It's a freaking Lumerians bonanza round here as of late it would seem… we had their ultra experimental Sanity Muffin released "The Weaning And The Dreaming" tape last week that found the group travelling through all forms of dark matter and messing with tonal directions and audio trickery. But now they have returned to the honorable Knitting Factory Records that unveiled their dynamo debut LP "Transmilinnia". Now following their far-out psychedelic space trip "Transmissions From The Telos Vol. IV" release on Permanent they've brought one helluva deeper space-a-rific EP.
And holy hell, they've done it again… these astro dopers have gone and morphed their sound yet again. One thing can be said about this group is they keep you on your toes that's for sure. This all-too-short EP teaser finds Lumerians offering up 4 cuts of blissed out solarflare space rock that is mind bogglingly original in its execution. We find the welcomed return of vocals on this release added to the bass line driven motorik galaxy explorers, fleshed out with ectoplasmic synth blasts and kaleidoscopic psychedelia coursing through this fine little platter of fractal rock.
Like flying blind through an asteroid belt, Horizon Structures zigs and zags with frenzied circuit bent ecstasy and a head bopping bounce. Accompanying this EP is a set of "4D Glasses For Access To Transdimensional Viewing Portal…" If that doesn't hint at the sounds contained within then we don't what does. It's nice to get these 4 cuts of time traveling drug tones and awesome to find Lumerians composing hard hitting driving rock based songs that are catchy yet still flirting with all sorts of experimentation.
This EP is pretty good marriage of "Transmissions From The Telos Vol. IV" that we released and the aforementioned "Transmilinnia" album while still reaching for the stars and wigging out to further realms.
Transdimensionally Recommended.
Ahhhhhh - trés bien! Our tight bros over at Captcha have compiled all of French freakazoids Feeling Of Love's singles from 2006-2008 onto one LP and we couldn't be happier!
YES. This LP really takes us back - we here at P-Rex have been Feeling Of Love fans from release number one (heck, we even released a single by 'em last year - you snag that one?) and Guillaume's brand of "weird-punk en français" is definitely the brie for our bread. The sound of Feeling of Love is based in late-eighties/early-nineties garage rock grime, but spiked in the vein with a fiber-optic needle, exploding apart the songs from the framework within. Backwater blues skronk is deconstructed and rebuilt using blueprints Jon Spencer used to build the 2,000-foot Pussy Galore robot that's piloted by Jerry Casale from Devo. Yep. Some of the tunes are just that weird.
This LP compiles all of FoL's material back before Guillaume put together the full band and it was essentially a kooky fucking home recording project with Guillaume screaming into a microphone all by himself over skittering synths, blown-out beats and cracked guitar riffage (is that a bug-zapper in the background of one of these tunes???) A great re-introduction (or starting point) to one of the freshest-sounding (and FRENCHest sounding) bands around!
We love this merde!
RECOMMENDED!
The record slinger wing of the Austin Psych Fest, Reverberation Appreciation Society, has been on quite the fuzzy cave stomping roll in the past year with releases from UFO Club, Christian Bland, Shapes Have Fangs and P-Rex alumni, Cosmonauts. So it's no surprise that they're ready to give us music junkies a comp worthy to be filed next to "Pebbles", "Nuggets" and "Back From The Grave". Entitled simply and adroitly The Reverb Conspiracy, this double lp is overflowing with hazy psych rock gems from our garage loving brothers and sisters in Europe you gotta check out now.
The psych rock movement happening across the pond continues to perpetuate forward. The Reverb Conspiracy is chock full of relatively unknown yet hard hitting acts like the Koolaid Electric Company and Sonic Jesus that warp the normal psych cues like Velvet Underground and Spacemen 3 taking them in whole new and entrancing directions. Super limited and worth the investment, this comp is your introduction to a slew of awesome new groups.
We can almost guarantee that shortly you'll be spending all your time and money to track down some if not all the bands that appear on The Reverb Conspiracy. If you're into the SF / Castle Face Records scene or a fan of Black Angels, Night Beats and/or MMOSS, this comp is gonna blow your mind.
VERY RECOMMENDED.
