Saturday, November 1, 2014

Vol. 5 Episode 46



The Dodos will have a new album out sometime next year. The video that has this announcement only says out 2015.

There are six different color variations of vinyl colors for the new Restorations album called LP3

The Joanna Gruesome/Perfect Pussy comic book split is up for preorder at Slumberland Records now.

Kanine Records will have their band September Girls album Veneer up for sale for Black Friday Record Store Day.

She & Him will have a new record called Classics just in time for Christmas. It also looks like they have changed record labels too. This one will be released on Columbia. You can get it from their web page.

Here we go...


Brown Brogues/Eternal Summers – Brain Melter/Window Split EP
This is a split cassette that was put out for Cassette Store Day only in the UK/EU. I was happy to hear that Cassette Store Day had come over to the US but disappointed that the releases were so different in both regions. I had to wait a week after Cassette Store Day to buy a copy of this online from one of my favorite UK record stores, Norman Records. I think that the packaging for this Cassette is awesome. It is a charcoal grey paper sleeve that is open on one end. There is silver printing on both sides, a graphic for both bands. There is also in insert that has the track listing for each side. The cassette itself is also split. One side is blue and the other is yellow.

The Brain Melter side of the cassette sounds like classic punk music recorded on a four track In their living room. I know, I have done this before. The first track is called You Don’t Know. It is fast paced and what sounds like distorted guitar, drums and vocals. The music is super simple but still fun, even if it sounds like it was recorded in black and white.

They then take a shot at classic R&B sound with a muted guitar and minimal drums but with rough vocals on the track Don’t Dance With My Girlfriend. I don’t feel like it goes over that well. It is a valiant effort though. I think that the next track called Still of The Night, with its bluesy overtones, works so much better. This may be because of my exposure to The Black Keys though.

The last track from Brown Brogues is called Where My Mouth Goes. This totally reminds me of music that I recorded with my band when I just got out of high school. It is really sad because we were not good at all and never could have gotten a record contract but 22 years later groups are doing the same thing and getting contracts.

Anyway, the second side of the cassette is the Window side. Eternal Summers had released Window as a digital only single previously. I was happy that there was going to be a physical release for this song. This is the reason that I got this split EP really. The song is a slow jam that I really like. It has an ethereal float to it that reminds me of staring at the night sky in the middle of summer. It is very pretty and the tape hiss only adds to the songs night time sky watching feel.

The rest of the songs for the window side of the EP come from the groups’ latest album. All of the tracks are great and most of them have been released as singles from the album already. You can check out what I had to say about the album these songs come from, The Drop Beneath, in Vol. 5 Episode 37.

This is a single that was only released in Europe for some reason. Since getting the new album, Hungry Ghosts, I have gotten into the band a little bit heavier. I have since found out that a lot of their singles were only released in the UK/EU. I find this dissatisfying. I really like the group am curious that Capitol would only advertise this group across the pond. Did they think that they had enough popularity already here in the US that they didn’t need to advertise here but felt they needed to push harder in the UK/EU or was it reversed and they thought they needed to push harder there because they were more excepted across the pond. Either way, I have more music that I can explore from OK Go and I am excited to get a hold of these new tracks. This is a 7” record on white marbled vinyl. There was also a purple single sided 7” vinyl but I wanted the B side track.

The A side is the first single from Oh No called A Million Ways. This was not my favorite song from the album but it did get me to buy the album when Oh No was released. I have been into this group since their first album. What I didn’t like about this song was the background vocals. It is not that it isn’t creative to count out the numbers; it just didn’t make me feel good like they have done in the past. There are other songs that I really liked from this album though.

The B side of the single is the song This Will Be Our Year. This is a cover of The Zombies song. It is a slower song that is bass lead with guitar and Rhodes keys. It is beautiful slow and down to earth. This, for me is classic OK Go and it is somewhat of a rare track. It can also be found on The Extra Nice Edition of Of The Blue Color Of The Sky and on Twelve Days Of OK Go.


This is the latest released from the Halloween super group. The physical version has not shipped yet. The pressing plant is being slightly uncooperative. The sleeve will be like the book & 45s that I got when I was a kid. It looks like so much fun. I am excited to get my copy to look through the book and see what strange things Ryan has come up with for this year. Because of the delay the two tracks that are on this release have been given to those who have preordered the record as a digital download.

The first track is called Pulling The Rivers Teeth. The vocals are the standard pushed vocal from Ryan Graveface. The style works for the group and I wouldn’t expect anything less. The music comes off eerie with the use of cheap sounding synth that reminds me of my youth. The drums are the sounds of that same cheap keyboard from my youth but programmed better. The song is creepy but fun.

The second and last track from the single is called A Long Day At The End of The World. This track uses the same drum sounds but still programmed better than the standard cheap keyboard tracks. This song also makes use of banjo and acoustic guitars. This gives the song and the and a new aspect that I didn’t expect. There are still the keyboard and other distorted sounds. There is also live drums that come in later that work in tandom with the electronic drums giving a cool effect. Over all I think that this track shows a slightly new direction for this group.

I hope they continue and that we get more volumes through the next year. I would hate to get a new volume, if this is the start of a volume series, once a year.

This is a four track EP from the group. It was pressed on translucent blue vinyl. It was released in 2010 on Paper + Plastic. I wasn’t sure I was going to get a copy of this record. I finaly found a copy for a reasonable price. The color of the vinyl was just a bonus I feel. The band has almost stuck with the lifeless song titles with this EP as well.

The first track is called Title Track. It is not that I hate the naming conventions that they use but more that they are meaningless to the songs. It is the whole, “we don’t have a  name for the track so we will just call it something that would be fitting for a star track on an album.” They have done this with other singles as well. For Example: the single called A/B features songs called A and B to coincide with the sides of a single. There is no emotion or meaning for these titles and gives me a bit of a disconnect to the music. The music is still good but I have less of a connection to it.

The next track on the EP is called Linear Notes. This title again seems like it has nothing to do with the song. The music is good and super creative with the growly vocals that I like from the group though. It just bothers me that the title of the song has nothing to do with the song.

The next to songs don’t have that song title disconnect it seems or I like the songs more than the first two. Either way, the next two songs seem to work out a bit better for me.
I really like the vocal style, gravely and growly, but it makes my own throat feel like I need to clear it if I listen to them for too long. An EP is a perfect length for this reason.

This is a double post weekend, so, that is it until the next one is up...

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