The fine folks at Homeless Records have given this amazing noise punk album the loooong overdue vinyl treatment and we can't thank them enough. Here's the nitty gritties from our friends over at Terminal Boredom:
“Melbourne hate-rocker's demo tape, which has been lodged in the deck for the good part of a week. Nasty street level scumrock that exists in the netherworld between Drunks With Guns and King Snake Roost, full of madman vocals and riffs that delve deep into the abyss and stare back, guitars of the mandatory paint-peeling and/or skin-flaying persuasion. Fucking raw shit right here. Even the song titles are exceptional: "I Wanna Be A Closer", "Military Style Massage", "Wild Action Jazz"...I could go on. Side B starts to get even more motivated, sometimes bubbling in a Piranhas way, sometimes sounding like a collison of Flag power riffing and Midwestern Tar Babies rail jumping. Towards the end there's even a Clevo-style facemasher. The great thing is, there's not a ton of feedback/reverb either, this is just in yer face dick-kicking heavy rock. The singer sounds a lot like the Bits of Shit guy, but maybe all tough Aussie fucks have the same delivery. Recorded in the dirt, this is another tape that would probably make your eyes water if they get a shot to do it pro. Recommended for dirtbags everywhere.” – TERMINAL BOREDOM "
Still not convinced? Well here's what we said back in 2012 about the cassette version that blew outta here at a whirlwind pace:
Being a punk band a couple decades ago must've been tough. Being a bummer punk band like Flipper, Stick Men With Rayguns, Drunks With Guns, or Feedtime (Gentlemen's fellow countrymen) must've been even tougher. Getting people to care about ugly, repetitive, shit-fi music isn't an easy task. That's one reason why I admire the people who go about making ugly, repetitive, shit-fi music. They're literally making this music for themselves and, only in some cases, for the very few others who give two shits about it. Gentlemen, along with the Lamps, Shaved Women, Francis Harold and the Holograms, Pissed Jeans, Watery Love, and a half-dozen or so others are admirable. They make the kind of ugly, bleak noise rock I need in my life. The kind that's equally influenced by the aforementioned bands and side two of "My War". I couldn't tell ya exactly why I wanna hear this kind of music, it's just in my blood. What I do know is that my blood boils every time I hear of a new band creating this raw, uncompromising, completely unmarketable kind of rock'n'roll (a key distinction - this is not just noise). If you put a thermometer under my tongue while I was listening to "Sex Tape Demo" I surely would've shot mercury all over the wall, and that's not all. Ok, maybe that's all. Regardless, if the name dropping I did in this stupid review got you excited, you'll climax your mind over this tape. Tapes are alright, but Gentlemen prefer blondes...and vinyl.
The Mammoth Cave Recording Company offers up this boss ass reissue of the classic Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet compilation "Savvy Show Stoppers" and we are quite simply thrilled about it. We'll let the Mammoth Cave folks fill you in on the details:
"Deluxe Reissue (1000 Press)
Mammoth Cave Recording Company is proud to release the first in a series of reissues of the Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet catalogue.
Remastered from the original tapes and presented on deluxe 180-gram vinyl with a gatefold sleeve, featuring new artwork by Shadowy Men's Don Pyle himself.
Featuring such classics as the Having An Average Weekend (The Kids In the Hall Theme), Zombie Compromise and Shadowy Countdown. 18 classic hits, don't miss out!
Comes With Download Code."
This is the first installment in an on going series by Mammoth Cave Recording Company to reissue the entire Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet back catalog! And what a perfect place to start, "Savvy Show Stoppers" collects all the early singles by this Toronto powerhouse. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet's instrumental jams have a peppering of surf rock, but mostly are just straight up head spinning balls out instro blasts where vocals would only get in the way. And to finally get Having An Average Weekend back on wax is nothing short of a miracle. But hell, all these tracks fucking slay in their own right, so get with the program friends and grab your self this amazing record. Super Recommended.
Our pals over at Lion Productions have made a name for themselves by reissuing the creme de la creme of underheard jams from the Sixties & Seventies ranging from the softer to the harder ends of the spectrum. First they unleashed the Jerusalem record a couple years back, now prepare thyself for Scottish dungeonmasters IRON CLAW. Heed the roar of the Lion:
"Sixteen pulverizingly heavy early masterpieces of dirty doom metal, this is a can't miss package for all fans of heavy psych, proto-metal and the early days of doom rock." - The Ripple Effect. "This Scottish band are just ridiculously heavy and I think it's a travesty that the sixteen songs they wrote around 1970/1971 never got an official release until 2009. This whole album is just breathtaking." - Terrorizer. Official heavy-duty gatefold double album of early 70s Scottish underground heavy rock from Iron Claw, a band who were stomping around the UK with the likes of Black Sabbath, Hackensack, Pink Fairies, Juicy Lucy and others, but who never released a proper album. Iron Claw started their career in 1970 as (more or less) the world's first Black Sabbath tribute band: they incorporated the entire first Black Sabbath LP and single into their live set! And as it happens, it was Iron Claw bassist Alex Wilson who unearthed the oldest known concert recording of Black Sabbath, a 1969 gig recorded by Wilson in Dumfries, Scotland! As time progressed, Iron Claw's live sets started to include many originals, as well as covers such as 'War Pigs,' 'Fairies Wear Boots,' 'Wicked World,' 'Green Manalishi' and 'Lady Whisky.' This collection of sixteen original studio tracks documents Iron Claw's existence from 1970 thru 1974 and includes extensive liner notes, lyrics and photos inside the gatefold and on a 12" insert; also includes an 11x17 poster. For fans of Tear Gas, Leaf Hound, Jerusalem, Ancient Grease, Toad, Incredible Hog, Elias Hulk! Newly re-mastered for vinyl and sounding better than ever!! •First ever vinyl issue, taken from the original tapes •Old-style tip-on gatefold jacket + insert + poster •Newly re-mastered for vinyl and sounding better than ever!!"
Iron Claw rages pretty hard & heavy right from the needle drop, exploding outta the speakers in a puff of green wizard's smoke. Doom & gloom are the prevailing moods from song to song, cueing heavily from the Sabbath playbook, but eschewing all those sensitive piano ballads for MORE SONGS ABOUT EVIL SHIT. Absolutely killer & essential. If you like your riffs pummeling & sinister then allow u sto introduce you to your new favorite band. This baby is pressed up on two vinyl albums in the blackest of black vinyl , housed in a sweet looking gatefold jacket & includes not only an informative insert, but also an 11x17 poster! The grip of the Iron Claw may feel rough, but it'll never sound sweeter than this. TOTALLY FUCKING RECOMMENDED.
Leave it to Numero Group to start up yet another MASSIVE reissue campaign and this time they've set their sites on ex-Swell Mapper Nikki Sudden! Here are the details straight from Numero Group:
"For Waiting On Egypt, Nikki Sudden’s 1982 solo debut for Abstract Records, the Birmingham post-punk cut back on the skronk and clatter of his own latter-day Swell Maps. Unused Maps material received Sudden resurrection and pared-down guitar propellant, while Nikki’s new ideas moved confidently in a Bolan direction. Elsewhere, pained homage is paid to early Stones gem “I’d Much Rather Be With The Boys,” recast in withdrawn piss and vinegar."
Nikki Sudden's music made with his brother Epic Soundtracks as Swell Maps is no doubt seminal, but his later work as a solo artist and Jacobites are just as original and thrilling in their own right. Sudden's take on Stones-y guitar rock is 100% his own and his swagger and unique style as an individual are all testament to a great artist taken from us far too soon and these albums are just further proof of the creative explosions going on in his head. Totally Recommended.
Leave it to Numero Group to start up yet another MASSIVE reissue campaign and this time they've set their sites on ex-Swell Mapper Nikki Sudden! Here are the details straight from Numero Group:
"Nikki Sudden’s second LP, released in 1983 by Flicknife Records, marked his first collaboration with writer/guitarist Dave Kusworth, the alliance destined to bring Jacobites to record buying publics on both Atlantic coasts. On The Bible Belt, a diverse clutch of Sudden songs stands in rock reverence to Sudden saints, from Bowie slink and Dylanesque strum to the mandolin post-punk of “Missionary Boy.”'
Nikki Sudden's music made with his brother Epic Soundtracks as Swell Maps is no doubt seminal, but his later work as a solo artist and Jacobites are just as original and thrilling in their own right. Sudden's take on Stones-y guitar rock is 100% his own and his swagger and unique style as an individual are all testament to a great artist taken from us far too soon and these albums are just further proof of the creative explosions going on in his head. Totally Recommended.
Leave it to Numero Group to start up yet another MASSIVE reissue campaign and this time they've set their sites on ex-Swell Mapper Nikki Sudden! Here are the details straight from Numero Group:
"Dual guitars announce “Big Store” and 1984’s Jacobites, originally on Glass Records, the first official appearance of Nikki Sudden and Dave Kusworth under that imprimatur—and its direct allusion to British royal lineage of yesteryear. The matching LP trafficked in dramatic rock classicism: vital, shambolic, anchored by acoustic strumming and a healthy obsession with plaintive Dylan phrasings. Songwriting swung hard at Stewart/Wood tropes, while Sudden & Kusworth took grim new looks at the same hills Mick and Keith had long since rolled past. ”
Nikki Sudden's music made with his brother Epic Soundtracks as Swell Maps is no doubt seminal, but his later work as a solo artist and Jacobites are just as original and thrilling in their own right. Sudden's take on Stones-y guitar rock is 100% his own and his swagger and unique style as an individual are all testament to a great artist taken from us far too soon and these albums are just further proof of the creative explosions going on in his head. Totally Recommended.
Leave it to Numero Group to start up yet another MASSIVE reissue campaign and this time they've set their sites on ex-Swell Mapper Nikki Sudden! Here are the details straight from Numero Group:
"The lush second album by Nikki Sudden and Dave Kusworth as Jacobites, 1985’s Robespierre’s Velvet Basement is a decadent and inviting garage, decorated by upfront acoustic guitars and unabashed devotion to Faces, Stones, and the folky young Bolan. Drunk on red wine and shambling through predictions of Brit pop to come, Robespierre’s Velvet Basement, originally planned for four sides of Glass Records vinyl, was pared down to hit a pinnacle of Nikki Sudden’s ‘80s oeuvre, a loose and grandly bedraggled portrait of British rock at the crossroads."
Nikki Sudden's music made with his brother Epic Soundtracks as Swell Maps is no doubt seminal, but his later work as a solo artist and Jacobites are just as original and thrilling in their own right. Sudden's take on Stones-y guitar rock is 100% his own and his swagger and unique style as an individual are all testament to a great artist taken from us far too soon and these albums are just further proof of the creative explosions going on in his head. Totally Recommended.
KILLER mutant glam from White Fence guitarist Jack Name! Originally a self-released cassette, now pressed up onto wax courtesy of our bud Ty Segall's God? imprint - read what his SF(now LA) co-hort John Dwyer has to say about it:
'"Light Show lifts off over an alien plane — immediate, skimming the surface of the landscape where the story unfulrls. Whiffs of young Brian Eno, Gary Numan, Chrome, ELO, Bruce Haack, even Richard O'Brien and Stefan Wul stain the sleeves of this story. A powerful and inspiring message to all who will give ear to it." — John Dwyer, 2013"
HELLS YEAH - snap into it! We've worn out our cassette version, so this vinyl pressing is a welcome sight! GET IT ~ RECOMMEDED!
