vivian girls "wild eyes" 7" on plays w/ dolls --- pretty awesome. gotta say i like the a- side way more than the b-side, though. they kinda remind me of a cross between slumber party, end of the century era ramones, ramones leave home era ramones, and the modern lovers. kinda hard to go wrong when you combine that stuff...
sic alps "strawberry guilotine" 7" on woodsist--- i had pretty high hopes for this because i liked their 11 minute strapping fieldhands cover on the "description of the harbor" ep they did last year and also because they used to have a member of erase errata in the band and also the whole being on woodsist records thing (kinda a seal of quality for me, you know?)... those hopes are kinda shattered. i guess this is kinda weird "weird" duded out garage rock? i dunno... found out later that one of these guys was in that coachwhips band that i didn't like. i remember seeing clips of them on that burn my eye dvd that came out a few years ago. i really wanted to watch the deerhoof and the lowdown segments but for some reason the controller on my roommate's playstation 2 didn't work w/ the dvd that well and so we ended up watching the coachwhips thing a few times... not so exciting... finally got the vhs of the deerhoof and lowdown segments a year or two later... anyhow, maybe i can sell this on ebay or something? i can dream, right?
pocahaunted "island diamonds" lp on arbor--- this week's pocahaunted album. i think they've already had like 6 releases so far this year? they're on a roll, though. this one is their dub album. lots of echo drums ( i think played by bobb bruno, the dude who recorded the mika miko album and plays w/ imaad wasif?) and dub basslines and some crazy spacy singing. my buddy joel says that the singing is a little too new agey for him, but better new age than no age, that's what i always say... after all, 64 page cd booklets are bad for the environment! pretty fun record though, even if the a side is better than the b-side. if you only buy 3 pocahaunted albums this year, this is one of them to get! also, if you play it at 45 rpm it kind of sounds like a hip hop record!
excepter "debt dept" lp on paw tracks--- it's no secret that i love this band, and this is one of their best albums yet. i've had it on my itunes for a while, but it's nice to finally have it on vinyl after none of the record stores in portland had it in stock (wtf?) we kind of see them moving into the more structured/dance territory hinted at on their alternation album and the burgers 12". i'd say that this is a contender for album of the year. there's also TWO barcodes on the back of the die cut sleeve, which is kinda cool but also kinda weird and confusing...
