It’s wrong to use the “a” word to describe this record, though. The very word “ambient” leads some to imagine mindless, directionless keyboard noodling. Boredom on wax. Tvenna is NOT that, not by a long shot. Tvenna–like so much Icelandic electronica–has the same audio qualities of Iceland itself. There’s a chill in the air, the wind outside is howling across the lava fields, but the heater’s on and the alcohol is good.

That’s actually a bit of cliche when it comes to describing Reykjavik’s electronica scene, but so be it. I’m an outsider, and having lived two years in Iceland I truly believe just as California and Texas climates have unique effects on bands in those areas, Iceland’s midnight sun, sunless afternoons, and high winds definitely make their mark on records like Tvenna. So sue me.

Einoma is a duo–Bjami Þór Gunnarsson and Steindór Grétar Kristinsson, who have been recording in Iceland on a number of labels. This limited edition EP is a delicious slab of vinyl, and me personally, I’d love to get my hands on some of these trax individually (bass, drums, textures all separate)  for remix purposes.

If you’re into the dancey minimalist electronica sounds coming out of Iceland, Belgium and elsewhere far away from America, I strongly urge you to have a listen to Einoma. Currently, I’m doing a bit of “browser core” mashup fun with the samples at the official site–I’ve got two sample tracks playing over the top of one another, and it’s making for some unique brain-swelling the artists never intended. Try it, it’s fun!

I can’t help it, I love 70s cheese, and this is by far some of the cheesiest I’ve seen as of late. Listen to that music! Damn…my favorite part is the cornball little new wavey splash/splat after the chorus girls stop singing. “Skashhhhhhhhhhhhh”. Brilliant.

Here’s the trailer in all its’ wretchedly goofy glory. Remember, kid, this one stars James Earl Jones, Richard Burton, and Max Von Sydow–an all star cast. Darth Vader, the guy who played chess with Death, and Bluebeard together–what a hoot. I wish we could go back to the time that these movies were released, when people still thought the Devil was scary. Of course, all you have to do is look at those clothes to know just how misguided they really were–Satan was the least of their problems. Unless your name was Linda Blair.

Priceless.

This album is a great collection of beats. Perfect for chilled out late night listening with the lights turned down to “seduce” and the atmosphere on “bachelor pad”. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED…if you can find it, that is. And sorry, my copy is NOT for sale.

A completely UNRELATED clip by Funki Porcini here, this is just as atmospheric and cool, and the vid is excellent as well:

From deepest Texas comes GOOP. The result of a toxic waste spill mixing with a nuclear radiation leak, GOOP presents a mutated new wave/punk sonic attack that calls directly back to early DEVO, Fad Gadget, and The Cars.

Goop’s first album is Synthetic Reasons, 11 absolutely mad tracks featuring the vocal stylings of Max Trash and Eddy Current, plus band mates Billy Lazer and Mick Quark. During the recording of Synthetic Reasons, Billy Lazer claimes to have played at least one note on every synthesizer ever made. The album is described as “new wave for the Goop Age” and will thrill any fan of old new wave or today’s new wave redux bands like Nancy Boy, The Prima Donnas, Epoxies or The Dials.

Turntabling Records is proud to present Goop’s Synthetic Reasons, soon to be available on iTunes, Amazon, Napster and elsewhere. It is now available for immediate download and look for additional information on the band, the music and the Texas indie scene coming soon to this space.

Track listing for Synthetic Reasons includes:

1.  Prom Night Overdose

2. Nuclear Xmas

3. Mutations

4.  Life

5. Wraparound Shades

6.  Do It

7. Negative Capability

8.  Space Voyage

9.  Quitting Time

10.  Styrofoam!

11.  Theme From Goop

Goop Synthetic Reasons is copyright 2009, Turntabling Records/Turntabling.net.

I discovered Sex Execs at a flea market sale in ICELAND of all places. This 12-inch single has been described as a cross between A Certain Ratio and an episode of Soul Train. It’s definitely an 80s post-punk damage but the Strange Things 12-inch was pretty fun. This video isn’t nearly as cool as the 12-inch, but here it is anyway since I couldn’t find Strange Days anywhere.

A bit of digging reveals Sex Execs members include producer Sean Slade who has done Buffalo Tom, Dinosaur Jr, Warren Zevon, Dresden Dolls, and many others. A good pedigree, I must say.

Just for laughs, I googled “Obama Viny Record” to see what would come up. Lo and behold, this goofy bit of President Obama kitsch, just in time for Inauguration Day. It’s sold at Zazzle.com and comes in a variety of styles from slacker grey long sleeves to fitted.

