Machine Dream

Featured Show :: Lantern :: The Pinch

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 18:10:00 +0000

Video :: Divorce :: Aids of Space

noreply@blogger.com (thephenomenalsneeze) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 10:00:00 +0000

I have no idea what the fuck I'm hearing... it's like someone giving me a wet willy with a napalm-soaked finger. Well-meaning, but entirely violent and corrosive. Glasgow label Clan Destine has shepherded a number of regional artists and labels, one being Night School Records, home to Divorce (and Julia Holter, for balance). Divorce just released their self-titled LP last week, and listening to it is similar to being accused of killing an entire family of Ewoks. Full of "how could you?" and "you are the reason the galaxy is shit," alongside a fucking lumberyard of buzz-saws. Watch this video then look me in the eye and tell me you didn't see the future.

Freelove Fenner :: Pineapple Hair :: Fixture

noreply@blogger.com (thephenomenalsneeze) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:00:00 +0000

The real virtue of this song is that it runs the same exact amount of time it takes to follow these instructions on how to eat a Pop Tart. The cast of instruments (slinky guitar, phased-out drum kit, bass and organ) are introduced swiftly enough for me to get the Pop Tarts out of the wrapper and into the toaster just in time. Caitlin Loney's bored-as-fuck-but-that's-the-point vocals refuse to give a shit as I transfer the Pop Tarts to a plate, and the song enters a brief groove while I enjoy whichever flavor I've chosen for myself that day. It's a virtue, and a very handy one at that... I've managed to create another new subgenre called PopTartArtPop: brief, pocket-sized, colorful, and sometimes found between the ass and head of a cat. Freelove Fenner hold down their corner, and The Particles aren't too far off.

The Montreal duo have their new EP available on cassette via Fixture Records starting in early October. I imagine pineapple hair to be sort of like a beehive, but fruitier... and thus the EP is rightly named.

Leisure Birds :: Globe Master :: Moon Glyph

noreply@blogger.com (thephenomenalsneeze) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 10:00:00 +0000

There's a sort of Venn-diagram going on here -- the blurred line between Heaven and the heavens, perhaps even Catholic and catholic. Where man meets myth, sin meets synth. The ongoing fallacy of the human soul attaching a name to god. The unspeakable. The Mezuzah, the Dorian mode, the Byzantine slow-burner. It seems that this fertile crescent is an ongoing theme for Oakland-via-Minneapolis label Moon Glyph.

Their most recent release is the sophomore LP from the Twin Cities' Leisure Birds. Listening to Globe Master is like insisting that the Earth is flat to an alien force that's triangulated your location. You fucked up, game over. It's human anguish set to a conceptual arc of galactic defeat. You won't need a lyric sheet to figure that one out. No doubt, it can be a tough listen if you've got a big heart and a big imagination. On a purely sonic level, it's brimming with hypnotic grooves and synthscapes, drifting and pummeling in the right places. My only gripe is the lack of vocal harmony, which gives this set the off-setting illusion of one man's interstellar struggle, rather than the implied burden of the human race. Which is not to say that I'm willing to join the choir, but I imagine there are more than a few Bill Pullman's out there.

News :: Upcoming Shows :: September

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Swag Swag Swag Swag

09/02 :: Julia Holter :: Black Cat Back Stage
09/12 :: Pallbearer/Royal Thunder/Asthma Castle:: Rock and Roll Hotel
09/13 :: Ariel Pink :: 9:30 Club
09/18 :: Mount Eerie :: U Street Music Hall
09/20 :: Mike Wexler :: DC9
09/22 :: Matthew E. White :: Rock and Roll Hotel
09/23 :: Ital/Laurel Halo :: DC9
09/24 :: Twin Shadow :: Black Cat
09/25 :: Wild Nothing/DIIV :: Rock and Roll Hotel
09/26 :: Frankie Rose :: Rock and Roll Hotel
09/29 :: Grimes :: U Street Music Hall

