New Dead Hippies Video!

Charleston's mysterious (at least as far as web presence goes) Dead Hippies just released this clip for the song "The Dead Stings". The video, made by Celie Dailey, features lots of beautiful blown-out shots of various flora (plus a little fauna) and was originally shown as part of the Hippies' last performance at 255, and I must admit it loses a little impact moving from a wall-sized projection to that tiny YouTube window, so make sure to watch this in fullscreen mode for maximum bliss-out!

FESTIVALFESTIVALFESTIVAL!!!

Oh boy! This week's episode number is divisible by five, and that means: Theme Episode! And what a week for a theme episode it is, what with Festival Festival happening at Redux on Saturday! This week I'm playing almost all Charleston cuts from bands that are playing this year or have played past Festivals. Yay, local rock!


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Playlist (links coming later)

Dungen - "Festival"
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The Huspa Concept - "Green Elevator Explosion"
Co. - "Henry"
Beaks and Claws - "Talking About Those Time Travel Blues"
Know Nothing Party - "A Jam"
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Where Are the Big People? - "The Longest Yard Sale in the World"
Thousands of Kittens - "Undead"
Small Pox - "Release/Relief"
Hypnosquad - "One Down, Two to Go"
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Oicho Kabu - "Each Mushroom Has Its Owner"
Ponies & Flowers - "Same Song"
Hip Young Gunslingers - "Fathers (Live @ Festival '08)"
To Year, Old Virgin - "Starlight Scenery (Live @ Festival '08)"
Morimoto - "Equal Parts (Live @ Festival '08)"
Castles Underground - "Coronation Time (Live @ Festival '08)"
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The Floorboards - "Street Demon"

I Need Sleep

For a band I just happened to stumble across poking around on Bandcamp.com, I Need Sleep have a surprising number of connections to bands I already know and love. According to their MySpace page, they're friends with their fellow Chicagoans and SCnP faves Bird Names and Killer Whales, they're touring in June with Emperor X, and they're labelmates with The Ocean Floor, who will be playing 255 in June. What are the odds?

Anyway, as you can see above, I Need Sleep have made a really fun video for the leadoff track of their new EP, Welcome to Monsters, which is available as a free download over at Bandcamp, so check it out:

I Need Sleep - Welcome to Monsters

A Wave Of Sludge Too Dense To Lift

Here's this week's podcast. It's been another rebuilding week here at SCnP Central, but I've still found the time to put together a good mix of quality tunes for you. Next week's episode will be extra special in anticipation of Festival Festival on May 2. See you then!


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PLAYLIST

The Bitters - "Can You Keep a Secret" (buy)
So Cow - "League of Impressionable Teens" (buy)
Eat Skull - "Oregon Dreaming" (buy)
Delta Haymax - "Carnation" (buy)
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Height with Friends - "Jackson Whites" (buy)
Las Vegas Club - "Breadfruit & Betel Nuts" (OOP!)
Fotheringay - "The Sea" (buy)
Los Microwaves - "Is There Life After Breakfast?" (download)
Emperor X - "A Violent Translation of the Concordia Headscarp" (download)
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Wavves - "Friends Were Gone" (download)
The Remains - "My Babe" (buy)
City Center - "Summer School" (download)
The Homosexuals - "Slow Guns" (buy)
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Les Rallizes Denudes - "Night of the Assassins" (buy)

Springtime Time Warp

I know everyone else is posting about this, but Bradford Cox just posted the newest Atlas Sound virtual 7" on the Deerhunter blog. Download it now! That's an order!

Record Store Day 2009

Happy Record Store Day! Today record stores across the nation are putting on all sorts of special events to celebrate their own existence. Yeah, it's kind of an invented holiday, but as a man who loves his physical media and its independent purveyors, I'm more than happy to celebrate right along with them.

Here in Charleston, 52.5 Records is hosting an art show, curated by Chuck Keppler, featuring prints by 38 artists based their favorite song lyrics. The store will also be selling as many of the exclusive RSD promo releases as they can "put [their] grubby little hands on." Also, used CDs, LPs and DVDs will be 52.5% off, just like the store's birthday weekend this past February.

Now, regarding those RSD exclusives, a very complete list of everything being made available can be found over at MBV, but some of these are very limited pressings, in some cases barely outnumbering the participating stores, I don't know what all store-owner Clay Scales will be able to get in, but here's a list of things I'll be looking for:


Daptone, Finders Keepers, Honest Jons, Jazzman, Light In The Attic, Now Again, Numero Group, Sublime Frequencies, Timmion, and Vampi Soul have combined forces to put together a sweet 2xLP compilation of the kinds of obscure and awesome sounds they specialize in reissuing. It gets better: the comp, entitled This LP Crashes Hard Drives, lists for a mere $10! Clay has told me personally that 52.5 is for-sure getting 20 copies of this, so I am definitely picking up one of these.


Speaking of label comps, Thrill Jockey's Records Toreism looks pretty sweet. It's a 5-track 12" with exclusives from Tortoise, Double Dagger, Mountains, White Hills, and Trans Am featuring Tim Soete from the Fucking Champs. Plus there are two special print inserts, a zine and a "manifesto." There are only 900 of these, so if you get your hands o one, consider yourself lucky!


In addition to a couple of tempting Sonic Youth split 7-inches, the venerable Matador Records will be releasing a live LP by none other than Pavement! The LP features recordings made at a concert in Germany over 10 years ago (has it really been that long?) and is limited to only 2500 copies, as are those two SY 7-inches I mentioned earlier.

There are a few other things I just couldn't find pictures for, too, live the vinyl reissue of Guided by Voices' Hold on Hope EP with the Plugs for the Program EP appended to it, and a plethora of 7" releases (reissue and otherwise) by the Smiths, New Order, Elvis Costello, Obits, Camera Obscura, Blitzen Trapper, and even the Stooges! I'd better get dressed if I wanna get there early.

Late Again

As those who follow me on Twitter may already know, my internet connection decided to take the day off yesterday, yet another (albeit lesser) obstacle that fate has thrown my way in the past few weeks regarding computer stuff. But here I am on Friday morning, late for work so I can get this out to you! I'm dedicated, people!


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PLAYLIST

The Homosexuals - "False Sentiments" (buy)
Gene Defcon - "Liz" (buy)
Screaming Females - "Treacher Collins" (buy
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Emperor X - "Sfearion" (download)
City Center - "Open/House" (buy)
Manishevitz - "Cincinnati" (buy)
Joe Christmas - "Coupleskate" (buy)
Brilliant Colors - "Should I Tell You" (OOP!)
Destroyer - "No Cease Fires" (buy)
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Oicho Kabu - "Drop a Spider" (buy)
Yo La Tengo - "From a Motel 6" (buy)
The Icarus Syndrome - "Iceland Town" (Sorry, couldn't find a link!)
Amanaz - "Sunday Morning" (buy)
Grenadine - "What on Earth Has Happened to Today's Youth?" (buy)
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Airport 5 - "Stifled Man Casino" (buy)

Free Experimental Dental School Album!

I first discovered Experimental Dental School years back by blind Soulseek download. The album was their 2006 sophomore effort 2 1/2 Creatures, and to this day, I can't remember what attracted me to it, as the name is kind of dumb and that's all I had to go on. But download it I did, and as I recall, what I heard kinda sounded to me like Deerhoof, but with way more organ and even weirder vocals.

Well, it's three years later and Experimental Dental School is now releasing their fourth album for free download from their website, with CD and LP "hard copies" to come later this year, presumably self-released, and with hand-sewn covers to boot! The band's sound has changed a bit since I last heard them, but the Deerhoof influence is still somewhat apparent, but XDS plays things a lot looser than the 'Hoof tend to these days, and they're not afraid to break a song down to the most primitive cave rock stomp. The vocals are more subdued than what I remember from Creatures, bathed in lo-fi hiss and buzz with lots of boy/girl indie-popisms.

Hear it for yourself by downloading it here.

Rad Festival Festival Poster!

Presenting the totally awesome new Festival Festival poster! Be sure to click on it to see it in high res! It's by local artist/musician/phillips-head screwdriver Nick Jenkins, whose other work you can check out at paperjenkins.com.

More Festival Festival info here and here.

The Return of SCnP!

Whew! Since this time last week, things are finally getting back to normal here and SCnP is back up and running at 90% capacity! What a recovery! I almost just hung it up there, folks. It was a dark time, but I pulled through, and the podcast is back to fight another week against my crippling ADD and lack of work ethic! Not so much new stuff this time through, what with the loss of every track I've downloaded or ripped in the past year or so, but I see times like this as opportunities to appreciate the classics. After all, there's more to rock than no-fi garage bands and hyper-limited 45s, so in a way, putting together this podcast was a breath of fresh air for my musical sensibilities. Hope you like it:


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PLAYLIST

The Lines - "Nerve Pylon" (buy)
Visage - "Visage" (buy)
John Maus - "This Is the Beat" (unreleased)
Franco Battiato - "Fenomenologia" (download)
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Wolf Colonel - "Jet Ski Accidents" (buy)
Calexico - "Glimpse" (buy)
Nightshadow - "60 Second Swinger" (download)
Sal Paradise - "Vicarious Speedster" (buy)
The Poison Control Center - "Teenage Girl" (buy)
RTFO Bandwagon - "Like a Dan Shearer Over Troubled Water" (buy)
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Lotion - "Sandra" (buy)
The Racket Squad - "The Loser" (buy)
Mr. Dream - "Fine Lines"
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Hey Paul" (buy)
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Air Miami - "Dolphin Expressway" (buy)

Festival Festival!

Hey, readers! Just wanted to announce something I'll be talking about quite a lot over the next month: Charleston's Third Annual Festival Festival! I'd write about it myself, but, being a lazy blogger, I'll just snip the press release for you. Read up:

Festival Festival // Craft Bazaar

Date: Saturday May 2, 2009 12pm – 10pm

Location: Redux Contemporary Art Center

Price: Free and open to the public

This will be the third annual festival aimed to support local artists and promote creativity in the community. The festival will feature artwork representing the community and performances by Charleston experimental, rock, and pop musicians. The Holy City Craft Bizarre will be held from noon to four and will include vendors selling handmade crafts of all kinds. The Craft Bazaar has been held previously behind Reid Brothers on King Street and is open to anyone who has work to share, from clothing and jewelry to posters and baked goods.

The festival was started as a way to celebrate creativity as a means to bring about meaningful communication and collaboration in Charleston. It is an opportunity for the young creative community of Charleston to share its work and ideas in an open and optimistic setting. Also at the event, the second edition of a Zine/Compilation of local art, poetry, and music will be released by local record label Malted Milk.

The following bands will perform:

CO.
The Huspa Concept
Hypnosquad
Know Nothing Party
The Loose Ends
Oicho Kabu
Precious Moments
The Reverend Cousin Uncle Ben and the Holy Sparks Family Band with Singers and Dancers
Short Shorts
Small Pox

My first press release post. What a special moment...

Official MySpace page
Malted Milk site

Free Music Archive Is Here!!!

I felt like a blog post would be a good break in the monotony of re-ripping my entire CD collection onto my computer, and what better thing to post about, given my current digital situation, than today's launch of the Free Music Archive, brought to you in large part by the folks at WFMU, the best radio station on the planet! I've mentioned the FMA a couple of times on the podcast, but now it's finally here for all to see! It's a collection of 100% free, legal, download-able, blog-able, podcast-able mp3s from all sorts of great bands. I've already found a number of bands on it that have entered my personal heavy rotation, and you can, too! See for yourself at freemusicarchive.org.

Want a sampling before you plunge in? Look no further than these two samplers WFMU released last year in preparation for this wonderful day!

Some Bad News, Some Good News

So where's this week's podcast? Well, funny story: last night, as I was just about to put the finishing touches on this week's installment, my computer screen went black and then refused to boot up. After much stressing out and some poking around, I was able to surmise that my hard drive was corrupted (as in "totally kaput"). That's right, I lost everything, including all the music stored on my computer and all of the programs I use to produce the podcast each week. So I'm having to take a week off from podcasting in order to recover and rebuild, but not to worry, I'm looking at this as an opportunity to make a few small changes to the show's content. For starters, I'm importing all my CDs onto my new hard drive, so that means future shows will contain a much more eclectic mix of songs! I'll be back next week with a brand new episode focusing on some gems from my personal CD collection (since that's all I have to draw from at this point), with a slight return to more cutting-edge buzz-o-matic mp3-blog-tastic goodness in coming weeks.

Cheers,
Tay