joel rl phelps and the downer trio - gala

former SILKWORM guitarist/vocalist JOEL RL PHELPS isn't exactly a household name, even for those music junkies amongst us, but after leaving his more famous band, he's released a handful of albums under his own name to relative obscurity (all of which you should track down)....and now after a nine year haitus he's back with a new lp on 12XU with his DOWNER TRIO entitled GALA.....

these eleven tracks that compose GALA are a morose, stripped down journey through the darker corners of yer mind, at times loud and distorted like the best of the 90s underground rock scene and at others an enlightening yet twisting and turning trip through a nightmarish post grunge world of disappointment and adulthood none of us wanted....  an album that sounds timeless and yet recalls a time when we all thought SUB POP, DRAG CITY and MATADOR were finally gonna make a dent in the bad music coming out of our radios.......(well at least those of us over thirty...)

of course there's plenty of bands trying to relive the past these days, but JOEL RL PHELPS AND THE DOWNER TRIO have a depth of songwriting and musicianship (and to say the least experience) that so many rockers trying to mine the brash indie guitar rock of years past just plain don't have......

GALA is definitely for those of us that grew up on SLINT, PAVEMENT, SEBADOH, ARCHERS OF LOAF, SUPERCHUNK and of course SILKWORM lps during our teen years (just to name a few)........but GALA's appeal ought to extend way beyond that.... sucking in all sorts of new fans who weren't there when indie rock meant loud guitars, heartfelt lyrics and artful DIY approach to genre bending post punk in all new ways......

JOEL RL PHELPS AND THE DOWNER TRIO's new album is FOR SURE unlike anything else yer gonna throw on yer turntable this year and because of it's fucking unrelenting passion and concise musicianship, YOU NEED TO HEAR GALA NOW.......   listen to an album that's outside the box for those hype machine blogs for once and you'll be happy you did.........

stream a few tracks off the new lp GALA here -
  and grab a copy from 12XU here !!!!!




and watch JOEL RL PHELPS AND THE DOWNER TRIO live below -

atlantic thrills - s/t lp

ALMOST READY RECORDS HAS RELEASED ONE HELLUVA RIOTOUS WHISKEY SOAKED S/T DEBUT ALBUM FROM ATLANTIC THRILLS and if you need a shot of high energy rock n roll, you ought to be running out the door to yer local record shop now.......

mining the depths of the garage psych greats and warping their flower punk sound with plenty of earworming analog melody, anthemic party inducing lyrics and blown out jangly energy, ATLANTIC THRILLS have concocted a CATCHY AS FUCK ALBUM FULL OF SONGS READY TO BLAST OUTTA YER CAR WINDOWS ALL SUMMER LONG.....  if the beach boys, the seeds and cramps all sat down to write a smash hit about getting wasted, it would sound like this!!!!    so yeah, this record's gonna get the grooves worn out of it!   

ATLANTIC THRILLS are one of the most promising and addicting new bands i've come across this year yet.....  and fans of BLACK LIPS, REIGNING SOUND, KING KHAN & BBQ, DEAD MOON, CHEAP TIME and THE YOLKS definitely need to introduce themselves to their new GO TO BAND!!!!!!!

so snap outta yer haze and get ready for the all night bender ahead by listening to two songs off their s/t debut below,
  then grab the lp from ALMOST READY here !!!!!




and watch ATLANTIC THRILLS live here -

terrible twos - horror vacui

detroit's TERRIBLE TWOS have emerged from hiding after five years and released another heavy hittin platter of destructo synth punk entitled HORROR VACUI via URINAL CAKE RECORDS!!!!!!!

rapid fire, messy, loud and raw as fuck, TERRIBLE TWOS rip through thirteen songs of synth bent punk rawk menace sure to make JAY REATARD and THE SCREAMERS proud.........

there's plenty of that gnarly garage punk i've missed since LOST SOUNDS broke up, and YES, there's some of that same addicting post-apocalyptic, art-damaged sound that fellow motor city cohorts HUMAN EYE and TIMMY'S ORGANISM wallow in......  and i'd say if yer a fan of anything rowdy, blown out and punk, you need to check out HORROR VACUI now........  especially if yer hip to that special breed of dystopic post industrial collapse michigan RnR, like TYVEK, PROTOMARTYR and SROS LORDS........ and that means you TERMBO junkies......

half a decade was worth the wait, since HORROR VACUI is gonna blow up yer turntable, kill some brain cells and leave a smile on yer face..........    recommended!!!!!!!!!!!!!

listen to A WORD AND A WORLD off the new lp below....
....click here to stream the whole album via URINAL CAKE !!!!!



and yeah witness the TERRIBLE TWOS live below -

the yolks - two dollars out the door 7in

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   chicago RnR rabblerousers, THE YOLKS ARE BACK WITH A VENGEANCE..... AND A BRAND NEW GARAGE ROCKIN' DOUBLE SHOT ON RANDY RECORDS ENTITLED TWO DOLLARS OUT THE DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE YOLKS have been gettin' the kids all worked up and sweaty in dive bars and at basement shows in chicago for years now, but they haven't released any new material since their self titled debut back in '09.....(though they did sneak out a killer set of cover tunes on tape last year).........and man oh man did i miss these guys!!!  NOBODY FUCKING TAKES LO-FI GARAGE ROCK BACK TO ITS RAW BLUESY CORE LIKE THE YOLKS DO.....   at least not anyone since since THE OBLIVIANS, THE MUMMIES, MAKERS AND THE SEXAREENOS made GARAGE ROCK HAPPENIN' AGAIN.....

THE A SIDE TWO DOLLARS OUT THE DOOR EXPLODES WITH A INFECTIOUS ENERGY AND JANGLE MOST BANDS KICKING AROUND THESE DAYS OUGHT TO BE JEALOUS OF.....and the B SIDE is a warped retake on BO DIDDLEY'S SEMINAL HIT PRETTY THING....and if you can take a song like that to a new level, yer band will always be alright be me.......

so stop settling with bands that just pretend to play garage rock and can't even cover the classics well, AND PICK UP THIS NEW YOLKS SINGLE NOW......  

listen to the A SIDE of new 7 inch below,
  and yeah hit up RANDY himself here!!!!



and watch THE YOLKS live at the empty bottle below -

spray paint - rodeo songs

holy hell nobody can stop the art damaged warpath of austin's SPRAY PAINT!!!!!!  who after releasing one the best albums of 2013 and one of the most killer debut lps i've come across in recent memory, RELEASED A SECOND FUCKING FACE MELTING LP IN THE SAME YEAR.....what?  could we be that lucky?  FUCK YES........  out on SS RECORDS and titled RODEO SONGS, you need to get yer next fix of SPRAY PAINT NOW!!!!!!!!!

so yeah, i didn't have enough time to digest RODEO SONGS at the end of 2013 for it to make my year end list (and two of their lps on my list might've been a bit much anyway), but maybe i'll just throw it on 2014's best of!!!!!!   CUZ IT'S ANOTHER BRUTAL, RAZOR SHARP, ANGULAR NO WAVE BENT SERVING OF RnR ANGST THAT YOU'LL INSTANTLY GET HOOKED ON.....  this is PUNK ROCK STRIPPED TO ITS CORE, DETUNED, PROPULSIVE, INCISIVE AND SURE TO CAUSE A FRENZY EVERY TIME IT HITS YER TURNTABLE.......

like i said of SPRAY PAINT before, and it still rings true, too many bands are trying to "garage" or "psych" and/or "punker" than you, but few bands are mining the creative warped excess of the early 80s when art damaged punk rockers, smacked out no wavers and RnR low lifes were all turning music inside out........   RODEO SONGS name checks some great albums in spirit, but is quite unlike any other album that came out in 2013!!!!  (other than their s/t lp....of course)

THIS IS SOME TOP SHELF ROCK N ROLL CHAOS FOR YOU EAR-DAMAGED MUSIC OBSESSIVES LIKE ME.........so get with it, and add RODEO SONGS TO YER COLLECTION NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

preview to a few tracks of RODEO SONGS below,
   and get hooked up via SS RECORDS here !!!!!

sex tide - flash fuck

watch out cuz columbus, ohio is not done destroying rock n roll yet, and the newest addition to the great warped lineage of blown out rust belt garage punk is none other than SEX TIDE and their recently released FLASH FUCK album on A WICKED COMPANY.....

setting up their primal cavestomp scree with nothing but two guitars and a minimal drum kit, SEX TIDE are taking their cues from THE GORIES and THE CHEATER SLICKS....but aren't satisified to stop there....you can see their nefarious plan is to lay waste to the unsuspecting eardrums across the nation that've just barely healed since PUSSY GALORE, FIREWORKS and THE HONEYMOON KILLERS called it quits......

their debut platter is chock full of scuzzed out mutant guitars strangling each other, blown out riffs exploding over the trashy menacing rhythms, all of it teetering on the edge of completely falling apart into a wall of feedback and madness.....just like all those long forgotten heros of the underbelly of rock...  so exactly the kinda noisy, garage punk that will always find a home on my turntable, even when most think it just belongs in the gutter.....

fans of deliquent noisy RnR from OBNOX, UNHOLY TWO, COUNTER INTUITS, PAMPERS, GINO & THE GOONS, TRUE SONS OF THUNDER and other like minded bands, NEED TO CHECK OUT SEX TIDE NOW......

so listen to FLASH FUCK below -
  and grab a copy from A WICKED COMPANY here !!!!!
thank god someone's keeping it ugly and real!!!!



and watch the video for LAUDANUM below -


Sex Tide "Laudanum" from Straight to Video on Vimeo.

PS LOOK FOR A NEW 7 INCH BY SEX TIDE ON COLUMBUS DISCOUNT SOON!!!!!!