Salem are perhaps the arch exponents of a sound you can only describe as sinister, dark-hearted and experimental, trading as much on the atmospherics as the music itself. Album King Night is out in September (check out the marvellous cover art), and the lead off title track is just as bleak and as obtuse as you might expect. For all those ghostly leanings and haunted, … Continue reading New from Salem
We Are Country Mice released a couple of 7″ singles last year, one of which, the EP Make Your Own Damn Fun featured one of our top songs of 2009 in the stomping, infectious A Good Old Fashioned Barn Raising. So we have been waiting eagerly to see what they would be doing next. And now we know – it will be a limited edition cassette … Continue reading New from We Are Country Mice
California Shakedown comes from a new Pearl Harbor/Puro Instinct EP simply titled Puro Instinct. This track is an oh so dreamily seductive slice of icy pop, and has effortlessly wrapped MM around its little finger. We suspect the other three tracks on the EP are as equally likely to play the femme fatale and leave you a quivering jelly in no time at all. You … Continue reading Seduced by Puro Instinct
We came across The Real Burnouts Fully Involved EP as a free download (amongst many others) at the excellent Quixodelic Records. The band play a woozy, insistent blend of garage and psychedelic rock that is the equal of anything else we’ve heard in recent times – and there’s some serious competition out there. There are echoes of everything from krautrock to The Monkees to Spacemen 3 … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…The Real Burnouts
We first heard this single on Radio 6 a few weeks ago and were completely blown away by the brilliant mix of full-on old-school metal riffing and its psychedelic overtones and climax. We made an immediate note to self to track this song down at all costs. The band is Tweak Bird, brothers Caleb (guitar, vocals) and Ashton Bird (drums, vocals), natives of Carbondale, IL … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Tweak Bird
It’s hard keeping up with all the new releases and good stuff that is coming our way. Here is a quick and dirty round-up of some of the tracks that have been tickling our ears recently. The Sandwitches have been MM faves ever since we got hold of their excellent How To Make Ambient Sadcake album last year. They now have a new one-sided 12″ … Continue reading MM’s Weekend Round Up
Mathew Sawyer & The Ghosts are from North London, but frankly sound like their inspiration comes from another world, one that you and I have no experience of at all. New album How Snakes Eat was released late last month and is a startling record that demands your full attention from the very first moment. Quivering, quavering vocals, violins, a throbbing cello, guitars that flit … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Mathew Sawyer & The Ghosts
This song is simply stunning! Elf Power formed in 1994 and over the last 16 years have released ten albums, two EPs, a handful of singles, while also touring America, Europe, and Japan. The Athens, Georgia pioneers have readied their tenth studio album for release – a self-titled, dozen-song song collection cementing their place as the flagship band of the celebrated psych-rock scene, which they helped … Continue reading New (and brilliant) release from Elf Power
New Yorkers Ball Of Flame Shoot Fire defy easy classification. Having released their well received, but little heard, debut Jokeland in 2008, their sophomore full-length is due in the autumn. They’ve spent the time since playing with a range of acts such as Yeasayer, Grizzly Bear and Mates Of State, and they will also be playing Brooklyn’s Northside Festival later this month. We have a couple … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Ball Of Flame Shoot Fire
A new split cassette from Tan Dollar and Weed Diamond is out via Bathetic Records. They describe it as syrupy, sugary sweet and indeed it is, but there is more going on than just that. Sunstroke is a spaced out, echoey jam that crawls and constricts, while Asleep Forever is a little more insistent with a motorik rhythm and some blissed out vocals. Sugary, sweet, … Continue reading New Tan Dollar / Weed Diamond Split
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