NAKED ON THE VAGUE/WET HAIR - "Split LP" (Night-People)

  Australian duo Naked On The Vague pair off with Iowa City duo Wet Hair, for a dazzling new split LP.Both of these acts have been gaining quite a bit of recognition over the last two years, with extensive touring in both AU and the US, as well as a string of solid releases from both bands.NOTV's side, shows the duo toying around with a more sprawling, shoegazey approach to the blasts of harsh no-wave that dominated last year's Heaps Of Nothing full length.The brittle guitar tones on "Cryptic Tonsil", might pay homage to someone like Kevin Shields, rather than Glenn Branca or Thurston Moore, and is easily the band's most accessible work to date.It's watery vocal harmonies flow slightly out of key, creating a nice contrast to the lush keyboard melodies and rich guitar chords.The rather haunting last track, "Send Them Sailing", is another slow ride, only this one takes a shortcut down old cemetery road, passing plenty of ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK and NO TRESPASSING signs along the way.The ghostly organ lines and skeletal guitar notes flutter down the same winding path, made up of minimal percussive clicks and rattles.NOTV's side is definitely a step into something more ethereal and colorful, but it's all just as dark and brooding as anything we've heard from them.Keep an eye out for their upcoming Twelve Dark Noons film score.

  Wet Hair are a duo from Iowa City that features Ryan Garbes on drums/percussion, and Shawn Reed handling the vocals, electronics, and other sound manipulations.Both are ex-members of the now defunct Raccoo-oo-oon.Shawn owns and operates Night-People Records, which released this split, and they both have their hands deep within the graphic design and art communities.Wet Hair has released a whole mess of tapes and ep's, as well as two highly acclaimed full lengths.These dudes are the workhorses of experimental music right now, and they always seem to be churning out something that's original and well received.Their side of this record kicks off with a rather playful and driving tune, and their most pop-oriented piece of music yet.The driving organ lines are something that you're likely find on a Nuggets compilation, with their hip-shaking melodies and cheerful vibes.Garbe's sturdy drumming stays mostly in the pocket, and plays right along side the pace of the keys, then you begin to wonder, this is the same Wet Hair?Yes, the very same band that gave us last year's incredible "Glass Fountain" LP, only their fits of tumbling Suicide worship,have blossomed into something a bit more sonically palatable.Reed's woozy vocals spill from his mouth in typical WH fashion, only more melodic and tuneful this time around.The sun-baked "The Labor of Love" is another  that showcases the duo's heart for early pop music.It's church-style organs are worthy of a classic Doors or Turtles tune, yet their piles of homemade, and bent electronics allow the songs to radiate, with a modern and inventive approach.Their days of heady psych-droning and lengthy electronic haze may be somewhat non-existent here, but this is definitely Wet Hair, and this is definitely their most accomplished of recordings.Hail to both sides of this.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

LEATHER - "Anchorite" 7inch (Caesar Cuts Records)

  I got this from John at Caesar Cuts, with a note saying "There's dudes from Fresh Meat/Black Tar in this band"..so naturally I was severely stoked to get this on the turntable and get rolling.Hot damn!The first 30 seconds of Inanna Altar, displayed the type of awesome, post-hardcore-but-not tactics that will keep acts like Ink & Dagger, Drive Like Jehu, and the more recent Pissed Jeans, in constant rotation for the rest of my life.Heavy, ugly, and jagged riffing is thrown into your face like broken glass in a street fight.The drumming is equally as unpleasant, catapulting the scratchy guitar beatings over the gurgling bass machine and sharp feedback, landing somewhere in the thick of a brash vocal assault.Early-nineties heaviness reigns supreme in Leather's world, and you will hear more than a enough of your Gravity, Initial, and AmRep favorites in this bulky EP.
  At times Agran's voice is so insanely similar to Sean McCabe's beloved nasal-dripped snarl, that you will swear this record is some lost Ink & Dagger b-side, and that is a compliment, indeed.But it's not a total rip, not at all.Agran's got this more of a controlled, high-pitched howl that cracks at times, and has a sort of squeaky displacement to it, and slips into a raspy snarl here and there.It's actually quite a refreshing attribute, considering the majority of bands doing this sort of thing continue to take the path of the typical low, dry-throaty growl, and drive it right into the ground. The four songs that make up Anchorite are short, blown-out blazers, that are pretty much mauled to pieces in just under two minutes, with the exception Prince of the Salon, the tamest lion of the pack.But, even this one is delivered with such immediacy and pull, that it flashes by just as fast and hard as the others.
  The lyrics are direct and brutally honest, each track spins a short, bittersweet tale of ugly and spiteful plots.Nothing too cryptic is going on here, and it's a good thing too.The vocals are well placed, and reasonably coherent for the most part, keeping the drive of their raw approach very melodic and tuneful.A proper introduction to this relatively new band, and I'm sure we will be hearing lots more from them.Fingers crossed.Check out their demo tape, if you can find it.

SLUG GUTS - "Down On The Meat" LP (Stained Circles)

  Every so often, I hear something so viciously compelling, that I can't help but shove it into the throats and ears of my pals, and their pals, and their pals' moms and dads pals,etc.So I would like to apologize ahead of time, for the seemingly endless, nonsensical ocean of hype I am about to poor into your sleepy eyes.Feel free to quit while you're ahead.Or not.
  A friend of mine,who's opinion i generally trust as far as new sounds go, dropped this giant pile of bricks known as Brisbane's SLUG GUTS onto my head a few months back, and not a day has gone by without at least a single track from this record being played somewhere that i am.At first glance of the cover, I see a group of skinny, semi-handsome introverts all posing in matching white dress shirts and black pants.Trivial, in today's climate.I wasn't too sure what I was getting into, but being a fan of most anything containing the word "guts", I popped it on in strict confidence that someone had given me something I'd like.What happened for the next 30+ minutes, was by far the most exhilarating and refreshing listens I'd had in quite some time.I was simply awestruck by this group from the first few notes.
  This beast of a record kicks off right with the title track "Down on the Meat", a woozy, whiskey drenched romp that was almost immediately showing signs of some serious Birthday Party worship, among other fellow Aussie creeps, like the awesome Bird Blobs.Thick, swanked-out guitar twang is soaked in so much reverb, it overflows from the speakers and quickly fills even the room you are in.Loose, eight-legged bass lines crawl up your back and steadily spin a sticky black web of low end rumble.A thin, unpredictable looking man is making you kind of uncomfortable, lurking off in the distance.He's ranting on about something questionable, in a voice that assures you he's been smoking five packs a day, for at least a hundred years now.There's a sturdy drum pounding away in hypnotic syncopation, and it's somehow tying all of these bizarre elements together, in the form of a song.
  Brash spaghetti-western soundtrack music gone south, way south.Post-punk has taken a dive into a prohibition-era back alley whiskey bust, and it's making a run for it.The vocals lie somewhere in between a trashier-yet-literate alter-Lemmy, after a long week of straight bourbon and non-filtered cigarette abuse, and a gruffer Nick Cave with a bit (more) of the strep throat.I heard a chomp or two of Old Time Relijun's wild front man in there,too.A total dry-throat, dead bullfrog-blues attack on the senses.The superbly dripping twang, supplied by their heavily treated guitar gallop will bring some pretty vivid images of tightly coiled rattlesnakes, cracked cow skulls, and swingin' saloon doors to mind, that is until they throw such a hard and unexpected sucker punch to your skull, that you will forget how you got here.Everything is cranked high, and right where it shouldn't be, ultimately making for a near perfect moonshine concoction.Slug Guts is like some kind of tragic accident gone horribly right.It's terribly inventive and strangely accessible.And the best part is, they actually kind of stole it.Fuck it.This can only get better.Watch for a new LP via Sacred Bones later on.
Check out the new songs on their Myspace page, they are pretty bonkers.

VRGNS - "Manimals" LP (Kiss of Death)

 
  Florida's Virgins, or VRGNS  hail from more than one small town,sharing ex and current members of New Mexican Disaster Squad, No Friends, Gatorface and I'm sure a slew of more recent things I am leaving out.If you are familiar with their previous lp "Miscarriages" you have a some insight as to what one might expect from a Virgins long player.Lucky for us,these boys have given us an lp's worth of fresh tunes that are tighter, catchier, and somewhat revamped and recharged in every way.The recent addition of good guy Alex Goldfarb, replacing original bass-man Phil Longo, has had an obvious influence on the band's songwriting, and a positive one indeed.
  Side A kicks off with a mid-paced,clever opener called "hide and seek".The first line of the record is "everyone is a freak,one or to days a week", and may be telling us that it's OK to be a bit of a weirdo, and to never disguise one's true self, for the sake of an image.It may also be a song about being a total fucking lunatic, and pretending to be "normal" for the sake of a good reputation is also no good.But as with most semi-cryptic lyrics, or any lyrics for that matter, you will always just pull what you want from them and spin them into your own personal tale.
  The songs on Manimals don't necessarily  follow any sort of theme, or storyline, but as this record progresses you can kind of piece together an overall vibe, or understand the personality of the album, and it's members.The lyrics are honest and generally to the point, ranging from short rippers about death and dying, to carefully crafted, insanely catchy tunes about jail and bad parenting skills.They have a knack for turning even the darkest themes into vibrant melodies, and brightly colored chorus lines.The vocals are pushed right to the foreground, with a gruff and confident snarl that is reminiscent of Crimpshrine, Dillinger Four, and label mates- Monikers raspy punk anthems.Goldfarb's contribution to the backing vocals fills out the anthemic choruses nicely, and gives the songs a lively and more fleshed out kind of vibe.
  Musically, Virgins have tightened the screws,and oiled the gears for on Manimals, and it shows.Everything is in it's place, without being too polished or dull.The band recorded once again with producer Chris Owens(Lords) at his much adorned Headbanging Kill Your Mamma studios, in Louisville,Kentucky.He also produced the band's last LP "Miscarriage", which also sounds great.The production value on Manimals is better, with more clarity, giving the songs that extra push they deserve.Aside from a great sounding record, these songs are written very well, and played with perfection and grace.Another scorcher from Virgins, and another solid release from Kiss of Death.Check it out HERE.

INDIAN JEWELRY "Totaled" LP/CD (WeAreFree/Monitor)

This Texas act just continues to reinvent themselves with every release in the last few years.Personally, Free Gold! was a bit of a drag,or maybe a little stale for me,and I love this band to death..however,even that album was totally different than it's predecessor -Fake and Cheap.They both seemed to have been released at the same exact time,so maybe they were a bit rushed?Who knows,maybe I need to listen to it again.However,on their latest opus "Totaled",they have totally outdone themselves.Oddly enough,this is how i kind of always wanted them to sound.Focused,slightly damaged,and DARK.They have somehow managed to lay low and avoid the hype machine(ahem..),just popping up on random review sites and indie blogs in the last few years.Much respect to them for that.But with a name like INDIAN JEWELRY,who needs promo shwag?Not here.

Totaled is their most focused and pop-based effort to date.Not to say they've lost their weirdo charm whatsoever,but this batch of songs are definitely more accessible than what you might expect from them,and this IS a good thing.Not generally a band to wear their influences on their sleeve,but you will surely find bits and pieces of Suicide,This Heat,and Chrome floating around this stark and hazy album.Moody post-punk bumps,meshed with no wave tactics and then tucked away beneath hazy fuzz-pop-nod outs..sure.For fans of dark places,uncomfortable positions,awkward silence,sheer terror,drugs,blank stares,cold shoulders,fuzz,and pure ecstasy.A stylish and forward thinker to no end.I hope they do this for a long,long time.

THE HORRORS - Primary Colours LP

Since when did this band get so good?They dropped the spooky,ghoulish,retro-garage shtick for some really solid,simple pop songwriting.Dark synth drones swirl around thick,spacey guitar swells,and some killer Ian Curtis-like crooning has replaced that over-the-top snarls from their past efforts.I remember hearing "She is the new Thing" a few years back,and never thinking twice about this group.This is a serious overhaul for the band,and I hope they keep doing what they are doing.File under psych/pop/goth/rock/nostalgia.TAKE A LISTEN.

DARK ENTREES - [video compilation]

Enjoy.


