School Jerks S/T E.P

There is no excuse for you NOT to listen to this little 7". It's 4 minutes long. Total crap recording quality, obligatory white-kids-being-unnecessarily-edgy swastika on the cover, barely discernible lyrics. It sounds exactly like Crazy Spirit, except School Jerks is from Canada (apparently people make music up there?).

Riff Raff Records, 2009

Frank (just Frank)

So yes I've bombarded pretty much every social media outlet I am connected to with Frank (just Frank) this week. And I am posting this song for two reasons: 1) I speak French, and I like singing the words to this in the car. 2) The caption for the video reads, "French coldwave (not chillwave or Cold Cave)." Given my strong opinions on both chillwave and Cold Cave, I can get down with that.

It's Friday, here's something to listen to.

Y-Control: one of my favorite songs of all time. Karen O is like Riot Grrrl for 21st century chicks who date dudes but make out with girls on the weekend.

The music video is awesome.

Label Profile: Fan Death Records

John Sharkey III, (ex-lead singer of Clockcleaner and mastermind behind Puerto Rico Flowers) once described Fan Death Records as being run by "a cripple, a weirdo, and one normal woman." Take that as you will. FDR, based out of Baltimore, Washington DC, and Montreal--has always been my favorite label. For all intensive purposes, most of the material Fan Death puts out falls under the category of noise punk, post punk, and jackass punk (i.e Homostupids, and I made that genre up).

I love Fan Death because it oscillates effortlessly from the absurd to the intellectual, and one can never be quite sure whether the releases are art at its finest, or thinly veiled parody. Fan Death possesses the classic disenchanted punk vibe, but behind the baseball references and the jabs at other labels and artists, it's clear that every release has been meticulously produced and carefully chosen. FDR is run by nerds, for nerds--and in my opinion, that's what a record label should be. In a world of instant gratification, where the main objective is delivering maximum entertainment with minimum effort, Fan Death chooses quality over quantity.

Some of the tracks on this mix aren't immediately palatable. But the beauty of these releases is how you absorb and interact with them. The connection that I feel to music like Puerto Rico Flowers, FNU Ronnies, and Homostupids comes from slow assimilation, and the complex set of reactions, both conscious and subconscious, that occur when listening to a record or a song for the first time.

1) Nature of Feeling: Pleasure Leftists
2) Lust Murder: Twin Stumps
3) Siberian Eclipse: Screen Vinyl Image
4) When Your Lonely Heart Breaks (Neil Young): Puerto Rico Flowers
5) Faux King Vogue: Broken Water
6) Herb Albert: FNU Ronnies
7) Sunbathing in Squalor: Taco Leg
8) Sisyphus: Body Cop
9) Wearing Sammy: Homostupids
10) Your Party Sucks: Pygmy Shrews (Okay so FDR didn't put out this song, but they did release "Lord Got Busted.")
11) Knife Day: Drunkdriver
12) Untitled: Neon Blud
13) Princess Bride: Pfisters
14) Salvation Road: Lamps

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Label Profile: Not Not Fun

So I'm going to start a series of sorts focusing on independent labels that I've taken an interest in and would like to share with others. I think labels are invaluable to the music industry nowadays, because they provide a sort of community and springboard for dialogue and artistic growth. When I look for new music, I don't go to record stores (I wish I could say I did), rather, I have about ten blogs whose judgment I trust and a handful of labels that consistently put out good music. In my world, blogs and record labels are tastemakers--not magazines or Pandora or Pitchfork. People tend to whine about the lack of "personality" in the music world, as Mp3s allow us to lie in bed and download music at the touch of a button as opposed to going out to a record store, handing over cash and buying records or CDs from a real, live human. I agree, it's harder to have face-to-face interactions these days in the music world, but it's certainly not something to be cynical about.

Haha so really I think music is still a pretty good way to make friends. As well as blogging and researching labels, student radio is another way I find community in the music world. For me, WNYU allows me to be social and talk about music with like-minded people, as well as exposing me to a wide range of genres. For many people, running a label serves the same purpose. For others--blogging is a way to connect. People will always find a way to share the things they love with others, whether through the internet, face to face, or both.

(Now back to what I was actually talking about.)

The first label I'm going to profile is Not Not Fun Records; an LA-based label whose sound is impossible to pin down. NNF toys with drone, psychedelic, lo-fi, industrial, and noise-punk--and their releases range from the whimsical to the eerie, to the mechanical and the crass. NNF will put out a U.S. Girls record, and follow it up with a Skullflower record. The only uniting factor is the quality of the releases.

Please enjoy the following compilation of my favorite Not Not Fun releases, here's the tracklist:

1) Blood Is Bloodstone: LA Vampires & Zola Jesus
2) Mandy: The Goslings
3) Honeymoon Babylon: Sex Worker
4) Someone Chasing Someone Through A House: Umberto
5) Lotus Cloud: Barn Owl
6) Me + Yoko: U.S. Girls
7) Tarot Harem: Topaz Rags
8) Mutilated Angel: Skullflower
9) Dreamtime/Machinetime: Pocahaunted
10) Resolution Of All My Family Sisters: Inca Ore
11) Key Sparrow: Peaking Lights

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