* sneak-peeks at The Whines and Inservibles! * the latest in Charles Albright news, including his new Megacools LP! * a gang o' debuts including Nothing People, Chinese Restaurants, and Nudge Squidfish! * lotsa Can-Con again (and snappy, crunchy punks from Spain, too)!
Next week, tune in for live-in-studio sets by Moon Duo from SF and the Dead Ghosts and Indian Wars from Vancouver, Canada! (If you wanna be part of the studio audience, you must RSVP to me ASAP at rickele (at) gmail (dot) com.)
Download this program within two months at this link... CLICK HERE for 192kbps rate. or CLICK HERE for 320kbps rate. or, if you have a slower/20th century connection STREAM IT HERE by next Monday night!
(Email me with any downloading problem questions...)
BEWARE OF THE KNIGHT | Sponge Whistle | Numb Burr Four CDR | no label *new CHARLES ALBRIGHT | Headphones | Albright Comes Alive CDR | no label 2009 THE MEGACOOLS | God vs. Drugs | Introducing the Fun Police | Sacramento *new THE MEGACOOLS | Fun Police II CRUDDY | Berlin Wall | self-titled 7" | Basement Screams/Let's Pretend *new MUJERES | Yella | 3 Canciones de Muerte y Sudor 7" | Discos Humeantes *new LOS DAGGERS | Ternera No | Ponte a Patinar 7" | Discos Humeantes *new VENEREANS | Don't Step Cockroachs | Future Primitive | Tic Tac Totally/Discos Humeantes *new RATAS DEL VATICANO | Estaria Chido que no Hubiera Ley | Chido E.P. 7" | Volar *new INSERVIBLES | Aselto Mental | Cultura Pendeja EP | HBSP-2X *forthcoming POISON IDEA | Thing Called Progress | Pick Your King | Fatal Erection 1983 POISON IDEA | In My Headache ROT SHIT | Hipster Grandma | You're Welcome 7" | Columbus Discount *new ROT SHIT | Local Band Forever THE JAWAS | Mocking U | What Gos Haha Bonk? 7" | Nation of Kids 1995 THE JAWAS | Express Lane | Guy Cut in 1/2 7" | Nation of Kids 1995 NASA SPACE UNIVERSE | Apache Blood Overdrive Destroys Oprah Winfrey | self-titled 7" | Gradual Limbo 2008 RED ASPHALT | Red Asphalt | self-titled 7" | Egg and Anvil 1981 RANK/XEROX | Masking/Confessions | self-titled 7" | Mongo Bongo *new THE CHINESE RESTAURANTS | River of Shit | River of Shit 7" | SS Records *new MEN/EJECT | Apologize | Apologize b/w Draw 7" | no label 1980 CABARET VOLTAIRE | Walls of Jericho | Eddie's Out 12" EP | Rough Trade 1981 MOON DUO | In the Trees | Escape EP | Woodsist *new NOTHING PEOPLE | Reinstall | You're Invited 7" | Permanent *new NOTHING PEOPLE | Remember How Cold It Was (part one) | Soft Crash | SS Records *new ELECTRIC BUNNIES | You're Not Just Eating Pancakes | Through the Magical Door | Florida's Dying *new KREAMY 'LECTRIC SANTA | Mindy Cohn | Operation Spacetime Cynderblock | Starcleaner *new U.S. GIRLS | I Don't Have a Mind of My Own [Mark Charron] | Go Grey | Siltbreeze *new U.S. GIRLS | His Son's Future BIRD | Green Shoes | Hoy en Dia CS | Goaty Tapes 2009 NUDGE SQUIDFISH | Part Cherokee | Twenty Thousand Leagues Under Nashville | Columbus Discount *new (orig 1985) N.213 | Send Her My Love | split LP w/ Reflektionss | Nominal *forthcoming N.213 | Future Decay BOT | Damn It Feels Good... | split CS w/ Shearing Pinx | Isolated Now Waves 2009 POMPOIR | Unrequited | Exploding Time 12" EP | Isolated Now Waves *new DEAD GHOSTS | She Likes It | split 7" w/ Smith Westerns | Bachelor 2009 DEAD GHOSTS | Holy Ghost | Holy Ghost 7" | Boom Chick 2008 THE WHINES | trk 9 | debut LP | Meds *forthcoming NERVE CITY | Golden City | Recordings 2007-2008 | Sweet Rot *new
Get ready for that new Whines LP coming soon from Meds because it's gonna be brilliant! As I said in AFS v. 213 that "[t]he style of this young Portland band is kinda like the more ruminative moments of The Hunches, thanks to the shimmering sprawls of psych-punk guitar that spiral toward the edges of the incredibly stalwart rhythm section"; that's still completely true, but with confidence, they've outgrown the sorta kid sibling status and into their own shoes which kick so much ass that they're surely one of the best bands on the west coast now. Powerful when stonefaced and beautiful when emotionally vulnerable, this album's range is rare and tremendous. It's everything I hoped it would be after seeing them wallop their debut 7" when they played live. Look for the band to come down the I-5 corridor for a tour to kick off promotion of this new album in March. Dates will be announced here when they are known.
Could the third LP by the Nothing People really be even better than the 2nd, which was better than the 1st, which was also really great? Has any other band from 2000-2010 succeeded in outdoing themselves three times in a row after such auspicious beginnings? The Hospitals? Yes, but I can't think of another off-hand. I don't wanna render my final verdict 'til I let this sink in some more (two at-length listens so far), but I have a hunch it's true. Soft Crash has a more driving pulse than Late Night, but it's just as psychedelic and delightfully dazed.
Sacramento treasure Charles Albright has a new LP out, but not a solo effort. It's the first album of his band The Megacools, a trio also including his better half. Fans of last year's Charles Albright solo 7" on SS (and previously self-released in an edition of 100) will surely dig this LP. Maybe even just as much! It's quite a riot of wild punchy riffs, hooky melodies, and humorous goofball surprises including some of the best-integrated TV and movie samples since Spazz and No Le$$ succeeded in that arena during the powerviolence era. This record is totally Charles-style which means homemade and limited to 100. If you wanna get this thing....gee, I don't know what to tell you exactly. Do you still use MySpace? Does he even? The band hasn't logged in since November. You might as well just email me and I'll forward it along. Otherwise, if you wanna hear more outta Charles, reportedly there's a solo album to pick up where the 7" left off coming from Permanent Records, so stay tuned to their channels for forthcoming release info!
* All the latest and greatest Weird Forest releases! * Davis' creepiest crimson-wave queen, Waxy Tomb's about to debut live! * The Bay Area's most under-rated musical treasure, Kreamy 'Lectric Santa! * & much more!
Download this program within two months at this link... CLICK HERE for 192kbps rate. or CLICK HERE for 320kbps rate. or, if you have a slower/20th century connection STREAM IT HERE by next Monday night!
(Email me with any downloading problem questions...)
KREAMY 'LECTRIC SANTA | Everything? | Operation Spacetime Cynderblock | Starcleaner *new KREAMY 'LECTRIC SANTA | Like Friggin' Gone THE FEELING OF LOVE | Young Jesus | OK Judge Revival | Kill Shaman *new THE FEELING OF LOVE | La-Bas C'est Naturel | School Yeah 7" | Sweet Rot *new U.S. GIRLS | Sleeping on Glass | Go Grey | Siltbreeze *new BREN'T LEWIIS ENSEMBLE | Memories of Foam | Three Christs of Ypsilanti | Siltbreeze *new WAXY TOMB | Grey Ice Box Gardens | self-titled CDR | no label *new HUMAN SKAB | Bein' Bad | Thunder Hips and Saddle Bags | Family Vineyard *new (orig 1986) HUMAN SKAB | Piano Concert ALBOTH! | Juerg Solothurnman | Amour 1991 | Permis de Construire Deutschland 1991 MANYMENTAL MISTAKES | Wild Power | Clean the Bloody Tape CDR | ManyMental *new SHEARING PINX | Xpanding | Weaponry | Divorce 2009 N.213 | Slauterhaus | Sun Knowledge EP CDR | Isolated Now Waves 2005 CHANNELS 3 + 4 | Jesus is Free | demo | no label 2004 RED MASS | Too Many Parties | Too Many Parties 7" | Wallride *new NÜ SENSAE | Don't Panic | self-titled CS | Oms-B *new MESS FOLK | Something I Remember | Something I Remember 7" | HoZac *new AMBER ALERTS | Somewhere Under a Shit Cloud! | Antibodies 7" | Sweet Rot *new NOTHING PEOPLE | Late Night [Syd Barrett] | Late Night | S-S 2009 BANANA HEAD | In the Tubs | In the Tubs CS | Goaty Tapes *new ROY MONTGOMERY | Used To [Wire] | 324 E. 13th Street #7 | Drunken Fish 1999 SAM GOLDBERG | untitled (excerpt) | Current | Weird Forest *new STARVING WEIRDOS | The Density of Life part one (excerpt) | Self Hypnosis 2xLP | Weird Forest *new STARVING WEIRDOS | Hagen Dazs | The Path of Lightning 2xLP | Weird Forest *new MAURIZIO BIANCHI | New Heavens New Earth | M.B. Das Platinzeitalter 2xlp | Weird Forest *new LOVE CRY WANT | The Great Medicine Dance | self-titled 2xLP | Weird Forest *new (orig 1972) DOUG SNYDER & BOB THOMPSON | Hit & Run | Daily Dance | Cantor *new (orig 1972) TOUGH TROUBLES | Big Rig | self-titled CDR | Geneva Lake *new
A word to the wise...Buy one of everything on Weird Forest Records! I'll come back later in the week to tell you why. Just trust me for now.
Also, if you are in the Sacto/Yolo area, please come meet Davis' most outstanding upstart noise artist since Slobberaht--Waxy Tomb--as she debuts in live performance at The Hub (1819 23rd Street in Sacto) on Friday, February 5, in support of Pompoir from Vancouver, Canada. If you're lucky, she'll be selling this demo CDR pictured above which is a riveting 31-minute creep-out traverse on the knife edge of timeless proto- and post-industrial sounds and resonant metallic drone. I was intrigued by this CD when I first discovered it floating around in a box a few months back. I had no idea whether it could be from Sheffield, England, 30 years ago, or the newest MySpace mystery profile linked to the FNU Ronnies and Blood. The liner sheet was just a spare torn-off piece of paper with no artist information. So, imagine my surprise to learn that it was KDVS' own DJ JJJulllia of the "here ear" program on Friday afternoons. This would sound really good on a slab of vinyl, so if you're ready to pony up to add her to your stables, ask me to put you in touch. Your mailing list will thank you later.
* Hear a sneak-peek from the upcoming 2nd LP by Ratas del Vaticano! * Hear another preview from the upcoming Wounded Lion album! * Sacto and Davis blasts from the past! * Goaty Tapes' late-nite listening!
Download this program within two months at this link... CLICK HERE for 192kbps rate. or CLICK HERE for 320kbps rate. or, if you have a slower/20th century connection STREAM IT HERE by next Monday night!
(Email me with any downloading problem questions...)
MYELIN SHEATHS | Do the Mental Twist | Do the Mental Twist 7" | Hozac *new JACUZZI BOYS | Blow Out Your Lights | No Seasons | Florida's Dying *new STREET GNAR | Road Song | Lion's Head CS | Speed Tapes *new DUCHESS OF SAIGON | Lycra Lace | Easter Queen 7" | SS Records 2002 GIRLS AT OUR BEST | It's Fashion | Politics! 7" | Record 1980 YELLOW FEVER | Joe Brown | self-titled | Wild World *new GRASS WIDOW | Tattoo | self-titled 12" EP | Captured Tracks *new AISLER'S SET | Action Attraction Reaction | Action Attraction Reaction 7" | Suicide Squeeze 2001 THE CURBFEELERS | Grapes from a Bowl | Grapes from a Bowl 7" | Lather 1994 THE CURBFEELERS | Bald Electrician [Tripod Jimmie] | Viking Prairie Schooner 7" | Lather 1995 ARCHIPELAGO BREWING CO. | Criswell | Criswell 7" | Nuf Sed 1992 BANANA HEAD | The Sisters | In the Tubs CS | Goaty Tapes *new JAKOB OLAUSSON | Cornered in Your Circle | Cornered in Your Circle 7" | Columbus Discount *new VINCENT OVER THE SINK | Zones | Bible Bashers CS | Goaty Tapes *new DRUID PERFUME | Other Worlds | Other Worlds 7" | M'Lady's/Italy *new LE SANG SONG | Hot Reggae | self-titled | Dragnet *new *request INTERNATIONAL B.K. | 250 Miles from Moscow | Oh Pretentious Moi 12" EP | Rebel 1985 THE FAMILY FODDER | Playing Golf (With My Flesh Crawling) | Playing Golf (With My Flesh Crawling) 7" Parole/Fresh 1979 SEVERED HEADS | Prototype Pop | Clifford Darling, Please Stop Living in the Past | Ink 1985 SEVERED HEADS | Houses Still Standing | Since the Accident | Ink 1983 SATANIZED | Hope is Lack of Information | split 7" w/ AIDS Wolf | Badmaster/Suicide Tax *new OVIPOSITOR | Black Ribbon | Oakland Minor | no label *new PIGEON RELIGION | Dead Boss | Dead Boss 7" | Gilgongo 2009 POP. 1280 | Times Square | Bedbugs 7" | no label 2009 NO BALLS | Forgetting to Supress It | self-titled | Release the Bats *new CROWN ROAST | Enemy [Drunks with Guns] | Enemy 7" | Unclean 1995 THE HYPNOTICS | S & M | Indoor Fiends | Acid Reign/Enigma 1982 RATAS DEL VATICANO | Garrapata | Tiempos del Austeridad | HBSP-2X *forthcoming RATAS DEL VATICANO | Abuso de Autoridad THE INSULTS | Population Zero | v/a: Killed By Death #8½ | Redrum 1994 (orig 1979) THE INSULTS | Zombie Lover | Insults to Injury | Brain Transplant 1999 (orig 1979) PENIS FLY TRAP | Constitution | 5-song 7" | Woof! 1995 WAX MUSEUMS | Billy's Room | v/a: Denton Denton USA! | Play Pinball *new TEEN COOL | Rock 'n' Roll Bitch | split 7" w/ Room 41 | Mortville 1997 THE SINKS | Don't Need You | Winter Tour 7" | Fashionable Idiots *new WOUNDED LION | Omar Walk [Wildman Fischer] | self-titled | In the Red *forthcoming DADFAG | Interrogation | Scenic Abuse | Broken Records *new
It's not quite been a year since Hozac issued forth that brilliant debut 7" from Medication, and now the Constitution State has spawned another formidable entrant in the sweepstakes of sorrow. New from Goaty Tapes, the In the Tubs cassette from Banana Head of Connecticut compiles nine splendid songs of desperado loner late-night music. This is a perfect deep winter aversion therapy soundtrack for seasonal affective disorder sufferers. If you peel away Banana Head's layers of neu-blues-folk-psych outer-zoning dreariness, you'll find that there's actually a discernable kernel of pop sensibility at the core of several of these songs, and especially the ones with vocals, however distant or whispered. Surely a vinyl-ready release, and like all things Goaty, it's handsomely packaged with a colorful, creative J-card, stamped and exquisitely hand-cut to enhance the consumer's intimate, personal connection to the music. If this doesn't take the prize this week, then surely this new A-side from Jakob Olausson's appearance in the new Columbus Discount Singles Club does...absolute stunner! Two phone calls came in demanding to know, "What was that!?!?!"
The next Ratas del Vaticano LP is due to drop next month, and it's got 16 more psychopathic punk rippers, including one epic bludgeoner that is the new savage weirdpunk's answer to the Subhumans' "From the Cradle to the Grave". HBSP-2X will be serving that up with an EP from another group of Monterrey punks, Inservibles. I'll get to them next week!
Wounded Lion covered Wildman Fischer again, and this time, it's the crowdpleasing chant of "Omar! Omar! Omar! Omar!" that'll worm into your head. I know it seems like every Wounded Lion song so far is immediately catchy and contagious as you sing it everyday to your significants, co-workers, kitties, and everyone else in earshot, ("Pony People" rates serious consideration for feelgood song of the decade!) but there's actually some rather subtle songs on this upcoming debut LP--due March from In the Red--which grow on you over time. I think it was upon the fourth listen that I realized what an ingenious song "Hunan Province" is for containing the best lyrical passage that rhymes a word with itself (twice even!) since 1982 when Marky de Sade sang "I tried everything, I tried counting sheep!/One sheep! Two sheep! Three sheep! Four sheep!/Shut up while a I try to count these sheep!" in "I Can't Get the Sleep in My Head" on the should-be-classic Indoor Fiends LP by The Hypnotics.
...'cos I hate Star Wars anyway! Since the first time I saw 'em last year, Wounded Lion have been in my pantheon of favorite songsmiths and personalities and funnest live bands on the planet. The instant crowd-singalong "Degobah System" has been a fan favorite since they debuted it, but since I'd never seen any of the Star Wars movies since snoozing through the original in the theater at an early age, I had no idea that the song wasn't about the brand of organic chocolate bar.
This week in AFS...
* my little Jay Reatard story * a sneak preview of Wounded Lion's upcoming LP (due this March)! * a sneak preview of leading "Tour of 2010" nominee, A Frames and X (Aussie)!
Download this program within two months at this link... CLICK HERE for 192kbps rate. or CLICK HERE for 320kbps rate. or, if you have a slower/20th century connection STREAM IT HERE by next Monday night!
(Email me with any downloading problem questions...)
THE REATARDS | You Got So Much Soul | Get Real Stupid 7" | Goner 1997 CRUDDY | Snake Charm Man | self-titled 7" | Basement Screams/Let's Pretend *new CRUDDY | Ready Set Let Go CRAPPY DRACULA | A Good Flying Bird [Guided by Voices] | split 7" w/ Farms in Trouble | Activities/EEEFIN' 2009 CRAPPY DRACULA | Leroy vs. Loretta | "The Lockhorns" EP CS | Scotch Tapes 2009 ESTROGEN HIGHS | Friends Family LSD | Tell it to Them | Dead Beat *new WOUNDED LION | Hunan Province | debut LP | In the Red *forthcoming UZI RASH GROUP BAND | Empty Plazas | Uzi Rash is Ricky Trash CDR | The Church & the Commune *new UZI RASH GROUP BAND | Totally Fired | When the Veil is Lifted CDR | The Church & the Commune *new THE PHEROMOANS | Sister of the Sap | Open for Business 7" | Yakisakana *new GODS GIFT | Deicide (Their Soul is Hate) | Pathology 1979-1984 | Hyped To Death 2009 THE FALL | Fiery Jack | Fiery Jack 7" | Step Forward 1980 UPHILL GARDENERS | He is Master... | self-titled | Kill Shaman/olFactory *new (orig 1997) HOME BLITZ | A Different Touch | Out of Phase | Richie/Testostertunes *new PERMANENT FEELS | Be Against | self-titled CS | no label *new TACO LEG | Freemasons' Hall | Freemasons' Hall 7" | Fan Death *new MODERN CONVENIENCE | Artificial Light | Artificial Light 3" CDEP | Savoury Days *new GEEZER DELUXE | Old Milwaukee | In the Olds 3" CDEP | Savoury Days *new THE HUMAN RACE | Incantation | Duality 3" CDEP | Savoury Days *new X | I Don't Want to Go Out | Aspirations | RocknRoll Blitzkrieg 2001 (orig 1979) A FRAMES | Electric Eye | April 2001 4-song demo | no label A FRAMES | Neutron Bomb | April 2001 10-song demo | no label AFCGT | Two Legged Dog | AFCGT LP | Sub Pop *new DOUG SNYDER & BOB THOMPSON | Teenage Emergency | Daily Dance | Cantor *new (orig 1973) MAKO SICA | Red Rivers (excerpt) | ...Plays Live on Mayday at Strobe | Permanent *new JAY REATARD | In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator song) | mp3 *new GARY WAR | Grounds for Termination (Phil Gone Mix) | v/a: Sacred Bones Records, Winter 2009 | Sacred Bones *new MATTRESS | Lost & Found | Low Blows | Malt Duck 2009 *request ACONITE | The Truth About Cable | v/a: Messthetics Greatest Hiss | Hyped to Death 2009 (orig 1982) DOXA SINISTRA | No Car, No Job | Conveyor Belt | Enfant Terrible 2008 (orig 1985) JONZUN CREW | Space is the Place | Lost in Space | Tommy Boy 1983 JAWS | Tone Ghetto | Jaws CDR | no label 2004
Sorry...I was too busy to post the blog/podcast last week due to so many 12-hour shifts. The craziness at the office continues this week, but I'm sacrificing for you and will pay dearly tomorrow. So, here's two hours dominated by bitterness and spite....(followed by links to last week's show is also fairly bitter and spiteful, but there's a few fun rays of sunshine in there for you).
Download this program within two months at this link... CLICK HERE for 192kbps rate. or CLICK HERE for 320kbps rate. or, if you have a slower/20th century connection STREAM IT HERE by next Monday night!
(Email me with any downloading problem questions...)
MIRRORS | Cheap and Vulgar | Something That Would Never Do | Violet Times/Hovercraft 2009 (orig 1974) HOME BLITZ | Two Steps | Out of Phase | Richie/Testostertunes *new JACK STANDS | Huffin' Stuff | Box of Feelings CDR | no label 2009 EGO SUMMIT | Black Hole | The Room Isn't Big Enough | OldAge/No Age 1997 BASSHOLES | The Way I Came | ...and Without a Name | Columbus Discount *new BASSHOLES | Swannanoa River V-3 | Inside Outpost | Psychic Dance Hall | Ropeburn 1991 V-3 | Whip That Thing | Negotiate Nothing | Ropeburn 1993 DIM STARS | Christian Rat Attack [Stickmen w/ Ray Guns] | 3x7" | Ecstatic Peace 1991 *request U.S. MAPLE | More Horror | Talker | Drag City 1999 CIRCUIT RIDER | Forever Angels Proud | self-titled | The Bookworm 2009 (orig 197?) LE SANG SONG | I Can't Wait | self-titled | Dragnet *new NATIVE CATS | Catspaw | Catspaw 7" | White Denim *new NOTHING PEOPLE | Enemy With an Invitation | You're Invited 7" | Permanent *new MEDICATION | TPM in Hard Times | This Town | Hozac *new PIGEONS | Oubli | Lunettes 7" | Soft Abuse *new JEX THOTH | Equinox Suite | self-titled | I Hate 2008 JEX THOTH | Stone Evil BURNING WITCH | Sacred Predictions | Crippled Lucifer | Southern Lord 2009 (orig 1998) GOSLINGS | Maui | Sister and Son/Death Garage 2xCS | Rolling Chapel *new GOSLINGS + WARMTH | Impath | The Heaven of Animals | Archive *new GOSLINGS | Everlasting Aum | Sister and Son/Death Garage SLICING GRANDPA | Screaming Wives | Diaper Down | Scatalogical Liberation Front *new MAGIK MARKERS | Tighten One and Loosen the Other | split 12" EP w/ Sic Alps | Yik Yak *new
Download last week's program within two months at this link... CLICK HERE for 192kbps rate. or CLICK HERE for 320kbps rate. or, if you have a slower/20th century connection sorry...the stream only goes back one week!
If you think the words glacial gloom-metal sound tasty, or the idea of guitar-riffs built on a system akin to cubic crystals, then hurry and become one of the 150 lucky people to score this momentous double-cassette release by the Goslings! This band is at the top of the outer-zoning metal game. The rest of you can have your SunnO)))). Hey, I like them, too, but if SunnO)))'s riffs creep in like eerie shrouds of fog, the Goslings' riffs enmeshing with Leslie Soren's vocals are like a freezing fog that falls from the sky to reveal Northern lights...chilling to the bone and haunting with beauty. With the very recent proper CD release of Heaven of Animals (a 2005 collaboration with Warmth, then known as Roxanne Jean Polise, the Goslings also have three (arguably four with Crucial Blast's issue of the Space Heater and Perfect Interior CDRs on one proper CD in 2006) full-length albums which are all worth the effort of hunting down. Really, this strikes me as a truly momentous and awesome band. Highest recommendation!
Speaking of momentous and awesome.....I've yet to compile my 2000-2009 decade-best lists, but I'm sure that my choice for the best metal album is self-titled by Jex Thoth. The album was released initially on CD only, but I Hate Records from Sweden has recently unleashed it on vinyl LP with a stupendous gatefold rendering of the cover art. I've included the entire sprawling "Equinox Suite" and the mind-scrambling finalé of the LP to convince you of its absolute rulingness.
If I find time to write down more thoughts about any of this music, I'll try n' update this post. But for now.....just havva listen, and trust that the new Nothing People 7" sounds and looks tremendous enough to be worth the high price, and the new Home Blitz is a grand slam, and be ready for the Guinea Worms to rule you for the entire length of a double LP in a few months. Next week, hear another sneak peak of the forthcoming Wounded Lion debut LP!
Also, SoCal...brace yourself for the Mayyors at the end of the week. They're tour is coming your way...
Thu, 1/14 @ Eagle Tavern///San Francisco, ca - 9pm, $5, 21+ w/Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Ganglians Fri, 1/15 @ Five Stars Bar///Los Angeles, CA - 9pm, $8, 18+ w/the Lamps, Audacity, Bipolar Bear Sat, 1/16 @ house party///Los Angeles, CA - 8pm w/Le Face, Wounded Lion (this show's location is a secret...sorry...I hope you know somebody!) ((I'm not even sure I'll be any help!)) 1/17 @ dudes' house (637 W, Woodcrest Ln.)///Fullerton, CA - 7pm w/Francis Harold & the Holograms, Audacity, Pterodacdudes
Here's a two-hour podcast featuring most of my absolute favorite records of 2009, another fruitful year for outstanding underground rumblings in punk, rock, and outer-zoning tangents (see below for best of '09 lists and AFS Awards winners)...
Download this program within two months at this link... CLICK HERE for 192kbps rate. or CLICK HERE for 320kbps rate. or, if you have a slower/20th century connection STREAM IT HERE by next Monday night!
There was so much for me to be excited about in 2009! See me straight-up fist-pumpin' Jersey Shore-sytle, son???...It was like that all year long!
(Email me if there are any downloading problems, please!)
The zeitgeist of reverb-drenched fractured pop by fuzz-loving garage-punks and deep-V-necked trendies kicked into super-saturation mode as the tide of Black Lips and Oh Sees apers and overly self-conscious name-droppers came flooding in like a tsunami wave. Or was that the album Wavvves by the band Wavves? That most hyped indie album of early 2009 was already obsolete by summer due to unsubstantial and utterly forgettable songs. Haters have let that flavor linger to keep hating on it even more, but the shimmery endless-summer psych-pop of my hometown Sacramento's Ganglians issued four records--highlighted by the Monster Headroom album--which are the antidote to the lo-fi pop doldrums. While the Ganglians are part of the "glo-fi" or "hypnagogic pop" movement named by Pitchforkmedia.com, they are emerging from the backlash against this unfortunately-named subgenre because of the strength of their songs, their genuine funloving spirit, and the indubitable fact that amongst all the contemporary bands which critics compare to the Beach Boys, the Ganglians are the best at those vocal harmonies. They criss-crossed the continent playing second billing to Wavves during their first nationwide tour, and now the future's bright for them with a new label for 2010 and a planned European tour in late spring. While their future is bright, they truly became a local treasure when they strengthened a link to our past; one of the true highlights of all the live music I saw in 2009--approximately 400 bands--was the Ganglians' cover debut of "Aliens in Our Midst" by late-70s Sacto legends the Twinkeyz.
The most momentous local record of 2009 was the Deads 12" EP by the Mayyors, and its B-side opener "Clicks" was the most integral full-band achievement following two earlier EPs in 2008. The most tenacious mach-speed motorik drumbeat drives forward a supremely nifty interlocking bass/guitar riff while singer John Pritchard is in his very best and most aggressive form, and that's just describing the first verse! As the band varies from the riff, it becomes even more thrilling as the Chris Woodhouse's arcane guitar synth device is deployed to warp waves of perfectly tuned guitar scree in time with the constantly stout cadence, and as a grand finalé, the rhythm section flourishes with thundering tumbles and divebombing bass slides. Each member is achieving optimal performance simultaneously within a stunningly arranged and peerlessly produced song. The Mayyors remain elusive to most Sacramentans due to limited live local activity and zero web presence. If you would like your noise-rock to be as partyhardy as it is pugnacious, then you should find these Mayyors.
While the Mayyors and Ganglians sound nothing alike, they share many fans here in Sacto and Davis because of their propensity for rocking the same intimate living rooms and basements, and because the ever-expanding definition of "psychedelic rock" actually bridges their music. Indeed, the weird, wild, and far out has crept into every cranny of underground music, and that has brought a wide variety of music closer together, as well as fans. Tastes have become eclectic enough to endure--if not embrace--a four-band bill of glittery pop, thuggish sludge, fancy-free improv-scribble-jazz, and a weirdfolk troubadour from start to end. As the bands influence each other and the fans share it together, you know something important is brewing. Music that is broadly influenced has a tendency to be broadly influential (and vice versa...just think of how the ska-punk of the 90s became an evolutionary dead end). A few bands can blend nearly all of it together on one album, such as Wild & Inside by Eat Skull. The Portland band is best known for a style that cakes punky scuzz around a pure jangle-pop kernel, but on this second effort, they summoned the ghosts of Syd Barrett, Joe Meek, and Bruno Nicolai for some chilling moments of filmesque beauty.
Among the best albums of 2009, many ghosts of psychedelic's past flew into the future over a field of punk, garage, lo-fi pop, and even minimal synth and industrial music. On Low Blows by Mattress, the macabre croony warble of Rex Marshall's posi-self-help lyrics over a bed of downer darkwave sounds like an odd mix on paper, but it flows outta the speakers dazzlingly and seemingly very naturally. Facilidad?, the sixth album by Impractical Cockpit, harkens back to the earliest days of industrial music, but reflects the experience of the last decade and a half of no wave and noiserock damage, the cultural experience of living in pre-Katrina New Orleans, and coping with Katrina's after-effects. Little Claw's third album, Human Taste, brilliantly bridges awesome post-riot-grrl ladypower with primordial ooze of the protopunk era. Talk Normal's Sugarland brings similarly striking ladypower to stridently atonal yet seductive artrock. Purling Hiss burns brightly on his self-titled album with blown-out white-hot guitar crunch and pyroclastic leads. Meercaz achieves the same on his self-titled, but varies the pace with a protopunk stew with a hint of every type of spice. Sonny & the Sunsets revive a fancy for Donovan alternately with Jonathan Richman on their alluring debut, Tomorrow is Alright. On Men Are Talking, the Life Partners playfully dish perplexingly dubious lyrical matter over clever rock with surprising AM-gold flavors. Best of all, the local SS Records label unleashed a stunning double-LP by Dan Melchior und Das Menace and the most enchanting album of dark wonder, Late Night by the upper Sacramento Valley's Nothing People.
Top 20 full-lengths...
Meercazself-titled MattressLow Blows HunchesExit Dreams Purling Hissself-titled Talk NormalSugarland Eat SkullWild & Inside Little ClawHuman Taste AudacityPower Drowning Nothing PeopleLate Night Dudu GevaRetrovulva 2003 The IntelligenceFake Surfers GangliansMonster Headroom Impractical CockpitFacilidad? The MagnetixPositively Negative The Life PartnersMen Are Talking The Bassholes...and Without a Name Ratas del VaticanoMocosos Pateticos Sunny & the SunsetsTomorrow Is Alright Dan Melchior und Das MenaceObscured by Fuzz Dan Melchior und Das MenaceThankyou Very Much
The Anals' Total Anal was the toughest to cut, and I'm still pondering who else to cut to make room for Agent Side Grinder's Irish Recording Tape which I heard for the first time in the last couple of weeks.
Top 20 EPs...
VibesPsychic 7" FlightFlowers 7" MayyorsDeads 12" FNU RonniesGolem 12" PheromoansRevamper 7" Red Massself-titled CDEP Moon DuoKilling Time 12" Wounded LionFriendly? 7" Puffy AreolasLutzko Lives 7" Silver ShampooJethro Skull 7" Druid PerfumeOther Worlds 7" Hue Blanc's Joyless OnesCry 7" Happy BurgerPizza All Around 7" Black PusDown Down the Drain 7" Pink Reason/Electric Bunnies split 7" XYXMomento Acido Contemporaneo 7" CheveuLike a Deer in the Headlights 7" High CastleYou're On Your Own Way 12" Hammer of HathorTooth Eeth or Teeth Ooth 12" Dan Melchior und Das MenaceThe Post Office Line 7"
Best cassette releases
NoBunnyRaw Romance Butcher Coverself-titled Michael Stasisself-titled Warm ClimateEdible Houses Rank/Xerox / Grass Widow split Crappy DraculaThe Lockhorns EP Absinthe MindsThe Song of Returning Light TyvekBlunt Instrumental 2: True to the Game
Most outstanding live performances...
Tyvek @ Bomb Shelter House in Davis The Cysts @ Funcastle in Sacramento XYX & Rank/Xerox @ Mama Buzz in Oakland Mayyors & Hunches @ Funcastle in Sacramento Eternal Tapestry & Ganglians @ The Hub in Sacramento Coconut Coolouts & Personal & the Pizzas @ DAM House in Davis Mayyors, Thee Oh Sees, & Eternal Tapestry @ ORMF VII, Plainfield Station in Woodland Quartet of Davy Bui, Chad Stockdale, Nick Julian, & Kevin Corcoran @ Funcastle A Burning Bus, Box Elders, Sonic Chicken 4, & Davila 666 @ Gonerfest 6 in Memphis, TN Traditional Fools, Grass Widow, HPP, Nodzzz, et al @ Wizard Fest, Wizard Mountain in SF Defektors, Sex Church, & Charles Albright XXXperience @ 300 Room in West Sacramento Necessary Evils, Box Elders, Wounded Lion, Slippery Slopes, & Wild Thing @ Budget Rock in SF
Art for Spastics Awards '09...
Best Overall Album.... Wild & Inside by Eat Skull Best EP.... Deads 12" EP by Mayyors Best brainworm pop hit...."Flowers" by Flight Best song for headphone listening..."Blue Tentacles" by Dan Melchior Best cover version..."Late Night" [Syd Barrett] by Nothing People Best late-night listening album....Late Night by Nothing People Best festival....Gonerfest 6 Best singles club... Columbus Discount Singles Club, Year One Best reissue... Something That Would Never Do by Mirrors Best new local band in Sacto/Davis....GGreen (the full rock band version) Best new bands on west coast....Rank/Xerox, Sonny & the Sunsets, and The Whines Best song about pizza (and there were a lot of them!)...."Pizza All Around" by Happy Burger Best song for cleaning out ears...."Golem Smoke" by FNU Ronnies Best overall live band....Thee Oh Sees Best band to hang out with....XYX Best band to party with....Dadfag Best new trend in music right now....FUN! Best trend that I hope gains more momentum in '10...."They're rather like industrial music of late 70s/early 80s" Best album cover art....Electric Bunnies board-game gatefold Best drone....???? (Squim didn't make an album this year, as far as I know!) Best irreverent band name....Juavves Best song titles for future band names....The Pheromoans Lifetime achievement award....Michael Yonkers Most vinyl-worthy cassette....Edible Houses by Warm Climate Most face-melting psych-rock scorch-fest....Eternal Tapestry Most humorous between-song banter....Cave Most sweltering show....Coconut Coolouts @ DAM House in Davis (my fingers got pruney!) Most physically taxing band (for me literally)....The Hunches @ Funcastle, Sacto Most surprising "the old guy still rocks" moment....Paul Collins' Beat @ Fire Escape in Citrus Heights Best energy drink....NOS punch (red top) in blue 24oz canister Best-value burger overall....Faisal's Halal in Sacramento Most sinful burger....Back on the Block in Sacramento's "Italian Combo Burger" Best Mexican food here in Sacto or maybe even anywhere....Lalo's or Toledo's Market Most ridiculous place to see a show....Loco's Only in Oakland The band I wish I coulda started....Puffy Areolas
My special live guest tonight was GGreen, who take the show on the road all over the Golden State next week. Full details below. If you gotta party in L.A. or San Diego on 12/30 or 12/31, get in touch, please! (Email, not MySpace!) California, please meet the best new band to form in Sacramento in 2009! Also, enjoy some more new records and tapes I've gathered from my mailbox. I guess the best-of-2009 retrospective will hafta happen next week...
Download this program within two months at this link... CLICK HERE for 192kbps rate. or CLICK HERE for 320kbps rate. or, if you have a slower/20th century connection STREAM IT HERE by next Monday night!
(Email me if there are any downloading problems, please!)
MAGNETIX | Brain Out/Rib Out | Brain Out/Rib Out 7-inch | Slovenly *new GG KING | Drug Zoo | Last of the Night Wiggers CS | no label 2009 TORTURED TONGUES | Can't See the Point | Tung Tied CDR | no label *new VICHY WATER | Crap Culture [GGreen] | self-titled CS | Space Universe *new VICHY WATER | Affirmation Action | live in Studio A, 10/26/2009 VNC | Harm Guitar | split 7-inch w/ Moore Brothers | Brick Factory *new GGREEN | Swimsuit Drugs | Live in the KDVS Engineering Room GGREEN | Society of Shit GGREEN | I Will Not Withdraw This Statement VICHY WATER | Sacto, Great Job! | Live in Studio A, 10/26/2009 VICHY WATER | Drunk Jesus GGREEN | Looks | Live in the KDVS Engineering Room GGREEN | Crap Culture GGREEN | Mouth on the Floor GGREEN | Keys GGREEN | The Gay 90s GGREEN | Pool of Blood GGREEN | Backseat GGREEN | The Garden CRAPPY DRACULA | Young Person's Song | The Lockhorns EP CS | Scotch Tapes *new EL JESUS DE MAGICO | Rapey Guys II | Klip Aught 7" | Columbus Discount *new REPRESSIVE PROTEINS | Chad at the Danube | Centurion 2xCS Box Set | no label *new CUDEVASO | Trash Old | Tryin' to Fuck You! CDR | Fater Disks *new MAYYORS | Clicks | Deads 12" EP | Hurling Man 2009 *request PYGMY SHREWS | Kill Yourself [Pussy Galore] | Lord Got Busted 7-inch | Fan Death 2009 DAN MELCHIOR | 1000 Times | v/a: Skulls Without Borders 10" | Siltbreeze *new ELECTRIC BUNNIES | Catfish | Through the Magical Door | Florida's Dying *new HUE BLANC'S JOYLESS ONES | Smuggler's Choice | Smuggler's Choice 7-inch | Columbus Discount *new HARD-ONS | Get Away | Dickcheese | Taang! 1988 THE MEANIES | Smack Bottom | 10% Weird | Au Go Go 1994 LES THUGS | Groucho's Theme | Still Hungry, Still Angry | Decoy 1989 LES THUGS | Birthday (Why Didn't You Come for My...) RANK/XEROX | In a Hole | self-titled 7" | Mongo Bongo *new VAPID | Take a Walk, Baby | Practically Dead | Nominal *new 13th CHIME | Sarah's Got a Chainsaw | The Lost Album | Sacred Bones *new (orig 1983) AGENT SIDE GRINDER | Eyes of the Old | Irish Recording Tape | Enfant Terrible *new BRONZE | One Night in Mexico | One Night in Mexico 7-inch | Hex Grammofoonplaten *new LE SANG SONG | Hot Reggae | self-titled | Dragnet *new
GGreen CA Tour.....
Sun 12/27 in Oakland @ Fuzzplex w/ NoBunny, Uzi Rash Group Band, Bare Wires & Hobocop Mon 12/28 in Oakland @ TBA w/ Uzi Rash Group Band Oakland, California Tue 12/29 in San Francisco @ Pissed Off Pete's w/ NoBunny & Uzi Rash Group Band Wed, 12/30 in Ventura @ Mai's Cafe w/ Sea Lions & Catwalk Thu, 12/31 in Los Angeles??? SoCal??? (help?!?!) Fri, Jan 1 in San Diego??? SoCal??? Anywhere? (help?!?!) Sat, Jan 2 in San Luis Obispo @ 3069 Broad Street w/ TBA Sun, Jan 3 in Stockton @ Plea 4 Peace w/ Satan Wriders, Craft Spells & TBA Tue, Jan 5 in Sacramento @ The Hub w/ Brilliant Colors, English Singles, & Uzi Rash Group Band
GGreen's cousin band a recent in-studio guest Vichy Water also saw the release of their new cassette, so look out for more new sounds of young Sacramento! Fans of Teenage Panzerkorps' more dance-accessible moments should enjoy it, I think! Follow the label link above or Paypal $7ppd to dylancraver at gmail dot com....
As long as DIY bands and artists keep me amazed, I will keep doing radio and extreme-blogging as a tribute to them. In case you are an old classmate looking for me, yes, this is "Rick Ele" here.
If you have material available in any format, please send it to...
KDVS Radio, ATTN: DJ Rick, 14 Lower Freeborn Hall, Davis, CA 95616, USA
...wanna get in touch about anything else? rickele(AT)gmail(DOT)com