Brooklyn micro label Minikin, have released their first compilation: Afterthoughts; a lovely 14-track record for which the proceeds go to Brooklyn music education platform We Make Noise. Minikin, formed in 2015, have brought together scene stalwarts Bethlehem Steel, Vagabon, Long Beard, gobbinjr, Half Waif, among others, and the result is a lovely, meandering set of songs that fit well together without being overly similar.
Weaves is a key figure on small but beloved Toronto-based label Buzz Records, and their unpredictably spasmodic yet undeniably pop-friendly songs have gathered them an intense worldwide fanbase, one that’s especially staggering for a band with only a couple of EPs and a string of sporadically released singles to their name.
Houdini, Stoner Witch, and Stag have all been out-of-print on vinyl for over two decades and original copies can command into the three figures. Third Man Records is proud to reintroduce these titles, officially available June 24th, to the hungry vinyl-buying public, all remastered from original analog tapes, pressed on 180-gram vinyl and given the deluxe, gatefold jacket treatment.
Canadian singer-songwriter Andy Shauf’s album The Party is a masterful work with a compelling narrative about youth and heartbreak. The Party is Shauf’s debut on Anti- Records, telling the tale of a party and the small secrets revealed and social mishaps occurring in a single evening. The songs have a cinematic, quiet beauty to them, with layers of keys, trumpet, guitar and softly pounding drums.
I had wanted to write a longer piece on Bodega Bay last fall, about the band and their then-recent release Our Brand Could Be Your Life, a 33-song album/manifesto released digitally with a mock 33 1/3 book as an optional physical companion. Now, having announced their dissolution last week and played their final show last Friday, it seems like a good time to try again, to reflect on a band that meant a lot to me, a band of people I’d like to consider friends, and who made me think.
Disposable America Records is getting ready to release Special Interest, a new digital/cassette compilation on Friday, July 15th, 2016. In the light of Sunday's horrific events in Orlando, the label has decided to share Coaches' "What The World Needs Now (Is Love)" cover earlier than originally planned to raise money for the victims at Pulse.
Confirmation Bias is the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories. It’s also the name of the new album from Chicago’s Yeesh, which comes out on Tiny Engines July 22. They’ve already graced us with the first single “End Results” and now we’re happy to premiere their new single “World Building.”
Buck Gooter’s heart and soul resides in the comparatively stoic sixty-four year old guitarist/singer Terry Turtle. The sight of Terry onstage shredding and belting like he never passed twenty is guaranteed to linger in concert-goers heads long after Buck Gooter leaves the stage. After more than ten years of playing together Billy decided to team up with Harrisonburg based videographer Joey Bell to create The Man Named Turtle as a way of unwrapping and contextualizing the history of such a unique musician.
