Yearly Archives: 2010

The Phantom Family Halo, Music from Italian T.V. (Sophomore Lounge)

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Today’s edition of LEO Weekly contains my review of the new Phantom Family Halo record, Music from Italian T.V.:

Over the past year, The Phantom Family Halo released its Monoliths & These Flowers Never Die double-album and subsequently played a number of epic shows in town. Music from Italian TV continues with a pleasantly confusing blend of styles in a more concise format. Staples of their live show, like “It’s OK About the War (Gettysburg Jam)” and “Bringing Back the Dead” get a more polished, sublime treatment, while longer tracks like opener “I Believe In Everything” and “Overkirsh” present yet more experimentation, the former resembling a jam off Amon Duul’s 1969 classic Psychedelic Underground played backward and superimposed with television dialogue. There are a number of good bands in Louisville these days, but there’s not another band here, much less the rest of the nation, as inventive as The Phantom Family Halo.

Buy it from Sophomore Lounge Records.

The Phantom Family Halo performs in Louisville this Friday, Nov. 12, at 7 PM as part of Art After Dark at the J.B. Speed Museum ($5 for museum members, U of L and Bellarmine students, $15 for non-members). More information here: http://www.speedmuseum.org/calendar/Brown-Forman_Art_After_Dark.

STATE CHAMPION, TURBO FRUITS, PUJOL, and NATIVES at the RUDYARD KIPLING, Thursday, November 11th

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STATE CHAMPION (from Louisville/Southern Indiana, on Sophomore Lounge Records)
TURBO FRUITS (from Nashville, TN; ex-Be Your Own Pet, on Ecstatic Peace!/Fat Possum Records)
PUJOL (from Nashville, TN)
NATIVES (from Louisville, KY)

Thursday, November 11th
at The RUDYARD KIPLING, 422 W. Oak Street
$6, 9 PM, 21-and-over

Ryan from State Champion and Sophomore Lounge Records is putting together this great show for Veteran’s Day at the Rudyard Kipling, and you should be there. PUJOL were one of the highlights of last month’s CROPPED OUT FESTIVAL, for sure. As soon as we get more information on the other bands playing, we’ll update this post, so keep checking back. Thanks!

UPDATE, 11/5: Here’s some more information on all of the bands, including some mp3s!

STATE CHAMPION you should know, but just in case you don’t: STATE CHAMPION started in 2006 as a moniker for the early acoustic experiments of Ryan Davis. It has since evolved into a rock n’ roll band with a Chevy van and a vinyl record. Having created a sound that is a product of its upbringing, with Sweetheart of the Rodeo on the radio, Bleach idle in the tape deck, and a Smog song stuck in its head, Davis & Co. drive through forty minutes of sincerely howled, sloppily executed, stripped down garage-country on their full-length debut, Stale Champagne (released this year on Sophomore Lounge Records). “The band is an under-the-radar phenomenon in the making, the classic style of quality band that Louisville overlooks… The tone is just right for this type of subtle rock. A bit earnest, a bit funny, a bit smart.” – Joseph Lord, Velocity Weekly.

Listen to a track by STATE CHAMPION here: “The Years”

“TURBO FRUITS (ex-Be Your Own Pet, on Ecstatic Peace/Fat Possum) mine the punk rock spirit of the late ‘70s for their sound, a spastic mix of spunky MC5 giddy-up and glammy, feel-good guitar mayhem. Although the scenes they invoke were long dead before any of TURBO FRUITS were even born, their frantic interpretations are irrepressibly fun, like a T. Rex record skipping. It’s hard to fathom a band with so much dope-smoking innuendo in their lexicon being as busy as they are, much less as fierce and, hell, lively as they sound on their recordings.” – Nashville Scene

Listen to a track from TURBO FRUITS: “Mama’s Mad Cos I Fried My Brain”

“PUJOL (on Infinity Cat/Third Man, etc.), the punk-rock project of [Nashville] musician Daniel Pujol, has a gritty, garage-band sound, but with guitar riffs and catchy hooks that are hard to resist. PUJOL have already won a loyal following with addictive songs like “Mayday” and “Too Safe.” Plus, they’ve got a famous fan in fellow rocker Jack White, who’s producing the band’s next single on his label, Third Man Records… We’re betting PUJOL won’t be Nashville’s best-kept secret much longer.” – NYLON

Listen to a track from PUJOL: “Too Safe“

NATIVES are a psychedelic, garage rock band out of Louisville, KY. Think 13th Floor Elevators, Velvet Underground, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, etc. Familiar faces, with a killer live set to boot. Featuring ex-members of The Invaders, Ten to Midnight, and more.

CHEYENNE MARIE MIZE, OLOF ARNALDS, DOUG PAISLEY at Christ Evangelical United Church, Saturday, October 16th

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CHEYENNE MARIE MIZE
ÓLOF ARNALDS
DOUG PAISLEY

Saturday October 16th
Christ Evangelical United Church
1228 East Breckinridge Street (at the corner of Barrett Avenue)
$10, 7 pm
Advance tickets are available now at Brown Paper Tickets and at ear X-tacy!

Our friend Doug Paisley played a show at the Swan Dive a little  over a year ago with Joe Manning and Nathan Salsburg, and we’d be bothered if we didn’t tell you about the show he’s playing on the 16th here in Louisville with Cheyenne Marie Mize (if you live in Louisville, who you’re probably well aware how talented she is) and with Icelandic native Ólöf Arnalds. So there you have it, don’t miss it. Also, Doug’s new album Constant Companion is out now on No Quarter Records; buy it here: http://noquarter.net/bands/paisley.php.

UPDATE, 10/11: Cheyenne’s album was a pick in Jon Caramanica’s Playlist in yesterday’s New York Times:

There’s so much space between notes on Cheyenne Marie Mize’s debut album, “Before Lately” (sonaBLAST!), but hardly any air. Last year, on “Among the Gold,” an EP of 19th-century traditionals recorded with Will Oldham, she was a steady beacon for the purposefully erratic Mr. Oldham. On this sometimes startling collection of tough, dreamy, cloudy-sky country and chamber pop, Ms. Mize deploys her tools sparingly but effectively. Ms. Mize, from Louisville, Ky., has a rare voice, sweet without being cloying, and weary without hopelessness. On “Not” and “Waiting” she’s deliberate and undistractable, suggesting a more centered Fiona Apple. At the beginning of “Lull” just a handful of piano notes add up to something oceanic, filling a full minute before she enters with a soft whisper. “Rest” uses just a few tools — a drowsy guitar, a brushed snare — to create a heavy air of expectation. “I just want a piece of your mind,” Ms. Mize sings, drawing the sentence out over several measures, “But your mind is on the rest of the world/And how can I compare to that?”

That’s pretty cool.

ZAK RILES, DAVID DANIELL & DOUGLAS McCOMBS with special guest TIM BARNES at SKULL ALLEY, Thursday, October 14th

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ZAK RILES (from Louisville, member of GRAILS)
DAVID DANIELL & DOUGLAS McCOMBS with special guest TIM BARNES (from Chicago, Illinois; members of SAN AGUSTIN and TORTOISE, on Thrill Jockey)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14th
at SKULL ALLEY
1017 E. Broadway (near the corner of Broadway and Barrett)
8 PM, $6, All Ages! Beer available with ID.

ZAK RILES is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in the Important/Temporary Residence band Grails. His creative contributions to the group are immeasurable and can be heard clearly on this self-titled debut solo outing. In fact some of the pieces on this solo record have been reinterpreted into Grails favorites. Like his band Grails, ZAK RILES’ solo work is an elaborate mansion built of inspiration but with so much strength and originality that it stands firmly on its own. On these rocky shores come crashing waves of Sandy Bull, Mogolar, Deuter, Popol Vuh and the Ventures while Persian breeze drifts by wafting the melodies of Hossein Alizadeh. Essential listening for followers of Important Records who favor the likes of Grails & James Blackshaw.

DAVID DANIELL & DOUGLAS McCOMBS first met in early 2006 while touring as members of Rhys Chatham’s six-guitar Die Donnergötter band. Following that tour, the two spent several months trading albums and discussing making music together; they began their musical collaboration when Daniell moved from New York to Chicago later that year to study pedal steel guitar.

 These humble beginnings do little to reflect the depth and breadth of each of their talents; both are highly-respected musicians within their circles. Over the years Daniell has collaborated with many notable musicians, including Loren Connors, Rhys Chatham, Tim Barnes, Jeph Jerman, Thurston Moore, Greg Davis, and Jonathan Kane, as well as releasing numerous albums under his own name and with his band San Agustin on labels such as Table of the Elements and Family Vineyard. McCombs is more often seen wielding a bass guitar, whether as a member of Eleventh Dream Day, the acoustic collective Pullman, or the pioneering and inimitable Tortoise; in his role as the driving force behind Brokeback; or through his varied work with the likes of Tom Ze, Azita Youseffi, Will Oldham, Yo La Tengo, and Calexico.

Listen to a track off the DAVID DANIELL & DOUGLAS McCOMBS album Sycamore here: The Deshabille.

At this performance, the duo of Daniell on electric guitar and McCombs on electric guitar and lap-steel will be expanded into a trio via the addition of TIM BARNES, Louisville resident and drummer extraordinaire. The list of BARNES’S collaborators is too long to list here, but it includes Jim O’Rourke, Silver Jews, Neil Michael Hagerty and the Howling Hex, The Tower Recordings, and countless others. Most recently, TIM BARNES played drums with the newly resurrected lineup of The For Carnation.

Check out the Facebook invite here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113567252037198.

To join our email list, send an email to hstencil@gmail.com.

CROPPED OUT Festival with PISSED JEANS, MAGIK MARKERS and more! Friday – Sunday, Oct. 1-3

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Though we’ve been relatively inactive lately, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the upcoming CROPPED OUT Festival, in Louisville during the first weekend in October. CROPPED OUT features some of our favorite current bands, including PISSED JEANS, MAGIK MARKERS, SIC ALPS, and many more. Also, there’s a very strong representation of Louisville musicians at the festival, so it’s not just a buncha out-of-towners. Here’s more, including the weekend’s lineup:

Ryan Davis here, just reminding you (or possibly informing you for the first time) that my friend James Ardery and I are organizing a new music festival called Cropped Out for the first weekend of October (10/1-10/3, 2010) in Louisville, KY. The bulk of the event (Saturday and Sunday) will be taking place at the American Turners Club (3125 Upper River Road) with a Friday night kick-off event just a couple doors down at Kingfish (3021 Upper River Road).

Tickets are now on sale by way of cash, check, or PayPal at Sophomore Lounge (http://sophomorelounge.com), as well as locally at ear X-tacy, Underground Sounds, and Wild & Woolly Video. Or, if you’d rather go the digital route, you can order “will call” tickets (available upon your arrival) through TicketFly… http://www.ticketfly.com/tickets/event-list/?q=cropped+out&input.x=0&input.y=0

Tickets for Friday night are $10. Tickets for Saturday are $18. Tickets for Sunday are $18. Tickets for Saturday and Sunday combined are $30. If you are cool enough of a human arts & culture machine to be interested in attending all three days, contact us directly and we will sell you all three tickets for $35.

FRIDAY NIGHT 10/1 (PFH RECORD RELEASE/CROPPED OUT KICK-OFF)
KINGFISH (3021 Upper River Rd.)

