Alternative

Record Label: Melodic Style: Alternative Rock

Record Label: Domino Records Style: Independent

CD pressing of 1000. Including GOAT remix by Anton Newcombe from The Brian Jonestown Massacre. As usual, the album feature some of the best acts of the underground scene on its side of the continent. The fifteen outfits taking part in the third volume - Record Label: Fuzz Club Records Style: Psychedelic Rock

The first thing the listener will notice about Ricked Wicky is that it is the most musically adept project Guided By Voices' mage Robert Pollard has undertaken in some time, at least since late period-GBV (Half-Smiles of the Decomposed, for instance), or even Boston Spaceships. "[Ricked Wicky] is a sophisticated arena rock band," says Pollard, and I Sell The Circus offers in evidence a series of ball-peen hammers to the brain-pan ("Piss Face" with its James Gang-era slide guitar and the proto-punk stomp of "Intellectual Types," for example) alongside more delicate, prog-tinged frippery ("Cow-Headed Moon" features "Court of the Crimson King"-esque mellotron, while the acoustic guitar mastery displayed on "Even Today and Tomorrow" recalls the mellow-era ELP of "Lucky Man"). Credit the players: bolstering the easy mastery of a dizzying array of song writing forms one naturally expects (and receives) from Pollard are the impressive instrumental prowess of fellow Daytonian Nick Mitchell ("no blood relation to Mitch," Pollard stresses), who can otherwise be found in near-weekly performance at Wings, an important Dayton sports bar, multi-instrumentalist and producer Todd Tobias, and "the worldly Kevin March," (Pollard again) who does double duty these days in Guided By Voices. These guys can play, and on I Sell The Circus, they play the fuck out of the songs. "The band named Ricked Wicky is significant in that it is the very first name I created for a non-existent band in my early teens," explains Pollard. Fourteen of its fifteen tracks were recorded at Cyberteknics in Dayton, a studio Pollard has come to use with increasing frequency due to its profusion of vintage analogue gear. Used to great effect on ISTC: "Rotten Backboards" is as gorgeous and melancholic a tune as Pollard has ever written, and lyrically sounds a note of wistfulness that long-time fans will not find unfamiliar. "She can run, 'cause that's what I did," sings Pollard over a sublimely-textured background of synth-strings, arpeggiated guitar, piano, and clattery drums, and while it's tempting to read real regret into the content ("rotten backboards" as a metaphor for the debris of the past), it's always dangerous looking for autobiography in Pollard's mostly-fictional constructions. And anyway the misty wistfulness is cleared away immediately by the sharply propulsive prime-Who swagger of the next - and final - track "A Real Stab." Which seems to be about needles, or the messengers of Oz, or paper bags. It's one of the best songs on an album of standouts. "Some may wish to refer to us as a 'super group,'" says Pollard, tongue practically poking through his cheek, but as with a lot of the pronouncements made by the oracle of Huffman Prairie, as no one has ever called him or ever will, he's joking, but he's not joking. Ricked Wicky may not be a super group as the term is too-commonly used, but there's no real doubt they're a super group Record Label: Fire Records Style: Independent

Geelong delinquents The Living Eyes will unleash a new, 10-track slab of stompers, 'Living Large', via Agitated Records. The Living Eyes are Billy Gardner (who, not only runs the esteemed Geelong record label Antifade, but also plays in Ausmuteants and Wet Blankets amongst others.) on vocals and guitar, Mitch Campleman on guitar / vocals, bassist Dayle Herbert and drummer Nicholas Hill. Their second full-length, "Living Large," was recorded in a day-and-a-half by (Straight Arrows' front man) Owen Penglis in his (new) Sydney hideout, Goliath Professional Recording Studio. The tapes were then driven back down the Hume highway and finished off in a couple of West Geelong bedrooms before being sent off to Australia's mixing master, Mikey Young. Taking their cues from the likes of The Easybeats, The Hoodoo Gurus, The Saints and The Hard Ons, The Living Eyes stand true to the vitriolic punk brash and sharp garage crunch of their s/t debut (2013, Antifade Records) whilst crafting some DAMN SWEET power-pop hooks. The Living Eyes are iving Large' with feral wallaby beat to make you pick up your feet and a shake you just can't shake! For Fans Of: Jay Reatard, Citadel Records, The Kinks, Waterfront Records, The Ramones, In The Red Records, High Voltage AC /DC Record Label: Agitated Style: Garage Rock

Iron And Wine's Archive Series Volume No. 1' is the first in a series - Sam Beam will be gathering otherwise unreleased home recordings, covers, live sets, and curiosities from his entire career as Iron And Wine and releasing them on his own label - Black Cricket Recording Co. ! ! This first release taps into a set of songs created before Sam was Iron And Wine, when he was making music without the public in mind. The songs on olume No. 1' came to life at the same time as those selected for Iron And Wine's debut album,' The Creek Drank The Cradle' (Sub Pop, 2002, 197K Sales To- Date). Performed and recorded at home on a 4-track cassette - the songs on Creek' were only 11 of the many crafted by Sam prior to his debut. Some of this material has been widely bootlegged, but has never received a wide-spread or proper release.! ! 'Archive Series Volume No. 1' collects 16 of these unreleased early home recordings for the first time.! ! This initial chapter in the rchive Series' has been digitally transferred from the original cassettes and packaged in gatefold artwork featuring the Bird of Paradise Quilt (licensed from the American Folk Art Museum). Record Label: Black Cricket Style: Independent

Growing up. As a prospect it can be terrifying, sad, and worst of all, inevitable. But on I Want to Grow Up, her second album for Hardly Art, Colleen Green lets us know that we don't have to go it alone. This latest collection of songs follows a newly 30-year-old Green as she carefully navigates a minefield of emotion. Her firm belief in true love is challenged by the inner turmoil caused by entering modern adulthood, but that doesn't mean that her faith is defeated. With a nod to her heroes, sentimental SoCal punks The Descendents, Green too wonders what it will be like when she gets old. Throughout songs such as "Some People," "Deeper Than Love," and the illustrative title track, the listener has no choice but to feel the sympathetic growing pains of revelatory maturation and the anxieties that come along with it. Sonically the album is a major change for the LA-based songwriter, who has come to be known for her homemade recordings and merchandise. Her past offerings have been purely Green; testaments to her self-sufficiency and, perhaps, trepidation. This time, she's got a little help from her friends: the full band heard here includes JEFF the Brotherhood's Jake Orrall and Diarrhea Planet's Casey Weissbuch, who collaborated with Green over ten days at Sputnik Sound in Nashville, TN. I Want to Grow Up is an experience, not unlike life: questioning, learning, taking risks. And in true CG fashion, a quote from a beloved 90s film seems the perfect summation: "Understanding is reached only after confrontation. Record Label: Hardly Art Style: Independent

Record Label: Prophecy Productions Style: Metal

Christoph Genz (tenor), Egbert Junghanns (bass), Andreas Scheibner (bass), Christiane Oelze (soprano), Annette Markert (alto), Sylke Schwab (soprano), Hans-Jürgen Richter (tenor) Hallenser Madrigalisten & Virtuosi Saxoniae , Ludwig Güttler

Downloadcode / 180g / Ltd / Poster / coloured vinyl. Experimental British rockers The Pop Group have announced their first new album in 35 years. Entitled Citizen Zombie, it’s due out on February 25th, 2015 via Freaks R US, the same label that recently reissued two of the Group’s compilation albums, We Are Time and Cabinet of Curiosities. The 11-track effort is the band’s first LP since reuniting in 2010 and is the follow-up to 1980’s For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?. It was recorded over the course of two years by all four original Pop Group members, who collaborated with Grammy-winning producer Paul Epworth (Coldplay, Adele, Florence and the Machine). While the pop specialist Epworth may seem like a strange choice for the band, who are known fusing elements of post-punk, funk, dub, and free jazz, it turns out they’re all mutual admirers who found quite a bit of in-studio chemistry. “From his work with Phones [Epworth’s early solo project] onwards, I’ve loved his work and think he’s one of the world’s best producers,” singer Mark Stewart said in a statement (via Rolling Stone). “He gave us the freedom to create and, with his help, destiny rides again for The Pop Group.” Epworth, meanwhile, hailed the group’s recording process, explaining, “The energy is still there, the ideas are still there, it still fizzes with a life that most young bands just don’t have.” Record Label: Freaks R Us Style: Alternative Rock

JACKED HEAVY PAPER, + FREE CD + PRINTED INNERSLEEVE. This is Blues Power with a northern German approach, formed 2004 in Cologne as a Trio (Drums,Guitar,Bass) then shrinked down to a Duo, Hound Dog Taylor, Howlin'Wolf and North Mississippi Hill Country Blues mixed up with Gospel and Raw Power Blues Punk made in Germany... may this sound strange to you ? It did to us as well but then listening to the music of those pimps..howeeeee!!!! This is as authentic and powerful as it gets, for that album they went to Italy's famous Outside Inside Studio and in just 2 Days they recorded that album together with Mat Brodin, that is plane fantastic! The recordings are more up to date as the 2 first albums on Voodoo Rhythm (2008 - Boogie the House Down; 2011 - Boogie the Church Down). They toured and shared countless stages with bigger and smaller names in the Blues And Trash Business, please welcome the Juke Joint Pimps: Mighty Mike on the Drums and Harp and T-Man on the guitar. Record Label: Voodoo Rhythm Style: Garage Rock

Erik Hall worked patiently and solitarily for four years to craft Driver, his sophomore album as In Tall Buildings. The album comes twenty years after Hall originally fell in love with home recording at age 13 - the year he got his hands on his first multi-track recorder. As a multi-instrumentalist and producer Hall eventually went on to record and tour with several groups, including old friends His Name is Alive and, more recently, dream-pop duo Wild Belle, performing the rhythm section tracks and lending an engineering hand to their Columbia Records debut. In stark contrast to the dense polyrhythms echoed by his former group NOMO's albums, Driver uses a relatively simple palette to create spacious pop songs, leaving plenty of room for Hall's often Peter Gabriel-esque vocals to shine. The music is powerful in it's restrained simplicity, and a compelling foil to the haunting gravity of his vocal performance. Never rushed, his melodies deliver elliptical lyrics that manage to feel intimate, while retaining a sense of mystery. Fortunately, the album's melancholic vibe is relatable, rather than moping or histrionic, and ultimately these songs are incredibly inviting and comforting Record Label: Western Vinyl Style: Independent

Having lived, worked, and created in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood for over a decade, native Texan Travis Johnson has felt the direct impact of the growth and dissolution that comes with rapid gentrification. His band Grooms practiced, and recorded at Brooklyn's Death By Audio for seven years before they were forced out of their spiritual and literal home in November 2014 when DBA shut its doors. With the band's income not providing enough money to support any of it's members, bass player and co-writer Emily Ambruso went on hiatus from the band, leaving Johnson as the only original member. Despite these unfortunate blows, Johnson soldiered on, soon recruiting Jay Heiselmann on bass, and actor/comedian Steve Levine on drums. Unlike their previous album Infinity Caller (which Speedy Ortiz's Sadie Dupuis called "...an exercise in explosion and restraint hallmarked by sweeping guitars, stuttery drums, and cryptic, airy vocals...") Comb... brings the band's rhythm section to the fore, and Johnson's trademark guitar stylings often take a backseat to his psychedelic sample-collages and ambient electronics. Fortunately the new approach works, balancing pop structures with masterful experimental production that shifts in tone and color in harmony with Johnson's tales of acceptance, loneliness, and impotent violence. Record Label: Western Vinyl Style: Independent

7" comes with MP3 coupon. "flatiron" and "stick up jack" are the first new tracks in nearly two decades by Australian outsider-rock legends feedtime. After reforming and touring in support of the Aberrant years, 2012's box-set collection of feedtime's early material, the band couldn't help but bang out a couple of new songs. "flatiron" is a shuffling blues-punk thumper that stands up to the most classic feedtime songs, and "stick up jack" is an uptempo one-chord wonder akin to Wire playing a cowboy bar. Both tracks were recorded by Mikey Young (Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring) in 2014. Record Label: Sub Pop Style: Alternative Rock

Surprise, surprise: Before releasing Pollyester’s „City of O.“ end of January, Schamoni Musik and Disko B start into the new year with a four song EP by this bands keyboarder Beni Brachtel aka Bartellow and singer Amir Sufi aka Amos. The two of them work together as COLUMBUS and their EP doesn’t even need a title. The music in itself is the message, nothing else needed. Record Label: Schamoni Style: Electro

2 postcards / Digipack. Experimental British rockers The Pop Group have announced their first new album in 35 years. Entitled Citizen Zombie, it’s due out on February 25th, 2015 via Freaks R US, the same label that recently reissued two of the Group’s compilation albums, We Are Time and Cabinet of Curiosities. The 11-track effort is the band’s first LP since reuniting in 2010 and is the follow-up to 1980’s For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?. It was recorded over the course of two years by all four original Pop Group members, who collaborated with Grammy-winning producer Paul Epworth (Coldplay, Adele, Florence and the Machine). While the pop specialist Epworth may seem like a strange choice for the band, who are known fusing elements of post-punk, funk, dub, and free jazz, it turns out they’re all mutual admirers who found quite a bit of in-studio chemistry. “From his work with Phones [Epworth’s early solo project] onwards, I’ve loved his work and think he’s one of the world’s best producers,” singer Mark Stewart said in a statement (via Rolling Stone). “He gave us the freedom to create and, with his help, destiny rides again for The Pop Group.” Epworth, meanwhile, hailed the group’s recording process, explaining, “The energy is still there, the ideas are still there, it still fizzes with a life that most young bands just don’t have.” Record Label: Freaks R Us Style: Alternative Rock

Exquisite Electronica. Longplay-debut of the Berliner DJ and producer Record Label: Lenient Tales Style: Electronica

CD: COMES IN DOUBLE GATEFOLD COVER INCL 12 SIDED BOOKLET. This is Blues Power with a northern German approach, formed 2004 in Cologne as a Trio (Drums,Guitar,Bass) then shrinked down to a Duo, Hound Dog Taylor, Howlin'Wolf and North Mississippi Hill Country Blues mixed up with Gospel and Raw Power Blues Punk made in Germany... may this sound strange to you ? It did to us as well but then listening to the music of those pimps..howeeeee!!!! This is as authentic and powerful as it gets, for that album they went to Italy's famous Outside Inside Studio and in just 2 Days they recorded that album together with Mat Brodin, that is plane fantastic! The recordings are more up to date as the 2 first albums on Voodoo Rhythm (2008 - Boogie the House Down; 2011 - Boogie the Church Down). They toured and shared countless stages with bigger and smaller names in the Blues And Trash Business, please welcome the Juke Joint Pimps: Mighty Mike on the Drums and Harp and T-Man on the guitar. Record Label: Voodoo Rhythm Style: Garage Rock

Erik Hall worked patiently and solitarily for four years to craft Driver, his sophomore album as In Tall Buildings. The album comes twenty years after Hall originally fell in love with home recording at age 13 - the year he got his hands on his first multi-track recorder. As a multi-instrumentalist and producer Hall eventually went on to record and tour with several groups, including old friends His Name is Alive and, more recently, dream-pop duo Wild Belle, performing the rhythm section tracks and lending an engineering hand to their Columbia Records debut. In stark contrast to the dense polyrhythms echoed by his former group NOMO's albums, Driver uses a relatively simple palette to create spacious pop songs, leaving plenty of room for Hall's often Peter Gabriel-esque vocals to shine. The music is powerful in it's restrained simplicity, and a compelling foil to the haunting gravity of his vocal performance. Never rushed, his melodies deliver elliptical lyrics that manage to feel intimate, while retaining a sense of mystery. Fortunately, the album's melancholic vibe is relatable, rather than moping or histrionic, and ultimately these songs are incredibly inviting and comforting Record Label: Western Vinyl Style: Independent

Having lived, worked, and created in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood for over a decade, native Texan Travis Johnson has felt the direct impact of the growth and dissolution that comes with rapid gentrification. His band Grooms practiced, and recorded at Brooklyn's Death By Audio for seven years before they were forced out of their spiritual and literal home in November 2014 when DBA shut its doors. With the band's income not providing enough money to support any of it's members, bass player and co-writer Emily Ambruso went on hiatus from the band, leaving Johnson as the only original member. Despite these unfortunate blows, Johnson soldiered on, soon recruiting Jay Heiselmann on bass, and actor/comedian Steve Levine on drums. Unlike their previous album Infinity Caller (which Speedy Ortiz's Sadie Dupuis called "...an exercise in explosion and restraint hallmarked by sweeping guitars, stuttery drums, and cryptic, airy vocals...") Comb... brings the band's rhythm section to the fore, and Johnson's trademark guitar stylings often take a backseat to his psychedelic sample-collages and ambient electronics. Fortunately the new approach works, balancing pop structures with masterful experimental production that shifts in tone and color in harmony with Johnson's tales of acceptance, loneliness, and impotent violence. Record Label: Western Vinyl Style: Independent