Philly’s garage-pop duo Reading Rainbow have a new one-sided 7” coming out in mid-April on the killer Hell, Yes! label, featuring their track “Cover the Sky.” Super pumped about pre-ordering this one. Check out RR performing the song live, pre-SXSW, in Atlanta below as well as an mp3 download for my favorite (and probably everyone’s favorite) “Wasting Time”:
I don’t know much more than what’s posted on Gold Robot Records’ site about how this record got put together but it seems to be a label sampler of sorts (although only two of the four artists featured on this jam-packed 7” have released further material with the label) centered around the “relationship between design, structure, and humanity” — a topic most musicians would have thoughts about.
The opening cut on the A-side is a gradually building electro-whimsical track by fellow bay area resident Bomarr which leads into the playful and appropriately titled “Karate Eyes” by Copy (yes, just Copy — no extra appendages) that is sure to please kids and adults alike with its bouncy beat. On the flipside, the piano-filled, Books inspired “Takitani Edit” by Meanest Man Contest certainly adheres to the architectural theme of the record while the show stopper, Roman Ruins’ “Plea for Performance”, is a simple collage of melodic electro-pulses, electric guitar, handclaps, and drums that nicely rounds out the 7”.
If addition to being a pleasant listen, Designed Entropy I gives a great indication of what Gold Robot Records is all about and should springboard you into the rest of their catalog. Check out the Meanest Man Contest track below (it’s been floating around the net for a while) and head over to the label’s bandcamp to hear more tracks.
Really, this list could be “PT-Music’s Top Ten Cassettes/7”s of the latter half of 2010″ since almost every entry is from July forward. I don’t know what my deal was for the first part of 2010, but I guess I didn’t buy that many records. Anyways, in no particular order here are some of my favorite cassette and 7” releases from Oh Ten:
Angel Olsen // Strange Cacti
Easily my favorite cassette of the year. Released by my favorite tape label Bathetic Records (and quickly re-released to no avail – both “pressings” are sold-out), Olsen sweetly croons about love, loss, and lost love. At the surface level, you get a series of pleasant sounding singer/songwriter tracks which you eat up like candy, but when you start attentively listening to the lyrics and storytelling (not sure how much is story and how much is real life for Olsen) you discover the haunting undertones and the darker side of the songs. A truly breathtaking recording.
Angel Olsen // Creator, Destroyer
Ducktails // Lost
Another sold-out cassette (sorry guys! not meaning to rub it in your faces…), this instrumental by Real Estate guitarist Matt Mondanile “combines outtakes from the new record (Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics), plus some lost gems from the past year.” Although most of it is just Mondanile dicking around playing seemingly improvised guitar licks with innumerable combinations of pedals, it’s nice to get a intimate peak at how some of these songs are constructed from the ground up.
Ducktails // Hamilton Road
The Numerators // Human Blanket
Coming at you with six tracks in a whopping 10 minutes and 52 seconds, it’s no stretch to say that this cassette released by Brooklyn (via Lubbock) acid/garage rockers The Numerators packs a punch. Although not a replacement for their live show, you do get an idea of what the band’s about (most notably the spastic 28 second “Take It Easy” that leaves you asking “what the fuck just happened”) which, when talking about The Numerators, is no easy feat!
The Numerators // That’s So Raiden
Coasting // S/T
My favorite 7’’ of the year comes from a badass duo of Brooklyn garage-rockers Madison Farmer and Fiona Campbell. These ladies have no qualms about leaving your face smeared on the dashboard, taking you into warp speed 9 with their blazing guitar licks and fast-tempo drumming. What’s great about this Group Tightener release is that it includes my two favorite tracks: the instrumental shred-fest “Coasting” and the more subdued (with vocals!) noise ballad “Hots for Teacher”.
Coasting // Coasting
Memoryhouse // Caregiver
One of two Suicide Sqeeze 7’’s I bought this past year (the other being a Coathangers/Numerators split), this bedroom-pop record by Canadian dreamers Evan Abeele and Denise Nouvion keeps pace with the myriad of mp3s released by the duo in 2010. Smooth and airy, it’s easy to get lost in the melodies and vocals of any Memoryhouse song with “Caregiver” and “Heirloom” (the two tracks featured on this 7’’) is not an exception.
Memoryhouse // Caregiver
Gobble Gobble // Lawn Knives
I don’t know if there is a musician who is held at such high esteem in the blog world as Cecil Frena. I’m by no means a noteworthy blogger, yet every e-mail I get from him is friendly, personalized, and – as expected with Gobble Gobble – highly interesting. After coming onto the scene like a nuclear explosion, blasting out mp3-after-mp3, a pair of “proper” releases (courtesy of Royal Rhino Records) finally graced our presence at the end of the year. For those who want an introduction to the spastic concoctions Cecil & Co. produce, the 7’’ is a perfect start.
Gobble Gobble // Lawn Knives
Magic Kids / Smith Westers // Split 7’’
My favorite split record from the past year, this Fat Possum released 7’’ features the raucous anthem-ready jam “Imagine Pt. 3” from Chicago underage indie-rockers Smith Westerns and the bouncy, light-hearted “Superball” from Memphis’s Magic Kids. The 7’’ also gets my album cover trophy of the year, with each band parodying a previous album’s cover from the other.
Magic Kids // Superball
Cosmetics // Sleepwalker
Although not as good as their previous Captured Tracks 7’’, “Sleepwalker” is a woozy, synth-heavy dance track that you’ve come to expect from the Canadian couple. Printed on clear vinyl (a nice touch!), this recording is almost too beautiful to play! When you finally decide to take the plunge and place a needle on it, you get transported to a nameless trendy club where upstairs they’re playing the A-side and downstairs, in the dark basement, their spinning the B.
Cosmetics // Sleepwalking
Seamonster // Two Birds
This five-track (!) 7’’ gives The Numerators a run for its money when it comes to bang-for-your-buck. Seamonster is the brainchild of Virgina’s self-professed “ambient/psychedelic/folk” musician Adrian Todd Webb, and with Two Birds you get just that: ambient/psych/folk tracks pieced together perfectly. Head over to Gold Robot Records to cop the release.
Seamonster // Oh Appalachia
Cloudland Canyon // Mothlight Pt. 2 | In the Cold
The first vinyl release from Bathetic Records and it’s a doozy! Smooth fuzzed out jams that you can seriously vibe out to — what more could you really want?
Cloudland Canyon // Mothlight (Part 2)
Man, is it just me or did 2010 suffer a major drought of good country/folk music? With only a handful of acts rising above the fold — none of which being good enough to even make my initial year end album list — Sonny Smith is here to save the day with the release of his 100 Records Box Set!
A small sliver of his massive project is available now through a 7” being released by Endless Nest. “Throw My Ashes From This Pier When I Die”, the opening track from the record, is a beautifully twangy track (faux circa 1950) assembled by Smith and his San Fran brethren, and PT-Music favorites, The Sandwitches. You can check out the song below and head over to the Endless Nest store to pick up the 7”:
Sonny & The Sandwitches // Throw My Ashes From This Pier When I Die
I was super pumped when I got my second Memoryhouse 7” in the mail (courtesy of Suicide Squeeze Records) yesterday and I played it pretty much non-stop until I fell asleep early this morning.
The ten minutes of music on this condensed vinyl is split more-or-less evenly between the two sides. “Caregiver” is an ethereal piece fit for the standard headphone listen which is sure to please the hoards of converts that have gravitated to their bedroom-pop tunes over the past year. Although lacking the instant attraction as other Memoryhouse tracks, it’s a pleasant enough song that I’ll probably not skip when playing their discography (or more accurately, mp3ography) straight through.
Now the B-side is where I got the tingles. The more uptempo “Heirloom” is about as close to a “Radium Girls” as the band has got since, well, “Radium Girls”. With a more filled out instrumentation (it’s amazing how much the inclusion of simple live drums does for you), this is the type of band I would love to see live: delicate, yet powerful. You can stream the track below courtesy of Memoryhouse’s Soundcloud:
Besides being two rad as fuck guys, The Numerators make some pretty solid garage rock jams — and it seems like the folks over at Suicide Squeeze Records has recognized this fact. Teaming up with Atlanta’s The Coathangers, the Rana brothers will have half of a split 7” out November 30th featuring the oldie-but-goodie “Strawberry Dreams” (the ladies are contributing “Chicken 30″). You can check out the track below and head over to Suicide Squeeze’s store to pre-order the record.
Father Daughter Records just keeps on killin’ it! Their latest signee is Florida’s prolific musician David Levesque, who goes by the more condensed stage name of Levek. The A-side of the upcoming self-titled 7”, “Look on the Brightside” is wrapped around a straight-up Al Green-esque soul groove that is sure to be responsible for a handful of future unplanned pregnancies. Check out the track below and pre-order the 7” from the F/D store here:
By now you’ve probably heard the new Smith Westerns jam “Weekend” (if not, you can stream it at the end of this post). Now you may or may not have heard of a split 7”, released on Fat Possum Records, that the Chicago Wunderkinds did with Magic Kids back in April. Their contribution to the record is the anthem-ready “Imagine, Pt. 3″ which is cut in the same cloth as their much heralded selt-titled debut. Raspy vocals, courtesy of lead-singer Cullen Omori, hover over the catchy 60s pop guitar rifts while synth lines oftentimes flutter in the background.
You can hear an amped up version of the track from a live recording captured at the Pitchfork Showpaper benefit a year ago, and if you want to purchase the 7”, head on over to the Fat Possum store.
Smith Westerns // Imagine Pt. 3 (Live at Pitchfork Showpaper Benefit 2009)
One of the artists that is sure to outlast the inevitable demise of the chillwave genre, Matt Mondanile is slated to release his third LP Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics at the beginning of next year. As a precursor to the new album, Woodsist Records — one of the many labels Mondanile has used over the past two years — has released a 30 minute cassette tape, entitled Lost, which “combines outtakes from the new record, plus some lost gems from the past.”
There is a lot of stuff going on with this C-30 cassette, and Mondanile tinkers around with a variety of sounds in a short period of time. Sure, he has his patented shimmering guitar rifts on it, but also present on some tracks are electronic repetitions (reminiscent of the upbeat stuff by tour-mate Oneohtrix Point Never), an increase in percussion rhythms, and even a handful of dabbles into orchestral and R&B beat-making.
There is no track listing to the recording, so it’s difficult to break down the composition into well-defined, piecemeal parts. But that’s sort of the purpose of cassettes in general: it’s something you slap into a machine, press play, and drift away…
You can purchase the tape from the all-to-appropriately-named Fuck It Tapes (the cassette spin-off of Woodsist Records) and keep checking the site for a pre-order to Arcade Dynamics that is sure to pop up any day now. Below, you can download a track off the new record:
