Thee Oh Sees | the finest kiss

Best of Something

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Toby

I hope you looking for a few more records to buy before the wave of 2016 releases hits I didn’t count them and they’re in no particular order but each album won in its own unique category. I don’t have any small statuettes to hand out, but I gave each of my favorite albums an award.

Places To Hide – Strange Lyfe (Irrelevant)
Best Posthumous Album: This Atlanta band broke up before releasing their second album. Great punk and post punk anthems in the vein of X, Versus and Seam.

The Intelligence – Vintage Future (In the Red)
Best Album by an Ex-Seattle Band: I say this about every Intelligence album, but it was their best record yet.

King Cyst – King of New York (Underwater Peoples)
Best Canterbury Scene Influenced Album: The Brooklyn group’s second album had me checking the release date on this whimsical beauty.

Protomartyr – The Agent Intellect (Hardly Art)
Best Post-Punk Rust Belt Album: The third LP by this Detroit band continues the upward trajectory initialized by last year’s Under Color of Official Right.

Wildhoney – Sleep Through It (Topshelf)
Best Shoegaze Album: Shoegaze has officially become a genre of music, but so few bands in the genre understand that you still need to write great songs to accompany the tremelo bar and effects pedals. That’s not a problem for Wildhoney.

The Chills – Silver Bullets (Fire)
Best Comeback Album: After years of personal struggles, Martin Phillips finally reinitialized the Chills and created masterpiece that sounds like he hadn’t been out of the game over 20 years.

Helen – The Original Faces (Kranky)
Best Album That Sounds Like It Was Mastered from a Cassette: Liz Harris aka Grouper goes down the Black Tambourine / Vivian Girls rabbit hole and emerges from a mountain top.

Shopping – Why Choose (FatCat)
Best ESG-Gang of Four Inspired Album: The London band’s second album is not vastly different from their debut except that the songs are bigger, better more tightly wound.

Mammoth Penguins – Hide and Seek (Fortuna Pop!)
Best Album by Large Flightless Birds: Standard Fare’s Emma Kupa switched from bass to guitar in her new band and comes up with a more rawkus but no less poignant record.

Cold Beat – Into the Air (Crime On the Moon)
Best Polar Ice Cap Melting Album: Former Grass Widow bassist Hannah Lew immerses her band into an 1980’s inspired synth pop sound that on the surface sounds cold, but has a warmth and playfullness on its underbelly that could be blamed for contributing to global warming.

Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit (Mom + Pop)
Best Stream of Conscious Album: I was surprised at how polarizing this record was, it seemed like you either loved it or hated it. I was a fan of how Courtney Barnett innately was able to make her stream of conscious lyrics make sense over some incredible hooks.

Die Verboten – Die Verboten 2007 (Deewee)
Best Album from 2007: Recorded eight years ago, the Belgian Krautrock influenced collective finally got around to releasing their debut this year. As you might have guessed it sounds timeless.

Downtown Boys – Full Communism (Don Giovanni)
Best Timely Punk Album: It seemed like this Providence, Rhode Island band hit on all the top issues in America (Police Killings, Black Lives, and the 1% to name a few) on Full Communism. Add in a twin saxophone bed of chaos and you have the best pure punk record I’ve heard in a long time.

Finnmark! – Things Always Change (Beko)
Best Indiepop Album by English People Masquerading as Scandinavians: Part Cats on Fire and part Lucksmiths this erudite record caught my indiepop fancy.

Girls Names – Arms Around a Vision (Tough Love)
Best Album by a Former Slumberland and Captured Tracks Band: Girls Names slightly reinvent themselves on their third LP. It’s darker, colder bleaker and better than anything they’ve ever done.

Hooton Tennis Club – Highest Point In Cliff Town (Heavenly)
Best Album of Shambolic Anthems: Hooton Tennis Club sound like they’ve got a Pavement attitude and the pop licks of Teenage Fanclub. Formidable attributes that they employ to precise effect.

Eternal Summers – Gold and Stone (Kanine)
Best Comeback Album by a Band the Never Went Away: Roanoke, Virginia’s Eternal Summers never went away, in fact they’ve been consistently putting out records. Gold and Stone sees them taking a great leap in consistency and quality to make their best album since their debut.

Grubs – It Must Be Grubs (Tuff Enuff)
Best Album by a Joanna Gruesome Spin-off: Grubs also get an award for the shortest album of the year. These 11 songs fly by in about 20 minutes but leave a lasting impression thanks to singer Roxy Brennan sweet voice.

Hierophants – Parallax Error (Goner)
Best Devo Inspired Album: Australia’s Hierophants debut channels Chuck Berry, Beach Boys but mostly Devo to jarring effect. Disconcerting, discombobulated and disgreat.

Robert Forster – Songs to Play (Tapete)
Best Album that References Twitter: When artists incorporate references to the internet I usually cringe, but Robert Forster does it in smile inducing way on Let Me Imagine You. It was good to have one of the masters back.

Nick Hessler – Soft Connections (Captured Tracks)
Best Album by a Yay! Records Alumni: Formerly playing under the Catwalk moniker Nick Hessler decided to ‘solo’ on his debut LP. Soft Connections is a brilliant slice of Aztec Camera inspired pop.

Best Friends – Hot. Reckless. Totally Insane. (FatCat)
Best Garage Rock Inspired by Orange Juice: Best Friends’ debut isn’t groundbreaking, earth shattering or revolutionary. It’s just plain fun.

Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators – Happiness In Every Style (Timmion)
Best Helsinki Soul Album: Brooklyn born Willis and her Finish Soul Investigators made one of my favorite soul revival records of the year.

Day Ravies – Liminal Zones (Sonic Masala)
Best Album by a Fake Kinks Revival Band: On their second LP, Sydny’s Day Ravies shed any hint of shoegaze and go for a raw psychedelic sound and prove that they’re good at that too.

Expert Alterations – You Can’t Always Be Right (Kanine)
Best Jangle Pop Album: You can’t always be right, but at least you can sound good even if you favor sonically dissonant pop. If this is album is wrong, I don’t want to be right

Outfit – Slowness (Memphis Industries)
Best Mark Hollis Revival Album: The sophomore album from Liverpool’s Outfit was entrancing. It contained no obvious hits, but it was a record that easily commanded my interest listen after listen.

Knife Pleats – Hat Bark Beach (Lost Sound)
Best West Coast 90’s Indiepop Album: Rose Melberg finally decides to revisit her Tiger Trap and Go Sailor roots with her new band and proceeds to satisfy the soul.

The Fireworks – Switch Me On (Shelflife)
Best Buzzy Noise Pop Album: An intensely energetic debut based on a Jesus & Mary Chain, Shop Assistants and the Razorcuts. This one was right in my wheelhouse!

Sauna Youth – Distractions (Upset the Rhythm)
Best Album by a band With an Alter Ego: No their not Sonic Youth’s alter ego, Sauna Youth moonlight as Monotony. Distractions was tour de force of frantic noisy anthems influenced by the Fall and Wire.

Primitive Parts – Primitive Parts (Trouble In Mind)
Best Blur Album This Year: Male Bounding and Sauna Youth members team up for a straightforward maelstrom of sharp guitar focused punkish pop.

Valet – Nature (Kranky)
Best Cocteau Twins Impersonation: This Portland group start anew on Nature and thanks to Honey Owens ethereal voice aim for the stars.

Traams – Modern Dancing (FatCat)
Best Krauty-Shouty Album: I really liked Traams’ debut album, but Traams fine tuned their sound into controlled chaos to take Modern Dancing to the next level.

Kitchen’s Floor – Battle of Brisbane (Bruit Direct)
Best Dissonant Brutalist Album: Battle of Brisbane has topical similarities with Woolen Men’s Temporary Monument, but Matt Kennedy’s Kitchen’s Floor sounds angrier and ready for a fight.

Terrible Truths – Terrible Truths (Bedroom Suck)
Best Intensely Laid-back Album: This album had some similarities with the Shopping LP, but Terrible Truths somehow accomplish the trick of sounding tightly wound and laid back at once.

Woolen Men – Temporary Monument (Woodsist)
Best Monument to the Have Nots: Portland’s Woolen Men combine elements of Wire, the Wipers and REM to create a passionate document berating the new rich and lingering recession.

Saun & Starr – Look Closer (Daptone)
Best Surprise Album by Back-up Singers: Starr Duncan Lowe and Saundra Williams were backup singers for Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. I think they will have their own permanent gig after this stellar debut.

Jessica Pratt – On Your Own Love Again (Drag City)
Best Album to Listen to Under a Pink Moon: If you didn’t know better, you would assume that this album is 50 years old and was produced by Joe Boyd. Out of time and otherworldly.

Twerps – Range Anxiety (Merge)
Best Australian Album to Sound like It’s from New Zealand: No sophomore slump problems from this Melbourne band, in fact they appear to be a bottomless well of pop goodness.

Viet Cong – Viet Cong (JagJaguwar)
Best Ballsy album by a band with no Balls: This Canadian band take their sound from many brave sounding bans like Gang of Four, the Comsat Angels and the Chameleons. Too bad they’re waffling under pressure to change their name.

Frankie & the Witch Fingers – Frankie & the Witch Fingers (Permanent)
Best Garage Rock Album: This album made me appreciate the saturated garage rock genre again.

Thee Oh Sees – Mutilator Defeated At Last (Castle Face)
Best John Dwyer Album of the Year: The most varied and consistent album yet from this perennial favorite.

Sheer Agony – Masterpiece (Couple Skate)
Smartest Canadian Rock Album With an Old Guy on the Cover: How smart? How about combining mod era Lilys with the skewed pop of the Shins to come up with an endlessly interesting and engaging LP. This Montreal group seem to already have mastered everything on their debut.

Willie Weird – The Scuzzy Inputs Of Willie Weird (Stroll On)
Best Album to Go Off the Deep End: Kelley Stolz’s alter ego comes up with a fractured pop gem

Joanna Gruesome – Peanut Butter (Slumberland)
Best Album to Supply a Vegetarian Source of Protein: The second album of jarring pop from this Cardiff group really sticks to your ribs.

Tam Vantage – Life in High Definition (Lost and Lonesome)
Best Album by a Pop Single: The debut solo album from former Pop Singles front man is a complex and accomplished record.

The Shifters – The Shifters (Comfort 35)
Best Hex Enduction Album: This was the first time I can ever remember not buying the new Fall album. I smartly spent my money on the Shifters’ cassette instead.

Best Ones of the Year So Far

Posted on August 7, 2015 by Toby

This was supposed to be a mid-year list. Actually it still is, but it’s month late. What does that make it? I’m still calling it a mid year list since I saw mid year lists in May. It’s also not as diverse as I was hoping it would be as you will likely notice that the letter F is over-represented here. Hopefully some of the other letters will get a little more attention in the year end list. Hope you find something you might have missed and it’s in reverse alphabetical order for your convenience!

Zebra Hunt – City Sighs (Tenorio Cotobade)

It just so happens that doing this list in reverse alphabetical order puts my favorite album of the year so far at the top of the list. How’s that for coincidence? Hopefully you already know and own this record. If not, you need it in your life because who doesn’t need a little kiwi flavored jangle served up by this Seattle trio?

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Young Guv – Ripe 4 Luv (Slumberland)

Fucked Up guitarist Ben Cook will through you for a loop if you’re expecting hard core here. This is Cheap Trick style power pop mixed in with blue eyed soul and 80’s top 40 that is undeniably great.

