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.