Today's Hotness: Nuno Canavarro, Ringo Deathstarr, Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam

>> We've got a surprising number of items for you today that point back to the year 2007, which is odd, but there you have it (and, well, we dropped one from the lineup for tonight, but still...). We were very excited by Drag City's relatively low-key announcement via email 11 days ago of its pending reissue of Nuno Canavarro's mysterious and transcendent 1988 collection Plux Quba, which we last wrote about here eight years ago. The record was originally pressed on a small Portuguese label and reverently passed around among cognoscenti for years, which is how it was brought to the attention of experimental musician/producer Jim O'Rourke in the early '90s, who eventually reissued the dazzling, inscrutable collection on his own ("now limbo-ized") Moikai imprint in 1998. This, in turn, was how we first made the record's acquaintance, and every listen to the otherworldly collection has been a revelation. The Moikai pressing went out of print in 2005, according to Drag City (although Forced Exposure's web site indicates there was at least one re-press... in 2007), and so the label will reissue the set on vinyl and as a digital download on Nov. 20. Plux Quba is the sort of record where if we told you what it was like, it would make no sense, or you wouldn't believe that it was in the least appealing. In 2007, The Sea And Cake's Sam Prekop told Pitchfork he considers Mr. Canavarro's record "the high-water mark, in my opinion, of electronic music...It's a really delicate, beautiful, and really weird record." What's amazing is that this high-water mark in electronic music was largely created in a pre-digital world. It's really quite something. Set aside 27 minutes and click on the YouTube playlist below, as some hero has uploaded the record for everyone's enjoyment. Highly, highly recommended listening. And buying.



>> When we first became a fan of Texas shoegaze behemoths Ringo Deathstarr more than eight years ago, the wait for any new music seemed interminable. In retrospect, things weren't really that slow, but in recent years The Deathstarr has reliably turned out rock albums at regular intervals, with no drop-off in quality. We were jazzed to learn over the summer that the Austin-based trio led by Elliot Frazer is preparing the release of its fifth LP, a 12-song collection titled Pure Mood that is due next month. The album is being heralded by the dynamite preview track "Guilt," a three-minute tour de force that showcases the band's bludgeoning psych power and appreciation for rich ambient backdrops. The lead vocal is handled by bassist Alex Gehring, whose voice is deftly layered over itself, making it nearly as formidable a sonic force as Mr. Frazer's saturated guitars. While there is presently no domestic label announced, the venerable, London-based Club AC30 will release Pure Mood Nov. 20 as a 12" pressed to minty green- or lemonade yellow-speckled vinyl media or CD, and the set is available for pre-order right here. However, a trip over to the Club AC30 digital storefront just now indicates that the entire run of 500 LPs -- 250 in each color variety -- may already be sold out; they are listed as "out of stock," which we suppose leaves open the possibility that the threesome has some LPs on its collective person to sell at upcoming live dates. Ringo Deathstarr plays the Middle East Upstairs Oct. 18 on a terrific bill with Magic Shoppe and English luminaries The Membranes. Stream the aforementioned "Guilt" via the embed below. Club AC30 previously released Ringo Deathstarr's Mauve, Colour Trip and Sparkler LPs as well as certain EPs and singles; check out their entire offering right here.



>> Birmingham, England-based noise-pop titans Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam and its associated acts are startlingly prolific, so we suppose it was only a matter of time before the band got around to release what it is calling an "acoustic record." But willowy, folksy balladry this is not. Instead, the quartet's recently issued Video Dreams, Vol. 1 rocks about as hard as fans would expect, if a little more weirdly. The nine-song set opens with the swinging "Cool Like A Haircut," which hews most closely to the classic SFL sound of any of the songs here. The tune's choppy guitar playing, treated with a crisp slap-back reverb, provides a jaunty counterpoint to the straight-forward drum beat. In its final minute, "Cool Like A Haircut" morphs, rising up off its tight groove and entering into an engaging ambient swirl that hints at the weird music that follows. Check out a video for the aforementioned "Cool Like A Haircut" right here. Additional highlights includes the title track, whose deconstructed, lo-fi reverie hangs its toes over the edge of a persistent haze of abused ride cymbal, murmured vocals and guitar drone, and the wacky instrumental "Ralph Visits A French Bakery," which sounds like the soundtrack to a hot interlude during an episode of "Ren & Stimpy." Video Dreams. Vol. 1 was self-released by the band Sept. 13; stream the entire set via the embed below, and click through to download the entire thing for any price. Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam's prior full length was a self-titled collecton issued in 2013; in the interim it released a number of digital singles and EPs, all of which are available via Bandcamp right here. One band principal stated on his personal Facebook page in August that the act has a number of releases slated to come out, and it appears there may be something coming for Halloween, so fans should remain vigilant.

Today's Hotness: Today Junior, Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, Under Electric Light

>> We're starting to wonder if there will be music coming out of Norwood, Massachusett's Hanging Horse Studios that we DON'T like. The latest set birthed there to traverse our proverbial desk is a very rewarding debut long-player from Allston indie-pop upstarts Today Junior. The trio is comprised of brothers Mike and Harry O'Toole, who execute drumming and guitaring duties for the outfit respectively, along with bassist Anthony Ambrose, who may or may not be someone's brother. Today Junior's new LP Ride The Surf touts uptempo tunes that work bright, recognizable motifs in ways that don't sound tired or trite, gliding all the while through a steady, sock-deep reverb. What sets Today Junior's music apart from that of other acts chasing a sun 'n 'surf-inspired sound is the passionate singing and mindful breakdowns and grooves that the Allstonians work into their concise pop nuggets. The band's music is less noir and melancholy than that of presumably defunct Chicagoans Distractions, who put out one of our favorite records of 2010, but the bands are similar in that they twist the familiar into something memorable. And there are many, many memorable numbers on Ride The Surf, including its cracking, well-calculated title track, which, incidentally, plays host to a really hot guitar solo. One song that memorably checks both the "breakdowns" and "grooves" boxes is the deeper album cut "Daydrifter." The waning moments of the terrific strummer "What I Said" show the act minds the p's and q's of songcraft; there perfect, classically California-sounding vocal harmonies manifest as cool "oooh la la las" and point to Harry O'Toole's final, passionately delivered vocal, which rolls off punctuating guitar chords and onto a fading trickle of stick clicks. Ride The Surf was recorded between May 2014 and May 2015 at the aforementioned studio, which has also generated recordings we like a lot by hitmakers Julius Earthling and Soft Fangs. Today Junior fêted the release of Ride The Surf Monday night at Cambridge, Mass.'s Middle East Rock club, and we presume additional live engagements are forthcoming. For now, get your ears around the record while its summery sounds can properly contextualize this golden summer. Stream the entire set via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through the purchase it as a digital download.



>> Indie rock luminaries Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam returned this past weekend with a new EP and a tantalizing promise of yet more new music to come before the year is out. The Birmingham, England trio's Neighbours EP boasts three rockers spanning fewer than nine minutes, boisterous bar anthems all that bash and pop from within folds of reverb and slapback. The title track initiates the proceedings by cycling two towering chords, and the guitars buzz and feedback into the corners of the mix during a dynamic pre-chorus. When the massive, shout-along chorus of "Neighbors" -- which gets a dazzling video treatment here -- hits, it is characteristically huge and grand, and recalls a revved up take on precursor band Calories' stein-swinging "Let's Pretend That We're Older." What's that? You don't recall Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam's impressive lineage? The act sprang from the desperately great Calories, which itself was begat by the dissolution of Birmingham legends Distophia, something we've recounted in these electronic pages regularly. Neighbours' two additional numbers are similarly stirring: the belter "New Womb" throbs under the weight of its own crumbling distortion, driven by a straight-ahead beat and a staccato, descending guitar melody, while "Part Time Butcher" ratchets up the syncopation and conjures yet larger clouds of crash cymbal to buffet its ragged, but bold, vocal. The EP comes relatively hot on the heels of a digital single released in June featuring the tunes "Paradise Telephone" b/w/ "Real Romantix," and based on this Facebook post, it would seem we are entering a period of renewed activity for the wildly under-rated trio. Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam's next gig is Aug. 15 at The Wagon And Horses in Digbeth, Birmingham, and the band has also snagged a choice slot opening for highly regarded noisemakers Metz in Birmingham Oct. 30. We don't have any inside information, but we'd lay strong money that there is more new music from SFL around that time of that Metz show (as that would pretty much epitomize striking while the iron is hot). In the meantime, stream all of Neighbours via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through the acquire the set as a paywhutchyalike digital download. More bulletins as events warrant.



>> Veteran Montreal 'gaze project Under Electric Light first hit our radar with its stirring 2011 rocker "Waiting For The Rain To Fall," whose big melodic sound band founder Danny Provencher ascribed to his love of the Beach Boys and classic shoegaze records. None of us, Mr. Provencher included, could have known then that four years on we'd be living in an age where My Bloody Valentine, RIDE, Slowdive and Swervedriver are once again active. Which we suppose is neither here nor there, but it is amazing to consider how far we've come, and in some ways how much the future looks and sounds like our cherished past. For his part, Provencher (along with vocalist/lyricist Marie-Eve Bouchard) seems no less enamored of the aforementioned classic shoegaze sounds and big melodies in 2015, based on much time spent with Under Electric Light's recently self-released EP Never Lose Another Day. To be sure, the beat-driven and guitar-drenched opener "Pieces Of Me" is the collection's most immediate (if a bit by-the-numbers) song. However, it is the EP's solemn closer "Runaway Sun" that is the real stunner. Gentle and subdued, the track builds up from a bed of synth and acoustic and e-bowed guitars into an ethereal fog, recalling at times the more melancholy tunes of The Ocean Blue (whose first three records, incidentally, will be released by Shelflife on vinyl for the first time ever in November). Stream all of Never Lose Another Day via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through to purchase the set. Under Electric Light recently contributed a cover of the RIDE rarity "King Bullshit" to the digital compilation Leave Them All Behind, which was issued by The Blog That Celebrates Itself in March; check it out here. It is worth noting that Liverpool's Hail Hail Records has since taken on Never Lose Another Day, and is offering it for sale via its own digital storefront right here.

Today's Hotness: Robert Robinson, Fridge Poetry

>> We've been listening again and again to a full-length issued earlier this month from a fellow named Robert Robinson called Connecticut River. It's a ridiculously engaging melange of bedroom pop, free-k folk and ambient exploration that somehow becomes more mysterious even as it reveals more and more of itself over the course of repeat listens. Clicky Clicky gets particularly jazzed about acts that create, furnish and inhabit singular sonic worlds, and Mr. Robinson and his Connecticut River Band (we are assuming the band exists, but would also not be surprised were it mirage) beautifully express a certain insularity or reverie with their loose, expansive compositions. Sometimes, as on the meandering instrumental album highlight "Chill Buds" or opener "Hocus Pocus," the songs stretch toward a distant horizon. While "Song for Popop" is a folksy and minimal bit of slow-core that recalls contemporary work by New Dog, the bulk of the proceedings has a free and psychedelic bent that makes the set as unpredictable as it is enjoyable. Indeed, the dazzling "Slice Raga" faintly echoes the finer moments of the Deerhunter oeuvre, and "Birds Majesty" sounds like an outtake from Pink Floyd's The Man + The Journey. Some light Googling tells us the prolific Mr. Robinson is the primary songwriter from long-running Western Mass. psych folk foursome Sore Eros, which is perhaps best known for its 2013 split 9" -- yeah, you read that right -- with notable Philadelphian Kurt Vile. But Connecticut River is so very impressive, it doesn't seem like it is simply tunes that are Sore Eros seconds or cast-offs. The set was released by Northampton, Mass.'s Feeding Tube records as a digital download Nov. 6, and we highly recommend it to your attention. Stream all of Connecticut River via the embed below and click through to purchase.



>> One can never be sure with the Johnny Foreigner folks -- especially as it wouldn't be terribly unusual for the legendary and Birmingham, England-based fight-pop survivors to issue a song for Christmas -- but at least presently it appears that the final release of 2014 from a member of its cohort is Fridge Poetry's slightly delayed but altogether excellent recent EP, Omstart Sessions. Fridge Poetry, as devoted readers know, is helmed by Johnny Foreigner drummer Junior Elvis Washington Laidley, and is a vehicle for Mr. Laidley's visceral and moving electropop compositions, which rely on guest vocalists to write and sing vocal parts. This latest, five-song set is actually a bit more rock- and guitar-oriented on the front end, but settles into a more blissed and electronic vibe on the final two numbers. The EP is highlighted by the bracing and twinkly emo anthem "Like Poetry," which features dynamite vocals from The Weaks' Evan Bernard, and the burbling closer "Waste Time (CrashDown Redux)." An entrancing video for that latter cut was premiered at Punktastic yesterday, and we humbly suggest that after you've wrapped up your business with Clicky Clicky this day you click this hyperlink and take a gander at said video. Other featured vocalists on the Omstart Sessions EP include Clicky Clicky fave Pete Dixon of Calories and Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, Saam Watkins of London emo giants Playlounge, Emmalee Lovelace of Lint, Rob Slater from The Spills and Elos Arma. The EP is available as a standalone digital download, and also in a bundle with a t-shirt or three posters; the shirt art and posters were all designed by South African artist Anja Venter. You can peruse all of your purchase options by clicking through the Bandcamp embed below after you've streamed the EP, which is awesome, and what are you waiting for, and et cetera. Omstart Sessions was self-released Nov. 6. Johnny Foreigner released its titanic fourth LP You Can Do Better in March [review].

Review: Burning Alms | In Sequence

From drifting pastoral reveries to dense, open-tuned experimentalism, from patient expositive ambient passages to thundering verses, the dazzling feat of In Sequence is that it succeeds at being all indie rock things to all indie rock people. Even with a spirited experimental bent shot through the entire collection, Burning Alms' melodies, textures and dynamics on its debut long-player are fiercely engaging. This is no great surprise: Burning Alms principals John Biggs and Thomas Whitfield have made compelling music together for more than a decade, and few bands releasing debuts build from such a formidable foundation. Which is another reason why In Sequence is a terrific whole-album experience, one that is cinematic, mysterious and thrilling (and often all three in one song, such as the Branca-styled tour de force "Night Climates").

Long-time fans of the pair's music will find the collection wholly satisfying, and new fans -- whose sentiments are uncolored by the estimable back catalogs underpinning the new set -- will likely wonder where the hell these guys came from all of a sudden. And we suppose that is the optimist's edge of the double-edged sword of being massively underrated: the more one toils away from the sucking white-hot static of the hype-cycle, the more likely one is able to blow away listeners when one comes around with the goods. It has been a long road for Mssrs. Biggs and Whitfield, from early days in legendary Birmingham post-punk act Distophia to, more recently, the ludicrously slept-on Calories. That In Sequence is the duo's best shot at breaking through (at least since Northern Ireland/London-based Smalltown America released Calories' titanic debut Adventuring) is perhaps bittersweet, because as captivating and strong as this new record is, it is not so foreign from the recent work of Calories, not unrecognizably descended from Distophia.

It has been a bit of a parlour game here at Clicky Clicky HQ, figuring out what is going on with all of the various Distophia-descended bands, and what distinguishes them, particularly given the fact that certain of the bands have, at least at times, contained the very same members while performing under different names. Of that cohort, Burning Alms' music is dustier, more meditative, addresses more abstract lyrical themes, and only occasionally shimmers in the way of certain Calories songs (such as the epic closer to Calories III, "Tropics"). We suppose Burning Alms must be defined by the absence of the songwriting contributions of Calories bassist Pete Dixon, who keeps busy with Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam and recently played his first solo show in seven years, but how that absence manifests itself sonically is unclear. Perhaps one characteristic attribute is Burning Alms' aforementioned meditative dimension, apparently inspired by Mr. Biggs' interest in American literature and existential thinkers, although such conjecture is almost immediately dispelled by the crushing 5/4 opening of the blistering "The Aperture Colonised," the high-octane whirl of the single "Matadors," or the shuddering rage of "Forest Clearing." Perhaps in the music of Burning Alms there is a more restless pursuit of experimentation, as in the free-form title track to In Sequence, a minimalist pastiche of ambient (amp?) noise, taped voice interaction and skeletal guitar noodling. Whatsoever its determinant je ne sais quoi, no listener will come away from listening to In Sequence feeling like something is missing. Indeed, what ultimately makes Burning Alms' debut such a resounding success is its ability to balance myriad sounds and styles in such a way as to evoke a singularly rich musical identity.

Smalltown America released In Sequence Monday. The set is available as a vinyl LP, compact disc and digital download, all of which can be purchased through the label right here. Stream the entire record via the Spotify embed below.

Burning Alms: Bandcamp | Facebook | Internerds | Soundcloud



Related Coverage:
Today's Hotness: Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, Goodbye Childhood
Today's Hotness: Burning Alms
Today's Hotness: Burning Alms
All This Stuff Happening With Calories And Its Offshoots Makes Our Head Hurt 'Cause It's A Lot Of Things All At Once, Like This Awesome New Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam Record
Today's Hotness: Burning Alms

Today's Hotness: Parakeet, The Shalfonts

>> Yuck's 2013 sophomore album Glow And Behold signaled the '90s revivalists would be fine, thank you very much, in the wake of the shock departure of founding fronter Daniel Blumberg. But well before that release Yuck bassist Mariko Doi was busy staking out her own place in the proverbial indie rock sun with her sparkling dream-pop project Parakeet, which we first wrote about here in April 2012. The band, a collaboration with The History Of Apple Pie drummer James Llewellyn Thomas, debuted with a single that month, and then issued the very enjoyable Shonen Hearts EP at the end of 2012, which we wrote about right here. After apparently devoting her time to Glow And Behold during 2013, Ms. Doi has returned in a big way with Parakeet's best slate of songs to date on a new EP titled Pink Noise. The short set, which was released June 26 via Marshall Teller Records, never lets up, offering quick, lush and snappy dreamers that accentuate Doi's clear pipes and guitarist Jon Jackson's compelling, delay-heavy moves. The expansive, colorful opener "Paper Town" echoes the reverberated heartache of the first Best Coast album, while also carrying in its chording and composition elements of Best Coast's second, more country-inflected set. Doi's singing is strong throughout, such that one might be tempted to argue that her voice has been sorely under-used in Yuck; she typically enters a verse more subtly and then goes for a full-throated falsetto in the chorus. This is best employed on "Running and Running," which contrasts brightly strummed acoustic guitars with thick drumming. The highlight of the four-song collection is "Pink Noise," a commanding title track offering fluorescent, neon flourishes and power-pop guitar leads, along with even more great acoustic strum. Buy the Pink Noise EP here. A full-length Parakeet release is contemplated for release in 2015, and we are expecting great things given the increasingly compelling music coming from the band. -- Edward Charlton