The Limiñanas :: Crystal Anis :: Hozac

noreply@blogger.com (thephenomenalsneeze) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 10:00:00 +0000

This is psych for simpletons. Ye-Ye for yes men. Fortunately for you and me, I get by with three chords, a couple dusty organ grooves, and a tambourine that gets more love than Paula Dean's saltshaker. The southern-France natives return here with their second LP (following 2010's self-titled on Trouble In Mind), still sounding like a covered-wagon caravan of time-traveling gypsy-ravers passing in the night. With Crystal Anis, they've stripped some (some) jangle for more riff-based jams. Opener "Salvation" is an immediate welcoming, slipping and rattling like the B-52s stuck in a Morricone Mesopotamia. The record deviates from here based on how wonky the electric guitar can get (tremolo or vibrato -- who cares??), but the tone throughout is a cohesive '70s cop eating acid-soaked donut holes while chasing candy thieves. It just depends on when he's eating and when he's chasing, is all. Heavy, heavy stuff.

Taste the rainbow over at Hozac. Listen below...
Salvation by The Limiñanas

Wet Hair :: Spill Into Atmosphere :: De Stijl

noreply@blogger.com (thephenomenalsneeze) — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 10:00:00 +0000

A bit of quiet time to blast my ears out, an empty house to welcome in my unholy hosts, a fresh-cooked meal to scrape into the garbage and opt for leftovers, three open beds to pass out on the hardwood floor. Must be the Olympics. Naked dudes diving in unison, Ning Ding playing ping pong, etc.

Wet Hair release a new long-player so simultaneously adventurous and cohesive, it could only come from the collective mind of three rigid aesthetes. Makes sense, then, that it's borne of Night-People label-heads Shawn Reed and Ryan Garbes, with the additional help of newcomer Justin Thye. The textures that kick off the record are as fucked up as chewing on fluorescent tubes and chasing them with twizzler reduction, but as the songs unfold, the atmosphere of three-dudes-in-a-room becomes absolutely conceivable. Live drums, dry bass, and swarms of poison sawtooth leads are the basic ingredients. Relentlessly positive in execution, this record holds resemblance to kraut overachievers La Dusseldorf - kicking up red dust in a martian garage, with battle cries to push onward. Only on "Blank Sunday" does a drum-program surface, fully servicing the album's transit and providing a purely kitsch respite. Seven songs deep, 40 minutes long, and one ear-spanning worm wide - I've been cheering adolescent girls in uneven bars more enthusiastically than ever.

Reed is sane enough to not release material on his own label, so pick up a copy over at De Stijl and start getting excited about interstellar ladder-climbing.

News :: Upcoming Shows :: August

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 10:00:00 +0000

08/16 :: Chelsea Wolfe/Russian Circles :: Rock and Roll Hotel
08/21 :: Lightning Bolt :: Rock and Roll Hotel
08/22 :: Brian Jonestown Massacre :: 9:30 Club

News :: Upcoming Shows :: July

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Forged in the furnace of Mordor so that we might

eat pizza and fall short of our parents' expectations.

07/05 :: The Men :: DC9
07/06 :: Friends :: Rock and Roll Hotel
07/15 :: Killer Mike/El-P/Mr. Motherfucking Exquire :: Rock and Roll Hotel
07/16 :: OFF! :: Fillmore
07/19 :: Chromatics :: Rock and Roll Hotel
07/20 :: Lower Dens/No Joy :: Rock and Roll Hotel
07/22 :: Dent May :: DC9
07/24 :: Iceage/Dirty Beaches/Satan's Satyrs :: Black Cat Main Stage
07/25 :: Liars :: U Street Music Hall
07/28 :: Agalloch/Taurus :: Empire

Vestals :: Forever Falling Toward the Sky :: Root Strata

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 18:16:00 +0000

The solo debut from Vestals--one half of Higuma, the other half being Evan Caminiti from Barn Owl--has emerged from the seriously well-executed label, Root Strata. Forever Falling Toward the Sky emits steady low-level radiation with its slowed down psych guitar work. The atmo's not as amniotic as the recent Higuma transmission, but it's easily as warm and washed out. This will be making best-of lists at year's end without a doubt.

