Pangea – Killer Dreams 7" Pangea rose up out of nowhere with a great record last year on Burger that mixed the frayed desperate garage aesthetic that wrangled in the fury of Ty Segall with an earnest, croak throated pop that brought to mind Neutral Milk Hotel and Strange

Boys in places. Granted they may have not had the impact that NMH have had over the years but they still fulfilled the requisite ragged earnestness that made a legion of college students fall in love with taut, raw indie rock. This EP, a split between Ghostbot and Lauren Records, follows up their frayed LP quite nicely. The four songs on display here pick up where Living Dummy left off and they're brimming with fuzz addled, teeth clenched garage pop that moves closer to the Segall/Jay Reatard end of the spectrum. It’s a burnt tasseled display of white knuckle pop that burns itself to the quick and touches on the right formula of American indie spiritualism and self-made renaissance. It’s a step forward that holds nothing back. It seems that with every release the band issues, each is a decisive piece of the rough-stringed, furious puzzle. Download: [MP3] Pangea - River Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Gentleman Jesse

While most of Gentleman Jesse's men went on to form Barreracudas, Jesse Smith himself has shot back with a new album of jangled power pop that recalls the best bits of Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello and The Jaggs. Chronicling a particularly dark time in his hometown of Atlanta which, following the economic collapse, has taken a turn for the worse but you'd never know it here because despite desperate times Jesse keeps things roiling in a lather of pop tones. And what could be a better defense against the onslaught of the great depression blues than an arm shot of pop? Absolutely nothing that's for damn sure. Smith is still at the top of the heap as far as concocting the right mix of bittersweet love tales and sunshine strings with a penchant for barrage thick pop guitar and the kind of choruses that elicit uncontrollable handclaps. It’s been a while since the Gentleman has graced our speakers (was it really 2008?) and he's a welcome sight in 2012.

Download:
[MP3] Gentleman Jesse - Take It Easy On Me

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Instant Action @ K&M in Williamsburg

If you're up for a night of garage, power pop, glam and 70's era punk and you're in the NYC area, come on out to K&M in Williamsburg this Saturday where I'll be DJing our latest installment of this monthly series. Starts at 10. Come ready to dance!

	Avengers - Avengers (Pink Album) During their tenure Avengers didn't really record an album, but shortly after their untimely demise this eponymous retrospective picked up the pieces and singles and gave a rather amazing overview of their short career. The band was a key
piece of the San Francisco punk scene, playing at the famed Mabuhay Gardens and opening for The Sex Pistols at their Winterland show. Its easy to see the line drawn from Avengers' frantic punch to later West Coast punk upstarts like Black Flag and X but its just as important to see the influence Penelope Houston had on the representation and inclusion of female voices in the punk scene. Houston snarled with the best of her male counterparts and the influence of her delivery can be felt on everyone from X-Ray Spex' Poly Styrene to the explosion of female punk in the pacific northwest more than a decade later. Again, while the "Pink Album" may not be an album proper it does cull together some of the greatest blueprints of punk's thrash and the newest reissue includes some important documents of the band's live prowess, roping in performances from the aforementioned Mabuhay shows as well as some other rarities and outtakes. Download: [MP3] Avengers - The American In Me Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Jon Porras

Built like a soundtrack to a lonesome philosophical Western, Jon Porras (one half of RSTB fave Barn Owl) creates an epic that follows a doomed rider to the Black Mesa, a bridge between worlds. Few have picked up the reigns of the charred earth sound Neil Young created for the film Dead Man, but Barn Owl and Earth both seem to tap into its resonant mixture of Japanese dirge psychedelics, German Progressive's loss of time and space and the West Coast guitar sound that once had roots in the 60's boom of flowers and fuzz. It’s never hard to feel the dust catch in your throat, or the faint jingle of spurs, though the mastery of Porras' work is that it’s hard to tell if its for real or just a ghost of the mind. As usual he succeeds in turning the guitar into an instrument of transportation, much as his mythical Black Mesa itself, his works pull you out of time and into a scorched sun reality in which you can never look back.

Jon Porras - Into Midnight


Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Lantern

We've covered a few of Zachary Fairbrother's Lantern releases and each one has come with a charred wire crunch of blown fuses and garage grit, and while that's still apparent on their latest tape for the venerable Night People, there's also a new element that borrows from the road weary country rock and pastoral psych niche's of the late 70's. Snuck in between the fry and fray are a couple of great hazy road tunes that have a touch of The Stones and a smidge of some lesser known 70's classics like Relatively Clean Rivers woven into their fibers. Its these tracks that I keep coming back to on Burned Youth, though every once in a while those proto-punk burners serve to chase away the haze of the day and kick in like the sonic amphetamine I've known Lantern to be. As usual, the release is clad in Shawn Reed's iconic artwork and it’s a recommended pick-up.

Download:
[MP3] Lantern - Alap/Emily

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Ben Vida

Ben Vida has shown up here before, under the guise of Bird Show, but his latest solo album sees him flexing both the experimental and scientific chops, making esstends - esstends - esstends one of his most engaging recordings to date. The album employs various tricks of the psychoacoustic nature. The label explains "...using just intoned pitch combinations to produce different tones and harmonic distortions, sound materials are created that emanate from both the playback speakers and inner ear of the listener. By engaging a sense of aural perception and sound localization in relationship to the compositional structure, these pieces act to reframe the listening experience and encourage an engagement with, not only the form and aesthetic of the music, but the sonic space a recorded piece of music projects. Higher amplitude will help to reveal." The album lives in a hallucinatory headspace that's both deeply submersive and highly unsettling. As PAN suggests, cranking this one up will definitely alter some perceptions.

Download:
[MP3] Ben Vida - Zizzlerz

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	Various Artists - The B-Music of Jean Rollin Director Jean Rollin was well known for being the first French vampire director, but also know more widely as a surrealist who dipped his toes in both the debauchery of b-movies and the brilliance of the avant-
garde. Rollin was a pioneer of the psychosexual and his movies often drifted into the exploitative but it was their surrealist nature and always at least one moment that bordered the absurd and brilliant in equal measures that has made him one to seek out. In the same regard, Rollin had an eccentric flair for music in his films, roping in psychedelic, free jazz and the most fantastical arms of pop into his movie soundtracks. Rollin utilized several unique groups and musicians to create an atmosphere of tawdry sexuality and slashing tension including Acanthus, Pierre Raph, Yvon Gerault, Phillipe D'Aram and more, many of which are to be found here. Finders Keepers has issued many of his soundtracks separately but since those can be overwhelming undertakings to the uninitiated, they’ve now issued this collection of some of the finest moments from the catalog. Fitting since Rollin’s films have just recently made their way to Blu-Ray reissues this year. If you're in the NYC area, Rollin's "classic" Fascination will be playing at the Nighthawk Cinema in Williamsburg on March 30th and 31st with the score performed live by Morricone Youth. Download: [MP3] Acanthus - La Château Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Burnt Ones – Meet The Golden One 7" Glam-garage been making a roaring comeback of late and adding to the pile of fuzz stompers is this latest single from Burnt Ones that channels Norman Greenbaum through a dirt psych filter then flips its pop with some "ooh ooh oohs" in the harmonies. Despite taking

a few things wholesale from the "Spirit in the Sky" (hell you could steal worse riffs) the single's a pretty fun double shot and the band and a few friends worked up a forest pagan video for it that's a pretty good accompaniment. On the flip, "LUV" takes the handclaps to a minimum but drives like a bastard through vibed out garage stomps. After their rather lauded LP from a few years back its good to see the band's got some new moves in 'em and it feels like there's a damn fun LP on the way. Download: [MP3] Burnt Ones - Meet The Golden One Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Woolen Kits

More excellent, scrappy pop from the down under enclave of R.I.P. Society (Circle Pit, Royal Headache, Naked on the Vague). Woolen Kits fit somewhere between the shores of their close proximity Kiwi neighbors and the stripped-down clamor of Beat Happening. The record weaves and wobbles through treads left by both and of the two singers going here one's got dead on Calvin Johnson croak. Still it seems like any fans of the current Aussie indie pop explosion a la The Twerps, Blank Realm or one of the few mentioned above should be down with the shaggy shake that emanates from Woolen Kits' speakers. Above the jangle and rumble the boys crank out a positivity that's sometimes sorely missing of late and in addition to the fun of the rest of the record that makes this on a joy every time it comes on. As usual the South Hemi bands are always ones to keep an eye on and Woolen Kits are in the running this year.

