...enjoy. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Like everyone, much of my relationship with music is rooted in where I was and who I was when I’d first heard/been more or less irreversibly altered by whatever album from whichever musician/band.   This is true of all of us who recall certain feelings or events once a certain note is plucked and the gears begin to turn and twist into an apparatus of reminiscence and sometimes longing that results in bliss, tears or vomiting.   For me, twenty years ago isn’t a wellspring of fond remembrances, though that was the year I began to build my CD collection.   I graduated from my tape deck to a boombox with dual decks and a CD tray, which would later enable me to spend countless hours in what I remember as a perpetual cycle of revelation and mix tape assembly.   This isn’t to say, though, that cassettes weren’t still investigated and sought after.   After all, I could still play both and cassettes were cheaper than CDs at the time.   My m...

Killer Mike and El-P 's new collaboration, Run The Jewels, is available for download.  And, yes, it's better than Yeezus , (no mention of croissants at all.) I grabbed the link from Stereogum .                           Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

METZ: "Get Off" (via Stereogum ) Ides of Gemini : "Starless Midnight" (via CVLT NATION ) Mammoth Grinder: "Paragon Pusher" (via Invisible Oranges ) The Coathangers: "Derek's Song" (via SPIN ) Midday Veil: "Great Cold of the Night" (via Rarely Unable) Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Queens of the Stone Age ...Like Clockwork Matador Records Released: 6.4.13 Stereokiller review Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

I'm off pause following a week long trip to the Outer Banks.  Internet connectivity was sluggish at best so I wasn't really able to make updates or post reviews, unfortunately.  I'll be trying to play catch up this week as a result. First off... R.I.P. Arturo Vega — As I'm a graphic designer by trade, the passing of the man behind one of the most significant band logos for one of the most significant bands qualifies to me as a huge loss. The Guardian put together a really good tribute to Vega along which includes somewhat of an op-ed regarding musical iconography. And, while we're on the topic of art and rock n' roll, I happened upon this little gem via Sound Opinions : A small documentary about the Black Flag bars logo and one of my favorite artists of all time, Raymond Pettibon . ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Singles while I was out: Califone : "Stitches" (courtesy of Dead Oceans) No Age: "C...

Chino Moreno of Deftones and three members of ISIS are releasing an album as Palms .  It will be out later this June via Ipecac Recordings.  Check out the trailer below: All info comes courtesy of Rarely Unable. Palms, the Los Angeles-based band featuring members of ISIS and Deftones, have posted an album trailer ( http://youtu.be/460RXD9wYAc ) featuring music from their forthcoming, self-titled debut (June 24, Ipecac Recordings ) .   A variety of pre-order bundles have also been made available including limited edition vinyl (5 colors are available in 200 piece editions), t-shirts and posters. The packages can be found via http://www.bluecollardistro.com/categories.php?cPath=1657 . A digital pre-order from iTunes gives users immediate access to the song “Tropics” ( https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/palms/id644888681 ). “Patagonia,” a song from the upcoming album, is streaming via Pitchfork ( http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/15371-palms-patagonia/ ). ...

A new Chelsea Wolfe album, Pain Is Beauty , will be out in early September.  No singles yet, but a trailer for the album has surfaced that you can view below.  Cover art, links, tour dates and track list lovingly supplied by Us/Them Group. CHELSEA WOLFE ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM PAIN IS BEAUTY RELEASE DATE SEPTEMBER 3RD ON SARGENT HOUSE + HEADLINE US/CANADIAN TOUR DATES How often nowadays do we read of an artist's "intensity", or their rhetorical, one-of-a-kind individuality? Journalistic hyperbole routinely contorts the mundane into the "epic", the tired into the inspired, all the while heaping praise on performers as seemingly vacuous and generic as possible. Navigating the landscape of contemporary alternative music can be an exercise in redundancy; true visionaries and boundary-pushers are few and far between. Enter Chelsea Wolfe. To simply call Wolfe unique would be an understatement. Even among her peers in the so-called "drone-metal-art-folk...

Big Black Cloud : "Cities of the Red Night" (via Brooklyn Vegan ) Feuding Fathers : "Brass Knucks" (via Consequence of Sound ) Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Sic Alps : The only band that did the garage thing right. This video for "She's On Top" is the first of three videos from their upcoming 12" EP, which is also called, She's On Top .  All info comes courtesy of Rarely Unable. SIC ALPS 'SHE'S ON TOP' VISUALISED; TOUR DATES APPROACHING  With the fresh-released She's On Top EP object close in the proverbial rear-view mirror as it is in real life, Sic Alps gallantly drop the first of three videos from their three-song 12"EP. Directed by William Francis-Bashore Keihn , "She's On Top" rollicks San Franciscan-style just as you'd hope - like a mysteriously-flavored treat. She's On Top is a concise gem-drop. Rock n' roll directives of an unusually clean (for Sic Alps that is) variety pour forever from pure grooves. One solid blast explodes with vitality and charm, a peakingly planned romp into the twilight hours that float beyond the late-night hours....

I usually don't like to post upcoming releases info unless I have a single to go along with it, but I thought news of No Age 's upcoming An Object would be worth skipping over that.  I meant to post this last week, but life got in the way.  You can read a review of No Age's 2010 release, Everything In Between , at Kicking Against the Pricks (RIP).  All info comes courtesy of Sub Pop. No Age To Release An Object On August 20th via Sub Pop No Age will release An Object , their 4th album, on CD, LP and digitally August 19 in UK & Europe and August 20th in North America via Sub Pop. The album, led by highlights “I Won’t Be Your Generator,” “C’mon, Stimmung,” “An Impression,” and “Lock Box”, was recorded by F. Bermudez and No Age at Gaucho's Electronics in Los Angeles. We’d like to share photographic evidence of An Object 's tracklisting at this time:   More info on No Age's An Object : With An Object , their fourth full-length album, N...