Twisted Teens - Twisted Teens (2024)

I think the greatest thing an artist can do is embrace whatever has come before while pushing the dialogue forward. By adding an experimental element - an unconventional medium, technique, perspective, or tool - one can create something that stands out... something special.

Here we have something special. Within the first minute of the first track, you will understand why. Twisted Teens offer something immediately familiar, a kind of lo-fi, late-70s punk not entirely dissimilar to what you'll hear coming out of Australia these days. First, you'll note the vocalist, credited as Cas P. ian, sings with an appealing tuneful grit: a campfire ballad with a leather throat.... like Tom Waits meets David Bazan. But you'll also notice that the musty basement crunch of the opening track is balanced by something luminous - the glassy sheen of the pedal steel guitar provided by RJ Santos. And so, it is only fitting that it is Cas P. ian and RJ Santos on the cover of this, the band's first release. 

These 11 tracks are more than the sum of their parts, however. This is more than just "punk rock with a pedal steel" gimmick. There is clear history behind this songwriting and delivery, one that hints heavily at years of experience. Since 2004, singer Cas P. ian fronted Blackbird Raum, a well-known anarcho-folk punk band from California. The drummer from that group, Magnus Nymo, is also credited on the Twisted Teens record. Originally from Norway, Magnus also played in drums in a Norwegian black metal band called Forcefed Horsehead. RJ Santos, who is clearly an adept pedal steel player, has more of an online presence devoted to being a talented painter.

While the music on Twisted Teens varies from punk to country to classic rock, folk, and 90s indie rock, I don't pick up on that anarcho-folk punk element here (and certainly no black metal). In that way, Twisted Teens isn’t a reinvention of any genre... but it’s a reminder that familiar ingredients can still taste surprising in the right hands.

Twisted Teens - Twisted Teens

Cody Blanchard - HALLOWEEN EP VOL 1 (2020)

Here is an ode to Halloween from Shannon and The Clams guitarist/vocalist Cody Blanchard. It's a lean 2 songs, both covers, done with acoustic guitar and vocals. 

Blanchard's approach is perfect: taking upbeat, punk rock classics and conjuring each into a dark, cold folk song lead by his ghostly but beautiful falsetto. These covers are so good they might just become staples to your Halloween playlists for years and years to come. 

Released 3 years ago in the thick of the pandemic. Hopefully we will be getting a volume 2 sometime soon.

Featuring "I Don't Wanna Go Down To The Basement" by the Ramones and "Halloween" by The Misfits.

Cody Blanchard - HALLOWEEN EP VOL 1

The Whiskey Predicament - Escape From the Meat Market (2014)

Charlotte's The Whiskey Predicament is an excellent name for a band. Resonates acutely with my personal relationship with the brown liquid, namely that I like to drink it but it never turns out to be a good choice. It's lovely yet troublesome, like most women I find myself attracted to and the sentiments of a good folk song. And while I'd still call Escape From the Meat Market a folk album, it isn't the stripped down sort. In fact, it's more along the lines of full sounding garage-folk artists like the Strange Boys, Dead Ghosts, or even Bloodshot Bill. While acoustic guitar makes the centerpiece of the songs, there's so much going on from organs, horns, harmonica and hard to identify yet rather cool squealing. 

I received this album in the inbox a bit ago and I have been steadily listening to it ever since. However, as shit goes I haven't gotten a good chance to sit down and spout off about it. Business as usual there, but I do get little tingle of guilt whenever I would hear it and know I should get to saying something about it. Though I was enjoying it too much to stop listening. Found the entirity of the album quite appealing, with the tracks "The Architect Song," "Better Than Before" and "Don't Look Back" begin among the highlights for me.

To be had here:
The Whiskey Predicament - Escape From the Meat Market

EP Grab Bag vol. 73

This is what I got from the inbox. From all over the place again, which is a good thing. Been busy, moving to Hamtramck and I have realized I have a huge amount of anxiety surrounding paperwork like leases and the official nature of such things. Puts me all out of sorts and I haven't had any working earbuds nor iPod for a week so I am basically a lunatic at this point. Hope you like what was the best few hours or respite I got this week.

To be had here:

Red Nectar - Red Nectar (2014)

Our friends over at Cheap Miami have a new EP from a new garage rock outfit. Red Nectar are loud, fuzzy rock with a dash of garage and a female vocalist fronting the group. The four well-done tracks are very endearing. Among the fast and loud songs that were all enjoyable I found the one track called "Hush" was very nicely crafted as a more subtle number. Overall, the songs do feel very much in the vein of lo-fi female rock that's post-riot grrrl. Nonetheless I'd say they're doing a wonderful job at and deserve a listen, and I cannot wait for another release already.

A Big Silent Elephant - Starlight 7" (2014)

The latest release from the Italian phenomenon known as Mauro Da Re. The dude behind a man and his broken piano that's I've shared previous on both in his album with Beyza and his two Demos and Demons EPs. He told me this release started as a part 3 of Demos and Demons but evolved into its own thing. It retains the lo-fi garage folk that was the hallmark of the prior EPs, this time more bent toward bizarre psych-pop. Just like everything else this dude touches I am completely enthralled by it.

Roadhouse Blues - BlueSnow (2014)

I found this loud blues rock when I was being a nerd and dropping in the hometowns of authors I bought into bandcamp, specifically Pietro Aretino lead me to Arezzo, Italy. Should you give this EP a listen you'll find it has some funky bass lines and a dude singing English with a very thick accent. It is an odd hodge-podge of 70s and 80s rock and roll vibes and foreign interpretations that makes it absolutely wild. Not sure I get it but I certainly dug it.



Godfrey Turner Overdrive - Visceral Light (2014)

Hardcore/post-rock that brings back many memories of my high school years and the sort of music that was predominate in my Midwestern town. These guys are from Orange, New South Wales and therefore basically on the other side of the planet from my experience with the hardcore scene. Time and geography have apparently been transcended, and it has improved on what I recall. A compelling and emotionally charged EP, definitely good way to have one's angst validated with awesome guitar playing.

Marc Neibauer - Summer (2014)

I keep thinking about bringing back the random singles posts that I used to do and then I recall I stopped because I can't listen to a single song that long to come up with any words to say about it. I need to hear an album, or at least throw into into a mix. There's gotta be a way, I am working on it folks. In the meantime here's the excellent song "Summer" by Philly musician Marc Neibauer. Shimmery indie rock that is a good ending to this summer, as today was the first cool autumn-esque day in Detroit.

Beyza and the Man with his Broken Piano - Yellow (2013)

Yellow is a stunning folksy, lo-fi acoustic album. It's a collaborative effort of a Turkish Beyza and the Italian who releases his music as the Man with his Broken Piano. Now the Man with his Broken Piano has been featured on SRM in the past with a couple of EPs he recently released and submitted. This album I was in the dark about however, as it wasn't submitted to my knowledge and I happened across in while looking for something completely unrelated. Yet with a long and distinctive name as he goes by it was obvious we were dealing with the same fellow.

I've been listening to this album over and over through the last couple of days, as I get a lot of listening in while reading or playing this video game where I am Batman and I beat up people (I'm not good at either one of those hobbies so they take some time). It isn't very much like the Man with his Broken Piano music that he did in his solo work, in fact besides being vaguely folk orientated it is very different. Perhaps this is due to Beyza, of whom I know nothing really beyond being Turkish. Regardless, Yellow is wonderful to hear: soft acoustics with electronic layered on top and in turns melancholy and buoyant. The competency of the songs in face of the remote collaboration is remarkable and every song is masterfully put together and can stand alone. The singer has an absolutely stunning voice and the tunes are hard to resist. Just fucking trust me on this one, it is about as swell as it gets.

To be had here:
Beyza and the Man with his Broken Piano - Yellow

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.

EP Grab Bag vol. 61

Hope the new look of the site is doing for everyone, I think it has classed the joint up a bit if I say so myself. Here is a collection of lo-fi album, half submitted and half found though my trolling around bandcamp over the weekend as I neglected more important matters.

To be had here:
Death Trip - Arabian Caravan (2014)

Sent in from Brazil, this is a hardcore punk band. It's got many of the things I want out of punk rock; intelligibility in the vocals, rapid and crashing drums and cymbals, fuzzy bass and brief, quick-tempo songs. The guitar is totally the star of the show here however, as it is laid on with some remarkable talent and has a 70s-esque psychedelic and progressive vibe. It seems like they get a ringer in that position and they know it as they really let the guitar dominate sections of tracks with devastating effect.

Sex Scheme - 7" (2014)

Brooklyn-based group with a drummer that doubles as the songwriter. This was a DIY affair, they told me it took only $60 to record this EP, but it sounds great all things considered, although the tracks seem to cut off a bit abruptly at their ends. It is a kind of droning, garage punk that is heavy on the washed out rhythm section. The influences they cited such as the Stooges, Suicide and the Gories and they did a pretty good job at capturing a sound that is between those bands. Fine work with the scandalous album art too.

Young Compass - Young Compass (2014)

This is something I came across on my own, but I thought it was a good example of when I can set aside my usual attitude of lyrics avoidance for a lo-fi band that had a more clearly recorded and vocal-forward style. I'd call their music a sort of folk garage but they're not the completely washed out sort I gravitate toward most naturally. I do believe the saving grace is that while it is a serious delivery, reminds me of Saddle Creek stuff honestly, it is self-critical and jesting in tone that keeps these guys safely out of pretentious territory.

Brass Phantoms - The Brass Phantoms EP (2014)

An Irish band that I honestly clicked on because the name made me think of the obscure Italian progressive band, Blue Phantom. While I am happy I did so, these guys are not prog, but rather some incredibly endearing lo-fi rock group that filled that void that's been in my life since the Strokes have fallen out of regular rotation in music listening habits. It isn't a clone, but bears just a enough similarity that I was tickled. This must be the most accessible and catchiest of all the EPs I wrote up today.

EP Grab Bag vol. 60

I am incredible sore from hauling what could not have been less than four thousand records (no hyperbole) from a hoarder's basement today. Thank god I moved back to Detroit in time for that mess, right? Anyhow, I found solace in some Coor's banquet and these EPs. Use them wisely, by like... listening to them, I guess.

To be had here:

The Feel Bad Hit of the Winter - The Feel Bad Hit of the Winter (2014)

Punk, garage and noisy indie rock from Kansas City. Their name is a mouthful but the tunes are far from being overly complex, which I say as a good thing considering the genres. No surprise that I am a fan of the simple, fast rock and roll, given my track record with lo-fi music. This band is on to something and they know how to play, and they do a great job showing off the guitar work, especially on the instrumental track "Chato." I'd say they're play even dips close to post-rock at moments just to hop back into garage-like fuzziness.

bm79 - Can't Stop It / Noisy Funkadelica (2014)

A couple of tracks from Patras, Greece played by the former bassist of the previously featured band, the Moofs. Each of the songs are instrumental, psychedelic rock jams that short and pleasurable. Show good potential show he care to pour the time into a full-length endeavor. He's also in a band with some other fellas that is in its infancy and without a real band name yet, but can be heard on soundcloud.

The H - Sewer Club EP (2014)

This is a collaboration of two Montreal electronic musicians the release music on their other projects Hobo Cubes and Noir. Sewer Club EP is being put out by Debacle Records as part of their Motor collective. Again, just two tracks but these add up to 16 minutes of otherworldly electronic sounds. I don't normally quote the press releases I get but whoever they've got writing their shit up dropped this tight ass description: "effortless blend of ambient sensibilities within techno-informed zones." Seems I gotta step up my game.

a Man and His Broken Piano - Demos and Demons Part II - Acid (2014)

Psychedelic garage folk coming out of Italy. I fucking hope the statement makes you as excited as it does me. The songs are brilliantly mesmerizing in their lightly done psychedelia and lo-fi folksiness. The songs are like if a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western was done with music a bunch of peyote in the mix. This is actually the second release of a two-part series of EPs from this outfit, with the first also highly recommended.

Evil Sons - I've Got A Knife​/​No Bad Luck (2013)

Again it is time for me to admit to my laxness as a blogger and share something wildly overdue for a glowing review. Can't believe I allowed these two songs to fall through my fingers back when I was sent them in January last year. It is a two-piece from Dublin and they made two absolutely rocking tracks that one could love about fast, sleazy garage rock, white dudes in collared shirts having a knife fight and dying young so as to leave a beautiful corpse. How about that writing, Debacle-promoter-I-respect. No new releases since then sadly, but I am gonna personally try to set a fire under these guys' asses.

Cavedweller - 2016 pt II & III (2012)

Boy, am I ever happy when I get back to listening my way through submitted albums and find something that just strikes my fancy so exactly as Cavedweller has. Rather laid-back lo-fi psych-folk sort of musicians that perhaps bear some reasonable resemblance to the Gris Gris, Songs of Green Pheasant, and Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't. To put that more simply, they've got roots in the stripped down psychedelia and garage that's inspired many before them and surely more to come. Nevertheless, I highly enjoy how these guys have done so. In particular the harmonious singing and twangy guitars suit me just fine. Wonderfully done and perfect stuff to help pass time in the summer heat. Free download or $5 cassette.

