JIMHENSONINTHEVICEGRIP – RSVP

Posted on 19.05.12 by

 

JIMHENSONINTHEVICEGRIP are a hip-hop duo (beats by Every and vocal MC JIIIIIM) making some extremely unglued hip-hop. RSVP is their first leaked single from their forthcoming album titled CORBINDALLAS, out May 25th on OUNCE.  Easily one of my most anticipated full-lengths of the year, RSVP brings the heat with a video game synth line bemused by heavily modulated pitched-up vocals in a sort of drugged up narrative.  The beat goes hard as ever, high hats ticking away at a panicked pace as the toms roll like bong hits.  This track is a great summary to the project’s possible reason for existence: an anthem to the vices of our weirdo generation.

JIMHENSONINTHEVICEGRIP – RSVP (from Corbindallas) – Right Click/Save As

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Read a review done by IMPOSE MAGAZINE  on the group’s YOKAYSEEYA EP—> HERE

Stream/Download this incredible sophomore EP ‘YOKAYSEEYA’ FREE—> HERE

JIMHENSONINTHEVICEGRIP – Racebannon (from the Yokayseeya ep) – Right Click/Save As

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Conversation with Pollen Trio

Posted on 17.05.12 by Shoeb Ahmad of

hellosQuare label head Shoeb Ahmad asks some questions to Evan Dorrian, member of Pollen Trio (drums, electronics)

 

 

When and how was pollen trio formed?

Pollen Trio had its beginnings in late 2007 when we were working under the name Austin Benjamin Trio. Austin, Chris and I were all at the Australian National University School of Music studying Jazz music and Austin put together the trio to play some of his compositions. From there we found ourselves playing together almost every day and hanging out, sharing music and ideas and trying to see where we could take the music. After releasing the album Amalagama we also played a lot live and began to take the compositions much further away from their original forms, improvising more freely and collectively and exploring ideas taken from the different sorts of music we were listening to, which in my case wasn’t Jazz at all. Slowly it became clear that we played more like a band with equal input rather than a trio playing one person’s compositions, and in fact I think it was Austin who suggested we should think of a name that was more suitable to what we had begun to do. Eventually we settled on Pollen Trio.

When named the austin benjamin trio, the music was definitely informed by a studied jazz songwriting approach. As a label, I recommended that the three of you allow your music to be reworked by other artists, leading to the release Unraveled, rewoven. Did this break with songwriting allow you guys to look beyond the songwriting square for the trio going forward or had this been something brewing at the back of your minds for some time?

The context of being at an institution mainly concerned with teaching a certain type of Jazz and technical facility was an important factor in what we did initially, although you’d have to ask Austin about that in terms of composition. But the desire to break this down somehow, and find a way to make and approach music that was more in touch with what we would want to contribute and call our own, was there from the beginning. What Austin did by having the guts to write a bunch of tunes, put together a trio and record an album at such an early stage was really important to just getting something going, and from there we would spend just as much time talking/thinking about how we could make things more interesting to us, as we did playing. In that sense I think Unraveled, Rewoven helped to spur this on and it was great to have a sense that the label could see what we were about. To have other artists that we and the label like reframe our work definitely helped us to think about our approach differently.

Have the trio tried to be fluid creatively between the lineup changes or has it been seen as an opportunity to explore a different side of sound, which perhaps had not been touched on before?

When we brought Miroslav Bukovsky on board we had actually been on a long break. I had been living in London and Chris had been travelling and was then living in Cyprus. Introducing Miroslav was a chance for us to explore the different sorts of sounds he is able to bring as well as a difference in improvisational style. Having said that, we still spent plenty of time working towards crafting a language that worked as a part of the Pollen Trio approach. Miroslav is a very open and interesting person so it was a fluid process working in the new things he brought with the “sound” we had already established.  

Has improvisation always been an important part in the creative process for the trio or is it something that bears more importance in certain situations and takes a back seat at other times?

