Break for the Holidays

RSTB will take a week off for the holidays. I'll be back in the new year.

- D

UV Race

Much like their fellow countrymen and labelmates Eddy Current Suppression ring, UV Race take a cue from 70's punk and create raw garage full of haphazard guitars, throbbing rhythm and caustic emotion. Straying a bit from the guitar-heavy palette, the band adds a kick of keyboard and some male/female vocal interplay to the mix but still seem to drink from that well-spring of acerbic rock that followed in the wake of Television and The Voidoids. Taught, tense and stretched to break at any second, there's definitely something going on down under and its damn well about time that the U.S. stood up to take notice. The original pressing of this one is already scarce to non-existent but a new pressing is on the way and will be available in the states via Goner (still some of the fist press available here) and Florida's Dying. Keep an eye on the shelves for it and by all means pick it up if you see it.

Download:
[MP3] UV Race - Make You Strain
[MP3] UV Race - Gore Orphanage

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE.

Beko's rather recent Digital Single Label has begun to pick up speed and aside from a great entries from Eternal Summers and RSTB favorite Sore Eros they've got a whole crop of great bands to check out.

	Sore Eros – Beko No.10 Robert Robinson crafts two more delicately heartbreaking tracks of fragile and often fractured pop for the new digi single label and they're a perfect coda to his SHDWPLY album. Quivering in some places and stuttering in others, these two
songs wrap up his more direct and deliriously repetitive sides in on compact package. Two more reasons that Robinson's Sore Eros should be on your list of artists to watch in the coming years. Download: [MP3] Sore Eros - Fooled Me Support the artist. Download it HERE

Gonerfest 4 :: CD / DVD

A few years ago I ventured to Memphis and while a fascinating city on its own, I was heartbroken to learn later on that I'd missed an early incarnation of Gonerfest by only a few weeks. Gonerfest has now undergone its 6th incarnation and 4th compilation. The 4th comp wraps up enough RSTB favorites in one package it only digs our lack of witnessing it live in even deeper. The CD wraps up great sets from Jay Reatard, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Thomas Function, CoCoComa, Gentleman Jesse and finally a new(ish) recording from The Barbaras (but where's the damn album guys?). The DVD's packed even tighter and boasts songs from The Ooga Boogas, Okmoniks, Busy Signals and more. So if you missed this a couple of fest's ago its now yours to own and damn well worth it.

Download:
[MP3] The Barbaras - Topsy Turvy Magic
[MP3] Eddy Current Suppression Ring - You Let Me Be Honest With You

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE.

Caethua

We haven't caught up with Caethua's Clare Hubbard since her stunning tape for Abandon Ship a few years ago but time has been good to the Maine songstress. Following an LP for Saxwand and a cassette on Goaty Tapes, Hubbard crafts a stunning twofold album for Australia's Preservation Records. Her skeletal folk has grown from basement recordings full of haunting magic to full blossomed night odes floating in spectral bloom over fields of forgotten relics. The first half of The Long Afternoon of Earth revels in the dim light of grey dawns and overcast afternoons, folk with a bittersweet optimistic side through the grim facade of the day. The second half of the album grows darker, succumbing to the night as it gathers around, never dreary, but a darker aura that skips along mechanically under her sweetly melancholy songs. This is Caethua beginning to show full promise, the song craft that was only hinted at in earlier works has finally emerged full grown and dancing through the icy pre-dawn dew.

Download:
[MP3] Caethua - Lament
[MP3] Caethua - Highways in the Deathlight

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE.

Collecting a few records from the dustbin of garage and the back closets of gritty rock, the Jukebox returns with five more forgotten favorites. As usual a little bit of rock, a little bit of psych and this time a strange take on "A Little Bit Of Soul".

[MP3] The Remains - Once Before
The Remains have always been one of time's greatest casualties and this track screams loud and clear why they should have been ruling the charts alongside many 60's greats. Nice dose o' fuzz here and plenty of lovely harmonies.

[MP3] Yuya Uchida & the Flowers - Intruder
Yuya and the rest of the Flowers made a nice niche for themselves balancing Big Brother covers and some Hendrix indebted guitar fury. They break out of the mold a bit here on "Intruder" but Yuya can't escape the shadow of Joplin's vocal delivery. A pretty fair shake that ranks up there with Sarolta Zalatanay's blues romps.

[MP3] The Zig Zag People - Little Bit of Soul
The Zig Zag People were a studio project that made time covering 60's bubblegum hits in a "Psychedelic" style. The result here is a jazz-psych romp through the Music Explosion classic sounding a bit like Dr. John spreading gris-gris voodoo all over the sacharine original, not such a bad thing in my book.

[MP3] Limey and the Yanks - Guarunteed Love
Limey and his Yanks kick things in pure fuzz revellin' style with a fried guitar and chugging bass. Straight Jukebox fodder and killin' it with a garage blues feeling.

[MP3] Rats - Goin' Back (to New Orleans)
Picking up the garage-blues torch, Rats take a travelin' classic and bring it to the garage floor. Not necessarily the most soulful version that's ever been recorded of The Animals' classic "House of the Rising Sun" (for some reason listed under another name), but it gets the job done.

Bad Sports

Denton, Texas' Bad Sports bring forth one of the best modern power pop albums we've heard around here since fellow Douchemasters Gentleman Jesse and His Men laid their sweet southern charms down upon us a little over a year back. Energetic, but just to the edge of frantic, the Sports' self-titled debut brings a brash dose of unhinged catharsis that fueled the best 70's power pop. The band harbors members of Wax Museums and High Tension Wires so you know going in head first there's already a certain standard of TX garage rock quality. And just as with their brethren in said Wax Museums, the frayed edges of of their youth show through in most every aspect of the record both in its undeniably infectious energy and its rough delivery. Though they scale back the numbskull rock lyrics a bit, sticking to sex, boredom and well... mostly sex instead of the dirty dishes and glass miniatures that pop up unexpectedly in homage from the Museums. The more time this spends on the turntable the more you'll grow to love it. Earnestness is in short supply and these Texans have more of it than they can handle.

Download:
[MP3] Bad Sports - And It Goes
[MP3] Bad Sports - Nothing but Agitation

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE.

Wounded Lion continues to make us intrigued for their debut LP by laying single after single of great, powerful tunes on us. Their latest is no exception.

	Wounded Lion – Friendly? b/w Big Boots, Bad Moon Rising Wounded Lion jump in swinging on their first 7" for In The Red. The band follows up a great debut on S-S with a savage A-side in the form of "Friendly?". Powerful and catchy with a rather amusing Powerpoint
generated video that proves just what In The Red sees in the L.A. band. Followed up on the flip with the heavy stomp of "Big Boots" and a nice twist on CCR's "Bad Moon Rising" and wrapped in a sleeve that parody's Penguin's iconic book covers. How could we not be drawn to it? Look for a full length hitting ITR soon. Download: [MP3] Wounded Lion - Friendly? Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Sagas

Matt McDowell lays down some scorched earth guitar jams to tape for the venerable Stunned Records. Just as devastating as his work with Brave Priest, Root Structures & Private Dementias is a twisting, barren journey choked with the dirt of lonelier roads than most weary travelers can handle. Working from the buzzsaw raga of "Murdstone Road" through percussive workouts and onto a b-side laced with drone divining ritual séance, the cassette is steeped in a soul stripping heaviness that underlies every inch of McDowell's output. Definitely not a release to be missed on your deck this winter.

Download:
[MP3] Sagas - Murdstone Road

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE or HERE

Xeno & Oaklander

The minimal synth retro-futurism of Xeno & Oaklander fits into the Weird Records catalog nicely, nestling easily alongside lablemates Led Er Est and adopting the analog aesthetics of latter day synth wizards like Daniel Lopatin and Steve Moore. The negative utopia conceptualization of Sentenille actually compliments Lopatin's recent OPN trilogy nicely, though instead of a lost astronaut X&O focus on a WWII watchman who wanders between lost underwater cities in a forgotten past. Their music radiates jittery paranoia, buzzing with the kind of Orwellian horror that permeated 1980s sci-fi and with their live analog approach the group would have even made Vangelis proud. The album brings visions of bureaucratic oligarchys and socio-industrial purgatories that give reason to shudder. There is some hope too but it seems to remain fleeting, a robotic interlude of dance before more running and fear.

Download:
[MP3] Xeno & Oaklander - Sentinelle
[MP3] Xeno & Oaklander - Nuit

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE.

