there was one. Davila 666 toured the US on a mammoth three-month trek that would’ve made Black Flag weary, as well as completed a massive slog across Europe. As soon as they began recording tracks for their much anticipated follow-up, Tan Bajo, which means “so low,” the band realized the sounds they were making were darker and more psychedelic than their previous output. Though it retains the pop and rock ’n’ roll one would expect, Tan Bajo is Davila 666’s most cohesive release to date. With a team that includes In The Red, Creature Booking, Force Field PR and Vice management backing them, these Puerto Ricans are poised to turn the indie rock world on its ear. “... one of the best bands at SXSW. Period.” —The Fader “This six-man combo generates a monolithic wall of sound, and if this isn’t as frantic as some of their contemporaries in the United States, Davila 666’s...

Dirtbombs

Party Store

In The Red

VINYL INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON!!! Nearly ten years after their critically-acclaimed album Ultraglide in Black helped kick-start a renewed interest in all things Detroit and rock ’n’ roll, The Dirtbombs release the de facto companion piece entitled Party Store. Where Ultraglide was a covers collection of ’60s and ’70s soul gems centered on the ideas of African-American identity and politics of the era that made an impression on a young, pre-musical Mick Collins as he listened to them on 45s in the family basement, Party Store is an assortment of live-band interpretations of classic Detroit techno music of the ’80s and early ’90s—songs Collins digested as they were originally released, when he was already making waves with garage-punk legends The Gories. The subject matter runs the gamut from materialistic future-disco braggadocio (“Sharevari,” originally by A Number of Names) to cold, post-industrial isolation (“Alleys of Your Mind,” originally by Cybotron) through the instrumental optimism of a worldwide house classic (“Strings of Life,” originally by Derrick May). All these themes encapsulate the climate of Detroit both now and at the time of their initial release. Let it be said clearly: this record addresses both the past and the future of Detroit. The players’ recreation of the sequenced, digital rhythms and melodies stems from an Oblique Strategies card pulled during the recordings: “Humanize something that is without error.” They do so with a crisp, krautrock-like precision on originals that all featured drum machines, sequencers and synthesizers. The two clear standout tracks are “Good...

Parting Gifts

Strychnine Dandelions

In The Red

LP VERSION INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON!!!   What began as a one-off split 45 by songwriters Greg Cartwright (The Oblivians, Compulsive Gamblers, Reigning Sound) and Coco Hames (the Ettes, Coco Motion) quickly evolved into The Parting Gifts. "I thought, I'd write a song, Greg would write a song, we'd record them together, and that would be that," says Hames. "Luckily, Greg's prolific awesome switch was on, and we got this whole record instead." Offers Cartwright, "I was just so impressed with how easily things went that I was inspired to write more material for the project." And so we have their debut full-length on In The Red. As if the talents of Cartwright and Hames aren't enough, the album features intense performances from Dan Auerbach (the Black Keys, BlacRok), Patrick Keeler (The Greenhornes, The Raconteurs), Jem Cohen and Poni Silver (the Ettes) and Dave Amels (Reigning Sound, Daptones). The result is an impressive fourteen original songs penned by Cartwright and Hames, as well as a haunting cover of the Rolling Stones' "(Walkin' Through the) Sleepy City." Catch the Parting Gifts at Goner Fest 7 this year in Memphis, TN, just in time for their Strychnine Dandelion to make its way into your record collection.

Tyvek

Nothing Fits

In The Red

LP VERSION INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON!!!   As Detroit continues its seemingly irreversible slide into the tar pits of economic despair, new traditionalists Tyvek unashamedly take the reins and harness the ambition to keep their slurred, manically refreshing noise pop bouncing around the skulls of everyone still breathing in the real, uncategorizable fumes of the original new wave. With an already impressive trail of essential releases behind them, including last year's debut album and an infinitesimal stream of "tour-only" CDRs, the band is always evolving, yet never strays too far from the original cacophony that earned them a spot in the hallowed halls of modern punk's elite erratics. As dynamically diverse as Tyvek's recordings are, their live set also shifts dramatically with each new appearance, ranging from a monstrous five-piece to the currently stripped-down trio that gets the job done without sacrificing intensity or brazen brevity. With relentless touring, razor-sharp songwriting and the ability to adapt to their surroundings without resistance, no wonder Tyvek captures the off-center sounds of bygone-era DIY scrapings and spins them into gold, all without showing any influence of the "Detroit sound" that's known the world over. Tyvek's In The Red debut, Nothing Fits, is a scalding collection of amped-up and thrust-out songs that cranks up the energy level far beyond their previous releases and decimates the detractors into the abyss. It's Tyvek at their fiery, screaming best, and if this doesn't curl your eyebrows and your toes simultaneously with excitement, then you might need to...

Fresh & Onlys

Play It Strange

In The Red

LP VERSION INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON!!!   In The Red is proud to announce the release of the new full-length from San Francisco's Fresh and Onlys, Play It Strange. After two albums (on Castle Face and Woodsist, respectively) and too many singles and EPs to count, The Fresh and Onlys deliver their most solid outing yet. Recorded by studio whiz Tim Green during an eight-day session, Play It Strange marks the band's first recording in an actual recording studio. On two-inch analog tape! The results are nothing short of incredible. For those unfamiliar with The Fresh and Onlys, their sound draws from jangly psychedelia, Morricone-style Western twang, dark vibes a la Bad Seeds / Gun Club, melodic '60s sunshine pop and a hint of garage rock swagger. While this disparate list may look strange on paper, it makes perfect sense when you hear it. Play It Strange is the sound of a band that has ingested a wide range of rock 'n' roll influences from nearly every genre and sub-genre to come up with something fresh and immensely enjoyable. "... shambles barefoot through Summer of Love-style guitar and tambourine jams, strewing lyrical oddities and flower garlands along the path that leads, if not to where Syd Barrett lives, at least to Dan Treacy's neighborhood." --Dusted "[T]he Fresh and Onlys traffic in jangly garage-pop, balancing psych-rock swagger with generous dollops of sweetly cockeyed melody. Their recordings are lovingly caked with crud, and their jams sometimes veer perilously close to derailing completely,...

Cheap Time

Fantastic Explanations (and Similar Situations)

In The Red

LP VERSION INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON!!!   Some people didn't know what to make of Cheap Time's self-titled debut album when it was released in 2008. It was a huge leap from their first 7-inch of the year before, and it didn't really sound like anything else going at that time. Too glamtastic and bubblegum for the garage purists and too raw for indie rockers. Cheap Time's new album, entitled Fantastic Explanations (and Similar Situations), proves that they are capable of still further artistic leaps. Guitarist / songwriter Jeffrey Novak soaks up his influences and spits out new songs with more complex structures and melodies than ever before, while bassist Stephen Braren adds backbone to the songs with his heavily compressed Roy-Wood-style playing, and new drummer Ryan Sweeney tightens up the sound while still keeping things very loose. The Fantastic Explanations sessions have also become something of legend--tracking for the album ended abruptly after engineer Mike McHugh suffered a breakdown and kicked the band out of the studio at gunpoint. Once the tapes were retrieved over a month later, Earle Mankey (ex-Sparks member and producer of the Quick's Mondo Deco and The Runaways' Queens of Noise) was brought in to mix the final album, which turned out to be a perfect match! Anyone who saw Cheap Time on tour last year opening for Yo La Tengo will be pleased with the way these new songs have turned out on record. Fantastic Explanations (and Similar Situations) will surely surprise, divide and...

Demon’s Claws

Defrosting Of

In The Red

LP VERSION INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON!!!   For any fan of real rock 'n' roll, it would be a goddamn shame to sleep on the raucous and inebriating revelry of Montreal's most delirious band, The Demon's Claws. These guys have been pounding out crazed rock slop since 2004, in which time they've toured endlessly and released two full-length albums and countless singles and 12-inches. Now the band has finally followed up their stunning 2007 album, Satan's Little Pet Pig, with The Defrosting Of... For legal reasons, the title has to be incomplete. We can only say that it's a reference to a very big name in the world of animation, long rumored to be cryogenically frozen. The Demon's Claws play roots-soaked music so ramshackle and loose that it sounds as if it could fall apart at any second, yet hangs together perfectly. Part Gun Club, part Back from the Grave, part lo-fi distorted crunch, part young Mick Jagger with a mouth full of pills, all delivered with a weird, backwoods creepiness. Stepping up his countrified roots on this outing, frontman Jeff Clarke displays a gift for writing incredibly catchy hillbilly stomp unrivaled today. The guy is the real deal. Self-described "liars and scumbags" and sweaty and belligerent by nature, Demon's Claws are one of the most dynamic combos to take the filthy route directly to your brain. The Defrosting Of... solidifies their earnest ambition to stomp their Americana-tinged blues-punk death trip into submission. "Their music reminds me of when I...

Davila 666

Mala

In The Red

Digital release, includes two tracks from the upcoming Davila 666 LP, and two exclusive tracks to this EP.  

Intelligence

Males

In The Red

Males is the sixth full-length release from Seattle, Washington's The Intelligence. This time, main-brain Lars Finberg ditched his usual method of recording all the instruments himself and had his current touring band play on it--Susannah Welbourne, Beren Ekine Huett (Eat Skull) and Chris Woodhouse (Mayyors, FM Knives, Karate Party), who also served as the record's producer. Hopefully this will still be the current line up by the time you read this. The results are as powerful as a punch in the face by Mike Tyson but with the velvet touch of a dandy fop. Marrying buzzsaw punk, DIY post-punk, ramshackle garage (as in played by The Fall--not the Chesterfield Kings), and pop hooks aplenty, Males is The Intelligence's finest statement to date.  "[The Intelligence casts] a pronounced British Invasion pop influence in warped, peak-level lo-fi sonics, emphasizing a connection between post-punk and psychedelia that stretches from Clinic and Guided by Voices through the deconstructionist pop of Swell Maps and Wire and back to the whimsical wordsmithery of Syd Barrett and Skip Spence." --Pitchfork

Haunted George

American Crow

In The Red

LP VERSION INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON!!! Weird George. Uncle Ya Ya. Skullface George. Graverobber Steven. He's known by many aliases. Haunted George, under his Christian name Steve Pallow, was a member of The Beguiled, Satan's Cheerleaders and The Necessary Evils in the '90s. Around the turn of the century, he retired from society to the Mojave Desert, where he spends his time building caskets, collecting exotic roadkill, making podcasts that have to be heard to be believed and creating nightmarish music. Exploring the one-man band format out of sheer necessity, he has recorded dozens of songs (many of which are abstract/noise recordings under the name Snuff Maximus) on a 1970s-era mono cassette recorder with a condenser mic. His compositions are creepy dirges that call to mind bits of American folklore, the extraterrestrial, the supernatural and murder. In other words, a bad trip. To date he has put out two albums of home recordings, Panther Howl and Pile o' Meat, on the Hook or Crook label, as well a handful of singles.About two years ago, Haunted George added ex-Necessary Evil Jimmy Hole to the "band" and started making more regular live appearances. His music remains sinister and unsettling, though it now has more swing and rocks harder. The decision was made to enter a real studio to put down his latest batch of songs with his new, expanded line-up. The result is American Crow: Fifteen tracks dealing with witches, decomposition, murder, death, donkeys, buzzards and roosters. In the hands of...

Oh Sees, Thee

Warm Slime

In The Red

***BACK IN PRINT ON NEW GREEN WITH ORANGE HI-MELT VINYL!!!The ridiculously prolific Bay Area band Thee Oh Sees are back with another full-length long-player. Warm Slime is guaranteed to please fans of their whacked-out garage / psych / punk jams. Recorded by Sacramento sultan of sound Chris Woodhouse, Warm Slime carries on in the same tradition as the group's previous In The Red release, Help, showcasing their more electrified and rocking side, in comparison to other recent home-recorded releases. The centerpiece is undoubtedly the mind-bending title track, which clocks in at nearly 14 minutes and takes up the entirety of the album's first side. It's a psychedelic epic of "Inna Gadda Da Vida" proportions! John Dwyer's guitar playing is at its quadra-spazzed best here. The results are stunning.  "Thee Oh Sees incorporate the oft-referenced Nuggets stuff in a way that feels reverential. With grinding guitars and bah-bah-bah vocals, but with the punk and new-wave elements also at play, they don't feel trite or plagiarized. This is like meat and potatoes prepared by a master chef--totally familiar but utterly delicious." --Pitchfork

Wounded Lion

S/t

In The Red

LP VERSION INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON!!! Los Angeles gets a bad rap. The city is known for shallow glitter, brutal cops and urban unrest--and sure, the stereotypes are sometimes accurate, but there are also lots of everyday folks, living unpretentious everyday lives. It's also true that Los Angeles is famous for a healthy underground music scene, both in the past and in the present. Take the everyday folks and drop them into an underground scene and you get something like Wounded Lion, a great no-frills pop band that sounds fresh, even when they remind one of classic American power-pop of the '70s. Inspired by The Velvets, The Cramps, The Clean and The Vaselines (as well as Credence Clearwater Revival and Kleenex), Wounded Lion is regularly seen at Los Angeles haunts such as Mr. T's Bowl, The Smell, The Scene and Spaceland. Their hum-inducing, toe-tapping tunes wiggle their way into your brain and have you singing their choruses at the grocery store or waiting in line at the DMV.The band's formula is relatively simple: shambling, alternately silly and poignant songs that bend and twist timeless pop hooks. The bass and guitars belch out raw distortion, lending the music a primitive quality, but a whimsical sensibility elevates the abrasiveness to a jubilant level. Wounded Lion writes pop songs that celebrate the unrefined, dispensing with ego and tapping into the primal areas of the brain."The LA-based quintet slams down the perfect prescription for your raw pop addiction with heavily contagious...

Strange Boys

Be Brave

In The Red

LP VERSION INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON!!! Like it or not, The Strange Boys are probably both younger and more accomplished than you. Since the band's humble beginnings as a duo in 2003, they've shared stages with the likes of Roky Erickson, Daniel Johnston, and Black Lips, leaving a smattering of singles, EPs, and CDRs in their wake. The band's full-length debut, And Girls Club, wound up on countless best-of-2009 lists and landed them a record deal (outside North America) with Rough Trade. Now, the Boys kick off 2010 with their follow-up, Be Brave, and it's guaranteed to please any and all who appreciate an infectious mix of ramshackle garage rock, polished Village Green-era Kinks melodies, and vocals that suggest a young Bob Dylan had he spent more of his formative years in juvie halls than coffeehouses. And who can't dig that?Be Brave, recorded at The Distillery in Costa Mesa by Mike McHugh, is the debut of the new, modified Strange Boys line-up. Original drummer Matt Hammer exited the band and Jenna Thornhill and Seth Densham of Mika Miko stepped in to fill his spot. Tim Presley of Darker My Love, a longtime friend of the group, also appears on the new album and performs with the band when his schedule permits. The result is an ever-so-slight build upon the roots-garage template they've constructed over the course of their career so far. The moody parts are now moodier and the band's signature groove is now...well...groovier. The Boys internalize a host...

Strange Boys

Be Brave (Digital Single)

In The Red

Digital single, includes the non-LP track "Keys To The Kingdom"

Oh Sees, Thee

Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In

In The Red

***BACK IN STOCK ON VINYL!!!  Thee Oh Sees (OCS) began as songwriter / singer / guitarist John Dwyer's outlet for the experimental instrumentals he was producing in his home studio. Dwyer, who hails from Providence, RI, has been active on the San Francisco indie scene since the late '90s, working with The Coachwhips, Hospitals, Pink & Brown, Yikes, Dig That Body Up It's Alive, and Swords & Sandals, among others. He formed OCS (which is an acronym for Orinoka Crash Suite, Orange County Sound, or whatever Dwyer decided on any given day) to release a string of soundscapes and moody pieces that were decidedly lower key than his previous projects. In time, OCS morphed into an actual band, working under a flurry of names (most notably the Oh Sees or the Ohsees) and eventually settling on Thee Oh Sees. Sounding a bit like The Mamas & The Papas run through a seriously bent garage blender, this line-up features Dwyer on guitar and vocals, Brigid Dawson on vocals and tambourine, Petey Dammit on bass, and Mike Shoun on drums. The band signed with the German Tomlab label and released The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In in 2008. This record marked the first recorded appearance of the newly harder rocking version of the band and was immediately met with an enthusiastic response by fans and rock scribes. It went out of print after its initial pressing sold out quickly, and In The Red is pleased to announce the...

Black Jaspers

S/t

In The Red

***The Black Jaspers are King Khan (King Khan & BBQ, Shrines, etc.) and Jasper Hood (Moorat Fingers) getting together for an exercise in lowest common denominator, lowest fidelity punk stupidity imaginable. The Black Jaspers have been playing on and off since 2000 but are only just now getting around to releasing some of their recordings. This debut album was recorded in 2001 and has sat in King Khan's vaults aging like a fine wine ever since. Not until now has the King decided to unleash this record on the public. Twelve tracks of retardation inspired by the likes of the Angry Samoans, Electric Eels, Mentally Ill, and any of the dumbest Killed By Death tracks you care to name. A great record for when you just feel like breaking shit.

Sultan, Mark

I Am The End / Catastrophe

In The Red

***Two brand new songs from Mark Sultan (aka BBQ) that a certain to please any fan of his brand of authentic rock n' roll that draws liberally from R&B, doo wop, psychedelia, punk and soul. This single is further proof that this man is one of the finest singers and song writers in the biz right now. Watch for a new Mark Sultan solo LP on In The Red in 2010.

King Khan & Bbq Show

Invisible Girl

In The Red

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  It's hard to tell if The King Khan & BBQ Show is more infamous than famous. Since the 2004 release of their first self-titled debut, the pair has earned itself a place in rock 'n' roll history by inspiring both critical reverence and insanity (fervor for the band's live show has occasionally manifested itself as live sex acts). The King Khan & BBQ show's long-awaited third full-length album will not disappoint the band's admirers or their devoted cult following. Invisible Girl marks a return to the trademark doo-wop-laced, anthemic garage rock that earned the band their fame and their infamy. The record exhibits their effortless fluency in rock 'n' roll's tenets and traditions, but as Mark Sultan (otherwise known as BBQ) notes, it also includes "a song so vile that it cannot even be mentioned." After releases in the interim on revered labels such as Crypt, Norton, and Fat Possum, King Khan and BBQ have returned to L.A.'s In The Red Records for Invisible Girl. The twosome may be rock 'n' roll's fiercest anti-heroes, but they are also its hardest-working ambassadors, touring from Europe to Brazil to Israel, and are embarking on a 31-date North American tour this fall.  FALL 2009 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES 10/28 * Pearl Street Nightclub, Northampton, MA 10/29 * Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge, MA 10/30 * Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY 10/31 * The Bell House, Brooklyn, NY 11/1 * First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA 11/2 * Rock &...

Christmas Island

Blackout Summer

In The Red

There are actually three Christmas Islands: one off the coast of Australia, one in the Pacific Ocean (which also goes by the name Kiritimati), and one whose incredible self-titled debut album is on In The Red.  Hailing from sunny San Diego, California, Christmas Island plays music that on the surface is happy and poppy. There is a dark undercurrent to their brand of lo-fi pop punk--it is joyous and almost twee while secretly depressed and deeply disturbed. Citing Tronics, Urinals, Television Personalities, The Clean, Versatile Newts, and The Fall as influences, Christmas Island is Beach Boys-style, sunny Southern Californian pop by way of the late-'70s / early-'80s UK DIY scene.  "... the band has a subtle charm that mixes sunny California harmonies with a nod toward the garage in the vein of Kiwi poppers like The Clean." --Raven Sings the Blues

Wounded Lion

Friendly?

In The Red

Named after a Spanish fairy tale, Wounded Lion are the latest addition to the In The Red stable of artists. Hailing from the East Side of Los Angeles, this quintet administers the perfect prescription for your raw pop addiction. This new 7-inch features three heavily contagious songs--one original, "Friendly?," and two twisted covers, Wild Man Fischer's "Big Boots" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising." Imagine a hybrid of the Velvets, Cramps, Kiwi-pop, '70s punk and '80s post-punk and you start to get the picture...kinda. With songwriting and playing this effective, influences are secondary. Watch for Wounded Lion's debut LP on In The Red in 2010. "Wounded Lion's brand of charmingly timeless, lo-fi pop would fit nicely on a bill with Columbus bands like the Guinea Worms and Times New Viking.... [T]he band embodies the city's marvelously ass-backwards musical ideology, rejecting conventionally accepted aesthetics and approaches, to revel in an ecstatic indifference toward time, place, trend, and fashion. Wounded Lion's formula is relatively simple. The band writes shambling, alternately silly and poignant songs that bend and twist timeless pop hooks from the sixties onward." --Anomalous L.A. Blog

Vivian Girls

Everything Goes Wrong

In The Red

Brooklyn's Vivian Girls are back with Everything Goes Wrong, released almost exactly a year after In The Red's reissue of their self-titled debut. The band have taken their time with this new album and recorded it in six days--rather than the three their debut took--though many of the songs were still recorded in single takes. Over the last year, the Vivian Girls have toured the US and Europe extensively, received a considerable amount of national and international press, sparked fierce debate as to whether they are a refreshing blast of unselfconscious punk rock energy or a crew of contemptible, incompetent posers and, perhaps most significant of all, become the subject of a question on the Jeopardy game show. Everything Goes Wrong is a darker, moodier album than its predecessor, with a couple tracks clocking in at almost twice the length of anything on their debut. That said, the influences remain the same; Ramones, '60s girl groups, surf, indie pop, etc., etc. This is immediately classic stuff. Watch for constant touring in late '09 and '10. "Mixes Valentines-like melodic noise, '60s girl group-influenced harmonies, and heavy, pummelling beats to fine effect." --NME  "They deflect the knee-jerk criticism the most effective way possible... with an armful of kick-ass songs." --Pitchfork  "Vivian Girls is a guileless wash of bubblegum melodies, teen angel harmonies, slap-happy drumming, and thick reverb." --SPIN

Reigning Sound

Love And Curses

In The Red

It's been five years since Greg Cartwright's Reigning Sound dropped their last full-length studio album, Too Much Guitar. Not that Cartwright has been resting on his laurels. The Reigning Sound backed Shangri-La Mary Weiss on her critically acclaimed comeback album, Dangerous Game, which was produced and largely written by Cartwright. The band performed with Weiss on tour, including an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Cartwright also produced, penned songs for, and played in The Detroit Cobras for a spell. All the while, the Reigning Sound toured the US on and off and released a couple of live albums, yet never managed to get into the studio to record. All the while, Cartwright stockpiled loads of new tunes. Finally, late last year, the band entered Ardent Studios in Memphis and laid down a bunch of songs. Some months later, they went into Echo Mountain Studios in North Carolina and recorded a bunch more. In the end, the band had more than enough for two albums, and carefully whittled it down to the cream of the musical crop. Love and Curses (title comes from Memphis TV horror host Sivad) is a return to the sound and style of the Reigning Sound's incredible Time Bomb High School. The band once again features a full-time keyboardist, Dave Amels, and has jettisoned the lo-fi approach used on Too Much Guitar in favor of a bigger, warmer studio sound. As with Time Bomb High School, Love and Curses strikes a balance between soulful rockers...

TV Ghost

Cold Fish

In The Red

In The Red is proud to announce the debut full-length album from Lafayette, Indiana, creepers TV Ghost--a band who ushers in a vile and squalid new disposition to ugly art punk and carves out a black hole of pestilence that will delight its sufferers to no end. If one can swim through the murky grime long enough to let one's frazzled senses adjust, it's clear how effectively TV Ghost incorporates the licentious nuances of The Cramps' earliest scuzz, no wave's cacophony, and Suicide's terrifying throb alongside cavernous bellows from the depths of the third layer of hell. With their 7-inch and 12-inch EP on Die Stasi Records as evidence of their shambolic songwriting and inhuman creativity within rock's static-laden low-end sound spectrum, TV Ghost now have aligned their belligerence with In The Red and delivered Cold Fish--ten tracks of a teeth-shattering, unhinged, and thoroughly penetrating version of what's lurking in punk's darkest corners. "This record sounds like a nightmare." --Tom Shannon, Cheater Slicks

Blank Dogs

Waiting

In The Red

To coincide with the release of Blank Dogs' Under and Under double-LP, In The Red has issued this companion single featuring two exclusive tracks. "Waiting" finds the band drifting ever closer to C-86 Brit-pop terrain and incorporates more guitar than synth. Stereogum says, "It's like Joy Division vocal lines with The Cure's synth and guitar melodies filtered through ancient submerged keyboards and eroded recording equipment."

Cheap Time

Woodland Drive / Penny And Jenny

In The Red

Two brand new studio tracks from Nashville, TN's favorite pop-punk-glam-bubblegum band. Snotty, catchy ditties informed by Sparks, The Quick, Milk ’n’ Cookies, and early Kinks that'll tide you over until this band unleashes their next full-length. Woodland Drive / Penny and Jenny comes in a handsome, Fontana-esque picture sleeve. Edition of 1000

Blank Dogs

Under And Under

In The Red

For the past several years, a slew of 12-inches, 7-inches, and cassettes have been released by the mysterious Brooklyn artist known as Blank Dogs. Blank Dogs is actually singular--it's the insanely prolific one-man band of Mr. Blank Dog. Not too much is known about the guy behind the bedroom new wave / pop / punk act and he's usually covering his face with masks or bedspreads, but that's fine. The sound is Joy Division vocal lines with The Cure's synth and guitar melodies filtered through ancient, submerged keyboards and eroded recording equipment. And that voice? All the feedback in the world can't hide his knack for melody. Blank Dogs has been making plenty of rumbles in the noisier and more secretive outposts of the underground. All of their records were pressed in limited editions, sold out quickly, and, without fail, wound up fetching big bucks with collectors on eBay.  Under and Under is Blank Dogs' latest and most massive release to date--a double-album housing 20 brand new songs (15 on the CD) that show off his pop chops to a greater extent than any of his previous releases. Also, for the first time, Blank Dogs has incorporated the assistance of outside musicians to lend a hand. Various artists from the Brooklyn music scene--members of the Crystal Stilts and Vivian Girls, among others--contribute this time around, though the sound remains as dusted and strange as anything Blank Dogs has done before.  "For all the musicians crafting grimy, lo-fi electro-rock,...

Intelligence

Fake Surfers

In The Red

Fake Surfers, the fourth album by Seattle's prolific and sacred Intelligence, is destined to change your whole outlook on "pop" music. As with 2007's Deuteronomy, The Intelligence has employed In The Red house producer Mike McHugh at the Distillery to hone their edge to its sharpest yet. The possibility of an industrial/pop music crossover seems as unlikely as a black metal/country conglomeration, but on this new album, The Intelligence introduces a whole new spectrum of sonic awareness cleverly buried under little piles of dirt, with glimmering specks of brilliance poking through.  Lars Finberg, who performs here as The Intelligence, makes experimental post-punk rock weighted down by paranoia. As the bolts-and-bolts drummer of A-Frames, he builds songs off goose-stepping beats and coded lyrics. The Intelligence can't help but swing a little, however--the singing hints at emotion, as stilted phrasing sometimes becomes a howl. It never breaks a sweat, but these songs are like pop that has been wiretapped, shocked, and muzzled, whereas the A-Frames are a robot's guess at how rock music sounds.  The Intelligence has faint whiffs of Swell Maps, Tronics, and Wire's Chairs Missing, though Fake Surfers is more relaxed and evenly paced than any previous releases. The sole cover on the album, "Pony People" by LA's Wounded Lion, has been stripped down to an acoustic pop ditty. This is by far the best Intelligence release yet...until the next one.

