Rock & Indie 253 Items

Radiohead weave worlds of incredible sounds, design and imagery. Lush arrangements combine with epic performances. Their album KID a imagines the scope and power of music created by a newborn child. What will you baby dream about while drifting off to these seren interpretations of Radiohead's best-loved songs.

Instead of distorted guitars and thunderous drums, we've used mellotron, glockenspiel, and chimes to highlight Tool's dreamy melodies on ROCKABYE BABY: LULLABY RENDITIONS OF TOOL. These incredibly lush lullaby versions of Tool's best known songs will captivate and engage your baby while they drift off to slumberland.

A remastered version of the very first Screaming Females album, originally self-recorded and self-released in 2006. Includes such hit singles as “Dinosaurs,” “Baby Jesus” and “Foul Mouth.” An instant classic.

Featuring an impressive pedigree including members of Bl’ast!, Good Riddance, THE Distillers, and Fast Asleep, the band picks up right where they left off on their 2020, debut LP, Brace Yourself, with a ten-song barrage of relentless, uncompromising rage, touching on topics such as religion, self-medication, and survival in a—literally and figuratively—sick society. In between playing shows with legendary acts like Quicksand, Fear, R.K.L., and Propagandhi, the band got back together with Paul Miner at Buzzbomb Studios to lay down the follow-up to their explosive debut. All in all, it is a continuation of the band’s fast and hard approach in every way, and if anything, the band is more dialed-in and focused than ever. The songs on the record come from extremely personal and often dark places for singer and lyricist Clifford Dinsmore, such as the first single, “Hanging In The Balance.” He explains, “In the time period I was fighting cancer, I was shacked up, feeling like a prisoner in my own house. Living in a semi-purgatory state, I felt like I was looking at the world from an outside view.” Of the bleak, punishing “Omen Of Despair,” guitarist Danny B simply says, “Musically and lyrically, this is where we feel Seized UP is right now.” The band also re-recorded “Forum Of Decay,” from their 2021 7”, wishing for it to be featured on the album with the laser tightness the band is now playing with after five years as a unit.

After several years of relentless travel up and down the West Coast circuit, Oakland’s Smokers has finally completed their blistering 15 song debut album The Rat That Gnawed the Rope. Inspired by favorite bands like The Stranglers, Minutemen, and early Replacements, Andy Asp (Nuisance, The Pattern), Cyrus Comisky (Black Fork, Drunk Horse), Jim Nastic (Talk is Poison, Year Future) and Omen Starr (St. James Infirmary) met up with lead engineer Phil Becker (Pins of Light) at San Francisco’s historic El Studio to put together the songs that became The Rat. The sessions progressed swiftly, and sonically define the band’s tough but thoughtful compositions. Highlight tracks include the driving ‘The Irish Tenor,’ ‘East of Oakland,’ and the reflective Covid-era song ‘The Strand.’ Fans of garage rock, East Bay punk, pub rock, and vintage street rock will find something here in this succinct, powerful collection. Smokers have played with The Avengers, Jawbreaker, Samiam, Subhumans, Murder City Devils and countless others.

Escape Forever is a signal from the past, a loose thread that pulls us from our nostalgia filled bedrooms into our present moment. Both a loving homage to teenage memories and an intense response to our current milieu. Soft Kill’s Escape Forever is thirteen raw tunes, musings and samples with Chicago artist RBTayskii as the spiritual tour guide. The record is delightfully centered around just the painful and joyful moment of creation, where guitars and melodies are supreme. Soft Kill attempts to grapple with the chaos of the world coming back to harmony, to reconcile with the past, to embrace it. A reverie on how to remain humble and intentional in an ever more complicated world. As Emerson once said we are artists because we are unsuccessful people living in an unsuccessfully realized world. Escape Forever tries to find transcendence in the knuckle bruising nightmare we came from instead of the realm of the phenomenal, praised and often overreaching. It harkens back to another era, but Escape Forever is decidedly the sound of us now. Edition of 500 copies on gold vinyl.

Must we bleed to buy a bridge? A life led punk takes a left turn to there and back again lane, and we find Soup Activists. This is St Louis’ new mutant pop, Martin Meyer’s solo studio project (and ensemble live band). Mummy What Are Flowers For?, the act’s new LP on Inscrutable Records, is punk’s gift back to pop. Friends, penpals, and mail order maniacs will all be told, a princely player with a heart of gold journeyed to Lawrence Kansas to record and rock. With Sweeping Promises, MM ignored the studio clock. SP’s Caufield Schnug behind the board and Lira Mondal in front of the mic, providing supporting vocals.

Songcraft has always been an essential part of Marty’s world (Lumpy and the Dumpers, the Wad, Cal and the Calories, Fried E/m) and special care is provided on Mummy. There’s the crackle and verve of Dolly Mixture, the slyness of Television Personalities, and the pure fun of the Freshies. The pogo is an apt dance for album openers 'Jeffrey Jarvis' and 'Boys With Plants.' Curiously dressed adolescents lay the groundwork for 'Matching Teens' and its swinging organ and crunching guitar. Lira’s singing is furiously focused and fulfilling on “The Times,” bottled fun. 'It’s a hit! It’s a hit!' These are the screams I hear each night in the Soup Activists concert audience. Let 'Some Doves Don’t' be your introduction to new wave. 'Chaos Girls' is an anthem for the apocalypse that dances dangerously in a zone of perilous joy.

Martin has worn many hats, and now we are closer to the dome than ever before with this guitar-pop project. Big, freaky-beefy, and beautiful, Soup Activists’ new LP is personal. It’s strange when you’re living the dream. We are lucky to live in this wonderful world and to have Martin Meyer making it more wonderful."—Reese Higgins (Gentle Reminder Records)

Recorded over the course of 1993-1994 in the band’s own "Acre" home studio, the Templars' debut full length, The Return Of Jacques De Molay, introduced the lo-fi DIY sound that would serve as the band's sonic signature over the coming decades. This decision was as pragmatic as it was artistic: the band having endured the loss of their previous master recordings to a failing studio/record label only a year prior. Determined to never again find themselves in that position, the Templars opted for self-recording, and the rest, as they say, is history. The Return Of Jacques De Molay has gone on to influence and inspire generations of Punk & Oi! bands worldwide. While the Templars debut album is held up as one of the the crown jewels of the band's discography, The Return Of Jacques De Molay, is something of a white whale among the fans of this very vinyl-orientated band. Outside of a few limited German pressings, The Return Of Jacques De Molay had previously only been available widely on CD—until now. TKO is proud to present the 30th Anniversary "Grandmaster" edition of The Return Of Jacques De Molay. Featuring painstakingly remastered audio, completely reworked packaging and the overall attention to detail that you've come to expect from TKO / Templecombe reissue collaborations, we can say without hesitation that this new versions presents The Return Of Jacques De Molay as it always should have been. Of course, the Templars lasting legacy arose from more than just the charm of their recordings. The Return Of Jacques De Molay crystalized the songwriting style established on the band's earlier EPs—A sound rooted in Oi! tradition, but unafraid to explore beyond that genre’s boundaries. Oi!’s familiar pro-labor / anti-bullshit approach is on full display, but songs like “The Sixties Are Over” show a willingness to go outside the lines with acoustic guitar and shockingly tuneful songwriting that few of their peers ever matched. Paired with the album's signature fuzz guitars, warmly saturated drums, and deft, melodic basslines, it’s clear why The Return Of Jacques De Molay continues to resonate after the last 30 years.

At its best, harmony duo singing can transform simple math into a magic trick. One plus one, instead of equaling two, suddenly yields an unexpected third thing. An upper-case ONE. A universal hum. A deep vibration that encompasses two different points of view. On their latest release, Every Time I Think About You, brothers Page Burkum and Jack Torrey, aka The Cactus Blossoms, once again prove themselves to be among the most adept - and instinctive – modern practitioners of the classic tradition.

All sorts of emotional colors shine through on their new album. “Something's Got A Hold On Me” is pure Saturday night two-steppin' joy, “Keep Walkin'” has a Stones-y swagger and “There She Goes” casts its romantic regret against a danceable bop beat. “Statues” is a gorgeous meditation on the weight of permanent honor, “Is It Any Wonder” weaves its pledge of enduring love through nature images, and the title track is a heart-wrencher about loss and letting go. In all, the ten beautifully open-ended songs here invite listeners in to find their own stories as they revel in the old-school melodies and harmonies.

At its best, harmony duo singing can transform simple math into a magic trick. One plus one, instead of equaling two, suddenly yields an unexpected third thing. An upper-case ONE. A universal hum. A deep vibration that encompasses two different points of view. On their latest release, Every Time I Think About You, brothers Page Burkum and Jack Torrey, aka The Cactus Blossoms, once again prove themselves to be among the most adept - and instinctive – modern practitioners of the classic tradition.

All sorts of emotional colors shine through on their new album. “Something's Got A Hold On Me” is pure Saturday night two-steppin' joy, “Keep Walkin'” has a Stones-y swagger and “There She Goes” casts its romantic regret against a danceable bop beat. “Statues” is a gorgeous meditation on the weight of permanent honor, “Is It Any Wonder” weaves its pledge of enduring love through nature images, and the title track is a heart-wrencher about loss and letting go. In all, the ten beautifully open-ended songs here invite listeners in to find their own stories as they revel in the old-school melodies and harmonies.

