#12xu records

[goodbysunball]

The weight off

One last missive before list season consumes us and 2023 is vacuumed up by time.

The Lewers, 518A (Lulu's Sonic Disc Club)

Yet another new supergroup from the endless expanse of Australia's underground, this one featuring Yuta Matsumura (Orion, Low Life, solo, many others), some folks from Itchy Bugger and Rapid Dye, and more. The Lewers douse these seven tracks with loads of reverb and a couple great Itchy Bugger-style guitar lines worming under the surface. Think 4AD: gauzy, dreamy excess best paired with a juicy red wine, topped with deceptively catchy vocals. "Postcards for Terrorists," a big winner in the song title contest of 2023, is probably the poppiest number, the intertwining vocals of Yuta and (I think) Sarah Davis driving the chorus home. The songs led by Davis ("Kalopsia," "Specter Vermillion") and others like "Sin Tonight" have a 70's English folk-like quality, lilting and haunting, performances that seem inspired in part by the soundtrack to The Wicker Man. While every track on here sounds good, and I keep returning to the record during the gray days and long nights, most don't register in my memory after the record's done, with the exception of "Postcards" and "O Karina." The latter is almost an instrumental song, with Matsumura singing well beneath the shroud of guitars, and when that second, sharp guitar line that slices through about two-and-a-half minutes in, it trickles in through the brain and down the spine every time. This kind of lush, textural music often benefits from a little length, but the Lewers keep things trim, maybe to a fault, as a couple tracks could have been teased out like "O Karina." Likely I just wish the record was a bit longer; even if it isn't anything new, 518A's confines, most definitely outfitted with a white faux-fur area rug, are a fine place to sprawl in contemplation.

The Native Cats, The Way On Is the Way Off (Chapter Music)

Long-player number five from Hobart's finest, many years removed from their last, John Sharp Toro. In the interim, the Native Cats released two of the best singles in recent memory - Spiro Scratch and Two Creation Myths - so expectations were high. Their core sound remains Chloe Alison Escott's spoken-sung vocals and incisive, biting lyrics grounded by Julian Teakle's bass, but they're joined by live drums on a number of tracks here, and there are even points when Escott cedes control of microphone to backing vocals (The Last Gang Vocal on Earth, according to the credits). Over the past ten years, Escott's lyrics have shifted from fictional scenes to the semi-autobiographical, incorporating more personal details in the songs, sporting ferocious tenacity or tender self-affirmation depending on the song. Her queer and trans identity is inseparable from the Native Cats' evolution, including all the frustration, self-doubt and pockets of joy involved in coming out and being out. She hardly sounds defeated; given the spots of violent imagery across The Way On Is the Way Off, I wouldn't bet against her in a fight.

The record begins in fits and starts, and while the first three tracks are undeniably in the now-recognizable Native Cats style, I think the action really begins after the "Former Death Cult" interlude. "Small Town Cop Override" roars into action with a drumroll and features one of Escott's sharpest lyrical performances ("I strive for victory or hallucination" and "I've seen the future, it's a chain of tricks/Come 'round and watch me turn a crisis into six") atop pounding live drums and blaring chords, burning bright and out in 80 seconds. It bleeds right into "Vivian Left Me," a slow, plodding number with a bass line ripped from David Sims' playbook. Escott has free reign to prowl over the buzzing, ominous terrain, and drops one of my favorite lines of the year with "When your dreams come true, they feel/distressingly like dreams." The track sears and bubbles without cresting, endless tension floating exhaustedly into the haunting "Dallas," a spare, solemn ballad. The lyrics are opaque, tangled; it feels like a meditation on what has changed for Escott, and what can't be changed or outrun, all wrapped up in the album of the same name released ten years ago.

"Suplex" kick-starts the B-side, a mean bass line and Escott's sneering vocals competing for the first minute and a half, and then the song's taken over by keyboard and piano, a pillowy landing from the body blows of the first half. "Rain on Poison," like "Dallas," is moody and restrained, pounding toms and a single piano note ratcheting up the tension along with Escott's powerful vocals, and as the song progresses, elements are stripped back until it's just Escott in your ear: "Time is running out/At a rate I can handle." It's an almost absurdly powerful affirmation, implying some mastery over the passage of time, but such is the confidence espoused by the Native Cats across The Way On Is the Way Off. It ends the world-beating five-song stretch, and while the rest of the record is good-to-great, even including some of Escott's solo piano work at the end, the middle section is so rich that it feels excessive to have more music outside of it. Yeah, "Tanned Rested and Dead" is a burner, and the NYC-in-the-early-aughts bounce of "Battery Acid" is a good look, too; those tracks might be my favorite part of the record next week. That's the innate joy of a Native Cats record, now more than ever: still harshly resistant to snap judgement and best lived in, seeping into your skin like a sauna and pulling lost memories or feelings or chemicals to the fore. And yet, The Way On Is the Way Off remains endlessly listenable despite the weight of dreams or expectations, the band fully in control of their sound, as comfortable as ever in it. I don't know if it's their best yet - ask me in another few months - but it definitely feels like it might be. Stunner.

Howard Stelzer, oh calm down you're fine (No Rent)

Great tip from my brother to check this one out, he being an effective filter for No Rent's endless release schedule. Howard Stelzer is not a new name, but new to me, and oh calm down you're fine is a sterling example why digging for new music remains my favorite pasttime. Stelzer layers tape loops here, of anything and everything; during the impromptu Bandcamp "listening party," which Stelzer "attended," he revealed that samples include that of making an omelette and the school band warming up next to the classroom where he teaches, the latter featured prominently on "Everybody Thinks So." He's in the league of artists like Joe Colley or Jeph Jerman to my ears, though less wracked with anxiety than the former and more interested in the noise made by humans (as opposed to nature) than the latter. What makes Stelzer's work so exceptional here is the subtle sense of composition; the hard-to-follow logic in the way the sounds are paired, or layered, reminds me of how Philip Jeck would compose and arrange his music. One could mistake "Reconsider From Memory" for something by Jeck with unfocused ears, reminiscent too in the unhurried pacing across the tape. The results are decidedly much more abrasive in Stelzer's case, more smart aleck than somber, though like all experimental noise music worth its salt, what's being communicated is in the hands/head of the listener. As the somewhat disarming "Proportional" appears to wind down, Stelzer introduces some dizzying drum loops, conjuring some sort of ritual where you're at the stake, until the laugh track hits. Better luck finding the thread next listen. My favorite tape of the year, and lucky for you, still available from the label. Dig into more of his work on his Bandcamp.

Water Damage, 2 Songs (12XU)

2 Songs is my first proper run-in with Water Damage, and that is something I've committed to fixing after living with this LP in constant rotation for a month. The ensemble, running eight members deep, creates a thicket of psychedelic repetition, playing with tenets of noise, jazz, krautrock, and hip hop across two side-long tracks, appropriately titled "Fuck This" and "Fuck That." The former rips into action after a false start, a dense, throbbing miasma anchored by a tireless bass line and squalls of guitar noise and feedback circling each other. The band takes a quick breather after six minutes, coming back even noisier, and then inexplicably does the same thing again thirty seconds later - and somehow it all works, the two intentional hiccups swallowed by the aural equivalent of The Blob over the track's barely registered, but deeply felt, ebbs and flows. "Fuck That" is comparatively lighter, roomier, allowing room for a maddening circular xylophone (?) line and keyboards to float atop the distorted bass line and agile drums. Stick around until the bass line becomes loose and rubbery, the whole song submitting to its own weight, like the ghost of DJ Screw just took over your turntable. It's really difficult to do this record justice with words; it feels like it consumes the room, your house, then you when it's on. The density of the record is rendered in sharp relief through the high quality recording and the combined power of the players here, combining as one pulsating mass or frictionlessly bobbing and weaving. That they're an octet likely means I'll never have the pleasure of getting to see them do it live, but it's a consolation that 2 Songs is the best-sounding record of the year; it'll peel your scalp back plenty, and I recommend that you grab the LP and let it rip.

[alanlicht]

First Love Child show in 30+ years! June 9 at Union Pool

Love Child is playing our first show since 1993, celebrating the recent release of the 2xLP comp Never Meant to Be: 1988-1993 and the forthcoming digital reissues of our albums Okay? and Witchcraft, plus the complete 1992 Peel Session, all via 12XU Records. Sharing the bill is Thalia Zedek's current band, E, and Subskin Cables. It all happens June 9 at Union Pool in Brooklyn--tickets are here.

[bandcampsnoop]

2/8/24.

I saw that my friend Conrad had bought this summative 2 LP album by New York band Love Child. They were active in the early 90s and released two albums on Gerard Cosloy's Homestead Records (right before he created Matador). Now Cosloy brings us the "Never Meant To Be" on 12XU.

It's hard not to hear early Yo La Tengo, Versus and Pavement. I wish I could have seen "Greedy" live. I have a hunch that my knees would have buckled a few times once the pedals kicked in.

[mrbopst]

[bruce-adams]

Do you really need to show us that?

I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is something I just don't like when people post a picture of an LP jacket next to their record player with the record playing. Do I look at it as showing off? Ostentatious? Valorizing vinyl over other formats? Or is it the inundation of pictures on my social media feed of the new Yo La Tengo album? It bothers me.

Anyway, here are some recordings that I've been enjoying lately.

Gordon Ashworth S.T.V.A. | Sweet Cobra Threes | Chris Brokaw Live at the Decommissioned Power Station in Flori, Norway | loscil//lawrence english Colours of Air | Hum Inlet | Claire Rousay a softer focus | KMRU Limen | Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet Dim the Lights, Chill the Ham

[dustedmagazine]

Mope Grooves — Box of Dark Roses (12XU)

Box of Dark Roses presents the final 27 songs written, arranged and recorded by trans activist and musician stevie (Pohlman), a massive two-LP set that showcases her DIY art, passionate engagement and close links to other trans advocates, poets and revolutionaries.

Mope Grooves emerged in Portland, Oregon in the late teens, with a brash but vulnerable guitar rock sound and a message, from the beginning, about gender identity, inclusion and mental health. Their early albums, Joy and Vanished from 2017 and 2018 respectively, bristled with punk energy, with shouted anthems and loose-slung, infectious melodies. Dusted’s Jason Gioncontere called Desire, the band’s fourth album, “their most cohesive set yet,” late in 2019. And Portland’s Ben Parrish who caught them early and fell hard, wrote of an early show, “And Mope Grooves—Pohlman’s band—broke my brain. Imagine if somebody ran records by The Raincoats, The Clean, Beat Happening, Tyvek, and Marine Girls through a wood chipper and glued the pieces into a new super-record.”

