Wantage USA










 
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Federation X
Rally Day

LP Out of Print

  FEDERATION X RALLY DAY LP
The sounds Federation X (Bellingham/Seattle, WA) makes are unmistakably northwest-American, with deep roots in the dirt-rock, grunge, underground and country traditions of its native semi-rural Washington state. Their powerful ruckus shares more than a little of its DNA with pioneers like Karp and Unwound, both youthful staples for Federation X members. The result is a uniquely coherent approach to heavy, western punk rock.

Instrumentally, Federation X feature two four-string guitars fuzzy-pumpered through Sunn amplifiers (Bill and Ben) and a powerful and animated drummer (Beau). That classic solid-state plow of the Sunn amplifier--a cheap, loud behemoth that defined the Karp and Unwound sounds--undergirds Federation X's sound like a rusty iron truss.

Notes: Artwork by Devin Flynn, hand-printed covers.
RIYL: KARP, ZZ Top, Unwound








Ass-end Offend
Character Assassins

CD  $5

12"  $16

  ASS-END OFFEND CHARACTER ASSASSINS LP/CD
Ass-End Offend played hardcore. That's a wide enough collection. Husker Du and Gauze played hardcore. And, similarly, the music AEO plays is a well honed machete quickly hacking it's way through a jungle of indie rock mediocrity! Ass-End Offend produce entirely ambitious Montana punk rock music and do so with aplomb and gusto. While less than pleased with mankind's current state, they aren't cynics. Rather, these ambitious dudes toured like madmen, made it to Europe and then unfortunately broke up. I think they sound most like some the stuff that Ken Sanderson put out on his awesome Prank label, or on Life is Abuse. Heavy, dark, alternately dystopian and hopeful and more musically ambitious than its peers. Compare to Caustic Christ and His Hero is Gone, and add a couple truckloads of Evergreen/Great Falls, Montana desolation.









Ass-end Offend
Unchecked Aggression

7"  $6

  ASS-END OFFEND UNCHECKED AGRESSION 7"
AEO's basic formula was to blast the crustiest, raging, powerful, and politically astute, bleak and heavy hardcore. Unchecked Aggression was recorded early in 2005 by sound alchemist Mike Lastra at Smegma studios in Portland, Oregon and it caught the band at their tightest pinacle, and Lastra capture the heft of this great outfit. The EP is their most focused and dead-on slamming. Unchecked Aggression features five songs and clocks in at about 7 minutes. Comes with silk screened, two-color covers.

*SECOND PRESSING

RIYL: Caustic Christ, His Hero Is Gone, Tragedy








Bacon And Egg
...Are Fanduvo

CD  $10

  BACON AND EGG ..ARE FANDUVO CD (Wantage/Motron)
Bacon and Egg is a hip-hop metal journey through the wastelands of New Jersey's and Washington's stripmall towns, BMX paths, and video game parlours. It's a lifestyle record, if you will, plum full of self-references, rhymin', stealin' and tight lead work. Bacon, Egg and their partner Biscuit are all members of Missoula stalwart wavers Volumen. Bacon and Egg, aren't just a project. This is very much a living, breathing, rocking band with it's own life. "...Are Fanduvo" was recorded down in San Francisco by their pal Tim Green and the thing is sonically amazing. Perhaps this might be best enjoyed while staring at some kind of Spencer Gifts-purchased lazer show from the middle of a water bed.

RIYL: Volumen, Beastie Boys, Judas Priest, Ween, Run DMC








Big Business
Tour CD

CD  $8

 

BIG BUSINESS TOUR CD EP
Add the whistling scene from Bridge On the River Kwai to a close-range hand grenade fight and, then listen to this CD on repeat for two days straight. Jared Warren (from Karp, the Whip and Tight Bros) and Coady Willis (from Murder City Devils) are hard rock practitioners with vitaes to back it up. This takes up the torch, straps that torch to the back of a grizzly, and then gets the grizzly angry, then saddles that grizzly and rides it up the front of a steep, snowy mountain. Four utterly blazing tunes. For what it's worth, it makes my brother think of what a Karp practice in your basement (from the floor above) would sound like.

Here's their website:http://bigbigbusiness.com









Big Business
Head For The Shallow

12" Out of Print

  BIG BUSINESS HEAD FOR THE SHALLOW LP
A big, well colossal, and cudgelingly satisfying debut record that was a long time coming and which totally fills a real pronounced need for heavy, loud music.

Jared Warren (Karp, Tight Bros., the Whip) and Coady Willis (Murder City Devils, Dead Low Tide, Broadcast Oblivion) are the two members of the Biz. Head For the Shallow also features Dave (Scared of Chaka, the Shins) Hernandez, who plays guitar on a couple of songs. Big Business have cultivated their "fast and low" deal to the point where it's a thoroughly metallic affair. And that's the point. Where a lot of folks took quite a long time to get next to what Karp did, a lot of the reviews have come back sort of missing what makes this record a crucial part of the heavy rock canon: it's the screaming, the heft of bass and drumming and the synchronicity these two dudes have as a unit. If that's not you're bag, then by all means, keep your distance. 

RIYL: Motorhead, Karp, Melvins








Dead
THUNDAAAAAAH!

Coming Soon!
  DEAD THUNDAAAAAAH! 180 GRAM VINYL LP/DOWNLOAD
It's 1979 and you're driving what might be among the last of the V8 Police Interceptors on the Anarchie Road through the deceptively serene countryside of Victoria. Next thing you know, berserk motorcycle gangs come out of the proverbial woodwork with that uncalculated crazy that's reserved only for society's real oddballs. Dead might be the best modern band to set the tone for the wide-screen, gritty car chase genre from Vanishing Point to Max.

And meanwhile in  Manila, Christ Church, Adelaide and Dunedin, the southern hemisphere punks agree that Dead are a force. So do the anarchists of Kuala Lumpur. Folks who've paid attention to the excellent We Empty Rooms output of the latter 2000s probably know Dead from their other bands. Jem's the drummer from Fire Witch, and Jace (and Jem too) played in Fangs Of they also were in Inappropriate Tough Guy Behaviour, who're among our all-time favorites of Aus. bands of the 2000s. Dead have mined that weirdo Australian aggressive punk vibe and wedded it with noise rock riff repetition. And all from their unhip corner of Melbourne Australia.

The Thundaaaah! LP (listen to some here) had got 9 tracks of bass/drum mayhem, with an If-You-Like list about twenty five miles long, populated with bands like
godheadSilo, Nomeansno, Big Business errrr and some of that awesome, classic Australian desperation that's come from degenerates like the Cosmic Psychos and Lubricated Goat. It's got that same shitty, aggro rumble of the crustiest of '90s midwestern AmRep noise skuzz, run through the dry-baked heat of the Australian bush. Pre-Orders are underway shortly.
Notes:
  • 1st pressing of U.S. version limited to 200 copies;
  • 180 gram vinyl with hand-numbered, screen printed covers;
  • Comes with download code.








Drunk Horse
Bambi/Dirty Mind 7

7"  $6

 

DRUNK HORSE 'BAMBI/DIRTY MIND  7"
(w. purple vinyl, silkscreened covers) The cream of our year-of-living-dangerously crop. 2 sweet-ass Prince tunes beautifully rendered by Oakland, California's own mighty masters of reality. Tim Green made sure they're loud, clear and otherwise a pleasure to have next to your ears. People from Japanther to Bryan Ramirez have told me how much this record has ruled their respective listening experiences. 
Drunk Horse just got itself back from three and a half weeks across Europe (with Belgian rockers the Feather) and apparently took the continent by storm. I can only imagine what it would be like to see as powerful a live rock band as the Horse in a place like rural Slovenia!

RIYL: Thin Lizzy, Groundhogs, ZZ Top









Drunk Horse
In Tongues

12" Out of Print

  DRUNK HORSE IN TONGUES LP
It's been a long time coming, but Drunk Horse keep galloping, faster and with greater ability and more depth of content. Damn this is a profoundly bitching record, and I'd say that if there was no Wantage hand on it whatsoever. If Billy Gibbons and Phil Lynott had cousins in Oakland, they'd probably hang out with Drunk Horse. In Tongues is the newest/latest from the mighty 'Horse, and it's a highly satisfying record. These feature beautiful, hand silkscreened covers done by Kim and Matt in Brooklyn.

RIYL: John McLaughlin/Mahavishnu Orchestra, ZZ Top, Allman Bros.








Early Humans
S/T CD

CD  $10

  EARLY HUMANS S/T CD EP
The band that asked the world: "Are you fucking kidding?" We searched hard for a reference point and finally decided on the convenient, if only somewhat apt, Gravity band tag. Early Humans had your rock acrobatics, your screaming, feedback, 7/8 time signatures and thuggish rythym section. Regardless of how it was characterized, Early Humans did one helluva job whipping around their spastic rock and roll. Lyrically it's been compared to Born Against. Musically it's more ambitious, loud and compelling than anything has been in the 2000's. John Peel played tracks, as did WFMU and other enlightened stations. I saw them at Jay's Upstairs with Japanther, in Charlottesville, VA with El Guapo and at their final show, a house show, with Last of the Juanitas. Friends drove from Cleveland and New York for the last show! All were totally sweaty and memorable rock and roll experiences punctuated by Wells' Bonham-inspired pounding, Kevin's spidery-assed bass playing, and Matt's unfriendly axe-attack. Fans can check out Nick's Planaria records for their noisy Blackeye's split 7", the Swedish 7" and Planaria compilation. Also featured on: Hits Omnibus CD.









Early Humans/stars Of The Dogon
EARLY HUMANS/STARS OF THE DOGON 7

7"  $6

 

EARLY HUMANS/STARS OF THE DOGON SPLIT 7"
(w. silkscreened covers) A blasting two band outing that Wantage USA was happy to get it's hands onto. Early Humans song comes from the Jonathan Kreinik (Trans Am sound) sessions that can be found on Planaria's new 7" Blackeyes split, and the Early Humans Swedish single. Stars of the Dogon brought Baltimore to the world, the world loudly said "yes." Split singles can fly or flail, and this one frankly flew, fellow.

FIRST PRESSING STATUS: OUT OF PRINT









Federation X
Theme For A Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman

7"  $6

  FEDERATION X THEME FOR A NUDE DISINTEGRATING PARACHUTIST WOMAN  7"
Albini-engineered/Golden-mastered song, Dewar silk screened sleeves, and thick vinyl round out the second, third and fourth reasons you ought to have this single on your deck. Reason 1: It's Federation X, guy! If you've found more satisfying rock and roll this decade, then let me know. Here, Fed X cover Wales' Budgie with astonishing effect, and It's the most spacious and beautiful rock and roll record of 2003! These Bellingham/Brooklyn dudes are back in action this Summer, so look for them at Total Fest, and points east. Word has it they plan play a set on ... well, talk to them about their plans.








Fire Witch
JAPAN EP

10"  $14

  FIRE WITCH: JAPAN 10" EP
Like a pair of lumbering, tusky woolly mammoths wandering the glacial plains and moraines of an pleistocene world, the basses of Fire Witch spin epic adventure soundtracks with an Oz flair for vocabularizing instrumental music, without needless singing/screaming. Meanwhile, locked-in step with the basses, drums announce an elemental backdrop of rain, thunder and tectonic shift. 

Put on a Fire Witch record and you can hear the sounds of Pangea: spring runoff, feel the sense the chaos, smell the spring pollen. Patto, Jem and Tommy are also members of Fangs Of.., Elise and Jem, Goat Witch, Inappropriate Tough Guy Behavior and a ton of other bands we know only from pictures and discs. Doesn't matter, we like all of 'em. Fire Witch are from the Melbourne scene that's hatched some of our favorite recent bands (Grey Daturas, Eddy Current Suppression Ring) and we are stoked to offer these to north Americans for the first time, domestically speaking. The first pressing of just 355 comes with hand-screen printed, numbered and signed covers, hand-stamped labels and "Australian Mud" colored vinyl. No single band's gotten us more stoked for a resurgence of Amreppy thug rock in quite some time.


RIYL: Laddio Bolocko, Grey Daturas, Hammerhead (Minneapolis), Unsane, etc.








Fireballs Of Freedom
SNOW KING 7

7" Out of Print

  THE FIREBALLS OF FREEDOM SNOW KING  7"
The debut Fireballs single, recorded at Wedgewood in Seattle by Jim Collier in 1996, we think. This single captures these transplanted Fargonians at their sweatiest, garagiest, and trashiest. Hell, it's surprising these things don't smell like stale Old Milwaukee and cigarettes! Features three songs, all of which totally rip, but in a way sort of dissimilar to how the 'Balls get it done these days. Limited, limited, limited! RIYL: The MC5, Run Westy Run, Big Boys.








Fireballs Of Freedom
Greasy Retrospective

CD  $12

 

FIREBALLS OF FREEDOM GREASY RETROSPECTIVE CD
The "Greasy Retrospective" collects many of these Portland/Fargo/Missoula bros' middle-nineties works, including the legendary Jim Collier sessions that resulted in the Snow King 7", their debut, as well as the Conrad Uno/Egg stuff, that came next. It's been expertly remastered by the good folks at Golden, includes Andy Smetanka's Out Of My Head video and some hilarious band picks, copious liner notes detailing the Fireballs phenomenon.


The Fireballs of Freedom toured extensively through the late 90's and early 00s, got themselves to Europe once and even opened for the Stooges at a huge Basque festival. Punk rock rarely has the Fireballs' ability to use psychadelia, and their music is an over the top, memorable experience, steeped in excess, joy and fun. Word is that Kelly, Sammy, Paul and Grady are busy in recording new songs.

The Balls' website has some of their new songs.
RIYL: MC5, Big Boys, Blues Explosion









Fireballs Of Freedom
Exorcism In The Key Of You

7"  $6

  THE FIREBALLLS OF FREEDOM EXORCISM IN THE KEY OF U 7"
This seven-inch single, recorded in late 2002 at Austin Texas's Sweatbox Studio, is a testament to the will and fury that the Fireballs unleashed on a nightly basis. This thing represents at least seven inches of powerhouse scuzz-funk. This single, put to tape by Poison 13's Tim Kerr, features Austin musical icon Patches on the Rhodes keyboard. That set-up prefigured their current one guitarist, one keyboardist, one bassist, one drummer line-up. It screams like a scalded howler monkey. The music the FOF make has changed substantially over the years, but it's always kept guts, presence and humor at its core.








Humpy/fireballs Of Freedom
Gardent City Blackout Invitational

7" Out of Print

  HUMPY/FIREBALLS OF FREEDOM GARDEN CITY BLACKOUT INVITATIONAL 7"
A crushing circa 99 blast of inner-mountain hardcore punk rock done in a way that only Montanans (and, err.. transplanted North Dakotans, Minnesotans, and Texans) could. It's rugged and raw, it's got a silk-screened cover, and features Humpy's sound at its most viscous and tough and the 'Balls as they started to hone their scuzz-rock down to sharp point. This single came out just before the Fireballs moved to Portland, and a couple years before Humpy called it quits for good. Oh yeah, and It's a split with Missoula 90's community punk label, Pink House.This single's one of my personal favorites from the Catatlog, if only because it features the lyric: "Don't give a fuck about what Jerry did, Don't give a fuck about what Ian thinks, Just let me get another free drink."








Inner Muscle #8/disgruntled Nation 7
ZINE/7

7" Out of Print

 

INNER MUSCLE #8/DISGRUNTLED NATION "COMBO-PACK" zine/7"
5+ years old, this came out in the Summer of 2000 and was a downright fun project. To make it all happen Disgruntled Dave Parsons hit me with a proposition: his bands, Disgruntled Nation and Sasshole, were going on tour and it would be great news to have a local zine along. It had been about 3 and a half years since an issue of Inner Muscle, the zine we used to do, had come out. So, I got right to work cranking some reviews, stories and rounding up the usual crop of contributors to fill an issue. Disgruntled Nation were a great Flathead/Missoula band with more than a few well-worn copies of Poison Idea's Pick Your King EP in their collection. The zine has an interview with (Swedes) Henry Fiats Open Sore, a story about Latvian Apartment Leftovers, an E. Europe travel journal, reviews, a piece by Yale "Star" Kaul and a bunch of other shit I forget.









Japanther
Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty

LP Out of Print

 

JAPANTHER DON'T TRUST ANYONE OVER THIRTY LP
*SECOND PRESSING ON NUMBERED OPAQUE PINK-ORANGE VINYL: NOW AVAILABLE
*
Japanther are the Brooklyn DIY punk duo, formed as a senior project while the two participants were completing art school. While they often refer to themselves as "more of an art project than a band" Japanther gets points for making some of the most hummable and inspiring music of any art project in recent memory. Part Screamers unpredictable live intensity, part Misfits gut-simple anthemery, part RZA deft samples/beats and part Providence artblast/freakshow, Japanther defies easy categorization.
 
In 2005 Japanther was invited by part of (minimal/conceptual artist) Dan Graham's and Tony Oursler's Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty performance. Japanther composed and performed new songs, revamped existing ones, and used their sampling/found sound skills to fill in the gaps for the soundtrack of this ambitious puppet-play.

This is the vinyl version, which features 14 total Japanther songs and audio clips from the play.

First Pressing of 500: Sold Out
Second Pressing of 300+ on Opaque Pink Hand-Numbered Vinyl: Available









Japanther
Tut Tut, Now Shake Ya Butt

12" Out of Print

CD  $10

  JAPANTHER TUT TUT, SHAKE YA BUTT LP
Japanther's always been a band of contrasts. They exist halfway in the world of performance art, and halfway in DIY punk. They get called to compose and perform soundtracks to puppet rock operas and then do a tour comprising largely house shows. They curate video/dance/music performances for major New York museums, and then release music only DIY/independent labels.

Keeping that tradition of contrast alive the lads have teamed up with (Crass co-founder) Penny Rimbaud and released a record of punk songs and poetry. On the surface, that may sound like an odd combination, but this thing is a cohesive and truly a wild romp 'round Africa, the Bronx, San Pedro and Brooklyn, complete with faeries, bicycles and a few cans of spray paint. Japanther's infectious, free spirited trash hasn't let up a teeny bit, it's just gotten more focused and rad somehow. Rimbaud's churning, clever, degenerate cadence is an oddly fitting balance for Japanther's two-minute blasts.

These songs are consistent with the level of songwriting on their epic last Skuffed Up My Huffy LP. Tut Tut, Now Shake Ya Butt was recorded in late 2007 (at Zero Mass in Brooklyn), as the (band-curated/organized) Dinosaur Death Dance performance ran for three (sold out) nights at New York's PS122. On a special note, this record features a sleeper cover of Portland's New Bad Things' "The Dirge"!
RIYL: Screamers, Ramones, Beach Boys, garage sales, Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure
NOTES: NEW RELEASE DATE: 10/21/2008, VINYL COMES WITH DIGITAL DOWNLOAD. STREET DATE: 10/28/2008
ACCEPTING PRE-ORDERS IMMEDIATELY. FIRST 50 MAILORDERS WILL RECEIVE BLUE VINYL COPIES OF THE RECORD. SEE HERE.








Japantherninjasonik
One-Sided 7

7"  $8

  JAPANTHERNINJASONIK S/T
Friend-bands Japanther (Screamers/Misfits/Beach Boys worship)  and Ninjasonik (self-described punk/club/crunk) decided at some point early in 2009 to record a couple songs together. The results are presented here. And how. We're extra proud of this thing because A) it's a hand-screened gem we did right here in the ol' Wantage cellar with some Plastijet ink, too little ventilation, and B) it features an absolutely cool piece of text-graphic from Japanther bro Kevin Bouton-Scott. It's a translucent, label-less 7" with a hand-screened, limited and numbered print on each copy. This was a hard-fought 7", and After a friggin' heapin' helping of bullshit with the pressing plant, we've got these things, finally. Japanther need no introduction around these parts, and Ninjasonik have been busily making a name for themselves in the u.g. hip-hop/punk rock realm like few others. This record deals topically with the ease with which the internet is used primarily as a tool for shit-talking, and Pop Rocks candy.

Limited to 550 numbered, hand-printed copies and 550 clear blue copies in covers (released once the hand-printed copies sell out.

In March 2010 Japanther will release their 6th LP, Rock 'N Roll Ice Cream (on Menlo Park and Wantage).










Karp
Kill All Redneck Pricks: A Documentary About A Band Called Karp

DVD Out of Print

  KARP: KARP LIVES: A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT A BAND CALLED KARP (with north American postage included.)
Among the bands that most made a lot of us care about punk rock, loud music, DIY, seeing bands, basically there's Karp at the top of the heap. Their excellence as a group can't be overstated. We waited for new records, tour stops, and news about Karp like kids on Christmas eve. Then, abruptly, they stopped being a band. That's kind of the capsulized version of a much longer, more interesting story that Bill Badgley (from Federation X) tells here. Don't expect fluff, either. Expect awesome live footage, great interviews (Melvins, Calvin Johnson, Kathleen Hana, Joe Preston, etc.) and the story of three friends from Tumwater here. Touring domestic and international festivals and showings in late 2011 and early 2012. Contact via karplives.com for inquiries.

BONUS ALERT: FIRST 50 COME WITH A FIRST-PRESSING (WITH MISSPELLED "LIASON") COMPLIMENTARY WHIP 7".The Whip was Jared Warren's and Scott Jernigan's (from Karp) post-Karp band, with Joe Preston.









Last Of The Juanitas
The Jay

7"  $6

 

LAST OF THE JUANITAS THE JAY 7"
(w. silkscreened covers) The Wantage USA debut single with Portland's most cacophonous and technical, jazz-metalists. The A side features a new recording of an original called The Jay, which one could somehow compare to the brutal stomp that Nirvana had happening on their Bleach LP. The B side features a brilliant and weird Sun Ra cover. Wantage always dug the fact that the Juanitas were not only down with Sun Ra, but interested enough to record a cover of his Blues On Planet Mars. Last of the Juanitas music has always been kind of difficult  to discribe, but, at minimum the stuff is ambitiously technical, cathartic, dystopian and completely inspiring in a way that few bands can be. They took the best parts of Black Flag and Drive like Jehu and added a ton of their own jazz.

RIYL: Nirvana, Black Flag, Drive Like Jehu









Last Of The Juanitas
Time's Up

LP  $16

CD  $12

  LAST OF THE JUANITAS TIME'S UP 12"/CD
(white vinyl, 45 rpm, hand-silk screened covers)
If you're into Red Fang, you'd do well to explore Last of the Juanitas. They featured Bryan Giles and (on their last album In the Dirt) David Sullivan as well. Last of the Juanitas were Wantage USA's Y2K favorite band. We witnessed the Juanitas' paranoiac thwap more times than anything else (excluding Volumen) in 2002. They make music to jog through the rubble of destroyed cities to. Chops, licks, guts, power? Call it what you will, but it's here in spades, friend. Disc jocks from John Peel on the BBC to KBGA have played tracks on their radio shows, as have many of North America's more enlightened stations.

RIYL: Red Fang, Miss Lana Rebel, Juanita and the Family and Party Time, and the Hits Omnibus comp.








Last Of The Juanitas
In The Dirt

CD  $12

  LAST OF THE JUANITAS IN THE DIRT CD
If you've been blown away by Red Fang, a history lesson's in order. Before Red Fang were a twinkle in anyone's eye, Last of the Juanitas, with Bryan Giles and David Sullivan made some of the crushing-est, stoney-est, Flag/Sabbath influenced-est spastic noise in the country. It was epic to see them live. In the Dirt Ten tracks of the last ever Juanitas' material. Ahh, and what material it is. This is their most accurate and powerful sonic capture to date. Hessian aural warlord Mike Lastra of Smegma studios in Portland cranked nobs, and this is a start-to-finish gem that you'll play over and over for yourself. Metal, jazz time and raw powerful energy to spare, not to mention some of the bar-none most excellent, "free-loose, but sync'd up and tight". This is the soundtrack to your life, Wantage person. Unfortunately we forgot to list David Sullivan, the second guitar player on this record, anywhere on the cover art. David's contributions add 4th and 5th dimensions to the Juanitas' already complex deal. Hats off to you, former Shiny Beast guitar player David Sullivan!

RIYL: Red Fang, Juanita Family, Shiny Beast, Mercury Birds, Trumans Water, Facedowninshit, Captain Beefheart, Melvins, Ruins, Black Flag, John Coltrane.








Le Force
Le Fortress

CD  $12

 

LE FORCE LE FORTRESS CD
Like a chrome plated predatory turbo falcon, scanning the horizon for prey, and good times, Le Force is a band on the move. The group is a compact three piece, (two guitars, drums, occasional vocals) with an incredible ability to write music. Their songs are very inspired by the NWOBHM, and those middle-nineties American groups that helped America, and the world,  to refamiliarize ourselves with that amazing stuff, and all of its technical glory.  To wit, Tim Green (Nation of Ulysses, Lice, Fucking Champs) engineered the recording. This CD comes enhanced, so you can check out a high quality video, and some other extras. Expect tours soon, and enough material recorded to warrant a double album in 2008.

RIYL: Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Fucking Champs.
Le Force's website is here.









Miss Lana Rebel
All I Need

CD  $10

LP Out of Print

  MISS LANA REBEL ALL I NEED
Limited, hand-numbered Edition of 119, letter pressed by David Duvall Co., artist-signed originals. Comes with lyrics booklet.
Real-deal American country music has its roots in the anti-government encampments of born-disaffected Scots Irish settlers in Appalachian America. Those dark hills and hollers are where folks immigrated in order to get away, to not participate in the sorts of activities that most folks thought they should as part of civilization. Specifically, to keep clear of the �revenuers� and others who wanted to get at their wallets in the name of a federal government. When these folks picked up instruments the stories and poems of loss, freedom, often death and once in a while hope began to flow like corn whiskey from an earthenware jug. Real country�s for that reason more punk than most of what counts as punk. As the East grew increasingly crowded, we heard this music coming from places further west, like Texas, Arizona, and California. 

Miss Lana Rebel continues in that authentic tradition of spartan, unadorned, Appalachian/Western country, without the political endorsements, Nashville hooks or the need to participate in a genre fronted by a qualifying adjective (�new�, �alt� or otherwise). Get ready to have some stories told to you. All I Need will get tears in your Coors, a lump in your throat, and a pain in your chest.

First edition release: October 2008
Second edition: July 2014

RIYL: Jessie Mae Hemphill, Waylon, Dolly, Hank, Patsy, Last of the Juanitas, Juanita Family








Mordecai
Waste 7"

7"  $6

  MORDECAI WASTE 7"
Maybe it's the toxic mine tailings in the groundwater or striking availability of (Cornish) pasties and (Italian, I know) tamales or fact that Butte, in addition to not claiming to be anywhere but (belligerently) in "America," is a really weird place. Maybe it's the Dead shows. Infant exposure to hardcore music. Artistic parents. Mathematics. Lot of things. Variables. New Mordecai 7" man.








Mountain High
The Wicked Wanderer

12" Out of Print

  MOUNTAIN HIGH WICKED WANDERER LP
Halfway, or somewhere around the way of the hazy, intense fog of Amon Duul II, the Pink Fairies proto-scuzz and Karp  occurs Philly, PA's Mountain High. Cast aside those reference points and let the twin-drummered, frenetic punk wrap around your head a few times. It's just about as fun a time as you were gonna have at a punk show in the 00s. MH were the greatest thing to come out of the City of Brotherly Love since the Framers partied down there. This marks the first full real-deal (9 songs, including an awesome psych-jam odyssey) LP by this outfit in their four+ year existence.

Mountain High recorded this record themselves (at their "Stewd" Studio) and the craft and care invested shows at every turn.

RIYL: Karp, Excelsior, the Groundhogs, humor, fun, the great outdoors.

NOTES:
-Hand numbered, limited edition green vinyl with a CD version for first 100 orders. Ca. Nov. 2010 we've Just found a small number of these and they're moving fast.

NOVEMBER 2010 UPDATE: SPECIAL M.H. SALE THIS MONTH ONLY!









Mountain High/no-fi Soul Rebellion
Split 12

12"  $16

  MOUNTAIN HIGH/NO-FI SOUL REBELLION SPLIT S/T 12"
Sonic Philly double-drummin' psych-punk marauders Mountain High take No-Fi Soul Rebellion up to the peak of a modest sized hill in the Alleghenys and some kind of wild ritual dance contest ensues, (local) yeti wins it and everybody celebrates by sledding back to  base camp on the back of that stoned abominable snowman. Who proceeds to show everybody how to shotgun brews.

The Bellingham-Philadelphia power-soul something axis has never sounded this white hot. Damned right. 

Notes: Limited, hand-numbered, screen-printed. the Mountain High/No-Fi Soul Rebellion 12" is a split release with us and (Wantage) the inimitable Hot Dog City label.

RIYL: Amon Duul II, Sly and the Family Stone, etc.








Needlecraft
S/T

LP  $15

  NEEDLECRAFT S/T
Needlecraft emerged from the wreckage of great, short-lived groups like 10 Year Old Girlfriend, Fag Rag and the excellently abrasive Knot Knocked Up. We think they sound like the Shags, but they're also part of the whole neo-garage wave with folks like Shannon and the Clams, Hunx and His Punx and that whole Ty Segall, Oh Sees axis. Part John Waters' Hairspray, part uh, Ronnettes, it's a combo we can't get enough of. This is Needlecraft's first LP and the first pressing is a hand-numbered edition of 217 copies, screen printed by Zoo City Apparel.

Pre-Order copies will ship on 3/30/13
Look for the band on tour in the Spring/Summer 2013. Here's their Bandcamp.








No-fi Soul Rebellion
Lambs To The Slaughter

CD  $6

  NO-FI SOUL REBELLION LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTER CD
Dagg if this No-Fi stuff doesn't deserve it's own special little page in history of rock and roll and hip hop. It really is the bizarre intersection of those two things, and where often times that sort of deal is just awful, No-Fi Soul Rebellion is a refreshingly energized, fun and empassioned outfit. Part Beck, part Karp, and well, mostly its own deal. This thing has it all: melody, dance parts, slow parts, fast parts, metal, pop. And it's not some unfocused collage either. Nope, it's Heimerian genius. 5 songs. RIYL: I Hate You When You're Pregnant, Prince








No-fi Soul Rebellion / Volumen
Lady Cop/Ch*rch

7"  $6

  VOLUMEN/NO-FI SOUL REBELLION LADY COP/CHURCH  7"
NO-FI SOUL REBELLION: World, go head and get ready for the man/wife duo that's more than ready to commence the fun-having and hand clapping stomp-dance! No-Fi Soul Rebellion, like their name implies are an outfit on the move. W?ntage isn't quite sure what the No-Fi Soul Rebellion platform is all about, but we assume it has to do with things like being natural, enjoying yourself completely, being original and shaking your back-end, like you weren't gonna get another chance to... later on. The music is live/original funk-karaoke, and it probably wouldn't offend any member of this outfit. And what action!

Achtung! VOLUMEN: New-Wave from the Treasure State. Starting points aren't always easy for the fellow tasked with summarizing Volumen, but as far as a totally succinct description, Dave Crider once said that Volumen play "heavy new wave," and that's about right. Sort of Squeeze-y, sort of XTC-y, but also kind of heavy. How many bands can you name who've played Zabadaks in Kuldiga, Latvia?








Oxes
Oxes 10

10" Out of Print

 

OXES A.O.R. 10"
Once just a surly trio of wireless Charm City dodge-ballers, now Oxes have toured with Wire and are back from a couple trips to Europe. They know about the good life. Chris even played drums for Will "Prince" Oldham for a while. This is Oxes' controversial parody record. Limited, limited, limited! Totally O.O.P. dude.

You can see there sweet live version of Thus Spake Zarathustra done at SXSW in 2006 here, and order their records from the good people at Monitor.









Pygmy Shrews
The Egyptian

12"  $15

CD  $10

 

PYGMY SHREWS THE EGYPTIAN LP
Pygmy Shrews were a wounded Sikorsky chopper on a doomed final mission, chugging across debris-filled skies in search of a final way out, or maybe some kind of post-apocalyptic wheeled conveyance, part lawn tractor, part tiller, all menace and powered by some greasy substance you don�t want to consider, but running somehow, dirtily and fast, and on the verge of total failure and collapse. The Shrews were a group with an aggressive, fatalistic task at their capable hands: to add a musical vocabulary to the feelings of desolation, despair, worry and distrust. If the emotion started with a �d,� it might be applicable, and this band might've made appropriate sounds for it.

Members came from bands like Drunkdriver, Zs, Cutter, the Fugue, Queening, Neon King Kong, Little Women etc. and played the sort of desolate scuzz that Greg Ginn might've fathered in a more enlightened time. That grimy torch still gets carefully passed, periodically. Past torchbearers include Texas' Cherubs, Olympia's Behead the Prophet No Lord Shall Live, and just a few other blown-out warriors. The Shrews debut LP, The Egyptian is a raw example of the genre's most well-executed. These 10 songs were recorded by Colin Marston (Krallice, Behold the Arctopus) in his Queens, NY dungeon. 

Personnel: Tia Vincent-Clark: bass/vocal, Ben Greenberg: guitar/vocal, Jeremy Villalobos: drums.

See als Hubble, the Men, the Uniform 

First pressing:SOLD OUT.

SECOND PRESSING: 204 COPIES ON GREEN VINYL









Red Fang
Tour CD

CD Out of Print

  RED FANG TOUR CD EP
Red Fang are half of Last of the Juanitas (as well as ex-Shiny Beast, Facedowninshit, Lachrymator, Regraped, Party Time, Bad Wizard, Trumans Water, All Night, etc. ... you get the idea) members, and their sound is loud like the continental shelf cleaving off into the Pacific. It's got all the heft of a say, a Melvins, but then that desert/Apalachian guitar style of Bryan Giles and David Sullivan that takes it from something you might call "real good loud rock" and fully into the realm of the powerful and sublime. Red Fang toured nationally in 2007 with the Fucking Champs and Birds of Avalon. Go see this spacious, weighty ruckus. 5 tracks.

JUST FOUND 4 COPIES IN A DISTRO BOX!








Red Fang
S/T

12" Out of Print

  RED FANG S/T LP
Red Fang features four of western (and some former south easterners) America's premier heavy rock and roll players in a band that's part Big Business plow, part Blue Cheer abandon, part SST blowout, and several parts colossal metallic Portland thunder. With exes ranging from Last of the Juanitas to Trumans Water, you sort of start to get a sense of what's going with these dudes. Heavy, but smart. Weird heavy, maybe.  Here's what the Onion had to say: "In place of symmetry and precision, Red Fang smears roughhewn, ragged riffs that place the band much more in the camp of Big Business (or even The Sword minus the hobbit shtick). Out behind a new five-song tour EP, the band sports members from all over the place, including Last of the Juanitas, Facedowninshit, and even the legendary San Diego noise collective Trumans Water."

This LP features both of their first CD-only (until now) EPs and one unreleased bonus track. OCTOBER 14, 2008 RELEASE DATE

RIYL: Big Business, Last of the Juanitas, Melvins, Blue Cheer, Black Flag








Red Fang
S/T RED

12" Out of Print

  RED FANG: S/T RED "BLOOD OF THE FANG" VINYL LP
A band that needs no introduction but a viewing of their Prehistoric Dog video. Red Fang are releasing their music via the Sargent House label now, and we're sure that's going to begin to start to get them the affection, attention, and piles of cash they deserve. We got approval to do a small second pressing of their self-titled, first two Tour EPs on one-LP deal, on red vinyl. This is it. It's red. You can see through it. Just 121 were made. No more. Limited. Limited. Limited.

Until February 9, 2009 only available via the Wantage List.








Squalora
S/T

CD  $10

LP  $14

 

SQUALORA S/T CD
Portland's Squalora arose from the ashes of Missoula's Ass-End Offend, and play heavy/fast hardcore. Part Kylesa low-frequency cudgel, part Anti-Cimex crust blowout, Squalora's sound is a fresh, powerful one. Lyrically, the music deals with the frustration of living in the hawk-filled Bush-era, scene egotism and class struggle.

When Portland hardcore legends Resist reformed in 2007, they requested Squalora as the opening act, and the two have been playing shows regularly since. This self-titled release features 9 songs, and was recorded at Portland's Smegmatone Studio by sonic wizard Mike Lastra. (Split Release with Repetively Futile Records).

RIYL: Fartz, His Hero is Gone, Kylesa, Anti-Cimex, Eyehategod








The Bugs
The Right Time

LP Out of Print

  THE BUGS THE RIGHT TIME (joint release with X-Mist)
The music the Bugs make has been our favorite since the first time we saw them about ten years ago. Somewhere between near the Urinals in terms of sound, approximating Dead Moon in terms of authenticity, and playing the most from-the-gut protest rock of 2014, we think. This is Wantage's debut work with the Bugs, after years of distributing their stuff, sending it to Europe, and telling everybody we know how great they are. This record is a great continuation of what they do so damn well.

FIRST PRESSING STATUS: NEARLY OUT OF PRINT AS OF 1/1/15 








The Demolition Dollrods
POWER CRUISE 7

7" Out of Print

 

DEMOLITION DOLLRODS POWER CRUISE 7"
Hardly-clothed, reductive Detroit rock and roll! One of their very first singles. Danny from the Gories, Margo and the drummer, whose name I forget, rock on the sort of Velvet Undergroud's half a riff, but charming' tip. I remember really digging seeing them live, which last happened in roughly 1995. Ian 'Howardian' Vanek put all this business together, and co-wrote the song on the A-side with them.









The Everyday Sinners
William Tell Burroughs 7

7"  $6

 

THE EVERYDAY SINNERS WILLIAM TELL BURROUGHS  7"
(w. silkscreened covers) Missoula's closest link to mid-seventies Cleveland/New York scuzz punk! The Everyday Sinners (w. former Hedons, Helltones and Cleaners personnel) cranked out some of the most desperate and crazed music Missoula's ever seen. The band is long-since gone, with two members living in opposite corners of the country, and two remaining in town. There are very few copies of this single still around.


Those looking for a similar fix can steer their way to John at Ear Candy for copies of the Sinners' excellent split with the Forty Fives, or purchase a copy of the Hits Omnibus CD, which features the Hellgate Stranglers, the newer (though now defunct) incarnationof the Josh May/John Fleming rock and roll axis.

RIYL: the Heartbreakers, the Fumes, (early) Supersuckers

LIMITED TO 500 AND NEARLY OUT OF PRINT!









The Fucking Champs
SECOND 7

7" Out of Print

 

THE FUCKING CHAMPS SECOND 7" 
As the title implies, this was the (then, just) Champs second vinyl release. They had two awesome tapes called Triumph of the Air Elementals and Songs for Films About Rock. This was in the pre-Tim Green days when Adam Cantwell handled second-axe. The A-side (Thor is Like Immortal) features more guitar overdubs than indie metal had previously seen, the B-side (Lee Tom)is a white-hot rock masterpiece that few people can touch in terms of greatness. This is another release that Ian Vanek, deserves most of the credit for making happen.









The Lights
Diamonds And Dirt

CD  $10

12" Out of Print

  THE LIGHTS DIAMONDS AND DIRT CD
The magnum opus from the band that gave the world our top album of 2004, Beautiful Bird. The Lights take syncopation and rhythm and confounding, Ionescu-style lyrical complexity and somehow ram it into the rock music format in a way that few are able to do successfully.

Back in 2006 Diamonds and Dirt got acres of airplay on coastal stations like WFMU and KEXP. You could compare them with the Fall, and with Love, maybe, but also understand that in some form or another, these three have played music together for the past 10 years, and have that band extra sensory deal that makes for riveting live shows and haunting, simple and unforgettably excellent songs.

See also Love Tan, Le Sang Song

RIYL: Love, the Fall, Gang of Four, the Left Coast, Black Flag








The Lights
Failed Graves

12"  $16

  THE LIGHTS FAILED GRAVES

Seattle, Washington's Lights have an approach to music that has the combined ability to warm one's heart and blow one's mind. Musically, it's as divorced from blues-tradition rock and roll as you can find and still get away with calling it punk rock. It's got occasional nods to reverb-soaked surf, Gang of Foury dance punk, and yes, Mark E. Smith and his band. That's all well and good, but a seasoned Lights fan will explain that what one gets with the Lights is a much more cohesive, talented set of songwriters than any of what the above references point to.


For the most part, the music has got weird jangly protest rock vibe about it. However, lyrically, it's just obtuse enough to make one wonder if the Lights aren't on some existential trip. Hard to say with crisply worded turns of phrase that have an immediate, worn-in familiarity even on first listen. It's a kind of magical thing, and it makes the Lights few live performances highly memorable occasions, and their records even more timeless. Yes, memorable and timeless. (You can hardly can tell it's a punk record from this shitty review.) Did we mention it comes with a download code? It does! 


Tracklisting: 1) Buttons Vs. Boulders 2) Craig Jr. 3) Deathless Distances 4) The Fixer 5) New New 6) Famous Gunshots 7) Trabbit 8) Gingerella 9) Puerto Escondido 10) Monkey Gets the Peach 11) Nervous Breakdown


Notes:

-No. 1 Northwest album on KEXP, April 2010. 

-Black Flag cover (Nervous Breakdown)


RIYL: Love, The Fall
Affiliations: Love Tan, the Left Coast, Unnatural Helpers, Lamborghiniz








The Narrows
Alligator

CD  $14

LP Out of Print

  THE NARROWS ALLIGATOR 2LP/CD
These three heavy Bellingham, Washington brothers/cousin get it done, at the speed of 10W40 oil being drained on a bleak, -20 Fahrenheit midwestern winter day. Even most of the underground press has ignored outsider bands like the Narrows, who straddle the worlds of Sleep, Melvins, Karp and Leonard Cohen a little too precariously, but their fans know that a band with this much raw emotion and authenticity doesn't come around terribly often.

Alligator combines the Narrows' first two (brilliant, if sludgy) self-released albums Days are Numbered and Six-Ten onto one compilation. Fans of Sub Pop 200 compilation, early Nirvana, pine-covered mountains and flannel need to hoist this power-pack onto their CD players. This release is a joint endeavor with Brooklyn's Tapes Records. Tom Dewar silkscreened the covers, and the Narrows made the pop-out alligator design and assembled them by hand.

The double LP is unfortunately out of print.









The Narrows
Benjamin

CD  $12

  THE NARROWS BENJAMIN CD/LP
Benjamin marks longplayer number 5 for the Narrows, a Bellingham, Washington trio who issue thick, powerful sounds at about the speed of the Sperry Glacier heading toward the lakes it feeds. The Narrows are a band steeped in wild combination of pain, loss, hope, family and friendship and the music offers listeners a glimpse into life in the Pacific Northwest rarely seen since the days of the Deep Six and Estrus Half Rack compilations.

Sean, Juice and Matt are all share some genetic makeup, and the familial closeness of two brothers and a cousin playing music together seeps through this record at every turn. Among the reasons for the formation of the band in 2000 was the therapy that playing slow, heavy music provided in the wake of a tragic Interstate 5 accident, and over time the music has taken different turns ranging into more hopeful and socially conscious territory.

Benjamin is the crispest, most representative recording the band has undertaken to date. 

RIYL: the Pacific Northwest, Karp, Unwound, Federation X, Melvins, Low









The Narrows
Benjamin

LP Out of Print

  THE NARROWS BENJAMIN LP (Split release w. Pool or Pond)
The Narrows music pushes acres of heavy till in front of it, much like a gargantuan northwest glacier advancing through a peaceful valley. I talked to Justin from the band recently and he told me he thinks that music that gets called "glacial" normally is synonymous with "boring." So, maybe we'll lay off the glacier comparisons. Howabout an arctic ice shelf floating in solitude? With a bluetooth speaker in the middle of it playing Karp and Unwound? Also a crappy way to describe a band. Fair enough. 

This is the ultra-limited vinyl version of the Benjamin album, with slightly different song sequencing from the CD. Benjamin, from what we can tell, is a deeply reflective piece of work about Bellingham, and its people. It features recordings of the Narrows' encounter with the supernatural. Limited to just 160 copies ever, hand silk screened copies.

** MARCH, 2017: A distributor just sent us a handful of these sought-after, out of print LPs, so for a very limited time, they are back in stock and available!








The Pope
The Jazzman Cometh

CD  $6

  THE POPE THE JAZZMAN COMETH CD EP
Soooooooo-eeeeeeeee! For a couple of corn-fed, family values advocates,  a couple of closeted John Birchers, and self-professed proponents of "the American way", the Pope lay down this decade's steadiest rogue thuggery. Sure, since Lightning Bolt whipped all these collegians into a patchouli-scented froth, two-piece and bands (without guitars!) have sort of become a bit uh, de rigeur.

Honestly, the terrible two-somes have always kind of rung our bells up here at Wantage Towers. We like Ruins.  We liked Big Business pre-toshi (Hell, we like 'em now), we like Shellshag. We like Kicking Giant. We like Pink and Brown. We like, we like... hell, we like lots of stuff. However, bass and drums (important to note that's not an "N'" there..) and noise rock has never quite sounded like this before. Like a fine wine, let this EP breath a little before you play it, then listen for the tannic undertones of the Boredoms, godheadSilo and a bit of Unwound's smokiness. All kind of grounded in the spartan family values of punk. This EP is a good intro to what makes the Pope a good band, and it only begins to hint at what the world had in store with their "Sports" longplayer.

RIYL: Hammerhead, GodheadSilio, Man is the Bastard.

SEE ALSO: White Shit.








The Pope
Sports

CD  $12

  THE POPE SPORTS CD
The Pope sound something like a kamikaze Fokker Jachtkruiser on a midnight strafing run over London might've, while humongous flak guns fill the sky with chunks of steel, in a vain attempt to bring them down. Nothing can keep this chugging, lethal bird from being aloft. As you should know, the Pope is a bulletproof institution, and when they prepare to drop stheir sonic payload, pulverization results.

The (Wantage) Pope comprises two men and their wall of overdriven solid state power. They come from the land of avocado trees and Colin Farrell sightings, but rather than play Jane's covers, they go the route of mighty forebearers like godheadSilo, Karp, Unwound, and Hammerhead, Steel Pole Bathtub and the Whip as well as contemporary nut-jobs like Lightning Bolt and Big Business.

Sports is a theme record, interspersed with wild soundbites from real-deal sporting events. The music ranges between triumphal and milataristic metal to wild spasmodic blasts. Daniel "Bad Dudes" Haworth made sure that this was their best recording to date, and the good people at Golden Mastering cranked it up so it practically turns itself up, once lodged in the player. At 17 total tracks and thirty plus minutes, it's ambitious and labored-over piece of work that is set to break minds from here to Bishkek.
RIYL: godheadSilo, Karp, Hammerhead.








The Whip
Freelance Liaison/Sheep And Goat Judgement

7" Out of Print

  THE WHIP FREELANCE LIAISON/SHEEP AND GOAT JUDGEMENT 7"
Rumbling, syncopated thunder and sheet after sheet of destructive metal lightning were the basic elements of the Whip's powerful sound. This is the debut single, and only official recorded material by by this unfortunately short-lived group. And for heavy tunes, it's frankly a timeless, merciless heavy duty couple of tracks here.

This band reconvened two thirds of Karp (Scott Jernigan and Jared Warren) and 100% of  Thrones (
Joe Preston) to heavy- thunder itself into our universal conscious, and we were never the same. Shortly after forming, starting to play out and tour, Scott Jernigan died in a boating accident and the world lost one of its most gifted drummers. At total fest XIV, in 2015, Joe and Jared played the two Whip 7" songs with Big Business drummer Coady Willis. It was amazing. Here's some footage of that.

2019 UPDATE: We've been working closely with Joe and Jared to get out an LP's worth of previously un-released material, including several studio tracks and a few choice live cuts. Stay tuned for that here.








Trumans Water
The First Dead Man Of Diluvia

7" Out of Print

  TRUMANS WATER THE FIRST DEAD MAN OF DILUVIA
Trumans Water occupy the space we reserve for Most Criminally Underappreciated Bands of all-time. They were a forward-thinking, psychedelic group from San Diego, then Portland and their stuff is crucial. And there's gobs of it, mostly on Homestead.








V/a
WantCompDeux

7"  $6

  VARIOUS ARTISTS WANTCOMPDEUX 7"
Reeleased waaaaay back when, 1995 maybe?, by the Howardian Division of Wantage, before it morphed into Tapes Records, this crucial blast of derangement, detunery and skronk features: trackos muy exclusivos from Trumans Water, National Rockombo, Howardian, Irving Klaw Trio and Soul Junk. Wild, free and totally limited to the few copies still floating around the garage.

As an interesting sidenote, Paul from the Bugs was in National Rockombo!








V/a
Want.Comp.Uno

12" Out of Print

 

V/A WANT.COMP.UNO
Our first non-cassette release, came out 1995. Has Unwound, The Teamsters (future Japanther, Federation X, Zorbatron, Benjamin Von Wildenhaus and 1776), Vi Thompson Overdrive (ex-Banned), Hughes, Jane Noel, Waydowns, Clever (future Federation X), Irving Klaw Trio (future Bugskull) and Worst Case Scenario.









V/a Hits Omnibus
Hits Omnibus

CD  $12

 

V/A WANTAGE USA'S 21ST RELEASE HITS OMNIBUS 2CD
This thing came to pass about 5 years back: Wantage USA's 21st Release Hits Omnibus. The hand-curated and lovingly liner-noted compilation features two discs, two continents, 47 groups and over one hundred and fifty minutes of the most ultra music around. It was close to a year in the making, and good project for reconnecting to a lot of friends, and it put us in touch with the mission of supporting and highlighting creativity, independence, abandon and adventure. Like those compilations that bring you back for repeat listening, we attempted to sequence this as thoughtfully as possible, and it's got some eclectic parts: From No-Fi Soul Rebellion's (Montana) ecstatic god-rock/soul stomp to Noxagt's (Norway) ode to gas-huffing, back again to Drunk Horse's (California) fantasy blast, over again to Oneida, the Fucking Champs, Federation X, Ass-End Offend, Dub Narcotic, JonnyX and the Groadies, Point Line Plane, Party Time, Early Humans, Japanther, Fireballs of Freedom, Bloodhag, Oblio Joes, Volumen, Bryan Ramirez, Skyforger, Stars of the Dogon, Le Force, Depo, Balozu Pilni Pagalmi and the Joggers (and about thirty more)- the Hits Omnibus is not any sort of "genre comp." This thing is wall to wall packed with hit after smoking hit, was mastered by the able folks at John Golden's outfit, and we offer a money-back guarantee on the thing.

EXCLUSIVE TRACK ALERT: Oneida, the Fucking Champs, Party Time (ex-Last of the Juanitas, current RED FANG members), Early Humans, Touhy (ex-Early Humans), Japanther, Volumen, Stars of the Dogon, Castro, Federation X.









Vaz
Demonstrations In Micronesia (Blue Vinyl)

LP Coming Soon

  VAZ DEMONSTRATIONS IN MICRONESIA LP (co-release with X-Mist)

Don't let the obtuse "is this maybe a reggae or reggaeton album?" title throw you off; Demonstrations in Micronesia his is one of the world's finest examples of weird, paranoid propulsive rock and roll that only just barely exists on the fringes of punk, hardcore and metal. It's essentially "noise rock" genre  perfection, over about forty minutes. 

Vaz, then of Los Angeles,Originally recorded for Load, X-Mist and Thin the Herd) are currently on hiatus, unfortunately. Over the years they've been a three-piece with both Adam Marx (Seawhores) and Tyler Nolan. At the time of recording, they were a two-piece with two original members of Minneapolis goliaths, Hammerhead. Paul "Apollo Liftoff" Erickson and Jeff Mooridian Jr. wrote the most focused bunch of cold, futuristic noise jams since we-don't-know-when. Nothing hopeful, melodic, or anything but motorik and ever-forward Fargo-Moorehead desolation rock, done impeccably on Demonstrations

This is the fourth, hand-numbered pressing of 131 copies with silkscreened chipboard covers and blue vinyl. 









Vaz / Dead
Split 7

7" Out of Print

  VAZ/DEAD SPLIT 7" (Wantage/We Empty Rooms)
At some point in 2012 the Australian band Dead hosted Fargo/Moorehead/New York group Vaz for a tour of their continent. The members of Vaz had been in some other bands (notably, Hammerhead) and so had Dead's members (Inappropriate Tough Guy Behaviour, Fire Witch). The tour was nice where the swimming and tunes were concerned. Commercially it failed. The bands toured Malaysia, had amazing curry and parted ways. This 7" is the commemorative oversized-foam-hand-with-index-finger-pointed-skyward ... if you follow, of those tours. It offers up two of our favorite bands of the past 5 or so years, in all their desperate, excellent glory. Dead is a two-piece with a vibe owing to the much-abused "90s," "Amrep" and "noise rock" descriptors. We think its more like a vegan, southern hemisphere Mot�rhead, though. Vaz is Apollo Liftoff and Jeff Mooridian's new, post Hammerhead groups, ca. 1999. Vaz has existed much longer now than Hammerhead ever did, but that's the reference point most used. To us, Vaz offer up Cold War paranoiac space rock. Desperate, fast, deftly-played and riffy without pandering to anything that could be called "stoner."

Notes:
First edition. 313 total pressed.
Letter pressed covers.
Hand-numbered  
The first 100 are limited to mailorder only and are printed on craft colored covers, and include an ultra-limited Dead and We Empty Rooms beer coaster.








Vile Blue Shades
John Thursday California Adventure

12" Out of Print

  VILE BLUE SHADES JOHN THURSDAY CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE LP
First Pressing of 250.
From deep in the heart of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young's failed state of "Deseret" come the vile brothers and sister of Vile Blue Shades. Sort of like a loaded, swaggering outsider dance group, or maybe more accurately a 12-member collective with two drummers, two or three other percussionists, a keyboardist, 3 or 4 guitarists, a bassist, a dancer and a bespectacled, hulking, three-quarters talking, one-quarter singing front person.
Utah's Mormon, mountain isolation occasionally kicks out some of the wildest underground stuff going (see. Le Force, Red Bennies, Fuck the Informer, Agape, Wolfs, etc.) and Vile Blue Shades bring their unique type of bizarre, compelling music to a gape-jawed West.  Reference points abound: VBS are a little bit Gibby Haynes, part James Chance, part Andy Gill, part lots of things, but as far as new bands go they are an unusual, visceral, sleazy spectacle. Read about VBS in September 2008's Salt Lake Under Ground (SLUG) magazine. "John Thursday California Adventure" is the band's self-described "sex record" and it features a range of vivid, pornographic lyrics whose inspiration came in large part from Henry Miller's "Under the Roofs of Paris" work. Jud (Le Force) Powell engineered this and it's the best recorded output they've done yet. This record captures the deliberate half-step calculated off-time echo of the band and has a weird and enveloping vibe. October 14, 2008 release date.
COMES WITH A DIGITAL DOWNLOAD OF THE LP.

RIYL: The Meters, The Fall, A Certain Ratio, This Heat








Vile Blue Shades
John Thursday California Adventure: W. Ultralimited Edtion Cover

12" Out of Print

  VILE BLUE SHADES JOHN THURSDAY CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE LP
Vile Blue Shades make an undulating swirl of music and it has got a certain, special, thwap about it that sets it thoroughly apart. Maybe it's the combined 279 years of experience and roughly the same number of bands that goes into this ensemble. We don't know.

Just 50 copies were hand-made of this one-off, just in time for the (9/20/2008) release show gem, and we're down to just a small handful of them left. Features hand-lettered label artwork and screen printed jacket. All the hits, none of the glitz. One blurry wang and Ryan Shade's excellent cursive handwriting. Wantage hasn't ever gotten much more collector scum than this.








Volumen
Cries From Space LP/CD

CD  $12

LP  $16

  VOLUMEN CRIES FROM SPACE LP/CD
Missoula, Montana's heavy new wave force. Prick up ears, people, Volumen handle bent pop music like no others. This record runs the gamut with hits like "Sexy Astronaut" and "Snakes" and bizarre progressive epics like "Daddy's Other Finger". Volumen remind me of the best Ricky Wilson/B-52s subtlety, the Cars' band dynamics and something spastic and endearing that's all their own. Tim Green recorded this dance/prog jihad. CD comes enhanced with tour footage, live performances and other white hot extras.

RIYL: XTC, B52s, the Cars, Ween, Bowie

NOTE: COPIES OF THE FIRST BLUE VINYL PRESSING RECENTLY UN-EARTHED IN 2019.








Volumen
Erika 7

7"  $6

 

VOLUMEN ERIKA 7"
(w. silkscreened cover) Wantage's debut work with Volumen, the inland Northwest's most ambulance driving, white suit wearing and swingin'-est bunch of bros to ever eat Tofurkey and drink Sparks orange malt-taurine-caffeine beverage (simultaneously).  Volumen continue to pound their round pegs into the world's square holes. When Volumen toured in late May 2004, with fellow Missoula pop blasters the Oblio Joes, the fans were up in arms that there hadn't been a new record in over two years. This single features 4 songs, two of which were recorded at Smegma Studio in Portland by extreme audio engineering wizard Mike Lastra. They're loud, clear and capture the great weird, but authentic and talented side of this band well. The B-side features two live on-air performances recorded on Missoula's killer station, KBGA. It's all of the toppest quality and quantities are limited.

RIYL: DEVO, POLYSICS, WEEN, XTC.

Volumen website: http://www.volumen.net









Volumen
Science Faction

CD  $12

  VOLUMEN SCIENCE FACTION CD
Volumen are Rocky Mountain sonic-futurists with ears for melody, hooks, spookiness and bizarre non sequitur. All spawned by six month-long northern winters, role playing games, sci-fi fixation and growing up in o U.S. Air Force bases in the tail end of the Cold War. Speaking of F-16 flyovers, Science Faction was their return to the realm after 3+ years hunkered down recording and writing material. It's got fifteen tracks and the Hickey/Smith songwriting axis, like the Partridge/Moulding XTC team that gave the world with The Black Sea, showcases two very different songwriters who synced in, creating a third voice. Among the standout tracks: Side of the Box, Dune, and Finlandia by Jean Sibelius, talk about a riff as beautiful as it is sad.

Best review of the album thus far comes via France's STNT:
"Indie unequal rock'n'roll which goes in a nonchalance sometimes aggravating of a dissonant rock'n'roll towards things more lo-fi. A few pieces which have mouth despite everything but it is necessary to seek! Greg 6/10/06"









White Shit
White Shi'ite

10"  $15

 

WHITE SHIT WHITE SHI'ITE 10"
This is a a blasting hardcore punk record from the uptight minds that brought Big Business, Karp, the Wrangler Brutes, Monorchid, Megafuckers and Skull Control to the world. 

White Shit were:Jared Warren, Coady Willis, Andy Coronado and a bassist originally from South Dakota whose name we forget. The music was throw-back throw-up to classic, trebly hardcore. This 10" had two scorching originals (Surface Zen and Shitted Out) and one  Gism cover (Fire). 

Recorded by Toshi Kasai, cover artwork by Eduardo Benedetto.

RIYL: Big Business, Monorchid, Megafuckers, the Pope, Wrangler Brutes, Karp



 



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