Sirs is a four-piece punk band from upstate New York. Formed in 2009 after meeting at school, original members consisted of Justin Jurgens, Dave Benton, Kyle Seely and Hart Seely. Their fantastic self-titled LP dropped this month via Topshelf Records. Grab it!
After a slight delay, the CLEAR – DEMO 7″ is available for pre-order from Triple B Records. Six songs of Minor Threat-influenced hardcore. Features members of lots of cool bands. There are 2 colors available for purchase, and you can listen to the entire record now at www.bbbrecords.bandcamp.com.
Like Nomads‘ We Miss Us is now available from Going Records. 180gram, 45rpm, and limited to 100 copies. We Miss Us goes through two lengthy tracks that shows the true colors of how an energetic band can roll around a world of tech and noise and twinkle, while drilling every riff into the ground with raw emotion. If you like anything in the world of tech, shred, “math rock”, heavy, twinkle daddies, prog, emo, or grind, check this record out.
David Lynch’ Eraserhead rests firmly at the top of that canon of American underground culture for which there is no genre. A staple of the dark underbelly of popular cinema that was originally only viewable at arthouse screenings or on the Midnight Movie circuit, Eraserhead is a truly unadulterated offering; and much of its sensation lies beyond the purely visual realm. The stark, dusty black and white images put forth are caked with and submerged in a dense jungle of industrial hums, buzzes, screeches and screams. Eraserhead is a narrative made up of two intertwined veins: one of bleak and beautiful pictures elegantly painted in gray and black; and one of blankets of sublime, enveloping noise and static, the tinkering of Fats Waller organ rolls echoing in the background.
Thanks to Sacred Bones Records, the Eraserhead original soundtrack will receive the vinyl treatment on August 7. Pre-order it now!
Update: Gotta Groove Records only manufactured the first pressing of this release. The subsequent re-pressing was handled by a different pressing plant.
Kishi Bashi’s debut full-length is a bright and soaring avant-pop record written primarily on violin – Kishi Bashi’s main instrument which has brought him to record and tour with the likes of Regina Spector, Sondre Lerche, Alexi Murdoch, of Montreal and more. The record is available now from Joyful Noise Recordings.
Kishi Bashi collaborated with of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes on that band’s new album, Paralytic Stalks. This last endeavor he credits with some of his most recent musical growth, acknowledging that Barnes pushed him to new heights of creativity, forcing him to explore a broader use of his primary instrument: the violin. This experimentation affected his loop-based live show and led to him write more of the new record with violin rather than piano or guitar, loosening him from the grip of habit and expanding his palette. Kishi Bashi uses Japanese singing as another of many layers, doing so without any trace of gimmickry, and achieving what, to Western ears, must sound like an expression of the ineffable.
After lead track “Intro/Pathos, Pathos,” a soaring yet concise amalgam of all that is to come, the record unfolds with a gentle, and somehow grander revisiting of two songs from Room for Dream, reigniting their purpose with subtle variations that serve the larger arc of this new LP. From the deconstructed doo-wop of “Wonder Woman, Wonder Me,” a 21st century transmission of Smile-era Brian Wilson to the menacing marriage of Eastern hues and Western operatics in “Beat the Bright out of Me,” this album is a mediation between opposing drives, offering possible reconciliation but never promising it. Kishi Bashi played and produced 151a entirely himself.
Bitter Clarity, Uncommon Grace is Verse‘s first album in four years and their most ambitious and focused collection of songs yet. A hardcore album at heart but with character-driven storytelling, dynamic twists and turns and more progressive musical risks than the band have ever taken. Pre-order it now!
Son Of Man NYC is proud to announce the upcoming release of Shiner’s The Egg for the first time ever on vinyl!
Originally released in 2001 via DeSoto Records, The Egg features expert production from the accomplished J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines) with Jason Livermore manning the boards. The album was the last full-length release for the quartet, as they decided to disband in 2003.
To celebrate the rebirth of The Egg, Allen Epley (vocals, guitar), Paul Malinowski (bass), Josh Newton (guitar), and Jason Gerken (drums) are playing four shows this coming August. In addition, fans that purchase Shiner tickets from the various venues receive the option of a VIP package, which includes a copy of this new vinyl release.
The Egg on vinyl will only be available either at the shows, or as a pre-order w/ ticket bundle. Links are available below to tickets and vinyl/ticket bundles:
Shiner Live:
Sat August 11th @ Irving Plaza NYC link
Sat August 18th @ Echoplex LA link
Sat August 24th @ Granada Lawrence, KS link
Sat Aug 25th @ Bottom Lounge Chicago link
On a recent summer evening in downtown Raleigh, NC, Chatham County Line set up shop at a stately theater filled with hundreds of their most devoted fans and captured for the ages what they do best: gathering around a single microphone to play and sing their own songs.
The result, the two LP audio and video collection Sight & Sound, is an essential document of one of the finest acoustic ensembles North Carolina has ever produced. In a state rich with bluegrass, folk and country legends, this quartet stands out for its left-of-center approach, bringing a rock ‘n’ roll sensibility to roots forms in a manner that appeals to traditional and contemporary camps alike.
Sight & Sound includes 20 tracks drawing from all five albums of the band’s decade-long career. Nine songs appear on both the audio CD and the DVD; four are exclusive to the DVD, while the CD expands the collection with seven more tracks (including two taken from a Christmas-tour show in Atlanta).
Cadence Weapon continues to firmly establish his legacy as a sonic pioneer while constantly pushing the rap and electronic music envelope. Following his critically-acclaimed, Polaris Music Prize-nominated albums Breaking Kayfabe and Afterparty Babies and a two year term as Edmonton’s Poet Laureate, he returns with his new album – Hope In Dirt City. A clearly defined and emotionally mature statement of intent, Hope In Dirt City represents the culmination of his experiences. Composed of a unique hybrid of psychedelic soul, old school rap, and mutant disco, Hope In Dirt City is a groundbreaking achievement in hip-hop.
Thanks to Cadence Weapon for dropping by GGR on Friday before his show at the Grog Shop! Be sure to catch him on tour this summer!
On June 19 the lush pop sounds first popularized by hitmakers like the Zombies and the The Left Banke came careening back into the spotlight of today’s “all scuzz, all the time” music scene with the release of the debut LP by The Marble Vanity via Chicago’s Slow Fizz Records. Comprised of members of Cococoma, The Hipshakes (UK) and Hollows, this self-titled 12-inch 33⅓ RPM microgroove platter is acid-soaked pop perfection. Influences found here tend to be more along the lines of late ’60s/early ’70s pop wunderkinds like (the first) Nirvana and Sagitarius with their dense, layered mindbending compositions rather than just another stripped-down Back From the Grave rip-off.
The Marble Vanity’s S/T debut is available in the finest independent record stores across the nation, as well as through the usual online music emporiums.