February 2010
49 posts
Chris Brokaw – Gracias Ghost of the Future LP...
This privately-pressed affair from Chris Brokaw (late of Come, Codeine, Consonant, the New Year, and in the midst of a varied and worthwhile solo career) finds him wordlessly re-enacting the Oslo Accords alone in the studio. Side A features the tenor banjo exclusively, weaving in and out of a repeated theme with effects-laden, even withering compositions, where this thing is tricked out by teen...
Bright Shuttle – Cold Nice Gold LP (Laboratory...
Back in that great decade that gave life to the first half of my 20s, there was this Polvo-lovin’ band on Squealer Records that had a violin player and a fixation on avant-classical noodlings rather than a need for vocals. The name will come to me after I’ve turned in this review. (Was it Spatula? –Ed.) Anyway, that’s really the only band that full-on copped Polvo’s guitar-thing, which is really...
Myelin Sheaths – Stackticon 7” EP (Bachelor) / Do...
Lady-led garage-slop that is spot-fucking-on. It sounds like the Cheater Slicks put microphones in front of all three Vivian Girls but wouldn’t let them touch their instruments. There’s a scope here, too, as perhaps three different approaches are fiddled with: textured-but-sounds-like-crap pop, blown-out garage-hate, and medium-warm garage-rock. The Hozac single does with a bit less variety than...
Pajo – Scream With Me LP (Black Tent)
Professional musician David Pajo makes like a zit on Lou Barlow’s teenage cheek, and oozes a chunky, spurting sense of conceptual know-how. Here, he takes nine Misfits songs, gives each an emotive arrangement for breathy male voice and acoustic guitar, and essentially turns each one into a love song. Even “Bullet” seems a bit less vile in this environment, lit by votive candles and sitting...
Serena-Maneesh – “Ayisha Abyss” b/w “Call-Back...
This month’s stack generated at least three or four joyful urges to curse out loud to no one in particular, and that’s peculiar re: the piss-poor condition of a sonic demographic that will never knock my dick off like it did fifteen years ago. Sorry about that, and it’s got nothing to do with age or bitterness. I harbor more excitement (and the requisite lack of life-stability) about new music...
Upsilon Acrux/Honey Ride Me a Goat – split LP...
Upsilon Acrux has been building gold geodesic sculptures in the fourth dimension for some time now, and it’s nice to see some of their desire for clashing, studiously abrasive prog sharing some screen time with flourishes of modal jazz and synth windowdress. They bring it, a little more playful than usual too, as splits aren’t where you’re going to put some grand statement. They’re the...
Happy birthday, blog.
One day shy of my own birthday, Still Single (in Tumblr form) turns 1. Howzaboutit!
Balaclavas – Roman Holiday LP (Dull Knife)
Interest turned into raves, and now raves turn into worship. I’d like to consider Balaclavas the premium dark/Gothic/post-punk band of the Americas circa 2010, and hopefully for a lot longer. This short debut album keeps the mood of their first EP, maintains the sinister consistency of its follow-up Inferno, and hones everything to a point that could draw blood. Staying together for a couple of...
Barreracudas – “Dog Food” b/w “Diet Coke” 7”...
Here’s some new work from Atlanta garage rockers (late of the Hiss, and an overseas major label deal that translated into nothing stateside), with a previously had a single on Douchemaster. “Dog Food” is literally about pet food and all the zany stuff that dogs will eat (like tampons…gross). It’s humorous, Alpo and Beggin’ Strips are namechecked, and the band members howl like...
Brown Recluse – The Soft Skin 12” EP (Slumberland)
This EP contains four bright and gentle songs from Brown Recluse (featuring Still Single contributor Herbie Shellenberger, no less), recorded in 2007 but not released until last year. Fans of the British side of indie-pop will enjoy the light, airy vocals and lush instrumentation, though these guys are American. There’s cello and trumpet/flugelhorn everywhere, though you can tell they are added...
Hans Chew – “New Cypress Grove (Black Dirt Mix)”...
Between the too-small fedora hat and the sport coat so short that the elbow patches rest on his biceps, Hans Chew looks like a guy who wishes he could walk straight into a ‘70s-vintage Tom Waits song and live there forever. But like more recent Waits, his antique affectations coexist with modern antics. A stranger to recording studios four years ago, lately Chew’s shown his range at the ivories...
Indian Wars – s/t 7” EP (Bachelor)
This Vancouver band plays some reverby garage rock, slightly country-inflected at times, that might remind you of any number of similar bands. The textural grit of the Seeds or some other some Nuggets-esque steez is what they’re going for, though their sound is much more ramshackle and lacking the rhythmic backbone of a tight ‘60s combo. The rockers, like “Odds And Ends” on The...
Mickey – “She's So Crazy” b/w “I Am Your Trash” 7”...
This single opens with big attitude as Mickey comes out with a vintage glam/powerpop trick – an upfront vocal lead-in, the instant rave-up scream of “She’s so crazy!” Immediately a glammy atmosphere is achieved (of course, the band is called MICKEY), and the sass is pinned proudly to their leather jackets. Tuneful and classic sounding, rockin’ and a-rollin’, and centered...
Nerve City – Red Tops 7” EP (Hozac)
“Red Tops” on side A starts with an evil, churning Dick Dale surf riff. Sounds like listening to a band practice in a small room from down the hall, or from the other side of an airplane hangar. That’s probably quite intentional and only a total quadrilateral would suggest this would benefit from slicker production. But lyrics are hard to make out, there’s no bass, and...
Nothing People – “Enemy With An Invitation” b/w...
As often as Nothing People are compared to Chrome or other synthy purveyors of cosmic slop, they have always had a focused and forceful rock foundation, which is the mode they operate in here. While their Late Night LP was an affair praised for its sinister, nocturnal lysergic vibes, the electronics and vocal treatments that warranted the comparisons they’ve received are held at bay in favor of...
Odd Clouds – Deceiving Illusion LP (Not Not Fun)
Odd Clouds is a Michigan-area jam band that explores free rock/psych forms using primarily electro-acoustic instrumentation. As these sounds go, it’s not the most outer stratosphere thing you’ll ever hear, but the relatively grounded use of rock ideas (such as regular 4/4 drumming) provides a fairly direct interface that makes this pretty fun. It’s nice that this is so...
The Powerchords – “More Than Me” b/w “Chemical...
With a name like The Powerchords, you might guess this is either powerpop … or collegiate acapella. The sound is clean-cut and poppy, and these SoCal dudes make no bones about worshipping the classic punk-angled powerpop of yore (Buzzcocks, Undertones, et al.) as well as the recent school of garage poppers along the Douchemaster/Shit Sandwich/Termbo/etc axis. Fans of those labels and bands...
Rosie Thomas – Apartment Sessions LP/All The Way...
All the Way From Michigan Not Mars is a nicely-packaged DVD and LP combo from Brooklyn’s Factory 25 label (the same catalog number as Closer, for those keeping score). It’s a Rosie Thomas album by name, though the focus is on the small community based around her music. Director Matt Boyd tracks the group’s tour supporting Thomas’s fourth album These Friends of Mine on the DVD. The album,...
Wet Hair – Glass Fountain LP (Not Not Fun)
Isn’t it strange how “weird” rock music has a sound of its own now? Yeah, there’s a million different bands playing a million different sounds but somehow there’s a current running through quite a few bands that feels really identifiable. Maybe it’s a common interest in cheap equipment. Wet Hair, a duo of Ryan Garbes and Shawn Reed, don’t strike me as a million miles away from a band like...
Bassholes – ... and without a name LP (Columbus...
Bassholes are still grinding it out, and they still sound like a million explosions of raw white fury rolled into an electric fence. They’re a good fit on Columbus Discount, bridging historical gaps between Columbus classics like V-3 and the Gibson Brothers and newer bands like El Jesus de Magico and Psychedelic Horseshit. This whole record, apparently part of an archival series, is an...
Death Domain – Toxoplasma Gondii 7” EP (Army of...
Another EP of stern minimal synth by SIDS’ Adam Stroupe, and once again he’s proving to be the Iron Lung of this synth shit in some ways, as two of the three songs are all about bacteria, viruses, microorganisms, etc. “Toxoplasma Gondii” and “V. Infernalis” describe ways in which you’ll get sick, and “From My Window” demonstrates his voyeuristic tendencies, but this seems like a throwaway...
Peter Kolovos – New Bodies LP (Thin Wrist)
Kolovos runs this Thin Wrist label, inactive for a spell, and played guitar in one of its acts, Open City. I will cop to having never paid attention. I tried to catch up by purchasing a water-damaged Open City LP, but was so grossed out by the black mold growing on the sleeve that I let it go. I know full well I was missing something, just like with those Burning Star Core records on the label I...
Lucky Dragons/Weekend – Sorrow | Jubilance Pt. 1...
First of three records in a curated series of split singles, each one hand-numbered, with elaborate cover art, and on light blue marbled vinyl. Lucky Dragons take a two-note vocal theme and extend it to a minimal, Eastern-tinged experiment in timbre and texture, winding up as a treated thumb piano take on the whole thing. This is the most interesting part, as the beat of the instrument is layered...
Mako Sica – Live on Mayday at Strobe LP...
Weighty post-rock swing from a Chicago ensemble that’s likely been steeped in similar kinds of music since its infancy. Mako Sica actually gets a little heavier than most, though not aggressively so. There’s a ponderous quality to the whole thing that makes it a lot easier to take than your average freakout sesh, and to be fair, Mako Sica take it a good deal further than that. “W” creates...
Mit Nye Band – 2004-2009 Vol. 1 LP / 2004-2009...
Only 350 copies of Mit Nye Band’s debut 10” were pressed back in 2006. I have four of them. These records sort of just came to me, between the used bins at record stores and promotional mailings. Still, that’s an unreasonably high number of any record, let alone a privately-pressed Danish import record, for one person to own. If you live in NYC and you review vinyl records, you are in their...
The Moby Dicks – s/t 7” EP (Mammoth Cave Recording...
Unabashed Ramones/MTX type silliness from somewhere in Canada, well-rendered if slight by design. That hot dog on the cover looks kind of unholy, with a seeded bun. Down here in America, the only place you can get away with that shit is Chicago, and I still can’t really abide by it. But this one looks like sacrilege all over. Any guesses as to what’s on this abomination (root vegetables?...
Secret Abuse – The Immeasurable Gift LP (Arbor)
Six more doleful missives by Jeff Witscher, proving that there is still a market for Flying Saucer Attack records. That’s kind of rude but also a little bit too true; The Immeasurable Gift misses out, by and large, of the bite of some of his previous recordings (Violent Narcissus on Not Not Fun was a particularly vicious outing), and when you take away that edge, it sounds like little more than...
W-H-I-T-E – Sunna Pt. 1 7” EP (Swill Children)
Standing for White Horses in Technicolor Everywhere, a name which raises my ackles a bit for being an acronym in which the first word is the acronym itself, this is a one-man overdose of Animal Collective dreamcatcher vibery that caves in on itself due to a paucity of ideas. “Go On With the Gong” is pleasant enough, thick with pipe organ synth and a pseudo-cosmic feel that is passable, if not...
White Mice – Ganjahovahdose LP (20 Buck Spin)
2009 was a good year for bad vibes. The tail end of the Not Not Fun noise explosion has been fusing to the remnants of the DIY hardcore scene, which is still collecting itself from the thrash crash. Put together, it has produced a lot of ugly records. It’s a shame that Providence’s White Mice seem to exist separate from those borders, because their fifth album Ganjahovahdose is a blistering...
Blank Realm – Heatless Ark LP (Not Not Fun)
Satisfying synth/dub/noise shoegaze haze by this family-oriented Brisbane drone rock outfit – three of the members are brothers and sister, must be a bummer if they get into band fights though. They attempt to apply a textural approach to rock instruments, creating a moody, in-the-moment feeling over these eight tracks. They have the capacity to rock hard and lunkheaded like all the...
The Feeling of Love – OK Judge Revival LP (Kill...
My heart sank just a tiny little bit when I saw just one word on the back cover of OK Judge Revival, album number who-knows by France’s the Feeling of Love: “was.” As in, the Feeling of Love “was” but maybe no longer “is.” Just checked their Myspace to be sure, and it looks like they still “are.” Being a French garage band is in their favor; those folks know how to do quite a bit with what...
The Garbage and the Flowers – “Alamo Rose” b/w...
If any of you remember at all, you might remember the Garbage and the Flowers from a Twisted Village single dating back to 1992 (which can still be had for not much money); even less of you, by design, would recall their double album compendium Eyes Rind As If Beggars, issued in a blip in the mid-‘90s. Yet this loose collection of individuals, who’ve lived their days between New Zealand and...
The Pink Noise – Alpha LP (Almost Ready) /...
Months after their release, it’s never a better time to look at some of these records that come through SSHQ. It would seem that’s a fair amount of time to let the hype blow off of weirdo records like these, but time and again the Pink Noise escape all walks of critique, all the while beating out Crystal Stilts as the most disaffected-sounding band in relevant existence right now. Few if any of...
Sex Worker – The Labor of Love LP (Not Not Fun)
An altered, faded photograph of a girl’s face adorns the cover of this LP, and the liner notes suggest a social conscience. Credit Daniel Martin-McCormick, taking a break here from his duties in Mi Ami and, coincidentally, from being a new writer at Dusted. There’s little of said themes represented musically, as tonal abstraction is the name of the game. We get three longform tracks...
Wizzard Sleeve – Make the World Go Away LP (Hozac)
Somehow I missed the deluge of Wizzard Sleeve releases and any chance I’ve had to see them live. I know, right? Downer punk trio from Alabama, doing the “Mobile Mosh” and juggling a fascination with synthesizers against making music that most people are going to find a connection with. That’s probably not gonna happen here, sadly. Their one idea – monochromatic, mopey bonecreakers, sounding...
Blocked Out – Torn Throats 7” EP (Television)
Word to the wise, whomever wrote the label copy for this 9-song tear-along: calling a hardcore band “hardworking” is a bit like saying “she has a great personality” or “it’s really safe and gets great gas mileage.” Mixing influences here a bit: There’s enough youth crew in the mix to suggest someone here has or had the X. Yet it says “No God, No Masters” right there at the top of the...
Br'er – Filled With Guilt & Diamonds LP (Edible...
The cover features a man holding bolt cutters over his dick, and that’s a better review of this whimpering pabulum as anything I can come up with. Like Jandek at his most listless, passages of silence with trembling voice and gentle swells of guitar drones and mechanical garbage bubbling in an instantly forgettable soup of lukewarm horseshit. Like their equally awful 7”, this LP is...
Christmas – Winter 7” EP (Endless Latino)
Surely these Olympia folks know they gotta be the nth band to call themselves Christmas, right? (Guys who made made a couple of OK indie rock albums then turned into Combustible Edison we’ll never forget you and wow, that was a terrible idea.) A-side “Winter” blends that willfully primitive thing Oly just refused to even take a breather with twang-verb guitar and B-side gets some no-wavey...
Daily Dance – s/t LP (Cantor)
Pay attention, because we’re in FREAKOUT MODE this week. Daily Dance was a force-of-nature rock/improvisation duo from Washington Court House, Ohio in the early ‘70s. Mere months after the Love Cry Want opus was shut down outside the White House, Doug Snyder and Bob Thompson – who I am going to guess never heard that sort of music, or for that matter anything like what they’d make here, because...
Dimples – Council Bluffs LP (Holy Smoke)
This is the best part of reviewing records. Some nondescript looking thing shows up, vaguely named, looking like an Ebullition release from 1995, and then it totally blows your hair back. Council Bluffs is like a wild, basement level Exile on Main Street. Saxophones freakout and wail, guitars switch from cleanly overdriven to ratty $2 fuzz box feedback, and the whole thing takes on this air of...
Jailbreak – The Rocker LP (Family Vineyard)
Blast o’ wax-loosening, guitar string garroted sidelong shrapnel blasts from Heather Leigh Murray (Charalambides, Scorces, Ash Castles on the Ghost Coast) on electrified pedal steel, and Chris Corsano on drums. No idea who’s singing, but that person is channeling Haino Keiji. Don’t let the Thin Lizzy refs fool you – this was made in Scotland. The choice of guitar here provides for the most...
Tom Karlsson – Pojknacke LP (Lystring)
Karlsson is a Swede, and a recognized cartoonist in his country, which explains the brain/fetus/spiky lamprey orifice tentacle bulge creature drawings which adorn much of the gatefold sleeve’s surface area … I guess. Lystring is a Swede label that took the honors of releasing the latest Brainbombs album, which, y’know, has a time and place, but was done before, and better, many years ago, before...
Liechtenstein/The Faintest Ideas – Searching for...
Who knows when Slumberland went from being a label that was searching for the good, not the “now,” and not what shows up on side one of this series’ fifth installment. Liechtenstein slip from an already slippery slope and land mouth-first on an unfortunate mediocrity tit, located somewhere between Tiger Trap and Vivian Girls, neither of which is even remotely related to mediocrity. Sometimes it...
Love Cry Want – s/t 2xLP (Weird Forest)
Holy sheepshit. Weird Forest got the rights to press up the Love Cry Want album on vinyl. Released over a decade ago on CD, this is the real thing, a beyond-gone hard/nuclear fusion quartet unlike anything we have going today. Larry Young’s on organ, right around the time of Lawrence of Newark, the singular sensation named Nicholas is on hot-rodded, ring-modulated prototype guitar synthesizer,...
Molnbär av John – I Wish I Could Draw Her Nose 7”...
This one-man Swedish tape-collage artist stakes out an anthem of unwinding with this 7”. It’s one title, split over two sides, but two distinctly different beasts. The first half is innocent and playful. Voices and delicate melodic tones are juxtaposed with unraveling loops and the usual staticy hiss, but it breathes gently. It sounds timid at times, but so carefully assembled that...
Mr. Dream Goes to Jail – s/t 7” EP (God Mode)
Though the cover looks like the “Auto-Tune the News” crew taking the piss out of Rumours, these four fast songs from this young Brooklyn band bear little resemblance to Lindsay Buckingham or Katie Couric. Instead it’s that timeless style of guitar-based rock that has practitioners hiding in every corner of America. These guys don’t seem particularly self-aware as the usual subjects...
Timmy's Organism – Squeeze the Giant 2x7” EP...
This is the much spooged-about, solo moniker-ed effort from Timmy Vulgar, a/k/a Timmy Lampinen, a/k/a that balding dude what fronted Human Eye and gave us the Clone Defects, two crews that never could quite decide if they love garage or art rock more, never a bad spot to be in, because who can’t sympathize with that? Dummies can’t. Sometimes you want the Mummies, sometimes you want the...
Tough Shits – “Pretty Wild” b/w “Why You Gotta...
Judging by the cover (one of my favorite pastimes), I fully expected some dirtball-come-lately Hellacopters/Gluecifer misstep on each side. The roots-a-billy meets roots-a-billyfied college rock a la The Connells might not be tough or wild, but it’s not shit, either. B-side is also ‘billy-informed until a nice Replacements-esque feel takes over the mild guitar/organ rave-up during the final 45...
Various Artists – Clan Destine Records Vinyl...
Here’s a throwback: a full-length vinyl compilation of “some of the best DIY sounds from around the globe,” and it’s a refreshing reminder of a time past. What’s retro is the presentation. It’s an old-school compilation, with one song carefully chosen to represent each artist, and a hand-sewn, Xeroxed ‘zine inside to give us some info on the bands....
