Coming up later this week will be reviews of The Ar-Kaics
first self titled album released on cassette only and the fourth album from
Abandoned Pools called Somnambulist, previously released as a download but now
available on the Abandoned Pools store for a limited time on CD. Maybe some old
stuff maybe some new stuff. Wait to see what turns up!
Here we go...
In my search for information about Joanna Gruesome I came
across this EP from the group on their Bandcamp web page. This EP was released
before both the latest single and the Art Is Hard Family Portrait compilation
that was on last weeks post. It was released in January of 2011. The EP has
five tracks and three of the tracks are going to be on the new LP from
Slumberland Records. One of them is on the Art Is Hard compilation. The fifth
can only be found on this EP. For those of you who are interested the EP is up
for pay what you want on the page. Because of these items I have now heard half
of the album before it has been released. This usually happens when a new band
comes on the scene. They have an albums worth of material, no more no less, and
they want to get noticed. They then shop around and get a few tracks put out on
vinyl, CD or download. When they finally get signed for a full length album
half of the album is already out there. This isn’t a bad thing but it is a disappointment
for those of us who find new bands before they are popular.
Anyway, the new single, Sugarcrush, from the forth coming
album is on this EP. That means that this song has been floating around for
quite a while now. The song is fast and sweet punk with soft female vocals as I
have talked about last week they sound kind of like Golden Grrrls. The video
for the song, there is one, looks like it is all old personal footage from the
60s or 70s with the way that the footage looks. The song is fun and the video
makes me feel nostalgic. I think it is perfect.
Madison is the second song on this EP. I think that it is
probably just as good as Sugarcrush maybe even better with a perfect mix of
noise and clean tones on the guitars. The music is pop meets shoegaze. It is a
very cool idea and I hope that they get lots of attention for the music that
they created for this upcoming album.
The last track on this EP is called Yr Dick. At this point
this track can only be found on this EP. It may show up as a B side somewhere
along the line though. I would be happy with that since there is no physical
version that I am aware of. I think that this is a good song but not a great
song. It would be great as a B side.
For completeists get this EP. For people who are
interested, its free , have a listen.
This is the fifth album from The Dodos. It was released this
week, August 2013. It was released through Polyvinyl Records. This is new since
previous releases have been through French Kiss and Wichita Records. The album
has been released in multiple formats including cassette, download, CD and
vinyl. There were 700 pressings on vinyl in what the record company calls
glacier blue. It is really a baby blue with light black and white swirl. The
vinyl also comes with a download code. The album was inspired by the third
guitarist, Christopher Reimer, that came onto the group for a short period
after leaving a band called Woman and his death at the age of 26. His style of
playing the electric guitar influenced lead guitarist and vocalist Meric Long.
Reimer influenced Long so much that he has nearly completely abandoned the
acoustic guitar completely for this album. The album is very solemn and reminds
me of their album Time To Die but darker. Maybe darker isn’t quite the right
word. Maybe in the shadows is a better way to look at it. There is a kind of
sadness that lingers and maybe that is the influence that Christopher Reimer
left on the band. It is a great album with an interesting sound.
There has only been one single released from the album so
far and it hasn’t seen its own physical release, it is a digital single. That
means there is no B side. That song is called Confidence. The song has a soft
start with vocals and layered electric guitars. It is not until after a minute
that the drums start up in a simple but yet complex beat. After the chorus is
sung twice the guitar changes with the addition of distortion. Later the beat
changes and picks up speed. It becomes a higher tension track in the end of the
song with the guitar edging up higher in pitch. It is a great song that
utilizes the song build up idea.
I do like the song that follows Confidence a lot. It is
called Stranger. It starts off with the tension that ended in confidence and
defuses it in the first thirty seconds. This riff that makes the tension gets
changed tonally after this diffusion, so, the pace is still in the track. this
is very cool because at the end the drums pick up a bit more heaviness and the
song becomes a bit more fuller than before. At the very end the drums drop out
completely and it is just the electric guitars.
This is what seems to be for many a hard recording to find.
It was released in 1993 in a split magazine called Monster! International
magazine issue number 4/ Highball magazine issue number 2. As of 2011 you can
still get this split magazine with the Man or Astro-Man? record. There is a
short conversation at the bottom of the post for this release on the Man or
Astro-Man? Ad Nausium blog with information regarding the purchase of the
magazine. There is also an article in the magazine about the group at the time.
I originally found this online as a download. I was satisfied
with this for quite a while but as I searched for more from the group I wanted
to find this. I was very excited to say the least when I found Timothy Paxton
still had copies of this magazine. It was a lot cheaper getting a new old stock
copy than getting a used copy from ebay.
There are four tracks on this flexi-disc. Three of those
tracks can be found on Destroy All Astromen. The one track that is unique to
this release is called Creature In The Surfers Lagoon. The first track on the
disc is printed as The Gargantua’s Last Stand. In most others it is listed with
out the leading “The”.
The second track on the record is a cover of Link Ray's
"The Shadow Knows," it features a dialog sample from the nudist epic Monster
at Camp Sunshine.
The third trac, the first on the second side, is Creature In
The Surfers Lagoon. This is the only reason to get this record. It sounds like
the classic sound of great surf music. It is a lot of fun and I am glad to have
the track.
The last song from this disc is called Espanto Del Futuro.
This one is another classic from the group and even got an additional inclusion
in another magazine. I still think that the band members saying, “scream…. scream….
scream…. scream….Aaaaaahh!” at the end is so funny.
All four tracks can be heard at this link.
This album was a freebie from Polyvinyl Records with my
order for The Dodos new album Carrier. I gave it a shot and I liked what I
heard. The album is the third full length from the group that is primarily Nate
Kinsella. It was released in May of 2012. The album was released on limited
white vinyl, CD and download that I am aware of. The album comes off as
disorienting but somehow makes a picture if you step back from it. There are
many orchestral sounds that seem to be clipped short in a digital way and formed
into an interesting collage along with other sounds including electronic wave
sounds and normal rock guitar sounds. The whole album is this way. Each song is
different and stands out in its own way but each is also formed in this style
to make a very interesting album all together.
Thanks again to James B. and other contributors to Man or Astro-Man? Ad Nausium.
That is all I have for now...
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