Photo by mariontognoni

A few weeks ago I was chatting with Phil from SSLYBY, and he casually tossed in a “hey go check out this song” link at the end of one of our exchanges. I did indeed go check the song out, and it turned out to be a very a good one. As the band was from Missouri, I assumed they were just friends of Phil’s, and he was hipping me to some music that not many were aware of. Foolish me! You see, the very next day, my MBV compatriots at Said the Gramophone posted a glowy, 2-song entry about them. THEN, I found out they were just featured on this new eMusic compilation. So they’re not just a friend’s friend’s band from Missouri– they’re a great, established band whose stock seems to be already on the rise.

The band I’m talking about is Jumbling Towers, and they’re currently putting the finishing touches on their brand-new album, which is to be released at some point in the near future, I should imagine (you can download their older EP, Classy Entertainment, for free here).

I don’t know how many spins these tracks have gotten out of me in the last few weeks, but it’s somewhere between “A LOT” and “A WHOLE HELLUVA LOT.” Really great songs. I look forward to hearing a lot more from this band.

(”Kanetown” is a new song; “11” comes from JT’s 2007 self-titled album which can be had from iTunes).

Being a longtime fan of Gentleman Reg Vermue, it pleases me to tell you that his new record, Jet Black (a joke title I assume, considering Reg’s platinum physiognomy), is out this week on Arts & Crafts (Three Gut, you’re gone but not forgotten).

Buy Jet Black at Amazon. [Vinyl] [MP3]

Whoa, has it really been that long since I last posted something about Apollo Ghosts? Time to rectify that– how about this time, with a video? The prior AG videos, for “Bad Apple,”"Ghost Get Out…,” and “Yan’s Going Back…” were all on the lowest-of-low-budgets, but this new vid for “Angel Acres” is a different beast. Whether inspired by The Wrestler or just wrasslin’ in general, Random Pictures‘ Stephen Gillis ups the ante with this one.

And of course I’ll tell you for the one-trillionth time to go buy the Apollo Ghosts’ Hastings Sunrise if yain’t already. Or stream Hastings Sunrise in its entirety at MBV, and THEN go buy it.

This track from the Drag City full-length collection of Death’s 1975 output, For The Whole World To See…, is just flat-out awesome. Someone deserves a medal for not letting this material get lost to history.

Death were the Hackney brothers, three young black musicians in the melting-pot of mid-70s Detroit. After they began to absorb the rock and roll sounds of local heroes like Alice Cooper and Iggy and the Stooges, they traded the strength of the r’n’b and funk that they’d been raised on for the strength of the rock music that was in the air all around them.

For The Whole World To See… is out on 2/17 from Drag City.

Donewaiting pointed out that Andrew Bird’s Noble Beast is on sale for $1.99 at the Amazon MP3 store. If you’ve been slacking on picking it up, here’s your chance.

Wavves is playing three shows over the next three days here in New York. Hipsters’ heads all over Billyburg are exploding at the mere thought.

The 2nd Annual Jan Kotik Memorial Show is being held tomorrow, 2pm, at Union Hall. Jan was an original member of the Mommyheads, as well as Church of Betty and Beekeeper, who passed away in December ‘07. This show is an annual evening of music and memoral to benefit Jan’s family. The Mommyheads, Babe the Blue Ox, and Ida will all be playing.

We’ve been streaming the new Heartless Bastards album, The Mountain, at MBV this week– but we’ve gotta pull it tonight! So go check it out while you still can. David and Carl both really dig the album.

Also over at MBV, we’re giving away a vinyl copy of the new Dan Auerbach (Black Keys) album, Keep It Hid. Picking the winner on Monday.

Merge is preparing to digitally rerelease three of Richard Buckner’s older, out-of-print albums: Bloomed, The Hill, and one of my favorite records of 2002, Impasse. I always found Impasse to have that raw, jagged, almost-live feel that’s so rarely captured on tape, and that I totally love. “Born Into Giving” is one of my favorite tracks from the record, but to be fair, I’ve really always looked at the album’s entire first half as one long song cycle that should not be broken. But if you don’t want to just take my word for it, grab this digital rerelease when it comes out on 3/10, and see if I don’t speak the truth.

Ok, another UK band who deal in Lo-Fi Fuzz. And who are touring with Wavves and Pens. They proudly proclaim their love for Tascam 4-track recording, have a perfectly-curated list of influences (“The Fugs, Guided By Voices, Swell Maps, The Modern Lovers, The Clean, Flying Nun, The Fall, Beat Happening, Television Personalities, Pavement, Terminal Boredom, Nuggets, Siltbreeze”), and they wrote this song, which I really enjoy:

There are 3 sides to the Nü Lo-Fi Distorted Fuzz Buzz fence: there’s the “Hate It” side, encompassing people whose heads explode at the mere mention of the terms “Wavves” or “Vivian Girls.” There’s the “Love It” side, who surely must exist, if only to play Yang to the haters’ Yin. And then, of course, there’s the “I Just Like What I Like” group. Pick your side and read on.

Pens

Pens is a 3-piece girl group hailing from the UK. They play songs in that lo-fi, fuzzed-out vein. They are touring with Wavves. They have a record, called Hey Friend, What You Doing?, coming out on De Stijl later this year. My friend Pete is recording them.

I was scratching my just yesterday wondering where this track in my iTunes library, Box Elders – “Hole In My Head,” came from– then today, out of the blue, another copy of the track shows up in my email inbox. Okay, universe, I can take a cosmic hint, enough already.

Let’s get straight to the point– Box Elders: from Omaha, Nebraska. Short, hooky, garagey (they call it “cave pop”) tunes. Jay Reatard and Gerard C. are both big fans, so you should not be surprised if you soon read that they have signed to Matador.

For now, their label is Omaha’s Grotto Records, who recently put out their 7″ (the one that you should buy now so that you can sell it to some poor sap on eBay for $50 in 6 months).