Sick new track from Knoxville octet Coolrunnings latest record Dracula Is Only The Beginning, out now in cassette form via Wonder Beard Records. “Brunettes” features some blistering bass playing and oddball percussion that bursts with energy at the seams — you know, a typical Coolrunnings track. Check it out below and order the eight-track tape for a measly $5 + shipping here.
Just got this tasty nugget of news dropped in my inbox: San Fran’s Young Prisms is dropping a cassette of demo recordings on Portland’s Gnar Tapes (a label founded by White Fang’s Erik Gage). Here’s what the label had to say about the release:
Not to blow our horn, but this release is one of Young Prisms best and showcases a more gentle and dreamy sound that is beautifully in-step with their classic stoner-fuzz gazer tendencies. Stef’s vocals are particularly haunting and beautiful, allowing for a level lyrical clarity thus far unmatched by any of their previous releases. This cassette is overflowing with the kind of “lazy” pop sounds that are hard not to love.
After listening to the seven track cassette digitally via their bandcamp (which you can check out below), I’d have to agree. I always like demo recordings because it’s a way to get inside the head of a band as they hash shit out trying to make pieces come together, and this Young Prisms release is a perfect example of that. The acoustic tracks feel a bit tentative and the demos are grittier, but it’s nice to see where stuff like “Sugar” and “Eleni” came from. Head over to the Gnar Tapes’ shop to cop this release while it’s still available.
As longtime readers of the site will know, I hardly ever shine the spotlight on local bands from wherever I am living at the moment. There are a couple of reasons for this, but the chief one is I don’t like to give preferential treatment to groups just because I know them and hang-out with them. I guess my philosophy is, if the music is great it’ll speak for itself regardless of where it was made – and I’ve maintained that attitude with the site since its inception.
With that in mind, Salt Lake City’s Albino Father has added their name to the relatively small list of relative local bands that deserve wider attention, and the group’s debut LP Age is just the release to help them do that. Clocking in at just under forty minutes, the twelve track album is a psych/garage/blues rock swirling orb of sound that you can’t help but be caught up in. If you’re a fan of messy guitars, heavy pedal effects, and guitar solos that you hope don’t end, then you are sure to find something you like with each track. I’ve gone through the album four times in total, and each time I can’t help but to press replay afterwards.
It’s tough to pick stand outs on this records as each song has its own personality and personal (or personable) sound. Do I go with the slow-paced guitar-centric ballad “Dirty Mirror” that’s suited perfectly for the smoke-filled, cramp venues of Anywhere USA? Or how about the surf-rock jam appropriately titled “Deth Jam” that bands like The Allah Las (PT-Music’s Cali favorite) would be chomping at the bit to play? Or maybe the blazing sub-two minute “Little Girls” that leaves you in a trail of dust wandering what just happened by the end?
If I had to choose, I would say I dig “Dirty Window” the most because what you finish with is so radically different than where you started. The track opens with the smoothest of smooth guitar line that’s straight out of the classic rock playbook and continues that way for the first two minutes. Before your high from “Ghost Dad,” the previous track, has completely mellowed out, in comes the raucous drums and kick-ass, fist-pumping rips that boost your energy more than a six-pack of Red Bull. Talk about a roller coaster ride of a song!
You can stream the whole album from Albino Father’s bandcamp page (and buy it via a “Name Your Price” scheme) and head over to their facebook to “like” them because I’m pretty sure you will after listening to this album.
Some might call it blasphemy, but I really like Modeselektor (and all their incarnations) better than Thom Yorke & Company. They certainly did a number on this “Good Morning Mrs. Magpie” remix:
I’ve been waiting for this for a while, and now, six months after its short-lived digital release, RxRy’s Alpha LP is coming to a turntable near you. You can check out my initial impression of the album here and order you a slick physical copy from RxRy’s store or from the label’s site.
To celebrate the release, RxRy has made available a mini-remix album of re-imaginations of his tracks which you can stream from his soundcloud. Below is my favorite track of the bunch:
Stream Speculator’s upcoming Underwater People’s LP (via Altered Zones) below. Love it. Then pre-order the album from UP’s store and love it even more.
While the East Coast is getting hammered by a hurricane and the Pacific Northwest is rainy as usual, the weather couldn’t be any more beautiful here in landlocked Utah. Looking outside my window at another cloudless day, it’s kind of hard to believe that it’s just about time to say au revoire to summer 2k11. To kick us in autumn properly, we have a summer-ending smooth beach jam courtesy of Philly’s Work Drugs. Now I’ve talked about these guys a couple of times before, and with “Swimmer Girl” you getting much of the same thing (shimmering guitars, airy keyboards, vocals that don’t extend past an octave) but somehow they always seem to hit the sweet spot of what my ears like. You can stream the track below and if you got time, check out the Baywatch-esque video:
It’s been a while since I heard a peep out of the forward-thinking Bronx duo Pigeons (who, by the way, have the best band website on the planet). Coming off an ultra-limited release cassette release on Japanese label Sixteen Tambourines, the group is back with an impending stateside release, an LP verbosely called They Sweetheartstammers, on Minneapolis’s Soft Abuse Records. To celebrate the upcoming November release, the label threw up a stream of the track “Dead Echo” on their soundcloud, with the tagged genre of “Avantpop” isbeing incredibly apropos. Check it out:
There is a lot of things I miss about living in Europe, one of which that resides near the top of the list is the ability to get records from European labels without international shipping. Case in point: every single Double Denim Records release. Their latest is courtesy of the Liverpudlian (or more accurately Wirralian) un-googleable psych-pop band Outfit.
To celebrate the pre-order, Double Denim is streaming both sides of the 7” from their soundcloud page (which you can check out below). The A-side “Two Islands” is the clear winner of the two. Opening with experimental drones/groans for a good eighty seconds, the noise gets pushed aside (but not forgotten) by the pure pop sprightly vocals of singer Andrew Hunt. The six-plus minute song could be classified as noise-pop but not in the traditional sense: instead of meshing the two genres in a mess that you can sing along to, “Two Islands” keeps to its namesake and separates the noise from the pop making for a disjoint, yet compelling, listen. Check out it out below as well as the less impressive B-side “Vehicles.”
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF this is going to be so good! Out on August 29th via Tri-Angle Records. Damn, even these waveforms look good:
Balam Acab – Motion by TriAngleRecords
