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SUICIDE SQUEEZE RECORDS
Originally released on K Records in the summer of ’94 just a few months before the band called it quits, These Are Not Fall Colors is a boisterous collection of scrappy basement-show anthems played on duct-taped-together gear. Led by the off-kilter melodies of late singer/guitarist Sam Jayne and hammered into place by the driving bass of James Bertram and drum battery of David Schneider, the album’s eleven songs channel that undefinable sound of the early ‘90s before descriptors like “post-hardcore” and “emo” became pejorative terms. Sure, you get a sense of the more sophisticated mid-tempo punk approach on songs like “B” and “Silverspoon Glasses,” and maybe catch wind of wistful songwriting on “Pennies to Save” and “Cue Cards,” but Lync seemed to cull their ideas from whatever bits of inspiration they could find in the gray gloom and geographic isolation of western Washington, absorbing it all and churning it together into a style uniquely their
own.
Despite Lync’s short existence, modest aspirations, and DIY approach, their work had a ripple effect. Jayne would go on to make music under the moniker of Love As Laughter. Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch was so enamored by the album that he enlisted Bertram and Schneider to serve as his rhythm section on the There’s Nothing Wrong with Love tour. These Are Not Fall Colors engineer Phil Ek would go on to help record and produce records by Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, and The Shins. Early bassist Isaac Brock and These Are Not Fall Colors album art contributor Jeremiah Green would go on to form Modest Mouse. Bertram and Green would also go on to form the revered indie rock group Red Stars Theory. At times it feels like you could pick any major Northwest indie rock group from the ‘90s and ‘00s and trace their DNA back to Lync.
TRACK LISTING
1. B
2. Perfect Shot
3. Silverspoon Glasses
4. Pennies To Save
5. Clay Fighter
6. Cue Cards
7. Angelfood Fodder & Vitamins
8. Heroes & Heroines
9. Turtle
10. Uberrima Fides
11. Can’t Tie Yet
“Death Valley Girls are a gift to the world.” - Iggy Pop
“Harnessing the allure of the occult and the power of self-help, the Los Angeles garage rockers break free from their roots and ascend to the realm of spiritual psych-jazz rockestra.” - Pitchfork
“(Death Valley Girls) taps out of traditional songwriting and tune into a new spiritual consciousness…” - Spin
“An insistent Banshees like boom and groove.” - MOJO
TRACK LISTING
1. California Mountain Shake
2. Magic Powers
3. Islands In The Sky
4. Sunday
5. What Are The Odds
6. Journey To Dog Star
7. Say It Too
8. Watch The Sky
9. When I'm Free
10. All That Is Not Of Me
11. It's All Really Kind Of Amazing
“Planet Abraxas is a world filled with jungles, mist-covered rivers, panthers lurking in the night, desolate shopping malls, Neolithic citadels and sand-worn walls,” Blackwell says of the muse behind Monte Carlo. “The nights are usually dense with fog and the air is filled with the sounds of cicadas and faraway drumming.” This visual manifestation of their sound stands in stark contrast to the environment in which the songs were written. “I remember the feeling I got the first time Danny added vocals to one of my tracks,” Faruolo recalls. “I was sitting on my sofa in rainy Manchester in the middle of winter. I pressed play and the song just made my heart jump. It instantly felt special and, more importantly, it felt like a perfect portrait of both of us.”
Uruguayan-born Faruolo grew up with the tropical beats of cumbia and the psychedelic flavor of classic chicha artists, and it became her mission to infuse those sunny influences in her work as a UK musician. Blackwell’s work under the Night Beats handle involves the fusion of outlaw soul and R&B with a resourceful DIY spirit. Despite the apparent contrast in their styles, the two musicians bonded over their reverence for Selena and Sade, exemplars of the humid pulse and sultry spirit of their respective approaches. As Abraxas, their distinctive musical perspectives created a sound that encompassed the tropicalia of Os Mutantes, the scrappy songwriting of Cleaners From Venus, and the trippy production of Lee “Scratch” Perry, though the duo is quick to assert that they were finding their own distinctive voices rather than adhering to pre-existing stylistic codes and constraints. And indeed, Monte Carlo feels rooted in tradition but blossoms into its own unique timbres and vibrations.
Monte Carlo opens with “Sunrise State (of Mind),” where a hypnotic cumbia beat serves as the bedrock for cosmic guitar leads, hazy choral melodies, and Blackwell’s seductive vocals. From there, the album continues its steady Latin pulse on “Mañana,” a perfect soundtrack to feverish nights in dancehalls, sipping on caipirinhas and sharing cigarettes with strangers on the dancefloor. Across its twelve tracks, Monte Carlo unfurls a myriad of exotic influences, from the Eastern melodies and guitar trills on “Sultan,” through the dub-inflected stomp and scorching fuzz of “La Estampida,” and on to the Anatolian psych-funk of album closer “Göbekli Tepe.”
Blackwell recorded his contributions with the assistance of engineer Chris Maciel at his studio the 22nd Dimension in Pomona, California and Faruolo recorded her parts in Manchester, England at Brunswick Mill. While Abraxas conceived their material in bedrooms and studios six timezones apart, the music on Monte Carlo sounds like a live band in the throes of an ecstatic performance. And Abraxas plans to make the live incarnation of the band a reality when conditions allow for it. Until then, listeners can bask in the invented world of Abraxas and all its exotic and enticing splendor across the twelve tracks of Monte Carlo. Suicide Squeeze Records is proud to present Monte Carlo to the world later in 2022 on digital and vinyl formats.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Sunrise State (Of Mind)
2. Mañana
3. Sultan
4. Monte Carlo
5. La Estampida
6. Hourglass
Side B
1. Prismatic
2. Yes
3. Golden
4. Fuji
5. Shapeshifter
6. Göbekli Tepe
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- Coloured 7"
- £7.99
- Cat Number
- SSQ185C1
- Release date
- 11 Feb '22
- Format Info
Limited Clear w/ Opaque Pink Splatter Vinyl 7".
Limited Clear w/ Opaque... [ + ]
We've got Le Butcherettes on side A taking on one of Death Valley Girls' most cosmic numbers, the kaleidoscopic centerpiece off Under the Spell of Joy album, "The Universe." Le Butcherettes' fearless and charismatic mastermind Teri Gender Bender takes the tune into even trippier territories, replicating the original song's sonic tapestry of synth, sax, and guitars with layer upon layer of vocals. Only the sparse accompaniment of acoustic guitar and modest percussion keeps the song from being fully a capella. It's a perfect interpretation of Death Valley Girls' communal and choral aims.
On side B, Death Valley Girls offer up a new tune - the deliciously ecstatic "When I'm Free." Like every great Death Valley Girls song, it's a celebration of life bolstered by fiery rock n' roll riffage, spiritual organ, dizzying sax, and Bonnie Bloomgarden's defiant and triumphant vocals. Suicide Squeeze Records is proud to offer up this meeting of mystical minds on vinyl and digital platforms on February 11, 2022.
-
- 3xColoured LP
- £37.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- SSQ175LPC1
- Release date
- 29 Oct '21
- Format Info
Retail exclusive variant on custom opaque grey vinyl limited to 1,900 copies worldwide.
3LP package comes in triple gatefold sleeve with spot inks, includes printed inner sleeves with metallic spot inks, includes a download coupon.
Retail exclusive variant... [ + ]
TRACK LISTING
1. Drilling - Live
2. Last Kiss - Live
3. Lemurs, Man, Lemurs - Live
4. Absinthe Party At The Fly Honey Warehouse - Live
5. Thanks For The Killer Game Of Crisco Twister - Live
6. Diamond Lightning - Live
7. My Time - Live
8. Summer Angel - Live
9. Cold Company - Live
10. Fair Enough - Live
11. The Fix - Live
12. Fine + 2 Its - Live
13. I’m Totally Not Down With Rob’s Alien - Live
14. This Ain’t A Surn’ Movie - Live
15. The Game Needed Me - Live
16. Invisible - Live
17. Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!! - Live
18. White Mystery - Live
19. Spritz!!! Spritz!!! - Live
20. Knights - Live
21. Let’s Play Guitar In A Five Guitar Band - Live
22. Hey, Wanna Throw Up? - Live
23. Get Me Naked 2: Electric Boogaloo - Live
24. Into The Mirror - Live
25. Throwin’ Shapes - Live
26. Pachuca Sunrise - Live
-
- Coloured LP
- £20.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- SSQ186LPC1
- Release date
- 15 Oct '21
- Format Info
Coke bottle green coloured vinyl.- Includes MP3 Download Code.
Coke bottle green... [ + ] -
- CD
- £11.99
- Cat Number
- SSQ186CD
- Release date
- 15 Oct '21
Living within earshot of a man who spent his entire 2020 singing karaoke for over 10 hours a day, Julia could write, record, and play an album’s worth of instruments without fear of noise complaints. Her roommate Melina Duterte (Jay Som) transformed their house into a viable home studio, making it easy to fully realize the sound in her head, even at the height of a global lockdown. Taking things a step further, Melina agreed to co-produce the record, pushing Julia to make these new songs sound less like Perfect Version, her rst solo album, or like the songs she performs in Chastity Belt. At the peak of her uncertainty and discomfort, she jumped into the deep end in search of something new and found power in heavy sounds.
This is evident in the first few seconds of album opener “Death (XIII).” Taking newfound inspiration from the namesake Tarot card, drone metal, and shoegaze, Julia layers walls of guitars, bass chords, and programmed drums. “Come With Me,” the album’s lead single, takes inspiration from a mushroom trip gone bad. “Take me to awful places now,” she sings, envisioning heat death as her own eyes stare directly into the sun. On “Wrong Time,” shimmering guitars smolder and levitate, yet she finds herself “stuck inside this hole I’ve dug.” That said, these songs aren’t unbearably sad, nor has Julia become any less of a merciless observer of human behavior. By album closer “Hall of Mirrors,” she’s come full circle. Over fingerpicked guitar, the sense of lost identity becomes all-encompassing.
It’s the sound of a life lived in servitude to digital screens and the psychic damage invisibly done along the way.
Though Julia Shapiro found herself in a near hermit-like existence, writing and recording almost all of the album’s instruments herself and struggling to navigate her place in a city and world rendered nearly comatose, she maintains a sense of humor about all of it. At the very least, “It’s funny to force people to have to say Zorked out loud. Any other title sounded pretentious.”
TRACK LISTING
1. Death (XIII)
2. Come With Me
3. Wrong Time
4. Someone
5. Reptile! Reptile!
6. Pure Bliss
7. Hellscape
8. Do Nothing About It
9. Zorked
10. Hall Of Mirrors