Oozing Wound We Cater To Cowards Thrill Jockey Released: 1/27/23 No Ripcord review:  http://www.noripcord.com/reviews/music/oozing-wound/we-cater-cowards   Sincerely,  Letters From A Tapehead

Double Decker Records , located in Allentown about 40-45 minutes from my place of residence, is a store I normally go to when in pilgrimage mode, which is to say any visit is going to be an expensive, albeit fruitful, one. I met up with a good friend and proceeded to comb through the stacks for a couple of hours, leaving the store with an uncomfortable and somewhat heavy 12" x 12" brick nestled beneath my arm. I'm slowly working my way through these. Here are the first two:  feedtime Cooper-S Released: 1988 Rough Trade Partially integral to the development of sounds specific to the pacific northwest, or just Mudhoney's sound in general, feedtime of Syndney, Australia is muck-borne blues punk. Hyper slop'd and urgent,  Cooper-S , which was originally released in 1988 via the now-defunct Australian label  Aberrant Records , is a covers album that boasts some gravelly interpretations of "Fun Fun Fun" by The Beach Boys, three Rolling Stones tracks (my favori...

For me, one of the highlights of 2022 was seeing 7SECONDS perform with The Circle Jerks and Negative Approach. Announced today, Trust Records will be reissuing Walk Together, Rock Together , the band's 1985 follow-up to their milestone LP, The Crew , (which was reissued by Trust in 2021). All info, links, and sounds are provided courtesy of another / side PR.  7SECONDS ANNOUNCE WALK TOGETHER, ROCK TOGETHER DELUXE REISSUE VIA TRUST RECORDS IN COLLABORATION WITH BYO RECORDS REMASTERED AUDIO AND VINYL AVAILABLE IN-STORES FEBRUARY 3  PRE-ORDER HERE LISTEN / SHARE REMASTERED AUDIO FOR TITLE TRACK NOW THIS EDITION OF THE 1980’S UNDERGROUND CLASSIC INCLUDES: - Remastered audio by David Gardner from the original analog tapes. - 20-page full-color book with oral history from 1984 - 1986 with commentary from Pushead, Ian MacKaye, Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand), Milo Aukerman (Descendents), Tony Hawk, Shepard Fairey and more. - Fully restored version of iconic yel...

To whom it may interest, In the wake of late night neighborhood demonstrations of amateur fireworks displays and cork-ejaculated ribbons of bubbly champagne, the first full calendar week of 2023 has been officially Xd out. Time to take the Christmas trees down and bundle up for the next couple months. For last week's rounds of browser tabs, I've heard the following: ____________________________ Endorphins Lost:  "Regulation Area Bombing" (from Night People  releasing 2/1/23 by  To Live A Lie  / Rotten to the Core ) This one will beat you up pretty good: A little over a minute and thirty of throat scraping crust punk/power violence replete with excessive head-knock and a writhing breakdown for its second act.   Night People by Endorphins Lost Courtesy of Earsplit PR. Atsuko Chiba:  "Link" (from  Water, It Feels Like It's Growing  releases 1/20/23 by  Mothland ) The synth ride overtop some elaborate prog-level guitar noodling is worth explorati...

Do we like the sound of desperate hardcore? Numero Group just issued "Everysong" by The Hated, which isn't too far removed from the Hüsker-branded throat-tearing and raw emotional investment the Mould/Grant/Norton combo could generate. The track is audibly honest. Speed pushes the sincerity of the harsh instrumentation forward, but the vocal almost smothers everything beneath. The recording sounds like it was handled live. If Numero Group is planning to reissue this track in a physical format, I hope the mastering doesn't clean up the audio.  Track costs a buck at Bandcamp.  Everysong by The Hated Notes from the Bandcamp page: After the departure of original Hated rhythm section Colin Meeder and Mike Bonner, a new version of the group cropped up in former Spastic Rats drummer Kenny Hill’s basement in late ’86. The Hated had been on ice for a year with Dan Littleton expelled from school and Erik Fisher in college, but returned to Annapolis in with a youthful politic...

Another visual entry from METZ's excellent Atlas Vending release surfaced today for the track, "Sugar Pill," the welcome mix of aggro-clatter and amplified noise appropriately bolstered by clips of neighborhood skaters undeterred by weather conditions that would typically postpone their plans to shred. There was a point in time when I wanted every video I watched to look like this: an unsettled, (i.e. performed restlessness channeled through decibels), soundtrack backing up skate culture's continual repurposing of any concrete environment(s), forcing those surroundings to accommodate four-wheels and a shot of adrenaline. At present, to be worthless and old watching invigorated youth rebelling against the elements is refreshing. Bottom line: I hate nostalgia, but I dig this. And the song's cool, too. Atlas Vending is available for purchase via Sub Pop . Or, be like me and wait till the next Bandcamp Friday to pick it up. The video, pertinent info and links are ...

Bleach Everything's two-song single, "Bound/Cured", has been pressed into a 7" "X-Ray" Flexi and is available from Dark Operative .  This takes no time to sit through. The kidney-stone similar inner workings of my Keurig could wheeze and leak a diluted stream of coffee into an 8oz. cup in the time it takes to complete one listen of this single. That said, Bleach Everything manage to inject an inoffensive level of melody into breakneck'd hooks and densely kitchen-sink all the aggro they got into a little more than a minute for each track. The performances are tight, which is probably why these songs sound complete. If you have two minutes to spare…  Bound/Cured by Bleach Everything Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Good evening,  I heard some good songs today. The coffee intake was high as I was sunk into my headphones this afternoon, finding comfort in the fact that I was able to simply cancel out all unwanted stimuli in favor of tunes aplenty. My ears perked up for the following: 2020 Playlist _________________________________________ Masma Dream World:  "Theta" (via Clandestine Label Services / Northern Spy Records / Bandcamp) Play At Night releases 9/25/20 Album Pre-Order https://masmadreamworld.bandcamp.com/album/play-at-night via Clandestine Label Services Masma Dream World—the solo recording project of multi-disciplinary artist/healer Devi Mambouka—today shared the lead single "Theta" from her forthcoming full-length, Play At Night , releasing September 25th, 2020 via Northern Spy Records. Devi (pronounced day-vee) provides insight on the track, which is releasing the day after Gabon’s Independence Day (August 17th): “From age 0-7, the human brain is in “theta,” a state...

Finishing up April with some more additions to the  2020 Playlist . We're heading into another month under lockdown, so I hope that you're all putting aside some time for necessary respite from the... well, from everything. The influx of media is barely navigable or cohesive at this point, an unstoppable barrage of sound bites, news briefs and articles. Please stay safe. Please stay sane. And please be sure to thank anyone who works to keep our essential businesses and health services open and running despite the risks, making those of us lucky enough to function well at home comfortable, fed, and safe. _________________________________________ No Age:  "War Dance" (via mutante /  Drag City / Bandcamp) Album Preorder https://www.dragcity.com/products/goons-be-gone Goons Be Gone by No Age Via mutante/Drag City: With the digital release date for Goons Be Gone quickly approaching (June 5 for all you noobs), it's definitely time to share anot...