Seminal hardcore comp to get vinyl reissue, sequel


Okay, technically All About Friends and the impending sequel, All About Friends Forever, will see issue and reissue as a double LP with hand-screened covers in May if a Kickstarter for the comps is funded. Said Kickstarter is located right here, and works exactly the way we like our crowd-sourced fundraising to: plenty of ways to get extras, but if you just want to treat this a pre-order for the 2xLP, you pay $30 and get it, plus booklet and digital download – postage paid and everything. Pledge another $15, and get a t-shirt.

You get classic, otherwise unavailable tracks from Coalesce, Botch, and Indecision, as well as some really badass photos on the original comp, then the new collection introduces you to a slew of bands with whom I’m completely unfamiliar. The reissue’s limited to a pressing of 1000, with 333 on colored vinyl (you get that for $65, plus a t-shirt and a poster). For more details about the whole project, check out an interview with compilation organizer Carrie Whitney at the comp’s Tumblr page.

Tim Barry announces “40 Miler”; all earlier albums on sale through Chunksaah

cover-tim-barry-40-milerPunk rock troubadour Tim Barry, frontman for Virginia’s Avail, announced his fourth solo release, due out April 10 from Chunksaah. It’s called 40 Miler, and you can see the cover art to your left. The track listing is after the jump.

However, of immediate interest to you is the fact that the label’s offering up Rivanna Junction, Manchester, and 28th & Stonewall (be it LP, CD, or digital download) this week only. Hit up the Chunksaah store and enter the code “RVA” at checkout.
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Hunx & His Punx share tunes from “Hairdresser Blues”


Hunx & His Punx shared two tracks this weekend from their upcoming Hardly Art release, Hairdresser Blues. The group’s second LP is due out tomorrow, February 28. That’s the video for “Private Room” above, and “Always Forever” is embedded via Soundcloud below. Personally, I already enjoy both of these tracks more than Too Young To Be In Love, which was essentially a transition album. All those early singles had been recorded with a rotating cast of characters, and by the time they got to a full-length, it sounded like a Shannon & the Clams record with Seth singing over top of it. This sounds more like a melding of the two sounds.

Hunx – Always Forever by WeGetPress

Stefan of Stardumb Records talks Kepi: The Book

Curt Doughty

Curt Doughty


Stefan Tijs, label head for Netherlands pop-punk label Stardumb Records, recently announced his plans to put out a book collecting the work of former Groovie Ghoulies frontman and current solo act, Kepi Ghoulie. Those who’ve attended Kepi’s live shows know that in addition to the usual t-shirts, records, and other rock ‘n’ roll merch, you can purchase small oil paintings done by the pop rock ‘n’ roller. Kepi’s also done the artwork for many of his own releases. This all adds up to something that could potentially fill one of those gigantic coffee table books. We spoke with Tijs about the plans for the book, and what you can do to be a part of it.
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Charlie Megira and the Modern Dance Club, “Love Police” double LP

cover-love-policeMuch has been made of the demise of the album in today’s digital download approach to music. Much like the days of the ’50 and early ’60s, when the 45-rpm single was the delivery method of choise for boss tuneage, these days it’s all about the 99-cent download of Beyonce’s latest.

However, as physical product becomes more of a niche product, it seems that which is released in corporeal form is of a higher caliber, and more necessary of being considered as a whole. Such is what you have with the debut release on Guitars & Bongos, a double LP from Charlie Megira and the Modern Dance Club entitled Love Police.
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Black Tambourine, “What’s Your Game”

cover-black-tambourineBlack Tambourine‘s total recorded output just increased by 25%. The influential twee quartet’s complete discography, Black Tambourine, contains but 16 tracks, so any new material from the band is something about which to get excited. In this case, it’s OneTwoThreeFour, a four-song, double 7-inch of Ramones covers due out on Slumberland on May 15.

The band’s playing several reunion shows in early April for Chickfactor magazine’s twentieth anniversary, and felt that, since they were going to the trouble of getting the band back together, they might as well try to record something new. Ordering info’s not yet available, but I’m sure if you keep an eye on the Slumberland website, you’ll know as soon as it happens.

You can take a listen to their dreamy take on “What’s Your Game” below. The cut features backing vocals from the ‘Rinettes, ” a one-time only virtual meeting of some of the band’s favorite singers: Linda Smith, Rose Melberg, Dee Dee from Dum Dum Girls and Jenny Robbins from Honeymoon Diary.”

Black Tambourine – What’s Your Game by Slumberland Records

Joan of Arc soundtrack their namesake

cover-joan-of-arcLong-running emo / indie act Joan of Arc soundtracked the 1928 silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc in 2011 at the Chicago International Movies and Music Festival, and the performance was recorded live. That recording sees release April 10 on Joyful Noise Recordings. It’s called (naturally) Joan of Arc Presents Joan of Arc.

It’s a ridiculously limited pressing on double LP: 175 hand-numbered copies on white vinyl, 175 hand-numbered copies on black and white split color vinyl, and 175 hand-numbered copies on blood red vinyl. It will also be available as a digital download. Pre-order the vinyl for $20 from the Joyful Noise store. Snag the film from Amazon (it’s Criterion, even!).

Podcast delayed

We had to get our taxes done yesterday, then we went to Nerd Nite, meaning today’s been chock-full of playing catch-up. Laundry, et cetera, so on. So – not ’til tomorrow. Like you care.

Trivializing emotion, courtesy Akashic Books

book-cover-letters-to-kurtI really don’t know what to think of the upcoming Letters to Kurt, by Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson. While it’s understandable that the death of a friend can be a hard thing with which to cope, and understanding the why and wherefore of a suicide is a long-lasting issue for those left behind, this book seems cheap.

Technically, the book itself doesn’t seem cheap. Writing “an anguished, angry, and tender meditation on the octane and ether of rock and roll and its many moons: sex, drugs, suicide, fame, and rage” as an “an elegy for Kurt and the ‘suicide idols’ who tragically fail to find salvation in their amazing music” isn’t cheap. It’s a remarkably touching thing to eulogize a lost friend in any manner, be it poetry, prose, or song.

What does seem cheap, however, are the things being offered with the pre-order by Akashic Books. You can find a complete list of items on the pre-order page, but what strikes me about the whole thing is that there’s really no need to have autographed “Polaroid-style snapshot[s].” Taking a book that’s supposedly a deeply emotional work and commercializing it in such a manner as this only serves to turn Letters to Kurt from a personal statement into a trivial one. Limited-edition extras and autographs make this less like a literary work and more like an exclusive for the members of the Katy Perry street team.

Get Hip reissuing the Beat’s “The Kids Are the Same”

cover-beat-kids-are-the-saemGet Hip Records reissues Paul Collins’ Beat‘s sophomore LP, The Kids Are the Same as an 180-gram LP March 6. Originally release on CBS in 1982, the album was – as are many lost classics – a critical success and commercial failure. The repress is of a limited edition of 1000 and comes on the heels of Get Hip’s 2011 reissue of the Beat’s self-titled debut.

Paul Collins is currently on the road with Peter Case. Case was the frontman for fellow ’80s power pop heroes the Plimsouls, but Collins and Case both did time in seminal West Coast bands the Breakaways and the Nerves. The two are performing songs by the Plimsouls, the Beat, the Breakaways, and the Nerves.

Here is a chance to see two of rock ‘n’ roll’s finest songwriters performing some classics of underground pop. What are the chances that you’ll ever get to hear “Don’t Wait Up For Me,” “Hanging On the Telephone,” and “A Million Miles Away” in the same set, much less by the original performers? A complete list of tour dates is right here.

cover-plimsouls-beach-townAdditionally, there’s a new live album from the Plimsouls out now on Alive, entitled Beach Town Confidential. Recorded at The Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, CA on August 13, 1983, this is the Plimsouls’ third live release, following 1988’s One Night In America and 2010’s Live! Beg, Borrow & Steal.

If you buy it direct from the label, there’s a version on pink vinyl, limited to a pressing of 200.