To start things off today, I would like to apologize for not posting anything the past few days. I was visiting the beach for the weekend and didn’t really have the time to post anything (except for Monday), and finding a free internet signal proved to be quite difficult, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let a few days pass without a post. But don’t worry, I have something new for you guys today, and hopefully you’ll enjoy it. The name of the band is ENDLESS WAVE, and they’re a three-piece band coming from Boston, and they just released their debut EP called “City Walls” from a record label called Fort Point Recordings. Endless Wave take on that familiar atmospheric shoegaze sound, but they do it in their own special way in which the music gives you a feeling that you’re soaring through the sky. Hence the descriptive word “skygaze” I’ve been seeing when looking up some information on this band.
As I already said, these guys play a familiar sound, and I’m sure you can name bands from the past that these guys sound like. There music is full of heavenly, crystal clear guitars (Ocean Drive), fuzzy distorted bass lines (Last Phase), and sudden bursts of energy from start to finish that are bound to catch you off guard. Songs like “Triangular” and the epic seven-minute “Premeditated” include many of the things I just mentioned, but do you really want to hear it from me? Listen to the songs below yourself and see what you think!
Ocean Drive –
Triangular –
My Rating: 7/10 Genre/ Tags: Alternative, Pop, Shoegaze City Walls EP: Tracklist:
1.) City Walls
2.) Last Phase
3.) Ocean Drive
4.) Triangular
5.) Premeditated
It’s been a good chunk of time since this last one came out, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good one! This little gem of a 7″ came out over a year ago now (I think), which means it’s been sitting in my shoebox of 45’s for quite some time. I’m not exactly sure why I’ve failed to get it up here up until this point, but that doesn’t really make a difference.
If you’ve heard Dan McGee and his Spider Bags already, then you probably know what to expect – and you’re probably already a big fan of this 7″. But if not, then let me fill you in real quick. Dan McGee is the frontman, and his band plays heavy, shambolic, rootsy punk music that’s got a tinge of the country twang mixed in, along with a bit of that traditional garage rock sound you already know and love. And let me tell you one more thing, although you’re going to figure it out for yourself in just a minute: this stuff is good.
The 7″ kicks off on the A-side with the song “Hey Delinquents”, and my description of the music above pretty much covers this track. It’s about as twangy as a country song gets, with short little guitar licks coming up throughout the song that give it that country feel. Dan McGee howls about not being able to pay the rent without the ransom, which definitely makes me giggle a bit. Towards the end of the song he tells his girl to shut up multiple times, which again makes me giggle a bit. This guy is great – he’s not afraid to do anything. If you haven’t listened to anything else from the Spider Bags, I highly recommend you get on that…right now.
Now we’re flipping over to the B-side. This song is called “Professionals”, and it’s just a little bit different than the A-side, mostly due to the production quality. This song has this increasingly scuzzy, lo-fi sound, and I’m sure that has something to do with the note they left on the description page of the record over at Daggerman Records. Apparently it was produced by a guy named Camero Werewolf? They whip out the harmonica in this song, and there’s also a quick little keyboard solo in there somewhere towards the middle of the track. So why not head on over to the Daggerman Records store and snag up the 7″ before it’s gone? There’s only 100 copies, so I’m sure it’s bound to be sold out any day. And if not, you can just listen to the songs below! Enjoy!
Hey Delinquents –
Professionals –
My Rating: 7/10 Genre/ Tags: Garage Rock, Country, Punk Hey Delinquents 7″: Tracklist:
1.) Hey Delinquents
2.) Professionals
Back in April, Siltbreeze Records released a brand new LP from Australian goth-rockers NAKED ON THE VAGUE. It’s their second full-length LP to date, and I happened to pick this one up the other day while I was at the record store as well. It’s quite an interesting and mysterious listen, as most of the songs sound about as creepy and haunting as music can get. Pretty much all of the songs are dominated by thick, grimy guitars, and then sometimes we get these headache-inducing sound effects that may or may not at times be a bit too unbearable. But either way, the music can still be thoroughly enjoyed by any listener as some tracks tend to get a bit more intense than others.
The LP kicks off on the hauntingly titled “Mysterious Oven”, and right off the bat you’ll see what these guys are going for and where I’m coming from as the listener. The thick, heavy guitars don’t take long to introduce themselves in the music, along with lead singer Lucy Cliche, while her moody, drony vocals come up pretty often. The second track on the album is called “Wrong Room”, and it’s a bit different than the first. They relax a bit in this song, and that becomes noticeable pretty quickly considering that this song sounds much more lazy and strung out than the previous. It might be a bit of a stretch, but one good word to describe the music might be ‘miserable’. I’m not referring to the band members themselves as being miserable – just referring to the way everything sounds. Towards the end of the song there is a sliding guitar solo that gets totally drowned out by everything else in the mix. Heavy stuff right here.
Moving on to maybe the most accessible song on the LP, this one is called “Treading Water”. You can check this one out below as I’ve uploaded it for your listening pleasure! This one definitely starts off with a slightly more welcoming sound than we’ve heard up until this point. Lucy Cliche frighteningly howls over the mix in this one, complete with some sweet keyboard/piano melodies that go a long way for holding the song together. Next up comes the longest song from the album, and it’s called “Sacred Youth”. It’s chock-full of all the noisy effects you’ve grown to love at this point, and it’s got a primitive, tribal sound to it that sticks around for more-or-less of the entire song. That endless dirge is probably due to the use of the tom-toms and the slow, strung-out nature of the song. Before the song comes to an end there’s a fantastic guitar solo that kind of sums everything up. These guys have such a staggering sound that it’s probably going to take a good listen or two before it really sinks in, but you should definitely give it a chance. The rest of the album follows a similar path – there’s obnoxiously screeching and crunchy guitars. Lazy, moody sounding vocals, and there is even an instrumental track (Black Lettuce). Don’t shy away, give these guys a chance. Listen to the two tracks below!
These Days –
Treading Water –
My Rating: 7/10 Genre/ Tags: Noise Rock, Lo-Fi, Psychedelic, Gothic Heaps of Nothing: Tracklist:
1.) Mysterious Oven
2.) Wrong Room
3.) Treading Water
4.) Sacred Youth
5.) These Days
6.) The Joke
7.) Black Lettuce
8.) Blank Minds
Today we have something else that I picked up on my most recent trip to the record store. As you already know, I spent a good chunk of time without making a trip to the store, so when I finally made it back I couldn’t just keep things simple; I had to buy multiple items. Along with the Radical Sons LP that I snagged up, I also walked out of the store that day with this gem of a 7″…not to mention a few other things…but we’ll see how long it is before I’m making a trip back. I’m really glad I picked up this little 7″ too, because it turned out to be quite a fun listen. It’s a split 7″ record with our already-familiar friends the SMITH WESTERNS on the A-side, and you flip it over to the B-side to hear a track from a band called MAGIC KIDS. We already know the Smith Westerns are from Chicago, and something new we learned is that the Magic Kids are from Memphis, Tennessee. And if any single music-describing word comes to mind when listening to this 7″, chances are it’s this one: pop.
The 7″ starts off on the A-side with the Smith Westerns, and the name of the song is “Imagine, Pt. 3”. While I’m not entirely sure if there’s a part 1 and 2, I can tell you that part 3 is a fun a lovable track, straight up. The Smith Westerns just rock out an any given opportunity, complete with squealing guitars, mushy vocals about love, and they do it all with enough promise to give me great hopes for their forthcoming LP due out on Fat Possum Records sometime in the near future. Hopefully they won’t keep us waiting too long for this one. Now we flip over to the B-side, and we’re face to face with the Magic Kids. This side is just about as poppy as the other side, but this time the song is more piano or keyboard-driven. Whatever you want to call it – I’m cool with either. This song is much shorter than the A-side, but it’s still two and a half minutes of picture-perfect pop glistening with all sorts of sound effects and peppy vocals about superballs: “Bounce bounce bounce!” Why waste any more of your precious time? Check out these two songs for yourself right below.
Imagine, Pt. 3 –
Superball –
My Rating: 8/10 Genre/ Tags: Pop, Garage Rock, Lo-Fi Split 7″: Tracklist:
1.) Smith Westerns – Imagine, Pt. 3
2.) Magic Kids – Superball
Hey all. This past Sunday was a great day. I made it to the record store for the first time in weeks, and while I was there I found some fantastic new records. Of the few things I picked up that day, one of them certainly stood out above the rest, and that record is called “Throwing Knives” by a band named RADICAL SONS. When I found it in the record store I had no idea what I was getting into. The main reason I bought it was because it was from the St. Ives label, and it wasn’t too pricey. With that being said, I can’t stress enough how good of a feeling it is to buy a record without any prior knowledge of the band, and then totally fall in the love with the music. Radical Sons totally caught me off guard considering my situation, and I hope you guys can enjoy these songs as much as I did.
The record has two sides (duh), but one side is all studio recordings, while the other is all demo takes of certain songs. According to the description on the Insound website, these demo tracks were recorded right at home, and the record sleeves were designed by the band members themselves. As the St. Ives label on the vinyl says, “The artist alone is to blame for the appearance of their St. Ives record.”, so if there are any problems with your record, you know who to blame! But seriously, how could you get mad at these guys after making such an awesome record?
The band originally started back in 2008 with Ben Goldstein and Nick Risler when they still lived in St. Louis, and since then they’ve moved to Brooklyn, NY (no surprise there), and then they released their first record “Throwing Knives”, which is why I am here today. You can listen to three of the songs below, ripped directly from the vinyl itself. Some parts of the songs get noisy, other parts sound like tropical calypso music (the beginning of Planes & Trains), and other parts they just rock out, but they always manage to do all of these things while staying within the confines of their own sound. Hey, thanks for coming by again today, and as always, enjoy the music!
I’m So Sick of the 21st Century –
Throwing Knives –
Planes & Trains –
My Rating: 9/10 Genre/ Tags: Garage Rock, Noise Rock, Indie Rock Throwing Knives: Tracklist:
1.) I’m So Sick of the 21st Century
2.) River City
3.) Throwing Knives
4.) All Signs Show
5.) Planes & Trains
6.) Midnight Reducers (Demo)
7.) River City (Demo)
8.) All Signs Show (Demo)
9.) Planes & Trains (Demo)
10.) Scavengers (Demo)
Hey, check this out! They just set this video free yesterday along with an announcement for even more Titus Andronicus shows this summer! They’ve been touring since the Monitor came out – that’s ridiculous! But they’re just trying to give people what they love – more Titus Andronicus!
Check out the tour dates right here, and if you’re lucky enough they’ll be coming to your town with Free Energy! Should be a ridiculously awesome time! See ya there!
Awhile back somebody from our Last.fm group suggested to check out this website BEKO-dsl.com. It’s an awesome website where they release a brand new digital single every Monday, and they keep churning out the jams like it’s their only purpose here on Earth.
About two weeks ago they put this one up from a band called HOORAY! (exclamation included), and it’s an equally mysterious and interesting single that I found to be quite pleasing to the ears. It’s 8 solid minutes of sad, eerie noise pop from a guy named Ben Wagner, and as of lately it looks like there’s a lot going on in his world. His Myspace has two new releases posted up saying that they’re both “coming soon”, and then there is also a list of direct links to Mediafire where you can download all of his past efforts, including an EP called “Winter Break”, along with three others entitled “Snow Daze”, “Stuffed Animals”, and “Sleep(c)Overs”. I haven’t gotten around to checking any of these other releases out, but if they’re anything like the BEKO digital single, they’ll surely be worth your time. If this still isn’t enough for you today, you should check out the entire catalog over at BEKO, because they have an ever-growing list that is only going to get bigger and bigger.
Kyle’s Having People Over –
My Rating: 6/10 Genre/ Tags: Shoegaze, Pop, Ambient Beko 51: Tracklist:
1.) I Guess…
2.) Jimmy, Grow Up
3.) Kyle’s Having People Over
Hey, what’s up? I didn’t really have anything to post today, so instead of something new today I’m going to suggest that you join all of our groups and follow us on our Twitter page! First comes our Facebook group page, so if you’re a Facebook user you should definitely join up – the Styrofoam Drone on Facebook! Next we have our lovely group over at Last.fm, which would be a great place for everybody to meet and discuss new music and the like, but the sad truth is nobody really uses it. If you’re interested you can join that group right here – the Styrofoam Drone on Last.fm! Last but not least would be our Twitter account, which has slowly but surely been seeing new followers, but there could still be a whooooole lot more. Every time there’s a new a post or update here on the blog, you can be sure the Twitter account will keep you up to date – follow us on Twitter! So now that you’ve gotten more than enough of your daily dosage of social networking, you can get on with the things that actually matter in your day!
Last we heard from Ian Svenonius and his Chain Gang, it was over a year ago. Their first full length LP came out on K Records back in April of 2009, and since then they’ve been pretty silent. Now, Ian and his Chain Gang are back once more, and they’re offering up a fresh, funky, fun loving 7″ that features two brand new tracks from the band. These two songs are almost like a continuation of where they left off from their LP, “Down With Liberty, Up With Chains”, carrying over all the humorous attitude and sassiness that made their LP such an interesting and fun listen.
A-side “(I’ve Got) Privilege” definitely falls into the funky category, complete with female backup vocals and a jazzy bass line that’s bound to get your head bobbing along to the beat. Flipping over to the B-side, they change things up a little bit, and it’s almost immediately noticeable. They leave behind the funky rhythms this time, and instead they just rock out and teach you how to sound like a genuine Detroit rock band. I have the A-side for you to listen to below, and you can head on over to their Myspace page so you can listen to the B-side. I don’t know what you’re all going to think, but this little 7″ is quite an awesome one. The best part is, it came out of nowhere. I had no idea these guys were putting anything new out, so this one was definitely a nice surprise. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did! Now if only I could think of a band name as cool as theirs…
(I’ve Got) Privilege –
My Rating: 9/10 Genre/ Tags: Garage Rock, Alternative (I’ve Got) Privilege 7″: Tracklist:
1.) (I’ve Got) Privilege
2.) Detroit Music
Here is something a bit out of the ordinary. The name of the band is Monster Rally, and they certainly have their own sound going for them. Instead of playing songs like everybody is used to hearing, Monster Rally create these abstract, hazy environments that could most easily be described as being background music for scenarios of all sorts. Whether it’s a busy, hot flea market mobbed with people from shoulder to shoulder, a lazy beach side Jamaican jam out, or just a breezy jazzy tune you can tap your foot along to, Monster Rally play a different form of music.
Probably the easiest way to describe their sound would be the “Soundtrack to your summer”, because that’s exactly what it is. Pretend you’re listening to the spaced-out, intergalactic journey of Flying Lotus’ “Los Angeles”, only this time you’re doing it on a tropical island somewhere, and it’s hot, sunny, and there’s not a chance in hell that summer is ever going to end. At least, as long as this EP is around. You shouldn’t wait any longer – head on over to their Bandcamp page to download this mysteriously awesome EP (for FREE!), so you too can be a part of the hazy, endlessly looping madness that is bound to play a role in your summer.
Shangri La –
Honey Moon –
Suns Hula –
My Rating: 7/10 Genre/ Tags: Pop, Abstract, Psychedelic Monster Rally EP: Tracklist:
1.) The Wolf
2.) Maori Mai
3.) Shangri La
4.) Honey Moon
5.) Pearly
6.) Suns Hula
Download the Monster Rally EP from their Bandcamp page
Monster Rally on Last.fm
Styrofoam Drone 