Dan Friel - Ghost Town

For those of you who dig Parts & Labor, I'd recommend checking out Ghost Town, the debut album from Parts & Labor keyboardist Dan Friel. This is a really fun lo-fi electronic record that sounds like it was made for no money at all with rag tag collection of busted synths and drum machines. The obvious lack of production/recording costs just makes it all the more inspiring. If you enjoy quirky electronic music and/or the blips and bleeps of the NES era of video games, don't hesitate and download this.

- Steve

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Parts & Labor - Stay Afraid

(Request)

Parts & Labor are a great band, and Stay Afraid is pretty cool little record but it suffers from "one-track-is-so-good-it-almost-ruins-the-rest-of-the-record" syndrome. The opening song, "A Great Divide" is absolutely fucking killer. Trust me, you'll find yourself putting it on repeat more often than not. Really though, I'm not trying to knock the rest of the record here. Parts & Labor have perfected a formula for chaotic, clamorous, indie rock that is always noisy and abrasive but never sacrifices good songwriting in favor of self-serving experimentation. Grab this and then check out their latest record, Mapmaker too.

- Steve

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Disco Inferno - Technicolour + Outtakes

(Request)

I love this band to death and I feel like an idiot for not posting this sooner. For those of you who missed out, check out the post I did for my favorite D.I. release here. Technicolour is the band's follow up to that record, and is different in almost every way imaginable when compared to its predecessor. Sure, the core elements are still there; the driving back beats, bizarre sound samples, dense arrangements. Instead of taking a more ambient approach though, the band chose to create a more by the books rock record. Again, this isn't necessarily a bad thing; some of the groups best songs (It's a Kid's World, When The Story Breaks) are found here, and really, a conventional rock record by D.I. standards is hardly conventional in the grand scheme of things. Technicolour just seems to me like a step backwards for the band. Like I said, all criticisms aside, this record is great so make sure you grab it. I'm also including a link for some outtakes that never made it on the original release back in '96.

- Steve

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Download Technicolour Outtakes

Satanstompingcaterpillars - Flower Slides + The Autumn Kaleidoscope Got Changed

(Request)

This is the group that dissolved only to return a short time later as the equally awesome Black Moth Super Rainbow. These guys are some real weirdos, and no, despite what the name might indicate they are in no way an even remotely heavy band. I suppose you could file this one next to all of the freak folk/New Weird America music that has been coming out this decade, but it still wouldn't be an accurate way to pigeon hole these guys. The songs found on these records are so simple it's almost silly, but they also have have an unorthodox trance inducing quality to them. The real kicker is the vocals, which are delivered in a whispering-into-a-tin-can sort of way, to give them a really chilling sound. If you like what you hear, make sure you go back and check out our past Satanstompingcaterpillars post, and our Black Moth Super Rainbow post.

- Steve

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Download The Autumn Kaleidoscope Got Changed

Evelyn Glennie and Fred Frith - The Sugar Factory

I downloaded this album after watching the documentary Touch the Sound back when it came out, but I haven't listened to this nearly as much as I would like. If you're an avant-garder or are into free improvisation, you might blow a load when you hear this album and/or watch the documentary. Evelyn Glennie is an almost entirely deaf percussionist and Fred Frith is a composer/improvisor that has conquered music and sound from pretty much every angle. The video posted below will give you a better idea of what the album sounds like rather than trying to explain it myself. There are numerous moments from Frith and Glennie in the documentary that are even more impressive than what's heard on this album, so after you download this make sure to rent or purchase the documentary.

- Dan

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Venetian Snares - Detrimentalist

My favorite thing about Venetian Snares is knowing that every forthcoming album is going to be fucking good. My second favorite thing about Venetian Snares is ranking his albums according to personal enjoyment. At first listen, This album instantly trumps quite a few records in his discography for me, and could possibly hold a position within my top three full-length releases from him (Chocolate Wheelchair and Rossz Blallag Blah Blah being the other two). Top-notch album cover as well.

- Dan

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Deerhunter - Microcastle

The latest release from the world's foremost Marfran Syndrome rock band. I'd actually recommend giving this a listen to both fans and non-fans alike, just because it's so different from Deerhunter's prior records. Theres less droning, and the vocals don't seem to be looped through a delay pedal anymore. I haven't had much time to digest the album yet, but it doesn't seem to be floating around everywhere on the internet so I figured I would post it.

- Steve

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Yowie - Cryptooology

I just popped this one in today after it had been collecting dust for the past few years, and it's just as insane as I remembered it. I had received some positive feedback concerning my music from these guys via myspace a long time ago, and randomly came across a used copy of their album at a local record store shortly thereafter. If you're a fan of Ruins, Hella, or any other band that demonstrate organized chaos via your standard band instruments, you'll enjoy this. Although every track has it's moments of greatness, I'm partial to the first 60 seconds of track 4.

- Dan

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