Teenage Panzerkorps - (2011) German Reggae CS

This confounding, transcontinental quartet has quite a punk / avant-rock pedigree. Edmund Xavier was born Glenn Donaldson, whose work within the forest-dwelling psychedelic collective Jewelled Antler spawned such projects as Thuja and the Blithe Sons, not to mention the paisley-pop project the Skygreen Leopards and Art Museums; and Boy True is the pseudonym for Jason Honea, who joined the leftist-punk band Social Unrest in the late '80s and Ten Bright Spikes in the '90s, before accompanying Donaldson and company on some of the more outre projects of Jewelled Antler. From the perspective of Jewelled Antler, the iconography of Teenage Panzerkorps makes a lot more sense, as a re-imagining of the childhood games playing with toy soldiers, where political and moral implications are lost within the wonder of play, all the while these childish ideals are smashed into the epiphany of hearing punk for the first time, with all of the social and political ramifications very much on the line. The Teutonic bark of vocalist Bunker Wolf and all of the militant iconography might give the impression of these guys being Nazi sympathizers, but this is hardly the case, as Der TPK's folding of symbols and metaphors is far more nuanced in its appropriation, pastiche, and parody.
German Reggae is album number four for Der TPK, and it exhibits some variation beyond the drone-punk propulsion which dominated their Games For Slaves and Nations Are Insane albums. Honea's basslines look back to the first couple of PiL records and Jah Wobble's thick punk-dub, and Bunker Wolf's delivery is a bit more understated, to which some have compared now to a Germanic Mark E. Smith. Even with these differences, Der TPK puts their collective head down for these propulsive, grimy post-punk numbers with plenty of references to the pre-Joy Division Warsaw recordings, Savage Republic, and Wire, not to mention contemporaries like The Soft Moon and Cult Of Youth.

Tereshkova - (2015) Pelagic CS

Vast in sound, ambiance, texture and melody. Dream pop seems as fitting a tag as any but the overall variety present in this work goes beyond that. A hazy pastoral romantic psychedelic sound guided by synths, guitars, and piles of effects that sits as close to being soundtrack as it does to being individual songs.

Silent Girlfriend - (2015) Backstabbing Female Supremacist CS

Sonically driving electronic dance oriented synth approach that hits heavy and hard with blown out flourishes of arpeggiated psychedelic electronica and plodding drugged out dungeon techno. Raw dystopian music with big heavy hooks with enough groove to move the warehouse dancefloor. 

Trailblazer - (2015) Guyonetics CS

Recorded in Treviso, Italy and has plenty of Euro synth sound for that information to add some flavor to the overall image of the release. Still present is the vibrant but minimal electronic Kraut rock sound of previous releases but perhaps refined a bit further is the sense of space in the music the minimalism refined to create subtlety developing tension and release that allows these tracks to breath and drift in an almost infinite combination of repetitions, music that feels like it could go on forever always turning back into itself recreating evolving and returning without becoming tiresome. 

David West - (2015) Drop Out Of Collage CS

Weird atmospheric washy tape and electronics experiments intersect with shimmering jangly post punk pop. The recording is really something special being concerned with a high level of detail in terms of the stereo sonic output. 

Moon Dice - (2015) My Motel Room CS

A new Melbourne AU quartet with connections to other long running bands Ancients and Love of Diagrams etc. Moon Dice are another excellent addition to the already great crop of Melbourne jangly rock and pop bands. Moon Dice have a distinctive sound built around soft vocals, subtle psychedelic guitar flourishes and driving but not heavy drumming.

 

Unhappybirthday - (2015) Kraken CS

From Wismar Germany and offer something very nice in their approach to minimalist synth pop/melodic post punk. They have that upbeat sad song thing going that always feels so good. We can't help but think if Jeurgen Gleue and the 39 Clocks had made soundtracks for those early John Hughes films this is what it might sound like.

