White Lung – It’s The Evil (Deranged)
Female fronted noisy punk from Vancouver. Phenomenal guitar work and drumming, songs range from fast and sloppy to muted and dramatic. Imagine Vini Reilly playing with The Fix and you’ll have a good idea of the kind of harmonics and alternate tunings that choke and smother these otherwise simple punk songs.
Bad Cop – Harvest The Beast (ROIR)
Heavy, scattered psych rock similar to Awesome Color and Black Angels. Still trying to figure out if this is the product of hard working geniuses or extremely lucky stoners.
Mystery Girls – Incognito (In The Red)
Eleven song LP. Straight forward garage rock with soul and punk elements from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Simple, fun and awesome.
Nothing People – Soft Crash (SS Records)
Inventive psych rock with noise and drone elements. I keep drifting back to this record and listening to it again. The experimental nature of the writing and recording is truly original, the songs that are allowed breathing room really work. The ones that are denied that room are hit or miss, but still interesting sonically.
Swans – My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky (Young God)
I’m OK with this. Great bunch of songs, brilliant recording. Gira’s voice sounds crystal clear and his lyrics are always amazing. But my love of Jarboe prevents me from really committing to this.
Mirrors – Something That Would Never Do (ROIR)
Classic recordings from 1974 and 75 from this Cleveland proto-punk band featuring ex-members of Pere Ubu and Rocket From The Tombs.
Lemmy: The Movie (Damage Case Films)
The trailer for this has been online for three years, and the wait is officially over! The film’s website recently listed US theatrical release dates. Psyched for this.
Fuck Rock: ABC-No-Rio NYC 1991 Compilation (Artcore / Wardance)
Well, well, well. After waiting twenty years, the damn thing finally comes out. Proof that New York Hardcore is more than just bad fonts, brass knuckles and endless rhetoric. Wardance Records starting advertising this in 1991 as a 10” compilation, and I’m pleased to say that the final product is a 12” and is well worth the wait. Features unreleased versions of songs by Huasipungo, Citizens Arrest, Rorschach, GO!, Born Against, Hell No and several others. Without most of these bands, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here writing this. As a teenager this was the scene that really inspired me, so admittedly I only have good things to say about it. Available on acid green vinyl, comes with fanzine and fold out poster thing here
Pink Floyd – Sights & Sounds (bootleg)
Interesting boot with lots of early works including live rarities, a radio interview (one of the first they did) and several alternate mixes. Also has snippets of Hans Kellar and Paul McCartney talking about Floyd. But the real prizes here two unreleased versions of “Jugband Blues” and “Vegetable Man”, both recorded in December 1967 with Syd Barrett. The later of the two is the last song that Syd wrote and recorded with the band.
Party Down – Season Two (Starz / Anchor Bay)
Hilarious TV show that openly criticized the Hollywood entertainment industry and used their stupid, tragic and shallow world as a backdrop for some unforgettable characters. Season one was great and season two was even better because as the writing improved, the antics got funnier. So, naturally, at the end of the season some cable executives at Starz decided to cancel the show and blame it on casting issues and low ratings. A definite RDD, -2 points.
