29th Of July 2011 Update of New and Key Restocked Items
at Redscroll Records

LPs & 12″s
______________________
311    “Universal Pulse (+ CD)”
Altar Of Plagues    “Mammal (180 Gram Ltd. Ed. Colored Vinyl)”
Amorphis    “Tales From The Thousand Lakes (Limited Finland Edition Colored Vinyl)”
Art Brut    “Bang Bang Rock & Roll”
Autopsy    “Macabre Eternal”
Bathory    “Hammerheart”
Belle And Sebastian    “Come On Sister”
Big Star    “#1 Record”
Caboladies    “Renewable Destination”
Cheater Slicks    “Our Food Is Chaos”
Collections Of Colonies Of Bees    “Giving (Colored Vinyl + D/L)”
Dead Language    “Dead Language”
Death In June    “Nada Plus! (Ltd. Ed. Blue Vinyl 2LP; Silver Foil Bag /250)”
Death In June    “Nada Plus! (Gold Edition)”
Drive-By Truckers    “Ugly Buildings, Whores & Politicians: Greatest Hits – 1998-2009”
Enslaved    “Isa (2LP)”
Ettinger, Dylan    “New Age Outlaws”
EyeHateGod    “Preaching The “End-Time” Message (Rarities And Demos)”
Foot Village / Super Khoumeissa    “Split Series #293 “
Galavis, Quin    “Should Have Known You (+ D/L)”
Grandaddy    “Under The Western Freeway”
Grandaddy    “The Sophtware Slump (Remastered At Sterling Sound)”
Harms Way    “Isolation”
Harvestman    “In A Dark Tongue”
Helmet    “Strap It On (Re-Mastered)”
In Mourning    “Shrouded Divine”
Jeff The Brotherhood    “Heavy Days (+ D/L)”
Jurado, Damien    “And Now That I’m In Your Shadow (+ D/L)”
Kuti, Seun Anikulapo & Egypt 80    “From Africa With Fury: Rise (+ D/L)”
Like Wolves    “Like Wolves “
Moonface    “Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped (+ D/L)”
Moore, R. Stevie    “Phonography “
NOFX    “So Long And Thanks For All The Shoes”
Normals, The    “Vacation To Nowhere (/1000)”
Oranssi Pazuzu    “Muukalainen Puhuu”
Pestilence    “Doctrine”
Pure X    “Pleasure (Ltd. Ed. Heavyweight Vinyl & Foil Cover)”
Schnitzler, Conrad    “Live ’72”
Seahaven    “Ghost”
Small Brown Bike    “Dead Reckoning (+D/L)”
Soundtrack    “Pina: Dance, Dance Otherwise We Are Lost (Original Soundtrack)”
Stone, Joss    “LP1”
Teenage Fanclub    “Bandwagonesque (180 Gram)”
They Might Be Giants    “Join Us (+ D/L)”
Vagon Brei    “Destiny”
We Are The Union    “Great Leaps Forward”
Wormrot    “Dirge”

Electronic 12″s
______________________
6Blocc    “I Dubs Vol 6 EP”
AFX / Autechre    “Quex-RD/Skin Up, You’re Already Dead”
Badawi Feat. Sensational    “No Schnitzel”
Blake, James    “The Wilhelm Scream”
Blake, James    “Klavierwerke EP”
Busy P    “Rainbow Man”
DOK    “West Coast”
DZA    “Supershark EP”
Egyptrixx    “Liberation Front”
Fitzgerald, George    “Silhouette”
Girl Unit    “Wut (Remixes)”
Hakim Murphy    “Stolen Kisses: First Kiss”
Hudson Mohawke    “Satin Panthers”
Hype Williams    “Kelly Price W8 Gain Vol II”
Jam City    “Waterworkx EP”
Legowelt    “Sark Island Acid EP”
Lil Silva    “Night Skanker EP”
Lucid Dream (AKA John Tejada)    “Phthalo Origins #2: Reworked Data”
MLZ    “One Cycle”
Motor City Drum Ensemble    “DJ-Kicks (Mix Comp. LP)”
Nico    “Nico’s Bluewave Edits”
Ossie    “Set The Tone EP”
Ras _G & The A.S.P. / Sun Ra    “Views Of Saturn Vol. 1”
Slugabed    “Moonbeam Rider”
Tang, Steven    “Uprise In The Orient”
Tang, Steven    “Windy City”
Tang, Steven    “Bass Synergy”
TBC    “Distant Planet Star Trek Remix”

