Speaking of - after last year's impressive run, you're acting sorta like a disaffected Dem voter whose not planning on coming out for the mid-terms. YAKNOWWHATUMSAYIN?

Meh. I'm still fighting the good fight on the blog, but that fight is over on Obner - and PPDD won.

Paul Cary of the early 00s garage rock firebrands grows up a bit – still in a somewhat raucous, stripped to the essentials vibe that relies on decades raw and rollicking influences, but with a more measured and unique vibe that’s all his own! Bits of 60s garage & the grittiest of r&b influences, weary rockabilly and other elements fuse into something else entirely here. There's something special going on here! Titles include "The Curse Of China Bull", "Yes Machine", Iryna", "Angel From Heaven", "Come Take Me Away", "Ghost Of A Man", "Bad People" and "Green Monster".

Meh. I'm still fighting the good fight on the blog, but that fight is over on Obner - and PPDD won.

Hammond beat grooves from The Qualitons – representing funky Budapest! The Qualitons are a unique group in the funky organ underground, regardless of region – drawing from a well of influences that range from rave up funk to wild-eyed vintage R&B & garage rock. It's really exciting stuff, and feels no more or less authentic than the influences – generally with a hard driving undercurrent of heavy drums and thick washes of organ. The strains of beat group and garage rock give it them an incendiary edge that we just love, but they slow it down in spots that show quite a range, and these guys can seriously play! The group is armed with a couple vocal tunes and a bunch of great instrumentals. Titles include "C'mon Baby", "Get Heavy With Me", "Overdose", "Ejjel A Sotetben", "Wandering Will", "AC Blues", "Soul Bowl/Kekfeny", "Aua", "More Plutonium" and more.

underrated band...look forward to hearing their new one

That You Am I any good?

Anyone have the new Demon's Claw?

Violens – Amoral
8.5/10

There is a retro feel to the debut album from New York’s latest hotly tipped band, Violens. Drawing influence from 60′s giants like the Byrds and at times shades of the Zombies, they manage to wrap it all up in a very up to date manner.

They are one of those bands that I have dipped into on occasions over the last couple of years since they released their self-titled EP. I was interested to see what direction the longplayer took them in, and was pleasantly surprised. Yes, at times it’s still a little bit art rock for my more simplistic tastes nowadays. I think the whole math rock thing here in the UK was overkill and with the exception of Foals it was done badly. But at a time when the indie scene is full of manufactured bands that all sound the same, it’s still nice to hear a band not conforming to convention.

One of the first tracks I heard by Violens was ‘Trance Like Turn’, and I’m glad it made the cut for the record. The 60′s West coast influence is obvious in the strange and short title track. But the beauty of the album really lies in the diversity, with ‘Another Strike Restrained’ having a real Smiths feel to it. The album closer changes direction yet again – ‘Generational Loss’ is both lyrically thought-provoking and musically mind-blowing as it builds to the kind of jam session where you just let everything go. You’re really left wondering if this is the same band that opened the record! Hyped they may be, but this debut more than delivers the substance to match.

Meh. I'm still fighting the good fight on the blog, but that fight is over on Obner - and PPDD won.

Neither brothers nor sisters, this Brooklyn duo creates rollicking, lazy-boned laments about days gone by. Once opener “The Curse” rattles to attention with rickety alternative-era guitars and youthful drum pats, the peg is as dead on as their Death By Audio ancestry. Core members of the collective that fostered a Brooklyn venue, effects pedal creations and a record-producing business, Sisters’ members are scene siblings with the likes of Jeff the Brotherhood, Grooms and A Place to Bury Strangers.

It’s funny that label Narnack refers to Sisters’ blend as “Doolittle-pop,” as over the 11 songs that occupy their debut “Ghost Fits” , Aaron Pfannebecke (guitar/vocals) and Matt Conboy (drums/keyboard) combine the contemporary sonic breath of fellow brazen duos Japandroids or No Age (“Glue” & “Sky”) but derive their most heavy of helpings from that other greatly-sourced luminary indie act, Sonic Youth.

Though wobbly, carefree and bobbing, “Ghost Fits” settles as a middling sonic reflective on each of its player’s past without much of anything wholly noteworthy or pervasively new to mention along the way. Named after the 1987 Sonic Youth album “Sister,” Pfannebecke and Conboy have successfully sourced the breakneck punk temperament into a focused sound that’s no doubt pleasing and assessable on standout tracks “Synesthesia” and “Wake Me Up,” trying in their infections, dulled honesty.

Having certainly done their homework, Sisters bring a sound’s true-to-form delivery as current competition to the already crowded arena of noisy lo-fi outfits, the problem is that the duo merely lack the secret weapon (No Age adds a to-the-clouds drifting ambiance for example) that’s going to keep its listeners coming back to fill their seats.

Sisters - Ghost Fits




Really liking this a lot.

Pitchfork: It seems like under every track there are a lot of things going on, very watery, swampy sounds. Does that tie into the title as well?

AT: Yeah, definitely.

Pitchfork: There are a lot of beats on this record, too. Some of the songs sound like very dark dubstep. Did you go into the studio with any sort of rhythmic influence in mind?

AT: I do like a lot of dubstep and British electronic music. Since [creating the record] was over such a long period of time, it wasn't like, "Oh, I want to make a dubstep record" or anything like that-- I wouldn't do that anyway, regardless. I've always loved techno, and I've listened to a lot of dubstep music these days. A lot of old 1960s electronic, compositional music where there's a lot of oscillators inspired me, too.

Elvis Costello’s 2009 album Secret, Profane & Sugarcane touched on bluegrass, R&B, and Americana with producer T-Bone Burnett. This year Costello’s back with similar sounds and the same producer, and a consistent theme: The financial collapse. But the collapse seems to stand in for all kinds of American tragedies, personal, national, international, etc. (Costello describes the album as “… for the bankrupt times, whenever they may be.”) Members of the Imposters and the Sugarcanes appear on the record alongside special guests Vince Gill, Marc Ribot, Buddy Miller and Leon Russell.

Avey Tare - Down There