In July, 2008, Cocker met Steve Albini in Chicago at the Pitchfork Music Festival.Together they tested some songs, liked the sound and agreed to record an album together. The album has a heavier sound than debut Jarvis, something that Cocker attributes to realising his band “could rock”, which led to him choosing to write with them. He told BBC 6 Music: “What I’ve tried to do with the new stuff, rather than me just sit there and wait for inspiration to come at some point – which takes ages – instead we’ve written stuff together. And it’s a bit louder.”
RVNG enlists one half of infamous Glasgow duo Optimo for perhaps their most ambitious release to date. This is actually a double-deck release comprised of one 10″ and one 60-minute mix. The “10 Inches of Fear” feature four Twitch re-edits from the catalog of seminal anarcho-punk label Crass Records by bands like Flux of Pink Indians(1), Honey Bane(2), The Mob(3) and Zounds(4) - all licensed and approved by the artists, no less! The accompanying 22-track CD - “60 Minutes of Fear” - is an extension of the idea, featuring jams from Twitch’s formative musical years: “The mid to late 1980s was the period when I really started to buy a lot of records. I was particularly obsessed with (mainly) American bands like Sonic Youth, Big Black, Swans, Butthole Surfers, Flipper, etc. etc.” In addition to those artists, the mix also features tracks by Crass, Sun City Girls, The Ex, Minutement, Husker Du, Black Flag, Screamers, Fatal Microbes, Poison Girls and more. The whole thing is presented in a hand-screened sleeve and includes a big 20″x20″ fold-out poster with a “personal punk rock history compiled by Twitch.” Only 1,500 pressed.
You can’t typecast Type Records. Just when you think you’ve got them pegged as black-clad mongers of doom after the recent releases by Svarte Greiner and Xela, what do they do? Release a pop record, of course. Well, not exactly; this new self-titled album by City Center takes the same sideways look at the pop song as Panda Bear took on Person Pitch. Like Panda Bear, Fred Thomas is hitherto better known for his work as part of a larger collective; in Thomas’s case Saturday Looks Good To Me. With City Center the album he takes their melodic template and scribbles all over it in dayglo colours until it is barely perceptible beneath the layers of layers. That’s just the type he is.
City Center recently released a split 7″ with Grouper, and they do share with Liz Harris a tendency towards dense organic-sounding compositions with wells of reverb and well-buried vocals. But there the similarity ends; I doubt you’d find Harris adding perky percussion, and jauntily-strummed guitars to create fizzy, scuzzy pop bangers. That is just what Thomas is capable of: “Summer School” bounces along youthfully bashing woodblocks like it burns itself into a blurry tizzy. This contrasts starkly this with the preceding track, a smear of distorted organ drones entitled “You Are A Force”. The album is at its best when it finds imaginative ways to force these two quarrelling lovers to marry. If you think that the nagging guitars and multiple layers of tumbly vocals within “Young Diamond” sound a bit too, well, Animal Collective, then just wait till a gun is put to their head and they have to repeat vows to a middle section of violin and blistering guitar eruptions.
The hazy melodies and blurry vocals of City Center’s album should be soundtracking many a joyous summer day. By playing against type, Type have played a blinder here.
“Tight” isn’t a word that fits comfortably when describing Thee Oh Sees, but on Help, the second full-length effort from John Dwyer’s garage psych marauders, the band has certainly learned to find order amidst chaos in a manner that eluded them on their 2008 debut The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In. The basic approach on Help isn’t particularly different than on Thee Oh Sees’ first effort — the guitars are thick, ringing, and dripping with reverb and distortion, the rhythm section pounds away in a simple but relentless fashion, the massed vocals approximate vintage California-style harmonies in the midst of a trip on dirty acid, and the songs take traditional garage rock changes and bend them a wee bit as the production runs them through just enough low-budget studio trickery until they resemble a paisley nightmare oozing out of your speakers. Still, while most of the tunes on Help sound as purposefully messed up as ever, they’re just a bit tidier and more straightforward here, and the stronger framework makes a positive difference. Similarly, the performances sound more unified and less chaotic here, as if everyone is following the same vision that lurks over the horizon for a change, and the ferocity of Dwyer’s guitar is potent, locking into the crash-boom-bang of the bass and drums with impressive force. And while full-on assaults on reality like “Enemy Destruct” and “Soda St. #1″ are the order of the day on Help, there’s enough of a pop lilt in “Go Meet the Seed” and “Can You See?” to confirm these folks saw some real nice colors while making this album and have a variety of tricks in their repertoire to express them. You might not trust Thee Oh Sees to give you a ride home after a gig, but if you’re looking for a seriously buzzy rave-up, Help certainly delivers the goods.
