My first impression of Pangea’s dirty, infectious Southern California album was a rough cut Andrew brought down on his visit to Phoenix in April 2011. I was pretty stoked to hear what he had since this would be the first full LP he recorded and mixed. We jumped in the Corolla, threw in that Sharpie-labeled CD and drove off to have tacos and beers. Most of that day was a blur (sorry mom) but I do remember really liking what he had so far.

Several months passed and I get an email from Andrew about the LP going on sale. 200 limited copies will be be going on sale in yellow and I had to have it in yellow. Once I got the word I relayed the message to all my friends and co-workers who would be interested. By the end of the day we all were playing along with their catchy song “Summertime” on guitar. Not only is that a fun song to listen to but it’s a blast to play.

The album starts off strong and fast with “No Feelin” and doesn’t stop there. The album rolls out with William Keegan and Danny Bengston harmonizing, series of guitar solos and incredibly catchy lyrics. Seriously, I find myself singing along like I was front and center at The Smell. There’s a bit of fury in William’s voice when he screams. It screeches and distorts giving it this raw punk rock sound. I haven’t had the opportunity to hear them live but I hear their show is the only thing more fun then Living Dummy. So go do yourself a favor and surf on over to Burger Records and pick up Living Dummy and support a hard working Southern California punk band.

William Keegan – vox, guitar
Danny Bengston – vox, bass
Erik Jimenez – drums
Tomas Verdugo – guitar

When Swedish free-jazz trio The Thing formed in 2000 they were concentrating mostly on Don Cherry covers. They even named themselves after one of the famed trumpeters songs off his 1996 Blue Note album Where Is Brooklyn?. Bag It! is the groups 12th album at the time of it’s release in 2009 according to Allmusic.com, and I can’t honestly say that I can confirm the accuracy of that, as the group does so many collaborations. It does however, seem close enough to accurate.

The first 53 seconds of the record is a pummeling by saxophonist Mats Gustafsson. All you hear is his ferocious playing and laboured breathing as he plays the melodic and heavy solo intro to the Hungarian folk song. The sound of the room Mats is playing in is such a huge part of the gigantic sound that is conveyed that it makes his playing larger than life. It is for these 53 seconds alone that Bag It is my favorite record by The Thing.

After those first 53 seconds, Ingebrigt Håken Flaten‘s bass builds up the distorted feedback and locks into a heavy groove as Mats cuts out. It’s just Flaten for about 30 seconds, this is acoustic bass played through a variety of pedals and electronics and it sounds absolutely nothing like a stand-up bass does, it’s sludgy and doomy. Once Paal Nilssen-Love jumps in with his kit the song is a free for all, anarchy, chaos, everyone seeming to go careening off in their own direction, only to rein it all in to the groove at the very end. It’s one of the most powerful performances I’ve ever heard on vinyl.

For Bag It!, the group recorded with Steve Albini at his famed Electrical Audio in Chicago and I would say it’s a perfect fit. The group sounds huge, and they sound powerful, how I would imagine them in a live setting, but without all the attention that an audience brings. It’s just three guys playing their hearts out, incorporating all the elements of music they love from free-jazz and improvisation to motorik and heavy psychedelic rock’n'roll to punk rock. Other than some Brötzmann recordings, this is the first punk rock jazz record I ever heard.

The sheer range of the material included is breathtaking, opener “Hidegen Fujnak A Szelek” is a traditional Hungarian folk song. The group bases their performance off Dutch punks The Ex‘s version. As well as original material, they cover a song by Japanese all-girl rock group 54 Nude Honeys, two separate takes on saxophonist Albert Ayler’s “Angels” as well as a Steve Lacy cover. Mats recorded an entire album of Steve Lacy songs for the Drag City Records offshoot, Blue Chopsticks, in July of 2000: Windows. The album is a history lesson on world music and free music types. There’s enough melody and groove and punk and distortion and quiet moments and breathing room that it’s impossible to take in all in one sitting.

The stark black and white cover photos show a band in motion as they perform an incendiary set at their favorite eatery, Ruby’s BBQ in Austin, TX. They even composed a song in tribute, a 30 minute CD-only track called “Beef Brisket (For Ruby’s)”. Bag It! over any of the previous albums by The Thing, shows a band at it’s prime, muscling the material into new shapes. It sounds as if all the sessions for previous albums and numerous collaborations of the previous 9 years have culminated and become greater than anything I could have dreamed.

The Thing Bag It! Smalltown Superjazz Records STSJ155LP, 2009
Double black vinyl LP with exclusive tracks.
Mats Gustafsson: alto, baritone and slide saxes, live electronics (R Channel)
Ingerbrigt Håker Flaten: bass, live electronics (L Channel)
Paal Nilssen-Love: drums
Engineered by Steve Albini
Recorded Jan 17-18th, 2008 at Electrical Audio Studios, Chicago
Mixed Jan 19-20th, 2008 at Electrical Audio Studios, Chicago
Mastered April 3rd, 2008 by Bob Weston and IHF at Chicago Mastering Service, Chicago
Produced by The Thing
Executive Producer Joakim Haugland
Photos by Roberto (Bear) Guerra. Design by Rune Mortensen.
Tracklist:
1. Hidegen Fujnak A Szelek (The Ex)
2. Drop The Gun (Nude Honeys)
3. Metal Burger (The Thing)
4. Snusvisan (Ake Hodell)
5. Bag It! (Mats Gustafsson)
6. Angels Take 1 (Albert Ayler)
7. Retreat (Steve Lacy)
8. Hot Doug (The Thing)
9. Mystery Song (Duke Ellington) Vinyl Only Song
10. Angels Take 2 (Albert Ayler) Vinyl Only Song

I, Andrew, started my own record label. That’s right! I figured I should put my passion for records and engineering/mixing to use and start the process of losing money on putting out records that I believed deserve to be made. Well, hopefully not losing money, but definitely putting some good records/cds/tapes out there.

The label is called Ghostbot Records and our first release is out now on limited white vinyl 7″ and not as limited black vinyl 7″. It’s a 4-song EP by CA garage/punk/awesome band Pangea and it’s titled Killer Dreams. It can be found here! Pangea is a great band that I’ve been recording for the past 3 years and I’m very proud with this release in particular as it shows growth in their songwriting and also in my engineering skills. Maybe we will do a proper review of it one day. Or maybe Michael will do it as I am biased…hahahahaah. It’s received great reviews so far by American Pancake, Styrofoamdrone, Get Bent and many others. Check out one of the tracks below:

Our website is a work in progress, but the good news is that the designer behind this here site is redesigning the GBR site and should be up in all it’s glory soon. Our next release comes out later this month, the God Equals Genocide full length debut, Rattled Minds, on CD. We should have hopefully a half dozen releases by the end of the year.

I’m also at (hopefully) the final stages of buying my first home. My wife and I have been shopping for about 6 months and saving and looking for a few years. We finally found what we think will be the perfect spot for a huge record collection and a small home studio and some dogs and tortoises and plants and you know, life type stuff.

The above two reasons as well as my 70 hour a week job in the studio and trying to maintain freelance engineering relationships with bands and going to shows and spending time with friends and my wife….uh, you know, things have just been hectic!

Overall though, thanks for being patient with our lack of posting. I promise we will get back into the swing of things and have some great posts planned for this year. Thanks for tuning in and commenting on our posts last year, we had great response from everyone and hope to continue sharing our favorite records as well as maybe digging into our local scenes a bit more deeply and shedding some light on some up-and-comers that don’t have the benefit of larger music blogs behind them.

xoxAndrew

I’m a huge Aaron Cometbus fan, this will be the fourth time this year that I’ve posted something related to a project he’s been involved with. I admire that his politics are the perfect blend of personal and public, that he writes about what he knows, which is traveling and love and heartbreak and coffee and literature and punk rock and history. I love that he writes his drum beats by playing on his legs with his hands (Bill from Pinhead Gunpowder told me that in person! One of my happiest days at work.) When I listen to the music that Aaron is involved in I feel like anything is possible, and I feel the true sense of community that he preaches and takes part in. For him it’s not posturing, it’s a way of life. He chooses to live his life on the road and involve himself in lots of different groups and lots of different lives. This is all reflected in this package which features 8 of the many bands he’s been in.

This package, released by Florida’s No Idea Records in 1999, collects some rare tracks from a few of Cometbus’s more obscure projects (EFS, Mundt) and couples them with some of his more high-profile acts (Pinhead Gunpowder, CBDS). Each band gets a side to themselves, most bands doing 2 or 3 songs with the exception of EFS which has 6. There are no inserts for the records, so the outer sleeve of each side states the relevant information such as tracklist, band mates and recording credits etc.

The vinyl version is long out of print, but the CD version is still available with a different tracklist though. Omitting certain songs but adding a few other artists (The Blank Fight, Astrid Oto & Retard Beaters) and songs, it’s definitely worth the $7 you’ll pay!

The bands turn in about what you’d expect from a Cometbus collaboration, impassioned punk rock that is frisky and wild and loose as hell. It’s difficult enough to track down original versions of the demos presented here, and it’s a good cross-section of Aaron’s material from the late 80′s early 90′s.

Cometbus Down In Front: Outtakes & Unreleased No Idea Records NIR-081, 1999.
Record 1: Pinhead Gunpowder/Shotwell Coho
Side A: “Beastly Bit (Acoustic)”, “Reach For The Bottle”, “Swan Song”. Recorded 1992/97 Berkeley, CA and 8/96 Live on KALX Radio. Billie-guitar+vocals, Jason-guitar+vocals, Bill-bass+vocals, Mike-vocals on 1, Aaron-drums.
Side B: “Darts”, “Rats”. Recorded 1994 San Francisco, CA. Jimmy-guitar+vocals, Paul-bass+vocals, Aaron-drums.
Record 2: Sweet Baby/Redmond Shooting Stars
Side C: “Don’t Do That”, “Champagne From Her Shoe”. Recorded 1989 Berkeley, CA. Dallas-vocals, Matt-guitar+vocals, Ivy-bass, Aaron-drums.
Side D: “When I Was”, “Pretend”, “Temporary Insanity”. Recorded 1995 Eugene, OR. Nick-guitar+vocals, Sue-bass+vocals, Aaron-drums.
Record 3: Cosmetic Puffs/EFS
Side E: “All Frustrated”, “Modest Mouse Fans All Look The Same”, “Broke Up My Head Worse Than My Heart”. Recorded 1998 Eureka, CA. Chris-vocals, Ryan-guitar, Kevin-guitar, Nick-bass, Aaron-drums.
Side F: “DTRT”, “Patted On The Back”, “ATM”, “Out Of Their Element”, “All The G’s”, “$1.27 A Gallon”. Recorded 1995-97 Berkeley, CA and Seattle, WA. Abe-bass+vocals, Aaron-drums+vocals, Davey-guitar+vocals, Chris-guitar (R.I.P. 1976-96), Ewan-guitar+vocals, Tom-moved out.
Record 4: Cleveland Bound Death Sentence/Mundt
Side G: “Asheville”, “Minneapolis Public Transit Song #2″, “Jailbird Bars”. Recorded 1997-98 Minneapolis, MN. St. Patrick-bass+vocals, Emily-guitar+vocals, Spitball-guitar, Aaron-drums+vocals.
Side H: “Stab You In The Eye”, “Cuidado”. Recorded 1992 Olympia, WA. Quitty-guitar+bass+vocals, Aaron-drums+vocals.

Featured this Christmas morning is a white platter from San Francisco’s merry Shannon & the Clams. The Clams bring their trademark surfy, punky, distort-y sound to 4 Christmas favorites, without straying very far from the original arrangements of the songs. Kicking off side A is the Hawaiian themed “Mele Kalikimaka“, with Cody Blanchard leading off in a crooning style. Ok, all of these songs are crooners with the exception of closer “Fat Daddy” from A John Waters Christmas. “Fat Daddy” is a creepily joyous rocker, completely in the style of John Waters and his love of doo-wop and greasers.

The band does an especially loose version of Mariah Carey‘s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and in the process they completely remind me that I can actually like the song. I don’t have to think about all the trappings of commercial pop music and sheen and I can just immerse myself in the simple joys of a great song. Lastly the band ruins “Blue Christmas“, made famous of course by Elvis Presley. The group changes some words and sings completely un-Elvis like. The performance does not, however, take away from the charm of this little EP.

The candy cane themed picture sleeve for this release features the group dressed up in holiday reds and greens and looking very mopey. The back of the sleeve has a “Wishlist” which is really just the 4 song tracklist….and it also lists an additional 10 songs which aren’t actually on the release such as “Nickelodeon Gak” and “Toofbrush”. Pull out your favorite Holiday record today and treat your family to your holiday treasures.

Happy Holidays everyone and thanks for tuning in to a year’s worth of records from an actual record collection. Michael and I have truly enjoyed sharing our collections with you and look forward to bringing even more tunes to you next year. xxo

Shannon and the Clams …Ruin Christmas EP 1-2-3-4-GO! Records #45, 2010
Shannon Shaw: vocals, bass/Cody Blanchard: vocals, guitar/Ian Amberson: drums, vocals
Recorded at Cody’s House Dec. 2008 and Oct. 2010
Thanks to the people who wrote these songs, they rule.
Wishlist:
1. Mele Kalikimaka (by R. Alex Anderson)
2. All I Want For Christmas Is You (by M. Carey & W. Afanasieff)
3. Blue Christmas (by B. Hayes & J.W. Johnson)
4. Fat Daddy (by P. Johnson)
5. toupée
6. wigwam
7. guns
8. a mountain
9. nickelodeon gak
10. braces
11. puberty
12. wheels
13. spices
14. toofbrush

Comprised of three quarters of the band Rockpile: Nick Lowe, Billy Bremner & Terry Williams [The missing ingredient from Rockpile being Dave Edmunds, who was pursuing a solo career as well as producing other artists such at The Stray Cats], and containing no cover songs, the album sizzles from the first track, “Burning”. Kicking off with the great line “It was the sight of you in those 10 dollar shoes first made me jump for joy” and the killer snare roll and tom beat that drives this song. The pulsing rhythm and drive of the song conveys the burning desire of the song’s protaganist. The first 5 songs of this album is where it truly shines. The driving rockabilly of “Burning” fades to the dubby reggae of “Heart” right into the kicking, tongue in cheek swamp boogie “Stick it Where the Sun Don’t Shine” peaking in the fantastically low-key “Queen of Sheba” and winding down with “My Heart Hurts”. It’s a fantastic Side A, and even more impressive when considering that this is Nick’s 3 solo album, not counting all the Rockpile, Brinsley albums and various other productions.

For me, the great “Queen of Sheba” is what draws me to this record. One of his greatest compositions, you won’t find it on any of the compilations of his greatest work. You can’t download it on iTunes, you can’t buy this album on CD (unless you find an 80′s reissue CD for a ton of money on ebay). The restraint in the playing and vocal delivery, the romantic vibe of the song. “I place no one above ya, that’s what I wanna say to ya, what I mean is I love ya, that I wanna stay with ya”. His wit and everyman lyrical qualities really shine through on this song. It also features great Hammond work by the Attractions Steve Nieve!

Nick Lowe Nick The Knife Columbia Records FC37932, 1982
Produced, recorded & honed by Nick Lowe
Engineer: Aldo Bocca
Audio Grip: Neil King
Recorded: Eden Studios, Acton
Band: Nick Lowe-bass and singing and guitar
drums: Bobby Irwin, Terry Williams
guitars: Billy Bremner, Martin Belmont, Aldo Bocca
piano and Hammond: Neil King, Carlene Carter, Steve Nieve, Ben Barson, Paul Carrack
backing vocal: Nick Lowe, Bobby Irwin
more bass: James Eller
Tracklist:
1. Burning
2. Heart
3. Stick It Where The Sun Don’t Shine
4. Queen of Sheba
5. My Heart Hurts
6. Couldn’t Love You (Any More Than I Do)
7. Let Me Kiss Ya
8. Too Many Teardrops
9. Ba Doom
10. Raining
11. One’s Too Many (And A Hundred Ain’t Enough)
12. Zulu Kiss