Format: lp

Silver Dick - Silver Dick ()

LP Edition of 300 Fantastic debut LP by a Manchester trio who stand at the vanguard of Britain’s new new thing. Playing this record, we recall the raw excitement we felt a quarter century ago when bands like Skullflower, A Band, R!!!S!!!, and the Shadow Ring were reinventing the shape of the UK sub-underground. Silver Dick is made up of guitarists Kate Armitage and Martin Greenwood, and drummer Joincey. They’ve all been involved in other projects (from Inca Eyeball to Desmadrados Soldados De Ventura), but there’s a very special jumble to the sound they’ve found with Silver Dick. Like Mosquitoes, they have a way of shaping basic rock instrumentation to create something extraordinary and strange, really only comparable (in our… Read more »

Chris Weisman - Chaos Isn’t Single ()

LP Edition of 300. Bandcamp. The eighth Feeding Tube LP by Chris Weisman vinylizes a 2015 CDR originally released by Hidden Temple Tapes. Weisman is, as always, the master of his own domain. Crafting pop tunes worthy of any sophisticated pen you can name (from Nilsson to Beck), his presentation this time is starker than usual. Lots of strummed guitar and shadows of other tastes lurking in the distance. As on his last LP, Play Sharp for Me, Chris seems to have added blue notes and hints of discord to his sweet surges. A certain jazziness from that session persists as well, giving the songs here a lilting swing that makes their hooks all the more dangerous. At times the… Read more »

The Doozer - Figurines ()

LP Edition of 300 bandcamp Royal Advertisement Winning  Red Eye Coming Brilliant sixth album by The Doozer demonstrates that while you can take the boy out of Cambridge, it ain’t easy to do the obverse. The results are twelve inches of splendidly psych-soaked pop readymades laced with tendrils of Syd Barrett, Chris Knox, Pip Proud and early Nick Nicely. Because he has been crafting just this sort of thing for over a decade now, it shouldn’t take so much name-checking to place The Doozer inside his aesthetic continuum. But even after wonderful LPs on labels like Pickled Egg, Siltbreeze, Golden Lab, Woodsist and elsewhere, too damn many people still haven’t grasped this music the way it deserves.. Why this is… Read more »

Julia Reidy - All Is Ablaze ()

LP w.Download slip / insert Edition of 300 $20 Recently we touched base with the New Zealand ex-pat guitarist Dean Roberts. He’s living in Berlin these days, teaching, playing and staying out late. When asked if there were any interesting, unheralded players we should know about he immediately mentioned Julia Reidy.  Julia is also a guitarist currently based in Berlin, but the city from which she’s apart is Sydney, NSW. While there she was embroiled in the Australian improv scene, and played with the likes of Jon Rose et al. She was focused exclusively on electric guitar back in those days. Since relocating to Europe she has split her concentrations between electric and acoustic, playing in two duos —  Tennis… Read more »

The Futurians - Distorted Living ()

LP Edition of 300 Clayton Noone (aka CJA) has been cranking oddball noise out of Dunedin since before your mom even heard of the town. The same goes for Beth Dawson (aka Ducklingmonster) and Pat Kraus (aka Kraus), who co-founded this sci-fi-punk-astro-juggernaut back in 2001. They invited Clayton to join right away. Kraus left soon after, to be replaced by Jason Aldridge (aka ISO-12) and Sean Norling (aka Rocko Mandroid), although he still hangs around and his head actually pops up on this very LP. I guess the concept of distorted living has too strong a pull on his  brain. Regardless of the fact that Clayton runs several labels, most notably the very long-lived Root Don Lonie for Cash, this… Read more »

Gross - Gross ()

LP Edition of 100. Numbered. After nine critically-hailed cassettes, the free-splooge trio Gross finally hits vinyl. Comprised of saxophonist/bassist David Gross, bassist Andy Crespo, and drummer “Ted”, Gross bellows with low-end bluster and fully-cracked clamor.  True to the cover image, which shows the three in full Muppet drag, there’s humor underlying the instrumental ferocity here. Can’t say I really find the locked grooves that pepper the B-side all that funny, but I can certainly appreciate the idea.  But it’s the music that’s the killing feature here. While there are definite jazz elements present inside the way they construct sound, this reminds me a lot more of some weirdo NYC band that Borbetomagus would have invited to play their annual festival… Read more »

Grass Path - 118 Elliot ()

LP Edition of 100. Numbered. Mono. Artwork by Joel Paxton Letter-pressed Covers Printed by Middle Press Recorded live at the Brattleboro venue noted in the album’s title, this is the debut vinyl by the Valley’s latest eruption of deviant activity. Some people may have speculated what it would be like if Donkey No No jammed with Viewer. The mix of lovers-drift and zone-tongue-articulation seems like it would be a marriage made in Olompali. Well, my friends, you need guess no longer, While Grass Path is not an exact merging of these two unstoppable forces, it is an approximation (and a damn fine one) of what might result. Since the time of this recording, the two units have flowed together in… Read more »

Gary Wilson - A Beautiful Bliss ()

LP Edition of 100. Numbered. Cover Photo by Jessy Parr OUT OF PRINT By our count, this is the 18th album by the Lord of Endicott, patron saint to everyone who ever went on a blind date. For this session, Gary took to his bedroom with just his wig, his dog and his keyboard for company. Given the situation, one might expect this album would be a toss-off, but when Gary decides he’s going to do something he does it right. And so it is here. The setting and arrangements are intimate, resulting in a record that’s something like “Pillow Talk with Mr. Wilson.” Gary doesn’t mince any words here. ALL the songs are about romance in bloom, the roads… Read more »

Donkey No No - 6.13.17 ( / )

Edition of 20. Numbered.  12″ lathe. Out Of Print Unlike some of their more deviously zoned sessions, this recording catches Donkey No No in a reflective and ruralist mood. Omeed’s guitars, Jen’s violin, and Ted’s bowed cymbal all sound like something Bob Dylan would have listened to as a way of negating a bad hangover while on the Rolling Thunder tour. Notes and drones are carefully placed, allowing lots of breathing room to exist on their margins. Probably so that Bob’s head can stop its throbbing. And one can easily imagine, Dylan, sitting on the commode, slowly chewing on an Egg McMuffin, while he awaits the arrival of his poop de jour, wondering what it would sound like if Bruce… Read more »

Lords Of Thyme - The Future Of Things Past ()

LP Edition of 400. No Download code included.  Co-Release With Shagrat Records I have learned over the years that when Nigel Cross (founder of Bucketfull of Brains fanzine and the Shagrat label) speaks, it’s worth paying attention. Thus, when he began telling us about this great UK quartet, we sat up straight. His descriptions of their action, name-checking Joe Boyd’s Witchseason Productions, Shelagh McDonald’s debut LP and much else inspired unbridled longing. The Lords cut a 7” and a couple of CDs for the elusive Sunstone label, but Nigel managed to get them to agree to putting together this odds ‘n sods collection for American consumption. The process of getting this record together ran into every mess you can imagine… Read more »