Track :: Lower Dens :: Brains

Not digging too deep for this one. Girl-next-door bombshell Jana Hunter has pulled her long line of charming men together for a new album, Nootropics, out in May via Ribbon Music. Lead single (and forthcoming 10") "Brains" just shuffled its way out of the Internet and interrupted my dinner conversation. This is a train song for blade runners, and highly recommended if you feel more secure defecating with the door shut even when no one else is home. They're not even due home for another 40 minutes. Hell, they went out of town for the weekend. Live a little, eh?

If the image shown on Lower Dens' website is any indication, this new record will have a shitload of keyboard textures. Must be in the B-more water supply.

Lower Dens :: Brains

Video :: Rich Aucoin :: It

Review :: Whores :: Ruiner

Whores
Ruiner
Brutal Panda Records

Just when I thought the rest of my life would be all about sitting down to pee and blushing with pride whenever the lady of the house called me the King of Chardonnay, a band like this comes along and punches me in the balls. Yep, they're still there.

Fire-breathing noise rock out of Atlanta (album produced by Kyle Spence of Harvey Milk) that's knee deep in sludge. These shit birds definitely bring the bad vibes. They've got the sledgehammer bass thumps of Charm City's Dope Body but with more menace. Whuh do you wanna bet they get their inspiration cruising around nice neighborhoods aiming an unloaded snub nose at all of the playgrounds they pass? Somebody oughta report um.

So I was going to brew some decaf tea, take a bath, and crash early with sweet thoughts about all the chores I was going to finish tomorrow, but I'm awake now, and all I want to do now is grow a mustache and shoot Beam, so I'm going to plant my ass down, watch Bronson movies and make this happen. Thanks for the man tap.

Review :: Psychic Dancehall :: Dreamers

Psychic Dancehall :: A Love That Kills

The notion of a Psychic Dancehall hasn't been this perversely seductive since David Bowie's lip gloss defined my nightmares in 1986. Having released a 7" on ArtFag earlier this year, San Diego's version of Psychic Dancehall has had me wondering about a full-length ever since. Last month finally saw it's release, again on ArtFag, and it's streaming in full over here. Go, listen, eat a bag of Fritos, and read a few more words about it from me...

Dorian Wartime and Sylvia Innocent live in a rented apartment above a gay playhouse and write hypothetical scores for the performances that go on below them, one of which involves a transvestite beating her lover to death with a dildo. Where are your ArtFag credentials? They record in their own playhouse attic space, equipped with what seems to be a drum machine, a few cheap synths, and a crate full of Scott Walker, Suicide, and Phil Spector records. With Dreamers, the duo have created a melodically rich and stylistically diverse debut, one that stands out just for having hip-shake appeal and the potential to teach you how to croon. Not to mention a spectacularly-positioned cover of The Crystals "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)". It's dangerous, propulsive, druggy, and dare I say, just a little bit romantic throughout, which is to say this album could easily be renamed Natural Born Killers. Be a survivor and buy it.

News :: Pepe Deluxé :: In The Cave

Very little should be said of Pepe Deluxé here, mostly because I know pretty much nothing about them other than their recent signing to Asthmatic Kitty. Maybe I'll dig into them at a later time, but this is more a story about technology and science than it is about arts and entertainment. More about the green wedge of your Trivial Pursuit hex and less about the pink wedge. Sorry, pink wedge.

Long story short: the largest musical instrument on the entire planet is located underground in Luray, Virginia. A four-manual organ triggers hundreds of rubber mallets trained on the same number of stalactites that have been filed to perfect pitch using precision tube oscillators. The original organ (all 42,000 square feet) was completed in 1957 by a man named Leland Sprinkle, but fell into disrepair and remained silent for decades as it underwent massive renovation. I've had recurring dreams about this organ since I first saw it as (oddly enough) a cave- AND organ-obsessed little boy. I even named my hamster Leland Sprinkle, and developed most of my world-views while watching him chew cedar and shit splinters.

Earlier this year, Mr. Pepe Deluxé (actually two people) had the unique opportunity to exploit the newly repaired and retuned Great Stalacpipe Organ, composing, performing, and recording the very first piece of original music written specifically for the instrument. The composition will be included on their upcoming full-length in January 2012, featuring a handful of other songs recorded completely above-ground and having nothing to do with the greatest instrument known to man. Fortunately, the organ plays beautifully and resonates with tone colors I've not heard anywhere before. Unfortunately, in my admittedly ass-backwards and mostly emotionally unstable opinion, Mr. Deluxé have failed at presenting a piece of music as unique as the instrument itself, instead opting for a slight, two-minute slice of faceless hymnal they've criminally named "In The Cave." Honestly, I don't hate the piece, but I was hoping for something less pop and more pioneering. Less pinkwedge-core and more greenwedge-core. Decide for yourself below: