★De Stijl
In Vogue Spirit
With their recent split with Naked on the Vague acting as a dip into pop's waters; Wet Hair's follow up, In Vogue Spirit is practically a jump into the pool. The band's most accessible batch of tunes to date boil with Krautrock rhythms, buzzing synths, and a new focus on vocals that has previously been mostly absent in the band's back catalog. It's not all motion and melody here though, the band still retains their experimental spirit, giving the record plenty of teeth to sink into any of …
Find Out What Happens When People Stop Being Polite, And Start G
"Hype Williams have cultivated a sublime aura of mystique around their heady sound with only a few 7"s and an almost-mythical LP for Carnivals. Ahead of a forthcoming HiT EP, their latest, 'Find Out What Happens When People Stop Being Polite And Start Gettin Reel' is one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year, a 24-minute portal into their hypnagogic vortex. If you've checked their warped videos on youtube or picked up the 'Do Roids And Kill E'rything' 7" you'll have a good idea what …
Hey Friend, What You
Putting a riot grrrl twist on no-fi scuzz-pop, all-female London trio Pens slot themselves somewhere between Wavves, Vivian Girls and Times New Viking, but very probably in an even more abrasive and technically incompetent fashion than any of those groups could muster. You get the distinct feeling that Pens are in danger of pushing this movement too far beyond breaking point, too late in its life cycle. Bar the undoubtedly addictive high-energy melodicism of 'Freddy' there's really not too much …
Phantom Payn Daze
While in the widely neglected 39 Clocks, he made records that never sold and played gigs that few ever saw, Juergen Gleue has arguably been the most important exponent of electrified German sound since the late 1970s. Phantom Payn Daze was made in the mid to late 90s and has never been released. It's his final LP and is overflowing with all the elements that romanticized, loner / stoner music claims, an encoded expression of highly private feelings, an ambiguous, emotional quotient, and a dark…
The Parasites Of The Western World
The Parasites of the Western World are a band from Portland, OR who released their recorded debut in 1978. It's a fascinating spin, a galactic ramble across the otherworldly themes of alienation and paranoia, seemingly inspired by LSD and Philip Dick. Primarily the creation of Patrick Burke and Terry Censky, the Parasites were limitless with invention and completely DIY. This is a record that was recorded in an apartment, by a crew thoughtful enough to curtail it's loud excursions for the…
Mother of fire
restocked - AA krauty, rhythmic throb & a sort of gutterized/behead the prophet stance that once seemed to have run up & down the west coast. Both of these things are filtered through post-Spacemen sensibilities & fueled w/ violin, bass & drums
After Before
Fantastic document of higher-minded drone ritual from a trio that features Taketo Shimada. Shimada is a shadowy figure in fringe minimalism. He worked as Henry Flynt’s assistant, put together the Yoshi Wada week at the Emily Harvey Foundation, was involved with Herbert Huncke, Alison Knowles and a bunch of other Fluxus artists. Messages is an extended investigation into the eternal music concepts of Wada, LaMonte Young, Charlemagne Palestine, Pandit Pran Nath et al, with Shimada on bass a…
Sirenum
Take the manic snorts of captain liberty, dissonant as chalk & the next moment as melodic as sharp yet slick, metal teeth. Take the mermaid, 1988, turn the tides, gently, gently away. Selected breath/silences/selected feedback. Take an argument you have here w/ an empty street while the memory of high traffic is leaking back. Sirenum has a real "spiritual food" vibe & it's fucking pain & pleasure relief in this real met en zonder sort of way.
In The Sack
Among collectors of ultra-rare, private-press editions, the recordings of Mark Tucker represent the pinnacle of a highly-personalized, untouchably damaged musical vision. In 1968 he founded the Tetrapod Spools label to release direct-cut acetates ... Full Descriptionand reel-to-reels containing his unlikely music masterpieces; Tetrapod's first vinyl release, the highly experimental BATSTEW (1975), became highly coveted by enthusiasts of basement-level, loner-psych productions. After suffering a …
Zoned
The first public appearance pairing Christian Henjes (then 'Zero Jack') and Juergen Gleue (then 'Genius Nr.17') was in 1976, at the Dada Nova (a space later occupied by Otto Müehl's AAO commune) in midtown Hannover, Germany. Known for pranksterism and the destruction of the clubs in which they would perform, friction would follow the band everywhere. In 1979 they were thrown out of a show in Kassel at the Documenta (their sounds had disturbed Joseph Beuys). They created an outrage (they wrote…
Shh!
It's taken a long fucking time, and finally, a fully legit LP - only reissue of this amazing Helsinki monsterpiece from 1970. shh ! is highly collectable in it's original form on the band's own O Records imprint (home of 3rd erection, samsa trio, one point music, etc). In a non - dream state, I've seen 2 copies and both were in a condition slightly more well kempt than hammered ++. shh ! is primarily a document of Pekka Airaksinen's experimental compositions, consisting of primitive samples, gui…
The Beast
"Smegma man, fucking Smegma. They started the whole damn thing. Sure there was Lee Rocky & some soundeffects 78s that set the crew in motion but screw it.. you wouldn't be blasting The Beast or any Weird Handdrawn LP with rotten ears if it wasn't for this truly motley crew. In high school my sweet momma would give me ten bones a week for lunch, come Monday by noon that shit was blown at the local rec shop. When I only had a couple of raggedy bux left from gripping Zorlac stickers, the only optio…
Solo 78/79
Smegma were formed as a reaction to the band's perceptions of how horrible things were in the '70s. 'We moved up to Portland just as the Los Angeles Free Music Society came out of the closet. There was the whole punk scene and a rebirth of things, but when we left, it was the deadest, worst time to be there unless you were into glam.' This disgust is reflected in the tone of the early classics Pigface Chant, Flash Cards, Disco Diarrhea and Glamour Girl 1941. The crown jewel, perhaps, of the earl…
Chimärendämmerung
Hototogisu are Marcia Bassett and Matthew Bower, and they dwell upon two continents (Marcia in Brooklyn NY and Matthew in Leeds UK). Both share rich discographical heritage. Marcia has recorded with numerous labels (Siltbreeze, Timelag, Eclipse, Troubleman Unlimited, etc.) with UN, GHQ and the Double Leopards, and Matthew with Total, Skullflower, Sunroof!, Vibracathedral Orchestra and more. A Wikipedia entry in his name clearly (sic) illustrates his cultural heft: Bower's huge discography of vis…