Now available on vinyl!
Here's our review of the cd version when we first listed it way back in 2004:
Portland's Grails sweep back into earshot with their second release, Redlight, the follow-up to their impressive debut The Burden of Hope, which drew comparisons to Dirty Three, Godspeed You Black Emperor, and Mogwai. As before, Grails play dynamic instrumental post-rock powered by violin, piano and lap steel alongside the usual guitars/bass/drums. If anything, they've upped the ante on the debut, getting even more moody and massive in sound. There's no Sun City Girls cover this time around though...instead the surprise here is the saxophone playing on "The Volunteer" by special guest Steve Mackay...yes the same Steve Mackay whom you might remember from an album called Funhouse by the Stooges!
Grails just keep on getting better and better! Over the last few years there is no doubt that a musical maturation has taken place, their ability to blend many unique influences into a coherent whole has made Grails a band that we've grown to love.
Take Refuge In Clean Living is such a great example of how Grails have found common themes and sounds within a wide array of influences ranging from Turkish folk, Japanese psych to spaghetti westerns. Grails have this wonderful ability to sound both monumental and subtle without ever relying on cliche formulas. While they were once lumped into the 'post-rock' movement, they have made it clear that they are far more creative and confident sounding then many of their former more predictable peers. With their mystical and engaging sounds these five instrumental tracks take us to a faded landscape filled with ruins and diamonds, a dusty old castle lurking in the distance. Mysterious and magical. There is something very cinematic about this record, almost like Morricone scoring a Jodorowsky film. With an Eastern influence used sparingly but oh so effectively, Grails lets the mood and mystique grow at an organic pace without having to resort to easy explosions or typical tension. The peaks and valleys they create end up being so much more rewarding that way. Highly recommended!
The Burden of Hope is the debut full-length by Portland, Oregon's Grails (featuring a member of Jackie-O Motherfucker we're told), revealing them to be a confident, powerful, melodic, entirely instrumental post rock outfit. Their dynamic (quiet-loud, soft-heavy) music is led by violin, which makes this sound a lot like the Dirty Three meets Mogwai or something, with touches of Eastern European folk musics. And when, halfway through the album, they break into a spirited cover of "Space Prophet Dogon" from the Sun City Girls' masterwork Torch Of The Mystics, it makes perfect sense -- they hew pretty close to the original, yet it sounds like one of theirs. This collection of storm-tossed instrumentals is a moody listen, from the quietude of piano and shimmering cymbals to massive rages of guitar/violin/drums. Atmospheric, emotional, sad and dangerous. And totally beautiful.
Volume five in the long running Black Tar Prophecies series, finds cinematic post rockers Grails teaming up with their self proclaimed favorite band, Finland's hypno-rock Circle offshoot Pharaoh Overlord! Grails start things off with some dark, brooding, Morricone-esque soundscaping, all atmospheric and a little bit gothic, swoonsome chordal swells beneath lush layered shimmer, a definite Godspeed vibe, but Godspeed via Barn Owl. The following track adds some twang to the proceedings (someone here thought it sounded a little like the intro to Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead Or Alive"), wreathing the deserty drift in FX drenched swirls of buzz, all driven by some woozy somnambulant riffage. There's definitely a bit of an eighties vibe going on to, with much of this sounding like soundtrack music from some strange thriller on late night cable, the sound at times slipping into surprising soft prog grooviness, but eventually settling into a shadowy sprawl of twangy post rock dreamdrift thrum.
Pharaoh Overlord, a long running side project of aQ faves Circle (and really at this point, PO are just as much aQ faves as Circle, if not moreso), fill their side with two epic jams. The first is all chuggy, and riffy, and Circle-like right out of the gate, in fact, it sounds essentially like Circle, stripped down, minimal and motorik, churning hypnotic riffery solid simple rhythms, but as the track progresses, the surrounding atmosphere thickens, adding all sorts of psychedelic filigree, adding layer upon layer of shimmery swirl, eventually blissing out into some seriously abstract kosmische drift. The second track gets even more spaced out and minimal, unfurling a gorgeous sprawl of dense drones, thick and woozy, a blurred downtuned raga of sorts, sounding like the Taj Mahal Travellers via Wolf Eyes, rumbling, shimmering low end thurm, underpinned by muted percussive pulses, barely audible through the blackened sonic swirl, everything blurred into a hazy, slow motion expanse of softly psychedelic, almost SUNNO)))-like tectonic reverberations.
LIMITED TO JUST 1500 COPIES! Each one hand numbered. We took every copy our distributor had, and they weren't sure when/if they would be getting more, so when we run out, while we're hoping we can eventually get more, this could be it, so best snag one now just in case... as they say, buy now or cry later...
Grale is one of the many projects encircling Bruce Anderson and Dale Sophiea, both of whom are best known for their work in the seminal Bay Area art-punk project MX-80, with another Sophiea (this being Nicolas) contributing alongside those two elder statesmen, as well as Gregory Hagan (from Common Eider, King Eider and the Thomas Carnacki ensemble). The recent productions from Bruce Anderson have evolved through a somber palette of doleful guitar plucks treated with plenty of effects to blur and shapeshift his rich guitar tones. With the extra hands lurking behind the curtains to conjure soft drones, textural abrasions, electro-acoustic hocus-pocus, and tape loop machinations, Anderson steers his contributions towards devolved, formless blurs and echo to complement the ectoplasmic emations of darkened sound. Yet, when the supporting cast mounts rhythmic pulses (as is done towards end of the second suite through a spry Necks like drum-kit march), Anderson's guitar mimics the twin guitar swarm of Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore on the instrumental Sonic Youth suites from Anagrama and Slaapkaamers. Released on Thomas Carnacki's Alethiometer Records.
Prog fiends! We happen to have just a few copies of this import cd reissue in stock, an instrumental French prog artifact from 1977, so we thought we'd list it for those of you who might be into the moody mixture of romantic piano with grandiose synth drones and occasional bursts of musique concret style "sampling" that is distinctively demonstrated here... While there are several other musicians involved, it'll give you some idea of what this is all about if we tell you (in French) what instruments chief performer and composer Phillipe Grancher is credited with on the sleeve: "piano acoustique et electrique, synthetiseurs, mellotron, orgue, strings ensemble, effets speciaux". This is, apparently, Grancher's only solo album, but it was produced by Philip Bescombes, whose name may be better known to you prog fiendy types, having made several interesting albums of his own, some in collaboration with synthesizer player Jean-Louis Rizet, who also appears here as well.
It's really quite lovely, but with sudden surprises throughout. Lush, pretty piano melodies often trip delicately into the blip-bleep of sci-fi electronics, or even strange giggling voices. And on side two, the album "rocks out" just a bit more, adding electric guitar, bass and drums for extra bombastic effect. As an example, the 10 minute "Flip Flop" begins quite dramatically with the sounds of an explosion, accompanied by ominous synth flourishes and martial drumming, before mellowing out into mesmeric passages for piano and gentle guitar.
3000 Miles Away is definitely a pretty cool prog obscurity, one that we'd perhaps suggest to fans of Goblin, for instance. We can certainly imagine this being used as a soundtrack to some strange and beautiful cult film.
What a nice surprise this record turned out to be. It's on legendary Finnish microlabel 267 Lattajaa, but these fellas are in fact American, and while they do traffic in a similar style as many of those forest Finns we love so much (Avarus, Anaksimandros, Kemialliset, Islaja) they seem to hew closer to the drifting murky, field recording flecked nature folk of the Jewelled Antler collective. But all that makes them sound super derivative, which they definitely are not. Three songs, all woven into one gorgeous sonic patchwork, tangled and gloriously blissed out, beginning with a soft bramble of acoustic guitars, hovering on a bed of blear eyed FX, over the top, sing-songy falsetto vocals coo and croon, sounding not unlike Glenn from Skygreen Leopards. The second track is a strange lo-fi rhythmscape, focused around a martial drum beat, pounding tribal and insistent over a swirling morass of processed vocals, bits of shimmering feedback, murky ambience, and thick swells of subtly melodic whir. The final track, which at 17 minutes makes up the bulk of the record, is a sprawling epic, that traverses all sorts of different sonic territories, managing to make them all sound wholly interconnected. A burst of hiss and damaged FX, synths and feedback, gives way to deep resonant stretches of metallic buzz, which in turn give way to some aggressive acoustic guitar strumming and muted percussion, a creepy haunting Comus-like ritual, before morphing into an ever changing soundscape of glistening melody, rumbling low end, fractured folk, and smeary soft focus abstract ambience, finishing off with an almost peppy sounding outro, all major key guitar, strange percussion, a simple barely there rhythmic pulse, and slithery strands of glimmering fuzzy melody. Wow.�
The bad news is... we only got a handful of these, and we're not entirely sure we'll be able to get more. But give it a go, fans of dreamy abstract free folk do NOT want to miss out on The Grand Hotel...
When the opening tune of Nevermint kicks off, we were immediately struck by its remarkable Pixies-ness. Clearly that venerable band's impact has been mighty on Grand Lake. It resurfaces often on this their debut album. That has its up side and its down side. You get a immediate sense of familiarity which might be a plus if you dig the Pixies. On the other hand, they run the risk of swift dismissal with folks who don't like those rock vets or soundalike bands in general. Funnily enough though, that particular song's title is "Concrete Blonde On Blonde"(!). So we were sort of expecting them to sound like... umm, Johnette Napolitano or Bob Dylan, but no. Fortunately it is actually on the numbers where Mr. Black and co.'s influence is less apparent that these Oaklanders (led by former Port O'Brien singer/bassist Caleb Nichols) really shine brightest, melting into some delightful hazy daydreamy indie pop with warm boy-girl vocal harmonies. Check out "Blue Hoodie". We're only half kidding when we say we'd prefer that they lay off the Pixiestix, heh heh, and dish out more of their own honey pop sweetness. Recommended if you like Caribou, Loney, Dear, and/or fellow Bay Area pop band The Papercuts who also have a terrific new album out now! They go together really well!
These (formerly) stoner rockin' Swedes didn't used to interest us all that much, until their last album Wolf's Return, where their previous sound took a terrific turn into epic doom METAL. Suddenly they sounded a lot more Viking! Dooming like blood brothers to countrymen Candlemass, Grand Magus gained new fans at AQ with that release, their power trio hard rock proudly wearing the leather and spikes of true metal.
This new album, if anything, is even more metallized, picking up the pace a bit (due to an eager new drummer?) on several tracks, galloping with the fervor of thee classic ass kicking acts of olde. When they slow it down a bit, we're hearing plenty o' the mighty Manowar, especially on the standout track "Silver Into Steel". Seriously good stuff. Frontman JB's manly singing remains strong and melodic as ever. His guitar riffs and leads aren't bad either!! Iron Will is proof that Wolf's Return was no fluke.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Second album of stoner metal from these modern-day Vikings. The singer's also in Spiritual Beggars.
It took us a while to finally get fully into these Swedish stoner doom turned true metal heavies, but about three records in, this Spiritual Beggars related horde ditched their tired stoner metal for something much more classic sounding, a doom flecked, NWOBHM influenced heavy metal, and while the scene was and is overflowing with retro metal revivalists, something about these guys definitely did it for us. And still does in a big way. And once again, on this newest record, their sixth, they continue to hone their classic metal sound, so much so, that listening to the first track, "Starlight Slaughter", you could be forgiven for thinking it was actually some obscure old eighties metal jam, the modern production the only thing giving it way. The opening sounds like early (good) Def Leppard, and once the vocals come in, it's pure Judas Priest, with a killer chorus, chugging classic metal riffing, shredding leads - it's hard to not love, the metalheads around here can't get enough of this stuff. Think Priest, Maiden, old Scorpions, Rainbow, Tokyo Blade, even some cheesier stuff (that we love) like TNT, Loudness and the like. Epic and majestic, heavy and catchy, fans of power metal, and modern true metal outfits like Slough Feg, Twisted Tower Dire, Hammers Of Misfortune, Gates Of Slumber and the like should definitely check these guys / this record out. One of those albums that, once we finish writing our reviews for this week's list, will be pretty much ALL we're gonna listen to!
Includes 3 bonus demo tracks. And fyi, this is available on vinyl too, but it's heck of expensive, ask us if you'd like us to order it for ya...
Wow! We were never too taken with this Swedish stoner rock band before, really. Their first two albums were decent stoner rock, definitely heavy, but kinda generic and not that inspiring or inspired. Their 2nd album merited only a 2-sentence review from us. But this, album number three, we have to rhapsodize on about... We always recognized that they had potential. And now it's been realized. Oddly enough, by means of shedding their "stoner rock" identity somewhat and being reborn as a full on, leather-and-spikes *heavy metal* band! Actually, when we first got this, we thought they'd just jumped on the retro-metal bandwagon. And maybe they have. But it turns out that they maybe belong in the driver's seat of that bandwagon. Combining the epic doom of Candlemass with even more vicious headbanging fare, this is damn good -- nice n' heavy, and with some frickin' great *songs*. Guitarist/vocalist JB (also in the Spiritual Beggars) kicks ass on here, showing more personality than before. Is that what happens when you stop smoking pot? Well we don't know what came over these guys, actually, but whatever it is, we approve. Wolf's Return? If they weren't wolves before, now they sure are.
Stoner metal fans might already know this trio from the split 7" they did with fellow Swedes Spiritual Beggars that was released a while back on Southern Lord. Now, The Music Cartel presents their self-titled full-length debut, a heavy, bluesy stoner rock album
This sophomore release from St. Louis instrumental art-core trio Grand Ulena is an ep comprising three fairly lengthy tracks. Each one builds a massive, almost static crescendo of bass, drums and guitar. Loud, difficult, trance music for those already attuned to the likes of Fushitsusha, who will find this cool indeed. Btw, Darin Gray (of Dazzling Killmen, Brise Glace, You Fantastic, etc.) is one of Grand Ulena's component parts.
Not a new full length from those dear Grandaddy boys but instead a collection of odds and ends. Sounding veeerrrrrrry much like Sparklehorse at times, and at others veeeerrrry much like Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips. Doesn't sound a whole lot like the
An axe to grind though: someone at the label should spend a little time/cash on a proofreader to go over their stickers 'cause apparently this band are "Heartchingly beautiful" and "Exhilerating". Tsk!
It's been a while since Grandaddy's last full length, the excellent Sumday from 2003. Since then we've only heard a brief peep from the fellas in the form of a split 7" with The Polyphonic Spree. Well, the wait for more of their warm, lush pop experimentations is over. Although Excerpts From the Diary Of Todd Zilla is considered an EP, it's a hefty one with a total of eight songs. It's a bit of a mixed bag o' Grandaddy tunes. Among them are some of the band's best work to date ("Cinderland" -- imagine a more folksy pop incarnation of Flaming Lips or Mercury Rev) as well as a downright jarring number (the raucous "Florida"). That said, the highs by far outweigh the lows. With the exception of that sixth song, Jason Lytle and co. have offered up a pleasing follow-up to Sumday. Vinyl only for now, we're still waiting on a cd version...
Listening to Grandaddy's latest album Just Like The Fambly Cat is so damn bittersweet 'cause it's also apparently their final one and they've done it up in grand style. It's an album that envelops all within earshot -- fans and newcomers alike! -- in a giant bearhug, respectfully and admirably wrapping up their recorded career. Apart from all that, it's simply a truly fine work of fuzzy pop magic. You get nuggets of all the different facets of this band. An expansive atmospheric trip dissolves into a hazy melancholic slow number which melts into bubblegummy boyish indie rock perkiness. A wildly raucous kick-in-the-pants bumps right up next to the sweetest, shimmeriest of dream pop. So darn good! Talk about grand finale, final curtain, last call, closing time, swan song... Grandaddy you will be missed, but the effects of this aural embrace (not to mention the rest of your recorded library) will long be cherished. Yes, very recommended.
If you miss the Pavement of old, Grandaddy might just do the trick. But don't think they're just a well chosen assortment of Pavementisms. Amazingly catchy pop songs, absurdly-not-absurd/wry lyrics, electronics, vocoders, and all kinds of crazy beautiful sounds. Mix in a little Dinosaur jr./ Crazy Horse jamming and some Sparklehorse distorto-twang heartbreak and you'll understand why this Modesto band is so great. Highly recommended.
First things first, let it be known that this is a total driving-with-the-top-down-in-the-summer kind of album. So go find yourselves a convertible!
One dozen super sunkissed pop songs reminding us of the Radar Brothers, Flaming Lips, Trackstar, John Lennon, and even the Alan "Eye In The Sky" Parsons Project. Especially the Alan Parsons Project.
Totally timeless melodies that sound readymade for FM radio, settled all snug right between the Eagles and Steve Miller, Alan Parsons and Bread. Grandaddy sound like they could be Pavement's country cousins, exploring the indie rock big city for the first time all wide eyed and full of wonder. Pavement's jaded irony and uber-cool hipness, replaced by earnest melodies and genuine catchiness, as well as a simple and heartfelt lyrical bent. Muffled guitars and mumbly almost-falsetto vocals mark out the verses until the choruses comes crashing down with hooks everywhere, big guitars and subtly bleeping/blooping synths. Vocal harmonies, unexpected melodies and a super lush, warm production just seal the deal. One of the nicest pop records this year!
Album number two finds Modesto's
Grandaddy stretching out and sprawling on the porch, sipping lemonade and lazily strumming a guitar, and absentmindedly twiddling knobs on an old synthesizer.
Grandaddy have taken an unexpected turn, almost entirely forgoing the 'rock' in favor of lazy hazy menadering pop scapes sprinkled with all sorts of electronic tweet and beep and buzz.
Taking plenty of cues from Radiohead (who Allan insists they are trying to sound like) and the Beta Band, as well as the ubiquitous Pavement (having always been cursed with the 'Pavement clone' tag), Grandaddy have crafted an exceptionally lush and catchy pop record. Fusing elements of Elephant 6's sixties psych, the Flaming Lips' surrealist pop, and Sparklehorse's whispery twang into a totally catchy and pretty original indie pop record.
Much to everyone's delight these two beloved groups have decided to share a lil' split record. Due to the brevity of the format, if you've not heard either band yet this might not be the best place to start... really, you deserve more than just a single tune each! Don't tarry a moment longer, scoop up a full length -- The Beginning Stages of The Polyphonic Spree and any one of Grandaddy's many fine albums, then proceed to this treat. Two exclusive songs - the 24-member 'Spree's is a characteristically uplifting la-la-la sunbeam of a song, and Grandaddy bring forth a suitably laidback trippy folkish pop singalong. Hurrah!
All right, we're all probably familiar with Grandmaster Flash, the guy that invented scratching and turntablism, who was instrumental in laying down one of the foundations of hip hop -- he was THE DJ. In the voluminous, entertaining liner notes (it's
Latest reissue from the Omni Recording Corporation, and as with most of the Omni releases, it's an odd one. But what's so odd about Grandpa Jones? A kindly older gentleman, dressed like and old time prospector, playing banjo, yodeling occasionally, playing classic old timey bluegrass, lush vocal harmonies, plenty of twang and strum, the music itself is not especially strange, just some classic country and bluegrass. Well, it's all in the way Jones BECAME a "grandpa" - before he was even 20 years old! And no, he didn't somehow sire a child at an impossibly young age who then sired a child at an equally impossibly young age. He apparently was grumpy during early morning recording sessions, which earned him the nickname Grandpa, and at some point he decided to BECOME Grandpa Jones, which entailed, an old hat, some silver hair dye, a big fake mustache, and some old clothes, and voila! Grandpa Jones was born, and would then go one to record and perform for decades, until presumably, he could do away with the fake mustache and dyed grey hair, and no one would be the wiser. Although apparently he DID perform at the Grand Ole Opry, as a real grandpa, dressed up as a fake grandpa!
The story behind Grandpa Jones may be pretty far out, but the persona was in part tied to his love of old timey music, and suited his sound, playing classic bluegrass ballads, gorgeous steel string strum, intricate banjo, shuffling percussion, slippery slide, timeless tales of heartbreak and misery, farms and trains, the Wild West, Jones' vocals a warm and weathered croon, that could also yodel with the best of them.
This reissue collects two of Jones' classic albums, and tacks on various singles and B sides, and like all Omni releases, includes a massive booklet with meticulously researched liner notes and loads of photos.
Paul Westerberg has churned out another basement-recorded straightforward country blues rock album under his cranky, despairing alter ego Grandpaboy (fyi: the first was called Mono and came as a secret bonus disc in Westerberg's Stereo album). Of the fourteen songs that make up Dead Man Shake, the ten originals which jump from rawkin' boot stompers to slow cryin' in your beer tales and back again fare much better than the four covers which seemed to have been kicked out on a ragged drunken whim. He tackles John Prine's "Souvenirs", Jimmy Reed's "Take Out Some Insurance", Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", and Anthony Newley's "What Kind Of Fool Am I". The latter two in particular might cause your ears some degree of discomfort. On the other hand, higher notes are hit on songs such as "Vampires And Failures". Fans of Westerberg will surely want to check this out, others might wanna sidestep this gritty, umkempt affair for the time being in favor of other more uh, stable Westerberg releases.
From SF's criminally underrecognized Granfaloon Bus comes a stunning new album, full of slide guitar, lush guitar, epic backup singing, and super earnest male vocals that spin out incandescently gorgeous lyrics like "It orbits within the glare as time stands still in there the suspense grows / Bend one till it becomes all others, drink the carousel in circles, till vendors mine
Brand new album from local favorites.
A sterling '70s US hard rock/proto-metal obscurity, Granicus from Cleveland, Ohio (one of their song titles) sounded not unlike an American Led Zeppelin on this, their sole album dating from 1973. While not quite as well known as some other '70s proto-metal heroes like Bang, Captain Beyond and Leaf Hound, these guys were definitely capable of delivering the goods. At their best, quite powerful, we'd even say, kick-ass. There are of course some mellower moments, as often found on even the most seemingly metallic albums from those acid rock daze... but Granicus makes its mark with the beefier stuff, helped out immensely by wailing vocals that are expressive and impressive, more than a match for the band's bombastic heavy guitar action. We get the idea they were sorta radical, political hippie hardrockers, a midwestern band aligned with the MC5 tradition...
This cd reissue is a Spanish import, with 3 unreleased bonus tracks from a radio session, limited to only 500 copies. Packaged in a mini-LP style gatefold sleeve.
Just a list of the folks playing on this here record should have most aQ customers all in a lather: The Skaters, Glenn Donaldson (Jewelled Antler Collective, Skygreen Leopards, Blithe Sons), Clay Ruby (Burial Hex, Zodiacs, Totem), Mansfield (Bruce Carkiss, Garage Indians), Nic Stage (Davenport), Endless (Craig Microcassette System, Drunjus), Tyler Olson (Davenport), Clay Kolbinger (Math Balance Volumes, Davenport), db Pedersen (Ng Keindhiet, Three Bags Full, Rope)...
Recorded one night in 2004, in a barn, and it sounds like it. Fuzzy and warbly and creaky, these tracks were originally released as a super limited tape, and are now available as a slightly less limited lp, with an extra track from the same session, not on the tape!
You know who was there, so you probably have a rough idea of what it sounds like. Gorgeous gauzy drift and drone, lots of fuzz and crackle, everything muted and washed out, clattery percussion, chant like vocals, lots of room sound and delay, swirling FX, underneath the soft swirl of lo-fi ambience lurks some sort of rickety skeletal dronefolk, songs that are barely recognizable, threatening to fall completely apart, all wrapped up in the warm whir of the recorder, bits of feedback, electronics, and here and there some propulsive krautrock like drumming, but all muddy and blurred into something more tribal and primal. Anyone who digs any of the folks taking part, is bound to dig this A LOT.
Beautifully packaged in old lp sleeves, turned inside out and hand screened in green and brown, quite lovely and QUITE LIMITED!!!!
The Grass Widow gals are fast becoming one of the best bands in San Francisco. Their tight, three-part vocal harmonies layered on top of angular guitar-driven melodies cannot be beat. It's like Dig Me out era Sleater-Kinney mixed with a healthy dose of the Mamas and the Papas. Internal Logic is the first full-length released on Grass Widow's own HLR label. Over the course of a few eps, 7"s and a full-length, they've really honed their sound into something all their own, however. There isn't a power trio out there right now who can do what Grass Widow does. They really use all of the various layers at their disposal to the fullest advantage possible, mixing up Raven's sometimes jagged guitar lines with Lillian's drums that sometimes play straight surf-rock beats and sometimes bounce around all over the kit. Hannah's mid-range bass tones never dip too low in frequency, sounding for the most part straight off an early Joy Division record. It's all about the interplay, one vocal harmony leading into another, slightly more discordant one. These ladies have been playing together for a while now and it's quite evident in the way each instrument compliments the other, skillfully showing technical prowess without one ever dominating the overall sound. The entire record clocks in at a little under half an hour, a short and sweet slab of vinyl that really could have been two or three songs longer, especially since two of the songs ("Milo Minute" and "Disappearing Industries") on the A side were previously released on 7"s. We're not complaining by any means, though, because this record is great from start to finish. Grass Widow is one of those bands, no matter how many records they release, you just want more! If for some reason you have been living under a rock and have never heard of Grass Widow, fans of The Shop Assistants, Erase Errata, Thee Oh Sees, The Mallard, The Soft Moon, you need this!
Oh damn! This brand new 7" from Grass Widow finds these ladies really hitting their stride. Released on their brand new imprint HLR, it features a great new jam called "Milo Minute" which further shows how they excel at crafting pop songs that incorporate post-punk, '60s girl groups and '90s riot grrl elements with such satisfying results. The B-side has two awesome covers, "Time Keeps Time" by Neo Boys, and "Mannequin" by Wire. They do those in a style that makes us think of a slightly heavier Aislers Set. Which is of course AWESOME!
One of our favorite 7"s of the year so far!
There was a time when just about anything on Kill Rock Stars was guaranteed to be totally fucking great. Oh that special era of the '90s and the early '00s, when KRS were putting out records by folks like Unwound, Sleater Kinney, Elliott Smith, Erase Errata, Biking Kill, Quixotic, The Gossip, etc. By being one the most visible outlets for rad female and queer artists it was a label that really tapped into the best and most soulful parts of punk rock's past. All the bands had their own sound and unique vision, running the gamut from intimate folk to angular post-punk and anthemic physical minded and super smart art-punk. Sadly over the last several years the label has scaled back quite a bit and not everything they release is as special as it once was. But Grass Widow really do sound right at home and tap into that golden era of the label with a sound and spirit that really represents the essence of what made so many of us so inspired by the Kill Rock Stars vision to begin with.
Grass Widow is one of those rare bands that you could tell had something super special about them from the get go. Our local college radio station KUSF got a handmade cd-r release from them before they had an official release out and it immediately became a big hit at the station. And then they released a 12" and lp on Make A Mess and Captured Tracks that we all went crazy for, and now with their debut for Kill Rock Stars they have put out their most fully realized set of songs yet. Past Time wastes no time jumping right into the punchy harmonies and vocal melodies that drive the record from start to finish. Carrying a Raincoats torch with such ease and undeniable conviction. We're also reminded of a slightly more twee version of Sleater Kinney. As well as their peers like Wet Dog, Effie Briest, and Brilliant Colors they are part of a new wave of post-punk bands with a spirit and sound that is so goddamn good right now. And while we love all the aforementioned bands, we might just be most in love with Grass Widow. For sure the best release to come out on Kill Rock Stars in a long time. So great!
That old adage about what happens when you assume, couldn't be more true than with how we had approached Grass Widow. We had seen their flyers and even some records of theirs over the last couple years, but we just kind of assumed they were another Nevada City inspired folk outfit and being a bit burnt on that scene we just didn't pay much attention. Well now we are the asses of that adage because that's not what Grass Widow is about at all! In fact Grass Widow create songs in a terrain that we can never seem to grow tired of. Coming out of the tradition of Young Marble Giants, Vaselines, Shop Assistants, Beat Happening, The Swirlies, etc. Their songs have a bare bones approach yet hit with such deep impact. They fit very nicely next to modern day kindred spirits like Brilliant Colors, Vivian Girls, The Splinters, etc. Yet there is something a bit more rustic, poetic and nuanced in their delivery. Not only is this 12" on constant rotation for us right now it also helped re-teach us that valuable lesson of never judging a band before you've actually heard them! So glad our preconceived ideas about this band were completely wrong as Grass Widow has fast becoming one of our favorite newer bands around, so good!
