Oh! Gunquit

Oh! Gunquit are a quartet from London who take a very refreshing look at a scene which has suffocated itself with shite bands wanting more reverb. Offset festival really did seperate the wheat from the chaf, and boy o boy Oh! Gunquit are definitely the wheat. Surf riffs the Trashmen would be proud of from a very talented guitarist, pounding garage drums not far from the Sonics and smooth sax are topped by energetic female vocals. They have a serious live presence too, the focal point of which is undoubtedly manchine's trilling, which is a rarity in a London "garage band" these days. Listen on the myspace and hopefully these guys and girls will be coming to a town near you soon. They have self released a four track demo but it's difficult to get your hands on, keep an eye out for a download link, or alternatively if you have it message me a link.

Myspace . LastFm

Jaill

Seriously long time since our last post, sorry. We've been busy finishing exams/sorting out university/ going to festivals/ dossing. Anyway, this isn't a shitty "today I brushed my teeth" blog. The most important news is that we will be distributing Burger Records releases in the very near future, keep an eye out for upcoming announcements!

So, along that theme, here's a band that have released on Burger previoulsy and have now moved on to Sub Pop, Jaill. Their new album "That's how we burn" is an absolute monster, packed full of catchy little riffs and produced perfectly. Soft warm guitar and smooth basslines coupled with distinctive Vincent Kircher vocals make this an album to listen to in any situation, driving around LA or sitting at a computer in Nottingham. Go and buy it!

Myspace . LastFm

Thee Oh Sees, Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 04.06.10

It’s about a million degrees, and following an uncomfortable two-and –a-half-hour coach ride we’re absolutely melting. The term ‘chronic sweatz’ is coined as my pants fuse into my legs. This heat is helped briefly by a torrential downpour as we’re about three streets away from the venue, but this soon evaporates as we make our way into the sweatbox that is the Brudenell games room.

We’re in Leeds to see Thee Oh Sees; umpteenth reincarnation of John Dwyer, restless spirit of american underground. He has spent the best part of the last decade joining and leaving bands like Pink & Brown, Landed, Yikes, Burmese, Sword, Coachwhips and The Hospitals, needless to say we’re excited! To say this was an ‘intimate venue’ is an understatement, the games room has no windows, no ventilation, and a bar that isn’t (beer is bought through from the main room) – two snooker tables to the right of the room, and a lady at the back with a dog.

Opening proceedings are local garage punks, Blood Crips. They sing about skateboarding the Yorkshire dales and pulling sickies. They consist of a well tuned rhythm section and pounding drums. Their songs are break neck and scruffy, but in a good way. Toes are tapping and heads nodding as the room gently fills and the air turns to steam. By this point we’re willing the last song on to go outside and waft our armpits.

We decide to give next band Cowtown a miss in favour of a few beers, but manage to catch the last few songs including Power Blingers which Dan unashamedly sings the chorus back word for word, before blushing ‘I gave the Cowtown lady a hug’. Fan boy.

More wafting of armpits ensues..

Finally Thee Oh Sees take to the stage.. when the band shout ‘ACID’ and John necks a Corona, head back, hands free – you kind of know you’re in business. Before then declaring ‘if you like it, come in closer!’ – we duely oblige, and shit goes off.

The band have no bassist, but a second guitarist tattoed from the neck down, drenched in reverb, thuds along like a demon. Female keyboardist haunts and echoes, and provides vocals laced through the set while an earnest drummer keeps it all together. John bemoans an amp he bought in France somewhere, but it sounded good to me.

Though I knew most songs, I can’t remember the setlist or track order – but tracks like Block of Ice and Enemy Destruct featured in amongst a set which played heavily on new LP Warm Slime. Of which opening track of the same name (a 14 minute or so behemoth) warps along taking us all with it. Highlight for me.

This was quite easily the moistest I’ve ever been at a gig, and was the most fun I’m ever likely to have. I love Thee Oh Sees. I love the sound they have arrived at and how every song is a frayed out, frazzled nugget of psych-garage brilliance. Easily my gig of 2010.

Still sweating. Gross and awesome.

//THEE OH SEES - WARM SLIME

Myspace . LastFM

No Monster Club

One Guy from belfast who plays similar stuff to Girls Names, perhaps a bit more poppy and a bit rougher around the edges. The song on LastFm is recorded more cleanly and sounds a lot better for it, go download! Cassette on Cass/Flick which I will be buying.

//Download Half of it Here

Download another song off the LastFM

Myspace . LastFM

Catholic Girls at Moot Gallery

On Friday 21st we played at Moot Gallery after the Please and Prize Pets show, it was AWESOME!

Here is a list of all the songs we played, although not in the right order, and below is a link to download them all!

Get Busy - Sean Paul
It Wasn't Me - Shaggy
Who's That Girl - Eve
The Message - Grandmaster Flash
Push It - Salt-N-Pepa
Baby Got Back - Sir Mix a Lot
Planet Rock - Afrika Bambaataa
B.O.B. - Outkast
Paid In Full - Erik B. & Rakim
It Takes Two - Rob Base & DJ E Z Rock
Me, Myself and I - De La Soul
My Philosophy - Boogie Down Productions
Intergalactic - Beastie Boys
Jump Around - House of Pain
Nasty Girl - The Notorious  B.I.G.
Nuthin' But a "G" Thang - Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg
Gravel Pit - Wu Tang Clan
Straight Outta Compton - N.W.A.
Gin and Juice - Snoop Dogg
Fight the Power - Public Enemy
Ride Wit Me - Nelly
Insane In the Brain - Cypress Hill
The Next Episode - Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg
Get Your Freak On - Missy Elliot
Bye Bye Bye - NSYNC
Everybody (Backstreets Back) - Backstreet Boys
All Rise - Blue
No Scrubs - TLC
Say My Name - Destiny's Child
Genie In a Bottle - Christina Aguilera
Better the Devil You Know - Kylie Minogue

//Catholic Girls - Live and Unplugged at Moot

EDIT: Download link will follow when mediafire stops being a hoe

Liars Club presents Times New Viking at the Social, Thurs 29th April

Here is the tracklisting of some of the songs we played at the social on the 29th complete with a download link. I guess you could almost call it a mixtape, except it's not a tape and we didn't think about it enough to justify calling it a mix, enjoy!

1. The Bluestars - Social End Product

2. Crystal Stilts - Shattered Shine

3. Kurt Vile - He's Alright

4. Cloud Nothings - Can't Stay Awake

5. The Intelligence - Witch In Outer Space

6. Captain Beefheart - Floppy Bootstomp

7. R Stevie Moore - Part of the Problem

8. Woods - Military Madness

9. Beat Happening - Polly Pereguinn

10. Smith Westerns - Be My Girl

11. Ariel Pink - Interesting Results

12. Estrogen Highs - Friends Family LSD

13. The Death Set - Negative Thinking

14. We Are Wolves - Magique

15. Foals - Total Life Forever

16. Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Wet Cement

17. White Hinterland - Icarus

18. Black Lips - O Katrina!

19. The Stooges - 1969

20. The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated

//DOWNLOAD-CATHOLIC GIRLS LIVE AND UNPLUGGED AT THE SOCIAL

The Cat and Bells Club

The Shadow Ring are one of my favorite bands so I was pretty excited to hear that some pre-Shadow Ring songs would be released a few months ago. The Cat and Bells Club (or C&B as they're known for short) were the Shadow Ring prior to changing their name (and adding a member), perhaps as you'd expect they sound like pre-Shadow Ring songs. Even lower sound quality, weaker song structures, more mumbling. The same kitchen percussion, detuned guitars and monotone vocals.

Buy the E.P here

and here's a Shadow Ring song:

The Uzi Rash Group

I couldn't really find out much about this band. I think they're from Brooklyn. They sold their LP with (legal) drugs in the sleeve. Shuffling, fucked-up, retardo pop™. Can't find any links for this one so if you want it: http://www.myspace.com/freedomschoolrecords.

On Safari by The Uzi Rash Group from Owen Cook on Vimeo.

great video too.

myspace

Post-Reatard Appreciation Post (PRAP)

I'm way too late on my PRAP (only 3 months out) but my favourite Reatard band was Angry Angles.



Less anger than his other bands, more weird. They cover Wire, Devo and the Urinals (what more need you know?), the latter sounding like their biggest reference point. They were only ever active for a year or so and released a few EPs and a single, all of which are available for download here.

myspace and last.fm

Girls Names

Girls Names are coming to UK from their native Belfast and are being joined by the awesome La La Vasquez, see the (great) poster above. I can hear a lot of Crystal Stilts, perhaps some Spectrals surf too, hipster band? Who knows, the riffs are super catchy either way, I will tell you on Friday after seeing them live at this super awesome neon glow stick rave. They've released two cassettes on Cass/Flick which I'm super bummed not to own, although they have another split planned with Heavy Hawaii (Wavves old band). They also have an EP out on Captured Tracks, busy times.

//GIRLS NAMES - GRAVEYARD (from Tough Love)

P.s Graveyard is more twiddly than their other stuff, give it all a listen.
Myspace . LastFM

Not Cool man, Not Cool

Not Cool are from London, they have released on Sleep All Day and more recently on a IBB/PVI 12" with loads of other cool bands, it slays to the maxxx. They sound a bit like Dinasaur Jr and might well have recorded their songs in an actual studio, compared to some of the London crop who record in toilets for it's kitsch factor. Upcoming 12"on Sleep All Day, watcha!

Myspace . LastFM

LAMPS

Lamps come in somewhere between Brainbombs uber lo-fi rantings and labelmates Black Lips less lo-fi pop melodies. They sound angry, they shout, they play a maximum of three riffs per song: excellent.

Seems like they they should be on Amphetamine Reptile but they've had two full length releases as well as a few singles on In The Red records, hopefully we'll see them in the UK sometime soon.

myspace and last.fm

On not being young anymore

Human Skab is (perpetually) a 10 year kid. He makes music that reminds me what it was like being a 10 year old kid. He can't really play guitar (he tries his best though, hey: I still can't play guitar). His key concerns are the extinction of the dinosaurs, smashing windows with rocks and wrestling; perhaps the way all 10 year old boys should probably be. Like the Happy Flowers, but real.

“I’m on a mission. I’ve a message for the world. It’s not just playing guitars and stuff good that is important. It’s all the things you do.”

Here's human skab in his adult form, playing a classic 10-year old human skab song.

Human Skab had two albums reissued last year, one of which is not sold out and is available through Family Vineyard on CD. He was even in the Independent this weekend.

Thunderhips and Saddle Bags

myspace and last.fm

Turning On to Cloud Nothings

So I posted about this kid before and since then I got his CD through the door, even though I ordered the last CASSETTE, more on that later. As far as the record goes, think warm fuzzy focals on a backdrop of catchy Lovvers/ Nodzzz riffs and you're pretty much there. Being 18 hasn't stopped this guy playing with some of the best new acts around (his first show was with Woods). So anyway here's the album, it's the first place that's it's been hosted. Nothing to do with Dylan, just that when I order a Cassette, pay for postage and then get a CD, it leaves me feeling empty and unloved. Im sure it'll get taken down so rehost and spread the word about this talented dude. Title track is a highlight for me;

//CLOUD NOTHINGS - TURNING ON CD

Myspace . LastFM

Everyone knows a Personal Pizza isn't big enough

Personal and the Pizzas from New Jersey play garage punk that Iggy would be proud of, and judging by the cover of their Cassette its safe to say that he's a big influence. Raw Pie is a supersweet homage to the Ramones with a warped sense of humour, order it!

//Personal & the Pizzas - Raw Pie

Myspace / Last.Fm