New Releases

Deschenes, Annie-Claude

Les Manieres De Table

Italians Do It Better

***The debut solo ablum from Annie-Claude Deschenes (of the Montreal bands Duchess Says and PyPy). Inspired by the pioneers of electronic music, Les Manieres de Table is as danceable and melodic as it is disquieting and dystopian. The album proposes to set the table differently by deconstructing the social codes of politeness, and draws from a wide range of influences, notably Steve Reich’s minimalism, Kraftwerk’s synthetic textures, Herbie Hancock’s stylistic diversity and experimental cinema’s unconventional approach to narrative. Pressed on 180-gram ivory white vinyl.

Diabolic Oath

Oracular Hexations

Sentient Ruin Laboratories

***The abysmal alchemists of lysergic black/death abominations Diabolic Oath are back with their most warped and devastating work to date. On their new sophomore full-length uncreation Oracular Hexations, the band's staple approach of using completely fretless stringed instruments and a triple simultaneous vocal attack to depredate the listener's psyche, reaches truly majestic and catastrophic forms. Their technically daring and transformative approach to the usually dogmatic "war metal" craft has metastasized as a highly divergent and enigmatic mutation within the genre itself, where the crushing heaviness of the riffs concocted to their unconventional creation has resulted in an alternate reality of bestial black metal unbound with truly unseen and unthinkable auditory monstrosities. Shapeless, formless and free of any boundaries, the six lengthy spells contained within Oracular Hexations assume an almost globulous, chimeric form, appearing horrendous and misshapen to the listener as they morph and four-dimensionally sprawl like a sensorially annihilating mass devouring the psyche. The gnarled and grotesque nature of chords and musical structures created evoke a sense of disorienting and otherworldly disembodiment, becoming a fertile ground for degenerate forms of ritualism and esotericism that weave an unsettling conceptual canvas rife for the propagation of the absurd. Unbound with cryptic and abstruse mutterings about cosmological, multi-dimensional and impossible states of being, Oracular Hexations is an hallucinatory convergence between technical, crushing and flesh-scouring musical genius and truly grotesque forms of composition and storytelling. An indissoluble dualism between primeval destruction and inscrutable bewilderment which will test the psyche and flesh of those subjected...

Caruso

Kitten

General Manager

North Carolina’s Caruso, aka Matt DeBellis, presents his third full-length, originally recorded in 2003 and the second LP reissue under the General Manager imprint. Unlike the array of loops, found audio, and wall-of-sound aesthetics of 2011’s Pink Cloud, Kitten plays lighter, dancier, and goes far beyond the accessible into the infectious.  This LP sees DeBellis making actual *songs* out of the disjointed pop fragments that appear on his first two singles—2001’s “Titles Are For Babies” from UK label Crustaceans and Reptiles, and 2003’s “You Heard Me” from another UK label, Pickled Egg. Kitten’s sonic connection with the UK is immediately clear on first listen; the guitar tones and thick layers of reverb reference numerous bands from London labels Creation and Too Pure, both seminal fixtures of the 90s English alternative scene.  This reissue was re-mastered for vinyl by British producer and sound engineer, Guy Fixsen, of My Bloody Valentine, Moonshake, and Slowdive fame. Much like Moonshake’s music, these songs hinge on highly-danceable hooks and lush landscapes of electric guitar. The beats harken back to early 00s drum machine freeware, Hammerhead, replete with the ubiquitous TR-808, TR-909, and standard samples like “Funky Drummer.” But beyond the carefully constructed pop scaffolding, Kitten’s undiscovered gems truly take shape with DeBellis’ soft, crooning harmonies. Lyrically, the album is an unapologetic ode to gay love. DeBellis’ vocals bring a nuanced intimacy to the record that‘s equal parts nascent sexual power and vulnerability. On “Anyone There?” he quips, “He’s so fucking hip, but what does he...

Caruso

Pnk Cloud

General Manager

Originally a 2011 digital release, Pnk Cloud is the first of two LP reissues on the General Manager label from Durham, North Carolina’s Caruso, aka Matt DeBellis. Here, his love for the abstract edge of the shoegaze spectrum (noise, loops, washes of sound) culminates. DeBellis’ music is known for its genre fluidity. Regarding his second single, “You Heard Me,” Maarten Schiethart of Pennyblackmusic described him as “a chameleon...one moment he pleases the electronic Mille Plateaux community and then swiftly pursues in a fashion that will make Twisted Nerve fans' "ears drip with indie ooze.” Heavily inspired by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma’s 2010 ambient drone masterpiece, Love is a Stream, DeBellis‘ album mixes sonic textures with a wide array of found sounds and melancholic piano melodies. On “Side 1,” Bending guitar loops weave through (actual) call-and-response phone recordings from DeBellis’ stint at an American Airlines call center: ”I’m in Satan’s kingdom right now / And how can I help you get back up from there, sir?” Eventually, the guitar loops devolve into drones and morph slowly into a white-noise-enveloped vocal cacophony. Departing from these varied sound collages, “Side 2” is a long, engaging and hypnotic piece that incorporates layered guitar drones with unedited street noise and voices of passersby during the 2010 “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” in Washington, D.C. Pnk Cloud was mastered for vinyl by Warren Defever, whose own music and production mirrors this recording’s sonically playful editorial approach.

Death Pose

Midnight Society

Brutal Panda

***NOW AVAILABLE!!! On their full-length debut, Midnight Society, Chicago, IL's death pose tear through 13 incendiary tracks of down-tuned punk/post-hardcore influenced noise rock replete with indelible hooks, sharp angular riffage, and a rhythm section that resonates with urgency. The album was produced by Jeff Dean (Alkaline Trio, Braid, The Story So Far, Samiam) at The Echo Mill and mastered by Alan Douches (Converge, Every Time I Die, Thrice, Mastodon, Dillinger Escape Plan) at West West Side. Dark lyrical themes of personal dissociation, political action, religious intolerance, heartbreak, and the human experience are woven throughout, adding a layer of realism and responsibility to their discord. We live out our deaths each and every day in the modern world and death pose provide an exquisite soundtrack for such dystopian times.

V/a

Brown Acid - The Eighteenth Trip

Riding Easy

If one survived trips one through seventeen with one tiny speck of psychedelic sunshine intact, Brown Acid - The Eighteenth Trip will be the coming of age nightmare. Vintage underground ’70s hard rock, coming at one from bizarre angles, local scene wasteland America when everybody was out for themselves and the drugs went bleak. The guitars kill, the attitude is twisted, even the sex is headed down the wrong road. Real people, no compromise, pure and potent. Get stoked, take The Eighteenth Trip and know that the artists will get paid for this soul pulverizing! Here’s just some of the tracks included: Back Jack out of St. Louis, Missouri in 1974 launch the trip with “Bridge Waters Dynamite.” It’s an invocation to rock flashing on Mark Farner whooping up a Grand Funk crowd, then getting to the point quickly with berserk guitar assaults. Heavy riff with power chord stalks beneath as one takes their advice… get loose and blow up the past. Smokin’ Buku Band dropped Riding Easy’s jaw with the audacious track “Hot Love,” coming on like some fractured fever dream burlesque of Led Zep, moves out of Hollywood in 1980. Swooping elongated vocals above, a total Zep chord move at the end of each verse. Writer / producer Steve Shauger aka Shag Stevens gets a brilliantly messed up sound quality here, the ideal polar opposite of slick. The extended guitar break is an epitome of serendipitously crude virtuosity, simply outrageous! Nothing better than an angry two chord guitar...

49th Parallel

49th Parallel

Lion Productions

***BACK IN PRINT ON NEW COKE BOTTLE GREEN VINYL!!! Note new price. In the spring of 1969, 49TH PARALLEL had a hit in with ‘Twilight Woman’, a lovely song that sounds like a poppier version of what bands like Tomorrow were doing in England. That success led to the release of 49th Parallel’s only album. All hyperbole aside, it is easily one of the top Canadian rock albums of the psychedelic era. The album is strong throughout—from the pulsating psychedelia of ‘Lazerander Filchy’ and the ultra-strange  ‘(The) Magician’, the shimmering beauty of 'Twilight Woman', to the quintessential slashing guitars punk edginess of ‘Now That I'm a Man’ and ‘(Come On Little Child &) Talk To Me’. DAN LOWE’s Lowe's blazing fuzz guitar work stands out on ‘Missouri’ and also when matched by organist Jack Velker's brilliant work on ‘Eye To Eye’, ‘Talk To Me’ and ‘(The) People’. Limited edition of 200 copies.

Earthless

From The West

Silver Current

On the eve of the release of Black Heaven, their debut for Nuclear Blast Records, Earthless turned in this incredible live performance in San Francisco on March 1st, 2018, captured and released on vinyl by Silver Current Records. Since their inception seventeen years ago, this band has become an icon of 21st century heavy music and a cult unto themselves. On From The West the band’s signature high-volume drive and unbridled horsepower create an almost mantra-like repetition as a framework for infinite improvisation. That, and beer-can crushing, fist-pumping riffs and solos delivered by an unstoppable rhythm section. This album is a complete, hypnotic, psychedelic experience in a way that remains totally unique to the band’s virtuosic expression. A live album that captures the band at peak powers and a quintessential fan piece from one of the best live rock bands in the world. Album tracks includes looser, rawer versions of Black Heaven favorites, a nearly twenty minute version of their instrumental titan “Uluru Rock,” and a blazing cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Communication Breakdown.” The album jacket is also a meticulous reproduction of the band’s favorite TMOQ (Trademark Of Quality) Zeppelin bootleg.

Beherit

The Oath Of Black Blood

Nuclear War Now

NWN! is honored to release this definitive reissue of The Oath of Black Blood. Often regarded as the first BEHERIT album, The Oath of Black Blood is a compilation of Beherit’s Demonomancy demo and the Dawn of Satan’s Millennium EP, both of which were originally released in 1990. Beherit never intended for these recordings to be released as a compilation LP; a dispute with their label, Turbo Music, resulted in the label’s unilateral decision to compile the earlier recordings rather than wait for a proper album of new material, as Beherit intended. Nevertheless, for many people, The Oath of Black Blood was their introduction to Beherit, causing many to assume it was recorded as a proper album. Both Demonomancy and Dawn of Satan’s Millennium represent inflection points in Beherit’s evolution. Picture LP with clear rim and a photo of Nuclear Holocausto on side B. Housed in 3mm jackets printed on thick cardstock. Includes 12" insert and 24"x24" poster of the cover art.

Celibate Rifles, The

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Bang

***Another classic of THE CELIBATE RIFLES, this time a wild live album. A sample of the guitar machinery that deployed this band of Australian high energy punk, raw guitars, wild solos and catchy melodies. Recorded live at CBGB in 1986, the band is in top form and shows in each of the songs. It includes classics from their first albums and two covers (Only Ones and Radio Birdman). For the first time on vinyl since its release in 1986 by Hot (AUS) and in 1987 What Goes On (UK).

Infinite River

Tabula Rasa

Birdman

While their first two releases (Prequel and Space Mirror) saw these veterans of post-punk, new psychedelic noise, and 1990s garage rock expertly navigate the murky waters of COVID isolation with yoga-worthy ambient excursions, on their third record the quartet slides into fifth gear and terraplanes toward a fresh take on instrumental prog-rock. It’s not entirely unexpected, but there’s rapid accelerated growth at play on Tabula Rasa. Infinite River is composed of Gretchen Gonzales (Universal Indians, Slumber Party, Terror at the Opera), Warren Defever (His Name is Alive, ESP Beetles, Ethan Daniel Davidson), Joey Mazzola (Detroit Cobras, Sponge, Sugarcoats), and special guest drummer Steve Nistor (Sparks, Ural Thomas, Seedsmen to the World). These instrumental recordings were tracked between the end of 2022 and the start of 2023 in Warren Defever’s new loft studio space in glorious Hamtramck, MI, where the sessions were supervised by Defever’s cat, Brother James. “My apartment is a big, echoey room; previously we were close together in a tight space,” Defever explains. “The other studio is cozy; this is an art gallery. So it’s a really different vibe.” Tabula Rasa is closer to what the band is like live now. It highlights the point at which new age type music can become biker rock—which at times approximates Hawkwind or much German music from 1976, while rarely sounding like anything but itself. Tracks like “Around the Sun” and “Sky Diamonds” definitely have evolved out of the group playing new age type music together. But here, the melodies...

Goosewind

The Miracle Of Tape

Shrimper

The only constant in the Goosewind universe, from their first recordings on Shrimper more than thirty years ago, to the winding spool that is their latest full-length record The Miracle of Tape, is the musical universe that belongs to them, and them only. Like Prince, Beefheart or maybe Rudolph Grey, their music is unique not just because it escapes the tether of genre, but because it is imbued with so many of them without becoming a slop bowl of mushy peas and carrots. The follow-up to Grateful 4 The Times We Share cassette-only release on Shrimper from 2022 veers even further out into the ether with songs landing in between pirate radio commercials cooked up by Rick Goosewind and Melody Kriesel. A fool would try to describe the myriad of sound caught on magnetic tape purchased from a Sonic Youth garage sale, so let us go with that truth and state that this record is exactly what one might think would land on those analog reels. No digital trickery here man, the masters are painting with rocks, minerals, earth, and bone on an 8-track capturing breath in real time.

Flesh Eaters

(Color) A Minute to Pray A Second to Die

Jackpot

Jackpot Records is proud to re-reissue what many call arguably the greatest album of the punk rock era: The Flesh Eaters’ 1981 punk-noir masterpiece, A Minute To Pray A Second To Die. Once referred to as an all-star roots/voodoo combo, The Flesh Eaters could only have crawled out of the myst of the late L.A. 70s punk scene. Fronted by punk poet/composer Chris D. (Desjardins), the band was a satellite for exquisite collaborators that allowed him to bring the full force of his dark, messed-up lyrical nightmares. Members of X, Wall Of Voodoo, Los Lobos, The Blasters, and The Plugz all hopped into his unmarked car to take a drive with Chris D. Its grabbed-by-the-throat vocals are powerfully buoyed by the tight melodicism emanating from the players on this record (John Doe and DJ Bonebrake from X, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Dave Alvin & Bill Bateman of The Blasters). Hell, we even get the perfectly executed John Doe original, “Cyrano de Berger’s Back,” which was re-recorded by X in 1987. The creators of this record made a pulp novel for your ears with an equal chance to scar your heart. Do not miss out—this is punk noir at its greatest.

Young Ginns

Young Ginns

L.G. Records

Young Ginns began in November 1991 when Unwound was staying at The Embassy house where Nation Of Ulysses guitarist Tim Green lived. Somehow around the coffee table, an idea was conceived to have a “jam band” in the vein of the instrumental songs of Black Flag and other SST artists. Brandt Sandeno stuck with the drums while Justin Trosper went back to his previous role as a bass player with Green on guitar. A couple fun sessions happened, that sometimes sounded like Black Flag but more like the guitar player from NOU and some Unwound dudes. A few days later Unwound went on their long way back home to Olympia, WA. After NOU broke up, Green packed up, went west and settled in Olympia where Sandeno and Trosper lived. Sandeno had since left Unwound but he and Trosper were always looking for an excuse to play together. Since there was so much free creativity and time bouncing around in 1993 Olympia, the Young Ginns idea was easily reborn in the Red House basement where Green lived and was building up his next studio. Teenaged San Diego transplant Brett Frost decided that the band needed a frontman after witnessing a few practices and wiggled his way into the fold. A couple of local shows and a recording session at the Red House led to a malt liquor and nyquil-fueled west coast tour with a 7-inch record fresh off the presses from Gravity records (release #3) of San Diego. The return to...

Celibate Rifles, The

Spaceman In A Satin Suit

Bang

***Spaceman In a Satin Suit was released in 1994 and it is one of the best and most mature works in Celibate Rifles´ discography, and now for the first time on vinyl since its initial release. The 14 songs of the Celibate Rifles introduce you to an electric storm, oppressively dense, hard and heavy, which then become faster, sharper and stronger, where they overflow punk, which remains their hallmark, with sharp guitars, wounded and full of fury, until they reach a kind of breaking point towards a more experimental part, together generating an interesting sonic boom (The Ramones team up with Blue Oyster Cult in a particularly gloomy alley). Lovelock's lyrics exude more optimism than on previous LPs and this peaks with "Big World," a declaration of love to his beloved planet Earth. There is also room for his usual biting social commentary. On the album there is also a tribute to one of its musical influences, "Let's Do It Again" by Sonic's Rendezvous Band (with the participation of Fred 'Sonic' Smith, ex- MC5 ). This great LP reflects the simple spirit of the Rifles' rock and roll with catchy choruses and signature guitars, with another part that they began to play with after this album, a more experimental and introspective side.

April Magazine

Wesley's Convertible Tape For The South

Digital Regress

"The wash of flangers & shimmery reverb have been the foundation in Cali psych ever since the Byrds went electric. And while that sound might've dropped off occasionally, it never dropped out. The Velvets minimalist stylings were infused into the mix by The Dream Syndicate in the early 80's & thus a game changer was born. Clay Allison, Opal, Green On Red all took their charge from that current. Then the Shoegaze scene of the 90's looked at those bands as vectors, things got a little more drenched, so yet more seeds were sown into the fertile terroir. Cut to current climes & the bay area is teeming with the latest iterations: Children Maybe Later, Now, & Cindy easily come to mind. But curiously the band most steeped in the mohair constitution is April Magazine, who (thus far) have been content in the shadows. Up till now they've seemed like characters plucked out of a Kazuo Ishiguo novel-mysterious & ethereal-but perhaps this pressing of last year's cassette only release will flush them out. 'Wesley's Convertible Tape For The South' shows the band defly balancing all those that have come before them while also incorporating flourishes of Les Rallizes DeNudes, Hallelujahs & Nagisa Ni Te into the pageantry . So in a way, April Magazine is transforming the landscape yet again; denser, fuzzier, lush & wistfully challenging. 'Wesley's Convertible Tape For The South' is the band's 1st vinyl release stateside (an LP of older tracks was released last year via a UK only...

Antichrist Siege Machine

Vengeance Of Eternal Fire

Profound Lore

As the mighty Evil has come to man, so has Antichrist Siege Machine, summoning the darkness with their third album Vengeance Of Eternal Fire. Expanding upon the latent evil in their hearts and inspired by the prophecies of Old, the band casts their lot with the demons of Hell. Each track here bears the banner of violence and chaos, furthering the duo’s commitment to utter brutality. Antichrist Siege Machine have solidified support within the underground and, after a highly successful touring cycle in support of their previous album Purifying Blade, will focus on live assaults in support of Vengeance Of Eternal Fire. This follows their many sold-out shows in the US and Europe, including multiple fest appearances (MDF, Psycho Las Vegas, NWTF, Mass Destruction, Destroying Texas, to name some), and several dates as direct support to Emperor, and US tour runs with Demilich and Miasmatic Necrosis. Also part of the Purifying Blade campaign, the band conquered Europe on tour with Full Of Hell and labelmates Spirit Possession.

Smith, Steven R.

Olive

Soft Abuse

Steven R. Smith is a wildly consistent and self-sufficient auteur making epic music far beyond his monk-like solo recording practices. On Olive, one gets more of Steven R. Smith’s singular vision and musicianship, this time filtered through ensemble arrangement largely performed by others—an approach he’s explored in recent years. A micro-orchestra of horn and woodwind players was enlisted, as well as other collaborators including Kate Wright (Movietone, 1000 Dawns) and Yvonne Sone. The stunning results call to mind Mark Hollis’ eponymous solo LP and Gerald Busby’s masterful 3 Women score, not only in terms of sonics or tone, but also in the use of space. Smith has explored many angles to soundtrack-like mood music, but there is a satisfying dark rock element to even his more refined chamber pieces. Smith’s dusky post-punk signature, borrowed from Australian artists such as Rowland S. Howard and Crime & the City Solution, synthesizes with the mannered arrangements to push his familiar, evocative sound into new spaces.

Slender

Learn To Die

Digital Regress

"Learn To Die is a bold new step for a group of musicians, artists, and writers that has at least nominally been considered a punk band. A stylistic overhaul. For those who have been following along, it’ll carry some surprises. Slender began over a decade ago as a semi-improvisational cassette recording project, a casual collaboration between a few friends that was initially documented by two self-titled cassette-only releases released in 2014 and 2015 respectively, now both unavailable and out of print. Most fans, however, will know Slender for their two most recent releases, Walled Garden (2017) and Time On Earth (2019), both released on the tastemaking London art-punk label La Vida Es Un Mus. "Their prior work has earned them comparisons to anarcho-punks Crass and The Snipers, lo-fi flagbearers Swell Maps and Pink Reason, and artrockers Cromagnon and Amon Düül. Here, however, such comparisons feel largely unfounded and the band feels somewhat peerless. Moments of artpunk brutalism, lo-fi experimentalism, and kosmiche detours grace the fabric of Learn To Die, but the album reaches for more than pastiche. Teasing the rarified worlds of chamber music and musique concrete, Slender manages something intangible and strange. A vocoded voice intones multi-lingual poems alongside tinny guitars and sampled strings and flutes. Three chord janglepunk anthems arise suddenly out of a cosmic mist crafted by analogue synths reciting the poetry of machines. The album moves in ways reminiscent of works by artists as varied and singular as Nobukazu Takemura, Chuquimamani-Condori, Coil, and Robert Wyatt,...

Atræ Bilis

Aumicide

20 Buck Spin

***ON LIMITED ORANGE CRUSH VINYL!!! Like all bands that meld metal’s numerous disparate incarnations, Vancouver’s Atræ Bilis are not easily pigeonholed. Death metal, atmospheric dissonance, tech brutality and much more are all thrown into the Atræ Bilis meat grinder coalescing beautifully and disturbingly into their own signature fusion like a perfectly functioning innovative machine. On new album Aumicide, the follow up to the band’s full length 2021 debut Apexapien, Atræ Bilis have taken axiomatic strides in expanding the scope of their elegantly perplexing melange of incinerating invocations. Sounding both crushingly concrete and slickly organic, the band amputates all boundaries, injecting cyberdyne slams, serrated inscrutability and unfettered new magnitudes of vocal abuse. Conceptually as committed as it is musically, Aumicide tells of a test specimen subject to experiments in faith removal by intromitting simulations of Hell to sever the self from the multiverse, resulting in the genesis of a new era; an egregore engineered by an absolute godlessness. Produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Christian Donaldson of Cryptopsy, the massive production on Aumicide utterly pulverizes, elevating the Canadian power to uncharted extremities of deadly heaviness. This manifestation results in one of the most singularly ambitious underground releases of 2024, propelling the often backward-looking death metal genre unflinchingly into a far more terrifying future.

Kid Congo & The Monkey Birds

That Delicious Vice

In The Red

“It’s a new lineup,” landlord of the avant-garage Kid Congo Powers exclaims of the Pink Monkey Birds edition responsible for the fifth studio full-length of their nineteen year recording career, That Delicious Vice. “We’ve gone from a four piece to a three piece,” continues Kid, whose unique guitar style has been at the center of some of the most forward-thinking bands in punk and garage: The Gun Club, The Cramps, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and Knoxville Girls, to name a handful. “I’m not sure if living in the desert is making me want more space in music or not,” laughs Kid, a Tucson resident for a few years now. “Maybe I’m turning into a desert stoner rocker. But I’m not a stoner, so that’s not happening.” No, the former Brian Tristan is most decidedly not unleashing a Kyuss tribute album. But one hears the desert all over That Delicious Vice. But the album’s major hallmark has to be its extended collaboration with Alice Bag, the face of and voice of early LA punk titans The Bags. How and why these two took this long to unite creatively is a dense mystery, considering both graduated with honors from early Hollywood punk palace The Masque. That Delicious Vice was produced by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds, recorded and mixed by Jim Waters (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Sonic Youth) at his Waterworks Studios facility in Tucson. It features nine new original tracks that are the band’s strongest to date!GLITTER...

Mela, Francisco Feat. Leo Genovese & William Parker

Music Frees Our Souls Vol. 3

577 Records

***Cuban-Born, Drum Genius Francisco Mela Is Releasing the Third Chapter of the Iconic Tribute to His Legendary Mentor and Bandleader McCoy Tyner. Featuring William Parker on Bass and Leo Genovese on Piano with Music That Continues to Surprise and Delight Lovers of the Avant-Garde. Limited edition of 200 copies.

Circus Lupus

s/t

L.G. Records

Before Circus Lupus landed on DC’s venerable Dischord Records, the group’s original Midwest lineup recorded a full LP's worth of songs less than a year after forming. With the demise of DC’s Ignition in the late 80’s, bass player Chris Thomson headed to Madison, WI for college. Before leaving DC, he dove headfirst into being a vocalist fronting the short- lived throwback punk/hardcore project Fury. Chris served up pointed and profound Tony Cadena-inspired screeds about betrayal, disappointment and poseurs all set to a soundtrack of furiously primitive and chaotic music supplied by members of the DC punk band Swiz. Brief yet influential, this band marked Chris’s switch to vocals, putting him on course to front Circus Lupus and claim a notable spot in the DC punk timeline of the late 20th century. Soon after arriving in Madison, Thomson was invited to join a new project started by friends Chris Hamley, Arika Casebolt, and Reg Shrader. Circus Lupus marked a change in direction from the familiar sounds of DC punk that Thomson had been associated with for years. The newly formed group looked to noisier Touch & Go and Homestead bands for inspiration, aligning themselves with bands from Chicago, Louisville and Milwaukee. One early supporter of the band described the new group as “profoundly familiar yet uncategorizable. Like if the Germs had gone to college and never got pulled into hard drugs and suicidal behaviors.” The original Circus Lupus lineup played a dozen shows and recorded these songs with Eli Janney...

Vile Cherubs

Lysergic Lamentations

L.G. Records

Falling somewhere between Soulside, Ignition, and The Chocolate Watchband, Vile Cherubs were a short-lived and puzzling band that for a brief window in 1986-88 managed to captivate, confuse, and annoy the D.C. punk scene. Consisting of high school classmates Tim Green, Jesse Quitlsund, and Ben Wides—along with Green’s childhood friend Seth Lorinczi—the Vile Cherubs were more focused on the then-forgotten sounds of ‘60s garage rock and psychedelia than on Minor Threat. Being minors themselves, they likely would’ve remained trapped in the school-dance circuit were it not for Geoff Turner (Gray Matter / 3), who took an interest in the band and recorded their two demos. That first tape caught the ear of d.c. space booker Cynthia Connolly, who despite her initial skepticism paired them with Didjits, Cynics, and other noteworthy bands. Rumors of a potential Dischord album built all through 1987, ending with mysterious suddenness after label co-owner Jeff Nelson dropped in on a rehearsal to find a miasma of LSD, alcohol, feedback, and vomit. Though the band released a posthumous LP in 1988, the original Geoff Turner demos explain why the D.C. scene briefly lost its shit over these teen ne’er-do-wells. Lovingly and exhaustively resuscitated by audio maestro Tim Green from the original multitrack tapes, “Lysergic Lamentations” is the Vile Cherubs at the height of their brief existence.

Feel Free Hi Fi

I was so far in I was out

Digital Sting

***Twin Cities duo Feel Free Hi Fi return to their in-house imprint Digital Sting with their first full length entitled I was so far in I was out. After two prior EP's and collaborations with Equiknoxx and Duppy Gun, Feel Free Hi Fi deliver 8 new tracks of their distinct but eclectic digital dub. Amalgamating many of the sounds, sonics, and aesthetics of prior releases into these eight percussive instrumentals. The industrial dub and weirdo dancehall remain but the focus is further refined while also exploring environmental and cinematic sounds to create often dark and heavy versions that are as singular as they are collective, as introverted as they are expansive. The records come in double sided silk-screened printed custom DJ Jackets, with Obi Strip style stickers and hand stamped white labels created and printed by Digital Sting.

Craig Brown Band

Let's Never Leave This Filthy World

Lazy Boy Records

***Craig Brown has been a fixture of Detroit's rock scene since forming the punk outfit Terrible Twos in 2005. After two full-length releases with that band, various stints in other projects, and a lengthy tenure tending bar in the Motor City, he formed his first solo vehicle, the rickety honky tonk-inspired Craig Brown Band.  Brown's latest album is "a warm and richly orchestrated album, diverse and fascinating, with 12 raw and honest roots rock songs that become more convincing with every listen. For fans of Tom Petty, Country Westerns, Reigning Sound, Loose Koozies."—Dennis, addtowantlist(dot)com

Pleasants

Rocanrol In Mono

Under The Gun

***Hot to trot rock'n'roll head-nodders from Australia's Pleasants. Ten super catchy killers. Features members of Ghoulies and Aborted Tortoise.

Total Sham

LP

Under The Gun

***"Delivering an explosive boot to the head, Kansas City punks Total Sham kick out the jams with their latest slab of no-frills hardcore aptly titled LP. After releasing their debut EP in 2021, Total Sham have continuously dropped new releases that conjure the scrappy vibe of 80’s US hardcore and the dogged spirit of contemporary Midwest DIY punk, falling somewhere on the spectrum between bands like United Mutations and Q. However, their sound is as unique as a crime scene fingerprint with their well-developed sense of songwriting and their uniquely weaponized raw power. Now these freaks have teamed up with Under The Gun Records to release their greatest contribution to the world of punk yet with LP—a joyful vision of hellish rock n roll. On this crusade of musical thuggery, the band harnesses their radiating energy into 12 punchy and memorable hardcore songs that will light you up like a goddamn Marlboro cigarette.  Tracks like 'Kool-Aid'' and 'In My Head' are equally heavy and infectious- a perfect soundtrack for leather droogs mindlessly ricocheting off each other in the circle pit like burning shrapnel. The rest of the record follows suit, each song bringing its own inimitable twisted riffs and stompy drums. The vocals are especially dialed- feral hardcore madness. This all culminated in the release of, undoubtedly, one of the best hardcore offerings of the year. LP is an uncaged, euphoric, energizing, and radical trip into punk mania."—Sims Hardin

Crash Course In Science

Near Marineland

Dark Entries

Dark Entries celebrates its 15th anniversary with legendary synth-punk deviants Crash Course in Science. Dale Feliciello, Mallory Yago, and Michael Zodorozny formed CCIS in 1979 after meeting at art school in Philadelphia. As a gesture born of equal parts punk irreverence and brute necessity, the band incorporated toy instruments and kitchen appliances into their aggressive, angular sound. Their anthems “Cardboard Lamb” and “Flying Turns” from 1981’s Signals From Pier Thirteen EP have been staples in adventurous DJ sets for over 40 years - yet some of their finest work is to be found on Near Marineland, a full-length LP recorded in 1981 but remained unreleased in its time. Near Marineland shows the band moving into more diverse and polished territory (although it’s still as abrasive as sandpaper). Tracks like “No More Hollow Doors” and “Jump Over Barrels” highlight CCIS’s singular knack for embedding infectiously monotone hooks in their stiff-yet-funky grooves. Elsewhere we see CCIS going fully unhinged, like on the searing “Someone Reads” or the demented “Pompeii Spared”, where a spray of honks is barely glued together by a frantic synthetic pulse. While this masterwork of malfunctioning analog electronics has surfaced on a few occasions - this first time stand alone remaster includes four never-before-released bonus tracks and includes a lyric sheet. Near Marineland is crucial listening for all devotees of synth-punk and minimal electronics.

Blamers, The

Class Living

Agitated

Sydney rock outfit The Blamers are a modern band—two modern men, two modern women—with a revolutionary bent. Utilizing the latest cutting-edge stereophonic technology, the group—fueled by an obsession with early garage greats—are at the fore of a sonic campaign to simplify rock back to its basic proto-punk form. With hooky riffs and a healthy dose of tambourine, the group are preparing to release their debut album early-2024 after a string of singles. The Blamers have shared the stage with Aussie heavy hitters The Chats, Bad Dreems, Pist idiots and blistered clubs around Australia with their no bullshit, beer-soaked sound. It’s a wonder that a band like The Blamers hasn’t come earlier! If you like the hard ass style of '60s punk with the wit of The B52’s, here it is. With a new attention on the band, The Blamers have been busy recording their newest offering Class Living, a 10 track album full of nuggets on Agitated Records. Pressed on limited red vinyl.

Siege Fire

The Devastating Cost

Black Water

***"A couple of years ago, seemingly from out of nowhere, SIEGE FIRE appeared with a scorching demo tape released as a two-person project with MIKE from DECOMP, GENOGEIST, etc. playing all the instruments and laying down vocals. Fast forward to 2024, Mike has transformed this project into a full fledged band with members LOCKHEED and NYX DIVISION among others. They have been destroying stages in and around Portland, dropping jaws and blowing out ear drums. We’ve been anxiously awaiting to see how this project would evolve with the addition of a full line up with years of experience under their collective bullet belt. What you get here is a raw and intense aural assault of Japanese crust inspired punk. Most notably large nods of the head go to the legendary Framtid. Not recommended for one wanting a wind down listen with a nice cup of tea before bed, this is a perfect rager with relentless pounding drums, angry vocals with dark war torn lyrics, a bass that sounds like a goddamned earthquake, and a guitar accompanied by a large array of pedals and effects. By that i mean this is fucking LOOOOOOUD!!!"—Black Water

Keady & Vallins

s/t

Lion Productions

***Teeming with infectious hooks and delicate textures, “Keady & Vallins” stacks up favorably against now heralded titans of soft pop / yacht rock and pop disco-lite, living in the intersection between Bobby Caldwell, Steely Dan, and Saturday Night Fever-era Bee Gees. “Keady & Vallins” is an all-too-familiar story of potential left unfulfilled—glorious pop music shunted by the impetuous thrums of a music industry stricken by decadence and a preference for high turnover and rigorous proprietorship. A tour with the Bee Gees by Vallins and help from Robert Stigwood resulted in a deal with Polydor. After a pair of singles produced by a young, upstart (now hugely important head of Universal Music Group) Lucien Grange achieved moderate success in France, an album was next: taped by Keady and Vallins during downtime from other sessions. They pulled world class talent from the studio, from the pub down the street from the studio, while also (temporarily) pilfering instruments from the shop below the studio (price tags still affixed)—to create a striking blend of sepia-toned soft pop / yacht rock and pop disco-lite. Born out of a quick friendship turned decades long songwriting partnership between Gary Keady and John Vallins, the full-length record was meant to be a mark of the duo’s growing promise as songwriters at Chappell—the publishing house’s self-proclaimed Australian facsimile of the American duo Hall & Oates (or maybe a two-person Bee Gees?). But that’s not what happened, is it. Dormant since its completion in 1979, the “Keady & Vallins” album...

Osees

(Reissue) Intercepted Message

Castle Face

NEW CASTLE FACE REISSUE EDITION!!! “A pop record for tired times. Sugared with bits of shatterproof glass to put more crack in your strap. At long last, verse / chorus. A weathered thesaurus. This is OSEES bookend sound. Early grade garage pop meets proto-synth punk suicide-repellant. Have a whack at the grass or listen while flat on your ass. Heaps of electronic whirling accelerants to gum up your cheapskate broadband. Social media toilet scrapers unite! Allow your 24-hour news cycle eyes to squint at this smiling abattoir doorman. You can find your place here at long last. All are welcome from the get go to the finale…a distant crackling transmission of 80s synth last-dance-of-the-night tune for your lost loves. Suffering from Politic amnesia? Bored of AI-generated pop slop? Then this one is for you, our friends. Wasteland wanderer, stick around. Love y’all. For fans of Teutonic synth punk and Thee Oh Sees (who the fuck are they?)" —John Dwyer

V/a

Next World Sound Vol. 2 - Featuring Rudis, Dubowski, gataTECH, Krispy Kat Whack

Hyperspace Communications

***Volume two in this series of electronic ambient compilations that recall the golden era of New Age ambient recordings suitable for meditation, yoga, and general chill. LX RUDIS is usually cited a former member of San Francisco's UNITS and is also known for his work in video games and consoles. He has been active in experimental and improvised music both as a solo artist and in groups for decades. JACK CURTIS DUBOWSKY is a composer, author and filmmaker who works in concept music, improvisation and live performance. His output inclueds two dozen albums, three books, one documentary feature film and around 300 compostions of classical music, choral music, film scoring and multi-media projects. gataTECH is SONIA HERNANDEZ, a member of the International Brotherhood Of Electrical Wonders series that features performers who create their own instruments either outright or by modifying existing devices through the art of circuit ending. She plays solo experimental sound with a little aggression that can still get you up and make you move. . KRISPY KAT WHACK is two guys, two piles of gear and a portable wall of sound. No-Cal experimental meets So-Cal exoerimental. Game and weird music backgrounds, small electronic rigs. Tasty textures commodified. T. MILEY and DAVID JAVELOSA.

Web, The

Slivers, Shards, and Tell-Tale Hearts

Artifix

***Slivers, Shards, and Tell-Tale Hearts is the first ever collection of classic death / goth punk as created by The Web. Female singer, Andi Hayes, was a Masque (Los Angeles legendary punk club) regular and is pictured with other punk luminaries on the cover of the book Live At The Masque. The Web was born out of the same musical landscape that gave us the Bags, Deadbeats, Weirdos, Germs, and so many others. The Web created their own unique sound that sounded like a blend of the punk snarl and bite of 45 Grave and the alt-rock / goth sensibilities of Siouxsie and the Banshees. Although the band were only able to release one commercial 7” single in 1983, “Walk On Glass” b/w “Sidewalk,” they did record a bunch of great and consistent material from 1982 up until 1991 (some of which made it to vinyl demos). All of their recordings sound like they could’ve stemmed from one amazing recording session! Slivers, Shards, and Tell-Tale Hearts collects their best recordings and includes a booklet with all lyrics and many promo photos from the band. This 16 song LP, with 4-page booklet, is limited to 550 copies.

Generacion Suicida

Regeneracion

Vitriol Records

***REISSUED!!! New domestic issue. Originally released by Drunken Sailor in the UK. "'What if Blitz hailed from Los Angeles and sang in Spanish’ isn’t a question you hear all that often. Fortunately, we don’t need to ask - the answer is provided by Generacion Suicida’s latest album, which rages and rattles in all the right places, drenched in the memorable brilliance that powered the Killed By Death compilations (ask yer dad - and if he doesn’t know or care, burn his terrible records and make some space to track down the KBD LPs). The band’s slogan is ‘musica del barrio, para el barrio’ - music from the neighbourhood, for the neighbourhood - but it sounds like they could use these hooks to take on the world. That’s a pretty accurate sentiment as well, because this album was written during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020, while the world bubbled over with carefully managed misinformation, police violence and the sickening overspill of white supremacy’s foul brew. If Regeneracion sounds potent, it’s because there was a lot to be angry about, and the result is arguably their best album yet. Those chorused-out guitar lines carry shades of deathrock, hints of Manchester circa 1980, elements of something you might call goth if it was several degrees less furious. But there’s no doomed romance to this music; it’s an all-out attack. Street punk with the smarts turned up and an ear turned to the lessons learned from post-punk (but crucially, not the ‘post-punk revival’ that...

Sassenberger, Bill

Toxic Shock Records - Assassin Of Mediocrity

Fluke Publishing

***Toxic Shock is a full-color, 200-page book that chronicles the history of the punk record store/mail order enterprise and groundbreaking record label Toxic Shock from its origins in 1980 in the grimy suburbs of Pomona, CA to its demise in Tucson, AZ in 2014. Loaded with many rare photos and gig flyers, and through a combination of a very personal biography, oral history and extensive imagery, the book covers the many twists and turns that made Toxic Shock an often misunderstood punk rock institution. It also covers how the death rock band Christian Death inspired the co-owners to create the record label. Graphic artists such as Pushead, Vince Rancid and Jim Blanchard lent their work to its earliest label releases and mail order catalogs. It documents Toxic Shock's involvement with the bands Decry, Zero Boys, Corrosion of Conformity, Dayglo Abortions, Skinner box, the Hickoids, th’Inbred, Skin Yard, Sloppy Seconds, Treepeople plus tour diaries with Italy's Raw Power. Toxic Shock features cover art and several illustrations from graphic artist Brian Walsby, plus several never published before photos from the iconic Ed Colver. The book covers the trials and tribulations of running a totally independent record store for 34 years and an in-depth oral history from former employees and musicians from the Toxic Shock roster—such as Decry, Modern Industry, Manson Youth, Massacre Guys, Human Therapy, Raw Power, Peace Corpse, Pillsbury Hardcore, Hullabaloo, House of Large Sizes and more!

Water Damage

In E

12xu

***"Volume, repetition, volume, repetition, volume and repetition, this is the sonic mantra of Austin, Texas's Water Damage. On their new record In E, Water Damage continues to scorch the earth with walls of punishing sound. It's no secret that something truly special can happen to the psyche when you are being pummelled with trance inducing drones, you can transcend time, you might laugh, you might cry but hopefully you look inward, letting a calm wash over you with metric tons of distortion. Water Damage are the rare 'rock' band that follow in the lineage of artists like Faust, Tony Conrad, Steve Reich and Pärson Sound, one that creates such heavy yet minimalistic audio treasures that not only hit you viscerally but also give space to contemplate on your place in the cosmos. Their longest offering yet, Water Damage hits you with 4 side long tracks of krautpunk ending with a cover of 'Ladybird' by Shit & Shine featuring Craig Clouse on vocals. Drone until you hear god speak."—Joe Trainer, Dummy Water Damage is Mari Maurice, Thor Harris, Jonathan Horne, Nate Cross, George Dishonor, Travis Austin, Mike Kanin, Greg Piwonka, Jeff Piwonka and Lonnie "Palmtree" Slack.

Funeral Leech

The Illusion of Time

Carbonized

***New York City's Funeral Leech return with soul crushing death doom on their second album, The Illusion of Time. Their sophomore release is a more mature, more focused, and more realized manifestation of their depressive, vitriolic vision. Expanding their necromantic sound to incorporate elements of melancholic synths and expansive, sorrowful passages influenced by their Funeral Doom forebears (Mournful Congregation, Evoken, Asunder) and the powerful guitar harmonies and solos of traditional doom (Solstice, Candlemass, Cathedral, Scald), Funeral Leech show they are an ever-growing, slowly encroaching death machine that none can escape. The Illusion of Time is a deeply personal journey through five writings of time, guilt, grief, and loss, clocking in at 43 grueling minutes. Funeral Leech remind you that time means nothing, but… TIME’S TIDE WILL SMOTHER YOU! The Illusion of Time was Recorded by Sasha Stroud at Artifact Audio. Mixed and Mastered by Dan Lowndes at Resonance Sound Studio. Cover Artwork by Karmazid.

Sarcasm

Crematory

Nuclear War Now

***Sarcasm began in Slovenia in 1987. The teenage trio of Ales Blaznik (guitar), Sandi Dolinar (bass) and Matjaz Kacin (drums) began their career playing heavy metal covers, their first being Slayer’s “Black Magic”. After gigging in their hometown of Kranj, Sarcasm started writing their own songs and added the vocal talents of Osim Cehic, aka Paco. Their initial demos were recorded in 1988 and garnered positive reactions from the Yugoslavian metal community. With the addition of second guitarist Matjaz Hudobivnik later that year, Sarcasm became one of the leading names in the nascent Slovenian metal scene, opening for Motöread and counting the likes of Destruction among their fans. Crematory is the first official full-length from Sarcasm. Originally released on cassette by the band in 1989, this record is a milestone in both eastern European metal and '80s thrash in general. Lightning fast and deftly executed, Sarcasm's attack recalls the best of pure '80s speed with a tonal grounding in classic heavy metal. The guitar work of Blaznik and Hudobivnik is razor sharp, with unreal twin harmonies and truly mind-bending solos (see “The Krueger Story”, for example). Paco’s vocal stylings pay homage to the early works of Tom Araya while remaining unique in their deliberate application. A classic in Slovenia, Crematory belongs in the international canon of classic thrash metal.