Teenage Burritos - Strange Mutations 7" Volar Records has whipped together a nice little subscription series that pulls together new tracks by Lenz, Cosmonauts, newcomers Fine Steps plus a standout 7" from Teenage Burritos. The Burritos pull together members of RSTB faves Plateaus and Christmas Island and the ensuing tracks are a sugar frosted blast of pop that makes no allusions towards refinement, just scrappy swingin' sounds that make the days seem sweeter. The band had a six-shot tape on Burger and the b-side from this single reared [...]
The Burger Buds tap into the Dutch garage contingent with a tape release of the finest young pips in the Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. Certainly taking a few nods from their American counterparts in San Francisco, Chicago and Memphis; the eponymous album rolls through classic rock motions with more than a touch of youthful swagger that skirts the line between winking in-jokes and flat out rock wunderkind territory, much like the first Pangea album that popped up on ye Olde Burger Recs a while back. Though the boys here seem to have lucked into a slightly finer level of fidelity than [...]
The Hussy bring a video bursting with boundless energy to the table for hands down our favorite track from their latest LP, Pagan Hiss . Its a flurry of masks and mosh pits and a blast of acoustic punk hooks that slay every time. Pick up their excellent third album from Southpaw. Support the artist, buy it HERE
It’s been a while since Scott Mou popped up on my musical radar. Though he's been working under the name for some time, this is the first time Queens has seen a proper release of material. Mou last entered the musical consciousness partnered with Noah Lennox for a few scant releases as the bygone band JANE, who's ambient noise templates and crumpled beats might share a volume knob adjustment with Queens but thematically they're a far cry from the emotional fragility of End Times . Built on a palette of acoustic plucks, hiss, drone and a plaintive vocal [...]
No frills, just Fuzz bein' Fuzz in this new video from the three piece. Laying down some jams at Burgerama and making it look easy. I tell ya every piece of the Fuzz puzzle that falls into place has this looking to be one hell of an album when it hits. Primed to see these guys live when the chance arrives as it looks like a hell of a show. Support the artist, buy it HERE
This is a document of two artists speaking to one another through strings plucked and hammered simultaneously. Blackshaw, long a favorite around here, met Lubomyr Melnyk at a festival in 2008 and the two shared admiration of each others's work and made tentative plans to work together sometime in the future. That promise has finally come to fruition and the results are unflinchingly moving. It seems that James counts Melnyk as something of an influence and with his complex, polyrhytmic textures being something of a trademark; it’s easy to see what lessons he's taken away from the elder composer. The [...]
Ketamines - All The Colours of Your Heart 7" Ketamines' last album received a fair amount of play around RSTB's stereo last year, so new material comes with open arms. And though we hadn't heard about the band's Paul Lawton pissing off Canada , it seems they're having a banner year in 2013. In addition to a new album, You Can't Serve Two Masters , on the way this summer the band's releasing a series of four 7"s across as many labels. The first up is "All [...]
Root Strata digs into the archives to release Mirage , a long out of print CD-r recorded in 2008 from NY duo Messages. The band was first introduced to RSTB around the same time via Social Registry's excellent run of 7"s, of which theirs stood out as a highlight. This album captures the band in a similar floating drone bliss, mixing raga buzz with a meditative vibration that borders on ecstatic. It’s a full body kind of extrasensory exploration that drives the record, tuning into chant, tambura rhythms and appropriately spaced-out raga chords that chug along at a [...]
Released during the rush and crush of Record Store Day, but there remain copies from more than a few sources still, this collaboration between Steve Gunn and Hiss Golden Messenger and the lead by the spirit of Dickie Silk is probably one you missed out while grubbing copies of limited vinyl fodder. It seems you should check back in the racks and stacks, as it’s a gem among the hastily packaged split 7"s and double bound reissues. The record rolls on a dusted country vibe, with Gunn's guitar sounding clear and clean as ever and pumping down double barrels and [...]
RSTB has shared plenty of love for Pangea this year and last and there's no doubt that any upcoming works will wind up high on our best of lists for the year. Check out the band laying down a killer version of "Badillac" for Rollo & Grady's session series. No blast of harmonica on this version but a searing guitar solo will do the trick. Missed this when it went up a little while ago but it fills the void of waiting for the news Pangea has promised on their Facebook .
