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Updated 6/21/02 Release dates [among other things] subject to change. Our mailorder pages feature all the titles below-- and more-- sorted by release date at the following links:
6/10/02
and 6/24/02.
Our May 2002 new release page can be found here.
 WIRERead and Burn 01 (PINK FLAG PF04) CD Released the week of June 24th, 2002 order from Midheaven mailorder The hugely influential Wire, having regrouped for a live performance in 1999 and wailed through numerous subsequent sell-out shows, ably demonstrate that their fire still burns. Read & Burn 01 is the first phase of a series of new works and stage appearances planned for this year and on into 2003, marking a fierce return to recording for the band, and the setting of a standard that many of today's new chasers of art-rock's golden fleece will be hard pressed to emulate. There is only so much time in the day to respond to the demands of the adrenal glands and to bounce one's head off walls in unison with Wire's car-crashing dynamism and dogged, unyielding tempos, so get to it! The six tracks on Read & Burn 01, each hitting the mark with dead-eye accuracy, ride the line from punk to rock and back again with nerve-jarring immediacy, dressed and stylishly accessorized with state-of-the-art production values.
 SONIC YOUTHMurray Street (GOOFIN' 04) LP Released the week of June 24th, 2002 order from Midheaven mailorder Sonic Youth have turned 21 years of age in 2002. The apprenticeship is over. They are now legal to fully rock on. Murray Street is where it gets interesting. The name comes from the street where Sonic Youth create rock'n'roll. This album was written by Sonic Youth with newest member Jim O'Rourke, who helped engineer and did the mixing under the watchful eye and baffling behavior of the original SY members. The cover is a photograph taken by Monique, two children secured by webbing, at one with goddess earth. Inside are photos by Milanese lensman Stefano Giovaninni. There are seven songs:
1. Disconnection Notice - about the loss of questionable power to moldy fig authority  BUTTHOLE SURFERSHumpty Dumpty LSD (LATINO BUGGERVEIL LBV07) CD Released the week of June 10th, 2002 order from Midheaven mailorder A central Austin warehouse is site of the Butthole Surfers' 278-tape archive. Even when living out of a van in the '80s, they managed to hang on to boxes and boxes of tapes. The van was never stolen, miraculously, and the tapes survive unheard until now. Humpty Dumpty LSD contains 16 cherry-picked rare and unreleased recordings from the band's most productive period - 1982 to 1992. From early four-track demos ("Night of the Day") and punk rock anthems ("Just a Boy") to Morricone-ish western theme music ("Eindhoven Chicken Masque") and free form acid freak outs ("Space"), the music here is as messed up as any of the band's finest material. Humpty Dumpty LSD sounds like a lost Buttholes album from somewhere between Locust Abortion Technician and Hairway to Steven. For those who weren't there when the Buttholes, their pit bull, and a bank of strobe lights then, toured the country playing their own brand of acid punk for those who grew up listening to hardcore but wanted something more, Humpty Dumpty LSD is the next best thing.
 COUNTRY TEASERSScience Hat Artistic Cube Moral Nosebleed Empire (IN THE RED ITR32) CD/2xLP Released the week of June 10th, 2002
order from Midheaven mailorder The Country Teasers are best known for their stunning output on the Crypt and Fat Possum labels. How a band of Scots and Londoners crazily influenced by the likes of The Fall, Joy Division, Devo, Bauhaus, hip hop and country & western music wound up recording for labels best known for American rootsy-down-home-style output is anyone's guess. But here they are again with their most expansive and eclectic endeavor to date. Science Hat Artistic Cube Moral Nosebleed Empire collects obscure singles, demos, outtakes and home recordings spanning the band's seven-year existence. 'Teasers front man Ben Wallers painstakingly pored through nearly twenty hours of material to find the best forty selections for the vinyl, and twenty for the CD, the concept being that each set of ten tracks represents a complete album. All together: "huh?" Wallers insists the double-vinyl set is actually four albums - pressed in an edition of one-thousand in a beautiful color gatefold jacket, by the way - and the compact disc, with twenty tracks extracted from that collection, is actually two albums. Science Hat Artistic Cube Moral Nosebleed Empire offers the broadest range of the Country Teasers' styles, from the most savagely raw post-punk stomps to experimental electronic blow-outs. This collection is absolute proof that the Country Teasers are one of the most original bands around today.
MUSHROOM RIVER BANDSimsalabim (METEORCITY MCY024) CD Released the week of June 10th, 2002
order from Midheaven mailorder A testament to the power of straightforward hard rock. -UltimateMetal.com
Talk about taking it to the next level with the second album... holy goddamn. Simsalabim is a supercharged pressure valve for every iota of wall-smashing frustration that's been soaking into the earth's crust since people learned how to piss each other off. "Intense" would be a good adjective here. Continually developing, refining, and figuring out who they are, The Mushroom River Band have achieved a crushing synthesis of old-school Entombed and Powerslave-era Maiden, with a heavy streak of Motorhead right down the middle.
The Mushroom River Band are a prime example of the good that comes from stripping rock music of its opulence and building it back up with soul. Four dudes and their instruments making music with a fuckload of love, passion and all things rock'n'roll. Singer Spice exudes emotion, personality, and is one of my top five vocalists of all time. An all-out amazing release. -UltimateMetal.com
Fact is, this rules, because vocalist Spice, also singer for what is perhaps this band's only competition up there at the apex, Spiritual Beggars, sounds like John Garcia (Kyuss), and more pertinently, because they're fast and rockin', a cross between Kyuss and The Hellacopters. Pure head metal entertainment, tons of variety, tons of beer. -HardRadio.com
Imagine a better-mixed but equally raw version of Mountain. Crunchy, tuneful and real. -The Electric Basement
30-second RealAudio excerpts: Simsalabim Released the week of June 24th, 2002
order from Midheaven mailorder Tony Scherr's debut solo effort, Come Around, is a collection of beautifully written, heart-wrenching rock songs. The truth of his experiences and a wide range of influences and ideas permeate the cloth of this recording; his use of strings, horns, organ, elastic tempos and a lyrical war-worn warmth are anything but threadbare. After an adolescence spent writing and playing Beatles-influenced rock songs, Scherr developed an interest in jazz, moved to New York and began a prolific career as one of the area's most sought after jazz bassists.
Tony's separation from the pop rock of his New Haven, Connecticut, upbringing brought with it a slew of playing credits as a jazz artist: Lounge Lizards, Jesse Harris and the Ferdinandos, Bill Frisell, Sex Mob, and Slowpoke are among the list of collaborators. But while Tony flourished in the New York jazz world, a desire to write and play his own music began to tug at him - rock songs that he could identify with as his own. Although he was writing songs in his late twenties, it wasn't until he was in his thirties, he says, that he began to tell the truth in his songs with the kind of reflective lyrics and the slow rock / free music / country-tinged sounds that inhabit Come Around. Superficially, the record may seem to be a radical departure from Scherr's jazz career, but many elements of Tony's past work add to the rich arrangements and elegant time structures of the songs. The chemistry between the musicians on Come Around is a result of a longstanding history of projects completed together, and the roster is impressive: along with Tony (guitar, vocals) and Peter Scherr (string bass), Kenny Wolleson plays drums and Chris Brown mans the Hammond Organ. Steven Bernstein, Michael Blake, Briggan Krauss and Pete McGuinness provide the horns for "Stuck it Out" and Marcus Rojas, Bill Frisell, Spiro Cardemis, Kyle Kevorkian, Jenny Scheinman, and Jane Scarpantoni make guest appearances on various songs.
Recorded by Scherr at his home as part of a collection of limited-edition releases under the name Cardboard Records, Come Around resonates with an intelligence and moody stillness rarely found in rock music. Having spent most of his career in jazz, Tony Scherr's return to rock songs gives birth to a lovely, reflective, atypical style.
30-second RealAudio excerpts: Luck in Your Eye Released the week of June 24th, 2002
order from Midheaven mailorder It was Michael and Peter Giles who recruited guitarist Robert Fripp to join their band, whose inventiveness and competence as a guitarist the fraternal rhythm section found quite attractive. The Brondesbury Tapes, a unique set of domestic recordings which have languished for over thirty years in a private collection, were the swan song of this provincial trio who moved to London to seek fame and fortune with their music. The spirit of the Giles and Giles & Fripp survived, of course, and was reincarnated as the legendary King Crimson.
This is the first time that these recordings have been available on CD. They've been digitally remastered and incorporate previously unreleased material. Sleeve notes by Peter Giles are highly detailed and feature previously unpublished photographs.
While Robert Fripp is certainly a key drawing card of this title, The Giles brothers had played in no fewer than seven predominately singles bands by the time of this late '60s recording - Johnny King And The Raiders, Dave Anthony and The Rebels, The Dowland Brothers and The Soundtracks, The Sands, The Interns, Trendsetters Ltd., and The Brain.
30-second RealAudio excerpts: Hypocrite (recorded at the Beacon Royal Hotel)
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Click the titles below for details on specific new releases.
June 2002
BUTTHOLE SURFERS
COUNTRY TEASERS
GILES, GILES AND FRIPP
MUSHROOM RIVER BAND
TONY SCHERR
SONIC YOUTH
WIRE
May 2002 new releases
Coming "soon":
dates subject to change
CHEATER SLICKS
SPEEDBALL BABY
JAWBREAKER
WARLOCKS
THE COUP
SPIRITU
DON COVAY & J. LEMON BLUES
INCREDIBLE STRING BAND
INCREDIBLE STRING BAND
SOLE
The releases above and on the left (as well as over 17,000 other
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TONY SCHERR
GILES, GILES AND FRIPP
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