Today's Hotness: Lady Jane, Natural Velvet

>> As a somewhat solid editor, Clicky Clicky honcho Jay has developed substantial expertise identifying which artists will be most pleasing for this reviewer to consider. Case in point: The assignment of a track from Things We Forgot on Vacation, the upcoming full-length from the Rennes, France-based psych-rock foursome Lady Jane. As far as we're concerned, the record's alluring preview single "Death of a Dandy" is just what the doctor ordered to accompany the shuffling in of autumn. As evidenced by their already extensive back catalog, Lady Jane are no strangers to mid-'60s psychedelic and classic rock, so "Death of a Dandy" is in keeping with the band's vibe. Here they perfectly capture the mood, structure and insanity of original Floyd fronter Syd Barrett's songwriting circa 1968, without delivering just a carbon copy. The acoustic strums, lazy stream-of-consciousness vocal delivery, and gutbucket slide guitars all recall the promise and innovation propounded by Mr. Barrett before his decline and withdrawal from public life. Lady Jane's song is more structured and straight than Barrett's later solo work, which is often what music fans are most familiar with. Instead, it's like an additional transmission from the lost, hallowed period surrounding the creation of Pink Floyd's second album, A Saucerful of Secrets, and specifically its lone, Syd-penned capstone, the beautifully scrambled "Jugband Blues." The Frenchmen carefully transport that delicate era to our own in crafting a composition that would be perfect for a disorienting evening at a hip, smoky bistro. And so Lady Jane not only make us curious about what other talent may be lurking about France awaiting our ears, but also shows that there's still a lot of great new things that can come of a careful study of less-copied composers. Stream "Death of a Dandy" via the Bandcamp embed below. Things We Forgot On Vacation is available here for pre-order now via the Les Disques Normal imprint; both the CD and vinyl versions are slated to for release Oct. 7. -- Edward Charlton



>> Baltimore noise-pop concern Natural Velvet released a debut EP to the wilds of the Interzizzles over the summer that has kept our attention for some time. Called Salome With The Head of John the Baptist, the relatively new act's five-song collection is notable both for being affecting and for not fitting tidily into one of a contemporary music writer's many little descriptive boxes. It's rare that this reviewer can't connect some dots and peg influences to any band that describes itself as shoegaze, post-punk or noise rock, but Natural Velvet certainly presents a delightful challenge. Natural Velvet pull together strains of metal and gothic post-punk and pair it -- like a well-traveled noise sommelier -- with the dry, brittle production of the '80s underground. Indeed, at first it seems as if Salome With The Head of John the Baptist is a nostalgic release, but that then begs the question: nostalgic for what? It's hard to put a finger on. The collection's standout song "Salome" opens with a spindly chimes 'n' drums intro that imbues the tune with a cool and creepy mysteriousness evocative of Rodan's epic "Tooth-Fairy Retribution Manifesto." The tune then lurches into a steady, but jagged groove. Perhaps it's the dry, hi-hat-heavy drum style, upfront vocals, or that grinding distortion, but the instrumentation has the same sort of concentrated, performance-focused, DIY conviction present on many mid-period SST releases. Singer Corynne Osterman's speak-sing vocals are a pleasant surprise, as well. With so many contemporary female singers either emphasizing their serene ethereality, diva-like bravado, or pixie cuteness, it's refreshing to hear a woman mutter, groan, and sigh forth. Admittedly, there are moments on Salome With The Head of John the Baptist that feel stiff, but even so this is a promising young group, one that presents a singular approach we've not heard elsewhere in the thriving Baltimore scene. Could Natural Velvet be a new recruit to the army of Grass Widow's dark and sensual take on female-fronted rock? Let's hope so. Grab its entire EP as a pay-whutcha-like download via the Bandcamp embed below. -- Edward Charlton

Today's Hotness: Silkworm, Frightened Rabbit, Rodan

>> Although we first wrote about the news here in February, Comedy Minus One today finally revealed the details about its pending reissue of Silkworm's towering 1994 full-length Libertine, and it is going to be a whopper. Longtime Comedy Minus One fans will recall the label actually first reissued Libertine as a digital download in 2008, something we wrote about right here. But the definitive reissue formally announced today that will arrive in stores this fall presents a lovingly curated and exhaustively sourced version of the last record that Silkworm recorded in its original four-piece incarnation, prior to the departure of Joel R.L. Phelps. Comedy Minus One will issue Libertine, Silkworm's third record, as a double LP packaged with a CD containing a brilliant acoustic set recorded for Marco Collins that was released as a single in the mid-'90s. The records are pressed to 150 gram vinyl at 45RPM. The reissue touts all-new artwork plus liner notes from Silkworm's Tim Midyett; it was remastered by Bob Weston and pre-orders for three different permutations of the collection are being taken from now until June 11. The baseline offering is the double LP and CD for $20; for an additional $20 fans will get an exclusive t-shirt along with the double LP/CD package, and for $75 big American dollars fans get all of that plus rare bootleg audio as an additional digital download, a white label 12" of the material offered on the CD in the other packagings, and an exclusive photo print. All of the details and a link to pre-order are laid out at Comedy Minus One's web site right here. Libertine is considered by some as the greatest record of the 1990s, so choose wisely and allow us to remind you that, as always, Comedy Minus One ships pre-orders usually well before the records arrive in stores. To whet your appetite, below are streams of "Couldn't You Wait?" from the LP as well as a live version of "Grotto Of Miracles," recorded May 15, 1994, that is part of the "bootleg" audio included in the premium tiers.





>> Fat Cat Records last week announced it would make available on vinyl for the very first time Frighten Rabbit's titanic 2006 debut long player Sing The Greys. The 12" vinyl will be released in May as part of Fat Cat's reissue campaign for the Selkirk-spawned indie rock act's first few records. Prior to the May re-release of Sing The Greys, that album's 2008 follow-up The Midnight Organ Fight [review] will be reissued April 20 on vinyl for Record Store Day in the U.S. in a limited edition of 500 double albums packaged with exclusive art prints; the second 12" record of the two-record set will be Quietly Now!, the 2008 Frightened Rabbit live album that we've always called Liver! Lung! FR! [review], 'cause, you know, that is what the cover says. The Midnight Organ Fight/Quietly Now! package will also be available in the UK for Record Store Day in an edition of 1,000 pieces. According to the Fat Cat web site, the double LP will then be made available again from May 7 in a limited edition of 1,500 copies that will be sold without the exclusive 12" x 12" art prints. Frightened Rabbit, of course, now records for a major label; its most recent album Pedestrian Verse was issued earlier this year on Atlantic Records. The band is currently touring the U.S. and by all (social media) accounts FR delivered thrilling shows in both Boston and Philadelphia; the U.S. tour wraps Saturday with a sold-out show in Dallas, and then FR has two weeks off ahead of two weeks of shows in Australia. Wanna hear some new FR? Stream "Backyard Skulls" from Pedestrian Verse via the Soundcloud embed below.



>> Fans of top-shelf early '90s post-punk got a strong jolt across the bolts last week when Quarterstick/Touch And Go announced it will release in June Fifteen Quiet Years, a collection of singles, compilation tracks and a previously unreleased Peel Session by the legendary Louisville juggernaut Rodan. The band existed only briefly, from 1992 to 1994, and sadly two of its principle members have already shuffled off this mortal coil at altogether much-too-young ages. The music collected on Fifteen Quiet Years was never easy to acquire in the first instance, so the fact that this compilation now exists will be exciting for the Rodan fans out there whose sole copies were crappy rips sourced from Napster or Audiogalaxy at the turn of the century. All of the music on the comp was remastered in 2009 by Bob Weston along with Rodan guitarists and singers Jeff Mueller and Jason Noble; Mr Noble succumbed to synovial sarcoma last August, and original Rodan drummer John Cook died in February 2013. Fifteen Quiet Years will be sold as a vinyl LP or CD, and each comes packaged with codes for a digital download of 10 bonus live recordings hand-selected by the band. We were fortunate enough to see the band perform at an intimate house show in the very hot summer of 1994, a happenstance that was just a case of being in the right place (Princeton) at the right time. Not too long after the band splintered and its members went on to perform in equally notable successor acts including June Of 44, The Shipping News, Rachel's, The Sonora Pine and Retsin. Quarterstick/Touch And Go will release Fifteen Quiet Years June 11. We have to believe a reissue of Rodan's sole full-length, Rusty, must also be in the offing, as the album's tracks are conspicuously absent from this campaign. The record will be 20 years old next year, so the safe money is on a reissue of Rusty in 2014. Pre-order Fifteen Quiet Years right here, a hyperlink at which you will find a stream of Rodan's powerful instrumental "Darjeeling," which first appeared on Simple Machines Records Inclined Plane 7".

That Was The Show That Was: Varsity Drag, Soccermom | PA's Lounge

[UPDATED with Varsity Drag set list below] Varsity Drag's fiery Friday night headlining set at PA's Lounge was notable for a number of reasons. First, the Cambridge, Mass.-based indie punk stalwarts have maintained the edge to their live show that they brought back from their fall UK tour. Second, the band has apparently fully integrated charming cellist Aliah Rosenthal into its stage show, adding a surprising new dimension to songs we'd never heard him play on. And for fans afraid that the addition of electric cello can only portend ill, un-rocking things for Varsity Drag: fear not. Mr. Rosenthal most certainly rocks.

It was also notable that The Drag played not one of fronter Ben Deily's classic Lemonheads cuts. We suspect that says more about the depth and quality of the Varsity Drag catalog at this point than it does about Mr. Deily's affinity -- and the collective affinity of fans -- for the older tracks. And while our calls for "Ever" at the close of last night's set went unheeded, we were more than pleased with the final selection, Varsity Drag's infrequently aired, wholly gripping cover of The Cure's annihilating "Push" from 1985's The Head On The Door record. As part of its UK label's 20th anniversary Varsity Drag has also been working up and recording a cover of Ipanema's "White Cat In A Snowstorm." The Drag's live performance of the tune was searing, and we look forward to hearing the recording of the track. According to this recent interview Deily gave, Varsity Drag is planning an EP that will contain the Ipanema cover as well as four bonus tracks from the sessions for the band's superlative 2009 long-player Night Owls [review here].

Soccermom, who we profiled here earlier this month, were a revelation. The quartet's quietly determined stage presence belies its dense, visceral guitar attack. Indeed, the recordings we've heard that will grace Soccermom's forthcoming debut single only approximate the squawl and punch of the live renderings of Soccermom's compositions. The tracks on the single, "High On Dad" and "Bill Cosby In Glamorous Chains," bring to mind the relatively more controlled and architected sounds of Polvo. But Soccermom on stage through brute guitar force earn comparisons to the music of the earliest incarnation of Lilys (1991-1992) and even Rodan, although perhaps with less of the melodic sense of the former or the dynamic rhythms of the latter. We look forward to seeing these guys a lot more in the future. Soccermom is slated to play O'Brien's May 5 as part of the E.R. residency.

Varsity Drag: Internerds | Bandcamp | YouTube | Flickr
Soccermom: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr