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

The Gobs - Eight Things at Once (2023)

 

Olympia’s The Gobs makes music like a raccoon trapped in a vending machine—frantic, confused, and somehow kind of inspiring. Their 2023 album, Eight Things at Once, is 24 tracks of synth-stabbed, tape-scorched punk that sounds like it was recorded in a porta-potty during an exorcism. Every song is under two minutes because any longer would be medically unsafe. “Adderall or Nothing” is what happens when your frontal lobe dissolves in a gas station bathroom, while “Get a Dog (That Can Kill Me If It Wants To)” is a love song, probably. “I Wanna Fuck the Moon” is either a metaphor or a cry for help—either way, it slaps. The keyboards aren’t playing along so much as heckling the guitar, like a drunk uncle at a little league game.

Listening to this album feels like licking a car battery during a lightning storm and glimpsing something vast and unspeakably cool. When you snap out of it, you’re barefoot in a Denny’s parking lot, your pockets are full of teeth (not yours), and you know, with a deep certainty, that something incredible just happened—something wild, beautiful, and slightly cursed, now pulsing just out of reach in the back of your brain.

The Gobs - Eight Things at Once

The Molds - Saltine (2018)

One of the most interesting things about Bandcamp is that it's truly a website for everyone: big names but there music on there of course, but so does the everyday person who records music but holds a completely different day job.

The Molds is the monicker that a guy named Matt Ojala uses to write and record rock music somewhere between Seattle and NYC (and maybe Charleston, SC) when he's not working in project development. 

The tracks are pretty lo-fi but punchy and loud. It's kinda punk and it's kinda throttling indie rock. The rhythms are strange... not in a time signature kind of way but in a "why is he hitting the snare drum there" kind of way. Try bobbing your head along to the rhythm. It's like being on an old wooden roller coaster ...it all works but in a jerky sort of way. 

Impressively good music from an obvious talent who ALSO just so happens to also develop affordable housing communities. Makes me wonder what the hell I'm doing with my life.

The Molds - Saltine

 

Print Head - Happy Happy & Hardcore Pop (2021)

From 2017 to 2021 I had a radio show at a college in a small Pennsylvania city. I'd scour bandcamp, drinking beer, using student loans to buy music so I could play it over the airwaves to weird 50-something hipsters that never left the valley or truckers just passing through town. 

Print Head was from that batch of music purchased from bandcamp. There's not much information that I can find about this artist. It seems to be the work of a singular person, Brandon Saucier. It's got that lo-fi, recorded-in-a-basement quality that I cherish. It's angular and dissonant while not being completely alienating, incorporating punk and garage into it's experimental song structures... all of which clock in under 2 minutes for the most part. 

This release combines two of Print Head's earliest releases: Hardcore Pop from 2019 and Happy Happy from 2020. Both were self-released individually on cassette, and then Spanish punk label Discos Perquébien put out the double release in 2021. Since these efforts, Saucier has released around 6 other tapes. That's 8 releases total in 4 years, NONE TOO SHABS, as they say (no one says that). 

This particular double release is on the Discos Perquébien bandcamp page which I will link below, but should you want to check out all the other releases of his (don't get your hopes up over cassettes, they're all sold out), click here to get to the Print Head bandcamp page.

Click below for the 25 track double release.

Happy Happy & Hardcore Pop

RITA'S REVENGE - S/T (2019)

Saturday morning cartoons were a tradition of mine growing up in the late 80s-early 90s. I remember certain shows more than others: I loved Bobby's World and Camp Candy, likely because I was already familiar with the works of John Candy (Uncle Buck) and Howie Mandel (Little Monsters). I also remember liking Captain Planet, but because that shit aired at 7:30am I decided it was a nice thing I wasn't going to enjoy. 

It's Saturday, I gotta sleep in a little. C'mon Captain. 

Toward the end of the line up, around 11-ish or so, The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers showed up in 1993. I was a cartoon purest so this Saved By The Bell meets Godzilla schtick really wasn't my bag. Everyone else thought it was the best thing since The Simpsons, but I was and remain dubious. 

Fast forward to 2019, a recording project out of Boston produces the best possible fruit from the Mighty Morphin vine: a noisy, drum machine punk concept album based on a villain from the aforementioned show: Rita Repulsa. These recordings offer static blasts from overblown guitars and profanity-laced Rita-inspired lyrics, resulting in an overall sonic soup of lo-fi distortion and feedback over mechanized drum beats. 

It's a quick listen, 4 songs clocking in around 4 minutes 30 second. A nice find that has made it onto my radio show multiple times over the past 2 years. 

RITA'S REVENGE - S/T

Amyl and the Sniffers - Big Attraction (2017)

Every morning I wake up disappointed that our president isn't gone yet. Being on the west coast of the US, I feel the east coast has a good 4 hours to greet the sun, roll up it's sleeves, and take out the trash already. I'm sorry, that's an insult to trash. At least trash was, at one point, something we wanted.. something that was useful ... something we chose to own. This president is more like a stepped in pile of shit from someone else's dog, after years of picking up your own dog's shit.

Thank god for this release from Melbourne punk band, Amyl and the Sniffers. It's not too serious, but sexy and dangerous... just what rock music should be. I want nothing more to be in a sweaty club in Melbourne with a bunch of drunk punk Aussies watching this band tear the stage a new asshole.

These songs have some serious chops, played by musicians who have done their homework and gotten the sound down pat. It probably helps having Calum Newton in their lineup, a fucking awesome guitarist from Spacerockmountain favorites Lunatics On Pogosticks. But Calum keeps his guitar chops bottled up here, delivering chunky punk riffage, and offering his keen production skills to showcase the real star of the band: the sneering, bratty bite of Amy Taylor, a truly wonderful performer to lead this bunch of dirty, drunk and mulleted rockers from dewn undah.


Name your price. Not a clunker in the lot.

Sample song:

Bandcamp:
Amyl and the Sniffers - Big Attraction

EP Grab Bag vol. 109

For like the hundredth time I am way overdue at posting these EPs. I can't really keep a regular schedule at all and I won't make any promises are to how often I'll post anything. Keeping it consistent for months on end was a more tolling experience than I care to continue, and I have already slacked heavily as you might've noticed. So here on out, you get what you get when I feel like getting to it. More than likely it'll be bursts of posts that'll try to hype on the twitter feed as I get time.

To be had here:

Domiciles - Domiciles EP (2015)

A Scottish band from the town of Fife. They play well-polished psychedelic garage rock, by which I mean it all sounds remarkably clean with any lo-fi elements be intentionally preserved. Nothing at all wrong with good production, and the songwriting is stellar. I could imagine this band become very popular if they got the right breaks. Hits a happy middle ground between retro and modern psych-rock, not ignoring the Eastern influence from the earlier decades of the genre. Excellent stuff.

The Raw Nerves - Serious Beef (2016)

A new EP from New Zealanders, the Raw Nerves. This is a band that Amazing Larry wrote up, specifically their self-titled album from 2012. I unfortunately didn't spend much time listening to, yet I am glad to have been reminded to by way of these new songs. Short, loud and fast these tracks will be enjoyed by most any garage punk fan. Making me feel like I have been spending too much time listen to obscure 70s albums and not nearly enough brash, noisy rock from the inbox.

nemanja - nemanja (2015)

From Croatia comes dreamy, psychedelic pop sounds. Listening to this EP reminded me of a bunch of great bands from the former Yugoslavia I've posted and enjoyed for the years, however it in particular reminds me of Pridjevi, who're one of my personal favorites. While not identical, it shares the same Eastern-Western combination with ethereal singing and stunning instrumentation. An amazing example of contemporary dream pop that I most dearly cherish.

Chen Firsel - Sugarush EP (2015)

An Israeli musician who makes home recordings of psychedelic folk-pop. The songs are light and spacey overall, but have an sweet impact. I found the very easy to drift off into a pleasant headspace during, all the while enjoying his melodic guitar playing and nicely atmospheric backgrounds. Additionally, his vocals both in the highly effected and less altered states heard are remarkable. Still somewhat lo-fi throughout but really engaging.

VAPORIZED! - VAPORIZED! (2015)

Heavy grunge rock from Sydney, Australia. The album has a lot in the way of howling vocals and power cords, and it is on the edge of metal, yet I would say they do an amazing job at skirting that line without truly crossing it. Rather these are what the radio would call 'hard rock' songs, but I think grunge is just as a fine term for them (it's what they've tagged themselves as after all). Regardless of what genre you'd put them in, the songs are unpolished and quick, possessing many finer qualities of a good lo-fi show.

EP Grab Bag vol. 108

Another Grab Bag, I told you I had a lot of submissions to get through. Here is a pretty stellar collection of mostly returning bands. Always good to check in and hear the new stuff.

To be had here:

Unqualified Nurse - Put It On The Line (2015)

A new EP from Derby's intensely low fidelity rockers, Unqualified Nurse. The tracks are extremely short, something I've come to expect from them having shared their prior EPs and their full-length, Let Snarl. Likewise the highly blown out reverb and break-neck pace of the hollering vocals remain. Whenever I start listening to Unqualified Nurse I imagine having bitten off more lo-fi than I can chew, but it takes but one song for me to be fully hypnotized by the noisy bliss.

Ed Feels - Toast (2015)

A melancholic Virginian making fuzzy, lo-fi bedroom recordings that have qualities of emo, folk and indie pop. The songs have an unpolished, lo-fi charm that is endearing yet also unsettling in the haunting eeriness it captures. Beautifully done, I don't think I would have tried to shine it up either, great as it is. Very much recommended for those that enjoyed Joplin Rice, Tim Cushing, C. M. Slenko or the myriad of other folksy bedroom artists featured lately. This EP was released by the small NYC-based label, House Pet Records.

Goivinho - Segundo Nome (2016)

A returning Brazilian musician, formerly released music under the moniker Fogo Amigo, but now going by Giovinho. Whatever name he wants to go by is fine by me, just so long as he keeps making top notch compositions. Moreover, Segundo Nome is one of those rare time I get to write about space rock on Spacerockmoutain. All instrumental and full of bizarre electronic effects and beats these tracks live up to the otherwordliness of the genre.

Les Princes du Rock - La Tendresse (2015)

About a year ago I posted an album by the French garage rockers, the aptly named Les Princes du Rock. They're back with a fresh EP of psychedelic garage. No point is beating around the bush, I thought this was is a remarkable feat of rock and roll. Exactly the sort of fast, loud and righteous garage I've come to anticipate from France. I believe some of the very best of the genre I've heard in the last several years come from that country, and this is EP re-affirms that notion.

Rakta - S/T (2013)

I always thought it was interesting how birds are often named after their own songs. Killdeer, Godwits, Curlews, Bobwhites... the list is extensive. If bands were named after their own songs, I think G'n'R would be renamed "Eye-Eye-Eye" and Metallica would be called simply "AH!", because singer James Hetfield ends nearly every line of lyrics with a sharp blast of "-ah!" (ex. "Everywhere I roam-Ah!", "Harvester of Sorrow-AH!", etc.)

Rakta, a Brazilian band, wouldn't have to change their name at all. They have an initial sounds that encapsulates surf drum neats, the buzzing 2-chord dirge of grunge, and vocals sung from within a psychedelic cave. But as these songs progress, I would hesitate to categorize them into any new school of mishmash garage-punk-psych-surf. Their sound is just as much, if not more, an echo of early 80s UK goth rock. Siouxsie And The Banshees, Bauhaus, and New Order all come to mind.

Actually very similar to the modern UK band Savages, but without the edge-y post punk feel.

Rakta's dark streak slices down the middle of this self-titled, 6 song EP, while never dampening the energy of the music.

Rakta - S/T

Robby Fischer - Dogtown (2015)

I've still have more fuzzy garage rock that's been stuck in the inbox for far too long. Here is an album that came out in September but I was privy to for some time prior, enough to be embarrassed by the tardiness of this post. However, the moment I stop feeling ashamed I guess I'd better worry about being psychotic, massively drunk or dead. The music helps though, especially when so exquisitely lo-fi as Grand Rapid's Robby Fischer.

This is the second full-length from Robby Fischer after You've Changed came out earlier this year, though there's an earlier EP worth checking out as well. Dogtown keeps the pace of very outrageously fuzzy weirdness of his prior output, perhaps being even a bit more bombastically so. I welcome this completely, it is the sort of album that a fan of garage rock having actually take the time to play won't consider letting it end before it's done. The songs are rapid, washed out and full of very pleasing guitar and thunderous drums. What's more in the true tradition of garage rock he's made a selection of songs to make covers of, and even more on point they aren't songs you'd guess. Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" which reminds me of Mark Sultan's cover of Ultravox's "Just for a Moment" in sentiment and Tayler Swift's "Trouble," a song I'm only vaguely familiar with. I imagine I'm not a fan of the original nonetheless I really dug Fischer's version. All this isn't to say his own composition aren't stellar, for that are certainly relentlessly intense and enthralling throughout. If you've like any or all of the garage I've been post over the last couple of months you can't miss this.

To be had here:
Robby Fischer - Dogtown

The Raw Nerves - S/T (2012)

I got lazy with this record - for almost a year. Not sure why - the punk contained herein is of the lo-fi, fun, and garage-y ilk... quite possibly the lone punk record I've listened to multiple times over the past year (save for The Wipers impeccable Youth of America). It wasn't until I saw a Pitchfork recommendation for it that I was reminded that Spacerockers need to hear this thing. Unfortunately, since Pitchfork is like the Whole Foods of music journalism, as soon as they graced the record with it's attention, it went from being a "pay what you want" record to $5.

But, much like fresh caught fish is worth the extra money over the farmed variety, The Raw Nerves are worth your shekels.

Imagine Billy Childish meets Australian punk rockers X (different from the other band called X). There's no sophistication, which The Wipers had in spades and I champion them for, but that's a fine thing for The Raw Nerves. Punk doesn't need sophistication and most of the genre actively shuns it, which is why this record is special I suppose. It doesn't really stand out in any discernible way, it's just a straightforward take on a classic, and it's great.

Catchy without being poppy, snarky without being bratty.... if all punk rock sounded this good I might actually give a crap about it most of the time.

The Raw Nerves - S/T 

Jorge Bernstein & The Pioupioufuckers - Meet The Real Bernstein (2007)

Often times when sifting through the mountainous amounts of music on bandcamp, there comes a release that really clicks for me. It takes a lot of time and a lot of sifting.... it makes me wonder: is this all because I've been adrift in an ocean of shit that I find this small dinky island, with one lousy jackfruit tree, that I think this is the most amazing piece of land to ever exist?

Maybe. But that feeling of discovery is invigorating enough to keep returning to the shitty sea, in hopes of finding more land, and to claim it for the nation of Spacerockmountain. However, with Jorge Bernstein and the PiouPioufuckers, I can't help but believe this music is truly fucking good, and that any reader with an ounce of the grey stuff between their ears is going to enjoy this.

