Windhand

Virginia metal band Windhand are unleashing their second album "Soma" on the always dependable Relapse in September.  To me, the band sounds like Alice in Chains if they had followed their track marks into a a much doomier territory.  My 14 year old self would have dug the shit out of this, and i must admit, my 34 year old self will probably have "Woodbine" on repeat for a little while.  Listen to that jam below.

Major props to Shawn for this find.

Found Vinyl: The Jimmy Castor Bunch featuring The Everything Man - E-Man Groovin'

We were bound to get to some funky grooves before long, and those dancing disco bumps come to us courtesy of The Jimmy Castor Bunch featuring The Everything Man.  "E-Man Groovin'" was released in 1976, but in a lot of ways, it totally sounds like music that could have appeared on the latest Daft Punk record.  That's a good thing.  A lot of disco gets a bad rap thanks to what i would assume was the hordes of douche bags touting the genre's greatness while doing pounds and pounds of the booger sugar.  It's really too bad, because there are so many great bands and records out there that just love the funk.  Take a listen to "Space Age" below.



And here's the party starting title track.



And finally, here's the lovely and soulful "Everything is Beautiful to Me."



Sadly, Jimmy Castor passed away last year at the age of 64, but i recommend searching out his albums for that funky, funky bliss.

Polyphonic Spree - Hold Yourself Up

Ever since i was fortunate enough to catch The Polyphonic Spree on tour way back in 2001 (their second ever show), i have been a gleeful and fervent member of their pop cult.  Tim Delaughter and company have a new album, "Yes, It's True," out next month on Good Records, the band's first record of original material since 2007.  The Incubator is stoked!  Listen to "Hold Yourself Up" below...and smile for the rest of the day.

Whirr

Bay area band Whirr love their swirling guitar textures, their cacophonous drum rhythms, their ear splitting decibels.  A beautiful and perfect combination of garage rock and shoegaze, play this shit loud.  The band's new "Around" EP is out now on Graveface Records.  Listen to "Swoon" below.

One Last Dive

Watch the short film "One Last Dive" from Jason Eisener ("Hobo with a Shotgun") below.  It's excellent, scary, and just over a minute long.

The film comes from something called "The 3:07 AM Project" that was put together by Vice as an accompiament to the horror film "The Conjuring" that came out a couple weeks ago.


One Last Dive from jasoneisener on Vimeo.

Danny Paul Grody

San Francisco artist Danny Paul Grody crafts beautiful pieces of music, combining elements of ambience and Americana that creates a simple, yet hypnotic soundscape.  This is nature music at its finest.  Listen to "Grass Nap" below from new album "Between Two Worlds," available in late August from Three Lobed Records.

Crystal Castles covered by Capital Children's Choir

This is just too cool for words.  A London based children's choir (Capital Children's Choir) recently covered "Untrust Us" from Crystal Castles' debut LP, and it's wonderful.  Watch the video below.

Lark

Cold, sleepy, minimal synth with a touch of rockabilly worked into the mix for shits and giggles.  Lark's "Goodbye Man" sounds like something some weirdo Russian kid would have made behind the iron curtain with a primitive drum machine and an old, beat-up analog synthesizer after hear Nick Cave for the first time.  This one will grow on you.  Get the 7" here, courtesy of Care in the Community Recordings and listen to the jam below.

Future Bible Heroes

Stephen Merritt's long dormant project, Future Bible Heroes, are back with the first new record in over 10 years.  Dancey, synthy, audio bubblegum of the finest order, the "Partygoing" LP continues in the vein Merritt started with this band back in the 90's with Magnetic Fields member Claudia Gonson taking vocal duties.  Listen to "Living, Loving, Partygoing" below and get the album on Merge.

German Army

Here's some cold, throbbing industrial music from the mysterious German Army.  Not exactly Friday music, but whatever.  "Literacy in Opium" comes from the band's "Endless Phonics" LP, due next month on Monofonus Press.  It sounds like something Coil would have done 25 years ago, so naturally, i'm all over it.  Listen below.

Found Vinyl: Play Dead - The First Flower

Does it get any better than goth rock from the 1980's?  I'll go ahead and answer that question for you.  The answer is...yeah, probably, but for people like me who flirted with the black nail polish set long before it was all corrupted by so many whiny emo-kids, moody and mopey goth jams are just another little slice of sonic heaven.  And in the early 80's, the UK was just filled to the brim with acts pulling their sound from The Cure, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Public Image Limited, and on and on, a dark, post-punk, new-wave scene.  Play Dead came out of Oxford as part of the late 70's punk explosion, but really came into their own with their 1983 album "The First Flower."  The band was gothy, but not completely.  Think more Ultravox and less Sisters of Mercy.  Take a listen to "The Tenant" below.



"Sin of Sins" sounds like it could have been a B-side from a John Lydon project.



The band lasted until 1985 and then dispersed as bands are wont to do.  Here's to me finding more records like this in my future crate digging excavations.  I'll leave you with album-ender "Don't Leave Without Me."


Stay moody.

The Chance

I love that there are so many record labels out there (both big and small) who scour the country and the world for a veritable smorgasbord of lost relics and obscure artifacts in the form of forgotten albums...and then reissue them for our listening pleasure.  Paradise of Bachelors just released a gold nugget in The Chance's brilliant 1981 country-funk-psych-folk masterpiece "In Search."  Chance Martin started his career working with Johnny Cash as a stage hand before he went on to record this awesome LP.  Take a listen to two tracks from the record below, "Mr. Freedom Man" and "Blue Monday."  They're both really difficult to categorize, other than just filing them under awesome.  Get the album here.  Go do it now.

Zorch

Austin duo Zorch have been banging around town for a number of years now, throwing all manner of influence, style, and/or genre into their insane melting pot.  Tribal beats, analog synths, computer blips and bleeps, soul, world, psych flow like an untamed river.  New album "ZZOORRCCHH" does its best to harness the band's penchant for genre blending, turning it into an almost audio trip through outer space.  Listen to "Cosmic Gloss" below and get the album here.

Octo Octa

Here's a late night thumper from Brooklyn producer Octo Octa's debut full-length album, "Between Two Selves," from 100% Silk.  Subtle beats, muted and sampled vocals, and a repetitive throb build to reserved bliss on "Please Dont' Leave."  Listen below and get the record here.

Roberto Cacciapaglia

Italian composer Roberto Cacciapaglia worked for most of his career at the Italian version of the BBC, the RAI, and in 1979 put together the wonderfully soothing and minimalist album "Sei Note In Logica," an intoxicating swirl of arranged violins, piano, and computer noises.  The folks over at Mirumir Records have been kind enough to reissue the album for us on vinyl.  Listen to "Sei Note In Logica (Part 1)" below and get the album here.

FIDLAR - Cocaine video

California trouble makers FIDLAR have a new video out for their raucous jam "Cocaine," featuring Nick Offerman and a lot of urine.  Watch it below and get FIDLAR's self-titled debut album on Mom and Pop.

FIDLAR - Cocaine (ft. Nick Offerman) from FIDLAR

Antwon - Dying in the Pussy

San Jose rapper Antwon rode into 2013 on an excellent mixtape, "In Dark Denim," but he's been relatively quiet since.  Fortunately, Suicide Squeeze will be releasing a 7" in the very near future featuring new jam "Dying in the Pussy," a track sure to be on the car stereos and lips of soccer moms and school administrators everywhere.  Listen below.

David Yow

Jesus Lizard and Scratch Acid front man David Yow has released an album of solo material called "Tonight You Look Like a Spider," and it doesn't sound anything like i would have expected.  Rather than a blast of sweaty, spitting, noisy and experimental punk, this mostly instrumental affair (15 years in the making) stretches its greasy fingers into horror film textures, claustrophobic atmospheres, and experimental and industrial soundscapes.  It's difficult at times, oddly amusing at others, and downright foreboding at others.  Listen to "Thee Itch" below and get the record from Joyful Noise.

