"Mad River were one of the truly unique Berkeley/Bay area groups. In their brief lifetime they released one ep and two lps but have proven to be a durable psychedelic group. People often compare Mad River to Country Joe and the Fish or the Quicksilver Messenger Service but it’s important to point out that the River’s sound was much more neurotic and darker in mood.
Lawrence Hammond was the lead vocalist, principal songwriter and bass player of Mad River. Hammond was born in Berkeley but spent his childhood in the Mid-West where he was exposed to a diverse mixture of country and folk music. In the mid 60s he attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. It was here he began studying medicine and met the future members of Mad River. The group performed in dives all throughout Ohio and in 1965 they were one of the few rock n roll groups around. To make a long story short, the group became frustrated with their efforts and eventually packed up and moved to the more progressively minded Berkeley, CA. In Berkeley the group’s lineup looked something like this: David Robinson (lead guitar), Thomas Manning (vocals and 12 string guitar), Gregory Dewey (drums), Rick Bochner (2nd lead guitar and vocals) and Lawrence Hammond (bass guitar and lead vocals). Mad River lived a meager lifestyle in Berkeley but were able to record an excellent ep off a local label in 1967. Two of the songs would end up on their self-titled 68 album albeit in different versions. One song, Orange Fire can only be heard on this great ep and is one of its highlights. Orange Fire is a minor key protest rock gem, with explosive guitar noise and cutting, angular riffs. It was both Robinson’s unique, abrasive guitar style and Hammond’s strange, quavering vocals that made people sit up and take note. Robinson’s guitar style was similar to the Magic Band of the late 60′s and much later, Television’s Tom Verlaine/Richard Lloyd on their classic Marquee Moon lp.
In 1968 the group were signed to Capital (along with the Steve Miller Band and the Quicksilver Messenger Service) and afforded the luxury to record the above debut. Disaster struck though, by way of an old recording engineer who knew nothing about current rock music. Thus, the recording and playback speed were not the same, so everything on the album came out faster and higher than Mad River had played it. When the record came out in 1968 it was savaged by Rolling Stone and hated by many rock critics alike.
Today, the Mad River lp sounds fantastic, unlike anything from the time and often considered a dark, ominous masterpiece of psychedelia. Amphetamine Gazelle is the gem of the album, with hard charging guitar riffs and a pulsing rhythm section that really captures the essence of speed. In Wind Chimes, they created an excellent rock instrumental that’s pure psychedelia and highlighted by dreamy eastern scales. Other tracks like High All The Time and Eastern Light are classic Bay area acid blues notable for Hammond’s piercing vocals and Robinson’s fine, sleazy guitar tones. Summary: Once again Rolling Stone proved to be wrong in their judgment and the Bay area produced another classic album of American psychedelia. Mad River would go on to record one more album in 1969, titled Paradise Bar and Grill. This album has much more of a roots rock vibe but is also highly recommended." - therisingstorm.net

A bit about Moondog for those who've not yet had the privilege of discovering this wonderful composer and his amazing music: "The gaunt, blind musician known as Moondog, was
celebrated among New Yorkers for two decades as a mysterious and extravagantly garbed street performer but who went on to win acclaim in Europe as an avant-garde composer, conducting orchestras before royalty until his death at 83 in Hamburg,
Germany.

Day in and day out, the man who was originally named Louis T. Hardin was as taciturn and unchanging a landmark of the midtown Manhattan streetscape as the George M. Cohan statue
in Duffy Square. From the late 1940s until the early 1970s, Hardin stood at attention like a sentinel on Avenue of the Americas around 54th Street. Moondog was the inventor of bizarre
instruments such as the "oo" and the "trimbas" each adding their own unique texture to the composers pallet.

No matter the weather, he invariably dressed in a homemade robe, sandals, a flowing cape and a horned Viking helmet, the tangible expression of what he referred to as his
"Nordic philosophy." At his side he clutched a long spear of his own manufacture. Harding adopted the Moondog name in 1947, identifying himself, he said, with a former pet who howled at the moon.

Most of the passers-by who dismissed him as "the Viking of Sixth Avenue," offering him contributions and buying copies of his sheet music and poetry, were unaware that he had recorded his music on the CBS, Prestige, Epic, Angel and Mars labels. Hardin's jazz-accented compositions, generally scored for small wind and percussion ensembles, often achieved a
flowing, tonal symphonic style. He is also noted for his work with 20th century composers Steve Reich and Phillip Glass, both whom worked with Moondog to ensure his wonderful recordings would be heard for years to come." - Glen Collins (New York Times)

"By the time Fly emerged, the battle lines had long been drawn, and those who preferred to place Ono's domestic situation rather than her music in the foreground were never going to give it a fair shake. Very much their loss -- not only is it that rarest of all beasts, a '70s double album that rewards repeated listening, but Fly also shows the work of a creative artist working with a sympathetic set of backing players to create inspired, varied songs. At points, the appeal lies simply in Ono's implicit "to heck with you" approach to singing -- compositions like "Midsummer New York" are easygoing rock chug that won't surprise many, but it's her take on high-pitched soul and quivering delivery that transforms them into something else. The screwy blues yowl of "Don't Worry Kyoko" is something else again, suggesting something off Led Zeppelin III gone utterly berserk. Meanwhile, check the fragile, pretty acoustic guitar of "Mind Holes," her singing swooping in the background like a lost ghost, while the reflective "Mrs. Lennon," as wry but heartfelt a portrait of her position in the public eye as any, ended up being used by Alex Chilton for "Holocaust," which gives a good sense of the sad tug of the melody. Perhaps the best measure of Fly is how Ono ended up inventing Krautrock, or perhaps more seriously bringing the sense of motorik's pulse and slow-building tension to an English-language audience. There weren't many artists of her profile in America getting trance-y, heavy-duty songs like "Mindtrain" and the murky ambient howls of "Aimale" out to an English-language audience. Such songs readily match the work of Can, another band with a Japanese vocalist taking things to a higher level. As for "Fly" itself, the mostly unaccompanied wails and trills from Ono will confirm stereotypes in many folks' minds, but it's a strange, often beautiful performance that follows its own logic." - Allmusic.com

"Monochrome Set's debut album for Virgin followed the indie success of their singles "Alphaville," "Eine Symphonie Des Grauens," and "The Monochrome Set." By the time it was scheduled, Andy Warren (ex-Adam & the Ants) had replaced Jeremy Harrington on bass, and the lineup was completed by guitarist Lester Square (also ex-Ants), Indian-born vocalist/guitarist Bid, and former Art Attacks drummer J.D. Haney. Although it can't quite match Eligible Bachelors for songwriting, there are a number of superb, non-single album tracks that make this an essential purchase for fans -- especially "Ici les Enfants," "The Puerto Rican Fence Climber," and "The Lighter Side of Dating." Amid the austerity of post-punk England, and before we became awash with irony and archness, we needed a band who could raise their eyebrows and smirk at it all without ever being condescending (or maybe only a little bit condescending)." - Allmusic.com

Original 1979 Pressing!

"True D.A.F. connoisseurs will, of course, be aware of the early phase of the Düsseldorf-Wuppertal combo. But most fans of the subsequently world-famous duo may well be taken aback when confronted with their debut album: forceful synth bass sounds, snappy rhythms, Gabi Delgado and leather all conspicuously absent. In their place, pure instrumental, unstructured noise-rock, played by long-haired and moustachioed types. A band can barely have undergone a more extreme metamorphosis. Gabi Delgado joined the band (hitherto comprising Robert Görl, Kurt Dahlke/Pyrolator, Wolfgang Spelmans and Michael Kemner), before the band discarded the name of YOU and christened themselves Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft. And he was also on board for the first recording sessions at Studio 56 in Mühlheim. Disappointed with the results ("too close to Schlager," the band thought) and "less than happy" with Delgado's vocals and lyrics (as Pyrolator, responsible for electronics, noted), the group dispensed with Delgado's services. Yet the creative will was undiminished: "We really wanted to make a record. All the Düsseldorf bands -- Male, Mittagspause -- already had an album out, everyone except us," and with the singer now gone, an instrumental album was the only option. In the wake of the studio debacle, the decision was made to take the recording into their own hands. A tape machine and two microphones were set up in Wolfgang Spelmans' living room and ten days of unbounded improvisation ensued. And thus it was completed, Produkt der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundschaft: 22 tracks, ranging from 19 seconds to three minutes in length. The influence of Can is clearly audible. Considering the fact that other prominent noise-rock bands such as Chrome, Flipper or even Sonic Youth recorded similar music at a much later date, this "product of Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft" should certainly be recognized as a pioneering work. Possibly even the first noise-rock album the world had seen or heard. Was the world ready for such brutal, nihilistic sounds in the late 1970s? The world of record companies was not. Unable to find a label, D.A.F. proved to be not only pioneers of noise, but also pioneers of DIY. They found help from the local bank, with Pyrolator putting up his car for credit amounting to 3000 Marks. A logical step, as he was already running a cassette label called Warning Records (later becoming Ata Tak). Produkt Der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundschaft was the first LP on the label and was given the catalog number WR 01/LP/1979. Sales were so good that Pyrolator was able to pay back his loan quickly." - Bureau B via 2012 Reissue

"The debut recording by Roland Kirk (this was still pre-Rahsaan) on Atlantic Records, the same label that gave us Blacknuss and Volunteered Slavery, is not the blowing fest one might expect upon hearing it for the first time. In fact, producer Joel Dorn and label boss Neshui Ertegun weren't prepared for it either. Kirk had come to Atlantic from Emarcy after recording his swan song for them, the gorgeous Now Please Don't You Cry, Beautiful Edith, in April. In November Kirk decided to take his quartet of pianist Ron Burton, bassist Steve Novosel, and drummer Jimmy Hopps and lead them through a deeply introspective, slightly melancholy program based in the blues and in the groove traditions of the mid-'60s. Kirk himself used the flutes, the strich, the Manzello, whistle, clarinet, saxophones, and more -- the very instruments that had created his individual sound, especially when some of them were played together, and the very things that jazz critics (some of whom later grew to love him) castigated him for. Well, after hearing the restrained and elegantly layered "Black and Crazy Blues," the stunning rendered "Creole Love Call," the knife-deep soul in "The Inflated Tear," and the twisting in the wind lyricism of "Fly by Night," they were convinced -- and rightfully so. Roland Kirk won over the masses with this one too, selling over 10,000 copies in the first year. This is Roland Kirk at his most poised and visionary; his reading of jazz harmony and fickle sonances are nearly without peer. And only Mingus understood Ellington in the way Kirk did. That evidence is here also. If you are looking for a place to start with Kirk, this is it." - Allmusic.com

One of my absolute favorite garage punk albums, hands down!!! 