HIP HOP
___________________
Bad Meets Evil (Eminem & Royce Da 5’9″)    “Hell: The Sequel”
Beastie Boys    “Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (180 Gram White 2LP + D/L + Bonus 7″ Single + Exclusive Iron-On)”
Del The Funky Homosapien    “Golden Era (2xLP)”
Grieves    “Together Apart”
Mr. Lif    “Mo’Mega”

7″s
______________________
Blasting Concept
Compound “Demo”
Converge / Dropdead
Dead Language
Go Rydell / Grey Area
Homewrecker / The Love Below
Minority Unit “Demo”
Okkervil River “Your Past Life As…”
Smash Detox
Wharf Rats
White, Jack “Another Way…”
Wilco “I Might / I Love My…”

CDs
______________________
Ampere “Like…”
Dead Can Dance “Dead Can Dance”
Death In June “Nada Plus! (2CD+DVD)”
Death In June “Brown Book”
Death In June “Lesson 1: Misanthropy”
Ed Gein “Bad Luck”
Esplendor Geometrico “Nador”
Jasta, Jamey “Jasta”
Kryptic Minds “Can’t Sleep”
Looking For An Answer “Eterno…”
Nataro, Tig “Good One (+ DVD)”
Ringworm “Scars”
They Might Be Giants “Join Us”
Toxic Holocaust “Conjure… (Deluxe)”
Various Artists “Night Slugs Allstars Vol. 1”

Reviews
______________________

Converge / Dropdead 7″
(Self Released)

Converge has been one of my favorite bands since I first heard them, and each release showcases something new and refreshing. Their most recent full length, “Axe to Fall” set a new path for them. It has a slightly cleaner sound, with more metal elements mixed in. The song featured on this EP, “Runaway,” sounds like it could have come straight from that recording session. It is a true shredder.
Dropdead continues their 20 year grindy assault with a new song “Paths of Glory.” It’s a war protest song about the pointless loss of life for the never ending “War machine.” It’s fast and thrashy, similar to their previous releases, and is certainly up to par with them.
You like to collect Converge records? Want every color? Good luck! We have Green w/ Black in stock at the moment.
Pressing info is as follows:
First Press:
10 – Test Presses
150 – Black w/ Random Stripe vinyl (Converge has these, up to the band if they sell them)
150 – Clear w/ Random colors vinyl (Dropdead has these, up to the band if they sell them)
2000 – Red & Black Swirl vinyl (Deathwish Exclusive)
2000 – Green & Black Swirl vinyl (Armageddon Exclusive)
2700 – “Vinyl Bong” Random colors of vinyl (Available from the bands only)
[Reviewer: Sean]

Death In June Nada Plus! LP/CD
(Pylon Records)

This here is what you might call a reissue. However, it does have that “Plus!” part of it.  With the CD you get an extra CD and DVD (I haven’t viewed it yet); with the LP you get all the music and some pretty outstanding new packaging (the Blue deluxe 2LP version is limited to merely 250 however).  This goes a bit back in the D.I.J. history.  It’s got glimpses of what would come with moody acoustic numbers, but it’s also got a bit of the dancier e.b.m. type songs (think Soft Cell). The bonus material is probably not new to die-hard D.I.J. fans, but it is perhaps the only way you’ll find these on vinyl (if you opt to go that route).  The version of “The Calling” on this is a bit different than that on the “I’m A Cult Hero” compilation (which I believe is the only way that song was available on LP before). We also got in a few shirts with these – they are soft and feature the familiar whip logo (sold separately of course).
[Recommender: Rick]

Harm’s Way Isolation LP
(Closed Casket Activities)

I fell in love with Harm’s Way after hearing their “Imprisoned” 7″, which was evil sounding straightedge power-violence. With the last couple of releases, they’ve been moving in a more straight forward tough hardcore direction. With “Isolation” they’re using the “Hatebreed formula” of mixing death metal riffs (Carcass, Entombed, Obituary) in with some impressively intense drumming, samples, and even some swampy Eyehategod riffs to keep it flowing along through eight tracks.  Super slick metal production on this album as well, which I would have never anticipated back when I only knew them from “Imprisoned”. The sound has changed so much this could be a completely different band, but both eras of Harms Way are awesome.
[Reviewer: Josh]

Sanso-Xtro Fountain Fountain Joyous Mountain LP/CD
(Digitalis Recordings)

This experimental album incorporates rich high-and-low-pitched tones with other ever-varying instrumentation thrown in. It’s not easy to summarize it as a whole. “The Origin of Birds” frolics with jovial toy sounds and a glimmering electronic geyser that’s like a flourish of gold coins. Acoustic string plucking takes over in tracks like “Light Come, Light Go, Ghost” and the gritty, rustic, and very abstractly structured “Goodnight Thylacine,” but the tones individually provide a very lush, color-changing soundscape in others such as “Golden Hour” and “Observes Shadows.” It’s great that this album changes from track-to-track – sometimes it’s almost like an electronic lullaby (particularly “Hello Night Crow,”) but the curious accordion-heavy closer “Exit: Joyous Mountain” provides some surprising variation. An album with instrumentation like this should appeal to open-minded listeners since it’s far from traditional song-structure boundaries and doesn’t fall into a dull, predictable “easy-listening” trap. Thankfully, it doesn’t suffer from alienating complexity, either. It’s just something for a unique mood to visit new places.
[Reviewer: Mark]

22nd Of July 2011 Update of New and Key Restocked Items
at Redscroll Records

LPs & 12″s
______________________
Allen, Tony (Plays With Afrika 70 And The Afro Messengers)    “Afro Disco Beat”
Arrington, Steve    “(I Be) Goin’ Hard (Music: Dam-Funk. Vocals: Steve Arrington. AKA The Invade)”
Autre Ne Veut (ANV)    “Body”
Barwick, Julianna & Ikue Mori    “FRKWYS 6 (In Collaboration With The Sound Of White Columns)”
Brain Idea    “Cosmos Factory (Ltd. Ed + D/L)”
Crystal Antlers    “Two-Way Mirror (+ CD; Ltd. Ed.)”
Daniel Striped Tiger    “No Difference”
Face To Face    “Laugh Now, Laugh Later”
Figure Four    “Suffering The Loss”
Fire! With Jim O’Rourke    “Unreleased? (+ D/L)”
Flaherty, Paul / Bill Nace    “No, The Sun”
Ginsberg, Allen / William Blake    “Songs Of Innocence And Experience (By William Blake, Tuned By Allen Ginsberg)”
Golightly, Holly / Dan Melchior    “Desperate Little Town”
Kirby, Leyland    “Intrigue & Stuff Volume 2”
McDaniels, Eugene    “The Mack (OST; Max Julien, Richard Pryor, Roger Mosley)”
MV & EE    “Country Stash”
Nurse With Wound    “Salt: Music From The Horse Hospital”
Pala    “We Don’t Exist”
Part Time    “What Would You Say? (Ltd. Ed. 2xLP + D/L)”
Radiohead    “Morning Mr Magpie / Bloom “
Seasick Steve    “You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks”
Seraphim    “The Light In The Distance”
Shelter    “Eternal”
Stockhausen, Karlheinz    “Mantra (Yvar Mikhashoff, Rosalind Bevan, Piano; Ole Orsted, Electronics) (/500)”
Suicide Silence    “The Black Crown”
Toxic Holocaust    “Conjure And Command (Ltd. Ed. Colored Vinyl)”
Various Artists    “The Roots Of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru (2xLP; 23 Tunes From Lima And The Amazon 1968-1981; 11×11 20 Page Booklet)”
Yankovic, Weird Al    “Alpocalypse”

Electronic 12″s
______________________
Bass Clef    “Rollercoasters Of The Heart / So Cruel”
Drums Of Death    “Black Waves EP”
Funkbias    “Last Forever”
Miles    “Facets”
Moby    “Mistake”
Mount Kimbie    “Carbonated (2×12″)”
Photek    “Aviator/Totem”
Speedy J    “Shoegaze”
Various Artists    “Matthew Dear Body Language 7: Get Physical Music”
Various Artists    “Back And 4th: A Hotflush Compilation (3×12″) (Sepalcure, Boxcutter, Boddika, Dbridge, Scuba, Falty DL, Sigha, George FitzGerald, Incyde, Roska)”

HIP HOP
___________________
Bad Meets Evil (Eminem & Royce Da 5’9″)    “Hell: The Sequel”
Del The Funky Homosapien    “Golden Era (2xLP)”
Mr. Lif    “Mo’Mega”

10″
___________________
Fennesz    “Seven Stars”

7″s
______________________
Choke Up “Spent”
Colbert, Stephen
Count Vertigo “Mutant”
Crisis Of Conformity “Fist Fight”
Grown Ups “Handholder”
Hellhorse “Decade Of Dust”Kamlat”
Just Urbain “EverybodyLoves”
Medeh, OH “
Poison Planet “Demo (Import)”
Revenge “Frustrations”
SC “Get Out Now”
Young Identities “New Trends”

CDs
______________________
Earth Crisis “Neutralize…”
Hail! Hornet “Desperse The Curse”
Skullflower “F*cked On Pile Of Corpses”
Toxic Holocaust “Conjure And Command”

Reviews
______________________

Human Eye They Came From The Sky LP
(Sacred Bones Records)

These guys are nuts. Listening to this album is like being trapped in a sci-fi B-movie that’s been boiled down so the boring parts are gone and the remaining essence is total insanity. Oh yeah, and there are psychedelic drugs. Lots of them. Opener “Alien Creeps” kicks right into gear with a laser-whooshing space-rock guitar, a light-heartedly foreboding synth line and utterly manic drumming (seriously – I was stunned to see that an actual human is credited with the percussion on this album, since the average person would get sore pretty fast from even air-drumming along.) Thankfully, it does mellow out a bit with songs like the catchy “Impregnate The Martian Queen Pt. 2.” That song is dressed with a curious, extraterrestrial-sounding flicker effect and a feel-good acoustic chord that fits really well in the “drive-in nostalgia” feel, plus the insane instrumentation making punctuated, abrupt returns every now and then. In general, this reminds me of psychedelic, garage and experimental rock, and the endearing “Martian B-movie” lyrical theme fits well into the timeframe those respective genres emerged from. These guys know how to have fun while also taking their work seriously.
[Reviewer: Mark]

Liturgy Aesthethica LP/CD
(Thrill Jockey Records)

It’s tough to imagine a black metal band that sounds like no other black metal band, but in my opinion, Liturgy manage to pull it off. Their style of replacing suffocating darkness with blinding, celestial light (and corresponding lyrical themes) has raised controversy among genre purists. What should really matter is how the music sounds, and with their latest album, Liturgy delivers a truly incredible, unique experience. It feels like soaring through the heavens while immortal beings blast booming, unbelievably intense background music to echo across the universe. Tracks like “Generation” and “Veins of God” clearly show the band’s Lightning Bolt influence, utilizing simple-yet-monolithic guitar-and-bass crunching with unrelenting percussion pounding. Almost every track follows the formula of ethereal guitar/bass tapestries (“Sun of Light” is a fitting example) and stunningly high-BPM drums. Even detours like the simple-yet-complex-sounding and early electronic music-reminiscent “Helix Skull” manage to fit in with the album’s sound. Regardless of whether or not this record should truly be categorized as “black metal,” it’s an incredibly intense, fantastical experience that shouldn’t be overlooked.
[Reviewer: Mark]

