This is the most civil post I've ever read anywhere.

"Hounds Of Love is beyond an album - it's an opera" —John Lydon

enough about hairy kate bush.


first QOTSA album: cool riffs and fun to play while having fun.

check out a QOTSA live version of Misfit Love:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjwFNdeFfqA

Okay, okay.



One last thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlyBpvTEF5E

Lydon and Bush both winning a Q Award in 2001. What's interesting is that Johnny has utter contempt for the whole thing (understandable) and has his obnoxious meter turned to 11. Yet he can't help but be sincere and reverent when addressing Kate.

A recent discovery:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wlYTSjjurnI

That was cool. The singer sort of reminded me of Kate Bush.

The Fall -Bend sinister. VERY underrated. One of my favs from their output actually

Either that, or the non plus ultra of passive aggression.
:D

Passive aggro isn't exactly my style, Minnesota notwithstanding.

I picked up a ton of new promos to review the other day. This time, my contact at the local record store really went above and beyond, providing me with free, complete copies of some of the most highly anticipated albums of the season, so I have been feeling extra-motivated to listen to them all, start to finish, as much as possible so that I can repay him by writing up some promo summaries to help him sell copies from the store's website, and giving him some very well thought-out personal recommendations on how to place his orders. He trusts my market instincts, so I want to be as objective as possible about which releases I think will be big sellers.

Check out a few of the notables below. I've been spinning them from front to back, over and over, giving each release plenty of attention, and taking a shit ton of comprehensive notes as I go. It's work, and I'm being paid for it, but I still feel lucky to be given sneak peaks of these titles.


Pharmakon - Bestial Burden (Sacred Bones, 2014)
Pharmakon's latest is a serious noise record that feels like it's from another time. I respect Sacred Bones for getting behind such a commercially leprous record. Not even the most ear-bleeding XM radio station would give this album play. We all know by now that Margaret Chardiet is fucking crazy, but somehow that does nothing to mitigate the shock of hearing this harsh, vitriolic, venemous record in all its skull pummeling glory; nor does it lessen the bruising impact of these songs.
Bestial Burden is really a specialty product... it's the kind of album that will bring joy to only a sliver of the record-buying, and that only the most warped and masochistic music fans will genuinely appreciate... Sonic Youth fans, particularly the older & more cynical ones (yo!) who while away their days listening to “Soul Discharge” and wishing the Internet hadn't killed punk, should find a LOT to like here.
But otherwise, this brilliant album, which brings Pharmakon into the ranks of today's most prolific noise artists like Fuck Buttons, Ben Frost and the like, will probably find critical favor with the P4K & Stereogum crowds, and a lot of people will probably buy it for street cred's sake, but that's OK because the money is just as real, even if the sentiments are fallacious. Anyway, you'll all love this album I'm sure.


Mono - The Last Dawn (Temporary Residence, 2014)
FUCKING INCREDIBLE. MONO IS MY NEW OBSESSION; can't wait to get my hands on the second half.


Foxygen - “... And Star Power” (Jagjaguwar, 2014)
WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT? Foxygen's last album was one of the catchiest throwback garae pop records in recent memory. Jonathan Rado has dropped some excellent psych pop on his own since then, and he's even handled production for my pick for Best New Band/#1 Band to Watch for 2014, DUB THOMPSON (who are twice the band Foxygen was at their best, and still can't generate hype to save their hides despite their explosive tape-hissing post-punk debut “9 Songs” (Dead Oceans), one of the year's TOP records.
I thought Foxygen were going places, but this -- I need to listen more, but it has to be heard to be believed. It's a drag of an album, taking ques from he worst of the early days of prog Rock. Gone are the Kinks-like melodies and eccentric lyrical twists... This is like hearing a completely different band try to re-write The Wall for their first official album. It's a giant WTF fest, and either I'm missing he brilliance, and need to spend more time with it, or it sucks in the most unforeseeable ways possible.


The Field Report - Marigolden (Partisan, 2014) Bon Iver's old band... (Not an album I'd listen to of part of that Midwest explosion of really mediocre bands that have decided to emulate Dire Dtraits & '80s Springsteen. Admittedly they are less guilty of this really tacky musical approach than, say, The War on Drugs. The sound is closer to that of Hiss Golden Messenger... it's tolerable countrified rock with some spacey atmospherics that add texture and color to a really fucking boring trend in indie rock that needs to be taken out back and shot. Kurt Vile is the only one who came out of that with anything approaching an interesting sound, so let's SCRAP the idea of re-working the riff from “Walk of Life” in an appropriately “aughties” way.

Anyway, Field Report have two things going for them: 1) They're down one Justin Vernon 2) They sound way less like Dire Straits than many of the terribly misguided bands that make up their "scene." At least the record doesn't put me to sleep like TWOD, or make Coldplay seem like a refreshing and invigorating listening experience like Bon Iver.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH
You've got the Mono!!!!!! Did you hear both albums or just one of them? Lucky bastard :)
I preordered it, it will likely arrive in two weeks. I think I'm going to cancel my holiday so that I can sleep under my mailbox all week long

that Pharmakon sleeve is hideous, even if I would like the music I still wouldn't buy it. What's the third and the fourth?

The third is the new Foxygen album. It's a fairly high-profile release, since their 2013 album really took off nationally. But while that record (titled “We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic,” and influenced heavily by “... Village Green..” era Kinks and early Stones) was extremely fun & catchy as hell with just enough originality to avoid sounding like Temples, or any of the '60s psych rock mimic acts whose existence is not musically justified by anything), this bloated new DOUBLE album finds them exploring the bloated, pockmarked '70s stadium rock sound. It kicks off with an overlong whimper and goes exactly nowhere from there.
But I've only heard it once from start to finish and I really should give it more time before cutting it to pieces.

The last album is by Field Report. It's titled “Marigolden,” and drops on TUES. It's definitely worth a listen.

This is just the tip of the iceberg too. I have the new IceAge, MF doom & Bishop Nehru's NehruvianDOOM, Ex-Hex, FlyLo and some more obscure releases... I'm going to be quite the busy little mothetfucker.

Don't write off Pharmakon. Yeah the art is awful, but few artists are making music like that anymore. Most of those that do receive much less fanfare than Pharmakon, so I kind of feel like the project has a serious future. I doubt your average Sacred Bones listener, hanging off The Men's collective cock, could make it through two tracks without throwing up on their penny loafers, but we're Sonic Youth fans. We can handle our noise rock. ;)

New Mono :D



I am listening to Savage Imagination by Dustin Wong and Takako Minekawa. I prefer when Dustin Wong isn't alone....thought his music isn't all bad...I just find some of it to be boring....but with Takako...his lighthearted songs get more of a childlike quality when Takako comes into play....I dig it. Dimension Dive pt 1 is prwtty killer. I diiiig.

i m all about little fluffy clouds again/

After 22 years, my cassette copy still sounds amazing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roGZ8-iCKDI
somehow didnt know about this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtFbjeWoQLc
Voces en la jungla - Monaguillosh

Both of them? I've still only heard The Last Dawn. But I wrote a rave review and convinced the record store to order several copies of both releases. I assured him the MONO fans would expect both to be in stock on day 1 of their release.

Hope I didn't end up wasting him money... But I will certainly be there to buy proper copies of both (promos don't do it, not for albums THAT good)

Thanks for helping me get into this band, evollove.