Thursday, September 19, 2013

Vol. 4 Episode 39



Black Hearted Brother have a new page for the band. Check it out.

Beck has released a third single called Gimmie. You can hear and buy it at the Beck web page.

I have gotten in the new Frankie Rose record.

If you are into Saves The Day, the new album has been made available to those who gave to support the album at Pledge Music.

Here we go...


This is the first Weekend only release. It was put out on Mexican Summer Records. There were only 500 10” records made and they were hand numbered. It does come with a download code but it has been a few years since its release so the code is probably not active, mine wasn’t. It is available as a download as well. It was released in January of 2010. I got into the group with their release of the Red EP so I missed out on this one when it was new. I waited to find a copy at a good price. I finally found one still sealed for less than 20 bucks. I was very excited about it when I found a copy. I recently went to see them at The 7th St Entry ( ). They played the B-side to this record as the last song. It was very cool indeed!

The A side of the record is called All-American. It is mostly high pitched noise. The drum beat is cool. That is one of my favorite drum beats and I have used something similar on some of my own songs. The lyrics are unintelligible but I have always liked the tone of his voice. I do like that one of the electric guitars being played doesn’t have any processing done to it. It is an odd feel for the group that sits well.

The B side track is called Youth Haunts. It starts off with guitar that is very noisy with a good riff. The rest of the band kicks in pretty heavy sounding. The drums are mainly on the low toms giving the track a grounded feel. The song uses song very cool guitar distortions and feedback sounds. The lyrics are pretty unintelligible with this one too. It sounded so much better played live though.



This is the second release for the group on Slumberland Records. It was in support of the first album, Sports. It was released on neon yellow vinyl with a download code. The version on the single is labeled as Radio Edit. This is the single that I brought with me to get the band to sign.

Slumberland has this up on the page for the single, “As one of the highlights of Sports, "End Times" is power-pop as interpreted by "Feed Me With Your Kiss"-era MBV, an amazing mix of melody and racket that perfectly encapsulates what Weekend are about. Driven by relentless drums and a pummeling bass line, it could the most straightforwardly pop track on the album, if you ignore the insane, shredding feedback guitar that bursts through on each chorus, turning what was loud and raucous into LOUD mayhem. And it sports a melody most pop bands would kill for -- amazing stuff. Remixed and remastered especially for this single, it's a beast. On the flip side, LA duo Speculator remix album opener "Coma Summer" into a hypnotic Kraut-inflected daydream -- trippy, motorik and totally compelling.”

The A side track, End Times, does have a driving bass line with drums that match the song. It is pop geniusness with extra noise. It is one of my favorite songs from the album Sports.

The B side is a muted version of Coma Summer. It is still noisy but doesn’t pierce the ears as much. This track just sort of drones on and on and never stops. When I went to the concert the current bassist told me that he remixed this track. 



 











This is three separate tracks that were never included on any kind of physical copy. They are available on the bands Bandcamp web page at a pay what you want scale. I was interested in what they had for music since they have a new release coming out on Graveface Records next month. I looked at their web page with a few live recordings and previews for the new album. I found their band camp page after that with these three songs on there. Their style is slow moving noisy dream pop. All three tracks are the same slow moving sound it can be relaxing or it can cause undue tension. It kind of depends on what your use to.

Ahhh is a very noisy track but still slow and dreamy. The song is about waking up in the morning based on the lyrics that are up on the songs bandcamp page. I really like the Ahhhs that happen in the song. This is what makes the song  for me.

The second song, Fukitol, talks about watching the stars and the black of the sky turn to morning and thus the stars fade away to the morning sky. It is another very dreamy track. I don’t know how Fukitol applies to the song though other than not caring about what happens in the world around you any longer. For those of you who don’t know, the fictitious “drug” Fukitol is what you take when you are depressed, overworked, feel unappreciated amongst other problems.

The third track that the group has put out, Sunday Is Monday At Midnight, is probably the more catchier track of the set. The way that the lead singer sings the title of the song is absolute perfection. I can’t get over the beautiful soft airy tones when she sings.

Get these three songs as soon as you can or just listen to them on the Bandcamp page, it’s free!


Man or Astro-Man? - Electrostatic Sensitive Device
This is a 7” EP released on November 5, 2013. Chunklet put this out in limited quantities. It was bundled with the book Touchable Sound put out by Soundscreen Design. There were only 300 copies made available. The record came in a plain white sleeve with white center labels that were hand stamped in black ink. They were then placed in a static shield bag with a square circuit board as a stiffener. The boards were donated by Diego Kirsch. Starcrunch, lead guitarist/vocalist of Man or Astro-Man?, hand cut each circuit board. The bag was sealed with a sticker that was dated and numbered.

Earth Station Radio can be found on the Jabberjaw No. 6 compilation. The CD is easy enough to find but the 7” compilation came in both colored vinyl and black I believe. I have the CD version of the Jabberjaw comp. If I found a copy of the colored vinyl at a store I would be interested but I am not going out of my mind to get a copy. The song has some cool surf sounds backed with some space waves and movie clips. It is a very good track and I am happy to have a copy.

The b side track is called Updated Theme To Supercar. This track can also be found on the All Punk Rods compilation from Gearhead/Lookout! Records. This track is a peppier track and demands the attention of the listener to hear all the good parts. It is such a short song that you really need to listen to it to understand the song. It is more punk without words I think.

I like this short EP a lot and am also glad that I have the book that goes with it. There is some very cool information about the 7” record along with a catalog of some of the more unique 7” records that were made in history.

Thanks again to Man Or Astro-Man? as nauseam for the information on this release.

That is all I have for now...

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