A little over a month ago a brand new band began making waves and hitting everybody’s inbox with words about their debut 7″. You might remember them as Family Trees.
There’s a dude who makes up 1/3 of Family Trees, and his name is Joseph Pruitt. Believe it or not, Mr. Pruitt has a solo-project when he’s not concentrating on Family Trees, and the name of the band is SON OF RAMS. He’s pretty much the only member of the band, taking the position on just about every instrument you can hear in the music. And if you’re expecting this to be somewhere in the same vein as Family Trees, then you’re sadly mistaken! He ditches that lazy, summery sound you hear in Family Trees and goes with his own blend of intoxicating guitar-driven weirdo-psych-rock that’s just fantastic. Each song features Pruitt shrieking and carrying on at excessive volumes, along side of some nasty lead-guitar work. No exaggeration either – just about every last song has a bad ass lead guitar hook (In Kind, This Wisdom, No Concept/No Logic, Spanish Mansions, The Veteran: James Page, Flying Tigers) or some crazy ass chicken-scratch solo (A Second Season, Ancients), and that’s about all it takes to get you to play the songs over and over again.
Since you guys have the ability to stream each song from the album (you can even download it all at once), I’m not going to go too in depth with any descriptions. Instead I’ll just say that the sooner you guys get into this stuff, the quicker you’ll be becoming addicted to all the unpredictable guitar madness that’s waiting for you around every corner of the album. If you don’t want to waste time downloading anything, just check out the few songs I’ve uploaded below. I’d recommend starting with “In Kind”. It’s a welcoming start to the album, as it almost comes off as a type of anthem when the lead guitar comes in during the second half.
In Kind –
No Concept/ No Logic –
Ancients –
Flying Tigers –
My Rating: 8/10 Genre/ Tags: Lo-Fi, Psychedelic, Rock, Experimental Untitled LP: Tracklist:
1.) In Kind
2.) This Wisdom
3.) No Concept/ No Logic
4.) A Second Season
5.) Ancients
6.) Spanish Mansions
7.) 7th Wonder
8.) The Veteran: James Page
9.) Flying Tigers
10.) Masters
11.) Claude Monet
DOWNLOAD the Untitled LP for FREE!!!
Stream/Download each song from the LP right here!
Son of Rams on Last.fm
Just two days ago I had an e-mail in my inbox from the wonderful spaz-rock trio BANNED BOOKS. They’re making the rounds on the internet and sending out their brand new EP “Man Maker” to the masses, and it’s already proving to pay off for these guys. If you can remember back to last time, the album of interest was the fantastic “Mission Creep” mini-LP, and now they’re back once again with another batch of ridiculously strained and rigid songs, which includes even less time to breathe than we had on “Mission Creep”! Seriously! These guys are relentless, and it fucking rules!
So this time around the Banned Books sound is slightly different from the last, but you would still know it’s Banned Books. One of the biggest contrasts I noticed from “Mission Creep” is that they take a step back on the quiet parts on this EP – instead of changing things up from madness to silence like they did on “Mission Creep”, this time they just ditch the quiet and give you the full-throttle surprise, all the time (well, most of the time).
The EP features five brand new, unheard songs from the band, and they’re about as tense and frantic as they come. Each track is a well organized mess of guitars, drums, and bass, and you can tell that the band puts a shit-ton of time and effort into their music, and it definitely shows. The guitars are staggeringly heavy and screeching at just about every possible chance, while lead singer Zane Kanevsky acts as our tour guide through the EP. His soft, delicate vocals can go from one extreme to the other in a matter of seconds, and they go hand-in-hand with their relentless style of music. One of the quietest moments on the EP comes during the title-track “Man Maker”, but it doesn’t stay this way for long before it all goes to shit during the final minute. Screeching, spiny guitars then take over the mix, and the poor listeners (us!) are left wondering what the hell just happened! You’ll probably need to rewind the song a bit just to make sure you didn’t miss anything.
Perhaps one of the most jaw-dropping moments comes towards the end of the EP, and it’s called “The Meat that Eats Itself” (Kind of a horrifying name, don’t you think? Just picture that in your head). Right from the get-go this song is already sprawling in all directions, and it doesn’t loosen it’s grasp for all two minutes and eighteen seconds. Kanevsky howls over the mix while it sounds like everybody else in the band just beats the piss out of their instruments – and the face-destroying madness is good enough to force you to put the track on for another spin. I’ve uploaded this track for you guys below, so please don’t miss this one. You guys really need to hear this and see what you think, because I’m sure you’ll all have different opinions. One thing I am sure about though is this: Banned Books love to surprise us, and that’s just what they did here with this EP. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to their next release…
PS – You can download their new EP entirely for FREE!!!