Here's the word from Root Strata:

'Forever Falling Toward the Sky' is the first ever release by Bay Area based Vestals, AKA Lisa McGee. A taught set of haunting electric ballads, these six tracks weave together a number of layered guitars and vocals into a smokey tapestry of blown electricity. Rather than the ephemeral drones McGee has been involved with recently, most notably the group-mind ensemble Portraits & the duo Higuma, Vestals retains the clarity of song, with these hypnotic gems having been slowly carved out over a year of recording & mixing. Filled out with drum machine & bass, 'Forever Falling Toward the Sky' really does have the feeling of a group completely jelled, hammering out feedback in a California basement, high on guitar worship & sunsets. Edition of 300.

The vinyl edition is being distributed by Thrill Jockey and it's limited to 300 copies. You can be damn sure I ordered mine.

Vestals :: Forever Falling

Sonny & the Sunsets :: Longtime Companion :: Polyvinyl

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 17:06:00 +0000

Well shit howdy. West coast troubadour Sonny Smith rounded up the Sunsets and a few members of his country project the Fuckaroos and recorded a country album. The Sonny & the Sunsets show last year at DC9 was probably the best live music-watching experience I had in 2010. There was definitely way more dancing than is typical for DC, and for once I didn't feel like decking any of the kids dancing. What does that tell you?

You can stream the whole album right now at Under the Radar. And come June 26, you'll be able to order the vinyl from Polyvinyl.

Sonny & the Sunsets :: I See the Void

Ash Borer :: Demo :: Psychic Violence

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Since Ash Borer's first release of their demo back in 2009, you probably haven't had a whole lot of opportunities to listen to this band, assuming you've even heard of them. And now they've got three vinyl releases under their belt, each of them as essential as the next. As far as their demo goes, you're looking at two sides, two stunning tracks, one of which is untitled. I thoroughly believe that bands like Ash Borer--and I'll include Gilead Media/Pesanta Urfolk friendlies, Fell Voices, Hell, and Thou--have been smelted and forged in the shape of Black Metal to come.

Track one/side one, Drunke, peaks and valleys throughout its 14-minute run, and it's riff phrases are punctuated brilliantly with mind-melting vocal blasts that will blow your speakers and seriously encourage you to upgrade your receiver. The untitled side two is somehow much icier, sounding very much like what I imagine it must be like to cruise in solo flight aboard the International Space Station.

This reissue comes on thick, sleek, black-as-all-sin and cold-as-ice vinyl, and the cover features the band's name printed in gold embossing, resembling the down-turned arms of Cthulu as if the dark lord had finally been anointed with dominion over the mortal realm. I've been keeping it under my pillow at night just to inspire bad dreams.

Pick up a copy of the demo from Ash Borer's own label, Psychic Violence (now on a crazy low discount), and listen to more from Ash Borer at their Bandcamp page.

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://ashborer.bandcamp.com/album/demo"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Demo by Ash Borer&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Features :: Mode Moderne :: DC House Show

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 10:00:00 +0000

News :: Upcoming Shows :: June

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Breaking up before we break down.

06/02 :: Chain and the Gang/The Coathangers :: Comet
06/04 :: Danzig
06/05 :: Mode Moderne :: House Show
06/07 :: The Clean/Times New Viking :: Rock and Roll Hotel
06/09 :: Bass Drum of Death/DZ Deathrays :: Red Palace
06/10 :: Valkyrie/Inter Arma/Ilsa :: Ras Hall
06/12 :: Grass Widow :: Comet Ping Pong
06/15 :: Jeff the Brotherhood/Heavy Cream :: Red Palace
Alma Tropicalia :: Velvet Lounge
06/16 :: Twerps :: Rocketship
Buildings :: Velvet Lounge
06/23 :: Protect-U :: Velvet Lounge
06/25 :: Purling Hiss/The Young :: Black Cat Backstage
06/26 :: Mean Jeans/Shirks :: Comet Ping Pong
06/29 :: Young Magic/Quilt :: Comet Ping Pong

