Running Man On Fire

Ty Segall and Drag City joined forces recently to start the God? imprint. It's been involved in some tasty morsels - White Fence and Wand being the most recognised. The one I have just latched on to though is the little-recognised but brilliantly anarchic Chicago trio Running (whose albums Vaguely Ethnic and Asshole Savant are untouchable) and their 7" Frizzled. Here is the B-side, 'Totally Fired' - and it is as deliciously unhinged as you would expect. Underneath the abrasive guitars is a weirdly hummable melody - no? Can't hear it? Whatever. Running is my new pop band to the stars. Get Frizzled here.

Searching For The Innocent White Fence

Tim Presley cannot get out of the Sixties, even if he tried (which I'm pretty sure he hasn't). The only difference in his oeuvre as White Fence has been the alterations in production, culminating in the relatively high fidelity evident on latest release For The Recently Found Innocent. Presley pays huge props to his astral brother-in-arms Ty Segall - here he records and mixes the album as well as drums here and there - and you can tell why - this sixth album as White Fence is the most cohesive and focused sojourn into the paisley outer realms yet. The album focuses on more confident realms, such as anguish and anger towards the state of the world today, although still willing to turn the light inward in his recognised falsetto waver.

I will admit though  that White Fence rings truer to a spot-on tribute band, emulating the likes of The Kinks (ESPECIALLY The Kinks), The Troggs, The Who, The Mama & the Papas...the cream of the pastoral crop, sure, and done incredibly well. But it's hard to love an album wholeheartedly when there are touchstones that you can go back to and embrace more honestly. This is a disparaging remark, sure, but I do still like Presley's worldview and what he offers, and I will always catch him live when he trundles my way. I just wish there was something a little more iconic and unique in what Presley offers. The clarity is one step, but it also shows up the comparisons more readily (hence why he may have wallowed in the white noise no-fi for so long before now...) You will enjoy this record for sure, but more original, secret ingredients need to be thrown into the brew before it becomes a bona fide addiction.

For The Recently Found Innocent (with excellent self-portrait artwork) is out through Drag City and Spunk - grab it here and here (soon).

Al(l) Loving That White Punk Slime

It isn't often that Sonic Masala has a self-professed "producer" in its midst, but San Francisco-based record scrubber Al Lover is an intriguing exception. As entrenched in psych and garage rock as he is in samples and beats, Lover takes on a wide variety of artists (mostly rock-oriented, from Grinderman and Davila 666 to SF alums Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees) and smudges them right up by smearing white noise and attitude into the mix, often infusing the tracks with even more bluster and awe than was thought possible (and these artists aren't known for their restraint as it is). He believes that psych music is the future of sampling, so he aims to be ahead of the curve. That said, he has original material on its way, most evident in his latest endeavour  Vondun Moon/Snake Hands, a 7" put out by PNKSLM (pronounced "Punk Slime" - a label run by London musicians that went from a blog to a clubnight to a label over three years). 'Snake Hands' is an incestuous love in with White Fence's Tim Presley, who wigs out on guitar and vocals, and it is a heady, hypnotropic mind melt of a track, the beats relentless and feverish, the needle in the red, in the vein, in the third eye. What always excites about Lover's productions is the energy and excitement that emanates from his work - not only is there creativity and flair evident in his musicianship, there is a holy reverence for his base material too.

You can pre-order Vondun Moon/Snake Hands here. Only 250 copies were canned, so expect these to fly out the door - GET ON IT.

Doubling Down On The Family's White Fence

White Fence kicked off 2012 by combining with Ty Segall (I can't stop mentioning him, can I?) with the great record Hair, and now there is his double volume opus, Family Perfume Vol I & II. This is ambitious stuff. I know Tim Presley - and a lot of his contemporaries - are voracious musicians, continually pumping out the gems, but to put them all on one release risks shining up the occasional dud. And so it does with Family Perfume. Don't get me wrong - White Fence's penchant for skewed paisley rock with a dash of psychedelic charm is on full display here, and there are some absolutely warbled garage pop corkers to be found in this treasure trove - but some of these tracks feel a little half-baked. Maybe it's because after Hair, where Presley was all brushed up production-wise, I'd like him to step out from behind the 4 track and static hiss. I'm not talking about getting The Arcade Fire to back him or some such nonsense, I just think that now's the time to open things up a little more. Anyway, personally I like Vol II as an album proper more, but Vol I has some real highlights, which I've included below. There's 29 songs to sift through (chosen from a purported cache of 80), so take your time and enjoy. It's great to have something this ambitious floating around in the burgeoning garage rock movement (if you can call it such a thing) that embraces touchstones such as The Beatles (think of The White Album), and whilst the end result doesn't reach such heady highs, it certainly gives it a red hot shake. But seriously Tim - get on the blower to Segall and get another album running...


Family Perfume is out now on Woodsist.

White Fence - Balance Yr Heart
White Fence - Down PNX
White Fence - Take Away Life's Endless Take

Ty Segall's Slaughterhouse Eye Sale

As if his excellent collaboration with White Fence, Hair, wasn't enough, San Franciscan wunderkind Ty Segall has another album bearing down on us called Slaughterhouse, under the moniker Ty Segall Band (said band features the also amazing Mikal Cronin plus some other stellar members of the SF garage scene). It is a much more raucous effort that uses more bottom end and aggression, keeping in line with Segall's admission of wanting to do a more "metal" record. We posted the first cut "Wave Goodbye" here (the track is also linked below) - here is another track. When I saw that song title I immediately thought of a Simpsons episode - this is the one (naht nidit nyong):



Segall doesn't know how to suck, so this is an exciting release. Slaughterhouse is out June 26 on In The Red.

Ty Segall Band - I Bought My Eyes
Ty Segall Band - Wave Goodbye

Triple Ty Treat

I haven't been lathering you with Ty Segall-isms, so you may have thought that the whirling wunderkind had gone quiet. Au contraire, mon frere! The San Francisco garage ratbag has released a shit tonne of stuff.


Firstly we have the split tour release Segall did with French psych ruffians The Feeling Of Love (another awesome, and in my eyes/ears/head a criminally underrated band). One track each side, heretofore unreleased. It's rough and ready, which is more Segall's M.O. than The Feeling Of Love (their Dissolve Me release may have been a little cut-rate, but still comes off as slick and sexy), but altogether ace.

Ty Segall - It's A Problem


Now there is the oft-spoken of collaboration with Tim Presley AKA White Fence, the result being the twenty-nine minute LP Hair (out through Drag City). Both dudes have their idiosyncratic stamp all over these tracks, and it is a truly excellent album. Although too short, as the album races towards its conclusion like a bat out of hell. These guys complement each other, showcase how the lo-fi psych garage movement has many more corners left to shine a light on, and are ever closer to smashing through the glass ceiling. They are their only limitations, which is inimitably exciting news.

Ty Segall & White Fence - I Am Not A GameTy Segall & White Fence - Scissor People

Finally we have The Ty Segall Band, which also features the excellent Mikal Cronin. So far I have only heard this one track, but it is enough to have me rabid with excitement. Slaughterhouse isn't out til June 26 (through In The Red), but it is clear that Segall's promise to deliver something heavier (with a focal point being Black Sabbath) and more melody. Well, the below track has prog psych rock written all over its sweaty, red-eyed face.

Ty Segall Band - Wave Goodbye

These next three releases are in the bag, and there is promise of more in the near future kids, so keep saving your pennies, never get complacent, because another Ty Segall release will always be around the corner (they don't call him "Five To Eight" IE "how many albums out per year" for nothing...)

White Fence Between The Harness And The Pool

I've decided to throw this release up for notice because I haven't done a review of White Fence's ...Is Growing Faith record, which by all reports is pretty ace, so this is as close as Ill get for the time being. This 7" is the first release put out by Afterlife Records - 'Harness' off ...Is Growing Faith, and 'The Pool' which is previously unreleased. Its typically warped, no-fi freak pop stylings from Tim Presley, all done in short stabs of two minutes. 'Harness' is a better song - 'The Pool' is played exactly like a warped Beatles cassette, Presley's vocals all high pitched and warbling, before the drums kick a sharper edge to the outro. Im still not sure I 'get' White Fence, but Im warming up to him...

White Fence - Harness
White Fence - The Pool

Video Vacuum - Battles, Balkans, White Fence, Iceage

So its Friday. Im not sure about you, but for me its been pretty damn hectic. Lots of great things happened, but Im reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeealy looking forward to the weekend - its gonna get messy... So here are four killer tracks from four great bands, and some varying degree of awesome videos to accompany them!

I scream, you scream, we all scream, for...BATTLES!



Atlantans Balkans, whose self titled debut album is going great guns, have released a video for track 'Troubled & Done'. Its not the most picaresque of film clips - in fact, its kinda boring. But I do really like these guys, so any coverage is good coverage. Balkans, consider yourself covered.

BALKANS- 'Troubled and Done' from Frank Broyles on Vimeo.

I was unsure of Tim Presely AKA White Fence. He has clout - as lead of Darker My Love and a player in the past few Fall albums - but wasnt sure if his contribution to scuzzy lo fi garage pop was anything to write home about. then I heard Is Growing Faith (out on Woodsist), and have been converted. Listen/watch below and see if you agree...

White Fence - Get That Heart from Behind the Walk-in on Vimeo.

Finally, Denmark's ace angry kids iceage have a vid for 'New Brigade' - watch it and go kick some heads in...

Iceage - New Brigade from iceage on Vimeo

Now get back to work!

Dash Those Romantic Jackets

Those fine folks over at Life's Blood have readied a great little release from Dash Jacket, called Romance. The Orange County lo-fi pop is inherent in these tracks, but what takes you away is the catchy pop underpinnings to this scuzzy gems, captured perfectly in opener 'Looking Like Glass' - there is enough heart here that when the explosion of distortion comes in its buoyant rather than ferocious - which is a difficult feat to pull off. Yet Dash Jacket do it, and do it eleven times. There are elements of other DIY darlings such as Meth Teeth or White Fence in here (see 'Till Dawn' for the best example), but in all this is an album that stands up for repeated listens - and the low fidelity actually enhances the performance. Nice work, guys!

Dash Jacket - Looking Like Glass
Dash Jacket - Till Dawn

Babies got back

I have a massive, massive crush on Cassie Ramone.

Whilst Im relatively new to the love of all things Vivian Girls, I have found myself short of breath even at the mention of their lead singer's name. She embodies all that I love about the 'rock chick', for wont of a better term. And she is nerdy too - see her rendition of Undone - The Sweater Song she pumps out with Titus Andronicus (in a previous post) I could wax lyrical, ad nauseum, but Ill stop there.Woods is a band that I have liked for a while though, and the latest At Echo Lake is all its cracked up to be.

So when Ramone and Woods' bassist Kevin Morby decided to get together, I was very excited.

They have released a few bits and pieces over the past 12 months, and this track is pretty indicative of what they do. A bliss bomb of fuzzy pop sunlight, Meet Me In The City (put out via Make A Mess Records) embodies the Brooklyn lo fi sound with a massive dollop of "happy happy joy joy" zany mentality. Its a blast, and well worth the time, Ramone-crush or no. Sure, its no Vivian Girls or Woods - but it certainly deserves its place on music's mortal coil.

The Babies are also touring the US with previous Sonic Masala postees White Fence, a band I warm to more and more each listen.

Enjoy!

The Babies - Meet Me In The City

A Not So White Picket Fence

White Fence is dirty. Murky. Muddy. Totally immersed in the lo-fi movement. A hell of a lot of fun, of course. And all the concoction of one man - Tim Presley. He's just released his debut 12" through Make A Mess Recordings. It intrigues me - as I mentioned, White Fence is a lot of fun - but Im not sure if it is necessarily any good, particularly in the context of what precedes it - so many bands are already doing this. Anyway, check it out yourself.

White Fence - Destroy Everything