London’s O.Children might be like nothing you have ever heard or seen before. Their frontman Tobi towers at 6 foot 8, but what stands out most is his booming Adams Family Lurch-esque vocals. O.Children’s heavy sound can be categorized as a post-punkish, psychedelic shoegaze that will make your insides feel like they’re being grinded to pieces inside out. You’ll hear serious nods to the likes of Bauhaus, Sisters Of Mercy, Joy Division and of course Nick Cave (who wrote the song the band took as their name). I’ve been listening to their demo CD for the past year and wonder how a little clean studio time will effect their sound. I hope not much.

Their self-titled debut full length ‘O.Children’ will be available digitally on July 12th on iTunes and physical copies here.

Preview the full-length album here. Video for O.Children’s Ruins below.

With the first wave of My Bloody Valentine reunion shows all wrapped up and a seemslikeforever gap until their North American debut at ATP New York, fans like myself away from the action are filling the void with questions like “when is the band going to release new material?” It seems, according to a recent article in the August issue of UK rag MOJO, that we’re not going to have to wait very long. Shit, we’ve already been waiting seventeen years, so what’s a couple more months or even a year?

After scooping up the MOJO Classic Album for 1991′s classic album Loveless in June, the magazine caught up with Kevin Shields who states:

We’ve an album that was half finished in the ’90s. As usual with me, basically there were periods of productivity, then nothing. We were wary that we were plodding. It seems like that from a distance but when you’re doing it it’s like a few great days then not really doing much for the rest of the week, or two weeks. We’re not doing any gigs in October-November. That’s when I’m going to try and finish it off, to be out by the end of the year in some fashion. At the moment it’s only got vocals on about two tracks. It’s mostly just guitars and the basic backing tracks.

Shields continues, dropping hints about what we can expect from the yet to be named mystery album:

It’s kind of a bit less poppy and more sort of expanded. More melodic but less poppy melodic… There’s no kind of hooky, dinky binks or anything. The main thing about it is the guitars and some of the drums are way heavier and tougher, way more kind of, ‘That’s interesting…’ A much more growling and screaming sort of sound.

Sweet. Seems ambitious to see this thing released by the end of the year, but, then again, I never really expected these reunion shows to happen after years of rumors.

[MP3]: My Bloody Valentine  ”To Here Knows When (Live)”
Live at London’s ICA; June 13, 2008

Over the years, I’ve taken my fair share of late night train rides. Getting myself and whatever else I may have with me frantically to the station and aboard the train uses up the last of the day’s energy. Once onboard and situated, there’s nothing else to do except for sitting back and enjoying the ride. In my book, there’s not a more calming and relaxing way to travel. For the time being, stresses and “to-do’s” are tucked away in bags stuffed into the overhead compartments and the next day feels just out of reach. With heavy eyes, the car’s gentle rocking gradually seduces you into slumber as the train rumbles onward into the wee hours of the night. Gazing outside, fading in and out of consciousness, the landscape takes the form of abstract streams of light flowing past like bright colors of paint streaked on a black canvas. Multiple bobs of the head soon give way to a peaceful slumber, and at some moment you wake up, always at your designated destination. Briefly the thought of staying on board and letting the train take you wherever it goes swims in and out of your mind – but reality sets in and all those “to-do’s” tucked away neatly start to make their way back into your pockets. Luckily, there’s music that can have the same effect, that’s what this is, this is music for that late night train ride to nowhere.

[MP3]: Low Motion Disco  ”The Low Murderer Is Out At Night”
Keep It Slow, Eskimo Recordings; 2008

With the original lineup, shoegaze icons My Bloody Valentine returned to the stage on Friday, June 13th for the first time in 16 years at London’s ICA. I wasn’t there, but many were and feedback was generally positive. After listening to the mp3s from their live set, I’m BEYOND stoked to see them here in the States in a few months. Amazing.

[MP3]: My Bloody Valentine  ”Only Shallow (Live)”
[MP3]: My Bloody Valentine  ”When You Sleep (Live)”
Live at London’s ICA; June 13, 2008
Get the entire set from Friday, June 13th here (setlist above)

Beat the heat (and humidity) on Sunday and come out to Music Hall of Williamsburg for this solid FRICTION bill. They have air conditioning there, right? Anicet spins between sets. Tix

A month or so ago, I mentioned that Autolux was set to release their first recording since 2004 in the form of the single, “Audience No. 2.” Well, after making the track available iTunes last week, the Los Angeles trio has decided to make the it available to download for FREE, since folks overseas were having issues getting the song. Follow the link below to download the high-quality .wav version of “Audience No. 2.” In the spirit of Radiohead’s In Rainbows you can pay what you want too. It has been well worth the wait.

No further details on Autolux’s second full-length, Transit Transit…yet.

[.WAV DOWNLOAD LINK]: Autolux  ”Audience No. 2″

Single, Self-Released; 2008

How many times have you gone to a show and see a werewolf pouring batter into a waffle iron on-stage? That shtick has been repeated time and time again, but for Aunt Dracula-sidekick Waffle Wolf that time has come to an end. Maybe he was getting too many of his coarse hairs into the waffle batter or maybe he mamed a soundguy because they were out of Aunt Jemima (waffle eating werewolves dig on Aunt Jemima, none of that Whole Foods Pure Maple Syrup shit, they live for high fructose corn syrup). I digress; I’m making myself hungry for waffles now and getting away from the point of this post, which is Philadelphia’s Aunt Dracula.

Aunt Dracula’s sound would be what Philly bands evolve into if global warming continues to raise southeastern Pennsylvania temperatures and turns the Delaware River into prime tropical beachfront. On their debut, Face Peel (produced by Jeff Zeigler, Swirlies/Relay), the Philadelphia trio crafts LSD-infused psychedelic folk à la Animal Collective infused with a heady mix of textured stuttering shoegaze guitars and tropical impulses. Songs awash in hippyish ambiguity tell tales of weirdo characters among paranoid shifts in tempo. Aunt Drac’s loyal followers, used to leaving live shows satiated, will instead have to fill up on the band’s spacey psychedelic nuggets, something I’ll take any day over waffles.

The group celebrates the release of Face Peel this Saturday at Johnny Brenda’s with an impressive lineup of local acts including Papertrigger and Hermit Thrushes.

[MP3]: Aunt Dracula  ”Mongo”

Single, Self-Released; 2008

Thanks to everyone who made it out to FRICTION last night for Pattern Is Movement, Sightings, and Fuck Buttons. Philly’s Pattern Is Movement kicked off the show with a stellar set of polyrhymic pop, warming up a soundsystem that was likely exhausted by the end of the night (much like my ears). What followed was something between a searing drone/distortion fest and club-like rave. Sightings and Fuck Buttons both fashion experimental noise in different ways, Sightings – via drums, guitar, bass, processors, and plenty of pedals, while Fuck Buttons employ mainly electronics, Fisher Price-like toys, and gadget’s I’ve never seen before. However different, both erupted from the stage last night with bigger than life sounds. Sightings tends to be more sonically violent, but still rhymically drving, crafting a primal sound that most bands wish they could do with a mouse and laptop. Fuck Buttons make you wonder how noise can be so beautiful, inducing a euphoric-like haze only to be snapped out of it by electro house beats and cutting distored vocals.

Thank you to to all three acts for playing the show along with Mercury Lounge for being such great hosts. Check out pics from the night below, on our Flickr page, and also at Self Titled who has some amazing black and white shots of Fuck Buttons.

FRICTION moves across the East River to Brooklyn for back to back shows in late May and early June at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Jump below the pics for details and stay tuned for updates!