Trial …Are These Our Lives? LP

Trial was (is? they’ve been playing shows occasionally) a straight edge hardcore band from Seattle, Washington.This album is one of my all time favorite records. Earlier Trial material, while always having a strong urgent message, sucked musically. I fooled myself when I was a kid that “Through The Darkest Days”  & “Foundation” were killer, but they weren’t. “Are These Our Lives?” on the other hand is a perfect album. Hard driven guitars, fast pounding drums, powerful poetic lyrics, & just enough pretty guitar work to tie it all together. How the hell did Equal Vision let them get away with hiring cello & violin players? I have no idea, but I’m glad they did! A friend of mine had gotten a hold of an advanced copy of this a few weeks before it hit stores (in 1999) and on a road trip to an out of state show we just listened to it on repeat for the entire ride. It never gets old. When they finally played in CT, it was unreal, everyone was so excited that when the drummer started to sound check, everyone started moshing hard, the drummer took his que and kept the high hat rhythm going for a good 30 seconds while the rest of the band raced to be ready to jump into the first song. Certainly one of the best shows of my youth! We got the second repress in a few weeks ago, thanks to Panic Records, which is not only churning out records by great bands (see: The Saddest Landscape), but is also run by Trial guitarist; Timm McIntosh
[Reviewer: Josh]

“Weird Al” Yankovic Alpocalypse LP
(Way Moby / Volcano / Jive Records)

THE ALPOCALYPSE IS HERE!  I have been a “Weird Al” Yankovic fan since I’ve liked music. The first piece of music I remember owning was a copy of “Dare to Be Stupid” on cassette. I can’t tell you how many times I listened to it. I’ve seen UHF probably close to 50 times. Although none of his past albums have been as good as his early material, that doesn’t mean they aren’t good comedy albums. I don’t even really think that’s his fault. He parodies what’s popular at the moment, and there hasn’t really been a ton of good pop music lately. At least not compared to what used to be popular. His original songs have always been pretty catchy, and his token “polka mash up” song on each album are always a highlight for me. Although I don’t care much for who he parodies on this album (Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Miley Cirus, B.o.B., T.I.), it’s still enjoyable and there are some good one liners in it. Fun album.
Also, this has the best cover art of any album so far this year.
[Reviewer: Sean]

8th Of July 2011 Update of New and Key Restocked Items
at Redscroll Records

LPs & 12″s
______________________
A Billion Ernies / Informant    “A Billion Ernies / Informant”
A Storm Of Light    “As The Valley Of Death Becomes Us Our Silver Memories Fade”
Alkaline Trio    “Damnesia”
Aoi    “Funnelweb”
Autumn    “Synthesize”
Bon Iver    “Calgary / I Can’t Make You Love Me / Nick Of Time (Bonnie Raitt Cover)”
Borden, Ferraro, Godin, Halo & Lopatin    “RVNG FRKWYS 7 (+ D/L W/ Bonus)”
Broken Water    “Whet (Triangle)”
Buke And Gass    “Riposte”
Caddywhompus     “Remainder”
Canvas    Ashes
Crowley, Aleister    “The Evil Beast”
Deerhoof     “Milk Man”
Disembodied / Brother’s Keeper    “Oxymoron”
Dreams, The    “Morbido”
Eden & John’s East River String Band    “Be Kind To A Man When He’s Down”
Eyehategod    “Take As Needed For Pain”
Foreign Objects    “No Sensation”
Friedberger, Eleanor    “Last Summer”
Fuckin’ Boneshakers, The    “1995 Masterbation Sessions”
Gardens & Villa    “Gardens & Villa (+ D/L)”
Garrincha And The Stolen Elk    “Void”
Guitar Wolf    “SpaceBattleShipLove”
Hawkins, Screamin’ Jay    “The Singles 1954-1957”
Hollywood Rose    “The Roots of Guns N’ Roses”
In Flames    “Sounds Of A Playground Fading”
Integrity    “Detonate World’s Plague”
Interpol    “Try It On”
Khann    “Erode (Ltd. Color + D/L)”
Krieg     “The Isolationist”
Men, The    “Immaculada (Reissue)”
Missing Monuments    “Painted White (+ D/L)”
Motion Sickness Of Time Travel    “Luminaries & Synastry (+ CD)”
Mudboy    Volume IV: This Is Folk Music (Ltd. Ed. + D/L + Poster)”
Newell, Martin    “Songs For … A Fallow Land”
Night Beats    “Night Beats”
Nine Inch Nails    “Pretty Hate Machine”
Noveller    “Desert Fires”
Pala    “We Don’t Exist”
Paperhead, The    “Focus In On… The Looking Glass”
Potter, Grance & The Nocturnals    “Grace Potter & The Nocturnals”
Pulling Teeth    “Funerary (+ D/L)”
Seraphim    “The Light In The Distance (+ D/L)”
Shabazz Palaces    “Black Up (+D/L)”
Tazartes, Ghedalia    “Diasporas (Handnumbered /500)”
Terrors    “Lagan Qord”
Tones on Tail    “Weird Pop”
Trial    “Through The Darkest Days / Foundation”
TSOL    “Code Blue”
Twin Sister    “Vampire With Dreaming Kids + Alternates (+ D/L)”
Victims / From Ashes Rise    “Victims / From Ashes Rise”
Washed Out     “Within And Without”
Wax Museums, The    “Eye Times”
Whitmore, William Elliott    “Field Songs”
Williams, Lucinda    “West”
Zomby    “Dedication”

