Presenting: Blastoids!

Let's talk about genre for a second. While watching Blastoids play 255 last night, a thought occured to me: At some point, people stopped calling it 'ripping off Chuck Berry' and started calling it 'rock and roll.' What made me think this was that in order to accurately describe Blastoids' music I had to either a) take the easy way out by simply saying they sound a lot like Animal Collective or b) take the annoying way out by attempting to coin a snappy new genre name under which to file the band. Well, I'd rather be called lazy than annoying, so here goes:

Blastoids trade in the kind of amorphous electro-tribal jams that have been popping up more and more frequently in this post-Merriweather Post Pavilion world. Animal Collective's looming influence over their music is sure to turn some people off, but who cares about those people? While they're off dismissing Blastoids as mere "rip-offs", others are sure to be mesmerized, as I was, by the band's unique take on this brave new genre (there, I said it).

To say they just "sound like Animal Collective" is to sell the band short. Sure, Joe Volmer's and Tyler Walker's dual electronics/vocals attack is bound to sound a bit too familiar to AC "purists," but I can't recall ever hearing drumming as frenetically precise as that of Charlie Hareford on anywhere, Animal Collective or otherwise. The man plays like Zach Hill would if he didn't feel the need to change tempo every other second, and his complex yet steady beats are a perfect compliment to the melodies supplied by Volmer and Walker, which as often as not fall a lot further into "traditional" territory than most neo-weirdo-electro bands ever dare to go, and I mean that in a good way.

So is it time to start inventing new words to describe music? Let someone else decide; I'm too busy listening.

[mp3s]
Blastoids - "Cowboy"
Blastoids - "Kenny Winker"
(both taken from Blastoids' self-released CD-R)

Blastoids hail from Murfreesboro, TN and are currently 30 days into a 45-day tour culminating in an appearance at Whartscape 2009 at Baltimore's Wham City. Check the dates here, and if they're coming near you, by all means check them out!

Tiny Animals Worship Fire

After hearing about Point Juncture, WA via 3hive earlier this year, I was very excited to see the band open for the Thermals when they came through town this past May. Although there were only four people on stage, their inventive arrangements and collective multi-instrumental proficiency made them sound like a band twice their size.

Later on at the merch table, I scoffed a bit at their LP's $20 price tag (to be fair, the CD version is a more reasonable $12), but I plunked down the dough anyway, and when I got the thing home later that night, I found that my money had been well-spent, and not just for the lavish packaging (die-cut, letter-pressed, white wax, the works!), but also for the music contained therein, which manages to be even more impressive than the sleeve it comes in.

If I had to pick one band to compare Point Juncture to, the obvious choice would be Stereolab. Heart to Elk is packed with the same sorts of Krautrock beats, shimmering vibraphones and austere female vocals that characterize much of that band's work. Also, the album's crisp production brings to mind the work of frequent 'Lab collaborator John McEntire, so I was surprised to read that much of Heart to Elk was home-recorded!

Still, it's clear Point Juncture has worked hard to forge a sound they can call their own, and the album is a resounding success on that front. The songs range from blissful to brooding, with meticulously conceived arrangements and structures. Some cuts jump around so much I'd be tempted to label them "prog" if they didn't maintain such a poppy seamlessness, and the band even breaks into full-on freakouts on a couple of tracks. Overall, this is the kind of album where if you dig the first cut, you won't be let down for the album's duration. So good.

[mp3] Point Juncture, WA - "Once Tasted Ever Wanted"
[mp3] Point Juncture, WA - "Sick on Sugar"
(both from Heart to Elk; buy it from Mt. Fuji Records)

The Kids Call It "Crabcore"

I've been laughing at this video for a week. Is this really where the emo/screamo genre is at right now? To quote a commenter on the WFMU blog (where I first saw this video), "Those guys sound more like everyone else than anyone else ever has!"

For additional laughs, you might want to check out the Wikipedia entry on the "crabcore" genre, which these guys are the prime example of. Wikipedia deleted it recently, but here's a link to Google's cached version. Funny stuff, guy.

Presenting: Fluffy Lumbers!

As you can probably tell from the last few podcasts, I've really been digging the recent wave of easy-going, summer-obsessed indie rock (Real Estate, Wavves, Ducktails, etc.). Seems like every week there's a dozen new 45s and LPs full of songs about the beach, and it'd all be kinda irritating if there wasn't so much quality stuff to be had. Well, hopefully with all this hype getting thrown around and getting all over everything, Fluffy Lumbers' time in the sun will come soon, because from what I saw last week at the John Rivers Communications Museum, they've definitely got the goods.

Fluffy Lumbers tread a lot of the same ground as their fellow New Jerseyites Real Estate, but with a bit less Grateful Dead and a lot more My Bloody Valentine; total shoegaze, but with a beat more suitable for head-banging than head-bobbing, and with all of this new sub-subgenre's inherent good vibes turned up into the red, blown out like it's blasting from a boombox that got too much sand in it.

Although I saw them as a band, the recorded version of Fluffy Lumbers is the solo project of 20-year-old Sam Franklin. Franklin is also one half of Frat Dad, who you might recognize from the recent (and awesome) Underwater Peoples comp.

FL's debut 7-inch, The Police Cruisers EP, isn't out yet (at least not officially), but I managed to snag the band's last test-pressing, and it's been holding its own against my recent DC purchases, although I must say it's a bit different sonically from the band's live assault, which is not to be missed. Given that, I thought it'd be best to share the track that bears the greatest shoegaze influence. I expect great things from these guys.

