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New Releases for date: 4/7/03
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BIRDMAN
Artist: STATIC TAXI Title: Closer 2 Normal
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 BMR043
Price: $12.00 Label: Birdman
Release
Date:		 4/7/03
***If trash-punk guitar virtuoso Bob Stinson had a way of making fellow musicians feel like it was him and them against the world, most of these musicians also got the impression that the world was winning. Recorded in 1989 and 1990 by Stinson's "art blues" outfit, Closer 2 Normal has remained unreleased until now, half a decade after The Replacements guitarist's death. Static Taxi stands as perhaps the best snapshot of Stinson's genius out of the shadow of the 'Mats. The band found its sound inside a kerosene-heated train car in 1989, where four guys-- Stinson with some art-school punks and cabbies-- gathered to drink, jam, drop LSD, and record demos. By 1991 they had put to tape an album's worth of studio material before promptly folding, never having recovered from the loss of their beloved boxcar the year before, when a nearby warehouse burned down. Since Stinson's final drug spiral, it has been difficult to romanticize that era. Birdman Records has decided that the grace period has ended and these songs were worth resurrecting for more than the sake of nostalgia or the opportunity to mourn. The lyrical ache of the cascading guitar shimmer on these recordings is enough to make you weep. Stinson's springtime-sludge textures elevate Ray Reigstad's snotty choruses and jumpy rhythms to the level of great gonzoid power-pop. There was chemistry amid the chemicals of that train car-- now everyone can hear it for themselves.
IN THE RED
Artist: DEADLY SNAKES Title: Ode To Joy
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 ITR102CD
Price: $12.00 Label: In The Red
Release
Date:		 4/7/03
***From the word go, Toronto's Deadly Snakes were a big band. While most high-school rock aspirations begin with groups of friends playing in trusty three- or four-piece lineups, the Snakes got off the ground as a six-piece ensemble. Kid rockers with a horn section, for Christ's sake. Start young with that kind of firepower at your disposal, stick with it six long years-- practicing, playing out, and digging deep into the Rolling Stones, electric Bob Dylan, early Van Morrison and the entire canon of soul music-- and, yeah, you do earn the word "deadly" in your name. The 'Snakes now have a well earned reputation as one of the most soul-shaking live acts on the circuit today.

Ode To Joy is The Deadly Snakes' third album and it's their finest moment to date, even hotter than their first two albums. It refines their attack with galloping rhythms, weeping turns to gospel, and the horn section leans into New Orleans funk. These guys have got a Memphis soul-gone-punk rock sound nnnnnnailed. Not bad for a bunch of white guys in their early '20s from Canada.

Artist: DEADLY SNAKES Title: Ode To Joy
Format: LP Catalog
Number:		 ITR102
Price: $8.25 Label: In The Red
Release
Date:		 4/7/03
Artist: HORRORS Title: Vent
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 ITR101CD
Price: $12.00 Label: In The Red
Release
Date:		 4/7/03
***Back in 2000 three 20-year-olds belched up one extremely raw debut recording: in your face, out of tune, overblown, 100% pure raunch that you could actually dance to... kind of. They toured the States and Europe to wild acclaim for their explosive live performances. The Horrors are now finally ready to drop their second album; this time they traveled to Memphis, and enlisted Greg Cartwright (formerly of The Oblivians, currently with Reigning Sound) to produce at the legendary Easley Studios. The results are what could be called a quantum leap for the band; some of the words are actually understandable this time. The boys still lay down quite a filthy blend of country blues, rockabilly and retardo garage punk, but this time the results are much more cohesive and, well, danceable. Kind of. This is a sincere and honest attempt by The Horrors to create rock'n'roll along the lines of the bands they worship-- The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Howlin' Wolf. The end results, however, earn them a rightful place along side the likes of The Gories and The Oblivians in the scuzz blues hall of fame. There's no one else doing this type of shit as good as The Horrors these days-- believe that!
Artist: HORRORS Title: Vent
Format: LP Catalog
Number:		 ITR101
Price: $8.25 Label: In The Red
Release
Date:		 4/7/03
RECORDHEAD
Artist: LIFEGUARDS Title: Mist King Urth
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 LUNA 69 CD
Price: $12.00 Label: Recordhead
Release
Date:		 4/7/03
***ROBERT POLLARD and DOUG GILLARD of GUIDED BY VOICES turn out an amazing home recording. Think '70s hard prog. Think latter day Brian Eno. Sprinkle that with some tight, beautiful vocal performances and crazy-ass lyrics and you have LIFEGUARDS.
SILTBREEZE
Artist: 1929 Title: Last But Not Leased
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 SB100
Price: $12.00 Label: Siltbreeze
Release
Date:		 4/7/03
***For the past two years 1929 have been leveling blowboxes all over Philadelphia without so much as a "Hello, It's Me" from Philly's own blowbox king, Todd Rundgren. You'd think with that kind of liberation going on the least Todd could do is invite 'em over to try on a pair of Roger Powell's sunglasses (left by mistake), rub one of Kasim's scarves or exchange high fives with Willie Wilcox. Maybe the Runt's savin' all the good times for Utopia acolytes The Champs. Cujusvis hominis est errare. Once 1929 were spied moping around town, giving each other charleyhorses and hertz donuts after the big dis, the CEO at Siltbreeze agreed to give 'em a record deal. Since they're all Vietnam vets, it makes sense. It's just that kind of restaurant.

1929 consists of members John Boothman (ex-Bro JT & Vibrolux, President BSA {Bald Swingers of America}), Brendan Gallagher (ex-Dischord waterboy, Battlefield Earth reenactor {that's "Terl" to you, farb}) and Tyler Harold (CFBI Booking wunderkid, Fred Biletnikoff lookalike). The sonic, slurring, instrumental tonic they have decided to bottle up and pass off as their own is a dab of Hawkwind, a pinch of Dead C., and a sprinkle of any number of desert rock's heaviest comancheros. You could say it's the finest non-vocal release to pass through the turnstiles since the Smashchords' 12-inch. Or if you weren't born then, how about Earth 2? Say whatever you like. So long as it's not Gone III.

1929 have played in support of and wiped the floor with the likes of Acid Mothers Temple, Bardo Pond, Major Stars, Bright Eyes, and Dead Meadow. As soon as Boothman finishes rebuilding the engine to their Huey Cobra AH-1 touring chopper (well, a Ford station wagon), they would very much like to come to your VC village and lay waste to your rice paddy. Just remember, it's not fun until someone gets an eye put out.

TIGERBEAT 6
Artist: BUG, THE Title: Pressure
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 MEOW076
Price: $12.00 Label: Tigerbeat 6
Release
Date:		 4/7/03
***Since the critically acclaimed release of the Seismic 12-inch in late 2001, The Bug (aka Kevin Martin of Techno Animal, Ice, God, Curse of the Golden Vampire) has attracted high profile support from Andy Weatherall, Adrian Sherwood, Coldcut, Mark Stewart, DJ Rupture, Kid 606 and Aphex Twin (who was impressed enough to release Pressure on Rephlex).

Pressure provides heavyweight evidence of the bassbin blowing, mechanoid mash-ups that have become The Bug's trademark sound. Having been indelibly marked by the skull-crushing impact of UK dub, and increasingly obsessed with ragga's bionic gyrations, The Bug crunches reggae's sub-genres into a physically brutal, psychologically deep, low-end feast for non-conformist dance-floor fiends. From the thug-step ragga of "Beats, Bombs, Bass, Weapons," to the electronic dub of "Live & Learn," via the dancehall punk of "Killer," Pressure ignites basement anthems and exhausts the echo chamber, as basstronic frequencies are mercilessly exploited. Ignoring the stagnant digi-dub scene, bypassing retro-fixated roots revivalists and avoiding ill-advised attempts at Xeroxing ragga's current trends, The Bug has formulated fearsomely original future shock for electro mainliners and yardcore fanatics alike. With maniacal MCs, blissful crooners and a metaphysical poet, the range of vocals exemplifies the free thinking range of this album. Intense.

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