LP - Afflicted Man - I'm Off Me 'Ead (Official 2013 Reissue, Repress, Black Wax, Ltd 300) - $17.99 -
BUY
-
LISTEN 
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. "
Still Single's Doug Mosurock had this to say:
"I wrote a long piece about Steve Hall for Dusted when the
Afflicted Man bootleg 2xCD of all the recordings came out a few years
back. Without necessarily rehashing that piece, I will say that the
second LP he made, as Afflicted Man, is the keystone between psychedelic
rock of the ‘60s and punk of the years building up to its 1980 release
date – and unlike some sort of halfway psych-squatters on punk
aggression (Hawkwind, Gong) or the militant side of punk (Crass,
Conflict), Afflicted could easily walk between both worlds without
question, simply because he realized that the path between punk and
psych was a one-way deal, and you had to start in punk to go back in
order to reach the crazed highs realized on I’m Off Me ‘Ead. (Drugs
helped a lot, to be fair.) Permanent’s reissue puts this fine album into
perspective, with interviews from today and a long piece care of Chris
Stigliano, published decades ago in Forced Exposure issue 9, and it
seems that one of the only afflictions that followed Hall through his
career was trying to avoid support by skinheads and fascists, hence his
long-assumed National Front ties which have since been vehemently
refuted. Just because you added rock elements back into punk should not
put you in the same league as Skrewdriver. Anyway, now is the time to
JAM THE FUCK OUT to long, rattled blasters that connect Billy Childish
to Mick Farren, and serve as the bridge to the final Afflicted Man
release, 1982’s Get Stoned Ezy. Very much worth your time."
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 second pressing (let's hope there's demand for multiple) is limited to 300 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
LP - Basic Cable - I'm Good To Drive (Black Wax, Ltd 200) - $14.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
Permanent Records' 39th label release
Our buds at the Empty Bottle penned this little bit about Basic
Cable for our 7th Year Anniversary party and we think it sums these
snide booze fueled bad vibe bringers up very fucking nice:
"Channeling bad vibes, worse hangovers and a general
life-keeps-shitting-on-us attitude, Chicago's BASIC CABLE find a way to
have fun as they commiserate with each other, and their listeners.
Fairly new to "the scene," their blown out guitars, shouted, monotone
vocals and punishing rhythms make for a noisy, punk-as-fuck attack that
tingles our dingles in ways we can barely comprehend." – Empty Bottle
Review snippets from split flexi single with Endless Bummer on Notes and Bolts / Eye Vybe Records:
"Basic Cable, formed by ex-Loose Dudes, Heavy Times, and
current Running members, is a thrashing two minutes of caterwauling
vocals, and instruments that sound like they're going to fall apart at
any moment." – Notes and Bolts / Eye Vybe Records
"Basic Cable, comprised of some Chicago's assorted noteworthy
maniacs from various other quality acts mentioned above, lean in thick
and mean with a paranoid rocker that pummels a riff into the ground
while some terrifying laser sound sets its sights for your soul. It's
all over waaaay too soon, so here's hoping we're getting more material
from BOTH acts in the near future. Savagely Recommended." – Permanent
Records
"Sometimes you’re just drinking a beer on your porch in San
Francisco, minding your own business when a full-length record falls out
of the sky and hits you in the face. Thanks to the internet Chicago is
just a click away from the end of the earth. I’m speaking figuratively
of course, but that’s kind of what Basic Cable’s I’m Good to Drive feels
like, a brisk and awakening blast of wind to the face, something both
San Francisco and Chicago can relate to. The songs are packed to the
brim with punch and quick, like jabs. The sound stems from two very
particular genres but melds into more of a recognition of grunge rock
and hardcore punk. This is the band’s first full-length album, released
on Chicago’s Permanent Records in November 2013.
On the heels of the 20th anniversary release of Nirvana’s In
Utero, Basic Cable’s grunge rock can be heard not in tribute but as a
contemporary perspective on the genre. Fused with the punk-rock
likenesses of Los Angeles kings Black Flag, the sound is both determined
and intentionally muddled. In an effort to unpack this seemingly
obvious sound hiding behind something more complex I spoke with singer
and guitarist Michael John Grant. He let on that when talking about the
sound it’s really pretty simple. “They are the things I know most
about…might as well do something you’re good at.” It essentially boils
down to, “five dudes who just like drinking a lot and basically started
playing music in addition to that.” These five dudes are Michael John
Grant on guitar and vocals, Luca Cimarusti on bass guitar and vocals,
Joel Bednarz on guitar, Ryan Duggan on drums, and Matthew Hord on
synthesizer and vocals. They’ve known each other a long time, spending
their entire adult lives getting drunk and making music independently,
sometimes together. But there’s more to it than Grant implies. Late
80s and 90s grunge, garage rock, and punk is making a resurgence as the
generation that grew up listening to these genres revisits their
ownership and asks; what does this music look like now? It looks like
Basic Cable. The band is taking to task the grunge that defined their
early listening, adding more power, more amps, and more distortion. With
a tip of the hat to punk, Basic Cable is reigning in the grunge and
claiming it with dark flags, black flags and giving it a place to call
home on I’m Good to Drive.
The record came out about a year after they formed the band.
Good to Drive is comprised entirely of brisk songs under or around 3
minutes. With titles like “Blonde Ambition,” “Where’s Your Husband?”
and “Winter Weight” I can’t help but wonder if it’s all inside jokes
designed to add insult to injury. Lyrics are either highly repetitive
or unidentifiable, adding to the sentiment that Basic Cable has
something to scream but not necessarily something to say, which is a
refreshing turn to this contemporary sound. Sometimes we just need to
thrash around and talk smack to keep the dark side in check. Grant
quoted guitarist Joel Bednarz when asked about the content of the songs,
“everything sounds pretty aggressive but every song pretty much sounds
like two dudes not getting along.”
What makes these cuts most accessible to an audience who
typically wouldn’t listen to an album like I’m Good to Drive is the
instrumentation. There is a heavy amount of reverb but the songs, albeit
terse, are laced with versions of layers. The music works for itself,
complimenting each loud area rather than arriving at an overpowered
electrical storm. The lead track “Blonde Ambition” sounds the most like a
single. It has a hook and Grant does that requisite combination of
yelling and singing. This song set the precedence for the band’s sound,
“that was one of the first ones we wrote, it just kind of came out. Once
we finished this song we were like ‘that’s what this band is going to
sound like.’” Other highlights from Good to Drive are “I Drink
Everyday,” which is pretty self explanatory and heavy on the noise, but a
little more contained than say, “Where’s Your Husband?” flashing the
boldest riffs on the album. “Winter Weight” represents my favorite kind
of trash talk and something the Midwest is all too familiar with;
“winter weight in the summer time.” I’m Good to Drive is no nonsense and
all reverb." - Mosshouse.net
RIYL: Cows, Jesus Lizard, Pissed Jeans, METZ, Watery Love, Fang, AmRep
LP - Heater - God and Hair (Regular Edition on Black Vinyl) - $4.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
Permanent's 17th label release!
Heater is a three-piece Columbia, Missouri super group, if such a
thing exists. Heater's guitarist and lead singer, Zach "Zz" McLuckie,
used to be a member of CAVE and Sneakers (both have released records on
Permanent Records), among others. Heater's bassist / second guitarist,
Jeremy "Jerusalem" Freeze also plays guitar in Jerusalem and the
Starbaskets and both he and Heater's drummer, Jon "Wujj" Wujick,
formerly jammed together in California Raisins (their only release was a
split 10" with CAVE also on Permanent).
Now that you have the band history, we might as well get into the
sounds confined within, Heater's first widely distributed release. "God
and Hair" is a super upbeat, melodic pop record in essence, but as I
mentioned before, these guys come from a very DIY background. It's got
some fast repetitive lo-fi punk rock jams with reverb enhanced vocals
similar to those found on the Sneakers "Children Into People" EP, and
some Clean-esque pop elements, but it's also got tracks with a great
laid back summertime '90s alt-pop vibe not too dissimilar from the least
noisy '90s moments of Sonic Youth and Sebadoh. All of these elements
come together and make for a unique sound (thanks to a little help by
Cooper Crain of CAVE's analog production techniques) and make for one
hell of a summertime DIY pop jammer. Here comes the summer (of pop)!
There are only 500 copies of this limited edition LP and it may never be pressed again.
"Despite their ties to cosmic-kraut rockers Cave, Columbia,
MO power trio Heater bring a huge sunshine-y racket on God and Hair,
their debut outing and as far as we’re concerned, one of the pre-eminent
noise-pop records released this year. Anyone expecting
anything other than shimmering, good-time southern rock ‘n’ roll from
this lot may as well turn around and walk back out the door, because
despite the fact that its members share time in heavy hitting
kraut/psych-jammers — Jerusalem, and the Starbaskets, and the
aforementioned Cave — the album revels in the grotty, grungy DIY spirit
of ’93, mostly to stunning result.
Ramshackle production (provided by Cave’s Cooper Crain) only
helps to bolster the stuttering guitars and rough-hewn melodies of “Rad
Boys”, while the sneaky synth lines shot through “Beside Me”‘s jaunty
guitar rave-ups are oddly redolent of mid-’90s almost-rans Certain
Distant
Suns." - Impose Magazine
LP - King Blood - Eyewash Silver (2013 Permanent Records Screened Fold-Over Sleeve Special Edition) - $9.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
When we first officially re-issued the (self-released / Ignorant
Gore) debut King Blood LP, "Eyewash Silver" in 2011, the entire
pressing, to our dismay, was delivered to our doorstep minorly warped. A
re-repress was immediately ordered up and thankfully arrived flat(er)
and went on to become what we issued in 2011. Flash-forward two years
to 2013, King Blood has a hot shit new single on White Denim following
the twice-pressed 2012 behemoth "Vengeance, Man" LP on the lovable
Richie Records, not to mention copies of our long out-of-print "Eyewash
Silver" repress selling on the reg for $20+ in the aftermarket (and even
furthermore not mention the OG IG copies easily moving at $60+!). Well,
here we are, we spun a bunch of the lightly warped copies from the
initial repress and it turns out they play through just fine! We had a
bunch of fold-over sleeves sleeves hand-screened by our good pal Kyle
(Rotted Tooth man himself) with the "Eyewash Silver" artwork, stamped
the center labels in a new color, and voilà, we're once again bringing
you King Blood's "Eyewash Silver" at an unbeatable price of TEN BONES in
exchange for a little wax warpage that does not affect play.
For the uninitiated check out what we had to say about the amazing "Eyewash Silver" upon our issue of the repress:
In late 2010 a record came out of nowhere and blew our minds.
That record was "Eyewash Silver" by King Blood. Unfortunately, it was
issued in a limited edition of 100 copies and it disappeared faster than
a fugitive at a busted up coke party. We initially discovered the
record through a very enticing review that Doug Mosurock over at Still
Single / Dusted wrote and our minds were blown when we received the
records and realized that there was absolutely no hyperbole or
exaggeration in Doug's review. For your reference, here's said review:
"Little anonymous fuzz guitar rudiment blowdown from ex-Snake
Apartment guitarist Ryland Wharton (also the man behind the excellent
Skulltones and Twonicorn labels). As King Blood, he lays down eight
instrumental four-trackers rendered over a three-year period, nothing
but guitar, bass and cymbal to keep time, and in that space the artist
gets real, with simple themes repeated in a noisy, low-rent, yet
meditative space. For as thick as these vibes get, the music itself is
not necessarily aggressive, which is why these big, billowing songs
sound gentle and bluesy and introspective, even in the overblown
treatment most of them receive. Early Wooden Shjips or the Purling Hiss
LP (and above all, Les Rallizes Denudes) would be good signposts for
this album, but without the obvious psych moves like wah-solos and acid
burn motifs, or the heavy drumming to keep time; King Blood wants to get
you down by volume, and in that it is a drifting, uncompromising,
diffuse and very loud success. 100 copies for this world, in paste-on
sleeves – a few contain a silkscreened design on Stonehenge paper that
was allegedly runoff from a gallery exhibition held earlier this summer.
Those are signed and numbered as well. (availability? ask the angels…)"
Sounds exciting, right? Yeah, well it lives up to the review,
and then some. "Eyewash Silver" is an incredible, dumbed-down, shit-fi,
riff-drenched instrumental psych record that will KILL fans of Wooden
Shjips / Les Rallizes Denudes (and all the rest of those touchstone
bands mentioned in the review - Doug knows his shit). In fact, the same
folks will be kicking themselves HARD if they don't grab one of these
while they still have the (second) chance.
"There are at least two ways to look at a guitar riff-- as a
building block for a song, or as an end in itself. Ryland Wharton, aka
King Blood, has taken the latter viewpoint to a mesmerizing extreme. On
Eyewash Silver-- originally released in a tiny edition in 2010-- he
treats fuzzy guitar riffs not simply as ends, but as mantras to be
chanted and monuments to be worshiped. Each track offers one simple
figure devoutly repeated, as if musical nirvana is always just one more
riff away.
If I'm making Eyewash Silver sound too solemn or reverent,
don't worry-- it's also a lot of fun. Wharton's clanging chords never
feel dry or studied. Instead they're charged with an impulsive
exuberance. Often it sounds like he came up with a guitar loop right
before he hit record on his four-track, and was so excited that he
didn't want to waste another second before churning away. That feel is
enhanced by muddy, static-drenched production. The album drips with
overload, creating a raw, gut-level immediacy. The idea behind each song
is delivered unwashed and unrefined.
In that sense, Eyewash Silver reminds me of Neil Young,
particularly his solo guitar soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch's 1995
existential western Dead Man. Wharton's songs aren't nearly as sparse or
forlorn as Young's score, but both share a near-anthropological
fascination with the primal force of repeated notes. (Besides, the
swinging hooks of "Poison in Jest" and "Sinfull Woman" sound extracted
and extended from Crazy Horse tunes). You'll hear other reference points
throughout Eyewash Silver-- the noisy wash of Japanese bands like
Fushitsusha and Les Rallizes Denudes, the motor-garage of Wooden Shjips,
and, on the near-perfect "End of a Primitive", the classic amp-melt of
great Velvet Underground bootlegs. But I keep coming back to Young and
his exploratory wanderings, a standard to which Wharton measures up
well.
The only flaw you might find in Eyewash Silver is the
claustrophobic effect its relentless distortion can create. Sometimes
after I've listened to it repeatedly, it's taken me a while to shake the
feeling that I'm wearing earmuffs. But this also gives the album a
world-apart feel-- it's unlikely you'll get distracted by anything else
while this album is on. Besides, even if you can't bear to hear King
Blood over and over, one listen to its echoing riffs might make you feel
like you have." - Pitchfork
LP - MERX - 20000 Sq Ft Under The Sea (White Wax, Ltd 100) - $14.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
PERMANENT RECORDS' 37th LABEL RELEASE!
MERX INCLUDES ½ OF GERMAN ARMY
LA's MERX is back with another platter of menacing post-punk,
no-wave, cold-wave, industrial electronic thinking-man's creep terror.
Reviews of 20000 Sq Ft Under The Sea:
"Second release from this LA band, originally a Skrot Up
cassette but now a spin down slab of vinyl thanks to this Permanent
press. If you like mad intoning renegade preacher/vocalists, even if you
never stumbled across Suicide before, this album is for you. On first
listen, I was smitten. And that first track, with deep voice wordless
and reverbed into wanton rant. Hell, yeah! Side 1 songs come and go like
sitting at a busy intersection during rush hour and watching for
weirdos go by in cars. These songs feel like they are chrome-plated with
tinted windows so you can’t quite see what’s inside them. Maybe a body,
maybe a couple of tanks of oxygen, or is it a toxic chemical? Like
those car occupants, the 8 songs on side 1 are gone but leave an
indelible impression. Drum machine makes you want to dance, but the
baritone madman vocalist is staring at you so you better not move.
Little rifflets of guitar that could have an ocean of spy surf behind
them. Rev’d up synths idle wildly. After my second listen, I felt like I
was in a dingy bar with only bouncers, and each bouncer is trying to
throw another bouncer out. The flip side is a single track at 45 RPM
PLEASE NOTE. It’s kind of a chaotic free form take of the tighter vibe
from the songs on the flip (indeed lyrics from 20 Sq Ft get howled into
the fray). Kind of a lunatic jam with that poet/prophet/pervert shouting
in the storm. Really digging this release. A rare burly form of synth
rock!" (Thurston Hunger, KFJC 89.7 FM, 12/12/2013)
[cassette version on Skrot Up]
"I thought I read somewhere that Merx is an offshoot of some
sort stemming from the German Army family tree, which would be awesome.
No matter: Twenty Sq Ft stands on its own at the summit of randomness,
flitting from disguise to disguise until they barely recognize who’s
staring back at them in the mirror. They can be muscular and threatening
or, as “Swim Job” attests, quite funky, or at least as funky as a
limited-run tape band can be. I suppose gloomy post-punk would have to
be brought up in the conversation if you were trying to describe this
cassette to a dipshit, but umbrella terms aren’t going to protect you
from the unrestrained, infectious enthusiasm pouring from the pores of
these sketchy tunes. Let them do their work and Merx will reward you in a
perplexing manner. Which reminds me: Do you have the proper
documentation to be listening to Twenty Sq Ft? Write Skrot Up to secure
the appropriate paperwork." (Grant 'Gumshoe' Purdum, Tiny Mix Tapes,
10/28/2013)
RIYL: Suicide, Throbbing Gristle, DNA, SPK, German Army, Brotman & Short, Cold Wave
LP - Purling Hiss - Purling Hiss (2014 Tour Edition Ltd 250) - $14.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
Tape - Purling Hiss - Purling Hiss (2014 Tour Edition Ltd 100) - $5.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
SCREEN PRINTED FOLD-OVER SLEEVES - PERMANENT RECORDS' TENTH LABEL RELEASE!
Purling Hiss aka Mike Polizze has come a long way since 2009 and
releasing his debut LP, our tenth label release on Permanent, as a Birds
of Maya off-shoot project of solo recordings. Shortly following, THE
HISS became a full touring band and has since released LPs on venerable
labels such as Richie Records, Drag City, and Woodsist (not to mention,
various cassettes).
Here are some words we penned about this LP upon it's initial release back in '09:
"Purling Hiss is one of Philly's Best! Purling Hiss is the
side-project of Holy Mountain recording artists Birds of Maya guitarist
Mike Polizze. Birds of Maya are a full-on psychedelic rock band from
Philly.Apparently Birds just aren't full-on enough to satisfy Polizze's
far-out tendencies. On his debut solo record Polizze plays bass drums
and guitar relentlessly as if he's playing to save his life. This
recording is so intense that the pressing plant told us they'd risk
breaking their equipment if they cut the lacquers with the original
master. We sent them a new master and it sounds great!"
The trouble with year-end lists: records like this one, which
come out quietly and without fanfare, and run the table on all of the
others you’ve chosen. Had this record, the solo debut of Birds of Maya
guitarist Mike Polizze, as Purling Hiss, crossed my path even a few
weeks earlier, it would have completely dominated. As such, this gets my
highest recommendation: extremely thick, dense, wilded-out psychedelic
hard rock, Polizze tackling all of the instruments alone. Releases of
recent years (Wooden Shjips, and Birds of Maya’s debut LP spring to
mind) speak to the absolutely fucked vibes on offer here, but don’t
quite take it to the resin-coated peaks of Purling Hiss’s fight with the
world. Many of the better ramen shops I’ve been to employ this tactic
of taking a blowtorch to the charshu before serving it, making sure the
fat caramelizes and the edges of the pork singe in blackened completion.
It’s a trick – the meat is fully cooked; this just gives it a little
more character and some additional levels of flavor – but it enhances
the presentation most of all. That same logic can be applied to Purling
Hiss, and it pays off. There’s vocals, but like the drums, they’re
pushed to near the back of the mix, to make way for layer upon layer of
excoriating guitar slash, noise upon noise, lead over lead, dense but
particulate with every stripe of psych maelstrom chaos flame-kissing the
walls. There’s three long tracks and three short ones, but it all
blends together – my favorite is “Montage Mountain,” which sounds like
Les Rallizes Denudes finally cutting “I Will Follow Him” out of their
set and replacing it with Skynyrd’s “Saturday Night Special.” It’s the
finest moment of rock music in 2009, and if you hurry, you can be part
of it – it’s as good as we’re gonna get until Birds of Maya’s three-song
double album comes out. It doesn’t hurt that Polizze is a shredder of
elite proportions, and it sounds like he’s having a blast. 300 odd
copies, with 100 or so of them on purple vinyl, going so quickly that
they’ll be gone by the new year. Fans of the heavy swirl (High Rise,
early Comets on Fire, Puffy Areolas) – do not wait.
"... reminds me of some of my other favorite mystery rock
albums, like High Speed and the Afflicted Man's Get Stoned Ezy, or any
Les Rallizes Denudes or Vermonster records--not necessarily in style or
attack, but certainly in spirit. This is full-on destroyer guitar rock,
with a palpable sense of nothing to lose and everything to prove. To me,
it sounds like a serious, sincere statement--and you don't hear that
every day." --Ripley Johnson (Moon Duo, Wooden Shjips)
For Fans Of: Birds of Maya, Earthless, Loop, High Rise, Les Rallizes Denudes and Lo-Fi Blown-Out Psych
LP - WatchOut! - Flashbacker (2014 Repress, Ltd 300) - $14.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
Permanent Records' 35th label release! - 2014 REPRESS LTD 300!
Domestic reissue of Chilean group's debut LP, previously
available only on CD and a uber-limited lathe-cut import LP; WatchOut!
is the lovechild proof that Os Mutantes and Popol Vuh had an elicit
rendezvous in mid-70's Santiago. This Chilean rock group blends krauty
synth textures with a Tropicalian style not so successfully crafted
since the 70's. Latin rhythms, fuzzy, wah-wah guitar leads, and melodic
organ patterns are sewn sweetly together to create a quilt of
psychedelic pop that would comfort even the coldest Brazilian psych
aficionado. This LP was one of the best unheard and under-released
records of 2011. “Flashbacker” includes seven tracks of 60's Brazilian
psych, 70's German hypnotism, 80s UK fuzz pop, and Indian raga
influenced jams all seamlessly and brilliantly woven together.
For Fans Of: Os Mutantes, Popol Vuh, Jesus and Mary Chain, Follakzoid, Holydrug Couple
Tape - Jesus Sons - Jesus Sons - $5.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
Edition of 150
POP THIS BEAST IN YER TAPE DECK AND STEP ON THE GAS!!!
Time to hop on yer hog and hit the highway cuz Permanent Records
just unleashed the cassette version of this wind in yer hair affair by
Jesus Sons and it is a cruuuuuuuiiisssserrr! Jesus Sons have the
swagger, 'tude and strut of "Exile On Mainstreet", the fuzzed out blues
rock and harmonica know-how of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the
swamp choogle of CCR, the caveman stomp of the Black Lips, the bratty
snarl of the Strange Boys and the repeato-riff debauchery of the Velvet
Underground. Jesus Sons are makin' some damn fine jean jacket and
shades psychedelic rock and this debut full length is start to finish
hazy gaze west coast Americana bliss out. If you're searchin' for your
mainline, look no further, just like Sister Ray said… play on! Mega
Recommended. LP Available from Mock Records.
Don't just take our word for it, have a look-see what the fine
minds at Impose Magazine had to say about this stellar self-titled LP
here:
"LA's Jesus Sons have come to save your tattered souls. Some
folks spend their lives in front of the keyboard, type writer and
Moleskins trying to write the great, all-American novel, story, tale, or
whatever they want it to be. In that same vein, former member of The
Spyrals' Brandon Wurtz, with Shannon Dean, Bert Hoover, Chance Welton,
and Erik Lake have made the all-American sound. The Sons soak their
chords from the dense and uptight urban environments to the riffs that
rock the rusted biblebelt interstates the tie in the Southern salutes,
to tightening up each coastal sea to shining sea. With a first to Jesus
Sons' self-titled, the progeny of patriarchs, patriots and outlaws
curate a western sound that instills envy in the hearts of all European
sons. With their self-titled available January 28 from Mock Records, get
in on the inside savior scheme here.
The messianic progeny make music more like rock and roll
prodigies, on the opening number, "All These Furs". The guitars are
tried, tested, and aren't messing around with any sweet talk. Hitting up
the honky-tonks, is the whiskey steeped "Who's Around" that makes the
rounds while trying to round up a posse of a few good men, or just a few
cool Sons. The sleaze and sure-fire sidewinder percussion and beer gut
guitar rolls out the best transgressive romanticism, with the pick-up
line invitational of, "I Wanna Be Your Man". The bar room amour turns
the table with the slow country western twang and turn instrumental
desolation of, "You Put a Spell On Me". Desperation and destitution
never sounded so at home and comfortable, than on the soul grabbing,
"Don't Wanna Die".
The home on the range away from home living keeps on keeping
on with, "Ain't Talkin' Homesick". Jesus Sons take the down, out, and
derelict situations and spin it around to be a debaucherous celebration
of howls, hisses, and all the grimy attitudes they can muster up. "Out
of Time" runs around, out of mind, out of place, hanging out anywhere
they want in "the age of the young". "Melt" provides an interlude
instrumental moment where percussion mimics rattlers and the other
dangers that lie in wait and lurk about the prairie. Bringing down the
house, "Going Down" embodies the rollicking ride down the highway to
perdition, with Brandon and the gang loving every moment. Closing up
their self-titled, Jesus Sons consume themselves in the cautionary
delights and rewrite their own Gospels according to their own bourbon
soaked doctrines."
LP - Earthless Meets Heavy Blanket - In A Dutch Haze - $24.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
Hold on to yer butts! The fine folks at Outer Battery Records
has the fine taste to bring us this unbelievable teaming of groups for a
one off live blast of psychedelic rawk! Get the pertinents and such
directly from the label here:
"After an impromptu heavy psych jam at SXSW left the crowd
stunned and breathless, J MASCIS (DINOSAUR JR.) and EARTHLESS were asked
to play the main stage of the Roadburn Festival in Holland. When
Earthless guitarist ISAIAH MITCHELL had to back out at the last minute
due to other commitments, GRAHAM CLISE from HEAVY BLANKET (who also
plays with J in WITCH) stepped in on second guitar. Backed by the best
rhythm section out there—MARIO RUBALCABA and MIKE EGINTON from
Earthless—we are left with an incredible one-time happening, almost a
full hour of some of the most mind bending heavy psych imaginable. With
absolutely insane artwork from TIM LEHI, In a Dutch Haze is a lavish
double LP with a gatefold sleeve, pressed on limited edition color
vinyl."
Do we really have to sell you on this one? We've babbled on and
on about both these powerhouse acts for eons it seems at this point, so
by all means if you dig far fucking out, space scorching stoner improv
annihilation then proceed directly to check out and blast the fuck off
into psychedelic glory dudes! Beyond Recommended.
LP - Underground Youth - Sadovaya - Import - $21.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES AND PRESSED ON WHITE WAX!!!!
Fuzz Club strikes gold again (no surprise really)!!!! And this
time it's in the form of Underground Youth's 2010 album "Sadovaya"
finally getting pressed onto wax where it should've been all these
years! YES!!!! Here with the deets is Fuzz Club HQ -
"The Sadovaya album was self-released digitally in 2010.
Recorded at home by Craig Dyer. The album contains some of the bands
best songs including Morning Sun, American Dream and Heart On A Chain.
The album has been remastered especially for vinyl. This is an
important album for Fuzz Club Records as it was through Sadovaya we
discovered the band, which eventually let to the start of the label."
And man oh man after spinning "Sadovaya" we know why this lp
kickstarted one of the best go-to UK psych labels. Here Underground
Youth doesn't sound like an emerging band, but a group that's already
found it's stride, crafting a hazy psych daydream / desert rock
masterpiece. "Sadovaya" is filled with gauzy melodies, reverbed jangly
guitars, washes of effects and a swooning lysergic pace that quickly
sucks you deep inside the grooves. Underground Youth has and continues
to find that perfect sweet spot between woozy UK shoegaze, post rock
grandeur and space minded psych rock of yester year. And "Sadovaya"
might just be them at their best. Certainly if yer into "classic" bands
like Spacemen 3, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Ride, Black Angels, Slowdive
and/or any of the other Fuzz Club groups, you need "Sadovaya" now!
TREMENDOUSLY RECOMMENDED AND SUPER LIMITED!!!!!
LP - White Fence - For The Recently Found Innocent - $18.99-
BUY -
LISTEN
Tim Presley a.k.a White Fence is BACK with his sixth proper
full-length (if you count "Family Perfume 1 and 2" as one double
record), THIS TIME recorded in a proper studio setting with tight-bro Ty
Segall behind the faders. Presley's found a new home on Chicago label
Drag City too, after stints on both Woodsist and Castle Face, so let's
lend an ear to their testimony about "For The Recently Found Innocent":
"Yes - THE White Fence - of Is Growing Faith fame - and
little more than a year ago, of the near-COMPLETE total rad-ness Cyclops
Reap. And of five albums' worth of awesomeness in just five years' time
to boot! This estimate includes the all-new album, For the Recently
Found Innocent, which really does deserve the applation 'all-new'. As
you may know, White Fence is the sound of Tim Presley's inner mind
taking off in an unbounded sonic space. From his palatial bedroom
8-track recorder, Tim's woven together frayed sonic stands in service of
his warped pop muse since 2010. Having gone to the center of his
personal song-earth with the Family Perfume set, Tim set his psyghts on
the world at large, and Cyclops Reap shone with fuzzy, jangly hits, all
of them freshly-rolled in the sweet lint of Tim's clothes-closet. For
the Recently Found Innocent keeps spinning outward, finding Tim in the
company of Ty Segall once again, this time in the formal confines of a
studio environment for this first time in White Fence history. Ty
contributes a bit of drumming, but he mostly keeps a producerly remove,
helping to realize White Fence fully in this environment. The excitement
is palpable, and the songs pour forth from Tim's acid pen, rife with
classic hooks corroded by singature damaged WF guitarring and lyrical
nuggets that glow with inspiration that unconciousness. Fans of White
Fence's dream-pop will freak - and 60s-heads may hear something they
remember dimly from before, in an all-new way!"
All we can say is WOW. Presley's hooks that were previously
buried under layers of tape hiss and reverb, are pushed to the forefront
here thanks in part to Segall's decidedly hi-fi approach. The tunes
also benefit from the propulsive drive of a live drummer - White Fence's
own live drummer Nick Murray, whose tasty licks keep the songs
decidedly grounded. White Fence have always mucked about in the
libraries of Msrs. Townshend and Davies (and Dylan and Weller for that
matter) and not much has changed here, save fidelity, but the tunes sway
and swagger a bit more confidently now that they're free of the
shadows. In fact, we're reminded a bit of the 2010 album "Alive As You
Are" from Presley's former band Darker My Love, whose Sunset
Strip-cum-21st Century jangle (and tunes mostly written by Presley)
slither and shimmy like the tunes found here (funny that Presley had to
take a step back in order to move forward). Presley's the man and this
album rules, grip it quick before we find you guilty of being OUT OF
LUCK! RECOMMENDED x INFINITY.
LP - Edip Akbayram - Edip Akbayram - Import - $25.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
Pretty frickin' epic Turkish psych-folk from Anatolian vocalist
Edip Akbayram, reissued here by psych-xperts Pharaway Sounds! Heed the
call from Pharaway:
"Edip Akbayram's a frail guy who spent his childhood unable
to walk, but once he grew up he was on Istanbul TV in a whitey-fro and
knee-length colored robes. Akbayram's voice is big & open, and it
took him all across Turkey at the height of Anatolian psychedelia. This
first album collects precious singles from 1972-1974, with dark melodies
that descend in loose spirals, seemingly forever. Tunes taken from
mystic Sufi poets who played the baglama, but retro-fitted with
hard-plowing electric bass lines, funky drums, fuzz-wah guitars and
keyboards. Remastered sound, insert/booklet with photos and liner notes
by Angela Sawyer (Weirdo Records)."
Less an album proper, and more of a "singles collection" this LP
collects Akbayram's recorded works from '72-'74, finding the singer in
fine voice. Akbayram's vocal style springs from the Cem Karaca / Felix
Kizilok school - soaring and melodic, with cascading vocal melodies
culled from traditional Anatolian folk songs that have become synonymous
with Turkish Rock. This stuff rocks harder than most (save Turkish hard
rocker Erkin Koray) with some sweet gnarly bass and out of this world
stinging psychedelic fuzz guitar - and wah. Plenty of wah-wah. Totally
killer! Sounds amazing too, with remastered audio & killer liners -
Essential rocking here on this platter! RECOMMENDED for psychedelic
sufis and beyond! Get it!
LP - Vampires - Vampires Underground - Import - $25.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
A lil' slice of the South Africa in the early Seventies courtesy
of The Vampires, who were a part of a pretty vibrant teen dance scene in
the late Sixties / early Seventies, centered around the bustling Ajmeri
Arcade off Grey Street in Durban. Reissued here by the psychedelic
world travelers over at Pharaway Sounds, read on:
"Where does a band of Indian guys in East South Africa even
play, and how on earth would they end up with fuzzy guitar riffs,
wah-wah and funky drums? Riddles abound when you discover a platter like
this one. Durban, famous for its beaches and also for beach signs that
marked off areas for white people, had a very unique dance band scene in
1971. The Vampires are a strange footnote in a strange world, and they
slosh through each song like they're having the time of their lives. The
mostly instrumental band covers everything from a soundtrack that
prefigures the drama of Ennio Morricone fuzz, to middle-of-the-road
Nashville country, to Zeppelin, with flute, organ and fuzz guitar high
in the mix. Like the undead, the Vampires now rise from having been long
buried. But they only showed up to get their dirt in your ears. One of
the most obscure psychedelic funk exploitation albums ever, reissued for
the first time. Remastered sound, insert/booklet with liner notes by
Angela Sawyer (Weirdo Records)."
The RAJ Recording company had a pretty lucrative gig going,
issuing album after album of psych-sploitation records from bands like
The Raiders, The Gay Cavaliers, Los Pepitos and these guys - The
Vampires, whose lone album "Underground" was released in '71,
brandishing the colors of the day; LedZep, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd and
the like. Heavy on the fuzz and crunchy guitars and stocked with a
killer caché of instrumental covers like "Whole Lotta Love", "Funky
Broadway" and "Get Ready" (and more). Since all the tunes are
instrumentals, there's a real sound library vibe to the whole affair and
The Vampires really add their own spin, adding EVEN MORE tasty, fuzzy
licks as well as some ripping flute too (yes, we said RIPPING flute). A
killer record, worthy of spinning at your next swarée or bumpin' at your
next DJ nite! RECOMMENDED!
LP - Nord - NG Tapes - $17.99 -
BUY
This limited reissue of the ultra rare and obscure NG Tapes is
nothing short of jaw dropping! Get the full story (and oh what a
story!) directly from the PCP records folks cuz they're the ones that
have brought this gem to the masses:
"Hiroshi Oikawa's two mid-'80s solo LPs under the Nord moniker
are among the rarest and most sought-after Japanese experimental
releases of the era. Issued with minimal information (the latter title
in a plain black jacket with simply a strip of sandpaper affixed to the
front), the albums are dense, otherworldly explorations of the outermost
edges -- or innermost core -- of reality. As Mutant Sounds put it, 'If
this is cosmic, than it's the cosmos as viewed from the vantage point of
a burned out cinder drifting into entropy.' Equally mysterious is
Oikawa's disappearance at the end of the decade. Completely untraceable
even to his peers in Japan, he has by all accounts vanished from
society, perhaps holed up in some pastoral cottage whiling away the days
painting and tending a small garden, or orbiting a distant nebula on an
alternate plane of existence. In recent years, PCP Records issued
limited-edition re-presses of the two albums, duplicating the original
artwork and layout as closely as possible. Now, the label has turned its
attention to an even more obscure item in the Nord discography. NG
Tapes was released on cassette in a micro edition and available only to
purchasers of the 1984 LSD LP (itself limited to 200 copies). With a
runtime of over 50 minutes, it delivers a powerful dose of extended
synthesizer works -- ominous, pulsing electronics of the highest order
-- offset with shorter, more compact post-industrial noise pieces
reminiscent of Oikawa's 1981 LP with Satoshi Katayama. This one-time,
numbered vinyl edition has been carefully remastered from the original
cassette and sounds amazing. Every effort was made to adapt the artwork
to the 12" format, down to the obi strip that accompanied the package."
"NG Tapes" is suuuuuuper minimal electronics the drone and gurgle
with a sinister vibe from start to finish. There is virtually no
information on the record itself save for the chemical make up of LSD, a
pink obi strip that is individually numbered and the title of the
record on the sleeve and that's it. No track titles, no recording
information, no dates, no nothing. And really the lack of information
just adds to the utter mystery of the sonics pouring out of these
perverse grooves. If you like the daring and dark aesthetics of
Throbbing Gristle then venture further into the shadows with Nord to
find new depths of depravity! Sooooooooooooooooo Recommended.
LP - Parka Bruthuz UK - Parkas Full Of Posey - $11.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
After spinning the second Parka Bruthuz UK lp "^H" constantly, we
were tipped off to the fact that copies of their first album from 2008
"Parkas Full Of Posey" were still floating around. So of course we
jumped at the chance to grab a stack! "^H" was such a twisted and
mesmerizing sonic trip, we had to know what came before it, and "Parkas
Full…" does not disappoint!
This mysterious Chicagoland duo concocts a wicked and distorted
mix of psych damaged post punk, weirdo industrial bent electro and
off-kilter new wave pop on their first album, keeping us guessing with
every turn. Funky angular guitars collide with circuit bent synths,
pitch shifted vocals float over the analogue drum machine grooves and as
these songs progress a wall of outsider sounds (worthy of the best
kraut and psych lps) will engulf you and yer hi-fi.
Plenty of mad genius style studio wizardry is going on here too
(ie, David Axelrod, Residents, Conny Plank, DJ Shadow) with guitars,
synths and all sorts of other warped effects / tape loops blending
together into some lysergic trip hop swirl. This first effort is a
little more out there than "^H" but those leftfield melodies we love are
still there in full force.
Not sure what albums these guys have next to their turntables at
home (maybe some Brain / Ralph Records and definitely some UK post punk
and early psych rock), or quite how to categorize this lp, but rest
assured "Parka Full…" is one strange and definitely unique trip you need
to take. SUPER RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!
LP - Parka Bruthuz UK - ^H - $11.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
We've been blowin' through those Pentaject Corporation LPs lately
and since we got them directly from the band it's no surprise really
that those folks hipped us to this mysterious Chicago duo that features a
member of Pentaject.
Parka Bruthuz is a collaborative effort between two individuals
with wildly exciting musical tastes. This music is utterly unique;
totally far-out weirdness while simultaneously super catchy. Strange
synth-pop fuses with psyched out guitar effects, pulsing beats, sexy
bass lines, looped oddities and some eerie almost whispered vocals to
create some truly original sounds. Circuit bent electro industrial
funk that is lush, hypnotic and cool as a cucumber!
It's really hard to compare Parka Bruthuz to other groups but if
you dig stuff like Can, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Cheveu, Smalts or
Residents/Ralph Records then you should definitely check out Parka
Bruthuz pronto. Some truly fried weirdo outsider tunes for the
strangest of trips. "^H" is Parka Bruthuz second album originally
released in 2010. Massively Recommended!!!!
LP - Pentaject Corporation - Pentaject Has A Better Way - $11.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES
We scored a very small batch of this ultra-limited reissue of one
of the more obscure early 80's Chicago post-punk/outsider acts
Pentaject Corporation. This was originally released in 1981 and the
band has now repressed in an edition of 100. After the break up of a
group called The Bugs, Bob Brink and John Nelles founded Pentaject
Corporation, named after Brink's fathers company of the same name.
Lyrical content was inspired by the company's business of rubber
injection molding and the tunes consist of lo-fi recordings of guitar,
drums and echoed vocals. We're hearing hints of Ralph Records leanings,
UK DIY cassette culture vibes, some Hardcore Devo, Urinals, 100
Flowers, Flying Lizards, Electric Eels, deconstructed experimental
r'n'r and some truly original sounds made from a duo that seemed to work
in isolation. The tracks are skeletal, angular, herky jerky and
idiosyncratic oddities about rubber and rubber manufacturing lending
even more to the truly outsider quality of the sounds found within these
grooves. Pentaject Corporation self-released several cassettes and a
7in single that is long out of print and highly collectible. Information
on this group is next to nil on the internet and what little we do know
was provided directly from the band themselves. So act fast, cuz this
was pressed in such a small quantity that this is surely to be as
sought after as the original. Super Recommended.
LP - Jack Ruby - Jack Ruby - $19.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
BACK IN STOCK!!!
FINALLY legendary and mysterious no-wave art punks Jack Ruby get
their full length debut on wax after three decades of virtually being
forgotten thanks to Feeding Tube Records!!!!! We're jumping for joy and
so is Byron Coley, so let's get the story straight from the source -
"Back when Thurston and I were working on our book about the
New York No Wave scene, a key mystery we hoped to unravel was the one
surrounding the band Jack Ruby. I knew George Scott had been in the
band, along with Chris Gray, but we were never able to nail down any
hard info. Lydia Lunch and Rudolph Grey both had blazing memories of
their weirdness, originality and power, but no one could turn up
anything solid. Time passed, the book came out and -- chuffed by the
fact we'd name-checked the band in the book -- some of the participants
began to emerge. Weasel Walter got his hands on a great tape of material
which he released on CD (most of which is reprised here), and bits and
pieces of the band's story continued to roll out. They'd actually formed
in 1973 with Boris Policeband on electric viola and Randy Cohen on
Serge synthesizer. The two pretty much constant members were guitarist
Gray and singer Robin Hall. They'd done a demo for Epic. The original
band never played live, etc., kind of crazy. Then a batch of old tapes
was found in Pennsylvania. We sent them to Don Fleming who transferred
and catalogued them for us, and we were totally blown away by what he
was uncovering. 'Hit and Run' and 'Mayonnaise' are the original line-up
recorded in a small Times Square Studio. Boris left after that and they
recorded the Epic session as a trio. That's 'Bored Stiff,' 'Bad Teeth,'
and 'Sleep Cure.' The other songs were recorded by the later, performing
version of the band with Chris and George and another (all but
anonymous) person or two. They played five live shows, featuring
crawling dolls, buzzing dildos and the cracked Rocket From The Tombs
sort of sound they'd evolved. The last one was in November '77 at Max's
with Vivienne Dick's then-boyfriend, Stephen Barth on vocals. And the
shit may be lo-fi at times, but it is genuinely fucked and a real
pleasure to hear nonetheless." --Byron Coley; Edition of 600. Includes
download code with purchase. Volume Two coming soon." - Feeding Tube
Records
WOW, talk about a band ahead of its time. Jack Ruby borrowed the
feedback damage from the Velvets, started fucking up RnR around the
same time (and the same ways) as Electric Eels, X_X and Rocket From The
Tombs, brought synthesizers into punk before the Screamers and was
creating/destroying the "no wave" sound of DNA / Mars before most of the
kids even discovered their first Ramones lp. UgExplode Records did
issue a comp cd before, and Saturday Records did issue a "Hit And Run"
single a few years ago, but "Jack Ruby" is the definitive statement from
this noise caked destructo, running-off-the-rails band of NYC
misfits. Songs like "Bored Stiff" "Bad Teeth" "Mayonnaise" and of
course "Hit And Run" were life changing anthems for those few people who
heard them live back in the 70s, and those fans count as some of the
most important musicians in the late 70s/early 80s art rock / punk
scenes. And well now they can be yer anti-rock anthems too. FURIOUSLY
RECOMMENED!!!!!! And super limited. No sleeping!!!!!!!
Tape - Zig Zags - Zig Zags - $11.99 -
BUY -
LISTEN
NOW AVAILABLE ON CASSETTE IN LIMITED SCREEN PRINTED CARDBOARD CASE ON RIDING EASY RECORDS!!!
We're big BIG TIME Zig-Zag's fans over here at the shop for a
while now, gripping every copy of their singles one-by-one and we're
STOKED to see this new full-length out NOW on one of our fave labels In
The Red Records! Ride the lightning courtesy of the erudite heshers o'er
at ITR:
"In the year 2014, in the ruins of the city once known as Los
Angeles, three underworld dwellers with one job, one hot tub and one
unkillable riff between them knew they had to make a ripping record—or
die trying. This is their story.
Guitarist Jed, bassist Patrick and drummer Bobby started in a
room lit by a single green light, which changed them from humans to Zig
Zags in the summer of 2010. Within the next four years, they’d record a
song with Iggy Pop and an album with Ty Segall and go from playing house
parties for pizza to staring off the stage at the Fillmore West. Before
them had come giants—bands like Kiss and Sabbath whose names were
carved into desks in detention for decades. Before them had come
mutants, heavy metal and punk bands like the Dictators and Pentagram
that spun into the void of history after failed orbital rendezvous with
the fame they’d deserved. And before them had come freaks,
one-known-copy private-press insanities like J.T. IV, White Boy and the
Average Rat Band—the bands that happened when someone with a guitar
thought fuck it loud enough for the tape to pick up. Those were
visionaries, each of them, even if most of them paid—or never got
paid—for it.
And Zig Zags had a vision, too. It was a dark and weird one,
the kind of thing you see flickering on the monitor when your stolen
spaceship wakes you up from cryo-sleep, or the kind of thing that
flashes across the inside of your forehead when you wake up hungover
from sleeping in your van. Theirs was the nightmare of the insane and
the all-too-normal, the Bermuda Triangle between sci-fi and lo-fi and
no-budget, the Twilight Zone twist ending where it turns out everyone
else was an alien the whole time.
When Cliff Burton wore that Misfits shirt—Zig Zags. When the
Emergency Broadcast System interrupts that John Carpenter movie—Zig
Zags. When a soggy pile of Thrasher mags and Jack Kirby comics spill out
of a dumpster behind the Sunday School—Zig Zags. When the Ramones were
scared of the basement and the Angry Samoans couldn’t find the right
side of their mind—Zig Zags. When a kid breaks his elbow copying a WWF
heel’s piledriver and starts laughing instead of crying—Zig Zags. And
when the electricity goes off forever and torchlight reflects off
chrome—Zig Zags.
All of this and more becomes real on the Zig Zags’ self-titled
debut LP, recorded and produced by Ty Segall for In The Red. In twelve
songs, they chainsaw through weirdo film and caveman rock and space
noise and make smart sound so dumb it turns inside-out and becomes
brilliant. Their very first 7-inch had a song called “Scavenger” cuz
that’s what Zig Zags do—dig through garbage to find genius. In 2014, it
turns out they did make their ripping record. But it’s up to you to
figure out the twist ending."
With riff after riff these dudes scratch our sweet spots with
denim-decked, speed-soaked thrash. This is real rock made by real
weirdos, not some product-placed sponsor-rock - we're talkin' greasy
haired, pock-faced, comic-book readin', socially awkward, misanthropic
losers. Their s/t album sits pretty right in that zone when punk and
thrash were riding stallions side-by-side, geeking out on rocking out to
tunes about sci-fi and monsters, barbarians and dystopian futures, with
the Zig-Zags head-banging mercilessly like they're the house band at
the Thunderdome! Recorded to scuzzy perfection by Ty Segall too! This
shit rules. RECOMMENDED!!!!
