American musician Bobby Bare, Jr. got a hard smack, and wrote his best album about it.   

Bobby is son of Grammy awarded country musician Bobby Bare, Sr. He was raised in strongly musical environment in Memphis. So much so that he was nominated for a Grammy at his age of 6 for a duet with his father “Daddy What If”. It was written by the family’s friend, Shel Silverstein. He made a huge impression on Bobby, Jr.’s song writing technique. Wrote with and had all his songs critiqued by him, till Silverstein passed on in 1999. “To take an idea and push it as far as you can and then push it a whole lot further” – was his ars poetica. Shel Silverstein was a poet, writer, singer/songwriter and cartoonist. For example he has written “25 Minutes to Go”, “A Boy Named Sue” and “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan”. The first two have become popular by Johnny Cash, the third was written for Dr. Hook, but also was recorded by Lee Hazelwood and Marianne Faithful. (Anyway he wrote the lyrics and music for most of the Dr. Hook songs.)

Thanks for these circumstances, his talent and the fate, “Undefeated” is the best album of Bobby Bare jr. so far. Thanks for The Fate above all. But “thanks” is maybe not the best phrase in this case. The fulfilled love, joy and happiness are never so stimulating to create master pieces* like desire, sadness, broken heart and trials. In his own words, this is a “pretty confessional”, “getting dumped” album about end of his relationship with the mother of his youngest child, or “My Baby Took My Baby Away”

And his ex-baby didn’t want to hear anything about his emotions. So it seemed the only way to tell her his feelings if he writes those to songs. Diverse moods and situations have inspired these various explicit songs. Almost all have a different kind of style. There’re danceable, almost new wave and old Americana tunes, a bit of ragtime, alternative country and rock. One of those is just like a Butthole Surfers song on this true adult oriented really alternative rock album. Unfortunately I can’t put it completely here.

Bobby Bare Jr.’s Young Criminals’ Starvation League – “Undefeated” LP, CD, digital on Bloodshot Records (USA). Young Criminals’ Starvation League is his ever-changing group of musicians, including members of Lambchop, My Morning Jacket and many more.

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* But the exception proves the rule. One of the best albums of all time, Histoire de Melody Nelson (1971) by Serge Gainsbourg is fruit of a fulfilled love.

Dick Diver‘s members are from such great Aussie bands as Boomgates, Total Control, UV Race or Lower Plenty. Easy melodic indie rock or jangle pop

7″ on Fruits and Flowers

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A celebration of the dawn of the Italian commercial television, through the use of its synthetic sounds/effects and its involuntary hypnotic potential by CADEO. It hides two main figures of the Roman scene: members of other projects such as System Hardware Abnormal, Hiroshima Rocks Around, Maximillian I, Micropupazzo, Polysick and TheAwayTeam. 80s style minimal electronic music

Old fashioned green fluo cassette inserted into a 12 pages ‘zine.
Limited to 100 copies by NO=FI Recordings

then catch this new single from the great French/Italian psych garage rock band JC Satán

You can buy it and listen to a song here.

If you’re looking for very special 7″ vinyls then also buy this.

Funny, playfool, jazzy. Roz & The Rice Cakes bring the Deerhoof to my mind. On other sites this is called Art Rock

Need To Feed album on Team Love Records (US)

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A song from the next Godflesh EP. The first public track for 13 years. Like a classic

Decline And Fall EP on Avalanche Records (UK) in June.

Godflesh is one of the most influential industrial/drone metal bands. It was founded by Justin K. Broadrick (who was the guitarist of Napalm Death in 1985-86. His other projects: Techno Animal, Jesu, Final, Pale Sketcher) and G.C. Green in 1988. The band dissolved in 2002, and reformed in 2009.

or rather No Wave Punk Jazz

KURWS in Budapest

with POLE (PL, folk jazz) + TUMO (alt hard rock)
+ JACKIE TRISTE (free noise impro)

22nd May at Müszi. Ticket: 1000

YU-WAVE ATTACK will be same day at a near place.
It will be finished at 10pm.

The Amber Lights are an excellent prog rock band in Germany. Fine endless song and solos sure. Unfortunately I don’t like this style, the virtuosity makes me tired, but it doesn’t matter now, because here is a Kitty Ina Moonlight with Xanthe Waithe. She is an Australian writer, actress and singer, known from Mick Harvey’s solo recordings. And this

is such as if would come from those. Or from a Nick Cave album. But it’s from the last album of The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project. And Mick Harvey and Nick Cave also took part in these sessions.

Axels & Sockets out now on Glitterhouse Records (Germany)

„Even if now there above us
Storm shatters everything
Stone breaks, tree shatters
Earth quakes

We stand steadily
As river gorges”

YU-WAVE ATTACK IN BUDAPEST & SZEGED

Croatian punk/noise/indie-pop band VLASTA POPIC (free download)

& Hungarian punks with Serbian lyrics and attitude: UMRETI FIT

ON 22nd MAY AT BEAT ON THE BRAT (VII. District, Nyár u. 20.)

ON 24th MAY IN SZEGED AT GRAND CAFE

Fire Records is a British independent record label. In his roster: Blank Realm, Guided By Voices, Half Japanese, Las Kellies, Mission of Burma, Pere Ubu, Bardo Pond, Jad Fair. And some name from the past: Pulp, Chuck Prophet, Television Personalities, Lemonheads, Spaceman 3, Gun Club, Urge Overkill, Neutral Milk Hotel, Teenage Fanclub, Adverts. Fire throws a birthday party with his best new artists this evening. It will be streamed live. The gig starts at 8pm GMT (UK), 9pm CEST (Europe), 4am JST (Japan), 5am AEST (Australia), 3pm EDT (US East Coast), 12 noon PDT (US West Coast). Timing in GMT:

8:10PM – SCRAPS (AUS) > Weird minimal synth pop under influence of style of the 80s.
8:50PM – FAWN SPOTS (UK) > Punk rock trio. Devotees of early Joy Divison/Warsaw, Hüsker Dü and Rites of Spring. Razor edged, lightning fast short blasts of hyperactive noise with bittersweet melodies.
9:30PM – KEEL HER (UK) > High standard lo-fi experimental bedroom pop.
10:10PM – SCOTT & CHARLENE’S WEDDING (AUS) > “I’m a fucking furniture removalist from Adelaide. I write down-and-out pop songs. I write songs about every job that I do.”

STREAM HERE

Munster Records is an independent Spanish label created in the 1980s. In the last decade its main focus has been reissues of punk, garage, rock and other akin genres and subgenres. They also frequently release records by contemporary bands.

CHRIS STROFFOLINO – I’M NOT GOING ASTRAY, 7″

Chris Stroffolino is a former Silver Jew who moved to Los Angeles and found himself without a permanent home, living out of a 1983 Ford Econoline van in which he’d fitted an upright piano (the now famous “Piano Van”). He is a musician, a scholar with a Ph.D in Shakespearian studies and a published poet – but he was playing the piano for tips in order to survive, which is how Jeff Feuerzeig (the filmmaker responsible for The Devil And Daniel Johnston and other musician theme films.) discovered him. These three tracks were all recorded in the van in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. There is a cover of Alice Cooper’s “I Never Cry”

‘O’ LEVEL – PSEUDO PUNK, LP (co-release with Discos Alehop!)

The first vinyl reissue of the two official singles of British punk band ‘O’ Level: ‘East Sheen’ (recorded in November 1977) and ‘The Malcolm EP’ (recorded in December 1978). This compilation also includes three tracks from February 1979 never released on vinyl before, plus a rawer alternative version of ‘East Sheen’ dating from March 1978. ‘O’ Level was created in 1976 by London guitarist Ed Ball along with two friends from school. Almost same line-up recorded the first Television Personalities single in 1977.

TEENAGE FILMSTARS – (THERE’S A ) CLOUD OVER LIVERPOOL, LP (co-release with Discos Alehop!)

After ‘O’Level Ed Ball’s next, ska and mod influenced band was Teenage Filmstars in 1979-80. Their three official singles reissued on vinyl for the first time.

 You can find your Munster distributor here

A different kind of animal will be released soon by Buzz Osborne of Melvins. And This Machine Kills Artists

album on Ipecac

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Comet Control from Canada plays psychedelic rock like a shoegaze Motörhead

album on Tee Pee Records

MÁJUS 16. BUDAPEST, MÜSZI > FLASH

+ SZEMÉRMETLEN AJKAK + ZSETONPITYU & THE CASH

The music of Pheromoans is called experimental rock. They write songs about absurdity of the everyday life.  These come County Teasers to my mind, but it’s called art punk. As far as I concerned it could be called tulip also.

A song about two failed army cadets struggling to adjust to civilian life.
The Boys Are British

from the album Hearts Of Gold on Upset The Rhythm Records (UK)