I would say that for the most part we are an improvising band but it various from one situation to another and also depends on how we feel at a given time. In my case I find it very difficult to enjoy playing the same thing from one gig to the next but I also see the need for us to have some sort of framework, whether this is compositions or just vague ideas, to help maintain some clarity. Improvising and just playing together does lead us to ideas and helps to sort through some of things we like and don’t like, but it can also become a trap. We often feel the need to dictate some terms as a way of coming up with things that we might not if we just play off the cuff.

Has there been a psycho-geographical effect on the music created by the trio with its base between canberra and the outskirts of the blue mountains?

This is certainly a possibility, I often feel that Pollen Trio does have a certain psycho-geographical element in relation to Australia in general, perhaps similar to the way a band like The Necks do. It might be something to do with playing in a way that relishes in being a small part in something much bigger. I would say I’m not totally sure on this though…

The trio as a live entity does differentiate from the recorded output. Is this a particular aim for the three of you or is the plan always to try and capture the sound of the live performance before taking part in the editing process?

We don’t plan to sound like our recorded stuff when we play live. In fact I think we are usually always just concerned with what’s going on at the time, what we have been working on or thinking about or listening to. In general I think every live opportunity we are looking to push things forward. This is the same for when we have recorded, to date we have essentially tried to capture as much live material as possible so that it has a certain energy, and then afterwards edit things down and even add and manipulate things to create what we want. After that when we begin playing live again that process of editing allowed for by the recording often helps us to get into new territory that we couldn’t hear or see beforehand.  

What does the future hold for pollen trio – plans, ambitions, developments?

At the moment our plans are basically to tour our new album Roll Slow and continue to play as much as possible and continue to develop. We are definitely ambitious to see where and how far we can take the music and also keen for people to hear it. So we will just keep working and do our best.

Félicité of A&D had some great news today

Posted on 16.05.12 by natacha of

So we need to listen incidental music.

For example, this bamboulastic song from the Cameroonian Paul Pendja Ensemble. Their only findable recording comes from the compilation Black Mirror : Reflections in Global Musics.

This comp is composed of tracks from about twenty countries or so, recorded between 1918 and 1955. The whole thing comes from the Ian Nagoski’s 78 rpm private collection, a record shop owner from Baltimore. Cheers Ian.

Paul Pendja Ensemble – Ngo Mebou Melane (Right Click/Save As)

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Sent from my smart phone

Posted on 15.05.12 by Damon of

 I did more book reading this year than music listening but I can say the best show I have seen in the recent past was Akitsa in NYC – total outsiders and brutal and committed, really amazing. I don’t know too much about them but can say they are French Canadian and rule,  like some kind of Flipper/Godflesh rhythm section led by Diamanda Galas manly black metal. Thats live at least. They put records out on Hospital Productions along with other labels.

Akitsa – Les Sentinelles – (Right Click/Save As)

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Also Lau Nau at Issue Project Room was incredibly beautiful – rare that you see songs performed that are so surprising and elusive. Totally magical. I’m not one for music adjectives or word descriptions but I could say Lau Nau is a Finnish singer songwriter who lives on an island. She comes from a quiet snow bound domestic existence and her songs reflect that: delicate, subdued and solemn. She played with a Finnish film behind her, and it was the best pairing of music and film i’ve seen in a long time. She puts records out on Locust.

Lau Nau – Painovoimaa, Valoa – (Right Click/Save As)

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I love the Circle of Ouroborus new records, beautiful weird work, and the singer is like a stoner Mark E Smith fronting a metal band. This Finnish experimental black metal band put out lots of records (ten LPs, nine EPs, seven splits and seven demos since 2006 !) with lots of different feels.

Circle of Ouroborus – The Prayer – (Right Click/Save As)

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Circle of Ouroborus – Staining the Paper to Create – (Right Click/Save As)

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My biggest kick of the last week or so has serious meditating on the greatness that was Royal Trux. I was going to write just about them but didn’t want to write about an old band!
But I loved them when I was a kid and have been thinking about them a lot lately.
They totally changed my life, and for that, I owe them a big Gracias!

Royal Trux – Ny Avenue Bridge – (Right Click/Save As)

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Exotisme phonétique et synth pop de chambre

Posted on 14.05.12 by Félicité

We, French folks, often go through terrible ordeals when it comes to articulate names of foreign bands without sounding ridiculous or unduly confident.
Conversely, we’re grateful when a foreign band dares to choose a French name, not only because we feel safe pronouncing it, but because we smile inwardly at what it would sound like in the mouth of, say, an English speaker.
So when I first read about Blanche Blanche Blanche I sought phonic examples of how you people might pronounce such a name, but today this mystery remains unsolved, which is highly frustrating.

blanche blanche blanche – runny day (right click/save as)

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Anyway, apart from being a phonological challenge, Blanche Blanche Blanche is a charming duo from Brattleborro, Vermont. Sarah Smith and Zac Philips manage to make songs that are equally buoyant and melancholic, tropical and murky, while sustaining enough eeriness not to sink into stale mannerism. Altogether their music sort of sounds like John Bender’s early 80s ascetic pop mingled with old hazy hits from Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, topped with the vocals of Beat Happening’s Heather Lewis.

blanche blanche blanche – ana’s life

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blanche blanche blanche – results

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Yet sometimes it just reminds me of the British countryside :

blanche blanche blanche – with or without you (right click/save as)

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another great artwork by Shawn Reed

If you like to stick to chronology, you may start out with their first cassettes and albums released on Night People, Feeding Tube Records and OSR Tapes, before pursuing the retrofuturistic journey with their latest LP, Wink with both eyes (get it here). And don’t you grieve when you’re done because a new record of Blanche Blanche Blanche is due out on La Station Radar later this year.

Next time, I suggest you call your future band Bûcherons Bandants, Barbu Barbu, or Purin Malin. Thank you.

Laurent Jeanneau’s Ethnic Discrepancies

Posted on 12.05.12 by Gonçalo of

Foreword :

Laurent Jeanneau aka KINK GONG is a Frenchman based in Yunnan, southern China, where he specializes in documenting and recording ethnic minority music. He also composes experimental music based around his enumerable field recordings. After contributing with recordings for labels such as Sublime Frequencies and a mind-blowing Ghulja mix for Touch Records, Laurent treats us with a fantastic soundcape journey through the heart of Yunnan.


Laurent Jeanneau – Soundscape Yunnan (right click + save as)

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“On this special Yunnan mix, the acoustic recordings are on the foreground, without too much electronics. However, it’s still a mix, so even if you are listening to some pure beautiful women voices, chances are that it’s already been overdubbed and mixed. You might be listening to 3 voices at the same time, in perfect harmony, although in reality, the voices would be coming from three different villages in the Yunnan province, where they were recorded and then mixed at home for your listening pleasure. Most of the recordings come from ZHANG XING RONG – a music teacher in Kunming, the authority on Yunnan ethnic matters, as well as tracks from the KINK GONG ethnic recordings catalogue.”

Laurent Jeanneau 2010

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From the moment Laurent Jeanneau’s collage work reached my susceptible ears a couple of years back on the Touch Records podcast series that my attitude to traditional ‘world’ music was to be changed forever. His soundscape approach to so-called ‘world’ music emitted something so unique and captivating that I couldn’t stop myself going back to it for months to come.


Laurent Jeanneau – Touch Radio 44 (from Touch Records Radio) (right click + save as)

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By taking the listener to unknown remote regions of our planet and mixing it with contemporary electronic sounds, Laurent’s work as a collage artist becomes highly engaging, presenting an old world, an unknown world, and a place so far away from our cultural references that one has difficulty describing the sounds that they hear. Repeated listens only re-enforced the deep hypnotic vibes that, in my opinion, are unequalled in the so-called genre of ‘globe trotting psychedelia’.

By googling his name, I quickly found out that besides his work as a DJ and occasional contributions to Sublime Frequencies compilations, most of his free time is spent recording Ethnic minorities in South Asia- with remote villages of China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos being the main focus of his work. Once back to his base in Yunnan, South China, Laurent meticulously compiles the recordings into several CD’s to be eventually released by his own label, Kink Gong Records. From recordings of religious ceremonies, gong rituals and compilations of loops coming from Buddha Machines, Laurent Jeanneau’s work represents unique records of the most remote people and tribes of our planet.

A lot can be learned about a culture by the way it sounds. Languages, instruments, melodies, all become indelibly part of our lives, whether we notice it or not, they shape our past, present and future. For this reason, Laurent’s work should be considered as a testament of highly cultural and historical importance. Some of the sounds and instruments recorded are often played by a very small and segregated group of people. Its unique approach and insight into these esoteric sounds is up there with works such Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music or Alan Lomax‘s ethnological studies. In other words, if governments have any interest in keeping records of their own cultures they should be sponsoring individuals like Laurent Jeanneau. Our planet is way too rich to be neglected.

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DISCREPANT: How long have you been recording Ethnic Minorities and how did you come to it?

LAURENT JEANNEAU: It s been a long process, I only came to be active in the field in my 30ies and became a professional at it in my 40s, but I’ve taken interest in real world music in early 80s as a teenager, then started to travel to far away places in 1990, then did my first recordings in India in 96/97 mostly in Chennai, former Madras, with the exclusive purpose of remixing it my way, destroying the rigid musical Indian rules. The performers were horrified by the result and it never got anywhere. Then in 99/2000 in Tanzania a double CD of the Hadzas bushmen got released on French label ‘Musiques du Monde’. I eventually moved to Cambodia, and never stopped since, going through a lot of music in Cambodia , Laos, Vietnam and China.

DSCR: Do you see your role as a field recording/documentarian, keeping other people records to posterity, or more of a musician?

LJ: I guess those recordings, now 86 CDs will go through posterity, but let me remind you that the very first and essential impulse is not to pretend to do that work for preserving, but rather for the discovery of an incredible diversity of structures and textures in those unknown music fields that are fast disappearing. That to me has connexions to all kinds of different music created in western contemporary culture, like the first abstract painters of early 20th century had been influenced by African art like pygmies drawings as an example. It’s about giving a different aesthetic codification of music a chance to be heard, and in the first place influence me, for my ongoing process of being fed with new things.

DSCR: Name a few of your favourite places/people you’ve recorded over the years and why?

LJ: In north east Cambodia and southern Laos I became the specialist of gong ensembles, orchestras of tuned metallic percussions, hardly nothing has been done in terms of recordings, the Unesco can claim to add this musical culture as one of the master pieces of intangible patrimony to their list,but they do nothing at all to preserve it. Most gongs ensembles are a socio-musical interaction, one gong of different size per person, including nipple gongs, flat gongs, a pair of thick flat gong hit with long mallets, a single one hit by one fist, 3 or 5 nipple gong orchestra, 5 nipple gong + 3, 5 or 8 flat gongs, up to 13 gongs, hit different ways (fist, mallets, green wood) different techniques, different tunes, and different occasions totalize a great diversity of gong playing. Otherwise 2 other major musical expressions attract me very much, the various vocal polyphonies, the Hani of Southern Yunnan in China are an outstanding example,  and different mouth organs that I’ve recorded in Northern Vietnam, Northern Laos and Southern China.

DSCR: How difficult it is to locate and approach the different musicians all over the World?

LJ: Every recording has a different story, according to the country’s loose or rigid access, my ability to communicate, the time I spend there, who I’m working with, and lots of other parameters, but usually I know what community I’m targeting, so I get informations from locals mostly and read all kind of semi-anthropological content about it if they exist. Ask me one specific example out the 86 CDs and I’ll tell how I met them.

DSCR: Your work seems to be mostly based in South Asia with some spells in Africa? Have you got projects to record in other continents?

LJ: No, I just wish to continue in the same area, would be nice to extend further south west in Myanmar and more Eastern parts of India and Northern Bangladesh to find about non-Buddhist, non-Muslims and non-Hindus.

DSCR: Finally, are there any places/people you must record before it’s too late?

LJ: Different ideas, one is based on 2 unfruitful meetings with a French anthropologist in Northern Laos- I missed him in June last year and met him in Oudomxai, North Laos last November when he just got Dengue fever, so he could not move from bed. However, we’re supposed to get together again to finally reach villages of the small uncategorized ethnic groups of Phongsaly in North Laos. Basically there are 4 big ethno-linguistic families in South east Asia, in the north  (Southern China, Laos, Myanmar, North Vietnam, North Thailand)  the Tibetan-Burmese, the Tai, Thai Kadai, the Hmong- Mien (Southern China, Laos, North Thailand, North Vietnam) and the Mon ( Cambodia, Laos, Central Vietnam, Myanmar, India), so some guys are still not belonging to any category, not that I care, those classifications are actually meaningless to me, but it’s just the idea that those outsiders from the 4 categories are found in one area where those 4 ethnic categories all live: Phongsaly. That’s pretty unique! And like I’ve mentioned above, I wish to go to the very northern part of Myanmar, where there’s absolutely no information available but it’s a dangerous country home of all kind of ethnic military oppositions and drug mafias, not to forget a terrible military dictature that’s not going to allow me to hang with minorities. At the moment going there would mean to limit myself to Buddhist temples further south…

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For more on Laurent’s work and label go to King Gong Records.
For Laurent’s Discrepant transmission click here.
Check the Xinjiang LP on Discrepant’s releases page.
All pictures (except first one) owned by China Life Magazine.

FRIEND COLLECTOR

Posted on 11.05.12 by Jonathan of

 

It would be a surprise if Friend Collector was actually out there making good on their name and actually, ya know, making friends. However, judging by the sort of nihilistic noise and message that comes together on the bands debut album they probably aren’t winning them over in droves. As has been the case with Jason Donnells’ past projects such as The New Flesh and Pfisters, where they dished out yet a similar brand of unrelenting brand of noise-rock. Where does Friend Collector stand in the mix of things? Well, certainly more towards the frustrated and violent characteristics of The New Flesh and not so much the more rock n’ roll or Jesus Lizard type of sound that Pfisters presented. However, that’s not to say that Friend Collector doesn’t bring together a bit of both here. There is definitely noticeable hints of rhythm here and there as opposed to the straight run of monotony of a Swans like bludgeoning. There is still certainly plenty of that as well though, leaving it loud and bursting at the seams with bass and drums. Showing their disgust to those that are misinformed and inept at making commentary towards this country, it certainly adds to the levels of intensity and vitriol that spews forth from collection of tracks here. Friend Collector successfully creates the type of imagery of a spiraling present and a not so bright future if current trends continue. Give it a listen.

 

Friend Collector – Pinpointing the Enemy

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Friend Collector – Arousing Prejudice – (Right Click/Save As)

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Anyone that is interested in picking up a copy of Friend Collector’s debut, just simply hit up the groups Bandcamp page where it is available on LP (released by Baltimore label Terra Firma) and digital download.

Wreck & Reference

Posted on 10.05.12 by Jerry Orbach of

It’s unlikely that any readers here have chanced upon my blog before.  If you’re one of those unfortunate souls who have then I’m sure you’ll realize hastily that I have almost no interest in contemporary music.  Everything sounds like some boring copy of a copy (thanks Baudrillard).  Being a sallow old coot, I don’t get what the kids are into anymore.  So you can imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from the two chaps who masterminded this maelstrom and wasn’t instantly moved to vomit.

Their first release, Black Cassette, had some unlikely signposts that may or may not signify just who these guys were influenced by.  I can list off a few bands in lazy writer fashion but I would probably embarrass myself when I find out that they actually listen to none of them.  I can even suggest some genres that you or any other genre enthusiast might try to throw this one into, but that seems like a silly exercise.  Because I think some might find it to be a challenging listen, which almost always suggests that the music is doing something right and people are dummies, this might not get all the hipster accolades that it truly deserves.  But why would you want to be lumped together with a buncha kids with ironic sweaters and perms?

Stupid kids aside, the two things that make this stand out are the two things that everyone who writes about this band mentions:  1.) No guitars.  As far as I know this is almost all electronics and samples, but no need to fret Francis, this isn’t some dull electronica nod music.  2.) Great vocals. I’ve heard some bands attempt music like this but they just don’t take it to a higher level.  Here, the vocals give their sound an added advantage over the rest.  Nice job guys.

 

 

Now comes record number two (No Youth) and it’s one that will certainly make your bells jingle.  I whole heartedly endorse this title, at least the way I interpret it, because the youth shouldn’t be counted.  Hail the old and the middle aged.  Anyways, these vultures really spread their wings wide with this one and create a sound that makes it difficult to believe that this is a mere two piece.  This is available through their bandcamp page as a choose your price download (under a creative commons licence).  And that’s just one more reason to like these dudes.  I love it when musicians just want their work to be heard and aren’t afraid to share.

_



You can buy a LP version of the Black Cassette on Flenser Records.

wandering on the interweb – 1

Posted on 09.05.12 by Gwendolyne of

Foreword: There will be a lot of ridiculous spelling mistakes in this post, cos our charming sub-editor is asleep. Pardon me and don’t forget i’m french.

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1) Amen Dunes via Incubate festival’s blog:

Last year, Damon Mc Mahon/Amen Dunes released a petrifying and tormented psych-pop album that could save your life, Through Donkey Jaw. In the last few days, he has self-released a 7″ entitled Ethio Covers. Damon says it consists of “a downer take on three Ethiopiques tracks culled from unnamed tapes. A slow motion glow of devotion and nostalgia, filtered through New York City summertime haze”.
You can listen to Ethio Song below (and spread it beyond the galaxy, as it is published under a Creative Commons licence).
On this song, Damon sounds like a drunk salaryman trying to sing in a language he doesn’t know, left alone by his coworkers in an empty smoky tropical karaoke bar at 5 am during the monsoon, struggling with his sex drive, the collapsing of his business, dampness, and his 25 years younger boss. And it’s beautiful.

Amen Dunes – Ethio Song – right click/save as

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(This track was previously released by the fantastic label/promoter/festival Kraak last December, on their God Damn, I Hate The Blues double 7″ compilation)

 

I can’t resist, i have to post a song from Through Donkey Jaw too.

Amen Dunes – Lower Mind – right click/save as

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Give your money to Damon. Now.

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2) Gang Wizard via Deathbomb Arc newsletter:

Beware : our next LP will be an edition of 1.

Rhaaaaaaaaaaa Gang Wizard is back ! After four years of silence ! I thought they were dead or became accountants or something.  They celebrate their comeback with Spirit vs Soul, a LP limited to 20 (yes, twenty) copies. They still do messy noise rock, but “more structured and song-like than most of the band’s output of the past ten years,” as Brian of Deathbomb Arc says. Don’t worry, though: “The clatter, feedback, screams of agony and propelled scuzz of it all” are still there. Gang Wizard’s return to live performance will happen at the end of this month. Uncannily,  they will not play in a 20 people capacity venue, but instead will do a live set for the entire universe via the 2nd installment of Enter The Internet, the live streaming web show hosted by Deathbomb Arc. More about it when i’ll remember the link.

Gang Wizard – Lay it all – right click/save as

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Try to buy it

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3) Ezra Buchla via Visitations Rites:

Ezra asking himself if he shouldn’t rework his last song, just a little bit.

Half-God Ezra Buchla (ex-Mae-Shi, ex-Gowns) is the modern still alive version of Arthur Russel: he’s incredibly talented and prolific, but has chronic trouble finishing what he starts–leaving works unfinished and continually revising his music. So you can imagine how happy I was to learn he just released a 7″ on Folktale. He didn’t have the energy to fill two sides by himself, though, so it is a split single shared with Whitman (oh! It was useful to look for his website: Ezra and Whitman are touring across the US west coast NOW).
Hmmm it is 3.51 am here, so I’m just gonna quote Samantha of Visitations Rites (but I promise I’ll write a lengthy declaration of love to Ezra someday):
“If you’re lucky enough to catch one of his performances at LA DIY haunts such as Dem Passwords or Pehrspace, you will likely be struck by the quiet power of his meditative violin and his haunting voice, which are often employed in unison. He is a master performer, but not a bombastic showman. The mastery lies in his ability to pull the audience into his dream world through an atmosphere of feedback and echo, and the vulnerable, oratory nature of his voice. These elements are often looped a few times over, creating a textured sound space. ‘Black Rabbit,’ the track posted below from his split 7″ with Whitman, is an excellent representation of the ambiance of his live sets. It builds from a murmur and a whisper, to a rich storm of electrified tones and schizophrenic chatter, slowly fading back into a more subdued state. Buchla might not be placeable in the musical trends adopted by his peers, but the emotional impact of his music places him in the non-temporal tradition of folkloric singers and song writers”.
Thanks Samantha, it was insightful and well-written and I’m sure you’re pretty too. Some people just have everything.

Ezra Buchla – Black Rabbit - right click/save as

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Buy it, maybe he won’t release anything else for the next twenty years.

In the realm of beasts, there remain many brave warriors

Posted on 08.05.12 by Ian of

Since the inception of society rebellion has been a staple. These circles keep mankind learned and humble. Be it known, the seeds are sewn in the darkest of corners. In train yards, moldy basement and stale bar rooms. The recordings, texts and art works aren’t easily obtained or deciphered. Often it’s participants remain secretive, some by choice other by circumstance. Never the less the stack of amazing “underground” records on my turntables grows and grows with each passing tour.  Here is a slew of reviews, do with them what you will.

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Pangea – Living Dummy Cassette/LP/ Digital – Burger Records

Pangea is a great Long Beach, CA riot rock band. A well balanced mix of songwriting and dancing stomp type garage rock. I listened to this tape on repeat for a week straight in Venice and it never got old. The cassette is sold out, but it since has been reissued on vinyl, and you can also stream/buy this excellent album on bandcamp. They just released a new ep, Killer Dreams, out now on Lauren Records/Ghostbot Records.

Pangea – Summertime (from Living Dummy) (Right click/Save as)

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Pangea – I don’t wanna know you (again. ALL Living Dummy tracks are interstellar summer meta hits)

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Pangea – Plasma out of your mind  (from their brand new Killer Dreams EP)

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Vacation “The Do Shit Tape” on Bike Haus Recordings (no website) “Dream Dad” 7″ and s/t LP on Let’s Pretend Records and Mandible Records.

Vacation‘s signature style of spastic midwestern punk echos in my ears at the mere mention of the Cincinnati trio. They crafted great original pop punk songs, lead by a singing drummer, driving bass and loose guitar.

Vacation – Big Scary Dudes (from The Do Shit Tape) (Right click/Save as)

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Bitches - Winner 7″ – (self released)

Bitches make couple duos seem possible. Their heavy bass driven music is complimented by light creative drumming that seems comical. Like every great comic duo, Bitches have a straight man and a reckless one. You can hear more of this London duo on a split LP with Yuppies on Palmist Records and on a new ep on Gravy Records.

Bitches – Can not love (from their self released single) (Right click/Save as)

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Bitches – Sleep Walk (from their self released single)

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Bitches – Wallet (from their split LP with Yuppies)

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Rise Up Howling Werewolf  – The Indian Curse Will Bring You Back To Me – Arkam Records

Call Rise Up Howling Werewolf  what you will: gospel, soul, skate rock. All would find a legitimate home in describing this group of malcontempts. These northern Alabama MISFITS have a LP out on Arkam Records.

Rise Up Howlin Werewolf – You Can See The Hearse Outside (Right click/Save as)

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RVIVR – Dirty Water – EP – Berlin label Yo Yo Records

This Olympia,WA group make the kind of punky pop that give hope the world over. Passionate Male/Female vocals and inspired riffs backed by solid drumming. This is one of those EPs you wish would last forever. The Shellshag cover is a confirmed highlight. This EP is released under a creative commons licence. You can buy the vinyl version here and stream/buy the digital version here. You can also download all Rvivr records and send them free donations via their own label, Rumbletowne Records.

Rvivr – Resilient Bastard (Shellshag cover)  (Right Click/Save As)

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Rvivr-  Tiny Murders (Right click/Save as)

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Defiance, Ohio – Midwest Minutes – No Idea Records

D. Ohio is a shining example of a band that only gets better with age. Drawing cuts from several writers, maneuvering gracefully between heartland, power pop and anarchist folk punk. As lyricists these Indiana men and women stand alone.

Defiance, Ohio – Hairpool  (Right click/Save as)

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