Oh Sees, Thee

Help

In The Red

***BACK IN STOCK ON  PURPLE W/PINK HI-MELT VINYL!!! Note new price.  If you've followed the San Francisco underground for the past ten years, you might already be familiar with John Dwyer. Or--tastes depending--you might not know him at all. A friend and devotee of preeminent Providence noise rock act Lightning Bolt, the majority of Dwyer's repertoire falls on the indie spectrum's more visceral wavelengths. He was Pink in Pink and Brown, fronted Coachwhips, and played guitar in the dysfunctional Hospitals. If you're unfamiliar with or in search of a refresher, you can search YouTube for a crash course on any of these bands. Some popular tags are: "garage," "punk," and "sweat."  If you like what you see, do yourself a favor and check out Dwyer's newest band, Thee Oh Sees. "Newest" because they've only been around for six albums--albeit in different incarnations, under several different names (OCS, the Oh Sees, et al.) with several different sounds. Formed in the wake of his more volatile commitments, Thee Oh Sees started as an extension of Dwyer's softer side. Their early recordings were somber and beautiful. Last year, Thee Oh Sees made an unexpected turn, delivering their wildest, weirdest, hardest-rocking record yet with The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In. Now Thee Oh Sees have followed it with an even wilder, more hard-rocking record, Help.  Recorded by Chris Woodhouse (the A-Frames, Mayyors), Help draws straight, dark lines to both the British psychedelic rock of bands like The Creation and the caveman thud...

Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds

Dracula Boots

In The Red

The legendary Kid Congo Powers returns to the psychedelic jungle with a stripped-down, no-frills set of volcanic songs. The premier voodoo guitarist for seminal sexy, swampy bands like Gun Club, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, and The Cramps, Powers is a restless aesthete whose earlier solo efforts explored and mixed genres. With Dracula Boots, he comes back to his roots as a crackerjack guitarist playing the primitive music that inspired him--the raw sounds of garage and early Chicano rock.  It only makes sense to record such glittering gems as Thee Midniters' "I Found a Peanut" and Bo Diddley's "Funky Fly" in a high school gymnasium. The sessions took place in a Midwest town called Harveyville with his nefarious Pink Monkey Birds. Bassist Kiki Solis from El Paso,TX and drummer Ron Miller from Macon, GA provide the Southern soul sauce needed to fuel the engine of the rhythm train. Recording on a stage with an old PA system created a natural reverb, summoning the magic of a bygone prom interrupted by a juvenile delinquent rumble.  The original songs on Dracula Boots go from loud, fuzzy biker rock ("Hitchhiking") to a greasy rump-shaker groove ("Bobo Boogie"); from a scary movie soundtrack ("La Llarona") to The Meters having an acid flashback ("Black Santa").  So sink your teeth into this hunk of wax and waste no time strapping on your Dracula Boots. You will dance your way from the cradle to the grave, and beyond.

Strange Boys

And Girls Club

In The Red

Austin, TX's The Strange Boys evoke a wild-eyed, porcelain-skinned innocence that is capable of summoning the wayward spirit of Brian Jones. The mystery of the South couples with the mastery of rhythm to create a sound completely timeless and familiar, yet absolutely raw and avant-garde. Greg Enlow's syncopated, organ-driven grooves hark back to The Seeds pushing too hard while guitarist Ryan Sambol's voice wavers beyond comparison. Older brother Philip Sambol keeps the pulse with the aptly named Matt Hammer, who unmercifully pounds an old Ludwig set.  The Strange Boys began as a duo (Hammer and the younger Sambol) in 2003. The other two joined in 2005 and the band has been on tour non-stop ever since. Since 2003 the Boys have recorded a wealth of material which was passed around at shows and to friends, but never officially released. In 2007, Dusty Medical Records put out the Nothing EP, and in 2008, In The Red released the Woe Is You and Me single. Now, finally, the band's proper debut album is seeing the light of day. It's easy to imagine The Strange Boys and Girls Club, a sixteen-track beast, blasting out of any stereo system between The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators and Wire's Pink Flag.  The Strange Boys were the backing band for Mighty Hannibal (the '50s R&B recording artist); were main support for Roky Erickson and the Explosives at the Chaos in Tejas festival; have played South by Southwest the last four years, the...