The Blind Shake. Hard rumbling noise rock with a little taste of psychedelia.

Key to a False Door LP by Castle Face Records

„What does The Blind Shake see when it finally opens its eyes?
Mike Blaha: A Civil War battlefield.
Jim Blaha: Debt.”

Free download: Live at WFMU 2012 & 2013

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Joy As A Toy is a trio from Bruxelles. They mention Talking Heads, Stereolab, Mr. Bungle and Deerhoof like same style music. Playful eclectic progressive pop. Set back the player to the first song!

Google A Gun – digital EP by Cheap Satanism Records

Streets Kill Strange Animals. Chinese noise rock influenced by Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Yo La Tango and the rapid pace of change and modernization in China. „There was less pollution and fewer people in the 80s of my childhood, though you could enjoy less entertainment and there wasn’t such chaos in the cities. So it seems that I’m a passenger on the bus these days.”

7″ by Genjing Records

An interview about the Chinese alternative rock scene on RNR666.

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Pizza Time. Easy Spanish pop punk from Denver. Perfect for the rainy days.

Quiero Mas – cassette by Burger. Free download!

A little different style music is on their demo:
no pop, but raw noisy lo-fi garage beats. Free!

Some moments of a Pizzaboy’s life: „I’m gonna wear the same clothes everyday in California just change my undies and socks. That was my plan but apparently I drank too much last night! Pissed the bed and lost a „Z” from my jacket… walking through the airport with a massive pee stain on my pants was pretty tight.”

I thought that I know somehow or other about the early French punk scene, because I have some old V/A tapes, but these bands are totally unknown for me.

„The first French incarnations of “Le Punk” (pronounced “paink” in numerous locales) were not carbon copies of their foreign exemplars.(…) There was nothing and no one to forge a connection between the handful of small, isolated groups, fundamentally motivated by a passion for what they deemed true rock ‘n’ roll (the desire to terrorize the neighborhood arrived soon afterward), each in their own little world, trying to provoke their backwater village or their lame metropolis. (…) It was not a movement of any kind, contrary to what was said later. (…) In the photos, we do not see Johnny Rotten’s cousins, but rather an unlikely, haphazard and disorganized bunch.”

Paink. French punk anthems 1977-1982

by Born Bad Records

Edited for the exhibition ” EUROPUNK” at Cité de la Musique
Paris from October 15 2013 to January 19 2014.

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The Novella is a Breeders-like British girl group somewhere between the one-note fantasias of The Velvet Underground and the perpetual rhythms of Neu!

Murmurs – cassette EP by Italian Beach Babes

„If you don’t have a tape player, it’s just a fancy box for a download code.”

The Steam Engine was one of the best Hungarian metal bands. The last EP

The guitarist, Tibi Rebák replied to my questions

What was the first own record in your life? Please write some words about it!

Metallica – St Anger. In contrast with the public opinion, I think it’s one of the best Metallica albums. It’s full of huge riffs and themes. It gives me many more so musically as lyrically. Some years later there was a film, Some Kind of Monster. It helps understand this album, the then chaotic years, and places the full Metallica-phenomenon to another view.

Which record made the biggest influence on you?

I can’t and don’t want go under five albums. Rather see this video; it exercises really great influence on me

If you don’t recognize him, click!

What was the last record that you heard?

The Russian Cirlces’ new album, the Memorial turns round and round nowadays. I have mixed feelings. Unfortunately they made a mistake, previously published the highly best song of the album, Deficit, and compared to this almost perfect track there are few outstanding moments, for example the Burial and the Lebaron. Maybe the sound was never so much metal than now; in some places it is wholly Norwegian. Despite its shortness the album is homogenous throughout. Well, it’s one of the best things of this year smoothly. Moreover I can see them on November 14 in Budapest with the Pozvakowski. Perfect.

All of Steam Engine records are free!

MAGYAR VÁLTOZAT >>

Tovább / Read more »

Abject Pax Punk

7″ by Sewercide Records

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The Ballantynes are a seven piece garage soul band. United by the common goals of dancing, drinking, and reveling in each other’s company.

EP by Latida

„The Ketamines is music from James Leroy and Paul Lawton. Ambition with no expectation. Love with no motive. Music that will help you through troubled times. Ketamines motto is: love yourself, honour yourself, respect yourself.” Their music is a very special mix of garage beat, bedroom blues, kitchen rock, living room country, bathroom surf, basement pop and homeless glam. The Ketamines releasing 4×7” singles on 4 labels, the covers combine to make one giant collage. The 3rd single

by Hosehead

The 1st. The 2nd is coming soon by Leaning Trees Records

You can buy the first and third together here

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If I’m writing that this is purely Nirvana, is it good or bad?

Feelings – Ends Meat, debut LP by Urinal Cake. Listen to the full album. More songs

YOU OUGHT TO JUST BUY A GOOD GUITAR” or

Two important albums of alternative country
will be reissued on Nov 19 by Bloodshot Records

The Bottle Rockets’ debut from 1993,
and their next album, The Brooklyn Side from 1994.

The Bottle Rockets are pioneers of alt-country. The roots of this subgenre go back to the 80s. There were two bands in the Midwest, The Primitives played rockabilly, then punk, finally blues oriented fast garage rock; the Chicken Truck played outlaw country music. The two bands occasionally played together. The first band changed his name into Uncle Tupelo, and released his debut album in 1990. The ’No Depression’ would be the first „alternative country” labelled record. In same year the Chicken Truck split up, and the singer and guitarist, Brian Henneman became a roadie and guitar technician of Uncle Tupelo, but he also played on shows and records as a permanent guest. Furthermore a country cover band, the Coffee Creek was founded by U.T. and Brian, who after a successful solo single (backed by U.T. men and ex-Chicken Truck drummer) founded his own band with ex-C. T. members in 1992. The Bottle Rockets’ first album was released in the following year. And the end of beginning of alt-country in 1994 the Uncle Tupelo split into two part: Wilco and Son Volt.

But the pioneers of alt-country dispute that they discovered any singular thing: „we were just picking up the ball, starting with Woody Guthrie and on to the early ’60s and the Flying Burrito Brothers that we were influenced by. We didn’t start a genre. We contributed to a long line of fairly good music.” – said Mike Heidorn, the ex-drummer of Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt. Never mind, the alt-country is flourishing.

In one hand, the phrase shows the opposition to the Nashville dominated corporate country, in other hand marks the difference from traditional country style. There are various elements of rock and roll, rockabilly, punk, rock and blues mixing with country, like in the music of Bottle Rockets:

Stories about the blue-collar side of America on remastered two-CD reissue set with 19 previously unreleased tracks: Chicken Truck and acoustic demo versions, songs with Uncle Tupelo members from the pre-Bottle Rockets era, live and radio performances. The package consists of an 40-page booklet.

RATHER „THAN ANY OLD 1000 DOLLARS CAR”

Mongrel Zine is a Canadian print fanzine since 2008. They founded his record label in 2013. Their second item: Bloodshot Bill / Richard Catwrangleur split sinlge

Bloodshot Bill have been playing as one man band since 2008, but was in some bands also. He has two famous collaborations, Tandoori Knight with King Khan, and The Ding-Dongs with Mark Sultan. In the 90s Khan and Sultan were fellow musicians in the notorious Canadian garage punk band, The Spaceshits, later they played together as King Khan & BBQ.

Bloodshot Bill’s new LP is recently released by Norton Records, and the next Dings-Dongs album is coming in November also on Norton.

Richard Catwrangleur writes and plays simple and great experimental-psychedelic-folk-pop-rock-punk songs.

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Very funny synth punk with lots of food. The Gabba Ghouls‘ debut album

limited edition cassette by Truly Crude Records

La Secte du Futur is a French garage rock band with members of Catholic Spray and JC Satan.

A track from their upcoming album

KK Null (Kazuyuki Kishino) is one of the most important persons of Japanese experimental scene. He is composer, guitarist, singer and mastermind of progressive hardcore band, Zeni Geva. He started his career as a studied Butoh dancer (by Tanaka Min), and performed guitar improvisations in clubs of Tokyo, then played with Merzbow for two years, and was in various groups together with Yamatsuka Eye (aka Yamantaka Eye, Boredoms) and Tatsuya Yoshida (drums, Ruins). His label released the first Melt-Banana album. As solo artist he is „creating intense clashing wave of noise, structured electro-acoustic ambience, broken down rhythmics, scattered pitch sculptures, droning isolationist material which could be described “cosmic noise  maximal/minimalism”. He made two tracks with a Birmingham-based tuba doom duo, Ore. It’s released on limited edition 7″ and digitally on 18th November by Endtyme Records. Samples taken from the double A side 7″

An interesting Ore track: In Hungary They Used To Burn Bagpipers

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Mr. Elevator & The Brain Hotel. Debut album: Nico & Her Psychedelic Subconscious

out now on Burger Records. 60s style, sometimes Doors-like psychedelic rock.

The Italian Big Mountain County play wild and dirty rock and roll. The bassist is from the legendary Ultra Twist and Trio Banana. 1st single:

The BMC will play in Budapest on Nov 15 at RNR666 Party. Facebook event
Italian and East-Euro Tour Dates

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The Canadian Iron Dogs play loud, fast, & raw „Total Stratocaster Metal” as if nothing happened in heavy metal since 1983.

from Free and Wild LP by Iron Bonehead Records

Sanity Assasins’ records between 1991-1999:

The band born as a power trio with Keith Grave on fuzz bass, Adam Schwartz on guitars and Pete Riccio at drums and lead vocals in the second half of 80s in Connecticut, US. At first they played hardcore punk, then changed their style into surf punk in the mid 90s. The album is free.

Keith Grave’s new band is Atomic Buddha. It „simply picks rough RNR licks, psyched out vocals and the shittiest sound of punk, who knows, maybe they got sick of today’s garage rock bands…”