As usual Kria Brekkan conjures the haunting from her serene surroundings, making lullabies feel like last gasps and creaking pianos feel like whispering ghosts.

Kria Brekkan – Uterus Water 7" The title of Brekkan's latest single is nothing if not evocative, and though she claims the track to be a lullaby crafted while on sickbed it sounds more like an ultrasound orchestra washing slowly through time and consciousness. She follows this

murky symphony with the sweet but eerie sounds of "Place of You" which would come off a little sweeter were Brekkan's voice not able to give us instant shivers as if she's trapped between temporal planes. Rounding out the set is another plunge into the abyss, a bit more sonar for the spirits that seem to infest her every surrounding. Download: [MP3] Kria Brekkan - Place of You Support the artist. Buy it HERE

The Art Museums - S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G.

RSTB fave Glenn Donaldson (of Skygreen Leopards, Giant Skyflower Band, etc.) teams up with fellow Friscan Josh Alper to form The Art Museums. The duo embraces the soft pastel sounds of new wave on their upcomming record Rough Frame out 2/16 on Woodsist. Glenn sent over this video for the song "S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G." a new video-single to promote the Art Museums LP and from the sounds of it, this is going to be an absolute must-have record for 2010.

Pre-Order Rough Frame HERE

Blessure Grave

There's a lot to be said for Blessure Grave's ability to balance pessimism and melody. There are instances on their early releases as well as on Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six that achieve pop greatness. However, over the longer span of an album the pessimism tends to edge over the melody and wear down on you like a pouty 17 year old. Brevity is not one of Blessure Grave's strong suits here. The CD version of the album includes four tracks from their debut 12" which provide the best of the bunch, though some of the newer material isn't terribly far behind in terms of quality. They have a knack for capturing the close quartered suffocation of isolating youth, tapping all the right 80's Goth touchstones to soundtrack each streak of rain falling down the darkened window panes that lock the world out. I came into the album with high hopes off the promise of Learn To Love The Rope but I'm hard pressed to say they completely fulfilled that promise. There seems to be a slowly building brood of Goth-pop acolytes cropping up, and with the right amount of restraint and self-editing Blessure Grave could definitely be amongst the better half, lest their darkness consume them first.

Download:
[MP3] Blessure Grave - Stop Breathing
[MP3] Blessure Grave - Open or Shut

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Bird Show Band

This is quite a different Bird Show from the last time we encountered Ben Vida's long running project. Veering away from his constant home, Kranky Records, Vida steps away from the lone swordsman approach to his writing. With just a bit of his early drone and clatter based work cropping up in the interludes on this album, the key phrase here Bird Show Band. The sections, mostly labeled "Quintet (1-4) and one labeled "Quartet" allow Vida to surround himself with talented hive of musicians who've formerly associated themselves with Tortoise, Jim O'Rourke, Hamid Drake and countless others. This hive seems poised to break open, shifting easily between German progressive rhythm to jazz-centered free composition and noise. The album is Vida at his most playful and at the same time most precise, skimming through sound like it was water and volleying it back and forth among able hands.

Download:
[MP3] Bird Show Band - Quintet Four

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	The Orkustra - Adventures in Experimental Electric Orchestra from the SF Psychedelic Underground Mexican Summer saves a piece Haight-Ashbury history from obscurity with their recent release of unheard recordings from Bobby
BeauSoleil's Orkustra. BeauSoleil himself may be vaguely familiar as an associate of Charles Manson, he convicted of the murder of Gary Hinman that resulted from an alleged dissagreement over a drug sale. But prior to his brush with infamy, BeauSoleil was, as was Manson, just another kid out to California trying to tap into the cosmic energy of the psychedelic generation. He spent some time in an early version of Love with Arthur Lee before he formed The Orkustra, whose meandering style was more typical of encompassing jam techniques than solidly based psychedelia. At times it comes across as a more jazz and Eastern oriented take on what Father Yod was working up in Ya Ho Wa. Though, as a collection of rough takes and demos its impossible to judge this collection as an album per se, when the band do hit on a more organized form of their sessions it shows some promise as on "Flash Gordon". The band nevertheless dissolved with David LaFlamme going on to work with Its a Beautiful Day and BeuSoleil beginning work with The Magick Power of Oz before his rather unfortunate brush with Manson and an ill advised conflict resolution technique. Mex Summer has, as usual, spared no detail on this lovely gatefold package and its well worth it for aesthetics and history alone. Download: [MP3] The Orkustra - Flash Gordon [MP3] The Orkustra - Punjab's Barber Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

U.S. Girls

Megan Remy returns with another album flying under her U.S. Girls moniker on the venerable Siltbreeze records. Full of submarine transmissions from the not too distant future and channeling urban peyote hallucinations from the edge of the bomb crater; Remy has pinpointed the perfect mix of dream state skimming and cold, industrial reality. Go Grey picks up where she left off with Introducing and delves further into personal darkness and torment while at the same time also sounding like post-apoc tribal pop that swings somehow underneath the scrapes. Though there's not always a lot of light peaking through the cracks in Remy's dystopia, she has a way of making noise bubble with jubilant malice. Having been overseen by Yellow Swans' Pete Swanson only adds to this grim visage, as a master of noise and foreboding soundscapes himself, he adds a touch of grit to the album that perfectly compliments Remy's chaotic instincts. Not a bad little piece of ashen faced squelch and another formidable release in the Siltbreeze catalog.

Download:
[MP3] U.S. Girls - Red Ford Radio
[MP3] U.S. Girls - The Mountain's High

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Not a bad week at RSTB when two of our most anticipated singles of the last couple of months come striding in and meeting expectations along the way.

	Sun Araw – Sun Ark 7" As usual Cameron Stallones comes wafting in on the last vestiges of peyote wrangled psych comedown and if these shimmering waves of ectoplasmic good will aren't enough to set you in the mood to float its time to reassess your priorities. Both sides
provide the perfect potion as only Sun Araw has seemed to be able to over these last couple years. Packaged as usual in Stallones' own artwork that perfectly sums up the Araw wavelength. We'd be lying if we didn't tell you this was essential, so get snappin' Download: [MP3] Sun Araw - Live Mind Support the artist. Buy it HERE
	Flight – Feels So Good 7" Working the other side of bliss comes one of our heroes of 2010, the fuzz manipulator that goes by Flight. Pounding out more catchy swatches of crunchy pop that's oh so resistible, this twofer delivers just like the rest of his catalog. Honestly this has
been one of Raven's most anticipated as it was promised in last year's HoZac Hookup Klub and is just now hitting our turntable. Hopefully you all plunked down the change for the HHK last year and will be getting this crust nugget in your mailboxes soon if not... to eBay! And remember that HoZac's singles Klub year two approaches. Don't snooze! Download: [MP3] Flight - Feels So Good Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Golden Triangle

RSTB faves Golden Triangle have made the jump from small press Brooklyn basement upstarts to quasi-major indie stars quite naturally. Keeping their knack for girl-group flecked garage in tact and spreading a nice layer of spooky pop charm over the top, they still nail those popcorn beats and 3 part harmonies that bring a nice smile to our faces around here. Never ones to be pigeonholed into a garage rock corner though; GT throw in a chunk of psych greased guitar work, a wild swing of arms and feet and a steady rumble of bass that moves more than just feet. As anyone who's ever seen them live can attest the group are a wonderful combination of sexy swagger and uneasy chaos and this live presence transfers itself well into the studio environment. Its hard not to rest uneasily on the exit of a great EP, but the band has certainly made due on a few promises with Double Jointer and maybe even made a few more in its wake.

Download:
[MP3] Golden Triangle - Neon Noose

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Puerto Rico Flowers

Cresting in on a wave of acerbic darkwave that's been building over the past year, Clockcleaner's John Sharkey III takes hold of the sound and throttles it to perfection. Spare in the best of terms, Sharkey paces emotionless atop a steady axis of bass/synth and the distant clop of drums that keep the sinister impulses moving steady. Despite the spot on album title (4, there are 4 songs) the band has little to do with its Puerto Rican moniker, instead finding itself forged in Sharkey's haunts in the U.S. and Australia before crawling out into the open. Several have tried to capture the perfect mix of nihilism and wretched, writhing emotion in one filthy package and most have come up short. Sharkey however, leaves a taste for more with this EP and it seems he could be one of the forerunners of a new gothic underground. There are a few great new runners in this field and definitely something to watch in 2010 between this project, Xeno & Oaklander and Led Er Est. We'll see who survives.

Download:
[MP3] Puerto Rico Flowers - Let's Make Friends

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

GR & Full-Blown Expansion

Gregory Raimo of French psych warriors Gunslingers strikes out on his own, taking a bit of the slingers' torched red-line guitar sound but more importantly setting it atop a steadily percolating set of Krautrock rhythms that make for a nice Ash-Ra Temple vibe throughout. Its this push-pull of rhythm and psychedelics that makes Raimo's solo album so entrancing, occasionally throwing a nice slash of organ searing through the mix and punctuating things with his Beefheart croak. Its a stew of psychedelic influence and sounds perfectly misplaced in time as do the similarly backward gazing Gunslingers. Of all things this record brings to mind its not French guitar rock, splitting the difference between the new wave of Japanese psych behemoths and a passing tide of German morotik heroes, but in bringing these two worlds together in a storm of strings and skins its hard not to thanks Raimo for his foresight.

Download:
[MP3] GR & Full-Blown Expansion - Transfiguration on a Sepiachord
[MP3] GR & Full-Blown Expansion - All Stoned Day Long They Take You

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	Various Artists - The BYG Deal As usual Finders Keepers digs the most essential nuggets from far flung corners of the psych/funk/prog universe and sheds highly detailed light on them. This time they uncover the story of French art-prog label BYG which was born out of
the '68 student riots and went on to encompass side projects and alternate identities of members of Gong, Magma, Vangelis, Procul Harem and a wealth of other musicians buried in time and largely forgotten until now. The compilation flows easily despite the disparate nature of some of the included artists, moving from terse hard rock driven funk to airy space prog and back through the rising waves experimental jazz. As stated in the liner notes, it's not a formula that seems like it should work but The BYG Deal begs for repeated listens to get a sense of its wonderfully eccentric tangents. It's definitely a piece of history worth looking into. Download: [MP3] François Wertheimer - L'automne [MP3] Coeur Magique - Mademoiselle Marie Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Jack Rose

Sadly, just as Rose began to hit his stride he was cut down, but Luck in the Valley is a warm reminder of why he was so beloved. The album centers as usual on pre-war blues and folk styles that Jack seemed built to play and most were recorded live in a single or a few takes. The methodology behind this is that it emulated the feeling of how pre-war blues and folk would have been recorded at the time and as Jack had often espoused, it does lend a feeling of immediacy to his music. Its rather easy to get lost in the rambling valley's of Rose's playing and for this album his accompanists were chosen for their hardened live skills, each adding a dense layer of intangible beauty to his compositions. Its sad to think that aside from archived recordings this may be the last proper Jack Rose album as it seemed there was so much yet to come.

Download:
[MP3] Jack Rose - Woodpiles on the Side of the Road

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Some institutions we've come to respect around here based on reputation alone and Australia's Aarght! is most certainly a well-spring of talent and a sure bet for fun garage. Their latest single from the two-piece Super Wild Horses hits right on target.

Super Wild Horses – Six Song EP Messy, scrappy and full of 6 fun tracks, this EP from Super Wild Horses introduces yet another great bit of Australia's garage underground to us uninformed residents abroad. Under a bed of tape hiss Amy and Haley foster a keen sense of harmony

and exuberant energy. Often times the band sounds like its banging out a thunder of drums inside a high school gymnasium, but that chaos and squelch seem to only endear them closer to us. This seems to be just a taste of what they might have in store and if "What Started The Noise" is any indication that could be explosive indeed. Keep an eye on the racks for more from Super Wild Horses in the near future. Download: [MP3] Super Wild Horses - What Started The Noise Support the artist. Buy it HERE

AFCGT

A-Frames/Climax Golden Twins combination plate AFCGT swing a deal with Sub Pop which seems surprising on the surface but less so taking into account A-Frames history with the Seattle institution. The move thankfully has spurred no movement towards a softening of the band's sound and their (again) S/T album is again a grey-skied industrial plow through deserted streets of sound. Clanging in desperation and pounding thick against the skull in anxious waves of paranoia, AFCGT bring bleak to harrowing new heights here. Stretched like piano wire to avoid intruders, guitars fray and quiver, lash out and then brood fearfully. Vocals, when present, recall recitations from the Necronomicon inspiring no amount of consolation from the ravaged sonic world they inhabit. A bit more sparse, if possible, than their last outing but nonetheless pure AFCGT.

Download:
[MP3] AFCGT - Two Legged Dog

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Diehard

It’s always hard to write about those you know, but despite knowing far too much about the members of Diehard, it’s difficult to not let the edges of a smile cross my face each time I hear them. Awash in a flash of flannel and more than a touch of cardigan, their male/female indie pop recalls an era’s worth of 90’s stalwarts like wrapping your arms around old friends. Plowing through shared loves of Afghan Whigs and Superchunk and cascading like the first rising waves of unrequited crush; their EP Oh So Premiere is a sincere return to indie form. Back to the days when boys pined, girls pined and house parties lasted way past their point of usefulness. The EP is just a taste of what the band plays live and it's highly recommended that you catch them in their awkwardly adorable perfect setting on a stage somewhere soon.

Download:
[MP3] Diehard - Future Tense

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

White Hills

Cranking out their first official LP for Thrill Jockey, following a reissue of Head's On Fire a while back, White Hills continue their sojourn to the altar of Hawkwind and emerge as one of the most intriguing disciples of the space rock forefathers. Their self-titled effort wraps in an earlier track, "Dead" and begins the slow descent into molten atmosphere from there, slowly churning guitars heavy as the movement of tectonic plates all the while retaining a disembodied tether to the heavens. The band are, naturally, at their best when given enough time to wander and the longer tracks usually end up more fully formed, however they turn in two desperately creeping ambient slabs effectively turning transitory bits to icy forays into doom. This, along with Head's On Fire seem to be the band at their exploratory peak, fully formed and less fragmentary than they were in their infancy; and though Hawkwind might remain their starting point, the band seems to now have fulfilled that old command by Waters and co. to set the controls for the heart of the sun. Perhaps just an album or two away from that goal by the sounds of things.

Download:
[MP3] White Hills - Three Quarters Removed at label's request.
[MP3] White Hills - Dead

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

A few more morsels from the Jukebox this week, wrapping up some great L.A. cuts courtesy of Where The Action Is, filtering in some Iranian instrumental garage and topping it off with a nice dose of psych-pop. What more could you want?

[MP3] Ojooba Ha - Bas Ay Dokhtar Ha
Storming out of the Iranian underground Ojooba Ha give their best Ventures nod with an Eastern surf instrumental that rides high on organ and a bit of twang in the guitar strings. Propulsive and bubbly just like the best 60's instrumental fodder.

[MP3] The Merry-Go-Round - Listen! Listen!
Stomping fuzz and some serious Beatles nodding are present on this sprightly track. After a while the love of the moptops becomes inescapable but a lack of originality doesn't slight the track one bit for its catchy melody and superb quality.

[MP3] Brass Buttons - Hell Will Take Care of Her
Slowly simmering bit of psych pop here, leaning on some guitar effects and a yearning melody. The track builds over the course of 3:00 and though it doesn't explode into the kind of coda it could have it keeps the psychedelic tension brimming.

[MP3] The Premiers - Get On This Plane
The Premiers lay down sinister garage blues that waft into hazy choruses but all the time stay pretty anchored on a fat slab of fuzz chord swagger. Not quite making its mind up completely but balancing the impulses of garage and psych admirably.

[MP3] Deepest Blue - Pretty Little Thing
Garage via the frat house shuffle, Deepest Blue get feet moving and its hard not to crack a wide smile at the rumbling bass and Van Morrison-esque croon that hearkens this nicely to Them-styled rave ups. Though the band didn't last, this one's well worth enough repeat plays to fill out an album.

The Black Jaspers

The combined minds of King Khan and Jasper Hood crank out garage punk that's scraped straight off the filthy streets, pummeling like a whirl of fists and Bazooka Joe wrappers. Wrought with the King's keen sense of crass and cobbled together in a frenzied fit, its plain to see that no labor was wasted on second takes here. Then again immediacy seems to be the electric charge that propels these tracks on their erratic course. The album was recorded in 2001 and sat steaming and festering in the King's vault until In the Red unleashed it this year. Somehow it seems perfectly applicable to the lo-fi climate and doesn't show its age one bit. Not the smartest record that ever laid on our table but the perfect soundtrack to all those activities that involve no cerebral impulses, hedonism in perfect form.

Download:
[MP3] The Black Jaspers - I Want My Face On The Radio
[MP3] The Black Jaspers - Smart Car

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Some equations just register too high on the scale of things RSTB loves and this single has all the right components - impudent garage, members of The Gris Gris and Dutchess and the Duke, recorded by Greg Ashley and churned out on fat plastic by Rob's House. They don't come much more enticing than that.

	Spencey Dude and the Doodles – Flirting 7" Spencey and his Doodles seem rather taken with the idea of infidelity as they talk about flirting, cheating and lust on both sides of this 7", their debut for Rob's House. It's not rocket science and yeah the road's been
walked before but when you hit the steps just right it doesn't matter who walked the path before you. Snotty as they come and barreling down the same alley as Hunx and Nobunny which definitely puts them in our "to watch" column for 2010. Download: [MP3] Spencey Dude and the Doodles - If This Feeling Ends Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Richard Skelton

Again Richard Skelton has proven that neo-classical works can unfold layer after layer of emotion while still holding onto higher concepts, non-traditional recording techniques and dissonance that reveals beauty. His latest album, Landings, released both on his own imprint Sustain-Release and on Type, is a masterful blend of location specific field recording and bowed instrumentation. The layers weave themselves into stark edifices of desperation, leaving very little room for sunlight in Skelton's world. The recording locations play just as important a part as the overlying music, with creaking barns, trickling rivers and wooded lots adding a spectral aura of time and loss to his recordings that seems inextricable from the emotions at play. This record takes several listens to even begin to unfold what Skelton has constructed and each listen takes you further and further down the dark hole of sadness he seems to occupy. Though honestly its the most beautiful descent

Download:
[MP3] Richard Skelton - Of the Last Generation
[MP3] Richard Skelton - Remaindered

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE or HERE

Purling Hiss

Drenched in the kind of fuzz that tortures the stylus and backed with a "we almost broke the pressing plant's equipment because our shit's too loud" story that makes your heart swell with pride; Purling Hiss couldn't possibly be more in line with RSTB's favorite tendencies. A side project of Mike Pollize from Birds of Maya, who decided to fully immerse himself in his love of High Rise, Les Rallizes Denudes and other full on, blown out Japanese psych masters that bring a curled smile to our lips every time they hit the turntable. This self-titled monster isn't one to wrap itself in melody, though its there under the wall of scorched fuzz, no sir this is a paean to the jam and an offering to the alter of electric immersion. Headphones not highly recommended because this one needs room to breathe and feeds on the crackle of speaker wire and the smoldering smell of ozone burning away with each monstrous chord. Definitely necessary, grab one of these limited beauties while they're still around. Early run of purple sold out but there are still some standard black copies to be had.

Download:
[MP3] Purling Hiss - Almost Washed My Hair
[MP3] Purling Hiss - DUI

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE or HERE

Vermilion Sands

With a country-flecked take on garage, the last place you'd expect Vermilion Sands to originate from would be Italy but the group's pleasant femme fronted approach is proving that its not just great cold-wave and post-punk that's flowing from Italian shores. Large as Southwestern skies and brimming with heat-sick melancholy, the band's Miss My Gun is a welcomed second helping in the newly minted Sacred Bones EP series. The five tracks work their way from jangled acoustic touches to propulsive gallops, closing out with a cinematic touch of instrumental ennui. This is just a taste before the band unleashes a full length next year on Fat Possum but its a great early impression.

Download:
[MP3] Vermilion Sands - I'm A Little Mixed Up

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE.

	The Quick - Mondo Deco Radio Heartbeat pull another power pop classic from the clutches of obscurity and reissue it with the proper respect it deserves. Just as much a glitter rock classic as the Milk n' Cookies LP that Heartbeat rescued a while back, Mondo Deco
balances sugary delivery with an undeniable pop punch that can't help but lodge more than a few songs into your head. The originals are where the band shines, though they certainly put their own mark on covers of The Beatles and Bob Gaudio. At the time the band suffered the fate of sharing a label with The Runaways and became lost in the wake of their rapidly forming success. However, years later this album still stands as a lost classic of power pop that should be curled up in your collection along with Milk n' Cookies and Shoes. Download: [MP3] The Quick - Rag Doll [MP3] The Quick - Hi Lo Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin

Holy shit, its very possible that Ty Segall never sleeps. After a new album, touring with Sic Alps and a dose of singles in '09; the garage wunderkind drops this nugget of reverbed thunder down on us before the year ends. Recorded with Mikal Cronin of Charlie and the Moonhearts, the album revels in blown out fuzztone garage fury and its just the level of fun/fever that you'd expect from Segall. Includes a dynamite cover of Pink Floyd's "Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk" and the whole b-side is dedicated to a long-form workout that moves from psych-adled effects to acoustic tenderness and back to crustcaked revelry. The two make a formidable pair to say the least and this should certainly make your pick up list for the end of the year cleanup.

Download:
[MP3] Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin - I Wear Black

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE.