unpiano: music

When I first moved to San Francisco in the mid-90’s my apartment hovered over the corner of Stockton & Columbus streets in North Beach. For the first month or so the only way I could sleep at night with all the yelling drunks, jocks in stupid waist-length leather jackets, screechy Marina-girls, bums fighting shopping carts and yelling at ghosts, buses, cars, yelling, pissing, puking, fighting and partying was to put on Flying Saucer Attack’s New Lands and bury it all under a fluffy blanket of white noise. Fans of the Radio Department, Deerhunter and the like should fuzz out to these records. Here’s some tracks off a few long-gone singles from way back when.

Flying Saucer Attack - Standing Stone
Flying Saucer Attack - Soaring High
Flying Saucer Attack - Crystal Shade

Two Spaniards and one Nigerian got together (link) and created the kind of degenerate punk I can’t get enough of. After a handful of vinyl releases comes their debut LP Dialectics Of Shit and it slays. Giant Jesus Lizard drums and guitars that sound like telephone wires whipping in a hurricane give way to blistering noise breakdowns and bizarre production. I’ve had this one track on repeat for a month.

Billy Bao - Tight Ass Bleeds

Portland Oregon’s Eat Skull has been killing it lately. With a string of quickly out of print singles and their debut LP Sick To Death (Siltbreeze) already landing on lots of “Best of 2008″ lists, their deranged lo-fi pop has hit it big in the small time. Landing somewhere between ear-splitting 80’s hardcore and those wonderfully wasted GBV records, here’s a few favorites off their two long-gone 7 inches and an even longer-gone split cassette.

Eat Skull - Dead Families
Eat Skull - Seeing Things
Eat Skull - Survivable Spaces

I was going to write something about Can’s history and influence on everybody but then I realized that’s pretty boring and I’m a crappy writer so I’m just going to say that I really really really like Can a lot. Oh, and I like Damo Suzuki’s crazy get-up.

Can - Pinch
Can - Vitamin C
Can - I’m So Green

Bonus:
Can - Spoon (video)

Another noisey, art-damaged pop band from Columbus Ohio, Psychedelic Horseshit have been getting a lot of attention for their Siltbreeze release Magic Flowers Droned from this past year. A clunky, distorted mess with an undercurrent of witty, catchy pop songs, this record reminds me a bit of those pre-Slanted And Enchanted Pavement E.P.s.

Psychedelic Horseshit - Rather Dull
Psychedelic Horseshit - Mouth Disciples

Bonus:
Psychedelic Horseshit - Portals (video)

I was thinking about old times and remembered how much I liked Lee Ranaldo’s song “The Bridge” from some cassette comp I had a long time ago. How it reminded me of recording in NYC a million years ago and going over the Brooklyn bridge in the Speedking tour van late at night and hearing that noise he talks about. Here’s a bunch of stuff from random E.P.s, cassette and vinyl only releases I dug back up.

Lee Ranaldo - The Bridge
Lee Ranaldo - Broken Circle
Lee Ranaldo - The End Of Life In America

Bonus:
Lee Ranaldo - Fragile (Wire Cover)

When anyone asks what’s going on in San Francisco these days, I hold up a Sic Alps record and say “This shit, right here”. Since the two-piece membership solidified a couple years back, the Sic Alps sound has evolved steadily over a barrage of releases. One part loose lo-fi minimalism, one part West Coast experimentalism, one part impish Syd Barrett-y weirdness and whole heaping fuckload of rock and roll. Their latest, the limited, vinyl only Description Of The Harbor 12″ is a must if you can still find it, if for the hand printed Chris Johanson artwork alone. Look for something new on the legendary Siltbreeze label soon.

Sic Alps - Message From The Law
Sic Alps - Love Is Strange
Sic Alps - A Story Over There

Bonus:
Sic Alps - Semi Streets (video)
Sic Alps - A Story Over There (video)
Sic Alps - Arthur Machen (video)

The Davis CA based project, The Standard Tribesmen, is a fun romp through the stripped down, lo-fi blues-punk of the Gories, Sexareenos, Doo Rag and the Coachwhips with a noisey, frenetic twist. Originally a one-man band (think Mark Sultan/BBQ Show style), Julian Elorduy IV has been adding members over the last year, settling on the current four-piece line up that’s been blazing. Here’s a few tracks off the limited, self-released 7 inch that’s been going around.

The Standard Tribesmen - Riverside Strangler
The Standard Tribesmen - I Could Tell You More

This Blues Control record crept up on me over a few listens, but once I was hooked, I was hooked. Foggy, fuzzed out guitars, spacey electronics and a layer or two of assorted noise-making junk makes for a hazy head spin into a world founded by Faust, This Heat and the like. The hissing, psychedelic atmosphere created by this duo creates reminds me a bit of Flying Saucer Attack as well. I’ve seen this being held up as one of the year’s best, definitely in my top 10 to put on when coming off a bender.

Blues Control - Always One Time
Blues Control - End Zone

I was introduced to Los Llamarada as “Mexico’s answer to Sonic Youth”, but this foursome from Monterrey Mexico have knocked out a handful of releases that have proven them to be much much more. Densely textured, lo-fi soundscapes created by organ and weirdo guitars hammered together, billyclub-fisted drumming and finished with anguished boy/girl vocals, create another great twist on damaged D.I.Y. art-punk. I’m going to go out on a limb and give this my vote for 2007’s biggest surprise. Their new 7″ on S-S Records (who also released their debut “The Exploding Now” LP) is fan-fucking-tastic, these releases are vinyl only and go fast so grab them while you can.

Los Llamarada - Break The Silence
Los Llamarada - The Discovery
Los Llamarada - Je Suis

Bonus:
Los Llamarada - Nobody Calls Me (Live at SXSW)
Los Llamarada - The Ocean I Could See (Live in Mexico)