Here Come the Fuzz - Cut Loose (2015)

I am in the midst of a recovery brought on the excesses of New Years celebrations followed immediately by the wedding of one of my oldest friends, along with my brother's birthday and Christmas right before those events. Got so bad I developed tinnitus for three days, something I do not recommend whatsoever. Still experiencing the world in a bit of a delirious haze and sleeping an inordinately large portion of the day away. Yet somehow I knew if I looked around in the inbox I'd find some restorative low fidelity music to soothe my healing ears and brain.

Cincinnati's Here Come the Fuzz filled my self-prescription for lo-fi superbly. Stripped down Midwestern style garage rock through and through, they've managed to do what all fine garage rockers aim for: reinventing by way of revival. Or I suppose you could say making something familiar but different. The songs are short, as you may expect from fuzzy garage, however they vary between the quite bluesy and the spacey psychedelic extremes allowed within the genre. Gives the album addition texture and a sort of arc to listen for during repeat listens.

Also, it seems one half of Here Come the Fuzz, a fellow called Chris Karnes, has been featured in on the blog before albeit with his previous band known as Northwest Ordinance. I had nearly forgotten about that album but I'm quite happy to have gotten a chance to rediscover it.

To be had here:
Here Come the Fuzz - Cut Loose

EP Grab Bag vol. 106

This post has been a long time coming, I had it 65% written then things went all pear-shaped. Turns out my computer shit the bed. Blasted motherboard was fried, and there were many deliberations on how and when to acquire a new computer. Today I finally bit the bullet. I'm feeling profoundly uncomfortable with having spent so much money, as I am fundamentally a miserly man. Yet this is better than sitting around watching Quantum Leap on my smartphone and drinking cheap micheladas. Well, maybe not better as much as it's different.

Also, this means I am even more far behind on submissions that I would have been otherwise, so please bear with me.

To be had here:

Fuzz Ghost - Fuzz Ghost EP (2015)

If you've been digging on the full-length albums I've posted lately then I'm glad to say that there's plenty more garage rock piled up in the submissions, not least of which is this debut EP from Nashville's Fuzz Ghost. Surfy, psych-tinged garage rock with a light-hearted tone. The singing is a real highlight of these tracks, howling, echoey and dreamy at once.  I think it's an utterly fantastic EP, yet I had little doubt that it would be impressive. After all, it is being issued by our friend over at Ongakubaka Records.

Buzz Driver - Buzz Driver (2015)

On the other side of the equator comes more garage rock, specifically from Volta Redonda, Brazil. Heavily reverbed and stylized surf riffs can be heard in the intro, then it fades into a jumpy, fast and very distorted garage rock. Like an even more blown out version of Tokyo Sex Destruction. They've full embraced the thunderous quality of an untuned bass guitar through a wildly lo-fi set up. Whole EP is maybe 7 minutes, but some of the loudest and craziest minutes I've heard in a while.

Pulco - Found Sound (2015)

Though this EP was just released it is a recording from 2009 for a radio show called 'Garden of Earthly Delights' (a name taken from the same Hieronymus Bosch painting that is the background imagery of this very blog). If you've heard any of the other work from Pulco you'll know to expect some experimental music riddled with spoken word. This EP is neat because it sounds more raw and kinda creepy compared to the music the Welshman made later.

Kate Wakefield - Water Lungs (2015)

A rather unique EP as far as what you'll usually find on this blog. The songs are filled with operatic and classical influences from Wakefield's cello playing and her robust vocals. However, it is done in the way that is weirdly appropriate for what we do here. Her sining is phenomenal, poetic and versatile. Same goes for her cello playing, and they're both wrapped into a highly textured and layered avant-pop context. I could see her either as an indie darling or a full-blown popstar, I wouldn't mind hearing her as either really.

HIATO - HIATO (2015)

An lo-fi electronic musician from Guayaquil, Ecuador, the city that the first Scenes of a City was about. Ambient, chillwave sort of electronic music. The songs are well-fleshed out and engaging, something can sometimes be a challenge with these genres. HIATO has avoided many common pitfalls, yet still has identifiably characteristic of a bedroom electronic musician such as vocal samples and looping artificial drum beats. There's some catchy stuff on this EP, especially the final track, "Úrsula."

Robby Fischer - Dogtown (2015)

I've still have more fuzzy garage rock that's been stuck in the inbox for far too long. Here is an album that came out in September but I was privy to for some time prior, enough to be embarrassed by the tardiness of this post. However, the moment I stop feeling ashamed I guess I'd better worry about being psychotic, massively drunk or dead. The music helps though, especially when so exquisitely lo-fi as Grand Rapid's Robby Fischer.

This is the second full-length from Robby Fischer after You've Changed came out earlier this year, though there's an earlier EP worth checking out as well. Dogtown keeps the pace of very outrageously fuzzy weirdness of his prior output, perhaps being even a bit more bombastically so. I welcome this completely, it is the sort of album that a fan of garage rock having actually take the time to play won't consider letting it end before it's done. The songs are rapid, washed out and full of very pleasing guitar and thunderous drums. What's more in the true tradition of garage rock he's made a selection of songs to make covers of, and even more on point they aren't songs you'd guess. Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" which reminds me of Mark Sultan's cover of Ultravox's "Just for a Moment" in sentiment and Tayler Swift's "Trouble," a song I'm only vaguely familiar with. I imagine I'm not a fan of the original nonetheless I really dug Fischer's version. All this isn't to say his own composition aren't stellar, for that are certainly relentlessly intense and enthralling throughout. If you've like any or all of the garage I've been post over the last couple of months you can't miss this.

To be had here:
Robby Fischer - Dogtown

Wild Raccoon - Mount Break (2015)

There's also a lot going on in France, not always for the better, but I am not gonna use my irreverent music blog to dwell on all-too-serious of matters. Rather I would like to focus on something the French have been constantly proving the world with and we'd be sorely lacking without. I am talking about arts and culture. The French are classy, we all wish would be as sophisticated as they appear in our public imaginations. This is even true when a Frenchman makes a fuzzy, sung in English, one-man band in the northern city of Lillie and names it Wild Raccoon.

Mount Break is a mesmerizing collection of lo-fi songs. Wild Raccoon's done an astounding job at showing a masterful talent at composing warm, fuzzy tunes that draw on garage rock, psychedelic, and surf is continuously recalibrated proportions. There's a remarkable juxtaposition at play in his songs. He cleared labored to make these cacophonous, loud and distorted sounds as compelling as possible. Making beauty out of an absolute mess is not unique to garage rockers, but I adore how they do it and I particularly like how Wild Raccoon managed to do so. Definitely the equal of perennial favorites Dusty Mush, Lady Flint, King Cayman or those dudes down in Capetown. Yet more particularly he reminds me of Ty Segall or his fellow Frenchman, Pain Dimension, though perhaps a bit less distorted and more psychedelic.

I'm not gonna pull attention to individual songs, as this is without a doubt the sort of album best heard from beginning to end, more than likely twice or thrice in a row. If you're interested in obtaining on a cassette the awesome folks over at Paris's Howlin' Banana Records have you covered. 

To be had here:
Wild Raccoon - Mount Break

Joplin Rice - Hurricane Alaska (2015)

The new album by Lexington, Kentucky songwriter Joplin Rice. Some of you might remember his prior release, Low Hum, of which I've been especially fond (go back in listen to "Perfect Coils" if you haven't). Both releases share the Elliott Smith-esque indie singer-songwriter core, yet with Hurricane Alaska Rice has gotten more bold, moving from the rather folksy sound of Low Hum. Retaining the sweet lyrics and softly fuzzed out tone, there's more loud electric guitar and an overall quicker pace to be felt in these new songs. Tracks like "No New U (stop chasing)" and more psychedelic song "Rocket" demonstrate this louder style well. All of it still lies within the realm of bedroom pop, though some of the most finely recorded I've heard in a long time. The real genius behind what Joplin Rice has done with this new album is carry on his sound but continuing to progress simultaneously. It wasn't hard for a moment for me to imagine any of these tunes as his, but they are quite distinctive from Low Hum. Rice's ability to recreate a mood and carry it throughout an album, here is the lightly fuzzed out guitars and drums gently tapping along. I know there are several songs that'll become favorites  of mine for the coming months, and only many enjoyable repeated listenings will solidify them. I'm looking forward to it.

To be had here:
Joplin Rice - Hurricane Alaska

Panthatone - Stay Easy (2015)

Jumping into these submissions seems daunting considering how long it's piled up. Nevertheless, one must make a stab it it somewhere. So why not the familiar territory provided by a lo-fi two-piece?

Panthatone are from Chicago and they make the loud, rhythmic style of rock and roll that's become synonymous with Midwestern garage rockers. While there's naturally a wide swath of variation even within this smaller definition, I believe the seasoned listen of lo-fi rock will understand what I'm angling at. The charm lies in the subtle reinvention of the form, just like eating the best plate of pasta you've had in months contains 90% the same ingredients as all other pastas you've had. In this paradigm Panthatone is a wildly successful. I can't summon a band they seems to sound exactly like but they are incredibly familiar and readily accessible for fans for garage or fuzzy rock. Guitar and drums, played quickly and with very flashy, catchy beats and riffs. I'll no sooner tire of hearing music of this sort than I will of drinking a good beer or sitting on a comfortable chair and I hope the keep the songs coming.

To be had here:
Panthatone - Stay Easy

EP Grab Bag vol. 100

Took a bit but I got myself to sit down and listen to some of the now outrageously large pile of submitted material. There's no way I can really post it all, but these caught my eye and I feel they're very strong EPs that I would be remiss not to share with everyone I can. These span a pretty large geographic swath of the English-speaking world but mostly fall into the rough category of psychedelic lo-fi. Gotta love that lo-fi. Oh, and looks like we did this 100 times now...

To be had here:

The Diane Plains - Somnambulist EP (2015)

A London outfit that makes lo-fi experimental tunes that span a remarkable range of styles simultaneously. While all are rough and psychedelic, they sort of have one foot in the electronic sphere and another in the analog. It is like a chillwave band got some guitars and a drum kit before they set to it. I mean it is trippy, electronically manipulated and oddly nostalgic but still retains much of the trappings of shoegazing, psychedelic noodling and droning bliss that we all know and love. It hears tingly, if you get my drift.

Shredded Sun - Let It Collapse EP (2015)

Shredded Sun is a new formation of three members of the now defunct Fake Fictions. Sadly I'm not familiar with Fake Fictions, but I can say I'm already a fan of Shredded Sun. Lo-fi garage pop that has oddly poignant lyrics and experimental stretches. The shorter songs on this EP have already gotten solid locked into my head and I find myself thinking of them without realizing, however it'll be the two longer tracks "Change My Mind" and "Swing Philadelphia" make this EP most worthy of sharing.

Surprise Party - Circle of Death EP (2015)

There yet more lo-fi rock, this time coming from the Manitoban capital, Winnipeg. They've got the EP all tagged up with cute labels like 'disaster rock' and 'sexy music' but at it's core it is some fuzzy psych-rock. Don't get me wrong, it's lovely stuff. The very sort of washed out rock that I can't ever get tired of. It is somewhere between droning and jangling, certainly heavily influenced by shoegazing. I liked it enough to put checking out their full-length, Heart of Love, from last year on my agenda.

Nanaki - Dandelion Radio Session (2015)

Several times I have written up the music of the Manx musician known as Nanaki. I've always praised his epic, beautiful post-rock and still find it moving and wonderful to hear. He's still making astounding instrumental music in this EP, yet it shifts into a more post-punk/art rock mode. It is more showy and aggressive at times while other moments are surprisingly cheerful. Undoubtedly one of the more talented guitarist and composers I get submitted to this blog, can't recommend hear Nanaki enough.

Dusty Boots - Rebel on a Rainbow (2015)

Finally stirring away from the psychedelic, here's an example of charming contemporary folk. If this was from the U.S. I would call it New Weird America, but as it happens Dusty Boots is a man from Australia who wrote these songs with his girlfriend while sleeping in a van. It is happy and a bit hippie-like as you might imagine from that background, however this should not take away from how lovely these songs really are. I recommend it if you liked Rented Rooms by C. M. Slenko, Slight Birching or even the Nashville sound of Caleb Groh. 

Debris Slide - Araido (2015)

Not getting enough sleep lately. It's hot and humid here. For all I dislike about wintertime, it is easy to get to sleep in a cold, dry room on a December evening when the sunset at 5:30 in the afternoon. Basically, I hate this temperate climate altogether and I'm blaming it for why my mind feels so off lately. Muggy weather makes for a fuzzy mind. So in a kinda 'like cures like' method of self-healing my solution to fuzzy thinking is fuzzy music.

Debris Slide are a group from Nottingham, England who've embraced a very fuzzed out way of making songs indeed. They're shoegazers, taking hints from many previous wall-of-sound deploying outfits we're all familiar with. Moreover, they've kept it minimalistic, as far as shoegaze goes in that direction. What I mean is that nothing in these songs aren't capable of feeling complex in the board, constant fuzzy sound. I can't understand the singing (which remember is often fine by me) and the most outstanding instrumentation is some shimmery guitar and drum beats rhythmically emerging and fading quickly back into the noise. All it adds up to a drone-like effect that caused the blissful state of mind good noise/drone music should. Though they'll wake you up with some loud, crazy reverb in there as well. A well composed album, but you'll really have to have a fondness for very lo-fi music to get the most out of it. Thankful I am quite fond of that stuff.

To be had here:

Debris Slide - Araido

Pueblo People - Giving Up On People (2015)

I always envision I'm gonna be able to make the most of the two day weekend every week. It is a pretty novel concept for me, my current job is the first time I've had two days off in a row without holiday or a special event since I started working. While I plan in my mind to crank through a bunch of music, I never am as productive as I'd like. The outside is so enticing after all. Yet as far as I'm concerned there's few better ways to begin a day then lazily listen to lo-fi rock while consuming an entire pot of hot coffee.

What I got to hear today was the full-length follow up from an Italian musician whose EP I posted up some time ago. I recall that release, Sentiero di Guerra, fondly and my description of it as "a Bright Eyes from 1976" still feels accurate. I thought I was pretty damned witty. Anyhow, this new album still bears a considerable amount of Saddle Creek-esque sound. If I told you this fella was from Nebraska you'd have little reason to question me. Regardless of where he's actually from, it seems like he jump his stylistic influences up a couple decades for Giving Up On People. Whereas the EP has long, fuzzy and sorta progressive feeling tracks the full-length contains shorter and more decidedly post-emo indie rock tunes. Makes for a delightful mixture of cozy nostalgia and warm lo-fi humming even with the gloomy lyrics, in fact largely because of those angsty lyrics.

To be had here:
Pueblo People - Giving Up On People

The Modern Folk: American Sewer - Leather Jacket - Surround Me (2015)

So that dude over at The Modern Folk has been busy lately. He dropped three albums at the same time, which being a fellow blogger you'd think he'd have some sympathy of my chronic plight of backlogged material to which I constantly feel a need to hear. A nagging obsession, one could say, I'm not. I'm in denial. cool as a cucumber as I ignore all my faults. Anyhow, here are what I'd been able to scribble down about these three lo-fi album our friend released and how much I liked them. All three have gems and when you get the chance, do hear them all.

To be had here:

American Sewer

Now there's the general sense of lo-fi, as in fuzzy rock music, but there is the reality of very lo-fi recording techniques. This is very much a hybrid offspring of both of these, doubtlessly purposefully fuzzed out, yet it couldn't help but to be any other way from what I know of J. Moss's recording methods. Therefore, the vocals are distant and the guitar heavily forward, which are features I've got a large affinity for. Of the three albums this is the most blues rock overall. Full of blues guitar patterns that'll be familiar to listeners of the blues or much garage rock.

Leather Jacket

More of a folksy/noise pop feeling to the songs on this album. The song feature a lovely and mildly lovely organ sound and the vocals are more prominent, in fact he's joined in his singing by a female vocalist. Makes for an excellent boy-girl duet style that suits the tracks nobly. "Don't Move In" and "My Wife Honey (Words)" will show how the Modern Folk makes dreamy noise pop. Then with "Gingham Dress (Brown Cow)" you'll hear what could be mistaken for a 1920s folkways recording. Pops back with the jaunty "It Hasn't Killed Me Yet." Leather Jacket possess many of my favorite songs from all three releases and shows perhaps the most songwriting bones.

Surround Me

Now, the third of these albums I got to hear. First thing that should catch a keen fan of lo-fi is that there's a cover of John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillin'" among the tracks. Not as good as the Gories version, but little on this Earth is. Fine nonetheless and part of a well-varied album. The songs feel more experimental on Surround Me, meandering musical sections that touch up with prog-rock, some of the lightest pop guitar, and a vocal affect that I'm not sure what to make of on a few of the tracks. And then there's another version of a tune we've heard earlier with "Gingham Dress (Plank Road)" that's fuller and richer.

Sonnyskyes - I kinda like living in the sky (2015)

Have to keep this one short and sweet as I've been ill as of late, not sure what is up but I know I am sore as hell. However, as this is an album I've been highly looking forward toward hearing I gotta say something without too much delay. 

Sonnysykes has finally released a second full-length that I'm very excited to write about. This is the follow up to 2013's The Imaginary Friend Ship, an album I still think is a wonderful example of the lo-fi brilliance emanating from California. The one man band that is Sonnyskyes has not changed the general formula from the prior release, rather doubled down on the lo-fi delight. If anything this album is more fuzzy and distorted than the first and in a way that is incredibly desirable to my ears. If you're a listener of our podcast you might have heard my advocacy of not understanding lyrics until repeatedly heard the song, and then only beginning to piece them together due to the low fidelity. This is an accomplishment Sonnyskyes has managed with the utterly fuzzy elegance. LEt's me focus on this most righteous guitars and thumping drums. You know, the garage rock parts.

To be had here:
Sonnyskyes - I kinda like living in the sky

Joplin Rice - Low Hum (2015)

Practice Records, the label started up by our blogging collogue over at the Modern Folk, has a new release. The first cassette issuing, as a mater of fact. It is an album I would unabashedly hype regardless of its affiliation with another blogger I respect. What he have here is a wonderful lo-fi folk/rock musician out of Lexington, KY called Joplin Rice.

There is something immediately familiar about Low Hum. Especially upon getting to the third track, "know it's not," with the acoustic guitars matched against the piano and organ playing. The songs bear wonderful song structure, brilliant lyrics and sweetly soft vocals throughout, with some being lo-fi rock nearly approaching psych-pop. Switches between the more folksy numbers and the faster and more amplified rock tunes, making for an overall album that's somewhere between Elliott Smith and a band like the High Water Marks. It isn't short of charms and I wish I could do a better job at conveying that in this post. You'd imagine I'd have gotten better at this over the years but it always seems like I'm groping for the right words. So you'll just have to trust me and the Modern Folk.

To be had here:
Joplin Rice - Low Hum

Rum for Your Life - Punch (2014)

I have not been in San Diego for about a year now, and as we get closer to summer (at least here in sunny California), I have started to turn my fine-tuned ear to new sounds coming out of the city to act as my own personal soundtrack. The lo-fi shoegaze act Rum for Your Life has recently played their inaugural show at the Soda Bar (the hipster proving grounds for those not in the know), and have an EP that promises great things in the future. The band owes a debt to shoegaze pioneers that have come before them, but when you craft fuzzy tracks this cohesively, you are allowed to borrow more than a few shreds along the way. Tracks like "Swinger" have a bass riff that could sit well next to proto-metal and garage acts often celebrated here at Space Rock, and by the time we hit "Tower," the whole gloomy set is brought to a fitting, sinister close.

It is free to stream, but sadly no download is available. What is this, 2011? Anyhow, check it now while it is free and pristine.

Rum for Your Life - Punch (2014)

EP Grab Bag vol. 85

Finally a day off and no family obligations. Perfect time to spend an afternoon checking out all manner of musics sent in from all over. Not even two of these six EPs hail from the same country, nor to many of them really fit into the same genres, though I guess they often get close to it. Hope you enjoy them.

To be had here:

The Spectres - What Will It Be (2014)

A two-piece garage rock outfit from Pittsburgh. They're lo-fi, jangley and got more than a touch of the surf rock in their sound. The EP is eleven songs, but still only makes it to twenty minutes playtime, so you can just imagine that these are some short, sweet rock ditties. They get a pretty full sound by the drummer pulling double duty with a partial kit he plays with his feet as his wields a guitar, a real Mark Sultan move. Impressive for a new band, only been around from half a year from what they tell me. So hopefully there'll be more to come.

Swinging Balls - EP (2014)

Loud, howling, low-fidelity metal/punk from Coventry, UK. The noise they make is nearly as crass as balls on the album art are large. There's not so much as singing in the songs as something between a moan and a shout. In addition to this chaos they've thrown very sludgy guitar playing that provides a firm doom metal overtone to the whole effort. The influence Black Sabbath is obvious, so clearly that they labeled the second track "Sabbath," and it seems to be more akin to the early career of the heavy metal icons. You know, the real sweet stuff, and Swinging Balls does do a good job at making a homage without seeming redundant.

BlackboxRed - Beak to Beak (2014)

A duo from the city of Leeuwarden in the Netherlands who openly affiliates with a grunge sound. As I am still not sure what made a band "grunge," the post-grunge concept has eluded me as a genre I can recognize, let alone the "ghost grunge" they tagged this with. This isn't to say I don't like anything labeled as such, for quite the opposite as I think BackboxRed makes some compelling tunes. Beak to Beak in a powerhouse of an EP. Intense, fast and full of sounds that are simultaneously bleak and exciting. The songs are rocking and the singing is epic, she can really belt out some lyrics.

VidaGuerrilla - El Kreepo (2014)

Spain's VidaGuerrlia has been prolific lately, putting out four releases, all of EP length, since October. El Kreepo is the second one they've got out in December alone. What they play it is extremely fuzzy, to the point of nearly popping. The washed out songs lay between hardcore punk and garage rock in an way that's hard to describe be immediately recognizable when heard. Finally, I know they sent me a link to their album from July, but somehow I must've failed to post it because I can't find any evidence I did so.... Strange as I do recall hearing it and thinking it was mighty swell.

Glaze of Cathexis - Imaginary Beings EP

It is very rare for SRM to get submissions from Asia. I believe many can imagine why that might be the case, and in the exceptions to this it is mostly Westerners dwelling in Japan or Korea. This is the case for Glaze of Cathexis, a band headed by American ex-pat Matt Comegys and Australian native Scot Atkinson in Ueda, Japan. Imaginary Beings is a psychedelic EP with folk and electronic elements mingled within and is only one of a butt load of releases the outfit has put out and have available on bandcamp. Quite retro and at times far out, and very much worth checking out.

SARAJEVO - The double tailed devil (2014)

Named for the capital of Bosnia, residing in the capital of France. SARAJEVO appears to be a new affair, at least as far as their bandcamp presence is concerned. This two song release is just a mere sample of what I am sure they're capable of as it a well produced and excellent sounding as these couple of tracks are. Each are psychedelic songs with nicely washed out vocals and a well practiced retro style that manages to not be tired. Despite the vocals being blown out, it is clear they're in English, but I guess that is what often happens when you wanna make rock and roll. Wish these guys the best of luck and hope to get to hear more.

Small Teeth - Small Teeth Tape (2014)

I was going to include this band in an upcoming Scenes of A City for Montreal, but it's just too damn good that it needs to stand on it's own.

Small Teeth churn out psychedelic noise pop. There's a slight Spencer Krug sound present, who is also from Montreal... perhaps it's the singing style or maybe it's the quirky chord progressions. But let's get something straight, Spencer Krug is only as good as his "Oh Oh OHs", and those get tiresome when you inject them into every single music project you touch, from Wolf Parade to ....everything else.

Small Teeth kick ass. There's a good variety in their songwriting... each of these five songs has a distinct color that, added together, make this one sparkly little gem of an EP. The first track stomps down a path through a sonic headfuck forest, while track two is a panicked grimace of a waltz(love the vocal delivery on this one, especially). Things speed up on track 3 and then slow down by track four, which is a beautifully crafted glam pop ballad.

Come to think of it there's a bit of glam in these songs. Sparks occasionally comes to mind.

Lyrically there seem to be themes of the mind and one's own psychology... common motifs for psychedelic bands in general because when one dabbles in altering one's own brain chemistry, well... brain chemistry becomes pretty fascinating. Don't do drugs, kids. Well... alright, go ahead and do them. But make sure your dealer isn't a shitheal. And don't touch the Robitussin (more than once per weekend).

But seriously, download the shit out of these 5 songs before. They rock. This is what I want more bands to sound like.

Small Teeth - Small Teeth Tape