It's time for another Shake Appeal, Evan Minsker's garage/punk/psychedelic/etc. music round-up. There's some good new music in here, but let's be real: The best stuff in this edition is reissues of records from the 1990s.
Anyone familiar with the work of Billy Childish should pay attention to what's happening over at M'Lady's Records. F.W.O.A.H.! is a subscription series featuring seven excellent and very rare records from several of the man's different projects—Thee Headcoats, the Fire Dept., Kyra, Jack Ketch & the Crowmen, and naturally, his solo efforts. Every record will be made available individually, too, and every one of them is worth checking out. Did you miss the Japanese pressing of the raw, stomping 1993 album The Good Times Are Killing Me? (Who didn't?) What about the Headcoats-backed 1998 solo album from Kyra—the reason M'Lady's decided to start the subscription series? Now's everyone's chance to get wise. Find full details here and listen to a sample from each record below.
If you've picked up any compilation collecting lost, obscure, or otherwise great punk music—think Killed By Death, Back From the Grave or Crazy Al's Indiana Punk & New Wave—you should absolutely check out Destroy All Art. Andrew Winton has assembled 17 songs by bands with names like Skudz, Archie and the Pukes, Cock Scratch (yikes!), and I'm Gonna Stab You (double yikes!). Several Species threaten to pummel some wimps on "Fight". The Mormons song "Your Shit" is unintelligible—only the bark and ferocity are knowable. This accomplishes exactly what any compilation of this sort should—it (theoretically) introduces listeners to an entire underground world of catchy aggression. It's currently sold out, but another pressing is on the way. Winton's also working on another volume, which is good. Hopefully this is the sort of thing that goes for at least 10 installments.
One of the highlights here is a track called "Atom Bomb" by the Last Sons of Krypton, and it's also worth noting that there's an excellent 20-song LP of archival material by that band out this year called Teenage Trash. Listen to the whole thing, plus a few samples from Destroy All Art (via Noisey's interview with Winton about the comp), below.
That's not enough freshly unearthed and reissued '90s punk, is it? Wait, I'll answer for you: No. It's never enough. Look, you've got to grab In the Red's new reissue of Action Swingers' 1994 slaying LP Quit While You're Ahead (which also comes with their first two singles and some unreleased material). This is unhinged and fuzz-addled punk at its most powerful. It's the album's first ever vinyl pressing, and it's important. The lineup on the album features Ned Hayden and Julie Cafritz (Pussy Galore) plus drummers J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), Don Fleming, and Johan Kugelberg. (Action Swingers' recent gig at Total Punk's Total Fuck Off featured Gary Wrong and Manateees' Abe White.) As Hayden revealed to Noisey, the album's first three (amazing) songs were written in 15 minutes and recorded in one take. Sounds like it, too—it's the sort of record that could come off the rails or implode at any given moment. Own this one.
Rich Crook was a member of the Reatards and the Lost Sounds. More recently, he made some ace pop records under the name Lover!—the "Man in the Woods" 7" is from 2008 is a prized possession in this household. The Lover! records eventually started leaning country as that band came to an end, but the self-titled debut from his new band THING has a garage punk heart. The hooks invoke the Ramones and Crook's vocals bring the bubblegum. Occasionally . It's sweet and sour rock'n'roll featuring members of Cheap Time and Unwed Teenage Mothers. The album's out now on the freshly revived Chicago label Solid Sex Lovie Doll and is available to download for free.
Last year, the Finland-based punk the Achtungs released a very awesome and very slept-on album called Full of Hate. If you've never heard them before, you're in luck—the band have two awesome new records out right now. One's an album on Going Underground called Welcome to Hell. The other's an EP on Ken Rock called Lies Again. In total, that's 13 new tracks of their buzzsaw attack, ripping solos, and awesome gravel pit vocals. Thus far, their discography highlights a level of consistency that's borderline absurd. Whenever a new record by this band pops up with a cartoonishly aggressive title, it's definitely worth looking into.
Castle Face just issued the latest (and very good) Thee Oh Sees album, and they're unleashing even more heavy hitters on their roster. There's another slab of moon-eyed power pop from Matthew Melton's band Warm Soda. Symbolic Dream picks up where Young Reckless Hearts left off last year—fuzzy and muscular pop tunes for the lovesick. Australia's King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard also continue to own their lane as one of the most prolific psych outfits going on Quarters. The album is four 10-minute tunes which have them mutating from Brubeckian jazz to elastic R&B. Neither band are busting any previously established conventions with their new albums, but if you've liked any of their old stuff, you'll enjoy the new ones.
The last album by Guantanamo Baywatch, 2012's Chest Crawl, was blistering, erratic, unhinged surf music. Their new album Darling...It's Too Late has them holding on to those surf vibes, but the delivery on this one goes decidedly more country. Obviously, this is dangerous territory—"country on the beach" is a description previously reserved for Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett's "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere". But like the band's earlier efforts, this is a record with teeth. They've got instrumental tracks that help establish the album's tone—one that owes quite a bit to early surf rippers and the golden age of the Grand Ole Opry alike. This is definitely music that mushes together different styles from an earlier time; there are spoken word interludes and everything.
Here are three other really good albums that you definitely need to hear:
- Thee Tsunamis' Saturday Night Sweethearts (on Magnetic South) is a fantastic new LP. The band absolutely deliver on the promise of their early singles with a stack of bubblegum jukebox songs delivered with snarling grit.
- Flesh Panthers' NGC 2632, the band's all-power debut full-length on Tall Pat.
- III, the latest from Austin's Hex Dispensers on Alien Snatch! Records.