For nearly twenty years the The Empty Bottle has remained one of Chicago’s most enduring rock and Roll venues. Beginning in 2010 audio engineer Shimby McCreery has been recording select performances and streaming them online through Bandcamp. Chicago based Hozac Records has just released a compilation entitled Live at the Empty Bottle which collects 14 highlights from the live series onto one incredible vinyl disk. Continue reading “V/A – Live at the Empty Bottle”
When TY SEGALL and Tim Presley of WHITE FENCE team up for a record together, it’s kind of hard to expect anything less than epic. Sure enough, this duo leaves no stone unturned in their debut album together, titled Hair. Continue reading “Ty Segall & White Fence – Hair”
COUSINS are a four piece garage rock band that formed in Halifax in 2009 by Aaron Mangle. “The Palm at the End of the Mind” is the name of their sophomore LP on Saved By Vinyl, consisting of nine tracks of totally sharp and raucous garage-pop music that also manages to be quirky and highly energetic. Of the nine tracks, “Speech” just might be the most fitting example of this wildly frantic energy. This rowdy track starts out with a jangly bang and rarely ever settles back down afterward. The song is driven by crunchy guitars and a pounding, unpredictable drum pattern that will keep you guessing with each new pulsing measure, bringing the “manic energy and underlying calm” together in one strikingly memorable three-and-a-half minute track. You’d be a fool to miss it below – after the first 15 seconds you’ll see.
Speech –
Genre/ Tags: Pop, Garage Rock, Lo-Fi
Cousins on Bandcamp
Cousins on Myspace
Read about Cousins on Pigeon Row for a bit more info.
Not sure where to buy this one…sorry folks
Here’s a brand new split cassette from the Sturdy Girls Records label in Nashville. NEW PLEASURE and JENSEN SERF CO. join forces and include five songs apiece which together add up to make quite a ripping cassette. Continue reading “New Pleasure/ Jensen Serf Co. – Sturdy Girls Split CS”
THE DELRELLAS hail from places all over the globe including London, Brighton and Portland to keep it simple. This is their brand new 7″ coming from the Dirty Water Records label based out of London. Continue reading “The DeRellas – Stick It To the Man 7″”
San Francisco’s Pamela are putting together their next release. I sat in with them last Friday at Temple Randolph Studios to observe their first session for the new record. It is being recorded by Jasper Leach and Brian Davy, of the Myonics and Symbolic Jews, on a vintage Tascam Midistudio 688 cassette recorder. Continue reading “A Brief Conversation With Pamela”
Sweet Heart Sweet Light is the latest offering and sacrament from Spirtualized. Throughout his career guitarist Jason Pierce (aka J. spacemen) has provided us with multicolored galaxy uppers, downers, screamers, and laughers. This album is definitely a downer. Like a potent mixture of Darvon and Valium this is the sort of rock & roll that would have killed Lester Bangs. Continue reading “Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light LP”
STRANGE HANDS have just dropped their first proper full length album from Shit Music for Shit People. The album features 11 full tracks of their quivering garage rock sound, which proves that Strange Hands are a force to be reckoned with. The album, titled Dead Flowers, sees the band sprawling out in all directions, ranging from energetic pop-punk (“Trapper & Dodger”), swirling, instrumental acid trips (“Dead Flowers”) and hard-hitting, psyched-out bangers (“First Poem”, “Bunny Slipper”, “Smell”) that all manage to go above and beyond to hit their mark. Songs are heavy in the keyboard/synthesizer department, which ultimately helps intensify the lysergic and psychedelic properties of this album.
With an album like this one, Strange Hands have made it clear what they’re capable of and the results are nothing short of exhilarating. Take a song like “Smell,” which has the pedal to the metal from start to finish. They rage on through with shredded, stream-lined guitar shards, creating an all-out punk monstrosity comprised of scorching solos with an element of innocence that is easy to endorse. Now if you like what you hear go and grab your copy of the vinyl. It’s official release date is May 11th, so sit tight!
Smell –
Genre/ Tags: Garage Rock, Lo-Fi, Pop, Psychedelic
PREORDER the LP directly from Shit Music for Shit People – out May 11th !
Strange Hands on Facebook
20TH CENTURY TOKYO PRINCESS is a noisy, three piece garage rock band fronted by 37 year old Ted Clark who works in a liquor store. Together this trio declares war on your ears with their lethal sound. Continue reading “20th Century Tokyo Princess – I’ve Never Been Happy & I’ve Never Had Fun CS”
The Funny/ Not Funny label in Virginia has been churning out the goods these days. They continue with the debut 7″ from the twangy guitar duo of THE CINNAMON BAND who also hail from Virginia. Continue reading “The Cinnamon Band – Black Love 7″”
Styrofoam Drone 