Squeamish (Atlanta); Assassun (Berlin); Magna Zero (Los Angeles); Salem Crabs (Leeds/Dallas); Salem Trials (Leeds); Super Hit (Portland)

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:

Geiger von Müller; Pete Um; Into the Buzzing Room; Strange Neighbors; HOTMOM; Alien Nosejob

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):

Step Below (London); Montel Palmer (Cologne, Germany); Girls Against Bots (Dallas, Texas); Science Man (Buffalo, NY); and selections from Tetryon Tapes (Buffalo)

Ukraine invasion is a wild thing. Pray for peace - that's always worked before.

Step Below is a hardcore band out of London, and it seems like I don't get too many straight up hardcore submissions from England, so that's interesting. Their single "Walk Away" is a minute long blistering blast, I dig it. They have a 5 song EP called S.B.H.C. coming out March 4 that will be available on Bandcamp and streaming platforms. Check out "Walk Away":

Montel Palmer is a three piece electro-outfit from Cologne, Germany. Their new album Catastropheland is nine tracks of experimental, ambient, dub-inspired synth. Pretty cool and available on vinyl on their Bandcamp page. Here's a video for the track "Cross Eyed," off the album:

Buffalo NY's Science Man has a new album called Nines Mecca available for pre-order on their Bandcamp page. The two singles available on Bandcamp are my type of hardcore garage punk. The full album will release March 18. There's vinyl co-released by Swimming Faith Records and Feral Kid Records, and also a VHS tape featuring videos, which I've already ordered and am excited about. We hooked up an old VCR/DVD combo late last year and have been having fun with it.

Feral Kid Records is also based out of Buffalo, and they have a tape subsidary called Tetryon Tapes. I did a deep dive through their catalog a few days ago and had a lot of fun. Here's some of the coolest stuff. All available on cassette, as Tetryon Tapes' name implies.

I ordered these on Feral Kids' Storenvy page, got a confirmation from Storenvy but haven't been notified when they'll ship yet. It's only been a few days, tho. I did unfortunately have to sign up with a storenvy account and immedietly regretted it as I got inundated with their spam trying to sell me macrame backpacks. I unsubscribed but have still been getting them. Goes on my list of Modern Life Greviances I'm keeping. O well, at least I don't currently reside in a warzone:

This Erik Nervous release Bugs!! is probably my favorite of this batch from Tetryon Tapes:

Finally, Dallas, Texas' own bedroom midi-core artiste Girls Against Bots, who also happens to be me, has a new single called "Jade Armor," as well as a lesser freak out called "Moon Dung." Is it just me foolin' around with a midi controller, or an act of unmitigated genius? Maybe it's just unmitigated foolin' around:

Thanks for reading. Stay safe. Don't inundate yourself with Twitter-fied terror-porn. Drink lots of water. Support these musicians, if you got spare cash to throw around.

Little Beards, Mirrorboxx, and Nervous Curtains (Dallas)

I got to listen to the new Little Beards full length, The Legend of Spectacular Living, and it's great -- the married duo from Dallas exploring dark, apocalyptic synth-pop. It's due out mid-September and you can pre-order the digital album on their Bandcamp page. I think they're doing a single release soon so I'll be sure to share that once it's released.

Sean Kirkpatrick, one half of Little Beards, is also in the equally rad dark synth outfit Nervous Curtains, and his solo instrumental synth project, Mirrorboxx, has a recent release from June, Vision Quest of the Technocrat, available on Bandcamp. Sean's a smart guy and his music reflects that. A lot of ruminating on our current (and probably forseeable future) sorry police state of post-capitalist society, and the detrimental effects thereof on people living within it. It's heavy stuff, but that doesn't make for a dry listen.

To wit, released just last week, a new single called "Human Futures Trader (Steve More Remix)." I'm certain in 20 years Little Beards, Nervous Curtains, and Mirrorboxx will be on lists of the best underground synth, electro, and darkwave of the early 21st century. If we survive that long!

But, like the man sez, "hey you, don't watch that -- watch this!"

The 2018 Mirrorboxx EP, Minimal Compliance, still remains in rotation on my turntable. I see there's still vinyl of it available, you should order it, it's boss:

Weird Bummer Compilation #2

About two weeks later than I meant, but you know, been busy pulling nose hairs for undisclosed regions. This rockin' comp is about an hour and 15 minutes. Below are artist and song titles, with links to the albums or tracks. I couldn't bring myself to type out all the album names, as I have to get back to pulling nose hairs for my art installation projects. Thanks to all the bands and artists who participated, and thanks to you for listening. After you listen, go throw money at all these great bands and artists, because they're all broke, as they all sank their fortunes into my doomed nose hair art venture(s).

Racoo: "How Did We Get Here" (2019)

Proto Idiot: "Mountain" (2020)

USA Nails: "I Am The Things I Buy" (2020)

Talacactus: "Rosa Lux" (2019)

Nervous Curtains: "Mask" (2019)

Phil Reynolds and the Dearly Departed: "Quickstep" (2018)

Lucy Morris: "Five Days" (2018)

Skyline Advantage: "A Safe Haven" (2020)

The Slow Hours: "Union City Blue" (unreleased)

Dot Dash: "Gray Blue Green" (2018)

Pisspoor: "Sob (Exaltedamongnations)" (2020)

Windham / Herbeck / DeMolay: "Console Cowboys / Chiba City Comsat (POP MIX)" (2018)

Sauveterre: "Cliches"

Sidewalk Furniture: "Jadzia" (2020)

Idiot Blur Fanboy: "Special Brew Can Man" (2020)

The Mood Taeg: "2MR" (2016)

Adam Holtz: "Way Up High" (2019)

Mythical Motors: "Liquid Measuring Cups" (2020)

Nanaki: "Setsuna" (2018)

Veto: "A Song About Trees" (2013)

Sailing Neptune: "Black Haired Woman" (2019)

Shanghai Treason: "Can't Even Hang A Man Right" (2020)

Bandcamp Waiving Their Vig for Friday 3/20/2020

Hope everyone is safe and well. Remain indoors the best you can, and wash your damn hands! We, humanity I mean, can whip this thing if we stick together (which ironically means giving each other a wide berth right now) and don't panic.

With Bandcamp waiving their vig today until midnight PST, I figured it's high time I pick up a few things I've been meaning to buy. I actually haven't bought anything on Bandcamp in a while. So here's what I purchased tonight:

First up, a rockin' instrumental single from Sweden's Martin Månsson Sjöstrand. If you're a loyal CNQ-er you may know Martin from one of my fave bands, This Heel, who I feature on the blog and the podcast frequently.

The UK's Brian Bordello has been busy recently, first with the 5 track Liverpool Hipster Scene EP, from Metal Postcard Records. I listened to this in the car a while back and I'm always blown away by Brian's honest, raw talent at getting to the meat and bone of a song. He followed that up shortly with a CD release from Wormhole World, a project called Idiot Blur Fanboy. The Idiot Blur Fanboy album is called "Oasis Are the Enemy," it's 11 songs, around 30 minutes of incredible no-fi. Brian is my underground hero, every release of his is as important as the last:

Also from Metal Postcard Records, and Bordellos adjacent, is Beauty Stab with a 3 track EP called "O Eden." Gorgeous, super-sexy lo-fi synth-pop/post-punk from a two piece out of the UK, and one of the members is Brian Bordello's son, Dan Shea. Dan is in the Bordellos with his dad, and was also in a band called Vukovar. Dan has a silky, resonant af voice and he and B. Preston, the other member of the duo, just knocked it out of the park with these three songs. This came out in March of 2019 and I've been meaning to buy it for, clearly, a year.

I've been meaning to pick up the latest Boys' Age releases, as he's been busy. Japan's Boys Age cranks out excellent warped guitar-based damaged pop. Here's his two most recent singles:

Richter Scale is a punk label out of the UK and you can get all of their 32 releases for $15 U.S. dollars. Here's a sampler from their most recent releases, hardcore, noisey stuff. Love it. Why would you not shell out $15 for this?:

This brings me to the end of my spending spree -- the new album from St. Louis' Fried E/M, off of Lumpy Records. That's Lumpy from Lumpy and the Dumpers on drums. We got to see these guys in a little taco place (Killer's Tacos) up in Denton a year or so ago. Impressive, high energy performance. I just ordered the vinyl for this -- I'll be hosing it down with Lysol and placing it in quarantine when it arrives:

You should also order a print from Fort Worth's incomparable Jack Daw Folk Art!

