The “Dig Your Grave” video premiered today on Noisey!
Here’s what they had to say:
In Les Blank’s 1980 film essay Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, Herzog tells young filmmakers that if they really want to make a film, steal a camera and raw stock. Brendhan Bowers seems to have taken his advice. We’re not saying that he stole a camera or anything. What we’re saying is that any band out there crying about how it’s so hard to find money to make a record or a video or whatever they want to do should stop being babies and pick up a camera.
This winter, Brendhan self-produced a video for his band, Seattle-based garage-rockers the Pharmacy. The song is called “Dig Yr Grave,” and it’s a punky, Merseybeat-inflected banger off an upcoming EP of same name. You can order the album through Kind Turkey right here.
The song manages to be incredibly catchy while remaining oddly hostile. Imagine what the British Invasion would have sounded like if the aggression been literal. In the video, the trio (which also features Stefan Rubicz and Scottie Yoder) murder a woman in a grainy graveyard and perform, clad in face paint and white robes, against a hellscape of burning amps and drum sets. It’s all shot on 16mm film and has a creepy, ghostly quality to it. http://www.noisey.com/blog/video-premiere-the-pharmacy-dig-yr-grave
Really angular angst driven rock n roll from White Whale, a Buffalo three piece. This single is out on Big Neck in a limited run of 400 colored copies. The guitar is WAY out front on this shit, which makes it all the more rocking. Vocals are pretty buried. Pretty spazzy A-Side which then slows down and gets more mid-tempo rocking. Nice transition into the slower portion of the song that really only hangs around for a bit. The B-Side is more of the same spazzy angsty semi-hardcore punk. Not really screamy enough to tread into the hardcore genre, but definitely feeding off of it. The midsection of this track has a nice single note addition next to a garage-rock riff. The song’s called “Rats In The Snow” and honestly it ends too soon. This is a short snippet of music from a band I’ve never heard before but definitely is onto something. I’m from Wisconsin so I can listen to any guy sing about rats in snow all day long. Hopefully this guy has actually seen a rat in the snow. We may never know.
Madison’s favorite schticky rock n roll pop band (rather, they should be described as a band who isn’t genre-exclusive. They dip in and out of genres effortlessly). Features members of Madison’s best indie band, Icarus Himself. Did I mention there was a lovely lady who plays tuba in the band as well? No I didn’t? Shit I should have mentioned that first and foremost. This band has a sick sense of humor. Both in terms of their song material as well as thinking it was a great idea to put 29 tracks on their second release Methlehem. Tongue in cheek is only one way to describe this band. The fact remains that Cribshitter is filled with talented musicians that just wanna have a good time. They’ve crafted a full length full of humor and catchy pop anthems. Highlights include the laid back “Boom Goes the Vaginamite”, the inspiring “On The Mend” (Wheaties commercial anyone?), the twitchy chill-hop jam “Your Boy Peter” (all three of which have youtube videos).
You GOTTA see the video for the aptly titled “Boom Goes the Vaginamite”. You can catch it here:
Also if yr in Madison check out Cribshitter on January 27th at the Dragonfly Lounge for the record release of Methlehem!
Indian Wars dropped a serious album, A Walk Around The Park last year via the Austrian Bachelor Records imprint. This is more of where that LP left off. It’s definitely top notch garage/country/punk. The A-Side, “A Simple Mistake” perfectly epitomizes what I love about the genre…Great melody, great lyrics, great shuffling beat, lead lines that don’t sound trite and a feel like yr dumpster diving through the 50’s. Enough feel to keep it slightly sloppy, but rarely out of time or key. The second track, “Comanche Killer” treads lightly where the Goodnight Loving have passed before, with a more scuzzed up vocalist, but still sorta sounding like Andy Harris from GNL (Or Bobby Dylan). Perfectly mixed slide guitar fills out the song nicely.
I kinda hate split singles as one band typically outshines the other. I really like the idea of it, it just never works as nicely as it should. I will state that this split does a really good job at balancing the bands and the sounds. Primitive Hands’ first track on the split, “Can’t Get Away From You”, sounds like a more lo-fi (aka earlier era) version of the Black Lips. Maybe not quite as blown out, just somewhat warm and fuzzy. Fits great with the Indian Wars country ‘tude. Definitely the punker of the two bands. The first song has some nice guitar touches. Wish the vocals weren’t so obscured by a mountain of fuzz and reverb, but you can’t win em all, can ya? They clean up the sound on the second track, “Priscilla” which is still reverb drenched, just less fuzzy and a whole lot less punk. Which is absolutely acceptable. There’s a wide range of sounds on this 7” and I’m definitely thankful for that! Another excellent 7″ by the fine Italian label Goodbye Boozy (known for their impressive 7″ rooster spanning many years!). Great cover art variants from Bob Scott (Mongrel Zine) as well.
Shit! This thing is mastered loud as shit! Awesome! Fits perfectly with the Mean Jeans’ brand of Ramonesesque punk. This is Kind Turkey’s first post about the Mean Jeans but definitely not my first experience with the band. Think Bad Sports sounds with some dumbed down lyrics. It always seems like these guys are singing about Pizza, Partying, Being Stoned, Booze and now Blowing Yr Brains Out. I like the nice old-school breakdown at the end where they slow it down a bit and really beat it in ya that the dude is gonna blow his brains out. Top notch Ramones worship in the year 2011.
The flip is by Big Neck’s flagship Hollywood and it’s a much slower paced attack about preferring drugs. Pretty slow burning and repetative, but I can get along with that. Especially when the talky portion of the song comes in (where the guitar drops out and it’s just bass and drums) and then blasts you more with “I Prefer Drugs” over and over and over and over. Again this is Grade-A rock n roll garage slop. The 7″ comes with full color art, an insert and is pressed on some really nice thick vinyl. Gotta love nice packaging (especially on a 7″). I think the cover is a drawing of that dude who made the worst movie ever, “The Room”…you know Tommy Wiseau? At least it seems like it’s him…that or some zombiefied version of Marc Bolan….but I think it’s Tommy considering I’m pretty sure there’s a photo of him photoshopped (crudely) with the Mean Jeans on the insert.
I don’t know much about this band but I’d call em a punk band with loads of dynamics, and a drummer who can really beat the skins. I guess this band is from Vegas. One of the few Vegas bands I’ve heard in the last decade. Teeters on harder punk but honestly with more dynamics than most punk bands. I could see some metalheads being into this, but I’m not sure. More for fans of the current crop of larger punk bands…Think Against Me or Rise Against with a slightly Irish feel – with nothing actually like Flogging Molly or the Dead Kennedys…but sorta straddling what those bands do vocally. It’s totally not Irish punk by any means, the vocals just sorta remind me of that. Probably from the fact that it sounds like the guy has been drinking Whiskey since he plopped out of his mom’s womb.
Three songs in all that knock you in yr teeth. The B-Side is more of the same but with a more upbeat feel than the A-Side and again completely dynamic with way more parts than yr average punk song. Double sided artwork that’s really nicely done. Beautiful thick vinyl, and it comes with a digital download. Surprisingly, the 7″ is a large-hole single that comes with a 45 adapter already inserted for you. Score!
Hey Everyone!
There’s two brand new Kind Turkey 7″s out today!
THE LONESOME SAVAGES (Turk 009)
One of the leading bands in the burgeoning Wisconsin garage scene, THE LONESOME SAVAGES play punk rockabilly steeped in the traditions taught by the almighty Cramps. You may recognize frontman MAX ELLIOTT’s (ex-ZOLA JESUS, ex-ABSINTHE MINDS) unmistakable howl form his solo work on Sacred Bones. Blasting right next to Max’s sonic wail stands the searing psych punk guitar leads of DEAD LUKE who you may know from his solo work as well as work with DEAD HOOKERS, ZOLA JESUS, and BONE PATROL U.S. Four slamming tracks, recorded and mixed by Bobby Hussy. Limited to a total of 350 hand-numbered copies, with the first 100 on color vinyl. Digital download includes the unreleased Dead Luke 7″ which was originally planned for release on Kind Turkey but got nixed in order to release this debut 7″ by The Lonesome Savages. The unreleased 7″ features Dead Luke covering “Ghost Rider” as well as jamming out a seven minute epic called “Born to Misbehave”!
