EAT SKULL – ‘III’ LP
“While you were out kicking an empty Sparks cup around SXSW, world class musical talents Eat Skull were busy creating their 3rd opus, entitled III, on a fever train between states, cities, community colleges and jails. Nearly 4 days or 4 years in the making, depending on who you ask, III is a more psychedelic and perfectly circular outing then their previous classics of paranoid ecstasy ‘Wild and Inside’ and ‘Sick to Death.’ Somewhere inbetween the subatomic joy of Primal Scream’s “Keep Your Dreams” and the desperate loneliness of ‘Same Place the Fly Got Smashed’ era Guided By Voices lies the weird and wonderful world of III. Throw a dash of Iron Maiden’s ‘Wasted Years’ in the cauldron, stir and dip a cigarette in it to smoke. This is music to drink to, die to, fall in love to and quit your job to. Drive to Alaska. Fuck it.” California “Golf” Richards, Portland, OR 2012. TRY
HERBCRAFT – ‘The Astral Body Electric’ LP
Three years on from the initial Herbcraft blurt, this third Herbcraft LP sees a full blossoming of sonic seeds sown in previous wax transmissions. Once the isolationist bedroom-psych project of Matt Lajoie, the intervening years have found Herbcraft sprawling out in many different full-band incarnations–duo, trio, quartet, sextet–for tours and heady super-sessions at their HQ in Maine. The Astral Body Electric finds the most enduring lineup of the band at its peak: songs half-composed, half-improvised, and played with freewheeling first-take intensity. Recorded direct to tape by Doug Tuttle (Mmoss) in an 18th-century New England barn, the focus on analog recording techniques (spring reverb, tape delay, hands-on flange) captures the Herbcraft soundworld in its most-natural habitat. Matt’s unhinged electric guitar swirls around Dawn Aquarius’ wah’ed organ riffs, Nicholas Barker’s kosmische-inspired drums and synth, and Corinna Marshall’s trilled-out flute and circular bass, complete with nebulous groop vocals and auxiliary support from Doug and Aaron Neveu (Woods). “Aurally massaged” into the 4th dimension by Matt “MV” Valentine with his signature “Spectrasound” mastering technique, The Astral Body Electric is psychedelic, mantric, free-rock music for the mind and body, and the most expansive, fully-realized, and confident Herbcraft record yet. TRY
THE WOOLEN MEN s/t LP
The Woolen Men are three — two Oregon natives and a Washingtonian. They play punk influenced DIY music in the Pac-NW tradition of Dead Moon and the Wipers. More than a sound or style, that means a kind of work ethic — do-it-yourself and do it a lot. The band is happiest touring up and down the I-5 or bunkered in their practice space with the cassette 4-track rolling. And it shows. Live, the band is thunderous and energetic and the magnetic chemistry of the three of them playing together shines through in the recordings. This self-titled album released by Woodsist Records is their debut LP, following a handful of largely self-released EPs. Instead of changing their technique of recording fast and loose to capture the live energy of their sound, they recorded and recorded and recorded until they had enough songs to make up an album only of material with that elusive spark of a great recording. The ten tracks here represent five different sessions, and as many songs made the cut as were left behind. The LP was made to endure, with little attention payed to current trends or “in” sounds — what matters to the band is that the songs are well written and executed with integrity. The whole thing was recorded to analog tape. The Woolen Men are Alex Geddes, Lawton Browning and Raf Spielman. They live and work in Portland, OR. Raf previously released an album of solo material under his Polyps moniker for the Woodists sister label Hello Sunshine. TRY