...from The Misfits . Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

I'm trying to figure out if contrasting 70s horror with Spector-ethereal girl rock is some new mode of pissing contest relative to Vivian Girls , either former or current. With her new off-shoot La Sera , Vivian bassist Katy Goodman butchers an unsuspecting male while singing the first single from her upcoming new album, "Never Come Around." Not long ago, Frankie Rose made a crowd of gothic prom-goers keel over in aural agony with her single "Candy" in an effort to emulate Carrie , so seeing Goodman clad in 70s grindhouse technicolor seems like mimicry. I will say, though, that Goodman's version is at least clever and more amusing. "Never Come Around" will be released as a 7" single in November through Hardly Art   (Clear/red vinyl if you're so inclined to preorder .) Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Via Forcefield PR: DESCENDENTS UNITE TO HEADLINE FUN FUN FUN FEST 2010, MORE BANDS ANNOUNCED ADD'L BANDS INCLUDE: CULTS, WASHED OUT, NORTEC COLLECTIVE, THE ANTLERS Full Schedule: http://funfunfunfest.com/events Nov. 5, 6 & 7 at Waterloo Park, Austin, TX Austin, Texas (October 29, 2010) - Fun Fun Fun Fest is proud to announce the addition of The Legendary Descendents to the lineup of the 5th annual music and comedy event in Waterloo Park November 5-7, 2010. The reunion show of this elusive and world renowned pop punk act will replace the Sunday headlining spot previously held by Devo . The Descendents' performance at Fun Fun Fun Fest this year marks their first with the full band in almost a decade. The Descendents will be joined by the late additions of Nacional Records' Nortec Collective Presents Bostich + Fussible ; the melodic and chillwave sounds of Washed Out ; the subdued indie sounds of The Antlers ; and the indie break-out band, Cults . ...

10.27.10: New Brunswick basement rock trio, Screaming Females , laid down a few tracks from their new Castle Talk album for Daytrotter. I was very happy with the live version of "A New Kid," which might be my favorite track on the album, and the medley transition to the scream-infused "Zoo Of Death" is worth checking out. You can find the session here. I reviewed the album for Kicking Against The Pricks. You can find that review here . Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Soundcloud is hosting the new self-titled Mini Mansions album, which will be released November 2nd via the new Ipecac Recordings / Rekords Rekords partnership. Think of it as Mike Patton and Josh Homme shimmering in a honeymoon afterglow. Mini Mansions is the product of Michael Shuman , who would otherwise be playing bass for Queens of the Stone Age . It comes across as toytronic psych pop, accessibly light and fluffy with an air of carnival-like spectacle attached. You can view a teaser for the album below: Check out the Soundcloud post here . Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Drums Like Machine Guns Marnie Stern Kung-Fu Necktie Philadelphia, PA 10.25.10 After a straight week performing at CMJ , Marnie Stern played to a pretty packed house at the Kung-Fu Necktie Monday night, her ever pleasant and smiling self behind the microphone as she informed us she loves playing Philly. We cheered and all was good. Earlier that evening, the last minute acquisition of Drums Like Machine Guns filled the void before Stern’s set and pushed off the start time about an hour. People were filing in, though the Necktie was never uncomfortably packed. Personal space was still available, even at the foot of the stage. Stern’s name, though, has evidently acquired more stock, the quantity of bodies noticeably at a higher count compared to her appearance last year . Drums Like A Machine Gun is a noise band, their artillery a veritable yard sale of sound equipment that resided on tables and generated motionless fields of static. Best I can tell, they played one fu...

Jagjaguwar’s WOMEN have released a new single from their recently released album, Public Strain . “Narrow With The Hall” is a super-dissonant garage jam, Brit-rock like The Zombies and ghostly like The Mamas and Papas . Listen to Women jangle. (Not jiggle, though, because that would be crude.) "Narrow With The Hall" "Eyesore" Via Jagjaguwar press release: On their self-titled debut, Women embraced sonic brashness that deeper examination revealed to be tinted with sly pop melody. With  Public Strain  the band have honed a sound truthful to that reverb drenched noise while allowing the pop sensibilities to surface into clearer focus. In the autumn of 2009, Patrick Flegel (vocals/guitar), Matt Flegel (bass/vocals), Chris Reimer (guitar/vocals), and Michael Wallace (drums) went into the studio with an abundance of ideas, working around conflicting schedules and graveyard shifts. With Chad VanGaalen again on production duties, the band laboriously cra...

So, for over a year now, Asthmatic Kitty has been building up volumes of instrumental “soundtrack” music featuring an interesting array of musicians and sound artists like Richard Swift or Lowell Brams . For Volumes 9 and 10, William Ryan Fitch comes up with Music For Honey and Bile and art collective Comic Wow conjure up Music For Mysteries of Mind Space and Time . Information on each artist is provided via press release. Albums were released 10/26 and you can stream each album via the links below: Music For Honey and Bile Music For Mysteries of Mind Space and Time Or, sample the songs: ”When The Ground Is Numb” from William Ryan Fitch. William Ryan Fritch is a film composer, recordist, songwriter, and multi instrumentalist living in Oakland, Ca. He records under the moniker Vieo Abiungo for Lost Tribe Sound Records, is a member of the trio Skyrider , the experimental post-hop outfit Sole and the Skyrider Band , and is a go to guy for a number of other recordi...

The Beastie Boys ’ Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 will release in 2011 according to a confusing press release. See if you can make sense of it. Via the Beastie Boys’ newsletter: BEASTIE BOYS HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE PART 2 TRACK LISTING REVISED, REPLACED ENTIRELY WITH SONGS ORIGINALLY RECORDED FOR HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE PART 1 In what can only be described as a bizarre coincidence, following an exhaustive re-sequence marathon, Beastie Boys have verified that their new Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 will be comprised of the same 16 tracks originally slated for inclusion on Hot Sauce Committee Part 1 . The record ( part 2 that is) will be released as planned in spring 2011 on Capitol. The tracks originally recorded for Hot Sauce Committee Part 2  (which now are actually back on Part 1 ) have now apparently been bumped to make room for the former Hot Sauce Committee Part 1  material. Wait, what? "I know it's weird and confusing, but at leas...

Dan Goldin of Exploding In Sound continues to write, review and promote relevant music that few people talk about. Goldin’s latest labor of love, Sonic Waves , is his seventh free compilation and available for download. Give it a listen and offer Mr. Goldin some support; after all, he is sifting through a lot of radio-friendly dead weight to bring these albums to the masses and asking for nothing in return. Or, at the very least, he’s asking for your attention. The never ending search for great music has become a little bit easier, thanks to SONIC WAVES , the brand new digital compilation from tastemakers ExplodingInSound.com .  Download it for FREE [link below] today and come discover your next favorite band. The line-up is a dream come true for the folks at EIS, with songs from Karnivool, Oceansize, Alberta Cross, Dead Confederate, This Town Needs Guns, Native, Retribution Gospel Choir, Tera Melos, Sebastien Grainger, Shoes And Socks Off, Medications, Night Horse, Royal Ban...

John Lennon John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band Apple/EMI/Capitol Originally released: 12.11.70 Reissued: 10.4.10 John Lennon Imagine Apple/EMI/Capitol Originally released: 9.9.71 Reissued: 10.4.10 No Ripcord review Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

I do, at times, think back to the many albums I’ve loved or the bands I looked up to and wonder to myself, “Why?” We’ve all done this, whether you want to admit it or not. And, most of us don’t. Granted, sometimes it’s just a matter of having been young and caught up in an era. Nick Rocks and MTV informed my musical decisions in then modern suburban America while my father’s record collection didn’t really reach past the year I was born, (which is 1976 if you must know). We all start somewhere and we learn from our mistakes. As much as I would like to state for the record that The Velvet Underground & Nico was something I picked up on when I was 7, this is simply not true. So let’s, as the Minor Threat song instructs, look back and laugh. Debbie Gibson Out of the Blue Atlantic Released: 8.18.87 “Red Hot” still gets in my head from time to time, but only the part where Debbie Gibson sings, “Red hot! Red hot!/Baby, it’s red hot! Red hot!/I need your luhh-uh-uvvvv...