The reason this image is lumpy is because I used the “muscle tee” style image from the Zazzle site. I have seen plenty of other “album” style shirts before, but this has got to be the one with the most cheese. Kitsch is fun, so I can’t bash this TOO much, especially in light of the OTHER shirts I found while surfing around for Obama vinyl. Like the “Jews Against Obama” shirt. According to Gothamist.com this shirt costs a staggering $250 and was designed by a guy who doesn’t like Obama for a variety of personal and political reasons, including that Obama’s middle name is Hussein. I am sure you can draw your own conclusions here. In crayon, if need be.

You can see a picture of this guy on the Gothamist post. In this photograph he appears to be the kind of person you find at record conventions who refuses to listen to The Damned because they were “too commercial” compared to the Sex Pistols. You know the type–the kind of dude who gets three beers in him and starts yammering away about how nobody understands his “genius”.

Yeah….riiiighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhht.

This is another of the fun vinyl finds I scored while shopping at Toledo’s RamaLama Records. The Atlanta-based Swimming Pool Qs cut this one in 1987. It’s not REM-style jangle pop, but this definitely rode the wave– late 80s Georgia indie rock, without sounding terribly Athens alt/indie. The right vibe is definitely there, especially on Working In The Nut Plant, an angsty “hate my job” track with a great doomy instrumental section. This would go well in a mix/mashup with Single Bullet Theory. A nice listen indeed. For some reason I think of Fetchin’ Bones, Scruffy The Cat and The Fabulous Poodles when listening to this album, though stylistically they don’t really emulate any of those. They do seem to live in the same musical zip code, though.

I’d never heard this lot until I picked up the Firing Squad For God EP, but you can check out the Swimming Pool Qs page and get the dirt on all their releases, plus more MP3s and photos.

Download/Listen to Working In The Nut Plant by The Swimming Pool Qs.

This material is presented to promote the artist. Copyright holders, please get in touch if you object to this material appearing here and it will be removed immediately.

Remember that old disco classic Funkytown by Lipps, Inc? This is the four-song EP that track was issued on back in 1980. Funkytown is a whopping seven minutes-plus of doot-doot disco, but the B-side has something really hilarious on it…a song called Rock It, which is one part Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder, a dash of Isaac Hayes funk and one part Kid Creole and the Coconuts (when the bongos kick in). I love the faux Nagel album graphics and the suggestive title…so very very Miami Vice all around. Pure cheese and just as bad for you.

This is the type music Frank Zappa derided as being made by robots, but Lipps Inc is a lot of fun. Zappa clearly misses the boat here as stuff like this as deliciously cheesy–just the way I like it round here when The Clash ain’t on. I picked up this goofy classic at Toledo’s RamaLama Records for a couple of bucks and it’s some of the best pocket change I’ve invested in a while. Who needs to eat Twinkies when you have the sonic equivalent on releases like this? Damn, this is some funny shit. I found this Lipps Inc vinyl for sale on Amazon

but chances are you need to listen to the best (and corniest) track from this first. Listen to Rock It from Mouth To Mouth by Lipps Inc. As always, if you’re the copyright holder and don’t want your tracks listed here, contact me and I’ll remove them immediately. These posts are intended to promote the artist’s work. Nuff said.

Download/Listen: Lipps Inc, “Rock It” Mouth To Mouth MP3

Earlier, I raved about the Boy Eats Drum Machine BooomBoxxx vinyl due out in a few weeks on Tender Loving Empire. Before you can dig on the album, BEDM wants you to check out this free digital EP featuring selected cuts off the vinyl plus a remix by Portland DJ Main Sequence.

The tracklist for the EP includes:

Don’t ask me how I discovered this…let’s simply say that I was surprised to learn that Hot Topic is not only still selling vinyl records–I thought they’d give this up ages ago– to kids with daddy’s credit card and a penchant for S&M imagery/mass-marketed faux rebellion, but here they are selling Fugazi records. I was certain this goth-for-trust-fund-kids chain would be knee-deep in the Cookie Monster Metal and Death Cab For Cutie stuff and nothing more. Imagine my shock to find the 7 Songs EP 12-inch vinyl listed on the website for just under eight bucks.

That discovery led to a much better one. I hit paydirt with this excellent blog, Hardcore For Nerds, which features this entry on the aforementioned Fugazi vinyl. I thought I was alone among people who liked Fugazi but felt the earliest stuff was the most interesting. I have not guzzled the kool-aid on all hardcore, but I do love much of the stuff from the first and second waves. Minor Threat, The Descendants, Fear, Black Flag, early NoFX, there’s too much to name. I could never be one of those people who always seemed to populate any zip code I happened to live in–the types who listened to hardcore and little else. How boring indeed. But I digress.

Hardcore For Nerds is a very worthy read and I’m pleased to have found it. Nice work, youze.