It Came From The Hideout: The Best Of The Garagepunk Hideout Volume 1 2011

It Came From The Hideout: The Best Of The Garagepunk Hideout Volume 1 2011

Ya, I’m reviewing a download for the first time ever! But this one’s a little different in that it’s put together by a world wide community of garage punk freaks who live and breathe this stuff, so you know you’ve got some top notch combos represented here. From the well known, like veterans THE CYNICS, to a whole ton of up and comers (22 songs total) that’ll vow for your attention! One of those up and comers, WILL CRUM, even had a little writeup in the last ish of this fine zine (Live in London from MZ#9)! And there’s even a coupla Canuck combos on this worldwide comp too, those being Ottawa’s POLYMORPHINES and Toronto’s THE ULTIMATEMOST HIGH, who both contribute way cool tunes! If you dig the combos interviewed/reviewed in this here zine that you’re reading right now, you’re sure to love most of this compilation. Not only that, but there’s 3 more of these comps that are about to be released on the unsuspecting masses! And, these are free downloads, all you gotta do is join the garagepunk hideout (do a google search, it’s easy, unless you’re sitting on the throne as you read this) which is free, and you should be on it anyways if you’re reading MZ! (Dave O’Halloran)

THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY RAN IN MONGREL ZINE #10. BUY IT HERE

HoZac Hookup Klub Round One

HoZac Hookup Klub Round One
HoZac 2010

Here are my impressions of the songs on this compilation in single sentences. The cover is utilitarian. “Million Miles Away” by IDLE TIMES is  a song I already know and it’s pure NIRVANA love for me. WOVEN BONES’s tune takes you on a garage train down into the dark where Iggy Pop is leading a conga line further into the caves of your mind. DUM DUM GIRLS’ “Longhair” is incredible, unique, bizarre crashing snares high notes and tremulous eerie vocals, which suddenly come clear as day and amaze. TEEPEE’s “Oh Mercy”… ummm… no. TEETH’s “A is for Asshole” is a new wave pop trip a la SPITS/BLANK DOGS. BOX ELDERS’ “Tiny Sioux” sounds like themselves but a little more clean fun at the beach. “Little Ratty” by MOTHER OF TEARS is the last song on the A-side and the only band I’ve never heard anything about and it sounds big on guitars and hair. Side B: FLIGHT’S “FEELS SO GOOD”!!! “Mercury Mary” possesses the dreamy lovely lilt I expect from DUM DUM GIRLS. “Power Glove” is the great vital rock and roll guitar and drums of WHITE MYSTERY. IDLE TIMES makes the music inside my brain and that makes me happy. TEEPEE’s French “Martians” are boring me. TEETH provide again the unique/familiar sound sensations of SPIDER, THE SPITS, and weird-pop. WOVEN BONES’s “Sitting Sick”… shit I blanked out on a band I like! ‘Kay now we’re on the last song. It’s called “I’ve Had it” by ART THIEVES and its heavy drumming, guitar freakout sirens out the door. End of the party jams. Good Record! (Morgan Donor)

THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY RAN IN MONGREL ZINE #10. BUY IT HERE

Bloodstains Across British Columbia 7″

Bloodstains Across British Columbia 7″
Mammoth Cave 2011

Paul Lawton (MYELIN SHEATHS) and Evan Van Reekum (FIST CITY) are Mammoth Cave Recording Co. and have undertaken the ambitious project of documenting local bands across Canada (kinda like us!) with their Bloodstains 7”s (no connection to the Bloodstains Across Texas comps, except in inspiration). Each Bloodstains comp features songs clocking in at 1 minute or less which lets the guys cram as many bands as they can on each 7”. Seeing as I’m the only one I know who’s NOT on this comp, it was up to me to review it! Mammoth Cave does a great job of getting a who’s who of Vancouver on Bloodstains Across British Columbia, the second in the series after last year’s Alberta 7”. The A Side kicks off with the weird punk/psych nite contingent with the garage/punk kids filling up the flipside. Probably I would have swapped sides with NEEDLES//PINS and B-LINES but other than that, I have absolute no complaints! All bands submitted a BC-themed track, so you get NÜ SENSAE’S dark dirgy “Tea Swamp Park”, about a rather cheery community garden that creeps them out, and B-LINES’ “It Rains”, which is more than fitting since it’s been raining here straight since September. On any given day I can easily relate to the sonically dense and echoing MANIC ATTRACTS’ “Dead City” (“Dead City! It makes me wanna die!”) or to the YUNG MUMS happily “smokin’ ur Mom’s blunts!” on “BC Budz”. All my favourite bands together on one slab of vinyl. And rumour has it SHADOWY MEN ON A SHADOWY PLANET have a track on the upcoming Bloodstains Across Ontario 7”! (Janelle Hollyrock)

THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY RAN IN MONGREL ZINE #10. BUY IT HERE

Whiskey Girls and Pasta LP

Whiskey Girls and Pasta
v/a
Musica Para Locos 2010

Whiskey, Girls, and Pasta is the first full-length release from Mexican label Musica Para Locos run by organist Alfredo Destruccion of TELEKRIMEN (int. in MZ#7) and PLAGA & LAS PLEITO. Whiskey offers up 11 tracks from all-female or female-led bands, which was a nice surprise since usually when you see a sexy girl on the cover of a compilation LP, there’s no actual female musicians to be found on it (like the Pebbles comps)! All bands, from LES BREASTFEEDERS to THE HUSBANDS to PERSIAN CLAWS (int. in MZ#9) fall on the sixties-influenced garage end of the spectrum with some extra snotty garage punk tracks from THE COATHANGERS and my previously unheard but new favourites: SIGNORINE TAYTITUC from Italy and PLAGA & LAS PLEITO, a three piece from Mexico. Will happily file this comp next to my Girls in the Garage LPs! (Janelle Hollyrock)

THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY RAN IN MONGREL ZINE #10. BUY IT HERE

One Man Bands, Hillbillys and Monsters 7” EP

One Man Bands, Hillbillys and Monsters 7” EP
Dirty Ugly 2010

Talk about getting your money’s worth, this little 7” EP has 10 bands on it!! Yep, not a typo, 10 bands and all of them are way cool in a way that MZ readers will love them!! From the raunchy surf sounds of Dead Beat and The Archers to the guitar fuzz noise of Alex Shade and Thee Haints to the greasy rockabilly of Bloodshot Bill, it’s all here for your aural entertainment.  There’s bands from Canada, UK, US, Sweden, France and even Antarctica if you can believe that! Limited edition of 400, so you better grab your copy quick! And if you’re into lo-fi, check out some of the other fine releases on Dirty Ugly Records. (Dave O’Halloran)

THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY RAN IN MONGREL ZINE #9. BUY IT HERE

East Infection compilation 7”

East Infection compilation 7”
Foul And Fair 2010

This is a 4 song comp from the East Coast of Canada and starts off with Mess Folk and their throbbing ode to lack of work, “No Jobs”. Next up is the primal lo-fi punk of Meat Curtains who want to “Get Rebel”. Flip the record over and you get blasted by The Strawmen doing a blues/punk/garage anthem in “Devil Be Gone”. And to finish everything off is The Shats, who whip together a nice powerpop/garage sounding tune in “My Swingin Girlfriend”. And if this is any indication, the east coast of Canada has a pretty amazing and vibrant scene happening! Must be something in the water in that part of the country. (Dave O’Halloran)

THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY RAN IN MONGREL ZINE #9. BUY IT HERE

Dengue Fever Presents “Electric Cambodia: 14 Gems From Cambodia’s Past”

Dengue Fever Presents “Electric Cambodia: 14 Gems From Cambodia’s Past”
Minky Records 2009

Incredible collection of near-to-lost late ‘60s-early ‘70s Cambodian psychedelic rock and roll. The liners say this material was recorded in the short period soon after Cambodia became an independent nation, and ended when the Khmer Rouge took control of the country in 1975, killing most of the artists that created the songs on this beautiful crème vinyl pressing. I had only heard similar music on a myspace page a few years ago but myspace is set up so stupidly now I couldn’t begin to scroll through my friends to tell you what that page and compilation was called. Perhaps it was about the Dengue Fever cassettes that were made over the years? I’ve also come across this, or other Asian music of this era, a couple of times on the radio by accident, but the only cassette I managed to tape of it had bad reception and now the tape has snapped! Now I have the chance to fully appreciate the rich psychedelic sounds as they were originally conceived! The Cambodians really knew their fuzz guitar! This comp also contains a beautiful version of “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)”, Nancy Sinatra’s English version of this song most recently resurrected in Quentin Tarantino’s film Kill Bill Vol.1. Surprisingly, nearly all of the songs were by Pan Ron and Ros Sereysothea who were a large part of a thriving music scene in Phnom Penh, and one by Dara Chom Chan. This compilation of their work has really made me want to seek out more compilations of garage and psychedelic rock and roll combos from countries all around the globe that were simultaneously creating their own unique take on psychedelic rock music. This comes with a digital download code for the songs + bonus tracks! Proceeds from Electric Cambodia go to www.cambodianlivingarts.org. (Bob Scott)

THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY RAN IN MONGREL ZINE #9. BUY IT HERE

Our Boy Roy v/a LP

Our Boy Roy

v/a LP

Telephone Explosion Records TER017 2010

www.telephoneexplosion.com

The night Roy Orbison died I had a dream about him, I shit you not! Upon awakening from the dream and discovering his passing, I would answer the telephone saying “Roy Orbison?”. If that dream had had a soundtrack it might have went a little like “Our Boy Roy”! A tribute to one of the smoothest voices in music history is no small feat and one would normally head into these waters with trepidation but not on this! I love the cover art of Roy’s negative space face. Many of the bands on this album have previously released material on Toronto’s Telephone Explosion label. Starts off with crunchy guitar rendition of “Problem Child” by Camero Werewolf Band (livefastdie). Jacuzzi Boys give a really fresh take on “You Got It”, I happen to like it more than the original version’s sanitized ‘80s MTV friendly sound (with Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne). I was dismayed when I heard that, it was miles from the Sun Records rock ‘n’ roll I really liked and became estranged with Roy a little after hearing it. Ty Segal’s amazing “Problem Child” has Ty yelping like Roy through a crazy digital delay pedal and it’s really demented and wild! Reminded me of The Chrome Cranks a little. Things like this make up for the mental scarring the film inflicted, shit like that negated the value of the original song, The Hardrock Cafe/ RnR Hall Of Famer sportsbar shit that glorified Roy Orbison and made me stop listening to certain songs of his for years. Most of the issues I have with some songs on here pertain to the vocal delivery, not that I am expecting to hear anyone sing ‘like’ Roy, but for example on The Cheater Slicks version of “Crying”, the vocalists approach to the song is to tackle it straight and it falls short in a bad karaoke way, although I like Cheater Slicks normally. It doesn’t make up for the KD Lang duet that killed the song for me originally. Bloodshot Bill gives us a very capable rendition of a lesser known 1956 Sun Records song, “Cause Of It All”. Haunted George, Holy Cobras, and Charlie & the Moonhearts are also present on this tribute to the original albino rock and roller. Musically everyone takes first prize for offering unique sounding versions of songs that most of us have heard since before we were born. Overall, I’m thankful to be able to hear this kind of tribute. (Bob Scott)

THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY RAN IN MONGREL ZINE #8. BUY IT HERE

KILLED BY TRASH VOL. 2

KILLED BY TRASH VOL. 2

P-Trash Records 2009

www.ptrashrecords.com

An all right punk comp from Germany distro P-Trash records that throws together 20 fast, snarling, and trashy bands off the label including tracks from Original Three (Ian from the Black Lips), Statues’ “Television Sect” (“All you ever do is sit around the box! You got no self respect! You let your brain infect!”), and Rad Kids’ “Neon Lights” that sounds straight outta ‘77. The flipside is super harsh with Cheap Thrills, Fucked Up, and CPC Gangbangs’ “L.A. Sleaze” (a slightly different version from the one on our Mongrel Zine Vol. 1 CD Comp, featuring Duchess Says’ A-Claude). I dug Cola Freaks doing Helen Keller’s “Surfin’ with Steve and E.D. Amin” (KBD by way of “I Wanna Be Sedated”). (Janelle Hollyrock)

THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY RAN IN MONGREL ZINE #8. BUY IT HERE

Hockey Dad Presents: Farm Team V/A CD

Hockey Dad Presents: Farm Team

V/A CD 2009

www.hockeydadrecords.com

Put out by B-Lines singer Ryan, this is a bunch of Vancouver bands that he loves but couldn’t afford to release material through Hockey Dad in vinyl format. The CD came with a limited run zine, and is sold out, but it’s worth finding for the CD that has White Lung, Defektors, Timecopz, Piece Pipe, Nu Sensae, The New Values, The Moody Dudes, Hard Feelings, Dead Ghosts, Chris-a-riffic, The Bloggers, and B-Lines… The CD has a message to “make a tape for your friends!” (Bob Scott)

THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY RAN IN MONGREL ZINE #8. BUY IT HERE