Download:
[MP3] Woolen Kits - University Narcolepsy

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

B.R. Garm

This marks the first release from RSTB fave Big Blood's new record label and its a damn fine place to start. Garm (aka Brendan Evans of long running psych travelers Visitations) strikes out here on his own to amble through lonesome folk hallways and traverse caverns of smoke damaged psych scrawl with an ambition for the doomier side of both. The album works like patchwork denim, rolled in off ramp dust and tied with the discarded guitar strings of too many lonesome nights. Evans joins ranks with some of our favorite frayed folk troubadours from the past few years; Jakob Olausson, Dylan Shearer and the crypto-shamanistic side of the James Jackson Toth catalog. He's found the secret to hearing the ghosts in the dark, then run them through tattered strings, worn tape and patched wires to divine the darkness in modern hermitage. Its the bedroom as slovenly temple, doom-casting apocalypse prayers captured to tape. Its hard to pin down any one song that could truly define The 78th Morning Tide as its best taken as a whole, from the deluge of the lock grooves that cap each side to the desperation blues take on Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". What is clear is that some years from now this one's going to show up on lists of records that the world should have been paying more attention to.

Download:
[MP3] B.R. Garm - Can You Feel It

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	Bo Diddley - The Black Gladiator Bo Diddley is responsible for a lot of things, the Bo Diddley beat and the rise of a hundred garage bands being just a couple, but badass funk isn't necessarily one of those things that comes to mind. Around the same time that The Black
Gladiator hit the streets Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf recast themselves in a modern light utilizing a cast of modern session players and dabbling with psychedelic textures and styles. In the same mold of experimentalism meeting commercialism Diddley took a detour through the psychedelic stomp with plenty of hard tap funk driven over the top. As with his peers, this album was panned on its release and written off as a poor exercise in trying to alter artists to fit a new mold. However, just as the other two albums, it contains some wonderful gems that certainly hold the seeds of inspiration for more than a few trailblazers of tripped out blues and garage of late (Aquarius brings a good point, there's no way Jon Spencer doesn't own this album.) For the countless uninitiated this one has been reissued and repressed to vinyl, just waiting for your needle to hit the run-in and find the freakout. Diddley's got some interesting cuts nestled deep in his catalog and its good to see someone taking notice. Download: [MP3] Bo Diddley - Elephant Man Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

King Tuff

Well we'd be remiss to tell you we weren't excited for the release of this upcoming King Tuff record. Over the course of RSTB, there have been fewer bands that we've been more excited about, sadder to see dissolve and still more excited to see rise up again. After a brief detour into Happy Birthday territory, Kyle Thomas is back at the reigns of Tuff again and he's brought that ripped denim swagger back to the fold. The album's bursting with the power pop slide that made Mindblow and Was Dead such giddily fun records but its apparent that Thomas' time in Happy Birthday wasn't merely a diversion; and he brings some of that project's candy-coated whimsy to the slower songs here, even nodding ever so slightly into Elephant 6-ish psych territory. At its core, though, he's retained the Tuff sound and it explodes in your ears like Pop Rocks and Jolt. Tuff has always been about exploring your weird side, waving whatever flag you're comfortable under as high and hard as possible and then dancing it down the hallways like no one's watching. The real windfall here is that Tuff returns to the stage. After a brief shot in NYC last April, which was met with the kind of exuberant full one crowd hysterics that he deserved, he'd picking things back up in SXSW this year and hopefully spreading the word to the world shortly afterward. If you're down there, you'll find us face pressed against speakers and loving every minute of it.

Download:

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Roommates – Winnifred 7" Ben Cook's a man that doesn't rest. In addition to his roles in Fucked Up, The Bitters and Young Governor he's also concocted this project with (you guessed it) his roommate Mark Fosco. The pair cranked out two sessions worth of tracks, the first

which occupies the A side and the second naturally on the flip. The pair has a knack for pop hooks, crunchy guitars and power pop syrup; but honestly we've come to expect nothing less from Cook especially in light of his Young Guv progression. Still I have to say, Fosco seems to have inspired something as these are some of the best tracks outta Cook's corner in a long time. They appeared independently on a couple of Scotch Tapes releases but wrapped up here together in their sugar crusted glory. The A side's double shot seems more aggressively fuzz rattled only to be tempered by the jangled candy melt of "Kelly I'm Not a Creep" and 90's underground swagger of "First Floor Blues" on the B. It's been sold as a one off that you weren't supposed to hear but honestly I hope they keep it up. Download: [MP3] Roommates - 1st Floor Blues Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Há-Zá-Má

We write about a ton of lost gems from the Japanese psych forest and it'd be easy to slot Há-Zá-Má in right alongside your Flower Travelin' Band, Strawberry Path and Blues Creation early cuts. Truthfully the band has been at it so long that many of their early releases would qualify for the Re-Released column but thankfully the band is still at it. Boasting none other than Michio Kurihara (of Ghost and White Heaven fame) in their initial line-up but having replaced him quite suitably with Roku's (of famed Japanese Deadhead showspace Yukotopia) spaced out blues power, the band has worked up this great tape for Sloow Tapes that's perfect to ease the Far East psych itch that may loom in your soul. Inspired by the events at Fukushima, the album serves largely as a critique on nuclear power and the locked in psych grooves fit protest rock like a glove. Though protest or not, this one's a Japanese psych burner that stands alongside any in the genre.

Download:
[MP3] Há-Zá-Má - So Tei Gai(Out of Thought)/Dangerous Toy

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Terror of The Deep

Seems Night People label head and guiding force Shawn Reed stumbled on this Terror of the Deep cassette, put out by Aussie underground label Hideotic, while touring in Australia. That the connection came through a member of The Twerps seems fitting as TOTD's sound fits well with their tuneful, melancholy, slightly askew take on the Kiwi pop sound that's been filtering through pretty much everybody's influences in the last few years. Reed was right to jump on the impulse to get this one to a Western audience. Its a loose and shaggy collection of tracks that feel as if they've been waiting to be stumbled on. In the best tradition of their NZ forefathers, the band shuffles and wraps jangle and psych, croon and hook into the kind of nuggets that seem to get placed on tapes full of bands you missed out on but "should totally have seen" when they were around. Well lucky thing is this isn't some long lost Kiwi-pop casualty and it’s recommended you picked up this cassette for yourself.

Download:
[MP3] Terror of the Deep - I Am Ocean

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Panabrite

There have been no shortage of analog synth-smiths lately who've delved into the world of vintage sounds and textures but it takes more than getting your hands on an old Roland or Korg and a stack of Popul Vuh and J.D. Emmanuel records to get it right. Norm Chambers has consistently proven his dedication to the kosmiche sound on releases across labels like Gift Tapes, Aguirre and Digitalis and with its attention to detail you'd be hard pressed to place this one on a proper timeline if it was mixed in among its 70's counterparts like Jürgen Mueller and the aforementioned Emmanuel. Of course other current synth instigators come to mind as well but while there are similarities to Oneohtrix Point Never, ADR and Dolphins Into the Future, Chambers honestly shares more in common with those seeking out the Library Music route a la RSTB recent faves Belbury Poly or their Ghost Box labelmates The Advisory Circle. This becomes especially clear in Panabrite's mixture of synth, guitar and programmed drum elements that feel at home with the NOVA, OMNI and television soundtrack work of the 70's era that felt both pastoral and futuristic simultaneously. Simply one of Chambers' best and a pretty essential pickup for 2012.

Download:
[MP3] Panabrite - Janus

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	The Kings - The Kings Are Here The Kings were vendors of an over-the-top, but oh so sweet 80's pop of the most powerful variety, though leaning way heavier into the new wave category. Opened by a great double shot of "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide" which
melt into one another in a seamless sugar shock; the rest of the album never relents, buoyed by exuberant keys and the kind of pop swagger and hooks that most bands would kill for. However, they were relegated to a forgotten pile of 80's casualties. They may have been too pop for their own good, with many at the time preferring their punk, new wave and rock with some brooding under the surface. The band recorded a follow-up, also with producer Bob Ezrin, but his choices sent the band's core sound in too many directions and it subsequently tanked. The band reformed in 1995, releasing a new album with a remastered version of that classic double single, which will forever remain their best and brightest, but the rest of the album stands pretty close. Download: [MP3] The Kings - Switchin' To Glide Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Lenz

Andy Jordan's previous work as Andy Human had touches of new wave that needed something to push it over the edge and it seems that he's found the balance by adding a splash of power-pop's heart-on-sleeve approach and just enough of glam's plastic sparkle to make it shine. These four cuts from Lenz' Tic Tac Totally EP Under Neon are some of the best we've heard yet from Jordan. Along for the ride is Ray Seraphin who's also done time in Hunx and Andy Human. Together the two of them have packed up their bag of influences, thrown in a love for underused 80's synths and married them to a subtle intensity that makes every song bubble with a hushed drama. This EP doesn't miss a step, with four tracks that owe a debt to the gauzier, spacier side of the aforementioned genres, taking cues from less straightforward pop predecessors like Roxy Music or bringing to mind unearthed gems like Ozzie. Its clear that Lenz have plenty more to say but these four seem pretty set for repeat listens.

Download:
[MP3] Lenz - Hourglass

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Ad Hoc Needs You

Hey RSTB readers, as we mentioned a little bit ago, we're part of the Ad Hoc project that is currently looking for backers on Kickstarter. The project is in its last weekend and just needs that little extra push over the edge. So if you're interested in the site and would like to support a community of music lovers and writers check it out and consider donating. You can also nab a whole bunch of cool bonuses including a tape compilation and great record bundles from a whole bunch of indie labels supporting the project.

There's more information and a way to kick in and back the project HERE. The project ends Monday so go now!

Ty Segall / The Feeling of Love – Split 7" We're always happy when a couple of past RSTB favorites hook up for a co-release and with an upcoming tour planned this limited split from SF's Ty Segall and France's The Feeling of Love seems like a perfect

idea. Ty turns in a laid back strummer with an undercurrent of buzz that takes a different tack from some of his past melters. Though to be sure, it still has plenty of kick, especially in the psych-wrangled breakdown. On the flip, The Feeling of Love is as potent as we've ever heard them. The band kicks the pop up a notch but still keep things delightfully eschew with a grind of organ and a propulsive chug that keeps the track on task. The chorus hushes to quick calm before the whole thing gets blown wide open. It makes for a hell of a repeat listener. Download: [MP3] The Feeling of Love - I Could Be Better Than You But I Don't Wanna Change Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Mount Carmel

The power trio is not necessarily a medium that's left much necessity for further exploration. Groups both celebrated and lost from the 70's exemplified its vitality as an engine of rock's barest and rawest nerve but there's something to be said for those that do it and do it well. Mount Carmel may seem like a backwards gaze from all appearances but if they didn't encapsulate the form so damn well and remind you of how satisfying that raw nerve of rock can be they wouldn't be worth so many return trips. Their sophomore album for Siltbreeze is everything we were actually hoping of that new Howlin' Rain album and largely it’s everything that album wasn't in all the right places. It’s tight, dirty and muscular but without ever feeling overworked or picked at. There's a bit of polish, but its more like the sounds of hearing musicians comfortable in a studio than sheen or glossy gimmickry. True, this one sits right down in the parlor of '76 but it has that ability to remind you why the toothsome punch of rock first caught your ear rather than just making you pine for some old favorites.

Download:
[MP3] Mount Carmel - Swaggs

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE