Today's Hotness: Moonbell, What Moon Things, White Reaper

>> San Francisco quartet Moonbell make faraway and trippy shoegaze with a very distinctive sound, one that makes the act's long-player Afterlives among the most singular dream-pop albums of 2014 to date. Its 11 songs carry copious reverb on nearly every instrument, and the unexpected wandering bass lines and schizophrenic patterns of this record add to its otherworldly nature. Opener "Never Seems" establishes a mood with loping snare work, and the drifting vocals and strings simultaneously disorient and engage. In an especially cool touch at 1:22, the tune transforms from electric to acoustic -- a solid example of the unexpected elements that Moonbell regularly employ. The title track, an album highlight, goes for a more monolithic approach, with punchy, slightly dissonant bass work reminding this reviewer of the colossal "Periscope" from Lilys' masterpiece In The Presence Of Nothing (which, as we wrote last month, may finally be getting the reissue it so dearly deserves). The vocals, while airy, bear the charmingly innocent and slightly out-of-tune feel of shoegaze greats like The Telescopes and early The Brian Jonestown Massacre -- a welcome revival of the style. Afterlives was released April 1 on the band's own Hypnogram imprint in a limited edition of 100 cassettes and as a digital download; purchase it right here. The entire set may be streamed via the embed below, and a new EP comprised of music recorded during the same sessions as Afterlives is slated for release this summer, according to this interview. Moonbell, which formed in 2010, previously released a digital single "The Golden Hour" and two EPs, Figurine and Parallel, all of which are available as free downloads via Moonbell's Bandcamp yert right here. The two EPs were packaged together for a CD release in 2012. But particularly based on the strength of its newest material, Moonbell's unusual blend of styles and sounds makes it a band to watch. Watch we will. -- Edward Charlton



>> The news was a long time coming, but New Paltz-based noise rockers What Moon Things revealed at last today that it has signed to the new imprint Hot Grits, which will release the trio's self-titled debut LP June 3. It's a record about the making of other records, a record populated by vampires (and which at one point was to have been titled The Vampire), populated by data lint scraped from and used to stuff the taxidermied remains of failed relationships. What Moon Things carries its own specific and murky atmosphere, marked by prickly but patient guitars, wide-hipped reverbs and fronter Jake Harms' existentially uneasy tenor. The eight-song set fluidly slides from moody groove to desperate thrash, making it not only just a little sexy, but also a gripping listen. The spooky preview track "The Astronaut" conveys via giant but spare drumming, percolating guitars and Mr. Harms' emotional, drawling vocals a deep isolation, an outsiderness whose introversion fuels an arresting gravity that draws listeners in. It's a promising single from among a strong set of songs. There is as yet no pre-order information available for What Moon Things, which will be on offer as a 12" flat vinyl disc, compact disc, and, we imagine, digital download. Despite a pretty gnarly injury to Harms' thumb recently, the band embarks on a short strand of tour dates tomorrow, including a stop at Boston's Great Scott next week. We've posted all the dates below, and below that you can stream and download "The Astronaut" via a Soundcloud embed. We first wrote about What Moon Things, "The Astronaut" and the swerving anti-anthem "Squirrel Girl" right here last July.

04/10 -- The Batcave -- Montclaire, NY
04/11 -- Suburbia -- Brooklyn, NY
04/12 -- Upstate Artists Guild -- Albany, NY
04/15 -- Great Scott -- Boston, MA
04/18 -- 158 Salon -- New Paltz, NY
04/19 -- Cameo Gallery -- Brooklyn, NY
04/25 -- Bard College -- Red Hook, NY
05/06 -- Oasis Cafe -- New Paltz, NY



>> Last time we wrote about garage punks White Reaper last August, the Louisville duo was prepping a full-length for a German label. It appears that plan never came to fruition, based on a scan of the label's web site, but there is new music from White Reaper -- now a trio -- in the offing, and on a label much closer to home. The venerable Polyvinyl revealed today that it will release in June a self-titled EP from the threesome. A blazing preview track from the EP, titled "Half Bad," bashes and pops with abandon, and touts a ridiculously keen, burbling organ lead whose space-age vibrato threatens to separate the tones from the speakers of your hi-fi, particularly during the rave-up of the cymbal-soaked final chorus. The six-song EP also features a version of the 2013 A-side "Conspirator," and is available for pre-order now as a 180-gram, clear pink 12" vinyl disc, CD, cassette or digital download. White Reaper will be released June 24; pre-orders will ship June 13, according to Polyvinyl. Stream the blaster "Half Bad" via the Soundcloud embed below.

Today's Hotness: Slowdim, Julius Earthling, Pinact

>> Attentive readers may recall our preview piece for the Ash Gray Proclamation's summer blowout Summer Fades, which featured among others Boston power-pop luminaries Slowdim. When we checked in with Slowdim's Paul Sentz he disclosed that he and bassist Ana Karina DaCosta were writing material for a possible EP and were also contemplating recording a washed out, slowed-down version of their tune "Wishing Well," complete with mandolin. Well, the duo has delivered, and in a big way. The new recording touts a very cool, icy drone that plays against the usual "down-home" sound of a mandolin; indeed, it goes nicely with the cooler, autumn weather. Mr. Sentz' lead vocal when separated from the denser, punchier context of the original iteration of the song is revealed to be gentler, sweeter, a bit forlorn, even. And the delay on the electric guitar as the new version fades softly acknowledges Sentz's affinity for the guitar work of David Howell Evans. We are very pleased to be able to premiere the song for you here via the Bandcamp embed below. The original version of "Wishing Well" shines brightly in the second slot of this year's debut full-length Slowdim, which was released in March and which we reviewed right here. That self-titled effort is slated to pop up on ITunes soon, although if you've been waiting for the record to appear on ITunes before you purchase it, well, you've got issues that we can't even begin to know how to address.



>> We've got a small circle of solid sources who regularly recommend stuff to our attention, something Clicky Clicky is grateful for, and, frankly, thrives on. We were pleased to get a good tip from friend-of-the-blog Jeff Breeze (he of Pipeline! fame) recently, which tip pointed us in the direction of relatively new Jamaica Plain-based noise-pop trio Julius Earthling. The threesome are poised to release Nov. 1 on Allston's New Neighbor Records a five-song cassette EP titled For. There's little to be learned out on the wider Internets about Julius Earthling, but we expect that is a situation that won't persist, as the title track to the forthcoming EP is a barn-burner that will certainly garner attention. The waltz-timed tune is centered around a tumbling cycle of scritchy chords, a shouty vocal and an unhinged lead guitar, which taken in sum suggests a keen ear for the finer sounds of the contemporary underground as well as, perhaps, an appreciation for old Flaming Lips sides. The EP was recorded by Bradford Krieger at Hanging Horse Studios in Norwood, Mass. last spring, and Mr. Krieger also mixed, mastered and takes a production credit on the recording. Check out "For" for yourself via the Bandcamp embed below, and be prepared to see these guys drill up into the underground like a triumvirate of amped Dig-Dugs, because they've got something going on that people are going to be stoked about.



>> Sticking with new noise but jumping continents, upstart Aberdeen, Scotland-based indie label/events concern Cool Your Jets issued in mid-September a bracing first split-single featuring tunes by acts Pinact and Min Diesel. We're particularly taken with Glasgow-based duo Pinact's nice pair on the A-side, "Beauty Freak" and "Yusef." Each one is a rough-hewn guitar anthem that echoes the hyper-kinetic sound of indie legends Husker Du or, say, notable contemporaries No Age. "Beauty Freak" commences with a few moments of rising amp noise before popping off into a heavy boogie groove, where as "Yusef" slows the pace and intensifies the beat to cultivate more of a head-banging, fist-banging mania. Pinact have two prior releases under their belt, one a somewhat more emo, three-song 'zine/EP highlighted by the chaotic rocker "Flake" (and with art by Clicky Clicky fave Joey Fourr) issued in February of this year, and the other a 2012 EP titled Spill Your Guts, Let Out Some Noise that is also filled to the brim with melodic bangers. Fans who purchase the Cool Yr Jets split on vinyl will receive the music as a digital download that includes three additional numbers: "Squeak" and "I Don't Think You'll Ever Know" from Pinact and "Celery" from Min Diesel. Stream the A- and B-sides below, and click through for an opportunity to hand over whatever your equivalent of four British pounds plus shipping is in order to obtain the physical item.

Today's Hotness: What Moon Things, Little Big League, Fridge Poetry

>> At least The Bradys had their popcorn trail... With the half-attention/limited attention span we employ on a regular basis given the various demands on our time, sometimes we paste a link in a text file to revisit later, only to completely forget any and all context for it. So we send out heartfelt thanks to whomever it was that pointed us to the Bandcamp page of What Moon Things recently, because the quintet-or-trio-we-can't-tell's new tune "Squirrel Girl" -- posted to Bandcamp late last month and embedded for your enjoyment below -- is a stunner. The groop appears to be based out of New Paltz, NY, as best we can tell, and formed just last year. But it has made good use of that short time, as between "Squirrel Girl" and "Astronaut..." the band has already written two tunes that we've returned to again and again this weekend. "Squirrel Girl" melds psych, shoegaze and post-punk styles into something dense, noisy and beautiful, creating an arresting sound that hints at influences like classic Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse. What Moon Things recently added bassist Chris Kehoe to a lineup that as best we can tell also includes guitarist Jake Harms, John (with no surname) on drums, Kyle James on synth and some person or thing called Metamorphic manning synth, bass and percussion. The presumed five-piece (it appears only three band members are present in the video linked supra for "Astronaut...") are preparing a full-length, and previously issued a digital single, "White Indian Ghost" b/w "Storm Moon," in August 2012 (available for download here). We're excited by the possibilities before this young band, and recommend them to your attention posthaste. Stream the swerving anti-anthem "Squirrel Girl" via the embed below.



>> Just when you thought we couldn't find more bands to like coming out of Phiadelphia right now, here comes Little Big League. The rising guitar-pop quartet, fronted by Michelle Zauner and including former Titus Andronicus drummer Ian Dykstra, will release via Tiny Engines next month a debut full-length called These Are Good People. The set touts dynamic indie punk tunes highlighted by neatly arranged guitars that leave plenty of room for Ms. Zauner's affecting, high alto (which works in that range that always reminds us of Kiss Me Deadly's Emily Elizabeth). These Are Good People is at its best at its most ambitious, and you can hear the band pushing itself in the record's thoughtfully constructed and produced centerpiece "Sportswriting." Its composition is patient, there is noticeably more reverb applied to the guitars, and Zauner offers her most emotional vocal of the record. These Are Good People is out Aug. 6, and it will be available on a vinyl 12" or as a digital download. Pre-orders are being taken now right here and include t-shirt or poster bundles, cheap downloads and a 20% off checkout code, according to Little Big Leagues tumblr. Stream the first three cuts from the nine-song collecton via the Bandcamp embed below. Little Big League previously issued a 7" single, "Tokyo Drift" b/w "St. John," in April 2012. Little Big League is presently on tour and will play a show in Boston at Church on July 21 before making their way back to Philly for a record release show at The Fire on the 25th.



>> Junior Elvis Washington Laidley, the chief architect of the Birmingham, England-based electropop project Fridge Poetry and drummer in noise-pop titans Johnny Foreigner, would seem to have stumbled on something of a vocal muse for the former concern in Philly punk fixture Evan Bernard. The pair met when Mr. Bernard signed on to drive Johnny Foreigner around North America last fall. The pair first collaborated on the epic, yearning ballad "I'll See" from Fridge Poetry's April Soweto Slo Mo EP that we wrote about here, and now Bernard's heart-felt singing now graces a second Fridge Poetry jam, "Like Poetry," a remix of which was recently posted for auditory consumption at Bandcamp. The "Froback Remix" of "Like Poetry" situates Bernard's characteristically nostalgic and soaring vocals within a sparkling array of tinkling piano and a crashing, crash cymbal-heavy jungle beat. It's unclear whether it will be this remix or a different version that will be included on a planned forthcoming EP from Fridge Poetry. But according to the project's Bandcamp the EP will be called Leen van Pelt and will feature additional collaborations with JoFo tour mates Playlounge, Mutes (the project of Johnny Foreigner guitar tech James Brown), and a fellow named Paul Rafferty (who is not this guy). We will, of course, bring you further bulletins as events warrant, but in the interim get set to bliss out to Fridge Poetry's latest and greatest via the embed below.

Muxtape No. 6: The Plans That Had To Fall Through

The weekend winds down at :: clicky clicky :: headquarters, but not before a new Muxtape has been posted for your listenification. Our thoughts, impressions, false memories and alleged recollections are below, and you can listen to the whole shebang right here.

1. Flaming Lips -- "Hit Me Like You Did The First Time" -- Hit To Death In The Future Head
(If you listen, this song has everything: piano, strings, slide guitar. And a provocative title to be sure, but at this stage in the band's career this was relatively tame, and the lyric makes it all innocent enough. Thrash is largely dialed back on this tune and what you have isn't an ode to masochism, just a whimsical, almost romantic request regarding those early days of a relationship. Or something. Flaming Lips gained acclaim at the end of the '90s, but more and more we believe people paid attention at the wrong end of the decade.)

2. Love As Laughter -- "I Am A Ghost" -- Laughter's Fifth
(We appreciate blunt declarative writing. This is one of the reasons we like legal writing. And of course the Wall Street Journal. Hell, it is the main reason we like Minor Threat's "Filler." This song is a far cry from "The Youth Are Plastic" and "Singing Sores," tracks from the band's debut in the mid-'90s. Here we have a scruffy, no-frills indie rocker with a great introduction -- a great set up for the ensuing bash n' pop. "I float throughout your house at parties." More people should be paying attention to Love As Laughter, whose sixth set is slated for release later this year.)

3. Karl Hendricks Trio -- "The Overweight Lovers" -- The Jerks Win Again
(We really wanted to post "The Summer Of Warm Beer," but the track -- from the same 2003 set -- is 13 minutes long and way over Muxtape's 10MB per track limit. But this song has its own substantial charms and presents a serviceable representation of the meandering electricity and riffage that characterizes this fine record.)

4. Lefty's Deceiver -- "Ex-Patriots" -- Cheats
(The final incarnation of Lefty's produced its most straightforward collection of songs. The lyrics on Cheats are compelling and particularly evocative, although the gut-level attack of early genius tracks like "H to Hg" is not left out either. It is hard to pick a favorite from Cheats, what with the hypnotic nostalgia of "Years And Years Ago," the affecting yearning of "East Coast Traffic." The chorus of this number provides us with the title of this Muxtape. The band reunited around last Thanksgiving for a single show and we missed it because we were out of town, which was disappointing. That said, there have only been a handful of shows that were as exciting as the record release party for the band's debut 45, which we did see, so we've got that going for us.)

5. Wendyfix -- "Over + Upward (Ridge)" -- King Size Demos
(A quick waltzer and a highlight of the esteemed and mostly unreleased discography of this erstwhile Evanston, Ill.-based trio. Particularly as the second verse rolls around the bass and guitar complement each other wonderfully in carrying the melody. Little idea what singer Ted Pauly is on about here, but we always thought it was something along the lines of construction equipment coming and leveling a nice place and replacing it with a newer, less nice place. "Powerless to stop progress..." and all that. Look for the video on YouTube.)

6. Luna -- "Sideshow By The Seashore" -- Live
(Originally on the self-titled EP whose cover took cues from the now largely forgotten soundtrack to the film "Kids." An EP we'd like to acquire in the popular compact disc format. Although the live set from which this track is taken is no slouch and has a whole lot of super tracks. We really like the lyric in here "all the comforting words provide no comfort." A sentiment that has been abstracted in countless other indie songs, here Wareham just comes out and says it.)

7. Lilys -- "Your Guest And Host" -- Eccsame The Photon Band
(A friend familiar with the early Lilys catalogue recently expressed some reservations about Eccsame The Photon Band, and we think this is too bad. The record is really a fully realized work of genius, not the least of which because of some uncompromising, spacey production. Although superlative songs certainly don't hurt, right? Few if any have presented a confidence-inspiring track list for this set, which includes a handful of interstitials. As such, every time we re-rip this CD (we're upgrading tracks to 192Kbps a bit at a time) the suggested track listing comes up slightly different. We ask this on the blog almost weekly, but when will someone figure out how to rescue the rights to the Lilys Spin Art catalogue from whatever bankruptcy-inspired purgatory contains it and offer up expanded reissues?)

8. Yo La Tengo -- "Tiny Birds" -- Summer Sun
(This record is relatively maligned within the Yo La Tengo canon, but there are actually quite a few tracks we come back to, particularly this one. Is McNew singing this one? We can't say his name any longer without thinking of the Danish band Mew and laughing, but that is another story altogether.)

9. Human Television -- "Look At Who You're Talking To" -- Look At Who You're Talking To
(Nice string arrangements here. Members of Human Television were part of one of the more recent iterations of Lilys. This track and the band's "In Front Of The House" share some lyrics, and we've always wondered which song came first. The latter tune is an upbeat indie popper, markedly different in tone from what is going on here. To quote John Bender in "The Breakfast Club," feeling bad feels pretty good.)

10. REM -- The Wrong Child -- Green
(Album track from the popular American alternative rock act Rapid Eye Movement, or something like that. The piano, twelve-string and strings do a good job of keeping the mandolin in check. Stipe's layered vocal is pretty affecting, particularly when he hits the chorus. We're not crazy about the soaring "okayyyyyyyyyy," but we expect that the lyric "I'm not supposed to be like this" resonated strongly with the late teen crowd when this set was released. It certainly did with us.)

11. Karate -- "What Is Sleep?" -- Karate
(Question number one on this Muxtape. We don't have any larger reason for including it here -- we're not suffering from insomnia or anything. We just think people have forgotten that the first few Karate records were filled with great songs. We saw Karate in 1997 before going to Europe back during the time when it was a four-piece act and they really tore it up. This number has arresting dynamics: the jarring breaks and the songwritery verses present a hard contrast; a love song you can rock out to; an indie power ballad. Not the mixtape-for-your-girlfriend slam dunk that "Today Or Tomorrow" is, but still a dynamite track.)

12. Eddyfink -- "Will I Get Through Today Without Being Kicked In The Knickers?"
(Question number two on this Muxtape. A hook-laden, jittery number from a now defunct act written for a compilation that celebrates a British telephonic information service. From what we recall you could either ring or text the service and it would provide an answer, for free or for a nominal fee. No matter. We love the paranoia of the title question -- not too mention the chorus's "I can't take this anymore" -- and we love thinking about what the person working the phones that day would think upon receiving such a question. The world view of the comically victimized makes for a very fertile set of parameters from a narrative standpoint. Surprisingly deft vocal harmonies for a rock band that isn't, you know, The Eagles, too.)

That Which Is Good: Stand-Out Stuff Found In Our Inbox

>> Super Collider's Cristian Vogel has formed a new band called Night Of The Brain, and the quartet will release its 10-song debut Wear This World Out, written and recorded in Barcelona, Tuesday. The teaser MP3 "The Theme" is very strong, a dreamy tune driven by a thumping bass line and draped with various computer-crafted textures. "The Theme" succeeds by remaining true to a hard-to-name but unsettled mood for four-and-a-half minutes, even as bassist Mike Hermann takes a bit of an odd solo or as drummer Cristobal Massis begins more urgently beating his crash cymbal at the song's close. Check it out.

Night Of The Brain -- "The Theme" -- Wear This World Out
[right click and save as; check out the video here]
[buy Wear This World Out from Kompakt-MP3 here, eventually]

>> We dug very much Foundry Field Recordings 2006 set Prompts/Miscues, particularly the wistful strummer "Buried Beneath The Winter Frames," so we were excited to see news of the band's next record. The Columbia, MO-based quartet's new EP Fallout Stations is termed a "companion piece" to Prompts/Miscues and includes both new tracks and rarities all relative to the concept of the 2006 collection (which we recall as being a Cold War/robots are going to get us kind of thing, although honestly it's been months since we've listened to it). Anyway, "Transistor Kids" is the preview track from Fallout Stations. It commences slowly with a long piano introduction, then snaps to attention with a beat, guitars and vocals that indeed make the track sound part and parcel of the earlier record. Fallout Stations streets Tuesday on Emergency Umbrella and the band plans to tour widely in July and August.

Foundry Field Recordings -- "Transistor Kids" -- Fallout Stations
[right click and save as]
[buy Fallout Stations for Newbury Comics here]

>> This album stream of the self-titled debut from Austin-based quintet Peel may be the nicest surprise of our spelunking trip into our virtual mail bin. It's dense and melodic and distorted and loud and has buried vocals and it sounds like 100 different hungry indie bands from 1994, cut with a healthy dose of millennial digital trickery. Wow, glancing at their press, that's pretty much what The Onion said about them, too. Anyway, people seem to want to call these guys post-Pavement, which we suppose is passable, but we'd argue that Peel offers more of a garagey Monkees-ish melodicism and Flaming Lips-esque thrash. And then later in the record they toss in a little AM Gold stuff as well. Peel isn't actually too far removed from excellent Oklahoma-based trio Evangelicals, now that we think about it. You would do well to check out the Peel below. The band goes on tour for a couple weeks beginning June 8, and given how solid their album is we think it's worth heading out to see them, so we're posting the dates, too. Alas, there's no Boston date, but this isn't all about us, is it? Peel's Peel was released on Peek-A-Boo April 2, and shouldn't be confused with the also excellent Coctails record Peel.

Peel -- "Oxford" -- Peel
Peel -- "In The City" -- Peel
[right click and save as]
[buy Peel from Newbury Comics here]

06/08 -- Denton, TX -- Hailey’s
06/09 -- Shreveport, LA -- Jackrabbit Lounge
06/10 -- Mobile, AL -- Cell Block
06/11 -- Birmingham, AL -- The Nick
06/12 -- Atlanta, GA -- Smith's Olde Bar
06/13 -- Wilmington, NC -- Bella Festa
06/14 -- Washington, DC -- The Black and the Red
06/15 -- Brooklyn, NY -- The Battering Room
06/16 -- New York, NY -- Piano's
06/17 -- New York, NY -- Piano's
06/20 -- Fort Wayne, IN -- The Firehouse
06/21 -- Chicago, IL -- The Darkroom

>> We liked very much this video preview of the forthcoming Montag set Going Places, which Carpark releases Tuesday. The video was apparently created in conjunction with Secret Mommy mastermind Andrew Dixon; longtime readers may recall we greatly enjoyed sampletronica project Secret Mommy's collection Very Rec and wrote about it here for Junkmedia a couple years ago. Going Places is Montrealer (or Vancouverite, depending on which sentence of his bio you believe) Antoine Bédard's third Montag record, and the collection contains input from notable indie luminaries including M83 and Amy Millan, among others. Bédard's blend of pastich and electropop is very enjoyable. The title track from the his new set is a romantic yearner that reminds us of a contemporary take on Yaz. "Best Boy Electric" is more upbeat, even jubilant, as if the narrator from "Going Places" has finally secured the reassurances he longs for so badly from the object of his affection. Again, the track sounds like Yaz or early, more innocent Depeche Mode.

Montag -- "Going Places" -- Going Places
Montag -- "Best Boy Electric" -- Going Places
[right click and save as]
[buy Going Places from Newbury Comics here]

YouTube Rodeo: Brushes with Mercury Rev's "Something For Joey"

Folks not familiar with Buffalo, NY-spawned Mercury Rev's back catalog may be surprised to learn that they once could almost out-Flaming Lips the Flaming Lips. And that at one point guitarist Jonathan Donahue played with the Lips; Rev bassist Dave Fridmann of course has recorded the Lips many times. The Allmusic entry for Mercury Rev is full of other revelations and we recommend reading it. We turned onto Mercury Rev, and this song in particular, long before we became Flaming Lips fans. We were in the brand-new-at-the-time studios of Bucknell University's radio station in late '93 or early '94 when we came across a cardboard box full of discarded promo materials sitting next to a brown plastic trash barrel. These included a demo cassette we still have featuring three tracks from Mercury Rev's sophomore set Boces, "Something For Joey," "Bronx Cheer" and "Snorry Mouth." We've listened to the tape hundreds of times, and yet we'd never seen the video above before stumbling upon it the other night. We didn't watch much TV in the early and mid-'90s, and we think that may be why. Or, perhaps because the video features at least one recognizable porn star, some topless women (tastefully covered with cartoon stars here) and suggestive (if silly) imagery it was never aired in the first place. All the same, this may be one of the best, or at least ridiculously excessive, music videos ever made. Note that this video is on YouTube with the permission of SonyBMG, but embedding is disabled. We guess AOL didn't get the memo on that, eh? Or they have better licensing terms. Here's some more classic Mercury Rev the band is offering at its site, a live performance of "Carwash Hair" from 1996.

Mercury Rev -- "Carwash Hair (Live)" -- Houston, TX 2/8/1996
[right click and save as]
[buy Mercury Rev records from Newbury Comics here]
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