35 Denton Festival 2016: Friday Evening

Denton 35 is focusing more on local music this year, with a lot of bands playing around the square (that's the downtown area to you and me) of that Texas college town this Friday-Sunday. Here's some bands you might check out Friday night.

Pearl Earl plays fuzzy garage psych, they're from Denton:

Tacocat from Seattle you know about already, assuming you're hep. They've got a new album due out in April, here's a couple of tracks from it:

Experimental punk from Denton:

Odd indie-pop from Denton:

I'm excited to finally get to see Dallas' synth-punkers, seres, who sing in Spanish:

Singer-songwriter duo from Denton:

Alt-Country from Denton:

More Americana/singer-songwriter stuff, from Dallas:

Rock duo from Denton:

More rock, also from Denton:

Punk Rock Mixtape

I'll begin the New Year with a little weird-o synth-punk from Rome:

These next four bands are all playing at 1919 Hemphill in Fort Worth on Monday, Jan. 11. That should be a good show. This is Burp! from Pennsylvania:

Elix-R is a Denton band, this is from a demo released back in November. I think I've featured them on CNQ before:

Crazy Spirit has had a lot of blog press over the last five or so years:

From Fort Worth, this was released back in May:

More new sounds and old records to come, as always.

New Punk: HC Crust, Grindcore, Synth and Garage...mostly from Dallas but a couple from Denton and one from Salt Lake City.

This show is going on right now in Fort Worth, I've been wanting to see Pavel Chekov for a while but fate keeps conspiring against me. This time, it's a Monday night and we just got back from vacation, so we're too pooped to party. Here's a song from each of the bands playing tonight:

Female fronted crusty doom from DFW:

From Denton:

"Progressive Crust" from Salt Lake City:

I've featured this track and other songs from Dallas' Pavel Chekov several times before, but they always bear repeating:

Anyway, if I wasn't such a boring wuss I'd just drive out to that show. This first song is from Denton, but the three after that are all new releases from Dallas:

Grindcore from a full length released back in March. Apparently these guys have been around for a while:

Brand new Spanish synth-punk:

Noisy garage, released October 30th:

New Music.

Dallas' warpcore purists Pavel Chekov have a new split with Mississippi's Criminal Slang coming out in ten days. Here's the Pavel Checkov side -- 10 minute, 11 song blast:

The Internet doesn't seem to have anything from the Criminal Slang side of that release, but this is a song of theirs from March 2014:

Cool Ramonesy rock'n'roll from Ohio. This was released back in 2010, but Berlin's Alien Snatch is offering it up for sale thru digital, CD, and vinyl:

From Sweden and PNKSLM:

Portland's Resurrection Records is offering this colored 7" split featuring Hag Face and Babysitter. Hag Face are from Alberta. This is wild.

Powerviolence from Edinburgh:

Egghunt Records has this new synth-pop from Denver available on black vinyl 7":

Fun Fun Fun Fest: Saturday Part Deux!

THREE!

3:15 on the Blue Stage is the Flatbush Zombies from Brooklyn. This is pretty good but I'm starting to bristle at a song that begins "Unhh...yeah." C'mon, man.

Melt Banana is apparently a legendary noise band from Toyko that I've never heard of. Now that I have heard it, it seems like a must-see. They'll take the Black Stage at 3:20 on Saturday:

She-median Jenny Slate is going to be on the Yellow Stage at 3:35. The wife wants to see her.

At 3:40 on the Orange Stage is Thurston Moore's Chelsea Light Moving.

As each day of the concert moves forward, I'm bummed about scheduling conflicts between stages. Never having seen Sonic Youth, I'd like to see Thurston Moore's new project. Never having heard of Melt Banana, which has been playing almost as long as Sonic Youth apparently, I'd really like to see them too. Oh, the agony.

So hopefully I can catch a little Melt Banana and a little Chelsea Light Moving and my lovely wife can watch Jenny Slate.

AFTER FOUR!

The Chromatics, synth-wave from Portland's Johnny Jewel, are on the Blue Stage at 4:15. I like synth and I like wave:

Pelican, instrumental post-metal from Chicago, is on the Black Stage at 4:20. My buddies like these guys but snooze snooze snooze fest, IMO:

Geographer, electro-pop rock from San Francisco, is on the Orange Stage at 4:45. This song is okay:

At 4:35 on the Orange Stage is Craig Robinson, who played Darryl on The Office and was also excellent in one of my favorite movies of all time, "Hot Tub Time Machine."