The Reverberation Appreciation Society just released the latest lysergic dose from Indian Jewelry and you need to peel right into it now.
Indian Jewelry have been doling out experimental sonics for years now and their latest is yet another stunner to add to their ever growing back catalog. Peel It finds the IJ's heading further into the realms of the unknown and making trippy psychedelia that is all their own. Starting things off with the call to arms Freak Pride, Indian Jewelry squiggle and bounce through drugged out worlds of sexualized attitude. Some hints of Chrome, a little Throbbing Gristle, a bout of Nitzer Ebb, a dollop of Royal Trux, some Excepter and a helping of Texas legends Pain Teens have been cut up and collaged into a completely original being that only Indian Jewelry seem to be able to conjure.
With danceable rhythms, noise-spiral guitars, murky dubbed out soundscapes, slithering weirdness and a vocal style that is equal parts come hither as it is threatening, Indian Jewelry's Peel It is chock full of genre bending experimentalism and by our standards that makes it Mega Recommended. Nicely done gang!
If the Mayan calendar had been right and we'd reached the end of the world as we knew it in 2012, Net Shaker's new LP "I'm So Cold" would be the perfect soundtrack for your post apocalyptic January. This LA two piece concocts a lurking evil brew of electronic bent no / new wave industrial clanging that sucks you right in. Kill Shaman scooped up these krautrock soaked grooves and released them for mass consumption, so we know it's gonna be good.
Net Shaker owes a great debt to the classic outsider sonic architects like Suicide, Tools You Can Trust, Neu! and Throbbing Gristle, and these guys would've been at home in Berlin of the 70s just as much as NYC in the early 80s--really any place where their eerie trance-inducing dubbed-out circuit-bent avant drone could be appreciated for the eerie territory it explores. Fans of the dread inducing beats of Umberto, Not Not Fun Records and German Army or the creep psych of the Liars and Jealousy will need Net Shaker's warped journey through the back hallways of the mind.
And, man, does "I'm So Cold" trigger all kinds of positive yet spooky musical associations for us, and new ones every time we spin it. Not many bands can swirl in so many out-there influences without sounding like mere imitators and that my friend is a seldom offered compliment.
Rated R for RECOMMENDED.
Our buds over at Kill Shaman are always digging deep to bring you the finest of the weird to your ears and with their latest release, "Bronze Age Nursery Rhyme" by the Netherlands based Smalts, they have uncovered a true winner.
"Bronze Age Nursery Rhyme" is comprised of 6 tracks in their native Dutch, 2 tracks in English, 1 track in Russian and 2 instrumentals making a well rounded experience of eccentric outsider pop and eclectic experiments a la the Residents and other groups from the Ralph Records roster. We're hearing some Flying Lizards, Sun City Girls, Corum, Plastic People Of The Universe and Tuxedomoon vibes through out but Smalts have been putting out their own brand of quirky out-pop since the early 80's so really any comparisons are an arbitrary affair as they've helped foster "that" sound since the beginning.
If you like experimental outsider pop that is both challenging and ear pleasing then cuddle up and listen to the "Bronze Age Nursery Rhyme" and drift off to a fairy tale world of dream logic and multilingual folk songs that scamper through the clouds.
Super Recommended.
Brand new album of clattering, shambolic post punk from these Los Angeles deadbeats, The Shark Toys released by the Clevo-crumb-bumbs at Dead Beat Records!!
The Shark Toys reside in a unique sonic space to our ears - definitely mess(thetic)ing around in territory warmed up by folks like TVP, Swell Maps and Crisis, but there's a for reals Budget Rockin' West Coast garage slime slathered that takes over the B-side a'la Supercharger, Mummies, etc - not really in sound, but vibes. The keys definitely add a "new wave" sensibility, but it's minimal - these dudes sound like all the bands that undoubtedly made fun of "new wave" back in the day. Must be the sun baking these dudes brains, but whatever it may be, we love it! RECOMMENDED.
