When Garage Punk four-piece Flesh Panthers dropped their first two releases last year—a seven-inch on Tall Pat and a self-titled cassette on Dumpster Tapes—they sounded like a group of kids looking for the kind of fun that’s hard to tell from trouble. And in case the ragtag, deranged shrieks and squeals of the band’s guitars didn’t make it obvious enough, front man Ryan Zombotron doubled down with his lyrics: on “Bleed Black Leather” from Flesh Panthers, he half screams, “I just wanna stay high forever.”
Zombotron says those recordings are faithful to Flesh Panthers‘ anything-can-happen live sets, but that for their full-length debut the band wanted to try something different. They went into the studio intending to mess with their sound, and they had a field day with noise boxes and the tape head of an old reel-to-reel player, among other gadgets. NGC 2632 puts a psychedelic spin on their messy punk punches: the woozy “Teethe” cleans up some of the band’s sonic muck and dials down the pace, but keeps their noisy euphoria intact.
Zombotron wrote the new album’s lyrics by drawing inspiration from a list of about 100 words and phrases—”flies,” “city living,” and “linear energy,” to name a few. “There’s an insect theme in the album, but there’s also a mysticism that has to do with the planets and stars and space,” he says. Zombotron hopes NGC 2632 is the first of many albums for Flesh Panthers: “Hopefully I can keep on putting out records and people won’t tell me to shut up.”
The songs of Flesh Panthers’ NGC 2632 swagger and sneer with unrelenting attitude, but rather than evoking anger and alienation, it’s the kind of attitude that says, “We’re here, we’re beautiful, we’re going to go wild and have another big ol’ party!” This fuzzed-out record rocks and reels, reminiscent of a mid-July major rager full of all your favorite weirdos.
Mid-tempo stompers “elevator girls” and “47 Eyeballs” allow a glimmering guitar lead to weave through the cocky snarl of vocals.
“Good-time punks, Flesh Panthers unapologetically bust down your front door with their new album, N G C 2632. At first listen, the 12 tracks embody a New York Dolls’ draw and swagger that’s much more glam than what came across on the band’s previous releases. These tracks are fully-fleshed, leaving a heightened ringing in your ears and putting a relentless stomp in your boots.”
Chicago rockers Melkbelly are as close as family thats because they are. Frontwoman Miranda Winters is married to guitarist Bart Winters, brother Liam plays bass, and they’re rounded out by chosen fam, friend and drummer James Wetzel. The detail is only relevant because it speaks to the sense of connectedness at the heart of their pure punk physicality: Debut album “Nothing Valley” shreds, as evidenced in the first few seconds of the knife-sharp opener “Off The Lot.” If experimental, messy rock ‘n’ roll is your bag, look no further.
If “Nothing Valley” were a real place, it’d be mossy, verdant, and a little bit strange.
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Melkbelly, was formed by vets of Chicago’s experimental and DIY scene champions, organized noise and thoughtful freneticism on its debut full-length, “Nothing Valley,” fusing dreamy vocal lines and cantankerous guitar racket. Its songs clang and bang in stripped-down production that highlights the band’s sharp edges; multi-faceted slabs of sound serve harmonious, such immediate songs. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that the band members’ tastes run obscure as they tell us, “bands and musicians that draw on a sense of adventure.” The quartet’s membership overlaps with several Chicago noise and experimental bands and art collectives.
An efficient one-day recording session resulted in Melkbelly’s first EP, 2014’s “Pennsylvania,” which opened the door to touring and opening slots for Speedy Ortiz, Magik Markers and Built to Spill, The Chicago Reader calling Melkbelly “one of the most exciting new sounds out of Chicago.” Next, Melkbelly got back to writing and working, recording a pair of 7-inches with Dave Vettraino at Chicago’s Public House where it had made its first recordings ever for Public House’s Digital Singles Series and a Public House compilation tape. The sessions gave the band a chance to deepen its collaboration with Vettraino.
Miranda writes most of Melkbelly’s tunes on guitar and brings them to the band who puts them through the ringer, where they morph into a Melkbelly arrangement. Often, however, the band will take a guitar riff or two from an open jam recorded at practice and spin it into a song. “Nothing Valley” was recorded in early 2016 in Vettraino’s basement studio to 8-track analog tape. Fresh off a West Coast tour, the band let the hours on the road and missed art tourism opportunities at Spiral Jetty shape the songs as well as the recording process itself, writing half the album material in the studio. “Nothing Valley” breezes gust fresh and forcefully.
Ratboys have always been a good band. But, with GN,they became a great one. The way in which they blend alt-country with buzzy, borderline pop-punk shouldn’t work, but it totally does. Julia sings and plays guitar Dave does everything else. I didn’t think it was possible to top their debut album, but their growth is hard to ignore on their second release. This album peels off its layers bit by bit with every listen. Ratboys combines folksy roots, guitar rifts, and uncommon lyricism with a mesmerizing lead. Among one of my favorite albums of the year, easily
Since Jason Molina‘s death in 2013, there have been some memorable and intimate releases. In 2016, SecretlyCanadian released The Townes Van Zandt Covers (I’ll Be Here In the Morning/Tower Song). It came as no surprise that Molina should be drawn to these songs. His melancholic sad tones seemed well suited to those Townes songs who, like Molina, also battled with alcoholism.
The latest offering from Secretly Canadian may be a less obvious connection – The Black Sabbath Covers 7″. Although Molina was in the punk band Spineriders in the late ’80s and early ’90s this isn’t a return to those days, instead, the two tracks Solitude and Snowblind were recorded in the late ’90s, with just voice and acoustic guitar. He makes them both his own although they are no sooner started then they’re over – combined they come in at just under 3:30 minutes but this does allow the b-side to be adorned with an etching of a black ram by the brilliant Rhode Island artist and musician William Schaff.
When Jason Molina took on another artist’s song, he willed his own universe into it, his own personal and artistic mythology. Be it Conway Twitty or Townes Van Zandt, their blues were infused with Molina’s own entrancing blues. This pair of newly discovered, home-recorded Black Sabbath covers is no different. Molina, a through-and-through fan of metal (seek out his high school metal band the Spineriders‘ album if you haven’t yet) peels back the sinister and stoned elements of Sabbath, zeroing in on the loneliness and brooding. He takes “Solitude,” from 1971’s unfuckwithable Master of Reality — and one of Sabbath’s more mystical, near-proggy songs — and doubles down on the title. Molina extracts Ozzy Osbourne’s gorgeously cooed vocal performance and transforms it into a high and lonesome sound, a desert campfire howler. And on his cover of “Snowblind,” from 1972’s Vol. 4, it becomes obvious what a guitar hero Sabbath’s Tony Iommi was for Molina.
Like free things? Well you’re in luck because you can get the latest Polyvinyl sampler absolutely free with any order!
Featuring great new music from Alvvays,Generationals, Hazel English, Mister Heavenly,White Reaper, Xiu Xiu, and more, plus incredible artwork by our friend Jerrod Landon Porter!
With over 300 releases from more than 100 artists, Polyvinyl Records has been releasing music independently since 1996 – home to artists such as of Montreal, Deerhoof, American Football, STRFKR and more.
Shout out to our new friend Sean Congdon for helping us come up with a name
we’ve entered a new month and you know what the means: two more tracks from Sweet ’17 Singles. Listen to “With You” and “Just Because” . These Chicago garage-rockers Twin Peaks are currently releasing music as part of their ‘Sweet ’17’ singles club.
The idea is to launch a new single every month until the end of the year and since we’re near the end of the year, that means that there’s only a couple of tracks to fit in before the end of 2017. So for the month of November – the penultimate stop on their quest – they’ve released ‘With You’ and a B-side, ‘Just Because’.
‘With You’ is a jangly, summery number with a few quips and dark lyrics embedded in there for good measure (“you’re just so ruthless, you’re just what I need”). Meanwhile, ‘Just Because’ features drum machines and wolf whistling among its hazy stomp.
Earlier in the year, Twin Peaks also released a track for Amazon’s Songs of Summer playlist, ‘Who It’s Gonna Be’.
A sampling of our 2017 releases to stream (or download for ONE MEASLY DOLLAR!) ~ More great stuff packed up for 2018, so be sure to subscribe to our newsletter over at: troubleinmindrecs.com
I’ve always admired Cheap Trick. First of all, they didn’t look like any other band. They had two bonafide looking rock stars in lead singer Robin Zander and bassist Tom Peterson. Their great guitar player Rick Nielsen looked like a Leo Gorcey from the old Bowery Boys films and the drummer Bun E Carlos looked like an old uncle you would have somewhere.
They were a hard-working band from Rockford Illinois in the mid-70s. None of their first three albums made it in the top 40 but they did have a single to chart…a single off their third album “Heaven Tonight” was the first to chart in America…“Surrender” (Studio Version) peaked at #61 in 1978. They were not getting any traction in America but in Japan, they were getting huge.
They toured Japan in 1978 with a Beatlemania atmosphere and played at Budakon and recorded a live album there. “Cheap Trick at Budakon” is what finally broke them in America in 1979.
They never had that milestone studio album that really marked their career like some bands but they made enough good music to be remembered. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
Cheap Trick have never stopped. Since 1974, those familiar faces — drummer Bun E. Carlos, guitarist RickNielsen, bassist Tom Petersson and singer Robin Zander — have become part of rock ‘n’ roll’s fabric and a pop-culture staple.
Cheap Trick is an American rock ‘n’ roll institution.
Formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1973, they were grouped with the era’s reigning arena-rock kingpins by the time they went multi-platinum with the landmark live album, Cheap Trick At Budokan, in 1979. But the band always had an acerbic, sneakily subversive edge lurking beneath their larger-than-life, cartoonish persona. They might have shared a producer with Aerosmith in the ’70s, but Cheap Trick felt closer to punk. Dig deep into their catalogue and you’ll find songs about serial killers, suicide, middle-aged pedophiles, pot-smoking parents, and other darkly comic snapshots from the underbelly of Middle America.
The band’s main songwriter is guitarist Rick Nielsen, whose dweeby stage clothes and knowingly ridiculous performance gimmicks — the multi-neck guitars, the dozens upon dozens of tossed-off picks are complemented by a deeply sarcastic sense of humour and an unmatched ability to chronicle suburban kinkiness. His songs are a big reason why Cheap Trick remains a common touchstone for a wide range of artists who would never otherwise commingle. Unlike so many other bands that have broken up, reunited, cashed in, traded up, fell apart and reunited again, CheapTrick have just always been there — whether they sell millions of albums or struggle to dent the charts, and delivering great live shows all the while. Few, if any, other bands have that kind of track record, and its most dedicated fans have stuck by the group though its massive arena gigs and even the small club shows.
Cheap Trick’s recorded legacy is full of genius-level highs and somewhat embarrassing lows. Thankfully, the ups outweigh the downs for Rockford, Ill.’s most famous export. From that first album in 1977, right up through 2009’s The Latest, the band has continued to deliver high-energy rock ‘n’ roll songs stocked full of melody, anger, sweetness, absurdity, cleverness and, most of all, great hooks.
As we look through the highlights of their recorded works, Cheap Trick’s the albums uncover a long and fruitful legacy. sticking to just their studio albums for the moment discounting their best selling album, 1979’s “Live At Budokhan”. So many gems from their vast catalogue.
In Another World (2021)
Rick Neilsen says The more I hear it, the more I like it. When you’re doing it, I don’t compare it to this or that unless it’s a direct steal from somebody or a direct steal from ourselves. We started it on Big Machine, and then as we were doing it, BMG Records wanted it. What’s this, record companies clamouring over us? We’ve been around so long, we’re never going to be the next new thing. We don’t know how to dance. We’d lose on American Idol or any of those shows. We’d never make it. But, they get what we do. There was no interference.
I like the rock stuff. “Summer Looks Good On You,” that’s a fun one. I like “Boys & Girls & Rock ‘n’ Roll.” They’re all kind of different.
I think we’re respected because we never gave up. We made every mistake there is — we’ve had success, we’ve had failure, but we keep going. To me, that’s success, the fact that we’ve done 6,000 shows and played seven nights a week, for no money, in awful places. But we always believe in ourselves. In Another World is out via BMG Records on April 9th.
Cheap Trick At Budokan (1979)
Rick Nielsen: We were starting to get some popularity because of playing with Queen and Kiss, the tours in ’77. When we played with Queen, we opened up two of the shows in Milwaukee and Madison. I think Thin Lizzy was supposed to open for them, but I’m glad they didn’t because we got the chance to open for them. The Japanese press were there for Queen, because they were huge there. But the Japanese press liked us, too. After the show, they asked me to write an article, what’s it like to tour with Queen. I’m so full of crap, I’ll write anything. What do I know? We used to make fun of every band, and Queen was one of them. But we didn’t on those two nights.
After I wrote the article, it came out in Japan and we started getting fan mail. And there were caricatures of ourselves in the Japanese magazines. We were kind of easy to draw funny. And then we had a number one hit with “Clock Strikes Ten.” And it’s like, only in Japan! Holy cow, what a great place. And then we started getting more and more fan mail. We hadn’t even been there. But I thought they were the smartest country on Earth.
So, in ’78, around the “Heaven Tonight” record, we went there, and it was like Beatlemania for us. They loved Cheap Trick! We flew coach from Chicago, and here were 5,000 kids when we landed. I thought, “Who in the heck’s on this plane?” We were in the back of the plane, a little late getting off. They were standing on top of the terminal screaming, and it’s like, “Wow, gee, careful there.” After we go through customs, the security people put us in these taxi cabs, and all these taxi cabs chased us from the airport all the way to where our hotel was. People were screaming, hanging out the windows. It was like, “Wow, this is cool.”
At that time, it was Tom and myself in one room, and Bun E. and Rob in the other room. We were sharing rooms then, but it was better than the U.S. because we’d probably be sharing a room for four people instead of two and two.
Every show we had was sold out. We didn’t know what the Budokan was. The Budokan made us famous, but we made the Budokan famous. I think Robin said, “Here’s a song from our new album,” and it was.
‘The Doctor’ (1986)
‘The Doctor’ is the sound of a rock ‘n’ roll band completely lost in the maze of mid-’80s production (courtesy of Tony Platt). Synth-driven rhythms, castrated guitars and dated gimmickry make this the band’s nadir. It’s not even so much that the songs are terrible, but it still sounds more like a bad Cars record than Cheap Trick. After a few poor-selling albums, the band was under pressure to deliver a hit, but despite efforts, it backfired.
Having whetted appetites with not one but two increasingly well received EP’s last year, Illinois’ Trevor Sensor is set to release his debut album later this year.
As ever with Trevor Sensor it’s the heartfelt vocal and clever lyricism that shines. If the rest of the album sounds this good, it could just be one of the year’s finest and most intriguing debuts.
Creepoid is a dreamy rock band who use shoegaze and grunge to create a heavy, expansive sound. When Philadelphia foursome Creepoid (Anna and Pat Troxell, Pete Joe Urban and Sean Miller) convened last winter and recorded the EP Yellow Life Giver, they did not foresee the blog buzz coming their way. That’s not the case on the rock band’s debut LP, Horse Heaven, which features more defined melodies, intimate female-male vocals and instrumentals that burst at the seams.
Creepoid took the stage. They played as if they were reviving the grunge-filled chaos of Sonic Youth circa ’93, but with the finesse of mid-period Creation Records shoegaze acts like Swervedriver or Slowdive. The sound was full of fury, but the dual vocals of guitarist Sean Miller and bassist Anna Troxell soared like an airy wave that enveloped the listener in a blanket of sweet nothings.”
The Fat Angel Sings 