This is amazing: This is Spinal Tap will be available on vinyl beginning June 11 {today!} for the first time since 1984, leaving me to ask how in the name of sweet Jesus it took this long but, whatever, I’m praising the gods of reissues that it is happening NOW. I know you remember 1984 […]
Archive | Control Group

Heavy rotation: best of a yummy Summer
It's late summer and I have been listening to many refreshing albums, as the world heats up more than ever. And now, it's time for the Fall releases to come in, a smattering of which are below among a multi-artist round-up of what has been soundtracking my daily toil, night terrors, and lovely bits of […]

People Eating People
I joined in the wailing when Mon Frere went down in 2007. Leader Nouela Johnson had such potential, her way-out style and insouciant songs wouldn’t just stop there, would they? It seemed very James Marilyn Dean Monroe, a fickle flash-burn of utter musical sweetness gone before the world could be convinced. Then Johnson went on […]

Love Is Not Pop
Gothernburg, Sweden’s sweet-voiced Sarah Assbring has teamed up with Rasmus Hagg of the duo Studio this time out, for the third album from El Perro del Mar, Love Is Not Pop. “Album” might be pushing it, if you’re looking for length, as this is seven new songs plus three remixes. Following up 2008’s From The […]

The Control Group keeps sweetening us with the sounds of Sweden
Vosta Gotalands and Ian Mariam Wallentin & Andreas Werliin are a married Gonthenburg, Sweden couple who make warm butterscotch sauce on vanilla ice cream music with just voice and some drums and a little sound splash here and there. Their band Wildbirds & Peacedrums is coming to the States in September, but let their new […]
Schoolyard Heroes want your soul for Christmas
Schoolyard Heroes, my favorite horror-pop rockers from here in Seattle, are releasing a 2-song holiday single today. The single is called "I Want Your Soul for Christmas" and the b-side, not to leave out our Jewish friends, is called "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel!" The press release says: Seattle's Schoolyard Heroes are set to release a […]
Brazil is blowin' up w/electro talent: Telepathique
Brazil is blowing up with electro talent. Sao Paulo lends us it's brightest new duo, DJ/producer/drummer Erico Theobaldo (aka DJ Periferico) and vocalist Mylene Pires, as Telepathique. They are touring the US for the first time in support of their new album Last Night On Earth. Their sound varies a bit on this record, from […]

From The Valley To The Stars
Sarah Assbring's second full-length for The Control Group as El Perro del Mar is a perfect definition of the word 'album.' It is a 16-track cycle of relaxed, sweetly melodic, organ-kissed soul music — 'soul' in the sense the Beach Boys had soul, the teenage symphonies to god kind of universalist nature-loving soul music — […]
New releases from Easy Street Records
Not a ton of new releases this week, but we've got a couple of goodies! Flight of The Conchords' self-titled full-length release is out and it's soooo good! I love that great music can come from a comedy troup/band. Take note, Seattle's Black Daisy! Atmosphere has a new record out with a great title/moto/mantra (if […]

Free Electricity
I’ve now listened to The Cops’ second album, Free Electricity, about 7 or 8 times straight through over the past 4 days and I am no closer to figuring it out as I was after the first spin. My enjoyment of the album is unwavering, yet I find myself asking if I love this record […]