video: Autre Ne Veut "Emotional"

Feelings In My Heart

Another video from Autre Ne Veut's self-titled debut on OESB/Upstairs, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite pop records of the year. This one is for "Emotional", which squirms in Paisley Park zones. At times it feels like an aching, heartfelt ballad, but it isn't a romantic tune, rather a self-doubting, strung-out-in-the-corner ballad, more in tune with being broke and not able to afford your habit than losing your soul mate. It's the sort of emotionally overboard, yet completely pragmatic pop that Adley has a knack for producing. Neck-and-neck with "Demon Eyes" for my favorite track on this outstanding debut.

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: Big Troubles "Bite Yr Tongue"

Worry


After viewing the (phenomenal) video for Jackie Chain's "Haze," Fader writer SHS wrote, "Imagine the brainstorm session. Was Jackie Chain just like, Okay so this song is about weed, so I was thinking for some of it I could be driving a car and smoking weed, and for other parts I could be smoking in a room with another dude. Then the director decided it worked perfectly, so they filmed it and went home and took a rest so we could all blog about it." That's pretty much exactly how I imagined the treatment for this Spencer Dennis directed Big Troubles video went down. Basically, these dudes love fastfood and are going to gorg themselve until...well...yeah. The environment (classic North Jersey roadside establishments) is appropriate. Sorta like how all the Further videos were filmed on the beach. (Those videos rule.)

Big Chuggles are playing tonight at Glasslands with a whole ton of bands. You probably already know that though.

PS- Props to BT for hitting up the real White Manna.

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: 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.

post-SXSW: Big Troubles 7"

"Bat Bomb"

So I went to SXSW. It was fun. I had a good time. Hung with a lot of cool peeps, ate tons of Migas, stayed out of the chaos, and, for the most part, chilled super hard. Not surprisingly, SXSW felt like a vacation home. All Brooklyn & Jersey homeys chilling hard on Spring Break, drinking free Lonestar and trying to find someone with rolling papers. One of the acts I saw everywhere was Big Troubles. Every five feet or so I'd look around and see Sam or Alex or Ian or Luka or Mr. Gooch. Of course, I didn't even see them play, but I did manage to snag a copy of their super limited first pressing of their new 7" on Olde English Spelling Bee. The single is actually the test pressings for their new 7" and comes enclosed in a gold sleeve with custom collage art unique to each disc. Highly limited to 55, it is easily one of the coolest things (along with Sleep Over's erotic art zine) that I picked up in Austin. The 4-track 7" includes Big Troubles live staples "Drastic & Difficult" and "Grey Dayz" on the B-side, while "Bad People" and "Bat Bomb" compose the A-side. This 7" is really wetting my palette for the bomb that is sure to be their debut full-length.

Big Troubles- Drastic & Difficult

Big Troubles- Grey Dayz

video: Forest Swords "Visits"

"Miarches"

Slithering like a cobra out of a cave into the desolate streets of some god foresaken place, "Visits" memorializes the striking difference between non-chalant everyday moments and foresakingly dramatic turns. As witnessed in the third installment of the Forest Swords video trilogy, the young boy, once free and full of life, is brought to the ground by his surroundings. They are so pristine, engaging and, perhaps, lethal that the boy literally can't help but keel over. And so is life. As OESB notes, "Visits," like many of the cuts on Dagger Paths, invokes a "Morricone Western flick vibe." The perils are dark, the sun peaking, blistering skin and minds, until falling prey to the inevitable is all that's left to do. If you're wondering to yourself, 'well, self, what DO I DO now?' My answer is (re)view the initial installments in the Forest Swords series, then check out a seperate video directed by Leftist Nautical Antiques Alex Davis, who also release Forest Swords tape earlier this year.

Pick up the new Forest Swords release here.

mp3: Rangers "Out Past Curfew"

"Golden Triangles"

Dripping through the fuzzy permutations of scrambled pay-per-view coitus and haphazard beach wrestling, Rangers "Out Past Curfew" is the coalesced mutation of night visions accompanied by sounds you once heard, for half a second, long ago. A birthing sheep, a bloated motor gurgling oil and the gnarly dirge of your next door neighbor bailing into a mailbox after fucking up a kick-flip. Mini-van's packing Capri Sun roll by, amidst a mess of middle age, middle class, middle management types scrounging for their piece of the American dream. Suburban Tours. Beneath it all, in the mi(d)st, locked away in his bedroom, or perhaps an asylum well-flanked with shit keytars and Tascam four-track recorders, lies Rangers, plugging away at deciphering the code that will reveal the present world is but a mirage covering some sort of twisted 12 Monkeys realm. For more information consult the mastered version of Rangers "Out Past Curfew" and the stellar video for "Deerfield Village" below.

Pre-Order Suburban Tours (as well as Forest Swords and a new James Ferraro album).

Rangers- Out Past Curfew

video: Matrix Metals "Flamingo Breeze, Pt. 4"

"Sam Meringue"


Virtual reality was never cool. In theory, buzzing off into a 3D-realm by virtue of placing a plastic mask over your eyes should've been killer. Throw in some lazer tag, a few insanely dark tunnels and your off into some Phillip K. Dick fantasy. That never seemed to be the case, but one could always imagine. Sort of how I feel about Matrix Metal's Flamingo Breeze LP, a whirlwind of salivating mind loops and flashback glitches, the sort of hiccups that roll down your spine, and result in your hands feeling really weird. Neverending waves of synthesized scores that could have been in the Robert Downey Jr.-Andrew McCarthy-Jamie Gertz classic Less Than Zero, if the movie was about SoCal rich brats with penchants for growing mescaline and wormwood rather than Porsche's and blow. Ivan Gaytan, who runs Irma Vep Tapes with our girl Madalyn Merkey, knows a little about said peyote drama, and dispels his knowledge through a visual zone so inebriated Robert Downey Jr. may mistake it for a home movie, travelogue he shot between 1996 to 2001.

Get the vinyl reissue of the sold out tape here.

mp3: Pigeons "Tendress"

"Lowest"
A few months ago a little birdie whispered some words in my ear about Pigeons. I vaguely remember searching for Pigeons, then getting sidetracked when I found myself inside a Walton Ford painting. It took months to escape, but when I did, the first thing that flew my way was Pigeons.

Probably one of the most slept on songs of 2009, "Tendress", the first track on the Lunettes 7-inch released on Soft Abuse, is the sort of super reverb'd psych Tarantino, filling the role of music director would use to a score a Neil Krug film. (see: example) One part understated desert psych, one part mystic sorcery, Pigeons exist in the ghostly halls of the Bronx, NY, free to conjure spirits from the nearly departed realm. Something tells me the group has spent some time on Hart Island, and if not, they really should try to get out there sometime soon. Rumor has it a forthcoming LP will be released on OESB, in the meantime, pick up Lunettes from Soft Abuse.

Pigeons- Tendress

video: Grippers Nother Onesers

"Costco Zones"

Deep inside the freak labs at Olde English Spelling Bee some serious Frankenstonian tweaker shit is going down. Besides expanding its web presence/digital footprint to its new blog/site, the higher ups at the perpetually zonked label are also set to issue another set of killer records this week, specifically a limited edition vinyl reissue of Grippers Nother Onesers (At Slimer Beach), which you may recognize as Lamborghini Crystal's 1992 Cool Runnings Holiday, which you may attribute to a certain dude who releases about 15 albums a year. Dedicated to Richard Ramirez, the vibe on Grippers is transmitted via a possessed transistor radio hell bent on scoring premium laced Sherm and hitting the town in search of the best Ice Cream-Pizza combo deal around, or as Lamborghini Crystal puts it, "I wanted the record to have the feeling of when you find a half empty bottle of anti-psychotics and just see the name of the owner and you wonder where that person is now." Tweak on.

video: Oneohtrix Point Never "Time Decanted"

"Actual Air"

Wafting digital sound waves in the dark are Oneohtrix Point Never's specialty. OPN reigns over the sci-fi fantasy realm of dark places and dark planets, crafting the sort of digitized mechanical hum I'd expect to hear coming from the control room on a spaceship docked just east of Neptune. Appropriately, the video, directed by Olde English Spelling Bee mastermind, and renowned man of mystery, Todd Ledford, compliments the song so much that together the two feel more like the pre-roll credits for a Blade Runner prequel than a music video, which I'm pretty sure is exactly what OPN (and Todd) were going for. "Time Decanted" can be found on the Russian Mind LP on No Fun Productions, as well as the Rifts 2xCD on No Fun Productions, where it's titled "Actual Air."

mp3: Ducktails "McGuire in the Ocean"

"Future Sounds"

Yesterday Todd from OESB sent over this exclusive Ducktails outtake from the Landscapes sessions. This one takes a particular detour from the Departmentstore Santa's cover GvB posted, and a lot of the Ducktails catalog, and finds Mondanile channeling minimal techno, mechanical krautrock riddims and a sort of ambient wash that'll clear your sinuses, sort of like a neti pot. Oh, yeah, and its called "McGuire in the Ocean," which sounds about right to me. Thinking about heading to Mantoloking tomorrow, anybody wanna join?

Buy Landscapes, and all other OESB releases, here.

Ducktails- McGuire in the Ocean

video: Big Troubles "Freudian Slips"

"Oh No"

Young fuzz devotees and Geocities enthusiasts Big Troubles have only played a handful of shows since their inception in late July, yet they've managed to damage the ear canal's of at least two dozen attendees, which, I guess, is sort of the point. These guys don't know the definition of "too loud," and if the sound guy at Cameo Gallery had known this he probably wouldn't have said "the guitars are still too loud." Everyone in the room could've agreed, but instead, they laughed it off, popped in ear plugs and let Alex Craig and Ian Drennen, backed by Luka Usmani and Sam Franklin, speed up our inevitable deafness. No saxophone solos or doo-wop vocal arrangements here, just delectable melodies ensconced in enough distortion to blow all the wax out your ears.

mp3: Julian Lynch "New Untitled Jam"

"I Don't Believe"

A wash in synthesized movements, "New Untitled Jam," which Julian Lynch sent over last night, is deeply rooted in seasonal transition. It's the October sky running across the prairie, fields of corn and wheat swaying in the wind as trucks fly past on solemn grey highways. Surely the Wisconsin air is a bit crisper than here in Brooklyn, and you can feel it in the new jam, which is reminiscent of Orange You Glad standout "The Flood." While Julian's hypnotic synthesizers are at the forefront, lurking in the background, subtly providing the foundation for metamorphosis, are the slightly muted, yet incredibly warm drums. Not sure how he mic'd them, but something about them, possibly how unassuming and unobtrussive they are, really makes the droning synthesizers seep even deeper into your psyche.

Julian Lynch- New Untitled Jam

CMJ: 10/20 Bobka, OESB & UP are Straight Chillin'

"House of Mirrors"
(Big ups to Mimoun of Family Portrait/UP for Poster Art)
The first time I went to Monkeytown I knew I'd have to throw an event there. And now the time has come. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my extreme pleasure to unveil the first of a few Chocolate Bobka CMJ shows. If you've ever been to Monkeytown (peep rad pic here), you know one thing is up; straight chilling. Therefore, it felt pretty logical to call up my favorite super chillerz and see if they would come down to cool out, play some tunes and trip out to some tweaker visuals. And that's exactly what we'll do on Tuesday October 20th 2009. I'll be honest in noting that I basically curated this lineup for myself. Just bands that I want to see while 'laxing out on some of the most comfortable couches in New York, while visual masterminds Richard Law, Alice Cohen and Todd Ledford space my face on the four massive, wall sized projection screens. A little run down of the evening.

Chocolate Bobka, Olde English Spelling Bee & Underwater Peoples are Straight Chilling.
Fluffy Lumbers (rare solo set)
Family Portrait ("Western drone set")
Alice Cohen (solo)
Julian Lynch live via Satellite broadcast on 4 Walls
Ducktails
Africa Germany Germany ETC (Live NYC premiere)

Stoked? Me too! If you've ever been to Monkeytown, then you probably know the drill. Besides the inevitable straight chilling, the venue also offers some of the choicest food in NYC, just take a peep at their Fall Menu. (Different types of Sliders: Elk curry chimichurri, Ostrich bbq’d garlic relish, Venison juniper shallot jam & Wild Board Apple Chutney--are you freaking serious?!) The show will cost a measly $7, and as with all Monkeytown shows, there is a $10 minimum, which means you have to have at least 2 beers. If you don't plan on having at least two drinks, well, this probably isn't your type of show. In order to gain access to the show, which is unofficial CMJ (aka no badges), one will have to make reservations with Monkeytown. (Do so here.) This event will sell out fast, so I encourage you to get on this asap. Peep below for some choice media from participating artists.

PS. Bring medical edibles.

Fluffy Lumbers- Cruisers
Ducktails- Parasailing

Family Portrait w/ Julian Lynch "Super Cool"

Alice Cohen "Black Pepper"

Julian Lynch "Garden 2" (Directed by Richard Law)

mp3: Pillow Talk "What Does It Take?"

"I've Tried, I've Tried, I've Tried"
Pillow Talk's cover of "What Does It Take?" swoops in like an ocean breeze, the whispering organ setting the pace for a refreshing slice of island groove. The tune, which is like lovers rock cut by two white boys from Jersey, features boy wonder Julian Lynch, aided and abetted by Evan Brody, lead vocal provocateur of Family Portrait. The coconut Coppertone aroma is deeply ingrained in the tune, which, despite a slower tempo, is fairly loyal to Alton Ellis's rocksteady version, which, in itself, is a version of a song Junior Walker had a top five hit with in 1969. One of Lynch's contemporaries, or should I say forefathers, in the circular breathing world, Mr. Kenny G, has also covered "What Does It Take?" Compare and contrast all four versions below.

Pillow Talk- What Does It Take? (Julian Lynch & Evan Brody)

Alton Ellis "What Does It Take?"


Junior Walker "What Does It Take?"


Kenny G "What Does It Take?"

new: Africa Germany Germany ETC

"Retraced Steps"
The other day I was lucky enough to finagle a copy of the mysterious Africa Germany Germany Mexico Turkey Australia LP on Olde English Spelling Bee. Mysterious doesn't begin to describe the sound of the project, which bubbles like hash in the hot Hindu Kush heat and sways like the wafting garbage on the street in front of my apartment, which makes sense considering the only piece of info on the jacket of the LP is that it was recorded in Greenpoint in December of 2008. Insound notes the triangle of "Greenpoint, Bushwick and Ridgewood, NJ," which makes sense as it was released on OEBS, home to new records by Ridgewood, NJ cronies Ducktails and Julian Lynch. Also, the album, shrouded in secrecy, subtly appears in the "discography" section of a certain tropical loop master from a certain NJ town who plays in a few bands which certainly do not suck. That said, Africa Germany Germany Etc is a record for which comparisons to other sounds do no justice. It's full of bewilderment and ecstatic wonder, an album whose secrecy gives it a luminescence often reserved for moments where God's light shines through rain clouds and sprays incapable humans with hope and overwhelming befuddlement. The three track LP, which is limited to 215 copies, is all the drone, psych, raga, stoner shit that makes kids stay home and enjoy a deadbeat summer in front of the fan in their underwear, when they should be out picking up golf balls at the driving range, delivering pizza or doing anything besides providing t-shirts with adequate sweat stains. It's a special record for special people, and if your lucky enough, and smart enough, to pick one of these bad boys up, well, you're pretty fucking special.

Africa Germany Germany Mexico Turkey Australia- Retraced Steps

video: Alice Cohen "Black Pepper"

"Black Pepper"

Audio visual artist Alice Cohen, whom many of you may know as the director of the trypic video for Ducktails "Landrunner," recently released a video for "Black Pepper" from her 2008 record Sky Flowers on Crinoline Records. Not one to rest on her laurels, and believe me Alice has a CV the size of a thrice PHd'd brain surgeon, which includes a stint in the '80s gem-pop act The Vels, Cohen just released a new LP on Olde English Spelling Bee, home to Julian Lynch and the aforementioned Ducktails. Synthetic drum beats crackle over layers of cacophonous melodies, as Cohen channels a parallel universe much akin to Pee Wee's Playhouse on dark acid. Fans of Fever Ray, Grouper and Nite Jewel will all dig.