Th' Losin Streaks "Last House"
The album was recorded at Louder Studios in Grass Valley, California, with Tim Green (Nation of Ulysses, Fucking Champs) behind the board. Green played piano on several tracks, and Anton Barbeau – a friend of the band since the beginning – plays organ on some cuts. All of the band members – Tim Foster, Stan Tindall, Mike Farrell and Brian Machado – contributed to the songwriting, and the album also features a cover of The Weeds classic “It’s Your Time.” The album cover and other photos were shot by their pal (and Bay Area punk legend) Al Sobrante.
We asked the band what the record is about. This is what they told us:
This album is about true love and good times. And bad decisions. It’s about breaking down. It’s about coming apart. It’s about sleeping rough. It’s about Dyer Lane. It’s about shaking it til you make it. It’s about EKO, Silvertone and Supro, Vox (Super Continental) and the Hohner Marine Band. It’s about 2” tape. It’s about the plague, and politics, and war or hands of time. It’s about the ice cream man after the apocalypse. It’s a trans-world punk rave up. It’s about Link Wray, The Sonics and the Downliners Sect. It’s about The Rolling Stones covering Sam Cooke. It’s about Folk
Rock. It was about time slipping away (but it’s not now). It’s about bullshit. It’s about being too late, always too late. It’s about getting old. It’s about those who never will. It’s about the person you dream about but never get. It’s about nothing in this world. It’s about surviving T-Minus self-destruction. And about the other side.
The Cavemen "Ca$h for Scrap"
New Zealand’s THE CAVEMEN are back with a new long glob for a dirty and dilapidated world, and it’s as grimy as you’ve ever heard from the wretched brethren. “Ca$h 4 Scrap” scrapes up more than enough degenerate garage-punk trash with unavoidable forays into theme of death, demons, and even amputation, making sure to stop for a kiss on your daughter’s lips along the way. YUCK MOUTH SAY MUAH! “Booze, Ciggies ‘n Drugs” is the first single, and leaves us wondering how many types of cancer these ghouls have among them, and if all four Cavemen share a brain tumor. “Leather Boys” is solid gold junk shop stomp, and the rest… well, you know by now how THE CAVEMEN rock’n’roll – the ONLY way, because any other way ain’t!
Torres "What an Enormous Room"
From Merge Records:
What an enormous room is TORRES’ sixth studio album (her third with Merge). It was recorded in September and October 2022 at Stadium Heights Sound in Durham, North Carolina. It was engineered by Ryan Pickett, produced by Mackenzie Scott and Sarah Jaffe, mixed by TJ Allen in Bristol, UK, and mastered by Heba Kadry in NYC. The album contains 10 songs. Mackenzie wrote all of them. Sarah played bass guitar, synths, drums, organ, and piano. Mackenzie sang vocals, played guitar, bass, synths, organ, piano, and programmed drums. Additional synth bass, tambourine, and shakers were played by TJ Allen.
Eye Flys "Eye Flys"
From Thrill Jockey Records:
Expanding on their bludgeoning debut Tub of Lard, Eye Flys is lean and aggressive, fast and unforgiving. “Trepanation Summer”’s ferocious riffs bore directly into the skull, mimicking the crude pressure release of the ancient surgical process of the same name, Smith crying to “release the pressure” from within a wall of feedback. “Sleep Forever” throws down a thrashing, infernal groove, demolishing all in its path as Smith’s craggy guitar figures rise like toxic smoke from the devastation. “Draining Pus” revels in septic sludge, while “Bananarchy Zoo” manages to strip things down to an even more lean and incisive realization of the trio’s punishing sonic palette, in an exploration of Smith’s love/hate relationship with his Florida roots.
A wall of rippling noise and distortion run as connecting threads through the album, the band’s acerbic humor and raw emotion capturing the perspective and the frustration of the hardworking everyman. The band grapples with the repercussions of coping strategies with healthy skepticism and an eye on the gallows. Eye Flys offers a reassuring reminder that you haven’t gone mad and you’re not alone – that weird ‘n’ heavy music is still here as a respite from the madness of modern living and an outlet for righteous rage.