EP Grab Bag vol. 39

fydhws – 9 (2013)

Macedonia is about as far away from the rock epicenter as you can get, which explains this great piece of music. There is little rock here, much more of a film score using very creepy atmospheric tones and sounds. I played this while I was reading the morning paper and it provided perfect accompaniment to the horrors presented in those pages. 

RAAF – KRA! (2013)

This band’s name perfectly sums up their sound. Not sure how, but it does. This group form the Netherlands put together a short little single that takes equally from Shoegaze and foot-stomping rock anthems.  It is big, scary, and rocking. The group is playing a bunch of shows around Dutch speaking lands, and will hopefully drop a full EP on us soon. 

Velttenz – Live or Die (2013)

Jumping down to Brazil we get a fist full of garage dynamite from these lovely lads. Everything you want and nothing you don’t from your punk infused garage rock. It gets to the point, kicks in your eardrums, and tries to fuck your girlfriend. You might have to punch one of the group’s members during their set, but that’s half their charm. 

Remedies – Inanimate EP (2013)

After getting my ass kicked in, I need to take things down a notch and nurse my sore bum. I pop in Remedies and it does the trick. Chill electronic jams that could still scare your local yoga instructor away from using them as meditation tools. When the reverb soaked vocals come in to Dyybuk (the strongest track on this EP), it just about pushes everything else out of my mind. Sure, they are from Alabama, but I won’t hold that against them. If they are playing music like this in bedrooms across the state, I will have to fly in sometime.

Little Big League - ST 7 Inch (2013)

You know you are old when you see a style of music come, go, come back, fall out of fashion, and re-surge yet again. Granted, this is not my first life on this earth, but that is beside the point. Now that Emo has gone through its “hair metal” phase, the best parts of the genre have bubbled out of the underground yet again.  Case in point: Little Big League from Philadelphia.

Simple guitar arrangements are used, but it’s the restraint on the vocal end that really makes this a great little 7 inch. Michelle Zauner I not new to the party, and has performed with some other notable acts like Post Post, and puts just enough poetic flair and angst into these tracks, allowing the group to avoid the trappings of other notable Emo acts. 

Tiny Engines is putting this one out, and they have been especially strong with their release schedule as of late. Grab a copy of this before they are all stored away and cherished in adolescent record collections across the country. 

Get it here:

Little Big League – ST 7 Inch (2013)

EP Grab Bag vol. 38

Another mountain of submissions. Here are some I blasted in my car more than once.

White Lodge – Volume II: Black Moss (2013)

Straight forward, infectious garage rock from Australia is what this is. I could see my band putting out a split record with music this fun and unpretentious. “Tune for the One Armed Man” is may favorite snarled track from this short cassette, demonstrating that these kids know that infectious garage rock requires but a few minutes to capture an imagination. 

The Beers – Beer Meets World (2013)

Beer is a prerequisite to most music in my world. Everything sounds better once I have thrown a few cold ones back. The fact that not one decided to call their band beer before this Ohio group is shocking even to someone as old as I. This set is lo-fi but very clean sounding, with a hazy surf feel without any Brian Wilson harmonies to complicate things. JUST FUCKIN’ FUN.

The Crytearions – I See What it is and I am Scared (2013)

I remember reading an interview with Ian MacKaye from Minor Threat and Fugazi, and he recounted a meeting he had with Bad Brains. His band at the time (Teen Idles), was complaining that they couldn’t sound good with the gear they had. Bad Brains picked up the same set of instruments and rocked harder than Ian had ever heard. He knew that the quality of your gear was bullshit, and that great tunes could be made with the crappiest of equipment. The Crytearions are blown out riff rawk to the max; no studio time here folks. Catchy tracks that are fuzzy as hell? Well, that is a recipe for quality in my book. 

Yosa Buson and the Revolutionary Independence Movement (2013)

The name is a mouthful, but it is more tight psychedelic experiments from California’s Yosa Buson and whoever he happened to pull together to make this recorded. I have a soft spot for any freak out session recorded straight to tape with no alterations in the process, and these kids put together some very fine tracks that may have taken me to hell and back.