Indierock | Alternative Tape 450 Items

Access to song stems. Glass-replicated CD in digipak case & 8-page booklet with lyrics and new art by Liz Lehman. Blending 8-bit aesthetics with soul-baring queer bedroom indie, New Jersey-based synthpop project The Scary Jokes is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Liz Lehman. Their signature style of gentle, upbeat psychedelia contrasted with pointed, introspective lyrics earned 2016’s April Fools considerable buzz in the internet underground.

On their 2019 followup, Burn Pygmalion!!! A Better Guide to Romance, Lehman weaves a concept album around insecurity and romantic alienation, telling the story of a journalist ruminating on her relationship as she housesits for her movie-star girlfriend. The album expanded the group’s sound, complimenting Lehman’s electronic production with guitarwork by new band member Juniper Abernathy and a guest performance by Louie Zong. Featuring the song “Community Gardens,” Burn Pygmalion cemented The Scary Jokes as one of the most exciting new artists of the 2010s.

Needlejuice Records is proud to bring Burn Pygmalion to physical formats. In addition to CD and cassette, the album will be available on colored vinyl in two configurations: a green\pink half-and-half and a fiery-red galaxy. The album has been remastered for physical media by Angel Marcloid.

A download code is included. Pink & Green Sandwiched Shells, Dolby B Noise Reduction and 3-panel Jcard. Blending 8-bit aesthetics with soul-baring queer bedroom indie, New Jersey-based synthpop project The Scary Jokes is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Liz Lehman. Their signature style of gentle, upbeat psychedelia contrasted with pointed, introspective lyrics earned 2016’s April Fools considerable buzz in the internet underground.

On their 2019 followup, Burn Pygmalion!!! A Better Guide to Romance, Lehman weaves a concept album around insecurity and romantic alienation, telling the story of a journalist ruminating on her relationship as she housesits for her movie-star girlfriend. The album expanded the group’s sound, complimenting Lehman’s electronic production with guitarwork by new band member Juniper Abernathy and a guest performance by Louie Zong. Featuring the song “Community Gardens,” Burn Pygmalion cemented The Scary Jokes as one of the most exciting new artists of the 2010s.

Needlejuice Records is proud to bring Burn Pygmalion to physical formats. In addition to CD and cassette, the album will be available on colored vinyl in two configurations: a green\pink half-and-half and a fiery-red galaxy. The album has been remastered for physical media by Angel Marcloid.

Journey through the dreamy and sinister psychedelic universe of Retinal Bloom, the latest album from The Scary Jokes. Liz Lehman confronts threats both external and existential, conjuring a set that simmers with passion and rage. Co-produced with Fire-Toolz (Angel Marcloid), Retinal Bloom is The Scary Jokes’ most aesthetically ambitious album yet, augmenting their trademark bedroom pop approach with distortion, guitar, drums and vintage synths.

Oh, Inverted World, the earth-shattering, indie-rock-redefining 2001 debut album by The Shins, is presented here in its finest form, dressed up all nice for its 20th birthday. The classic tunes get new life by way of a full remastering job under band leader James Mercer's watchful eye, the art is given a little extra zest via a die-cut jacket and a classy inner sleeve, and the package is rounded off with a big ol' booklet with vintage photos, handwritten lyrics, and more. The music, of course, is obviously essential. Aside from a friendly reminder that this is the album with the smash hit "New Slang," as heard in the hit movie Garden State, we just need to note that the remastering job truly makes this the album James Mercer always wanted it to be. Never quite satisfied with the sonics of the original, Mercer took the 20th anniversary of the album as his opportunity to finally set the (literal!) record straight. And the results sound stellar: great for new fans, and well worth the attention of those already on board! For old times' sake, here's what we had to say about this record back when it came out: Hailing from Albuquerque, NM, The Shins sprung from the ashes of Flake/Flake Music in 1997 (though those previous incarnations date back nearly a decade) - same members, different instruments, different approach. Counterpoint guitars have given way to a single guitar pitted against calculated keyboard passages; swarming indie rock machinations led to pop-based melodic endeavors (who knew?).

"Smashing Pumpkins Live Riviera Chicago 95" captures a live performance by the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins at the Riviera Theater in Chicago in 1995. Known for their distinctive sound, emotional intensity, and captivating live shows, The Smashing Pumpkins' concerts were an essential part of their musical legacy.The setlist for the album showcases a mix of tracks from different albums, highlighting the band's range and their ability to transition between melodic and intense moments.

Legendary Dublin punk band formed in November 1978 by Maurice Foley (guitar/vocals), which had a number of iterations before disbanding in 1981. The Threat built up a following in Dublin and maintained a heavy reputation through the 1979 and 1980. Playing the legendary Dandelion on a couple of occasions towards the end of 1979 and became friendly with members of the Virgin Prunes and U2. Stano, another friend of the band, bought a synthesizer, purely as a sound generator, and joined them. As a nonmusician, his synth added noise and texture to the band's sound and brought out their experimental side.

This tape of the band's April 1981 gig in Limerick came to us a few years ago from one of the band members drummer Stephen O' Brien and it's been remastered for the perfect cassette experience.

London group The Tubs' full-length debut album entitled "Dead Meat". The band were formed in 2018 from the ashes of beloved UK post-punk band Joanna Gruesome by former members Owen 'O' Williams and George 'GN' Nicholls. By incorporating elements of post-punk, traditional British folk, and guitar jangle seasoned by nonchalant Cleaners From Venus-influenced pop hooks and contemporary antipodean indie bands (Twerps, Goon Sax, et al)."Dead Meat" is resplendent in hi-fidelity strum & thrum, incorporating fleeting elements of post-punk and indie jangle, but the group's penchant for trad British folk & Canterbury folk-rock takes a noticeable, caffeinated step forward. Echoes of Fairport Convention's decidedly English chime cross swords with singer Owen Williams' lyrics directing Bryan Ferry's "thinking man's libertine" persona into a more dolorous outlook. Many songs (like "Round The Bend" and "Duped") soar with an urgent strum under Williams' acerbic lyrics, recalling a younger fiery Richard Thompson. They languish in an aching, bitter resignation (of both the situations described & the protagonist's place in it), particularly near the album's second half. Others like the previously released "I Don't Know How It Works", "Two Person Love" and "Illusion" (re-presented...

If you like Silkworm and Hum you're gonna love this record.Hey, this is Wiggins from Thousandaire. It is Tuesday, November 8, 2022. The high today in Atlanta will be 77° F, it was 81° yesterday and the day before. The weather isn't returning to how it was, and it's not going to get any better. None of this matters. Tom Bruno, Chad Leblanc, and I play music together because it's fun and keeps the despair at bay. We are really good at it because being really good at playing as a band is way more fun than sucking at it. We know how to make records, in fact, we just finished a new one with Damon Moon at Standard Electric recorders here in Atlanta. We're pretty proud of it in that it sounds the way we wanted it to be, and not any way we could guess it should be if we wanted a bajillion people to like it. So, it's nice that you're reading this you might like our music and you might like to see us play it, and we think you probably will, but the truth of the matter is we are doing this purely for our own entertainment. You get to come along because we can't see a good reason not to share. Everything else, like this bio, our barely-used Instagram account or Bandcamp page, or pictures of us not playing a show, none of that stuff matters to us, and it shouldn't matter to you. It's 81 degrees in November, ok?FFO: Silkworm, Dinosaur JR, Pinebender, Polvo, Hum

Thurston Moore's forthcoming album is his ninth solo recordi...

The Tijuana Panthers are back and this time they’re all grown up (kind of). Combining their signature surf rock with new experimentations in sound, Carpet Denim is the culmination of nearly three years of work and the band’s subconscious evolution into deeper, more personal places.

Taking concepts that have long been percolating, this album is the musical version of a beachside, drop-top cruise -- punctuated by deeply human lyrics. Carpet Denim hits deep notes of introspective darkness with songs like “You Died,” a ballad-y jam that delves into the complex emotional wreckage of a father’s passing, and the album’s single, “Path of Totality,” about a close friend of the band’s who lost the fight against alcoholism.

These soulful forays are offset by Tijuana Panthers singular, upbeat sound, with the playful jam “Little Pampelmousse” that celebrates fatherhood and refers to Phil’s nickname for his new, beloved baby.

Then there’s “710,” a spirited coast down memory lane that embodies the band’s signature sunniness - all while reminiscing about growing up in Long Beach.

The culmination of the band’s many years on the road and making noise, Carpet Denim falls deeper into their weird and wild tendencies (there’s even a synthesizer that makes an appearance). It’s inspired by everything, from politics to the guys’ personal lives, Haruki Murakami and Twin Peaks. There’s the perfectly dissonant “TV People,” a creepy little number that combines simple guitar with a roving bass to create an abstract jam that’s hard to forget.

This album is the same garage-y Tijuana Panthers you love, but this time, they channel their unbridled energy into a moody maturation of their music. The band returned to their hometown of Long Beach, CA to record Carpet Denim at Jazzcats studio. Unlike earlier albums such as Poster and Wayne Interest - which were recorded in a flash-bang, marathon sitting, the band’s latest album was methodically assembled by Jonny Bell over multiple days. Pouring over production, Carpet Denim is a collective deep breath that weaves together years of songwriting -- all jam-packed with summertime vibes, peaks of punk rock and Tijuana Panthers’ signature oddball adventures.

Since forming in 2000, toe have synthesized everything from pop, post- and math-rock, jazz, R&B, and electronic into one of the most distinct sounds in rock music. Their debut LP the book about my idle plot on a vague anxiety (2005) left an unmistakable imprint across the splintered worlds of instrumental and experimental music, exploding the tenets of post-rock with writing and performances that channel the intensity of hardcore.

NOW I SEE THE LIGHT (2024), toe’s fourth full-length album, is a bridge between the experimental restraint of their later work and the explosive abandon of their earlier output. From the opening tracks, toe balance serpentine passages against meditative repetition. On “LONELINESS WILL SHINE,” “サニーボーイ・ラプソディ,” and “NOW I SEE THE LIGHT,” Hirokazu reprises his role as part-time vocalist, breaking the band yet further from the instrumental work that formerly defined them. As a whole, NOW I SEE THE LIGHT closes the loop between early and late toe, giving them a clean slate for their new outlook.

There's a kinetic energy about anything this band does: a level of care, precision and attention to detail that nearly twenty years into their existence, continues to elevate and set them apart. This four-song offering is no different—from the self-recorded and produced songs down to the design and packaging.

Toilet Rats IV is the new release from Minneapolis, MN synth-punk act Toilet Rats. As the name suggests, it's a little grimey, energetic, tenacious, and oddly entertaining. Tommy Ratz (aka Thomas Rehbein) combines a variety of musical influences ranging from Jawbreaker, DEVO, Nine Inch Nails, Jawbox, Depeche Mode, Ennio Morricone, Lard, Run DMC, Ramones, Powerplant, and other random stuff with lyrics primarily inspired by vintage horror and sci-fi movies to create a succinct rock album that, though well produced, never takes itself too seriously. It's as if Ratz (aka Rehbein) took a time machine and made a mixtape from 1987 combining his favorite sounds and VHS rentals from that era. "Carol Kane" references fright flick When A Stranger Calls, "Walk The Earth" recalls zombies, shopping malls, and helicopters, "Larva" is a nod to Al Jourgenson's dancey thrash side projects, and "Oskar and Eli" recalls a coming of age vampire story.

New York musician Luke Wyatt describes his instrumental hypnagogic guitar guise Torn Hawk as “music of a noble fabric whose weave is flawed and frayed.” With a decade of hindsight, the looping beats, smeared synths, and grainy hooks of 2014’s Through Force Of Will have taken on a richer cast, like closing credits anthems to heroic 80’s films long since forgotten.

From widescreen new wave (“I Am Returning”) and baggy psychedelia (“Palace Racket”) to shredded New Romanticism (“Streets On Fire”) and glassy shoegaze (“Blindsided”), the songs fuse victory and vulnerability, soaring solos and tape hiss. Wyatt characterizes the songs’ low fidelities and “distressed edges” as “intentional lace,” smudging outlines and degrading surfaces to carve out “more room to dream.”

This 2024 memorial edition adds 25 minutes of unreleased vintage bonus material, expanding Torn Hawk's vision of “error and compression” across echo-soaked riffs, smoky synth fugues, and blazing technoid rock. Throughout, the music surges, yearns, and burns, unrestrained and undefeated, forever in pursuit of Wyatt’s mission to lift the listener from “the cave of loneliness to the amphitheater of self-love.”

After over a decade of cutting their teeth in the realm of DIY born in the hills of eastern Kentucky, Dylan Combs presents Townsel Turner, an ever evolving project involving a revolving cast of Combs’ friends as well as some of the best talent that the region has to offer, culminating in a vivid and ever expanding soundscape. Combs’ has spent the past five years quietly releasing music under the moniker, and has led to their latest effort, “Felt Like Eternity”, which is their biggest project to date. Featuring artists from every era of their music career, “Felt Like Eternity” chronicles the story of struggling to find balance in an increasingly chaotic and devastating world, all while packaging the words within an intriguing blend of gripping melodies and crushing dynamics. With plenty more music on the way, Townsel Turner, and other projects in Combs’ realm are definitely worth keeping an eye and ear out for.

Australian art-punk group Tropical Fuck Storm continues its hotstreak of brain-bending releases with Moonburn, a maxi-singlecassette out on Joyful Noise Recordings.Side A offers new song, "Moonburn," a ballad in the classic TFSstyle written and sung by Gareth Liddiard. TFS bassist FionaKitschin steps up to the microphone on "Ann," a cover of TheStooges that swaps Ron Asheton's scorching guitar part for aderanged sound collage of guitar freakouts, siren noises, andelectronics.Side B includes an acoustic take on the fan-favorite song "Aspirin(Slight Return)" and a haunting cover of Talking Heads'"Heaven."

Turbo World is the sunny and shady brainchild of co-conspirators Stephe Cooper and Caroline Bennett. Best known as the mastermind behind avant-prog boppers Cloud Becomes Your Hand and a member of Guerilla Toss, Cooper continues to stand out for his madcap compositions that embody the spirit and ethos of avant rock groups Aksak Maboul & Slapp Happy. Joining forces with Bennett, the manic scribe, singer, and multimedia wizard of digital hardcore duo Stice, their debut album, My Challenger, is an experimental prog-opera that leads listeners on a surreal, animated jaunt through the world of organized crime. The album’s north star is Joey the Hitman aka Max Kurschner, whose 1973 interview on The David Susskind Show, forever immortalized on YouTube, serves as inspiration and source material.

Virginia Beach's Turnover has never been a band afraid of telling the truth. The emotional honesty poured out over a number of anthemic releases has been a proven formula of success for the band, but on their sophomore LP Peripheral Vision, the band treads into deeper water. Working again with Magnolia producer Will Yip (Title Fight, Circa Survive), Turnover's latest record shows a band maturing to create their best effort: an ethereal, reverb-drenched soundscape blending elements of hazy dream pop and the delicate emo rock of yesteryear. Songs like "Hello Euphoria" and "Like Slow Disappearing" highlight the new calmer, more subdued approach to songwriting, matched by Austin Getz's somber, confessional lyrics that echo throughout songs as if his words were haunting every measure. Peripheral Vision solidifies the idea that Turnover is a band with it's finger on the pulse of it's generation: growing and learning with every release, but never failing to provide a relatable, cathartic experience for anyone listening.

It's Tempting To Think That You Have All The Answers, Screaming Your Gospel Every Day With Certainty And Anger. Life Isn't Quite Like That Though, And The Debut Album From London Four-Piece Tv Priest Instead Embraces The Beautiful And Terrifying Unknowns That Exist Personally, Politically, And Culturally. Posing As Many Questions As It Answers, Uppers Is A Thunderous Opening Statement That Continues The Uk's Recent Resurgence Of Grubby, Furious Post-Punk Music. It Says Something Very Different Though - Something Completely Its Own. Four Childhood Friends Who Made Music Together As Teenagers Before Drifting Apart And Then, Somewhat Inevitably, Back Together Late In 2019, Tv Priest Was Borne Out Of A Need To Create Together Once Again, And Brings With It A Wealth Of Experience And Exhaustion Picked Up In The Band's Years Of Pursuing 'Real Life' And 'Real Jobs', Something Those Teenagers Never Had. Last November, The Band - Vocalist Charlie Drinkwater, Guitarist Alex Sprogis, Bass And Keys Player Nic Smith And Drummer Ed Kelland - Played Their First Show, To A Smattering Of Friends In What They Describe As An "Industrial Freezer" In The Warehouse District Of Hackney Wick. "It Was Like The Pub In Peep Show With A Washing Machine Just In The Middle_" Charlie Laughs, Remembering How They Dodged Star Wars Memorabilia And Deep Fat Fryers While Making Their First Statement As A Band. Unsurprisingly, There Isn't A Precedent For Launching A Band During A Global Pandemic, But Among The General Sense Of Anxiety And Unease Pervading Everything At The Moment, Tv Priest's Entrance In April With The Release Of Debut Single "House Of York" - A Searing Examination Of The Monarchy Set Over Wiry Post-Punk And Fronted By A Mark E. Smith-Like Mouthpiece - Served As A Breath Of Fresh Air Among The Chaos, Its Anger And Confusion Making Some Kind Of Twisted Sense To The Nation's Fried Brains. It's The Same Continued Global Sense Of Anxiety That Will Greet The Release Of Uppers, And It's An Album That Has A Lot To Say Rig...

Love Rudiments is a meditation by Ty Segall on his first love: the drums. Known popularly as a singing guitar player, he generally starts the recording of his songs by laying down a drum track. Love Rudiments kicks off with drums and percussion then adds a few other percussive and production aspects. It travels a great journey in this configuration. However, Love Rudiments wasn"t written or performed to present as some kind of solo drums album - it"s just another music album, with vibes (figurative as well as literal), feels, a theme and a through-line.Never one to shy away from a challenge, Ty"s made an instrumental album of percussive music that rides the wild surf of a waxing-then-waning love affair - from the first blinding look, to the eventual recognition, that look back at love"s rudiments, viewed from beyond and outside that seemingly infinite sensation.And why not? Drums are a melody instrument too. Ty plays them with precision and sensitivity, delving deep into the textures of timpani, vibraphone, xylophone, percussion and e-drums, all of them occupying space within the luxe stereo spread of the drum kit. In the process, a psychological space is opened - a private emotional location where only two can meet.Love Rudiments reembodies the passion and compulsion that drives all of Ty Segall"s music in a suite of moments played on orchestral batterie to explore the most delicate passages of human interaction - playing on the bones of love.