STILL SEALED COPIES OF THIS HOLY GRAIL OF 80S OHIO PUNK / HARDCORE ON TRANS DADA RECORDS!!!! COPIES HAVE SLIGHT CORNER DAMAGE.
NOTE - LPS HAVE SLIGHT CORNER DAMAGE.
NOTE - LPS HAVE SLIGHT CORNER DAMAGE.
Seriously we couldn't have been more stoked this week to get never opened copies of Spike In Vain's one and only album "Disease Is Relative" at the shop. YES!!!! This, our friends, is the definition of a lost punk classic. Scarce info exists about this killer Ohio band's short existence, but we did some research and here you go -
"Dissonant, demented and wholly free-form, this Shaker Hts.-based four-piece wrote and performed material that embraced punk's energy but rejected its conventions, creating a sound that pre-dated the grunge-noise scene of the early-'90s. The art-damaged brainchild of two brothers, Andrew and Chris Marek, the group released an LP, Disease is Relative, in 1984, and recorded another more conventional rock record (that was never released) before breaking up the following year. The Mareks resurfaced in 1991 as Soul Vandals, while guitarist Robert Griffin and drummer Scott Pickering went on to form Prisonshake." - cleveland.com
HELL YES this is some schizoid damaged punk rock, KBD / "Bloodstains Across The Midwest" style!!!! But more than just yer average rustbelt angsty youth aping Black Flag / Germs / etc, "Disease Is Relative" has a real angular, dark post punk bent sound. Like they were listening to Christian Death, PiL, Joy Division and Pere Ubu as much as "Blasting Concept", "Flex Your Head" and "Not So Quiet On The Western Front", influences which make this album sound ahead of its time and still fresh today. Snotty, loud, blown out and fucking off-the-rails hardcore from early 80s, Ohio or otherwise, doesn't get any better than this. We can't believe Spike In Vain has flown under the radar so many years without a reissue!!! "Disease Is Relative" will not leave yer turntable that we can promise, and EVERYONE, not just the punk rarities junkies, NEEDS this rager now!!!! SEVERELY RECOMMENDED!!!! And we're pretty sure this might yer last chance ever to grab a NEW copy!!!!
NEW ON TROUBLE IN MIND!!!
The Trouble In Mind camp continues their campaign of high quality genre defying releases with this blissful new album by Aussie trio Krakatau. Get the full story directly from the label:
"Some of the oldest known rocks on earth are found in the Northwestern region of Australia dating back some 3.5 million years. Fitting, since the stirring trio of opuses that comprise Melbourne, Australian band Krakatau’s debut “Water Near A Bridge” seemingly have their origins before recorded history, emerging from the primordial ooze & lurching towards your turntable like a creature out of Lovecraftian fiction.
The guitar-less trio, Krakatau utilize organ, bass & drums to communicate their message crafting dense & heady tunes sprung from the seeds of improvisation & honed to perfection in the studio. Side A is comprised of two compositions; “Riddells Creek” starts off the side with progressive grooves that fade into focus, slowly stretching into a shamanistic organ drone before sliding into an oily, funky strut peppered with some sweet organ leads. “All Water Near A Bridge” closes the side with a rippling synth cascading over the pulse of an interstellar heartbeat. “Kuriere” occupies the whole of Side B, resplendently indulgent in it’s shapeless slithering beginnings that bubble & swell into the primitive rumblings of the rhythms of lost civilizations that thrived & crumbled into oblivion before we ever existed. A bewitching miasma of technology & nature turning in on itself, swallowing it ’s own tail.
“Water Near A Bridge” is a vinyl-only release, pressed on 150gm white vinyl & includes a download code. The album is also available digitally via most online retailers, BUT we recommend you hear the way it was meant to be heard - on wax.
RIYL: Agitation Free, Cluster, Popol Vuh, Godspeed! YBE, Embryo, Magma, Bitchin’ Bajas." - Trouble In Mind
"Water Near A Bridge" lulls you in on a serene drone before dipping into some Silver Apples-ish cosmic future funk. This seriously sounds like it's from another time, a perfect pairing of early 70's and some distant future. Elsewhere Krakatau perform some decidedly ouroborosian sci-fi cinema scapes that ebb and flow with eerie otherworldly vibes. If you're a fan of any of the above-mentioned acts as well as the Sky/Brain Records roster, Fripp and Eno collabos or the BBC Radiophonic Workshop then do yourself a favor and grab this limited white vinyl immediately. Super Recommended.
NEW ON TROUBLE IN MIND!!!
Trouble In Mind Records always seems to find the freshest new acts and this Soft Walls album is yet another killer platter of thrilling sounds. We'll let the TiM folks fill you in on the back story:
"Dan Reeves is a very busy guy. In addition to running his own label, Faux Discx Records and playing in the band Cold Pumas he also finds time to record songs all by his lonesome under the moniker ‘Soft Walls’. After recording and releasing the eponymous Soft Walls album in 2012, Reeves set to work again, this time with a borrowed 8-track and a vision of composing a suite of thematically interlaced tunes, resulting in his Trouble In Mind debut, "No Time".
“No Time”s ten songs are meditiations on the passing of time itself and the pre-concieved notions (both external and internal) of what you can and should be doing with it. “No Time”s lyrics touch on a universal fear held by many young people heading north of their Twenties; what am I doing, and will I have enough time to do it? Reeves spent many hours writing and re-writing the album’s tunes at home and in his rehearsal space in Brighton before hitting “record” and it shows. While his debut was constructed ‘as-it-happened’ and recorded directly into his computer, “No Time”s deliberate songcraft proves just how far he’s come as a tunesmith, seamlessly aligning his pop smarts with avant-leaning psychedelic drones and a propulsive, rhythmic drive. Dreamy guitar ragas like the opening track “Won’t Remember My Name” ebb and flow seamlessly into motorik head-boppers like “Never Come Back Again” and “All The Same”, whilst pop tunes “Guided Through” and “No Time” shimmer enticingly through a foggy haze.
Mixed to perfection with likeminded independents and Hookworms mastermind, MJ in Leeds and mastered by Joe Caithness at Subsequent Mastering, these are songs to get lost in; to discover & re-discover. Don’t worry - there’s plenty of time. The first vinyl edition of “No Time” is pressed on black vinyl, & includes a printed inner sleeve & download code.
RIYL: Loop, Fresh & Onlys, Hookworms, Cave, Dirty Beaches, White Fence." - Trouble In Mind
It's really no surprise that a duder who runs a label like Faux Discx Records, which has a pretty stellar roster, would appear with a simply stunning collection of tunes seemingly hidden up his proverbial sleeve. Pseudo-slacker psychedelic guitar dirges, motorik thumpers, whispered ennui and rattling Xpressway-esque noise pop blend effortlessly throughout "No Time"'s run time creating an album of ear pleasers for the now time. Yes indeed this is Mightily Recommended.
CHILEAN PSYCH ALERT!!!!!!
Mexican Summer brings us the latest from Chile's La Hell Gang, so read on sonic traveler for the full story directly from the label:
"Imagine a still oasis on a man-made Martian desert, saturated with rust and red clay. Gravity has shifted slightly, though the atmosphere is warm and dense, and everything around you is moving more slowly than you are used to. You're just waking up to this world, a realm not entirely beyond your comprehension, but all the same, part of a new reality to contend with and romanticize. Chilean rock trio LA HELL GANG’s second album Thru Me Again is the soundtrack to this strange new land. Earning high praise from their debut, 2010's Just What Is Real, La Hell Gang have traded in the cleaner, '60s-indebted sonics which populated that record with something more complex, a murkier palate that instills these eight songs with languid mystery. Thru Me Again wades through these danger-infested waters with otherworldly grace, hanging back in the frame while their brand of laced blues wander fills the room with an unassailable vibe of concentrated lust. Providing a counterpart to the sounds of fellow travelers in their homebase of Santiago, such as Watchout! and Föllakzoid, Thru Me Again is the product of a band mastering its own language, and learning that the tender moments of their music can go as deep as their proverbial paint-peelers. You might be visiting this new world, but La Hell Gang lives there, knows every crater, all the flora and fauna, and have generously offered to take you on a journey of their architected existence. You would be wise to follow."
We've been long time supporters of the Chilean underground psych scene and we raved about La Hell Gang's 2010 debut LP "Just What Is Real". And now the gang has returned to the fold with their latest installment of head nod lysergic stoner jamz titled "Thru Me Again". These 8 tracks take their time and journey deep into textured sonics with hypnotic tremoloing guitars atop fat pulsing bass grooves and laid back rhythms. Tie-dyed THC dream state slow burners are the name of the game and La Hell Gang are quite simply owning the airwaves right here. Super Recommended.
