Thee Oh Sees - Castlemania

01. I Need Seed
02. Corprophagist (A Bath Perhaps)
03. Stinking Cloud
04. Corrupted Coffin
05. Pleasure Blimps
06. A Wall, A Century 2
07. Spider Cider
08. The Whipping Continues
09. Blood On The Deck
10. Castlemania
11. AA Warm Breeze
12. Idea For Rubber Dog
13. The Horse Was Lost
14. I Won’t Hurt You
15. If I Stay Too Long
16. What Are We Craving

Over the past decade, San Francisco's Thee Oh Sees have morphed from a showcase for skronk-savant John Dwyer's sensitive side into the hardest working band in garage-rock. Their output is prolific and their live show combustible. But on Castlemania, Dwyer opts to go it alone. With the exception of live-band regular Brigid Dawson-- who, along with the Sandwitches' Heidi Alexander, contributes some backing vocals-- the shaggy-banged songwriter handles almost all of the instruments. Drummer Mike Shoun and Guitarist Petey Dammit aren't out of the picture permanently. They're just off-duty until the fall, when Thee Oh Sees are scheduled to release yet another full-length record.

Castlemania is a fairly introspective affair, at least by Oh Sees standards. It's Dywer's most melodious batch of songs since 2006's mostly acoustic Cool Death of the Island Raiders. Without the heavy full-band artillery he leans toward skewed bubble-gum pop, fleshing out the guitars and drums with flutes, bells and thrift store synths. It was recorded, at least in part, at Dywer's former group house. "This here is the last record worked on at 608c Haight Street in San Francisco (very near and dear to my heart and heavy in my memories) before control was assumed by rich assholes," he writes in the liner notes.

Not that this is Thee Oh Sees' answer to Nebraska. Even at his most reflective, Dwyer's songwriting retains a sinister, "Sesame Street"-on-LSD sensibility-- simple melodies and creepy lyrics, frequently delivered in a whacked-out monster-voice. "It don't feel too good to be dead in the 21st century/ I am dirt but I can be/ A home for wayward hungry seeds," Dwyer growls on "I Need Seed", deploying a Looney Tunes-worthy narrative in a song about death. It's summery retro nuggets pinned into the red, shot through with a healthy dose of drugs and dread, while "Pleasure Blimps" finds him singing of machines stripping away flesh over shimmering glockenspiel lines and 12-string guitars.

All in all, Castlemania is a fairly loose and scattered record. There are plenty of oddball tangents, including a stripped-down and spooky cover of West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band's "I Won't Hurt You" and the forlorn mellotron and sax instrumental, "The Horse Was Lost". Songs frequently melt down into racket rather than stop on a dime. But it's good to hear Dwyer step away from his backing band's big guns, if only for a moment...www.pitchfork.com

Crystal Antlers - Two-Way Mirror

1. Jules' Story
2. Seance
3. Summer Solstice
4. By The Sawkill
5. Two-Way Mirror
6. Way Out
7. Fortune Telling
8. Always Afraid
9. Knee Deep
10. Sun-Bleached
11. Dog Days

After a couple seconds of light feedback, drum adjustments, and general milling about, "Jules' Story" roars to life and assures us that Crystal Antlers are still a band of volcanic force maintaining the long-haired spirit of 1968 on their second LP. There's enough hurtling Echoplex riffs and organ squall to freak out the squares, but it's all wrapped in three-minute chunks, with verses, choruses, and bridges, prog-psych with all the boring parts sucked out. But despite that opening, just about everything else surrounding the band has changed, and not necessarily for the better. After inking a deal to legendary indie label Touch and Go on the strength of their scalding EP, most listeners caught up with them on 2009's Tentacles. That record was far from a flop, but it was nonetheless a mild letdown, an album saddled by unsteady direction and brittle production. But even if it delivered the goods, it might not have mattered: due to an assortment of financial troubles and a subsequent "drastic downsizing," Tentacles stands as the last new record released by Touch and Go.

And while there are times here when Crystal Antlers forego their whiplash unpredictability and seem almost too in control of their sound on Two-Way Mirror, they're clearly reinvigorated. The most noticeable changes are almost completely cosmetic: though they'll never be pretty, Mirror is far easier to face head-on, dialing back the trebly sizzle of its predecessor into a more comfortable, analog warmth. But the major point is how they've managed to fully integrate slivers of gentler sounds-- hints of surf-rock, lo-fi folk, and drone-- and it feels like growth as opposed to acquiescence. Though Crystal Antlers took steps towards accessibility on Tentacles, bassist/vocalist Jonny Bell went along for the ride kicking and screaming. Not sure when the "On" switch got hit, but Bell finally can be described as a "singer" more than a mere "vocalist," and the lyrics feel like the product of a point of view rather than placeholders.

