Search results for "anyway"

Baggett, Lee

Anyway

Perpetual Doom

***"Lee Baggett began a new chapter of his eclectic and varied songwriting career with the 2021 release of Just A Minute, and he’s continuing his experimental streak with his latest full length, Anyway. The seasoned musician is changing his stripes again with this 10-song collection by leaning into a more rollicking sound at times, as evidenced by the brisker feeling “Fruit Dog,” the album’s lead single, and the bustling and twangy penultimate track, “Highway Roll.” By embracing more country-tinged sonic elements like banjo, organ-sounding keys, and harmonica, Baggett is able to weave through winding narratives that poignantly parse through the challenging nature of change and evolution. On “Highway Roll,” he confronts how landscapes and settings he once knew are now unrecognizable, and takes that motif a step further on “Earlier Than The World” by achingly and vividly describing “concrete and rubble” amongst a sea of delicate, yet biting guitar riffs. Escape seems to be a viable option for Baggett with “Sink In My Dreams” and “Dust In The Wind” serving as the album’s soothing remedies, inviting the listener to sit back and get lost in Baggett’s mesmerizing guitar playing. His nimble guitar work is a prominent fixture on Anyway, acting as a crux at several key points. It resonates forcefully and feels emotionally charged. Just take the meandering bridge on “Earlier Than The World” as a prime example of how Baggett can aptly convey feeling through riffs."—Tom Gallo

Smarts

Who Needs Smarts, Anyway?

Feel It

Smarts are a relatively new Australian band who began playing shows around Melbourne and surrounds towards the end of 2018. Combining frantic, yet taut and rapidly-paced rhythms amidst playful, almost child-like riffs and melodies that just about make you want to pull your hair out, Smarts are a sound of their own. The band stemmed out of a bedroom demo that was recorded for fun a year earlier by Billy Gardner (bass, vocals) and Mitch Campleman (guitar) in Geelong. After letting it collect dust for 12 months, they assembled a band to perform the songs live featuring Jake Robertson on drums and Sally Buckley on synth; and released the four-song demo cassette, “Smart World”. Stella Rennex later joined the band, largely filling out the sound with her eccentric saxophone parts. “Who Needs Smarts, Anyway?” was recorded by the band themselves over a weekend slumber in Geelong at the DIY studio setup; The Barracks, with finishing coats added in Melbourne before sending off to mix-master-Mikey Young in Rye. There’s a feeling throughout as if the whole thing could collapse into pieces at any moment, and just when you think it’s about to, Smarts weave their way out and into a new direction. Points of reference could be compared to the quirkiness of LA’s Suburban Lawns or Geza X, as well as citing influence from modern sounds like Japanese band Vodovo and the ever-evolving Midwest American punk scene. It could even be viewed as a refreshing and original extension of the so-called...

Obnox

A Ragin’ In The Sun

Anyway

Anyway is proud to release "A Ragin' in the Sun" by Cleveland's Obnox which is the alias by Lamont "Bim" Thomas, who has spent a lifetime immeresed in music. Some may look at Obnox “A Ragin' in the Sun” ep as another overgrown 7" with no direction, but in actuality, this record is simply a pop record that's been sprinkled with raw punk and a little hip hop beat culture. "Ragin" is not unlike this year's previous three releases by Lamont Thomas, best known as the drummer in Bassholes, This Moment in Black History, Puffy Areolas, and Unholy 2, all of whom have records to be released in 2013. Needless to say Thomas is responsible for nearly a dozen releases last year and there's not a bad one in the bunch. The "A Ragin in the Sun ep" is one of the strongest releases of the pack with its blown out, some what, Spectorian production.  This record is limited to 500 copies and then it will be gone.

Weeks, Greg

Blood Is Trouble

Ba Da Bing!

***If personal strife in any way elevates artistic expression, then the career of singer-songwriter Greg Weeks is strangely compelling. Hardships such as exasperation with his own recurring health problems (a physical inability to play guitar) and depression, a dogged determination to turn things around -- and to beat crippling stage fright-- led Weeks to accept an offer to perform at VPR's highly regarded Amstel Fest in Amsterdam. The experience transformed his outlook and launched him on a series of tours, both here and abroad, and brought him to a point of experimentation in songcraft that resulted in the material for Blood is Trouble. Produced and recorded by himself over the summer of 2004, Blood is Trouble marks the investigation of new songwriting territory for Weeks. More focused melodically, with richer harmonies, and a bolder folk / rock presentation, the album radiates an honesty of personal expression that comes naturally to Weeks. It is, in fact, the only means by which he operates. Momentum was stifled by crippling tendonitis and carpal tunnel inflammations, leaving Blood is Trouble on the back burner for nearly a year. While patiently awaiting relief from his symptom-- a relief that never fully arrive-- Weeks co-formed the acid-folk group Espers, whose debut he produced, recorded, and released in spring of 2004 on Locust / Time Lag, met critical praise and, more importantly, struck a significant chord within the music listening community.  

Prefecture

S/t

Rerun

***PREFECTURE started in late 2006 and for a brief moment anyway, was a punk house favorite in St. Louis. They played snarling Punk-core. Not fast enough for the thrash-only crowd but certainly too abrasive for the hipster/un-punk set. The band recorded this EP themselves, in their practice space. It's loud. It's raw. It's what Prefecture is. The record has three mid-tempo wall-o-punk-fuzz tunes and one Discharge-y blast. Three of the songs were originally intended for release as a 7" on Sack O' Shit Records in 2008. It's about five years later we figured it was time to make that happen. Featuring members of SYNTAX ERROR, MEDICAL TOURISTS, THE ADULT TOYS, CIVIC PROGRESS and MANIPULATION. Pressed on thick, black vinyl and packaged in a heavyweight sleeve with lyrics and pictures.

Mary Lynn

My Animal

Anyway

Singer­Songwriter Mary Lynn's debut on Anyway Records finds her stepping into the sheen of a full rock band to bring powerful songs on love, growing pains, and relationships. Based out of Columbus, OH, and armed with her piano, voice, and emotions ­ she has the superpower ability to spin a phrase with the catchiest hooks imaginable. Her former band of nearly a decade, This Is My Suitcase, released three records of noise­inflected art pop before the band decided to move on, leaving Mary Lynn to pursue her own music. Following up from the quirky pop diary that was her first solo album, F​amiliar Things & Places, h​er upcoming release strikes a louder, braver pose. Drenched in beautiful melodies and confident vulnerability, "My Animal" dives into the same emotional territory as Aimee Mann and Regina Spektor while maintaining a unique pop­rock energy that consistently surprises. As she sings about the confusing states of being alive, Mary Lynn makes her songs sound effortless. Her strong melodies soar above the painful experiences that birthed them; all while sticking to listener's minds like glue ­ which means they may find themselves singing the choruses of "Two & Two" or "Funeral" when they wake up in the morning. Quite simply, "My Animal" is full of terrific pop songs. Mary Lynn partnered with Bill Moriarty (Man Man, Dr Dog) to help bring "My Animal" into the, well, true sonic animal that it is. And Mary Lynn says she wants her music to be...

Ghost Shirt

Domestique

Anyway

"Domestique is Ghost Shirt's full-length debut on the legendary Anyway Records (Guided by Voices, New Bomb Turks, Jenny Mae, The Ass Ponys, Gaunt). "I distinctly remember my first time hearing the band. It was late 2009, the song was 'History of the Radio,' and 30 seconds in, I went Kool-Aid Man onto the Ghost Shirt bandwagon. I immediately played 'Radio' again, just to make sure I had heard what I thought I heard. I've had this experience with three (now four) songs: The Beatles, 'Happiness Is a Warm Gun'; Flaming Lips, 'Five Stop Mother Superior Rain'; Teenage Fanclub, 'The Concept.' "Who has the balls, let alone talent, to join that triumvirate of awesome? Five songs into their career and they're already in the pantheon. Get in now, friends. The record contains New Pornographer sing-alongs mixed with She-and-Him-style boy / girl vocals. This band has all the ingredients for a Neutral Milk Hotel or Surfer Rosa-era Pixies-type breakout. Beyond that, who knows?" --The Audios Lounge, Austin, TX

Brat Curse

S/t

Anyway

Brat Curse debuts their second full-length, and first for Anyway with the self-titled “Brat Curse.” Formed in 2014 in Dayton, Ohio by Brian Baker, Justin Baker and Chris Mengerink, Brat Curse takes their cue from a long line of Ohio guitar bands such as Gaunt, Guided by Voices, Connections and Swearing at Motorists. The band members stick to a well worn Ohio pattern of playing in a variety of bands, as Brian plays in Dana (Heel Turn Records) & Sega Genocide (Just Because), his brother Justin also plays in WV White (Anyway), Chris plays in Good Shade (Dirtnap) and they welcome new comer Joe Camerlengo (Van Dale, Counterfeit Madison, Blanket Boys). The sound of Brat Curse fondly recalls the snotty spark of Guant without the late great Jerry Wick’s assholish-ness, as well as Jawbreaker and other fondly remembered bands that like guitars. The band will tour extensively in the second half of 2019.

St. Lenox

Ten Songs About Memory And Hope

Anyway

Ten Songs About Memory and Hope, the Anyway Records album debut of New York’s St. Lenox, is Choi’s singularly thrilling mix of popsong craftsmanship, atmospheric electro kicks, rich singing, jazz freedom, and, yes, karaoke. All of this, rendered with charisma to burn, is precisely what you hear on an energetic St. Lenox track like “I Still Dream of the ‘90s,” which colors the recent past with current longings for flying cars, or “Just Friends,” a fluidly melodic mid-tempo ballad that insists that pop-soul lives in 2013. For St. Lenox, emotion starts, although doesn’t end, with Choi’s voice, an agile tenor with an undewy top-end glow. His voice is, at any rate, one reason why songs such as “That Old Time Religion” and “Bitter Pill” occupy a listener’s memory long after the tracks finish. - James Hunter

Koe-Krompecher, Bela

Do You Remember Rock And Roll Record Stores ?

Anyway

Adapted from Bela Koe-Krompecher's (co-founder of Anyway Records/former co-owner of Used Kids Records) blog. "Do You Remember" is a true story of the interactions of two record store employees how had several interesting experiences with the Ramones. It is not necessarily a story of fan-dome but a reflection of a time that has since passed with the dismantling of record stores and the pre-internet era, where meeting idols was doable especially when they hold the same passion as their listeners. Bela's blog has a readership of over 60,000 and has been featured in Paste, WFMU, vinyljourney.com, Dusted and many other blogs and music journals. "Do You Remember" is a full-fledged comic, drawn by Marvel/DC artist Andy Bennett and adapted by Nix Comics honcho, Ken Eppstein. With a limited run of only 500 print copies (with 350 pre-sells), "Do You Remember" is a nice time capsule for those who survived the past two decades. Bela also contributed to "Malls Across America" by photographer Michael Galinsky which was named one of Time magazine's books of the year for 2013.  Some words about Bela's writing: "Very few of us are able to write about the formative experiences of our twenties without coming off as nostalgic has-beens, wannabes, or never-weres... As unfortunate and perhaps even depressing as the story sounds, it's a fascinating phenomenon to observe from within oneself, and by my count, no one is doing a better job of chronicling the metamorphosis than Bela Koe-Krompecher"-Read.My.Back (WPRB) "Bela wrote the finest ode to Jim Shepard"-fuckinrecordreviews "the best...

Demonbrother

Beyond The Veil

Iron Lungs

***The slowest American power violence record. Who needs all those pesky blast beats and indecipherable riffs anyway? That's all junk. Hold it! Don't go thinking this is some metallic sludge nonsense either. We assure you, humble listeners, Beyond The Veil is the tumultuous, boundary-pushing sonic purveyor to satiate the constant hunger for new brutality. A true hardcore debut. Sounds by Dead Air. Art by Steak Mtn.

Kyle Sowashes, The

Nobody (10th Anniversary Expanded Edition)

Anyway

The third album from Columbus, Ohio's The Kyle Sowashes (and their first for Anyway Records) has been granted a 10-year anniversary expanded edition.   "Nobody" was recorded in February 2010 by John Curley of The Afghan Whigs and features guest vocals by Wussy's Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker. These ten songs of indie rock nostalgia remain among the band's most celebrated work, and now we can add ten more years of nostalgia on top!  Originally released July 6, 2010, this expanded edition features unearthed 4-track demos and a live set from a show they played just a few months before this was recorded.   RIYL: Superchunk, Dinosaur Jr, Pavement

WV White

House Of Spiritual Athletes

Anyway

WVWhite’s follow-up album to the acclaimed 2014 debut, West Virginia White, on Anyway records. Since forming in early 2012, WVWhite has played with bands such as Parquet Courts, Doug Gillard, Sic Alps, Teen Suicide, Archer Prewitt and a short tour with Sleepyhead. They played the 2014 Nelsonville Music Festival as well as the 2014 CMJ Music Marathon. The debut album made several Best of 2014 lists including Village Voice Pazz and Jop.“There’s the wildly psychedelic American shoegaze of The Swirlies and The Lilys, the slacker-pop quirk and drawl of Pavement and Built to Spill, even the space-age percolations of Stereolab. It’s where they converge, shatter, and form blissful swells of chaos that is the most intriguing and refreshing quality of WV White. They simultaneously sound like a band that rolled out of bed and onto stage, scratching the sleep from their eyes but deciding to wail, and a band that have been trained hours on end by bards of the recent past to preserve the indie rock touchstones of the ’90s.” - Kevin Elliot, Agit Reader

Shakane

Gang Man / Gang Bang

Just Add Water

***Heavy 1974 Junkshop Glam cruncher “Gang Man” available again for the first time in nearly 50 years. B-side is the unreleased original version entitled “Gang Bang” with the tawdry lyrics that could not be released in any way, shape or form back in the 70s. Produced by MIKI DALLON who also worked with The Boys Blue, The Sorrows and early Billy Murcia-era New York Dolls. Edition of 300 copies on black vinyl.

Wolverton Brothers

Eholist / Not Enough

Anyway

***These rural acidifiers have been stir-frying their unique brand of music since the mid-80's at such interstate rest areas as Okra, Atavistic and Sub Pop. You may now add Anyway to that list. Limited edition of 300.

Father Murphy

9 Heretical Views

Aagoo

***With the darkly celestial sounds of FATHER MURPHY’s spring 2012 album Anyway, Your Children Will Deny It still fresh in our minds, we put ten of the Italian psychedelic pop trio’s songs into the hands of our favorite experimental artists. The results of these sonic foreign exchanges are 11 visionary reinterpretations of Father Murphy’s already kaleidoscopic tunes. They comprise a monumental artifact of the avant-noise world of 2013. The Father Murphy Anyway, Your Children Will Deny It Remix Series is released in two parts—The 7” features INDIAN JEWELRY’s reworking of “His Face Showed No Distortions” and PHILIPPE PETIT’s mix of “Diggin the Bottom of the Hollow.” The LP contains a remix of every song on the album. The artists include: BLACK DICE, HAPPY NEW YEAR, EMA, MOCK THE ZUMA, SIC ALPS, THULEBASEN, W.H.I.T.E, YVETTE and ZULUS.

St. Lenox

Ten Songs About Memory And Hope / Ten Hymns From My American Gothic

Anyway

Both of St. Lenox’s albums together on a two-CD set! Ten Songs About Memory And Hope, the Anyway Records album debut of New York’s St. Lenox and Andrew Choi’s singularly thrilling mix of pop-song craftsmanship, atmospheric electro kicks, rich singing, jazz freedom, and, yes, karaoke, is rendered with charisma to burn. Energetic tracks like “I Still Dream of the ’90s” colors the recent past with current longings for flying cars, while “Just Friends,” a fluidly melodic mid-tempo ballad, insists that pop-soul lives in 2013. Ten Hymns From My American Gothic is a sprawling, layered, stream-of-consciousness portrait of modern American life, presented by Choi as a gift to his father, who immigrated to the United States, in honor of his 70th birthday. Written, performed and recorded by the writer in off-hours while working as an attorney in Manhattan, the album meditates on progressive themes, immigration, cultural divide, forgiveness and manifest destiny.

Homeless Cadaver

Fat Skeleton

Iron Lung

***I once heard a story about seeing a guy in pretty rough shape digging through the trash for something, anything. It was outside of a shitty fast-food joint like Naugles or Jimboy's or something. Anyway, his face lit up when he gripped a prize and whipped a slimy bag of past date steak chunks outta the can. He proceeded to squeeze the contents into his mouth, chewing and gagging the whole time, like a snake trying to choke down a severed leg from a car accident or something. That's what the music sounds like too. Get gross with it, like Bobby Soxx at a high school dance. 2nd of 5 in the Systemic Surgery series each hand numbered and limited to 200. Hand stamped labels on black vinyl housed in a custom die cut sleeve with a risograph print hand glued to the front. Classy.

John The Band

Masterpiece / Old Friends

Chunklet

As often happens, I was out snooping for new jams one morning and came across this band called John The Band from Louisville, Kentucky. I thought they sounded like a chooglin' version of Thinkin Fellers maybe. Anyway, I reached out to them and they were into doing a single. So here it is. "Masterpiece" is truth in advertising.

Miller, Peter (big Boy)

World War IV

Gear Fab

***A reissue of the 1969 masterpiece by PETE MILLER (aka BIG BOY PETE). A forty-seven-minute symphonic poem that graphically depicts the final hour (well, three-quarters of it, anyway) of destruction for planet Earth. Having toured extensively with the Beatles, Miller gave the record to John Lennon, who almost released it on Apple. Digitally remastered from the orginal master, pressed on 180-gram vinyl, and packaged with the original artwork.

Kyle Sowashes

Nobody

Anyway

Normally, naming a band after oneself is a shallow stroke of ego (e.g., Steve Miller, Bob Seger), but for Kyle Sowash, it couldn't be any other way. After slaving over a decade's worth of unrecognized lo-fi indie anthems, he deserves a complete, full-throttle band to flesh out his earnest ballads and scrappy pop songs. The Kyle Sowashes are a supergroup of sorts, composed of four dynamic players assembled from formidable Ohio bands such as 84 Nash, Sun God and SPD GVNR, but each is channeling a little Kyle Sowash on Nobody. Recorded in February 2010 in snowy Cincinnati, Ohio by former Afghan Whigs bassist John Curley, Nobody's ten songs are straight out of the indie rock cookbook. Tracks like the propulsive "Rough Week" and "Blast From the Past" are fortified with extra heft and sonic vision, but they retain the goofy charm and sharp hooks that have defined Sowash's career. Sowash readily admits his debt to indie rock's golden age--Nobody is a study in the work of bands such as Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, Silkworm and Guided by Voices--but he draws on those influences judiciously. In other words, this is no tribute album. While "Can't Make Up my Mind" and "I Would Like To Speak To Yr Manager" will certainly signal a nostalgic flag, the themes are distinctly Columbus, distinctly Kyle Sowash. This album makes getting older and longing for the mid-'90s sound fun... It's time to get your beard ready again.

MacDermot, Galt

Duffer / Duffer in F

Devin's 7s

***"Man alive. Galt MacDermot. You know who he is. And if you don’t, you’d better ask somebody. Most famous (probably, in certain circles anyway) as the composer and arranger of the 1969 Grammy-award winning, perennially-running-somewhere musical Hair, which had three no. 1 singles including 'Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In'. But his catalog is so much more than that. SO much more. He’s incomparable. He composed music for a grip of films and plays, but my favorite is his solo work. (well, with bands he’d put together, but you know what I mean). His body of work includes jazz, soul, and classical and some of it is downright FUNKY. He’s been sampled by Handsome Boy Modeling School, MF Doom, Run-DMC, DJ Vadim, DJ Premier, Busta Rhymes, and who knows who else. He’s worked with Bernard Purdie, Idris Mohammed, Jimmy Lewis, and countless others. Nothing I can write can do him any justice. This record here has two different versions of one of my favorites—'Duffer' and 'Duffer in F.' Are they the same song? Yes. Are they different? Yes. Side A, 'Duffer,' is a laid-back, loosey-goosey irresistible groove with killer solos. It’s so chill, but I’ll be damned if you don’t still want to dance to it—maybe even a slowdance with your sweetie or something. It’s a whole vibe—cozy, funky, slow, intimate, yet spacious… I never want it to end. Side B, 'Duffer in F', is the same tune, but with everything tightened up. The groove, the drum kit, heck, even the...

Hello Shitty People

S/t

1-2-3-4 Go!

***“HELLO SHITTY PEOPLE from Chattanooga left this world in 2001, leaving behind a 7-inch on This Here Records and an LP recorded but never released. I bought that 7” based on their band name alone almost 9 years ago. How could a band called ‘Hello Shitty People’ not be good? Anyway I’ve honestly treasured that little record ever since. The true early Crimpshriney spirit of East Bay Pop punk had been picked up, kicked in the side and made weirder by these southern gents in a way I honestly don’t think has been done better by anyone claiming to do the same thing. It’s dark, it’s positive, it has bass lines that make Matt Freeman look like a rank amateur. I’m only half joking about that last one. These guys came from and went on to be in bands like LOS CANADIANS, RADON, CORTEZ THE KILLER and a million others.”—1-2-3-4 Go.

Poison Idea

Blank Blackout Vacant

Tko

***A deluxe reissue of Poison Idea's 1992 classic album remixed from the original analog tapes by Joel Grind (of Toxic Holocaust). "Still-reigning heavyweight kings of Punk bodyslam forth another much awaited ring full of hot power presses from Hades... More hard rock and metal structuring that might piss off a few whiney purists that don't matter anyways... Great lyrics about what some may call the less pleasant side of existence, but POISON IDEA just call life... Real Rock-n-Roll bad boys that harness ten times the power your average Straight-Edge band could ever hope to achieve.”—Flipside (1992). Includes the original LP, along with a bonus 10-track album and reproduction of the original poster.

Papa M

Ballads of Harry Houdini

Drag City

***The “Great Escape Artist” is back—no, not THAT one, dude’s dead! We’re talking about Papa M (aka David Pajo), and HE’s talking ’bout Harry Houdini. At least in the title of this record, anyway: Ballads of Harry Houdini. Six years since his last LP, the all-acoustic A Broke Moon Rises, Papa M rolls into the shred zone with a fresh, fine and fat-assed set of songs—and just SIX of ‘em, so you know they’re some groovers. After Slint’s disbandment, David Pajo whiled away the 90s playing with literally everybody who asked—Will Oldham, Stereolab, Tortoise, you name it—but he paused long enough here and there to start his own band, called M. Following the path of M records from Aerial M to Papa M, David recorded Ballads of Harry Houdini on his own, receding deep inside himself and taking the time for ideas new and old: setting down some tracks, getting lit, grabbing a guitar, getting a sound going, and soloing over ’em! With a bit of singing here and there too. Frankly, the amount of hip-shaking sleaze oozing out of these pieces blows the idea that these are simple ad-hoc assemblies right the FUNK out of the water. Sure, when David does blues scaling, he sounds a little like Billy “I’m Just a Fool for Your Stockings” Gibbons. But then there’s the insistent torn-n-fucked delirium that’s accompanied EVERY Papa M expression into the marketplace (with pride) since 1999. For “Ode to Mark White”, David opted to jam in waltz-time—not unheard...

Gas Chamber / Black Iron Prison

Public Humiliation Ii

Iron Lung

When Iron Lung Records hosted a weekend of shows to celebrate our 10 years of being a label we secretly recorded a bunch of the sets hoping to catch some magic. We knew that the two bands were collaborating with the intention of doing a one-time performance especially for us which is a beautiful thing on it's own and a true testament to that group of people being 10 steps ahead of most bands anyway. We knew it would be intense but holy shit... to say that GAS CHAMBER and BLACK IRON PRISON are merely "intense" is a gross understatement. They are relentlessly and deeply immersed in their own musical world of mental, spiritual and physical annihilation. This would prove to be GAS CHAMBER's final performance. (STREET DATE - 2/26/2021)

Coltrane, Alice

Transcendence

Sepia-tone

***Transcendence is ALICE COLTRANE's most successful vocal album. Side two is especially mind-twisting for its use of surprisingly funky Hindu chants accompanied by Alice's organ and the Indian percussion of the singers. Purists might balk at calling Hare Krishna filtered through a gospel sensibility "jazz," but they're too busy arguing about Ken Burns' documentary to worry about Alice Coltrane reissues anyway. This is probably the most "swinging" Alice Coltrane material since Ptah The El Daoud.  Music runs in Alice Coltrane's family; her older brother, bassist Ernie Farrow, played in the '50s and '60s bands of Barry Harris, Stan Getz, Terry Gibbs and, most notably, Yusef Lateef. Alice McLeod began studying classical music at the age of seven. She attended Detroit's Cass Technical High School with pianist Hugh Lawson and drummer Earl Williams. As a young woman she played in church, and in Lateef's and Kenny Burrell's bands, eventually traveling to Paris in 1959 to study with Bud Powell. She met John Coltrane while touring and recording with Gibbs in the early '60s, married the saxophonist in 1965, and joined his band - replacing McCoy Tyner - a year later. She stayed with John's band until his death in 1967, and subsequently formed her own bands with players such as Pharoah Sanders, Joe Henderson, Frank Lowe, Carlos Ward, Rashied Ali and Jimmy Garrison. Coltrane moved to California in 1972. She became increasingly concerned with spiritual matters, founding a center for the study of Eastern religions in 1975. Following the recently...

Wong, Ryan

More Milk

Empty Cellar

Though Ryan Wong’s boyish charm might be obvious to anyone who’s seen him perform solo or with his group the Cool Ghouls, what might not be obvious about the artist behind More Milk is that he is, in fact, lactose intolerant. What’s up with that? What kind of milk are we talking about anyway? Well, sometimes a songwriter in a rock group has a jolt of creativity that results in some great numbers for the band (that’s the milk), and then even more ideas that might have to find their way into another icebox (more milk). While there’s a delicate acoustic sketch or two on this home-recorded cassette, don’t let Wong’s easygoing attitude or vocal style belie his ability to turn a great idea or two into a fully ambulant creature of a tune. Ryan—handling guitar, bass, and keys with a rotating cast of bandmates and roommates filling in on percussion and woodwinds—makes it happen. Just try to listen to the two-note, triple time trill that drives “Good Lovin” without imagining approaching an overcast San Francisco day with a Mr. Natural stride. If you should stroll into a club in the Mission on a chilly evening or find this tape in your dealer’s deck, why not slow down and take it in for a moment? There’s a little something in these six songs for the deadheads, for John Cale obsessives, and for tough rockers in derby jackets and boots who like to eat mushrooms, sit in the grass and listen...

RKL

Live In A Dive

Fat Wreck Chords

***The tenth installment of Fat Wreck’s Live in a Dive series takes us back over 30 years to Eindhoven, Holland. The date is May 12, 1989, not too long before Montecito, CA punks RKL will call it quits (for the first time, anyway). The 17- song set—a good chunk of which is culled from 1987’s album Rock ’n Roll Nightmare—was recorded at famed Eindhoven squat-turned-venue De Effenaar, and is beautifully ragged and raw. Although the band would get back together, things were never quite the same after the members went their separate ways the first time. As such, this record is a document of one of the last points before everything took a dive, of a band holding it together—incredibly well, it has to be said—before everything unraveled. And even though you can’t really hear that tension, when compared to the Double Live in Berlin live album, recorded the year before this one, there does seem to be an extra sense of urgency in these songs. They’re more primal and more ferocious, more intense and more nihilistic. Above all, though, they still sound fun as hell. RKL’s Live in a Dive album—which features incredible art by longtime RKL cover artist Dan Sites —isn’t just a pure representation of the band in all its twisted, untamed glory. It’s not just the sound of a band about to fall off the cliff edge. It also serves as a bittersweet tribute to both Manzullo and Sears, who died in 2005 and 2006 respectively....

Superchunk

Cup Of Sand

Merge

***AVAILABLE AGAIN!!! SUPERCHUNK's 2003 singles and rarities compilation on vinyl for this first time. The original CD packaging has been expanded for this edition to showcase LAURA BALLANCE's original paintings, and features expanded conversations with MAC, JON, JIM and Laura about every track included—the ones they remember recording, anyway. The notes have been expanded to comprise the three additional songs from out-of-print compilations which have been added to this remastered reissue.

Oranssi Pazuzu

Muukalainen Puhuu

20 Buck Spin

Since 2013 Finland’s Oranssi Pazuzu has released two critically lauded full length albums via 20 Buck Spin in North America, 2013’s Valonielu and 2016’s Värähtelijä. Both albums showed the boundless enormity and remarkable uniqueness that this band alone creates. Are they a psych-influenced black metal band or a black-metal-influenced psych band? No one knows for sure and it doesn’t matter anyway—no other band bends these genres into such an extraordinarily cohesive whole. For most in North America, the Oranssi Pazuzu black hole only came into focus with the aforementioned last two albums. However, the band has previously recorded and released two full length albums and a split LP. With their growing reputation here, their back catalog has become increasingly in demand. 20 Buck Spin will now present the band’s back catalog on various formats domestically for the first time. Muukalainen Puhuu is where the Oranssi Pazuzu story begins. This 2009 debut full length already reveals a band with a firm conceptual and musical mission. For most, this album would be a seasoned, mature display of musical prowess only reached well into their life as a band, and yet for them it’s merely the first foray into the limitless expanse that they would come to command.

Electric Chair

Performative Justice

Iron Lung

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  Imagine KORO, DISORDER and BATTALION OF SAINTS mixed together and you start to get an idea of where the new ELECTRIC CHAIR EP starts off. It doesn't sound like any of those bands but we just need you to keep that in your head. There ain't much going on in there anyway right? Frantic 80's style hardcore punk punk punk from members of BETA BOYS here. This style has been popping up more and more in the Northwest and we couldn't be more delighted. In short, this band rips and you should hear it, so slip in to something fingerless and jam this at maximum volume.

Rashomon

Nin-Gen

Iron Lung

Much like the classic Japanese bands we all know and love, RASHŌMON has never rushed to release anything. They wait until the time is right to completely raze your dome with their densely packed Tokyo via DC hardcore. (Did DEATH SIDE ever cover an ARTIFICIAL PEACE song? Probably not but if they did it might sound something like this. Maybe. Anyway...) Add the absolutely sloth-like pandemic production schedule and that had us frothing for ages. Almost long enough to give up and go home but that would be foolish since that is just not what punk does. Careening effortlessly between anthemic and cerebral, despair and optimism - "Nin-Gen" provides a destructive, cathartic release from the ugliness that has become our day-to-day existence, as well as fostering just enough anger and hope within us to make tomorrow worth fighting for.

Public Acid

Condemnation EP

Beach Impediment

***Woo-wee! PUBLIC ACID, folks—the undisputed pride of North Carolina! Or is it Virginia now? A bit of both perhaps?! Ah hell, is acknowledging geographic location really even relevant when it comes to top shelf hardcore punk? The dead fucks that made those borders and boundaries wouldn't know shit about riffs anyway. In the couple years since their self released 12" came into being, the band has gigged all over the country (back when that was an option) and expanded their catalog further via a flexi and some cassettes, garnering much deserved attention and adoration from those fortunate enough to be enlightened with those scenarios and/or physical formats. But that was the old world and what matters here and now is that the Condemnation EP is 6 urgent blasts of punk music that result in a sonic whirlwind that few others have previously concocted. In a genre that has become dominated by embarrassing posturing, this slab is a much welcomed breath of fresh air in an age of suffocating and uncertainty. Recorded and mastered at Artifact Audio in NYC by SASHA STROUD just before the shit hit the fan, each record comes in a folded sleeve both designed and screen printed by Public Acid and collaborator/comrade THOMAS SARA. 4th pressing limited to 400 copies.

Jonly Bonly

Put Together

12xu

***When guitarist/vocalist/musicologist JASON SMITH first turned up in Austin a few years ago, he was pretty hard to ignore. For starters, you could see his blonde hair from outer space. Then there’s his fashion savvy—in a town full of schulbs, it’s not hard to come off like a style maven, but Jason puts in the superior effort anyway. But both of those things greatly pale in comparison to his guitar playing. Through Smith’s tenures in the OBN III’s and playing alongside Orville Neeley and the Flesh Lights’ Max Vandever in the modestly-named THE BEST, Jason long ago established himself as a rock/pop/punk/whatever virtuoso, a devastatingly great soloist, yet a wildly inventive rhythm player with a razor-like focus on service-to-the-song.  In late 2012, Neeley left town for an extended stint with Bad Sports and Smith found himself with no gigs or rehearsals to soak up time otherwise spent giving dancing clinics. And with that, JONLY BONLY was formed. Smith spent that winter break composing a pile of new power pop classics that guitar prowess aside, bore little resemblance to his work alongside Andrew Cashen in OBN III’s and Austin gigs throughout 2013 & ’14 with the crack rhythm section of bassist STEPHEN SVACINA (SWEET TALK, UPTOWN BUMS) and drummer MARLEY JONES (OBN III’s, ex-Sweet Talk) unveiled a ridiculously talented trio far too dynamic to be relegated to side-project status.

Antiseen

Here to Ruin Your Groove

Tko

***Let’s not mince words—In the American punk canon, there are few acts as tenured as Charlotte, NC’s legendary ANTiSEEN. With dozens of singles, LPs, compilations, and live records to their name, choosing a definitive “best” is nigh on impossible. But if we’re going to have the conversation anyway, there’s zero question that their now classic 1996 full length Here To Ruin Your Groove is in the running. Marking a shift in both personnel and paradigm for the band, Here To Ruin Your Groove introduced Tripp McNeill and Barry Hannibal into the fold; A pair whose contributions would help shape the band’s sound for years to come. As a veteran of fellow Charlotte underground luminaries Seducer, McNeill’s metal-infused, melodic approach to bass both perfectly complemented and expanded upon ANTiSEEN’s patented brand of grimy, Southern punk rock ’n’ roll. For Hannibal’s part, his role as drummer, producer, engineer, bassist, and more has remained an integral component of the band’s makeup for the last several decades. The result of this newly minted rhythm section was a record that delivered on the raucous, irreverent punk ANTiSEEN had spent years perfecting, while broadening the band’s scope to include even more melodic flare and heavy metal flourishes. With Jeff Clayton’s singular voice and uncompromising vision anchored by the feral roar of Joe Young's buzzsaw guitar, Here To Ruin Your Groove immediately cemented its status as one of ANTiSEEN’s most compelling, hard-hitting, and lasting efforts. Lovingly reissued for the first time since 2003 as a newly remastered...

Bunuel

Killers Like Us

Profound Lore

Bunuel is the sound of a difficult situation made worse by an unwillingness and an inability to play nice. If slotting it in a genre makes it easier for one to understand, just so one has something to file it under, mark it down as Heavy. With a capital H.  But not heavy that’s in any way predictable—Bunuel’s amalgam of angular rhythms, drum salvos, blitzkrieging guitars and vocals that sound more like threats than promises is post-punk, proto heavy and arty up the ass. Arty as in avant-garde noise. Bunuel’s newest, Killers Like Us —the third part of a trilogy that started with A Resting Place For Strangers, and then The Easy Way Out—is a killer addition to the canon of good music for bad people. Produced by a near-super group of global significance, Bunuel boasts the sound work of the Italian trio of guitarist Xabier Iriondo (Afterhours), the bass of Andrea Lombardini, and the drums of Francesco Valente (Il Teatro Degli Orrori, Snare Drum Exorcism, and Lume ), along with the vocals of Eugene S. Robinson (Oxbow). Xabier is the deus-ex-machina of some of Italy’s most adventurous musical projects and sound manipulator for dozens of bands on more than fifty records with major and independent labels whose work has seen him playing live on three continents. Lombardini is a composer, producer and electric bass beast who has been playing in Italian and international jazz, pop, rock and just about everything with everyone including most significantly David Binney, Mark...

Oranssi Pazuzu

Kosmonument

20 Buck Spin

Since 2013 Finland’s Oranssi Pazuzu has released two critically lauded full length albums via 20 Buck Spin in North America, 2013’s Valonielu and 2016’s Värähtelijä. Both albums showed the boundless enormity and remarkable uniqueness that this band alone creates. Are they a psych-influenced black metal band or a black-metal-influenced psych band? No one knows for sure and it doesn’t matter anyway—no other band bends these genres into such an extraordinarily cohesive whole. For most in North America, the Oranssi Pazuzu black hole only came into focus with the aforementioned last two albums. However, the band has previously recorded and released two full length albums and a split LP. With their growing reputation here, their back catalog has become increasingly in demand. 20 Buck Spin will now present the band’s back catalog on various formats domestically for the first time. The Kosmonument 2xLP from 2012 was another huge leap forward for the band both musically and in terms of exposure. They signed to UMG-owned Spinefarm Records, which the album still calls home today. However the vinyl edition, a sprawling, triple-gatefold double album with some of the most incredible artwork in the band’s history, was only released in a small quantity in Europe with very few copies arriving in North America. It will now see its first domestic vinyl release in the same deluxe format.

Oranssi Pazuzu

Farmokologinen

20 Buck Spin

Since 2013 Finland’s Oranssi Pazuzu has released two critically lauded full length albums via 20 Buck Spin in North America, 2013’s Valonielu and 2016’s Värähtelijä. Both albums showed the boundless enormity and remarkable uniqueness that this band alone creates. Are they a psych-influenced black metal band or a black-metal-influenced psych band? No one knows for sure and it doesn’t matter anyway—no other band bends these genres into such an extraordinarily cohesive whole. For most in North America, the Oranssi Pazuzu black hole only came into focus with the aforementioned last two albums. However, the band has previously recorded and released two full length albums and a split LP. With their growing reputation here, their back catalog has become increasingly in demand. 20 Buck Spin will now present the band’s back catalog on various formats domestically for the first time. The Farmokologinen 12-inch contains songs from a split album the band did in 2010 between their first and second full lengths. On these four tracks nearly 27 minutes in length, the band showcases their growing immensity and burning cold bleakness, now a stand-alone release with all new artwork, on vinyl and digital formats.

Thigh Master

Bbc

12xu

***Brisbane’s THIGH MASTER make their first U.S. tour this spring and no less an authority than Sir Douglas Mosurock has said the quartet's Early Times debut LP “is loaded with sunny, ragged hooks and big, sloppy singalongs,” likening the combo to, “a lost Flying Nun band.” Both songs on this 7” dial up the ragged / dial down the singalong, but you’re free to try anyway.

Twilley, Dwight Band

Shark / Burnin Sand

Hozac

***DWIGHT TWILLEY is an American power pop icon from the pre-Ramones/Cheap Trick era that slipped though the cracks due to bad management decisions and the entanglements of the major label record business, that despite his debut single "I'm On Fire" hitting the top 20 on the Billboard charts in 1975, he's still unfortunately not a household name. Some called him the American T. Rex and others the missing link between Big Star and Tom Petty, but any way you cut it, Tulsa, OK's pop hero is back and ready to knock you back to high school. He's appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand several times as well as the esteemed Don Kirschner's Rock Concert TV series the SAME NIGHT as the infamous Sex Pistols episode, therefore it never aired. This single was shelved in the summer of 1975 due to close proximity to the super popular Jaws film, of which the management sadly decided it would be too cliche, so we have rescued the track along with a scorching B-side from the CD-only Great Lost Twilley Album, procuring two incredible hits never before available on vinyl. Pure pop perfection from the pre-Ramones era that will light up your life and cap off your summer in the best way possible. First Pressing of 600 copies Black vinyl.

Aggrolites, The

s/t

Pirates Press

***After exploding onto the scene and turning just about every head in the reggae and ska world with their debut LP Dirty Reggae, this upstart group of hooligans set their sights on bigger stages, and new opportunities. With those leagues of new fans and burgeoning aspirations came lasting friendships and partnerships with Tim Armstrong and others in the Rancid/Hellcat/Epitaph family. They saw, heard and quickly dove in, supporting in the potential of this truly unique group any way possible. This, their self-titled LP debut on Hellcat Records (originally released in 2006) really became the fuel in the tank sending this band across the globe and back, bringing their ‘dirty reggae’ to the masses. Shockingly, the vinyl has been out of print for far too long - and being a key piece of the band's history, and a staple for many of us Pirates, we absolutely couldn’t let that persist.

Sneaky Pinks

I’m Punk / Puke Pudding

Almost Ready

***THE SNEAKY PINKS are the best band for jacking off with used lube or getting your pussy licked by a german shepard mix. On their third 7", Sneaky Pinks expand thier art funk sound and explore even new musical terrorrism with hired prodoucher RICKLES RUBINSTEINBERG. "It was fucking easy," said bassist TRENT PURD "we had the time, the cocaine, and the talent. The only thing missing was the fellatio, but honestly I'm getting more into Pokemon anyway". Singer JUSTIN CHAMPLIN sheepishly admitted, "It's the best music being made at the moment. There is no greater poet than me. I am the lord. Nibble on my nuts". The New York Tymes called the new record "Nazi Punk Kiddie Porn for collector faggots and the working class hipster. Toilet humor and inside jokes that make the Jean Means seem mature. Songs so beautiful you'd swear you were right next to a seafood dumpster." With swine flu, government shuttdowns, and thee end of times near, there is nothing more important going on than acquiring this 7". Buy by any means necessary.

Destroyer

My Mystery

Merge

***We recorded a song called “My Mystery” a year and a half ago. Kind of a light number, vaguely danceable. Wistful, looking back not unfondly on time spent and dull misadventures had within the dead-as-a-doornail music industry. And the feeling of where it leaves you, like a rat in the middle of the ocean, though not as harsh as that; as if rats could swim an ocean’s length. Anyway, the song was not in keeping with the shadow spirit of Poison Season, and so it got shelved. Then one day DJjohnedwardcollins@gmail.com called me up and said, “You got any shit for me? Features the track "My Mystery" backed with a mix by DJjohnedwardcollins@gmail.com. (STREET DATE - 5/06/2016)

Puppet Wipes

The Stones Are Watching And They Can Be A Handful

Siltbreeze

Puppet Wipes is the latest source of audio levitation for Arielle McCuaig (Hairnet, Janitor Scum, Vacuum Rebuilders) & Kayla MacNeill (Singing Lawn Chair, Vacuum Rebuilders) who conjure up their extraordinary odds bodkins out of Calgary, Alberta. Label fact checkers will note that Puppet Wipes are the 1st Canadian band ever signed to the Siltbreeze roster. That only took three decades. Anyway, their debut cassette from a couple years back, ‘It’s Called Punk, Are You Stupid?’—supposedly recorded in an hour—was a fetching melange of art damaged hoopla that sounded like it might’ve taken a spin around the Amos & Sara / It’s War Boys universe. On this one, the course settings remain seemingly intact, yet further realized. Plus it took a tad longer than 3600 seconds to behold. There’s a quote by the master of superfluousness, May Benot, that goes, ‘When the unconventionalists convey their art, which is by nature, unconventional, then does unconventionalism become part of a post conventionalist-conventionista?” Whatever you say, Mrs. Doublespeak. I’m not sure I even know what that means, but if I were a betting man, I’d say Puppet Wipes have it in spades. RIYL; Lemon Kittens, Your Mom Too, Doof, Dave E. McManus, XV.

Destroyer

Have We Met

Merge

***CHECK STOCK!!!  Received an 8.5 Best New Music rating from Pitchfork.  DESTROYER conceived of Have We Met as a Y2K album. DAN BEJAR assigned producer and bandmate JOHN COLLINS the role of layering synth and rhythm sections over demos with the period-specific Björk, Air, and Massive Attack in mind, but he soon realized the sonic template was too removed from Destroyer’s own, and the idea of a concept was silly anyway. So he abandoned it and gave Collins the most timeless instruction of all: “Make it sound cool.” The result is not a startling departure from 2017’s ken, but unlike that more band-oriented approach, the only actual instruments that appear are bass and electric guitar. MIDI instrumentation will of course invite Your Blues and Kaputt nostalgia, but Have We Met is buoyed by precise, plasticky guitar shredding three-dimensionally across massive percussion—the loudest and dirtiest drums on a Destroyer record to date. Atmosphere and loose approximations of a place or feeling are what we’ve come to expect from any new Destroyer record—certainly not an easily defined and stridently adhered to theme or concept. Have We Met manages to meet somewhere between those disparate Y2K reference points and Destroyer’s own area of expertise, gliding deftly into territory that marries the old strident Destroyer with the new, aged crooning one of late.

Sea Lions / Golden Grrrls

Tour Split

Night School

***Slumberland group SEA LIONS travelled to the UK for the first time in July 2012 to play Indietracks and tour with UK group GOLDEN GRRRLS. To commemorate the occasion, they put together a limited 7-inch which now sees worldwide release. Both bands contribute an original song and a cover version. Alongside “On and Off”—as close to an anthem as they’ve written yet—Sea Lions take apart “Nervous Breakdown” by Black Flag, turning it into a shamble-core nugget of shrill guitar marked by ADRIAN PILLADO’s laconic vocal delivery. Golden Grrrls tackle “I Don’t Want You Anyway” by Kiwi group Look Blue Go Purple, remaining fairly faithful to the original with some added punk energy, while their original is a garage pop bullet in the form of “Billy,” one which RUARI MACLEAN takes lead vocal to counter the female backing.

Swiftumz

Willy

Sugar Mountain

***“CHRIS MCVICKER’s SWIFTUMZ project races back to life with two recent singles, having rested a good long while off his fantastic, barely-noticed full-length Don’t Trip. That record had cuz’s phone number on the sticker and I hope someone called him. These ones are free of such gimmicks and go straight to the music. The label name ‘Sugar Mountain’ is apt here, as these are at the threshold of tooth decay but striking enough in their scope that you don’t notice you’ve gotten sick. No headaches here, anyway; ‘Willy’ is one of those kinds of songs you hang your whole career on, with seam-ripping lead guitar reclining into a stinging pattern of single-chord reverb after every triumph torn out, McVicker’s airy cherubic voice singing of travel and escape and longing. It stings you in the eyes with its brightness and lashes itself into your ears, that reverb giving you time to recalibrate before another unforgettable lead piles up against the rocks. Mr. Swiftumz is the kind of guy that ghostwrites for Hunx & His Punx, and that sort of handiwork turns up on ‘Can We Get Together,’ fine on its own. The other single is just slightly less manic, but no less sweet: “Love Ya 4 Ever” jabs you with about four songs’ worth of melodies competing for your attention, effortlessly bridging twee pop with the Buzzcocks, pushing his voice up to the front and refusing to sit still. You want both of these because they capture the thrill of the...

Obnox

I’m Still Bleeding

12xu

***REISSUED!!! Reissue of the otherwise sold out 2011 full-length solo debut from Clevelander LAMONT “BIM” THOMAS, whose prior appearances in combos including but not limited to THIS MOMENT IN BLACK HISTORY, PUFFY AREOLAS, BASSHOLES and UNHOLY TWO have fashioned an impressive curriculum vitae in American rock/noise/whatever. Originally issued by Smog Veil, I'm Bleeding Now is an important link in an ongoing onslaught of Obnox titles from the likes of Negative Guest List, Smog Veil, 12XU, Permanent and Anyway that are blowing minds throughout the globe. Includes download code. 

Bad Breeding

Exiled

Iron Lung

***The news cycle as it exists in 2019—rapid, permanently mutating, consistently grotesque—equally blesses and curses BAD BREEDING. A group with a keen eye for social injustice and establishment venality, expressed in hollered tones over a full-throttle, enervating soundclash of anarcho punk, hardcore and noiserock, their third album Exiled was fueled by the last 12 months in (primarily) British politics: a nation circling the drain while forever eyeing the plughole. Partly, anyway. Topics on this 12-song, 33-minute album also include some hardy perennials of left-wing hardcore punk: war, imperialism, the police, the press. Topics which, at a time where the political landscape could change tectonically between this being written and you reading it, maintain a grim relevance. It's far more than generic protest prose though. One must hear for oneself to know for sure. Edtion of 250 copies on black vinyl housed in a classic Crass-style 12-panel foldout poster sleeve with essay inserts and download cards included. Art by NICKY RAT.

Hush Arbors

Yankee Reality

Ecstatic Peace

***“This is a classic, timeless, ageless American album, full of hope and yearning, beauty and melancholy, and which pours out stories like flowers. Are these rainbow- at-end-of-the-world songs? Or heart’s break/heart’s ease-at-the-end-of-theroad songs? Anyway, I thought of horses and acid, death sleeping in a shack, the river bursting its banks and grinning like whisky, the birdlight and fading empires. Starry, dreamlike, plaintive, gorgeous and broken, Yankee Reality is a perfect and utterly individual work, endlessly inventive yet instantly recognizable as being in a noble and generous tradition.” “Yankee Reality sends shivers through my body when I listen to it. I don’t know where to start, because I don’t know where it ends. A circular masterpiece effortlessly stationed between the sea, the sun and the moon.” David Tibet/Anok Pe/Current 93, August 25, 2009

Mountain Goats

(Limited Edition) In League With Dragons

Merge

***The MOUNTAIN GOATS are JOHN DARNIELLE, PETER HUGHES, JON WURSTER and MATT DOUGLAS. They have been making music together as a quartet for several years. Three of them live in North Carolina and one has moved back to Rochester. Their songs often seek out dark lairs within which terrible monsters dwell, but their mission is to retrieve the treasure from the dark lair & persuade the terrible monsters inside to seek out the path of redemption. As Axl Rose once memorably asked, in the song “Terrible Monster”: “What’s so terrible about monsters, anyway?” This is the question the Mountain Goats have been doggedly pursuing since 1991. They will never leave off this quest until every option has been exhausted. Thank you. Limited edition LP version pressed green vinyl with a bonus single, housed on double gatefold jackets. Includes a download

Mountain Goats

In League With Dragons

Merge

***The MOUNTAIN GOATS are JOHN DARNIELLE, PETER HUGHES, JON WURSTER and MATT DOUGLAS. They have been making music together as a quartet for several years. Three of them live in North Carolina and one has moved back to Rochester. Their songs often seek out dark lairs within which terrible monsters dwell, but their mission is to retrieve the treasure from the dark lair & persuade the terrible monsters inside to seek out the path of redemption. As Axl Rose once memorably asked, in the song “Terrible Monster”: “What’s so terrible about monsters, anyway?” This is the question the Mountain Goats have been doggedly pursuing since 1991. They will never leave off this quest until every option has been exhausted. Thank you.

Mountain Goats

(Hardcore Edition) In League With Dragons

Merge

***The MOUNTAIN GOATS are JOHN DARNIELLE, PETER HUGHES, JON WURSTER and MATT DOUGLAS. They have been making music together as a quartet for several years. Three of them live in North Carolina and one has moved back to Rochester. Their songs often seek out dark lairs within which terrible monsters dwell, but their mission is to retrieve the treasure from the dark lair & persuade the terrible monsters inside to seek out the path of redemption. As Axl Rose once memorably asked, in the song “Terrible Monster”: “What’s so terrible about monsters, anyway?” This is the question the Mountain Goats have been doggedly pursuing since 1991. They will never leave off this quest until every option has been exhausted. Thank you. Hardcore LP version pressed on yellow and green marbled vinyl with a bonus single, housed on double gatefold jackets inside debossed, dragon scale slipcases. Includes a Dragon League membership card and download.

Musk

Musk 2: The Second Skumming

12xu

MUSK was an idea long before it was a real band. Ringleader CHRIS OWEN and punker scribe MITCH CARDWELL had the notion of starting an Aberrant records-style band—hairy knuckled Oz punk with very few chord changes—called Musk. A few years later in 2011, Chris ran into ROB FLETCHER at the Bottom Of The Hill for feedtime’s first US show. They lamented the total lack of any malevolent garage punk in the Bay Area. Rob brought his ex-bandmate JOHN and this guy BRENDAN from his Cramps cover band aboard for upcoming rehearsals. Other names considered during these early practices were Merle Dirt and well, something we’d prefer not turn up in every review of this album. Despite learning no less than four other bands were currently operating under the Musk moniker, it was decided to use it anyways. The Aberrant punk idea gave way to more of a Beasts Of Bourbon/Panther Burns concept after their first year or so together prior to Musk recording a widely hailed debut LP with CHRIS WOODHOUSE in two days, but Second Skumming was completed in a decadent four. You could say they’ve grown or matured, but YOU’D BE MISTAKEN. Like all great sequels (“The Godfather II”, “Bring It On : All Or Nothing”, “Eddie & The Cruisers II : Eddie Lives”) Musk 2 amplifies and expands on themes that made Musk a favorite amongst misanthrobes & collector skum alike and does so with laser-like focus.

Da Slyme

If There's No Rubble, You Haven't Played: Collected Recordings 1977-89

Celluloid Lunch

***"The greatest punk rock album never made—by a band that played on stage with a toilet (inside joke). At this time (2023), it’s been 24 years since the last foray of DA SLYME. 45 years since it’s first. Time is a great leveler. It separates the feelings you had about a project at the early incarnation from an accurate assessment of its value and place. Age is a great leveler too. It turns a 'who cares' attitude into a 'yeah it was better than it felt' and back into a 'who the fuck cares and let’s do it anyway' attitude. So myself (KIRT SIC-O-VIA) and STIG STILLETTO and NO MONIKER embarked on a journey through recordings of the shows and various rehearsal tapes (we only ever played around 30 shows). It was a proverbial gas, A trip down the 'bad craziness' of memory lane. Jesus were we that bad (?) but look at all these other things that were great—I didn’t ever remember that we played that good (note: it is punk and everything is relative) but it is definitely rock, and often abrasive rock to boot. Tuning is erratic and maybe even irrelevant (we didn’t have guitar tuners until ‘82). The recording sources are varied, as one can also hear on our 1980 vinyl, if you are lucky enough to have or find one—only couple of crossovers here. Note: to find the double 1980 release you have to be lucky or rich, neither or both. There’s also a CD...

Civil Union

Seasick, Lovedrunk

Melted Ice Cream

***As if to mirror the ultimate series of drags on their first EP, CIVIL UNION's US tour in 2014 was, itself, a series of shit shows. Two separate vans with the same wheel trying to unhinge itself, and that was in addition to the break-­in and the hair loss. But at least everybody heard about it: the cassette they were touring on the only merch they brought with them, ridiculously ­­ found its way around the country just fine. (They never missed a show.) Like that justifies several near­-death experiences. Anyway, what an apt bummer for a band that could, by that point, already list an earthquake among its influences. It was in 2012 when PERRY MAHONEY first started playing bass in Civil Union; he’d moved to Auckland from Christchurch at a time when the city was about to become reduced to rubble. For all that was quickly ruined by the Christchurch earthquake, it catalyzed a spike in local creativity as stragglers turned into bands and their PTSD turned into music. Unsurprisingly, the new “Arson City” bands tended to have a bleak streak, deadpanned in a specifically NZ way ­­ the “Antipodean Gothic”, as Jasmine Gallagher put it ­­ and in Auckland, Perry came across its northern equivalent. For such a fucked place, New Zealand’s anxieties haven’t been advertised all that much. There’s hints within The Gordons' disembodied bass. Batrider's strangled emotions. The Skeptics, freakish in the mundane. And Civil Union’s snivelling pessimism, wretching at the real, unpublicized Aotearoa and...

Kid 606

Who Still Kill Sound?

Tigerbeat6

Who Still Kill Sound? (aka Vol. 2, more shiz, the illegal stuff, too hot for Ipecac, didn’t fit on KSB4SKU, more nails in the coffin, purging the soul, flogging a dead laptop, milking the cow dry, cleaning out Miguel’s hard drive, stuff that didn’t fit anywhere else, stuff that maybe doesn’t even fit here, stuff Tigerbeat6’s lawyers don’t want them releasing, but you know you want anyway.) Ingredients: two booming, thematically linked neorave breakbeat tracks; a live acid house basement party jam; two rinsing ragga bootleg jungle slammers; four booty bass bouncers (two with vocals from Sue Cie of Gold Chains); a crunked-up DJ Screw tribute; an unfinished Cex remix; a sweet emo monosynth song from the orthodontia years; a different version of a com.a remix, and two gabber blowouts for crushing sound systems while retaining danceability. Plus: artwork by Joel Trussell (the “Illness” video and the illustrations from KSB4SKU).  • Known worldwide for energetic, action-packed live set made up of material on this very disc  • 70 minutes dedicated to the deviated dancehall maniac found somewhere in all of us  • Many critically and commercially acclaimed releases on well respected labels like Ipecac, Mille Plateaux, Fatcat, and upcoming material on Souljazz, Wall of Sound and more  • No exports to Europe, UK, or Japan 

Dasher

Dear Humans

Chunklet

2018 marks the year Dasher ended. Dasher is dead. Long live Dasher. However, before they packed it up, Kylee Kimbrough suggested recording their terminal show in Atlanta to capture their raw, swirling savagery. Do they play “Rambo”? “Soviet”? Nope, all new material. None of it had ever been recorded and none of it will ever be recorded again. Last show, remember? Anyway, recorded in a hodgepodge mix between a field recorder and iPhone, Dear Humans is a love letter for fans, but also captures the Bloomington, Indiana trio line up at the height of their powers. The cover is a photo of the stage shortly after they levelled one and the type? Well, it’s all handwritten by seven-year old Charlotte Owings. Yep, it’s a family affair.

Barlow, Lou

Goodnight Unknown

Merge

***In the four years since his career-redefining, mostly acoustic record Emoh, LOU BARLOW has reunited with DINOSAUR Jr. and reissued three of SEBADOH’s classic albums. But as the brilliant new Goodnight Unknown illustrates, he’s hardly living in the past. Borrowing the live-band energy of Dinosaur Jr. and the stylistic reach of Sebadoh, Barlow has built on Emoh’s full production and written a set of immediate, melodic pop songs that Lou describes as, “a cross between my later work with Folk Implosion and my earlier work with Sebadoh…to my ears, anyway.” (STREET DATE - 10/06/2009)

Woodleigh Research Facility, The

The Phoenix Suburb (and Other Stories)

Rotters Golf Club

The Phoenix Suburb is the sound of Andrew Weatherall (THE ASPHODELLS) and Nina Walsh taking a disgruntled sine wave for a walk, throwing it sticks, skimming it on a rough sea and scrunching it up and leaving it at the bottom of a bag over a long weekend. It’s trying to cheer up D minor with ball games and scrabble, puppet shows with tutu’d ponies and frizzy haired gonks and clips of cavorting kittens before giving up and crushing it between rocks mined by sobbing orphans. It’s loading the hum kick and the ticky snare on a tandem and pushing them down the stairs. It’s the final note of Mahler’s 11th heard through an iphone’s earbuds then told its parents had died but why it should dance the polka anyway because life, of sorts, still goes on. Vinyl only edition of 1,000 copies.

Fosson, Mark

Digging In The Dust: Home Recordings 1976

Tompkins Square

***Kentucky native MARK FOSSON recorded one album for John Fahey’s Takoma Records in 1976 which went unreleased until 2006. Mark recently found the home demo for that session. Fosson says: “These 11 tracks are the songs I began writing after acquiring my first 12-String guitar. I recorded them in my living room on a Pioneer RT1050 2-track reel-to-reel with a rented microphone. All are originals except for ‘Back In The Saddle Again,’ which resulted from my other obsession at the time of watching old black & white Gene Autry movies any chance I could...usually at 5:00 AM! I met Mr. Autry many years later and tried to tell him this but the crowd was too loud & his ears were too old & he couldn’t hear a word I was saying. Anyway...thanks Gene. Many of these songs would appear later in slightly altered form on The Lost Takoma Sessions, but these original versions are my personal favorites. I can’t believe the tapes have survived so long and still sound as clean as the day I recorded them.”

Hand Of Food

Swimming Mindlessly

Ever / Never

***“Following up their initial cassette release ‘Tropical Income Tax’, Providence/NYC based holiday hypnotherapists Hand Of Food have returned and invite you to luxuriate in a perverted idea of paradise with their debut LP, ‘Swimming Mindlessly’. Despite coming from noise rock and damaged electronic backgrounds, the band sits in an odd nether region somewhere between a brutalized ambience or conceptual exotica, while at times dipping a toe into the self-help section. The record plays like the warped audio brochure for a struggling resort town, luring you in with motivational rhetoric and a transparent facade of tranquility. Although your instincts tell you something is off and the regional jokes are all lost on you, an all-inclusive vacation deal this good hasn’t landed in your inbox in a while so you go ahead and book the trip anyways.  The opening track Sign Of The Lemon would have you believe everything is fine—lush pads, chimes, and 100% real flutes commingle harmoniously—you made the right choice. As your stay progresses similar instrumentation takes a more anxious turn. A professional voice-over artist or possibly the cruise captain interjects to insist that everything is ok, but hazy ambient atmospheres lead to reflection on the flight over, to all the decisions that led you here, and ultimately, regret.  Doing your best to keep those spirits high, Chelo’s By The Sea whisks you away to the on-site cocktail lounge for some of the resort's complimentary entertainment, an evening with ‘legendary’ resident crooner Publicity Dave. But by the...

V/a

Life Is...

Mono Records

***"Echo Park’s Mono Records was an early supporter of the Echo Park bands who don’t fit so easily into that kind of garage/psych/fuzz-and-fun punk-as-pop sound; instead, Mono’s select releases tend to celebrate the esoteric, and here’s the definitive statement so far: a compilation of L.A. bands heavily inspired by U.K. sounds during that bottomlessly special post-punk moment where the spirit of ‘anything goes’ met the ability to make everything sound good. Shoegaze, C86, labels like Glass and Fire and Rough Trade—this is what Life Is … or at least where it starts. Some tracks here are previously released—two from FROTH's excellent Bleak LP, a-side of TRACY BRYANT's 'Little Things' single also on Mono—but necessary anyway, especially if you didn’t get a limited original. But some apparently exist nowhere else, like the churning 'Fear' by JEFF FRIBOURG (ex-Froth, now in MIND MELD) and his band NUMBER.ER and also his Omnichord, or the Nikki Sudden-Go-Betweens stand-out bum-outs from BEAT HOTEL, or BILLY CHANGER's pixilated John Carpenter-style mostly instrumental 'Ride,' a close cousin to his recent LP track 'Chiller.' NOAH KWID (once of DIRT DRESS) also makes solo vinyl debut here as KWID, an understated Fast Product-style drum-machine post-punk song called (naturally) 'I Find Myself, and MOTHER MERRY GO ROUND delivers two striking songs that split the difference between Orange Juice and Joy Division. Altogether, it’s not just a powerfully consistent vision but a nice counterpoint to what the outside world thinks it is people do here: seven bands a little out of...

Legends

Public Radio

Luna

In 2003 and 2004 The Legends received recognition around the world with their debut release Up Against The Legends. Public Radio, is bound to generate worldwide hype all over again. Echoing the sounds of ’80s indie-pop and upbeat Motown productions, Public Radio has a familiar feel yet sounds futuristic at the same time. The band mixes influences like New Order, Felt, The Feelies and The Cure with their own pop aesthetics to create something utterly wonderful and new.  Up until now, The Legends masqueraded as a nine-piece pop orchestra. That was the official story, anyway. The truth is that both Up Against The Legends and Public Radio were recorded, written, played and produced by arranger, studio wizard and one-man band Johann Angergård (Acid House Kings / Club 8), who explains, “When I start recording an album I have a very clear idea of what I want to do, and by doing everything myself the album comes out exactly the way I want it to. Involving other people might only blur the vision.” Recordhead has packaged this North American version of Public Radio with a bonus disc featuring eight remixes and B-sides, many exclusive to this release.

Residents

Bunny Boy Live In Frankfurt

Secret Records

***For the first time anywhere, a live album from The Residents' 2008 Bunny Boy tour! Bunny Boy was one of the most ambitious projects in the group's long history of experimental concept driven studio albums and stage shows. It began as an interactive web series about an old friend, "Bunny" trying to find his missing brother and soon after became a studio album, a soundtrack album, and a stage show that toured Europe and the United States. By the time the tour had finished the story had grew to 66 web episodes and eventually sprouted two additional limited-edition CDs of more studio recordings, a book that collected all the email responses to the videos, and even a comic book. This is the only tour by The Residents that has never had a live album released in any way. Now available in a limited edition of 250 copies on Hot Pink & Black Swirled Vinyl or 250 Blue & Black Marble Vinyl. All come inside hand-numbered matte finish gatefold jackets. Also available as a limited edition 2xCD in 6-panel digipack.

Residual Echoes

S/t

Holy Mountain

***Residual Echoes was formed by Adam Payne after he moved to Santa Cruz and met Ethan Miller (Comets on Fire) and Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance) who both encouraged him to strike out on his own. The band makes a vibrant collage of everything that has ever happened in music, all deftly manipulated and manicured by Mr. Payne into some of the most farfreaking- out jams ever heard. Santa Cruz, California-- known for abandoned military bases where rumors persist of strange mind control experiments a la Montauk-- is an area that was at one time the "serial killer capitol of the world." I know, I missed that sign, too. Anyway, you've got these mountains full of getting- away-from-the-city-type cults and communes rife with pure magical evil and ritual sacrifices. Whoa, Maury Terry; hold on there, Preston Nichols-- what's this got do with a high-energy psychedelic rock band? Have you heard about these experimental drugs that afflict enemy soldiers with intense halitosis, or cause their hair fall out, or the one that makes everyone super-horny? This album is like a really small dose of that kind of drug.

Homeless Cadaver

Champale Wishes and Cadaviar Dreams

Iron Lung

***What started out as an exciting career kick off back in 2019, with the Fat Skeleton EP on Iron Lung Records, HOMELESS CADAVER continued to write with the intention of making more records and finally playing a show but the 2020 police had alternate plans for the band. We don’t need to get into the details on that but they’re out now and picking up where they left off. Before the break they had recorded most of these four songs intended for a release on a Southern Californian label (details also withheld here, NDA blah blah blah) but the label didn’t have the patience to deal with the mess so HC was dropped and the world moved on. Well kinda, it was early 2020, so I guess you could say the world moved… in. Anyway, the band finished the songs late last year and sent them to us so here we are, offering stripped down, juvenile thug synth KBD inspired garage stains about hustling, dating and excessive pleasures. Speaking of excessive, at one point during the Champale Wishes and Cadaviar Dreams completion phase the band did up some deluxe horn and string arrangements to accompany the EP. And then laughed really really hard when they threw them directly in the trash because “that shit sucks” and “what are we Juliards?”. They certainly have a way with words... 200 copies of black 70gr vinyl housed in a hand cut and assembled, silk screened glue pocket sleeve. Recorded in their rehearsal shed....

Mess Folk

Something I Remember

Hozac

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

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...

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...

Kid 606

Pretty Girls Make Raves

Tigerbeat6

Pretty Girls Make Raves is a 45-minute tribute to analog synths, overdriven vocals, Baltimore club and throbbing bass-heavy techno music. Anyone who has been to one of Kid606’s recent high-energy live performances has heard some of these tracks, all created specifically to keep the bassbins thumpin’ and the dancefloor moving. With a minimum of samples, these songs are densely packed with layer upon layer of jackin’ funked out sonics, fuzzy vocals, subtle edits and immense twisted buildups. True to the 4/4 techno rush made classic by artists like Jeff Mills, Laurent Garnier, Daft Punk, Ark and Green Velvet but with the lyrical content and punk spirit of the Germs, Ministry and Black Flag, this is not future music or sci-fi obsessed electro in any way; this album is about fun, fun, and more fun.

Preening

Dragged Through The Garden

Ever / Never

***Four years into PREENING's existence and the Bay Area trio hasn’t shown any signs of stagnation–they remain committed to the urge to move forward, to push themselves and their audience. Thus, the restless and relentless motion of Preening’s new 12” EP on Ever/Never Records, who also released 2018’s excellent Greasetrap Frisbee 7”. Preening sounds more than ever like no one but themselves–MAX and ALEJANDRA's duel (sic) vocals and sax/bass interplay is masterfully augmented and driven by SAM's all-hands-ondeck drumming. “Twinning” exemplifies all of these aspects, achieving a head-spinning velocity occasionally interrupted by sections that mimic drips and chimes amidst the cacophony. This is dance music for sleep-deprived geniuses and those who love them. “Rapt Fashions” demands to know “Whose body is this anyway?” And then, to drive the theme of dislocation home, the EP ends with a wigged-out “Extortion” dub mix by ANDY HUMAN (of The World / Naked Roommate / Reptoids) & BRETT EASTMAN (Reptoids). Dragged Through The Garden proves that Preening and Ever / Never continue to deliver the goods, and then some.

Rectal Hygienics

Ultimate Purity

Permanent

***"It's a month into twenty fuckin' fifteen and the best thing I've listened to so far is a band called Rectal Hygienics. I know what you're thinking, and yeah, this can go one of two ways. No, they're not a joke. Yes, this is a terrifyingly heavy album. Honestly, adjectives like heavy, violent, and brutal don't really do this record justice. I saw a blog post or forum comment somewhere where Rectal Hygienics were referred to endearingly as "pigfuck." Is that a genre? I'm not sure, but it encapsulates their sound nicely. This is a steaming pile of pigfuck. Anyway, if you dig early Swans and you're looking for a modern band with songwriting chops and an abrasive, noise-sludge aesthetic, you've found it. Ultimate Purity will be out on Permanent Records February 17th on black and cum colored vinyl (because of course), and you can stream one of the tracks below via Soundcloud."—Ongakubaka . Limited to 500 copies with 2-sided black-and-white 12”x12” fold-out poster. 

