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.
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
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.
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
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: The Drones - Your Acting's Like The End Of The World + The Minotaur
(Photo: Tony Mott)
Over five albums and around a decade together, The Drones have reminded everyone that Austrailia's best rock bands aren't the ones making money off of out-of-the-box AC/DC riffs and oversized hair. The play dirty, winded garage-folk, downstroked chords crammed under the warbled yowl of singer Gareth Liddiard, who sounds like an alley-sleeping lush given a soapbox and a guitar. Their new record, Havilah, is out now through the record label arm of All Tomorrow's Parties, and below are two prime cuts from its belly. "Your Acting's Like The End Of The World" is our one-week exclusive, a unstrung acoustic album-closer that's a worthy but failed attempt to wrap everything up soberly. Also make sure to pick up "The Minotaur," which sounds like the Birthday Party if they'd stuck around long enough to record with Steve Albini. We're excited to finally get these guys up on the site, and conveniently they're playing all around North America, Europe, and Oz over the next few months. Full list of shows at their MySpace.
Sounds like: The Birthday Party, The Horrors, The Low Anthem
DOWNLOAD: Wavves - Beach Demon + Weed Demon + Wavves
Wavves is the name given the lo-fi grunge pop adventures of Nathan Williams, that handsome albeit concerned gentleman sitting on his bed. A Seinfeld-loving, skateboard-obsessed San Diegan, Mr. Williams handcuffs the muddied guitar blues of early 90s jamhounds like Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth to the honeycombed harmonies of 60s girl groups like the uh, Ronettes. In addition to both sides of his forthcoming Beach Demon Weed Demon seven-inch (the weedy B-side smacks sweetly of the Pumpkins' "Soma"), I'm super excited to also share "Wavves," Williams' saltwatered manifesto. Three songs! Infinite possibilities!
VIDEO THRWBCK: The Toadies - Possum Kingdom (1995)
This video has some great clothing trends I remember being common in the mid nineties, including: a dude (usually a bassist) headbanging in a hockey jersey, someone else rocking the long-sleeve under short-sleeve combo, and everyone around sporting relaxed fit denim. Remember when baggy pants were the way to go? This was the Toadies' only real hit, but a hit it was; trying to escape this song on Modern Rock radio is just as futile now as it was in '95. It just will not die.
DOWNLOAD: A Grave With No Name - Open Water
The merits of nostalgic pop music have long been bones for critical contention, but the time seems to have come for the nineties to adopt the wistful glow that attracts so many weary moths. London's A Grave With No Name peer back into the mists of all that stuff they barely remember and find dreamy grunge-pop songs that feel more like two-minute salvia hallucinations, 27-year-old frontman Alex Shields floating his voice up to contend with the splattered chaos of memory and his own backing track. Recently they’ve taken their broken bedroom 8-track sounds out into London’s live dens, bassist Tom King and guitarist Anupa Madawela joining for shows with Atlas Sound and El Guincho, while "Open Water" may appear on a future split with Bedford, Indiana’s Natural Numbers, the noise project of 13-year-old Trevor Fitzhugh. I guess in a decade’s time he’ll be looking back at Obama with the same eyes I used to see The Spice Girls. Scary.
Sounds like: Daniel Johnston, Animal Collective, Mercury Rev
DOWNLOAD: Talbot Tagora - We Live In Sack
If the positive clamour of LA duo No Age represents the grown-up face of grunge, Talbot Tagora still revel in its unrivalled ability to strop. "We Live in Sack" is an indie-rock song that gradually untangles itself from a sulky fugue of chords and a hollow vocal refrain to arrive at a chorus where things lurch from deadpan to madcap. Suddenly those awkward chords are cascading with an arpeggiated mischief that recalls Four Volts and uncouth '60s punk bands and that Ani Ricci can barely keep leashed, her drums allowing guitarists Mark Greshowak and Chris Ando havoc in chapters as each bar yanks the chain to send punk snot dribbling. Look out for this track and others on Abstract Distractions, the Seattle trio’s forthcoming split with Bipolar Bear.
Sounds like: The Gories, L7, Four Volts
INTERVIEW: Mark Arm of Mudhoney
.jpg)
A lot may have changed since Mudhoney and Seattle became rock 'n roll monuments twenty years ago, but the band's new LP, Lucky Ones, is as good an indicator as any that there is still much howling and teeth-gnashing to be done. We took five with frontman Mark Arm just as their new baby was making its way onto shelves. Jams below and a short interview after the jump!
Download: Mudhoney - In 'N' Out of Grace
Stream: Mudhoney - Mudride (Live in Berlin, 10/10/88)
Site developed by Gelo Factory