John Drendall & B.A. Thrower - Papa Never Let Me Sing the Blues The words "private press", usually followed by some miniscule run and tale of woe or mismanagement tend to elicit a tingle of excitement when it comes to reissues. Trouble is most reissue labels know this and its a crapshoot. Sometimes records never received pressings because they were deserving of that obscurity, though when that gem shines through and a label, like the appropriately named Out-Sider, comes through with that rare find its worth the risk for the [...]
Taking his garage grind out of the lo-fi murk and into the studio, Seth Sutton pulls Useless Eaters into a new phase and it finally brings the potential bubbling below the hiss-crackled surface of those early records to the frontline. Hypertension still has the vein-bulging urgency of Sutton's past pursuits but now that urgency is practically fizzing in the wires trying to get out of your speakers. Hooks butt heads with tangled knots of spiky guitar, the occasional foray into buzzing, evil keys and even a bit of strum that winds down the pace for some pop bounce [...]
Date Palms have always brought a new level to the drift and float of drone. They craft tracks that float not so much in a stratospheric ether as level with your head, opening at the temples to swim languidly beyond the seawalls of consciousness. On their latest, The Dusted Sessions they still wade into the earthy, clay streaked waters that have marked their past work but now they break down a new wall with the addition of perfectly nuanced slide guitar strains and pulsing electric bass. The river imagery is more than just hyperbole though, as the band [...]
I was lukewarm on the last Merchandise release. Everyone seemed so taken, and I was left wanting. Not wholly unimpressed but looking for something more. Their follow-up, Totale Nite definitely has taken deeper hold, and in unexpected ways. Nothing would have prepared me for the classic rock blast of harmonica in the opening seconds of "Who Are You?” a fizzing, frothing dirge of a song that feels overwhelmed with the high tide assault of afternoon and is in danger of dipping into darkness with the sun. They return to their post-punk bends elsewhere but with an openness that [...]
Can't even explain how much I love this record. Its just a perfect pop gem that keeps on giving. Check out the video for the title track "Waiting for Something To Happen" up above. Simple concept but a nice visual for the song's wily charms. If this one isn't already in your collection, make no hesitations. Pick it up! Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Over the years RSTB has found it hard to ignore the Gunslingers and the subsequent iterations of its enigmatic element GR. Gregory Raimo rides alone here, no Slingers, no Expansion, but he's still wobbling the tense edge of the psychedelic desert with the fury he brought to both of those outfits. Hell, maybe more so. Little tethers this to the ground, just a wild smash of drums and the heatsick guitars of Raimo flailing at the sky, begging onlookers to move along and leave him to his terrifying visions. Maybe the closest comparisons here are to Plastic Crimewave Sound but [...]
Sydney three piece Dark Bells lay down a single for UK label Tape Club Records that blends psych and shoegaze into a swirling mass that's only matched by the video's visual drainpipe. The single pulses and washes before a delicate breakdown and subsequent return to euphoric haze. Pick it up below before it vanishes. Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Super Wild Horses return with a follow-up to their HoZac debut and its just as taut and darkly rambunctious as their previous effort. Crosswords steps up production ever so slightly but still hearkens to an era of 90's femme fatale girl groups while wading into a new dark edge of guitar rock that rubs shoulders with post-punk in ways their debut didn't. They've still got that insistent wall of dual vocals that can feel like an attack at some times, a coo at others and more than often explode into a celebration; though they always seem to demand [...]
Dick Diver work up a charming video for their equally charming track "Calendar Days". Just the kind of sunny afternoon strumming that we'd love to think about (especially on a rainy NY afternoon). If you haven't delved into the album yet, do yourself a favor and pick it up. Definitely one of our favorites this year. Support the artist. Buy it: HERE
Windian Records - Subscription Series #1 5x7" Windian Records has put together one of the first essential 7" subscriptions of the year, and good news is even if you didn't subscibe there's still time to get in on this gem. The box opens with a double side of power pop fury from Barreracudas, whose anthemic bubblegum hasn't lost a step since their album on Douchemaster. There's also a great double shot from Heavy Times, who blow thinigs down with their fiery a-side "K-9". Milwaukee's Static Eyes bring some old [...]
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