Electronic 12″s
______________________
Anti-G    “Anti-G Presents Kenje’sz Beatsz (+ D/L)”
Beyonce    “Run The World (Girls) Remixes”
Bibio    “K Is For Kelson”
Blake, James    “Lindisfarne / Unluck” 10″
Blake, James & Airhead    “Pembroke” 10″
Blondes    “Business & Pleasure”
Com Truise    “Galactic Melt (+ D/L)”
Commodo VS Lurka    “Airtight / Gassin”
Daft Punk    “Tron Legacy Part 2 (PIC LP)”
Elgato    “Tonight / Blue”
Exile / Free The “Robots Exile / Free The Robots (Los Angeles 10/10) 10″”
Falty DL    “Make It Difficult”
Four Tet    “Rounds”
Instra:mental    “Leave It”
Joe    “Claptrap / Level Crossing”
Kryptic Minds    “Can’t Sleep (3×12″)”
Machinedrum    “Sacred Frequency”
Negrot, Aerea    “Right Body Wrong Time”
Pangea    “Inna Daze / Won’t Hurt”
Pearson Sound    “Blanked / Blue Eyes”
Peverelist    “Dance Til The Police Come / Fundamentals”
Sigha    “I Am Apathy, I Am Submission”
Soul Clap    “Social Experiment Sampler”
Various Artists    “Hessle Audio: 116 & Rising (3xLP + 2xCD Collection)”
Various Artists    “Werkschau 2 (Bpitch Control)”
Vezelay    “Lyre”
Wat    “Kill Kill EP”

HIP HOP
___________________
Beastie Boys    “Make Some Noise Remixes (Sp. Ltd. Ed.)”

9″s
______________________
O Pioneers!!! / Andrew Jackson Jihad    “Andrew Jackson Jihad / O Pioneers!!!”

7″s
______________________
Aeges “Roaches”
Art Museams “Dancing With A Hole In”
Against Me  “Russian Spies” (BLUE!)
Bad Banana “Cry”
Call To Preserve “Validation”
Daniel Striped Tiger / Teenage Cool Kids
Dark Lion
Have Heart “2003 Demo”
Homewrecker / The Love Below
Nu Sensae / White Lung
Pylon “Cover & Remix”
SOS “I Owe You Nothing”
Withdrawal “Faith Flesh & Blood”
Xerxes “Twins”
Xerxes / Midnight Souls

CDs
______________________
13 & God “Own Your Ghost”
Caretaker  “Empty Bliss
Death In June “Discriminate
Eno, Brian “Drums Between”
Group Bombino “Agadez Volume 2”
Pure X “Pleasure”
Zomby “Dedication”

BOOK
______________________
Slade Vs. The Monkeys: A Collection Of Rock Caricatures
Yeti #11

Reviews
______________________

Canvas Ashes LP

(Get Young Records)