Man Maker –
The Meat that Eats Itself –
My Rating: 9/10 Genre/ Tags: Experimental, Noise Rock, Post Punk Man Maker EP: Tracklist:
1.) Intergalactic Singalong
2.) Man Maker
3.) Human Head
4.) The Meat that Eats Itself
5.) The Dress
Banned Books on Myspace! DOWNLOAD their entire EP completely for free – courtesy of Banned Books!
Check out “Mission Creep” by Banned Books that was previously posted on the Styrofoam Drone
Lately the band Tamaryn has been making some serious waves. Chances are that’s because their debut full-length “The Waves” is about to drop from Mexican Summer, and it looks like “The Waves” is only going to generate even more waves once it’s officially released in September. With that being said, they picked an excellent name for their LP, but we still have to wait for a decent chunk of time before we can listen. In the meantime we can take a look at one of their more recent releases – one of them being the fantastic “Mild Confusion” 7″ that was put out by True Panther Sounds right at the end of 2009. If that’s not enough for you, there’s plenty of other Tamaryn releases you can check out – here is a list of them from the wonderfully resourceful Discogs.com.
So as I’m writing this, I’m learning that their full-length “The Waves” apparently leaked somewhere onto the internet, but I haven’t seen it anywhere just yet. Unfortunately for the band, that news is probably true. But fortunately for us eager listeners, now we don’t have to wait any longer! Woo! Although I haven’t found anything yet, I still believe it. Until something actually does show up, I’m just going to keep listening to their 7″, because for now I think that’s about all I really need. Once that wears off, then it’ll be time for a switch. But in the meantime, you guys can check out the song “Mild Confusion” below. It’s an easily awesome/ deliciously haunting tune all at once, and lead singer Tamaryn sings like a moody spirit hiding amongst the shadows in this increasingly atmospheric jam. Check it, yo!
Just last night I had an e-mail in my inbox from Papermade Music about one of their bands named RARE GROOVES. Rare Grooves are a brand new band, and they’re just now putting the finishing touches on their debut 7″ to be released by Papermade. Rare Grooves formed out of the ashes of a previous band called the Window Babies, and now they’re ready to share their new music with the world. The band is made up of three members (Danny, Tabor and Chris) and they had heavyweight-bassist Mike Watt play bass guitar on record.
As for the music, Rare Grooves certainly have their own sound. They play these calypso-sounding island jams that could probably be best described as a groove, and that works perfectly considering the name of their band. Most of the time it sounds like finger picking on the twangy guitars, and the lead singers anthemic, chant-like vocals give the songs a punkish feel. Not to mention it makes the songs great to sing along to. During the B-side “No Garden” they break it all down with a gritty sounding lead guitar, but no matter what I hear I’m still having a hard time figuring out what to call this stuff. You can check out the B-side “No Garden” right here, and then you can head on over to their Myspace where you can hear the title track “Cause for Concern”. Please listen and enjoy! If you like this stuff, head on over to Papermade Music, because the 7″ only cost $5 – what a nice deal!
No Garden –
My Rating: 8/10 Genre/ Tags: Post-Punk, Experimental Cause for Concern 7″: Tracklist:
1.) Cause for Concern
2.) No Garden
Back in May, this little gem of a 7″ was released on HoZac Records. The name of the band is FUNGI GIRLS, and this one looks like it’s their debut 7″ record. Neither of the songs from this single were featured on their full-length, so these tracks from the 7″ are about as new as it gets when it comes to Fungi Girls. This 7″ is also about as dynamic as they come, because each side sounds like a different band playing completely different styles of music, but they still manage to do it all with their own unique sound.
The 7″ starts off with a song called “Turquoise Hotel”, and it’s a spastic mess of gritty sounding guitars, constantly rolling drums, and bouncy bass lines. They have a bit of the surf rock sound mixed in as well, but it’s not entirely noticeable at first; you gotta listen a couple of times. If you’re curious, check out their Myspace – it’s the first song they have up there. Now if that song wasn’t enough to catch you off guard, flipping over to the B-side will hopefully do the trick. It’s called “Doldrums”, and it’s completely different from “Turquoise Hotel”. Right away it starts off with a bluesy guitar shuffle, and then the drums join in on the fun. This track is certainly a groovy one, as it brings to mind types of music like swing and jazz. This one was definitely put on here to get you up and outta your seat and dancing along to the beat. Towards the end of the track some jazzy sounding piano (I’ve been informed that it’s a Jaguar guitar being played through a Fender amp) comes into the mix, and shortly after they wrap it all up. You can check out “Doldrums” right below.
Doldrums –
My Rating: 9/10 Genre/ Tags: Lo-Fi, Psychedelic, Experimental Rock Turquoise Hotel 7″: Tracklist:
1.) Turquoise Hotel
2.) Doldrums
Hello y’all. Today’s post comes from a record I just picked up from the record store over this past weekend, and I feel like this stuff is going to be new for you since it was for me. The name of the band is TAMMAR, and they’re from the unexpected Bloomington, Indiana. Their self-titled EP came out sometime back in 2008, which probably means this poor record was sitting in the record store for over a year! Poor thing. It’s all good though, because it has a home now, and it just so happens to be loved very much! I didn’t know what I was getting into when I bought this EP, but the main reason I picked it up that day was because it’s from the St. Ives imprint. As of lately, these St. Ives records have really hit the spot (See Radical Sons or Friendo), so I can’t help myself but pick up another one when I see it. You can mark my words that there will be another one up here sooner or later, I just have to find it first 😉
So who are these Tammar folk you ask? Well, for starters, I’m pretty sure this is their only official release, so the chances of finding this band any other way seems pretty slim. The EP is just under a half an hour long, and it’s filled with Tammar’s head spinning blend of wobbly indie pop – going from the headline on their Myspace page that reads “Wobble-Pop”. The first track “Summer Fun” fits this description best in my opinion, as the song’s sounds brings words like “confusing” and “amnesia” to mind. Amongst the pulsating bass lines and hazy sound effects, there’s plenty of things going on in these songs. The guitar comes in heavily about halfway through this track until the dizzy fade-out at the end of the song. This leaves us at the beginning of the next track “Weddle On”, which starts off with a fun intro that is sure to leave the listener guessing what direction this song is going to take. The song starts off somewhat slow and very quiet, but as time goes on the song picks up some speed, definitely gets louder, and it actually gets more and more complex over time. Come to think of it, a few of these songs take a similar form where they’ll start out slow and quiet, but as time goes on they get bigger, louder, and more intricate.
The following track goes almost hand-in-hand with what I just said, and it’s called “Dig A Hole”. This just so happens to be the longest song from the EP, as it clocks in at over seven minutes. The song starts out on a slow bass line with some eerie sound effects, and you’ll see as time passes that the song starts to form into it’s own. The steady drumming and the buzzing bass lines are always present as more and more begins to come out in the song, but they never break the song off into a different direction – they stay focused throughout and keep it moving forward without ever looking over their shoulder to see what could have been.
Skipping ahead to the final track of the EP called “Hot Juice” (just a quick thought – hot juice definitely doesn’t sound refreshing). But moving on. “Hot Juice” is definitely a highlight from this EP, and it starts out on some groovy keyboards. The drums and guitar slowly join in on the fun, and before you realize it they’re building up their song again as you listen to it. During the second minute the song turns into a fast-paced acid jam filled with lots of cowbell and more bouncy sounds. In other words, it’s just a long, intense jam out with enough sound effects and cowbell to keep you happy for days.
That’s the end of their EP, and unfortunately I don’t think these guys ever put out anything else. It doesn’t seem like Tammar ever gained the popularity they could have achieved, which is probably why there isn’t anything else to listen to, but I’ve been wrong many, many times in my life. Trust me. Listen to the songs below, and thanks for coming by again!
Summer Fun (3:57) –
Weddle On (5:13) –
Hot Juice (6:53) –
My Rating: 8/10 Genre/ Tags: Experimental, Pop, Indie Rock Tammar EP: Tracklist:
1.) Summer Fun
2.) Weddle On
3.) Dig A Hole
4.) Emily’s Army
5.) Hot Juice
Probably a little over a month ago by now, I went out to a record store and found this gem sitting on the shelf. I bought it not knowing what I was getting into, and it was dirt cheap, so I didn’t really have anything to lose. Don’t ask me why, but I didn’t listen to it for weeks. It took me even longer to get it posted up here, as I’m finally getting around to it today, about 2 months after I bought it. Possibly even more. But that’s besides the point.
The name of the band is SCRIBBLER, and they come from up north in a place called Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada. The record is a 6-song vinyl debut EP for the band, and it’s made up of tracks from all different environments and without a doubt, different varieties of music. Some songs sound as if they were recorded right in somebody’s bedroom, while other tracks were taken from live shows these guys have put on in the past. You can hear the audience and everything, which makes for a pretty interesting listen of this beyond-mysterious release from this beyond-mysterious band.
The reason I use the word ‘mysterious’ is due to the second half of this record. Some of the tracks are just short, face-splitting noise tracks that if you listened to long enough would certainly give you a headache. I have a few of the songs for you to listen to below, so please check’em out. If you like it, you should consider buying the 7″. Why you ask? 1.) It’s pretty damn cheap, and 2.) It’s limited to 300 copies, so it’s not going to be around forever. The sleeves were all hand made and silk-screened, and the labels on the actual record were hand-drawn. So you’re definitely getting your moneys worth with this one. I think it’s a good thing to say that I am looking forward to the next release from these guys, whatever it may be, and whatever it may include.
My Old Lady –
A Girl Should –
Ocean Floor –
My Rating: 7/10 Genre/ Tags: Lo-Fi, Experimental, Noise Rock My Old Lady 7″: Tracklist:
1.) My Old Lady
2.) A Girl Should
3.) Ocean Floor
4.) A Few Days of Storm
5.) Nothing but Pain
6.) zzzzzz
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
Banned Books are a band hailing from the Philadelphia/ South Jersey area. I saw their record “Mission Creep” in AKA Music one day, and didn’t really have the money to buy it, so I just kept their name in mind til I got home. I ended up buying the album online, and I’m glad I did. These guys mainly play a crazy sprawling mess of heavy blues rock driven guitar, but then there are times on the album when you’re just thinking, “What is going on here?” They completely change things up and never give you a chance to see what’s coming next. I think that’s why I like them too much, too. It’s the element of surprise that can make music so interesting sometimes, and these guys use it to their advantage. One song will be completely guitar driven (Mission Creep), and then they’ll go into a dancy, electronic jam like “Anti-Anthem”. Definitely worth hearing.
The album starts off on the opening track “The Alarm”, and I think this one serves nothing more than being an opening track. It’s a near-instrumental start to the album, and it more-or-less gives you a sense of what the rest of the album could be like, although you’re probably still not entirely sure what’s going to come later on. This is just the magical pathway that leads you to the rest of the madness that is “Mission Creep”.
Following up would be the self-titled “Mission Creep”, and this is when you’ll first see what Banned Books are all about. Heavily distorted blues rock influenced guitars take control of this one, and they don’t really let go until the song is over. They pause for a bit about 3/4 of the way through to give us a chance to catch our breath, and then they go at it again for the last 40 seconds. Because that track took on a more guitar driven sound, this next one is going to catch you off guard. It’s a crazy fast paced song dominated by lots of little sound effects like hand claps, tambourines, squeeks, and whatever else you think you hear. Singer Zane Kanevsky whispers at points in the song, giving it an almost creepy feel, all while the use of the restrained guitar and keyboard guide us through. Suddenly the next track “Wilderness Area” starts out of nowhere, and now we’re back in familiar territory…at least for now. The bluesy guitars come back for the start of this one, being much more in line with the song “Mission Creep” we heard earlier. For the last half though, they take a step back on the intensity and lazily ride out the rest of the song (It’s parts like this that make me think why this album had a “FFO: Animal Collective…etc” sticker on the front).
Skipping ahead to the fun track “Summer Death Camp”, this one again features some heavy guitar. Lead singer Zane Kanevsky sings about “roasted marshmellows and cyanide”…interesting! I want to go to summer death camp! It sounds like a blast, right? This song changes completely about halfway through though, so don’t get too excited about death camp. I’m not even sure what to say about that second half; it sounds like breaking glass and like the world as we know it is crashing down right beneath our feet. Suddenly summer death camp doesn’t sound like much fun anymore! But it’s okay, because the next song “Anti-Anthem” can make you happy again.
