MUGSTAR - 'AXIS'

Formats

• AGIT019 - LP

  N/A

• AGIT019CD - CD

  5060174954320

Details

Axis is Mugstar's long awaited fifth full length album - an expansive collection of songs that take the listener on a journey. The destination is not important it's all about the journey - travelling through different movements, diverse colours and sounds picking up from where Lime left us in August 2011. From the dark brooding ('Black Fountain') to the elevating ('Tangerina'), the cylindrical ('Axis Modulator') and the sonic mantra ('Upturnsidedown') Axis showcases a more diverse MUGSTAR whilst retaining their unmistakeable sonic wall of sound. Albeit mainly instrumental, theres a real psychedelic groove that emanates from the kraut-rock inspired sounds of this record, it will shake you down in the same way the first time you copped earfuls of Oneida, Neu!, Loop, Wooden Shjips, Bardo Pondo and even a puff of Hawkwind. Deluxe gatefold LP comes with MP3 code postcard and art prints..1000 only. CD in a digi-wallet.

Tracks

01. Black Fountain
02. Hollow Ox
03. Tangerina
04. In Earth
05. Axis Modulator
06. UpTurnSideDown
07. Vehicles of Spain

Press

uk pr by goldstar (SWANS / WOODS / OH SEES):

?Any fan of continuous, expectant grooves, bludgeoning riffs and pastoral psychedelia need look no further then entering Mugstar's orbit.? The Quietus

?Mugstar operate on a level that is a joy to behold?? Uncut

?Locked groove psychonauts distill the wordless core of Hawkwind, Neu! And Sonic Youth?.? Mojo

?Rarely less than utterly transcendant?. Glistening, interstellar sonic glory? Rock Sound

'...about time they receive some well-deserved attention' Rock-A-Rolla

'The British quartet rarely put a foot wrong?? Terrascope

'...continuing their excellent approach to psychedlic rock, propelling them alongside contempories like Bardo Pond, Oneida, and Kinski.' Boomkat

Audio & Video

THE BARBARAS - '2006 - 2008'

Formats

• 82GONE - LP

  600385228718

• 82GONECD - CD

  600385228725

Details

In the late 2000s, Memphis had The Barbaras, a handful of early-20s music heads colliding in the midtown bar scene and making a racket that captured VOM and Del Shannon in a blender. The band was great, the live shows were insane-see the checklist below. ? Maniacal bearded frontman (Billy Hayes) ? Incredibly tall bassist (Bennett Foster) ? Synthesizer mastermind (Will McElroy) ? Boy-next-door guitarist (Alex Gates) ? An array of unbalanced drummers ? Crowd interference (Stephen Pope) ? Shows that included props, costumes and groupies ? Had a somewhat cult-like aura ? Always had fun and seemed to enjoy each other's company ? Could induce grown men to strip and gyrate on the bar at a show ? Staged orgies, deaths and resurrections at live shows ? Performed ventriloquist act ? Wrote great absurd pop songs One thing they didn't do? Record an album. Although they tried. Jay Reatard recorded them in fits and starts between touring, but after taking two Barbaras (Hayes and Pope) for his road band and touring constantly over the next few years, the group flamed out. The Magic Kids formed in their wake. When Hayes and Pope eventually left Reatard's band, he told them that he erased all of the Barbaras recordings. In 2011, Goner was excited to find the sessions safe and sound right where Reatard had left them, on his digital recorder. Alicja Trout helped the band finish recording and mixing the tracks, and when paired with their own recordings (plus some heavy-duty work from Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering) it was clear their legacy held more than just a great (and now out-of-print) single. There's a Barbaras album after all-and it's a doozy. Includes material recorded by Jay Reatard and Alicja Trout; mastered by Jason Ward

Tracks

1. Day at the Shrine
2. Heaven Hangs
3. Grief Touches Everyone
4. Topsy Turvy Magic
5. Superball
6. Only One
7. Breathing Underwater
8. Devour the Jungle Deer
9. Grey Eggs
10. Flow
11. Why Should I Love You?
12. Bluebirds
13. How Many Times
14. Summertime Road
15. Annual Botanical

Press

Audio & Video

THE HUMAN HEARTS - 'ANOTHER'

Formats

• SHR165 - CD

  759718116526

Details

Franklin Bruno, songwriter / bandleader of The Human Hearts, has been a stalwart of the independent music scene for two decades. Since his first solo cassettes on Shrimper in the early 1990s, Bruno- and his previous band, Nothing Painted Blue-have recorded for a who's-who of significant indie labels, including Scat / Matador, Shimmy-Disc / Kokopop and Absolutely Kosher. His songs have been covered by the likes of Lou Barlow, Jennifer O'Connor, and The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle (with whom Bruno occasionally collaborates in the duo The Extra Lens). In 2009, Pitchfork called Local Currency, a reissue of early solo material, a collection "most songwriters would love to call their own." He's also become a noted music writer, penning a book on Elvis Costello's Armed Forces for the 33 1/3 series, and contributing to The Nation, The Believer and other publications. The Human Hearts is Bruno's new, NYC-based band; Another is their first proper album release (following a mail-order-only CD in 2006 and some 7-inch and compilation appearances). Recorded at Brooklyn's Seaside Lounge (New Pornographers, St. Vincent), Another finds Bruno and drummer Matt Houser joined by old and new friends, including Nothing Painted Blue / Mountain Goats bassist Peter Hughes, guest vocalists Laura Cantrell and Jenny Toomey, guitarist Pete Galub, and accordionist / composer Ted Reichman. Ranging from horn-driven power-pop ("Love-Starved") to bossa nova ("Times Mirror Square") and classic, Tin-Pan-Alley-inspired songcraft ("California Baby"), Another is one of the most consistent and fully realized records of a 20-year career. ? Proper debut full-length by Franklin Bruno of Nothing Painted Blue / The Extra Lens

Tracks

1. See Me As a Lover
2. Times Mirror Square
3. Soft Gamma Repeater
4. I Don?t Know You Anymore
5. Perfect Lovers (Summation Gallop)
6. Cheap Sunglasses
7. Disaster Area
8. Not Just When We Kiss
9. Another
10. Millionaire on Paper
11. California Baby
12. Love-Starved

Press

N/A

Audio & Video

M. GEDDES GENGRAS - 'TEST LEADS'

Formats

• HOLY1990 - LP & DL

  655035699011

Details

Known for his recent collaborative record with Sun Araw and The Congos, not to mention as a member of Robedoor, Pocahaunted and a host of other bands, M. Geddes Gengras steps out on his own for a proper full-length, operating under his god-given name. Here Gengras lets loose with two LP sides of sprawling synthscapes. Test Leads calls to mind Klaus Schulze's Dune album or perhaps the Dune soundtrack scored by Toto and Brian Eno, but will also appeal to fans of Conrad Schnitzler and Manuel Gottsching, as well as Robert Hampson (Loop, Main), Bill Laswell, Roger Eno and Nurse With Wound. Thrown into the mix is some Sky Records / Wolfgang Riechmann-style (cold) poppiness. In a contemporary setting, Gengras could share a bill with anyone from the modern indie / pop / weirdo / drone scenes and fit right in. His suites range from odd pinballesque plinking to cold, dystopian soundscapes, touching on all points between; Test Leads would sound good alongside releases on Mordant Music, Touch Music or Innovative Communication. These tracks could easily score the original Tron, The Black Hole or just about any episode of Nova. ? Includes digital download coupon

Tracks

1. Waldorf, Pts. 1 & 2
2. Night Work
3. Cairo
4. Waldorf, Pt. 3

Press

? Solo full-length album from member of /
collaborator with Sun Araw, Robedoor,
Pocahaunted, LA Vampires and many more

Audio & Video

PUNKS ON MARS - 'BAD EXPECTATIONS'

Formats

• ZM012 - LP

  655035023212

• ZM012CD - CD

  655035023229

Details

"Like an overlooked, unmastered B-side for one of those Yellow Pills power pop compilations, Punks on Mars, a.k.a. Ryan Howe, pays tribute to an era when free-spirited riffing was as much a mainstay as skinny ties and geometric sunglasses. [While] those power pop bands toward the middle of the '80s preferred glossy production, Punks On Mars ... thickens their sound, melding voices, drums and pogo-guitar licks into a candy-coated, pop picnic." -Ryan Ellis, Weekly Tape Deck. ? Sophomore album from Ryan Howe ? Mastered by Pete Lyman (Dunes, No Age, etc.) at Infrasonic Studios in Los Angeles

Tracks

1. Overture
2. Chandelier
3. You Do, You Don?t
4. Bad Expectation
5. Hey! Tiffany
6. Poltergeist
7. Tabloid Tomorrow
8. Showers of Pain
9. Tomorrow?s Girl
10. She?s a Glitterpunk
11. Victoria?s World
12. Is It Me?
13. The Sad Toy
14. Little Runaway Machine

Press

N/A

Audio & Video