Freeform Internet radio show. Live on KPISS.FM the Golden Stream, every Saturday from 5 to 7 PM US Eastern.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: E-mail your rad tunes to: matt (at) clean nice quiet (dot) (com). In the body of the e-mail, please include a publicly available file or link. Please do not submit anything under embargo. Feel free to send when it is publicly available.
Alrighty, here's some cool new albums from Bandcamp. I'll be playing stuff from these new albums on my Saturday KPISS.FM show, it's usually 5P Eastern / 2P Pacific, but this Saturday DJ CD Playa of the OOO Show won't be there and has graciously let me sit in on her spot, so I'll be on at 4P Eastern and playing tunes for two full hours, so be sure to tune into that on the Internet over at KPISS.FM or Radio Garden (and apparently there's a KPISS app for you Apple cultists.)
Squemish is punk rock out of Atlanta. Their Bandcamp debut Burn Down Stone Mountain is the good stuff:
ASSASSUN's Chronic Quicksand Depression Morning is the new full length from Blackjack Illuminist Records, out of Germany. I've been featuring a lot of releases from Blackjack Illuminist lately, they're putting out rad sounds regularly. Gothy synth-punk, sehr cool:
Magna Zero is based outta LA. Their new album, The Great Nothing, is sprawling r'n'r in the vein of Jane's:
Metal Postcard Records naturally has three new releases out this week:
Matt subs in for the OOO Show and gets to man-spread out over two hours for what listener Salem Goz branded a “strange, but fun” show! We’ll take it! Featuring world premieres from Oddysseys (Chicago), Vicious Blonde (Melbourne), and Charity Empressa (California), plus French pop, traditional gnawa music from Marrakesh, 70s italo-disco, 90s Atlanta party rap, a ton of weirdo rock’n’roll, and more!
Scrambled Limbs from Leeds has his first new batch of songs in two years due out soon, called The Late Hour. The single, "Something Stiff," is available on Bandcamp. Very cool bedroom rock:
Killer live noise rock album from Earth Mother Fucker, a five piece from the UK:
In.Bloom is post-hc/screamo from Lithuania. New single is called "There's Room for Hatred," cool stuff:
So Clean Nice Quiet is now going to be live every Saturday, at 4PM Central / 5PM Eastern on the mighty golden stream, KPISS.FM! I'm so stoked. So catch me on KPISS coming up on the 1st for some fun tunes. And I'm still going to do CNQ Live via caster.fm when I feel like it -- if you see me on air on the embedded player at the top of the blog, press play! Am thinking I may do a caster.fm show tonight, actually, but don't want to commit in case I decide to stare at my shoes instead.
Catching up on submissions here from August and September. Lot of great stuff!
London's experimental slide guitarist Geiger von Müller has a new full-length album out called Slide Sonatas I. Very cool stuff:
Pete Um from Cambridge has a new full length minimalist synth album out called Surface Zero. Solid:
Also new in the experimental electronic genre, harse noise enthusiast Into the Buzzing Room has a new EP, his first, called Excessive Focus. Into the Buzzing Room is from Münster, Germany. I've featured their previous demo before. Killer diller:
New York's Strange Neighbors reached out to me with three super rockin' singles, "Whoa! Is Me," "Hotline Psychic," and "Window Watching." I like all three but I think I'm leaning towards "Window Watching" being my fave:
Crass Lips Records has a new release from HOTMOM out called On TV. HOTMOM is from Austin, they've been around for a while. I featured a track from them on the old CNQ show all the way back in 2018:
Finally, Alien Nosejob has a new record out on Total Punk in the US, called Stained Glass. The first single, "Beatles VS Stones," is a ripper, as we've come to expect from New Zealand's Jake Robertson (Ausmuteants):
I was going over my Mixcloud archives and realized I'm achieving what I've been wanting to do without realizing, establishing a rotation of songs and bands in the fashion of the radio I grew up with. I love there's so many music podcasts and internet music stations, and of course terrestial college stations and WFMU -- and don't forget my new favorite internet streaming station, KPISS.FM -- playing music I appreciate. The Radio Garden app is a must, I gotta tell ya. There's so much content, you could never hear the same song, even the same band, twice.
I like to hear new stuff, but I also like to hear the same cool stuff over and over, so that'll be my focus with my KPISS.FM show (every other Saturday at 5PM EST). I learned with my previous CNQ podcast that it's real easy to only play new or new-to-me stuff, because there's so much of it. But a lot of bands and singles I hear deserve to be repeated, so I'm going to do so.
Uncle Bob got a re-mastered release of an older album out:
There's a Sunny and the Sunliners best of out, Volume 2. You see a lot of Sunny and the Sunliners 45s down here. San Antonio legend:
Moving through August submissions backlog. A lot of music came out last month. I mean, a lot of music comes out every month. It's overwhelming and disappointing I can't seem to get around to listening to more than a tiny percentage of it. That's not because there's too much, or because I don't have the time to listen to more. It's because I'm not dedicated enough. I listen to music as much as the next music nerd -- but I'm certainly guilty of listening to the same stuff over and over as much as any normal classic rock fan stuck in whatever year she graduated high school, or any casual radio listener. I gotta try harder. But, as I've often said, as soon as keeping up with this blog starts to feel like a chore, or a job, I immediately lose interest and it takes me a while to get my blogging momentum up and going again. But y'all don't wanna hear me, y'all just wanna dance:
Holy heck, BIB has a new free download single, "The Healing Room," that I totally missed. I'm a big fan of this band out of Omaha -- noise, psych, hardcore, thrash, all meld into the sonic psychotic breakdown that is every BIB track I've experienced so far. "The Healing Room" continues their streak - truly boss. It's going to be featured on an upcoming Triple B Records release called America's Hardcore Volume 5, a 2 disc set that's already sold out on pre-order.
California's Starflyer 59 has released 'Sunrise,' their 3rd single from the upcoming full length album Vanity, to be released on Velvet Blue Music on 10/15. Great single -- quality alt-rock that any fan of Echo and the Bunnymen ought to be floored by, if you're not hep already:
This 6 track demo from German producer Into The Buzzing is what I'm talking about. Noisy electro, buzzy bass, experimental beats, heck yeh. I haven't heard a Mouse on Mars album in 25 years, but this reminded me of it:
Difficult Art and Music is a new experimental music label based in the UK. Per its press release, the label is "specializing in research-orientated music and art releases...in lavishly designed, limited edition packaging."
Sounds pretty interesting to me. They have three releases out now, here's the latest -- The Tender Appropriation, by J. Lynch. A noise experiment using the cut-up method and recordings of his late grandfather. You can pre-order the cassette on Difficult Art and Music's Bandcamp page. Fascinating:
If So Why have released their debut EP, World Eater, you can buy the cassette on their Bandcamp page. The single, "Indifference is Futile," is a nice blast of noisy, sufficiently aggressive alt-rock. If So Why is from Melbourne:
Philidelphia psych-rockers Slomo Sapiens' new single, "We Could Be Gone," is good stuff. I'm not sure where one goes to purchase this, but you can listen here, and it's streaming too:
Acrobat Shonen is pop punk from Nagoya, Japan. Fun song and video, my critique is it goes on about a minute longer than it should, but that's probably related to my hang-ups about pop-punk. The genre is not my favorite thing in the world, and pop-punk stuff often makes me cringe upon listening. This is a good effort though, from people clearly enjoying themselves -- which matters more than my shitty opinion:
Chastity Belt are out of their "Cool Slut" tees and hoodies already, but they still have a "Cool Slut" beanie for sale, neat merch. I haven't heard a Chasity Belt song in a while. Here's the last thing they released on Bandcamp, from May, 2020:
Corntuth is an ambient music producer based in Brooklyn. Their new release The Desert Is Paper Thin is 11 instrumentals, over 40 minutes of tunes. I keep meaning to put it on when I'm driving and listen to the whole thing, as it was conceived as a record documenting an imaginary day and night drive through the desert. I've enjoyed the tracks I have listened to -- ambient meets Americana, synth pads and steel pedal. Pretty stuff, and I did order the shirt because the graphic is cool:
There's a Youtube video to accompany the album as well:
A post or two ago I mentioned a label called Velvet Blue Music. This new Starflyer 59 video is a short film for the song, "Life in Bed." Per Velvet Blue Music's PR, "elements of the song are woven into an elongated soundtrack, with the actual album version of the song not entering until the 6:45 mark." The video is pretty haunting, and the song, also haunting, kicks ass. Starflyer 59 has been around since the 1990s, and I'd like to say I knew about them periphially, but I'm not 100% sure that's true. At any rate, here's the longform video for "Life in Bed," written and directed by Hunter Christy, who did the videos for GBV's "Space Gun" and "See My Field," among others:
Here's another righteous Starflyer 59 track, you can get it and "Life in Bed" on separate flexi-discs via the band's Bandcamp page. Fans of Mogwai and Arab Strap will appreciate this. I'm a little embarrassed I'm not familiar with the band, love this and "Life in Bed":
Rick Treffers has a new video for his new single "After I'm Gone," from the recently released album Looking For A Place To Stay. Cool adult-oriented indie-pop from the Netherlands. I love it:
This Desborde demo is raw bad ass power. Argentinian punk to the max. A must listen:
The "Followers" widget I've got over on the right side of the desktop view of the blog is going away. The 7 of you who follow CNQ may need to bookmark and check back at your convenience, if I'm not readily supplied with a replacement widget that does the same thing.
CNQ favorite Martin Månsson Sjöstrand put a 16:47 digital release out on March 31 called Arkivkollage 1 for pay what thou will. It's a whirlwind of a collage through snippets of lo-fi alt-rock, psych, and surf sounds, I assume, based on the name, from Martin's archive of unreleased tracks. My frame of reference for this is that GBV collage of song snippets towards the end of either Propeller or Vampire on Titus, I forget which. At any rate, this is awesome, and you should pay money for it. Sjöstrand is a supreme rock'n'roll talent.
NY three piece Palberta is going to be on Bandcamp Live on May 7, and to tell you the truth I didn't even know Bandcamp Live was a thing. But very cool that it is. Palberta will be playing every song from their new album, Palberta5000, and a guy called Sunk Heaven will be playing too.
Tickets for that event are available here. Meanwhile, you can listen to and get the new album on digital, CD, or vinyl.
Highly recommended, here's the first track off of Palberta5000:
Sunk Heaven is electro-noise from Brooklyn:
This 9 song, self-titled digital release from Brazil's Sophia Chablau e Uma Enorme Perda de Tempo is so, so good. You owe it to yourself to sit back and enjoy the whole album:
Dutch singer/songwriter Rick Treffers has a great new single, "Time Is Really Running Out":
Like, at this point, what is the difference between "alt" and "indie" rock? Was there ever a difference? I typically just go with however the band or artist describe themselves. It doesn't matter really. Rock'n'roll is finite, and will only last as long as its youngest fan -- so enjoy it while it lasts, aficionado!
Here's Argentina's Desborde with a steller new punk single and a b/w, featuring one of the guys from Emboscada, whose demos I've featured on CNQ a couple of times. This go-round there's some synth and it's just totally rockin', a must-listen:
Voodoo Rhythm Records is from Bern, Switzerland. Active since 1993, they specialize in garage punk, surf, trash rock, and one-man bands. Here's a smattering of what they have to offer. Cool stuff:
Alien Nosejob is the solo project of Australia's Jake Robertson, the guitarist from Ausmuteants. Ausmuteants we haven't heard from in a while, but Robertson has been busy with Alien Nosejob. I got Suddenly Everything Is Twice As Loud on vinyl last year, after it's January 2020 release, and it is super solid. HC45-2 is his third Alien Nosejob release since, and I haven't listened to any of these, so I need to do a little catch-up. Robertson is a talent -- HC45-2 is noisy punk with elements of thrashin' metal guitar shredding, not like the Devo-esqueness of Ausmuteants at all, but equally as enjoyable. It's interesting, on the Alien Nosejob Bandcamp page, it makes no mention of Robertson being with Ausmuteants, which I feel like got big enough underground-wise he would want to make the connection/remind folks? Who knows. At any rate, you owe it to yourself to listen to this six song, eight minute EP. Totally rockin':
If I like or think an artist or band is half-way promising I'll follow and subscribe to their Bandcamp updates. So since I've been doing this since 2012, I get a ton of Bandcamp updates daily. But I'm very bad at following up on these new releases from bands I've tracked, preferring instead to dig around the Bandcamp new releases, just because that's fun to me. Lately I've been on a tear with CNQ, so I'll try to do some upkeep with these Bandcamp new releases I get, in addition to my preferred method of digging through the new releases. Here's a couple from Don't Worry, a band from Essex. My touchstone for this sound is Los Campensinos and '80s UK alt-rock. Enjoyable indie-rock:
You can also order a promotional poster for these two tracks. The art is cool, check it out.
Gearing up for Bandcamp Friday, which if you click that link you'll find out it's April 2nd. Let's check out some new sounds:
Valentine Snow is from Houston. "Basket Case" is a short and sweet 3 song EP of keyboard-heavy, bedroom-produced, indie hip-pop:
Wheards is also from Houston. RTS & CULTR is a 12 song digital album, these three songs they've made available from the album are righteous:
VIBRASOUNDS by Olaf-O from Chile. 4 tracks of fun beats and turntablism:
Here's a cool older split available on Dupage County Hardcore, "created to preserve and make available (for free) the wealth of punk, metal and hip-hop related music released in suburban Chicago in the '80s, '90s and early '00s." The only notes on the release say Bleeding Kansas was from California, so one assumes La Mantra De Fhiqria was from Chicagoland. No idea what year this is from, my guess is early oughts:
From Argentina comes the inscruitably named ♏, they have a new single which is ok, but check out their May 2020 release, ✉, which is 10 tracks of excellent alt-rock:
This two song EP also from the same band, or label, maybe, I'm not sure, since they use icons instead of words, released in May, 2020. Whatever they're called, I'm into it, great sound in an alt-rock vein:
This post wraps up me playing catch up from being on hiatus. If you would like to submit something to CNQ for future posts, I'll be more inclined to listen and share if you send me a Bandcamp, Soundcloud, or Youtube link to matt at clean nice quiet dot com. I get contacted on the CNQ Facebook Messenger page a lot, but it's easy for me to miss those, just a heads up. I'm not on Twitter anymore, or Instagram or any of the Tick Tocks. Just not my thing. I shouldn't even be on Facebook, that company is swine. But, there's no ethical consumption in capitalism, yadda yadda.
I get requests for me to review an album and I'll mention once again, I'm probably not going to do that. I mean I might, if I get a wild hair, but in general if you submit something I like, I'll share it here with a quick sentence of who the artist(s) be, where they're from, what it sounds like, and that link to your baller-ass sound.
If it's not for CNQ I may or may not respond, apologies one way or the other. But if I don't respond about one thing you send me, please feel free to continue to contact me if you have something else you want me to check out. I enjoy a variety of music and if one thing you submit isn't for CNQ, that doesn't mean the next thing won't be.
And then you'll get listened to by all 4 or 5 of CNQ's dedicated readers/listeners (that number includes me).
Let's get to it:
6 song demo from 2020, Argentina's Emboscada is raw hc done right:
BITE is quality noise-rock from Münster, Germany. This is off a 6 song album released in November 2020 called "Never Satisfied," and you can still get the CD or cassette release, or digital from Bandcamp, of course:
Rick Treffers is a Dutch singer-songwriter and this single released digitally on Bandcamp back in February is choice:
Here's another track from Treffers released this month, "The Best of Your Days." Very pleasing alt-pop from a forthcoming album called "Looking for a Place to Stay." I'll be digging into Treffers' back catalog moving forward for sure, and this makes me very interested in what the new album will sound like. Fans of Belle and Sebastian take note:
Chicago's Nonagon is a three piece outfit who just released their new album "They Birds" on Controlled Burn Records earlier this month. 12 songs of righteous late 90s-inspired indie, reminds me of Cap'N Jazz and what they used to call emo before the kids made that tag mean something different:
In the mail today I received this new Genghis Tron, "Dream Weapon," on vinyl from Relapse Records. It's the Macha-est thing since the last Macha album, however long ago that was. Previous Genghis Tron I've not been able to grok; this, however, I can really get behind. Maybe it's the new singer:
There was a Nintendo game called Ghengis Khan that I loved to play as a kid. I would stay up all night playing that game, finally fall asleep, and then wake up and play it some more. Loved it.
I've been reading Zeppelin Over Dayton by Jeff Gomez, which is great, as is his GBV podcast, the book is a transcription of the podcast which covers each song on every GBV release. Tonight we watched "Watch Me Jumpstart," the GBV doc from 1998, which is now on Youtube.
I love Guided By Voices. Here's a quick blast of the recent hits, starting with my new personal favorite, "Heavy Like The World," along with some other hits, ending with another of my old personal favorites, "How's My Drinking?" off the incredible Isolation Drills: