Thursday, August 30, 2007

Art for Spastics v. 146


To DOWNLOAD this program, CLICK HERE (archived for 10 weeks).

To STREAM this show before September 6, GO HERE.

NIPPLE VIOLATOR // I Wanna Die // Double Suck // Bloody Stump *new
PRIMITIVE TRIBES // Shred of Effort // Some Bouncy Anthems 7" // no label 1994
PRIMITIVE TRIBES // Fuck If I Know // While No One Was Looking 7" // 201 Records 1994
FEEDTIME // Nobody´s Fault But Mine // Shovel // Aberrant 1986
NIGHT KINGS // Bug Weed // split 7" w/ Yummy // Regal Select 1993
NIGHT KINGS // Bum // Bum b/w Ain´t No Fun 7" // In the Red 1992
NIGHT KINGS // Death // Increasing Our High // Sub Pop/Super Electro 1993

UNNATURAL HELPERS // Heavy Sugar // Earwax 7" // Dirty Knobby *new
THOMAS JEFFERSON SLAVE APARTMENTS // Bottle Island // split 7" w/ Monster Truck Five // Datapanik 1991
TV GHOST // Bird Flu // Atomic Rain 7" // Die Stasi *new
THE FRUSTRATIONS // Halfway on Fire // Glowing Red Pill // X! Recordings *forthcoming
TERRIBLE TWOS // Reluctant Love // Radical Tadpoles 7" // X! *new
STEPPIN' RAZORS // Shoot Myself // split 7" w/ Deadly Companions // no label *new
STEPPIN' RAZORS // Cut Me Deep (excerpt)
CHURCHBURNERS // Born-Again Virgin // v/a: Ideas Change dbl. cassette // Greentape *new
CHURCHBURNERS // Sluts Fucking Suck
MONSTER MONSTER // Ghost Sounds // Tight! 3" CDR // Greentape *new
BLACK PUS // Altar Rat // DBA Tape Club split c20 w/ Foot Village // Deathbomb Arc *new
PYRAMIDS // Dissolve // demo CDR // no label *new
SIR RICHARD BISHOP // Amphetamine Ivory // Vault - Vol 1 // Azul *new
GHOST TO FALCO // The Force // Like This Forever // Below PDX *new

U.S. GIRLS // Don´t Understand That Man // Introducing... CDR // no label *new
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN // State Trooper // Nebraska // Columbia 1982
PINK REASON // Thrush // Cleaning the Mirror // Siltbreeze 2007
LOS LLAMARADA // I Welcome Tomorrow // The Exploding Now // S-S Records 2007
MALIBU FALCON // untitled // How Is Hell Fact Met? All of Them Witches/Boa Constrictor 2xCDR // no label 2004
EAT THE PEOPLE // Slow Death [Leather Nun] // self-titled CDR // no label 2004
EAT THE PEOPLE // White Dwarf
ART LESSING // Badly // The Plastic Couch // Electric Eggplant 2006
DEAD C // Max Harris // DR 503 // Flying Nun 1987
BROTHER LOVE & HIS FAR OUT SPACE NUTS // Opium // Every Garden Grows One // New World of Sound 1993

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Art for Spastics v. 145


To DOWNLOAD this program, CLICK HERE (archived for 10 weeks).

To STREAM this show before August 30, GO HERE

DEATH SIDE // Stop It!/Overcome Yourself // All Is Here Now 7" // HG Fact 1994
TOTALITÄR // Multinationella Mördare // Multinationella Mördare 7" // Crust 1987
KANSANTURVAMUSIIKKIKOMISSIO (KTMK) // Turvamusiikkia // 666 // Barabbas 1985

KANSANTURVAMUSIIKKIKOMISSIO // Luontoon
MONOSOURCIL // Hauts Couteaux et Manteaux de Fourrure // one-sided LP // Gaffer/Steak au Zoo/Down Boy *new
MUTATORS // Glass // Paper Words 7" // The Broadway to Boundary *new
ART THIEVES // Mona Lisa // rough demos CDR // no label *forthcoming on Hozac after final mix
GOD'S GIFT // People // These Days 7" // Newmarket 1979
CHURCH POLICE // Gilligan's Wings // Gilligan's Wings // Skulltones *new (orig 1982)
SNAKE APARTMENT // Pigs Is Pigs // Paint the Walls // Parts Unknown *new
ARKY // Yes No More // v/a: Hey! Hey! Sauerkraut Balls! CDR // Teen Action *new
LEADERS // Rub You Wrong // Synthesizer Sketchez & 4-Track Demos CDR // no label *new

MUDBOY // Whirlpool Window // Hungry Ghosts!: These Songs Are Doors // Not Not Fun *new
BROTHER JT // Get on With It // Third Ear Candy // Birdman *new
BROTHER JT // I Am the Blob
ANDREW DOUGLAS ROTHBARD // Indigo // Abandoned Meander // Peaking Mandala *new
PLANKTON WAT // Visions // Other Worlds CDR // Solar Commune *new
FURSAXA // Seven Stones // Maidenstone 7" // Mt. St. Mtn. *new
MAMMAL // Drifter in the City // Lonesome Drifter // Animal Disguise *new
SPARKLE GIRL // Hexis // split 7" w/ Slicing Grandpa // Soccer Mom Ebonics *new
PARALLEL PARAMETERS // Sub-Tract // Look a Baby Wolf CDR // Teen Action *new
WOODEN SHJIPS // part two // Sol '07 7" // Sick Thirst/Holy Mountain *new
YVES/SON/ACE // Liars // No Taboos CDR // no label *new

SCHNEIDER TM UND LUSTFAUST // Sweet Divorcee // The Girl Who Cried... 7" // Mirror World Music *forthcoming
KAYAK // Reason for It All // See See the Sun // Harvest 1973
TWIN // The Tower [or: War] // split 12" EP/3" CD w/ Mikaela's Fiend // S.A.F. *new
MUSIC MACHINE // The Eagle Never Hunts the Fly // The Ultimate Turn On // Big Beat *new (orig 1967)
SYZ // Complicated // Complicated 7" // HoZac *new
BPEOPLE // Can Can´t // self-titled LP // Faulty 1981
DEADBEATS // Kill the Hippies // Kill the Hippies 7" // Dangerhouse 1978
BLACK RANDY & THE METROSQUAD // San Francisco // Pass the Dust, I Think I'm Bowie // Dangerhouse 1979

R.I.P., Chelsea of Death Side, Paintbox, and other bands. Passed away on August 17, 2007. He was truly a guitar-great of hardcore, alongside titans like Dr. Know and Pig Champion, and if you don't believe that, then watch this...



In the 90s, my radio shows usually focused pretty squarely on hardcore punk, and the playlists often revealed my penchant for the Japanese and Scandinavian bands. I pretty much had a subscription to Vacuum Mailorder, having bought at least one copy of every new title that Vacuum picked up from about 1996-1999, and I'd often wipe the Six Weeks table fulla Scandi-crust, Japcore, and South American HC clean at Gilman shows. Many a time, I'd go to Gilman in spite of the bands specifically because I was fiending for those records. It was an exciting time in hardcore, I thought. The powerviolence era was beginning to run its course (yielding to gnarlier sounds like Dystopia, Bastard Noise, later Suppression, and Gasp), the death-rale of emocore was loogeying all over (giving us strange new musical concepts by bands like Get Hustle, The Locust, and locally in Sacto, the Yah Mos and Popesmashers (both bands were the primary precursors to !!!), and the international network of noisecore tape-traders was fractioning into a substratum of porn-grind degenerates and others with more original trajectories, resulting music by the likes of Sloth, Gore Beyond Necropsy, and Damage Digital. Just as all of these HC subgenres were sacked by revolutions, donning masks and devouring atavistic elements of no-wave, embracing free jazz, noise, and other improvised music, there was also a rather credible revival of thrash that paid tribue to the heyday of the early to mid 1980s, led by bands like DS-13, Exclaim, Tear It Up, etc.

Through it all, Totalitär raged relentlessly just as they had since their beginnings in 1985, and they are still the crème de la crustpunk to this very day. Had their scorchin' Vi Är Eliten been released earlier in the year, I'd have surely included it in my top full-lengths of 2006. Here, we hear the Swedish masters from their first 7". Somehow, I never knew until a few months ago that Totalitär shared members with the Brainbombs.

Back when my pre-AFS program was rather more HC-obsessive, the name of the show--"Säätekin Suklääkuoretettua Paskaa"--was a Finnish lyric, an indictment of pop radio by the incredible Radiopuhelimet. I'd learned of the band when I was a regular listener of Karl Ikola's radio shows on KDVS in the early 90s. They started in 1986 as something of a Beefheart-damaged hardcore band that rose from the ashes of the short-lived KTMK, or Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio. On their only LP--available from the band for free download HERE--KTMK were like kindred spirits with Aussie groups from the Aberrant label such as Venom P. Stinger, Feedtime, etc.



Today it's not very common for me to feature new HC bands on AFS, but I've just found the new one-sided LP by France's Monosourcil, a band related to another one of today's best and most original HC bands, Death to Pigs. Monosourcil still attacks with a lotta might, but their guitar leads are prone to splintering into spidery angularisms and treblephonic scrapes. The record comes with a CDR of the same songs inside.

