BLOW YR GOURD

New Pink Reason Track - "Sixteen Years"

2011-03-04T07:28:00.007-06:00

Oh man, I've been itching so bad to share a bunch of great new shit with all you shitheads. Gonna be posting some other cool shit soon, but to kick shit off, here's a brand new track from Pink Reason's upcoming Siltbreeze LP Shit in the Garden. Definitely a strong The Idiot-era Iggy Pop vibe running through this one, but all channeled through Kevin Failure's usual gothic (especially Joy Division) lens and revealing of his friendship with a certain Matt Whitehurst. I never actually made the shitgaze/ShitintheGarden connection until right this moment, but this is definitely a gaze of shit that can only result from time spent in shit city Columbus, OH. I have yet to hear the rest of the album, but if "Sixteen Years" is any indication, its not going to bear much resemblance to the sparsity of 2007's Cleaning The Mirror or the relatively tossed-off, single-take qualities of his recent 7"s. Shit in the Garden is a record years in the making and it shows. If Psychedelic Horseshit are truly bent on creating the lo-fi Loveless, then Pink Reason are right there with them.

Sixteen Years by pinkreason

In other news, check out my radio show Harsh 70's Reality on Wednesdays at 10 PM EST on WOBC 91.5 FM in the Oberlin, OH area or streaming at http://wobc.org/.

Here's March 2nd's playlist:
Death - Keep On Knocking
Scott Walker - The Seventh Seal
The Shadow Ring - I Am A Lighthouse
Pure - No's Knife
Gillian Welch - Anabelle
The Pretenders - Kid
Icky Boyfriends - Pig
Death In June - Hollows Of Devotion
Raw Nerve - Stay Staid
The Beach Boys - Gettin' Hungry
Bert Jansch - Oh How Your Love Is Strong
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments - Cheater's Heaven
The Byrds - Everybody's Been Burned
The Verlaines - Pyromaniac
Graham Lambkin and Jason Lescaleet - Listen, The Snow Is Falling
The Band - Unfaithful Servant

Also been jamming the amazing Call Back The Giants LP, The Factorymen's Shitman, and the new Taterbug cassette Theme For Gasoline Weirdo so look out for those.

~({∞})~

2011-02-02T18:58:00.002-06:00

so i haven't posted in a while. been really busy and conflicted about the ethics and worth of download blogs. i deleted all of the links i thought were being more detrimental than beneficial to the less popular artists i've written about--please buy their music so that they can continue making it. maybe i'll update this some more later but who knows...

Culturcide - Tacky Souvenirs Of Pre-Revolutionary America (1986)

2010-09-20T23:23:00.003-05:00

Fucked up industrial/punk dudes tackle the pop canon by simply overdubbing their own lyrics and noises over the classics--"Dancing In The Dark", "American Band", "California Girls", "Love Is A Battlefield", "Let's Dance", among a bunch of others I don't recognize but you probably will. Unsurprisingly, they got into a bunch of legal trouble for this record and now its only available as a bootleg. Pretty hilarious/really good shit.

"Its a cross between Cyndi Lauper and early SPK"

LISTEN

Daryll Hall & John Oates - Abandoned Luncheonette (1973)

2010-09-03T16:28:00.003-05:00

Forget everything you know about 80's Hall & Oates. This, their second album, is a total fucking blue eyed soul masterpiece. I like it best in the morning...

LISTEN

devolution baby

2010-08-10T17:42:00.000-05:00

i wanna make you feel like you make me feel

2010-08-09T16:47:00.002-05:00

Altered States - ROG (2010)

2010-07-26T20:55:00.008-05:00

man, this cd is good! i first found out about these guys when they played a show with the recently reduced (to a 2-piece) bird names. i missed the names' set and was bummed to hear that some of the members weren't playing with them anymore, but then this band completely blew my mind!!!!! its one of the ex-bird names dudes and april camlin from baltimore or something and she drums and sings and he sometimes sings and always plays TWO SYNTHS WITH DIFFERENT HANDS but you think there's a bassist until you get close enough and yes i was tripping, but the cd is really good too!!! like stereolab but less motorik and with some weirdo bird names vibes or something. i can't find much information about this band (no internet presence!!!) but it looks like they're playing the empty bottle on august 15th so that's cool i guess........?

