drunk pixels - mind spiders // the novice

this past weekend, chicago got a double shot of MARKED MEN related punk rock side projects in one helluva show at the EMPTY BOTTLE......who could ask more than to see both MIND SPIDERS and THE NOVICE in one drunk riotous evening....?????

so just in case you weren't there, 
watch the loud rock n roll fury below......
(thanks to sei jin as always....)

MIND SPIDERS.......




THE NOVICE.......

cobwebbs - all around

The latest and greatest psych rumblings from down under are from a relatively new up-and-coming band from Brisbane, Australia called COBWEBBS..... a band that'll for sure knock you over with their fuzz soaked dark psych wall of noise.....

COBWEBBS has been making a name for themselves this year with a slew of hot no-fi psychedelic rock releases....singles on ANTI-FADE and SATURNO as well as a cassette split with HEIROPHANTS, an appearance on a tape comp for ANTI-FADE and a demos lp COMMUNION................and now to top of their stellar year, COBWEBBS have a new garage burning long player on LOST RACE records entitled ALL AROUND. 

dudes, this new album from COBWEBBS is one of the most entrancing slabs of droning space rocking psych I've heard all year.  An lp that just missed the deadline for inclusion as one of the best albums of the year, a list it certainly would've made......

COBWEBBS up the ante with their particularly dark shoegazed, feedback drenched and swampy psych rock n roll.  yes that perfect mixture of scientists, michael yonkers and spacemen 3 psych howl to get yer blood boiling and yer mind expanding......

for those looking for a new band to take you further into the fuzzed out eerie corners of your soul, look no further that ALL AROUND.  this lp is more than just highly recommended.  It's fucking necessary for fans of hazy psych rock.  (yes just as necessary as yer blue cheer, jesus & mary chain or loop albums, and ALL AROUND is what i might call a new classic.....)

Forget your UFO CLUB, NIGHT BEATS, COSMONAUTS and BLACK ANGELS lps that you've been hyping up....... this is the one lp you'll spin all year long.  i promise.  

Listen to ALL AROUND below. 
  And grab it from LOST RACE or PERMANENT RECORDS now.  100 copies is all that were pressed. So don't sleep on it. 


for further acid fried adventures 
listen to COMMUNION, their demos lp, here -

and watch COBWEBBS live below-

best albums of xx12....

I always find it difficult to trim the best lps of the year down to a few highlights....so much good music keeps getting released every year.....(yeah by the way, rock n roll will never die.......)

so as is the tradition, TINY GROOVES choose it's favorite 30 lps of the year........ all are essential and highly recommended releases....... some no doubt you will be familiar with, others you might've missed.    all you need to own now........

so without further ado.....

TINY GROOVES' BEST ALBUMS OF XX12......

1.    Ty Segall - Twins (Drag City)
2.    Chrome Cranks - Ain't No Lie In Blood (Bang!)
3.    Disappears - Pre Language (Kranky)
4.    Terry Malts - Killing Time (Slumberland)
5.    Cheap Time - Wallpaper Music (In The Red)
6.    Tyvek - On Triple Beams (In The Red)
7.    Slug Guts - Playin' In Time With The Deadbeat (Sacred Bones)
8.    Running - Asshole Savant (Captcha)
9.    Obnox - Rojo (Permanent)
10.  Puffy Areolas - 1982: Dishonorable Discharge (Hozac)

11.  The Oh Sees - Putrifiers II (In The Red)
12.  Spacin - Deep Thuds (Richie)
13.  Mmoss - Only Children (Trouble In Mind)
14.  The Legs - Aaaa The New Memphis Legs (Goner)
15.  Guilty Pleasures - Summer Strange (Dusty Medical)
16.  Ty Segall / White Fence - Hair (Drag City)
17.  Mallard - Yes On Blood (Castle Face)
18.  Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse (In The Red)
19.  Mind Spiders - Meltdown (Dirtnap)
20.  Glow Kit - S/T (P Trash / FDH)

21.  Ono - Albino (Moniker)
22.  Useless Eaters - C'est Bon! (Southpaw)
23.  Intelligence - Everyone's Got It Easy But Me (In The Red)
24.  White Fence - Family Perfume Vol. 1 & 2 (Woodsist)
25.  Paint Fumes - Uck Life (Slovenly)
26.  Woollen Kits - Four Girls (Trouble In Mind)
27.  Cosmonauts - If You Wanna Die Then I Wanna Die (Burger)
28.  Hellshovel - Hated By The Sun (Slovenly)
29.  Mean Jeans - On Mars (Dirtnap)
30.  Vincas - Blood Bleeds (Douchemaster)

best 7 inches / reissues / concerts / etc of xx12

i'll start you off with a handful of my favorites from 2012, then we'll get to the top albums......below are lists comprising everything from the best 7 inches to the most in yer face tapes of the year....... as well as TINY GROOVES' picks for best reissues and concerts from this rock n roll filled year....... there's been so much music to sift through in 2012, these lists can't include everything, but anything that gets mentioned below is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and should be sought after........   

so here we go..........  
  (stay tuned tomorrow for the best lps of xx12)


Best 7 inches -

1.  Lazy - Party City (Moniker)
2.  Fuzz - This Time I Got A Reason (Trouble In Mind)
3.  Nobunny - MaximumRocknRoll EP (Goner)
4.  Sonny Vincent and the Bad Reactions - Replica (Trend is Dead)
5.  Living Eyes - Ways to Make a Living (Anti Fade)
6.  Wymyn's Prysyn - Payday (Scavenger of Death)
7.  GG King - Joyless Masturbation (Total Punk)
8.  Nones - Shake Your Brain (Hozac)
9.  Obnox - Masonic Reducer (12XU)
10.  Unholy Two - Cut The Music (12XU)

Best Tapes (Cassette Only Releases) -

1.  Cops - Demo (Scavenger Of Death)
2.  Charles Albright - The First Four Years (Sacremento)
3.  Catacombz - Mother Tongue 2 (self released)
4.  Running - Change the World (Rotted Tooth)
5.  Strange Attractor - Unreleased Songs + Popular Favorites (Hosehead)

Best Concerts  -

1.  Hozac's Black Out Fest with Video / Roky Erickson / Spider Fever / and many more
2.  Ty Segall / White Fence / Strange Boys / Bitchin Bajas @ Lincoln Hall
3.  Sonny Vincent and the Bad Reactions @ Burlington
4.  The Oh Sees / Blind Shake / The Mallard / Terrible Twos @ Empty Bottle
5.  King Khan & BBQ / Paint Fumes / Bazooka @ Empty Bottle
6.  Cave / Tyvek / Running @ Hideout
7.  High Tension Wires / Apache Dropout / Yolks @ Burlington
8.  Royal Headache / OBN IIIs / Football @ Burlington
9.  Bad Sports @ Burlington
10.  Puffy Areolas @ Burlington
11.  Running @ Rainbo Club
12.  Mind Spiders @ Burlington
13.  Moniker Records Showcase with ONO / Lazy / Hecks / and more @ Empty Bottle
14.  Feedtime / Nones @ Empty Bottle
15.  Mean Jeans / Hollywood @ Crown Tap

Best Reissue LPs -

1.  Monoshock - Walk to the Fire (SS Records)
2.  FU 2 - Punk Rock (1-2-3-4 Go!)
3.  Consumers - All My Friends Are Dead (In The Red)
4.  ONO - Machines That Kill People (Priority Male / Galactic Archives)
5.  Bizarros - Complete Collection 76-80 (Windian)
6.  Pussy Galore - Exile On Main Street (Shove)
7.  Loop - Heaven's End (Fire)
8.  Feedtime - Aberrant Years (Sub Pop)
9.  Catholic Boys - Psychic Voodoo Mind Control (Dusty Medical)
10.  Royal Trux - Accelerator (Drag City)

Best Reissue Singles -

1.  Testors - Time Is Mine (Windian)
2.  Pussy Galore - Feel Good About Your Body EP (Shove)
3.  Link Wray - Big City After Dark (Sundazed)
4.  Captain Beefheart - Abba Zabba (Sundazed)
5.  Crime - Hotwire My Heart (Kitten Charmer)

Best Box Set -

Windian Subscription Series Volume 1
  with Heavy Times, Terry Malts and more

Record Label of the Year -

In The Red.......more than their fair share of stellar releases this year.
what can i say, but IN THE RED is a perennial favorite here at TINY GROOVES...... 

Best Tape Label -

Hosehead

Best Singles Label -

Total Punk

Best Record Store Day Release -

Trouble In Mind's 4 way covers split with
Mikal Cronin, Paperhead, Apache Dropout and Liminanas

Best Live Record -

Black Lips - Live At Third Man Records (Third Man)

Best Rock n Roll Venues -

Empty Bottle
and the Burlington

Best Reunited Band of 2012 -

Chrome Cranks

Best Chicago Band -

Running

Best Chicago Record Label -

Trouble in Mind

Best Record Store - 

Permanent Records..... of course

Best Rock n Roll Blog / Magazine (that's not Tiny Grooves ) -

GET BENT !




AND DON'T FORGET YOU'RE THE BEST TOO.....
THANKS FOR READING ALL THIS YEAR,
MORE ROCK N ROLL FUN IS IN STORE FOR 2013.........

without you loving TINY GROOVES,
this blog wouldn't have made it through the past four years.......

cheater slicks - reality is a grape

THE CHEATER SLICKS are back with another noisy slab of garage punk entitled REALITY IS A GRAPE, out now on COLUMBUS DISCOUNT RECORDS.....

these atonal / wall of feedback / guitar-crunching garage rockers from ohio have been destroying minds with their fierce brand of distorto punk for over 20 years and have never released a long player that's worth passing up...... (one of the few bands you can say that about)

the slicks just won't fucking calm down......or retire, which is fine by me, i hope they never do..... REALITY IS A GRAPE is just as blown out loud and raw as their classic IN THE RED albums from the 90s, DON'T LIKE YOU, FORGIVE THEE and REFRIED DREAMS to name a few.......(lps you ought to hunt down....) 

the formula has always been simple and powerful, TWO GUITARS, NO BASS AND ONE DRUMMER PUMMELING WITH AGGRO SPEAKER-BUSTING NO-FI GARAGE BENT RUST BELT PUNK PSYCHOSIS.....  always more low profile then THE GORIES and THE OBLIVIANS, but no less loved,  THE CHEATER SLICKS are recommended for those who need their punk TRASHY CONFRONTATIONAL AND DEMENTED AS FUCK, ie. those whose record collections include many CRYPT, IN THE RED, SYMPATHY, RIP OFF and ESTRUS lps.........

there's something mind altering about a band that both strips down and amplifies the basic structure of rock n roll at the same time......THE CHEATER SLICKS aren't for everyone, but anyone in search of rambunctious misanthropic and noisy rock n roll NEEDS to have their numerous albums stacked next to their turntable.   AS HIGHLY FUCKING RECOMMENDED AS THEY COME........    

SO LISTEN TO SOME CHOICE CUTS OF REALITY IS A GRAPE BELOW......and grab yer copy now, before it's gone for good. 





AND WATCH THE SLICKS ROCK PERMANENT RECORDS CHICAGO THIS FALL WITH SONGS OFF THEIR NEW LONG PLAYER......

gr - a reverse age

GR is the solo moniker of gregory raimo, guitarist of the fabulous french psych/noise outfit, GUNSLINGERS...... a band incidentally you ought to know about......

he just released a new album entitled A REVERSE AGE on MEXICAN SUMMER and it's killer slab of psych rock explosiveness......

mixing equal parts in MICHAEL YONKERS, CAPTAIN BEEFHEART, LAST EXIT, CHROME, DNA, TELEVISION, FLOWER TRAVELIN BAND and BLUE CHEER, GR hits all cylinders with his angular noise bent psych rock mayhem..........  blues chords, garage rock riffage and free jazz drumming all stretched and distended into one noisy fray meant to both menace and enlighten..... you'll get lost in the aggression and guitar soloing and by the time the tone arm returns to its place after the b side, you might just be another person completely.......  

seriously one of the most heady psych jams of the year.......fans of LIGHTNING BOLT, BIRDS OF MAYA, SUN FLARE, PURLING HISS, KING BLOOD, HIGH RISE and MONOSHOCK will need to dig their teeth deep into the grooves of REVERSE AGE........

it's hands down recommended.....

STREAM SONG CLIPS FROM A REVERSE AGE BELOW.....



AND LISTEN TO LOW BORN FROM THE LP BELOW.......



WATCH THE VIDEO FOR GR's "THE INTERCESSOR SPEAKS" (off a previous lp) BELOW.......

mmoss - only children

Don't write your year end best of lists yet. At least not until you've heard the new album from , entitled Only Children.  In a year filled to the brim with creative and unique psych Lps, TROUBLE IN MIND pressed up one of the best mind altering lps of the year; a long player definitely worth forgetting your credit card debts to buy.
MMOSS

Most of the current wave of psych bands wear their influences on their sleeves (might as well have a jean jacket full of patches of their favorite bands) and end up sounding like rip offs.  But MMOSS somehow bring a whole new level of sonic alchemy to the game.  

They seamlessly meld the guitar tricks, the acid folk stylings and the druggy haze of variant strains of psychedelic rock as we historically know it into something current and mesmerizingly new.  By adding elements such as krautrock's drone, prog instrumentation (yes flute and crazed organ solos) and garage's forcefulness, Only Children is in a class all it's own.  

Mmoss is somewhere out in left field near Cave, Olivia Tremor Control and The Oh Sees, but for sure blazing their own trail in hallucinogenic wilderness.  "War Sux" is an expansive motorik psych blaze of glory, space rocking on for a mind melting ten minutes.  While other songs like "Another Day" are short and sweet AM gold jangle meets acid casualty woozy garage anthems.  Mmoss stretch it out and explore the outer reaches of psych while not forgetting to give us quite a slew of haunting pop psych jams on Only Children. 

Few bands can mix West Coast hippie psych (think Love, Spirit and Public Nuisance) with the art damaged forays of the late 60s/early 70s UK avant rock scene (Pink Floyd, Arthur Brown, Hawkwind and Soft Machine) into such a eerie and potent elixir.  You're gonna wanna take this trip with Mmoss over and over again 'cause Only Children is the real thing, not some pretend psych rock for the trendy.

Listen MMOSS' ONLY CHILDREN below 

and don't wait for your man, hit up Trouble In Mind now.  

watch MMOSS at AUSTIN PSYCH FEST this year......

kraus - sumpreme commander

the back story of a band doesn't matter.  never really has.  even though the blogs / zines / the hype generating media saturated world we live in would suggest otherwise.......IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC........i could care less where an album came from or who made it.....it could drop from the sky......and onto my turntable and if it catches my attention and sucks me into it's little grooves, THAT'S WHAT MATTERS..........

who is KRAUS?  i've heard he was part of new zealand's finest space punks THE FUTURIANS, but that might just be a rumor.  he is a mysterious fringe musician for sure, and i'd rather let the question of back story remain vague.  i'm sure he's from the same musical corner of the universe as SUN RA, MOONDOG and BRUCE HAACK.....but that is as far into researching as i want to go with KRAUS......anymore context would just detract from this wonderfully obscuro rock record that just appeared one day on my turntable.......

MONIKER RECORDS might just wanna keep the secret to themselves anyway......after all KRAUS' new album SUMPREME COMMANDER is a BY FAR ONE OF THE MOST WAY OUT THERE PSYCH RECORDS OF 2012......and you wouldn't want some other indie label just stealing him away if you were MONIKER, right.....?

SUPREME COMMANDER starts off somewhere in the realm of KING BLOOD and PURLING HISS with it's crunchy blown out psych riffage, wondering to and fro, melting away anything that comes close to pop structure....... what KRAUS aims for is more of an experimental / electronic / analog sound collage that's part sci-fi b-movie soundtrack and part post krautrock mind expanding......and a whole lotta OUT THERE SOUNDS....... think TANGERINE DREAM covering FLOWER TRAVELIN BAND.....or CAN and KRAFTWERK playing NINTENDO together (or making a soundtrack for their epic video game battle)..........but probably more to the point, GOBLIN and THROBBING GRISTLE getting high and collaborating on SPACE ROCK album together...........   

yes KRAUS has made a wholly unique and interesting AVANT ROCK LP THAT BEGS YOU TO LISTEN OVER AND OVER AGAIN.   experimental music is not just for the knob twiddlers and feedback sculptors......KRAUS proves that with a guitar, a keyboard, some effects pedals and a drum machine (and occasional drums) that you can record something exceptional....with no pro-tools foolery......just the kind of analog tricks and tape manipulating that made all those ENO and RESIDENTS lps SO GROUNDBREAKING.........(both of which are also influences on KRAUS)

do yerself a favor and check out SUPREME COMMANDER below... 
        because it's another highly recommended platter from MONIKER......


and watch KRAUS' video for SUPREME COMMANDER here......

Kraus "Supreme Commander" LP from Kraus on Vimeo.

woollen kits - four girls

not only are the WOOLLEN KITS no slouches, but they're writing some of the best jangle pop tunes i've heard in quite some time.......

so if you didn't pick up or hear their s/t debut from last january on RIP SOCIETY, now is the time to introduce yourself to the WOOLLEN KITS....and their new banging lp FOUR GIRLS out now on TROUBLE IN MIND......

WOOLLEN KITS effortless concoct a blend of noisy lo-fi jangle pop that's both sugary sweet and rough around the edges in just the right proportion.   indie rock hasn't sounded this exciting since the mid 80s, when there were no rules.....  think THE CLEAN, MODERN LOVERS and BEAT HAPPENING all on one mixtape and you'll get what WOOLLEN KITS are aiming for on their new lp FOUR GIRLS....and you gotta love a band that boils rock music down to its core, both sonically and lyrically.  i mean aren't most songs about girls?  and FOUR GIRLS gives us, guess what, four anthemic songs about GIRLS.....what could be better......?

especially when its through the lens of their rollicking frenzied indie rock that's part K Records shamble, part noisy jangle of FLYING NUN's kiwi pop and a whole lotta garage beat...  Woollen Kits keep the spirit of guitar rock alive, outta the dusty dollar bins of neglected records stores and back into the spotlight.......  the kids need earnest catchy noisy rock n roll songs like this....... after all it's not like we can still go to a TELEVISION PERSONALITIES, VASELINES or HALO BENDERS show every time we need a fix like this.........

ANOTHER HIGHLY RECOMMENDED LP FROM TROUBLE IN MIND? 
YES! 
ANOTHER AWESOME AUSTRALIAN BAND YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT NOW?
YES! 
ANOTHER CONTENDER FOR YOUR YEAR END BEST OF LIST? 
YES!
ANOTHER LP FULL OF FUTURE MIXTAPE ROCKERS?
WHY YES!

DUDE FORGET YOUR XMAS SHOPPING LIST, JUST BUY EVERYONE A COPY OF WOOLLEN KITS' FOUR GIRLS AND CALL IT A DAY............!!!!

LISTEN TO SOME CHOICE CUTS OFF FOUR GIRLS BELOW........
   and hit up TROUBLE IN MIND for yer copy now........






AND WATCH WOOLLEN KITS LIVE BELOW.....
   (it's their whole set from a show earlier this year in seattle......)

hellshovel and acid baby jesus present VOYAGER 8

what if two of yer favorite bands got together in the studio to jam out and record new songs?  you'd be stoked of course........so hold onto yer hats man, and get ready for VOYAGER 8........  two of SLOVENLY RECORDS heaviest hitters, HELLSHOVEL and ACID BABY JESUS, have teamed up for a little 10 inch gem of an ep that they entitled VOYAGER 8.......

the satellite reference is more than apt, since this is a slab of some heavy mind blowing PSYCH ROCK N ROLL..... full of keyboard swirling, layers of reverb, acid fried jangly guitars and prog bent space rock sonic explorations........  VOYAGER 8 has two collaborative songs from ACID BABY JESUS AND HELLSHOVEL, and one new unreleased song from each band.......  making it one highly recommended dish that you'll wanna spin over and over again.........

fans of either band as well as those into king crimson, white fence, demon's claws, can, spacemen 3, hawkwind, the seeds, the oh sees and anything garage, psych or space rock oriented will DIG THIS 10 INCH, i promise........

this will tide us over over until we get new lps from HELLSHOVEL and ACID BABY JESUS for sure.......  so don't miss out..... this ep won't gather any dust at SLOVENLY HQ that's for sure.....

LISTEN UP BELOW........



AND WATCH VOYAGER 8 LIVE BELOW.....
thanks to april novak....

drunk pixels - king khan and bbq

THEY SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE.  THEY SAID IT WOULDN'T EVER HAPPEN AGAIN.  BUT THEY WERE WRONG.  FUCK OFF ALL YOU HATERS............

KING KHAN AND BBQ ARE BACK......they absolutely destroyed the empty bottle last week, i mean fucking killed it...... one of the best shows of the year hands down.....

so it case you missed it.......watch below..... 
   (thanks to sei jin for the drunk pixels)  

HOLY SHIT, LET'S ROCK N ROLL MOTHER FUCKERS !!!!!!!!






WITH SURPRISE GUEST NOBUNNY !!!!!



ENCORE !!!!!!! LET'S GET SWEATY AND DRUNK !!!!!!!

dirtnap records 2012 sampler

hey kids just in case you forgot to get yr fix of dirty lo-fi punk this year, DIRTNAP RECORDS has dropped a sampler of greatest hits from their 2012 releases.........it's a great place to start out if you haven't heard some of these awesome punk bands......

included are killer jams from the new MIND SPIDERS, WHITE WIRES and MEAN JEANS lps......as well as some fucking banging chainsaw punk tunes from SOMETHING FIERCE, STEVE ADAMYK and SONIC AVENUES...... as well as songs from perenial faves of TINY GROOVES, HIGH TENSION WIRES and BAD SPORTS......

2012 has flooded TINY GROOVES with so so many good releases it's been hard to feature them all..... and everyone of these bands and their new lps and singles should've made it on the blog earlier this year if they didn't........  this shit is highly recommended high volume listening pleasure.

SO DO YERSELF A FAVOR AND GET TO KNOW ALL THESE BANDS NOW........  

and thanks DIRTNAP FOR MAKING SURE PUNK IS NOT DEAD.......

rock n roll below..................

ono - albino

MONIKER RECORDS has released what just may be THE STRANGEST DARKEST AND MOST MESMERIZING LP OF THE YEAR: ALBINO by ONO......

a experimental swirl of shadowy influences from punk to gothic blues, as well as no wave, gospel, noise, dub and proto industrial......ALBINO is a truly AVANT POP MASTERPIECE...... musical reference points for ONO are ALL WAY OUT:  Captain Beefheart, Can, Tools You Can Trust, Birthday Party, Throbbing Gristle, Faust, Public Image Ltd, the Residents. Controlled Bleeding, Teenage Jesus & The Jerks and Suicide.....  just listing all those bands makes my head swell, but believe me ONO swallows all those diverse strains of musical exploration and makes one crazed hell of an album........

ONO's music is a post apocalyptic nightmare dream sequence filmed by david lynch, sure to shred your perception of reality......filled with no wave clanging guitars, cacophonous industrial beats, gospel moaning and a fierce off kilter coat of feeback looping and droning, this lp is as PUNK, EXPERIMENTAL and  OUTSIDER as you can get.......  imagine going to see ONO back in the early 80s when the whole chicago punk scene were bands like naked raygun and mentally ill......  THIS SHIT WOULD'VE PROVOKED FIGHTS, IT SOUNDED SO STRANGE, OUTTA THIS WORLD AND AHEAD OF ITS TIME.......

the mysterious ONO has been lurking around chicago for thirty years now, in the shadows and so far off the grid as to not even warrant a proper allmusic entry, but hopefully with ALBINO this will all change.....ONO's back story is quite hazy as are the album details, but fortunately MONIKER RECORDS has done their research before releasing this album, so read on -

 To non-locals, ONO's stunning Albino might have fallen from the sky, but to an enlightened and ever-growing bunch of Chicago heads the band is already full-on legend, and the release of their first recorded music since 1986 is a majorly epic landmark that needs no introduction. For the rest of y'all: ONO is a unit of transcendent noise-making now in its fourth decade. Both notorious and neglected in their early years, ONO's unholy bitches' brew of noisy snarl, avant-garde R&B, gospel-heavy blackness, queer sensibility and extravagant, performance-art theatrics (they once played a concert at Navy Pier in which singer travis was dragged through the audience in a steel cage, naked but for a jockstrap) was in a whole 'nuther galaxy from the macho Chicago punk scene that spawned them.

Reemerging in the late 00s with astonishing vehemence and an expansive, multi-generational lineup, they've been embraced by a more fertile and experimental Chicago scene, and are about to explode skulls internationally. travis has always referred to fellow-founder P. Michael ONO as the 'leader of the band,' but anchor might be more appropriate—P. Michael's groundswelling bass and nasty, insectoid beats are unquestionably the glue that binds the sprawling noise. But then there's travis, whose fierce brilliance carries echoes of punk prophets like Patti Smith, Iggy Pop and Gil Scott-Heron but is always pure, raging ONO. As for the rest of the band, check the sick, Beefheartian groove of Veil, or their revelatory cover of the Velvet Underground's All Tomorrow's Parties, which manages to excise much of the song's innate sentimentality while upping its sonic generosity, the wall-of-sound sprouting weeds and flowers in its cracks.

ONO's original mission statement (1980) runs through this music more truly and deeply than ever, so to quote it in full and let it speak for itself: ONO1980// Experimental Performance, NOISE, and Industrial Poetry Performance Band; Exploring Gospel's Darkest Conflicts, Tragedies and Premises. Some deep-listening shit--beyond recommended! 

this is one album that just can't be explained--words are not descriptive enough to encapsulate the haunting power of this record, one that i wasn't sure i would even like but now can't stop spinning.  you gotta just listen for yourself, and be saved by the redemptive dark magic of ONO.....ALBINO is truly unique music, that rips down the illegitimate walls we put up between sub genres of rock n roll.......  after a couple of spins you might just find yourself putting ONO on your best of the year list........ 

SO LISTEN TO ALBINO BELOW....
    and grab it from MONIKER RECORDS now......limited to 300 copies.

watch ONO's video for MODEL BRIDE filmed in 1983.....



and for further listening track down ONO's first two seminal recordings, MACHINES THAT KILL PEOPLE (soon to be reissued) and ENNUI.......both VERY RECOMMENDED...........
hit up youtube for a listen, there are avid ONO fans that have done us a favor and uploaded these two lost and classic album from THERMIDOR RECORDS.............

n.e.c. - last point of radiation

N.E.C. (or natural extension concept) just released a killer slab of feedback drenched shoegazing space / pysch rock earlier this year entitled LAST POINT OF RADIATION via SPECTIVE AUDIO........  and it's a release you need to check out now........

channeling the outer reaching sonic explorations of SPACEMEN 3, LOOP and RIDE as well as the proto space psych of HAWKWIND and the krautrock jams of NEU and CAN, N.E.C. pack plenty of mind altering punch in their latest full length........layers of guitar, propulsive bass lines, walls of droning noise and plenty of psych freakouts....... the warning label on the LP ought to suggest YOUR MIND MIGHT MELT AFTER REPEATED LISTENS........  these under-the-radar atlanta rockers ought to make more of a name for themselves in the future, as LAST POINT OF RADIATION is quite the FULLY FORMED PSYCH ROCK NUGGET READY TO BLAST YOU OFF IN SPACE NEVER TO RETURN......

fans of CAMERA, CARLTON MELTON, WOODEN SHJIPS, CAVE, TORTOISE, DISAPPEARS, ONEIDA, BARDO POND and MY BLOODY VALENTINE will DIG THIS FAR OUT ALBUM FOR SURE........ it's kinda like throwing CREATION RECORDS shoegaze into an atom smasher with 70s psych and any of yer fave epic SPACE ROCKERS.................

LAST POINT OF RADIATION is a HIGHLY RECOMMEND INTERGALACTIC TRIP YOU NEED TO TAKE NOW.........

LISTEN SIX AND DEATH TRAINING VIDEO OFF THE NEW LP BELOW......



and watch NEC take you higher and higher live below......

sonny vincent & the bad reactions - replica 7 inch

SONNY VINCENT IS BACK !!!!!!!! 

sonny vincent of the legendary TESTORS is back destroying the USA with his propulsive brand in yer face razor sharp 70s punk mayhem.....(no this is not a testors reunion, but you can still cross yer fingers)....this time it' s with his fierce new group SONNY VINCENT AND THE BAD REACTIONS.... a outfit that's just as solid, fun and rowdy as his more famed band....... the bad reactions is comprised of luis from the SORROWS on drums, josh from EX HUMANS, BEAT BEAT BEAT, CARBONAS and FOSTER CARE on guitar and jon from EX HUMANS and BEAT BEAT BEAT on bass......as close to a perfect backing band as is possible.....and if you like (or know) anything about those rowdy fuzz punk bands....this new single, REPLICA, out on TREND IS DEAD RECORDS is gonna make your thanksgiving weekend quite the rock n roll mess........

the REPLICA 7 inch is THREE SONGS OF ABSOLUTELY TRASHY SPITTING PUMMELING SMASHING BLEEDING DRUNKEN BAR-BRAWLING PUNK RAAAAAAAWWWWWKKKK...........LOUD AND MEAN, JUST AS IT WAS MEANT TO BE PLAYED...... stay away mall punks coz this 7 inch will leave you with a black eye and a nasty hangover.....  SONNY VINCENT is playing rock n roll as fierce as ever, and if you call yerself a fan of PUNK ROCK, you need this fucking single right fucking now...... the word recommended doesn't say it strong enough......

if you've bruised yer ears with the CARBONAS, MARKED MEN, OBLIVIANS, PAGANS, TESTORS, RAMONES, JOHNNY THUNDERS, THE GERMS, RIP OFFS and/or ANY OF THE PUNK CLASSICS, you gotta run to your local record shop and snatch this one up.....

LISTEN TO THE ENTIRETY OF REPLICA BELOW......  
  and try not to hit repeat.........!!!!!  


watch SONNY VINCENT AND THE BAD REACTIONS detroy it live below........

lazy - party city 7 inch

Kansas City's LAZY bring early DIY punk back from the dead with their new 7 inch Party City, out now on Moniker Records.   This is boisterous mid 70s lofi punk rock when punk was at its most vital.  Think Testors, Zero Boys and FU2 all rolled out into one hurricane of spastic rock n roll fury.

The single starts of with "Party City", an rambunctious ode to those late nights we all love that could've been on those early Killed By Death or Messthetics comps.  The analog warmth, high octane pop melody and stripped down power trio approach of the song combine to make Lazy a lo-fi force to be reckoned with.   On top of that already infectious formula is the boy/girl back and forth vocal tandem that makes the A-side even more of a classic jam.   File Party City next to the Features' "Floozie of the Neighborhood" or Crime's "Hotwire My Heart"; perhaps one of the best mutant pop nuggets ever.  With the polaroid picture on the sleeve, if you weren't paying attention you might just think this was a thirty year old single that Sing Sing or Last Laugh Records just unearthed.   "Party City" is for sure a track that should be in your jukebox (or at least your ipod).

Flip to the B-Side and you get two more fuzzed up rockers from Lazy's Obsession Sessions, which yielded a sold out cassette from earlier this year.  Both "Silence In Crisis" and "Boys in the Girlsroom" are short bouncy numbers that race through your speakers so quick you'll immediately need another spin.  Lazy takes the same chainsaw aim at punk as GG King, Foster Care, Terry Malts and the Mind Spiders, boiling everything down to a snotty pop core, but with one single and one tape, Lazy proves themselves to be one of the best bands in the scene.

Moniker Records is going to release a full length from Lazy in early 2013, so Party City is a little taster to whet our insatiable appetite for rock n roll goodness.  This single absolutely does what it's supposed to, cause I'll end up spinning it hundreds of time in anticipation of Lazy's new album, one that I'm sure will rank amongst the best of next year.

Get your taste of Lazy's new single below 
and grab go to Party City via Moniker Records.

A SIDE

B SIDE




and watch LAZY play PARTY CITY live below......

tyvek - on triple beams

i've been waiting anxiously awaiting TYVEK's follow up to NOTHING FITS for almost two years now......so thankfully the wait is finally over.  IN THE RED is releasing TYVEK's killer new long player, ON TRIPLE BEAMS, this week and it's a super recommended slab of angular art damaged punk........

tyvek seamlessly smash their love for THE FALL, WIRE, FLIPPER, MINUTEMEN, STOOGES and WIPERS into one hell of a off kilter noisy mess.........   they notch up the manic energy on ON TRIPLE BEAMS and bruise through the new album with an amped up intensity you don't hear everyday, but then again that's the detroit way.....it's like getting pummeled by the best DIY basement show you've ever been to every time you hit play....... 

and tyvek don't miss a beat this time around, it's all razor sharp anthems that'll get multiple spins on yr soon to be very happy turntable.....   nobody quite spits out slurred feedback drenched punk/post punk rock bangers like these guys do..........  you'd be doing yerself a disservice not to check their bouncing catchy noise pop out now.....it'll rattle around in yr skull for the rest of the day i promise.....

fans of INTELLIGENCE, PROTOMARTYR, TOTAL CONTROL, RUNNING, HEAVY TIMES and BLIND SHAKE will need to devour ON TRIPLE BEAMS for sure.......

LISTEN TO WAYNE COUNTY ROADS AND SAY YEAH 
OFF ON TRIPLE BEAMS BELOW......
   and don't forget to run to yr local record shop this week and grab the album......
you'll need to blast this as loud as fucking possible.....

paint fumes - uck life

one new up and coming band you GARAGE PUNKERS need to check out right now is north carolina's PAINT FUMES, who are about to release their freaking rowdy debut long player, UCK LIFE, on SLOVENLY RECORDS.......

i haven't come across a FUZZ BENT CAVE STOMPING GARAGE PUNK BAND THIS EXCITING ALL YEAR LONG.........forget just living in the past with those old CRYPT, SYMPATHY and NORTON lps, PAINT FUMES ARE THE NOW SOUND...... taking their demented crazed rock n roll up to ELEVEN, they're a molotov cocktail of nofi killed-by-death punk and nuggets-era psychotic garage reaction..........

so totally recommended for those who get fucked up to THE MUMMIES, THE SPACESHITS,
THE RIP OFFS, REATARDS and/or THE NEW BOMB TURKS......

SLOVENLY described the HIGH YOU'LL GET HUFFING THE PAINT FUMES AS "The Gories advanced experiments in industrial blues colliding with Cheater Slicks’ sonic exercises in murder, and Oblivians fucking it all away....."  SOUNDS LIKE A FUCKING SOLID ENDORSEMENT TO ME........

preview some tracks from UCK LIFE below......
       and grab it from SLOVENLY when it hits the record stores later this month...

watch PAINT FUMES kill it 
at the atlanta mess-around this year below......

charles albright - the first four years tape

If it takes a cassette to gather all the psych pummeling madness of CHARLES ALBRIGHT into one place, so be it. The First Four Years would be recommended even if it came out on just 8 track. Charles Albright's under the radar garage punk noise making has gone very under appreciated by many, but maybe this collection of way out of print singles can change that. Here's the scoop from Sacramento Records:

"CHARLES ALBRIGHT has been a fixture in Sacramento's underground punk scene for over a decade. Chances are the only band of Charles' that you've heard is THE PIZZAS, but he has been in a ton of them (all of them awesome and so under the radar.) This cassette features his various singles released on labels like S.S., Permanent and Goodbye Boozy. No bullshit psych punk that still lurks in the garage and has great over-blown guitar that sounds like young Charles has soaked up plenty Leigh Stephens and Greg Ginn, which he has."

Yes and add to that crazed drive of those old Rip Offs records, the feedback buzz of the Wipers and a heavy overdose of anything psychedelic, and what you get is someone who ought to be selling records as fast as The Oh Sees and Ty Segall combined. 

Like shotgunning a six pack of cheap beer and lighting a pile of Maximum Rock n Rolls on fire to burn yr ex-girlfriends house down.  You have some fun reckless nights ahead of you with The First Four Years tape........ 

heavily suggested for those of you who love TYVEK, JAY REATARD, THE OBLIVIANS, SUPERCHARGER and the like.........

Very Recommended for Your and Your Favorite Tape Deck!!!

STREAM THE ENTIRETY OF THE FIRST FOUR YEARS BELOW......
   and grab it now before it's gone....... (and it prolly will be in a sec.....)

CHARLES ALBRIGHT is the master of feedback punk........
any piece of blown out rock n roll by him, i suggest you grab immediately.......



 watch CHARLES ALBRIGHT slaying Sacramento below........

unholy two - cut the music 7 inch

When you pop UNHOLY TWO's new 7 inch Cut The Music I'm The Nightstalker on your turntable, I wouldn't call what happens next "listening."  The record pummels your ears.  It's bruising, fast and blown out rock n roll that'll most certainly damage your psyche.  Never again will you listen to "soft" music.  You'll be converted to the ranks of the noise freaks who can only listen to music with the littlest of melody and high levels of distortion of all frequency ranges.  When you encounter music this vicious, exciting and rambunctious, you'll never be the same.  And we have 12XU Records to thank for that. 

There are for sure plenty of bands playing mellow indie rock these days.   What we don't have is many bands carrying the AMREP, Black Jack, Skin Graft hallmark of absolute noise skronk anymore.  But Unholy Two wants to nab that spot on the heavy loud end of the rock n roll spectrum and they may have just cemented their place with this new 7 inch.  Hailing from the Columbus, Ohio scene that spawned the mutant noise garage of the Cheater Slicks and with a wall of feedback that's indebted to them, Unholy Two may just steal away the title of noisiest band ever.   They've expanded from a two piece on this 7 inch to bring even more sonic assault to your ears: dual guitar wailing, a shrieking malfunctioning keyboard and a one absolute spastic drummer.  Part Brainbombs explosiveness, part Lightning Bolt minimalist instrumentation / maximal noise, Unholy Two's Cut The Music is the next chapter feedback punk.

Both the title track and the B-side, Razor, are equally destructive, and it'd be hard to choose which one sums up Unholy Two more.  Both ball up those hardcore impulses and flatten them through on a wall of noise and doom metal influences.  The closest comparisons to their ungodly racket may be the psychedelic hardcore of Puffy Areolas, the sludge noise of Francis Harold & the Holograms or the coked out noisecore of Running.  But you'll just have to let yourself get abused by Unholy Two to figure out what you make of it.   I guarantee you won't hear a more abrasive single all year long, and that if anyone can make noise punk sound fresh, it's the Unholy Two.

Listen to Cut the Music I'm a Night Stalker below 
and grab your copy from 12XU.

super recommended !!!!!!!!!



watch UNHOLY TWO live below.....

gay witch abortion - opportunistic smokescreen behavior

the twin cities is always overflowing with awesome bands that seem to fly under the radar to most music critics and fans.....but you certainly can't ignore the scene there when a release as LOUD and VITRIOLIC as the new lp by GAY WITCH ABORTION drops in to the bins at yr local record shop..... their new album OPPORTUNISTIC SMOKESCREEN BEHAVIOR out on LEARNING CURVE RECORDS is just the kinda of SLUDGY NOISE ROCK BLAST you need in your life right now.......

GAY WITCH ABORTION mixes and matches some of the best HEAVY ROCKIN' INFLUENCES OF THE PAST THIRTY YEARS INTO ONE HELLUVA FUCKING EAR SPLITTING SPEAKER BUSTING NOISE ROCK EPIC.......  imagine HAMMERHEAD, MELVINS, THE COWS and ALL THOSE OTHER AWESOME SOMEWHAT FORGOTTEN AMREP BANDS smashed into JESUS LIZARD and the other classic TOUCH & GO bands, THEN TURN UP THE VOLUME TIL EVERYTHING SOUNDS BLOWN OUT AND ABOUT TO CATCH FIRE......... gay witch abortion don't just borrow from that spurt of beloved 90s aggro rock though, they yank plenty of noise mongering moves from their LOAD RECORD contemporaries LIGHTNING BOLT and CLOCKCLEANER and predecessors such as ARAB ON RADAR and HARRY PUSSY......

OPPORTUNISTIC SMOKESCREEN BEHAVIOR is the perfect mix of GUTTER SLUDGE RIFFING, PSYCH ROCK MIND FUCKS and NOISE ROCK BOUNDARY BUSTING EXPLORATIONS......  since most of the aforementioned labels (touch and go, amrep, skin graft and load) are dead or very inactive, it's a relief that a band like GAY WITCH ABORTION is willing to take up the bloody sewage soaked irreverent flag of NOISE ROCK and WAVE IT IN THE FACES OF THE COMPLACENT ROCK KIDS.........

OPPORTUNISTIC SMOKESCREEN BEHAVIOR IS THE SLAP IN THE FACE THAT WE ALL NEED TO WAKE UP AND FUCKING GET GOING........ there's no need for bland quiet rock n roll...............

so click here to grab GAY WITCH ABORTION's new LP from LEARNING CURVE......INSANELY RECOMMENDED.........

LISTEN TO TWO TRACKS OFF 
OPPORTUNISTIC SMOKESCREEN BEHAVIOR BELOW -




AND WATCH GAY WITCH ABORTION AT 
THE TRIPLE ROCK IN MINNEAPOLIS BELOW.....

catacombz - mother tongue 2

milwaukee's CATACOMBZ are back with yet another stellar WAY OUT THERE PSYCHEDELIC RIDE in the form of MOTHER TONGUE 2, available as a cassette / mp3 download......... those who picked up last years self titled affair know what you're in store for, but all the rest of you are gonna love this wild krautrock influenced drugged up spaced out rock n roll journey....

on MOTHER TOUNGE 2, CATACOMBZ manage to bend their HAWKWIND / early UFO space rock impulses into a more effects laden TANGERINE DREAM / pre-ambient ENO / CAN mind melting groovy avant rock jams..... at times heavy and explosive and at others proggy and tribal, these tracks race you through the outer edges of the universe and the normal restrictive musical genres........  imagine if NICE stumbled upon fusion era MILES DAVIS smoking a joint with NEU or SOFT MACHINE in a alleyway......  that is not to say that a strong psych/garage debt to the 13th FLOOR ELEVATORS isn't running through this whole tape too........   

it's not often that one group can mash psych, krautrock, prog, fusion and rock n roll impulses into one EPIC TRIPPY SONIC EXPERIMENT...... 

this is not psych rock for the hippie kids, this is full on AVANT DAMAGED DRONED OUT PSYCH ROCK WITH A MESMERIZING SPACE FUNK BEAT........

fans of any of the aforementioned bands as well as CAMERA, CAVE, PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE SOUND, ONEIDA, WOODEN SHJIPS, ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE, VERMA and/or TORTOISE will fucking NEED THIS TAPE......and it's not like we need many tapes these days.......   HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

LISTEN TO A FEW TRACKS 

OFF THE MOTHER TONGUE 2 TAPE BELOW.....



AND WATCH CATACOMBZ PLAY THE BURLINGTON 
IN CHICAGO BELOW.....

purling hiss - a little off center (live @ wfmu)

i wish PURLING HISS had a new lp release coming out this month, but i guess a live at WFMU session will hold me over for a bit longer..... FAN DEATH records is releasing A LITTLE OFF CENTER, a live in studio appearance by PURLING HISS from 2010, on cassette at the end of the month......  for those familiar with the lo-fi psych fuzz of PURLING HISS, you know any new recordings are always an occasion for excitement...... nobody plays reverb drenched spaced out psych bent garage jams like PURLING HISS...... fans of the SPACIN, BIRDS OF MAYA, OBNOX, CAVE, LOOP, MONOSHOCK and PUFFY AREOLAS will need to pop this tape in yr favorite boombox........  

listen to RUN FROM THE CITY off A LITTLE OFF CENTER here....  
purling hiss releases always come with the highest recommendation......


and watch PURLING HISS live in studio @WFMU 
(from the same session that yielded this new cassette release.......)

verma - exu

VERMA just released their full length debut lp, EXU, and for those of you who dig psych rock as much as i do, this is an absolutely MUST OWN album...... 

chicago might be better known for its dirty raw punk garage sounds these days (and the hozac/trouble in mind/tic tac totally trio of noisy rock n roll labels) but there's quite a psych/space rock/krautrock impulse bubbling up through the art spaces and rock venues around town......perhaps lead by the motorik psych vibe of CAVE, the psychedelic set around town also includes such awesome bands as PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE SOUND, MOONRISES, DISAPPEARS, BITCHIN BAJAS, E+, DARK FOG and VERMA, who are sure to have many new fans when people get around to hearing EXU ......

after two excellent tape releases (on PLUS TAPES and PRIORITY MALE), VERMA has taken it up a notch with their self released debut...... atmospheric krautrock influenced psych rock doesn't get much better than this......there's plenty of the usual influences in EXU, like CAN, HAWKWIND and SPACEMEN 3, but you can also hear their love for the way out psych sounds of japan (from FLOWER TRAVELLIN BAND to ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE) as well as some love for chicago's post rock epic crescendo in EXU (think a bit of TORTOISE and SLINT, but way more lysergic and raw).....

EXU is an eerie reverbed psychedelic trip to the center of your soul.....  and one you'll wanna take more than once.....

super recommended for fans of WOODEN SHJIPS, ONEIDA, CATACOMBZ, CAMERA, CARLTON MELTON and KINSKI..... pscyh / space rock fans take note.....VERMA is a band to keep an eye on......

listen to all of EXU below...... 

and watch the video for FROM THUNDER off EXU below....

VERMA - FROM THUNDER from TJ Tambellini on Vimeo.

hawkwind - do not panic

HAWKWIND is one of the most influential and creative bands from the 70s...... their blend of psych , proto metal, space rock and noisy prog was like nothing anyone had ever heard back then, and it still is some of the most astounding and unique rock n roll you can throw on your turntable today.......  quite a few of the bands reviewed here on TINY GROOVES would not exist if not for the ground HAWKWIND broke with their genre defying lps in the 70s........ and if you don't know anything about HAWKWIND, that needs to change right now......

watch the excellent BBC documentary DO NOT PANIC about HAWKWIND below.......  it's super HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.......!!!!!!  and after yer done watching, go buy yerself some HAWKWIND lps......

spacemen 3 - live in '89

the psychedelic noise fireworks of SPACEMEN 3 are legendary and mind blowing....... and their albums SOUND OF CONFUSION and PLAYING WITH FIRE are absolutely CLASSIC FUCKING LPS........ so if you're not HIP TO SPACEMEN 3, you definitely should be........

check out this live concert from 1989 right after the release of PLAYING WITH FIRE.....  just beware, this is some intense drugged out rock n roll..........!!!!!!!!!