From Vancouver, Canada, the Mutators have just released their second 7", and their first with new singer Lief. Having witnessed the band on tour opening for the A Frames and Sexy Prison at the Charred Doghouse here in Davis, I was amazed at how aggressive and imperious her vocals were. Surely, she's the most combative female voice I've heard since...I dunno, maybe Lydia Lunch or Diamanda Galas? Lief could be almost as quarrelsome, but without the divaesque posturing. The sparse and stark attack of drummer Justin and guitarist Brody have ratcheted up the ferocity to match the glasseating vokills, and now they're doubly destructive since last year's debut vinyl. This lineup should re-record the "My War" cover.

The latest band to try to out-Flipper Flipper is a group of presumed Chicagoans repping Uganda on MySpace, the Art Thieves. These extra-pugnacious and scuzz-caked sounds bear the bloody flavor of the Brainbombs, too, but these villians are still clever enough to add to the mythology of DaVinci's magnum opus. This is played off a CDR of rough mixes of material intended for a future 7" release on the so-far infallible HoZac label. HoZac records sell out in the blink of an eye during the brief pre-ordering period, so start patrolling the HoZac label blog everyday until an announcement is made. As for out-Flippering Flipper...No band can really out-Flipper Flipper, okay? Or out-Brainbomb the Brainbombs. But this rates as highly as any band that has tried since Billy Bao. Suffice to say that the Art Thieves rule.

Last time I played this great, brooding God's Gift song, I talked over the whole damn thing, so let's hear it again with less talking.

Speaking of bands that tried to out-Flipper Flipper, the first to make a serious attempt might've been the Church Police, who rose briefly in the early 1980s from perhaps the most reviled of Bay Area edge cities, Concord, California. Most of the few people who know the band are only familiar with their contribution to the definitive Bay Area hardcore document, the Not So Quiet on the Western Front compilation. "The Oven Is My Friend" (later covered by Sebadoh on their Siltbreeze 7") was one of the two great weird songs to grace that LP (the other was Flipper's "Sacrifice"). Even fewer people noticed in the mid 1990s that the enigmatic Stomach Ache Records released a 7" (cooperatively with RRRecords) of rambling freer-form songs by the Church Police with minimal sleeve info. I stupidly sold that record away about six years ago, but "Robots" was a song so memorable that I can replay it in my mind whenever I think about it, and "Killing Myself to Live" might be the best song title ever.



I doubted that any other Church Police songs existed, so I was so pleased when Ry of Snake Apartment--who runs the very tasteful Skulltones imprint--delivered a copy of Gilligan's Wings in person to KDVS. These recordings from 1982 are of plenty good quality, and the songs are much more coherent than the rather rambly mysterious 7". Rumor has it that this is an appetizer for another label's full-course retrospective release.

When Snake Apartment were interviewed here on the AFS that was lost to archive glitches, I asked them what their reaction was to a lazy internet diss, wherein a message board maven said: "They're another one of those ClockJeans bands." Another? Are there that many bands like Clockcleaner and Pissed Jeans that they constitute an "ilk"? The band sorta just smiled wryly and let Ry answer: "Those are good bands, but I don't know what they mean by that. We like to think of ourselves as something more like Church Police and weird stuff like that. Or maybe we are just like Tad." (I've been thinking since then that it's about time we revisited Salt Lick or God's Balls here.) Just check the burrowing basslines and vocal reverb-drench, which are both hallmarks of the excellent Paint the Walls. That is actually a lot like Church Police!



Next up, here's a defunct band called Arky with personnel ties to the amazing Sword Heaven. Two Arky songs are featured on Hey! Hey! Sauerkraut Balls!, a spraypainted CDR compilation of Columbus (OH) noise bands ranging from splattery scattershot noiserock thuggery such as this to spastic foilchewing mayhem and dog-whistle ambience. Arky were more songlike than, say, Dynasty or Deep Jew, but kinda in the same realm. The CDR comes in a screened pocket of sewn-together velour, as pictured above.

Now, enjoy another blast of primo synthsleaze from the Leaders. It's all in bad taste to rub you the wrong way. Like that time at a basement show when Martin pissed in an empty bottle of Blackthorn cider and broke it against the wall. Except that time, I was the adult in charge of the party, so I forgot to laugh, especially as I stayed late to clean up the mess with my bare hands because no upstairs tenants could be found to unlock the closet which had a mop inside. Here, the unapologetic Leaders have the same flagrant rudeness. And while it's taken me this long to laugh about picking up those piss-soaked shards with my fingers, the sneery snideness of the Leaders and their buzzsaw guitar's shattered melody have me feeling immediately tickled. You'd be really smart to tell us that your label has already contacted them about putting this on vinyl.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Art for Spastics v. 144


To DOWNLOAD this program, CLICK HERE (archived for 10 weeks).

To STREAM this show before August 23, GO HERE

THE FRUSTRATIONS // Streak of Luck // Glowing Red Pill // X! Records *forthcoming
TERRIBLE TWOS // Radical Tadpoles // Radical Tadpoles 7" // X! *forthcoming
ARTIFICIAL LIMBS // Mechanical Bull // self-titled CDR // Eat *new
LEADERS // Bad News Bitch // Synthesizer Sketchez & 4-Track Demos CDR // no label *new
CATATONIC YOUTH // I've Had It // Piss Scene CDR // Fuck Jazz *new
EAT SKULL // Things I Did When I Dyed My Hair // Seeing Things 7" // Meds *new
HORNET LEG // We're So Ugly // August 2007 Tour CDR // self-released *new
UNNATURAL HELPERS // Out of Touch // v/a: The Black Garfield Comp CDR // Haunted Horse 2007
TYVEK // Frustration Rock // Summer Burns 2x7" // What's Your Rupture? *new
COCONUT COOLOUTS // Swim // The Spinaround b/w Swim 7" // Heads Up *new
COCONUT COOLOUTS // Weekend // Advance Tracks CDR // Xeroid/Haunted Horse *forthcoming
WAX MUSEUMS // Rambo Knife // Rambo Knife 7" // Rehab *new

WAX MUSEUMS // Traffic Violation // Traffic Violation 7" // Douchemaster *new
HOME BLITZ // Something 2 Do // self-titled CD // Gulcher *new
CHINESE PUZZLE // Dadat // Inside/Outside // Rebus 1980
CHROME // Chromosome Damage // Alien Soundtracks // Siren 1977 *request
SLICING GRANDPA // Daddy O Strangler // split 7" w/ Sparkle Girl // Soccer Mom Ebonics *new
xNOBBQx // A1 & A2 // Sunshine of Your Love // Siltbreeze *forthcoming
CORE OF THE COALMAN // Occurence of a Reboring Outcrop at the Bed Level // Anxiety // Resipiscent *new
FAMILY BATTLE SNAKE // Lamber // v/a: Dynasty Gang Zine 2xCDR // Kaleidoscope Gang/Dynasty Zine *new
ETERNAL TAPESTRY // Vibrations // Vibrations New Dawn cassette // Not Not Fun *new
ETERNAL TAPESTRY // Mystic Induction // Mystic Induction // Not Not Fun *forthcoming

INCA ORE // side B // split c31 w/ Leslie Keffer // Cherried Out Merch *new
NO AGE // Dead Plane // Weirdo Rippers // Fat Cat *new
YVES/SON/ACE // Liars // No Taboos CDR // self-released *new
PYRAMIDS // Switch // demo CDR // self-released *new
FACTUMS // Bomber // See Inside 7" // Polly Maggoo *new
TV GHOST // Atomic Rain // Atomic Rain b/w Bird Flu 7" // Die Stasi *new
SYZ // Mountain Moon // Complicated 7" // HoZac *new
BE BAD // Vision Correction // Vision Correction // Divorce *new

MUTATORS // Paper Words // Paper Words 7" // The Broadway to Boundary *new
ART THIEVES // Mona Lisa // rough demos CDR // no label *forthcoming final mix on HoZac 7"

The Frustrations and the Terrible Twos swung through Davis on tour, and despite playing a poorly attended show in the livest echo chamber ever, both bands poured their souls into it and brought much Michigan mayhem to the Basement Gallery below the UC Davis Art Building. With ex-members of the Piranhas, the T2's were especially unbridled, careening into pratfalls and pulling rockstar poses which were all the more convincing with their atavistic mustaches that were ripped from trading card photos of late-70's MLB relief pitchers. I could barely tell what was going on because of the shabby room sound, but when others up and down the West Coast declared them "best touring band of 2007 so far," I could certainly believe it. The T2's do bear out their Piranhas roots with the keyboard spazz, but they do sharpen their assault and improve on their previous band's spidery guitar cleverness.

Here's more crazed keyboard-driven punk from Artificial Limbs. Some of these songs were on a demo CDR that has appeared on earlier playlists, but others are new to my ears. Surely, there should be plans to unleash some vinyl soon. 'Til then, this CDR with something of an official-looking cover shall whet your appetite for frenetic lo-fi synthpunk steeped in trash and thrash.