Every time I think this album can’t get any more different, it does. This song starts off like it’s coming completely out of left field with it’s icy, shimmering sound effects and dancy, fast paced drum beat. The last half of the song, (whether Banned Books like it or not) , turns into a hell of an anthem with singer Zane Kanevsky wailing “This is not the voice of your generation/ You’re just another overnight sensation,” over the mix. They use minimal guitar in this one as this is definitely a song of its own on this record. Fantastic stuff right here. The album ends on the oddly named “Black Knot of Plum or Cherry”, and again this one starts out completely different than any other song from the album. I’m not too sure I agree with this song in regards to everything else we just heard on the album, but still worth hearing and even worth buying (they only pressed 300 copies of “Mission Creep”)! Definitely looking forward to hearing new stuff from these guys as well, it should be interesting. Follow the link at the bottom if you wish to buy the LP, and be sure to check out the songs I have for you below, I think you’re going to like them.
Mission Creep –
Wilderness Area –
Summer Death Camp –
Anti-Anthem –
My Rating: 8/10 Genre/ Tags: Blues Rock, Experimental, Electronic Mission Creep: Tracklist:
1.) The Alarm
2.) Mission Creep
3.) Supernatural Mongoloid
4.) Wilderness Area
5.) Trophy Wife Sings the Devil’s Fanfare
6.) Summer Death Camp
7.) Anti-Anthem
8.) Black Knot of Plum or Cherry
The world islet refers to a very small island with minimal vegetation and no wildlife. The band Islet is certainly none of these things, being as far away from the word small as you could possibly imagine. Their sound is huge, and it challenges you with something new around every corner, but the only problem is there isn’t much you can say to actually describe Islet’s sound. Many of the Islet descriptions around the web all seem to go to a similar place, saying things like “Islet shuns the web” and “They don’t even have a Myspace” and that “They evade all description possible”. While all of these things may or may not be true, it doesn’t necessarily seem to be hurting Islet much at all. Islet hails from Cardiff in the UK, and chances are their music is going to catch you so off guard you won’t know what the hell hit you.
The six track “mini-album” clocks in at just under a half-hour long, and it’s bursting with energy from end to end. The opening track “We Shall Visit” starts off sounding like you’re in the middle of a jungle somewhere participating in a ritualistic ceremony, being huddled around the fire while summoning the gods above you. In other words, it sounds like the music you would hear in a tribal gathering. The use of the tom toms and the click-clack of the rim hits work wonders for that primitive sound, not to mention all the subtle little chants and yelps you can hear in the background. There are even some crazy whistling sound effects that bring the song to an end. Immediately you’re throw into the next track, the ground shaking “Iris”. I don’t know the names of the members in this band, but there is a girl in this band, and she sings in this track. The only reason I know that is because of the pictures I’ve seen. This track features some noisy guitar work, and strangely enough, they actually manage to work a sort of “solo” into the madness. I’m not sure if that’s what you’d want to call it, but the bass and guitar go at it together and bring the noise full force, all on top of the relentless crash of the cymbal. Apparently they have two drum sets going at the same time in this band, which when watching live must blow any listener away. With that being said, this band better make a trip across the pond very soon to play their “tribe-rock” for us.
The following track “One of These Worlds” is dominated by a pulsating bass line throughout, and it all transforms into this huge, otherworldly jam session at the end, as everybody in the band would probably be going ape-shit on their instruments at this point in the song. The next track “Jasmine” could arguably be one of the more accessible songs on the album. They challenge you to get up out of your seat on this one and dance along to the beat. The singers howl over the mix like a frantic wolf in heat, as they never quite sing in this one. It’s mostly just howls and yelps. Towards the end the tom-toms get a nice beating, making that primal element of their sound come through once again. The next track “Holly” is definitely an intense one, but then again, they all are. A short bit past the halfway mark and you’ll hear some quick tom-toms rolls filled in with the rim shots again. Then the lead singer starts singing “Holly’s in your head, head, Holly’s in your mind,” all why the drumming goes seemingly perfect over the vocals. This is sure to keep you head swaying along with the beat. Be sure to listen to this one below. Last but not least would be the final track “Rowan”, in which they actually take a step back on the madness. This one is a bit more laid back and easy going as they finally give you a chance to catch your breath. That’s all for today, but be sure to listen to the songs below. They’re all great in their own way, so definitely check each one out.
Iris –
One of These Worlds –
Jasmine –
Holly –
My Rating: 9/10 Genre/ Tags: Experimental, Experimental Rock, Tribe Rock Celebrate This Place: Tracklist
1.) We Shall Visit
2.) Iris
3.) One of These Worlds
4.) Jasmine
5.) Holly
6.) Rowan
Styrofoam Drone 