"The Drags have added a second guitarist and a new drummer to their line-up for "Set Right Fit To Blow Up." It opens with a smoking and brutal instrumental, “This Is The Sound Of Hard Rock,” which also boasts an oscillator wailing away in the background. With its half chanted/half sung boy/girl vocals buried in the mix, “Dirty Little Bird” sounds like a cross between Sonic Youth and Jon Spencer — garage skronk, if you will. For most of the rest of the disc they churn out a bracing mix of punk and skronk, seeming to take the Stooges free jazz leanings, à la Funhouse, as inspiration while moving the whole shebang deeper into the garage. “Jet Lag” is a C&W piss take, while “No Matter What Shape (Your Head Is In)” sounds like Joy Division covering Bowie. The latter is also the best track on the disc, though the wah-wah filled “FM Shades” is pretty tasty too, evoking primo Mudhoney. Their version of Led Zep’s “Communication Breakdown” kicks ass in a major way.   It’s noisy and trashy, and you almost expect them to drop into “Whole Lotta Love” at the end. Actually, I was a tad disappointed when they didn’t." - exclaim.ca

"Pretties for You is the debut album by Alice Cooper. At this time, the name "Alice Cooper" referred to the band, not its lead singer, though the lead singer was also known as Alice Cooper. The music has a psychedelic flavor to it. The group had yet to develop the more concise hard rock sound that they would become known for. Most of the tracks from the album have a distinct loud and dynamic rock sound. However, very few songs have some sort of hard rock quality. Pretties For You was a critical and commercial failure, only briefly denting the Billboard Top 200, and none of its songs have ever been played live by Cooper since the release of his breakthrough album Love It to Death.

The song "Reflected", Alice Cooper's first single, was later rewritten as "Elected" (which featured on their 1973 album Billion Dollar Babies). The artwork for this album was hanging on the wall of the living room in Frank Zappa's house. However, his wife Gail Zappa claims that it was later stolen from them. The original painting was done by Ed Beardsley." - Wikipedia

YES! Now-Again Records has compiled a "best of" collection of tracks from the plethora of interesting musical ("musical"?) curiosities presented in the recent "Enjoy The Experience" tome! Cop a squat and read their explanatory exposition:

"Gatefold double LP with a 20-page booklet of extensive liner notes. "Selections from the Sinecure Books publication Enjoy the Experience: psych, funk, folk, jazz, lounge, boogie and straight-up-weirdness from American private press albums. Enjoy the Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992 is the inaugural offering from Sinecure Books. (The hardcover book version: SI 105BK) is the most comprehensive overview of the American 'private press' movement from the latter half of the 20th Century that could possibly be assembled. Now-Again Records is pleased to distribute a 2LP anthology of psych, funk, folk, jazz, lounge, disco, boogie and just-plain-weirdness culled from the the book's selections. Take note: this is not a novelty freak show. Contained in this anthology are examples of some of the most highly regarded rock, soul, jazz, funk and singer/ songwriter albums from the '60s through the early '80s. From the awkward-yet- talented to the genius-yet-bizarre, one thing unites all musicians presented here: they sincerely hoped to become stars, they committed themselves to record, and they left themselves vulnerable to an industry not understanding of nuance, not appreciative of character. While Enjoy The Experience the book details a forceful American cultural experience that stands in juxtaposition to the mainstream even as its creators attempted to infiltrate it, Enjoy the Experience the album shows the breadth of American creativity in a compelling, start-to-finish listen. Not all of it is easy to digest, but this music is essential to the 20th century American experience." Artists: Circuit Rider, Gary Wilson, Jade, Heitkotter, The Invaders, The Muzzy Band, Carol-Leigh and Hank Mindlin, Gary Schneider, Joe E., Medico Doktor Vibes, Ray Harlowe and Gyp Fox, Arcesia, Boa, Michael Farneti, 33 1/3, Silk and Silver, Russ Saul, Dennis The Fox, Bob Harrison and Vinny Roma."

We were slack-jawed at Johan Kugelberg's book "Enjoy The Experience" when it arrived on our doorstep on Record Store Day 2013 - it's exploration of outsider musicians (or "real people" records as they are referred to in the book itself) is as fascinating as it is extensive. This 2xLP cuts to the meat of the matter and compiles a "greatest hits" of the more interesting artists featured in the book. Heavies like Circuit Rider and Gary Wilson nestle in real close to odd-ballers like Silk and Silver and Dennis The Fox and paint a very vivid portrait of this all-encompassing niche genre! The tunes range from oddball whacked-out pop, to chord-defying calypso, to late-nite hotel lounge muzak, to hard funk (the break-beat plentiful "Spacing Out" by The Invaders). A thrilling, if head-scratching listen that comes unequivocally RECOMMENDED! (buy the book too!)

King Tuff Test Pressing Contest!
Anyone who buys the new King Tuff - "Was Dead" Reissue LP is automatically entered into a raffle to score a mind blowing package of goodies!  The winner will receive a copy of the King Tuff test pressing which is hand numbered in an edition of 50, a King Tuff T-Shirt, a King Tuff tote bag and a King Tuff button!  Good luck dudes and dudettes!!!

Burger Records reissues the 2008 LP that launched Kyle Thomas, a.k.a King Tuff into the general consciousness and lit up thousands of record players worldwide (at least, for as long as those first few editions on 'The Colonel' Records were in print) Burger commissioned 'The King' to put some thoughts onto paper about "Was Dead" - here's the skinny straight from the King's pen:

"It's always seemed as though Was Dead kinda came outta nowhere. Even for me, I don't remember writing the songs and I barely remember recording them. I do know that they came from the purest part of my heart and they were made with a mischievous little smile on my face.

I think it was 2006. I recorded mostly late at night, in a giant dirty ballroom called Vegetable Street, in my hometown of Brattleboro, Vermont. My days were filled with endless cups of Mocha Joe's coffee, black, sitting on the stoop with my friends, and spazzing out on my guitar. Looking down at the streets of Brattleboro below and out at Mount Wantastiquet and beyond. I didn't have a cell phone or a computer and the only way to find me was either to call my mom, Lil' Smashy, who was probably already too busy cooking me something really delicious, or spot me in the corner of the coffee shop spying on people and drawing them in my sketchbook. They were very chill times.

I wanted Was Dead to be a pure Vermont Rock and Roll record, fueled by extra sharp Cabot cheddar cheese and hot, grade-A fancy maple syrup poured over crisp white snow and served with a pickle and a cider donut. You sit down on the shitty concrete in the parking lot and you slurp it all up. I had already made a few King Tuff albums in the early 2000's and had laid the project to rest around 2003. But something told me to resurrect King Tuff, hence the title Was Dead.

This album changed my life in so many ways, as it slowly trickled out into the world. I never expected anyone to hear it, let alone connect with it. I never would have left Vermont, never met the boys at Burger Records or any of the other insane, beautiful, cartoonish characters that now populate my life in the best way. It’s an expression of my infinitely teenage heart and soul, and I'm really proud of it. So here it is again, thanks to Burger Records. These songs belong to the Strutters and the Stutterers, the Headbangers and the Stoop Hangers, the Ruthies and the Gold Toothies, and of course, the A-N-I-M-A-L-S... "

MAN, we jammed this one TO DEATH when it came out - SO much in fact that we thought it might've  been physically glued to our turntable! "Was Dead" was like a shot in the arm to garage and pop in 2008 and we're happy to report it still sounds fresh as a newly picked daisy! The King's addictive concoction of garage-goulash is just one of those records that sounded iconic from the first spin - it's marriage of garage/glam/punk/pop/and a dash of slacker-psychedelia is a recipe still being cooked up in many a musical kitchen to this day - heck one could even point to it as "patient zero" for the Burger Records' "sound". We dug it then and are still diggin' - here's hoping "Was Dead" keeps on kickin' it long after we've shuffled off this mortal coil - RECOMMENDED!!!

The Torn Light Records has all the gnarly details behind this brain damage inducing slab of misanthropy:

"Mid tempo to sludgy noise rock from Chicago, IL. Rectal Hygienics take their time stomping through 7 tracks of nihilistic, perverse and noise ladened rock. FFO: Rusted Shut, Brainbombs, Twin Stumps and the like.
Featuring ex and current boys of Socially Retarded, Sea of Shit, Hate Basement, Machismo, Abuse Patterns, CSTVT and SHARPTOOTH.
LP comes housed in a screen printed jacket with a fold out poster/lyric sheet. 300 copies one time pressing on black vinyl." - Torn Light Records

Hell Yeah!  Chicago's Rectal Hygienics unleash a platter of punishment in the vein of Twin Stumps, Rusted Shut and Brainbombs as stated above and you know we love us some attitude filled negative noise rock.  Rectal Hygienics are not here to play nice, as waves of feedback and flopping guttural bass riffs and pummeling drum patterns are held at bay by a barking bile filled growl spewing all things unpleasant to say the least.  Originally released as a mega-limited cassette, the RH duders have finally got this on vinyl just in time to never leave your turntable.  This is sure to piss off your neighbors as it is meant to played at the highest of volumes.  Viciously Recommended.

The Mono Records folks have gifted the world with a much anticipated reissue of this legendary punk album.  Get the backstory directly from the label; they totally know the score:

“Before the nihilistic hardcore of Black Flag and wasteland blues of the Gun Club was the void. And from that void crept forth a schoolteacher named CHRIS DESJARDINS who in the fall of 1977 was about to simplify his name to CHRIS D. and start one of the most complicated and uncompromising bands ever to emerge from Los Angeles. He had charisma and connections and an irresistible vision, and he recruited members of X, WALL OF VOODOO, THE CONTROLLERS, THE SCREAMERS, THE FLYBOYS and THE PLUGZ—a rotating roster of future punk legends who’d split time from their own bands to become THE FLESH EATERS. By the summer of 1980, the Flesh Eaters had left scorch marks across their genre and their generation both, releasing the debut ‘Disintegration Nation’ 7”, a compilation called Tooth And Nail and a first annihilating full-length called No Questions Asked that critic Richard Meltzer called ‘goddam genius.’ In the Flesh Eaters, murder ballads and cut-up Burroughs-ian imagery and wrecked-in-the-head rock ‘n’ roll were boiled and bled into one terrifying thing by people who practically invented West Coast punk, and who at the direction of Chris D. were now inventing something else. Now Mono Records releases this deluxe LP version of No Questions Asked with complete bonus tracks including the ‘Disintegration Nation’ 7”, the three tracks from the Tooth and Nail and never-before-on-vinyl demos restored at Chris D.’s direction—all material unavailable in the U.S. since its original release, and the definitive reissue of the last great lost L.A. punk band”—Chris Zeigler"" - Mono Records

We couldn't agree more!  "No Questions Asked" is 14 tracks of unrelenting punk rock fury that throttles by in 2 minute blasts of no compromise and no fucks given.  Plus, check it, this reissue features 10 bonus cuts of even more raw as hell rawk and roll nuttery.  This is an absolutely essential record for any fan of punk rock and snarling cutthroat r'n'r, so grab it immediately as reissue of this caliber rarely stick around long.  Crank this beast to infinity!!!  Righteously Recommended.