If you live in Oakland, you have the chance to be very fortunate and see Primus play Sailing The Seas Of Cheese in its entirety. From Les Claypool : Twenty years... wow, time flies when you're having fudge. In 2000 I told myself, "I'm done with these New Year's Eve shows. They're in the middle of the holidays, all my relatives are out and I have to rehearse up a new theme every year; it's a pain in my ass." Then Michael Bailey offered me a solo show at the Fillmore for the 2000-2001 New Year's Eve. So I said, "Ok", thus spawning another decade of New Year's Extravaganza's. Now we are looking at the 2010-2011 show which will be my 20th in a row. (We actually played the Night Break club in San Francisco in 1988 on NYE but then skipped the next year.) For this we will need to blow it out and pull all the stops. Two nights at the Fox should do it and playing multiple sets with Primus and my band of all-stars (The Fancy Brigade) coup...

Chicago’s bastion of consistent eerie metallic creepitude, (a word invented JUST for these guys), Locrian will be releasing The Crystal World this November. This is their third album overall and their second for 2010, having released Territories earlier this year, ( though the CD has only JUST released as of October 15th ). I received a rough cut of a video concept for “Pathogens,” which is one of the songs featured on The Crystal World . You can find the video here . For reviews of Locrian’s past albums, check the following: - No Ripcord review for Drenched Lands (2009) - Stereokiller review for Territories (2010) Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Columbia hops on the Mono train with a new set of Bob Dylan reissues. They're also releasing Dylan's 9th volume of bootlegs entitled, The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964 . Info is below. Via Sony: The Original Mono Recordings are comprised of these albums painstakingly reproduced from their first generation monaural mixes as the artist intended them to be heard: One channel of powerful sound, both direct and immediate. While stereo recordings had been available as early as the mid-1950s, mono was still the predominant – and often preferred – mode of recording and mixing by the top artists of the 1960s. As a result, artists like The Beatles , The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan devoted their attention to the mono mixes, leaving the stereo mixing process to studio engineers. The Original Mono Recordings are accompanied by a deluxe booklet, featuring vintage photographs of Bob Dylan and an expansive essay from renowned author and critic – and longtime Dylan aficionado – Gr...

Jazz’s avant-garde lost another of its blessed progeny Monday, October 18th: Marion Brown , one of the eleven players that participated in the recording of John Coltrane ’s landmark Ascension , has passed away. Other than his part in Ascension , he was also best associated with Archie Shepp , who’d brought him into the Impulse! fold. Brown dedicated his own Three For Shepp out of gratitude, mimicking Shepp’s own Impulse! dedication/debut, Four For Trane . All About Jazz interviewed Brown in 2003 . There's also a wonderful article penned by W. Kim Heron that can be found at Metro Times' "Music Blahg." R.I.P. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Ari Up of The Slits has reportedly passed away. Pitchfork has posted an obituary. News came about via Johnny Rotten 's website . The Slits' 1979 album, Cut , is one of punk rock/post-punk's essentials and definitely one of the best albums you'll ever hear. R.I.P. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

The vocalist sounds like Bono choking himself with Thom Yorke ’s tongue. “Put The Days Away” by Philadelphia’s Sun Airway has a nice enough disposition to at least appreciate. Granted I’m not sold enough on the single to pick up the LP, but it’s good to see Philadelphia looking colorful and beautiful under the yellow streetlights. And the visuals are pretty spectacular. I’m not one to exchange sound for eye candy, but... Via press release: Dead Oceans would like to present the official music video for Sun Airway's "Put the Days Away," directed by Ricardo Rivera of KLIP Collective.   Night has fallen upon Philadelphia, and our heroine is making her way through the streets on her bicycle. Something is wrong, and the sight of happy couples are certainly not helping. She arrives home, soaked from the rain and begins to put the day away. Her unconscious mind becomes animated for us, a gorgeous combination of visual projections previously seen for Sun Airway's ...

Last week, I received an email from a fellow named Bruce Adams , who runs the FSS label , (or, Flingco Sound System) in Chicago. He was writing to promote Dead Meat , a San Francisco rock band that will be releasing a 7” at the end of November. “Electric Head,” which is the song performed in the video below, is refreshing Touch & Go-era rock defiance, sonic grime and joyful dissonance evoking those primal days of pre-Internet promotion, cassette releases and DIY yore. There’s a sullen steadiness to the vocal that almost brings to mind Nirvana during their relatively short stint as nobodies, but Dead Meat sound like they owe more to the pre-Alternative boom. Needless to say, I’m excited about the 7.” Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Wire will be releasing a new album entitled Red Barked Tree in January 2011 because they’re fucking awesome. I managed to find their new single, “Two Minutes,” via Altered Zones . Loud, rambunctious and still a dominating post-punk presence that remains untouchable, Wire carries on amongst the charlatans, aging gracefully and continuing to matter. Old punks are mostly embarrassing, but Colin Newman is the most relevant curmudgeon to spring forth from ‘77. After you listen to “Two Minutes,” check out my review of their last album, Object 47 , listen to “The 15th” from their underrated masterpiece 154 and then check out a couple tracks from the post-Wire project of Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis , Dome . Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Floored By Four s/t Chimera Music Released: 9.28.10 No Ripcord review Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

In adoring hipster news, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are busy working on a follow up to last year’s successful self-titled debut. A single will be released in November and a tour has launched. Here are the details and a video for the single, “Say No To Love.” The Pains of Being Pure At Heart "Say No To Love" from Slumberland Records on Vimeo . Via Force Field PR: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart released its self-titled debut album way back at the beginning of 2009.  Since then the band has kept its fans satisfied while expanding their pop palette on the excellent Higher Than the Stars EP and this Summer's shimmering anthem "Say No To Love”.   Photo courtesy of Force Field PR We're extremely pleased to report that the band has been recording, mixing, and mastering their much-anticipated sophomore full-length which is slated for a March 2011 release on Slumberland .  In November the band will release the first single titled "Heart in Your Heartbrea...

The Fat Possum label, ( The Walkmen , Wavves , Band Of Horses , Dax Riggs ), will be reissuing the T. Rex classic, The Slider , along with other T. Rex offerings. The album will be out October 26th. Via Force Field PR: Oxford, MS label Fat Possum has announced a series of reissues of classic T. Rex albums, beginning with The Slider , which will be available on CD and digital formats on Oct. 26 and newly remastered vinyl on Nov. 23. The Slider , along with most T. Rex titles, has been out of print on all formats in the US since 2003. The Slider is the definitive soundtrack to Bolanmania that swept most corners of the globe during 1972. It was boom-time for manufacturers of lipstick-sized phials of glitter. The music press had a field day, too, seizing the opportunity to debate the rabid tensions between playful pop and sensible rock. But to the many thousands who had succumbed to T. Rextasy , the first great teenage phenomenon of the 1970s, it was - in the words of Morrissey - ...

I'm typically not all that keen on electronic music, but Clive Tanaka 's minimalist Eno -ish approach appealed to me. Plus, the video is awesome in that "child of the 80s" kind of way. The song, "Neu Chicago," had only seen a cassette release but Tanaka's album, Jet Set Siempre No. 1 is getting a proper release in January of 2011 by the Tall Corn label. Neu Chicago - Clive Tanaka y su orquesta from Clive Tanaka on Vimeo . Video and additional info on Tanaka is available from Altered Zones. Via Friend Of Friends Network : Clive Tanaka Premieres Video on Altered Zones Previously cassette only Jet Set Siempre No. 1 gets LP treatment from Tall Corn; Due 1/11/11 Jet Set Siempre No. 1 has two personalities: Side A is labeled "For Dance" and Side B as "For Romance." From the opening notes of the A-side, you're immediately caught in a groove that entraps you until the tape is tightly wound around its second spool. While the B-side ...

Issue #3 of Kicking Against The Pricks has posted: Find it here. My contributions: Sleep Starlight Ballroom Philadelphia, PA 9.7.10 Kicking Against The Pricks live show coverage No Age Everything In Between Sub Pop Released: 9.28.10 Kicking Against The Pricks review Abe Vigoda Crush Bella Union Released: 9.21.10 Kicking Against The Pricks review Screaming Females Castle Talk Don Giovanni Released: 9.14.10 Kicking Against The Pricks review Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Just when I thought the well runneth dry... The 1962-1966 ( Red ) and 1967-1970 ( Blue ) compilations were the first real Beatles ' greatest hits collection to emerge after the band broke-up in 1970. Both two record sets, the albums were originally issued in 1973 and have undergone the same painstaking remastering process as the Beatles' catalogue in '09. These arrived at my home yesterday and, to me, the compilations are more of a novelty item, something worthy of ownership under the following conditions: 1). You love the "now and then" photography on the front cover of each compilation. 2). Expanded liner notes and photographs. 3). Non-album singles are included if you don't own the Past Masters volumes. 4). The band's evolution is covered within four CDs. 5). You'd rather own the hits. 6). Also, there's free album cover posters and t-shirts if you pre-order through Beatles.com . Red and Blue remasters will be released October 18th. Click ...

So, Brent Amaker & The Rodeo is a country band from Seattle that covered Kraftwerk 's "Pocket Calculator." No, I didn't make this up. (photo credit: Lord FoTog) Do yourself a favor and give this a listen: "Pocket Calculator" (Courtesy of My Old Kentucky Blog ) Some info on the band and tour dates via Terrorbird Media: For many who have the pleasure of knowing Mr. Amaker already, it's no surprise that when it came time for the band to do their first cover song ever, the choice wasn't Johnny Cash or Hank Williams ... but the influential German electronic group Kraftwerk. In fact, Seattle's Brent Amaker and the Rodeo are hell bent on getting their brand of whiskey-soaked, barn-burning country in the eyes, ears, and minds of audiences that are decidedly un-country. Case in point, the Rodeo have their Record Release Show on 10/22 at the Crocodile in Seattle with electronic popsters Head Like A Kite , as well as the acclaimed, head-turning hip...

So, both Pitchfork and Crawdaddy have mentioned this video of Wayne Coyne printing a Flaming Lips poster with his own blood. It’s not as ghastly as it sounds, just a little gross. But, it’s interesting to watch Coyne basically create a collector’s item, knowing very well that his fanbase will gladly shell out their homes, limbs or offspring for something this unique. Not to mention, seeing as the poster is laced in Coyne’s coagulated red fluids, I’m sure owning the poster will be like owning a piece of their hero. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Found an interesting article on Tom Waits via The Eyeball Kid . Mr. Waits will be appearing on a limited edition 78 vinyl record, Preservation: An Album To Benefit Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program . Proceeds will go to Preservation Hall Junior Jazz & Heritage Brass Band. As an interesting aside, seeing as 78 players aren’t the most readily available commodity these days, a custom-made 78 player will be issued with the album to those contributing $200 to Preservation Hall. Check out the article at The Eyeball Kid or TomWaits.com . Check out Pitchfork for photos. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Frankie Rose and The Outs s/t Slumberland Released: 9.21.10 No Ripcord review Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Thought this would be good for Monday morning, some Stooge 'd out Wire -ness in the form of "4312" from Detriot's Tyvek . Their new album, Nothing Fits , will be out November 9th through In The Red. In the meantime, "4312" has a good dose of pop harmony to coincide with its allegiance to Pink Flag , (albeit in a looser fashion). "4312" Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

So, I’m down to the last hour or so before what would’ve been John Lennon’s 70th birthday. The event has been well publicized over the last couple days, ( even Google came up with a way to commemorate the event ), and Capitoll/EMI has re-released John Lennon’s post-Beatles work in an array of formats, both original and compiled. With the addition of last year’s Beatles’ reissues, this latest “onslaught of Lennon” sums up the entirety of the man’s work. Realizing that this work has been written about, discussed and reconsidered countless times since his death in 1980, Lennon has been somewhat of an obsession for me over the last year, having just finished Philip Norman’s John Lennon: A Life and then the research that went into last year’s three-part “Revolution 9.9.9” series. So, for the month of October, I’ll be writing about the new reissues and the compilations, doing my best to honor and analyze the last century’s most widely respected and well-known songwriter. I dub thee “Le...