Ultra Zook - EPUZZ (Gnougn - Human Feather, 2013)

It's the second EP of this French group. Their first EP named EPUZ (only one Z) was already excellent. However this new EP is more immediately catchy, partially because it shows a lot of enthusiasm which is very contagious. Moreover the first EP uses several times Electro tones a little cheap, which may deter the first listening before fully appreciate their use in the context. This second EP also has a more Rock color and less Electro due to the sound pallete used.

It is not obvious to classify their music, however I would say that this last EP has several links with the recent evolutions of Math Rock. Rather than to explain these evolutions of the genre I am rather going to quote some albums, Battles - Gloss Drop, Hair - 1000 Thousand, Pneu - Highway To Health but also Zach Hill - Face Tat. This EPUZZ EP has some kinships with both first ones. They share an enthusiastic approach, an effort to also be catchy and not only ambitious, and they don't hesitate to use influences from various genres and even to use some vocal. They even have all  a distant influence from West Indian musics, but it's not Zouk.

This last EP of Ultra Zook also has one or two tracks with aspects a little Jazz, or more exactly links with Free Rock with links with Jazz and influenced by Free Jazz, as for example, Zu vs. Mats Gustafsson - how To Raise An Ox, Zu - Igneo, or even in other styles Zu - The Way of The Animal Powers, Blurt - The Kenny Rogers Greatest hit, Mombu - Mombu, or very appart but a reference for the games between (true) Jazz and various genres of Rock, the album Naked City - Naked City … I think I have fulfilled the goal of the number of reference citations per month, but if there is a real link with one or two tracks of this Ultra Zook EP, it would be especially with the first two quoted, and rather distant links. : -) Furthermore all those albums are sometimes a little bit experimental, a pitfall which avoids carefully Ultra Zook with a constant effort to catch the listening even in the more adventurous parts, it's a point shared with the Naked City album quoted above.

But this is only some aspects of this EP, there are maybe some other influences or significant kinships which I forgot or don't know, the point is this EP is very free and creative. It's little Math Rock not sounding like Math Rock, inventive and deliberately enthusiastic and catchy. In brief, it is an excellent EP with its own style and knowing how to merge ambition and seduction. It's even two excellent EP but the second is more immediately catchy.

To listen : Band's  bandcamp page. Or 135k vbr preview.
To support the artists: Buy the 12" vinyl or digital.

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

X-Ray Fiends - X-Ray Fiends (Sound Recordings, 2013)

It's the first album of this New Zealand band, they had released previously an EP in 2011 and a single at beginning of 2013. It's an album between Punk and Garage but with an orchestration and play between the instruments which isn't usual in these two genres, and it's also an element quite different than in the single released at the beginning of the year. The singing is varied but is always very punk and uses various kinds of Punk singing. The Lo Fi and direct aspects plus few hooks remind Garage.

The Punk singing is very good and diversified, and compositions are quite good, but it's the orchestration and the work on the instruments (guitars, bass and battery, and even keyboard on some track) that gives most of its salt to this album. It's varied, interesting, sometimes with tones not common.

During the first listening it seemed to me to be a nice album but not more, but with more listening I'm completely stuck and now I like very much this album. It's very good Punk singing, very good Punk Rock compositions, cool Lo Fi and direct approach of Garage, very interesting orchestration and excellent work on instruments and play between them. It's great stuff.

It's a "choose your price" download at bandcamp, so don't hesitate to put 0 for a free download.

To support the artists you can buy the vinyl at the Sound Recordings label, or the digital album at the price you want at the band's bandcamp page.

Sapin - One, Two, Tree, Four! (Azbin, 2013)

It's a short EP of four tracks, the first release from this French group. It's very good Garage Rock with an excellent abuse of hooks and even if there's several echoes from stuff you can have the feeling to know, there's also good tricks more uncommon and the whole mixture isn't common stuff.

The sound color isn't very dirt but instead is quite rude, it's like Noise Rock without the noise and morphed into Garage Rock with ton of hooks and some funny games with sounds. It's a very good brutal and catchy Garage Rock EP.

To listen: Azbin label bandcamp page. Or 135k vbr preview.
To support the artists: Buy the vinyl EP or the digital.

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

Crystal Soda Cream - Escape From Vienna (Totally Wired, 2013)

It's the first album of this Austrian band but before, they released an EP in 2012. Anyway forget the EP and start with this LP because it's just another band. Both are games with the New Wave but the EP is a bit simple when this new LP is just another matter.

So this LP is games with some New Wave from the end of 70's and beginning of 80's but there's a rather interesting shift. I'm not fan of most of the best known of the New Wave coming from the 80's. My problem isn't that I judge it's not interesting music but that at that time ton of groups jumped onto the genre and alas often it ends in making music around a too limited range of sounds, because that sound color was identified as "New Wave" which was on the hype. But that was a weird (and popular) shift of the genre. Moreover, during that period many bands evolved from a music with some edges to a rounded music much more Pop and honey. That was too much sugar at the same time and too much too similar stuff at the same time. And worse, the genre was just too popular at that time and too mainstream and this generated a lot too many too similar albums.

But I'm a fan of New Wave, in particular the two albums that are often considered the origin of New Wave and that are for me two great masterpieces, I mean the first two albums of Roxy Music, but not the honey/crooner Pop band's albums that followed. I could quote some other albums of New Wave I did like a lot and still like a lot as, Kas Product - Try Out,  various The Nits albums before 1986 like New Flat or Adieu Sweet Bahnhof (Henk album is their masterpiece), Talking Heads - Remain In Lights, The Sound - Jeopardy, Baroque Bordello - Paranoiac Songs or Via, XTC - White Music or English Entertainment, some Devo albums, and some more. In fact I could also quote some New Wave that has been tagged later Post Punk because the New Wave tag had got a too negative fame and had evolved too much to a pure Synth Pop with a very identifiable sound color. So at first they was tagged New Wave and later has been tagged Post Punk like Joy Division, The Cure, Young Marble Giant - Colossal Youth, and more. And for a recent example of New Wave I like I can also quote The Pheromoans - Does This Guy Stack Up? commented in the blog.

So that first album of this young band is playing with New Wave but also a lot with the first two albums of The Cure that are two releases of their first album with same tracks but also some different tracks. That two albums are definitely New Wave, more than later Cure albums which are more… Cure stuff. But they are also different than the well-known New Wave color of that time and few after.

The singer uses many different voices on this album and that's quite interesting. But also on many tracks the singer uses even a voice that reminds quite a lot Robert Smith. But it's not the virtuoso singer that was Robert Smith, but a Robert Smith that would be more direct, unpolished and slightly abrupt, ie a Robert Smith with some light Punk influences. And if the music and sound color reminds in part the sound of the New Wave of the 80's, there's quite a shift because it's merged with bit of acidity, with some edge and a sound slightly dirty.

It's definitely an homage and games with a genre and some albums, but the shift they apply to the New Wave is just great, ie a bit dirty, a bit acid and a bit unpolished. It's definitely an approach I would expect to listen at that time but never get the luck to find in the New Wave of the 80's. Moreover I have to admit that the variations and winks to the first two Cure albums is another great element for me because I'm just fan of those albums and much less of what followed, even if it had some ambition… beside all the theatrical gesticulations. So that album is for me great stuff, it's games with New Wave and in part with The Cure first two albums, and it's a New Wave with a shift, slightly acid, dirty, unpolished and with some edges.

To listen : Totally Wired label bandcamp page. Or 135k vbr preview.
To support the artists: Buy the 12" vinyl or digital.

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

Os Drongos - Greetings from Cuckoo Bay (Bleeding Gold, 2013)

This is the first Single/EP of this French group, and they should release soon their first album. The three tracks have a different approach but the band has a strong enough style to keep it coherent. To simplify the first track is Garage Pop, the second is Garage Rock Psychedelic and the third is Garage Pop Grunge Psychedelic. There's also a light South America color that mildly justify the name of the band and of the EP. :-)

The use of Garage in the tags is a bit exaggerated, it's Garage not much focused on noise and dirt but instead focus on some games with sound and a sort of Garage energetic and direct approach with a well balanced production, clear but not too clean. So it's not really Garage but some of its spirit is close to Garage, including the light Psychedelic touches that remind modern Garage frequent approach. Anyway even if it's not really Garage, I think it's an excellent EP that could enjoy fans of Garage.

To listen: Bleeding Gold label bandcamp page. Or 135k vbr preview.
To support the artists: Buy the 7" vinyl or digital.

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

Ex-Cult - Ex-Cult (Goner - 101 Distribution, 2012)

It's probably my favorite album of 2012 but I refuse admit it. :-) The point is it's the album released in 2012 that I listened the most and I'm not tired of it. Listen it few time more for commenting it was still a refreshing listening. I refuse admit it's my favorite album of 2012 because my brain tells me that the tracks are too similar and reuse too much similar tricks. Moreover the first place in my 2012 favorite list is already taken by an album that I consider a masterpiece, and for the listening duration it's clearly the album I listened the most because it's a double album, White Fence - Family Perfume Vol. 1&2.

Among all stuff I ever listened this Ex-Cult album is the closest to The Ruts album, The Crack released in 1979 which is probably among the albums that I listened the most. And because of the singer premature death it generated a frustration to not have any follow up. The Ex-Cult album is faster, more violent, more dirty, more savage but it's exactly what was needed to reproduce a roughly similar feeling for an album released 33 years later. Anyway, despite tracks seem a bit similar in part because the music is lost into a lot of violence, dirt and garbage, it's a great Garage Punk album, for me it's a date.

To listen: I noticed streaming sites like Deezer, Rdio or Spotify. Or 115k vbr v6 preview.
To support the artists: Buy the vinyl or CD at label shop. Or the digital on the various standard places.

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

Burnt Ones - You'll Never Walk Alone (Burger, 2013)

This second album of the band is a very good Garage Pop album. It's Pop with energy but also some softness and many choirs, many fuzz and some organized garbages by the addition of special sounds and noises to the base music. That seems simple but if many Garage albums use some Pop tricks most are mainly looking toward Garage and Rock hooks, here it's pure Pop very Garage.

A good example is their first album that was quite more Garage Rock and that was using many classical Garage Rock hooks, maybe too classical. This new album gives up this relationship with classics of Garage and instead is focusing on Pop. It's very good stuff and the Garage approach makes this Pop less common, not Shoegaze, not Dream Pop, not mainstream Pop, it's just Garage Pop but it's a less common genre so less chance to be tired of it.

If you are fan of the classical Garage hooks then this new album could disappoint you, otherwise it's very good Garage Pop, very Pop but also fuzzy, noisy and with energy, and in a way it is more original in the contemporary Garage context than was the first album.

To listen: Streaming sites like Deezer, Rdio or Spotify. Or 115k vbr v6 preview.
To support the artists:  Buy the vinyl LP or the cassette at Burger label. Or the digital on the various standard places.

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

The Pheromoans - Does This Guy Stack Up? (Upset The Rhythm, 2012)

The first release of this UK band was in 2009, but they are prolific and before this last album "Does This Guy Stack Up?" they had already released four albums, two mini albums, three EP and several singles. The previous releases of the band are varied but generally, rather experimental, very Lo Fi and some are more Garage. At the beginning of 2012 they however released the Rock Bar on the EP label Monofonus Press with a better production and a bit less experimental but still quite weird.

The album "Does This Guy Stack Up?" was released later in 2012 and is even more experimental but this is merged with many catchy hooks and its production is much better, neither Lo Fi nor Garage. The result is an excellent and ambitious New Wave album, varied and catchy. It is in my opinion their best release this day, and it is probably the ideal album to discover the band while having an insight of its rather ambitious and rather experimental approach.

To listen: I only found it on Spotify. Or 115k vbr v6 preview.