Black Rain & Shapednoise

Apophis

Cosmo Rhythmatic

Crushing celestial tech-noise objects from Black Rain (a.k.a. Ike Yard's Stuart Argabright) with Shapednoise and Demdike Stare's Miles Whittaker. 'Apophis', so named after asteroid 99942 which poses an uncertain threat to humanity, was written and realised over summer 2014 and supposes four cuts of destructive electronics describing a potential, eschatalogical event and its aftermath in grim and unflinching detail. Black Rain and Shapednoise are clearly steeled and ready for what may come, from 'Metal Home's' premonition of rubbling noise forces and slivers of electronic salvation, to the thunderous, scudding speedcore mass of 'Autonomous Lethality', or the double-timed serpentine lash of 'Interceptor' proving they've come to terms with our potential extinguished existence. Likewise, we've always imagined Miles came from some parallel cyberpunk dimension just outside Burnley anyway, so his Ramen reshape of the latter makes sense, hammering away its angles until it exudes sludgy, effluent hardcore techno tropes. Definitely one for Mad Max characters, techno freaks and noise creeps!

Whiles

Mercury Ghost

Anyway

From 2012-2016 The Whiles huddled together when they could, between having babies, returning to graduate school, and living in different cities the recording process was slow and deliberate. Primary songwriter Joe Peppercorn has always had a singular focus to his music, taking things slow until he feels the sound is what he is exactly hearing in his head, in simple terms he is a perfectionist. This has helped The Whiles create some of the most distinctive music out of Columbus, Ohio with All Music comparing their debut (“Colors of The Year”, 4/5 stars) to Nick Drake while Insound likened their ornate sound to Colin Blunstone. In 2016 The Whiles released “Mercury Ghost” the four-years in the making follow-up to the well-received “Somber Honey.” The record was scheduled to be released on vinyl and CD on Anyway Records through Revolver USA. Then, suddenly on the eve of the release Joe put the records in his basement and the record sat dormant until now. After several years of coaxing by Anyway Records head, Bela Koe-Krompecher—Joe has decided to have the record see a formal release. Columbus, Ohio doesn’t have the Pacific Ocean to throw the entire tapes of an amazing album in, but we do have basements so Joe did what many a conflicted songwriter does, he chucked the records in the basement until now. The reward is worth the wait.

Kim Ki O

Bir, Iki...

S-s Records

Istanbul, Turkey; Year 2006: Ekin Sanaç and Berna Göl form Kim Ki O. Sanaç plays synth while Göl hits the bass. They both come up with beats and sing. Their music is lo-fi minimal synth with a post-punk / cold wave feel. The cool / warm dual female vocals are eerie and dreamy, referencing classic post-punk as well as traditional Turkish melodies but remaining understated. Over the next couple years, the pair releases two very limited CDRs and tours Scandinavia. In 2009 they appear on Radio Resistencia, released by the great Dutch synth label Enfant Terrible. One year later, Enfant Terrible releases their first album Dans. KFJC writes “The name of the band means ‘Who is that anyway’ in Turkish, and it reflects the ethereal nature of the sounds … a lovely early ’80s slow and somber electronic vibe (think Joy Division) combined with floaty, minimal lady vocals (sort of 4AD-ish like Cocteau Twins and Lush) … sweet, but not saccharine.” The vinyl issue of Dans quickly sells out. Over the next couple of years, Kim Ki O appears on various compilations and tours Turkey and Europe several times. They collaborate with Turkish filmmakers Merve Kayan and Zeynep Dadak on the short film Elope and write music for the Turkish performance group biriken for their play Re: Fwd: die in good company. In 2013, Lentonia Records out of France releases Grounds. It inspires a followup album of remixes called Grounds Album Remixes, also on Lentonia. In 2014, S-S Records dips...

Sultan, Mark

Whatever I Want, 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...

Connections

5 Imaginary Boys

Hozac

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

Forno, Carla Dal

You Know What It's Like

Blackest Ever Black

***CARLA DAL FORNO presents her debut solo album You Know What It's Like, following time in cult Melbourne group MOLE HOUSE and an earlier association with Blackest Ever Black as a member of F INGERS and TARCAR. Her voice is an extraordinary instrument: both disarmingly conversational and glacially detached. It has something of the bedsit urbanity of Anna Domino, Marine Girls,Antena, or Helen Johnstone—stoned and deadpan—but it can also summon a gothic intensity that Nico or Kendra Smith would approve of. This voice is the perfect embodiment of dal Forno's emotionally ambiguous songs: their lyrics rooted in the everyday, observing and exposing a series of uncomfortable truths. "Fast Moving Cars" and "What You Gonna Do Now?" weigh up claustrophobia against loneliness, inertia against acceleration, doubling-down versus taking-off; the title track acknowledges the provisional nature of love and "real" intimacy, then decides to brave it anyway. By the time the startlingly sparse "The Same Reply" arrives, the sense of dejection is absolute. The vocal-led pieces are interspersed with richly evocative instrumentals. Smothered in tape-hiss and reverb, the seasick synthesizer miniatures "Italian Cinema" and "Dragon Breath" channel the twilit DIY whimsy of Flaming Tunes and Call Back The Giants. The drum machine and bassline of "DB Rip" are pure Chicago house, but then its dark choral drones nod to Dalis Car's dreams of blood-spattered Cornwall stone. "Dry The Rain" drinks from a stream of moon-musick that runs through Coil, In Gowan Ring,Third Ear Band, even the Raincoats's Odyshape (1981).

Sic Alps

Breadhead

Drag City

***Late August: the sun is tired, the trees are weary, the air is gray. Ceiling fans revolve slowly, tracing their repeating path in the dust that clings to the top of the room. The stage is set for a SIC ALPS singles chart topper 2011! The four tracks on this record are stuck together from different sessions, recorded ½ by KING RIFF at Bauer Mansion and ½ by Sic Alps at home. Though the sound is classic Sic, their face has been rearranged, and this time out, MIKE DONOVAN is aided and abetted by a who’s-who of the SF gutter-gold scene: members of THEE OH SEES, TY SEGALL and all of BIG TECHNO WEREWOLVES made tracks on the last track of this mother. “Breadhead” was written in the NAPA ASYLUM explosion, with riff by NOEL—not a rarity, but a singular occurrence anyway. It plays much like one of Mike’s, so Mike makes an A-sided outing of it, rocking the tambourine for extra gleam. Then “Jammy Soc” dreams the grooves down to the play-out and it’s time to flip. “½ Rabbit Sandwich with Fries” was a title that’s been kicking around the Alps for a while, but now it can be known as a nocturnal number that gets the B-side off to an anti-shuffle. They wrap it up with a Wailers cover. The beat’s been relocated and the speed adjusted but the melody is let be, allowing Sic Alps to shine a little Who-ish light on the subject. This means guitars,...

Pelt

Rob's Choice

Vhf

***Surprise and sudden release of this previously unplanned live CD, hand-selected by west-coast mystic ROB VAUGHN, just in time for PELT's summer 2000 tour. Recorded in New Orleans and Austin on the band's monumental spring 1998 tour (which yielded their masterpiece Empty Bell Ringing In The Sky), Rob's Choice gives you a listen to two nearly complete performances, both superb expressions of the band's higher-ground drone-myth expansion and contraction, uh, that is to say it wails, and who doesn't love that Lowrey tube organ? Plus, there's the very special addition of TOM CARTER (CHARALAMBIDES) on sax and time-lag accumulator on the Austin performance. This thing was supposed to be a CDR, but it's too good, and who has time to burn all of those CDRs anyway? Three tracks, sixty-five minutes. Edition of 500.

Earthmen & Strangers

Painter

Perfectly Round

***A new EP from RYAN WONG’s (REATARDS, LOST SOUNDS, DESTRUCTION UNIT) current outfit EARTHMEN & STRANGERS. "’Painter’ shows more complex songsmithery and detailed guitar pop with a fragile aggressiveness, taking some influence from favorite Kiwi-pop sources. B-Side is ‘Space on Our Hands’ which continues the same themes, upbeat guitar pop showing some delicate tension and played with plenty of finesse. Not a rocker by any means, but a beautifully constructed pop song with guts. Well done Mr. Rousseau. While I don't want to insinuate anyone will ever replace Jay Reatard, I think a lot of his ideas and soul carry on via Ryan, one of his longstanding bandmates and friends who he shared very similar ideas with for what they wanted to do with rock music. Ryan's had a long and illustrious career on his own anyway, which should be reason enough to pay attention.”—RK. 500 pressed on purple vinyl.

Class

Epoca de Los Vaqueros

Feel It

***"Class of Tucson AZ—instantly familiar, idiosyncratic to the max, a glorious collision in which several of American punk’s leading lights emerge from their vehicles unscathed (though I make no promises for the rest of you, see below). What more can I say about 2022’s most eagerly anticipated full-length album? (a bit more as it turns out, which is fortunate as my fee is pretty expensive, onerous, even) These songs have the requisite crunch / glue ratio and more than anyone else in their idiom, remind me of moments that don’t happen nearly enough, in rock, in life, when your eyes are closed, anywhere. I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to presume the persons responsible for these gems are keen students of the last 40+ years of underground/overground sounds (the good shit anyway), but there’s a singular voice, a defined worldview if you will, somehow cutting through our bland, brutal, grim as fuck moment in history. If you think I’m building Class up a bit much, I can promise you this—there’s at least a half dozen people I know who will hear this record and immediately fall into the throes of a deep depression because they’re _not in this band_ . And if you’re wary of being hyped-2-death, spare a thought for me for just a minute. I’m the one who’s gonna have to talk them off a ledge (figuratively, it’s mostly single stories in this part of the country)."—Gerard Cosloy

Pineapples, The

Twice On The Pipe

Wicked Ape

***Downtown New York City in the early '90s was a magical place and time for rock music, with a burgeoning scene and hip clubs galore. Striding like conquering giants into this fertile milieu came THE PINEAPPLES, whose gigs inspired the reverence of fans and other musicians alike. They took the scene by storm, sharing the stages of CBGBs, Maxwell’s, the Knitting Factory and Brownie’s with the likes of Hole, Helmet, Sonic Youth, Lunachicks, White Zombie—hell, even Juliana Hatfield. They had a single that got raves in NME (single of the week); Melody Maker said of their Kramer-produced Cocahuates EP, "it definitely places The Pineapples in that exclusive but growing category of US underground bands heading overground..." But they didn't. Not yet, anyway. It’s a new century, and The Pineapples have, at long last, returned to save us all.

Pineapples, The

Summergreen

Wicked Ape

***Downtown New York City in the early '90s was a magical place and time for rock music, with a burgeoning scene and hip clubs galore. Striding like conquering giants into this fertile milieu came THE PINEAPPLES, whose gigs inspired the reverence of fans and other musicians alike. They took the scene by storm, sharing the stages of CBGBs, Maxwell’s, the Knitting Factory and Brownie’s with the likes of Hole, Helmet, Sonic Youth, Lunachicks, White Zombie—hell, even Juliana Hatfield. They had a single that got raves in NME (single of the week); Melody Maker said of their Kramer-produced Cocahuates EP, "it definitely places The Pineapples in that exclusive but growing category of US underground bands heading overground..." But they didn't. Not yet, anyway. It’s a new century, and The Pineapples have, at long last, returned to save us all.

Behavior

375 Images Of Angels

Iron Lung

***John Cage related this anecdote: “One evening I was walking along Hollywood Boulevard, nothing much to do. I stopped and looked in the window of a stationary shop. A mechanized pen was suspended in space in such a way that, as a mechanized roll of paper passed by it, the pen went through the motions of the same penmanship exercises I had learned as a child in the third grade. Centrally placed in the window was an advertisement explaining the mechanical reasons for the perfection of the operation of the suspended mechanical pen. I was fascinated, for everything was going wrong. The pen was tearing the paper to shreds and splattering ink all over the window and on the advertisement, which, nevertheless, remained legible.” This little musing somehow rhymes with the spirit of BEHAVIOR’s 375 Images of Angels, unique “musical” approach to punk. The very essence of punk is a contemptuous “fuck you” to convention anyway, or at least a troubled groping for new avenues of self creation. There is a simple beauty in deconstruction, in calculated naivety, in messes, in processes and in the plain night air of Los Angeles. …Angels dances like a dog shaking off a swim. ...Angels is as deliberate as it is free. Don’t we all want this dichotomy in our lives? The drive to make our time our own and the permission to chase joy? Includes a download.

Niblett, Scout

No More Nasty Scrubs

Drag City

***SCOUT NIBLETT prepares to break the surface with a new LP a scanty three years after her previous Calcination of Scout Niblett LP that she’s toured to death in the meanwhile. The all-new, all covers “No More Nasty Scrubs” 7” finds her mouthing other songwriters’ words in support of greasy hedonistic sexxx (“Nasty”) on the A-side (conjured up after being asked to contribute to a friend’s Janet Jackson tribute album) while flipping over to an equally righteous but more stringently, I don’t know. . . ascetic? (look it up, it almost works) viewpoint on the AA-side with “No Scrubs” (via TLC, for no tribute but her own). Better luck next time, child! Or as we say in the record industry, worse luck—records don’t get written off happy relations and such. Not ours anyway. But then, we’ve always liked records about bad trips, space travel and absurd B-movie alternative future scenarios. Plus breakups. It’s a living... Look for a new full-length album from Scout Niblett early in 2013. (STREET DATE - 11/06/2012)

Choo Choo La Rouge

The Sunshine State

Kiam

***Human pitted against human. At the end of the day that’s all we are, and no amount of lawyering around it is going to change that fact. On their newest record The Sunshine State, Choo Choo la Rouge promenade straight down the tracks into oncoming traffic. They’ve been injured, and they’ve been blessed. It is time to make a stand. They have the angels on their side, and then again, who the fuck can count on angels? The name Choo Choo la Rouge refers to a part of the Boston subway system that passes through working class enclaves and Ivy League sanctuaries. They were part of the remarkably fertile Boston scene of the late-’90s and early aughts, alongside similarly lacerating and loveable artists Papas Fritas, The In Out, and Hallelujah The Hills. That was a long time ago—twenty years, some say—but anyway the weird urgency of that energetic scene persists, ghost-like throughout their first release since 2009’s underground classic Black Clouds....

Lou Lou & The Guitarfish

S/t

Birdman

This colorful, charismatic group of youth, featuring George and Lou Lou Rosenthall, the children of Hank Rank (Crime), has been blasting around San Francisco since elementary school, honing a diet of Blondie, New York Dolls, The Ramones, The Recauntours--you name it.   After two years of pre-production, Lou Lou and the Guitarfish's self-titled debut record was recorded in two days, and it cuts and scrapes through the speaker with the reckless abandon of Iggy Pop and a full jar of peanut butter. The band is wise beyond their years, showing the guitar swagger of a seasoned swinger and vocals that are as self-assured as the subject matter. These kids want to be heard, and they will get your attention any way they can. Raised in a museum of music and wonderments, home-schooled on the life of an artist/musician, they play their version of powerful rock with a style similar to pre-junk Thunders and with lyrics as biting as Patti Smith (check out "Hit Me").   Youth of today, unite. The revolution is in the hands of the young--Lou Lou and the Guitarfish.

Golden Pelicans

Grinding For Gruel

12xu

***Over the course of the last 8 years, Orlando’s GOLDEN PELICANS have made a compelling case for themselves as one of the planet’s most relentlessly malevolent ensembles, both live and on record. Thankfully, however, this is not an episode of “Hot Bench” and rather than finger-pointing and tearful recriminations, I’ll offer as evidence their succession of titles for the Total Punk and Goner labels with which the quartet of vocalist ERIK GRINCEWICZ, guitarist SCOTT BARNES, bassist SAMMY MENESES and drummer RICH EVANS have made reached American punk’s apex in the 2 thousand teens more than once (like goalposts, the thing moves around a bit). On the band’s 2019 entry, Grinding For Gruel, recorded by RYAN BELL of GG King / Predator, Grinewicz’ fatalism and Barnes’ not-nearly-heralded-enough virtuosity are captured with the sort of chromatic sheen that would’ve at one time been considered unthinkable (well, before electricity was invented, anyway). Is this the finest, most fully-realized Golden Pelicans release to date?

Best Bets

On An Unhistoric Night

Meritorio

***BEST BETS are a power pop band from Aotearoa, New Zealand. Formed by OLLY CRAWFORD ELLIS and JAMES HARDING (TRANSITORS), they released their first EP, Life Under the Big Top, in 2018, with James’ brother LUKE and MATT PHIMMAVANH rounding out the lineup. JOE SAMPSON (SALAD BOYS, T54) joined afterwards. Their debut album, On An Unhistoric Night, could perhaps be described as a series of homages; a bunch of ballads, some tearjerkers, with a few earworms thrown in. On An Unhistoric Night talks about New Jack Swing artists who were formerly Olympic athletes; 11th century monarchs; Italian sports cars (and car salesmen); Open Polytechnic ads of the late 90s; Whose Line is it Anyway?; Subbuteo champions and Elvis impersonators. It explores hubris, hopelessness and purpose in life, pop culture detritus and everyday ennui underpinned by humour, guitar heroics and catchy bloody hooks. The album is a hi-fi effort by producer BRIAN FEARY, who notably has worked with a number of excellent Christchurch bands—Wurld Series, Salad Boys and The Dance Asthmatics to name a few. You might like this album if you appreciate bands like The Replacements, Teenage Fanclub, Buzzcocks, Big Star and The Go-Betweens. Pressed on orange vinyl.

Mosses

T.V. Sun

Anyway

If you've spent any time over the last decade or so rooting around the liner notes of records or in front of stages from DIY spaces to packed out theaters you may have noticed the name and/or the radiantly smiling frame of Ryan Jewell. Ryan plays drums with a technical acumen that one could easily describe as rare, but with an aesthetic approach that only seems appropriate to catalog as alchemical. A true session man, in the most cosmic sense, Jewell has played with everyone from psych legends to contemporary indie darlings to underground noiseniks and wandering troubadours. Ryan is one of those most exotic of rare birds – a multi-instrumentalist and composer who is not only accomplished in the art of vibrating strings or skins, tickling the proverbial ivories, or manipulating magnetic tape but who has a discernibly unique voice on each instrument. Generally such talents would allow an artist access to a myriad of directions through the aural garden of forking paths. But Jewell has taken a hatchet to that verdure and reoriented it into a musical biodome where rock, folk, jazz, psych, musique concrète and post-punk all resonate together at most pleasing frequency. Lucky for us he's decided to share the results. Mosses is at its core a duo - Mr. Jewell and Danette Bordenkircher. The two share an almost telepathic musical connection; a four armed musical Shiva with a deep knowledge of the last century of recorded sound. On “T.V. Sun”, their first physical lp (not...

Prowler

Pale Green Vauxhall Driving Man

Just Add Water

***"PROWLER featured the wildly prolific team of MARTIN BRILEY and BRIAN ENGEL from such faves as MANDRAKE PADDLE STEAMER, STARBUCK 'Do You Like Boys', LIVERPOOL ECHO, SHAMBLES 'Hello Baby', TRUE ADVENTURE, etc. This is not really a reissue per se because the original uncensored version has never been released on vinyl before. It was released in a censored form as the oddly titled 'Pale Green (Hmmmm) Driving Man' in 1972. The BBC’s policy at the time would not allow a commercial product or brand name being used. Same reason The Kinks had to re-record 'Lola' for the single version substituting 'chery cola' in place of 'Coca-Cola'. Prowler masked the offending 'Vauxhall' auto brand name in their song with a Moog (played by Chris Thomas) sort of replicating an accelerating car. The fact that you can clearly hear the word 'Vauxhall' several other times outside of the chorus didn’t seem to phase anyone. It was all for naught. The Beeb didn’t play it anyway. The subject matter alone, a kerb crawler searching the streets for unwitting victims tempted by his tainted 'sticky brandy balls' sweets would warrant a ban from The Beeb regardless. The unique B-side 'I’m Your Leading Man', a demo from 1972, has never appeared on vinyl before. As always, we provide more bang for the buck!" 300 pressed.

Spike In Vain

Jesus Was Born In A Mobile Home

Scat

Jesus Was Born in a Mobile Home, a cassette release from the fall of 1984, represents Spike in Vain's first attempt at a second album. Recorded shortly after the release of Disease Is Relative in January 1984, the original group returned to The Island and laid down tracks for nine songs, with a focus on the band's earliest material. Most of these songs were written before those that appeared on the debut album, so the tape functions as a prequel to the debut even though it was recorded afterwards. Some of the tracks have a more traditional hardcore approach than the first album, but there is still the trademark coloring outside the lines for which the group is known. And of course it's mostly quite dark, with the majority of songs addressing death or paralyzing fear. Not long after recording basic tracks, drummer Bruce Allen announced his plans to cut ties and focus on his own group. It was decided to quickly finish the recordings anyway, release them on cassette, and try again later when another drummer was found. Since one of the songs was rejected and the rest only added up to 20 minutes, it was decided to include additional random material to fill out the tape. But what glorious "filler" that turned out to be! There's the very first performance of "Ugly and Damaged" from the band's first gig in early 1983. And "Love Isn't Hollow" from a 1981 rehearsal tape featuring Bruce completely shredding on guitar, the...

Simoulin, Jean "Valnoir"

Analogue Black Terror Vol. II

Nuclear War Now

***Between the late '80s and 2000, a fringe of the extreme heavy metal youth culture decided to secede from the contemporary scenes to express their deep disgust and hostility towards organized religions, democracies, human rights, the modern world, and humankind in general. Driven by hatred, misanthropy and Satanism, fueled by juvenile passion, and with very limited means, they produced myriads of home made Black Metal recordings which left no room whatsoever to tolerance, mercy, or any kind of positive energy. Some were spoiled brats in search for a reason to rebel, some were convicted murderers, arsonists, grave desecrators or rapists, others were merely incredibly talented artists with a sincere will to put their work in the service of a greater evil. Little consideration was given to sophisticated production, and given how much money was available in the scene, fancy options were not on the table anyway. Home-xeroxed duplicated tapes were spread hand-to-hand within local scenes, or worldwide, via snail mail, amongst a network of individuals all gathered around one idea : to remain an elite that stood alone against the modern world and prayed for its annihilation. A lot of them disappeared, a chosen few became legends—before falling into disgrace to represent the embarrassing circus that Black Metal mostly stands for a quarter of century later. 300 page hard bound book documenting over 370 bands and featuring 550 visual archives of black metal demo tapes.

Major Stars

Roots Of Confusion Seeds Of Joy

Drag City

***Playing material arranged for a sextet fronted by a trio of guitars, MAJOR STARS have developed a habit of rehearsing regularly and repeatedly, then showing up to record with the material fully conceived and ready to roll—and Roots of Confusion Seeds of Joy was no exception, with most of the songs (except “Out In the Light”) being run through a thousand times or so before coming to the studio and getting tracked in a day and a half. Their triple-guitar alignment has a fiendish way of affecting one’s depth-of-field, and while it is easy to describe what Major Stars do in terms of bombast, this shortchanges the tactile components of the band—a song like “Dawn and the Spirit” is an epic workout of no mean complexity, and the layers of guitars throughout are arrayed to explore aspects of melody and progression in the songs, not to saw and solo mindlessly away! The aggressive, transporting aspects of this music tend to grab listeners by their lapels and slap them around a bit, so if perceptions of sonic architecture are lost in the melee, well, that’s kind of the goal anyway.

Cowley, Patrick

Some Funkettes

Dark Entries

Dark Entries is humbled to continue digging through the archives of legendary producer Patrick Cowley. While best known for his production on chart-topping cybernetic disco anthems such as Sylvester’s “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” or his own “Menergy”, Cowley, who passed away from AIDS-related illness in 1982, left us with a substantial body of work. Since 2009, Dark Entries has been working with Cowley’s friends and family to shed light on the lesser known facets of this singular artist’s output. This has resulted in a string of celebrated archival albums, including Catholic (featuring Jorge Socarras), School Daze, Muscle Up, Afternooners, and the recent Mechanical Fantasy Box. Some Funkettes, the latest addition to this series, is a collection of previously unreleased cover songs recorded from 1975-1977. These raw, unembellished tributes both showcase Cowley’s early musical interests and chart the development of his production techniques.  Some Funkettes opens with Cowley’s sauntering instrumental rendition of “Do It Anyway You Wanna”, the disco classic by People’s Choice. Next is a psychedelic reworking of the Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”, here hazily retitled “Papa Wuzza Rollinston”. Over its 7 minute runtime, the track’s metronomic, minimal groove builds to a frantic synth solo - this is pure Bay Area motorik. “Spiked Punch”, a curious riff on Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon” follows. Cowley’s lurching, minimalist reimagining of Hancock’s opus prefigures the work he would later do on Sylvester’s masterpiece “I Need Somebody to Love Tonight”. Side B opens with a truly important historical document: Cowley’s cover...

Skinny Girl Diet

Heavyflow

Happy Happy Birthday To Me

***One of the most eagerly anticipated albums in years, SKINNY GIRL DIET's Heavy Flow is already getting regular play on BBC Radio 6 (by Iggy Pop, no less) and the London band’s been featured in just about every music blog/magazine you can imagine. The band won’t even be old enough to drink during their upcoming US tour, and yet DELILAH HOLIDAY, URSULA HOLIDAY and AMELIA CARTER have been doing this for almost six years now. SGD is raw, bleeding, and beautiful, a perfect convergence of Angela Carter and Angela Davis and The Powerpuff Girls. Inspired by punk and grunge and being alive & awake in the 21st century, their debut album—self-released in the UK so they can control the product, released in the US on HHBTM Records. "OK" may be the best song ever written about watching a loved one struggle through depression. And then there’s lead single "Yeti," a song about how society demonizes female sexuality that—in its shifting tempos, its volatility—sounds like no punk song ever made by men. Anyway, they don’t need us to speak for them when they speak so beautifully for themselves.

Country Teasers

Satan Is Real Again

Crypt

***A rather deluxe reissue of this classic (as considered now) second LP by Edinburgh/London combo COUNTRY TEASERS, featuring tons of info on just how this LP came to be, plus the rather fucked-up story of a wee label flailing against the corrupt/inept accounting by Atlantic Records. Gatefold sleeve plus printed inner sleeve. And, most importantly: a READABLE sized BAND NAME upon a sticker attached to the shrink-wrap!   Yes, my friends; A new 14-cut album from London´s finest, no doubt to cost Crypt more "garage/punk cred" within the ranks of those "hip". Well, believe me, I just spent 24 hours going thru a stack of over 200 demos from half-assed newly "hep" "garage" and "punk" bands and the Teasers cut a bold swath through alla these nouveau Caesars or D Dogs attempters, never mind alla these pissant surf/lo-fi/"trash" punkers with absolutely no fucking SUBSTANCE or originality. I will admit that the Teasers AIN´T yer "typical" Crypt "sound"; Hell, they almost fit in and could even appeal to "garage" hating "indie rock" types. SOME NOTES ON THE TUNES YE SHALL BE TREATED TO: Anyway, the alb kicks off with a noisey instrumental "intro", "THE WIDE-OPEN BEAVER OF NASHVILLE". Next up: the ALMOST "radio-friendly" "BLACK CHANGE" kicks in. Track 3 is an ode to the subtleties & innocent pleasures of "PANTY SHOTS". "IT IS MY DUTY": a charming, skipping treatise on the overly facistic feminism of now. Rather than apologize for any whining from the PC do-gooders, the next tune, a poignant...

Shepard, Jim

Heavy Action

Ever / Never

***BACK IN STOCK!!! "When Charles and Josh tapped me to spill some ink for this project, I couldn’t say yes fast enough. Culled from Charles’s vast personal collection, the contents herein abide no formality and as such, ushers forth an insider’s take into Jim’s frantic, restless genius you’ll not likely find again. Timelines? What are you, some kinda cop? It’s fresh ears all around on this one, folks, none of this material has seen the light of day till now. It twitches, it grunts, it flares, and it soars. It ain’t no one type’ve nothin’, unless that’s Loaded. In my king fu village, this pivotal document to the blood spilt across the floor of an iconoclastic career is right up there with the Velvets, Caught Between The Twisted Stars, Beefheart’s, Grow Fins & those Blorp Essette comps. Who knows if the official vaults will ever be opened? And even if, what you’d likely get is the known entities anyway, trussed up in new boots ’n’ panties. This is mud fresh from the private swamp. And as you’ll soon find out, Jim could make it crackle."—Tom Lax, Philadelphia, PA 3/15/19

Speaking Suns

Range

Anyway

Speaking Suns hail from Yellow Springs, Ohio a tiny burp of a burg that has proven to be an oasis of artistic and creative expression for over seventy years (past and current inhabitants include Rod Serling, Coretta Scott King, poet Arnold Adoff and David Chappelle). Speaking Suns released their debut record “Vanishing Country” in 2014, since that time the record has gone out of print due to persistent touring and gaining a large following throughout the Midwest and east coast. But enough about geography, it is the dare-I-say sophisticated approach to pop music that Speaking Suns bare their teeth, digging from a wide range of music that has come before them with disparate hints of Nilsson, Lambchop and most especially the Chicago sounds of Sea and Cake and the Denver based Elephant Six Collective. “Range” was recorded over a period of time spanning 2016-17, producing a smooth polished sound that is at once difficult to describe but is disarming in it’s easy going approach. While one may assume they would inhabit the “Ohio-sound” such as the nearby Guided by Voices (member David Byrne’s father played bass for both GBV and Swearing a Motorists), or the lo-fi aesthetics of the Columbus High Street scene but they choose to go in the opposite direction—choosing the polished sound akin to much of mid-nineties Thrill Jockey bands. Anyway is proud to be a part of the unveiling of the two-lp set of “Range”. Extensive touring throughout the fall of 2017 and winter of 2018.

JT IV

The Future

Drag City

***Outsider freekz, make with the haste! It’s time to get back to The Future—the one promised back when rock and roll was king, re- member? J.T. IV believed in the promise—and now, the mystery man behind barely-released private press 7" records of the ’80s like “Destructo Rock” and “Cosmic Lightning” and a film holding the Guinness record for worlds-longest—85 hours!—has been called back to our mortal coil, to live out his glittering, rapa- cious dreams once again. The 2009 comp LP Cosmic Lightning cast his tragic silhouette up on the big screen for all to see: the lost boy, alone in the world, standing before the mic and releasing his inner star with glee and vengeance, his antisocial visions flying high atop a raging funnel of distorted guitars and blunt rhythms. Or couched, childlike, within a heartbreaking billow of acoustic guitars—a schizophrenic split that only magnifies the display of his deep emotions. The Future goes even further, excavating fifteen recordings from a previously unheard-of cassette entitled, The Best Of Johnny Zhivago Retrospective 1979–1993, and adding four more uncollected tracks from his slim (and impossible to find anyway) discography. Of these nineteen tracks, eight are covers—and J.T. IV’s picks, from Velvets to Mott the Hoople, Roxy Music, Lee Hazlewood, The Kinks, Eno and Stephen Sondheim, sharpen our image of the misfit adrift; on the outside looking in, but maybe just a few steps away from his goal. The Future unfolds like an epic, as both sides of J.T.’s persona—the street-smart, damaged...

St. Jude, Frederick Michael

Here Am I

Drag City

***Ah, the wild and wooly ‘70s! Everybody was a star—and not of the YouTube sensation variety. Even one-hit wonders had to work harder in those days—and no hit wonders? Harder still! Yet, the space between the spotlight and gen pop was relatively miniscule back then—and security was light! Bum-rushing the stage wasn’t necessary: with a convincing take on a recent hit, performers could walk on with their recognition secured, and with a little pizzazz, a hungry young talent could take it to the next level! This was 20th Century showbiz, and this was the ring into which FREDERICK MICHAEL ST. JUDE tossed his hat. Here Am I isn’t just the expression of a working-class hero’s musical fantasy circa 1976: it’s also a marvelous mashup of outsider-insider production styles, the best evidence of which is the synth-laden robot-rock of “Love You Anyway.” But how did it come about? At the end of the 1960s, FREDDY DENGLER was a veteran of the club circuit in his native Pennsylvania. Inspired in his boyhood by the decaying glamour of his father’s swing-era nightclub and then again in adolescence by the ubiquitous charm of The Beatles, he’d taken up the guitar as a teenager. This led to bands, and before long, Freddy was playing regular gigs with a group called THE OTHER SIDE. Amidst the hard work of rock and roll were a couple of recording sessions, but unfortunately for Freddy, his band mates didn’t share his enthusiasm for writing new material. By 1972, Freddy...

Youth Avoiders

S/t

Deranged

***“YOUTH AVOIDERS are from Paris, France; well, all except one of them, who is from Germany, so for all intent and purposes it's okay to refer to Youth Avoiders as a French group. They make a highly desirable racket courtesy of the instruments and voices at their disposal and should be complemented on those efforts. Following a couple of 7-inches and a variety of demos released on vinyl and/or cassette over the last few years, it was definitely time for this five-piece to take that leap onto a larger slab of vinyl, one which would allow it to cement the group's status as probably the best French-based band around at the moment. There are a number of identifiable record labels that spring to mind when listening to Youth Avoiders, such as Sorry State, Dirtnap and Grave Mistake. This is frantic, trebly, guitar-based music that relies on a sense of chaos blended with just a hint of melody to create an irresistible punk rock sound. Think unequal measures of Royal Headache, Low Culture and the Shirks and that's sort of how Youth Avoiders come across (and give it a working title of Royal Culture Shirks!). The first 35 seconds of opener ‘Cold Mines’ does not in any way provide a clue of what's to follow, as it's quite a relaxed opening that changes from calm to bonkers as if a switch is flicked. It's a whole new ballgame from then on in for around twenty minutes. There are a number of...

Kyle Sowashes, The

Everybody

Anyway

It would be easy for me to start by saying every fertile music scene in America has a Kyle Sowash to call its own. He's the integral, overambitious, indie-rock everyman responsible for bringing to town bands that, barring his begging, would otherwise pass on by. He's the fervent local enthusiast always in the front row, even on a wintry Tuesday. His floor's been infinitely crashed upon, his bank account tapped from self-financed/self-made tours of the country --- basically he's racked up enough D.I.Y. karma points that you're obligated to buy his new record Everybody on his good works alone. Sowash's selfless moral character may be common in places like Cleveland, Portland, Athens, and Chapel Hill, but his style, his demeanor and his songs are distinctly Columbus, Ohio.  Normally, naming a band after oneself is a shallow stroke of ego (e.g., Steve Miller, Bob Seger), but for Kyle Sowash, it couldn't be any other way. After slaving over a decade's worth of unrecognized lo-fi indie anthems, he deserves a complete, full-throttle band to flesh out his earnest ballads and scrappy pop songs.  The Kyle Sowashes are a supergroup of sorts, composed of four dynamic players assembled from formidable Ohio bands such as 84 Nash, SPD GVNR and The Cabdrivers, but each is channeling a little Kyle Sowash on Everybody.   Recorded in August 2014 in Columbus, Ohio by Keith Hanlon, Everybody's 16 songs are straight out of the indie rock cookbook. Tracks like the propulsive "King Shit of...

Mv & Ee With The Golden Road

Drone Trailer

Dicristina Stair Builders

Orbiting the earth in Vermont is Matt "MV" Valentine, once the brawn of the Tower Recordings, and Erika "EE" Elder, CEO of Heroine Celestial Agriculture and The MV & EE Medicine Show. Together with their dog Zuma, they run the Child of Microtones library of exploratory music--sometimes their own lunar blues, sometimes finger-picking-style noise/space, sometimes lonesome frontier folk.  MV & EE have landed at the DiCristina Building bearing Drone Trailer, featuring The Golden Road: Doc Dunn (pedal steel, guitar, harmony), Mike Smith (bass, fender rhodes, harmony), and James Anderson (drums, engineer). You may recognize these names as part of MV & EE's touring band when they scorched across New England and the Rust Belt en route to Terrastock this past June. Drone Trailer is a consolidation of the previous musical high-life of the duo's space shanties for the 21st century. In other words, MV & EE explore their unique mix of lunar raga and astral string band music, with a couple deep-space burners/covert jams such as opening blast "Anyway" thrown in to bust it all open. Nobody is gonna mind if they hear a little Crazy Horse and prime-era Dead here as well!  The Golden Road will be living it all this autumn and winter, touring the US and overseas. Stop by and say howdy, and be sure to set up some mics.

Rocket 808

House Of Jackpots

12xu

***Rocket 808’s self-titled debut album came out in late 2019, and luckily, absolutely nothing happened in 2020 to divert the world’s attention away from the release. Combining the primitive analog drum machine of 1970s New York underground icons Suicide with the raw guitar of Link Wray, Rocket 808 blasted rock n’ roll guitar into our new, weirder present. Now Rocket 808 returns with a new LP, House of Jackpots, taking up where the previous record left off while adding some new elements to juice things up. Still channeling Alan Vega, the Cramps, and Duane Eddy influences from the first LP, House of Jackpots further explores 1980’s television cop show themes and Ry Cooder film scores. “Punk rock Mike Post” might not be something you knew you needed, until you hear the first cut of the record. Slide guitar gives you your own personal screening of Wim Wenders’ "Paris, Texas" in your mind’s eye, or imagine if instead of the Barry De Vorzon intro, "Simon & Simon" opened with a trash-rock instrumental instead. Saturated in big-screen iconography whether its surf tunes for 100-foot waves or David Lynch soundtracks for a grimy 1970s Las Vegas strip, House of Jackpots takes you out of our current reality that frankly, we all probably want to forget anyway. Covers of 1950s proto-goth Jody Reynolds and reviled eighties electro-rockers Sigue Sigue Sputnik give nods to the obscure rock n’ roll weirdos of the past while dragging them into the future. Recorded by Grammy-winner Stuart Sikes and...

Aloonaluna

The Gilded Hegemony Of Stars

Scioto

***LYNN FISTER's ALOONALUNA project is well known in the cassette world. She has released full length albums on Hooker Vision and Digitalis Limited, plus split cassettes and 7” singles with the likes of Motion Sickness of Time Travel, Ant’lrd and Starry Crowns. She has been featured on Pitchfork’s The Out Door column, Tiny Mix Tapes, and NPR’s All Songs Considered. The Gilded Hegemony of Stars is her new full-length and first release on vinyl. Awash in ambient synths, Fister’s vocals are layered into a spacey murmur. It’s an appropriate aesthetic choice for a record that comments on the way many present their lives online. Says Fister, “Most of the songs were created as a way of coming to terms with millennial culture—with its fragmented morality, narcissistic and sociopathic tendencies, privilege, self-righteousness, definitions, individualistic viewpoint, solipsism etc. Sometimes, I feel alienated and overwhelmed in such a digitized, click-bait, ADD, hook-up cultured, hyper-stylized world. Sometimes art-making seems pointless, as I never felt so weary of interpersonal relationships—which I believe is systemic from current American cultural and socio-political norms. But yet I embrace it and kiss it anyway. I try to wrap my head around a world that I will never be able to understand. My idealized / romanticized pastoral fantasy has been broken again and again, as I try constantly to rebuild a myth.”

Ashbringer

Yugen

Vendetta

***When ASHBRINGER's Yūgen came out, Jon Rosenthal over at Invisible Oranges categorized it as atmospheric black metal but said he liked it, in part, because it's an 'emo record at heart.' Even though he cited it as a positive, those could just as easily be fighting words. If I hadn't heard the album before I read that, I might have kept right on going. But it's actually fair, and it's not a bad thing, either. Ashbringer's first full-length, Vacant, was done by NICK STANGER alone, and it's a solid atmospheric black metal album. With Yūgen, Stanger has expanded the project to a full five piece (with the occasional guest), and with it, the project's sound has expanded and changed. The music is now bigger, heart-on-its-sleeve, bombastic black metal. The vocals are well within the fuzzy boundaries of black metal shrieks, but they also teeter just on the edge of breaking, not unlike...well, emo vocals. But it works, and I don't think you have to be in any way a fan of emo to enjoy this. It doesn't hurt that Stanger and co. are riff machines. There's plenty of tremolo'd goodness, like in 'Lakeside Meditation,' but they're also masters at creating single-line riffs that will get stuck in your head...”—metalbandcamp. Originally released on CD by Avantgarde Music.

Quintron

Erotomania

Mind Meld

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  "The concept at Mind Meld is to give our favorite artists an outlet to create whatever kind of record they want in hopes of getting a better understanding of their cranial workings. There is no current artist more fascinating to me than QUINTRON and I'm honored he agreed to be our second release. Armed with a mellotron he turns in a six song instrumental 12" of late night exotica and wacked out dixieland. Each track sets a mood and leads the mind to wander through the fantastical. It's a party record but not of the lamp shade variety. Vibe music to get the soul dancing. Perfect for the late nite soiree, the dark basement lounge, or a tropical getaway. I can't think of a setting where this album wouldn't fit. Hell you could probably play this at a funeral and get the corpse moving. An album for daydreaming and night living. Wild, weird, and absolutely engrossing."   "The songs come across as a bizarro-world take on the exotica oddness of Martin Denny and Les Baxter, and the record’s vibe is something like 'Tiki Bar at the End of Time.' Pick a riff from any track, and you could turn it into the leitmotif for a groovy B-movie bad guy — one who digs composers like Raymond Scott and Terry Riley, anyway."—Nashville Scene

Bells Of

Bells Of - 00/85

The MoveSounds

***1985 was a transitional period for the Washington DC music scene. Founding members of the hardcore movement pulled away from its original trajectory in search of a new musical direction. Rites of Spring, Embrace, and Gray Matter are all well-known and well-documented examples of this time and shift that came to be known as Revolution Summer. But theirs were not the only voices. In the early months of 1985, 17-year-old guitarist LAWRENCE MCDONALD set out to form a new band. His ex-bandmates from his previous hardcore band CAPITAL PUNISHMENT Punishment were doing the same—Mike Fellows with Rites of Spring and Colin Sears with Dag Nasty. Lawrence found vocalist ALEC MACKAYE (FAITH), drummer PETE WILBORNE (THE 400), and bassist BLEU KOPPERI and BELLS OF was born. Inspired by the budding movement of the time, the band moved quickly. By summer they began their first recording at Inner Ear Studio with DON ZIENTARA, and on August 11, 1985, Bells Of played their first show, opening for Rites of Spring and Embrace. Unfortunately, Alec departed soon after, leaving the recording without vocals and the band without a vocalist.  Not wanting to lose momentum, and having written all the lyrics anyway, Lawrence returned to Inner Ear to sing his songs for the first time. He pulled fellow skater JASON FARRELL into the band as second guitar to help in a live setting while Lawrence transitioned to lead vocals and guitar. On October 25, 1985, Bells of played their second show, again with Rites...

Ausmuteants

Order Of Operation

Goner

Jake Robertson and Billy Gardner started Ausmuteants in late 2011 in Geelong, Australia, after having played since teenagers in trad garage bands (The Frowning Clouds and The Living Eyes, respectively). Per the norm for good-looking rebels who play by their own rules, they cracked the shits, broke loose with just a synth and drums and, in early 2012, knocked out the Split Personalities tape. The addition of Melbourne’s loose-unit Marc Dean on bass followed, and soon after, ex-Canberran hardcore non-guitarist Shaun Connor on guitar. Their second album Amusements (note: not self-titled) comes from this fledgling time as a full band, with a heavy dose of the duo’s songs. Since the runaway international success of that record and playing every second weekend in Melbourne, they’re rocked-out full-tilt with all four members writing and singing new songs—23 of which were recorded live with vocal overdubs in the basement of an old ice cream factory by Mikey Young, then mixed and mastered in his idyllic coastal abode. Again the band and their Australian label Aarght! Records strained the friendship with song picks, agreeing on thirteen to make up Order of Operation. This record is better than Amusements any way you cut it: songs, lyrics, delivery and sound. It opens with Connor’s forehead- and thigh-slapping musical and lyrical debut, “Freedom of Information.” From there, songs range from balls-to-the-wall punkers (“Felix Tried to Kill Himself”; “Boiling Point”), well-considered workouts (“Family Time”; “Tunnel Vision”) and unguarded tenderness (“Wrong”; “Looney Bin”). Even people who couldn’t stand their...

Kneeling In Piss

Tour De Force

Anyway

Alex Mussawir is a product of Columbus, Ohio which means he is both literate, humble, sardonic and completely Midwest in the same vein as Times New Viking, Ron House and James Thurber were. Alex has a long history of making music and writing. His first Columbus band, The Goners were formed while he was in high school (as was his first book of published poetry) was a band who sounded like they were ready to explode off a tightrope, but broke up after they released their first tape (ex-member Catherine Elicson would move to Philly and form Empath). Alex next formed the Future Nuns, a band that sounded like a great lost Flying Nun or early Homestead band and after they broke up Alex created Kneeling in Piss which takes the best from his previous bands and melds them into something stronger but still loose enough to remain elusive, as if they were slouching towards greatness. Musically touching on both Times New Viking, Ron House’s Great Plains as well as the best of home recordings, Kneeling in Piss perfectly captures the sound of living in a large city but feeling small and questioning the world at large. Originally released on cassette on Faq-U in 2019 it quickly went out of print. Remastered for vinyl while they continue to record (check out their bandcamp for new recordings). Limited run of 500 copies with lyric sheet included. -Bela Koe-Krompecher, Anyway Records resident social worker. “…jangly outbursts indebted to a spectrum of ‘80s...

12 Minutes At The Hot Club Murphy

S/t

Messthetics

***Adventurous, subtly-hued pop art from a Rosetta Stone line-up of post-HOMSEXUALS / THIS HEAT / Rock in Opposition squat savants. The full story is more complicated—and exponentially richer (as is the music), but here’s a short version of how 12 MINUTES AT THE HOT CLUB MURPHY came to be, in the words of ROB STOREY, the one constant in 30-plus years of Murphy variations (Federation Murphy, Orchestre Murphy, The Murphy Love Experience, Murphy Patrol, Murphy Working Stiffs, Laboratoires Murphy, etc.). ““We had made a start as the GOOD FOR NOTHINGS in about 77/78 and played sort of punk rock music with a line-up of Catherine O'Sullivan, Bing Selfish, Rodrigo Lodwick, Seamus Luttman-Johnson, and Robert Storey. We soon got tired of the straitjacket of the 'punk' sound and started trying other things, 'fake jazz', more theatrical elements, improvisation and performance deconstruction—which resulted in some extremely antagonistic audience reactions... We sat around listening to reggae more than anything else, and dub became a part of the consciousness, the idea of using the multi-track studio as a composition tool and not even trying to sound 'realistic' or to approximate the live sound. After making the first single ‘Fed Up Skank’ / ‘Slipping Past On The Inside’, Bing was a semi-detached member of the Murphies anyway, and went on to make ‘Selfish Works’. Chris Gray, Jim Whelton, Ted Barrow (who had all been associated with the Homosexuals), Lepke Buchwalter, David Doyle and Joe Torres (who were Milk from Cheltenham), Janey Haggar (Nancy Sesay), and...

