DOWNLOAD: WATERS - Stay Away (Nirvana Cover)
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(Photo: Marte Solbakken)
It's not like Nirvana ever went away, but 2011, with the 20th anniversary of Nevermind, has generated enough covers and tributes to last another couple decades. One of my favorites is this version of the deep-cut "Stay Away" by WATERS. While the band's mastermind Van Pierszalowski doesn't have the weathered angst of Kurt Cobain in his voice (no one else does, really!), he nails the odd combination of ramshackle chaos and crisp, blasted power chords that make the original a timeless, sugary headbanger.
DOWNLOAD: Mothers Of Gut - Stalemate
Mothers Of Gut would have been right at home during the grunge era when bands discovered that punk rock could add psychedelic sludge and get heavy without losing immediacy. "Stalemate" is your key. It crawls along with echo-laden screams, submarine bass lines and guitar that wanders where it pleases under a healthy dose of flange effects. It becomes even more glorious as strings shred all over the track's climax. Mothers Of Gut's new album, Unking, is available now via Family Time Records or over at the group's Bandcamp.
DOWNLOAD: Hunters - Deadbeat
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While they have the credentials to hide behind, Hunters doesn't need them. "Deadbeat" is a bass-lead romp through New York City basement noise to Olympia-approved grunge, catchy boy/girl tribal vocals and heavy on the feedback. Produced by former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha and mixed by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner, it does right by its proud papas. Combing forces with Montreal's Dead Wife, the track can be found on their split 7-inch, part of a fantastic series released by Swill Children.
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: You Say Party! We Say Die! - Laura Palmer's Prom (Los Campesinos! Remix)
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Are you ready for some declaratives? 'Cause you're about to get an exclamation point bomb! Los Campesinos!'s reversioning of prom-time for You Say Party! We Say Die! invokes a spastic shuffle as pure and right as any 90's homecoming ever could. It's like snagging your tulle on his exhaust pipe--sure you ruined the dress, but you arrived on a motorcycle when those other chumps carpooled. You can catch Vancouver's most superlative dance-punk act on the road (mega list of tour dates right here) before XXXX hits stateside on February 9.
You Say Party! We Say Die! - Laura Palmer's Prom (Los Campesinos! Remix)
Previously:
You Say Party! We Say Die! - Teenage Hit Wonder (Camp America Remix)
You Say Party! We Say Die! - Downtown Mayors Goodnight, Alley Kids Rule!
You Say Party! We Say Die! - Like I Give A Care (RAC Mix)
You Say Party! We Say Die! - Monster
You Say Party! We Say Die! - You're Almost There (DJ Rexford Remix)
You Say Party! We Say Die! - Monster (RAC Remix)
You Say Party! We Say Die! - Opportunity (Montag's I Love Her Remix)
You Say Party! We Say Die!'s RCRD LBL Page
DOWNLOAD: Nirvana - Scoff (Live At Pine Street Theatre)
(Photo: Charles Peterson)
This is bouncing around quickly, but to interestingly little enthusiasm–no one's hitting caps lock and writing "HOLY COW THERE IS A FREE UNRELEASED NIRVANA SONG ONLINE." So we just did that because we think it's justified. Sub Pop is re-releasing Bleach in expanded and remastered form for its twentieth anniversary, and by "expanded" we mean it also includes a full, unreleased recording of the band's performance at the Pine Street Theatre in Portland on February 9th, 1990. Jack Endino, producer of Bleach and a plethora of other insanely great Seattle bands, spruced up the live audio so everything sounds thick and heavy and totally facemelting. That version of "Scoff" is below, you can pre-order the re-release over at the Sub Pop website while we stare at this photo for another fifteen minutes.
Nirvana - Scoff (Live At Pine Street Theatre)
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Jackson Plastic (Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson) - Dogs For Pavlov
Nearly a year after his self-titled warhead of a debut, Miles Benjamin Antonio Francisco Jesus Rafael Robinson is in the process of packing his bags for a UK tour jaunt that should feature any number of newfangled grungefolk creations he's been coughing up recently. But this morning, we've got an exclusive jam dug up from the distant past: Jackson Plastic was a band of Robinson's while at NYU and "Dogs For Pavlov" a Pavement vs. Modest Mouse rumble from JP's record No Fun. Free below, it even features a lyric reborn on Robinson's forthcoming divorce rock opus, Summer Of Fear.
Jackson Plastic (Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson) - Dogs For Pavlov
Previously:
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Buriedfed
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - The Debtor
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Gangster Love
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson's RCRD LBL Page
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Dinosaur Pile-Up - My Rock & Roll
(Photo: Liam Henry)
It would seem that if you're cool with Dave Grohl and his merry Foos, then you and Dinosaur Pile-Up's Matt Bigland should get along fine. The Leeds-based grunge archaeologist came of age in a faroff time when the riffs and distortion were as thick as telephone books and root beer floats. Nirvana, Mudhoney, The Colour And The Shape. All that good stuff (minus Kennedy) and more is distilled into RCRD LBL exclusive "My Rock & Roll," a hot slice of time travel available below.
Dinosaur Pile-Up - My Rock & Roll
Dinosaur Pile-Up's RCRD LBL Page
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Bipolar Bear - Manbase + Cherokee Fan Club
The brilliantly-named Bipolar Bear deal in the kind of musical mood swings their moniker would suggest, mincing along with a gleeful swamp-rock swing one minute before turning on you with prickly guitars and crash cymbal blare. They're so up-and-down that the songs seem to outlast their two-minute time-tags, structures packed with ingenious detours and vocal yelps struggling to be heard over the din. Counting among their ranks former members of The Manifolds and the late Rose For Bohdan, as well as the two guys who run Kill Shaman records, Bipolar Bear are a band who clearly know their history but aren't afraid to fuck with it, bringing muddy rock roots to bear on the type of oddball indie-rock their LA hometown's best known for at the moment. A pair of thoroughbred examples await your ears below, "Manbase" and "Cherokee Fan Club" both delighting in their bad attitudes and out soon on different 7" pressings.
Sounds Like: At The Drive-In, Talbot Tagora, Abe Vigoda
Bipolar Bear - Cherokee Fan Club