EDIT: I guess these guys are going by the name "Wumme" (like womb) now.

LISTEN!!!

Grass Widow - Past Time (2010)

2010-07-20T05:21:00.008-05:00

LEAKED! and now that they're on kill rock stars its okay to spread it around. this one doesn't really sound any different from their previous records, but i'm not complaining. the album's pre-order page quite aptly suggests the raincoats' debut as an alternative purchase—riot grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl.

(EDIT: BUSTED! krs asked me to take this down. 8/24 guys...)

Fleetwood Mac - Tusk (1979)

2010-07-06T21:53:00.006-05:00

SO OBSESSED RIGHT NOW!!!

TUSK

(more jamz coming later)

Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 (1984)

2010-06-18T07:23:00.009-05:00

awesome trancekraut from ash ra tempeler manuel göttsching. sounds like emeralds or something. seriously perfect late night autozone music that puts K. schulze to shame.

listen

COSMIC WATERGATE

2010-06-09T22:21:00.002-05:00

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)

2010-05-29T01:15:00.004-05:00

Fuck Dio, this is the best Sabbath album.

Smoke It ///// Get High

Country Teasers - Satan Is Real Again (Or: Feeling Good About Bad Thoughts) (1996) & The Empire Strikes Back (2006)

2010-05-24T00:00:00.002-05:00

卐 NIGGER 卐 CUNT 卐 FAGGOT 卐

卐 LISTEN 卐
(buy)

卐 LISTEN 卐
(buy)

hell yeah

2010-05-23T23:19:00.003-05:00

Peste Noire - La Sanie Des Siècles: Panégyrique De La Dégénerescence (2006)

2010-05-23T05:58:00.013-05:00

Totally insane lo-fi "trve kvlt" shit from France. "According to its member(s), Peste Noire plays pure Black Metal for Satanic rituals, not humanistic NS pseudo-BM". These dudes have names like Famine and Winterhalter and look like freaks out of The Silmarillion so you know they're good. Probably my favorite black metal album since fucking Grishnákh himself.

† LISTEN †

Brief Weeds - A Very Generous Portrait (1991)

2010-05-21T14:11:00.007-05:00

I had no idea this band existed until I got a copy of K Records' (who also put out Brief Weeds' only two records) International Hip Swing compilation and loved "(It's So Hard Not To) Say Hello". Brief Weeds were Eddie Janney, Guy Picciotto, Brendan Canty, and Mike Hampton AKA One Last Wish (whose 1986 album is a pretty great "Revolution Summer" Dischord jam). Canty and Picciotto were also in Fugazi, but this EP is far from the post-hardcore/"emo-core" of those bands: its pure 60s psychedelic bubblegum pop.

LISTEN

CAVE - Pure Moods (2010)

2010-05-18T14:52:00.011-05:00

Alright, I've been waiting to post this one for a while, but felt kind of bad about doing it before the album came out. Which is today.
SORUNTOYOURNEARESTRECORDSTOREANDPICKUPACOPYBEFOREITSALLSOLDOUTANDSELLINGONEBAYFORHUNDREDSOFDOLLARSAND YOUREGRETHAVINGMERELYDOWNLOADEDITFOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone who's heard CAVE's "Brah Vibes Vol. II" tape from the a little while back will recognize opening track "Hot Bricks", with its incredibly precise rhythmic groove springing at you like the bastard child of CAN and Neu!. In addition to the tightness that CAVE have achieved through months of constant touring, they've been moving in an increasingly pop-oriented direction—while the band's past releases (Hunt Like Devil/JAMZ and Psychic Psummer) each feature only one track with a concrete vocal part, all three of Pure Moods' jamz can totally be hummed-along to. Maybe this is increased accessibility is a result of the band's signing to Drag City, but regardless, its a change for the better if anything. "Teenager", a CAVE live staple of the past year, follows suit in a similar manner as "Hot Bricks", but "Brigitte's Trip (White Light/White Jazz)" is the real jammer here. At almost 13 minutes in length, it may be the longest piece of music CAVE have yet to put to tape and every minute is worth it. Starting out with a funky bass/drums groove, synths and guitars build up to (Rotten Milk's?) top-of-the-mountain-CAVEman-screaming-in-triumph vocals and a psych-freakout,eventually cooling down to an outro of lysergic guitar fizzing out on top of some chilled out jamz . EPIC.

BUY

Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell (1980)

2010-05-17T01:42:00.007-05:00

fuuuuuuuuuucckkkk, awesome musicians keep on dying this year. first jay reatard did too much crack or whatever, then alex chilton had no health insurance, and now ronnie james DIO has passed on to heaven and/or hell. i've always been partial to ozzy-era sabbath (particularly the first 6 albums) and i used to hate on dio pretty hard, but i'll admit that heaven and hell is a great album. black sabbath never sounded quite as epic without dio and he will be missed.

\m/ RIP \m/
(fuckin' assholes at blogger disrespectin' and forcin' me to take the link down)

Bitchin Bajas/Moon Duo Split 7" (2010)

2010-05-15T18:46:00.010-05:00

record store day exclusive from these two krautrock satellites. bitchin bajas' side is cooper and rotten milk from CAVE (who have an EP out on drag city in three days) making some mark mcguire-style guitarandsynth loops under terry riley freakouts and moon duo do their their tripped-out mellow wooden shjips thing on theirs. on permanent records.

LISTEN

The Savage Young Taterbug - Syrupy Evenings (2010)

2010-05-11T18:02:00.004-05:00

taterbug needs no introduction. "life has not been easy for me". some of the more beautiful stuff he's done. thurston's into it. misspelled as syrupy evenigs on the cover. what could be better?

BUY

Puffy Areolas - In The Army 1981 (2010)

2010-05-08T03:26:00.013-05:00

i'm too tired to write anything right now, but puffy areolas are the greatest band in the world.

EDIT: krauty mckraut kindly requested that i take the download down, but the album is seriously fantastic—buy buy buy it and go to their shows and tell all yr friends about the beer-induced, wide-eyed, spaced-out, scratchy basement corner, dusty freak-out loner sludge trash that these awesome dudes are capable of.

Tyvek - Blunt Instrumental EP (2009)

2010-05-03T19:46:00.010-05:00

for those of you who don't know tyvek, they play simple, dry art-punk somewhat in the vein of the urinals, but a bit scuzzier and with that nerdy tyvek-feel to them that we all love. this EP is no match for "fast metabolism", their AMAZING AND TOTALLY ESSENTIAL collection of early singles, but it still has its fair share of jamz. pick it up from night people records.

Public Image Ltd. - Metal Box/Second Edition (1979)

2010-05-02T14:50:00.026-05:00

As requested by Sam:
i hated this record the first time i listened to it. but i was a dumb sixteen-or-seventeen-year-old looking for the sex pistols part two and i was not ready for metal box at all. it is admittedly a tough initial listen, especially with its 10-minute opening track that consists of one endlessly repeating dub bass line, harsh metallic spindly guitar, and john lydon (ex-rotten) wailing on top of it all, but it grows on you like a fucking weed. some parts—like closing track "radio 4"—are even kind of beautiful. Way Better Than The Sex Pistols.

on a side note, i remember reading that PiL lost money on this record's initial press because the packaging (three 12" 45 rpm records in a metal 16 mm film canister) proved to be too expensive. they reissued it as a double LP (and later CD) titled "second edition" and now you can get the original format again. which is sorta cool, i guess...

EDIT: lydon's a dick, got asked to take the link down...

Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here? (2010)

2010-04-30T16:47:00.012-05:00

Cosmic. A friend of mine who doesn't like Emeralds calls them "emo drone". And I can kind of see what he means—the group's records have been becoming increasingly pop—but although their gradual move away from their previous noisy monolith-drones and towards a cleaner, briefer (only two tracks make it past the 5-minute mark), and more melodic sound will only lead to more of the (apt) Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream comparisons that frustrate the band, Emeralds have never sounded as focused. This new record is among their best.

Buy

Smycken - Video Haze CS (2009)

2010-04-30T01:02:00.006-05:00

i don't think i could describe this any better than shawn reed, so i'm just gonna use his words:

"Smycken are from Goteborg Sweden, they inhabit the same type of unpredictable sonic and musical realms that alot of there more Northern neighbors from the Fonal Finnish family of bands seem to inhabit. A sort of collage aesthetic binds together the unhinged synth pop sensibilities of Smycken with forays into field recordings, vocal freakouts, psychedelic electronics, and woodsy folk eruptions. Something shinny, cosmic, and glacial is always ridding over the sounds, mutating them together through weaving synth oscillations and vocal mantras, that seem to highlight the pop sensibilities of this recording as much as they blur them."

so yeah, not the greatest spelling, but the tape is really that good. and on night people. you should seriously consider buying something from them—all their releases are totally beautiful fetish objects and reliably worthwhile.

LISTEN

Tiger Hatchery - Wrong Driveway CS (2009)

2010-04-28T18:32:00.023-05:00

STAY FREE

420

2010-04-20T00:23:00.003-05:00

Electric Wizard - Dopethrone
James Ferraro - Marble Surf
Hawkwind - Doremi Fasol Latido
Kyuss - Welcome To Sky Valley
Monster Magnet - Spine Of God
Sebadoh - Weed Forestin
Sleep - Dopesmoker
Sly & The Revolutionaries - Black Ash Dub
Sun Araw - Beach Head

Ministry - Revenge (1983)

2010-04-18T09:24:00.003-05:00

from methods of dance:

converted tapes and records coming soon...

Psychedelic Horseshit - Acid Tape (2010)

2010-04-14T23:41:00.017-05:00

L......................................
.......................................
.......................................
.............S.........................
.......................................
.......................................
.......................................
.......................................
.......D..............................
.......................................
.......................................

listen /// buy

Drunkdriver - Drunkdriver LP (2010)

2010-04-13T10:30:00.022-05:00

don't believe everything you read on the internet

Prince Rama of Ayodhya - Vraja (2010)

2010-04-05T17:26:00.005-05:00

total sacred psychedelic ritual

listen /// buy?

Broken Water - Demo CD (2009)

2010-04-03T14:24:00.009-05:00

sometimes broken water sound like sonic youth. sometimes they sound like the swirlies, or helium. but sometimes they sound like broken water. maybe its an olympia thing, forever being stuck in the early 90s...but regardless, broken water make some pretty cool music (plus they have the night-people seal of quality).

LISTEN

NEU! Digital Box

2010-04-02T15:11:00.004-05:00

So i guess Groenland Records is releasing a vinyl box set of Neu!'s records in may, which is great and all, but the reel treat here is what Michael Rother is doing with what was previously released as Neu! 4.

(other Neu!-er Klaus Dinger freaked out when he found out that CD bootlegs of Neu! records were being released and put out recording sessions from 1985/86 as Neu! 4 in 1995 without Rother's permission. Dinger's Dead now.)

His words:
"I now completely reworked the album from original multitrack and master tapes, and unearthed a few yet unknown tracks which are essential for a full understanding of what Klaus and I focused on for NEU! in the mid 80s. It was my aim to present Klaus Dinger´s musical strengths and visions just as much as my own ideas. The best musical result was to be my only guideline, not the ego."

NEW NEU! NEU! NEW TRACKS!? I don't care if they're from the unfairly maligned Neu! 4, which is being re-released as Neu! '86, new Neu! is good news to me.

But in the meantime, here's a digital version of the box set, albeit without the exciting new trax:

NEU! (1972)

Super sparse minimalist jamz. "Hallogallo" is what heaven sounds like and i could groove to that motorik beat all day long. "Lieber Honig" is just a super beautiful warped and mangled pop song. There's some really out there experimental stuff on this one that the future post-punkers were definitely paying attention to.

Listen /// Buy

NEU! 2 (1973)

The first side is pretty much their first record all over again. "Für Immer (Forever)" is "Hallogallo" revamped and kind of sounds like the 90s Chicago Bulls intro theme at times. Neu! ran out of money while recording this LP so for the second side they took their previously recorded single "Neuschnee/Super" and simply played it at 16 and 78 rpm or through a fucked up cassette recorder. It sounds pretty cool and is totally proto-remix.

Listen /// Buy

NEU! '75 (1975)

This one is Neu!'s move into more lush, melodic territory. There's even some piano on some tracks that make you feel like you're on some really steep cliffs on the edge of the world's ocean. But the record has another side. "Hero" and "After Eight" are motorik-punk songs that blow away anything that came 2 years later.

Listen /// Buy

NEU! 4 (1985/86 --> 1995)

I don't care what people say, this is still a good album. Sure, they recycle the same melody for most of the tracks and it sounds more dated than their records from 10 years before, but you still have the motorik beat, Thomas Dinger's "Crazy" vocals, and I kind of like how they drive that one melody deep into yr skull. "Dänzing" sounds like Neu! covering Madonna, but with Bowie singing.

Listen

new wet hair jamz!

2010-03-30T15:53:00.001-05:00

i stole these little guys from impose magazine. two new tracks from wet hair. these new ones are way more straightforward organ/synth-pop-jamz that, at a little less than 5 minutes each, are the shortest—and, in my opinion, the best—pieces of music i've heard from the iowa city boys. wet hair have been playing this new stuff live and it seems slated for release in the near future. on a split 7" with peaking lights on not not fun!? a split 12" with naked on the vague on night-people!? a 7" of loner wet hair vibes!? or something else completely................................................

MIDBEST

Laibach - Life Is Life (1987)

2010-03-29T21:28:00.001-05:00

California Son - California Sun C20 (2009)

2010-03-28T04:35:00.005-05:00

more of the shit you love from Savage Young Taterbug Charles Free. this one's recorded under a different name, but its really just the good ol' Bug, among the best stuff he's done. i saw him a few days ago in cleveland and i was pleasantly surprised by how great he was live (like, even better than on tape). this guy just keeps on getting better and better. be sure to check him out on tour in the next month or so with fellow Night People Tracey Trance.

listen /// buy

tracey trance datezzz (most if not all with taterbug):

Mar 28 2010

6:00P

elliot st. cafe w/ taterbug, big kids + burritos n tacos!

brattleboro, Vermont

Mar 29 2010

8:00P

king st. manor w/ taterbug, herbcraft, +

northampton, Massachusetts

Mar 30 2010

8:00P

whitehaus w/ taterbug, +

jamaica plains, Massachusetts

Mar 31 2010

8:00P

Apohadian theatre w/ taterbug, herbcraft, wesley hartley

portland, Maine

Apr 3 2010

8:00P

studio’s chicken mop

belfast, Maine

Apr 3 2010

8:00P

roots & tendrils w/ taterbug, herbcraft, evil spirits, caethua

belfast

Apr 7 2010

8:00P

human beast’s house w/ taterbug, terrors, work/death, human beast

providence, Rhode Island

Apr 8 2010

8:00P

? w/ taterbug, terrors

new haven, Connecticut

Apr 9 2010

10:00P

SilentBarn w/ taterbug, nonhorse, terrors

ridgewoodQueens, New York

Apr 10 2010

8:00P

? w/ taterbug, terrors +

brooklyn, New York

Apr 11 2010

8:00P

western cage w/ taterbug, terrors, bog body

new brunzwick, New Jersey

Apr 12 2010

8:00P

junk pizza w/ taterbug, terrors +

philly, Pennsylvania

Apr 13 2010

10:00P

the bank w/ taterbug, terrors, jana hunter

baltimore

Apr 14 2010

8:00P

spacewood w/ taterbug, sacred harp, +

fredericksburg, Virginia

Apr 15 2010

8:00P

party with america reads n taterbug +

carrboro, North Carolina

Apr 16 2010

8:00P

tba w/ taterbug, planet ketchup, mona nash +

asheville

Apr 17 2010

8:00P

tba w/ taterbug, planet ketchup +

chattanooga, Tennessee

Apr 18 2010

8:00P

? w/ taterbug, planet ketchup

nashville or knoxville, Tennessee

Apr 19 2010

8:00P

party w/ taterbug +

bloomington, Indiana

Apr 20 2010

3:00P

Thompson Park 420

bloomington, Indiana

Apr 21 2010

8:00P

Dr.Who’sBasementOfIdeas w/ taterbug ++

chicago, Illinois

Apr 22 2010

8:00P

tba w/ taterbug

madison, Wisconsin

Apr 23 2010

8:00P

? w/ taterbug

minneapolis, Minnesota

Apr 24 2010

8:00P

white lightning w/ taterbug

iowa city, Iowa

this is a little late, but...

2010-03-27T14:26:00.007-05:00

if you're in chicago this weekend, GO TO THESE SHOWS! last night with rene hell, pocahaunted (!) and wet hair (!!!!!) was amazing and sunday's tiger hatchery, stress ape, cacaw, and The Debut Of The New Lineup Of GA'AN should be great, but i have to write a fucking paper today and might have to miss tonight's show (school's a total bummer). rueben's palace is the best...

Homostupids - Night Deacon E.P. (2010)

2010-03-25T09:14:00.015-05:00

new 'stupids jam and the best thing they've done since the glow. i am very excited about their unique and interesting new music style.

buy

Spacemen 3 - DJ Tones EP (2008)

2010-03-22T12:42:00.017-05:00

"Three chords good, two chords better, one chord best"

Released in 2008, seventeen years after the band broke up, this EP features two new Spacemen 3 jams—the beautiful Velvets/Mary Chain-style "These Blues" that ranks among the best of their material and the admittedly throwaway track "Modulated Tones". You also get different versions of Spacemen classics "Ecstasy Symphony", "I Love You", and the band's cover of The Red Krayola's "Transparent Radiation". If only for "These Blues", this is absolutely essential.

Listen /// Buy

Big Star - Third/Sister Lovers (1975)

2010-03-18T10:19:00.007-05:00

total bummer, alex chilton's gone. 'wish he had died in memphis—that'd be cool. this is one of the best pop albums ever.

RIP

Stress Ape - Live On WOBC (2010)

2010-03-18T08:56:00.011-05:00

Stress Ape did a Studio B session at WOBC yesterday (and cooked up some delicious fried pork chops). It Ruled.

Stress Ape - Live On WOBC

Nodzzz - Daytrotter Session (2009)

2010-03-17T09:12:00.014-05:00

a little nodzzz session for you guys. two songs. "true to life" got released on their second 7", but i haven't heard "time (what's it going to do?)" and any new nodzzz is good nodzzz so here it is:

daytrotter session /// original page

Claw Toe - Ingrown Ego 7" (2010)

2010-03-14T14:21:00.018-05:00

nihilistic drum-machined punk jams from the mastermind behind chicago's criminal iq records

buy

the a-side actually reminds me a lot (in a good way) of this excellent cultural amnesia song:

i've been having trouble finding the rest of video rideo, the cultural amnesia album on which this track appears, so if anyone has it, i'd love it if you could hook me up.

Dunebuggy - Dunebuggy C20 (2009)

2010-03-13T12:57:00.011-06:00

Another Charles Free Joint for those of you thirsting for more of The 'Bug. Fellow Child Of The Corn/Wet Haired All-Around-Awesome Dude Ryan Garbes is the other half of Dunebuggy and they crank out 6 organ-jamz of 576 tears to flood those desolate Iowa fields. If you ever wished that Taterbug would forgetfully misplace his loops for 20 minutes and just let his heavenly voice flow, you'll love this tape. On Night People.

Stay Far Out

And be sure to catch Taterbug and Wet Hair on their upcoming tours.

Homostupids - "The Glow" e.p. (2006)

2010-03-12T09:23:00.016-06:00

Easily the best Clevo-punk I've heard outside of the Rocket From The Tombs family.

Buy

(plus ↓those↓ guys)

Puffy Areolas - Lutzko Lives 7" (2009)

2010-03-11T20:37:00.023-06:00

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOORRRRRDD

i dream of krauty mckraut, creaming my jeans aboard a wooden shjip. there's a reason damon left tyvek for this band.

BRAINSTORM

(dunno if you can still get in on year two of the columbus discount records singles club, but here it is)

The Smith Westerns - Irukandji 7" (2008)

2010-02-23T11:17:00.014-06:00

s-dubzzz high school daze.

listen

The Cure - Faith (1981)

2010-02-13T17:48:00.004-06:00

GOTH

Listen ----- Buy

GA'AN - GA'AN (2009)

2010-02-12T12:55:00.017-06:00

Another great krautrock tape from Chicago, GA'AN sounds a little bit like a modern Amon Düül II without any of the bullshit and maybe some Hosianna Mantra-era Popol Vuh thrown in. But that description doesn't do them justice. It's super weird stuff. Vocals but no words. "Vultures of the Horn 2" appears 4 tracks before "Vultures of the Horn". Lots of cosmic choral vocal synths. That kind of thing.

It looks like there's some kind of GA'AN war going down on myspace. myspace.com/gaanband claims to be "The Real Ga'an Page" with a reduced three-person lineup and calls myspace.com/gaan a fake. I'm inclined to believe myspace.com/gaan (who claim that the old page was hijacked) however, because they're listed as playing a show at Ruben's Palace in Chicago (i will definitely be there) and being on HBSP-2X. I'm pretty sure that this particular tape is self-released, and although it doesn't look like the same one, Permanent Records have got a tape (the mushroom jams one, maybe?) in stock that's probably just as good.

EDIT: buy the LP out on Captcha Records!!!

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks Season Two Music And More (??? -> 2007)

2010-02-09T11:41:00.014-06:00

Angelo Badalamenti's hauntingly beautiful score for the second season of the best television show ever. The whole thing's pretty great—some of it reminds me a lot of Nick Cave's early solo work—but what you really want this for is "Just You", the dreamy 50's-style ballad that the character of James Hurley plays in the show with Maddy and Donna doing backing vocals.

Listen ----- Buy

Bermuda Link - Trapped In Fantasy (2009)

2010-02-02T22:43:00.008-06:00

Beautiful, quiet synth-drones from Jeff Astin and Josh Burke of Bermuda Link. I put this one on as I drifted off to sleep the other night and the hypnagogia was bliss. On Irma Vep Tapes.

Listen ----- Buy

Air Waves EP (2008)

2010-01-31T19:17:00.006-06:00

Air Waves' Nicole Schneit simply writes great warm folk-pop songs somewhat in the vein of Neil Young. They have an upcoming 12" on Underwater Peoples, but this EP is a real treat in the meantime.

Listen ----- Buy

The Savage Young Taterbug - River Mortis (2009)

2010-01-27T01:19:00.010-06:00

I was at the second night of last year's incredible Bitchpork festival when I first encountered Charles Free aka The Savage Young Taterbug. I had missed his set, but at one point in the night he came up to me and handed me this cassette saying it was his last copy and that I should listen to it on drugs. It turns out that, whatever the state of mind, River Mortis is probably my favorite album of last year. Dusty deadhead hissed-out tape collage from The Land Of Corn that flows between acid-damaged vagabond Daniel Johnston and beautiful boy-siren loops. Reissued on Night People.

Listen ----- Buy

Evan Parker & Ned Rothenberg - Live At Roulette (2007)

2010-01-24T00:30:00.008-06:00

My knowledge about free jazz is really minimal so I'm not even going to try to talk about this. All I can say is that when I saw the duo, every single member of their audience clapped their hands off with enormous grins on their faces after each piece they played.

Listen ----- Buy

Cheap Time - Demos (2006)

2010-01-22T12:42:00.014-06:00

I got this in the mail a few years ago from a girl who was obsessed with all the Infinity Cat-related bands. If Cheap Time's debut straddles the line between Red Cross and Redd Kross, then this is pure Born Inoccent, even down to the song titles. And Its Great.

Listen

CAVE - Brah Vibes vol. II (2009)

2010-01-21T00:34:00.008-06:00

"Tour-only" cassette from the best band in Chicago featuring 4 tracks off of their recent sold out European singles, a live version of "Encino Men", and the brand new "Hot Bricks". Permanent records calls them "awesome jams" and when they say jams, they mean jamz y'all.

Listen ----- Buy

Pavement - Spit On A Stranger & Major Leagues EPs (1999)

2010-01-20T17:52:00.012-06:00

(EDIT: SM got pissed and I had to take the links down)

Last night after posting that Axemen/Times New Viking split 7", I decided to listen to Rip It Off for the first time in a while and it was fantastic in that youthfully exuberant way that the Columbus shitgazers are so good at and it reminded me of how much I loved TNV. I then decided to listen to the only other band (aside from those two Archers of Loaf songs) that affects me in that way: PAVEMENT!!! And here I am, still marveling—like I do every couple months during my Pavement binges—at the sheer number of great songs that SM and Spiral Stairs managed to write.

So here are the last two EPs Pavement released, singles for "Spit On A Stranger" and "Major Leagues" that have yet to appear on the Terror Twilight's upcoming deluxe reissue, and these songs—B-sides for their worst album—are still better than most bands' best. Major Leagues features nods to Pavement's influences—covers of The Fall and Echo & The Bunnymen—and, according to the liner notes, drums by notorious original member Gary Young on "Your Time To Change" and "Stub Your Toe".

Axemen/Times New Viking - Split Tour 7" (2009)

2010-01-19T16:10:00.029-06:00

When I saw Axemen in November, I noticed Times New Viking drummer Adam Elliott in the audience and towards the end of their set, he joined Axemen for an amazing cover of his band's "Sick & Tyred". This self-released, hand-colored split 7" is from both bands' fall tour together last year (for some reason Times New Viking were absent from the Chicago date). Axemen do "Sick & Tyred" on the A-side and TNV do an excellent rendition of Axemen's "Rocks In My Heart" on theirs.

Listen

Vietkings - Vagina Faced Man 7" (2008 -> ???)

2010-01-19T05:28:00.007-06:00

I met Vietking Kiki over the summer. She's awesome and so is her band. Apparently their label is really bad about putting out records on time and now the band no longer exists and this single has yet to be released. Very Atlanta.

Listen

Psychedelic Horseshit - Too Many Hits (2009)

2010-01-16T02:53:00.018-06:00

A double 7" on Columbus Discount Records. The first true shitgaze record. And the best pop album of 2009. It's also one of the greatest album covers I've ever seen. The title says it all.

Listen

(The Greatest Interview Of All Time)

Jay Reatard - Blood Visions (2006)

2010-01-13T17:18:00.024-06:00

Oh, it's such a shame.

Listening to this now is a completely different experience.

RIP

The Better Beatles - Mercy Beat (1981 -> 2007)

2010-01-13T00:00:00.012-06:00

Better Than The Beatles.

Buy

Bird Names - Open Relationship (2008)

2010-01-11T06:15:00.016-06:00

You know how you listened to The Shaggs for the first time and thought that the Wiggins sisters were terrible musicians, only to realize that they're actually from another planet and their music is just really structurally and rhythmically bizarre, albeit with a few technical mistakes along the way? Well, Chicago's Bird Names are kind of like that, except intentional.

Listen ----- Buy

Child Bride - Bell Witch (2007)

2010-01-11T04:48:00.025-06:00

Another Mopery discovery for me, Shana Palmer's tribaldronefolknoise project Child(e) Bride played a super spine-chilling set in April. Think a Pocahaunted from a warped alternate universe where they've melted into one woman who actually makes tribal music that's scary as hell. Crackly radio samples, chanted vocals, Native American imagery, minimal guitars and some straight up drone and noise make for a seriously frightening experience.

Listen

Fake Lake CDR (2009)

2010-01-06T04:59:00.025-06:00

I saw Fake Lake at The Mopery last May and they blew my mind. Cosmic saxophone soundscapes and occasional grrrl screams over slow, almost Om-like bass and drums. I bought a copy of their beautifully packaged CDR, but as far as I can tell its untitled, without any track names.

Listen ----- Buy