Gauntlet Hair - Bad Apple

Denver act Gauntlet Hair have taken their noise aesthetic and jangly guitars and added a layer of cold synth and darkness, maintaining their sound, albeit in a much more Gothic direction.  Consider me a fan.  Listen to "Bad Apple" below, taken from the band's sophomore album "Stills," out now on Dead Oceans.

Forest Swords - The Weight of Gold

Here's another new trippy and excellent track from Forest Swords.  New album "Engravings" is out in August from Tri-Angle.  Listen to "The Weight of Gold" now.

JU4N

For fans of Oneohtrix Point Never, check out "Vaporware," the first album from Austin's JU4N (Juan Cisneros) a kaleidoscope of synth tones, waves, snippets of samples, and at least one saxophone.  Listen to album opener "Shattered Glass in Oil Rainbow" below and get the cassette from Holodeck while they last.

Big Tits

I am very curious as to how many people have looked at this page based on the blog title alone.  If you feel you are here by mistake, my apologies.  At any rate, Big Tits are a lo-fi, garage, glam rock band out of Brooklyn.  Their "Ex-Repeater" 7" is available now from Fuzz City Records.  Listen to the A-side below and get the record here.

Found Vinyl: Space Art - Trip in The Center Head

There ain't no party like a French cosmic synth-pop party, cause a French cosmic synth-pop party don't stop!  It's no secret that i'm a huge nerd about synthesizer-centric music, be it classical compositions re-imagined by computers, a horror movie soundtrack, or just good, old fashioned dance jams.  French duo Space Art, and their 1979 opus "Trip in The Center Head" wades the waters forged by Beaver and Krause and Wendy Carlos, crafting a synthetic sonic world of what the future was supposed to sound like.  Listen to "L'Obsession d'Archibald" to get started.



I imagine an old school circuit board with lights flashing and colors moving here and there, like walking into a scene from the original "Tron."  An Atari wonderland.  Now, listen to "Eyes Shade," a track that has more of a movie score thing going for it.



And here's one more called "Psychosomatique."


If you can find it, this album is definitely worth your time, especially for all of you purveyors of all things old and synthetic.

Dear Mr. Watterson

Growing up in the 80's and 90's, one of my all time favorite things ever in the entire universe was the daily comic strip "Calvin & Hobbes" by Bill Watterson.  The strip had a profound effect on me, as it did pretty much anybody who read it.  When it came to an end in the mid-90's, the reclusive Watterson bid us all adieu and has stayed completely out of the limelight ever since.  And while, he did not allow himself to be interviewed, i'm still really excited about the upcoming documentary about Watterson and the influence "Calvin & Hobbes" has had on people.  "Dear Mr. Watterson" is directed by Joel Schroeder and will be released in September (at least on VOD).  My inner child is gleaming!  Watch the trailer below.

And speaking of Mazzy Star...

After teasing us last year with a new single, Mazzy Star is officially (finally) releasing a new album of material in September, the duo's first since 1996.  "Seasons of Your Day" will be released courtesy of Rhymes of An Hour, but you should definitely listen to "California" below, a somber and wistful acoustic lullaby.

J Mascis covers Mazzy Star

Indie rock hero and Dinosaur Jr front man J Mascis did an acoustic solo cover of Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You," and it's wonderful.  Listen below.

Keep Shelly In Athens

After a number of excellent EP's and singles, Keep Shelly In Athens are finally ready to release their proper full-length debut of dreamy and ethereal synth-pop.  "Home" comes out in September on Cascine, but you can listen to first single "Recollection" below.

Marie Davidson

Are you looking for some beautiful, yet slightly creepy and unsettling music sung in French?  No?  Maybe?  It doesn't matter, because listening to "Esthetique privee" from Canadian chanteuse Marie Davidson's new self-titled EP is totally going to put you in her camp anyway.  Listen below and grab it from Holodeck.  I really love it.

Only God Forgives

Though some of the reviews i've read for Nicolas Winding Refn's upcoming new film "Only God Forgives," re-teaming with "Drive" star Ryan Gosling, i'm still pretty excited to see it.  Part of that could be because Cliff Martinez is back to do the score.  Listen to "Wanna Fight" below.

Sungod

The bands that throw a bunch of different sounds and ingredients into a bowl to create some sort of sonic casserole are generally some on the ones that i find most intriguing.  Austin's Sungod is an almost devious mix of prog, metal, kraut, synth, psych, and drone.  Their cassette release album "Contackt" is sold out from Holodeck, but just listen to "Gas Is Better than Gas" below.  It is the sound of dropping acid in the modern world, and if it was the aforementioned casserole, it would be delicious.

Tropic of Cancer

Crafting airy and ethereal cold wave jams, LA's Tropic of Cancer's dreamy psychedelia is the perfect blissful soundtrack for a hot summer day.  There's a bit of John-Hughes-vibe, but ultimately, everything gets swallowed up by the haze.  Get the "Restless Idylls" LP from Blackest Ever Black in September and listen to the 7" version of the band's "More Alone" below.

The Cult of Dom Keller

Mannequin Records keeps their hat trick of a year in check, this time around with the groovy, sun-drenched, acid-fried psych rock of Nottingham's The Cult of Dom Keller.  The band's wall-of-noise self-titled album is sold out, but you can still grab the digital version here.  In the meanwhile, listen to "Worlds" below.

Steve Arrington & Dam-Funk

Soul and funk lifer Steve Arrington (he was in the band Slave) has been out of the limelight for about a quarter of a century now, but the man is back, pairing with the likes of modern funky beat-maker Dam-Funk for a new LP called "Higher."  This is booty-shaking astral plane sexy time music for terrestrials and extra-terrestrials alike.  Take a listen to "I Be Trippin" below and get the album next month from Stones Throw.

Good Stuff House

Austin's Holodeck Records (the label responsible for one of my favorite albums of the year, Troller) are at it again with a very limited vinyl reissue of Good Stuff House's 2006 untitled album, originally released on CD-R.  The album has no title and no song titles, but there really is no need for them.  A sprawling work of tones, textures, and sounds, the music comes off as an Americana interpretation of drone and ambient melody.  Cool, cool stuff.  Listen to a sample below.

Vision Fortune

This jam and release from London's Vision Fortune has actually been around for a little while, but whilst digging through the releases from Mannequin Records, it instantly caught my ear.  Part Sun City Girls, part Savage Republic, a droning, hypnotic chant of psych noise and worship, as if prepping a sacrifice for the old gods.  Listen to "Black Coral" below and grab the 7" here.

Light House

The excellent Berlin record label Mannequin Records has been releasing a slew of good material this year.  One of the latest is the reissue of Portland darkwave band Light House's 2012 "In Their Image" EP.  Dark synths, ambient drone, icy vocals, and a throbbing pulse that suggests we've just met the villain in a John Carpenter movie.  Listen to "Walls Want Communion" below and get the record here.

Jackson Scott

North Carolina singer/guitarist Jackson Scott is pulling a lot of comparisons to such indie-rock wunderkinds as Built To Spill and Deerhunter's Bradford Cox, and while those comparisons are pretty dead on, there's also a Dinosaur Jr meets dreamy-bedroom-pop thing going on.  Take a listen to "Together Forever" from the forthcoming "Melbourne" LP, out later this month on Fat Possum.

Snakehips

Here's a smooth, soulful, summer night R&B jam from Snakehips featuring George Maple.  I don't know anything about these folks, but this "On & On" jam just steams.  Listen below and grab the 12" single here.

Cosmonauts

California's Cosmonauts craft garage/surf jams for the beach going set.  Take a listen to the smooth "Shaker" below from the band's forthcoming "Persona Non Grata" LP out next month on Burger Records.  It sounds like something that would play during slow motion video footage of surfers.  Perfect summertime listening.

Circulation of Light

Circulation of Light's "Acheiropoieta" is an odd and hypnotic mix of chanting, clinking pianos, drone, chimes, and throb and click of assorted other instruments.  It's like new wave druid music, if that new wave druid music were made in Wisconsin by a dude named Nathaniel Ritter.  Grab the album here and listen to "The Death Desire" below.

Fryars

So, it's 1:30 in the morning here, and the baby's asleep, so i should totally be doing the same...but yet i'm up, scouring the web for injections of pop.  Fryars is the electro-dance project of London's Ben Garrett.  Take a listen to the throbbing, swirling, swaggering "Cool Like Me" below, and think of it as your late night come down.  Dig on those synthetic strings and Astralwerks beats.  Get the single from 679.

Found Vinyl: Poser - Town Man

I'm not a huge fan of the warm island jams, but i just couldn't pass up this calypso gem after finding it in a used book store.  There's not a whole lot of print or info to be found about Sylvester Lockhart, heretofore to be known as Poser.  He began his singing career in 1970 in Trinidad, eventually recording his "Town Man" LP for B's Records Inc.  That's pretty much all i can find on the man.  The music is a bit generic, the kind of jams you'd hear at some sort of "exotic" restaurant, night club, or hotel, but he does it well.  Take a listen to the title track.



And here's "Kaya Grass."



And finally, here's the album's last song "Advice," which is my favorite.


I have to add that my favorite thing about this record is that there is an advertisement for a West Indian American restaurant in Brooklyn on the back of the album cover.   The joint was (is?) called B's, i guess meaning that the restaurant and the record label were both owned by the same dude.  Get your art out any way you can.

(All the above youtube tracks are occasionally interrupted by some "don't-pirate-this-music type interference.  My apologies.)

Melt Yourself Down

In an almost violent mix of African rhythms, calypso beats, free-form jazz, space funk, and acid house flashes, British freak-out act Melt Yourself Down craft the kind of music you'd expect at some kind of drug-fueled rave filled with sketchy characters, all of whom are much cooler than you.  Listen to the brain melting "Fix My Life" below and look for the group's self-titled album on The Leaf Label.

FUZZ

After a string of singles, Ty Segall's crunchy, blues stomping, stoner-garage-psych band side project FUZZ will be releasing their self-titled debut full-length LP in October on In The Red.  Listen to "Loose Sutres" below (courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan).  Oh yeah.

Ariel Pink and Jorge Elbrecht

Sonic trash excavator Ariel Pink often makes some of his most easily engaging work when when collaborating with others as evidenced by the wonderful "Hang on to Life," a limited 7" release with Jorge Elbrecht on Mexican Summer.  Listen below.

Ras G and The Afrikan Space Program

Honestly, i don't know the first thing about LA producer Ras G, or his Afrikan Space Program, but considering new album "Back on the Planet" is on Brainfeeder (Flying Lotus's record label), and the space-funk album art, and the fact that trippy and tribal track "All Is Well..." would sound awesome with MF Doom on top of it, i'm calling it a winner.  Listen to that jam below and look for the album in August.

Hookworms

I've been on a little bit of a psych-rock tear lately, so it's quite convenient that i come across Leeds act Hookworms.  Listen to the epic, sprawling "Away / Towards" below from their upcoming "Pearl Mystic" LP due this September on Weird World.  Slow builds of ever increasing noise and feedback, screaming, yelling, hollering through a wall of Velvet Underground-inspired fuzzy crunch.  This is the sound of staring into the sun for too long.  Listen and download below.

Conspiracy of Owls

Listen to the psych-garage-rock wonderfulness of "The Lesson" from Conspiracy of Owls below and go pre-order the flexi 7" from the always fun and dependable Burger Records.

Yamantaka // Sonic Titan

Canadian experimental-rock-opera-metal-no-wave-avant-garde act Yamantaka // Sonic Titan get the reissue treatment from Suicide Squeeze later this month, with the lovely release of their album, "YT//ST."  It's a really cool blend of styles that makes the group sound familiar, yet totally in a nitch by themselves.  Listen to "Queens" below.

La Luz

Enjoy the 60's-inspired, girl group, summer vibes of Seattle's La Luz.  "Brainwash" comes from the upcoming 7" on Suicide Squeeze Records.  Listen below.