Not to be confused with their s/t 12" on Captured Tracks, this is also self titled, but actually a full length record from this awesome Bay Area trio, who most definitely know how to whip up some seriously awesome art punk garage rock. A bit more raw and rocking than the 12" but still very much in the tradition of bands like the Shop Assistants, Young Marble Giants, Vaselines, Kleenex, The Fall, as well as fitting really nicely alongside current comrades like Thee Oh Sees, Brilliant Colors, Vivian Girls, etc. There's such a sense of urgency and immediate energy that comes pouring out in these songs as well as a timeless quality to their approach that will no doubt give their sound a lasting power. They even incorporate trumpet really nicely into a couple of the tracks, including a slow burner called "Time Could Bend" which demonstrates the kind of dynamics Grass Widow are really capable of. There is a haunting/beautiful quality to their vocal delivery as well which reminds us a bit of one of our favorite and most underrated bands from a decade ago, Quixotic. We're definitely gonna keep our eyes and ears glued to what these ladies do because every record so far has been amazing, and they definitely seem like they'll only keep getting better and better...
Featured on the first episode of glamorously low-budget cable tv show Hollywood Nailz last year, two of our favorite SF rock bands faced off in a battle for best cover interpretation. First up, Shannon and The Clams taking Snap's "The Power" to a whole new punk level (brave choice!) while the flip side has Grass Widow bringing a groovy Bangles-ish flair to EMF's "Unbelievable". The segment featured an "all-star" panel of Nobunny, King Khan, fashionista Ringo Rock Yay and dominatrix Miss Shannon. For good reason, Grass Widow won the contest. Dressed in burkas, wearing glasses with large googly-eyes, the 'Widows brought a whole new meaning to unbelievable! Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HLkwLu2xuo. Many of the commenters on YouTube asked where they could pick this up, and we have the answer for you: right here!
We've only heard just a couple of recordings from Jonas Asher; but those we have heard - the UW Owl LP done with Jochen Hartmann and the split release under Asher's Grasslung moniker - have been outstanding pieces of analogue electronics that run the gamut from the glumly sublime to the dourly ominous. This super limited edition cassette from the local imprint Black Horizons slants more to the blackened electronic side of Asher's aesthetic. A turgid, low-end pulse marches through the first side of In Bad Fields, much like an even slower version of Wolf Eyes' cancerous rhythms. Sinewaves and speckles of electro-magentic static flicker through the lurching pulse. The second side fashions those bass rhythms into an unsettling roar whose surfaces get abraded through a similar undercurrent of static found on the first. Very dark stuff.
Given that Asher's Phaserprone label produced some of the finest letterpressed editions of artwork well suited in its iron hued colors and post-industrial iconography, Black Horizons had to come up with something special for Asher's first release outside of Phaserprone. The artwork is a nice silver-offset print job on a darkened metal-colored paper, and the whole cassette is encased in a hand-cut plastic slipcase. Watch out for the blackened nail hiding in the packaging, too. Really cool!
The tape is a C20 and is limited to 100 copies, or thereabouts!
After a whole bunch of super limited cd-r's and tapes, dronelord Grasslung, aka Jonas Asher, finally releases his first proper cd full length, on Root Strata, which is seemingly right where it belongs, as sonically, it definitely falls right in line along side Barn Owl, Pulse Emitter, William Fowler Collins, Grouper, Keith Whitman, Duane Pitre, Le Revelateur, and the like, and much like many of the Root Strata crew, Grasslung's approach to the drone is similarly abstract, something much more ethereal and ephemeral, almost new agey, hushed and minimal and slightly ominous, haunting even, long tones, layers and textures, fragmented melodies left to drift in soft expanses of hushed hum and burnished shimmer, the sound both lush and spare, some tracks dense and dark, others seemingly lit from within, glowing softly, from gorgeous contemplative piano driven minimalism, the notes allowed to ring out and gradually fade, the overtones subtle and the low end rumbling way below, to something more glimmery and reflective, soft billowy synthscapes, the melodies stretched way out, allowed to sweetly swell, and to drift dreamily through fields of blurred organ chords and washed out streaks of windswept muted thrum, to a Caretaker like victrola-ed haze, all looped warble and sepiatoned thrum, to smoldering distorted dronedreamdrift, thick swaths of softly churning out of focus buzz, blissed out dronedoom loops, layered and left to gradually melt into one another, creating gauzy swirls of softly colored sound. So totally lovely.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES.
