Japandroids   Celebration Rock Polyvinyl Record Co. Released: 6.5.12 No Ripcord review Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Southern Lord continues its reissue streak with High On Fire 's The Art of Self Defense , the debut album from ex- Sleep guitarist Matt Pike 's stoner metal trio.  This will be out in late July and, next to Sleep's Dopesmoker reissue, The Art of Self Defense will probably be another big release for Southern Lord.  All details provided by Earsplit PR. At some point, I'll be reviewing High On Fire's new 2012 release, De Vermis Mysteriis , or I could simply sum it up here:  It's fucking awesome!  It's one of my favorite albums of 2012 thus far!  Do yourselves a favor, find a copy, locate a stereo and keep the volume high. HIGH ON FIRE: Southern Lord Recordings To Reissue The Art Of Self Defense Adding to their ever-growing catalog of sonic enormity, Southern Lord Recordings today is extremely pleased to announce the reissue of The Art Of Self Defense , the classic first recording from Oakland power trio HIGH ON FIRE. Set for release on July 31, the...

I needed to have my head caved in this morning, so I listened to the German doom outfit known as Black Shape of Nexus .  Their third album, Negative Black , is streaming at The Obelisk and it's more than an hour of jackhammering sludge. All info comes courtesy of Earsplit PR. BLACK SHAPE OF NEXUS: Full LP Streaming Via The Obelisk As Negative Black , the third LP from Germany's sludge juggernaut BLACK SHAPE OF NEXUS, nears its North American street date this Tuesday June 5th via Exile on Mainstream, today the entire album is streaming via the online kingpins of the doom/stoner scene, The Obelisk, RIGHT HERE . Surging with eighty minutes of BLACK SHAPE OF NEXUS' own brew of some of the most down-tempo sludge metal on the planet, Negative Black marks a new step for the band, carving a path into their foreseeable future. While the outfit already bears the reputation for unfurling some of the most destructive but still coherently-flowing sludge metal available, in...

I'm convinced of two things: 1). Traditional music listening is not as easy as it used to be. 2). I need a portable cassette player. Another package from Brave Mysteries, the label that had so generously donated some cassettes for review around winter , arrived at my doorstep months ago and due to poor time management, deadlines and life outside of music blogging and criticism, I'm getting to them very late. To the label, my apologies. I will say, though, that this batch was not easy to get through. Inasmuch as I love a good challenge, the ambient chill from Urna , the synthesized void of Eolomea and the compositionally charged anti-melody of Baldruin were difficult to distill, layers and builds to comprehend and appreciate. If after you read these small reviews you feel the need to own these cassettes, you can find and purchase them at the Brave Mysteries site . Urna Larvae Released: 2012 (limited to 100) The one-man ambient project known as, Urna , considers ...

In an effort to bolster AIDS awareness and prevention, the (Red) organization is working with Red Hot on a campaign for "an AIDS free generation by 2015."  Out of this campaign, (Red) Hot + FELA has emerged, along with this cover of Kuti's "Lady," performed by tUnE-yArDs , Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson , Angelique Kidjo and Akua Naru .  All info is provided by Life or Death PR & Management. (RED) MUSIC PUSHES FOR AN AIDS FREE GENERATION BY 2015 FELA KUTI'S "LADY" REMADE BY TUNE-YARDS, QUESTLOVE, ANGELIQUE KIDJO, AND AKUA NARU PITCHFORK PREMIERES "LADY" FROM FORTHCOMING (RED) HOT + FELA ON KNITTING FACTORY RECORDS + BEHIND-THE-SCENES ON OKAYAFRICA MONDAY MP3: "Lady" - http://soundcloud.com/knittingfactoryrecords/tune-yards-angelique-kidjo   (RED)Music is a centerpiece of the inaugural (RED) RUSH TO ZERO campaign (June 1-10) to raise funding and awareness to help deliver an AIDS Free Generation by 2015...

WIXIW, (wish you), new album by Liars , will be out June 5th.  In the meantime, NPR has made the full album available for streaming.  I haven't listened to the entire thing yet, but what I've heard is blissfully eerie.  An EP for their new single, "No. 1 Against The Rush," is available as of May 29th.  All info and links are provided by Mute Records. LIARS  NPR STREAMS WIXIW IN ‘FIRST LISTEN’ “NO. 1 AGAINST THE RUSH” DIGITAL EP RELEASED TODAY FEATURING REMIXES BY MATMOS & VINCE CLARKE “WIXIW is Liars' "electronic" record, and a darn good one at that. ” -NPR   “ Liars walked away with what may be the most enjoyable album of their career. ” -SPIN “ In essence, it’s a dark pop masterpiece. " -KCRW NEW ALBUM – WIXIW – OUT JUNE 5TH CD, VINYL & DIGITAL FORMAT Photo Credit: Zen Sekizawa WIXIW (“wish you”) EXPLAINED HERE Liars are Angus Andrew , Aaron Hemphill and Julian Gross . In preparation f...

So, one of Pennsylvania's own… Aaron Freeman , better known as Gene Ween of the perpetually strange and very dynamic duo Ween , announced today at Rolling Stone that the band is no more .  Formed in 1984, both Gene and cohort Mickey Melchiondo , or Dean Ween , crafted some of the most deranged, trippy and ridiculous albums to ever gain an ear, venturing in a multitude of styles both brilliantly parodic and truly inventive. For years, thanks to what I still consider to be the atrocity that is "Push th' Little Daisies," (yeah, I still don't like that song), Ween was not on my radar.  Shortsighted on my part, because once The Mollusk and Quebec reached my ears, (thanks, Chris), I wanted to hear little else.  I know the album that critics readily point out is Chocolate and Cheese , which I enjoy very much, but I consider The Mollusk and Quebec two pinnacle albums from the band's canon.  Quebec , especially, is fascinatingly dark, the smooth jazz and Ca...