"Let me introduce to you the best drummer in the world. First member of the Bernstein Corporation. President of the United States of rock'n'roll. Look at his yellow shirt!" So the band is a corporation headed by a mysterious Jorge Bernstein, who I guess is their drummer... whether or not that is his real name or a fictional character that he plays, we'll never know. Originally released in 2007, "Meet The Real Bernstein" may have been a smidgen ahead of the most recent garage revival. But this record could easily be released on Burger records tomorrow... because it's full of awesome, high energy garage punk with a bit of an old rock'n'roll feel to it... dare I say rockabilly? This may be more to do with the singers Elvis-meets-Jello Biafra sound.

Well worth a listen, and well worth checking out their other releases.

14 songs, pay what you want.

Jorge Bernstein & The Pioupioufuckers - Meet The Real Bernstein

EP Grab Bag vol. 98

Another truly international Grab Bag this week, pilgrims. From across Europe to Australia and of course some from these United States. Runs a range in genres as well, look at all the fucking tags I had to throw on this one, and I still feel that doesn't quite cover it.

To be had here:

Shortbus 1999 - Olga EP 2015

A Russian musician making wonderfully loud, lo-fi punk in his bedroom, at least I'm assuming this is largely a solo effort. It's all sung in Russian, which only adds to the considerable punk feeling of the thumping drum machine and fuzzy guitar. I adore this type of self-produced rock and found this EP a great example. This isn't the first effort by Shortbus 1999 either, nor the first appearance on Spacerockmountain. Elvis wrote up the self-titled release last year.



Daddy Issues - Double Loser EP (2015)

Actually stumbled on to this through twitter and couldn't be more happy to have across it. A four song EP by an all-girl garage rock/dreamy indie pop outfit hailing from Greensboro, NC. I'm completely on board, and the songs are every inch as good as I'd hoped for. Definitely a must listen and most especially for anyone that like the Pretty Greens from the last Grab Bag or any of the bands I referenced in that post. They've got a touch of surf in that guitar that's amazing, check out "So Hard" to hear what I am talking about.

Prisons - EP (2015)

Third Grab Bag in a row to feature a band from Sweden. More Scandinavians the better, I say, they can make a song. In particular for Prisons, they can make a heavy, distorted post-metal song. This shit is pretty dark and strangely alluring. The guitars are droney enough to lean a psychedelic tinge to the tracks of the EP. Finally, it has the trademark screaming vocals of metal. Something that as younger man I didn't get, but I've since come to appreciate the stark brutality it expresses.

Sounds Like Winter - Demos (2015)

Australians making new wave music. Sounds Like Winter saw that Killwave, a Chicago new wave band that bears a likeness, was posted about and wanted to get in on that. I can see how they'd assume I'd be into their music and indeed I am quite into it. More on upbeat and dancey end of snyth-heavy post-punk, but still has that gothy sing that faintly mimics the Scottish accent of many great 80s new wave bands. Seven tracks, so settle in and enjoy yourself.

Comfort Food - Dr. Faizan's Feel​-​Good Brain Pills (2013)

Now this band is from Chicago. Comfort Food makes sounds hard to categorize but I'll take a stab at it: experimental progressive jazz-funk. The key to know there is a beat, and it's funky, upon which all of the rest of the this EP formed around. The songs are way more compelling than this description might lead you to believe. The songs feel irreverent and lighthearted, yet they can't be discounted as poorly conceived. Quite the opposite, they're damned entertaining.


VidaGuerrilla - Blues pa cabras ácratas (2015)

Here we have a demo EP from Spain's VidaGuerrilla has put out. It seems to me they're still producing full-length albums at the same time and in fact it looks like they've got pretty damned new one up on bandcamp, but for whatever reason they sent me this. Guess what, I loved it. It is fuzzy, fairly slow-paced garage rock with exceptional bluesy sound compared to what I'd heard from them prior. Lo-fi bliss at its simplistic best. I just know that our boy Elvis Dracula is gonna dig this whenever he get it in his eardrums.

Lady Flint - Hard Time (2015)

The return of the garage rock duo from Marseille. Some might recall my having posted them in a Grab Bag last year and us discussing them in a podcast thereafter.  Then Lady Flint took it upon themselves to sample some of the audio from that podcast, so you can hear Elvis and I discuss the geographic origins of the band on the first song of this album. Made for a very surreal morning at work when I first heard it.

If you liked the EP from last year you'll nearly certainly like what you hear on Hard Time. Still a stripped down garage outfit of just guitar and drums with a ton of loudness and moderate distortion leveling it all out. Their playing is undeniable catchy and exciting, the sort of thing you're love to hear walking into a seedy dive bar, hankering for a night out. The singing is raw and loud, more forward than more garage rock I hear. Moreover it has a grunginess to it, by which I mean he elongates words and his throat sound dry and slightly raspy like Kurt Cobain so often did. I am not a huge Nirvana fan, but I can get behind what Lady Flint is doing here and I haven't a better example. Like Elvis did, I can see why people would confuse them for an American band, but trust me, it is all part of the wonderful transatlantic cultural exchange.

Between Lady Flint, Pain Dimension, the Madcaps, Dusty Mush (which I just realized I haven't post on their full-length up for god knows what reason) the psychedelic and garage rock on France is blowing me out of the water on a routine basis. Gonna have to get my shit together and find my way to France sooner or later.

To be had here;
Lady Flint - Hard Time

Baby Jesus - Baby Jesus (2015)

Glorious low fidelity, how I cherish thee. Organs wailing and droning, crashing cymbals, guitars fuzzed to perfection and a singer you couldn't dream of understanding without having hear the tracks nearly a dozen times. The building blocks of a wonderful garage rock album, here executed by the cleverly named Baby Jesus. 

Baby Jesus hail from Sweden and are a newer release from the blog-turned-label, Ongakubaka Records. And that's right, back to back Swedish write-ups (might be time for an examination of a scene). The music of this self-titled album is raw garage, though clearly not amateur, rather it bears a groomed level of dissonance and psychedelia. Heavy hitting too, the band doesn't let up on the intensity anywhere in these songs. Moreover, the organ most especially, added by same wild guitar licks, creates a retro feeling that is very easy to get behind. As if a band from a Nuggets of 4-Wheels 1960s compilations really cut fucking loose and made something powerfully lo-fi. There's nods to 60s surf rock as well, such as the Dick Dale-esque "Nice Walk." Not an album to be ignored by a fans of garage, new or old, or anyone seeking to hear an excitedly washed out sound.

To be had here:
Baby Jesus - Baby Jesus

EP Grab Bag vol. 95

A heavy, lo-fi and strange Grab Bag today. Mixture of American and European bands, a few of them previously featured and others are new outfits to keep on eye on. Just the beginning of an absolute deluge of submitted material I came back to after taking even a few days off from writing this blog. Man can't work on labor day after all, not a good socialist like me, nor the couple of days after seemingly.

To be had here:
Cavedweller - Small Wonder EP (2015)

The return of the Texan who records as Cavedwelller. Last I wrote this guy up was when they had a couple of EPs out in 2012, but I am glad he thought to send me this latest effort. The main tone, that of a laid-back psychedelic sound, is consitent with what I was familiar with from him. However, this time I get a much more punchy, indie pop feeling, something like Apples in Stereo with much more garage rock influence. Beautiful EP anyway you wanna describe it.

The Beardy Durfs - Poppy (2015)

First band I've written up from Copenhagen in many years (I should look into rectifying this). The Beardy Duffs are a fine band to break this terrible streak with however. Their songs are eclectic, but all veering toward the unconventional. The first track "Get Back in Line" is a real gem, selling me on the band straightaway. The rest of Poppy does a fair enough job at maintaining the weird noise rock thereafter, especially with the bizarre and charming "Fat Cat." There'll be more to come, as this is purported to be the first of a three EP series.

Monster Surprise - Joie EP (2015)

The freaky French outfit Monster Surprise has a new two track EP, again from the Parisian label/blog, With A Messy Head. Keeps the weird psychedelic tone that's been the theme of this Grab Bag so far as well as what I was prepared for from Monster Surprise. Yet I wasn't expecting to be so enamored with these two short songs. Both of these tracks are out there and in markedly different ways. "Manège"is very brief and jaunty, while "Le Sens Contraire Des Aiguilles Du Monstre" is rather ethereal and experimental. Fine work all the way around.

Salem Wolves - Black Books (2015)

Unadulterated garage rock from Salem, Massachusetts. The album art and lyrics are referential of their town's puritanical/occult history but musically they remind me a great deal of Midwestern garage rock bands. This is no slight, for Midwestern lo-fi rock is by bread and butter music and what I spent much my adolescence and adulthood listening to. The outright catchiest songs are probably "Rumblr" and "There Be Wytches," though my ears always perk when I hear a lyric about a 'Southern Michigan town' in "Black Books."

Vespa Woman - Never Louder Than Lovely (2015)

Speaking of Midwestern garage rock, here is some of the genuine product. Wisconsin-based Vespa Woman makes some righteous guitar-driven rock ('alternative' as some may say, but that term means nothing to me). As it leans toward the punk end of the garage spectrum as far my ears go, and does a good job a laying everything on delightfully heavy. A compelling debut EP, and I hope I get to hear more of them as they hone their sound further.

King Cayman - Mirror's Carnival (2015)

As promised the return of another artist that I highly, and I still believe rightly, praised. This time the Madrid-based extreme lo-fi garage rocker known a King Cayman. Although he's got more work out there, the only other album I've written up by this dude was last years Dream. The core of King Cayman's style has carried over into Mirror's Carnival, which specifically is an very intense lo-fi punk sound complete with harsh, growling vocals. Although those vocals bear an adorable Spanish accent. But truly, it is fast, loud and trashy in a way that makes me think of the King Khan & BBQ Show, Ty Segall or Jon Spencer's Blues Explosion in overdrive, even perhaps Jon Spencer's work with Pussy Galore mightn't measure up to quite how blown up King Cayman is aiming for. That said, it isn't all off the rails, he does take time to make more drawn out, though no less fuzzy and weird, tracks such as "Hole."

Also, when you download the whole album from the bandcamp it comes with a series of bonus tracks. Six in all, two of which were recorded in Venice and four from a basement of some place called Pad Pend's basement. These songs are all fucking totally great and worth your trouble.

To be had here:
King Cayman - Mirror's Carnival

Sex Hands - Pleh (2014)

I still download music illegally. And so it was surprising when I looked into this band, Sex Hands, after previewing their music on Spotify to see if I wanted to download it from my special source, that they actually offer this excellent album, Pleh, as a "name your price" on their Bandcamp page.

Well then, time to funnel it on over to Spacerockmountain.

This album has it all. It's like Joey Santiago and John Dwyer trading licks over a Rob Pollard side project. Can I get anymore lame with my comparisons? Yes! Just you wait.

Anyway, without digging a grave for my credibility and/or this fantastic Manchester, UK band, just do yourself a favor and grab it.

Their music is a smear across the lofi-indie-punk-garage spectrum. There's little reason to get into it any further. It's better than most shit that does the same, that's about all you need to hear before you hop over and check them out for yourself. Also available on 180 gram vinyl.

13 songs.

Sex Hands - Pleh

EP Grab Bag vol. 90

An all North American Grab Bag this time. That is what was in the cards I suppose, but we aren't lacking in any glamor, mystic or bravado without our other-continental brethren today. Garage, country and otherwise for the auditory consumer.

To be had here:

Leon Patriz - Better Luck Next Fall (2014)

This here is from Vancouver, submitted by a dude called Enzio who has got his hands in several musical project out on Canada's Pacific coast. He's even played as part of Slight Birching. As for this EP, it's got only four songs yet manages to be incredibly diverse and consistently experimental. Electronic tones and affects, plenty of droning bass, and lo-fi buzz. Intriguing and hypnotic as anything with looping, droning parts should be. Then the last track throws that all out for a New Weird America-esque singer-songwriter number. Leave it up to a Canadian to make New Weird America even weirder.

Grenades in the Archives - Tokyo (2014)

Garage punk, the hard drinking, smashing into one another sort. Ive a theory there's no where on earth that once experiencing punk rock doesn't have young people eager to make their own fast, loud and intense music. Not sure how young the Bostonians that made these three songs are, but I am sure they didn't just start embracing the lo-fi garage punk style recently. It sounds like they've spent many an evening in tiny venues getting sweaty, drunk and sore all for the chance hear some rock. A promising start and I hope it leads to an awesome LP. Also check out their live set from WMBR.

Los Demolirs - EP.1 (2015)

Garage rock from Florida this time. Los Demolirs reminds me more of the sort of garage rock that was popular when I was a high schooler, the kind that MTV and everything gave two shits about for a second and then dropped like a hot rock for dubstep or whatever bullshit television plays now. It was a golden year for me, and that these dudes sound somewhat like mean entirely complimentary. I still dig on those albums, as I bet at least a few members of Los Demolirs did. Furthermore, for an EP from a garage rock outfit you've never heard of, the production in these songs is outstanding. A finely polished roughness.

Caleb Groh - Down, Dakota! (2011)

This is another EP I found by falling down various rabbit holes on this vast internet. Caleb Groh is a singer-songwriter from Nashville, making remarkably charming country-folk tunes. There is a full-length that followed this EP, but I felt this to be the best way to introduce someone new to his music. Three of the most delightful alt-country songs I've heard in some time and a spoken word poem that's sweetly strange. There's something I can't explain about how cheerful a full sounding country-folk song makes me. Modern and old all at once, I guess that is what they mean by timelessness.

baby dog - adult dog (2015)

Our pal Garrett Linck is back with a new single, "traffic cones," that is part of what should be an upcoming EP. Normally I don't write up singles nor imcomplete EPs, but Garrett isn't a new face on SRM. In fact I was writing him up routinely last year, both under his own name and with the group called baby dog. Always fine indie rock, with an earnest tone, and fine instrumentation that shows an understanding of power pop. I cannot wait for the other two tracks of this soon-to-be EP to drop, but you shouldn't hold up and dive in with what's available now.

Generacion Suicida - Todo Termina 12" (2015)

Took a couple of days off there, but I'm coming back with a noisy vengeance. You may recall the blog Teenage Lobotomy and the label that its Croatian writer began, Doomtown Records. If not you should double back and check out most righteous releases Divided Minds and Modern Delusion, which I've already written up. Today, we've got one of the newest releases from the burgeoning label, Generacion Suicida.

In what appears to be Doomtown's preferred style Generacion Suicida is an outfit that makes very loud, fast punk rock. This isn't to imply that the music of all the bands are the same, but they share the attributes of lo-fi punk. In fact Generacion Suicida is quite different from either of the releases from the label I've previously mentioned. Most obviously that the songs are sung excitedly in Spanish. Even went so far as to call it Latino punk. And the songs are everything you'd hope for from such a descriptor. Todo Termina doesn't have a dull moment, hardly even a second to take a breath. Moreover, it is incredibly well executed music, far from merely a sloppy mess. They clearly know their way around their instruments and any fuzz, distortion and otherwise is a purposeful effort. Punk rock from L.A., sung completely in Spanish, issued by a Zagreb-based indie label. Oh, and Spain's Trabuc Records and France's Symphony of Destruction Records. Can't say nothing good came from globalization. 

To be had here:
Generacion Suicida - Todo Termina 12"