The Pale Faces - Another Such Strange Bird digital album

The Goodtime Collective ("a society of musicians, film makers and visual artists based in Leicester, UK, dedicated to the creation of independent art with serious soul!") is up to no good here at the Relics in the form of a very interesting band called The Pale Faces. If you like a band heavy on the unique originality, then this is the band for you, they're this tripped out modern garage thing.  Upon first spin my reply was, "Wow Garry, that is some GOOD shit, like a fine meal filled with tastes, aromas and textures.  Don't know as if I've heard anything like the Pale Faces, but I was thoroughly delighted (or whatever it is a person does to something that takes you on an odd trip)." I asked him to give me his take on the band, "The Pale Faces are a Hardcore, Garage Pop band on acid who take our inspiration from Sixties girl groups and Psychedelia, Bjork and Animal Collective, Arthur Brown and Radiohead, all in equal measure. Formed at the tail end of 2012, we have released two albums and a split EP with Subtitles already, and are currently mixing our third full album - due for release early next year. The band are a 3 piece, consisting of:Janice Raw: Vox, Kaoss Pad, Monotron, Drums; Dannielle Jeffery: Keys, Vox; Garry Greenaway: Bass, Drums, Vox." I just love it when a band leaves me in a haze, dazed, just outside my box, my comfort zone crumbled.  Ultra talented, taking a host of sounds and experiences, two steps forward, one step back and you get this raw, fuzzed out delicious din.  These guys leave me with goosebumps, they're that cool, a modern psychedelic trio and I'm left wondering how they manage to get this sound.  Obviously there is a nice mix of live standard instruments and synth like electronics, but they are so seamless.  The songs aren't complex in structure but they have a very sophisticated sound.  I don't even know what a Kaoss Pad or Monotron are, or what they sound like, but I sure like what this singer is up to, she reminds of Patty Smith a little, able to be a songbird or a militant equally.  The band itself are a trip, not like "far out man", trying to regurgitate the past, this is more of a new and fresh trip, lots of influences from at least 3 decades that I recognize, that make a brand new sound.  Rare for a full length record, there is not one dud in all these songs, you never feel the need to hit that arrow button to skip to the next song.  Here's a couple of my favorites...

"A Girl From The Past" [audio mp3="http://mustard-relics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/01.Goodtime-Recordings-Girl-From-The-Past.mp3"][/audio]

'A Thing Called Man" [audio mp3="http://mustard-relics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/07.Goodtime-Recordings-A-Thing-Called-Man.mp3"][/audio]

If there's one downside to these songs, it's that they haven't been given a proper release on a hard copy, but these are the days we live in. Is it even worth it anymore for a band to release vinyl or a CD, although I hope bands like The Pale Faces have something like CDr's at their shows, so a guy can go home and listen to more after the show or just later on. Different times, but these 11 songs songs are very downloadable and therefore take-home-able at the Goodtime Collecvtive Bandcamp page. If my bullshit babble didn't make any sense up there, don't let that stop you (it's hard as hell to match words with this kind of talent and originality), let it be said that The Pale Faces are well worth your time, lend them an ear.  And if you aren't convinced, how's about some vids (good lookin band, if that makes any difference)...

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5HP9hsJ2t8&w=560&h=315]

[vimeo 59059911 w=500 h=281]

The Pale Faces - 'No More Kisses' from Two Headed Snake Productions on Vimeo.

[vimeo 63998481 w=500 h=208]

The Pale Faces - 'Ocean Wide' from Two Headed Snake Productions on Vimeo.

6 Years Mang...

...delicately and maybe not so gracefully, certainly rife with my own special brand of bogus blabbering, I've been doing this here Mustard Relics thing.  It's been a great ride.  This is post #391, with 3637 approved comments (half of which were mine), 100's of thousands of spam comments (not one has gotten thru), and over 310,000 unique visitors (although most of them were probably the spammers).  Not sure what the accomplishment is, but having been a near dead, unemployed, divorced, loser drunk, ever day is a blessing.  10 years at this job, 7 years married and 8 years sober, life has been different for a while now and this blog has been a big part of it.  No matter where I've been, music, to varying degrees, has been a passion, now so, more than ever.  When this thing first started out, it was about, old stuff in my personal collection and related (or unrelated too) thoughts/recollections/bullshit.  Lately I have found myself in the present, checking out the latest releases from the underground and even looking to the future, anticipating upcoming releases.  Good to know that all the good tunes this world has to offer haven't been written yet.

Some random ramblings (like I used to do more frequently)...

Listening to the "Live Session With Aces International - Volume 2" featuring Yellowman and Fathead. That duo constitutes one of only a few reggae acts I listen to, a mortal transgression to some, I know. Fathead was an interesting character, shot to death in 1988 Miami, some kind of drug thing. He is pretty much just known as Yellowman's sidekick (at least in my mind), although he did release a few singles that are hard to come by. Here's one of his rare lengthy solos while backing up the King, from the record I'm listening to... Fathead-Promotion On the off chance you are a fan of Dancehall Reggae (my son admitted to me the other day that he was a fan...so nice when our musical tastes sinc up, a rare event indeed), stumbled across a killer collection of Gemini Hi Fi at Who Cork The Dance, a "mixture of reality and slackness." Just downloaded the first set from 1980, pretty killer (if that's your thing).  The site is huge, with a goldmine of recordings, again, if that is your thing. Along with the usual Mustard Relics fare, I have splintered off and started a site called Church of the Martyred Heretic. Something I've been contemplating for some time now and sort of an extension of my ongoing spiritual journey/hijinks related to being a Reverend and separately a pseudo Catholic. It will not be updated regularly like MR, as posts will be dictated by fate...random stops on my path...deep huh? Notice the newish custom made header? ...the work of a Mustard Relic of the finest sort, goes by the moniker, UnionJack (don't even know his real name), from back in my torrenting days (don't do that anymore as my ISP gave me two warnings and the third they cut off your internet for good...there is only one ISP in my little corner of NoWhere Kansas). He is the driving force behind one of the finest (actually the only one I know of) Photshop forums out there, check it out Photoshop Bus. Here's another he just did for me that I'll put up in the header soon...can you tell they're grooving to the tunes? My buddy Bjorn on his never ending quest to enlighten and educate me came up with this tasty new (to me) flavor... Metal Urbain - Anarchie au Palace Must exploe more from this cutting edge late 70's French outfit... Was joking around with my homeboy Jeff, about a tune (that I think is out of this world good, turns out he wrote it in less than an hour) he had recorded with his now defunct band Fire Demons. On Seinfeld there is this episode where a guy is wearing a cape, not the superhero kind, but the kind men used to use back in the day as part of their daily attire... Cape (from the Bad Move cdr) Cape (live @ Hell's Kitchen) ...so Jeff gives me a lesson in the songs ancestry, turns out it was originally part of his Leftoverking band/project... Cape (Leftoverking)

And lastly, some things on the horizon... A review of a killer garage/psyche band outta England called The Pale Faces and No Comment's "Live on KXLU 1992" 7", a couple a 7"s from a killer Industrial band called ICK, a Reagan Youth live 7", Unter Den Linden's "Lost Tapes", three Humboldt posts; a band from the past, Letterbomb, featuring guys from Grimace and One Man Running, a band from right here and now, Lord Ellis, featuring guys that have played in bands like Garden Weasel, The Hitch, Sake, Grimace and Dragged by Horses, and hopefully an interview with Humboldt musician, artist extraordinaire and one of the reasons I started this site, Jeff Langdon. So 6 years down and I don't know how many more to go...as they say in the meeting halls, "one day at a time." Thanx to everyone who has commented and made this ride a little more interesting (and thanx to those shy little souls who just read/listen, without sharing their thoughts, you are appreciated too).

Lonesome Wyatt - The Strange Adventures of Edgar Switchblade #1: Krampus Unmerciful 7"

All kinds of interesting characters I've gotten to know (sort a...as well as you can in a virtual world...see the movie Gamer for further reference) over the years of doing this thing. I'm in awe, especially, of those gifted souls out there, who, on a daily basis, are churning out creativity (sowing seeds and reaping a harvest, you might say, if you were biblically inclined). It's just fucking incredible how they make use of their talents. One such character is Lonesome Wyatt. In his Ghost Ballads we heard his musical side, "Haunting was the first word that came to mind, shortly followed by the word creepy. The songs are simple yet complex in their simplicity, they’re like sinister lullaby’s." Then, just in time for Halloween this year we heard a combination of his music and storytelling in the Halloween Is Here LP (which I desperately want on vinyl), "you get these stories reminiscent of those kids Halloween records that I used to listen to in the 70's, only these are much more descriptively gruesome, taking the theme to the next level. The sing-a-logs are like wise gruesome, but they are super catchy." Lonesome has also written a book called The Terrible Tale of Edgar Switchblade and it only makes sense that he would put that story to vinyl. Well, The Strange Adventures of Edgar Switchblade #1: Krampus Unmerciful 7" went into pre-order on an ominous Tuesday, and the 300 copies were sold the fuck out before the end of that fateful day (another record I desperately want). Not to fear though, the digital copies will be released on December 3rd. Here's as much as I could glean from old Lonesome, "Join Edgar Switchblade and Old Red in their first audio adventure as they team up with the legendary Yuletide monster, Krampus. Hear them torture and punish the wicked ones on a dark and stinking Christmas Eve." I of course was blessed, or cursed, as it may be, as a humble reviewer, to get the digital copy, in advance, and sure as shit, I was humbled. I'm too young to have lived in the hey day of radio, before television, when stories would be told to captivate and mystify. Lonesome, a master of the written/spoken word, mixes that with dramatic narration and terribly appropriate sound effects. You can almost imagine Mom, Dad and the kids, on a nice pleasant evening, sitting around the radio in anticipation. As Lonesome's story unfolds, that anticipation is replaced with horror. Sinister, malevolent, perverse, dire, malignant. He has taken a lost art and pushed it up a menacing notch. His words sing the song of Edgar Switchblade, the anti-hero, on his adventures with the anti-angel Krampus in an anti-world filled with anti-people. Just about every character "spits poisonous bile" in this thing. I don't want to give too much away, so do yourself a favor and hit up the Tribulation Recording Co. on December 3rd or better yet, be heinously proactive and get  The Terrible Tale of Edgar Switchblade book.

