Werewolf Police - The Moderation Blues (2013)

I lived in Connecticut for some time back in 2005. I worked around New Britain, which is just a stone’s throw from the town of Berlin. A beautiful place with lots of lovely buildings, and a dreadfully humid summer buttressed by an icy winter. It’s the state that has houses between larger, more important communities to the north and the south, and has had to live with that reputation for as long as it has existed. 

Thankfully, some good acts do come out of the state. I heard plenty at house shows 8 years ago, and I get a slow (but constant) stream of submissions from Connecticut. The newest of which is one featured at SpaceRock previously: a band called Werewolf Police. Sharp hooks and reverb soaked vocals combined with a healthy love from the 90s lo-fi culture have resulted in their superb The Moderation Blues.  The record has the same aesthetic of their previous releases, but this set pushes their songwriting techniques and recording strategies to new levels. Undesired Raincloud captures my personal feelings about my time in Connecticut precisely, while Difficult Liquids so perfectly mimics the sound of the region that it could be taught at Wesleyan University. 

This is great stuff, and since it is free to download, there should be no reason you don’t check it out.

Get it here:

Werewolf Police - The Moderation Blues (2013)

Fatal Jamz - Vol. 1 (2013)

GNAR Tapes has been putting out an impressive number of out-there pop records over the last few years. They had a SXSW showcase this year, and have released splits with the always awesome Burger Records. Fatal Jamz is just one of those releases.

This tape is the work of Marion Belle of Bowery Beasts and Dan Horne of Beachwood Sparks, so you know the pop pedigree here is top-notch. Take out the Beach Boys inspired surf-rock used in some 50s summer flick and throw Fatal Jamz in its place, and you will have a workable soundtrack with just a tad more psychedelia. It’s polished, laid back, and I dare say timeless in its execution. 

Download it it here:

Fatal Jamz - Vol. 1 (2013)

Buy the tape:

GNAR Tapes

Ttotals – Spectrums of Light (2013)

Nashville’s country music scene is world renowned, and takes up most of the ink used when discussing the city’s soundscape. Yet, this southern jewel has had a simmering southern psychedelic scene bubbling just underneath the city’s denim and leather exterior. If you happen to take the wrong right on your way to the Grand Ole Opry, you may just end up in a dank basement bar with a pummeling wall of acid drenched riffs ripping out any Carter Family lyrics attached to your tongue.

Ttotals play to this subversive mold. You hear a love for classic Southern Rock in this band’s work, but they won’t be playing any state fairs with this sound. This two piece puts together a solid resonance for a two piece that isn’t worried to slip into destructive hallucinations when the time requires. They happen to be on tour, and can be found playing a slew of shows in the south during April, including the always awesome Austin Psych Fest.

Get the stuff here:
Ttotals – Spectrums of Light (2013)

T.E.A.M.S - Sierra City Center (2013)

Sense of beat: troubled
An Epic distant reverb 
To build peace and bliss

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T.E.A.M.S - Sierra City Center (2013)

Pool Holograph - ST (2013)

I have always been intrigued by the DC music scene. I find the city to be the epicenter of national bullshit, and yet the community finds a way to overcome the shoulder-high levels of sleaze brought in from across the country by some politician’s war chest.

Pool Holography make nice pop gems for cloudy days. DC has plenty of those, so this thing would be on constant rotation if you lived there. It needs little in the way of introduction: this 4 track cassette jumps right into the deep end, but quickly surfaces to breath in deep. Incognito is my favorite track, with its hushed, melancholy lyrics slowly chased by a well constructed guitar line that flies just above it all. The band's vocal delivery is rooted in the depressing city that is a politician's play-land, but the instrumentation takes the listener above the fray.

Get it here:
Pool Holograph - ST (2013)

Coyote Indigo - Horning (2013)

I watched DiG! again the other day, and was reminded why I loved the documentary so much. The Dandy Warhols have faded into obscurity and the Brian Jonestown Massacre have cooled their fiery personal personas, but the film does leave a lingering in mind: what if the whole garage rock/psychedelia revival of the early 2000s had happened 5 years earlier under BJM’s leadership? Things would have been a lot more “out there” than it was with the White Stripes and the Strokes.

