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

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.

Killwave - Death By Distortion (2015)

It is neat to hear how genres pile upon one another as time becomes compressed with the benefit (or disadvantage depending to one's desires and philosophies) of retrospection. This chronometric warping does allow for redevelopment of ideas to take place in interesting ways. A nice example is the aptly named Death by Distortion by Killwave.

The dudes in Killwave are familiar with a great deal of 80s British new wave. It's evident in throughout Death By Distortion, down to the vocals that seem to have taken on a mild accent, albeit not clearly a British one, but surely not what I know most Chicagoans to sound like either. Furthermore, Killwave isn't strictly a new wave band, they're a good deal heavier. They've woven in industrial rawness, metal guitar progressions and the vocals smack of what I've always thought of as horror punk. The lyrics vary from bizarre to comedic to mildly creepy, mostly encompassing all three at once in some degree. Basically, there's a whole lot going on here and whole lot of it is excellent. A very well-produced album, the effort the put in their irreverence is apparent and laudable. 

To be had here:
Killwave - Death By Distortion

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.

Mariscal De Campo - Recordatorio (2014)

When Larry started the Scenes of a City series I hadn't a clue it would become so popular. They've generated it more attention and responses than most anything else we've ever done and for that we're thankful and bashfully proud. Yet in the course of searching around for the music from a particular city sometimes there'll be various other threads that appear which are insufficiently related to the post we'll be writing to be included but are simply begging to be pulled. Mariscal De Campo is a band I found in this backwards route, via stumbling upon the Argentine label Fuego Amigo Discos.

So the whole website is in Spanish, but what can be sussed out despite the language barrier is that Fuego Amigo Discos is an independent label that at least sometimes gives albums away on their site. Recordatorio by Mariscal De Campo is just such an album. Only other thing I could figure out from the site is that this band is from the coastal town of Punta Alta. So everything hereafter is mere conjecture, or in other words business as usual. The simplest way to explain Mariscal De Campo is that they make snythpop. However, this fails to fully elucidate the interesting interplay between dreamy and dancey sounds they've brilliant incorporated. The songs "Dejame" and "Escapada" show off their more new wave-tinged dance rock capabilities excellently, with "Otra Canción" and "Eso Que Ni Pensamos" show more dreamy snyth playing. All wonderful, and there are tunes like "La Comodidad" where all bets are off and it certainly a new wave hit. A live set by this band could be amazing. Surely gonna have to see what else Fuego Amigo Discos has to offer after this.

To be had here:
Mariscal De Campo - Recordatorio

Full Crumb - Maelstrom Protocol (2014)

Full Crumb are from the United Kingdom, not sure where exactly, as I wasn't told. Yet through an unknown series of events is being issued on cassette and digitally by the Athens, GA-based label Fall Break Records. However, after listening to Full Crumb's output, I can understand why they'd be eager to release it.

Maelstrom Protocol is a particularly tricky albums to describe. It really is the sort of thing that is best experienced without too much preface and pondered about by the listener for days afterwards during the likely sessions of re-listening. Truly a whole range of genres are applicable to the Maelstrom Protocol, being in near equal measure krautrock, British new wave, psychedelic, experimental pop and shitgaze. Perhaps the only caught-all term that works is art rock, but as we all know that doesn't tell you much about the songs really sounds. Let's put it this way, there's something of Orange Juice or the Fire Engines sort of Scottish late-80s thing, strange audio clips serving as intros, dreamy pop numbers, and an overall feeling perverted reverence throughout. Go on, have a listen.

To be had here:
Full Crumb - Maelstrom Protocol

EP Grab Bag vol. 82

This here is a clean up Grab Bag, thing I meant to post early, sometimes much earlier yet to do my poor organizational skills on the computer I lost track of completely. I find it ironic that my day job is keeping a warehouse of books, counting somewhere around a million titles, in order and to retrieve them at a moments notice, but ask me to make a logical set of subfolders on my macbook and I fail utterly.

To be had here:

NO/NO - Drag EP (2014)

Sadly misplaced this EP in the shuffle of submitted material from the last few months. NO/NO are from Milwaukee and play new wave inspired post-punk. The bandcamp page is full of wonderful tags like coldwave, dark wave and shoegaze which are more or less unexplainable. What I can elucidate on are the eerie singing, done in a near-falsetto at times and suitably subtle enough to let the instruments shine. The guitar, keys and drums are equally the stars of this EP, really swirling into a most excellent coaction of post-punk glamor.

Creature from Dell Pond - Swamp Cake (2014)

There are but two songs I nearly overlooked on this release but when you listen to it you'll swear there are more. This is due to the shifting tones present in the tracks, which seems to be unified by little more than an awkward bizarreness. The second track is a gloomy folk song that is exceptionally curious after the exceedingly erratic display that is the first song, "Driving Horse (Gluten-Free Listening Guide)." They also wanted to share their EP from last year, Go Exist, that is also very strange and confusingly evocative.

Divine Intervention Now - Mirth Control (2014)

Divine Intervention Now is from Philadelphia and has made a strange EP that is quite suitable after hearing Creature from Dell Pond. It also has some folk aspects, notably acoustic guitar parts, in the mix, and very weird lyrics. All of it is sung in the deep, gravely voice and accompanied by a nice array of guitars, drums, chimes, horns and other wind instruments that make it like a dream one might have after drinking a bunch of coffee, watching old movie clips and passing out. Though the chaotic features appear most obviously, with careful listening there's a firm bedding of distraught cultural catharsis being expressed in the songwriting.

Additionally, there's a little back story as to how I got my hands on this EP. After receiving an email that explain they want to send my a physical copy, which I am totally cool with, but I was surprised to see when I finally got my hands on it that the package had a miniature bible in it with the pages cut out to hold an SD card inside. Of course being a barely functional adult I didn't have a working SD card reader so I hopped in my car and had to ask my friend to tell me what was in this mysterious package. Then I mixed up which of the dozen or so downloads I made there up and could not even recall which came off the SD card, so it was delayed further. How I did so after seeing the album art is beyond me, but I guess better late than never. Sure, I could have hunted it down online from clues and the initial email, but if someone takes a knife to the bible to give you music, you use the fucking SD card.

EP Grab Bag vol. 68

I always feel very productive after I finish an EP Grab Bag, but I guess that is just imaginary it really just means I sat around and listened to a bunch of music. Does make me feel more worldly when I can get a large geographic span covered in the EPs, so that's something. Oh, and the music, the music is fucking good, that's why I do it, right?

To be had here:
Druggy Pizza - Chili Cheese Crust (2014)

This is the solo moniker of Cédric of most righteous French garage rock band Dusty Mush. I must imagine any diligent follower of SRM would be sold just by that, but in case you're head is in the sand I'll tell you more. Chili Cheese Crust are six short and loud tracks of very fuzzed out garage rock with lyrics that cannot be understood and moaning keyboard playing. Basically, the exact kind of squalid rock and roll that I thrive on. In particular give a listen to the amazing song, "I'm Cramped" for its simple effectiveness. Mind you this is his third EP as Druggy Pizza, so there's more to eat up.

Nick Oleksiak - Carrie (2014)

This is an EP I found when looking around on bandcamp. Carrie is five songs by a young man from Detroit that is studying music in Cincinnati (I guess they know shit down there). It is rather hard to describe the music generically, he even goes to the length to tag it "whatever i feel like" but it is certainly electronic pop music of some sort. Has a new wave-ish feeling. Perhaps one could call it  an updated 80s/post-disco thing. Whatever the fuck it is I caught my attention, the first and final songs of the EP in particular.

Boards - Care & Handling (2014)

A Norwich-based musical project with very stripped down instrumentation. Blends acoustic guitar and a few accompanying instruments with light electronic tones and beats. So in a reversal of my usual stance on vocals, it is really the singing that carries this EP from being a competent yet humble ambient release into something more beautiful. The overall effect of the songs is a mesmerizing calm, like a mediative piece, so when a spoken word story appears in the midst of the eponymous track I was very willing to hear it. Excellently done.


