Torlesse Super Group

It's always nice when smart, capable musicians find each other and amplify their already impressive impulses. Such is the case with Torlesse Super Group, the duo of New Zealand musicians Roy Mongomery and Nick Guy. Montomery's name may be familiar to some through his collaborations with Liz Harris of Grouper and he brings his deft string work to this project aided ably by Mr. Guy's rumbling tones. Guy will certainly be less familiar to most, with his roots as a sound archivist for Radio New Zealand and the National Library of New Zealand. He's also an accomplished electronic musician in his own right and here the two minds explore territory that wanders from wasteland ambience to high plateau guitar meditations and into the wake of shuddering bass beats. The album moves between modes fluidly and snaking from the last aching tones of drone into a hammered beat before twisting it all away in oscillating waves of sonar. Definitely not a release for the timid but a rewarding listen for those with the right set of ears.

Download:
[MP3] Torlesse Super Group - Strata Speak

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Amen Dunes

Damon McMahon's past recordings have come with an air of the solitary hermit. His 2009 release DIA was recorded four years prior and never intended for wide release, but its quiet psychedelic charm proved to be too good to keep on the shelf. Last year's Murder Dull Mind kept a similar bedroom vibe under its mostly acoustic charms. As such I approached McMahon's second full length Through Donkey Jaw with similar expectations, hunkering down with headphones and listening for that same quiet countenance. However, it wasn't until I put the record through speakers that I realized how much of a "big" record this is and a turning point for McMahon. It's not big in a stadium sense, or a rock sense; it's still an almost reverent psychedelic record, but it hangs on the air with a reverberation that's only felt out loud. Where some of DIA felt like a diary, this feels like a bolder statement. Its the record that McMahon's been promising to make since he first pressed record all those years ago.

Download:
[MP3] Amen Dunes - Lower Mind

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Co-Premiere: Radio People

Sam Goldberg (head of Pizza Night Tapes and member of Mist) returns with a new Radio People album, Hazel for Mexican Summer. Through a busy patch of releases; including a Mist full length and a solo LP for Arbor, Sam hasn't left himself dry for the Radio People follow-up. The analog tones bubble with grime-coated neon light fit for the most dystopian settings and with emphasis on the shorter end of the synth-drone spectrum, Radio People remains one of Goldberg's most accessible projects. Fans of fellow Cleveland sonic pioneers Emeralds will most likely want to snap this one up right away.

Listen:


Support the artist. Buy it: HERE (available August 23rd)

	Snapper - Shotgun Blossom The Flying Nun label brought forth many great bands in the 80's and 90's with few household names among them. True to form Snapper have gained more acclaim in retrospect than in action, mostly for Stereolab comparisons that
traced the English band's sound back to this Kiwi crew; though more accurate comparisons might be made to heavier bands like Wooden Shjips and their offspring Moon Duo. Snapper had none of the soft-impact coo of Laetitia Sadier, instead supporting their motirik fuzz with a bit of a buried rasp that grew to a growl in places. The band included members of The Clean, The Chills and This Kind of Punishment at times though they often seem to fall out of the discussions that revolve around those particular players in Flying Nun scene. This classic was released in '91 and by about '94 the band had lost a few players, ostensibly being reduced to a duo for their last album ADM before finally calling it quits. However, this stands as one of the great albums forged by time and place and always condemned to second tier status. Download: [MP3] Snapper - Hot Sun Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Video :: Nectarine Pie

Bare Wires (and pretty much anything involving Matthew Melton) have been on repeat around here all summer so we were pretty excited to hear about Nectarine Pie which features Melton and a few other Oakland garage regulars. Nectarine Pie bring the harder edged guitars but with a plush hammer of a vocal delivery. The video's all in Super 8, filmed and edited by the band and the crew at Southpaw. Somehow I always get the feeling I'm on the wrong coast for garage but at least videos seem to make up for the long distance love affair.

Pick up their debut 7" here.

Sore Eros

Sore Eros have already laid a beautiful, pastoral psych release on us this year (or right at the tip of last, rather) and now they've followed in suit with an EP of five more shimmering gems. Just Fuzz, which is a rather misleading title since fuzz is about the furthest thing from the pristine clarity of these tracks, was recorded while the band was snowed in early in 2011 and it seems that rather than cabin fever the boys must have been pretty content with their containment. The tracks twinkle with opalescent tones and their usual mix of harmonious voices and billowy strums. The EP lands via Blackburn who released their pre-LP single "Taal Compass."

Download:
[MP3] Sore Eros - Stacy

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

RSTB Premiere :: Christmas Island

With the exception of a few 7"s its been a while since RSTB faves Christmas Island had a release that we could really sink our teeth into (has it really been two years since Blackout Summer?). So when Craig from Christmas Islands sent over this track and the announcemnt that the band is releasing a 12" on his own Volar Records (Dan Melchior, Fresh & Onlys, Beaters), needless to say we were pretty excited. The band's got the jangle intact but with a decidedly darker vein running through this one. The 12" will be available on the road during the band's upcoming West Coast tour and you can pre-order it from Volar below.

Download:
[MP3] Christmas Island - Poisoner

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Cave

After spending so much time with Cooper Crane's side project Bitchin Bajas around here its easy to forget how consistently awesome Cave are in their own right. Drag City are unleashing the band's latest opus, Neverendless on the world this year and it pulses as heavy as ever with the exuberant spirit that we've come to love Cave for. The album's deeply rooted in the crossroads of the German Progressive explosion but with a heavy psychedelic edge that erupts out of the motirik rhythms, pulling the groove into tattered pieces before sewing it back up with deadly precision. While the Bajas appear to be Crane's calm center of meditation its clear that Cave remains a force of catharsis that's always teetering on the edge of spontaneous combustion. It’s good to have a little heavy groove back in our lives to combat the punishing crush of summer sweat.

Download:
[MP3] Cave - Adam Roberts

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Case Studies

The dissolution of The Dutchess and The Duke came as a sad note in the past few years around here, but not a surprise, that project burnt fast and hot in a way that didn't seem sustainable. In the wake of it's demise frontman Jesse Lortz has taken up solo (with plenty of friends) under the name Case Studies and hooked up for a record on Sacred Bones. Lortz retains much of his crooked grin humor but tames the intensity of the strums a bit into the crook of troubadour country. At times his verbose style and sly humor bring him sauntering into Wooden Wand territory which, if you've read RSTB for any length of time you know is quite all right with us. The lack of a female foil isn't felt as hard as one would imagine, as in the place of Kimberly Morrison, Lortz enlists a few friends to smooth out his whiskied delivery. It seems that as Case Studies The Duke lives on.



Download:
[MP3] Case Studies - You Folded Up My Blanket Like We Were Already Lovers

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Mikal Cronin

For many the name Mikal Cronin might only sound familiar in tandem with Ty Segall, as the two have been making noise for a few years now. He's also been holding his own in The Moonhearts but with the release of his second solo album I think quite a few more folks will have his name on their mind all on its own. His self-titled record on Trouble in Mind learns well from both his collaboration with Segall and from his compatriot's solo efforts. Cleaner than we've heard him in a long time, the record packs a huge whollop in its three-minute garage-pop punches. Scraping its way through fuzz, jangle, slow burn motions and even a few psychedelic breakdowns, the record is nothing if not infectious; opening itself up wider with each play. In the truest sense of the word this is just a good record, one that's quickly jumping up our best of 2011 list and one that's not likely to leave the turntable soon.

Download:
[MP3] Mikal Cronin - Apathy

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE (available September 20th)

	Dead Moon - Unknown Passage For many newcomers and younger generation enthusiasts, their first entry point to the Dead Moon universe is likely Sub Pop's great collection Echoes of the Past. This comp does a good job of introducing the band over the years but for
many it also left them with the realization that these full albums were unobtainable, or at least only viably sourced through eBay. So RSTB received the news that the venerable Mississippi Records was reissuing the first three Dead Moon albums on their original vinyl format with something of a wicked smile. This, their second release, was definitely one of the strongest they've ever put together. It's a crushing mixture of hard rockers and turbulent, moody ballads that puts many other albums released around the time to shame. As with all Dead Moon items, who knows how long this will stick around so if you're so inclined, I'd recommend picking it up swiftly. Download: [MP3] Dead Moon - A Miss of You Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Terrors

Elijah Forrest under the guise of Terrors has shown up here before on a lovely tape from Bathetic a few years ago. Since then the Savage Young Taterbug / Infinite Body collaborator has gone on to amass a few other home recorded gems, most of which have been collected by the good folks over at Weird Forest and onto Lagan Qord. Forrest's works encompass hushed guitar folk and a weary brand of psych-folk with the ever present drone of tape hiss guiding them along like a steel rail. This collection includes all the pieces of the aforementioned Bathetic tape plus a few from Equipoise, Inequipoise and an alternate take from a split with Infinite Body. The whole thing was sequenced and remastered by RSTB fave Sean McCann and it hums with a fresh new life for the uninitiated.

Download:
[MP3] Terrors - Coffin Tongue

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Castle Face Records – Group Flex Vol. 1 5x7" So thanks to Pirate Press there's been a wonderful flood of flexis back into the world. You may have seen them as the recent Les Demoniaques release or on a few swimming around from Stones Throw but so far those all pale in comparison

to this 5x Flexi book from the crew at Castle Face. Each of the bands on the Roster - Bare Wires, Blasted Canyons, Thee Ohs Sees, The Fresh & Onlys and Ty Segall pairing back up with Mikal Cronin - all appear in this book that featrues ring bound Flexi 7"s with silk-screening and even a bonus (and totally bonkers) track on the back page attributed to Here Comes The Here Comes. If you're an avid fan of RSTB then you know that we couldn't be more excited about a release from so many past faves all in one place. There are some ace inclusions here, track wise, including a Bowie cover from Ty and Mikal and burners from Bare Wires and Thee Oh Sees. These definitely won't stick around long so if you're interested recommendations are to pick them up quick! Here's a larger detail of the book: Download: [MP3] Bare Wires - Wanna Fight Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Wooden Shjips

The Shjips return and have pulled into the harbor at Thrill Jockey for one of their most engaging albums yet. It seems some time spent embracing the catchier side of riffs in Moon Duo has rubbed off on Ripley's playing in Wodden Shjips, making this one of the sunniest entries into the SanFran unit's discography. Fear not though, the bite is still behind this newfound sunshine. The fuzz is still ferocious and there's still a whiff of sulfur in the air as molten clouds of ash descend in West's wake. The album marks the band's first time laying down tracks in a proper studio and they've even brought in Sonic Boom to master the final product, adding another layer of inescapable quality to this affair. The underlying theme is a tribute to the American West (as hinted at by the title), manifest destiny and the untamed wilderness; and the band's minimal throb fits the territory like the scarred traces of canyon floors.

Download:
[MP3] Wooden Shjips - Lazy Bones

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

HNY

Back in 2008 HNY issued Here You Can Touch The Sky on Ranky Tanky Tapes in a sorely limited run and it slipped from the view of the majority of the buying public. She went on to issue similarly great tapes through Not Not Fun and Goaty while shredding the sax on the side in Social Junk. Still, that 2008 tape remained a classic of her catalog, recalling U.S Girls at her most acerbic and static scorched. Now as the fates would have it, Amethyst Sunset has put this frizzled classic back into print and on swirly orange vinyl no less. If you missed it the first time (which is almost undoubtedly the case as it was pretty scarce) its highly recommended that you add this to your shelf. The reissue even contains a bonus track that never made it to tape!

Download:
[MP3] HNY - Hot Like the Sun

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	You - Electric Day The explosion of synth enthusiasts of late has lead many to look back to the origins of airy new age and Kosmiche masters, and while the genre may seem completely combed through its always possible for a few lost gems to sift to the surface.
Case in point was the recent reissue of Harald Grosskopf's Synthesist and in similar fashion two releases from You, mixed by Grosskopf have surfaced via Bureau B (responsible for similarly minded reissues of Cluster, Rodelius.) The first side of Electric Day is all Krautrock pulse and analog synth chatter of the kind that would make Oneohtrix, Radio People and Dylan Ettinger snap to attention. The release mellows a bit into the etheral plain on the second side but never loses its distinct edge. If you've been digging any of the aforementioned artists then Albin Meskes and Udo Hanten's works as You should jump to the top of your wishlist. Download: [MP3] You - Electic Day Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Zodiac Free Arts Club

The original Zodiac Club or Zodiac Free Arts Lab was founded in Berlin in 1967 as a space for artists to come and create experimental and psychedelic music. It was filled with instruments that were free to use in any way they saw fit and as such it became a fertile ground for collaboration and experimentation. Some four decades late "Argy" the main spirit behind Zodiac Free Arts Club has sought to recreate the experience, opening his own space late in the last decade with the same concept and aim. Following a collaboration with Manuel Göttsching in 2010 the young artist was inspired to create an album of his own in the tradition of Cluster, Neu!, Popul Vuh and the gamut of Kosmische bands from the 70's. The result is Floating World, a perfect tribute to the nebulous past of German Experimental music while remaining easily at home with the current crop of analog pioneers.

Download:
[MP3] Zodiac Free Arts Club - Floating World

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	Charles Albright – Weight 7" Third in a line of seven-inch singles from Mr. Albright and this one's just as vicious, raucous and blown-out as his first two. The A-side sees the garage-punk drumless and strumming away, though in no singer-songwriter capacity. Fueled by high octane
guitar fuzz and a yearning wail, this one is on par with the man's recent offerings. The full blown spectacle is back on the B-side, and it explodes like a Hawkwind outtake with a 20 year hangover. Two very bright offerings from Albright, limited to 300 on the ever consistent Permanent. Download: [MP3] Charles Albright - I am the Counter Culture (Drop Out) Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Gnod

Gnod have turned up on RSTB before and always to great accolades, most notably on their collaboration with White Hills and as a part of their contribution to the Bored Fortress singles series. The Manchester collaborative has a penchant for deep rooted space rock of the Hawkwind meets Ash Ra Temple variety and on their latest LP Ingnodwetrust the band lays down two sides of scorched, festering psychedelia. Each sidelong track scrapes the ionosphere and bounces back like sonar into the scattered recesses of the subconscious. The band are at home on the far side of the ten minute psych opus and only seem to really flourish when they're truly ensconced in a brooding groove, though the b-side sees the band enter a harsher rhythmic territory. Two of their best sides yet!

Listen:
Gnod - Vatican

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE or HERE

Lorelle Meets the Obsolete

Captcha Records, the label that's brought great works from Epsilons, Ga'an, Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall has stumbled on Guadalajara's dirty little secret in the form of Lorelle Meets the Obsolete. The Mexican duo sears their way through a heady mix of shoegaze and pychedelia that wobbles when you think its going to run straight into the foam and scorches just when you're least expecting it to catch fire. The band has a way of wrapping the two genre's (and the edges of quite a few more) around their guitar strings and pulling them tight into knots only to have those same knots disappear in a puff of black smoke. On Welfare is a perfect soundtrack to humid rains, streaked with heat and swelled with the promise of relief.

Download:
[MP3] Lorelle Meets the Obsolete - The Obsolete Man

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	Bobb Trimble - The Crippled Dog Band Up until a few years ago, when his two long lost records were reissued by Secretly Canadian, Bobb Trimble was just a legend of the Worchester, Mass. scene. Now, having proven that his delicate
psychedelia was a sorely overlooked piece of the early eighties underground, another piece of the Trimble mystery surfaces via the always astute hands of Yoga Records. In '83 Bobb hooked up with a group of teenagers called The Crippled Dog band and recorded an album of DIY punk/jangled psych that's different side from the Trimble you may already know. The album is full of youthful charisma, video game noise interludes and that indefinable edge that Bobb brought to all his works. The original 500-run pressing of the LP was dumped by the man himself into a dumpster before the record ever saw the light of day owing to a falling out with the band but now it's been rescued from obscurity and it's a pretty essential listen for fans of late 70's early 80's obscurities. Download: [MP3] Bobb Trimble - Angel Eyes Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Motion Sickness of Time Travel

Rachel Evans' debut last year under the name Motion Sickness of Time Travel was a gorgeous layered affair that had us immediately drawing Grouper comparisons. Now she's followed that album up with the equally bewitching Luminaries & Synastry on Digitalis. The album floats in an ether haze of gauzy synths and Kosmsiche pulses with Evans' always haunting voice slipping between the layers like a silken needle. Again this one walks the line between nebulous synth projects that have been popping lately and the spectral drones of Grouper, and Harris seems to have a skillful hand on both sides of the fence. Her first album went fast and is just beginning to peek back into repress so there's plenty of expectation that this should run out just as quickly. Get on this one before it disappears (or dissipates).

Download:
[MP3] Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Day Glow

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Grass Widow – Milo Minute 7" Grass Widow ekes out a great little single full of their usual post-punk punch with a couple of great covers thrown in as well. The A-side jangles and pulses with the best of their catalog before the trio throw themselves headlong into tracks

by Neo Boys and Wire. On the latter the group deftly adapt their sound to Wire's melodic tangle, feeling like they've been waiting their whole live to lay this cover down. The single is the first in a planned run of "Common Chord" releases, a series of 7-inches the band will be releasing on HLR, all based around a theme of collaboration. Download: [MP3] Grass Widow - Mannequin Support the artist. Buy it HERE