School Knights Aren't So Lethargic Anymore

I have always been a fan of Colorado boogers School Knights, and their upcoming cassette release Lethargy (out through Bridgetown Records) is no different. In fact - it's the best thing they have put out since their initial Rush SK release when they were just a duo fucking about in 2010, and this supersedes that too. It's sonically brawnier too, straight off the bat - 'Heritage I' doesn't sound like Wavves-lite silliness and skulduggery (not that the now four-piece always did - but the noise pop lived just around the corner). The production on the album is clean and spacious, so that every dip and flow is perfectly rendered, and it really lightens up their sound whilst also accentuating the ever-growing chemistry within the band. 'Low Tide' still holds some of that lo-fi aesthetic, but by actively coming out from behind the (admittedly unnecessary) fuzz and embracing each other's strengths and shortcomings Lethargy sees a strong collection of tracks that bridges the languid pop of Real Estate with energetic noisy breakdowns of the likes of Fang Island or Animal Collective and darker edges of Cursive, sometimes all in the same song ('Silicone Drip') - unexpected, unconventional, and altogether unreal.

You can pre-order Lethargy here. They are apparently working on something else already, can't wait to see what that is. They also have some upcoming shows at South By South West (Austin, Texas) on Thursday March 14th @ the Green Room, Friday March 15th @ Hotel Vegas, and Saturday March 16th @ the Reverb Showcase, whilst they are playing the Treefort Music Festival (Boise Idaho) on Sunday March 24th.

Kidman's Whirl Turns Into A Whirr

Last year there was a little EP called Distressor that really blew us away here on Planet Masala (read my excited review here - and the notorious cover art of Nicole Kidman a la Eyes Wide Shut is above in multiple form...). The band responsible for the loud and fast shoegaze magic was called Whirl out of California. They had put the record out themselves (with help from Bridgetown Records), and its blend of modern grunge with the English shoegaze of yore was a breath of fresh air, even for this obvious MBV acolyte.

Fast forward 12 months and a lot has changed for the band. They are now called Whirr (as most cases stand, due to some legal issues), have signed with Tee Pee Records, and have an exclusive 7" (250 copies only!) in coca cola bottle green vinyl - sexy! The 7" is a gift to tide us over whilst they step into the studio to record their debut LP. 'Junebouvier' is a slight departure in that the aggression and suspense have been toned down a little, but due to its adherence to the woozy nature of its predecessors Id say it's still a hell of a lot to get excited about.


Buy the 7" here - this limited edition piece of wax will fly out of the Tee Pee, so do it now!

Whirr - Junebouvier

Weed Diamond RIP

Last year I got pretty excited about a release out of Bridgetown Records by Denver band Weed Diamond called Carry On + Sweater Kids, an amalgamation of their last two EPS. I even included it in my personal top ten albums for 2010. However things have been ultra quiet on their front, and I have recently got the news - Weed Diamond are no more, burning out ultra fast in less than two years. Bridgetown Records founder Kevin Greenspon received the affirmative on this when talking to Tim from the band earlier this month. Whilst this is sad news for lovers of no-fi garage popsters everywhere, not all is lost. Two projects that were borne outside of Weed Diamond - guitarist JT's solo stuff as Junior Low, and Michael's band School Knights- are still about, making music. In fact this may be a godsend - with both of these acts showing as much if not more promise than their predecessor, we might see a more concerted effort to produce material from this end.

Weed Diamond - RIP.

Weed Diamond - All Of Denver Is Wasted
Weed Diamond - Mint In My Mouth

School Knights - Bullies
Junior Low - Bloodlust

Kevin Greenspon Ads Seg?

There is no stopping him, is there? Kevin Greenspon (he of Bridgetown Records) has another cassette out, this time through Hi Shadow Records. Called Ad Seg, it is another one of his glorious guitar explorations, allowing you to melt away amongst the sonics and forget about the atoms that make up your form, instead becoming one with the air. It is also a nice sounding production to as far as these cassette recordings go - keep an eye on Hi Shadow Records for sure...

Kevin Greenspon - Coincide 12.E

New Releases Down At Bridgetown

Bridgetown Records have had a quiet start to 2011, what with founder Kevin Greenspon touring and having school duties - but this is just about to change with no less than five new cassette releases hitting the shelves.

Aulea from R. Sawyer offers pure, deliberate compositions of drifting ambient/drone recorded in Texas and California. Sawyer's technique seamlessly blends solid tones with perfect melodic arrangements emerging from beneath, rising and falling like the waves of the small coastal town he calls home. (13 left at time of print)

R. Sawyer - 4

Lines are a list of tracks from indie pop group Land of Ill Earthquakes, offering innocent youthful charm and sweet vocal harmonies that predate the Heartbreak Bombardier full-length released on Bridgetown in Summer 2009. (9 left at time of print)

Land of Ill Earthquakes - Lines

Demon + Wet Dream is the debut double EP release by Nima, which offers soft female vocals draped over blown out piano melodies and the hiss of decaying reverb, her stories detailing intimate experiences that range from urgent anxiousness to a calm peace.

Nima - Wet Dream

I spoke about Heavy, Weed Diamond's guitarist JT's solo album as Junior Low some time ago, yet it is nigh on impossible to get you hands on that anymore. Yet do not despair, for while the Colorado band have slowed to stagnant inactivity (another sad state of affairs...), JT has been crafting a shoegaze masterpiece in the shadows. Almost Forever is told by dense layers of high-gain guitar riffs with a recording quality that makes Heavy pale in comparison. Im very excited about this one in particular...

Junior Low - Bloodlust

Finally we have the quirkily monikered Baby Birds Dont Drink Milk and their re-issued Jam Packed Full Of Awesome. This tape warbles out hazy indie rock tunes bridged by a smooth veneer of ambient and experimental instrumentation. This is a long overdue reissue of the first album (with revised artwork) by these Kansas workaholics that relentlessly tour the USA and Europe and have released a host of records, CDs and tapes worldwide, including a new LP on Fire Talk, something that after hearing this Im endeavouring to hunt down. (9 left at time of print)

Baby Birds Dont Drink Milk - Helicopter Soup

All new cassettes are dubbed in realtime on high bias type II chrome tape with Dolby B noise reduction and packaged in white cases with full-color, doublesided cardstock inserts. There's only 50 copies of these though, so get cracking, cos they will fly! Get them here.

And here's a gem from Greenspon himself! Its off his Common Objects album on Family Time Records - check it out.

Kevin Greenspon - Threshold

Best Bits of 2010...by Kevin Greenspon (Bridgetown Records)

We finish up this week's lists with Kevin Greenspon, the main man behind mega rad of death DIY label Bridgetown Records, producer of one of the best lo fi releases this year, Weed Diamond's Carry On + Sweater Kids. He's also responsible for putting out releases by Cloud Nothings, Junior Low, School Knights, Whirl, all of which are fantastic releases. Greenspon has put out great stuff in his own right, especially a 10 track split he did with Cloud Nothings (see here for my approximation of its awesomeness), sound collage Common Objects on Family Time Records and Rose Window, a cassette releases out on Life's Blood. We've kept up with each others' travails over the year, and so I thought Id hand it over to the man himself to tell us what went right (and sometimes wrong) in the year 2010.

After being invited to do a guest post with my "best of 2010" list for Sonic Masala, I took a few days to really think about what I wanted to share. It's been a great year on several levels for me: I've completed some successful DIY tours, put out a handful of records, CDs and tapes that I'm very proud of not only for myself but for bands I like, gotten my life back on track, have come closer to finishing school, and got a much-needed pair of new shoes. But when it really comes down to it, these incredible accomplishments don't have much bearing on the rest of the world and doing a "best albums of 2010" list would be pretty boring.

I've seen plenty of these lists. In fact, I'm writing this in mid-November and I've seen a few already. The year isn't over yet, so what gives? And really, does anyone actually look up bands they've never heard of on the dozens of lists they see? Or do the more publicized lists on major "tastemaker" websites just more firmly cement bands that PR guys with no vested interest other than paychecks from bands in their rosters have been trying to cram down our throats all year long? If anyone is actually interested in a number of albums, singles, labels, or performances that I was really into this year, I'm only a phonecall, chat, or email away. For the purposes of this guest post, I'd rather just talk about other things.

Best shows in Los Angeles in 2010:

Sean Carnage Monday Nights at Pehrspace - http://www.seancarnage.com/ - For 5 years, Sean Carnage has been the king of underground music in Los Angeles, unafraid to mix bands of every (and I mean every) genre, from established acts that tour across the world to innovative new artists that no one's ever heard of. So many bands got their start at his shows and this year, he's just been on a roll. Being a part of his last show of 2010 this holiday season is going to be incredible. Everyone in LA should call in sick on Tuesday and check out what they've been missing out on and see the first performances of artists that they'll be hearing about a few years later when the rest of the world gets the memo of what's going on in the real LA underground.


Best place I visited in 2010:

The state of Colorado, no doubt about it. 4 days in this state were just not enough. Even though I didn't do anything in Denver and was caught in a blizzard, I'm sold on this state. Countless beautiful mountains, forests, weather variation, less traffic than California, and extremely supportive and appreciative people in the smaller cities I played in. Can't wait to come back and play some more shows with some days off to truly enjoy this state. Maybe move here someday.

Best cassette of 2010:

Work/Death "To The Hills of Altadena" on Jugular Forest - Not only was Work/Death the best live set I saw all of last year out of several hundred bands/artists, but the first song on this tape is just incredible and the closest you can get to that 2009 Fall tour experience. This guy's been at it for so long, but this album is a leap ahead of anything he's done to date. Beautiful and painful compositions that seamlessly blend harsh noise, drone, collage, electroacoustic and ambient styles into something truly unique and moving. The art of the cassette tape refined by years of solid W/D releases, untouchable by all the new guys. Perfect.

Most depressing movie of 2010:

Jackass 3D - I felt really good about my life after this. That is no small feat. Seeing this in a theatre (thankfully we had free tickets!) made me feel like I'm actually on the right path in this life, which just so happens to be any path other than one that leads to doing these kinds of things when you're over 20... or 30. The CKY series and Haggard ruled, it's a shame it came to this.

Most exploitative case of a label taking advantage of its fans:

Mexican Summer - Whoa, people are seriously buying $20 12" EPs that aren't even postage paid? To the point where they're selling out? And thinking this is a punk/indie/whatever label? Have some self respect guys, these dudes are making nearly $15 profit per record sold. Real indie/punk-minded labels don't dare sell their records for that much let alone jam the actual profit margin that high. The reason labels like this can get away with highway robbery is because people tell them they're cool with it by supporting them.

Ballsiest move by an underground label in 2010:

Unlimited editions and permanent re-issues on Monorail Trespassing - As more and more "tape revival" pieces hit the internet and magazines, people seem more and more drawn to the idea of limited cassettes than the actual music on them. Now more than ever, people are asking artists at shows "well, which one is the most limited?" when they're trying to get merch now, which is pretty disappointing. The way I see it, doing an extremely limited album is okay for friends to hear something without you or a label having to invest a thousand dollars in making a physical object, but it also means you don't want all that many people to hear it for a number of reasons. If you're truly proud of something, having boxes of copies still available a year later isn't a bad thing because it means that more people can hear it even if they had no idea it existed when it was initially released. Which is why a label like Monorail Trespassing making the decision to permanently re-issue dozens of sold-out, sought after tapes from several years ago and release new albums in unlimited editions so that people can always own an album in it's intended form for it's original price is pretty unique. The success of most tape labels right now depends on producing a fetishized, limited artifact that can potentially sell out in days even if the artist/label aren't proud of the work or the collector isn't legitimately interested in the music... so taking the complete opposite approach shows how serious Monorail is about the music, that the novelty of limited collector's items is brushed aside to focus on releasing high-quality tapes that anyone can have.

Worst movie purchase of 2010:

Blink 182 "Punk Poets" unofficial documentary - To be completely straight, I'm a huge Blink fan and super into badly packaged movies as well as the idea of anyone using the word "poet" to describe something that has nothing to do with poetry, since that's my least favorite art form. So stumbling upon this used DVD for $2.99 was the highlight of my night until I took it home and watched it. I never thought in a million years that anything Blink could bore me, much less put me to sleep. All it has is their old high school teachers going "yeah, uh they were in this band, uhh their demo was good, they were gonna be uhh.. huge..." It's unofficial for a reason!

Best music video discovery of 2010:

Fierce Ruling Diva - "Rubb It In" - This video makes absolutely no sense: giant flightless birds, cosmic sci-fi visuals, trigger happy Google Image search downloading, bad 3D effects and color filters set to a pretty solid song. Really disorienting and tongue-in-cheek. Bummer that the current crop of new age synth jocks and lo-fi beach punks couldn't come up with something this fun, because then way more people would be exposed to this incredible (and confusing) work. Whoever had the idea to crossfade futuristic design elements into photos of angry looking emu faces that change hue is an artistic genius.

Most demented song of 2010:

Lil' Wayne - "I'm Single" - My friend sent me this song right when he got out of prison and it just blew me away. I listened to it at least 3 or 4 dozen times in two days and it just got me extremely bummed out, especially when wearing good headphones. Super depressing, painful and bleak. The beat and lyrical drawl are straight up demented! I think this is what the whole "witch house" thing would sound like if the figureheads weren't too busy getting paid by Levi's to use Garageband filters and wobble on stage confused by their own instruments/songs. Weezy always knocks it out of the park.

Lamest new thing in independent music in 2010:

Bandcamp demo submissions. These are the worst! How serious can someone be about their art if they're trying to score a record deal/tape by using a site with a uniform layout for every user, that doesn't give them an opportunity to express who they are and what they're trying to do with their work? The idea of the site's alright... but getting emails from strangers like "yo my name's chris i make music on my mac, u can here it on my bandcamp do you want to put out some vinyls like a 7" or lp? let me know man" is so impersonal and looks so bad. And no, I don't think anyone is interested in your Bandcamp statistics, having 50 downloads in Brooklyn doesn't mean anything when it comes to real releases. As someone long intrigued by filthy Shrimper/Unread-style bedroom recordings and who listens to every single demo I get, the lazy "Bandcamp demo submission" is the one thing that makes me question and worry about the direction where home-tapers are headed next decade.


Kevin Greenspon is touring Stateside at the moment with Nicole Kidman (the band, not the Aussie actress - see the new tour video below a track from Rose Window).

Kevin Greenspon - Machine Shop

Kevin Greenspon + Nicole Kidman - "Already Dead" from Tim Hendrix on Vimeo.

The Clouds will leave you for Nothing

Dylan Baldi is a vivacious young fellow. Under his umbrella guise of Cloud Nothings, Baldi had pumped out many releases and scraps of material that has flooded the world with his brand of bedroom bliss punk pop. We mentioned his split with Kevin Greenspon on Bridgetown Records last week. As I stated there, Baldi had laid his claim that his sound was going to be cleaner from here on out, and although his latest release, the Leave You Forever Ep (out through True Panther Sounds) is steeped in the lofi sentimentality that many of his ilk have fashioned their sound with, the briskness and lack of unwarranted fuzz has actually opened the songs to a new level of saccharine beauty and fun that were thus far buried and left to find with a heavy duty metal detector. There are few that are within shouting distance of writing such great pop songs - Beach Fossils maybe? - and the fact that Baldi is only 19 and is constantly pushing the boundaries of his vision is inimitably exciting. (Oh, and if you havent already, check out his album of last year Turning On - its damned fine).

Cloud Nothings are, after playing a brace of US shows supporting the likes of Wet Hair, Prince Rama and the aforementioned Beach Fossils, will hit the UK with local outfit Veronica Falls, taking Electrowerkz by storm on the 5th of November. A good way to celebrate blowing up Parliament, no? Also, Electrowerkz is in Angel, a warehouse club, so a strange venue choice, which should make it all the more interesting and fun. Then after all THAT, they open for Les Savy Fav across the European continent. Yep, that Baldi character is one vivacious fellow. And its about time that people started bopping along to his tune.

Cloud Nothings - Leave You Forever

Cloud Nothings - Weird Son

Greenspon Takes Some Common Objects Over The Threshold

Kevin Greenspon, the sole driving force behind excellent DIY label Bridgetown Records, has been prolific in his own right, throwing out releases, singles and splits all over the shop. His last, the ten song split with Dylan Baldi AKA Cloud Nothings, was a sharp sliver of fuzzy punk pop that at under half an hour didnt outstay its welcome whilst enticing you to repeated listens - a sizable feat indeed. But the 23 year old LA native refuses to rest on his laurels, having completed a tour with Vehicle Blues and starting up afresh with Nicole Kidman (no, not the Aussie actress, but the eccentric freak folkster). In between all that and the production line of his label, Greenspon has quietly brought out Common Objects, a 12" vinyl effort out on Family Time Records. The record has Greenspon in his guitar collage mode, providing ambient soundscapes that whisper at your heels like tendrils of mist, slowly rising up to envelop you. The first track offered from it, 'Threshold', is a fair indicator of what to expect. Make sure you support Greenspon and his efforts - his efforts are well received, well packaged, and well worth your time. Pick up Common Objects here.

Kevin Greenspon - Threshold

The Kindest of Productions, The Straightest of Lines

Its been a bit of a cozy down-by-the-fire Bridgetown Records love in this week - and Im not apologising - sometimes excessive public displays of affection are warranted, all right! Anyway, this is the last one of the week, and like the last four or so bands we've covered, this one is something special.

Kindest Lines are a three piece from New Orleans whose shimmering shoegaze is bathed in an 80s synth and ethereal vocals - its achingly beautiful. With incredibly crisp production, the single 'Hazy Haze' sweeps all cobwebs away from your brain, crystallises your past/present/future, and squeezes your tear ducts for good measure.

Debut EP is available over at Bridgetown Records now.

Kindest Lines - Hazy Haze

http://vimeo.com/13212595 from WIERD Records on Vimeo.

Bridgetown - Building Clouds Outta Nothing

We had a nice little run of posts for the stellar Bridgetown Records last week, didnt we? Yeah, that was nice. School Knights (thanks guys for the introduction to this wonderful world), Weed Diamond (whose Carry On + Sweater Kids LP is pretty kick arse), Junior Low - all great acts, and nice guys to boot. Well, Kevin of Bridgetown got into contact with us to thank us for the kindly reviews, and to throw us some other releases he is putting out - first of all, his own...

Kevin Greenspon is a busy guy - Bridgetown is all his own work, and a truckload of releases (the vast majority of which are top drawer) have been pumped out over the past couple of years. Yet he is a musician in his own right, and is releasing a split with another Bridgetown acolyte, Cloud Nothings (Dylan Baldi to his mum).

The cover art gives the album the perfect hint on how this release turns out - such a stark, desolate yet beautiful photo (Im into stark desolate places, ok?). Greenspon holds down the starkness with aplomb, displaying a craftily dark songwriting skills set that permeates his sudden bursts of guitar noise. Having listened back over a couple of earlier releases, I think this is Greenspon's best - and Cloud Nothings ups the ante because of it.

Baldi is never going to stray too far from the sunny lo fi pop gems he offered in such a tasty way with last year's Turning On LP. However there is a hint of a cleaner sound here, which leaves me undecided on where he goes with his next venture - are his lovely crafted breezy tunes heightened or hindered by the fuzz and hiss? I guess we'll have to wait and see. Nevertheless, this is a proper yin and yang release, and as it clocks in at under 20 minutes, this ten song split is something to have and to hold. Get the CD-R here.

Kevin Greenspon - Post-Life

Cloud Nothings - I Apologize

Kevin Greenspon - Carpool Pepsi

Junior Low, Senior Hit

Sorry to post another Weed Diamond/Bridgetown Records post again (3 in 24 hours... - and there is so much more to offer there! Seriously, check the label site out now...or at least after you've read/listened to the following!), but just heard a track by Junior Low, who is Weed Diamond's guitarist Justin Schweitzer. Now I really like Weed Diamond. I really, really like School Knights. But after hearing 'Kimberly', I think Junior Low are top of the pops here. Its an amazing guitar do-wop wall of sound, dreamy and warped and amazingly textured, with Schweitzer showing an interesting pair of lungs on him. A little reminiscent of Japandroids' Post Nothing closer, 'I Quit Girls', but possibly better. It actually would seem that this guy is using Weed Diamond as his side project, not the other way around. This here is the real deal. Love it.

Junior Low's Heavy LP is available through Bridgetown Records here (click and scroll down...) - hurry, there are only 5 copies left! And check out his other work on his myspace page - it shows a much darker, dronier edge, still with that distinctive guitar noodling - this guy could be onto something, keep your eyes glued on him.

Junior Low - Kimberly

Junior Low - Smokes

Weeding Out The Diamonds

So I started off the Bridgetown Records love with Colorado's School Knights, which may have seemed pre-emptive considering that their primo signing as far as blog lovers are concerned is Weed Diamond. Whilst now a 5 piece band, also holding School Knights' Michael, Weed Diamond started as a one man project in noising up the pop, or popping up the noise, a la Wavves' Nathan Williams. The man with the plan here is Tim Perry. He's put out a gamut of releases, mainly splits and 7" on labels as diverse as Bathetic, Transparent, and Half Machine, as well as Bridgehouse. Now, as the 5 piece, Weed Diamond are ready to blossom into the contenders that Perry has always hinted he could be. Using that most loved of the 21st century's effects pedals, the reverb here is wielded with expert abandon, therefore not overstaying its welcome at any given turn. This is most evident in most current release, Carry On + Sweater Kids, which is an amalgam of a new EP and a reissuing of an older cassette recording. There are serious pop sensibilities here, and the beautiful aspect of this release is that it is heightened rather than hindered by its lo fi approach (although the opening track, 'Mint In My Mouth', takes a while to distance itself from its myriad lo-fi brethren...). It reminds me in some parts of Meth Teeth, who I am a massive fan of. Its pretty, and rockin, and amazing. Its pretty rockin amazing.

Weed Diamond - All Of Denver Is Wasted
Weed Diamond - Mint In My Mouth

And an older release from a split 7" with another rad Bridgetown export, Ancient Crux...

Weed Diamond - Nothing To Write Home About

And its a rainy Saturday afternoon, so Ill continue the love - here's a vid!

Weed Diamond - "Carry On" from moogie on Vimeo.

Knights of the Round School Table

Got flung an email by School Knights last night. Never heard of em. Hail from Colorado, around abouts the same area as Weed Diamond who are clogging up the veins of blogland right now (and here - see post tomorrow...) Was a bit tired though, so watched some Michael Douglas/Demi Moore trysting in that 90s 'classic' Disclosure and went to bed...

Woke up this morning. Listened to Quest For Fire. Liked it a little more. Reread email. Had some butter on toast. Drank some cordial. Put towels and shit in washing machine. Answered some emails. Posted some job applications. Watched some Robot Chicken. Reread School Knights post. Went over to the FMLY post about em. Interest piques a little. Listen to some tracks. Like a lot. Compare opening riff of 'Prom Queen' to Fang Island in its innate sense of flippant fun and popcorn rock with 8-bit sensibilities. Listen to 'Bullies' and reminded of Japandroids if they weren't steering away from their high school dreamscapes and nightmares, and had dipped Post-Nothing into a deep frier, making their distorted noise doubly crispy. Post about them. Fin...

Well not quite. School Knights (not to be confused with Knight School, the Brooklyn band I posted about back in the early months of the year - 'Meathead Hurricane' is still a nice indie pop rock track - check out Make A Mess Records for their shit...) are bringing out an EP, Rush SK, through Bridgetown Records soon - which is also a pretty sweet label, check it out, they feature Cloud Nothings too. Oh, and Michael from School Knights is also in Weed Diamond. The circle is complete.

School Knights - Bullies
Schooli Knights - Prom Queen
School Knights - Recess