LOST CLASSICS OF CHI-TOWN PUNK UNDERGROUND

although YOU WEREN'T THERE chronicles chicago's early days of punk and BUSTED AT OZ, the
original scene document / live album, has been reissued, much of the windy city's unruly late 70s / early 80s RNR history remains sadly forgotten........

so here to rectify that in a "killed by death" kinda of way is TINY GROOVES!!!!

below is a list of some of chicagoland's most overlooked / most fringe and best PUNK bands.....

and after you cycle through this playlist, you'll realize what a strange weird place the Chicago area scene was back in the day......... and that being PUNK IN CHICAGO MEANT MAKING MUSIC WITH NO REGARD FOR THE RULES.......

so CRANK UP THE VOLUME AND LISTEN BELOW!!!!!!!!

post script - i've avoided adding the more renown chicago punk bands (and more straight forward punk and hardcore acts) to this list and stuck to the weirder more outsider edges of the "punk" scene, and yes a few of these bands aren't from the chicago proper but to exclude them wouldn't be fair since all of them played in chicago during the heyday of the "punk" scene......and yes this list is meant to show the world that chicago had a real unique / wild / creative take on PUNK ROCK unlike many other places......  and had a RnR history that needs to be reassessed or at least comped again..........

PENTAJECT CORPORATION "blackmail stretch" 7in



SILVER ABUSE "fall from grace" 7in



DA "dark rooms" 7in



IMPORTS "untitled" 7in



ONO "machines that kill people" lp


END RESULT "ward" lp



TOOTHPASTE  "s/t" 12 ep



THE EXIT "who asked you" 7in



SUNDOG SUMMIT "crude sounding rock" 7in



C*NTS "chemicals in the mail" 7in


SUBVERTS "independent study" 7in



IDENTITY CRISIS "pretty feet" 7in



EPICYCLE "residential area" 7in

energy gown - evening molasses

GET READY FOR A KILLER TRIP CUZ CHICAGO'S ENERGY GOWN JUST RELEASED THEIR DEBUT LP EVENING MOLASSES ON ALONA'S DREAM!!!!!!!!!!

start to finish this is one of the most bewitching / intoxicating / warped slabs of PSYCHEDELIA you'll come across all year long......  a heady freeform swirl of the best and darkest corners of lysergic RnR and analogue experimentation.... HAWKWIND spacecraft, LES RAZILLES DENUDES kamikaze antics,  PARSON SOUND drone scapes, JERUSALEM bad vibes, CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN voodoo organ freakouts.....and a whole lotta kaleidoscopic mind melting AWAITS as soon as EVENING MOLASSES sinks into yer turntable!!!!!!!!

ENERGY GOWN goes way beyond the madness hinted at by the 13th FLOOR ELEVATORS and early PINK FLOYD......pushing the outer limits only suggested by RED KRAYOLA, MICHAEL YONKERS and BENT WIND!!!!  seriously few bands have taken fuzz coated, art damaged garage psych to the next level like ENERGY GOWN does on EVENING MOLASSES.

so stop worrying about the "cool" bands playing austin psych fest,
and GET THE REAL / FUCKING RECOMMENDED THING!!!!!!
YOU NEED THIS TRIP!!!!!!!

listen to EVENING MOLASSES below
  and grab a copy from ALONA'S DREAM here!!!!!!

the yolks - kings of awesome

chicago's hardest partying garage rockers THE YOLKS finally return with a new lp entitled KINGS OF AWESOME on RANDY RECORDS......and well i won't disagree with their album title at all!!!!!

equal parts jangly super infectious garage pop and rhythm & blues saturated analogue RnR, THE YOLKS hit that sweet spot we all have for HIP SHAKING, DRINKING ALL NIGHT LONG ROCK N ROLL GOODNESS !!!!!!   they've been tearing up garages / basements / warehouse / dive bars in chicago for years and there's a reason the YOLKS are one of best and longest running local garage bands.....and all you have to do in listen to KINGS OF AWESOME to find out why!!!!!!

rock n roll junkies raised on PEBBLES and NUGGETS, RAY CHARLES, SHADOWS OF KNIGHT, STANDELLS and other such GARAGE ROCK / R&B CLASSICS will definitely be flipping this new lp over and over again in the near future.  that i can promise!

DON'T SETTLE FOR LESS!
YOU CAN PARTY LIKE IT'S 1966 ANYTIME YOU WANT!!!!!!!

preview KINGS OF AWESOME below!!!
  and grab a copy from RANDY RECORDS here !!!!!

verma - sunrunner

chicago's VERMA are back with another mind melting platter of intergalactic kraut damaged psych rock entitled SUNRUNNER.... out now on TROUBLE IN MIND RECORDS!!!!!!!!

yes PSYCH ROCK seems to be the new IT GENRE these days, but few bands kicking around can meld the SOARING GUITARS OF SPACE ROCK, the THROBBING PULSE OF KRAUTROCK and the OFF KILTER MIND EXPANDING SWIRL OF PSYCH into one MESMERIZING SONIC ADVENTURE LIKE VERMA DOES ON SUNRUNNER.........

fans of newer bands like COSMIC DEAD, ANTHROPOPHH, BLACK BOMBAIN AND CAVE as well as junkies for the classic bands like HAWKWIND, PINK FAIRIES, NEU! and AMON DUUL will need to SINK THEIR EARS INTO SUNRUNNER STAT!!!!!!!!!

one song is all it'll take to get HOOKED, 
so take yer first with VERMA below.....

    and don't' forget to grab SUNRUNNER from the dealer man over at TROUBLE IN MIND!!!!!

hozac blackout fest 2014 preview

HOLY SHIT...it's time for HOZAC RECORDS annual festival of debauchery and noise, BLACKOUT FEST!!!!!!!  it's all happening this weekend in chicago at the empty bottle and this year's lineup is just as killer as you'd expect....... with seldom seen bands like THE DICTATORS and THE BOYS appearing along with tiny groove's faves like COUNTER INTUITS, NONES and a slew of other face melting bands!!!!!!!  so don't fucking miss out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

more deets on the poster to yer left......

and some songs to jam out below just in case you need some convincing!!!!!!!!!!!!

ticket info can be found here or here.

ono - diegesis

chicago's gospel-meets-noise art punks ONO are back with a brand new album, DIEGESIS, out via MONIKER RECORDS.  so you better let yer ears expand their consciousness now, cuz this is one wild genre-bending, cosmic post punk ride!!!!!!!

ONO formed during the early days of the chicago punk scene but always had a more experimental goal in mind than louder, faster, dumber.....  their sound is a mix of throbbing post punk, noise coated gospel chanting, pre industrial droning and punk rock attitude of throwing everything out the window.......  after their initial run of two album, ONO went into hibernation......until recently.....  in 2012 they released a new album, ALBINO and showed the world what they were doing back in the 80s, still sounds fresh and avant even today.......   and when ALBINO hit the shelves i couldn't say enough kind words about ONO (click here for that review).....and that would've been enough..... ONO could've retreated once more and left the world a better place.....

however they weren't down blowing minds yet.... HENCE DIEGESIS....... further articulating their cryptic political, tonal and spiritual mission, their new album is even more entrancing and perspective changing........    at times treading the same avant blues ground of CAPTAIN BEEFHEART, the sonic desolation of THROBBING GRISTLE, the post punk implosion of THIS HEAT, the no wave rejection of TEENAGE JESUS AND THE JERKS and the all out search for a new meaningful form of music as THE ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO, ONO is leaping beyond what can even be called art punk or noisy post punk........ and boundary pushing is alway a good thing.......

sure these days with yer nice little sub genres and yer crowd pleasing reliable-as-ever cliches, RnR this out there might not gain much attention or creditability.......  sure its weird and dark and subversive......but at exactly times like this do we need an album like DIEGESIS.......  

things are afoot and you need to be tuned into the right vibrations.........  and i guarantee you won't heard another experimental RnR album that'll grab you like this all year long.......

so listen to the first track off DIEGESIS below,
  and click here to stream the whole lp over at the chicago reader!!!!!

and yeah, go here to grab a copy from MONIKER here!!!!!



and yes get converted by watching ONO live below -
  )

the yolks - two dollars out the door 7in

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   chicago RnR rabblerousers, THE YOLKS ARE BACK WITH A VENGEANCE..... AND A BRAND NEW GARAGE ROCKIN' DOUBLE SHOT ON RANDY RECORDS ENTITLED TWO DOLLARS OUT THE DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE YOLKS have been gettin' the kids all worked up and sweaty in dive bars and at basement shows in chicago for years now, but they haven't released any new material since their self titled debut back in '09.....(though they did sneak out a killer set of cover tunes on tape last year).........and man oh man did i miss these guys!!!  NOBODY FUCKING TAKES LO-FI GARAGE ROCK BACK TO ITS RAW BLUESY CORE LIKE THE YOLKS DO.....   at least not anyone since since THE OBLIVIANS, THE MUMMIES, MAKERS AND THE SEXAREENOS made GARAGE ROCK HAPPENIN' AGAIN.....

THE A SIDE TWO DOLLARS OUT THE DOOR EXPLODES WITH A INFECTIOUS ENERGY AND JANGLE MOST BANDS KICKING AROUND THESE DAYS OUGHT TO BE JEALOUS OF.....and the B SIDE is a warped retake on BO DIDDLEY'S SEMINAL HIT PRETTY THING....and if you can take a song like that to a new level, yer band will always be alright be me.......

so stop settling with bands that just pretend to play garage rock and can't even cover the classics well, AND PICK UP THIS NEW YOLKS SINGLE NOW......  

listen to the A SIDE of new 7 inch below,
  and yeah hit up RANDY himself here!!!!



and watch THE YOLKS live at the empty bottle below -

todays hits - sex boys ep

get ready for some sleazy no-fi RnR with RANDY RECORDS latest banger, SEX BOYS from
chicago's TODAY'S HITS!!!!!!!!

comprised of recent kentucky transplant james (who started the band on some sort of dare to write a 1000 songs in a 1000 days), kenny from MAGIC MILK and andrew from THE SUEVES, TODAYS HITS is kinda like a misfit supergroup of chicago's trashy garage underground....  and SEX BOYS, their debut effort, distills all the wonderful misanthropic RnR energy you could want through the fucked up haze of jangly garage and bubblegum trash pop......all four of these songs are addictingly simple and sweet and sure to get stuck in yer over stimulated head the rest of the week.....  not since KIM FOWLEY WAS WARPING THE MINDS OF THE YOUTH CULTURE ON THE SUNSET STRIP HAS A BAND CONCOCTED SUCH A TRASHY AND FUN DEBUT SINGLE!!!!!!

fans of KING TUFF, NOBUNNY, UH BONES, GENTLEMAN JESSE, SLUSHY, BUSY SIGNALS, GLITZ, BARE WIRES and/or any of the bands on RANDY, BURGER or CASTLE FACE need this SEX BOYS EP now........

dude, the party is yours for the throwing,
just drop this 7 inch on yer turntable!!!!

seriously recommended!

listen to the A side of the SEX BOYS 7 inch below -
   and grab one from RANDY himself !!!!!!



and watch TODAYS HITS live at the burlington below -

Todays Hits @Nitetrotter Fest 2013 from Deep Cover on Vimeo.

energy gown - round house 7in

chicago's droned out psychedelic mind melters, ENERGY GOWN, are back with a brand new lathe cut 7 inch, ROUND HOUSE.....and you need to get yr hands on it now!!!!!!

part of the digital comp, ACTIVE LISTENER SAMPLER 15, this new blast of consciousness-expanding space bent RnR from ENERGY GOWN will certainly have the fuzz heads and psych junkies grappling for their newest fix....... continuing on with where their previous single I WATCH THE SUN left off, ROUND HOUSE drones and warps with the best of the lysergic rockers from the past, from LES RALLIZES DENUDES to PARSSON SOUND and back through the rabbit hole to YA HO WA 13, HAWKWIND and FAUST.......ENERGY GOWN distorts and re-mystifies psychedelic rock back to its founding burst of energy in the late 60s.....and doesn't just aim for the rigid genre signifiers so many IN bands use to define themselves as PSYCH....

so yeah if yer into the reverberation appreciation society, cardinal fuzz, trouble in mind and other like minded psych labels, this severely limited single is FOR YOU.

GET READY TO TUNE YERSELF IN TO THE COSMOS!!!!!

LISTEN TO ROUND HOUSE below and grab a copy this recommended jam here -



and watch energy gown at the empty bottle below -

cave - threace

GET READY FOR SOME MIND ALTERING MOTORIK PSYCH GROOVES CUZ CAVE HAS A NEW ALBUM OUT ON DRAG CITY CALLED THREACE !!!!!!!! and it's a mother fucking mesmerizing spin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

chicagoans have long known how absolutely KILLER cave is both live and on record, and now with their third release for DRAG CITY the rest of the world needs to TURN ON, TUNE IN AND DROP OUT!!!!!!!!!  on THREACE, CAVE's repetitive psych groove sucks you further in and take you way farther out!!!!!  indebted to the krautrock explosion of the 70s and all sorts of heady RnR experiments that flipped music inside out since then, CAVE's twist on experimental psychedelic rock n roll is unlike anything else you can put in yer ears!!!!!!!   moments of zen await!!!!   (there's a reason they call this COSMIC music!!!!!)

fans of the classics from CAN, NEU, CLUSTER and AMON DUUL as well as current bands like WOODEN SHJIPS, LUMERIANS, MOON DUO, CATACOMBZ and FOLLAKZOID need this new lp ASAP.........

THREACE IS AS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED AS THEY COME !!!!!!!!!

listen to a couple tracks off THREACE below - 
  and grab yer copy now from DRAG CITY !!!!!!

slushy - candy b/w pocket 7in

hey everyone, it's time to get yer SLUSHY fix!!!!!!!!!  

chicago's little known bubblegum trash pop outfit SLUSHY just unleashed a brand new 7 inch, CANDY B/W POCKET, on RANDY RECORDS and you best listen up!!!!!!!

SLUSHY plays some of the best stripped down, fuzz soaked, hook filled garage pop you music junkies can get yer dirty little hands on.....channelling the early garage punk unknowns, DIY RnR attitude, girl group am melodies, power pop moves and budget rock aesthetics, SLUSHY has jangled, shaked, rattled and rolled two PURE FUN NO-FI GARAGE POP ANTHEMS onto wax for yer listening enjoyment, and the emphasis is on ENJOYMENT..... this record is an innocent and highly addicting spin....  and shows that no one can add a bubblegum sugar rush to trashy garage quite like them.....

so do yerself a favor and introduce yerself to SLUSHY now !!!!!!

LISTEN TO THE NEW 7 INCH BELOW, and then buy one IMMEDIATELY from RANDY RECORDS, or yer local record shop!!!!!!!!



for further listen click here to stream their FIVE LITTLE LEAVES and ALL THE RAD DUDES tapes!!!!!!!  both fucking killer spins!!!!!!!!

oozing wound - retrash

GET READY TO GET SLAYED!!!!!!!!!!  cuz chicago thrashers OOZING WOUND just dropped their debut lp RETRASH on THRILL JOCKEY and you need this blast of noisy hellbent RnR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

for those not in the know, OOZING WOUND soaked up its members from the best bands in chicago's noise mongering art space / house show scene (CACAW, UNMANNED SHIP, ZATH, BAD DRUGS, to name a few) and decided to take a NO HOLDS BARRED / DOWN N DIRTY approach to the METAL AND SKATE PUNK BANDS we all loved and grew up on !!!!!!!!!   

RETRASH IS LOUD, WILD AND MORE FUCKING THRASHY THAN ANYTHING ELSE YOU COULD PUT ON YER TURNTABLE.....and just the refreshing shot of unadultered RnR you need to clear yer head...... so set fire to all yer old SLAYER and MOTORHEAD tapes, cuz this is the ONE TRASHY, IN YER FACE METAL ALBUM THAT BELONGS NEXT TO YER STEREO....

finally a band that can take back metal from the stupid metalheads who've ruined everything.  YES!!!!!!!!  it's about fuckin' time!!!!!!!!

but don't take my word for it, one spin of OOZING WOUND's new LP is all it's gonna take to melt yer face and get you bouncing around yer apartment.........

somebody better send lemmy a copy of RETRASH, cuz it's that FUCKING GOOD.....

LISTEN TO A FEW SONGS OFF RETRASH BELOW -
   and grab a copy NOW from THRILL JOCKEY !!!!!!!!!!




watch the hilarious promo for RETRASH here -

Oozing Wound - Retrash Commercial from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

and here's the video for WELCOME TO THE SPACESHIP, MOTHERFUCKERS !



and yeah this is OOZING WOUND live at P-REX!!!!!

disappears - era

KRANKY RECORDS just released the fourth annual report from chicago's DISAPPEARS, entitled ERA... a post punked, kraut soaked dark psych roller coaster ride that you need to take NOW!!!!!!!!

the departure of their drummer, steve shelley of sonic youth, might've been forboding if noah leger hadn't stepped in and ratcheted things up....after he's been in more RnR bands in chicago than you can even count on your fingers......  and now DISAPPEARS are definitely hitting their ominous forceful minimal chord stride..... no one else out the strips garage rock formula down to the barest of bones, amps up the feedback, tosses in plenty of motorik vibes, layers the hazy reverb and blasts off a whole new kinda of psych rock like they do on ERA.....  lux, guider and pre language were all killer, but ERA is a STEP BEYOND..... a wormhole to the outer ends of the COSMOS.....after all that's what all those german bands meant by kosmische musik.......

ERA is insidious, eery, lysergic, hard hitting and certainly groundbreaking....nobody but DISAPPEARS could craft such an sparse, noisy psyche rock album out the shards of kraut, post punk and garage rock......  seriously if people outside of chicago don't start tuning into DISAPPEARS now, there's no hope for the world........

this is one highly recommended album YOU NEED TO OWN....!!!!!!

LISTEN TO ERA BELOW -
   and grab a copy from KRANKY here....

bare mutants - the affliction

chicago's BARE MUTANTS just released their debut album on IN THE RED entitled THE
AFFLICTION and it's one enveloping dose of post-punk infected, melancholy garage rock...sure seep into yer skull the second the needle hits the wax.....

THE AFFLICTION is full of fuzzed out guitars, and cough syrupy sweet slacker punk melodies informed by the VELVETS and JAMC, just as you'd expect from from a band that's risen out of the PONYS and carries on their good work....

....and while it's true that BARE MUTANTS may be a little more than transfixed by certain of their woozy, reverbed musical idols, they craft hauntingly electric downer punk anthems about heartbreak, drinking, growing up and sucking at life quite unlike anyone else.....certainly more poignant than a long list of other like-minded bands that just go through the motions aping lou reed, the cure and spacemen 3......

file BARE MUTANTS' unique combo of garage, noise pop and post punk desperation near your CRYSTAL SLILTS, DISAPPEARS, WAX IDOLS, HEAVY TIMES and TERRY MALTS lps......
that is near the lps you listen to all the time!!!!!

i might still be disappointed the PONYS are no more, but the BARE MUTANTS' debut more than fills their shoes in the chicago scene, and with AFFLICTION more than the windy city will introduce themselves to BARE MUTANTS....... they needn't be our secret any longer.......

so listen to a select few songs off THE AFFLICTION below.....
   and grab a copy from IN THE RED now!!!






watch BARE MUTANTS live below -

running - vaguely ethnic

chicago's misanthropic noise punks RUNNING are back with a brand new lp, VAGUELY ENTHIC, on CASTLE FACE RECORDS and it's one helluva loud, evil, feedbacking mess of corrosive psyched out/psycho rock n roll that you need to hear now!!!!!!!

on VAGUELY ETHNIC, RUNNING's terse  apoplectic, kraut bent art punk is reaching all new levels of sonic terrorism (much more dialed in and razor sharp than their previous lps on PERMANENT and CAPTCHA)....... all eight of these songs on the new lp simultaneously spit in yer face and stab you in the back....and even after the blood stains and hangovers are gone, you'll be back for more.......

RUNNING fucking smash hardcore, noise and post punk into one squalling wall of PSYCHEDELIC ENTRANCING FEEDBACK quite unlike anyone else.....think lighting bolt, clockcleaner, the fall, christian death, monoshock, coachwhips and unholy two all rolled into one furious malevolent firebomb of punk rock....but that still might be far from describing the screeching delinquency found on VAGUELY ETHIC....... just know, one listen and yer never gonna be able to live life the same.........

this one comes as highly recommended as they get!

