Art for Spastics v. 138

DOWNLOAD AFS v. 138 (within the next 10 weeks) HERE!

...or stream it (before July 5).

ELECTRICK GARBAGE // L´escargot // L’escargot b/w Poupée Mecanique 7” // Hard Ckor 1979
CRISE DE NERFS // Rock à la Télé // v/a: Repérages 84 // Label X/La Péniche 1984
TERROR VISIONS // Taste It (Face) // World of Shit // FDH *new
TERROR VISIONS // Itching
ARTIFICIAL LIMBS // Let´s Get Inert // 5-song demo CDR // no label *new
SICK-E's // Get Out // Mankind 7" // Square Wave *new
NIGHT OF PLEASURE // Caesar´s Palace // Godard vs. Trufault 7" // Columbus Discount *new

NECROPOLIS // Stumpf // Stumpf b/w Van v. Art 7" // Columbus Discount *new
CATHOLIC BOYS // Dead Ball // Dead Ball 7" // Trick Knee Productions *new
TALBOT TAGORA // Penis Gang // Catface 7" // self-released *new
SHEARING PINX // New Gospel // Poison Hands // Gilgongo 2007
SHEARING PINX // Slaughterhaus // split 7" w/ Silver Daggers // Arbor *new
RACCOO-OO-OON // Behold Secret Kingdom // Mud Mound 7" // Gilgongo *new
BABY GECKO // Paint the Streets // split 7" w/ Soft Shoulder // Gilgongo/Macro-Eden/Robothouse *new
BABY GECKO // Dino IIIIIIII
YOKOHAMA HOOKS // Panic // split 7" w/ the Flip Tops // Iron Goat *new
THE SHUDDERS // Battleground // Battleground 7" // Compact *new
DAVID COPPERFUCK // Chalet Chalet // Chalet Chalet 7" // Party Turtle *new
FUCKING ANGELS // Dead, Baby // split LP w/ Vicious Ginks // Gravity 1995
MONTERAYS // Blast Off // v/a: Strummin´ Mental part one // Crypt

ROMANCE NOVELS // Another Summer // Another Summer b/w Quarter to Four 7" // Pizza Party *new
TRANZISTORS // Free Electrizity // Free Electricity 7" // Young Soul Rebels 2005
TYVEK // Future Junk // split 7" w/ Cheveu // Ss recordS *new
MOUNTAINS AND RAINBOWS // Knock Me Out // Knock Me Out b/w Indian 7" // Cass *new
MOUNTAINS AND RAINBOWS // Tunnel Vision // Lester's Way b/w Tunnel Vision 7" // Muddy Mitten *new
MICHAEL YONKERS // I Think // split 7" w/ Little Claw // X! Records *new
PINK REASON // Down on Me // By a Thread 7" // Trick Knee Productions *new
EX-COCAINE // With the With the When the One // Esta Guerra // Siltbreeze *new

MYTHICAL BEAST // Gone to Grey // split LP w/ Pocahaunted // Not Not Fun *new
PANICSVILLE + PRURIENT // I Walked My Dog // Wal-Mart: The Rubber Baron 8" // Rococo *new
LEGLESS // untitled // Inconsequential (A Game to Pass the Time) 3" CDR // Terra Firma *new
PISSED JEANS // My Bed // Hope For Men // Sub Pop *new
NIGHT WOUNDS // X.O.T. // Allergic to Heat // Corleone *new



Back in "prime-time" for the first time in 13 years(!), I knew that I had to start this week's AFS off with something of a bang, and ever since Jack sent both sides of the "L’escargot" b/w "Poupée Mecanique" on a 2xCDR mix-tape compilation of French punk/new wave rarities from 1977-1984 from his private collection, I'd been dying to play the A-side. Usually, I get a dozen or so emails per week following each AFS, and listeners and readers of this here blog often ask questions or give comments about bands or songs that I've chosen to play, but this time, I counted a dozen people responding specfically to this song. Six haters and six lovers. That's called a successful work of art. Leave no one feeling lukewarm. To be sure, the gassy glamminess of Electrick Garbage's high-spirited vocals and guitar leads sends "L'escargot" totally over the top into the top echelon of bombastic ridic-rockers such as "Two Tub Man" by The Dictators, "Gobbin' on Life" by Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias, or even the most undeniable highpoints of Turbonegro's Apocalypse Dudes (which you cannot deny despite even Bam Margera's overexposure of the band). Jack reports that the bassist of Electrick Garbage is now a famous TV actor. How strange then that the band returns such useless results in a Google search. How could someone make a record as rad as this and not be proud of it 28 years later?

Crise de Nerfs also come from Jack's 2xCDR, so there's not much else I can tell you about it other than it's French and it's very cool.

If you're in significant minority who preferred Lost Sounds over Jay Reatard's Blood Visions, then World of Shit by Terror Visions is the record you've been waiting for. The 14 songs were recorded from 2002-2006. It sounds pretty much like Lost Sounds, but with Jay's voice and attitude pervading every aspect of it. So, while it's not as well-rounded as any proper Lost Sounds album, it's pulse-quickening, sharply delivered synthpunk that is raw and acerbic with that very off-kilter wit. It's billed as "Jay's synthpunk band," so that automatically invites comparisons to the canonized synthpunks of the late 70's and 80's, but it's not so much like The Screamers or Nervous Gender...maybe Rock Bottom & the Spys are closest on the nastier, rockin' songs, but this is much more contemporary-sounding, like bands such as S.I.D.S. or the Artificial Limbs, the young band from Kennewick, Washington, who follows Terror Visions this week. Their 5-song CDR should make somebody wanna make a record for them. The most terror-inducing thing about the new Terror Visions might just be the picture of Jay's pimply ass with a mound of blow on it. Dude...totally without ruth!

The Sick-E's (from southern California, I presume) are another one of those modern "synthpunk" bands with the rollicky, almost-HC rhythm and slashy guitars. This 7" EP called Mankind is a fiery three-song scorcher, but with plenty of style and taste to satisfy even many collectorscumguzzlers. Habanero-hot, for sure.



The next Sick-E's (picture above) is not out yet (July 9th), but it should sell out soon. I snatched up a white-vinyl copy on pre-order as soon as possible, and a day later, there were only a few left. Hurry over to http://www.goingundergroundrecords.com/, and get to it.

The cavalcade of Columbus hits keep coming, and this week we flip those Night of Pleasure and Necropolis records over to find that both sides burn bright, hot, and fast, too. Last year, I met a few folks who didn't share my enthusiasm for the LP by Necropolis ("too indie rock," some complained), but if you were one of them, you need to put that attitude behind you. This new 7" cuts the fat that you didn't like and blasts that broiler at top temperature to make this sizzling sound.

Sadly, the Catholic Boys are dead, but Todd Trickknee saw fit to give us a new 7" with three raw blasts from probably the most exciting gah-ragers I saw live in 2005. I'm still not sure if my mind has been unboggled yet after the deft drumming abilities of Eric Apnea made me question the usefulness of these exalted prog-wizard clavé kings. I felt that band drive into my sternum even as I watched them from a seemingly safe distance. And it was sun was shining through the blinds at the time. Surely it was too early to be having that much fun. There's a sweet shitcaked cover of Love's "7 & 7 Is" and a midpaced stomper of the flip. This is also a great-looking sleeve.

Talbot Tagora, the young Seattle band with Chris from Mikaela's Fiend showing an altogether different (and more musical) side to his most excellent guitar-playing, first became a fan-fave here last year with their own DIY Volcano Girls CDR. They've got sweet charms to allure even the pure pop fan, but there's brimming tension and raw energy to gnarl it up for fans of "teh w31Rdp*nk," too. As I might've said before, this is working a unique stylistic intersection somewhere between The Intelligence and Abe Vigoda. This is one of four songs from their excellent first 7", another self-release, which unlike the CDR thankfully does not suffer from a noticeable fidelity deficit from bad mp3 (re)compression. I still say that if those Volcano Girls tapes are mastered correctly, it would make for an outstanding LP! Can't wait to see 'em later this summer!



I don't hafta wait long for the Shearing Pinx to come because they are in Sacto at the Fools Foundation tomorrow! Of course, when I say a band is "great," it might not be too resounding because people know that I have a high level of enthusiasm for something like 100 current bands that I might call "favorite," but you know I can make time to support all of them. But then, among that hundred, there's really four or five of them that I think are absolutely incredible...and I dare say are even important. Shearing Pinx are one of those bands! They are prolific, but always excite me with each new ephemeral CDR or cassette release which are nothing like a quick scribble on a napkin like the ones Picasso would pass off to starstruck tourists. Even if a too little or too much thought go into a rambling jam of free-scrawl, this band wins out because I can tell that the way they feel music is on a philosophically untouchable level that immediately expressed to the listener...or at least me, anyway. Scrawly improv free-rock is just one small part of what they do. Their releases on permanent vinyl and CD format involve rehearsed songs of taut, urgent, juggernaut rhythm, talus-grinding guitar, and cool delayed vocals that imbue things with a psychedelic flavor, but are still discernable. Fans of early Sonic Youth, the Stretchheads, and maybe even the first coupla Venom P. Stinger LPs oughta get to know this band!

Here's their tour itinerary...

30 Jun Sacto @ Fools Foundation w/ Ettrick, Us Girls, Standard Tribesmen
1 July San Francisco @ Hemlock Tavern w/ Red Nurse, Origami, Jenny Hoyston (of Erase Errata)
2 July Bakersfield @ Backstage w/ Me & My Arrow, Lord Galvar, Alan Greenspan + Swimsuit Rights
3 Jul Los Angeles @ The Smell w/ Mincemeat or Tenspeed & Beach Balls
4 Jul Santa Ana @ The Clinic w/ Robin Williams On Fire, Casy & Brian
5 Jul Phoenix @ Trunkspace w/ Soft Shoulder & Us Girls
6 Jul Albuquerque @ A Space Maybe w/ Finally Punk, US Girls, the Dozal Brothers
7 Jul Richardson, TX @ Radio UTD Summer Noise Fest "The Fuzz Ball"
8 Jul Shreveport, LA @ Cooper Manor
10 Jul Atlanta @ Eyedrum w/ Eiliyas, Club of Rome, Battlecat, & Dandi Wind
11 Jul Knoxville, TN @ The Birdhouse w/ Brain Lesion, Lobster Lobster Lobster, Us Girls
12 Jul Charlottesville, VA @ Tea Bazaar w/ Us Girls
13 Jul Philadelphia @ The Breadbin w/ Masato Tanaka & Us Girls
14 Jul NYC @ Silent Barn w/ Print, Cocaine to Rogaine, Apeshit
15 Jul NYC @ Glasslands Gallery w/ The Fugue & Worms of Dirt
16 Jul Cambridge, MA @ Charlie's Kitchen w/ Life Partners, The Maul, Us Girls
17 Jul Northampton, MA @ Chris Dooleys Dad's antique shop w/ Child Bride, EUU, & Us Girls
18 Jul Cincinnati, OH @ Skull Lab w/ Child Bride, Us Girls, & Abe Vigoda
19 Jul Detroit @ The CAID w/ Us Girls, Child Bride, EUU, & Tyvek
20 Jul Chicago @ TBA
21 Jul Minneapolis @ TBA w/ Gay Beast, Abe Vigoda, John Thill
22 Jul Minneapolis @ The Pocketknife w/ Gumbi & Us Girls
23 Jul Kansas City, MO @ Creative Mind Arts w/ Banana Hands & The Sperm
25 Jul Denver @ Rhinoceropolis! w/ Archaeopteryx, Animal, & Pictureplane
26 Jul Boise, ID @ TBA
27 Jul Portland, OR @ House Show w/ Me Con, Chrome Wings, & more
28 Jul Seattle @ The Greenhouse (possibly)

I will get to more reviews and anecdotes about the rest of the playlist later...maybe Monday! Thanks for listening!

Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Barnstorm Studio A @ KDVS

Last night, I saw an outstanding performance in a Sacramento living room by a Portland band called Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!, one of the newest and most life-affirming free-jazz outfits to soar the skies from your own blown-out minds. The band is a quartet of tenor and alto sax, drums, and piano, and all four members are astoundingly excellent, skitter tastefully between tight and fancy-free, and they all really feel it and are contagious.

After seeing them the previous night in Davis, our own DJ Andy arranged to record them in KDVS' Studio A for a taped broadcast during his "Lewd Dance" program last night. DOWNLOAD THESE FINE SOUNDS WITHIN 10 WEEKS OF THIS POSTING DATE!

Find out more about Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! here...
http://myspace.com/flighflighflighflighfligh

And catch 'em if you can on tour right now...

26 Jun 2007 8:00 Oakland - 21 Grand
27 Jun 2007 8:00 San Francisco - Hemlock Tavern
28 Jun 2007 10:00 Santa Barbara - live on KCSB 91.9FM 10-12 mid
29 Jun 2007 8:00 Los Angeles - Dangerous Curve
30 Jun 2007 8:00 National City (near San Diego) - Smog Shop
1 Jul 2007 8:00 Fillmore, CA - The Grounds
2 Jul 2007 7:00 Salt Lake City - Red Light Bookstore
3 Jul 2007 8:00 Missoula, MT - The Palace
4 Jul 2007 8:00 Coeur D'Alene, ID - Moscow Bay
5 Jul 2007 8:00 Seattle - 1412 Gallery
6 Jul 2007 9:00 Portland - Valentine's w/Evolutionary Jass Band!

That July 6th show looks hot! Roadtrip, maybe?

If I compare this to any free-jazz greats of yore, you'll think I'm exaggerating. So just have a listen!

Art for Spastics v. 137 (platoon w/ Fuzzbox Flynn)

Once again, I was so busy at the office that I was forced to come late to my own radio show. But again DJ Fuzzbox Flynn filled in for the first hour until 1:00 when I took over. Flynn’s selections are in italics. That’s the last time I’ll be late on account of work until the thick of next year’s legislative season. Also, here’s some news…“Art for Spastics” is moving from Monday nights at 12 midnight to 2:00 a.m. to the much saner hour of 10:00 p.m. ‘til midnight on Wednesdays. That goes into effect next week, so if you listen live at 90.3 FM in the Davis and Sacramento area (or if you stream the show live at http://www.kdvs.org/), remember!

Download AFS v. 137 (w/in next 10 weeks)

...or stream it (by June 26, 2007).

THE OUTSIDERS // Freeway // Vital Years // Gift of Life 1993
THE WIPERS // Now is the Time // Over the Edge // Braineater 1983
THE WIPERS // Youth of America // Youth of America // Park Avenue 1981
TERMINAL CHEESECAKE // Pony Boy // Angels in Pigtails // Pathological 1990
GOD’S GIFT // Soldiers // self-titled 12” EP // New Hormones 1981
THE LEWD // Kill Yourself // v/a: Killed By Death #3 // Redrum 1978
TAPEWORM // Break My Face // v/a: Killed By Death #9 // Redrum 1978
FLIRT // Degenerator // v/a: Killed by Death # F.U.2 // Redrum 1978
TAMPAX // UFO Dictator // v/a: Killed By Death #7 // Redrum 1978
MENTALLY ILL // Tumor Boy // Gacy's Place: the Undiscovered Corpses // Alternative Tentacles 1979
THE SCREAMERS // Beat Goes On // In A Better World 2Xcd // Extravertigo/Xeroid 1977

NERVOUS GENDER // Monsters // Music From Hell split 12” w/ Beelzebub Youth // Subterranean 1981
ZOLAR X // Science // Timeless // Alternative Tentacles 1979
ALU // Allzeit Bereit // Autismenschen // C.I.P. 2006 (orig 1980-1984)
INSTANT AUTOMATONS // John´s Vacuum Cleaner // Another Wasted Sunday Afternoon // Hyped2Death
LESTER & THE BREW // Bad Day in the City/Eyesight Bad // v/a: Messthetics #103: D.I.Y. 77 - 81, Midlands I // Hyped2Death *new
FAXED HEAD // Show Pride in Coalinga // 1st 7” // no label // 1993
DOPPLEGANGER SQUID // Hellbender // only 7” // Waggletone 1994
TYVEK // untitled // split 7” w/ Cygnus // self-released *new
EL JESUS DE MAGICO // LGNO // Funeral Home Sessions 7" // Columbus Discount *new
LITTLE CLAW // Ice Age // split 7” w/ Michael Yonkers // X! Records *new

THE NEW FLESH // Dog // Dog b/w Memory Scrap 7” // Terra Firma/Human Conduct *new
SILVER DAGGERS // Life Freedom-Style in All Its Pride & Glory // split 7” w/ Shearing Pinx // Arbor *new
CRAPPY NIGHTMAREVILLE // Black Beam Dub // Neutron Dracula 7” // Black Velvet Fuckere *new
ETTRICK // Raven Harvest // Feeders of Ravens // Not Not Fun *new
DEEP JEW // Night Eyes 2 // Bored Fortress Singles Club split 7” w/ Mindflayer // Not Not Fun *new
AUFGEHOBEN // Axiologue // picdisc 7” // White Denim *new
KITTY MIDWIFE // Venus in Spookyland // DBA Tape Club split c20 w/ Child Pornography // Deathbomb Arc *new
VANKMEN // Don´t Want to Sleep // v /a: The Fruit Will Rot 3 (nine 3” CDRs!) // Deathbomb Arc *new

REALICIDE // trk 5 // v /a: The Fruit Will Rot 3
FACTUMS // Organ of Self Esteem // Tour CDR // no label 2007
FACTUMS // Anemone
BLANK DOGS // Housefly // Yellow Mice Sleep 7” // HoZac *new
LES PROVISOIRES // Quiet Room // Quiet Room EP // Monsieur Vinyl 1982

I thought I knew all there was to know about God's Gift until this week thanks to the sleuthwork of Jack from Volt and Pollymaggoo Records in France. Interest has been brewing recently about that. I learned of their 1980 four-song 12" EP and 1982 7" by accident thumbing through records in the cavernous KDVS library, and I was riveted by their relentless deadpan bleating and extreme Englishness. I've recommended the band over the years to fans of the most skeletal moments of early Fall records and drier material by Country Teasers. Last week, we went searching for connections to the band, and although nothing's turned up yet, we have learned that there are others who remember them fondly.

We just learned that they had a debut 7" called These Days which pre-dates the 12", and Jack said that the sax on the B-side "as frightening as the Brainbombs' Dan Raberg's wailing trumpet." We've also learned that they had a full-length cassette album (Folie Á Quatre) and appeared on a compilation double-cassette alongside such names as Bauhaus, Death in June, Nico, and Test Department. We'll be getting a chance to hear songs from the debut and the cassette soon. But even if one Belgian writer does not mention God's Gift in a potential forthcoming New Hormones label feature for the Record Collector, interest in the band should continue to grow. Chuck Warner of Hyped2Death has pegged them as a must-find band for his awesome archival label's Messthetics series, and with any luck, they might appear on Messthetics #104 or #105, which Chuck promises to include "substantially odder/more primitive" material than what we've enjoyed on 100-103. I can hardly wait to hear those! Certainly the oddest track on the brand-new Messthetics #103 compilation is this sorta medley of negatively-charged extreme Englishness by Lester & the Brew, so as soon as I could get to the KDVS studios from my busy office (yes, I was working 'til midnight again!), I had to drop this on you.

More mainstream media discovery of the Neil Hamburger phenomenon and his increasingly Koppel-sounding (and not-as-funny) soundbytes on basic cable interview shows has us longtime fans pining for his comedy gold of old. It seems that the question still persists as to whether Neil might have been a masked member of Faxed Head, the enigmatic band whose first release was this 7" record with its sleeve embossed with a map of central California starring the much-maligned stinkhole of a town called Coalinga, situated at the halfway point of the boring I-5 drive from Sacto to Los Angeles. It's best known by anyone who's passed through the area as the place with a giant Harris Ranch stockyard fulla cows standing shoulder-to-shoulder in their own shit with nary a blade of munchable grass in sight. Someone came up with the clever name of "Cowschvitz" to describe the agony of this landmark which is most irritatingly at least twice the nose-sore as it is an eye-sore.



The town is actually a few miles west of the freeway and considerably less rife with the smell of manure and slaughter, but to outsiders, the stench is often the only thing that Coalinga is known for. But to fans of Faxed Head, it's the cradle of the band's bizarre and hilarious mythology. The 7" included liner notes on very realistic Coalinga Chamber of Commerce letterhead which described a tale of teenaged fast-food employees whose failed suicide pact left each youngster horribly misfigured. The record was supposedly the result of these wretched boys winning a Chamber-sponsored "battle of the bands" event where the top prize was free studio time with talented recording professionals in San Francisco. That the sounds of this record were so awful was because the panel of judges could not bring themselves to vote against a band of severely disabled youth. The band persisted to violate rules of good taste with the same schtick for almost a decade, releasing a few full-length albums, but to a dedicated core of fans, this schtick never got old. I still laugh when I follow along with the lyric sheets today! The tug-of-war between their Coalinga civic pride and their extreme shame of their hometown is as exciting a stalemate to dissect as there ever was, and there's plenty of seemingly in-jokes about co-workers and schoolmates in Coalinga to make you feel like a town insider.

I saw the band once at Old Ironsides in Sacramento, and now I realize how lucky I was to see them. It's probably the funniest show I've ever seen. As members would simulate epileptic seizures, naughtily-attired nurses would administer serum to keep the show going. The band rarely ever played live at home (presumably San Francisco, as the band had always been rumored to include members of the Zip Code Rapists and/or Mr. Bungle) or away. This early Faxed Head including the schizo blackened march tune--"The Colors of Coalinga"--had a claptrap junkiness to it which was quite a bit dumbed down from either possible parent-band, and it almost made the myth in those liner notes seem almost believable. And it's not as if Coalinga isn't already plausible as the scene of a teen suicide pact. The place is really that depressing!



By its own virtuous claptrap junkiness, the first and only 7" of Doppleganger Squid [sic] fits in perfectly at this time. Little is known about this band, especially now that the only non-AFS-related Google-search result that mentioned the band has disappeared from the internet. But I think that they were from a part of North Carolina that was at least semi-rural. When I first heard this in 1994 on Todd Urick's "Hometown Atrocities" show, as the cruddy drums began bashing, I remember thinking that I was hearing some lost late-70's tapes of Chrome. I always wanted my own drumkit to sound like that. Except for certain inept 80's teen HC/thrash and maybe the first Cure album, I don't think any band played so confidently on ultra-cheap equipment, as if to say very brazenly that "We spent $199 on a new drumkit, and we think it sounds awesome!" But even as fried and blown-out as the vocals and guitars sound, Doppleganger Squid soon broke away from the Chrome mold and took their scruffy psych-punk flirtatiously toward the ubiquitous mid-90's pop-punk. But hold the cheese! The Squid were more than tasteful enough to do so whether they were creating snappy, scrappy foot-tap'n melodies or noodling into weirdpunk territory. This is a great record that sadly never got noticed, so raid the dollar bins of North Carolina if you can!

Come to think of it, Doppleganger Squid's probably been on my mind subconsciously since last month when Tyvek seared their way into my forever memory with their unique blend of infectious melody and the almost Tampaxian weird. The Squid's one of the few that bear any sorta analogy to the sounds of Tyvek on tour with the added damage of crazed wah-wizard Dr. Teet. A few people around here have been talking about how seeing Tyvek makes them wanna start a new band. Get to it! Footage from their "Franco-American Friendship Tour" with Cheveu is just starting to hit YouTube, and this footage from Tyvek's performance at 21 Grand in Oakland doesn't approach the greatness of the many highpoints I saw--they were fraught with guitar amp frustration, and underpowered P.A., and lab-like room dynamics--but this is still probably better than any show you've seen recently...

Columbus, Ohio, is becoming the center of my rock universe again in 2007. Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments and Gaunt aren't back together or anything, but on the heels of last year's ruling Psychedelic Horseshit 7", Times New Viking's second Siltbreeze album earlier this year reaffirmed that they are one of today's most exciting bands; and now Columbus Discount Records is about to drop three awesome new 7" EPs next week, including this one by a group of previous unknowns called El Jesus de Magico which makes its second straight appearance. Last week, we also heard the new Necropolis and Night of Pleasure, too. All three records are overdriven fuzzblasts steeped in the righteous traditions of all the great Columbus bands since the days when the Electric Eels were exiled there from Cleveland, including every Jim Shepard, Mike Rep, and Ron House vehicle. They all get my highest recommendations, but El Jesus de Magico is the nastiest and most laid-back of the three new Columbus Discount EP's. It's perfect for this weather. The only thing you can do when it's 100°F with a broken A/C is to lay on the floor and blast this record.



Their awesome "Fast Metabolism" tour CDR (which I believe is still gonna be pressed up on vinyl for fiends of great taste) is downloadable here...
http://www.yottamusic.com/albums/Tyvek/FAST-Metabolism/

More pump-priming for the upcoming west coast tour of Little Claw with Times New Viking...Here's an epic scuzz-pummeller by Little Claw which will beat you into submission before carrying your pulpy head off on fuzzy cloud of feedback as Kilynn coos a little lullabye. The rendering of "Ice Age" is raw and nasty, but not loathsome in the least. Another great song by these faves!

The A-side of the brand-new New Flesh single is a writhing punisher more like the the songs on their second album Vessel than the debut Parasite, but it is also rawer and nastier production-wise...nearly as much as the one-sided 7" from last summer with the vocals of Robert Inhuman of Realicide, so that should suit some of you better than ever, especially if you wanted to believe my Brainbombs comparison that I dropped on these guys back in 2005. Next week, we're gonna hear some real pain from Legless, a New Flesh-related noise project with a new 3" CDR on the same label.



I realize now that this Silver Daggers cut was spinning too fast at 45 RPM, but it's probably not of much consequence as it comes off more like incidental instro music, perfect for DJs to talk over. It's preceded by a live recording at The Smell which I'm sure we'll hear soon. Still, this split 7" of two of my utmost favorite current bands (can't wait to see the Shearing Pinx here in Sacto on Saturday!) is absolutely worth tracking down, as is their New High and Ord LP and CD on Load Records, which is surely a sharp stunner.

Next, we get really free on this B-side of the new single from Louisville, Kentucky's Crappy Nightmareville, which has an ensemble cast of musicians including at least one name I recognize from a Sapat record. The A-side is not so much for my tastes, as it's a circus-like waltzy composed number that I didn't finish before I flipped it. But the B-side is some wonderfully ominous brooding. I am gonna go back to side A...it's just that I was late getting here from work, remember? Still, as a group of what I assume are basically rock musicians with long hair doing something kinda like free jazz, this rates way, way up there just on the strength of "Black Beam Dub" alone.



Another band I'm excited to see at the Shearing Pinx show at Fools Foundation on Saturday, June 30, is Ettrick, San Francisco's duo of Jacob Heule and Jay Korber, two amazing sorcerers of free/blackened/death/jazz. Not Not Fun has just issued their debut vinyl LP, and it is a scorcher, and unlike their other recent CDR releases featuring mostly protracted epic-length live-recorded improvs, this album of eight pieces is a great way for less patient listeners to get acquainted with Ettrick in bite-size doses that are immediately impactful. "Raven Harvest" is the most definitive Ettrick moment on this LP, as it might be the only song wherein each member alternately dons drummer and sax assassin hats.

Deep Jew have never sounded as song-like as in the first minute or so of this song from their contribution to the Bored Fortress split 7" club series. Those actual structured chord progressions are but the inviting candy shell that cracks off to reveal a violent center that detonates like a bomb in your face. Consult your maxillofacial reconstructive surgical specialist after playing with this one! Year two of Bored Fortress has been gnarly! Not a dud side yet!

Here's a picture-disc 7" single of very formidable (certainly albumworthy) outtakes by the UK's Aufgehoben from the sessions that resulted in their most recent on Holy Mountain. Their use of guitar and percussive-sounding electronics make bring to mind a freer Sightings. Where I've not had the stamina to make it through their four albums, this appetizer serving does have me salivating. I think I'm gonna go back in.

Kitty Midwife is Shoosha from Portland who makes sample-rich jams of corruptive fuckery with the playfulness of a kitten unraveling a yarnball. We've recently heard a lot of her on AFS, including her candlewax-dripped collab 3" with former Sacto sweetheart Lala, her Animal Writes project with Dan from Shitty Vibe Smasher and James Squeaky a.k.a. Argumentix, and her solo debut under her original name Squid Baby. This is for fans of never-static noise, and it's rather unique for its brightness of attitude and hyper-texturalism. This belongs on a vinyl LP, I think. I excerpted it here because I was running low on time, but the whole thing is immensely listenable from start to finish for something so anti-musical.



Vankmen is Sacto gabbernoise like I never knew existed here until I finally heard on this, the third compilation in the Fruit Will Rot series which unleashes NINE THREE-INCH CDR's in each edition. We also hear the excruciating Realicide from this ambitious set which also features Mincemeat or Tenspeed, Beach Balls, Unicorn Hard-on, The Toilet, Eustachian, Nero's Day at Disneyland, and Tik///Tik. This is certainly the most punishment in one package that Deathbomb Arc has ever meted out. Taking it all in at once is like eating a giant bag of individually wrapped candies, but not like the ones they sell at Safeway...more like the ones they sell at CostCo. Remember back in the 80's when every October, you'd hear the TV news warning parents of Halloween candies spiked with drugs? This compilation is like that CostCo bag of candies, spiked with drugs. The fruit will rot 'cos you'll eat nothing but candy until your heart explodes. Which is to say that this is great! Would you believe that these particular track selections are two of the least relentless songs in the entire set? Be warned!

