Monthly Mix: March

With one day to spare, I present for Friday the monthly mix for March. The artist names have been linked to a place of purchase where applicable. So, if you like any of the music in the mix, please go out and purchase the real deal. Also, a quick reminder…because I don’t think I’ve done so in quite some time. I usually only keep a few of the mixes online at a time and I remove the oldest at the time whenever I upload a new one. So be sure to take a listen some of the last few mixes if you already haven’t, because they’ll be gone eventually.

01 – Lynx – In Sand
02 – Clockcleaner – New Slow
03 – Foreign Capitols – Shotgun Funeral
04 – Curse of the Birthmark – Le Phant
05 – Homostupids – Tip of the Worm
06 – Gowns – Rope
07 – Flying Saucer Attack – Beach Red Lullaby
08 – Trencher – All That Blood and No Pain?
09 – Catherine Wheel – Empty Head
10 – Hair Police – Boneless
11 – Threadbare – Relocation Policy
12 – Christian Fennesz & Ryuichi Sakamoto – Kuni
13 – Jackie Carol – Hospital
14 – Hammerhead – Meandrethal
15 – Aina – Nice New Attempt
16 – Unpersons – Last Tear for a Fallen
17 – Son Volt – Drown
18 – Celebrity – James
19 – Dazzling Killmen – In the Face of Collapse

Download (.zip file)

Inch - Dot Class C

Boy I had forgotten what a good album this is. While sitting here at my desk today, I finally got around to loading up the CD changer to my stereo with a few older albums that I hadn’t listened to in awhile. In this case, it had been a LONG while. I just put it on play and let it go through each disc and eventually Dot Class C by the San Diego band Inch came on. I had completely forgotten how much I enjoyed this album. I would go back and do a whole thing about each of their albums, but honestly I am just feeling the rush of my rediscovered liking for this album. Maybe I can do that another time. But anyway, Inch was a pretty good San Diego pop-punk/post-hardcore band that fit right along with various other groups like Garden Variety, Fluf, and No Knife. They released three albums before calling it quits.

Dot Class C, their second album, was sort of the casualty of major label mishandling. Everything about the album had been going well until Atlantic ended up going through some major internal changes. As it always seems with these types of things, the band was left to be in limbo for a hefty amount of time, along with the release of their album which had long since been finished. After months of waiting the band was eventually dropped from the label and the album got snatched up by Cargo/Headhunter Records to be released in 1997. While this may not be their best record, it’s pretty damn good. I remember liking their first album Stresser a bit more, but hey…that’s been awhile ago. The band had been trimmed down to a three piece before this album was ever made, which I personally don’t think they suffered too much from. It sounds good. But yeah, for anyone that’s into that San Diego sound and hasn’t checked out Inch, by all means take a listen to the tracks below from Dot Class C.

Inch – For Duty and Humanity [MP3]
Inch – Sugar [MP3]
Inch – Velocipede [MP3]

Dot Class C and the rest of the bands albums are still available over at Amazon. Members from Inch can be found in current projects that I am currently aware of, Harvey Knuckles and El Ten Eleven.

Superconductor - Hit Songs For Girls

Before the New Pornographers were ever around, Carl Newman sang in a band called Superconductor. Almost around the same period of time he was also fronting his other band Zumpano. Superconductor released a couple albums and an EP all through Boner/Tupelo. It’s pretty interesting to listen to this material when compared to what else Newman has gone on to do. Superconductor was for awhile a 9 member band featuring six guitarists (cut down to four on their last album), two bassists, and one drummer. Yeah, I’ve never really understood it, but hey, they are there and it was actually pretty good for an album or so.

Superconductor’s first album Hit Songs for Girls is in my opinion the bands high point. I imagine some would argue that their second album Bastardsong is the more accomplished and thus the better album; however it always loses me midway through and I’m not one for the whole “rock opera” thing. Not to say it isn’t good, it’s just not for me. With Hit Songs for Girls the band did a pretty admirable job weaving a mixture of styles I wouldn’t normally count on working so well together. The album, as to be expected with this many members, is a sonic and chaotic chunk of rock that ties together indie-pop, post-punk, sludge, and even a bit of country as hinted on the song “E-Z Bake Oven”. In the end it’s one big noisy affair that melds together incredibly well. Newman’s vocals aren’t really a big focal point on the album, as often they lay buried underneath the wall of distortion being pumped out by the number of guitarists and are fairly indecipherable anyway. Definitely give the tunes below a listen for an interesting take on indie-rock that may even please some of the noise-rock enthusiasts.

Superconductor – For Kelly Freas [MP3]
Superconductor – Shaved Temple [MP3]
Superconductor – E-Z Bake Oven [MP3]

Hit Songs for Girls is still available through Amazon both used and new, along with their other album Bastardsong. As always, pick it up if you like what you hear! Enjoy!

Part Chimp - Cup

On their last album I am Come the band Part Chimp made their presence known, or maybe better known, in the world of underground noise-rock. How’d they do it? Well, the only way I am assuming they know how to, and that is by rocking in such a forceful manner that everyone huddled around a set a speakers or standing in some darkly lit club will definitely notice by the end of the night. Part Chimp do more than just make endless amounts of noise with their beaten and broken instruments. They do it with a sort of passion and fury that continues to make this sort of music worth coming back to over and over again. Playing at excruciatingly high levels of volume, these guys just don’t quit. If something breaks, fuck it…the show must go on and Part Chimp isn’t one to care about how pretty it sounds anyway, just at how loud they can play. And for that, I respect them mightily. Their sound is so full of low end heavy fuzz that bowels will suffer if you stand too close. Beware, they are LOUD.

With that said, after ripping apart the US on their last tour, Monitor Records is making it up to all of those out there that suffered any sort of head trauma or hearing loss by…well…releasing a new compilation album that may take your mind off the pain for a little over forty minutes, but sure as hell isn’t going to help your hearing loss. So scratch that idea. Regardless, this new compilation entitled Cup is full of rarities, b-sides, and unreleased material that will hopefully hold folks over until the band releases their next album. The comp also features a couple music videos for the songs “War Machine” and “New Cross”, the video for “War Machine” is particularly entertaining along with being a tad bit weird. They are definitely worth viewing. Monitor has included the whole New Cross single on here too, which is some great material and a nice added bonus to those who don’t own it.

For those out there that hasn’t had a chance to check out Part Chimp yet, then do so. Part Chimp’s music is so full of absolute raw energy that it just can’t be passed up. Anyone that enjoys their rock played with the needle constantly in the red needs to know this band.

Part Chimp – New Cross [MP3]

Cup will be released through Monitor on April 24th. Definitely put this on the “to buy” list, especially if any of their previous albums receive plenty of spins in your CD player.

The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa - Susurrate

The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa is an interesting band when it comes to shoegaze, mostly due to what their sound would eventually turn into. Their first album Susurrate was very much a take on MBV’s tremolo bending sound, however as they continued to release albums the group would eventually become more ambient. That still leaves us with Susurrate though, and while it may not be the most original thing ever produced, it still has some great qualities about it that most shoegazers would appreciate. It even sort of lends itself to those that prefer a bit of a noisier side to their music. While the production on the original release suffers some, Clairecords took it upon themselves to re-release it awhile back, cleaning it up a bit in the process.

One thing that I really love about Susurrate, while being drenched in tons of feedback and swirling guitars, is that it also contains a bit of that post-punk/no wave dissonance to it that sort of helps make Susurrate something special and not just a carbon copy of what other bands had essentially done before them. The song “To Alison” is a prime example of that, however it’s probably the most extreme and obvious song on the record. The rest of the album sticks to the traditional shoegaze sound a bit more, but while still managing to work it in here and there. The vocals are left to be pretty much inaudible due to the absolute extreme amount of feedback that is found within most of the songs. The band surely didn’t hold back any in that department, turning Susurrate into an incredibly noisy record. While this may go overlooked to some, it shouldn’t as it stands one of my favorite albums out of the whole genre. The album is practically bursting at the seams with distortion that ends up molding into extremely beautiful melodies.

The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa – Ice Cream Star [MP3]
The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa – Absinth [MP3]

Although Susurrate used to be extremely rare, thanks to it being re-released it’s still available from what I can tell through Tonevendor. For those that don’t own this, I can’t recommend it enough if you’re a fan of shoegaze or even noise-pop. It’s a great record that stands on its own.

Pachinko...

One of the most raucous and insane noise-rock groups putting out music during the 90’s was the band Pachinko. It’s kind of disappointing to see so little of them spread across the net. What actually inspired me to do this post was I noticed that they actually have a sort of online presence now in the shape of the ever so buggy MySpace. Yes, Pachinko is still alive and kicking and that in itself gets me extremely excited. It’s hard to tell just how many people appreciate this band; all I know is that they most likely should. The band put out a number of singles throughout the 90’s and two full-length albums, Behind the Green Pachinko and Splendor in the Ass II: Electric Boogaloo. For those that may have overlooked this great band the first time around, then you’re missing out on some of the most maniacal and raucous sounding noise-rock to be laid onto a recording, all of which is tied in with a slightly crude sense of humor.

I am running a bit short on time so I am going to get straight to the good part, the music. Enjoy the few tunes below from one of the most underrated and seriously noisiest bands I know.

Deep Inside 7”:
Pachinko – Ricky [MP3]

El Diablo En Senorita 7”:
Pachinko – Lesbians or Lovers [MP3]

Behind the Green Pachinko:
Pachinko – Cecil [MP3]
Pachinko – Victory Lap [MP3]

Splendor in the Ass II: Electric Boogaloo:
Pachinko – Brock [MP3]
Pachinko – The Ballad of Bon Scott Mominee [MP3]

Both of Pachinko’s full-lengths are still available from the Alternative Tentacles, along with the Deep Inside single I posted. I highly recommend picking up as much of their material as you can, as it’s all completely bad ass. I don’t like to use the phrase “bad ass”, but the band pretty much leaves me no choice…because they indeed are just that.

Ferocious Eagle - The Sea Anemone Inside of Me is Mighty

I was already a fan of Ferocious Eagle and their debut album The Sea Anemone Inside of Me is Mighty to begin with, but after sitting here for the past hour or so and not coming up with one single damn thing to write about it, I am beginning to like it even more. That’s pretty weird huh? It’s frustrating me in a good way because it’s not allowing me to just sit here and describe it. I have a million different adjectives floating around in my head, however none of them are going to stick because this fucking band just keeps moving from one to another and then back to one I’ve already tossed out again. I could list them all, but does anyone want to read through that? I doubt it.

Ferocious Eagle is a trio from Portland that is made up of just two guitarists and a drummer. Yeah, they are going at it without a bassist. The unorthodox lineup is just one part of their quirkiness; we have to leave the other half to their music. Their sound is already a bit more naturally raw than it would be without the warmth of a bass to accompany it, however they only add to it by playing around with a number odd tunings and just an array of playfulness within the guitars that will either send you banging your head into the desk or trying to follow the strangeness of it all. I’ve opted for following them and it’s paid off greatly. While this album can be a bit hard to get into, it’s helped along by being an absolute fun listen if you give it the chance. Yeah, it’s scattered with a bunch of technical math-rock tendencies, but don’t let it fool you this bad boy is pulling from all directions…jazz, indie-rock, noise-rock, and post-whatever you can think of. I think if these guys took it a bit more seriously then it wouldn’t be nearly as effective. Not without the bizarre lyrics and the weird guitar noodling that just pops out of nowhere. Thankfully it sounds like they have found a pretty good balance between everything. One thing I am for certain is that they are definitely having a good time. I only wonder what seeing them live would be like…

Ferocious Eagle – The Sea Anemone Inside of Me is Mighty [MP3]
Ferocious Eagle - And Now We Have Your Tongue [MP3]

Be sure to pick this up when it comes out on April 3rd on 54-40 or Fight!.

Bleach...

One of the most overlooked groups in my opinion from the original shoegaze movement in the early 90’s was the UK group Bleach. They consisted of singer Salli Carlson (vocals/guitar), Neil Singleton (guitar), Nick Singleton (bass), and Steve Scott (drums). Yes, the two Singletons mentioned there are indeed brothers. The band originally formed in 1989 and subsequently put out the Snag EP and the Decadence EP, both of which would later be collected onto one mini-album that was self-titled in 1991. Following the release of that mini-album was the release of their actual debut full-length called Killing Time in 1992. Not to long after the release of the album, the band put out the Shotgun single, which was then followed by two more EP’s titled Hard and Fast in 1992 and 1993 respectively.

Bleach was a group that sort of burst out of the gate and then gradually lost steam with their later releases. Their earlier material, most notably the collection of their first two EP’s, is something that shouldn’t be missed by shoegaze fans. Those EP’s are filled with loads of beautiful swirling noise backed with a tiny post-punk influence that shines through more so in the drumming than anything else. Sadly the band took a step away from the creativeness that made their first two EP’s so good and it showed on their debut album Killing Time. While the album isn’t a bad album by any mean, it’s still a disappointment when compared to what the band was capable of doing. The bands sound would unfortunately tailspin a bit further with the releases of their last two EP’s, which were pretty forgettable managing only a couple or so songs that were really worth hearing. However, it’s those first couple EP’s that still make this band one that I really think deserves a bit more credit, it’s just too bad that their existence is mired by a catalog that slowly declines in quality as it continues.

Bleach (EP Compilation):
Bleach – Seeing [MP3]
Bleach – Burn [MP3]
Bleach – Decadance [MP3]

Killing Time:
Bleach – Push [MP3]

All of Bleach’s material is long since out of print, however their album Killing Time is still available on Amazon used for practically nothing. Their best material sadly is a bit harder to find and may take some more eBay trolling in order to track it down. It’s also been known to get rather pricey, so be warned. For now though, enjoy the above posted tunes!

Table...

Thanks in part to some of the comments in my Fiddlehead post from last week; I figured I’d throw up some material by the band Table. This very short lived trio only recorded a couple of 7 inches with Brad Wood and Steve Albini between 1992 and the end of 1993. They then posthumously released a self-titled CD on Humble Records that collected those two 7 inches along with some other recordings, which apparently is about everything they ever did.

Despite the bands limited output and their extremely short existence, they are one of my favorite math related bands. Their style and sound is still one of the most unique that I’ve ever heard. A lot of this is due in part to Warren Fischer (Fischerspooner) for being one hell of a bassist and using quite a few different pedals all of which helped define Table’s sound. So much that when he left the band it pretty much signaled the end for them. I’ve honestly never heard anything that even sounds remotely close to Table, the songs “Gag Box” and “Spindrift” still send my mind into an absolute frenzy when I hear them. The level at which the band performed each and every one of their songs is practically untouchable.

Table – Gag Box [MP3]
Table – Unwind [MP3]
Table – Spindrift [MP3]

I am sad to say that now days all of Table’s material is extremely hard to find. Sometimes, however not often, a copy of the collection CD released on Humble pops up on eBay. If it does, fucking pounce on it.

Weekend/Gentle Veincut...

I had a pretty eventful weekend and most of all, St. Patty’s day. I managed to see Zodiac finally and it didn’t disappoint on any level. I would say it’s my favorite movie so far this year, however keep in mind that I don’t necessarily see a lot of movies in theaters and am kind of lazy about ever watching DVD’s. Regardless, everyone should still see this movie. As for my St. Patrick’s Day, I got to see the Rx Bandits do their thing once again, and it was pretty impressive, despite the very short set due to them having to open for a not-so-very-good band that I won’t name. Regardless, it was a fun time and a big shout out and thanks to those that put up with my highly inebriated ass.

Arriving in the mail Friday was the EP Concrete Landing from Germany’s Gentle Veincut. Up until a couple weeks ago, I had never heard of this band at all and that’s really unfortunate because they play a sort of noise-rock that really appeals to me in a big way. It’s even more frustrating when I look back and see that the band has a back catalog that dates all the way back to 1995. How did I never stumble upon their music? While I dig this EP quite a bit, I am thinking quite a few out there will too if they give it a chance. It has a slight influence from the earlier days of the Touch & Go roster, full of discordant guitars and driving bass lines. I really enjoy the female fronted vocals on this too, which jump back and forth between a more narrative style and occasional shouting. The six songs on Concrete Landing are all very solid; I am actually having a tough time right now while typing this and deciding on which one to use for the featured MP3. I definitely recommend to anyone out there that even remotely enjoys noise-rock to give this a band a try.

Gentle Veincut – Blockbuster [MP3]

If you like what you hear then I strongly urge picking up the album from Whosbrain Records or contact the band through their MySpace or website! Enjoy!

Shiner...

Here I am, a little over a year into this blog, and I’ve never written about one of my favorite Midwest acts, Shiner. Shiner was undoubtedly one of, if not the main band, that got me into the more bombastic hard hitting style of rock that has somehow grown into its own little genre here in the central plains. Formed in 1992 right here in my backyard of Kansas City, MO by Allen Epley along with Shawn Sherrill and Jeff Brown, the band would only play a handful of shows before Tim Dow would replace Brown on drums. With that lineup, the band recorded a 7 inch record for Desoto, which then opened the door for their first full-length titled Splay in 1995.

Splay is more of a straight forward rock album than what Shiner’s sound would later evolve into, however it still has the significant low end rumble and hammering guitar rhythm that the band was notorious for. The complexity wasn’t there yet, but Splay still contains one of my favorite Shiner songs in “Brooks”. It’s a song I’ve literally listened to probably thousands of times by now and that may well be underestimating that number a bit.

After the release of Splay, the band parted ways with bassist Shawn Sherrill and replaced him with former Season to Risk member Paul Malinowski. With Malinowski’s presence, the band then began to grow into the large and at times overwhelming sound that would grace their last couple records. For their second album Lula Divinia, the band left Desoto to record on Hit It! Recordings. The album would be released in 1997, to which saw the band pretty much topple their debut effort in just about every way. The band brought forth a slight progressive touch while still keeping the raw power within their music that made Splay so appealing. However, Lula Divinia is whole other record than that. The song structures and usage of melodies were strung together with a much better flow.

Before the recording of their third album Starless, the band brought in guitarist Josh Newton, who has been in so many bands I don’t even want to begin to count them. Along with Josh, the band saw a change at drummer with Tim Dow exiting the position and the arrival of Jason Gerken, also of many many other great bands, including KC favorites Molly McGuire/Gunfighter. With the band now at a four piece, they recorded and put out Starless, which was released on Owned & Operated Records in 2000. As one would imagine with the band adding another guitarist, the groups sound only dived further into more diverse and technical territory.

It’s hard to say whether Starless is my favorite Shiner album or not. I’ve always sort of flipped flopped between Lula Divinia and it. Both are amazing records in their own respective rights; however it’s really just too tough to decide. Starless seems to be a much more drifting record when it comes to guitar interplay between Epley and Newton. Everything really intertwines so well and there is sort of calm to the album that I actually like that’s sort of due to Epley’s vocals on it, not that they differ in any major way from past material. Regardless, Starless might have the slight edge, who knows.

After a stint with a couple different labels, Shiner returned home to Desoto for 2001’s The Egg. The album was recorded by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines, Channels) and to a lot of Shiner fans is considered the bands finest moment. The Egg, for me personally, took a bit of time to fully appreciate. It’s a mammoth of a record and not just in sound either. It’s a large record in which it takes a bit in order to completely wrap your head around something that shoots off into so many wild and creative directions. Even after following the band through all three of their previous records, it was still difficult to even expect this sort of sound from the band. I’d underestimated them the whole time, and I even thought they were amazing during that period! Weird how something like that happens. But anyway, The Egg was the achievement in precision song writing and crushing low end that the band had been working towards their entire career. If someone were to say that this is their finest moment, well, they would have a damn good case. When it comes down to it though, for me, I always go back to one of the two records I mentioned before as my favorites. Call me lame, or whatever, but I think for a band like Shiner to make it so damned tough to choose between a favorite album is a pretty good example of a great band that was blessed with a number of talented musicians and songwriters.

Splay:
Shiner – Brooks [MP3]
Shiner – Martyr [MP3]

Lula Divinia:
Shiner – Third Gear Scratch [MP3]
Shiner – Sleep it Off [MP3]

Starless:
Shiner – Kevin is Gone [MP3]
Shiner – Unglued [MP3]

The Egg:
Shiner – Surgery [MP3]
Shiner – The Egg [MP3]

Bonus
Semper Fi 7”:
Shiner – Sailor’s Fate [MP3]

After a year of touring in support of The Egg the band called it quits in January of 2003. The members have since moved on to various other projects. Allen Epley has The Life and Times and Josh Newton is keeping busy with The Great Fire of 1666 and From Autumn to Ashes. Paul Malinowski has moved on to do a lot of production work while Shawn Sherrill can currently be found in new wave/post-punk/indie hybrid Roman Numerals. As for finding Shiner releases, that still remains fairly easy. You can pick up any of their full-lengths from Amazon brand spanking new. Also, keep an eye out for a re-release of their EP Making Love through Anodyne Records here fairly soon.

STAR - Devastator

STAR is a project from Scott Cortez that has been in the works for awhile now. I remember reading about the band and getting really excited for any eventual releases, because rarely does anything from Scott Cortez (Astrobrite, Loveliescrushing) let me down. STAR’s first full-length Devastator doesn’t deviate from this trend at all and delivers in a big way. The band, which is made up of Shannon Roberts (vocals), Scott Cortez (guitars), and Theodore Beck (drums), has actually already recorded a couple albums to which Devastator is the first to be released. Regardless, if the second hunk of material is anything like Devastator then it can’t come out soon enough for me.

However, more focus on Devastator and less on the group’s future right now. What we have here is some extremely well done fuzzed out shoegaze that is helped along with some very enchanting vocals from singer Shannon Roberts. The songs on Devastator are as if you took the hazy abrasiveness of The Jesus and Mary Chain and then molded that into short and incredibly catchy pop songs. It’s a combination that will suck you in from the start. The vocals from Roberts rival that of some of the best female fronted shoegaze groups from the early 90’s. They are every bit as important to STAR’s success as Cortez’s massive feedback drenched guitar melodies.

Devastator is such a consistently good album, there are no songs on it that fall flat or fail to deliver. STAR’s debut is just about everything anyone could have hoped for and maybe even a bit more than that.

STAR – Jailor [MP3]
STAR – Liars in Love [MP3]

Be sure to pick this up if you dig the tunes above. It can be had over at the bands website. Also, for more songs and some more info on STAR, I recommend checking out the bands MySpace. Enjoy!

Mama Tick - Gimme the Five Bucks

I don’t usually like doing “repeat” posts on the same bands that I’ve talked about on here before, however I realized in October of last year that I posted the Mama Tick Horsedoctor 7 inch without really mentioning the bands full-length album much…other than it existed really. While I do still believe that the Horsedoctor 7 inch is probably the best thing they put out, their full-length Gimme the Five Bucks surely helps the bands case as to possibly being one of the more underrated and less noticed bands from when noise-rock was at its definite peak in the 90’s. Their style was pretty unique really. As I mentioned in the Horsedoctor post, every once in awhile the band likes to incorporate an odd slap bass funk element to their sound. I am aware from that description that it sounds like an absolutely awful idea; however it actually blends quite well into the bands sound. With that said, it’s not featured as much here on Gimme the Five Bucks as it was on some of their earlier singles. The band always sort of had a humorous side to them, but rather than it being some sort of goofball shtick, it’s more like watching/listening to that slightly eccentric person that lives either next door or down the street from you and has oddest collection of crap in his yard and on his porch. Yeah, that guy. Like him, Mama Tick operates on that same sort of unpredictability and it’s a pleasure to witness.

It’s sort of surprising to see how little there is about this album out there. Not that it’s some sort of landmark album within the genre, however it’s a pretty entertaining one. The feedback and buzzing guitar work on it just absolutely rips it up. The only way to appreciate an album like this is to crank the volume way the hell up and stand back. I would also recommend a good pair of speakers.

Mama Tick – Androgenius [MP3]
Mama Tick – Friendly Neighbor [MP3]

Don’t forget to check out the songs I posted from one of their 7 inches, back here. Both of those songs are great. Anyway, for those interested you can find a few used copies of Gimme the Five Bucks on Amazon, or if you want it brand new it looks like Dubious Honor is still selling it on their site. By all means pick it up if you like it.

Quintaine Americana - Needles

The album Needles by the Boston based Quintaine Americana is one of those mid nineties noise-rock gems that often goes overlooked. Copies are probably sadly gathering dust in cut out bins across the nation, which is really a shame because this album definitely deserves better. The band throughout the years eventually became known for their very Southern influenced sound that of course fit perfectly with the already raucous alcohol fueled sound of noise-rock being played at the time. Singer Rob Dixon is originally from Mississippi, which serves as a primary influence into the bands overall swampy and dark sound. It’s really an interesting combination that works quite well for them.

Most of the music and lyrics revolve around a sort of feeling of depression and frustration. Dixon’s vocal delivery is downtrodden and slurred, which fits perfectly with the ongoing mood of the album. There is just a lot to like about this album, especially for those that are big fans of heavy bass driven noise-rock in the area of The Jesus Lizard. I honestly think those of you out there will really enjoy this if you already haven’t heard it before.

Quintaine Americana – Retarded Whore [MP3]
Quintaine Americana – Sioux City [MP3]

The band has put out three other full-lengths to date, as well an EP in between those. I definitely recommend checking out their second album Decade of the Brain as well. Both of those albums can be had over at Amazon used for a penny plus shipping, so you can’t really go wrong with that.

Heavïness - Heavïness

I really wanted to get to this album on Friday but I wasn’t around the computer much, thus the no update. However, I am back and I guess the extra time let me soak in this wonderful self-titled debut album from Swedish shoegazers Heavïness a bit more. Another reason I wanted to get this up as soon as possible is that the album is limited to just 500 copies and judging by the recent spot on Tonevendor’s best sellers list, there might not be many copies left. These guys definitely deserve to be on top of that list as they have been hard at work on this album for two years or so doing practically everything on their own and at the same time sparing no expense to realize their vision. All of that hard work definitely shows, as the album is amazing and full of that lush fuzzy goodness that immediately draws comparisons to the genres greats. While albums like Loveless, Souvlaki, and Nowhere may never be topped in some peoples eyes, it’s albums like this one from Heavïness that seriously give them a run for their money. Working with the hypnotic and disorienting layers of feedback, the sound is also filled out with a keyboard, cello, and various samples. The minor touches and nuances to the groups sound really go a long way in showing just how dedicated they are into producing something highly enjoyable and original for fans of the genre.

The CD comes in an equally beautiful double gatefold package with some fairly cool looking artwork as well. The tunes are worth the price alone; however this is just a nice added touch.

Heavïness – Not Yet [MP3]
Heavïness – Touchlast [MP3]

If you dig the tunes above, I can’t urge you enough to pick this up through Tonevendor and show some support. Again, it’s limited to only 500 copies and is selling pretty quickly apparently so don’t wait too long. You can check out more tunes at the bands MySpace. Enjoy!

Fiddlehead...

Fiddlehead was a tiny band that existed in the early 90’s that were based out of Atlanta, GA. They put out a few 7 inches, a 10 inch record, and two CD’s before calling it a day. I had no idea what I was going to do for today’s update, but earlier I was just sitting around listening to my iPod, and the song “Gordo” happened to pop on from their album The Deaf Waiter. It had been awhile since I had heard it, but it immediately reminded me at how great this band was. Their history is sort of an unfortunate one, as they were never satisfied with the recording of The Deaf Waiter and along with that would run into label issues when it came to getting paid, which according to their page on MySpace, is still an issue unfortunately. However, through whatever frustrations, thankfully the band stayed together long enough release what they did.

Both of their mini albums are great listens for anyone that enjoyed that early 90’s post-hardcore/math-rock sound, although I do prefer Dod E a bit more due to its cleaner production.

Dod E:
Fiddlehead – Waiting With Dave [MP3]
Fiddlehead – Slingshot [MP3]

The Deaf Waiter:
Fiddlehead – King Friday [MP3]
Fiddlehead – Gordo [MP3]

Everything by Fiddlehead is long since out of print unfortunately. However if you scour around online you can find most of their material for fairly cheap. Try Amazon for The Deaf Waiter and you can find a couple of their 7 inches available here.

Caspian - The Four Trees

The Boston based band Caspian is set to release their second album The Four Trees on April 10th. I’ll admit I hadn’t heard much from Caspian before this. I had seen many positive reviews about them spread across the good ‘ol Internet, but never really bothered to take a long hard listen to them because they fall into one of the most hit or miss genre’s for me, post-rock. It’s frustrating to wade through all of the imitators and average groups that try their hand at it. But anyway, I’ve listened to their latest upcoming effort, and I must say I am pretty damn impressed by this. Not just sort of impressed, but truly taken by this album. It’s that good.

At first it would be easy to compare these guys to Explosions in the Sky or any number of the main post-rock giants. However, Caspian do manage to set themselves apart from these bands and form their own identity. If they were having trouble before, then I am almost positive that The Four Trees will land them their own gigantic dot on the instrumental post-rock map. It’s an amazingly beautiful album. While this may not be a big deal to others out there, I dig the really low end bass that a lot of the songs seem to have. It definitely gives the album an extra punch that makes the heavier portions of it that much more effective and crunching. There is never a moment where The Four Trees feels like its dragging. It’s pretty nice how the band has set up the album with some shorter interludes here and there, as opposed to dragging out songs that could potentially get boring. It lets their overall sound seem larger and more captivating that way. Oddly enough though, the longest song on the album is one of the most amazing tracks off the album.

Caspian – Moksha [MP3]

For those that are already big fans of post-rock, then there is really no excuse to not own The Four Trees. And even for those that aren’t big fans of the genre, I still highly recommend this as it’s just a really nicely executed album that sounds just absolutely beautiful at times. Again, it’ll be out April 10th but it can be pre-ordered over at Dopamine Records up until I think March 27th. With that you get a free poster and you don’t have to pay any shipping costs if you live in the US. So yeah, that’s a pretty swell deal, so definitely take advantage of that. Enjoy!

Six Finger Satellite - Severe Exposure

Although I am a fan of just about everything that Six Finger Satellite released during their run, it’s Severe Exposure that greatly stands out to me among the bands discography. All of their later records were pretty amazing as well, but Severe Exposure just has it all. The bands post-punk influenced brand of mega abrasive noise-rock was truly an interesting one. Their sound, not only on Severe Exposure, but throughout was something of a gigantic clusterfuck of synth, feedback, and at times disco beats. Although I never witnessed them live, they were apparently something to behold.

Severe Exposure for me when I listen to it is probably a slightly unhealthy thing to do. I say this because I already have enough anxiety issues, and listening to Six Finger Satellite really doesn’t help matters much. Regardless, it’s much like an addiction that I can’t kick, no matter the consequences. Severe Exposure is littered with frenetic and fractured guitar riffs that ultimately are buried underneath a mass of white noise. While there are many many things to love about this album, one thing that I greatly appreciate is the disturbingly upbeat nature in which the music presents itself while also being able to picture it as a soundtrack to the criminally insane. It’s absolutely wonderful. Stating that probably doesn’t reflect all to well on me when I say that this often gets repeated listens. However, I assure everyone out there that I am sane, or at least enough. But anyway, Severe Exposure is one gigantic slab of trashy noise-rock, and I mean that in the best possible way. You would be hard pressed to create a better bad sounding album.

Six Finger Satellite – Bad Comrade [MP3]
Six Finger Satellite – Simian Fever [MP3]
Six Finger Satellite – Cock Fight [MP3]

Unfortunately it looks as if the album is out of print these days. However, it can be had used at a fairly decent price if you look around on places like Amazon and such. Regardless, pick it up if you enjoy it, it’s an amazing album.

Cruyff in the Bedroom...

Often times my love for the layered fuzziness of shoegaze leads me to search in the vast amount of Japanese music out there. It seems that the genre is pretty alive and kicking there and has many highly impressive bands creating some wonderful music. One in particular is the band Cruyff in the Bedroom who I discovered a couple years back upon listening to their album Perfect Silence after it being recommended to me. It definitely caught my ear the first time through and eventually led me into an obsessive phase in which I tried to track down as much of similar material as I could. I guess Cruyff in the Bedroom could be considered a gateway band for me into the world of Japanese shoegaze.

It’s too bad that I don’t know how to read Japanese, or I would probably know a lot more about this band. Online translators are almost worthless whenever I try and use them. Regardless, the band was formed sometime in 1998 right around the time of the World Cup in France. Why is that of any importance? Well, apparently the members of the band are obsessive soccer fans. Their name is derived from the bands favorite soccer player Johann Cruyff. It’s to the point where their first album Perfect Silence was released on the first day of the World Cup finals in 2002, not only that the CD has a soccer ball printed on the top of it.

To date the band has a handful of EP’s and two full length albums under their belt. Their sound is very reminiscent to the earlier days of shoegaze; however it carries a sort of relaxed and chilled vibe to it. While their first album Perfect Silence was initially the album that got me hooked, their second album Hikarihimawari is probably the better and more accomplished of the two. It’s a bit more filled out and the experimentation drifts a bit further with some pretty good end results.

Perfect Silence:
Cruyff in the Bedroom – Into My Sleep, Under the Stars [MP3]
Cruyff in the Bedroom – Dream All Day [MP3]

Hikarihimawari:
Cruyff in the Bedroom – A Walk at Twilight [MP3]
Cruyff in the Bedroom – Sunflowers Bloom in Dark [MP3]

The unfortunate part of being a fan of all of this is that trying to obtain all of the material can be fairly pricey and on top of that it isn’t always easy tracking it down either. I haven’t really found a place where Perfect Silence is still available, unless you count the many strictly Japanese sites that carry it. However, I did manage to find an import site where you can purchase Hikarihimawari. That can be found here. Anyway, enjoy the tunes!

Monthly Mix!

Well February has passed us by and that means it’s time to throw up the monthly mix. As usual, if you like what you hear, please go out and support the artists by purchasing the music. Artist names link to a place of purchase where applicable. I hope everyone has a great weekend. I am going to catch myself some spring training action on ESPN today.

01 – Zulu as Kono – Young Geezer
02 – Duchesses – The Lazer Pony
03 – Moss Icon – Hate In Me
04 – Neutrino – Medic
05 – Killdozer – Richard
06 – Polar Goldie Cats – Bear Nacht
07 – Caspian – Sea Lawn
08 – Witch Hats – Ma Birthday
09 – Chavez – Break Up Your Band
10 – Tad – Rotor
11 – ST – Nothing to Keep You
12 – Marnie Stern – Grapefruit
13 – Marzuraan – Punch the Goat
14 – Q and Not U – Fever Sleeves
15 – But God Created Woman – New Soul Dimension
16 – Toadies – Mister Love
17 – Zoom – Five Fingers and a Thumb
18 – Creedle – Film Co-Work Co.
19 – Saint James Infirmary – Bullshit Artist

Download (.zip file)

Unsane - Visqueen

Finally! I get a chance to write something about Unsane on here. I had been holding out for their new album Visqueen before bringing up the legendary noise-rockers on the blog. They are without a doubt one of my favorite bands. Their latest album Visqueen, which is due out on March 13th through Ipecac, is some seriously crushing material. I was a bit let down with their last album Blood Run; something about the production on it never quite sat right with me. However, like practically all of Unsane’s albums, it was yet another solid addition to the bands catalog in the end.

Now reaching their sixth album, one would think that something like this would grow old after awhile. However, Unsane’s sound is one that I could listen to almost everyday if I had to. To me they are a band that really defines what noise-rock is all about. It’s filthy sounding in every way imaginable, insanely intense, and even a bit menacing. It’s maybe even a bit more menacing for a band that has practically graced every album cover with gruesome images likening to that of a crime scene.

After listening to Visqueen on repeat many times through now, I am already a firm believer that this is the best album they’ve put out since Scattered, Smothered, and Covered. I would initially chalk that up to all the anticipation I’ve had waiting for this album, but I am still here listening and I have yet to find a song that doesn’t completely knock me on my ass. Visqueen reminds me what it felt like to listen to them for the first time and just being completely floored by their ungodly amount of power. While everything here is trademark Unsane, it’s definitely the band at their very best. That combined with Andrew Schneider sitting behind the boards makes Visqueen an absolute fucking mammoth sounding record. The 13th just can’t come fast enough for fans, because Visqueen is going to make them all very very happy.

Unsane – This Stops at the River [MP3]

Go ahead and pre-order Visqueen from Amazon. I can’t stress enough as to just how bad ass this album is.