Review :: Monomyth :: S/T

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 31 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Sweet 16 summer guitar pop courtesy of Canada's Monomyth. I explain their talent to myself this way: the sun shines longer up there. Maybe not in Halifax. But I bet these guys have cousins or uncles who they have to visit once a year, and those relatives probably have to deal with the sun blasting them for a solid 20 hours in late June. So maybe I'm not a scientist.

I first encountered them on the out-of-this world fantastic Khyber compilation (volume 2 for those of you counting). Order their self-released cassette and/or take the free download path via their Bandcamp site. No, but really, toss these guys some US dollars, the exchange rate is running close to even these days, which means poor musicians are the same up their in the land of maple syrup as they are down here in the, er, land of used car parts.

&lt;p&gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://mmyth.bandcamp.com/album/monomyth"&amp;gt;MONOMYTH by Monomyth&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Video :: Friends :: Mind Control

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 29 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Hits all of the MD pleasure centers. The director, Hiro Murai, comes out smelling like roses again. Their new album (Manifest!) comes out on Fat Possum in June, and they'll be playing DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel @ 07/06. If you don't make it to minute 4, you'll never know what freedom feels like.

Review :: Cellphone :: S/T

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Whoa, didn't see this one coming. There I was just sittin in front of my CB trying to tune into my favorite broadcast when I ran into this rogue transmission. I gotta warn you: you're gonna love this, and I know you prefer to hate shit. Prepare yourself for the next phase of evolution, though, cuz this is some serious mutant shit coming your way. Can't be bothered to get off the couch and board up the windows? Then go ahead and give up now. You can hear the green glowing ooze rising from sewer grates and pouring out of storm drains on Cellphone's new EP out on Polyphasic.

Pac-Man punk rock? Man-tendo goth? Wait, wait, bear with me: Dorito Jazz. Fuck it, can't find the right words for what I'm feeling.

Cellphone :: One Last Shot
Cellphone :: Storm Chaser

Order their cassette today from Polyphasic and get that immediate gratification you prowl the streets at night for in the form of a high-grade mp3 download. It's a measly ten bucks plus it's coming all the way from Can-a-duh and plus it's got that sweet skull insert.

News :: Heavenly Beat Debuts First Single

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Beach Fossil's John Pena rolls out this new track from his solo project Heavenly Beat's forthcoming Captured Tracks release, Talent, and it's the first official jam of the summer. Girls and boys (mostly girls) will be blasting this in Ocean City for the next 16-odd weeks, pounding volley balls and guzzling Mich Ultra.

The Talent LP squirts out on July 24. Have at it.

Listen :: Jeff Beam :: Be Your Own Mirror

noreply@blogger.com (thephenomenalsneeze) — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

This is about all I can/want/choose to handle on a Monday morning following a weekend of unspeakable ups-and-downs. Chance meetings, terrible news, and corned beef hash (not once but twice) has got my whities a bit tightier than usual, and I'm pretty certain I needed this record to show up. A swirling blend of tight songwriting chops and noise place Jeff Beam of Portland, Maine firmly in Adam Granduciel-meets-Elliott Smith/Cass McCombs territory. There's even a bit of New England interstate krautjam snuck in, like hitting I-95 immediately after losing five pounds at the rest stop and slamming a Red Bull. Aerodynamic, completely relieved, and confident for the future. Which is not to say that this is great driving music. Just great I-95 rest stop vending machine music, that's all.

I can't seem to find any label info for this man, so I'm gonna make the rare assumption that this guy works on his own dime. Impressive, in this economy, yeah? Risky business, sir. Please listen to his newest record - Be Your Own Mirror - at his bandcamp page. Perhaps even part with five hard-earned bones for a CD or hand-painted cassette.

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://jeffbeam.bandcamp.com/album/be-your-own-mirror"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Be Your Own Mirror by Jeff Beam&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;
Also, this. Rest easy, Marty.

Paleoacoustics :: Sex Clark Five :: Strum & Drum!

noreply@blogger.com (thephenomenalsneeze) — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Sex Clark Five :: Streamers

Huntsville, Alabama couldn't be a more perfect setting for oddball 80s indie-lore. Huntsville, at once completely anonymous and three hole-punched notches in the Bible Belt, but a little digging and you discover Space Camp. Southern dredge with ties to the cosmos. Mustachioed men in tiny Eraser Head tees. The universe seems charmingly smaller, everything makes a bit more sense. Fertile ground for a band called Sex Clark Five (four conveniently pictured above) to take the neighbor's basement by storm. Theirs is a brief tale of Kinks obsession and John Peel ordainment, seemingly cut short by their own quick wit. Leader James Butler and crew tracked their debut Strum and Drum! (a neatly precise genre-tag for their sound) in late 1986, and aside from an EP or two, all was said and done. They've left behind a truly astonishing document of Southern jangle-pop, and I recommend seeking it out. I also recommend covering your neighbor's car in bologna and letting it sit overnight. Same difference.

Video :: Blanche Blanche Blanche :: Music Overall

noreply@blogger.com (thephenomenalsneeze) — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

I'm convinced there's something in the water in Brattleboro, VT. A small-town gem of so-far-left-you-go-cross-eyed pop, the art scene here must not give a fuck about the outside world. It's completely plausible that they might not know it even exists. I view this video as a sort of Voyager-sponsored message about the dangers of displacing too much air into a fragile receptacle. The ultimate tension and release, the most fundamental story arc, edge-of-your-seat type stuff. Wait for it.

Blanche Blanche Blanche plopped this ballad on last year's "Our Place" long-player (on their own OSR-Tapes), and now it sees re-plopping on vinyl by Feeding Tube Records. Be on the lookout for the new LP "Papa's Proof" on La Station Radar soon. They also do song poems for $10, so if you're feeling particularly profound, you can write them about it and they'll immortalize you. Off the charts, anyone?

Review :: Throbbing Gristle :: The Second Annual Report

noreply@blogger.com (thephenomenalsneeze) — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Throbbing Gristle :: Slug Bait

So a band called The Death Factory was formed on exactly September 3rd, 1975. Two years later, they issued their second annual report under a different name, Throbbing Gristle, as a generous token of what's been cooking. A sort of "Hey, I wonder what the Death Factory has been up to all this time." Well, Mom, we've been isolated in a concrete hell-hole decorated with bullet-hole disco-rays and rat shit for two years, obsessing over long-gone Nazi encampments and inventing what some ass pigeonholes as industrial music down the road for journalistic innovation and ease. Cue elemental worry masked by disapproving looks.

Well, the long-gone Nazi encampments ring true here, but this is no Joy Division. A recent series of Throbbing Gristle reissues by the original Industrial Records place this debut comfortably alongside the rash of 1970s reissues by labels like 4 Men With Beards and Bureau B. The Internet is well-seeded with literature about this landmark of drone and noise, but in this collector-nerd's experience, I can't help but draw direct comparison to six-years-previous German innovators Cluster, or a completely sequencer-less Tangerine Dream. Even those guitar-squalls on "Slug Bait" sound like pristine German engineering racing by on the Autobahn.

The fixation continues on "Zyclon B Zombie," an early single referencing the cyanide gas used in the Holocaust. Here, this track spans the entire second side, the title making it much more harrowing than otherwise suggested. I like to internally rename it "Zombie Curiously Gazing Over City-Scape," so I can share it enthusiastically with the family. It's a bubbling, belching 20-minute outcropping at red dusk, levitating with tape-samples perfect for TV dinners and staining the carpet.