Don't worry Ratas Del Vaticano is still alive and kicking south of the border—one of our favorite Mexican punk rawk maniacs are just on winter break. But not Dave Rata, who's first and only solo effort, originally pressed up as cassette in 2011, just got the reissued on vinyl by the fine folks at Bat Shit Records. Full of stripped down in yer fucking face punk fury despite the lack of help from his usual cohorts, Senor Rata has dropped some seriously infectious dark menacing deconstructed grooves on us with "Hallucigenia".
Hallucigenia is one scary evil trip. Full of skeletal chords, rudimentary backbeats from an overheating drum machine, and incendiary rabid vocals, Dave Rata is taking punk rock back to its sinister roots. Part post punk darkness via Bauhaus or Christian Death, part hellbent old skool leather jacket and spikes anarchy the likes of which haven't been seen or heard around these parts since Crass or Pist.
In addition to that, Rata's 11-track horror meets sci-fi punk saga is a reinterpretation of HP Lovecraft as seen through the violence of drug cartels, bad economics times and the rock n roll angst bubbling up from the disaffected streets of Monterrey. Heavy right? Yep, just in just the right way, mixing the right amount of snotty punk and unhinged 80s distorted indie rock with a menacing avant twist of his own. And Dave Rata's solo lp doesn't fall too far from Ratas Del Vaticano, so those of you with any their releases on Captcha, Siltbreeze, and Volar need to dive deep into "Hallucigenia".
VIOLENTLY RECOMMENDED
Reflections Records has unleashed a beast of an album by the Netherlands Herder, entitled Horror Vacui, and this is some extreme music you extreme people need right now.
"Horror Vacui" is a hate filled slab of stonery doom that is here to crush your existence and clear your bongs before you get the chance. We never really thought about it this way before but a place called the Netherlands should be birthing unholy humanity hating hardcore doom bands like this daily, like seriously. And Herder are truly pissed, that throat chomping wolf beast on the cover is a pretty good visual representation of the surly sonics coming out of these grooves.
We're hearing hints of UK's Electric Wizard, US's Buzzov*en, Sweden's Entombed, Finland's Throat and the whole sludge-y lot, but with a heavy emphasis on the "not giving a fuck" tip that pushes these dudes into a gnarly territory all their own. If you enter this yard you better hope Herder is securely chained up or it's yer ass. Brazen, evil, unrelenting and anti-human, Herder's Horror Vacui is six punishing monoliths of negative no never not nill null....demise.
So, you know, RECOMMENDEAD!
ORIGINALS HAVE SOLD FOR OVER $900!!!
WHOAH. Our good pals at the ever-reliable Lion Productions in conjunction with Vintage Records have reissued this holy grail, hard-rockin' masterwork from New Jersey devils Sainte Anthony's Fyre!
Gonzo, hard-rockin' madness! We're DEFINITELY feeling this one - it's like Marty McFly time-travelled back in time and created a band that was executed per our exact taste!
The "Hard Stuff", with a hint of bluesy rockin, but with a definite proto-punk attitude and swagger that elevates this above your typical Seventies hard stuff. These guys had to have had their ears on the Motor City back in the day - we're hearing the unmistakable testosterone-fueled influence of the MC5 or The Rationals, as well as the sinister oil-caked, cabaret feel of Alice Cooper too. These dudes were apparently courted by the bigs back in the day (Felix Pappalardi even offered to produce, but ultimately wanted too much moolah) and was a hair away from signing with Atlantic, but ultimately facing restrictions that would dictate their sound, decided against it, and recorded/released this one themselves. Fuck yeah!
The "rough" sound of the record really is an asset to the overall feel and probably ups the aggression and sinister feel overall, with the guitars fuzzed out and pushing the red zone to the maxx, bro. If you dig Pentagram, Blue Cheer, Grand Funk, or even newer, backward-looking bands like Graveyard, Witchcraft and FUZZ, then prepare to feel the HEAT from the FYRE!
Pressed up on gorgeous 180gm vinyl and packed with detailed liners/lyrics and a repro of the band's original promo poster, this is one NOT TO MISS (nice price too!). RECOMMENDED times 10,000,000,000!!!!
Destined for 2013 "Reissue of the Year" status - Get this now!
Floor-filling, wide-lapel'd disco funk from one of The Twin Cities' lost acts - The Lewis Connection (or "Conection" if you go by what the sleeve says) (re)released by the founding funk-fathers at The Numero Group!!!!
Righteous jams! Definitely riding the coke-soaked flares of Parliament Funkadelic and Sly Stone to the mirror-ball'd disco of our dreams! NO PARKING ON THE DANCE FLOOR! The Lewis Brothers had many connects to rising talent in the Twin Cities, as their lone album features future hit-maker Prince Rogers Nelson on guitar (yep. THAT Prince) and while their debut ended up being their swan-song - we're stoked the musical archivists at Numero saw fit to regail it to it's rightful place in the canon of under-appreciated gems of Seventies funk!
Housed in a tip-on sleeve re-creating the original (misspelled) artwork and a uber-cool obi-strip chock full of info! Numero's on a roll this year (and it's only January! GEEZ!) RECOMMENDED!
Our friends over at Groove Distribution hipped us to this killer soundtrack from legendary samurai flick Shogun Assassin and we're super glad they did.
Hell… if it's good enough for GZA then it's good enough for us, plus it's a damn fine piece of work on by it's own merit. This soundtrack contains audio clips of dialogue from the movie as well as some serious MOOG synthesizer action. The synth swells and tonal pads set the mood and totally transfer to a pure audio experience making the visuals of the movie unnecessary to enjoy this sonic document of a bygone era of latenight movie house popcorn munchin' sword slashing debauchery.
So buckle in and come along as Lone Wolf and his toddler son set out as mercenaries to avenge the death of their wife/mother by the hands of ninja spies. The production work by legendary knob twiddler W. Michael Lewis and Paul Revere And The Raiders honcho Mark Lindsay is too good to be true; synthesizer bursts of beauty and tension. Mega Recommended.
MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!!!
YEEESS! More drool worthy Ethiopiques material gets the wax works from the fine folks at Mississippi Records!!!!!!
We've always touted the Ethiopiques CD series to anyone new and willing to listen, but seriously it's that amazing. This collection of singles by Alamayehu Eshete is all killer no filler and will have you tapping your toes in no time. Eshete combines all likes of modern music to make joy filled tunes that'll leave you wanting more. Just wait you'll be scouring the webs in no time trying to track down as much Ethiopiques as you can find cuz this stuff is infectious and so so delicious to the ears. Alamayehu Eshete mashes soul, rock 'n' roll and Ethiopian music to create some totally amazing unique music. This music grooves for days, horns bursting through the funky rhythms laid down by various backing bands and Alamayehu Eshete's vocal croon leading the listener to a universe of cloud nine dance floor fillers.
This compilation is a freaking gold mine and Beyond Recommended.
MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!!!
Mississippi Records has released a freaking marvelous collection with this new lp from Kesarbai Kerkar.
Starting from humble beginnings, Kesarbai Kerkar became of one the biggest names of Indian classical singers. This collection of 40's and 50's ragas are simply sublime. The vocal control is mind blowing, creating haunting yet beautiful tones that at times sound inhuman and at others are truly entrancing and mystical. Backed by sarangi, harmonium and tabla, Kesarbai Kerker creates spiritually infused music that is utterly mesmerizing.
This lp comes with a color booklet of translations of the ragas and a detailed history of this sincerely gifted vocalist. Recommended.
LP - L'Orchestre National "A" de la Republique du Mali - L'Orchestre National "A" de la Republique du Mali - $11.99 - BUY
- LISTEN 
- LISTEN
MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!!!
You all know how much we love Mississippi Records releases around here and sometimes these titles simply fly off the shelf before we get a chance to give them the proper praise they deserve. This collection of Malian music is one such record, it's from a while back but we sold through them before ever getting getting to share them with you in an update.
This is another amazing collection of 70's African music being archived and re-released to the public at large. Beautiful vocals and wicked guitar flavors bristle over thumping percussion and saxaphone accompaniment making for a sundrenched laid back theme throughout.
As with anything on Mississippi, it's Supremely Recommended.
LP - Various Artists - Fanafody: A Collection of Recordings and Photography from Madagasikara Vol. II - $11.99 - BUY - LISTEN
- LISTEN
MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!!!
INCLUDES BOOKLET
INCLUDES BOOKLET
Biologists love the island of Madagascar for its biodiversity and isolation. It's that one island off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean with all those lemurs on it, remember? These recordings are from Montreal-based folk archivist Charlie Brooks's 2002 tour, and feature a music as unique as the animal inhabitants. The Mississippi description makes note of "violin players and throat-breathing singers," which are abound, but we also hear touches of Brazilian carnivale samba, Caribbean jump, and zydeco mixed in with this bubbling stew, generally as uplifting as any of those typically high-BPM high-intensity genres, but with a strangely relaxing quality as well. This collection takes its name from the island's practitioners of traditional medicine, and we recommend putting it on in the morning while enjoying some coffee and vanilla (two major exports from Madagascar) to start your day off in a healthy you-zone. Recommended.
Sunflare are a Portuguese act and their latest is "Ghetto Blast" on Bat Shit Records. Look out cuz "Ghetto Blast" is a searing comet of heavy psych insanity blistering through the atmosphere throwing elbows and stomping on toes. On this white hot ripper of an LP you get 2 side long cuts of acid-noise head bang psychedelic madness; its got the blown out raw fidelity of King Blood and Purling Hiss, the sonic cloudy blur of Bardo Pond and the no holds barred feedback sonic attack squall of High Rise and Les Rallizes Denudes.
Sunflare are setting a new standard in heavy psychedelia that charts the outer reaches of space as much as it drags its tangled locks in the dirt. This scuzzed, fried blisteringly bold psychedelic rock is stoned to infinity and comes with our hashiest Recommendation.
HOLY SHITBALLS!!! CAN!!!!
NEW MOTHERFOCKING CAN!!
If you're not palpating like a kid at Disneyland we don't know what to say. This is serious, people!! What you have in front of you is not only MORE Can but NEW, YES NEW Can.
Unlike some 20 year anniversary redux reissue blah blah, Mute and Spoon went ahead and did us the tremendous solid of presenting a dizzying mix of studio outtakes and live performances that span both the Damo and Malcom eras. Even the older, more familiar material that has appeared on P-REX standbys Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi is reworked and reconfigured so much it may as well just be new songs altogether. While we totally understand the hesitation of shelling out 100 bones on anything, rest assured we wouldn't be pushing this on you if we weren't 1000% positive you'll be blown clear outta the water when you sit down and listen to these 5 long-players.
In addition, Irmin Schmidt provides some interesting linear notes that give a little background on the songs and elucidate some of the mystery that went into the recording process -- he also very deliberately keeps somethings to himself which only adds to the clandestine Can mystique.
SO INSANELY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!
MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!!!
The musical archaeologists at Mississippi Records have done it again with Rocket Infinity - compiling this selection of highly delectable tunes from across the globe.
We're always interested in the "non genre-specific" compilations Mississippi puts together - they're usually an interesting, seemingly mixed bag that flows extremely well and they way these folks are able to string a musical narrative is entrancing! (Have you heard any of the shop-only mixtapes they sell? A dizzying diverse bag of tunes from all decades and all over the world!) "Rocket Infinity" is a killer comp, taking the task of compiling the rise of Rock and Pop music through the structures of each region's traditional forms of song, with each performer absorbing the influence of American R'n'R and injecting it with their region's mojo - Thailand's "Gunga Din" serves up 'Rak Ron Ying Kwa Det', which apparently liberally borrows the melody of a Jerry Reed tune and "Lil' Wally" gives us 'Crazy Polka', injecting big-band rockin' with a dash of Slavic polka!
It's a thrilling ride and all too short! "Rocket Infinity" is a one-shot deal, folks - never to be repressed, and housed in a sweet tip-on 10-inch sleeve with great retro-style artwork! If you're leaning towards snagging this one, we'd recommend doing it quick-like.
TO INFINITY and BEYOND RECOMMENDED!
The mighty Apop Records just parted the waters with this nasty little single from St. Louis' no-fuck-around squad Shaved Women.
Yep. Another dangerous outing of downer punk nihilism from the unstoppable Shaved Women is what this 7 inch contains. The 2 cuts on the a-side blister up some hate fueled rippage complete with some tasty Greg Ginn-ish riffage. "Anxiety" flies by in a fury and leads into "Pressures" that steadily starts to undo itself, but wait there's more... flip this panicked platter over and Shaved Women go all "side 2 My War" on your ass with their dirge masterpiece of a "fuck it" anthem "Adulthood".
We've been huge fans of all things Shaved Women here at the shop, their LP on Rotted Tooth and their single on Pass Judgment got lots o' spins round these parts, so yeah, we were pretty stoked to pop the cork on this bubbling bottle of "give up". Shaved Women are serving up 3 cuts of Drunks With Guns style no hope gutter rock and this single is further proof of the quality jams these dudes are bringing to the table.
Super Recommended.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES
More UK DIY insta pop from our beloved Pheromoans on their newest and most unhealthy single, Art Mist, out on Savoury Days..
Like the weirdo rock provocateurs The Fall, Half Japanese and Desperate Bicycles before them, Pheromoans are out to destroy and reinvent rock n roll all at the same time by fusing their stumbling underground guitar pop with the dumbest, ugliest and greatest of the punk forefathers, like the Gizmos and Pagans.
Fans of the Pheromoans already know their place in the "alternative" history of punk and that another dose of their noisy odd post punk rule breaking is a must have. But for the uninitiated, Art Mist is an shambling art punk adventure, the Do It Yer Fucking Self English way. Right up your alley if you've collected those Messthetics comps or if you're into the Television Personalities, the Homosexuals, Scrotum Poles and/or Monochrome Set.
A non stop spin, the four song Art Mist EP will slither its way into yer soul and is, of course, SUPER RECOMMENDED.
The Bat Shit Records folks that brought us the mind frying Sunflare LP is back on the attack with this double 7 incher by Mexico's Ratas Del Vaticano.
We dug the shit outta Ratas Del Vaticano's releases on Captcha, Volar and Siltbreeze, so you know we were stoked to crack this box open. And what you're getting is 4 fucking sides of tyrannical harshities from one bad mother fucker of a punk group, 8 tracks of blown out intensity and 2 minute blasts of no bullshit hardcore punk with doses of GISM, Motorhead and Los Crudos popping up through out.
This menacing chunk of double wax comes housed in a full color gate fold sleeve with some classic war collage artwork and all the lyrics printed on the inside. Hell of a dang ol' nice package if you ask us. It is also Supremely Recommended.
CRUCIAL mid-seventies weirdo Cleveland proto-punk from Mirrors/Electric Eels madman Paul Marotta's OTHER band The Styrenes! The first of a proposed four volume series of double seven-inches documenting The Styrenes' output in chronological order. We're stoked that Mustard Records in Cali have taken on this daunting (but we're sure, pleasurable) task of releasing these collective 14 inches of beauty.
Styrenes are essentially the missing link between the VU strum of The Mirrors and the acid-soaked, caveman thud of The Electric Eels that somehow ends up sounding like a more avant-cool Sparks or a less avant-cool Pere Ubu, taking the Ohio outsider-punk aesthetic and injecting it with a dash of future-leaning NYC art-rock. We can dig it! Packaged in a wicked tip-on double-7-inch gatefold jacket, with illustrations by legendary underground Cleveland cartoonist Derf!
This one packs a punch, so prepare yourself! RECOMMENDED!
LIMITED TO 355 COPIES!!!
Aggressive, aggro punk scree from the UK, courtesy of Good Throb!
These three gals and one dude don't shy away from the socio-political lyrics, and the ferocity of their conviction is only augmented by the ferocity of the music - holy crap! Good Throb take the angular guitar strum of Wire and fuse it with the apocalyptic unholy dirge of Rudimentary Peni and then strangle it. To death. Comes in a cool, illustrated 7-inch sleeve that folds out into a poster collage! We likey!
RECOMMENDED for punx and the like. GET IT.
Sloppy no-fi punk rock from a boring suburb in Orange County, California. Minimal loud and raucous like the early hardcore scenes in SF and DC. Cheaper than a pack of smokes or your favorite tall boy, so you can't go wrong. And it's a tape only release...just as this kinda punk was meant to be listened to.
