Amen Dunes - Live at Shea Stadium

In what seems to be a recurring theme on this site, brooklyn venue Shea Stadium has again offered up some recordings from Amen Dunes set at a previous Last Nights curated event. This time MV & EE, Amen Dunes, & Eleven Twenty-Nine all took the stage. It was a great night filled with truly awesome tunes. Eleven Twenty-Nine provided a twin guitar & drums assault of great technical dexterity, while MV & EE were on point in their own universe of sonic bliss. Amen Dunes had a particular scorcher of a set & his tune s Lower Mind, Baba Yaga, & Diane above really drive this point home, showing Amen Dunes at their best.

Amen Dunes - Live @ Shea Stadium by LiveatSheaStadium

Be sure to check out Amen Dunes newest LP Through Donkey Jaw on Sacred Bones, out now.

Wooden Shjips "Lazy Bones" video

On a general level Wooden Shjips rock. Period. Their take on a well trodden brand of blues-inflected psych-rock retains the hallmarks of luminaries such as Spacemen 3 and more generally Nuggets-era garage rock. The band's newest album West continues on this path, though with some added fidelity and sheen, partially due to the involvement of former spaceman Sonic Boom.

The video for album cut "Lazy Bones" Wooden Shjips have turned to Black Dice whose distinct visual aesthetic is practically dripping out of the screen. The collaboration at first glance seems strange at best but when examining the recent trajectory of BD (and the solo work of Eric Copeland) it may not be all that surprising. After all Copeland's latest single "Whorehouse Blues" makes explicit reference to some of the blues & boogie tinged work Shjips are known for. So enjoy the video while you're mind's eye begins to take out it's dancing shoes & begins to melt.

West is out now and available from Thrill Jockey records.

Pigeons - "Tournoi" video & "Dead Echo"

Pigeons have been at it for a some now. They have quietly released a handful of albums & singles over the years on labels such as Black Dirt, Olde English Spelling Bee, & Soft Abuse to name a few. With each release the duo (now quartet), featuring members of No Neck Blues Band, has evolved their song craft to new heights, adding bits of pop shimmer, foreign tongues, & dashes of psychedelic weirdness.

The band is getting set to release their newest full-length They Sweartheartstammers. In anticipation of the LP the track "Tournoi" has received some video treatment courtesy of Amy Ruhl. The track features some classy fuzz guitar lines that lead straight into one of Pigeons most sulty vocal deliveries yet. You can get a further peak into the album with the track "Dead Echo", which features a slightly more experimental bent with tumbling/jerking rhythm and tons of fuzz dark ambiance pervading the mix. They Sweatheartstammers is available Oct. 18th on Soft Abuse.

Pigeons "Dead Echo" by Soft Abuse

SIlent Barn Benefit Compilation

Obsolete Units has made a 2cdr / download compilation available in support of the Brooklyn DIY space Silent Barn. The space (which has hosted shows by Last Nights and have always been the nicest dudes around) was established in 2004 and has become one of NYC's premier venues for experimental / avant-garde musics, many up & coming indie bands, along with being the HQ of Babycastles & Showpaper. Unfortunately due to some unfortunate circumstances the people behind Silent Barn have been forced to vacate their former home & are currently seeking a new permanent space from which they can continue serving the local & national music community by putting on affordable shows running the spectrum of the current state of underground & alternative musics. Obsolete Units has gathered together a large group of artist in support of Silent Barn for this release, with all the proceeds going directly towards funding the Barn in establishing a permanent home.

The artists represented on the compilation, aptly titled The Noise From Ridgewood, features exclusive tracks by some of Brooklyn's (& beyond) talented musicians who have passed through or been involved in the space. The album boasts music by the likes of C. Spencer Yeh, Excepter, MV Carbon, Tomutonttu, Aaron Dillaway, & The Tenses among many others, running the gamut of harsh noise grain, surrealist audio collage, & electronic bleaps & burps. A listen definitely worth your attention & for a good cause at that.

Dog Daze Tapes

Dog Daze Tapes, of Portland, OR,has been popping up on my radar recently. The label only a handful of releases to it's name, each available in cassette and mp3 formats. What's more is that each displays a keen sense of taste and curatorial prowess that can sometimes be lacking in the cassette label scene. This includes releases by Excepter, Marnie Stern, and Blues Control's alter-ego Watersports. When looking beyond the curatorial choices made by Parrish, the label distinguishes itself by keeping each title in-print as often as possible. A move which is in contrast with most other labels around these days.

Watersports - Natural History by dogdazetapes2

Watersports Natural History is so far the most satisfying cassette from Dog Daze yet. This double tape release is a compilation of the duo's out-of-print cassette and CDR releases over the past couple years. This is a needed look into the alter-ego of Lea & Russ as their other project Blues Control has seemingly become M.O. of these two. The releases brings light to the duo's noisy new age compositions. These sparse, often aquatic themed, tracks showcase a juxtaposition of grainy noise/drone & plenty of insect samples along with the previously mentioned new age vibes.

Dog Daze's first release Excepter's Maze of Death was recorded in a "within the ad-hoc labyrinth, Excepter performed obscured to the audience and alienated from each other, starting early and playing late. Shares title with a Philip K. Dick novel in which an isolated group of space colonists consider the absolute as their mutual hallucination crumbles around them" according to the cassette's press release. For those familiar with Excepter then this translates to pretty much what they do best, extended synth and drum machine jammers that follow a logic all their own. This release is a special version of the performance edited by Robert Giradin and was recorded at one of Last Nights favorite brooklyn DIY spaces Death By Audio.

Marnie Stern - Demo by dog daze tapes

I'll admit that I wasn't too familiar with Marnie Stern's work outside of seeing her name name coming up here & there. Each of time she was mentioned the word "shred" always tagged along. Dog Daze's release of Stern's initial home recorded demos really showcase why. Even more so though a great deal of credit must be equally given to the overall compositions & song craft that appears even as early as these demos.

Dog Daze has some exciting stuff lined up for it's future releases including music by Twins & Occasional Detroit. Also be sure to check out the label's mixtape offshoot Foggy Notion Tapes which has Mitch Hedberg (note from editor: love that dude) mix on the way.

Psychic Ills - Mind Daze

Psychic Ills - Mind Daze

Psychic Ills are getting set to release their latest LP Hazed Dream, on one of Brooklyn's finest contemporary labels Sacred Bones records. The album comes after a string of limited vinyl & cassette EP's that focused on the group's more ambient & experimental practices. As such it comes as a little bit of a surprise to hear the track Mind Daze (above) from the new album as it showcases the most direct & traditional songwriting & structuring that the Ills have ever shown in their recorded output. The tune is straight up slow burning psych-rock at it's best, that is sure to engage fans of their previous work as well as attracting a few new ones at that. Hazed Dream comes out Oct 18th & is definitely an album to look out for this fall & check out the album preview below.