The classic 1990 album Sin Disease from Southern California cutting-edge punk rockers Scaterd Few is now remastered and available on vinyl for the very first time in a high quality gatefold jacket (including digital download) from Burnt Toast Vinyl. This is a limited, one-time vinyl pressing of this classic. As a bonus, you can also buy the e-book As the Story Grows…A lyrical study and scriptural commentary on Sin Disease by Allan R. Aguirre (fka: Ramald Domkus) along with this record.
At the beginning of 2015, things had never looked better for The Black Lillies. Winning legions of fans through relentless touring and riding a wave of critical acclaim, the band had already successfully surpassed their PledgeMusic fundraising goals, selected a producer and booked studio time to record their new album when frontman Cruz Contreras was hit with unexpected news: two of the group’s five members would be amicably moving on. Contreras contemplated the group’s future and faced down a looming deadline to finish writing the new album for a yet-to-be-determined lineup.
“In the past, I might write a song once a month when I felt inspired, and at a much more leisurely pace,” explains Contreras, “but this time around, I realized I would have to write an entire record in two weeks before we hit the studio. I felt confident I could do it, but I also had no proof.”
The proof is now etched into vinyl with Hard To Please, the band’s fourth studio album — an alternately rip-roaring and deeply intimate record, showcasing both Contreras’ lyrical evolution as a writer and a more sonically sophisticated side of the band than we’ve heard before. Whether it was due to the pressure of the ticking clock, the injection of creative energy from recording with new faces, or simply the steadfast desire of a hardworking band to always outdo themselves, the album stands as the finest yet in The Black Lillies’ outstanding catalog. Grab it on wax now!
U.S. Elevator will transport you. Not just up and down, but to enchanting musical places near and far. Their music is filled with loving and wily winks at the visionary forces of the 1960s and 1970s — The Beatles, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Gram Parsons, and The Hollies – for starters – and is at the same time thoroughly original, contemporary, and richly melodic.
The Santa Barbara based bad is the brainchild of Johnny Irion, musical partner and husband of Sarah Lee Guthrie. The new self-titled LP is available now, and watch for upcoming tour dates here.
Now available from Fat Wreck Chords, Stitch Puppy is comprised of 10 captivating tracks that display a further progression in Joey Cape’s sound. Poetic lyrics are set to acoustic instrumentation (guitar, piano, cello, mandolin, percussion) and driven by strong melodies.
Big Something is one of the most exciting new bands to emerge from the Southeast. A 6 piece powerhouse with a sound that is both unique and timeless, BIG Something fuses elements of rock, pop, funk, and improvisation to take listeners on a journey through a myriad of musical styles. Soaring guitars, synths, horns and alluring vocal hooks rise to the top of their infectious collection of songs and represent a sound for fans of Galactic, Moe., Robert Randolph, and even The B52s.
The group recently released its 3rd full-length studio album – Truth Serum – with the help of Grammy-nominated producer John Custer. Recorded almost entirely live in the studio, Truth Serum, is a great snapshot of the magic the band is capable of creating on stage. The album was named 2014 Album of the Year by The Homegrown Music Network, which makes Big Something the only band ever to win this award 3 times with 3 different releases (2010, 2013, and 2014). Available now for the first time on vinyl!
Gospel Machine is garage gospel band out of Northeast Minneapolis resurrecting the soul and R&B styles of the 1960’s. The band features Jayanthi Kyle (Romantica, Black Audience) on vocals and members of Twin Cities rock band The Small Cities – Wes Burdine (guitar, backing vox), Jimmy Osterholt (Bass), Scott Munson (keys), and David Osborn (drums).
Gospel Machine formed in 2011 when Burdine wrote a soul/gospel liturgy for a Lutheran church in Northeast Minneapolis called Mercy Seat Lutheran Church. He asked Kyle and his bandmates from The Small Cities to back him for the occasion. They had such a good time that Wes started writing more material in the vein of his heroes Nina Simone, Otis Redding, and Sam Cooke. In 2012, they took their music to the clubs and in 2013 started recording their debut record, Your Holy Ghost – available on vinyl from the band now.
Mute Forest is Kael Smith’s solo project, as well as his most introspective and spacious work. In Mute Forest, he combines nylon guitar passages with heavily processed field recordings and subtle electronics. Mute Forest’s Infinity Pools EP is out now with it’s follow up full length, Deforestation, to be released in 2015 via Lost Tribe Sound (stay tuned – records just shipped).
Viands is a spontaneous collaboration between two auteurs of Detroit’s underground music scene. Joel Peterson (b. 1976) &Dave Shettler (b. 1980) met in the early aughts while Peterson was actively carving a name for himself presenting underground and new sounds (his and others) to Detroit audiences with his Bohemian National Home venue and Shettler was back boning and warping various rock and R&B acts across Detroit and the western world. Viands began as a sound check for a visiting jazz pianist borrowing Shettler’s Moog sitting atop the Piano in Peterson’s current venue Trinosophes. All live, all completely improvised, Temporal Relic #1 & #2 are carved out of the same continuous 40 minute session that marked the first time the pair sat down together and “just hit record.”
On their debut 12” EP for Ever/Never Records, New York City’s Ballroom explode out of the gate with a whirlwind fury. Anchored by a tornado of vicious snare drum thwacks and excoriating guitars, “Corridor” is a threat made manifest by singer Eric Cecil’s warnings to “not let the sight disturb ya.”
Ballroom are a powerful ensemble assembled from scattered remnants of other notable bands. Cecil (who also plays guitar) did time in Chicago punk standout Busy Signals, and has featured in numerous NYC bands since his relocation. The other axe-slinger, Kristian Brenchley, is a founding member of long-running scum rockers Woman, and also lays down the bottom end in Ever/Never labelmates Degreaser. Ballroom low-end is provided by Home Blitz’ Theresa Smith, while the drums are beaten into submission by Steven Fisher, leader of Wilful Boys and Dozers.
It’s fun to watch a band be in such effortless and complete control of their sound and aesthetic as Donovan Wolfington is right now. This new album is a banger of riffs and hooks that sees the band meander from playfully introspective to downright dark over the course of its 13 songs. For fans of Joyce Manor, Ovlov, Beach Slang or Desaparecidos.