540 and Painkiller Records have joined forces to unleash this NYHC classic, get the skinny from the labels right here:
"540 Records and Painkiller present one of the most important and, yep, best, New York Hardcore recordings on vinyl for the first time EVER, with Running Scared, the second demo in BREAKDOWN’s Both Demos set. This is music to wear a Mr. Peanut t-shirt to, to lace up your Spot-Bilt sneakers and stagedive into a pike of Daisy Dukes and Village Voice back-issues. On this 540 and Painkiller split release you will find: The Running Scared demo, from 1988, recorded in The Loft studios in Bronxville, near the parkway, and previously unreleased versions of “All I Ask” and “Hold Me Back”—-the latter basically a new Breakdown song that you can't get anywhere else except for this thing—and their WNYU session from 1989. The demo is as good as any hardcore record ever, and the band is as good as any band. It’s on vinyl now, finally, so buy this thing, put on a ringer tee, spill spaghetti sauce on it and start spreading the credit around."
Not "posi", not straight edge, just pissed off, no bullshit caveman pummel ready to wipe the floor with your milquetoastass. Grab this beast immediately cuz it ain't comin' back! Really Recommended.
BACK IN STOCK!!!
The legendary Abduction label scuttles out of their hole to plop Alvarius B's " Fuck You And The Horse You Rode In On" lp on the unassuming masses and here's what they have to say on the matter:
"The album title pretty much says it all. A brain-splattered document of pre-Sun City Girls weirdness by Alvarius B. (Alan Bishop) from 1981-1983, consisting of raw, live and unfiltered home recordings on acoustic and electric guitar with effects, vocals, flute, harmonica, and other miscellaneous odd instruments. Extremely limited one-time pressing of 400 LP copies. "
"Fuck You And The Horse You Rode In On" is 26 tacks of outsider alien blues and dain-bramaged acoustic strangulations by Alvarius B aka Alan Bishop of the unlike-any-others Sun City Girls. These tracks blaze a mangled trail all their own and hint at the acid drenched ethno-freakery that the SCG was soon to unleash. As with all things Abduction related this one comes as a one-time pressing of 400 so act fast amigos! Supremely Recommended.
Columbus, OH living LEGEND, Ron House is back with an all-new project, this time in collaboration with Times New Viking's Jared Phillips called Counter Intuits! Mr. House released this bad-boy all by hisself on his own 'Pyramid Scheme' Record label - check the wreckage:
"Not-totally-French-existentialist RON HOUSE (GREAT PLAINS, THOMAS JEFFERSON SLAVE APARTMENTS, PSANDWICH) teams up with eater-of-the-free-chicken-of-Bob-Petric, JARED PHILLIPS (TIMES NEW VIKING) to hit all the lo-fi indie-punk buttons of The Columbus Sound—loose, clever, catchy, intense, and wrong."
Those familiar with the discography and output of Ron House will surely have expectations of this one - House's shambolic and rambling lyrical delivery is a stream-of-consciousness poetry not unlike the free-flowing word-smithing of folks like Doc Dart or Jad Fair. Musically is where this gets interesting, Phillips and House both are entrenched in Columbus' long history sonic squalor and ALL the right buttons are being pushed here - Phillips is responsible for all the sounds here and the apple doesn't fall TOO far from the TNV tree, but Counter Intuits ramble on with a more sinister, DIY post-punk vibe - echoes of The Fall, Desperate Bicycles, Swell Maps and even Tronics poke their heads above the din. Make no mistake, even though Phillips wrote the music and House is just responsible for the words, the two mesh seamlessly, each one complimenting the other like a fine wine with dinner (or at least chocolate and peanut butter). These's something very AUSTRALIAN sounding here, but it's Ron House we're talkin' about here - heck, practically all the bands gigging down under are using TJSA as a wellspring so FUGGEDDABOUTIT. Do we need to tell you that this thing is essential? GEEZ. Just GET THIS NOW!!!
