The Janitors - Head Honcho EP [2012]

If you dug the last Janitors post, well, here's some more. The infamous Stökpsych purveyors kick out the jams once again with this new EP, recorded in the first half of 2012. As with their previous release, you get some well-executed, sinister-sounding psych rock. The Janitors have been called a shoegazey Nick Cave-esque animal, and I don't think that's too far off the mark. The  melodies have a pernicious sort of vibe, and the vocals are low enough and mean enough to warrant the comparison. As I have said before, some bands just channel all the right vibes and make good psyched-out rock music, and the Janitors are one of those bands.

The centerpiece on this EP is the twelve-minute darkjam "A-bow," which combines ominous acoustic riffs with heavy psychedelic fuzz and stooge-rhythms to create the perfect atmosphere for your next freekout or come-down. I don't know a whole lot about the Swedish music scene these days (or any other days for that matter) but as far as I can tell, the Janitors are group worthy of your attention if you're in Stockholm. See them play so I can jam vicariously through you, you lucky Swedes.

A best-of collection of Janitors material is slated to hit the vinyl/physical world in November, but for now you can hear the Head Honcho EP at the Janitors' bandcamp page.

Also, in the meantime, check out the Al Lover remix of "Death Song," from the Worker Drone Queen EP.

The Janitors will be playing the first annual Stockholm Psych Fest on September 22nd, and will be supporting the Ravonettes in Stockholm on October 25th.

Janitors website
You better run

Lark's Tongue - 3 Songs [2011]

Lark's Tongue are another great Peoria band, and I've been banging my head to their EP's stadium-sized heavy guitar jams for a while now. I'm sure the actual stadiums they play in are more basement-sized, which can only mean that seeing these guys live would be an event to pummel the eardrums. However, the best part of this EP might be the vocal harmonies, which come down on high to lift you out of the guitar cloud. Somebody in this band must dig old Smashing Pumpkins albums, and the results are good. 

Lark's Tongue seem to keep busy enough, playing in and around Peoria, throughout central Illinois, Chicago, Milwaukee, and as far as Denver. This demo EP came out at the start of 2011, but Lark's Tongue has a few vinyl releases planned, a 7" due out August 15 which will be available at their Brass Rail gig with Planes Mistaken for Stars, the Forecast, and Angry Gods, for those of you within driving distance of Peoria. September will bring a split 12" with fellow Peorians Men of Fortune. And if that wasn't enough, Cavity Records will be releasing a split 10" with Across Tundras from Nashville later in the fall. Pay attention, these dudes have plenty for you coming up.

Lark's Tongue/Bird Dialect label site
Sophisticated and tongue-tied

Sonic Death - Gothic Session EP [2012]

For those of you who dug the recent Wavepool Abortion post, here's some more '60s-indebted fucked-up rock and roll from a Russian two-piece. Compared to that band, though, Sonic Death have a darker, more folkish sound. Perhaps you could say Sonic Death are the Stooges (I'm thinking 'Gimme Danger') to Wavepool Abortion's Beatles -- or perhaps neither of those bands resemble these. In any case, the vocal harmonies and acoustic chord changes make some great tunes with that world-weary resignation that Russian bands are so good at communicating. The Gothic Session EP came out five months ago, and has been pretty frequent in my rotation since I heard it around that time.

According to the fellows at Aphonia Recordings, this is what the band had to say about making this record:

After a little break we started work on a new session. Seven fresh songs were recorded on a Tascam cassette Portastudio, sitting in the already known bathroom. At this time we used a clean slightly reverbed guitar sound, the drum section was shaded with maracas. The sound is soft, psychedelic vibrating, like The Cannanes meet Vivian Girls on The Seeds cover party. The lyrics are all about dark love emotions and solitude. All of this has been called GOTHIC SESSION. The first track with the western spirit and refrain “I take off all of me/ You will not get pleasure” is entitled ‘Pleasure’ and is like a roll call with Stones ‘Satisfaction’. The second called ‘Now (Son Of A Bitch)’ and has at the end the converted quotation from Misfits “I am goddamn son of a bitch/ you better think about it baby”. Third song named ‘Marzipan’, and has a sample from an amateur slap porn video, whose plot is about pining for the attention from a girlfriend. The fourth acoustic-postpunk song ‘Streets’ laments the loneliness in the city. Fifth ‘To Me’ is classic garage-y amateur guitar rock. The sixth track ‘Huuuh-uuh-uuuh’ is an acoustic ballad for two voices. The last one ‘Floor’ is a confluence of The Jesus and the Mary Chain with Buddy Holly and back again. On the cover, we photographed against a background of the crucifix as Bible sellers in East European chic.

Gothic Session is available at Sonic Death's bandcamp for a mere $5 of your mortal money. They also have a self-titled release for $0, and while they're both good, Gothic Session is the better set.

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Electric Pure Land [1974]

Here's a quick Les Rallizes Dénudés post. If you know Rallizes, you know what you're getting here. If you don't know them, then this set is a great place to start, because it's not as long as most of their other releases.

Electric Pure Land starts out with the swirling, damaged repetition of  'The Last One' (normally it's not the First One) and continues from there. 'Enter the Mirror' shimmers with the brilliance of radio pop transmissions originating in another galaxy; 'Flames of Ice' stomps around and kicks psychedelic sparks into your face. What are you gonna do, step out the way? No, you ignoramus, you'll stay right there and enjoy your electrification. 'Voice of the Bird' is a beauteous electric folk ballad to help you lament your ensuing tinnitus. Finally, closer 'Angel' grooves with what sounds like a slowed-down Bauhaus bass riff below Mizutani's echoey crooning, interspersed with wild blasts of feedback.

Well, I didn't set out to do a song-by-song exposition, but there it is. Listen, this is a great recording, and if this scribbling doesn't convince you to download it, perhaps my other Rallizes post would.

氷の炎

Acid Kicks - Life Dreams 7" [2011]

Acid Kicks is a 4 piece psych-punk band from Philly, and they're fucking great. You might not know it upon first listen, but three of the members play bass. That's right, three basses and one set o' drums. One of the bass players sent me a link to their 7", so here it is in all its glory. The vibe I get from Acid Kicks is similar to that of the Psychic Paramout [see my list for the end of 2011] -- punked-out psych rock on a tight, driving rhythm, with lots of room for noise. However, while that band is almost industrial in their rhythmic precision, this band is more melodic in their approach.

The first song, 'Life Dreams,' starts out sounding a little like that Pink Floyd song 'One of These Days,' but faster (this is punk rock!), with the basses vibing together and colliding in their shiny metallic way. Then the octave-pedal'd bass kicks in with the drums, and suddenly you're flying on a shoegaze air column. The vocals sway in and out like clouds, and with the same cold intensity.

Probably my favorite development in underground music in the last 20 years has been the constant mixing of punk with noisy psychedelic music, often producing new and exciting results. Acid Kicks call their particular concoction 'dream punk,' and they put it like this in a recent article/interview:

There are no limits in dreams. The dreamer can realize her full potential. No obstacles hold her back. “If you’re a lucid dreamer you can figure out how to fly… you can do whatever you want, and there are no consequences,” claims Kavanaugh. The punk, meanwhile, is an always-active, politically charged character who wants the world and wants it now. Merging these two paradigms, the dream-punk is some sort of heroic ideal–an uberhuman capable of doing anything and going anywhere.

Maybe it's an attempt to shake off the apathy, to turn the nihilists into dreamers with active motivation. Maybe it's an escape from the shite reality we've got, to bring the dream information over into this world and create our own reality. Maybe those are or aren't mutually exclusive, but as always, it's up to you to decide.

You can buy the 7" (or a FLAC copy) from the Acid Kicks bandcamp below (orders come with a hand-made dream catcher for a few extra bucks), as well as download two live sets for free (+pay what you want). The more recent one was reviewed over at Spacerockmountain, so click yer way over to that.

Listen to / buy a copy of Life Dreams
I am the valleys