AFS v. 178 ~ You Only Live Once!

Now that I'm livin' in Sacto, it's important that I keep my Yolo County connection workin' via Freeform KDVS in Davis. While most Californians don't even know Yolo is a county (the entire world of some Angelenos ends at Magic Mountain), most who know about it tend to think of it as three or four also-ran towns surrounded by fallow-fields and flood diversion channels. But in the gyms of NYC, apparently YOLO is a ladies sportswear label, because apparently they know what we know...YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE. After the three shows that sweep though the county this week, we'll feel like we died and gone to heaven three times!

Tuesday, May 27 in West Sac @ the Horsecow (111 N. Harbor Blvd.)
The Brothers Unconnected's tribute to Sun City Girls
feat. Richard and Alan Bishop
and films of their bandmate Charles Gocher (r.i.p.)
7:30 all ages $10

Friday, May 30 in Davis @ Fort Douglass (918 Douglass Ave)
Neung Phak, Art Lessing & the Flower Vato,
& special guest DJ Porest (a.k.a. Mark Gergis)
spinning the dance music of Sublime Frequencies
donate richly! all ages! 8:00

Saturday, May 31 in Davis @ DAM House (503 E Street)
So Cow, NoBunny, & English Singles
donate generously! all ages! 7-10 p.m. only!

You can download this week's show AT THIS LINK HERE! @ 192kbps
(archived for ~10 weeks)

Or, also AT THIS LINK (@ 320 kbps!!!)
(archived for ~10 weeks)

(Sorry...this Jay Reatard song spun below the proper speed until halfway though when I realized that the previous DJ had turned the pitch control all the way down. Please FFWD or bear with it.)

JAY REATARD // See/Saw // See/Saw 7" // Matador *new
CHEAP TIME // People Talk [Yarber] // Cheap Time 7" // In The Red *new
SO COW // Shackleton // I'm Siding With My Captors // Covert Bear *new
NOBUNNY // Boneyard // Love Visions // Bubble Dumb *new
NOBUNNY // Somewhere New [the Yolks]
THE YOLKS // I Do What I Do // Introducing the Yolks 7" // Criminal IQ *new
GIRLS OF THE GRAVITRON // Malthusian Love Song // 3-song 7" // Boom Chick *new
UZI RASH // Crocodile // Mescalito Cunts CS // self-released *new
VINCENT OVER THE SINK // I Found a Genie // 22 Coloured Bull-Terriers // self-released *new
THE WIGGINS // Feed the Ghost // 3-song 7" // Dull Knife *forthcoming
LIDA HUSIK // Toy Surprise // Your Bag // Shimmy Disc 1992
FABULOUS DIAMONDS // trk 2 // Fabulous Diamonds // Siltbreeze *new
DEAD LUKE // I Want You [Troggs] // Record One 7" // Sacred Bones *new
CAESARIAN SECTION // Uprise // Heal America (With the Corrupt Hand of Evangelism) // Incision 1989
YOUNG GODS // Irrtum Boys // v/a: Fight! // Cathexis 1987
PROJEKT ORTSSCHILD // Meine Herren // v/a: Doppel Hertz 2xLP // Kernkrach 2007
DIE PERLEN // Beweg Dich Nicht // v/a: Doppel Hertz 2xLP
PHILIPPE & FLUFFIE // Daisy May // v/a: Mein Bester Freund ist Tot 7" // Kernkrach *new
NICE FACE // Thing in My Head // Thing in My Head 7" // Sacred Bones *new
BLANK DOGS // Spinning // On Two Sides bonus cassette // Sacred Bones *new
BLANK DOGS // The Station // On Two Sides // Troubleman Unlimited *new
ANTI-GROUP // E.P.M.D. // Teste Tones // Side Effects 1988
THE PINK NOISE // Soda Jerk // Sun King 7" // Almost Ready *new
LILI Z // A Piece of Meat // The Two of Us // Polly Maggoo *new
WIZZARD SLEEVE // Alabama's Doomed // split 7" w/ Amber Alerts // Jeth-Row *new
LE FACE // Isolation // Salvador Dali 7" // Rich Bitch *new
BAD SPORTS // Hey OK // All the Time 7" // Boom Chick *new
SWEET BABY // Andorra // Hello Again split LP w/ Brent's TV // Lookout 1996
BOX ELDERS // One Foot In Front of The Other // Hole in My Head 7" // Grotto *new
SUN CITY GIRLS // Soi Cowboy // 330.003 Crossdressers Beyond the Rig Veda 2xCD // Abduction 2003
TRADITIONAL FOOLS // I Got a Baby // I Got a Baby 7" // Chocolate Covered *new
AUDACITY // KSTH // Juvajive // no label *forthcoming??
MIDDLE CLASS // Out of Vogue // Out of Vogue 7" // Joke 1978
BUM KON // Nancy Reagan Fashion Show // Drunken Sex Sucks // Smooch *new (orig 1983)
BAD TEETH // Losing My Mind // unreleased demo // no label 1996
STAAGS!!! // Bat Shit Crazy // Adult Brigade EP // self-released *new
TRIGGER EFFECT // Scientific Method // Dare to Ride the Heliocraft // Signed By Force *new
CPC GANGBANGS // Driving Me to Habit // Mutilation Nation // Swami/Alien8 *new
HIROSHIMA ROCKS AROUND // Fogna // Tour CDR // No-Fi *new
HIROSHIMA ROCKS AROUND // Raw Aids // The Matter of Facts 7" // S-S Records *new
FACTUMS // Psi // The Sistrum // Sacred Bones *new
SHEARING PINX // Negaman // Haruspex 7" // Divorce *new
RROPE // West Tone Song // 3-song 7" // Fear of Pop 1993

Fact-checker's note: the Staags!!! are not from Florida; they are from Memphis, TN.

AFS v. 177 ~ We Wrecked Your Car!

Keep both hands on the wheel this week. The 2nd half of this road gets has some bumpier stretches than we've seen in previous weeks. So much misanthropy and cynicism this week...You'd think I was in some kinda miserable mood! Well, it does suck when it's 100°F (that's 37°C for you canucks (can you imagine??)), but truly, it was a great week of CDR ephemera scores and record hauls.

You can download this week's show AT THIS LINK HERE! @ 192kbps
(archived for ~10 weeks)

Or, also AT THIS LINK (@ 320 kbps!!!)
(archived for ~10 weeks)

ANTEENAGERS M.C. // (Illusions of the) Teens // (Illusions of the) Teens 7" // Plastic Idol *new
LE FACE // Salvador Dali // Salvador Dali 7" // Rich Bitch *new
POP HORROR // Dime n Dash // Child of Modern Times 7" // Rich Bitch *new
LARMO CUSACK // Sea of Noise // Amateur Philosophy CDR // Existential Crisis *new
BLANK ITS // Divorce // Windows Are Dirty 7" // Sweet Rot *new
HANK IV // Drive the Whip // Spring 2008 Demos CDR // no label *new
DE JEUGD VAN TEGENWOORDIG // Wij // v/a: Bloodstains Across Belguim // Atomium 1997 (orig 1984)
RED NURSE // Truckstopper/Tolstoy on My Mind // Live @ Stork Club // no label *new
SAMSONKNIGHT FEATHERGUN // Spider Walk // unreleased // no label 2005
FRANCIS HAROLD & THE HOLOGRAMS // The Eagle Can't Fly With One Wing // 7" // Going Underground *new
DRUNKS WITH GUNS // D.W.I. // Second Verses // Intellectual Convulsion 1990
TRACTOR SEX FATALITY // Stereo Fucked // Early Years II // ??? *forthcoming
TRACTOR SEX FATALITY // Mouth on the Wall // Bloodeagle // Big Neck *forthcoming
THE JAGUAR // When Hunger Strikes // Bag of Jag CDR // Wild Tangent 2002
CHEATER SLICKS // Possession // Whiskey // In the Red 1993
THEE OH SEES // The Coconut // The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In // Tomlab *new
VIVIAN GIRLS // My Baby Wants Me Dead // Wild Eyes 7" // Plays With Dolls *new
ELECTRIC BUNNIES // The Stranger // Chewing Gum 7" // Florida's Dying *new
FLU FAKER // An Older Home // Satan Sajak CDR // self-released *new
DEAD HEAT // Damnée Petite Sophie // v/a: IVG // Poutre Apparente *new (orig 1981)
SCATTERED TONGUES // Celluloid Movement // v/a: Moon Boot Boutique vol. 1 CDR // self-released *new
NOTHING PEOPLE // I-5 // Anonymous // S-S Records *new
RUSSIAN TSARLAG // Don't Worry, Baby [Beach Boys] // split LP w/ Blue Shift // Rare Youth *new
RUSSIAN TSARLAG // "Blind Spot" Fragment
RUSSIAN TSARLAG // Let Ponvinon Care
CAR COMMERCIALS // The Investigation // Judy's Dust // Cenotaph *new
LAMP PUFFER & BAD TABLES // Dead Lights of I.T. // BAAAA CDR // self-released *new
HEXLOVE/FAULOUAH // Grump Up the Volume // Free Jazz from Slavery 2xLP // Weird Forest *new
HEXLOVE/FAULOUAH // Exits Very Damp
CHROME // Pygmies in zee Dark // Alien Soundtracks // Siren 1977
CHROME // Zero Time // Half Machine Lip Moves // Siren 1979
T.V. COAHRAN // Jerry's Eyes Are Black // 2: This is Where the Grossest Lions Live // self-released *new


