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12"
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540 051EP
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"What do you say about a new FORWARD record? They've left the 'What's the Meaning of Love?' and 'Revolution' hooks in the annals of punk legend and, along with Prank's War Nuke and Death Sentence from 2012, have saved their most searing material nearly two decades into their run. Ishiya's gravel-throated vocals are more devastating than ever and the term 'bombastic' has rarely been more accurate than on this six-song banger. The anti-war bent on Against Their Insanity is unforgiving (and refreshing), and the anger and frustration translates to the harsh metallic riffing on 'Murdered' while the frenetic pace of 'What Would You Do?' matches the frustration conveyed by the song's lyrics. FORWARD bookend the whole thing with two of their best tracks ever, 'Renunciation of War' and 'Determination,' just to remind you that they have absolutely earned the legendary status that they hold. So yeah... what do you say about a new FORWARD record? You say it's a fukkn bulldozer."
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LP
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540 049LP
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"After a dizzying barrage of cassette releases, CD-Rs, and digital mixes, 540 grants Jock Club his first proper vinyl release. Laymen might be vaguely familiar with Jock Club as a member of the esoteric collective Ascetic House, or as the drummer of Sonoran psych freaks Destruction Unit, but you might not expect what you'll find on this 12" -- no lo-fi hiss, no faux noise influence, no nonsense; just four tracks of crisp, clean bangin' techno ready for the dancefloor. The A-side cuts are stripped to the bare essentials, for the most part only containing hard 4-4 kicks and swirling synth lines. B-side gets a little more loose, incorporating some vocal loops and more hi-hats and snare, similar to what we have heard from Jock Club's recent live DJ sets. It's hard to believe such disciplined material is coming from such a young man on his first vinyl release -- surely the sign of much more to come. The mastering job from Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering does this one right as it sounds HUGE on wax, making it suitable to be spun in even the most serious of clubs."
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LP
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540 048LP
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"Well damn, here we are again. Another LP from Austin, TX boss hogs Impalers. In the modern climate of music, nothing sticks. Every week there is a new cool 7" or tape making the rounds on social media, littering your feed with bandcamp demos and Instagram-ed cassette j-cards. It's hard to keep up, yet an amazing time of stimulation and excitement for punks worldwide. But in the midst of all this madness, it's nice to know you can count on Impalers every year to release the best record of the year. Unless you live under a rock, you probably already know what to expect from these guys. Their LP last year topped year-end charts high and low. And Psychedelic Snutskallar does damage in all the same places. Peerless d-beat, a work of art. Completely unhinged yet tight and in the pocket. This time they have upped the ante with a monstrous opening track that takes up the whole A-side at a never boring 11-minute length. Tripped out artwork and packing concept by Sam Ryser (Crazy Spirit, Dawn of Humans, Dripper World) and reworked material from short-lived side project Sick Plot make this 12" EP a no-brainer."
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7"
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540 052EP
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"Brazil's Rakta unleash two new tracks of eerie and atmospheric post-punk. From the moment the songs start you will find yourself trapped in a cave of beautiful yet haunting tunes. In most cases, people will want to seek a way out; in Rakta's case, you will never want to leave. 'Tudo Que E Solido' is an instant nugget that fits somewhere between Blood and Roses and The Doors. It's driven by the tom-tom work and the insistent and drone-like keyboard work. The track builds and builds into a dark crescendo. On the flip is 'Serpente' -- a six-minute dirge that's part Siouxsie and the Banshees' 'Lord's Prayer' and part 'Ballet Bag' demo era Rubella Ballet. The record comes housed in a beautifully put together booklet sleeve wraparound with printed inner sleeves with art by guitarist Laura Lanca."
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LP
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540 045LP
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"The name Mike 'Rep' Hummel means many things to different people. Many equate Rep with 70's 'Proto-Punk', 80's 'D.I.Y.' or a pioneering founder of 90's 'Lo-Fi' (Rep prefers the term 'Mega-Fi' himself). Along with his bands Mike Rep & The Quotas & the seminal (Ohio) True Believers, he was also a cohort in the 90's Columbus 'supergroup' Ego Summit among a plethora of other Ohio band involvements. Also known for recording and/or mixing ('Lovingly Fucking With') such bands of note as Guided By Voices, Times New Viking, Jim Shepard, The Gibson Brothers, Strapping Fields Hands, Mount Carmel and dozens of others, mostly in their formative garage/basement incarnations. 'I prefer deflowering to retooling. Both present worthwhile challenges but working with virgin talent won't get you an STD' he once infamously said. Still others remember him for his groundbreaking Columbus Ohio homegrown label 'New Age Records' (named before there was such a thing as New Age music) which evolved into the 80's/90's cassette pioneering signpost to new space 'Old Age/NO Age' label through the 90's. And so the name Mike Rep Hummel has a polarizing effect on many who either admire or deride his body of work. Hummel's new record Darby Creek Drifter is one that is sure to draw the line even deeper into the sand. Rep sez; 'As my pal Bob Pollard' once quipped, 'this does not rock'. But it rolls baby, it rolls."
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LP
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540 047LP
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"'This is what a perfect record sounds like. Every time I talk about it I end up sounding like some blubbering idiot. This music is equal parts post-punk, incantation and psych -- hook laden as fuck. Rakta is an all-female band from Sao Paulo, Brazil, that seem to have come from out of nowhere to make most of the current post-punk/anarcho wave completely irrelevant. This is the next level in this style, borrowing elements from all the spooky classics, but adding something so undeniably new and unique that the game is permanently changed. Rakta eliminates all sense of retro-ness to the style and come off like they just now invented the damn thing. The songs create an otherworldly atmosphere while still keeping your feet tapping. It transports you to this weird dimension that feels like it's trying to keep you inside of it forever. It would have been the perfect soundtrack for a Maya Deren film. The record comes with a red-and-black on white poster that only adds to the mysterious bruxa vibes that the music gives. Check out my year-end top ten list in MRR #370 for even more gushing about this record. Highest recommendation!" -- Maximum Rock N Roll. Each copy comes with 1 of 4 different giant 24"x36" silk screened poster.
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7"
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540 040EP
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"The final release in 540 Records' series of reissues from '70s Brisbane punk labels Shake Music and Savage Music is this four-song EP from Section Urbane. Having released two previous singles of quirky punk as Just Urbain, the Brisbane band continued their unique Velvets-through-the-lens-of-Joy-Division approach through the name change, harnessing a fuller, more bass-heavy sound on their final recording session. The track 'I'd Rather Stay Home and Watch TV' still has more than its fair share of the Aussie-garage stomp of bands like the Chosen Few and the Victims, but after that it's all about Mo Tucker beats, dark and poetic lyrics delivered with a distinctly Lou Reed-influenced drawl, and heavy, melodic Peter Hook-style bass lines. If you want to hear first-gen-DIY naiveté, post-punk artistic ambition and the party-hearty sensibility of the original Murder Punk bands clash together into something wholly unique, get this on your turntable right away. 600 copies with pretty purple dust sleeves."
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LP
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540 038LP
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"The Milk Music/Merchandise/Destruction Unit split LP is a document of a 2013 US tour which drew worldwide attention from those interested in the modern US rock underground from a seemingly unlikely combination of bands. When we say 'unlikely' it is because these bands are from the geographical fringes of the country: from the far corners (the other East and West coast corners) we have the despondent and desperate Merchandise (Florida) and the freedom freak jams of Milk Music (Washington), and from the depths of the Sonoran desert the majestic psychedelic assault of Destruction Unit. When we say 'unlikely' we don't want to suggest they are ill-fitted. While the songs occasionally scrape against one another in disparate tone and pace, the resulting sparks thrown off do little to affect the overall congruency of these bands, a communal trip and a beautiful come down: we move from the introverted warmth of Merchandise to the sensory overload of Destruction Unit into a blissful, careering drift in the capable arms of Milk Music. The booklet that accompanies the record, designed by Destruction Unit's J.S. Aurelius, collates some of the fliers and photos from the road, and gives one pause to consider: is this a document of the best of the American psych underground in 2013/2014?"
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2LP
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540 043LP
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"Peter Gutteridge is the man who launched a thousand Flying Nun bands. Founding member of The Clean, the Chills, the Great Unwashed, Snapper and the Puddle, Gutteridge released one solo album, Pure, on Xpressway Records in 1989, which was recorded between 1986-1987. It's a collection of fragments and completed songs recorded on a Fostex four track. They were all recorded to tape, ideas going down as they were made them up. I was my own technician. There were no studio bills or aesthetics to deal with. Recording in a studio after this experience was a frustration. Once in a while, I believe you become a kind of channel, even if slightly muddled. The tainted shamen? I don't know. What I can say is this record you're hopefully holding in hand had its genesis long before I ever picked up a guitar. I've always loved a dirty drone. Notes corrupted and split apart by the miracle of the sympathetic note. Bagpipe, chanters, organs, pianos, ad infinitum. Throw a few clear notes in and you achieve creation on your own terms. Link it up to the background hum of the universe doing its thing and you have hypnosis in a sound. Shmaya."
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7"
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540 033EP
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"On this new 7" you'll find two songs that Copenhagen based rock band Lower chose to dig up from the past. These two songs flirt with a bigger sound than what you'd find on the Walk on Heads EP. Both of the songs were featured on their long gone demo tape. Here they are, re-recorded in Copenhagen's south end with Nis Bysted in 2012. These songs are finally revealed for a wider audience. Die-cut covers with a full color inner sleeve."
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12"
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540 020EP
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"It's hard to believe Azz Everywhere is Big Freedia's vinyl debut. The 'Queen Diva' of New Orleans bounce has been performing in New Orleans for over fifteen years, and has been touring nationally with DJ Rusty Lazer and her dancers, spreading the gospel from the Third Ward to the whole world. The A-side of her first 12-inch features one of her most well-known and deeply loved anthems, 'Azz Everywhere,' as well instrumental and a capella versions of the party starter. The New York Times has called her a 'leading light of bounce,' and describes her music as 'energetic, astounding and cathartic.' The B-side of the 12-inch features three live cuts, 'Gin In My System,' 'Make Ya Booty Go,' and 'I Got The Power,' (produced by DJ Blaqnmild with intros and outros from DJ K-Real) preserving on wax the kinetic performances that have drawn such lofty praise."
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7"
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540 028EP
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"'Express Yourself' is Diplo's first time out in the well established universe of New Orleans bounce music. This explosive collaboration with new generation bounce rapper Nicky da B, protégé of Big Freedia and Katey Red, reaches across the gap between the hip hop origins of bounce and the club hits he's consistently delivered in the past. Nicky da B's musically percussive style, featuring lyricism reminiscent of the Caribbean origins of New Orleans music, finesses the beat, creating maddening textures that bring Diplo's production to a boil."
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7"
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540 027EP
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"The next release in the 'Shake/Savage' reissue series of Aussie punk singles from the late '70s and early '80s! Features members of Just Urbain and the Young Identities, and came out right after those in 1981, but if you haven't heard it then it's a bit different. Way more post punk like Bauhaus or Joy Division. Just as intense and amazing as the Young Identities and Just Urbain but a little more 'mature.'"
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2LP
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540 029LP
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2014 repress. "It's interesting to note that by the time most folks in the northern hemisphere got their first taste of The Clean (circa 1985), they all but packed it in. Yep, tis true. '85 was the year of the first great Kiwi invasion (vinyl wise) with the Flying Nun roster leading the way. And there was nary a dud to be found. And such wonderful and unusual names: Tall Dwarfs, Sneaky Feelings, The Puddle, Scorched Earth Policy and of course, The Clean. Their trio of 12" EP's were rabidly devoured by a curious and enthusiastic cognoscenti. You didn't buy one, you bought 'em all. Same goes for the 7-inchers. And there just wasn't enough. Not only of Clean records, but Clean material! Then one day in some long forgotten order came a copy of the Odditties cassette. The sales rep had included it as a promo, claiming he couldn't shift 'em (cassette love being at something of a nadir back then). 'I'll take whatever you got' was my reply. And I hadn't even played it yet. But I knew that even though it had gotten 'runted' out on to tape only format, there was no doubt it contained a treasure trove of aural gems. You couldn't help but think that Odditties was to The Clean what Whatever Happens Next was to Swell Maps. Which, more or less, is what it is. Recorded between 1980-82 Odditties is a thorough compendium of alternate takes, addled miscues, riffing zoners and back burner gems. Never easy to come by, even the CD version had scant distro through the 90's. This bunch of songs has been tagged as 'the ones that got away'. But hold on there pard, this story ain't done. Cut to 2012 and the inimitable Austin label, Five Four O, has taken up the call and wrangled this behemoth of slippery southern psychedelia into the format it has always so richly deserved: the double LP. Housed in fetching and historical gatefold sleeve to boot."
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