SLINKY X “Darn.” (Drug Party / Wiener Records)

Gosh, I remember when I used to listen to the Dandy Warhols ALL THE TIME, like “Dandy’s Rule OK” and “…Come Down.” “Darn” reminds me of those records, maybe a little fuzzier, but the male/female harmonies and urban grit are totally right up that alley. I can get down with Slinky X.

If you’re into big, stupid fun and fuzzy, stupid guitars, then get your act together and dig into this quartet from Buffalo. I imagine seeing them live is probably a prerequisite. Still, if you don’t feel like braving the harsh Buffalo winter, you can easily cop one of these six-song EPs in cassette tape form. Then you won’t have to feel bad about busting the Bills’ chops from the comfort of your own home.

https://slinkyx.bandcamp.com/releases

https://drugparty.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan  

HOLIDAY "Holiday" (Wiener Records, 2015)

Matthew Sweet fell through a fuzz box and hit a couple of shoegaze bands on the way. The drums are in my mouth and that synth came from somewhere in the 80s.

Driving rock beats with some seriously gorgeous male voices singing harmonic leads (presumably this is one vocalist, layered.) The fuzzed-out drums, droning organs, and urgent guitar perfectly underline these melodies. In places ("Made by Youth") there's a slightly lunatic slant to that vocal line, and the wheels feel like they might come off once in a while, as on "Weeks Collide" where the drums are threatening to blow up the player.

I'm feeling this pull, a powerful drive here. The songs may occasionally lack a center, a little bit of a style-over-substance problem peaking from around the corner. But there's enough strong material in the album's short playtime that the ebb and flow works.

Both sides start with absolute killer tracks; side 2's "Natural Calm" reminding again of Matthew Sweet, its repeat chorus of "you were here, you're dead, you missed it" laying a dark backdrop for the rest of the side.

There's a little Weezer on side 2, too, albeit with a little bit of David Lynch thrown in, a circus of sound like we might hear coming out of a radiator in a fever dream.

No harm in the obvious shout-out to us oldsters who bought cassettes when the covers looked like this, the little picture of the album cover in a box on a white background. Like finding some forgotten piece of our past in a bargain bin somebody forgot to throw in the landfill in 1991.

Highly recommended stuff here.

holidayholidayholiday.bandcamp.com/releases

-- Kingo Sleemer

FORGET ME NAUTS "Whoash" C42 (Wiener Records)

Los Angeles’ Forget Me Nauts may well be 2017’s College Radio hit-maker version of Hootie & the Blowfish…y’know, but, like, with an electro-pop anchor…and nuanced experimental explorations...taking a back seat

Both outfits manage(d) to explore a broad range of genres and moods while staying true to their fraternity core; both have an undeniable penchant for hooks and “keeping the vibe going” with straight forward jams (albeit FMN utilizes steady synthesizer melodies a bit more).

I’ve listened to this tape for a week straight now and can’t really tell whether or not I actually like it, but I’m fairly certain that a considerable swath of pop-minded folx will eat this shit up. Is this you? Click the links below to find out.

https://forgetmenauts.bandcamp.com/
and
http://wienerrecords.org/

-- Jacob An Kittenplan

SUN VALLEY GUN CLUB "Self Titled" C38 (Wiener Records)

I remember first hearing of Wilco’s gradual shift into mediocrity verbalized as “they’re playing ‘Dad-Rock’now.” Man, I really used to love me some Wilco. ‘Summer Teeth’ and ‘Being Here’ are stalwart go-to’s for any roadside picnic accompaniment, and ‘A Ghost Is Born’ remains to be (admittedly nostalgically) a masterful blending of grittier Alt-Country and the labored compositional dynamics of forward thinking the Indie Rock I was anticipating when I heard that not only Glenn Kotche was on board full time, but Nels Fucking Cline was going to be contributing, too! Oh, how ‘Sky Blue Sky’ just broke my widdle hawt. ‘Dad-Rock’ was born.

So, here we are, ten years later. The smoke as cleared. Lessons have been learned, though, arguably, not by Jeff Tweedy. Instead, the gauntlet was dug up by Oakland’s SUN VALLEY GUN CLUB, a near carbon-copy of what COULD have been. Maybe SVGC are ‘Hipster Uncle Rock’? They’ve got all AGIB’s tones, vocals, drive, dynamic shifts, and breakneck key changes, plus a li’l extra saucy-swagger. They’re catchy as fuck, but mindful to not be too predictably sweet, via artful modulation that keeps it interesting and not just another Indie rock record for the masses.

https://sunvalleygunclub.bandcamp.com/
and/or
http://www.wienerrecords.org/

-- Jacob An Kittenplan

JO KUSY “Sky Ridin’/Strange Dream” C60 (Wiener Records)

My old boss said he was fined for renting out his SF garage to someone for use as a bedroom. Bay Area rent has been bat-shit bananananas for a good while now. Thus the trend of all these lo-fi bedroom/psychy-garage tape releases sneaking onto the upper shelves of underground record stores. Jo Kusy’s Pennsylvania offering is no exception, with pre- ‘80s groove for days.

The Wiener Records, fittingly, is a subsidiary of Burger Records (a garage rock mainstay), whereby you can pay them (Wiener) to put out your tape under their label and they’ll distribute a percentage from their online store. This JK sounds like he coulda made the Burger roster on merit alone, but chose a more laissez-faire route. At times, I hear a delightful nod to the Boss’s “Nebraska” album, but, y’know, with lotsa guitar pedals.

https://jokusy.bandcamp.com/album/sky-ridin-strange-dream

and/or

http://www.wienerrecords.org/

- - Jacob An Kittenplan

DARKWING “Lameonia” C24 (Wiener Records)

There’s a circle-pit, with borderline aggressive push-moshing a few yards ahead and the sweaty shirtless guy that keeps spilling his tall boy all over my right arm is now lurching back and forth, taking a respite from the maddening clip to pseudo-headbang with his curve-billed trucker hat.

The band has changed it up, again, and the soggy teenagers are looking around sheepishly, having no racing pulse to high-knee skip along to for the time being. Then the goddamn bass-line kicks in and they go hog wild. This is the heaviest and most diverse I’ve ever head pop-punk get and I guess I’ll stick around to the end and see if they don’t toss in a 70’s hair-metal cover for shits and giggles.

http://darkwingdarkwing.bandcamp.com/

and/or

http://www.wienerrecords.org/

- - Jacob An Kittenplan

FITNESS “Fitness” C15 (Wiener Records)

I’ve had two distinct reactions to this self-titled EP by Fitness. Before I break it down, I should clarify – I’m into it. Yeah, I like it, a grungy guitar-led throwback to the late 1980s and early 1990s when everybody could get away with looking like Jimmi Simpson on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (seriously, the one guy in the band looks like him). This style’s not usually my bag anymore – it was in high school, but that was ages ago. I’m old.

My initial reaction wasn’t, “Yeah, I’m into it.” It was, “Holy crap, what is this awesome sound?” Because the double-guitar strangulation of “SSRI” leads off the tape, easily recalling a psychic mashup of Drive Like Jehu and early Dinosaur Jr. I was thrilled, like, I haven’t heard American hardcore bordering on that type of accessibility in who knows how long. Everybody: “SSRI” is a super awesome song. Listen to it.

But then “YEAH, this is cool!” becomes “YEA…oh, uh, yeah – that sounds like Descendents and Dead Milkmen doing something together. That’s still OK, I guess.” That’s “Good Company.” But then “Julie” sounds like Weezer. WTF, you guys.

It’s not bad, it’s just that when there’s so much promise in a leadoff track like “SSRI,” it’s disappointing when it’s not followed up in the same way. That’s my second reaction.

Then I blew through side B, and more bile is expelled from the infernal depths on “NES” (thank you!) although it’s still a bit Weezerish for my liking. “Fitness” is back in Drive Like Jehu land. “Moon” is super Weezery. Tape, end.

Maybe I’m just being too picky, because Fitness the tape is fine for the most part. Fitness (the band) seems to be much more interested in jamming middle fingers in faces everywhere, so maybe they perform around their native Chicago with much more reckless abandon on stage than Weezer ever would. I sure hope so. They sound like a bunch of guys who are ready to melt faces if it ever totally comes together. This is a promising start.

http://fitnesschicago.bandcamp.com/releases

http://www.wienerrecords.org/

--Ryan Masteller

BOMBAY HARAMBEE “Wolfman Fellowship” (Wiener Records)

I can’t imagine anything remotely interesting happens in Little Rock, Arkansas – it may be the capital of the state that rhymes with Kansas (wait, it doesn’t?), but c’mon, who’s it kidding? Arkansas’s too far west to be a southern state and too far south to be Midwestern, so it has no discernible cultural identity that I can think of. I’ll tell you one thing though – it’s the state that Missouri’s butt touches. That’s all you need to know. You’re welcome.

Bombay Harambee is from Little Rock. They’re probably the most exciting thing to come out of the city in decades, and they’re a four-piece indie rock band indebted heavily to the Pixies. (Who wasn’t though? I’ve been in band’s exclusively indebted to the Pixies.) And while they don’t necessarily sound like the Pixies (thank goodness they don’t come off as a “cover” band of sorts), the elements are there – the crunchy guitar, the quick pace, the tongues in cheek, etc. Two of the guys have beards. One of the beards is super long and bushy.

This tape is a “hodgepodge of tracks recorded for the You Know Better EP and forthcoming Goldmine LP,” and it’s fun while it lasts. Your tolerance for straightforward and mildly quirky indie rock certainly must be taken into consideration before listening, and needle of my indie rock dial sort of hovers in the middle depending on my mood. (For those not understanding my strained metaphors, I get a kick out of this stuff sometimes.) I like the shorthand and/or quirky titles, like “BLVD,” “BRKN HND,” “Oh, IDK,” and “$Millionaire.” Side A, track one “CCCM” gets a thumbs up in my book for reminding me of this song from the great film The American Astronaut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDqQRuY-Voo

Yeah!

So get it together and get yerself this tape if this here’s yer thing. It’s the music that brings us together, isn’t it? That’s what “harambee” means, anyway – “Let’s pull together,” in Swahili, a popular Kenyan idea of coming together as a community, one which has been appropriated by many organizations working for peace and harmony in the world. Bombay Harambee’s doing that too, in their own special and local way. From Little Rock. Then why “Bombay”? ’Cause it rhymes, jackwad.

www.bombayharambee.bandcamp.com/album/wolfman-fellowship

www.wienerrecords.org

--Ryan Masteller

GANGBANG GORDON "I'm Not A Musician" (Wiener Records)

Was this recorded in Neptune's Kingdom?  The underwateriest seaweed murk, prematurely rotten vocal chords, with zest of the man who wishes to recreate all of K records through a tinfoil harmonica and gross braces, by himself because no one in high school likes his music.  Recorded in a shed or barn no doubt, slime, flowering, undead, cute??

Layers of enthusiasm and disappointment.

if you want it