Fuzz - This Time I Got A Reason 7" Draped in a mysterious aura of anonymous submission (but with all signs pointing towards a collab of Ty Segall and Charlie Mootheart) Fuzz blast out two proto-metal sludge thumpers that befit their moniker. The
A-side is a thick and vicious with nods to Blue Cheer and the kind of rumble that can shake down a club. The flip is just as heavy and tube fried, if not more so, and slips into the sinister realms of Sabbath with that doom-thick cloud of smoke billowing under the whole track. I'm actually more of a fan of this direction and it begs for some live, extended freakouts. Got to hope that this turns into a full length some time in the near future but if not, these two cuts are more than worth the clams you're gonna lay down for them. Listen: Support the artist, buy it HERE

Wooden Wand

Each new album from the hands and mind of James Jackson Toth seems to expand his universe of downtrodden characters, weary-eyed lovers and in this case blood oaths. Following on the rather bombastic Americana buoyancy of Briarwood, Blood Oaths of the New Blues is a dark simmer of road trip existentialism, country scented story songs and Toth's usual vocabulary of biblical sized fates. Its a confessional album that, while not as self-flagellatory as his post-breakup album Born Bad, is definitely a long lens exploration of character, age, hardship and sin. In short, its another reason to tuck into Toth's work this winter and let the steel guitars help you beg for forgiveness.

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Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	Overhang Party - Complete Recordings Leave it to Important to pick up some of the greatest bits of Japanese psych's rich past and make them available again for (somewhat) mass consumption. Overhang Party were a group that
involved a rotating cast rooted around founder Rinji Fukuoka. Their first LP, which had a 200 copy run on its original '93 release, is included here along with the rest of their catalog and a few bonus tracks for good measure. The band had a habit of switching styles, and while they weren't all incongruous, it makes for a pretty varied listening across this set. For my money the band begin to really hit their stride (and more essential years) around the second and third records. The first, their S/T debut, is more interested with improvisation and floating drones. Still a fine work mind you, but the band solidify into some scorching guitar passages and a more vocal direction on Overhang Party 2, which probably stands as their best work here. On the subsequent Overhang Party 4 the band keep some guitar fury kicked to the wind but round it out with a bit of mellow lean on piano in their compositions and a structure that relies heavier on "the build" as a technique. For the ardent fans this also includes the band's unreleased final recordings on the fourth disc. These have a slower pace and more burnt sunset feel to them. A nice psychedelic sundowner to close out the collection. Definitely a must for fans of the Japan's '90s psych scene (Acid Mothers, White Heaven, etc.) and if you're reading these pages, there's a good chance that might be you. Pin this nicely priced set on your holiday wish list.
Download: [MP3] Overhang Party - La Fièvre Support the artist, buy it HERE

The Bad Lovers

Time to take a spin through those 2012 gems that got lost in the RSTB "to review" pile and surely shouldn't suffer being overlooked. This LP from Austin's The Bad Lovers is certainly one that should get its due this year. As with several of their Austin contemporaries; its a dirty, swaggered bit of rock that's flung from the hip with the kind of bravado that's palpable in the air yet with the kind of undisputed quiet cool that's felt in the spaces between chords and burnt like a brand into show-weary denim. Its locked into the same late 70's worship of garage-doored punk with its eyes on 60's proto-punkers (which is a damn fine place to be) that many of the other Texas punks are onto but while they're not cutting a wholly original swath they're cutting the one they got with a fury to be felt. A damn fun record, well worth the price of admission.

Download:
[MP3] The Bad Lovers - Actin' Strange

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

	TV Ghost - Phantasm 7" As the year draws in, still plenty of pickings in the review pile. Indiana's weirdo punks TV Ghost follow up their last In The Red LP with a nice two shot of frayed ends on this single for Sweet Rot. The A-side lurches off its axis true to form for the veteran
song flayers. The flip shows no remorse, equaling the title track in its exhaust-huffed wobble towards sanity. The intensity of TV Ghost has always been their strong suit and both offerings here keep their toes in the deep end of narcotic wavepool. In addition to whatever lies on the wax Sweet Rot always sweetens the pot with their packaging, printed on a thick textured stock that always seems to pop. Listen: Support the artist, buy it HERE

Peaking Lights - in dub

There's something about doing a dub version of a dub rooted record that sounds like an endless spiral but where a dub of a dub in the tape world usually results in a loss of quality, here it seems to crack the sheen off rather nicely. The original Lucifer was somehow not what I was looking for. That's no slight on Coyne and Dunis' talent, its just that once they moved towards something more crystalline, it lost that dirty, washy, tape-scratched feeling tucked into a cavernous bed of room shaking bass that I kinda always loved about them in the first place. Lucifer In Dub seems to hit that sweet spot again and pull me under like a heavy dub undertow. Yeah, to be fair this isn't a Kingston classic straight out of Channel One Studios but its thumping that bridge between the past's excitement at experimentation with form and the present's acknowledgment that its a loved but worn production style that makes this slice of psych-dub particularly enticing. In any case it throbs like I wanted Lucifer to, though as with the original it could use a few less echoing baby coos and it would be nice to marry this deepened low end to those sharpened guitars on the original. In the valley between Lucifer and Lucifer In Dub lies a vision of sound that the band will hopefully arrive at when the next album rolls around.

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Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Reissues are always have a special place in our hearts and it seems that each year more and more labels are digging into the vaults to find classics that needed to be unearthed or gems that simply needed the vinyl touch again. Some labels go well beyond the call of duty (Numero, RVNG we're looking in your direction) and really get the packaging in a state that's equal to the music contained between the sleeves and that will always bump you to the top of our list. Check out the full list after the jump below for our favorite releases that may not have come out in 2012 proper but 2012 wouldn't be the same without them.

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All in all a pretty good year for the short format as well. A couple of standouts from King Tuff (no surprise there) and one of our favorites from Veronica Falls, who were quiet on all fronts otherwise. Check out the full list of singles picks after the jump below.

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Well the end of 2012 is drawing to a close and we've run down the albums that got the most play around RSTB this year. To avoid the list just being a mass of Ty Segall albums, Twins (a personal fave of the bunch) takes the place on the list but the other two would have just as easily made the list, especially the collab with White Fence which got plenty of play around here as well. Some really great releases this year and a banner year for both Drag City and Sacred Bones with some heavy inclusions in our list. Here are our picks for the best albums of 2012. Feel free to shout out your favorites in the comments. Check out the full list after the jump below.

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The Memories

I'd overlooked the last Memories album. Somehow, for me, it didn't flow. It didn't have enough melodic clutch. I liked a few bits but it didn’t’ hit me the way it hit others. However, the band has followed it nicely with this excellent tape (which has sadly burnt through its pressing) on Burger. Love is the Law is still full of low rent swagger and sleeve-hearted odes to swooning love but this time all the blocks are in place and it feels like the right combination of strummy sways and catchy choruses. The band is headed towards penning a pop gem here and its clear from the highlights like the Real Estate tinged "I Remember You" or the Spanish spoof "En Espanol" that they’ve finally hit some stride. High hopes for what they create next. Though, this one could use a vinyl run as well. Its scant 250 run hardly does it justice.

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Plateaus

This San Diego four piece has been dropping singles like so much beach debris over the past year and its culminated in this fun (albeit off by a season 'cause this thing is a summer record to be sure) full length on Art Fag. The record's a caffeinated chunk of froth that's set to make any day just a little bit brighter each time it passes through the stylus. Noisy and sloppy but with a tight, chewy pop center that somehow has a bigtime love for the Kiwis in the room. How is that not a mission statement to love and last? It’s got its derivations to be sure but they're played with heart and honest dedication to form. This is the kind of record that could make the slackers nod heads and the rest of the room just dance about because fuck it, its fun.

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King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard

The chance happening upon that Australian Nuggets compilation last week brought about a thankful introduction to Melbourne's King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (damn that's a mouthful every time) and its hard to think of a band more deservedly included in said ranks of that comp. The band's album 12 Bar Bruise retains a love for 60's flange, high-octane fuzz and a whole pantload of swagger. The guitars sizzle, the organs lurch towards sci-fi heights and the rest is just a distillation of garage that feels like the live setting is where you need to truly appreciate these Aussie assassins. Hell it ain't the most original slab on the books but as we've pointed out so often and as loudly as possible, that was never the point. The point is to try to raise the timbers with the full force rumble of amplifier fuzz. The point is to try to sweat soak every inch of yourself dancing to said rumble. The point is to glorify the long gone gods of garage from Troggs to Nazz. The point is to shut up and dance. King Gizzard get the point and that's pretty much all you need to know.

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	Johnny Thunders - L.A.M.F. Ok despite being in a weird state of reissue flux this is one of the essential '77 punk pickups and a great collection of some of Thunders' best. Yes So Alone is his bared soul but this is the stuff that legends were made of. On its
release L.A.M.F.M which naturally stands for Like A Motherfucker (what else was it gonna stand for), was commercial non-happening. It certainly wasn't the declarative statement that Thunders wanted it to be and more to the point it was caked under a ton of bad recording and production, having gone through some 250 mixes at the time of inception. Thankfully the release has undergone several revisions that strip away the noisy production work to reveal the great songs beneath and whether you pick it up in "revisited" form or "lost '77 mixes" form (both a little different and with slightly adjusted track inclusions and running order) there's much to be found here. Yes, Richard Hell split to create his own masterpiece and Television got all the glory but still these tracks are a true part of the late '70s punk canon and a necessity for collectors or pogoing teens anywhere. Purists and armchair critics will argue which mix is better (both are better than the original so who cares) but the result is still a damn fine bit of classic crunch. Download: [MP3] Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - Can't Keep My Eyes On You Support the artist, buy it HERE

Unnatural Helpers

December begs to get to the bottom of those review piles, to hit those gems that were hiding among the detritus and Unnatural Helpers' Land Grab is most definitely one of those gems. The Seattle group hits hard with classic lined guitar jams backed with a fully formed melodic chaser. The record is large and live, sprung with energy and weathered with enough whiskey wrung, life-lived vocals from Dean Whitmore that they never feel like some new kid's toe-dipped experiments with garage rock. Hardly Art know the territory and they've wrestled another (destined to be) undersung nugget with this one but you needn't let it have that fate. Pick this up and shake a few windows this winter.

Download:
[MP3] Unnatural Helpers - Hate Your Teachers

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE