[ aquarius records — Rock Pop ]

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Showing results 16851 through 16900 of 19388.

We had no idea wehen we first heard this that it was a sort-of Posies side project. But it is indeed. Ken Stringfellow and friend have come up with a really peculiar, but pretty nice collection of lo-fi pop, from noisey unfinished sketches with ringing falsetto vocals to spacy un-produced drum 'n bass. Cool.

Wow, this swooning, rich pop record has been seeping into our souls in such satisfying ways. The debut full length from Twin Shadow is one of the most emotionally brooding and satisfying albums we've heard in a long time. Makes perfect sense that Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear not only produced it, but also released it on his own label, Terrible. You can tell how Taylor would find a kindred spirit in the kind of music Twin Shadow makes, as it has the warmth and emotional richness that Grizzly Bear have become famous for. But Twin Shadow's music owes much more to the new romantics of the '80s, as it has us recalling folks like Talk Talk, The Smiths, Duran Duran, Japan, and later era OMD. George Lewis, Jr, who is the man behind Twin Shadow has such a memorable and seductive voice. While many of his peers have been tapping into the colder or kooky side of the '80s, he is able to get to the more fragile and heart stirring side of that decade's pop music. Some songs on the album even remind us of Richard Youngs' great pop outing, Beyond The Valley Of The Ultrahits. We have yet to play this once without someone in the store needing to know what they were hearing. It's that immediate and evocative and so damn good!

MPEG stream: Tyrant Destroyed
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Wow, total sleeper hit of the year! This came out a few months ago and we almost missed it, but damn are we happy we we got our hands on this as Twin Sister have made one of the most woozy and deliciously bittersweet pop records of the year. A sound rife with swirling melodies, lush warm instrumentation and dreamy vocals that sound like a feather just drifting along on a soft breeze. Like a much more subdued and swoony Stereolab, or if Saint Etienne covered Beach House and Taken By Trees. There is such a warm and intoxicating sensation infusing all of these songs. We also hear this really cool hint of a Seefeel influence in the way their songs swirl and float so easily. One of those record so perfect for mornings or early afternoons with the windows half open and the breeze from outside mixing with the breeze from these songs creating such a perfect state of sound. Be ready to melt, this is gorgeous!

Last year's album, Color Your Life, by Twin Sister was one of the total sleeper hits of the year for us. Such dreamy, soft breeze, pop perfection. They've followed it up with their first proper full length and have really fleshed out their sound, adding an even more lush instrumentation and a fantastically warm production to their swirling, swaying and colorful approach to songs, the sounds flowing with such ease and bursting with Kodachrome like colors. Like Laetitia Sadier from Stereolab on a road trip with Taken By Trees, or Pram, Heavenly, and Saint Etienne lounging around in the park together. We also hear a nice Glasgow influence in their sound, as certain songs really do find a perfect space between The Pastels and Belle & Sebastian.

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Kind of confusing, this is a new (but not really new) release from Long Island's warm pop peddlers Twin Sister. The A side tracks were originally released as a gift to their fans in digital form back in 2008. So now they've given those tracks a proper release, as well as a whole other side of music which contains alternate versions of those tracks. Dreamy pop that ranges from Elliott Smith influenced introspection to a more shoegazed sensibility. If you haven't checked out Twin Sister yet, we urge you to explore their awesome record from last year Color Your Life, and if you're already a fan, you're gonna want to grab this.

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SORRY.

You know a record is gonna rule when even the amp buzz that precedes the record proper, sounds bad ass, but that's exactly how this heaving slab of noise rock begins, with a thick squelch of muddy glitchy buzz, which is soon joined by some caveman pounding, blurred and distorted, the sort of hypno thud sludge we could listen to FOREVER. But then more drums stumble into action, and we're in some sort of Cop Shoot Cop junkyard noise punk / Crash Worship tribal freakout territory, until the song kicks in proper, with super distorted howled vox, tangled detuned guitar crunch, squealing feedback, the whole song a lurching tangled of woozy off kilter riffage, crumbling distortion, constantly shifting recording quality, glitch and hiss and dropouts galore, a grinding monstrous slab of Neanderthal sludges that totally RULES. As we mentioned in our review of TS's self titled debut, these guys seem to have a keen pop sense, one they seem dead set on obscuring behind walls of ugly, head caving, amp shredding noise. But thankfully that pop sense seems to leech into everything they do, the result sounding more like Jesus Lizard or Halo Of Flies, but does with some seriously bad acid, and let loose in a room full of busted amps, broken guitars and falling to pieces drum kits. Recorded on handheld tape recorded, broadcast by holding it up to a megaphone, holding the megaphone up to a cell phone, and then plugging the phone on the other end into a fucking MASSIVE amp, hooked up to a bunch of distortion pedals, all with batteries in various stages of running out of juice. A lurching noise rock, that not only seems on the verge of collapse, but seems to gradually melt and crumble and collapse before your very ears, as if every song is a desperate attempt to keep it going, before collapsing in a heap, only to explode into the next song and try again. And while this all does sound punishing and pummeling and brutal and chaotic and harsh, which it most definitely is, it's also weirdly catchy, and sorta groovy, repetitive and hypnotic, maybe like a pop flecked, slightly shoegazey, blurred and blackened, noise rock Butthole Surfers. Or something like that. Needless to say, this is some fucking crushing catchy, ruling shit, but only for those of you who have worked up a tolerance for stuff this bad ass and brutal, past exposure to Brainbombs, Whitehouse, Burmese, Rusted Shut, Billy Bao, Shit And Shine, Clockcleaner, Ancestors, White Mice, Liquorball, Strangulated Beatoffs, Violent Students perhaps not required, but definitely suggested...

MPEG stream: Landlord
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Brainbombs. Rusted Shut. Billy Bao. Shit And Shine. If that sounds like your record collection, you best grab one of these pronto and add Twin Stumps to the list. Heavy, and noisy, filthy, ugly, brutal, pounding, misanthropic, blown out, grinding, crushing, druggy and damaged, yet weirdly and impossibly catchy. This NY crew conjure up some of the heaviest, most distorted noise rock we've heard in ages, sounding like a million guitars and a million drum kits melted down, poured into a woodchipper and sprayed all over you, while someone howls through a bullhorn, these songs are bursting with guitar freakouts, from churning impossibly low end chug, to tangled feedback, the drums pound, but are so buried in the muck and mire, they sound more like some muted subsonic throb, the vocals are unhinged and maniacal, also pretty much buried, the whole record lurches and lumbers and stumbles, like a way heavier, more metal Butthole Surfers, but these songs can't seem to disguise the little bits of pop that lurk inside, sometimes the guitars lock into a weirdly harmonized melody, or the band slip in a killer hook, but even at its catchiest, it's still insanely heavy and harsh, hypnotic and hateful, gloriously misanthropic and noisy. Quickly becoming one of our favorite new noise rock records for sure. Anyone into any of the above mentioned bands MUST own this, and if you buy it and dig it (heck even if you don't), go here: http://mikeyanirofund.wordpress.com/ And help support Twin Stumps guitarist Mike Yaniro, who was savagely beaten, and remains hospitalized with years of surgery and therapy ahead of him, and no health insurance.

Every year, we like to have a band play on Sunday after Record Store Day, as part of the festivities. We'd have 'em play ON Record Store Day, but it's just too crazy busy for that. Plus it's nice to keep the RSD party vibe going all weekend. This year, it was the turn of Twin Trilogy, the new power trio headed by fave local guitarist Sean Smith, whom we originally got to know via his guitar soli work, like on the Tompkins Square compilation Berkeley Guitar, where he appeared alongside Matt Baldwin and Adam Snider. But he likes to rock out, too, and Twin Trilogy is his vehicle for indulging in heavy, spacey, proggy jams! And in addition to doin' the instore, TT also provided us with a RSD exclusive - the first in a series of limited edition, one-sided 12" vinyl releases from the band, this installment featuring two lengthy instrumentals. The multipart suite "Descent To The Pounding Surf/Strings Of The Sea/Flood Of Moonlight On The White Sea" is an epic exercise in lumberingly doomy, mathy surf rock psychedelia, full of 'seasick' woozy parts, dramatic crescendos and majestic metallic riffs, while 2nd track "Surreal Tilt" is an even heavier, fist pumping number, gloriously massive and rollicking. We got to hear these tracks and more at the instore, they were great, though in deference to our upstairs neighbors they toned down the volume a bit (go see 'em on Sunday April 27th around the corner at the Make Out Room if you want to hear them at their facemelting usual). For fans of Mammatus, Stinking Lizaveta, Earthless, Lesbian, Nels Cline, Hedvig Mollestad� We sold a bunch of these on Record Store Day, and a few more at the instore (which we understand if you missed, it was Easter after all, and also we later realized they played at approximately 4:20 on 4/20, so all the stoners that would have been into 'em were otherwise engaged). But being the exclusive vendor so far, we still have copies left for out of towners and others not around last weekend. Limited to 330 copies, in reclaimed, hand painted/printed jackets, with download code!

MPEG stream: Descent To The Pounding Surf�
MPEG stream: Surreal Tilt

Who doesn't become a giddy, drool-y kid again when they hear the chiming melodies of an approaching ice cream truck? You should've seen Cup last summer when she was out in Michigan. The jingle jangle came drifting in through an open window, and she was out the door in a flash! Well, Twink's Mike Langlie is ensuring that you have those delightful sounds sans the calories all year round. Oooh, does that make him cruel or cool? Cue sound of mad scientist laughter. Heh heh. On its candy coated surface, Langlie's music is downright cavity inducing child's view twinkliness, but much like Willie Wonka And The Chocolate Factory if you look a little closer you'll discover a darker, black humor encrusted side... and we love it! For this particular project, Langlie recorded a bunch of toy piano tunes and gave 'em out to his music makin' friends -- Ergo Phizmiz, Mochipet, Don Limpio, Mister Softee, Rainbow Maze, MNK, Moon Holiday, Jason Dragon among others -- to do with them how ever they pleased (i.e, remix, rearrange and/or rework 'em). Despite the varied participants, the nineteen tracks flow together well, and are all named after delectable frozen treats and flavors such as "Scooter Pie", "Rocky Road", "Slush Bunny", "Softee" and "Nutty Buddy". The one exception both title-wise and sound-wise is "Ice Cream Headache", the comparatively aggro number that closes the album. Seemingly armed with popsicle sticks and plastic spoons, its buzzing blasts of electric guitars tackle the toy pianos leaving a trail of hot fudge, cone crumbs and sprinkles behind. Recommended.

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SORRY. Pink Fairies' drummer John "Twink" Alder, responsible for the classic "Think Pink" solo psych album, recorded lots of other stuff back in the day that has just been issued on this disc for the first time. Lots of nodding synth explorations like Conrad Schnitzler, drug-addled rock haze, and, best of all, a poetic reading of J.R.R. Tolkien. All instruments (except bass) played by Mr. Twink himself.

Droning chant, druidic prophecy, spaced-out psych jams, acid-folk ramble, and even proto-new-wave punk rockin'... you'll find all that and more on this little silver disc, which, as the title suggests, collects rare, unreleased 1969-70 demo recordings of stuff These "demos" sound great, and are essential to anyone into '60s/'70s psych. True, if you have "Think Pink" or "Never Never Land" (lucky you!) you might not *need* these versions, but I bet you'll *want* them... Tracks like "Fluid", "Do It", "Suicide", "Thor", "Ten Thousand Words In A Cardboard Box", "Dawn of Magick", and the rest give aural visions of the likes of Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, T. Rex, and even the MC5 (the American Pink Fairies, you might say). Plus, if you're a D&D player like Allan you won't be able to resist this for lyrics like "It's the place where the hobbits go / it's the place where the elves all sing / it's the place where the dwarves all play / the only place where you want to stay / Gandalf's Garden..." (from the song "Gandalf's Garden".)

RealAudio clip: Fluid (Slow Version)
RealAudio clip: Do It
RealAudio clip: Sound of Silk

Good things come in threes, and this new release by Twink (aka AQ's dear Bostonian pal Mike Langlie and co.) is the proof in the puddin'! Three lil' three inch cds in a wee cardboard box! One features seven tunes played on a pling plong. In case you're wonderin' "What the heck is that?" Well, according to the liner notes it is "a small mechanical instrument resembling the innards of a music box. Pieces are composed for it by punching holes in long cards, and feeding the cards through the instrument by turning a handle. The card's holes trigger metallic tines to produce notes." Another disc is titled "Small Sound All Around" and contains eight delirious, circus-y songs played on an array of uncommon sound makers such as toy sitar, toy pianos and bamboo xylophone, as well as some slightly more common ones such as contrabass clarinet, melodica, ukulele, chimes and mandolin, and finally the totally common guitars, bass, trumpet and keyboards. The third 3" is a particular fave of a few of us around here right now. It's called "Welcome To The Jingle" and yes, its highlight is the cello'n'chimes cover of "Enter Sandman"! Oh and to top it all off there's also a wee picture book starring the same bunny from Twink's last release which was a delightfully twisted children-style picture book with cd. We have a limited number of the triple 3" box set version, but if / when we run out there is also a single 5" cd version as well. Please note: this is not the '60s UK psych band of the same name!

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Along with the revamped Conet Project, here's another no-brainer for a Record Of The Week� We've listed it before, years and years ago, when there was a cd version on Akarma, but this is a much nicer, expanded, official reissue and it's good to give it a proper review for the first time (back then, we merely quoted The Seth Man from Julian Cope's Head Heritage website, waxing rhapsodic about this record, now we'll do it ourselves). Oh boy. Do you like psychedelia? DO YOU HAVE THIS ALBUM? If not, you're in for a treat, a mindblowing treat. Think Pink was the brilliant solo effort from former Pretty Things drummer John "Twink" Alder, and it's an all-time aQ fave, an all-time underground psychedelic masterpiece, right up there with the essentials from the likes of Amon Duul II, Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Sam Gopal, Kaleidoscope, and Tyrannosaurus Rex, and it's just been properly reissued on cd by the UK's Sunbeam label, with a whole bunch of bonus freakery added on. Not that this album NEEDS any bonus freakery, it's about as freaky as you can get to begin with, packed with droning chant, druidic prophecy, spaced-out psych jams, weird twisted pop, and acid-folk ramble. But, too much is never enough, right? So heck, we're happy to have the eight bonus tracks too. More on those later. First, let's discuss the original album itself. As we said, Twink played drums for The Pretty Things, but before that had his own sixties R&B outfit the Fairies. After that band, he was in Tomorrow ("My White Bicycle") with future Yes guitarist Steve Howe, around 1967. Twink then briefly formed a duo called The Aquarian Age, before joining up with The Pretty Things and appearing on their concept-album classic S.F. Sorrow in '68, another aQ fave. At that point, for some crazy reason (things were different/better back then) Twink was offered a deal by Sire to do a solo album, and Think Pink was the glorious, if at the time somewhat unheralded, result, recorded in 1969 with Mick Farren of The Deviants producing. Released in 1970 in the US & Europe, but not 'til '71 in the UK, it's been called the first Pink Fairies album, and in a way it is, as soon after making it, Twink did team up with several ex-members of The Deviants, most of whom played on this, to form that infamous proto-punk outfit. And several tracks here feature contributions from what's credited as "The Pink Fairies Motorcycle Club & All Star Rock & Roll Band". Also participating are several of Twink's Pretty Things bandmates, his girlfriend Silver Darling, and Steve Peregrin Took, Marc Bolan's partner in Tyrannosaurus Rex and early T-Rex, who plays, among other things, "pixie horn". And one of the most crucial contributors to Think Pink, besides Twink himself, has to be guitarist Paul "Blackie" Rudolph, who really lets loose, earning a hallowed place in the annals of distortodelic guitar wrangling for his work on this album alone (though in the course of his career before and after, he also played with The Deviants, Pink Fairies, Hawkwind, Robert Calvert, and Brian Eno). Eastern-tinged opener "The Coming Of The Other One" sets the scene, pulling us deep into its trippy Aquarian Age fantasy zone, with a solemn voice reciting Nostradamic verses ("In the year 1999 and seven months, from the skies shall come an alarming powerful king...") accompanied by tablas and sitar. Then comes Think Pink's biggest "hit" as far as we're concerned, an utterly perfect slice of stonery psych called "10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box", just listen to it! That's followed by "Dawn Of Magic" with its raga-like vocal ahhhaaaaahh sounds as if Pandit Pran Nath were on the mic, which suddenly segues into the space-out sike-pop of "Tiptoe On The Highest Hill", a lovely pastoral song that eventually builds into a howling guitar blow-out of the highest order. Then the trippy "Fluid" chimes into being, with its sexy heavy breathing and slinky, springy grooves, making us think of the acid-fried hippy orgasms of krautrockers Brainticket's classic Cottonwood Hill (released later on, in '71, we should also note). Side two (track six here) opens with the martial fuzz-freakout of "Mexican Grass War", all chanting freaks and wild FX like early Amon Duul and Edgar Broughton Band. The freaky vibes continue, quite weird and wonderful, with the glammed up jam of "Rock An'Roll The Joint", the mellow morbid acoustic strum of "Suicide" and the maniacal "Three Little Piggies", before the album ends with the intense edgy psych pop of "The Sparrow Is A Sign", a song with a malevolent, sinister side to it that reminds us a little bit of Comus - and strangely too of the Sun City Girls, perhaps due to the vocals, provided by Steve Took. Then, there's all those bonus tracks, the first two of which are actually from the lone 7" single released in '68 by The Aquarian Age, the immediate precursor to the Think Pink project. There's the A side, being the original version of "10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box", and the B side, an amusing number called "Good Wizard Meets Naughty Wizard", which displays just the sort of twee, hippie British humor the title suggests. It's great to hear both of those, and the bonus tracks proliferate further with unreleased, alternate versions of more Think Pink material, somewhat heavier or rawer or definitely different, including two takes of "Fluid" and another version of "10,000 Words...", which we can't get enough of anyway. All in all, a nicely done reissue, as this deserves, with pages and pages of newly-written, informative liner notes, plus lyrics, credits, vintage photos & graphics. Plus, unlike that previous Akarma version, this is a fully-legit release, done with the participation of Twink himself ("issued under exclusive license from Mohammed Abdullah John Alder, February 2013" it says here, and there's even a picture of him today too - apparently he's become a Muslim, and looks quite happy). By the way... Nobody here at aQ can think about Think Pink, though, and not also think about our "customer" whom we call The Twink Think Pink Guy. We don't believe he's ever actually bought anything, but he's this older guy that comes in once in a while (and has for years) and always, always, ONLY asks about Think Pink, whether we have it in stock or not, and then talks at great length to anyone who will listen about how great it is. It's his favorite record apparently, but don't let that dissuade you, if you get this you probably won't end up like him. Probably. Message for The Twink Think Pink Guy, if you're reading this: we expect to see you soon!

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SORRY. The long planned and long promised definitive document of Sacramento's legendary psych/pop/garage/DIY combo, the Twinkeyz, is finally available. For fans of the Soft Boys! (Here's what Karl Ikola, who released this cd, says:) "The Twinkeyz released three singles and a (Dutch only) LP in their lifespan. Their name is legendary among collectors and fans of the early punk movement's first sputterings of highly unique and well crafted non-conformist musical expressions: Pere Ubu, Chrome, Debris, the Mirrors and others who were old enough to remember the best aspects of sixties punk and psychedelia but were also bored with the current state of music and decided to self-release potent, crude yet deeply felt music that both participated in and helped to ignite the emerging world-wide DIY music subculture of the late '70s." (Byron Coley opines:) "The Twinkeyz are one of those exceptional bands whose appearance during the early phase of the punk revolution was a reminder that all that had gone on before was not shit.... Their music was trumpeted by fans with deep underground cred: John Thompson, Greg Prevost, Greg Shaw and the like. Their work was good enough for me. I snapped up the Twinkeyz debut single as soon as I spotted it.... Later, when the Alpha Jerk LP came out, I reviewed it for the NY Rocker, but the production's shortcomings made it something of a disappointment. Hearing the correctly mixed versions of the songs on Aliens In Our Midst is pretty revelatory in that respect. Had it been done right the first time (and had the legendary, long-sought Watch Out For Her Kiss actually been released) the Twinkeyz name would be a whole lot more familiar w/non record scum types than it is right now. One can only hope that this CD cracks the fucking nut for these guys. The Twinkeyz are wildly deserving of a legendary status that has not yet enveloped them. MAYBE THIS IS THEIR YEAR! OK!" (Scott Miller of the Loud Family:) "The Twinkeyz were the only instance of a band surviving in the local public eye with an innovative sound. (For Sacramentans of the late '70s), the Twinkeyz were even harder to take than the Sex Pistols. Strange, insular, dedicated people who took a palpable risk just by putting such wonderful and unfamiliar sounds on a stage in this atmosphere. People yelled, threw stuff. Sacramento instinctively knew that the Twinkeyz threatened the very Styx/Journey way of life."

The latest criminally limited release from this Natural Snow Buildings offshoot, the work of one half of the NSB duo, Mehdi Amaziane, he of the impossibly high and surprisingly feminine voice, which is in full effect here, soaring and lovely, sounding like some lost seventies folk songstress, while the music underneath definitely touches on classic folk and Appalachia, but quickly moves beyond, culminating in the 25 minute folkdrone epic that takes up all of side two, but more on that in a second. The first half is a collection of shorter songs, beginning with a smoldering prismatic buzz, a layered raga like drone, slow building and subtly epic, which gives way to something much more stripped down, tinkling folk melodies and Amaziane's sweetly crooned vocals. The sound so dreamy and sun dappled and washed out. The record switches gears and suddenly our ears are treated to thick swaths of soft noise drift, swirling voices, a little bit noisy, but it gradually grows more and more orchestral and melodic, before settling down into some tranquil new age shimmer, eventually slipping into delicate Appalachian dreamfolk, crystalline guitar figures, and that voice again, so dreamy and divine. Then the flipside, and the aforementioned epic 25 minute sidelong dreamdrone, a constantly shifting dronescape rife with swirls of warm whirring buzz, shimmery streaks of fuzzed out melody, soft focus chordal smears, layers and overtones, woozy and softly psychedelic, flecked with fragments of steel string guitar, disembodied voices, a gloriously dense and ultra lovely ur-drone that sounds like a folkier, prettier, more delicate Birchville Cat Motel, droney and dreamy and divine. Pressed on incredibly heavy vinyl, in a tip on style sleeve so thick, it's almost impossible to get the vinyl out, LIMITED TO 979 COPIES this time around, we got a whole bunch, but 979 is still apparently not nearly enough as once our copies go, this record will most likely be sold out at the label...

We love how in the last several years the walls between the punk rockers and DJ culture have come crashing down. So many of us grew up on punk rock but have grown to love the sounds of DJ'd dance floor delights. JD Twitch exemplifies this evolution so perfectly. He is someone with a deep love of punk rock, and whose roots are definitely in punk, but who has gone on to create some of the most smart and satisfying dance floor jams with his project Optimo. With 10 Inches Of Fear, he revisits the raw punk sounds that were so influential in his musical development. This 10" features re-edits of Flux Of Pink Indians, Honey Bane, Zounds, and The Mob. Smartly he does very little to the tracks and lets their raw and urgent sounds rise to the surface. As a spectacular bonus the 10 inch comes with a cd comp packed with some of his favorite punk tracks of all time, in their original form. It truly is like being given the ultimate punk mix by a friend in 1986 or tuning in to the best college punk rock radio show ever. Classic songs by the Butthole Surfers, Sun City Girls (back when they were more of a bratty punk band), Big Black, Husker Du, Savage Republic, Crass, The Screamers, The Pop Group, etc. This has been making many of us so nostalgic for our early punk filled years that no matter how many different kinds of music in which we now revel, punk will always be such a strong part of our musical spirit. For those about to punk out we salute you! We were only able to get a small handful of these so act fast, once they are gone that may be all she wrote.

MPEG stream: BUTTHOLE SURFERS - Mexican Caravan
MPEG stream: MINUTEMEN - This Ain't No Picnic
MPEG stream: BIG BLACK - Jordan Minnesota

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. The eighth in the series of tour support singles from MP3 conglomerate Insound is from Two Dollar Guitar. Tim Foljahn's country fried indie-isms are paired with Gram Parson's orchestrations for a beautiful ep. Highlight of this record: a gospel choir reciting Tim's crude request, "Please, don't shit on me" on the final track.

MPEG stream: Cascade
MPEG stream: The Wild Night

"Pulse, motion, friction, drone; the quasi-erotic/sexual rhythms of locomotive travel. Trains are consummately musical machines, particularly in our age, where the boundary between 'noise' and 'music' is, at best, totally fluid. Like J.M.W. Turner's Rain, Steam, and Speed, wherein the painter attempts to grasp the vivid drama of technological encroachment on natural phenomena, Two Dollar Guitar's Train Songs likewise amplifies the fragile, intimate relations between the hyperational mnemonics of studio tape recordings and the raw flux of real-time aural physics." - from the ultra academic liner notes provided by Lionel M. Wise, PhD. UNC at Chapel Hill. We just thought it was neat that there would be an alt.country version of Hoenniger's Pacific 231.

After the brilliant yet thematically different "Train Songs" album and the experimental country of his La Lengua Asesina side project, Tim Foljahn's Two Dollar Guitar returns to the indie-country sounds of his first couple of albums. While comparisons to Cat Power or Will Oldham's Bonnie Prince Billy moniker are still valid, Two Dollar Guitar seems to shedding some of the alcohol-laden depression and writing some corkin' country stomps. Features Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley on drums (as always) as well as guests on a song or two including Nels Cline and Carla Bozulich (Geraldine Fibbers) and Tim Prodhomme (Fuck). And, in the unusual/unexpected covers department, we get the Styx song "Killroy Was Here"!

A couple years ago this fine album by Two Gallants' was released on cd, and was quite warmly received around these parts. Well, we're pleased to report that it's finally made its way onto vinyl! Here's what we said about the cd version back in 2004: Lately we've been getting quite a number of customers comin' in asking for these fellas. Two Gallants weave a solid nine rootsy rock songs with beleaguered male vocals right up front and center. Actually the vocals have an emotive gruffness sorta like a cross between Vic Chesnutt and Cat Stevens (or like what Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst might sound like in twenty years). Tempo and mood-wise The Two Gallants sure keep you on yer toes, easily go from smoky slowly winding somber odes straight into feisty harmonica and whisky-fueled rollickers and back again. Guitars get a hearty workout from the gentle plucking and feverish strumming. Nice.

MPEG stream: Crow Jane
MPEG stream: Fail Hard To Regain

Now on double LP too, and with a few extra goodies -- two bonus songs and a code for a downloadable mp3! Here's what we said about the cd version: San Francisco's Two Gallants second album has found a well-suited, comfy home on Nebraskan cool kids' label Saddle Creek! Funnily enough when we reviewed the band's last album The Throes, we compared their vocals to a more aged Conor Oberst (of of the label's breadwinnin' band Bright Eyes). Those similarities are still quite prominent, and fans of B.E. might also find themselves warmin' up all toasty to the sounds of What The Toll Tells. Mind you it's not all slow, hushed and brittle, weep in your pint, this is ragged, rugged country rock. Then again, actually Oberst has also been known to roughen and rile his music up on occasion hasn't he? Simply, we reckon they're all in good company. Perhaps this will open the door for some dandy collaborations?

MPEG stream: Las Cruces Jail
MPEG stream: Long Summer Day

San Francisco's Two Gallants second album has found a well-suited, comfy home on Nebraskan cool kids' label Saddle Creek! Funnily enough when we reviewed the band's last album The Throes, we compared their vocals to a more aged Conor Oberst (of of the label's breadwinnin' band Bright Eyes). Those similarities are still quite prominent, and fans of B.E. might also find themselves warmin' up all toasty to the sounds of What The Toll Tells. Mind you it's not all slow, hushed and brittle, weep in your pint, this is ragged, rugged country rock. Then again, actually Oberst has also been known to roughen and rile his music up on occasion hasn't he? Simply, we reckon they're all in good company. Perhaps this will open the door for some dandy collaborations?

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This SF band craft sturdy country rock with dusty roads 'n' harmonica friendly withered male vocals, and they've packed their third full length with it! Clearly Two Gallants' music is deeply influenced by the blues, the sort whose roots run deeeep in the southern swamps. Here's nine well scuffed, weathered and leathered songs that fit well alongside the strainin' with emotion Americana stylings of labelmates Bright Eyes and Eric Bachmann as well as My Morning Jacket or Waco Brothers. Real good!

MPEG stream: The Hand That Held Me Down
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This new split 7" features a pair of well matched young bands from around these parts -- the Bay Area's Dame Satan and Two Sheds from Sacramento. They're druggy, dusky hued country folks who slink about in the shadows. Their all too brief two songs harken a woodsy winter chill. Can't wait for more! The record is pressed on the palest seafoam green vinyl and is packaged in a beautiful screen printed sleeve.

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY.

William Tyler has spent the last decade plus as a touring guitar player for both Nashville indie country combo Lambchop, and indie rockers the Silver Jews, but here on Impossible Truth he strikes out on his own, and comes up with something that harkens back to a different age, several different ages in fact, the obvious reference is the guitar soli / early Appalachia of folks like John Fahey, Leo Kottke and Robbie Basho, but imagine that sound filtered through something more Laurel Canyon-y, for a sort of seventies psychedelia, the sound evoking wide open expanses, big sky country, the soundtrack to a meandering drive in a big old car, top down, on single lane roads winding through rolling green hills, no destination, endless possibilities. Opener "Country Of Illusion" adds a bit of raga to the mix, giving the sound an exotic droney vibe, with a little bit of an Eastern tinge, but soon, a subtly rhythmic pulse, some slippery slide, a little bit of twang, and it's a whole different world, we're hearing Morricone, Pell Mell, James Blackshaw, all woven into a heady bit of sun dappled psychedelic folk, that is pretty divine. Steve Reich and Terry Riley may also be influences. The mood darkens a bit on the "Geography Of Nowhere", the tones wreathed in reverb and delay, the sound looped and layered, minor key and melancholy, but then like the first track, the sound opens up, the mood shifts, as of the clouds parted revealing nothing but blue skies. The record tends toward dense melodic tangles and mesmerizingly repetitive arrangements, with the tone and timbre constantly changing between songs, some lush and warm, rich and lustrous, others more crystalline and high end, more shimmer and glimmer, all culminating in the closer, which might be the weirdest track of all, it starts out a sort of loping Western style Americana, looped melodic figures drifting over swoonsome slide and lush chordal swells, but then in creep what sound like horns, and maybe fiddles? The melodies get more playful, the slide more slippery, the sounds soar and swoop, the horns moaning and bleating, before finally exploding into a full on heavy psych drum heavy noise drenched freakout, the drums driving and motorik, beneath a cloud of roiling psych guitar tangle, that eventually fades out, into a shimmery sprawl of pulsing, echo drenched abstract guitar drift. And everyone who buys a copy of Impossible Truth, cd OR vinyl, will be entered into a raffle to win a VERY RARE test pressing of the record!!

MPEG stream: Country Of Illusion
MPEG stream: The Geography Of Nowhere
MPEG stream: Cadillac Desert
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As a member of Silver Jews and Lambchop, William Tyler undeniably has some of the best chops on the folkier side of the indie music scene. Even knowing this, nothing could have prepared us for how he demonstrates those talents on his latest solo album and mesmerizing instrumental folk journey, Modern Country. A cascade of beautiful finger-picking waterfalls and ambling acoustic twang, Tyler's sound carries shades of his contemporaries Steve Gunn and Kurt Vile. He demonstrates a masterful use of space in his instrumentation with swooping cosmic synths, faded pedal steel dripping with expansive reverb, and organ (particularly stunning on "Sunken Garden") that seems to echo in out of the ether. This album takes its time but never loses us along the way; after a distorted, feedback-charged stretch of lackadaisical psychedelia, "The Great Unwind" clears to the incredibly sweet sound of birdsong before charging ahead into a final wave of rich '70s-esque production featuring the most stellar pedal steel riffs we've heard in a long while. Sit back and relax with this one and let yourself wonder where the years have gone.

MPEG stream: Highway Anxiety
MPEG stream: I'm Gonna Live Forever (If It Kills Me)
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MPEG stream: The Geography Of Nowhere
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A Star Of Beards (NOT to be confused with the album A Beard Of Stars) is a new compilation of unreleased tracks, live recordings and demos from mystical psych folk legends Tyrannosaurus Rex. Like most completist collections, the sound quality is not the greatest, but Tyrannosaurus Rex (before Marc Bolan discovered the electric guitar) was always a lo-fi beast, so fidelity may not matter to super fans. Not necessarily essential, but folks curious to hear the origins of freak folk, get in line right here!

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MPEG stream: Wind Quartets
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...But Now They're Content to Wear Stars (the full title). For fans of Devendra Banhart! The 1968 debut from the otherworldly hippie folk-psych duo of Marc Bolan and Steve "Peregrine" Took. Long before Bolan turned Tyrannosaurus Rex into T. Rex and went all glam and teeny-bopper on us, he made this wonderful warbly Middle Earth music.

Before Marc Bolan headed for glam rock gold with T. Rex he made (in my opinion) his best records as Tyrannosaurus Rex. With an amazing backwards folk flare, Bolan sang of sages, dragons and wizards. The stripped down recording style and experimental elements have made the Tyrannosaurus Rex recordings still ahead of their time. This is an album that takes you far away from reality while still having a total connection to nature. With the recent onslaught of the "free folk" movement their is no doubt that so many roads lead back to Tyrannosaurus Rex. Especially for Devendra Banhart, who when you hear this record you can't help but say oh my god Devendra sounds sooo much like Marc Bolan in this era - from voice to guitar styling and lyrical imagery. This expanded version includes an extra disc of alternate takes, the 45 version of "one inch rock", etc. Prophets, Seers & Sages... stands with Unicorn as not only my favorite Marc Bolan recordings but as one of my favorite albums of all time!

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY.

Of all the current crop of weirdo garage poppers and minimal cold wavers, the one band who we WISH would shower us with a million releases is the one band that DOESN'T. So when there's a new Tyvek record, you can bet we're all over it. After the recent reissue of their killer debut 7" Mary Ellen Claims, which we played to death, and the Siltbreeze record that's been on nonstop rotation since we first got it in, comes this new record, a gorgeously packaged, short collection of songs, not all instrumental as the title implies, but like the other Tyvek jams, stripped down and catchy, a little stumbly and raw, urgent and hooky, a little new wave-y, a little punky, and way retro poppy, these songs rule, a couple of them almost sound unfinished, sans vocals, but it hardly matters, they're still killer slices of punky retro pop goodness. Most of the songs sound like they could have been yanked right off the Siltbreeze record, and then there's the sprawling final track, a long sprawling, hypnotic slab of warped and warbly minimal new wave pop, with strange murky bits of percussion, spidery guitars, everything muddy and washed out and druggy, almost wish they would have stuck this on on the other side and let it fill the whole thing up. but they couldn't cuz the flipside is silkscreened, a cool blue image on a clear slab of wax, next to a thick silkscreened sleeve, super nice, and probably super limited as well...

The latest from these Detroit lo-fi noisepop garage rockers finds the band continuing to shed much of their overt weirdness, and settling into a sound that's much more classic eighties punk rock, or pop punk, the sort of sound that makes Tyvek sound more like some lost band we discovered on one of those Hyped2Death comps, which is not a bad thing at all. Urgent and jangly, punky and frantic, the vox sung/spoken and WAY up in the mix, definitely reminding us of Mark E. Smith of the Fall, in fact some of this actually sounds like old Fall, snarly and snotty, swaggery and sinewy, three chord bash and trash infused with cool subtle melodic leads, loads of hooks, but wed to something much more raw and fuzzy than we would have expected from these guys in the past. Even the production sounds genuinely old school, brittle and tinny, and in-the-red, very four track, old punk 7"s vibe for sure, but thankfully these guys have not lost their knack for weirdo pop, and that stuff definitely still finds its way into their sound.

Originally released in 2006, the debut 7" from these lo-fi noise pop garage punk rockers is available again. And anyone into the current crop of noisemakers like Ty Segall, Waaves, Oh Sees, Crocodiles, and all that stuff, should not sleep on Tyvek, their full length we reviewed a while back is a killer, and these two songs destroy as well. In fact, the A side, "Mary Ellen Claims" might be their best jam ever, all short sharp jagged guitar jangle, yelped vocals, total eighties punk rock vibe, we hear a more lo-fi scrappy Jam actually, cool catchy new wave melodies all over the place, frenetic drumming, and as catchy as all get out. This track will become so lodged in your head guaranteed. The flipside is more of a trifle, but still pretty cool, the vocals spouting absurdist lyrics about different makes and models of cars among other things, delivered in a very Mark E. Smith like drawl, but underpinned by fuzzy bass, and slashes of angular guitar. Rad stuff. And apparently originals of this go for crazy cash on eBay, so now's your chance...

Brand new blast of lo-fi noisy punk rock garage pop from this Detroit outfit, who seem to have shed much of the twisted weirdness that infused most of their past releases in favor of a blown out in-the-red urgency, short sharp songs, most clocking in at less than 90 seconds, rife with crunchy distorto guitars, pounding drums, distorted vocals, the record opener is about as poppy as it gets, with some sing-along gang vocals, and a killer main hook, that sort or reminds us of Home Blitz, snarky and loose, a little chaotic, but catchy as heck. Most of the record hews to this formula, a couple riffs, simple and stripped down, the sound raw and primitive, but listen close and these seemingly simple tossed off jams reveal a whole lot of hookery beneath the surface, it took a few listens, but most of these songs are now lodged pretty seriously in our skulls. The nearly 5 minute "Outer Limits" might be one of our favorite jams here, with a distinctive stop start riff, some rad guitar harmonics, and urgent yelped vox, and a super melodic bridge/chorus, not to mention an awesome 2 minute long droned out creepy sci-fi ambient outro. "Underwater To" is another good one, the punky crunch woven around some jangly guitars and a distinctly seventies power pop feel, with some awesomely hooky guitar melodies over the top. Not as immediately freaky and fucked up as past Tyvek's but we're beginning to think that's not such a bad thing after all, and with every listen we're digging this more and more!

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The third full length record from Detroit garage punks Tyvek, finds the group once again, mixing things up, after beginning life as a warped lo-fi fractured garage pop combo, the last few records found these guys getting more and more punk, shedding much of their quirkiness and poppiness in favor of something more angry and urgent, culminating in the recent Nothing Fits, which found the band in full on punk mode, short blasts of crunchy guitar, pounding drums and yowled vocals, but here, on their latest, On Triple Beams, it's almost as if those preceding records never happened at all. Chronologically, this definitely sounds like it should have come right after their Siltbreeze debut, the songs are longer, noiser and poppier, lots of tangled guitars, wild chaotic drumming, all wound into tense sprawls of droned out, crunchy post punk garage pop pound, opener "Scaling" channels the Fall, the vocals sung/spoken over a relentless jagged jangle, and peppered with blurts of distorted buzz, the chorus loose and chaotic, all the while, catchy as hell. And that Fall comparison definitely proves apt as the record unwinds, most of the track just two or three parts, frantic riffing, wound around stripped down propulsive drum pound, locked tight, while the vocals testifyin' over the top. The sound is much more in line with their In The Red brethren, but at the same time, they're definitely sounding very British post punk, angular and angsty, sharp and swaggery, somehow fusing the warped garage pop of their debut, with the agit punkiness of their last few records into this heady, sweaty, bruised and bloody blast of kick ass garage punk crush.

MPEG stream: Scaling
MPEG stream: Early Spring
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There's just something about these guys. On the surface, they sound like they're just another one of the many lo-fi garage rock / warped pop bands that have been popping up over the last few years, but there's definitely something special about Tyvek, even as far back as 2004, which is when these tracks were recorded, they managed to transcend: simple, stripped down, jangly and rocking, totally catchy and utterly irresistible pop music, or garage, or punk. Whatever. Skyin features a handful of songs that would be re-recorded later, as well as a bunch of songs found only here. We've raved about Tyvek before, but we're happy to do it again, totally ramshackle, lo-fi garage pop-punk genius, even more ramshackle here, recorded on a 4-track, in the band's house, loads of tape hiss, and drop outs and warble, the band even fuck up, A LOT, but they just keep going, starting again right where they left off, it makes the songs lively and fun, and immediate, and those fuckups then become part of the song, you can't imagine them not doing the intro three times in a row, or stopping right in the middle and talking for a second before deciding to keep going. Plus before very song, and during the slow, less rocking numbers, you can totally hear the music from whatever crappy old tapes they used leaking through, adding a whole 'nother confusional sonic element to their otherwise simple songs. And ultimately it is about the songs. Simple, stripped down, crunchy and catchy, these songs sound fresh and vibrant, but also classic and timeless, like they could be some lost psychedelic power pop gem from the eighties recently unearthed and reissued, or some weird punk record, undiscovered until now, propulsive rhythms, yelped vocals, buzzy angular guitars, lots of jangle, hooks everywhere, totally rocking and oozing energy, that combined with the strange fucked up recording all adds up to some super rad, way recommended lo-fi noise pop. If you love Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall and all that stuff, these guys will knock your socks off. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. In recycled lp sleeves, with full color paste on cover art.

Here's a surprise from the Siltbreeze camp. Not that Siltbreeze hasn't dabbled in pop in the past, but it's been a while since they've released something this catchy. Lo-fi, but not like the current crop of shit gazers, punk rock, but not like PUNK, and pop, but not sugary sweet, Tyvek are twisted, slightly damaged, off kilter, fractured punk pop. Or something like that. The label name drops Mekons, Urinals, Feelies, Velvet Underground, and yeah, those bands are obviously influences, we also hear some Strapping Fieldhands (also once on Siltbreeze) as well as various New Zealand combos. For all it's fucked up weirdness, and willful stumble, these are some incredibly catchy songs, simple spare drumming, guitars that clang and chime and crunch, and vocals that strain to hit the high notes, sounding earnest and emotional, and fuck, hooks galore, some of these songs will stick in your head like CRAZY. And even though it's not quite the same sort of thing, all of you into Blank Dogs, Psychedelic Horseshit, Times New Viking, The Intelligence, Gary War and all that garage-y shit-fi might just dig this too...

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MPEG stream: Summer Things
MPEG stream: Hey Una
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The U-Men were one of our (our being Allan and Andee) favorite bands from the legendary and long out of print Deep Six compilation that chronicled the early days of grunge and the Seattle scene (w/ Melvins, Green River, Malfunkshun, Skin Yard, Soundgarden). But the U-Men wern't really grunge, they were more like a spazzier more hyperactive and sort of new wave Mudhoney. A weird sort of garagey punk that has more in common with the Oblivians or the Monomen than the SubPop sound, but weirder and crazier. Early '80s Seattle "jazzed-out, surfed-up, dada-swamp" art-punk you might have missed at the time, but now, through the magic of cd technology, able to fuck you up either again or for the first time. This disc collects everything they ever recorded; album, singles and compilation tracks, including their song from "Deep Six". Recommended.