The Leaders from Portland are yet another band including Muzz from the amazing Meercaz (formerly of the Observers and other bands). They just sent a full-length album's worth of well-rendered demos on a custom CDR. Some tracks are hard-charging snot-soaked synthpunk scorchers like this "Bad News Bitch," which I say is comparable to Rock Bottom & the Spys or Red Asphalt giving the old Freestone neg-viber a run for its money. Other songs play it cool and clever--yet still low-brow--mining much the same arty weirdpunk waters patrolled 25 years ago by the brasher bands on Subterranean Records, e.g. Beelzebub Youth. This band and these songs are positively vinyl-LP-ready. This CDR is not available for consumers, but if you run a discriminating record label, why don'tcha beg 'em for a copy?

On the heels of "secret" bands claiming third-world residency on MySpace like Blank Dogs, Lady Doctors, Spider and such, Catatonic Youth are among the latest bands to mysteriously mythologize their seemingly miraculous existence, but it looks pretty certain that these guys are from Seattle. Shall we go on believing that the February tour of Slovakia is gonna happen regardless? The two songs on their CDR-EP have become instant KDVS hits, and "I've Had It" has surely been adopted as a themesong for everyone in Davis who's unfortunate enough to get hungry after 10:00 p.m.: "Nothing in this town/Nothing in this town/Nothing in this town/Now, I've had it!!! I've had it!!!" You can only get excited about Crepeville or Woodstock's so many times before going back becomes drudgery. As negative as the lyrics are, this band sure sounds bright and chirpy, and if that's not enough of a WTFpwner for your mind to wrap itself around, now see your first visual image of these "Youths" breathing insidious mold dust into a Stooges classic...



Despite forming in Portland just four months ago, Eat Skull already have a brand-new 7" EP out, and it's as brilliant a record as many persistent endurers could ever aspire to release after years of jelling together. The songs are absolutely superb for their spirit, hooks, and chemistry, and while the productions sounds quick, nasty, and spontaneous enough for a band that just came together, these three songs (two on side A at 45 rpm, one on the 33 rpm flip) are perfect food for discerning cravers of shrill treblephonic explosions with hearts of pure pop. Fans of The Intelligence and Times New Viking oughta seek this record out. But does the Meds label even have a website? A second 7" is reported fast on its heels!

It wasn't my intention to make the playlist so Portland-centric, but Hornet Leg come from Rip City, too. Stripped down to a guitar/drum duo featuring Chris Sutton from Nudity and Spider & the Webs, this band is quite a bit rawer and more elemental than his other bands. This special tour-edition CDR is entirely live and captures the energy and soulfulness we experienced at the Delta of Venus last week, but it doesn't have the full sound I'd like to hear from an official recording in the future. The drummer's rugged whomping action made her quite entertaining to watch, but her power is largely missing from this CDR. But this is a band to watch out for!

Unnatural Helpers are a cousin branch of the A Frames family tree and are also intertwined with Kinski. They are coming this way in a couple weeks for a short West Coast tour which shall visit Sacramento at the Stoney Inn (1320 Del Paso Blvd.) on Thursday, September 9 with Replicator. The band is more straightforward than other bands in the family, but still plenty great, and if anything, that should only help make them even easier to like. I'm reminded of many a Sacto 90's Loft-scene favorite when I hear them. Get a second opinion and hear songs from a recent live show on the latest http://www.lemon-session.com/ blogpost.



Get ready to hear a lot of hubbub about this year's outstanding Budget Rock VI festival which takes over the Stork Club in Oakland for the last weekend of October. Amazingly, the Trashwomen are reuniting for a performance, and the Real Kids headline back-to-back nights, but the bands I'm most excited for are two of the engaging and enjoyable party-time bands that I've seen within the last year...or ever! Tyvek and the Coconut Coolouts are hands-down THEE funnest bands I've seen play live, and perhaps only Mika Miko can hold a candle to them as merrymakers. I've been at shows where these bands have played, and I've noticed each and every person in the venue simultaneously wearing a smile or laughing. It's so rare that you might ever see that. Both bands hit Budget Rock on Saturday, October 27 after playing Sacramento or Davis (venue pending after Fools Foundation shutdown) on that Friday. Both bands are the perfect one-two punch. Stand-up drummers only!

A rumor has come from within the Tyvek camp that after the band has played down the coast from Seattle to the Bay Area that three of the members will continue to tour in their other band, Mountains and Rainbows back up to the Northwest in an RV. That is not confirmed, but I hope to hear that it will certainly happen soon. Both M&R singles are pretty great, and the image of Tyvek drummer Matt Z singing "Knock Me Out" (from the A-side of their Cass 7") in a frisky falsetto looks priceless in my imagination.

When I saw that the upcoming double 7" of Tyvek was gonna be songs I'd already heard dozens of times on CDRs and on mp3s over and over since March of this year, I was almost bummed, but now that this fantastic EP is in my hands and spinning on my record player, this is pure bliss. The records sound better than previous versions of the same songs, and again it's wrapped in a sleeve that fits their atavistic DIY aesthetic to a tee. This is essential!

The Coolouts have released a 7" single to tout a brand-new dance that you will wanna try. Is this the best new song about a brand-new dance since the Jetpack introduced "The Throwdown"? Other songs exist on a CDR comp which also includes songs by the aforementioned Unnatural Helpers, Partman Parthorse, and other Seattle funmakers, and a CD is still due out soon, I believe. And tell me this movie of the Coolouts doesn't spell a ton of fun...



The Wax Museums continue their bombardment of 7" records, and while the first still remains my favorite, they still haven't made a dud song yet. Come to think of it, though, I think you could still fit all of their songs onto one tightly packed 33 rpm 7". You might clock 'em in at 13 minutes tops. One more minute, and that might as well be called a full-length album in punk rock (see "Group Sex" by the Circle Jerks). But how much fun is one LP when you're a freak for 7" collecting? Perhaps no band has ever aimed to please those crazy undersexed shut-ins more than the Wax Museums.

Home Blitz have been critical darlings of us blognerds and collectors of the Messthetically-inclined DIY scruffpop and scuzzpunk for almost two years now, and their CD from Gulcher compiles both 7" records with material from a 12" and a split cassette plus a few previously unreleased. The music is essential, but the slim envelope sleeve and the accompanying loose 8½x11" one-sheet is certainly a letdown. I'd have liked to see the one-sheet material joined together with some other notes in a proper fold-out insert for an LP, or at least a CD in an Arigato-Pak. But maybe that's just the way I feel based on having kept up on a complete Home Blitz collection. The records and the tape have all had great and clever songs, and they've been packaged keenly enough. But if you've missed out on all the greatness, you need to play catch-up and get this CD. I'm not sure if anyone has pulled off this savant-pop/slop style with more earnestness since the Blub Krad comp from L.A.F.M.S. or early Half Japanese. Truly a joy to listen to!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Periodic Table of Fun, Aug 14, 2007 playlist


This week, I pinch hit for DJ's Kid Courageous and Tigerlily on their "Periodic Table of Fun" program, which airs every Tuesday from 9:30 to 12:00 noon Pacific. I had to do it because it has become one of my favorite radio programs on KDVS (or anywhere for that matter). These girls feature 2½ hours per week of outstanding pop music from the twee/indiepop spectrum, from its mid-80s heyday to today, and they also spice the mix with a lot of surprises from the 1960s (they've got an especially sweet tooth for French confections). I recommend listening in to their normal program. I tried to do it justice with these selections...

You can download the program AT THIS LINK HERE w/in 10 weeks.

...or stream the show FROM THIS LINK before August 21, 2007.

THE CLEAN // Tally Ho // Anthology // Flying Nun/Merge 2002/1987
THE WEEKS // On All is All and // Clipping Wood Paste Adhesive // Big Drum 2005
EAT SKULL // Seeing Things // Seeing Things 7" // Meds *new
BLANK DOGS // Outside Alarmer // The Doorbell Fire 7" // Sweet Rot *new
YVES/SON/ACE // People Upstairs // No Taboos CDR // self-released *new
YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS // Eating Noddemix // Colossal Youth // Rough Trade 1980
TV PERSONALITIES // Brian's Magic Car // Mummy Your Not Watching Me // Dreamworld 1982
DIGITAL DINOSAURS // The Sideways Man // v/a: Messthetics Greatest Hits // Hyped2Death 2006/1980

AUNTIE PUS // Marmalade Freak // v/a: Messthetics #102 // Hyped2Death 2006/1980
TYVEK // Air Conditioning // Summer Burns 2x7" // What´s Your Rupture? *new
MOUNTAINS AND RAINBOWS // Knock Me Out // Knock Me Out b/w Indian 7" // Cass *new
TRANZISTORS // Yoo Don´t // Yoo Will b/w Yoo Don't 7" // Cass 2007
SPARKS // Who Don´t Like Kids? // Propaganda // Island 1974
GIANT MUMS // Whatever I Do [the Clean] // v/a: Cleaned Out 7"+flexi // Dark Beloved Cloud 1992
EXPLODING BUDGIES // Hank Marvin // The Complete Goblin Mix & the Exploding Budgies // Flying Nun 1991
TITUS ANDRONICUS // Titus Andronicus // s/t 7" // Shake Appeal *new
NAR // Holiday Routine // Holiday Routine 7" // Moo-La-La 1993
GROOVE FARM // Me! Me! Me! // Going Bananas With the Groove Farm // Subway 1987
CLOSE LOBSTERS // Pathetique // Foxheads Stalk This Land // Enigma 1987
BOYS CLUB // Gotta Get It Right // v/a: The World´s Lousy With Ideas 7" // Almost Ready *new
HOME BLITZ // My Town [Slade] // s/t CD // Gulcher *new
DOUBLE HAPPYS // Guilt // How Much Time Left, Please? // Xpressway 1991/1984
SANDRA BELL // Subway Nihilism // Dreams of Falling // Xpressway 1992
BARDO POND // Tommy Gun Angel // Lapsed // Matador 1997
NIGHTBLOOMS // Starcatcher // s/t // Seed 1992
LYNC // b // These Are Not Fall Colors // K Records 1984
LUXURIOUS BAGS // All the Time in the World // Frayed Knots // Twisted Village 1995
CHAPPAQUIDDICK SKYLINE // Leave Me Alone [New Order] // s/t // Sub Pop 2000
COMET GAIN // Stay With Me Til Morning // Casino Classics // X-mas 1995

HENRY'S DRESS // Tree Fort // Bust 'em Green // Slumberland 1996
BIRD NEST ROYS // Love // 1st Album // Flying Nun Europe 1987
THE HUMMINGBIRDS // Alimony // Alimony 12" EP // RooArt 1990
THE FLATMATES // I Could Be in Heaven // IPU 7" // K Records 1986
TALL BIRDS // Action // Action 7" // Shake Appeal *new
THOMAS FUNCTION // The Insignificants // The Insignificants 7" // Tic Tac Totally 2007
NOTHING PEOPLE // I Can't Find My Monkey // Problems 7" // Ss recordS 2006
FRUSTRATIONS // Girl From Space // Glowing Red Pill // X! *forthcoming
TERRIBLE TWOS // An Image Break // Radical Tadpoles 7" // X! *new

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Jennifer Gentle live on KDVS' "Hometown Atrocities"


AFS v. 144 will not be heard this week because I was in Oakland at the Times New Viking/Little Claw show with Sic Alps. What a great time it was! AFS v. 144 will hafta wait 'til Wednesday, August 15th, when I will unleash a great many debuts on you!

So in lieu of a new playlist or a buncha reviews and such, I'm gonna give you a special downloadable treat to beat the office doldrums. Jennifer Gentle dropped into the KDVS studios during "Hometown Atrocities" tonight, hosted by me best buddy Todd. A little over a year ago, these Italians played on KDVS, and those recordings became a side of their very fine Sacramento Session/5 of 3 LP on A Silent Place. I dare say that tonight's recordings sound even better, if not as far out sonically. Nope, what we got here is some primo psych-pop, tightly played but with a Wonkaesque whimsy.

More info about the band...
http://www.jennifergentle.it/
http://www.myspace.com/jennifergentle

To download this program, CLICK HERE w/in 10 weeks.
(Jennifer Gentle plays from the 1:00:00 point
to about 1:25:00 on this 2-hour file)


The rest of the show's really great, too; here's the playlist...

TALBOT TAGORA Alphabet Soup
ABE VIGODA Animal Ghosts
MARMOSET Heavy Breathing On The Telephone
TICKLEY FEATHER Natural
ALAS ALAK ALASKA All Is Golden
MARIE LAFORET Apres Toi Qui Sait
JANE BIRKIN Lolita Go Home
GILBERT O'SULLIVAN Everybody Knows
POPULAR SHAPES BBall Music 2
VON SUDENFED Family Feud
586 We Got Bored
BLANK DOGS It Was
GINA X Kaddish
VIRNA LINDT Pillow Talk
BUCHANAN BROTHERS Get Down With The People
THE WINKIES Trust In Dick
LEE HAZLEWOOD Who Is Lee Hazlewood?
CHURCH POLICE Gourmet Cooking
THE 1990's Switch


Jennifer Gentle - Live in Studio A

FACTUMS Angels Twitch
xNOBBQx untitled
DER TEENAGE PANZER KORPS Headless Voice
EX-COCAINE Shearman
THE DEFENDANTS Such a Spiv
TWISTED ROOTS Pretentiawhat
THE SWAMI SCRATCH The Swami Scratch
A TASTE OF HONEY Disco Dancin'
SALLY SHAPIRO He Keeps Me Alive
CAZ MECHANIC Go Home

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Art for Spastics v. 143


To DOWNLOAD this program, CLICK HERE (archived for 10 weeks).

