Dull Knife

Balaclavas

Second Sight

Dull Knife

***After exploring moodier sounds on 2011's Snake People LP, BALACLAVAS go back to basics with an aggressive kick to the teeth. The songs on Second Sight are some of the band's catchiest yet—think The Fall covering Samhain. Limited to 500 copies on one-sided clear vinyl, with a silk screened image on the B-Side nestled inside a clear picture disk sleeve with silk screened art.

Hamamatsu Tom

Starvation Box

Dull Knife

***“You've likely never heard of HAMAMATSU TOM, but maybe you're familiar with Tom's other bands THE ENERGY, NO TALK, or his stint in INSECT WARFARE. Forget what you know. Hamamatsu Tom is bluesy rock featuring some of Houston's finest shredders, and would fit in nicely on some label called Sub Pop circa 20 years ago. Tom is joined here by GRANDFATHER CHILD member LUCAS GORHAM, as well as former FATAL FLYING GUILLOTINE drummer John Adams. The B-Side is a cover of CSNY's "Almost Cut My Hair," which I dare declare better than the original.” Limited to 400 copies.

Household

Items

Dull Knife

***Items, the debut from Brooklyn's HOUSEHOLD, is 9 songs of taut, infectious, post-punk meets pop perfection. The band combines the aesthetics of UK DIY and the heyday of the American indie underground, sharpening them to a point and bringing to mind bands such as Young Marble Giants, Slant 6, and contemporaries Grass Widow. Includes coupon for free digital download.

Balaclavas

Snake People

Dull Knife

***BALACLAVAS are from Houston, Texas where everything is eternally blistered, chemically altered, and forlorn. They are a band in the realest sense—they come on like a gang, play with one mind, hunt in one pack, party and fight together in a flat wild nowhere. Unlike the common livestock being unloaded into music this is a band of predators. Perpetual outsiders; there will always be a wrong side of the tracks and they'll always be from it. Roman Holiday was a paean to Caligulan excess; Snake People is a declaration of jihad. "Legs Control" comes in with a disorienting desert wind that claws at your ears. From the start, you are alone with them in an alien landscape. There is something in the proliferation of forms that offends the thinking and feeling eye. Snake People gives voice to that eye. Forward seeing, clear in its intonation when it sends back the baby food being brought out on an unending succession of plates. Ennio Morricone and scratchy noise guitars on storm-dub rhythms like if the heaviest incarnation of 1970s Pink Floyd were a future punk band invested by Jodorowsky to score Dune. You can hear storms approaching and sandworms underfoot. Its an evil dance they're bringing.

Lamps

Niels Bohr Was An Excellent Ping Pong Player

Dull Knife

***You know THE LAMPS from their fines releases on In The Red Records. Fans have been waiting a while for these two favorites to be released. “Niels Bohr” has to be considered one of, if not the best song yet from the Los Angeles trio. Its guitar riff jackhammers into your brain before giving way to a deadpan chorus that is catchy as hell. The flip side, “I’ve Been on a Lot of Camels,” is a killer noisy number in the Amp Rep tradition, and is the perfect foil to the A-side. In fact, let’s just call this a double A-sided 7-inch.

Balaclavas

Roman Holiday

Dull Knife

***Roman Holiday is the debut LP from Houston, Texas’ BALACLAVAS, following two 12-inch EP releases on the Phonographic Arts and Dull Knife labels. Roman Holiday is the group’s finest recording to date, and showcases their diverse and unique sound. While the band makes nods to the dub punk of Public Image Ltd., the rhythms of Can, and the coldness of Killing Joke, they are able to keep things wholly unique and create an original, highly melodic sound. The band makes an awfully big sound for a 3-piece, supplementing their traditional rock setup with electronic drums and synthesizers.