Terry Malts: Nobody Realizes This Is Nowhere

Posted on 10 September 2013 by Brandon

Slumberland; 2013

It could be that I’ve just been feeling exceptionally misanthropic lately, but I keep getting wind of happy, cheery music and it keeps making me suuuuuuper uncomfortable — as in the way you feel when you see someone unaware that they are humiliating themselves in public, especially when it’s due to hubris.

When that happens, I find it’s always better to go loud, fast, and when possible, irreverent. If that sounds a lot like punk to you, you’re pretty spot on, but we’re not going full-throttle today. This is the day we take a look at Terry Malts‘ newly-released second full-length Nobody Realizes This Is Nowhere, which features more of the SF trio’s blend of chainsaws and lollipops. Ah yes, the two-part cure to misanthropy. Continue reading →

Waste Not, Want Not: Post-Labor Day Spectacular

Posted on 2 September 2013 by Brandon

Hooooooooooly crap guys. I’ve been lazy.

There’s a bunch of stuff I haven’t showed you this week and it’s all coming through at once, today, because you’ll probably need something to listen to after the long weekend.

Continue reading →

Waste Not, Want Not: 8/23/2013

Posted on 23 August 2013 by Brandon

And now for part two of two of this week’s honorable mentions. This one is more than a little diverse. Continue reading →

Ty Segall: Sleeper

Posted on 12 August 2013 by Brandon

Ty news is good news, though this good news seems a bit bittersweet. Ty Segall is finally out with another new album. (When I say “finally,” I mean it relatively speaking — 2012 saw the release of three full-lengths and the last one was almost a year ago.) Sleeper, however, is a quiet affair, touching on introspection even moreso than 2011’s Goodbye Bread and featuring sparse, mostly acoustic arrangements and even a handful of strings. Continue reading →

Pop. 1280 – “Human Probe” & album stream

Posted on 2 August 2013 by Brandon

Filled with noise but never hiding behind it, Pop. 1280 is a band that channels their sound through the weirdo aesthetics of other Sacred Bones acts but roots it through the punchy tones befitting old Wax Trax releases. There are a plethora of words and phrases I use to describe the band’s sound, including, but not limited to: “death shuffle”, “garbage stomp” and “unholy soapbox gospel”. Continue reading →

Rainbow Chan: Long Vacation EP

Posted on 29 July 2013 by Brandon

Silo Arts & Records; 2013

Rainbow Chan has been getting a lot of love from Black Porridge, mainly because the strangeness surrounding her music seems utterly natural — unlike the contrived eccentricity coming out of some acts today. Also known as the “Oh-my-god-I-just-understood-that-joke-from-Big-Bang-Theory-I’m-such-a-geek Phenomenon” in other aspects of modern life. Continue reading →

La Luz: Brainwash

Posted on 16 July 2013 by Brandon

Does it surprise anyone anymore that surf rock is still around after half a century? When well-executed, it appeases even the most hardened, arm-crossed, no-dancing concert goer. Why? Because it’s a no-nonsense, slightly frilly pop dream, written from a formula that works and hasn’t changed since a time when the best defense against bug bites was a spritz of DDT and you were expected to hide under a desk from the next atom bomb.

If it sounds like a backhanded compliment, it is. There’s no innovation here. But I’ll be damned if I don’t thoroughly enjoy it. Continue reading →

Vacation – Candy Waves

Posted on 13 June 2013 by Brandon

Don Giovanni; 2013

Vacation is one of those bands that I’d heard good things about in the past but never got around to listening to them. Well, it turns out I’ve been missing out if their other material is anything like Candy Waves, their upcoming newest LP which officially drops June 18 on Don Giovanni. Continue reading →

My Bloody Valentine — m b v

Posted on 4 February 2013 by Brandon

Self-released; 2013

Do you remember the assorted drills you went through as a school-faring child? Fire, earthquake, tornado, lockdown, etc. There were a million different scenarios that the administrators thought of that could potentially harm you and your young friends. Maybe those drills went well — maybe every time those raucous bells and whistles exploded into the classroom, you and your tiny peers defied them, lining up neatly and walking out of the room calmly in a single file line to the designated place.

But probably not. And definitely not when someone gets word, rumor or truth, that it’s the real thing.

Drills are drills. Emergencies are emergencies. And those who grew up in the early Cold War days know all too well that preparing for an emergency like, say, a nuclear bomb, with — oh, I don’t know — cowering under a plywood desk, does nothing to ease your mind from fear and panic and running around like a blind, stuck pig on fire.

Well here it is, children. This is not a drill. My Bloody Valentine has come out with a new album.

Continue reading →

Jerry Paper — Vol. I

Posted on 24 January 2013 by Brandon

Digitalis LTD; 2012

Can I be honest without sounding like a douchey elitist for a moment? It’s hard to find good music these days.

Deep breath.

…

To clarify, I mean really great music, with an all-around flair for instrumentation and mood and songwriting — oh man, how I love a well-written song. There’s plenty of people out there trying it, and honestly, they’re doing a very good job about it. There are albums out there that I crave sometimes, and artists whose output I’ve been waiting for on the edge of my seat. I mean, if it wasn’t good, I wouldn’t really listen to it, right? And I listen to a lot of music.

Continue reading →