Releases
Tav Falco & Panther Burns
Conjurations: Séance For Deranged LoversLP/CD
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Rel.: June 6, 2010
Author Robert Gordon included a sizeable segment about Tav Falco and the beginnings of his group Panther Burns in his acclaimed book on Memphis music, It Came From Memphis. Falco has formed a legendary reputation nationally and internationally over the past three decades since the formation of Tav Falco’s Panther Burns, releasing dozens of recordings, produced by the comrades, Jim Dickinson, and Perry Michael Allen of Hi Records
Tav Falco first felt the twinges of musical inspiration growing up in rural Arkansas, where he was drawn to the rustic blues and jazz forms that abounded in the Mississippi Delta area. While working as a brakeman on the Missouri Pacific railroad, Falco would hop rides into Memphis -- where “music was just in the air,” He remembers hearing 1st generation country blues artists like Sleepy John Estes, Bukka White, Furry Lewis, Fred McDowell and Houston Stackhouse.
Falco later moved to Memphis, where he crafted avant-garde video documentaries of local musicians for the experimental TeleVista group. Around that time, he joined Jim Dickinson’s offbeat band Mud Boy & The Neutrons as a performance artist. “We would do these alternative theatrical art actions within the context of rock’n’roll shows," he recalls. “We were being hoisted up in harnesses and slung out over the audience and re-enacting scenes from William Burroughs involving shipwrecks, finger amputations and onstage explosions.”
Mud Boy eventually disbanded, but their free-for-all at Memphis’ Orpheum Theater would be Falco’s dramatic entry into the world of music making. Falco arrived with his battered Silvertone guitar (purchased from a neighbor for five dollars) on which he’d learned an odd, drone style from then obscure honky-tonk bluesman R.L. Burnside, and, between sets, he took the stage. “I was in evening clothes -- frock coat and tails, white tie and gloves -- and I had a chainsaw and an electric Skilsaw set up on two tables,” he remembers. He emerged alone, plugged in his guitar and launched into a gratingly distorted read of the old Leadbelly tune “Bourgeois Blues.” At the song’s frenzied climax, “I put the guitar down between the two tables, took the Skilsaw and ripped through it with that saw. People started screaming because it sounded like this industrial metal clanging-smashing- ripping sound, like a derailed freight train … and it was driving them crazy. Then I took out the chainsaw and finished the guitar off. The sound was horrendous and people were going completely hysterical in the audience. Then I passed out onstage and they had to drag me off. That was my first performance.”
Alex Chilton witnessed the mayhem, tracked Falco down and told him that a spiritual feeling had overtaken him during Falco’s performance. He encouraged Falco to start his own band, of which he would become a founding member and eventually produce. Taking the band’s name from a bit of local legend, the brutal slaying by fire of a panther that had terrorized a Mississippi plantation around the turn of the century, Falco found in Panther Burns an ideal conduit for “stirring up the dark waters of the unconscious and getting away from this sort of bourgeois realism that we all know.”
Playing in the Memphis cotton lofts -- wood-lined structures Falco likens to a guitar sounding box -- Panther Burns developed their own tone science and gut-bucket approach to fusing seemingly disparate musical forms. The unbridled Panther Burns shows, which often featured guests like rockabilly legend Charlie Feathers, became monumental, renegade events. Ever-committed to preserving indigenous music and furthering new and daring expression, in 1985 Falco and the Panther Burns founded Counter Fest, an annual festival showcasing the best and the worst of the Memphis arts underground. The band had quickly become a favorite in New York City, as well, where No Wave was emerging at the time. “All these bands were into this very ultra-cool bag and Panther Burns came in from Memphis with this really hot, incendiary music and we were accepted right away,” Falco remembers. “People really liked us because we represented that little pocket of antithesis.” Rough Trade Records enthused over the band, too, and released debut album Behind The Magnolia Curtain in 1981.
Twelve LP/EP releases and countless globe-trotting tours later, Falco moved to Europe, where he found his most embracing audiences, settling for a time in Vienna, and now in Paris. Though he sees some parallels between the river cities of Memphis and Vienna and Paris. The dramatic flair of his music has transmuted into film, landing Falco in moviemaking. In addition to his own expressionistic films, Falco appeared with Winona Ryder in the dubious 1989 Jerry Lee Lewis bio-flick Great Balls Of Fire and in 1993 portrayed the leader of a biker gang in the award-winning rock’n’roll road movie Highway 61, riding his own vintage Norton motorcycle.
Falco’s interest in Latin sounds has evolved into a devotion to tango-music, dance and lore -- which enjoys a certain popularity in Europe. Falco has become a tango dancer himself, regularly gliding in baroque ballrooms of Vienna’s many palaces and in the milongas of Paris and Buenos Aires. Falco describes tango’s intense allure: “Only with blues from the American South, a form with which tango shares certain thematic and tonal parallels, have I seen people moved with such dark power.”
Tango’s profound influence is evident in Falco’s albums, as woven through the Shadow Dancer record’s songs of unrequited love, betrayal, and lost causes. “It’s impossible to have any understanding of the future -- or to be in touch with the immediate present -- without having firsthand knowledge of the early musical forms and myths,” Falco says. “With Panther Burns, we call up the early myths and reach people on an orphic level.” As The New York Times has declared of unorthodox preservationist Falco, “(He is) a singer, guitarist and researcher of musical arcane who hasn’t let his increasingly technical expertise and idiomatic mastery compromise the clarity of his vision.”
Falco continues to perform with Panther Burns, appearing as a headliner at events like the Orange Evolution Festival in Newcastle, England,; also appearing in the It Came From Memphis series at The Barbican Centre in London in 2005. Falco’s films were also showcased in a “concert & flicks” event at Couvent des Ursulines in 2005. He recently appeared in By the Ways, a documentary film about color photographer William Eggleston, screened in 2005 at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts, and a retrospective of his films was shown on April 21, 2006 at the prestigious La Cinémathèque Française. On October 20, 2006, Tav Falco & Panther Burns appeared on the Arthur Magazine, ArthurNIGHTS festival at the historic Palace Theatre in Los Angeles, and a delivered a command performance in 2007 at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, plus in 2008 headlining the Strade Blu Festival in Tredozio, Italy, and in 2009 the Alternatilla Festival in Mallorca, Spain, and the Barreiro Rocks Festival in Lisbon.
The album, CONJURATIONS: Séance for Deranged Lovers – just recorded in a secret studio in Saint Germain-des-Prés in Paris – is the definitive masterpiece of the Panther Burns. Refining the themes explored by the group over their career, the new record composed of all original songs, consummates Falco’s vision with a particularly poetic, yet turbulent thrust. His exceptional voice, described by one journalist, as sounding like Marlene Dietrich under torture, evokes the phenomenal fires of the Panther Burns and is supported by the rock solid line-up cast of players devoted to the band over the past decade: Giovana Pirrorno – drums: Grégoire Cat – guitar; Laurent Lanouzière, bass. Guests on the album include Bertrand Burgalat on harpsichord, and Olivier Manoury playing bandoneon.
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The Fabulous Penetrators
With LoveLP/CD
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Rel.: May 6, 2010 (June 6/UK)
A fearsome mix of sweat, glitter and ear rupturing rock'n'roll, East London based international five-piece The Fabulous Penetrators formed in late 2006 from the ashes of their 50's vaudevillian act, Paloma and The Penetrators. April 2010 sees the release of their long-awaited debut album 'With Love', finally bringing a touch of their live energy onto plastic.
A contrary concoction of post-modern attitude and honest rock’n’roll is at the core of their live performance - Leigh Bowery meets Captain Beefheart at first glance. Yet direct in the influences from the speakers - The Sonics, Sam & Dave, The Cramps, Little Richard, ZZ Top with the stage stylings of early Roxy Music. They are far away from any commercial establishment out there right now, shunning indie dullards for the fearsome blues and sleazy swagger of the 50s and 60s.
While frontman Liam Casey may spend more time searching for weird and wonderful stage costumes than on intelligible lyrics, his rhythmic, scowling delivery is the perfect match for the psycho blues riffs laid down. Add to this a penchant for extreme eye make-up, gorilla suits and mariachi outfits, he is the definitive front man who wants to be seen.
Vocal duties are shared with Parisian bassist Clement C-Coulom and guitarist Steve Lowe, with former guitarist John Robinson fronting two songs on the album. Clement’s vocal on 'Catching Up On Me' or 'Charlie' reveals his love of all things Little Richard, with whoops that would make the Georgia Peach proud. Guitarists Crispin Weir and Lowe's greaser haircuts maybe similar, but Crispin’s lightning-fast, vibrato-enriched style is more legendary blues man Lonnie Mack to Steve’s Fred Sonic Smith (MC5). This leaves Portuguese João Felizardo who beats skins like the ultimate heavy metal drummer, Dave Lombardo (Slayer) as well as providing backing vocals, unlike Dave Lombardo.
The Penetrators work hard to ensure every show an event in itself. They run their own night, Saturday Night Beaver at venues such as The Bethnal Green Workingmen’s Club, Notting Hill Arts Club and The Macbeth. Since 2006 it has packed these venues with people eager to escape London’s less inspiring live scene. It was in fact a trip to Saturday Night Beaver that resulted in their being snapped up by their eventual recording home Stag-O-Lee Records, part of Glitterhouse. Other live highlights include New Years Eve 2008 where they played 4 shows in 4 corners of London. Their 2009 tour of Spain ended playing at a brothel. Seeing The Fabulous Penetrators billed at the home of prostitutes apparently amused the promoter.
Festivals welcome them with open arms: Glastonbury, Electric Picnic, Standon Calling and Shambala are already under their belts. At Glastonbury 2007, their 4am show was the “lustiest set of the festival” according to The Guardian’s report. And to show this was no fluke, in 2008 the Guardian, again, included an interview with the band in their G2 review - the only unsigned band to feature. Their four performances at Standon Calling, are now very much a part of Britain’s best boutique festival.
Their sound was described by Rough Trade as “pure psych-garage, 1960's shing-a-ling explosion with the raw sex of The Sonics, growling gruffness of Howlin' Wolf and dress-spinning twists of what is simply the best party soundtrack since 1968.” Highlights from their self-produced album include debut single, 'The Hump', a primitive blues pounder, follow up 'Send In The Clones' with its Ian Dury like take on a true garage riff, and the driving beat of 'Catching Up On Me'.
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Cut In The Hill Gang
Hats Off Boogie / Road Runner7"-Single
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Rel.: March 8, 2010
Hot on the heels of their Cut Down longplay debut the Kentucky based three piece led by ex-Soledad Brothers frontman Johnny Walker delivers two heavy punches. Kinda like The Stooges backing Howlin' Wolf. The a-side pays homage to their favorite bluesmen, while they give us a storming cover of Bo Diddley's Road Runner ("The girls love it. Trust me!" Johnny Walker) on the flip. Both tracks are non LP and freshly laid down on tape.
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The Fabulous Penetrators
Send In The Clones / Down On Your Luck7"-Single
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Rel.: Oct. 30, 2009
The Fabulous Penetrators are set to release their second Stag-O-Lee single. Released on limited seven inch vinyl it features live favourite 'Send In The Clones' and is a taste of what to expect from their debut album 'With Love' which is set for release early 2009. The b-side 'Down On Your Luck' is an exclusive!
Formed in East London in 2006, the 5 members of The Fabulous Penetrators, from 5 different countries have emerged as one of the most exciting bands on the London rock’n’roll scene. Combining ultra-tight, delightfully unhinged live performances and a tough power-punk garage sound, The Penetrators come across as a glittered mix of Captain Beefheart, The New York Dolls, and late Vegas-era, scary Elvis.
“This is a pure psych-garage, 1960's shing-a-ling explosion with the raw sex of The Sonics, growling gruffness of Howlin' Wolf and dress-spinning twists of what is simply the best party soundtrack since 1968.” (Base Ad Magazine)
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Bobby Franklin’s Insanity
Bring It On Down To Me (Pt 1+2)7"-Single
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Rel.: Oct. 30, 2009
A Stag-O-Lee Reissue! Bobby Franklin was born in Birmingham Alabama, and grew up on Parkside in Detroit Michigan, during the Motown, Motor City Blues, and Detroit Jazz era when music and cars ruled supreme. After a stint in the Navy Franklin started a band called Bobby Franklin's Insanity with a group of guys he grew up with: John Hopkins, Hubert Crawford, Mike Anthony and Michael Gray.
In the spring of 1969 Bobby Franklin's Insanity went to Chicago and met Curtis Mayfield and Eddie Thomas (his manager and partner), signed a contract with Mayfield’s Curtom Records, and Curtis Mayfield produced the debut single, 'Bring It On Down To Me'. Arguably the hardest funk single to appear in the Curtom, 'Bring It On Down To Me' is all guitar rips and handclaps plus Franklin's rough, bluesy vocals.
After its 1969 release on Curtom’s sub-label Thomas, the record was under promoted, under exploited, and had a very small amount of promotion. It subsequently sunk like a stone. However, the ultra-rare original 7” has since been re-appraised by cratediggers and funkateers worldwide.
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The Death Letters
The Death LettersCD
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Rel.: Oct. 30, 2009
The Death Letters are a Dutch two-piece band from the city of Dordrecht consisting of Victor (17 years old, playing drums) and Duende (18, guitar/vocals). The band offers an overwhelming mixture of Rock with mainly Punk and Blues influences but their music also consists of elements from Hard Rock, Pop and Country. Influences come from acts as diverse as The Black Keys, The Datsuns, John Lee Hooker, Son House, Hank Williams and John Frusciante to name just a few.
They started practising in 2006 and three years later released their self-titled debut.
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Tav Falco & Panther Burns
Administrator Blues / Real Cool Time7"-Single
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Rel.: May 4, 2009
"The master of a raw and shambolic fusion of rockabilly, blues, and fractured noise, Tav Falco was, along with the Cramps, one of the earliest purveyors of what would come to be known as psychobilly (though his version of the sound lacked the campy horror movie ambience others brought to it), and he anticipated the fractured but hard-hitting blueswailing of the Gories and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion by close to a decade.”, says the All Music Guide about Tav Falco & Panther Burns, a true Memphis legend.
Well, he signed to Stag-O-Lee and we`re going to re-release his first five albums deluxe-style as well as a brand new studio album called Conjurations (May 2010). The Ambassador Blues is taken from said album, the rumbustios 5+ minute b-side Real Cool Time is exclusive to this 7”.
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Big John Bates
BangtownLP
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Rel.: May 4, 2009
3-piece from Vancouver with a wyld live show featuring two burlesque dancers. Active since 2001 Bangtown is their 5th album.
From the very first notes of "Fill Your Tank," this band lets you know that you are in for a high-octane musical experience. OK, but what does that really mean, you ask. Well, you've got Bates, who plays guitar parts that border punkabilly and blues. Then there is the driving rhythm section of sCare-oline on the doghouse bass and JT Brander on drums. Add backing vocals by Jenn Chycoski and Little Miss Risk in a cabaret style. Now blend all those parts in some very uptempo tunes and what you have is a general overview of Bangtown.
Vinyl on Stag-O-Lee (CD out at Rookie Records) with bonus tracks and fold-out cover.
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The Death Letters
Schizophrenic / Is It Love That I Felt?7"-Single
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Rel.: May 4, 2009
Very young Dutch two-piece with their debut 45. Just manic guitar and thundering drums, Schizophrenic is a Smells Like Teen Spirit-like anthem for 2010. The B-side is not on the CD-version of the album.
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Cut In The Hill Gang
Cut DownCD
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Rel.: Feb. 26, 2009
The US trio breathes new life into the old Garagerock corpse. Johnny Walker (ex-Soledad Brothers) and his cohorts present the CD version of their vinyl debut. 5 songs from the Hung Up LP are substituted by 6 new ones, plus the 7"-b-side Sugar Never Tasted So Good.
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Roll Your Moneymaker
Early Black Rock’n’Roll 1948-1958/Various Artists2-LP
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Rel.: Jan. 10, 2009
Long before Elvis, many black Blues Gospel and Jazz artists had laid the cornerstone for the musical revolution that would shatter the western world - Rock'n'Roll. Much less known than their white imitators, nonetheless they produced the grittier originals - they combined the archaic drive of the Blues with Country melodies and the feverish beat of black Gospel, and pepped up African rhythms with electric amplification in order to please their audience's hunger for new thrills.
Besides well-known names like Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf or Bo Diddley, the compilation "Roll Your Moneymaker" also honours many unjustly overseen Rock'n Roll pioneers: from gospel singer Rosetta Tharpe to Johnny Guitar Watson, from Ike Turner's early rockabilly blueprints to the doo-wop-rock of Ruth Brown, alongside dazzling musicians as Magic Slim, Andre Williams, Big Maybelle, Rufus Thomas, Lazy Lester, Etta James and Jesse Stone.
Tracklisting :
01. Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm - You've Got To Lose
02. Howlin' Wolf - You Gonna Wreck My Life
03. Etta James - W.O.M.A.N.
04. Sharkey Jake - Roll Your Moneymaker
05. Lazy Lester - Sugar Coated Love
06. Rufus Thomas - Tiger Man
07. John J. Moses - Night Out
08. Andre Williams - I'm Going Down To Tijuana
09. Ruth Brown - Please Don't Freeze
10. Bill Davis Trio - Bring The Money In
11. Big Maybelle - Don't Leave Poor Me
12. Johnny "Guitar" Watson - Space Guitar
13. Ike Turner - She Made My Blood Run Cold
14. Slim Harpo - I Got Love If You Want It
15. Otis Rush - Keep On Loving Me Baby
16. Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Jericho
17. Billy The Kid Emerson - If Lovin' Is Believing
18. Bo Diddley - Heart-O-Matic Love
19. Ann Cole & The Suburbans - Got My Mojo Working
20. Magic Sam - 21 Days In Jail
21. Chuck Berry - Deep Feeling
22. Jesse Stone - Crawfish
23. Joe Tex - Pneumonia
24. Junior Parker - Love Me Baby
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Cut In The Hill Gang
Hung Up
LP
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Rel.: Oct. 23, 2008
Covington, Kentucky. Hung Up is the debut longplayer by Cut In The Hill Gang! The new band of Soledad Brothers leader Johnny Walker delivers a mighty slab of 180 gramm vinyl. Imagine The Stooges and Mudhoney jammin’ with Howlin’ Wolf.
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The Detroit Cobras
Ya Ya Ya (Looking For My Baby) / As Long As I Have You7"-Single
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Rel.: Oct. 23, 2008
Detroit, Michigan. Killer double-A-side 45. Two of the best tracks this amazing band has ever recorded!
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The Fabulous Penetrators
The Hump / Oh My Soul7"-Single
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Rel.: Oct. 23, 2010
London, England. This is a pure psych-garage, 1960's shing-a-ling explosion with the raw sex of The Sonics, growling gruffness of Howlin' Wolf and dress-spinning twists of what is simply the best party soundtrack since 1968.
Debut 45!
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Cut In The Hill Gang
Johnny Walker's Quixotic Dream / Sugar Never Tasted So Good7"-Single
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Rel.: Oct. 23, 2008
Johnny Walker is no longer a Soledad Brother by name, but he's still one sick mother by trade. Check him out in his new band... Cut In The Hill Gang. Debut 45 – b-side is a White Stripes cover.
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Saint Silas Intercession
All About The Money / The Fear7"-Single
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Rel.: Oct. 23, 2008
London, England. The McCarthy brothers and their mates offer a dual-fronted tour de force of urban kick-arse garage blues.
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The Fabulous Penetrators
Tav Falco & Panther Burns
Tiny Topsy & Lula Reed - Just A Little Bit
Music To Get Smart By - Vol. 3/Workin' Out