Karl Hector and The Malcouns – Unstraight Ahead
These guys are contemporary masters of the Afro-psych-funk movement that’s been boiling up since the mid 2000’s alongside Natural Yogurt Band, Menehan Street Band, and Budos Band. If you are a fan of any of those artists drop everything and buy this record because it is exceedingly crisp, catchy, and powerful. The rhythm section in this band busts out beats that swing so hard they’ll throw off your inner ear and you’ll be walking sideways down the street for the next week. Afro-beat horns swoop in with thick low chords hustling along a Fela Kuti guitar line. This record is an absolute must for anyone interested in laid-back Funk or African music.
The Flesh Eaters – A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die
This record is the coolest thing, man. It’s an LA punk supergroup that doesn’t suck. Its got John Doe the singer of LA punk legends X on the Bass guitar. Dave Alvin on guitar from LA rockabilly boys The Blasters. Steve Berlin of Los Lobos and Blasters. The list goes on and it was started pretty much concurrently with all those hip bands. And its dope. It’s their second record and they have the feel of the organism in them, the shifting guitar lines toy with the beat, the lyrics are akin to Richard Hell’s blunt insight in the Voidoids crossed with Glenn Danzig’s morbid horror movie gaze. There is heavy, tasteful use of both the Saxophone and the Vibraphone. This record is Grade A material from a scene that was already A++. Highly recommended.
Chat Logs - Am I Right or Am I Right?
When you open up the Chat Logs record “Am I Right or Am I Right” an insert falls out that says “Chat Logs Top Ten Planets” and then proceeds to list them. It is this deadpan kind of unblinking stare that awaits you on their superb new ten inch. Three songs of aggressive acid-punk drive you through a dark booze and energy drink filled all-nighter with some bullshitting assholes. Its great, its like if you went on a road trip with Butthole Surfers to kidnap Michael Stipe from his home in Athens (true story).
The Body – I Shall Die Here
Legend has it that The Body, doom as fuck metal dudes, just gave a complete set of recordings to The Haxan Cloak, doom as fuck British electronica. The latter bro chopped it up and ended up with the doomiest shit ever… its like… double-doom. Minimal shuffles nicely into a horror deck of sludgy guitar, apparently. The record sounds like you’re just sitting on the porch, man, and listening to Freebird on the freaking radio and then all of a sudden goddamn extra-solar mini planet Nibiru returns and crashes into the earth and you’re all like “whoa” because you can see the mushroom plume from thousands of miles away rising up into the sky.
Mac DeMarco – Salad Days
Oh how nice we can substitute salmon for ham? That’s great is this muffin gluten free? Mmmm, this place has good bloody marys. Oh, nothing, I’m just going to smoke weed and watch cartoons on my ipad in the Park. She was talking to her mom on facetime and we just bumped into each other! Oh that’s a nice shirt where’d you get it? Fred Perry? They make good stuff. Can I bum a smoke? Are you drunk? Aw shit I fell asleep on the beach again.
Gary Wilson – So You Think You Know Me
This is Gary Wilson’s classic debut album from 1977. If you like stunted man babies making great loungey new-wave pop that vacillates between sincerity and sarcasm then this is for you! “Ariel Pink WISHES he could be this good.” – (Earwax owner Fabio being hyperbolic). But seriously, if you dig Mr Pink, John Maus, R Stevie Moore or any of those types then this is essential. Click through for a cool old video for the jam “6.4 = Makeout”.
M. Lamar – Speculum Orum
This otherworldly opera singer casts a deep, dark shadow with his gorgeous robust vocals over simple, bleak piano pieces. A resident of Bushwick Brooklyn, Lamar’s work demands attention with fiercely cast imagery that portrays an unblinking gothic gaze towards the most challenging moments of being black and queer in America. The juxtaposition of Lamar’s stark and often self-reflexively humorous lyrics with his taut, operatic vocals makes for a listening experience that is as eerie as it is provocative. Lamar’s visual aesthetic is just as complex drawing from 80’s goth✨ culture as much as from the steely nihilism of Black Metal. This is essential for fans of Diamanda Galas and fans of Antony and the Johnson’s will take to it as well. A welcome entry to our store from an outsider making art that is profoundly unique.
Amen Dunes – Love
Aww I’m a wimpy baby that caught a bad case of the feels. I want to walk around and b real sad about girls or boys or what have you and listen to my ipod and I just don’t wanna talk about anything. I’m even so sad right now that I want to eat at a McDonalds just to prove to myself that I’m sad. I’m gonna stare out the window of the McDonalds and look at all the people going by and it’ll be rainy and I’ll stare at them passing by with their broken umbrellas and then I’m going to go into the bathroom and take a frowny selfie in the mirror. And I’ll imagine I’m at a misty lake in the wilderness with beautiful people and theres fireworks going off on the shore and someone’s Land Rover on the beach just looks great in the moonlight like a commercial on YouTube. And there will be someone there that loves me for all the right reasons doing a backflip off a tire swing.
Excepter – The Stand
Excepter is one of the sickest bands to come out of early 2000’s New York noise. Don’t be alarmed. We know some of that stuff hasn’t aged well. This EP is a cool reminder that Excepter, having been part of this particular game for a while, always delivers the goods. They are consistently dark and psychedelic, fat analog synths always sizzling away behind your head over broken ass industrial beats. This particular record is a 3 song EP. The first track Victory Beat references Throbbing Gristle’s minimal nihilism but maintains a goofy cynicism throughout with weird delayed chanting and a bizarre meandering analog synth melody that eventually drifts off into a cloud of flanger. Must have stuff here. Also a cool picture disc on one side!
Peter Walker – Second Poem to Karmela or Gypsies are Important - 1968
Peter Walker was a folky bro from the Sixties hanging around the same coffee shops as Karen Dalton and those other freaks with acoustic guitars. This record blows a big American folk aesthetic with sort of raga-fiddle and airy flute. If you are a fan of John Fahey but want a little more trippy paisley in the music then you should definitely hear this.
Leyland Kirby – The Death of Rave
The Death of Rave recounts Leyland Kirby’s disillusionment with the mid-2000’s rave scene, in his vision a pale shadow of it’s 90’s Peace Love Unity Respect vibe. This record was originally released online as a three hour marathon of house and rave music slowed down to whispery, ice-cold landscapes and manipulated to extenuate a cloudy melancholy between the beats. Actually, nary a beat is to be found on this record as such, Kirby buries them under so much reverb and feedback that it deploys a profound sense of alienation. It’s like you’re trapped on the roof of a huge club with your ex-ex-lover, you can feel the pulse rising and swelling below but you can only look up at the few stars that aren’t blotted out by the city’s light pollution.
Melvin Jackson – Funky Skull
Picture 8000 televisions facing inward as an igloo and you’re inside of it and they’re all playing Sanford and Son. Whoa what the heck how did I get in here and why is half of Art Ensemble of Chicago here? Melvin runs his bass through about twenty pedals and the result is the sound of a really cool duck being stepped on but the ducks on acid. No joke this is absolutely superb soul-jazz that gets out and then comes back hard, gets out again, then makes you dance. You can smoke weed and have a freaky little brunch to it with your mom.
John Oswald – Grayfolded
So time is elastic right? Like It doesn’t really exist. Like if death is inevitable then aren’t we already all dead? So what if we could hear like 18 live versions of Darkstar ALL AT ONCE and extended by at least TWO HOURS? Whoa dude. Pass the doob. ITS REAL BRO. John Oswald did it in the eighties and put it out illegally and now its, like, totally OK’d by Phil Lesh and all the Dead dudes. Coined the term “Pluderphonic” too. Oddly enough the mishmash of guitars that play overtop one another end up sounding pretty cool. Like way cooler than the Dead. Like… way cooler. Also there’s a little sound map for each of the three discs detailing what show is being overlayed on the track and when. This is the first time they’ve put it on vinyl, grab it up bb.
DJ Rashad – Double Cup
Footwork is the grandson of Chicago House music. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s many producers and DJ’s from the Chicago club scene began to get interested in injecting more complex rhythms into Chicago and Detroit dance music. Simultaneously a new dance craze called “footwork” or “Juke” began to spread through basements, house parties, and clubs. The style is often a battle between two dancers showing off quick, fluttering feet that sometimes looks like a cross between break dancing and Russian nutcrackers jumping spread eagle mid-air. DJ Rashad was one of the first DJ’s in that scene to progress from house’s stodgy 4/4 beats to one that focused on triplets and chattering teeth eighth note hi-hats. The formula is impeccable, it cross pollinates grandiose southern hip hop with house music creating a dance music that breathes and smolders in the space that house/techno music was cold. Double Cup was the final release from this master DJ before he passed away earlier this year and is an instant classic: the synth tones sound hand crafted and pleasing and the samples are chopped to make the music jitter with anticipation. This is truly at the cutting edge of dance music and is a great listen start to finish.
Actress – Ghettoville
Taking cues from 90’s house, early dubstep, and minimal techno, British producer Actress’ new record Ghettoville breaks it down even further into the netherworld. This is the kind of stuff you listen to when you get a hot latex engulfment in the back of a bar in Berlin. In other words it’s got that bleak lo-fi metallic sheen inspired by eighties noisy Industrial but much more subdued Microhouse textures. You can play this at parties, in a bar, at the beach (if you’re goth enough), or on headphones. This is quality contemporary electronica.
Many Mansion’s Night Sesh is a cassette release we just got into the store. It speaks a bunch of languages at once: Dub, Minimal Techno, Hip-Hop, New-age Psychedelia. Vangelis like Prog pops in for a glimpse with some aeronautical eighties synth patches. It’s a concept album about heading out to party as reflected in the track titles: “going out” – “pickin up” – “Bambu” and so forth. “Going out” has the giddy joy of anticipation, you’re not trying to act too cool yet you’re hanging with your crew before the night’s begun and making jokes. “Pickin Up” has the feeling of hopping into a car with a stranger and taking a spin around the block to buy a bag, listening to some top 40 hip-hop in the car. Stand out track “Mirror Shadows” wreathed in halos drops a 90’s peace-hop beat midway and you’re there. And it’s cool cause the theme proceeds pretty accurately throughout the whole album, everything is crafted to evoke the feeling of a sleek night through a fisheye lens. One of those nights that slips by perfectly, you talk to all the right people, you kiss the person you wanted to.
Arthur Russell – World of Echo
This reissue from 1986 is Arthur Russell’s only full length record released during his lifetime. World of Echo is a subdued work that largely relies on Russell’s opulent, mahogany vocals and lush cello style. 15 minutes of this record becomes a cavernous night swell, as if you’re sitting frontrow in empty Madison Square Garden watching a silent pyrotechnics display around Russell humbly seated in an oak chair. His melodies meander and echo around the folds of the heavily reverbed and effected cello such that it’s sonic landscape feels mellifluous. It warps around your body and engulfs you like viscous floating energy. I’d liken it to the hush of Pink Moon by Nick Drake if it weren’t so weird. Regardless, it is gorgeous and unique like an orchid.
Dorothy Ashby – Afro Harping
This record is like you’re in LA in the seventies by a pool with a bunch of models with huge sunglasses lying on beach recliners and there’s this big pile of blow right in front of you and you’re just looking at it man, you can’t stop looking at the blow, then this really cool black muscly dude with short blue swimming trunks jumps off the diving board and there’s no splash, it’s a perfect dive. That’s what this record is like.
Mamman Sani – TAARITT
Mamman Sani is a Nigerian dude who’s been playing in the background of Nigerian TV commercials and announcements for 30 years. Only recently has Sahel Sounds reissued his first and only Cassette tape and now this record, TAARRITT, comprised of unreleased recordings from the mid-eighties. Many people have compared his work to Kraftwerk cuz he was one of the first musicians from Africa to use synths and electronic sounds. This music is laid back in the cut underneath some palm trees with a tiny umbrella drink, a joint and a hammock overlooking heat waves off the desert. It is inherently spacey because of the synth tones but nothing gets too far out of the ordinary it just chills on some African scales and plays with your brain-waves. Click the album art to see a documentary about Mamman Sani.