January 2010
99 posts
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SCHWANN SONG
Canada breeds good, noisy punk like nobody’s business, I guess. A friend of mine sent me a 7” from Alberta’s Myelin Sheaths, which had me thrashing my way around the room in a ballistic spasm of bouncy energy…..have I mentioned my neighbors hate me? The band are still fairly new, having released only one other 7” last year called Stackticon (now also on its way to...
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YOU'LL BE MY AMERICAN GIRL
Woke up from sludge dreams to see that my favorite one-woman psyche droner Meghan Remy is releasing a new U.S. Girls LP early next month. She’s also released a new video for the first track leak, Red Ford Radio. It’s a slightly more melodic track then what she usually presents, like a Joy Division track heard through a fever haze.
MP3:
Red Ford Radio
Meghan’s new album Go...
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SOUND MIRAGE
Got a beautiful EP from Royal Rhino Flying Records by London-based duo Visions Of Trees, and I’ve been playing the heck out of it. Their sound has echoes of High Places and Fight Bite, with clattering synthetic percussion and lovely vocals. Perfect for getting lost in on a spring morning.
MP3s:
Cult of Cobras
Solid Rainbows
Their EP Sometimes It Kills is up for preorder now; get it.
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BLACK METAL
I love waking up to awesome emails. First up, not only is there an amazing new video from the washed-out Malibu new wave Matrix Metals, but his 2009 cassette Flamingo Breeze has been re-released on vinyl! Great news if, like me, you took it to the beach and it got wet and now it sounds like everything is a James Ferraro remix. The vinyl is available from Olde English Spelling Bee. Get it!
...
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VISIONS
Took a day off to be okkvlt; new things tomorrow evening.
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A WOMAN'S WATERS
My favoritest noise duo Caldera Lakes have just released a new cassette! Tape is the perfect medium to listen to Brittany Gould’s beautiful, otherworldy vocals punctured by Eva Aguila’s throbbing drones and harsh noise. Naturally the second I got the news I immediately purchased one, and you should as well because they’re limited to 100 copies.
MP3:
Antiques Of You
...
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THE WRITE STUFF
PENS put up new tracks last night! They’re really good and you should go listen to them. I’d post them if I could but I don’t have them so I can’t but you can still listen to them using the Myspace website.
Thanks to my beautiful Laura for the heads up!
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THE SOUND OF THE SHAPES
Fuzzed-out garage-pop is fairly common again, but Golden Triangle take it to another level. Injecting an unhealthy dose of punk and swampy Birthday Party-esque blues into the mix, this Brooklyn band put on wild, raucous live shows that spin by in a whirl of noise and color (I’m still unsure as to how many people actually make up the band; at various shows I’ve seen as few as three...
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AN EYE FOR THE MAIN DANCE
If there’s one band who consistently astound me with their ability to manipulate pop conventions, it’s High Places. Ever since I first heard their 3-07-9-07 collection, I’ve been lusting after their primitive art-folk sound, luxuriating in their expanding, evolving sounds. This year they’re returning with their sophomore full-length, and here’s one of the tracks....
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TEAR IT DOWN
Some of my best friends are monsters. Douglas is a kid I’ve known for about five years now. After cutting his teeth as a bass player and experimenting with the industrial noise of Elephant Skull, he began making thrashy electropunk tunes under the name BIRTH!, and he’s only been getting stronger. Like some deadly combination of Test Dept and Dandi Wind, he delivers shrieked vocals...
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OTTER DANCE
Apologies for the lack of updates; I’m battling a cold and chugging vitamins. Basically had to write because Belgian synth monster Kania Tieffer recently put some new tunes up and they’re really really good. One is about being old, which I can’t relate to at all because I’m a hot ‘n’ horny teen. The other, however, is about DANCING which is something I think...
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WIZ KIDS
The other day Brian mentioned that Gang Wizard are recording new material. I just wanted to share this so your brain boner becomes as big as mine at the thought of this. I haven’t seen this band in a very long time and I still remember sniffing a bit when my GW shirt finally deteriorated to the point of being unwearable, which for me means it was basically a 2x5 inch piece of cloth...
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JOIN THE CLUB
It feels like forever since I made a mixtape, but I recently did this one for a friend. I’ve provided a rip because I am awesome and I want you to hear all the cool stuff he gets to hear too. It does include a weirdo drone version of Korn’s ‘Got The Life’, and yes, the irony is so thick you could sculpt it like Play-Doh. But does anyone unironically like Korn? Seems...
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WONDER BEATS
Seems like the growing thing is psych-dronesters taking their vocals to electro music. First you had….well, first you had Genesis P-Orridge moving from Throbbing Gristle into Psychic TV, but in contemporary terms you had Zola Jesus teaming up with Some Guy to make one nice tune and one bad tune (NO MORE AUTO-TUNE.) Now Honey Owens of Valet/Jackie-O Motherfucker fame has gotten together...
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WOUNDS WOUNDS WOUNDS. MARCIA MARCIA MARCIA.
In 2010 the growing personal trend is to slog through the piss-and-moan drudgery of life until the day when you die of gay cum overdose, but until then I’m definitely enjoying this track from San Fran’s Hissing Wound. Mad dark slow-burning jams to satisfy the smokiest soul.
MP3:
Kissing Tongues
It’s reminding me a lot of another great band that I haven’t listened to...
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HOLY SOUNDS
Secret Mountains contacted me a while back with their recent EP Kaddish, and I’m only now writing about then because I am a Gay Butt. But don’t mistake my procrastination with disinterest; this is a really sweet and lovely album. Earnest indie-folk melodies abound, and Kelly Laughlin’s vocals will leave you swooning. The title track is my favorite, with its samples of birds...
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MANCRUSH
Denver once again manages to delight me with another fantastic band. I somehow missed the debut EP from Hideous Men when it came out last year, but I’m glad I found it now because these guys are fun as hell. Imagine if SALEM decided to become a party band and you’ll have some point of reference for this awesome duo. Minimalist, crunchy electro-hop beats with Kristi’s distant...
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LEAVIN' WITH A FAT LIP
I literally just got out of bed so I could watch this video again. Love you, Pukers.
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THE SOUND OF COLD
The Grouper/Roy Montgomery split just came out and it’s really gorgeous stuff. The Montgomery recording is pleasant enough but, being the huge Grouper fan I am, it was Liz’s stuff that really grabbed me. ‘Pulse’ is evocative of crisp, sleepy days in sunshiney meadows, ‘Hold The Way’ floats along on wordless vocals, and ‘Hollow Press’ rises and...
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NOW IS THE WINTER OF OUR HISS CONTENT
Bridgetown Records just released a winter collection of a bunch of different lo-fi bands, and it’s a fucking steal at 20 bucks (24 if you’re a fur’ner). You get the delicious bedroom-pop of Vehicle Blues, fuzzed-out garage punk from the young but promising Cloud Nothings, dark, washed-out post-punk by Trudgers, and two re-issues from the always excellent Nicole Kidman PLUS a...
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HAPPY DEATH YEAR
Sonic terrorist tik///tik has just released a web-only track as a tribute to the death of 2k9. It’s bouncy and beautiful in all the ways a mutant loves; in other words it’s like a Gameboy fighting with a car compacter. In even more TT related news, Deathbomb Arc will be releasing his new CD next week. Think it will own? Believe.
MP3:
NO09
tik///tik’s upcoming CD...
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HELLO.
A big welcome to readers old and new. We’ve moved from our old home on blogspot and will now be updating on here. I’ve backed up a few of my favorite old posts (sans music links since I can’t be bothered to re-up) and the more recent posts as well. After I’ve had a day or two to wind down from NYE, posts will resume.
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WE'RE READY
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VHS WEED MONSTER
FUCK I’m retarded, I posted the MP3 a ways back but I totally forgot to blog about Olde English Spelling Bee releasing Grippers Nother Onesers (At Slimer Beach) on vinyl. Basically this is the Lamborghini Crystal cassette 1992 Cool Runnings Holiday, only…it’s on vinyl, man. Anything Ferraro-related is gold, so don’t pass this one up.
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FIBBERS
keyBORE’s name came from a typo and their existence is fragile because they are all so busy with other things; Laura (keys and noise) is in Internet Forever, David (bass) is in Ice Sea Dead People, and Vicki (drums) and Rita (drums and vocals) are both busy working and studying. But when they do manage to come together to make music what results varies between explosive, catchy, repetitive...
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OWL HAVE SOME'A THAT!
Woke up this morning with triangle stigmata; knew it was an Okkvlt Day for sure. Grab ya boards, snow never stopped skate witches. “Skate Or Die”….why not both? Dead Celeb Year, there are no more celebrities left and next year it’s our turn to die forever (nobody stops being dead) and I hope nobody comes to my funeral and then before they fill in the grave a car full of...
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SUBJECT LINE SAYS
I’m really really tired so I’ll make this brief. This is A BAND called The Horn The Hunt. They are from Leeds and they make catchy and eclectic electro which sounds like a cross between CocoRosie, early The Knife, and Bjork. It’s intriguing, beautiful and just a pleasure to listen to.
MP3s:
Hit And Run
The Old Hunting Ground
Their debut album is available on their...
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CLASSIC SOUNDS #1: AZALIA SNAIL
There’s a lot of really fantastic artists that I feel a lot of people miss out on, so I think occasionally I’ll write about something that you should know about that maybe you don’t. My first submission is someone I’ve been listening to a lot lately, the magnificent Azalia Snail. Dubbed ‘the Queen of Lo-Fi’, Snail has released a bunch of albums since 1990 (all...
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BLACK CELEBRATION
In his guest post for Pitchfork’s Best Of 2009 list, Pictureplane’s Travis Egedy mentioned the term ‘Witch House’ in regards to the dark music that’s been so popular this year. I love the term, and while this reactionary compilation of ghost music may not be exactly what Travis had in mind, I feel it’s in the same ‘spirit’ AHAHAHA fuck my life,...
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GD STFF
My friend Rich hooked me up with some stuff by a Brooklyn boy-girl group making fuzzed-out rap-tinged electro. Nope, not Sleigh Bells, these guys predate them but you can’t always catch everything when it first hits. MKNG FRNDZ may not have the pop pizazz that those dudes have, but they do deliver a healthy dose of slammin’ lo-fi queercore. FUN FACT! The guy is named Daniel, which is...
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YEAR'S BEST FINALE!!
This is it, the final nine best albums of the year. I realize some of you might not agree with this (I want to hear that FEEDBACK, by the way!) and maybe you’ll be confused. “Ruddy heck, bruv” you’ll say in your thick Bristol accent, “What’s this rubbish? Time to kill myself, to fucking die.” But I’m here to tell you now….death is not the...
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АЛИЕН ЮНКЯРД МУСИЦ
Sometimes a band contacts me online and it takes about two seconds for me to decide that I love them. Such is the case with Asian Woman On The Telephone, a Moscow-based art/noise group with a passion for homemade costumes and angular sonic meanderings. Looking like junkyard aliens, the quartet rattle and scrape and squawk about stage, delivering snippets of vocals possibly at random. As someone...
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YEAR'S FINEST II
And so we continue with the countdown. Part III (3!) will be coming later this week; I want at least a brief window in the event that something godly gets released in the next few days. As always, ////FEEDBACK//// is appreciated and helps give me incentive to keep this blog going.
15.
Inca Ore - Silver Sea Surfer School
While last year’s Birthday Of Bless You was deliciously dreary...
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MAGNETIC ATTRACTION
When I first saw Trash Kit it was the rhythms that got to me. The almost Zach Hill-esque drums coupled with the catchy guitar riffs made everybody dance. They made me think of Afrirampo, New Bloods and Marnie Stern. I’m pretty sure I grinned all the way through their set because I was so excited that a band like this existed in my city. Since then Ros (aka Ray Rumours, who used to be in...
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MAGIC SHADES
I hate winter. I fucking hate it. I love Christmas, though, but I can’t really abide temperatures under 50 degrees. “Move to LA and get a boob job, Tit Man. Combine your love of breats with your mistrust of insects and get monster jugs filled with bugs.” Sweet idea, m8, but there’s one problem: I also hate driving, so a place without a decent public transport system is...
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I AM PROVEN A LIAR ONCE AGAIN
Okay okay, I guess I AM doing a Year’s Best list after all, but I’m doing it a bit different. Yes, I loved the albums from The XX/Fever Ray/Animal Collective/Atlas Sound/Neon Indian/The Smith Westerns/insert hyped indie band here, but what blog ISN’T mentioning them. *yells from the back of the classroom*: BOOOOORRRIIINNGGGGGG. This is the other Year’s Best list, the one...
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HAPPENINGS
Got a track recently from this mystery band Feathers (not the psychedelic one) and I’ve been bumping it all day. Sounds like something you’d be playing in your convertible on the way to the beach, circa 1986. Maybe you pull into some rollerskate drive-thru, grab a shake and some fries, your goofy buddy leans out and laughingly begs the beautiful bikini girls to hop in. Everyone...
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GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS
It’s no shock that I love female-fronted bands. I’m 90% more likely to check out a band if they have a girl singer, and honestly this blog has sort of transformed into a female-oriented music fansite. Factor in my love of all things Not Not Fun and you’ll see why I’m pounding my mental meat into a frenzy of brain-cum over My Estrogeneration, an all-lady compilation...
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THREE GIRL NIGHT
PENS are another one of those awesome noise-pop bands that exist in a vacuum where it’s 1993 forever. The UK trio recently released their debut full-length album Hey Friend! What You Doing?, fourteen short songs full of punky charm, fuzzy guitars and lo-fidelity synths. All the things that give me and any right-thinking person massive brain-boners.
MP3s:
I Sing Just For You
Networking
...
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WHEREVER I GO, SHE GOES
I’m a sucker for electro-hop, and I’ve been throwing up the whitest dance moves imaginable since I got Kid Sister’s new album Ultraviolet. I’m talkin’ wicked banger beats, rapid-fire rhymes, and some hot collabs (nasty ol’ Kanyeezy is here, allow it!) all packed into a sexy purple package. A nice change of pace from my usual drone and disco fare.
MP3s:
Right...
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FUN FUN FUN
Anything connected to Pocahaunted is godly by default, so when I got my first Topaz Rags 7” a couple years ago, naturally I was enthralled. And how can you not love a duo made up of Amanda and Britt Brown, the people running the impeccable Not Not Fun? Their newest release Capricorn Born Again is the first full-length from the two dronesters, melding the psych-drone of Britt’s...
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DESERT JEWEL
I wear little to no jewelery but I’m a bit in love with the Machine De Terre line at AESA.
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ENDLESS SUMMER
I miss summer; days filled with hazy, washed-out beachy bliss-pop are days to remember (or not, depending on how much you smoked.) With Endless Endless Endless’ Black Talisman, you get a slice of that feeling back. The debut release from NY/Jersey duo Brett Renfer and James Tichenor has all the familiar elements: distorted layers of vocals against swirling lo-fi melodies, slow-burning jams,...
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LAST NIGHT IN NYC: SLEIGH BELLS + KAP BAMBINO
Photos © me. Hello!
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NIGHT CREATURES
Where have I been for the last week or so? Listening to What Is It Like To Be A Bat?, the 2003 album by avant-garde musicians Kitty Brazelton and Dafna Naphtali. A monstrous amalgamation of whoops and wails, operatic vocals, prog and noise rock, the collaboration is like some bizarre cross between Lene Lovich and Erase Eratta. Sadly the duo haven’t collaborated again since then, but if...
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INTERVIEW: MARLO EGGPLANT
Earlier this year I had the pleasure to interview Marlo Eggplant, one of the nicest women in music and the mind behind 2008’s well-received Ladyz In Noyz, a three-disc compilation of female-fronted experimental projects.
You’ve been doing music for a long time now; how did you get started?
I’ve been musicing since I was little. My parents made me take cello, piano, voice, and...
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ON CLOUD 9
BTS Favorites Fan Death premiered their new video yesterday for ‘Reunited’….and it feels so good. Fuck, I gotta check to see if any other blogs made that joke. Some, I bet. The video is beautifully shot and features some celebrity musician lookalikes, including a familiar tarred-and-feathered chap under the car. Mr. Tovey, is that you??
Damn, I totally jumped the gun on...
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I'M SCARED OF GIRLS IRL
I was just slammin’ and jammin’ my dickhead earlier today, and suddenly it occurred to me: “You know who would hate this? Kathleen Hanna.” So, after bashfully covering up my ‘PUSSYBRUTE’ chest tattoo and glaring at my balls for a couple minutes, I started digging up some memories from my love of all things punk and riot grrrl from the ’90s. Together with...
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EARLY CHRISTMAS
Yeah, I know I’m a little behind on Sleigh Bells, but I’ve also been drunk + stoned off my gourd for the last four days at CMJ, so bear with me. Besides, how can I not post about a lo-fi power pop hip-hop group? The new Brooklyn duo have been producing crazy buzz for the last few days, and for good reason. I caught the tail-end of their set on Friday and was blown away by how strong...
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BON VOYAGE
I’ve fallen utterly in love with Cate Le Bon. She’s been compared to Nico and Bobbie Gentry, both accurate but there’s you can also hear elements of contemporary artists like Tickley Feather and Inca Ore. Her new album Me Oh My is like an aural distillation of fall; spooky-spacey synths, bittersweet folksy guitars and somber vocals swirl around in your brain like dry, crackling...