I think no need to write too much about SHIT AND SHINE on this page ’cause everybody know it is an electro-noise-madhouse made by a Texan man. Its every album is a surprise because you never know what you get but you are never disappointed. This time that madhouse is a disciplined one, you can enjoy it on the new double album MANNHEIM HBF. To me it seemed as if would be a German travel diary so I have asked Craig

– Was it born during a Shit & Shine tour in Germany?
– It was indeed but also I lived in that particular region of Germany as a teenager and I loved it there.
– There are some hauptbahnhofs on the album. Why the Mannheim one was chosen as the title track?
– Because I kept ending up there to transfer trains while touring so it seemed fitting.

So I think „Mannheim Hbf” is analogue with Kraftwerk 4th album „Autobahn” which was inspired by driving on motorways. In this case the matter is the German railway, you can listen to its beats on this album where the second station is Kircheim. It is a town in Baden-Württenberg approximately 35 kilometers (22 miles) southeast of Stuttgart. It is located on the small river Lauter in the foothills of the central Swabian Alb:

Double album MANNHEIM HBF will be released on Texan label 12XU RECORDS on 28th of March.

FEBRUÁR 12-én a Kino Session szervezésében PÉCSett
játszik a JAMES LEG soul-blues-punk duó.
Más magyarországi koncert nem lesz, csak ez.

A JAMES LEG elektromos orgona + dob kettős aztán jött létre, hogy Reverend James Leg – született John Wesley Myers – előző zenekara, a Black Diamond Heavies feloszlott. Az szintén billentyű + dob felállású banda volt, de mivel az orgona nem volt betorzítva, így hagyományos hangzásúnak mondható, ellentétben a James Leggel, ahol sokszor hihetjük azt, hogy gitár vagy basszus szól éppen, pedig nem. Az énekhang miatt sokaknak juthat eszébe Tom Waits, viszont vele ellentétben James Leg legtöbbször egyszerűen rock’n’rollként definiálja muzsikájuk:

John Wesley Myers egy texasi kisvárosban született egy baptista prédikátor fiaként, aki nagy gondot fordított gyermeke harmonikus lelki fejlődésének zavartalanságára. Zenei nevelést is szigorúan vallásos alapon kapott. Egy napon apja, mikor rájött, hogy 14 éves fia szülei távollétében a családi lemezgyűjteményben meglapuló három darab világi zenét hallgatja (például ezt és ezt), tüzet rakott a kert végében, és a lángok közé hajította mindhármat.

Ezzel szinte egy időben érkezett a városba egy keresztény vándortársulat, mely műsorában a rockzene és a sátánizmus kapcsolatát firtatta. Apai utasításra Johnnak is mennie kellett. Az előadáson Ozzy, AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Prince, Van Halen és Rolling Stones számokkal rémítették a közönséget. A Queen “Another One Bites The Dust” című számát visszafelé is meghallgatták, mivel akkor a refrént így is lehet érteni: „marijuana, marijuana, decide to smoke marijuana”. A felvilágosító előadás után John természetesen rákapott a fűre és a rockzenére, és 17 évesen elköltözött otthonról.

Talán még érdekes lehet, hogy tagja volt a ritka állat blues punkot játszó Immortal Lee County Killersnek is a zenekar utolsó periódusában. Ha jól tudom ezen a nagylemezükön játszott.

És külön Hammer Zsaninak mondanám, hogy közreműködött ez a jóember Scott H. Biram 2009-es nagylemezén!

LAMONT THOMAS is maybe best known as the drummer of blues punk legend THE BASSHOLES, but he has started a very own project as OBNOX some years and eight albums before. „His approach to punk is well… punk as fuck. Thomas doesn’t care about rules and he certainly isn’t afraid to experiment, blending his sound with noise rock, hip-hop, garage, soul, and hardcore. It’s usually abrasive and often pretty steeped in political and social consciousness, he speaking as a voice for the oppressed without gimmick or pandering” – as Post-Trash Mag wrote about him and I just could write the same.

A few years ago Monofonus Press head Morgan Coy had that crazy idea…why not ask OBNOX to make a free jazz record? And he has made one. Morgan says about it: Although it may not directly sound like it, to these ears it’s an updated take on some of the late 70’s free jazz LP’s that, at the time, were panned by critics but now are being rediscovered… think Albert Ayler’s „New Grass”, Archie Shepp’s „Attica Blues,” Larry Young’s „Fuel”, even reminds me of Tony Williams Lifetime at times. OBNOX has infused „templo del sonido” with that same sense of urgency and protest.  Like the 70’s, we are once again in a time of protest and discontent with the world around us – as Thomas so elegantly states in the first lyrics of the album:

„wake up… wake up… America… wake your punk ass up!”

Perhaps you are afraid of jazz, even more free jazz, but this album is so much punk than jazz. It needs your open mind only:

Anyway his previous recordings were released e.g. on punk rock’n’roll label Slovenly or noise rock one 12XU.

Air Khruang is the sonic flight booking company of the Texas based psychedelic funk trio called Khruangbin. Behind such a pseudo company there has to be a music savvy band and their sound totally reinforces these expectations. The name Khruangbin simply means aeroplane in Thai by the way. Bassist Laura Lee and guitarist Mark Speer both wear weird wigs to disguise themselves (mainly in order to distance themselves from their other musical projects).

Guess what! They are music freaks specializing in worldwide funk and psychedelic relics especially from 70’s Asia (which was on the other hand heavily inspired by the contemporary US funk explosion). This way Khruangbin does not only ‘take back’ psychedelic funk music to the US but the result is a rich and smooth sonic adventure suitable either for solitary retreats or sensual evenings to be buried in soothing sounds.

For Khruangbin there aren’t really live or studio versions of their songs. They started out playing in a barn in the middle of nowhere in Texas enabling them to jam to an audience of cows. Ever since then, their albums are entirely live recorded, particularly in locations with a natural sound environment. Oddly enough they usually learn the spontaneously recorded jams to be able to perform them later at shows the same way, so the recordings are almost identical to their live shows (or vice versa, to be precise… ).

Their latest album Con Todo El Mundo has been released this January and vinyls are still available for sale.

So if you fell for the recent hype around Khun Narin from Thailand, give Khruangbin a listen at their Bandcamp or at Spotify.

– Zac Ives daughter Anna knows our true spirit:

Last spring Texan label Monofonus invited Dan Melchior to Austin to record with local post punk idiots Spray Paint. Over a week or so beers were drank and songs were hammered out. The result is a Krauty-Crazy Horse-y blending of these two distinct artists. Dan Melchior (ex-Broke Revue) is a highly talented British musician. He comes from garage punk, worked together with Billy Childish, Holly Golightly and Walker Russel (Pheromoans), and usually makes experimental other music.

Their collaborative album under the name of Contributors out now. This record is the second in a series of Spray Paint collaborations that will be coming out on different labels. The 1st  with Ben Mackie from Aussie punk band Cuntz was released this September on 12XU Records.

musicians of SHIT & SHINE:
Craig Clouse, Nate Cross and King Coffey – also well-known drummer of BUTTHOLE SURFERS
have launched a new band called USA/MEXICO.

Debut album Laredo with 5 originals
and a Fall (L.A.) and a Drunks With Guns (Bullets For Pussy) cover

released now on 12XU (US) and RIOT SEASON RECORDS (UK)

Both editions have been cut/mastered/pressed by different folks, but the Riot Season version already sold out. Anyway USA/MEXICO originally is a song on SHIT & SHINE album 229-2299 Girls Against Shit.

NY punk band PARQUET COURTS with Texan rapper BUN B (ex-UGK), who one time planned a book „Hip Hop Survival Guide” with journalist and illustrator Shea Serrano, but finally they rather made a rap coloring book. So maybe Bun B has been drawn by his mate:

Captive Of The Sun ft. BUN B out now on limited edition 12” via Rough Trade.

The original track is on PARQUET COURTS’ latest album Human Performance.

In the lyrics there is a phrase: misophonia. It means literally „hatred of sound.” It is a condition in which negative emotions, thoughts, and physical reactions are triggered by specific sounds. One study found that around 80% of the sounds were related to the mouth as eating, chewving, yawning and etc.

BORZOI from Texas

RAW NOISE PUNK 7″ vinyls on 12XU RECORDS (US)

GARY WRONG GROUP from different southern places. Founded by Wizzard Sleeve‘s Captain Beyonce (also in King Louie And The Loose Diamonds, Kajus SS) with Wizzard Sleeve mate and Natural Child organist Benny Divine, Quintron and more.

Someone said about THE BOLOS‘ music „Son House gone psych backed by The Gun Club.” Maybe, I don’t know. But it is sure that Black Lips, Paint Fumes, Mark Sultan, King Khan shared the stage with them. And when I have heard the first Bolos’ song today, I asked myself „hey, what the hell is this fucking good song”, and turned up the volume

Anyway they are coming from San Antonio, Texas. And the 7″ single is out now on French label Six Tonnes De Chair Records.

SPRAY PAINTS

Texan no wave punk

MIDDLE RELIEF

from the album Punters On A Barge on Homeless Records (AUS)

You can buy it on a reduced price this month.

some songs from the album

New SPRAY PAINT album in June on Goner Records (US)

Silver Apples of Rome
Trans Upper Egypt
mystic psychedelic rock

Moon Doom

from the new album on Monofonus Press (US)