N’awlins dah’lin Sir Stephen knows why the Cajun bird sings. The time-trippin’, style-hoppin’ virtual reality fantasy zone that is House of Regalia delivers eight flava profiles to drop on yr tongue, from the Brand New Heavies-inspired “One x One” (featuring N’Dea-diva vocals by Fleur de Lis) to the Cooltempo / rare groove take on New Order of “Dance for Life,” to the Underworld-weary born-and-raised slippy ripper “Get Wet.” House of Regalia is a lux-layer cake of sister-soul mantras (“I’ll be pushin’ on!”), acid jazz latte lounge breaks, jackin’-the-Black Box piano house holds, thrown shades, fashion plates and dizzy dancefloor dee-lites. This is music for dancers, pure ’n’ sample.
LP $13.00
10/30/2012
MP3 $7.92
10/30/2012
Madison’s insular lineage of sonic reducers replenishes at an impressive clip, so it’s both no surprise as well as a real treat to offer up the debut LP by one of the city’s freshest next-wave arc welders, Golden Donna. The solo soundworld of instrumental synthesist Joel Shanahan, GD incorporates a drained rainbow of niche hues into its multiverse: tranced sequencer constructs (“Shifter”), solar flare R&B (“Paulding Light”), glittering deep-space isolationist drift (“Infinite Earths,” “Flashing Hands Of Carousel”). The interplay of smooth rhythm and ambient body awareness tone-float gives the record a woozy in-and-out-of-focus quality, like coasting through clouds on codeine on a private jet. Grab a window seat. Recorded at Babe Lair in Madison, WI, Autumn 2011. Black vinyl LPs in smeared city skyline hieroglyph jackets designed by Brave Mysteries CEO Nate Ritter.
LP $13.00
11/13/2012
MP3 $4.95
10/30/2012
When Adelaide enigma Rites Wild, a.k.a. Stacey Wilson, arrived in Los Angeles, her show got busted up by the cops before she even got to play (nice priorities, LAPD). Even so, she made a lasting impression, and her self-released EPs of minimalist, Echoplexed swoon-songs further stoked the fire to do a full-length. Ways of Being collects the blackest pearls from three hyper-limited cassingles (released via her own, now-defunct Faux Friends label) as well as adding a handful of newer, previously unreleased cuts for an ideal spelunk into Rites Wild’s memory-haunted grey-crystal waters. Layering dusty church-organ drum-box rhythms with drone-dirge keyboard loops, spectral-melody shadowplay and monotonic bedroom vox, Ways of Being rides the ridge between vertical horizon raga rituals and young, marbled hypno-pop in an endlessly mesmerizing fashion, signaling a distinct new voice in the garbled membrane of global noise.
LP $13.00
11/27/2012
MP3 $9.90
10/30/2012
Collaborations cut deepest when participants tease out the weirder spheres of their vibe venn diagram. The Integration LP meshes Maria Minerva’s alienated pop constructs with LA Vampires’ degraded Byronic house for a luxe long-player of moodswing motion and freaky feminine mystique, spanning new wave apocalypto, teutonic club dub, and Harajuku romance wave. The album began with hazed LA Vampires beats shaped by Maria’s echo vocal constructs, then were further articulated by multi-instrumentalist Nick Malkin’s synth leads and drum programming before being filtered through recordist extraordinaire Brian Foote’s masterboard for micro-edits and fine-tuning. The resultant collection is a composite of bleached day-glo rhythm, Shelley poetics, reverbed keys, extraterrestrial romance, seasonal meditation, and smeared studio experiments - unreal and unresolved. Recorded from 2010-2012 in Los Angeles and London. Mastered by Prairie Cat. Cover portrait painting by Katie Vonderheide; design and layout by Rohan Newman.
LP $13.00
10/30/2012
CD $12.00
11/20/2012
MP3 $9.90
10/30/2012
LIMITED EDITION PACKAGING IN MINI-LP STYLE SLEEVE *** * It is said that great art has the power to take us outside of ourselves and bring us closer to ourselves simultaneously. Few bands have accomplished this rare feat on a more profound and consistent basis than Neurosis. For nearly three decades, their music has touched the hearts and minds of young men and women seeking contact with something beyond the physical world, something intangible, something that expresses the inner tumult of the human condition in a way that transcends time and space. Something that not only provokes questions but maybe even hints at answers. The music on Honor Found in Decay is both torturous and transcendent. It is the ongoing exposition of a vast internal dialogue that seems to carry the weight of eons. With the right kind of ears and eyes, it can seem like the trials and tribulations of mankind are being channeled through five individuals: Steve Von Till, Scott Kelly, Noah Landis, Jason Roeder and Dave Edwardson. And yet they will be the first ones to tell you that they are just regular people trying to make sense of the world around them. Aided by Josh Graham, their resident visual guru, they transmit their interpretations through multiple sensory planes. The degree to which Neurosis allows them to step out of their everyday lives is the distance between one and zero, the distance between thinking and doing, the distance between this minute and the one that may or may...
CD $13.00
10/30/2012
MP3 $6.93
10/30/2012
** Available again!
CD $10.25
10/30/2012
***Received an 8.7 Best New Music rating from Pitchfork. Following on from a pair of extended players released in 2011 (Passed Me By / We Stay Together) ANDY STOTT returns to Modern Love with Luxury Problems, an eight-track album of new material recorded over the last 12 months. Five of the tracks on the album feature the voice of ALISON SKIDMORE, Andy's one-time piano teacher whom he hadn't seen since he was a teenager back in 1996. There was no grand gesture in mind, it just sort of happened—but after almost a year of studio work, the result is really quite unlike anything you'll have heard from him before.
CD $20.15
11/13/2012
2XLP $28.35
11/06/2012
MP3 $9.90
10/29/2012
***Presenting a new collaboration featuring OREN AMBARCHI on guitar, the electronics of ROBIN FOX, and both performing on various other instruments. The music on this album came about as the result of the two being asked to co-compose the soundtrack for a new production by renowned Australian contemporary dance company Chunky Move for their Connected production. "Chunky Move's artistic director Gideon Obarzanek was drawn to the organic and deeply musical qualities of Ambarchi's work and the digital, almost scientific quality of Fox's sound. Over a process of many weeks these two aesthetics were merged. Working both in the Chunky Move studio and Head-gap studio in Melbourne, new works were forged from both digital and analog sources." This release brings together two of the most extraordinary artist/musicians working in Australia today. Both are renowned internationally for their individual practices, and here they join forces to produce powerful music that fuses Ambarchi's legendary guitar sound with Fox's mathematically rigorous tones and textures. This fusion results in sound works that stretch in scope from the sublime and spacious to the intensely dense and foreboding. Treading a precarious line between music and abstract sound, between organic and inorganic tones, this collaboration is a must listen for anyone interested in contemporary soundworks. (STREET DATE - 10/23/12)
LP $19.00
10/30/2012
CD $16.00
10/23/2012
AVAILABLE AGAIN!!! Music and words come together as a powerful, soporific and hypnogogic concoction, especially the album's stunning centerpiece, "A Hymn to Sulphur," which marries CLODAGH SIMONDS and LAURA SHEERAN’s sea-drenched vocals with a tidal rhythm of e-bowed guitar, strings, and piano. An intermittent piano pulse played on the higher notes sounds like a submarine's sonar, completing the oceanic setting. On the violin and cello respectively, CORA VENUS LUNNY and JULIA play with a power and grace that illuminates the other elements of the song, highlighting and accentuating the vocals in particular. Short instrumental pieces punctuate the rest of the album, the touch of MICHAEL BEGG and COLIN POTTER apparent but not heavy. Boundaries within the music are blurred; instruments seep into each other and form new, striking shapes. Other previous FOVEA HEX collaborators reappear throughout the album, BRIAN ENO and FABRIZIO PALUMBO both being particularly noteworthy for their ethereal electronics and guitar respectively.
CD $20.50
10/23/2012
***The Cairo Gang is the outfit of wunderkind Emmett Kelly, long-time guitar and vocals staple in the Bonnie "Prince" Billy band, and multi-instrumentalist for a multitude of legit musical enterprises; including at times: Angel Olsen, Baby Dee, Terry Reid, Scott Tuma, Joshua Abrams, Beth Orton, Joan of Arc, and many more. Records bearing The Cairo Gang name have been released by Drag City, Blackest Rainbow, Tin Angel, Narnack & Empty Cellar. On this effort Emmett is joined by Chicago musicians Leroy Bach (Wilco, The Boogie Band), Ben Babbitt (Pillars and Tongues, This Is Cinema), Sam Wagster (The Father Costume), avant-garde pianist Ben Boye. Mixed with worldly recording wizard David Vandervelde and mastered by Paul Oldham. This first pressing of The Corner Man (limited to 1000 copies) is presented on glorious vinyl in an elegant high-gloss (front) / matte (back) old-style paste-on sleeve with a letter pressed obi and printed inner sleeve. All LPs include a high quality download of the album.
