Category Archives: songs

2014, music, news, songs

Stream: New Releases from Already Dead Records & Tapes

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mchtnchts - "The Spoiled West and its Freshly Minted Infants" on Already Dead Records
mchtnchts – “The Spoiled West and its Freshly Minted Infants” on Already Dead Records

I used to consider myself to be firmly in the camp of anti-tape. I just couldn’t understand why it was that people were bringing back such a (thankfully) dead medium. The angle that I was looking at was, well there is a reason that I always buy stuff on vinyl and it’s because it sounds better and is a more authentic representation of the actual music than a digital representation from a CD or mp3. It seemed to me that recording stuff to tape was simply an effort of creating nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake, and it just seemed completely backwards.

Not long ago, though, I was reading about how the community that has sprung up around creating tapes considers them to be an act of rebellion of sorts. It’s much cheaper and easier to distribute tapes than it is to record vinyl, and it doesn’t require nearly as much technology as is required to create digital files. That is something that I can get down with. If it is a means for more people to get their music out there, and in a medium that is tangible, then how could anyone not support that. I think what finally sold me was when I got a pair of tapes from Crash Symbols. Sure, the nostalgia is there, but the tapes and the artwork for Julie’s Haircut and Exotic Club are so captivating. How could I not love it? What is going to happen though is that bigger bands are going to try to cash in on this, creating tapes for no reason other than “they seem to be getting more popular.”

Well, this isn’t about me. I was just pointed in the direction of a label, Already Dead Tapes & Records, and discovered that it’s a pretty good place to poke around. According to the site Already Dead Tapes was founded by Joshua Tabbia and Sean Hartman. The label is run by Joshua Tabbia, Sean Hartman, Ray Jackson and Alex Borozan and they are a DIY record label releasing cassettes, vinyl and fine art in small editions.

What specifically brought me to the site was a tape by mchtnchts. “The Spoiled West and its Freshly Minted Infants” is a fresh blast of noise from bent circuits and analog sources from a pair of musicians from the Bay Area. There’s a sample on the page. Make sure you act quick though, the release is limited to 40 tapes…well, 39 tapes.

Looking around a little more there’s some bouncy garage rock from Panda Kid’s “Summetry” 12″. I think they are from Italy. I feel like Italian indie rock is stalking me, or maybe it’s the other way around. That one is pretty fantastic and worth a listen. They end up sounding like a roughed up Beach Fossils in some ways, with similarly breezy and carefree aesthetic, though taken to some strange dark places at times. Only 30 of those available. And then there is the art-rock weirdness and bass heaviness of Comfort Food’s “Dr. Faizan’s Feel Good Brain Pills” tape. Both great and for very different reasons.

Have fun checking out all the stuff on Already Dead’s site. To get to the bandcamp pages for the bands, just click on the “i” next to the play button on each page. I have yet to come across something not worth hearing. Follow the links below and check out the bandcamp pages linked above. All of these releases are extremely limited, so if you are thinking that you want to get something, you’d better grab it while you can. Otherwise, grabbing the albums digitally on bandcamp might be a good contingency plan, but I think supporting this great small-edition label is definitely the best way to go.

Already Dead//mchtnchts//Panda Kid//Comfort Food//

2014, miscellaneous, music, news, songs

Stream tracks from Outrageous Cherry, Summer Cannibals

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(Ed: I earlier made a mistake that Summer Cannibals is from Portland on New Moss Records, but this is in fact a different band by the same name. I’m sorry for any confusion.)

One of the last albums that I found myself really getting into toward the end of the year was Foxygen’s “We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic.” The thing that had me so enthralled was the way that they straddled worlds of early classic rock and combined it with the aesthetic of current trends in indie rock. I mean, that isn’t something that is too hard to come by these days, but when it’s done well it’s just great. Some of those songs are the catchiest and brightest sounding tracks to be released.

As I continue sifting endlessly through the piles of music that are dumped onto Soundcloud every minute of every day I have come across a band that I thought would be great for people that are fans of Foxygen’s sound. This track comes to us from Burger Records. The band is Outrageous Cherry, and they end up sounding like more like The Mama’s and The Papas than Foxygen’s Rolling Stones/Beatles, ultimately capturing the sound of the late 60s in San Francisco, and doing it really well. I have to keep checking the page to make sure that this track didn’t actually come out recently. Well, I shouldn’t let those harmonies deceive me, because the track is from a recently released retrospective of Detroit bands from 1993 to 2000. Imagine my surprise after realizing that this was a band from Detroit. I’m pleasantly surprised that something like this was and/or is coming out of someplace that isn’t on either of the coasts. You can check out “Saturday Afternoon” at the top of this post.


It’s a little poppy, a little jangly, and a lot post-modern-y. Next up is a song that is similarly laid back and poppy: “My Tears” by Summer Cannibals, a track that is a bit pulled back from Outrageous Cherry in that there is primarily just an acoustic guitar and vocals. Simple and effortless high harmonies are, for me, the highlight, and they really are what gives it that late 60s San Francisco sound. Another track on their soundcloud page, “Here Comes Trouble” tries its hand a little more at recreating a ‘wall of sound’ type production aesthetic. And, an aside, to me the female vocal on this track reminds me a lot of Cassie Berman of Silver Jews fame. The guitar, on the other hand, reminds me a lot of Real Estate.

Take a listen to both tracks and then head over to Burger Records and Souncdloud for more.

2014, music, news, songs, video

Stream: New tracks from Real Estate, Liars

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Real Estate

Now that we are into 2014 it’s time to anticipate all the releases that will be coming our way soon. Really, the only significant release so far this year has been “Wig Out At Jagbags” from Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, but I think that the flood gates are about to open. To be honest, that last sentence was just an excuse to type out the title of the new Malkmus album. I think that it’s clear that nobody is going to be able to out-name that album, so at least it has that going for it. I’ll be talking about it soon enough.

Right now, though, comes a new track from Real Estate. The band has recently (yesterday) announced that Dominoe is set to release their new album, “Atlas,” [I’ll give you a second to google: “real estate atlas” to find out more information] on March 4th, unless you live in the UK, then you get it a day early. Good for you. The track is titled “Talking Backwards” and is pretty much exactly what one would expect from Real Estate, which is good as 2011’s “Days” was a great recording and it’s about time that we were given some more of that. It’s another breezy, mid-tempo tune delivered lackadaisically over jangling guitars. The great thing about the band is the way that they somehow manage to capture that air of nostalgia in their songs and in their entire sound. The video manages to extend this feeling to the visual aspect, shot on grainy (super8?) film during the recording session. Something about creating distance, physically and temporally. Even though the recording probably happened less than a year ago, it comes off feeling like the band is reliving an old memory. And the song manages to capture this general sense as well. Check it out below.

Liars
Liars

Next up is Liars. Also releasing their next full-length in March. Not necessarily what one would expect from Liars, but that is actually what one would expect from Liars, that they don’t know what to expect. Well, that isn’t actually 100% true this time as the new song, “Mess on a Mission,” picks up where 2012’s “WIXIW” left off: deep into electronics and a more polished studio sound. Liars are an exciting band to keep track of because they are one of few bands around that seem not just willing to try new things all the time, but driven to do so as a rule. They seem to be combining previous elements that they have worked with over the years. Some elements of the vocal technique on their self-titled 2007 LP appear, but none of the shambling self-destructive rock of “Drum’s Not Dead” or “They Were Wrong So We Drowned” appear, at least not on this track. Who even knows what the album has in store for us. Check that one out below too.

2014, albums, music, news, songs

Stream/Download: Zeus – “Opera”

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Zeus - "Opera"
Zeus – “Opera”


Well, here is something to wake you up on your Monday morning. Apparently I should be keeping a closer eye on the scene in Italy because recently I’ve been hearing some really great music, and it’s not like they are all doing the same things either. Just recently I wrote about The Delay in the Universal Loop, a band (well, one dude) that is creating lushly orchestrated dreamy synth music; and then there was the psych-prog of Julie’s Haircut.

Now I’m listening to Zeus, and I want you to do the same. They’re a bass & drum prog-metal duo that has less in common with Lightning Bolt than you would think. I mean, I know that whenever I see that a band is a bass/drum duo I get really skeptical right off the bat. I’m such a huge Lightning Bolt fan (that’s obvious) that I never think that any other band is ever going to be able to live up to those expectations. I guess that what I forget, or fail to recognize, is that there is still so much that can be done in the format.

What Zeus does is they create highly energetic, rhythmically complex music that swings from jazzy and tight to violent and cacophonous the next. Often times, as in Grindmaster Flesh (very clever, guys), the duo is in lockstep throughout a meter that refuses to sit still until suddenly everything erupts into a static haze with screaming and crash cymbals covering near everything. They do have one thing that Lightning Bolt tends to (dare I say) lack, and that is shape.Though Zeus does still focus more on rhythm and less on harmony, they make up for it with contrasting dynamics and formal development. There’s more of a part structure at work.

The band’s latest, “Opera,” was released February 14, 2013 (how sweet) and you can preview the entire thing on their bandcamp and download it for $11, or listen to the entire thing above first. While you are listening, see if you can catch all the puns in the titles of the songs. My personal favorite is “La Morte Young,” though “Blast but not Liszt” is a close 2nd. Check out all 11 blasts of noise above.

The band is currently out on a European tour. You can find the dates below.

Web//Bandcamp//

Zeus Eurpoean Tour Poster

2014, music, songs

Stream/Download: Confluence – “Awaiting”

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Confluence
Confluence

Have I ever railed against prog-rock on this blog yet? I can’t remember. Well let me sum things up really quickly: When I was a teenager, and just learning the guitar, and in a really terrible band, I was all about the King Crimson, and Yes and Genesis, which later turned into being all about Tool. I think that (I mean I know that) the reason that I gravitated toward these bands was that their style of music doesn’t really focus on finesse at all. There’s no groove to it. Groove is something that you can’t learn, you either have it or you don’t. On the other hand, technical facility, such as within the confines of prog-rock, is something that can be learned.

It’s not that all prog is bad, that’s definitely not the case. It’s just a genre that is really easy to overdo; when the music takes a backseat to the group showing off how complicated that they can make things, that’s when things start to get annoying. Yes, we all know how smart you (think) you are, now can you play some music please? So often actual, well-crafted melodies are thrown away in favor of something that is jittery and obtuse for the sake of being jittery and obtuse. Give me a melody that I can sing along to! Give me something that flows and has a little bit of a swing to it! I don’t want to hear machines with guitars, I want to hear human beings!

So hearing “Awaiting” by Confluence was actually a pleasant surprise. Sure, there are all sorts of complex musical things happening, but they aren’t made the focus of the tune. It’s much easier to sit back and listen to the melody, and enjoy it for what it is, without having to take into account the technically complex backdrop. I’d hate to take the term “melodic” away from its specific meaning, but it is very tempting to place something like this under the label of “melodic prog.”

What the song immediately brings to mind for me is Maps & Atlases “Trees, Swallows, Houses” EP.  This song, like that EP, manages to walk the line of technicality, but with a sort of groove, or delicate sensibility in that they are flashy, but not for the sake of being so. I dig the way this track grooves, and the clarity of the recording, that’s something that really helps a band like this that seeks to take advantage of all the spaces between notes, those little silences. Sometimes those little silences can just make a song.

Give it a listen above and then check out one of the many links below.