SO LISTEN TO VAGUELY ETHNIC BELOW-
 and grab a copy from CASTLE FACE here !


experience the wall of sound that is RUNNING live below -

heavy times - fix it alone

get ready cuz HEAVY TIMES is back and in yer face!!!!!  their long awaited follow up to 2011's JACKER is fianlly here....the new album is called FIX IT ALONE, their second via HOZAC RECORDS, and it finds chicago fuzz punks HEAVY TIMES dialed the fuck in.......  machine gunning 18 melodic scuzz pop jams deep into yer brain, FIX IT ALONE is gonna stay right next to my turntable all summer long........

full of viral hooks and layers of feedbacking guitars, HEAVY TIMES fucking rocket you through a set of blazing loud scuzz pop anthems sure to be the soundtrack to those party til sunrise nights ahead, if not yer life........   just don't call this garage, cuz FIX IT ALONE is full on ground-breaking contagious punk rock fury.........

HEAVY TIMES might be informed by GBV, the WIPERS, HUSKER DU, SUPERCHUNK, GAUNT or MISSION OF BURMA, but just know you haven't heard a modern punk record this hard hitting and addicting as this!!!!!!!!!  a new classic? maybe....but a repeat listen for sure.

SUPER RECOMMENDED.
grab one from HOZAC here.
and rumor has it they'll be coming to a town near you this fall.....
don't miss out!!!!!

LISTEN TO A FEW TRACK OFF FIX IT ALONE -




AND WATCH HEAVY TIMES PLAY THEIR LP RELEASE PARTY
AT EMPTY BOTTLE EARLIER THIS MONTH -

twin peaks - sunken

if you haven't heard of chicago's TWIN PEAKS yet, now is the time to introduce yerself.......and listen to their debut album SUNKEN, which is quickly gonna become the soundtrack to yer summer..........

released last years as a cassette on the ever reliable MANIC STATIC label, AUTUMN TONE RECORDS is finally giving SUNKEN a proper home on vinyl!!!!!!  which is quite exciting since this is the kinda album you need both a copy to cruise around in yer car and to throw on at those late night parties.......  part jangly reverbed indie rock and part hazy garage, all fueled up with the necessary pop hooks and snotty punk energy, TWIN PEAKS have concocted eight killer songs on SUNKEN that will stay stuck in yer head all day long..........

fans of ty segall, uh bones, the smith westerns, the strange boys, plateaus and no age, YOU HAVE FOUND YOUR NEW FAVORITE BAND............  sure not everyone's been to one of their shows yet, but TWIN PEAKS are gonna be chicago's secret weapon no longer..... SUNKEN is gonna win over everyone who hears it.......... fuzz pop doesn't get much more infectious than this!!!!!!!

LISTEN TO TWO TRACKS OFF SUNKEN BELOW -
   and grab a copy for yerself here!!!!




OR STREAM ALL OF SUNKEN HERE

AND WATCH THE VIDEO FOR FAST EDDIE HERE -

Twin Peaks - "Fast Eddie" from RYAN OHM ▲ on Vimeo.

CATCH TWIN PEAKS LIVE IN A TOWN NEAR YOU -

Wed. July 24 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas (Record Release Party) 
Sun. July 28 - Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater w/ Foxygen
Mon. July 29 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue w/ Foxygen
Thu. Aug. 1 - Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret w/ Foxygen
Fri. Aug. 2 - Seattle, WA @ Neumo's Crystal Ball Reading Room w/ Foxygen
Thu. Aug. 6 - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex w/ Palma Violets
Fri. Sept. 13 - Sun. Sept. 15 - Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest & Carnival 
Wed. Sept. 18 - Dallas, TX @ Three Links w/ Bleeding Rainbow
Thu. Sept. 19 - Austin, TX @ Mohawk w/ Bleeding Rainbow
Fri. Sept. 20 - Houston, TX @ Fitzgeralds w/ Bleeding Rainbow
Sat. Sept. 21 - Baton Rouge, LA @ Mud and Water w/ Bleeding Rainbow

verma - coltan

even though their debut lp EXU only came out six months ago and is still clinging to my turntable, VERMA couldn't wait to put out another killer dose of spaced out psych rock..........this time entitled COLTAN....... out earlier in the year as a tape on NOTES AND BOLTS, TROUBLE IN MIND RECORDS couldn't let such an epic piece of mind altering atmospheric psych rock stay super limited, so they rereleased COLTAN on wax where it belongs......!!!!!!!!!!

picking off where EXU left off COLTAN combines the best elements of krautrock experimentation with droning noise rock, eerie psych and soaring post rock into one wholly engrossing repeat spin..... not to mention nods to some of the best in avant soundtrack work from GOBLIN to JOHN CARPENTER, after all COLTAN was composed with a VICE mini web documentary on the congo in mind........