The success of Two-Way Mirror as a whole is mostly borne of fine-tuning, but "Summer Solstice" is the keeper on account of its
being the most stunning display of ambition here. It's a near-total stylistic dismantling proving the distance between Comets on Fire and The Photo Album-era Death Cab For Cutie could be traversed in three minutes. A churning, distorted bassline cuts through chimes; vigorous tom-rolls and an ascending chorus of halting sighs are very much in the style of Ben Gibbard, albeit far chestier. Even without the video, there's still an undercurrent of vulnerability that you never really got from these guys before, and it's a legitimately new and exciting direction. Previous singles "Andrew" and "Little Sister" were nice enough on their own in terms of pushing Crystal Antlers to something more melodic, but sliding into black-lit blooze rock felt like an otherwise restless band taking the path of least resistance.

It's a triumph of novelty meeting execution, and the best moments here are when they go the furthest lengths not to repeat themselves. I'm sure it'll slay live-- most Crystal Antlers songs do anyway-- but clearly experimental tracks like the drone-and-bongo instrumental "Way Out" and the self-explanatory acid-folk of "Sun-Bleached" serve as chances to let the surrounding assault sink in. In addition to being a strong return to form, Two-Way Mirror gives Crystal Antlers some much needed momentum after an unfortunate run of bad timing and bad luck. Though they're from Long Beach, they do offer some sort of peripheral artistic brotherhood with the teeming retro movement going on in San Francisco. Sure, they might not have the classicist songwriting chops of the Fresh & Onlys or Sonny and the Sunsets, but none of those bands rock this hard either. That stuff is for summer BBQs and backyard parties; Two-Way Mirror is what to spin at the point when you stop caring about noise complaints...www.pitchfork.com

Gay Witch Abortion - Maverick

1. Down With Giants
2. Stain On The Floor
3. Action Cop
4. Unblinking Sun
5. Third World Limo
6. Your Own Militia
7. Church Buffet
8. Group Think
9. Girl Pop Soda
10. Wavey Graves
11. Curses
12. Scythian Sculls
13. Asleep In The Dirt

How can a band named Gay Witch Abortion stir any more controversy? Simple. Take forever to release an album, then make one and call it Maverick. That word, and the initials ‘RNC,’ aren’t taken too kindly to by folks in these parts. Maverick could be considered the protest soundtrack to the Republican National Convention, setting a tone reminiscent of Trans Am’s Liberation, an album released in a post-9/11 Washington D.C. Envision protesters marching on the State Capitol to “Down With Giants,” then getting run down and tear-gassed by the “Action Cop.” In keeping with post rock form, Gay Witch Abortion minimizes the human element behind the guitar and drums. Songs with vocals are used as experiments in sound. The lyrics don’t matter, what does is the final product, what each song builds into by the end of its progression. Some songs are easier to digest, like “Unblinking Sun,” that sounds just as the song’s title suggests. But this kind of rock isn’t about making it easy on the listener. This is art rock, music that forces the listener to intellectualize what’s going on, without providing any answers.

Hot Gossip - You Look Faster When You Are Young

01.Everybody Else
02.And Again
03.At Night
04.Fast In The Rain
05.Call The Rangers
06.You Better Know
07.You Name It
08.What We Are
09.Little Secrets
10.Cops With Telephones
11.Days Of The Week
12.Father

To music fans of a certain age, the name Hot Gossip conjures images of cavorting women in leotards or hot pants and ‘I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper’, however I suspect ‘You Look Faster When You Are Young’ has not come from that same stable.

This Hot Gossip have emerged from the back streets of Milan and play a kind of muscular Indie music with a hint of something funky and a definite chunk of pop catchiness. They certainly sound as if they could have emerged from the UK Indie scene, if you’d have told me they were fresh out of Hoxton I would easily have believed you.

This record is the follow up to 2006’s ‘Angles’ and shows how the band have honed their sound over two years of relentless touring around Europe, the songwriting is more ambitious and mature, the sound is fuller and more adventurous.

The opener, ‘Everybody Else’, sets the tone (other than the fact it fades in and out rather strangely) for the album. A lolloping bass and slightly angular guitar riff drive this one along, think Ordinary Boys meets Franz Ferdinand, and a catchy chorus tops it off. ‘And Again’ follows up with a similar template, driving bassline, jerky guitars and the singers slightly nasal voice picking the lyrics over the top in a very passable impersonation of a London accent...www.echoesanddust.com

Japandroids - Post-Nothing

1 The Boys Are Leaving Town
2 Young Hearts Spark Fire
3 Wet Hair
4 Rockers East Vancouver
5 Heart Sweats
6 Crazy/Forever
7 Sovereignty
8 I Quit Girls

April has already been a pretty stellar month in terms of quality Canadian releases, but one I’ve been waiting anxiously for is the full length from Vancouver’s Japandroids. It seems like I’ve been waiting for this record for years. It was supposed to be self-released sometime last year and even with two EPs, seeing them play countless times in Vancouver before moving, some serious love from the powers that be, and of course the fact Quinn over at From Blown Speakers has long since tried to get people excited about the duo, it still feels like the Vancouver band was constantly lost in the myre.

Well, as of April 28th you can grab Post-Nothing on vinyl or digital download, and I highly suggest you pick it up.

The band is a simple combination of huge drums, guitar and the sing/shouts of Brian King and David Prowse, but the end result is much, much more. The nine song album delivers anthem after anthem, with distorted guitar and crashing cymbals personify the rage of youth, but the melodies the guys deliver really show the emotion and reality we all face when it's time to grow up.

Vancouver's a tough fucking city; hidden underneath the beautiful mountains and Oceanside parks is poverty, one of the most astronomical costs of living in Canada and musically, a scene that constantly shifts to accommodate the venues that get bought up for more condos, and a weird sense of exclusion and pride when it comes to specific sounds and bands. I'm not trying to claim that Japandroids could be the glue that holds it all together (even if they do rep the scene well on Rockers East Vancouver) - if anything, I'd say that it would probably be harder for them to fit into the heavy noise scene or the more straight ahead rock pockets scattered around town - but they might just be the noise outfit that gets out and gets noticed.

"We used to dream, now we worry about dying."

It would be so easy to dismiss the thoughts Dan and Brian offer up, if they weren't so real and already running around most of our minds. In the same way Joel Plaskett documented the confusion and loneliness of leaving, this Vancouver duo makes us think about what happens when the simple things we all took for granted start to disappear and we get stuck when everyone else seems to leave. We all grow up, grow apart and most importantly we all change, but everyone goes through that change at different times. Post-Nothing seems like the bible for those years where we are wondering whether to hold on as tight as possible or let go and accept the inevitable fall.

The huge drum fill and crunching guitar they give us on Wet Hair pushes along a simple adolescent fantasy - "we can french kiss some French girls" - and you remember that not too long ago, nights when hooking up and making out with a stranger you meet at a party or in a crowded bar were all you thought about. For me those days for me happened in the 90's and that's where this sound would have fit perfectly, but the great thing about Japandroids is they realize that youth fades and that simple, biting fact makes these songs more that a nostalgic look back at days that probably weren't all that good to begin with. More importantly, that reality is what makes this record so damn good...www.herohill.com

Tiny Masters Of Today - Skeletons

1. Drop The Bomb!
2. Two Dead Soldiers
3. Skeletons
4. Pop Chart
5. Real Good
6. Big Stick
7. Monkey In The Middle
8. Big Bass Drum
9. Ghost Star
10. Understandable Honesty
11. Abercrombie Zombie

It has certainly been an action packed journey for Tiny Masters Of Today. Almost overnight, the band went from a few homemade recordings on a MySpace page to collaborating withKaren O and Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kimya Dawson,
Fred Schneider (B-52s) and Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers), being remixed by CSS and Liars, and touring the world. David Bowie even lauded their first homemade single as "Genius." Not bad for a band that double as full-time students in the New York Public School System.

With "Skeletons," the Tiny Masters went it totally alone, producing and writing the entire album themselves. The tracks were largely recorded at their home in Brooklyn, using the computer program Garageband. They brought the songs to Seaside Lounge studio with engineer Patrick McCarthy for additional recording and the final product was mixed by Matt Stein at U.W.M.S.C. in New York...

The Cavestompers - Introducing

01-Girl In Black
02-Rock'n'Roll
03-Был Один Парень
04-Amphetamine Girl
05-Do You Understand Me?
06-Run Outside
07-Limousine
08-Go Go Go On
09-You're My Girl
10-Louie
11-Shabby Clothes, Shabby Moods
12-Night And Day
13-Promise Me
14-Can't Stop The Stomp

Its great to hear a brand new record that gives off electric sparks and a palpable sense of the teenage spirit that lies behind all great rocknroll sounds. The Cavestompers, six guys of Russian origin, from the city of Moscow. On this, their debut long-player, "Introducing.", The Cavestompers have woven together a truly fine tapestry of sounds - much of it resonating from the valves of vintage Eastern Bloc electronic technology, and instrumentation - breathing new life into familiar noises; building a thumping, swaggering collection of authentic future dance-party favourites in the process. The influence and style of punk rock isnt so far away, and hand in hand with the proclamations of the original Rolling Stones-era have been bound together in The Cavestompers style to form what we can term today as the new breed. So without any further ado, crank up your music machine, cue the disc and let your hips shake, your bootheels stomp and your head swirl, for as the boys in the band are proud to shout out loud: "we all cant stop the stomp"! The record came with a beautifull two sided insert print, photos of the Russian instruments and studios and photos of the band...www.rayelpee.com