>> We were surprised to learn earlier this month that the dizzying constellation of Distophia-associated bands is slightly larger than we had previously thought. As it happens, Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam drummer Ralph Morton is also party to a long-running but heretofore-unknown-to-us act called The Shalfonts (you'll recall from our overlong explanation here that Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam includes former Distophia guy Pete Dixon). The Shalfonts are primarily a virtual band/recording project centered around the songwriting duo of Mr. Morton and Bryn Bowen, with as many as seven contributors based in either Birmingham, England or Bergen, Norway collaborating on tracks shared through the Internet. The group has crafted a steady stream of digital releases, including a couple full-lengths and various EPs and singles, and its most recent set Grant Mansions was released to the wilds of the Internerds earlier this month. The shambling new collection touts a number of solid, acoustic-led rockers that echo a particular early '90s, Sebadoh-adjacent freak-folk sound. Indeed, there is a strange vintage Western Mass. flavor across the entire set, despite the decades and thousands of miles betwixt. The highlight of Grant Mansions may well be the relatively up-tempo strummer "A Long Straight Cue," which materializes at the tail-end of the set. The song rises up over a clattering rhythm with a light, ascending melody sprung from layered acoustic guitars, and a burbling stream of lyrics bouys the song to its odd, but not-quite-jarring final exclamation: "my curls all fall out." Other notable tunes include the relatively tense and swirling preview single "Netman + Bird" and the patient, pastoral rumination "MudHeart." Grant Mansions was released as a compact disc or digital download by the awesomely monikered label Giant Manilow July 7; the CD is available in a limited edition of 100 with packaging designed by The Shalfonts' own Lloyd Bowen. Listen to the entire set via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through to purchase the CD or download.

Today's Hotness: Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, Goodbye Childhood, R.M. Hendrix

>> For those of you who didn't see us trumpet its existence over on the Fakebooks yesterday, the video above is for the lead track from a tremendous new EP from Birmingham, England-based noise-pop luminaries Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam. We introduced you to the then-trio last fall, when it self-released a cracking self-titled full-length debut. Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam is comprised by former Calories and Distophia guy Peter Dixon, and chaps named Andrew Bullock, Ralph Morton and, more recently, David Bentall. The new EP, which as far as we can tell carries no title and no hard release date, touts five characteristically concise, desperate and tuneful rockers and picks up right where Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam left off. That's not the most insightful analysis, but when a band -- or really, a cohort of men that configures itself in ever-increasing combinations (more on that below) -- does so many things right so consistently, the work needn't always be labored over. "Auto," the song featured in the video above, is briskly paced, urgent and repetitive ("auto" is short for "automation," after all), bludgeoning the refrain "in auto" repeatedly at the end of the second minute just prior to a tearing lead guitar line. The tune presents an electrifying amalgamation of punk bombast confronting Teutonic minimalism and efficiency, and there is perhaps a larger point to be made about its mechanistic rhythm, the themes of alienation and boredom in the video, and how that relates to Marx's ideas about how industrial machinery alienates the worker (see, for example, something like "As a result of machinery, displaced workers are not so quickly compensated by employment in other industries but are forced into an expanding labor-market at a disadvantage and available for greater capitalist exploitation without the ability to procure the means of subsistence for survival.") But it also just rocks, as does the blazing, 106-second follow-up "Castles And Kings." Indeed, there is nary a loose thread or dropped stitch in any of the EP's five songs. The EP is available for pre-order here in two bundles. The first is limited to 50 orders, and includes 7" vinyl, CD, A3 poster, t-shirt and instant download for £10; the second offers only the 7" and CD for £6. We suspect the former iteration is already sold out, but try your luck, what the hell, right? Like sound but hate pictures? You can stream "Auto" via the Soundcloud embed below.



>> If you clicked the second hyperlink above and revisited our initial coverage of Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, you are familiar with our being overwhelmed by the many projects that have descended from the late, great Distophia and its most successful offspring, Calories. Fortunately, and not surprisingly, all of these related acts make excellent music. Yet one more new project was revealed last month, when Burning Alms/Calories doods Andrew Bullock and Thomas Mark Whitfield unveiled Goodbye Childhood. The duo bowed the project with a self-titled, downloadable EP in late April. The music is reserved and spare, lacing together canned beats, acoustic guitars, murmured vocals and atmospheric synths,into a curious yet enticing product that at least superficially calls to mind Elliot Smith and The Notwist. The delicate and waltz-timed meditation "Lock Up Your Son" may be the most affecting of the short set, with gentle lyrics and pretty acoustic guitar meandering first into a stiffening drone, then a crackling rhythm track. A new band and EP were not what we had been expecting from Mssrs. Bullock and Whitfield. The pair's Burning Alms has had a full-length titled In Sequence waiting in the wings to be unveiled for about six months, we reported here and here in February and December respectively. Is that LP still in the offing, or has it been subsumed within the catalogue/repertoire of Goodbye Childhood? We really have no idea. But confusion is certainly nothing new when it comes to the supernumerous spawn of Distophia. We can only wait and see, and while you do so, take a listen to the entire Goodbye Childhood EP via the embed below.



>> Wade in deep with us, indie rock fans, deep into the new collection from Boston-based graphic designer and music DIY-er R.M. Hendrix. Mr. Hendrix's new full-length Urban Turks Country Jerks carries 11 tunes and captures in its broad embrace classic shoegaze and Britpop sounds. Heretofore, the cuts "Wasted Summer" and "In This Daydream" from the collection have been designated as singles from same, and there are very nice video clips for them here and here respectively. But it is at the far end of the collection where we find two tunes that, in our humble opinion, cry out for single treatment; hear us out. Were we to don our A&R cap -- which we do enjoy doing now and again -- we'd advise releasing a vinyl 7" with the terrific, buoyant strummer "Those Were Dark Days" on the A-side, and the instrospective coldwave dreamer "Frost Heaves" on the flip. The former song is a very pleasant reminder of the late-career classic "Stormy Weather" from Echo And The Bunnymen, and succeeds on the strength of Hendrix's even vocal, big guitars in the chorus and a bouncing beat. The latter tune is a perfect foil, desolate and icy, the cool side of our proposed aural McDLT. Fortunately all of Urban Turks Country Jerks is available to stream on Soundcloud, and so you can weigh the merits of our imaginary single via the embeds below, or click this link to hear the whole shooting match. Urban Turks Country Jerks was released April 28 by Dallas-based Moon Sounds Records on CD or as a digital download. We previously wrote about Hendrix's Pink Skin EP here in 2012. Hendrix, formerly of indie rockers Flannery, has been producing music for almost two decades at this point -- at least one song at his web site dates back to 1996. Peruse his entire catalog right here.

All This Stuff Happening With Calories And Its Offshoots Makes Our Head Hurt 'Cause It's A Lot Of Things All At Once, Like This Awesome New Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam Record

The men behind Calories seem to have decided that, like the protagonists at the climax of "Ghostbusters," now may be the appropriate time to cross the streams. There was a time when the criminally unsung Birmingham, England-based noise-pop foursome appeared content to have a go at taking projects in turn. But at the moment four related entities are issuing new music, prepping new releases or, in the case of the completely mega but long defunct rock band Distophia, ramping up for a reunion show. All the moving parts and machinations have tempted us to create diagram of all the various band members and where they fit, but, you know, then we didn't, so we're hoping this round-up will suffice to go beyond these earlier blog posts (1, 2) to clarify who is doing what (frankly, it makes our head ache, and we wish we had a UK correspondent to deal with this, *makes "call me" hand motion*).

Here is where we stand today. There was a band called Distophia, they made all of these awesome songs (1, 2, 3, 4 and so on),and then suddenly about six years ago there was not a band called Distophia. Thereafter Pete Dixon, John Biggs and Tom Whitfield from that band formed Calories, which thankfully still exists. Sometime in the past year the then-still-a-trio decided they did not rule hard enough, so they added producer extraordinaire Dominique James on bass and Mr. Dixon moved to guitar. Along parallel tracks, there has been other action in recent years, namely the establishment of two side projects. First, Mr. Dixon has created a bass-free, noisy wonder called Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam with gentlemen who are called Andrew Bullock and Ralph Morton. Meanwhile, Mssrs. Biggs, Whitfield and James launched a new project of their own, the more moody Burning Alms.

OK, that's the who, here's the what. Calories announced late last month its third long-player is on the way. While no release date or label has been disclosed, the quartet has released to the wilds of the Interpants the strikingly ethereal preview track "Mausoleum." Calories has for some time been drifting from blunt, brief and anthemic post-punk toward a more billowing, spaced-out sound, as evidenced by the looser proceedings of its tremendous sophomore set released in 2010, Basic Nature [review]. But the dream-like "Mausoleum" -- which is pushed along by a high guitar riff we swear appears somewhere in the Modest Mouse oeuvre -- is an exciting step further into more spectral and indefinite spaces; a video for the new song is posted atop this item. "Mausoleum" is not the first new music we've heard from Calories this year: attentive readers will recall the band issued the EP DMT in January.

But wait! There's more. Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam at long last today issued its tremendous, self-titled, debut long-player. The collection -- recorded live to tape at Birmingham's Highbury Studio -- is filled with 11 bracing and noisy guitar pop songs that make a very strong argument against tagging the three-piece as a side project to anything. The sparkling preview track "Ibiza Rocks" -- which moves at a brisk pace, fist-banging through verses to gently pulsing choruses -- made its way online over the summer, and is not too far afield from the big, anthemic guitar music of Calories. Indeed, to a certain extent we feel that Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, of all of the aforementioned projects including Calories itself, is the one that most resembles the band that made the forthright belters of the first Calories full-length, Adventuring [review]. Just take a listen to the cracking opening triptych of "Sea Chanty," "Orange Grove" and "Sooooooo." Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam is crammed with very strong tracks, from which we have a hard time identifying favorites, although the echoing ballad "Teeth" distinguishes itself, perhaps because it is the first major downshift the collection executes. A very small number of physical copies of Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam will be available at the band's next show, in a bundle that includes one of two shirt concepts, but the majority of us will just have to live with the fact that we're not going to get our mitts on one of those. Fortunately, the record is available as a pay-what-you-like download which you can access via the embed below.



Not to be outdone, a brief note atop the Burning Alms Facebook page promises the band's debut LP will be released this year. Your move, Burning Alms! As if all this activity was not enough activity from which to infer an extreme state of activeness, it was announced last month that Distophia will perform a one-off reunion show Nov. 16 in Birmingham. Could this lead to an official release of the legendary "lost" Distophia record Beat Dysxlexia? Cross all those fingers. Then download the SFL record and take the rest of the day off, that was a lot for you to read on a Monday.

Review: Calories | Basic Nature [MP3]

The fact that this record was originally to be titled Habitations and released months ago on an entirely different label doesn't necessarily account for a more-pronounced emotional polarization in Calories' music, but it is an interesting parallel. Heretofore the Birmingham, England-based post-punk threesome was known for power, economy and exuberance. Calories' revelatory 2009 full-length debut Adventuring conveyed a sense of optimism and possibility. By contrast, Basic Nature is more emotionally complex and more texturally varied, and the record carries a weightier sense of reckoning and resignation (indeed, even the album titles connote disparate temperaments). Sure, the manic, fist-banging first single from Basic Nature, "FFWD," as well as the exhilarating, would-be title track "Habitations," hew closely to Calories' familiar, post-punk sound, but the cares and worries that elsewhere populate Basic Nature suggest the optimism of Adventuring has been tempered, that Mssrs. Dixon, Biggs and Whitfield have taken the measure of people and are less than confident with the results. People let you down.

The set pieces that bookend Basic Nature and carry its title underscore the primitive that lurks beneath. The first is a boxy aural assualt of a bass-and-drums vamp, the second a bloopy, loping pastiche that fades into a decaying drum pattern. And then there is "Altitude Sickness," an almost disorientingly sweet acoustic ballad ("there's peace at this altitude"); a second acoustic track "The Offer" is no less affecting. The chorus of "Endlessly In Light" is almost painfully tender (despite the opening and closing lyric "you were wrong, you were all wrong, we were fine"). Of course, as referenced above, there is still plenty of upbeat material. The blistering, quasi-opener "You Could Be Honest" is perhaps the band's most desperate shouter to date, and bassist Pete Dixon's vocal expresses bottomless (and, at the song's climax, literal) regret.

Despite the broader palette of sounds and styles on Basic Nature, we wouldn't say that band has loosened up or settled down. It's more like you turned them into thick panes of glass, laid them out on a table and bludgeoned them with a hammer for a little bit: the shards spread a little. However one characterizes the changes, Calories' music remains tightly focused and the act continues to champion brevity. "Habitations," at 3:44, is the threesome's longest recorded composition to date, eclipsing Adventuring's closer "Forests Of Varg" by an entire second. Tough Love Records releases Basic Nature in the U.K. Monday. Below is a stream of a non-album track to whet your collective aural appetite.

Calories - 'Incredible Visions (Never Amount)'
[pre-order Basic Nature from Tough Love Records right here]

Calories: Internerds | Facebook | YouTube | Flickr

Previous Calories Coverage:
Footage: Calories' "FFWD"
Today's Hotness: Calories
Be Prepared: Calories | Basic Nature | 13 September
Today's Hotness: Calories
Review: Calories | Let's Pretend That We're Older EP [MP3]
YouTube Rodeo: Calories' "Forests of Varg"
Review: Calories | Adventuring
Show Us Yours #10: Calories

Review: Calories | Let's Pretend That We're Older EP [MP3]

OK Calories EP review go the idea of a Calories EP is sort of laughable because the brilliant Birmingham, England-based power trio's no-bullshit approach to melodic, sculpted punkwhatever already ensures that there will be no dillying or dallying among the proceedings and the band's debut full-length was 10 songs long but a blindingly paced 23 minutes short so a four-song EP could almost theoretically take you just one cigarette to listen to the whole thing, or even a negative amount of time, yeah? The title track to Let's Pretend That We're Older is an end-of-the-night beer hall anthem, well, more contemplative than that, but the point being if we were pretending we were younger this is the song that we'd dial up every night with our last dollar for the jukebox and pound our thick-bottomed mugs to the shellacked tabletop along to as the barkeep reaches behind the dusty venetians and kills the window fluorescents and props open the door with a tired and meaningfully silent getthefuckout. Paradoxically the best track on this EP is buried in the side B track 1 slot were this a vinyl release, "Expect The Language" of the four tunes here best conveys Calories' characteristic panoramic optimism and that feeling that this day is going to be your day, which the substantially darker "Let's Pretend That We're Older" lacks a bit. In sum the EP is a fine collection to tide over fans who frothed at the debut Adventuring and are chewing fingers down to wrists waiting for the threesome's next full-length, which we are told will be issued in March by Smalltown America under the title Habitations. Let's Pretend That We're Older was co-released earlier this month by the aforementioned Smalltown America and Big Scary Monsters; the thing is being sold in a limited-edition denim sheath with a badge pinned to the front, the awesomeness of which need not be expounded upon. Mysterious commenters tell us that Habitations will be preceded in the new year by a single released by Coventry-based Tough Love Records for "The Mortal Boys" b/w "Drink The Potion," the a-side of which will appear on Habitations.

Calories -- "Let's Pretend That We're Older" -- Let's Pretend That We're Older
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[buy the EP from Big Scary Monsters right here]

Calories: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Previous Calories Coverage:
Be Prepared: Calories | Let's Pretend That We're Older EP | 11 Nov.
YouTube Rodeo: Calories' "Forests of Varg"
Review: Calories | Adventuring
Show Us Yours #10: Calories
Todays Hotness: Fields, Johnny Foreigner, Calories

Review: Calories | Adventuring

Brevity: Birmingham, England-based power trio Calories has it. The act's music is so tightly compacted that even the verses play like choruses, and its entire debut set Adventuring is done almost as soon as it begins. On Adventuring, due March 9, Calories delivers a brisk, exuberant collection of 10 tunes that clocks in at a breathless 23 minutes. All the songs are singalong-able, everything is anthemic and everything rocks.

Calories has been streaming new tracks at its MySpace garage for months, namely the lead track "A Bear, A Bison," "To Encounter A Deer" and the title cut. Spirited fist-bangers all, driven by bassist Pete Dixon's affecting bark, but the trio has kept some cards up its six sleeves. The punishing push and pull of "Caught In The In-Between" -- which recalls the finer early work of '90s D.C. post-hardcore standard bearers Jawbox -- is the most exciting track on Adventuring. The Jawbox reference may not be terribly off the mark, considering the slate of influences at Calories' MySpace reads like a who's who of the American underground of the last 20 years, including Jawbox contemporaries Shudder To Think (whose Get Your Goat album is exceptional), as well as Blonde Redhead, Polvo and Don Caballero. "(See You On The Expedition)," another highlight, rocks very convincingly in 3/4 time.

Adventuring is available for pre-order now right here; fans who pre-order the collection will also receive a bonus handmade CDR containing 26 tracks (!!!) of demos and extras, as well as a digital sampler from the label. All of which makes the 8 pounds sterling sticker price well worth it in our opinion. Calories embark on a short tour supporting Glaswegian indie phenoms Dananananaykroyd March 26, and you can inspect the trio's full itinerary at its aforementioned MySpace. There's no preview MP3 to be had for Adventuring, which is a shame, but we think you'll enjoy the non-album track "Drink The Potion," a live video of which is linked below. Word from the Calories camp is that the tune was written about a month or so after Adventuring was recorded, and it is likely going to be on the trio's next record, which could be tracked later this year. As a sidenote, we'll point out that only recently have we gotten our hands on Calories-predecessor Distophia's absurdly good but never released masterwork Beat Dyslexia. If you do not have this record you should hunt it down with extreme prejudice. It's exceptional, and we're posting the amazing cut "Children Know The Score" below with the hopes that some day the set might get a proper commercial release. Finally, you may recall Calories helped us relaunch our Show Us Yours feature a month ago; here's a link to that.

Calories -- "Drink The Potion" [YouTube]
Distophia -- "Children Know The Score [.m4a]" -- Beat Dyslexia
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[buy Distophia records at MusicStack here]

Calories: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Show Us Yours #10: Calories

One of our resolutions for 2009 was to revive our old Show Us Yours feature, via which we pay virtual visits to the practice spaces of some of our favorite indie rock acts. You probably haven't even heard of the feature, because the last one we did was in July 2007. But now it's back, and we're excited to relaunch with a tenth episode featuring Birmingham, England-based indie trio Calories. Close readers of the blog will recall how we bemoaned here discovering the band Distophia after it had already folded. Well, fortunately some of the guys stayed together and forged the new act Calories. The trio plays aggressive but melodic indie rock, and they play it well. So well in fact that they have been picked up by the London-based label Small Town America, which will issue Calories' debut long-player Adventuring March 2. So we decided it was high time to check in with the act. We pitched our battery of questions to Calories guitarist John Biggs, and what we got back is posted below.

We're especially grateful to Calories because they have allowed us to offer a taste of the new record via the embedded Imeem player below. Attentive photo viewers may notice a clue or two as to which prominent indie act Calories shares its space with. The band plays in Oxford, England tomorrow night with Instruments, and you can inspect details regarding additional pending Calories live engagements here. Anyway, take it away Mr. Biggs.

Why do you use this space?

It was cheap, secure, damp-proof and made me think of Hell. Euronymous from Mayhem would have loved it here. We also needed a place store all of our equipment and write.

Explain why everyone stands where they stand, or why one spot in the space is the suckiest spot.

I like to stand so that I can see the lads and make sure they are safe from harm. If they start to slack off a bit I give them an evil eye.

You walk into your space. What's the first thing you smell? Why?

The smell of dark and the smell of fear. There are no lights on the first floor to the building so we use a torch to light the way. Once we are through the first gate we enter zone one which is next to the toilet. Surprisingly there are both a ladies and a gents toilet; I always use the ladies as it feels cleaner. A few strip lights illuminate zone one but they flicker like they might in an old horror film. The smell on this floor is the smell of dust and cold. We then enter door one to the 'Corridor of Shadows.' There is absolute silence in this corridor; sometimes the alarm might sound but not always. There is something not quite right about this place... something elusive... something slightly queer... ARRRH!!! Tom jumps out on us!! We laugh nervously and fumble for the key. We lock ourselves in away from the dark and away from the demons... for now...

There are suddenly four people in your photo at MySpace. Was one of you cloned?

The guy in the photo is Steven Ingram. He was in our 'lost' band Antlers. We wrote a collection of songs with dear old Steve. We recorded four together in a day at a London studio. We are releasing these on a bonus CD you can purchase from our label STA. Steve is also our art director.

I know you finished recording the forthcoming full-length Adventuring last year, which comes out in March. What else will the next six months bring for Calories?

We are planning to release the album Adventuring on STA which has a release date of 2nd March 2009. We are also going back into the studio sometime this year to record our next full length record and also our first in a collection of EPs called Installations. We want these to be exclusively limited on vinyl with some sexy artwork.

Calories: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Previous Show Us Yours episodes:
Shapes And Sizes | Dirty On Purpose | Relay
Mobius Band | Frightened Rabbit | Assembly Now
Meneguar | Okay Paddy | Charmparticles

Todays Hotness: Fields, Johnny Foreigner, Calories

>> There is finally news about new releases from Fields. The now-London-based quartet, whose "Brittlesticks" is one of our favorite songs, will release a single Dec. 1 for the track "Are You Ready Yet?" The tune will also feature on the band's sophomore full length Hollow Mountains, which will be released in March 2009 ( at least in the UK, and by Warners, so far as we know). The set was produced by band fronter Nick Peill and mixed by the one and only Chris Zane, who you will recall worked on the Human Television track we raved about here as well as the most recent and forthcoming sets from New York-based dream pop heroes Asobi Seksu. Fields mounts a small tour of the UK beginning in mid-November and lasting through the end of the month. You can check out all of the tour dates at the band's MySpace casa right here. We last wrote about Fields here in July when we were slipped the new track "Worst Love;" at the time we reported the record was to be released before year end, but apparently it's been pushed back. No word on what the b-side to "Are You Ready Yet?" will be, but we can already offer you a download of a version of the track courtesy of band reps RadarMaker.

Fields -- "Are You Ready Yet?" -- Preview MP3
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[buy Fields records from Newbury Comics right here]

>> Here is awesome full-screen live video of Johnny Foreigner performing their single "Eyes Wide Terrified" at the New Slang club night in England last month. We sadly realized yesterday that due to work commitments we're not going to be able to make it down to see the band's Friday evening set at CMJ, as had been our plan. On the upside, that means we will be able to see Ringo Deathstarr at Tufts that night. But the video linked supra does a good job of instilling that feeling that we're really missing out. Oh well. Johnny Foreigner is likely touring the U.S. a great deal next year, so hopefully they'll do it up like Frightened Rabbit, who seem to play Boston five times a year despite being from Selkirk, Scotland.

>> Birmingham, England-based indie trio Calories, which sprung from the ashes of the late, lamented indie rockers Distophia earlier this year, reports (in our MySpace comments, no less) that it has completed recording a debut full-length and it is slated for release in February 2009. A scouring of Calories' MySpace turns up this blog post that states the band recorded 10 songs at Northampton, England's The Lodge Studios last June. Two tracks, "A Bear A Bison" and "To Encounter A Deer," are streaming at said MySpace, but there is no information available currently about a label. We wouldn't be all that surprised if Big Scary Monsters was attached to the project, but then again BSM can't put out *every* record now, can it? How about some kickass old Distophia? This file is tagged "Ten Inch," but we've always been suspicious that that is a bad tag. Great song though.

Distophia -- "Ten Inch" -- MySpace Download
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Today's Hotness: Frightened Rabbit, Distophia, Mobius Band

>> We're back. It's nice to be here.

>> We were just thinking the other day that Glaswegian powerfolk trio Frightened Rabbit would be a bunch of silly Scots if they didn't release their tune "It's Christmas, So We'll Stop" at Christmas time, for obvious reasons. A demo version of the tune has been hanging around on our hard drive for months due to the kindness of a nice, connected fellow. According to this AngryApe item, Frightened Rabbit will indeed release the tune as a limited-edition single on FatCat Dec. 17. The flipside is a choral version of "It's Christmas..."

Perhaps, like us, you scratched your head at this YouTube clip posted a month ago of FR drummer Grant conducting a chorus; well, now it all makes sense, doesn't it? The song will not be featured on Frightened Rabbit's forthcoming sophomore set, which is expected to be released in late Spring 2008, so you'd best grab the single while there are copies to be grabbed. If you'd like to try before you try to buy, you can stream the track at FatCat's web site: click this link and hunt around for the media player and click "New & Forthcoming." We reviewed Frightened Rabbit's Nov. 11 Boston show here earlier this month.

>> We continue to be blown away by the great songs recorded by Birmingham, England's defunct Distophia, who you may recall we first wrote about here. The band has posted four-track and eight-track demos at this MySpace domicile, and every song is a gem. Particularly arresting is the track "Ten Inch," which wraps a nice melody around a stuttering 5/4 tempo. The track packs tons of tricks into 1:57, including airy "bops" in the bridge, an extra sludgy chorus, some really present ride cymbal work at one point, and incisive guitars with a really nice jangle hear and there. It reminds us of the incredible tracks on Mock Orange's First EP, the only Mock Orange record we've ever been able to get into, but well worth hunting down. Anyway, "Ten Inch" is an impressive, impressive song. Distophia is giving it away at the MySpace coordinates noted above, but we'll save you the trip. Distophia, why'd you have to go?

Distophia -- "Ten Inch" -- MySpace Demo
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>> Mobius Band doesn't want you to forget they are kicking off another leg of their fall tour this weekend. And if you are cool you already received the email and MySpace bulletin telling you as much. One item of particular interest is the Brooklyn-based act has dug into its catalog to offer up an MP3 of "Snow On Snow," a track from the trio's 2002 EP Three. Longtime fans know that Mobius Band once had a much more pronounced post-rock bent, and while "Snow On Snow" isn't particularly post-rock-flavored, the band's first three EPs had that flava, and we've missed hearing those songs. So it is nice see the band take an interest in this very good track again. Perhaps a clue as to what to expect in its current live set? Mobius Band plays Cambridge's Middle East Downstairs Sunday night. We'll be there with our mental paper and mental pen.

Mobius Band -- "Snow On Snow" -- Three
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[buy Mobius Band recordings from Newbury Comics here]

>> Jeanette Sliwinski, the suicidal motor vehicle operator who senselessly killed Silkworm drummer Michael Dahlquist and two of his colleagues two years ago, has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Pun Canoes has a few more details here. Eight years hardly seems like punishment enough.

>> We really, really, really wanted this Idolator item to be about Kelly Clarkson covering the amazing Judas Priest song "Screaming For Vengeance," the title cut to the very first cassette we ever bought, purchased in the record section of the Devon, Pennsylvania K-Mart in 1982 or 1983. Can you imagine Ms. Clarkson hitting that first Halfordian howl that kicks off this killer jam? Oh well, maybe she'll get around to it. Have you never seen this live video of "Screaming For Vengeance"? It'll change your life.

>> Well would ya look at that: Robert Hazard. It seems only yesterday we were comparing Philly power pop trio RunRunner to Mr. Hazard's great rock/pop concoctions of the early '80s. We reviewed RunRunner's self-titled debut here in April.

Today's Hotness: Joy Division, Johnny Foreigner, Distophia

>> With the American release of the hotly anticipated Ian Curtis biopic "Control" edging closer, plans have been announced to re-issue post-punk legends Joy Division recordings in expanded editions. Read this NME item for track listings and a bit more information. We got in to Joy Division when cassettes were still a viable format, and as such we don't have these records on CD. As such, we're excited to get these, although we are apprehensive that remixing or remastering might alter the records. We'll see what happens. We're curious what effect if any the death of Factory Records impresario Tony Wilson Friday will have on the release of these reissues. "Control" debuted at Cannes in May; it will have its U.S. premiere Oct. 10 at the Film Forum in New York City. The songs comprising the soundtrack to the film are listed here.

>> Here's your weekly Johnny Foreigner update. The stellar Birmingham, UK noise pop trio did not win the Road To V competition we previously mentioned here. The upside? According to a MySpace post this apparently frees the act from a restriction that required it to remain unsigned while they were involved with the competition. Labels would be idiots not to snatch these guys up. Johnny Foreigner has tons of amazing material, they play tons of gigs, and we expect signing has got to be around the corner.

>> Argh. Another great UK band discovered and found to have broken up in the same day (this previously happened when we discovered Eddyfink last month; more about Eddyfink's brilliant "In For Me" later in the week). This month the find, via a post on the Just Gimmie Indie Rock blog that Johnny Foreigner mentioned in a recent post, is the newly erstwhile, two-MySpaces-having Birmingham quartet Distophia. Based on comments on its MySpace hacienda Distophia seems to have recently broken up. Head here to download the compelling track "Evil Baroness."

>> That A-Sides tour in October we've mentioned previously will be with The Velvet Teen and Say Hi (To Your Mom), which we remember being called simply Say Hi To Your Mom (no parens) when we reviewed their record Ferocious Mopes for Junkmedia here two years ago. According to the most recent news item at its web site, Say Hi To Your Mom is officially changing its name to simply Say Hi as of September and will release a fifth record in early 2008. Anyway, prior to the dates with TVT and Say Hi, The A-Sides will tour out to the west coast supporting vegan posterman and indie rock force of nature Ted Leo. You can check out those dates here. Incidentally, this song never gets old:

Say Hi To Your Mom -- "Let's Talk About Spaceships" -- Numbers And Mumbles
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[Buy Say Hi records from the band here]

>> This Is Happening To Me has some pics of Dinosaur Jr. in Japan, performing, being mobbed by fans in the streets. Apparently people are just running up to J. Mascis and hugging him? Anyway, cool pictures are here.