March 30, 2013

Today's Hotness: Mincer Ray, Tyrannosaurus Dead

Mincer Ray -- A Magnate's Reach (detail)

>> With an appreciable Teutonic precision (which is sort of funny since none of its members is actually German), Berlin-based Mincer Ray return this month with a new EP titled A Magnate's Reach. We first turned onto the clearly GBV-influenced trio in March 2012, when it issued via Bandcamp the shifty long-player Ray Mincer, featuring the blistering anthem "A Burning Plane." A Magnate's Reach is a more concise five-song slate of tunes evidencing Mincer Ray's continued embrace of punchy, scritchy indie rock. Opener "Franki Jo" is a determined, melodic strummer indebted as much to The Kinks and the Davies brothers’ hip-shaking sounds as it is to the aforementioned Guided By Voices. Ballad "(Ever) The Optimistic Architect II" operates under an appropriately Pollardian title and gradually builds steam across syncopated quarter notes before hitting a wall after 125 seconds. Assuredly, fans of Dayton's finest will find a lot to like on this EP, and if we have a gripe at all it is that the Berliners don't expectorate music at anything approaching the ludicrous pace that Bob Pollard somehow magically maintains. A Magnate's Reach carries an official release date of May 31, although you needn't wait what amounts to months to hear it: it is available at Bandcamp as a name-your-price download right now, and you can hit the stream via our handy embed below. There will be a proper release show May 31, according to Mincer Ray's web dojo, and lucky fans able to make the gig will apparently be able to buy the EP on 180 gram vinyl. Until now, use your ears to process the ones and zeroes below.



>> London's Odd Box Records this week sent over word of some new releases in its pipeline, and we find ourselves streaming over and over two tunes from recent signing Tyrannosaurus Dead. The Brighton, England-based five-piece's "Soft" and "Sadie," from the forthcoming Pure // Apart EP, each present breakneck tempos and guitar-forward arrangements that show the act incorporating into its melodic, fuzz-filled sound the raw power of Boyracer and affecting sentiment -- as evidenced by certain of singers Billy Lowe and Eleanor Rudge's phrasing that forlornly dangles into space at times -- of Belle And Sebastian. Pure // Apart was recorded in London in late 2012 with Rory Attwell, whose name we’ve mentioned previously as the man behind the boards for acts including Big Deal, Veronica Falls and Yuck. Odd Box releases Pure // Apart May 6, but you can already stream the aforementioned noise-pop gems via Bandcamp. The six-song EP is being pressed in a limited edition of 250 vinyl 12" records, and pre-orders are already being taken, also at Bandcamp. Tyrannosaurus Dead previously released two excellent EPs (one eponymous, the other titled Lemonade) and a song on a split cassette, all of which are available via the quintet’s very own Bandcamp right here. But for starters we recommend to your attention "Soft" and "Sadie," which we've embedded below.



March 27, 2013

Today's Hotness: Scott And Charlene's Wedding, Hallelujah The Hills, Speedy Ortiz

Scott And Charlene's Wedding -- Two Weeks

>> What keeps us coming back to Soundcloud every day are the surprises, the stuff we love but that we had no idea was out there just waiting to be heard. The latest act we discovered there that caught our fancy is a Brooklyn-via-Australia combo named Scott And Charlene's Wedding (so named, we believe, for a major happening on a popular Aussie soap opera that starred Kylie Minogue, whom most Americans associate with this or even this). The band is the solo vehicle of Craig Dermody, former denizen of Melbourne, where he played in the bands Spider Vomit and Divorced, according to this handy Village Voice piece from October. Anyhoozle, Scott And Charlene's Wedding issued earlier this month via London's Critical Heights label a new 10" EP titled Two Weeks. The five-song short set is filled with cracking, jangly indie rock touting a recognizable slacker bent that suggests '90s indie touchstones Pavement and Guided By Voices. We are embedding two tunes from the 10" for listening below: "My World" and the more uptempo, billowing pop gem "Gammy Leg." The latter track sounds at least partially autobiographical (it references Dermody's move to New York), a lyrical approach characteristic of Dermody. Indeed, one of the more compelling numbers from Scott And Charlene's Wedding's debut long-player Para Vista Social Club [Bandcamp], the big strummer "Footscray Station," recounts Dermody's daily grind driving a truck and the inspiration he took from a friend struggling with a fledgling retail situation. Para Vista Social Club was originally issued in Sept. 2011 in a limited edition of 200 LPs with covers painted by Dermody. The act plans to release a second LP with a new, New York-based lineup later this year via Fire Records. Scott And Charlene's Wedding's next show appears to be at the Philadelphia Museum of Contemporary Art on May 4, supporting the presently white-hot Parquet Courts, and Dermody, et al., are also planning a tour of Europe for July and August, according to this Facebook post. Do the streamiez.





>> Boston indie rock institution Hallelujah The Hills last week disclosed it will release May 7 an odds and sods collecton titled Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Trash Can. The collection will include three new songs, as well as all the band's non-album singles, its Prepare To Qualify EP, remixes, radio performances and a never-released Daytrotter session. Hallelujah The Hills' next area performance is May 3 at The Sinclair in Harvard Square, a date so very proximal to the release of the compilation that we're gonna go ahead and call it a release show. The now eight-year-old sextet recently issued the terrific digital single "The Three Minute Mark" b/w "Meet Me In The Car," and neither song is slated to appear on a planned fourth full-length that Hallelujah The Hills is working on for potential release this spring later this year. According to the HtH web dojo, the record has "a title and a concept and is loud." Which we think is a good sign. The band's prior full-length, No One Knows What Will Happen Next, was released in May 2012. Pre-orders for Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Trash Can are already being taken right here; the set is being offered on the popular compact disc format or as a digital download. While we sit around and wait, shall we revisit a hot one from the 2009 set Colonial Drones? Sure we should. Stream "Classic Tapes" via the Bandcamp embed below.



>> If you were all tl;dr;moarsandwichez this afternoon with the latest update from Northampton, Mass.-based snack rock superlatives Speedy Ortiz, then perhaps you missed the part where they disclosed the name of their full-length debut. The quartet's long-player will be titled Major Arcana and it is "probably coming out in July." Speedy Ortiz also revealed that Inflated Records will release next month a new single featuring two older tunes, "Ka-Prow" and "Hexxy," which were re-recorded during recent sessions for Major Arcana with Justin Pizzoferrato. The art for the single is posted in the update, so click through and scroll down if art is something that appeals to you. There is as of yet no pre-order info online for the single. As we mentioned in prior reportage, Speedy Ortiz is basically on tour for all of April, during which it will take in such sights as the annual MacRock fest in Harrisonburg, play with Marnie Stern in Brooklyn, and do three dates in Canada. Full tour deets are at the Speedy Facebook yert right here. So as to get you pumped up for things, we are embedding below a stream of that older version of "Hexxy," which we think you will agree rocks most steadfastly.

March 25, 2013

Review: Slowdim | Slowdim

Given the slow, incremental progress that brought Slowdim to this point, the Boston indie pop quartet's sparkling, self-titled debut full-length evinces a remarkable degree of carefree ease that almost certainly belies the sweat and hours ploughed into it. Indeed, Slowdim streets this week as an exclamation point at the tail-end of a series of digital singles, compilation tracks and EPs, a tour de force of bright, melodic guitar pop that situates songwriters Paul Sentz (formerly of This Car Up, who we wrote about here in 2009) and Eric Ryrie (ex-The Shills) at the peak of their powers (sorry, boys, it's all downhill from hereLOLZ -- Ed.). The giddy momentum of opener "Up Stream" and the equally buoyant follow-on "Wishing Well" propel the collection with such energy that its spiraling final number, "Leave Our Names," comes too soon every time.

Certain of the music on the new record will be familiar to fans. Slowdim issued the ridiculously catchy album track "Money" as a single in Feb. 2012, and a year earlier the quartet released the Spirals EP (which now appears to be something of a rarity, as it has been removed from Slowdim's Bandcamp page). The EP featured early versions of "Don't Cough Me Out" and "Wishing Well," and the impressive evolution of the former song -- from a welterweight, hook-laden chant to full-blown, arena-ready rocker with ripping guitar solos -- illustrates the power and payoff of the quartet's wood-shedding over the last few years. Indeed, there is nary a songwriting misstep on Slowdim.

But while its songs are worked over, they are not overworked. To be sure, there is plenty of flourish -- the swoony "ooohs" complementing Eric Ryrie's reedy tenor on the sweet ballad "Can't Stop Falling;" the glimmering guitar appointing the verses of "Wishing Well" and "Birds" -- but there is nothing superfluous. Even when Slowdim stretches out, which they do ably during their shoegazing epic "Uh Oh," layering guitar upon guitar upon guitar to form a curtain of dense melody and noise, the record does not meander long, as the uptempo strummer "Laid Flat" immediately puts the record back on pace. Bassist Ana Karina Da Costa's voice plays a strong role backing up and harmonizing with those of Mssrs. Sentz and Mr. Ryrie, and is crucial to the overall sound in the same way as Phoebe Summersquash's was for Small Factory (or, for you Philly old-timers, Kara Lafty's was to Moped).

Slowdim surpasses the quartet's prior efforts by every metric, but its ultimate success manifests in the same way: listeners are left wanting still more music. While rock and roll inevitably suffers when we try to assign to it didactic intent, the lesson of Slowdim's long-awaited LP clearly is take the time to do it right. Two tracks, the aforementioned "Up Stream" and "Leave Our Names," are currently previewing on Bandcamp; stream them via the embeds below. The foursome plays a record release show at Great Scott Thursday with support from Night Fruit and Fedavees; all the details are at this Facebook event page, and hopefully the band will have product on-hand as there is no way to pre-order Slowdim as of yet.

Slowdim: Facebook | Twitterz | Bandcamp



March 23, 2013

Today's Hotness: Jeff Zeigler, Boom Said Thunder, Nucular Aminals

Jeff Zeigler -- Opportunity

>> [UPDATED] That Jeff Zeigler figuratively wears a lot of hats (although for a long time it seemed like he only had that knit one -- Ed.). Despite his recognized renaissance-man status in Philadelphia as a principal in progressive-shoegaze standouts Arc In Round and an in-demand producer (he's the go-to guy for Purling Hiss and The War On Drugs), Mr. Zeigler early this month quietly began posting brilliant solo tracks to Soundcloud. There fans will find the beautiful and abstract compositions "Opportunity (rough edit)" and "Saw The Life." The fractured songs are a departure from the relatively more formal music of Arc In Round; they meld painstakingly constructed ambience and feedback, spectral guitar and voice, space and spare beats into transporting, other-worldly compositions. Each one bears Zeigler's familiar wayward percussion and delayed guitar passages, and expands upon Arc In Round's measured interstitial soundscapes. Zeigler's new music echoes certain tracks off of The Swirlies' oft-misunderstood Cats of the Wild, Vol. 2 album and its head-spinning effect achieved by so much meticulously crafted chaos. Old school Philly types may even reckon that Zeigler's new songs' experimental bent recalls the music of erstwhile Philly peers Diagram. "Saw The Life" commences with subdued acoustic guitar; not long after a dreamy vocal spills into the mix a firm rhythm is established via tumbling, crunchy echoes and clanking guitar sounds. A brief chorus at the end reminds fans of the rare moments in which Zeigler explores his higher vocal range, a move that pleasingly builds tension without losing the smoky cool of his lower register. "Opportunity" adds more electricity with clean electric strums and a vacuum cleaner feedback blow that unhinges the tune and lifts it into the heliosphere. With such high-caliber music at hand, one can only hope that a solo gig in Philadelphia this Monday might be a harbinger of a potential solo record. But in the meantime Arc In Round has its own fish to fry: Friday the foursome revealed it is at work on a sophomore set and will release a remix record collecting stray tracks and remixes Tuesday via Soundcloud and Bandcamp. The collection includes contributions from experimental heavy-hitters Benoit Pioulard and A Sunny Day In Glasgow, among others. Listen to Zeigler’s "Opportunity (Rough Edit)" via the embed below. Clicky Clicky reviewed Arc In Round's self-titled debut long-player here last June. -- Edward Charlton



>> Cambridge, Mass.-based Boom Said Thunder recently issued its throbbing debut long-player Exist, a collection at turns tender, bombastic and then, well, even more bombastic than that. The trio's spartan approach eschews guitars -- and, really, any adornment at all beyond maybe that trill of ghostly keys on "Invisible People" -- in favor of heroic doses of over-driven bass, thunderous drumming and fronter Abby Bickel's out-sized vocals. There may be a formula to it, insofar as each of the 11 songs on Exist attacks directly at gut level (what was that '80s boxing video game? "body blow!" "body blow!" "uppercut!") and then makes quick work to move hips and nod heads. But Boom Said Thunder's strength on the album is using that same point repeatedly as a vehicle to successfully stage heavy moods, define heavy grooves and power big rock numbers from silence to cacaphony and back again. Ms. Bickel's voice perhaps superficially suggests that of Karen O., and the sheer force of the trio's music at times recalls the blunt trauma of Sleigh Bells, but Boom Said Thunder is able to substantially shade its work even with the few tools it allows itself. So the pretty ballad "Violet" taps the same sort of gothic melancholy as Nirvana's "Something In The Way," while album openers "Gold Rush" and "Destroyer" unapologetically rock face with a refreshingly overpowering amount of attitude that evidences a commitment to rocking out so strong that it would make many be-sweatered, bespectacled indie rockers a touch uncomfortable. Exist was self-released March 1, and the band celebrates said release Wednesday with a show at Great Scott in Boston. The album is available as a clear/purple haze 12" vinyl LP as well as a digital download; the band is also selling posters and t-shirts, and all of these are available via Bandcamp. Stream the LP below, that's what you should do now.

>

>>Since hoodwinking Portland, OR-based correspondent Edward Charlton into thinking we operate a real publication, we've been needling him to throw insight our way into his adopted hometown's vibrant guitar-pop scene. One of his first tips from the indie rock Valhalla is veteran act Nucular Aminals (a reference to G.W. Bush's less-verbose moments?) and its recently issued "Alice Day" b/w "Come On" vinyl 7". The spooky single, out on Portland's own Hovercraft Records, features two new tunes from the psych-garage quartet and comes in the wake of a pair of long-players for legendary Pacific Northwest imprint K Records. "Alice Day" -- and its sparse arrangement of tense guitar strumming, droning organ, thudding bass and reverbed vocals -- patiently evidences a difficult-to-define sound that nods affirmatively to proto-post-punk and grunge influences (think The Wipers). Its lumbering bass line and fronter Robert Comitz’s sinister vocal melody each add a pleasing spy-noir glaze to the proceedings. Nucular Aminals' music at the very least conjures a singular, out-of-time feeling. Sure, "Alice Day" hints at '60s revivalism, too, but not to the extent the song echoes the parade of formulaic beachgazers that have dominated a wide swath of guitar pop in recent years. Instead, thinking Bleach-era Nirvana toying with a B-52s cover doesn't seem far off the mark. The Aminals recently completed a two-week European tour and will play an official release show for the "Alice Day" single April 11 at Portland's The Know. The single just recently appeared on Bandcamp and you can stream it and buy it via the embed below.



March 22, 2013

New Music Night 9 DJ Sets | River Gods | 21/22 March

New Music Night 9, River Gods, Cambridge, March 21/22, 2013

[PHOTO: Christian Housh] Here are the songs we played whilst manning the figurative decks tonight/right now/last night in the booth at the fabulous River Gods in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We'd been away for a long time, it was quite good to be back. If you have any questions or want to know more, hit us on Twitter or drop a comment. We may or may not do Spotify playlists of these sets in the coming days and post links here; watch this space. Also, please click over to Bradley's Almanac and check out Brad's playlists for the 9PM and 11PM hours, which we expect will be posted imminently, or at least sometime. Sometime's good, right?

Set 2 / 10PM / Jay

1. Slowdim -- "Upstream" -- Slowdim
[first preview track from stellar debut full length / stream]
2. Veronica Falls -- "Waiting For Something To Happen" -- Waiting For Something To Happen
[another standout track from a sure album-of-the-year candidate / buy]
3. Brenda -- "Not My Friends" -- Fix Your Eyes
[new music from some of the Endless Jags guys, out next month]
4. My First Tooth -- "Heartbeat Retreat" -- Love Makes Monsters
[Alcopop! stars]
5. Rika -- "Mute" -- How To Draw A River Step By Step
[stream]
6. Dangerous Ponies -- "Tender Heart" -- Tenderheart EP
[blogged / stream]
7. Varsity Drag -- "Mind Like A Sieve" -- Split 7" with Chestnut Road
[blogged / stream]
8. Eleventh Dream Day -- "Making Like A Rug" -- New Moodio
[the lost album, due this spring on Comedy Minus One / buy]
9. Nai Harvest -- "Whatever" -- Whatever
[stream]
10. Best Practices -- "Brita'd" -- Sore Subjects
[blogged / stream]
11. The Dollfins -- "There she Goes" -- There She Goes
[stream / download]
12. Lubec -- "Adam (Demo)" -- Many Worlds Demo
[blogged]
13. Chandeliers -- "Temperance" -- Monday EP
[blogged / stream]
14. The Cherry Wave -- "Melt" -- Blush EP
[blogged / stream]
15. Bedroom Eyes -- "Plain Heir (Demo)"
[stream]
16. Fleeting Joys -- "Kiss A Girl In Black" -- digital single
[blogged / stream]
17. White Laces -- "Deep Moves" -- digital single
[exclusive! / forthcoming single from Richmond dream-pop heroes, playing Great Scott May 26]
18. Boom Said Thunder -- "Romantic Noise" -- Exist
[standout track from the band's long-player due next week]
19. Dinosaur Jr -- "Entertainment (Phoenix cover)"
[sweet, sweet jam / download]

Set 4 / 12AM / Jay

1. Johnny Foreigner -- "(Don't) Throw Us Your Slang" -- Manhattan Projects
[lead track from delightful, new, quiet EP / blogged / stream]
2. The Weaks -- (super secret song from super secret Clicky Clicky thing)
[AIFALTAHYF]
3. Guillermo Sexo -- "All Whispers" -- Bring Down Your Arms EP
[review / stream]
4. Shout Out Louds -- "14th Of July" -- Optica
[wonderful phrasing and inflection from fronter Adam Olenius here]
5. It Hugs Back -- "Go Magic!" -- Recommended Record
6. Bozmo -- "Lakehouse" -- "B A Tree" b/w "Lakehouse"
[blog / stream]
7. Stick Insect -- "Guilty" -- The 2013 Teen-Beat Portable Companion
[download]
8. CUFFS -- (super secret song from super secret Clicky Clicky thing)
[AIFALTAHYF]
9. Infinity Girl -- (super secret song from super secret Clicky Clicky thing)
[AIFALTAHYF]
10. Barry Marino -- "We're Not Going To Guam" -- February 2.0
[blogged / stream]
11. The Nimbleines -- "Let's Play Leaving (12" Mix)" -- digital single
[blogged / stream]
12. My Bloody Valentine -- "In Another Way" -- mbv
[wow.]
13. Atoms For Peace -- "Amok" -- Amok
14. Johnny Foreigner -- "Riff Glitchard (Cursed Version)" -- Manhattan Projects
[blogged / stream]

March 19, 2013

New Music Night 9 with DJs Brad Almanac + Jay Clicky Clicky | River Gods | 21 March

New Music Night 9 With Brad Almanac And Jay Clicky Clicky

Endless winter. It's the stuff of a sci-fi/fantasy novel. So perhaps you need to view your Thursday night as a quest. Not for a magical orb or enchanted ring, but for new music. And so it is fortuitous for civilization as we know it that New Music Night returns for its ninth manifestation Thursday, March 21, at River Gods in Cambridge, Mass. And like the little talking bear that for some reason wears pants but not boots in our daughter's story book, we can smell something. Only what we smell is the end of the endless winter: come smell it with us. Your faithful aural tour guides de rock for NMN continue to be Brad of Bradley's Almanac and Jay of Clicky Clicky, and it all happens from 9PM-1AM. So it's not just the place to be, it's the place to listen. Also, beer. For a sense of what you're getting into, check out Brad's playlist from the December event, or our very own. Solid. Sold? Thinking about it? Here's the Facebook event page, why not click on over and pledge your allegiance?

River Gods
125 River Street
Cambridge, MA
MAP

Accessible via Red Line at Central Square.

March 18, 2013

Today's Hotness: Dangerous Ponies, Johnny Foreigner, Fiocz

Dangerous Ponies' Tenderheart EP (crop)

>> Veteran Philly-based indie pop concern Dangerous Ponies are knee-deep in the hoopla of a massive, six-week spring tour to promote its latest release, the EP Tenderheart. The four-song collection, produced and co-engineered by ex-Algernon Cadwallader guitarist Joe Reinhart, includes the title track as well as the tunes "Sparks," "California" and "Dogfite," and it was released digitally March 8. Tenderheart will be released on 7" vinyl March 27, just days before the collective founded and fronted by Chrissy Tashjian blows into Boston for what will surely be a barn-burner of a show at some place called Discovery Zone with white-hot Boston aggro-twee trio Earthquake Party!. Incidentally, Ms. Tashjian is abetted by a half-dozen "friends, family and lovers" (Facebook's words, not ours, LOL) including the five-different-band-having, wholly righteous dude Evan Bernard on guitar and vocals. The EP boasts invigorating pop numbers notable as much for their punk energy as they are for the creative arrangements, vocal harmonies (particularly those sunshiney ahhhhhhs on "Sparks," and the layered interplay in the brilliant chorus of "California.") and pro performances that elevate Dangerous Ponies' music far above the realm of anything one might refer to as "pop-punk." The admixture is significantly enhanced by the depth provided by Reinhart, et al.'s imaginative production, but goddamn if plain writing awesome songs doesn't help a whole lot, too (srsly, have you seen this? / spot the Ampere T). Tenderheart, as we noted supra, is already available digitally now and pre-orders for the vinyl issue (as well as orders for the digital) are being taken through the Dangerous Ponies Bandcamp yert right here. Stream the entirety of the delightful EP via the embed below. Complete spring tour dates can be inspected right here. Dangerous Ponies released a self-titled debut full-length in Jan. 2011, and the Dr. Ponie Medicine Ponie EP in 2009, both of which are also available via Bandcamp.



>> Earlier this evening Birmingham, England-based noise-pop heroes Johnny Foreigner finally revealed the full skinny vis a vis its recently promised mini-album. The self-recorded and self-produced short set is titled Manhattan Projects, and 22 very lucky fans snapped up in minutes the physical version of same, much to our chagrin (you turn your back from the Internet for ONE MINUTE to feed your kid...). That tangible manifestation of Manhattan Projects packages "4 unique 8" x 6" photos from our November trip to America and Canada, with hand drawn bastardiasations and special effects by Lewes" (guitarist Lewes Herriot) along with a download of six songs. Fortunately for the rest of us, the music is also available sans the photo set. As we reported earlier this month, the half-dozen songs are re-worked version of older tunes with tweaked names alongside some new tunes. So the Johnny Foreigner vs. Everything highlight "(Don't) Show Us Your Fangs" becomes "(Don't) Throw Us Your Slang;" the recent EP standout track "3hearts" becomes "Free Starts" (a version that includes a performance from the inimitable Jack Pop of Alcopop! Records himself); and the 2008 single "Eyes Wide Terrified" becomes "Ice Slide Terrordive;" etc. Manhattan Projects, so named for a comic book that as best we can tell has the same premise as one of our many favorite Michael Paré films, is clotted with gems, but definitely hang around until the end for the stirring, even-quieter-than-the-rest closer "Riff Clitchard (Cursed Version)." The tune commences with a hypnotic guitar arpeggio and a subdued vocal from bassist Kelly Southern and then breaks down like a crumbling, old-world automaton -- it reminds us of the crushing final number, "Yr Loved," from the brilliant 2010 EP You Thought You Saw A Shooting Star But Yr Eyes Were Blurred With Tears And That Lighthouse Can Be Pretty Deceiving With The Sky So Clear And Sea So Calm. Listen to the entirety of the new collection via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through to purchase, which we highly recommend you do. Johnny Foreigner has promised two more releases this year, and Manhattan Projects has us even more excited for them than you would normally expect out of us, rabid love for Johnny Foreigner and all.



