If you’ve been hanging around Kind Turkey long enough you know of our love for The Midwest Beat, one of Madison/Milwaukee’s leading underground garage bands. With 2 LPs out on Dusty Medical, a handful of singles and a new cassette coming on Kind Turkey the band has been nothing short of prolific. Although I do agree the commonly used “Angry Bubblegum” is a genre that suits the band well, I think that “crazed 60′s garage pop with a dash of psych” is more along the lines of what they’re really shaking. This is their classic six song debut EP reissued in its Mono Mix version. Originally released as a CD EP and then ultimately reissued (twice) as a double 7″, it’s now time for the cassette fiends out there to get their hands on this timeless Midwestern classic. Taking hints from the Kinks, the Stones, CCR and countless other country leaning and/or psychedelic bands, The Midwest Beat have carved their niche as the premier garage pop explosion unit from Wisconsin. This is “power pop” that’s actually powerful…jangly yes, but not weak to say the least…and that’s not to say it doesn’t have a large emphasis on the pop end of the spectrum, it’s just a lot more powerful than yr average 60′s tinged country garage band. Classics like “J-Man’s Blues” and “Girl Gone West” sound just as great today as they did the first time I heard em years back on those initial releases. This is essential for anyone who hasn’t heard the debut EP. The band has definitely grown and morphed since then, but they are still completely comfortable harkening back to the days of the original debut that turned so many heads when it first popped up on CD.
AND! Just to get you cassette junkies more excited…keep an eye out for the new Midwest Beat cassette of unreleased and live recordings coming soon on Kind Turkey Records!

The Midwest Beat on Facebook!
Limited to 100 copies on the Canadian label Hosehead Records. GET ONE HERE!

This is a 4 track EP from Kind Turkey bud, Adam Widener (AKA Adam Weird). Adam was a part of the Wisconsin scene (Plexi 3, The Zygoteens, Jet Set, The Mechanics of Romance, Magic Words…etc) for many years before uprooting and planting himself firmly in the Bay Area scene as the bass player for Bare Wires. Adam no longer plays with Bare Wires, but now he’s got his own thing going on! This is his first solo foray pressed onto vinyl and it’s a really quick burn of mod-pop madness (4 tracks spinning at 45 RPM). Power-Pop hinging mostly on the pop end of the spectrum. Some aspects of the Mod Punk scene, but pretty reserved stuff overall. A little bit of surf influence on the last track. The opener is the winner here. We know Adam’s got some mad skills as a bass player and he shows off his drumming and guitar skills on this record as well. Call him a ringer if you will! Layout by the great zine Plastique Pop (Run by who else but Adam!) featuring over 100 pictures of Adam’s mug, as well as lyrics. Pressed onto a nice clear coke bottle piece of vinyl. Includes a goofy insert with warranty information and a card to fill out. Note: The insert says to run this record at 33 RPM. Don’t do that. ha.
Pick it up from the Kind Turkey approved, Big Action Records!

Buy the 7″ from Big Action Here!
Adam Widener on Twitter

Two song 7″ limited to 150 copies (The last record I got by this band was somehow even more limited!)….I didn’t know they let you press in quantities under 100. Ha. Thing is recorded really loud (and mastered properly over at Brooklyn Phono). Banging guitar way out front. Pretty gnarly opening. Turns into something a bit more lo-fi when the vocals pop in. They’re double tracked but in the most lo-fi way possible (compared to how produced the guitar tone is). Lots of competent guitar playing floating around this thing. Think classic rock meets some of the riffing of the Black Keys or Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (or maybe a slew of other bands with names that start with “Black”). The vocal melody is actually way more reminiscent of the 60′s than most of the 70′s guitar leads filling out the track would have you believe. The thing I like most about the A-Side is the weirdo noise part between the transitions. It gets all low end rumbling feedbacky but then sorta gets by the completely ridiculous Hendrixesque hammer-on guitar part. The drummer is as competent as the guitar player is. Completely competent music with plenty of soul and guitar switcheroos/transitions.

“Joanne” is the type of B-Side you’d expect from the A-Side. More Black Rebel worship and definitely hinging on the 60′s sound more so than the A-Side (apart from the melody of that track). At points the chorus is really similar to what Ty Segall is doing minus some of the scuzz and punk attitude. I guess maybe a more safe/produced version of Ty Segall or something. There’s nothing punk about this record, and that might put some people off. Doesn’t bother me. Nothing that hasn’t been done before, but at least these kids can play their instruments and have some of the proper influences down (most notably the 60′s references). 7″ is housed in a stapled full color sleeve unlike any sleeve I’ve seen before. DIY for sure. Includes a double sided insert with lyrics and some photos. Out on Magic Sleeeve Records.

Hear “Sinkin/Risin” below:

Buy the 7″ here!
The Enthusiasts on Facebook

More meandering Black Lips psych via Michigan’s People’s Temple. The new 7″ is out on the Italian label Goodbye Boozy. A-Side is really well done simple psych blues. Primitive and lo-fi, this 7″ is a testament to the band’s roots. Their LP on Chicago’s Hozac last year turned some heads, probably many more than this 7″ will…but Hey!…that’s what LPs are for, right? Super reverbed out vox over a simplechord pattern and lots of fuzz tone! BJM worship for sure, but they’re sorta doing their own thing at the same time. The uncredited B-Side (so no idea what the title is!) has a nice hand-written note from Mr Goodbye Boozy himself “Hey Play also this side!…Enjoy!”. And it fades out exactly as it should. The fade out is an important and often times misused production technique. They got it right on this record. Fits the song. You need it for a song that’s already been going on too long. It just feels right like that.

Hear “Still (The Same)” below:
PEOPLE’S TEMPLE – still ( the same) by Goodbye Boozy records

People’s Temple on Facebook
Goodbye Boozy on the Internet!

A new slab by one of the best Milwaukee bands going currently! Out on the Dusty Medical Records imprint also based in Milwaukee. Sleep Slaughter Sheep is HOE’s first LP after a couple of singles and CDr only releases. After hearing most of the previous HOE output, I was surprised to hear how varied this record is. It’s threaded with a really ominous tone throughout the whole thing, and honestly that keeps this whole thing smooth and together. It verges on derailment at times, but always finds it’s way back to the gloom. Partly due to the scuzzed out guitar attack and partly from the reverbed out vocals. The backup chanting and “ooohs” also add to the creep factor. “Mean Mary” is the jam man. Surprised they didn’t open the LP with this. Although the LP’s opener is the title track and perfectly adequate as an album opener. I just really love “Mean Mary”. They really stepped it up from the version that’s on the Purple Death CDr (which was a really great release by the way!). They slow it down right after “Mean Mary” get’s all screamy with the dynamic “Up To You”. It starts off like a downer “lounge” number (their words not mine), and blasts ya for the last 30 seconds or so. This is followed by what must be the most country track on the record: “Blue Tar”. There’s something about this band that really reminds me of the rootsy country rock championed by Milwaukee contemporaries, The Goodnight Loving (also a staple on the Dusty Medical label). Andy from GNL recorded half of this record. The other half was done by Milwaukee’s engineer extraordinaire, Josh at Sounds Ok! Studios.

“Body Recovery” starts like a cross between Nirvana’s “Breed” and “Stay Away”. This band definitely owes something to the sludged out sounds of Nirvana (mostly in the vocal delivery and the blissed out verb on em), but this band is seriously a band all it’s own. Way more country influence that Kurt Cobain and Co. never even mingled with. HOE has some of the hooks of Nirvana, but usually it’s more about the aesthetic of the song as a whole than the single hook that will keep you coming back. You’re going to come back to this record because it evokes a feeling of doom and gloom, and well in 2012 we all need a little doom n gloom right?
The A-Side closer is one of my favorite of the more countrified tunes. It starts off slow and turns into a really powerful and great song.

