Protomartyr - No Passion All Technique (Urinal Cake, 2012 Repress 2013)

This album was released on vinyl at end of November 2012 but it was sold out too fast so the label made a repress of the vinyl the 19 March 2013. It has influences coming from the 80s Punk and Punk Hardcore, which both strongly influenced the 90s. But it's not at all a clone of anything, and it's Post Punk but not Punk or Hardcore whose are only influences transposed in Post Punk.

During the first listening I was intrigued but also bothered by the singing seeming to me to be lacking passion. However by listening more this album, I realized that it was a false impression. The singer diversifies his singing and his voice a lot, and certain types of singings and voices give the impression that the voice is forced. This gives a strange impression which can appear as a lack of passion. However this strange aspect becomes an originality after several listening.

In fact the singer uses many types of singings and voices, often during the same track. And he uses many different types of shouted singings and other types of singings that don't seem forced. After some listening, the work of the singer on the vocal becomes an originality and a central strength of the album.

But the vocal aren't the only key point of this album, compositions and instruments also make a very interesting, varied, not common work, and very effective. It's a creative and very good Post Punk close to the Punk and with 80s Hardcore influences. It's an excellent and singular album a bit outside its time but it gives it originality.

To listen: Streaming sites like Deezer, Rdio or Spotify. Or 115k vbr v6 preview.
To support the artists: Buy the vinyl LP at Urinal Cake label, there's also a digital version but I haven't found many places, only Midheaven and iTunes.

Where all of this is going if nobody buy the music? Be fair, buy the music you like dig.

Narrow Terence - Violence With Benefits (Enkirama, 2013)

It's their third official album and in my opinion the best from this French band. The genre is difficult to pinpoint and can depend on the track. The music has a certain energy and sounds as Rock with many Balkan influences, some element of Classical music including more modern Classical, and few Chanson genre influences in the singing. It's a little bit majestic and dignified Rock but it's made with simplicity in the style.

The Balkan influences come in particular from the way to use and orchestrate two instruments types, the violin and the brass instruments. Guitars, batteries, bass and others are more Rock, Nick Cave could be evoked even if the album is quite different than any Nick Cave album.

The singing and the voice are another singular element. The voice is rather deep and varies with various tones or textures. For example it's a hoarse voice on certain tracks, vibrating on some others, or more natural but still deep on multiple tracks. The singing is mainly a mix from Rock and a bit of French Chanson, plus perhaps a bit of Cabaret but it's less obvious. The voice and the singing aren't unique but it's rare enough to be a fundamental element of the singularity of this album.

It's a great and very uncommon album, not really Rock but with a Rock spirit and mood, and some of the Rock energy. You can listen it on various streaming sites, I noticed Deezer and Spotify. Or you can preview it here but at a quality only a bit better than standard streaming, and be fair, if you like dig it, support the artists and don't forget to buy the album.

You can buy the digital at the various standard digital shops. You can also buy the CD but the Enkirama label site is still in building right now, but you could try check yourself. There's also a Narrow Terence bandcamp place but right now it's not possible to buy the digital here, and there's no information where to buy the album. Your best chance could be to try some French shops or marketplaces but I haven't found anything, myself I bought the CD in a physical shop in Paris. The CD is perhaps sold out, I only found one used at the PriceMinister French marketplace here. If you have more information please post or send an email so I could update this.

Broken Cups - Slaves Of The Grave (Self Release, 2012)

Imagine that Warsaw released their first album and before mutating into Joy Division a time machine warp them in the future, probably the 00's. After some immersion into the contemporary music and its more stressed brutality, they decided to release a new album made in Lo Fi conditions and in a short time to create an urgency mood. No need to imagine it, it's enough to listen the first album of this Hungarian group. :-)

It's brutal haunted Post Punk which is very Punk because it's often fast, direct, Lo Fi and dirty. The singer has a special singing probably influenced and inspired by Ian Curtis. But it's also different, more brutal, and few times he uses shout singing explosions quite influenced by Hardcore. The instruments setup an interesting Synth Punk quite dirty and brutal that targets a direct efficiency like a "smash in your face". Excellent album with a high Punk spirit and music mood.

It's a "choose your price" download at bandcamp. So don't hesitate to put 0 for a free download, or to support the artists you can put the price you want.

Heavy Hawaii - Goosebumps (Art Fag, 2013)

It's a Pop album that mixes strange and attractive. Melodies which caress the ear are mixed with very strange tones, many sounds are deformed, stretched or slow down as well on the vocal as the instruments. This produces strange effects of slide as well on the instruments sounds as the vocal. It also creates a complex game of melody / dissonance. It's a little what did Naomi Punk, but here pushed much more far and in a more complex and more diversified way. This album has also a pleasant power which is uncommon in Pop, but it's not at all Power Pop.

The result is unique and very strange, but strangely more easily accessible than two other ambitious albums of pop also released this beginning of year and as much remarkable, Love Cop - Eat Yr Heart Out and Blanche Blanche Blanche - Wooden Ball, both were commented previously in the blog. This Goosebumps is an impressive, remarkable and fascinating album.


To listen: I noticed streaming sites like Deezer, Rdio or Spotify. Or 115k vbr v6 preview.
To support the artists: Buy the vinyl LP at Art Fag label. Or buy the CD or the digital on the various standard places. The labels seems not sell directly the CD or digital.

Where all of this is going if nobody buy the music? Be fair, buy the music you like dig.

The Norvins - Yoga With Mona (Soundflat, 2011)

Imagine Graham Parker who would make a vintage Punk album with a Ska-Punk spirit but not really Ska. No need to imagine, you just need listen this second album of The Norvins. :-) The voice of the singer reminds Graham Parker, particularly on his best album, Graham Parker & The Rumour - The Up Escalator (1980). It's not an identical voice but there is the same singular mixture of a voice at the same time a little brutal, a bit velvety and hot, with fewer variations but more brutality for the singer of The Norvins. Those two bands has also the same modest efficiency, they do an excellent work with a certain originality but without trying to get noticed.

It's the second album of this French band, the first album was already very nice but with this Yoga With Mona album the band makes a big step forward. This progress comes from numerous improvements, the singing is more striking and more effective, the work on the style and the sound colors is more asserted and interesting, and the compositions are generally better.

The vintage aspect comes from a work on the sounds but especially from the use of keyboards from another time. The beginning of the album is a series of red-hot tracks, it's stunning but the best follows when the band makes more differentiated tracks and experiments and diversifies more the tones and structures of the tracks. An album that seems unpretentious but which in the end is rather singular and has an assertive style, it's intoxicating as an excellent old wine.

To support the artists you can buy the LP or CD at the Soundflat label shop site. The digital is also available at the various standard places. You can listen the album through various Streaming sites, I noticed Deezer, Rdio and Spotify. Or you can preview it here but it's only a quality a bit better than standard streaming, and be fair, if you like dig it, support the artists and don't forget buy the album. For more information you can check the Band's page.

Blanche Blanche Blanche - Wooden Ball (NNA, 2013)

It's a Pop album rather experimental but also catchy, a little bit crazy but full of enthusiasm. It is very different from the previous album, it is more experimental but also more dynamic and with a production with more relief, that makes it catchier. Although the experimental aspect is very marked there is also a mattering effort to seduce the listener, bits of cute melodies, enthusiasm in the singing, fast rhythms, uncommon attractive tones, and more. If there is an undeniable work on sounds, the striking points are the over-subtle structures of the tracks and the complexity of the compositions which constantly provoke the listener. The vocal are also complex and highly varied but they are a landmark in the maelstrom of the music.

There are some links with Fiery Furnaces. It's very different from what made Fiery Furnaces, however for the female singer it's very probably a major influence on this album and some pieces are sung in the style of what was doing the female singer of Fiery Furnaces in their first albums. Another link are the tracks with multiple very different phases chained rather brutally, and the links between those phases aren't easy to pinpoint. It's not an easy album but if you can enter in its complexity it is fascinating and very catchy. It's a bit Captain Beefheart making some pop.

To listen: Streaming sites like Deezer, Rdio or Spotify. Or 115k vbr v6 preview.
To support the artists:  Buy the vinyl LP or the digital at NNA Tapes.

Where all of this is going if nobody buy the music? Be fair, buy the music you like dig.

Boogarins - As Plantas Que Curam (Self Release, 2013)

This is the first EP of a Brazilian band. This EP has six tracks and it's excellent uncommon Psychedelic Pop to all points of view, the vocals, instruments, compositions and work on sounds or details. There's a care to use some discrete strange or uncommon sounds or tones to increase the psychedelic mood and add some spice. It's Psychedelic Pop but with a certain energy and dynamism in sweetness. There's some vague echoes from Os Mutantes or even more tiny echoes from Western or Country music, but mostly it's a very pleasant original psychedelic. This originality is perhaps coming from Brazilian influences, but it doesn't matter, this EP sounds original and this is very refreshing.

It's a free download at bandcamp page of the band. And you can check the band's page to get more information.

Red Hex - Red Hex (Self Release, 2012)

The group released recently the excellent single with three tracks, Shoulda Known, on the label Negative Fun. This is the opportunity to discover their previous EP of 2012 which is a free download on Lastfm.

This EP of six tracks is a marvel, a kind of epic Garage Rock with a Punk spirit. This epic aspect comes from the singing which kills but also from a mixture of heaviness and weightlessness as an elephant of several tons dancing with grace. No no I am sober, I mean the mixture of basses which bounce and the singing often epic with a pronounced echo on certain tracks, all this gives the feeling of lightness and aerial. The dirty and heavy sound gives this massive feeling. It's an excellent style, but it's also excellent compositions, instruments rule, the singer is a killer, and the topping on the cake, there's a very interesting work on sounds. Woo huge stuff, I can't wait the album!

The EP is a free download on Lastfm but the simplest is to download it here. To support the group you can buy their new single on bandcamp, Shoulda Known. But also you can buy the Demo Collection EP on bandcamp, it includes three tracks of the Red Hex EP but in a better digital quality, and it also includes two tracks not in the free EP. And you can also buy the single Black Hole EP on bandcamp which contains two tracks of the Red Hex EP but in better digital quality. Those two tracks in the single aren't in the Demo Collection EP. The free EP includes one track neither in the single nor in the EP that are on bandcamp, it's Crawlspace.

Bill Baird - Spring Break Of The Soul (Pau Wau, 2013)

This new double album is a wonderful journey roughly through the years 68-72 and with the gap of the hindsight from a modern look. The style is an epoch and a psychedelic touch. The tracks are rather diverse but the style is enough to maintain a unity and avoids the feeling that it's a compilation. It is full of small oddities to spice, and there's many winks and smiles for the references and because the music is everything but serious. :-) Also despite it's a double album, there's no length and there's nothing to throw, it's impressive and it's great music.

You can buy the double vinyl edition full of bounties with a digital download code or the CD or the digital at Pau Wau label, you'll find all the links there. You can listen some songs with streaming on bandcamp or the full album for preview here, with a quality only a bit better than the standard streaming but with all tracks. And be fair, if you like dig it, don't forget buy it.

1400 Points De Suture - Baisse Les Yeux (No Way Asso, 2012)

It's the third album of this French band, in every album the music genre changes, but there is a common point, to make music without taking themselves seriously and use a horror theme if not a bit gore. With this new album if the spirit is still there, on the other hand the music is much less frenzy, but it's not a bad thing. :-) The instruments setup a solid base on which the vocals are much more audacious, it's from tenebrous singing to various modulated growls and few shouts, all of this is supposed to represent some monsters or some dark character. This setup is a bit delirious but the result is surprisingly coherent. It's not really frightening, more probably it will make you smile, but the important is that musically it's very interesting, coherent, strange but effective and uncommon.

For the music genre it's rather diverse and depends of the track, massive Alternative Rock without being Metal, rounded Industrial, influenced by music of horror movies, between Punk and Hardcore, sort of Doom Punk, and some other variations. It's amazing that all this mic mac remains totally coherent, the album has a very strong unity and its style could be powerful tenebrous Alternative Rock. This album is a bit delirious but the result is a brilliant masterstroke.

You can buy the vinyl LP to the No Way Asso label, or the digital is a "pay the price you want" on Seb Normal bandcamp page, he is the drummer of this band and of many other like The Feeling of Love. You can download it for free at this bandcamp page, set 0 to the price for a free download or any price you want to support the artists.

Love Cop - Eat Yr Heart Out (Gnar, 2013)

It's an album of bizarre Pop Garage mixing very attractive sounds and melodies with oddities and dirt. There's a deep work on sounds and textures, dirty, vibrating, shady or other, it gives a color very Garage to this Pop. It's also Shoegaze without aggressive Noise which is replaced by a work on the dirty sounds, without sound walls which are replaced by games with textures, and without Dream Pop which is replaced by a Pop more diverse and several times strange.

This album has a certain relationship with the excellent little known album, Para Siempre - Witch Doctor (demo) released in 2012. This Para Siempre's album proposes also a Shoegaze with a deep work on sounds and textures and without using an aggressive Noise. However the album Eat Yr Heart Out is more finished with more depth and diversity, the singing is more mature and more varied, the compositions focus more on the strange aspects, and it's a bigger shift from more classical Shoegaze.

This second album of Love Cop, both released in 2013, is a magnificent album, very disturbing but fascinating the first listening, then along more listening it becomes more easily accessible with however a deep work on the sounds which makes it a kind of strange Shoegaze Garage, even after several listening.

You can buy the cassette to the Gnar Tape label. And you can buy the digital on label bandcamp page. You can listen about half of the tracks at bandcamp, or you can listen the full album here for preview only, but with a quality only a bit better than standard streaming quality. And please, if you like dig it, be fair and don't forget buy it.

Otomo - Big Little Things (Self Release, 2012)

This Spanish group had already released an EP and an album both well-made. But with the mini album "Big Little Things" the group makes a step forward. In this mini album the group shows more boldness with more complex structures which evolve more. Sounds are more worked and there are more superimposed musical layers, this makes the music richer and more interesting. The music is also more dynamic and more nervous and that's more catchy.

The music genre is difficult to qualify, there is Electro but also guitars and battery. The group qualifies its music of experimental Post Rock. The experimental aspect is undeniable in the structures of the tracks but it's very moderate by many very catchy elements. The Post Rock aspect isn't obvious because it is different from what we usually hear in this genre, here no long tracks, no long rise and other classic tricks in this genre. In fact it's instrumental music and it's also a sort of Math Rock which uses very few of the usual clichés of this genre. Anyway it's an excellent mini album, catchy, interesting and with a certain musical ambition.

It's free download at Bandcamp as are the previous releases.

Mole People - Mole Scroll (Tolmie Terrapin Press, 2012)

This is an ambitious album, an uncompromising Opera Punk with tempered experimental parts. It's not purely Punk, it's more between Punk and Punk Rock with Metal influences on guitar riffs and through their sounds but it's not Metal. A point to note is that I don't understand the text so my comments concern the music but not the story from the text.

The structure of the album is complex and involves a lot of ups and downs, breakups, and many parts whose main goal is to build an atmosphere. Although the music is often very dense and sometimes violent, the structure of the album creates a very airy music with great relief. That is a pleasant contrast with a tendency to monoliths albums especially in Punk and some other music genres. In fact such freedom in the structure of the album recalls the 70's but this is not the case at all of the music itself.

The only drawback to this album that I like a lot, it was in my top 10 of 2012, is few interludes and introductions arid and too long. And I have truncated some beginnings, for mention: the interlude Collect starts at 54", Grey Mass starts at 1'13, Sixty Six Days Below starts at 30", and the non musical beginning of He Spent starts at 1'30. Having these truncations from the second listening, my comment is only about the album with these truncations, and in three letters and a word, it's excellent! :-)

You can buy the digital or the cassette with a digital download at Tolmie Terrapin Press bandcamp. You can listen it at bandcamp too, or here but only with a quality a bit better than the streaming. Remember to support the music you like dig, be fair. :-)

Blackmail - Bones (Yuk-Fü, 2013)

This group is not the German Indie Rock band of the same name whose first album was released in 1997. That Bones album is the first by a French band composed of members from various bands, Bosco, Prototypes and Beat Mark.

It's Garage Rock made with Electro disguised behind sounds crafted to make them scrambled and dirty. This gives a more natural sound color and makes it much less Electro. It's clearly in the footsteps of Suicide but unlike them avoid being too repetitive and the sound palette used is totally different. This isn't Garage Rock Electro like does Nice Face, in this Bones album the Electro isn't put in front but is just a tool to make Garage Rock with a style shift. Generally I do not like Electro sounds but there thanks to the excellent work on the sounds and dirt, that is very pleasing to my ears. It's an excellent album of singular Garage Rock.

Buying it seems not easy, myself I ordered it to the Yuk-Fü label. You can check how to buy it here, there's a digital version, or for a CD version you'll need email them and then you will be able to pay with Paypal or by sending them a mail with the payment. The limited vinyl version should be released soon by Malditos Records. If the Label warn me when this vinyl version will be released and where buy it, I'll post the information in the blog. You can listen it with the full album streaming on SoundCloud or here for preview if SoundCloud is a problem for you.

Skullcup - Skullcup EP (Self Release, 2012)

This is the first EP of this Canadian band and some details suggest that perhaps they still need to refine a bit their technique, or it's deliberate for more spontaneity. In fact it doesn't matter because the compositions rule and there's a significant style approach for an unusual result. This is done through a mixture of influences rarely mixed, Punk, Garage Rock, Doom, and Sludge a bit. It's amazing and very successful, not technically perfect but very exciting. All tracks are very good or better, and there's a few anthology tracks. It's a sort of Power Garage Punk with Doom and Sludge influences. That's a blast, enjoy, it's a free download at bandcamp.

Boyhood - When I'm Hungry (Bruised Tongue, 2012)

An incredible thunderous Garage Pop mini album by this Canadian band, it's not Noise not even really noisy, it's not aggressive to the ears but it's very powerful. The abuse of bass tones and the frequent reversal of roles between the bass tones and the medium and highs tones create a weird music, full of power and very exciting... if you can bear the strange music. :-)

Another striking aspect is its thoroughly Garage approach, not a single sound that isn't at least a little distorted, crackling, cavernous or otherwise. But it is not for the sake of contrast and aggression, on the contrary it is very measured, not even really aggressive rather flattering to the ear. This work on the sounds build a less common music, a bit dirty and compose music on a fourth axis, the sounds.

The abuse of bass tones and the thunderous mood are a great trick, but the overall work on sounds at the composition layer is remarkable and let hope even better for future releases, even if it will be only for few lucky listeners.

You can listen the album or buy the cassette at label bandcamp page or you can listen the same album at artist bandcamp page. Or you can download a preview but the quality is only a bit better than standard streaming quality, and be fair, if you like dig it, don't forget support the artists and buy it.

π - Ubik (Self Release, 2013)

It's a fantastic Heavy Psychedelic Garage EP with a great work on sounds. The first track is a sort of Raw Power Psychedelic, the second track is a sort of intense decadent Psychedelic anthem, the third track is a sort of speedy Noisy Garage Psychedelic, the fourth track is a sort of Heavy aerial Garage Psychedelic and the whole is huge! :-D

It's a free download at bandcamp, set 0 to the price for a free download or any price you want to support the music if you like it.