>> After selling out of its debut release almost entirely on pre-orders earlier this year, fledgling London-based experimental music label Glass Reservoir returns next month with a full-length from Zurich-based electronic music producer Fiocz. The 10-song collection, titled Social Cognition, will be issued under the catalog number TGGR002 in a limited edition of 50 CDs and as a digital download. Fiocz, according to Glass Reservoir, "is an innovative experimental analogue modular synth composer who builds intricate compositions one patchcord at a time." As we alluded to supra, Glass Reservoir's initial release, Benjamin Shaw's spooky, buzzing Summer In The Box Room, sold out quickly. With certain of its compositions (particularly "Dysphoria") touting almost conventional rhythms, Social Cognition is perhaps even more accessible, so we expect it will be snapped up by fans of thoughtful abstract music in a similarly expedient fashion. Indeed, Fiocz's tracks convey their own odd sense of groove that frames patient, shaded ambient drones that are sourced in part from field recordings of Fiocz's work, home and "surrounding environments." The result recalls elements of the work of electronic producers a decade ago, such as the more subdued productions of bigs such as Squarepusher (we're thinking "My Fucking Sound") or even not-so-bigs such as Lawrence ("Titel 4"). Social Cognition will be released April 29. Stream via the embed below the album track "Subtyping," a pensive mecha-groover which clicks and stammers and hums with much solemnity. Pre-orders for Social Cognition will be taken beginning March 29, and it is our advice that if you want this thing you pre-order early and often.



Rock Over Austin: Peter Buck with Mike Mills

Original hits by (some of) the original artists: "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville"

Today's Hotness: Her Parents, Johnny Foreigner

Her Parents

>> Oxford, England-based little-label-that-can Alcopop! Records -- home to Clicky Clicky favorites Johnny Foreigner and Screaming Maldini, among others -- triumphantly announced Wednesday the signing of outstanding London-based punk unit Her Parents. The quartet, which we first wrote about here last August upon the release of its debut Physical Product, is comprised of former members of the late, great Dananananaykroyd, Internet Forever and Stairs To Korea. Her Parents' chosen medium is deliriously irreverent and raw punk, which is rather unsurprising considering the band's pedigree. As part of the Alcopop! deal, the label will issue May 13 Her Parents' sophomore set Happy Birthday. The collection is so short that a planned 12" vinyl release only fills a single side, so the flip side will contain the whole of the foursome's thrilling Physical Product. Each album was recorded in a single session with zero instrumental overdubs. To tease the release, Her Parents and Alcopop! have issued the 85-second gem "Why Don't You Just Fuck Off?" as a free download as well as a spray-painted, handmade, two-track single in a limited edition of 50 pieces priced at 1 pence each that sold out pretty much immediately, because duh. There is also a delightful and life-affirming a video in which a lot of things suddenly turn into sandwiches and a guy wears a t-shirt with a bear on it, which you can enjoy right here. The song is built off a crunching, three-chord frame that echoes the chorus of perhaps one of the greatest songs ever written, McLusky's sublime "Light Sabre Cock Sucking Blues," so needless to say if you like that jam, you will certainly like this one. That's called a RIYL, in industry parlance, kids. Her Parents -- whose motto is "good guys putting in the fucking hours" -- are plotting a tour in May to further promote Happy Birthday, a tour that will include what will in all likelihood be anarchic performances at the festivals The Great Escape and Carefully Planned Festival. Full dates have yet to be announced, and pre-orders for Happy Birthday are not yet being taken, but all in due time. For now, stream or download "Why Don't You Just Fuck Off?" via the Soundcloud embed below.



>> Speaking of the aforementioned Johnny Foreigner, the foursome late Wednesday revealed additional details about its upcoming, self-released mini-album along with a newly reworked version of its song "(Don't) Show Us Your Fangs" cheekily titled "(Don't) Throw Us Your Slang." As the newly posted song suggests, the mini-album the Birmingham, England-based noise-pop titans first tipped last week (see this) will feature "a bunch of weird re-recordings of songs and a new old song and half a new new song," according to the text posted with the refurbished tune at this Soundcloud page. There is as yet no title or release date given for the short set, but it seems as if it could appear at the band's Big Cartel site at any moment, particularly now that the mixes have been finalized (again, according to the Soundcloud page). As for "(Don't) Throw Us Your Slang," this version of the highlight from Johnny Foreigner's titanic third full-length Johnny Foreigner vs. Everything is slowed down and lighter; it relies more heavily on acoustic guitar and is both more spare and more heartbroken than the original. If anything the kicker lyric "here's to giving in" is even more powerful in this setting. "(Don't) Throw Us Your Slang" was available as a downloadable .WAV file for about 40 minutes Wednesday night, which was the amount of time it took for the file to reach its maximum of 100 free downloads. But you can stream the tune and the original via the embeds below, and of course we highly recommend that you do.