To support the artists: Buy the vinyl LP or the CD at Upset The Rhythm label. Or the digital on the various standard places.

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

Waylon Thornton and the Heavy Hands - Enter The Coven (Cool Tapes, 2013)

Waylon Thornton has released many albums and EP since few years, I discovered him through the No Chew No Rip EP which is an amazing furious Garage Rock EP playing on excess of enthusiasm and on a delicate balance between control and lost of control, both for the vocals and the instruments. But I have to admit that I get lost by weaker releases that followed and by the amount of previous releases that discouraged me.

It's tempting to give up on some artists because they release too much and too often. It's very hard to enter in such universe, and it's even harder to follow. But the point isn't that this LP is by Waylon Thornton the man of 1000 releases. The point is it's just a great LP and no need to try others Waylon releases to enjoy this one fully, and if you want try one this one is the one to try.

Through that album Waylon and his band reach another level, not only there's only very good tracks, but also the LP has a personal style, it has a good diversity, and the tracks are more sophisticated, there's particularly a more intense and more interesting work on the sounds. The result is a high-tension Garage Psychedelic album played with extreme passion, the work on sounds is a bit hidden by the energy and the Lo Fi, but it just requires some attention to details to enjoy this fully. Don't let you intimidate by the discography size of Waylon Thornton, that's a great album of Garage Psychedelic.

In fact after six careful listening I have the felling that it's a classic, it's like I have put my hands on something like Raw Power, not the style but the dimension. Every element is great and together they build a synergy to achieve something not only amazing but archetypal. Moreover, myself I never heard an album with this approach and reaching the same dimension, huge. :-)

It's a "choose your price" download at bandcamp, so don't hesitate to put 0 for a free download.

To support the artists you can buy the the cassette or the digital album at the price you want at the band's bandcamp page.

Owen Temple Quartet - Rot in the sun (Casbah, 2013)

It's not easy to define the music of this album which is the second album of this French group. It's a sort of mid-tempo Rock which is relatively heavy. It has various influences and the result is uncommon. The singer uses a special declamatory singing that strangely remind me Extra Life, but it's different. There's a sort of slow heaviness in the instruments playing that reminds me the 90's but unlike a lot of the underground Rock of the 90's there's here no influences of Punk, Hardcore or Noise Rock not even Stoner or Sludge. Moreover I can't pinpoint any 90's group or album particularly.

Anyway that's an excellent album of uncommon Rock with a mid-tempo and relatively heavy. There's many very good tracks, a good overall originality and a freedom of the inspirations sources. Lol, ok it's excellent stuff that I like a lot, that's why I wanted comment this album even if I still can't pinpoint it well, and that I can't pinpoint it well is one of the reasons making me enjoy this album. :-)

You can listen it on Casbah label bandcamp page. 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.

To support the artists you can buy the vinyl with a digital download at the Casbah label bandcamp page.

Pow Wows - Bent Out Of Shape (Bruised Tongue, 2013)

This mini album that lasts 25" was recorded live January 12 2013 at The Silver Dollar Room, Toronto. It shares only one song with the first album of this Canadian group, Nightmare Soda released in 2011. And there's two tracks never released before. The other tracks are coming from the two EP released in 2012 and 2013 and one track was released before through the digital release of a live recording for WFMU radio. You can find them all on the band's bandcamp page.

The sound of this album is very good and very fun, and the band was in a very good shape. The result of this live recording is like a new album with an excellent producing. The vocals has a constant echo that is very cool and that fits very well with the music. The instruments are at same time very clear and with a cool Garage dirt, and the guitars and bass have a great sound partly coming from the recording and partly from the playing. There's no weak track and the result is a very good Garage Rock album. The band's first album is quite good too but for some reasons, I even prefer this new live album that I like a lot.

You can listen it on Bruised Tongue label bandcamp page or on band's bandcamp page. 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 EP.

To support the artists you can buy the cassette with a download card at the band's bigcartel page. Or you can buy the digital album at Bruised Tongue label bandcamp page or at band's bandcamp page. You can also buy a tee-shirt at band's bandcamp page.

White Reaper - White Aura (Self Release, 2012)

That big EP with eight tracks is the first of the band, it's an aggressive Noise Rock merged with a ton of hooks coming from various horizons, including Garage Rock, Punk, or even Rock. The merge is excellently done and gives a good originality to the whole.  The cumulation of hooks is also excellent and makes this EP very catchy. The fast Noise Rock makes it brutal and gives it an excellent urgency, it's a tornado!

It's a very fun EP if you can bear the Noise Rock aggressiveness. It's not at all Shoegaze because there isn't the main standard tricks of Shoegaze like playing with textures and noise walls, and it replaces the Pop hooks by other hooks more linked to genres that are less Pop, like Garage Rock, Punk or Rock.

The sound level recording of this EP is very low, like many other albums or EP commented in this blog. It's quite important to adjust the sound level and increase it quite a lot to makes it at a level on par with the average current production. I'm using iTunes that allows setup a sound level increase for any mp3 and it keeps the setup. Even at the maximum it's not enough to be on par with contemporary production, and some other albums or EP commented in this blog has also this problem. So I used the ability to define a special tuning setup mainly increasing the sound level and I use it for that sort of EP and album, that most often are self production with simple recording tools. And thanks, itunes also remember this setup for each mp3.

Anyway, it's a noisy garagy loudy tornado full of perverse hooks! It's juicy, catchy, funny, and there's no piety and no prisoners! :-)

It's a "choose your price" download at bandcamp, so don't hesitate to put 0 for a free download.

To support the artists you can buy the digital EP at the price you want at the band's bandcamp page. But also the Earthbound label will release soon a vinyl of the band, the Conspirator/The Cut 7" that you can preorder at bigcartel Earthbound label page.

Ugly Motors - Ugly Motors (Self Release, 2013)

It's the first EP of this band and during the first listening I said to myself that it was quite good energetic Garage Rock but very classic, maybe too classic. However without knowing why, I was intrigued. That brought me to listen it again and more attentively. Then I noticed that the playing of guitars and sometimes the bass is quite sophisticated with several melodic lines in parallel and games between the instruments, and it's quite interesting. In fact it's not common to have such sophisticated instruments playing well merged to powerful Rock and Garage dirt, and this approach gives an originality to the sound color of this Garage Rock.

Moreover, the singer does an excellent work with a slightly dirty singing that matches well the genre. Also the energy is quite present without to be lost in the complexity of the instruments playing. The result is a very good power Garage Rock EP, and unlike the feeling that could gives a first listening, it isn't common Garage Rock. It is particularly advised to the lovers of guitars or of powerful Garage Rock, but not only

It's a "choose your price" download at bandcamp, so don't hesitate to put 0 for a free download.

To support the artists you can buy the cassette or the digital at the price you want at the band's bandcamp page.

Tiny Hazard - Tiny Hazard (Self Release, 2012)

This is the first EP of this band, its music is a sort of Art Pop to make a parallel with Art Rock. It's a bit experimental Pop but not really, the elements are mostly with a standard approach but it's much more the songs structures that are quite broken, and that reminds a lot Art Rock or some types of Prog Rock, but it's more Pop.

Usually I prefer avoid list many references because I consider echoes of known music are mostly coming from a mechanical neuronal mechanism to link new stuff to stuff you already know. But after several listening I still have the feeling of a mix of echoes, Kate Bush, Björk, the French singer Camille, King Crimson and modern Classical Music. Often the voice and the singing reminds me a bit Kate Bush first albums, the broken structures and sometimes the singing reminds me Björk, and few time how are used silence with whispering and loud singing reminds me Camille. The piano reminds me either Classical either modern Classical. And the track Old Man Sea reminds me a lot King Crimson. But don't hope find any of those bands in this EP, it has its own personality and you'll probably won't hear the same echoes than I do. Anyway it's great stuff that touches me much.

You can listen the album on band's bandcamp page. 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 EP.

To support the artists you can buy the digital EP on band's bandcamp page.