Canvas is a new Connecticut indie rock band that leans heavy on the pop-punk side. Pop punk isn’t a go to genre for me, but any band started by Ryan White (Call It Arson, Stabyou) & Chino (The Distance) is worth checking out. I know they’ve had to work through some line up changes but, it seems things are solid with Mario (Cold Snap) & Justin fleshing out the rest of the band. “Ashes” is 8 songs, 7 originals and a Springsteen cover. I hear bits and pieces of bands like Jimmy Eat World & Thrice, but honestly anything Ryan sings over in his passionate & powerful voice is uniquely his own. I just made a joke to Rick as he was opening a box of records that if Ryan was to sing over the sound of rustling plastic, it would still be good. Not to take anything away from the musicianship, because it’s solid all the way through. It’s also worth mentioning that “Ashes” was released on Get Young Records, which is a label run by CT kids living in Boston, but repping their home state hard with releases by Heavy Breath & Cold Snap coming later this summer.
[Reviewer: Josh]

Unknown Mortal Orchestra Unknown Mortal Orchestra LP/CD

(Fat Possum Records)

There’s an unusual “retro” flavor this album, as if surf, funk, and psychedelic rock evolved together. Opener “FFunny FFrends” has an instantly recognizable “old-school hip-hop” beat with reverb-soaked vocals and sharp guitars licks reminiscent of the 1960s. The description on Fat Possum Records’ site says it best, though, calling it “alien beatnik pop music” echoing “psychedelia and krautrock minimalism with just a hint of gentle weirdness.” The twanging guitars, laid-back vocals and generally fuzzy, “sunny” sound help solidify this album’s influence from that decade. It also sets UMO apart from other recent beat-and-guitar-driven lo-fi acts such as Sleigh Bells, who focus more on slamming, hydraulic-ready blasts. “Nerve Damage!” begins with a bizarre “talking guitar” sound that I’d expect to hear from Black Moth Super Rainbow, but it quickly launches into more traditional garage/surf rock. With other highlights including the acid trip “Jello And Juggernauts” and the curiously dark roller-disco grooving “Strangers Are Strange,” this album is a very unique experience covering more musical ground than a more predictable “indie” record.
[Reviewer: Mark]

Various Artists 116 & Rising 3xLP+2xCD Collection
 

(Hessle Audio)

Hessle Audio has carved itself a niche at the forefront of forward thinking electronics – specifically in what might be called post-dubstep.  Yes, we’re already onto the post era of that.  The internet speeds everything up just that fast.  With James Blake on here it cements the validity of any such term (facetious?).  Let’s move past that (or let me – you are just reading after all).  This stuff is all so solid that I’m not going to be able to comment on each and every track – check the whole list here.  It’s basically the IDM of today.  What Warp was (not to discount what Warp does now, but it’s a completely different animal these days) in its early days is what I might equate Hessle to now (or maybe Planet Mu or somewhere in between; you get it, I hope).  Smart, but not striving to be above your head.  Electronic music for smooth listening as well as occasionally getting down.
[Reviewer: Rick]

Withdrawal Faith, Flesh & Blood 7″

(a389 Recordings)

Canada has once again spit out another great hardcore band. Withdrawal sounds like a more sonically dense early-Ringworm meets Tragedy. The single track on the B-side, the 5+ minute long metal-core epic, “Kingdom Come” is certainly going to have room fulls of sweaty kids crawling all over each other to get a piece of the mic on their upcoming North American & European tours. A389 does it again! Hail Lord Dom!
[Reviewer: Josh]

Xerxes Twins 7″

(Mayfly Records)

Xerxes seem to have a knack for grim-as-fuck artwork, judging by the cover of this 7″ and the split release they have with Midnight Souls. So I was totally thrown when the needle hit the record and I got a more standard emotionally dark hardcore sound ala Modern Life Is War when I was expecting something with more of a Southern Lord bleakness to it. This is still really good though, I like that its pretty raw, cause everything that’s been coming out lately in this style is super polished and over-produced.This will definitely appeal to fans of bands like Defeater & Touche Amore, but I would have to say that Xerxes has more in common with core bands of the early 2000s. Though, I do have a hard time shaking the image of the dude from 300 when I say the name out loud.
[Reviewer: Josh]