Pocahaunted has split (?, I'm pretty sure) and Bethany has moved on to her Best Coast project with Bob Bruno of Goliath Bird Eater...they have a drummer too, but played recent NYC shows with some recorded rhythm accompanyment. Monster Island, The Cake Shop...I missed them all...what a jerk. Based on the myspace tracks, (still haven't picked any of these up yet, and that's gong to change) it's distorted vocal heavy and melodic. Slow droning guitar, great....well pop songs really...I'm a little surprised. I'm not hearing much of Pocahaunted here...I would never think it's related. Every track seems to be about literal relationships, 'When I'm with you, 'Wish he was you.'. 'ooooooo, baby.' It's that Shangri-La's full harmony and hand claps filter on an old mono speaker that can't handle the new sound. That's going around a lot. The ooooooo's are sung through bad mic's with the old MXR distortion...it's not even a voice anymore. That's a great sound, the blurring of the source into something else. It's right alongside Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, Christmas Island, Wavves...you're going to get into this.
This Group Tightener single is really a mini-EP with four tracks, one of them a cover of the Beach Boys 'In My Room', which I have to hear. They are such an influence on everything lately, I guess always...so I'm forced to listen to Pet Sounds again and try to get it this time....or just stick with the Best Coast and all the ways it's reinterpreted. It's better. No, I have to appreciate what came before all this, it just feels like work...and Brian Wilsons autobiography was terrible. Did you record music? Oh I forgot because ALL I READ ABOUT WAS YOUR STUPID PATHETIC DRUG HABITS AND DOUCHEBAG THERAPIST!
Artist: BEST COAST Title: Make You Mine Format: 7" Label: Group Tightener Country: USA Price: $6.50 "Former POCAHAUNTED member BETHANY COSENTINO (aka BEST COAST) embodies California. Her songs are effortlessly ramshackle, layers of fuzzed guitar and a voice with enough heft and soul that it brings to mind 1950s girl soul groups or even a female-centric Beach Boys. Theres also a sense of permanent longing, an inescapable melancholy that can only come from living near the beach, perpetually sunny but a little sad too. Her four-song Make you Mine 7-inch was recorded with longtime friend BOBB BRUNO, and is packed with enough hooks and gorgeous melodies to fill an entire album. It is Group Tighteners first release." - GroupTightener - fusetron
Artist: BEST COAST Title: Sun Was High (So Was I) Format: 7" Label: Art Fag Country: USA Price: $6.50 - fusetron
Been checking out The Super Vacations this morning, they have a single on Shdwply Records that isn't released yet exactly...the preorder red vinyl was (damn) but now it's just the regular old copy, which hasn't actually gone up yet, but should be any day now. Was really into the Florida single they just put out and then all of a sudden there's 10 more records from this label...just saw that the SV's self titled was Shdwply's first release...I swear I need a research intern.
So the Super Vacations are fuzzy garage with 90's indie rock influences. But every time I look at how I've just described them, the next track starts and it's completely different. They use really nice high vocal harmonies against the distortion, the haze of an old tape machine, singing in a giant warehouse...the weirdo melodies...that's the thing that has to come naturally and can make or break this style. You have to be able to instinctively know where the melody is going...like Gary War, Ariel Pink...it's an internal melody that has to exist the way you're singing it, but it has no reference to what the guitar...what everything else is playing. That's what I want to hear.
'Henry' has this scary pop melody, like a demented old sitcom is up next...this is the theme song. But it was added 10 years after they shot it...it's hastily written, but would be better than any composed average mess. I think this is the A-Side track. It's interesting to have these psyche feeling trippy dreams clock in at under 2 minutes. They could really put out a mini EP on the 45. Before you know it that drugged out trip is over. Like smoking salvia.
According to Myspc the Void looks like it's the B-Side, this one is really going dark,depressing bassline, faraway guitar echo tone, and harmonized distorted vocals are reminding me of (I'm lazy) Joy Division, it's slow, taking it's time to build this rhythm like an old goth demo tape.
Found it for (pre) sale? on Midheaven distro...could be the red vinyl copies? Might not be. They have a new site, which is a huge upgrade from the black and white text thingy they had for the past 20 years...it worked, but searching was impossible...now it's good.
SUPER VACATIONS - Henry - Shdwply - SHDWPLY 012 - 7" - $ 5.25 ***"Definitely one of the more ambitious and mysterioso bands of this run-down, SUPER VACATIONS provide a perfect example of a group turning the limitations of home-recording to their advantage, assembling a beguiling psych rock sound from the palette of slightly warped rock n' pop elements at their disposal. Their debut album burns through sixteen songs in about twenty-five minutes, each of them a swirling wonder of crisply recorded hi-hat n' snare grooves, twangin', FX heavy surf guitar, hazy layers of psychedelic jangle, occasional bursts of chaotic space-fuzz washout and ultra-compressed vocal tracks that range from pristine, chanted harmonies to distorted answering machine skree. Recalling the spirit of classic-era Guided By Voices records, these one-to-two minutes cuts are veritable bonsai trees of weird beauty that make their point and then disappear into the void, providing tantalizing glimpses into what we assume to be a whole universe of unguessed at four-track wonderment. Inevitably, Super Vacations' songwriting is sketchy and indistinct in comparison to the heights scaled on a daily basis by Ohio's finest in the mid-'90s, but nonetheless, they've got a good handle on the kind of sound they're going for, and the material at hand is up to the task, allowing them to stand proud alongside the very best of the '90s neo-psych-pop mob (Lilies, The Swirlies, pre-ego meltdown Brain Jonestown Massacre etc.) without ever having to venture beyond their basement. (I'd like to think this band's stuff was recorded in a basement. It... has that kinda feel to it. I'd be disillusioned to discover actual sunlight was involved at any stage.)"--Shdwply - midheaven
I remember getting the first PH (I can't spell and psychedelic just hurts me every time) single with stapled pieces of notebook paper, and magazine photos to the sleeve. I'll admit I just bought it solely based on the name, they had balls to call themselves that based on someone's first impression of what they were doing... I figured it was a joke side project and this would be their only release. Would I ever get tired if dragging it out and saying 'this is Psychedelic Horseshit...no the name of the band is...' probably not. Definitely not...so it was a win win situation really. I don't remember much of the sound of that single except it was pretty anti-melody extreme. Like the new TNV, but without a song...nice, it was an end game for an age that's for sure. But this double single is a huge range of great for PH, and I'm starting to take them really seriously.
D1-A-Side (45): ...like this first song 'Endless Fascination', it's a kinder, gentler PH, really clean catchy acoustic. All of their playing is just sloppy enough to give it that one-take quality, they are about the composition of the track as a whole. There's multiple tracks of acoustic solo's, organ, all panned in either direction, so it's just on the border of sounding completely chaotic. Whatever echo/reverb he's got on the vocals is just perfect, it's not too giant, he also has a great Thurston quality to the vocals, slightly distorted, with the acoustic, it's like a really amazing rehearsal space SY session. This pleasant acoustic surprise continues further with 'Sun-bleached kool aid.' The two acoustics are on either channel, just slightly behind each other. The acoustic solo section is phased out distorted strum, with a new layer of guitar on top of the former mess. They have great original ideas for constructing a song...and it's just a bonus that I wouldn't mind putting these on now and then...just for fun. If they came up on random, (you see I have a big system with 25 record players and a relay switch box that triggers them, so I can have songs at 'Random'. Like a 10 disc changer in the trunk of the car, except these are in the other apt I have to rent. It's complicated.) The B-Side of this first disc, gets a little tropical and more chaotic here. Laser beams, slow guitar, ukulele, random bursts of repeated synth/samples. These are the tracks that get challenging, and ou have to be ready for that ride. Once Green crystal cigs, it's like they are in the garage with extra distortion. The vocals/lyrics always rule, it's trippy, of course psychey, but they really are trying to give you a catchy pop song. It's just they are from another planet...so it's different. 'Blurry Times' really pulls out the stops. Imagine a chorus made out of the most annoying 'eeeeeeeennnnnnnn' tone from an electronic experiment radio shack kit. It pierces through the vocals, the acoustic doesn't stand a chance....everything is blasted out by this tone. Genius. I love it.
D2 - A-Side (33): 'Let down (and hangin around)' opens with the opening of a can of beer and some tuning up. This one really blasts out the distortion...I love this folk, sonic youth mess. If I had to choose between TNV and PH...well...don't make me. The melody that keeps blasting into the song is just great. It's a mix of room noise, plugged right in, dropping pieces out, or the cable itself cuts out, and they kept it. They really appreciate the mess of making music....well I appreciate their mess anyway....I appreciate it when I hear a carefully placed effect panned all the way right. I know that's a pretty specific choice they had to make, it took work to set up the mix that way...yes it's ridiculous, but it's not gimmicky for it's own sake. They are having fun with the possibilities and making it all sound really good. It can all stand up on it's own without the headphone version. Based on the freewheeling feel of this I'd be really interested to see these guys live, they have a sense of humor.
B-Side: ...For a minute 'Astral Weeks Again' sounds like Nodzzz...it's really pop...or the Dead Milkmen...I keep hearing them in a lot of stuff like this. Especially the vocal delivery, it's fast, talking a little snotty...harmonica never sounded so good, here's the difference between TNV and these guys, yes they are very similar in fidelity, this is just a texture thing I'm hearing. This sounds like a live rehearsal space, everything is recorded clean, there isn't a hiss because of the medium they are recording on to, it's all in the room, or pedals...I hear silence in parts...each piece is on it's own distortion plane...it's not a huge layer of wax paper indiscriminately layered on the whole thing. It's not better or worse...just a different way to approach the rock....wait a second I swear there is a distorted banjo in one of these...
This was way above and beyond what Columbus Discount promised for Year One of the series, this sleeve is really nice, and the discs fit into folder pockets at the bottom of the whole thing. A double single is more than I ever hoped for, and there's my name, in the edition #... damn that's weird. Just when you think it couldn't get better, they pull something like this. Year two, I can't wait....
I'm sorry there's no where to get this, I just felt like talking about it. Go over to a friends house, get together people, listen to records you don't have and can never get. It's about more than just being a creepy collector hoarding records in the basement.
I first came across A Faulty Chromosome pretty randomly; a friend of a friend sends a link to a myspace, and when I finally took some time with it I couldn't get it out of my head. What immediately struck me was the dense packing of intimate recorded sounds. The layers of multiple takes of vocals, the homemade hours of experimentation. On tracks like 'Them pleasures of the Flesh' where brief bursts of individual guitar melodies are hard faded back and forth on opposite channels, I have to pay close attention to the dizzying arrangement. The fact the vocals are often times layered, slightly whispered, breathy... you have to really lean in and catch them, or at least turn the entire arrangement up to try to decipher it. But I don't think it's so much about the precise words. It's creating a feeling, like the best stuff I'm drawn to, the atmospherics. Creating a sheer wall of melody and then picking away pieces, creating through a kind of pop reduction. The sheer number of sounds that fade in and out, toy synth, telephones, old drum machines, xylophones, samples of kids... I get caught up in this insane haze of sounds that he creates all while coming up with great catchy pop. He's the kind of composer that can obviously play anything put in front of him, embracing the mistakes, keeping that beautiful bent guitar off note. On his first album 'As An E-Anorexic's Six Sicks Exit' with Jackie O, right away he creates this ringing rhythm over a manic cheap drum machine snare sounding pretty upbeat, and then the vocals in an echoed low register, with a sort of Gang of Four indifference, just coming in over the ever increasing complexity of sounds. Lyrically, he keeps delivering these completely amazing lines why are you wearing glasses / so you can't see / what the future might bring That's the greatest sentiment ever associated with the JFK assassination. The whole album carries that slightly sadly beautiful tragedy feel. I can't imagine how these are interpreted live, but I would love to find out.
In the tradition of doing something a little different for Friday's post on 7Inches, I had to try to get in contact with Eric from A Faulty Chromosome and ask about this album. I imagined I'd convince him to press a seven inch. Unfortunately I don't have the cash to jump into that scenario right now, but go listen my wish single: Jackie O on the A-Side and 'Bad Thing' on the B-Side on his myspace. ('Them pleasures of the flesh' would have to be it's own, it's definitely an A-Side...the B would have to be a demo version of an album track, that one is so great...the main guitar melody, with that back and forth single distorted note. So really we're talking about 2 singles. See every time I hear this I'm trying to figure out what I could live without to sell so I can fund this box set of singles in my mind, that's how strongly I feel about it, but I couldn't keep it to myself anymore.)
After finishing his latest 'Craving to be coddled so we feel fake-safe', he's currently raising money on Kickstarter to pay off recording costs, and he has some hilarious donation possibilities including, getting into every live show they ever play with a lifetime membership card, writing a song about anything you want, performing it live in your town, making a video for it, personally thanking you in the liner notes, or throwing you acoversong slumber party. I never wished I had $3000 more. Go support his work, I can't wait to hear this, and after that digital single you won't either.
Here's my ichat interview, minus sprawling tangets (double space), with Eric from A Faulty Chromosome:
7Inches: You're in the middle of mixing your new album? AFC: today and every single day, yes. 7Inches: Are you from LA? AFC: born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago 7Inches: How did you end up out there? AFC: moved to LA after college when I had the bad idea that I should try my hand in writing 7Inches: I wonder how much geography has to do with sound. AFC: I think geography has a lot to do with insanity. Like, upon moving to Austin, I could go an entire day without hearing a car honk or someone scream at a stranger... it helped remind me that there were still nice people alive on earth
7Inches: What I love about Faulty Chromosome is that you were just putting it out there to pay what you want, the audience will find you AFC: it's... well, it's uncompromising, that's for sure. It's challenging myself not to be generic, it's scraping the barnacles off the inside of my skull and saying "here you go people" and it's hard because I'm making it really difficult for myself to succeed AFC: but -- at the same time -- you get people saying "I crave hearing pleasures of the flesh like I crave rough sex" ... and I'm like ... "oh man, that song is about the exact opposite of what you just said... am i a total failure at what i'm trying to do here?" and people say "hey, you sound like clap your hands..." and it feels really... i mean, i have to remind myself that these people don't have the same record collection i do, so they can't know, and i don't want to be rude... i have a band sometimes.... i have people with varying degrees of mental problems who i have to coax into helping me play sometimes...it's 97% me thinking out loud hoping someone understand what i'm saying amidst the majority of those who look really confused. i make it hard on myself because... okay, so what kind of music am i making? pop music. indie pop. whatever..." twee" i mean, i loved everything on slumberland when i was in high school, but i don't relate to slumberland.. or pop.. or popfests... 7Inches: I just hear amazing experimentation with sound, layers and layers of all kinds of stuff, I keep hearing new things everytime I listen to it.....I wouldn't think twee at all, more like that tradition of 4-track sebadoh, early smog....especially Ariel Pink AFC: gahh... i've played with ariel pink a few times... and i can't seem to talk to him, he looks at the ground and seems to always be on a lot of drugs 7Inches: this combination of influences, coming up with something completely new....that would be a perfect show, you and Ariel Pink...when did that happen? AFC: (even though i lived in la for a few years, i couldn't get a show to save my life, as i had no cool friends to get my foot in the door, so didn't get to play with ariel pink until here in austin... everytime he tours, i bother the club to let us play...) 7Inches: It's obvious to me you have years of messing with sound behind you, for me that's what's important, experimentation...I'm reading this book about Brian Eno and he keeps talking about accidents and making them important. I hear a bunch of amazing accidents. AFC: yeah! what's frustrating is finding someone who understands that embracing accidents makes everything better... my friend who is helping me record went to school for audio engineering, and every time i think of something "weird" he reverts to the textbook in his brain that clearly states "you should not do this." so it's challenging having to try to justify why it's okay..... man, i'd love to be able to work with brian eno one day (it's so confusing why u2 is so awful.. i mean, shouldn't eno force them to be better?). yeah, i guess that's what i'm trying to understand... a lot of music seems really insincere to me, and i don't know if i'm being a jerk and judging them, or if i'm just paying closer attention than most people, and i'm actually right.
7Inches: don't you think the internet, myspace, etc has kind of leveled the music field? AFC: in our youth, we depended on the following for new music: older siblings / the library / zines... if i hadn't gotten the super bowl shuffle, or if i hadn't heard my friend's older brother's copy of the replacement's "stink," would I have become a consumer of top 40? this is what i wonder. AFC: that's how i view the internet, i think.. it's assisting the lazy to be lazier. 7Inches: Ok, but if you couldn't afford to buy every zine or 7 inch at the record store you can go search online...but you can at least hear the music for yourself and make up your own mind. AFC: You "could" make up your own mind, but we live in a shame-based culture, and I remember how I lost friends for not liking the same music when I was a kid 7Inches: I can't believe that...sure in some cases bands get popular because of hype, but great music is going to be appreciated...it's the business side of it that sucks. I have to say, I've played in bands in NY, and the booking, recording...all that shit sucked...I couldn't hack it for sure. I completely appreciate people that can. AFC: i guess i just wish that i could live to see a day where people like that aren't a teenie tiny minority... i guess that's why i make music: in hopes that i find more people like that so we can remind each other. but that's always the trick, isn't it? talking to yourself to say "you're not the crazy one.... don't forget that! keep up the good work!" 7Inches:....but really what's the alternative? You're not going to give it up right? You have to do it. AFC: I might take a vacation here and there to regain a sense of sanity.
AFC: so you like 7" , huh? I was always offended by them... they were too much money, it just seemed the opposite of "DIY" 7Inches: I completely disagree! When I had no money the only thing I could get was a $3 single and then at least hear something of what I was missing. No record co is going to put this out, then put up a couple hundred bucks and put it out yourself...punk was founded on that idea AFC: i had two strikes against me growing up: 1) no money 2) my mom loves Jesus and wouldn't let me listen to music at all so no money made me only rely on stealing old cassettes, dubbing stuff from friends / the library... so a 7" was always just way too much for me (not to mention that i walkman was easier to hide than a record player).... 7Inches: Yea, I understand, i just saw the 7" as a way to hear new music I couldn't get anywhere else...it was the cheapest form of music AFC: that makes sense... 7Inches: It's just another format that seems to still be viable for people that love music and want that object, and have to put everything down and seriously listen to something AFC: it's just, the internet is free... i wonder if i shouldn't just give everything away? it's not like i "want" money so much as unfortunately need it...and people still buy 7"'s ? Everyone I know that has them do it more for "collector" reasons (which seems kind of creepy to me) 7Inches: Well sure, there is the collector aspect, like comic books and baseball cards, but it's also the only way to hear something new, before an album is done, if it ever does....to reach those people serious about music...I think it's a pretty important subgroup of people that by the nature of the format are into music, who would appreciate your stuff...and search out the full length....see the live show AFC: (not that it ever ends; I'll be done mixing in a few weeks, then I have to mail hundreds of promos in hopes people like it....) AFC: it would be a nice change, that's for sure... this album is an ALBUM... i mean, it could be one, giant song... so it'd be nice not to have to puzzle-piece together a bunch of little things in hopes that it makes sense next to each other
AFC: i don't know how this friend-of-a-friend heard the song, but there's still the uphill climb of trying to find the people that would appreciate it 7Inches: I know there is, I know nothing about the industry...I think by default 7"'s are are a world of people working outside that structure at least that what it seems like talking to labels AFC: well then, I really need to get on board the 7" choo-choo. labels don't respond to me, so I don't know. I sent out the first album to maybe 40 labels, not one reply. AFC: so... it's things like that where I am forced to seriously consider the fact that I'm doing something wrong 7Inches: That sucks, but it doesn't mean anything.... AFC: it's contingent upon there being at least "some" people who like it...for every two people who say nice things, 85 give a look like I have a giant goiter on my forehead. AFC: I guess i just want to make sure I'm accessible....not weird for weird's sake
7Inches: Can't we just all make music and paypal each other for it? AFC: yaaaaay!...we will find out... (i think the new album is weirder than the first one) 7Inches: it's like that long tail theory...people only need a few hundred believing in what they do and paying $10 for you to make 30,000 a year AFC: i would LOVE to make $30,000/yr. AFC: i've never even made half that, so I would live like a king 7Inches: ....so 97 more to go....or something like that
Hope these aren't gone already but I finally had a minute to mention these two new singles from The Great Pop Suplement genre, you get the second coming of psyche, Wooden ...I don't know how Dom keeps up with this pace of putting out quality releases. He's just one man for god sakes! One man who just released his 50th; a split single with Spaceman 3 and Wooden Shjips? Amazing. If I know GPS, then the digital jpg graphic above is pointless to even put up there...the packaging will be extensive and handcrafted, let alone the vinyl is split colored as well...nuts. GPS specialized in making every release special in some way...as if the recording wasn't enough, and in Spacemen 3's case, true pioneers of the shoegazeShjips to cover one of their songs on the B-Side!. I'm going to admit here, I didn't catch on to S3 when they were around, I keep hearing about their obvious influence and only briefly heard a few tracks here and there. This could be the push I've been looking for, go all out and listen to the history. Here GPS put the demo to their last single on vinyl...I'm sure this was hard to find to begin with and impossible on vinyl. Honestly, how Dom puts this quality together is a mystery...and with just enough to press on to the next? The Jack Rose single I'm looking forward to as well, I get into acoustic instrumental Fahey stuff all the time and between him and Blackshaw, I'm into this resurgence of technical acoustic as well. The last single by him on GPS was great, and I'm surprised to see another one actually, but what works, works. He's playing NYC the 20th at Abrons Art Center on Grand Street, can't wait to see him live. Bottom line, the label is completely impressive, I love the quality of these singles, the detail, the inserts, packaging...he's curated a collection of really interesting, cutting edge artists from all genre's on top of it, and I blindly order whenever I'm feeling particularly flush...wish these could be had some other way stateside, but that's the catch to getting some of most interesting singles ever pressed.... Dom says:
2 x new GPS 7"'s are ready, i'm having to do pre-orders and encourage payments now if only cos' so many people are asking and i just don't know what i have left and the things aren't even delivered yet!
