His Electro Blue Voice – Animal Verses 7″

Welcome back after the weekend. Hope yours went well!

We’re going to start this week off with a hell of a bang. We’ve got a 7″ from Italy’s own HIS ELECTRO BLUE VOICE, and boy this thing is heavy. Coming from the Bat Shit label back in October, this is one of two releases to come from HEBV during 2010. Their other release came from Holidays Records in Italy, and it’s a 12″ record titled “Wolf/ Worm”. They’ve got a few other releases out there besides these two things as well, and you can check them all out right here. Judging by that, these guys have been quite busy over the past few years, and it shows in their devilishly frightening music.

Two new songs come etched in this 7″ – the A-side is called “Animal Verses” and the B-side is called “Black Veils”. Both songs are equally ferocious and loud, coming at you full throttle with very little breathing room and enough intensity to send you straight to the floor. They take an exceptionally morbid and brooding approach to the music, with enough dark energy and satanic vibes to have you on your knees begging for mercy shortly after listening. There’s a wobbly metronome percussion covering both of the songs that gives them a constantly reverberating feel, almost like the sounds are continually bouncing off the walls in all the directions. The last quality that puts the icing on this devilishly haunting cake would be shouted, hateful vocals. Paired up with resonate bass lines, end-of-the-world sonics, fiery guitars, and an all too tormenting dark energy, HEBV is sure to please even the least gothic of listeners. Please enjoy and don’t forget to snag the 7″ before it’s gone – there’s only 500.

Animal Verses –

Black Veils –

My Rating: 7/10
Genre/ Tags: Post Punk, Experimental, Electronic
Animal Verses 7″: Tracklist:
1.) Animal Verses
2.) Black Veils

His Electro Blue Voice on Myspace
BUY the 7″ directly from Bat Shit Records – limited to 500 !
Lyrics to both songs on YouTube – Animal Verses here and Black Veils here

Luftwaffe – Quiet Summer 7″

LUFTWAFFE is a band, and they hail from the far side of the Schuylkill River in West Philadelphia. If you’re from the area, maybe you’ve heard of them. If not, then you probably haven’t heard of Luftwaffe just yet. There’s another band named Luftwaffe from Chicago, but that’s not who were focused on, just so you don’t get confused. Our Luftwaffe, from Philadelphia, has been hard at work all Summer long to prepare their debut 7″ for the world. They recorded the record together themselves in their bedrooms this Summer, without the air-conditioning on, and now they’re putting out the record themselves as well. The 7″ should be ready sometime this month, so what better time to talk about Luftwaffe? I should probably mention that these guys are cool enough to also give away the entire 7″ for FREE on their Bandcamp page, so check that out while it’s still free!

If they had to describe their music themselves, they would call it “swampy, scattered pop music”. This is certainly an accurate description. The basis of their songs definitely comes from pop-influenced music, but it’s what they do with their sound effects and electronics that makes the songs unique – or “scattered”. They have a great balance of pop and electronics in their songs, and it stands out. The effects aren’t too overbearing or over the top – because seriously, how many times have you heard a song that was just too ridiculous with the sounds? These guys make their effects fit in just right, and it gives the songs much more depth, helping to create a significantly more interesting listen. Find out for yourself with the two songs below. “Old Friends” has a hazy layer of Summer humidity spread out over it’s constant, friendly beeping, while “Never Let Me Go” has an otherworldly, jungle-like feel to it. Get lost in the hypnotizing guitars and the shake of the tambourine as Luftwaffe takes you to the other side. This stuff is great – so please enjoy it. Don’t forget to download your copy of the 7″, because I’m sure it won’t be free forever.

Never Let Me Go –

Old Friends –

My Rating: 7/10
Genre/ Tags: Pop, Experimental, Electronic
Quiet Summer 7″: Tracklist:
1.) Never Let Me Go
2.) Old Friends
3.) Warm Blood

DOWNLOAD the 7″ for FREE on the Luftwaffe Bandcamp

All Saints Day – It’ll Come Around 7″

Hey! Getting back on schedule after a hectic weekend here. Got something for you guys today that you may have stumbled upon yourselves already. But hopefully not. It’s the debut 7″ from ALL SAINTS DAY, the combined project of Vivian Girl Katy Goodman and Cat Power helper/ The Delta 72 member Gregg Foreman (who I am learning is originally from Philadelphia). This little gem comes from the Art Fag label, and it comes in a limited edition of 500. I tell you this because the stuff over at Art Fag looks like it usually sells out pretty quickly, so if you want this one you better snag it up soon.