I'll catch whoever up until 4:35 and then I'm excited to see Craig Robinson.

THE FIVE O'CLOCK HOUR!

5:15 on the Blue Stage is Glass Candy, another Johnny Jewel joint, apparently.

At 5:20 on the Black Stage, the Subhumans will be performing the entire From the Cradle to the Grave album:

At 5:20 on the Yellow Stage is Tenacious D.

At 5:50 on the Orange Stage is Televison. I think I'll watch the D then mosey over to Television. I'll be the asshole that constantly shouts "PLAY MARQUEE MOON!"

SIX-THIRTY!

At 6:20 on the Blue Stage is Tycho, synth from SF:

At 6:25 is Body Count, and I am excited about this almost as much as Slayer on Sunday evening. At Lollapolooza '92 I saw Ice Cube along with members of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Flea from the Chili Peppers cover "Cop Killer," and, it was awesome. I saw Ice-T himself around the turn of the century and it was super cool too.

At 6:30 on the Yellow Stage is Quasi, which, ya know, if Body Count wasn't playing opposite them, I'd go see just to say I saw 'em.

SEVEN!

At 7P on the Orange Stage is Deerhunter, and at 7:30 on the Black Stage is Judge, on the Blue Stage is Simian Mobile Disco, and on the Yellow Stage is Sparks. Judge is "militant straight edge" so, and I don't like to be negative on CNQ, but seriously, that's really stupid, and Simian Mobile Disco just doesn't sound like anything I'm into. I'll catch Deerhunter for 30 minutes then go see Sparks, who I've only recently discovered, independent of knowing they'd be at FunX3 fest:

The headliners for Saturday evening are M.I.A. on the Orange Stage at 8:30, and at 8:45 is Ice-T on the Blue Stage and the Descendents on the Black Stage. I'd like to see Ice-T again but since I'll already catch him with Body Count and the wife wants to see M.I.A., I assume we'll see M.I.A. Which is cool with me.

Next up: Sunday.

Fun Fun Fun Fest Saturday Doin's Part One

Saturday Noon to 2:30 is all I could cover tonight.

NOON!

At 11:55, the LNS (Leaders of the New School) Crew from Austin kicks things off on the Blue Stage. I featured one of the members of the LNS Crew, Kydd, on a CNQ post back in December of '12.

Venemous Maximous, heavy metal from Houston, opens up the Black Stage at noon:

Also at noon, on the Orange Stage, is Frank Smith from Austin, which is a band, not a dude:

Sell music on Amazon at ReverbNation.com

If we sleep in and miss the first round on Saturday I wouldn't be terribly upset.

ONE!

At 12:45 on the Blue Stage is the ambient minimalist melodies of Austin's Roger Sellers.

At 12:50 on the Orange Stage is another Austin band, Ola Podrida. This song is cool:

12 year old heavy metal kids from Brooklyn Unlocking the Truth are gonna be on the Black Stage at 12:50:

Unlocking the Truth is a must-see, I feel.

ONE-THIRTY!

Big Black Delta is on the Blue Stage at 1:35. Dig that synth!

California's Retox, featuring members of The Locust, are on the Black Stage at 1:40 -- should be pretty awesome. I couldn't find any embeds I could use so check out Retox here. It's righteous hardcore.

LA's Bleached is on the Orange Stage at 1:40:

The 1:30 round is a toss-up, all those songs sound pretty cool.

TWO-THIRTY!

The Underachievers from Flatbush are on the Blue Stage at 2:25. I like this song:

Vancouver's White Lung is on the Black Stage at 2:30. We got a chance to see them not too long ago and they just rule the school. Their latest, "Sorry," is a great album. Mish Way, the lead singer, writes articles for Vice and Noisey and stuff. White Lung is my punk rock girlfriend who hates me. WHY WON'T YOU LOVE ME WHITE LUNG!!?!

Merchandise will be on the Orange Stage at 2:40. This song really gets on my nerves:

Naturally, we're gonna see White Lung.

Next up: Saturday into the evening!