This is the second release from Sacred Bones to show up here this week (and I'm sure it won't be the last) and each one I grab from them just gets better.

	Dead Luke - Record One 7" Dead Luke's inaugural SB 7" is one hell of an offering. Warped synth torture straight from the garage Velcro-ed to minimal beats and Luke's balmy vocals gluing it all together. Outta the clatter, the guitar solo on "I Want You" cuts like hot shrapnel, and its
only when you realize that this is a Troggs cover that you truly feel where Dead Luke is taking things. Apparently this is just the first offering from a to be released box set from Sacred Bones that will include this, a second 7" and a CD-r. I'm definitely anxious to get my hands on that one. Download: [MP3] Dead Luke - I Want You Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Sic Alps

So if you missed out on all the great vinyl action from Sic Alps last year, don't worry, A Long Way Around To A Shortcut is here to save your ass. This fuzzed up scrap of plastic rounds up the some of the best of the Alps' limited wax, including The Soft Tour in Rough Form 12", Description of the Harbour 12" and that Strawberry Guillotine 7" plus the b-sides from the Semi-Streets 7". Though once they're compiled into one place they all seem to fold into one another inside waves of hiss and crumble, each release just a lost part of some other one. It's a damn shame that Matt broke his wrist or you'd have a great chance to experience their blown out gutter blues in true style, live and brutal. Keep your eyes open for a limited 7" coming up on Important and when they finally reschedule that tour, I'll see you in the crowd.

Download:
[MP3] Sic Alps - Brill Building
[MP3] Sic Alps - Speeds

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Ponytail

Ponytail returns with a sophomore album, the aptly titled Ice Cream Spiritual for We Are Free. The band still merge punk energy with spazz aesthetics, but this time around they've added a nice candy coated sheen of pop that didn't come across as heavily on their first release. Of course the most engaging part of the stew is still Molly Siegel's brutal vocalizations, full of guttural growls and wordless squawks. The closest contemporaries for the Baltimore kids seem to be Afrirampo; except that I'm pretty sure the latter are speaking Japanese, I can't make a word (well maybe one or two on "7 Souls") out from Siegel, and I completely love that about her. They match the Japanese duo's primal energy though, tearing through the entire album like a furious 8 armed tornado of sound, squalor, hair and teeth. I'm still yet to catch them live, but from what I understand that's their true element so don't hesitate if they roll through your town.

Download:
[MP3] Ponytail - Small Wevs
[MP3] Ponytail - 7 Souls

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

The Pink Noise

Another release from the Sacred Bones stable that ignites the torch of melted plastic synth-psych and carries it high; The Pink Noise's brand of scorched pop is yet more reason for me to love this label. Picking up atmospheric strains of pink and turquoise marbled synth-pop from the mid eighties and filtering it through a beat up Ghetto Blaster; the band's sense for melody is keen, but it's their ability to crumple it in all in aluminum foil and microwave the whole mess into flames that really sets them apart. Repeated listens to this peel away the layers and it honestly gets better each time I put it on. A must if you're into any of the last few Blank Dogs releases as this is certainly a kindred spirit to the Dogs' chromium dreams. Gotta keep your eyes peeled for these releases, they come out fast and in short supply but are well worth it for their contents and Sacred Bones' distinctive packaging.

Download:
[MP3] The Pink Noise - Ithaca
[MP3] The Pink Noise - Dead Glitter Sun

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

If you're in the NYC area this weekend come on out to Soundfix Lounge (N. 11th @ Bedford) and hear a ton of garage, psych and everything inbetween. This month's movies come from 60's bands with budgets enough to make movies; special showings of The Who's Tommy and The Monkees' Head. Should be a good time. Music starts between 9:30 and 10 and the weather's warmer so no excuses!

The 60's scene south of the border was incredibly fertile and unfortunately, largely untapped until the flood of reissues that have sprung up of late. Many South American countries had acts that rivaled their Northern and Eastern neighbors, and besides the obvious hotbed in Brazil, Peru was one of the most well stocked scenes.

	Laghonia - Glue Though the band owes a heavy debt to many UK and US acts on their debut, they infuse the album with an eclectic style and distinctively South American sense of rhythm. The band shines the brightest on their heavier, guitar laden tracks but
even when they veer into folkier territory they'd put many lesser bands to shame. There are certainly derivative moments, but considering this is the band's first album it's no more so than the majority of garage bands at the time. The band recorded a follow up that was also moderately received in their home country before being plagued by line-up changes and eventually disbanding after two lesser records that followed. Still this is a great snapshot of the Peruvian scene circa late 60's/ early 70's. Download: [MP3] Laghonia - Neighbor [MP3] Laghonia - Glue Support the artist. Buy it HERE
	Traffic Sound - Virgin Traffic Sound, certainly one, if not the best Peruvian group at the time; have a more polished sound than that of Laghonia. Their mixture of breezy guitars and flashy rhythms have brought them to light with reissues popping up
a number of places in the mid to late 90's until now. The band had a knack for textures, mixing woodwinds and the occasional vibes into the mix and straddling the line between a West Coast almost Santana vibe and more progressive sounds. It's unfortunate that they never received proper acclaim in this hemisphere during their original run but any an all of the band's reissued material is worth digging up. They prove more than any other the importance of the Peruvian psych movement. Download: [MP3] Traffic Sound - Virgin [MP3] Traffic Sound - Meshkaina Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Caethua

Ash flecked ghosts of folk from Bloomington, Indiana's Caethua; on her latest tape, Queenly Women Crowned and Uncrowned. Alternating between the thick fog of field recorded moans and lonesome folk wanderings through the burnt leaves of late Autumn. Much of Queenly Women feels shrouded in the grayed skies of October dawn; early frost clinging to the grass and the beginnings of a drizzle rumbling in the clouds. Its definitely not an album of celebration but its not necessarily dour, just delightfully gloomy. Clare Hubbard's voice is delicately weathered, strong and lamenting but never asking for pity. The album's tracks burrow under your skin slowly until her voice twists with the icy wind in your ears and the buzzing din splashes along with tires on pavement. Though I've heard little of Hubbard before this point it seems that she'll become deservingly more prevalent. Following this release on Abandon Ship, she's got a tape slated on Night People and is also a member of free noise project DBH.

Download:
[MP3] Caethua - The Frozen Ground of Upstate New York
[MP3] Caethua - The Blood Beneath Our Skin

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

The second shot out of the Jay Reatard 7" onslaught, and its even better than the first. Besides being an ingenious way to lead up to a record this is shaping up to be one of the best strings of singles out this year.

	Jay Reatard - Painted Shut 7" A double shot of Power Pop from the Reatard camp. These singles have much more of the feel of his string of 7"s that surrounded Blood Visions, less straight fueled garage punk and more of the new wave and huge pop hooks sneaking in. This pair certainly
wouldn't feel out of place alongside "Hammer I Miss You", but honestly the b-side on this one has quickly risen the ranks to be one of my favorite of Jay's tracks yet. It's that sprightly organ that kills me. Pick this one up wherever you can, because as you may well know with each single that Matador chucks outta the door they become more and more scarce. Download: [MP3] Jay Reatard - An Ugly Death Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Ben Reynolds

Glaswegian psych/drone mainstay Ben Reynolds has been well known for his contributions to such luminaries as Ashtray Navigations, Vibracathedral Orchestra and Sunroof!, but he’s never really been known for the tender touch of acoustic strings until now. Though he’d always used bits of clean string work in his pieces it wasn’t until the release of Two Wings that Reynolds’ name could really be said in the same breath as Stephen Basho Junghans and Sean Smith. His fluid, circular pieces on the album are sparse but decidedly heartfelt. Though his works have often conveyed very strong emotions, they’ve never been on this level; the darkness that’s ever present in Ash Nav’s work is cowered into the corners and the tracks on Two Wings are scattered with the ashen light of day. Ben lands in a fitting home amongst the stable at Strange Attractors Audio House, home to Junghans as well, and with this brief foray into the picker’s ranks I’m very keen to keep an eye on his next solo work.

Download:
[MP3] Ben Reynolds - Here Toucheth Blues

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Meneguar

In further proof that Meneguar never sleep, the band release The In Hour on their own Woodsist imprint only a few months after their great offering on Troubleman last year. I've been a fan of the interplay of styles between the Meneguar/Woods/Shepherds contingent and the rough hewn edges of the latter two have certainly bled into the former on this album. Not nearly as ragged as that Tone Banks cassette that appeared here a few months ago, but they've definitely eschewed polish for intensity and immediate emotion. The songs on The In Hour retain the charm of Meneguar's typical catchiness but filter it through the Woods' broken tape aesthetics and Shepherd's sense of experimentalism (though nowhere near their level of repetition). I've been waiting for Meneguar to strip things back a bit and the payout is some of their best yet. Pick this one up; the artwork is definitely a match for the quality of the material.

Download:
[MP3] Meneguar - We Own We Sell
[MP3] Meneguar - The Morning, The Night

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Paavoharju

As with almost any of the Fonal stable, Paavoharju are entrenched in a dissonant experimentalism. Unlike the rest though, they do have shining moments of Pop amongst the clatter of bells and hiss of static. The band's second album, Laulu Laakson Kukista continues on the same track they'd blazed with their debut; an equally varied collection of otherworldly Finnish folkisms and stuttered electronic charm. The collective weave classical, almost religious orchestral pieces, humid leftfield beats and intangible world music together like the northern shadows of Sun City Girls. Looping like lost broadcasts echoed off wayward weather patterns, the album seems bound by neither by time nor sense of genre and yet it plays as seamless as if all this were the pop standard. Though in reality standard is too benign a word for an album whose music feels stitched from the dreams of fevered children. The packaging for this is as high quality as most of the Fonal releases, pick it up on vinyl if you can.

Download:
[MP3] Paavoharju - Tyttö Tanssii
[MP3] Paavoharju - Kevätrumpu

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

In an era when the single ruled the radio bands were often heavily obscured by fleeting chart success. In some cases this was more warranted than others but it often left much of a band's catalog dismissed or forgotten behind the strains of their gifted and cursed "hit".

	The Music Explosion - Little Bit O'Soul Very few people wouldn't recognized the opening bass notes to The Music Explosions' ubiquitous hit "Little Bit O'Soul". This slice of Frat-ish garage rock has been worked over and played into the ground and though
the band were produced by a team who's more famous credits include the advent of Bubblegum, their catalog is too often quickly dismissed. The band had an energy and swagger that matched their knack for melody and 'from the hips delivery'. "Little Bit O'Soul" seems tame compared with the gritty yelps of "Everybody", and sure they may have lacked much original material but, that didn't mean they couldn't tear into a nice slice of Garage Pop. The band's second charting single "Sunshine Games recalled a balls-yer Cat Stevens and this compilation of their material is nothing if not enjoyable. Alas, it seems the band will always walk in the title track's shadow. Download: [MP3] The Music Explosion - Everybody [MP3] The Music Explosion - Jack In The Box Support the artist. Buy it HERE
	The Troggs - Trogglodynamite In a completely other league rested The Troggs, who's name for most brings only the sweat and swagger of "Wild Thing" to mind. Though championed and immortalized by the likes of Lester Bangs, the band is too often dismissed without deeper
listens into the band's catalog, which is a tragic shame. Equally adept at wistful teen love odes like "Last Summer" as they were on gritty punkers like "I Want You To Come Into My Life"; the band were masters of pent up sexuality and pushing the limits of its expression in the 3 minute pop song. You can feel the urgency in every bit of the latter types of tracks, which by all accounts are certainly their best. Underneath it all though the band were solid songwriters and sorely overlooked ones at that. Their catalog is rife with pop hooks and the begging seeds of punk and power pop. They're just now getting more of the recognition they deserve but it's still an uphill battle over Oldies radio and their obsession with the band's signature "hit". Download: [MP3] The Troggs- I Want You To Come Into My Life [MP3] The Troggs- Give it to Me Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Cheap Time

Nashville tightens its grip on the pulse of garage punk with the release of Cheap Time's eponymous LP. The band, which was originally started with members of Be Your Own Pet, has certainly come into its own on this album. The BYOP members split and Jeff Novak soldiered on to create the kind of record that truly imbues the spirit of '76, making that 1976 and not 1776. Novak's stripped down rock is deeply indebted to a Ramones style simplicity and a crux of New Wave/Power Pop hooks but its all waxed rugged with a sneer of youth. As with fellow Tennessee resident and current tourmate Jay Reatard, his songs have a less is more mentality and Cheap Time succeeds nicely on this blueprint. For a punk record its not an immediate catch though, its a grower, the raw sound obscures some of the pop gold until about the 3rd of 4th listen but by then you're hooked deep. I'm holding out for In The Red to release it on LP (which is out in a couple of weeks) 'cause this one's going to smoke on vinyl.

Download:
[MP3] Cheap Time - Glitter & Gold
[MP3] Cheap Time - People Talk

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Eat Skull bring the chaotic pop crunch on this new 7" ushering in yet another scrap of destroyed garage to this year's greatest singles.

	Eat Skull - Dead Families 7" It's easy to see why Eat Skull' been picked up by Siltbreeze for their upcoming album. This crumpled crust nugget of a 7" trades in battered percussion, prime roasted organ stomps and the kind of fidelity only a $6.00 microphone can lend to a
project. In other words its pretty great. This one's sold out at Skulltones, but looks to be getting a repress so I guess you'll just have to hold out for a minute, but don't hesitate to grab one when they come back in stock. The artwork on this pretty much sums up what it sounds like. Can't wait to see what the full length produces. Download: [MP3] Eat Skull - Dead Families Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Wildildlife

This SanFran trio fuse bits of rhythmic psych, space-rock, metal and drone into a pungent sonic soup. Six plays out like an album-long shamanic soundscape into the foreboding darkness. The band, never content to let structure overtake effect, slide easily between bouts of chaotic riffing and pummeled drums to Ketamine dipped pastoral melts that stretch out in languorous ripples. The band split the album in half with the nearly 18 minute epic, "Magic Jordan" that smolders like forgotten embers. For the most part though, they ride the tide of Doom crashing through the naked forest, dirt under foot and the smell of rain damp in their nostrils; dark drugged ceremonies that culminate in sludged explosions of howled sound. The band features Matt, from the SF Aquarius Records stable and was recorded with the help of Aaron from Mammatus. The packaging on this matches the dark ritual vibes of the music perfectly with some sweet photos making this well worth snatching up.

Download:
[MP3] Wildildlife - Things Will Grow
[MP3] Wildildlife - Feed

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Fursaxa

Another haunted offering of ritualistic wooded folk from Tara Burke's Fursaxa. This time landing on her own Sylph imprint, Kobold Moon freezes your lungs with more of Burke's mausoleum wails. The album swirls with slow-motion ghost dances and fogged forest floor tones, at times alternating with Tara's own possessed brand of spoken word incantations, bringing to mind late night coven gatherings. This is probably the best I've heard from Fursaxa since Lepidoptera, and her burlapped voodoo moans still drip with enough fresh altar blood to entrance even the most casual listener. I believe these may be getting in short supply but if you act quickly you can still probably secure one.

Download:
[MP3] Fursaxa - Kokopelli
[MP3] Fursaxa - Desiree

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Grails

Following close on the heels of last year's epic Burning Off Impurities, Grails have etched another dark Byzantine foray into forgotten civilizations and the darker caverns of the heart. Each of their records comes closer to becoming not only cinematic panoramas but sprawling worlds unto themselves. In the five songs that make up Take Refuge In Clean Living you can feel the oppressive heat of the sun, choke on the dust of forgotten roads, and become lost in the deafening roar of unfamiliar voices that pack the crowds around you. Grails have achieved what most if not all instrumental rock has been striving for in the past years; total immersion into the senses, creating a tangible world from each note they play. Its become so that every record the band releases makes me even hungrier for the next as the story never seems complete, only the chapter at hand.

Download:
[MP3] Grails - PTSD

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

The Jukebox is in great form this week. A heavy emphasis on all things snotty, young and straight from the garage floor; with a double shot of history from two San Antonio bands who came together to form the more well known band The Children.

[MP3] The Easybeats - Sorry
A great single from these Brits (by way of Australia) who went on to craft a great many more garage stompers in their time. "Sorry" starts out with a great scratch of strings and thunders on through a tale of missed connections. Completely unhinged at least by the early 60's standards. It's that scratch that keeps this one pulsing the whole way through before it devolves into some great nonsense outro. Absolutely essential!