April March / Kelley Stoltz

April March Sings Kelley Stoltz

Agitated

Four special tracks recorded by April March and Kelley Stoltz, whereby April sings Kelley Stoltz songs in French and also in English. Mixed and mastered by Warren DeFever at Third Man. Pressed on red vinyl. April March: "I was in Nashville with Olivia Jean on a little break from shooting our 'Allons Y' video at Third Man. I got in her car and she cranked up her playlist. Out jumped 'Double Exposure'. I went bananas right there in the passenger seat. 'Kelley Stokes!', she smiled wide. It reminded me of something I'd heard in a dream. I went around singing songs from Double Exposure for a few weeks zeroing in on 'Are You My Love' and 'Your Face'. I thought to myself cover-wise there's nothing to add here, they're perfect as is but maybe some French versions would be a kick so I asked for an intro. A few months later I was in San Francisco kicking out the Bonne Mamans with Kelley in his studio. Lucky me and thanks to Agitated Records lucky you too. Kelley Stoltz: “Like almost everyone in the world I was dazzled by April March's take on 'Chick Habit' back in the late 90s. It was such an up feeling and joyful sound in the music and vocals. At odds with the manly wails and bleak outlooks that were standard song fare of those days. You can develop a crush on the voice in your speakers, you know! I did anyway. I was...

Powers Rolin Duo

Clearing

Astral Editions

***“'Peridot' dives right in, and so I will. It’s a gemstone, peridot, and may become your favorite gemstone (as it has mine since I’ve dug in to its history and cultural significance). I like volcanoes and volcanic land formations. 'Peridot,' the musical piece presented here by Powers/Rolin, is soundtrack to memories of in-person witnessed lava floes and the infinite parade of Herzogian docu-footage of rivers of fire and constructive destruction. There are edits or augmentations evident, creating (or revealing) form, in the tradition of Teo Macero’s work on In A Silent Way. Because rarely does the beauty of a musical moment survive the translation from performance to recording without losing that crucial thing that made it a once-in-a-lifetime happening without judicious and usually minimal manipulation. We overdub, we mix, we edit. We master, we distribute. If you’ve ever been out in the woods with some friends and come upon a little place in a creek that’s just big enough to get in for something resembling a ‘swim’ but is more like a ‘dip’, and no-one has brought costumes designed explicitly for swimming so some begin to disrobe completely, and then you do too even though you feel awkward and never really wanted to be naked around these people (or, really, almost anyone) but do it anyway, and the embarrassment never really goes away during the whole time you luxuriate in the cold water but almost does again and again as something in you realizes that this is the best and...

OBN IIIs

Worth A Lot Of Money

12xu

***Austin's mighty OBN IIIs return to the fray with a twin guitar juggernaut in the form of Worth A Lot Of Money, the most fully realized, unrelenting OBN III's album to date. For a guy with zero to prove in the songwriting sweepstakes, ORVILLE NEELEY's emerged with both the catchiest and most raging material of his 29 years, and however many echoes you might catch of say, Thin Lizzy, Rose Tattoo or Sonics Rendezvous Band, the current quartet of Neeley (now on guitar + vocals), guitarist TOM TRIPLETT (THE REAL ENERGY, SNOOTY GARBAGEMEN, BLAXX), bassist MICHAEL ANDREW GOODWIN (MASSAGENIST, LOW TIME) and MARLEY JONES (ex-SWEET TALK) are ridiculously locked in. Recorded with the assistance of producer MIKE MCCARTHY (Cherubs, Spoon, A Giant Dog), though Worth A Lot Of Money might be a quantum leap forward in recording quality for this band, there’s no trickery in action, as anyone who’s seen these guys on multiple continents over the last year can attest. In Triplett, Neeley’s got a virtuoso-level guitar foil; in Goodwin & Jones, the foundation for, well, greatness. That’s the goal, anyway.

Sabbat

Karmagmassacre

Nuclear War Now

***"This is the tenth full-length release from Sabbat, the classic Japanese thrashing black metal band. Sabbat are one of those bands where every release is sterling. These guys’ shopping lists are probably more metal than 90% of everything else out there. When I make up my yearly best-of lists, they’re really more like 'the best of everything else that isn’t Sabbat', assuming that Sabbat put out a full-length album that year. Now that the requisite worshipful blather is out of the way, I can review Sabbat’s newest album. This one is a good deal better than Satanasword, which is surprising considering how great that one was. Sabbat’s songwriting is in full effect here. 'The Letter From Death' is my favorite Sabbat song since 'Den of Hades' from Karisma. The eerie, slow intro is just genius, and the concept, vocals, and music are all equally excellent. The other songs are nearly as good, too. 'The Answer Is Hell' is a ripping opener, and 'In League With Devils' has a catchy chorus and bass line that harks back to the early days of Sabbat. There are two versions of this album, each with different cover art, and one different song. I prefer the Iron Pegasus version, since I like 'Registry of Dark Side' a bit better than 'Plasmas Goat', but if you’re as rabid about Sabbat as I am, you’ll probably get both, anyway. There isn’t much more I can say about this one. If you have the money for just one...

Superchunk

S/t

Merge

***CHECK STOCK!!!  Received an 8.3 Best New Reissue rating from Pitchfork.  "When I listen to our first album now, other than cringing at some clams and the vocals and the juvenile attitude of the whole thing… what was I angry about? You’ll have to ask 21-year old me because in my memory, we were having fun. I hear the accumulation of our influences, which I suppose is normal for a first album—weaving all the things you loved up to that point into your own first thing. The Buzzcocks, Hüsker Dü, Dinosaur Jr, and Sonic Youth are all right there and what we were listening to. Hearing this record recently, though, I was surprised at how 'southern' some of it sounds, and I think the influence of bands like Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ and of course R.E.M. is there under the fuzz. I remember thinking the solo 4-track demo of 'Slack Motherfucker' sounded like Tom Petty. I can’t find it now to prove it to you, but take my word for it. I was living in NYC finishing school when we made this record, so rehearsals and recording were all rushed. I’m surprised we knew this many songs well enough to record them. Twenty-seven years later, we still play at least three or four of these songs live occasionally (one of them all the time…), which says something good about a few of the songs, anyway! We got somuch better as a band, and as songwriters, that it’s hard...

Pollard, Robert

Elephant Jokes

GBV Inc

"I'm sick and tired of all you backward-looking crybabies. You know who you are: 'If only it were 1994...' 1994? Were you even alive then? How alive?  "Not as alive as Robert Pollard is right now--working the boards, finding the words still jump when he says jump and the guitar chimes when he forms the chords on the six-string with his honest-to-God DIY, home-made calluses. A clutch of these songs started out live in the studio, with Mr. Pollard on guitar, and they buzz with the charge of on-the-spot generation. All the secret ingredients go into the mix--even Mr. P's brother, the estimable outside shooter Jimmy Pollard, returns to tweak a few knobs--and the result is music that comes alive with that sui generis Dayton grit and sparkle. Check out the needling, obsessive riff on the intro to "When a Man Walks Away"--no mistaking the Pollard touch there--or the distortion-drenched start of "Epic Heads" where one can just about smell the heat rise from the solid state circuit board.  "You want nostalgia? OK, here's some nostalgia. Think music as real and unselfconscious as anything since Same Place the Fly Got Smashed or songs alive with Alien Lanes' aesthetic but even hookier and smarter. Music that sounds just like friends playing for the fun of it in the family basement (so the family's grown up and moved away, it's a different house, and it's not exactly a basement anyway, but I defy one to hear the difference)." --Marc Woodworth, author, Bee...

Polvo

Siberia

Merge

***During their initial run from 1990–1998, POLVO crafted a sound so fantastically obstinate and so perfectly cockeyed that its DNA is essentially resistant to mediocrity or repetition. On Siberia, that sound feels more limber and more aerodynamic than ever. Its songs glide and bob like UFOs, both serene and unsettling. Some of that is owed to a looser approach. “Preparing for In Prism, we labored over that material pretty intensively,” explains founding guitarist ASH BOWIE. “A lot of the songs on this album were not rehearsed much at all. I’d like to think this album has a few more adventurous moments.” One of those is the spiraling “Blues Is Loss,” which moves from a dense knot of sound—an impossible tangle of Bowie’s and DAVE BRYLAWSKI’s guitars, STEVE POPSON’s chugging bass, and BRIAN QUAST’s tumbling percussion—to a conclusion that clangs and peals like church bells. There are the classic-sounding moments, too, like terrifically herky-jerk album opener “Total Immersion,” which is grounded in surging bass and a pair of surgically focused guitar lines. An obvious point of comparison would be to Today’s Active Lifestyles, released—perhaps not coincidentally—exactly 20 years ago. Where that album thrived on a nervous, coiled energy, Siberia feels more surefooted, more poised and controlled. It’s the work of a band that’s been here before, but the experience has only made them more at ease. Siberia is a record that’s humming with confidence, the sound of a band with nothing to prove, but proving it anyway. Street Date - 10/1/13

Sonic Youth

Anagrama

Sonic Youth Records

BACK IN PRINT ON VINYL!  While 1995's Washing Machine LP moniker was a thinly-veiled jab at the corporate aesthetic ("no, you cannot turn Sonic Youth into a household appliance brand", the band even considered changing its name to Washing Machine but settled on the album title instead), their major label relationship was indeed a curious buzzpoint of talk on the street after their intake to DGC in 1990. It wouldn't be fair to say that this state of existence propelled the band to reinforce its independent mindset by releasing a series of opaque-looking, French-language-dipping, highbrow-looking releases on their own that focused on the more abstract improv/compositional side of the band; in all truths they had been heavily steeped in self-releasing spillover material prior to that. But after a pressure pot of the early 90's indoctrination into a new operational mode for the band and its visibility, and the forces around it attempting to shape their direction, it seemed like a good time to create a strong show of radical concept.The Anagrama EP became the first in a series of the SYR label's Perspective Musicales releases seemingly cementing Sonic Youth's connectivity to an increasing public awareness in experimental composers of the 20th century (French or otherwise). The irony was that many of those original avant composers being rediscovered by the indie audience (Partch, Neuhaus, Reich, Messaien) often found themselves on major labels anyway! So, perhaps this...

Monokultur

Ormens Vag

Ever / Never

***"I met Elin Engstrom and JJ Ulius in February this year. They had played in London the night before and I had really enjoyed the gig. The following day I decided to go out and maybe buy some records. It was in Low Company (a now defunct and much missed record shop in Hackney Downs) that I met them preparing to head for the airport and back home to Gothenburg. We were introduced and I said how much I had liked the show, and straight back, almost without blinking, JJ Ulius said, ’What did you like about it?’ I wasn’t simply being polite; I did really enjoy what they did. But I guess I was blithely expecting the conversation to follow the path of least resistance, and all of a sudden it wasn’t. He had a look in his eye like the question was serious but also not, teasing me slightly, but also wanting more than a platitude in reply. At the time I think I half-arsed something about Elin’s use of contact mics and the way the songs seemed to appear out of noise and clatter when you weren’t expecting it. This seemed to serve as a place-holder and the conversation petered out in a friendly way. Then they went home and so did I.  So what do I really think? I’ve been lucky enough to live with this new LP for a couple of weeks now and it’s still unpacking itself, revealing new angles and facets all...

Smith, Sonny

One Act Plays

Secret Seven

***A new album from SONNY SMITH, performed without THE SUNSETS, but with guests NEKO CASE, EDITH FROST, MARK EITZEL, RICO BELL, JOLIE HOLLAND, ANDY CABIC, JOHN DWYER, and others. “The songs on One Act Plays started out as real one act plays written for the theater. But in writing them I began to make them songs at some point. I can’t remember when this mysterious shift happened. However, ultimately the plays as songs were performed on stage in a play called The Dangerous Stranger, so somehow it came full circle. The Dangerous Stranger was supposed to be about reality being the dangerous intruder of fantasy, and fantasy being a dangerous intruder to reality. I can't remember if the play was successful at conveying this idea at all. That was the kinda stuff on my mind at the time I guess. I had a few influences at the time I was writing them. One was Terry Allen's Juarez, a concept record with recurring characters. Also I was really into Sam Shepard at the same time so I was reading a lot of his stuff. A few of the songs, like 'Eddie and Rita' even have some stage directions lifted directly from one of his plays. The song 'Following Father' took a bunch of facts from my dad's cousin, a Texan who always had some get rich quick scheme that never lasted. I was trying to make some kind of Tennessee Williams like thing apparently. Epic! Large! Family! Redemption! Well, anyway, most...

The Victims

Horror Smash EP

In The Red

“Punk music, at its most effective, its most important, exists at a nexus of a few simple but important ideas. Punk needs to be youthful, it needs to be reactionary, it needs to be short-lived and it needs to be controversial. So for a group of twenty-something Australians, excitable as the frontline first wave of kids responding to both the Ramones and the Sex Pistols (yet still influenced by the New York Dolls and Stooges and Flamin’ Groovies), who existed for but barely for a year from 1977-1978 and wrote songs about serial killers, high school girls and hating disco…well, I’d argue they are the most perfect punk band ever. “The band was Dave Flick (aka Dave Faulkner later of the Hoodoo Gurus) on guitar and vocals, Rudolph V (Dave Cardwell) on bass and James Baker on drums. Best known for their classic ‘Television Addict’, that song is but the tip of the iceberg of the band’s powers. Having self-released two godhead 7-inches during their brief existence, the seven songs on those singles are absolute cannon at this point. Quintessential, pure, unfuckwithable. And all that is just side one of the LP. “Side two contains a bounty of unreleased-for-decades demos of nine otherwise undocumented Victims originals. Demos in name alone, these properly recorded songs brim with all the identifying marks of the known Victims classics…irreverence, taking the piss, murderers and an invigorating youthful attitude. “The last thing to remember about punk as a theory, an aesthetic, is that its ‘ideas’...

Doozer, The

Keep It Together

Woodsist

Keep It Together is the fourth full-length album from the Fenlands shadow puppet master The Doozer. Relocating to a village hall, little-theatre-style, he sets the task with a cast of eleven players dipping in and out, old Mrs. Mallows holding the keys.  Previous albums are primarily lonesome affairs, so this group activity holds sway on the album’s all-enveloping sound. Chords are the name of the game, and it’s certainly got them! You hear guitars, bass, piano and drums; slipping in to lift those harmonies, a string quartet and horns…. Is that a tuba from the Salvation Army, you say? Yeah it is, and salvation is at hand. Just let it come down from the “Aluminum Dome.” Perhaps you know what the weather’s like here, but if you don’t, take some advice from “Fen Drayton.” Or, if you’re in doubt about what flowers to get your girl, then check out “Fold Up Chair.” Are you undecided on your God? That’s “Oh Unbelievers!” But none of it’s good advice, it’s just a crack at the seam.  “A recent show that blew all attending asses out of the water was a short gig by a Cambridge, UK, duo known as The Doozer. The Doozer actually seems to be one guy, and his playing partner is called Ben, but never you mind. Anyway, they have a new LP out on Siltbreeze called Great Explorers and it is a gas and a pleasure of great dimensions. The lazy man’s way to review it...

Connelly, Chris

Forgiveness And Exile

Durtro / Jnana

Forgiveness and Exile is Chris Connelly's ninth solo work, the follow-up to 2007's critically acclaimed The Episodes.  The album is again produced by Tim Kinsella (Cap'n Jazz, Joan of Arc), Ben Vida (Town and Country, Terminal 4, Bird Show), and Connelly himself, and the musicians comprise the same jazz and improvisational band that played on The Episodes. This time, however, Connelly's group is augmented by the addition of four of his oldest friends: David Miller (Fini Tribe), Shirley Manson (Garbage), David Tibet (Current 93), and actress Torri Higginson (The English Patient, Stargate Atlantis).  Apart from the opening song, "Arran," Forgiveness and Exile is basically one long piece divided into sections, an ever-changing and evolving meditation on war, displaced peoples, families shattered by corrupt governments, wrongful imprisonments, and torture. This impressionistic view is characterized through improvisation, dramatic change in dynamics, disparate imagery, ruined landscapes, and cities illustrated by Connelly's poetry.  The subject matter here is of course extremely dark, and it has not been taken in any way lightly by its author. In an attempt to move toward easing the plight of the millions of victims of torture the world over, all monies generated by Connelly for this project will go directly to the Marjorie Kovler Center for the Treatment of Survivors of Torture, providing medical, mental health, emergency, and other support services to help survivors overcome trauma so that they may start new lives.

Snooper

Super Snooper

Third Man

***Snõõper (the Project) began as a collaboration between local Nashville punk mainstay Connor Cummins and Blair Tramel, an early education teacher with a sideline in wickedly funny animation and art. As their cassette tapes and homemade videos began to find scattered fans around the world, the duo brought the Project to the live stage in late 2021 and Snõõper (the Band) was born. Featuring one of the wildest live shows out there, as well a maelstrom of puppets, 8 bit animation, papier-mâché, whistles, flashing lights and a whirling dervish of bodies, Snõõper commits the live act to a studio setting and sets the stage for one of the most promising punk debut albums in decades. "In the briefest of descriptions, Snõõper is a band who, in a 33 1/3 rpm world, make 45 rpm music they play at 78 and it completely works. Even at this incredible speed, Snõõper (the kinetic duo of musician Connor Cummins and visual/video artist, Blair Tramel) is super precise instrumentally and skillfully melodic vocally, even though, again, they’re flooring it almost the entire time. The overall effect is a megadose of extremely cool and unique songs that while at the speed of tomorrow, would lose their overwhelming fun factor if played any differently. As far as Snõõper vinyl, there’s been three 7” records: 2020’s Music For Spies, the Snõõper EP released in 2021 and last year’s Town Topic EP. All of them are great but you’d be well advised not to sit down once you’ve...

Hank IV

III

Siltbreeze

INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON!!!   I don't care how many goddamn cute hobo bands there are out there right now. Not two runny shits. There's something Hank IV knows that few other current "of interest" bands realize, and it's a painfully simple thing: guitars were meant to sound like this, not that (pick something). That's as plainly as it can be put. This is twin-guitar punk rock in a class of its own, driving more than dueling and hot-sauce-free. I'd say "power with taste" but then I'd have to kill myself. I will say that III is Hank Baby's third and finest album yet and they are, in short, a band whose every move is worthy of your utmost attention. "For this record (their second for Siltbreeze), Thee Hanks opted to spend zero dollars and buried themselves deep inside their very own Shill Building studio for a good, long while. Sightings became scarce. Promises of "work" being "done" were made but who really knew what was going on? To be fair, The Shill has its fair share of distractions. Imagine Plato's Retreat, except like a basement in the Tenderloin. I think they only went outside for sandwiches from the East Coast West Deli on Polk Street, like that one time in the street when Bob McDonald told me about that Venom single he owns for the seventeenth time. Pffft... Bob, playboy, inventor (of "The Full Compliment") and as powerful and confounding a front-man as you're likely to find ambulating in...

The Victims

S/t

In The Red

“Punk music, at its most effective, its most important, exists at a nexus of a few simple but important ideas. Punk needs to be youthful, it needs to be reactionary, it needs to be short-lived and it needs to be controversial. So for a group of twenty-something Australians, excitable as the frontline first wave of kids responding to both the Ramones and the Sex Pistols (yet still influenced by the New York Dolls and Stooges and Flamin’ Groovies), who existed for but barely for a year from 1977-1978 and wrote songs about serial killers, high school girls and hating disco…well, I’d argue they are the most perfect punk band ever. “The band was Dave Flick (aka Dave Faulkner later of the Hoodoo Gurus) on guitar and vocals, Rudolph V (Dave Cardwell) on bass and James Baker on drums. Best known for their classic ‘Television Addict’, that song is but the tip of the iceberg of the band’s powers. Having self-released two godhead 7-inches during their brief existence, the seven songs on those singles are absolute cannon at this point. Quintessential, pure, unfuckwithable. And all that is just side one of the LP. “Side two contains a bounty of unreleased-for-decades demos of nine otherwise undocumented Victims originals. Demos in name alone, these properly recorded songs brim with all the identifying marks of the known Victims classics…irreverence, taking the piss, murderers and an invigorating youthful attitude. “The last thing to remember about punk as a theory, an aesthetic, is that its ‘ideas’...

Monomyth

Saturnalia Regalia!

Mint

Monomyth is a crown jewel in the court of the crimson and clover. The Halifax four-piece carries on the hallowed East Coast tradition of janglophile pop with a smirking sense of humor, stadium-sized hooks and starry-eyed harmonies from the barbershop of broken dreams. The Monomyth monarchy is made up of twin tone guitarists Josh Salter and Seamus Dalton, stately bassist Graeme Stewart and soft touch drummer Matt Peters, with the frontline swapping songwriting duties and turns at the mic. In the tightly knit Halifax kingdom, their faces can also be seen in beloved local bands like Nap Eyes, Moon and Psychic Fair, plus previous projects including Bird World and Quivers. These dizzying rotations have resulted in an all-star sovereignty with a princely pop pedigree, ruling with a velvet glove and ready to conquer the next realm. Following a pair of self-released cassettes and a two-song quick hitter for tape label Craft Singles, Saturnalia Regalia! heralds their triumphant LP debut. Though there’s a clear sonic lineage with the holy Halifax trinity of Sloan, Thrush Hermit and the Super Friendz (whose bassist Charles Austin assisted in this album’s production), Monomyth also invokes the amber-encased Americana of Big Star, pranksterish pop moves of The dB’s and The Soft Boys, Television’s tangled guitarmonies, MBV’s tremolo-gaze, and the radiant ramble of Relatively Clean Rivers. That may sound like a vast range of sonic touch-points, but the band’s three-piece throne prefers to explore all corners of their catholic tastes. “[T]he songs were written independent of each...

Rubber Blanket

Our Album

Spacecase

***"Hi. RUBBER BLANKET is a new group, and this is their first LP. Their names are BRAD EBERHARD (WOUNDED LION), LARS FINBERG (INTELLIGENCE), and JUN OHNUKI (WOUNDED LION). They recorded it themselves over the past year on Lars’ 8-track tape machine in Brad’s painting studio, with everyone mostly using old keyboards and a new drum machine. 'Machine' sounds so substantial—it’s really just a $5 app, but, man, is it versatile. Jun played some driving, actual drums here and there. Lars played some angular bass guitar parts and even a few lost-satellite guitar parts. Brad wrote and sings most of the songs. Some friends popped by and sang back up, played percussion, and took a few giant steps on the saxophone. The main guys had/have a lot of fun playing in an art-y garage band called Wounded Lion. A few years ago, Brad entered a guitar songwriting desert/famine/Bermuda triangle. He wanted to escape this dead zone via more life-affirming rock music, but didn’t know how. Gradually, the time reserved for practicing and playing shows became more occupied by partying and listening to records. No one complained. When you don’t know what to do, don’t do anything. Eventually, the compass stopped spinning and locked into a resting point, but it wasn’t north—it was the song 'Matar Dolores' by the Screamers. And 'Penny Lane' by the Better Beatles. And the extended 12-inch of 'Mug’s Game' by Soft Cell. Maybe they too could make some songs that didn’t have overdriven guitars taking up almost...

