Florida – Haunted House 7″

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Psychedelic, Lo-Fi

Hey guys. Remember last week when I posted the write-up of the Japandroids, Love is All, and The G show at the Barbary? Well after doing so, I sent an e-mail over to Matt Beck of SHDWPLY Records to let him know I had some footage of one of SHDWPLY’s bands, The G. Through talking to Matt, he mentioned that he had some singles that he wanted to send my way, so I graciously obliged his offer and sent him my address. Thanks to Matt, we now have some new music to check out! The first 7″ I am going to cover from SHDWPLY is by a band who call themselves “Florida” (not to be confused with the rapper “Flo Rida” as Last.fm does) who come from the highly-populated-by-bands-city of Brooklyn, New York.

The Florida single includes two tracks from the band, and it is their most recent release to come from SHDWPLY. The A-side begins with the eerie track titled “Haunted House”, and the B-side is a track titled “Love Inside of You”. “Haunted House” starts off with a slower, almost demonic intro that is certainly nothing short of creepy. Shortly after we’re met with the howling vocals of lead singer Daniel Rineer. Not long after the vocals came into play did the band Pontiak come to my mind, but just before the 3-minute point of the song they change things up with an extremely heavy guitar solo that is sure to please any listener. Throughout the length of the song you can hear the use of brass instruments, which works wonders for that spooky element of their music, not to mention that ominous chiming sound heard throughout also. You can check out the B-side of the record “Love Inside of You” over on their Myspace, along with a few other tracks from the band that you may or may not have already heard. If you decide you like these songs, you should do yourself a big favor and buy the records, for multiple reasons. If you like the music, that’s one thing, but the best part is the vinyl itself. It’s transparent gold in color, and as far as I know it’s a limited edition release, so it won’t be around forever! Thanks for reading, and be sure to check back for some more soon!

BUY the Haunted House 7″ directly from SHDWPLY Records
FLORIDA on Myspace

New Hold Steady – “The Weekenders”

Hey! Guess what!? There is yet another new Hold Steady song to check out from their upcoming album “Heaven is Whenever”. It’s called “The Weekenders” and you can check it out over at the MTV Buzzworthy Blog. The MTV Buzzworthy Blog? The Hold Steady? Really?

So far we’ve been introduced to 3 new songs from the album, starting with “Hurricane J” and followed by “Rock Problems”. That leaves us with only 7 more unheard songs from the album. Hopefully they will keep up their pace and continue to release more of the album, song by song. If not, I’m sure everybody can sit tight and wait for the album to drop on it’s May 4th release date from Vagrant. It’s tough to say what the album is going to sound like as a whole at this point, but I think the most recent track “The Weekenders” is the closest I’ve heard to what Craig Finn claims is “less anthemic and more complex” music.

Double Dagger – Masks EP

My Rating: 9/10
Genre/ Tags: Post-Punk, Noise Rock, Drum & Bass

Last we heard from Baltimore’s own Double Dagger, it was their latest full length record “MORE” that was put out by Thrill Jockey back in 2009. Now, in 2010, Double Dagger have a new EP for us, and it’s best described as a continuation of songs from their “MORE” LP. The EP features 5 new and unheard Double Dagger tracks that’s just shy of 19 minutes long, and its sound is just as ragged, angry, raw, and discontented as the songs from their “MORE” LP.

The EP kicks off with a bang on the first track “Imitation Is the Most Boring Form of Flattery”, which sounds like the Double Dagger sound you’re already quite comfortable with. Vocalist Nolen Strals warns us immediately that “We’re all in danger! Our history has no future, don’t be just another repeater”, referring to the state that our nation is in, claiming that it’s in an “unhealthy” state and everywhere he looks, “everyone is just spewing”. Somebody is definitely upset with that current status of our nation, and that is quite clear when reading the lyrics to this one. Strals goes on to say that “You don’t see the past as a source of inspiration, you just have it set as your final destination” which calls out anybody who tends to live in the past. We all know living in the past is fun, but it can also be unhealthy. The other song on the A-side of the record is “Pillow Talk”, which comes with a nice bass solo about 1 minute and 25 seconds in, while the rest of the track includes Strals singing about gross/weird encounters of his friends sexual mishaps that don’t quite leave you with the idea of a pretty sight. Next up is the strangely titled “Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing”, which might generate a funny picture or two in your head. This song makes me wonder how on Earth this band gets by with just a drummer and a bassist. Some of the sounds that come out on this track sound like everything but a bass guitar, but that minimalistic property is all part of the deal when it comes to Double Dagger. This goes on to make me wonder how these guys perform live. I guess I’ll just have to wait until May 3rd.

Flipping over to the B-side starts with the longest track included on the EP, “Sleeping With the TV On”. It’s just under 7 minutes long, and it starts out way too slow to be a Double Dagger song. Strals comes in with “When you live two lives, which is your own? When you live two lives, where do you call home…” while the song begins to speed up and take form. Before you know it, you’re again in familiar Double Dagger territory during the 2nd minute, and this time Strals is giving us insight into his dreams at night… “All my dreams look like TV shows, they’re full of stars that everyone knows, my life is like a secret episode, it’s full of plots that never unfold.” It sounds like somebody is looking for a bit of a change. Not only is a major change in order, but something must be done about all the “past-due bills”, “jacked-up rent”, and the fact that the taxman is coming because he wants “us to pay for what we’ve spent”. These are certainly all pressing issues that should be dealt with as soon as possible. This would bring us to our last track, the instrumental and most relaxed song found on the EP, “Song for S”, which is just an easy flowing bass line on top of some crazy industrial-sounding sound effects. All in all, this is definitely a solid effort from a solid band who I hope to hear more from very soon. May 3rd won’t come soon enough! Thanks for reading friends, and be sure to check back tomorrow. I’ll hopefully be making it to the JAPANDROIDS show at the Barbary tonight…

Tracklist: Masks EP
1.) Imitation Is the Most Boring Form of Flattery
2.) Pillow Talk
3.) Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing
4.) Sleeping With the TV On
5.) Song for S

BUY the new Masks EP directly from Thrill Jockey
MORE Review previously posted on the Styrofoam Drone
Double Dagger on Myspace

New Hold Steady – “Rock Problems”

Another new track named “Rock Problems” has been released from the Hold Steady’s forthcoming album “Heaven is Whenever”. Since the albums announcement earlier this month, there have been two tracks unveiled. The first single released is titled “Hurricane J”, and you can still check that out over at Pitchfork by following the previous link.

To listen to the newer “Rock Problems”, simply follow this link over to the Vulture Blog > The Hold Steady – “Rock Problems”. Please enjoy, but also keep in mind that the Hold Steady claim they are going for a new and different sound with this record. If you ask me, “Rock Problems” sounds a bit like “old Steady” rather than “new Hold Steady”, know what I mean? The guys at the Vulture Blog agree, but we’ll find out what’s in store on the May 4th release date. Until then, we can enjoy these two tracks.

The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound – Ekranoplan

My Rating: 6/10
Genre/ Tags: Psychedelic, Space Rock, Stoner Rock

Good morning folks! How’s it going on this fine Thursday? So did any of you visitors notice the web address today? If not, take a quick peek. There is no longer “wordpress.com” in the address, how exciting! We now have the domain name “Styrofoamdrone.com” all to ourselves. Isn’t that great? I think it is.

Today’s band hails from San Francisco, California, and they have been active since the year 2005 when they released their first self-titled album. They put it out on their very own “Sunburst Sound” label, and it was only limited to 500 copies, so good luck tracking that one down. Since that first album, the band has signed to Tee Pee Records, and they have released two full lengths with Tee Pee, 2007’s “Ekranoplan” and 2009’s “When Sweet Sleep Returned”.