Included on this 7″ are two new songs, both of which have equally dreamy and space-like qualities, alongside of that all too familiar scratchy lo-fi sound that’s popping up everywhere these days. Katy Goodman’s gorgeous voice with the combination of hazy textures and twangy guitars is a great way to make some addicting music. If you were to come up with background music that goes along with the album art above, it would probably sound EXACTLY like All Saints Day! Basically meaning that the art is spot-on. But don’t sleep on this stuff – it’s addicting and I’m already having a hard time turning off “Only Time Will Tell”. I’m gonna upload both sides of the 7″ for you guys below, so check’em out. That is all. More record downloads on the way for you people too – keep checkin’ my Tumblr.

It’ll Come Around –

Only Time Will Tell –

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Lo-Fi, Dream Pop, Electronic
It’ll Come Around 7″: Tracklist:
1.) It’ll Come Around
2.) Only Time Will Tell

All Saints Day on Bandcamp
All Saints Day on Last.fm
BUY the 7″ from Insound, but it’s probably cheaper directly from Art Fag

Dead Luke – Record One 7″

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

BUY the 7″ directly from Insound – $4.80 is a damn good price
Dead Luke’s “American Haircut” previously posted on the Drone
Dead Luke on Myspace
More info. on Record One at Sacred Bones

Teen Daze – Four More Years

HAPPY SEPTEMBER!

I’ve had these songs on my hard drive for at least a month now, and I never really got a chance to give them a nice, thorough listen until just yesterday. I’m kind of bummed that I waited this long too. Not because the records sold out or anything, but because that’s a months less of time I had to be enjoying this stuff in the hot, hazy months of summer – which is probably the best time to be listening to TEEN DAZE. I couldn’t really find a good bit of solid information on the man behind Teen Daze (even something as simple as his first name), but I did come across this awesome interview where he talks about his sudden internet fame, the story behind the name “Teen Daze”, and how his hometown city of Vancouver played an influence on his music. Pretty awesome, and definitely insightful.

“Four More Years” is the first official release from the Teen Daze camp, and it just came out pretty recently (on LP and in digital) from the Arcade Sound Ltd. imprint. Then in a little less than a month, Wonder Beard Tapes will be releasing “Four More Years” on cassette tape – in a limited edition of 100 copies and at a much more affordable price of just $5.00 (although the vinyl isn’t that expensive either). This way you have two easy (and affordable) ways of owning these dreamy, hazy Summer songs that have been driving everybody wild. Probably because of all the dancey beeps and boops that remind everyone of their old favorite Nintendo games. Or Sega. Whichever you prefer really. Although I think I’m leaning more towards Sega. One more thing: I can’t help but wonder if the airy, floating-through-space song “Shine On, You Crazy White Cap” is at all a reference to the Pink Floyd epic “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”. Who knows, but you can see why I would think that. Just check out these few songs right below, and then buy the vinyl. This way Summer is always alive…at least for as long as the record is spinning. Enjoy.

Four More Years –

Neon –

Shine On, You Crazy White Cap –

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Electronic, Dream Pop
Four More Years: Tracklist:
1.) Four More Years
2.) Gone for the Summer
3.) Neon
4.) Around
5.) No Regrets
6.) Shine On, You Crazy White Cap
7.) Saviour
8.) Spin Around, Go Ahead

BUY the LP directly from Arcade Sound Ltd.
-or-
Wait a few weeks, and buy it on cassette from Wonder Beard Tapes – Limited to 100 and much cheaper
Teen Daze on Myspace
Follow Teen Daze on Tumblr !

This Heart Electric – Polar 7″

Well, it’s that time again. Work finally ends for the summer, but the fun isn’t over yet! Today is that fateful, inescapable day (for me anyway) where classes resume. It’s that day that every student ranging from the middle/high school age group up til college absolutely dreads. If you can remember, before about middle school, who wasn’t excited about going back to school? Honestly? Because it seems the older you get, the more you tend to hate it. At least for me anyway. That’s why I’m here working this blog, trying to keep up with the things I actually enjoy doing, which brings me to my next point…

Today’s music of interest comes from a DIY South Florida synth-pop outfit called THIS HEART ELECTRIC, which I’ve come to understand is just one person, although I could be wrong. This is his debut release of any sort, and it comes from the die Stasi imprint out of Ohio. Included on the 7″ is two brand new tracks, combining for a total of nearly 6 minutes of oddball, dance-worthy synth jams. A-side “Polar” kicks off with some glamorously familiar sounds, possibly reminding you of your favorite Nintendo or Sega games that you used to play and love with all yr heart. The synth sounds may or may not also remind you of a Wintry, snowy atmosphere, which could by why this song is called “Polar”. Flip on over to the B-side for another poppy synth jam, only this time it’s riddled with all sorts of sound effects, ranging from siren-like shrieks and the singers eerie, uneasy voice. If you don’t believe me, you should check out both of these songs below from the 7″. Now wish me luck. It’s time to go to class…

Polar –

Nowhere to Run –

My Rating: 7/10
Genre/ Tags: Electronic, Experimental, Pop
Polar 7″: Tracklist:
1.) Polar
2.) Nowhere to Run

BUY this 7″ directly from Insound !
This Heart Electric on Myspace, yo

tooth ache. – Skin 7″

Making her way around the blogosphere these past few weeks would be the sole member of Vermont’s own TOOTH ACHE. Her name: Miss Alexandria Hall. This looks to be her first official release, and it comes from the brand new Father/Daughter Records label (who have been doing a hell-of-a-job getting their name out there since the release of their Family Trees 7″ last June). So this is the second official release from Father/Daughter records, but if you were expecting something in the same vein as Family Tree’s, then I think you have another thing coming…

Tooth ache. is definitely way far off from where they left off with Family Tree’s (especially when tooth ache. self-describes her music as “downer pop”). But don’t let that crush all your hopes and dreams just yet. “Downer pop” frankly doesn’t make this stuff sound all that inviting, but once you get into it you’ll discover that these songs are actually quite addicting (and depending on the listener, far from the ‘downer’ side of things, too). At times sounding increasingly gospel-like, Miss Hall acts as our guide through the 7″ as she blissfully takes us through the buzzy, acetic, synth-laden jams that this suddenly awesome single has to offer.

After checking out her Myspace, I couldn’t help but wonder if the sounds we are hearing are directly influenced from a human condition known as bruxism (and judging by this obsession with bruxism and the name of this project, I don’t think it’s as far-fetched as it seems). She’s even got a set of links labeled as “breakfast. lunch. dinner.” that all send you to pages with descriptions about bruxism, further proving the fact that either this girl deals with this shit on a daily basis (hence breakfast, lunch, and dinner), or just likes/thinks about the idea of bruxism on a daily basis…or the idea of music influenced by bruxism…hell I dunno, figure it out for yourself. For all I know this could just be entirely up for interpretation. Leave a comment if you have some other ridiculous idea…and be sure to check out “Skin” (and “Lazarus”) right below. ~~If you can find a place to listen to the B-side “Lazarus”, you really should. It’s a head-bobbing ‘downer’ jam that is bound to get stuck under yr skin.~~

Skin –

Lazarus –

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Electronic, Experimental, Pop
Skin 7″: Tracklist:
1.) Skin
2.) Lazarus

PREORDER the 7″ – Ships on or before Aug. 17th! – Limited to 400!
tooth ache. on Bandcamp
tooth ache. on Myspace

Weed – DC Hope EP

I was surfing around the web yesterday to find something new to post up, and I came across something that’s slightly different from everything else we’ve been listening to lately. It came from one of my favorite blogs Shoegazer Alive, and I think what originally caught my eye was that retro looking artwork you can see to the left, not to mention the name of the band – WEED. Yeah, Weed, but you could also call him Willy “Flip” Anderson, who happens to be main man behind the music. This is his first official release, and also the first release from the label putting it out, Moongadget.

Mr. Anderson creates these severely bent, lo-fi “bedrock” jams that are increasingly fuzzy and mangled, and each one brings you to a place on a hazy Summer afternoon where there wasn’t much else to do but hang out in your bedroom and make some music. Parts of the songs sound electronic, while other parts sound more instrumental, but either way there are definitely some nods to the chillwave sound (like the trippy track “Run to Cranes”) that’s been storming the web. While this stuff does chillwave justice, I still hope in the long run that the fad is starting to die down a bit, because it’s beginning to show up everywhere. Like my G-mail inbox.

I have two songs to share with you guys from the EP – the loose, easy going, bass-bumping jam “W.G.A.” and the twisted, gritty lo-fi madness of “Might as Well” which has enough fuzz to make your head explode, but at the same time it’s bound to make you smile. One last thing: this stuff WILL grow on you. But that’s all for today! Lots of new stuff coming in lately…stay tuned…

Might as Well –

W.G.A. –

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Lo-Fi, Electronic, Psychedelic
DC Hope EP: Tracklist:
1.) Quilt
2.) Might as Well
3.) Cody Girl
4.) Run to Cranes
5.) W.G.A.

