Ok, after a few snags and some schedule wrangling, we’re finally ready with our latest all-Sacred Bones edition of the Singles Collection. We’ve made no secret of the fact that we love this label, and true to their ever-stellar form, their latest batch of singles are all absolute must-owns, both from sonic and aesthetic points of view. Since you’ve undoubtedly heard us sing their praises in the past, let’s just get to this latest batch of killer tunes.

The first thing to blow speaker cones this week is the latest from Australia’s Naked on the Vague, “Chitty Chat” b/w “Goodbye Dark Cliche”, their first single since last year’s awesome Poltergeist Palm on Skulltones. The A-Side is a slow-creeping dirge that shatters into a billion splintered pieces, voices stumbling over one another, guitars backfiring and a clattering tribal ruckus holding the whole thing together for the duration, only to have it meltdown in its final moments. The ominous clouds roll in on the flipside, a macabre synth-war that sounds like someone shooting angels out of the sky with an AK-47 and gleefully shrieking as they plummet to the pavement. We’re not certain, but if it’s possible for something to be both utterly genius and totally horrifying at the same time, we think NOTV have captured it on tape here.

Next up we’ve got the third single (and second on SB) from Nice Face, “Mnemonic Device” b/w “Situation is Facing Utter Annihilation” and for as good as his HoZac single was, this one really takes him to the next level in terms of pure songcraft. The A-Side rides a wobbling, warbling bassline and pinprick synths into a strange pop nirvana, a splattered lo-fi realm where everybody is obsessed with Bee Thousand and constantly prays to altars constructed solely of Fall albums. Once you make the turn, “Situation is Facing Utter Annihilation” is, bar none, the best thing he’s ever put to tape. Far more aggressive than we’re used to hearing, this searing brace of manic scum-punk is as instantly addicting as heroin bubblegum and twice as sweet. That it manages, at points, to recall everybody from Marc Bolan to Jim Shepard is a testament to both its audacious versatility and shit-caked pop perfection. The single of the year may have already landed.

To end things on a decidedly Beefheartian note, we’ve got the double 7″ offering from Timmy’s Organism, the “solo” guise of Human Eye frontman Timmy Vulgar. Definitely the weirdest platter(s) that the label has released to date, Squeeze the Giant is four sides of guitarded weirdness that drips sky juice from every pore and, in some instances, sounds like several different bands jamming over the top of one another. As you run through these deep grooves you’ll hear mutated blues slop, LSD-addled skronk-rock, a barely discernible vocal harangue and, in the form of “Tree Thirsty Earthquake”, something resembling a gentle torch song, only far more obtuse and ultimately unsettling. Members of Tyvek pop their heads into Mr. Timmy’s Keyhole Wonderland briefly, and even they seem weirded out of their skulls. Heroic and awesome, just not for the faint of eardrum.

There you have it, another batch of stunners from Sacred Bones. All of these releases are still available from their website, and if you act real quick-like, you might even be able to snag one of the limited editions. Thanks for scraping the sky with us this week, and make sure to check back next week when we dissect some of the new(er) offerings on Goodbye Boozy, Regal Select and some others we can’t think of right this second.

We’re mega pressed for time this week at the Singles Collection, and not wanting to shaft our good friends at Sacred Bones, we’re going to bump them back one more week (we swear this time) so we can give them their due and proper. But, on the plus side, we do have at least one SB-related artist this week, so it’s not completely a wash. Anyway, so much time and so little to do — strike that, reverse it — let’s get onto the singles.

Getting us started this week is the new one-sided 7″ from perennial favorites Gary War, “Anhedonic Man”, on the venerable Hell, Yes! imprint out of Italy. Some might say that a one-sided single is a waste of time/space, and generally we would tend to agree, but HY! always has such ripping tunes that we’re willing to let them slide. This one is certainly no different, as “Anhedonic Man” is a slip-n-slide cosmic romp through a vast netherworld of analog synths, taut drumming and sandblasted guitars that sounds like it was recorded by the spirits of Eddie Hazel and Michael Rother in Berlin in 2018 and shipped back just to show us how fantastic our future sounds will be. There’s also a special edition of this release that comes with a bonus one-sided 7″ that’s the same track, only reverse-grooved so it plays backwards. Both versions are still available at the Hell, Yes! MySpace, or if you are in the States and the standard version is ok with you, then hit up the Sacred Bones distro page.

Also this week, we’ve got the first single from Hoboken’s Personal & The Pizzas, the self-titled EP on Gooc Entertainment. We’ve been enjoying the hell out of this slab for months now, but have waited due to them being out-of-print and unavailable for anything other than collector’s prices. But now that the repress seems to be making its way to stores and distros, we figure we’d include them finally. It’s easy to be put off by their 50’s greaser aesthetic — Personal looks like he was cast out of Lenny & Squiggy’s inner circle — but the 3 songs on this EP are fantastic, all rambling along the alleyway with shambolic, Ramones-like hooks and playing that feels shabby on its best days. “I Don’t Wanna Be No Personal Pizza” sounds like it’s being held together with duct tape and some old bubblegum, and that’s more than alright by us. They’ve since released a split 7″ with Bobby Ubangi on the awesome Rob’s House imprint, and copies of this original EP should start showing up in distros (check Florida’s Dying and Rocket Reducer any day now).

It’s a short week for us (the real world has beckoned and we must heed the call), but we’ll be back up to full steam next week, you can count on that. Until then, enjoy these couple nuggets, sit outside and enjoy the ever-improving weather and have a cocktail for us.

We recently featured him in our Singles Collection, and we’ve been giving love to the crew at Sacred Bones recently, so why not give a little more love to Brooklyn’s Gary War?

The music is pyschedelic, surreal, futuristic, snyth pop. Or something like that. Despite his low profile and minimalist promotion (note the photo), he’s quite the prolific man. Gary War’s got a new live tape just released on Blank Dog Mike Sniper’s Captured Tracks, a full-length, Galactic Citizens, coming soon and new 12-inch, Horrible Parade on Woodsist as well as a new 12-inch EP on Captured Tracks and a new 7-inch on Bad Press.

While you’re waiting for all of that to come out, take a list to “Don’t Go Out Tonight”, which is the B-Side to his “Zontag” 7-inch and you can also download the entire Gary War catalog for free, 100 percent costs-no-money, on his blog.

Gary War – “Don’t Go Out Tonight”

Honestly, we don’t really have the time or energy for a long, witty opening diatribe this week. Plus we’re still in a half-sugar coma from Easter, so we’ll let the stellar platters do the lion’s share of the talking this week, which, should be easy, as we’ve got some real scorchers.

Getting us started this week is the new single from rapidly rising scene darling Hunx and his Punx, “Hey Rocky” b/w “Movin’ On” on the sometimes problematic Bubbledumb Records. Now, to be fair, the distro on this title has been a bit spotty, as only a handful of stores/distributors seem to have received copies and as a result, have blown through them in a matter of hours. The band had copies, but ran out of them shortly after their second performance at SxSW and are no longer selling them through their MySpace. It’s a shame, too, because “Hey Rocky” is every bit as good, or possibly even better, than anything else in his growing canon; a deviously simple song with an irresistible chorus, playful hand-claps and a one-finger keyboard line that sticks to the roof of your brain like epoxy. The flipside isn’t quite on a par with the sure-to-be-classic on the A-Side, but it’s certainly no slouch. A frizzle frazzled slice of lo-fi bubblegum trash punk that certainly stands on its own two well-manicured feet. Make sure to keep yr eyes glued to places like Goner and Tic Tac Totally as they’re supposed to be getting copies any day now and they are sure to go quick-as-lightning.

Next up is a split between Miami’s Jacuzzi Boys and Austin’s Woven Bones on the upstart Needless Records and damned if it’s not one hell of a first release. Both bands have been tearing it up as of late, and Woven Bones follow up their awesome HoZac Hookup Klub single with “Grown Crazy”, a slow-slicing shoegaze-psych jam that flares up with rumbling distortion squalls, fuzz wah-wah action and heavily FX’d vocals, basically something akin to the Reid brothers dropping LSD in some palatial garden while trying to play the Seeds’ back catalog. On the flip, Jacuzzi Boys follow up their awesome Rob’s House single with “The Countess”, another tasty slice of their southern-fried punky slo-core goodness. It’s stately and restrained, yet retains a burning psych underbelly that keeps it tight and punk at its core. These are still available from the label’s MySpace, so get on over there and grab some for you and your friends.

Finally this week, we’ve got the first release from the mysterious and enigmatic Ean Eraser, “Illegitimate Love” b/w “It Does Not Matter to Me” which is self-released, but has been distro’d heavily by Florida’s Dying. Nobody’s entirely sure who’s behind the EE curtain, as there’s only a shady MySpace page to go on, but whoever it is, they know their way around catchy-as-hell three minute punk-pop firebombs. Each of the two tracks here is credited to a different songwriter, leading some to wonder if they’re not covers of obscure 70s tunes and EE has just gotten the better of everyone. Covers or not, both of these tunes crackle with spitfire energy and loads of caffeinated effervescence, like the Buzzcocks snorting pixi-stix or drinking lemonade spiked with amyl nitrate. FD’s got the last of the pressing up for sale on their site now, so if this sounds like your brand of vodka, jump over there tuite suite and snag a copy before they’re lost to the ages.

Well, that’s all we’ve got for this week, but next week we’ll be back with another all Sacred Bones installment, and hopefully the week after we’ll sink our teeth into some of the Record Store Day-only jams that will be available exclusively at your favorite local purveyors of the phonographic arts this weekend, so make sure you go out and support your local shops!

