Classic rock is back in a big way, whether it be the Led Zep riffs of Wolfmother or Kings and Queens’ psych grooves. We just came across the new Dead Meadow video for “What Needs Must Be”, which is just about as classic as you can get: Sabbath-like guitars and distorted basslines fill the song to the brim while a laid-back back drumbeat ties it all together. Bonus: the video has a pretty rad druid theme going on, which of course makes it the psych-est thing we’ve seen in a while. Enjoy.
We saw Spectrum, a.k.a. Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3, a.k.a. Peter Kember, perform at last summers After the Jump Festival, and it was quite the show. Fanatics had been waiting for the legendary Spectrum to bring his experimental drone torch songs to these shores for some time, and they weren’t disappointed. Anyone who was super into Spacemen 3 back in the day would love the ambient vibes Spectrum have to offer—and now, with new US tour dates just announced, prepare for total ‘90s nostalgia. More info at Brooklyn Vegan.
It’s time for the weekly RCRD LBL RND UP, where we recap all the choice cuts from the past week for you readers who might have missed a couple of MP3s. This week saw us post a load of MP3s from Danish imprint Morningside Records (see Thunderbear, Speaker Bite Me and Jomi Massage), some new Dirty on Purpose tracks, the new Shitdisco single and more. The three day weekend is upon us, so why not start it off with a fresh soundtrack?
Keeping you updated with rad MP3s is hard work, and sometimes we need a little push. We here are RCRD LBL HQ would like to take a moment to thank our sponsors, without whom this little operation wouldn’t float. So gets to clickin’ the links below and check them out…
The guys at the SEEN RCRD LBL blog are all over Lusine, the Ghostly International electro artist that fits snugly within the RCRD LBL family. SEEN love it whenever a cool artist scores a film, and Lusine just signed on to create the music for “Snow Angels”, the new Sam Rockwell/Kate Beckinsale movie, so you know they were on it. They even posted an interview with Lusine (a.k.a. Jeff McIlwain), which is very enlightening as to why he chose to score the film. Watch this space for more Lusine news, as we’ll be posting a track from the project tomorrow.
Like a bunch of punks at a calypso block party, Professor Murder are releasing their newest exclusive MP3 on RCRD LBL, an instrumental version of their single “Flex-It Formula”. Obviously the two are similar, but the absence of vocals on the new MP3 let you focus on the amazing percussion P. Murder use to make their audiences shimmy and shake. Believe us, if you have ever seen these guys live, you’ll know what we’re talking about. Download both the original “Flex-It Formula” and the instrumental below, and stay tuned for more tracks from the band’s exclusive RCRD LBL EP, Professor Murder on a Desert Island.
The last time we blogged about Atlas Sound, a.k.a. Bradford Cox from Deerhunter, he was writing Christmas songs with a certain uneasy malaise to them. Now, perhaps in hibernation, he’s taken up covering a few tunes for his blog. One of them is “Oh It’s Such a Shame” by Jay Reatard, whose Blood Visions was one of Bradford’s favorite records of last year, and (kind of funnily) “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers. Both take the original songs and filter them through Bradford’s signature fuzzy echoes and distorted guitars. It’s a tough call but “Unchained Meoldy” is our favorite: it’s always nice to hear a song that everyone knows stamped with the vision of another artist with such certainty.
WaKS Records have been signing up all of the great UK rock bands as of late, form the grotty punk of Neil's Children to the um, gothy punk of (RCRD LBL faves) Glasvegas. They’re breaking the mold somewhat with Hatcham Social, a trio of indie kids who pilfer influences from the Wedding Present and the Vaselines more than anything else. Today we’re featuring “Penelope (Under My Hat)”, which comes off as a more urgent Belle & Sebastian tune.
The other day, we were in the shower and heard a weird noise coming from the walls. We turned off the water, thinking maybe something was up with the pipes, but the sound persisted. We opened the bathroom door to check down the hallway and the noise grew louder. Basically, it took us a good five minutes to figure out that the mystery noise was a Mogwai CD we had left playing in our bedroom. Anyway, the point of that story was that not all awesome bands make music that doesn’t sound like your shower is about to collapse on your head, and Times New Viking is one of those bands. They just signed to Matador and are releasing their new record Rip It Off this week. They make vicious punk rock so loud and fuzzy you may be scared that your computer is malfunctioning, but rest assured, it’s supposed to sound that tooth-loosening. MP3 blog The Walrus just wrote a post on Times New Viking today, so check it.
Brooklyn’s Muggabears have been doing well as of late, with more and more people recognizing their name, a prime spot on a recent MTV News piece on Brooklyn rock bands, and resonating buzz around the blogosphere. Woxy.com invited the band to play their convincing alt. rock for a live session in their studios, and the band graciously took them up on the offer.
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