For ESOPUS 20: SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (Fall 2013), we asked musicians to write a song inspired by one of their personal belongings.  Sam Phillips’s “Teilhard” focuses on a desert rock from Yucca Valley, California, where the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter spent many childhood weekends at her late grandfather’s cabin. The song’s title references the Jesuit priest, philosopher, and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955), who, in Phillips’s words, “preferred rocks over flowers because rocks are more permanent, and flowers die so quickly.” Phillips echoes that sentiment in her potent closing line: "I’ll hold you in my hand until I die, until I’m dust again; until I’m just the dust in your eye...." 

The "ESOPUS 20: PERSONAL EFFECTS" CD also includes tracks by Wesley Stace, Prince Rama, The Garden District, and Julian Lynch. Find out more at bit.ly/1cg2y2u

For a list of all ESOPUS CDs, visit bit.ly/ZOHRS8

"Teilhard" by Sam Phillips

Ben Cook Aka Young Guv (Fucked Up, Marvelous Darlings, The Bitters) and Marvelous Mark Fosco (Marvelous Darlings) lived together as flat mates for 4 years. Mark came home from his deli job one day with an illicit substance he traded a customer for a deli sandwich. The first session "Back to the Sun/Girlfriend Swap" cannot be remembered by either Roommate but nevertheless ended up on a run of 66 cassettes by now defunct label from the Arctic, Scotch Tapes. "Back To The Sun" is a smashing, soaring bit of power-pop that would sound right at home on a Power Pearls comp, complete with soaring harmonies and mod-ish drum fills. "Girlfriend Swap" is even more tumultuous, exploding in a blur of pop-art guitar flash.

The next session ("Kelly, I'm Not A Creep"/"1st Floor Blues") was of a similar nature, and also ended up as a tape series by Scotch Tapes. "Kelly, I'm Not A Creep" is just an amazing ballad, radio-ready in some weird parallel universe where The Raspberries are on Midnight Special every week, Bram Tchaikovsky is still in The Records and American Bandstand still has skinny tie power-pop bands on every Saturday morning.

The Roommates played 5 shows in a small cafe in the east end of Toronto called "One Stop Sandwich & Coffee". They were all matinees. The cafe was next to the Don Jail, and was mainly a place for family members visiting inmates to get a cup of joe and a donut. Although originally meant to be a band of extremely limited and rare pressings that no one would ever really hear, the songs are now smartly compiled on 7" by Slumberland. Too catchy to be so secret. Too packed with mod/power-pop goodness to miss. Enjoy! 


Roommates - Back to the Sun/Girlfriend Swap

Buy on iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/sideways-sometimes/id499191635

Taken from the record, Sideways, Sometimes, released on 23rd April.



iTunes

CYMBALS - Candy Bar

Pre-order the full 'Thrown EP' here: http://erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP044

Buy the '65' split EP with Rival Consoles here: http://erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP013

---

Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen's collaborative project Kiasmos continues to spread Icelandic techno with new Thrown EP featuring remixes by FaltyDL and 65daysofstatic.

After having revealed the title track Thrown via XLR8R in April, Kiasmos announce the release of their Thrown EP featuring brand new track Wrecked and two guest remixes by FaltyDL – one of New York's finest electronic producers – and UK's industrial post rock pioneers 65daysofstatic in the form of a12"/DL on Erased Tapes.

A1: THROWN
Ólafur explains: ‘Thrown is the first track of the "New Kiasmos", so to speak. Actually, Thrown is kind of a remix of a new Ólafur Arnalds track that hasn't even been released yet.’ ‘It has become the track that we use as a reference for all our newer stuff’, adds Janus.

A2: THROWN (FALTYDL REMIX)
‘Remixing used to be a very special thing. Not so much anymore. And when you're done, it will end up as a free download and most likely not on vinyl. It's bullshit. So when I get the opportunity to make an actual record, an object that will last longer then any of us, I jump on it. I have pleasures in my life. Doing this remix was one of them’, says Drew Lustman aka FaltyDL.

B1: WRECKED
Janus: ‘I don't really know what we were thinking when we started working on Wrecked.’ ‘Wrecked is our experiment with a new Doepfer synth. The song is severely out of tune’, adds Ólafur.

B2: WRECKED (65DAYSOFSTATIC REMIX)
‘It was quite a challenging remix to do, because it's such a minimal, understated track. The usual 65 approach of pulling out key refrains and messing with them didn't work because the bass is such a unique, dark sound. Likewise, I was reluctant to add too much new material because each attempt at that quickly veered into writing what sounded like a new song. Too many remixes these days are done to provide quick and easy bonus tracks for artists to giveaway, which is a shame, because when done properly, I think a remix is a great way to see a track you're familiar with as a listener in a new way’, explains Paul Wolinski of 65daysofstatic.

Janus: ‘I'm really excited about the remixes. They are both very different from each other and give the songs a new life. It's always great fun to hear someone make the tracks their own.’


ABOUT:

Kiasmos is the brainchild of Icelandic modern classical composer Ólafur Arnalds and Bloodgroup mastermind Janus Rasmussen from the Faroe Islands. Based in Reykjavík, Arnalds used to work as a sound engineer – often for Rasmussen's main project Bloodgroup – where the two musicians discovered their common love for minimal, experimental techno music. They eventually became best friends, and Janus now often accompanies Ólafur's solo shows with his electronics. ‘I am really enthusiastic about this project. Finally, I can make music that people can dance to. Something refreshing for the weekends’, explains Arnalds in an interview with the German electronic music magazine Beat. The project is a good way for both artists to ‘get out of the house’ so to speak and do different music to what they normally do. Having released their 65/Milo split 12" with label mate Rival Consoles in 2009, this year sees the duo return with the hotly tipped Thrown EP and a string of European club shows. 

'A rich production of deep, subdued techno...sure to stick in your head long after the track is through' – XLR8R

'Linear electronic music that propels you to pastel horizons...a dreamy new track to ease you through the day. A gentle groove and washes of sonic colour underpin a deceptively simple melody that buries itself inside your head' – Electronic Beats

'Thrilling stuff, primed for the more discerning floors' – Bleep

'Extremely elegant and addictive, sharp and hypnotic' ★★★★ – The Milk Factory


OFFICIAL WEBSITES:

facebook.com/kiasmos
soundcloud.com/kiasmos
erasedtapes.com

Thrown

Kiasmos - Wrecked (65daysofstatic Remix) - snippet

Boomgates - Flood Plains

Blank Realm's brilliant new album 'Go Easy' available CD / Pink 180gram 12" LP / Digital Download from Fire Records.

Digital Release mid Feb 2013
Physical release:
Europe: 4th March 2013
USA: 14 May



Blank Realm - Cleaning Up My Mess

We recorded this cover to test out  the studio we built for the scrapped sessions for the second A Grave With No Name LP.

Tom King played the bass.
Anupa Madawela played the drums, guitar and harmonica.
Alex Shields played guitars and sang pretty badly.

David Payne helped us produce it.

'The Outdoor Type' (The Lemonheads Cover) - A Grave With No Name

First single from Legs "Pass the Ringo" LP 
Vinyl and Digital available on Loglady Records April 23, 2013. 

Named after their fathers' mutual love for Tina Turner, Oakland, CA-based Jeffrey Harland and New Zealand native Matt Bullimore began Legs in a cold, concrete practice space in West Oakland, California. The pair originally met while exchanging Weezer bootlegs in a Safeway parking lot in early 2000. Matt would go on to teach Jeffrey his first power chord sealing their friendship and status as best-buds. Early get-togethers were dominated by heated arguments over the Beatles versus The Stones, ending only after the discovery of their mutual love of the Kinks and Velvet Underground. Flash forward to 2013, and Legs has readied their debut long-player Pass the Ringo, set for release on April 23rd on Loglady Records.

Matt's formative years were in Christchurch, NZ where he saw his high school band open for the Bats and other notable groups in the area. In fact, his pretensions went so far as to write a letter in coffee to Flying Nun, demanding a record contract. Before Jeffrey picked up the guitar and gave up all hope, he bothered himself with a BFA in media arts, there he learned important words like "simulacrum" and "Verfrem
dungseffect" as well as how to properly develop 16mm film. The two would go on to play together in several short-lived bands before embarking on their current project in 2011. Daunted by the idea of searching for like-minded bandmates, booking shows and carrying equipment, Legs remained a personal recording project for a year. The two met twice a week in their rehearsal space, Matt learned to play the drums, they demoed songs, and soon began to record themselves on a borrowed 4-track. Soon they had amassed a sizable batch of songs informed by their love of the jangle guitar pop dispatched during the early 80's by labels like Flying Nun and Creation Records. Their music glides along with simple chord progressions and rudimentary drum beats filtered through the haze of obsolete reverb units and dirty tape machines; vocals float, cymbals crash, and guitars scratch.

The two stuck it out and ultimately invited friends and family into the inner Legs circle. Several drummers were auditioned, including Patrick Lynch who can be heard on "Shades of Grey", and songs were written with Jeffrey's partner Amelia Adams in mind for vocals. Though recording increased, the band remained low key and intentionally shied away from playing live opting instead to hone their songwriting and recording craft. Recording took ages, if a song didn't have unanimous acceptance it was simply discarded resulting in an albums worth of material rejected. Along they way drummer Kevin Walker was added to the line up and the group found themselves with a collection of songs they they really enjoyed.

After recording a collection of demos the two sent out discs to anyone they could think of, getting some local press and radio play along the way. Fortunately, a disc was mailed to Jeffrey's college classmate and co-founder of Loglady Records, Jason Hendardy (also of Permanent Collection), who got in touch with duo and asked to hear more. Legs obliged. Working with Loglady Records has allowed them the freedom to develop their sound at their own pace and with the attention they need to grow as a group, all while getting to participate in the history of an increasingly influential bay area label.

Legs - Two Colours

TO KNOW HIM /pearl&john (k-e-e-p-i-t-d-a-r-k)

Download this from http://chaptermusic.bandcamp.com/album/beaches-she-beats

From second album She Beats, out on Chapter Music 3 May 2013.

www.facebook.com/beachesband
www.twitter.com/beachesband
www.chaptermusic.com.au
Itunes Link: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/distance/id610715433?i=610715933&uo=4

Beaches - Distance

from Free Time's upcoming "S/T" LP (2013, Underwater Peoples)

Out 5.28.13

Pre-Order Here: http://underwaterpeoples.com/2013/03/12/pre-orderfree-time-free-time-lpuplp023/

Free Time - Nothin But Nice

The First Single from our 5th Studio Album 'FANDANGO' set for release in later April

The Captain - Radio Edit

The Baptist Generals / Sub Pop  http://www.subpop.com/artists/the_baptist_generals
"Dog That Bit You" from the 5/21/13 album Jackleg Devotional to the Heart
 http://www.subpop.com/releases/the_baptist_generals/full_lengths/jackleg_devotional_to_the_heart

Order the album
iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/jackleg-devotional-to-heart/id623536062
Amazon http://amzn.com/B00C3JU4KM
Sub Pop http://www.subpop.com/releases/the_baptist_generals/full_lengths/jackleg_devotional_to_the_heart

The Baptist Generals Website http://www.baptistgenerals.com/
Follow The Baptist Generals on Twitter https://twitter.com/generalogy
Like The Baptist Generals on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/baptistgenerals
The Baptist Generals on Tour http://www.subpop.com/tours/the_baptist_generals

Sub Pop Records  http://www.subpop.com
Follow Sub Pop on Twitter  https://twitter.com/subpop
Like Sub Pop on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/subpoprecords
Follow Sub Pop on SoundCloud  http://soundcloud.com/subpop

Jackleg Devotional to the Heart

Dog That Bit You

The Baptist Generals - Dog That Bit You

San Francisco/Oakland's The Mantles have been charting a unique path through the Bay Area's storied garage/pop scene since 2007. The early shows were loose & loud Velvets/'Nuggets'-bashing, always with weirdly catchy songs & oddball chord changes. Their first singles saw them honing their sound, building towards their excellent 2009 self-titled debut album (on Siltbreeze) and follow-up EP on Mexican Summer. Loosely aligning with artists like White Fence and Ty Segall, The Mantles thoroughly modernize and personalize the folk-rock tradition.

Now on "Long Enough To Leave," The Mantles still color outside the lines but dial a cleaner, more infectious sound. SF's Kelley Stoltz (Sub Pop) recorded the new album with enough savvy to make it pop while keeping the performances idiosyncratic & affecting. Sharp ears may spot bits of early Love, New Zealand's Flying Nun label and LA's Paisley Underground, but The Mantles are very far from revivalists and have more song-writing and arranging skill at their disposal than many bands could hope to have.

"Long Enough To Leave" is both impressionistic and psychedelic - guitar melodies evoke lyrical themes in equal measure to the plaintive words of vocalist Michael Olivares, whose frank and poetic take on ordinary reality strips familiar themes of their clichés. The band plays with a musical synchronicity and clarity that enlivens tunes like album opener "Marbled Birds" and the rocking "Reason's Run."

"Hello" is a tough, garagey stomp that contrasts nicely with the contemplative "Long Enough To Leave" which follows it. "Raspberry Thighs," originally released on a scarce French 7" single, is reprised and re-recorded with dreamy clarity. "Bad Design" is a great take on a long-time live favorite, while "Brown Balloon" joins "Don't Lie" and "Lily Never Married" in a long line of Mantles garage-pop classics.

By foregoing the theater of retro psychedelia, The Mantles end up innovating in an area of guitar music where many bands get lost fawning over fashions, styles and trends. "Long Enough To Leave" instead stakes their claim as writers and players of distinction, building a sturdy catalog of excellent songs and increasingly accomplished records.

Tour Dates:
Fri-Jun-14    San Francisco, CA -- Rickshaw Stop w/The Bats & Legs
Sat-Jun-22   Oakland, CA -- White Horse Bar - Record Release day show w/Kelley Stoltz
Fri-Jul-5       Washington, DC -- Black Whiskey
Sat-Jul-6      Baltimore, MD --- Club K
Sun-Jul-7     Philadelphia, PA -- Kung Fu Neck Tie
Mon-Jul-8    Harrisburg, PA - MakeSpace
Tue-Jul-9     Brooklyn, NY - Shea Stadium
Wed-Jul-10  New Haven, CT -- BAR
Thu-Jul-11   Cambridge, MA --  Lilypad
Fri-Jul-12     New Bedford, MA -- No Problemo Taqueria
Sat-Jul-13    NYC, NY -- Cake Shop w/Piano Movers and Pale Lights

* all shows with Juan Wauters (http://juanwauters.bandcamp.com)


US Press:
Anton Hochheim
FORCE FIELD PR
anton@forcefieldpr.com
323-344-1602

The Mantles - Brown Balloon

San Francisco/Oakland's The Mantles have been charting a unique path through the Bay Area's storied garage/pop scene since 2007. The early shows were loose & loud Velvets/'Nuggets'-bashing, always with weirdly catchy songs & oddball chord changes. Their first singles saw them honing their sound, building towards their excellent 2009 self-titled debut album (on Siltbreeze) and follow-up EP on Mexican Summer. Loosely aligning with artists like White Fence and Ty Segall, The Mantles thoroughly modernize and personalize the folk-rock tradition.

Now on "Long Enough To Leave," The Mantles still color outside the lines but dial a cleaner, more infectious sound. SF's Kelley Stoltz (Sub Pop) recorded the new album with enough savvy to make it pop while keeping the performances idiosyncratic & affecting. Sharp ears may spot bits of early Love, New Zealand's Flying Nun label and LA's Paisley Underground, but The Mantles are very far from revivalists and have more song-writing and arranging skill at their disposal than many bands could hope to have.

"Long Enough To Leave" is both impressionistic and psychedelic - guitar melodies evoke lyrical themes in equal measure to the plaintive words of vocalist Michael Olivares, whose frank and poetic take on ordinary reality strips familiar themes of their clichés. The band plays with a musical synchronicity and clarity that enlivens tunes like album opener "Marbled Birds" and the rocking "Reason's Run."

"Hello" is a tough, garagey stomp that contrasts nicely with the contemplative "Long Enough To Leave" which follows it. "Raspberry Thighs," originally released on a scarce French 7" single, is reprised and re-recorded with dreamy clarity. "Bad Design" is a great take on a long-time live favorite, while "Brown Balloon" joins "Don't Lie" and "Lily Never Married" in a long line of Mantles garage-pop classics.

By foregoing the theater of retro psychedelia, The Mantles end up innovating in an area of guitar music where many bands get lost fawning over fashions, styles and trends. "Long Enough To Leave" instead stakes their claim as writers and players of distinction, building a sturdy catalog of excellent songs and increasingly accomplished records.

Tour Dates:
Fri-Jun-14    San Francisco, CA -- Rickshaw Stop w/The Bats & Legs
Sat-Jun-22   Oakland, CA -- White Horse Bar - Record Release day show w/Kelley Stoltz
Fri-Jul-5       Washington, DC -- Black Whiskey
Sat-Jul-6      Baltimore, MD --- Club K
Sun-Jul-7     Philadelphia, PA -- Kung Fu Neck Tie
Mon-Jul-8    Harrisburg, PA - MakeSpace
Tue-Jul-9     Brooklyn, NY - Shea Stadium
Wed-Jul-10  New Haven, CT -- BAR
Thu-Jul-11   Cambridge, MA --  Lilypad
Fri-Jul-12     New Bedford, MA -- No Problemo Taqueria
Sat-Jul-13    NYC, NY -- Cake Shop w/Piano Movers and Pale Lights

* all shows with Juan Wauters (http://juanwauters.bandcamp.com)


US Press:
Anton Hochheim
FORCE FIELD PR
anton@forcefieldpr.com
323-344-1602


The Mantles - Shadow of Your Step

Download this from http://chaptermusic.bandcamp.com/album/beaches-she-beats

From second album She Beats, out on Chapter Music 3 May 2013.

Sprawling Melbourne psych-rock fivepiece Beaches return with second album She Beats.
Their self-titled debut emerged on Mistletone Records in 2008, making the Australian Music Prize shortlist for that year and featuring in 2010 book 100 Best Australian Albums. In the intervening years, the band have toured the US twice, played All Tomorrow’s Parties at the invitation of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, released an EP for NYC label Mexican Summer, shared stages with the likes of Roky Erickson, Deerhunter and Wooden Shjips, and even celebrated the birth of beautiful twin daughters to guitarist Alison Bolger.

But a second album was always on the cards. For She Beats, Beaches have once again joined forces with producer Jack Farley (Twerps, Scott & Charlenes Wedding). And like its predecessor, the album reflects a love for 60s pop, 70s psych, shoe-gaze, prog, southern boogie and Krautrock. But She Beats is bigger, bolder and more ambitious than the debut.

For one thing, German guitar icon Michael Rother of Neu/Harmonia features on two tracks. The band formed a bond with Rother at ATP in Melbourne in 2009, and he invited himself along to their recording sessions during his next Oz tour in 2012. One of these tracks, the cascading sonic swirl Distance, was premiered in March on Gorilla Vs Bear and has already had more than 30k Soundcloud plays.

￼Elsewhere, Veda sees the band extending hypnotically Eastward, while droning cello scrapes introduce Tanzanite. On the other end of the spectrum, tracks like Send Them Away, Out Of Mind and Runaway are upfront, glorious pop, though still heady with Beaches’ dreamy guitar heroics. All up, She Beats is rich, confident and layered, a multi-dimensional sonic world to get lost in over and over again.

Beaches are Antonia Sellbach (guitar/vocals), Alison Bolger (guitar/vocals), Ali McCann (guitar/vocals), Gill Tucker (bass/vocals) and Karla Way (drums/vocals).

“The five-piece can make a racket, no doubt, but Beaches are far from reckless, as the band delivered tightly constructed, densely layered and intricately detailed songs, all of them packing riffs the size of glaciers” - LA Times

“If the Melbourne, Australia-based all-girl rock group Beaches were based in, say, Brooklyn, you would probably have heard about them by now” - Pitchfork

www.facebook.com/beachesband
www.twitter.com/beachesband
www.chaptermusic.com.au
Itunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/she-beats/id610715433?uo=4

Beaches -  Send Them Away

Hebronix is a solo project by Daniel Blumberg (Yuck), produced by Neil Hagerty (Royal Trux / Howling Hex).

http://hebronix.com
www.atpfestival.com/recordings/artist/hebronix/view.php

'Unreal' is taken from their debut album of the same name, out now worldwide on ATP Recordings.

You can order this on 180 gram Green Vinyl or CD from the ATP Store at: tinyurl.com/hebronixunreal

Or from iTunes at: smarturl.it/hebronix-unreal

13

Db Reid