----------------------------------
Contact ...
Send submissions to anuncontrollableurge [at] gmail [dot] com. Or just say hey. It's all good.
----------------------------------
Neeeerrrrrds!!!
Almost Funny
Clean Undies
Expressway to Yr Skull
End of Radio
Friendship Bracelet
Get Off the Coast
The Mummies!
Music is a Sin
The Mythical Good Part
Peace & Rhythm
Sex Sux (Amen)
SoundWord
Strange Light
Sweet Baby Lou
WMUA-FM91.1
WMUA Blog
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
Search this blog:
Link with 1 note
New Racebannon record... →
In just under a month, a new 12” record will drop from experimental grind-masters Racebannon, and I’m only just now finding out about it. It’s a DJ release, featuring six different mixes of one song, which you can hear at the above link.
This, uh… this sounds like Mindless Self Indulgence. I guess I’m alright with that.
… wait, am I?
Audio with 11 plays with 3 notes
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Goofball - Epitaph
SF (self-released)
Well, I should start off by saying the press sheet for this release pissed me off (surprise, surprise). It mentioned that Goofball included former members of what I initially read to be “Flipper … and the Dead Kennedys.” So, I was immediately excited, but then I thought wait, why haven’t I already heard about this?
I read more closely, and realized that the sheet said “The Grateful Dead Kennedys.” That’s very different.
Bruno DeSmartass, however, was indeed in Flipper. So, there’s still some cred.
Now, after being pissed off at being misled by that press sheet, and after looking at the shitty album cover drawn by Spain Rodriguez - Spain Rodriguez! It should be so much better! - and thinking about the lame band name … I was all set for SF to be garbage.
It’s not.
It’s actually quite solid. Nothing revolutionary going on, just straight-forward punk tracks with some punchy bass, fuzzy guitar, and energetic thrash drums.
There are some strange covers on here, too. Cream’s “Deserted Cities of the Heart” and King Crimson’s “Epitaph” aren’t exactly what I imagine when I think about what songs a punk band might cover. But you can’t go wrong with those guys, so I’m all for it.
Also, the last track “Riding With the Sons of Oblivion” sounds like “Walking With Jesus,” so obviously that’s awesome.
Note: I’m confused as to why this promo arrived when it did, (specifically, last week). The record came out four years ago. But hey, it was neat, so what do I/you care?
Audio with 12 plays with 1 note
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Axemen - The 2-Bit Star
Scary Pt. III (Siltbreeze)
Siltbreeze reissued Axemen’s Scary Pt. III record on vinyl in July, and a promo copy arrived at WMUA earlier this week. Strange timing, but I can’t complain; the thing’s awesome.
Axemen were/are an art-punk group formed in New Zealand in the early ’80s, and Scary Pt. III was a 1989 release originally only to be found on cassette. From what I’d heard of the group, I was expecting something less weird, but I found myself comparing them to just slightly less out-there Residents. This 2-LP record is all over the map, ranging from negated-pop tunes in the vein of the Residents, to straight noise tracks, to synth-dance, to synth-punk. You’ll hear guitars, drums, bass, and vocals, like you’d probably expect, but also samples, drum machines, and effected ambient noise. It’s a difficult listen, but so is some of the most interesting music out there.
I’m still processing most of this record, but while I do, check out “The 2-Bit Star,” one of the more accessible tracks from the set.
Video
The Planets - Turkey’s In The Music
I can’t tell yet whether or not when I say “this is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in my life” if I’m hilariously joking or absolutely serious.
Video with 2 notes
As you may already be aware, I saw the Pixies last week. I guess I didn’t really think about it until I got to the show, but the Pixies are huge, and it had been a while since I went to a really huge show. I’ve been seeing a lot of smaller performances, and they’ve kind of grown on me; the crowd is smaller, and it’s easier to get somewhere where you can see what’s going on. The band is in great shape right now, but I wasn’t able to see shit from where I was. So, although the sound quality was probably better, this was worse than just seeing them on TV; it was like seeing them on a TV that was 50 feet away.
So, I guess, since basically my only two realistic options for seeing the band are a massive lame performance or a lame TV performance, I’ll go with the one that doesn’t cost $50. This video is from their performance on Jimmy Fallon the night before I saw them, and they’re really tight. (I wish I could have been at that performance; I think no matter where you were in that studio, it was probably a better spot than mine at Wednesday’s show.)
I always thought David Lovering was the least talented member of the group (and I guess he still is), but he really does some nasty drumming on this song. And Black Francis is as loud and awesome a singer as he’s always been… maybe even more now than ever.
I guess I should probably start hosting a late-night talk show then, right?
P.S. Did you hear Fallon mispronounce “discography?” I don’t get why people like that guy.
Audio with 18 plays with 1 note
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]tUnE-yArDs - Sunlight
BiRd-BrAiNs (4AD)
Merrill Garbus recorded the debut tUnE-yArDs record, BiRd-BrAiNs, using just a Sony digital voice recorder and Audacity. It’s quilted of weird sound, sometimes simple folk bits, sometimes mashed together snippets of disparate noise turned into sweet jams (think a less aggressive Black Dice). Sublime Frequencies have been mentioned in comparison with the record, and I can understand why; imagine driving through the woods in the dark, flipping through the stations while on some kind of psychedelic-tranquilizer. This record is what you should hear. Children laughing and screaming, ukuleles, wind chimes, and fat, distorted crunches. Creepy, awesome stuff.
Oh, and I shouldn’t forget to mention that Garbus has a nasty set of pipes on her. ”Real Live Fresh,” the last track on the record, gives her a chance to really wail the shit out of things. Highly recommended.
P.S. Typing that alternating-case stuff makes me feel like I’m an eleven-year-old girl sending IM’s to her boyfriend circa 1997. Really emasculating.
Photo with 1 note
Chll Pll’s “Dick Moves” (via Porter Records)
Mainly, I’m posting this because the song is called “Dick Moves.”
Chll Pll’s a collaboration between Zach Hill and Zac Nelson… Zachariah Blackwell guests on a track… so… Zachs only.
Audio with 4 plays with 1 note
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]White Denim - Say What You Want
Fits (Downtown)
The new White Denim album is my first experience with the group (though it came packaged with the previous release, Exposion, which I’ve given a spin and look forward to spinning again). This record has range; people who like Zach Hill & the Holy Smokes, as well as fans of Dan Auerbach’s solo work can find things to get behind here, but I have to say the former stuff (the crazier stuff) is more interesting to me. Frenetic, to say the least.
The flack’s description of Fits describes it as “an album made for vinyl, with a clear distinction between sides A and B.” That’s accurate; side A is the gnarled, cracked-out prog-punk side, while side B is the country, jazz-rock side. They’re both good, but like I said, I like A better.
Give this one a spin, post-haste. It’s superfly.
P.S. “Oh Regina” sounds like “Oh Vegeta,” to me, because I’m retarded.