both releases i have had my hands tied on, as regards quantity. gps49 is a pressing of 500 only and gps50 had to be no more than 1000.
gps49 jack rose and the black twigs "shooting creek" 7"
very limited uk tour single from jack rose backed with the twigs, for sale exclusively on november's uk jaunt, but available mailorder from the label in advance. 2 exclusive tunes recorded in nice lo-fi style in jack's kitchen. Jack's last GPS 45 sold out in 48 hours and because there are just 400 commercial copies of this one- as things stand this looks set to go the same way. cost is £4.99.
For it's 50th release the great pop supplement offers up this incredible pairing of like minded spirits, for a total one off split 45. 2 unreleased nuggets from legendary psych rockers from both sides of the pond. The Spacemen tune is a beautiful demo to their last ever single, the mighty "big city". stripped of it's lyrical nod to the electric prunes, but still very much displaying the kraftwerk influence of the original, the softer spoken lyrical passages offer up an almost confessional electro blues variant, unique to this early take.
After 2 studio LPs, Wooden Shjips are often bracketed with the Spacemen, with their blissed out Velvets / Doors / Kraut sound- so it's perhaps of no surprise that they should take on a Spacemen gem for their own reworking. "I Believe It" from the classic "Playing with Fire" album gets the nod for a radical overhaul- where the original's predominantly keyboard lead is given the Shjips' guitar fuzz and 2 note organ treatment. a killer take on an old favourite, debuted recently on the road and offered up here as their first outright UK release. Packaging as ever with the GPS is from the top drawer, cover art is provided by natty brooker (the original spacemen percussionist) and is from original work put together during his time within the band's first line-up. A pretty much essential and incredible 45, destined not to hang around long....
on this one i tried to bust a gut to make it no more expensive than a regular gps release, but when i tell you it's on duo tone colour vinyl with inserts / sticker etc, i'm genuinely sorry to have to ask as much as £5.49 on this one. (one look in the rough trade racks reveals several 45s priced higher than this even without sleeves i hasten to add!)
so for uk orders on BOTH singles it's: £11.50 incl post for europe it's £12 for both with post and everywhere else it's £13 incl post. paypal as ever is best, on this email address. i must just point out that the uk postal service is knackered- so do bear with me on these! - GPS
More details from Norman Recs, who also have it available to order...
Or go direct and get a hold of Dom at thegreatpopsupplement (at) hotmail.com.
Here's the latest Wounded Lion from In The Red Records I picked up at Academy a little while back and I've been meaning to give it a spin. Had a hell of a time figuring out at exactly what speed to play this at. you know with crazy effects, pitch shifting and the like, I actually played this according to instruction (45) and was convinced for a while they were going in a new direction...oh, In The Red...you confuse me, the A-Side is 33 and the B-Side is 45...sheesh guys. So now I got that sorted out, I'm onto 'Friendly?' Lyrically, as usual, it kills. Some people are friendly / that's because they're crazy ...and all lyric variations on that rhyme, that's a good way to look at it...so true guys. It's their slow, dredged out dirty persistent 'post-garage' (myspace category) sound all lead by Brad's narrative sung drawn out syllable talk/statement vocals. Then comes the Wild Man Fischer cover 'Big Boots', it's perfect content for Wounded Lion, they give it a sort of blues explosion sound, howling vocals and fuzz guitar. The lyrics are of course about boots, a real nice pair the narrator just got, Janet Jackson's got boots, no jacket required. Brad's really blues talking about these boots, pure John Spencer. Turns out this Wild Man Fischer was a Wesley Willis kind of character from LA, who suffers from ROCK 'N ROLL PNEUMONIA! (-Mark Prindle) and wrote this sometime in the 70's before or after his stint with Zappa...he's had a pretty insane, literally, life, and I think is still releasing albums on Rhino records...of course. It's a perfect fit, Wounded Lion would have written this sooner or later, maybe he's a direct influence on Brad's lyrics, it would make perfect sense.
Then the highly anticipated B-Side, CCR's Bad Moon Rising... it's freaking priceless, huge echo on the vocals, standing on the edge of a canyon, wind machines, blasting this sinister take out into the echo. When the chorus hits there's a little octave changer or something to just give it a real off note deep crunch. There's screeching guitars, delay, echo, it's a great swirling mess, like a classic rock vortex swallowing the garage band...It never sounded so evil. It's a success..he's changed it for me, if you can take an overplayed song like this and give CCR CPR, well that is just plain talent. Just when you think 'Oh Pony People was great, but maybe that was some kind of fluke?' They take a classic cannon in classic rock and wounded lionize it. Wow.
WOUNDED LION Friendly?, Big Boots / Bad Moon Rising 7" single Los Angeles' favorite sons latest single appears on their new home, ITR. One incredible original, one Wild Man Fischer cover and one from CCR. One of the best live bands in the world today. Equal parts VU, Mary Chain, New Creation, Modern Lovers, The Clean and just great music in general. Debut album coming on ITR soon! - In the red
Just found this new Ariel Pink single from a Japanese label Big Love Records...I think I saw it listed on ebay and just assumed it was an old import single I never heard of, but these guys still have copies, as well as maybe Fusetron? Check the distro links below. I'm trying to find a way to get this without overseas shipping. God knows I love Ariel, too much...and both of these tracks have that great crazy patina of millions of muddy tracks and multiple layers of vocals. The way he skips right into a new melody without any kind of transition, in RSM's Brain, the B-Side, I don't know how you manage to program a drum rhythm to break like this. I have to think accidents play into his recordings a lot, but then again they have to be insanely mapped out...so it's a combination of both I guess. Songs mashed together that weren't intended to be? He records little ideas and then jams them together? As you can tell this guy is a complete mystery to me, and that's why I keep coming back to it. Every last thing is worth tracking down because they are just completely unconventional and I have no frame of reference for them. What I wouldn't give to see a video of the process behind just one song, from beginning to end. Kind of Kind sounds actually a little more traditional, slow number, he's playing it straight and it makes sense. Could be a cover? It's regular strummed rhythm and even not as crazy vocals. he can be sensitive when he wants...well pretty much all the time. It's just not ever in the way you'd expect.
What are these tracks from? I have no idea, they aren't on anything I've heard. They're very Haunted Graffiti / Oddities Sodomies, so they're amazing.
You can hear samples from both sides on Jet Set Records distro and get it Direct from Big Love's paypal store...but you'll have to convert to Yen and pay who knows what for shipping. To be honest I didn't bother converting it.
I knew I've heard of Pumice before...I looked up an old post....ok, This is Stephan Neville from New Zealand with the low-fi 4 track stuff...this got me thinking, I need to reexamine that categorization. You can't just throw that around anymore. 4-track doesn't mean it was recorded to a cassette and bounced down a million times, with that inherent hiss and hands on craft. It's hilarious to even think there was a dolby noise reduction setting on the Tascam...it was always on, but I could never hear any change. So most likely it's recorded on a computer, with some kind of mixer software, but anything with the word laptop in it just makes me think about some kind of electronic, minimal, rave, DJ world. So it's home recorded. Experimental? In the way that he's using sounds in unconventional ways. So what's going on? Is this low-fi? Yes...at times. And that's going around lately don't get me wrong, it might be a red flag to some readers. It's practically required these days, and not even out of necessity, purely for texture, to maybe take itself a little less seriously? Things recorded too perfectly, lose the human element? All of this is at work on this new single from Pumice on Soft Abuse.
Pumice has been around since '91 but has been on a bit of a hiatus the past few years, but is back with this new original and a couple of covers on the B-Side. To me this single, the A-Side, 'The dawn chorus of kina' is reminding me of The Microphones, and Mt Eerie stuff, intensely personal, idiosyncratic visions of making music. This track runs through all kinds of emotional landscapes from repetitive beat with layers of muddy guitars bleeding into one solid hazy melody that later breaks down into jagged angular strums, and then gets real quiet bringing the first melody back with a double time kick beat. Deconstructing the original melody and mixing it up, turning it over into something new by the time it comes out on the other side. It's an instrumental journey. I'm surprised I really haven't hear him brought up in the low-fi conversations, the timeline, having started during the time of all the other low-fi contemporaries. If anything I think that's what being from New Zealand gets you...you're lumped in with the Dead C...all the flying nun stuff...you can't break away from that categorization.
Both of the covers on the B-Side are miles away from the introspective first side, but these are covers remember? The first 'Open Up' is a Michael Hurley song from his 1971 album 'Armchair Boogie'. Both are played with a ukulele sound, or maybe just capo-ed up acoustics, I'm even catching an accent, on these quiet syrupy tracks. Lots of echo, layers of vocals, with just enough tempo to keep it from stalling completely. Goth Folk for an acoustic indie set. Especially on 'Pacific Ocean', from a contemporary NZ band, The Axemen who must have played a show or two with Pumice. It's more upbeat, but Pumice just has this melancholy style that takes this somewhat optimistic song and flips it.
Get it direct from Soft Abuse....they also put out a tour Grouper/Pumice split that I think you'll have to track down on ebay at this point...I'm going to be getting his full length efforts from SA after hearing this single.
Following a mammoth tour of Europe, Japan & the US in 2007-2008, Stefan Geoffrey Neville took a sabbatical from Pumice. After a silence of several months, Stefan slowly began to re-emerge in New Zealand, playing (the drums) with a few bands in Auckland. Slowly, a few proper Pumice gigs were played & soon thereafter, in January 2009, Neville started work on a new batch of recordings. One of those found a home on the split single with Grouper, while the others, appear on Persevere; a befitting title for Neville's first new grip of songs following his hiatus. Three songs comprise Persevere: 'The Dawn Chorus of Kina,' an ode to (alleged) singing sea urchin, and covers from two vision-sharing kindred spirits: The Axemen ('Pacific Ocean') and Michael Hurley ('Open Up'). Persevere is released in an edition of 500 copies, housed in textured paper sleeves adorned with Neville's signature dog drawings. - Soft Abuse
I swear this Tim Cohen full length from Empty Cellar and Secret Seven Records has been on my turntable the past two weeks, off and on, but I keep coming back to it. It's a huge departure from his other project, The Fresh and Onlys, but like the Jeff Novak solo full length I am totally convinced that he's a huge talent that's going to take his solid songwriting ideas to whatever genre he ends up in... garage pop punk or this more intimate solo beautifully arranged masterpiece. If you remember Arvel from Empty Cellar clued me into this during our interview and I was really expecting some kind of Ty Segall distorted blues one man blowout, and this is completely in the other direction. It's essentially a pretty quiet record, he's arranging subtle all over the place pretty minimally and switches from muted drum machine beats to heavily delayed acoustic guitar with hints of organ melody. It's completely restrained, distilled down to the essential parts. They are a collection of exceptional songs, not necessarily cohesive as a whole piece, but then again that's what I love, it keeps switching directions all within this subtle quiet framework. It's meant to be loud in complete silence, and keeps being so rewarding...immediately. Completely unexpected. The first track 'Amazing Visions' is an acoustic piece with layered whispered vocals. All kinds of animal imagery, that sort of hallucinogenic folk. On 'Haunted Hymns' he's using all kinds of subtle effects; call and answer lyrics, but it never relies on those weird distinctive sounds or emotive vocals, it's a slow descent into pure songwriting, grounded in great melody and lyrics to come back to.'Burn My Martyr', the last song on the A-Side even has this early Police feel, practically new wave, really sparse guitar instrumentation, kind of dark vocals, and it actually picks up to become slightly pop at one point. Vocally it's distant and unemotive in those moments Sting isn't trying so hard. It's all about the clean bassline and this cold new wave feel...it's one of my favorites, but really we'd have to be talking about a collection of unreleased singles or something from some length of time...not this package recorded last year in San Francisco(?). 'Open up the sky' on the B-Side has Chad Vangaalen written all over it to me, a lot of these do now that I think about it. His neo-folk style, combined with anti-human elements, drum machines, synth, but warped and muted out to fit this dreamlike journey... the slow deliberate machine beat with subtle synth and his layered falsetto vocals. Add a hint of beach boys type harmony and their multitrack experimentation, and he just keeps delivering these solid, really imaginative songs that stick in your head. 'I swear to God' uses his typical 4/4/ kick metronome beat with sleigh bells. Piano chords march right along with the hits, the vocals are always quiet, even contemplative, delivered just warbly enough and feeling but again, and I keep going back to this, the melodies are just so brilliant. A few other songs take that marching piano chord style, it's almost 60's pop, like Jeff Novak, it's taking that upbeat formula and making it sound damn good...and god forbid... on 'Burden of Being' he even takes everything away to just sing along with an acoustic guitar on a haunting completely sad track...that takes some balls not to drown it in effects..he's just that good my friend. The sleeve and inserts for this are top notch...it's a heavy matte stock sleeve. The drawings, I'm assuming they're his, are great trippy doodles, on the back they're reproduced on that yellow legal ruled paper...really nice. The cardstock insert has another drawing and typewritten lyrics and thanks to every great label. Insound's still got it...as well as aquarius I'm told, or try hitting up Empty Cellar direct, Arvel did mention on the interview I did with him this is going to be repressed...so get in line.
Just in from Soft Abuse is this single from Pigeons, who are apparently just north of 7inches central in the Bronx. An overlooked borough for sonic weirdness I have to say. The number of artists that flocked there in the past few years for huge cheap spaces to build out has just been growing...sorry but those years in Brooklyn are long gone. Have I been up there then? Not really. It's too far...and there isn't a music venue anywhere near there as far as I know, but give it a few years when Brooklyn is what the east village is now and the east village is fallen back into a homeless shanty town and the Bronx is where you want to be. So it makes perfect sense I'd hear of an act from this area where future Silent Barns are every other corner and this endless 4 song EP is playing at 33. After spinning the first side for a while, I haven't even flipped it over yet. Both of these tracks are taking their sweet time, slowly preparing you as things get weirder and weirder.
The first track 'Tendresse' (go check out the download below) uses the tremolo warble from an old tube amp and Wednesday's (great name) ethereal layered foreign (?) vocals, it's headed into some kind of Blue Velvet territory. High and in trouble. Tambourine with the restrained tom only beat makes this just barely crawl. I think it's safe to say this is in the Velvets family of reinterpreted slowcore-psyche sound. When the wavering guitar is gone, you'll miss it.
The second track on this single, 'Lowest' is where things start to really get weirdo, the vocals become another high pitch peaking sound alongside a heavily delayed reverb guitar, the two start two play off each other...there's no beat to be concerned with, there's nothing to hold onto here, you're clinging to the simple electric strumming behind the main melody, but it's all blasted through a far away AM radio speaker in the back of the warehouse. The delay screams just a little bit after the first round of vocals and it's impressive, what a sound. This high sustained vocal and overblown note just hitting the same blaring frequency...unsettling. My favorite.
Finally over to the B-Side for 'Oubli', and I see what Siltbreeze was talking about, a pretty loose mix of saxophone over heavy drums, some meandering guitar lines, barely audible screams and yells from Wednesday...but all of these tracks are held down by those steady drums...a staple of that drone, freakout, psyche, the pulse to work out against the experiments. Finally 'Cruel Circumstance' could almost be a late 90's 4-track tape. Vocals all close to the mic, drum machine heavy on the treble, acoustic guitar. It's a weird 13th Elevator shoegaze or something. It's a lot like this blown out cover, zoom into a grainy polaroid and crop away the context, don't color correct...this isn't exactly reality....more like finding something you didn't originally see. It's distinct in the end, and there's something a little off just under the surface.
According to an old Siltbreeze post, they have existed previously as Pigeons II, more freeform noise, sound collage on a release from Clark Griffins own Moran Tape Label, an ultra limited, Peter King handcut lathe advocate.
Leave it to the great Soft Abuse from Minnesota to point out this thing happening right in my backyard.
One time pressing of 400, get it from the Soft Abuse site...I'm working on more words about some of their other singles and full length stuff, great packaging and a slew of new ideas...Tim and Eric would say 'Great job!'
Pigeons make sublimely blasted / incredibly hallucinogenic songs from their base up in Bronx, NY. The trio of Wednesday Knudsen (in disguise on the sleeve), Clark Griffin and Carter Thornton have been active for a few years, releasing miniature-run cassettes and lathe cuts for Griffin's sub-underground Moran Tape Label that dealt in skronk, warp & mystery. Their wayward song-based creations are just as ambitious, melding dissonance, crude electronics & chanson pop . The pop element in their tunes, fully introduced on their brilliant Virgin Spectacle LP, firmly rests as the oddest element in the mix. Connections to the No Neck / Sound @ 1 crew & The Sea Donkeys exist, but Pigeons are wholly on their own plane. Lunettes, their first release since Virgin Spectacle, features four new song creations, arrives in lieu of their forthcoming LP Si Faustine (to be released by Olde English Spelling Bee), and provides a notion of what they're moving towards. - Soft Abuse
Mark, if you end up reading this, get in touch for a podcast interview already!
hey boners, just a heads up: my friend Mark is putting this out, trying to get the word out because he releases great stuff (bastard noise, twodeadsluts, john wiese) and makes zero money. $20 shipped w/ tour poster. roughly 20 test pressings available now. the set is loud and crazy and the crowd boos at the end...what else do you want! - Ryan
This is a great cover, by Drug Wars, 3 color spraypaint job on some pressed particle board, it screams punk DIY. Making something out of nothing, that never gets old. Playing guitar, bass and drums at a frantic pace, with a Hot Snakes feel never gets old.
This San Diego based band has a lengthy genealogy, having played in a million other bands, and are most definitely on the other side of the fence when it comes to lo-fi, which I guess, as much as I don't want to admit it, has been co-opted by everyone to describe what's happening by a majority of the stuff I've been talking about. Would it matter if all these trendy guys were recorded straight? Probably...I wonder if Times New Viking stripped down without the 2" tape peaking if the songs would stand up? I'll never know...they made a choice to take that sound to an end game point. OK, they made a point. But it won't be recreated live either...I've seen it. So where does that leave Drug Wars? Well, you can clearly hear every note, and I wonder if I'll be going back to this more than I will the hissy garage mess of recent? It's a trend, I know...but it's interesting, even if it's just referencing that era of home recording with $4000 laptops and effects settings...I liked it. So Drug Wars basically is following that post punk, anti-trend line of thought....what does that mean? Intelligent, unpredictable melodic lines, irregular rhythms, time signatures...a huge bass sound that's waving around, you can hear each hit...like someone is really pounding on the strings, getting this metallic twang on every note. The buried vocals are where this essentially works, the yelling and energy never gets too abrasive, or overpowering the music itself...again it's messing with the standard arrangement, subtly...lyrics, like song titles are pretty interchangeable...if you want to get down to that level and read my diary...well go ahead, but it's not necessary to get it right away. But it's there to take this to the next level. It's about the music, everyone's contribution. Further 'post'-ing out like Austerity Program or Don Cab, they are foregoing the song naming process all together...what's the fucking point? Throw some numbers on them already, let's get to writing the next one. In fact the first side 9 and 8 run together in such a great way, I almost don't notice it every time, just barely sounds like a song change and not just another chorus variation. There's thought in these songs construction...it's easy to hear right away. 8 is the stand out track for me on the single, the one that makes me start rocking out at the keyboard, already thinking about playing this side just one more time to make sure I caught everything.
Besides having a name that's damn hard to google and come up with anything relevant, it's the best kind of post-hardcore-punk-rock, made enjoyable to listen to, clear, pounding, well constructed, not jumping on any bandwagons, or following trends...these guys get together and recapture some things that were happening 10 years ago, and they happen to do an amazing job of it, it's up there with the Drive like Jehu, Husker Du, even Fugazi...come on. Hot Snakes pulled together a bunch of genres and sounds together that I wasn't really thinking about at the time and made it all sound good...hell I will always be able to sing LAX, and suicide invoice in my head weather I like it or not. I had to reconsider a lot of bands after unconsciously loving everything they put out.
4 Tracks named 9, 8, and 46 all at 33 1/3, a proper punk EP, all of them are available to preview at their myspace...the melodies have been creeping into my head ever since. It's almost a shame actually, the quality is so god damn bad, if you go back and listen to the vinyl...shit it's like the lo-fi version of these guys...and you already know how they feel about that.
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