Total Punk with the help of Jeth-Row Records strikes again with another swampy dose of punk rock from Gary Wrong Group, titled "Knights Of Misery":

"For those of you not in the know GARY WRONG has been the solo outlet for WIZZARD SLEEVE, CAPTAIN BEYONCE, for the last year or so. Total Punk attempted to put out his debut single last year but all the chicken magic in the world couldn’t set this doomed project straight. Endless setbacks from the pressing plant, four broken plates, and a neverending string of lies and misrepresentations from the shady “plant broker” later we were able to salvage 148 hideous, jaggedly cut, mislabeled singles before scrapping the project. Well here are rerecorded versions of those two songs as well as four more. That’s right folks, Gary Wrong is back, and this time with a full gang of like minded miscreants. Six tracks of brooding, sinister punk created under the influence of ditch weed, on broken machines, in the late late hours of an Alabama night at an undisclosed location in the woods. A pummeling attack of pounding drums and biting guitars, covered in layers of whirling organ (provided by QUINTRON), eerie synth noises, and all accented by Mr Wrong’s menacing cackle. Think Chrome mainlining the ashes of Bobby Soxx. IT brings to mind images of swarming locust, WW II dog fights, Cthulu’s ascent from the primordial ooze, and backwoods ritual sacrifice. Out this week and TOTALLY PUNK!!!"" - Total Punk

Dirt caked post apocalyptic garage punk sorcery rising outta the ashes of Wizzard Sleeve?  And with Mr. Quintron on drums / organ? Count us in!!!!  More menacing that the Spits, more deranged than True Sons of Thunder and a whole lot more unhinged than Fireworks!, Gary Wong Group conjure some of the most fierce voodoo punk spells you'll get the chance to hear all year long.  There is simply no match for the satanic cavestomp of "Knights Of Misery," and to top if off, the 12 inch ep ends with a Bad Times cover!  Termbo, HoZac and Goner Records junkies take note, this one's close to being sold out at the source and from the band already.   Evil backwoods garage punk like this won't get pressed a second time!  WICKEDLY RECOMMDED.  Just don't play it for the kids.

The mighty Boards Of Canada return with their first album since 2005 and the Warp Records folks who've released it have this to say on the matter:

"The idolized and enigmatic duo is back. A series of cryptic clues dropped in various formats, from a one-off 12"" on Record Store Day, to hidden messages on YouTube, NPR Music's All Songs Considered, fan forums, and even a video premiered on Adult Swim, all led their fans on a wild chase to reveal the album details. Now that the world knows - the anticipation is at a fever pitch for one of the world's most revered and mysterious electronic acts. Musically, the album is somehow dark yet positive, with atmospheric dissonance and mind bending melodic creations."" - Warp

Boards Of Canada's mysterious electronic creations always yield unique explorations and mind bending sonics that leave the listener wanting to return as with each new listen new sounds and textures come to light.  "Tomorrow's Harvest" excels at this audio trickery and just when you think you have a track pinned down it squiggles into weirder more challenging realms.  "Tomorrow's Harvest" is definitely giving us a heavy throwback soundtrack vibe with grand swells and startling blasts around each turn of this thrilling LP.  Certainly Recommended.

"Kveikur is the seventh full-length from Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós and follow-up to 2012's Valtari. The band’s first release on XL Recordings worldwide, the 12-song set was self-produced by the three members of Sigur Rós: Jón Þór Birgisson, Georg Holm and Orri Páll Dýrason, and sees the band shifting towards a more direct, aggressive sound. Kveikur is also the first album by Sigur Rós without founding member Kjartan Sveinsson who left the band in early 2013. Featuring the singles, "Brennisteinn" and "Ísjaki." Gatefold 2LP-set with bonus 10" vinyl disc and MP3 coupon." - XL Recordings

"ALGEBRA SUICIDE was the married couple LYDIA TOMKIW (lyrics/vocals) and DON HEDEKER (guitars/keyboards). They formed in Chicago in 1982, and their first four song EP, True Romance At The World's Fair, was self-released that year. It featured a ‘60s Vox Guitar Organ, a precursor to the synthesizer guitar, and a Multivox Rhythm Ace drum machine. In 1984 they released a second 4 song EP, An Explanation For That Flock Of Crows, ditching the guitar organ but adding the Casiotone MT-40. The Big Skin cassette was released in 1986 and featured 13 new compositions with more complex arrangements. A compilation album, The Secret Like Crazy, was released in 1988. It collected 20 tracks picked from the first two EPs and the Big Skin cassette, plus unreleased songs. Feminine Squared is an 18 track compilation that collects all 8 songs from the first two EPs, 4 songs from the Big Skin cassette, 4 songs from The Secret Like Crazy, a song from the Pas De Deux compilation, and a previously unreleased song. Lydia and Don call their approach ""Avant Garage"" citing inspiration from Patti Smith, Frank O'Hara, Leonard Cohen and Lou Reed. Don plays guitar in a hauntingly stark style like Glenn Branca, Tom Verlaine, or Vini Reilly. He then adds Casio keyboards and minimal electronic percussion, creating a moody, atmospheric backdrop for Lydia's poems. Lydia's words span a broad range of twisted real-life observations, and are delivered in a deadpan fashion with her distinct Midwestern accent. All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The vinyl comes housed in a glossy black and white jacket featuring the cut up faces of Don and Lydia from An Explanation For That Flock Of Crows EP. Each LP includes a newsprint zine with lyrics, photos, liner notes, and clippings. Also included is a full length DVD featuring a 12-song Algebra Suicide concert from 1984, recorded at the Noise Factory in Chicago. Though Lydia passed away in 2007, her genius lives on in these recordings. Please respect her decadence."" - Dark Entries

"Spotlighting the songs that George Harris wrote and sang on, this features all alternate takes, longer versions, acoustic versions, and even the band's last-ever recording session! Songs include "Don't Bother M e," "Think for Yourself," "Taxman," "While M y Guitar Gently Weeps," "Piggies," "Not Guilty," "Only a Northern Song," "It's All Too Much," "Old Brown Shoe," "Something," "For You Blue," and "I Me Mine." Good full color artwork with liner notes, 140 gram vinyl pressing, Israeli import."

"On 17 March 1978, a mere six months after the release of their self-titled debut, a second album Alternative Chartbusters followed -- once again produced by Dangerfield and Steel. Digitally re-mastered to the highest quality (personally overseen by Dangerfield) and featuring sleeve notes by Dave Henderson of Mojo along with song listing notes by Dangerfield." - Fire

"Special edition deluxe reissue; originally released in 1977. "Digitally re-mastered to the highest quality (personally overseen by Dangerfield) and featuring sleeve notes by Dave Henderson of Mojo along with song listing notes by Dangerfield."" - Fire

"This collection of excellent quality alternates, outtakes and other studio rarities from the late '70s includes "All Gates Open," "Safe," "Sunday Jam," "Sodom," "A Spectacle," "Ping Pong," "ESF No. 99: Can Can," and "Pauper's Daughter and I." The wild, full color psychedelic artwork comes on a high gloss sleeve. Euro import."

"Recorded in Sep t. 1982, Se pt. 1984 and April 1985 at the Vacaville Medical Facility (otherwise known as the California State Prison for the Completely Cuckoo), here's 14 more acoustic songs and a couple of rants, all in praise of ol' Charlie's own boundless ego. Very limited pressing, German import."

"Conrad Schnitzler is undoubtedly one of the founding fathers of German electronica. And his son, Gregor Schnitzler, matched the father's extraordinary level of creative output. They appear to have settled any musical differences amicably. After all, how else could they have ""shared"" an LP released by Conrad Schnitzler himself? One half features music by Conrad, the other his son Gregor. Two mini albums on one disc, so to speak. Father and son offer up drastically opposing musical concepts to our ears."" - Bureau B

"Contempora (1981) is a sort of collection of sketches, reflecting Conrad Schnitzler's inexhaustible creative powers in condensed form. Like light refracting through a multiple prism, shapes and colors constantly change, backgrounds shift through brightness and darkness. Each track on the album could easily double or triple in length without relinquishing any of its magic or indeed becoming boring. Schnitzler grants us the merest glimpses into his diverse soundscapes and sonic armories. He opens one door ever so slightly, only to close it again and open another for just a few minutes. Improvised sonic comets shimmer over Schnitzler's inimitable sequencer patterns, fleeting melodies fade away. Everything happens at breathtaking speed, miniatures without frames or tangible borders. In the early '80s Schnitzler worked primarily with the EMS Synthi A and Korg MS 10 synthesizers, an analog sequencer and analog rhythm machine. All in all, this was neither a particularly complex nor exotic array of equipment for the period. Many electronic artists used these inexpensive instruments, or something similar. Nevertheless, Schnitzler succeeded in setting himself apart from others in the fraternity, in both sonic and compositional terms. Not so much gripped by the need to occupy a unique position, he was simply unable and unwilling to divert from his creative path. Contempora again underlines Schnitzler's noble ethos."" --Asmus Tietchens"" - Bureau B

"The Philly-stewed COUGH COOL return with their sophomore long-player for Bathetic with 29, and with it further perfect their bedroom burnout bliss. Cough Cool has always stroked an edgy toss of the hair through their washes of gritty pop. This is an act not afraid to embrace a charismatic flow to their music, while keeping things shifty and weird. They've made their pies with flavors of Ween, Suicide, and ‘90s alternative and they taste really fucking good. 29 is a natural maturation of their sound, with all the peaks getting a little loftier. They haven't lost their hazy state, their eyes still tingling and morning-shocked, but there's an urgency that persists throughout tracks like ""Misfits 4x4"" and ""Disclosure."" This album drifts a bit, offering nods to Slowdive and Bark Psychosis with ""Hail Mary"" and taking the sketched out approach with ""It's Night"" and ""Velvet."" ""Intro To Regret"" sounds like a missing ‘90s compilation track that would've settled nicely between Guided By Voices and Sebadoh. Cough Cool is good like that, mixing something familiar, classic feeling, nostalgic—but not specific. We're greeted by as much lo-fi ‘90s brilliance as we are with alternative rock radio influence and a massive smooch in the direction of My Bloody Valentine, Ride, and Spiritualized. They never settle in the past with their sound or their influences, and so they manage to enhance their own style with the sound of something very modern that belongs in 2013. Cough Cool brewed a sound that was entirely their own when they stepped onto the scene back in ‘09, and they've been honing that sound til this very moment, and it's on absolute display with 29, a beautiful album that is streaked with a variety of stylistic shifts and influences that has been smeared into a perfect and original creation. Includes a download and insert."" - Bathetic

"Though inspired by classic Flying Nun and C86 era bands, THE COURTNEYS sound is not tied to one single era. A penchant for pop craft collides with the trio’s shambolic musicianship, resulting in slacker punk that’s at once sweet and subtle. The band’s unassuming namesake, COURTNEY, brings the fuzz with her guitar playing. Drummer JEN (who spent time in Mac DeMarco's former band, MAKEOUT VIDEOTAPE) is both the backbone and front person of the group singing about boys, Keanu Reeves and other pressing concerns. SYDNEY’s driving bass lines hold everything together and provide traction for the eight impressive tracks on the band’s vinyl debut. The Courtneys also marks the vinyl return of Vancouver’s Hockey Dad Records, the label behind cult classic releases from White Lung, Defektors, Fun 100 and B-Lines."" - Hockey Dad

"Obsidian Spectre is the debut LP from Halifax trio CROSSS. Drawing a mind-bending line through Psychedelic Metal, Drone-Rock and ‘90s Post-Punk, these eight songs will take listeners on a journey. Look deep inside the heart of the mountain, block out all the sun, listen to the tales of some old crow, half-truths and old world portent, an omen, lie down to worship, now see a bright light, turn up your stereo, hear that old sound now."" - Telephone Explosion

"Retrospectively, it makes perfect sense that Der Plan created a soundtrack. For one thing, visuals were almost as important to Der Plan as their music. And if every self-respecting pop band pays attention to wearing the right clothes at the right time (or the completely wrong ones at the right time) and designing pretty album covers, Der Plan went further -- with scenery, masks and album covers designed by Moritz R® they invented their own universe. Indeed, the sounds of everyday life woven into Der Plan's music contributed to the filmic quality of their sound. Thus Frank Fenstermacher, Moritz R® and Pyrolator were not slow in responding to their old friend Rainer Kirberg's request to work on his latest film Die letzte Rache. The director Kirberg, born in 1954, studied film in Düsseldorf. They all knew each other from shared lodgings, political meetings and the local hangout Ratinger Hof. As well as playing his part in the music, Moritz R® also came up with the sets, while Frank Fenstermacher secured a minor role as the inspector's sidekick. But back to the music: Letzte Rache (1983) was a kind of revue with silent film qualities, so the soundtrack was a decisive factor. With the aid of the Emulator 1, Der Plan succeeded in recording something which could also work as a diverting radio drama without moving images. In contrast to the two previous albums Geri Reig and Normalette Surprise (BB 105CD/LP), which defined the Plan sound and virtually did without any musical quotations, echoes of jazz can be heard on Die letzte Rache and, of course, film music. Andreas Dorau weighs in with a bona fide pop hit in the guise of a ""Junger Mann."" Ah yes, the film itself, what is it actually about? Following the aesthetic tradition of 1920s German Expressionist cinema, Die letzte Rache -- ""the last revenge"" -- tells the hair-raising tale of a ruler who charges ""the worldly"" with the task of finding him a successor. The problem is: idiots abound. The worldly's search is fruitless and -- sometimes the most obvious solutions are the most practical -- he decides to seize power himself. At the end of the day: the ruler's empire in ruins, the Worldly goes mad, the inspector goes to jail (arrested by his own assistant!), and the ruler is badly injured yet immortal, suffering terrible agonies. Bonus tracks include the six pieces from the film Der Grottenolm."" - Bureau B

"Der Plan were invited to Tokyo in 1984 to play six concerts for Seibu, a Japanese department store chain. Seibu were staging a ""German Week."" But how did they come to choose Der Plan, of all bands? Why not an Oktoberfest combo or the Scorpions? Moritz Reichelt explains: ""German New Wave was really popular in Japan. They knew more about it than people here at home. Catalogs and magazines detailed every obscure record and depicted the covers. This particular department store chain was linked to Wave, a record shop and distributor -- and they really knew their stuff."" JaPlan documents the set list from these Tokyo shows. Featuring previously-released songs from the Normalette Surprise (BB 105CD/LP) album, the Die letzte Rache soundtrack, and the double single Golden Cheapos, JaPlan also includes rare instrumentals produced for these very concerts, and one of the most famous songs by Der Plan: ""Gummitwist."" Der Plan and Japan -- a good match, not only phonetically. Reichelt: ""Japan had always been one of our strongest territories. Our records were exported there from the very beginning. When I arrived, I understood why. Japanese pop culture is really 'planesque' in a way. Artificiality with a twinkle in the eye. We stepped inside our hotel in 1984 and switched on the television. The first thing we saw was an advert with three dinosaurs singing a song. Pretty much like one of our shows."" The reissue is graced with new artwork due to the fact that the Japanese simply adopted the cover of the existing Golden Cheapos EP. The relationship of form and content was thus absent and one significant change was made: the image of a faint square covering the exposed lower body of a lady in the hay was replaced by an opaque black square. A joke at the expense of the censors fell victim to actual censorship. This re-release could be said to correct an optical error in the band's discography. Includes four bonus tracks. "" - Bureau B

"Heavy power trio acid-fuzz-blues-psych from a collection of Los Angeles studio rats led by ubiquitous guitarist Jerry Cole, this was issued by the infamous Crown Records budget/exploitation label in late 1967 to cash in on that year's hot trend. Crown ended up getting a bit more than it bargained for, with originals eventually becoming crazy collector fodder. Slight aside: the other half of the tracks from this session was released as the 31 FLAVORS "H air" LP. Original cover art, Euro import."

"Now with an included CD, here's a new version of the 2nd and final album by this Kraut rock supergroup formed by Ha ns-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius o f CLUSTER with Michael Rother of NEU! Leaning slightly more towards CLUSTER's sound, this 1975 release featured more structured songs, along with a sparse spattering of vocals, and the guest appearance of Mani Neumeier of GURU GURU on a few tracks. Original artwork, 180 gram vinyl, Italian import."

"Now with an included CD, here's a new version of the first album by this very influential but short-lived Krautrock super group consisting of Michael Rother of NEU ! and Han s-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius of C LUSTER. This 1974 release was known for a minimalism somewhere between ambience and noise, as the styles of the 3 instrumentalists melded into one coherent sound. Original artwork, 1 80 gram vinyl pressing, Italian import."

Stellar Leeds, UK outfit, Hookworms avoid the sophomore slump with "Pearl Mystic"! Their previous longplayer on Faux Discx was (technically) a 12-inch EP, but those 4 extended tracks took up both sides of that platter and filled our eardrums with some grade-A motorik psych-rock burners! "Pearl Mystic" was released by UK label Gringo Records and doesn't stray too far from that apt description, but the quintet has found it's legs on this album - the mellower tunes swoon and swell with more finesse and the heavier parts are more interesting and densely constructed.  The UK psych-explosion of the late-Eighties/early-Nineties is an obvious touchstone for these guys, with the ghosts of Spectrum, Loop and Spacemen 3 all milling around bumming smokes, but there's a palpable whiff of the new guard of psychedelic acts raising their hands here too - Cosmonauts, Wooden Shjips, Cave and even Carlton Melton too.  Hookworms are definitely carving out their own niche, though - there's a real swagger to these young bucks that often times has a Rolling Stones-y vibe, riding out the groove with rollicking, soulful reverie peppered by squalling fuzz-flanged guitar and synth. We were impressed by their EP, and this album takes it to the next logical plateau - can't wait to hear more (US Tour, please?) RECOMMENDED, but act fast - this one's already sold out at the source and these will NOT stick around for long! GET IT!

"From the mystical realms of a secluded ancient island, rising from the icy spray of the forbidden northern waters, comes the haunting, savage beat of a mysterious and primitive ritual. In this forgotten place, awash with wonder and enigma, echoing with the booming of sharkskin drums and bone rattles, the rock speaks with the voice of the gods. Weaving strange and terrifying tales, and tales of beauty and joy, Pagan Rites is a breathtakingly exotic tone-poem that will make any Tiki bar come alive. Ìxtahuele is a Swedish exotica band playing in the acoustic, original style of Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman. They come from Gothenburg; a damp, foggy harbor town that, ever since its founding in the early 17th century, has been an international melting pot associated with exotic, faraway destinations ever since the days of the East India Trading Companies. Having grown up with the exciting tales of the sailors and the luscious smells and flavors of the markets, an interest in the romantic and exotic is an integral part of life for the group. Coming from a variety of musical backgrounds, Ìxtahuele strive to combine an immersive, research-like approach with their collective experience in jazz, pop, surf, classical, Latin and world music to create authentic, exciting, and innovative world-class exotica. A large part of their inspiration and style cues come from the old greats -- they are also heavily influenced by classical works, Latin & jazz tunes, indigenous melodies from different regions -- in short, the same kind of influences that inspired the originators of the genre. The aim of the group is to provide the perfect soundtrack to bring your mind's eye on a time-traveling, round-the-world trip; taking you to faraway exotic islands, lost lands, and ancient cities -- bringing back the Ottoman Empire, Port Royal, or even the mythical continent of Mu. Ìxtahuele try to push the limits of where they can take you while still staying true to the genre; because after all, the true armchair traveler can't make the Hawaiian Village the destination for every trip, but must also go to the Amazon, Micronesia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Indochina." - Sublimal Sounds

"The first official vinyl reissue of one of Sweden's greatest unknown psychedelic treasures from the 1970s. From the original master tapes and with the original artwork, including previously-unpublished archival pictures and liner notes. The album contains a mysterious, shamanistic and highly psychedelic "folk music" infused with incredible soundscapes of derailed, fuzzed-out violins, soaring guitars, rattling hand percussion, droning vocals and pulsating bass rhythms. Originally released in 1972, the album sold 300-400 copies and was then withdrawn and the remaining copies discarded, making Jola Rota a much-rumored and sought-after Swedish droned-out and mesmerizing psychedelic artifact. One-time-only limited pressing of 500 copies." - Subliminal Sounds

"King Tubby's Hometown Hi-Fi was one the great sound systems in Jamaica. It also proved a fantastic outlet for the Dub Plate Specials cut at Tubby's studio, providing exclusive cuts to be played out, enticing the dance's audience. The tracks at the time were mainly cut over producer Bunny ""Striker"" Lee rhythms, that Bunny stored at Tubby's studio which was in fact his home, 18 Drumilly Avenue in Kingston, Jamaica. The versions were given exclusive plays at Tubby's before some finding their way on to vinyl, as the B-side version cut to its A-side vocal, proving so popular, that the records were often bought for its version side over its vocal counterpart. King Tubby and Producer Bunny ""Striker"" Lee are intertwined in the birth of dub music. Tubby's vast knowledge of electronics and Bunny's vast catalog of rhythms would lay the foundations of what today is taken as a standard... the remix/version cuts to an existing vocal tune. Tubby and Striker were at Treasure Isle Studios one day while Ruddy from Spanish Town was working with the engineer Byron Smith. ""Tubby and myself was talking when Ruddy was cutting some dub but Smithy (engineer) made a mistake and forgot to put in the voice. It was a two-track recording in those days. Ruddy said 'No Man! Make it stay!' And so they cut the rhythm. When I went over to Ruddy's that Saturday night a dance was in progress and when they played the vocal to the tune... then he said we're going to play 'Part Two.' They never called it 'Version.' And then he played the rhythm track. The song was a catchy song and everybody started to sing along and the deejay started to toast so everything went down well. On Monday morning I went up and I said 'Tubbs the mistake we made was a serious joke. It mash up Spanish Town!' The people went wild. So you have to start to do that now 'cause when the man put on the 'Part Two' everyone started singing this song. It played about 20 times. I said you try Tubbs!' Well the next Saturday night now when Tubby strung up down the farm U Roy said he's going to play 'Part Two' but Tubby did it different now. He started with the voice then dropped it out and let the rhythm run and then he brought in the voice in the middle and from there Tubby started to get really popular.'' --Bunny ""Striker"" Lee. Dynamic Sounds upgraded to 16-track recording in 1972 and Tubby purchased, again with the help of a deal brokered by Bunny Lee, the old 4-track equipment and the MCI console from their Studio B. The four tracks now gave him far wider scope to work with and he began to create a new musical form where the bass and drum parts were brought up while the faders allowed Tubby to ease the vocal and rhythm in and out of the mix. Jamaican Recordings has compiled a selection of cuts that were all tried and tested on Tubby's hometown hi-fi sound system and worked a great set of Bunny Lee's rhythms in fine style. All killer no filler. "" - Jamaican Recordings

"Recorded for the BBC's fine "In Concert" series at the Playhouse Theatre in London in June 1969, this includes high energy version s of "Communication Break down," "I Can't Quit You," "Dazed and Confused ," "White Summer," "You Shook Me," and "How Many More Times," all extended with lots of improvisations, great sound and fine recording. Good color artwork, red vinyl pressing, Euro import."

"LOS MiCROWAVES was a San Francisco-based synth-punk trio who formed in 1979. Their recorded output consisted of a handful of 45s and their lone LP, Life After Breakfast, released on the legendary Posh Boy records in 1981. Creating sound and music from the fusion of techno-punk, new wave pop, and electronic music, Los Microwaves featured a quirky audio theater that was best experienced live and from the dance floor. Sporting a combination of earlier portable synthesizers, bass and processed percussion, the music continues to deliver a unique groove. Life After Breakfast contains 13 songs full of teen angst, jerky rhythms, melodic chants, and punky shouts. MEG BRAZIL’s vocals are cheeky and peppy, recalling the anti-pop sound of The B-52's, Devo and early XTC. The band also sings in Spanish occasionally, making them San Francisco's first bilingual nuevo wave group.  Los Microwaves toured ""coast to coast"" for three years. Upon moving to New York City, Interview Magazine's Glenn O'Brien wrote that they were ""possibly the greatest rock band ever."" After two more national tours, the band played their last show at New York's Danceteria in March 1983. All songs have been remastered from the original reel to reel tapes for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The vinyl comes housed in the original jacket featuring iconic photo by Jack Abraham. Each LP includes a 12-page booklet with lyrics, photos, liner notes, and clippings. Also included is a full length DVD featuring a 15-song Los Microwaves concert from 1981, recorded at the I-Beam in San Francisco, as well as in interview with the band and the official music video for ""Life After Breakfast."" More than 30 years after its release, we can finally answer the question: yes there is there life after breakfast."" - Dark Entries

"The first-ever LP release for this 2001 album , originally out just o n CD on the defunct Man's Ruin label. The tracks include 5 reworkings of the band's older songs ("Gluey Porch Treatments," "Revolve," "Lovely Butterflies ," and "Tipping the Lion ," plus an extremely mutated version of "Revolve" appropriately retitled "Shit Storm"), as well as covers of the WIPERS "Youth of America," the COW S "Missing," and PINK FLOYD's "Interstellar Overdrive." We're told this is a very limited pressing, not expected to last long. Original full color artwork on a big fold-out poster sleeve, 170 g ram red vinyl pressing, Euro import."

"Repressed! Miles has been releasing material on Modern Love for a decade, first as one-half of Pendle Coven, then on his own as MLZ, and eventually pairing up with Sean Canty to record as Demdike Stare. In between he's also pursued more experimental terrain under the Suum Cuique moniker, produced jungle for the HATE project and (together with Andy Stott) taken on the occasional release as Millie & Andrea for Modern Love sub-label Daphne. He is also an admired, exhilarating DJ, and his sets have been known to span a broad spectrum of electronic music, from the obscure UK techno of labels like Radioactive Lamb and Irdial, to classic Chicago house, Detroit techno and -- most importantly -- early '90s jungle and breakbeat, feeding into his love of the most uncompromising end of the Italian experimental movement, musique concrète, synthwave, and contemporary noise. After more than 10 years of producing, Faint Hearted is his debut solo album -- an exposition of Miles' love of electronic music in all its shapes, harnessing his fidgety production style into one expansive, restless set of tracks. The album opens with the filtered and looped jungle mutation of ""Lebensform,"" through to the minimal, barely-noticeable bass-shifts of ""Irreligious,"" the classic Plastikman-infused looped ruffage of ""Status Narcissism"" and the padded bliss of ""Sense Data,"" coming across like a lost Move D production from the classic Studio Pankow era. The second half opens with ""Rejoice,"" a slowly-unfurling 4/4 variant that sounds like a more technofied and electric take on his work with Demdike Stare, while ""Archaic Thought Pattern 1"" invades a sequence of strings and bass notes with blasts of white noise, sounding like something off Aphex Twin's Donkey Rhubarb EP rebuilt by Mika Vainio. The set ends with the evocative field-recorded sequence ""Queuing"" and the ambient futurism of ""Loran Dreams,"" in some respects the straightest, most affecting nine-minute stretch yet from a producer who is seemingly unable to settle or stand still. Mastered and cut by Matt Colton, pressed at Pallas. "" - Modern Love

"Medical Records in collaboration with Crispy Nuggets blog is proud to present a compilation/reissue of the rare 4-song EP by NEAR PARIS released in 1985, plus 7 unreleased/unheard songs recorded during the same time. Near Paris hailed from Columbus, Ohio and was composed of GERALD F. NELSON and DANA RIASHI.  Gerald and Dana (in addition to ROBERT CRISE) had previously made up the band POST INDUSTRIAL NOISE before they disbanded in 1983.  By 1985, Near Paris were quite popular in the Columbus music scene and had opened for such bands as Section 25. They made a name for themselves as Columbus’ only synth-driven pop duo and even won several local awards. They often played in art galleries as well as worked on original scores for local dance troupes and other art-related endeavors. The band released one long out of print 12” EP which is included on this LP. The EP contains excellent new wave tracks such as “Visions” and “Ceiling.” The 7 unreleased tracks (hand-picked by Gerald and Dana) follow the same style of deep/moody club-based synthpop and were culled from cassettes which were restored and remastered specially for this vinyl release with outstanding end results.  Other standout tracks from the unreleased numbers include “Walk Like A Man” and “Everything Will Change.” Sadly, just prior to completion of this project, Gerald passed away in October of 2012. This LP will appeal to fans of early/mid ‘80s synth/new wave. Presented on 180-gram oxblood opaque high-quality vinyl in a limited edition of 650 copies. Bonus insert included as well with bio/pics of Near Paris and memorial to late member Gerald F. Nelson."" - Medical Records

"Recorded in France for radio broadcast in 1970 and 1971 , here are four long tracks, all with lots of improvisation: a beautiful piano version around the "Us and Them" theme called "The Violent Sequence," an early version of "Atom Heart Mother" called "The Amazing Pudding," "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun," and "Cymbaline." With decent to very good sound quality, this comes in a very finely designed high gloss color sleeve. Euro import."

"Personal Injury is pleased to present R. STEVIE MOORE’s classic second album Delicate Tension, originally released by Stevie’s uncle on HP Music in 1978. Reissued for the first time on vinyl in an exact-repro sleeve and mastered from a digital transfer off the original analog reels. “His first LP made in New York. Along with Swing And A Miss, Delicate Tension shows Moore at the peak of his powers. Every track is a winner and there’s an abundance of his gorgeous songsmithery. Sporting a sonic clarity and balance, and with an emphasis on lean, slightly wonky instrumentation, the cool breeze of new wave is distinctly present. Exquisite.”—Matthew Ingram, The Wire"" - Personal Injury

"Personal Injury is pleased to present R. STEVIE MOORE’s legendary album Glad Music, originally released on the French label New Rose in 1986. Reissued for the first time on vinyl in an exact-repro sleeve and remastered from an analog source. “Despite plaudits from the likes of Trouser Press and increasingly favourable treatment in the UK inkies, Moore was unable to convert his critical reputation into sales. Laid down in a professional recording studio, Glad Music feels like a last failed stab at connecting with an audience. It’s as though Moore suspects that, all along, that was the problem. Consequently, although it’s almost conventional, it is, thanks to glistening steel-string acoustic guitar, often beautiful.”—Matthew Ingram, The Wire"" - Personal Injury

"Strut, in conjunction with Abassador's Reception and Future Nuggets, presents the first ever retrospective of fabled band Rodion G.A., one of Romania's best kept musical secrets from the last 30 years. The unique prog/electronic sound of cult Romanian producer Rodion Rosca spanning 1978 to 1983. Previously unreleased recordings mastered from the original tapes." - Strut

"On their debut full-length, Ideal Cities, ROOMRUNNER refract the past 25 years’ worth of Guitar Rock innovations into their fully-realized vision of “chunch and bunge,” in which echoes of shoegaze noise-blur, grunge squall and snark, math-rock chops, and meaty Alternative Rock power moves coalesce into the essential guitar record of 2013. Recorded by bassist DAN FROME at his studio, Ideal Cities is the first Roomrunner offering recorded as a full band. Prior EPs, the self-titled Roomrunner (2011) and Super Vague (2012), were written and played by Roomrunner singer/guitarist DENNY BOWEN, and while landmarks in their own right, the full-band Roomrunner is a whole different animal, ready to come down there and kick their collective boots around. The record starts off full-bore, with the truTV-inspired anthem “Bait Car.” Their rhythmic pedigree is showcased on tracks like the stuttering “Wojtek,” where start-stop verses and propulsive drumming recall ‘90s titans like Helmet and Drive Like Jehu before the song collapses into one of their most melodic moments yet during the chorus. Side B starts with the one-two punch of “Weird” and “Duno,” two long-time staples of their live set driven by squealing feedback, which spark mosh pits and crowd-surfing in sweaty Baltimore warehouses. Tracks like “May” and “Snac Error” give a bit of breathing room, fusing the off-kilter guitar work of Polvo and Chavez, with the quiet-loud tension of ‘90s legends like Slint and Hum. The names they garner comparisons to may be heavy, but Roomrunner’s catalog thus far has definitively proven that they are no mere pastiche. Any dorks can make a record with a deep understanding of Loud Rock—and let’s be honest, a lot of them do—but on Ideal Cities, Roomrunner harnesses a discrete range of powers to forge a thrilling and vital path forward."" - Fan Death

"Medical Records presents a reissue of the very rare and sought after 1979 opus by Italy’s I SIGNORI DELLA GLASSIA. Iceman was released in 1979 and has been long out of print for over 30 years fetching very high prices on the collector’s market. I Signori Della Galassia (translated as The Men Of Galaxy) is best described as a sonic hybrid of space disco/cosmic meets Italian progressive pop/rock. They were founded in Savona in the late ‘70s. Played with analog gear such as a variety of synthesizers as well as traditional guitar and drums. It is a very rich and diverse LP with multiple interesting twists and turns. The opener “Proxima Centauri” is a space disco odyssey with super-catchy synth melodies over driving disco beats mixed with hypnotic passages. The title track “Iceman” is a fusion of Italian pop and space disco which makes for an interesting combination. Other tracks have a completely different feel with elements of prog and experimental rock overtones. “Archeopterix” is another standout track with washing synths, warbling filters, and gentle backing vocals. The LP contains two bonus tracks (at the end of each side) which were released as singles at the time (“Luce” and “Eliane”). The LP features preserved front cover artwork and slightly modified back cover original artwork (at the artist’s request). This LP will surely appeal to lovers of Space, Rockets, Kraftwerk, Milkways, and Zodiac. Presented on 180gram silver opaque high-quality vinyl in a limited edition of 650 copies."" - Medical Records

"Rocket Recordings are proud to announce the release of Teeth Of The Sea's debut album for the very first time on vinyl. Orphaned by the Ocean, released in January 2009, chronicles the earliest days of Teeth Of The Sea, now on the verge of releasing their third album. The band may never make another record like this one, and the unique position it holds both in the band's collective headspace and their history makes this reissue, on glorious burnt umber vinyl, one to savor for fans and new initiates alike. " - Rocket Recordings

Original copies regularly sell for nearly $100! - What can we say about this record that hasn't been said a million times before?  Not much, except for the fact that we completely agree with every rave review it's ever received.  Scratch that, every review it's ever earned.  It's a perfect, proto-industrial, experimental minimal synth record from 1979!  So perfect, in fact, that a well known / well respected blog named itself after the record.  As you've probably already read, it's Throbbing Gristle's most accessible record, but it's not without it's share of creepy darkness ("Convincing People" and "Perusuasion" are two great examples).  Want more creepy factoids: the cover shot was taken at a bluff in the UK called Beachy Head (also the name of the second track on the LP).  Beachy Head is one of the most nototorious suicide jump off points in the world.  TG is dressed like a conservative pop-psych group atop this morbid locale on the cover.  The cover image and the title serve as a perfect cloak for a perfectly twisted record.  Fans of industrial dance, darkwave, and minimal synth music should not live another day without this masterpiece in their record collection.  Turns out we do have a few things to say about this one.  Here's one more:  a must own!

"Tijuana Panthers come striding proudly out of their hometown of Long Beach, California, with Semi
Sweet, their most fully realized album yet. Semi Sweet has every Panther contributing a part in the entire album-making process, all the way down to brainstorming new songs on drummer and singer Phil Shaheen's ukelele. They're really just aesthetically simple dudes, says bassist and singer Dan Michicoff -- they know their songs are done when they not only sound right but feel right, and when they've got that same rare combination of harmony and velocity and honesty that's pushed bands out from their garage since the invention of the electric guitar."" - Innovative Leisure

"His 1992 sound track for Jim Jarmusch's "Night on Earth" film, now on LP for the first time. Evoking the rich, international song style of classic Kurt Weill compositions, Waits makes heavy use of the talents of multi-instrumentalist Ralph Carney, along with Josef Brinkmann on accordion, Joe Gore on banjo and guitar, and Matthew Brubeck on cello, along with several others. We're told this will likely be a limited pressing, so first come first serve! Original artwork, Euro import."

"More rarities and unreleased tracks , this includes the "Foreign Affairs" outtake "Saving All My Love for You," the "Small Change" outtake "What Else is New," "Chase the Clouds Away" from a "Black Rider" rehearsal, a 1990 demo version of "Flash Pan Hunter" (cowritten with W S Burroughs), the extended 12 " version of "Hang On St. Christopher," "World of Adventure" and "River of Men" from the 1998 "Fishing with John" TV series with John Lurie, "Louise" with Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and live versions of "Purple Avenue(aka Empty Pockets)" (1981), a covers of Cecil Null's "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" (1986), and James Brown's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (1987). Fine sound and great sepia-tone artwork, limited pressing on 150 gram vinyl, French import."

"Selected from one of the most complete Spaghetti Western audio archives, this 5-volume series showcases the most inspired tracks in this legendary genre. Digging deep to excavate a treasure trove of obscure and rarely-heard tracks by some of the genre's greatest composers and vocalists, Ecstasy of Gold is the definitive series for aficionados of Euro-Western films and the music that they created. Loud gunshots with reverb and echo appear with the first image of a lawless killer riding a horse... a punchy & trebly bass guitar seeps into your brain as he draws his pistol... a hair-raising scream half-melodic, half-banshee spews forth from the speakers as blood splatters yet again onto the desert floor. The audio soundtrack to the Italian version of the American West is flamboyant, brutal, intense, and unforgiving. Songs composed for the Italian Westerns of the 1960s and 1970s have become a genre all unto themselves. There were hundreds of European Westerns during this period and the majority of them were made by Italian directors and scored by Italian composers. Crying trumpets, exploding surf guitars, thundering drums, droning organs, dramatic vocal performances, and innovative special effects were woven into a wild and violent desert backdrop creating that undeniable Spaghetti Western sound heard on this record. The most famous of all the Italian soundtrack composers is Ennio Morricone and his music for the Italian Western is guaranteed to inspire and amaze until the end of time itself. But there were many other great and legendary maestros who scored their share of Westerns and this compilation presents transcendent, brilliant and challenging tracks from the likes of: Bruno Nicolai, Gianni Ferrio, Francesco De Masi, Marcello Giombini, Luis Bacalov, Stelvio Cipriani, Alessandro Alessandroni, Nora Orlandi, Nico Fidenco, Piero Umiliani, and many others. 2LP gatefold in a limited edition pressing of 750 copies. "" - Semi-Automatic Records

"Semi-Automatic Records presents volume two in their five-volume Ecstasy of Gold series, selected from one of the most complete Spaghetti Western audio archives. Digging deep to excavate a treasure trove of obscure and rarely-heard tracks by some of the genre's greatest composers and vocalists, The Ecstacy of Gold is the definitive series for aficionados of the Euro-Western films and the music that they created. The most famous of all the Italian soundtrack composers is Ennio Morricone and his music for the Italian Western is guaranteed to inspire and amaze until the end of time itself. But there were many other great and legendary maestros who scored their share of Westerns and this second volume presents transcendent, brilliant and challenging tracks from the 1960s and 1970s from the likes of: Bruno Nicolai, Gianni Ferrio, Francesco De Masi, Marcello Giombini, Luis Bacalov, Stelvio Cipriani, Alessandro Alessandroni, Nora Orlandi, Riz Ortolani, Piero Umiliani, and many others. 2LP gatefold in a limited edition pressing of 750 copies. "" - Semi-Automatic

"Following up on our retrospective of the legendary UK music library KPM, we've put together a limited, vinyl reissue of one of our favorite Italian library LPs (the originals of which, it should go without saying, are very tough to come by). The 1979 concept gem Desert is composed and arranged by Antonio Vuolo and Elio Grande, originally was released on small Italian label, Cardium.

The instrumentation features early electronics to set a cosmic tone, and the album regularly recalls early Tangerine Dream. Stand-out tracks include the haunting slo-mo breakbeat "Leaving," mellow electroscape "Transvesuvian" and the solid jazz fusion jam "Take Flight."

We're reissuing the full album, mastered from the original reels for the first time since its original issue, and with artwork restored from the original lithographs." - Strut Records

"For the score to one of his most iconic films, JOHN CAPRENTER & ALAN HOWARTH created what can only be described as electronic blues, The score is recognizable as Carpenter but has a dusty, slow pulsating western feel that really does give it a life of it’s own. Packaged in spot varnished jackets with all new cover art by GARY PULLEN. Includes a giant fold-out poster of the cover art."" - Death Waltz

Light In The Attic offer up Lee Hazlewood's debut album "Trouble Is A Lonesome Town" and they have the details here:

"Light In The Attic’s Lee Hazlewood Archive Series continues with an expanded reissue of LEE HAZLEWOOD’s debut album. Remastered from the original tapes, this is the first time Trouble Is a Lonesome Town has been available in its original mono mix since the 1960s. Presented as a CD and double LP with 15 bonus tracks and an eight page booklet, this is an essential purchase for Hazlewood fans or anyone curious about about the man before the mustache. Originally released in 1963, Trouble… finds the bohemian cowboy sketching out a vivid picture of a backwater place named Trouble, where trouble with a small ‘t’ is never far away."

All these Lee Hazlewood reissues coming through the shop are filling up our shelves and getting plenty of facetime with our collective turntables and now we get another dose of Hazlewood magic.  This is where it all began, his first album, intended to be an album of songs that other more established artists could borrow from turned out to be a fine collection that sounded best when performed by Hazlewood's warm baritone.  These 10 cuts of country tinged AM pop are pure Hazlewood through and through and they are just a glimpse at what was about to become one of the most legendary American songwriters of the 20th century.  "Trouble Is A Lonesome Town" is an album of supreme storytelling songs about fictional drifters and down and out characters from walks brought ot life with acoustic guitars, swelling harmonica and Lee Hazlewood's unmistakable soothing baritone croon and subtle humor.  Super Recommended.

Mind!'s in house Not On Label Records with some added support from Odio Sonoro, Nooirax Producciones, The Bloody Dirty Sanchez, Subterranea ‎, Soviet, and El Lio Es Gordo ‎have released this spacerock epic of an album.  "Stunde Null" is the debut long player from Algeciras, Spain's Mind! and what a way to get things started.  "Stunde Null" is a lush slow burning cosmic collection of well crafted and supremely paced psychedelic spacerock.  You'll find some hints of Hawkwind, a dash of Dead Meadow's foggy grooves, and even some Pink Floyd guitar stylings throughout.  We're really digging how well the songs are paced, never rushing to get to the apex, instead building slowly with deep undulations and cosmic swells that sure-handedly unfurl into glorious lush transgressions of interstellar hypnosis and smile inducing waves of calm clear serenity.  "STUNDE NULL" is nearly half instrumental but when the vocals do present themselves they find their place in the haze and totally add to the overall aesthetic this group is providing.  Really great stuff gang! This LP contains a CD copy of the entire record and it comes with our highest of Recommendations!

An LP full of bangers from The OBN IIIs - recorded in a live setting when they stopped by Jersey radio station extraordinaire WFMU in 2012 to play on Evan "Funk" Davies' radio show! Released on Gereard Cosloy's 12XU label - check it (but don't wreck it):

"During the OBN III's first visit to the East Coast last June, they stopped by Evan "Funk" Davies' WFMU program to perform selections from their 2 Tic Tac Totally studio albums, as well as weigh in on some of the more important social issues of the day. After the ensuing firestorm of angry phone calls and threats from the vaunted free-form radio station's financial benefactors, we have decided to delete those portions from this commercially available LP. To this day, i feel the band were being set up by Mr. Davies, and if being The Bill Grundy Of Jersey City is the kind of thing he's comfortable with, so be it.
Still, there's some consolation in the 11 songs recorded live, and it's a fair representation why some of us (radio dj's looking to make a name for themselves aside) expect nothing short of a global takeover from this Austin quintet sometime in the very near future.  We're not making very many of these and when they're gone, they're gone."

Live albums are tricky beasts - when they're great, they're GREAT - we're talkin' yer "Live At Budokan"s, yer "Live at the Harlem Square Club"s, yer "Live At The Apollo"s… but many end up falling flat. Austin TX's OBN III's have unleashed a few singles and two LPs (both on Tic Tac Totally) of high-octane, driving R'n'R akin to Sonic's Rendevous Band, The Stooges, and The Saints that capture the sweat and raw energy of shirtless rock and ROLL with gleeful aplomb. The REAL place to capture these dudes is in a live setting and THIS is what this album delivers - no edits, no overdubs, just the boys cranking it in the studio. Is it gonna be the next "Budokan"? Who knows? Time will tell - but for now, we're just gonna turn it UP and try not to overthink it! As with everything these dudes do - it's fuckin' RECOMMENDED.

AMAZING and hard-rockin' private press rarity from the seventies British underground! Pinnacle released this lone record back in '74 and the OG fetches a princely sum! Luckily Sleuth Records has taken the collector's shackles off and made this one available for a fraction of the price - let's don our headcoats, grab our spy glasses and check out what Sleuth has uncovered:

"This British hard rock group recorded and self-released their debut LP in 1974, an album that remained a hot collector's item amongst British underground enthusiasts. Very much in the Thin Lizzy/Groundhogs mould, Pinnacle's extremely rare and lone release is an extremely solid and well-delivered affair which is a delight for fans of the early metal sound of Judas Priest and Deep Purple, although clearly the mighty Hawkwind is probably the band's biggest influence. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl."

Hmmm - we don't hear Thin Lizzy up in here, but there are palatable whiffs of Groundhogs and Hawkwind mucking about, with a lil' bit (juuuust a skosh) of prog-rock too. These guys are also balls-deep in the proto-metal, hard-rock rumblings of the early British underground a'la Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and early Judas Priest, but vocalist "Owen"s near-non-lexical, full-throated, operatic howl has us reaching for our Flower Travellin' Band or Blues Creation records! The guitars rip open the sky, and are backed up by some severe strafing from Organ/Moog player "Dave" who lends the band it's Hawkwind-ian elements, hot-boxing organ licks and laying down some serious analog atmospherics! A KILLER release that's only growing in awesomeness every time we're spinning it! RECOMMENDED!

Record Store Day 2013 has come and gone, but we just got in a stack of one of the most important, visceral and difficult-to-find releases reissued for this year's festivities, the essential 1986 ep "Groovy Hate Fuck" by noise punk provocateurs, Pussy Galore.   No band rattled our world, changed what punk could mean and led us astray like Pussy Galore did.  And "Groovy Hate Fuck" was their first 12 inch, one of the many that blew our minds, giving it a special place in our record collections.  If you're not already grabbing yer wallets, read on:

"It may seem hard to believe, but the intentionally crude, gleefully offensive Groovy Hate Fuck represented something of an improvement over Pussy Galore's inconsistent debut, Feel Good About Your Body. First off, these cats (and kittens) were really just provocateurs -- or "poseurs" as the less charitable would have it -- not punks. They meant to make people mad, and they did, but there really wasn't anything particularly dangerous about their music. It was more like a conceptual art piece about teen angst. The song titles give the game away: "Teen Pussy Power," "Just Wanna Die," "Pretty Fuck Look," and more. Despite the off-putting title, "Cunt Tease" is actually the best of the bunch; Jon Spencer spews a misogynistic tirade over a lo-fi Cramps stomp while Julia Cafritz rebuffs each outburst with a simple, "F*ck You!" Both genders get to have their say. "You Look Like a Jew," meanwhile, seems designed solely to prove that there were no depths to which they wouldn't sink in order to provoke a reaction -- or it was possibly just an attempt to trump the Sex Pistols' "Belsen Was a Gas" in the tastelessness department? Then there's "Constant Pain," in which Spencer and Cafritz shout the title over and over again as Bob Bert rattles the pots and pans with abandon."

Pussy Galore was pure, noise damaged, confrontational, rock n roll chaos, combining all the best and worst parts of the Stooges, the Stones and the Cramps.  No band was as totally bonkers, in yer face and supposedly as inept as they were and yet they were a band that spawned a slew of imitators, and quite a few killer spin off bands, like Royal Trux, Chrome Cranks and the Blues Explosion, just to name a few.  The fucking riot of blues, garage, noise and punk that John Spencer, Neil Michael Haggerty, Bob Bert, Julia Cafritz, John Hammill, and the revolving door of other misfits created (or spewed forth) has not been equaled since.  They either were the best rock band ever or the worst, but for sure one of the most infamous, lewd and drunken acts ever to disgrace a stage.

You absolutely need to have some Pussy Galore next to your turntable, and this, our friends, is the LP to start with.   TOTALLY FUCKING RECOMMENDED.    As with any RSD titles, this one's super limited and too unwieldy to get repressed a second time, so no sleeping.

WHOAH. Our good pals at the ever-reliable Lion Productions in conjunction with Vintage Records have reissued this holy grail, hard-rockin' masterwork from New Jersey devils Sainte Anthony's Fyre! The heavy choogle is in full-effect, so lend an ear to what Lion's roarin':

"Official reissue of ultra-rare 1970 wasted underground hard rock monster! Wild, loud, raw New Jersey hard psych beast that’s been a favorite target of record collectors, dealers and swamp dwellers for the past two decades, originally released on the Zonk! label .This album is bleeding with that authentic dirty basement sound built around a solid set of catchy heavy weight tracks influenced by the holy trinity of Cream, Blue Cheer and Hendrix! The bible of underground psych rock, Acid Archives, says this about it: “This legendary private press is rated as one of the ultimate local basement hard rock blowouts by many connoisseurs. Released as early as 1970, the end result has some similarities to MC5′s hallowed Kick out the Jams, but I find this a superior and more powerful album." Popular UK magazine that’s majors in all things 60s and psychedelic, Shindig!, proclaims: “a masterpiece of zonked out, fuzz-drenched hard rock." The limited edition vinyl pressing comes with an insert with liner notes, press clippings, photos and lyrics + an 11" x 17" poster too."
Gonzo, hard-rockin' madness! We're DEFINITELY feeling this one - it's like Marty McFly time-travelled back in time and created a band that was executed per our exact taste! The "Hard Stuff", with a hint of bluesy rockin, but with a definite proto-punk attitude and swagger that elevates this above your typical Seventies hard stuff. These guys had to have had their ears on the Motor City back in the day - we're hearing the unmistakable testosterone-fueled influence of the MC5 or The Rationals, as well as the sinister oil-caked, cabaret feel of Alice Cooper too. These dudes were apparently courted by the bigs back in the day (Felix Pappalardi even offered to produce, but ultimately wanted too much moolah) and was a hair away from signing with Atlantic, but ultimately facing restrictions that would dictate their sound, decided against it, and recorded/released this one themselves. Fuck yeah! The "rough" sound of the record really is an asset to the overall feel and probably ups the aggression and sinister feel overall, with the guitars fuzzed out and pushing the red zone to the maxx, bro. If you dig Pentagram, Blue Cheer, Grand Funk, or even newer, backward-looking bands like Graveyard, Witchcraft and FUZZ, then prepare to feel the HEAT from the FYRE! Pressed up on gorgeous 180gm vinyl and packed with detailed liners/lyrics and a repro of the band's original promo poster, this is one NOT TO MISS (nice price too!). RECOMMENDED times 10,000,000,000!!!! Destined for 2013 "Reissue of the Year" status - Get this now!

Good things come to those who wait - 3 years since their great album "Terd" on Hozac, French freakazoids Subtle Turnhips are back with another hot mess of a platter entitled "Meal", this time courtesy of Pouet Schalleplatten! This time around the Turnhips have dialed back the ugly and heavy vibes that permeated "Terd" and gone for straight-up weird, rockin' with a ramshackle urgency that has Nikki Sudden written all over it! Imagine if sonic brothers in arms The Pheromoans wanted to rock a bit harder, but not too seriously.  It's a gorgeous mess of Mark E. Smith meets Desperate Bicycles or Wire and we're spinning the SHIT out of it over here at PRex H.Q.! We snagged a few of these bad-boys direct from the label, but they're not likely to stick around too long, so get in the lunch-line and drop "Meal" on your tray! RECOMMENDED!

SoCal demonic psych rock destroyers, Tar Halos, just released their second album (and first on Volar Records) titled "Wine Hand," and we can't help but turn this one up way loud and rattle the shop windows.  This is some spaced out dark psych rock sure to catch all of your ears, not just ours.  So here with a proper introduction is Volar, who pressed this monster onto wax:

"Like the sound of Salton Sea-creatures, dried in Death Valley, TAR HALOS is an all-encompassing entity; this San Diego based psych-rock iteration of “the sound” being comprised of five desultory elements, each crudely assimilated to one another in a broodingly raw aural mix. The resultant entity lacks conventions and so exists in a constant state of irreality, their presence being compared variously to that of a pig-dog in heat or a dark stare to the back of a head. Reverb and screeching synths swell and echo, unabashed sound that seduces listeners away from their own cherished realities. Wine Hand marks the entity’s vinyl debut, its intentions still ambiguous. For fans of Psychic Ills, Moon Duo, Chrome, Spacemen 3, Throbbing Gristle, Pere Ubu, Syd Barrett and Ghost."

We won't disagree with Volar's comparisons, especially to Spacemen 3, Chrome and Psychic Ills, but woah, that doesn't give the whole picture at all.  Deep in "Wine Hands" grooves, we also hear the seething unkempt psych fireballs of Monoshock, the space adventures of Hawkwind, the desert hallucinations of Destruction Unit and the off the wall experimental drones of Cave.   Does that grab yer attention?  It sure should, cuz even though "Wine Hand" came outta left field for us, we know we're gonna spin the shit outta this album.  More noisy, evil, heavy and space rockin' than your run of the mill psych rock band these days, Tar Halos certainly get our HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.  HANDS DOWN.  Don't pass up this killer new band their new LP, you'll be sorry if you do.

There is a Chicago quartet named Toupée that has been relentlessly creeping and effervescing in and around the local DIY basement, house, and warehouse space scene since sometime circa 2011 with the silent perseverance and unrelenting strength of a legless animated corpse. Make no mistake, Toupée's "Dinner Parties" has legs, and these legs are running them up and out of the basement with a force only Ash Williams' possessed sister could have hoped for in Evil Dead.

"Dinner Parties", originally released as "Dinner Party" in primordial form on the prolific home-town cassette label Teen River, has been recaptured following the inevitable refinement culled from of an onslaught of shows and a full-on re-recording job by Bert Bunker (mastered by Cooper Crain). Immediately from the album's opener you are reeled in by the phantasmal grip of the vocals that emanate a bizarrely other-dimensionally 50's from the future Julee Cruise croon cum Twin Peaks beautifully damaged by a powerful wail found in early Honey Bane that may deconstruct into a viciously sneeringly and gutturally crusty growl with absolutely no warning at different moments throughout the record. Sonically "Dinner Parties" is wondrously quilted together stitched from the dental floss of a Mars-ian no wave, darkly under-toned Bauhaus-ian gothyness, all wound tightly together somewhere in between the legendary art-rock of "Chairs Missing" and "154" era Wire.

This long-player documents the twenty-fifth release for the also Chicago based Rotted Tooth Recordings, rooted in documenting the pinnacle of genuinely weird, creepy, and creative art punks of all flavors in Chicago and beyond; far before even those paying attention take notice. Eventually when the people of the future come back to camp and begin to wonder what the hell was really going on in the Chicago music scene circa the early 2010's, we're pretty damn sure Toupée will receive a well deserved nod. RECOMMENDED! TELL YOUR BALD (AND NOT-SO-BALD) FRIENDS ABOUT TOUPÉE!

Listen up as the Sublime Frequencies aficionados inform you of their latest:

"There is a legend in Burma stating that swarms of male dragonflies gather to join in choruses of high-pitched tones to court their mates. The ones that don't succeed in mating eventually scream so loud that their chests explode and they drop dead to the ground. These recordings are a tribute to this legend. Droning cicadas, dragonflies, and other insects display their charm as masters of the high frequency airwaves, recorded live and unprocessed by Tucker Martine in the lush settings of Laos, Thailand, and Burma. Enter the supernatural world where entomology and electronica converge in a tropical hallucination of alien sound. Anyone who has ever wondered if these strange symphonies could be recorded or preserved as precisely as they sound in the field need look no further. Martine has done it and you will be transported to the exact experience one would encounter in these mysterious lowlands. Limited edition LP pressing of the long out-of-print CD from 2004, comes with a beautiful tip-on jacket, including an insert with photos and liner notes by Hakim Bey and Alan Bishop."" - Sublime Frequencies

This record is down right startling!  Pure unprocessed sounds of nature that will blow your mind and your eardrums are what will be found here.  This could easily be passed off as a power electronics record, no joke, straight up earsplitting harshness that is yet further proof of what a wondrous world we live in.  Humans do a fine job of making thrilling sounds but leave it to the insect kingdom to produce such trance inducing commanding sonics.  Extremely Recommended!

Ah man… we've been waiting a looooonng time for this one!  Get the full details concerning this amazing record, one that belongs in every collection, from the Sunbeam label folks here:

"Recorded in London in July 1969, and featuring members of Tomorrow, The Pretty Things, The Deviants, and Tyrannosaurus Rex, the legendary Think Pink is one of the hallowed relics of British underground rock. Masterminded by John ""Twink"" Alder, who fully participated in this comprehensive reissue, it is presented here with detailed background notes, eight bonus tracks and rare pictures, making it truly essential for all fans of true psychedelia. Housed in a gatefold sleeve with a full-color booklet; on 180 gram vinyl with a CD copy of the album, plus bonus tracks."

"Think Pink" features a veritable who's who of heavy hangers from the above mentioned acts combined with ex-Pretty Things/Pink Fairies duder Twink to conjure one of the most legendary acid drenched psychedelic folk rock records ever recorded.   Originals regularly sell for hundreds of dollars and this hasn't been in print on vinyl in ages.  Stop whatever it is you're doing and grab this 100% essential album now.  This is another Permanent Records staff fave; one that gets spun almost daily if possible.  Deliriously Recommended!

Swinging Mademoiselle is an apt title for this well curated disk of French ye-ye tunes. These bubbly pop hits are sure to get your toes tapping and your body shaking. It's been a while since the last installment of this series and it seems that the Sasha Monnett label has been busy spending that time crate digging for these stellar gems/jams. Here's l'information from the label:

"The world has changed a lot in the 10 years since the release of volume 2, and I can say (in all modesty) that the term Swinging Mademoiselle has basically become a genre in itself, designating the instantly recognizable sound of French pop with female vocals, recorded from 1965 to 1968.

This is the third and -- I emphasize -- the final volume, because there will not be any more. Sorry, friends, but three is enough (or four, because you can include Girls in the Garage volume 12 in this series). This time, I’ll present artists who are much more obscure than those in previous volumes. It’s a difficult task, because in today’s ultra-connected world where everything is three clicks away, nothing remains truly « obscure ». It’s a daunting task, but I’ll try anyway."

We got the chance to see South Africa's noisemakers Make-Overs twice while they were in town, once at Blackout Fest and once hosting an in-store for them at the Chicago shop, and both times they blew our minds!!!  So when they set a stack of self released eps on the counter, we grabbed 'em all.   Pressed up on their KRNGY imprint and sadly limited, "It's Unnatural" is a ferocious ride through the feedback punk explosions of Martinque (drums / vocals) and Andreas (guitar, vocals).  Sludgy, yet melodic, Make-Overs blown out take on underground rock n roll sounds like it sprung up one warehouse away, not from the far away wild streets of South Africa.  Make-Overs strip down their trashy pummeling rock n roll making it even LOUDER and IN YER FACE than you'd expect from just a two piece.  Maybe that's cuz they're done their homework, borrowing from the Touch and Go and AmRep greats as well as the garage punk classics, making "In Unnatural" a crazy trip we'll take over and over again.   SUPER RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!!! 

Got another batch of this amazing single of original 1977 stock in! We nearly wet ourselves when the "Jungle Rot" LP got reissued earlier in 2013 so to get these 2 raw killer jams back is a mega bonus!

Killer lead guitar parts are all over the A-side of George Brigman's 1977 single Blowin' Smoke. The single was comped on the sweet Cherrystones Word comp alongside some killer psych/punk tracks by Dead Moon, Chrome, Brainbox, Deviants, and more. We (dumb us) just realized that Brigman reissued the single in 2007 as a 30th Anniversary Edition. This edition includes the original pressing on Solid Records of the single in an all new hand-numbered sleeve (which it never had originally). The sleeve is autographed by Brigman to boot. The B-side Drifting is a decent meandering, instrumental psych jam, but Blowin' Smoke will blow your mind.

There were only 500 of these left in '07 and we couldn't imagine there'd be many more left in '09, yet lo and behold miraculously a few copies are mercifully still available in 2013, but even if there were an infinite amount of these in the world, we'd recommend picking one up.

More Brigman madness here!  Both the "Jungle Rot" LP and the "Blowin' Smoke" single are essential George Brigman must owns.  And now we scored yet another brain melting single from George Brigman and Split.  Bona Fide Records has original 1985 stock of the esoteric "Silent Bones" EP.   George Brigman and Split are supplying 5 tracks that lay out sleazy heavy blues rock that sound like Pentagram outtakes and strange instrumental jams that sound like hippied-out Chrome and Minutemen/Firehose or the early 80's SST roster.  The two cuts with vocals feature Wayne Hastings glam tinged howl while all cuts are sportin' Brigman's signature guitar sorcery, locked-in rhythms and some damn fine bass noodling.  If you dig the outsider jams of the Bonehead Crunchers comps, the Clone Records stuff or Michael Yonkers then you best add this to your collection as another single like this you won't hear anytime soon.  Recommended.

"The greatest band that almost was finally sees the light of day! Sector Zero was a short lived Memphis super-group of Eric and Zac from Goner (and from the Oblivians and Final Solutions, respectively) plus the doomed genius of Jay Reatard - Goner's got the deets on Sector Zero:

"ZAC IVES and ERIC FRIEDL playing guitar, JAY REATARD bashing drums. Recorded by Jay at his house. No overdubs. Bass Balls pedal. "Guitar Attack" and "Hiding In My Car" representing all that's great about simple, stupid music. Veterans of SF's Budget Rock and Memphis' Gonerfest festivals, one appearance resulting with Eric being driven home by the police. Hooray!"

Musically, Sector Zero doesn't stray too far from Eric and Jay's work in Bad Times, or Jay's work in the Reatards, but injected with Ives' penchant for retro futurism a'la Wire or The Urinals. "Guitar Attack" is destined for 'Killed By Death' Vol. 145 someday - mark our words! "Hiding In My Car" is a trebl-y rager that sounds like Mudhoney when they were trying to rip off Spacemen 3 - who knows where this could have gone had Reatard lived to drum another day? Shit - be thankful we at least have this single! RECOMMENDED!

Ty Segall never seems to have a shortage of material - this time we're treated to a brand new, unreleased tune from the man himself, paired with a new song from emerging San Fran group Chad and the Meatbodies, released in Famous Class Records' LAMC series - we'll let Famous Class fill you in on what this whole deal is:

"We are launching the LAMC split 7” series in loving memory Ariel Panero, our dear friend and a partner in Famous Class.
The series gets its name from the epic Less Artists More Condos concerts that Ariel threw, showcasing amazing bands in some strange and unique venues. Ariel’s driving force was a desire to get the bands he believed in the recognition he felt they deserved. This series simply tries to honor that idea.
For each LAMC split 7” we ask one of our favorite bands to provide us with an unreleased track for the A-side. We then asked them to pick their favorite emerging artist to provide a track for the B-side. Ariel’s LAMC shows introduced New Yorkers to bands they might not have otherwise discovered – we hope that this series will do the same. We’ll also make the tracks available on the FAMOUS CLASS bandcamp page with 100% of the digital proceeds going to the Ariel Panero Memorial Fund at VH1 Save the Music."

Ty throws us a curve-ball with "Music For A Film 1", an instrumental jam that grooves high on a krautrock-y, bongo-laced groove and sounds different than anything he's done prior - a real hip, Sixties noir sounding cut. SUPER great - we almost expected to hear Damo Suzuki's lysergic wail over the top! Chad and the Meatbodies deliver "Mountain", a driving pop tune slathered in grit, with a killer sugar-coated, twin-guitar attack that's coming from somewhere between the apocalyptic scree of "Slaughterhouse" and the pop hum of Pangea's "Living Dummy". A killer split that pairs a couple of interesting West Coast musical foils. RECOMMENDED - but act fast, this one's not liable to stick around for long!

Volcom Records' latest split single features two Los Angeles bands who cut their jibs on the same diet of sludgy, grungy rock and roll - The Zig Zags and The Shrine! The Shrine kick off the A-side side with a spoken word sample, before launching into a beer-swilling brawler that had us checking the labels to see if they didn't accidentally press up a Mudhoney single instead! Whoah! The Zig Zags are on the flip and hey frickin lay out a barn-burner of a shred fest with "Runaway", that is a pill-popping rocker not unlike Motorhead! Daaaaamn - we love these guys! Great pairing and one we'll be spinning again and again! Don't sleep on this one - we ACTUALLY got some of the subscription only colored wax, which WILL NOT stick around, so ACT NOW or forever hold yer P's and Q's! Includes download too for those of you of the digital persuasion!!! - RECOMMENDED!

"If the 72-years-strong annual Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota ever felt like mixing shit up and opening its chain-link fences to some more busted, broke-down musical entertainment (instead of the usual legions of George Thorogood cover bands), Filthy Huns – the custom-built solo vehicle of Nick Koenigs – would be a fine choice. Cheap, grease-stained drum machine rhythms, desolate highway guitar lines, reverbed keyboard loops, and road-burned vocals cruise like a midnight rider through dead, dusty towns in the Black Hills. “Watch Of The Bear” in particular is total loner-in-leather, headlight off, pushing 70, chasing the voided horizon under a sea of stars. It’s not all Hell’s Angels-y ghost-riding though; there’s some cool detours, too, like the woozy, hungover dub of “Hot Morning,” the 4AM campfire peyote-float, “Infinite Ride,” and the stoned sunshine raga, “Out Of The Grave.” Recorded half in Minneapolis and half in Echo Park, CA across a nearly two-year window. Pro-dubbed putty-colored tapes with fold-out biker hieroglyph artwork designed and printed by Goaty Tapes impresario Zully Adler. Edition of 100." - Not Not Fun