THE ZOLTARS are an up and coming band out of Austin, Texas. Their debut LP, “Should I Try Once More?” drops via Sundae Records, which tells a track-by-track story about someone falling in love all over again. Continue reading →
Our Philadelphia friends at Evil Weevil Records had the pleasure of releasing the debut LP from EASTER VOMIT back in September. Their album sees you through a troubling realm of both lo-fi and noisy arrangements, where the rock n’ roll is hidden somewhere in the trenches. Continue reading →
DEAD LUKE comes back in 2011 with his excellent follow up to last years efforts, creating a different beast entirely with a truly refreshing and mystifying blend of both psyched-out rock with bluesy intentions. Continue reading →
RELIGIOUS KNIVES are back with a brand new full length on Sacred Bones, their last coming from the Ecstatic Peace label back in 2008. That being said, it’s been awhile since these Brooklyn natives were back in the spotlight. Continue reading →
Today we are proud to present to you on this fine morning the debut full length release from Philadelphia’s own CREEPOID. Today is the official release date of the album, and it comes from Ian Records, which is also Philadelphia based. Continue reading →
Here’s something for you guys to go into the weekend with. It’s the Art Fag 7″ from DUNES, a three-piece band hailing from Los Angeles. This three person group is made up of Kate Hall, who is originally from the now defunct Mika Miko, Stephanie Chan from Finally Punk, and Mark Greshowak from Talbot Tagora.
Together these guys create some dreamy post-punk numbers with a hint towards a darker realm where forgotten souls woefully waste away. The songs generally have a slower, lazier energy, complemented by wonky, punchy bass lines and mysterious lead guitar work. At times I hear slight comparisons to Grass Widow, a band we just talked about at the beginning of the week. Maybe that has something to do with both bands being from California and both having female singers. Either way I’m sure these obscure, echoed-out dream-jams will steadily work their way into your rotation whether you planned on it or not.
Limited to only 500 copies on the first press, this 7″ sold out almost immediately the first time it was put out. There’s a repress from Art Fag in the works, but you can snag a copy over @ Insound right this very moment without waiting for a repress! This way you can listen to gorgeous songs like “Dream House” right from the comfort of your very own record player! The track starts out pretty slow but gains momentum from the guitars as they start to pick things up. A little before the two minute mark things change direction, and suddenly the lead guitar is in complete control as the song continues to get fuller and more tribal like. The guitars here are pretty hypnotizing as they continue to swirl and build above your head until the song finally comes to a close.
Hear this great track for yourself along with “Armor”, which begins with a dark desolate intro quickly transforming into a mystical jangly guitar jam. You can also hear “Little Stems” on the Dunes Myspace if you want more. That is all! Enjoy your weekend and see you on Monday – already got a few gems lined up!
Armor –
Dream House –
My Rating: 8/10 Genre/ Tags: Psychedelic, Post-Punk, Lo-Fi, Slowcore Old Souls 7″: Tracklist:
1.) Armor
2.) Little Stems
3.) Dream House
Dunes on Myspace BUY the 7″ directly from Insound – Limited to 500 !
This article from Oh My Rockness has some info. on the band
Can you remember when we covered DEAD LUKE back in July? Probably not, but I do! It was his full-length LP “American Haircut”. This time around, we’re going to go back in time a little bit and check out some of his earlier 7″ singles that came out before “American Haircut” was probably even an idea. But what do I know? I do know that this was the first Dead Luke single to be put out on vinyl, and he had two other 7″ singles that came out later in 2008. So there’s three of them total. Two came from the Sacred Bones imprint, while the 3rd came from Sweet Rot records. There’s also some cassette tapes that were put out somewhere in the mix of things, but basically all of this material led up to the release of the “American Haircut” LP that was put out by Florida’s Dying earlier this year. So let’s talk about the music that led us to such a wonderful LP…
Kicking things off is a song called “I Want You”. Right away you’re face-to-face with some electronics that don’t exactly give any hints to where the song might be going. Then about ten seconds later some buzzing bass lines join in to help give the sound some direction and substance. Shortly after this our main man ‘Luke’ (who is definitely not dead) comes in with a creepy, zombie-like voice that certainly works wonders for the dark, sludgy sound. I wish I could figure out this dudes name, because I don’t think it’s Luke, but I can’t seem to find any other information. If you know, leave a comment or something. But moving on!
Wait for a short bit after the one minute mark, and ‘Luke’ fucking wails a blood curdling scream into the mic, and then some guitar reveals itself for a nicely done and unexpected short solo. This certainly helps create a fine balance between the electronics and the instrumentation of this song. Upon first listening, I definitely didn’t expect any guitar like that. The somewhat trippy sound effects continue on until the song ends, where you’ll hear more horrifying screams before it’s all actually said and done. Now it’s time for the B-side, which is a song called “Waste of Spaces”. Again this one starts with some inviting electronics – possibly with the intentions to make you get up and dance. ‘Luke’ comes in with a little more subtlety this time around, ditching the screaming for this song. But once again there is a great balance of guitar and electronics in this song, but the guitar is somewhat-less noticeable than it was from “I Want You”. Probably because it’s not a solo. But this stuff is awesome and you should definitely listen to it. If you like this shit, you should definitely check out the full-length too, because you’ll probably like that batch of songs even more.
I Want You –
Waste of Spaces –
My Rating: 7/10 Genre/ Tags: Electronic, Lo-Fi, Psychedelic, Slowcore Record One 7″: Tracklist:
1.) I Want You
2.) Waste of Spaces
What’s up people. Here’s a band we haven’t talked about here on the Drone just yet. Their name is DESOLATION WILDERNESS, and they hail from Olympia in Washington state. There’s just one problem now – Desolation Wilderness isn’t a band anymore. It’s a huge bummer too, because these dudes had quite a unique sound going for them. Nic Zwart made a post on their Blogspot page back in Feburary of 2010 saying that he is moving to San Francisco, thus proving that Desolation Wilderness is no more. But it doesn’t mean that’s the end of their career in music for good, oh no. Zwart has been working on another project for at least a year now, and you may already know it as Electric Sunset. If not, go check’em out. But I kind of got off task here. Desolation Wilderness is our band of focus today. Maybe we’ll have something from Electric Sunset some other day…
So yeah, basically the A-side of this 7″ comes from their last full-length album before they called it quits, called New Universe. The B-side doesn’t come from any of their albums, so it must be extra material that never made it on an album…or something. Whenever I hear Desolation Wilderness, I have a tough time NOT thinking of a band like Galaxie 500, due to the slow but dreamy nature of the songs. On top of that, they’re always catchy as can be with dazed-out, dream like textures that kind of give you the feeling you’re staring into a blinding light with a good bit of drool spilling out of your mouth – which probably helped give them the name for their first full-length, “White Light Strobing”. The B-side of this 7″ fits perfectly with that description too, so if you’re looking to get your drool on…I have both sides of the records uploaded below, so you should definitely check those out.
No Tomorrow –
Pacific Palisades –
My Rating: 7.5/10 Genre/ Tags: Dream Pop, Slowcore, Ambient No Tomorrow 7″: Tracklist:
1.) No Tomorrow
2.) Pacific Palisades
BUY the 7″ directly from Insound – it’s only $4.40 – a steal if there ever was one!
Desolation Wilderness Blogspot
Desolation Wilderness on Myspace !
Desolation Wilderness on K Records
The new Desolation Wilderness – Electric Sunset
You always gotta show love for your local bands. They’re usually in need of all the support they can get, and they’ll be much more appreciative of your help than say, a big band name like Fall Out Boy, or something like that. I couldn’t really think of a good band example, but I think you’ll catch my drift. I say this because CREEPOID is still a fairly new band, coming straight out of the basements (literally) of Philadelphia, and they’ve just unleashed their debut 7″ to the world this past April. Now they’re hard at work trying to get their music out there and heard by people like you and I, and so far it seems like they’ve done a hell-of-a-job with this. I found this gem of a 7″ in the record store just yesterday, and I’m glad I came across it when I did. I remember when these guys played their record release show with Best Coast back in April, but for whatever reason I couldn’t make it. Now I’m wishing I could have been there. That’s okay though, because we’ve got the 7″ to share with you here today, and share it we shall.
So for starters, this 7″ comes with four brand new songs, with each song being equally as slow and as sad as the last. This stuff would go perfect while you’re looking out the window with your hand in your cheek on an exceptionally dreary day when the sky is gray with a light rain covering the ground around you. The coarse textures of their sound and the gloomy, moody howl of lead singer (name unknown, but it would go here) are the perfect match for each other, hereby proving that Philadelphia definitely has some noteworthy bands storming the lo-fi scene. If you were ever a fan of grunge music, or if you just like bands who spend their time recording obscure, spaced-out heroin-jams in their basement, then Creepoid is surely the band for you. Especially if you’re from Philadelphia, because you’ll be able to see them as many times as you need to. I bet you could find a shit-ton of drugs at one of their shows, too. Well, that goes for any show really. Except straight-edge shows and shit like that. That’s enough of my rambling – check out these songs below, and you can hear more from the 7″ on their Myspace.
Pink Tag Sale –
Magic Drum –
My Rating: 8/10 Genre/ Tags: Slowcore, Psychedelic, Dream Pop, Lo-Fi Yellow Life Giver 7″: Tracklist:
1.) Rotten Tooth
2.) Pink Tag Sale
3.) See-Through
4.) Magic Drum
BUY the 7″ right here, it won’t be around forever.
Creepoid on Myspace !
Creepoid on Bandcamp
Creepoid on Blogspot
Check out another project from some Creepoid members – The G
and watch them play w/ the Japandroids in Philadelphia!
In honor of the show this Friday night, I figured it would be more than appropriate to post this album up here today. Not only that, but it’s beyond worthy of having a spot on this blog and every music blog that’s ever covered any other type of shoegaze or dream pop band. I say this because Galaxie 500 is certainly a pivotal band when it comes to the genre and sound of shoegaze/ dream pop.
Ever since their formation and the release of their albums, shoegaze bands have always attempted to capture that unique Galaxie 500 sound, but they usually end up coming a bit short of their goals. This would be why these albums are so important to the genre, and if this wasn’t true, then why do people always come back to Galaxie 500? Did I mention yet that they just re-issued the entire G500 discography, live albums and all? See, that’s what I mean. If it wasn’t for a band like Galaxie 500, who knows what shoegaze and slowcore bands would sound like today. I’m sure it wouldn’t be some, huge, gigantic, groundbreaking difference, but who knows. Sometimes you just have to give credit when credit is due.
Whether it’s the snow or rain you’re stuck in, “On Fire” is one of those lousy day records you can put on to help you cope with the lameness of any dreary day. The warm, fuzzy, fiery breeze that is Galaxie 500 is sure to warm your soul and bring you to a much more solid state of mind, possibly helping you forget about any problems you may be experiencing (at least while the album’s still playing). Lead singer Dean Wareham is always there to greet us with his mundane lyrics about everyday activities, such as the weather, work, going to the corner store, fights, and whatever else qualifies as an everyday activity. It’s almost like his lyrics are a stream of consciousness going through his head that he just happened to get down on paper before it was too late and he forgot. Sometimes he’s shrieking, sometimes he sounds exceptionally lazy, but there’s one thing that is definitely constant: his guitar work. This guy knew how lay down some sick, face melting guitar licks back in 1989 when this album came out, and I can guarantee he still can do so if he’s about to come play these songs in Philadelphia one day from now.
Kicking off the album is the song “Blue Thunder”, which at first doesn’t sound like much, but as time goes on it begins to grow into something more. Wareham sings as if he’s sitting in the backseat of a car driving down the highway (Route 128 is a highway in Massachusetts) looking at all the passing scenery. Perhaps while messed up on some kind of drug, Wareham is referring to the blue haze he sees as everything passes him by, as depicted in this great music video. Skipping ahead to the song “Strange”, where Wareham once again sings to us about his day. This time it’s about his trip down to a lousy drug store, and he seems to be paranoid about his surroundings and the people around him. This definitely gives me the thought that poor Dean was bugging out, thinking that all these people were looking so strange and unreal. Can’t say what drug he was on (or if he was on one at all, wtf do I know?), but it definitely got to his head for this song.
Following this track comes the longest song from the original record, “When Will You Come Home”. It’s a slowcore jam out at it’s absolute finest, with Wareham desperately waiting for his girl to come home. About halfway through this one Wareham starts to tear shit up with an immense guitar solo that helps bring the song to it’s near-perfect end. Some serious shredding in this track – no joke. Again skipping ahead further in the album, this time to the song “Another Day”. This is the only song on the album sung by bassist Naomi Yang, and her gorgeous, healing voice makes this an extremely enjoyable listen. About halfway through the song breaks down with more intense, face melting guitar action, played by none other than Mr. Wareham himself. I honestly had more to say about this record, but I’m starting to run out of time. This post is also going to be huge.
I’m just going to skip ahead to one of the bonus tracks, specifically the song “Ceremony”. Now I know this might really urk some people out there, but how many times do you come across a cover song that actually exceeds the quality of it’s original recording? If you’re asking me, almost never. Galaxie 500 are the only band I have seen successfully complete this feat, and they have done so with this cover of Joy Divisions (and New Order’s) song “Ceremony”. Damon Krukowski’s relentless, crashing cymbals and the twang of Warehams trusty guitar make this song simply irresistible. Right before the four minute mark the song hits it’s peak, and Wareham begins to howl away about watching love grow forever while Krukowski continues to crash those cymbals. Keep listening and Wareham’s guitar playing starts to get more and more intricate as the song progresses. This is also one of those songs that seems to be forgotten about almost all of the time, probably because it’s original release was on this now-scarce “Blue Thunder EP” that came out back in 1990. Don’t worry though, I’m pretty sure this track made it onto the new reissue of this fantastic album. If you haven’t heard it, you probably shouldn’t go anywhere too soon. Would it help you listen if I said I thought this was thee perfect song?
This is an album I’ve spun countless times in several different situations (including in a car accident in a snowstorm), and I’d be lying if I didn’t say these songs and this band as a whole mean more to me than just music. Sometimes if you hear certain music at a crucial point in life, they always tend to stick with you and never let go – making the music mean that much more to a listener. With that being said, I am beyond ready to finally hear these songs come to life this Friday night at the Trocadero. Now I just hope he plays “Ceremony”. Bring it on!!! Thanks for reading!!!
Blue Thunder –
When Will You Come Home –
Another Day –
Ceremony –
My Rating: 10/10 Genre/ Tags: Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Slowcore On Fire: Tracklist:
1.) Blue Thunder
2.) Tell Me
3.) Snowstorm
4.) Strange
5.) When Will You Come Home
6.) Decomposing Trees
7.) Another Day
8.) Leave the Planet
9.) Plastic Bird
10.) Isn’t It a Pity
11.) Victory Garden (Bonus Track)
12.) Ceremony (Bonus Track)
13.) Cold Night (Bonus Track)
BUY any G500 releases available @ Insound
Galaxie 500 on Myspace
Anything about G500 & more @ this awesome comprehensive website – A Head Full of Wishes
Welcome to the Styrofoam Drone! This is a daily updated music blog generally focused on vinyl releases from only the most premium underground filth. Ranging from lo-fi psych to garage punk rock to electronic and everything in between, you're bound to find something special.
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