It’s Easter week and we’re back to business as usual ’round here at The Singles Collection. Hopefully you enjoyed last week’s video sojourn into the realm of Sacred Bones, one of our favorite labels, but it’s back to doing what we love around here, mainly, giving you the scoop on 45’s that are currently rocking our world (and that we think will rock yours). So without further adieu — and so we can all get to our Cadbury Creme Eggs as quickly as possible — let’s get to it.

Starting us off this week we’ve got the debut single from Max of the Smith Westerns‘ side-project, Teenage Lovers, “Number One” b/w “I Wanna Be Your Boy” on Randy Records. Operating in a similar style to his main gig, here he unleashes a pair of three-minute pop firebombs about being a 19-year old virgin, which, cringe-worthy as that sounds, are actually both ace tunes that crackle with the energy of someone that’s bedded as many women as, say, Gene Simmons. Much as its title implies, A-Side “Number One” finds him pining for the girl who will be his very first, but rather than wallow in mawkish pity, the song seethes infectious energy from every pore, riding an absolute gnarled monster of a riff and jabbing with enough sucker punch hooks to put anyone that dare mention his virginity flat on their ass. On the flip, “I Wanna Be Your Boy” utilizes some absolutely blistering, frothing guitar work to counterbalances its saccharine sentiments to keep it from becoming another woe-is-me tale of unrequited teen lust, instead channeling that teen vitriol into a stomping, power-pop romp that will have them lined up around the corner to get them a piece. These should still we widely available both directly from the label and at the usual distros and record emporiums.

Next up is City Center’s “Because” b/w “Water Message” & “White Shoes” on Party Nogg!. For those who might be unfamiliar, City Center is Fred Thomas’ (of Saturday Looks Good to Me & Lovesick fame) new outfit, and while it might get us lynched, we dare say it’s the best thing he’s ever done/been a part of. The duo’s sound is a difficult thing to put into words, but imagine if you will an echo-laden psych-jam between Gary Numan and Kevin Shields taking place underwater and on arcane analog equipment and you are starting to get an idea of the headspace they occupy. This 3-song 7″ is filled with epic, sky-scraping songwriting that gets filtered and FX’d into a gorgeous, blissed-out oblivion that, truly, sounds like nothing else on the planet. At times the sheer sonic euphoria can be disorientating, and “Water Message” is headphone music of the highest order, but so long as you’ve got a comfy chair, you can ride with them into the candy-coated abyss. Their singles don’t stick around for long, but if you email the label, they should still have a few left for immediate consumption.

Last but certainly not least this week we’ve got the first 7″ from Cheap Time frontman Jeffrey Novak, “Three Sisters” b/w “Home Sweet Home” on Jay Reatard’s recently resurrected Shattered Records imprint. This little platter follows hot on the heels of his well-received debut LP After the Ball, and damned if this pair of psych-pop gems aren’t every bit as good as the material on the full-length, maybe even edging out a few tracks that were included amongst the running order. The real shining star here though is the A-Side, a whirligig psych-romp that reminds of the Kinks‘ Village Green, albeit with a frazzled southern flair and knotty 8-Track charisma that makes it absolutely irresistible. The flip is a slow waltzing charmer that, while not as immediate as its counterpart, nevertheless, it remains a more than worthy addition to Novak’s ever-growing canon. These are pretty much gone, but if you act quick, Goner Records should have the last few copies of this for sale now

That’s all for this week, kiddies, but not to fret, because after we’ve gotten all gussied up in our best pastels and eaten our weight in jellybeans and peanut butter eggs we’ll be back with more mind-melting tunes for your ‘tables.

We’ve got an extra-special edition of The Singles Collection for you this week, one that’s less focused on prattling on about wildly obscure 7″ slabs of wax and more concerned with letting you lot in on exactly what goes into running one of the best labels around. While at SxSW a couple weeks back, we were able to corner the crew from New York’s stellar Sacred Bones Records — label owner Caleb Braaten and artists Zola Jesus, Max Elliott and Dead Luke — so they could give us the lowdown on what it takes to become one of the finest purveyors of the phonographic arts, how artists and labels find one another, and anything else that happened to come to mind. We hope you enjoy it. Oh, and make sure to come back next week as we’ll once again return to our normal format of prattling on about insanely awesome 45’s.

Our brethren over at the FADER have a bi-weekly column written by Jamie Johns called The Freak Scene. Well, maybe we’re freaks, because she talks about a lot of the music we cover on a regular basis, including this week’s installment with Zola Jesus and Emeralds.

Just to catch you up to speed, we saw both bands in the past two weeks — Emeralds in Brooklyn and Zola Jesus in Texas — but along with interviews, Jamie and the FADER have songs posted for each. So we strongly recommend going there and checking them both out.

And as a last side note, Jamie also name drops U.S. Girls who can listen to courtesy of The Tripwire here, and the label Sacred Bones, with whom we will have a video-installment of our weekly column, The Singles Collection, dedicated to coming later this week, so stay tuned.