Web//Soundcloud//Facebook//Twitter//Bandcamp//

2013, 2014, music, news, songs

Stream: John Dwyer – “Eggs at Night” and my Top 10 Thee Oh Sees tracks

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John Dwyer - "Hubba Bubba"
John Dwyer – “Hubba Bubba”

Frontman of Thee Oh Sees, John Dwyer, is releasing a solo album entitled “Hubba Bubba.” You can hear the synth heavy (more like exclusively synth) track “Eggs at Night” below.

Last month Thee Oh Sees announced from the stage that “This will be the last Oh Sees show for a long while. So dig in.” I learned about it on twitter and quickly started to feel panic set in. It was impossible for me to fathom not having a few new albums by Thee Oh Sees coming out at the steady clip that they have been for the past several years. I see them as the lynchpin that holds the San Francisco scene together. When we all heard that the band was going on a break at first we all went to the worst cast scenario, which would be that we would never hear from them again (though that seems absolutely ridiculous thinking about it now. There is no way that John Dwyer could be away from music for any length of time, let’s be honest. So even if there weren’t any Thee Oh Sees shows he would still be creating music in some form, either solo or with Ty Segall. By the way, why hasn’t that happened yet? That seems like an obvious matchup…but I digress) and then we all came to the realization that a “long while” for a band like Thee Oh Sees, that have been touring non-stop for the past 5 years, is probably only a few months.

So I’m not intending this post to be a send-off to Thee Oh Sees by any stretch. I just want to take a minute and maybe get some other people interested in the band that may only have a passing familiarity with them. Thee Oh Sees are probably the last band that I have gotten really heavily, obsessively into, after seeing them only one time I was hooked. Their live show is amazing, and I can’t even begin to imagine how tiring it must be for them to do it over and over and over again. Not just tiring from the physical standpoint, but also add to that the fact that they are typically playing a very similar set night after night. It’s become noticeable of late that the jammy extensions of songs are getting jammier, which I think might be a way for the band to try to find new ways to keep things interesting. I’m assuming that this time away is just going to result in throwing all of the old songs out of the set-list and starting over again. Clear it out and start again.

With that in mind, I’d like to give my top 10 tracks by Thee Oh Sees. Sure, some of them are in regular rotation on their (former) set-list, but I don’t think that their live show really gives an idea of the band’s range.

1. “No Spell” off of their most recent album, 2013’s “Floating Coffin.” Now, it is really hard to choose a song from this album, there are just so many great tunes. “No Spell” sits toward the middle of the album, tucked away between songs that are more typical Oh Sees fare. I think that what really does it for me is the textless “chorus.” It’s just different enough from anything that they have ever done, and just has a great emotional grab to it. It’s not the typical structure that one would come to expect either.

No Spell

2. “Tidal Wave” from a 7″ b/w “Heart Sweats.” Short and sweet and right to the point. The clipped guitar style in the verse with the slap-back echo that bursts into another textless chorus with John’s yell. It’s just catchy as hell, and may go unnoticed by some because it doesn’t appear on an album….though it has probably been heard by more people than any other song of theirs thanks to it being used in Breaking Bad.

Tidal Wave

3. “Enemy Destruct” from “Help.” There are few bands that know how to open an album as well as Thee Oh Sees do. This is definitely a set-list staple, and for good reason. The guitar stomps through each beat with great intensity. Noisy throughout, and heavy.

Enemy Destruct
4. “Stinking Cloud” from “Castlemania.” This album just doesn’t fit in with any of the others. It’s experimental for them. John sings in an affected croak, saxophones and flutes appear on many of the songs, there are acoustic tracks that trot out a distinct Kinks influence. This track in particular is a bit of a slow burn, with some oddly insightful lyrics.

Stinking Cloud

5. “The Dream” from “Carrion Crawler/The Dream.” This album is the one. If you need to know where to start with this band, this is it. And this song is maybe their best live. You have to imagine this songs going almost twice as fast when it’s played live. And as soon as those opening chords start to ring out in all their open-stringed glory, all hell is about to break loose and you had better hold on.

The Dream

6. “Lupine Dominus” from “Putrifiers II.” This one let’s the not-quite hidden krautrock come out, sounding closer to something that Cave would release, but it still makes complete sense. Psych-krautrock.

Lupine Dominus

7. “I Was Denied” from “Warm Slime.” Another anthemic live staple. How could you even go wrong with a song that has a line “I got fucked up, suffice to say. la la la la la, lalalala la, lalalala la, lalala la…” Bonus points for the brief freakout toward the middle of the song.

I Was Denied

8. “Toe Cutter-Thumb Buster” from “Floating Coffin.” Amazing opening. The last time that I saw them live this is the track with which they opened. The piercing squeal of feedback followed by the bone-crushing low end distortion is something that can’t be beat and will never not be effective.

Toe Cutter – Thumb Buster

9. “Meat Step Lively” from “Help.” Another live regular, though they don’t include the flute part live.

Meat Step Lively

10. “The Coconut” from “The Master’s Bedroom is Worth Spending a Night In.” I picked this one just because it is another one of those songs that show the band stretching out and trying new things. It’s moody, a bit slower, and focuses a bit more on vocal harmonies and lengthier, more legato melodies in the verses.

The Coconut

Supposedly, despite the hiatus (JPD insists that the band is not breaking up), there will be a new album released within the next month or two. I will definitely be covering that as soon as I can get my hands on it. Until then, enjoy these, and enjoy the solo track.

2013, Chicago, miscellaneous, music, songs

Some Christmas Songs

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[Ed: January 9, 2014: I love when a site gives you something to share and then almost immediately takes it down.]
For those of you that do, or even those of you that don’t celebrate Christmas, here is a collection of songs put together by Burger Records that is sure to get your holiday party off to a good start. This 3+ hour compilation of Burger Records artists is perfect for any year end get together. Just start it up and let it play all afternoon.

And as a bonus, check out the Christmas themed track by Sonic Youth, “Santa Doesn’t Cop Out On Dope.” Give a listen below, then go get drunk on egg-nog (try it with Malort) and try not to pay attention to anything that your racist uncle is rambling on about.


“…on Donner, on Blitzen, but never on smack….”

2013, miscellaneous, music, news, songs

Stream/Download: Twin Peaks – “Flavor b/w Come Bother Me”

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Twin Peaks - "Flavor b/w Come Bother Me"
Twin Peaks – “Flavor b/w Come Bother Me”


As I continue to play through all of my favorite releases of the year, trying to put together some sort of end of year compilation, the release that I come back to almost every day is Twin Peaks’ debut LP “Sunken.” I think that I’m going to have to say definitively that that is my favorite release of the year. My one complaint about “Sunken,” though, is that it’s way too short, but I guess that this tiny little single can tide me over until 2014 with its expansive 4 minutes and 17 seconds of material. I’m just going to consider these two songs as “Sunken” bonus tracks.

Both “Flavor” and “Come Bother Me” are considerably more poppy, and considerably less washy/reverbed out. You can take a quick listen to both the tracks above, and then you can head over to the bandcamp page to drop $1 on a download, or send it as a last minute gift.

According to the bandcamp site the single was released on cassette via Tripp Tapes this past Friday, December 20th with a 7″ via Jeffery Drag Records coming soon.

You can buy “Sunken” over here on CD, vinyl, or as a digital download. Check out the video for “Stand In the Sand” off of that album below.

 

2013, live, miscellaneous, music, news, songs

New music from Basic Cable, Thee Oh Sees and The Delay in the Universal Loop

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I have a few different things that I’m working on right now that are going to take some more time to write than I have right now, but luckily I have an inbox full of music that I am trying to get through. I figure that now, toward the end of the year where new releases are getting fewer and farther between that I would do some housecleaning and share with you some of the very worthwhile stuff that I have been checking out.

First up is some heavy garage rock coming from our friends at Permanent Records in Chicago and L.A. The band is Basic Cable and the release is titled “I’m Good to Drive.” Officially released just two days ago “I’m good to drive” is the 39th release on Permanent Records’ own label. The track is a lot cleaner in production than other garagey offerings coming our way from the P-rex crew, but still delivers all the noise and reckless abandon that anyone could hope for. Take a listen to the track “Blonde Ambition” below.


Next up: what kind of a week would it be if Thee Oh Sees didn’t release something. The stream of non-stop ass-kickers continues with “What You Need (The Porch Boogie Thing),” reminding us that the band has released their 3rd singles collection, available now from Castle Face, there are still a few copies of the Pepto Pink vinyl left, as well as CDs. Listen to the track below, it’s exactly what you’d expect from Thee Oh Sees, and they are never ones to disappoint. Oh, and while you are over there at Castle Face, why not pick up a copy of the new White Fence Live in San Francisco recording, and I should add that I picked up the Fuzz EP live from the San Francisco Eagle, and that record (recorded direct to tape) sounds amazing. Guitar crunch and gut punching bass for days.

Thee Oh Sees – What You Need (The Porch Boogie Thing)

And now for something completely different. The Delay in the Universal Loop is from Benevento, Italy and they just released an album this past week entitled “Disarmonia.” The track below is “Spasmodica,” a song which starts off delicately enough, but takes a few twists and turns in the course of 4 minutes. The 17 year old Dylan Luliano is responsible for every aspect of the album, playing all the instruments, singing and writing all of the songs. More information and tons of links can be found here. “Disarmonia” is available worldwide right now. And you should maybe act fast because apparently there are an extremely (30?!) limited number of physical copies available. Head to the bandcamp page to check it out. 
 

 

Enjoy those, and follow the links to some of the other stuff available from the Factum Est and Permanent Records soundcloud pages. Lots of worth stuff there.

2013, albums, live, music, news, songs

Stream: New 12″ EP from Kurt Vile and Ty Segall’s latest.

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Kurt Vile, whom I talked about not at all that long ago releases a follow up “Walkin on a Pretty Daze” from earlier this year. “It’s a big world out there (and I’m scared)” comes out today on Matador. You can listen to the breezy track above. This is a 12″ release, but isn’t a full album, instead “It’s a big world…” is an EP with some reworkings and a few new songs. I prefer this way of staying in the spotlight and staying relevant, getting people to pay attention to your music by constantly creating it. I wish that Arcade Fire would get the hint.

“Feel My Pain” sounds like something that could have very easily fit into “Walkin…” with its fingerpicked acoustic guitar and super laid back vocals. This stays completely within Vile’s aesthetic, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, especially for someone like Vile, who already doesn’t sound like anyone else.

I also wanted to bring your attention to Ty Segall’s new band, or newest…or maybe they aren’t his newest band anymore, because its been a few months and he could very easily have joined a dozen or more bands in the interim. But anyway, his newest project is called Fuzz, and yes, it’s pretty much exactly what one would expect from Ty at this point. Loud garage rock from San Francisco. He pretty much embodies this sound now.


The latest video begins more like a short film than a performance video, with Ty and Fuzz guitarist Charlie Mootheart loading up their van after a set-up shot that featured the clarinet opening from Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” We get a sampling of the super distorted rumbling of the band’s sound before the video focuses a bit on non-musical material before we finally get the performance.

The band’s sound lies somewhere between pure punk rock and a latter day Black Sabbath. The classic rock and blues influences are strong in Mootheart’s riffs and harmonizing with the bass, locking down a strong groove, with Ty on drums, no less. Is there anything that dude can’t do?

I was lucky enough to catch these guys back in July, in San Francisco, opening for Thee Oh Sees. Their energy was intense and didn’t fade at all throughout the set. I’m hoping that Ty keeps this around for at least a few minutes and puts out a few albums before moving on to something else. But I guess that only time will tell.