And best of all, there's a new Anteenagers M.C. record. I said before that this band (along with Hank IV) make the best 4-minute songs in punk rock, but now it's been fully two records fulla future-classics clocking in under 3:00. This just means you get more ingenious riffs. I'm all for that!

Is it just my imagination, or do these young L.A./O.C. bands on Rich Bitch bringing exciting new jams with the style and taste of the collector-scum schooled on the Dangerhouse discography? Incredible! I gotta ask these young'uns if they've been boppin' to the Bags and Black Randy since birth.

AFS v. 176 ~ Kustom Moonboot Fitting

In the AFS news this week: This breezy, splendid new Dan Melchior album is thee superb all-purpose moodlifter of 2008 so far. Get it ASAP! Also, Eugene is back on the map for reals now. The band known as Spaghetti & Moose Balls is now called Hanging Corpses, and they appear with two other Eugene bands on the whacked-out Moon Boot Boutique vol 1 compilation. Damaged synthpunk and minimal-wave has swum up to the MacKenzie to spawn!

You can download this week's show AT THIS LINK HERE! @ 192kbps
(archived for 10 weeks)

Or, also AT THIS LINK (@ 320 kbps!!!)
(archived for ~4 weeks)

SO COW // Exclamation Mark // I'm Siding With My Captors // Covert Bear *new
THE NYMPHETS // Bekki Anne // Feels Like Motherfuckers 7" // Psychic Handshake *new
BOX ELDERS // S & M Party [Redd Kross] // Hole in My Head 7" // Grotto *new
TRADITIONAL FOOLS // The River // I Got a Baby 7" // Chocolate Covered *new
SUPERSTITIONS // I Don't Wanna Die Tonight // split CS w/ Ty Segall // Wizard Mountain *new
DAN MELCHIOR UND DAS MENACE // Stacked Sally Plummer // v/a: The World's Lousy With Ideas vol 5 7" // Almost Ready *new
DAN MELCHIOR UND DAS MENACE // Jerusalem // Christmas for the Crows // Daggerman *new
DAN MELCHIOR UND DAS MENACE // Dirt
BLANK DOGS // Meltdown Cloud // On Two Sides // Troubleman Unlimited *new *request
UZI RASH // River of the Crocodile Men // Fatal Rash CDR // The Church & the Commune *new
UZI RASH // The Coronation // Reptile Musik CDR // The Church & the Commune *new
HANGING COFFINS // One Horse Town // v/a: Moon Boot Boutique vol. 1 CDR // no label *new
OCTAGON CONTROL // No Glass // Fuck You, Ellen! CS // Ick Ick *new
SCATTERED TONGUES // Exhibit in a Martian Zoo // v/a: Moon Boot Boutique vol. 1
FNU RONNIES // Ugly // Meat 7" // Richie/Testostertunes *new
THE ELKS // Iodine Arthropod // v/a: Moon Boot Boutique vol. 1
BIG EATS // Blood Diamonds for Oprah // v/a: Killer Workout Mix // CNP *new
UNHOLY TWO // Kutter // Kutter 7" // Columbus Discount *new
BILLY BAO // My Life Is Shit // Dialectics of Shit // Parts Unknown *new *request
BILLY BAO // Putrefied Egos/Broken Mirror *request
A.H. KRAKEN // Kevin Costner est un Acteur Américáin // A.H. Kraken // In The Red *new
XYX // Microvibraciones // Sistema de Terminacion Sexual 7" // SS Records *new
SOFT SHOULDER // Temperary // Hit Single 7" // Gilgongo *new
DIVINE FEUD // Streets // demo CDR // no label *new
VAPID // Victim // Do the Earthquake 7" // Nominal *new
SLANT 6 // What Kind of Monster Are You? // 7" // Dischord 1993 *request
GOLDEN ERROR // Reverse the Curse // Golden Error 12" // Shandi/ Mind/No Mind *new
O VOIDS // Scratch Test // split 7" // Don't Hit Record *new
DAILY VOID // B1 // Man/Machine 7" // Florida's Dying *new
DAY CREEPER // Day Creeper II // I Fuck the Body Electric CDR // self-released *new
WELFARE MOTHERS // Bloodsucker // Long Brown Hair 7" // self-released *new
THE TOUCHED // Jelly Beans // v/a: The World's Lousy With Ideas vol. 4 7" // Almost Ready *new
AUDACITY // What Not to Do // Juvajive // unreleased *new
TY SEGALL // The Happy Farmer // split CS w/ Superstitions // Wizard Mountain *new
CHEVEU // La Cerise // split 7" w/ Crash Normal // Rococo *new
THE FEELING OF LOVE // Hammer Boy // split 10" w/ Movie Star Junkies // Rijapov/Bibimbap *new
EAT SKULL // Waiting for the Hesitation // Sick To Death // Siltbreeze *new *request
FLU FAKER // You've Always Had it in For Me // Satan Sajak CDR // self-released *new
NO AGE // Cappo // Nouns // Sub Pop *new
MYTHICAL BEAST // Coal Is Better Than Diamonds // split LP w/ Cloudland Canyon // Not Not Fun *new

AFS v. 175 ~ Now I'm My Own Boss!

Thanks again to everyone who donated to the KDVS fundraiser. $60,000+ is enough for us to continue being one of the handful of really excellent radio station on the air and on the internet. Everyone who paid already should start receiving their thank-you gifts beginning next week. Now I can get back to the business of doing what I like to do...that is blitzing you with taste-tests of all the gnarliest new vinyl, shitty spray-painted CDRs, and hopelessly obscurist cassettes! I've accumulated three weeks' worth to drop on you, so enjoy!

You can download this week's show AT THIS LINK HERE! @ 192kbps
(archived for 10 weeks)

Or, also AT THIS LINK (@ 320 kbps!!!)
(archived for ~4 weeks)

XYX // Anel & Her Problem // Sistema de Terminacion Sexual 7" // SS Records *new
HIROSHIMA ROCKS AROUND // The Matter of Facts // The Matter of Facts 7" // SS Records *new
A.H. KRAKEN // Ahmed // A.H. Kraken // In The Red *new
SWITCHED ON VULTURES // Paint a Happy Cloud // demo CDR // no label 2006
MAYYORS // Fatigre // Marines Dot Com 7" // Waste of Oil *new
DAILY VOID // Man/Machine // Man/Machine 7" // Florida's Dying *new
FLU FAKER // You've Always Had It in for Me // Satan Sajak CDR // no label *new
PINK REASON // Scared Shitless // Borrowed Time 7" // Fashionable Idiots *new
NIGHT OF PLEASURE // Thru the Legs of Ilgauskas // 2008 Tour CDR // self-released *new
LEATHER NUN // No Rule // Slow Death 7" // Industrial 1979
CPC GANGBANGS // I Want Blood/Life Support // Mutilation Nation // Swami *new
CHEAP TIME // Trip to the Zoo // Cheap Time // In The Red *new
SHIT EAGLE // So Sad // Girls in School 7" // Florida's Dying *new
ELECTRIC BUNNIES // Love Radiation // Chewing Gum 7" // Florida's Dying *new
THE INTELLIGENCE // Chateau Bandit // Debt & ESP 7" // Plastic Idol *new
SO COW // Normalcy // I'm Siding With My Captors // Covert Bear *new
DAY CREEPER // In Tune // I Fuck the Body Electric CDR // self-released *new
EAT SKULL // Stress Crazy // Sick To Death // Siltbreeze *new
THE HOSPITALS // This Walls // Hairdryer Peace // self-released *new
LITTLE CLAW // Look Down the Drain // Why/Why Not 7" // Physical Sewer *new
TICKLEY FEATHER // Night Chant // Tickley Feather // Paw Tracks *new
GREEN GREEN // Stores Close // demo CDR // no label *new
HANDGLOPS // The First Party // demo CDR // no label *new
HEARTS OF ANIMALS // Stop Talking // Stars Say No 7" // Dull Knife *new
BLANK DOGS // The Crystal Ladies // On Two Sides // Troubleman Unlimited *new
ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB // Monster Mittens // Monster Mittens 7" // Dirty Knobby *new
LAZER CRYSTAL // Hot Pink BMX // Hot Pink BMX 12" EP // HBSP-2X *new
HARD GOSPEL WITH CHILD // Robot Jox/Deadtime Stories // Hard Gospel With Child CDR // Layaway Butch *new
BLACK PUS // Kharma Burn // 4 // self-released *new
INDIAN JEWELRY // Hello! Africa // Free Gold! // We Are Free *new
FRUSTRATION // She's So Tired // Relax // Born Bad 2008
CRASH NORMAL // untitled // split 7" w/ Cheveu // Rococo *new
THE PINK NOISE // New World // v/a: The World's Lousy with Ideas vol 2 7" // Almost Ready *new
OCTAGON CONTROL // No Glass // Fuck You, Ellen! CS // Ick Ick *new
PEEPHOLES // Milk and Honey // Stop Picking on Aretha Pudding CDR // self-released *new
YOUNG LASSES // Imagined Out the Smelling Salts // Sad Fur Peak // Oldwire *new
ZANO // Apple Fuzz // Ass Birth 7" // Rob's House *new

The two newest SS 7"es continue the label's reputation of infallibility and international purview. Los Llamarada described their hometown of Monterrey, Mexico, as a fertile ground only for bad ripoffs of Modest Mouse, so perhaps this XYX is just as miraculous. Rhythms are strong, supple, and very aggressive, and clever effects bolster the bass sound and add intrigue to the strident female vocals. This reminds me of the punkest, most panicked, and most sharply focused moments of the early-80s Brazilian all-female group As Mercenárias, but a little more ragtag and a lot noisier. And by "clever effects," don't think I mean that this is striving for supremacy of intellect; what I mean is...This band has achieved an excellent full-range sound. Hiroshima Rocks Around have been one of the finest noisy neg-vibe rockers from Italy for a few years now, and regular AFS listeners should remember hearing different cuts about a couple years ago from their HRA 666 LP, and about a year back, an even meaner set of unreleased tracks which were a little more straightforward rhythmically, but still mean and surly mutant blues with muscular low-end, slotting in somewhere between Feedtime and Billy Bao. I knew a shrewd label would swoop in on that new stuff. And there's still more where that came from!

A.H. Kraken spews from France with relentless gut-churning negativity, and all their many influences do coalesce pretty brilliantly on the choicest moments of this debut LP. You can hear a strand of this (e.g., Brainbombs) and a shred of that (Arab on Radar), but they're dissimilar enough from all of these bands to stake out their own unique niche. As AIDS Wolf have become more focused on songsmithing, they are surely in territory adjacent to A.H. Kraken. Both bands flirt with oblong rhythms and dual guitars weaving weird sideways riffs like a pair of charmed cobras, which is something other bands do, but while most such bands are happy merely to spazz out in this style, A.H. Kraken and AIDS Wolf are not content to be neo-no-wave gimmicky mimicries. They have become more focused on proper songsmithing. Where they diverge on the path to righteousness is that AIDS Wolf in the past year have begun to tickle the third eye psychedelically with their sound nearly as much as their graphic art, and A.H. Kraken are just inhumane punishers. I don't understand French, but the criminal profiler in me thinks this vocalist has a delightful dissociative disorder. I might have liked this record more as a 10" with the six or seven best songs because it hits a flat spot in the middle and plays a bit overlong. But as a band, it's a great idea, and as a record, this is a promising preview with some choice cuts that I'll surely revisit regularly.

A couple years ago, the Sacto/Davis supergroup was Switched on Vultures, but after a handful of shows and a recording session that produced this demo, their tenure was all too brief as one by one the members around ex-Sexy Prison singer John Pritchard moved or got doctor's notes saying that holding a guitar is too strenuous an activity. But that's okay because now John is fronting The Mayyors, whose second 7" is just around the corner, and Sexy Prison will be reconvening for a few weeks in July when bassist/programmer Robert Pickle flies in during a break from east coast grad studies. S.O.V. was very 90s-sounding, and not just because this demo was recorded by Tim Green.


I've loved all the Daily Void records so far, but after consuming their LP and string of 7"es, I was beginning to wonder if they could only play in a hurry. "Man/Machine" is the calculated plodding slow-burner that puts that to rest. It's all crawling pace, scrawlin' scratchy guitars, and dystopian bleakness, but before you think they've gone all Billy Bao on us, just know that they're still having fun on this record. Big ups to Florida's Dying for the best 7" packaging I've seen since the last S.I.D.S. record. The inner label of Side A fills in the voidspace of the blank window of the outer sleeve to complete a picture of a post-apocalyptic Pompeii that is home only to a few creepy bats.

Strong Columbus content remains a key element at AFS this week. The solo work of J.P. Herrmann has been a big hit here at Freeform KDVS for the last several months, and now we've just received the first CDR of Flu Faker which is J.P.'s family affair with (I can only assume) two siblings and a friend. And it's great, too! How is none of this stuff on vinyl yet? Flu Faker is mostly duskier, noisier, and aside from the one keyboard-driven song, not nearly as immediately catchy as his solo stuff, but it's some truly superb dark meat that you can really sink your teeth into. More sarcastic than oppressively bleak or agonizing, this splits the difference between Easter Monkeys and Cleaning the Mirror. And speaking of Pink Reason...Of course, I totally dig all the various sides and faces of Kevin's output., but this new 7" is surely the closest thing to a full live band sound so far. That might surely rein one some of the naysayers who want more immediacy from this band. So, if you're one of those slack-jawed punks who must pinch your nose to swallow the desperado 'Tussin-blues damage, then try this 7" straight for once. And from their most recent tour-edition CDR, Night of Pleasure prove that Times New Viking ain't the only band in town that likes talk basketball. Now, if only Coach Brown would mix up the play-calls to keep Boston from throwing three guys at Lebron, maybe we can see this overrated green giant come up short. 2-for-18 won't happen again regardless.

Leather Nun's "No Rule" is some powerful shit. It makes this do-gooder daydream about how fun a crime-spree would be. Listening to it gives me some kinda Highlander quickening reaction. I felt the same way when I first heard this new CPC Gangbangs album that finally came out. This segueway was in order. I should check the crime logs for the moments immediately following 10:40 last night.