A new month begins!  Big Bliss: "Constants" (via Tell All Your Friends PR / Exit Stencil Recordings / Bandcamp) At Middle Distance by Big Bliss Via Tell All Your Friends PR: Brooklyn-based, post-punk trio  Big Bliss  announce their new album,  At Middle Distance , and share lead single, "Surface" and second single "Constants."  Billboard  exclusively premiered the lead single with praise, stating,  "The music of post-punk trio Big Bliss is almost like a dream on wax with its trance like bass and guitar riffs and driving drum beats."  All Things Go premiered "Constants" - check out the piece  here .  At Middle Distance  is due out October 19th on Exit Stencil Recordings.  At Middle Distance  marks a new, unprecedented milestone for the band. Recorded and mixed at  Tony Maimone ’s ( Pere Ubu ) Studio G and Thump Recordings in Brooklyn, producer  Jeff Berner  ( Psychic TV ) evokes the ton...

The Common Cold : "Stop The Traffic" (via mutante-inc./ Action Records /Soundcloud) "Stop The Traffic" is the lead single from The Common Cold 's upcoming new album, Shut Up! Yo Liberals .  The album is scheduled to release May 4th and is available for pre-order at Action Records . Via mutante-inc.: Only 300 copies of the vinyl will be released and the first 100 copies include a hand painted inner sleeve, a free badge, and other goodies __________________________________________________________ Once and Future Band : "Destroy Me" (via Tell All Your Friends PR/ Castle Face Records /Soundcloud) Via Castle Face: We're happy to be able to speak of this now that the cat's out of the bag — Once and Future Band have graced us with another tasty morsel of everything they do best. Vault-dust begone; this EP deserves your attention. Rarely do the words "vitruosic" and "tasteful" collide so often in my mind as tryi...

For my first proper review of 2018, I focused on In A Poem Unlimited , the latest album by U.S. Girls .  You can check it out at No Ripcord .  The album is currently available at 4AD .  I can't recommend this one enough.  U.S. Girls In A Poem Unlimited 4AD Released: 2.16.18 Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Walter Becker and Donald Fagan were two-halves of the inimitable jazzy soul rock band, Steely Dan .  It was announced the morning of Sunday, September 3rd, that Becker had passed away .   While vague details regarding a "procedure" had been addressed by Fagan as explanation to why Steely Dan had performed without Becker for a couple of dates earlier this year , cause of death is as yet, (or as the time of this writing), unknown.  Becker was 67 years of age. I have no conscious memory of the first time I'd heard Steely Dan , but their music seemed omnipresent growing up in the early- to mid-80s.  They were always on: whether being funneled into our living from my father's stereo, aired over the PA at our local ACME supermarket, or just on the radio.  And I didn't think much of them.  Steely Dan was unfortunately of a musical category that often deserved vehement derision: clean, precise, smooth rock grooves that were too pleasant to offer a generation's p...

Swansea Flaws Self Group Release: 4.28.17 Vocalist Rebecca Sanborn freely details a running stream of thoughts and observations as "Red Mittens" unfolds, introducing Flaws , the newly released second LP from Portland trio Swansea . While Sanborn riffs through what she sees and feels, ( "And, I don't sound cool/I don't sound smart/I don't sound awesome/I don't even sound like a freak" ), she's anchored by a clap-along backbeat and minimalist stabs of synthesized tone, electronically enabled pop sugar a touch more elaborate than the "Warm Leatherette" of yore. Swansea, the work of Sanborn ( Loch Lomond , Blue Cranes ), drummer Ji Tanzer ( Blue Cranes ), and multi-instrumentalist Kyleen King , is fun sans guilt, integrity and attention paid to how they approach synthpop constructs ("This Time") and percussive loops ("No Blame"), ear candy that's neither MOR or disposable.  Particularly engaging is the cha...

David Bowie ChangesOneBowie Rhino/Parlophone Released: 5.20.16 Originally released: 5.76 Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Pissed Jeans : "Ignorecam"  (via Sub Pop /YouTube) Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble : "Undying Love for Humanity" (via mutante-inc./ Drag City /Soundcloud) Unearthly Trance : "Famine" (Earsplit PR/ Cvlt Nation / Relapse Records /Soundcloud) David Bowie : "No Plan" (via YouTube) Monolord : "Lord of Suffering" (Us-Them Group/ Metal Injection / RidingEasy Records /YouTube) Pharmakon : "Trasmission" (via Rarely Unable/ Sacred Bones Records /Soundcloud) Equinox : "Goodbye (feat. Dementio13 )" (via Shameless Promotion/Soundcloud) Ummagma : "Winter Tale" (via Shameless Promotion/Bandcamp) Winter Tale by Ummagma Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

When The Beatles ' entire catalogue had been remastered in 2009, I penned a three-part review of the box set for No Ripcord.  For the band's 1966 release, Revolver , this is what I had to say : "In a way, Revolver is a bolder album than Pepper was, an experimental hybrid clashing symphonic string arrangements ('Eleanor Rigby'), rock n’ jolly 'Singin’ In The Rain'-styled ditties ('Good Day Sunshine'), kid-friendly sing-alongs about friendly aquatic transports ('Yellow Submarine'), Eastern influences ('Love You To') and the decade’s introduction to psychedelic rock n’ roll ('She Said She Said,' 'Tomorrow Never Knows'). An absolute plethora of influences and styles at work and they marry perfectly onto Revolver with nary a concept at work, nor a marching suit to hide behind.  Revolver is Beatlemania’s actual 'good riddance' and the very reason they couldn’t go on as a touring band. As a continually grow...

Sia This Is Acting Inertia/Monkey Puzzle/RCA Released: 1.29.16 * This was not the case, but a writer at Stereogum felt the same way, which was sort of validating to discover. ** So, while Rihanna gets no love for the most part, Isabella did enjoy her voice work in the movie, Home . Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Prince Rogers Nelson , known to us all simply as Prince , (and for a time, "The Artist" ), has passed away at the age of 57.  Prince was a provocative, often controversial, and always brilliant entertainer, one whose gifts as a musician and willingness to carve his own path awarded him status as either an inspiration or a question mark.  He was essential to the story of Rock 'N' Roll and it's strange that he's no longer with us. A little over thirty years ago, Tipper Gore tried to save us from Prince .  Did you know that?  Long before her husband Al served as Vice President, got ridiculed for "inventing the Internet," and became the spokesman for climate change, she was a Senator's wife who took issue with the music industry's then relaxed stance on lyrical content.  An evidently out of touch mother, Gore purchased a copy of Purple Rain for her daughter who, at the time, wasn't yet a teenager.  And it was with the song "Darling...

SUMAC : "Rigid Man" (via Thrill Jockey Records/YouTube) The Dwarfs Of East Agouza : "Clean Shahin" (via Rarely Unable/Soundcloud) Salem's Pot : "Just For Kicks" (via Us-Them Group/ RidingEasy Records /Soundcloud) Dälek : "Control" (via Rarely Unable/ Profound Lore Records / FACT Magazine /Soundcloud) Caseyland : "Secrets" (via Caseyland/Soundcloud) Dumdum Score : "Swells and Flows" (via Dumdum Score/Bandcamp) Audio Sheep by dumdum score Novembre : "Bremen" (via Fresno Media/YouTube) Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Today, the world lost the essential component to the most essential rock group: Photo from The Beatles Rarity . Sir George Martin has passed away at the age of 90.  He was the visionary producer who'd signed The Beatles to Parlophone Records , and acted as the band's chief collaborator, arranger, and producer.  His remarkable ear and brilliance as a composer enabled him to act as The Beatles' guide through their well-documented evolution as artists and songwriters, the vast knowledge and understanding of the studio he possessed critical to the development of what are some of the greatest albums ever recorded.  To him, we owe many, many thanks. Here's a clip of Sir Martin talking about the making of "Strawberry Fields Forever:" As fascinating as he is when describing his process and how he and The Beatles were able to achieve what were, for their time, very innovative feats in sound through experimentation and educated trickery, the work itself re...

Mayflower Madame : "Weightless" (via Big Mouth Publicity/YouTube) Tacocat : "I Hate the Weekend" (via Hardly Art/YouTube) Lake Ruth : "The Inconsolable Jean-Claude" (via Lake Ruth/ The Great Pop Supplement /Soundcloud) Yardsss : " Granfalloons II" (via Us-Them Group/ SELF Group /Soundcloud) Jerkagram : "Cloud Builder" (via Us-Them Group/ Noisey /YouTube) TOMBS : "V" (via Relapse Records/YouTube) Rangda : "The Sin Eaters" (via Rarely Unable PR/ Drag City /YouTube) Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Tom Waits : "The Soul of a Man ( Blind Willie Johnson cover)" (via Big Mouth Publicity/Soundcloud) Graves at Sea : "Dead Eyes" (via Earsplit PR/ Decibel Magazine /Soundcloud) Hooded Fang : "" (via Force Field PR/ The FADER /Soundcloud) Some Gifts : "All Washed Up" (via The Deli Magazine /Soundcloud) Orouni : "The Peanut Specialist" (via Orouni /Soundcloud) Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

The Body : "Shelter is Illusory" (via Thrill Jockey Records/Bandcamp) No One Deserves Happiness by the body The Raveonettes : "The World is Empty (Without You)" (via Tell All Your Friends PR/YouTube) Pet Sun : "Mrs. Warp" (via Tell All Your Friends PR/ Exclaim /YouTube) The Ocular Audio Experiment : "Alive" (via Findings of the Other Eye/YouTube) Earthless : "End to End" (via Tee Pee Records/ Noisey /Soundcloud) Zun : "Burial Sunrise" (via Earsplit PR/ Small Stone Records /Bandcamp) Burial Sunrise by Zun Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Tiny Knives : "Cowschwitz" (via Earsplit PR/ Eolian Empire / New Noise Magazine /Soundcloud) Chin of Britain : "Last Seen Alive" (via Mutante/Waltz Time Records/Soundcloud) Naked Lights : "New Carrion" (via Terrorbird Media/ Consequence of Sound /Soundcloud) Immix Ensemble & Vessel : "What Hath God Wrought?" (via Julian T. Schoen/ Erased Tapes/ Soundcloud) DIIV : "Is the Is Are" (via Captured Tracks/Soundcloud) Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

David Bowie ★ (a.k.a. Blackstar ) RCA/Columbia Released: 1.8.16 Since Monday, January 11 th , I’ve been listening to David Bowie ’s Blackstar nonstop, unable to separate it objectively from its context as the artist’s last and final effort.   I hang on every word, distilling phrases clearly meant to convey Bowie’s handling of his mortality, fascinated by his musical choices and his continued interest in extracting modern musical ideas and incorporating them into his design.   This “parting gift,” as longtime collaborator and producer Tony Visconti put it, is a tragic thrill, which makes it difficult to completely appreciate on one level and damn near impossible to criticize on another.   As many of us have over the past week since Bowie passed away, Sunday, January 10 th , a mere two days after turning 69 years of age and releasing Blackstar , I’ve been immersing myself in articles filled with Bowie-related remembrances and dedications, all-day radio...