Date: July 31st 2010

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Hey Y'all,

Been a while since the last update - time to showcase the riches. New stuff in from SENNEN, TOBACCO, HEPBURNS, CAVIL, THEE OH SEES, a slew of SLUMBERLAND stuff, and last but most certainly not least - the new AIR FORMATION album. I also finally entered a ton of oldies-but-goodies that were warehouse finds which have not been in our database until now. Lucky you.

Dig in!
Dan / Tonevendor
http://www.tonevendor.com


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AIR FORMATION-Nothing to Wish For, Nothing To Lose CD (Club AC30-$14.99)
Three years in the making, this is Air Formation's highly anticipated new album, "Nothing To Wish For (Nothing To Lose)". Recorded late 2009 with Pat Collier and mastered by Ray Staff.

CRASH CITY SAINTS-Glow in the Darka Music CD (Quince-$13.99)
Imagine a sandblaster filled with sugar. Quince Records (Japan) signed Crash City Saints (Kalamazoo, Michigan) for their melodies and for songwriter Joshua Garman's persistence of vision and 10-plus year commitment to the elemental spirits of shoegaze: feedback noise, emotional beat, floating loops, and dreamy melodies. GLOW IN THE DARK MUSIC is the group's first proper long player, collecting recordings from 2005–2010, from the RETURNER EP through the freshly minted "Broke" (featuring Glowfriends vocalist April Morris), and proving, in Quince's words, that "beautiful noise can still make everyone dance." Recommended if you like The Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, Bailter Space, Skywave, Medicine, Chapterhouse, Astrobrite, and The Stone Roses.

PROCEDURE CLUB-Doomed Forever CD/LP (Slumberland-$12.99/$9.99)
Procedure Club is a collaborative "bedroom-pop" project founded in 2008 by Polish emigre Adam Malec and a woman known only as Andrea. Sharing musical tastes in shoegaze and pop bands of the '80s and '90s like Black Tambourine and The Jesus and Mary Chain, as well as a common admiration for baroque composers such as Purcell and Bach, the two began recording as a natural progression from the boredom of living in poverty in New Haven, Connecticut. Out of this god-forsaken alliance comes melodic song structures comprised of heavily reverbed vocals, stuttering mechanical drum beats, dirty bass, synths and alternately washed-out and jangly guitars. Following a well-received string of tapes and CDRs, Procedure Club's first "proper" album is noisy, lo-fi pop with the emphasis on noise. From the pure synth pop of "Feel Sorry for Me" to the overdriven swoon of "Dead Bird" to the blown-out "Nautical Song," carefully constructed tunes are given a fierce work-over by layers of guitar fuzz
and synth scree. Songs like "Vermont" and "Artificial Light" could practically be some lost C86 gems, while "Awfully Managed Pigeons" looks back to early Velvet Underground's garage racket (check the sick Cale-esque baseline) and "Rather" fondly recalls Amy Linton's late Henry's Dress / Aislers Set classics. Throughout, Andrea's vocals are the secret weapon, neatly playing catchy melodies off the drum machine clatter and guitar haze. On Doomed Forever, Procedure Club strikes just the right balance between the songs and the noise, between structure and chaos. Rather than allowing the recording methodology to stand-in for tunes and ideas, they've created a rather amazing record where those parts mesh perfectly and create a unique sound-world that challenges the ear as it coaxes the listener in with melody.



** LES COMPACT DISQUES **

ALMA-Is It Me? CD (Blackbean and Placenta Tape Club-$2.99)
Warehouse find of this lost classic from the BBPTC old-skool catalog."7 songs from the bright beautiful Swedish girl duo, Alma. This lush debut of country/folk and (especially) AM radio pop is produced by Johan of aBLe fame. Wistfully plucked guitars, horns, harmonica, bass, drums, and the most heartbreaking lovely dual female harmonies make this CD perfect repeat listening for long drives to the beach this summer. A soundtrack for your best sunsets."

ALVA NOTO-Transform CD (Raster-Noton-$16.99)
Transform by Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai), originally released on Mille Plateaux in 2001, is now being re-released on Raster-Noton. The album, released as a CD, comes with a new cover and is digitally remastered. On Transform, Alva Noto meant to reduce the aesthetic of pop to the bone. Rather than in pop music, where the basic focus lies on harmonic and melodic forms, on Transform, they give way to pure rhythm structures derived from only sine tones and white noise, which nevertheless communicate on an emotional level. Transform is the first part of Alva Noto's Transall series (along with the EPs Transrapid, Transspray, Transvision: 2001-2005), and after his first release on Mille Plateaux, Prototypes (2000), marked his next step into a more rhythmically-oriented phase of his work.

ARKS-The International CD (Highwheel-$11.99)
The Windy City's Arks first sailed as a three-piece in 2002, though the band didn't record until 2004's steady Or Else It's Not There EP. Paul Hornschemeier (vocals/guitar), Lanny Oswalt (guitar), Mat Biscan (bass) and Glenn Rischke (drums) take responsibility for the systematically fractured punk racket jutting from the band's first full-length, The International.
"Put the Fall and Pixies together as a band. Let them play a tour of concrete stairwells; deserted, dark parking garages; and abandoned, emptied indoor swimming pools. Arks' The International captures that tour. The raucous, angular rock reverberates as if recorded surrounded by cinder block walls. Mark Berlin's engineering/production (along with Arks) makes the album echo without overpowering the band's sounds. It creates a very live, dark, haunting, challenging call to musical arms. Note: On "Safe and Sound," Paul Hornschemeier's vocals are like a cameo by Lenny Kravitz in his more darker, spoken moments." - Music Spectrum

AVROCAR/YELLOW6-Live at Ochre7 CD (Ochre-$6.99)
This CD album features both the full live sets from Avrocar and yellow6 recorded at the Ochre 7 festival at Gloucester Guildhall on November 17th 2001. Boths acts first appeared on Ochre with tracks on the 'Infrasonic Waves' compilation series. The Avrocar track 'Themes These Three' was a remix by Telefunken and became a record of the week on Mary Anne Hobbs BBC Radio One 'Breezeblock Show'. It was also played by Ed from Radiohead as one of his favourite tracks of all time, when on Steve Lamacq's Evening Session. Avrocar have released in the past on labels such as Enraptured and Earworm. This live set posseses a dark, haunting, surreal sound that is reminiscent of 'Heart and Soul' era Joy Divsion. yellow6 is Leicestershire musician Jon Attwood and who's music is currently being heard on Channel 4 TV program 'Wasted'. Ochre 7 was the debut live performance by yellow6. yellow6 have released a debut album 'Overtone' on Enraptured and a mail-order album on Jonathan Whiskey. The t
hird album 'Lake:Desert' was released on Ochre in December 2001.

THE BILLIONS-Never Felt This Way Before CD (Northern-$4.99)
The Billions' debut release on Northern Records, Never Felt This Way Before, is a disc that's incredibly hard to pigeonhole. At times there are elements of '80s electronica à la "Hey Girl" while at other times the band pours forth a melody like the Flaming Lips with "My Life." What's refreshing about the band is that their pop element isn't borrowing from standard formulas. The band has a freshness and a quirkiness that serves as a buoy in a sea of mediocrity. Where some listeners may get lost is in the band's eccentricity while others will embrace the sound for the same reasons. Check out the Simon & Garfunkel vibe on "Asya" or the Neil Young chordings and atmosphere on "Another Lonely Day." While the Billions probably won't break commercial Christian radio, they should make a decent run at college airwaves as their art form finds its niche. ~ Steven Douglas Losey, All Music Guide

BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL WITH ANLA COURTIS-Three Sparkling Echoes CD (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon-$11.99)
If you know what this is, then you know you must have it.

BLACK HEART PROCESSION-3 Song recording CD (Up-$4.99)
1999 release. 01. a truth quietly told 02. destroying the city of hearts 03. song about a....

BLACK HOLLIES-Crimson Reflections CD (Ernest Jenning-$13.99)
"The best band currently making the rounds in NYC."-L Magazine. Three fourths of RYE COALITION join with one badass drummer to create an album of sounds that are new, exciting, primal & complex made by revamping the rhythm & blues roots of rock. Shards of Yardbirds, Cream, Pretty Things, Who & Barrett-era Floyd fly around w/a vicious kinetic energy, melded by the spirit of Stax. The title to their song Crimson Reflections Through Looking Glass Mind just about says it all. "Stuffs rock, soul & blues in a pressure cooker & roasts them on high."-CMJ.

BLACK WATCH-Lime Green Girl CD (Saltwater-$4.99)
Weather is often referenced in reviews of this windswept, atmospheric pop band from Los Angeles, and chiming guitars and the occassional touches of strings most likely have much to do with that. Their fifth cd not only finds them mining such meteorological territory again, but also collects a number of those past moments. Serving as both a new album and a retrospective, Lime Green Girl is a nine song album with seven bonus tracks culled from their previous releases, most of which are long out of print. Comparisons have have been made to the Go-Betweens, Yo La Tengo, My Bloody Valentine, and the Jazz Butcher among others. Pleasant company indeed. The release date is forecast (yes, one more weather reference) for early fall of 2000.

BLUR-Think Tank CD (Virgin-$8.99)
Compared to the brash pop of Damon Albarn's Gorillaz side project and 1999's overtly emotional 13, Think Tank is a soulful and subtle affair—its tone possibly traceable to the departure of founding member Graham Coxon midway through its recording. There are classic Blur rock moments here, notably "Crazy Beat," which is cut from the same cloth as the classic "Song 2," and the painfully short but brilliant "We've Got a File On You," which sounds like agitprop punks Crass mixed up with a Moroccan snake charmer. But while Albarn still has an ear for a melody, without Coxon's guitars to subvert them, most of these songs sound like the work of a new band. "Caravan"'s sleepy rhythm plods at a camel's pace, while "Gene by Gene" employs cross rhythms to evoke desert images. Blur is now more about textures rather than standard rock rhythms. Some will find their evolution off-putting, but for fans who appreciate a band that refuses to sit still, Think Tank is a rewarding listen. --Caro
line Butler

BOCHUM WELT-Martians and Spaceships CD (Darla-$4.99)
Bochum Welt's first ever American release! Already with a slew of critically acclaimed releases on Richard James' notorious label, Rephlex Records, Sony Music Japan, TRC-Warner Chapel, Axodya, Kromode, and Future Sound, Bochum Welt now delivers possibly his greatest work to date. Gianluigi Di Costanzo (aka Bochum Welt) continues to revive sounds of the 1980's with synthy string sounds, electro beats, and an old-school arcade game-feel, that have already turned heads all over the world on his previous releases such as 'Module 2' and 'Feelings on a Screen.' You may also have caught this guy accompanying his good friend, Aphex Twin, as an opening act at Rephlex performances all over the planet. Martians and Spaceships was recorded between San Mateo, CA, London and Milan. Thomas Dolby and the Beatnik Inc. Studios (San Mateo) assisted Gianluigi during the implementation of these recordings. Richard James (Aphex Twin/Warp, Rephlex, Sire) assisted in the programming of the track, 'I
nterlude.' Kim Cascone (Twin Peaks sound engineer and Beatnik Inc. sound designer) co-produced 'Blue Atmosphere.' The opening track, 'Altre Forme' features vocals by Marco Castoldi who is the singer for the Italian pop group, Music Bluvertigo (on Columbia/Sony Music). Last year, Music Bluvertigo won Italy's MTV music video award for Best Select Video. This release was completely produced on a laptop computer using all the latest and technologies - no external synthesizers, mixer or effects have been used. Martians and Spaceships is a completely computer-processed excursion. These days, Gianluigi Di Costanzo is a programmer and sound designer at Thomas Dolby's interactive technology company, Beatnik Inc. Beatnik Inc. has completed productions for Intel, Sega, Web TV, Columbia Tristar Television, Universal Studios, Steven Speilberg, and many others. We present you with this long-overdue American release from this Italian fella, and now it's time for you to reminisce your early days of Atari 2600's, Intelevisions, and Texas Instruments, and that simple artificial world that was once virtually effortless to absorb.

DAVID BOWIE-Diamond Dogs: 30th Anniversary Edition 2xCD (EMI-$19.99)
Holland import, 2004 release.

CAVIL-Mares' Tales CD (Radio Khartoum-$12.99)
Mares' tails — known to cloud watchers as cirrus uncinus — are feathery strands of frozen cirrus cloud. Beautiful from afar, they signal the approach of a warm front, forecasting change and turmoil. Cavil's MARES' TAILS captures life lived under the presence of prevailing south westerlies in a Pennine town in a series of folk nocturnes, filled out with brushed drums, trembling bass, glockenspiel, and the occasional waves of echoing guitars. Delivered with a calm assurance, the major chords never far from minor, and the lyrics, while essentially contented, never far from a tinge of regret. These are lullabies of everyday betrayal and longing. Phantoms of freedom abound: the wind, a plastic bag waving from the branches of a tree, flocks of migratory geese, and the art of plane spotting. Recommended if your tastes run to Tindersticks, the Montgolfier Brothers, or the sound of a distant train whistle in the night.
"Swims somewhere in the same sea with Ben Watt's 'North Marine Drive' or Beaumont's 'No Time Like the Past'. A melancholy, almost spiritual album. A very personal joy. Something you might be tempted to keep all to yourself..." —Corey W. Schmidt, Central Services
"'Northern Englishness' — that's the quality I've been turning over in my head over the last few weeks. It's something that Hood, John Shuttleworth, Jake Thackray and Pulp have — and this album has it in spades. The trouble is it's difficult to define, it's unmistakable yet unfathomable. Whatever it is, there's an old-fashioned honesty in these songs and their delivery: love, nature and truth conveyed by an acoustic guitar, a piano and a voice." —Richard O'Brien, Vespertine & Son

BILLY CHILDISH-The Genius of Billy Childish CD (Cherry Red-$11.99)
Musician, writer, painter, enigma, cultural icon – all of these and more apply to Billy Childish, an artist the world is waking up to. "The Genius Of Billy Childish " features Billy showcasing his musical abilities.
Billy Childish is reputed to have recorded 100 LP's during his 24-year career. As if that's not enough to be getting on with, he's also painted 2,000 odd paintings, written 2 novels & penned 30 plus volumes of poetry. Expelled from the prestigious St Martins School of Art early in his career, Childish has continued to paint, write and make music independently ever since.
Childish bands have long been championed by a succession of more established artists; Kurt Cobain liked Thee Mighty Caesars, & more recently The White Stripes Jack White appeared on Top Of The Pop's with Billy's name scrawled on his forearm. This kind of artistic adoration finally gained Billy a record deal with Transcopic Records (run by ex-Blur member Graham Coxon). Billy has also enjoyed an increasing public profile over the last twelve months with regular articles and interviews appearing in national newspapers and magazines. His stock as an artist is probably at its greatest.
"The Genius Of Billy Childish " features Billy leading two of his longer lasting musical projects, "Thee Headcoats" and "Thee Milkshakes" through sets which perfectly display the lo-fi garage rock that Billy has made his musical trademark. Full of charm and raw energy, the sets show just why Billy is loved by his army of followers.

HEPBURNS-How the Mighty Have Fallen CD (Radio Khartoum-$12.99)
Have you ever wondered what your friends say behind you back? Not the edited version, the spin or the pitch, but the backstabbing, the barb and the bitch? The Hepburns (Wales) have returned with an album championing the ordinary, the downtrodden and the broken. That said, HOW THE FALLEN ARE MIGHTY also just happens to represent The Hepburns at their cattiest, as they skewer couch surfers, hack writers, sexual taxonomists, civil servants, store greeters and (more often than not) themselves at every turn. With the exception of one track ("Growing Old", a devastating but quite possibly optimistic haiku to the fading mind), HOW THE FALLEN ARE MIGHTY is all barb, all bitch, all the time.

HYPATIA LAKE-Angels and Demons, Sopace and Time CD (Reverb-$11.99)
For those of you unfamiliar with Hypatia Lake, they are a true, unique band of individuals based in Seattle via Oklahoma. The Hypatia Lake world revolves around a fictitious community and the lives of the character of their town. On their first album, "Your Universe, Your Mind," the listener was introduced to such character as the lonely cowboy archetype of Jeremiah Freud, The Omnipotent Narrator, and the rebellious Candy Factory workers. Their sophomore release, "..And We Shall Call Him Joseph," played out as a chronological set of scenes as Joseph Bigsby (the instigator of the aforementioned factory rebellion) lay dying of the Candy Factory's floor.
Their songs have ranged from small and pretty spaces to all out noise and rock abandon, with comparisons being drawn to My Bloody Valentine, Mercury Rev, The Flaming Lips and Pink Floyd among others. The band have had the pleasure to share the stage with the likes of BRMC, Dirty Three, M83, Jennifer Gentle, Legendary Pink Dots, Ambulance LTD, Dead Meadow, Swervedriver and Spindrift, to name a few.
Reverb Records had been huge fans of Hypatia Lake over the years, with one of their songs anchoring each of the Shoegazer Ball compilations. We were fortunate enough to be able to release their unbelievable third album "Angels and Demons, Space and Time" in July of 2008. Their album catches the band at their most intimate and most experimental moments. Recorded and engineered by Scott Colburn (Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, Sun City Girls), the album has that unique sonic quality and raw energy that comes from a band playing together in a live setting. Previous sonic explorations relied upon massive amounts of sonic chemistry, hours in the studio and years to produce. This time around, the band wanted to simplify their approach, and just try their best to make great songs. They enjoyed the process, and they hope you will too.
Both hugely sonic and hugely atmospheric, the album has some amazing intimate moments as well as some of the most beautiful white-noise-melodic moments the band have ever recorded. The songs are arranged in an order that the band felt would fairly represent the diversity of the band's current world and that would grow into more familiar territory. It can be a lot to take in, but the band have instructed the listener to "just breathe, it's gonna be OK..."

JOHN JESSEE-Already Moving CD ($3.99)
Ace singer-songwriter stuff, with trumpet courtesy of Dustin Reske of ROCKETSHIP (Dusty also mastered this disc). Professionally-manufactured CDr housed in printed slipcase.

SENNEN-Age of Denial CD (Hungry Audio-$13.99)
"Sennen summon up the heyday of Ride, Spacemen 3 and Swervedriver and reconstruct the original sonic cathedral of sound....exhilarating stuff" THE WORD

THEE OH SEES-Warm Slime CD (In the Red-$12.99)
The ridiculously prolific Bay Area band Thee Oh Sees are back with another full-length long-player. Warm Slime is guaranteed to please fans of their whacked-out garage / psych / punk jams. Recorded by Sacramento sultan of sound Chris Woodhouse, Warm Slime carries on in the same tradition as the group's previous In The Red release, Help, showcasing their more electrified and rocking side, in comparison to other recent home-recorded releases. The centerpiece is undoubtedly the mind-bending title track, which clocks in at nearly 14 minutes and takes up the entirety of the album's first side. It's a psychedelic epic of "Inna Gadda Da Vida" proportions! John Dwyer's guitar playing is at its quadra-spazzed best here. The results are stunning. "Thee Oh Sees incorporate the oft-referenced Nuggets stuff in a way that feels reverential. With grinding guitars and bah-bah-bah vocals, but with the punk and new-wave elements also at play, they don't feel trite or plagiarized. This is like
meat and potatoes prepared by a master chef--totally familiar but utterly delicious." --Pitchfork

TENDER TRAP-Dansette Dansette CD (Slumberland-$12.99)
Tender Trap is now a proper girl-group! In contrast to the earlier line-up, which had a more electronic bent, the newly revitalized 'Trap has stronger links to the pop lineage of its founder members; Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey were in influential indie-pop originals and John Peel favorites Talulah Gosh and Heavenly, who released records on Sarah Records, K and Stephen Pastel's 53rd and 3rd, but neither band had this much vocal harmony going on. With two new extra voices (from guitarist Elizabeth Morris of 'Allo Darlin' fame and drummer Katrina Dixon), the band now combines the harmonies, oohs, ahhs and sha-la-las of classic girl-group pop with the stripped-down beats and dirty guitars of the Shop Assistants and The Vaselines. Following releases on K, Matinee, Fortuna Pop! and Elefant, Tender Trap presents Dansette Dansette, their excellent third album. Bristling with crunchy guitars and effortlessly catchy tunes, Dansette Dansette proves why Fletcher and Pursey have been
such a huge influence on today's generation of pop bands. "Dansette Dansette" kicks off the record in fine fashion--morse-code feedback bleeps leading into a melodic ode to the bedroom record player. The album's first single, "Do You Want a Boyfriend?" is a perfect chunk of pop, but it's not as innocent as it seems--it celebrates the girl-pop phenomenon, but deconstructs it, too. "Girls with Guns" and "2 to the N" are more punk-inspired, hearkening back to Fletcher's Talulah Gosh roots. Slower tunes like "Suddenly" and "Counting The Hours" give plenty of room for Fletcher's vocal interplay with Morris and Dixon, and "Capital L" wraps up the album in epic fashion--a tambourine-driven slow-dance that builds to a glorious crescendo. Fresh and full of melodic surprises, Dansette Dansette is a smashing and very welcome return for some of indie-pop's most influential players, and shows Tender Trap to be at the top of their game.

TOBACCO-Maniac Meat CD (Anticon-$12.99)
Seemingly relegating Black Moth Super Rainbow to "side project" status, that band's mastermind Tobacco bullies his previous works into a corner, guts them and leaves 'em for dead. Though Maniac Meat is steeped in the Pennsylvania-based artist's swampy analog aesthetic, this album does not look back--neither to the black psychedelic pop of Black Moth Super Rainbow nor to the warped rap thump of Tobacco's 2008 debut, Fucked Up Friends--rather, it emerges as antithesis. Tobacco crafted Maniac Meat as he put the finishing touches on Black Moth Super Rainbow's more accessible last record, Eating Us, treating the solo release as a repository for his more primal urges. The only live instrumentation to cross over was the guttural stuff: thrashing bass and clanging drums. But even as the Tobacco material grew darker, deeper and nastier in tone, it also became something with real swag. Not a hip-hop record, per se--just something that parties like one. Opening track "Constellation Dirt
bike Head" hits the ground running: cymbals crashing, keyboards firing, fuzz bass blasting. Tobacco's distorted vocals sound like something exhaled from a bog, gushing, "Burn all your things," like a mantra directed at his back-catalog. Later, the chest-crushing "Unholy Demon Rhythms" sets itself on fire, melting a beatbox sample and Jean-Michel-Jarre-like synth excursions into a hot, tactile mass. One of album's best, "Heavy Makeup" is upbeat electro-pop caked in wet earth, eventually interrupted by a searing harmonica solo. It's wonder then, that Maniac Meat--which plays like a dingy refraction of the pink-hued era in which Tobacco came, the late '80s / early '90s--would attract the attention of Beck Hansen. He's the record's lone guest, alternately sparring and coasting with Tobacco's arsenal of vintage synthesizers, noise boxes and voice modulators. On "Fresh Hex," Beck's alliterative, free-associative rap is chopped to bits over baroque key sequences and whirring effects, while on "Grape Aerosmith," the chameleonic singer stretches out in a pool of flickering etherea. As "Nuclear Waste Aerobics" brings the album to a close in a hail of uncouth drums and aggressive fuzz that eventually unfurl into a billowing quilt of lush, legitimately bright sound, Maniac Meat's greatest strength becomes clear. In all of that unchecked destruction, an odd beauty persists--organic as rot, enduring as death.


** YE OLDE TYME VINYL **

-- The following titles are described in the CD section above --

CAVIL-Mares' Tales LP (Radio Khartoum-$12.99)
HEPBURNS-How the Fallen are Mighty LP (Radio Khartoum-$12.99)
TENDER TRAP-Dansette Dansette LP (Slumberland-$9.99)

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART-Say No To Love 7" (Slumberland-$4.99)
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart released their self-titled debut February 2009 to universal acclaim, racked up features in SPIN, Rolling Stone and NME, earned "Best New Music" status from Pitchfork, and toured the US and Europe non-stop. The band began 2010 with a month-long tour of Japan, New Zealand and Australia, and took a breath to record this fantastic new single. Say No to Love is a big step forward, combining The Pains' now-trademark youthful energy and infectious song craft with a more deliberate approach to the studio. It just might be their best single yet--a shimmering slice of pure pop just right for the summer. Says the band's Kip Berman: "It's got three chords, a fuzz pedal and lots of feelings. But instead of recording in the basement like we did for our album and both EPs, we recorded in an actual studio (Stratosphere Sound in New York). We tried hard to make it sound, as Peggy would say, 'life affirming' and we're pretty excited about how it turned out." Th
e Pains release Say No to Love on June 8th and tour the first two weeks of June with Surfer Blood. Then they go back in the studio to work throughout the summer on their eagerly awaited second album. On the evidence of this single it's sure to be something special.

SPECTRALS-7th Date 7" (Slumberland-$3.99)
Spectrals is the creation of "L," a young lad from the North of England, where not having a baby and a criminal record by the age of 18 is seen as unusual. After playing in various basement punk bands, L combined his love of doo wop and girl-groups, adding a bit of Rat-Pack flair and a punk rock vibe, and came up with Spectrals. They have already released an excellent single for Captured Tracks and toured the UK with bands such as Girls, Real Estate and Desolation Wilderness. 7th Date is Spectrals' first release for Slumberland. The A-side combines classic '50s songwriting with a lazy swing and drawling, Westerberg-ish vocals. Understated guitar twang snakes through tremelo'd strum, punctuated by tambourine shakes and tinkling bells. The flip "Don't Mind" is a gorgeous piece of slow-dance perfection, evoking scenes of beach bonfires and the end of summer. There's a weepy, woozy vibe to L's vocals, his sighing "ahh ahh" back-ups drifting skyward through the jangle riffs to the
starry skies The balance of timeless songwriting and modern suss is pitch-perfect, and 7th Date shows Spectrals to be purveyors of smart, modern pop of the first order. "... pairs a Righteous Brothers-style yearning vocal with a fuzzed-out Spector-esque wall of sound." --Pitchfork

** RARITIES **

DUTCHESS AND THE DUKE-Side By Side: Sub Pop Singles Club 7"


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FLEETING JOYS-Occult Radiance CD

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