VA - (2015) Blasting Voice 2xLP

Double LP compilation with 18 unreleased tracks from 17 artist.
Compiled by Ashland Mines aka Total Freedom. 

Exclusive tracks:
A1 Dentist - Stacks   
A2 Dutch E Germ - Becoming Chaina   
A3 Black Hearted Diamond Boy - Nigerian Hair   
A4 E+E - Elysian Dream   
A5 DJ Yung Tellem - Soundlink   
B1 Dane Chadwick - 1   
B2 Unknown Artist - Witches Sunset   
B3 Jaws - Plastic Cup   
C1 Massacooramaan - Zapotecan Foster Care   
C2 Ryan Trecartin - Horn-Sex   
C3 Felix Lee - National Grid   
C4 Nguzunguzu - Harp Bell   
C5 Gum-Shoe - Got Paid   
D1 TF - Beat To Death (Burned Copy)   
D2 Ryan Trecartin - Songerpa   
D3 Bodyguard - Black And Red   
D4 Eruption Team - One In A Million   
D5 Violence - The Idea Of It Is More Potent300 pressed. 
So savage.

So, what’s happening now?

I just played a show the other night with my friend Why Be. We’ve done some stuff before, and we were talking about doing a remix for the first Night Slugs/Fade To Mind joint release. That’s planned for later this year. I really enjoy collaborating. Last year I put out a compilation with this punk label Teenage Teardrops. They wanted to do something outside of their normal game, and came to me because they thought I was some kind of voice in the dance music world—or the aspect of that world that they’re interested in anyway. We ended up releasing a double-LP called Blasting Voice. I took tracks from friends like Jaws, Massacoormaan, Diamond Black Hearted Boy… some old but a lot of new stuff too. As far as a dance record goes it’s a minor failure because there’s only like three songs that are danceable on it. A lot of it is more on the experimental side. It’s still a beautiful record, and it’s sold out anyway so don’t try to get it.

Bisybackson - (1997) B.S.C. Deth 7''

Bisybackson started around 1994, when Dan de Vriend met Curtis Freitag in downtown Sacramento. Although Curtis was a guitar player, he immediately took to the bass. They recruited another guitar player, Jason Racine (Razen) for the drums, and were off… a couple seven inches later, a couple of tours found them moved to Portland. Curtis’s drug problems were getting unmanageable, and Bisybackson took a break, not to come back. Curtis died of an overdose in 1999, and this band without his intuitive bass playing is nothing.

Bob Tilton - (1994) ...Wake Me When It's Springtime Again 7''

During 1993, before the musical genre that would become known as “emo” had started to trickle through to the UK’s fledgling hardcore scene, a little-known band from Nottingham, England called bob tilton (named after an American evangelist television star) recorded a 7 inch EP for Subjugation that would come to define the label’s identity and distinction.

Boys Club - (2007) Girls Of Today 7''

The second single by these Minneapolis garage poppers. The A side has girl back up vocals that remind me alot of The Lids. The B side was almost a ballad but came off as a really catchy pop song. There's plenty of grit in each song to balance the pop. If you liked the first single, you definitely want this. 

It's funny that Steve here doesn't dig The Fingers, because they sound what I think the Fingers were trying to go for at times. Excepting the fact that Boys Club are probably far more polite than Ralph and the Brothers White were. While "Girls of Today" is not the smash hit that "This Is My Face" was, it has an awkward charm all its own. In fact, Boys Club probably has the market cornered in lo-fi awkward white guy powerpoprock. That's not a bad thing, mind you. They're a classic example of the if-these-guys-can-do-it-anyone-can likability theory. You're honestly rooting for them, to get the girl, hit that note, finish that solo, get through the song in one piece...it's vicarious listening. Anyway, the Club add some female back-ups this time that I like quite a bit. This tune's OK with me. On the B-Side they up the raunch to GG levels with some nasty scuzz guitar...nah, I'm just kidding. They do a song about wanting to get a girl on the flip side. A little bit less charming but a little more awkward than "Girls of Today". I can't decide if that means I like it more or less right now...Overall, good record if youre into the Raspberries and Supercharger at the same time.

Bullets For Pussy - (1990) Penetration Boulevard EP 7''

Pre Drunks With Guns.

Danielson - (2006) LazyShip/ Goodyship 7''

Danielson is an American rock band from Clarksboro in East Greenwich Township, New Jersey, that plays indie pop gospel music. The band is known for Smith's squeaky, falsetto vocals, innovative musical arrangements, and matching nurse uniforms, "that act, according to Daniel, as 'visual reminders of the spiritual and emotional healing taking place' within audience members." During some performances Smith has "worn a nine-foot tall, hand-made nine-fruit tree to 'bear the good fruit,'" in reference to the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Danielson - (2006) Powership/ Smokeship 7''

"This was the year I stopped running away from home, picked up my acoustic guitar again and changed from being Dan back to Daniel. I woke up to the fact that I have an amazing family, an amazing childhood and I began to relate everything I was thinking and doing with this in mind... I began reading the Bible and praying again and songs and art started flowing. I would meet with my dad and talk philosophy and theology and I became a child again."

Dead Meat - (2010) The King 7''

The band's name suggests hostility, while signifying mortality, and rightly so: This is not happy music. Droning heavy psych-rock with sociopathic undertones might describe their sound as they seem to dwell in the dark recesses of the mind. For those of you with some demons to exorcise, Dead Meat might be your go-to shaman.

Dee Rangers - (1997) I Just Wanna Rock 'N' Roll 7''

Swedish Garage Rock band from Stockholm formed in 1995.

E.T. Habit - (2012) Venomous 7''

Who would have thought that our interplanetary invasion would happen when we were least expecting it, and with such an extensively fancy percussion unit? Chicago’s protozoic cellular mass of prog/psych outer space noise, E.T. HABIT has been inhabiting our secular sphere for many moons now, and we’re palpitating wildly in anticipation of their maiden vinyl forging on this debut 7” single. A nightmarish explosion of glitter and blood, culminating into their gut-wrenching, earth-moving early ‘70s je ne sais quoi, that can’t clearly be quantified with its Alice Cooper Band/Hawkwind comparisons so much as it’s theatrical ambiance.

Far-Out Fangtooth - (2012) The Thorns 7''

"Some of Far-Out Fangtooth’s early explorations with extensive noise jams and jangly pop are still apparent in their current output, although they’ve undeniably set out on a much darker path. They flirt with bleak goth-like sounds and imagery, while the hazy psychedelic undertone of 2013’s Borrowed Time LP provides the listener with an unexpected drone-like buzz." 

Ground Round - (1993) Confused And Unknown 7''

"Ground Round, what a horrible name. We constantly tried to change it but no one would let us.
We existed from 1991 to 1996. We put out four records, went on three tours across the United States, and played whenever we could in and around Santa Rosa, CA.
We acquired our first record deal when Gabe ran naked through Sonoma Coffee Company, therefore scoring 1,200 points in the “Win A Record Deal” scavenger hunt hosted by Kirbdog Records."

Ground Round - (1994) Lakeport 7''

Ground Round were sonically on par with Crimpshrine, Soup, and Unfun-era Jawbreaker.  As far as their subject matter of choice, GR hovered around similar terrain as the aforementioned, venting on relationships and everyman socio-political concerns, though nothing particularly heady.

Ground Round - (1995) Painting Your Vulgar Dreams 7''

Santa Rosa's Ground Round throws about every Bay Area influence into a blender. You can hear elements of Jawbreaker, J Church, The Potatomen and Pansy Division. Not surprising since bassist/vocalist Gabe Meline played in Tilt and the Mr. T Experience and drummer Adam Labelle played in the Potatomen.