NEW RELEASES VIA- AURAL PLEASURES OUT NOW!!!

The Aural Pleasures Label has two fantastic new cassettes out tomorrow!
APR-05 is a new full length cs from Oakland's TURRKS.With a handful of ep's, lp's and splits under their belts under the Bipolar Bear moniker, the boys return with another fine batch of songs, a new name, and some unexpected surprises along the way."Bisbee" is the name of the new album, releases on the Deleted Art label as a vinyl LP pretty recently.They've also got a great new 7" out on the Rococo label."Bisbee +" contains both of these awesome releases as one full length cassette album.Following the same tattered path as last year's killer "Harlem Pripyat" LP, Turrks continue to weave a lush and hypnotic web of crawling bass lines, mesmerizing drum patterns, thick walls of guitar noodling, and a well-treated vocal barrage.These new songs don't stray too far from their past efforts, but there's something here that is distinctively new and unheard on those past releases.Taking cues from early 90's math rock confusion, post-punk's low-end praise, and more than enough Monorchid and Jesus Lizard worship,respectfully, they have perfected their bizarrely catchy style far beyond expectation on this record.A fresh and revived take on their own craft,If you like to rock weird, check this one out for sure.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
 APR-06  comes to us from Philly's HOT GUTS.These boys have been generating quite a bit of clout in the last year or so, with their blog-adored debut 7" on Badmaster, an equally compelling split 7" with the awesome POP.1280, on the same label, and they are in the final stages of their debut full length, as you read this.Be excited.Their latest cassette, entitled "Secret Runners" takes quite a left turn from the Guts you have grown to love, and concentrates their efforts on much darker, brooding drones and delves deeper into goth and industrial territories.Fans of Chrome, Swans, Suicide, Coil, and Throbbing Gristle are going to melt all over this piece of plastic.Two of these tracks were taken fro their recent studio sessions, and two of them were captured live between 2008-2009.They are all unreleased as of yet, and will surely surprise current fans, as well as turn out plenty of new ones. On Runners, they've traded in their dense, heavy riffing, for some equally damaged analog synth blankness, and guitar dissonance fills the air just out of reach.Even the percussive assault they are known for has been morphed into pounding drum machines and electronic clutter of early industrial music, and no-wave harshness.The vocals have dropped a few octaves, and pair up with their instrumental approach perfectly.Churning out some rather dark content in the form of dull chants, and breathy croons.Definitely a giant step into the shadows foe them, and we are hoping that they will linger there just a bit longer, before totally flipping us upside down again.This is the real deal.

HOT GUTS / POP.1280 - "Split 7 inch" (Badmaster)

 Ornery Cirtter's early vote for split record of 2010, hands down.If you are already in tune with these seminal acts, then you know what kind of badass-ery to expect here.Hot Guts, who share members with FNU/Chickens, run their half into the ground with two very heavy and very awesome tracks.Both songs seem to come from two completely different worlds, as most of their work seems to do.Heavy on the blown-out riffing and syncopated drum pounding, they combine to create rich textures and vast landscapes.The vocals are clear and untreated, goth dipped hymns and borderline chants.The lyrics are hopeful yet spiteful tales, and rest perfectly in the walls of sonic power they build around them.An early Swans influence is present on all ends of the spectrum.
 The recording is a bit more polished than their Badmaster debut 7", but their clarity doesn't take away from the heady fuzz that surrounds them.If this is any insight tho their upcoming full length, we are all in for quite a treat.

  Pop. 1280 takes over with a song called "Neon Lights", a mid-paced downer that fills their entire side of the record.A dense and sputtering synthesizer dirge kicks things into overdrive, as brash a throaty lyrical upheavals coat the band's usual driving, percussive beat down like a crude oil poured over busted pistons.Their woozy, damaged guitar noodling is similar the sound of a rat drowning in a new york sewer.There is fair amount of power behind their ugly chord structures that keep things moving.Pissed Jeans' gloom, and Black Flag's drive are definitely obvious traits, but this is the sound of a band doing things on their own terms, and giving nor a fuck about stepping outside of their style, or even stepping into one to begin with.
 They just recorded their upcoming 12" entitled "The Grid", out soon on Sacred Bones.Both of these bands are quickly taking over 2010's heavy music bracket, and sure to make end of year lists all over the place.

POP.1280 - "Bedbugs" 7 inch single (self released)

  

   New York's POP.1280 (named after the Jim Thompson novel, haha..) graciously give us two very uneasy,pulverizing downer rock jams, and boy are they good.These guys are going to be making some waves in the recent post-goth/punk/whatever underground soon,for sure.And rightly so.
 This band gave me a heavy and sleazy Pissed Jeans kind of vibe right away,which made my ears perk up big time.A really similar brooding bass crawl, slow and sturdy tom-toms thudding away in syncopation, and soon enough their hypnotic guitar treatments start to ring in,with a riff that's painfully similar to something off of Hope for Men.A compliment indeed.Not to say that POP.1280 are some PJ knockoff act,not in anyway.But the similarities are kind of obvious.The vocals are clear and painful,muttered tales about bedbugs crawling on you in your sleep,(hence the title: Bedbugs) and the corporate cluster fuck that is Times Square..Both being equally bogus epidemics,in my opinion..and these dudes apparently have the same outlook on the subject.

  The b-side ups the tempo a bit,as well as dynamics with a tune blatantly called "Times Square",in which the singer goes on a brutal rant about all of the things that make that nightmarish place so awful...or amazing.Depends how you look at it.The rhythm section is wired tight on this one,and brings an early Amp-Rep sound to mind.Heavy on the guitar treatments,and a venomous vocal barrage topple over some rather punishing drum patterns.All in all,a pretty cohesive little record,considering it's only two songs,and I am keeping my eye on this band for sure.They are currently working on their debut LP for Sacred Bones,and have a split 7" with Hot Guts on Badmaster right now.Get on it.
MJO