Seatlle’s THE PHARMACY have spent the majority of the last decade touring the US and Europe relentlessly on their infectious brand of pop garage. In between tours they’ve released a slew of singles and three critically acclaimed LPs, cementing them as the current purveyors of the pop garage genre. Frontman SCOTT YODER concocts epic pop gems that aren’t obscured by mountains of fuzz or clched lyrics—all while staying true to their lo-fi perspective on sound. Four songs in all. 2/3rds of THE PHARMACY play in the bedroom pop band FUZZY CLOAKS!
Limited to 500 hand-numbered copies with the first 100 on color vinyl. PICK UP THE FUZZY CLOAKS TAPE at a SUPER cheap 2 dollar price tag when you order it with the Pharmacy 7″!
A fresh LP from the fine folks at Bachelor! Garage pop bubbledumb of the highest order. Sounds a bit like Nobunny with a side of way less confident BBQ (Mark Sultan’s swing!). The band appears to be the one man project of Brontex Purnell, a Bay Area transplant originally hailing from Alabama. He was a part of the ultra fun electro Oakland group Gravy Train!!! alongside Hunx (who was also in the band Panty Raid with Brontex). The band is slightly reminiscent of what Bay Area contemporaries Seth (Hunx) and his Punx are doing. Rock Flawless is Younger Lovers’ second LP, and it’s recorded and mixed by Kind Turkey favorite and friend, Matthew Melton (main man in Bare Wires and Snakeflower 2). Is the name a nod to the Modern Lovers? The more modern “Modern Lovers” would be the “Younger Lovers”… right? Pretty clever. The nasally slightly reverbed/slapbacked vocals cut through the most (although most of the words are jumbled together in a stew of bubbledumb pop perfection). Honestly I wish the record was a hair more varied. Maybe I just wish the singer was more confident and went for it more instead of sounding like a drunker and less excited version of Nobunny, stumbling through semi-punk garage pop ravers. There’s DEFINTELY enough pop sensibility to keep most of you Indiana girls and Budget Rockers happy…but I fear it might lack the ballz, sleaze, and punk attitude that sets Nobunny apart from the rest of the bubbledumbers out there. Not a bad record at all (a little long-winded for such a simply repetitive sound), it’s more varied (and honestly better) than most of the other bubbledumb floating around these days, but I think it could have used a good editor’s trim to keep it from sounding stale by the end of the B-Side. Essentially if Nobunny can’t fill yr entire bubbledumb void seek out this record. A new 7″ by The Younger Lovers is now available at Southpaw Records here, with the band’s 3rd LP coming in 2012 on Southpaw as well.
Wounded Lion has pulled itself out of the LA gutter and bestowed us with their best recording to date, IVXLCDM. It’s their sophomore release following the acclaimed S/T on In The Red. It brings us more garage glam meets Wipers sludge goodness. This here is a powerful slab of off-kilter art punk of the highest order…the type you’ve come to expect from In The Red. Aspects of the right types of power-pop and glam work their way between the art-punk backbone. As an added bonus Wounded Lion now features Lars Finberg of the A Frames, Intelligence, and Thee Oh Sees!
The vocals on all the band’s released material are deadpan but still completely engaging since half the time the stories are about everyday oddities…you know…Roman values, being sad, potato chips, feeling vibrations on pianos…etc. This thing is a lot catchier than I thought it was initially. “Roman Values” is the hit cut obviously. Straight forward slightly slop punk with some good ganged up vocals (the doubled vocals slightly remind me of the mongoloid vocals of the Spits, though Wounded Lion never really actually sounds like labelmates The Spits). Of course the production on this thing sounds great since the man Chris Woodhouse himself recorded it. It thumps and pounds at times, and other times sounds thin. A really wide dynamic range on this record – which I think it’s ideal in a long player of this style. This isn’t yr dad’s punk record. This isn’t yr brother’s punk record. It’s a punk record for the kids of today! Man the package is beautiful too (the translucent green vinyl version at least). I’d probably have put a different track last instead of the Lou Reed cover “Oh Jim” (which I probably would have left off the album altogether). It doesn’t really fit with the rest of the record which isn’t really a droney repetitive affair like most of Reed’s output. Nevertheless this LP is definitely worth picking up!
