A daily, usually vulgar, music blog focused on psychedelic, shoegazing, space rock, folk, post rock, hauntology, ambient/noise, and related genres.
You may recognize the name and graphic from a short-lived community LP radio show I did. I’ve taken that idea and turned it into a regular podcast for the blog. More details to come. Look for the new podcast page and the inaugural installment sometime at the beginning of next week.
In what’s probably the only good news coming out of Detroit lately, ‘80s garage gods, The Gories, are planning a summer reunion tour along with Memphis cohorts, Oblivians. The Gories broke up back in 1993 – the same year the Ford Taurus was America’s best selling automobile – as front man Mick Collins made the permanent transition to his side project, The Dirtbombs. With only three US dates scheduled, this ticket is hotter than a GTO’s clutch at the dragstrip (RIP Pontiac):
June 19, 2009 – Hi Tone, Memphis TN
June 20, 2009 – Hi Tone, Memphis TN
June 27, 2009 – Majestic Theater, Detroit MI
The remaining dates are scattered throughout Europe where American garage bands seem to always get a better reception than they do here in the US. Jack Oblivian played SXSW earlier this year with his latest band The Tennessee Tearjerkers but his namesake band, Oblivians, hasn’t been heard from since its final ’97 opus Play 9 Songs with New Orleans keyboard provocateur, Mr. Quintron.
For the uninitiated, The Gories repertoire is best exemplified by 1990’s I Know You Fine, But How You Doin’ which shows a bit more polish than previous efforts while maintaining a decidedly lo-fi sound. Berklee School grads they ain’t – think of Dead Moon but with rhythm.
Oblivians’ collaboration with Mr. Quintron feels like the soundtrack to a tent revival complete with baptisms and an afternoon barbeque. Popular Favorites spawned the quasi-hit “Guitar Shop Asshole” which paraphrases Chris Rock’s memorable performance in I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (‘how much for just one string?’).
If you happen to be within driving distance of Memphis or Detroit you’ve been warned that this will be the most raucous show you’re likely to see until Elvis and Lux Interior resurrect for a double bill in Vegas.
MP3:::
The Gories – Hey, Hey We’re The Gories
Oblivians – Feel All Right
Happy Cinco de Mayonnaise, dorks. Today’s awesome, ya’llz. It seems like this blog has been reviewing records left and right that have a May 5th release date. Turns out that, yes, today’s a big day. We at the Decibel Tolls support these artists and encourage you to pick these jam hives up from your preferred record store or distributor. If you don’t have the cheese, you can always CHARGE IT 2 DA GAME like Silkk the Shocker do! Stimulate the economy!
Tara Jane O’Neil – A Ways Away
Akron/Family – Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free
The Vaselines – Enter the Vaselines
Magik Markers – Balf Quarry
Acid Mothers Temple – Lord of the Underground: Vishnu and the Magic Elixir
There’s also a new Marmoset record coming out this month courtesy of Joyful Noise, but no specific date has been confirmed (or at least I haven’t been able to find one). Shout at me if you know anything about Tea Tornado – tryin’ to see about it!
MP3 :::
Akron/Family – Sun Will Shine
Tara Jane O’Neil – The Drowning Electric
Marmoset – I Love My Things
Holy shit! This is amazing. My Boston bro Justin at the sexy music blog Anti-Gravity Bunny discovered the Dark Bubbles website this morning. You use your mouse to control the time lapse between day and night for the song “Dark Bubbles.” I am well entertained for the next couple of hours. Love Black Moth. Love getting high.
Eating Us is out May 26 on Graveface and it fuckin’ slams! Also, those in the area, BMSR brings the technicolor slugfest to Lexington on May 19. And lest we forget some words from Tobacco in my interview a couple of weeks ago.
MP3 :::
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Dark Bubbles (this is a lower quality rip as to respect the artist and label, grip the album for full quality)
After the untimely break-up of beloved antler-clad freak jammers Racoo-oo-oon, members Ryan Garbes and Shawn Reed reformed as the psych/drone duo Wet Hair. They’ve released a steady torrent of rad tapes and a 12″ through Reed’s own Night People, and are now rolling out the first full-length Dream, their darkest and possibly most rewarding effort to date.