Yet another instance where stupidity should be painful...

Subtitles - Just A Little Bit Brighter digital EP

Turning the Rock N Roll up to 11 with this next one. Jonney of Subtitles, hit me up so that I might give his band an audio gander. "We (Subtitles) are a three-piece garage/punk/demon doo-wop band from the Midlands UK." Once again I was more than pleased that I have opened myself up to getting requests for reviews, as how in the hell would I have been turned onto this little bit of bitter sweetness. I got back to him, "Jonney, you guys fuckin ROCK! Refreshing to hear some modern rock n roll that stays true to the spirit and doing it right...snotty as all get out, you've done Lux and Poison proud." I asked him to give me his take on the band, "Subtitles are a three-piece garage band. Taking cues from Oblivians and Coachwhips but also equal parts Death Grips and Zach Hill. Expect more reverb than a Catholic church and songs about AMC's The Walking Dead and R Kelly. Part of DIY music collective Goodtime Recordings." Being a UK band I couldn't help but think of the Beatles, the trashed out, happy hooligan version of the Beatles...the UK Cramps you might say. That's a pretty easy comparison, a no-brainer, but I'm not familiar with the bands they compare themselves to, these guys are a good reason to.  I can only imagine, but you know this band must be a blast live, this studio stuff is just a taste and probably only partially captures the energy.  If I was you I wouldn't take my girl friend to go see them though, these slippery guys would sweep her right off her feet with their crooning and have her dancing naked. They have their own demented originals and then there's lots of these cover-like songs (riffage and lyrics), where they twist (and shout) and disfigure them for their own dastardly purposes, a nasty lot these Subtitles.  The band has a Facebook, a Twitter, and a Bandcamp, the latter of which is where is the tunes are at, of course.  Some of my favorites from this and the previous release... "I'm Gonna Get Spooned By You" [audio mp3="http://mustard-relics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/2.Subtitles-Im-Gonna-Get-Spooned-By-You.mp3"][/audio] "Cunthair Motel" [audio mp3="http://mustard-relics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/4.Subtitles-Cunthair-Motel.mp3"][/audio] "Stop Teasing My Cock" [audio mp3="http://mustard-relics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/1.Subtitles-Stop-Teasing-My-Cock.mp3"][/audio] "New Religion" [audio mp3="http://mustard-relics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/3.Subtitles-New-Religion.mp3"][/audio]

Go below for all their tunes and chance to get some virtual music (unfortunately I did not see that they had any hard copies)...

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1349918948/size=medium/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/transparent=true/

[vimeo 55666496 w=500 h=281]

Subtitles - I AM AN ANIMAL from Two Headed Snake Productions on Vimeo.

Life Won't Wait by Michael Essington

I don't know what I like more, reading books or listening to music. I was listening to music in utero but I come from a long line of book worms. Books like "Life Won't Wait" make me lean towards reading (at least for the duration). ;-)  Mr. Essington picked up where he left off with Last One To Die, really this could be Last One To Die Part 2, or he could have gotten creative like they do with sequels in movie titles and called it Last One To Die With A Vengeance. The difference here though is that this is not a some lame sequel, instead it's just as freshly captivating as the first installment, no let down. Now I need to stop myself because I have some problems reviewing this book. First, I have been friends with Mike for several years now, followed his blog early on and most importantly I have a ton of respect for him as a human being (with so many assholes in this world, he gives us hope). On top of that, he bestowed upon this humble blogger a great honor by naming me in his acknowledgments, that as cool as being thanked on a record. The last problem I run into, is the risk of repeating what I said in my previous reviews of his books (and I already have). To put those worries to rest, I'll be blunt, if you dig outlaw autobiographies by someone besides a pretentious dickhead, something REAL, then you will dig this. Mike was/is an LA county Punk Rocker all the way, but if you were born anywhere in the US in the 60s, you can relate. Shit, just about anybody could relate to the plain and simple emotion of a life like his. This is exactly what drew me to Mike's writing in the first place, no bullshit. He's shown that he can write fiction too, as he did with his short story in Under a Broken Street Lamp, and I just don't know which I like better. Fortunately I don't have to pick his fiction or his non-fiction, it's an "and" thing, a simple equation, he writes 'em, I read 'em. You can get a sample of this latest book, to see for yourself, HERE. He's got a Facebook for the book and if you want to do the press thing you can go to his Createspace. You can also get the book there or you can get the kindle of it at Amazon. 30+ years later Michael is still going to gigs, so if you're in LA and you want to meet Mr. Essington, got to a Punk club or better yet go to any Symbol Six show and he's bound to be there.

Black Sabbath - Walpurgis The Peel Sessions 1970 LP

Relentless!  A word that's never come to mind in describing myself.  More like "surviving", kinda like the guy facing the relentless onslaught.  When you think about a struggle though, a life long kind, most of what we face is self inflicted.  Not victims of some kind diabolical external force, but just day in day out trying to get the peanut butter off the roof of your mouth.  Nothing so dramatic as a comic book, a good vs. evil battle, I am not the Wolverine, the battle ground exists in my head.  Shit, your mind is your best friend (God I abused you old pal) and yet it's your worst enemy.  Really this GIF is what it looks like inside old Mustard's noggin.  Uh oh, I'm far too brain damaged to make any kind of attempt at getting deep...but I enjoy trying.  ;-) I've mentioned this before, and I've also mentioned before that sometimes things are worth mentioning more than once (Maximum Rock N Roll's review of my band Garden Weasel's demo said, and I quote, "Nothing you haven't heard a million times before"), I absolutely and irrevocably can't stand Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" or "Freebird".  Too many years in too many bars with idiots playing those songs over and over again.  I am close to throwing "Gimme Three Steps", "Call Me The Breeze", and "Saturday Night Special" into that lot, so that doesn't leave much left as far as LS.  With that being said, I never did explore any of LS's other stuff.  A few years ago, I started hearing tunes of their's that I really liked...a few, to be exact.  Stumbled across a place called The Witchwood Records and found two of said songs, from a live set they did on KBFH Show Cardiff, Wales, UK 1975-11-06. For your listening pleasure... The Needle & The Spoon Simple Man There was one more of their tunes I wanted to feature here but, after searching though about 30 bootlegs I could not find them doing it live. Had to settle for the demo version... Junkie Got this bootleg a while back, it's on Discogs, and I've seen them on black vinyl, but mine is on clear, #247/300.  Not sure why I got it, I have so many Sabbath records, guess I just wanted to have a bootleg.  And on top of that I just love Peel Session recordings, high quality, live in studio.  About the only recording I've found that I didn't like was SPK's, believe it or not.  And the cover, I just love the image they chose, it is so Black Sabbath.  The back cover is sweet too, with the vintage photo, not sure if it's from 1970, when most of these tunes were recorded.  And...and...and, it's made in Finland, maybe my only record from that under-represented Viking country.  There's a million BS live recordings out there, so maybe this will interest no one.  The first four tunes are the Peel Session ones, "Walpurgis" is "War Pigs" with different lyrics, all very cool, live and heavy. "The Rebel" is from a 1969 demo, very PRE-Sabbath (extra emphasis on the "PRE"). Lost In Sabbath had his/her take on the Peel Session (aka Radio 1) and you could download it from Frequency LSD, where you can find those alternative lyrics to Walpurgis (War Pigs). I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing (actually have it hanging on my wall)... Black Sabbath Walpurgis Fairies Wear Boots Behind The Wall Of Sleep The Rebel Was curious about this demo track so did a little more researching and came across the Big Takeover, where you can find a lengthy treatment on early Black Sabbath (Earth) demos and early recordings. Again at the Witchwood Records blog, I found the recordings that guy is talking about on the Early One Morning bootleg. Here's those other Earth tracks that go with "The Rebel"... Unknown Demo Early One Morning When I Came Down (this is called the "full version" but it's actually just a loop of a segment)