Permanent Makeup – The Void…It Creeps (New Granada/No Clear)
It starts out in the world of Sonic Youth — a tinny, anemic charming version of SY — before shooting off in the direction of Sun City Girls, Minutemen rants with Pere Ubu paranoia
Deerhunter – Monomania (4AD)
I don’t like praising records for their focus and consistency — makes me feel like I’m in a corporate boardroom or something.
Christina Amphlett (1959-2013)
Chrissy Amphlett, lead singer of Divinyls, died this past Sunday. She was 53. Most musicians are lucky if they ever release a record, much less make the charts, never mind change the world. Ms. Amphlett, who left home at 14, accomplished all three.
The 49 Americans – E Pluribus Unum/We Know Nonsense (Staubgold)
The 49 Americans were an experiment in the pursuit of happiness.
Book Review – The City is Ablaze! The Story of A Post Punk Popzine 1984 – 1994
It costs the same as 3 issues of Mojo, or 6 weeks’ worth of NME’s, and it’s a dozen times more likely to change your life.
Blanche Blanche Blanche – Wooden Ball (NNA Tapes)
The future of adventurous US music can be found in the hinterlands. Don’t go to them; they’ll come to you.
Ensemble Pearl – Ensemble Pearl (Drag City)
Imagine a German Dirty Three. Of if you’re feeling cynical, imagine a 10-year-old boy pretending to be a monster, stomping all over Tokyo in a nuclear-induced haze.
Beat Mark – Howls Of Joy (Ample Play)
Here’s an official video. It’s better than Veronica Falls, I guess.
Hair Police – Mercurial Rites (Type)
Now this is some real grisly shit right here. Forget your Swans, forget your Big Black, forget your Danish bands of dubious intelligence
Eat Skull – III (Woodsist)
I’m a sucker for thinned-out drum machine percussion and keyboard lines that sound like old classroom films from my youth