Garrett Linck and JESSIE'S BREATH - /Split/ (2014)

Garrett Linck, who you might recall from his solo work and in babydog, is back with a track on the two song split with another musician that goes by Jessie's Breath. Linck's track is a folksy indie rock tune that is very catchy as has become expected from that dude. Jessie's Breath matches it with his own lo-fi folk tune that's every inch as charming. Good combination for a split and looking forward to hearing more from each of these songwriters.

El General Villamil - Archipiélago 32' (2014)

This is basically an addendum to Amazing Larry's post of the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador. He found four really great acts from that city, and I was downloading them the other day and trying to see if I wanted to make an episode of the podcast out of the bands and I saw these guys pop up. More fucking garage rock that was so good I could not help myself but add it here. Old of my favorite parts is how on the bandcamp page they have an explaination of their name in Spanish even I can decipher: "El General Villamil fue el conquistador y primer gobernador del Archipiélago Galápagos en 1832"

Menschliche Energie - Billy EP (2014)

While I normally throw a group of EPs together into a longer post, for whatever reason I want to say a bit more about Menschliche Energie. Perhaps it'll be clearer to both you and I by the time I finish this write-up. Now I'd never heard of Menschliche Energie before I discovered Billy EP after rolling around on bandcamp pages for a few hours. That's not terribly unusual for any of us at Spacerockmountain to do, but I've always felt a strange need to assume the role of a champion for the music I find in this method. Sure I talk up and will recommend the shit out of submitted material, even follow the band myself and make sure I am not missing out on new releases, but I always envision myself as a loud fanboy in this scenario. I am cool with all this, in fact I enjoy the fantasy, or slight reality, that I'm your buddy giving you a heads up on some cool tunes. It changes, however so subtly, when I pull out of the infinite depths of the internet a particular EP, whether or not these fellas are actively seeking promotion or not, and tell you, "This is some real tight shit."

It is that infiniteness that is the issue. It isn't just infinite to me, but to everyone using the internet, and I am just making more infinity every time I feel the need to write something up and publish it here. Truth is I want you guys to be like "yeah, that's cool" but most of the time I am just staring at a void full of endless more music to hear, books to read and movies to watch that can make one feel uncultured despite a lifetime of consuming memes and media.

Yet in a desperate hope that this does fall down some endless void, I'm telling you that I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Menschliche Energie's Billy EP. It is unsurprising at how well-crafted their songs are once I knocked around their bandcamp page. They've got releases from as far back as 2003. These guys are veterans at what they do. And what they do is snyth-heavy post-punk rock. It's absurdly able to blend a James Dean, leather jacket rocker style with the ultra-Mod and flamboyant 80s music that succeeded that notion. The songs are brief and don't jerk themselves off in anyway for having been a longstanding band from Nürtingen, Germany, but rather show a seasoned musicianship that knows excellently how to cut off the excess fat, leaving just enough to make it tasteful but not chewy.

To be had here (NYP):
Menschliche Energie - Billy EP

The Señors of Marseille - Tubular (2010)

As must be the case to some degree with most everyone, the music I get to enjoy and in the position to absorb the best various with environment and routine. Having been at alternative times stuck in natural ruts as far as listening is concerned, perhaps from having to drive a car with a loud motor, terrible speak systems at workplaces, or only being able to use headphones due to roommates (or lack of a proper room altogether). In most cases this shoved me right into the reverberating embrace of lo-fidelity rock that will wash away the defecting noises of life with a loud, bass-filled dissonance of its own.

However, again a revolution in circumstances has taken place. Now I've broken all my earbuds and a job where there isn't a speaker system of any kind. Not complaining, it isn't the worst things that may happen. Yet what's neat is that know that I've need to compartmentalize my music listen to lunch breaks with over-ear headphones and relaxing after work I find myself processing the music differently. The change mostly consist of me sitting on my ass while I really take the music in, instead of the method wherein I'd listen to it during any manner of tasks repeatedly, allowing it to be absorbed a series of deeper comprehension. Rather it's now like watching a film in a theater, where I devote a much more generous portion of my attention to the singular occupation of enjoying music. 

All this is to say that some of the music we're getting sent really steps up to this more immersive listening, among which the Señors of Marseille should be included. They can still be considered lo-fi, but a good set of speakers and a keen ear are rewarding to catch all the various catchy hooks and beats employed in their infectious rock. I'll defy you not to love the shimmering intro to "Never Stops" or adore the rhythmic piano, strings, handclaps and vocals of "Heart'n'Soul." Certainly didn't shy away from instruments in this album. A whole range influences shine through from jazz to new wave to pop but never take over.... This is an edited post to removed the less than legit link deferring to a bandcamp page for $7, at least at my last look-see. Also, this shit hold up like a few other things.

To be had here:

The Señors of Marseille - Tubular

Le Shok - We Are Electrocution (2001)

I've got to get internet for my apartment. It is like everywhere I go conspires against me getting online. Upsetting to the point where I've dug up some noisy punk, which mostly reminds me that I don't really ever get that worked up. A good listen but wisely enough the tracks are compact and brief, really just bursts of sonic enthusiasm. I used to a bunch of listen this sort of music, The Chinese Stars, Arab on Radar, Made in Mexico, etc. While I haven't the same passion for all the jazz as I had, it is great to go back to them from time to time. The music really feels like very different than I recall, and that is neat to realize. Also, I haven't had time to download and listen to all the new submissions that never cease flowing my way, nor sit down and listen to the stuff I have found myself. Thus, something not-so-new but true, Le Shok.

To be had here:
Le Shok - We Are Electrocution [192 kbps]

Horrid Red - Empty Lungs (2010)

Horrid Red is something else. Pretty sure I saw them on a blog somewhere or another, but I just got to listening to them over the last week. Like the band that it sprouted from, Teenage Panzerkorps, Horrid Red makes dark, eerie post-punk with singing comprised of rather haunting German. While Teenage Panzerkorps is intense, big and loud this is a more subtle and focused version. Brooding and echoic the music makes the German seem otherworldly, but there is more to Empty Lungs than the spookiness and foreignness. It is a remarkably well blended new wave and kaurtrock elements that makes for a real nostalgic feel to the album. I am unsure what would motivate one to make such sounds as these, but I am sure glad someone did. Finally, it is worth noting that both Horrid Red and Teenage Panzerkorps releases are available on bandcamp for the damned fine price of five dollars, even for full-length releases.

To be had here:
Horrid Red - Empty Lungs [256 VBR kbps]

Teeth - A Is For Asshole 7'' (2010)

Teeth - A Is For Asshole 7'' (2010)

Strange record from Mike Sniper and a group called Spider (A Member of the Spits and his girlfriend).

Josef K - The Only Fun In Town (1981, Postcard Records)

Ah yes, Josef K. My first experience with these Scottish post-punk funk masters was several years ago when I was exposed to the 2004 One, Two, Twee: An Indie pop Retrospective compilation, in which the single version of the band's seminal hit Sorry For Laughing appeared. It wasn't until I listened to their fellow Postcard Records label mates, Orange Juice, that I acquired an actual interest in them.

Anyways, formed in the early 1980's, Josef K created a unique sound that combined funk, new wave, and disco, while retaining a sort of post-punk dignity.

Download: Josef K - Sorry For Laughing.zip (38.4 MB)

Suicide - Second Self-Titled (1980)

It still blows me away to think that this album was released in 1980. There's one quote that always comes to my mind when I think about suicide: "... I never heard anything avant-garde. To me it was just New York City Blues." - Alan Vega 1980.
Suicide are a duo that formed in New York City in 1971... blah blah blah, they impacted bands such as OMD, Human League, Spiritualized, Orbital, Pulp, Soft Cell, Nick Cave, Jesus & Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Chemical Brothers, Luna, Foil, Bloodstar, etc etc). Bruce Springsteen covers suicide live sometimes. weird.


Suicide - The Second Album (Second Self-Titled) (1980)

Film Noir - Dreams Never End LP (1983)

Amazing new wave group from Greece, Film Noir's 1983 Never Ending Dream LP is a Post-Punk essential. There isn't much information about them on the internet, so if anyone can get a hold of another release by them, or some album art, let me know.

Six Tracks, 22 minutes long.

Film Noir - Never Ending Dream LP (1983)29.6MB