dreamsalon - thirteen nights

start the new year off with some new jams!!!!  and look new further than the killer debut lp from Seattle's DREAMSALON entitled THIRTEEN NIGHTS, out now on CAPTCHA RECORDS!!!!!!!!!

comprised of members formerly in such "go to" bands as INTELLIGENCE, A FRAMES, FACTUMS and EVENING MEETINGS (just to mention a few cuz DREAMSALON has a resume that'll for sure put most bands to shame...), THIRTEEN NIGHTS is a succinct, highly addicting platter of scuzzed out, psych soaked, art bent post punk that'll keep you returning for repeat spins......

DREAMSALON channels their previous DON'T GIVE A FUCK noisy projects as well as a hearty dose of FALL, PERE UBU, WIRE, 100 FLOWERS throw-out-the-rules post punk and a nice warm coating of hazy dark lysergic freakout psych vibes to finish off THIRTEEN DREAMS.........  and yes this is a band that can think outside the box of those little genre tags we throw around a lot, so that makes this album even more worth the spin......

um you might wanna call this lp "earworming" or perhaps "insidious" cuz it's dark angular songs are gonna stick with you..... and maybe give you nightmares.... FUCK YES!!!!!!

so come on now, get hip to the program and get ready to crank DREAMSALON all the way up!!!!!   this album should've made everyone's year end lists, MINE INCLUDED, but its late november release date made it a sleeper hit instead.........

so go ahead and listen to THIRTEEN NIGHTS now and snag a copy from CAPTCHA here - 

running - vaguely ethnic

chicago's misanthropic noise punks RUNNING are back with a brand new lp, VAGUELY ENTHIC, on CASTLE FACE RECORDS and it's one helluva loud, evil, feedbacking mess of corrosive psyched out/psycho rock n roll that you need to hear now!!!!!!!

on VAGUELY ETHNIC, RUNNING's terse  apoplectic, kraut bent art punk is reaching all new levels of sonic terrorism (much more dialed in and razor sharp than their previous lps on PERMANENT and CAPTCHA)....... all eight of these songs on the new lp simultaneously spit in yer face and stab you in the back....and even after the blood stains and hangovers are gone, you'll be back for more.......

RUNNING fucking smash hardcore, noise and post punk into one squalling wall of PSYCHEDELIC ENTRANCING FEEDBACK quite unlike anyone else.....think lighting bolt, clockcleaner, the fall, christian death, monoshock, coachwhips and unholy two all rolled into one furious malevolent firebomb of punk rock....but that still might be far from describing the screeching delinquency found on VAGUELY ETHIC....... just know, one listen and yer never gonna be able to live life the same.........

this one comes as highly recommended as they get!

SO LISTEN TO VAGUELY ETHNIC BELOW-
 and grab a copy from CASTLE FACE here !


experience the wall of sound that is RUNNING live below -

feeling of love - la peur est une illusion

france's FEELING OF LOVE are a difficult band to pin down.....calling it deconstructed garage punk might be the closest you'll get to a genre, seeing that the owe huge debts to the noisy antics of pussy galore, the swampy post blues of the chrome cranks and scientists and a huge love for the crypt / sympathy records back catalog....though all that being said, there's something uniquely art bent, glue wave and french going on with FEELING OF LOVE's post modern cave stomp...... you can imagine them huddled around a bottle of whiskey next to some broken synths with like minded cohorts CHEVEU, JC SATAN, THE ANALS, LE CHOMAGE, SONIC CHICKEN 4 and AH KRAKEN......(btw, all super riotous french bands you need to check out)......

....i'm not sure what's going on in the dive clubs across the sea, but fuck if these french kids aren't warping american garage / punk in the most interesting and subversive ways......

following superb lps on KILL SHAMAN and BORN BAD, as well as a split single with TY SEGALL on PERMANENT, FEELING OF LOVE is back with another full platter of blown out spastic garage burning punk jams, this time via CAPTCHA RECORDS......the new album entitled LE PEUR EST UNE ILLUSION is a collection of their early singles from 2006-2008, when the band was morphing from a one man bedroom pyrotechnics show into a full on hellbent punk riot......  though not a best of, LE PEUR EST UNE ILLUSION acts as a good starting point for those not initiated into the dark feedback obsessed world of FEELING OF LOVE........

and like most comps of this nature, it would be cost prohibitive and time consuming to track all these singles down, since their 7 inches on SWEET ROT, FLORIDA'S DYING, SQUOODGE, AVANT and others were super limited and long gone.......  and CAPTCHA lovingly added to the album are a few unreleased tracks as icing to the cake for those who might have a few of those 7 inches....

FEELING OF LOVE might be overlooked by many non-europeans since there's quite a garage explosion happening here, but hopefully with this new album CAPTCHA can change that.......

this is a repeat and mind bending listen......
very recommended.
grab your copy here......

and LISTEN TO LE PEUR EST ILLUSION below......



watch 'em live below......

running - asshole savant

you need to know about one of favorite bands..... RUNNING.....


think psych punk on speed.  or maybe art bent noise core.  RUNNING is an incendiary blast of rock n roll akin to smashing lou reed's "metal machine music" into the stooges and then smashing that combo into suicide.... they remind me of lightning bolt, clockcleaner, pink & brown, ex-models, the liars, and mi ami all rolled into one....but i can't describe RUNNING without doing them justice.  you just need to hear them now.....

RUNNING just get up on stage and blow yr fucking mind with a blown out mix of noise, punk, kraut and hardcore..... if yr face ISN'T melted after hearing RUNNING, you probably need to go buy a cd at walmart......

RUNNING started out a couple of years ago by releasing a few tapes, and then went on to unleash a s/t debut on PERMANENT records.  then they followed with a couple more tapes and a split 7 inch with LOOSE DUDES... and now via CAPTCHA records, we'll get their new lp, ASSHOLE SAVANT......  rumored to be one of the best releases this year.... i highly suggest you grab their new 12 inch when it comes out...... nobody plays noise punk like this.....fucking entrancing.........

ASSHOLE SAVANT is set to be released on RECORD STORE DAY 2012...... so make sure you grab a copy then...... very limited pressing is likely.......  i know permanent and reckless records will definitely have copies......

this is will be on my best of list for 2012 for sure.....
RUNNING is one of the best bands in the very much unheralded garage / punk / noise scene here in chicago......  

STREAM I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M ALIVE 

OFF THE UPCOMING LP, ASSHOLE SAVANT, BELOW......

THEN WATCH THEIR SET FROM "SAUSAGE FEST" @ THE EMPTY BOTTLE....

nothing people - smells like metal

NOTHING PEOPLE return with their 4th lp on CAPTCHA RECORDS...... another dark noisy psych/post punk/garage record.......much like their previous two lps, soft crash and late night.....

nothing people seem informed by the scientists, birthday party, suicide, thirteenth floor elevators and a whole lotta obscure late 70s prog and punk bands.....which makes for some of the most interesting music you might hear all year long.......

below is an interview with NOTHING PEOPLE conducted by tim scott of THE THOUSANDS, a weekly magazine out of Brisbane, Australia...(the nothing people were on tour there earlier in the year)....

With today’s expectation of instant access to music and information there’s something refreshing about Nothing People‘s mysterious anonymity. Google wise they are true nothing people – a search reveals little more than some reviews of their three brilliant punk albums. Before this interview the only press they’d done was for a a small bedroom zine. But holed up in their home studio in Orland, California – far from the hyped scenes of San Francisco or LA – the four piece produce music that draws upon elements of garage psych and heavy synth that captures just the right balance of ambience and power.Ironically, despite their relative online obscurity it was the internet that led them to their first shows outside the US after Adelaide’s Mondo Phase Band tracked them down and invited them to tour Australia.On the eve of their first international tour I catch up with √òD from the band to talk about their new album Smells Like Metal, The Scientists and dead celebrities.

Tim Scott: I just watched the YouTube clip of your new song ‘Cathode Ray Tube‘ five times in a row. The old school almost surreal/paranoid vibe of the Felix the Cat cartoon works well with the song’s fuzz.

√òD: Cool, some of those Felix cartoons are very odd and interesting to us and few felt that they would work well with what we do.

TS: You are from smallish city of Orland, CA, what’s it like playing in a smaller scene compared to LA or SF?

√òD: There is no scene in Orland! That’s why we live here. It’s all farmers and commuters to some of the bigger towns in the area. The kids in the area are into modern country or influenced by MTV or whatever is popular at the present time. It’s like we don’t exist here, which is just fine with us. “The strange folks that make the racket out by Brentwood Dairy.” SF and LA are completely different worlds, even compared to each other. The difference out here is we are on our own. When living in a place like LA or SF it’s easier to get a support group. Even if you are doing something a bit different from your peers, at least you have some like minded thinkers to relate to, and share with.

TS: You record your own records in your home studio. Have you recorded other bands?

√òD: No, but I always thought I could do a cool job with Las Llamerada. We have been asked about recording others but we never followed up. I don’t think it would have the same heart unless it was a project I was way into.

TS: How did you hook up with the Mondo Phase Band ? You are releasing a split tour seven with them?

√òD: They contacted us and asked if we would be interested in coming out to Australia to accompany them on a smallish tour which is huge for us. We were able to work it out. At the same time Nothing People were working with Chicago label CAPTCHA on new releases. Mondo Phase Band have a cool thing going so we offered up a split 7″ to CAPTCHA and they liked the idea.

TS: So this upcoming Australian tour is your first outside the US? Have you done much touring within the States?

√òD: Yes it’s our first time out of the US as a band. We have done a lot of shows on the west coast of the US. San Diego to Seattle, and a trip to SXSW in Texas a couple of years back. We have careers that keep us close to home. Long trips across the US would be hard for us, but we want to, and have been asked a bunch of times so I’m sure it will happen sooner than later. People have asked why we are touring overseas, but haven’t been to the east coast of the USA yet. The simple answer is, we were offered a chance of a lifetime trip and there was no way we could let it get past us.

TS: Compared to other bands there is very little online information on you. Have you deliberately kept this air of mystery about? I don’t even know your names!

√òD: We keep to ourselves unless we are releasing something or we have been asked to play somewhere. We have only agreed to one other interview before this one. It was for a small homespun mag. That’s the kind of thing that will encourage us. The guy in his bedroom who is writing about what he loves and not jumping on the latest hipster band that are passing through town and have been hyped by Vice. HA!

TS: Speaking of hype. Soft Crash made many critics ‘Best of the Year’ lists. Do you care if some blogger thinks you released a good record or are you hoping that your music has more legacy/relevance?

√òD: It’s strange reading press about the band. We really appreciate people liking what we do. It’s cool when they get the influences right – which is rare. The positive comments have been beneficial to the band I think. It’s great to be appreciated by people you appreciate.

TS: Comparisons have been made between you and Chrome, the legendary San Francisco band who were considered godfathers of industrial music. It the new album title Smell Like Metal in relation to this?

√òD: Ha, yeah that is brought up a lot. I even tried to contact Chrome to see if we could take advantage of that press and get a show with them. Smells Like Metal is actually a reference to nuclear fallout. The album is loosely based on the idea of a post apocalypse day-to-day life. Even though the life you new the day before is completely gone, you still have to take care of the day-to-day chores of living. A lot of it is written from what we were seeing going on in Japan after the earthquake.

TS: My favourite song from Soft Crash is ‘Marilyn’s Grave‘ It’s about Marilyn Monroe right?

√òD: Yes, a reference to Marilyn Monroe’s resting place and all of the cemeteries in Southern California that claim stars as their residents. I’m from Anaheim and there is a lot of myth and fantasy and tragedy in that area just because of the nature of Hollywood and the promise of stardom and fame. My friends and I used to explore places where those fantasies or tragedies occurred. But instead of looking for where Gone With The Wind was filmed or where Bob Hope lived we would check out where Robot Monster was filmed or where Ed Wood lived in downtown LA when he died. The song is a combination of these nights and the many dates that fell flat on their face by the end of them in my big black Oldsmobile.

TS: Soft Crash had a slight directional change from previous records. Is this also the case with your new record Smells Like Metal?

√òD: I always felt that Soft Crash was a perfect medium between our first and second albums but we’ve been told it had a different sound. It was recorded in the same studio with the same people. It might be a bit angrier but that’s just another personality to the band. We experiment with new equipment and ideas and never go back and listen to what we have done before.
The use of different equipment that is new to us will also contribute to the different feel of the record. The equipment we use is a huge part of our sound. We like how different effects color what we are used to hearing. We take advantage of that and write around what we discover. It is just a natural progression that can’t be avoided, unless you want to repeat yourself. Which can be very boring both to listen to and create. Smells Like Metal has a bit of all three albums. I hope it is different.

TS: Most of your music sounds like it was influenced by the raw sounds of the ’60s and ’70s early punk and new wave, especially Australian bands like the Scientists. How have they been an influence on you. Have you seen them play?

√òD: Yeah very much so. Raw, but controlled raw. The Scientists are really high in our idea of influences. Australian bands have been a definite influence on us and just by chance we have been able to play with a number of Aussie bands while on they have been on tour out here including Radio Birdman, feedtime and Beaches. We also pull from obscure American bands, and British punk bands, Motown, dirty blues and experimental synth. We have never seen the Scientists of course, but that would be a highlight in our lives if that was possible.

PREVIEW THE SMELLS LIKE METAL LP BELOW....
it's out on vinyl later this month......


Nothing People /// Commit /// Smells Like Metal from Benjamin Funke on Vimeo.


ØØØØ /// SMELLS LIKE METAL /// NOTHING PEOPLE from Benjamin Funke on Vimeo.