As most of you already know, Tyvek hails from the Wild (Mid)west that is 21st century Detroit. Prior to their terrific 2010 list-topping "Nothing Fits" LP, Tyvek had worked with legendary labels like Siltbreeze and S-S and have since tentatively released records on larger imprints such as Sub Pop and Third Man. Despite all label associations, Tyvek are truly DIY. They've self-funded, assembled, and distributed more tapes and CD-Rs than we care to recall drunkenly buying at this time and, although the quality of these live and unreleased recording comps has varied, when Tyvek pulls it together for an actual vinyl release, they rarely disappoint with their idiosyncratic brand of DIY post-punk / proto-hardcore. This time around ain't no differn't. Actually, it's quite differn't. The tempos on "On Triple Beams" are a little slower. Kevin Boyer's vocal delivery is less frantic - no where is this more obvious than on the album opener "Scaling" where he mumbles words quietly, taking the backseat to a driving, repetitive rock groove - but his guitar still rides shotgun. "Early Spring" sounds quite a bit like the Tyvek we've come accustomed to, but the drums sound like their being played by a triple-amputee. "Sea Walls" woulda fit in nicely on the debut LP while "Returns" wouldn't have sounded totally out of place on "Nothing Fits"... or would it have? It's hard to say after hearing it in the context of these other nine songs, all sequenced together so nicely. "On Triple Beams" also finds Tyvek sounding their most laid-back. We can't recall a track quite like "Wayne County Roads" from any of their previous records. It's much more melodic, almost to the point of pub-rockin' anthemic. Tyvek are usually so frantic; it's nice to hear 'em settle down for four minutes and mellow out. "Say Yeah" is a tad more relaxed than Tyvek's earlier material as well, but one could still pogo to this stuff. As a matter of fact, some may have even found it difficult to keep up with Tyvek's neck-breaking pace at all their past shows but we think they'll be able to keep up on this tour. The moral of the story: the fits from "Nothing Fits" only pop up occasionally, but the more repetitive, psychedelic, post-punk direction suits Tyvek just as well. "On Triple Beams" comes Wildly Recommended.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!! SOLD OUT AT SOURCE!!!
NO DUDES - the reality is that now, RIGHT NOW there is a brand new Cheater Slicks album stalking the Earth. The best part is (like with every new Cheater Slicks album that "drops") is that it's their best one yet! Released this time on their hometown label Columbus Discount Records - no stranger to awesome records.
There are few bands walking the earth these days that can still rock as hard and play with as much real, raw abandon as THE CHEATER SLICKS - these dudes are lifers. From the moment the first song (the title track "Reality Is A Grape") lurches into the speakers, we found ourselves transfixed - it's like sticking our finger in a light socket. A main-line of pure R'n'R.
The Brothers Shannon wail on their guitars until they're hopelessly out of tune, but continue to play, while drummer Dana Hatch bashes away keeping an unknown caveman variation on the 4/4 time he's perfected until the song crumbles to it's conclusion. Their songs almost become meditative, like a suite of garage-rock ragas swollen with feedback - bloated until all that's left to do is explode into oblivion, littered with scraps of frayed denim and the carcasses of people like Arthur Lee, The Stones, Scientists, VU and The Electric Eels. The strange part is, we know how awesome these guys are and how great their records continue to sound, it's just that with so much time between albums, we tend to forget.
NEVER FORGET. This masterpiece is limited to 500 copies in hand-screened sleeves, so don't snooze on your chance to on your very own Mona gaddamn Lisa. RECOMMENDED.
E.T. Habit has made a return trip to Earth and on this landing they've brought along their debut full length! Pressed up in a hand numbered edition of 300, E.T. Habit started their own label, E.T. Habit Records, to bring you their wares. Their intergalactic psychedelic proto prog punk has been finely honed in for maximum output. Their Hawkwind-ian/Moorcock-ian space tales are wriggling their tongues in the cosmos and their King Crimson-esque prog chops are twisting and churning with every turn, a sonic squiggle of Chrome flavoring fusing with some Alice Cooper Band grandiosity to deliver one of 2012's strongest contenders for heady psychedelic overload bombast of the year. Hard hitting rhythms, galloping and snakey guitars, tasteful saxo-ma-phone passages, frenzied alien vox and a narrative approach to song writing all combine to create an otherworldly stomping prog/punk rocket fuel odyssey for the ages. Panthers On The Roof is ushering in E.T. Habit's "New Cosmic Strut" with some serious attitude so try and keep up. Hugely Recommended.
Electric Cowbell has issued quite the mind fryer of a record, and we couldn't be more stoked. Karthala 72 seem to be steeped in mystery, touted as an oddity from back in the day, we suspect this is actually a modern day group plying the elusive back story a la Sweden's Goat.
These folks are bringing it BIG; raw and heavy psychedelic funk with lots of Afrocentric influence fill the grooves of "Diable Du Feu". It sounds as if every instrument is trying to out do every other instrument for a spot in the forefront; the sounds are gloriously "in the red" adding some burly grit to these hefty rhythms. Diable Du Feu is a gluttonous late night scream at the moon ritual of ecstasy and Karthala 72 are supplying loose and dirty grooves that pile-on full tilt and will have you partying for days on end. Severely Recommended.
The mighty Mako Sica return to the fold with another mind blowing outing and the fine folks at La Societe Expeditinaire have pressed it up in a mega limited edition.
We've long time fans of Chicago's Mako Sica, we even released an epic live album by them back in 2009 called "Mayday At Strobe". We loved their "Dual Horizon" LP also on La Soc and all the various tapes they've offered up over the years. These fine gents make music that tranforms the average concert going experience to an all out ritual, a ritual that will leave you with your jaw on the floor and inner spirit thoroughly cleansed.
Mako Sica's command of mind altering improvisation creates music that flows like an angry ocean with tension building passages that segue to gentle lulls; a music that never forces itself but naturally finds its way to the deepest part of your inner being. This new long player is yet another amazing example of what can happen when some like-minded individuals get together and let their creativity meld into mental and spiritual alchemy. Essence will be getting plenty spins round thee ol' HQ fo sho! Side long opener "Fate Deals A Hand" is inspired by a painting of the same name by looooong time P-Rex pal Andre Daugavietis who also contributed some prints of his work which have been randomly inserted to some but not all of the copies we received.
Epically Recommended.
Burning Daylight is a further progression from King Dude's "Love" album, paring down his song structures to the essentials and settling into his sound. KD's fractured croak lends his gothic tumbleweed folk Americana a particularly sinister feel; a hovering dark cloud shadowing the blight. Burning Daylight has narrative flow from song to song like Ennio Morricone and Jack Nietzsche got cattle prodded in some backwater saloon and Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen narrated the whole ordeal. This bad seed is carving up his own murder ballads. You're gonna love this from her to eternity. Just in time for the winter climes and season of little light, "Burning Daylight" is perfectly flavored for candle lit lonely time. Recommended.
We were big fans of Le Kid's single from 2010 on Telephone Explosion - a 2 songer that sounded like it came straight outta the Go-Go booth circa 1966! We'll the Kid's back with Les Marinellis in tow once again with this full-length on the Ptrash label out of Germany.
A super-solid garage album - reminding us of the best moments of Dutronc (the songs are sung in French) crossed with the punk energy of The Real Kids and reminding us of the hey-day of the early 2000s and the Montreal scene (Spaceshits, Sexareenos, Demon's Claws, etc), sprinkled with a dash of bubblegum pop. Catchy tunes, great sounding production and solid musicianship courtesy of Les Marinellis - bang this one at your next hang and watch the party create itself! RECOMMENDED!
Telephone Explosion Records unleashes another Canadian bruiser of a record - this one by Toronto's Soupcans! "Good Feelings" is what they have to deliver, and DAMN if we don't feel all warm and fuzzy after spinning this new blast by Soupcans.