Sic Alps // Magik Markers

What's better than a limited release by one RSTB favorite artist? Damn right it’s a tour split from two of our favorite artists. Sic Alps and Magik Markers have hooked up for a West Coast tour and Yik Yak has put out a 12" split to accompany them on the road. Sic Alps eschew the pop impulses that crept up on their recent Slumberland 7" and get back to the gritty noise laden shamble that's always kept them near and dear to our heats. The Markers take their sound and drive it through with Krautrock rhythms and deep nod furor. Definitely three of their most monstrous cuts yet. This one's not so widely distributed but you can find it haunting a few of the links below if you can't catch the whole crew on tour. Full tour details HERE.

Download:
[MP3] Magik Markers - The Diamond Guitar of Tico Feo
[MP3] Sic Alps - The Greatest

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE. or HERE

	Carl Simmons - Honeysuckle Tendrals Though decades younger than most of the albums that appear in this column, Carl Simmons 1999 album Honeysuckle Tendrals definitely falls into a lost gem category that has much to do with artists
like Skip Spence, Kevin Ayers, Bobby Beausoleil, Twink and other strange outsider genius that fell on deaf ears at certain times. His album was handed out at shows with little other proliferation at the time but now Sacred Bones is making it available once again for the world to hear. Simmons' songs are cracked views that seep through the walls like far off children's hymns. Otherworldly, strangely innocent and unhinged at the same time Simmons strums the strings of a tattered guitar in accompaniment of a voice that's elfin and effected with tape hiss swaddling the recordings in a manner that bespeaks a diary of necessity rather than an album intended for release. But its Simmons' sweetness that culls the madness that would put unadventurous souls off immediately, once you get to that core of gentle fragility its melts all the "outsider" trappings away. Listen close. Download: [MP3] Carl Simmons - Corporation Sunday [MP3] Carl Simmons - Kaspar Hauser Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Siltbreeze - Skulls Without Borders Comp

The divining rod of quality lo-fi scuzz, Siltbreeze, packs 6 of their favorite heavy hitters onto one 10" and wraps it all up in silkscreened glory. Chalking up cuts from Kurt Vile and the Violators, Sic Alps, Dan Melchior, Puffy Areolas, Tommy Jay Band and Chickins, its not a bad snapshot of the Siltbreeze aesthetic. The "big" names don't disappoint, with Kurt Vile laying down his Crazy Horse rock show in fine form, Sic Alps taking an absolutely perfect stab at Kevin Ayers (next time make it a Skip Spence cover, too perfect not to happen) and Dan Melchior spitting fuzz like second nature. The second stringers are no filler as well, Chickins (mems of FNU Ronnies) would fit in nicely anywhere in the Woodsist/Cap Tracks axis, Puffy Areolas shred the space rock super nova and Tommy Jay band bring the loner psych dish to the party. Pick one up if you get a chance, definitely a keeper.

Download:
[MP3] Sic Alps - Clarence

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE.

Two new fuzz rumblers from the mind of Ty Segall out on new garage contender Trouble in Mind. I'll be damned if this isn't one of his most essential singles yet.

	Ty Segall – My Sunshine 7" The A-side's a crop burner of a garage nugget, blasted like some lost diamond from '67 and picking up shrapnel from '88 grunge on its way. Absolutely one of the best 2 1/2 minute thunderball's you're likely to hear in the coming weeks, months
and beyond. The b-side flips the unexpected with an odd-hinged ode to cat life that starts off shambling and picks up some serious steam before nodding out into a fuzz breakdown that leaves no trace of survivors. Its two distinctly disparate sides of Segall all laid out on the floor and writhing. Color us amused and happy with this in hand. Download: [MP3] Ty Segall - My Sunshine Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Bobb Bruno

The amount of music that Bobb Bruno has affected, recorded, taken part in and even dreamed up is unfathomable. From his own twisted wanderings as Goliath Bird Eater and under his own name to recording and playing in Pocahaunted and Best Coast to recording Magic Lantern and Silver Daggers its all gold in my book. Bobb's just put out an EP for Vosotros that moves like water between spacey atmospherics, pop sheen and country clarity; even meandering down to the grit and vinegar of noise. It's an encapsulation of much of the music that Bruno has touched in the past few years and hopefully just a teaser for his upcoming Mellow Dramas LP. It flickers hot and burns out way too quickly but thankfully there's always the option to play again.

Download:
[MP3] Bobb Bruno - Psychics

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE.

The Dry Spells

After hearing The Dry Spells' album Too Soon For Flowers it comes as little surprise that the band shares a good portion of its members with Citay. They balance folk and the kind smoldering 70's rock balladry that moved Stevie Nicks' shawl to action, bent strings in Pentangle and Fairport and has more recently been embraced by fellow Frisco-dwellers The Sandwitches. The band leans toward crisp-winded folk that opens up like an expanse of grey skies wrought with terrible, turbulent winds. Tim Green's production gives The Dry Spells the same cutting cleanness that he's imparted to Citay over the years and it falls every bit as hard and harmonious on welcoming ears here. The band manages to wring soaring emotion and sadness out with a triumphant and wide-flung delivery rather than adopt the tendency of latter day folk-rock to wrestle with and finally succumb to overwhelming melancholy. A definite rare surprise in a bewilderingly narrowing field of entrancing folk.

Download:
[MP3] The Dry Spells - Batwood
[MP3] The Dry Spells - Lost Daughter

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE.

Led Er Est

The minimal synth / cold wave tide spreads ever further through the cracked streets of Brooklyn and Led Er Est have fought the nihilistic fight alongside Silk Flowers, Blank Dogs and the rest of the pack. Now the band has both an LP out on the venerable Weird Records (Dust on Common) and a 7" on Captured Tracks to wave this dominance high. The album bounces on thick cuts of analog buzz and the icy detachment that have made the 09 resurgence of 80's cold wave so appealing of late. Acerbic and yet still tuneful enough to draw in those whose eyes leave the pavement, the band also split the more tuneful side of synth Ala Cold Cave and get heads if not feet moving a bit. Balanced with a heart that beats from the industrial breast of 80's ambiance, Dust on Common rides all sides of the current synth structure, much to is benefit. Their follow-up single takes a twofold approach with a heavy mover on the A-side and the soft focus android ballad on the flip. Both are not to be overlooked and will nestle nicely in your collection this winter.

Download:
[MP3] Led Er Est - Port Isabel (from Dust on Common)
[MP3] Led Er Est - Poll Gorm (from Cap Tracks 7")

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE (LP) |||| HERE (7")

As 2009 draws to a close its time to look back and divvy up the best releases from a vast field of contenders. '09 saw a further emergence and dominance of vinyl oriented indies (Woodsist, Captured Tracks, Mexican Summer) and took the lo-fi love to the masses. All in all not a bad year for all things Raven. Below are our lists of the most played and most loved albums and singles / EPs around the RSTB stereo. 2010 looks to be just as good plus keep your eyes out for a follow up compilation in our RSTB Presents series!

ALBUMS

[MP3] Amen Dunes - By The Bridal

[MP3] Broadcast and the Focus Group - Trailer

[MP3] Christmas Island - Bed Island

[MP3] The Fresh & Onlys - Peacock and Wing

[MP3] Ganglians - 100 Years

[MP3] Grass Widow - To Where

[MP3] Jacuzzi Boys - Planet of Dreamers

[MP3] Leyland Kirby - Don't Sleep I'm Not What I Seem, I'm a Very Quiet Storm

[MP3] Peaking Lights - All the Good Songs Have Been Written

[MP3] Real Estate - Beach Comber

[MP3] Shogun Kunitoki - Riddarholmen

[MP3] The Strange Boys - By This Girls Taught Me a Dance

[MP3] Sun Araw - Hustle and Bustle

[MP3] Thee Oh Sees - Ruby Go Home

[MP3] Woods - To Clean




SINGLES / EPs

[MP3] Best Coast - When I'm With You

[MP3] Christmas - Winter

[MP3] Christmas Island - Twenty Nine

[MP3] Flight - Unpredictable

[MP3] Ganglians - Blood On The Sand

[MP3] The Girls at Dawn - I'm Not Sad

[MP3] Grass Widow - Black Hole

[MP3] Grouper - False Horizon

[MP3] Joseph Childress - Leaving the Barren Ground

[MP3] Julianna Barwick - Bode

[MP3] Moon Duo - Speed

[MP3] No Age - You're A Target

[MP3] Sic Alps - L Mansion

[MP3] Steve Moore - Fever Dream

[MP3] Woven Bones - If You're Gold, I'm Gone