jeffrey novak - lemon kid

hot on the heels of his BARON IN THE TREES lp and CHEAP TIME'S killer third album WALLPAPER MUSIC (both on in the red records) comes the newest collection of killer jams from tennessee's hardest working garage rocker.  YES!!!!  TROUBLE IN MIND is proud to announce JEFFREY NOVAK's third (and best) solo lp LEMON KID !!!!!!!!!!  and it's out now !!!!!!!

if you know his previous solo albums or his stellar glam-meets-art-rock garage punk work in CHEAP TIME, you're gonna need to run out to yer local record shop and grab LEMON KID asap......  but for those who need an introduction, read on...........

JEFFREY NOVAK's work outside of CHEAP TIME runs through the more adventurous / weirdo twists and turns of glam, power pop and UK psych....flipping garage rock upside down and mutating punk into something strange and mind bending once again......(somebody had to, cuz there's way too many cookie cutter "garage punk" bands out there right now).....

on LEMON KID you hear what a lost jam session with KEVIN AYERS fronting the NEW YORK DOLLS would've sounded like or what it might've been if SYD BARRETT had joined T REX...... or would happen if all the garage punks stopped listening to the CRAMPS / RAMONES and put ENO's "Taking Tiger Mountain" or the KINKS "Arthur" on repeat....yes LEMON KID takes you somewhere else completely....a kaleidoscopic mix of psychedelic earworming art bent melodies that'll stick to you like nothing else you've heard all year long....!!!!!!!

certainly a unique spin that leaves you with something new every time, JEFFREY NOVAK has knocked it outta the park with LEMON KID.   so yeah this one's way recommended!

PREVIEW LEMON KID BELOW -
   and go buy one from TROUBLE IN MIND now !!!!!!!!!

cheap time - goodbye age 7in

CHEAP TIME returns with a brand new single on TOTAL PUNK!!!!!!!!   FUCK YES!!!!!!!!!!!

nobody plays glitter crusted power popped garage punk better than CHEAP TIME, so anytime there's a new release from this killer tennessee band, it's TIME TO LISTEN UP.......

their new 7 inch GOODBYE AGE finds CHEAP TIME dialed in, even more catchy and ready to take on yer band in a battle to the death!!!!!   last year's lp for IN THE RED "WALLPAPER MUSIC" was an insta-classic, and i might just say this TOTAL PUNK SINGLE IS TOO.......

this 7 inch rolls the best of JAY REATARD, THE SAINTS, THE NEW YORK DOLLS, RADIO BORDMAN, MODERN LOVERS and australia's X into one powder keg of a RnR single that'll for sure cause a FRENZY anytime it hits a turntable........

yes pretty much guaranteed to play GOODBYE AGE to death..........

so stop reading, and listen to the A-SIDE below -
    and grab yer copy from TOTAL PUNK now!!!!!!!!!!!!



watch an interview with CHEAP TIME below -

cheap time - other stories 7 inch

Another two songs from Cheap Time?  HELL YESSSSSS!!!!!   We can't get enough of these snotty glammed up garage punks around TINY GROOVES HQ.  Their excellent LP, Wallpaper Music, from earlier this year on In The Red is FOR SURE gonna make many year end best of lists (including the mine), and they recently blasted the Chicago with a TWO super huge doses of their New York Dolls meets Jay Reatard meets Stooges rock n roll mayhem and it was oh so good (you can't beat seeing them play two different hour long sets in a night).   Sweet Rot has always jumped at the chance to release anything by Jeffrey Novak and Co, so let's hear how excited they are about their newest single:

"Back in March 2007, Sweet Rot's second ever release was the debut 7" by Cheap Time. A couple of years later we released a single by front man Jeffrey Novak. Now Sweet Rot is pleased to continue the collaboration with a new two-song 7" which comes hot on the heels of the band's quite great "Wallpaper Music" LP on In the Red Records. These two new songs - "Other Stories" and "In This World" - are a prime example of what a 70s sounding glam punk single should be - short, well written and produced, and super catchy. We feel these songs perfectly complement each other and think fans of the band's previous work will too."

Even if you've never heard of Cheap Time before right now, you need to grab this new 7 inch.  It's a perfect introduction to their punk damaged scuzzed up garage jams, and we all need a little loud raw rock n roll in our lives.  Any band that gets a stamp of approval from both Sweet Rot and In the Red in the same year is a band that you NEED to check out.  And you can put Cheap Time in the same new classics category with the DIrtbombs and the Black Lips.   So it goes without saying, this single comes with the HIGHEST OF RECOMMENDATIONS!!!!!!!

LISTEN TO THE A SIDE OF THE SINGLE BELOW............ 

and watch them play PERMANENT RECORDS 
here in chicago below.....

cheap time - wallpaper music

CHEAP TIME is back with their third full length effort WALLPAPER MUSIC.....and it's out right now.....via IN THE RED records......

it's the most driving and concise lp from the band so far..... glam inspired garage punk fun...... plenty of fuzz, melody and psych burnt edges.......  i wasn't such a big fan of their last lp FANTASTIC EXPLANATIONS, but CHEAP TIME has alway been one of my favorite live bands....so i knew that WALLPAPER would be an album worth checking out....

and i certainly can't stop listening to it.... pop damaged glam sparkled psych bent songs that are layered with all sorts of analog goodness....  many a garage band these days just rushes through the recording process and gives us what sort of sounds like just a live take....but CHEAP TIME definitely spent some time crafting WALLPAPER MUSIC, it might just be the most epic garage rock album of the year......

and aside from just being catchy and fun, jeffrey novak of cheap time is probably one of the best garage rock songwriters out there.... in the ranks of jay reatard and john dwyer of the oh sees........

fans of DIRTBOMBS, OBLIVIANS, TY SEGALL, NOBUNNY and NATURAL CHILD need to go out and grab this new CHEAP TIME lp now..........as classic as the new york dolls and johnny thunders...... highly recommended!

Listen to the first track off the new lp, MORE CIGARETTES below.....  (and/or download the track)



and click here to download a second track off WALLPAPER MUSIC... ANOTHER TIME ....
and watch the video for the song below.......

scion a/v club GARAGE/PUNK SEVEN INCH SERIES

scion may or may not be encroaching on our beloved garage rock scene, but free music from our favorite bands is never a terrible thing.  


so i guess we owe a thanks to scion for this singles series.......

as far a i can tell this is every release 
in the scion a/v club garage/punk 7 inch collection......
              (they have also released a few other rock, metal and hiphop singles, but that's less interesting....)



so click here to grab the first ELEVEN singles in the series......
     (all grouped as one easy to download .zip file)


black lips / pierced arrows
cola freaks / digital leather

king tuff / hex dispensers

human eye / sex beet

jack oblivian / mannequin men

oblivians / andre ethier

reigning sound / last year's men

dirtbombs / davila 666

the strange boys / natural child

kid congo & the pink monkey birds / 
            hunx & his punx

nobunny / jacuzzi boys

and  here to grab THE SPITS two 7 inches

(grouped as another .zip
    so the spits fans can just grab these two releases.....)
      
the spits "haunted fang castle" ep 
(which is quite weird)  & the spits / dan melchior split

and   
click here to grab the 
CHEAP TIME / BAD SPORTS
7 INCH......

some of these singles are no longer available 
for download at scion....... 


      
so this might be the only place to grab these 7 inches.....

the SOLO side project series on TROUBLE IN MIND

so what if you wanna hear songs by yr favorite garage rock songwriter yet can't wait for that new lp to finally hit the stores?

TROUBLE IN MIND has the answer. they're set to release some awesome 4 song ep 7 inches by yr fav artists later this march, in what they call the SOLO SERIES.

the first two releases are from the frontman of cheap time and the hex dispensers. this is not yr sappy indie rock daytrotter session (though don't get me wrong, i like daytrotter). these singles will be some rockin new songs for you to chew on for the spring time. jeffrey novak of cheap time already has a seriously good solo lp, so his 7 inch will be a must have..... and alex cuervo of the hex dispensers has written some damn fine songs himself, so i can't wait to hear what his single sounds like......

go to a record store near you on march 22, or jump over here to the trouble in mind site to grab these new jams........

listen below to a single of jeffrey novak's lp "after the ball".......

cheap time this wednesday: yr mid week garage rock party

WED. 3/2/11 (9:30pm; $8) Cheap Time label: In The Red Zoobombs (Japan) RAMMA LAMMAS Coming from an inspired and fertile scene, CHEAP TIME’s self-titled debut effort stood out for their tumbling bass and power-trio tracks that made for weighty three-chord songs and hooks delivered with a mod sneer. Their sophomore LP, Fantastic Explanations (and Similar Situations) out via In the Red, sees the band exploring beyond the three-minutes, three-chords we’ve come to expect from the trio – in the words ofDusted, “this is a fun and fast record, showcasing a band with as many ideas as bratty rave-ups.” With a dozen releases under their belts, ZOOBOMBS have become infamous for their energetic, crazy live performances. Smashing Mag raved after a live show - "I heard old soul and blues influence, some funk bits…live it felt like some odd psych garage experiment. Call it whatever you want, they were sick.” Straight out of Milwaukee and bringing their version of glam rock with a DAVE CLARK 5 beat to our stage, RAMMA LAMMA return to open tonight. (write-up via empty bottle website)

jeffrey novak (of cheap time) - after the ball

Review of Jeffrey Novak's (from Cheap time) New LP
from the Agitreader.com

Jeffrey Novak is the rock underworld’s most adept chameleon. Take one look at the Memphis man’s band history and you’ll see a series of quick genre switches. There was the one-man garage band record under his given name back in 2005, the classic ’77 trash-punk of Rat Traps, and his current, most well-received project, the weirdo pop-punk power trio Cheap Time. And now, between touring and recording with that band, Novak has returned to the world of solo records, stroking all the remaining ’70s fantasies he’s yet to tackle in his oeuvre.

His After the Ball LP arrives with a bit of interesting baggage. Its distribution deal through Matador has made it difficult to track down, the vinyl’s limited pressing of 500 making matters worse. It will eventually be put onto a CD via Jay Reatard’s Shattered Records, but I don’t know if that really helps...(Another 7-inch has been released on Shattered as well--but the future of Shattered Records also seems uncertain.) The artwork is a less than subtle homage to The Slider and Radio City at once, allowing first-impressions to set in even before a listen. And the music is some of the most over-reaching, faux-British period pap I’ve heard in ages.

Somehow Jeff makes it all work. What I like about Novak is his fearlessness while attacking the ideas of his heroes. The guy is willing to lay it all out, straight-faced as far as I can tell, taking on the heavily drugged Syd Barrett drawl (“The Lost Parade”) or the dramatic melodic sequences of Sparks (“Hello, Hello”, “Take Your Friends”), the quaint whimsy of Ray Davies (“Pretty Please”) or the rootsy simplicity of Alex Chilton. Most of the record plays like a demo mix-tape from all of these artists, written and played on piano with sparse bass and drums to accompany some of the tunes. There’s a fine line between homage and imitation; Novak straddles it well, but most importantly doesn’t look back, and he writes in a quick enough manner to keep the naysayers eating dust.

The solo scruff on After the Ball is definitely not the one-man-band we’re accustomed to, but this ain’t “singer-songwriter” material either. On paper it is one of those failed piano-bar glam records you see in the dusty racks and always get burned on. In reality, there’s something memorable about every song, whether it is the bouncy bass lines of “No One Misses You” or the hammed-up guitar licks on “Goodbye for Now.” After the Ball has the look and sound of a lost private press record, and the inconsistencies too (and soon, the price tag). But considering all the things that should have gone wrong with this record, it all ends up so pleasantly right.

click here to snag the hard to find After the Ball lp.

(thanks agitreader. yr words are better than mine.)