Tropical Popsicle - The Dawn of Delight (2013)

 

Here's a record from the not too distant past. Now a decade old, this lone full length from a San Diego band called Tropical Popsicle features 13 blissed out tracks that are equal layers psych-pop and garage, with an icing of 80's cold wave.

You've heard it all before, right?

There's something just slightly better about Tropical Popsicle, however, than your average 2000-teens garage revival. The music pushes the nostalgia to include, not just the better parts of 60's psych but also 80's synth pop. The result is both simultaneously recognizable and new... in a different place and time, with the backing of a major label, Tropical Popsicle could have been huge. Maybe the same could be said for anybody. But then, would that anybody also have record artwork nearly as interesting? Ooh-La-La. 

Vinyl also available through Volar Records. $10 frikin' bucks!

Music For Your Week

 

Unwound - The Future of What

Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing one of the best American bands from the esteemed Olympia, WA scene of the 1990's. 

Their sound is one of destitution, anger, madness, and beauty as well. But not in an overt, cartoonish, Deftones-esque way... which in my opinion is low hanging fruit aggression. Rather, Unwound embrace dissonance in both harmony and chord progression to create a musical environment that's grey and depressed, with moments of churning, wild, desperate ferocity. 

The Future of What is the band's third record, originally released in 1995. Many of their most beloved songs are from this record. 

Olimpia Splendid - S/T

Speaking of "Olympia", the self-titled 6 track EP by  Finnish group Olimpia Splendid, was a welcome find this week. Formed in 2010, Olimpia Splendid are a trio from Helsinki making lo-fi, fever-dream, DIY indie rock. It was easy for me to lose myself in this release, and by the time I got to track 4, I was like... hold the fuck on a minute... is this snake charming music and I the snake? 

The write-up on their bandcamp states it best "their hypnotic music is a mix of weirdly tuned guitars, muddy drum machine loops, whispering vocals and trash can delays." They are signed to Fonal Records out of Finland, which seems a treasure trove of interesting Finnish music, so stay tuned for more choice picks from that.

thur-gone - Before Time

Here we have a simple recording of one Daniel Thurgood Bromfield, simply playing a piano. And it's not Bach or Mozart or anything, but one person's musical wanderings around the keys. From the sound of it, it's an inexpensive set up, with the microphone picking up all ambient sounds of the room and house.

The house is known as The Campbell House. I believe it's a student house on the University of Oregon campus. 

It's an interesting recording, and one can clearly hear a dryer or dishwasher in the background, and the occasional door or conversation happening in an adjacent room. A snapshot of someone else's life that could almost be your own.

Diplodocus - Slow And Heavy

There are a lot of niche markets out there in the world. Bacon flavored vodka, turkey and gravy flavored soda, and this... dinosaur themed dungeon synth. 

When you hear it, it totally makes sense... much more than meat-flavored beverages, anyway. You can probably already image what this sounds like... slow thudding, ambient synths with the sounds of dinosaurs roaring in the background. 

In a sense... very slow and heavy. A conversation starter for your water cooler breaks, if that's a thing that people still do. 

I.D.A.L.G. - Post Dynastie (2015)

Here's a quick write up on a record that deserves your wildest immediate attention. 

I.D.A.L.G. are a garage-rock-psych band out of Montreal. The vocals are often male and female sing in French, often with parallel melodies, which brings to mind older era-Thee Oh Sees. 

Post Dynastie is their 3rd release as I.D.A.L.G., and here's the curveball: it's a psych rock ode to Quetzalcoatl. You know, the Aztec feathered-serpent deity that created the cosmos?

This record has stayed with my thoughts for years and was a frequent addition to my old radio show. Happy to have it on vinyl as well, which as of this writing is down to the last 2 copies. Enjoy the rest of your week, friends.

Helvetia - You shot past the moon scapegoat (2023)

 

Living in the near-mythical central New Jersey, a geographical location whose existence is hotly debated amongst state natives, I find myself frequently bemoaning my departure from Portland Oregon some 5 years ago. In fact, my decade living there in and of itself feels near-mythical - a life of reckless enjoyment full of intoxicants and rock music. Such a stark contrast to my life now...

The only thing gratuitous in my present life, however, is my commute to work. So much time on highways affords my ample time to listen to new music, at least. More often than not I seek new music from my old, Pacific Northwest home. 

Enter Helvetia, a Portland band who many know and love, especially if familiar with the group Duster, as both groups feature the musician Jason Albertini. Helvetia seems to be Mr. Alertini's personal outlet as principal songwriter and singer. 

Many of the releases are mp3 only, including this most recent release, You shot past the moon scapegoat. This was my entry to the bands discography, which spans nearly 18 years with over 20 releases (including split EPs with Built To Spill, which Jason Albertini was also a member of recently). 

This is a party that I am very late to.

I clicked with this music immediately. It's lo-fi and sounds as though it's made in a home studio. The songs have plenty of hooks and range from indie folk to more abrasive and noisy pieces. The song structures range from conventional to unconventional. There are themes of experimentalism and playfulness in much of the music on this release - a theme that extends throughout Helvetia's prolific and, frankly, stupefyingly brilliant discography. While trying to drum up comparisons to other bands/artists, I'm tempted to throw out references to Built To Spill or Pavement or even Velvet Underground - but even that doesn't quite do Helvetia justice. Mr. Albertini is of a class all his own, one that is more in line with the mad genius of R. Stevie Moore who is similarly lo-fi, experimental, and obsessively prolific. 

So highly recommended it got me off my ass to write a blog post after a long departure. 

16 songs.

Helvetia - You shot past the moon scapegoat

Slackers - не буду этого помнить (2016)

I am gonna make a stab at posting again. Had the worst insomnia as of late, for over a month really. Making my mind feel like swiss cheese and all I have been able to keep up on is work, and not without feeling like a forgetful dope even then. Almost seems like a different era that I sat down so often to hear knew music. Something I'd like to do again.

So here is a treat, a Russian garage rock band. Assuming from the tags on the bandcamp page these are some young dudes in Moscow making lo-fi songs, perhaps partially out of necessity but also I'd wager they are fans of many awesome garage rockers we all enjoy. In fact this is made explicit when they cover Mr. Airplane Man's "Don't Know Why," something they share with the Brazilian band Hierofante Púrpura (it is very neat to hear the two versions back-to-back, and the Slackers translated it to Russian to boot). The songs are not too heavy, being a bit more garage pop or even college rock sort of fuzzy, weird tunes. Yet most fundamentally they are really great to hear, well composed and the Russian lyrics are smoother and more pleasant that I can say for most any other albums I've posted in that language or collect for myself. Perhaps I imagined this, but the second half of songs seemed more psychedelic as well.

не буду этого помнить, meaning "won't remember it" has been released by Dopefish Family. This is not the first album by the Slackers and is only of dozens the label as put out. I urge you to look more into them each.

To be had here:
Slackers - не буду этого помнить 

EP Grab Bag vol. 110

I actually wrote this about months ago and left it 90% finished and forgot to post it. So here are some belated EPs.

To be had here:

Shortbus 1999 - Motorcycle Boy Reigns EP (2016)

A new EP from the Russia lo-fi dream/garage pop band Shortbus 1999, who've had a couple of previous EPs featured on Spacerockmountain. Being acquainted with their earlier songs, I was excited to hear this fresh batch. These five high-energy tracks did not disappoint and brought all the fuzzy, fast rock that I recall fondly from the earlier work. The thing I noticed that changed the most are the more prominent vocals, with two different singers appearing and both singing loudly in Russian, which is pretty dope.

Lloyd Braun - New Age Hooey (2016)

A band from the westside of my home state, more exactly they reside in our second largest city, Grand Rapids. They play grungy garage rock that clearly betrays their roots as growing up in the Midwest in the 90s. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever, just that especially in the vocals you may notice the emotional delivery that has been so popular here for ever so long. Reminds me of many of the better concerts I've attended around the state, though notably better musicianship than much of them. I can easily get behind what these guys are up to.

Unholy Sights - Esoteric Domine (2016)

Fuzzy, lo-fi garage rock with a healthy touch of horror punk vibes thrown in. The Unholy Sights are from Annapolis, Maryland and are a new band, not even a year into it yet. They seems very much like some dudes I would get along with a chat about Gories and Mummies tunes with. Their songs dip a bit more heavy than those artists though, but never for very long, as the fuzzy guitars and bashing cymbals are still the nice garagey core of this EP.

