Black Spring / The Engineer - Split Cassette (2015)

Here's something I nearly lost in the shuffle. A submission from England from a few months ago that I listened to and meant to write up speedily, but as you can witness I failed utterly at that. It is a split release, a no wave rock outfit called Black Spring and a project called The Engineer. The reason I am posting it here rather than in a Grab Bag despite it have only two tracks is that each of the tracks are over 19 minutes long, so it is a damn full-length so far as I am concerned. They're fucking weird, meandering and spooky experimentations of sound. Music that is disorientating strange, something that is worth taking the time to soak in occasionally. Noise, reverb and all manner of dissonance are the hallmarks of the track from Black Spring. On the other hand the Engineer is more structured, and while still very heavily low fidelity, it has eerily lovely singing and righteous organ playing. Also a loud clanging that reoccurs frequently, but I didn't mind that. Both of these artists are on a small English label run by a fella known as Milton Keyes, Monocreo.

To be had here:
Black Spring / The Engineer

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

EP Grab Bag vol. 93

I've got a glut of EPs incoming lately. This is good news but also much time to be spent listening. Being the compulsive music fiend as usual I plowed through a bliss couple of evenings getting to know these six EPs and I don't think there's a single one to be scoffed at in the slightest way. In fact some of them are rather exceptionally brilliant. Mostly American with just a bit of Germany and the Down Under thrown in.

To be had here:
Caterwaulrus - Songs That Go Nowhere (2015)

It's been the better part of the year since Caterwaulrus appeared on the SRM, and now Austin-based musician has got a new EP out. In full disclosure, Larry wrote up his previous release, which I gave an all too cursory listen to but judging by the stunning quality of this new batch of tunes. No joke, these are stellar bedroom pop songs, quirky, psychedelic and charming as all get out. I am confindent enough to say fans of Nate Henricks, Tim Cohen, Slight Birching, Pill Wonder and so on will adore what Caterwaulrus is playing on Songs That Go Nowhere. I've already been texting the link to this album to my coworkers, which I'm sure they're jazzed about. But seriously, motherfucking listen to this EP.

Paar - Pure/She Brings the Rain (2015)

Paar is a band started by a member of German post-punk band, The Amount of Light We Give Off, that was featured exactly 30 Grab Bags ago. I'd say he kept with the post-punk that was so well displayed in that EP for these two new songs, adding more new wave as well. However they sound quite unique from the prior work as these are full of pumping, hypnotic bass and a most seductive singer. "Pure" is a striped down tune, as far as wall-of-sound songs go, and I really, truly fell in love with this band upon hearing the bleak yet sultry "She Brings the Rain." I gotta hear more of that sort of thing.

Little Star - The Romantic World of Little Star (2015)

A new band from a frequently mentioned city, it's Little Star of Portland, Oregon. Now, this band is called Little Star (they don't capitalize it but that shit drives me crazy to see while typing this out) and they've got a tag on their bandcamp for "Big Star." Doesn't take a rocket scientist to see where they're inspiration came from. Nonetheless, I approached this EP openly and found myself incredibly endeared to the sweet, often acoustic, power pop tunes. Without a doubt these are well composed and delightful tunes that lack that annoyance factor much pop music creates for me. Like Big Star, who'd have guessed that?

Evasive Backflip - Pussy Up (2015)

Noisy, experimental, mathy jazz punk? Chicago? Naturally. Evasive Backflip put out this new EP on the superb indie label, Grandpa Bay Recordings, whose releases are regular occurrences on SRM at this point. Usually their releases are of an experimental sort, something that Pussy Up continues valiantly. The songs sound improvisational, a bit chaotic at moments but held together the excellent jazzy horn playing and angular guitar swirling around. "Disentanglement Puzzle" is an interesting, unique and very engaging introduction to this band's sound.

