Rosemary Krust is a duo hailin outta Baltimore that is self proclaimed Shoegazers. I guess that should come as no suprise since the whole Maryland/Greater WDC area was the breedin ground for so much of that stuff back in the 90's. But what a difference a decade can make. Rosemary Krust don't seem as precious as all them Slumberland bands what come before'em, I dunno, maybe it's the lo-fi starkness but they remind me of a marriage of DR503 Dead C & Our Bed Is Green era Charalambides. Or maybe the American equivalent to Garbage & The Flowers. I sure don't hear no MBV influence which is fine by me. Sonically introspective, slightly fuzzed + guiltlessly twee'd =A GOOD THING. Small pressing & nice handmade sleeves too. Check'em out at www.myspace.com/rosemarykrust
S-S Records continues to dominate the 7" landscape w/2 new winners, the 1st one I layed into bein the debut from XYX who is presumably buds w/Los Llamarada. You might call XYX the dancefloor version of LL. They share the same pulsing energy but while Los Llamarada dredge into darker spaces, XYX bask in the gas glow of strobbing neon. The blown out bass riffs light up this dogie w/serious post punk glare, Gang Of Four style, while the fem vocals, drum propulsion & additional electo swagger calls to mind the most salaciously charged moments of Maximum Joy, tempered w/the bloodlust abandon of El Chupacabra. They's definitely onto somethin. Lookin forward to more. www.myspace.com/xyxs
This was also my 1st exposure to Hiroshima Rocks Around, why I do not know. I seen their name around, probably via S-S postings, but I just never got the bug. My loss. These guys seem custom made for the S-S crew, revellin in a chaotic carnage that till now seemed exclusively hand zonked by Gallic outfits such as Cheveu & Crash Normal. Hard to know who did what 1st but I think it's safe to say no one's gonna blame none of it on Catherine De Medici this time. Aggressively twisted & fun for all. Now I gotta go look up their back catalog.
Both this & XYX available via http://www.s-srecords.com/
Naked On The Vague is also battin 1000% & on this 7" for Skulltones, their patented brand of Apocalyptic melancholia is runnin at a fever pitch. The A side cracks & peels behind a 'Discipline' styled drum beat while Matthew & Lucy's vocal trade off's resemble the malaise akin to once upon a time Lee & Nancy ( aka, the original Chris & Cosey) recounting a night at Spahn Ranch, where they was sick from the tofu roasted over a kerosene bonfire & exasperated by the results of a Family hootenanny. The flip finds our hero's not a little wrecked from the copious amounts of Fromme procured dirt-cheeb they'd inhaled & who knows, maybe it'd even been 'dusted' w/LOVE by Charlie himself. It's a wild world babe, that's alls I can say. http://www.skulltones.com/
I remember seein The Electric Bunnies last yr down to SXSW at some ungodly time like 11am whiles the rancid smells of stale beer & fresh vomit was goin toe to toe w/new urinal mints & bucket've Pine-sol. It was gonna be hard to keep me there w/that much sensory overload goin on. I done my best, managed to stay long enough to realize they weren't just some clueless h/c wannbe's, in fact, they seemed very much akin to the Wombats, whose live shows was always more charged then them records what was released on Voxx & Homestead. Since that morning, Electric Bunnies have released two 7"ers. The 1st one garnered much acclaim but it never crossed my path so's I don't know what I missed. This 2nd one-a 4 song ep-is sure a melange of individual humdingers. Like the Wombats, they can extoll a hazy power pop vibe, but the EB's approach seems cut from a more anglo pattern. Listenin to this a couple times it was curious to pick up scent's that-inexplicable or not-recalled the tarnished jangle of Whaam bands such as The Mixers, Laughing Apple & even Revolving Paint Dream. The one track on here, 'Super Fluorescent Hippo Flashback' is a great caterwaul that's very much now, but I think if the Cappuchino Kid were to hear it, he'd be chuffed by the moves. And maybe even pony up a round of babysham's to boot. Charmed, I'm sure.
available via http://www.floridasdying.com/ who also run an excellent mailorder service. Give'em a holler.
Sweet Rot's got another new one on the streets, this time from a trio called Blank Its. Two tracks that's pretty straight up Killed By Death punk w/treated vocals to give it, I dunno, an edge? Catchy tunes though & if your smitten by yore boys such as Plastic Idols & Deprogammer, then start collecting for the future. As for the vocal trickery & spiney tingles, FNU Ronnies eat these guys for breakfast, but it ain't a competition, merely an observation. Don't kill the pogo!
www.myspace.com/sweetrotrecords
There's lot's of student housing permeatin the cityscape've Columbus, Ohio. In most cases these abodes come w/ample porches & plenty of basement space. All's the better to croon your folk & practice your rock, usually w/nary a complaint from the neighbors. There's also troves of cheap records to dig through & seein as how thems what's wet behind the ears is willin to embrace things some of us more jaded sots would find unremarkable, it should come as no suprise that the goslings what make up RTFO Bandwagon seem to have fused the precious folk of Richard & Mimi Farina w/the precocious rock of Go Team on this 4 song ep for the Dull Knife label. Not that there's nothin wrong w/that, but from my vantage I can't tell if I smell patchouli or if someone turned on the oven but forgot to light the pilot. Guess we'll all find out soon enough. http://www.dullkniferecords.com/
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