Xray Eyeballs' First Album Out Today

• Xray Eyeballs - Not Nothing (Kanine) [Blogspot]



Not Nothing - Download here

• Fun, noisy, devil-may-care punk rock from this Brooklyn group. Their first full album.
• You can hear tracks 1 ("Crystal") and 3 ("Egyptian Magician") on their Blogspot or MySpace. 
• They have a few new non-album tracks up, too, including "Gotham Low Lifes", uploaded April 1st. There's also a track called "Scorpio" they uploaded to SoundCloud on Saturday, a Record Store Day exclusive!

Love this stuff. Instead of the album version, here's a live version of "Egyptian Magician" they uploaded last week. It was recorded "after too much whiskey and 4Loko", and it features members of Heavy Cream on backup vocals!

Xray Eyeballs - "Egyptian Magician (Let's All Get High)" (live "4 Loko" edition at Death By Audio; 4/2/2011)

8-Tracks Fierce: April 2011 Show

Here it is, the April broadcast. Some good stuff here. As always, the show will be available in the sidebar. You can download it using this link.

8-Tracks Fierce - April 2011 show




The playlist:


The Raveonettes - "Recharge and Revolt" (from their album Raven in the Grave, out 4/4 on Vice)

Deerhunter -
"Memory Boy" 7"

Family Portrait - "Other Side" (from their self-titled EP, out 4/5 on Underwater Peoples)


Cold Cave - "The Great Pan Is Dead" (from their album Cherish the Light Years, out 4/5 on Matador)

Crystal Stilts - "Half a Moon" (from their album In Love With Oblivion, out 4/12 on Slumberland)


Deerhunter - "Nosebleed" (from the "Memory Boy" 7" single, out 4/16 on 4AD)

Times New Viking -
Dancer Equired

Times New Viking - "Ways to Go" (from their album Dancer Equired, out 4/25 on Merge/Carpark)


Psychedelic Horseshit - "French Countryside" (from their album Laced, out 5/10 on Fat Cat)


The Fresh & Onlys - "Do You Believe in Destiny?" (from the Secret Walls EP, out 4/26 on Sacred Bones)

New Show on Monday

I haven't been able to post nearly as often this month due to a project at work that's taking all my time. But even though there's been a boatload of music hitting stores already this April, I haven't seen a lot to get excited about.

The Raveonettes

What little good noise there has been, however, you'll hear sampled right here on next Monday's 8-Tracks Fierce broadcast. We'll hear a track from The Raveonettes' new album and one from Crystal Stilts, too. Saturday is Record Store Day (*shrug*), and we'll hear a new track that stands above the crowd on that day. We'll also hear two bands from right here in Columbus that have a lot in common. Plus The Fresh & Onlys!


That's right here on 8-Tracks Fierce this coming Monday. Hope you can check it out.

Zodiacs is a Dream Project

Man, I've been crazy busy. Here's some nice new noise that came out this past week.

• Zodiacs - "Faraway Friend" 7" (Captured Tracks)



"Faraway Friend" 7" - Order here

• Not a real band per se, this is a studio project featuring friends of Captured Tracks. The track on this little piece of vinyl features Dee Dee of Dum Dum Girls on vocals, with members of Woods, Blank Dogs and Crystal Stilts backing her up! You don't see something like this too often.
• It's a very nice bit of sexy, lo-fi surf pop with back-up vocals that feel like a '50s beach horror flick.
• Can't tell if there are any other tracks on this disc.
• They're only making a thousand of these, and you have to buy $10 of stuff from Captured Tracks to get one. It's part of their 100th release celebration. This release is, in fact, CT-100.
• I'm four days late on this already, so they may all be gone by now. Sorry.

The incomparable Dee Dee

But, of course, you can hear it here. Ah, the internet...

Zodiacs - "Faraway Friend" (7"; 3/29/2011)

The Speculators are Busy Boys

D/Wolves have a lot of friends in San Diego. I've gotten a few e-mails this week from bands that they know. Here's a new single that I just have to mention.

• The Speculators - "Covvvves" single (self-released) [Bandcamp]



"Covvvves" - Stream it here

• Fun, energetic, angular, noisy art punk by a quartet from San Diego and Portland.
• Sounds like it was recorded at home—extremely well.
• Very creative, a breath of fresh air. And I'm not just saying that because I know they'll see this post.
• Seems to be a digital-only release with just one track. I'm not sure if it's available for purchase or download, but you can stream it here.
• They have a 2 ½-month-old EP called Grow Old that is available for a free download. It's going on my Dell DJ this afternoon. Really good stuff. There's a guest female vocal on one track.
• There's also a free Halloween/Christmas-themed two-track release from December called Holidays, featuring their renditions of "Monster Mash" and "Blue Christmas". These fellas have been busy.
• Get this stuff now. My kinda rock-'n'-roll.

Here's the new single.

The Speculators - "Covvvves" (single; 3/20/2011)

Have a nice weekend.

Spring 2011 Mix Tape

Unless you're in northern New England today, spring has arrived! Here's my spring 2011 mix tape, courtesy of 8tracks.com.


This time it's all noise punk, a bit zanier than my previous mixes. Enjoy.




Stream it here if the widget gives you problems.


Tracklist: (links lead to downloads)


Intelligence - Bulbs (2008)

Little Girls

Little Girls - Growing (2009)
The Vandelles - Lovely Weather (2009)
Thee Oh Sees - Rainbow (2009)
Meth Teeth - False Summer (2009)
Broken Water - Spore (2010)
Cloud Mouth - Waves (2010)
Ty Segall - My Sunshine (2010)
Nightmare Waterfall - Sleep Waterfall (2010)
The Beets - Flaxing Seed (2011)
Sic Alps - May Ltd (2011)
The Babies - Sunset (2011)

Great Aussie Garage Noise From The Twerps

• The Twerps - "Black Eyes" 7" (Underwater Peoples) [MySpace]



"Black Eyes" 7" - Order here

• Jangly noise with cool garage-punk vocals by a quartet from Melbourne.
• I love these guys (and girl).
• A vinyl-only release. Hear two of the three tracks on their Bandcamp.

"Self Assured" rocks. They claim it was recorded in the rain. Nice way to start the week.

The Twerps - "Self Assured" ("Black Eyes" 7"; 3/18/2011)

Unique Psych Pop on D/Wolves' Free Album

• D/Wolves - Freak of Nature (self-released) [MySpace]



Freak of Nature - Free download

• An interesting amalgamation of candy noise, found sounds and psychedelia fused into short, experimental pop songs sung and played with vigor by this San Diego four-piece.
• It's hard to tell in the first couple of minutes, but once you get into this half-hour album, it's really cool and sort of unique. Not heavy, but not exactly mellow, either. More light-hearted than dark. Sort of like the Flaming Lips before fame made them a little ridiculous.
• They call their music "freakpop", "gypsy-gaze", "mud bath" and "post-spooky". Makes sense.
• They're giving this album away for free at their Bandcamp. Very worth the price!

Here's a new, massively revamped version of a song they released on an EP a year ago (also free). It starts quiet and builds slowly into a monster of a song. Give it time!

D/Wolves - "Pretty Wolves" (Freak of Nature; 3/11/2011)

New Dignan Porch EP Sounds Great

Now I get to play catch-up for a little while...so much music this month!

• Dignan Porch - Deluded (Captured Tracks) [MySpace]



Deluded - Download here

• Finally, something new from Captured Tracks that doesn't sound like New Order. This is just good, laid-back, lo-fi rock with distorted vocals. Sounds really nice.
• This is a four-piece band from South London.
• This release, which came out a week ago, is billed as an 8-track 12" EP, as all the tracks are fairly short. The whole thing is streaming for free right here.
• They're playing around England right now and will be touring there with Times New Viking in late April.

Here's a nice track from this EP. It's the longest at four minutes.

Dignan Porch - "Stream" (Deluded; 3/8/2011)

Ringo Deathstarr Demonstrate Pure Rock Brilliance

I almost missed this one, and it's one of my favorite bands!

• Ringo Deathstarr - Colour Trip (Club AC30/Sonic Unyon) [Facebook]



Colour Trip - Download here

• Not many bands are doing shoegaze as genuinely and as interestingly as Texas's Ringo Deathstarr. The spirit of the Swirlies' Blonder Tongue Audio Baton lives on in this band.
• This is shoegaze without being so dream-pop as bands like The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. It's actually rock music. It's noisy and melodic and kickin' all at once. I'm sure kickin' myself for not knowing about this before I recorded yesterday's show!
• Both male and female vocals, though the male vocals predominate.

• Reviews I'm reading keep talking about nostalgia and imitation and lack of creativity, but man, I know this genre, and those reviews are off-base. They just don't get it. This album is an advance, not just in shoegaze but in creative rock music as a whole. Maybe one day the world will look back and understand that.
• There's not a lot more I can say that wouldn't just take away from what this trio from Beaumont have done here in their first full album (finally!). I was a fan before, but this is now one of my favorite bands ever. I'm a Ringo Deathstarr supporter to the end.
• Apparently Club AC30 released this in the UK on Valentine's Day, and then Sonic Unyon released it here in North America last week. So it's not super fresh, but I just had to rave about it for a minute.

It's very hard to pick just one track to share from this amazing album, but here's one of my favorites. It's like a metal version of Loveless from outer space.

Ringo Deathstarr - "Chloe" (Colour Trip; 2/14/2011)

8-Tracks Fierce: March Broadcast

This month is cracklin' with energy. As always, you can stream the show below or in the sidebar, and you can download it using this link.


8-Tracks Fierce: March Episode



Tracklist


The Death Set - "Can You Seen Straight?" (from the album Michel Poiccard, out tomorrow on Counter)

Dirty Beaches - Badlands -
Download here

Parts & Labor - "Bright White" (from the album Constant Future, out 3/8 on Jagjaguwar)


Belong - "Perfect Life" (from the album Common Era, out 3/21 on Kranky)


Dirty Beaches - "Sweet 17" (from the album Badlands, out 3/29 on Zoo Music)


Peter Bjorn and John - "(Don't Let Them) Cool Off" (from the album Gimme Some, out 3/29 on StarTime International)

Those Darlins -
Screws Get Loose -
Download here

Those Darlins - "Fatty Needs a Fix" (from the album Screws Get Loose, out 3/29 on Oh Wow Dang)


The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - "Girls of 1000 Dreams" (from the album Belong, out 3/29 on Slumberland)


Vivian Girls - "Lake House" (from the album Share the Joy, out 4/12 on Polyvinyl)




Hope you enjoy! I'm going to see Sic Alps at Carabar in Columbus tonight...yyyeah, boyyyy...