Tell Us About 2012 Releases

[rage patton]

AHA. i did not know this. The Little Chords bandcamp states that it's a Teen Daze side project, so i just assumed. Guess he's just performing under a different name since it sounds pretty different.

I haven't listened to the Little Chords album yet, but I am pretty sure its kind of a Teen Daze & Friends kind of effort.

Fun Fact: Jamison (Teen Daze) used to play guitar and drums in his Bible College's praise band. True story.

[bballarl]

This is one of Ben from Fucked Up's side projects. The first song on the flip is a classic pop tune. The rest of it is really fucking good as well.

http://www.slumberlandrecords.com/catalog/show/214

[DerekClapton]

I just got my Inner Tube LP in the mail a few days ago and it is just the best. Inner Tube is a collaboration between Spencer Clark from the Skaters with James Ferraro and does kinda retro noise and psychedelic synth stuff and Mark McGuire who plays in Emeralds and does long form guitar jams and also happens to be one of my favorite guitarists of all time. The album is dedicated to surfing and grand adventures with your friends and they even mention Swamis in the liner notes which is my all time favorite surf spot. But yeah if you're into long form guitar/synth jams or if you just like the beach and smoking a lot of weed you should look into it. If you're already into these two guys then you can probably already imagine what this sounds like... The LP also comes with a poster of them just being really stoney and doofy. I highly recommend this.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

Sounds awesome. Great group of musicians!

[wmgaretjax]

Yeah the Inner Tube album is super chill and fun. Pretty much just their take on an 80s surf movie soundtrack.

[bmack86]

So this new J. Mascis band, Heavy Blanket, is putting out a "psychedelic instrumental" album. Their back story is incredible:


It was the summer of 1984, and a teenage j Mascis was bored. Sure, his band Deep Wound were still playing shows and melting faces. That band would prove to be one of hardcore’s seminal influences, but j didn’t know that then. Disillusioned with the direction that most of his hardcore heroes had taken, he wanted to start something new. He wanted to shed the pretentiousness and elitism that had risen around him - to slow things down and turn the volume way, way up. This new band would influence generations of disenfranchised youth while tipping their hat to their heroes of years past, before punk existed. And so: he needed a band.

He remembered a couple kids from his early high school days – stoner kids he’d always admired for their “who gives a shit” attitude. Those kids, Johnny Pancake and Pete Cougar, had been kicked out of marching band for smoking weed out of a tuba. Way better musicians than the marching band deserved, they’d formed a duo that was all rhythm section – no vocals, no guitar, a sick, punchy brew of Band of Gypsies and Japanese hard psych (Johnny’s uncle was a US Marine stationed on Okinawa in 1973. From his frequent visits to Tokyo, he brought home a killer psych record collection. And a mean dose of the clap). These were the guys he needed. He rounded them up and it soon became obvious that the heavy rhythms they created were the perfect backdrop to young Mascis’ insane, fluid ability on the guitar. The trio came up with six blistering tracks, named themselves Heavy Blanket, and set a date to record.

But then, tragedy struck. Johnny hit his head and nearly drowned while swimming in an old stone quarry in southern Vermont. His recovery was… incomplete. He gave up playing altogether and became something of a recluse, retreating to the relative safety of his grandmother’s basement. Disheartened by Johnny incapacitation, Pete moved out to Ohio to work in his uncle’s second-hand furniture store. He later did a stint in federal prison for repeatedly passing low-denomination counterfeit bills at the local Stop’n’Shop. Mascis went on to form Dinosaur jr, and the rest is history. The boys lost touch, and those blistering tracks were lost to history.

Fast forward to the winter of 2011. While on his semi-annual ski retreat to Stowe, Mascis runs into an old friend. Johnny had emerged from his grandmother’s basement (having been forced to, once her demise stopped the flow of milk and sandwiches to his underground lair) and taken a job grooming the ski trails with a Snowcat. Convinced his long-ago accident was the handiwork of those schemers in Pearl Jam, Johnny begged j to reform the band. It was the only way to get back at them, he insisted. A quick search of Ohio prison records turned up Pete, living in a halfway house in Columbus. After securing the proper permissions from his parole officer, Pete boarded a Greyhound with the only recording of Heavy Blanket in existence – an old practice cassette. Building off those old tune structures, the boys – now men – have finally succeeded in fulfilling the promise of that long past summer.

[ods..]

(Johnny’s uncle was a US Marine stationed on Okinawa in 1973. From his frequent visits to Tokyo, he brought home a killer psych record collection. And a mean dose of the clap). These were the guys he needed.

After securing the proper permissions from his parole officer, Pete boarded a Greyhound with the only recording of Heavy Blanket in existence – an old practice cassette. Building off those old tune structures, the boys – now men – have finally succeeded in fulfilling the promise of that long past summer.

Amazing. Can't wait.

[JustSteve]

any talk of the new qotsa album in here? seeing things here and there, but nothing concrete. craving some new material from them, been way too long since the last album.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

We don't talk much in this thread about things we haven't heard, especially if there's no real news.

This Inner Tube record is pretty freaking awesome. Definitely makes me want to smoke pot, which i don't ever do anymore.

[GeezrRckr]

The more house-y jams on the new Madge are pretty good. The pop-dance songs aren't doing much for me. And, man, the production on this is total lip gloss.

[ods..]

I loved the Inner Tube album. Thanks for the rec, DerekClapton

edit: but i still can't stop playing out Ekstasis. Gotta be careful not to play it too much.

[TallGuyCM]

Good god. The new Shins album is the most indigestable, sterile piece of shit since Muse's The Resistance. I had low expectations, but I thought it would be better than this.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

If These Trees Could Talk's Red Forest is as brilliant as their past efforts. If you're not familiar with them, they're a post rock band that employs a very similar plucky lead guitar sound as Explosions In the Sky, but their overall sound is much more THUNDEROUS and they utilize classical composition methods well. When this thing crescendos, it's fucking fierce.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

I've listened to Yellow Ostrich's Strange Land 3 times now and it's really something else. They've taken the same intricate vocal harmonies form past releases and combined them with much more complicated musical compositions to create a collection of blistering, grandiose pop songs. The lead singer reminds me quite a bit of Jeff Mangum and the overall production is like a marriage of Menomena and Grizzly Bear, partly in that it really feels like a united group effort in songwriting and performance. Everything on this album just works so damn well; it's incredibly satisfying from start to finish.

EDIT: Coincidentally I just discovered that Menomena finished recording a new record in February. i had no idea they were going to release another one this year!

[lt.roast.a.botch]

Agreed on the Shins. Very average album at best. I don't think one song really stood out for me. Definite pass at Coachella.

[theklein25]

New Deadmau5 song featuring Gerard Way on vocals. Coachella 2013??!!

http://kroq.radio.com/2012/03/22/lis...eadmau5-track/

[ods..]

I didn't think the Shins album was that bad, but definitely not remarkable.

This Macy Gray album on the other hand... It's seriously something. Posted this tracklist in the leak thread, but it belongs here too:


1. Here Comes The Rain Again (Eurythmics)
2. Creep (Radiohead)
3. You Want Them Nervous (skit featuring J.B. Smoove)
4. Smoke Two Joints (The Toyes)
5. La La La (Teaching The Kids) (featuring Layann Al Saud, Avery Albert, Happy Hinds & Siena Stelber)
6. Teenagers (My Chemical Romance)
7. The Power of Love (featuring Hugh Salk)
8. Nothing Else Matters (Metallica)
9. Sail (AWOLNATION)
10. I Try Is Cool And All But...(skit featuring Nicole Scherzinger)
11. Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
12. Love Lockdown/Buck (Kanye West/Nina Simone)
13. Mel Rap (featuring Mel Hinds)
14. Bubbly (featuring Idris Elba) (Colbie Caillat)
15. Wake Up (Arcade Fire)
16. Really? (skit featuring MC Lyte)

The Creep cover is huge.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

New one from Natural Snow Buildings, Beyond The Veil, is very good! Big, dark, haunting, textured drone pieces . Extremely moody and atmospheric, almost sounds like it could be a score for an understated, creepy horror film.

[TallGuyCM]

After one listen, the new Beach House feels like a bit of a tease. It starts off incredibly strong with Myth and Wild, but then simmers down for most of the remainder of the album, only to finish fantastically well with On the Sea and Irene (the latter of which needs to close every show when they tour this time around, such a profound closing song). I wasn't a huge fan of theirs initially, but was really won over with Teen Dream, it was so full of songs I could really feel. I don't really feel much with this one, at least initially, aside from the beginning and ending tracks.

[SoulDischarge]

Beach House has always released growers in my opinion. I haven't given the new one a spin yet, but I'm sure it'll be something I like way more the 10th time around than the first.

[TallGuyCM]

That's what I'm thinking.

[Gribbz]

Beach House has always released growers in my opinion.

Agreed. Teen Dream took a few spins for it to finally click for me. I liked the new album right off the bat (especially Myth), but I think I'll like it much more further down the road.

[icedKeg]

On the Sea and Irene (the latter of which needs to close every show when they tour this time around, such a profound closing song).

totally agree with this. Irene is epic. Especially from 2:52-3:50. And I don't throw the word "epic" around too much...

[icedKeg]

also, I like The Shins album fine enough. Especially the second half of it. I think For A Fool sounds like a John Lennon song. And then Fall of '82 and 40 Mark Strasse have a sort of 70s slow-rock/soul vibe to them a la the band Chicago. I think P4K made a comparison like that and I agree with that part of their review.

[TallGuyCM]

There's no doubt that Perfume Genius writes some really lovely tunes, I just can't get into it though.

[lt.roast.a.botch]

Kindness World, You Need A Change Of Mind is pretty decent but all over the place. Some funk. Some chillout. Some 80s. I had to check a few times while listening to make sure I was still on the same artist. Enjoyable though.

[Fourthisto]

Totally agree that the middle of the new Beach House album is sort of "samey" and not too enthralling, but the first two and last two tracks really hit the spot.

I'm digging the new Raveonettes track they released for free, here's a link in case it hasn't been posted:

http://t.opsp.in/1BDrK

There's going to be an EP released in April... can't wait!

120 Days II sounds a lot like 120 Days, which is good if you like 120 Days.

This is brilliant!!

Ben Vida - esstends - esstends - esstends
I'm in love with this record. At first glance it might seem batshit insane and completely haphazard... but after a few listens it is readily apparent that Vida has extraordinary control over the synthesis techniques he is employing. Think Florian Hecker's mindfuck approach coupled with Keith Fullerton Whitman's techno-meets-electroacoustic vibe. The album is incredibly well balanced, never dwelling too long on a single dynamic or motif. He brings themes and techniques back repeatedly in a way that makes each subsequent track familiar and exciting.

I'm completely intrigued by this, I'm going to seek this out. Thank you!

[Grandma]

new My Bloody Valentine EP in the autumn


I hope

[guedita]

Nick Curly's Between the Lines is a fucking snooze and a half.

[TallGuyCM]

The Rocket Juice and the Moon album is really good background music, and I don't mean that in a negative way, especially on a warm sunny day. Good beats and fun vibes.