AUSGANG - "weight"




THE POP GROUP - "she is beyond good and evil"




BAUHAUS - "she's in parties"




PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED - "flowers of romance"




VIRGIN PRUNES - "decline and fall"




BLANK DOGS - "scenes from a new town"




SWANS - "beautiful child"




BLESSURE GRAVE - open or shut"




ZOLA JESUS - "clay bodies"




LOVE AND ROCKETS - "so alive"




COIL - "at the heart of it all"



JOY DIVISION - "atmosphere"




SOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES - "red light"




BLACK FANTASY - "evil places"



THE HORRORS - "sea within a sea"



THE BIRTHDAY PARTY - "i put a spell on you"




SISTERS OF MERCY - "vision thing"

WETDOG - "Frauhaus" (Angular)

Angular Records is doing some killer releases lately.They've given us Frauhaus ,Wetdog's newest album.If you heard their 2008 debut,then you have an idea of what you are getting into.But the band's wiry post-punk brilliance has severely matured since then.It's quite amazing.This is surely going to be gravely overlooked and unappreciated,especially in the US.So let me tell you a little bit about it.


Frauhaus is likely to be described as something like "the bastard child of The Fall and Slits" or some shit..and it's absolutely true,to some extent.These songs are abrasive,fun,and full of eclectic energies.I am finding more influences in every listen.
Musically,the band reminds me of lost tracks from the Hex Induction Hour sessions,and they kinda bring the earlier Erase Errata albums to mind.Jagged guitars,are scratchy and slightly out of tune,banging out catchy riffs that don't always make sense.The bass rumble keeps it all from falling to pieces,with thick,repetitive lines that walk all over Hammond organ stabs that disappear,just as quickly as they've come into play.The interplay between this rhythm section is really kind of boggling at times.Chemistry.No shit.

The songs on Frauhaus possess a certain charm,that I think most of their current comparisons are lacking.There are some really amazing arrangements here,even if for a second or two.The vocal harmonies are nicely done,and keep the simple two note riffs fresh and interesting.There are plenty of yelps,hoots and howls all over the place,and while urgent shouts fill most of the album,they pull off some awesomely catchy chorus lines out of nowhere quite often.They will switch at the drop of a dime,and they will do it very well.Wetdog have grown into their bodies,and it doesn't at all seem forced or unnatural.

DEATH AND VANILLA - digital single (Beko)

I ran into the BEKO site by accident.Just linking up one day,and there it was.For those of you who aren't up on this label,Beko is a digital singles label.They offer up a new 1-2 song single by awesome bands you've never heard of.I listened to every release (around 30) and just about ALL of them were good.Most of their bands fall into the lo-fi pop/electro genre,bedroom type stuff.But there are some real gems,too.I will review all of them eventually,but I'll start with my favorites first.Death and Vanilla was probably the single that stuck out for me the most.According to their Myspace,which is pretty much the ONLY info i can dig up on this outfit,they reside in Malmo,Sweden,and make really great pop songs.If you run into anything I missed,please let me know!

The first song on this tiny digi-gem is a dark and hooky pop jam called "Godspeed".It starts off nicely with an eerie vibrato organ,that is reminiscent of the first Beach House record's whimsical tone.Before you know it, a short Vibraphone lick is carrying the tune,as more keys,cavernous guitar strides,and soft synths float atop a light and punchy drum-machine pulse.The music rarely ever pushes this into the red,and for the most part is pretty gentle and breezy.The vocals fit in perfectly with their surrounding elements.The majority of voices are handled by a woman,who's sweet and breathy vocal style reminds me of Stereolab's more recent, laid back tunes.Crisp and clear with a tiny hint of accent,she murmurs "go die...goodbye", and keeps it dark and fluttering all the way to the end of the song.

The b-side is a number called "Ghosts in the Machine",and offers up a bit more musically.It's got some fantastic vocal harmonies right off the bat.Subtle oohs and aahs come and go and come back again.They are the bulk of this track,and seem to glue it all together in the end.A killer Mellotron run washes over them,but doesn't drown them out,and the synths are pushed to the foreground.Live drums flesh this song out nicely,with a laid back swagger that isn't completely overbearing.
Again,the vibrato is heavy on most of the instruments,even some of the vocals are treated a bit.Ghosts..has even more of 60's pop feel,with some cool tremolo-dipped guitar twang that is kind of surf-y.Overall an excellent debut.If you want more,they have a 4 song e.p. available for download at http://deathandvanilla.bandcamp.com/.It's got these two songs as well as 2 others that are really great.Can't wait to hear more.

LITTLE WOMEN - Teeth LP (Sockets)

Little Women are making some of the most dangerous and confrontational avant-jazz music out there right now.Teeth is a blown out,mind-melting treble attack from the start.The brass instruments are loose and layered,and yet played with intense precision."Teeth" teeters on a fine line between arrangement and anarchy,all the way to the end.Heavy on the free-jazz tip,stacked atop a pile of frantic drum blasts and angular guitar shred.It reminds me of the newer Zs(whom they share members with)recordings,but with more of a raw,brash tone.The hissy production value is mostly high end,barely ever reaching the low end of the spectrum.For Little Women,this is a good thing indeed.4 tracks of controlled chaos.Can't wait to see where they go next.Highly recommended!!

{{ZOLA JESUS}}

I am currently celebrating their entire catalog,especially The Spoils,and Tsar Bomba lp's.Both are great records.This is joyously dark music,and I am totally stoked on what this band will sound like in two years or so..assuming they stick it out that long.It's hard to say these days,with something this wildly unique and brave,you know it's bound to implode without any notice.Let's hope not.Here's a few reviews.

TSAR BOMBA LP (TMU) - Zola Jesus, known in real life as Nika Roza Danilova, is a striking woman, with pale skin and long glossy black hair, dressed conservatively, almost primly by rock standards, and with a certain chilly reserve about her. She looks every inch the classically trained vocalist that she is – and so it is a bit of a surprise when she begins wailing into the mic, howling and keening above industrial abrasions of synth and drum machine. Like Jarboe in Swans, she floats arias atop a grinding mash of inhuman noise. Like Caberet Voltaire, she and her band perform obscure sonic rituals to mesh spirit and machine. There is, perhaps, a bit more frivolity implied in these dance-ish synth rhythms than No Wave ever allowed, but not much. If pop enters in, as it does sometimes in Danilova’s sweet middle register, it is quickly swamped by tides of distortion.

Zola Jesus – both the name of the band and the stage name of its singer – emerged out of Madison, Wisconsin in 2008 with two singles, a self-titled 7” and Soeur Sewer. Earlier this year, she and her band – Dead Luke on synths, Lindsay Mikkola on bass and Max Elliott on drums – recorded a full-length, mostly live at WNYU called New Amsterdam.

It’s a short career arc, so far, but within it, Zola Jesus seems to be moving towards ever more abstract, less naturally human songs. Consider the one song that Tsar Bomba shares one song with New Amsterdam, for instance. Here “New Day” lasts just over a minute (versus 4:28 on New Amsterdam). Instrumentation has been cut to a minimum. In the first version, live drums kept strident time and synthesizers washed in melodic waves. It sounded like a song. Now a programmed drum beat splinters and shatters dimly, in the background, and keyboards merely drone. Danilova’s voice has become both more central and more distorted, its gospelly strength chilled with a blast of echoey negative space. It is like blues sung from space, cold, distant and mesmerizing.

None of these tracks are built on catchy melodies, but rather rely on texture, mood and odd juxtapositions to get their unsettling points across. “Sea Talk”, late in the album, is the most accessible, its rattle and clatter beat partly obscuring Danilova’s bravura vocal swoops. “Do you want to know-ow-ow?” she belts, in a rich, pop-leaning voice, as someone hammers at a piano and the drum machine runs rampant. She’s a diva trapped in a metal stamping factory, an artist singing from the bottom of a well, frustratingly removed, but also, perhaps, more interesting for the distance. You catch a glimpse, occasionally, of the liquid beauty of her voice, trilling through the industrial waste of “Flesh” or haunting the very end of “Rester” with ethereal grace, and it’s like spotting a ghost, hair-raising, mysterious and fleeting.

THE SPOILS LP (sacred bones) - Sacred Bones is proud to present The Spoils from Zola Jesus. Hailing from the unsuspecting locale of Madison, wi, Zola Jesus - the alter ego of Nika Roza Danilova - occupy a sphere of sparse industrial rhythms, no-fi drones, and ethereal femme vocals. Those who have seen her handful of live shows, heard her WFMU set, or caught any of the acclaimed, sought after, and now mostly out of print releases on Die Stasi or Troubleman Unlimited already know. For those uninitiated The Spoils may be the most fully realized representation of her sound.

Zola Jesus have two previous releases on Sared Bones, the "Souer Sewer" single and a limited CD of a live performance from WNYU. The CD contains the entire "Soeur Sewer" 7" as well as the three songs from the Die Stasi single.