Art for Spastics: June 2009

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

AFS v. 227 ~ feat. Orange Coax!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

AFS v. 226 ~ Mayyors present Dawn of the "Deads"!

for Deads. I promise it'll be worth it. Maybe spend less on beer....don'tcha know the Mayyors will pass 'em around for free before their set cracks off? Each Deads cover is a "handmade" original artwork created by the muddy dancing feet of the Mayyors in singer John's backyard on a rare stormy June night here in Sacto. I chose an extra fancy copy festooned with some refuse from drummer Julian's pockets.

Don't even fret about spending $10 (plus postage for those unlucky enough not to be at the party) for four songs 'cos Deads sets a new bar for the Mayyors and for EP releases in 2009. These are the four best Mayyors songs so far, and they are rendered impeccably onto deluxe 180-gram vinyl mastered by John Golden, so you know that no corner was cut. The three uptempo ragers are even louder, more ruthless, and somehow also catchier than the Marines Dot Com or Megan's LOLZ 7"es, while the lugubrious title track--its bullish buzzy, yet rapturous riff clanging like a klaxon, beckoning the band's minions to the altar of patient zero of a zombie apocalypse--is by far the must punishing. "Deads" has become the perfect outro to the band's live sets. After the entire crowd is sweat-soaked following their program of turbulent boogaloo-scuzz catharsis-partyhits, this slow-burner comes like a much-needed cool-down after a strenuous workout, when the minions can only muster the bleary lurch of a zombie. Really, I'm not even kidding...people always dance like zombies when this song is performed.

"Clicks" is also really remarkable, as it's surely the most integral full-band achievement yet. 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 arcane 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.

Also this week--by popular demand--here's further proof that the wallop of a Woodhouse production is always so astounding. "M1" is from a deep well of tightly guarded solo recordings from early this decade between Karate Party and FM Knives. Chris generously offered it to me for inclusion in my KDVS Fundraiser 2009 thank-you gift compilation CDR, Cityy Managgers. This is some incredible soaring dreampop of scintillating beauty coupled with jolting impact. It's like firing a howitzer from the basket of a hot-air balloon floating through a splendorous alpine valley. My Bloody Valentine coulda reformed with Brian Chippendale in tow, and I don't know if it could come off this perfect.

Now have a look at some footage of the Mayyors live at KDVS presents Operation: Restore Maximum Freedom VII fest on May 16. Imagine how it would've sounded if this were recorded in front of the speakers!!!

Friday, June 19, 2009

AFS v. 225 ~ Is This Your Final Hunch???

NoBunny hangs together like a really superb album, you need to put that on vinyl! This Raw Romance cassette has been auto-reversing in my car all week while I've been making up excuses to go driving. Don't tell me that vinyl pressing plants are gross polluters 'cos the carbon footprint of this tape is ever-expanding with every individual errand I run. This tape is even making me fat by keeping me off the bicycle. Somebody--Burger, Bubbledumb, anybody who wants a sureshot winner--reissue this sucker on a nice slab of wax, please!

Certainly, this is a lot different than Love Visions in that it's not as much a rock album. Raw Romance dares to twang a bit, especially on tonight's featured song and even more so on "The Gutter", which is a true-blue country 'n western should-be-classic that would surely please anyone who remembers Hee Haw fondly. Several other songs feature acoustic guitar strumming and an intimate back porch feel, but it's always as rousing as the NoBunny that you've come to know and love. Who knew that bubblegum folkpunk could rule?!? And so long as this is only on cassette, I've gotta give Burger Records props for doing it right...excellent pro-grade materials make for an enticing good-looking package and pretty much the best fidelity possible from Type-I tape. No obtrusive noise at all (which, alas, is so commonplace in this cassette zeitgeist)! How is this only $5?!?

Nearly halfway through 2009, certainly one of the very tip-top best albums of the year is Exit Dreams by The Hunches, the band who I believe--along with

The Wipers and Dead Moon--complete a trilogy of all-time great philosophically untouchable, intensely powerful, yet subtly brilliant, beautiful, and poignant Portland bands. It sorta became a long-running joke that every Hunches live performance in the last 2½ years has been advertised as "last Hunches show ever"...and that was probably about 8-10 shows. And I saw the last one....it was the first night of The Mayyors "Trail of Beers" tour. After seeing The Hunches seven or eight times before, I knew that this was unlike any other Hunches show, and it truly had a feeling of absolute finality. I truly believed that when they said "last Hunches show ever", that show was it. As I told the story to Hunches fans back home in California, several of them felt gypped that they wouldn't get to see 'em again. But thanks to the urging of In the Red honcho Larry Hardy, The Hunches are getting back together to play four engagements, beginning next Wednesday, July 24 at the scene of that legendary night that I'll tell you about next...

