Originally released in 1994, GVSB’s second full-length release for Touch and Go Records, 'Cruise Yourself', is characterized by catch vocal lines wrapped in a sonic double-bass low end. Guitars filter in and out of songs driven by heavy powerhouse groove drumming. There is noise, there is melody. “Tucked In” churns, 'Kill the Sexplayer' pounds relentlessly, '(I) Don’t Got A Place' glides, and 'Psychic Know-How' blows your head off… but you regain it immediately in the ominous groove of 'Explicitly Yours'.

TRACK LISTING

1. Tucked In
2. Cruise Your New Baby Fly Self
3. Kill The Sex Player
4. (I) Don’t Got A Place Psychic Know-How
5. Explicity Yours
6. From Now On
7. Raindrop
8. The Royal Lowdown
9. My Martini
10. Glazed-Eye

The Big Boys got their start in the late 1970’s Austin punk scene. The band was fronted by the occasionally cross-dressing Randy “Biscuit” Turner, with Tim Kerr on guitar, Chris Gates playing bass, and a series of drummers - the best known of which is Rey Washam (Scratch Acid). Unlike the rest of the early hardcore scene of the day, they weren’t afraid to stray away from superfast tempos in favor of some nice white boy skate funk.

Beyond the funk tendencies, the band at times played an early brand of post-punk not unlike their contemporaries The Minutemen. Thanks to their inclusion on some of Thrasher magazine’s first “skate comps,” the Big Boys were hugely popular amongst the new 80’s skate punk crowd. They were also known for the encouragement of crowd participation, breaking down the barriers between performer and audience. They even covered Kool & the Gang, never wavering when venturing into uncharted musical territory. Now y’all, go start your own band…

TRACK LISTING

1. Security
2. T.V
3. I Don’t Wanna Dance
4. Identity Crisis
5. Thin Line
6. Advice
7. Complete Control
8. Work Without Pay
9. Spit
10. Act / Reaction
11. Self Contortion
12. Wise U

The Big Boys got their start in the late 1970’s Austin punk scene. The band was fronted by the occasionally cross-dressing Randy “Biscuit” Turner, with Tim Kerr on guitar, Chris Gates playing bass, and a series of drummers - the best known of which is Rey Washam (Scratch Acid). Unlike the rest of the early hardcore scene of the day, they weren’t afraid to stray away from superfast tempos in favor of some nice white boy skate funk.

Beyond the funk tendencies, the band at times played an early brand of post-punk not unlike their contemporaries The Minutemen. Thanks to their inclusion on some of Thrasher magazine’s first “skate comps,” the Big Boys were hugely popular amongst the new 80’s skate punk crowd. They were also known for the encouragement of crowd participation, breaking down the barriers between performer and audience. They even covered Kool & the Gang, never wavering when venturing into uncharted musical territory. Now y’all, go start your own band…

TRACK LISTING

1. We Got Your Money
2. Lesson
3. Funk Off
4. I’m Sorry
5. We’re Not In It To Lose
6. Sound On Sound
7. Fight Back
8. Brickwall
9. Jump The Fence
10. Assault
11. Manipulation
12. Same Old Blues
13. Gator Fuckin’
14. White Nigger
15. Baby Let’s Play God

The Big Boys got their start in the late 1970’s Austin punk scene. The band was fronted by the occasionally cross-dressing Randy “Biscuit” Turner, with Tim Kerr on guitar, Chris Gates playing bass, and a series of drummers - the best known of which is Rey Washam (Scratch Acid). Unlike the rest of the early hardcore scene of the day, they weren’t afraid to stray away from superfast tempos in favor of some nice white boy skate funk.

Beyond the funk tendencies, the band at times played an early brand of post-punk not unlike their contemporaries The Minutemen. Thanks to their inclusion on some of Thrasher magazine’s first “skate comps,” the Big Boys were hugely popular amongst the new 80’s skate punk crowd. They were also known for the encouragement of crowd participation, breaking down the barriers between performer and audience. They even covered Kool & the Gang, never wavering when venturing into uncharted musical territory. Now y’all, go start your own band…

TRACK LISTING

1. No
2. Narrow View
3. I Do Care
4. Listen
5. What’s The Word?
6. Common Beat
7. No Love
8. Which Way To Go
9. Killing Time
10. Work

Born out of the early 1980’s Austin noise punk scene, Scratch Acid deliberately eschewed the loud, fast rules of hardcore as everything they didn’t want to be and embraced a weirder, artier sound. Prior to the release of their 1984 debut S/T EP, someone gave Touch and Go Records owner Corey Rusk a cassette of the recording, and he was instantly a huge fan. Rusk was immediately interested in releasing the EP and contacted the band to express his admiration. At the time, Scratch Acid had already committed to working with Rabid Cat Records. The group quickly developed a riveting performance aesthetic, and, as the debut S/T EP made its way around the country via fanzines, college radio, and word-of-mouth, the band mounted short tours to the Midwest and the East Coast. While he was not able to work with Scratch Acid directly through Touch and Go, Rusk had begun booking shows with Scratch Acid in Detroit, so he could see them live and meet them. A friendship formed, and Touch and Go Records would eventually release the band’s second EP, Berserker, in 1987.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Cannibal
Greatest Gift
Monsters
Owner’s Lament
She Said
Mess
El Espectro
Lay Screaming

Side B
Mary Had A Little Drug Problem
For Crying Out Loud
Moron’s Moron
Skin Drips
This Is Bliss
Flying Houses

Born out of the early 1980’s Austin noise punk scene, Scratch Acid deliberately eschewed the loud, fast rules of hardcore as everything they didn’t want to be and embraced a weirder, artier sound. Prior to the release of their 1984 debut S/T EP, someone gave Touch and Go Records owner Corey Rusk a cassette of the recording, and he was instantly a huge fan. Rusk was immediately interested in releasing the EP and contacted the band to express his admiration. At the time, Scratch Acid had already committed to working with Rabid Cat Records, who released the band’s debut release S/T EP (1984) and their only full-length album, Just Keep Eating (1986).

The group quickly developed a riveting performance aesthetic, and, as the debut S/T EP made its way around the country via fanzines, college radio, and word-of-mouth, the band mounted short tours to the Midwest and the East Coast. After playing a total of 146 shows, Scratch Acid broke up after the long tour that followed the release of the Berserker EP (Touch and Go Records, 1987). Since that time, the band have had many imitators, and many alternative bands have cited Scratch Acid as one of their influences.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Crazy Dan
Eyeball
Big Bone Lick
Unlike A Baptist
Damned For All Time
Ain’t That Love
Untitled 1

Side B
Holes
Albino Slug
Spit A Kiss
Amicus
Cheese Plug
Untitled 2

Nina Nastasia's rare gift of a voice is an intimate, winged presence that is able to either freeze or melt your heart; that can powerfully soar and twist, or brush ultra-gently against you, suddenly summoning goose bumps.

Released in 2003 by Touch and Go Records (and out of print for almost two decades), 'Run to Ruin' is the third album by Nina Nastasia. It was recorded by Steve Albini at Black Box studio in Noyant-la-Gravoyère, France and at Looking Glass studio in New York. Combined with the prodigious talents of her backing band and the sparse but lush arrangements of the instruments, the songs on 'Run to Ruin' evoke haunting scenes of heartache, passion and a slightly seedy world. Nina's voice is at once delicate and intense, neither sweet nor harsh, it conveys an array of emotion moving between joy and sadness with just a moment's pause.

TRACK LISTING

1. We Never Talked
2. I Say That I Will Go
3. Regrets
4. You Her And Me
5. Superstar
6. The Body
7. On Teasing
8. While We Talk

In October of 1999, Nina Nastasia recorded the album that would finally document her well-seeded career as a local singer-songwriter in New York City. It was exemplary of Nastasia’s style, delicate string arrangements, the restrained beauty of her live band, the deceptive simplicity of her voice, and poignant, life-wise lyrics. The following year, 'Dogs' was released on CD by micro-indie label Socialist Records. By the end of 2000, the 'Dogs' CD was out of print. But 'Dogs' had a special grassroots effect on Nina Nastasia’s music career, as fans of the record would correspond across internet message boards and zines, discussing songs and soliciting copies of the rare edition. The album would also mark the beginning of a lasting peer relationship with noted recording engineer Steve Albini. In 2004, Touch and Go Records reissued 'Dogs' on CD and, for the first time, on vinyl. The vinyl quickly sold out and remained out of print for nearly two decade… until now.

TRACK LISTING

1. Dear Rose
2. Oblivion
3. Judy’s In The Sandbox
4. Underground
5. A Dog’s Life
6. A Love Song
7. Stormy Weather
8. Smiley
9. Roadkill
10. Nobody Knew Her
11. Too Much In Between
12. Jimmy’s Rose Tattoo
13. The Long Walk
14. All Your Life
15. 4 Yrs

THE BAND
It’s still: Steve Albini ◊ Guitar. Todd Trainer ◊ Drums. Bob Weston ◊ Bass.

DATA
This is Shellac’s sixth studio LP. Recording & Mixing took place at Electrical Audio in Chicago over a bunch of long weekends in November, 2017; October, 2019; September, 2021; and March, 2022. The record was mas-tered by Bob & Steve at Chicago Mastering Service.

PACKAGING
LP and CD packaging and artwork are identical (the CD is just smaller). Bob took all the photos; some with a fancy camera and some with a telephone.

QC
Audio quality is paramount, as always, with Shellac. The LPs are being manufactured by Green Vinyl Records using an injection molding process. This new process uses 100% recyclable PET (like soda bottles) and is environmentally friendly, containing no PVC or Phthalates. The process also uses 79% less CO2 than conventional hydraulic PVC vinyl presses. The records weigh 180 grams.

PROMOTION
Other than the informational sheet you hold in your hand (or virtual hand), this record will have no formal promotion. There will be no advertisements, no press or radio promotion, no e-promotion, no promotional or review copies, no promotional gimmick items, and other-wise no free lunch.

THE IPODS
Shellac doesn’t have a website. Maybe we should get one. To All Trains (2AT) will be available on most streaming services and download sites in all your formats, sample rates, and bit depths; all the way up to 96kHz, 24-bit, Hi-Res (Apple Digital Masters compliant).

STAFF COMMENTS

Willow says: To All Trains stands as the most powerful, and tragically final, statement of a band that have boldly stuck to their guns in the face of an ever-changing industry landscape, consistently building on their unique and enrapturing craft in the process.

The sarcastic and minimal composition for which Shellac are renowned is present in bucketloads, sparking Albinisms that I quote incessantly with those in the know. But what makes To All Trains stand out in the Shellac catalogue is some moments of actual songwriting - actual chord progressions, actual drum beats! Unsurprisingly, Shellac wear this well, typified in ‘Days Are Dogs’, but balance it with some of the more ridiculous songs they’ve released (‘Scabby the Rat’).

The album is full of great riffs, rug-pulls and rock-outs, but it’s the songs that bookend the record that truly set it apart. ‘WSOD’ had been a live staple for some time, as is typical of the band’s signature method of ad hoc recording, and for good reason, opening with an all-timer riff and concluding with noise fit to burst any speaker. ‘I Don’t Fear Hell’ is a piece of genius regardless of the circumstances that rendered it an eerie closing to the Shellac saga, with its entrancing riff, unassuming dissonance and bitingly defiant lyrics from a man fit to leap into hell and kill the devil himself.

To All Trains is a rockin’, clever and confessional masterpiece from a trio that cements themselves as one of rock’s very tightest and most impressive.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. WSOD
2. Girl From Outside
3. Chick New Wave
4. Tattoos
5. Wednesday
Side B
6. Scrappers
7. Days Are Dogs
8. How I Wrote How I Wrote Elastic Man (cock & Bull)
9. Scabby The Rat
10. I Don’t Fear Hell

Bassist David Wm. Sims is revealed as the band's secret weapon, stock still in anchoring an increasingly chaotic stage show. Guitarist Duane Denison's musical ideas stun throughout, finding an almost impossibly sympathetic foil in drummer, Mac McNeilly. All the while, vocalist David Yow's complete disregard for his own health and safety was becoming the stuff of legend, propelled by tracks like "Mouth Breather", "Monkey Trick" and the effaceable "Seasick". - Pat Daly // If the members of the Jesus Lizard got it "right" on HEAD, then GOAT serves as one of the great pinnacles in the history of the American underground. The Jesus Lizard's third document was the formula perfected, the cylinders firing in time, the crosshairs perfectly aligned in the scope, the last stiff drink before blacking out. - Jason Pettigre.

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
1. Then Comes Dudley
2. Mouth Breather
3. Nub
4. Seasick.
Side B:
5. Monkey Trick
6. Karpis
7. South Mouth
8. Lady Shoes
9. Rodeo In Joliet.

BONUS TRACKS * Included With Download:
Sunday You Need Love
Pop Song
Seasick (Live)
Lady Shoes (Live)
Monkey Trick (Live)

Big Black was started by Steve Albini in 1982 while he was attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Lungs, the first Big Black release was recorded by Steve on a borrowed 4-track. He played everything on the EP himself - except the sax bleating courtesy of pal John Bohnen and the drums courtesy of Roland. Soon after, Steve recruited Jeff Pezzati (Naked Raygun) on bass, and Santiago Durango (also Naked Raygun) joined them on guitar. In 1983, together with live drummer Pat Byrne, they recorded the Bulldozer EP. By 1984, the band had done some touring and recorded the Racer X EP and the start of the Il Duce 7". After that, Jeff returned to Naked Raygun and was replaced by Dave Riley. In 1985, Big Black recorded their first full-length, Atomizer, as well as finishing the Il Duce 7". Atomizer was released in 1986 along with the release of the Hammer Party compilation CD. In 1987, the Headache EP and Heartbeat 7" were released. That same year, the band recorded and released the 7" of The Model/He's A Whore as well as their second full-length album, Songs About Fucking. They toured extensively (for Big Black). And they broke up.

TRACK LISTING

1. Racer X
2. Shotgun
3. The Ugly American
4. Deep Six
5. Sleep!
6. The Big Payback

About The Album: 9 songs about (in no particular order) discordant living, misrepresentation, how nothing nothing can be, life, afterlife, love and love “after hours.” These are pop songs. These are rock songs. These are art songs. Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes began right where TVOTR’s 2003 debut EP Young Liars left off, propelled into uncharted sonic territory. Undeniably catchy songs with incredible production, arrangements, champion crooning (including stunning a cappella perfomances) and a host of extras that makes this a seriously solid album.

Praise From The Press: … their songs politicize emotion in stinging turns of phrase, over a beat that makes you want to get up and dance. Interview Magazine.

The experience is baptismal. XLR8R Magazine.

What’s most frightening is that, mighty as Desperate Youth… is, their real stone killer is probably yet to come. Uncut.

It’s an arty, impressionistic and sometimes oddly beautiful album steeped in the fear, paranoia and pain of a post-Sept. 11 world, a quite catharsis couched in an utterly novel yet strangely simple musical language. Washington Post.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Wrong Way
2. Staring At The Sun
3. Dreams
4. King Eternal
5. Ambulance
6. Poppy
7. Don’t Love You
8. Bomb Yourself
9. Wear You Out
10. You Could Be Love (vinyl Only Bonus Track)

On The Blackened Air (her second album but first for Touch and Go, originally released in 2002), Nina Nastasia and her band are not content to just support a vocal melody; they pry it apart and look down its throat. The stringed and wind instruments (viola, cello, mandolin, accordion, bowed saw, acoustic and electric guitars) reach up out of the songs into rarefied territory. Little stories of Peeping Toms and the police lights they bring with them, grave- yards and impolite family, epigrams against disaster, depression, simple forgetfulness, all delivered so effortlessly that the precision of the delivery registers long after its substance has left its mark. When she sings “I’m not hiding anything / I’m not trying to fool you at all,” in a song titled “That’s All There Is,” it is all the truth.

A generation-plus of young troubadours pine for things they never has to lose, as if sadness and depression were inevitable consequences of being alive. Nina Nastasia’s music is an antidote to all of that. The Blackened Air is a darkish record not just in title, but by examining everything without caving in to decadence or solipsism, it is a rejuvenating experience. It is informed, without affect, unique, and succinct. Above all, it is beautiful to hear and a pleasure to have in one’s home.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Run, All You...
I Go With Him This Is What It Is Oh, My Stars All For You
So Little
Desert Fly
Ugly Face
Side B
In The Graveyard Ocean
Rosemary
The Same Day Been So Long
The Very Next Day Little Angel
That’s All There Is

Vinyl now remastered By Steve Albini And Bob Weston.

The Players: Dave Riley - Bass, Santiago Durango - Guitar, Vocals, Steve Albini - Vocals, Guitar, Roland Drum Machine - itself.

Big Black was started by Steve Albini in 1982 while he was attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Lungs, the first Big Black release was recorded by Steve on a borrowed 4-track. He played everything on the EP himself - except the sax bleating courtesy of pal John Bohnen and the drums courtesy of Roland. Soon after, Steve recruited Jeff Pezzati (Naked Raygun) on bass, and Santiago Durango (also Naked Raygun) joined them on guitar. In 1983, together with live drummer Pat Byrne, they recorded the Bulldozer EP. By 1984, the band had done some touring and recorded the Racer X EP and the start of the Il Duce 7”. After that, Jeff returned to Naked Raygun and was replaced by Dave Riley. In 1985, Big Black recorded their first full-length, Atomizer, as well as finishing the Il Duce 7”. Atomizer was released in 1986 along with the release of the Hammer Party compilation CD. In 1987, the Headache EP and Heartbeat 7” were released. That same year, the band recorded and released the 7” of The Model/He’s A Whore as well as their second full-length album, Songs About Fucking. They toured extensively (for Big Black). And they broke up. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
The Power Of Independent Trucking
The Model
Bad Penny
L. Dopa
Precious Thing
Columbian Necktie
Side B:
Kitty Empire
Ergot
Kasimir S. Pulaski Day
Fish Fry
Pavement Saw
Tiny, King Of The Jews
Bombastic Intro

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the incomparable 90’s band known as Brainiac. This is in part due to a 2019 full feature documentary about the band (Transmissions After Zero) plus the re-emergence of surviving band members to celebrate their music in the last several years. In addition, a substantial pair of archival releases (Attic Tapes 2xLP, From Dayton Ohio 2xLP) were unearthed for release on Record Store Day 2021 by Touch and Go Records.

Now, in 2023, comes the latest missive of the archive, harkening back to the band’s latter era - and their most prolific and confident period. The Predator Nominate EP is a celebration of what was to come before the tragic exit of ringleader/singer Timmy Taylor. Listen to these realized demos and imagine what only could have been the confident seed of what the group might be capable of in this future century versus the last one. The world will never truly know.

BIO: Brainiac began in 1992 as the basement experiments of Dayton, OH natives Tim Taylor (vocals, synth), and Juan Monasterio (bass), who first met playing cello in fifth grade. Upon completing the lineup with Michelle Bodine (guitar) and Tyler Trent (drums), they released two full-lengths and toured vigorously, establishing

themselves as the latest peg in Ohio’s diverse musical timeline. In 1994, Michelle left the band and was replaced by John Schmersal.

In 1996, the band made their full-length debut on Touch and Go Records with the album Hissing Prigs in Static Couture.

On May 23, 1997, only weeks after the release of Electroshock for President EP and the band’s return from a European tour supporting Beck, Tim lost his life in a car accident. He was 28.

TRACK LISTING

Side A

1. Predator Nominate
2. Kiss Of The Dog
3. Smothered Inside
4. The Game

Side B

5. Going Wrong
6. Didn’t Feel
7. Gone Away
8. Pyramid Theme
9. Come With Me

THE BAND
Steve Albini ◊ Guitar
Todd Trainer ◊ Drums
Bob Weston ◊ Bass

DATA
This is Shellac’s fifth LP. Recording took place sporadically over the past few years at Steve's ELECTRICAL AUDIO studios in Chicago. The record was mastered by Steve Rooke at ABBEY ROAD. There is no comma in ‘Dude Incredible’; like Sir Duke or King Friday, for example

PACKAGING
Both the CD and LP version of Dude Incredible come packaged in a chipboard album jacket with two high gloss, full color monkeys on the front cover. The LP includes a CD of the full album.

QC
Audio quality is paramount, as always, with Shellac. The LP was mastered entirely in the analog domain, using the DMM (Direct Metal Mastering) process. The LPs are being manufactured at RTI in Camarillo, CA, using their HQ-180 system. The pressings are 180 gram audiophile quality.

1000 Hurts shows Shellac in prime form. Since the release of Terraforms, they seem to have realized that 12-minute rock songs don't rock. This record's longest track, "Mama Gina," clocks in at an appropriate 5:44, long enough to fully flesh out the song, but not so long that the groove gets tired. 

But as harsh and abrasive as it sounds, 1000 Hurts is an undeniably strong release. This album rocks hard, despite the fact that the man behind it is a squishy A/V club member with a bad attitude. So it seems that Albini's success as a producer hasn't greatly improved his personal life. Luckily, the same can't be said for his records.

During the early to mid 90's, a little known band named "Shellac" was born in the cold city of Chicago, Illinois. You could call Shellac a super group of sorts, for it features musicians who originated from multiple different bands. Guitarist Steve Albini (Big Black), bassist Bob Weston (Volcano Suns), and drummer Todd Trainer (Brick Layer Cake) all contribute to make some of the coolest noisy post-hardcore you'll ever hear. Shellac's first record, At Action Park, was released in 1994 and met critical praise. In 1998, their follow-up record, Terraform, was released. 

Long awaited new album from Steve Albini and co, and all the songs on this their fourth and longest album are about Italy or Greyhounds. Recording took place sporadically over the past few years at Steve's Electrical Audio studios in Chicago. The record was mastered by Steve Rooke at Abbey Road

The debut album from Steve Albini's new vision post Big Black and Rapeman, wired to the max guitar onslaughts from the MAN.

Traditional rock'n'roll, fused with samples, electronic creations and an 'anything goes' attitude. The songs are rockin' and poppy and downright catchy! Enon feature members of Blonde Redhead, The Lapse and Brainiac.