Pulco - Solid Geometry EP (2016)

A new EP from a colorful home recording artist from Bangor, Wales. This must be the fourth time I've written up a release from Pulco, and they never strike me as being terribly similar except in being unusual creations of experimentation exacted upon pop music. However, this EP might be the eeriest of them to date, as it has a dark, futuristic and surreal mood. They lyrics get creepy, but in a fascinating way opposed to unsettling. He keeps surprising me, but I guess I should expect that by now.

Moon Loves Honey - Apart (2016)

So long as we're considering dreamy music, let's look at a Danish band who has made so beautifully fleshed out dream pop songs. The songs are very well structured and incorporate a range of instrumentation and stylized vocals to create softy emotional songs. Spacey, dreamy but still shocking quick and upbeat. A very interesting and engaging EP of pop tunes.

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.

Here Come the Fuzz - Cut Loose (2015)

I am in the midst of a recovery brought on the excesses of New Years celebrations followed immediately by the wedding of one of my oldest friends, along with my brother's birthday and Christmas right before those events. Got so bad I developed tinnitus for three days, something I do not recommend whatsoever. Still experiencing the world in a bit of a delirious haze and sleeping an inordinately large portion of the day away. Yet somehow I knew if I looked around in the inbox I'd find some restorative low fidelity music to soothe my healing ears and brain.

Cincinnati's Here Come the Fuzz filled my self-prescription for lo-fi superbly. Stripped down Midwestern style garage rock through and through, they've managed to do what all fine garage rockers aim for: reinventing by way of revival. Or I suppose you could say making something familiar but different. The songs are short, as you may expect from fuzzy garage, however they vary between the quite bluesy and the spacey psychedelic extremes allowed within the genre. Gives the album addition texture and a sort of arc to listen for during repeat listens.

Also, it seems one half of Here Come the Fuzz, a fellow called Chris Karnes, has been featured in on the blog before albeit with his previous band known as Northwest Ordinance. I had nearly forgotten about that album but I'm quite happy to have gotten a chance to rediscover it.

To be had here:
Here Come the Fuzz - Cut Loose

Chick Quest - Vs. Galore (2015)

Here's a band from Vienna who's already begun to garner some attention from far more popular outlets than our tiny blog, however I felt the deserve all the mentions that can muster because it's very much the song of music I wouldn't mind hearing circulation more widely. Beginning as a two-piece called Van Lee Cliff, you know after the actor that played opposite Clint Eastwood in those legendary spaghetti westerns, and since then they've added more players while keeping the western's iconic soundtrack as an inspiration. However, western soundtracks is not the only, nor arguably the main influence on Chick Quest's full-length debut. More accurately the sound is that of a post-modern combination of a variety of revival styles from garage rock, surf, western and bass rhythms of dance-punk a la Gang of Four. It all makes for fine listening.

I feel I'd be remiss without mention by way of a footnote the Michigan musicians that release music as Lasso who has some of the same western influences and impulse to combine genres yet came out with a very difficult but complimentary sound to Chick Quest. So Check them out as well.

To be had here:
Chick Quest - Vs. Galore

EX UAJ ZED - 4 (2015)

The last post was of a Hungarian band and in said post I took the time to wax on a bit on my fixation on Eastern European culture. After looking around a bit more thoroughly in the submissions I have noticed bit of an increase in bands from this region and so I suppose I will take this opportunity to share some of the highlights I’ve founds amongst them. So today is EX UAJ ZED of Poland.

I don’t know if anyone is calling their music garage metal, but if that’s not a traded term I should like to suggest it as an ample descriptor of EX UAJ ZED. Undoubtedly lo-fi with all its fuzz and striped down instrumentation it seems like a garage rock album, which is indeed what they billed themselves as. Yet there is no confusion in the use of overly powerful cords and intensity that this album largely expresses the angst and rage of the very best post-metal albums. Mainly an instrumental affair, with lyrics ever so scarcely entering the picture and even then they’re in what I assume to be Polish, so I can’t elaborate on their content. The real emotion of this album comes via the guitar playing, it takes center stage in every track, to such a degree that the drumming in delaying in introducing itself in several tracks. The drumming does serve as a wonderful guideline throughout, making what would otherwise be a guitar drone into a fleshed out composition, albeit of a minimalistic nature. Now, this might or mightn’t seem like your thing, but if you trust me insofar as lo-fi music goes I will say it is pretty good and I think they’re capable of producing a phenomenal album, and I need to spend time hearing the prior releases still. In the meantime I will really be heavily digging this one.

To be had here:
EX UAJ ZED - 4

EP Grab Bag vol. 106

This post has been a long time coming, I had it 65% written then things went all pear-shaped. Turns out my computer shit the bed. Blasted motherboard was fried, and there were many deliberations on how and when to acquire a new computer. Today I finally bit the bullet. I'm feeling profoundly uncomfortable with having spent so much money, as I am fundamentally a miserly man. Yet this is better than sitting around watching Quantum Leap on my smartphone and drinking cheap micheladas. Well, maybe not better as much as it's different.

Also, this means I am even more far behind on submissions that I would have been otherwise, so please bear with me.

To be had here:

Fuzz Ghost - Fuzz Ghost EP (2015)

If you've been digging on the full-length albums I've posted lately then I'm glad to say that there's plenty more garage rock piled up in the submissions, not least of which is this debut EP from Nashville's Fuzz Ghost. Surfy, psych-tinged garage rock with a light-hearted tone. The singing is a real highlight of these tracks, howling, echoey and dreamy at once.  I think it's an utterly fantastic EP, yet I had little doubt that it would be impressive. After all, it is being issued by our friend over at Ongakubaka Records.

Buzz Driver - Buzz Driver (2015)

On the other side of the equator comes more garage rock, specifically from Volta Redonda, Brazil. Heavily reverbed and stylized surf riffs can be heard in the intro, then it fades into a jumpy, fast and very distorted garage rock. Like an even more blown out version of Tokyo Sex Destruction. They've full embraced the thunderous quality of an untuned bass guitar through a wildly lo-fi set up. Whole EP is maybe 7 minutes, but some of the loudest and craziest minutes I've heard in a while.

Pulco - Found Sound (2015)

Though this EP was just released it is a recording from 2009 for a radio show called 'Garden of Earthly Delights' (a name taken from the same Hieronymus Bosch painting that is the background imagery of this very blog). If you've heard any of the other work from Pulco you'll know to expect some experimental music riddled with spoken word. This EP is neat because it sounds more raw and kinda creepy compared to the music the Welshman made later.

Kate Wakefield - Water Lungs (2015)

A rather unique EP as far as what you'll usually find on this blog. The songs are filled with operatic and classical influences from Wakefield's cello playing and her robust vocals. However, it is done in the way that is weirdly appropriate for what we do here. Her sining is phenomenal, poetic and versatile. Same goes for her cello playing, and they're both wrapped into a highly textured and layered avant-pop context. I could see her either as an indie darling or a full-blown popstar, I wouldn't mind hearing her as either really.

HIATO - HIATO (2015)

An lo-fi electronic musician from Guayaquil, Ecuador, the city that the first Scenes of a City was about. Ambient, chillwave sort of electronic music. The songs are well-fleshed out and engaging, something can sometimes be a challenge with these genres. HIATO has avoided many common pitfalls, yet still has identifiably characteristic of a bedroom electronic musician such as vocal samples and looping artificial drum beats. There's some catchy stuff on this EP, especially the final track, "Úrsula."

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

Wild Raccoon - Mount Break (2015)

There's also a lot going on in France, not always for the better, but I am not gonna use my irreverent music blog to dwell on all-too-serious of matters. Rather I would like to focus on something the French have been constantly proving the world with and we'd be sorely lacking without. I am talking about arts and culture. The French are classy, we all wish would be as sophisticated as they appear in our public imaginations. This is even true when a Frenchman makes a fuzzy, sung in English, one-man band in the northern city of Lillie and names it Wild Raccoon.

Mount Break is a mesmerizing collection of lo-fi songs. Wild Raccoon's done an astounding job at showing a masterful talent at composing warm, fuzzy tunes that draw on garage rock, psychedelic, and surf is continuously recalibrated proportions. There's a remarkable juxtaposition at play in his songs. He cleared labored to make these cacophonous, loud and distorted sounds as compelling as possible. Making beauty out of an absolute mess is not unique to garage rockers, but I adore how they do it and I particularly like how Wild Raccoon managed to do so. Definitely the equal of perennial favorites Dusty Mush, Lady Flint, King Cayman or those dudes down in Capetown. Yet more particularly he reminds me of Ty Segall or his fellow Frenchman, Pain Dimension, though perhaps a bit less distorted and more psychedelic.