There's probably a perfectly good reason for this band being named "U.S. Christmas". We hope there is anyway. Regardless, that this disc (apparently the third so far, from this North Carolina based outfit) was released on Neurosis' label Neurot is of course a good sign, and indeed, Eat The Low Dogs is proving to be one of our favorite Neurot releases of the last little while, fitting in nicely with the likes of Guapo and Grey Daturas in the recent Neurot roster. Yep, this is good stuff! What sort of good stuff you ask? Heavy, dark, synth-swirling, psychedelic good stuff! Turns out, U.S. Christmas play moody, echoey space rock. That's right, kinda like '70s Hawkwind. But with both more of an aggro metallic edge (though still slowed down and sleepy), and also more of a countryish one too (slide guitar evoking wide open spaces). You can imagine 'em out in the desert someplace, campfire burning, generator running, giant amps tilted upwards at a 45 degree angle to point at the starry sky, playing this stuff all night long 'til dawn comes or the drugs run out... the last track here is called "Pray To The Sky", actually. The spaced-out sounds of synthesizers and Theremin abound, the whirring electronic FX here reminding us a bit of the whup whup whup of the jug on those old 13th Floor Elevators albums... a constant presence, but just another texture amidst real songwriting. Loping, heavy head nodding riffage and ragged, punk-angsty vocals are also part of the U.S. Christmas equation. Speaking of equations, how 'bout this one: Neurosis + Hawkwind + some twang + more space rock = U.S. Christmas. Or, if the Red Sparowes teamed up with Tarantula Hawk, or if Deadboy And The Elephantmen were channelling The Heads, or if the Galloping Coroners came from Texas instead of Hungary, those things too might sound something like this band. Quite recommended. And who knows, maybe the -next- awesome heavy synthy space rock combo to come along will be inexplicably called Canadian Thanksgiving.

MPEG stream: In The Light Of All Time
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We've been pretty big fans of North Carolina psychedelic space rockers U.S. Christmas for a while now, especially after hearing them take on some Hawkwind covers on the recent Hawkwind Triad covers record on Neurot (along with Harvestman and Minsk), that might have been the deal sealer, in part cuz these guys are so obviously beholden to the space rock gods themselves, their sound a modern reimagining of Hawkwind, albeit filtered through a sort of slow build, loud/quiet/loud metallic post rock thing. In the past we described these guys as "Neurosis + Hawkwind + some twang + more space" or Red Sparowes meets Tarantula Hawk, or even Deadboy And The Elephantmen meets The Heads, which all pretty much still apply. The guitar are thick and the riffs a sort of spaced out version of modern Earth, that subtle twang ever present, even when the band is churning out huge avalanches of crumbling downtuned heaviness, hell, there's even what sounds like slide guitar happening here, super distorted and effected, but still all slippery and twangy. The vocals are way more up in the mix this time too, a multi tracked melodic howl, that suits the smoldering effects drenched heart of the sun space rock drift, and like their space rock forefathers, they may be crafting songs here, and writing riffs, and lyrics, but when the band truly shine is when they just let loose, unfurl, spreading out and unleashing a blown out psych sprawl of twisted swirling space-y heaviness, which they pretty much do in most every song. The band do mix it up here, some of the tracks are dark and folky, with acoustic guitars and strings, others are all swampy and bluesy, like Sixteen Horsepower or Woven Hand, apocalyptic and ominous, and a few mix the two, like the closer "The Moon In Flesh And Bone" which sounds like a country jam transformed into a sort of twangy space rock ballad, with wild psych guitar leads, and a brooding droned out finish, but for our money, these guys are at their best when they're spitting out thick gouts of druggy space psych excess, which as we mentioned before, is most of the damn time!

MPEG stream: In The Night
MPEG stream: Wolf On Anareta
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The last U.S. Girls record, U.S. Girls On Kraak, found Meghan Remy, who IS U.S. Girls, pushing her sound ever/even further from the gnarled low fidelity roots that seemingly defined it, claiming that those lo-fi records were that way based entirely out of necessity. And as we mentioned in that review, she said that if she could, she would make a super glossy commercial pop record. And while it may have been her intention, U.S. Girls On Kraak was most definitely not that record - Gem however IS. We were actually pretty shocked when we put this one. The record opens with some warped music box melodies, wreathed in weird industrial scrapes, the sound panned woozily from speaker to speaker, so we were thinking that maybe all that talk about glossy pop was a put on, that she had reverted to her early experimental floorcore sound, and were just beginning to luxuriate in those woozy soft noise, when the sound suddenly transforms into something MUCH poppier, and MUCH more polished, simple stately drumming, wheezing organ, and Remy's vocals way up front, soaring dramatically, the vibe very sixties girl group, positioning this new version of U.S. Girls alongside some other Girls, namely Dum Dum Girls, and Best Coast, and while it's not nearly THAT poppy, it definitely sounds like that's what Remy is shooting for. More minimal, and a bit more droney and psychedelic, but ultimately a dreamy organ driven sixties style fuzzy pop, and heck, it definitely suits her. The next track adds some skittery programmed drums, which gives it a bit of a cold wave vibe, but still poppy and almost torch songy, her voice sounding a bit like Zola Jesus, there are horns (or what sounds like horns), some serious girl group vocals, it's weird, and surprising, but cool. Track three might be the straight up poppiest of the bunch, and listening to that, it's hard to conceive of the fracture fucked up sounds on past U.S. Girls records. "He Who" though might be one of our favorites, harkening back to the more experimental USG recordings, brittle machinelike rhythms, haunting pianos, lots of echo and reverb, cinematic and creepy, darkly dramatic and psychedelic, we could easily listen to a whole record of just that. The rest of the record unfurls similarly (to the poppier opening salvo), and then something weird happens, with Remy seeming to try her hand at different sounds, echo drenched garage pop on "I Don't Understand That Man", or most surprising of all, some big guitar Gary Glitter style classic glam rock on "Slim Baby", or the groovy almost calypso sounding "Down In The Boondocks", and it all sounds pretty great. There's one more short experimental track, all stuttering programmed beats and looped and layered vocal samples, murky and muted, but those moments are few and far in between. The new sound is definitely well removed from the U.S. Girls sound of old, but for fans of Dun Dum Girls, Best Coast, and other sort of sixties girl group jangle pop, this will very likely hit the spot! And who knows, might get some pop kids to check out the way more warped early records too!

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