comp: Should Have Been Dead On A Sunday Morning

Arms Wide Open

OESB is back after a break stint of vacay with a new comp paying tribute to one of the greatest, most mind-bendingly peculiar acts in recent memory– Creed. The new six song comp features masterful reworkings, covers, reduxes from the likes of Autre Ne Veut, Alice Cohen, Pretty Lightning, Sleep Creep, Hurricane Ike and Green Gerry. The deliverable is a slice of post-modern classicism, with each artist focusing a morsel of a Stapp's catalog, breaking it down into pieces, and re-assessing it as fresh material in their own vein. Take Alice Cohen's cover of "Higher." I'm pretty sure Alice is not a Creed fan, but she breaks down the #1 Mod-Rock Worship track into an unsettling tweaker ballad– hairspray huffing vox and all. (At first I thought Jimmy Ferraro was spitting pitch vox, but I stand corrected.)

ANV does his thing all over "What's this Life For?"– squealing and shifting directions like vocal shuttle runs over blown out bass-snare hits and distorto guitar-synths(?) akin to his wavering vox. All sorts of alter boy sins cumming to in the confession room on this one. Meantime, Green Gerry turns "With Arms Wide Open" into a cathedral reverb, neck clapper. A fresh new beginning for OESB, who reportedly maybe turning this into an infinite mixtape.

Download Should Have Been Dead On A Sunday Morning (an OESB Tribute to Creed)

mp3: Twerps "Self Assured"

Black Eyes

Over a year ago I posted a few stunningly melancholic pop tracks from Australia's Twerps. A year later and the group is in the US playing shows. Nice to see these things come together. Anyway, they've got a few 7-inches on the forefront– one on Underwater Peoples, one on OESB, and another on Group Tightener. All of this seems fitting, as last year I remember getting all "I'm obsessed with this. You too?!?!" with all those guys. Something to be said for camaraderie. Anyway, the Twerps are playing their first NYC area show tonight at Glasslands with Family Portrait (Wet Dream lineup), La Big Vic and Chapter Music head Guy Blackman. Peep "Self Assured", which originally appeared on The Report V.II comp and is now featured, in mastered glory, on the UP 7-inch. Word.

new: James Ferraro "iAsia 2 Raver"

Muscle Works Inc.

Fresh off the release of Night Dolls with Hairspray, alien vessel James Ferraro is back with more transmissions from some twisted place far, far away. Labeled "iAsia 2 Raver" on his digital_skin soundcloud, the extended 30 minute piece is similar to the "Casino Neptune" style jams on the iAsia CD-R, which were described as "New sounds from 107.7 Hyppereal Radio XM Mars." The theme continues here, with shards of warped digitalism bouncing back-and-forth like cosmic pinballs, zooming in zones often only probed by molecular beings...whatever the fuck that means. Anyway, new Ferraro. Jam it. Digest it. Jam it again. Then call the Toddfather and snag Night Dolls with Hairspray.

IAsia 2 RAVER by digital_skin

new: Outer Limits Recordings "Sugar Pie"

Burning Through The Night

More saccarine confection from Outer Limits Recordings, whose first two 7-inches are set to drop on OESB in two weeks. "Sugar Pie" appropriate sways with prom-song abandon – heads jerk, knees jerk, kids get lit up on spiked punch. Repetition is key here, as the melody really unfolds over time, the instinctual groove birthed from cognitive dissonance. Kinda reminds me of this scene in Tuff Turf, but with a focus on reinterpreting the boogie woogie.

OUTER LIMITS RECORDINGS - SUGAR PIE (DEMO) by OESB

show: Autre Ne Veut, Gatekeeper, Laurel Halo, Airbird

Tonight

Big show tonight at Zebulon for the release of Autre Ne Veut's debut on OESB/Upstairs. (Peep the new ANV video below.) Joining ANV will be the pulverizing dark wave of Gatekeeper (who were fucking amazing at the recent Games show), as well as futuristic femme fatale Laurel Halo, whose King Felix EP has been in high headphone rotation, as well as the live debut of Airbird, aka Joel Ford of Games, whose "Part of the Game" has been one of my favorite jams this summer, as has his cover of the Beach Boys "Surfer Girl," which is slated to appear on The Report Vol.2 compilation. (Grip here.)

Free show, don't miss it!

Airbird- Part of the Game

update: OESB

So Sing Along

Well, Todd just laid an Operative Dumbo Drop sized box on my mailbox. Major update from the always provocative Olde English Spelling Bee, who are finally putting Big Troubles debut LP Worry in the palm of the listener's hand. Been waiting for this for over a year, and couldn't be more stoked. Might as well be a major label debut, whatever that means these days. Be sure to grip it asap, which you can, as all orders will be going out this week. Don't hesitate. Seriously.

In other OESB realms, Bobka favorites Pigeons are back with a new 7-inch, the first since their heavenly Lunettes last year on Soft Abuse. Clark & Wednesday are now back in the States, and somehow found time to produce a video for "The Paradise," the A-side from the new single. (View above)


It's been a while since we heard from Greatest Hits, the danse pop machine fronted by Zak Mering (Raw Thrills) and Tyler Thacker. Last I saw them they were DJ'ing at Silent Barn between sets by Speculator, Tonstartssbandht and Run DMT. Seems like they've been re-working their dance floor sensations in bedrooms across Bushwick and are now ready to drop their debut single. If you slept on their (formerly) free to download record Greatest Hits Vol.1, stop dreaming and hop to. The rest of your 2010 will be incomplete if you do not funk on the madness that is "Danse Pop" and "Make You Mine." Serious jammers, for serious party people.

OESB, along with our homeys at Upstairs CDR, are also proud to bring the debut (lots of debuts) from Autre Ne Veut to the listening arena. A bombastic blast of pop sorcery, AVN's been splicing synthetic tracks together 'neath the murky streets for a while, occasionally popping out of a manhole to wiggle & wail on the floor of a beer soaked "venue." His jams are often headphone appropriate, with nether land swirls bringing ethereal melodies to light under solar examination. Been intrigued with his live show and the tracks on MySpace for a minute, as well as his last (NSFW) video, but "Soldier" is what really grabs me. Unpretentious drum-machine enabled bliss pop. Check the video below. Highly rec'd.

And last, but not least, some new shit by OESB mainstay Ducktails. The label's got the new 7-inch, featuring "Hamilton Road," a cut from the forthcoming Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics LP, set for November release on Woodsist. Also, Ducktails Live on WFMU 12-inch from Inflated just came today, and the mastered version of this LP sounds phenomenal. DL it here, and make sure to delete your old unmastered copy.

video: Pigeons "Fade Away"

I've been greatly anticipating the release of Pigeons Si Faustine since the band released the Lunettes 7-inch last year on Soft Abuse. The crimson noir of Wednesday Knudson's seemingly timeless voice is a mesmerizing entity capable of seeping into the psyche like a long-lost relative skirting across the floor boards and into your bedroom to pass along advice from the nether world. The tambourine jangles brightly in the corner of Si Faustine, its shadows breathing on the wall with every beat. A fire grows in the hearth, as lost spirits scatter to find the keepers of their misfortunes, the lone soul who can flesh them from purgatory and send them into eternity. "Fade Away," built around repetitive hand drums and Wednesday's intoxicating vocal, possibly birthed from an ancestral encounter, is the unceremonious passing of knowledge from a being to a vessel. When full of understanding, the vessel, propelled, in this case, by a whirling dervish of reverse-delayed guitars and meditative hand drums, glides off into the atmosphere, before dissolving into the purgatorial realm.

Pigeons Si Faustine will be released on OESB on June 28th and is currently available for pre-order. In other Pigeons news, the group recently put together a release for the Curatorial Club, which will be out this week. Until then, check out "Wrong Man," a new track from Si Faustine, of which a live rendition will appear on TCC006.

Pigeons "Wrong Man" by OESB

video: Stellar OM Source "Island Best"

"Ocean Woman"

The genuine nature of movies and television shows is so captivating that most people sit around enfatuated with the boob tube for an average of 10 hours. When the opening credits roll, a new dimension is entered. A realm full of un/paralleled im/possibility. Armchair psychiatrists often note the escapist factor. The video for Stellar Om Source's "Island Best" is an ode to the grand tradition of the escapist-fantasy trailer. A glimpse of a world most would never dream of occupying, yet no one would pass up the chance to leave their body for a few hours to explore regions unknown to mere mortals.

"Island Best" is from the soon-to-be-released Trilogy Selections on, you guessed it, Olde English Spelling Bee. The record is a "a selection of tracks from her CDr trilogy released last year." A limited edition of 125 is currently available solely in the OESB store and at Stellar OM Source shows. The limited version predates an official release coming shortly.

video: James Ferraro "Demon Channels"

"One Million Frost Tipped Dreams"

James Ferraro just posted a preview of what will be a "full length feature" video to hit the web later this summer. "Demon Channels," described as "a sneak peak at hell's hottest TV show", features both "Motel Christmas," from the recently released Feed Me CD, and "Cheez Whiz in Fast Forward," which looks AND sounds just like a chemi-fromage clogged VHS run through a broken security monitor at high speed. The new track will be released on Wild World out July 4th on OESB.

videos: SwimJams

"Divine Light"


After a string of near flawless releases, OESB hits the proverbial nail on the head once again with the announcement that the label's first double LP (and DVD box set?!?!) will come from none other than Oklahoma's king of paint huffing skurrit riffs, SwimJams. Culled from blood Scott Stapp shed on the alter of Motorhead while smoking sherm with Wayne Coyne and ripping the heads off pigeons for the mere fuck of it, SwimJams take no prisoners harsh-bliss is the proto-Nirvana/Grunge killer to all the hypno-poop Casio obsessed stonejobs have been shitting out for the past few years. It's a throw back, a fuck you to CC Devil and all the washed out Sunkist video obsessing windsurfing posers caught up on Ariel Pink's warped amplitude. OESB offered up a dish of fresh appetizers to get us salivating, but something tells me we're all gonna need lobster bibbs to catch the globs of drool spilling from our unhinged jaws as we induldge in what might be one of the most revolutionary steps music has taken in the past 30 years.