Today we have their 2007 record “Ekranoplan” on our minds. It was their first album to be released to the masses, and it’s quite a hard hitting album. It picks up pretty quickly in the beginning, starting off with the self-titled track “Ekranoplan”, and with the tap of the cymbal, it all begins. The hard and heavy guitars are immediately in yr face, followed by lead singer Jefferson Marshall’s vocals, who is already screaming and carrying on as soon as he can be heard in the song. The following track “Mosquito Lantern” takes a step back on the vocals and mellows out a bit this time, but the musical heaviness is still entirely present, but that’s part of the bands appeal. The heaviness is a sprawling mess of cymbal crashes and absolutely face melting guitar solos about two and half minutes in. The track also starts off with that same familiar cymbal tap before it kicks off into something more, being reminiscent of the intro to the first track “Ekranoplan”. Following “Mosquito Latern” is the track “Rudy on the Corner”, which again has that same cymbal tap for an intro, but this time it’s a bit slower. That being said, this is one of the slower jams on the record. It’s songs like this that really bring the term “stoner-rock” to mind. The vocals are calmed again in this song, which can be much more inviting than the screaming from the first track. Coming up next on the album would be in the instrumental track “Summon the Vardig”. It’s a 6 minute jam session featuring an immense bass line that’s present throughout, and again featuring that same cymbal tap to start off the song. It’s actually starting to get a bit old – the cymbal tap kicks off this song the same way it did for first 3 songs on the album. The only difference with it would be the tempo of the song. But moving on. I’m going to skip “Occult Roots” and move on to “Message by the Mistral and Thunderclap”, because once again this song is counted off by the tap of the drummers cymbal. I don’t know if it’s a big deal to anybody, but practically every song on this record starts off the same way. Not to mention that the songs themselves might seem to overlap at times, with the calmer intros that lead into the heavy, face melting material. The next track “D. Brown” is yet again brought in with the faster tap of the cymbal, but this track stands out by far on the album. It’s has a bluesy feel to it and it sounds like it’s fueled by nothing but attitude and the love for straight up jamming. The final 2 minutes of the track break it all down, even with the keyboards coming into play. At first, the next track “The Chocolate Maiden’s Misty Summer Morning” sounds like it’s going to be different, but sure enough that count off on the cymbal comes back, and then you’re right in the midst of another AHSS jam out. This song is instrumental as well except for the howl of the vocals towards the end, which leads us into the last track of the album, “Gemini 9”, which is also free of vocals entirely. I guess that would make this one more of an authentic instrumental track as opposed to “The Chocolate Maiden’s Misty Summer Morning”….but that’s all for today, be sure to check back real soon. I’m going to see The Strange Boys tonight, so hopefully I’ll have some videos for you guys tomorrow. See you then!

Ekranoplan: Tracklist
1.) Ekranoplan
2.) Mosquito Lantern
3.) Rudy on the Corner
4.) Summon the Vardig
5.) Occult Roots
6.) Message by Mistral and Thunderclap
7.) D. Brown
8.) The Chocolate Maiden’s Misty Summer Morning
9.) Gemini 9

The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound on Myspace
Ekranoplan – BUY! directly from Tee Pee
When Sweet Sleep Returned – BUY! directly from Tee Pee

Javelin – 2

My Rating: 9/10
Genre/ Tags: Dance, Electronic, Hip Hop

Does anybody remember the first post I made about Javelin back in December? Probably not, but the link in the last sentence will bring you to that post. The reason I am asking is because the new material that is mentioned I now have in my possession! It’s simply called “2”, and it’s by the same cousinly duo comprised of Thomas van Buskirk and George Langford that you already know and love. It’s a brand new set of tracks that clocks in at just under 18 minutes, and it’s packed with party jams, dance worthy beats and even a bit of your favorite Snoop Dog song. That’s right.

The first track “Dynamite” kicks off with the squeal of some car breaks and then the beep of a horn before you’re greeted with “Hey everybody! Come on let’s go! We’re gonna show you, things you need to know.” Following that is a funky bass line covered up by all sorts of clanks and pops, with our hosts from the beginning blurting out words and phrases sporadically throughout the track. The next song “Good Morning Minneapolis” gets its point across, evoking a hazy, early summer morning, possibly driving through town with your windows rolled down and the wind blowing through your hair. The last 15 seconds of the track comes out of nowhere when everything stops and it’s quickly broken down into a joyous tune that you would probably overhear a mariachi band playing in a Mexican flea market. Three quarters of the way through the EP, there is a song called “Beyondce” that serves no other purpose than for you to dance along. Not only is it an awesome track name, but it’s faster than the other tracks, and it certainly challenges the listener to get up and move. It actually may be more of a challenge to try and sit still through this track. Seriously. If you have the record try spinning this track at 33rpm rather than the recommended 45rpm. It’s a real treat. The final track “Snoop 2” is a re-made version of an earlier Javelin track called “Snoop” that you could find on their “Jamz n Jemz” CD. It’s a shape-shifting mess of pianos, Egyptian dances, Snoop Dog songs, and jaunty Irish tunes. The last thirty seconds of the song gets rid of everything but the Snoop Dog lyrics, all while it plays over a beautiful sample that I wish I knew the origin of. If anybody knows, please talk to me!

Good Morning Minneapolis –

Beyondce –

2: Tracklist
1.) Dynamite
2.) Good Morning Minneapolis
3.) Beyondce
4.) Snoop 2

Javelin – 2: BUY this at Insound before it’s sold out! Only 500 copies made!
Javelin on Myspace
Preorder No Más

New Hold Steady – “Hurricane J”

A new single from the Hold Steady’s forthcoming album is up for you to preview over at Pitchfork today. This is the first of any new songs to be heard from the Hold Steady since they announced their new album, titled “Heaven is Whenever”, due out on Vagrant in the US on May 4th.

I think I speak for us all when I say that May 4th better come sooner than later. I’m excited to hear what the rest of this album will sound like without former Hold Steady member Franz Nicolay around to put his two-cents in. I guess we’ll see what happens when May rolls around!

You can listen to the new single, titled “Hurricane J”, by following this link > http://pitchfork.com/news/38234-premiere-hold-steady-hurricane-j/. Please enjoy!!

Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro – Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro

My Rating: 9/10
Genre/ Tags: Funk, Japanese, Jazz, Instrumental

Hello friends. How is everyone doing today? It would seem as if my post yesterday about joining our Last.fm group actually paid off, because we got ONE new member! Awesome! Thanks Mike! One is better than none right?

Today I have something that’s a bit different than usual. It was a bit difficult to find out any specific information on this band, but that doesn’t really matter. The name of the band is Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro, and they come from the wonderful land of Japan. Don’t quote me on this, but I believe it’s a group of 6 guys, all from Japan, who all bring their own special contributions to the music. The band features a trumpet, a tenor sax, guitar, bass, drums, and an organ/keyboards player, but none of the guys do the singing. The record is completely instrumental without any vocals, but the hard and heavy instrumentation makes up for it. Normally, in my experiences, people are turned off by a band when it doesn’t feature any type of singing or vocals, but I think Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro would be an exception for a lot of people. With their funky grooves and relentless approach, it’s kind of hard to deny this sound. I think many people would find themselves moving along with the music somehow only after hearing it for a short time. It has that ability to just sort of bring you along for the funky ride, but you can never be too sure where the funk is going to lead you. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself playing a track over for a second and third time, and by the time that’s over you probably still wouldn’t have had enough. To give it a try for yourself, I have uploaded a few tracks from the album to share with you guys, but I warn you, these tunes are tough to get out of your head once they’re in there. So good luck with that.

The Bunch

Don’t Touch, Just Watch Me!

Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro: Tracklist
1.) Time Has Come
2.) Yellow Soul Force
3.) The Changes
4.) The Bunch
5.) Interlude
6.) Baggy Pants
7.) Don’t Touch, Just Watch Me!
8.) DFT
9.) Interlude
10.) Big Pig Affair
11.) Blues of the Kilimanjaro
12.) Black Dog, Black Cat, Black Bird
13.) Eastwood Magic City
14.) Why Am I Standing Here?

Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro – Official Website!
Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro on Myspace!
Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro group on Facebook

Alex Bleeker & the Freaks 12″

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Blues, Folk, Psychedelic

By now, I feel like most people have come across and heard of the New Jersey band Real Estate. Their music evokes a hot, hazy summer day where you probably spent more of less of that day walking on the beach in the company of good friends, old and new alike. The band I have for you all today, in terms of band members, is practically the same exact thing as Real Estate. Alex Bleeker & the Freaks features three of the original Real Estate members, being Alex Bleeker, Matt Mondanile, and Martin Courtney IV. The fourth member of the band is no less known than the boys of Real Estate though. Although he is not in Real Estate, this talented young man is known more for his solo accomplishments before anything else, and that man is Julian Lynch. If you have yet to hear any of his solo material, please stop reading right now and follow this link HERE. This is the first track on the Underwater Peoples Summertime Showcase that came out this past summer, and what a perfect first track it is.

But as for Alex Bleeker & the Freaks, these guys all left their other musical outfits at the door for this project, and put forth their efforts into one place and worked together. The result was this still fairly new 12″ record that was put out by the Underwater Peoples out of Washington D.C., and the record is kind of like a thesis statement for a band who seems to have much, much more for us up their sleeve. If you haven’t heard any of the music yet, it tends to be folky at times and bluesy at other times, but they never forget to bring forward the psychedelic elements that’s present in most of the band members other projects (Real Estate, Ducktails, Julian Lynch). Songs like the opening tracks “Summer” and “Epilogue”, as well as “Spring Jam”, and even the short but ridiculously sweet “Dead On” all feature this eye-opening psychedelic feel that I think most people would have a hard time denying how sweet it really is. As the description on the Underwater Peoples blog reads, this release was built solely on the love and passion for music, and that is crystal clear when listening to the record. As the description reads, these boys have all “channeled their romantic energies into an electrified musical powerhouse”, and what an electrified musical powerhouse it is. Have I mentioned that I absolutely love electrified musical powerhouses? If you love them too, then you really need to check out this record. You can still buy it from the Underwater Peoples website, but you better do it sooner than later, because they only pressed 1,000 copies of the LP. I myself will also say that it is a “special privilege” and quite an honor to have let these tunes flow into my ears, and to hopefully bring this wonderful bands music to your ears as well. Please do yourself a favor and BUY THIS RECORD! Thx!

Alex Bleeker & the Freaks 12″: Tracklist
1.) Summer
2.) Epilogue
3.) Spring Jam
4.) Animal Tracks (Mountain Man cover)
5.) Prisoner of the Past
6.) Dead On
7.) Common Sense
8.) Part 2

AB & the Freaks 12″ – BUY!!!
AB & the Freaks on TheirSpace
A short list of songs to check out by the band on Pitchfork

Pontiak – Sun on Sun

My Rating: 9/10
Genre/ Tags: Psychedelic, Rock

In the summer of 2008, Pontiak had signed to their then new label Thrill Jockey, and shortly thereafter, they released their first album with them. It was a 12 inch record entitled “Kale” split with a band called Arbouretum. Before signing to Thrill Jockey, the band had put out a few self released CD’s that I had a hard time finding any concrete information on. As far as I know, the band had two releases before signing to Thrill Jockey, one being an EP and another release titled “Valley of Cats”. The best I could find on these releases comes from a record label based out of London – check it out here. Unfortunately you can’t even buy either of these CD’s on that website, but if you’ll settle for mp3’s, somebody kindly uploaded all of “Valley of Cats” onto Last.fm for free download. You can check that out right here. If it wasn’t for that I don’t know where else you would find those tracks.

But moving on. Pontiak, comprised of three brothers named Van, Jennings, and Lain Carney, all put out new material like it’s their job…which technically, I guess you could say it is their job. They’re currently in the making of their latest album “Living”, which should be out sometime in 2010. In 2009 they put out two more releases, one being titled “Sea Voids” and the other titled “Maker”. A year earlier in 2008, they put out their first full length called “Sun on Sun”, which is why I’m here today. This was the first record I had heard from Pontiak, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. The record starts out with the slow and eerie “Shell Skull” which sounds like it could be the soundtrack for a scene in a movie where a bad dude is creeping up on a good dude with intentions to kill! The face melting guitar solos are the scenes where the two dudes are duke-ing it out in efforts to save their lives!! Aw!! The second track “Swell” is an echo-y, ambient track that also brings words like creepy and eerie to mind again. Skipping ahead to the track “White Mice”, this may be the first point on the album that doesn’t potentially creep you out. About half way through they decide to draw back on the creepy (for once!) and put forth the groovy. The steady tap on the cymbal leads them into this slow, dirge-y jam that doesn’t take long until it’s heavy and all up in your face, with lead singer Van Carney howling as if he were a wolf fixated on the moon. The following track, the album titled “Sun on Sun”, is without a doubt the suite of this record, clocking in at just over 9 minutes long. As usual, things start off a bit on the mysterious side, while slowly but surely the hum of the keyboard rises to the top, followed by some laid-back guitar playing that changes the vibe from mysterious to a much more welcoming sound. Within the final two minutes, guitarist Van Carney brings the heat with some intense sliding on the guitar that can originally be heard in the beginning of the song, only to lead into some yet again face-peeling guitar work before bringing the song to a close. The next track “Tell Me About” starts off like many of these Pontiak tracks before leading into an unexpected keyboard solo topped off by screaming vocals and once again some in-yr-face guitar. The final track “The Brush Burned Fast” is a bit different from everything else on the album. It’s only an acoustic guitar and the singer (probably Van Carney) with some ambiance in the background that is strikingly similar to the ambient track “Swell”. I’m almost positive it’s the same thing. But once again, thanks for reading, and check back again real soon!!!

White Mice