Next up is the Factums like you've never heard them before on AFS. I've played this Seattle band on several shows in the past two years, but I've always favored their songs over their experimental interludes. But on this CDR, it's all interludes, and they've never pulled the free-ramble jam(un)rock off better than this. Indeed, the "rock" is almost completely outta the equation here. Some tracks are more organic sounding, while others recall minimal synth oddities 35-45 years ago. You might hafta ask the band at their MySpace how you can get a copy of this...I dunno. It doesn't even have a name, but you can tell them that it's in a white envelope with an insect xeroxed onto it, and it has 12 songs on it. You can also wait for the band to release some records. Yes, it's finally gonna happen. Siltbreeze will do it stateside, and Pollymaggoo in France. That's two different records.



At last, I get to gush about my favorite brand-new band in the world, the Blank Dogs, who I understand is actually just a one-man project of Mike from the DC Snipers. This is from the 7" on HoZac which you should hurry to get before quantities dry up and legend of Mike's ingenuity spreads. Dig into AFS v. 136 and you'll hear another from this 7" plus another awesome song from The First Two Weeks 12" EP, which has six songs that were literally conceptualized, perfected, and recorded within 14 days of Mike getting the idea that he should do this side-project thing. That sounds like it could be bad...a record made like that, right? But I guess when you've got that great a handle on how to make a catchy pop melody and a rare sensibility that allows you to twist it into some sorta otherworldly psychedelic new wave without making it discernable as a great pop song. You hear some Twinkeyz here, some Second Layer there, and maybe some of the more songlike songs of Throbbing Gristle, but on each record, the Blank Dogs sacrifice none of their own identity.

Mike also apparently has this side-side-project thing called Teeth, and the one song so far sounds very promising, too...
http://www.myspace.com/teethareforeating

Finally, here's another old nugget of French punk/new wave from the early 80's that was seldom heard in areas of the world where people pigheadedly wanna hear things only in English. Les Provisoires made an LP in the mid-80's that I wasn't too hot about...kinda cool, but a little too produced, and a little too smooth. Little did I know that they made this early EP a couple years earlier which was as intractable, raw, and brutish a postpunk record as you will hear. I never suspected that these guys had this in them. Thank you, Jack, for bringing this to my attention.

Remember that you won't be seeing my playlist for AFS v. 138 next week until Thursday morning because my showtime is moving.

Thanks for listening!

Art for Spastics v. 136

T.V. Coahran and Charles Leo Gebhardt IV joined me in the studio this week to talk about their music and their tour so far, and to plead for any last minute bookings (6/12? 6/13? Anywhere in Northern California...get in touch!). They each played a fantastic set "Live in Studio A" hosted and engineered by DJ Andy of "The Lewd Dance" show. Check out the link below this playlist to hear them play for you.

Download AFS v. 136 (w/in next 10 weeks)

...or stream it (by June 19, 2007).

MINDFLAYER // Frizzle Fry 2 // Bored Fortress Singles Club split 7" w/ Deep Jew // Not Not Fun // *new
SHEARING PINX // Golden Sleeper // split 7" w/ Silver Daggers // Arbor *new
WHITE SAVAGE // Orphans [Teenage Jesus & the Jerks] // Destroy Your Style 7" // HoZac *new
HEAVY WINGED // Dark Spring // Bored Fortress Singles Club split 7" w/ Blues Control // Not Not Fun *new
HIVE MIND // Collapsed Shroud // Bored Fortress Singles Club split 7" w/ Hototogisu // Not Not Fun *new

EL JESUS DE MAGICO // Indian Giver // Funeral Home Sessions 7" // Columbus Discount *new
NIGHT OF PLEASURE // Bitch Pitch // Godard vs. Trufault 7" // Columbus Discount *new
THE TOUCHED // Baby´s Not a Whore // Funeral Dress 7" // Black Velvet Fuckere *new
TRACTOR SEX FATALITY // Coup de Tat [Circle Jerks] // Braces 7" // Kill Sounds/Unscene Sounds *new
NECROPOLIS // Van v. Art // Stumpf 7" // Columbus Discount *new
DAVID COPPERFUCK // Oak & Pine // Chalet Chalet 7" // Party Turtle *new
SICK-E's // End of Time, End of My Mind // Mankind 7" // Square Wave *new
T.V. COAHRAN // Township of Cecil // 1: Township of Cecil // Self-Released *new

T.V. COAHRAN // My Other Voice [Sparks]
LE TON MITÉ // Les Sardines // Les Petits Contes pour les Petits Canards 7" // Le Vilain Chien *new
JAY REATARD // Feeling Blank Again // Night of Broken Glass 12" EP // In the Red *new
BLANK DOGS // Ambulance // The First Two Weeks 12" // Freedom School *new
BLANK DOGS // Smashed Up People // Yellow Mice Sleep 7" // HoZac *new
ICK // Société d´Ombres // La Parade des Sans Illusions 7" // Enfant Terrible *new
IMIAFAN // Légy a Falon (Alien Skull Pain Remix) // Légy a Falon 12" EP // 4mg 2005
IMIAFAN // Toothpaste // split 7" w/ Machinepop // 4mg *new
VOLT // Where Did Body Go? // self-titled LP // In The Red *new
S.I.D.S. // +/- // +/- 7" // Rob´s House *new
AIR CONDITIONING // Where To Litter/Trash Burning // Dead Rails // Load *new
PISSED JEANS // People Person // Hope For Men // Sub Pop *new
EX-COCAINE // The Tempest // Esta Guerra // Siltbreeze *new
RACCOO-OO-OON // Invisible Sun // Behold Secret Kingdom // Release the Bats *new
PLANTS // Birdflowers // Photosynthesis // Strange Attractors Audio House *new

PLANTS // Seedling Three
PUMICE // The Only Doosh Worth Giving // Pebbles. // Soft Abuse *new
TIMES NEW VIKING // Devo & Wine // Present The Paisley Reich // Siltbreeze 2007
TOUCH-ME-NOTS // Burden on Society // self-titled 10" // Yakisakana *new
GRAVE BLANKETS // Foreward // split 7" w/ Touch-Me-Nots // Self-Released *new
NO DOCTORS // AAO // Origin & Tectonics // Self-Released *new

Now hear Charles Leo Gebhardt IV and T.V. Coahran live in Studio A on DJ Andy's "The Lewd Dance"...
Download this mp3 within the next seven weeks.
or
Stream it at link on this page before June 19th.

Leo starts into his set within minutes of the beginning of the show. T.V. Coahran goes on at about 40 minutes into the show. Fans of Jonathan Richman and Sparks, now collapse in contentment!

I'll share reviews and anecdotes about all the bands on this playlist soon, so check back later!

Art for Spastics v. 135 (Slight Return)

I know! I know! I practically promised to return this week, but I was late for the show because I was swamped at the saltmine (big deadline day). BUT! My girlfriend DJ Fuzzbox Flynn filled in capably and picked all but two songs, and I join her for color commentary in the second hour. I'm still carrying around all the new music I've been collecting for the past month, and I'm ready to unload it on you in next week's AFS v. 136, but nonetheless, I endorse these two hours as perfectly great audio Calgon to take you away from your office doldrums, or unemployment doldrums...

Download AFS v. 135 (w/in next 10 weeks)

...or stream it (by May 22, 2007).

FAUST // Rainy Day // Faust So Far // Polydor 1972
BAD TRIPS // First Priority // self-titled LP // Rocketship *new
THE ZEBRA ATTACK // Organize Powers // Lightwieght into Earblocking Noises // Soundexploder 2003
PINK REASON // Storming Heaven // Cleaning the Mirror // Siltbreeze 2007
EX-COCAINE // Sun Before Arises // Esta Guerra // Siltbreeze *new
TIMES NEW VIKING // Love Your Daughters // Present the Paisley Reich // Siltbreeze 2007
ANGELS OF EPISTEMOLOGY // Vile and Disgusting/William Campbell // Response 7" // Merge 1987

SWELL MAPS // Camouflage Attack // v/a: Messthetics #103: D.I.Y. 77 - 81, Midlands I // Hyped2Death // *new (orig 1977)
LOS LLAMARADA // Break the Silence // The Exploding Now // Ss recordS *new
THE INTELLIGENCE // Message of Love [the Pretenders] // new 7" // Lo-Fi/Disordered *new
THE WOMBATS // In a Minute // Zontar Must Die! // Voxx 1984
THE SCENE // High Numbers // v/a: Killed by Death # F.U.2. // Redrum (orig 1985)
NERVOUS EATERS // Loretta // Eaterville Vol. 1 // Penniman 2006 (orig 1975)

NO DOCTORS // Joe Houdini // Origin & Tectonics // self-released *new
DEAD MOON // Parchment Farm // Parchment Farm b/w Hey Joe 7" // Tombstone 1988
GROUND ZERO // Marlena Berlin // Ground Zero 7" // self-released? 1979
STEVE TREATMENT // Change of Plan // 25 'A' Sides + Your Friends Are in the News // Hyped2Death (orig 1979)
EDITH NYLON // Waldorf // v/a: Killed by Death # F.U.2. (orig 1979)
KAS PRODUCT // Take Me Tonight // v/a: Electrique Garbage: Punk & Wave en France 1977-1984 // no label *new
VOX DEI // Terroriste // v/a: BIPPP: French Synth-Wave 1979/85 // Born Bad 2006 (orig 1982)

TONE SET // Predictions // Cal's Ranch // Zia 1982
FOLLE COCHE // Mr. Brown // v/a: Flanders Tape-ology // The Cassette Factory 1983
AVANT-DERNIÈRES PENSÉES // Radiante Porvenir // Radiante Porvenir // Esplendor Geometrico Discos 1986
SOVIET FRANCE // Le Mur Mûr Nu // v/a: Fight // Cathexis 1987


Since it was my girlfriend who picked almost all of these songs, and because I'm still buried below bushels of busywork from the frenzied legislative activity at adjournment deadlines (I'll save you from too much more shoptalk!), I don't have a lot to say about a whole lotta the music you will hear on this weeks AFS podcast...except to say that it rules! AND, it totally hella-rules that I have a girlfriend who's happy to receive gifts such as a boxed set of Faust CDs. She doesn't even like jewelry. Man, am I lucky? Flynn begins with one of her Faust faves that she never played on the radio before. After an unseasonably hot month of May here in the Sacto Valley, we could only wish for a "Rainy Day," and apparently the vibe was strong enough for cool winds to come rushing as clouds formed. Traces of rain were reported at several locations within the broadcast range of Freeform KDVS. So, I'd say she's off to an impressive beginning!

I know that Faust was one of the most outspoken German bands to protest the usage of the term Krautrock, but since the word became a genre descriptive, Faust was certainly pegged by rock historians as one of the three most canonized Krautrock bands. One of the really rad things about Krautrock bands is their idealized vision of music being free, and not only from constraints such as the three-minute pop songform or strict adherence to the Western tonal hierarchy, but free of any cost. In today's day and age of 7" records with a wholesale cost of $3-plus (I remember people threatening to boycott Amoeba ten years ago when new 7" records hit $3.98 for most) and $300 weekend passes to Coachella and bands selling their lanyards for $1000 a pop at South by Southwest, it's hard to envision an entire scene of great music which happened at free all-day music festivals where bands often gave their records away to fans. When Virgin Records signed Faust, the band held enough chips in the bargain to set a 49p retail price for their LP, which at the time should have sold for about 3.00 £. Ex-record store clerk Jim Kerr, then an obnoxious punk rocker in Johnny & the Self Abusers, has bragged that he and his mates took a quantity of 49p Faust LPs to the store's rooftop and chucked them like frisbees only to watch them shatter below. If the records were so cheap, they mustn't have been very good, right? Jim had such a deficit of good taste that he later sang for the third-tier U2 wannabes known as Simple Minds. Now, mint originals of that Faust LP are museum pieces credited for their influence on a wide range of music, and Simple Minds clog up the used bins.

I've written plenty about the Bad Trips and the greatness of Grady Runyan (ex-Monoshock/Liquorball) in previous AFS posts, and you can use the search function.

Although I'm unsure of their current status as a band, I sure hope that we haven't heard the last of The Zebra Attack, a group of grizzled indie-rock dads from the Santa Cruz area who conjured up the ghosts of pre-homogenization-era indie rock of the late-80s and early-90's before Touch & Go, Merge, and Matador became bankable brands passing off mostly college-schlock in a 5:1 shit-to-hit ratio. In those days, indie rock spoke more of the mode of production and delivery to market rather than a certain guitar sound or lyrics about frogs on a log or broken toasters or holding hands. There was music that wasn't aggressive enough to be punk, but it wasn't totally balls-less and bland. It could even be weird, pack a supreme punch, and sometimes even be surprisingly heavy. You had your Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 making great records, your World of Pooh, ST 37, F/i and Vocokesh...not to mention The Clean and early Polvo stuff. The Zebra Attack bring to mind that era on their two LPs which they released on their own Soundexploder label a few years back. This band played it slow and deliberate and incredibly loud, but that's not to say they were going for Black Sabbath. A pure heart of a pop song is at the core of all of their music. Anyone know what became of these guys? All I know is that they hardly ever played live, but Davis was treated to them twice: once at a fabled Crunk House show with pirated electricity from the vacationing neighbors' house (the lights slightly browned everytime the band riffed together), and the other time at Operation: Restore Maximum Freedom...I think it was the second one. They were really tremendous. Someone, tell me they're working on a third record, please!

Next up, a few from the Siltbreeze stables, and they're all from album-of-the-year nominees...one beautifully filthy slumtrip through pain and agony with Pink Reason and then the prettiest song off the new LP by one of the weirdest group of hippies you'll ever hear, Ex-Cocaine from Missoula, Montana. These albums are both so superb that you should waste no time in getting your mitts all over them, but I plan to tell you a lot more about them in coming weeks when I have a lot more time. Pink Reason is coming to the West Coast in July with fellow Wisconsinites Hue Blanc's Joyless Ones, and I'm very excited about it. I need to start researching the availability of fresh cheese curds within close range of the tour itinerary so we can knock that dairy supremacy chip off their shoulders. And Ex-Cocaine...I love the new album, but until I can show you their different dimensions, it won't possibly make sense when I begin to tell you how awesome it is.



I met someone the other day who coiled back when I mentioned Times New Viking and asked, "Isn't that band kinda hyped?" Uh, wow...Is it too late for some people already? If your radar was too fuzzy that you never heard them before your foolish hype boycott, you need to reset your radar. This band gets a lot of pub all over the internet, but it's well-deserved on account of their unusual combination of punk rawness, crucial anthemics, and sweet melodies. That pre-homogenization era or indie rock that I mentioned a couple paragraphs back...Yeah, it's like this band came out of a time capsule of that era, too, only this one's about to turn your party loose into a full-bore fist-pumpin' singalong. I'm very pleased to be helping bring Times New Viking to the West Coast in August with another strong personal favorite of mine, Little Claw. Watch here for more dates, as we expect to have them all wrapped up within the next two weeks, but these are the ones on lock right now...

Olympia - Wednesday, August 1 @ house show somewhere
Vancouver, BC - Thursday, August 2 @ Pub 340, 340 Cambie
Seattle - Friday, August 3 w/ The Intelligence & Eat Skull
Portland - Saturday, August 4 w/ The Hunches & Eat Skull
Sacramento - Sunday, August 5 @ Fools Foundation, 19th & K Streets
somewhere btw here & there - Monday, August 6
San Francisco - Tuesday, August 7 @ the Hemlock, 1131 Polk, w/ Family Underground & Fursaxa
Oakland - Wednesday, August 8 @ the Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph, w/ Sic Alps
SoCal - Thursday, August 9
SoCal - Friday, August 10
Los Angeles - Saturday, August 11 @ the Smell, w/ Sexy Prison

As I said, I'm short on time, but you'll get more commentary soon enough!

'Til then, check out this video of No Doctors...



Their new LP, Origin & Tectonics, sounds great, and it is about a week away from being out. It's a self-released 180-gram LP with a CD inside with the same program. It shows a lot of their different sides...the rockers, the folkers, the party animals, the clever guitar heroes.Matt St. Germain promised a coupla years ago that we were gonna learn that Elvis de Morrow would be "the next big thing in guitar-playing" (yes, those were his exact words which I cut & pasted), and this is the album that really begins to tell that story. It's not the blown-out barrage of noise that we heard on Hunting Season. This one's got some reserved moments and some beauty on it, but it's still brimming with indomitable spirit, which is what I really love about these guys as musicians and as people, too.

I'll end for now with a little bit of news from the Dead Moon camp...

So many people were saddened and confused by the seemingly abrupt end to Dead Moon following their last European tour. And perhaps it only adds to the confusion, but I'm sure a lot of you will be happy to know that Fred and Toody Cole are back making music again in their new band called the Pierced Arrows, and early reports of their first show say that they sound a lot like Dead Moon. Their drummer is reportedly Kelly from Resist, Masskontroll, Detestation, and a host of crusty bands from the 90's. Andrew Loomis is also back in the saddle for The Shiny Things, I've heard. So, that's something to be hopeful for. As soon as either band plans to hit the road down I-5, I will try to help bring them here!

Enjoy listening!