New EP from Pink Reason, a three tracker that dovetails nicely with the ragged arc of the Siltbreeze LP, with massively downer ballads ala Jim Shepard/V-3 spiked with the kinda basement garage gnosis previously associated with the whole Twisted Village/Luxurious Bags axis. A good one. Second edition, 500 copies on red vinyl.

New album from Kevin Failure aka Pink Reason is a blindsider: the whole thing kicks off with “Holding On”, a song that combines the kind of crude drum’n’bass breakbeat style of Derek Bailey’s notorious Guitar Drums N Bass recording with a vibe that reminds so heavily of Jim Shepard’s classic Picking Through The Wreckage With a Stick it’ll have you hallucinating Midwestern Industrial flatlands w/secret bunkers where the reels are always rolling. There’s still a nicely stoned Twisted Village feel to much of this – “I Just Leave” could almost have fallen off the back of Luxurious Bags’ amazing Frayed Knots – but it has a desperate edge and the kind of thick drug haze that should appeal to connoisseurs of the most fucked-up postcards from oblivion. Plus the guy has a feel for the sound of brokedown that could almost be The Shadow Ring. But it’s the raging “Sixteen Years” that’s the album’s highlight and just might be the most euphorically powerful slice of sociopathic garage this guy has ever penned. If you’ve never checked in before, believe me, now is the time. Can’t stop playing this. Just don’t mention Fat John! Comes with a download. Recommended.

Best volume yet of this great on-going limited compilation series that takes the temperature of the underground circa now. Exclusive tracks from Vivian Girls, Blank Dogs, Times New Viking, Intelligence, Guinea Worms, Sic Alps, Thee Oh Sees, Tyvek and Pink Reason. Epochal and highly recommended.

Great new old-school zine from Kevin Failure of Pink Reason et al. The zine takes its name from a song by Jim Shepard and the focus is 100% subterranean, with a great/hilarious reviews section (Kitchen’s Floor, True Sons Of Thunder, Blank Realm, Wonderfuls et al) and urgently written features w/a ton of personal detail on Soviet avant-garde cinema, Texan punk, Hungarian mail art, Midwest hardcore, Soviet MCs... all rendered in classic chaotic Xeroxed old school style. 

Excellent LP by this mysterious one-man NYC outfit. The sound is extremely DIY/Messthetics reverent, with a primitive new wave attack that would reconcile 70s/80s future shock ala the first Chrome album with angsty melodies, vocal F/X, a nicely smudged production style, Minimal Man-style apocalyptic keyboards and song structures that reflect on the whole NZ/Flying Nun school of garage/bedroom wows, ending up sounding like a more synth/drum machine deformed version of Luxurious Bags. If you dig Woods/Hospitals/Sic Alps/Eat Skull et al then dig this.

New seven song mini LP from this mysterious Brooklyn based loner who cuts up zoned, spaced out new wave bombs with minimal synth stylings, moody teen melodies, Factory-style basslines and a general post-Messthetics feel for solitary bedroom rock/pop ritual. Another great one from this guy, with a hazy production style that is nicely psychedelic.

Limited edition of 300 copies 4-track EP from Blank Dogs on Mike Blank Dogs’ private imprint. This is some of Blank Dogs’ most punked-up fuzz blasters, combing glazed waves of distortion with punchy melodies and that all-important teenage bedsit fidelity. Something about the way Mike channels UK DIY styles via a liberated trans-Atlantic mindset makes em sound like the missing link between 1960s loser-core psych and post-Industrial garage rock and come to think of it, they fucking are...an inspired alchemical re-think, highly recommended.

Two electro-punk blasters from Blank Dogs, exclusive to this single, with a cool early-Rough Trade art-pop edge.

The Mayfair Set is a collaborative group project between Mike Sniper from Blank Dogs and Dum Dum Girls and right from the sleeve shot (printed on an oversized envelope sleeve) the feel is very UK, specifically the kinda psychedelic pop/punk feel of Dan Treacy’s Whaam Records label. Indeed, the combination of deep muffled male vocals and girl group choruses brings to mind fellow Television Personality and Swell Map Jowe Head’s Househunters project. A classic art/pop move.

Limited single from Blank Dogs, with two new minimal pop/new wave blasters. All VT copies are the limited to 200 blue vinyl versions.

Co-released with Woodsist, this is the debut full-length from this collaborative project between Blank Dogs and Dum Dum Girls. Six new tracks that combine a haze of beautiful girl-pop vocals with out-of-focus psychedelia, hallucinatory arrangements and an atmosphere somewhere between 1980s psychedelic DIY, weirdo 70s private press and the early Rough Trade singles.

Debut single from this new collaborative project between Gary War and Blank Dogs that perfectly balances the underwater moonlight sound of Gary War with Blank Dog’s UK new wave worship. Fantastic. Comes with full colour insert.

New four track EP from Mike Sniper with a heavy UK new wave/Joy Division vibe and a hazy dreamtone production style.

Long-awaited reissue of the debut album from the Vivian Girls trio, classic punked girl group sounds that combine the Shop Assistants/Shaggs/K Records feel for usurped pop music with a great lost-in-time garage band edge.

Vinyl collection from this post-Velvets NY-based four piece featuring Frankie Rose of Vivian Girls on stand-up drums. This one compiles their prior 12” alongside the “Shattered Shine” 7”. The sound draws on various primitive art-pop moves, specifically the whole Jesus & Mary Chain/Shop Assistants style of Scottish downer fuzz but there are also aspects of the early Rough Trade singles, some of the bands orbiting Factory Records and a nicely-done distant psychedelic atmosphere that has a lot in common with the first wave of Paisley Underground groups.

Triple A 7” EP from this excellent, crude Detroit underground group who channel classic lo-grade DIY moves ala the Desperate Bicycles cultus via the more raggedy ends of the Killed By Death/Bloodstains camp. Think Injections play Modern Lovers produced by Jim Shepard. Recommended.

Debut LP from this group after a buncha collectable 7s. The sound here is less overtly DIY than their early sides might suggest, with an uncanny feel for rock-form freedom that at points sounds as lubricated as Dez Cadena-era Black Flag if they hadda been shooting for a more specifically post-Beefheart freak aspect. The whole group have a lolloping, crude desert feel that combines garage gasoline and feral/sophisto Trout Mask smarts like no one this side of The Flesheaters, even as they reduce the pugilistic hardcore of that group to monosyllabic extended single chord jams and choruses of leary tongue. I mean, it’s still possible to hear alla the UK DIY influence that scarred their singles but there’s something more classic USA garage wipe-out to this album that makes it sound even meatier and worthy of repeat spins.

Supremely crude LP from Tyvek, with original demos recorded in 2004 finally making it to wax in an edition of 500 copies with full-colour paste-on sleeves. If you dug the Blunt Instrumental EP that came out on Night People then this is another blast from that particular garage, with a fantastically primitive sound that explodes aspects of The Fall, early Redd Cross, The Rats and The Afflicted Man with all of the non-musicianly élan of your favourite DIY no count. I mean, I dig the Siltbreeze LP and all but this is my kind of meat. Highly recommended.