To be had here:
Cavedweller - 2016 pt II & III

Fun Guns - Sleep When You're Dead (2012) & This Forntier (2012)

I got so many EPs lately that I had to break some of them off in some way. so seeing as how Fun Guns have two EPs out already this year they seemed the prefect candidate to write a full post for. Now I believe they're a Los Angeles based group that plays garage rock/folk with a very bluesy style. Features rather lovely lo-fi vocals along with folksy and surf elements mixed in. Why they've done a pair of EPs in the beginning of this year instead of a full-length is curious, but then again it hardly matters so long as we get to hear the songs. Best I can endeavor is that the songs where of such different sorts they split them up. However, it is certain is that this band knows how to make some really awesomely lo-fi garage rock songs on Sleep When You're Dead. In addition they've got a sweetly hazy folk sound on This Frontier, and I was enthralled especially by the stripped down tune, "Calligraphy." Make sure to check out both, I think Fun Guns are on to something.

To be had here:

Sleep When You're Dead

This Frontier

The Bleed Whites - The Bleed Whites (2011)

This is a three-piece band from Toronto who makes lo-fi rock. It is a bit hard to pin them down exactly for like AGE or Mikal Cronin albums I recently posted these guys jump around some. They've got folksy, melodic numbers and ones that definitely sound like garage rock songs. The most obvious feature is that they're skillful musicians that show a good range of influences, specifically they cited 90s alternative and "60s shit." Glad this got sent in now, as I've been listening to stuff not overly dissimilar like Tangiers, who're also from Toronto if memory serves. Now I just need to replace my good headphone of which the cord what mauled by my bicycle's gears so I don't have to hear them on dollar store substitutes.

To be had here:
The Bleed Whites - The Bleed Whites

Dead Ghosts - Dead Ghosts (2010)

Dead Ghosts were recommended to me from a route I have already forgotten. Notwithstanding, they're an obvious fit for the style of music I've been embracing lately. Dead Ghosts are a Vancouver band that reminds me an awful lot of their fellow Canadians King Khan and Mark Sultan. They've got the sweet sounding garage rock that is infused with just the right about of country jangle and distorted vocals. In a nutshell, the music is damned catchy and I've been spending my meal breaks at work listening to it in my increasingly cold parked car. If you fancy to give them a try do yourself a service and make sure to give them a re-listen, as I've found they've grown on me with repetition.

To be had here:
Dead Ghosts - Dead Ghosts

The Strange Boys - Be Brave (2010)

This is another band that recommended to me through last.fm, which is surprisingly more accurate in recommendations that most other sites or programs designed to do such things. To the point though, the Strange Boys are a real solid act from what I heard on this album. They're garage, I suppose, but they're on the opposite end of the spectrum from the fuzzed out punk influenced bands I've posted previously. Just as easily this could be described as more lo-fi, less folksy version of The Tallest Man on Earth. In fact the singing reminds be on the Tallest Man on the Earth, that and Bob Dylan at his more high pitched moments. Pretty much the Strange Boys have done amazing job at combining aspects of different trends together to make a unique and powerful sound of their own. It is country, folk, garage, and even a bit rockabilly all at the same time without any influence overwhelming the others for the most part.

To be had here: they forced me to take this down...

Mess Folk

This is again garage punk and amongst the roughest shared on the blog. By "rough" I mean one of these is a demo tape which I think you might be able to buy directly from the artists stills. However, the other file here is the 7" that followed on Hozac records and is a higher quality recording of three of the tracks found on the tape. As for who these guys are, they are from Cape Breton, New Brunswick and read the founder describing their sound as "lower middle class white boy blues." Now I know this seems like a the sort of artist that would be submitting to a blog like this for support, but it was the other way around. I hunted these down after I was impressed by what I heard. By the way, I know some bands have sent me some stuff to listen to and decide on posting and I hope to get to that this weekend and if you saw the hassle of cords and programs I had to move music through you'd understand my sluggish nature on this front.

To be had here:
This is Mess Folk [2009] (128 kbps) demo tape

Something I Remember [2009] (256 VBR kbps) 7"