Curve - Blackerthreetrackertwo EP [12", Promo]

The BLACKERTHREETRACKERTWO EP by CURVE features the opening track for the Cuckoo album, Missing Link, in an industrial remixed version by Flood and Trent Reznor. The other two songs are remixes as well. The Headspace mix of Rising is a triphop version by Future Sound Of London, while the Honey Tongue Mix of Half The Time is a house tune, done by Drum Club. I have no idea where the original versions of these last two songs can be found actually: perhaps they even don't exist.
This is the alternative edition of the regular Blackerthreetracker EP by the way, which has the album version of Missing Link and two other songs. I don't have that one (yet). I'm never a really big fan of remixes and this is no exception to that really, but it's nice to have this EP just to add to my Curve collection.

Label: Anxious Records
Cat.nr.: ANX T DJ 142
Year of release: 1993

SIDE A:
01. Missing Link (Screaming Bird Mix)

SIDE B:
01. Rising (Headspace Mix)
02. Half The Time (Honey Tongue Mix)

Brave Black Sea - Fragments [12", LP]

BRAVE BLACK SEA is a new band formed by drummer Alfredo Hernandez (ex-Kyuss, Queens Of The Stone Age and Slo Burn), singer/guitar player Damon Garrison and lead guitar player Chris Hale (both ex-Slo Burn) and bassist Clint Cunningham. Or actually it's more like old friends, coming back together to finish something they started in the nineties. FRAGMENTS is the debut album by these sons of the desert, and pictured here is the limited edition first pressing on greenish blue (turquoise) coloured vinyl. Comes with a CD as well, which i always like better than a download coupon. It would definitely not do them justice to be labeled as a stoner band, just because of their musical background. Other than you'd expect perhaps, there are more elements of punk rock and grunge (Nirvana, Alice In Chains and Stone Temple Pilots are often just around the corner), than sludge or stoner. Ah heck, let's just call it in-your-face rock music, with a capital R. Very promising debut album! There are some European tour dates confirmed now for June and I'd love to see them live, so hopefully they'll plan a gig in Holland as well.

Label: V2
Cat.nr.: VVL24921
Year of release: 2014

SIDE A:
01. Running Away
02. Abandon Ship
03. The Five Visitors
04. Bandana Republic
05. Silence Is Golden

SIDE B:
01. This Is This
02. Beginners Luck
03. Ghosts
04. The Road
05. Fragments

The Brian Jonestown Massacre & The Magic Castles - Split 12" [12"]

This split 12" by THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE and THE MAGIC CASTLES is one of the Record Store Day releases i bought this year. Both bands are featured with two songs and i must confess i didn't know The Magic Castles very well, but i like the songs on this 12" a lot. Mellow folky psychedelic tunes. Their previous album from 2012 was also on Anton Newcombe's A Records, just like this split, and actually all of BJM's releases. The first of the two BJM songs will be on their new album "Reveleation", while the instrumental Lions Ride Free is exclusive to this release. It's a numbered limited edition of 3000 copies, on beautiful clear/white/grey splattered vinyl.

Label: A Records
Cat.nr.: auk028-12
Year of release: 2014

SIDE A:
01. THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE - Goodbye (Butterfly)
02. THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE - Lions Ride Free

SIDE B:
01. THE MAGIC CASTLES - Rebecca's World
02. THE MAGIC CASTLES - Trembling Hands

Dinosaur Jr. - Visitors [7", Boxset]

There were 5000 copies made for Record Store Day 2014 of this 7" boxset called VISITORS. It captures the first four DINOSAUR JR. singles on SST and Homestead, and a bonus 7" with two covers from that period: I Feel A Whole Lot Better (originally by The Byrds) and Peter Frampton's Show Me The Way. Pretty cool stuff, especially for a person like me who likes Dinosaur Jr. a lot and has seen them perform live a few times already, but rarely has any music by them on vinyl. Most of what i have by this band is on CD. I'm especially fond of their version of The Cure's Just Like Heaven. There's also a really cool booklet inside with an essay by Maura Jasper who made the band's artwork in those days, and some unreleased work by her.

Label: Numero Group
Cat.nr.: NUM705
Year of release: 2014

SIDE A:
01. Repulsion

SIDE B:
01. Bulbs Of Passion


SIDE A:
01. Little Fury Things

SIDE B:
01. In A Jar


SIDE A:
01. Freak Scene

SIDE B:
01. Keep The Glove


SIDE A:
01. Just Like Heaven

SIDE B:
01. Throw Down
02. Chunks


SIDE A:
01. Show Me The Way

SIDE B:
01. I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better

Ringo Deathstarr - God's Dream [12", EP]

GOD'S DREAM by RINGO DEATHSTARR came out only on CD in Japan on the Vinyl Junkie label late 2013, with a slightly different tracklisting. The first vinyl pressings were released in the US on Neon Sigh/Noyes Records in March 2014, and a month later we finally have the European version on Invada for Record Store Day 2014. The European version has a yellowish cover instead of a greenish one, and it replaces the song See You with Over There. This version is on yellow vinyl and there are only 500 copies made. That's about as limited as i personally like to see RSD releases to be made, to be honest, and i think Invada did a great job with that. I don't know how it is with the US pressings since i don't own one (yet), but while the sleeve and centre labels show Shut Your Eyes as the closing song for side A and Chainsaw Morning as the opening song for side B, it's actually the other way around. Minor detail of course, because it's the music that matters. And Ringo Deathstarr can do little wrong in my eyes. I've become a pretty big fan of this band over the past years, and this new release is right up there with their previous work. They have some pretty cool guest appearances this time around as well: Jeff Schroeder of Smashing Pumpkins, with whom they toured a few years ago, on Chainsaw Morning - and Adam Franklin of Swervedriver on Flower Power and Nowhere. The last one being my favourite song; for now, at least. I've only listened to the EP a few times so far so that might change over the next few weeks.

Label: Invada
Cat.nr.: INV113LP
Year of release: 2014

SIDE A:
01. Bong Load
02. God's Dream
03. Flower Power
04. Chainsaw Morning *

SIDE B:
01. Shut Your Eyes *
02. Over There
03. Nowhere

* tracklisting on the sleeve and centre labels mix these tracks up

Charlotte Gainsbourg - Hey Joe [7"]

This version of the Jimi Hendrix classic HEY JOE is released on 7" especially for Record Store Day 2014. The song is taken from the soundtrack of Lars Von Trier's "Nymphomaniac" movie, in which CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG plays the main role. It's a sensual version with Charlotte's trademark whispering voice, and music performed by great musicians like Beck, Jason Falkner and Joey Waronker (a.o. Atoms For Peace). The B-side features a pretty fine remix of the song by Sebastian (Akchoté), a French DJ for Ed Banger Records. I actually like it better than the regular version. I have no idea how limited this single is (it doesn't say on the sleeve and i couldn't find it anywhere online) but i'm pretty happy i managed to score a copy.

Label: Because Music
Cat.nr.: BEC5161816
Year of release: 2014

SIDE A:
01. Hey Joe

SIDE B:
01. Hey Joe (Sebastian Remix)

Various Artists - Kill Rock Stars [12", LP]

KILL ROCK STARS is a legendary compilation album on the label by the same name, from 1991. It features names like Nirvana, Melvins, Unwound, Bikini Kill and Nation Of Ulysses. There's also a track by Courtney Love on it, but that's actually a band called like that and not Kurt Cobain's widow. In 2011, 20 years after its original release, the label decided to reissue this album for Record Store Day, in 2000 handnumbered copies. The tracks on the album are pretty diverse, but in general it's all early 90's indie rock/pop underground stuff. Some good, some not so good. I like the Nirvana and Melvins tunes best.

Label: Kill Rock Stars
Cat.nr.: KRS 201
Year of release: 2011

SIDE A:
01. BRATMOBILE - Girl Germs
02. SOME VELVET SIDEWALK - Loch Ness
03. COURTNEY LOVE - Don't Mix The Colors
04. NATION OF ULYSSES - N.O.U. Cooking With Gas!
05. UNWOUND -You Speak Jealousy
06. MECCA NORMAL - Narrow
07. NIRVANA - Beeswax

SIDE B:
01. BIKINI KILL - Feels Blind
02. WITCHYPOO - Reaper Song
03. MELVINS - Ever Since My Accident
04. INFAMOUS MENAGERIE - Immediate Impound Zone
05. KICKING GIANT - Make You Come
06. FITZ OF DEPRESSSION - Everybody And Their Dog
07. JAD FAIR - Red Dress

Elliott - Songs In A Transit Wind [12", LP]

This Saturday it's Record Store Day again, and this compilation by ELLIOTT was one of last year's special RSD releases. SONGS IN A TRANSIT WIND is a compilation of 3 long out of print 7" singles (In Transit and If They Do on Initial Records, and Will You on Revelation Records) and two tracks that were never released on vinyl before. Orphalese was never before released at all, actually. This RSD pressing is on clear vinyl. RSD pressings are supposed to be very limited and if you look at the small quantity of 700 copies it's of course not a huge number, but the mailorder version on black vinyl (300 made) that came out around the same time, and the grey marbled second pressing (500 made) that came out 2 months later, are still rarer. And that's a bit strange, to say the least.

Label: Simba Recordings
Cat.nr.: Simba 23
Year of release: 2013

SIDE A:
01. Waiting While Under Paralysis
02. As Arson
03. The Watermark High
04. Halfway Pretty

SIDE B:
01. Calvary Song
02. Fan And The Bellows
03. Orphalese
04. Lost Instrumental