The Spits

Can it be true that The Spits have really been going strong for fifteen years!? Indeed it is and these punk juggernauts have cranked out their fifth self-titled album, another potent concoction of Ramones inspired burners and twisted sci-fi squalor. They may not be completely rewriting the book but sometimes innovation isn't so bold faced. The band is the stuff of live legend and each new release secures their place further and further into the punk history books. Unabashedly weird and unapologetically spastic, The Spits' 5th is a shredded and frayed affair that sweats blood out of your speakers before it collapses breathlessly onto the floor.

Download:
[MP3] The Spits - My Mess

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Video: The Soft Moon

It's a good day for videos around here, with RSTB favorites The Soft Moon unleashing a new vid for the title track from their upcoming EP Total Decay. A natural extension of the dark vibes coursing through their self-titled LP, the new 12" is essential listening for 2011. Check out the hypnotic FX that accompany the track, styled in a way that will fell very familiar if you've ever caught the band live.

Pre-Order Total Decay HERE

Thee Oh Sees / Total Control – Split 12" Well if anything can be counted on, its for Thee Oh Sees to deliver, and deliver they do on this split with RSTB faves Total Control. As if there weren't enough excitement with one album already out and one on the

way, this ought to tide over anyone with Oh Sees withdrawal in the interim. For their side, Dwyer and crew bring the spastic energy that's usually synonymous with their live shows, even retooling an older number from Dog Poison into a frantic sweat inducer. On the flip, Total Control continues their dominance of 2011, providing a sinister counterpoint to Thee Oh Sees jubilance. An essential entry into both catalogs to be sure. Download: [MP3] Thee Oh Sees - Dead Energy Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Video: Wounded Lion

The first video from Wounded Lion's upcoming In The Red release IVXLCDM has landed and it sounds like the West Coast crew have tightened and darkened their usually irreverent garage antics. Not sure what the occult disclaimer and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar montage have to do with each other but who cares when the song behind it is this strong. Here's to hoping the whole album has moved in this strong new dirction.

Pre-Order IVXLCDM HERE

True Widow

True Widow reach for length in more than just album titles on their new EP. At 14+ minutes, the title track of their new EP I.N.O. is one of the most expansive statements in their catalog, but aside from indulging in a doomscraping jam of epic proportions, the band also brings a few of their most unencumbered and dare we say, accessible tracks to date. Aside from the shoegaze romp of Night Witches their previous album seemed to stick to the shadows and mists, but three tracks here elevate the band to a plateau of clarity previously left untouched. Here the band rides the edge of lonesome desert blues and swamp doom that has usually been left to the likes of Barn Owl and more recent offerings from Earth, while thrusting themselves further into the dark corners of shoegaze they'd just begun to explore on their last effort. Highly recommended that you pick this one up!

Listen:


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Pangea

L.A. punks Pangea had a limited but totally ravaged cassette out on Burger Records this year and for most (RSTB included) this meant that it came and went without being able to snag a copy. Thankfully Burger, in conjunction with OlFactory Records, have taken pity on the suckers and reissued this raucous chunk of fun on vinyl. Threatening to tear itself apart at every corner, Living Dummy is short on fidelity but heavy on scrappy, catchy garage punk that befits their upcomming opening dates for the likes of Mikal Cronin whose sense of kitchen sink stylistic approach the band seems well versed in. Underneath the layer of fuzz and sweat the boys fold in acoustic strums, backwards tapes, giddy background vocals and girl-group drum pops. Each spin 'round renders it more endearing and necessitates a volume bump for dancin's sake. Don't be left in the dust a second time around, pick it up!

Download:
[MP3] Pangea - Shitty

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Steve Hauschildt

Nowhere near as prolific as his bandmates in Emeralds but no less integral to the sound and scene that the band has come to represent, Hauschildt steps out from behind the curtain for a practiced, precise and more importantly, gorgeous, solo release. Tragedy and Geometry's is "a treatise on the idea that technology is becoming more disposable as it's becoming more accessible;" a theme that might seem perfectly suited to an artist as enmeshed in the analog past of music technology as Hauschildt. He seems to strike a balance with this legacy while obviously embracing the forward movement of electronic music here. The two beacons of the album's namesake hover over every note of Tragedy and Geometry and becomes a precision delivery of the former as refracted through the technological prism of the latter. Here, Hauschildt has taken his step out from the fold of Emeralds and truly created something that stands alone; a pulsing, bittersweet sweep through the kosmiche wires of the heart.

Download:
[MP3] Steve Hauschildt - Batteries May Drain

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	Ketamines – Line by Line 7" Ketamines are a meeting of the minds from several Calgary bands, with members from Myelin Sheaths, Endangered Ape, Fist City and Mammoth Cave Recordings all gathering their talents for this debut 7". With catchy harmonies and an
array of effects, the band picks up the psych-punk torch and brandishes it like a weapon. The A-side is a syrupy serving of psychedelic pop that will have you yearning for your Twinkeyz and Simply Saucer records all over again. They show no signs of slippage on the flip and all in all, this makes for a very intriguing debut. Download: [MP3] Ketamines - Line by Line Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Kitchen's Floor

Two great indicators of noise punk excellence, Australian roots and Siltbreeze Records, combine on the sophomore release from Kitchen's Floor. Look Forward to Nothing retains the gritty noise floor of their debut while adding just a touch of clarity from cleaner production and a thunderous new pound courtesy of new drummer Joe Alexander. The band runs the gamut of Aussie noise heroes from X to Rejex and its clear that they'd play along nicely with current Southern Hemisphere punks like Naked on the Vague, Slug Guts or UV Race. Fans of any of the above would be well advised to pick this one up.

Download:
[MP3] Kitchen's Floor - Regrets

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

The Strange Boys

The Strange Boys have long been favorites around here and their classic rock swagger meets punk sound has fueled more than a few of RSTB's days and nights. Ryan Sambol's impassioned croak has anchored the band through the swells of change of the past few years but in a surprising turn of events its used to express a great deal of pain and exhaustion on the latest Live Music. Their last album showed inklings of slowing their pace but the majority of this latest from the Texas crew is a downtempo, road worn romp through much more of that classic rock terrain than they've covered than ever before. Harmonicas and piano's take the front seat with their typical jangles slowed to a strum. It's a mature side of the Strange Boys and a nice counterpoint to their other two albums. Though while a welcomed change of pace, I secretly can't help but hope after catching their breath, the boys return to former tempos on the next one.

Download:
[MP3] The Strange Boys - Me and You

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Premiere :: The Skull Defekts

The Skull Defekts recent album with Daniel Higgs is one of the band's rawest, most visceral recordings yet and the ensuing tour brought that sonic fury to many stages across the country. On the tour the band hooked up with Higgs' former Lungfish bandmate Asa Osborne (aka Zomes) as an opener. The two groups ended up finding harmony on stage and Osborne began playing a few songs with them, eventually resulting in a new track built on the road. After a cancelled date, the band was able to turn misfortune into kismet by using the time to slip into Rhode Island's Machines With Magnets studio to lay down a few tracks that would become 2013-3012. The EP contains three new tracks, the one they worked out with Osborne on the tour alongside two written in the studio that day. The A-side consists of the three songs recorded during the session. The B-side is meant to be played from the inner-most groove out and plays the same tracks backward. Below is a composite of the A and B-side versions of "Children of the Skull Defekts".

Download:
[MP3] The Skull Defekts - Childrenerdlihc

Support the artist. Buy it: Insound or Thrill Jockey

	Quill - Quill This is one of those albums that I've been looking for on and off since I was a kid. The eye-catching cover art graced those inner sleeve advertisements on copies of a few of my parents' records and I was always intrigued to hear what sound lay
behind the cover. Years later I learned that the band had played Woodstock, only to be cut out of the following film and album due to their film crews not being set up in time to film them on Saturday, and thus their legacy has been rather obscured by time. The band was even hired by the festival's promoters to play a series of goodwill shows in NY state prisons and mental hospitals leading up to the event in order to quell some fears about the impact Woodstock would have on the surrounding community. Not sure how psychedelic rock for prisoners quells any of those fears but that's what happened anyway. Their Woodstock appearance had fueled much of buzz around their record deal and their failure to appear in the post-festival film put a damper on the record's promotion. Though the band recorded a follow-up it was not released by Cotillion and the band dissolved in 1970 with the band's Jon Cole going on to produce and Roger North joining a later version of the Holy Modal Rounders. Download: [MP3] Quill - The Tube Exuding Here's some of the only surviving footage of the band playing at the festival, from the outtakes of the film. Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Nathan Salsburg

A folk historian who has spent time presenting and documenting music for East Village Radio, Drag City and The Alan Lomax Archive, Salsburg has finally put his study into practice with his first album, Affirmed. Built around bare, solo picking with a bittersweet lilt that's fitting of its subject matter, Salsburg's opus of racehorses is one of the most accomplished displays of fingerpicking we've heard in the last few years. Its bound to get him lumped in with the inevitable Fahey and Basho comparisons but his playing bears much of the soul of Suni McGrath and the studied pacing (though maybe not the complexity) of Leo Kottke. Any fan of the style would be well advised to pick up Salsburg's long incubating account of a horse's burden.

Download:
[MP3] Nathan Salsburg - Sought & Hidden

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	Elvis Christ – Elvis Christ 7" Having the pedigree of being a touring member of Nobunny's band will carry you pretty far around here, but back it up with some serious garage punk with a power pop soul and you've certainly got us listening. Jason Testasecca unleashes his debut 7" as Elvis Christ.
Jason's also popped up in Mandy + Jason, his project with Mandy Mullins of Garbo's Daughter. The pair released a sweet, lo-fi tape for Burger Records last year. The new jams, however, bury those sweet ditties in the sand. Fans of Nobunny or RSTB faves Bare Wires should take notice. Check out the infectious bounce of "Wild at Heart" below. Listen: Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Acid Baby Jesus

Grecian psych-punks Acid Baby Jesus jumped onto our radar with a killer EP for Slovenly Records and they've completely blown any expectations away by following it up with their new album, the sparsely titled LP. The album ropes in quite a few sounds sympathetic to RSTB's ears, crawling from gnarled sci-fi punk that could give Human Eye a run for its money, to slow swagger spacedust blues hopped up on mercury swirls and lead poisoned pacing. Each listen opens this one up a little more, cracking new influences and pulling out into a wide angle focus that snaps their ups and downs into a Monet-like clarity when taken as a whole. Its been a while since a debut hit us this hard and its definitely recommended that you wrap your heads around this one soon. Also available from the crew at Slovenly.

Download:
[MP3] Acid Baby Jesus - Tooth to Toe

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Real Estate - Studio Session

Real Estate head into the Insound studio for three new tracks off of their upcoming album Days. Check out the woodsy, fall vibes above and head over to Insound to download "Green Aisles" from the session. The new album is defiitely one to get excited about. Pick up the LP here.

Andy Stott

A companion piece of sorts to Passed Me By, his EP from earlier this year, Andy Stott's follow up is just as densely packed and pressurized as its predecessor. We Stay Together opens with a head-in-vice boiler that is only a warning of the humid textures and undulating beatscapes that are about to unfold. If anything this EP is more mechanical than the fist but never in an industrial sense. Stott's work is a bastard fusion of nature and machine fused in a symbiosis that feels tenuous at best. Its a resentful partnership that comes off reeling with old-school dystopian tendencies of dependence on and repulsion of technology; cyborgian in nature but hateful of the circuits that keep the skin alive. The atmosphere is fraught with tense energy and minute movement fluttering below a loose organic fog that breathes slowly. Its clear to see that both EPs have elevated Stott's craft and each are as inextricable from each other as they are indispensable.

Download:
[MP3] Andy Stott - Posers

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	Dirty Looks - Dirty Looks Dirty Looks have long been overshadowed by a lesser, though identically named metal band that gained some popularity in the wake of their demise. The band was a fixture for a short while at Max's Kansas City and were signed to Stiff
Records who put out their debut single "Let Go" along with a well-received eponymous debut in 1979. The label also released a follow up, Turn It Up, the next year that didn't fare quite as well and subsequently dashed Stiff's hope that the band would become a swift success. Still the first album is a solid bit of power pop that grips the cleaner sound that rumbled through the NYC punk clubs at the rollover between '79 and '80. The poor reception and almost non-existent distribution of their second album almost certainly lead to their demise. Stiff has reissued both albums along with some excellent bonus material and it sits nicely alongside your Milk n' Cookies and Quick reissues. Download: [MP3] Dirty Looks - Let Go Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Heavy Times

Another solid platter from the HoZac crew. Following up their previous 7" for the label, Heavy Times pull the full length conversion and repeat their knack for marrying a ferocious punk pound and rough cut sonics with a ballistic catchiness that keeps you coming back for more. Though much of Bo Hansen's lyrical content is oftentimes submerged in the screaming squall of the band's dual guitar attack its easy to translate the bulk of Jacker into the kind of fist pounding, rally cry anthems these were obviously meant to be. Still, no one ever said clarity was a requirement to light a stage on fire and from all outstanding reports the Times are a sight to behold live so if they swing through your town be sure to head out and shout along.

Download:
[MP3] Heavy Times - Skull Hair

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Balaclavas

Dull Knife picks up the second album from post-punk doomsayers Balaclavas. The Texas crew hovers perpetually in the darkest corners, slinking with knives and shades equally drawn. The band has an aptitude for weaving insistent rhythms, twisting with sickness, with a nail scratched doom-punk that befits titles like "Shit Meridian." The second time around the tape spool hasn't left the boys any less intense. Snake People gnaws on bad vibes like raw wire, spits blood and shrugs it off like just another day. Their fist record always felt like it should come from a place more barren than Houston and the second installment takes no detours in that respect. This is the soundtrack to Flint, MI or Gary, IN; the kind of places where the sun only occasionally shines through the smoke to bake you to a miserable crisp. This is the sound of pavement stretching to chain link for miles. Still no matter where they're from and what's channeled into it, the band have found a way to record the gnash of teeth well.

Download:
[MP3] Balaclavas - Legs Control

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

ADR

Just beginning to fully soak in this engrossing early entry from new British label Public Information and its heavy dose of retro-futurist synth is definitely a good place to start. Aaron David Ross (nee ADR) is better known to most as one half of the more beat inclined Gatekeeper but here he's in full on 70's soundtrack mode. Some elements of Ross' haunted sci-fi skitter cross over in the ominous tones and tape-melted analog tones that inhabit Solitary Pursuits but for the most part its a much more meditative offering than we've heard from him previously. There have been no shortage of synth pioneers of late but it certainly seems that Ross has the genre's heart tapped and he seems to be bringing a sense of Library soundtrack funk to the table that evokes the highest end of the 70's incarnation of the genre. One for the turntable, so track this down on vinyl as soon as possible.

Download:
[MP3] ADR - Jupiter Rising

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	Bloodloss - Lost My Head For Drink Not reaching nearly as far back as most records in this column but a great one all the same. Bloodloss were formed in Australia in the early 80's and maintained an ecstatic, sax fueled brand of post-punk/sleazy blues craziness. Midway through
their career they were sidetracked when the two founding members of the band were recruited into Lubricated Goat and the fate of Bloodloss was put on hold. However, following this hiatus the band hooked up with Mudhoney's Mark Arm and made him a full time member of the band. Three albums followed shortly after his addition and Lost My Head for Drink has always remained as the mythical last album, recorded in '96 but never released due to monetary concerns. Well thankfully someone got together the scratch and here lies that final album in all its ragged, jerky, frantic glory. Definitely a hard-hitting, bile fueled release that stands up to the majority of the band's catalog. Download: [MP3] Bloodloss - Chocolate Cake Factory Blues Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Psychic Ills

Its been a while since we've heard from Psychic Ills. Their last album wandered far of the charts and into the psychedelic jam territory, with lengthy space-outs and little tethering them to the ground. The arrival of Hazed Dream sees the band wandering back towards concise song form; though not as jagged and dark as their early rumblings but definitely reigned in from the exploratory impulses that fed Mirror Eye. The album has a soft focus hangover and sunbaked blues shuffle that seems to be reflected in the desert dream cover art. Its as if the band has woken up from the bender of their last few years' indulgences and is slowly taking in their new state of mind amidst the arid heat of the Mojave hills. Its a good resolution for the arc of their psychedelic journey; from the bitter narcotic pool of Dins to a wizened and calmed essence of where psychedelia stands today in the hindsight of age.

Listen:
Psychic Ills - Mind Haze


Support the artist. Buy it: HERE