Last year’s The Beach cassette fit snugly into the surge of tropical-themed tape jams embraced by many including labelmate Sun Araw, making our winter experience a lot more bearable. However it seems like Dream is a product of the band’s split personality, a restless night crawler looking for its fix. Maintaining a trance groove, the duo plows through 4 tracks of subterranean lounge music full of industrial spurts, turbulent drones, and apocalyptic fascinations (vinyl liner notes even playfully assert the album was recorded in December 2012).
Album opener “Cult Electric Annihilation” is a particularly good example of how they’ve matured since their first release. Anchored by a kinetic upbeat swing that evokes Mice Parade’s Adam Pierce, it’s topped with glacial synths and squelched chanting, rendering one of Wet Hair’s most vibrant atmospheres ever.
These guys have plans for a massive east coast tour this summer with Zola Jesus. So if they’re coming to your neck of the woods and you know a good venue, drop them a line. Visit their myspace for list of dates and locations.
Dream is available now on cd through Release the Bats, and on vinyl through Not Not Fun.
MP3 :::
Wet Hair – Cult Electric Annihilation
One of my favorite Lexbros, Mick Jeffries, captured a little bit of Windy & Carl’s drone-out performance last night at new art space slash music venue Land of Tomorrow.
Now operating somewhere in between the frequencies of Red Krayola and the Raincoats, bare knuckle front-woman Elisa Ambrogio leads the Magik Markers deeper in their quest to mend the fault line between rock deconstruction and a recently budded pop-sensibility on their new album Balf Quarry.
With the album title being a reference to their home town, it is fitting that we find the group stripped down to a duo, reaching for a balance between 2007’s comparatively accessible Boss and the noisier catharsis of their earlier output. The result is a thick visceral batter of rock’s outstanding subversives for the past 30 years all mixed into one. “Don’t Talk in Your Sleep” conjures a detached aggression á la Scout Niblett. Spearheaded by a martial guitar lick, pounding snare rolls, and Elisa’s vengeful narration, it produces a castrating swagger that makes PJ Harvey look like a harmless subway performer. Amazingly, the Markers keep this pace for the majority of Balf Quarry, taking very few breathers throughout the 10 tracks, and when they aren’t swinging for the fence, they opt for brief explorations of the less offensive, but no less compelling angles of their song writing.
One such example is the mid-album gem “7/23″, which contrasts a catchy vocal melody reminiscent of K Records playfulness and a distorted horse-trot percussion that gradually latches on to the beat. Minimally constructed, and confidently realized, this is one of the best songs I’ve heard all year. A similar ambiance is forged on “Psychosomatic”, a twitchy, downer version of The Shaggs’ child-like aesthetic filtered through a dense neurosis.
But in lieu of all this name dropping, perhaps the most remarkable feat is that Balf Quarry is more than the sum of these influences. It’s a triptych of lustful garage howls, off-kilter pop songs, and a few crusty free form jams to mediate both ends of the spectrum. The Magik Markers have become a true adversary to anyone making safe music, and this is their fire-eyed call to arms. A surefire candidate for the 2009 Best Of lists.
Fagen-Becker Quality Rating
Balf Quarry is available May 5th on Drag City.
For fans of: Sunburned Hand of the Man, The Red Krayola, early Animal Collective, The Dead C, Faust
MP3 :::
Magik Markers – Don’t Talk in Your Sleep
Magik Markers – 7/23
Derby’s a strange scene in Louisville. There are limos driving all up and down Bardstown Road. It’s totally strange and possibly stupid. Guess it’s good for the local economy. One of my best friends is in town taking photos of Paris Hilton’s party at the toolbox known as Fourth Street Live. No photos are allowed of her, though – which is kind of an odd thought considering her entire existence is contingent on hangin’ out and dudes being stoked on that. One of my coworkers told me that there’s a pretty swank Derby gala right up the street from Bloggins Base Camp on Cherokee Road in the Highlands. Supposedly O.J. Simpson tried to get in last year and was throw out. When I asked said dude what the Juice did, he said “I dunno, killed a couple people, ya know.” I lol’ed.
Anyway, happy Derby day! Like 75% of Louisville, I’ll probably be rather toasted in a couple of hours. Come meet me and L-Train and friends at the Highland Taproom if’n you’re in town!
MP3 :::
Mahjongg – The Stubborn Horse
Besnard Lakes – Rides the Rails
The Vaselines – The Day I Was a Horse
The Electric Prunes – I Got My Mojo Workin’
The Incredible String Band – Swift as the Wind