Orbiting Human Circus

Quartet Plus Two

Merge

***Orbiting Human Circus’ new album is called Quartet Plus Two. What is Orbiting Human Circus? It is the continuing evolution of Julian Koster (Neutral Milk Hotel, The Music Tapes), whose music and storytelling under this moniker have encompassed immersive theater and a Night Vale Presents podcast, as well as more traditional albums. Central to the album are the “two” referenced in the title: North and Romika, the singing saws, whom Koster doesn’t “play” so much as encourage. “I think saws sing like angels,” says Koster. “I always have. Since I was a little boy. When you encourage them to sing, they do so earnestly and beautifully. It’s an honest and real sound.” The origins of Quartet Plus Two are as magical and seemingly unlikely as everything else in Koster’s career. While walking through New York’s Central Park, he stumbled upon Gauvain Gamon and Kolja Gjoni—a standup bass player and drummer, respectively—playing Gershwin and Mingus, and a musical partnership was born. Pianist Benji Miller rounds out the titular quartet, with Koster’s longtime collaborators Robbie Cucchiaro (horns) and Thomas Hughes (orchestral arranging and chimes) of The Music Tapes also contributing to the record. The music they make together is at once familiar and unrecognizable, as Koster and Orbiting Human Circus interpret jazz compositions by Irving Berlin, Duke Jordan, George and Ira Gershwin, and others, alongside Koster’s three originals. The use of the term “composition” is intentional and speaks to Koster’s relationship with the music of Quartet Plus Two in far more evocative...

Abigail

Grotesque Nightmare

Nuclear War Now

***"Abigail was formed as a three person band in January 1992. Original members are Yasuyuki (bass and vocals), Youhei (drums), Yasunori (guitars). I wanted to play black metal like Bathory, Sodom, Hellhammer, Darkthrone, Mayhem. So I asked Youhei, a friend from school who was into Slayer to play drums. I recruited Youhei’s friend Yasunori to play guitar. I had already written some guitar riffs and the three of us headed into rehearsal right away. We rehearsed twice a week in the local studio. Songs came together quickly. Grotesque nightmare, Death of life, The fire of hell, Lucifer sings. They were typical primitive black metal songs: just power chords, no development. I was satisfied these songs. We decided to do a recording for promo tape at the third rehearsal. This is our official first promo tape. We recorded it on cassette recorder. This promo tape used for promotion to overseas. I played the tape to Mirai of Sigh first. He was delighted. He invited us to do a gig in August and We booked Harajuku Los Angels for 7th August 1992. The gig would be called 'Evildoom.' We played together with Transgressor, Necro-E, Gore Beyond Necropsy. It's this performance that is on the this record. I think there were about 80 people there. The audience was stunned. It was the first time they'd seen black metal live, it was probably their first black metal gig. We only had four original songs. We played Bathory and Sodom covers. That was 30 years...

V/a

The Black Book

iDEAL Recordings

“Epic, brilliantly curated two hour collection of new and exclusive material celebrating iDEAL Recordings' (1998-2018) 20th anniversary featuring JASSS, Stephen O’Malley, Jim O’Rourke (an epic 17 minute trance-enducer - honestly worthy of its own LP), Ectoplasm Girls, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Prurient, Puce Mary and many others...  We always say this - we hate comps - they’re almost always shite - but this one’s a bit of a mindmelter, featuring 20 new and exclusive tracks commissioned by label bossman Joachim Nordwall to celebrate the occasion of his label’s 20th anniversary, almost 1 track per year of going against the grain. Trust when we say that Nordwall's selection skills and sprawling network of interconnected artists has yielded a frankly ridiculous tracklisting, including a 17+ minute steamroom special from Jim O’Rourke, a pulsing electroacoustic killer from Stephen O’Malley, a rare new hookup between Prurient and Carlos Giffoni, brand new ambient/field recording peach from JASSS, an amazing fizzing drone tribute to Folke Rabe by Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, plus Puce Mary and Jesse Sanes aka JH1.FS3 on fine fine form, and just too many others to mention - over two hours of exceptional music. The story of iDEAL starts out in London 1998, when Nordwall was living the hardscrabble life: working in an underwear shop near Liverpool Street station; living in a filthy Bayswater apartment; scoring industrial records from the Music and Video Exchange; getting drunk in cheap pubs, and dreaming of starting a new record label and platform. He called it...

Raincoats

Extended Play

Smells Like Records

"It seemed for a while in the wake of Pistols/Clash hysteria that post-punk Blighty might just change the face of popular culture. And no small thanks to some females who didn't care to be written off: The Slits, Kleenex and most enduringly, the Raincoats. Their brief career included a few LPs on Rough Trade, but the band fell prey to inner turmoil by the turn of the decade. That was way before their biggest fan, a semi-famous guy named Kurt Cobain began singing their story to every journalist in the land. Soon enough Steve Shelley was behind the drums in a revamped version of the band. With this new lineup, Extended Play came to be, a preface to their triumphant 1994 reunion album on the DGC label. Somehow, the Raincoats' old records have gotten better since they were made. Invited to open for Nirvana on their 1994 tour, the decade-gone Raincoats reformed, with original members Gina Birch (bass/vocals) and Ana da Silva (guitar/vocals) joined by new violinist Anne Wood and guest drummer Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth. Cobain's suicide ended those plans, but the band went on a triumphant American tour anyway. A John Peel session from April 1994 (two new songs,...

Ricked Wicky

I Sell The Circus

GBV Inc

The first thing the listener will notice about Ricked Wicky is that it is the most musically adept project Guided By Voices’ mage Robert Pollard has undertaken in some time, at least since late period-GBV (Half-Smiles of the Decomposed, for instance), or even Boston Spaceships. “[Ricked Wicky] is a sophisticated arena rock band,” says Pollard, and I Sell the Circus offers in evidence a series of ball-peen hammers to the brain-pan (“Piss Face” with its James Gang-era slide guitar and the proto-punk stomp of “Intellectual Types,” for example) alongside more delicate, prog-tinged Frippery (“Cow-Headed Moon” features Court of the Crimson King-esque mellotron, while the acoustic guitar mastery displayed on “Even Today and Tomorrow” recalls the mellow-era ELP of “Lucky Man”). Credit the players: bolstering the easy mastery of a dizzying array of songwriting forms one naturally expects (and receives) from Pollard are the impressive instrumental prowess of fellow Daytonian Nick Mitchell (“no blood relation to Mitch,” Pollard stresses); multi-instrumentalist and producer Todd Tobias; and “the worldly Kevin March,” (Pollard again) who does double duty these days in Guided By Voices. Fourteen of its fifteen tracks were recorded at Cyberteknics in Dayton, a studio Pollard has come to use with increasing frequency due to its profusion of vintage analog gear. “Rotten Backboards” is as gorgeous and melancholic a tune as Pollard has ever written, and lyrically sounds a note of wistfulness that long-time fans will not find unfamiliar. “She can run, ’cause that’s what I did,” sings Pollard over a sublimely textured background...

Howland, Don

Land Beyond The Mountains

Birdman

***Don Howland is best known for founding seminal blues-roots-deconstructionist outfits The Gibson Bros., The Bassholes and supergroup Ego Summit (with Ron House [Great Plains, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments], Jim Shepard, early Gibson Bro Tommy Jay, and Mike Rep); as well an appearance on the Cheater Slicks' Forgive Thee double-CD.  Our colleagues at Matador have praised the Bassholes' "fine unrefined distillations of Howland's various likes, from Skip James to disco, the Germs to Bob Dylan." The fine folks at Revenant also note that Howland's work "has consistently hewn closer to music's great primordial gloop than anyone since Hasil Adkins." But it took some hack at Tucson Weekly to nail it: "Howland is a blues purist with a long list of punk-related credentials… [including writing for Village Voice, Spin, New York Rocker, and Trouser Press. His] vocals possess the raw emotional depth of Rufus Thomas or Skip James, and he brandishes his six-string weapon [with] trashy exuberance.… If David Johansen decided to unearth the corpse of Charley Patton and start a crude, punk-meets-Delta blues band, Howland might be elected to carry the shovel, [having been] historically aligned to the twisted and fucked up roots of Americana music." If you're still sitting there thinking, "Don Who?," it's your own damn fault, okay, igmo?  On The Land Beyond the Mountians, Howland is by himself with guitar, piano and unidentified percussive instruments. This is Howland's music how it's meant to be heard - recorded in a basement on a four-track for under fifty...

Hello Emerson

To Keep Him Here

Anyway

Consisting of singer/guitarist Bodary, percussionist and musical director/arranger Dan Seibert, and keyboardist Jack Doran, Hello Emerson has been crafting subtle, earnest, and expansive songs since its formation in 2015. Drawing on the midwestern songwriting tradition of acclaimed acts like Bright Eyes and The Mountain Goats, Bodary’s erudite yet homespun lyrics are bolstered by the group’s increasingly baroque arrangements. A collaborative act inspired by the local artistic community of their home base of Columbus, Ohio, their 2020 sophomore effort, How to Cook Everything featured contributions from 50 local musicians, creating an immersive and complex yet folky and accessible sound. Their latest effort, the forthcoming To Keep Him Here further develops and focuses their style, while applying it to a set of darker themes. A concept album, the record delves into the chaos and confusion that followed a serious accident suffered by Bodary’s father which landed him in the ICU for nine days. Across the record, Bodary uses his measured yet honest lyrical voice to articulate and sort through the terror of the experience, and the strength which pulled him and his family through. Tracked live in his godfather’s home, the band’s physical proximity lends an added layer of intimacy to the tracks, all while maintaining Seibert’s subtle yet sweeping arrangements. The result is the band’s strongest effort yet; a record of hope and fear, To Keep Him Here finds beauty in the kind of compassion which can only arise from disorder.

Smug Brothers

Another Bar Behind the Night

Anyway

Forgoing grand musical statements, magnum opuses, or even fashion, every release by Smug Brothers is a little box of hooks, each riff or refrain rolling around like a colorful pebble or marble. You can practically hear singer, guitarist, and songwriter Kyle Melton say to the listener: Look what I found. Pretty neat, huh? This innocent perspective shines throughout the Ohio indie-rock band’s canon, but it reaches summer-moon brilliance in latest EP Another Bar Behind the Night. Parading cheery guitar arpeggios, Don Thrasher’s stomping drums, and a kids-show mellotron line, opener “Javelina Nowhere” immediately sets the mood, brimming with all the natural joy and confidence of a toddler marching toward a merry-go-round. The pep continues onto the poppy, playful “Seamus and the Younger,” which flaunts a surprising psychedelic smear in the middle. Additional lightness is provided by "The Seven-Year Inch” and “Cricket Blessings,” both of which are built upon uplifting, ascending chord sequences. Yet brightness needs contrasting shadow. With Kyle Sowash’s Carlos D.-like basslines, “Alexander for Two” suggests a Midwestern Interpol. Lastly we come to “Shedding Polymer,” the sole song on Another Bar Behind the Night that reveals bite and menace, courtesy of newcomer Ryan Shaffer’s lead guitar. An appropriate artistic choice because the whole tune shape-shifts, the final 40 seconds flowering into pure indie-rock perfection—a hook so right and good it hurts. Classic Smug Brothers. What a way to end an EP. Pretty neat, indeed.

Smug Brothers

In The Book Of Bad Ideas

Anyway

Since forming in 2004, Ohio rock band Smug Brothers have enjoyed a relaxed, almost nonchalant, approach to writing and recording, with most albums being minor Big Bangs - instant and electric. New LP In the Book of Bad Ideas, on the other hand, was a struggle against entropy - the disorder caused by plagues and departing personnel. Singer, guitarist, and songwriter Kyle Melton wrote the majority of the tunes in "bunker fashion" during the miserable pandemic summer of 2020, then slowly started recording them with bassist Kyle Sowash, lead guitarist Scott Tribble, and drummer/Smug Brothers co-pilot Don Thrasher in 2021. That November, his contributions partially completed, Tribble decamped the band due to a new job and new demands. The exit was amicable, yet left the group in a lead guitar lurch. Melton had little choice but to enter the ring and play solos on some songs. "That was both fun and frustrating," Melton admits. "Other than a handful of tracks over 15 years, I've not really done much lead playing with Smug Brothers. When Scott left, I was initially like 'Great. What now?' It took me a few weeks to psyche myself up to just go for it." Finally, belatedly, both In the Book of Bad Ideas and its sister EP Emerald Lemonade were finished in the spring of 2022. And against the odds, the two-year slog produced pleasantly surprising results. On In the Book of Bad Ideas, the band's typical, semi-60s sound - boasting biting leads and breakneck jangles...

Jenny Mae

What's Wrong With Me : Singles and Unreleased Tracks 1989-2017

Anyway

"Jenny Mae made only two full length records, both released just two years apart in the hey-day of 90’s indie-rock where small labels rose up like mushrooms in a tropical forest and like so much of the music from that time was easily overlooked and disappeared. Jenny’s music found a small, devoted audience and her music was covered not only by many fanzines but also by Rolling Stone, Spin, Interview, even Entertainment Weekly. She played shows and some tours with Guided by Voices, Magnetic Fields, Neko Case, Chris Knox and more but to see her live one never knew what one would see, perhaps on a good night, a deeply moving set sung in her sweet midwestern voice or maybe a woman who could barely stand, her keyboard falling off a bar table she set up on stage as she usually didn’t have a keyboard stand. "Jenny lived life how an engine swallows gasoline, hot and quickly except her gasoline was alcohol which she used to quiet her undiagnosed schizoaffective disorder and by the early 2000s she went from living in Coral Gables to living on the streets of Columbus, Ohio in a matter of weeks. She remained homeless for nearly three years in Columbus and Miami with various stints in jail or the many hospitals she would visit until her predictable death in 2017, which of course, was in a hospital surrounded by her family and friends. "Her music was sweet, catchy and at times bawdy—some songs as short...

Moviola

Broken Rainbows

Anyway

On the fringe of the indie Rust Belt scene since the 1990s, Moviola has quietly forged a low-key career of high-quality recorded output over twenty-five years, issuing ten (!) records and countless 7-inch singles (including splits with Cobra Verde, Hiss Golden Messenger, Handsome Family and many others). In this artistic continuum, the band has evolved from everything from 4-track fuzz to hi-fi country soul. Today, the band steps forward with Broken Rainbows, its strongest collection of songs to date, written, recorded, and mixed inside the group’s HQ in Columbus. Jake Housh started Moviola in 1993 as a student at “The” Ohio State University as a noisy, fuzzed out lo-fi noisemakers. Over the years, the band has morphed into a unique DIY music and art-making collective with five distinct singers and songwriters, recalling the creatively democratic lineage of The Mekons, The Band, Pink Floyd, many others. Moviola is Jake Housh, Ted Hattemer (Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments), Scotty Tabachnick, Greg Bonnell, and Jerry Dannemiller. Broken Rainbows is a milestone release, showcasing a band newly energized and assured in its artistry, and supportive of its members’ songcraft. The eleven-song album hovers over a plot of ground that’s optimistic in its despair. Album topics range from the personal to the political, showcasing each member’s unique songwriting within an overall cohesive band aesthetic.  “Moviola was one of those groups I met early on back in the day that showed me how to do it. Broken Rainbows is a highlight—pastoral thumpers, fuzzy indie radness, hooks...

Hello Emerson

How To Cook Everything

Anyway

Hello Emerson’s second record is an exercise in contrasts: the local and the global, the constrained and the expansive, the pessimistic and the hopeful.  Their literary alt-folk, singer-songwriter style has made them local darlings in their Columbus, Ohio home and critically-acclaimed in Europe. With comparisons to John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats), Andrew Bird, Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), and Sufjan Stevens - their debut record was heralded as “a find for the genre” and “the sublime intersection of the best American indie-folk bands.”  Their sophomore effort, How to Cook Everything, solidifies their reputation as an earnest, humble, and insistent voice in independent midwestern music. With contributions from 50 local musicians, Hello Emerson crystallizes life in a big town/small city amidst personal and political tensions - confirming, denying, and otherwise complicating midwestern stereotypes within each narrative-focused song.

Kyle Sowashes, The

I Don't Know What To Tell You

Anyway

Kyle Sowash has been toiling in the fields of Everyman Indie Rock since a period the archeologists now describe as "the 90s". Singing songs about the highs and lows of the day-to-day, Mr. Sowash and his band of namesakes have put a melody to the mundane. Backed by a who's-who of stalwarts from the Columbus, OH indie scene, his newest album "I Don't Know What To Tell You", unapologetically rocks.   Sorry, the caps lock wasn't on. I said it ROCKS. With ringing power chords that would make Mitch Mitchell (from GBV, not the Experience) shit a brick* and a rhythm section that cracks like thunder off the Great Plains, The Kyle Sowashes have delivered another polyvinyl chloride testimony to the healing power of fist-pumping.   -Mike Postalakis

St. Lenox

Ten Fables of Young Ambition And Passionate Love

Anyway

Written at the cusp of his 40’s, Ten Fables Of Young Ambition And Passionate Love is St Lenox’s tribute to the tumultuous pursuits of love and professional success—a memory album in two parts capturing slices of young living from the author’s colorful past. Written, performed and recorded in off hours at night and on weekends, the author—now an attorney in midtown Manhattan—reworks two classic themes from the indie canon, with a mixture of melodic free verse, stream of consciousness, poetry and folk storytelling.“I burst into tears—big, ugly, inescapable, unbidden tears that felt like they had been stored up for ages. St. Lenox’s music has that effect … you play it and stumble into revelations, hit nerves that you may not have been ready to hit. That’s not to say it’s sad and dark and horrible. It’s just more or less like life itself, which is uncertain and plodding and often finds moments of humor emerging right alongside moments of sadness.”    —VICE / NOISEY “[Andrew] Choi’s voice is one of the most striking instruments in music today.”    —Stereogum “St. Lenox is so good and should be massively famous and revered.”    —John Darnielle

Remnant, Adam

Sourwood

Anyway

Adam Remnant came up over the last decade fronting the folk-rock band Southeast Engine. As the principal singer and songwriter of the band, Remnant and his bandmates garnered critical acclaim from publications such as Pitchfork, NPR, American Songwriter, Paste Magazine, Magnet, Stereogum, PopMatters, AV Club, and more. They established a substantial following over the years, releasing five albums and touring across the United States and Canada. As Southeast Engine wound down, Remnant began plotting his way forward as a solo artist. He assembled a little studio in his basement and earnestly began writing and recording the songs that comprise the 2016 EP, When I Was a Boy, as well as this new full-length, Sourwood. Remnant’s signature baritone voice and literary songwriting act as the focal point in the productions spanning between folk, rock, and indie sounds mined from a Midwest basement. These songs were birthed in that intersection of youth and adulthood where dreams and realities confront one another. They detail the desire to find potential opportunities beyond the horizon while feeling the gravity of home. The album drifts back and forth between those push and pull forces of home and travel, youth and adulthood, as one might drift between a waking and dream state. Somewhere between those states is a place called Sourwood.  “...a fresh burst of inspiration from a reinvigorated songwriter. It’s refreshing to once again hear his piercing vocals and modernized take on classic sounds.” —Stereogum

Counterfeit Madison

Opposable Thumbs

Anyway

Counterfeit Madison is the musical manifestation of Columbus, Ohio resident Sharon Udoh. She is a versatile artist; her funky yet classical piano-playing and gospel-tinged voice peppered with the occasional bursts of ecstasy make for an experience that is often described as surpassing genre in the warmest and most welcoming of ways.   Her magnetic performances and poignant song-writing leave you with goosebumps, tears, a soulful two-step, and everything in between. Intelligently unpretentious, emotionally explorative, and powerfully vulnerable, Counterfeit Madison is simply unforgettable.  “A follower sent me a link to this ridiculously talented songwriter. Try the third tune, “Don’t Cry Wolf,” first, then dig into the rest. Wow, wow. Expect to hear more from Counterfeit Madison, I’d guess.” -John Darnielle

St. Lenox

Ten Hymns From My American Gothic

Anyway

Ten Hymns From My American Gothic is a sprawling, layered,stream-of-consciousness portrait of modern American life, presented by St. Lenox as a gift to his father, who immigrated to the United States, in honor of his 70th birthday. Written, performed and recorded by the writer in off hours, while working as an attorney in Manhattan, the album meditates on progressive themes, immigration, cultural divide, forgiveness and manifest destiny. “[St. Lenox’s] voice is one of the most striking instruments in music today, a harsh and commanding howl that reminds me of John Darnielle, Michael Stipe, and Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart but is something entirely its own. His subject matter is equally transfixing and unique, a mix of queer love songs, protest music, and savvy observations about the modern American experience.” —Stereogum

Closet Mix

01 Ep

Anyway

"Closet Mix are minimalists. Or maybe they’re lazy. It’s hard to know for sure. They definitely don’t do too much. They’ve been together for years, but have just now gotten around to releasing their “debut” five-song EP. They play, on average, one or two shows per year. They move at their own pace, which, it will surprise no-one, could be described as “glacial.” Their musical approach is deliberate, simple and straight-forward. They like good songs, first and foremost. They believe that the open space in their “sound” is just as important as what they play and sing. They like a lot of bands and records both new and old, but keep coming back to unadorned masterpieces such as the Velvet’s third LP, from whence their name derives. Closet Mix are not young, ranging in age from their late-40s to mid-50s. They’ve been in a lot of bands over the last thirty years, including but not limited to Great Plains, Log, Peck of Snide, Househearts, and Vena Cava. They proudly call Columbus, Ohio their home. It would be romantic to think of them as “survivors,” but in reality, they’re just stubborn midwesterners who refuse to stop making music. We’d like to tell you to keep an eye out for their next release, but truth be told, have no idea when that will be. So, please enjoy this one, and we’ll get back to you when there’s something new to report. Or maybe not. It’s hard to know for sure." LIMITED EDITION...

Connections

Midnight Run

Anyway

Connections came out of Columbus, Ohio, at a rush, releasing two stellar LPs and several singles in their first year. They felt like the wind rushing through the open window of a car hurtling down the highway at 90 MPH. In the second year, they firmed up their sound and shook off some of the bedroom-lo-fi-Oh (as in Oh-hi-O) for the almost radio-friendly Into Sixes, which earned the band continued praise in Pitchfork, AVClub, Stereogum and more. And like the previous two records, Into Sixes wound up on a plethora of “Best Of” lists (Village Voice, Still Single, etc.) as well as on the pages of ESPN. They took a year off to record a single for Chicago’s tasty HoZac label and a play handful of shows including several sold-out NYC dates.  Midnight Run kicks the murk of basement four-track recordings from the soles of the five members’ collective shoes with the sound of two guitars that growl as if they are echoing out of the propellers of a B-12 bomber. After the gentle hiss for the opener “Raise Awareness,” which echoes the early power pop of the Shoes or Cars played through a 1987 Mustang’s tape-deck, “Month to Month” shatters the windshield as singers Kevin Elliott and Andy Hampel stand atop the chorus like they just conquered a Two-for-Tuesday slot on your local classic rock station. From there, the record rolls over the speakers with a great band getting greater, flexing sinewy guitar with Hampel’s and...

St. Lenox

21st Century Post-liberal Blues

Anyway

An errant single from St. Lenox, "21st Century Post-Liberal Blues" recounts modern liberal angst in an era of political upheaval and social media fatigue.

Motel Beds

Mind Glitter

Anyway

The Motel Beds are back!  Though last year saw the Misra Records released “hits” collection, These Are They Days Gone By, Mind Glitter is The Motel Beds’ first new album in three years. Which may not seem long until you notice that they released five albums in the three years between 2009 and 2012.  Which makes Mind Glitter pretty special. Starting an album as soon as the latest one’s final tracks are done (guitarist Derl Robbins, who also helped record the last few Guided By Voices albums, records the band himself), they’ve had 36 months to throw out hooks, choruses, puns and bad jokes, and then try them all out in front of live audiences.  What materialized with Mind Glitter’s songs are some of the most varied and beautiful the band has laid down yet. Highlights are scattered all around with “Open Ocean” kicking off to waves of acoustic guitar and drums, the gorgeous Beach Boys harmonies of “Queens for the Summer,” the airy psychedelic drone of “Paper Trees,” the unrelenting, fist-pumping riff from “Live City,” the pure 90s-ness of the breakdown on “Set Ender,” and then throwing a sweaty arm around you with “We’ve Killed More for Less.”  Yup. The Motel Beds are back and more infectious than ever. You won’t be able to get rid of them this time.  I’m alluding to bedbugs, guys. Bad jokes!  “A sun spotted psych pop cousin of post-Britpop Supergrass.” - MOJO

Connections

Into Sixes

Anyway

One would think that Columbus, Ohio's Connections took a breather in the early portion of the 2014. After cracking onto the music scene in 2013 with two critically acclaimed full length LP's (album of the year by Still Single, glowing coverage from Pitchfork, Stereogum, Onion AV Club...), one EP and several singles, tours with the Breeders and Ex Hex, the band has waited until the summer of 2014 to release Into Sixes -- a muscle flexing study that displays the epic proportions of the band's true anthem-driven nature.  Connections prowess lies in the head-spinning gift for melody, fortified by a stout backbone of wiry guitars and are as tight and loose as a well-worn sweat-suit in the chip section at Wal-Mart. Into Sixes presents Connections in full rock regalia, recorded at famed Columbus Musicol Studios with engineer Adam Smith. Stuffed with ringing harmonies by dual singers Kevin Elliott and Andy Hampel, sing-song roundabouts that can floor the listener after one chorus ("Minister of Ah Ah Ah"), Into Sixes is about as tasty as a sound one can devour. The songs are still brief, with a handful extending past the FM radio friendly three minute mark, and a couple showing a subversive tendency to jam. "Apartment by the Interstate" and "Extremely Boss" though, are the aural equivalent of a summer roller-coaster ride, quick and satisfying and urging to be played over and over again. The sturdy confidence of "Brothers and Sisters" may be the closest that American underground rock has...

WV White

West Virginia White

Anyway

The Americarnal. Midwestern existentialism. Sonic surrealism. Suburban ennui turned up all the way. Flora and fauna undisturbed...... For Tyler Travis (guitar, vocals), Caeleigh Featherstone (keyboards, vocals), John C. Fisher (bass), and Tayler Beck (drums) these things are real. Ohio boredom and isolation breeds certain tones in the music of WV White that shakes bones and melts away the conceptual percepts of what a rock band should be and sound like. Travis pounds riffs with a slack-jawed awe, Featherstone gilds them with bubbling organ drones, and the battery dances their own spartan jig around it all.  .....Rural voodoo. Attic rituals. Man vs. Man. Nature vs. Nurture.  Pieris Virginiensis. It's the species of insect from which this Columbus crew get their name. There's barely significance in that name, but a butterfly's metamorphosis is an apt analogy to describe what WV White was and what they've become. The move from caterpillar to chrysalis and onward to floating in the breeze of summer is something both ugly and beautiful. Evolution is not usually spoken when describing a debut, but WV White have certainly evolved from a scrappy clubhouse of blotto jam sessions to a band that now sounds completely comfortable in their own skin. Distortion and noise still carry them through -- check out the American shoegazing of "The Mess," or the almost-punk yet-buoyant "Multiple Bathrooms" -- but they've also become sleek and elegant. Pianos twinkle and harmonies start to creep out of the once prevalent cacophony on such clear-headed rambles as "Cockroaches" and "Mastercraft,"...

Connections

Year One

Anyway

A perfect primer for the uninitiated, Year One accumulates everything released by Connections in the year 2013. Included here are both LPs—their debut, Private Airplane, and its followup, Body Language—plus the Tough City EP.

Connections

Body Language

Anyway

"Body Language" is the second full length from Columbus' Connections, whose sound at once echoes Ohio but also the vast history of the bands and their collective knowledge of music. They say the mid-west is the breadbasket of America and that Ohio is the heart of it all. The state is, in fact, shaped like a heart and in the center of the heart lies Columbus. A town larger than the rest and a melting pot of transplants from around the state, Cleveland, Cincinnati and of course Dayton, where the core of Connections hails from. The homegrown in Ohio breed loyalty whether it's tragic loyalty (ala any Cleveland sports fan) or the hope of yet another Big Red Machine, and the men in Connections have a distinct loyalty to sound, the creation and bending of sound to transport the listener to the front seat of the car, with a 40 oz between your legs singing along to your favorite song as the "Summer Creeps" does to total FM radio perfection. The sounds of massive record collections are squeezed into and spit out into two and three minutes bursts from the gleeful spree of "Late Shift" which recalls hints of the Homosexuals "Astral Glamour" and the best Brit-pop of the 1990's, to the Wire-esque "Girl's Night Out" while the fatter sound of "Aimless" and "Hang On" have nods to the sound of Gaunt and Guided by Voices, they know that some of the best finds are in your own back yard....

Winter Makes Sailors

Moving On

Anyway

Winter Makes Sailors is the car that drives the engine of Sean Gardner, a Columbus,Ohio music fixture who has played up and down the main streets of mid-western cities in a variety of bands for the last decade. He lives a simple life with his wife, he works as a third-grade teacher and spends his weekends teaching guitar and crafting his own music. While Moving On carries the full sound of a band, it is in reality much more of a collection of friends coming together to help Sean exhale the music he makes, at times it is reflective of growing up in rural Ohio ("I think My Time Has Come") while others show the best of orchestrated pop music at its finest ("Maybe Someday Soon" & "On The Beach") all carry echoes of spinning vinyl records that support a 4am seduction, such as The Kinks "Something Else", Elliot Smith, Jeepster Records and the oft forgotten Silos. Sean pulls it all with a stellar sense of pop song arrangement. Dig in. 

Whiles

Somber Honey

Anyway

The Whiles’ Somber Honey weaves a five-year track through the interruptions of adulthood, doubts and uncertainty—somewhat like the history of the band itself. Formed shortly after graduation from high school in the late ’90s, The Whiles have persevered through friendship, death, and the birth of children.  Built around the strong songwriting of Joe Peppercorn, The Whiles’ construct songs that, at times, have taken years to finish (“Somber Honey” went through four different recording sessions). At one point in their career, they appeared to be the indie band to break out of Columbus, with press coming from Rolling Stone and Paste and a tours planned with The National, Andrew Bird, and My Morning Jacket. The curse of 614 entered and a member quit, thus putting the brakes on the group. After the release of 2007’s Sleeper’s Wake, they collectively retreated to careers, family and the recording studio. Somber Honey displays Peppercorn’s strong sense of melody and sharp song craft, with orchestral arrangements courtesy of violinist Samantha Kim (Ghost Shirt). The album recalls hints of Colin Blunstone’s finest work, Eric Matthews and the pop sensibilities of Tommy Keene, early Cat Stevens and The Byrds. Limited to 300 hand-screened LPs with download included, Somber Honey is as majestic as the sun cutting through the gray Midwestern din of February. The Whiles will play select dates in support of the album’s release.

Connections

Private Airplane

Anyway

I don't want to talk about the Ohio water, as in what's in it, as the raison d’être for another instant classic of underground pop to surface to vinyl with Connections’ Private Airplane. This allusion is justifiably thrown up in the hands of well-wishers at a loss for words, yet to say Ohioans are dosed from the tap with a certain knack is to slight what constitutes the substance. Other liquids are more conspicuously involved: blood, beer, whiskey and gasoline - although I wouldn't recommend that order. Songs like "Finally", "Casuals", "Cindy" and "Love St." don't just happen, albeit by the time we hear them it certainly seems like they do; spontaneously, with whatever working degree of immaculacy you uphold. The five members of Connections are not bystanders for a conduit; Kevin Elliott and Andy Hampel of 84 Nash, Adam Elliott of Times New Viking, Dave Capaldi of El Jesus de Magico and 'peach district laureate' Philip Kim have been clocking in for awhile now. Private Airplane is a result of their craft; fifteen paragons of song, each laden with hooks you can't pay for, never mind get, anywhere else. - Elizabeth Murphy (Memphis, TN 2012)  touchstones: Dayton Ohio circa 1991, Columbus Ohio circa 1993, 4-track recordings ala "lo-fi" rejuvenation, longing, sweating beer and massive record collections.

Kyle Sowashes, The

Somebody

Anyway

Every fertile music scene in America has a Kyle Sowash to call its own. He’s the integral, overambitious, indie rock everyman responsible for bringing to town bands that, barring his begging, would otherwise pass on by. He’s the fervent local enthusiast always in the front row, even on a wintry Tuesday. His floor’s been infinitely crashed upon, his bank account tapped from self-financed / self-made tours of the country—basically he’s racked up enough DIY karma points that you’re obligated to buy Somebody on his good works alone. Sowash’s selfless moral character may be common in places like Cleveland, Portland, Athens and Chapel Hill, but his style, his demeanor and his songs are distinctly Columbus, Ohio. Sowash readily admits his debt to indie rock’s golden age—Somebody is a study in the work of bands like Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, Silkworm and Pavement—but he draws on those influences judiciously. In other words, this is no tribute album. While “Pain Don’t Hurt” and “Gray Hair” will certainly signal a nostalgic flag, the themes are distinctly Columbus, distinctly Kyle Sowash. This album makes getting older and longing for the mid-’90s sound fun... It’s time to get your beard ready again.

The Lindsay

Deep In The Queue

Anyway

***Even in Columbus, where it’s hard not to spit without hitting an independent musician who is carving out a luxuriously hardscrabble existence, the Lindsay are still an anomaly. They’re nowhere near as experimental or lo-fidelity driven as you’d imagine coming out of this city. In fact, of all the bands living here (of which there are quite a few), the Lindsay ply closest to actual “rock music.”  Deep in the Queue is a uniquely American album -- inventive and complex, full of sonically robust riffs and feedback, but underneath it all there’s a very terrestrial base (to suppose Dragged Out was their love letter to British nuggets). In the band’s own words it’s akin to “R.E.M. moving from Mumur to Reckoning.” I’ve never been able to hear Peter Buck in the guitars of Schmidt and Olexovitch, but the influence makes sense when you step into the homespun quality of the record. What I hear, in the epic moments of “Bang a Left” and “Power Auger,” are arena-ready blasts resembling those transcendent epiphanies that came in 10th grade, wearing a cassette of Siamese Dream thin in the dashboard deck. Or maybe even Wings in the pomp and piano that comes to the surface of finale “Don’t Get Uptight.” The Lindsay may be of the street (and in your wildest fantasies, the basement) but they shoot for the stars here – they shoot for moon landings and galaxies – and it pays off. At the heart Deep in the Queue is...

Whiles

Sleeper’s Wake

Anyway

***A brand new album from Columbus, Ohio’s THE WHILES, and the awaited follow-up to the group’s Colors of the Year album. Several years in the making, it is a wonderful lilting record that is just a genuine pleasure to take in.

Whiles

Colors Of The Year

Anyway

***Hailing from the heart of the Midwest, The Whiles (formerly known as Mrs. Children) eschew the punk rock and lo-fi sounds for which “Cowlumbus” has been more (in)famously known, in favor of a softer approach that reflects the sound of the seasons. Taking their cues from the spiritual side of their collective hearts (principal songwriter Joe Peppercorn is a professional organ player and Latin teacher) Colors of the Year touches on the gentler side of love and longing, with wonderful threepart harmonies, distant echoes of Nick Drake, Zombies and Eric Anderson, and neo-old-fangled sounds such as Belle and Sebastian, Ron Sexsmith and The Smiths — all meshed into their own wonderful noise. Self-produced with some engineering duties by Jon Chinn (New Bomb Turks), Colors of the Year is a great leap forward from their self-released EP Break Your Back, which garnered a mention in Rolling Stone’s “Ten Most Rocking College Towns” issue. Their demo at that time landed them on the cover of Columbus Alive and they have managed to create a fairly rabid following in the Midwest. The band formed in 1998 by high school classmates, but it wasn’t until brother Matt Peppercorn joined that Joe felt the musical strings loosen and made the epic leap into the breathtaking songwriter he now is — another voice of the Y generation — no props, no gimmicks, no screaming.  

V/a

I Stayed Up All Night Listening To Records

Anyway

Tiara

Again Cast In

Anyway

***After a variety of personnel changes and numerous releases (including a split seven-inch with SILVER SCOOTER released by Voice of the Sky), TIARA's first full-length has finally arrived. Led somewhat by ERIC ROTTMAYER (whose other recording project, METRONOME, with releases on Black Bean & Placenta Tape Club, Magic Eye and a number of Japanese labels, has moved some very gentle folks in Japan to open a record store bearing that very name), Tiara take the slow-building space between emotion and time and create unique sing-along guitar spook-outs. Their nice dual guitar/vocal interplay works like any conversation one has with oneself when trying to figure out what to say to that certain person who drives one crazy both ways: good and bad. Again Cast In was recorded at Workbook studios in Columbus by the band and Jon Chin during the very hot summer of 1999, and was mastered by Jeff Grahm, whose has previously worked with the New Bomb Turks, Jenny Mae, Cheater Slicks and Bizzy Bone from Bones, Thugs and Harmony.

Terribly Empty Pockets

Get Wet

Anyway

For more than a year, Terribly Empty Pockets have yelped and twitched through set after set of crunchy pop all across Columbus, Ohio. Consistently holding their own in any dive, they stand shoulder to shoulder with the city’s best art-punk outfits (Times New Viking, Necropolis, Tree of Snakes, El Jesus De Magico). The band’s debut EP, Get Wet, comes across with all the nervous energy of their live set, but in the studio they’ve refined their style, crafting a weird wall of sound from delicate instrumentation and a seemingly inexhaustible string of sparkly melody lines. Apparently, if the Terribly Empty Pockets can get sound out of an object, they’ll immediately create a melody with it. Recorded at Columbus Discount HQ and mixed by Nashville studio pro Jason Lehning, Get Wet is a confident statement of purpose backed by a powerful batch of tunes. “Brother,” for example, sounds like Swell Maps-gone-Sonny-&-Cher, sweet and alluring, but with the type of complex harmonic arrangement that only new wave / funk crossovers ever seem to achieve. To describe the group’s sound, name-drop a motley crew of new wave’s best and brightest — The Eurythmics, The Talking Heads, Bow Wow Wow, The Smiths, Nick Lowe, The Wedding Present, The Bats — and you won’t be far off the mark. Get Wet is a mesmerizing listen, to say the least — a left-field live band that never fails to impress and invigorate even the most cauliflowered of ears has executed their craft in the studio.

Patsys

On The 13th Kick

Anyway

***A compilation CD featuring all THE PATSYS’ Umbrella Records singles, plus three previously unreleased tracks.  So who are The Patsys? The band and I alike appreciate your cooperation here as we make the requisite introductions. They hail from Columbus, Ohio, and number four: Tutti Jackson on vocals and bass, Stewart Nicol on guitar, Jeff Regensburger on drums, and John Stickley on vocals and guitar. Before the Patsys’ formation in the spring of 2002, the four of them performed in various other bands, the most notable being Gaunt (Regensburger) Action Family (Jackson) and The Boy Scout Love Triangle (Stickley). Hyper-alert readers might also recognize Tutti Jackson’s name from the credits on Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville. She provided backing vocals for “Soap Star Joe”.  While The Patsys sound is rooted in their love of 60’s garage, pop, and soul music, they’re hardly revivalists. Don’t get me wrong, matching denim jackets and haircuts are fine for other bands, it’s just that it all looks a bit contrived when The Patsys try it. And that’s fine. There’s enough three-chord stomping, blues-based caterwauling and guitar savagery to more than make up for any negligence regarding image. Critics will appreciate the shared male/female vocals courtesy of Mr. Stickley and Ms. Jackson (see also John and Exene, Nancy and Lee, Mama and Papa). While those are fair comparisons, be forewarned that The Patsys version of the duet can often rise to the intensity of a hard fought shouting match (Hide the ashtrays.) Perhaps things...

Moviola

Year You Were Born

Anyway

Moviola

East Of Eager

Anyway

Over the past decade, Moviola have made six records (and split singles with everyone from The Handsome Family to Cobra Verde) in virtual anonymity in a self-built studio next to the plasma center off North High Street in Columbus, Ohio. Live appearances are rarer than hen’s teeth. An odd assortment of normal Joes from Amarillo to Amsterdam, record shop freaks, librarians who dig Kristofferson, and wayward fans of the Louvin Brothers and Spacemen 3 hold them close like a secret. And viva la difference: in this band everyone writes, everyone takes a turn singing lead. It’s a fiveheaded beast (with eleven kids between them), the result of which is a well-deep collective of dusty country-through-a-space-echo, folk-soul, and adult lullabies. East of Eager ratchets up the entire lot into a pure, uncluttered document of one of the finest bands you’re likely to hear, but, most likely, have never heard. The timeless sounds of soul, pop, country, bluegrass woven into a classic from an ever-evolving American band.

Mike Rep & The Quotas

Tree Stump Named Desire

Anyway

Log

Log Almighty

Anyway

***Three-plus years in the making, Log Almighty is by far Log's most confident and realized work. This release sees songwriter / guitar player Paul Nini (ex- Great Plains), brother Chris Nini (organ, piano), bassist Shirley Tobias, drummer Greg Bonnell (of Moviola, early American Music Club, and Mark Eitzel's previous band Naked Skinnies), and Keith Dimoff (guitar) moving toward organic and sophisticated rock. The addition of various keyboards, acoustic guitars, horns, strings, and special guests add new layers and textures to Log's well-crafted songs, and opens up a new chapter in this longrunning band's musical story.  Ex-Great Plains and Moviola people  

Jenny Mae

There's A Bar Around The Corner...

Anyway

Jenny Mae

Don't Wait Up For Me

Anyway

Catalpa Boys

S/t

Anyway

***Named after a variety of tree in their front yard as kids, Catalpa Boys showcases the off-center-yetforthright singing, songwriting, and playing talents of the brothers Housh — J.D.’s finger-picked, country blues and J.K.’s more wily, playful approach — on a variety of noisemakers, gitboxes, saws, and train whistles. Each has carved out time in other combos — J.D. in Columbus indie veterans Moviola, and J.K. in San Francisco’s Our Lady of the Highway, Nickel Beer Riot, and as a hired gun on different instruments in countless other Bay Area combos. Together these two brothers put a beautiful new twist on the agesold family musical tradition (Delmore Brothers, Carter Family), joining their voices and instruments in perfect, genetic harmony. Lebanon, Ohio, is landlocked in the Miami Valley north of Cincinnati, equal parts northern and southern, city and country, and it’s where the Housh clan grew up. The Housh boys trolled around these parts until they entered adulthood, when each went their separate ways. During once-a-year get-togethers, the wine flows, the instruments come out, and the songs (new and very old) fill the air. The two finally got together long enough to record some of those songs (which only their wives, parents and grandparents had heard) so that other folks could listen in on the brotherly love.  • Debut release from brothers J.D. Housh (Moviola) and J.K. Housh (Our Lady of the Highway, Nickel Beer Riot) • Midwest and West Coast shows during spring and summer • Press campaign by Tag...

Appalachian Death Ride

Hobo's Codebook

Anyway

***Darkside roots rock'n'rollers APPALACHIAN DEATH RIDE re-unleash their stellar Hobo's Cookbook album. A wonderful and very rocking collection of songs featuring the sonic guitar and scarred vocals of CHRIS BIESTER, drummer CHRIS DILLON's on-the-edge drumming, and multi-instrumentalist MIKE McGOVERN's banjo and accordion overtones.

Wiretaps

Romulan Invasion

Anyway

*** Caryn Palmier, Dave Holmes (Fall-Outs), Lisa Rickenberg (Inhalants) and Steve Malmin (Calabros) combine their talents to make up a sound that sounds more like garagewave than "new wave"or "garage." They are stuck in the middle there somewhere, their first 7" released on swell Super-Electro label a few years ago was one of our favorites of that particular year when it was released (whenever that whenever was.) These exclusive songs show their quite funny disdain for all things Make-Up and Nation Of Ulysses. GG Allin cover on the flip. Oh yeah they have an album on Super-Electro (which we also stock).

Julia P.

Law

Anyway

*** Julia P (also known as Julia P Hershiemer) is a Dutch woman who happened to record one of the finest records of 1997 that nobody bought. Not too dissimilar from her Dutch bretheren Bette Serveert, Julia combines equal parts guitar-playing, wonderful songwriting and a very beautiful voice (how do those foreigners manage to sing without an accent?) to create simply, uh, wonderful songs. Did we say she's really quite wonderful? As all seven inches should be this is extremely limited, like a Tucker.

Earwig

Pause For The Jets

Anyway / LFM Records

The un-published novel My Own Secret Service details the origins of the underground band Earwig and their fantastic adventures as they battle to save the Multiverse from a secret society of invading demons who occupy a parallel dimension. This self-proclaimed “true” rock-and-roll memoir forms the basis of Earwig’s new album Pause For The Jets. Infusing classic alternative chops with dramatic nods to everything from Kate Bush to cyberpunk, this science-fiction rock-opera testifies to the importance of pushing artistic boundaries and not falling victim to musical trends. This latest album raises the bar for the band with its grinding synth riffs, ragged guitar lines and melodic bassdriven stunners. Not just another indie band from Columbus, Ohio, Earwig is the edgy, underground rock vehicle of guitarist and vocalist Lizard McGee, who has been at the helm since the band’s inception in the ’90s. These days, the band is a true family affair with McGee’s daughter James McGee-Moore joining full-time to galvanize their unrestrained live performance. Known for great songwriting and spontaneous and reckless live shows, Earwig is one of independent music’s best kept secrets.

Magnetic Fields

House of Tomorrow (reissue)

Merge

***Cast your mind back to notable landmarks of 1992. Outside the Twin Cities, Mall of America opened to the public. Frank Gehry’s enormous golden fish sculpture, El Peix, welcomed Barcelona Olympians. And The House of Tomorrow, a four-song 7-inch on a small indie label, ushered in a new era for The Magnetic Fields. When Susan Anway, who sang on early albums Distant Plastic Trees and The Wayward Bus, left the group, Stephin Merritt stepped up to the microphone. He sought to sound simple, subtle, and unobtrusive, à la the Japanese concept of shibusa. Likewise, the arrangements and production of The House of Tomorrow felt less polished overall than on its predecessors, even as the band’s sound was evolving. Newly remastered and available as a 12-inch for the first time.

Magnetic Fields

The Wayward Bus / Distant Plastic Trees

Merge

***THE MAGNETIC FIELDS' first two albums, The Wayward Bus and Distant Plastic Trees, make their debut appearance here on vinyl, packaged together as a two-LP set. Distant Plastic Trees was originally released in England and Japan in 1991. The album includes the early-’90s college radio single “100,000 Fireflies.” which had earlier appeared as a single on Harriet Records and was later covered by Superchunk. For its domestic debut, Distant Plastic Trees was paired with the Magnetic Fields’ 1992 album The Wayward Bus on a single CD that came out on the band’s own PoPuP Records imprint before its re-release on Merge in 1994. While both albums feature singer SUSAN ANWAY (formerly of early-’80s Boston punk band V;), the latter introduced several new players who would subsequently make regular appearances on STEPHIN MERRIT's various musical projects.