Ty Segall - It 7" (2008)

Ty Segall is my favorite of the recent lo-fi-garage-pop bands out there that are so popular with the kids these days. Well... popular in Southern California anyways. Ty's played with The Epsilons, The Traditional Fools and has also played drums with the Sic Alps. The song "It" was rerecorded as the opening track on his most recent LP titled Lemons which is one of the best records of the year so far. It's the stand-out song off the album that always seems to get stuck in my head all day after hearing it. This single is the early "one man band" version of the song that's much more raw than the Lemons version. Ty's music is a bit of a mix of what John Dwyer's been doing in recent years and the more surfy style of Wavves.

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Inappropriate Tough Guy Behavior - S/T (2009)

Inappropriate Tough Guy Behavior is a side project of Melbourne's Fire Witch (see below). Similar to Fire Witch but more upbeat, straightforward rock songs with vocals on some of the tracks. If you haven't already noticed I'm a bit obsessed with the "Fire Witch Family Tree" at the moment. I've already written about Goat Witch and the band Fangs Of A TV Evangelist also belong to that same family tree. All of it is great. This record had a pressing of only 200 copies.

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Fire Witch - Japan (2009)

I guess Fire Witch would be Australia's answer to The Melvins, just as Boris were Japan's answer to The Melvins. Not such a bad thing. Everyone is doing it these days anyways so why not just embrace it, right? The drumming in particular has Dale Crover written all over it. Released as a 10" on the always excellent Wantage USA label with a pressing of 355 copies.

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TJL in LA

So I saw The Jesus Lizard play last night for the first time since '96. I don't care what people have to say about reunion tours. It was amazing. I think they have a few more good tours in them myself. That's wishful thinking I know but anything's possible. Fuckin incredible. I felt like a kid again.

Bipolar Bear - Mountain Dewd (2008)

So I'm feeling a little lazy in terms trying to describe this band so I'm just going to steal the description from the record label themselves. It's a bit of a mix of the whole lo-fi/art/garage-pop scene that's been going on at Downtown LA's The Smell, and the usual 90's style of noise rock that we write about here all the time.

Structurally and melodically wayward, Bipolar Bear’s Mountain Dewd is an album that will deafen you with angular creativity. The album’s ingenuity is in its unyielding approach to defy the laws of music through renegade guitar and bass lines, with innovative rhythms that kick you in the brains in the best way possible, and vocals that are delivered staunchly. The tracks are about two minutes each in length which could keep the attention of a sugar-high six-year-old, and each song employs its own unique musicianship just in case you have no attention span whatsoever. This album is relentless in its desire to make you love this band, and regardless if you like it or not, you will require a new frontal lobe after this record gives you the best lobotomy anyone’s ever had.

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Hoover - Hoover EP (1997)

Hoover has always been my favorite of the whole DC/Discord scene. This is a reunion record they did after their classic "The Lurid Traversal Of Route 7." Members went on to numerous great bands including Regulator Watts, Radio Flyer, Abeline, The Crown Hate Ruin and June Of 44. The stand out for me is Weeds which is a different version of a song off of Lurid which bass-line reminds me of a old Bauhaus song that I can't remember the name of. I'll take it over Fugazi myself.

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