////////UPCOMING FRICTION SHOWS////////

5/28 – DARK MEAT @ MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG
[MP3]: Dark Meat  ”Dead Man”

DARK MEAT are an Athens ensemble mixing elements of blues, punk rock, psychedelic jams, jazz and Zappa/Beefheart styled explosions. Imagine The Stooges meets Crazy Horse with killer Stax / Funeral / Marching band horns, wailing gospel-style female backing vocals, ripping guitar leads and free jazz freakouts. -Orange Twin

6/8 – THESE NEW PURITANS @ MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG
[MP3]: “Numbers”

THESE NEW PURITANS have done a lot in their brief time. This is symptomatic of a band whose identity is rooted in mystery, and which first began to emerge in the form of oddly filmed webcasts and a website splattered with cryptic writings and links to pictures of boiling water and trees speeding past car windows. -Domino

At a time when punk was the way to go and in a city where most bands were taking heavy influences from the mid-80’s hardcore scene, Washington, DC’s Black Tambourine was conceived primarily as an indie-pop group. One of the first bands to be signed to the Slumberland imprint, Black Tambourine’s sound provides a snapshot of the early American indie-pop scene in the late 80s/early 90s.

The seminal quartet of Archie Moore and Brian Nelson (later of Velocity Girl), along with vocalist Pam Berry (later of Glo-Worms, The Shapiros, and Castaway Stones) and drummer guitarist Mike Schulman (Slumberland founder) went against the grain of what was happening in their city and looked across the Atlantic to British twee and C86 groups like The Pastels, along with noisemakers Jesus and Mary Chain for inspiration. Like many shoegaze bands that followed, Black Tambourine were influenced by Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound production, predating the sounds that later caught on rather largely in the States.

Black Tambourine’s short, instrumental only “Pam’s Tan” was the band’s debut and first release on Slumberland in 1990. The group’s first official single, “Throw Aggi from the Bridge,” a track about a crush on The Pastel’s Stephen Pastel dropped in 1991. Its tracks like “Aggi” and “Can’t Explain” that really make you fall in love with Black Tambourine. Berry’s ethereal vocals wash over bouncing layers of guitar and bass lines soaked in fuzzy layers of distortion and feedback. Sweet irresistable numbers about unrequited love, crushes, and broken hearts makes for perfect rainy day listening. You’ll find yourself happily singing along “just throw her off the bridge, we both know it’s gotta be done.” Other favorites include the more downtempo/shoegaze-oriented “For Ex Lovers Only” and “Black Car,” along with the 60s pop influenced “Drown.”

After just two years together, the group called it quits in 1991. In that time span, Black Tambourine released nine singles and played only a handful of live shows. The nine released tracks along with the previously unreleased “I Was Wrong” were amassed on 1999s stellar Complete Recordings: Black Tambourine. For fans of bittersweet charming pop combined with gorgeous walls of distortion, this one’s not to be missed.

[MP3]: Black Tambourine  ”Throw Aggi Off the Bridge”
7″ Single, Audrey’s Diary; 1991

Previous “Trackback” Posts

With all the buzz about My Bloody Valentine’s live return to the US after a sixteen year hiatus, I decided to put up an accompanying post to this one from last summer. Like the last post, most tracks below are rarities, covers, remixes, live bootlegs, or tracks from the band’s early EPs. Enjoy. Happy Friday.

[MP3]: My Bloody Valentine  ”Instrumental B”
1988, Free 7″ given with first 5,000 copies of Isn’t Anything
[MP3]: Kevin Shields  ”Ikebana”
2003, Lost In Translation Soundtrack
[MP3]: My Bloody Valentine  ”Map Ref 41N 93W”
Whore: Various Artists Play Wire, WMO 2CD; 1996
[MP3]: The Pastels  ”Cycle (My Bloody Valentine Remix)”
Illuminati, Domino; 1998
[MP3]: My Bloody Valentine  ”Moon Song”
Tremelo EP, Creation; 1991
[MP3]: My Bloody Valentine  ”Emptiness Inside”
Feed Me With Your Kiss, Creation; 1988
[MP3]: My Bloody Valentine  ”Soon (live 16:12 version)”
Paradisio, Amsterdam; 4/28/1992
[MP3]: Placebo  ”Pure Morning (My Bloody Valentine Remix)”
Black-Eyed single, 724389797022; 1998