Lìo Dominguez - Cine Bar Club (2014)

I'm convinced that time of day, temperature, and precipitation all play a role in what we want to listen to. Take today, for example: in Portland it is a typically cold and sopping wet December day, just like weeks worth of days before and days worth of weeks to follow...  and this release by Lìo Dominguez, a singer-songwriter from Haedo, a city about 40 minutes driving distance outside of Buenos Aires proper, is providing the perfect soundtrack to an unabashedly lazy afternoon.

The band has got a severely cool melancholia going on, like a Spanish Velvet Underground. Simple two chord progressions drift effortlessly back and forth, like a pendulum made of feathers and cotton. The vocals give off a similar affectation, but it's simultaneously a honest and natural delivery.  This isn't a sleepy-time listen by any means, but sort of a laze around on the couch drinking coffee because it's shitty outside kind of listen. If Olympia, Washington's K Records had existed in Argentina, Lìo Dominguez would have fit nicely into that seen... somewhere between Beat Happening and Some Velvet Sidewalk.

10 songs, name your price.

Lìo Dominguez - Cine Bar Club

Pile - Magic Isn't Real (2010)

Nostalgia is a strange thing. It's as if people, places, and things carve their own unique notches in our brains, and as soon as we catch a wisp of something that fits those shapes, our whole mood changes and we find ourselves lost in some hungry memory.

Boston band, Pile, stir up those sentiments for me. They have a post-hardcore Pixies meet desert rock Foo Fighters kind of thing going on... and I mean that in the best possible way (big Pixies fan, less so "The Foos"). They have loud and chunky riffs, melodic and distorted bass lines, and vocals that both croon and scream. If 1990's revivalism bands were making the Billboard charts, you'd find Pile somewhere in the top 100 (ok, I realize The Pixies were more of an '80s band, but they were ahead of their time so that makes them a '90s band in my book).

But honestly, I've been enjoying Magic Isn't Real much more than output from other recent bands flying the plaid flag of the grunge decade, like Yuck and Speedy Ortiz. Solid songwriting, good production... and I feel like I'm driving around Allentown, PA in my parent's shitty Nissan when I listen to it.

A little nostalgia for your Xmas eve.

10 songs, name your price.

Pile - Magic Isn't Real

The Moofs - Other Side Story (2002)

The Moofs were a band from Patras, Greece who have recently remastered their album and are sharing again. They played rather chilled out and psychedelic alt/indie rock. It is funny that they've got a track called "Xanax" as the album sounds like an much faster set of rock anthems drugged into a slower tempo, and it is pretty awesome. The vocals are dragged out just enough for this feeling to sink in and the bass thumps along at a sedated pace in the beginning of tracks. The tone is evocative of a warm summer evening by the sea just diddling around with some rock and roll, which is what I hope Patras is like ever so much. I am glad they chose to remaster and share this album, because even if they're not active any longer I enjoy sharing good albums like this on the site. Hopefully there are more albums laying around people will tell us about from their music-making experiences. Finally, there seems to be a trend of Greek and other Eastern European submissions and I just wanna say I think it is righteous to be getting the attention of so many artists from the other side of the globe and welcome those international submissions wholeheartedly.

To be had here:
The Moofs - Other Side Story

Driver Dress - 7" (2013)

Driver Dress is a solo project from Aaron LeMay, a Minneapolis local that was kind enough to send us a copy of their new splendid 7 inch.  LeMay has played with some of the city’s staple musicians like Mark Mallman, and you can see just how well crafted his form is on this record. This is burnt-out, lo-fi garage rock that could sit comfortably next to older Ty Segall releases. The promo material that came with the record said all of the band’s members picked up instruments they had never played before to jam out these tracks, but I find that hard to believe based on the quality of each track. Don’t let the lo-fi tag fool you; this set of songs has production and precision that many of its contemporaries fail to achieve. You can hear the hints of a Roland RE-201 present, creating that timeless reverb sloping resonance all your recreation guitar pedals are trying to photocopy (often to no avail). My favorite track is the EP’s closer, “Spiders.” The tempo starts with a sludgy stride, and then builds with the assistance of a chant like chorus that makes for an admirable end to a great underground release from MPLS. 

Get it here:

Driver Dress - 7" (2013)

Pt. 2

Heaviness - Self-Titled (2006, Quince, 80.7MB)










Bleach - Self-Titled (1991, Artlos, 53.0MB)










Kitchens Of Distinction - Strange Free World (1991, One Little Indian (UK)-A&M (US)-Rough Trade (EU), 44.2MB)









Monster Movie - Last Night Something Happened (2002, Clairecords, 68.6MB)










Medicine - Shot Forth Self-Living (1992, Def American-Creation, 67.1MB)










Galaxie 500 - This Is Our Music (1990, Rough Trade, 65.9MB)











Eternal - Breathe (1990, Sarah Records, 17.4MB) (slowdive members, eternal only released 1 single and this is it.)










Lovesliescrushing - Bloweyelashwish (1993, Projekt, 74.9MB)











Mean Red Spiders - Still Life Fast Moving (2003, Clairecords, 86.7MB)








Just download it, goddamn it.