This is a split cd-r of pure analogue synth sweeping and Kosmische dirges from Grasslung and Pulse Emitter. Portland's Daryl Groetsch has been pumping out the micro-edition releases with anybody willing to release his gnarled take on '70s electronic expansiveness; whereas Grasslung, the solo project of Jonas Asher who also hails from the incredible UW Owl and operates the Phaserprone label, has been much more particular in releasing his sounds. On first investigation into this work, it seemed to be a collaborative project with uniformly blackened surfaces of smoldering saw-tooth noise generation and undulating surfaces that spoke of dead-eyed electronics and sci-fi bleakness. As plausible as this seems, the first track of rippling electronics, half-consumed melodies, and amorphously twisting drones is that of Pulse Emitter; and the second two pieces of chilling, horror tonefloat mired in sickening gloom, hail from Grasslung with equal aplomb. Think Expo '70, Omit, Emeralds, and even Kevin Drumm's Imperial Distortion, and you won't be far from the mark on this great piece of modular synth sprawl. Packaged in very impressive letterpress / die-cut packaging, and limited to something like 200 copies.
- MPEG stream: 1.
- MPEG stream: 2.
- MPEG stream: 3.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Gothdammit, we love the Grave Babies! Their sound the perfect mix of noisy, super distorted jangle punk and garage-y gloom pop, every record better than the last. And as much as we loved their recent Gothdammit lp, this new one finds them taking that same sound, all blown out shoegaze crunch, and gloomy miserablist dream pop, and making it even better. Somehow noisier and more off kilter, but impossibly, even more catchy. The opening one two punch is tough to beat. "Over And Underground" sounds like the Wavves with a gothic makeover, and a ridiculously anthemic vibe, the vocals gloomy but belted out dramatically, hooks galore, but all wreathed in distorted murk and crumbling fuzz, Grave Babies at their poppiest for sure, the sort of thing you wouldn't be surprised hearing on Castle Face, in fact, it sorta sounds like the Fresh And Onlys, albeit, noisier and grimier and gloomier. The second track is even better, "Skulls" is a twisted, noise drenched downer pop dirge, with some seriously twisted guitar sounds, the whole thing ultra lo-fi and weirdly and psychedelically washed out, skittery drum machines, and more woozy cold wave-y vocals, and again, catchy as all get out!
And while we can't say it only gets better, it most definitely stays goddamn great, GB weaving a dark sonic spell that's equal parts eighties new wave, shimmery shoegaze pop, and angular distorto death rock, from the dreamy wistful fuzzed out balladic "Slaughter", to the Jesus And Mary Chain via Blank dogs jangle crunch of "Count Cuts", replete with some seriously dreamy harmony vox, to the warped Chrome-gone-garage-pop of "Breeding", with some super over the top emotional vox, not to mention more crumbling guitar crunch. With a different production, and some of the gloominess toned down, this would be some perfect jangly pop music, but as it is, it's a fantastic, and fantastically warped chunk of noisy shoegaze gloom pop, that we can't get enough of!
Don't know much about these guys, but just now we LOVE 'em. Fuzzy gloomy reverby doom pop, all hazy and distorted and shoegazey, with Cure like guitars, Spacemen 3 like droned out space rock tendencies, Big Black like drum machines, warm, weird, multi tracked and reverb drenched vocals, the tracks separated by strange samples, the sound distorted and in-the-red, muted and washed out, but the songs, oh the songs, so haunting and catchy and a little bit gothic, a little new wave, a sort of electro fuzz punk, lilting melodies over those crunchy rhythms, hooks galore, slipping from pounding drum heavy crush to minimal stripped down krautrocky drift, a detached weary vibe, equal parts Blessure Grave, Cold Cave, Black Bug, the sort of thing that definitely would be right at home on Captured Tracks, but for all its similarities to other sounds and groups, Grave Babies definitely sound totally like their own thing, and the more we listen, the more this becomes a new favorite.
WAY recommended for anyone into the current wave(s) of downer pop / electro punk / neu goth / cold wave...
LIMITED TO 220 COPIES!! In a plain white sleeve with paste on front and back cover images.
Gothdammit might just be the best album title EVER. The latest from Seattle goth/gloom/doom weirdos Grave Babies, find them in fine form, opening up with the succinctly titled "Fuck Off", which begins as a long sprawl of washed out almost new agey synth drift, but when the drums finally kick in, they throw another curveball, the song blossoming into some seriously hooky eighties pop, that sounds a bit like a more warped and distorted version of "I Melt With You", it's not hard to imagine this as the theme to some John Hughes VHS knockoff, in fact, the record is super raw and lo-fi and makes it sound almost like it was recorded straight off an old TV while said imaginary movie was playing. And that eighties poppiness continues throughout, with "Morning Heir" sounding like some lost Cure B-side, the vocals a dead ringer for Robert Smith, and the song's inherent Cure-iness, gets a little bit supercharged and turned into a blast of shoegaze gloompop that is crazy catchy and pretty gothdamn irresistible. The rest of the track titles may point to something much more noisy and grim: "Nightmare", "Bloodstains", "Wasting", but the rest of the record is crammed with more hook heavy eighties style gloomy new wave pop, that sounds like it came straight off some alternate universe high school mixtape. Which is most definitely a very very good thing. How we love these guys more and more with every release! Includes a download code as well!