Review :: V/A :: Smuggler's Way

noreply@blogger.com (thephenomenalsneeze) — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

John Maus :: No Title (Molly)

It took conglomerate America no less than 3 years to reappropriate Record Store Day -- a noble quest that at its core celebrates small business -- into a circus of big-box bullshit aimed at the top dollar. What a great idea turned sour so quickly, and beyond the control of actual record shop owners who become peripheral representatives of wide-eyed label heads. It bothers me, but there are decent people on this planet, and the best of them put music out there with earnest intentions. Ribbon Music and Domino put their resources together to release a genuine package of original art for those who care about the physical package, the one-off oddity, and the well-curated compilation. So it is written, so it shall be: Smuggler's Way sits in my living room, not once, but twice, since my roommate also owns a copy.

First up is the music itself -- five rainbow-colored flexi-discs featuring one track each from Cass McCombs, John Maus, Dirty Projectors, Real Estate, and Villagers. Cass holds true to his occult madrigal status, closing the gap by covering Leonard Cohen's "Teachers," a personal favorite from the 1967 Songs Of debut. He locks the song in a tinder barn house, lights a match and slowly walks away. John Maus pays tribute to his co-conspirator Molly Nilsson with a pulsating motorik cleanse that would sit well on his 2011 full-length, We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves. Real Estate tap the familiar pastel/pastoral vein with "In My Car," sounding like Felt and Foo Fighters simultaneously. Dirty Projector's Dave Longstreth provides an acoustic demo "You Against the Larger World," a beautifully-played and sung stroll in the park, complete with his signature non-committal phrasing. Am I right? Villagers check in with a percolating, sample-ridden collage that sounds a bit like a sabotaged nativity scene. But I'll be damned if it's not pressed on ectoplasmic flexi-vinyl.

It's a great compilation of music, but a big part of my allegiance comes down to the commitment to presentation. Domino/Ribbon have simulated small-town basement comps by incorporating original drawings and prose from established artists. Keyword is "simulated" here; you don't get the sense that anyone here was collaborating, or even aware of the final outcome -- but I believe in the sincerity of the project. And I'm willing to spend money on it. Really, the only thing missing is a toy or candy. It's clear the Internet has destroyed zine culture, but as long as the music is central, the physical format will thrive. The audience is still there... just give them something to get excited about.

Review :: The KVB :: Always Then

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 07 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

I'm a little behind on gettin' behind. Gotta slow down just to show up. Slapping on mud to get back that feeling of clean. The KVB are back with a brand new mission. Compared to the even burn dealt out by their first Clan Destine release, Always Then stands out as bolder, stronger, more unified, with memorable hooks that sink way down into your flesh. The guitar is towering. The synths, magisterial. A forty minute-long crown of thorns.

The KVB :: Here It Comes

"Here It Comes" will probably turn out to be the most played track of the year on my Last.fm account, and I feel like it's the most immediate selling point on the album. It's got the grave-gaze going for it, a sound I've been chasing in my dreams. It's midnight driving music for the hit-and-run crowd.

The icing on the cake has to be the seriously fuzzed out cover of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" that sounds more like the prelude to a night of solo vomitcore with your best friend, the bottle of bleach.

Head over to Clan Destine Records to pick up a copy on vinyl today. Move like a motherfucker and you may just be lucky enough to get one of the limited white vinyl represses.

Video time. Go:

Gott-damn, I just wanna throw a vicious throat punch into Garrison Keillor so hard. Think he'd sue?

News :: King Tuff :: S/T

noreply@blogger.com (thephenomenalsneeze) — Sat, 05 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

This summer's looking up with news of the sophomore King Tuff record, out May 29th via SubPop. We've waited four dark, self-serious years for this one to land, and King Tuff himself emailed me last night to tell me how awesome it's gonna be. And, you know, I'm gonna take his word for it. He'd likely lop off my head with a guitar string-turned-garrote if I questioned it.

Here's to eating pizza all fucking night and playing pinball til my palms bleed.