Wildhoney – Sleep Through It (Deranged)

Sleep Through It is full of shimmering anthems in the classic pop mold. Wildhoney’s debut album easily places them at the top of the heap of the shoegaze revival.

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Viet Cong – Viet Cong (Jagjaguwar)

An album of bleak post punk that sounds like it could have been made during the age of Reaganomics and the nuclear arms race. It’s like twisted a time warp back to the era of the Comsat Angels and the Sound.

Unlikely Friends – Solid Gold Cowboys (Jigsaw)

Indiepop supergroup debut album that softens the edges of BOAT and adds some teeth to Math & Physics Club. The perfect Seattle elixir.

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Twerps – Range Anxiety (Merge)

Melbourne’s Twerps deliver the Flying Nun influenced jangly goods on their second LP. Fans of the Go-Betweens, Feelies and the Bats take note.

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TheeSatisfaction – Earthee (Sup Pop)

The otherworldly second album from the interstellar Seattle hip hop duo is spiritual and strange at once. If psychedelic hip hop were a genre this would be at the top.

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Thee Oh Sees – Mutilator Defeated At Last (Castle Face)

Finally an Oh Sees LP that marries John Dwyers more experimental solo outing material with his band’s freak outs.

The Shifters – ST (Comfort 35)

Sure, the Fall put out a new record this year, but for my money Australia’s Shifters do it better in 2015. Full of bile, but they have a playfulness to them that is missing from the band that undoubtedly inspired them.

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Sauna Youth – Distractions (Upset the Rhythm)

Taught, anxiety filled post punk jams from this London band are designed for those who prefer their music played with sharp jabs and shouted choruses.

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Saun & Starr – Look Closer (Daptone)

Sharon Jones backup singers Saundra Williams and Starr Duncan Lowe finally come to the front of the stage to take the spotlight and give us a smooth soul classic.

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Jessica Pratt – On Your Own Love Again (Drag City)

If you didn’t know better, you would assume that this album is 50 years old and was produced by Joe Boyd. Out of time and otherworldly.

Rozi Plain – Friend (Lost Map)

For her third LP Rozi Plain paints from a bucolic pallet to give us music of rolling hills and wandering brooks.

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Outfit – Slowness (Memphis Industries)

Second album from Liverpool quintet evokes the greatness of Talk Talk and the Blue Nile.

No Joy – More Faithful (Mexican Summer)

With the help of Jorge Elbrecht this Montreal dreampop have produced an intricate studio creation that is a marvel to he ears.

Menace Beach – Ratworld (Memphis Industries)

Want to relive those 90’s indie rock glory days, Menace Beach are here to help. Their debut album is super charged with great riffs and choruses.

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Male Gaze – Gale Maze (Castle Face)

Male Gaze have an intensity about them that puts them into the same league with A-Frames. Their debut album is steeped in post-apocalyptic paranoia that never goes out of style.

Joanna Gruesome – Peanut Butter (Slumberland)

Album number two from Cardiff’s Joanna Gruesome is as high quality as their debut. It continues the uncanny mixture of sweet choruses, mad freak-outs and made freak-outs and sweet choruses.

Nic Hessler – Soft Connections (Captured Tracks)

I feel like Nic Hessler’s debut album would have gotten more attention if he would have stayed with his Catwalk moniker. Marketing aside, Soft Connections is beautiful record of accomplished pop that is as good as anything Aztec Camera ever did.

H Hawkline – In the Pink Condition (Heavenly)

Welsh musician H Hawkline, also known as Huw Gwynfryn Evans fits right in with some of his more famous psychedelic countrymen like Gruff Rhys, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and Cate Le Bon who also produced the album.

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Frida & Ale – I don’t like to see others having fun (WWNBB)

Former Rough Bunnie Frida teams up with Ale of Le Man Avec Les Lunettes to create a wonderful little folk record retains the same innocent playfulness of Rough Bunnies.

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Frankie & the Witch Fingers – ST (Permanent)

Los Angeles garage maestros by way Bloomington, Indiana have put out the best garage rock record of the year. Yeah, I know it’s only August, but I sincerely doubt anything will surpass this white hot record.

Flesh World – The Wild Animals In My Life (Iron Lung)

An intense and textured debut from former this bay area band lead by Jess Scott formerly of Brilliant Colors. Tons of guitars create a dense o wall of sound and makes this record beg to be played at maximum volume.

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Fireworks – Switch Me On (Shelflife)

Switch Me On is packed full of adrenaline fueled pop songs. Fuzz pop blasts that outfuzz all other fuzz pop.

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Finnmark! – Things Always Change (Beko)

Singer Edward Forth has a deep baritone that reminds you of Edwynn Collins on one of the most understated and pleasure inducing indiepop record of the year.

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Faith Healer – Cosmic Troubles (Mint)

Jessica Jalbert aka Faith Healer is also a member of Edmonton garage rockers Tee-Tahs who put out one of my favorite albums of last year. Faith Healer is an entirely different thing, but no less good. Cosmic Troubles is full of easy psychedelic jams in the vein of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and Cate Le Bon. I wonder if she’s got some Welsh in her?

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Eternal Summers – Gold and Stone (Kanine)

Eternal Summers’ fourth LP is their best one yet. It’s full of buzz and jangle with just right amounts of polish and tarnish.

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Downtown Boys – Full Communism (Don Giovani)

Downtown Boys debut LP rages against the machine of of capitalism, sexism, racism, queerphobia, fascism, and boredom to the unstoppable sound of a twin sax tsunami. Hardcore never sounded this inviting and inclusive.

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Dick Diver – Melbourne, Florida (Trouble In Mind)

Dick Diver have many similarities with their fellow Australians Twerps. They jangle, sound a little like the Go-Betweens but Dick Diver aren’t afraid to get a little weird and experiment a little more on their records. Melboure, Florida is their third LP and though not as immediate as 2013’s Calendar Days, it sticks to the bones.

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Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit (Mom & Pop)

Courtney Barnett’s stream of conscious lyrics are endlessly interesting to interpret and decipher and you have ample opportunity because the songs are so good on her debut LP that they beg to be played again and again.

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In the Middle of It – Part III

Posted on July 17, 2014 by Toby

You guys probably thought this was over. Nah, I was just giving everyone a day of rest. So now we are at the end of the middle of it. A little longer but packed full of worthwhile stuff. I left a few out, because…because why? Because I’m tired and I want to get back to listening to records.

Hollie Cook – Twice (Mr. Bongo)

Hollie Cook who is the daughter of Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook has mastered it on album number two. Her brand of tropical/pop/reggae/dub sounds so fresh that you will wonder why nobody has come up with this elixir before. Twice has lush orchestration, obscure samples, phat beats and always Ms. Cook’s simmering voice bringing everything to brilliant life.

stream: Hollie Cook – Ari Up

You’ve heard it before. Band reunites, makes album after 20 year hiatus. Album sucks. It’s enough to make you ignore your glory days. The Woodentops are here to show you that old people don’t suck. After calling it a day 22 years ago the band are back with a new album. Yes they’ve aged, but they’ve made a record that holds onto the manic energy of their first incarnation, while adding a gravitas that makes up for any spring they may have lost in their steps. Granular Tales surely isn’t’ the record they would have made as follow up to Woodenfoot cops on the highway 20 years ago. It’s most likely much better.

stream: Woodentops – Third Floor Rooftop High

Ramona Lisa – Arcadia (Terrible)

Ramona Lisa is Caroline Polachek of Charilift. Her first solo album Arcadia is entirely and electronic affair, but it doesn’t sound cold or stilted at all. It is spacious and playful with a similar aesthetic to a Kate Bush or Goldfrapp record. She’s also brought an A list of songs so this is anything but some throw away indulgence solo album.

stream: Ramona Lisa – Backwards & Upwards

Talbot Adams – Talbot Adams (Space Case)

Talbot Adams self-titled solo album is wall to wall quality. What kind of quality you ask. Quality in the caliber of Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello and Wreckless Eric. Thing is, it came out on a tiny label and got no press. People complain all the time that music sucks these days. It doesn’t suck you just need to dig because Columbia Records is not bankrolling artists anymore, so you are not going to hear this stuff on the radio or read about it on your favorite indie music web site. Shame.

stream: Talbot Adams – Nashville Avenue

Carsick Cars – 3 (Maybe Mars)

If you hadn’t heard China is rising. The sleeping dragon has awoke so it is only a matter of time before the country moves beyond exporting smart devices and cheap toys and starts exporting rock n’ roll. At the forefront of the invasion and hailing from Beijing, this Chinese trio make noisy grooving kraut influence rock. It certainly isn’t a homegrown sound, but they do it very well. Three (coincidentally their third album) was co-produced by the Clean’s Hamish Kilgour and former Spaceman Sonic Boom.

stream: Carsick Cars – 15 Minutes Older

The People’s Temple – Musical Garden (Hozac)

Musical Garden might be the best People’s Temple record yet. The Lansing, Michigan band’s brand of heavy psych-gararge- punk hits the right nerve sounding raw, unhinged and just about to take a sip of Kool-aid.

stream: The People’s Temple – Smooth Move

Posse – Soft Opening (BADH)

Posse’s second album Soft Opening is just about perfect in lonely, melancholy and druggy kind of way. It will likely remind you of great records from the likes of Galaxy 500, Versus and Acetone. Its sharp guitar and vocal interplay between co-singer-guitarists Paul Wittmann-Todd and Sacha Maxim compliment each other as if they’ve been playing together all their lives. It’s a record with a measured confidence giving you the impression that Posse are wise beyond their years.

stream: Posse – Interesting Thing No. 2

A Sunny Day In Glasgow – Sea When Absent (Lefse)

Every good band evolves of course, and A Sunny Day in Glasgow have progressed from being an airy shoegaze band whose songs sometime floated by without anyone taking notice to being a band that has retained its shoegaze roots but with a major focus on out and out pop. Singers Anne Fredrickson and Jen Goma combine their voices to create powerful attention grabbing songs while the rest of band provide big swirling and sweeping frameworks to hang their voices.

stream: A Sunny Day In Glasgow – In Love with Useless (The Timeless Geometry in the Tradition of Passing)

Quilt – Held in Splendor (Mexican Summer)

Quilt pluck strings from psychedelic era Beatles, unearth dusty jangle from the Byrds and sprinkle misty mountain vocal harmonies from Crosby Stills and Nash all over the place. The Boston band’s second album surpasses their good debut with a batch of psychedelic circle dances that sparkle and shimmer, effortlessly creating their own brand of psych with one foot in the past and other in the next star system.

stream: Quilt – Tired & Buttered

Katerine – Magnum (Riviera)

Katerine started out making indiepop, then moved onto electronic, got really weird somewhere in there, became an actor, started his own girl group and now has gone disco. Over here in the states there is a large group of folks who worship Serge Gainsbourg. His records get reissued on a regular basis, and he gets tribute records made to him. I can only imagine that after Katerine passes away the same thing will happen to his records. In the meantime you have to call France to buy any of his stiff. His latest Magnum is loads of fun and slightly ironic based on the cover, but it also has some great beats and more than its share of excellent songs.

stream: Katerine – Les Dictateurs

Alpaca Sports – Sealed With a Kiss (Luuxury/Dufflecoat)

Is it possible to like both the angry Sleaford Mods and Protomartyr and happy Alpaca Sports? Maybe I like too much stuff but in my house there is a place for both. This Göteborg, Sweden duo explore the unbearable lightness of being twee on their debut album. It’s full of sunny harmless sounding fun, but underneath there is pain, hurt and anger. Sounding sweet and harmless isn’t as easy as you think and neither is making a record this intelligent and catchy.

stream: Alpaca Sports – He Doesn’t Even Like You

Pow! – Hi Tech Boom (Castle Face)

Hi-Tech Boom sounds like it was recorded in the 80′s, but it is a commentary on the current state of affairs in the Bay Area. High cost of living and high salaried tech workers pricing everyone out and vanillafying the place. Pow! sound numb, robotic in their outrage. Like everyone these days they are desensitized to the absurdity of reality. Let this record numb you so you feel no pain as the rich eat you.

stream: Pow! – Fire Hose

Metronomy – Love Letters (Because)

This Metronomy might not be what you’re expecting. It’s full of downbeat bedroom pop. It takes a few listens to adjust to it being so low key and understated, but the rewards are long lasting. Aquarius is the immediate one, but Love Letters soon grabs you with it’s piano riff and then Factory sounding instrumental Boy Racers hits you unexpectedly. Reservoir soon follows and before you know it you even like the most difficult ones.

stream: Metronomy – Aquarius

Doug Tuttle – Doug Tuttle (Trouble In Mind)

Former Mmoss guitarist strikes out on his own into New Hampshire’s White Mountains and conjures a brilliantly understated psychedelic masterpiece. Sometimes he sounds like he’s been listening to some West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, but he never goes off on the benders that that band did. The psych with a strict adherence to pop.

stream: Doug Tuttle – Forget the Days

Thee Oh Sees – Penetrating Eye (Castle Face)

It’s a brand new Thee Oh Sees. Dwyer decided to split with the rest of his band, but when it comes to records that doesn’t really matter since he usually records everything himself. As far as Thee Oh Sees albums go this one veers towards the more mellow psych side of things, like a sister of the Casstlemania record. Except that it isn’t quite that simple since there are few corkers in this batch of songs as well which contributes to the nice balance between hot and cool which is something new for this band.

stream: Thee Oh Sees – Encrypted Bounce (A Queer Song)

Cheatahs – Cheatahs (Wichita)

Cheatahs come from London, but the four guys in the band are from Canada, Germany, the US and the UK. There are obvious similarities to Swervedriver on their debut album as well as Buffalo Tom, My Bloody Valentine and Dinosaur Jr. You may have to pinch yourself as you reach for your copy of Melody Maker to make sure that you haven’t warped back to the 90’s. Nope, you haven’t, but this is good enough to make you think you might have just for a minute.

stream: Cheatahs – Geographic

Still the Champ: Uncle Bob!

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Toby

If you’ve been paying attention this year, you probably know that in 2009 it’s not about quality it’s quantity. Bands are no longer satisfied to put out an album and maybe a single or an ep and then call it a year. This year it has been all about inundating you with as many releases as they could fit onto the calendar. It seemed like every time I turned around Thee Oh Sees were putting out another 7 inch, or Robert Pollard had a new record. Pollard is the king of proliferation. The guy is not human. I’m sure he must know he puts out more records than people can consume, his publishing company is called Need More Songs. He’s like the Scott Skiles of indie rock. He may not look like a player, but they guy can rack up the points.

Pollard has been going like this for years, but this year he had some competition. John Dyer and Dan Melchior both gave a valiant effort to put out more songs and wrest the title from Bob, but in the end both of them didn’t even come close. Only if they could have combined their efforts they could have won, but only by a little. Yes, Ty Segall, The Fresh and Onlys, Dan Melchior and Thee Oh Sees all had more physical releases than pollard, but none of them came close to him in song total.

This is, of course is very unscientific, and probably does not include all the stuff all these guys have put out, but it’s close. I feel pretty safe writing this at this point in the year. What I mean, is I don’t think any of them have anything else slated to come out before the end of the year. Although, today I did find out that both the Fresh & Onlys and Ty Segall have records coming out before Christmas (both included in the tally). So who knows, tomorrow Dan Melchior could announce a triple album with 40 songs on it. For the time being this is how it stands: with 23 days left in the match, Pollard is so far ahead nobody will ever catch him. I wish I had some kind of trophy to give the guy.

For those of you keeping score at home, live albums don’t count, songs on compilations albums count as a half release, while a split EP or 7 inch counts as full release. The detailed scoring follows.

Robert Pollard
Albums
The Crawling Distance (GBV Inc) – 10 tracks
Elephant Jokes (GBV Inc) – 22 tracks
Tug Of War At The Faithful Center (Happy Jack Rock) – 19 tracks
Circus Devils – Gringo (Happy Jack Rock) – 16 tracks
Boston Spaceships – The Planets Are Blasted (GBV Inc) – 14 tracks
Boston Spaceships – Zero to 99 (GBV Inc) – 16 tracks
Cosmos – Jar of Jam Ton of Bricks (Happy Jack Rock) – 14 tracks

Thee Oh Sees
Albums
Help (In The Red) – 12 tracks
Zork’s Tape Bruise (Kill Shaman Records) – 31 tracks
Dog Poison (Captured Tracks) – 10 tracks
Singles
Tidal Wave (Woodsist) – 2 tracks
Split w/ Jay Reatard (Shattered) – 2 tracks
Split w/ Ty Segall Split (Castle-Face) – 1 track
In the Shadow of the Giant (Sub Pop) – 3 tracks
Blood In Your Ear (Rock Is Hell) – 2 tracks
Split w/ Paul Cary (Stankhouse) – 2 tracks
Compilations
The World’s Lousy With Ideas Volume 8 – 1 track

Dan Melchior
Albums
Thankyou Very Much 2LP (SS) – 16 tracks
Obscured by Fuzz (Topplers) – 14 tracks
Dan Melchior’s Broke Revue – o clouds unfold – 2LP (Hook or Crook) – 23 tracks
Singles
Mr Oblivion (Columbus Discount) – 2 tracks
The Post Office Line (Columbus Discount) 2 tracks
Split 45 w/ Fresh & Onlys (Volar) – 2 tracks
It’s a terrible shame (Dull Knife) – 2 tracks
Dim Are the Lights (Convulsive) – 2 tracks
Compilations
Skulls Without Borders (Siltbreez) -1 track

Ty Segall
Albums
Horn the Unicorn (HBSP-2X) – 19 tracks
Lemons (Goner) – 12 tracks
Reverse Shark Attack w/Mikal Cronin (Kill Shaman) – 10 tracks

EPs
Split w/ Black Time (Telephone Explosion) – 7 tracks

Singles
Cents (Goner) – 3 tracks
Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin – Pop Song (Goodbye Boozy Records) – 3 tracks
Split w Thee Oh Sees (Castle-Face) – 1 track
Universal Momma (True Panther) – 2 tracks
Ty Segall – My Sunshine (Trouble In Mind) – 3 tracks

The Fresh & Onlys
Albums
Grey-Eyed Girls (Woodsist) – 12 tracks
The Fresh & Onlys (Castle Face) – 14 tracks

Singles
I’ll Tell You Everything & I Saw You Seeing Me (Dirty Knobby) – 3 tracks
The Fresh & Onlys (Chuffed) – 4 traks
Laughter is Contagious (Trouble In Mind) – 2 tracks
Split w/Dan Melchior (Volar) – 2 tracks
Second One to Know/Hated or Loved (Woodsist) – 2 tracks

Cassettes
Bomb Wombs (Fuck It Tapes) – 10 tracks

Kurt Vile
Albums
God Is Saying This To You (Mexican Summer) – 12 tracks
Childish Prodigy (Matador) – 9 tracks

EPs
The Hunchback EP (Richie) – 6 tracks

Singles
Fall Demons (Skulltones) – 5 tracks
He’s All Right (Matador) – 3 tracks

Compilations
Meet the Philly Elite (K-RAA-K) – 1 track

The Intelligence
Fake Surfers (In the Red) – 12 tracks
Crepuscule with Pacman (Born Bad) – 12 tracks

Singles
Reading and Writing About Partying (Raw Deluxe Records) – 2 tracks
Split w/ Crash Normal (Compost Modern Art) – 1 track
Split w/ Unnatural Helpers (Dirty Knobby) – 3 tracks

Compilations
The World’s Lousy With Ideas Volume 8 – 1 track

Blank Dogs
Albums
Under the Under 2LP (In the Red) – 20 tracks

EPs
Seconds (Captured Tracks) – 4 tracks

Singles
In Here (Down In the Ground) – 2 tracks
Slow Room / Anywhere (Captured Tracks) – 2 tracks
Waiting (In the Red) – 2 tracks

Compilations
The World’s Lousy With Ideas Volume 8 – 1 track

Ganglians
Albums
Ganglians (Woodsist) – 8 tracks
Monster Head Room (Weird Forest) – 11 tracks

Singles
Split w/ Eat Skull (Dulcitone) – 1 track
Blood On the Sand (Capured Tracks) – 2 tracks

My Weekend Was Pretty Damn Good. How Was Yours?

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Toby

Thee Oh Sees at the Funhouse
Thee Oh Sees on the basketball court at the Funhouse

The thing I really wanted to do this weekend was head down to Portland for SMMR BMMR, but since that wasn’t in the cards, sticking around Seattle was the next best thing. I don’t remember a weekend where there were so many bands in town and it wasn’t Bumbershoot or Capitol Hill Block Party. My weekend started on Thursday night as all good weekends should, at the Funhouse with Thee Oh Sees and Sic Alps. It had only been a couple months since Thee Oh Sees had been here opening for Jay Retard a the Crocodile, but any chance you have to see John Dwyer swallow a mic you should take it. The Funhouse was the most packed I’ve seen it, even if Thee Oh Sees didn’t technically play in the Funhouse. I was looking forward to seeing Sic Alps for the first time with their new drummer a Mr. Ty Segall. It’s kinda funny that they call him their drummer as he only sat down and played drums for the last three songs. The trio liked to switch up instruments, with each taking his turn at guitar, bass and drums. Sic Alps had some big amps and weren’t afraid to use them. I noticed more than a couple people with fingers in their ears during their set, and the crowd seemed to thin towards the end. It may not have been the noise that caused people to flee, because almost immediately after Sic Alps ended their set, Thee Oh Sees who had set up their rig out on the patio, ripped into Block of Ice. The band played their inspired, Oh Sees-style, off the stage and in the middle of crowd set under the basketball hoop outside surrounded by the most rabid fans I’ve yet seen at one of their gig here. Sic Alps were good in an arty, noisy way, but Thee Oh Sees showed everyone what a party band should be. They passed around bottle of whiskey, encouraged everyone to throw their beer cans at the basketball hoop and ripped through all the highlights of their last two albums. The Oh Sees playing on a Thursday night is how every great weekend should be started.

Ty Segall of Sic Alps at the Funhouse

dum dum girls 4 KIA
Dum Dum Girls under the big top down in Sodo

After work on Friday I headed down to Sodo on the brand new light rail to see what the hell KIA was doing putting on a gig featuring the Dum Dum Girls and Wavves. It turned out I was maybe one of 20 other people in Seattle that had the same curiosity or thought that this might be a good idea. When I got there, there was absolutely no one there, hell not even Wavves could be arsed to show up. Apparently they had unforeseen travel difficulties and canceled. Whatever, I was there to see Dum Dum Girls anyway. It’s probably good that hardly anyone was there, since their set was stiff, very stiff, and felt more like a practice gig. The band had this kind of a deer in the headlights look throughout their entire set. Up until about a month ago Dum Dum Girls was the bedroom project of Kristin Gundred (of Grand Ole Party). The first gig she played was at the Captured Tracks/Woodsist festival in Brooklyn last month with a band of ringers that included Mike Sniper (Blank Dogs) on Bass, Frankie Rose (Crystal Stilts) on Drums and Brandon Welchez (Crocodiles and husband) on guitar. To no one’s surprise, she’s got a brand new band and apparently brand new instruments which they took quite a while to get in tune. Midway through their set they seemed to pick up some steam, but I gotta say even though I like the records, when I left the KIA big top Friday night I was less than impressed with Sub Pop’s latest signings as a live band.

Graffiti Island at Chop Suey
Graffiti Island at Chop Suey

Saturday night was shaping up to be a logistical challenge. No Age were playing in Sodo at the afore mentioned car thing, The Box Elders were in town playing over at the Funhouse, while the Art Fag West Coast tour featuring PENS, Graffiti Island and the Crocodiles was stopping by Chop Suey. Not to mention the Intelligence playing the Comet to kick off their lengthy and all inclusive US tour. Since I’ve seen No Age and Box Elders a few times already, I chose PENS and Graffiti Island, two UK bands that I figured may not pass through these parts again anytime soon. There was lots of elbow room in Chop Suey, but Graffiti Island didn’t seem to care. Graffiti Island are from the UK but singer Pete Donaldson is clearly not with his American accent. The band have a definite cave-like Cramps sound, but live Donaldson came off sounding kinda like Calvin Johnson. Their short set was marred a bit by sound problems but when one of the Crocodiles jumped on stage to play bass they really seemed to click. I picked up their new 7 inche which is one side genuine fake snake skin and one side Graffiti Island songs.

PENS who’s album is due out on De Stijl next month, were marred by sound problems as well, mainly a guitar that wouldn’t stay tuned. It’s funny how bands get so bummed out when things don’t go perfectly. If they’d just fake it, most of us would never know there was anything wrong. The ladies liked to switch instruments a lot between songs, so they’ve got the playing thing down, but PENS need to take an acting lesson or two because it was written all over their faces how utterly disappointed they were that things weren’t going their way. Like I said, if they would have faked it with a little attitude like the old school riot grrrls, we woulda been none the wiser.

Since there is a thing (marriage) between Dum Dum Girls and the Crocodiles, it wasn’t much of a surprise that the Dum Dum Girls got squeezed into the line-up last minute style. I was hoping that they’d be much better than the night before, but the pessimist in me figured that they wouldn’t be. The pessimist in me is often wrong, and their set this night was way way better than the night before. The band just looked more comfortable in the smaller confines of Chop Suey. They sounded better too, with the reverb of the guitars bouncing off the walls and filling the room. They even looked more confident as if the night before was in fact, just warm-up gig. Gundred’s voice is strong and easily cuts through any racket her band can make. If I was on the fence about Dum Dum Girls after seeing them the previous night, their set a Chop Suey brought me back from the dark side, and their Ronettes cover sealed the deal.

After Dum Dum Girls it was decision time: stay and see the Crocodiles or head down to the Comet for the Intelligence. Being the smart guy that I am, you can probably guess where I ended up. I rolled into the Comet expecting it to be either way packed or empty. My admiration for all things Intelligence has been well documented on these pages, but the rest of Seattle seems to be a bunch of troglodytes in these matters. I was pleasantly surprised by my perfect timing as the band were just about to start and how full the place was. The band have just recently returned from a couple months of touring Europa and the effects were immediately noticeable. No, they weren’t all speaking Italian. The were so much tighter with the songs just rolling one after the other. Lars still runs around pushing pedals, pressing amp buttons, and twisting knobs like a mad scientists, but you can tell this band is a well oiled machine. And the crowd at the Comet? They were all pressed up as close as they could get to the band and…dancing. Yes, dancing! We all new that you could dance to the Intelligence, but I’d never seen it. Man it was cool to see. Finberg was in a goofy mood too, introducing every songs with one liner like: This song’s about what happens when you sign up for one more credit card before Debt & Esp. And: This song’s for Nicolas Cage and the Valley Girls before Like, Like, Like. I cannot emphasize this enough, if they are coming to your town drop everything and go see the Intelligence (dates here)! It will definitely make your weekend.

Big Hair, Flying V’s and Lots of Spit

Posted on June 16, 2009 by Toby

Jay Retard, Thee Oh Sees and Idle Times at the Crocodile, Seattle | 15 June 2009

John Dwyer looking like the man possessed that he is.

As I was waiting for Jay Retard last night, I kept looking up towards to the ceiling expecting to have to dodge giant gobs of spit and phloem that I imagined must be stretching from down like stalactites after Thee Oh Sees saliva heavy set. Lead Oh See, John Dryer excreted more liquid from his mouth during their short 30 minute set than I thought was humanly possible. He shot gobs of spit straight up, aiming for the lights, and he shot them across the stage. Saliva also seemed to spill out of his mouth as he contorted his body around his guitar and tried to swallow the microphone numerous times, the man was one giant secretion. The rest of the band didn’t seem to notice, or mind getting a little wet, they were all business. Dwyer is easily the center of attention, but the rest of band seem to be doing all the heavy lifting. Bridgid Dawson provides her Grace Slick as cave woman vocals that really give Thee Oh Sees their haunting sound, also being easy on the eyes she takes some of the attention away from Dwyer. Second guitarist Petey Dammit stood in the back playing most of the leads, while drummer Mike Shoun sat up front dodging spit and putting up with Dwyers antics while keeping time. Thee Oh Sees aren’t really reinventing the wheel, but they are experts at delivering garage-psych in the short three minute bursts, and in a live setting they are all the more potent.

mp3: Thee Oh Sees – Ruby Go Home (from Help, buy it)

mp3: Thee Oh Sees – Castiatic Tackle (from the 4 song tour only split 7 inch)

Jay Retard aka Cousin Itt
Midway through their set, Dwyer commented on the puritanical Seattle law that disallows alcohol on the stage, chiding the audience saying: ‘Next election make your vote count, because frankly Seattle this no beer on the stage thing is pretty fucking weird.’ Jay Retard , looking like Cousin Itt from the Adams Family with his curly locks of hair obscuring his face most of the night, didn’t have any beer on stage with him, just a can of Red Bull that he pounded and then hurled into the audience. Apparently the Retard van had broken down on the way to Seattle, causing the band to barely make it to the show, Jay wasn’t deterred in the slightest, facetiously saying : This rock n’ roll thing is fucking easy. The three piece band made it look easy and fun, ripping through their set, hardly stopping for a breath. Jay wasn’t the only one with lots of hair, his bass player Stephen Pope sports a big fro and both of them prefer the flying V for the shape of their guitars. A few times last night they simultaneously would get in their hair band pose, you know the one where the guitarists get together on stage half kneeling hair flopping/rocking out/head banging like it ‘s 1984 again. Every song seemed to take on a punk anthem persona and the crowd reciprocated the punk and disorderly attitude by slamming, crowd surfing, stage diving, and throwing beer cans. The show was a blast, though not too varied. On record, Jay has been growing as a songwriter and varying the pace as well as adding different sounds and timbres to his songs. Live there was none of that, every song was a fist pumping thrash up. Even songs like I’m Watching You with its melancholy feel got turned in to a thrashy punk song somplete with crowd surfing.

Even though Jay Retard live is a bit different than his live persona, you still get the impression that he’s a teddy bear. He dedicated his final song, Let It All Go, to Chris Knox who recently suffered a stroke. Jay met and became fast friends with Knox when he was last in New Zealand, and was shocked by this bad news. I’m not sure if the rest of the Crocodile knew or cared about what Jay Retard was saying last night between songs they just wanted to rock and Jay Retard delivered that in spades.

mp3: Jay Retard – It Ain’t Gonna Save Me (from the forthcoming Watch Me Fall)

mp3: Jay Retard – Blank Blogs (from the tour only split 7 inch)

Here’s some video I shot of I’m Watching You. Be warned, the sound is kind blown out.

Bringing the Noise

Posted on October 11, 2008 by Toby

Thee Oh Sees and the Intelligence at the Sunset Tavern, Seattle | 9 October 2008

Not having seen Thee Oh Sees or the Intelligencebefore I wasn’t sure what to expect. Well I sorta new what to expect, lots of white noise drenched pop songs. The Intelligence’s new album Deuteronomy is leaps and bounds ahead of their previous two with clearer production and better songs, but the band stick with their noisy punk rock roots only delivering them more effectively. The Oh Sees new album, the lengthy titled The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In is sonic trip drenched in loads of echo and reverb with songs that are part Brian Jonestown Masacre, part Raveonettes and but mostly Cramps.

So when I saw two drum sets being set up for what I thought was to be Intelligence I was intrigued. In my world, two drummers is almost always a cool thing. Then I saw John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees setting up his amps and tuning his twelve string guitar so I figured that the schedule had been switched up to let the hometown Intelligence headline. Then I saw Lars Finberg of the Intelligence on the other side of the stage with his twelve string. Not knowing what to think at this point, I figured that since these two guys are friends and their bands having just put out a split 12″ (on mtn st mtnand it’s sold out already), that Dwyer was maybe going to play with Intelligence for their set. I was totally wrong, and actually a little confused when both Thee Oh Sees and Intelligence bounded on the tiny Sunset Tavern stage. What exactly did Thee Oh Sees and the Intelligence have in store?

With Thee Oh Sees on the A-side and Intelligence on the B-side, the bands ended up playing the entire show like the split release they just put out. Thee Oh Sees would do a song and then the Intelligence’s, and that’s how it went for the whole set back and forth with various members of each band joining in the other’s song here and there. At one point after Thee Oh Sees one of their songs, Finberg says, I hope you liked that song and then the Intelligence proceed to play the same song. That song, Block of Ice, was written by Dwyer and is on both Thee Oh Sees record as the new Intelligence record. You might think delivering a set like this would feel a little disjointed, but these two bands have such similar sounds that it really worked. First there are the obvious similarities like Dwyer and Finberg’s twelve string guitars and apparent disdain for the bass guitar. Both bass players (I shouldn’t call them that, they were really guitarists) were playing bass lines on regular guitars. Though they do have a similar sound aesthetic, the bands are easily distinguishable from one another. Thee Oh Sees have with their Cramps fetish and psychedelic garage rockabilly tempered with sunny west coast melodies courtesy Brigid Dawson. The Intelligence verge more towards a Dragnet and Grotesque era Fallschool of angular garage rock with a heavy dose the weirdness exhibited Ohio noiseniks Braniac. Both bands looked like they were having a blast doing their ping pong set. Dwyer was always making weird facial expressions, and manhandling his guitar with Chuck Berry poses. Finberg, when he sings has this infectious grin his face that belies the artiness of their sound. There was also some lite hearted jabbing at one another with Finberg flipping his guitar over displaying the words ‘Fuck You’ and gesturing at Thee Oh Sees. The double decker set really worked, with the Sunset crowd totally digging both bands, cheering them on as if they were in a race.

I got there early enough to catch the openers. The first band was Love Tan which is another project of Craig Chambers of the Lights. Love Tan is Chambers on guitar and vocals accompanied by drummer Matthew Ford who use to be in the Intelligence. It was a perfect fit for this treble heavy bill. Also caught Ty Segal who is a one man band from San Francisco. He played drums, guitar and sang all at once. I’m amazed by anyone that can do two things at once, Ty can do at least three.

mp3: Thee Oh Sees – Block of Ice (from The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night)

mp3: The Intelligence – Block of Ice (from Deuteronomy)

mp3: The Intelligence – Moon Beams (also from Deuteronomy)