Free Suburban Home Fest Comp!

So, here marks another year that I sit in NYC when I could be shouting my lungs out in Gainesville to all of the good bands that currently exist. The Fest is a magical thing, and goddammit, come hell or high water, I'm going there and seeing fucking Tiltwheel next year.

That bile somewhat purged, Virgil Dickerson and the good folk of Suburban Home will be in attendance this year, as will a good part of their spectacular roster. Virgil has been really putting in work. In addition to tirelessly blogging, hawking vinyl and going out on the road with his bands, he's managed to build a roster with some of the best up-and-coming bands out there.  Come on, he's dropped amazing records like the amazing Ninja Gun (oo-wee-ooo) and Two Cow Garage records, as well as the new Useless ID and Lagrecia discs. And for once, I'm not being stubborn about calling them records. If you look at the graphic, it says Vinyl Collective. VC has released a gang of new and old stuff on the old licorice pizza. If you still follow the format, you owe yourself to check it out.

So if I can make a vague attempt at making any of this cohesive; about the free shit and The Fest, Virgil's got a free sampler to commemorate the Suburban Home bands' presence in Gainesville. You can buy it on vinyl (ooh, a third strand woven!) here or download it for free here. It's got stuff from Joey Cape, Two Cow, Austin Lucas and a gang of others. And it's fucking free. Not a bad deal from a great label and great people. Snag the sampler and buy some full-lengths afterward. I'm not sure how long the download is going to be up, so you should probably step lively. Virgil may be at The Fest taking all comers in the competitive PBR shotgunning, but he's going to come to his senses sometime.

R

Heltah Skeltah - D.I.R.T

On the heels of what was undoubtably Sean Price's phoenix year comes the return of his partnership with Rock and his original franchise: Heltah Skeltah. I really can't believe how little I liked Sean Price, or in this environment Ruck, on the past HS recordings. Maybe it was the dreads, or the fact that he was skinny, but even after busting out Magnum Force ten years on from its debut I still can't see the appeal. Give me any of the Sean P material any day, please.

Time has prompted both parties to shed their locks, but not their Boot Camp or Decept affiliations. Both are shouted out at some length all over D.I.R.T (Da Incredible Rap Team) . As if they needed to. Both Rock and Ruck have a flow that is Boot Camp to the core. The rhymes come fast and furious and from the intro you'll realize that you would not do well to relegate this dynamic duo to old school status.

Or do. It's your ass that will catch the beatdown and not me. I will say that the old-school Pen and Pixel cover might be a bit of a misstep, as are the costumes, but the rhymes more than speak for themselves. Their partners in grime from Smif and Wessum and Black Moon make their obligatory appearances, as does the Prince Of Crown Heights, Rusty Juxx. It's all better than your favorite record, so reallocate a $20 from your weed budget and pick up D.I.R.T here. Support independent hip-hop. Duck Down has been around forever and have essentially same roster. Name another roster that's stayed that consistent. I thought so. Buy the record and check out Boot Camp TV on public access.

R

If You Make It demos, part six: Air Raid Barcelona

Part six, and for the time being, part last, of the If You Make It series. This installment features the good folk of Air Raid Barcelona, who are probably an ex-band at this juncture. Good stuff, cut from the same cloth as much of the IYMI fare. There's some stuff with the bass mixed high and driving things, some indie-rock guitars and the vocals are pretty much almost all-there. When the singer sticks to the monotone delivery, it almost gets a little Jawbreaker, but for the most part it seems like these songs would sound best a couple beers in at somebody's house, preferably through a shitty PA. See what you think.

 I would venture that most of the players in the ranks of Air Raid Barcelona are members of other bands featured on the If You Make It site, so if you get a taste for the sound, there's ample succor to fill the void. And, as I've reiterated some times previously, it's free. Get it the demo here and leave a damn donation, ingrate! 

R

If You Make It demos, part five: The State Lottery

Yowza! Now here's a great fucking record. And let me point out from the onset that it's free. Evidently the parties that comprise The State Lottery are scattered between the outer boroughs of our fair city and the charmingly bucolic town of Detroit, Michigan. If the separation is what's keeping me from seeing The State Lottery live, I may have to personally sponsor a reunion. 

The State Lottery sound like a band that's moving out the back end of their punk phase into a more roots rock direction. Don't get me wrong, it's going to be a long time before anyone confuses The State Lottery with The Jayhawks, but you can hear the band champing at the bit to evolve. That said, there's nothing to complain about on Cities We're Not From. The faster stuff sounds like Potboiler or maybe early Buffalo Tom. It's a little cleaner than Birdbrain or records of that caliber, but whoever's writing the songs in The State Lottery is showing all the signs of being as much of a threat. Really. I'm not saying that The State Lottery are as good as Buffalo Tom were at this stage in the game, but I'm already salivating at the prospect of the next recording.

Get the record for free here. Leave a damn donation already.

You can buy it on vinyl (colored too, nerd) from the good folk of Salinas here

Stay tuned for more The State Lottery info and check out the web presence here.

R

Mark Your Calendars: Liquid Limbs

Matt from Sound Study Recordings got in touch to remind us that the rock juggernaut that is Liquid Limbs is coming through town in November. They are at the Charleston in on the 8th and at Lit on the 11th. Check out the rest of the dates here. Go see them, but don't forget the earplugs. See you at the rock show.

R

If You Make It demos, part four: Iron Chic

Iron Chic are another of the many bands that have sprung up in the wake of the dissolution of Long Island's Latterman franchise. This one features guitarists Phil Douglas and Bran Crozier. Vocals are from the enigmatic Lubrano from Small Arms Dealer. The band is not all that far removed from Latterman or, by extrapolation, late-period output of Hot Water Music or Jawbreaker. They are kind enough to offer up the five songs that comprise their demo on their web page here or for free on the If You Make It page here. It's well worth checking out, and you sure can't beat the price. Five songs in under fifteen minutes, but lucky for you audio files don't wear out and you can play this over and over again. Just don't spend too long contemplating exactly how Iron Chic is going to 'take the future and fuck it to death' like they threaten on Sensitive Dependence. That's not a good visual. At all really.

R

Live: Two Cow Garage @ DC's 10.24.8

It used to be a lot easier to get out to Hoboken. The last time I rode out there was for the acoustic Ergs/Drag The River show at Maxwell's. It was a Saturday night and I had to wait for five trains to pass before I was able to get my bike on. This time I arrived at Christopher St. to find that there was no working machines, so I could either jump the turnstile (with a bike) and be the most conspicuous arrest of the early evening commuter set, or ride to Sixth Ave and get on there. Luckily, that passed without incident and I touched ground in Hoboken in fifteen short minutes.

DC's is out on 8th Street in Hoboken, out by Water Music. To say that it's small is a gross understatement. It makes Lakeside look expansive. I saw Micah and the new keyboard guy out front and walked through the front door seemingly on to the stage, before I realized that the band was crammed in behind the pool table and bathrooms, leaving about ten square feet for the Two Cow fans and bar-goers. It made it that much easier to find the Brothers Johnson for night two of our rock tour. We had some drinks while the gents set up and wondered openly if they had ever hosted a band there before, a fact corroborated by many a local who walked in to no small amount of confusion and left soon afterward.

The gents had to be over by 11pm, so they stepped lively and got underway by 9:30. They cranked out a good amount of the new record Speaking In Cursive, with a couple dips toward older tracks. We also managed to convince them to play Can't Hardly Wait and Born To Run for good measure. The whole thing served to assert two things: one being that Two Cow Garage are a hell of a lot of fun to see live and two, whoever the guy named Joe who convinced the band to play DCs for his birthday was, he's a hell of a lucky guy. Buy a copy of the new record here and convince them that they need to play a New York show soon. Shane was saying that they had fully intended to this time around, but they got screwed by all the CMJ shows. It's a bummer, as this is one of the best shows I've seen all year. Keep up with what the boys are doing here. Here's hoping we get them on our side of the water soon.

R