Grab a bowl of popcorn, turn off the lights, adjust the tracking on your VCR and settle in for the dark voyage that is Umberto's latest, "Confrontations" on Not Not Fun.
After Permanent released the vinyl version of Umberto's "From The Grave" it seemed to set off a shockwave with a flurry of Umberto records getting pressed at a pretty quick clip. Then things began to settle down for a while and Umberto stayed hidden amongst the shadows sharpening his razors cleaning his leather gloves, stalking his next victim and waiting for just the right moment to pounce and slash. Well that moment is finally upon us and "Confrontations" is a finely crafted soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist. (Yet.) It is steadily paced to tempt the listener into the dark corner and it evokes the best qualities of 70's/80's horror/exploitation soundtracks with its many layers of tension inducing synthesizers, choir pads and a steady drum machine bump throughout this studied work of foreboding treachery and night vision guile.
Vigorously Recommended.
Le Chômage is a new group out of France that features members of AH Kraken, Feeling Of Love, The Dreams and countless other acts that spew forth form the mighty La Grand Triple Alliance Internationale De L'est collective. A quick jump over to Google Translate tells us that Le Chômage morphed into English means "The Unemployment" which seems a fitting moniker to this sweaty, foul-mouthed glue wave super group. Le Chômage manages to squash together the sounds of their collective other bands while birthing something wholly original; an aggro chortle punk sound that marries together the anxiety chants of The Anals, the blistering mutant fuzz stomp of Thee Oh Sees and the clattering art damaged burnt hair nostril stuffing "go fuck yerself" blase' of The Fall.
This self titled debut provides a sound that is brash and unforgiving, but one that still pumps out some seriously killer jams that'll have you spinnin' this caustic platter for all your pals. These 10 cuts were put to wax and released into the wild by the collective efforts of the lable Briquie, Pouet! Schallplatten, Animal Biscuit, and 24h Sur Jamais labels respectively. If you've been privy to any of our previous rants about The Dreams, Feeling Of Love, Ah Kraken, Funk Police, The Anals, Cheveu or any other of the myriad acts coming out of France in the last decade then do not snooze cuz this boy born bad is next level shit fer sure.
Hyperventilatingly Recommended.
Strange Forces indeed! An Australian band that moved to Germany that started a heavy instrumental psychedelic group that get's its record funded by a "grow your own" website called Magic Mushroom Shop? Oh yeah.. this is gonna get tons of spins round Permo-HQ. This release is a quintessential Permanent record, it's got fugged up 3d-ish artwork and the lysergic sonics coming out of our speakers are of the most ear pleasing psychedelic variety.
"I'd Rather Listen To The Bloody Birds" is grooving through the acid vision cosmos with driving beats, melodic bass lines, effect drenched guitars creating future primitive instrumental head swirlers from start to finish. Strange Focus are squinting the sounds of acts like White Hills, Disappears, Camera, The Telescopes and Swervedriver and concocting their own brand of fungus minded psychedelia, a sound that conjures the depths of the mind with a heaping helping of VOLUME.
Crank this sucker and stare at your hand for a few hours. .. wait... did that chair just move? Supremely Recommended.
HOUSED IN AN AMAZING VELVET FLOCKED GATEFOLD JACKET! WHOAH!
(un)HOLY HELLFIRE!
Numero have unleashed what may be THE discovery of the millennium with this unreleased album from arcane Chicago rockers, MEDUSA!
DUUUUUUDES. This record is a ripper!
An absolutely GNARLY pseudo-metal, proto-punk, post-prog masterpiece of long-bearded, black-robed sorcery-rock! Prepare the cauldron! Now in addition to eye of newt and the blood of a virgin, add a dash of Uriah Heep, a sprinkle of Jerusalem or Deep Purple, skull shavings from Pentagram and the oily black smoke will conjure something akin to this hard-rocking, bonehead-crunching death machine! Hell, if you told us these were licked by the tongue of Satan himself, we'd probably believe you.
"First Step Beyond" is one heavy and heady concoction of rock - forget that Coven shit, Medusa were the REAL DEAL Satanic rockers! (Even if they weren't actually Satanists, this music makes us believers!) Hard in all the right places and never cheezy - there's some KILLER riffage goin' on here, particularly on side two's "Feelings Of Indifference" which shreds skyward into oblivion, and then proceeds to REALLY get fuckin' WEIRD. It's the rare kind of record from back in the day that is the perfect balance of throat-choking rock and roll and bong-ripping psychedelic music. An astounding find.
