Spectres / Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - Record Store Day Is Dying [7"]

Back from my summer break now, and this split 7" by SPECTRES and LORELLE MEETS THE OBSOLETE was one of the last things i bought before my holiday started. There's been a lot of fuzz about this RECORD STORE DAY IS DYING release. The statement by the labels (about RSD having turned into a big circus with useless reissues for crazy prices, only feeding the greed of the major labels and resulting in indie labels getting into trouble and having to wait for months before their new releases can be pressed) and RSD's reaction to that, caused many discussions online and beyond. Personally i think these two labels absolutely have a point, although there's still a lot of excellent stuff coming out on the majors for RSD each year (not just reissues, let alone useless reissues) and the waiting times for vinyl pressing affect any record company, during the whole year - simply because all major companies have dismantled and sold their own plants years ago. So everyone's depending on the same independent pressing plants these days. The demand for vinyl during the past years has grown so tremendously that there is by far not enough capacity worldwide to get things pressed in time, throughout the year. Obviously, RSD is causing a peak in the production. This increased demand, just for the record, had already started quite some time before the first RSD took place and to my opinion the RSD organisation is taking way too much credit for the returned interest in the format we all love so dearly.
Anyway, this 7" is being released one copy per day until RSD 2016, with a stamp of the date on it, distributed in various ways. Mine was obtained via the most boring way: simply by being the first who clicked the webshop link that Sonic Cathedral put on their Facebook page, that 16th of July.
Both bands cover one of eachother's songs (Lorelle's Sealed Scene being renamed to Stealed Scene here) and they do it in an equally cool way. Even if it had been a "regular" RSD release without the fuzz around it, it would've been one of the musically most interesting releases of RSD 2015. Especially Spectres have been one of the revelations of this year as far as i'm concerned, and i'm happy i managed to get hold of a copy of this single. Unfortunately i can't make it to their show in Den Haag next month, but i'd urge anyone to go and see them. And i surely hope they'll return to the Netherlands not too long after that, so i can finally see them on stage myself as well.

Label: Sonic Cathedral / Howling Owl Records
Cat.nr.: SCR 086 / HOWL 038
Year of release: 2015

SIDE A:
01. SPECTRES - Stealed Scene

SIDE B:
01. LORELLE MEETS THE OBSOLETE - The Sky Of All Places

Loop - Array 1 [12"]

Reunions of bands like Slowdive and Ride are getting (most rightfully so) a lot of attention in the press, but the fact that LOOP -although musically quite different than the other bands i just mentioned- came back to make music again at the end of 2013, shouldn't be overlooked either. And this ARRAY 1 EP is their first release since 1990's A Gilded Eternity - and apparently there are two more EP's to follow. They have not lost any bit of their strength with this EP. The first two songs on side A sound like the band we know from the late 80's/early 90's, yet still very modern. Coma, the third one on side A, is a (rather uncomfortable) ambient soundscape. The whole B-side is taken by Radial, a song in 3 parts. An instrumental beginning (vaguely reminding me of Bowie's instrumental tunes during his Berlin period, like Warszawa), then an uptempo part with vocals, and at the end another instrumental ambient part. This 17-minute song is definitely my favourite one of the EP. Great to have them back, and looking forward to hear EP number two, which is scheduled for the autumn.

Label: ATP Recordings
Cat.nr.: ATREP07
Year of release: 2015

SIDE A:
01. Precession
02. Aphelion
03. Coma

SIDE B:
01. Radial

Girls Names - Zero Triptych [12"]

GIRLS NAMES have recently announced that their new album Arms Around A Vision will come out in October, and i can't wait. This 11-minute long ZERO TRIPTYCH one-sided 12" single came out in May this year, as a little taste of what to expect of Girls Names anno 2015. And man, it's fantastic! Simply a brilliant piece of post-punk/krautrock that proves that this three-quarter Belfast/one-quarter Dublin band is one of the best in their league. Adventurous, tight and in-your-face. The song won't be on the album, but i can only imagine at this point that it will become one of my favourite albums of the year. There were 500 copies made of this 12": 350 on black (like mine is) and 150 mailorder copies on clear transparent vinyl.

Label: Tough Love Records
Cat.nr.: TLV079
Year of release: 2015

SIDE A:
01. Zero Triptych

SIDE B:
-

Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe - I Declare Nothing [12", LP]

When i wrote about their RSD release some months ago, i already mentioned that TESS PARKS and ANTON NEWCOMBE would release a full length later on. So here it is. Both songs of the RSD 10" (Cocaine Cat and Mama) are featured on this album, and 8 other songs in the same vein. I find it hard to choose a favourite one because i think they're simply all great. Listening to I DECLARE NOTHING is like a 40 minute trip, and certainly not a bad one. Tess' husky vocals go extremely well with the duo's music. It's not only a humble gesture of Anton to let just her pretty face grace the front cover of the album, but also a smart move because, hey... she's ten times better to look at. No offense, mr. Newcombe ;) It's a damn shame i can't make it to any of their shows in a few weeks when they end their tour in Holland, but hopefully i'll get a second chance some day.

Label: A Records
Cat.nr.: AUK120LP
Year of release: 2015

SIDE A:
01. Wehmut
02. Cocaine Cat
03. Peace Defrost
04. German Tangerine
05. Gone

SIDE B:
01. October 2nd
02. Mama
03. Voyage De L'Âme
04. Meliorist
05. Friendlies

The Telescopes / A Place To Bury Strangers - Split [10"]

A nice 10" on white coloured vinyl, this split release by THE TELESCOPES and A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS. It's number 6 in a series of splits on Fuzz Club. 1000 copies were made of this; 200 on orange and 800 on white, all numbered on the inlay. The Telescopes came up with a cover of the Iggy & The Stooges classic, I Wanna Be Your Dog. It's a lengthy version, and certainly a solid and noisy one, but still i'd prefer the original. Nothing beats Iggy, you know. APTBS provided a furious skull-crushing ice cold tune, called Down The Stairs. It's one of the best new songs i heard in years by them, actually. Their recent Transfixiation album wasn't bad at all, but this track is representing the APTBS sound i really like.

Label: Fuzz Club
Cat.nr.: none
Year of release: 2015

SIDE A:
01. THE TELESCOPES - I Wanna Be Your Dog

SIDE B:
01. A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS - Down The Stairs

Cheatahs - 紫 (Murasaki) [12"]

Within reasonably short time, CHEATAHS has become one of my favourite bands. Their debut album is still spinning rounds on my record player quite often, and so is their previous Sunne EP. Last month 紫 came out (pronounced as "murasaki"), and on top of that i had the privilege to finally see them perform live. It was at the Best Kept Secret festival last weekend, and it was an amazing show. These guys produce such a glorious wall of sound. Made some pics; they can be found here. 
Back to this EP: it has 4 tracks, of which the title track is definitely my favourite. But also Wash Out is awesome. With the song 3D Milk they are pushing new boundaries, with a repetitive beat on the background. The first time i heard this song, i got flashbacks from when i first heard the last 3 songs of the latest MBV album. Progressive, definitely different than they've done before, but foremost and certainly: quality stuff. I like it when bands discover new grounds. 
The band's bass player Dean was kind enough to give me a setlist after the show and he told me that they hope to be back later this year for a club tour. Damn sure i will be there. A band like Cheatahs can be best seen in a small venue, and obviously they'll be playing a bit longer then as well. So i'll be keeping an eye on their concerts list, and i'd advise anybody else to do that as well. Cheatahs is a band to watch!

Label: Wichita 
Cat.nr.: WEBB438T
Year of release: 2015

SIDE A:
01. 紫 
02. Warm Palms

SIDE B:
01. 3D Milk
02. Wash Out

Flyying Colours - Roygbiv [12"]

Absolutely great to hear some new tunes by FLYYING COLOURS not too long after their debut EP saw the light of day. And to be honest i love this second EP even better than the first one. "Not Today" is actually one of my favourite songs of this year so far! I don't know how many times i've been playing the youtube video for it already, but since this ruby pink gem arrived today for me, i can finally spin it now on my record player as well. Yay! Only 300 were made of this colour on Club AC30, while another 300 on purple were released on Shelflife. ROYGBIV may sound like a funny word for non-native English speakers, but it stands for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet - the colours of the rainbow. Yeah, i admit i had to look it up too ;)

Label: Club AC30 / Shelflife
Cat.nr.: AC30 12074 / LIFE126
Year of release: 2015

SIDE A:
01. I Don't Want To Let You Down
02. Running Late

SIDE B:
01. Not Today
02. In The End
03. Leaks