Premiere :: King Tuff

This one comes loaded with excitement for RSTB. If you've been a reader for any length of time you'd know there are few bands that we've followed with as much intense interest as Kyle Thomas' King Tuff. So when Thomas abandoned the project to pursue Happy Birthday we were bummed but rewarded with a delightfully off-kilter pop record that seemed to ease the pain. Having all but resigned ourselves to never seeing the Tuff live, the wounds had just begun to heal when Thomas and crew began to play a few shows this year and they absolutely killed here in NYC. Now the band is releasing a track for Scion's superb garage 7" series and it's another killer from the King's mouth. For those only familiar with the band's Was Dead album, this will be the first time "Hands" hits your ears, but the track originally appeared on the sorely limited Mindblow CD-r. It's been completely reworked and rerecorded, though, and it's been supercharged into a hot piece of glam rock candy the way only King Tuff can. Check it out below and keep those fingers crossed for a new album!

Download:
King Tuff - Hands by ScionAV

More info: HERE

Cosmonauts

Desptite the cuddly pink elephant and pastel yellows on the cover of Cosmonauts self-titled LP, the band carries no traces of the twee that might infer. Instead the California foursome carry a much sharper edge up their sleeves, wading into territory that's owned by The Black Angels and Spacemen 3 while giving things their own 60's punk slap in the face. The LP was originally issued as a tape on Burger Records before landing on wax at Chicago's own Permanent. A pretty potent record considering the young ages of its craftsmen, but its clear that this debut promises more sweet sickness down the road. A pretty great year shaping up indeed for the young guns of psych-punk; with The People's Temple, The Paperhead and now Cosmonauts taking the reigns, and any year that's a great one for psych-punk is a pretty good one in our books.

Download:
[MP3] Cosmonauts - Neon Kids
[MP3] Cosmonauts - T.V. California

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

The Men

Brooklyn's The Men have sketched a ragged line between hardcore and post-punk and dripped it with a few experimental touches like drone and shoegaze for good measure. The band's third album and first for the venerable Sacred Bones starts with a dirge-like growl before launching into the ferocious guitar crunch that surfaces so often over the course of Leave Home. The band is at its best when they strip back the intensity just a touch and let their sense of rhythm and noise take them over. The juggernaut punch of songs like "L.A.D.O.C.H." can get a bit overwhelming at times but they're quick to bring things right back to balance each time. Another great bit of darkness from the crew at SB.

Download:
[MP3] The Men - ( )

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	Just Others - Amalgam A beautiful, melancholy and rare English folk gem; Just Others' 1974 album was pressed in a scant run of 250 and sold only at the band's shows making it a collector's favorite. In fact, the record has been known to fetch auction
prices well above the $1,000 mark. The band, consisting of Geoff Twigg and Brian Rodgers made folk in the very English tradition of Fairport Convention with a touch Bert Jansch, guitar that whispers John Renbourn and the kind of bittersweet lyrics that would befit Simon and Garfunkle comparisons. The album is one that surely should have been lost to time were it not for ambitious souls with the right kind of ears and this reissue does the original recordings their fair share of justice. Download: [MP3] Just Others - Close Your Eyes to The Sun [MP3] Just Others - Song For All Seasons Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

The People's Temple

When sifting through the dozens of garage bands that pop up it seems like a few labels can always be counted on to vet out the scene's cream and HoZac is certainly one of the great garage barometers of the day. Snagging an early single from these Michigan 60's disciples, the label now turns their attention to the band's full length, Sons of Stone. Sounding ripped out of time and fed on a heavy diet of The Stones, 13th Floor Elevators, Them and The Troggs; the band pieces together one of the year's better garage efforts. Their ability to cut their influences out of the past's pages and melt them into a stew of strengths feels similar to The Paperhead's recent record but unlike those Memphis upstarts The People's Temple have a few more songwriting chops on their side that elevate their homage beyond mere reverence and into memorable tracks that begin to have their own bit of branding attached to them. The album's noting if not a repeat player, and each new spin reveals the band to have an ability to stand alongside some of their more revered contemporaries like The Fresh & Onlys or even Ty Segall. It's definitely a release to watch and one for your 2011 acquisition pile.

Check out a stripped down session of "Starstreamer" from the album below.


Download:
[MP3] The People's Temple - Sons of Stone
[MP3] The People's Temple - Where You Gonna Go?

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

The Prefab Messiahs – Franz Kafka b/w Prefab Sun 7" A little nugget from the past via Almost Ready Records, the people who've brought you those great little World's Lousy comps. The band occupies a pre/post wasteland between punk, paisley and psych

revivals that ends up lumping them into the too late for glory too soon for fame kind of category. They've got some of the same impulses that made The Twinkeyz heroes to a scant few and even caught the ear of Bobb Trimble (who missed his own share of glory in his heyday) who had a hand in some of their recordings. These two tracks certainly show you what the vast majority of the buying public in '83 were missing out on though and its a welcome bit of unearthing from the label. There are rumblings of a full reissue so keep your eyes peeled for that one soon. Download: [MP3] The Prefab Messiahs - Prefab Sun Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Human Eye

Timmy Vulgar's been on a tear for the Sacred Bones label over the past few years; whether in the guise of Timmy's Organism or in the throes of Human Eye. Vulgar and crew take the form of the latter for their latest SB release It Came From The Sky but no matter which banner he's flying under, his Beefheart growl and characteristically offbeat reality shine through. Human Eye has always been the more ferocious of the two projects and their piercing edges flash and slash throughout this entry to the Bones canon. Vulgar's often had a bit of an obsession with horror and extra-terrestrials and there are some cross over themes tying this album directly to the last Timmy's Organism release, even penning a follow-up to the Rise of the Green Gorilla track "Impregnate the Martian Queen" for this one. It’s not easy to step lightly into Vulgar's world but once inside its recommended you relax to the cracked kaleidoscopic view, the gore and the sludge; and just let the fumes get to you.

Download:
[MP3] Human Eye - Impregnate The Martian Queen Pt 2

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Jane Weaver (Demdike Stare, The Focus Group, etc.)

Jane Weaver's 2010 album The Fallen By Watch Bird was a fitting entry to B-Music's sister label Bird. Its bewitching folk sounded thrust out of time and even featured guest appearances from Susan Christie and Wendy Flower of Wendy & Bonnie alongside label head Andy Votel. The Watchbird Alluminate puts Weaver's material in the capable hands of sound artisans like Demdike Stare (turning in their first remix), The Focus Group and Anworth Kirk among others who all reconstruct her songs into darker and often times sparser rivulets of ambient folk. Each new reinterpretation however, only seems to add to Weaver's patchwork tapestry of wonder and woe.

Download:
[MP3] Jane Weaver / Demdike Stare - Europium Alluminate

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	Golem - Orion Awakes Purportedly released in 1973 on a small press label named Pyramid, Golem came to light as part of Virgin UK's Unknown Deutcshland series that followed in the wake of Julian Cope's exploration of Krautrock in the mid 90's and the
genre's resulting resurgence. Due to a sense of mystery and few details surrounding some of the compilations there has been controversy that suggests the bands on the compilation were the work of 90's musicians cashing in on the trend. This controversy isn't dispelled by the inclusion of a producing credit on the Golem album listed as Genius P. Orridge. However the album came into being it captures the driving momentum of the German Progressive underground and adds to it a more intense guitar sound than quite a few of their "peers". And regardless of whether it came to existence as a true member of the Krautrock 70's or as an offspring of its influence, the album's content is well worth a listen and a place on your shelf next to your Neu! and Guru Guru records. Download: [MP3] Golem - Godhead Dance Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Gang Gang Dance

After flirting heavily with pop for the last few years, Gang Gang Dance hold their breath for the deepest submersion yet. While not entirely the straightforward dance-pop playground that St. Dymphna anomaly "House Jam" hinted towards, the band's latest fuses a much heavier beat style to their signature blend of experimentation and quite well in fact. Where "House Jam" and "Princes" stuck out like good ideas on an incongruous (though incongruously great) album, here the band is able to balance their pop impulses with their more adventurous history; and in turn they create something that is both more experimental and more pop than both camps are usually capable of. Eye Contact certainly moves, and it often skirts a line between dance and abstraction to the very edge; with breakdowns melting into tribal textures and Bougatsos' voice trading verses for vocal sculptures that envelop like an icy breeze. Its certainly going to be the album that opens them up to a new audience and much praise should go to them for that. Its one of their best and most likely one of 2011's best as well.



Download:
[MP3] Gang Gang Dance - MindKilla

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	C Spencer Yeh – In The Blink of An Eye 7" Yeh has been force in the experimental and noise community for years so its certainly a surprise to open his latest single and find jittery, guitar driven pop. However C Spence proves that he can be just as
deft with a hook as he can with speaker crumbling fuzz. The A-side in particular has a danceable quality that could very well make Yeh a household name if he chooses to follow this path. While some in the noise community may take this as a betrayal, I suppose that in the long scheme it can't be seen as too shocking. Similar paths have been followed by everyone from Animal Collective to Excepter and it’s only helped to allow them to expose more audiences to some of their noisier impulses slipped in amongst the clean. Here's to wondering what's next for Yeh. Download: [MP3] C Spencer Yeh - In the Blink of An Eye Support the artist. Buy it HERE
	Sun Araw – Houston Abstros 7" In another surprising turn towards pop, who saw Sun Araw cranking out a cover of Teenage Fanclub? Well maybe it’s not so shocking; Stallones has covered unusual ground before; tackling everything from gospel on our very own compilation series to
Neil Young for charity. Still, its a cleaner sound than I'd expect from that camp. The A-side is still pure Araw, swampy and dub drenched with a crawling beat that feels like the dense center of summer. The B-Side as mentioned tackles Teenage Fanclub's "December" and its no jangled note-for-note take on the song. Instead Stallones drags the pop nugget towards the dip of the horizon, melting it into his signature syrupy psych. Download: [MP3] Sun Araw - December Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Grouper

Following the release of Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill it seemed that Liz Harris had set upon the world her fragile masterpiece, a culmination of everything that Grouper had built upon up to that point. So it seems in good question, "how do you follow up your definitive statement?" Well for Harris that certainly doesn't mean shying away from the challenge. She's answered the call with an ambitious double album; or rather two separate albums that intertwine and feed off one another make up the collection, A I A. Both halves of A I A wrap up the hemispheres of Harris' gauzy wonderland, with Alien Observer tackling the more vocal heavy, "pop" side of her recent leanings. Though with Grouper pop isn't necessarily the word that best applies, but they're the more universally palatable of the bunch. Dream Loss on the other hand ensconces itself in the nebulous drones that Harris has always loved, hearkening back to the vibes present on Wide and Cover The Windows And The Walls. The amazing thing is that both albums represent the top form of both of the niches they aim to inhabit; snagging the rights to the best dream pop and drone pop releases you're likely to hear all year in one shot.

Download:
[MP3] Grouper - Alien Observer

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	Marijata - This Is Marijata It seems that the wealth of African psych, funk and psych-funk records never ceases these days, but there's still plenty of quality to be mined from the region's generous history. Academy LPs teamed up again with VooDoo Funk to release one of
the most consistently sought after collector's pieces, the debut by Marijata. This Ghanian funk band caries no trace of psych in sight; instead laying down a potent stew of poly-rhythmic beats, horn stabs and steamy guitar licks. The track below is an unremastered original rip, but be reassured that the crew at Academy et al have taken pains to whip this album back into the shape it deserves to be presented in. Its hard to tell if this is more of an essential funk release or an essential African release but naturally the answer is that its most likely both. Download: [MP3] Marijata - Break Through Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

White Hills

A new White Hills record always seems cause for celebration. This time around the trio continues down the path to space rock ecstasy with an arsenal of heavy riffs, stratospheric effects and the usual pummeling beat tethering things to the ground. Just as exploratory as their 2010 S/T album, H-p1 stretches the spaced template the band has built itself on, adding the extra push of synths to pull them further into the eye of prog, metal and sonic fury. The title H-p1 seems to bring with it a sense of disease in the age of epidemics doled out like headlines. The central themes of the record deal with a disconnectedness arising through technology, consumerism and public malaise; and those dystopian themes seem to fit well with the monolithic crunch of guitar that they dispense like a cure. Another great addition to the band's already sterling catalog for sure.

Download:
[MP3] White Hills - The Condition of Nothing

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Wooden Wand / Owen Tromans – Circle / Guru Femmes 7" Not the first time James Jackson Toth has split covers with another artist, but these singles always turn out to be great fun. Here, Toth tackles Owen Tromans' song "Circle", lending his always welcome road

dusted delivery to the track, making it his own burden. On the flip Tromans, known for sideman duties with everyone from Brian Jonestown Massacre to Mercury Rev and Devendra Banhart, undertakes the daunting task of reinterpreting one of Toth's own idiosyncratic folk nuggets and he gives the fan favorite, "Guru Femmes" some new light. This trickle of new material just adds to the excitement of the Kickstarter funded Wooden Wand and the Briarwood Virgins LP, which should be recording right now. Download: [MP3] Owen Tromans - Guru Femmes Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Mountains

It seems a long time since Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp first appeared on RSTB, but the duo still manage to craft perfectly realized electro-acoustic gems that bend the boundaries of both genres. On Air Museum the duo finally entered a proper studio to capture their sound in its full capacity, carving their burbling drones into a more definite shape. Where in the past they've often relied on processing after the fact, here the songs are shaped as they're recorded, using an array of pedals to more accurately simulate the way the pair play live. The result is one of Mountains' most immersive and engrossing albums yet, a perfect split between natural and electronic that draws the listener in like a slowly pulsing light. Highly recommended, of course!

Download:
[MP3] Mountains - Thousand Square

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Motion Sickness of Time Travel

The original vinyl press of this was gone in an instant but thankfully Digitalis have gone a second round with Seeping Though the Veil of the Unconscious this time on white vinyl. MSoTT is the alter-ego of Hooker Vision co-curator, Rachel Evans and her bubbling, alchemical pop hovers close to the edge of consciousness usually staked out for Grouper, Higuma and a few other conspirators of the ethereal plane. Though admittedly Evans' version of delirium is often much more innocent sounding than some of her contemporaries, it does retain their spectral sense of bittersweet ennui. With each listen this album opens itself up more and more, revealing hidden gems of crystalline beauty that are actually quite addictive.

Download:
[MP3] Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Mental Projection

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	Los Dug Dug's - Smog I've mentioned Los Dug Dug's first LP on Raven before and while that is an indispensable part of the Mexican psych canon, Armando Nava's 1972 follow up is hardly less essential. With the band stripped back to a power trio and with a new
focus on Spanish vocals, the band toughened their sound, often walking the line between a Mexican Jethro Tull and some of their American proto-metal peers. There were some reported disagreements between Nava and the rest of the band while recording, resulting in him exiling himself to his house for a fifteen day stint to rework and reshape Smog into the brutal beast you see here. The band was popular in their native region and recorded for RCA Mexico but aside from a short stint playing around New York they were never able to cross out of the Latin airwaves. Following Smog they recorded a few more albums but would never quite make the break through they deserved. They've remained constants on the collector's market and now, thankfully, both of their first two albums have been laid back down on vinyl. Download: [MP3] Los Dug Dug's - Cual es tu Nombre [MP3] Los Dug Dug's - No Somos Malos Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Higuma

Taking into consideration that he had a hand in at least three releases last year (Barn Owl, Gärden Sound and his own solo album) its a wonder that Evan Caminiti has any time to squeeze in something else. Still he and Lisa McGee have managed to release another shimmering entry into the Higuma catalog. Oftentimes falling in line with earlier incarnations of Grouper, Pacific Fog Dreams hovers in radiant cloud of layered drones and swirling, unrecognizable vocals. Having crystallized their sound over the years, this album sounds like a group carefully recreating the sounds in their heads. Caminiti's guitar growls with tense restraint while McGee vocals echo with a sublime lilt that's both sad and ecstatic. This isn't one for the iPod to and from work; definitely the kind of record that's best paired with low lights, a quite house and the turntable. I highly recommened picking one up.

Download:
[MP3] Higuma - Crystal Harvest

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	Jacuzzi Boys / Vivian Girls - Bruise Cruise Vol. 2 7" The first, but not the last, one of these great splits to show up here; these great little gifts were given out to attendees of this year's inaugural Bruise Cruise. The remaining 500 of each have now been spread to the
general populace and thankfully so because there are some great gems to be found on them. On the A-side of Vol. 2, Jacuzzi Boys give us even more reason to have high expectations for that upcoming full length; a taught, swampy rocker that matches well with the snarling garage stew the band so faithfully delivers. On the flip the Vivs toss in a throwaway that doesn’t do the boys on the A-side justice. It feels more like something you'd toss on a free magazine comp than something getting pressed to vinyl for posterity; mostly background laughter and vocal harmonizing. Ah well its a small price to pay for the JB's gem on the front. Download: [MP3] Jacuzzi Boys - Your Flags Support the artist. Buy it HERE
	The Liminanas - AF3458 7" The Liminanas never fail to crack a smile 'round these parts. Their latest single for the always intriguing SDZ is a multi-lingual blast of fuzz battered garage and 60's-mining pop swingers. The serial number-esque A-side kicks in a fizzy, English driven
stomper that's as fun as anything in their repertoire. On the back they kick in another dose of that detached French cool that renders their tracks a notch above many of their peers. They have an intangible ability to make soundtracks for underground bungalows, backroom hideaways and the kind of in-the-know speakeasies where cash won't get you entrance but the right amount of wear on your leather jacket might. Definitely an essential piece of their catalog. Download: [MP3] The Liminanas - Betty and Johnny Support the artist. Buy it HERE