LP $17.50
10/23/2012
MP3 $7.92
10/23/2012
***“A beautiful addition to DAVID TIBET’s loving tribute to JHONN BALANCE ov COIL, a new soundtrack to DEREK JARMAN’s 'Journey To Avebury' short—Jhonn's favourite piece by the legendary film maker. MICHAEL CASHMORE rearranges and plays piano based on 'Crow Hotel/To Be Trapeze' by James Blackshaw from the 'Jhonn’, Uttered Babylon' album, while ANDREW LILES is credited with "Electric Rain" and DAVID MICHAEL with ‘Voice’. Sublime stuff, sends shivers down the spine.”—Boomkat
12" $14.00
10/23/2012
***RITES OF SPRING were among the most important and beloved bands to emerge from the DC underground music scene in the mid-80s. Formed by GUY PICCIOTTO (vocals/guitar), MIKE FELLOWS (bass), BRENDAN CANTY (drums), and EDDIE JANNEY (guitar) in 1984, the quartet released a self-titled LP and a 7” single before disbanding in 1986. They were central to what came to be known as 'Revolution Summer', a period of redefinition and creative burst from the DC scene in 1985. Before that—before they even played a show—the band recorded a six-song demo tape at Inner Ear with DON ZIENTARA and IAN MACKAYE. After the dissolution of their previous band, INSURRECTION, in 1983, Canty, Picciotto, and Fellows joined with FAITH guitarist Eddie Janney and began writing new songs. Unfortunately, just as they became ready to play out, Fellows announced plans to relocate to Los Angeles, effectively ending the band before it even got started. Before the bassist departed, the group decided to go to Inner Ear to document the handful of finished songs that they had written. At this point, not only had they never played a show, Rites of Spring hadn’t even settled on a name (on the tapes, Zientara listed the sessions as Insurrection II). But already, the music marked a musical shift for the DC punk community, consciously breaking away from the macho-clichés that had come to plague hardcore music. The sessions were notable for being the first time that anybody had heard Picciotto sing. At the time, few bands...
10" $17.75
10/23/2012
CD $8.05
10/23/2012
***AUXES is the brainchild of DAVE LANEY, a founding member of the bands MILEMARKER and CHALLENGER. Initially conceived as a solo project, the first Auxes LP, Sunshine (Lovitt Records, 2007), was a one-man show, with Dave handling all instruments and even engineering the recording sessions himself. When it came time to translate Auxes into the live domain, he enlisted help from friends BEN DAVIS (Milemarker, SLEEPYTIME TRIO), MIKE TRIPLETT 9Fin FANG FOOM), JOHN CROUCH (CALTROP), and JAY-BUSS BOWLMAN (RIGHTS RESERVED, EAGLE BRAVO). Eventually, the live band grew into an ever-shifting entity of musical collaborators, taking on a life and unique momentum of its own. Auxes’ second LP, Ichkannnichtmehr (Gunner Records, 2010) represented a shift in approach and in the life of its principal protagonist. In mid 2009, Dave Laney made the move overseas and is now residing in his newly adopted hometown of Hamburg, Germany. In 2012 the band’s third full length, More! More! More!, was released on Gunner Records as 13-song full length, and on Lovitt Records as a 4 song 7” called Mehr! Mehr! Mehr!, which includes a download of all 13 songs. Musically, the new songs have a stripped-down, aggressive punk rock sound- fitting for a city where cop cars are routinely set on fire. Citing rough comparisons to Wipers, Hot Snakes, Agent Orange, and pre-Rollins-era Black Flag, the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Have a listen and decide for yourself!
7" $7.75
10/23/2012
***LIVE FAST DIE is back with a brand new single, and I couldn’t be any happier about it. When I started the label in 2010 releasing a Live Fast Die 7” was at the top of the Total Punk bucket list. Seems the years of death threats, prank calls, hate mail, and general harassment were worth it cause I finally convinced CAMERO WEREWOLF to get the band back together and write one last single. Two more tracks of the sing-a-long no-fi garbage can Jabbers punk you have come to love Live Fast Die for.
