BIRD NAMES – RECESSION VACATION - REALLY COASTAL
I have long been a fan of the warped pop stylings of Bird Names -- I interviewed them a while back for Foxy Digitalis, which you can read here, I got them to play at my birthday party, I've fed them dinner, they've slept on my floor. Those guys are upstanding humans. They've been at it at least half a decade now and it’s safe to say they've built their very own sonic universe to inhabit. Their sound is on the one hand clamorous and dissonant, on the other catchy and energetic, with everything heard through the hazy gauze of lo-fi tape wizardry. The songs are assembled from pieces both intricate and home-made – Rube Goldberg pop. And it’s hard not to love that inscrutable, wry, Chicagoan irreverence that seems to delight in being brainy and stoned at the same time. This release is on the mellow side and a little ‘60s leaning. It's a winner. $6

Really Coastal is a boutique tape label based from historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles.


TYVEK – DEMOS – FAG TAPES
Early demo tapes from these arty garage-punkers. The versions here are much noiser and punkier than would appear on their classic 7”s and Siltbreeze LP (included are favorites Frustration Rock and Mary Ellen Claims). $6


EMERALDS – GRASS CEILING – FAG TAPES
Early Emeralds tape. This Cleveland trio has emerged in the last couple years as a heavy-weight of guitar and synth drone. “Grass Ceiling” does not yet reveal the beautiful, shimmering weight that characterizes their recent work, but is nonetheless an impressive and interesting pair of drone pieces. Their sonic palate is already a million times more developed than ninety-nine percent of the noise groups out there, and their ability to keep the pieces shifting and moving in subtle, interesting ways is in full effect. $6