Imagine the hairy, knuckle-dragging pummeling that METZ deliver, but with less panache and more flat out scuzzy, inept weirdness. There's definitely an air of the first wave of noisy US underground here; Flipper, late-era Black Flag, Germs, Butthole Surfers, but with a Mayyors, Lamps, or Reatard-esque intensity.
These dudes MEAN it. FUCK.
We're kinda losing our shit over this one, here. DAMN. Another winner for Telephone Explosion and another example of Canada showin' us how it's done. RECOMMENDED.
Grouper's in-house label Yellow Electric has offered up a third pressing of her third album Cover The Windows And The Walls on black vinyl (though printed as RS47/GR-003). The Root Strata label originally pressed this up back in 2007 and repressed it in 2009 on black and white marble wax, but its been out of print and highly sought after ever since so it is nice to have this back around.
Cover The Windows And The Walls is one of most accessible works by Grouper finding her delicate guitar passages that are blurred into dreamy ambient washes and her ethereal vocals hiding just underneath the surface of the music. Grouper makes hypnotic and compelling shoegaze-y ambient works with just enough structure that the songs warrant many a repeated listen as the melodies get lodged in your subconscious while they induce a trance like quality that is brimming with serenity. A sad and ominous sensibility looms throughout the entire album, but an underlying beauty wins out in the overall. Totally Recommended.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!!
WOWIE-WOW-WOW! We were knocked flat on our asses by this amazing reissue by Lion Productions by way of Groovie Records of the Sea-Ders - the Lebanese equivalent of the Fab-Four!
Four perfect singles. That's all we got from these guys, but holy moly had these guys found a way to break into the mainstream consciousness, they could have been MAJOR.
Every single tune on here is grade-A, catchy as fuck pop tunes a'la Kinks, (early) Beatles, Who, Hollies, etc. Three (four?) part harmonies and a RIPPING guitar player - seriously, this guy is running up and down the fretboard like a garage-rock Yngwie Malmsteen! The Eastern flourishes really add a ton to the overall sound of the band, with the electric bouzouki slotted perfectly in the mix - not that these guys need anything to distinguish themselves, 'cuz the TUNES are the real star here. KILLER batch of songs that will stick to your noodle like dried baba ghanouj!
We guarantee you'll be flipping this one over and over and over... but act fast - 500 copies guarantees this one won't stick around long! RECOMMENDED x ONE MILLION!!!
ORIGINALS HAVE GONE FOR $150!
Numero Records continues to astound in 2012, dropping this batch of late-comers at the tail-end of the year... Zion, IL's favorite sons: SHOES - Remastered and reissued! We're talkin' "One In Versailles", the unreleased album "Bazooka", "Present Tense Demos" and their 1977 power-pop classic "Black Vinyl Shoes". If Numero were here right now, I think we'd give 'em a kiss on the lips!
FINALLY an affordable reissue of one of the greatest power pop albums of all time (and an all-around shop favorite)!!!!!!!!!!
"Black Vinyl Shoes" operates in an otherworldly space, with a oddly warm but disconnected sonic feeling overall. Recorded by the band at their home in Zion, this is the culmination of their previous work on the bedroom pop majesty of "One In Versailles" and the shelved "Bazooka" album, resulting in a perfect distillation of what makes midwestern power pop so amazing. Earnest delivery, working class image and a casual attention to songcraft that upon repeated listens reveals simple sounding tunes to be monsters of pop construction. Is this album worth all the hype and praise heaped upon it? We think so.
You wanna know REAL Illinois power pop? Cheap Trick? Who needs 'em - these guys are the REAL deal. Featuring the original restored artwork and even includes the tee-shirt iron-on that was included in the OG pressing.
Hell's yeah - RECOMMENDED.
Numero Records continues to astound in 2012, dropping this batch of late-comers at the tail-end of the year... Zion, IL's favorite sons: SHOES - Remastered and reissued! We're talkin' "One In Versailles", the unreleased album "Bazooka", "Present Tense Demos" and their 1977 power-pop classic "Black Vinyl Shoes". If Numero were here right now, I think we'd give 'em a kiss on the lips!
Previously ONLY available on cd via The Shoes' official website (and now OOP), "Bazooka"s debut on wax is a much lauded affair - and rightly so, it's a crucial transitional album for the band from the fragile, bedroom pop of "One In Versailles" to the power-pop perfection of "Black Vinyl Shoes". It's a band finding their legs, stretching out their sound; from the mid-tempo swagger of "Pinheads", to the rockin' "Move It Or Lose It" only hinting at the black vinyl greatness to come with the last track; "Like I Told You", that contains the band's signature breathy harmonies and otherworldly production.
A K.I.L.L.E.R. power pop album justly plopped into the bins!
RECOMMENDED? SHOE 'betcha!
Numero Records continues to astound in 2012, dropping this batch of late-comers at the tail-end of the year... Zion, IL's favorite sons: SHOES - Remastered and reissued! We're talkin' "One In Versailles", the unreleased album "Bazooka", "Present Tense Demos" and their 1977 power-pop classic "Black Vinyl Shoes". If Numero were here right now, I think we'd give 'em a kiss on the lips!
We're big fans of the Shoes around these parts and listening to the demos of their major-label debut is like hearing this album all-over again for the first time! VASTLY different feel than the actual album - more rockin' and, well - "true" maybe? We always sorta felt "Present Tense" was a bit lacking, production-wise in comparison to "Black Vinyl Shoes", glossing-over their unique sound and swaddling it in synthesizers whereas to us Shoes operate better as a guitar outfit. The TUNES were always there, but now they're able to poke their heads over the horror that Eighties production wrought on so many albums. Numero really aced it with the packaging too - designed by Chunklet's Henry Owings who tweaks the 'Present Tense' jacket, "remixing" it for the demos album - really sharp! Nice work fellas.
This is a A SOLID and amazing record that you need to hear - even if you think you've already heard it. Totally RECOMMENDED!
AMAZING unheard material from British psych/prog band T2, comprised of works recorded in '71/'72 for a proposed third album. Acme Records (who reissued the band's only proper album "It'll All Work Out In Boomland" as well as cuts for their botched second album) have reissued this one, AND YOU'LL WANNA GET HIP TO T2 BEFORE THIS ONE IS WAY OUT O' PRINT.
We RAVED about T2's "It'll All Work Out In Boomland" - a prog/psych masterpiece that is a perfect distillation of everything that's great about "prog" and "psych"; interesting passages and catchy chrouses, mixed with stratosphere-touching riffage. "1971-72" are tracks recorded with Andrew Bown on guitar - just after founding guitarist-extraordinaire Keith Cross left the group and faded into the ether, and none of these tracks have never appeared on any T2 release - and if this represents the proposed 3rd album, we cannot believe what rock and roll has been missing out on for 35 years. Reissued on 180gm vinyl for the discerning collector, this one is not to be missed! RECOMMENDED!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES
STAND BACK - modern-garage legend Don Howland's (Gibson Bros, Bassholes, Wooden Tit), recent gig - 'A Burning Bus' has unleashed their brand new single on Asheville label Harvest - DIG IT!!!
There's a lingering taste of Howland's other projects here; "Anti" ricochets off the needle with a spooky guitar (or is that a synth line?) that evokes the dark-hearted garage cacophany perpetrated by fellow loners Cheater Slicks, Scientists, and Sex Church, while Howland's blues-tinted punk squall rears it's head in the B-Side "Paranoia Paradise".
We don't need no water - let the motherfucker BURN. RECOMMENDED.
The Soft Abuse label is putting a nicer price tag on yet another helping of Mad Nanna.
Talk about turning scum stats on its head! The Nanners have re-recorded the 2 tracks from their single on Unwucht and simply flipped the sides they appear on, you crafty bastards! Another fine outing by this troupe of outsider dustbin rockers with "My Two Kids" and "I'm Not Coming Here" both furthering the futility while providing the soundtrack to the sun-up come-down. As by now you all should know how this works: these will not stick around for long so act now and get to grabbing! Recommended.
LIMITED TO 500 on CLEAR VINYL!
Dark, post-punk single from ex-Crash Normal guitarist Vincent Bergier's new project 'The Box', released by the little-seen, but always great Plastic Spoons Records out of Paris! The Box doesn't stray too far out of the - uh BOX from the nihilistic glue-wave Crash Normal dished out, but the two tunes on this single are soaked in an unrelenting attack of Bergier's drum machine, giving these songs a soggy, cough-syrupy, cold-wave feel - A-Frames, (early) Intelligence and Volt all spring to mind. If buzzing hives of guitar dive-bombing over apocalyptic stink of circuit-fried rhythms are your cup o' tea, then let us show you what's in The Booooooooooooooooooox! RECOMMENDED.
7in - Sonny Vincent And The Bad Reactions - Replica/Stare Down b/w Jokers And Clowns - $5.99 - BUY
- LISTEN 
- LISTEN BAD as fuck NEW single from living punk legend Sonny Vincent (OF THE TESTORS), released on Normal, IL label 'Trend Is Dead' Records!
Sonny's songwriting is as sharp as ever and he sounds phenomenal, like NO TIME has passed! Incredible. It helps that his band is a group of young bucks from NYC, including an ex-Carbona and two ex-Beat Beat Beat members (all of whom have openly worshipped at the altar of Msr. Vincent for years in their respective projects), so the material sounds believable and - above all - FAST and full of fire and fury. A GREAT new single - leave it to the old dogs to show tha young punks how it's done. RECOMMENDED.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES
Krang are bringing the Sleep-y chugga stoner rawk and beefing it up with a Melvins-y groove along with a dash of Entombed menace. Krang's instrumental head-nod heaviness for a full 5 minutes will have you bonging out to unknown realms. Flip this sucker over and we get another shot of spacedelic heaviness from Shooting Guns. Shooting Guns take their longhaired hesher jams and imbibe them with some tasty desert vibes and finish things off with some blues guitar travels. Two tracks of heavy 'eavy from two of Canada's finest on one slab o' wax is what you get on this here split single and that suits us just fine. Recommended.
Oakland's Uzi Rash return with 4 more tracks of demented and demolished beach party boppers this time on the GGNZLA Records label. Recorded on both coasts over the course of the last few years and compiled together for this here single; Uzi Rash start things off with "I Forgot", a sing-a-long garbage can pounder with group vocals and mutant guitar strum. Moving right along we get "Trout Women", a happy-go-lucky acoustic campfire kid's song for the acid damaged boy scout in all of us. Flip this blue-ish/green 7 over and things get going with "Saurian Notes", a blown out stomper complete with bleating horns mixed into the mayhem. Finishing things up is the epic The Grotto, a primitive junk percussion led rant with minimal guitar and a maniacal Beefheartian narrative over top. All in all, we're talking some Ralph Records and Snakefinger vibes dosey doeing with Mr. Vliet and the Magic Band to some sand in yer shoes outsider wtf-ery. Plus it comes with a download of all tracks, bonus! Recommended.
Tape - Roman Milk - Xarhakos: The Third Temple Of Roman Milk - Limited To 100 - $4.99 - BUY
EDITION OF 100 TAPES / BLACK AND WHITE J-CARD EDITION LIMITED TO 20 COPIES
Look da fug out! Roman Milk is spilling over with filthy acrid scuzz punk and we're ready to bathe in this mess.
New-ish power trio outta Los Angeles, Roman Milk is keeping the gutter alive with its blown out lo-fi punk nihilism. Self-released in an edition of 100 tapes with yellow j-cards (we got the uber limited 20 copies with black and white j-cards), but wait, hold the phone! ... a freaking Frantix cover tune! That's right boils and ghouls "My Dad's A Fucking Alcoholic" is sneakily tagged onto the end of this miasmic hammer to the dome punk mugger.
