Secret Handshakes The Record Machine/Golden Sound Records 2012

Secret Handshakes The Record Machine/Golden Sound Records 2012 CAT#GSRM001

This was a local Record Store Day release met with little to no fanfare upon it's release in 2012, because let's be honest, independent labels can't do things on Record Store Day, it's for the major labels.

Nevertheless, The Record Machine teamed up with Golden Sound Records to put out this limited and colored vinyl compilation of groups from the labels' rosters. It's got a screened cover and is clever in it's simplicity. It looks and feels limited. Yet, despite the labels attempt to get on the RSD thing in 2012, you can still grab a copy with ease in 2015.

The Record Machine side is filled with the label's breezy indie-pop sounds. The La Guerre track, "23," is stellar and a huge stand out. Another definite highlight is the Akkiles track, "She's Alright," which is sparse, haunting and has addictive phrasing you can't get out of your head, The whole side is worth checking out, just to experience this tiny KC label's cohesive sound and identity.

The Golden Sound Records side isn't as cohesive, but filled with great tunes all the same. The fist track, "Hot Bright Night" by Everyday/Everynight is filled with a lot of directions, but it's grandiose and worth repeated listens. The Caves track, "Liars," has a pretty great groove and power-pop moves. It also features the Baby Teardrops, which is a Matt Dunehoo (of Proudentall) fronted band formed in New York, I mention it because that guy is dedicated and it's good to see him get a song out there now and again.

Overall, great listen and worth owning. I'm sure since it's now 2015, either label would take $10 and send you one if you asked nicely (currently selling for $12 at TRM).

Soundcloud TRM Side

The Life and Times No One Loves You Like I Do Hawthorne Street Records 2012

The Life and Times No One Loves You Like I Do Hawthorne Street Records 2012 HSR 035

Another LP by the Life and Times which was initially released as a CD, then released on vinyl. This one, the same year as the initial CD which was done by Slimstyle Records.  Coincidentally, the band released it's newest album, Lost Bees, on CD with Slimstyle Records which was later released on vinyl in the same fashion (I haven't picked it up yet, but it's good from the bits I've heard).

Anyway, No One Loves You Like I Do, is a great album. It sounds a bit more in line with the band members post-hardcore roots than the prior, it's like a really slow moving Shiner album. It's heavy on the slowness and building of songs...in fact, the whole album, every track, builds into the next, there's no dead air, just the next song. It's got it's math aspects, very technical throughout. Kids will call it shoegaze, but to me, that's still a British thing so I prefer the term post-rock.

It's one downfall is the track titles are pretentious. Songs are titled Days 1 through 12, but in different order. Who does The Life and Times think they are?  Emerson, Lake, and Palmer? Captin Beyond? It comes off super prog-rock. And, I'm sure there's a "meaning" to it and if I tried hard enough, I might be able to explain...it's probably about a girl. All is forgiven though as the songs and the kick ass and more than make up for the secret meaning behind song titles (drums are the highlight).

Day Eleven (LIVE)

Hospital Ships/Heartscape Landbreak Split A Mary of Quito b/w Seed Song Graveface 2012

Hospital Ships/Heartscape Landbreak Split A Mary of Quito b/w Seed Song Graveface 2012 Grave076 Charity Series #4

This is the 4th release in the Graveface charity series.  The label releases 7"s in which the proceeds go to fund various charities, which is kind of cool.  Just as cool is that Graveface featured two Lawrence, KS bands on this one.

It's a good pairing, low-key, bedroom indie-pop.  I keep grabbing bits of the Hospital Ships and wishing I'd throw down on the full length albums.  "A Mary of Quito" is a delicate pop gem, it floats around effortlessly in dreamy soundscapes and Jordan Greiger's cracking vocals.  "Seed Song" by Heartscape Landbreak has a bit more teeth, but same lo-key feel.  Acoustic guitar intro, vocals that feel they could break in half, all very pleasant especially when harmonies are added.  They end their tune with a sweeping ending, y'know, just to keep you on your toes.

Replay Records Delivers 2012 Boxset

Replay Records Delivers 2012 Boxset

This is a boxset Replay Lounge put out in 2013 possibly that collects all four 7"s released in 2012.  I don't think the newly found label had planned this from the beginning of 2012 or anything, but rather, it was a creative way to move some product.  You get 7"s, a koozie, a sticker, a download of the Cheap Beer comp. and it's all packaged in a hand printed personal pizza box that's designed around Lawrence's best, crappy, pizza place, Pizza Shuttle.

As awesome as I think this whole package is, I'm saddened because it's leading me to believe the following: 1.) It's 2014 and these are still available for purchase, they limited the boxsets to 100.  That means, Replay Records was sitting on at least 100 records of each release.  2.) Since they got a good amount of stock on hand, the label might be in danger of disappearing.  They haven't released anything in a while.  3.)  This is a great deal.  All this cool stuff for $20 and it's still available.  Fucking, go buy this at Replay Records.

As for the music, it's all worth the investment, you really can't go wrong.  Great artwork and cool labels to boot.  Only issue I have with Replay Records is they press their stuff on some shitty vinyl, things are off center, the center holes are too narrow, and you can just look at the grooves and see cheapness.  However, they sell cheap beer at an awesome bar and release punk rock records, I'm not sure I should expect them to sell audiophile grade vinyl releases.  As for the tunes and bands, here's a quick breakdown:

Up The Academy - Gimme Gimme B/W Pretty Bird - Loud, thunderous garage punk.  Gets the award for best artwork as the sleeve is hand pressed on a cut out from a 12 pack of cheap beer.

The Hips/Hospital Ships Split - Yoo Hoo's Binoculars B/W Come Back to Life - The Hips play some drunken stoner-groove.  It's well done, but at times I feel it drives too far down a well-worn path filled with hippies and bands from Austin, TX.  The Hospital Ships are primarily Lawrence, Kansan, Jordan Grieger, doing bedroom pop odes to the Flaming Lips (he took the name from a Lips' lyric).  At least, that's what you always hear.  I think his tune here is the best of the bunch.  Definitely a homespun, bedroom feel, in which you do hear a Wayne Coyne vocal strain, but it's so twee and great.  I really need to invest in the releases available on Graveface Records where Hospital Ships have found a home.

Rooftop Vigilantes/Mannequin Men Split -  Automatic Trash and Trouble Making Words B/W What's Yer Favorite Colour and Dark Cemetery - I already talked about this, it's still awesome.

Mouthbreathers - Die Alone B/W Validation - First, great band name.  The first tune is drawn out and dark.  It's a little too stuck in idle for metal and it's certainly too focused to be punk.  I suppose they may be going for a post-rock sound, that is until "Die Alone" turns into an all out garage-rock raver.  "Validation" on the flip side is more fuzzed out garage punk, reveling that this band was just playing around on all the previous build up.

The Caves Duplexiaville Golden Sound Records 2012

The Caves Duplexiaville Golden Sound Records 2012 CAT#GSR-017

My first understanding of the Caves was that it was just the guitar/drum duo of Jacob Cardwell and Andrew Ashby doing Ashby's bedroom pop tunes.  This is the more fleshed out edition, featuring David Gaume doing bass and other things as well as the production.  Elizabeth Bohannon is featured on keys and and vocals.

The Caves lie somewhere between later-era Beatles and Elvis Costello ballads.  Very dreamy, with just enough teeth to get them into them into clubs rather than coffee houses.  Still very much bedroom pop.  Quiet and very quaint, at a show, you'd hear crowd chatter over most of these songs.  Still, Ashby's songs grow on you the more time you spend with the album and at times are hauntingly beautiful, i.e. ""Feeler".

The album artwork is pretty awesome.  Features the old Reflector tour van and the layout was done up by Greg Franklin who was in a good band called the Believe It Or Nots, way back when.  Although, the font choice on the back cover is a bit 8th Grade.

http://thecaves.us/

Shiner The Egg DeSoto/Son Of Man 2012 (Repress)

Shiner The Egg DeSoto/Son Of Man 2012 (Repress) CAT #SOM-002

People love this album and swear by it.  However, when it came out in 2001, I could have gave a shit less.  1996, I thought Splay was one of the greatest things I had ever heard.  High school age boys love angry rock music and that fit the bill.  I remember being excited to get my hands on their follow-up, Lula Divinia which was released in 1997.  However, the glow of Splay started to wear off quickly.  The songs become incredibly long and pretentious, shoegazer moments mixed in with odd time signatures and even stranger song structures.  There was nothing immediate on Lula Divinia so you couldn't get sucked into all it.  By 2000 when Starless came out, I really didn't care anymore.  I believe I picked up Starless cheap in a used bin and was even more turned off by it than I was by Lula.

I had completely moved on and forgot about Shiner when The Egg came out in 2001.  I never even picked up.  Then, several years ago I became obsessed with collecting all the locals I once listened to in the 90's on vinyl.  Since then, I've been searching feverishly for a copy of Splay.  I still haven't found it, but last year while searching the internet for it, I discovered that Son of Man did a limited vinyl pressing of  The Egg for the band's reunion tour.  At this point in my local vinyl obsession, I wasn't just trying to collect favorites, I was just obsessed with finding any local artist on vinyl, so I needed this.

Not knowing too much about The Egg, I read up on it pre-purchase.  Damn, if it isn't widely considered the band's masterpiece.  Anxious and worried that the hype was going to ruin this LP for me, I was pleased upon the first listen.  Everything is so crisp and perfect on the album, there are moments that are immediate on it, namely the song "Top of the World," which could easily be mistaken for a Sunny Day Real Estate tune or a Radiohead tune, depending on which aspect you focus on.  But, even at first listen, you sense the band's direction on the LP, there's a definite groove and feel surrounding all the songs.

For the last year or so, I've spun this more than most albums I own.  Every time you put it on, you pick up something new, a nifty guitar riff buried in the background, a reprise to a previous song, a shift you didn't fully grasp the previous spin.  The band had clearly figured it out on this album.  Inevitably, it's still very pretentious with all it's shifts in song structure, but they found a way to make it more accessible.  They focused their efforts on creating a whole LP and experimenting throughout its entirety rather than trying to cram every good idea they had into a single song.  It's an amazing album, complex, and more rewarding after every listen.  If more people would have been listening to it when it was released, it would have reinvented and reinvigorated the then played out angular post-hardcore scene.

Truth About Cows
Top Of the World
Pills

Rooftop Vigilantes & Mannequin Men Split 7" Replay Records 2012

Rooftop Vigilantes & Mannequin Men Split 7" Replay Records 2012 CAT# RR004

Man, the Replay Lounge in Lawrence, KS puts out records now.  That's freaking rad.  My favorite year in college was spent living at 1001 Rhode Island, a block down the street from the Replay.  Walking to a place to get drunk is the best way to get drunk.  And, I was still cool.  I remember when I was 24 and done with school; all the sudden I found myself saying, "When did all these fucking kids turn 21," at the Replay.  It's a hip place.  So hip, that the KU Greek community thinks it's a gay bar.  That's insanely stylish.  Now, they put out records to boot, again, that's freaking rad.

Before I go into this 7" though, just a few more notes on the Replay. I sneaked into see the last Regrets show (under age).  And, I saw Elliott Smith perform there with like 5 other people in attendance.  I love that place.

This 7" came to me by chance, but it's still readily available at the Love Garden and I assume the Replay.  I wouldn't know about the Replay, I'm too old and square.  The 7" features Lawrence band, Rooftop Vigilantes, along with Chicago punks, Mannequin Men.  The Mannequin Men I know, they're kind of a Chicago garage-punk fixture now-a-days.  Not local, but shows the Replay means business with their record label.  They probably couldn't have paired them with a better band.  I don't know anything about the Rooftop Vigilantes other than these songs are great.

The tunes 'Automatic Trash' and 'Trouble Making Words' are relentless.  The band is literally everything I've wanted pop punk band to sound like.  I've never wanted to hear suburbanite kids play crisp, clean chords and sing with a fake British accent about boogers and farts.  Pop punk should sound like this.  Literally, punks attempting pop tunes while screaming and leaving all the mistakes in.  The garage sounds you get from these tracks--the winding organs, the broken scream along harmonies, the loud guitars--it's perfect.  Highly recommended garage rock.

Bandcamp Site
Live at the Replay
Replay Record

Capybara Dave Drusky The Record Machine 2012

Capybara Dave Drusky The Record Machine 2012 CAT# TRM - 040

I first heard this band on a local radio station's local music show.  Generally, the station plays alternative rock and the local show is not much different.  They played something from the band's first album (digital only release) and I was blown away.  So many stringed instruments in one song, mandolins, guitars, maybe ukulele too.  I ran home, got on-line and discovered the band was called Capybara.  Had no idea who they were, but found out later the Record Machine was working with the band to release stuff.

I've really wanted to discuss more Record Machine releases, but, records are expensive and I'm broke.  I did try and hint to Nathan Ruesch of the Record Machine that I'd blog about his stuff.  However, hint wasn't taken and Nathan probably has no desire to give out free records to a blog no one reads.  Regardless, I'd been listening to this album a lot at work in digital format and told Nathan how much I liked it because it reminded me of R.E.M.  So much so that I started sending Nathan R.E.M. tunes from the Murmur and Reckoning albums.  He kind of agreed by stating he could hear the similarities.

Seriously though, this band is a throwback to early 80's indie.  Atmospheric, clever harmonies, lots of crisp guitars, mumbled vocals with literate lyrics.  And, I'm not saying they lift from R.E.M., it's just a similar sound and I'm sure these guys have good things to say about the previously mentioned albums.

Honestly, this is my favorite thing going locally right now.  As stated, I enjoy it at work with headphones.  I enjoy it at home on the turntable.  The whole album has a great ebb and flow, it brings you up with snappy percussion and then slows down with something epic like the song, 'Wild'.  I stress the term atmospheric, the LP never achieves anything that "rocks" which make the R.E.M. comparisons even more relevant.  But, there are great pop songs hidden in the crescendo effects and vocal "oooohhhs" and "aaaahhs".  Seriously, you'll think you've heard some of these tunes in Volkswagen commercials due to the dreaminess of it all.  Buy this LP.

Wild
Late Night Bike

http://therecordmachine.net/ (pretty rad label)

Ghosty S/T More Famouser Records 2012

Ghosty S/T 12" LP
More Famouser Records
CAT # MF004 2012

I got to talk about some new stuff sooner or later.  I picked this up in a trade at Vinyl Renaissance.  This gem is self-released, at least I'm pretty sure.

I had the opportunity to work Andrew Connor who, for the most part, is the sole songwriter.  At the time, he was a freshman or sophmore in college.  The drummer, Richard Gintowt, was part of my music staff at the mighty KJHK 90.7 FM, thus the connection.  Richard is no longer is in the band, he does all sorts of local goodness in the Hidden Pitcures among other local endeavors.  I got to record them for Plow the Fields, it sounds awful, but you could probably ask the band, I was so proud of myself...I wanted to put the recording out for consumption.  Listening back on it, yeah, pretty scratchy, too many mics.

Going back to this LP, now and then, I've always thought Andrew Connor is a great songwriter.  His songs are well thought out, the lyrics are clever and witty, everything is soaked in melody.  My problem has always been it's too pleasant, to the point it becomes kind of predictable.  It reminds me of later Matthew Sweet after Richard Lloyd stopped laying down guitar tracks.  There's nothing that's going to punch you in the face.  To it's benefit, there's nothing that's going to make you hate the record either, it's pleasant.  If Andrew Connor can find the Mick Ronson to his David Bowie, it's going to be amazing.  Just someone, a prodcuer, a lead guitar that splashes his songs with something unexpected.  Until then, sweet power pop sounds.

Of note on the LP, 'You Saved Me,' 'Let Me In,' and 'You Shut Me Out' are freakin' hits, they passed the mix tape test and people should here them.

Ghosty You Shut Me live at the Replay
Free songs and stuff on the web from Ghosty the Website