Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Art for Spastics v. 110

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Download AFS v. 110 (w/in next 10 weeks)

...or stream it (by Dec. 4).

THE NEW FLESH // Whitewash // Vessel // Heart Break Beat *new
THE NEW FLESH & ROBERT INHUMAN // Punched in the Head [Drunks with Guns] // Punch Drunk in This Shit World 7" // Human Conduct/Realicide Youth/MT6/Cephia´s Treat *new
JUNKPILE JIMMY // Life [Flipper] // Alberhill 2xLP // Cártel Ilustré *new

JUNKPILE JIMMY // Puta Suerte
AIDS WOLF // Put Your Head on a Plate // 4-way split 2x7" w/ Crack und Ultra Eczema, PRE, and Dmonstrations // Lovepump United *new
PRE // Dude Fuk // 4-way split 2x7"
HOT LOINS // Buzzkill // Buzzkill 7" // The Broadway to Boundary *new
TWIN CRYSTALS // Trinity // 4trk CDR // Deer and Bird *new
N.213 // Francine´s Bad Dream [Mutators] // Fucksexyou cassette // Isolated Now Waves *new
N.213 // Scars
SHEARING PINX // Cursed Heart Matter // Poison Hands dbl 3" // Not Not Fun 2005 *request
MODERN CREATURES // House on Fire // split cassette w/ Shearing Pinx // Isolated Now Waves *new
THE YES SIRS // Anthem Too // Dos Locos // CNP *new
HALLELUJAH! // Pink Antenna // Dirty Revival // CNP *new
JAY REATARD // Not a Substitute // Blood Visions // In The Red *new
ABE VIGODA // The Walk // Kid City // olFactory *new
EAR & DARK // Be Your Mama // There´s No Such Thing as Dragons 10" // Black Light *new
NO FEELING // Don´t Tell Me What to Do // split 7" w/ Ladies Night // Seeing Eye *new
BRIAN WILSON SHOCK TREATMENT // Hey Sister // The Lords of the Infinite Cosmos 7" // Slutfish *new
NOTHING PEOPLE // Systems Failure // Problems 7" // S-S Records *new
FARCES WANNA MO // Lady Preacher // Farces Wanna Mo Covers Slept on It! // Self-Released *new
SKAREKRAU RADIO // The One Eyed Rod Is Love // The One Eyed Swine Is Queen // Apop *new
WHITE TIGER PREPADE // Unicorn Asteroid // v/a: Exercise for Exorcisms vol. 1 // Unnecessary Friction *new

COCA COLA // Show Me Whatcha Got on the Dancefloor // v/a: Exercise for Exorcisms vol. 1
UNICORN BASEMENT // Cannibal // Self-Titled // Unnecessary Friction *new
UNMONO // 13th Bender Kranky ShangriLaLa // split cassette w/ Kate Hall & Elijah Forrest // Deathbomb Arc Tape Club *new
ARGUMENTIX & ADAM GNADE // We´ll Help You Out, Neighbor // Wilderness and the Holy Gold // Below PDX *new
ARGUMENTIX & BIRD COSTUMES // Tranquil Devastation // Armageddon . . . Maybe Later // Below PDX *new
BIRD COSTUMES // Natural Disasters // split cassette w/ Aerosol Constellations // Isolated Now Waves/Thankless *new
SUSAN SCHROEDER, JESSE WILEY, & BEN PHILLIPS // side A // Of Sex, Your Body lathe-cut 7" // Deer and Bird *new
REFRIGERATOR MOTHERS // Black Moth Scrap Serum // Arab National Anthem 7" // URCKarm *new
DEATHGLEANER // Life With Lice // v/a: PDX Artix Mixtape CDR // Below PDX *new


While I was gone, I managed to see Baltimore’s burliest brawlers The New Flesh five times, including a full set recorded in Studio A at KDVS which I plan to air in its entirety once I’ve edited out the between-song silence. So yeah, I saw them five times in six nights, and it never got old for me. This is one of the most tremendously assaultive and agonizing bands ever.

Like last year’s message board darlings Pissed Jeans (and curiously this year’s goats since they came out with a record on Sub Pop), the New Flesh seem to have every song ever by Fang and Drunks with Guns committed to memory, but unlike the Jeans boys, the New Flesh dispense with all humor and punch up the negativity two or three rungs higher with militaristic drumwork featuring machinelike repetition of tom rolls and fills, more complex rhythms, and alien guitar chords. It sounds like all of Pissed Jeans’ influences have gone into the New Flesh’s funnel, too, but additionally, you hear some early Swans, Missing Foundation, Brainbombs, and Whitehouse.


the New Flesh @ Jeff the Pigeon

The New Flesh seems to have made more inroads in the noise scene than with punks, rockers, etc. I’ve heard from Brian Miller (D.I.Y.C.E.O. of Deathbomb Arc) that the band Dynasty, the Providence band comprised of Kites and God Willing—and the band which caused such a stir on their tour with Coughs this summer—focused on the New Flesh as their primary influence. And perhaps this was emblematic of the most noteworthy trend in the noise scene in 2006…noise dudes picking up guitars, basses, and drums and letting all hell break loose. Deep Jew—with a cast of artists from the Troniks/Pac Rec stable—was another to do this in 2006. Another band active for a while within this idiom is Byron House, and their show I caught at the ATA in San Francisco this summer was impressive. Certainly Sightings and Burmese seem to be relevant to all of these bands, too, and Sightings in particular have made blogwaves on both sides of the noise and rock divide. If this continues further, I see a great opportunity for this neo-pigfuck revival making friends outta more punks and noisefreaks.

The “Vessel” album is the strongest New Flesh release to date, but the nastiest has gotta be their one-sided collaboration 7” with Robert Inhuman of Realicide and Hentai Lacerator. Have a listen to this outstandingly authentic cover of DWG’s “Punched in the Head” made even more evil by Robert’s incredibly harsh demon vokills.

Next up is a late entry into the “Best Album of 2006” sweepstakes, the limited-to-226 double-LP of Junkpile Jimmy who deploys swampy bluespunk and junkyard metals to take us on an adventure through a diverse array of musical styles from old-timey folk-blues to outsider psych to covers of Flipper and an old “Killed by Death” classic to even a Mötörhead rip and excursions into even more experimental territory. But the whole thing rocks and is totally cogent, and even when Jimmy plays the bluespunk fairly straight, it never sounds too much like the Oblivians (which is not such a bad thing for bands that do, if they do it well). This is an absolutely incredible album that is truly unique!



Another startling double vinyl is this new glossy gatefold with stupendous Seripop graphics containing a 4-way split of some of the most exciting high-energy no-wave-informed dayglonoise bands from France, England, Canada, and the States, and they are all in top form here. Dmonstrations and Crack und Ultra Eczema will hafta wait ‘til vol. 111, but for now, but Montreal’s AIDS Wolf will get you dizzy with corkscrewing guitars, panic shrieks, and odd oval-shaped rhythm. If anyone’s still foolish enough to sell AIDS Wolf short with an overly broad brushstroke of the Arab on Radar ripoff brush, this might be the final deathblow to all the needless hatergames. This band is daring and exciting and deserves your attention. Next up is the most refreshingly un-British-sounding band in Britain since…I dunno…ever? (At least since Superhelicopter, Ltd., I think!) PRE is ignited artpunk with a propulsive yet limber rhythmic bass/drum synergy a’la Erase Errata and the right kinda splintery, spidery guitarwork to please the angles ‘n’ artpunk set. With the helium yelp of the female singer, this almost sounds like an A Frames record at 78 rpm. While I was in Vancouver, a friend played me PRE’s new 7” on Blood of the Drash, and it was even more impressive. A growing number of Americans are courting PRE to come tour the U.S.A., and I will be joining them.

I hope to pick up with more reviews later…
(Check back tomorrow perhaps!)

Friday, November 17, 2006

AFS v. 110 Postponed for Pink Reason Tour!

(I'll post v. 110 on 11/28!)

Hello Friends!

This band came outta nowhere (actually, Green Bay, Wisconsin) to make one of the very best records of 2006.

The band is called Pink Reason.

Here's the MySpace presence...
http://www.myspace.com/secondculture

Pink Reason's music is so diverse, it's probably able to appeal to the majority of people targeted to read this scattershot cross-post email. It takes at least a good long paragraph to explain, but in a nutshell, I call it "ultra-drugged sleazy freakblues-psych-artpunk of thee highest order!" (But with hints of folk, electro, and even a hint of gothiness (in the best possible way, mind you!)).

Remember the guy who loved the Remington electric shaver company so much that he bought the company? Well, I love this band so much, I'm ready to drive them up and down the West Coast and roadie them myself. I'm burning up all my remaining paid vacation days for this, so I know it'll be worth it for you to walk, bike, bus, drive, take a cab...


P.S. Here's the entire tour itinerary...

Fri 11/17 @ the Bakery, 3407 Harlan St., Oakland (w/ New Flesh, Sexual Tourist, Universal Baltimore)
Sat 11/18 @ Delta of Venus in Davis, CA (w/ Nothing People/Art Lessing & the Flower Vato)
Sun 11/19 @ Hemlock Tavern in SF, CA (w/ Nothing People)
Mon 11/20 @ Food Hole in Portland, OR (w/ Blow Up Nihilist/New Flesh/Argumentix)
Tue 11/21 @ Funhouse in Seattle, WA (w/ Kount Fistula/Nice Smile/Hopscotch Boys)
Wed 11/22 @ Other Space, Cambie @ Georgia, Vancouver, BC (w/ Hot Loins/Fun 100/International Falls)
Thu 11/23 @ Pub 340 in Vancouver, BC (w/ Shearing Pinx & No Feeling)
Fri 11/24 @ Rotturé, 315 SE Third, Portland, OR (w/ Haiku Ambulance + ????)

I've included some words by some folks who are influential in the blogosphere to get you more interested in Pink Reason...

Doug Mosurak's "Still Single" review column at Dusted
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/511
Pink Reason might be new, but totally reaches back to that period of musical isolation, with a truly frozen, loner vibe that is all but lost on those who are playing outside of sex/drugs/rock/roll motivations. No, demons are being let loose here, the kind that smell like mildew and haunt basements. It's one mysterious guy named Kevin and he's channeling the solitude in a way that hasn't felt this complete since Luxurious Bags hung it up. Claustrophobic mope done right; a 5 A.M. comedown vibe that shivers where it would otherwise warm, with ten-dollar organ floating in and around the premises, even-keeled and truly on its own amidst a sea of garage-punk types. "New Violence" gets close to Kate Bush territory regardless of the speed it's played at, and is my favorite here, though the other tunes are definitely no slouch, and "Throw It Away" comes as close to a conventional psychedelic figurine sound as anything I've heard recently. Challenging, inspired, and not easy to shake. Intense Myspace presence to boot.

Tom "Siltbreeze" Lax's "Siltblog"
http://siltblog .blogspot.com/2006/06/malice-in-dairylandpink-reasons-st-7.html
They seem to have a pretty good take on the woeful ennui that make Saxon hearts (& veins) flutter & I wouldn't be suprised to meet this band & find'em wrapped in scarves that had once been owned by JG & Ch 39 or other, lesser known phlegmatic Deutsch masters that worship at the Reed, Chilton, Richards alter. From a more jovial, Quixotic perspective (mine or theirs, no matter) this could also pass for liquid take, pre Ohio Demo's from the Cramps; the wet, nascent beat of gravel 'n blues has a loose & rickety DIY presence that would make any right-headed Anglo murk-shuffler light up like a radial bonfire. The best record of it's ilk to ooze outta Wisconsin since Hollywood Autopsy slithered into exile.

Hear Pink Reason's live session in WFMU...
http://www.wfmu.org/listen.m3u?show=20231&archive=29766&starttime=2:02:39
Brian Turner's pre-show comments:
Green Bay, Wisconsin is the smallest locale in the USA to own a major league football team, has some hellish winters, and also is the home base of a guy named Kevin who has sent forth one of the stranger 7" singles to pass through WFMU in recent memory. Capturing the stumbling blues of early Royal Trux, the creeping synth and echoed percussion of the Legendary Pink Dots, and the android alienation of Gary Numan (if he was recording some 70's DIY demo with a cheap organ in a dank basement), there's about four other unpeggable things floating around in each one of these songs that I just have to shrug my shoulders and stop trying to be so analytical all the damn time. Check out what's sure to be an interesting live session today.

From Larry Dolman at http://www.blastitude.com/
2006: THE RETURN OF THE WEIRD DIY 7-INCH! YOU HEARD IT HERE LAST!"
"First of all, what a gem of a 7-inch by Pink Reason, two sides of gloriously weird underground pop/rock/something from Green Bay, Wisconsin -- how often does that happen? First song "Throw It Away" is the one that slays me the most -- acoustic guitar pounding out a three-chord mantra, with droning electric guitar melodies winding over it, and really strange multi-tracked venusian/manphibian vocals singing great hooks. The two shorter songs on Side B take the same basic elements and actually dress 'em up a little weirder by slowing down the pulse and adding
even more helium to the vocals, along with other odd overdubs like flutes and music-box keyboards. 300 pressed here, probably long gone, West Coast tour coming up in November, and word is that Siltbreeze is putting out a full-length soon, which I honestly can't wait to hear."

From Phil Honolulu's http://lettershavenoarms.blogspot.com/
It's good stuff. The one that comes up first on my browser "Throw It Away", has a the same ramshackle, um, 'vibe' that early Royal Trux has, like you were lucky enough to walk into the best part of a two hour drone when everyone was hitting everything just right. The drum fills are subtle and great, the ominous guitar lines fit in snug. An evil howl of dark feedback vocals almost overpowers the song, before it lilts off into a meandering acoustic fade. I dig the relax crawl of the tempo; it's like the song instinctively knows it's good and doesn't have to go fast to impress anyone. 'New Violence' has some great echoed drums and nicely bizarre synth. It has a seat of the pants, semi improvised feel to it, and the deceptively simple little synth riffs are perfect in context, plodding organic blurps over the chime. 'Slate Train' lazily drifts on subtle synths and echoed percussion, like a far more calm track on the first Intelligence LP. Here's hoping someone will make a Pink Reason LP. I would certainly purchase it.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Art for Spastics v. 109

.
Download AFS v. 109

...or stream it

HUE BLANC’S JOYLESS ONES // That Vile Regret // Fait Accompli // P.Trash *new
MAYPOLE // Glance at the Past // The Real // Anopheles *new
MAYPOLE // Show Me The Way
MAYPOLE // Henry Stared

NEW DAWN // Dark Thoughts // There´s a New Dawn // Akarma 1970/2001
THE HUNCHES // Turkey Timer Pinnochio // Hobo Sunrise // In the Red 2004
DEAD MOON // Diamonds in the Rough // Echoes Of The Past // Sub Pop *new
DRIVETRAIN // Time Is of the Essence // Time Is of the Essence b/w Trains // Tombstone 1988
BRIAN WILSON SHOCK TREATMENT // Can U Feel It? // The Lords of the Infinite Cosmos 7” // Slutfish *new
NOTHING PEOPLE // I Can´t Find My Monkey // Problems 7” // S-S Records *new

THE INTELLIGENCE // No Nurses // I´m Your Taxi 7” // The Holy Cobra Society *new
SKAREKRAU RADIO // We Will Kill // The One Eyed Swine Is Queen // Apop *new
KK RAMPAGE // Part 2 // split 7” w/ Hot Girls Cool Guys & Prettty Thigh // HIV Tarnations *new
LAKE OF DRACULA // Four Teachers // Skeletal Remains // Savage Land *new
BEAR PROOF SUIT // Prosecutors Will Be Violated // Science is Dead 7” // Criminal IQ *new
STRATE COATS // Teenage Suicide // s/t 7” // Hook or Crook *new

STRATE COATS // Swingin´ Strate Coat
STRIP MALL SEIZURES // True Story // s/t LP // True Panther Sounds *new
LEPRECHAUN CATERING // The Roar of Pizza Boxes // Male Plumage // White Denim *new
THE GEEKS // Visiting Day at San Quentin // Too Fat Pig 7” // S-S *new
SLICING GRANDPA // title unknown // 4 Trak Album 7” // Strain Theory *new
SLICING GRANDPA // Urination Crane // Urination Crane 7” // Strain Theory 2005
RUBBER O CEMENT // Excised Muscle Cells... // split 7” w/ Slicing Grandpa // no label 2006
PENETRATION CAMP // Argento // split 7” w/ Slicing Grandpa // no label *new

SUNNO))) & BORIS // Etna // Altar // Southern Lord *new
GROUND-ZERO // Consume Red // Consume Red // ReR 1997 *request