Recorded Live At Wembley Arena, 19th January 1991 "The Greatest British Music Weekend" Bbc1 Radio Broadcast. With Glossy Printed Inner Sleeve.

Cykle produced one album's worth of solid garage rock, and it certainly proves that the band was an enthusiastic bunch of musicians. Much closer to late 60’s garage (proto) punk than psychedelia, the album was released in 1969.

They were best known for their 1966 song "Red Rubber Ball" (written by Paul Simon) which went to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The band was discovered and managed by Brian Epstein and given the unique spelling of their name by John Lennon. The group was formed by guitarists and lead singers Don Dannemann and Tom Dawes (bass guitar), who met while studying at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. The other members were Earl Pickens on keyboards and Marty Fried on drums.

Canada's #1 all-women punk band. For the first time on vinyl, here’s the entire 1980 output by the trailblazing Dishrags quartet. Formed in 1976 in Victoria and later relocating to Vancouver, the Dishrags played Vancouver’s first-ever punk rock gig and went on to bump elbows with the Clash, the Ramones, the Avengers, and countless others. Four features 13 songs of brooding punk & early hardcore, meticulously remastered. Including their 9-song studio demo, 3-song Death in the Family EP, and 1 soundboard recording. Includes a large-size booklet with their bio, interview, photos, and gig posters—plus a cool sticker!

14 sizzlin’ surf guitar cuts recorded at the crest of the genre! Brothers Richard and Thomas Frost, more known for their work as Powder, shred through these surf-rockin’ standards – all tucked away until now!

Turning in a smoking rendition of studio guitarist Jan Davis’ “The Fugitive,” later covered by the Ventures (and much later, Laika & the Cosmonauts), they also lay down a hot version of “Opus Twist” – also by way of the Ventures, written by Tommy Allsup and J.I. Allison of the Crickets. Three other instrumentals came from the Let’s Hide Away & Dance Away With Freddy King album: “San-Ho-Zay,” “Just Pickin’,” and “Sen-Sa-Shun.” He delivers a lovely “Sleep Walk” sans Santo & Johnny’s steel guitar, and converts pianist Floyd Cramer’s “Last Date” to guitar.

Balancing out the program are live tracks from Big Al’s Gas House in neighboring Belmont, showing the emergence of British Invasion along with credible renditions of R&B warhorses “Linda Lu” and “Come On.” “Route 66” is obviously the Stones version, with Rich playing the Keith Richards guitar solo – “and ‘Roll Over Beethoven,’ you could tell it was the Beatles’ version because my guitar licks are George Harrison.”

Vividly illustrating the band’s meld of R&B and surf are the two versions of “San-Ho-Zay” – the relaxed groove in the bedroom versus the furious live rave. Lord knows what’s going on in “The Fight” – a typical set-opening/closing riff breaking up a brawl?

Though they never released even a 45, these live cuts and “Bedroom Tapes” prove without a doubt that they’d have been up to the task had the opportunity presented itself.

As subjects of a recent career spanning vault-clearing anthology, the likelihood that more old recordings by The Strange Girls might surface was an unlikely one. Thankfully it’s just what happened. Culled from leaky audience video recordings, Truly & Lyric features two Clayton Noone songs that never surfaced elsewhere. These date from around 2002 and feature the core duo of Kaaterama Morehu and Noone. Draped in artwork by Mark Anderson (Greymouth), Truly & Lyric offers another fleeting glimpse at The Strange Girls’ downcast beauty in action. Limited to 200.

Trailer Bride's 1996 self-titled record is a long-lost relic of the blooming Chapel Hill, North Carolina music scene of the '90s. Superchunk, Polvo, Archers of Loaf and other indie rock darlings were leading the town's indie rock movement while Southern Culture on the Skids were pushing the alt-country genre forward. Then comes Trailer Bride who combined both of those worlds with a gothic, lo-fi sound that centers around Melissa Swingle's atmospheric vocals and cryptic lyrics. Swingle started Trailer Bride following the demise of her band Pussy Teeth and would later go on to form the indie rock duo The Moaners with Laura King (Bat Fangs, Speed Stick), but the dark, southern sound that defines Trailer Bride's debut record provides a mystifying listening experience a quarter-century later. No Depression said it best in their 1997 review: "They're impossible to describe, but whatever you wanna call it, they sound really good." The album is available for the first time ever on vinyl for Record Store Day Black Friday 2022. This 25th anniversary edition is pressed on cloudy orange vinyl and remastered for vinyl. Limited to 1,500 copies worldwide.

Back on LP for the first time since its 1970 release! Their sole album boasts members of the Wrecking Crew along with three Motown producers, all experimenting with a commercial psychedelic sound that defined the end of an era. Sitar head-swirlers, sunny, melodic harmonies and a country folk influence all blend together to bring listeners Truth!

The 9th studio album of the band tumido features trumpet player Alex Kranabetter (Soap and Skin, Vodoo
Jürgens). For more than 20 years Tumido has been on the lookout for something new, always on the move,
focused on energy in any form, driving rhythms, powerful bass, spacey drones. Trumpet has always been a big
part of their sound universe, so it felt very natural to collaborate with a master of trumpet sounds, Alex
Kranabetter and record an album together.
Lithox - a maelstrom you can't escape, sucked in by a hypnotic bass & driving rhythms into a trance world you
don't want to leave
Dwa - a summer hit out of Hades on the slide to hell.
180° - a volcanic eruption on a lonely island - pure energy;
Dirt Rodeo - the branches of the fire tree dance with laughter, clouds of smoke cloud the senses and the landing
is a success.

Years in the making – ‘Hey, Mr. Devil' presents a Raucous Revival Tent of Fallen Rockabilly Icons, Public Access Evangelists and Hellfire Puppeteers. Limited Edition Deluxe Gatefold LP with exclusive scholarly liner notes by Alvin Lucia! Full dynamic range 2024 remasters!

"In July 2022 I was invited to open for the band Low who specifically wanted 'something weird'. I only had about 24 hours to come up with a set but decided to take up the generous offer. Recorded live to Tascam 8-track at the High-Noon Saloon in Madison, WI. Gear: Waldorf Quantum, Roland Rs202, Arturia Polybrute, Waldorf XTK, DSI Poly Evolver, and Korg Mono/Poly." - Vincent Presley (Those Poor Bastards, Zebras, Logan 5, Secret Creeps, etc). Live ambient, drone, experimental electronic. Side 2 can be played at 45rpm (how it was performed) or 33rpm (ultra slow gloom version). Hand-numbered edition of 115 copies.

“More than ever, people need to hear songwriters talk about their lives. We don’t always have to search for monster hits. We can just write about our lives and maybe that might actually work. That’s what this record is a lot of. A lot of massive songs, but also a lot of me just writing authentically and honestly about my life. Flyin symbolizes the next phase of my career. I feel like I'm flying into this chapter where I’m the best version of myself that I've ever been. Y’all better catch-up or you’re getting left behind. I’m on fire!”

What Kind of Human Have I Become is a new vehicle helmed by Matt Plunkett (Cuticles, The Trendees, etc.). Conceived as a solo endeavor, the designation got a bit blurry following an invitation to record his new songs with Stefan Neville (Pumice, etc.) at the studio he shares with Ben Holmes (Oksun Ox, etc.) in Auckland.

Once in the studio, Plunkett’s songs puffed in a wholly new way with Neville at the controls, and backing and bits from both Neville and Holmes perhaps channeling Nag and Bendie. Fans of Matt’s past and current activities will find much to rejoice in here; Avoiding The Diggy Diggy Dogs plucks three songs from the sessions. More to come in due time.

“The origin of this record is a weird one. In 2019, we had just returned from two long European tours when we decided to take a ‘little break’ from the road. You all know what happened next. That ‘little break’ turned into a couple of years and during that time Dane, our drummer, decided to quit the band and music in general (no hard feelings). Sean [Hoffman] and I had a discussion and thought about ending the band as a whole, but I knew I had to go out on my own terms. I had an ace in the hole, though. Jeff Murray, drummer from LA rippers The Shrine. I had been friends with Jeff and The Shrine’s founder, Josh Landau since our ‘Scavenger’ 7-inch came out, around 2012. We had run into them in Berlin a few months back and I knew they weren’t playing anymore. I called Josh first, ’cause asking a dude if you can take his drummer, is like asking your girlfriend’s dad if you can marry her. And Josh said ‘go for it.’ And Jeff was in.

“Honestly if he had said no, that would have been the end. I had written a ton of stuff since our last album but I had shelved most of it. I was trying too hard—basically. Eventually Sean, Jeff and I said, ‘Fuck it, let’s make a ‘Fake Live’ record—like Kiss or Slayer did. John Dwyer from Osees was opening his new studio, Discount Mirrors, and it seemed like the perfect place to record it. We settled on re-recording a bunch of old stuff while simultaneously demoing our new material, as the three of us were now starting to really get in the groove. The result is Strange Masters Vol. 1.

“These are not new songs. These are Zig Zags classics re-recorded with a ripping-ass band that’s old and angry and just wants to get on with it. We are already on to recording the next album of new songs. That one is coming soon, but in the meantime, enjoy this one…while you still can!” —Jed Maheu (guitars/vocals for Zig Zags)