Weed on Myspace
BUY the EP on cassette – a limited edition of 50!
Weed – Moongadget Artist Page

Panda Bear – Tomboy 7″

Hey hey. Here’s something for you guys today that I’m pretty sure most of you are already aware of. And if not, then where the hell have you been?

It’s a brand new 7″ from the PANDA BEAR man himself, and it’s one of many 7″ records that are going to be released in the coming weeks/months. With each new 7″ release from Panda Bear, we will be getting closer and closer to the full-length release of “Tomboy”, which is due to drop sometime during the Fall of 2010. Until then these 7″ singles should hold us over, but it will only be a matter of time before people start going ape-shit for the full-length. While nobody can guarantee anything about the upcoming LP, one thing is for sure: the labels who release these 7″ records are guaranteed some hefty income. I was lucky enough to snag my copy of the 7″ from Paw Tracks, and when I checked back the following day the record was already sold out. Can you say bank?

So it’s kind of a short post for today, but I’ll have another nice gem for you guys tomorrow! In the meantime you can check out the A-side from the 7″ right below, but that’s not all! Head on over to The Yellow Stereo where you can check out the glitchy, dubstep B-side track “Slow Motion”.

Tomboy –

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Electronic, Dub, Pop
Tomboy 7″: Tracklist:
1.) Tomboy
2.) Slow Motion

You can buy it at insound!
Panda Bear on Myspace!
Panda Bear on Last.fm

Twin Sister – Alternates Cassette

Hey guys. So today marks the first day a cassette tape is ever being reviewed on the Styrofoam Drone – isn’t that exciting? The best part is it’s an awesome cassette tape from a band we’ve been hearing and seeing a lot about recently: Long Island, New York’s own TWIN SISTER.

The cassette was released not very long ago (in March I believe), and it was put out by the one and only Curatorial Club. The Curatorial Club is a branch of the ever-growing Chocolate Bobka brand, and they’re slowly but surely releasing new, limited edition tapes of otherwise hard-to-find music from some of the latest artists that have been making waves. Head on over to the Curatorial Club to see what else they’ve got in store for you, because most of these tapes sell out very fast. Unfortunately, the tape of topic today has already sold out long ago, but don’t get too down on yourself, because you can download both sides of the tape by using the links at the bottom of the post. See, it doesn’t have to be all bad!

This tape has a slew of songs from the Twin Sister catalog, being both equally old and new, and then some being completely unknown. The A-Side of the tape features rough versions of the songs from their very first EP, “Vampires with Dreaming Kids”. You’ll find rough versions of the songs “Ginger” and “Nectarine” amongst others from this era of the band. If you heard the final version of these songs first and then went back to check out these older ones, you’re probably going to be a bit shocked. The two versions of “Ginger” are completely different. One song from the A-Side of this tape that I hadn’t heard or seen anywhere else was the last track called “Jailbirds”. I’ve uploaded it for you to listen to below if you’re curious.

Now flipping over to the B-Side of the tape, this side comes dominated with rough versions of songs from the “Color Your Life” era of the band. Rough, unfinished versions of tracks like “Lady Daydream”, “All Around and Away We Go”, “Milk & Honey”, and “Phenomenons” appear on this side, with some of them being drastically different from their final version. For example, the version of “All Around and Away We Go” (credited as “White Bread” on the cassette) is a soothing acoustic guitar song wonderfully played by guitarist Eric Cardona. Him and Andrea Estella share the vocals efforts in this version of the song, and once again, the difference between this cassette version and the final found on “Color Your Life” is huge. You can ever hear the flowing water and footsteps-in-snow sound effects that they used to paint such a wonderful picture on the track “Galaxy Plateau” from the “Color Your Life” LP. Cool. So if you haven’t figured it out yet, Twin Sister totally rules, and you should listen to these songs below. Definitely looking forward to the next release (whatever it may be) from these guys, because lately they’ve continued to give us musical gold over these past few months or so. Thanks for reading guys, and be sure to check back yet again tomorrow!

Jailbirds –

Lady Daydream (Cassette Version “Smoke”) –

Phenomenons (Cassette Version “Synth Jamm”) –

My Rating: 7/10
Genre/ Tags: Dream Pop, Experimental, Electronic
Alternates Cassette: Tracklist:
1.) Idea Bubble #20
2.) Ginger (Jab)
3.) Nectarine (Extended)
4.) I Want a House Built of Old Wood
5.) Excerpts from Other Side
6.) Jailbirds
7.) Smoke
8.) New Suit
9.) White Bread
10.) The Walk
11.) Synth Jamm