Lucas Brode & Bubba Crumrine - 'doggone' // Shedding Those 11ft Wings (2014)

A spilt LP by two fellas hailing from the state of New York. Both can easily be considered experimental, though of differing varieties. Lucas Brode makes use of a guitar as his certain instrument, indeed at times the only instrument to be heard, with gesticulating, angular playing to which the best comparison I can summon is Ecstatic Sunshine, but toned down and with one guitar. Doesn't need accompaniment, he does just fine at producing remarkably stark, subtle and evocative tunes all on his own with his "mostly tapped guitar lines." I don't know tapped guitar lines are because I'm a fool, but he said it and I liked it.

Bubba Crumrine seems to a man to know in Ithaca, NY and is in the mathy post-rock band Mouth to Mouth to Mouth. His solo work beings rather towards ambient but quickly jumps headlong into noisy avant-garde experimentation.  Even delves into creepy, effected spoken word over strange instrumentation on the track, "Iridescent & Gold," to move to intense noise during "Acme" just thereafter. Both of the musicians are out of a limb in the way I really appricate, totally worth hearing if you're in the mood for something unusual, gloomy and loud.

To be had here:
Lucas Brode & Bubba Crumrine -  'doggone' // Shedding Those 11ft Wings

A Big Silent Elephant - Sonne (2014)

Sonne has a fragile sound. A low fidelity and bizarre instrumentation of this psychedelia causes sound like it on a stiffening magnetic tape, ready to break and leave you wondering at the songs you've missed out on. It is like were lucky to have found these delightful, weird songs at all, which even if they are a digital release that's infinitely reproducible. Surely it is thanks to the internet that something like this could even find such a wide potential distribution.

The songs are mesmerizing in their minimalistic states. Often there won't be much more than enchanting lyrics, sung in a irreverent or ghostly choir-esque style, over acoustic guitar, simple percussion and various key and chimes that sound as if they could pass for child's playthings. This isn't to say the songs lack in any profoundness, they are moving in their own strange way, being very relaxing yet surreal. Perhaps the best example of this is "Oh Acid" but I would also suggest "Junk & Poison" and "Kollapsed" as fucking amazing tunes to have a beer and stop worrying about life to. Overall, I would highly recommend this album to fans of Nate Henricks or IL CULO DI MARIO, as while neither of these are quite the same style, they share a mood.

A Big Silent Elephant is a new moniker for an Italian musician sometimes known as Mauro Da Re, who's become a reoccurring presence on Spacerockmountain. He previously went by a Man with a Broken Piano, having put out a few EPs under that name and a collaborative effort with the Turkish musician called Beyza. This new full-length from Poland's Resonating Wood Recordings was previewed in the Starlight 7" release of two of the track through the same label.

To be had here:
A Big Silent Elephant - Sonne

Volage - Heart Healing (2014)

I have been looking forward to hearing more music from this French garage pop band since I heard their EP, MADDIE, from last year. And now Volage has a full-length put out by the very awesome Parisian label, Howlin' Banana Records, who've released awesome garage rock outfits, the Madcaps and Qúetzal Snåkes. Heart Healing is certainly a more ambitious effort building on the qualities of the prior EP, as the majority of the tracks being fantastically fuzzy garage pop tunes. Often sung in harmony by the multiple vocalist, filled with very catchy guitar playing and the generally upbeat tone make it possess much of the charm of British Invasion albums. Even the dreamily psychedelic style the Beatles later adopted can be heard, especially in "Love Is All." In fact there's little to be heard on the album that suggest they're French at all, not that this is a problem when the songs are good as they are. Moreover, some of the songs such as "This Ain't A Walk," "Loner" and "Paolina" demonstrate how they are very capable of playing loud, heavily distorted garage rock. Volage possesses remarkable songwriting abilities that more than overcome the well-trod territory of 60s-esque garage pop revival, allowing them to truly standout. There are several songs that in a different era could have easily been radio hits, particularly the title track "Healing Heart" and "Wait" and "Upset." The charm of these songs are undeniable and would've melted the hearts of those teenage girls that are the ultimate tastemakers if this was 1966. Still fucking great to be heard in 2014.

To be had here:
Volage - Heart Healing

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.

The Shivas - You Know What To Do (2014)

You Know What To Do is the latest in a series of albums the Shivas have put out of the last several years, and while I am not as familiar with all of them as many other garage rock outfits, they are a band I undoubtedly enjoyed each time I've had the good fortune to run across. The tunes are catchy, riddled with surf rock guitar and 60s psychedelic singing. It is like the Kinks took a few lessons from Dick Dale for many of the tracks, and it is wonderful. They diverge from this form for songs like "Big Mama Casio" that bears remarkable parallels to "Be Brave" by the Strange Boys. A similarity that is carried for several tracks, but with a more retro garage pop sound compared to the Strange Boys' country-tinged sound, and it is fused with some of that Julian Casablancas reverb vocals. Like the reverse of the same coin in some ways. You Know What To Do is undeniably has many familiar elements and to hear them so delicately swirled makes for an addictive listen.

The Shivas are a Portland, Oregon band that is getting some well justified press and some swell label backing. To Elvis's sure pleasure, this band is put out on cassette by Burger Records and to Larry's possible indifference it was released on vinyl and CD by K Records. Even got mixed by Larry's old boss, Calvin Johnson. Of course, being released by these hip labels makes the album an established PR and distribution network, something most of the bands don't have. What I mean is that this album is gonna do fine without my 2 cents, but I thought it was a good piece of art regardless and I'll call what little attention I can to it as well, if for nothing but personal gratification.

To be had here:
The Shivas - You Know What To Do

Heaven's Gateway Drugs - Apropos (2014)

I have been on a BJM kick since our recent discussion of the band, and have been on the hunt for like-minded acts. The good folks at Ongakubaka turned me onto this Indiana band that clearly owes a debt to Anton and his crew, right down to their name. This is highly polished stuff that could easily appear on a slew of revival compilations, and might fool a few listeners into thinking this jumped right out of 1969. "Read Between the Lines" is about as strong an album opener as you can get, and by the time I reached the track "Secrets" near the end of the record, I knew I would be spinning this disc again. Highly recommended.


Get it here:
Heaven's Gateway Drugs - Apropos (2014)

The Muzzlers - Wash Your Hands With... (2014)

Garage rock singers often want you to think they live a decadent, destructive life (see our recent conversation on the Brian Jonestown Massacre for example), but few actually breath said lifestyle. Based on the raspy growling from this Chicago band's front-man, I imagine he has downed a few whiskeys and smoked a handful of cigarettes in his day. This is lo-fi, busted and fucked garage rock for the "post-happiness" set (an eloquent Bandcamp tag if I have ever seen one). It isn't a free download, but a few streams can't hurt you. And pass the scotch.

Get it here:
The Muzzlers - Wash Your Hands With... (2014)

Space Rock Mountain Podcast 30 - Talking "Dig!" and the Brian Jonestown Massacre

The SRM crew got together to talk about the film "Dig!"

Scare Quotes - It's Not For Everyone But It's For You (2014)

Scare Quotes is something I am shocked I haven't had a friend recommend to me. Every now and then someone bothers to do that still, despite me nearly never recalling what they've suggested. Not just because I am a dick, it's largely because I'm in a never ending race to listen to everything in my inbox. This is terribly hard to describe to my friends, most of whom never read any of this, so they say recommend something they're digging from source more mainstream (not that those are bad per se) than what I spend my time listening to for Spacerockmountain. Usually these bands and singers emerge as something I couldn't have avoided if I wish, hearing them in grocery stores and bars in trendier neighborhoods. Yet every now and then it seems this paradigm is inverted and it seems the catchy and band that could be justifiably popular gets to me and no one I know has heard of them. This time it came to me in the form of Scare Quotes.

So I sat on this album for over a month, that is how much I can get behind on listening to submissions. Yet when I put on the album after it nagging stared me down in the browser app on my phone for a couple weeks I wasn't paying attention too closely until second track, "High Life," started. Shit changed right then. The song remarkably easy to listen to, with the vocals forward and catchy pop patterns. The next track, "Hit the Highway," only reinforced my conception that this could very well become popular, as did "Burning Life" and "Faded Black T-Shirt." However, rather the eclectic songwriting takes turns with "Frozen Grapes" and "Time Enough at Last," which expose the album's wonderful truth. This is a bedroom project really, done by at home by musician Nick Ammerman, formerly of Advance Base, with a four-track recorder. Certainly the album is lo-fi, however it's employed with apparent skill and purpose. The album couldn't be as warm and inviting if it was produced more sophisticatedly. Hopefully these songs with get my traction and I'll hear them somewhere in my day-to-day, but even if they don't at least we got to hear them now.

To be had here:
Scare Quotes - It's Not For Everyone But It's For You

Space Rock Mountain Film Series - "DIG!"

For the next episode of the podcast, we will be looking at the seminal documentary "DIG!" and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Surely, you have seen the film, but if you havent here it is in full below. Contact us and tell us what you think of the film and the band in question. Did this make you want to go out and join a band like it did the Gorlons? Did you come to love garage revival, or hate it? We want to know!

Dig! from Retazovvorks on Vimeo.