Friday, August 20, 2010

Pop Dr(((O)))nes: Episode 60

Seattle's CMR TYZ art/clothing/record label duo have a coupla new releases, and they both revolve around Vancouver bands. Dead Ghosts have a live LP (playing it next week) and Indian Wars have a new split 7" with ETMS faves Fungi Girls. The first batch of the seven inches have hand drawn art on the cover and silkscreened backs. A nice handmade touch! For those that don't know, CMR TYZ have done the artwork for singles by The Radians, Myelin Sheaths, Amber Alerts, and a ton of others. Check out their work here. If you're looking to grab some of CMR TYZ's records then you'll have to hit up some of these bands up directly for copies, as they don't have a proper webstore up yet.


After the excellent seven inch on Trouble In Mind, a split 12" with Teenanger, and a handful of other seven inches and cassettes, The Moonhearts (formerly Charlie and the Moonhearts) deliver a helluva debut LP on Tic Tac Totally. Recorded by best bro Ty Segall, this LP is a total shredder from beginning and almost right up to the end. The boys get a little tender on the final and best track, I Can Go On, which conjures up the spooky garage of their neighbours, The Fresh & Onlys. The rest of the LP is a driving garage-punk affair, with plenty of hooks to spare. Highest recommendation!


NYC's Prince Rama (formerly Prince Rama of Ayodhya) are only a few weeks from unleashing their newest long player, which should prove to be the game changer for them after several lower profile releases. Heavy mantra psych here that would have fit in perfectly on Not Not Fun, though Paw Tracks have stepped up and will release this on Sept 14th (go here to pre-order the special "bejeweled" edition). Think of the extraterrestrial gospel of France's Magma, toss in some thunderous tribal drums and a light touch of majestic synths and you've got one of the best psych records of the year. Make sure to catch Prince Rama live in Vancouver on September 22nd at the Cobalt. Should prove to be an unmissable show. Check this interview with them here.

Electric Bunnies "I Swear I'll Never Let You Go" s/t 7" (Sacred Bones) 2010
Sex Church "Paralyze" s/t 7" (Hozac) 2010
Ty Segall "Girlfriend" Melted LP (Goner) 2010
Fungi Girls "Sun Blues" split w/ Indian Wars 7" (CMR TYZ) 2010
Moonhearts "Can't Find My Way" s/t LP (Tic Tac Totally) 2010
Red Mass "Weird Mess" s/t CD (Semprini) 2010
Tiny Knives "Nothing Was Meant To Last" split w/Here Comes A Big Black Cloud 7" (Stankhouse) 2010
Broken Water "Dead Light" Whet LP (Night People) 2010
Nu Sensae "New Lies" split w/Okie Dokie 7" (Swill Children) 2010
White Drugs "Untitled" Gold Magic LP (Amphetamine Reptile) 2010
Pygmy Shrews "Gimme Hidden" The Egyptian LP (Wantage) 2009
Unnatural Helpers "Brave Dumb Face" Cracked Love & Other Drugs LP (Hardly Art) 2010
Hot Guts "Did You Not Go To The Dance Alone?" s/t 7" (Badmaster) 2010
San Francisco Water Cooler "Reverie" II LP (self released) 2010
Puffy Areolas "Rock N Roll Express" s/t 7" (Die Stasi) 2010
Cosmetics "Sleepwalking" s/t 7" (Captured Tracks) 2010
Dirty Beaches "Sweet 17" True Blue 7" (Zoo Music) 2010
King Kong Ding Dong "Jample" Youth Culture Index LP (Dekorder) 2010
Prince Rama "Lightening Fossil" Shadow Temple LP (Paw Tracks) 2010

DOWNLOAD EPISODE 60 here
(right click link, then Save As)

2 comments:

Stonk said...

Dear Mr. Rich,

you said "a handy mp3 is much better, more convenient than vinyl..."
D'oh!
What a shame!

mp3 below 320kbps just sounds cheap - a constant disturbing fizzling in the hights - a pain for the ear and not part of the music you play.
"Thanks" to mp3 the soundquality of music went down over the last years and unfortunately young people falsely learn that this is OK... it's not!
guess those people never ever heard a good vinyl on a good soundsystem with proper needles...

I really like your show to explore new music - but the sound-quality is just a pain in the ass... sorry.
(let alone the dropouts ;)

Please rise the sound-quality of your show!
Regards from Germany

Mark E. Rich said...

I guess my dry sense of humor doesn't translate that well on the air. The joke was in regards to our malfunctioning turntables, which, if they had not been fixed soon after, would have ruined my entire show, causing me to play some mp3s that I have as a backup for those situations.

Almost my entire show, every week, is based around vinyl, cassettes or, on occasion, CDs. I usually only play mp3s when someone has sent me them or it's an advance of a release that isn't out yet, though I tend not to play either of those very often.

As for the overall sound quality of the show, or lack thereof, well, that's a digitized college radio show for you.

Thanks for listening.