Recorded live to 4-track with everything obscuring everything else, "Xarhakos: The Third Temple Of Roman Milk" is presented in the grand tradition of Flipper, Drunks With Guns, and Brainbombs with a hint of AmRep hangover coursing its veins; here to kill brain cells and ruin moods. Roman Milk features one of Francis Harold's Holograms on drums, a duder on the six string who has never touched a guitar before and lo and behold P-Rex's very own Lance Barresi bringing up the bottom end on bass!
Roman Milk are providing the head-wrecking clatter that'll worry your parents so grab a tape and turn it all the way up! Supremely Recommended.
More lo-fi punk depravity from Oakland's Uzi Rash! The Burger Records gang has lovingly coupled up two of UR's albums and slapped them onto the cassette format. Pop this in your tape deck, roll down the windows and proceed to lose your grip on sanity!
Tape - Glitter Wizard - Solar Hits - $4.99 - BUY
NOW ON CASSETTE!!!!
The Under The Gun Records folks gave "Solar Hits" the cassette treament; pop this monster in your Firebird and burn rubber suckers! Here's what we said when the lp came out:
Ex-Monoshocker and current Nothing People / Bad Trips synthamaniac, Doug "Graves" Pearson, returns with his other, other band Glitter Wizard on their follow-up to their excellent single, "Black Lotus". Glitter Wizard obviously loves Hawkwind and Black Sabbath, but this longer-playing format allows the band to display a few other aspects of their repetiore we're not accustomed to hearing from 'em. They're still essentially a stoner space rock band, but the punk and prog influence wasn't quite as apparent on the single as it is here. A couple of these tracks remind us of a more amped Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and others, a less obtuse Druid Perfume or even a less sleepy Sleep. The influence range is just that wide. Heavy riffage and rhythm are the key ingredients in the Glitter Wizard sound, but it's spiced up with Pearson's Del Dettmar style synth squiggles and Steve MacKay's (you may remember him from a little record called "Funhouse") skronk'n'roll saxiness. Some Chinese scientists just supposedly proved that time travel is and always will be impossible. To them we present exhibit A... a video of Glitter Wizard, supposedly from 2009 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1u78iQLurA). Now tell us, Mr. fancy-pants Scientists, that time travel isn't possible. These guys totally came straight outta 1978, got high, and couldn't find their way back to the phone booth. If this is the cock rock record of the summer, the closer, "Summertime", is the feel good hit. "Solar Hits" is recommended for people who like to feel good.
Mag - Stitches In My Head - Issue 3 (includes poster!) - $2.99 - BUY
We scored a stack of this awesome Australian punk zine. It's a 8 1/2" x 11" black and white cut-n-paste old school style music zine. You know the kind that obviously took a coupla late nights and few extra brews to get it all properly laid out; the kind that leaves your fingers all black and gooey with that dastardly concoction of ink and glue. Them shitz is almost as fun to make as they are to read.
Anywho, Stitches In My Head number 3 has interviews with Royal Headache, Bits Of Shit and Havittajat, 3 vastly different bands currently proving the ilk of the sound from down under. It also has several pages of record reviews, a bonus pullout poster to pretty up your squat and the misanthropic diatribe editorial introduction to ready you up for the dirtiness inside. Lots of photos interspersed with informative and often humorous interviews make up the bulk of Stitches In My Head and its a damn fine read if we do say so ourselves. Recommended.
MAG - Rubberneck - Number 5 - $6.99 - BUY
Got Rubberneck number 5 here recently and it is chock full of high quality black and white photography from a slew of today's r'n'r lunatic fringe like Bits Of Shit, Hussy, Thee Oh Sees, Nobunny, Spray Paint, Slug Guts and OBN IIIs to name but a few of the captured images you will find twixt these pages. Rubberneck number 5 is also touting music reviews, advice columns, some comix and interviews with Ron House, Black Lips and Paint Fumes.
We're talking nearly 50 pages all bundled together in a full color thick card stock cover of the 8 1/2" x 11" hand numbered edition of 300 variety. Get to reading somma this fine print publication and give that ol' puter screen a break 'fore you get eye cancer. Recommended.