Stephanie Chan, Veronica Ortuño, Erin Budd, and Elizabeth Skadden are the girls with the bad reputations. They’re the girls who are gonna make you pay. Formed in 2006, the local thrash-punk quartet is dizzying to watch live, trading instruments and screams after each minutelong anti-pop dirge. A cover of Nirvana’s “Negative Creep” only solidifies their early-Nineties trash-rock worship, all ripped jeans and bratty beats. They’ve released a self-titled 7-inch on Wonk Records, and an upcoming 7-inch on ABL Records, “Primary Colors,” drops soon. Do you want to be their boyfriend? Fill out an application.
– Audra Schroeder
Take from: AustinChronicle.com MySpace
Today, “garage,” “psych,” and “punk” are three overused words to say the least. They’re dropped from every direction to brand, market, and sell, but looking back to the mid-1960s, there was only one group of musical mavericks that clearly defined them. The Monks were five beat playing American GIs stationed in Germany who, after their discharge, decided to stay and continue their musical mission. Meeting up with a team of local managers, they transformed themselves and their sound into a holy racket like the world had never known. This five-person order literally birthed the above genres through a fuzz-drenched evolution of sound, bursting with social commentary and future primitive rhythms. Krautrock? It started here. Do we hear non-believers? We are NOT making this up. If you aren’t already converted, it won’t take long..
Light In The Attic is ecstatic to present the Monks recorded legacy through two lavishly packaged and lovingly researched reissues: The Early Years 1964-1965 as well as their landmark studio album Black Monk Time. Numerous period photographs (many unseen) and an extensive two-part essay by Canadian music journalist Kevin Howes (Jamaica - Toronto series) accompany both releases and tell the Monks story like it has never been told. Bonus material dating back to pre-Monks Torquays and up to post Black Monk Time 7″s are also included. From “Shut Up” to “Boys Are Boys”", “Complication” to “Cuckoo,” worlds will collide before your very eyes. Press play, drop the needle, zone in, and see for yourself. And while there’s no need to shave your head, you’ll certainly flip your wig. Come on everybody, it’s Monk Time!
Although the young career of White Rabbits began independently of any major patronage, the release of It’s Frightening will make it difficult to speak of them without mentioning Spoon in the same breath. Much in the way that “All the Young Dudes” tethered Mott the Hoople to Bowie’s legacy, Britt Daniel’s production involvement on It’s Frightening will be a central point for White Rabbits as they continue to grow in reputation. The connection, in this case, is entirely warranted; though a fine, muscular rock album, It’s Frightening sounds so much like a lost Spoon session that it overshadows almost every other facet of the album.
The similarity is both fortunate and not. White Rabbits have only to gain from the association. Two years ago they debuted auspiciously, but failed to inspire much in the way of a strong following. Their sophomore record could have slumped or could have just been more of the same; instead, they have made an album that is, without argument, more spry, more fit, and more durable than Fort Nightly. The downside is that from this point forward they will be thought of, more or less, as an expansion team. After It’s Frightening, it will now require a large measure of reinvention to change the course of their narrative.
The characteristics of their debut that differentiated White Rabbits from other mid-’00s indie acts, such as the use of two drummers and the low-key piano underpinning, have been molded into a shape that no longer feels different. Lead singer Greg Roberts sells the songs with just the right amount of grit and gravel, while drummers Matthew Clark and Jamie Levinson keep the pace brisk and upbeat. The corners of the songs, like the lead into “Lioness,” are scruffy and deceptively deep-sounding. But none of these touches feels even the least bit unique. “They Done Wrong/We Done Wrong” isn’t a canny piece of mimicry, but rather the genuine article; it could fool even the most die-hard Spoon fan. “Rudie Fails,” which nods to The Clash in both name and drummed intro, is a sassy highpoint to the record, a song that matches growl with bite. The level of quality is remarkably consistent throughout; every song on It’s Frightening sounds like a potential single, in or out of the context of the record. On that level, White Rabbits have succeeded greatly.
White Rabbits have made a limber, urgent record, one that feels organic and unfettered. If organic, however, then it is an organ of a more prominent and recognizable body. This is hardly a sin of any great sort, but it does reduce the impact of what White Rabbits have achieved here. They have, with the support of the original band, successfully cloned one of the most critically respected, long-running indie acts around. It’s Frightening is far from a bloodless copy of a more vivid being; it is, rather, a living, breathing creation, one that is only dubiously theirs.
The Eternal is the upcoming 15th studio album by Sonic Youth which is to be released on June 9, 2009. It is the first studio album to be released since Rather Ripped (June 13, 2006) making it the longest period in between studio albums by Sonic Youth. It was the first Sonic Youth album to be released on Matador Records. The cover art was painted by John Fahey.
It’s no surprise that The Horrors’ ‘Primary Colours’ is the frothing-at-the-mouth critical hit of the year so far. It does, after all, quarry all the influences music journalists traditionally cream their jeans over – drums by Neu!, guitars by My Bloody Valentine, vocals by The Psychedelic Furs – in such a way that allows the deployment of words rock scribes love to use, such as ‘motorik’, ‘lysergic’ and ‘dronescapes’ (although only The Oberver saw fit to use the phrase “meta-textual frisson”).
This album could be no more critically adored were it to be penned by Dylan, produced by Kevin Shields, and topped off with a guest spot by Roky Erickson of the 13th Floor Elevators. As it is, it’s produced by Portishead’s Geoff Barrow, who surely deserves much of the credit for turning the band’s ramshackle live sound into something so unutterably sleek and exhilarating.
Eating Us is the fourth album by Pennsylvania based band Black Moth Super Rainbow released on May 26, 2009 on the CD format. The album will be released in a limited-edition “hairy” version, which includes synthetic hair inside the CD’s inner sleeve, and also in a regular “super jewel” casing.The “hairy” version was sold-out before the album was even released due to pre-orders.
Clues was founded by Alden Penner and Brendan Reed, both active for years in the Montreal music scene. Alden was one-half of Unicorns, a band that burned bright and fast at the beginning of the century, and Brendan has been a member of a number of groups, including the endless, Endless Forever. They began building Clues quietly and in near-secrecy during the summer of 2007, playing a series of unadvertised shows in small Montreal venues. Their early performances elicited passionate responses and made it clear that Alden had an awesome batch of new tunes in the works, a glorious voice to deliver them with, and a brilliant foil in Brendan as his co-conspirator.
The recording of Veckatimest began in the summer of 2008 at Allaire Studios in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York.Nico Muhly collaborated with Grizzly Bear on this album.In the interim they debuted four new songs: “Two Weeks,” “While You Wait for the Others,” “Fine for Now,” and “Cheerleader.”They also performed “While You Wait for the Others” on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on April 21, 2008, and “Two Weeks” on Late Show with David Letterman on July 23, 2008.
The tracks “Cheerleader,” “I Live with You,” and “Foreground” feature the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
The LIMITED EDITION box features 12 -7″ discs, including the never released single for “Still Ill” and also the hard to get single for “Headmaster’s Ritual”. If the music wasn’t enough for you, the set also includes 4 buttons, a poster with the singles artwork, and a download the MP3 versions of the box set.
