caUSE Co-MOTION! - It's Time

Short songs. They sound like they were recorded on shit instruments in basements. But this is one of those records where the songs themselves are the selling point. Pop melodies, catchy guitar work, great drumming. After a few listens all the songs sound like hits.

DL

Young Adults - Black Hole

Boston band Young Adults' first full length. Thick guitars, pounding drums, and shouted choruses. I think it's appropriate to post this after that Orange Juice album because Black Hole has a song called "Rip It Up" and just like the former bands' biggest hit there are lyrics saying "rip it up" and "start again," which can't be a coincidence.

This is so goddamn good. If you like Mission of Burma you'll get behind this modern post-punk.

DL

Orange Juice - BBC Sessions

Here are some cool BBC (John Peel included) cuts of a bunch of Orange Juice's best songs. The guitar and base are very crisp and yet Edwyn Collins' affected voice still overrides everything. Good melodies all around. They get listed as post-punk but this is really just pop music. It's all pop.

Also includes an interview. Check it out.

DL

The Mice - Unreleased Album (Canterbury Bells)

I've been trying to track down the full version of this non-album for a while but I can't find it anywhere so I've just decided to post what I have. Included here are 10 cuts for the "Scooter" follow-up that never happened. I particularly like Nearly a Mile Away, Resurrection Day, Run Away, and Something Pushed. I'm not too into Music Here, which is pretty unremarkable in every way, or Phone in my Car, which is about the ridiculous notion of having a phone in your car because "you have so much to say." Bill Fox clearly didn't make any money investing in cell phone companies.

The ten cuts are supposedly accompanied by live songs, and other rarities. The live set has some classic rock covers that I didn't care too much about but there were also some mystery moments. I have managed to track down the Mice's first single (also included here with a track number of 21 so we have 10 unaccounted for songs at least) "Can You Walk on the Water Baby?," and while it pales next to their other releases it is interesting to see their entire progression as a band.

If you have a lead on the full record drop a comment. Otherwise enjoy this rare ass shit.

DL

Teenage Cool Kids - Queer Salutations

Power-pop punk. I've been listening to this album heavy since the summer. Great hooks and the lyrics are actually funny. "Awkward Type of Girl" rips on indie girls who wear vintage dresses. "Write Back Soon" talks about "white girl dreads" and $500 fixed gear bikes. I didn't really listen to the lyrics the first dozen times, and you don't need to because the songs work on their own. "Self Abuse" is an awesome fucking song, and as with the rest of the album - this shit is fun.

DL

Rooftop Vigilantes - Carrot Atlas

Okay, so Guided By Voices came through Detroit last weekend so I can stop boring you with all those EPs and shit. I've got a bunch of good stuff that I've wanted to post for a while so I'll try to get them all out before Christmas.

First up is Rooftop Vigilantes from Lawrence, KS. These dudes came through Detroit a few weeks ago and played at the CAID. They play this great combination of 50's keyboard pop, raw punk and accents of screamed choruses. They also clearly don't take themselves very seriously as noted by the track titles (ex. "Oscar want 7," "Brad Shanks Tells A Joke," where Brad Shanks from Blood on the Wall tells a nonsensical thirty second joke, and "Charley No Want Girlfriend"). Hasn't left my speakers since I got it.

DL

They tore it up when they were here, video below:

Demons and Painkillers

This is one of the discs of the Hardcore UFOs box. It consists of rare bonus tracks and country exclusives. There are alternate shiny versions of "Game of Pricks" and "Unleashed!" and a few off of Mag Earwig, including the superb "Choking Tara (creamy version)." There are also some rock solid classics like "Dodging Invisible Rays" and "The Ascended Master's Grogshop," the former being a Tobin Sprout song and the latter lasting all of thirty beautiful seconds. A long, great collection of loose ends that in typical GBV fashion has stand-outs that rank with the best.

DL

Robert Pollard - Not in my Airforce

It says Robert Pollard but it might as well be another GBV fan-club release. This early boy is filled with short weird songs but somehow insanely good songs like "Quicksilver" and "Beauty Flat" snuck in. Pollard's golden period has some secret releases. This is one of them.

DL

Guided By Voices - King Shit and the Golden Boys

A collection of outtakes. There are some solid gems here. Nothing so good that you can't believe it isn't on Bee Thousand or anything like that, but some winners nonetheless. You should probably just delete "Tricycle Looper" from the start though, that song bugs the shit out of me. "Indian Was An Angel," "We've Got Airplanes," "Crutch Came Slinking" and "Scissors" are all classics. If you like the scrappiness of GBV, here is a another fix.

The title comes from the line in "Don't Stop Now," which is also included here in an early version.

DL

Guided By Voices - Tonic and Twisted Chasers

This "fanclub-only" release is every bit as good as a full fledged album. The songs are a little odd, and pretty lo-fi, so they might require a couple more listens than normal, but there are some solid tracks here. "Key Losers" is great, "Dayton Ohio 19-something and Five" is solid, and shows up later as a live version on the "Selective Service" EP. My favorite tracks of this collection are the three that start with "At the Farm." That one, "Unbaited Vicar of Scorched Earth" and "Optional Bases Opposed" are so goddamned good. Download this shit and listen to em.

DL

Guided By Voices - Hold On Hope

This little man is pretty overlooked. No one thinks of "Do The Collapse" B-sides as anything worth listening to, but I have always thought of these oddball songs as true GBV and the Ocasek approved collection on the album as an imitation. "Underground Initiations" would have made an excellent fit on "Isolation Drills" and "Fly Into Ashes" is a solid song too.  Don't overlook this EP like so many have. It's good.

DL

Guided By Voices - Static Airplane Jive

Another GBV EP. Another from the golden era. This one has the brilliant short jam "Hey Aardvark," and the slow burn of "Damn Good Mr. Jam." The latter's finale of "everything for free" might be recognizable from the clip in "Back to Saturn X Radio Report" off of "Propellor."

A good, short EP. It doesn't hold together as well as "Fast Japanese Spin Cycle," but it still has a bunch of solid tracks. Totally worth getting.

DL

Guided By Voices - Fast Japanese Spin Cycle

I'm seeing Guided by Voices on October 30th when they come to Detroit. I am so completely excited I'll be posting a bunch of odd loose ends (that are still brilliant) in preparation.

"Fast Japanese Spin Cycle" is an 8 song EP that has alternate versions of Marchers in Orange from "Vampire on Titus" and Over the Neptune from "Propellor" (here called Kissing to the Crying Cooks), as well as a solid classic in My Impression Now and a short gem in Indian Fables. Listen to this boy all the way through. Like a mini-"Alien Lanes."

DL

Guided By Voices - Sunfish Holy Breakfast

There's some food upon the table boys. 

This is an EP from the Under the Bushes sessions. In typical form for golden period GBV releases the variety is great, and while the standout classics are minimal, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. "Stabbing a Star" is an old outtake and probably the weakest member here. "If We Wait," is a stunner, and "Cocksoldiers and their Postwar Stubble" (how did he name a song this good a name that terrible?) is uhh...better than it's name. 

DLLLLLL

Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts

The first video (linked below) for "Years Not Long," the opening track off of Male Bondings debut Nothing Hurts features a pretty wild twist. The entire video has jocks playing football and then arm wrestling, until the last third of the video where a giant man-on-man make-out party erupts. It is pretty hilarious and encapsulates the I-don't-give-a-fuck mentality of the band. What's the first thing we should do when we get a record deal, and have money to shoot a music video? GIANT BRO MAKE-OUT SESH!

Nothing Hurts kind of reminds me of the pop sensibilities of Harlem and the energy of caUSE co-MOTION. They tear through a bunch of hits rather quickly.

DL