RIP Etta

<3

Weird Menace - Demo

Weird Menace have been keeping things on the down-low for the past couple of months, but finally a demo has emerged.
The song is simply named 'Demo'. The tone is kept steady and strung-out (which is by no means a negative); three lots of echoing vocals creep out from nodding guitar patterns and pacing drums, at times erupting into crashes before simmering back down.

The Internet tells me "Weird Menace" is a description applied to a particularly bizarre sub-genre of the horror pulps. The magazines, and especially their covers, are characterised by grotesque, distorted figures and sadistic sexual violence of a kind that leaves one torn between disgust and hilarity.

Future offerings are eagerly anticipated.


Weird Menace Demo by Weird Menace

Real Estate - It's Real

Real Estate have a new video out, and while it's pretty amusing n' all, NOTHING can quite compare to the sheer joy that the 'It's Real' video brings to my heart.

Tacky knick-knacks, knitwear, wood pannelling, dogs in BOW TIES... it has everything you'd ever want from a band. And the song's not bad, either.

For some reason I didn't post it when it first graced YouTube, so for your viewing pleasure, here it is again...

Grass Widow - Disappearing Industries

Having dipped out of view for a few months following a whole lot of touring, Grass Widow return to land with a new track ahead of their Grass Widow/Nature split 7”. 'Disappearing Industries' is a lighter listen than some of their most recent work, all honey-soaked harmonies sweeping across signature individual guitar lines and racing drums.

Widow/Nature 7” is up for preorder now and includes hand-marbleized and letterpressed sleeves (it's all in the details). Get it from M'Ladys Records. Out 28th February.

www.myspace.com/grasswidowmusic

G.Green - Tequila Sunrise

Hello there 2012, I like you already.

2 minutes of audio and I'm theirs. California's G.Green will release Tequila Sunrise on 7" via Italian Beach Babes soon.

2011 : Personal Best

I tried to avoid making yet another end of year list to add to the pile, but 2011 deserves a pat on the back for birthing so many heart-stoppingly wonderful releases. After the past few years of having to sift through a whole heap of swill to get to the good stuff, last year more than made up for it all, offering up its bounty from a Mary Poppins record bag of never-ending engaging and exciting albums.

I think the record shop employee state-of-mind will never truly leave me, so here is my soundtrack to the past year in no particular order (just humour me). I'll keep it quick as it'll probably work out as just a round-up of everything that I've mentioned here in the past 12 months...

Noteworthy Albums:

John Maus - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Mirror Traffic
Wild Flag - Wild Flag
Real Estate - Days
Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Peaking Lights - 936
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls
Coasting - You're Never Going Back
The Men - Leave Home
Maria Minerva - Cabaret Cixous
Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow
Brilliant Colors - Again & Again
Comet Gain - Howl Of The Lonely Crowd

Listen to a selection of hand-picked tracks from the above here.

New Finds:

Shudder Pulps
Total Control
Race Horses
Tense Men
Hookworms
Fear Of Men

The Best of 2011:

Wild Flag at The Lexington, December 8th
Las Robertas UK Tour
Girl Gang Zine
Flying Lotus, Battles, No Age & Factory Floor at Nightmare Before Xmas
The London Zine Symposium

The Worst of 2011:

The passing of Trish Keenan from Broadcast, Poly Styrene, Amy Winehouse and Ari Up.

Looking forward to in 2012:

The Julie Ruin
Prinzhorn Dance School
Factory Floor
with many more to follow...

x