[MP3] The Smoke - Don't Lead Me On
Just when I think I've absorbed all the greatness The Smoke has to offer, they always seem to surprise me. This track came on the other day (and mind you I'd owned this one for a while but completely overlooked it) and the driving beat and impassioned vocals blew me away in typical Smoke fashion. One of the quintessential bands of the 60's right here!


[MP3] The Stoics - Enough of What I Need
The Stoics were a young, brash San Antonio garage combo who blew onto the scene with their single "Hate", they penned a few more before splitting in a disagreement. Members would go on to be in The Argyles and finally the better known The Children. This shows the band in their full glory, tightly wound and full of fire. Too bad it couldn't last.

[MP3] The Argyles - Still In Love With You Baby
Will Ash from The Stoics was invited to join The Argyles shortly after the demise of The Stoics, their sound was more melodic and less snotty but they still had the raw and loose garage spirit. This one rides along the easy strum and popcorn snare but with some pretty catch vocal harmonies adding a bit of sheen. The band would also undergo several personal changes before mutating into the heavier The Mind's Eye and finally The Children. Whew!

[MP3] The Lords - Shakin' All Over
We'll cap things off with a track from Grermany's, The Lords. I've always loved this band's take on classic garage. They have an ability to get a sinister feel out of any track and the German accent adds just a touch of unfamiliarity to a standard. This version of "Shakin' All Over" has a dark, loungy almost exotica feel to it and its absolutely great.

Dan Friel

I've gotta hand it to the members of Parts and Labor; whether they're out on their own or stand combined like a chaos fueled Voltron they certainly have a knack for riding the line between noise and melody to its most fun conclusion. Much like his bandmate B.J. Warsaw's diversion into Shooting Spires, Friel's music echoes P&L's ragged pop brilliance but on Ghost Town he keeps things instrumental dragging frayed wires and busted electronics into the forefront of his sound and mixing them with tweaked beats and caffeinated keys. The record taps the same positive vibes and candy colored pulse that permeates much of Parts and Labor and despite its more minimal one man set-up its really a very dense record (though Friel makes it sound effortlessly fun). At times Ghost Town's flurry of static and sculpted beats sounds like throwing a wheelbarrow full of remote controlled toys headlong into a wood chipper, but where Friel succeeds over more sinister noiseniks is that the toys sound like they're having a blast in the process. Somehow Friel makes a pseudo-Western concept noise record end up sounding like the most memorable party of the year, and that in itself is a great accomplishment. Bonus marks to Friel for choosing Racoo-oo-oon's S.D. Reed to design the artwork. His work with Night People tapes has consistently created some of my favorite album artworks of the last couple years.

Download:
[MP3] Dan Friel - Ghost Town (pt. 1)
[MP3] Dan Friel - Buzzards

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Black Moth Super Rainbow continue their cavalcade of melted crayon box disco as they contribute to Suicide Squeeze's 7" series.

	Black Moth Super Rainbow - Zodiac Girls 7" Two classic sides from the BMSR collective with "Zodiac Girls" thumping along on a thick fuzzed groove with those trademarked pitched vocals floating above some stellar ice cream mountain synth
lines. The B-Sideshows the sensitive croon of the collective, recalling French duo Air caught up in pink smoke and steel blue rain. The band somehow never fail to channel childhood dreams wrapped up in a glycerin film of saturated candy colors and Michel Gondrey-like super reality. These two gems perfectly balance each other out and as mentioned in the News section, this is some of my favorite BMSR artwork yet. Download: [MP3] Black Moth Super Rainbow - Zodiac Girls Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Scott Tuma

No stranger to hushed acoustics, Scott Tuma was a member of the seminal Souled American, has released music under the name Good Stuff House with members of Zelienople and now with his third solo album Not For Nobody he continues to be a beacon in his field. The album wafts between delicate finger-picked lullabies and stirring ambient compositions, both of which echo a study in simplicity and recording the spaces between notes. Tuma has an uncanny ability to channel not only the slow beauty of string smiths like Suni McGrath but also the lonesome tones of Stars of the Lid, and what's more, he has the skill to be able to weave the two styles together seamlessly. Not for Nobody falls like slate gray rain against scratched window panes; cold and desolate, but at the same time comforting and reassuring. The wind blows through chimes in perfect precision with the loping guitar and buzzing drones that shudder underneath Tuma's playing, then dissipates into the lulling hum of the sun's last rays. Digitalis has included this as a part of their Arts & Crafts editions, which display some wonderful homemade packaging. You can see both versions at the link below.

Download:
[MP3] Scott Tuma - Tiktaalik
[MP3] Scott Tuma - Cimbal

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Tunnels

Raven last caught up with Portland's Tunnels in a bit more meditative form on the Yarnlazer label but here, though the vibe isn't that far removed, he's ditched the drone for some serious bouts of psych dappled noise-folk. Weaving moans and bells with buzzed tones and the scattered remains of amplifier debris into a thick tapestry of forest narratives; Nicholas Bindeman shows his JOMF roots but remains an entity unto himself. This is probably the most expressive I've heard him in a solo venture and the disc moves from churned dark spirits out into sunlit waves of bliss with a natural ease. Then he clamps down the darkness again on the scathing closer, awash with scorched guitar and a surprising turn at vocals. Actually this release really peaks my interest to see more of this side of Bindeman, away from his life of drones. This one's out in a run of 100 from the ever impressive Abandon Ship so don't hesitate to pick one up. Outstanding cover art too.

Download:
[MP3] Tunnels - Golden Twigs
[MP3] Tunnels - White Stains

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Lights

Lights are yet another welcome addition to the stable at Language of Stone. This time skewing away from the label's love for Philly's finest and heading to Brooklyn to pick up some kindred spirits. Lights don't lean quite as much to the whimsical side that permeates some of the LoS bands but they do fit in nicely with the darker side of things i.e. Orion Rigel Dommisse's haunting childlike death odes and some bits of Ilya E. Monosov's breathy lamentations. One thing that the band do bring in as a welcomed change is a bit of rhythm that befits their Brooklyn roots. The dark thud of skins pound under a scarred fuzz of guitar on many tracks counterbalancing the witchy beauty of the three-part female harmonies that intertwine above the din. The band's eponymous album creeps in unseen and before you know it has charmed your soul away from you with siren voices and equal measures of midnight smolder and rainy afternoon soul.

Download:
[MP3] Lights - Break, Run, Fly
[MP3] Lights - Lick The Blood

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Something interesting happened in the U.K. as a result of the influence of Pink Floyd's spacey rock flirtations and the surrounding scene that benefited from, influenced and diverged from that particular time and place in British rock. One of the excellent divergences came in the form of a burgeoning space rock genre. Utilizing the electronic influence of bands like Floyd and the Moody Blues and fusing these with harder rock elements and some lumbering bits of folk into a sound as progressive as it was enticing.

	Twink - Think Pink Few travelers of the psychedelic era have careers as storied and unheralded as John "Twink" Alder. Having been a member of Tomorrow, The Pretty Things, The Pink Faeries and the Deviants; he's more than earned a pedigree in the
genre. This collection of his solo work comes on the heels of his collaboration with Steve Peregrin Took, who later became the second half of Tyrannosaurus Rex with Marc Bolan, and though there remains a bit of Took's airy hippiness in the lighter moments of Think Pink, Twink combines it with a darker lyricism reminiscent of Syd Barett and a much darker bubbling spaciness that becomes a touchstone for bands that would become full borne space rock luminaries. Though Twink was a drummer for most of his careers in other bands, this album really brings to light his craft in songwriting, and his ingenuity with atmosphere. This is an essential collection for anyone interested in the psychedelic era, an quite honestly rock music in general. Download: [MP3] Twink - Ten Thousand Words in a Cardboard Box [MP3] Twink - Tiptoe on the Highest Hill Support the artist. Buy it HERE
	Hawkwind - Hawkwind Probably no band did more to push the barriers of space rock than Hawkwind. Their debut opens with the breezy strains of "Hurry on Sundown" before quickly seeping into the dark void of "The Reason Is?". Their first album was only a
taste of what was to come but as with much of the Moody Blues material it has an uncanny knack for fusing far flung experimental wanderings and philosophical ambiguity with a good amount of solid songcraft and a knowledge of melody. Unlike the Moodies though, Hawkwind weren't averse to long bouts of dark savage instrumental jamming and their chops give this album its distinctive edge. Much as the second incarnation of Pink Floyd would take them to similar territory, Hawkwind used the newly expanding realm of free rock, technological advancements and a bit of sheer pretension to forge into wider musical avenues. The band would delve much deeper and go much darker but still it seems like they certainly knew what they were doing when they embarked on their journey. Download: [MP3] Hawkwind - Hurry On Sundown [MP3] Hawkwind - Mirror of Illusion Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Awesome Color

Still riding the MC5/Stooges vibe high and paying tribute to their Michigan roots, Awesome Color follow up their S/T Ecstatic Peace debut in strong fashion. Electric Aborigines feels more produced than their previous effort but certainly not over thought. Packed full of stomping bass and the steamroller chug of electric guitar this album reeks of raw blood and carbide; the acrid smoke of Detroit and Flint is fast seizing your lungs by the time you're barely three tracks in. Further on the trio seem to have also raised the ghost of Bon Scott, echoing prime period AC/DC slow burns on tracks like "Taste It". Electric Aborigines seems to be a call to arms for the rock album, reminding a nascent rock audience that for all the genre's posturing it does well to remember that the best rock sweats yesterday's stale beer, inhales sex and exhales pure axel grease.

Download:
[MP3] Awesome Color - Step Up
[MP3] Awesome Color - Taste It

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

A double shot of pop fodder from two bands mining the past in wonderful ways.

	The Bees/ The Mother Hips - Split 7" This thing looks like a lost dub single from '74 and and The Bees don't disappoint with a bit of reggae inflection and some cantina horns. As always The Bees remain completely lodged out of time and that's what I'll always love about them. They have a
knack for being able to appropriate older styles without sounding dated, rather like a completely forgotten gem that's just been dusted off and ready for your next mix tape. The Mother Hips on the flip don't have quite the knack for appropriation but they've got pretty decent pop chops and with the incorporation of a buttery organ and some starry eyed choruses "Childish Dreams" makes for an enjoyable 4 minute slice of summer sun. Download: [MP3] The Bees - Papa Echo Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Total Life

Much like his contributions to Growing, Kevin Doria's solo outings in Total Life are built upon repetition and a sustained state of consciousness. Unlike Growing though, whose tones could often hit your lungs like a wall of pressure, or their later work that shimmered with otherworldly tones; Total Life works repetition into a frenzied dance that leaves you staring squarely into the vortex. The Ken Bradshaw 12" builds on a theme of buzzing, throbbing waves that sometimes bring to mind scenes from Darren Aronofsky's "Pi". The intense build-up of hypnotic pressure leaves you just short of running for the power drill though, as it syncs with your heartbeat and laps at your ears like 70 mph wind, and that's just side-A. The flip grinds the beat up, gnashing the same pulse from the first side into a dirtier, more bewildering dance of adrenaline soaked, vein throbbing chaos. And pretty much just when you think you've lost control, it breaks like a wave and turns back. I've always loved Growing's output and this certainly peaks my interest for more from Doria solo.

Download:
[MP3] Total Life - Untitled Pt. 2

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Ramses III

This record came highly anticipated around here after the band's last two releases, the short Honey Rose EP and their collaboration with The North Sea. This time around the band has put out an incredible two-disc collection. Originally conceived as only a single album, the first of Basillica/Origins discs contains some beautiful and fragile live improvisations that capture the form and craft that the band employed on Honey Rose. The set plays out like mossy burrows soaked in tree-strained sunlight; calm and inviting with the chilled breeze of spring barely moving the leaves above. The second disc plunges the band's sound deeper into the dirt, as several of the band's contemporaries work their sound sculptured knowledge on the tracks. Featuring re-workings by Robert Horton, Keith Berry, Gregg Kowalsky and Astral Social Club, the second disc often times takes the band's sound close to the glacial edges of darkness slowing down the band's already deliberate pace into sprawling acres of drones and haunted ambience. Probably one of the band's most moving works to date.

Download:
[MP3] Ramses III - Origins III - March 31st 2006
[MP3] Ramses III - After The Red Rose (remix by Robert Horton)

Support the artist. Buy it HERE