Review: Dez Dare – A Billion Goats. A Billion Sparks. Fin.

Australian musician / producer / happy weirdo Dez Dare‘s new album, A Billion Goats. A Billion Sparks. Fin. sounds as intriguing and quirky as its title.

Opener “Got a Fire in My Socket” is a song about what its like to have a neurodivergent brain in a world that’s constantly clamoring for your attention. Dare mixes solid drum beats with post-punk guitar riffs and weird keyboard bloops. “Matter Vs. Matter” is about hoarding not only physical stuff, but e-clutter and mental trash as well (“10,000 options across 30,000 featured posts.”), and the only way to clear it out is by blasting it with fuzzy guitar power.

“10,000 Monkeys + An Argument with Time” uses sounds from what seem to be 16-bit video games to highlight how time is easily wasted even in a time in history when all this technology is supposed to save us time. “No One Wants to Hear It” is a fun takedown of virtue signaling with crunchy guitars and fight scene drums.

According to Dare’s notes on the album, “Gotta Cold Feeling” is about “That time when someone talked about something so boring, so long, it felt like time had fractured.” Haven’t we all been there at some point? “Entangled Entropy” is Dare apologizing for his sometimes uncontrollable behavior and explaining what it’s like to be autistic (“The wires don’t connect sometimes. Don’t you see? My waves aren’t free.”).

On “Call My City, Don’t Call My Telephone,” Dare pleads with everyone not to waste his time (or anyone else’s). God bless him for calling out time wasters, “shirtless bros,” and “standing in line” with his shredding solo and growling bass. “Josephine Says Explode” has Dare encouraging us to let our emotions out now and then. That stuff will eat you from within if you don’t.

The Osees-like fuzz and funk of “Schrödinger’s Apocalypse” is a fun track about living in a time of uncertainty, and how perhaps ignoring the uncertainty is the best path. “The Elasticity of Knowing” takes down racists and xenophobes by challenging them (and all of us, really) to travel and experience other cultures in order to see and acknowledge that others exist outside our little cocoons.

Finally, on “A Billion Voices Screaming, Hello Void!”, Dare encourages us to embrace the end and not fear death (“When the call comes, fear not for what’s been done, we all return to where we begun…”). The garage rock drums and distorted guitars certainly help give you confidence to step into the void.

This is a fun, wild record that mixes punk lyrics with touches of Zen. Don’t skip it.

Keep your mind open.

[I gotta warm feeling that you’re going to subscribe today.]

[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

WSND DJ set list – Three-for-Thursday Nocturne – June 06, 2024

Thanks for listening to the latest Three-for-Thursday Nocturne show on WSND. Here’s the set list:

  1. Lightnin’ Hopkins – Take It Easy (three-word title)
  2. Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band – You’ll Accompany Me (three-word title / three-world album title – Against the Wind) (request)
  3. Shame – All the People (three-word title / three-world album title – Food for Worms)
  4. Buddy Moss – Hey Lawdy Mama (three-word title) (request)
  5. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – All Along the Watchtower (trio)
  6. Bob Dylan – I Want You (three-word title) (request)
  7. Soul Coughing – Blame (from their third album – El Oso)
  8. Santana – Samba Pa Ti (three-word title) (request)
  9. The Vacant Lots – Let Me Out (three-word title)
  10. Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor – Girl of a Thousand Voices (trio)
  11. Goat – Goatband (from their third album – Requiem)
  12. L’Épée – Dreams (third song from their Diabolique album)
  13. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – The Acrid Corpse (three-word title)
  14. A Place to Bury Strangers – It Is Nothing (three-word title / trio)
  15. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Intro A (trio / three-peat of the same artist)
  16. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Latch On (trio / three-peat of the same artist)
  17. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Soul Typecast (trio / three-peat of the same artist)
  18. Shapes Have Fangs – Rattle and Confuse Me (three-word band name)
  19. Danny Dean and The Homewreckers – Mean Mean Man (three-word title)
  20. The Well – This Is How the World Ends (trio / three-world album title – Death and Consolation)
  21. Mudhoney – Editions of You (three-word title)
  22. Agent Orange – Out of Limits (three-word title / trio)
  23. Flat Worms – Market Forces (trio)
  24. Bo Diddley – Hey! Bo Diddley (three-word title)
  25. Reverend Horton Heat – Callin’ in Twisted (three-word title / trio)
  26. Caroline Rose – Money (third song from their Loner album)
  27. D. Behar – Sport Et Detante (three-word title)
  28. Soulwax – Missing Wires (third song from their From Deewee album)
  29. The Future Sound of London – Papa New Guinea (12″ original mix) (three-word title)
  30. De La Soul – Jenifa Taught Me (12″ version) (three-word title / trio / rom their 3 Feet High and Rising album)

Three-for-Thursday returns June 20th!

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

WSND DJ set list – Throwback Thursday – June 06, 2024

It was another fun Throwback Thursday at WSND. Thanks to all who listened. Here’s the set list:

  1. Aretha Franklin – Rock Steady (1972)
  2. Pilot – Magic (1975)
  3. MC5 – Miss X (1971)
  4. Robin Trower – Too Rolling Stoned (1974) (request)
  5. Quicksilver Messenger Service – What About Me? (1970)
  6. Thin Lizzy – Running Back (1976)
  7. Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song (live) (1972) (request)
  8. Blondie – Heart of Glass (1978)
  9. The Cars – Moving in Stereo (1978) (request)
  10. Queen – Fat Bottomed Girls (1978)
  11. Television – Marquee Moon (1977) (request)
  12. Gerhard Heinz – Lolita und der Teddy Bear (1980)
  13. Neil Young – The Old Homestead (1980) (request)
  14. Naked Eyes – Always Something There to Remind Me (1983)
  15. X – Your Phone’s Off the Hook, but You’re Not (1980) (request)
  16. Pet Shop Boys – Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money) (1986) (request)
  17. Midnight Oil – River Runs Red (1989)
  18. Concrete Blonde – God Is a Bullet (1989) (request)
  19. Devo – Shout (1984)
  20. A Flock of Seagulls – I Ran (So Far Away) (1982)
  21. Hüsker Dü – I Don’t Know What You’re Talking About (1985)
  22. The Cramps – Human Fly (1983)
  23. Romeo Void – Never Say Never (1982) (request)
  24. 45 Grave – Partytime (1983) (request)
  25. Roxy Music – More Than This (1982)
  26. The Fixx – One Thing Leads to Another (1983)
  27. Paula Cole – Mississippi (live) (1998)
  28. Pantera – Walk (1992) (request)
  29. Public Enemy w/ Anthrax – Bring Tha Noize (1991)
  30. Deana Carter – Strawberry Wine (1996) (request)
  31. Sass Jordan – High Road Easy (1993) (request)
  32. Failure – Pro-Catastrophe (1992)
  33. Bad Company – Holy Water (1990) (request)
  34. Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus (1990) (request)
  35. The Crystal Method – Busy Child (1997)
  36. Living Colour – Love Rears Its Ugly Head (1990) (request)
  37. The Damned – Running Man (1996)

Throwback Thursday returns June 20th!

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

Review: Punchlove – Channels

Every now and then, you hear a new band described as arriving “fully formed” on the scene. It’s actually true in Punchlove‘s case, as they sound like they’ve been making shoegaze since at least 2010. You hear their debut album, Channels, and think, “This can’t be their first record.”

Yet, it is, and opening track “Breeze” hits you as heavy as any track Hum would’ve put out in their heyday with roaring guitars and crushing drums. The album was created not only post-pandemic, but also post-move from one continent to another. Jillian Olesen and Ethan Williams landed back in NYC after being forced out of Prague by the COVID-19 lockdowns. They met up with other NYU music technology students and Punchlove was born.

So were songs like “Screwdriver,” which sounds like The Cure meeting Failure in a battle of the bands. The ethereal fuzz of “Pigeon” is wondrous to behold. “Dead Lands” might be about Jillian Olesen’s feelings about returning to the U.S. to find it shut down and essentially empty thanks to the pandemic. It’s a lovely track.

“Apartment” is warped and weird. Every guitar and vocal in it sounds like it was partially melted in a studio fire that almost got out of control. “Birdsong” flies back and forth between bursting guitars and subtle chords. “Guilt” takes those bursting guitars and somehow pushed them further until it feels like you’re racing downhill with the band in a tour van without brakes.

I don’t know which is louder on “Elapse,” the driving guitar riffs or the drums hit and cymbal crashes that sound like Godzilla kicking over a power line tower. The album closes with “Corridor,” which could be thematically interpreted as a song beginnings or endings depending on where the corridor leads. It’s the softest song on the record and probably the most haunting as well.

This is all fine shoegaze stuff from Punchlove, who are already far ahead of other current bands in the genre. A lot of people are scrambling to catch up while Punchlove is making it look easy.

Keep your mind open.

[Punch your e-mail address into the subscription box while you’re here. I’d love that.]

[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media.]

WSND DJ set list – May 30, 2024

It was another fun Three-for-Thursday show on WSND. Here’s the set list, thanks to all who helped with requests:

  1. Hüsker Dü – All Tensed Up (live) (trio / three-word song title)
  2. Golden Animals – Tender Hearts (from their three-word album titled Hear Eye Go)
  3. 311 – Don’t Stay Home (“3” in the band name / three-word song title) (requested)
  4. Mdou Moctar – Wiwasharnine (from his three-word album titled Ilana (The Creator))
  5. ZZ Top – Cheap Sunglasses (trio) (requested)
  6. Miss Red – No Guns (third song from her Murder album)
  7. The Commodores – Three Times a Lady (“Three” in the song title) (requested)
  8. Vapors of Morphine – Special Rider (trio / three-word band name and album title – Fear and Fantasy)
  9. Three Dog Night – Shambala (“Three” in the band name) (requested)
  10. Lightnin’ Hopkins – Lonesome Dog Blues (three-peat of the same artist / three-word song title)
  11. Lightnin’ Hopkins – Down Baby (three-peat of the same artist)
  12. Lightnin’ Hopkins – Morning Blues (three-peat of the same artist)
  13. Three Drives – Greece 2000 (“Three” in the band name)
  14. Deee-Lite – Groove Is in the Heart (trio) (requested)
  15. Public Practice – See You When I Want To (3:33 in length)
  16. The KLF – 3am Eternal (“3” in the song title / from their three-word album titled The White Room) (requested)
  17. Fuzzbox – Rules and Regulations (three-word song title)
  18. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Automation (3:30 in length)
  19. Cut Copy – Take Me Over (Midnight Magic remix) (three-word song title)
  20. Failure – Headstand (trio / from their three-word band album titled Wild Type Droid)
  21. Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade – Thela Hun Ginjeet (three-word song title)
  22. The Legendary Shack Shakers – Where’s the Devil When You Need Him? (third song from their Believe album)
  23. Elephant Stone – A Morning Song (three-word song title)
  24. God Lives Underwater – Weaken (three-word band name)
  25. Death Valley Girls – Under the Spell of Joy (three-word band name)

Three-for-Thursday returns June 06, 2024!

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

WSND set list – Throwback Thursday – May 30, 2024

Thanks to everyone who listened to my latest Throwback Thursday show on WSND. Here’s the set list:

  1. David Bowie – Life on Mars? (1973)
  2. The Jam – That’s Entertainment (1977)
  3. The Stooges – TV Eye (live) (1970)
  4. Radio ad for Equinox (1970)
  5. Bitter Creek – Plastic Thunder (1970)
  6. Pretty Things – Miss Fay Regrets (1970) (requested)
  7. Radio ad for Five Fingers of Death (1972)
  8. X-Ray Spex – I Am a Cliche (live) (1977)
  9. Rory Gallagher – Walk on Hot Coals (live) (1974) (requested)
  10. Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive (1977)
  11. The Blues Brothers – Shotgun Blues (live) (1978) (requested)
  12. Traffic – The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys (1971)
  13. Alice Cooper – The Man with the Golden Gun (1973) (requested)
  14. The Shining theme (1980)
  15. Motörhead – I Got Mine (1983)
  16. Red Kross – Linda Blair (1984) (requested)
  17. Radio ad for Basket Case (1982)
  18. Devo – Are You Experienced? (1984)
  19. Jim Stafford – Cow Patti (1981) (requested)
  20. Bill Withers – Just the Two of Us (1980)
  21. Laura Branigan – Self Control (1984)
  22. The Dead Milkmen – Bitchin’ Camaro (1984)
  23. The Cure – Close to Me (1985) (requested)
  24. Treat Her Right – I Think She Likes Me (1986)
  25. The The – Infected (1986)
  26. The Ramones – Palisades Park (1989)
  27. The Human League – Don’t You Want Me (1982)
  28. Prince and The Revolution – When Doves Cry (1984)
  29. Duran Duran – Hungry Like the Wolf (1982)
  30. Oingo Boingo – Try to Believe (1990)
  31. The Jesus and Mary Chain – Reverence (1992)
  32. Pixies – Velouria (1990)
  33. The Smithereens – Shakin’ All Over (1991)
  34. De La Soul – Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey) (1991)
  35. Eric B and Rakim – Pass the Hand Grenade (1992)
  36. The Grateful Dead w/ John Fogerty – Bad Moon Rising (live) (1991) (requested)
  37. Rage Against the Machine – Bulls on Parade (1993)
  38. Placido Domingo – Morreno Torroba: Maravilla – Amor, Vida De Mi Vida (live) (1994)
  39. New Order – True Faith (1994 version)
  40. Soundgarden – Half (1994)
  41. The Humpers – Anarchy Juice (1996)
  42. L7 – The Masses Are Asses (1997)
  43. Faithless – Insomnia (1995)

Throwback Thursday returns June 06th!

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe.]

Review: LFZ – Raveled Veiled Known

LFZ, otherwise known as Sean Smith, has dived even further than usual into his exploration of soundscapes and sound technology on his new album Raveled Veiled Known.

The album combines Smith’s hypnotizing guitar work with sound loops, vintage synths, field recordings, and probably song structures based on numerology for all I know. I mean, the album cover of embroidered art by Smith reflects numerological, tarot, and mystical themes.

I like how the album is bookended with long tracks. The opener, “Extinction Burst,” sounds like a Wall of Voodoo instrumental mixed with a John Carpenter film score and is described in the liner notes as “a characterization of the psyche’s potential to utterly resist change.” It’s all weird synths and reverb-laden guitar flourishes, and it’s all neat for over twelve minutes. In case you need a slightly radio friendly version, “Extinction Burst (edit),” at about half the length, follows it.

“View from Here” was improvised and recorded in one night and uses a lot of tape loops and “…represents themes of being trapped inside the boundless prison of one’s solitary perspective and the peace and madness that can coexist.” I mean, holy cow. LFZ is into some deep water here, and he’s floating on it like a cork while encouraging us to do the same when the water gets choppy.

“Waiting for Esme” is about Smith awaiting the birth of his daughter and the nervous anticipation of such an event. It has the most “normal” structure of the album’s tracks, but is no less full of strange synth effects. The long closing track, “Naturally I Found It Within,” reflects the outward journey that always returns inward – using buzzing guitars and dark wave synths to create moments of chaos and clarity.

It’s a weird, neat record. It’s strange at times, and soothing at others.

Keep your mind open.

[You can see the subscription box from here. Why not subscribe today?]

[Thanks to Ryan at Clandestine Label Services.]

Review: LAIR – Ngélar

Indonesian psych-funk? I’m there all day.

That’s what you get with LAIR and their new album, Ngélar – an album that salutes the band’s hometown, Jatiwangi, and the earth that provides most of the areas income through terra-cotta production, and discusses the struggles to reclaim that same land from deforestation.

“Tatalu” gets things off to a fast start with wild beats and exotic guitar work. “Pesta Rekyat Pabrik Gala” takes on a sorrowful tone that sounds like a call to ancient ancestors and spirits. “Tanah Bertuah” has more stellar guitar work from Tedi Nurmanto. “Hareeng” is almost desert rock with beautiful vocals from Monica Haspari. “Boa-Boa,” with its car horn honks, fuzzy bass riffs from Andzar Agung Fauzan, is one of the coolest songs on the record and will go straight onto your psych-rock playlist.

The chant-like vocals on “Bangkai Belantara” dance back and forth between power and celebration. “Kawin Tebu” is a lively track that makes you want to dance, sing, and invite strangers to a party at your house. The title of the album, after all, refers to a local custom in Jatiwangi of musicians roaming around the town, playing music for anyone, and celebrating whatever happens to need celebrating. “Setan Dolban” brings in some synthesizers and these cool microtonal guitars that would make King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard drool.

If you didn’t know LAIR was from Indonesia, you might think they were from the Algerian desert upon hearing “Gelombang Pemecah Malam,” which is a brief instrumental of sand dune rock. The closer, “Mencari Selamat,” is a lively song of thanks and uplifting beats made to help you forget troubles.

This is one of the most uplifting albums I’ve heard so far in 2024. It comes at a time when we need music like this to expand our horizons and jolt us out of any bad funks we’re in right now.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

WSND DJ set list – 3-for-Thursday Nocturne – May 23, 2024

Thanks for all who tuned into the first 3-for-Thursday Nocturne show of the 2024 summer on WSND. All songs are related to the number 3. Here’s the set list:

  1. House of Large Sizes – The Other Part (trio / three-word song title)
  2. ZZ Top – Master of Sparks (requested) (trio / three-word song title / from the Tres Hombres album)
  3. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – What to Do (trio / three-word song title)
  4. Sleater-Kinney – End of You (trio / three-word song title / three-word album title The Hot Rock)
  5. Bob Marley – Three Little Birds (requested) (three-word song title / “three” in the song title)
  6. Failure – Macaque (trio)
  7. Coldplay – Clocks (requested) (3-3-2 rhythm)
  8. On – Feel at Home (three-word song title)
  9. Genesis – Abacab (requested) (trio / the name of the song is it’s original form, rotating between the three A, B, and C sections)
  10. Skull Practitioners – Ventilation (trio)
  11. The Commodores – Three Times a Lady (requested) (three-word song title)
  12. Le Butcherettes – Shave the Pride (three-word song title / three-word album title A Raw Youth)
  13. Flat Worms – Antartica (trio)
  14. Oh Sees – Toe Cutter Thumb Buster (3:33 in length)
  15. The Jesus and Mary Chain – Just Like Honey (“three-peat” of one artist / three-word song title)
  16. The Jesus and Mary Chain – Darklands (“three-peat” of one artist)
  17. The Jesus and Mary Chain – Here Comes Alice (“three-peat” of one artist / three-word song title)
  18. Bad Religion – All Fantastic Images (“three-peat” of one artist / three-word song title)
  19. Bad Religion – You Don’t Belong (“three-peat” of one artist / three-word song title)
  20. Bad Religion – Cyanide (“three-peat” of one artist)
  21. Gas Huffer – Rotten Egg (from three-word album titled Just Beautiful Music)
  22. Treat Her Right – Factory Girl (three-word band name)
  23. Morphine – Come Along (trio)
  24. The Forms – All Souls Day (three-word song title)
  25. Alice In Chains – No Excuses (three-word band name and from three-word album titled Jar of Flies)
  26. Shadow Show – Shadow Box (trio)
  27. Beastie Roys – Root Down (trio)
  28. Janelle Monae – Dance or Die (Nirobi re-edit) (three-word song title)
  29. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Bad Blood (third song from their album Beat the Devil’s Tattoo)

My next show is May 30, 2024. Give me a listen!

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

WSND set list – Throwback Thursday – May 23, 2024

Thanks to all who listened to my first Throwback Thursday show of the summer 2024 break at WSND. Here’s the set list:

  1. Blondie – Heart of Glass (1978)
  2. Creedence Clearwater Revival – Around the Bend (1970)
  3. Count Yorga radio ad (1970)
  4. Johnny Cash – Man in Black (1971)
  5. Mungo Jerry – In the Summertime (1970)
  6. Astrud Gilberto – Take It Easy My Brother Charlie (1972)
  7. New York Dolls – Lookin’ for a Kiss (1973)
  8. Save the Children radio ad (1973)
  9. Marvin Gaye – Save the Children (live) (1973)
  10. The Rolling Stones – It’s Only Rock and Roll (but I Like It) (1974)
  11. The Sex Pistols – Pretty Vacant (requested) (1977)
  12. Sugar Hill radio ad (1974)
  13. Betty Davis – Shut Off the Light (1975)
  14. Thin Lizzy – Angel from the Coast (1976)
  15. Tentacles radio ad (1977)
  16. Devo – Uncontrollable Urge (1978)
  17. Gary Numan – Engineers (1979)
  18. Peter Gabriel – Shock the Monkey (requested) (1982)
  19. Adam and the Ants – Fall In (1980)
  20. Europe – The Final Countdown (requested) (1986)
  21. Oingo Boingo – Ain’t This the Life (1981)
  22. Gang of Four – Outside the Trains Don’t Run on Time (requested) (1980)
  23. Motörhead – Heart of Stone (1982)
  24. The Fixx – Saved By Zero (1983)
  25. Campbell’s Soup radio ad (1983?)
  26. The Last Four Digits – Leave Me Alone (1980)
  27. Sade – Your Love Is King (1984)
  28. INXS – Listen Like Thieves (1985)
  29. Big Audio Dynamite – Ticket (1986)
  30. Radio ad for New Coke (1984?)
  31. Agent Orange – Out of Limits (1987)
  32. New Order – Blue Monday (’88) (1988)
  33. Biz Markie – Just a Friend (1989)
  34. Lou Reed – Hold On (1989)
  35. Sonic Youth – Kool Thing (1990)
  36. Julian Cope – Leperskin (1991)
  37. Thunder – Backstreet Symphony (requested) (1990)
  38. MC 900 Foot Jesus – Truth Is Out of Style (live) (1992)
  39. Depeche Mode – World in My Eyes (requested) (1991)
  40. Helmet – He Feels Bad (1992)
  41. Temple of the Dog – Say Hello 2 Heaven (requested) (1991)
  42. R.L. Burnside – Short-Haired Woman (1994)
  43. Orgy – Blue Monday (requested) (1998)
  44. Reverend Horton Heat – Big Red Rocket of Love (1996)
  45. Slint – Nosferatu Man (requested) (1991)
  46. Death in Vegas – Dirt (1997)

Throwback Thursday returns May 30, 2024!

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]