Feng Shui Police - Thank You (2015)

As I listened to this EP I very soon felt I was hearing a college kids, yet as I kept on it seems that might be an artful feint. So while I cannot be sure that Providence, RI's Feng Shui Police has anyone in college among its members, it was "Recorded in Dash's basement, powered by coffee and Thai food." Basically that sentence summarizes all I can remember about college anyway. What they've done here is make an acoustic garage rock album, if your mind can handle that concept. But it totally is, the drums are lower to make the guitars audible, the singing is lyric-centered like a young man liberated by use of language ought to embrace. Clever, in an cool, funny way.

White Lodge - Split 7" [w/ The Gorlons] (2015)

I'm not sure how this split came to be, but I know I have written up both these most excellent garage rock outfits, one from the Australian state of Queensland and other from American state of Missouri. These two songs are just from Brisbane's White Lodge made the fuzzy and fast psychedelic garage tune "Backwater Rumble" and another tune called "Ancient Tides," which is perhaps the more theatrically grungy of the two songs but they're very equally matched in overall lo-fi quality. The Gorlons have yet to release their half, but I look froward to it eagerly. God bless electronic communication allowing such far-flung artists to combine for a joint release, especially two I like so much.

Blue Diamond - It's A Puppy's World (2015)

Every now and again there's this strange sort of album that comes the Spacerockmountainway. A weird bedroom project that's hard to describe and is dissimilar to most other things on the blog but are at the unified in that aspect. Blue Diamond has fallen into this category nicely. It is most definitely the work of a dude with eccentric tastes made tinkering away alone only sharing it with us all now that he's completed the strange tunes. As usual, I'm eating this shit up.

Blue Diamond is a guy from La Quinta, California and he's taken some old, warped 80s new age/new wave sounds and mixed it up with some truly bizarre vocal stylings, including some answering machine message recordings. The whole album gives a sort of vaporwave vibe, striking similarities to SODA lite in the instrumental parts. For as strangely and purposefully awkward it seems at times, there are some songs on this album that transcend it all really shine as great pop gems, such as delight tune "Boatful Of Weed Crashes Onto Nude Beach."

To be had here:
Blue Diamond - It's A Puppy's World

EP Grab Bag vol. 92

So much coming in it is far to keep up with all these EPs and LPs. Yet I believe we've some real winners in this Grab Bag. Releases not to be missed and totally worth the delay in getting them up because my life is an utter mess.

To be had here:

Leggy - Nice Try (2015)

Cincinnati's Leggy has another EP out, something I am extremely excited about. In maybe a slightly more inspired fits of moping around the internet I stumbled on their first EP, Cavity Castle, and haven't been able to stop listening to ever since. And the follow-up, Nice Try, is more than the humble title would imply. The songs retain all the fuzzy, witty and completely endearing qualities that lead me to become such a devoted fan to the first EP. The track "Grrrls Like Us" is sure to be stuck in my head as nonstop as I've found "Chardonnay Summer" from Cavity Castle to be. I wish the very best for Leggy and I can only dream they play Detroit soon.

Grotto Girl - Besides, (2014)

Here's something special indeed. New Orlean's Grotto Girl makes lo-fi indie pop and rock tunes, the sort of things I have been helplessly addicted to since middle school. They tell me they're a new band, but songs on this EP such as "Liar Face" and "Teens" had me recalling many longstanding bands to which I feel they're already well on the way to equalling. "Friends" is a charming garage pop tune that packs more than the minute and half playtime would imply. The entire EP is a fuzzy bliss that I most highly recommend. A band to keep an eye on if there's ever been one.

Copneconic - Bein Sweet EP (2015)

This band is from Fenton, Michigan. Only a bit over an hour on the expressway from me, and it is a town of the same size and demographics as the one I grew up in. Just so happens Fenton has more musical history, as one can dig into with the amazing three LP set of reissued 60s Michigan garage rock called Scream Loud!!! The Fenton Story. Copneconic has kept the music making alive in Fenton with their EP here. While it has elements that're close to garage it is certainly more of a lo-fi punk band, influenced by the 90s period of post-hardcore and emo to be sure. The songs are intense and competent, bearing a perfect amount of nostalgia for a late twenty something like me.

Jardim infinito e a banda das águas - Primeiro Ato (2014)

As the quite wordy name of this band suggests, they're from Brazil. They play a sort of psychedelic folk-rock that's fully instrumental. The songs are surprisingly epic for being as short as they are. Don't even breach the four minute mark, but you'll easily find yourself lost in the complex and wandering sounds nonetheless. Almost cinematic if it wasn't for the attention they attract to themselves. Also, without a doubt the best EP of this bunch for me to play at work without upsetting anyone, which is exact what I did this morning. A true crowd pleaser, even for the old betties I have to sell shit to.

Azzuro Peaks - Skimming Surfaces, Orbiting Space (2015)

I don't feel like this is the first band I've gotten from Derby, England nor the second for that matter... gonna have to look into that place for the music seems significantly righteous. Azzuro Peaks, despite the Italian-esque name, another British band from this town. They play psychedelic folk with fast, trippy guitars and beautiful vocal work. Even with just the three tracks on the EP, a good sense of the raw talent is apparent. There are more releases on bandcamp and they should be worth checking out too.

Remnose - For the Birds (2014)

So as I have alluded to already I am no longer a used bookseller, and again I have found work in a grocery store. Not as bad as it seems from a base reading of that statement. I get to research and buy product, learning a great deal about wine and picking my coworkers brains on dishes and produce on a routine basis. In addition to the culinary and vinicultural education I get to work with a slew of musicians who are all incredibly productive and talented despite also working their days selling food. Not least among these coworkers is a member of the lo-fi electric folk band Remnose.

The lo-fi recording makes for a washed out yet highly effective style for the songs that are driven by multiple guitars and singing that is beautifully done in a mildly unintelligible voice. The recording features no drummer, and the absence of which causes everything else to swell up in a warm, fuzzy manner. There not complicated tunes, but the sort that make you feel things without your intending to do so. Remnose makes quintessential examples of songs with heart. The guitars make serpentine sounds that charm as well as any snake charmer might aspire to and they're best hear loudly through long broken in speakers. I have seen Remnose live, only once so far admittedly, as I have been sick and otherwise shittly preoccupied and missed the other recently live shows. What I can tell you is that they've added a drummer, thereby making the sound more louder and fuller. Something to perhaps look forward to in any forthcoming releases.

For the Birds was recorded and released by Lo & Behold, which is both a record & used bookstore in my current hometown of Hamtramck as well as an indie label run by the fine gentleman named Richie. It's literally a three minute walk from me and a place to check out for fans of old vinyl if you ever find yourself in the Motor City. Hit us both up, why not?

To be had here:
Remnose - For the Birds

Happy Sadness - The Long Play LP (2015)

Happy Sadness is maybe my favorite name for a musical project that I've heard in a long time. Two words that are a whole philosophy, albeit one that many don't get and those they embrace it still have questions about.

The Long Play LP is not just a cutely redundant name, it is an accurate description of the length of the album. It is a lengthy listen with sixteen tracks, plenty that are over five minutes. This means there's a bunch of material through which to acquaint oneself with Happy Sadness. Far from the worst thing I can imagine, in fact seeing as I am writing it up I was fond of the experience. A very varied experience at that. The songs do not adhere to a style across the album, rather the songwriter tries his hand at many folky acoustic, warped psychedelic, and others shimmering pop songs. While I recommend the whole album, the songs that truly stood out for me were "We Fall As We Rise" and "The Night Has Woken" as wonderful examples of surreal folk dreamscapes. Finally, Happy Sadness reminds me of Pete Dello, which is great quality in anything, though more serious in some ways. Not too serious however, for who need that shit?

To be had here:
Happy Saddness - The Long Play LP

Robby Fischer - You've Changed (2015)

Robby Fischer is the drummer in Black Fruit, a Grand Rapids garage rock band whose split with the British band Factotum I posted about a little bit ago. It seems he's doing more than beating some fine drums in Black Fruit however, as he's go a full-length solo album. I'm gonna hazard a guess that Mr. Fischer is a fan of Ty Segall, particularly his albums Lemons and Melted, as his influence seems to be rife throughout these songs and I mean that in the most positive way. Even if the inspiration seems obvious (though let me be clear I am conjecturing at all times) it is in the execution that Robby Fischer shines.

You've Changed is a very fuzzy garage rock album that has a brilliant amount of psychedelic swirled in. All of these songs are distorted, and not a wee bit, but quite considerably blown the fuck out in a very deliberate fashion. I believe when done correctly this purposefully diminished fidelity is one of the finest things a person can hear. Therefore, you might imagine how much I've been digging this album. The songs are more than fast and loud, they're rather immersive in scale should you have the volume high enough and free yourself of burdensome distractions. You've Changed is the sort of album that is best heard from beginning to end, then at least once over again. Perfect for cassette listening, which is how you can purchase it. A move I strongly recommend.

To be had here:
Robby Fischer - You've Changed

Witching Waves - Fear Of Falling Down (2014)

I've had this album in my library already for months, and it has embarrassingly taken me until today to get my shit together and write something about Fear of Falling Down despite having hear it a dozen times at least. It is almost as if Witching Waves are just elusive enough in their sound that I was intimidated to try to break it down. It's like this, you see, there are many elements poured into Fear of Falling Down that every song has multifaceted qualities. It certainly is a lo-fi fuzzy sound but pull subtly from 60s garage rock, DIY punk and perhaps most interestingly power pop and shoegaze at the same time. Pile on top of that they take turns singing it remarkable how unified the artistic vision this band has retain with everything going into it. It's sorta like hearing My Bloody Valentine cover the Breeders or some wild concept like that. However, I am sure there are many that'll hear just a noise pop outfit with some charming guitars and vocals. If that's all you get that should be plenty good enough, but I am pretty sure they're doing a lot more here if you give the album time to marinate in your ears. At very least be sure to hear "Better Run" as it must be among the best songs I've heard this year so far.

Also, a little while back I posted an EP from the British garage rock band H. Grimace who are on the British indie label Soft Power Records. Witiching Waves are also of this very same label and I am going to restate my admiration of what Soft Power is putting out and tell you all to check what else they've got going on.

To be had here:
Witching Waves - Fear Of Falling Down

EP Grab Bag vol. 91

There's a neat thing I've noticed over my time writing this blog. If you write up a few bands from one city, other bands from that same city will send you in albums and EPs shortly thereafter. Well, Elvis has been on a San Diego jam lately and Larry wrote up some of Montreal scene recently. Little wonder that I found EPs from both these places in the submissions for this Grab Bag. However, I did find some other nice things in there as well.

To be had here:

Girl Arm - Trading Cities (2014)

From Montreal comes the noisy rock band, Girl Arm. Fans of math rock will certainly hear the ever appealing angular guitar playing in Trading Cities. Yet there's more going on than that, chaotically more, for this band is very much into making noise. The title track is a stunning example of the ordered chaos good noise and math share. Reminds me of something between The Mae Shi and Chavez. I hope these references make sense to someone, they're starting to make me feel outdated...

White Owl - To Me You All Looked The Same EP (2015)

The fourth EP by Bristol's White Owl to make its way into a Grab Bag. It maintains the washed out psychedelic force that made all prior efforts so admirable, as if they're slowly building their way an LP of their time-released tunes. Come as it may, EPs or full-lengths I will always be down for listening to anything these guys are up to. Not a second of these lo-fi songs isn't captivating. I hope you've gotten a chance to hear the prior EPs, if not loop back around for sure. Also, the photo that serves as album art looks like it is straight out of the Dig! documentary Elvis had as watch and White Owl does sound a bit like Brain Jonestown Massacre to boot.

The Bellends - Corndoggin' (2014)

A punk rock band from lovely Bloomington, Indiana. The Bellends have struck a very good position between making thrashing, fast and fuzzy punk songs and a healthy amount of irreverence. There is a cowboy riding a corndog on the cover after all. But what I mean is that they're not making dark hardcore tunes, rather throwing in some pop hooks, a few "na -na-nas" and lyrics that make jokes of life and death. Honestly reminds me of the Mummies as I continued to listen to them, but more informed by 90s punk. An accessible and catchy EP for sure.

The Conquerors - I'm Alright​/​Get Real! (2014)

Two tracks from a Kansas City, MO outfit that's aiming for a heavily retro vibe. With a name like the Conquerors I was surprised not to find an actual 60s band with that name in all the compilations of psych and garage rock in my library. I still imagine they has to be one out there. Anyhow, these guys have done an remarkable job at approximating the sound of late 60s psych-garage without just cribbing straight from any particular band. If you liked the recently posted Italian psychedelic band the Vickers I would highly recommend checking out the Conquerors as well.

SHEEP OR SLAVE - Wanting To Be Someone Else & Everlasting Vibrations (2015)

Here we have the San Diegans of SHEEP OR SLAVE released two EPs this February. So while I haven't been able to spend a ton of time listening to these EPs they've tagged as 'doom pop,' however I have already figured out that they are best heard loudly blasting through speakers or headphones. This way you'll get the most out of the contrast between the surreal, lyrically-driven pop parts the abruptly jump into intense, churning guitar and hollering (a prime example is "Piggly Wiggly" on Wanting to be Someone Else). Not just the guitar manages to get intense, as the lyrics are a bit halting at times. There's something there about raping souls. Even metaphorically that's a weird thing to think about. The entirety of both of these EPs are weird in fact. Jaunting between rhythms at irregular oscillations, disturbing words, undeniably sweet guitars and drums playing throughout. In short, they're damned interesting to hear. Some of my favorite tracks were "Match.com," "Mr. Horse" and "Call Flake."

Sonnyskyes - I kinda like living in the sky (2015)

Have to keep this one short and sweet as I've been ill as of late, not sure what is up but I know I am sore as hell. However, as this is an album I've been highly looking forward toward hearing I gotta say something without too much delay. 

Sonnysykes has finally released a second full-length that I'm very excited to write about. This is the follow up to 2013's The Imaginary Friend Ship, an album I still think is a wonderful example of the lo-fi brilliance emanating from California. The one man band that is Sonnyskyes has not changed the general formula from the prior release, rather doubled down on the lo-fi delight. If anything this album is more fuzzy and distorted than the first and in a way that is incredibly desirable to my ears. If you're a listener of our podcast you might have heard my advocacy of not understanding lyrics until repeatedly heard the song, and then only beginning to piece them together due to the low fidelity. This is an accomplishment Sonnyskyes has managed with the utterly fuzzy elegance. LEt's me focus on this most righteous guitars and thumping drums. You know, the garage rock parts.

To be had here:
Sonnyskyes - I kinda like living in the sky

Joplin Rice - Low Hum (2015)

Practice Records, the label started up by our blogging collogue over at the Modern Folk, has a new release. The first cassette issuing, as a mater of fact. It is an album I would unabashedly hype regardless of its affiliation with another blogger I respect. What he have here is a wonderful lo-fi folk/rock musician out of Lexington, KY called Joplin Rice.

There is something immediately familiar about Low Hum. Especially upon getting to the third track, "know it's not," with the acoustic guitars matched against the piano and organ playing. The songs bear wonderful song structure, brilliant lyrics and sweetly soft vocals throughout, with some being lo-fi rock nearly approaching psych-pop. Switches between the more folksy numbers and the faster and more amplified rock tunes, making for an overall album that's somewhere between Elliott Smith and a band like the High Water Marks. It isn't short of charms and I wish I could do a better job at conveying that in this post. You'd imagine I'd have gotten better at this over the years but it always seems like I'm groping for the right words. So you'll just have to trust me and the Modern Folk.

To be had here:
Joplin Rice - Low Hum

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.

Black Fruit/Factotum SPLIT (2015)

What we have here is a split album, something you might have pieced together from the title of the post. You might not have guessed that they're garage rock bands from Michigan and another from United Kingdom. Nonetheless this is very much the case.

Black Fruit are from Grand Rapids, Michigan, a city on the other side of the state from yours truly and one I fail to understand fully but has produced its fair share of excellent bands. Black Fruit is a particularly awesome example of this. Moreover, they put out the majority of the tracks for the split (7 of 12 songs) allowing for you to soak of all the lo-fi bliss their belting out. Fuzzy guitars, loud and steady drum beats and almost totally incomprehensible singing. The songs are infused with a healthy degree of both surf rock and mild nihilism. It's funny how those blend so well.

Factotum is a British outfit, who while certainly being garage rock are of a different sort. The sound is more grungy and filled out with a psychedelic style. Additionally the singing is more abrasive and akin to post-hardcore garage punk. The songs are intense and rumbling, so while the songs are the minority of the split they haven't any trouble holding up their end of the bargain. Overall the split is indeed an interesting contrast in the varieties of garage rock that are existent, but I would be hesitant to say they show any UK-US rift in the style (this is how the email pitched it to me). Especially because I remember Whirlwind Heat, a Grand Rapids based garage rock band from a bit over ten years back that was more like Factotum than their fellow Grand Rapidians Black Fruit.

Finally, the album is due out physically as a colored vinyl, I believe in March, by Stolen Body Records. So if you liked what you heard and want it on wax, look out for that.

To be had here:
Black Fruit/Factotum SPLIT

Pulco - Innovation In The Trade (2015)

Pulco has touched many soft spots of mine. Firstly, he's from Wales, and like many folks I have a endearment to the underdog, even in a rivalry between nations and cultures, which makes Wales a romantic place in my mind. Secondly, the album art is a simple abstract piece that reminds me fondly of Wassily Kandinsky. And finally the music is bizarre, artsy and utilizes spoken word like a British twee pop band I've greatly admired for years, Death By Chocolate (they were circa 2001, for if you google that name you'll first find some newer outfit I'm unfamiliar with). Basically, this Welshman had a lot going for him right away and he was anything but a let down.

That Pulco's music is technically impressive while being lo-fi and so well-composed for experimental tunes makes sense considering the man behind the project, Ash Cooke, has been an accomplished musician for a bit now. He was a member of the group Derrero, who've got several albums out, have toured some some great bands including a favorite of mine, Super Furry Animals, and even got to sit down with John Peel. However, I am not acquainted with that band, not yet at least, but I can very much vouch for Pulco's Innovation In The Trade. As I referenced earlier the album bears a likeness to the spoken word-laden indie pop I recall from over a decade ago, this is particularly apparent in whimsically enjoyable tracks like "The Blazing Hat Pt.2," "Graham" and "Stan & The Bike" were the 'lyrics' are more of recited poetry or storytelling. On the other hand "A Ferry To Your Own Life," "Prank" and "A Man Shouts" show how incredible of a writer of pop songs Mr. Cooke is capable of being. Or there's ones where it just gets weird such as "Fan Heater" and "Pabell." It's a multifaceted effort that's very coherently woven together. If you want more of this, you're in luck as he's got quite the catalog on to browse through on bandcamp.

To be had here:
Pulco - Innovation In The Trade

Gazer - Fake Bulbs/Phone Commercial (2014)

Gazer are from Cincinnati, Ohio. A city that stands out in my mind for two reasons. Firstly, I went to see the Tallest Man on Earth in Newport, Kentucky in a venue that's built in house of the inventor of the Tommy Gun. Upon drunkenly crossing the pedestrian bridge over the Ohio River from Cincinnati to Newport to find out cigarettes were like $3 was rather epic. Secondly, when crossing the same river in a car as a kid I witness a crashed minivan all wrecked to fuck on the vehicular bridge going south to Nashville and on the way back a week later.  Different minivans, what are the odds? Now I get to add Gazer to these stark experiences.

When done well I can really get into post-hardcore. Gazer does it very well in my book. They're loud, lo-fi and brash sounding. As it should be, no? At least for this variety of intense punk rock, absolutely. The tracks are  mostly short, markedly fast and full of screeching, pounding and hollering vocals drenched in DIY recording fuzz. It is the kind of music to stomp around to, maybe getting a black eye or jammed thumb in the sweaty mosh pit. I'll be standing aside though, as I am already too old for that shit. Yet I'll smell that angst and intensity, enjoying it entirely. Fake Bulbs/Phone Commercial is a double release with each side of the 12" vinyl bearing one of these two EPs. They're on separate pages on bandcamp, but I trust you'll navigate that just fine. 

To be had here:
Fake Bulbs & Phone Commercial

EP Grab Bag vol. 89

As it so happens from time to time the submissions to the blog will fall into an rough category for a period. It's been garage rock, ambient and even noise before. While this time it was a vague theme, but one that I believe has a rather clear through line. Each of these EPs are experimental music, though as different varieties. All weird and all psychedelic in their own way.

To be had here:

▲҈҉   - ▲҈҉   (2015)

This weird wing-ding symbol is something Canadian Sean Travis Ramsay, has titled both this project and EP. He's been on the blog before, under the moniker of Slight Birching. It bears similarity to his album Cultural Envelope, insomuch that it's experimental folk with a decidedly lo-fi, bedroom ambiance. Strikes one as the sort of thing a man tinkers and plays with in lonesome evenings, and regardless of that being the actually case for Mr. Ramsay, he's done a wonderful job at painting a sonic picture of beautifully anxious confusion. Not to be missed, especially not by fans of Cultural Envelope.

Theme Witch - You Are Wrong EP (2014)

Jumping to Portland, Oregon for some more lo-fi experimentation, yet in a vastly different direction. Theme Witch is a hazy, washed out pop act that sounds most like a wildly distorted tape of 80s jangley post-punk reminiscent of the Smiths and Joy Division. Like someone took these bands are a core and layered on warped keys, beats and guitar parts while leaving the original singing somewhat faded and echoey beneath. It's trippy shit, and I found it incredibly catchy too.

Energy 2000 - Mercury​-​Atlas 6 (2014)

In keeping with the experimental trend of this Grab Bag we've got another EP that falls neatly into that catagory and of yet another sort. Richmond, VA's Energy 2000 could be called NASA-wave, as it is psychedelic space rock, bordering on chillwave, overdubbed with crackly dialogue between astronauts and ground control. The songs are more than just far out, pun completely intended, as they're very well crafted. The guitars are twangy, with notes bending around all over the place forming a mesmerizing tapestry. Does something wonderful after a couple of beer following a hard day's work.

Injection for me - Birth/Coma (2014)

Of course we can't have all this experimental music and not have any post-rock. Injection for me is a band I haven't any information on really, but if the links they sent me are to be trusted they may very well be from Russia. However, that doesn't make a difference in the world of spacey instrumental post-rock, for it is all about the music. These two tracks have ambient vocals, like Engery 2000, but a fashion that reveals their post-rock roots. It's very possible fro them to have been influenced by post-rock groups like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, This Will Destroy You and Caspian.