Eddie Golden III - Elevator (2015)

There's nothing better than getting around to hearing a new album just when the mood strikes you for the particular sort of tunes it's supplying. I've been a half-awake zombie in a hungover daze all day and of all the remedies I'd resorted to nothing is working as well as Eddie Golden III's psychedelic pop stylings.

You might have already heard Eddie Golden III before, when we was a member of the band called the Guru, whose album I wrote up a while back. Here he's ventured off into solo work, and seems to have gotten himself good and lost in the hazy world of psych-pop. It is like he blended a fantastic array of influences from Beach Boys vocals and whimsical lyrics to the oddities of 90s E6 to reverberated and warped 80s dance. Basically bedroom pop at its best: mildly confusing, engagingly non-linear and incredibly adorable. I can't really explain it too well, but every part of this albums seems familiar, yet none of it seems to fit into a pattern I recognize. Sorta like seeing a flag with all the colors you know but none of the correct shapes. A completely refreshing shuffling of pop cliches and catchy melodies.

To be had here:
Eddie Golden III -  Elevator

EP Grab Bag vol. 107

So the new computer is doing as well as I'd hoped it might. I already have to take it in for maintenance. This has made writing the blog harder, as well as just listening to music more difficult. Trying my damnest at it though. So the super full in inbox yielded these, and if your band isn't in there don't worry, I got enough for five Grab Bags. I will dole it out as I can.

To be had here:

This Heel - This Heel III (2015)

As then title of this EP indicates this is the third in a series of EPs from the Swedish outfit called This Heel, headed by one Martin M Sjöstrand. The tone of each of these EPs have varied, with the first having a garagey lo-fi feel, the second loungey pop, and finally we've arrived at psych-pop. Upbeat and quick, the third This Heel is the one that will seem the most immediately familiar to the listen of 90s indie pop. There's some truly awesome use of lyrics and building psychedelic progression, especially in songs like "Problem on Earth" and "Dragon Hiss."

indoor/indoor - one of these days (2015)

A Virginian band that makes bedroom-style indie pop. Lo-fi and not overly complex, yet markedly evocative in its upbeat expression of melancholy. They pull of that pleasant and meaningful juxtaposition of happy songs with sad meanings. The title track, "One of these Days," does stand out to me as the most exceptional of the three songs on this EP. That said, the there's not a moment I wasn't enjoying while listening to it. I hope they do make the full-length they hint on the the bandcamp page.

Engine Summer - BUZZ DRAINED (2015)

From Chicago, a band making psychedelic punk, or something they've tagged as 'groovegaze.' I gotta give them points for being the first time I've seen that genre tag used. To my hears it is somewhere between new wave, 90s noise rock, psych-pop and a touch of post-rock. I find that a compelling combination, but even if you don't just imagine a more irreverent Gang of Four. Who doesn't want to check that out? The songs are well-structured and very entertaining. These guys may be worth paying attention to.

Incesto Andar -Deusverno (2015)

A Brazilian band from the city of Sorocaba in the state of São Paulo. Not a very long affair, with only a couple of tracks. They do patch a punch however, being intense lo-fi grunge-hardcore rock, yet somehow devoid of the screaming lyrics that I would expect of a North American band playing such music. Not that they haven't got lyrics, it is just that they sing they notably well and calmer than I imagined. Both songs are stellar, worth the 10 minutes for sure. The EP was put out by the Rio de Janeiro label, Bichano Records.

Chapa Mamba - Banda Forra (2015)

I'm acutely aware that the pace of writing has dwindled. Shit happens, people have families grow and others move around and get new jobs. What can you do about it? Nothing really. I am gonna write when I get time, maybe we'll hear from the other guys sometime, perhaps not. We ain't getting paid for this after all. Thus it's always been an as the mood strikes me affair until I figure out the next step in where to take this blog. This means submissions may languish for considerable lengths, I just haven't the hours in the week to keep up. To further gum up the works, I am super curious as to what's happening in Latin American music. It seems to be preoccupying me even since the Scenes of a City series began, so on top of trying to do some submitted material I am likely to be writing up South American music more regularly. Hence today's offering....

Don't really know much background on Chapa Mamba outside of their being a Brazilian band on the Rio De Janeiro based indie label known as Transfusão Noise Records, which was recommended for listening to me by my friend Babi. All that truly matters is how absolutely endeared I am by the music they've created for Banda Forra. It's a perfect blend of jangley indie pop reminding by of my stalwart favorites of the Elephant 6 collective, hazy Californian beach rock and, unavoidably to my American ears, the few Brazilian artists that have penetrated into the hipper crowds of these United States like Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil and the lot. Chapa Mamba's songs embrace the tropical nature of Brazil in their experimentation, utilizing ambient sounds of wildlife in the background of the psych-pop songs, while at other times they are utterly and completely a pop outfit executing at the highest level of catchiness. Every little thing they do works seamlessly together. You won't be disappointed, I am sure of it.

To be had here:
Chapa Mamba - Banda Forra

P.S. As long as we're on the topic of Brazilian music I must recommend another album I learnt of by way of Babi, the 1973 self-titled release of Secos e Molhados. A band heavily influential and famous in Brazil that's hardly recognized in North America. They played a style mixed MPB (Música Popular Brasileira), glam and the progressive rock that was all the rage at the time. However, it powerfully transcends language, time and place. Good fucking music is good anywhere and anytime.

The Citradels - A Night Of Contemporary Feedback Music (2015)

I've made reference to my now living in the city of Hamtramck, MI. It's a unique town and really only for bizarre historical reasons not part of Detroit, which completely surrounds it. It's status as separate city isn't the most bizarre part about it. It's dense, more so than any of the city's suburbs and even much of the city proper, packed with immigrants, cheap hipsters and a lingering breed of poor blue collar folks who worked in the automotive factories. All stacked up in these duplexes with children playing in the streets, Arabic radio blasting through windows, calls to prayer, and bars loaded with rock and roll. The drive bars deserve special mention, they're seemingly unstuck in time, still hosting the Polish speaking old men that used to be common here, selling small drafts for $1.75 and a television mounted to the wall in 1985. I spend my evening yesterday wandering around this town full of ethnic grocery stores, holes-in-wall, and fashion retailers it is hard to imagine still existing while hearing the retro-styled psychedelia of Melbourne's The Citradels. It was pleasantly surreal to say the least.

Hopefully some of you are familiar with this group, as I've written up three of their albums before, most recently last year's Nepenthe. Everything I have heard from them bears the same seed of retro-rock, heavily focused in late 1960s psychedelic and incorporating elements of drone, shoegaze and psych-pop that came in later years. A Night Of Contemporary Feedback Music is not exception, in fact that explicitly cite 1968 in the introduction track. Without having gotten a chance to dip back into their whole catalog, I do feel this new album has created a fresh sound despite how the seem to keep in similar genesis of atmospheric throw-back in the others. Moreover, the second half has tracks like "Dear Ivy" and "Pretty Smooth, Ey " that're excellent fuzzy pop songs. Then there's the non-Western instruments such as the Armenian Duduk, Balalaika, Pungi, Djembe and most noticeably the Sitar providing the experimental and mystic sound that made early psychedelia so distinctive. Finally, when you download this check out the nicknames they've given themselves, they're all great but hats off to coining "Coolerbreeze Cloverstream."

To be had here:
The Citradels -  A Night Of Contemporary Feedback Music

Nate Henricks - Quest for the Obsolete Egg (2015)

As I'm sure you may imagine I get large amount of musical material sent in for write-ups. This is something I encourage, but it doesn't seem to be fully randomly how the come in, at least from my point of view. I'll get a bunch of emails from folks I've never heard of, then one after another it will be returning musicians in an absolute shower of happy reoccurrence. This is my way of saying we have a series of previously featured musicians upcoming, starting with the notable Nate Henricks. This dude has been often praised by me for reasons that'll be clear to anyone that listens to any of his albums, not least of all the newest among them, Quest for the Obsolete Egg.

If is possible to comprehend I do believe our dear Mr. Henricks got even a bit farther out with this album. It bears similarities to the tracks "Your Arcade Prize (Live from Times Square)" and "Vegetarian Dog (Live in Tokyo)" from the prior album, Apple Juice, insomuch that it has an effected lo-fi quality to the vocals and an echoey facet that serves for choir-style backing. Obviously he does many weird things throughout like a spoken word list joke and some most erratic instrumentation. Naturally, these aren't gimmicks but the strange brilliance of Nate Henricks style of recording psychedelic bedroom pop.

Also, if you're not aware this is only one of many albums put out by this prolific man currently dwelling is Lawrence, Kansas. Do take the time to check out others. They never disappoint.

To be had here:
Nate Henricks - Quest for the Obsolete Egg

LAMBS - 11 Songs (2014)

From time to time I make an egregious oversight in when sorting through the many submissions we receive, including being completely spaced as far as SRM goes at all. I believe one of my absentee periods coincided with LAMBS sending us something. Straight up, pilgrims, I found a year or more old email, and then I felt bad about it. On the plus side I looked into what LAMBS has been up to since then, and it seems they've got a full-length that came out in the first half of 2014 and it is most certainly worth talking up.

LAMBS are from Cambridge, Ontario which is a city I've passed through several times in my life, as it lies between Detroit and Toronto and further on Rochester, NY where my little brother attends graduate school (shout out: it is his birthday tomorrow, motherfuckers). Anyway, while I fondly recall the nice girl I had to gently explain to I didn't want cream in my goddamn coffee in Crambridge's Tim Horton's, more exciting than a particular experience of mine there is that it's produced such a fine band as LAMBS. They're indie pop, sometimes touching up on pysch-pop, but these almost seem like terms a bit late for what their sound has captured. Namely, these dudes seem to have an affection for Buddy Holly and his sweetly charming, twangy early rock and roll vibe. The amazing song "Summer Fling" drives this home very eloquently. The other songs are more subtle in the Holly-esque mimicry, blending many early rock, psychedelic and indie pop sounds. They're soft, pleasant but far from cloying and incredibly well composed in these 11 Songs.

Oh, and what they had submitted was there 2013 EP entitled Blisters. For the record it's fucking awesome and should have been featured on SRM for sure. So if you like 11 Songs, look into it sooner rather than later.

To be had here:
LAMBS - 11 Songs

The Vickers - Ghosts (2014)

A few days rest does a wonderful thing for the ears. So much music so fast there for a minute. Always say I'm gonna cut back but it doesn't seem to work out that way too often. There's the knowledge that I've got a submitted album from some dudes from Italy or wherever chilling in the inbox that makes me come back sooner than I imagined to writing shit up with rapidity.

The Vickers are indeed from Italy, the city of Firenze to be exact. Yet you'd be forgivable if you thought they were a British band hearing them without any other information. This is no accident, as they seem to have plotted an act that pulls directly from the British Invasion and later psychedelic music that was popular on the island and held international attention in the 1960s. The Vickers is a name that could fall in with the likes of the Kinks, the Troggs, the Searchers and so on very neatly. In light of this the title of this album, Ghosts, takes on an meaning it otherwise lacked. The Vickers are a reincarnated form of the iconic style that we all grew up hearing on the radio and from our folks records collections, at least if we were lucky. To this end they're an endearing band, if not the most cutting edge. Of course, how or why would you want to be cutting edge if what you'd like to play is hazy, 60s-esque psychedelia? Certainly why should you if you're as good at it as the Vickers are. I recommend it to those that enjoy that British form of the psychedelic revolution, so long as you don't fret too much over it coming fifty years later and from Italy. Or as Craig would say. "sounding like a band that I'd rather hear." Expand your mind, even if in a direct that you fell you know, why don't you?

To be had here:
The Vickers - Ghosts

Lindberg Hotel - Lindberg Hotel II (2014)

Right after I write up Albino Father's II album that has a II in its title. Roman numerals must be en vogue. Also en vogue and overdue for attention is South American music. People like it and not just with the few of us that are writing this blog, but the readers seem to be reacting substantially to the Brazilian and Argentine music that's been shared here. Larry's São Paulo post is our most viewed of all the Scenes of a City features by a long way, and I still find myself listening to the bands from his first installment of the series on Guayaquil, Ecuador. I am very excited about getting to discover all these Latin American artists that if this was even 15 years ago what stand an extremely pitiful chance of ever getting such a diverse audience as this wonderful internet provides for. In this spirit I am glad to introduce you to Lindberg Hotel.

As the title suggests this is the second album by the largely solo project known as Lindberg Hotel. It is the efforts of Claudio Romanichen who resides in the Southern Brazilian city of Curitiba. Lindberg Hotel II is my first exposure to his music, and honestly with all the submissions pouring in lately I haven't got a chance to check out his first full-length as much as I'd like to. However, that's hardly a prerequisite to enjoy a musician's current work. Lindberg Hotel II is a very appealing, washed out indie pop album that has a creative melding of 1960s pop (there's a song called "Beatles Posters") and shoegaze influences. The songs are endearing and sweet and I can't even make out what he's saying, and mind you I do think he's singing in English. Has a definite romantic feeling to the songwriting, without getting sedimental or morose. While it does possess a bedroom project sound; I was informed he does play live shows in his home city with a guitarist called Eduardo Ambrosio (these names are fucking top notch). Finally, I'd like to add this is another release from young Recife-based label Transtorninho Records, who you may recall from the 151515 write up from a couple of months ago. 

Nate Henricks - Apple Juice (2014)

The return of the much lauded Lawrence, Kansas-based experimental musician Nate Henricks. Followers of Spacerockmountain should recall the several previous posts on releases from Mr. Henricks and the interview with him on an earlier episode of our podcast. So I don't think it'll be a stretch to imagine my excitement at seeing that he's gone a released another album, I believe this to be his fifthteenth. Apple Juice carries on and simultaneously deviates from the themes of the recently preceding albums like NEON FOR NO ONE and HORSERADISH, that is as much as a theme can be applied to experimental pop. 

Overall, the songs are still very much in the camp of bedroom psych-pop that I've used to describe Henricks' music before, but the songs that begin the album have a harsher and cheerful tone, with more dissonance and erratic features that caused be some jostling upon the first listen, yet no means did I dislike it. In fact, the listener shall notice he circles back to this style with the track, "Tazareth," where some post-hardcore seems to have seemed in. Now, there are songs that'll fit the E6 sort of fuzzy psych that Henricks is a master at if he so chooses, and the two 'live' tracks "Vegetarian Dog" and "Your Arcade Prize" are instant earworms in this vein. I found myself humming each of these at work all week long. However, what makes Apple Juice as an album a truly awesome listen in the variation in throughout the short batch of songs. Being only 21 minutes it begs repeated listenings, and has I did so I found myself looking forward to all the weird, noisy and uncharacteristic parts as much as anything that could be considered a single out these tracks. The chiptune boops and beeps he throws in, the howling singing for a minute, the dark guitar riff and sound effects all add up into a wild display, which is more coherent than sound collage for sure but bears some relationship. The final number, "What is Not the Answer," is even a country tune, and a beautifully done one at that.

To be had here:
Nate Henricks - Apple Juice

Opposites - Poorly Captured Practice Vol. 3 (2014)

Chicago's Opposites have a loose sound and structure, as they name of this album would imply, as if they were practicing. This doesn't mean it isn't interesting, more that there's a certain lack of urgency that makes the songs relaxing, even when they're relatively fast. Once again I am gonna have to rely on my love of Elephant 6 for a comparison, as the singing reminds me of Andy Gonzalez of Marshmallow Coast, and the vibe of the album reminds me of his Marta Tennae side project. Strange, psychedelic but never overwhelming or intense, a subtle but effective sort of meandering in sounds. Although, Opposites seem to have a more rock and roll sound that those projects, the feeling is there. All that said, I felt very comfortable listening to this and found myself endearing to the tracks and looking forward to the same little bits and flourishes with each play.

This album is being put out by Grandpa Bay Recordings of Chicago, which some of the more attentive readers may recall from the Mao Tzu albums they've releases in the past, including the split with This is Lorelei earlier this year.

To be had here:
Opposites - Poorly Captured Practice Vol. 3

Scenes Of A City, Vol 4. Lyon, France

If I never mentioned it before I am a fan of learning history. While I own mostly stacks of novels and short stories written by dead old Europeans, strange Latin Americans and tormented Asians I began gathering knowledge of these other parts of the world in the more conventional source of history texts. This lead to a geography fascination, as I poured through the maps and lists of historic events and stored away the important sites of battles, the economic hubs and political capitals of the world. Yet with all my unsophisticated research as a juvenile I don't know much about Lyon, France beyond it being the second largest city in that country. While, a city of that size in such a culturally powerful nation can't be sitting on its hunches, so I wanted to see what music they were playing there other than what I am sure have been at least a half dozen bands that submitted releases from there, as France does like to submit the tunes.

To be had here:

Hugo Clarence - The Ocean Tape (2014)

This artist was the instigating factor that caused be to pick Lyon for this Scenes of a City. As Hugo Clarence has a track called "Porto City" and you may recall that was the previously featured municipality. This turned me onto his slightly more recent release, The Ocean Tape. Echoey, psych-tinged naturalismo mixed with bluesy alt country, if you can grasp that. The songs will remind one of style that regained popularity with the likes of Devendra Banhart, who I still enjoy listening to. Plus this includes a sent up to Hank Williams, which is pretty legit.

Ouiouioui - Oui Oui Oui (2014)

With such affirming names it seems this EP was bound to be pleasing. It's electro-pop, as stated on the the gentleman with an eyeball for a mouth's suit coat. Slower in tempo than you may expect, the tracks are sort of simmering just below a boil most of the time with lovely beats and imaginative instrumentation. The songs never reach a fever pitch, instead they keep a wonderful balance between a down tempo and a flashy electronic freakout. Ultimately it has a cinematic feeling, with light tension being a driving element.

Strange Milk - The Odd One Out (2013)

There's nothing about this band that would make one assume they're from France at all. They sing in English and they play like a band from Athens, GA, Austin, TX or name your college town with good tunes of choice. Nonetheless, Strange Milk lives in Lyon from what I can tell, even playing shows with French garage rock favorites, Qúetzal Snåkes. Their charming psych-pop that fits so neatly into what I have been desiring to hear lately I'm have a hard time moving on to another band from Lyon to write about.

MALAÏSE - MALAÏSE (2014?)

An album to shake you out of your complacency from how easy-going everything on this post has been so far. This album is a rather heavy and full sounding post-punk release befitting a band with an umlaut, or more accurately a tréma as they are French. Again, sung in English which I'm told is the language of rock and roll, and who am I to fret over the fact I can theoretically understand what the mighty female vocalist is singing? I can't for the record, it is beautifully washed out with the wall-of-sound and loud guitars. Also, it is another album tagged "cold wave" so I guess I am getting down on that sound.

Alex Calder - Strange Dreams (2014)

Sometimes I enjoy a record so much that I forget that I was going to write about it. Or sometimes it's not that I forget, but that I delay writing anything because no words seem to do the music justice.

A combination of the two has kept me from sharing Alex Calder's "Strange Dreams" for nearly a month now.

Alex Calder is a Canadian songwriter out of Montreal that makes curious and bewitching indie-psych songs. It's pop without sugar. It follow conventional formulas but the production and melodies are creative without being too colorful. A few years back he was the drummer of a great Canadian band out of Vancouver called Makeout Videotape, which also featured current Pitchfork indie darling, Mac Demarco. There are stylistic similarities in the production of "Strange Dreams" and Demarco's output, and both songwriters have releases on Brooklyn's excellent Captured Tracks. This makes me think think one or the other is involved with one or the others solo stuff... or maybe, JUST MAYBE, they're the same fucking person.

If only we had indie rock conspiracies.

Anyone familiar with Demarco's records will hear what I mean. There's a pervading warble... a bending in and out of tune.. the kind of warping that happens to cassette tapes that have been in a moist basement for 15 years. This slightly detuned effect gives the music a strange and dreamlike quality. So... great name for this release.

Psychedelic bedroom pop with an unsettling quality. "Strange Dreams" is a perfect records for days so hot and humid that your brain begins to denature and you become one with your clothing.

10,000 stars.

Alex Calder - Strange Dreams

EP Grab Bag vol. 63

Here's a collection of EPs from America's eastern seaboard with a German group thrown in for good measure. Sure it is lo-fi, but it isn't garage rock which is perhaps usually for me in a grab bag but I am all about these solo and duo acts doing this insanely awesome stuff that bridges genres and influences to such a degree they are nearly rendering those taxonomies obsolete. Heavy on social commentary, which has really true for all these EPs, it makes me feel a bit down that the messages are true but comforting in how at least all these guys are here explaining it to us. Good summertime music to enjoy, then get a bit bummed out, then remember that gin is certainly a thing and you could sure could use some.

To be had here:
The Amount of Light We Give Off - LIST (2014)

Starting off with a motherfucking doozy, German post-punk that integrates some wonderful noise, new wave and darkwave. Had this album in the inbox for a minute so I have gotten a chance to hear this several times, each endearing me more to the merits of this EP. The songs are very catchy and sound much more dance-able than you might imagine with the kinda dark and moody genres they've blended. The single "Together Apart" is an epically fine track that I cannot get enough of.


Mason Mercer - SLOBBER (2014)

I just got this EP and was delighted by what I heard. New York-based bedroom pop musician Mason Mercer uses sampling, looping and bizarre chord progressions to make a surreal and very primal sound. This is absolutely prefect for anyone that is a fan of Nate Henricks or Pill Wonder. While the whole of this five track EP is pretty golden, "Scrappy-Doo" has climbed into my head like the most oppressive of earworms. But I don't mind, it is good shit.

J. Chance -  Tell the Dark a Secret EP (2014)

This is put out of the Connecticut label Obscure Me Records, who rather consistently submitted good tunes, but whether I get a chance to write up or not is different. This EP by J. Chance found me at the prefect time, I've been in the mood for shimmering, otherworldly lo-fi music and this met the bill and delivered beautifully. Genre-wise it is hard to place, so I'll call it folksy avant-pop. The cite both the Beach Boys and John Cale as influences and that seems like a match made in heaven.

Muteboy - Dreamlife (2014)

Alright, wanted more of the last two EPs? Well, this Dreamlife obviously unique it seems to share elements with each of them. Muteboy is New York by way of Cleveland musician that makes use of sampling and computerized effects to make psychedelic and surreal pop songs. The tracks are dreamy and can also be twangy, washed out and sweet. Sentimentality as it is meant to be heard.

Nirvana (UK) - Cult (1970/2014)

Finding a gem of a lost record is one of the high points of any music aficionado. After looking under stacks of shitty Kiss and Styx records in my hunt for lost treasure, I have come across a handful of pieces that would have gone unknown to me had I not engaged in the hunt. I assume Burger Records felt the same way when they discovered Nirvana. No, not that Nirvana, but the psychedelic pop act from 1960's Britain. Thankfully for us, they have re-issued the band's two full lengths on both cassette and vinyl.

The fact that the two records featured on Cult are not known outside the hardcore collecting set is unfortunate, as the music could have easily been a hit had played on classic rock radio had things worked out differently for the band. We all love the Kink's Village Green Preservation Society for its lush, focused songwriting and romanticism of the English countryside. Yet, a year before they dropped said record, Nirvana released The Story of Simon Simopath, considered by many to be the first concept record and almost surely an inspiration to Dave Davies. Beautiful, lush instrumentation compliments the vocal harmonies, creating a safe space one's imagination for the slow, agrarian life.

The fact that this band's output is not held in greater esteem is a travesty that is hopefully being remedied by this reissue. Just try and keep "You are Just the One" and "Pentecost Hotel" off constant rotation. I dare you.

Get it here:
Nirvana - Cult (1970/2012)

Listen Here...for free fools!

Sonnyskyes - The Imaginary Friend Ship (2013)

A submission I must shamefully admit went overlooked by myself for too long, however the music I found at the end of the link when I eventually got to it is too good not to share anytime. I wasn't given much information on this release, other than it is self-produced and from Long Beach. What I have been able to deduce with my earholes is that it is some magical lo-fi indie rock that is somewhere between garage, shoegaze and psych-pop. The wall-of-sound is employed tactfully, fuzz deployed liberally and the vocals make me think of half a dozen Elephant 6 bands. The vibe is cheerful and it bears a similar beach punk and renewed Californian sunshine attitude of artists like Wavves and Best Coast, the latter of which he does a cover of. I have been caught in my car more than ever in recent days, and getting my hands on some tunes like this are going a long way in combating the downer that is the unusually cold spring I found in my return to Michigan. Hopefully he's still at it is and we're not too far away from another release.

To be had here:
Sonnyskyes - The Imaginary Friend Ship

Supercordas - A Mágica Deriva Dos Elefantes (2012)

I may be a bit late on writing this album up but that is no reason to forego such a talented band. This isn't the first time I posted Supercordas, as I was a huge fan of their previous album, seres verdes ao redor, and only through the various distractions of life lost track long enough to allow this newer album to slip under my radar. To re-introduce the band, Supercordas are a Brazilian psychedelic band that makes what I believe to be superbly produced and composed songs that bear a great deal of influence from the later Beatles albums and Elephant 6 collective. While I know that alone makes them far from unique, certainly among what I post up, but they do it in such a finely tuned way I place them in the cream of the crop. Moreover, they sing entirely in their native Portuguese, which by itself makes it an interesting listen and will point to the powerful influence of Brazil's own longstanding psychedelic tradition with heavy hitters like Caetano Veloso, Os Mutantes and Gilberto Gil. Most ardently recommended to fans of either tropicalia or E6.

To be had here:
Supercordas - A Mágica Deriva Dos Elefantes

Nate Hendricks - SLEETMUTE (C​-​Sides from Neon for No One) (2014)

A brand new release by Nate Hendricks who has been really pumping out releases all the fucking time but my dim-witted ass can't keep up. I think it was sadly enough 2 years ago that I posted this dude, like last was NTH MERIDIAN, and that's a travesty as his music is really the bee's knees. This doesn't mean I haven't given him a listen in the intervening time, in fact I have found he is evolving as a songwriter and when I sat down this morning to really give him a solid listen I was blow away at just how much he has progressed. This album is all over the place in tone and style and I can't resist it, although I am all too aware I do it too often, comparing it to an Elephant 6 album. There is a most elegant mixture of genres and absurdity that left me most utterly charmed upon hearing this album. Perhaps my favorite addition I noticed straight away was the use of strings, it makes several of the tracks such as "Charmed Life" and "Black Lodge Waltz" assume a most delightful folky theme. Moreover, he incorporates a gospel elements in songs like "Stranger Things" if you can excuse the belch at the beginning. Finally, that album even has comedic parts with the track "10 Missing Dogs" being basically an audio sketch not unlike something from Superego. In a nutshell, I liked to a great deal and bet y'all might too.

To be had here:
Nate Hendricks - SLEETMUTE (C​-​Sides from Neon for No One) (2014)

The Wharves/ The Rosy Crucifixion (2013)

I had never heard of Soft Power Records prior to this submission, but if this Scottish label’s output is as strong as this split, they are to be followed. The Wharves kick off their side of the record with “Thick Syrup,” a rocking number that calls forth images of Sarah Records releases from the past, funneling them through a rock tumbler to give it some weight and thickness. The dual female vocals have a Sleater Kinney sensibility with a few extra doses of pop melody thrown in for good measure. 

I always enjoy having a split release with two very different acts sharing wax, and the Rosy Crucifixion and their dirtier version of Blondie stacks blues-rock riffs on top of a sultry vocal delivery. Smoke filled taverns with musical stages covered by chain-link fence are the venues this music should be played in. Hopefully they get things thrown at them while they play. Based on the tone of their music, I am sure they know how to dish it right back.

Get it here:

The Wharves/ The Rosy Crucifixion (2013)

Thee Dang Dangs - For the People (2013)

It rained like hell yesterday and I have not been to the beach in weeks, so you could say I have not been in a surfing mood lately. That doesn't matter however, as this band is from Denver and they are as far from the beach as you can get. That may explain this band's excellent and tripped-out take on Surf Rock. I bet these ladies and lads have more Thee Oh Sees records in their collection than they do Beach Boy discs, and the cold Colorado winters are prone to produce meditative freak sessions caused by long bouts of seclusion. Throw those elements in a pot, and you get the Thee Dang Dangs.

The minute I heard "Lips Around Your Spine, " I knew the track would be on heavy rotation here at the Bat Pitt. Igor described this record as "someone being raised in Hell on acid trying to imitate a poorly transmitted 60s AM radio station." That just about captures it. It's not a free download, but worth a few bucks for the physical media. The spinning disc may be all that keeps the wolves at bay during this coming winter.

Get it here:
Thee Dang Dangs - For the People (2013)

The Sufis - Inventions (2013)

Burger Records popped this time-traveling portal into my mail box last week. As I grasped the outer sleeve, I was brought back to 1969. Best of all, I did not have crabs (something often left out of biographies of yours truly). As I walk down Haight Ashbury, I recognize the distinct smell of weed in the air, but the piss poor stuff hippies smoked in those days. “Get a job!” I yell to a drum circle, but recall that I too am lacking in employment. A group of asshole cops assume I must be some insane person for dressing as I do, and beat the shit out of me. The 1960s isn’t as fun as I remember. I realized I had best find a record player and play this new Sufis record to see if there is a way to return to the present.

Robert Crumb is out complaining about beatniks or something, so he lets me hang out and use his turntable. As soon as I drop the needle, I know that the Sufis have come into their own, just not in the right time period. The best of the Animals/Kinks psychedelic periods are displayed in full competency. If these kids had happened to been born into this time period, they would be one of those groups Baby Boomers always bring up when reminding younger generations of their age delimited inadequacies.

As I reach the last track on the album, a purple haze engulfs me, and returns me to my dingy apartment circa 2013. All that time travel, and I didn’t even get a shot at Audrey Hepburn. Damn.

A great, highly competent record on all counts. They should be big, but they won’t be. I would like to see them break out of their self-imposed stylistic parameters on future releases, but this will be my tool to return to 1969 whenever I feel the need.

 

Buy it here:

The Sufis – Inventions (2013)