The Pharmacy “Dig Your Grave” ep

(Kind Turkey) This Pharmacy will fill your prescription for garage pop boner pills, with a medical marijuana chaser, and they’ll let you charge candy bars to your insurance card!

Oh-OK “The Complete Reissue”

 (HHBTM) In the 80s, before “Alternative Rock,” or even “Indie” caught on as terms, the kids called it “College Rock,” which pretty much meant REM. But to me the perfect examples of “College Rock” were Oh-OK and Jandek, for one simple reason: I NEVER saw a copy of any Jandek LP orof Oh-OK’s “Furthermore What” album at a used record store or garage sale that didn’t have the call letters of a college station scrawled across it in black Sharpie. I just pulled out “Furthermore What” (finally allowing my Ohio Players and O’Jays records to touch, as they’ve been yearning for for years), and it says “WMXM,” but I remember seeing it with Providence, Chicago, and New York college stations written on it as well. That said, I actually had never seen or heard the band’s first EP from ’83 (which is better because it’s sparer, despite Matthew Sweet joining the band for “Furthermore” – and when I goggled it to see the cover it had “WFMU” sprawled on it!), and of course, I never heard the live tracks that round out this brief career overview of a too-brief career. The early 80s Athens, GA femme-fronted minimalist pop act had teenage playfulness balanced by somewhat haunting vocal qualities, and was a great bridge between the few punky girl acts in the 70s (you can make tenuous comparisons to Raincoats or Slits) and the Pacific Northwest riot grrls of the 90s (comparisons to the Olympia acts are way more accurate). Also, though I may miss the Sharpie marks, this cover art is a million times better than “Furthermore”’s cat cover. I bet Sugarfoot will appreciate that when I slip this on the shelf.

Red Pony Clock “Whatevz Forevzz”

(HHBTM) This omni-influenced (lush pop, Tropicalia/Mariachi/Beach Boys/Elephant 6/Herb Alpert/101 Strings/Chicago/Madonna/Luis Miguel/Nillson/outsider music/etc.) band has more vibraphone, and flugelhorn than your system is ready for! The singing Saucedo’s have the kind of deep, strangely resonant voices that will have you making sure your turntable is spinning at the right speed, and this record has the best cover art of the year. So that’s an endorsement.

home sweet home grown by Robin Jasko

(Microcosm) After opening with some compelling arguments about the financial benefits of growing your ownv eggies rather than buying organic stuff from the co-op, Jasko delivers an outright basic, easy to digest, sweetly and succinctly described How To/d.i.y. guide to growing whatever you want in  your garden/windowbox/old bookcase/whatever. The lovely b&w illustrations by Jennifer Biggs make the whole thing a bit of a hippie/Whole Earth-ish vibe, but that’s appropriate and actually kind of awesome.

The Hollies “Look Through Any Window 1963-1975”

(Eagle Vision) Whenever I see one of those infomercials with Peter Noone, or Smokey Robinson, or Davy Jones promoting some CD box set by showing clip after clip of stars lip-synching of TV shows from the 50s, 60s and 70s, I always think the same thing: if they were selling a DVD of all these clips I’d but that! Fortunately, the folks at Reelin’ In the Years Productions dig what I’m talking about, and they have released many amazing DVDs over the years that present archival video footage from TV shows, or rare concert footage, but their best releases are the documentary style productions (like their amazing Impressions DVD a few years back), that present the stories of the musicians through interviews, but then, unlike a typical documentary, instead of showing a brief clip of the band at each stage if the career, they show full performances from well-known and ultra-obscure sources. Because of the band’s involvement, these are not proper documentaries, rarely offering much critique or analysis: they usually just let the folks tell their own story, and if they leave out Behind the Music drama and tragedy, that’s up to them. Which is a great way to frame stunning footage. This turned out to be one of the most interesting releases in their British Invasion series, because, to me at least, the Hollies story was too convoluted to really fully grasp. I think of them as the early harmony pop group led by (childhood friends) Graham Nash and Allan Clarke, but that doesn’t tell the story of the incongruous collection of post Nash-exit hits “”He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” “The Air I Breath,” and “Long Cool Woman.” This collection has four of the principal band members vividly recount their tale, highlighted by live and mimed performances of “Bus Stop,” “On A Carousel,” “Jennifer Eccles,” and their psyche experiment “King Midas in Reverse” (which they were very disappointed to see fail). Live teen performances, irreverent TV show appearances with nutty banter, festival shows, home movies, appearances on the great German Beat Beat Beat and Beat Club shows, and a bunch of guys looking handsome and healthy decades later make this collection a tasty treat. I recommend a infomercial!

Cuddle Magic “Info Nympho”

(This Is An Analog Recording) With the sour singing voices on display here, they might want to change the band name to Curdle Milk-gic. Opens with a suicide-themed “We Didn’t Start the Fire”/”Cult of Personality” name-a-lot-of-people song, with eclectic namechecks of Vic Chestnutt, Spaulding Gray, Phil Loeb, Walter Benjamin, Albert Ayler, and others, and while the song has an appropriate darkness and disconcerting vibe, it seems almost heretical to sing the words “Donny Hathaway” in a whiny, key-challenging voice.

Wires in the Walls “(new symmetry)”

(www.wiresinthewalls.com) If you like your urban Americana with some injection of emo/indie sensibilities and a tiny sprinkling of uptown sax, then you will like this better The Wire.

Shearwater “Winged Life”

(Misra)  I should probably have a hipster’s instinct to pretend I’ve actually heard of this newly reissued 2004 release by a band that at time were the main dudes in Okkervil River. But I’ll keep it real and admit I never heard of it, which puts me in the envious position of listening to it with fresh ears. These low key, yet kinda epic, musical story songs are rich and lush and pretty, but without any poppy emotional lightness (it all seems important and sincere). But pop choruses and catchiness are no strangers here, even during the sad songs. I’m glad to be a birdwatcher of this winged creature, and I’m doubly glad that this specimen did not go extinct!

The Water Liars “Phantom Limbs”

(Misra) Haunt-ish minimalist Ghostly-American folk pop – these Water-folk will make you wet for music!

Miscegenator "Start Tomorrow" demo

(www.facebook.com/miscegenator  <--free download) Let me tell you what's so classic about this furious hardcore assault -- it's so fast, murky, and incoherent that I genuinely can't tell if it's righteously politically analytical or ass-backwards meat head stupid --- and that's a beautiful thing! One song is definitely about Planet of the Apes, and that could be a brilliant metaphor. Or a stoner movie reference. Awesome!