The B-Side is sorta more of the same but not quite as powerful as the startup side. Should have opened the B-Side with a faster number in my opinion. The birds chirping on the intro and outro of the song sound real nice and are a nice juxtaposition to all the gloom going on around yr head at this point in the record, but at the same time it seems sorta outta place after you just got torn a new one by the A-Side. The second track, “More Sheep Than Yellow” on the B-Side may be one of my favorite jams and could have easily snuck it’s way onto the A-Side instead of some faster rager (which could have filled out the B-Side nicely). Seems like the B-Side is a bit more countrified and has some unique and odd tempo changes that really set this band apart from a lot of grunge coping weirdos. I think they should have put that excellent track, “Ghost Hunter” on this thing. I know it already received a vinyl release, but it’s a great song that more people should hear!

Only complaint I have with this record is that it goes on a bit too much…even though, after checking, it’s only 13 songs. I sorta wish they would have pared it down and kept only the absolute essentials on there. Maybe it’s all the doom and gloom that gets to you by the end of the record…maybe that’s the point? Honestly, I keep picking up the record and listening to it so I guess it’s not really too long for my tastes….just has something going on that feels long-winded at times. I could probably lay down some cash that this band is an artier/weirder, more folky, and just plain old smarter version of the best garage band in yr town. This record is worth owning. End of story.

TOP NOTCH art from the frontman of the band, Erik O., with a nice insert as well. Download included.

Hear “More Yellow Than Sheep” below:
More Sheep Than Yellow by Head On Electric by kindturkeyrecords

Buy the LP from Dusty Medical Records Here!
Head On Electric on Facebook

The Arkoffs are a rock ‘n roll band from Madison, Wisconsin — that’s “garbage rock” to you, sucko. Once upon a time they had a different name and a different drummer, both of which have been lost in the sands of the hourglass and the Blatz glass. Three of the current members of this family band — Adam (bass), Andy (guitar) and Bobby (guitarded) Arkoffs — were in that earlier aggregation. Along with recycling themselves, they also recycled some of that earlier band’s songs because it’s easier than writing new ones. Several years back after accidentally losing drummer Schabowy “Cubie” Arkoffs along the highway near Lodi, they picked up country cousin Kyle “TEH BANDIT” Motor, who agreed to join the band in exchange for the future residuals to Austin Roberts’ “Rocky.” Al Jardine, however, was denied membership. Other former members are in the Witness Protection Program.

Luckily for the band (and all of you listeners!) Kyle turned out to be a real fine recording engineer, and in possession of various microphones and tape machines. The Arkoffs are now throwing off the chains of their long hiatus from merch for their first album in many years, “Top Teen Hits.” In fact, it’s been nearly so long since their last release, “Half Ass,” that you could still buy cassettes. Do you remember cassettes? Did I mention their new album will be only available on cassette?

You can stream the whole tape (one side at a time) over at Kind Turkey’s Bandcamp page:
http://kindturkey.bandcamp.com/album/top-teen-hits

The cassette is hand numbered and extremely limited (only 50 copies). The first 20 had hand painted cassette shells. Currently there are less than 10 copies left!
You can pick up the tape for $6.50 postage paid here:
http://www.kindturkeyrecords.com/artists/arkoffs

THE PHARMACY – DIG YOUR GRAVE (MUSIC VIDEO) from brendhan bowers on Vimeo.

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

Buy the 7″ from Kind Turkey Here! VERY limited quantity of colored vinyl left!

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.

Hear “Rats In The Snow” below:
White Whale – Rats In The Snow by bigneckrecords

Buy the 7″ from Big Neck Records HERE
White Whale on the Internet

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!

Cribshitter on Facebook!

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.

Indian Wars on Facebook
Primitive Hands on Myspace
Goodbye Boozy on the Internet