Shit!, I said, all chips on the table! . Before Swans took the stage, on board the ship at anchor, watching the purplish clouds, we talked or held our breath in reverence, and to get the best night out of sweet smoke, because if there’s a time to tune in – this must it. And let me make this a disclaimer: maybe I was tuned in too much; my shoes smell like a pair of rats; I often badly miss contact at shows where everyone is facing the stage, like an altar; and most relevantly, I hadn’t got into their reunion albums deep enough.

Swans really hurt, ears and heart, by their sheer volume. The ship A38 is famed for its excellent sound, but, strangely, Gira’s sonorities got trapped in the mix – coming loud and clear, but without the depth to his voice. Count crashes to 22 – a lighthook poises! or some such intermission. Huge blocks – a bit short of details -. cold shiny storm of steel, bluesy downcast drudge, and in the center: immediacy. They bared themselves – were hypnotic, to be kind – or focused beyond bias. Earplugs came with entry, but using them would have felt like betrayal.

Levels of experience (and how they lapsed):
shimmering transfusion swept legs, twitched back and back, off with poses at the joints, I was shaking + the sense of being in the moment (but noone really broke loose)-> communal
release and abandon -> surfing, fun in the sun ( more fun fun fun!) -> magic (a few waves) -> [magical] fairy tale (alas,only a few moments of that…you know, mythic reenactment – but maybe I went to the wrong show)

It was great, it was real, it promised rapture, maybe companionship, but I didn’t totally get it.

Back in the streets, I stopped by an old man playing a woodbox guitar and singing just beautifully to it. Bucolic songs,ballads – almost myths. Thank you, Swans! Thank you, Mr Péter Lóczi!

The English Burning Alms duo plays noise rock. I think Fugazi, Helmet, Sonic Youth and black metal; others mentioned e.g. Glenn Branca and Swans as influence.

debut album „In Sequence” on Smalltown America Records (Northern-Ireland, UK)

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Elzo Durt is Belgian graphic artist who made many cover arts for such bands as Thee Oh Sees, Magnetix, Jack of Heart, PyPy and many more. On the occasion of his Parisian exhibition, Born Bad Records have released a single with really various artists: Cheveu, Pierre & Bastien and Violence Conjugale

Elzo is co-founder of Teenage Menopause Records

On the Dark Side of Bluegrass with The Dead Brothers

The Swiss funeral folk band unites various style in his music. There are blues, country, hillbilly, French chanson, Balkan melodies, gospel, gipsy music, jazz and more. They have written music for such theatre productions as Orpheus In The Underworld, Elektra and Tales from the Vienna Wood of Ödön von Horvath, and reproduced Kurt Weill ‘s arrangements of Brechts’operas. Beside these, they’ve a gothic-country version of Franz Schubert’s lied cycle, Winterreise.

The Dead Brothers have many forms:
a puppet dancing show,
a folk guitar symphony orchestra,
a primitive banjo and accordion duo,
a summer piano cabaret band with slide guitar and fiddle,
three old acoustic Armenians sitting on chairs,
and the only real heavy metal band, a mega combo with three tubas, 9 other horns.

The new album „Black Mouse” is a romantic record about the Spiritus Rector (directing spirit) of the world with oriental tunes and medieval rhythm.

La mauvaise réputation (Bad Reputation)

Voodoo Rhythm Records

DEAD BROTHERS DATES OCT-DEC GERMANY, SWITZERLAND, HOLLAND, AUSTRIA

The new songs of Purling Hiss come to Dinosaur Jr to my mind, but this Philadelphian trio is better. I can’t endure J. Masics’ mewing.

„Weirdon” album on Drag City (US)

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Thank God, less experiment and more music by Dan Melchior and Walker Russel (Pheromoans).  „Kraut-influenced space rock.” Maybe, I don’t know.

7″ by Kill Shaman Records (US)

Dan Melchior on RNR666

and some shots by Gyerage from the 108th RNR666 Party:
Vaadat Charigim (Isr, Burger Recs) and
makrohang (H, jazz for metalheads)

pics here

Animated clip by the Italian minimal extreme noise metal duo

OvO  – I Cannibali

from the album Abisso

“The anarcho-punk (The Ex, Dog Faced Hermans, Rhythm Activism) made an important impact on us, but we don’t belong any movements. Although our lifestyle is perfect anarchism. We haven’t workplace, travelling around the world, working together with people who have values identical with ours, doing own label, etc. We can try to live by our own ideas, it requires much discipline, I think it’s an important trick of the anarchism.”

(Read the full interview in Hungarian.)

New stuff from the world-wide little Italian label
GOODBYE BOOZY RECORDS

THE TOWELHEADS – 7″ – AUS, surfin’ on sandwaves (distributed by Anti Fade in AUS)
WET BLANKETS – 7″ – AUS, punk (Anti Fade in AUS)
STRANGE ATTRACTOR – single sided 7″ – Canada, garage rock
MARTIN SAVAGE GANG – 7″ – Swedish garage punk rock

GOODBYE BOOZY INTERVIEW ON RNR666

Speedy Wunderground is a very special little label in London. It was formed in early 2013 by the producer Dan Carey. He worked together with Franz Ferdinand, Bat For Lashes, TOY, Django Django, Emiliana Torrini, The Kills, Kylie Minogue, Tame Impala among others.
The Speedy Wunderground works under strict rules: Dan will produce all releases. All records will be recorded at Dan’s studio. Recording of all records will be done in one day and finish before midnight. Mixing will be done the day following the recording, also in one day only. There will be no lunch break during these days. The core of each song will be a live take recorded in the dark with smoke and lazers and somewhere on each record the Swarmatron (a hand-built analogue synthesiser) will make an appearance. The recordings will appear in limited runs of 250 7”s.

Natalie Bang Bang is a Riot Grrrl. She said it. And made mention of Serge Gainsbourg, David Bowie, Madonna, A$AP Rocky and David Byrne as her top musicians. And picked Loser by Beck as her national anthem. But nevertheless she is just a teen spice girl in soft Madonna style. Maybe this post punk disco track is her first really good song

7″ will be released on 3rd Nov by Speedy Wunderground

KYTHIBONG, French independent record label, Nantes.
Records from electro-pop to arith-metal.
They have sent such well-known artists as
Pneu, Kommandant Cobra, Piano Chat, Sieur & Dame,
Vagina Town and Binidu in the direction of world fame.

Is it a one man label or are there a bunch of fanatics?

We’re three people, Mric, Anthony and Marion.

How does it started and when?

It started more than 10 years ago, in 2002, because Room 204, one of Mric’s band, needed a structure, for administration, stuff and, of course, a first disc. Room 204’s drummer had this band that should be released for the world to hear, so we had a second release. Then this other friend had a musical project and, it’s not all so complicated to release albums, isn’t it . In a few years, without really deciding it, we were a label. The real decision was to go on with it.

What was the first release?

Room 204 (minimal jazz rock) is the first album with the name Kythibong on it, but it’s a co-production. Argument (noise rock) was the first release we did alone, as grown-up assuming themselves.

What were the big (or little) surprises, disappointments and mistakes?

Mistake and disappointment cannot really happen the way Kythibong functions. When we release something there is always good-enough reasons for it, a mixture of human-music complicity and, if we’re happy when a lot of other people agree with us that an album is awesome, we’re also fine when it’s not the case. And we love pile up CD boxes to play stronghold and knights. As for surprises, let’s say we’re  always a bit surprised that people still want to work with us.

Can you play on any instruments? Have you ever been in a band?

Mric is the only one of us who can play on a guitar with some efficient results. He has two bands, Papaye and Room 204 (math rock/arith-metal), both on Kythibong, because we have no other choices if we want to avoid any big family drama. But actually, they are super great bands, so it’s ok. We’re lucky.

What do you do beside the music business?

Kythibong. And beside Kythibong, Mric is a musician, Anthony has a record shop and Marion is a screen-printer.

What are your upcoming releases?

Up coming next: an EP from The Healthy Boy and the Badass Motherfuckers (always raining)

a new LP from Gratuit (electro-pop) and somewhen soon a super surf album by a newcomer on Kythibong Les Agamemnonz.

Kythibong? What or Who is it?

We forgot, it was too long ago.

The next prefatory has been made originally for a psychedelic free jazz album review (which is under way), but it also goes well here in same way.

The horror has started with Iron Bonehead Records. It’s an obscure German vinyl only extreme metal label. I wrote a letter to them, that I would like to write reviews from some releases. At once I have been attached to promotion circle of the metal underground. Since then I get tons of free metal stuff. Horrible records every day from the whole world. The Swiss Bölzer was the only remarkable band with their avant-garde death metal. And I have become familiar with the Finnish Svart Records. Their range of audibility expands from free jazz to extreme metal, and there’re some good bands and records. For example

3 Fresh Finnish Hard Rock/Metal singles on Svart Records

The names speak for theirselves: Hard Action, The Black Mass, Forced Kill. The first two play 70s style hard rock and roll with this difference that The Black Mass has a smack of black metal. While Forced Kill is „such as early Sodom, beer drinking Slayer”

Hey!Amphetamine Reptile mode Deutsch noise punk by UV Glaze

7″ single on Bachelor Records (Austria). You can find some free tracks here

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Smell swamp psych garage blues rock by The Ukiah Drag

„In The Reapers Quarters” LP and digital on Wharf Cat Records (US)

FUTUROSCOPE is a theme park, a stupid high-tech multimedia Disneyland in France, in Vienne Departement. If you go thereabout rather choose the goat cheese and the wine! But also is a French band with perfect references. Unfortunately there’re just a little, but luckily increasing bunch of people who knows about the great little label in Texas, Monofonus Press, and the magnifique petit label in France, Cockatail Pueblo. Led Er Est, Shit and Shine, John Wesley Coleman, The Golden Boys, The Pheromoans, The Rebel, Trans Upper Egypt, XYX (is my absolute favorite there), perhaps these are the most well-known band on Monofonus. Well, I think after these, it is absolutely needless to mention the bands of Cocktail Pueblo (look those!). The Futuroscope’ records were released by them. The French trio (from Tours, with a member of Pneu) plays psychedelic ritual kraut space rock, often it twists into ecstasy

cassette by Monofonus or digital from Bandcamp