To STREAM this show before August 8, GO HERE

TOUCHED // Gimme Your Heart // 7" // Black Velvet Fuckere *new
THE LAMPS // Fred Astaire // self-titled LP/CD // In the Red *new
A FRAMES // Nobot // self-titled (aka "1") // Ss 2002
FACTUMS // Angels Twitch // Alien Native // Siltbreeze *forthcoming
GAY BEAST // Cyclops // Disrobics // DNT *new

MIKAELA'S FIEND // track 1 // March 2006 Tour CD // self-released 2006
SHEARING PINX // No/Face // Nitecalls CDR // Isolated Now Waves *new (rec.@KDVS, 07/06/06)
A FASHIONABLE DISEASE // The Contractor // Veal Medallions 7" // My Pet Goat *new
SHEPHERDS // side B // Bushbabies 7" // DNT *new
MOUNTAINS AND RAINBOWS // Knock Me Out // Knock Me Out b/w Indian // Cass *new
LITTLE CLAW // Brack Stratum // 2nd LP // Ecstatic Peace *new
EAT SKULL // Stuff Reverse // demo CDR // no label *new
HOME BLITZ // Thin Ice // v/a: The World´s Lousy With Ideas 7" // Almost Ready *new
HOMOSTUPIDS // Fish Boys // The Intern // Parts Unknown *new
SLAB CITY // Hyna // 45 Series 7" // Slovenly *new
SICK-E's // Celestial Vision // Whispers 7" // Going Underground *new
DIET COLA // Sick Modern // MySpace mp3 *new

CATATONIC YOUTH // Out of Control // I Wish Every Boy Was Like My Surfer Boyfriend // Fuck Jazz *new
ROD DROID // Ma Jolie Trottinette // split 7" w/ Wermut // Kernkrach 2004
ICK // Kings of Speed // La Parade des sans Illusions 7" // Enfant Terrible 2007
BLANK DOGS // The Doorbell Fire // The Doorbell Fire 7" // Sweet Rot *new
MATTRESS // Church That Shit // In Your Pocket 7"+CDR // Malt Duck *new
BERMUDA TRIANGLES // Hell Ride // split 7" w/ Tickley Feather // CNP *new
LEADERS // All Keyed Up // Synthesizer Sketchez & 4-Track Demos CDR // no label
SLICING GRANDPA // Clown Hand // Chaos Midnight 10" // Strain Theory/Scatalogical Liberation Front *new
BIG NURSE + REALICIDE // Real Big Nursicide 03/10/05 Cincinnati, OH // Defective Punk Rock Falling Apart CDR // Realicide Youth *new
REALICIDE // Vivi C. Diem´s RYR Intro // Hopped Up on Swill Pills // Russolo's Brain *new
GRIME HUT // side A // Live at il Corral cassette // DNT 2006
A.N.P. // Disembody // Killsonic Action // Dossier 1987 (req. for K.K. Null)
A.N.P. // Godache
A.N.P. // Godkill II

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Times New Viking / Little Claw west coast tour


I love these bands so much, I set up this tour for them, and I hope you will go enjoy them!

Times New Viking (Columbus, OH; Siltbreeze/Matador)

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 and coed harmonies. That pre-homogenization era of indie rock circa 1991...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 have also heard people say that TNV is "like a raw garage version of Mates of State" or something (I think there's some truth to that). http://www.myspace.com/timesnewviking

Little Claw (Detroit dudes (incl. one from Tyvek), Portland lady)

This band slipped past my radar long enough to sneak their first LP past me, but fortunately I got a hold of the songs due to appear on their second LP, which will be out soon on Ecstatic Peace, and now I just want everyone to be ready for their onslaught of caveman pounding, scrawling psychpunk guitars, and the stunning performance of a über-charismatic female singer with delicate yin and ferocious yang in her voice and her guitar playing. And sometimes it's all yang and no yin, and that's when Little Claw has the power to crush you. http://www.myspace.com/littleclaw

For those who care about this kinda thing...Yes, there are pretty ladies in these bands, too.

8/1 Whidbey Island, WA house party w/ Little Claw, Eat Skull, & the Intelligence (no TNV)
8/2 Vancouver, BC @ Pub 340 w/ Shearing Pinx
8/3 Seattle @ SS Marie Antoinette w/ The Intelligence & Eat Skull
8/4 Portland @ Eagles Lodge w/ Hunches & Eat Skull
8/5 Davis, CA @ Delta of Venus, 122 B Street w/ the Bayonettes & Standard Tribesmen
8/6 Chico @ Off Limits, 1414 Park Ave. w/ West By Swan
8/7 San Francisco @ the Hemlock w/ Family Underground & Fursaxa
8/8 Oakland @ 21 Grand w/ Sic Alps
8/9 on "The Bus" in San Jose (location to be released just before show) w/ Sexy Prison
8/10 L.A . @ Pehrspace, 325 Glendale Blvd., w/ Sexy Prison
8/11 L.A. @ The Smell w/ Sexy Prison

Davis/Sacto details just dialed in! Fools Foundation had to cancel on account of a temporary shutdown through August.