Roctober Reviews

The Broonies “Love’s Sanitarium”

2012-01-31T11:38:00.000-08:00

(http://aaronfreifeld.bandcamp.com/) No-fi swoony teenage garage pop that is rough and raw and pretty and pretty strange. The Brooniest record I’ve heard this year.

Hotchacha/Summer People “Do it”

2012-01-31T08:03:00.000-08:00

(Exit Stencil) Hotchacha continue their hotness with a quartet of songs that includes the hard hitting “Aorist,” their h-h-h-ottest yet, a better 90s song than the 90s songs it sounds like. Summer People add some weird math to the most demented Birthday Party murder songs sounds, and it’s frighteningly pleasant.

The Movements “Follow"

2012-01-31T07:52:00.000-08:00

(Teen Sound) Old and recent, rare and unreleased, awesome and awesomer tracks of rollicking, rocking Swedish psyche that’s meant to move you. You don’t have to be drunk, blonde, on mushrooms, or of Viking blood to appreciate this. But it wouldn’t hurt.

Brontosaurus “Cold Comes to Claim”

2012-01-31T07:44:00.000-08:00

(www.brontosaurusmusic.com) Cabaret grunge music that would take a pea-sized brain 230 million years to wrapped itself around, and it would likely involve some meat-eating to deliver these chops, so not the most accurate band name. But one of the coolest.

Thomas Comerford “Archive + Spiral”

2012-01-31T07:37:00.000-08:00

(Spacesuit Records) If he didn’t cover Velvet Underground, Comerford’s moody, resonant flat-voiced story song heartwrenchers would have made me forget Lou Reed altogether.

Company “Holy City”

2012-01-31T06:48:00.001-08:00

(Exit Stencil) Not bad at all, so it’s a good thing these South Carolinians are not called Bad Company, but these flatly sung yet emotionally wrought lo-fi tunes that evoke a maudlin Guided By Voices or even mid-career Wilco on downers suggest maybe they could be called Sad Company.

HB3 “Magic Circles”,” “Poseidon: Fantasia For Picolo Bass”

2012-01-31T06:22:00.000-08:00

(www.hb3.com) “Magic Circles” is a thrillingly exhaustive, interstellar, electronic-exploratory prog workout that somehow shakes our all of prog rock’s douchiness (HB3 even magically maintains non-bullshit status while printing an accompanying chapbook of “Magic Circles” lyrics as poetry). More impressive is the moody “Poseidon” album, an epic instrumental soundtrack to a moody aquatic fable that sounds both sadly sub-aquatic and soaringly high at the same time.

Chris Ligon and the Problems “This is Your Night”

2012-01-31T05:50:00.000-08:00

(Clang!) First of all: GENIUS! Second of all: I, historically, have a pretty low standard for genius (i.e: guy who did voiceovers in Morris the Cat commercials…genius! Rappin’ Duke…genius!). That said, I have forever been captivated with the specific way Ligon twangs it up, incorporating Opry/Hee Haw style humor, but then subverting country music’s clever wordplay tradition by injecting absurdity, jazz, cabaret aesthetics, and Spike Jones anarchy. Problems solved! Sidenote: I actually heard someone on NPR mispronounce “Grand Ole Opry” last week, using a long “O”, as if Oprah had something to do with it.

The Singleman Affair “Silhouettes at Dawn”

2012-01-31T05:37:00.000-08:00

(www.cardboardsangria.com) I don’t hear a single, man. But you know what I do hear? Lushly melancholy deep emotional revelations…with hooks!

Robert Deeble “heart like feathers”

2012-01-30T00:02:00.000-08:00

(www.robertdeeble.com) Deeble’s beautiful, pained, throbingly sincere music is not only heartfelt, but it also literally can be felt in your heart, as you’ll experience the heaviness in your chest slow your heartbeat and all the sad and sublime moments of your life will pass before your eyes. I should mention I have been drinking. But this made me increase my consumption, so Deeble shares the blame…

Groove Kid Nation “Music in Motion,” “The Wheels on the Bus”

2012-01-29T23:52:00.000-08:00

(www.groovekidnation.com) Children’s music committed to teaching tots to feel the funk. Not playing down to kids, these collections (in what sounds like a hot funk covers band messing around with nursery rhymes) teach the young’ns to do the soul clap, identify instruments (which doesn’t take much adjustment, as funk bands call out their instruments by name for solos all the time) and to react to high and low notes. They sound just as good sneaking lyrics about naps into Teddy Pendergrass songs as they do sneaking James Brown beats into The “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” Best of all, they have animal characters as band members. I personally like “Music in Motion” CD better because I’m a purist…I prefer an all cat band to a weasel/bird/bird/bug/rodent combo.

Lux "We Are Not the Same"

2012-01-29T23:43:00.000-08:00

(S/R) Synth-sational music that has the kind of hypnotic dude-lady sonic intertwinings that make their already enchanting soundscapes (which somehow make shoegaze influences seem perky) feel electrified. Lux sounds like a million bux!

Red Wanting Blue “From the Vanishing Point”

2012-01-29T23:38:00.000-08:00

(Fanatic) Me Wanting CD to End.

Walter Rose “Cast Your Stone”

2012-01-29T23:32:00.000-08:00

(www.walterrosemusic.com) Every Rose has his corn.

Cotton Mather “Kontiki”

2012-01-29T23:28:00.000-08:00

(www.starapplekingdom.com) Beats the Beatles. Apparantly this fifteen-year old album we never heard of but the British ate up like intestine pudding is now getting a deluxe reissue here, and if you like music that sounds like British would like it (because it makes Sgt. Pepper’s sound like a hot dog jingle demo reel) cotton up to this.

Archer Black “Forgiveness is a Weapon”

2012-01-29T23:11:00.000-08:00

(Post Planetary) I would probably buy a cologne or pep pill or firecracker or comic book called Black Archer. But you should buy a CD that makes the Pixies sound like musically timid pussies by a band called Archer Black.

St. Even “Spirit Animal”

2012-01-29T23:02:00.000-08:00

(Dustbin Records) The patron saint of sad as hell-isms! Pretty sounding songs, though, especially that duet with Audie Darling.

Exdetectives “Take My Forever” Onefingerriot “Comedragmedown”

2012-01-29T22:56:00.000-08:00

(Post Planetary) If Faris McReynolds (who can make art pop with One Finger and craft lushly lazy-voiced pop art as Exdetectives) was an X-Man instead of an Exdetective his mutant power would be achieving big hooks with small musical gestures. And having sexy eyes.

Liquor Store “Yeah Buddy

2012-01-29T22:48:00.000-08:00

(Almost Ready Records) This epic win of an epic double album is both a grand statement and monosyllabic. Not to say it’s a one note pony -- there’s no Ramones double albums for a reason, but the fact that these cats (or vermin, more likely) can shift form Ramones to Stooges to Dictators to Toy Dolls to Sabbath to your creepy uncle means they have more range, if less magic , than Joey and Co. Liquor -- I hardly know her! But this makes me wish I did.

So Much To Say: Dave Matthews Band 20 years On the Road by Nikki Van Noy

2012-01-29T22:25:00.000-08:00

(Simon and Schuster) One of the most telling things about the book is how clear it makes it that the size and devotion and financial commitment of the Dave Matthews Band fanbase/fanclub is remarkable. Van Noy is an admitted DMB superfan, which means that the book’s gushy praise is sincere, but it doesn’t mean that this history/tour diary/love letter isn’t a cynical cash in book that turns a less-than-critical eye at a band to please the gotta-have-it customers/fans. I’m not personally bit by the DMB bug, but I did once spent a half-hour having Charlie Benante of Anthrax try to convince me I should be, so I’m minutely susceptible, and I will say one thing that this book convinced me of (which may make me give a second listen): the dynamic descriptions of the concerts evoke less Grateful Dead and more E-Street band, which is a lot more appealing.

Eskorbuto “Eskizofrenia”

2012-01-29T21:58:00.000-08:00

(Munster) Archival early 80s Spanish hardcore that’s both ultra-youthful and impressively musically progressive (for traditionally musically meatheaded hardcore, that is). Maybe is Spain they send their toddlers to art school, or punish juvenile delinquents by making them take prog art rock. lessons

La Barra De Chocolate

2012-01-29T21:54:00.000-08:00

(Munster) GUEST REVIEW BY JAMES PORTER: This Argentine release was from 1970, but it sounds like U.S. bands from 1967 – a lot more energetic and not as “jammy” as Americna bands entering the Me Decade. If you like the Love, Peace and Poetry psyche compilations you’ll like this. The fuzz sound is unusually tinny, whoich is good news if you value Vox over Fender. On “Alza La Voz,” the fuzz is almost drowned out by a horn section, which makes this Chocolte hot!

Traffic Sound “Virgin” (Munster)

2012-01-29T21:48:00.000-08:00

(Munster) GUEST REVIEW BY JAMES PORTER: This reissue of a 1969 Peruvian lost psyche classic sounds like Bubble Puppy with greater syncopation on the uptempo tracks, and like mellow freak folk on the slower acoustic tracks. We’re going with the faster songs, especially “Jew’s Caboose,” which is not about Golda Meir’s tuchus. Listen for some of the freakiest sax this side of Free Spirits or the Stooges, and for a completely backmasked track.

Bent Spoon Blog satchel of goodies

2012-01-29T21:31:00.000-08:00

(bentspoon.blogspot.com, c/o Ross Priddle #402 734-2 Ave NW Calgary AB T2N 0E3 Canada) It’s hard to describe all the glorious mail art weirdness I received form the spoon benders, but Xeroxes of inky art, collage, abstract text, sweet drawings, clip madness, poetry, some occasional actual words that made sentences, and anarchy added up to some psychedelic paper consumption that did not involve licking anything.

Cousin Bones

2012-01-29T21:19:00.000-08:00

(www.myspace.com/cousinbonesband) Every day is Halloween for the gravel-throated spooky-bluesman known as Cousin Bones, whose delightful strangeness makes his Tom Waits-growls and occasional Wild Man Fisher sensibilities seem warm and friendly. He’s a friendly ghost!

8-Track Mind Magazine #101

2012-01-29T21:13:00.000-08:00

(russellforster@hotmail.com) The legendary, enigmatic, strange zine returns, but this time instead of pondering an obsolete musical format, they have some of the greatest figures from the golden age of zine publishing (present company notably – and slightly offendedly - excluded…though I do appreciate anyone not asking me to work) to ponder the fate of the perhaps obsolete reading format known as the printed zine. Both abandoners of print (Kim Cooper of Scram, Danny Plotnick of Motorbooty) and stubborn holdouts (Lance Laurie of Snackbar Confidential and Joe Carducci, who uses his blog to workshop his future books) are invited atop the soapbox , as well as 8-Track Mind all-stars of yore (some of whom work the conversation back to magnetic tape). This actually may be the best ever issue ever of 8TM, as it often was just an extended letters section, with the editor turning over the pages to the interesting folks who wrote in, but here, by making everyone stay on point, he has his fascinating friends make some powerful cumulative arguments.

Mediocre Narcotica Greatest Hits Volume 1 by Chrissy Spallone

2012-01-29T20:55:00.001-08:00

(bibliowhining.blogspot.com) This comic combines Mad Magazine-style parody ads, Zap-style underground comix, and Thomas Paine-style deception, because after reading these comix, which are mostly humorous lyrics for a hardcore band called Mediocre Narcotica, I spent an hour looking for the CD for which this had to be the lyric sheet, as I couldn’t believe these tunes weren’t “real.” The anti-Family Guy screed was so sincere, the anti-corporate greed and medical industrial complex were so angry, and the pro-apocalypse song was so awesome that I hope some unimaginative hardcore band wises up, buys this comic, and steals all these songs.

White Pages "Tour EP," "Demonstration 2011"

2012-01-29T20:35:00.000-08:00

(whitepages.bandcamp.com) This Boston-based batshit crazy punk band has a little Massachusetts in them (some Modern Lovers vocal slurring) and plenty of East Coast in them (hardcore speed drumming is occasionally utilized, though never hardcore seriousness), and they definitely make sounds that are fat as a phone book. To summarize: I believe they are from where they claim to be from and I believe they are well named. And I like them. And I like cassette demos being back!

Dark Fog “Drug Portal: Heavy Dilemma”

2012-01-29T20:28:00.000-08:00

(Commune Records) My mind was so moebius-strip twisted by this heavy psyche cloud cover (with occasional bursts of rock majesty) that I started to contemplate the concept of a Fark Dog. Think about it….think…about…it….

T.Q.D “Taketh Away”

2012-01-29T19:47:00.000-08:00

(www.thequietdude.com) I’ve hear of emo-hip hop, but this is the real freaking deal, a painful, album-length exploration of mortality, loss, and introspective sadness. Yet the beats and rhymes are still cool, bringing back the best of the backpack era.

Abyssal Creatures “social awkwardness”

2012-01-29T19:40:00.000-08:00

(www.abyssalcreatures.net) My sister worked at a movie theater when that film The Abyss came out. She said one person came and tried to by a ticket to “The Obese,” and someone else asked to see “A Bitch.” Neither of those titles would fit this delightfully dreamy dark-pop.

Sam Phillips “Solid State Songs From the Long Play”

2012-01-29T19:36:00.000-08:00

(www.samphillips.com) Fill up my heart and feel up my soul!

Pinataland “Hymns for the Dreadful Night”

2012-01-29T19:33:00.000-08:00

(Mekkatone) Pinatabland.

Hawley

2012-01-29T19:29:00.000-08:00

(www.hawleyshoffner.com) Hawled off and socked me…in the heart! (Bonus: kazoos!!!)

The Thousand Pities “Believe in Sound”

2012-01-29T19:26:00.000-08:00

(OverPop) Should be called the Thousand Pretties, cuz this lushly borderline somber pop sounds like it looks good.

Janet Robbins “Song of the Gypsy Tree”

2012-01-29T19:18:00.000-08:00

(Star 7) A Gypsy tree must grow next to a Kate Bush. That’s some powerful foliage!

Marc Bristol and the Harmatones “Bristol Rockin’”

2012-01-29T19:13:00.000-08:00

(King Noodle) This may not be a popular opinion amongst the pompadour crowd, but my fave rockabilly usually falls into the novelty realm – the “Flying Saucer Rock n Roll,” “Haunted House” and “Rockin Bones” vibes. So get Mr. Bristol –- known around these parts for his writing and publishing more than his pickin’ and grinnin’ -- to garnish some hot rockabilly with lyrics about about Mexican food, a persuasive penis, and the power of “Tutti Frutti” and you won’t hear me complainin’. Hear that….that’s me not complainin’!

The Icon, The Memoir by Flavor Flav

2012-01-29T19:02:00.000-08:00

(Farrah Gray Publishing) Like his reality show persona, this book may not actually be that good, and the things FLav says may not be the most pleasant, but something about his personality is so likable that it all kind of works out. The most interesting aspects of this book involve the rather unpleasant reality of Flav’s financial situation and life during the Public Enemy sald days. As soon as he was off tour the money would be gone and he’s be a low level drug dealer, riding his bike. What’s most disappointing is that he never really answers his critics who say his reality TV persona is a throwback to minstrelsy – he says how upset he was that Chris Rock said he should be killed, but never addresses why Rock said it. But in the end, though FAR from a literary classic, you’ll like Flav more after reading this modest memoir.

The Ramblin’ Ambassadors “Ramble On”

2012-01-29T18:36:00.000-08:00

(Mint) What do you call Canadian instrumental music done in Spaghetti Western soundtrack style? I’m gonna go with Poutine Western, and I’m gonna stick with these geniuses, who rumble like the surf, bounce like the MGs, and even get sultan-ic with the Middle Eastern grooves. Ramblin ramblin’ ramblin’ ramblin’…”

Savage Damage Digest

2012-01-29T07:30:00.001-08:00

($7.50 each, write to savagedamagedigest@gmail.com for info) The first two issues of this massive, magnificent magazine are out, and Corey Michael Linstrum should be extremely proud of his hard rockin’ baby. First of all, this is a real-assed zine! It’s full of fanatical, knowledgeable writing, tons of Xerox-quality fotos and record label reproductions, and the glorious miscegenation of pro and amateur aesthetics that commercial press abhors. Most importantly, the writing and info is awesome, covering the trashier side of rock, punk, and garage with obsessive zeal. Issue one has an exploration of the “lost” years of Link Wray, his 70s recordings (and productions of others, many done in his rural chickenshack studio). Amazing analysis, research, and writing abound! Issue 2 does the same with Ross the Boss, not shunning his punk for his metal, or vice versa. But it’s the features on bands you don’t know, including access to the photo archives and brains of lost genius rockers that puts these over the top. You will be graciously appreciative of being savagely damaged!

Lucifer by Randy Pratt

2012-01-29T07:17:00.000-08:00

(www.randyholden-lucifer.com) Lucifer is a 600 page novel about the lengthy, monumental career of the greatest heavy rock band of all time, the fictional Lucifer. But the reason rock fans may dig this book is that ‘fiction’ is less accurate than ‘historical fiction,’ because author Pratt’s intimate knowledge of/friendships with classic rock icons means that this book weaves together so many details and incidents that music geeks will appreciate that it’s the equivalent of an exhaustively researched period novel about Kennedy, Lincoln, or Churchill…it’s just that this one uses extensive knowledge of more important historical figures: it’s the likes of Randy Holden, Syd Barrett, and Tom Jones that pepper the adventures of Lucifer. Considering the protagonist’s sexy ladyfriend, this work also brings to mind FanFiction (the subculture where sci fi and TV fans write stories that often have the crew of the Enterprise or the cast of Buffy having lots of intercourse) or even Forest Gump, with the hapless Jenny screwing her way across Twentieth Century history (though Lucifer’s Whilma enjoys more triumphs and dignity than AIDS-ravaged Jenny did). The naughtiness climaxes at a sleazy 70s party where Lucifer confronts the Rat Pack, with Ol’ Blue Eyes calling them fags while famous porno chic adult film stars orchestrate a writhing orgy around the confrontation between the icons of two eras of musical cool. In this scene we get a little bit of Sammy admitting he doesn’t get heavy rock, but wishing he did cuz the friendliest Rat Packer wants to be hip. Sadly, for Sammy-philes like myself, in the book’s other insane cultural confluence scene (where actual Elvis conducts the first Elvis-overseen Vegas wedding of our romantic leads) Sammy is not with the Rat Packers. Pratt has worked with countless hard rock bands over the years, and many of them make appearances in these pages (including Cactus, a fine band only a hardcore, balls-out rock fan would include), and I’m sure he’s read hundreds of musical autobiographies, because this definitely reads like one of those. But for 600 pages to sustain quality you need some literary chops, some Jonathan Lethem or Michael Chabon action, not the equivalent of I Am Ozzy or Sex Money KISS. Which doesn’t mean obsessive rock fans shouldn’t read this, they will definitely enjoy the absurd grandeur and the fantasy namedropping of this alternate history (Lucifer’s influence, which despite the name is surprisingly wholesome and angelic, is used to redeem a number of doomed rockers), but you won’t be able to read it in one marathon session.

The Rock and Roll Alphabet by Jeffrey Schwartz and Chuck Boyd

2012-01-29T06:29:00.000-08:00

(www.therockandrollalphabet.com) This book marries amazing photographs from the 60s and 70s by rock lensman Boyd with rhyming couplets to make it a children’s alphabet book (ostensibly). As a photo book it is unbelievable. James Brown fixing a magnificent helmet of hair, Ozzy and Tony goofing on stage during a Black Sabbath gig, Marvin Gaye mesmerizing a nightclub…nearly every shot, even the live concert ones, feels intimate and revealing. And since Boyd had Queen shots, the only letter Schwartz has to fudge is X (T-ReX – which is a pretty good concert photo, by the way). As a kiddie book I’m not sure…there’s nothing wrong with the rhymes but if the kids don’t already dig Fleetwood Mac or Aretha there’s not much here to convince them. Even the stuff that usually draws in kids is not the right images – the KISS one is kind of dark and not vivid enough to have comic book majesty and the beautiful Beatles picture has them more as medium-length haired humans, not in their cartoony, uniformed (moptop or Pepper’s brigade) glory that kids might dig. But I’m not saying you shouldn’t buy this book, it’s pretty great. The fact that he has an actual Velvet Underground photo should be enough to convince you that this cat had the goods.

Kevn Kinney and the Golden Palominos “a good country mile”

2012-01-29T06:01:00.000-08:00

(www.drivinncryin.com) I’m excited by this mostly because I did not know that Kinney was still in the game and that his band drivin’ n’ cryin’ had released records as recently as 2009. I was a genuine obsessive about the band’s 1987 “Whisper Tames the Lion” LP which was produced by the Golden Palamino’s Anton Fier. So this callabo sort of highlights the songwriting, production, and optimistically melancholy vibe of a record that I listened to a thousand times. "a good country mile" is an album of new and old songs that would appease country, southern rock, indie rock, guitar geek, Americana, 60s country rock, and singer/songwriter fans, all of whom would feel like they understood it better than all those folks in the room with different haircuts than them.

Thinger Dingers by J.T. Yost

2012-01-29T05:45:00.000-08:00

(birdcage bottom books) Fact and fictional comix nuggets about bogus roommates, buried-alive bodies, bad-attitude babies, boudoir-bound birds, and booze. Yost is the boss-t!

Signals zine

2012-01-29T05:39:00.000-08:00

(http://radiofrequencyinternational.wordpress.com) A genuinely interesting study of shortwave radio, pirate radio, and the anarchic joys of unusual radio production and consumption. (Note: the re-named zine is now called Paper Radio)

Tales of Blood and Roses #2

2012-01-29T05:31:00.000-08:00

(www.talesofbloodandroses.com) If this chilling fiction/poetry/video game review (?) horror compilation was a Godzilla foe it would be Gothra. If it were an irreverent, controversial Jewish American novelist it would be Philip Goth. If it were a Star Wars battle locale it would be the Ice Planet of Goth.

Motorpsycho #25

2012-01-29T05:22:00.000-08:00

(http://www.ratbike.org/motorcycho/mchopage.html) The only thing that could make this motorbikes and garage rock zine better would be if they if they started a sister publication called Side Car-azy.

Askew Reviews #15

2012-01-29T05:20:00.000-08:00

(www.askewreviews.com) A few reviews, some new fiction views, the true food news…plus a brutal prostate exam nightmare.

Everything Dies #7 by Box Brown

2012-01-29T05:08:00.000-08:00

(Microcosm) If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 100 times…polytheistic creation myths need more KISS makeup and beaver shots! Inky awesome comix goodness!

Elixir on Mute “End of Sky,” “Monster”

2012-01-29T05:00:00.000-08:00

(www.elixironmute.com) Cinematic, progressive, borderline poppy darkcore that is more mutated than mute. The main musician/songwriter Jordan Ferreira looks super young and it’s great to hear the youths striving for grand, huge, ambitious rock in this day and age.

13 Ghosts “garden of bottle flies”

2012-01-28T09:02:00.000-08:00

(Skybucket) More chillingly ghostly than annoyingly flylike, these are some story songs that both feel like vividly drawn portraits and eerily fuzzy-focused photos. I am scared of these g-g-g-g-g-ghosts!

Delicate Cutters “some creatures”

2012-01-28T08:58:00.000-08:00

(Skybucket) Delectable Cutlets…of heartwrenchinhness!

reigns “the widow blades”

2012-01-28T08:52:00.000-08:00

(www.Monotremerecords.com) The musical equivalent of a weird old gravel-voiced witchy lady telling you a scary story that ends with her turning into the monster/killer/old tree/snowstorm/whatever the hell it is she was telling you about. And then killing you.

Arty Hill “Another Lost Highway”

2012-01-28T08:42:00.000-08:00

(www.artyhill.com) You really can’t beat functional honky tonk music! If you don’t like western swingin’, top notch twangin’, sweet sinign barn burners than you need to get your America parts checked.

Griffen Alexander “The Sound & the Sea”

2012-01-28T08:36:00.000-08:00

(www.griffenalexander.com) Griffen is singer/songwrite riffin’ and from bad music he is differin’.

Charlie Parr “Keep Your Hands On The Plow”

2012-01-28T08:27:00.000-08:00

(House of Mercy) For at least a decade Charlie Parr has been releasing some genuinely tasty traditional pickin’ music that is always warmly familiar but isn’t always as easy to pigeonhole as far as what kind of folk/bluegrass/country festival you would book him at. This collection of traditional country/bluesy gospel music is both precious and powerful, and as up to Parr as anything he’s previously done!

Papa Juke “out of the blues”

2012-01-28T08:19:00.000-08:00

(www.papajuke.com) Jazzy blues that swaggers between slinking and swinging (swinking?) And that will make you ask both, “Who’s your papa?” And “Is he Juke-ish?”

Sunspot “The Slingshot Effect,” “Deus Ex Macina”

2012-01-28T08:14:00.000-08:00

(www.sunspotmusic.com) Suncancer.

Carley Tanchon “Leave the Light On”

2012-01-28T08:04:00.000-08:00

(www.carleytanchon.com) Made me want to leave the Tanch on!

The Kentucky Headhunters "live/Agora Ballroom May 12 1990"

2012-01-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

(Mercury) Doesn't seem like it should be over 20 years since these southern rockin' cats managed to crossover. I never saw them but saw the two brothers at the heart of the act playiing as a duo withon a year or two of this amazing concert, featuring a few of their originals that sound like country classics ("Dumas Walker," "Some Folks Like to Steal") and actual classics by Doug Sahm. Don Gibson, and ol' Hank, of course, plus some blues and rock 'n' roll just to make it clear that they can jam! Not much to say here except that this was a kickass live, band, this is an ace album, and that I totally forgot about this group and this jarred my memory nice-ways.

Cornflower Blue "Run Down the Rails"

2012-01-28T07:51:00.000-08:00

(www.cornflowerbluemusic.com) Raucous (North) Americana (the parenthetical "North,"cuz it's Canadian, but we never held that against Hank Snow, k.d. lang, Neil Young, or Stompin' Tom) that twangs, sashays, and stomps. Includes the first country song I've ever heard using a train metaphor that uses the word "metaphor."

Russell Howard "City Heart"

2012-01-28T06:27:00.000-08:00

(www.russellhowardmusic.com) Sweet!

Edgar Breau "Patches of Blue"

2012-01-28T06:22:00.000-08:00

(Flying Inn Music) The guitarist from less-obscure-than-they-used-to-be Canadian psyche punk band Simply Saucer releases an album of heartfelt, working class singer-songwriter music that may take Saucer fans for an unexpected abduction. Actually, psyche fans have been pretty liberal with guitar strumming coffehouse-types over the last few years, generously labeling anything traditional and strummy as "freak folk," and the richness and atmospheric vibe here might allow this to fit the bill as well. But what's going on here is more than genre work or gear shifting, it's some genuinely intense, sincere troubadour-ism, telling tales and meaning them. Not that the tales of cyborgs and mole machines in the 70s weren't sincere!

Nadina’s Cube “Shipwrecked”

2012-01-28T06:07:00.000-08:00

(www.nadinascube.com) This sounds like heroin jazz with vocals, but subtract the heroin, and add some surprising harp (the big kind, not harmonica) . They’ve got their “ship” together!

The Absolutes "everybody's feeling alright"

2012-01-28T05:58:00.000-08:00

(Absolutes) Absolutely awesoem dance-your-ass-off organ-istic garage rock! So good my feet hurt!

Matthew Santos "Quickly Disappearing"

2012-01-28T05:53:00.000-08:00

(www.candyrat.com)This cat can sing -- he's making some heavy lyrics sound like he means them with his off kilter soulful vox-isms.

Spielgusher

2012-01-28T05:46:00.000-08:00

(www.clenchedwrench.com) When I first put this in I was confused for a second because somehow my brain had processed this was a collabo between Mike Watt and Richard Belzer, the comedian, on the TV detective shows. Then when I realized it was with legendary rock scribe Richard Meltzer (which makes way more sense) I was a little thrown because the weary voice doing the poetical spoken word jibber jabbers on this sounds nothing like the cat on the VOM records. But then as I just started drinking in the dozens of tracks of meandering art jazz rock with Watt leading the band on bass (not that he’s being all-out progressive -- there’s walking basslines here and there) I just started to dig it. You have to appreciate a memorial to Wildman Fisher that features a Burroughs-like craggly voice declaring “his life was like a fart.”

Dead Fingers

2012-01-28T05:34:00.000-08:00

(Big Legal Mess) Taylor Hollingsworth and Kate Taylor maybe should have called their duo the Two Taylors because like the best tailors they know the secrets of how to stitch together the seemingly unstitchable (in this case quirks, jerks, and eleven styles of American music, from balladry to blues to moody country to happy campfire tunes) and you can't see the seams!

Bad Weather California “Sunkissed”

2012-01-28T04:54:00.000-08:00

(Family Tree) All-over-the-place but never going anywhere bad American rock n roll exploratory-core that sounds traditional and experimental and wholesome and wicked! Sunny, fun and inspiring in a not-sure-what-you’re-inspired-to-do way.

Ugly Things #32

2012-01-28T04:47:00.000-08:00

(www.ugly-things.com) Even if you don’t like garage music, Anglophilism, long articles, reissues, and thick, squarebound periodicals, you have to admit this is the best music zine in the world or you are a fucking idiot, a liar, or a fool! New issue, with some amazing Paul Revere and the Raiders and Them material, is one of the best in years!

Local Comics #68

2012-01-28T04:45:00.000-08:00

Pun-ishing but punny puns tastier than a sesame street pun that you could buy at a pun shop, but there might be a 3 day wait period because of pun control legislation.

The Copper Gamins

2012-01-28T04:34:00.000-08:00

(www.saustexmedia.com) This record is genuinely mindboggling! I have never heard a band so thoroughly imitate their heroes -- this lo-fi garage blues duo goes as far as to imitate Jack White's specific weird voice and intonations -- yet so thoroughly surpass and profoundly build upon their influence. And the latter is a weird thing to say, because there is not more here than on a White Stripes record, there's seemingly less - this is stripped down to the bare bone marrow and the audio sounds like it was made in the 1800s with some kind of primitive wire spool and riverbed clay recording technique. That said, the richness, depth, and thrilling power of this is undeniable. This is really my new favorite record.

Pinata Protest "Plethora"

2012-01-28T04:16:00.000-08:00

(saustex) If you forgot to buy this record in 2010...good news! The bad had some lineup changes and revamped the recordings with tougher guitar! (But the squeezebox is same as it ever was!) The reason I love listening to Mexican American radio (and actual Mexican radio when I'm in San Diego) is that you hear bouncy accordion oompah music with sing-song singing and folksy aesthetics...and it's actual American Top 40 music that teenagers like! That astounds and thrills me, and despite my Spanish being piss poor I listen for hours and hours of this music every week. So hearing this youthful Texas band speed up Conjunto music and add a punk edge, while still keeping the groove and vibe, makes me super happy. Instead of protesting we should just send a copy of this to every voter in Arizona...it will either make them bang their heads and change their tune...or scare them away from the polls.

David Serby “Poor Man’s Poem"

2012-01-28T04:11:00.000-08:00

(www.davidserby.com) Beautiful ballads of the working man’s plights and perfect days. See, scraggly-beards, you can Occupy…with loveliness!

Boy of the Afterthought "Lupa"

2012-01-28T04:06:00.000-08:00

(www.boyoftheafterthought.com) It's hard to believe anyone would still try to draw from the Smashing Pumpkins on purpose, but the influence is definitely here, though BFTA is heavier, better and, likely more polite.

Patrick Campbell-Lyons “The 13 Dalis”

2012-01-28T04:01:00.000-08:00

(www.psychedelicdays.com) The gentile Leonard Cohen!

The Veda Rays “gamma rays galaxy rays veda rays”

2012-01-28T03:56:00.000-08:00

(www.allegedrecords.com) The music is better than Sugar Ray’s Lana Del Rey’s and Rache Ray’s (her theme song). This show me with an an oddball catchy pop ray!

White Orange

2012-01-28T03:52:00.000-08:00

(Made In China Records) You know what rhymes with “orange?” “Fucking AWESOME,” that’s what! Heavier than a barbell factory.

Cinema Cinema “shot the freak”

2012-01-28T03:47:00.000-08:00

(www.cinemacinemaband.com) It’s as if AntiSEEN went to art school!

Boy + Kite "Go Fly"

2012-01-28T03:42:00.000-08:00

(www.boypluskite.com) If Charlie Brown was the boy, and while he was flying his kite, he was also carrying a boombox playing this CD, instead if that mean tree eating his kite it would give him a branch hug and share some clove cigarettes with the round headed kid.

The Bon “Static Electricity”

2012-01-28T03:36:00.000-08:00

(www.thebon.bandcamp.com) Thoroughly modern 60s music that made all my hair stand on end. ALL my hairs! Includes the best non-monks song about a girl named Suzette.

Buffalo Clover “Low Down Time”

2012-01-28T03:30:00.001-08:00

(www.palaverrecords.com) If you like your twang with some torch and occasional R&B scorch, then when you see this Buffalo CD, you better buy, son! (get it, “”bison”!)

Dan Wolff “Old Fashioned Love”

2012-01-28T03:26:00.000-08:00

(www.danwolffmusic.com) This wolff actually whistles! Bouncy songwriting, Mraz-ish at times, and good enough for fans of this stuff, but the Wolff whistles puts it over the top in our book! (imagine I just typed the perfect onomatopoeia of a whistle of sexy approval)

Arvo Zylo "333"

2012-01-28T03:21:00.000-08:00

He’s 333% weirder than you. That said, though this is officially “noise,” it’s some pleasant noise, it’s got a nice beat (if an irregular, fluctuating, bizarre, at –times-theoretical one) and you can dance to it (sorta).

Run Dan Run “Normal”

2012-01-28T03:12:00.000-08:00

(www.rundanrunband.com) Runny…but sunny!

See Green “Ultramarine, ““Violet”

2012-01-28T03:08:00.000-08:00

(www.seegreenmusic.com) Like green she can sound bright and fresh as Spring but like the sea she hints at some powerful below the surface danger.

Nearly Beloved “Where’s Bob?”

2012-01-28T03:02:00.001-08:00

(Attaboy) Everybody’s twang chums tonight!

Old Californio “sundrunk angels”

2012-01-28T02:57:00.000-08:00

(www.oldcalifornio.com) Should be called Gold Cool-aFortunate!

Stephanie Schneiderman “rubber teardrop”

2012-01-28T02:46:00.000-08:00

(Zerone, www.stephanieschneiderman.com) Prediction: these breathy, mellow groovesters may infect America with a full-on case of Schneidermania!

Gwendolyn “bright light”

2012-01-28T02:40:00.000-08:00

(www.gwendolyn.net) I suppose this is a fine, fine example of traditional Americana at its finest – listen to all the tracks and you’ll hear acoustic guitars, banjo picking, musical saws and lyrics about whiskey, nostalgia, drinkin’ from mason jar, and murder. But Gwendolyn bright bell of a voice is so distinct and delicious I’m hesitant to tattoo any genre onto her. Her voice elevates everything to its own genre – “Gwendicana.”

The Fur Coats "Don't Make Me Beg" ep

2012-01-28T02:24:00.000-08:00

(Dirt Cult) Melodiculous hook-core that is so pleasant that instead of throwing red paint on these Fur Coats you will want to take a sable brush and meticulously paint "T-H-A-N-K Y-O-U" on these offending articles of winterwear.

Spokanarchy DVD, soundtrack CD

2012-01-26T07:54:00.000-08:00

(Carnage and Rouge) First of all – not the best title, as I purposely avoided watching this documentary for months fearing it was about a spoken work punk rock scene, a concept I still shiver with dread at the thought of. Instead it’s the history of the Spokane, WA punk scene, and it’s a pretty decent piece of work, thanks in no small part to the scene being somewhat unusual and there being a shockingly healthy wealth of surviving, great looking video of the late 70s/early 80s acts. That the town’s first punk band, Sweet Madness, was not particularly punk but rather an arty new wave/post punk act seen in perfect vintage footage wearing space age mullets and art-shirt uniforms, seems crucial. During the Black Flag/Dischord years where cookie-cutter hardcore was defining regional scenes around the nation, bizarre art rock and performance goofiness never lost its footing in Spokane, where bands like PP-Ku and Mutation Sensations (shown dressed up as toilet paper Muppets) were allowed to thrive. The only regular hardcore band we see is Vampire Lezbos, and even they seem more weird and vulnerable than standard moshpitters (in their interviews at least). Assuming that this is accurate and not just the filmmakers solely focusing on their friends’ bands, this is an impressive trait for the city, and explains the nostalgia many feel for the scene. Considering the Pacific Northwest has such a history of sloppy garage rock heritage with the Wailers and Sonics, etc., it’s weird how non-garagey the bands are. Another nice thing about this is, as you’ve no doubt noticed reading their names here, none of the bands had important national profiles, thus it really is fresh ground being tread here. There also is a nice balance between romanticizing (it ends with an 80s reunion) and making it clear that small town punk life could be hellish (lotsa dreary heoin tales). But just for the vintage video alone I highly recommend this to any punk history majors out there, and KBD-heads need the soundtrack.

Copyright Criminals (The Funky Drummer Edition Box Set)

2012-01-26T07:34:00.000-08:00

(Copyright Criminals) Because the producers of this documentary about defying copyrights can’t quarrel with anyone downloading their movie for free it makes sense that they would package it in an edition so deluxe that you are paying for the artifact, not the intellectual property. And this is deluxe. In addition to a 2-disc DVD edition of the movie there is a 12” EP of Clyde Stubblefield, the oft-sampled James Brown funky drummer, playing some live, original funky beats to use for your remixes, and there’s a hefty set of baseball cards of the rappers and remixers and deejays and intellectuals interviewed in the film, and there’s stickers, and there’s a big, glossy movie poster. Since everything but the DVD and record kinda speak for themselves, let me address those. As seen on PBS, Copyright Criminals is very impressive for what it is. It’s a love-letter to the golden age of sample-based hip hop, and most of the documentary examines the cultural weight, artistic merits, and legal issues involving the brilliant De La Soul, Public Enemy and Beastie Boys records that are both beloved today and impossible to make today because of the sample clearance issues that emerged in their wake. By hooking up with some brilliant copyright defiant video remixers (Eclectic Method) these filmmakers are able to have some stunning visual and audio collages punctuate their points and flaunt their fearlessness of defying rights asserted by the Beatles, Led Zep, and others. And by presenting the ideas intelligently, cohesively, and in well-shot interviews with thoughtful folks, this is a pretty solid piece of work. It even manages to have a sprinkle of fairness by letting some lawyers explain why they are right and the Copyright Criminals are wrong, by having a not-surprisingly curmudgeonly (in a very pleasant and convincing way) Steve Albini tell us why sampling sucks, and by giving the most screen time to a sample “victim” rather than a sample maker. Of course, Mr. Stubblefield proves to be the perfect protagonist because since he wouldn’t get paid even if his hip hop-ubiquitous drumming samples were legal and paid for (he was working for hire), so he is happy to just get some recognition and would love to just be credited, no checks required. The one problem with the movie involves what it isn’t: the film doesn’t really get into the contemporary legal grey areas that would make it more relevant. It doesn’t discuss contemporary “mixtape” culture where even major label acts are allowed to flaunt copyright law as long as they give the music away free online, it doesn’t get into the pre-Internet mixtape arrest of DJ Drama, and it doesn’t really foreshadow the Youtube/SOPA/Digital Millennium Act brouhahas as much as it should. Which is fine, in that it keeps a tight focus on an era and a method of sampling that allows the film to be a finely honed, very solid piece, but it also makes the movie seem less contemporary than it should be. As far as the record of Mr. Stubblefield drumming: if you’re not gonna remix there’s not much you need a breakbeat record for, BUT if there’s any doubt this record is functional, check out some of the remixes utilizing it on the DVD bonus material. Give that funky drummer some! Some of what, exactly, is the question.

Brian TV/Cold Coffee split cassette

2012-01-26T07:02:00.000-08:00

(Leopard Libido) Brian TV plays big psyche that expands your br(i)a(i)n. Cold Coffee plays borderline creepy post punk that contracts your core. Together they make all your parts fluctuate.

Out of Tune/Schwerbelastungskorper split single

2012-01-26T06:55:00.000-08:00

(CCW/desikelirium) Two heaping helpings of spastic, whimsical Finnish hardcore. Pressed on a seven-inch salb of vinyl as heavy as a reindeer sauté with ligonberry jam. And these ligonberries really jam!

The George-Edwards Group "Archives"

2012-01-26T06:07:00.000-08:00

(Drag City/GZD) More Motor City weirdness from the group re-discovered a coupla years back by the Galactic Zookeepers. Highlights here include a song about puppets and robots which obviously resonates with folks like me who live with mainly puppets and robots (good workers, bad roommates), and a track called "You're Gone" (which I would have named "March of the Space Frogs") which could be regarded today as a genuine evil garage classic, if it had any drums. Since it instead has the soundtrack to an amphibian army's interstellar laser battle as a backbeat it may prove a harder sell to the Nuggets crowd. The collection ends with a phaseshifting journey into the inner brain of a madman, which pretty much sums the whole shebang up nicely. Won't you be that madman?

Doug Jerebine “Jesse Harper”

2012-01-26T05:58:00.000-08:00

(Drag City) As Drag City continues to drag the audio river for seemingly dead acetates, self-released LPs, flaking reel-to-reels and dusty home recordings, they somehow came up with something genuinely surprising. Jerebine (recording as Jesse Harper) was a New Zealand guitarist in the late 60s who, while weighing whether to become a humble Hare Krishna or an excessive Golden God of rock, recorded this Jimi-esque psychedelic exploration in what at the time was a commercial mode, not cheap sounding and not sacrificing grand wailing for art’s sake. This was supposed to be a major album (and according to the lore, Atlantic almost made it so) and is profoundly unlike hearing some amazing weirdo bedroom tape. This is a band (actually just Jerebine multi-tracked) that was supposed to play after Blue Cheer and before Cream. Yet it is not in any way hampered by its commercial ambitions – because Jerebine is genuinely amazing at ax-ery his playing in never contrived, boringly indulgent, or rote – this is some amazing sounding music. More unique is his singing and lyrics. Because he was pretty committed to a spiritual journey at the time, his expansive mind wanderings, other-dimensional ideas, and big thoughts sound more sincere and real (and complex…”Hole in My Hand” seems to be pretty critical of Christian piousness…and Little Miss Muffet’s commitment to curds and whey) than many of his peers. And his relaxed, slightly odd voice is pretty damn effective. This is an amazing record to either get wasted or to ascend to an astral plane to. And it’s an amazing find that should have come out decades ago.

200 Years

2012-01-26T05:43:00.000-08:00

(Drag City) If you love singer songwriter with acoustic guitar music than you will love this twice because there’s two of each of them here!

Serpent Throne “White Summer – Black Winter”

2012-01-25T10:23:00.000-08:00

(Prophase) Dinosaur-heavy metallic instrumental without all that dino-lumbering. These snake kings can move and they can flash flourishes in ways that would make a stegosaurus green with envy (if he was not already green, dino-scientists are still debating hide color). Think early 70s metal gods rock, with some of the harmonic that became popular in the 80s thrown in. Then stop thinking – this is supposed to loin-felt, not brain pondered.

American Speedway “A Bigger Boat”

2012-01-25T09:55:00.000-08:00

(Prophase) Philly filth rock in the vein of Nashville Pussy, but trashier and louder, if that’s possible. Drunken, rampaging, fuck-you-core rock n roll music made by a band featuring a female guitarist with what appears to be the biggest biceps on any dame since Zap from American Galdiators. Shredding will do that for you!