I'm not gonna pull attention to individual songs, as this is without a doubt the sort of album best heard from beginning to end, more than likely twice or thrice in a row. If you're interested in obtaining on a cassette the awesome folks over at Paris's Howlin' Banana Records have you covered. 

To be had here:
Wild Raccoon - Mount Break

The Dictaphone - Hazmat (2015)

A new album by the French heavy psychedelic garage project known as the Dictaphone. Released by the Viennese label, Totally Wired Records, who you might recall as the folks that put out the Drunken Draculas' songs in Austria. I haven't posted about the Dictaphone since the release of 2012's Let's Not. However, it took mere seconds of listening to Hazmat for me to recall why I would have taken the trouble to write them up years ago.

I called the Dictaphone 'heavy' psychedelic garage for a reason, though a looser term like lo-fi is likely more applicable. The songs are incredibly dense and rich and only at times fast and messy, perhaps best exemplified by the amazing song "Wrist Job." Yet in the second half of Hazmat the tone shifts in tracks like "Ex-Cop" and "Remove The Need" to a slower and a more droning style overtakes the brash garage rock. Then in the end it changes back into very lo-fi garage rock, with the fuzzy guitar, pounding percussion and belting, echoey vocals one should expect. Throughout all of them is an innate connection to electronic music, especially in the building introductions and layering of rhythms. Check out the track "Stalker" to really see what I mean and just how excellently the differing dynamics are integrated into a cohesive song. It is a stellar album all around, one I won't soon be moving on from.

To be had here:
The Dictaphone - Hazmat

Häxxan - Häxxan (2014)

At times there is nothing better one can do than wake up, drink a pot of very black coffee and listen to garage rock. Really sets a tone of excited invulnerability for the day to follow. Honestly, this is as close as I get to eating breakfast. Of course, not all garage rock is equally suited for this task. In particular the fuzzier, faster and more psychedelically hazy the better it is when I'm in this state of mind. Found just the thing in the submissions, a group called Häxxan, billed as a "mega-huge garage band" by their label. Gotta hear that, right?

Though they hail from the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, Häxxan could have fooled me into believing their where among the Capetown garage rockers or one of the numerous awesome Spanish or French lo-fi outfits. The reason I bring all these other places up is to make a sloppy reference to how I think Häxxan is as good as any of the garage rock I've recently posted like the Fizz Pops, Baston or Bicycle Day. Their sound could be described as between the Stooges and the Ganglians, sharing heavy, distorted rock elements of the former and the charmingly surreal vocals and composition of the latter. Songs that really display the psych-garage fusing best are "Never See Me Again," "Ben Zona" and the utterly brilliant "Hail C-La-C." The whole damn album is awesome really.

The vinyl was issued Munich, Germany based label, Heroic Leisure, although there are very few left at the time of this post being published. Good news though, a Dutch label called Geertruida is issuing it as a cassette and those only came out earlier this month. Hopefully there's plenty still be available.

To be had here:
Häxxan - Häxxan

EP Grab Bag vol. 105

Been meaning to get this one up for a while. Got lazy or forgetful or whatever, who cares really? It's here now. Anyhow, I am late in the sense that all the album art seems very well geared for Halloween, which I missed by a week. Oh well, better luck next year.

To be had here:

Peixefante - Lorde Pacal EP (2015)

Another EP I was sent from my Brazilian friend Barbara. Her impeccable is apparent in this awesome psychedelic indie/electronic pop outfit from Goiânia, Brazil. The songs possess a wonderful ethereal quality, just a touch spacey, but at their core they are wonderful modern psych tunes. They remind me of my favorite modern Brazilian psych-rockers, Supercordas, yet bent more toward pop music. An incredibly alluring EP, not to be missed.

Seamus O'Muineachain - Blood Apple (2015)

The songs of an Irish songwriter. Minimal in composition, ambient in tone, and folksy in style they are lovely instrumental songs. Done largely on guitar and piano they songs are a finely interwoven tapestry of those instruments, though a healthy level of percussion is used as necessary. It's as if that sort of acoustic music you've doubtlessly heard played in a coffeehouse could carry many times it's weight by utilizing more musical avenues than the bare guitar playing. So much so it is more sedimental than many lyrically based compositions.

Waylon Thornton and the Heavy Hands - Black Pudding (2015)

This Floridian outfit has routinely sent me music over the years, though I have failed to always post it. I am sloppy like that. However, I did take the time to hear this seven-track release and found myself enjoying even more than I already imagined I might. The songs are short garage rock jaunts. And I mean short, not any of them top the two minute mark. All upbeat lo-fi with howling singing reverb in the vocals and great distorted guitars. Check them out and look into their admirable catalog while you're at it.

The Dyna Jets - The Calling (2015)

Recently I posted the Fizz Pops, a garage pop band from Capetown, South Africa. Well, two members, Johnny Tex and Warren Fisher, of that band also have another project called the Dyna Jets. So here is the EP they put out this summer and I somehow missed until a couple of weeks ago. Two-piece garage rock as it should be, markedly fuzzy and playful, has a very surfy tone in the guitar playing. Four brief songs that left me eager for more. I Hope there will be more, under whatever name the choose to use next time.

Enema Noise - manual pouco prático do desapego (2014)

Back to Brazil, this time to the capital city of Brasilia. Lo-fi rock for sure, though of a more intense sort than the prior two EPs of this Grab Bag. Post-hardcore, which is a genre that is hit or miss for me overall, but there's not a doubt in my mind that Enema Noise is anything other than a hit. This release is absolutely exciting. The speed, intensity and excellent musicianship engaged me from the very start. I would love to hear them play in a dirty basement for sure.

Paradise Brut - Violet Violence (2015)

So people are compelled to make music, well, many people are compelled. Not all of them are terribly good at it, not that that's a reason not to keep making it (unless there's gonna be the new Billy Joel or something equally ultra-horrific). However, it is even less common for someone to be awesome at two genres of music, and then to be a bedroom recording artist at that. Nonetheless, our friend Dani in Madrid has managed this feat.

A couple of times I've posted on a very noisy, messy garage rocker that uses the moniker King Cayman. You might recall how those albums are best heard loudly and with a beer in your system. Well, he has translated that notion into electronic rock with this release. It holds much of the same spirit as his garage punk music, but grinds it down to a sparser core that is only thereafter elaborated with electronic affectations. Few vocals are heard, though when they rarely do show up they are with his customarily spooky effects. Yet this is not where your focus should be. It is in the fundamental breakdown of lo-fi rock that he's offering up. I mean this in the same since that when you crush an orange it yield delicious juice, he's managed to mush up garage rock into core elements and giving them a wholly new texture. He's taken the components of most good lo-fi rock; angst, excitement, confusion and irreverence, and made them into bare sounds. It is like imagining your own irregular heartbeat and somehow knowing it has universal currency. I adore it.

To be had here:
PARADISE BRUT - VIOLET VIOLENCE

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

SHAKY SHRINES - SHAKY AT BEST (2015)

A couple of years back I posted an EP from a Pittsburgh outfit making a droning psychedelic rock. I thought it was pretty great and I still do, so I am happy to say SHAKY SHRINES still at it, in fact they've never let up, I just missed all the releases since then until now. My bad, folks, but one can't hear it all no matter what one wishes. Nevertheless, I'm glad to have hear this new album, SHAKY AT BEST. The surprise for me was how different the band sounded to me. I recall a lo-fi garagey psych band, and this album has an immediately identifiable polish indie rock style. But hey hey hey, don't turn it off, just keep listening. It might be more pop and shine than what I came in expecting, but it is done well. A good tune is a good tune, and why should a band stick to one genre anyhow? I missed what might have been evolutionary steps towards this in the last two years, but I like what I got anyhow.

All this isn't to say they shed all of the garage rock elements of the songwriting. Several are still quite catchy, lo-fi fuzz-fests. The vocals are clearer and more forward however, and the structure of the songs are more cohesive overall. A good album, totally worth checking out by eager indie rock fans. Highlight tracks for me were "Yr House Isn't Haunted" and "Tomato Tomato."

To be had here:
SHAKY SHRINES - SHAKY AT BEST