The latest video from freaky French duo Magnetix is a mindfuck—one that should probably be avoided if you have a serious case of arachnophobia. Fine, I’m a big baby and yes, spiders freak me out… but the video is still pretty cool. Has this type of garage fuzz ever been for the faint of heart anyway? The Magnetix will probably reply, “NON!”
“Spider in the Corner” can be found on the band’s recent Drogue Electrique 7” via Shit in Can Records or their Drogue Electrique LP (Born Bad/Slovenly) from last year.
By Paul Blawat
Jeffrey Novak is prolific. Almost suspiciously so.* Some musicians have that special drive; intense bursts of creative genius in which each LP, 7”, song, and note is both calculated and magnificent. Novak is one of these rare artists. He’s the “man behind the curtain” of Cheap Time, a Tennessee-based trio, and purveyors of some of the finest punk rock and roll over the past few years.** Their brand new LP, Wallpaper Music, is a continuation of that musical excellence. Novak’s razor-sharp vocals,*** Cole’s fuzzed out bass, and Ryan’s sensational splish splash drum pummeling are at the peak of their raw powers.
“More Cigarettes” reminds me of Mommymen-era Geza X, with greater than KBD production. I’ve been humming this all week walking ‘round town.**** Doo-doo-doo-doo-ooo-ooo, doo-doo-doo-doo-ooo-ooo, doo-doo-doo-doo-ooo-ooo, doo-doo-doo-doo-ooo-ooo - that’s how ya do a solo. Damn. “Straight and Narrow” is an Oz rock fireball of fuzz with hints of Cosmic Psychos, the Fluid, and Thee Hypnotics with a tinge of the MC5. Power pop punkness of a grandiose scale, and possibly the finest use of hand claps since “No Fun”. “Take it if you Want”: Eternally Yours Saints meets Rolling Stones c. “Street Fighting Man”. Laid back, sprawling, just distorted enough guitars pair well with Novak’s diatribe. And there’s flute? Eh. It works. “Dream it Up” and “Night to Night” surge on with 70s power punk shine, funneling toward the LP’s closer “Underneath the Fruit Flies”. The last track clocks in at 7:28 and I’ve listened to it on multiple occasions. Nods to Hawkwind aside, Cheap Time’s closest attempt at an epic (thus far) is an odd journey.***** Moody organ intro, wild buzzsaw bass, tripped out backing vocals, essential Pete Townsend solo, reverb up the wazoo—this one’s got it all folks. Must kill live.******
Wallpaper Music is out now via In the Red Records.
*Did he meet Billy Childish at the Crossroads? I’ll leave that assessment to you, loyal readers.
**”People Talk”, from their debut s/t LP, is a still a favorite of mine. Was I crushed when I found out that it was a cover? A little.
***Like an angry, raw Ray Davies.
****One of many reasons people been staring at me?
*****No. Not that Journey.
******I’m of course talking about the penultimate 25-minute version that has or will be attempted at some point.
In addition to our birthday shows, we’re celebrating our one year anniversary by looking back over our favorite news, reviews, features, and mixes, as Joseph, Kristen, Mariana, and Sonam make their picks for Best of Year One. And to show how far we’ve come, we’re also switching back to our original look for the week. It’s been an amazing twelve months, and we look forward to what the next twelve will bring. Thanks for reading.
There’s something intensely special about giving someone music, in any form. It could be via mix, gifting a record or tape, through making your friend listen to a song you love. Over the past year, we’ve shared music in every way we know how. Besides writing about it, we’ve made you seventy-six mixes—whether it’s compiled by the staff, a themed videogram, or put together by your favorite band. We’ve given away over a hundred records, tapes and concert tickets. Here’s to another another year of giving as much as I can to the people who’ve given me the best thing I could’ve asked for—a reason to get out of bed every morning.
Compiled below is a list of some of our favorite giveaways, events and mixes. If you want to contribute, contact me. - Sonam Parikh, Managing Editor
By Lisa Parisi
We spy with our gnarly-tuned ears a new the Unwed Teenage Mothers (members of Bass Drum of Death and Lover!) album to follow up their 2011 mini, single-sided-release Blond Girls (Play Pinball Records). Details are scant—as in there are none—but a preview track “Rain” appeared on their Bandcamp. Like finding the remnants (ripped wrappers, empty booze containers) from a naughty night out (had to get pregnant somehow), “Rain” serves as a clue to just what these darn bad kids are up to.
Featuring fuzzy classic rock influenced guitar wailing, reverb-y vocals, and a slower-paced, but still gruff, rhythm, these same ears want more. Picking up musically just where the brief Blond Girls dumped us, our magic crystals and 8-balls are predicting good things are in store.
By Lisa Parisi
Paying homage to the dingy saturation of poorly acted ‘80s made-for-TV-dramas, Austin’s A Giant Dog’s video for “Pins and Needles” off their Fight LP (Tic Tac Totally) was filmed under the sham pretense of a casting call.
As overly dramatic acting sequences flash like epileptic fits in a shabbily adorned office space, the actors contort in agony in a manner that mirror the pummeling ferocity that is A Giant Dog. Sabrina Ellis’ bellowing syncs with the dramatic climax of both the song and the “film” as the actors unknowingly thrash about to the cutthroat drum beats and wailing vocals. Look closely and you can see Giant Dog members in the faux audience directing the actors; look even closer and you can catch the drummer smirk. And, as if on a subconscious cue, three band members simultaneously cover their mouths in that Freudian way, hence disclosing the deceit to those with a keen eye.
A ruse; yes.
Malice; certainly not.
Brilliant; you betcha.
Check out the spurious drama for yourself and, while you’re at it, pick up the wax here.
New Jersey’s Personal and the Pizzas have announced their last official show before they retire to the great pizza in the sky. Perhaps they got in a fight with the delivery guy? They will be missed. Their last show is at Vitus in Oakland, CA, with Mean Jeans and King Louie’s Missing Monuments on May 26th. (Unfortunately, due to work visa issues, Royal Headache won’t be there.)
By Lisa Parisi
The infiniteness and bounds of mankind and nature.
Life and death.
Internality and externality.
The intangible and the palpable.
The ostentatious and the banal.
These are all irreconcilable paradoxical enigmas that comprise the essence of life. As encapsulated lyrically in the Wax Idols single ‘Human Condition’ off their No Future (HoZac), there is a thematic fusion between the artistic conception of the music and the visual aesthetic conveyed in the Idols latest video release.
Juxtaposing the vast expanse of nature with the literal and metaphorical confines of mankind, Warhol-esque cinematic mug shots are sandwiched between religious, psychedelic, patriotic iconography and monotonous detritus. Seeking to, as director Sam Macon explains to GET BENT, “break down the whole rock and roll thing,” Macon captures visually—and successfully so—the core essence behind the song—the quintessence of humanity. As Hether Fortune avers, “I gave him full creative license to do whatever the fuck he wanted to do, because I trust him. Good move, eh?”
The deliberate disjunctures in the imagery serve the ideological function of capturing what, as Macon continues, is “essentially, the human condition. To be a more or less meaningless speck in a much larger and more impressive natural world. We’re only important, clever and interesting to ourselves because we have to be - because if we didn’t tell ourselves that, if we didn’t make art and invent sandwiches and shit, if we didn’t construct meaning for ourselves we’d all probably kill ourselves. We’ve created an existence that ignores the natural world we live in, and that I think that’s pretty fucking weird.”
Now that’s profound. Ponder your own existence and see for yourself.
By Zach Braun
In addition to our birthday shows, we’re celebrating our one year anniversary by looking back over our favorite news, reviews, features, and mixes, as Joseph, Kristen, Mariana, and Sonam make their picks for Best of Year One. And to show how far we’ve come, we’re also switching back to our original look for the week. It’s been an amazing twelve months, and we look forward to what the next twelve will bring. Thanks for reading.
For this month’s staff mix, we’ve decided to choose songs to tell our own stories of how we got here and why we love it. What’s the song that changed your life? Tell us your story in the comments below!
By Lisa Parisi
Look out for projectile force that is Teen Vomit. Hailing from the smoke stacks and the chunky crud of the Cuyahoga River of Cleveland, Teen Vomit possesses that mixture of fuzzy slapback, shoulder bopping rhythms, and dreamy—yet still unvarnished—vocals. Packing the same cloudy fizzle as a dissolving indigestion tablet, fans of Acid Baby Jesus, Cosmonauts, FIDLAR, Pangea, Rayon Beach, and that all-around dreamy-but-still-rough, echoic garage-y, open wide and gulp down this frothy mixture of lo-fi garage punk.