28th October 2009

Audio with 1 note

The King Khan & BBQ Show - Animal Party
Invisible Girl (In the Red)

Well, I relied too heavily on the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, and I missed an integral connection necessary to get to Northampton in time to catch The King Khan & BBQ Show at the Iron Horse tonight, stranding me at home.  But,  I figured, since I’ve got their new album, Invisible Girl, I might as well give it a review, since it involves several listenings, during which I can pretend to be seeing them as well.

Goddamn, this band is great.  Bare bones lo-fi garage rock; a few chords, that bare-bones 4/4 drum beat, and shoutin’ vox.  The band is just two guitars and a coupla drums - shared between two members, both of whom sing as well.  I’ve seen them both performing in a different band; the guys are great performers, and you can feel it coming through their recordings.

The new record involves more riffy garage rock stompers, and more of their … raunchy … lyrics.  ”Tastebuds,” a particularly rough track, is full of explicit sexual descriptions.  And it’s awesome.  I’ve not listened as closely as I could, but “Anala” is probably about butt-stuff.  What I’m saying is that these are a couple of stand-up guys.

Other highlights of the record are “Invisible Girl,” which has this one bit of harmony right before the chorus that kicks my ass every time, and “Truth or Dare,” on which they sing like the Damned.  The one attached here is “Animal Party,” a scuzzier take on those old novelty rock cuts (think “Stranded in the Jungle,” or maybe a less goofy “Monster Mash”), which I think is really intelligent, and an excellent send-up of the style.

The thang drops November 3rd on In the Red, and it’s well worth a purchase.  Fuckin’ gnarly.

Note: the first time I wrote “BBQ” today, I wrote “BBW.”

Tagged: stuck in thee garageur indies!hipster trash

19th October 2009

Audio

Boneless - Breathless

Boneless is like sweet acid magic. Seems to be working mainly with samples, to some pretty gnarly results. The tracks up online are all neato, but my favorites are “Bettur,” and the one I’ve placed here, “Breathless.” Those cuts make me think of Black Moth Super Rainbow, if they were a little more … “free.”

As a side note, here is an example of my great interviewing skills: “Oh, uh, also, are you a dude or a lady?”

He’s a dude.

There’s an EP/album on the way (flip a coin), and, according to Twitter, perhaps a collaboration with I Am The Dot? I’m looking forward to it.  But, as of right now, I point you toward’s Boneless’ MySpace.

Tagged: are you a boy/girl?hipster trash

16th October 2009

Audio

Gospel Gossip - Nashville
Dreamland EP - (Guilt Ridden Pop)

Northfield, Minnesota’s Gospel Gossip has a new EP out, and it’s decent.  It’s more shoegaze-pop stuff, but it doesn’t knock my socks off.  I would’ve preferred a bit more edge, a bit more experimentation… maybe just more fuzz.  But, I suppose when pop is what you’re aiming for, there’s only so far you can go in that department.

Tagged: hipster trash

16th October 2009

Audio

Grooms - Dreamsucker
Rejoicer (Death By Audio)

I didn’t even know Brooklyn’s Death By Audio (effects pedal manufacturer by day, super awesome underground indie-rock venue by night) put out records!  Fantastic find.  Here’s their fifth release, from trio also occupying Brooklyn known as Grooms.  This record, Rejoicer, arrived this week at WMUA, and I snagged it for review.  It’s exactly the kind of awesome shit I dig.  It drops October 20th, (that’s next Tuesday!) and it’s full of noisy rock jams.  If you’re a fan of stuff like Double Dagger, Parts & Labor, or Screaming Females, I think you’ll find something to dig here.

Grooms is playing Death By Audio at CMJ next week (I think on Tuesday, for a neato record-release party, it seems), and I might be able to make it down there to check it out.  I’d expect it to be a nasty show.

Tagged: hipster trash

8th October 2009

Audio

Vivian Girls - Out for the Sun 
Everything Goes Wrong (In the Red)

The new Vivian Girls record is ballin’. If you liked their debut self-titled LP, then you’ll like this.  It’s more lo-fi garage stuff, but this time, they apparently wanted to take the time to perfect it, so they took six days to record it, instead of the three they used for the last record.  I think it worked, because, in my opinion, this one blows the last one out of the water.  Any other week of the year, this would definitely be the best release, but competing with the new Mission of Burma and Yo La Tengo records makes it a tough decision.  But it’s most definitely in the Top 3 of a stellar week.

Incidentally, I was looking at videos of them, and I noticed that the bassist is the hot one in the group.  What the fuck kind of bizarro-world is this band from?

Tagged: rebel girlstuck in thee garagehipster trash

7th October 2009

Audio

Kurt Vile - Monkey
Childish Prodigy (Matador)

DJ Darmok (fellow WMUA Rock Block DJ) from Auditory Magik (Wednesday nights, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.), recommended I check out Kurt Vile’s new record.  First, I’d like to get it out of the way that his backing band is named “the Violators,” and that’s fucking great.  Also, I’d like to let you know that the song I’ve given you to sample is a Dim Stars cover; any time someone wants to cover Richard Hell (and Thurston Moore, for that matter), I say do it.

He ranges from fuzzy, finger-picking, sort of floaty songs, to fuzzy, stompin’ garage rock… so, I guess what I’m saying is there’s some fuzz on here. Which is good.  The record’s a solid effort.  High points for me are the tracks “Amplifier,” “Heart Attack,” “Dead Alive,” and the super secret bonus track on my copy of the CD, “Goodbye, Freaks,” a phasey, synthed out dancer.  And, of course, “Monkey,” the Dim Stars cover.

Thanks, Darmok!

Tagged: hipster trashstuck in thee garage

3rd October 2009

Audio

Yo La Tengo - Here to Fall
Popular Songs (Matador)

Surprise, surprise, the new Yo La Tengo record is good.  It’s called Popular Songs, and here’s track one, “Here to Fall.”  It’s pretty much quality all the way through, except for one track that sounds like a lame John Mayer song, but other than that, I’m pretty excited about this album.  It came out September 8th, and that jerk Alex from Strange Light didn’t bring the review copy back to the station until like last week.  So I suppose I’m not too on top of this release.

But anyway, they hit a good range of sounds on this record, from strings to fuzzy electric bass.  There’s a reason Yo La Tengo is so important to indie music nerds.  They’re fucking great.

Still waiting on that Bo Ra Flengo LP, though.

Tagged: hipster trash