Musically, Box of Dark Roses is more keyboard- and synthesizer-based than Mope Grooves’ earlier album, an uneasy sweetness percolating in its gentle melodies. The soft pretty songs are, in some ways, the most disturbing. “Forever Is a Long Time” pits tootling organ riffs against a sing-song melody, but sharpens the edge with rattling, off-kilter drumming. “Aileen” floats hauntingly graceful vocals over space-video-game pinging and rushing drums. “They’ll tell you you’re a criminal for paying them back in kind, but in the dark, in the wild, in the heart of the night, it is right to fight,” sings band member Lee. It’s a bracing sentiment in a song dedicated to Aileen Wuornos, a sex worker from Florida who killed seven of her clients, purportedly in self-defense. And “I’m Tired All the Time,” with its music box chimes, spiraling fiddle and slapping, just-behind-the-beat percussion, is a lullaby or a suicide note, depending on how you hear it.

Politics turn more explicit in the tracks with extensive spoken word incorporated. Marilyn Buck, the poet and May 19 Communist organization revolutionary best known for freeing Assata Shakur from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey, speaks on a handful of cuts, including the opener “Controlled Burn” and “Here Comes the Moon.” The song “Continuity and Intensity,” tells the story of the Black Liberation Army’s Kuwasi Balagoon, who, when put on trial, declared, “We have a right to resist, to expropriate money and arms, to kill the enemy of our people, to bomb, and do whatever else aids us in winning, and we will win. The foundation of the revolution must rest on the bones of the oppressors.” The song “Dora” recites a detailed account of gender oppression in Weimar, Germany and the suppression of Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Research.  The ratio of polemic to hook is pretty high on these tracks, but these were issues that mattered to stevie, and, as such, they belong here.

Box of Dark Roses was made near the end of stevie’s life (she killed herself in 2024), after a long struggle against gender dysphoria, physical and mental health issues, poverty and sporadic homelessness. In a lengthy, revealing essay included as liner notes, she writes, “I funded the recording process and the deposit on my surgeries by submitting my body to hyper-exploitation. I worked vanilla jobs 40-70 hours a week most of the time before relying increasingly on the informal economy. I was frequently in severe pain and losing work from chronic disabling illnesses that are aggravated by intense labor.”

And yet, though her suffering was real, she never lost sight of how much worse off others could be, particularly black and brown trans people. Before her death she stipulated that all profits from Box of Dark Roses should go to “gender marginalized survivors incarcerated as punishment for defending themselves, either directly to their fundraisers/commissary funds or thru the Survived and Punished NY mutual aid fund.”   This is a difficult, important record, a whole different experience from Mope Grooves’ earlier lo-fi garage albums, but well worth making time for.

Jennifer Kelly

[daggerzine]

Love Child- Never Meant To Be  1988-1993 (12XU)

Love Child, the NYC trio of Will Baum, Rebecca Odes, and Alan Licht (later joined by Brenda O’Malley after Baum left) could’ve just been a footnote in history but thanks to the 12XU label fans old and new will be turned onto the band’s great grit rock that was all over the indie world in the late ’80s/early ’90s. Though it was basically Licht on guitar, Odes on bass, and Baum/O’Malley on drums there was some musical chairs instrument switching going on and on the vocals, too that always made for an interesting stew.

Ken Katkin’s Trash Flow label released the band’s debut single back in ’90 and sang the band's praises to anyone within earshot. When he took over Homestead Records (from Gerard Cosloy, who ironically runs the 12XU label that is releasing this collection), he continued on, releasing the band's two terrific LPs, Okay? and Witchcraft and another single. In addition to select cuts from those records, there are also songs from a Peel Session, a KSPC radio session, and more for 26 songs in all.

The charm of these recordings is Licht’s 6-string wizardry, a possibly self-taught genius who plays what he feels like when he wants to while the rhythm section hammers it all home with real hammers. Many of the songs don’t even hit the two-minute mark and those that do barely go over it though a few songs even go over the 5-minute mark and the album closer is the genre-defying “All is Loneliness” close in over eight minutes (I think they invented the word raga for cuts like this).

Cuts like “Wait and See, “He’s So Sensitive,” “Cigarette Ash,” “Crocus Says” and “Fortune Cookie” are just a few wired/wiry cuts that any band would be proud to call their own (“Willpower’ too).  In other words, it’s not too late to ride the fiery breeze of Love Child!

www.12xu.bandcamp.com

www.lovechild12xu.bandcamp.com

[dealgemeneverwarring]

De Algemene Verwarring #121 - 28 October 2024

Episode one hundred and twenty one of De Algemene Verwarring was broadcast on Monday, October 28, 2024, and you can listen to it by clicking on the link below that will take you directly to the Mixcloud page:

Ok ok I admit, I'm becoming a bit of a lazy bum when it comes to this Tumblr page, we're already on the brink of episode 122 and yet here I am with the 121 playlist. So tell me, who of you is reading all this? Give me a sign if you do, because sometimes I'm really wondering if this makes any sense at all knowing that the playlist is also on the Facebook page. Anyway, pictured below is Water Damage. In this episode, I'm announcing their show in 4AD in Diksmuide, but at the time of writing this the show already took place, and boy was it good. 35 minutes of droning repetition, screaming feedback and relentless drumming. So good. I also bought the new record on 12XU, but at the time of the radio show I didn't have it yet so it's a digital episode, yes, and to be able to play a Water Damage track was one of the main reasons to do a digital episode. As always, I'm adding some music that's wantlisted on my Discogs page (Prinzhorn Dance School, American Analog Set), some digital Bandcamp downloads (Famous Mammals, Nape Neck, Broken Shoulder, William H. Meung, and some brand new stuff (Cold Cave, Cindy). And beneath the photo you can find the playlist for the show. Enjoy!

Playlist:

Nape Neck: The Shallowest End (digital release V/A “Dot Dash Mix Tape Volume 2” on Dot Dash, 2024)

Famous Mammals: Pen Trays In The Parlor (digital release V/A “Dot Dash Mix Tape Volume 2” on Dot Dash, 2024)

Prinzhorn Dance School: Lawyers Water Jug OK (LP “Prinzhorn Dance School” on DFA, 2007)

Cold Cave: She Reigns Down (LP “Passion Depression” on Heartworm Press, 2024)

Natalia Beylis: The Pirate Queen (Cassette + digital release V/A “Ministry Of Excess” on Kashual Plastic, 2024)

Cindy: Party In The Atelier (12” “Swan Lake” on Tough Love Records, 2024)

Galaxie 500: Victory Garden (12” “Blue Thunder” on Rough Trade, 1990)

The American Analog Set: Diana Slowburner II OK (7” “Diana Slowburner II” on Emperor Jones, 1996 and LP “The Fun Of Watching Fireworks” in Emperor Jones, 1996)

Charlott Malmenholt: Istria Lizard (CD-r + digital release “Meetings” on Förfall, 2024)

Dame Area: La Notte E Oscura (12” “La Soluzione E Una” on Magia RoJa, 2020)

The Bug ft. Magugu: Deep In A Mud OK (digital Bandcamp release “Deep In A Mud” - pay what you want release 2024)

Broken Shoulder: Departee Music OK (digital release + tape “iki” on Moonside Tapes, 2024)

William H. Meung: Keeping One Step Ahead Of Agents X OK (tape + digital release “This Saint Won’t Rot” on What Lies Beneath, 2023)

Water Damage: Reel Ee OK (LP “In E” on 12XU, 2024)

[still-single]

Halfway Point 2023

halfway 2023 best ofs baker's dozen:

Wireheads – Potentially Venus (Tenth Court)

Meg Baird – Furling (Drag City)

FACS – Still Life in Decay (Trouble in Mind)

Connections – Cool Change (Trouble in Mind)

The Tubs – Dead Meat (Trouble in Mind)

Beau Wanzer – A Dead Person's Monologue (iDEAL Recordings)

Ron Morelli – Heart Stopper (L.I.E.S.)

Life Expectancy – Decline (Iron Lung)

Sharp Pins – Turtle Rock (self-released)

Jana Horn – The Window Is the Dream (No Quarter)

Water Damage – Two Songs (12XU)

Chain of Flowers – Never Ending Space (A L T E R)

Ulrika Spacek – Compact Trauma (Tough Love)

reissues/archival lucky 13:

Milford Graves – Children of the Forest (Black Editions Archive)

The Particles – 1980s Bubblegum (Chapter Music)

HEAVY METAL – IV: Counter Electrode Iron Mono (Total Punk)

Arthur Russell – Picture of Bunny Rabbit (Audika)

Shizuka – Heavenly Persona (Black Editions)

The Sheaves – Excess Death Cult Time (Minimum Table Stacks)

Tyvek – Blunt Instrumentals (Gingko/Doubles Tapes)

Tolerance – Divin / Anonym (Mesh-Key)

Comet Gain – Mess Music for Bruised Hearts (self-released)

Laurie Styvers – Gemini Girl: The Complete Hush Recordings (High Moon)

The Dark – Dressing the Corpse (Scat)

The Flowerpot Men – 1984 (Demon)

The Toms s/t (Feel It)

(Doug Mosurock)

[goodbysunball]

Parched & parcel

Things are getting noticeably heavier and weirder, and we're the better for it. Some metal, finally, paired with some fine Aussie experimental noise and a band that'll make you believe in the dream of NYC again. It's the best season for this kind of stuff, so dive in.

dprk, Shitville Tourist LP (Studio Fabrik)

May I introduce to you Shitville Tourist (title of the year) by dprk, apparently a duo of Nick Dan (xNoBBQx) and Richard Fielding (Severed Heads) with support from a few mates. It feels like a journey in time back to where Twisted Village and Kye once roamed, where the journey largely justified the end product and the listener could take it or end up spending big later. While there is no question this record took me a few listens to unravel, what didn't take much to pique my interest was the gentle loop on "Crazy Little Corkscrew," something that sounds like a lullaby played with a steel drum, being poked and prodded by various electronics over its seven minutes. The track, like all four tracks on here, doesn't really go anywhere over its duration, but floats, writhes, twists and soaks in the sounds being made: pure joy in the noise made by machines. The title track and "Blumen Schmerz" are darker, more cavernous, where synths bleep and blot and drum machines whirr and exhale steam, creating the illusion of life where there is none. The latter has some creepy guitar parts splayed out on the pulsing synth backbone, but the investigation leads to no further conclusions; there is no categorization here. The finale, "Gulag In Space," provides not only another great title but a track nearly worthy of dancing, especially after the mind-fuck of the first three tracks. The beat bounces off all surfaces, as slippery as the rest of the record, but there is a sparkle on "Gulag" that winks at the listener as Shitville Tourist winds down. Something magnetic, or just plain alien, about the whole affair, but whatever it is, the sheer number of times I've played this have more than justified the hefty price tag. Great debut; let's hope for more from these true underground freaks.

Excarnated Entity, Mass Grave Horizon LP (Nuclear Winter)

Greece's Nuclear Winter puts out a ton of releases, so much that I've seemingly looked them over in the last few years. But taking stock, they've been responsible for the physical releases of a number of near-and-dear U.S.-based death metal acts like Blasphematory, the mighty Anhedonist, and now, Excarnated Entity. Excarnated Entity features a former member of Anhedonist, and there's definitely a similar approach to death metal with the two acts: mournful, grandiose but without the heavy-handed use of keyboards or Gregorian chant-like vocals. Excarnated Entity is also singularly focused on the horrors of war - not to be confused with the glorification of such in war metal - and provides ample heft to the incalculable loss of life. The band's demo, also reissued by Nuclear Winter in 2020, was a good primer for their debut LP, but the LP is devastating. The instrumental opener "Abjection" runs an elegant Mournful Congregation-style guitar line into the ground, simultaneously distraught and triumphant, and sets the stage for the rest. For anyone paying attention to the recent death-doom resurgence, Mass Grave Horizon fits right in and sets itself up near the top of that heap. While I think that there's a bit of momentum wasted in the middle section of "Corridor of Flame," that's really the only complaint I can level at the record. Everything else is properly filthy: gurgling vocals over blastbeats slam headfirst into downtuned chugging riffs, and a elegiac solo rises from the cracks in the pointlessly blood-stained soil. It's between "Irradiated Shadows" (the part before the solo, yeesh) and the punishing title track for my favorites here, but there's not a dud in the bunch. It's worth noting that the band does four-minute sprints as well as they can stretch tracks out to twice that length - a versatility that elevates Excarnated Entity above the one-note lifers rehashing the same formula on every track. Bleak, miserable and, given the state of the world, timely death-doom is what you get on Mass Grave Horizon, and if you think you've heard it before, it's worth hearing again in this singularly focused and dimming light.

VoidCeremony, Threads of Unknowing LP (20 Buck Spin)

I've got to give Nic at Repressed Records credit for pushing this one, as anything combining descriptors like "jazz" and "prog" with "metal" usually makes me run for the hills. But, this new VoidCeremony LP is checking all the boxes while flirting with all of the above, while (as Nic notes) throwing in a fretless bass solo on nearly every song to boot. The band plays death metal, firstly, and while there are some space-y outros and instrumentals, everything feels of a piece rather than forcing together disparate parts. The label press mentions that the band plays "with the gliding, controlled chaos and smooth fluidity of a jazz quartet," and that checks out, but I don't smell anything particularly jazzy about the record. Rather, I get a big whiff of Gorguts when listening to this record, another band that seamlessly combined progressive, thrash and death metal with grooves, resulting in something impressively complex without making it feel like a homework assignment. "Writhing in the Facade of Time" probably best displays all of these aspects, from the fading-in tech-death opener, to the sky-scraping guitar solos, to the crushing close of the track before the group's whisked away on a mystical Moog coda. The band shifts from strength to strength without any bloat, and just as importantly, without any clean vocals. Threads of Unknowing is my go-to workout record this year, the fluidity of the drumming providing blastbeat stress and necessary space in equal measure. Strap in, take a trip; whether you buy into the lyrics or overarching theme is up to you, but either way it's one of the most thrilling death metal records of the year.

Weak Signal, War&War LP (12XU)

Cool "reissue" of an album digitally released in 2022, hopefully given a wider reach with the push of 12XU. War&War is Weak Signal's third LP, and it sounds like a band comfortable with themselves, their capabilities and their sound: they can rip off a garage-punk track like "Don't Think About It" and slow things to a simmer on "Consolation" with ease. That the band sounds so self-assured did make this record feel a little too easy the first few times; but, like label mates Lewsberg, the complexity of the tracks shines through on iterative spins. Seemingly small choices like the backing vocal melody on "Names" or the sparkling Cass McCombs guitar on "Spooky Feeling" begin to feel like bold, powerful moves amidst the background of resignation/resilience across the album. The mostly spoken, barely sung vocals paired with the often bluesy guitar lines give the record a rough, workingman feel - which, for me, means that things ain't going your way but what are you gonna do about it - but there's no glory in it, just a general disdain for how things are. It's definitely a bit of a downer, though I think the band would prefer "realist," and two lyrics from the middle of the record seem illustrative of the this approach: "I'm no weirdo/I'm no freak/but things keep happening to me" from "Songworld," and "If you think I care/that's where you're wrong" from "Yr Deal." I don't find that the lyrics convey apathy, rather an infinite patience or aplomb in the face of everything spinning uncontrollably off-axis. War&War feels similar in spirit to what True Widow was doing on the heavy sigh of As High as the Highest Heavens..., though without the depressive bent of that record. A bit of despair creeps in on the cover of Johnny Thunders' "It's Not Enough," which bleeds into the gray, abstract noise of the title track, but the band puts their dukes up again on closer "Who the Hell Are U?," a fitting end to the record to reinforce the group's street savvy instincts. Weak Signal's delivered a doozy, and one of my favorite new-to-me discoveries of the year so far.

[alanlicht]

Love Child "Never Meant to Be: 1988-1993" 2xLP/digital comp out today

Out now: 26-song overview of Love Child's best work, including songs from early demos, radio sessions, and original LPs Okay? (1991) and Witchcraft (1992), in a deluxe gatefold package as well as streaming/download. Released by 12XU records, available from them as well as Forced Exposure. Review above from Uncut magazine. This has been in the works for a while, but it was worth the wait, it distills the band's essence perfectly. Great to have this music back in circulation.

[bandcampsnoop]

12/23/23.

Gerard Cosloy's 12XU label has never gotten the attention that his earlier labels Homestead Records and Matador Records have received. But the label puts out consistently great music. Lupo Citta "Lupo Cittá" truly sounds like it could have been at home on any of those Cosloy labels.

This is hard edged rock in the vein of The Men, Sonic Youth or Eleventh Dream Day. And it does sound like Chris Brokaw's "Puritan" which is apropos seeing as Brokaw is one of the band's three members. Sarah Black and Jenn Gori are the other members, and it seems as if both have an extensive band history of their own.

Lupo Citta are a Boston, Massachusetts based band.

[rastronomicals]

4:06 PM EST November 23, 2023:

Moose & Chapterhouse - "12XU" Live @ The Marquee (Recorded 1991)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

[gerogerigaogaigar]

Wire - Pink Flag

This one is revolutionary. Wire were doing things in 77 that most bands wouldn't be trying for at least a couple of years. Punk moved so fast I. The 70s that it's a blur to track the evolution of the genre. By the time the first punk albums were being released in 76 the genre had already peaked for many first adopters and by 77 we were already seeing the first wave of post punk. Wire were definitely amongst those bands Ex Lion Tamer, Three Girl Rhumba, are very post punk. But they weren't content with just doing one thing where a lot of the album is very traditionally punk there are also a lot of songs that would hearken towards hardcore punk like Pink Flag and 12XU. 106 Beats That feels like a prototype noise rock song, Strange could easily be mistaken for some sort of British grunge, Fragile is basically the blueprint for alternative rock. I feel like you can divine a person's preferred punk subgenre based on their favorite track from this album.

Joy Division - Closer

Slightly more gothic than Unknown Pleasures and no less bleak. The more obviously personal a project becomes the closer it gets to unreviewable. This is Ian Curtis's suicide note. It sounds like a suicide note. Reading interviews about the recording sessions is harrowing. "We'd go to rehearsals and sit around and talk about really banal things. We'd do that until we couldn't talk about banal things any more, then we'd pick up our instruments and record into a little cassette player. We didn't talk about the music or the lyrics very much. We never analysed it." Bernard Sumner once recalled. This album is amazing but thinking too hard about it kinda terrifies me. I don't want to review Closer.

Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets

After departing from Roxy Music Brian Eno decided to make the weirdest, most unpredictable piece of art glam he could. By far the most theatrical thing in his discography and one of few that is still tethered to the rock idiom, if only barely. Here Comes The Warm Jets is full of off beat vocal delivery and wild guitar tones. It will flit between rock n roll riffs, manic guitar solos courtesy of Robert Fripp, and hazy droning bits that are early predictors of shoegaze. And through it all Eno delivers vocals in the most off kilter cadence possible shifting from Frankie Valli falsetto to warbled crooning. This is kind of the final form of glam rock, you can't come back from it only move forward.

Sam Cooke - Portrait Of A Legend 1951-1964

Okay, I've been pretty hard on greatest hits so far but I'm gonna give this one a pass because most of Cooke's best works were originally released as non album singles. Sam Cooke's ability to absolutely nail the doo wop sound while also amassing a rock and roll fan base is amazing. He may be the crossover artist of all time. Cooke's biggest hits are without a doubt some of the catchiest songs of all time, I don't know whether I'm gonna have Cupid, Chain Gang, (What A) Wonderful World, or Another Saturday Night stuck in my head, but tomorrow morning imma be living with one or more of those on repeat.

Al Green - I'm Still In Love With You

I've talked about Al Green before and things haven't changed. He's one of, if not the, greatest vocalists of all time. Like all of his albums from this era it shows off his incredible range, going from low to falsetto with an ease that baffles me. It's unfortunately sandwiched between my two favorite Al Green albums so I definitely overlook it, but it's definitely worthwhile.

KISS - Alive!

KISS is potato chips. Is it high quality? Is it good for you? Who cares that's not why you eat potato chips. If you want some extremely stupid music about drinking, fucking, and the vague concept of 'rocking out' then this is the best your gonna get. It's high energy fun. It's camp. The best part is that this was released before their smash hit album Destroyer so you get all the early songs with good blues riffs and guitar solos instead of the dreadfully boring Detroit Rock City or, god forbid, Beth. This is so obviously the best KISS album.

Bill Withers - Just As I Am

Withers' debut leans more towards a folksy gospel feel than Still Bill's funk soul flavor. While I think it's less dynamic overall Just As I Am has plenty to offer. The hit, Ain't No Sunshine is a classic, and Withers turns the mediocre Beatles hit Let It Be into an amazing gospel number. But to me the biggest things this album has going for it is Grandma's Hands, a song that is just so beautiful.

ABBA - The Definitive Collection

Oh wow another greatest hits. I don't know if this is a hot take or not but I really like ABBA. I think they have like six albums that would be great choices for this list spot. At the very least ABBA, Arrival, Voulez-Vouz, and The Visitors are all fantastic albums start to finish. No need to pick out the hits and package them all together.

Neil Young - Tonight's The Night

When Young made On The Beach he poured despair into it, but only seemingly as a distraction from the even more profound despair that was Tonight's The Night. While recorded before On The Beach it was not released until after. The album is entirely about the death of two friends of Young's, Crazy Horse member Danny Whitten, and roadie Bruce Berry. The intensely personal nature of this album is apparent from the bleak lyrics, stripped down production, Young's constantly faltering voice, and even the album liner notes which state "I'm sorry. You don't know these people. This means nothing to you." When I was dismissive of On The Beach that was because this album exists. All the melancholy and anguish of On The Beach is just residue from Tonight's The Night. This is one of music most sincere and pure expressions. The fact that the entire rest of Young's discography is not rendered irrelevant by this album is nothing short of a miracle.

New York Dolls - s/t

I am once again positing a potential starting point for punk rock. The combination of glam aesthetics with the 50s rock and roll musicianship is one of the more obvious influences on the evolution of punk. Very extremely silly lyrics are coupled with riffs that are basically all ripped from Chuck Berry songs. The result is an album with a constant manic energy that's as fun as it is infectious.

[dustedmagazine]

Love Child — Never Meant To Be (1988-1993) (12XU)

Love Child brings the detuned roar of Dinosaur, the nervy agitation of the Feelies, the arch literacy of Pavement, the barbed sugar of the Throwing Muses, shifting sound and style from song to song. This compilation spans the brief career of the New York City noise-punk-lofi outfit, with cuts from a debut 7”, both early 1990s full-lengths and unreleased and radio tracks. It’s an absolute riot from start to finish, even if it’s hard to get a grip on what Love Child was at its core.

The band came together in the late 1980s, when Will Baum, Rebecca Odes and Alan Licht were still students at Vassar. Licht, of course, later made a name as a critic and noise-minimalist. His work with Love Child overlapped with Blue Humans and slightly preceded turns with Run On and the Pacific Ocean. His collaborations with Jandek and Loren Connors took place later, in the second half of the 1990s.

The earliest cuts here come from a 1990 single, the brash, ragged-bassed “Sofa” (memorialized here in Love Child’s only video) and the vaguely “Summertime Blues”-ish “Crocus” (with its indelible line, “My mom threw me out until I get some pants that fit/She just don’t approve of my strange kind of wit.” ) Both balance garage-rock minimalism with a bursts of noise. “Sofa” intersperses catchy, kicky girl-boy choruses with blasts of unfettered guitar squall.

The first full-length, Okay, came on Homestead in 1991. Its tracks take up a large portion of this compilation, which is fine because they bang pretty hard, especially the multi-voiced “Diane” and “Fortune Cookie” which blends the pure blasting amp noise of J. Mascis , the yelping angst of Television and the clanking post-punk bass sounds of, say, Gods Gift. But other cuts run towards jangle pop, notably “He’s So Sensitive” a lofi girl group garage rocker featuring Odes on lead vocal. The other album, Witchcraft, followed a year later, also on Homestead. It’s a bit smoother, a bit more melodic, a bit more reliant on Odes’ buzzy, dreamy vocals. “AAA/XXX” is almost dream pop, though sharp guitar slashes prop up the verse, while “Something Cruel” jangles lyrically for a seconds before cranking up to pogo speed.

Additional, previously unreleased material bookends the album. “Asking for It,” from a 1992 Peel Session comes first, layering bratty, confrontational punk on wild eruptions of near rockabilly guitar; an oozing, sludgy noise interval bisects the cut. “Greedy,” another song from the same session exults in feedback and loose harmonies, tough and vulnerable at the same time. There are also a couple of cuts from a KSPC show, including the dreaming, droning, guitar-led “All Is Loneliness” with its shades of VU. That track was recorded in 1993, near the end of this evanescent outfit’s run, and it hints at other directions that they might have taken if they had persisted. Still no use mourning what never happened. There’s plenty to celebrate here without it.

Jennifer Kelly

[daggerzine]

MY FAVORITE RECORDS OF 2023! (lists in no particular order....well, sort of)

MY 20 FAVORITE RECORDS OF 2023  

Anna Hillburg- Tired Girls (Speakeasy Studios)

RVG- Brain Worms (fire) 

The Tubs- Dead Meat (Trouble in Mind) 

Seablite- Lemon Lights (Mt St Mtn)

The Reds, Pinks & Purples- The Town That Cursed Your Name (Slumberland)

Lewsberg- Out and About (12XU)

Melenas- Ahora (Trouble in Mind)

Blues Lawyer- All in Good Time (Dark Entries) 

Colored Lights- S/T (Bobo Integral)

Doe St- Stepping Stones (Legless) 

Guardian Singles- Feed Me To The Doves (Trouble in Mind) 

Corvair - Bound To Be (WIAIWYA)

The Garment District- Flowers Telegraphed To All Parts of the World (HHBTM)

Royal Ottawa- Carcosa (self released)

Tough Age- Waiting here (Bobo Integral)

Soft Science- Lines (Shelflife)

The Midnight Sailors- S/T (self released)

Robert Forster- The Candle and the Flame (Tapete) 

Civic – Taken By Force (ATO) 

Sumos- Surfacing (Meritorio) 

WAIT….HERE’S 20 MORE!

Connie Lovatt- Coconut Mirror (Enchante’)

En Attendant Ana- Principia (Trouble in Mind) 

Withered Hand- How to Love (Reveal) 

The High Water Marks- Your Next Wolf (Minty Fresh)

The Feelies- Some Kinda Love: Performing the Music of the Velvet Underground (Bar-None)

Connections- Cool Change (Trouble in Mind) 

The Ex Bats- Song Machine  (Goner)

The Photocopies- Top of the Pops (Ultra Modern)

Amanda Brown- Eight Guitars (Lillipilli) 

Arthur Alexander- …Steppin’ Out!  (Big Stir Records)

Eyelids- A Colossal Waste of Lights ((Jealous Butcher) 

Panic Pocket- Mad Half Hour (Skep Wax)

Yo La Tengo- This Stupid World (Matador)

Swansea Sound- Twentieth Century (Skep Wax)

Kevin Robertson- Magic Spells Abound (Futureman)  

Super 8- Hoopla (The Beautiful Music) 

The Radio Fields- Dos and Dont’s (Subjangle)

Joe McAlinden- Where The Clouds Go Swimming (self -released)

The Black Watch- Future Strangers (ATOM) 

Rob I Miller- Companion Piece (Vacant Stare)

….AND HERE’S 10 MORE

The Lost Days- In the Store (Speakeasy Studios) 

Life Strike- Peak Dystopia (Bobo Integral)

Belle & Sebastian- Late Developers (Matador)

Lauds- Imitation Life (Fort Lowell) 

The Hepburns- Only the Hours (Lavender Sweep) 

Lomma- Torrey Pines (self released)

C.O.F.F.I.N.- Australia Stops (Goner)

Special Friend- Wait Until the Flames Come Rushing In (Skep Wax)

Burning Ferns- World of the Wars (Country Mile)

Wojtek the Bear- Second Place on Purpose (Last Night From Glasgow)

I ALSO REALLY LIKED ALBUMS BY:  Diners, Moving Targets, Bill Orcutt, Skull Practitioners, the Suncharms, Divine Horsemen, The Flashcubes, Hurry, Teenage Fanclub, Lydia Loveless, The Make Three, Shana Cleveland, The Ekphrastics, Ryan Allen, Fruit Bats, Nicole Yun, Dippers, Lost Film, Tony Jay, Cindy, Class, The Clientele, Lemon Twigs, Sweeping Promises, The National Honor Society, The Whiffs, Infinite River, Silver Biplanes, Jason Isbell, The Cuticles, Mudhoney, Alex Lahey, Crocodiles, Peter Hall, Cherry Fez, The Angles, Scott Gagner, Mainland Break, Christian Kjellvander, Sick Thoughts, Grand Drifter, The Motifs, The Sunshine Convention, The 1981, Roy Moller, Youth Valley, Soft Covers, Deadlights, The Smashing Times, The Spires, Helen Love, Motorbike, Silverstiles, Water Damage, Uni Boys, The Royal Arctic Institute, Gina Birch, Gee Tee, etc.

MY  10 FAVORITE REISSUES OF 2023 

The Chills- Brave Words (Fire)

The Replacements- Tim (Sire)

The Ocean Blue- Davy Jones Locker (Korda)

Wild Carnation- Tricycle (Delmore) 

Neutral Milk Hotel- The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel (Merge)

Das Damen- 1986- Keeps Me Wild (Dromedary)

Heavenly -Le Jardin de Heavenly (Skep Wax) 

The Verlaines- Bird Dog (Schoolkids Records) 

The Toms- S/T (Feel It) 

Celibate Rifles  Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Bang!)

MY 15 FAVORITE EPS OF 2023 

Lightheaded- Good Good Grief (Slumberland)

Minor Threat-  Out of Step outtakes (Dischord)

The Cucumbers- Old Shoes (self released)

The Reds, Pinks & Purples- Unloveable Losers (digital) 

The Vapour Trails- On a Beautiful Day (Futureman)

Blues Lawyer- Sight Gags on the Radio (Dark Entries)

Deary- S/T (Sonic Cathedral)

The Wends- Better Will (WWNBB) 

Te Vista- S/T  (Cripes) 

Red Sleeping Beauty- From Sarah With Love (Matinee)

Letting Up Despite Great Faults- Crumble (S/T) 

The Prize- Wrong Side Of Town   (Anti Fade) 

Touch Girl Apple Blossom- S/T (self released)

Galore- Blush (Paisley Shirt) 

Lost Tapes- Crossing Towns (Shelflife)

MY 5 FAVORITE COLLECTIONS OF 2023 

The Particles- 1980’s Bubblegum (Chapter Music)

Primal Scream- Reverberations (Travelling in Time) (Acid Jazz/XTRM/Young Tiki)

The Shapiros- Gone by Fall: the Collected Works of (World of Echo) 

Dot Dash- 16 Again (Country Mile)

Comet Gain- The Misfit Jukebox (Tapete) 

Eric "Eggman" Eggleson's favorite records of 2023!

A Colossal Waste Of Light - Eyelids

Aeterna - Vinyl Williams

Away From The Castle – Video Age

Babydoll – Rat Columns

Bananasugarfire – Golden Apples

Careless By The Coast - Marvin Powell

Cartwheel - Hotline TNT

Colored Lights

Compact Trauma – Ulrika Spacek

Continue As A Guest – The New Pornographers

Disenchanter - Alaska Reid

EP IV – Yumi Zouma

Flowers Telegraphed To All Parts Of The World – The Garment District

Henry St. - The Tallest Man On Earth

Hindsight is 50/50 – Ghost Woman

I Held The Shape While I Could – Bodywash

Javelin – Sufjan Stevens

Left Hand - Becca Mancari

Life and Life Only - The Heavy Heavy

Love as Projection – Frankie  Rose

May Cause Dizzy Ness - The Musical Chairs

My Entire Life – SUSTO

Pearlies – Emma Anderson

Perennial - Woods

Pictures – Dean Owens

Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) - Yves Tumor

Prize - Rozi Plain

Radio Red – Laura Groves

So Soon Now – Trillion

Strange Loops and Outer Psyche – Andy Bell

Suntub – ML Buch

The Greater Wings - Julie Byrne

The Natural Lines

The Queen Is Not Dead – Spiritual Front

the record – boygenius

The Sunshine Convention

The Twits - bar Italia

This Candle Is For You - Spearmint

Waiting Here – Tough Age

We Live In Strange Times – Ian M Bailey

When Horses Would Run - Being Dead