LP - Afflicted Man - I'm Off Me 'Ead (Official 2013 Reissue, Red Wax, Ltd 100) - $17.99 - BUY
- LISTEN 
- LISTEN
P-REX IN-STORE EXCLUSIVE RED VINYL EDITION LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!
PERMANENT RECORDS' 36th LABEL RELEASE!
PERMANENT RECORDS' 36th LABEL RELEASE!
"I'm Off Me 'Ead" is DIY psych punk (or "Hippy Punk" as Steve Hall calls it) at it's finest, but don't just take my word for it. Heavyweight record aficionados such as Henry Rollins, Byron Coley, Tom Lax, Doug Mosurock, and Geoffrey Weiss are BIG fans...
The idiosyncratic music critic, Byron Coley (Forced Exposure, Bull Tongue, Spin, Wire, Arthur), really lays it out there:
"Steve Hall's Afflicted (Man) project was one of the greatest mystery wobbles to come out of the Brit DIY explosion. Trying to figure out what the hell these records were about took years to unravel. We even thought there might be a Nurse With Wound connection when United Dairies released the Afflicted Man's Musica Box LP. We were stupid, but can you blame us? The slurred psych blues of I'm Off Me 'Ead were so unlike anything else going on at the time, it almost seemed like the whole thing had to be a put-on of some kind. There had been those earlier records, sure, this one felt way different. The concept of UK stoner-punks had existed for a few years, but their output had tended towards the arty end of things before this. There's a latent brutality to Im' Off that truly lashed our feeble minds. But maybe that's only because L.A. was awash in very good acid right about then. Still, it remains extremely difficult to place this music inside the contextual history of what was going on then. Jesus, I would have loved to have caught a gig or two. Unimaginable. I bought I'm Off Me 'Ead at the old Vinyl Fetish store on Melrose in '81, same year I finally managed to snag a copy of Randy Holden's Population II, and they were both records I'd play to anyone who dropped by our pad in Santa Monica for a listening session. The utterly fucked-up-ness of both guitarists never failed to astonish anyone who wasn't too wasted to acknowledge what they were hearing. And so it is."
Tom Lax's Siltblog posted this:
"Afflicted Man's style could best described at stock-in-trade Brit DIY w/an almost Street Level sort've quality to it…Too freaked out for punks, too punked out for freaks... must've felt like a rusty safety pin stuck straight through the heart of whatever DIY fanbase Hall had acquired. And for all the Pink Fairies or Hawkwind type's that mighta come across it, it was too primitive & animalistic for their quid."
Geoffrey Weiss' is one of the most venerable record collectors in the world. He summed it up like this:
"Deliriously incompetent, frighteningly direct, and bafflingly out-of-time, there is no doubt that Steve Hall is in touch here with something most of us can't get near. "
We here at Permanent absolutely love this record and are incomprehensibly honored to be the label reissuing it on vinyl for the first time ever. It's been fully licensed by Steve Hall himself and painstakingly remastered by the total pros at Penguin Recording in Eagle Rock. The jacket artwork was graciously reconstituted and touched-up by Bill "Trouble In Mind" Roe. The full-color "I'm Off Me 'Ead" inner sleeve contains a bunch of unseen Afflicted Man photos, an unpublished interview with Steve Hall and a fully authorized reprint of Chris Stigliano's article from Forced Exposure #9 (Winter 1986).
The first pressing (let's hope there's demand for multiple) is limited to 500 copies worldwide.
RIYL: Hawkwind, Pink Fairies, Deviants, The Fall, Alternative TV, Coloured Balls, Michael Yonkers, Vic Godard, Mark Perry, Private Press / Outsider Rock, and REPETITION
ORIGINALS HAVE SOLD FOR NEARLY $700 USD!!!
Sweet and impossibly RARE garage/hard-rock burner from Michigan's finest - Boa! "Wrong Road" was originally released in an edition of 200 copies by the band, but has now been rescued from obscurity by the fine folks at Himalaya Records, so scale the cliff face and hearken to their words:
"Hailing from the Detroit suburb of Auburn Heights, BOA recorded this little gem in 1971, completely live and on a Sony TC-200 in a Tupperware warehouse, giving their psych/garage a little punk twist. They did everything themselves: recording, pressing, packaging, and the marketing (which at the time was simply not done). A mere 200 copies of the original edition were pressed on their own label, Snakefield. This is the pure definition of the 'garage' sound: BOA seems to have a lot of fun jamming together in their warehouse and the result is a collection of strongly psych/prog-flavored hard rock songs, that sound like a cross between the Doors, the Who and The Sonics."
Pretty interesting record - Boa's sound is indeed not-quite-garage, but also not-quite-hard rock either, riding a fine line between fidelility and ineptitude (and we mean that in a good way - they're not the GREATEST players, but that's OK). Super awesome run-throughs that seem very off-the-cuff first (or second) takes it's not perfect, but that's what makes it PERFECT. Reminds us a lot of some of the more recent hard rock discoveries like Jungle or Killing Foor. Not bad for a record that was recorded in a Tupperware factory! An original would set you back a pretty penny, so this reissue fills out your collection at a nice price, grip this and grip it FAST! RECOMMENDED!
HOLY SHIT. We thought this day would never come. We've loved this record for a long, long time now. When the CD reissue campaign went down a few years back, all of us here at Permanent flipped our lids, but we couldn't help but ask ourselves, when will these most excellent records get rightfully reissued on wax? Fans of Spacemen 3, Jesus and Mary Chain, and/or anything fuzzed-out, feedback-laden, repetitive, psychedelic, and heavy, ABSOLUTELY NEED THIS RECORD! This may all sound like hyperbole, but we assure you it is not. If you dig good music and you don't already own this, just stop reading right now and drop this in yr cart. There'll be time enough for reading the back history when the dealing is done. Sceptics, feel free to read Reactor's description below:
"Reactor Records is pleased to present the long-awaited vinyl reissue of Loop’s sophomore full-length Fade Out, first released on the Chapter 22 label in late 1988. Re-cut from the 2008 remasters by Kevin Metcalf, the album comes on its original format: a double-LP set pressed at 45 RPM for maximum fidelity, packaged in a gold gatefold sleeve. This 2013 edition is limited to 3000 numbered copies and includes a digital download postcard.
Loop were loosely influenced by bands such as The Velvet Underground, The Stooges and The MC5, but retained an avant-garde and experimental edge from the likes of Can, Faust, Neu!, Rhys Chatham, Glenn Branca and minimalist systems music. Band founder Robert Hampson recently announced the group is reforming to play a series of shows in 2013 and 2014, beginning with a co-headlining spot at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival."
Hell Yes! The second installment in the ongoing Loop reissue campaign has finally hit our shores and you bet yer ass we are flipping out big time about it. We've been recommending and playing the first Loop reissue, "Heaven's End" for anyone that'll listen and now we can add this MONSTER to the playlist. "Fade Out" is an absolute psych/space rock classic so stop reading now and proceed directly to checkout cuz this LP is not gonna leave your turntable for weeks!!! Must Own Essential Listening! Beyond Recommended.
Chicago rabblerousers, Heavy Times, strike again!!!!! FUCK YES! "Fix It Alone" is their third album and their second for local scuzz rock purveyors, HoZac Records, who have the complete low down:
"Chicago's most hated band on the world's most hated record label, what could go wrong? But don't believe what you've read in the papers, HEAVY TIMES are certainly back with their massive third album, mainlining 18 tracks in 33 minutes for maximum impact to your safely guarded danger zones, and simultaneously scoring the soundtrack to your summer of sickness. Picking up where the razored edge of Jacker left off and screaming off into the stratosphere where their heavenly guitar interplay weaves a complicated yet natural web around their unique and peerless punk sound, Heavy Times have raised the bar undoubtedly, and you'd better be ready. Recorded with COOPER CRAIN from Bitchin' Bajas/CAVE, this album jumps out of the grooves and shakes you senseless from one song style to the next, displaying a range and variety most modern punk bands wouldn't even understand, let alone be able to keep up with. Through all the dizzying highs, the sobering lows, and the creamy middles, Heavy Times are quickly mastering their form right before our eyes and it's never been more evident as on the Fix It Alone LP, one incredible album that's a benchmark for modern punk, with all the hooks you just can't find in books."
INDEED! While most bands cop the same old formulas and dusty moves and try to make them their own, few bands figure out how to find their own sound. But man "Fix It Alone" finds these Chicago scene mainstays dialed the fuck in, even more so than "Jacker". Heavy Times ratchets up the volume and powers through what might be called scuzzy noise pop or fuzz punk. Or maybe we need to invent a new genre to describe their brand of hook laden, wall of feedback, in yer face punk anthems? But just know that THIS IS the soundtrack to yer summer and all yer late night summer parties ahead. Informed by the greats from the Wipers to GBV (with a little Ponys or Gaunt thrown in for good measure), on "Fix It Alone" Heavy Times machine guns 18 pure melodic rock jams directly into yer head, where they're gonna stay all day long whether you like it or not. A modern punk classic, perhaps? Definitely one yer turntable needs now, and one sure to make many year end lists. TREMEDOUSLY RECOMMENDED.
ORIGINALS HAVE SOLD FOR OVER $150!
MINIMAL SYNTH ALERT for all you "Ana-log-jammers" out there! Once again the massively impressive Superior Viaduct label has chosen to bestow upon us another long-lost, near-forgotten album of minimal synth wave - this time by New Yorker, Craig Leon! Leon might be best known for his production work on a few records you might recognize from the late Seventies - namely Suicide's first album, The Ramones' debut, Blondie, Richard Hell and more, but we hope he get's more due for his two solo albums. This one right here - 'Nommos', was originally released in 1981 on John Fahey's Takoma label and is a skittering, pulsing gem of an album; waves of gooey analog crash up against circuit board shores, while fiber optic driftwood sways to and fro in the brine - downright poetic, ain't it? Well, that's just the type of inspiration a record like this gives us! Fans of Terry Riley, LaMonte Young, Cluster, Kraftwerk, ambient Eno, and even some Suicide might not wanna think twice about picking this one up, cuz it's one spaced-out trip of a drone synth record that has an odd sense of warmth to it and never seems to cold or removed. - heck, even Julian Cope said that it's: "the sort of head music that anyone with an astute ear for an electronic beat can gravitate to." That guy loves Krautrock, and so do we, so we're gonna back up that recommend 100%!
LP - Eat Lights Become Lights - Modular Living - Clear And White Mixed Wax - Import - $14.99 - BUY - LISTEN
- LISTEN
LIMITED TO 500
The Great Pop Supplement label is always releasing amazing records and this one by Eat Lights Become Lights is yet another fine addition to the GPS catalog. Get the full story direct from the label:
"Following the quick fire sell out and widespread acclaim of the bands‘ second LP “Heavy Electrics“ in 2012, ELBL release their third full length via The GPS and Rocket Girl, just in time for Summer.
Building on the bands’ trademark multi layered motorik groove, “Modular Living” adds a more organic, electronic approach in places. Where once, listening to Eat Lights might have focused perhaps on the adored kraut groove of Neu! / La Dusseldorf etc, “Modular Living“ seems to add the key ingredients of slow burning Popol Vuh and Cluster-esque pieces into the mix. Eternally building and evolving resulting in a far better balanced listen than the previous full lengths, arguably.
The momentum attained with the last LP should build nicely here- rave reviews were pretty common spread via the likes of Stuart Maconie’s “Freak Zone”, Andrew Weatherall’s 6music show and Gideon Coe. Even a year on, tracks from “Heavy Electrics” are aired pretty regularly so the new full length comes at the perfect time for longterm devotees and the newcomer alike. Live shows are currently incredible- a real intense, dual drummer stage set up with these new tunes sounding just fabulous. The band play a number of shows in support of the album, including a slot at the always amazing Liverpool Festival of Psychedelia in September.
The LP appears as a clear | white | clear striped coloured wax LP on The GPS and on CD/Download via the good folk at Rocket Girl- and in the build up to it’s release, check out the albums’ closing cut, the simply beautiful, predominantly electronic “Habitat ‘67” appearing as a Deep Distance (Kraut themed sister label to The GPS) 12” taster for the album here, late June. Gorgeous stuff…."
Here's another stellar modern Kosmische LP to add to your overflowing collection! Undulating synthesizer gurgles, intertwining hypnotic melodies and mind melting motorik pulses are emanating out of these clear/white grooves and these majestic tracks are headed for the edges of the Milky Way. If you dig the sounds of Popul Vuh, Cluster, Bitchin Bajas and Food Pyramid then grab this one quick as it is not likely to stick around for long. Super Recommended.
PRex customers should know by now that we have a serious boner for all things Australian - especially these days when an Australian musician can just simply breathe into a mic and it comes out gold - it's uncanny. Constant Mongrel's debut from last year was on a few P-Rex staffer Top Tenners, so we're stoked as shit to see "Heavy Breathing" coming to us courtesy of one of our fave labels, Siltbreeze! Read on...
"Constant Mongrel’s debut Everything Went Wrong (co-released by RIP Society and 80/81 Records) made every Best Of 2012 list worth its salt. And why not? Combining tempered aggro, churning rhythms and dead-on percussive splat, their rookie effort shows a band on the cusp of break out. And on Heavy Breathing, Constant Mongrel pulverizes the door into dust, so parents take heed: lock up your sons ’n’ daughters! Beginning with the jarringly great “Complete,” this is this post-punk art damage that spares no one, not even themselves. With eight tracks that smolder, crackle and snap, Heavy Breathing is yet another plumed feather in Constant Mongrel’s cap, sitting them—in terms of magnitude and diversity—alongside fellow Aussie gristle slingers such as X, Babeez and Seems Twice. Heavy Breathing is sure to be another top corker for 2013. And beyond."
HOO NELLIE - this one is a scorcher!! We're not surprised, as Tom Lax has great taste and he wouldn't put his stamp on anything short of incredible. "Heavy Breathing" lives up to it's name - it's a panting, sweaty 8-song suite of ragged, postpunk conjuring up ghosts of heavies like Wire, Swell Maps and Desperate Bicycles as well as the sounds spewing from the modern-day misanthropes from the Columbus/Cleveland, OH region like Obnox, Ron House-related everything, Pink Reason and Deathly Fighter! Highly, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Don't sweat it, just get it!
The Deranged Records folks have the total run down on this Blade Runner monikered noise rock outfit here:
"VOIGHT-KAMPFF began as RUN DOWN in 2005 when SULLER (MO.) and SWANSON-WHITE (MN.) came together due to a shared love of darker moodier punk. After both had been in hardcore bands they decided to try something a little weirder. A 2 song 45 was done after passing songs back and forth and was belatedly released in 2012 on Baltimore’s Firestarter Records. At this point the songs were already written for their debut full-length and the two decided to make a clean break from RD with a name change and stripped down format which would involve only the two of them for recording purposes. VK has played roughly a show a year since ‘07 recruiting different friends to flesh out live line-ups including Doom Town’s Ashley Hohman and Tom Valli, Bryan Clarkson and Shaun Morrissey from The Humanoids, Matty Coonfield of Bug Chaser and Tone Rodent, Phil Schwarz of Rock Bottom Records, Ted Howard of the 86’ed, and Brad Stiffler of Condominium."
Voight-kampff are laying out high energy punk rock with just the right balance of clatter and melody. Dark post punk vibes permeate VK's sci-fi infused paranoia rock and these 7 cuts blow by in no time. Which will have you re-dropping the needle ad ifinitum to get your recommended fix. Driving guitars, subtle keyboard interplay, assaultive rhythms and brooding vocals make up the eerie sonics on this platter and we imagine these dudes prolly rock the shit outta some haunted ass basement shows. Recommended.
Green Marble Wax - Import - LIMITED TO 500
After teasing us with their excellent Fuzz Club 10 inch "Erbistock Mill," Lucid Dream is finally dropping their debut album, "Songs Of Lies And Deceit" on us via the Great Pop Supplement:
"Cumbria‘s “The Lucid Dream“ finally unleash their debut full length this June, following 4 sold out 45s, steady press coverage and widespread acclaim for live shows which have seen them support everyone from Beefheart’s “Magic Band”, Death In Vegas, A Place to Bury Strangers and Spectrum. Previous descriptions of the bands’ sound has honed in on fuzz and drone heavy nods to Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized, BJM and The Heads, yet that somehow overlooks the pure pop savvy and stripped down acid drenched hooks a la the US West Coast and prime era Mary Chain and Beach Boys feel to tunes like “Heartbreak Girl” and “Love In My Veins”. To these ears, tips of the hat also include a favourable one towards Motown in places even, so to dig a wee bit here is no bad thing…"
We can't get enough of the fuzzy spaced out psych rock coming out these days in Europe, and outta all those Fuzz Club releases we got in stock, Lucid Dream's EP ranked among the best. So we jumped at the chance to grab a stack of the new LP from Great Pop Supplement, cuz it's not everyday you hear a record that blasts you off into the same stratosphere as Loop and Spacemen 3. "Songs Of Lies And Deceit" conjures a hazy mix of full tilt psychedelia and jangly analog wall of guitar rock that reminds us of the shop faves like Hookworms, Carlton Melton, Mugstar and Moon Duo. At times laying down a thick heavy dose of blistering repetitive psych and at others channeling their more melodic shoegazy JAMC side, Lucid Dream's debut sounds like a band that's hit the ground running. Shit if this is just their first LP, we can't wait for more from these guys. WAY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!
LP - Earth Dies Burning - Songs From The Valley Of The Bored Teenager (1981-1984) - $13.99 - BUY - LISTEN
- LISTEN Captured Tracks keeps knockin' 'em outta the park, and their latest archival release is from none other than absurdist teenage LA synth punks, Earth Dies Burning, whose songs are getting pressed to vinyl for the very first time on "Songs From The Valley Of The Bored Teenager." Man if you're into early punk, weirdo new wave and bonkers rock n roll, this LP is a must have!!!!!:
"Earth Dies Burning was formed in 1981 in the San Fernando Valley by a group of friends ranging in age from 10 to 14: the Karlsen brothers (Jeff and Matt), Brad Laner, and the Nachmann brothers (Guy and Ron). Their success in landing gigs at the time can be traced to Brad’s precociousness (he had sat in with Vox Pop, Nervous Gender and others), Matt’s natural talent for promotion, and the extraordinary openness of the Los Angeles punk/post-punk “underground” scene at that time. It seems that only now has the time ripened, dear listener; let the sweet smell of singed terrestrial morbidity flow from the valley of the bored teenager to your ears. Remastered and on vinyl for the first time."
The early 80s SoCal punk scene was an endlessly creative and strange place, with artier, noisy bands coexisting and playing shows with hardcore kids, skinny tied power popped new wavers and punk bands of every type. This openness led the way for a group of bored disaffected preteens to form their own unwieldy band and take a stab at being "punk rock." They called themselves Earth Dies Burning, eschewed guitars for cheap Casio keyboards and played what can only be called the bonkers proto synth punk (along the lines of the Screamers and Nervous Gender, who they shared stages with). Falling somewhere between the Urinals, the Germs, early Devo and Half Japanese, EDB churned out songs about Fish Sticks, Reagan era America and whatever else came to mind in a way that still sounds just as fresh and unhinged as the day they went into the studio. Earth Dies Burning never got to release anything in their short existence, but thankfully Captured Tracks stepped up to the plate with this nearly complete collection of recordings, "Songs From The Valley Of The Bored Teenager." A lost chapter of LA's musical history is forgotten no longer. SUPER RECOMMENDED!!!!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!
HOLY CODPIECE, BATMAN! Sweaty and wailing fuzz-heavy rock from 1974 courtesy of these Canadian stoners, Fable! Clean off that coke mirror and scope the d-d-d-deets from reissue label, Recordplex!:
"Hearing the onslaught of stoner metal bands struggling desperately to recreate the airy deep end of mid-’70s heavy music is amusing… almost as much as actually coming across the occasional bona fide prog metal outfits long forgotten over the ages. Fable blended the questionable aesthetics of cape-laden Rush with Paranoid-era Black Sabbath’s eeriness and a moderately softer structural attack reminiscent of Budgie. The end result is the perfect Black Light metal begging for a big ol’ bong suck and an imaginary dragon ride to the land of vans painted with wizards, barbarians and Aztec goddesses. Surprisingly timeless despite an obviously specific historical specificity, "Get The "L” Outta Here!" provides the perfect document of a band with nothing affecting the excesses of ’70s rock’n’roll. Plenty of epic songs heavy on wah-wah pedal and jam band aura makes for a fun retrospective party listen — and when compared to the accessibility of modern stoner rock — proves that minimal means often do produce the greater results." (Waxing Deep) Includes 6 page booklet w/info and pictures (CD edition); Includes one page (doubl-sided) insert, w/info and pictures (LP edition) LP edition limited to 500 copies (3-sided 2xLP). Fable's stated influences: Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Grand Funk Railroad, Robin Trower, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Sir Lord Baltimore."
GAWDDAMN - now THIS is what we're talkin about! Guitars wail, drums hit HARD and these dudes croon about women, booze and kickin' ass! The comparisons of Sir Lord Baltimore, Uriah Heep and Deep Purple - we're hearing early Priest too as well as underground heavies like Jerusalem, Warpig and Sainte Anthony's Fyre too! Fans of current heshers like Kadavar, Graveyard, Witchcraft and FUZZ should take a toke from what Fable's smokin' too! Why are we still wasting our time trying to convince you - you know what this is and how it comes - fuckin' RECOMMENDED, broheim.
Sweet girl group psych-soul originally issued on Lee Hazelwood's LHI Records, compiled and reissued by the fine folks at Light In The Attic! LiTA is nuthin' if not thorough, so here's their story:
"Lee Hazlewood’s LHI label only put out interesting albums. Yet despite the psychedelic cowboy’s success with Nancy Sinatra and more, being on Lee Hazlewood Industries was no fast-track to success. Gorgeous and talented Detroit, Michigan girl group Honey Ltd had all the makings of a hit band, yet they disappeared after releasing just one album in 1968, a vinyl rarity that now regularly fetches upwards of $2,000. Light In The Attic Records is now looking to set the record straight. Having previously explored both the back catalog of Lee Hazlewood and his LHI label via the You Turned My Head Around 45s Box Set, HONEY LTD.’s The Complete LHI Recordings presents everything the group ever recorded. Fans of The Ronettes, The Shangri-Las and Pentangle are in for a treat—Honey Ltd’s music blended social commentary with harmony-drenched, psych-soul pop. Even opening track, ‘Warrior,’ describes the mood of the times, as America sunk into the Vietnam war: “We must kill more people; strong men are what we need!"" LP includes fold-out poster and gatefold jackets."
These ladies come charging out of the gate backed by the full-force of L.A's famed "Wrecking Crew", whose nimble and malleable players groove-on high through the albums twelve tracks of groovy, psychedelic harmony soul! The four Honeys (Ltd.), voices cascade o'er the album's crackin' tracks, ranging from driving soul numbers to melancholy psychedelic folk groovers that sound like the best parts of groups like Shocking Blue, Free Design and even The Carrie Nations! This reissue is given the full-tilt LiTA reissue treatment with a gorgeous, restored sleeve replete with a poster, detailed liners and interviews, photos, etc BUT - best of all, the audio is meticulously restored from the master tapes and sounds frickin' incredible! RECOMMENDED folks, don't snooze on this one!
COLORED WAX WITH BONUS 7 INCH
WHAAAAA?!?!? YYYYEEEESSSSS!!! Any Birthday Party vinyl is more than welcome round these parts! We'll let the lovely folks at Drastic Plastic (the ones responsible for this reissue) get you started:
"Drastic Plastic Records is pleased to announce a very special and very limited release: For the first time since the 1980s, and for the first time in one package, The Birthday Partyís final recordings collected on the two 12-inch E.P.ís The Bad Seed and Mutiny! will be available ON VINYL! In addition, the package will contain a never-before released 7-inch single containing two tracks from the Mutiny! sessionsóSix Strings That Drew Blood and Pleasure Avalanche. The single comes complete with a unique picture sleeve."
This legendary Aussie punk band defied all conventions and unleashed some of the most terrifying and powerful music of the '80s and in doing so launched a million imitators. But The Birthday Party's raucous art damaged punk has yet to be matched. An absolutely original act right here, folks. These final two EPs finds The Birthday Party morphing their unhinged swamp stomp towards what would eventually become Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, but that's not to say that Mutiny and Bad Seeds EP lacks the intensity or the overall debauchery of the earlier records. Features mortifying heavy hitter tracks like Deep In The Woods and Swampland and much much more! Fiendishly Recommended.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!
KILLER counterculture psychedelic folk jammin' from Chicagoan Michael Oosten, re-released on local purveyors of weird, unheard and awesome; Lion Productions! Read their spiel:
"Keeping a band together was difficult in the late 1960’s. Tough too, because Michael Oosten was writing songs that veered away from pop-song structures. There was also the relative ease and lack of responsibility required for hauling around a guitar. So, Oosten took off, with a Martin guitar in tow, playing coffeehouses and clubs across the country. By the end of 1973, he was ready to record an LP—five psychedelic folk/rock tracks, ranging from the brightly smiling ‘Sunny Day’ to the epic ‘Hungry Horse Montana,’ where Oost switched seamlessly from Celtic picking to Middle Eastern chord progressions. Oosten filled out his folk/rock/psych sound with the help of a few friends: piano from Tom Hennick on ‘Hey Babe,’ vocals from Jan Reek on ‘Garden,’ and bass from Al Byla on ‘Sunny Day.’ Oosten's wayward vocals puts us in mind of other meandering faves from various eras (Incredible String Band, Perry Leopold, or the Meatpuppets, to name but three), and Oost proves himself a stellar guitarist in an eccentric and percussive mode. Considering the individualistic nature of the album's genesis, no surprise that marketing and publicity for the album was limited. Columbia Records expressed interest in Oosten's music; but after a single meeting with the label, it was clear that the album would be too difficult for the mainstream honchos to market. Oost and friend Lester D'ore (editor of Chicago countercultural paper Seed and designer of the Yippie flag) holed up at D'ore's Wisconsin commune farm to silkscreen each LP jacket by hand. For our deluxe Lion Productions replica edition, they’ve done that again—we've used the original screens for this hand-screened, hand-assembled replica edition. The work of a renegade, ripe for rediscovery. Hand silk-screened jackets, using the original screens. 180 gram vinyl w/replica labels + color insert. Sleeve notes by Michael Oosten. Limited to 500"
GREAT record and one we hadn't heard before! Oosten's got a woozy, yet deliberate delivery that reminds us of the poetic and abstract, lysergic coffeehouse strummings of Rodriguez ruminated in the delivery of Michael Chapman circa "Fully Qualified Survivor" - hazy, righteous and a liiiiiiiiiiil' bit stoned. It's mostly Oosten's show, just him and a guitar with accompaniment on one or two tracks from piano, upright bass and a guest vocalist. Raw, engaging and fuckin' RARE. Originally issued by Oosten himself in an edition of 500 copies (which according to Oosten in the liners, many of which were of varying degrees of play-ability) and housed in hand-screened covers by Oosten and a buddy. Believe it or not, but the ORIGINAL SCREENS were used once again for this Lion edition! Crazy! Pressed up on heavy-duty 180gm vinyl and remastered from the source this puppy looks and sounds BETTER than the OG, we'd reckon! If you like a lil' folk in your face, you could do a lot worse! RECOMMENDED fer sure, but don't snooze - it's supes limited to 500 copies! FOLK'in A!
Memphis rock n rollers, True Sons Of Thunder are back with another slab of heavy riffin garage punk entitled "Stop And Smell Your Face" released by the fine folks over at Little Big Chief:
"Time fer some real talk. If'n the hirsute squad that pillage the junt in Conan had a band, they'd probably sound more like "Psychedelic Warlords" than the first Cathedral record, nah'mean? Well, the barlichood ablutophobes in this True Sons of Thunder act done roared over the hills in bout the same way, layin' a strip all round town thick n hot enough to stand out in the most post of apocalypses (i.e. Memphis). Still lampin' on that "Buy" button? Havin' a crusty mitt in a clutch of other ill-reputed bands in those parts (Manatees, Oblivians, Sharp Balloons, Four Johns...) mightcould give you a sense of what's in store here. Or maybe you chipmunked away their Spoonful of Seedy Dudes LP for a fortnight-and-a-half of beer sweat and pant stains but just ain't got to it? So ya mean to tell me you don't know they got solos that are to Dave Brock and Ron Asheton what Leigh Stevens was to Hendrix? You don't know about the cold-knuckled clubber behind that there kit? For shame, cuz the bedunged heaviness and aboiement that abound all over their discography are herein stretched out and slowed down juuust enough so they can boogie like motherfuckers when they wanna and maybe affix a lil proto to their punk. They've also finally put to vinyl a Duran Duran/Black Oak Arkansas medley they been kickin around for years and boy-howdy! Never did I realize how much both songs sounded like "Born to Go". THAT and other crumbs is finna get belched out ya brainz quicker than you can say "O-Mound". Gird yer bits all ya like; they're comin' for ya either way. -Sebastian Morris-White, Buffet of Loathesome/Fuck You Counselor"
Call them a super group? Maybe a drunken train wreck of musical minds? But whatever you say about True Sons Of Thunder, you gotta admit they fuckin' rock n roll!!!! Knowing that they borrow members from the Oblivians, Manateees, Sharp Balloons and a plethora of other killer Memphis bands ought to get you grabbing for yer wallet already, but one listen to "Stop And Smell Your Face" will definitely get you hooked. Combining the rowdiness of the Stooges and MC5 with the antics of Pussy Galore and the Action Swingers, True Sons Of Thunder are one sludgy noise caked fireball of garage punk chaos. Just like we always need. This one's sitting next to the turntable and it's gonna stay that way. FUCKING RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!! And dudes grab this one quick cuz it'll be gone before you know it.
LA's Mock Records is on a roll. Not content to stop with awesome new LPs from Cab 20 and the Spryals, they just released the debut album from their hometown cohorts, the Spaceships, entitled "Cool Breeze Over The Mountains". The Spaceships' self-described "bedroom / garage" style of rock n roll is equal parts warm melodic noise pop and catchy sunshine soaked SoCal garage with a whole lotta youth exuberance, a splash of twee, and a nice coating of lo-fi fuzz. Fans Of Times New Viking, Bleached, Plateaus and Vivian Girls take note, cuz "Cool Breeze Over The Mountains" is right up yer alley. A refreshing spin from a young up-and-coming band and a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED one at that!!!!!!
PRESSED ON PINK WAX LIMITED TO 250 COPIES!
We're always searching and digging deep to find mind blowing new bands and labels to fill up the racks here at the shop, and sometimes we strike psych rock gold. Our newest discovery, Spanish Moss, is for sure gonna melt your face off. Patrick Haight, sound engineer guru at Burger Records, signed them to his new label Spot On Sounds, and man are we glad he did. Spanish Moss grabs you by the ears and drags you through a bluesy space-drenched fuzzed-out psychedelic journey on their debut long player, "Kelp"...and once you've gone done the rabbit hole, you'll get stuck flipping this one over and over again. We didn't know much about Spanish Moss before this stack of lps showed up at the door one day, so let's get the back story from the blog Sunrise Ocean Bender:
"Spot-On Sound is a new label out of Sacramento spearheaded by Patrick Haight, mastering engineer for Burger Records. Spot-On has a few releases lined up down the pike, but they hit the ground running, hard, with Santa Cruz based Spanish Moss and their aptly titled KELP. Santa Cruz and seaweed don’t mean sea shanties for these cats. Opener Fuzz Puzzle about says it all; KELP is a psych crop grown in fertile fuzz…and all the pieces fit. Fit tight even though Spanish Moss deliver frayed, jagged blasts of psych rock that sound like they could splinter any minute. All the ragged burrs are left in fine form making KELP sound like the equivalent to a wave of hot pebbles being poured down your beach shorts. Feels good, sounds even better. Part straight up psych with doses of space rock and bluesy liquefying licks, KELP goes for the throat and cortex and relentlessy hangs on. They call is ‘psychedelic bluesgaze’ and no one is going to argue with the shorthand as they put repetition to good use hammering home the riffs for full stun effect. Layering on molten leads and wailing, and often soulful, vocals on top of a frantically active bottom-end, Spanish Moss bring all the ingredients together for a heady stew that doesn’t overwhelm the tunes underneath. And the hooks are there; barbed, serrated and slathered with heavy psych cream. KELP is an outstanding debut, for both Spanish Moss and Spot-On Sound." from Sunrise Ocean Bender"
We love our psych rock loud, raw, stretched out, warped and crazy as it can be and Spanish Moss heavily delivers on all those fronts. Searing delinquent acid fried rock n roll, "Kelp" leans on those ever deep sources of psych inspiration from Hawkwind to Monoshock and definitely owes some debt to the Phoenix and Guerrson back catalogs (quality influences for sure). Spanish Moss can be filed away next to the current crop of psychedelic adventurers like MMOSS, Cave, White Hills, Psychic Ills and Acid Mothers Temple -- if "Kelp" ever leaves your turnable that is. This one comes on translucent pink vinyl and is bound to go quick, so don't miss out. You need some "Kelp" in your life. RECOMMENDED TIMES INFINITY.