Hunches Exit Dreams swansong tour

Wed, June 24 in Portland @ East End (203 SE Grand)
w/ Eat Skull, The Whines, & The Blimp
Thurs, June 25 in Sacramento @ Funcastle (2309 L Street)
w/ The Mayyors, The Pizzas, & The Blimp
Fri, June 26 in San Francisco @ The Hemlock Tavern (1131 Polk)
w/ Long Legged Woman & The Blimp
Sat, June 27 in East L.A. @ house-party (2685 E. Marengo St.)
w/ The Lamps, De Hombres, The Golddiggers, & The Blimp

So, The Hunches have never been less than amazing--or at least highly entertaining--when I've seen them. Basically, you can always count on the rhythm section to be totally and awesomely solid and guitar-god Chris Gunn to be spectacular. Seriously, the guy combines such a rare combination of power and grace...Gunner is a stunner each and every show. The X-factor at any Hunches show is singer Hart. Every show I've seen him perform at, he is in a total waster zone.

Sometimes it's a really good zone; sometimes it's kind of a bad belligerent zone, but all the more awesome; and then sometimes it's a particularly bad zone where he looks really peaked, and maybe he'll flop on the floor like a fish and then not be able to get up. Before everyone gets too worried, maybe there's laughter. But regardless, the band is brilliant and unflappable and just dazzling.

At the supposed last Hunches show ever at the East End on June 7, 2008, it started out like any other excellent Hunches show. Midway in, Hart's eyes started looking crazy, and he gradually started antagonizing the fans in the front 'n center area before the stage. His animosity ratcheted up and he took a dive into the audience and started swimming on them. Really, it looked more like Rambo bush-whacking through a jungle. But just as the mayhem began to make some of the crowd uncomfortable, the sound of an unruly wave of guitar feedback caused Hart to turn his head quickly toward Chris Gunn, who was violently destroying his guitar. Within seconds, Chris had demolished the guitar he learned on as a teenager into four pieces. Then his second guitar paid the price of his pent frustration, too, and next, his amps were getting wrestled to the floor. It seemed Chris had ripped a page from Hart's book on how to be the X-factor. As astonished as I was, I looked at Hart and saw such a look of concern on his face, it was clear that he was instantly stone cold sober. When the feedback finally subsided, Chris seemed to have re-entered ordinary consciousness, but after the initial confusion and "I can't believe I just did that!", he actually had a look of relief on his face. That's what I mean by the absolute finality of the moment. I can recall moments of this night just like it was yesterday. It was the most transfixing moment of devastation I've ever seen at a rock show. It was more like seeing a Cock ESP show unfold, but over the course of 30 minutes, and with so much more drama (and, of course, music!).

Now, I don't wanna set myself or you or the band up for disappointment, because each and every show of The Hunches was thrilling and an enriching experience for me. But I think I might hafta cruise down to East L.A. for that last last show just to see how it plays out. I already felt like I saw the end, and I'll be pinching myself to believe it's real.

(photo credits: this fellow (...from a totally different show.))

Also, enjoy the incredibly well-produced video for another irresistible new Hunx nugget!

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

AFS v. 224 ~ It's Just a Brain!

Having memorized nearly every My Broth'r Hans and Buckys lyric, I almost feel like an honorary alumnus of Oakmont High School in Roseville, California. These bands painted a picture of a parallel world that I could never quite touch as a teenager growing up on an Air Force Base where the peer pressure worked in reverse. I swear, I saw beer at only two high school parties. There were about 30 kids, but one six-pack. Who would wanna compete for that? I think that the naughtiest thing I did was ask a G.I. to accompany us to the window of the Travis AFB "Cinemac" movie theater to get into the R-rated "Red Heat" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and that was only because my mom thought it was a PG or PG-13 rated movie when she dropped me off. It was such an ordeal to try to find a G.I. to "sponsor" us into the movie...I could only imagine how difficult it would be to finagle a proxy beer purchase. But surely My Broth'r Hans were liquor store parking lot shoulder-tap professionals. And the singer was reputed as the parental bathroom medicine cabinet-raider, so it was natural for him to imagine such a kooky mythology or a band. The liner of the self-titled cassette says: In 1946, Hans Marten developed affordable shoes that could feed the public. He then took his goat to the security council meeting, which upon completion of the destruction of his creation, decided a new world order was needed and should be created. Thus, we bring you the music of today--the music of turds. Idiots with no future follow Hans to that great all-you-can-eat pizza restaurant in the sky.

MBH released their first tape in 1991, which was then re-recorded with a new drummer for the 1992 version which we hear here. This drummer did indeed have a future in drumming for some of my very favorite local bands of the 2000s, but I don't know if he's proud enough of these beginnings for me to name him. Of course, I woulda likely never learned of either of these bands if it weren't for guitarist Todd becoming my best friend since 1995, when the Buckys were still regularly playing shows and working towards an eventual release of a record (which never came out, unfortunately). Todd also started in MBH. A second MBH tape--The Money Makers of Punk Rock--was released a while later, and it features at least three songs that sound like they coulda blended into an All American Punk/No Foreign Junk volume of the Killed by Death series.

At their best, they played a tuneful sorta sub-Samoans/Circle Jerks style of sloppy poppy hardcore, but there were some noteworthy excursions into postpunk, such as the poignant "Married to the Bottle" on the first tape, and the plaintive "Such Disregard" on the second. Set against so much brashly mischievous paeans to high school alcoholism and alarmingly tasteless knee-jerk inducers (esp. "Jeff's Discount Abortion", wherein the secret techniques for causing a miscarriage include vigorous sex and beating on the baby with drumsticks), these uncharacteristic moments of mature songwriting and consciousness-raising lyrics seem quite confounding. A particular fave MBH song--"Itsarhea"--details the true story of a Santa Cruz roadtrip which ended with the singer getting a bad case of the squirts presumably because he bought Itsa Cola (Itsa was the cut-rate proprietary brand of all manner of food and drink at the now-defunct Food & Liquor Cheaper stores) instead of Pepsi.

Three MBH members landed in the Buckys, who might've been active concurrently for a while at the tail-end of the members' high school careers. The Buckys wrote songs that named names from their shitlist ("Brubaker" and "Amy Cohen Is Such a Bitch"), told who had the most billowy pubic hair ("Pubic Hair"), and whose dad was the most chronically depressed ("Shad's Dad Is Sad"). Oakmont's token hippie was known as "Mudmouth", and he makes at least two appearances in the lyrics of the Money Demo, which was recorded professionally by a careerist engineer whose credentials included Screeching Weasel and many an Epi/Fat band. By this time, the bandmates were four years removed from high school, but still sharpening the sound of the same songs they'd written about hated principals and classmates. The drummer's technical ability had improved tremendously by then, and both he and the singer had an interest in the powerviolence zeitgeist of the mid-90s, so the Buckys' sub-Samoans/Circle Jerks-inspired oeurve was punctuated by a few tight, sharp rhythmic divergences which further added to the inanity of a band whose essence was a paradox of tough shit-talk over poppy punk riffs, often played with rather clean distortion. And the juxtaposition of the offensive and preachy was even more heightened than in MBH. During live sets, the band often lined up the righteously indignant "Ignorant Fucker" ("You'll pay for your ignorance when you dieee!!!!") with "I Want More" ("...than before/I want more/Fuck the poor!/...more bitches, more inches!"). Their only appearance on vinyl was on Too Many Records' Wood Paneled Pacer Wagon With Mags LP+7" compilation of 100 bands performing one song each in under half a minute. The Buckys authored the shortest song of the comp, "Short Songs", which lasted all of five seconds ("I like short songs/They're not long/They give me more time to play with my dong") and led off side A. During live shows, this song was extended to 15 seconds to include a whimsical prog-grind/powerviolence outro and a forceful growl of "YOU'RE DEAD!" Another classic juxtaposition of the weak and soft.

Perth ranks high in livability indexes and boasts a beautiful modern skyline, but it has the reputation in Australia of being kinda backwater, and surely it is one of the most isolated cities and regional musical scenes in the world. That the band Rupture are Perth's most significant and storied punk rock export in the 90s serves to strengthen that backwater stigma. When you add the braincell devastation of Heist's full-length album, 18 Gears of Hell, that might suggest that civilization is on the brink of collapse on the west coast of Australia. This album is so rarely heralded for its primo scuzz, stylistic breadth, and drunken mania, but I think that the world is ready for it finally. In 1998 when it came out (on CD only), it was not widely distributed, and it surely must have caught several of Heist's cheerleaders off-guard. Most American fans knew them from the rather serious Infest-influenced 7", Pain Is Causing Life, which was released on Havoc Records. I was a fan, too. But I liked 18 Gears... even more immediately for its swipes at low-brow/no-brow artcore which mined new territory somewhere between Fang and Rancid Hellspawn with a few surprising low-tech electro touches. When the guitars blaze and tempos roil, the vocal resemblance to Joe from Infest or John Brannon of Negative Approach is still evident, as is extreme rage and violence. But certainly it's the blind rage of a bellicose drunkard which brings to mind the most feverish moments of the Brainbombs. When things slow down, the voices of glue-addled numbskulls come out, and it's nutty, nihilistic, and just hilarious. I remember reading a review 10 years ago wherein the writer complained that making fun of retarded people is never funny. Surely, this guy'd never seen anyone this drunk or drug'd outta his skull. This is the sound of brains chemically breaking down into mush, and they are enjoying every minute of it. Maybe pain was causing life, but bourbon overload and gluey stupor make it bearable to live in the warped minds of Heist. Here's to hoping someone eventually reissues this on vinyl!

Friday, June 05, 2009

AFS v. 223½ ~ So Cow live on KDVS

Freeform KDVS is honored to present a live in-studio set from So Cow, the most fantastic picture-perfect pop band on the planet today. Touring the States for the first time as a full band, the Irishmen inflicted a pop-maelstrom of 23 songs in 45 minutes. Catch them on tour now! If you can't pick up So Cow's first ever vinyl long-player from their merch table, order it here from Tic Tac Totally...it's one of the most essential new albums of 2009 so far!

Download this program within two months at this link...
CLICK HERE for 192kbps rate.
or
CLICK HERE for 320kbps rate.

Thanks to Fenris Wulf for engineering sound, Tim Hance for loaning drums, and Michael Mastrangelo for bass cab and guitar amp.

Here's the playlist...

Greetings
100 Helens
Ping Pong Rock
So Cow vs. the Future
Only Fools + Horses/Swords
Choh Ah!
Ja Ju Ah Pa Yo
League of Impressionable Teens
Bat Toes
Meaningless Friendly
One Careful Owner
High Standards
Normalcy
The Tony Keady Affair
Shackleton
This Angry Silence [Television Personalities]
Commuting
Mess Me Up [NoBunny]
Moon Geun Young
You're Nice Mysteries
To Do List
Casablanca
It's Over

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

AFS v. 223 ~ Green Psychic Stasis

This week's podcast features a Live in Studio A set by Green Green, the weirdpunk/weirdfolk project of one Andrew Henderson from Folsom, California. Some of the bravest, boldest singing and most emotionally wrenching live shows I've seen locally in the last year have been performed by this young fellow. He surely has a knack for polarizing rooms with his intensely personal style of singing and unstable rhythms, but if you listen patiently, I think you'll hear that this cat's got courage and personality in oodles, a really unique sense of humor, and even a keen--if quirky--sense of pop. After a couple self-made cassette and CDR releases, the first Green Green 7" vinyl came out last month. Two KDVS-affiliated labels, Out of Order and Orange Regret, teamed up to release "Swimsuit Drugs" b/w "Mouth on the Floor" in an addition of 300. It ships for $6ppd to the USA.

Lemme just say that this new Ganglians LP+7" on Weird Forest totally knocks it outta the park! But I'll more extensively feature it next week...Read on below the playlist about this week's other features: (1) the new tape by Michael Stasis which sounds like the best cassette-only album since Harmony Ground Zero last year, and (2) the first 7" from Not Not Fun all-star band Vibes...

Download this program within two months at this link...
CLICK HERE for 192kbps rate.
or
CLICK HERE for 320kbps rate.

GANGLIANS | Cryin' Smoke | Monster Head Room 12"+7" | Weird Forest *new
MICHAEL STASIS | Greenskin | self-titled cassette | Natural Resources *new
BELREVE | The Sky Is Falling | Nothing 7" | Anyway 1993
SUMMER HITS | Mod Cinema | 1000 Moments of Natural Flotation 7" | Silver Girl 1995
THE FRESH & ONLYS | Peacock & Wing | self-titled | Castle Face 2008
DAVILA 666 | Me Va Muy Mal | self-titled 7" | Douche Master *new
* * * live in Studio A * * *
GREEN GREEN | Swimsuit Drugs
GREEN GREEN | Celestial Ceremony
GREEN GREEN | For You
GREEN GREEN | Clean Chemicals
GREEN GREEN | Song
GREEN GREEN | Mouth on the Floor
GREEN GREEN | Sinner Now
GREEN GREEN | Hot Streets
GREEN GREEN | Lipstick
* * *
THEE OH SEES | Hey Buddy | Zork's Tape Bruise (bonus CD) | Kill Shaman *new
MICHAEL STASIS | Bugle Boy | self-titled cassette
VIBES | Dead Horses | Psychic 7" | Not Not Fun *new
THE MIRRORS | Beaver Girls | Something That Would Never Do | Violet Times/Hovercraft *new (orig 1974)
THE MIRRORS | Living Without You
SPIRIT DUPLICATOR | A Poor Craftsman Blames His Tools | Tonight I'll Forget the English Language CDR | Deathbombarc *new
CELESTEVILLE | Leftward Glance | Spirit Duplicator CDR | Tape Mountain 2005
ODD CLOUDS | title unknown | Deceiving Illusion | Not Not Fun *forthcoming
HEAVY WINGED & INCA ORE | side A | self-titled | Not Not Fun *new
JANDEK | I Ain't Got None | Interstellar Discussion | Corwood 1984
JIM SHEPARD | Animal Man | The Songs of Kim Fowley 7" | Anopheles 1996
V-3 | It's Not Easy (Over-Drive) | Psychic Dance Hall | Ropeburn 1991
FRANCIS HAROLD & THE HOLOGRAMS | Why Are You So Afraid? | Who Said These Were Happy Times | Going Underground/Square Wave *new
TELEVISION PERSONALITIES | This Angry Silence | ...and Don't the Kids Just Love It | Rough Trade 1980
SO COW | Halcyon Days | self-titled | Tic Tac Totally *new

The new cassette-only album by NYC's Michael Stasis is a shining nugget of vinyl-ready psych-pop that varies between folky strum, breezy twee, soulful crooning, and consumer-grade electronics. One moment, he daringly embraces mainstream pop radio just enough to smack of Prince a little bit. Later, you could swear that he just ripped off the vocal progression from Blue Öyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" and reappropriated it for fans of the Quiet Storm and 70's soft rock. Ariel Pink and Gary War are inevitable comparisons, but Michael Stasis does not reek so much of irony, not even when the unexpected overdub of a creepy, maniacal "gimme what I want...motherfucker!!!"--complete with a separate layer of a different brand's tape-hiss(!)--sneaks into the otherwise sweetest, most lullaby-like little ditty. Michael's approach to lo-fi recording is also more effective than either of the comparables, and the entire album hangs together brilliantly, beckoning repeat listens. Fans of those Ganglians should surely approve! Seriously, this would sound great on vinyl....Why doesn't someone make it happen? If you just wanna listen, I recommend that you paypal $8 to naturalresourcestapes(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or send concealed cash to Natural Resources, 75 Wilson Ave 2nd Floor, Brooklyn NY 11237.

Speaking of soulful....the first vinyl from Vibes--the Psychic 7" on Not Not Fun--is a soulful psych weirdpunk rager! The band is comprised of Amanda and Britt from Pocahaunted (also the NNF label honchos) and formerly Weirdo/Begeirdo and Cameron from Sun Araw. Amanda's dynamo vocals immediately recall Kilynn of Little Claw as they go from ladylike to unhinged and back again while the band pounds out overdriven bluesy riffs of fuzz with warbly wah-jammin' that build to roiling crescendoes from laid-back beginnings as the drummer sets the early tempos with head-bobbin' hip hop double-triplets. In that way, these four songs are kinda like more condensed punk versions of "Black Sky" by Mainliner. For fans of awesome girl-power, this is a must. Man, am I bummed to have slept on their tape from earlier this year! Anyone gotta copy and wanna propose a trade? For what is essentially a jamrock band that probably barely--if ever practices--this is incredibly effective...really a perfect side-project for each of these three. And it's probably the most rockin' slab that NNF has released since The Hospitals made an appearance on the Bored Fortress Singles Club in year one.

Art for Spastics

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

AFS v. 227 ~ feat. Orange Coax!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

AFS v. 226 ~ Mayyors present Dawn of the "Deads"!

Friday, June 19, 2009

AFS v. 225 ~ Is This Your Final Hunch???

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

AFS v. 224 ~ It's Just a Brain!

Friday, June 05, 2009

AFS v. 223½ ~ So Cow live on KDVS

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

AFS v. 223 ~ Green Psychic Stasis

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Art for Spastics

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

AFS v. 227 ~ feat. Orange Coax!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

AFS v. 226 ~ Mayyors present Dawn of the "Deads"!

Friday, June 19, 2009

AFS v. 225 ~ Is This Your Final Hunch???

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

AFS v. 224 ~ It's Just a Brain!

Friday, June 05, 2009

AFS v. 223½ ~ So Cow live on KDVS

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

AFS v. 223 ~ Green Psychic Stasis

About Me

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Followers

My Yelp Reviews