New Releases

http://peterkernel.tumblr.com/bio wrote:Peter Kernel is a Swiss Canadian art-punk band formed by Aris Bassetti (guitar, voice, graphic designer) and Barbara Lehnhoff (bass, voice, filmmaker). Inspired by a love story, they play music anyone can play in an attempt to’ satisfy man’s basic human instinct: a beat, something loud and a few words. Primary rock.

http://monophonics.com/ wrote:Part of being an artist and being in a band is embracing the natural desire to take a different approach. This is the case with "Strange Love." The production and arrangement echos the sounds of California Pop from the 60's. Orchestrated instruments follow a haunting falsetto vocal melody, while rolling drums and bass support a flowering vibrato guitar. It all leads up to a climactic dream-like ending led by strings, trumpets and a soulful choir through a Leslie organ speaker. It's very much a tip of the cap to a lot of records we love...think Ennio Morricone meets The Beach Boys."
- Ian McDonald
"Promises was a natural next step from our last record. It has a certain quality that really fits in the Psychedelic Soul pocket while also using elements of Reggae with a driving bass line, cinematic music with kung fu like horns, and a shimmering 12 string acoustic guitar that reflects the sound of the 60's. The bonus was having our talented friend and über musical mind Shawn Lee on mallet percussion and tambourine."

http://www.mondodrag.com/bio wrote:Under the spiritual guidance of the forefathers of heavy psych, prog, and proto-metal, Mondo Drag has created an amalgamation of sounds the likes of which have not resounded through the atmosphere for decades.  The bands unique sound, and rare cohesion probably stem from the fact that core members John Gamino, Nolan Girard, and Jake Sheley actually grew up within a one mile radius from each other, attended the same schools, were a part of the same scene, and have played music with each other for 15 years.

The band’s stellar live performances have become a thing of wonder and have seen the band share stages with contemporary artists such as Nik Turner's Hawkwind, Kadavar, Dead Meadow, Witchcraft, Pentagram, Black Mountain, Wooden Shjips, and The Black Keys to name a few.

The release of New Rituals (Alive Records), saw the band touring the US extensively, appearing at many high-profile fests around the country including several official showcases at SXSW (and a dozen more unofficial ones) and headlining slots at both the Chicago Pysch Fest and the Cincy Psych Fest.  You can also find them on the Austin Psych Fest 3 DVD (w/ The Black Angels, The Warlocks, Warpaint, et al.).

The band caravanned across the country last year, settling in Oakland, CA.  They will be releasing their 2nd LP on January 16th, 2015 on Kozmik Artifactz, which features the rhythm section of fast-rising Swedish-American rock band Blues Pills (Nuclear Blast)

http://beyondbeyondisbeyondrecords.bandcamp.com/album/arena-negra wrote:There’s more than a hint of mystery surrounding The Myrrors, the impossible-to-define sonic-shaman hailing from the Tucson, Arizona. The mystery, however, feels far from manufactured – it would appear to exist naturally within the band’s collective DNA, a double-helix of third-eye vision that informs their every note.

Certainly, there’s something mysterious about the band’s first album, “Burning Circles in the Sky,” given that it was recorded “sometime in 2008” (as stated by The Myrrors themselves), but only saw release late in 2013. And there’s something mysterious about the constant hum of activity that has defined the band in the months since “Burning Circles” was released – a hum that includes adding two more releases to their fast-growing catalog, along with an invitation to appear at “Levitation,” the 2015 incarnation of Austin Psych Fest.

Yet with the release of “Arena Negra” – the band’s first release for Beyond Beyond Is Beyond Records – there are signs that the mystery has been solved. Put another way, there may have never been a mystery to solve in the first place. As the forty-two minute journey unfolds, it becomes abundantly clear that The Myrrors are simply one of the most compelling bands on the planet at the moment, whether their records are arriving three times a year, or only every three years.

The Myrrors sound is one of urgency, but urgency not beholden to velocity. From the twelve-minute “Arena Negra” title track that opens the album (by slowly slithering out of the ground and into the air), to the twenty-minute inhumanly heavy album closer, “The Forward Path,” it’s immediately apparent that the band has captured completely the sound of shackles being shed. “Arena Negra” comes on strong, as clearly, evenly and undeniably as the very light that enters your eyes, fueled by a heroic dose of Bardo Pond-esque levels of elevation and amplification.

“Arena Negra” is – both by turns and, miraculously, all at once – dramatic, reflective, ecstatic and otherworldly. It’s the work of craftsmen and the cosmos, equally, dialed-in to accurately reflect immensity and awe. – Ryan Muldoon

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/21/the-charlatans-modern-nature-exclusive-album-stream wrote:The Charlatans’ new release, Modern Nature, marks 25 years since their debut, and shows little sign of creative fatigue. Their first album since the death of drummer Jon Brookes – who died in 2013 from a brain tumour – enlists a number of contributors to mould its soulful sound, including Pete Salisbury of The Verve, Stephen Morris of New Order, Gabriel Gurnsey of Factory Floor, Kate Bush’s backing singers Melanie Marshall and Sandra Marvin, Sean O’ Hagan on strings and Dexys’ Big Jim Paterson on brass.

http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/prod/PascalComeladeLesLiminanas-TraiteDeGuitarresTriolectiques-BecauseMusic-101363.html wrote:After collaborations with Robert Wyatt and PJ Harvey amongst others, multi-instrumentalist Pascal Comelade teams up with Jack White faves Les Liminanas.

It's been noted that their are traces of Serge Gainsbourg, Beck, Stereolab, Gospel, Yeh-Yeh, guitar fuzz freakouts, and Nugget's-era stompers in the Limiñanas music. All of which may be true, but Limiñanas' sound is irreverent and singular.

The band’s fusion of traditional French “ye ye” stylings with the cigarette-smoking cool of the New York underground of the late-Sixties has dazzled listeners since it’s inception making the live unit the toast of concert stages worldwide.

http://www.reverbnation.com/PhantomOperators wrote:The Phantom Operators are an instrumental group from Knoxville, TN. Their sound is a mix of surf-rock, psychedelia, garage rock, with a little jazz thrown in for taste. They have just released their first full-length album "Metal Mariachi Music" in January 2015 and their fan base continues to grow through their websites PhantomOperators.Bandcamp.com as well as Reverbnation.com/PhantomOperators. The band is currently receiving airplay on several independent and college radio stations across the U.S., including WEFT in Champaign, IL, WTUL in New Orleans, and WDVX in their hometown of Knoxville as well as various streaming sites, including PsychedelicJukebox.com and SurfRockRadio.com (where they have a #1 viewed album), based in the UK. Their goals for 2015 include making more music and getting it out to as many listeners as possible and to spread their surf-space gospel to everyone!

http://psychlopseyepatch.bandcamp.com/album/buried-alive-single wrote:Buried Alive leaves behind the sundrenched Psychedelia of Psychlops Eyepatch's 2013 mini- album “Paranoise” and moves into a far more dangerously energetic sonic latitude, which channels the acid punk spirit of “ Thee Oh See’s” or “The Mummies”. The frantic drumbeat underpins psychotic vocals and surf organ, which twist and turn their way through the 2 minutes and 22 seconds garage pop gem.

http://www.npr.org/2015/02/22/387539394/first-listen-swervedriver-i-wasnt-born-to-lose-you wrote:"Autodidact" not only sets the tone for the album, but also sums up Swervedriver's past and present. Wistful and yearning, it flirts with both beauty and dissonance as Franklin offers humbly poetic observations about "gas stations as churches." His voice — which always bore a welcome resemblance to the starry-eyed croon of Grant Hart from Hüsker Dü, a group that clearly influenced Swervedriver as much as, say, Cocteau Twins — has eroded a bit since Swervedriver's '90s heyday. But that slightly rugged quality only makes the dreamy longing of "For A Day Like Tomorrow" sound that much more bittersweet.

The eclecticism last heard on 99th Dream shows up here, most notably in the stoner-rock groove of "Red Queens Arms Race" — if it's an homage to Queens Of The Stone Age, it's a worthy one — and the psychedelic prog of "Lone Star," an ambitiously arranged showcase for Franklin's sprawling ambition. Only two tracks, "Last Rites" and "I Wonder," fit the classic shoegaze mold; even then, they splice hard-edged emotional realism into all that churning, billowy noise. As a melodicist, Franklin has never been stronger or more intimate. And even though I Wasn't Born To Lose You doesn't rank up there with Mezcal Head in terms of capturing a zeitgeist — or just plain rocking out — its soft, warm glow is a subtle reminder that shoegaze, all these years later, still has space left to explore.