CRYSTAL SWELLS- HARSH SIDE/SLUDGE FREAKS 7"

This is the perfect acid-fried, garage-pop, speed-trip for your summer! Four jams in seven minutes, oodles of reverb on the vocals, drums that sound like Chuck Biscuits backing Dick Dale and some truly killer guitar playing! This band has been at it for a few years and they always rule! You can download the individual tracks on the bandcamp... ohh, just got to track three and it's a fucking anthem! this band is too good!

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THE MUSIC OF KATIE CRUTCHFIELD

About two years ago I discovered a band called PS Eliot. It was lo-fi pop-punk with some great melodies but it had that indescribable WOW! factor that you're always secretly hoping for when first hearing a band's music. Over the next few months I found out that the source of these songs was a one-woman pop-genius named Katie Crutchfield. In addition to the demo, EP and two LP's by PS Eliot, who recently disbanded, were an album by The Ackleys, a demo LP by Bad Banana, And a split cassette/LP by her current solo project Waxahatchee. It's all great. Her sense of melody for vocals and guitar, and how those two can feed off of each other is astounding. Not to mention the number of songs!!!

If you like anything from Guided by Voices to The Promise Ring to Jawbreaker then this is probably something you'll dig!

BAD BANANA

PS ELIOT 


WAXAHATCHEE

MY DAD IS DEAD- THE TALLER YOU ARE, THE SHORTER YOU GET

This is good. 80's home-recording project with a drum machine. Layers of awesome guitar playing, super depressing lyrics, vocals that kind of sound like early REM and really good songwriting. If you like anything lo-fi, indie-rock, kind of weird or depressing then this is a little gem of a record for you. Oh yeah, this was on Homestead, so you know it's some 80's indie goodness.

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SEBADOH- HARMACY

This is a great album if given the appropriate amount of time. Sebadoh are not well-liked by my friends and they are of the opinion that Lou was better off in Dinosaur Jr. than fronting his own band. Pure nonsense if you ask me. I love Dinosaur Jr. for Mascis' awesome playing and You're Living All Over Me is one of the most perfect albums ever written but everything else is very hit-or-miss and later on Mascis began to write songs that sounded like hazy afterthoughts meant to pay his bills. Sebadoh, in my opinion, is all fire and expression. Unlike Jay, I don't feel like Lou ever stopped trying to be a better writer or rested on his laurels... at least in terms of Sebadoh. Lou never made an album as good as You're Living All Over Me but he did make three albums that are better than any other Dino album.

Out of those three, Harmacy gets the least attention. III is all lo-fi mysticism, hopeless ballads and scrappy-charm. Bakesale is the well-produced, amps-on-11 surprise party. So what is Harmacy? Something in between Bakesale and III. More angst and balladry than Bakesale but far too much rock to sound anything like III. The thing that shines here is Lou's voice, songs and melodies. It's really just a messy pop album hidden under some slacker-tendencies that, much like Sebadoh as a whole, loses out on the acclaim it deserves due to Lou's unfortunate reputation as permanent second-fiddle. If you like rooting for the underdog then maybe give Sebadoh a try!

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ERIC'S TRIP CBC DOCUMENTARY

This is a wonderful little documentary the CBC did on Eric's Trip in 1993. The bulk of the film is just Rick White and Julie Doiron sitting and talking about the band in a very cute and rambling way (which I eventually found pointless and frustrating)... anyways, lots of amazing footage, good songs, cool interviews, some original versions of well-known songs PLUS a very funny commercial that was left on the tape! Enjoy some great 90's Canadiana. It's only about twenty minutes long


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and...
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ALEX CHILTON- LIKE FLIES ON SHERBERT

Alex Chilton is awesome. If you enjoy plain old rock music or some really amazing songwriting then you owe it to yourself to get into this man and his odd body of work. The back story that everyone is maybe familiar with goes something like this:

A teenage Chilton somehow lands himself a job as the guitar player in the 60's one-hit-wonders The Box Tops and ends up singing on their biggest hit, that band splits and Chilton befriends fellow songwriter Chris Bell. After awhile they gather two other musicians and form the now legendary Big Star. They write and record two of the greatest and most influential power-pop albums of all time but no one hears them and no one who does seems to care enough. The band splits sometime in the early 70's, Chris Bell becomes a junkie and ends up killing himself while Chilton spends the rest of the decade in a permanent state of depression and intoxication. He regroups with a former Big Star bandmate to record some songs for a new album as The Sister Lovers (the two of them were dating a set of sisters) but it ends up being released as a Big Star album entitled Third, which the label thinks will yield more interest for the album. It doesn't and the album flops, which is no surprise to Chilton at this point. It would go on to be the most lauded and influential of The Big Star LP's but at the time it was just another failure in an ever-expanding list. Shortly after that, Chilton went back to getting fucked up on a permanent basis and somewhere in the haze decided to do his first solo album, Like Flies on Sherbert. A few years later, Chilton became an in-demand producer for new-wave and punk bands and finally earned the long-overdue praise for the material he penned with Big Star. An untouchable cult-figure from the mid 80's on, Chilton enjoyed critical success and unwavering support from the independent music community until his death a few years ago...

But this album... oh boy. One critic said it was the worst album ever made. People hated it's amateurish production and incredibly sloppy playing but listening to it now, you get to hear a power-pop album that predates lo-fi, indie-rock and alt-country by about twelve years. I think it's great and so did Chilton. He said it was made during the worst period of his life but it somehow managed to be a fun reminder of that time instead of the drug-addled mess everyone made it out to be. Decide for yourself I guess.

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MAC DEMARCO- ROCK AND ROLL NIGHT CLUB

For those that don't know, Mac Demarco is the soul behind former lo-fi pop outfit Makeout Videotape, but now he's man enough to brandish his birth name like a true singer/songwriter. Makeout Videotape put out a lot of material and pretty much all of it was great but it wasn't quite this. On here we finally get that mid-fi, bitter-sweet beauty that we always long for when listening to post GBV pop music. Mac is not rich so I didn't bother looking for a way to download this but you can sample it at his bandcamp HERE and order a tape on Green Burrito Records HERE. I think the vinyl is coming out soon on Captured Tracks!

GUIDED BY VOICES- TIGERBOMB

This is a Guided by Voices EP from 95. Of course people who don't know it look at the track listing and think "why would I want to listen to an EP with two songs that are already on Alien Lanes?" Well, because they're re-recorded full-band versions that absolutely dwarf the originals in every way. A good Toby song at the end and there it is. Six excellent GBV songs in one handy little 7"

p.s. The link also includes the Motor Away 7"

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ERIC'S TRIP- PURPLE BLUE

Some good old mid-90's lo-fi for you on christmas! Nothing I can say about Eric's Trip hasn't already been said but this is the album I started with so maybe it'll work for you too! Lots of variety, equal parts lo and mid-fi and more Julie Doiron than other albums. Good to listen to if you didn't have the happiest christmas.

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THE GOSLINGS- GRANDEUR OF HAIR

Today I went to my city's urban-center to buy some books my folks wanted for christmas. Aside from scoring a copy of Daniel Johnston's art-book for twenty bucks as well as the stuff I was looking for, it was pure hell. Masses of people all shuffling around, no one smiling, people shoving into other people while saying "excuse me" under their breath and not bothering to make eye contact, eyeing that bluray Friends boxset they can't wait to get their greasy little mitts on (sorry Grace!)... this time of year really does suck.

In a rare and unfortunate occurrence, I had no tunes to drown out the frenzy of "should I get an I-phone or a blackberry" but I kept thinking of this album for some reason. Maybe because it's some of the ugliest, sludgiest, creepo doom/drone I've ever heard and the thought of it blasting over some loudspeaker, thus making everyone in the store feel like jumping off of a bridge was very satisfying to me... ahhh the holidays. Anyway, The Goslings are from Florida, record all of their albums on cassette and never tour... sounds kinda douchey and hey, maybe they are but when the music is this perfect, I could care less. Imagine a not boring, more psychedelic Sunn O))) and you'll have a pretty good idea of what you're getting into.

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BEVIL WEB/3 DREAM BAG- SPLIT 7"

Oh yes, I just bought a copy of this gem from the guy who used to run the label back in '94! It's being mailed straight from Dayton, Ohio! To keep it short, this is a split 7" between two "bands" who's members are all just people from Guided by Voices. Curiously, Bob Pollard is absent from this entirely but it doesn't matter a bit. Side A, aka Bevil Web, is Tobin Sprout at his very best and side B, aka 3 Dream Bag, is material penned by Greg Demos... which is surprisingly great! If you're into golden era GBV or just lo-fi pop in general then get on this!

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CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE- ANSWERING MACHINE MUSIC

This one is for my fellow wimps. If you like lo-fi pop songs that are sad as fuck then this is the shit. The one deterrent for a lot of people is this: the whole album is one shitty keyboard and one man who can barely sing. Why is it worthwhile? The caliber of songwriting here is incredible. The stories in these songs are so relatable and heartbreaking for anyone who's ever pined for someone who doesn't notice you, been dumped because you were an idiot or just felt like no matter what, you were going to die alone. Imagine GBV played by one guy in his room on a casio SK-1! Yeah, I know, "weak!" right? fuck off, I gots feelings and unfortunately Void doesn't really relate to all of them...

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GUIDED BY VOICES- TONICS AND TWISTED CHASERS

Guided by Voices are my favourite band. I'm a sucker for good pop songs and Bob/Toby are my Lennon/McCartney. As a nice favor to their fans, they basically write and record at least two albums worth of material every year. One release that never gets attention as an official LP despite it's 20+ tracklisting of all original recordings, is this gem. Honestly, this is as good as the golden-era LP's and if you haven't heard it yet, you must check it out for 'Dayton Ohio 19 something and 5" alone.

This is the sound of summers gone by, walking home stoned at 3am on a breezy august night and being too dumb to appreciate how great it'll all be when you're old and sad

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PAVEMENT- SLANTED & ENCHANTED B-SIDES

Last night among drunken ramblings between me and a friend were Tobin Sprout rarities, New Order vs. Joy Division and the fact that my friend loves Pavement and hasn't heard the bonus material that came with the Slanted & Enchanted reissue. Thinking about it, I suppose a lot of people probably haven't bothered to go beyond the album, which is a damn shame because Pavement really had something magical going on those first few years. The bonus tracks on that reissue rival the album and these days I probably listen to them more than anything else the band ever did. This is just the bonus disc but there's also some great shit on the first disc as well. Sorry if you're among the many who hate this band

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GUIDED BY VOICES- VAMPIRE ON TITUS

Guided by Voices are an institution when it comes to indie-rock and lo-fi. An amazing band with an amazing discography, this is one of my faves. A more somber album but there are some beautiful moments here, especially Gleemer. Great for your late night biking

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MARTIN NEWELL- SONGS FOR A FALLOW LAND

Martin Newell is something of a musical nomad. Years of failures vastly outnumbering his successes lead to him retreating to the studio for the entirety of the 80's and releasing inadvertently lo-fi pop music exclusively on cassette (before that was something that every shit-head with a laptop was doing). The music on this cassette is very similar to Guided by Voices but still sounds unmistakably of it's time and place (the mid 80's/England). I like it

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