EDITION OF 350
SWEET - 12-inches of hairy-knuckled, mutant thump from our fave French fuckups, the Subtle Turnhips! This new platters' on the ever-reliable Homeless Records from Australia, and we couldn't pick a better home for these Franco-philiacs! Read the skinny from our Homeless homies:
"The lack of hair on our Homeless head helped our hearing (try saying that rapidly 10 times) - not that we needed an aid to decide whether to release Redhair With Some - we’ve been a fan since hearing Terd Album (Hozac, 2010) and Meal (Pouet! Schallplatten, 2013) and immediately loved the rough cuts we were sent.
Recruiting recording ace Mikey Young to mix the album brought a fresh new set of ears to the Turnhips sound, and another instant fan, hell we even hear some Eddy Current Suppression Ring-style guitar work in “Eileen”.
Some have stated they hear Swell Maps or Pink Flag-era Wire in the Subtle Turnhips influences, whilst others have noted The Fall or even the destructionism of Brainbombs."
The boys are honing their attack on this one - the riffs cut sharper and ring louder (helped, no doubt by the magical mixing fingers of Mikey Young) and the whole shebang is shrouded under a darker cloak. Still a very Aussie-cum-U.K. D.I.Y. sound to the whole affair, almost like feedtime covering The Weirdos covering the Swell Maps - sleeves rolled up, half-in the bag. Plenty of clang and clatter to be had here too - with a teeth-rattling rhythm section plowing through the whole affair like a lecherous uncle on the prowl for bridesmaids at your cousin's wedding. Most of the tunes are short and sweet, in & out just as you get accustomed to the riffs hacking away. We'd love to hear these dudes back up Dan Melchior too - what an album that'd be! UNEQUIVOCALLY recommended!
When Degreaser stopped thru town in early 2014 on tour, they had "test press" editions of this album right here for sale at their merch table. Being the ever-supportive fans of live music (and fans of the bend's previous output) we bought it sight un-heard. BOY were we shocked upon the needle-drop. The album's out for reals now on Ever/Never Records, and the band's filed away the serrated edge of the previous two albums (wait, wait don't go anywhere) and wrapped their sweaty palms around a grip of early Nineties scuzz rock albums, pulling the tastiest bits to compose "Rougher Squalor". The soulful scree of the finest Brothers Shannon compositions are here, nesting comfortable alongside the black-tar stained spoons of Love In Exile and Superfuzz-Bigmuff and while we hesitant to make such specific comparisons once you hear the record it's kind of unavoidable. Vocalist/guitarist Tim Evans perfectly evokes the nasally, sleaze-soaked whine of Mark Arm. That's not to say the album can't stand alone on it's own merits, because it does - IN SPADES. Though formed and based in Brooklyn, two of the band's members are originally from Australia so the mud-caked squalor (pardon the pun) is in their veins; Scientists, Chosen Few, 3-Toed Sloth, etc and these guys know how to take the ugly and swing with it. The tunes have a raw swagger seemingly rarely matched from any current band mining these same influences (closest being maybe Watery Love?) but goddamn this record smokes! If you like it rough, ugly and dirty then grip this one ASAP. RECOMMENDED!!!!
540 Records has just rereleased the s/t debut lp from Brazil's Rakta, and thank goodness they did cuz this is some of the most brain searing, destructo gothic post punk yer gonna hear all year long. But don't just take our word for it, Maximum RnR has some glowing words too -
"This is what a perfect record sounds like. Every time I talk about it I end up sounding like some blubbering idiot. This music is equal parts post-punk, incantation and psych -- hook laden as fuck. Rakta is an all-female band from Sao Paulo, Brazil, that seem to have come from out of nowhere to make most of the current post-punk/anarcho wave completely irrelevant. This is the next level in this style, borrowing elements from all the spooky classics, but adding something so undeniably new and unique that the game is permanently changed. Rakta eliminates all sense of retro-ness to the style and come off like they just now invented the damn thing. The songs create an otherworldly atmosphere while still keeping your feet tapping. It transports you to this weird dimension that feels like it's trying to keep you inside of it forever. It would have been the perfect soundtrack for a Maya Deren film. The record comes with a red-and-black on white poster that only adds to the mysterious bruxa vibes that the music gives. Check out my year-end top ten list in MRR #370 for even more gushing about this record. Highest recommendation!" -- Maximum Rock N Roll. Each copy comes with 1 of 4 different giant 24"x36" silk screened poster
Indeed!!! Once you crank "Rakta" up to full volume as it should be played, a noisy spectral swirl of deathrock, spaced out punk and witchy post punk will start to swallow you whole. Throbbing basslines, droning guitar turbulence, primal beats, ghostly synths and ethereal female vocals are certain to cast a spell over you, one that may keep you flipping the record over and over again, cuz these six songs are just not enough. Like a wicked potion of Christian Death, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Liquid Liquid, PiL, Lydia Lunch and Bauhaus but bruised by 80s hardcore and noise experimentation, Rakta's RnR chaos steals the past and runs away with it to brave new frontiers. So thundering, menacing and blown out as to be nearly psychedelic, Rakta have for sure raised the ante and might just find themselves on more than one year-end list. If this is what the music scene in Sao Paulo is like, book us a flight stat!!!! HAUNTINGLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!!!!!!
After two killer lysergic 7 inches, Chicago's Energy Gown is releasing their mind altering debut lp, "Evening Molasses" via Alonas Dream Records. Cop the deets below -
"After too long of a wait, the debut LP from Chicago psych punks Energy Gown sees release. Acid soundscapes and melt-your-face guitar combine with distorted voices to envelop you in layers of pure psychedelic energy. This record is a psych rock gem, filled with a finely honed vibe that rewards repeated auditory examinations with aural enlightenment." - Alona's Dream Records
AGREED!!!! We've been waiting for this lp for way too long! "Evening Molasses" finds Energy Gown's bad vibe / outsider psych in full force, diving deep down into the darkest droned out corners of Japanese psych weirdness, crawling up through the analog wasteland of art damaged krautrock and resurfacing somewhere in the most menacing strung-out corners of the late 60s US / UK lysergic garage rock scenes. Pink Fairies, Can, Les Rallizes Denudes, Love, Parsson Sound, 13th Floor Elevators??? Definitely! Yes but something oh so much more warped and bent, cuz "Evening Molasses" takes in all those bad trips of the past and turns them inside out, like only a band of misfits raised on punk / post punk records could. This is not safe music, nor some hippie flower power psych or for that matter RnR for the sober. This is some fucked up mesmerizing psych from one of Chicago's best and daring bands. And you need to hear it now! Promise. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!!!!!!
We scored a stack of this boss gatefold LP directly from Schematics For A Blank Stare. It's on Audible Conundrum Records outta Boca Raton, FL and it is chock full of 60's tinged instrumental jams featuring heaping loads of Fender Rhodes and wah-wah'd fuzz guitar backed by a swinging rhythm section. This is all 100% analog and the warm grooves throughout prove this potion is potent indeed. We're hearing hints of Manfred Mann Chapter Three, Brian Auger and The Trinity, War, Colosseum, Mandrill, David Axelrod, Vanilla Fudge and the Meters. You know, the kind of grooves perfect for DJing and/or sampling. Oh, by the way this is from 2012 but you'd never guess given the choice production work and absolutely stellar chops these guys are showcasing! Funky backing rhythms support scorching guitar leads and thrilling psychedelic keyboard flourishes to make up an album of some seriously deep fried psych-funk. Super Recommended.
NOW AVAILABLE ON TAPE!!!!
John Dwyer of The Oh Sees isn't taking it easy during his band's recent sabbatical, not only is he ramping up Castle Face Records with a new release every week but now he's unleashing a solo synth-bent electro psych lp under the name Damaged Bug. So no worries all you Dwyer addicts out there, "Hubba Bubba" is that next fix you need !!!!
"Recorded at home in the fall of 2013 with a variety of synthesizers, drum machines and assorted handmade electronics, Damaged Bug is Oh Sees mastermind John Dwyer’s latest bit of cracked pop alchemy. The project is the cure to the ailment of too much guitar for too long. Fizzing and sputtering like a glowing, temperamental cockpit control panel, Dwyer bunkered deep in a blinking laboratory, penning songs about the long arc of our travels across space and time. Propulsive beats and synthetic veneers coat laser-guided melodies reflecting off shiny metal surfaces while instrumental interludes pop in and out like breaks in the asteroid belt. A far-out side of our main man—nocturnal, hard-wired, and chrome-plated. Hubba Bubba features original artwork by Deirdre White." - Castle Face
From Pink and Brown, Coachwhips, OCS and through Thee Oh Sees we've always been more than stoked to give John Dwyer a spot on our turntables. And now with his new outfit Damaged Bug we get a whole new experimental side to the engrossing psychedelic songwriting of Mr. Dwyer. "Hubba Bubba" is the sound you get after spinning Martin Rev, Cabaret Voltaire, Neu!, Chrome and Depeche Mode nonstop and then locking yerself in a small studio with nothing but casio keyboards, drum machines, tape loops, circuit bent / homemade synths, an old Wurlitzer and a few other noise making odds and ends. YES, that sounds like an album that's right up our alley. Damaged Bug is at times dancy, other times experimental and menacing but for sure an engrossing, wild ride through the lysergic late night hours. Experimental synth junkies, krautrock fanatics and Oh Sees record collectors all have a new jam to spin their way outta this winter. So yeah THIS ONE'S SUPER RECOMMENDED !!!!!!!
