JEFF BEAM "Be Your Own Mirror"HYENA "Gehuegen"

Jeff Beam "Be Your Own Mirror

This tape was hand-delivered to my mailbox in Portland, Maine.  You should listen to the music, it's really ambitious psychedelic power pop.  It came with a note:

 For a 

FREE DOWNLOAD

of "Be Your Own Mirror" (2012) 

send an email to

JEFFERSONBEAMPLANE@GMAIL.COM

with the subject

"WORLD PEACE"

You will then receive an 

email with instructions on 

how to download

the album.

Or you can just follow this link XXX to listen or purchase a cassette or CD copy of the album.

Hyena is another band initially from Maine, but they now have their home base in Boston.  Outside, The Great Drough, their debut full length LP, is a marvel of modern (yet oh-so-classic) arranging.  The singer, Colby Nathan, vibes heavy with shattered acid folkie warble, but his tunes veer from charred orchestral dissonance to Pet Sounds glory.  The new tape, called Gehuegen, is released on Colby's Laughable Recordings.  It's as least as good as the LP, if a little sparser.  Keep on the look out for these guys the next time they tour, but be sure to hear some of the recorded music to get the full picture, as performances can often be chaotic and quite confusing.  

Gehuegen XXX

Outside, The Great Drought XXX

Laughable Recordings XXX

R. STEVIE MOORE "Ariel Pink's Picks Vol.1" (RSM Cassette Club / Laughable Recordings)

This a compilation release featuring recordings from outsider legend R. Stevie Moore's long and illustrious career. Compiled by Ariel Pink from his personal favorites, the tape starts and end's with two really enjoyable collaborations between Moore and Pink which serve as nice bookends to the tape. This tape was co-released by Colby Nathan's Laughable Recordings and the reinvigorated R. Stevie Moore Cassette Club. There were only 100 of these made (crazy huh?) so I suggest you act fast. If you miss out on a physical copy (from the label's bandcamp), you can always download the album from Moore directly (link below), but that version doesn't feature the duo tracks. While some folks might flock to this for those two collaborations (which are pretty great actually), I strongly suggest picking this up as a primer to R. Stevie Moore's vast body of work. Even if you are familiar with some of his cassettes, cdrs or records, you will surely find many tracks here that are new to you (as I surely did). The man has released a purported total of 400 albums since 1968. And is generally considered to be one of the pioneers of home recording and D.I.Y. releasing. At its best, Moore's music is as good as, if not better than, any of the mainstream 70s pop that was being created when he was in his heyday. Moore seems to be reinvigorated these days, playing shows around the country and continuing to release new music. Pink is a huge admirer of Moore and you can see where he get's a lot of his aesthetic from by listening to these cuts. A good thing never gets old.

http://laughablerecordings.bandcamp.com/releases
http://rsteviemoore.bandcamp.com/album/ariel-pinks-picks-vol-1
you might find a copy at the discogs page at some point in the future