Staff Mix: Year One Stories - Getting to GET BENT
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!
Video: Allah-Las - Tell Me (What’s On Your Mind)
By Burgers Rana
Produced by Innovative Leisure label head-hancho (and Buddy Holly look a like) Nick Waterhouse, “Tell Me”, is the new single by So Cal’s surf cowboy’s The Allah-Las. With it’s classic speed of 45 rpm & backed by the desert-inspired instrumental, “Sacred Sands”, this is a nifty psych-scorcher that is laced heavily in LSD, The Animals and spaghetti western cannabis drenched guitar licks.
To accompany the song is a video that pays tribute to almost every single 60’s drugmovie and any number of Nugget & garage-psych related band. Intertwined into the staged video is a mix with classic and tour footage of Southern California & its ultra-laid back lifestyle.
Available now on the Innovative Leisure site, be sure to also check out sweet tracks from Hanni El Khatib, an interesting money clip, and the Record Store Day 8” split they have with Mr. Waterhouse as well.
Guide: Staff Record Store Picks
GET BENT is proud to have on staff a slew of talented and knowledgable writers in a bunch of cities across the USA. In honor of Record Store Day, we’re pooling our collective knowledge to let you, our awesome readers, in on our favorite hometown record shops that are still standing strong, slinging wax, corrupting the youth, and keeping the dream alive from sea to shining sea. But this is by no means a complete list, so tell us about your favorite local record shop in the comments!
Review: Feelings - Feelings
By Burgers Rana
“They were cool, but it was just like a whole bunch of Nirvana type of jams.” This is what I heard from one NYU-looking dude say to another dude after a Feelings set at a packed Death By Audio gig they played opening up for fellow Detroit hooligans Tyvek. I see where they are coming from. Feelings are three dudes playing stoned fuzz-spunk with just the right amount of humor backed by a proper dose of apathy. Yet, if you look passed who they respectfully worship/borrow from, then you can focus on what makes them more than the average bear.
On their self-titled debut, out on Gold Tapes, Feelings give us eight home-recorded tracks of ‘here is my heart and (for lack of a better word) feelings’ in an ‘I don’t give a fuck’ style of rock delivery, which is something I have missed from our little scene. It’s hard to understand the words, but from having seen them live and with repeated listens, Feelings seem to really be using the band as a way to deal with fucked-up dreams, drunken fights, relationship shit, and life in general.
These guys in no way sound like Ariel Pink, but like Pink’s music, you gotta go beyond the fuzz and less than favorable recording tactics, and do a little metaphorical audio-digging when ingesting the truthful-catchy-swagger these guys emit from their instruments. Songs like “Abstract Title,” “No Interest”, and “Allergies” are what happens when a punk writes a song that is more than just about drinking with your buddies and/or surfing. The surroundings of Detroit maybe work for them like Manchester worked for bands like the Buzzcocks and Joy Division. Sure, Feelings have roots in garage, but there is a bit more harsh reality and grit in their tunes. They got a song about surfing, and it has that oceanic no worries vibe to it, but the water is full of chemicals and other lethal metals.
You can listen to seven of the eight songs (“Influenza” is the lone track that doesn’t get the Internet treatment) on the band’s Soundcloud, but the purple laced tape, limited to a pressing of 100 copies, is $5 well spent.
Video: POW! - Hangin’ Out (At Home)
By Burgers Rana
My favorite kind of art always seems to have the same kind of description: “we found this (insert item name) and decided to experiment and see what we can do with it.” San Francisco’s Devo/Mummies mashup punks POW! got themselves a $5 camcorder from Goodwill, and filmed and edited a music video for the one-off single “Hangin’ Out (At Home)”. The track was recorded by the enigmatic Ty Segall, and at the perfect single time of two minutes and forty-five seconds, “Hangin’ Out” is a catchy song about chilling at home, cooking, smoking cigs, and playing with your cat.
POW! are currently writing and recording a full-length that should see the light of day sometime this year. Until then, this is a great song to put on while you get your picnic items together.
Review: Free Weed - Beer on the Drugs
By Burgers Rana
I think its safe to say that Eric Gage (CEO of Gnar Tapes) has more musical projects than Tommy Chong has bongs. White Fang, the Memories, Ricky Pineapple, Feather Headress, I’m sure he plays the flute or harmonica on a ton of other peoples’ pursuits, and now he re-imagines his playful subconscious with Free Weed.
In a twist of efforts that I should have seen coming, as Free Weed, Gage explores a more pop-oriented sound, but stays true to his obscure and giddy punk attitude. Gage at this point could be considered our generation’s experipop recording legend, not unlike R. Stevie Moore, Gary War or Bobb Trimble. Opening track on the sophomore release Beer on the Drugs, “Sci-Fi”, starts out sounding like a psyched-out Shakira dance number, but then as soon as the guitar chimes in we are transformed to a whacked-out, fuzzy world of all things weird. As a thesis to his pop efforts, in this song, personified by the topic of science fiction, we are guided through Gage’s inner world in what I picture to be like a Dali painting of Portland with unicorns, aliens, marijuana, burritos and music everywhere. “Are You Sleeping” is a ballad of sorts with a hypnotic clutch on your brain, and it catches you pretty fast for such a short number. Once you are caught, you are locked in for the rest of the record. “Friend Of The Guitar” is a spacey Mothersbaugh-tinged song that could be a soundtrack to a galactic star ride.
Towards the end of the record, we come across FW’s instrumental tracks, which divide up the tape in an interesting way. “Heating Bills” is a short guitar exploration, while “Caprica” is truly far-out soundscape. And the third in collection of personal letters to a friend named Zak (just an assumption), “High-Zak Pt.3”, is a roof-top jam relatable to chugging that last beer at six in the morning while watching the sun come up.
Beer on the Drugs can be purchased both digitally and physically from the very cool and unique Beer on the Rug Records. You can also get a free listen on either the artist or label’s respective Bandcamp pages. If you dig BOTD, please give Free Weed’s debut self-titled album a listen as well. It’s a great treat for the audio enthusiast and it comes as a free download, y’all!
“ARE YOU SLEEPING?”- FREE WEED from walf wodwiguez on Vimeo.
Justin Bieber to Write, Direct, and Star in Lux Interior Biop
By Burgers Rana
At the tender age of 15 months, in 1995, Justin Bieber’s baby sitter got stoned and put on The Cramp’s 1981 classic Psychedelic Jungle LP, and thus was the start of a infatuation with all things Lux, Ivy and S&M for the young baby Bieber. After the enormous success of Never Say Never, the behind the scenes rockumentary, every single movie studio became putty in Jieber’s hands. After multiple disputes and courting of monumental proportions, Marvel Studios won the rights to produce and distribute his next film endeavor, whatever it was to be. His choice was to write, direct and star in the first (and more than likely only needed) bio-pic on Erick Purhiser, otherwise known as the infamous front man for the Cramps, Lux Interior.
Goo Goo Muck: The Interior World of Lux will be a beautiful inside look into The Cramps early formative years and end with the infamous live show at New York’s Peppermint Lounge, which later was released and packaged as the great Smell of Female live album. With tighter security than The Dark Knight Rises, it is reported that not one person has read a line of the manuscript. But with Bieber behind the camera and in front as Lux, Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks (who is 50 years older than JB) confirmed to play Interior’s main squeeze and bandmate, Poison Ivy, and hot off the heals of Machete 3: More Killing in 3D, Danny Trejo as the ultra-cool and charismatic Kid Congo Powers, this could be our generations Apocalypse Now y’all.
Pre-production started in February of this year, and filming begins this fall and plans to go all the way to next summer. With a release date set for October 21, 2014, which would have been Interior’s 68th birthday, this is sure to be a film of historical and epic grandeur. In an interview on Ryan Seacrest’s morning LA music/talk radio show, Bieber had this to say about his vision, “This movie, or should I say film, is going to be so gully.”
Review: Las Ardillas - Las Ardillas
By Burgers Rana
If you are an avid reader of our fair blog, and I know you are, then you are well aware of Davila 666, the Puerto Rican sensations who rock you hard like a good strong margarita. What you might not know is that many members of Davila (as they are lovingly also known as) have been working hard at their punk chops long before the 666 took over the world. For the past ten years, Las Ardillas have been the prodigal children of Puerto Rican rock playing every basement, club, festival and backyard fiesta to hundreds and hundreds of adoring fans. The self-titled debut is a collection of some of their hardest hitters. Released on the band’s own label, ChaCho Records, the record is being distributed stateside by the highly respectable Slovenly Records.
Having not seen them live yet, I can only assume how many liters of sweat I would produce from bouncing around at one of their shows, because these tunes are not for the wallflowers or passive show attendee. If I knew Spanish, I would not be able to hold myself back from singing along to these New York Dolls-ish anthemic jams. Instead, I’ll have to settle for the fun-loving “hey”s and “aah”s. The tunes seem to deal with girls, drugs, bar fights, and more drugs, and the music itself seems to be a perfect compliment to the lyrical content. The guitars are loud, but not overtly fuzzed, nor blown out with distortion. The bass gives you a groove, and alongside the ferocious drums, you’re helpless to the jumping and head-bobbing you see in those archival videos of factory-filled Buzzcocks shows.
While Davila are better known for their garage outings, Las Ardillas take you on a wild ride through late 70s and early 80s punk akin to the Dead Boys, Richard Hell, and Dead Kennedys. “Nancy”, “Adios a la Alegria Vieja”, and “Vivo o Muerto” are standouts, but this is a definite record to put on if you want to start your party or make it go on forever.
Copies are available at Slovenly and will definitely be available during shows. Speaking of shows, you may have heard of a little known festival known as SXSW happening in the musical capital of the world, Austin, TX, which the band plans to overtake. Check out Las Ardillas and many more when they play GET BENT’s first SXSW party at Spiderhouse on Wednesday, March 14.
Staff Video Mix: A Singing Valengram
February 14th can evoke a lot of emotions, like love, lust, loneliness, nausea. Well, regardless of your relationship status, the staff at GET BENT put together this little video mix to say thanks. Your continued support is all the lovin’ we need because it doesn’t matter if you’ve got five fingers or five ladies—we’re never alone as long as there’s good music to listen to. So read our Valentines below, see the tracklist after the jump, and listen to more staff mixes here.
To Joseph Rodriguez, Sonam Parikh, Kristen Berry, Mariana Timony, Burgers Rana, Mac Joseph, Christian Church, Paul Blawat, Becca Capers, Ben Frazee, Drew Yuen, Doug Sweeney, Dario Garcia, London Washington, Lisa Parisi, Joey Genovese, Zach Braun, Jonathan Markley, Ruby Perez, Steffan Hofland, Marcus Wilen, Daniel Clodfelter, Kat Bee, Tiffany Minton, Eric Davidson, Perry Shall, Pedro Hernandez, Hayley Grimes, Jonathan Carpinteyro, Mitchell Goldstein, Ryan Yelencsics, Matt Garlick, Adrienne Deeble, Sean Posila, Toby Sligo, Emmet Brault, Bobby Moore, Craig Storm, Seth Graves, Luke Buckley, John Grega, Katie Sands, Lisa Easterling, Johann Sorensen, Matt Johnson… I love you all. Thanks for everything that you’ve done for GET BENT. - Rebecca
Roses are red, violets are blue… Ah, fuck it, let me buy you guys a beer. - Kristen
Would you be my date to the rock and roll show? Circle yes or no. xoxo - Lisa
I LIKE TURTLES - Drew and Doug
Thanks for reading and supporting Get Bent. It makes me insanely happy. You know what would make me even happier? Instead of buying your significant other something frivolous on Valentine’s Day, buy them a record from their favorite band. A simple gesture like that makes everybody happy, keeps that band going, and gives us stuff to write about. Music is the best! - Zach
I love very few things in this world. Some people would even go as far as to call me a “hater”. One of the few things I DO actually love though are records. They’re just so damn great. I wanna bathe in them and have children with them and all sorts of other weird shit. So naturally, the people I love most are people who also love records. Let me spell it out for ya.. Those people are YOU!!! If you are reading this, that means you read my favorite site in the world, and I have a crush on you. You are my favorite people. Fans and supporters of great music. All of you are invited to spend this V-day spinning our favorite records at my house. Hope to see ya soon! xoxo - Joey
People who read Get Bent: You’re fucking awesome. Your support has built this musical home-base that I’m sure tons of us were looking for (I know I was). Happy Valentine’s Day and thank you. - Ruby
Thanks for not liking shit music! - Steffan
“She says, ‘Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.
He said, ‘Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.’” - Lou Reed
<3,
Burgers
In these troubling times, we’re glad you can take a moment to read what we think about the latest punk albums. - Christian
Happy Valentine’s Day! Don’t forget to mail a highly collectible 7-inch to your place of employment and pretend it came from your secret admirer. - Tiffany
There’s comfort in being a record nerd. Fashions fade, people change, shit happens, and bands break-up; but no matter what, the music will always love you back. My Valentine’s wish for you, dear reader, is that you have a record that loves you so much, it’s always playing in your heart. And if you don’t, I hope you find it here. Thanks for reading. - Mariana
If I could, I would write each and every one of you a valentine. But I can’t, so this’ll have to do. I think yer cute. Wanna get stoned and listen to some records with me? xo, Sonam
-Joseph
Review: Priests - Tape 1 “EP”
By Burgers Rana
There is absolutely no information on Washington, DC’s Priests that exists on the Internet (therefore, the world) other than I know that they are playing at Death By Audio on February 24 (with Texas’s Teenage Cool Kids) and an imaginary biography created from what I can gather about them from my interpretations of the four punk-as-fuck tracks listed on their barebones Bandcamp page. In my mind, these guys all work at some vegetable garden co-op selling organic nature candy and only use electricity to crank their record player, of which they only own Minutemen and SST records, and perhaps have a stoic night of jamming.
This band is so Dischord it hurts. From the Kinko’s-styled cut and paste cover to the bleek and existential questioning of our existence in our world. Oh yeah, and a song dedicated to the branding and product placement of a particular soda pop. Currently this “EP” is not available for download, nor is there a link to where you can purchase the tape. If you have any information, please pass it along as I would love to jam these songs on my tape deck or corporate music device. These guys might have just gotten drunk and recorded these songs in fifteen minutes, but it sometimes only takes that long to mess with the order of the galaxies. Give Tape 1 a listen and then let your hair grow and your mind will follow.