Fielded (Chicago, IL) 8-8:30
Sapat (Louisville, KY) 9-9:40
Julianna Barwick (Brooklyn, NY) 10-10:40
The Phantom Family Halo record release show (Louisville, KY) 11-11:40
Moon Duo (San Francisco, CA) 12-12:45

SATURDAY 10/2 (INSIDE STAGE)
AMERICAN TURNERS (3125 Upper River Rd.)

The Highlife (Brooklyn, NY/Chicago, IL) 4-4:30
Rabble Rabble (Chicago, IL) 4:50-5:20
LUSHES (Brooklyn, NY) 5:40-6:10
Slow Horse (Chicago, IL) 6:30-7
Prideswallower (Louisville, KY) 7:20-7:50
Wishgift (Chicago, IL) 8:10-8:40
Straight A’s (Louisville, KY) 9 9:40
Parlour (Louisville, KY) 10:05-10:45
CAVE (Chicago, IL) 11:10-11:45
Young Widows (Louisville, KY) 12:05-12:50
Pissed Jeans (Philadelphia, PA) 1:10-2

SATURDAY 10/2 (OUTSIDE STAGE)
AMERICAN TURNERS (3125 Upper River Rd.)

Alex Barnett (Chicago, IL) 1:45-2
Learner Dancer (Indianapolis, IN) 2:15-2:40
Nzambi (Louisville, KY) 2:55-3:20
SKIMASK (Boston, MA) 3:35-4
DAD (Chicago, IL) 4:15-4:45
Geffika (Chicago, IL) 5:05-5:35
Life Partner (Louisville, KY/Chicago, IL) 6-6:30
Natural Geographic (Louisville, KY) 6:50-7:20
MEAH! (Chicago, IL) 7:40-8:10
PC Worship (Brooklyn, NY) 8:30-9:10
CACAW (Chicago, IL) 9:30-10:10
Ga’an (Chicago, IL) 10:30-11:15

SUNDAY 10/3 (INSIDE STAGE)
AMERICAN TURNERS (3125 Upper River Rd.)

Brett Sova (Chicago, IL) 3:05-3:30
Sean Walsh & The National Reserve (Brooklyn, NY) 3:50-4:20
Heavy Cream (Nashville, TN) 4:40-5:10
Animal City (Chicago, IL) 5:30-6
Idiot Glee (Lexington, KY) 6:20-6:50
Warmer Milks (Lexington, KY) 7:10-7:40
Rude Weirdo (Louisville, KY) 8-8:30
FLIGHT (Taylor, MS) 8:50-9:25
Golden Boys (Austin, TX) 9:45-10:20
JEFF The Brotherhood (Nashville, TN) 10:40-11:20
Magik Markers (Brooklyn, NY) 11:40-12:40

SUNDAY 10/3 (OUTSIDE STAGE)
AMERICAN TURNERS (3125 Upper River Rd.)

Softcheque (Louisville, KY) 12:25-12:55
Reading Group (Louisville, KY) 1:10-1:35
Gangly Youth (Louisville, KY) 1:50-2:15
Spectre Folk (Brooklyn, NY) 2:35-3:05
Tinsel Teeth (Providence, RI) 3:25-3:55
PUJOL (Nashville, TN) 4:15-4:45
Giving Up (Garner, IA) 5:05-5:40
State Champion (Louisville, KY/Chicago, IL) 5:55-6:30
Catherine Irwin (Louisville, KY) 6:45-7:20
Spider Bags (Chapel Hill, NC) 7:40-8:20
King Kong (Louisville, KY) 8:40-9:20
Sic Alps (San Francisco, CA) 9:40-10:35

Our friends over at the excellent blog The Decibel Tolls have already published a preview of Friday’s acts, with more to come.

UPDATE 9/30/10: The Decibel Tolls has listed previews of Saturday and Sunday for Cropped Out.

EGRET, ELEPHANT MICAH, PILLARS AND TONGUES, MIKE TAMBURO at SKULL ALLEY, Sunday, September 5th

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EGRET (from Louisville)
ELEPHANT MICAH (from Bloomington, Indiana)
PILLARS AND TONGUES (from Chicago, Illinois; on Empty Cellar Records)
MIKE TAMBURO (from Pittsburgh, PA; on the New American Folk Hero label)

Sunday, September 5th
at SKULL ALLEY
1017 E. Broadway (near the corner of Barrett and Broadway)
8 PM, $6, ALL AGES!

EGRET is a newer Louisville band composed of Greta Smith on vocals, autoharp, and guitar; Paul Rushford on lap steel and guitar; Chet Gray on cello, guitar, kazoo; and Zack Kennedy on drums and percussion. They recently released their first album Bright Up There! which can be purchased at ear X-tacy or Underground Sounds.


ELEPHANT MICAH is music by southern Indiana based singer and sound recordist Joseph O’Connell.  Taking cues from 1970s songcraft (Townes Van Zandt, Joni Mitchell) as well as midwestern lo-fi rock (Guided by Voices), ELEPHANT MICAH has gradually built a cult audience over a decade of do-it-yourself releases and tours. His latest release, Echoer’s Intent, is the first ELEPHANT MICAH album to fully foreground O’Connell as a writer and solo performer.  These minimal, mostly live recordings often approximate more “traditional” blues or Appalachian stylings.  In the same breath, O’Connell takes up imitation and authenticty as his central lyrical themes, producing an album that is both a critique and an example of what can only be termed folksploitation.

Listen to “Loon Call” by ELEPHANT MICAH here: http://www.elephantmicah.com/Loon%20Call.mp3.

PILLARS AND TONGUES is a trio based in Chicago, Illinois whose musical pursuits seem to defy genre categorization. The ongoing result of these pursuits has been called, variously, “holy” and “sexy” and it may well be the tension between these two concepts which lights the fire under (over?) PILLARS AND TONGUES. Think on those things which are so beautiful they become obscene. Speaking literally, the trio makes extended use of the human voice, violin, double bass, drums, bells and organs. The music is perhaps distinctly American in both its affair with American forms and its refusal to adhere to them at all. Their most recent album, Lay of Pilgrim Park, was released this year on Empty Cellar Records.

Listen to a track by PILLARS AND TONGUES from Lay of Pilgrim Park here: Made Sheen

MIKE TAMBURO is a 21st century Renaissance man who has forged his way into the consciousness of the American underground music community. For the past 13 years, Tamburo has been relentlessly releasing records (31 releases and counting) under different monikers and projects including Meisha, Arco Flute Foundation and various imprints under his own name. He has performed over 500 shows all over the United States, traveling to every nook and cranny, searching for some kind of an understanding of what America truly is. Though always considering himself a multi-instrumentalist, he gained fame and notoriety with his fingerstyle guitar playing and his idiosyncratic use of effects; only to swear himself off of the acoustic guitar, eventually setting it on fire and hurling it off of Pittsburgh’s 40th Street Bridge. His effects soon followed. Tamburo is a man who continues to reinvent himself, recently finding his new musical passion in the hammered dulcimer; building upon his own unique compositional stylings, he has developed a voice for the instrument that is very much his own. He is greatly inspired by American folk and minimalist music traditions as well as Indian classical music, but often expands outward to include influences from avant-garde to noise to modern compositional music. A Tamburo performance is always a very transportive experience. Tamburo is also an artist, film maker, writer, instrument builder, curator of the Fantastic Voyagers Festivals, Kundalini Yoga and Pranayama devotee, and inner state researcher; exploring alpha and theta states, floatation tanks, ethnobotany, orgone energy, and ecstatic states of being. He also runs the New American Folk Hero label, which continues to release an eclectic roster of creative and experimental musics.

Check out the Facebook invite here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=101904136535547.

To join our email list, send an email to hstencil@gmail.com.

Endless Boogie, Full House Head (No Quarter)

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My review of Endless Boogie‘s new album appeared in today’s edition of LEO Weekly. Read it here:

It’s no minor achievement that Endless Boogie’s new album, Full House Head, appears only two years after their official debut. Uninterested in the careerism of the rest of the indie music community, Endless Boogie had been jamming in their Lower East Side practice space for years before they were persuaded almost a decade ago to play their first show. Their patience pays off in the cohesiveness of Full House Head. Their sophomore effort shows no signs of slumping, as these tunes are even sharper than those on Focus Level. That said, there’s still plenty of sprawling heavy guitar rock, with solos aplenty, recorded in beautifully crisp high fidelity. The lone exception being the wonderfully messy “A Life Worth Leaving,” a 22-minute side-long closer culled from a practice tape.

Buy it direct from No Quarter.

WAND, LITTLE GOLD, INOCULIST, STATE CHAMPION at SKULL ALLEY, Saturday, August 21st

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WAND (from Lexington, on Young God Records)
LITTLE GOLD (from NYC, on HeartBreakBeat Records)
INOCULIST (from NYC, on HeartBreakBeat Records)
STATE CHAMPION (from Louisville/Southern Indiana, on Sophomore Lounge Records)

Saturday, August 21st
at SKULL ALLEY
1017 E. Broadway, at the corner of Barrett
8 PM, $6, ALL AGES!

WAND

James Jackson Toth has been playing and recording (and releasing) music for over a decade, most notably as leader of the now-defunct New York-based collective Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice. After a solo album in 2007 on Rykodisc, and Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace! label and the Mad Monk label, he continues under the name WAND with his new release on Michael Gira’s Young God Records label with Death Seat, due this October . Abandoning the psychedelic wail of WW&VV for a starker, more direct songwriting style, WAND’s most recent tunes are harrowing and hellaciously good. Michael Gira writes that Toth is “a passionate singer and guitar player and inhabits the songs as he performs them with straightforward, unpretentious, and confident gravitas. I’ve been listening to this record over and over for the last several months—we went through dozens of equally compelling songs before choosing the line up of tracks—and the more I listen, the more honored I am to be associated with James Jackson Toth.”

Former Woods songwriter and Meneguar member, Christian DeRoeck is back with the Completely Fucked! 7″, his second release as LITTLE GOLD. Vastly different from the melancholy country of LITTLE GOLD’s debut LP On the Knife (2009), these two songs are brimming with fuzzy guitars, sweet harmonies, and what sounds like youthful exuberance. DeRoeck’s lyrical content is morose as ever, but on this record it comes packed in two and a half-minute pop songs. The most immediate difference is the addition of Brian Markham on bass and Pat Broderick on drums, both of Brooklyn psych-rockers Ancient Sky, and Broderick of beloved DC hardcore outfit Majority Rule. Released in an initial run of 300 on NYC label HeartBreakBeat Records, this record is a taste of what’s to come. Little Gold heads back into the studio this year to record the follow-up to On the Knife.

Watch Little Gold – “Bird’s Eye” – Le Loft Rooftop from DUKE STREET on Vimeo.

Through harmony and intricate musical arrangements, INOCULIST crafts an uncompromising scape of eerie pop, jazz progressions, and the swing of old world rhythm and blues. Started as the home recording project of John Hunter (guitar, vocals) in 2005, INOCULIST is a band constantly in the mode of creation. INOCULIST currently operates as a four-piece with Ashlyn Davis (keys,vocals), Ethan Schmid (drums, banjo), and Marc Merza (bass). Their new album Spells has just been released on HeartBreakBeat Records.

STATE CHAMPION started in 2006 as a moniker for the early acoustic experiments of Ryan Davis. It has since evolved into a rock n’ roll band with a Chevy van and a vinyl record. Having created a sound that is a product of its upbringing, with Sweetheart of the Rodeo on the radio, Bleach idle in the tape deck, and a Smog song stuck in its head, Davis & Co. drive through forty minutes of sincerely howled, sloppily executed, stripped down garage-country on their full-length debut, Stale Champagne (released this year on Sophomore Lounge Records). “The band is an under-the-radar phenomenon in the making, the classic style of quality band that Louisville overlooks… The tone is just right for this type of subtle rock. A bit earnest, a bit funny, a bit smart.” – Joseph Lord, Velocity Weekly.

Check out the Facebook invite: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=108166219238444.

To join our email list, send an email to hstencil@gmail.com.

Two Great Shows This Weekend!

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Louisvillians have the rare treat of two really great shows this weekend. Here’s information on both of them:

CEREBELLUM (from Louisville, on Noise Pollution)
TROPHY WIVES (from Louisville/Illinois, on Noise Pollution)
THE TEETH (from Louisville/Southern Indiana, on Noise Pollution)

Saturday, July 31
at SKULL ALLEY
1017 E. Broadway
8 PM, $6, ALL AGES!

Here’s what Mat Herron wrote about the show in this week’s LEO Weekly:

Cerebellum was only around from 1988-1989, but the work of the band’s members outlasts its breakup.Three-quarters of the band went on to form Crain — guitarists Tim Furnish and Joey Mudd, bassist Jon Cook and drummer Will Chatham. The team of Furnish, Cook and Breck Pipes — an apropos furniture store name if ever there was one — now hold court in Parlour, Mudd fronts Midnite Sons, and guitarist Drew Daniel [Drew didn’t actually play guitar, but sang/banged metal objects —ed.], who designed the cover of Cerebellum’s lone cassette, is one half of Baltimore experimental duo Matmos…

This past spring, Noise Pollution, who has taken up the mantle of curating much of Louisville’s older punk music, re-released Cerebellum’s first tape along with five songs — “Begin,” “Guard,” “Hurt,” “Brighten” and “Crawl Out of the Water” — recorded at Trip Barriger’s Studio K.

The special edition LP came out just in time for the band’s reunion show back in May to raise money for Jason Noble, but their proper release happens July 31 at Skull Alley (1017 E. Broadway, www.skullalley.net). The all ages show is $6. Trophy Wives and The Teeth open.

CEREBELLUM’s performance in May was awesome, don’t miss this one!

Also, Sunday night brings the following show to a new space (in the same building as St. Francis High School):

BEAR IN HEAVEN
SHEDDING
SLOW ANIMAL

Sunday, August 1st
at LAND OF TOMORROW
233 W. Broadway
7:30 PM, $7-10 suggested donation

This show was curated in part by Michael over at the Decibel Tolls, so it’s bound to be great. Don’t miss it!

Richard Youngs, Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits (Jagjaguwar)

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Richard Youngs’ Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits might just be the most improbably great pop album I’ve heard both this year and last. Funnily enough, it’s not exactly a new release, having been issued on CD-R last year in a tiny edition by Sonic Oyster. But Bloomington, Indiana indie Jagjaguwar has just reissued Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits in a gorgeously remastered vinyl edition. Youngs, a stalwart of Glasgow, Scotland’s experimental music scene (and an Other Side of Life favorite), was dared by friend and collaborator Andrew Paine to make a “proper pop album,” and the result is quite striking. Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits features Youngs’ striking multi-tracked singing (an occasional feature of his experimental albums) set to propulsive, electronic-based songs reminiscent of Brian Eno’s 1970s rock albums Here Come the Warm Jets and Another Green World mixed with a 1980s pop aesthetic akin to classic Pet Shop Boys or New Order. While not dance-oriented as those latter reference points, songs such as “Like a Sailor” and “Love in the Great Outdoors” certainly succeed at inserting a gorgeous beauty within the three-minute pop song format.

Listen to “Love in the Great Outdoors” from Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits here.

Buy it from Jagjaguwar here.