though a little less straight forward than their live sets or previous work, COLTAN shows just how in the pocket VERMA is......  this new lp finds them honing their improvisational skills and their more out there tendencies......so much so i can't wait to hear what they're gonna do next!!!!  COLTAN builds and builds and slowly sucks you so far deep in the grooves, but the time you hit the final track, you're in for nothing short of a sonic epiphany!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COLTAN is super recommended for those into HAWKWIND, AMON DUUL, CLUSTER, CAN, AGITATION FREE, FAUST and/or NEU!  (yes experimental music junkies take note!)...........as well as any of their contemporaries such as CAVE, ENERGY GOWN, WOODEN SHJIPS, MIND!, TORTOISE, ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE and/or TJUTJUNA..........

this one's gonna rank super high in my year end list,
and it way recommended!
but grab one quick, before it's limited pressing is gone!!!!!!!

and LISTEN to COLTAN below........!!!!!!!!

the hecks - trust and order 7 inch

Falling between genres can lead to the early death of a band, especially these days with the internet
hype machine's need for shorthand and brevity.  Though connected to the "garage" and "noise" scenes in Chicago, THE HECKS are out to prove that those / any "labels" are meaningless, even if they have to do it one 7 inch at a time.  Their debut single, TRUST AND ORDER released on MONIKER RECORDS earlier this year, is just the feedback-laced experimental guitar/drums dual attack all those stuck in the blog race to the bottom need to listen to right now.

Elements of Sonic Youth's art rock experiments in feedback and guitar tuning, Wire's discordant post punk minimalism from "Chairs Missing,"  and the Fall's irreverent pop structures all shine through on "Trust And Order."  Though to allude to those touchstones is besides the point; the Hecks are blazing a trail through the history of post punk all on their own, not just trying to cop a few guitar tricks from YouTube videos.  (They might even deny any of the musical references made here, but it's a review so some have to be included, right?)

On the title track, a casual minimalist drum beat starts the groove off before a simple repetitive guitar lick kicks in, and before long we're somewhere in the realm of "EVOL" or even Slint's "Spiderland" but mixed with plenty of Urinals' urgency and angular art weirdness of MX-80 Sound or DNA.  Short, precise and too the point, "Trust And Order" lingers like a daydream long after the tone arm returns to its place; those shimmering guitar riffs are earworms for sure.

Flip it over and "The Time I Played With My Puppy" begins like a shattered pop song from Guided By Voices and ends with a short experiment in droning noise.  It's almost two distinct songs trainwrecked into one catchy mess, the kind you might imagine Suicide playing if they were a drums / guitar duo.

So are the Hecks more of a shoegazing noise rock band, or a no wave obsessed garage outfit?  They have a knack for sculpting sheets of noise, yet both songs on the single have fragmented moments of pop beauty too.  One thing is for sure, they've collected some of the most interesting turns of post punk from the last thirty years and compiled them into one killer 7 inch.

Listen to TRUST AND ORDER below -
   and grab yer own copy from MONIKER RECORDS here !!!!!!!

WATCH THE HECKS LIVE here -

radar eyes - dreaming of giants (RSD flexi single)

i've been waiting for a follow up to RADAR EYES' killer feedback-drenched garage-rockin' self titled debut lp on HOZAC records since last year when it dropped.....and thankfully now the wait is finally over, NOTES AND BOLTS released a one song flexi single DREAMING OF GIANTS by RADAR EYES for RECORD STORE DAY this year, and it picks up just where they left off........ full of dark walls of psych damaged shoegazing eeriness, RADAR EYES concoct a stormy brew of garage rock all their own....... fans of fellow chicagoans DISAPPEARS and BARE MUTANTS will definitely need this next round from RADAR EYES, but so will LOOP, SPACEMEN 3 and TELESCOPES junkies like me.........  i hope this is just a teaser for a new album in the works, cuz RADAR EYES blend of garage, noise pop, spaced out psych and post punk is highly addicting......and i need more.......

STREAM DREAMING OF GIANTS BELOW
   and pick up yr copy from NOTES AND BOLTS here
  it's limited to 150 copies, so don't fall asleep.

and watch RADAR EYES live at PERMANENT RECORDS -