[mp3] Fluffy Lumbers - "American Visions"
(from The Police Cruisers EP, out soon on Weird Hug Records)

If you're in the NYC area, they're playing tomorrow night (June 27th) at Market Hotel with Ducktails, Julian Lynch and Night Time. I'd be there if I didn't live 10 hours away.

The Last Shot Is My Favorite

Let's consider for a minute the physical role music plays in our everyday lives. Where do you listen to music? How? What are you doing while you do it? Are you sitting down in a comfortable chair, seated eight to twelve feet from two symmetrically-placed speakers which are also eight to twelve feet apart from each other and turned ever-so-slightly outward so as to give you a better impression of the recording's "stereo image" as you listen intently, eyes closed, savoring each tiny nuance of every sonic frequency contained therein?

Most likely, no. These days if you're listening to music, you're probably hearing it through a pair of cheap earbuds or on an all-in-one shelf stereo you got for Christmas in high school. But do you enjoy your music any less because of this? Of course not. This video is for all the people rockin' out to tinny boomboxes by sinks while they do the dishes, putting their shelf stereo speakers in two different rooms so everyone at the party can dance, and plugging their turntables directly into the auxiliary input even though it comes out all quiet without something your audiophile friend calls a "preamp". Who says you need to empty your bank account to properly enjoy music? Not Deerhoof.

Record Huntin' in the District of Columbia!

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent the weekend visiting family in the DC area, but while I was there I got to spend an afternoon alone with a few of the city's record stores, and I thought readers of this blog might be interested in where I went and what I picked up, so here's a little rundown of my afternoon hunting for vinyl in our (or my, for any international readers) nation's capital. In the present tense.


I step off the escalator of the Dupont Circle Metro station at around noon on Sunday and make my way four or five blocks up 18th St. to Red Onion Records and Books, located in the basement of a rad-looking brick Victorian on the corner of 18th and T St. As soon as I descend the steps from the sidewalk into the tiny store (I've seen bigger record stores in flea markets), I know I'm in a special place. See, I'm a complete used bin junkie, and Red Onion is basically a big used bin of astoundingly high quality. I say a quick hello to the fellow behind the counter and, with Tortoise's excellent new LP spinning on the store turntable (more on how excellent it is in a later post), I set to work thumbing through the store's "rock" section, coming up with two albums I've been meaning to pick up since high school, the Byrds classic Younger Than Yesterday and Under Thunder and Fluorescent Light by Storm & Stress.

Not wanting to blow my whole wad in one store, I take a pass on the store's tempting jazz section and make my way to the counter, where what should await me but a bin of 45s! I can't say no, and a quick flip-through reveals pure gold, a first pressing of the Joe Christmas/Kincaid split 7" on Kindercore (a label which has apparently returned from the dead recently) from way back in 1996! On clear wax! Numbered edition of 50! And for two bucks, no less! When I pay up, my bill comes to less than twenty dollars! I make a mental note never to visit DC without making a stop at this store, then head further north on 18th in search of more vinyl.


As I head a few more blocks up the street to Crooked Beat Records, the only other store turned up by a cursory Google search for "Washington DC record stores" done before my trip, I notice a sidewalk sign for Smash Records and decide to investigate. (There's nothing quite like being surprised by the existence of a good record store.) While Red Onion was more of a record nerd's record store, Smash has a decidedly punk-as-lifestyle vibe, with studded belts and band patches hanging from the walls behind the counter and a couple of racks of vintage clothing. The vinyl selection is still quite sizable and varied, though, but this unexpected stop has me a bit pressed for time, so after eying a couple of Beefheart LPs, I decide to focus on the 7-inches. I chuckle at a hand-written sticker on the first Minor Threat single (one of several copies in stock) that reads "members of Egghunt & Teen Idles" and leave the store with two singles, one by Chisel, Ted Leo's pre-Pharmacists band, and another by Cath Carroll on Teen Beat. (For those who don't know about Cath, she fronted the awesome, nearly-forgotten Factory Records band Miaow in the late 80s. Check them out!)


Checking my watch as I leave Smash, I notice I'm running short on time. Luckily, my final stop, Crooked Beat Records, is a mere twelve paces further up the street. Crooked Beat is another basement store, maybe three times the size of Red Onion, and has quite a lot to offer, but by now I'm getting kinda burnt out, so after rummaging somewhat aimlessly for about half an hour I settle on a copy of Jeffrey Lewis' latest, 'Em Are I (my only non-used purchase of the day), which I've been wanting to check out ever since his live performance on WFMU a few weeks ago (which you can download for free here).

So as early afternoon gracefully gives way to late afternoon, I leave the store, the fruits of a good day's record hunting tucked safely under my arm, and head over to Julia's Empanadas to look over my bounty while enjoying a savory baked treat, the perfect way to end my DC vinyl adventure. Seriously. That was one damn good empanada.

SCnP Is Going on Vacation!

Since I'm heading up to DC tomorrow for my annual one long weekend of vacation, I'll be taking a break from blogging for the next few days, and there will be no podcast this week (although I may get antsy by Wednesday and do one late anyway). In the meantime, here's a few songs by my all-time favorite DC band. See you next week!

[mp3] Unrest - "So Sick"
(from Perfect Teeth; buy it here)

[mp3] Unrest - "Isabel"
(from the Isabel Bishop EP; buy it here)

[mp3] Unrest - "91st Century Schizoid Man"
(from Tink of S.E.; buy it here)