Plus this thing LOOKS FUCKING BAD-ASS. Holy hell - housed in a black, faux-velvet flocked sleeve with red and gold foil artwork, plus a sweet gatefold and a printed insert! This one is for the ages!
SATAN COMMANDS YOU TO BUY IT! (We'd also like to add that it's RECOMMENDED by us too - we won't command you to buy it, but we shouldn't have to - it's just that awesome!) GET THIS!!!
Things are ticking away in 2013 and the reissue onslaught is already at hand. We got a dose of Grouper reissue fever in the end of 2012 with the Yellow Electric offerings of "Cover The Windows And The Walls" LP and the two "AIA" LPs so you know we were stoked to unbox this here album. "Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill" finds Grouper toning down the fuzz and haze that had become a signature quality of earlier records and of some still to come and letting her voice take center stage. Most tracks are comprised of gentle acoustic guitars and her voice just above the brim with just a touch of echo and reverb to add to the atmosphere. These are dreamy and floaty tunes that patter against the ear like a westward drizzle from a weeping cloud. Beautiful and delicate songs of deeply personal affairs is what Grouper excels at and this album is chock full of further testaments to the talent this songstress is awash with. Super Recommended.
If you liked the "Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill" LP that Kranky just reissued then don't miss this companion piece album "The Man Who Died In His Boat". "The Man Who Died In His Boat" is a collection of songs recorded during the same time as the "Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill" album but never released. That is until now. Thanks to the fine folks at Kranky Records we can now hear these fantastic tracks that are of equal quality as the Dead Deer tracks. And they've been sequenced perfectly making this feel like a proper album and not a collection. "The Man Who Died In His Boat" finds Grouper in acoustic strum mode with her voice gently lamenting through the fog and gauze. Layers of vocals, tape decay and echoing delays shape the ebb and flow of the album like waves of dark minded stories lapping at the shores of your decreased synapse blasts. Totally Recommended.
Another slab of wax from Cleveland's most prolific noise-monger, OBNOX. Hell fucking yeah.
We here at P-Rex will jump at the chance to obtain anything Lamont "Bim" Thomas aka OBNOX gets involved in. Whether it's been his work with the Bassholes, This Moment In Black History, Puffy Areolas, Unholy Two or as Obnox, we make sure we have plenty of copies coming our way. And his solo records have been nothing short of avant genius. So we wondered what Bim would cook up for his follow up to his P-Rex LP "Rojo", and man are the "A Ragin In The Sun" and "Smoke Woody Haze" EPs both quite the crazy sonic trips. 12XU got their hands on the Smoke Woody Haze and pressed it up old school maxi 12 inch single style, you know like a banger of a club track, which in our world it is.
On "Smoke Woody Haze", you might say OBNOX has chewed up hip hop and spit out something so unique and mesmerizing it doesn't even fall into a genre any more. Kinda like Madlib mashing jazz and hip hop on those "Yesterday's New Quintet" LPs, Mick Collins taking on techno and soul via the garage rock filter of the Dirtbombs or Puffy Areola's hardcore renditions of acid fried psych, OBNOX's 12 inch is a noise rock reinterpretation of rap and the soul music it samples all through his warped vision of blown out rock n roll fun.
Absolutely one of the most interesting records you'll come across all year long. And just the kind of distorted out-there music we can all expect from Bim. Fans of his previous work, noise rock in general and anything genre busting, need to grab a copy of "Smoke Woody Haze". The only bad thing about the record is it doesn't come with a joint.
ABSOLUTELY AND HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Mexican Summer unleashes a brain berating record of endorphin bursting lunacy with its latest by Spectral Park.
Spectral Park is a manic, high-energy shot of adrenilezed saccharine infused gonzo pop. This heavily collaged piece of work is unyielding with enthusiasm, a severly processed modern pop construction that could only be made in these oh so computerized times. Things flitter and pop and zing and zang all the while providing a break neck rollicking bombastic experience of bright and shiny amyl nitrite pop ecstasy. Lace up your dancing shoes and hold for dear life cause your next jaunt through Spectral Park is gonna have your heart rate struggling to keep up.
Energetically Recommended.
LIMITED TO 548 COPIES!
HOO BOY! ANY new Apache Dropout records in the bins is cause for celebration 'round these parts! We've been fans ever since these boys Cha-Cha-Cha'd their way into our hearts with their Family Vineyard debut from 2011. OK, so this one's not NEW recordings from Bloomington, IN's favorite sons, but... well does it matter? These tracks are from the early tape releases from when our boys were laying the groundwork for what would become their unique signature sound - part acid-fried, garage hoodoo and part free-form psych-freakout, peppered with an equal appreciation of self-conscious Sixties arty-ness and tongue-in-cheek bubblegum pop sensibilities.
The ten tracks here, culled from their first two cassettes (Cha Cha in 2008 and Lysergic Choogle: Not for Pigs from '09) are a bit further out, with the boys mucking around in lo-fi, avant-garage, but there's also a backwoods-American folk vibe in a few of these numbers - Sonny Blood's finger-picking 6-string lullabies and existential odes to rock and roll and the anti-establishment not-so-subtly remind us of he oft-rumored Velvet Underground collaboration with Woody Guthrie (that doesn't really exist people - don't get your knickers in a twist!)
Remastered for optimal audio-fidelity from the original cassette sources and limited to 548 copies, this is one to warm up a cold winter's night! These guys can do no wrong in our books - RECOMMENDED!!!
Cacophonous garage rumblings comin' straight outta Bloomington's bad-girl basement scene! Thee Open Sex have dropped a couple of avant-psych drone tapes on hometown cassette label Magnetic South, but this marks their first proper vinyl release (and the first vinyl release for Magnetic South as well).
Definitely a more straight-forward, guitar-heavy album than any of their previous efforts, mining the same cave as fellow troglodytes Cheater Slicks or Dead Moon as well as fellow "thee" band, Thee Oh Sees - boogie-ing down with reverb soaked, fuzzed out psych mayhem. There's a palpable sense of midwestern rage permeating these tunes - like frustration strained through a cheese-cloth hewn from seventies German krauty goodness and seventies US Cleveland weird into a beer stein made of melted hubcaps. Vocalist 'Miss Mess' howls like a woman possessed, mainlining the full-throated roar of her foremothers like Patti Smith or the swagger of Cherie Currie, as well as the confidence of folks like Kathleen Hanna. We definitely dig it! RECOMMENDED.
Otherworldy abstractness from Modra, released on Pink Reason main-liner himself, Kevin DeBroux's new label Savage Quailty!
We're not sure what's been going on in the line for the men's room, but if this is what it produces, may it be a long and glacial wait! This is an album that unfolds with every listen, revealing itself in sputters and false starts - uncoiling like a snake. Cacophonous and noisy, with just the right amount of fidelity - reminds us of the unwashed sonic blanket of bands like The Godz, Jandek, Electric Eels, or first album Sonic Youth (when they were still noisy as fuck), plus other more recent bands of a similar unfriendly disposition (I'm looking at YOU, Degreaser, Mad Nanna, Eat Skull, and Mountain Cult!). Shit, this record sounds like how our mouths taste after a night of too many whiskeys and ruined friendships - killing us like a slow poison. A great one - nicely done! More Modra in 2013 please. RECOMMENDED.
Dark, cold synth-wave from Austin, TX trio Troller! Summoned into existence by Holodeck Records!
NICE. Troller lay out six tracks of ethereal, goth-wave peppered with equal amounts of black-laced synth pop. Whispers of John Carpetner's synth-laded eighties soundtracks, the laconic new romanticism of "Avalon"-era Roxy and the glue-drenched pop of neu-folks like Gel Set and Sam Flax! How people make this kind of stuff in the oppressive Texas heat is beyond us! Fire up the analog synth and pop some 'ludes and bliss out to Troller! RECOMMENDED.
If the surrealists had access to a Tascam 8-track and went on an absinthe bender, they may have been able to come with an exquisite aural collage corpse along the lines of Igor Wahkevitch’s ‘Docteur Faust.’
Bitchin' album cover, schitzo tunes and multiple drug references all add up to a higly R E C O M M E N D E D album.
You’re blindfolded, tied-up and an unfriendly tribe of island natives are marching you to your certain doom (you hope that they just throw you into a volcano, but fear that they are going to cook you alive in a giant cauldron). then the drugs kick in. The fear you feel is un-describable; what you hear sounds a lot like Igor Wakhevitch’s ‘Hathor.’
It’s a sinister piece of wax that is best played in the dark, form start to finish. Just keep your night light handy. Oh yeah, definitely R E C O M M E N D E D!
Medical Records drops a double dose of synth-y delight on us with Tony Cary's "Explorer and Yellow Power"!
Both albums were originally released in 1982 and fans of Medical Records other synth laden releases like Axxess, Gay Cat Park, and Drinking Electricity are in for a treat. Ex-Rainbow keyboard freak, Tony Carey, left the cozy climes of California to emabark on a sonic journey of exploration in Germany. While there he composed these two records of upbeat proto-techno stompers. "Explorer" is just that, an artist experimenting with various electronics creating quick tempo-ed cosmic disco instrumental bumpers that could work as soundtrack music for film or video games and moving forward on to "Yellow Power" Carey has honed his production skills creating an album even more compelling adding all sorts of various instrumentation to his repertoire.
"Yellow Power" is an exciting journey through sound that bobs and weaves through neon tinged 80's ephemera. Again both records could work beautifully as soundtrack music with their highly stylized arrangements and ample synthesizer textures and pulsing beats. Medical Records has brought these two glorious pieces of the past back in a stunning eye popping gatefold double LP package with both albums pressed up on purty purty colored wax. Recommended.
The break-out number-one hit album for Los Angeles soul man Bill Withers, reissued with love from 4 Men With Beards (they even re-create the original album's cool, center gatefold packaging!)
Where to begin with an album like this? It's a stone-cold funky classic, that is waaaaaaay more diverse sounding that it may seem like on the surface, grooving in a killer socio-political righteous soul mode a'la Curtis Mayfield's seventies solo records, or the smoky Philly soul of Bobby Womack. The band is SO in the pocket, it's goddamn ridiculous. It's hard to look back on albums like this that seems like they've always been there - like a shining, perfect diamond. Contains Bill's mega-smash hit "Lean On Me" as well as the undeniably funky "Use Me", the dark and slinky jealousy-anthem "Who Is He (And What Is He To You)?". Fuckin A - we're gonna listen to this one again. Call ya later. RECOMMENDED.
ORIGINALS HAVE SOLD ON AVERAGE FOR $30
An underrated soul gem finally sees the reissue treatment courtesy of 4 Men With Beards! "Just As I Am" is the debut LP of Los Angeles soul-man Bill Withers - originally issued on Sussex in 1971.
For as massive a hit as "Ain't No Sunshine" was, somehow this album gets overlooked in the canon of Seventies soul records, and definitely one of the most solid soul debuts of all time (in our opinion) Withers was able to fuse the sexy-soul strains comin' out of Philly acts like the Defonics and Bobby Womack with an easily relate-able "down-home" country feel (not unlike an Al Green, or Sam Cooke), leading (of course) to pop gold and a mega-hit for Sussex Records! Reissued here on 180gm vinyl and a sweet tip-on sleeve too! RECOMMENDED!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!
Obscure "kosmische muzik" from mid-seventies France reissued on Wah-Wah Records from Spain!
Where has "Paradoxe" been all our lives?!?!? These tracks were apparently recorded live to tape in '73 and '75, but lay unreleased until 1978. Pulsing with serpentine ambient pieces that drift and shape themselves into a cosmic storm of repetitive synthesizer pulses and hypnotic guitar squiggles, "Paradoxe" is dark-as-fuck too... by the time you're ankle-deep in the track "Cosmic Wheel", you may start to have a panic attack - and that's just track two! It's not all white-knuckled analog-fueled sci-fi anthems - Spacecraft get their drone fired up too. In particular, side two recalls Cluster or Harmonia, but with a hint of aggression - it doesn't necessarily "rock", but it sorta does. (FUCK this is great.)
This edition marks the first vinyl reissue of this album - and if you dig the more experimental side of the krautrock scene (i.e. Cluster, Tangerine Dream, Popol Vuh, Agitation Free), Brian Eno, or modern day flag-bearers like Chicago's own Bitchin' Bajas, Emeralds, or Peaking Lights then this one's sure to put the rocket fuel in your tank for maximum stratospheric penetration! It's limited to 500 copies, so haste may be in order if you want to secure this bad boy in your collection. Comes housed in a super-cool silver foil sleeve too!
RECOMMENDED by all means. GODDAMN.
After first spinning the self titled reverbed trashy cave stompin' debut from a young Ty Segall we knew that this was gonna be the start of a string of killer game changing albums. But little did we here at P-Rex know back in 2008 how awesome those subsequent Castle Face, Goner and Drag City LPs would be. And this album started it all. We're glad John Dwyer of The Oh Sees / Castle Face Records caught up with Ty and put this one out, in fact we couldn't imagine a world where he didn't.
This is must have lo-fi garage punk from Ty Segall before he got his rockin' backing band. Kinda like the early Oh Sees records or when Jay Reatard started recording under his own name, this is the lp where Ty jumped head first into his garage / psych record collection and never looked back. Absolutely Essential. We're glad this one's back in print and available to the masses. Know you don't have to miss out on the first homerun of Ty's epic and furious discography.
TOTALLY RECOMMENDED.
We can never get enough of Ty Segall. The latest installment of all things loud unruly and Ty is his early garage punk band, the Epsilons. Not only were the Epsilons are harbinger of all the future garage rock madness of a young Mister Segall, but this self titled long player is when and where Charlie Moonheart, Mikal Cronin and Ty Segall had their first rock n roll meeting of the minds.
Um, let's just say this one's a must own......and even more so since Young Cubs repressed it two tone colored wax style. Just as fun and punk rock as the Traditional Fools and catchy as anything Ty Segall has released, the self-titled debut from the Epsilons is a much needed addition to your garage punk collection. The familiar reference points of the Reatards, Oblivians and Oh Sees apply, but we wanna ask you when has Ty, Charlie or Mikal ever let us down?
Even their teenage punk band is killer. And now that they're coming close to being household names, this repress won't gather dust, so grip your copy soon. And of course it's way RECOMMENDED, but you knew that.
Bitchin Bajas' debut long player has been repressed by the Important Records folks so if you missed it the first time around here's your chance to fill out your BB collection!
Important Records were the label that released Cave's second full-length, the mighty "Psychic Psummer", and they're the one's behind the debut LP of this Cave solo side-project.
Cooper has impeccable taste and and an uncanny ability to make killer jams, no matter which instrument he's behind. He's a masterful multi-instrumentalist (believe it or not, that was Cooper rippin' and tearin' on drums on our very first release, the Warhammer 48k "An Ethereal Oracle" LP), but his keyboard skills come into play in Bitchin' Bajas far more than they are displayed in Cave where his guitar playing is featured most.
Complex melodies and deep resonating drone chords permeate this LP in a way that has rarely been replicated since the original krautsters, Tangerine Dream, did a few decades back. What "Tones / Zones" lacks in actual rhythm, it makes up for in melody, in fact, it doesn't sound too dissimilar from a more minimal / drumless Cave record. Fans of Cave and more drone-y atmospheric Krautrock will absolutely love Bitchin' Bajas debut LP. Go see him live too, it's a trip. RECOMMENDED.
You may remember Deux from the B.I.P.P.P. - French Synth Wave 1979 - 1985 comp of 2008 (our favorite compilation release from that year). Deux's cut "Game and Performance" was one of our favorite cuts on B.I.P.P.P. and it got spun at many a "Getting Drunk to Spin Records to Get Drunk To" DJ night (which may be making a comeback at a different venue soon, by the way). Anyhow, we recently discovered a good source for the Minimal Wave LP reissue by Deux and we're STOKED!
So grab a copy of Deux's "Decadence" and start your own dance party. Anything from Minimal Wave is highly recommended and this lp is no exception.
ORIGINALS REGULARLY SELL FOR OVER $50!
IMPORT REISSUE AT THE NICE PRICE!
IMPORT REISSUE AT THE NICE PRICE!
Heads and freak-out fanatics take note! The first side of this super psychedelic hard-rockin' reissue is comprised of a three-song suite titled "Eh Mushroom, Will You Be My Mushroom" - yeah, it's that FAR OUT!
The first is a bit of repetitive heaviness entitled "Chrysler", the second is a cut of studio multi-track tomfoolery called " Fille De L'Ombre ", and the last is a hypnotic slow burner known as "Long Song For Zelda" that even the hardest rockers will find themselves falling in love with. Side two is a side-long acid-trip JAM called "Cielo Drive / 17" - in all likelihood named after the street the Manson Family murders took place on. Hedayat was way ahead of his time!
Although some might classify this as Prog, it's much more psychedelic than even the furthest out Gong records - and there are some FAR OUT Gong records. Mathematical Prog lovers need not apply. This is a visceral lysergic journey for the body more than it is an impressive blend of odd-time signatures and brainy key changes. It's a trip for the mind too, but more of a vacation for the mind than a boggle. It's a total rocker, the guitar work is outstanding, the rhythm section is loose, but locked in, and the French vocals are soothing and paranoia-inducing simultaneously, but Hedayat backs off at all the right times letting Gong be Gong (albeit at their loosest).
We STRONGLY URGE fans of Soft Machine, Pink Floyd, Deviants, Hawkwind, and all things FAR OUT (have we said that yet?) to skip a meal (or even a dose) if they have to to add this masterpiece to their collection.
ORIGINALS HAVE SOLD FOR OVER $200!
IMPORT REISSUE AT THE NICE PRICE!
IMPORT REISSUE AT THE NICE PRICE!
We guarantee you've never heard a record quite like this one. Melmoth's (& Dashiell Hedayat ?) "La Devanture Des Ivress" (literally translated to "The Front Of Intoxications") is an (unsurprisingly) intoxicating, mysterious, and idiosyncratic listen to say the least. It's not psych, pop, prog, or jazz singularly, it's all of these things wrapped into one incredibly strange amalgam of a record. We'd never heard this one before we received these reissues and Google searches provide very little insight. The text that's been posted online about it from obscure French blogs (Chronophonix?) yield descriptive quotes like: “a monolith of loneliness rock'n'roll" and "Inevitably multicoloured.”. Intrigued? How could you not be?
Melmoth has been referred to by one Frenchie as "a phantom artist of the French history. One that nobody will speak about any more until his death." We'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt. This record is totally OUT THERE and totally RECOMMENDED for open minded folks looking to expand their overcast horizons even further! Put this one at your next dinner party and get the musical conversation flowing like fine wine.
ORIGINALLY ONLY AVAILABLE ON VINYL AS A TEST-PRESSING (ONLY 10 COPIES ARE KNOWN TO EXIST)
TEST-PRESSINGS HAVE SOLD FOR ALMOST $1600 USD!
IMPORT REISSUE AT THE NICE PRICE!
TEST-PRESSINGS HAVE SOLD FOR ALMOST $1600 USD!
IMPORT REISSUE AT THE NICE PRICE!
What the what?!?... Previously only available as a CD this highly sought after record was never actually released. A handful of test pressings from the early 70's have sold for as much as $1600!!!! This extremely mysterious lp is a holy grail of drugged out experimental progressive rock from France from 1973. Fille Qui Mousse (which translates to "Girl Who Foam" by the way, also YIKES!) made ultra out there sonic experimentations similar to what Faust were doing using various recordings and layering them together, but they also were laying down some seriously infectous jazz-tinged out rock a la Can complete with wonked out street poet vocals making this sonic collage a far out piece of experimental rock that should be as reknowned as Can's Tago Mago or Faust's IV. Motorik hippie groovers are interspliced with droning dins and freak flag fuzz trills as well as straight up sound collage bug outs.
This album contains no track titles or listing of members involved just the words Fille Qui Mousse markered across the front, but really who needs shit to read when the sounds coming outta these grooves are totally out of this world. This record contains enough hash jams to keep you stoned to the bone !!!!!!
Recommended To Infinity!!!!
ORIGINALS REGULARLY SELL FOR OVER $100!
IMPORT REISSUE AT THE NICE PRICE!
IMPORT REISSUE AT THE NICE PRICE!
Skip past the first 40 seconds of acapella vocals on the first of eight cuts on "Well Cut" and you'll hear some Flower Travellin' Joe Yamanaka-esque banshee falsetto. Pierre Rapsat is one of the few dudes we can think of that might give Yamanaka a run for his money in that department. The rest of this record is a prime slice of Belgian hard rock from 1971. Some compare it to Ten Years After, some to Gypsy-era Uriah Heep, any way you chop it it's choice meat. The opener "Pain" and the over ten minute closer "Trip To Paradise" sum it up nicely.
How much early 70s Belgian hard rock do you have in your collection? Yeah, that's what we thought. Get this affordable reissue and fill in that gap. You could do a hell of a lot worse.
ORIGINALS HAVE SOLD FOR OVER $400!
IMPORT REISSUE AT THE NICE PRICE!
IMPORT REISSUE AT THE NICE PRICE!
Don't let the name fool you, this ain't no white boy blues nonsense! We'd never heard of this particular rarity until we found this reissue on Veals and Geeks out of Brussels. Thank goodness we're living in the GOLDEN AGE of vinyl reissues! Lagger Blues Machine's sole studio LP knocked our socks off immediately. If you're a fan of well-orchestrated, change-on-a-dime Prog, then "Tanit" needs to find a home on yer turntable right now.
SOFT MACHINE? MAGMA? ZAPPA? AND EVEN KING CRIMSON? YES, YES and YES! LAGGER BLUES MACHINE COULD FACE OFF WITH THE BEST OF 'EM! You're never gonna find an original and even if you do, you'll have to shell out at least ten times as much as you would on this superb sounding reissue.
Highly recommended for European prog, psych, and art rock fans!
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We understand how most folks usually feel about live albums...not good. But don't let the fact that this recording was done live scare you off. Some bands (ie: Grateful Dead, Acid Mothers Temple, Deviants, Germs - to name a few) were at their best (a)live and although I wouldn't say this album is better than the "Tanit" studio album (apples to oranges), I would say it shows a very different side of the band. A heavier and looser, albeit no less technical side. Judging by this record, I imagine Lagger Blues Machine was insane in person. Their sole studio record is a very disciplined affair full of all sorts of amazing moves and changes and on "Tanit Live" the band brings all their talent with them, but none of the studio sterility.
This is an intense recording of an incredibly skilled group of musicians documented just before they recorded an LP that stands on it's own when compared to the giants in the genre (King Crimson, Soft Machine, Magma, Zappa, etc). This recording went unreleased until the early nineties and thanks to the Belgian label Veals and Geeks, we now have it properly preserved to vinyl!
Highly recommended for fans of the genre.
ORIGINALS HAVE SOLD FOR OVER $200!
IMPORT REISSUE AT THE NICE PRICE!
IMPORT REISSUE AT THE NICE PRICE!
If you dig Snowy Red's "The Right To Die" or any other quality minimal synth record for that matter, you need to own Snowy Red's first LP from 1981! It's a much cruder, more repetitive (how is that possible?) record than "The Right To Die", but it's certainly no less enjoyable. In fact, some misanthropes may actually prefer the debut to "Right".
"Ultra limited reissue..." translates to hurry up and get one of these before they're gone. You won't be sorry you did. You'll only be sorry if you don't.
ORIGINALS HAVE SOLD FOR OVER $200!
IMPORT REISSUE AT THE NICE PRICE!
IMPORT REISSUE AT THE NICE PRICE!
As most of you already know, we're big fans of the minimal synth genre, but we don't stock just anything that's tagged with the term. There are some duds out there, but this ain't one of 'em! "The Right To Die" is one of the best minimal synth albums EVER!
Snowy Red is actually a Belgian one-man-band (aka Micky Mike, aka Marcel Thiel) and "The Right To Die" was originally released in 1982. Original pressings have sold for over $100 and for good reason. This is a super accessible minimal synth record with lots of minor chords, noisy synth blasts, icy cold vocals, and repetitive beats. We're not sure how many copies of this import reissue were pressed, but we'd be surprised if there are more than 500, so grab one quick before "The Right To Die" disappears into internet obscurity yet again. Highly recommended!
We are overjoyed to finally get another round of Follakzoid here at Permanent cuz we absolutely loved their previous EP on Sacred Bones, and this here new fangled long player is a surging burst of forward thinking. Divine effects dive in and out of clouds and valleys, motorik grooves fuel the pulse, bubbling synths embolden the spirit and an echoed vocal rides in the wake. More krautrock and psychedelic vibes permeate the overall make up of Follakzoid "II" and we are digging it in a major way fer sure.
It has a dose of Wooden Shjips, a tab of Lumerians, a hit of the Oscillation and a ten strip of Cave and Verma. If it's south of the Equator do they call it 2:40? Rip a pinner and head for the horizon as this monster LP of tone dialed guitar groove guides the glowing glide.
Enjoy the ride! Mega Recommended.
Batter up! Another dose of Chilean psyche from the rock solid Sacred Bones institute in the form of the Holydrug Couple's brand new lp.
"Noctuary" finds the Holydrug Couple honing their skills and upping their game, unafraid to venture into fresh territories. They are opening up and expanding their sound. This dreamy sing-song collection of tunes has hints of Stereolab space pad chill factor, 60's sunshine pop mid-tempo skip-to-ma-loo and an airy quality that swings through the fog. Noctuary has a laid back Dungen vibe, with masterfully recorded "vintage" sound, glimmering tones and fuzzed out guitar trickery. The fact that they have song titled "Paisley" is very fitting; that is actually what this album sounds like: Paisley. If you dug the MMOSS LP on Trouble In Mind, then this woodland creature should be a loyal pet.
Slo-mo gentle wind psychedelia that lets the song write itself, never forced, never rushed, just ease on down the rainbow is what you'll find though out this cloudland magic carpet ride and we are not lookin' to stop this ride any time soon. So take our hand and climb aboard as the Holydrug Couple leads us to the land of light.
Ultra Recommended.
Windian Records Subscriptions Series Single - Limited to 300 - A P-Rex Exclusive
Windian Records keeps knocking them outta the park. With stellar albums from the Bizarros to Spider Fever and killer reissue singles from the Testors and the Penetrators, our friends over in DC are quickly becoming the go to label for garage and punk, two genres you know we here at P-Rex love. So when we heard wind of a subscription series singles box, we knew Windian would only hand pick the best and most gnarly bands kicking around for inclusion. Just take a look at the list: Heavy TImes, Terry Malts, Barreracudas, Static Eyes and Suns of Guns. Wow! Unfortunately for us, the singles box was super limited (to 200 copies) and mail order only, but low and behold we've stumbled across a thick grip of some. Rumor has it that we're the only store around town to get our hands on this new slab from the Chicago scene heavy hitters and man oh man are we stoked.
The 7 inch "K-9" is two ripping epic tracks of fuzz soaked melodic guitar rock like only the guys in Heavy Times can concoct. Similar to Husker Du, the Wipers and Guided by Voices, but way more in yer face and punk rock, the HoZac, Burger and In The Red sets will definitely need to grab this new 45 now. We procured as many copies as we could, but this one won't last long, that we're sure of.
HEAVILY RECOMMENDED.
Hot on the heels of his Permanent Records scorcher, "Rojo", Bim Thomas aka Obnox is back with another heavy hitter of a 7 inch, entitled "A Ragin In The Sun", on Anyway Records.
Yep it's most certainly raw and punk as fuck, and if Phil Spector ever heard Obnox's wall of noise, he'd run screaming. The A (or "Pro" labeled) side is more along the lines of his "I'm Bleeding Now" LP, soulful pop submerged in noisy thrash, the kind we've come to need and expect from Bim. But the B side (or "Black" labeled) side is where things get a little more interesting: Motown and hiphop get the Obnox shock treatment and somehow turn his unholy sound inside out and in new feral directions while seeming to be the same hardcore loving Obnox that we all know from the Puffys and This Moment In Black History. "The President Smokes" and "A Ragin in the Sun" both earworm their way into your feedback addled brain like no other Obnox tracks yet. Much stronger and wreckage inducing than the Purple Reign and Masonic Reducer 7 inches from last year, if this new ep is a taste of what's to come, we're can't wait to get our hands on his rumored double lp due later this year.
Think of "A Ragin In the Sun" as a companion piece to Rojo. Or not. Just know that Obnox is tearing it the fuck up and noboby's gonna pulverize you with his blown out intoxicated rock n roll madness like Bim will. That's a cold hard truth.
TOTALLY F'ING RECOMMENDED.
Kid Congo is BACK! The man hisself unload a brand new 2-songer on his home of late, the incomparable In The Red Records - you dig
A mouth-watering teaser to Kid Congo's upcoming album - we're HUUUUUGE fans of both his recent comeback platters ("Dracula Boots" is still in regular rotation 'round these parts!), and if these two tunes are any indication, we're in for another killer long-player.
Side A contains "Conjure Man", a swampy voodoo lurker that slinks forward out of the shadows and seduces you with it's hazy hoodoo. Side B unloads a killer Seeds cover of "Lose Your Mind" from their s/t debut from '66 that amps up the sexy and blasts off with some killer fuzz leads into the stratosphere!
Killer record, with killer packaging too - the covers to these are all hand screened on the backs of used 12-pack cases! The man is a legend - RESPECT. Totally RECOMMENDED!
Man we loved the T.R.I.P.S. LP by Ancient Sky and now we got this hot little platter from the Wharf Cat Records folks. Ancient Sky are dropping two mega doses of fuzzed out psychedelic rock. "Castle" is a hook filled psychedelic scorcher with blistering guitar passages and an upbeat positivity. And on the flip we get "Allegory" which splits the difference between Texas rave up and British feedback-gaze, like the Black Angels chanting along to Loop records. Anyway you spin it (we're spinning ours at 45 RPMs), this Brooklyn act is bringing some hefty psychedelic gems and this single is another wallop of sonic bliss. Recommended.
Onyx System are a new Chicago project right out of the 2013 gates from members of Black Math and E.T. Habit. E.T. Habit's inhouse label has dubbed up a stack of this debut cassette release. Gothy new wave synth jams for days from these moonlight dwellers is what you're getting with some slithering guitar passages, glimmering synth pads a steady drum machine pulse and some delectable 80's affected vocal come hithers. We're hearing a little Chrome, a hint of Tubeway Army and some Rozz Williams death rock vocals peppered throughout so pop this sucker in the tape deck, don the black leather and saunter off into the foggy unknown.