7" $6.30
10/23/2012
Providence, Rad Islander Kylie Lance aka Father Finger synthesizes solo synth-voice-sequencer-drum-machinery into unexpectedly twisted yet elegant curvatures of glassy, avant digital-mystic post-pop, of which the four frameworks found on her self-titled debut cassette stand as some of her most gleaming achievements to date. “Temper” and “Separation Anxiety” pulse, prowl, and groove under a glowing ozone of evocative vocals (ranging in mood from minimal wave to fever dream), washed out waterfalls of wind instrument keys, cryptic samples, and backwards echo FX; fractured lyrics about “the hottest heat ever” and “cardboard boxes” and “man’s frustration” conjure an inner world of scorched cities and drugged desires. The B side flowers a more baroque synthesizer terrarium: “Fauna” and “Italy” bubble, scrape, and slide through 96 tiers of graceful, liquid arpeggiations, new neu wave hypno-melody, and ebbing, colorful arcs of psychic voice. A stunning set of songs by one of our favorite new solo heroines. Currently on tour coast-to-coast with Maria Minerva.
MC $6.00
12/18/2012
MP3 $3.96
10/22/2012
Magic Panda creates ethereal and energetic electronic compositions, peppered with broken percussion and wistful melodies which swirl around a warm techno pulse and Tokyo is the perfect embodiment of this aesthetic. Tokyo is a bold statement of intent showcasing the future direction Magic Panda is heading in. It is a beautiful, shimmering and propulsive merging of Border Community inspired techno and understated Lo-Fi-but-not-lazy shoegaze energy. It is the first single from his forthcoming full length Tigerbeat6 Album "Temple of a thousand lights" and includes a stellar collection of remixes from Max Cooper, Kid606, Groj, Lanny May, Defled, and Mary Yalex. 2011-12 has seen Magic Panda developing his studio sound and live set up and he has enjoyed high profile concerts in the UK and across Europe, playing alongside the likes of Luke Abbott, Ricardo Tobar, The Portico Quartet, Mount Kimbie and DMX Krew. First up on remix duties is none other than Max Cooper (Traum / Herzblut.) Max puts to work his unique blend of glitch-fused techno on 'Distant Places' , taking listeners on a melancholic journey through light and dark spaces. Kid606 steps things up with a 110 bpm high energy rework of Tokyo that strips the original of it's four on the floor pulse in lieu of a more laid-back 808 hip-hop groove. Canadian artist Groj (Traum, Manual Music, Proton Music, and Zaubernuss) slows things down with his psychedelia-tinged interpretation of Tokyo, sparse percussion and swirly analog synths abound in this haunting sonic adventure. Berlin-based Lanny May...
MP3 $6.93
10/22/2012
Markey, David & Jordon Schwartz
We Got Power - Hardcore Punk Scenes From 1980s Southern California
Bazillion Points
***BACK IN STOCK!!! As teenagers in 1981, DAVID MARKEY and his best friend JORDAN SCHWARTZ founded We Got Power, a fanzine dedicated to the first-generation hardcore punk music community in their native Los Angeles. Their text and cameras captured the early punk spirit of Black Flag, the Minutemen, Social Distortion, Red Cross/Redd Kross, Suicidal Tendencies, the Descendents, White Flag, the Last, the Gun Club, Saccharine Trust, Sin 34, Nip Drivers, Circle One, M.D.C., Big Boys, Youth Brigade, D.R.I., the Butthole Surfers, Firehose, and many others at the height of their precocious punk powers. In the process, the duo’s amazing photographs also captured the dilapidated suburbs, abandoned storefronts, and dereliction of the early Reagan era—a rubble-strewn social apocalypse that demanded a youth uprising! Never before seen except in crude fanzine form, these detailed and richly narrative photos are now collected to present an intimate portrayal of a uniquely fertile creative moment. A deluxe 304-page large format hardcover book featuring essays by DAVID MARKEY, JORDON SCHWARTZ, JENNIFER SCHWARTZ, HENRY ROLLINS, KEITH MORRIS, CHUCK DUKOWSKI, DEZ CADENA, LOUICHE MAYORGA, CAMERON JAMIE, PAT FEAR, STEVE HUMANN, TONY ADOLESCENT, JACK BREWER, JULA BELL, MIKE WATT, SEAN WHEELER, JOE CARDUCCI, DANIEL “SHREDDER” WEIZMANN, and JANET HOUSDEN. Presenting nearly 400 first-generation LA hardcore punk photographs, including complete color reprints of We Got Power fanzine 1981-1983 and beyond.
BK $37.95
10/16/2012
Formed in 2001, London’s Indesinence is one of the few UK death / doom bands (alongside Esoteric) that upholds the classic tradition spearheaded long ago by the likes of Paradise Lost, Anathema and My Dying Bride—forefathers of the genre who have since shed their roots and explored different styles. Taking influence from the aforementioned British Big Three (most notably early Paradise Lost) along with other luminaries such as Disembowelment and Skepticism, Indesinence has generated quite the reputation in their homeland. With a career that spans twelve years, the group has put out only a handful of releases: the Ecstatic Lethargy demo, their Noctambulism full-length (Goat of Mendes Records), and Neptunian compilation EP. Vessels of Light and Decay, Indesinence’s long-awaited sophomore album and their first release since 2006, is a full-frontal assault in the spirit of Celtic Frost, Swans, Demoncy and Barclay James Harvest that solidifies their legacy in the death / funeral / doom metal movement. Beautifully packaged in a deluxe hardcover digibook, it is set to make a statement as one of the top albums that the genre will offer all year.
CD $13.00
10/16/2012
MP3 $9.90
10/16/2012
Blood and beer-encrusted recordings from the epochal year 2000: Once mammoth Texas guitar noisemaker James Arthur moved from Los Angeles to Memphis and began hanging out with local roustabout Eric “Oblivian” Friedl, The Legs were inevitable. The two filled their days drinking whiskey and beer, searching for pinball machines, riding mountain bikes through broken glass and rabid-dog-filled uncharted alleys, and enjoying spontaneous dance parties which mostly consisted of wearing out copies of the “Quick Joey Small” 45. When they could be bothered to actually play music, they jammed away on a chord or three. They thought they might be onto something, but couldn’t really tell what it was. Bassists were not consulted. All this time, drummer Forrest Hewes of Oxford, Mississippi’s Neckbones was quietly living a few blocks away from Friedl; once his massive drums were planted behind their wall of scuzz, The Legs knew they had truly arrived. With a setlist of Australian garage thudders from the Ugly Things compilation, a mutant two-chord Doug Sahm song and simple, intense originals, The Legs were a short-lived, yet highly entertaining Memphis club favorite, playing alongside Reatards, Jeffrey Evans and other Memphis talents of the time. There were two recording sessions—one captured by Jeffrey Evans with Jay Reatard on organ that yielded the track “I’ve Been Raped (By the Pinball Machine)” for a Pinball song compilation, and the other done in Jody Hill’s living room, which is issued here in its entirety.
LP $13.00
10/16/2012
MP3 $8.91
10/16/2012
Election fever is here and even more of a circus than usual, so who better to jump in and stir up trouble than Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine? Their new EP SHOCK-U-PY! is the perfect soundtrack for the fall political melee. Biafra explains: “Here’s our tribute inspired by the Occupy movement. Not just ‘occupy’—SHOCK-U-PY!—since my favorite kind of resistance can have theater, pranks and other creative sabotage—non-violent, of course!” The SHOCK-U-PY! EP includes the exclusive track “Barackstar O’Bummer” not appearing on his upcoming album, plus Biafra’s remix of “We Occupy,” a DOA song for the uprising that Biafra guested on. “We both go way back in the direct action side of things so I’m honored Joe Keithley asked me to sing on this song.” “Occupy may be out of the corporate news machine right now” says Biafra, “but that hardly means that it’s gone away and it won’t go away until the problems go away. To me, it’s a reigniting of the anti-corporate ‘spirit of Seattle’ but this time it’s bigger because times are more severe.” The Guantanamo School of Medicine will be touring worldwide to support the SHOCK-U-PY! EP as well as their forthcoming full-shebang album, White People and the Damage Done. The EP is the first recording to feature Andrew Weiss on bass (Ween, Rollins Band, Butthole Surfers) and the powerhouse drums of Paul Della Pelle (from Philadelphia hardcore legends Ruin, Helios Creed, Nik Turner’s Space Ritual and more). The rest of the Guantanamo School of Medicine are...
10" $9.25
10/16/2012
CD $9.25
10/16/2012
MP3 $3.96
10/16/2012
***NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL AFTER BEING OUT OF PRINT FOR MORE THAN TEN YEARS!!! With their third full-length, 2009’s The June Frost (referring to the Winter season in the band’s home of Australia, of course), Mournful Congregation finally secured a proper North American release on the small Enucleation Records label. And though this helped to increase the band’s status in the States, the label unfortunately ceased to operate not long after the album came out and Mournful Congregation were once again without support—until joining forces with 20 Buck Spin in 2011. Thankfully, the quality of material on The June Frost—another eight tracks of freezing white, solemn and progressive funereal doom—achieved the first real accolades for the band from the wider metal press. Consisting of four primary extended songs and four shorter instrumental passages in between, it echoes elements of the earliest Anathema recordings in terms of both heaviness and heartbreak. Plenty of acoustic passages, drawn-out single notes and creative arranging make Mournful’s refined, classical sound the epitome of the genre, leading up to their 2011 masterpiece The Book of Kings. The June Frost is finally back in print as part of 20 Buck Spin’s series of Mournful Congregation back-catalog pressings. Gatefold 2xLP with spot gloss print, 180G vinyl. “A perfect semblance of somber ethereal beauty and soul crushing sadness....” —Teeth of the Divine “An ultimate experience of profound grief.” —Heathen Harvest “Carrying the funeral doom torch with fervor, they have set the bar almost immeasurably high.” —Chronicles of Chaos
CD $9.50
10/16/2012
LP $31.00
09/30/2022
MP3 $7.99
10/16/2012
The favorite album of many longtime Mournful Congregation fans, The Monad of Creation stands as a monument of creativity and depth in the doom genre. Originally released in 2005 on the obscure Japanese label Weird Truth Productions, it was widely overlooked due to having no official North American release. Nonetheless, The Monad of Creation is an absolute masterpiece of sorrowful and expressive doom metal the likes of which is rarely achieved by any band. Similar to their 2011 release The Book of Kings, The Monad of Creation consists of four long tracks ranging from 10 to 21 minutes in length. Each is a universe unto itself, its various shades of light and dark intricately crafted and painted with arduous attention. Damon Good’s deep, tortured vocals hang like a noose over the bleak and vast spirit of decay throughout. 20 Buck Spin releases Monad as part of a series of Mournful Congregation back catalog pressings, making the band’s first three full-length albums regularly available in North America for the first time ever.
CD $9.50
10/16/2012
MP3 $7.99
10/16/2012
Recorded in 1997 and 1998, Mournful Congregation’s debut album Tears from a Grieving Heart is the band’s first cohesive album-length statement after having put out several demos and splits going back to their founding in 1993. As fate would have it, the work was not officially released until 2002, on vinyl on Paniac (missing one track) and on CD as part of a longer Mournful Congregation discography to that point. Over the course of these six tracks, Mournful Congregation displays beautifully ornate and progressive songcraft within the confines of the then practically non-existent funeral doom genre, firmly establishing their impeccable reputation within the international metal underground. The album’s lack of a proper label release meant they’d remain relatively obscure to all but the most aware fans of the genre in the United States for several years to come. Now as part of a series of Mournful Congregation back catalog pressings, 20 Buck Spin presents Tears from a Grieving Heart for the first time as a stand-alone full-length album on CD—the format on which it was always meant to be.
CD $9.50
10/16/2012
MP3 $7.99
10/16/2012
Blank Realm is arguably the most diverse sounding of all the excellent bands presently calling Brisbane, Australia, home. Following a host of releases including two out-of-print LPs for the Not Not Fun label and a pair of sevens on their hometown imprint Negative Guest List, Go Easy is the one where all the chickens come home to roost. With an uncanny channeling of Missing-Links-styled garage / psychedelia, Pere-Ubu-esque rustbelt avant trippery and the experimental post-punk spasms of The Work, Blank Realm ably goes deep (when called for) as well as plays it tight and inside (ditto). For the discerning sodbuster who actually has cash burning a hole through the leather pouch found at the end of that wallet chain, this is surely one of the primo investments for 2012.
LP $16.00
11/13/2012
MP3 $7.92
10/16/2012
Eight years after their partnership began with the debut of Dig Yourself, Times New Viking and Siltbreeze join forces again for the band’s latest outing—six tracks, the result of a recent creative (albeit, modest) outpouring of ideas. What’s interesting to note here is how the trio tempers the primal panic-punk of their salad days and fuses it with the sustained, keen pop skill found within their later catalog. It’s hard to know where Times New Viking goes from here, but for right now, this perfectly distilled elixir of sound shows a band firing on all cylinders. What more can you ask for?
12" $12.00
11/27/2012
MP3 $5.94
10/16/2012
The limited-edition Like Sunburned Snowflakes features five tracks in Alexander Turnquist’s unique style, using only plucked harmonics on a 12-string. With this seemingly narrow palate of sounds, the guitarist crafts sparkling waves of notes, employing the minimalist sensibilities that have informed his more recent work (e.g. his 2011 album Hallway of Mirrors) on a smaller scale. Arguably “new age,” the EP is not drifty or ambient—it’s more Reich and Riley than Windham Hill. The harmonics are frequently struck hard and in complex patterns. Like Sunburned Snowflakes is another intriguing experiment from one of the most forward thinking solo players out there, whose recordings are completely devoid of the folk / Americana spirit so imbued in the genre. “My fascination with harmonics on an acoustic guitar started as a child; from before I ever started playing I was drawn towards the warm sounds that I heard people play in brief moments. So I’ve had the idea for a very long time, that idea being to make an entire solo guitar recording just employing my left hand to the harmonics up and down the neck and alternating picking patterns with the right. I feel like it gives the instrument a tonal color that doesn’t necessarily feel at first listen like a 12-string acoustic guitar. —Alexander Turnquist
12" $12.00
10/16/2012
MP3 $4.95
10/16/2012
Feral marks the return of Matthew Bower’s Sunroof! (in the guise of Black Sun Roof), for their first recording in five years. Quiet since 2007’s blistering Panzer Division Lou Reed, the group delivers a more introspective set here, reaching back to the fuzzy, spacey sounds of releases like the epic double-CD Bliss. Among the drifting sonic washes, there’s the crude, Dead C-like riffing of “Lions + Peonies” and the lock-grooved tremolo of “Son of the Blue Wolf” (referencing previous triumphs like Cloudz). Bower says: “I have a problem with the term ‘psychedelia’ [and its] negative associations of a ‘hippie’ falseness. Nevertheless, my arte is, I know, deeply psychedelic in a true sense, a kind of synaesthesisia, a scrambling, an overload that seeks Samadhi in its primal gush, that will reconnect one with the all, or rather, a ‘black psychedelia,’ substituting the elective current, for ‘all’....” In addition to the all-new tracks on the LP, the package also includes a bonus CD featuring a Bower-curated overview of his work. Many of the tracks on the 75-min Zebra Blood CD are from scarce or out-of-print recordings, including “Austrian Shade” from an impossible-to-find Total seven-inch. Also included is the epic and exclusive new track “Spirit Animal Danzig.”
LP+CD $16.00
11/27/2012
MP3 $14.99
10/16/2012
“This is Lamps’ third album and since the last one was called Lamps Lamps, they missed a hell of a chance to call this one Lamps Lamps Lamps. But they’d like to call it Under the Water Under the Ground, which implies a depth unimaginable by anyone but ‘scientists.’ Do they get there? You bet. “A look at the structural components of a rock trio reveals some hidden logic, resolved by concepts related to physics: if you plot three points (one per band member, if you want), and put the musical concepts of power, precision and melody into each of those slots, and you move the point where melody exists closer to the axis on which the other two points reside, you get something resembling an icepick. It’s still a triangle, but it’s long and wide, and its bottom angles are like knives. If they lived anywhere but Los Angeles (or Austin, or the nowhere in between) they might need a device that employs angles much like those to scrape the ice off their car windshields, or as a shiv. “There are some catchy hooks here—some of the catchiest Lamps have written to date, and vastly improved by an industrial strength recording by Chris Woodhouse—but they compress that element of their sound into a dynamic that favors power and precision as its most acute points, amplified / distorted / corroded to the point where it only knows how to hurt. The rhythm section is straight-up gorilla goon shit, muscular...
LP $13.00
11/13/2012
CD $12.00
10/16/2012
MP3 $9.90
10/16/2012
Formed over a decade ago, Chicago avant-garde metal band Yakuza fought an uphill battle as a criminally underrated and under-appreciated act in the heavy music scene. Their unique, eclectic sound incorporates jazz-influenced and ultra-progressive moments rarely heard in the genre, while band leader / vocalist Bruce Lamont’s occasional saxophone work makes them even more alien and distinct from their contemporaries. Yakuza fought for recognition during their tenures at notable metal labels Century Media and Prosthetic Records, and while they garnered massive critical acclaim from outlets like Rolling Stone and Pitchfork (not to mention testimonials from their peers in Mastodon and Neurosis), it wasn’t until Profound Lore released their fifth album, 2010’s Of Seismic Consequence, that Yakuza finally earned more widespread recognition from the metal public. Now, the band follows Of Seismic Consequence with another storming triumph that will bring them the attention and respect they’ve deserved since the beginning of their career. With Lamont’s strongest performance to date, Beyul takes it to the next level, melding their revolutionary style with straightforward, more accessible songwriting and melodies—an ambitious and powerful album from a band at the height of their powers.
CD $12.00
10/16/2012
MP3 $6.93
10/16/2012
Rising Memphis stars with members from many various outfits, Ex-Cult (formerly Sex Cult) crams catchy punk rock through the “we can do anything” mindset of pioneers like the Urinals, Australia’s X or Wire. “M.P.D.” is a track off the upcoming self-titled debut album due November 13 on Goner Records. The B-side, an ace cover of “No Fun on the Beaches” by Aussie punkers The Chosen Few, is exclusive to this release.
7" $6.00
10/16/2012
MP3 $1.98
10/16/2012
***BRAIN TUMORS deliver Midwest hardcore punk venom. Fast and retarded, and sure to please.
7" $6.00
10/16/2012
***“It used to be easy to describe CRIMINAL CODE. From the onset, they came across as straightforward sounding mid ‘80s Midwest hardcore styled three piece with TAIGA on guitar ANDREW handling the basslines. Hook filled and moodily earnest, proudly wielding a love for Husker Du. Crim Code quickly became favorites of the Northwest hardcore scene. After a handful of west coast tours and a couple of limited self released rarities, Crim Code added MILES on second guitar and JAWISH on drums.... This is where the comparisons to other acts ends. Having saw them play three times in the past 10 days I can only describe them as themselves. Once in front of a group of black clad doom punks they came off as a tightly wound psychedelic nightmare, as if My Bloody Valentine grew up playing Middle Class covers. The next, in a room filled with knucke dragging skinheads the doomiest pop you could imagine at a deafening level. The third still a pounding set of shouted agit-punk anthems that could have been the best record SST never released. With this, their third vinyl release, and the first for Deranged they continue to push the boundaries of what it means to be a a modern hardcore punk band. Oh yeah, and they aren't from Olympia.” Follow up to their excellent 12-inch. Full length in the works for 2013. Three new moody hardcore tracks.
7" $6.00
10/16/2012
***“NO MORE ART is comprised of people from rather dissimilar backgrounds in music, but the elements are easy enough to lay out. There are the surf-drenched guitars, the complementary female vocals, and the rock‘n’ roll frenzy of X (Los Angeles), some of what has been brewing in Denmark and Sweden over the last decades with bands like Masshysteri / Vicious and No Hope For The Kids, but also with lots of melody and leads that is reminiscent of ‘80s LA bands like Social Distortion and Adolescents, all infused with a unique quality of their own. Lead singer MILO has been around for some years now as a singer song writer in her own solo project ROSIE TIE. Drummer JUAN MIGUEL has been busy on the heavier side of music, playing guitar in bands like LOS DOLARES, LEADERSHIT, ETACARINAE, and PELIGRO!, in Barcelona over the past decade. WILL has also done time in many bands over the past decade with groups BORN/DEAD, DESOLATION, SUICIDE BOMB, DOPECHARGE, and most recently Portland's RED DONS.”—Thomas Haug
7" $6.00
10/16/2012
***Pissed off punk from Ottawa, Ontario. Building from the chaos of their 2011 demo tape, PREGNANCY SCARES’ debut 7” represents a band that have spent the past year honing their craft without sacrificing the relentless rhythms, vocal venom, or “Born Against aggro-in-the-raw, art-wracked Circus Lupus styling”, that’s become synonymous with Pregnancy Scares since their inception.
7" $6.00
10/16/2012
***Young blood from Toronto doing straight forward hardcore. No frills or gimmicks, just well executed angst driven hardcore punk.
7" $6.00
10/16/2012
***Ripping fast, meat and potatoes hardcore debut EP from this new Toronto outfit featuring members of REPROBATES, TOXIC HOLOCAUST, BRUTAL KNIGHTS, CAREER SUICIDE and BAD SKIN. Thrashing HC punk madness! Recorded by JON DREW.
7" $5.60
10/16/2012
***Limited edition of 1000, includes non-LP b-side “The World’s Getting Smaller” by Mitch Mitchell.
7" $6.00
10/16/2012
MP3 $1.98
10/16/2012
***Limited edition of 1000, includes non-LP b-side “Urchin Promise” by Tobin Sprout.
7" $6.00
10/16/2012
MP3 $1.98
10/16/2012
***Limited edition of 1000, includes non-LP b-side “Casino Model” and “Zebra Film Negative” by Robert Pollard.
7" $6.00
10/16/2012
MP3 $2.97
10/16/2012
MP3 $3.96
10/14/2012
FLAC $4.99
10/14/2012