A pleasantly discordant new single from Disco Doom surfaced today called "Mt. Surreal", second single from the band's upcoming album of the same name. While it does take some time for the track to take shape, Disco Doom interestingly blur the line between jamming and improvisation. The track eventually collapses into No Wave-infused dissonance that embellishes the track's tangential extended second half, gentle improv that doesn't alienate or challenge the listener. In fact it's anchored well enough by a repeating bass riff, which stays with you long after the track finishes up. Pre-order link: https://explodinginsoundrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mt-surreal Mt. Surreal will be released 9/16 via Exploding In Sound Records .   Sincerely,  Letters From A Tapehead

"Welcome to the new creations…" works as both a lyric and as a promotional pitch for Mutator , the first entry LP to launch a series featuring unearthed material by Alan Vega, pioneering artist and co-member of the seminal and necessary electro-art duo Suicide. Vega, who unfortunately left us in 2016, was a prolific being to say the least and had apparently left behind a significant amount of material. Mutator had originally been recorded between 1995-1996 with Liz Lamere, Vega's wife and creative partner. Introduced today after years of collecting dust, the ominous and coldly factorial "Nike Soldier" is the first aural peek into this unknown work, Vega's eerie vocal radiating with the tone of "prophesied doomsday".  Mutator is up for pre-order via Sacred Bones with the actual release scheduled for 4/23. The "Deluxe Dark Red" is already sold out. I just pulled the trigger on the "Limited Clear and Dark Red Smoke" variant. If...

On what would have been John Coltrane's 94th birthday, some jazz releases to consider for this midweek entry… First, a 10-LP box set titled Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World by bassist William Parker will be released on January 29th, 2021 via Centering Records and AUM Fidelity .  As a primer for this collection, a compilation of material extracted from the box set is available called Trencadís . Immediately evidentiary is that Parker's creative and compositional reach is excitingly vast. You can listen to that here:   Trencadís [ a selection from Migration of Silence Into and Out of The Tone World ] by William Parker Via Fully Altered Media: “The music in this boxed set is dedicated to all people in the world who are searching for freedom – those who want to eliminate hate, racism, sexism, greed and lies in their lifetime.” — William Parker That William Parker is a bassist, composer and bandleader of extraordinary spirit and imaginative drive is common know...

Album Artwork | Photo By Craig Mulcahy At the expense of objectivity, I'll just state for the record that I enjoy the music of Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou and that their collaboration, which has resulted in a new album called May Our Chambers Be Full , sounds very promising thanks to this lead single, "Ancestral Recall." Stylistically, Rundle's lush vocal works very well with the scream-prone Thou, her emotive delivery well entwined with the already affecting guitar phrasing at work. The sound is gratifyingly huge and, based on the strength of this single, I would call this pairing kindred, comparable to Jarboe's partnership with Neurosis , or Cult Of Luna's work with Julie Christmas , both of which produced excellent albums. But, again, this is a fan typing. May Our Chambers Be Full is due to release on 10/30. You can pre-order the record at Sacred Bones . (Sadly, I missed out on the "Diehard" LP. Congratulations and "eat a dick; I hate you...

Today's "HOLY SHIT!!!" moment is brought to you by Speakeasy PR and Mr. -Motherfucking- Bungle! And, yes, this has been pre-ordered. You should do the same:  https://lnk.to/MBWrath via Speakeasy PR. MR. BUNGLE RETURN WITH THE RAGING WRATH OF THE EASTER BUNNY DEMO (OCT. 30, IPECAC RECORDINGS) TREVOR DUNN, MIKE PATTON AND TREY SPRUANCE JOINED BY SCOTT IAN AND DAVE LOMBARDO FOR THE BAND’S FIRST ALBUM IN 21 YEARS Photo credit: Eric Larsen Aug. 13, 2020, Eureka, Calif. – Mr. Bungle, who a year ago today announced their first live outings in two decades, have announced the release of The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo on Oct. 30 via Ipecac Recordings. As was the case with the live performances, original Mr. Bungle members Trevor Dunn, Mike Patton, and Trey Spruance are joined by Scott Ian (Anthrax, S.O.D.) and Dave Lombardo (Dead Cross, Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies). The 11-song release features tracks written by the Eureka, Calif.-born band for their 1986 cassette only...

Bangladeafy, whose abbreviated and complex musical exercises seem designed with intent to either test endurance and dexterity or simply cheat carpal tunnel, are releasing an album this September titled,  Housefly .  Metal Sucks  premiered "Bloom," an unrelenting minute-and-a-half of Bangladeafy's prog-centric battery that's interestingly been steered away from the duo's usual bass-n-drum combo. Finding some commonality with Zombi and Lightning Bolt, Jon Ehlers snarls his way through the track, his four-string supplanted by synthesized drones as drummer Atif Haq fills every available second with snare sound. Shifting mediums perhaps grants this creative venture more opportunity to expand their sound, which may be evident following a fully considered listen to the record. But, "Bloom"'s composition and urgency should be familiar enough to anyone acquainted with Bangladeafy, bass or not.  Pre-order Housefly at Nefarious Industries .  The band's 201...

A new single from Uniform is out today for the group's upcoming release, Shame . "Delco," (or Delaware County, a Philly suburb not too far from where I live in Montgomery County), is a personal and cathartic distillation of hometown abuse and its subsequent impact upon vocalist Michael Berdan. If you've heard Uniform before, you know that they, (Berden, guitarist Ben Greenberg, and drummer Mike Sharp), are adept at converting pain into decibels. "Delco" is no exception: Berdan's bark reverberating over a calamitous barrage of drum fills and riff-borne fuzz. Sometimes, making a loud noise is the best form of therapy. Shame is due out on September 11th from Sacred Bones. Uniform's 2017 release Wake In Fright was reviewed for No Ripcord . All info was provided by Rarely Unable. UNIFORM ANNOUNCE A NEW ALBUM SHAME - COMING SEPTEMBER 11TH VIA SACRED BONES LEAD SINGLE “ DELCO ” REVEALED New York City, NY (June 24, 2020): What if th...

Wee wee and rock 'n' roll… Chelsea Wolfe and Jess Gowrie 's provocatively titled project Mrs. Piss  exudes the level of melancholic depth-rock that one would normally associate with Wolfe, though this reductive version of her presentation captivates as a shared entity. Two lyric videos have emerged as incentive to check out the upcoming new album from the band, Self-Surgery . The grinding and emotive "Downer Surrounded by Uppers," (which is a great song title), finds some commonality with yore-rockers like 7-Year Bitch and Babes In Toyland , slop-addled distortion and energy. It's a solid track.  By contrast, the weighted crawl of "Knelt," Wolfe's ethereal vocal melting into the track's seismic density, is patient and stern. I love the bridge. Disrupting a crowd-flattening stomp akin to early Swans , Wolfe/Gowrie break for a moment to inject some melody into the mire.  Right now, it looks like this project is solely digital. S...

Joyful Noise Recordings has selected the one and only KRAMER as 2020's Artist In Residence.  For those who don't know, KRAMER is synonymous with Shimmy-Disc, a label that cultivated a veritable wellspring of odd flavors and creative abnormalities from about 1987 until operations ceased in the late 90s, releasing albums from the likes of Naked City (John Zorn) , Daniel Johnston , Galaxie 500 , Butthole Surfers , Urge Overkill , Ween , King Missile , and GWAR to name a few. KRAMER also released albums from his own projects: Bongwater and Shockabilly . It was recently announced that KRAMER would be reactivating Shimmy-Disc and releasing some new music after years in absentia via Joyful Noise. "Monday" is a new track from a current project called Let It Come Down, which exhibits the vocal talents of Xan Tyler . Let It Come Down's debut LP, Songs We Sang In Our Dreams, is the first of five LPs that Kramer is releasing as part of his JNR Residency. We Sang In ...

For me, the prospect of new music from Wire is always thrilling. Having released Mind Hive earlier this year, a compilation of unreleased or "evolved" material called 10:20 is scheduled to release June 19th after having been originally planned as a Record Store Day release. The nature of the 10:20 LP seems to loosely reflect that of 2013's Change Becomes Us , (also a Record Store Day release), which was a collection of material from 1979-1980 that had been revisited and revised.  As a taste of what to expect, you can check out the new video for "The Art Of Persistence."  A complete list of each track and its origins was provided by Stereo Sanctity. It doesn't look like a pre-order link has been activated. Via Stereo Sanctity: WIRE- Reschedule album '10:20’ A collection of “stray” tracks - To be released on June 19th via pinkflag - Hear “ The Art of Persistence " now WIRE have announced new release details for forthcoming album ...

The poster of the Grateful Dead and Bad Brains mash up in the background of this video is killer and I want one. The track itself is a nice mix of soul samples and characteristically off-kilter vocals from MF Doom and Bishop Nehru . "When I die, fuck it, I guess I prefer me goin' to Hell Because Earth is truly the same, so the difference I'll never tell" Very satisfying couple of minutes. Bishop Nehru 's upcoming release, NEHRUVIA: MY DISREGARDED THOUGHTS , is up for pre-order, but I don't see any indication that there's a physical release. Here's the link . Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

I'm thinking since we have "power violence," we should have "jazz violence" if we don't already. I'm not sure how else to categorize the sounds of GRID , the trio responsible for this "Brutal Kings" track. Groups like Zu , Wolf Eyes , and maybe even Naked City  have been cutting numerous, intersecting paths through these territories, injecting chaos into improv with as much dire and affecting aural malice as can be manifested when you deal with erratic composition. GRID ably follow suit here, inflicting some high-caliber low end and percussion upon the listener as heavy blasts of saxophone and grinding racket pierce through the mire. "Brutal Kings" is excellently unsettling and acts as the lead into the group's upcoming new LP, Decomposing Force .  The record is scheduled to release 4/24 via NNA Tapes. Check out the single below. Info on GRID and Decomposing Force was provided by Clandestine Label Services. You can pre-...

I hope that everyone can pull themselves away from that new Pearl Jam track to hear some other goodies. Here are some new additions to the  2020 Playlist . _________________________________________ t ētēma : "Haunted on the Uptake" (via Speakeasy PR / Ipecac Recordings / YouTube) Album Preorder https://blixtmerchandise.shop/ipecac-music-store tētēma RELEASE NECROSCAPE ON APRIL 3 VIA IPECAC RECORDINGS LISTEN TO “HAUNTED ON THE UPTAKE” FROM THE SOPHOMORE RELEASE FEATURING MIKE PATTON AND ANTHONY PATERAS Jan. 10, 2020, Melbourne, Australia – tētēma , the bi-continental outfit featuring Mike Patton ( Faith No More , Mr. Bungle ) and the Melbourne based, electro-acoustic artist Anthony Pateras , return with their sophomore album, the mind-bending Necroscape (April 3, Ipecac Recordings). An early preview of the Spring release can be heard now, with “Haunted On The Uptake,” a track Pateras describes as sounding “like The Melvins ' tour van broke down...