Coyote Indigo may have even found a fanbase outside the confines of Bandcamp. This Brazilian band reaches deep into the psychedelic lexicon and pulls out some of the genre's most enduring themes: Existential lyrics and guitar licks and a disregard for all that is safe. Not sure what state of mind this guy was in when he put these songs to tape, but it wasn’t with two feet firmly on the ground. Bust out the Absinthe and play “Bloom and Blow” while your stomach and mind slowly churn.

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Coyote Indigo - Horning (2013)

Factotum - Fortune Teller (2013)

Remember that scene in Back to the Future where Michael J. Fox rocked out, scared the crowd, and then said “I guess they aren’t ready for that yet?” Sure you do! It is the scene that robbed black musicians of the creative spark that started rock ‘n roll and handed it over to some white kid from the future that loved Huey Lewis. Great scene: shit message.

But what would it have been like if Michael J. Fox had played something really out there on that stage? Maybe Acid Mothers Temple drops into the show, in all their aged Japanese hippy glory, and produces a 30 minute psychedelic jam experiment? Now that would have been a movie! In fact, if AMT have not thought of it yet, I hope they use this as an impetuous.

I am not sure why I thought of that scene in Back to the Future when I first heard Factotum’s “Fortune Teller.” Maybe because it has hints of traditional rock n’ roll, but really turns up the psychedelics to 11 and produces some ultra muddled garage rock. It is good shit, even if it came out in 2013 and not the 1950s. Well worth a listen garage rock fans.

Get it here:
Factotum – Fortune Teller (2013)

Shiloh - Mrs. (2013)

I picked up Shiloh’s cassette after reading about it on another music blog, and I have been impressed by the quality of if after multiple listens this afternoon. This is jangly, loud, pop music for anyone that has a Pavement or Fountains of Wayne CD in their collection. Don’t lie; you know you have that one with Stacy’s Mom on it. With Shiloh, it is all about well executed pop jams that are weird enough to keep them off any radio station. They made cassette tapes for crying out loud, so you know they aint going for the Top of the Pops.

These kids are from the great city of Chicago and are playing a lot in those parts. They play fun music for people who think looking fun is uncool, and thus, stand relatively motionless as the band plays their songs to local bars. Correct me if I am wrong Shiloh fans!

Get it here:
Shiloh – “Mrs.” (2013)

Monocle - Chances Glide (2013)

Dream Pop is an odd thing. Why would anyone want to perpetuate the idea that their music initiates sleep? I enjoy a few ZZZs, but I generally don’t like my music to produce that desired effect.

Thankfully, Monocle is far from a sleep narcotic. Released by the always awesome Australian label Hidden Shoal, the band chases sweeping synth lines with dance centered bass and vocal melodies. This may be Dream Pop, but it would fit well into any party that reaches the 23rd hour and exposes the emotional passion only the evening hours pooled with alcohol can construct. “Chances Glide” only needs a moment’s glance to recognize its pop authenticity, and with that, a simple three minute musical bliss.

Get it here: Monocle - Chances Glide (2013)

Shape Breaker - Eyes Wide (2013)

I have been getting a glut of remarkable garage rock as of late. Not that I am complaining, mind you. If I am going to get a glut of anything, sweet garage rock riffs will never go unappreciated. 

Shape Breaker hail from Philadelphia, and started as a solo project but eventually grew into a full band. Their new record is called Eyes Wide, and it is a champ from the incredible opening track (Climb Down) to the mid tempo closer (So It Goes). I can’t think of a single track on this album that is not toe-tappin, riff heavy awesomeness. Lord knows what the vocals are, and who really gives a damn? He could be singing the instructions to his DVD player for all I care. It still sounds great. 

If Climb Down doesn’t end up as a theme song to a show on FX, it will be the station’s loss. 

Get it here:

Shape Breaker - Eyes Wide (2013)