AFS v. 280 ~ Ihren Nächsten Favoriten

This week in AFS...

* SS Records tilts the year-end-best playing field
* ...but the new Druid Perfume LP is still a competitor!
* priming the Aussie-bands-on-tour-in-USA pump
* the old guys still got it!
* and Liz Allbee's stunning new joint

Download this program within two months at this link...
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or
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or, if you have a slower/20th century connection
STREAM IT HERE by next Monday night!

(Email me with any downloading problem questions...)

UV Race | I'm So Tired | v/a: The World's Lousy With Ideas vol 7 7" | Almost Ready 2009
TOTAL CONTROL | Total Control | self-titled 7-inch | Aarght! 2008
TOTAL CONTROL | Full Moon [Swell Maps]
BANQUE ALLEMANDE | The Baumarkt Nation | Eins, Zwei | S.S. Records *new
COLIN NEWMAN | I've Waited Ages | A-Z | Beggars Banquet 1980
THE DULL | I Hate the Motorcyclist | v/a: Barricaded Suspects | Toxic Shock 1983
THE CHINESE RESTAURANTS | Summer Romance | Summer Romance 7" | S.S. Records *new
G. GREEN | The Garden | I Will Not Withdraw This Statement 7" | Malt Duck *new
SCRAPS | A Salty Sea | A Salty Sea 7" | Dirty Knobby *new
NIGHT BEATS | H-Bomb | H-Bomb 7" | Trouble in Mind *new
DISTRACTION BOYS | Pay Off the Cops | Live on Ave. B 7-inch | Cryptovision 1985
BRIAN WILSON SHOCK TREATMENT | I Hear Voices | Druid Time Lords | Poe/Slutfish *new
CRAWLSPACE | Blame it on the Universe | Ignorance is Bliss | Gulcher *new
ROCKET FROM THE TOMBS | I Sell Soul | I Sell Soul 7" | Hearpen 2010
RALPH CARNEY & DAVID THOMAS | Sunset in Hibernia | v/a: Bowling Balls from Hell | Clone 1980
DENIS DEFRANGE & MARK FRAZIER | The Manikin Shuffle | v/a: Bowling Balls from Hell
FRANZ KULTUR ET LES KRAMES | Ultime Atome | self-titled | Memoire Neuve *new (orig 1983)
CRASH NORMAL | Like a Horse | v/a: Stuffs vol. 1 | Compost Modern Art *new
THE DICTAPHONE | Temporary Muse | self-titled | Kill Shaman *new
DRUID PERFUME | Blue Light | Tin Boat to Tuna Town | Bumbo *new
LIZ ALLBEE | The Undersides | Theseus vs. | Resipiscent *new
FABULOUS DIAMONDS | 11 mins, 21 sec | Fabulous Diamonds II | Siltbreeze *new
PSYCHIC BAGGAGE | Dreams, Sir | self-titled | Endless Melt *new
THE NORTH SEA | Missed Court Dates | Bloodlines | Type *new
SIGHTINGS | We All Amplify | City of Straw | Brah 2010

I hope I won't be too self-conscious about putting too many S.S. Records titles in my best-of-2010 list in December or January. Mr. Soriano's making it pretty difficult to exclude anything his label has issued, and with the new LP of Germany's Banque Allemande and the latest 7" of the wonderfully whacked The Chinese Restaurants, there's two more S.S. titles rocketing to the top of the list. I can't really add anything that Scott doesn't already cover in his own description of the band other than to say that everything he said is absolutely true, and therefore, this might just be your (and my) next favorite band:

"While Berlin, Germany isn’t exactly 'nowhere', the amount of attention garnered by Banque Allemande since their inception in 2005 they might as well be from Quedlinberg. When I stumbled on them and was blown away by their songs, I started to wonder 'What the fuck is wrong with you people?' Actually nothing: Banque Allemande (also known as dbZwoVier) have spent the last 5 years avoiding Berlin’s rock scene, choosing to play subway cars (watch for the visual, not the sounds!), a hamburger grill, and the like. They recorded a couple albums worth of fantastic songs, but never spread them around. What was posted on myspace got lost in the flood of bands there. They lurk in the shadows no longer.

"Banque Allemande has a relentlessness that reminds me of The Gordons and Rema Rema, the thuggish charm of Feedtime, and some 1-2-3-4 yucks of 'i dunno, name some late 70s euro punk outfit' - but that’s me hearing them. Their background is in the bands Discounter, Trumpf As, and Moser Indian. Their ears are attuned to the hammering beats of Boys Noize. Or as they describe their sound: minimalistic, cut-down songstructures - yes please. rough sounds, straight beats - yes please.. if what comes out is called “punk” - whatthefuck.

"So once again you are asked to take the S.S. challenge, the leap of faith you took when S.S. released records by the A Frames, Intelligence, Cheveu, Nothing People, Los Llamarada, XYX, Krysmopompas, and Billy Bao before no more than a handful of people knew they existed. I am pretty confident you will dig this one, too."

You can pick up these new utmost-recommended titles here...
http://207.228.243.82/ss/cat.html
...and if you've forgotten to cop that A Frames triple-LP or Ozzie double-LP, then you should get caught before it's too late.

Further solidifying their place as the best saxophone-rock band since No Doctors' Hunting Season (and Funhouse before that!), the new Druid Perfume LP is even better than their stupendous debut. That and the new Liz Allbee CD get my other highest recommendations this week. Alas, Theseus vs. is only on CD, but it comes in a brilliantly screened carboard box with a puffy shim to protect the CD from flopping around in the box. It's limited to 350, and once it runs out, I challenge any label of supreme taste in exquisite experimental creep-you-out-late-at-night-all-alone music to make a vinyl issue of this. If you enjoyed Carla Bozulich's Evangelista, this should suit you quite well. Its subtlety unfolds slowly over repeated listens, so it'll surely keep you enthralled for a long time to come. Format fetishists shouldn't be kept from knowing the brilliance of this woman, co-conspirator in Neung Phak and formerly the most sublime-sounding member of Le Flange du Mal, who were my favorite mayhem-bringers of the Bay Area's mid-2000s heyday. Theseus vs. has a peerless production value which strikes me in much the same way that Through the Panama by Sightings did in 2007. This is the perfect antidote to the lofi zeitgeist right now.