2011 favorites at Soft Abuse HQ

Just like every year, 2011 saw a heap good records trickle out... In compiling this list of favorites I'm surely forgetting a few things that I really loved, but below is what I can recall at this moment, listed in no particular order.



Full-lengths

The UV Race - Homo (In the Red)
Blackout Beach - Fuck Death (Dead Oceans)
Stare Case - Lose Today (DeStijl)
Bill Callahan - Apocalypse (Drag City)
Cass McCombs - Wit's End (Domino)
Cass McCombs - Humor Risk (Domino)
Condominium - Warm Home (Condominium)
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972 (Kranky)
Zomes - Earth Grid (Thrill Jockey)
Stan Hubbs - Crystal (re, Companion)
Martin Newell - Songs for a Fallow Land (re, Fixed Identity)
Destroyer - Kaputt (Merge)
Juma Sultan's Aboriginal Music Society - Father of Origin (re, Eremite)
Various - Still Going in Offices (Savoury Days)
Der Teenage Panzerkorps - German Reggae (Holidays)
Horrid Red - Celestial Joy (Holidays/Brave Mysteries)
Angus Maclise / Tony Conrad - Dreamweapon III (re, Boo-Hooray)
Vernon Wray - Wasted (re, Sebastian Speaks)
Sic Alps - Napa Asylum (Drag City)
Jerusalem & the Starbaskets - Dost (DeStijl)
Grouper - A I A (Yellow Electric)
Jakob Olausson - Morning & Sunrise (DeStijl)
Matthew De Gennaro - Adversaria (TU-134)
The Axemen - Three Virgins, Three Versions, Three Visions (Siltbreeze)
Ryan Garbes - Sweet Hassle (Hello Sunshine)
Lighted - Queendom (Lighten-Up Sounds)
Papercuts - Fading Parade (Sub Pop)
Six Organs of Admittance - Asleep on the Floodplain (Drag City)
Total Control - Henge Beat (Iron Lung)
Kitchen's Floor - Look Forward to Nothing (Siltbreeze)
Various - Krypton Ten (Unwucht)
Belong - Common Era (Kranky)
KWJAZ - KWJAZ (Not Not Fun)
The Garbage & The Flowers - Stoned Rehearsal (re, Quemada)
Steven R. Smith - Old Skete (Worstward)
Myrrh - Myrrh (Self-Released)
Tinariwen - Tassili (Anti/V2)
Larry Marshall - Queer & Wonder (re, Rare Youth)
Bobb Trimble - Crippled Dog Band (re, Yoga)
Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo (Matador)
Pigeons - No Shore (Sixteen Tambourines)
Slugfuckers - Three Feet Behind Glass / Instant Classic (re, Insolito)
Suspensers - FMLOL (Self-Released)
Peaking Lights - 936 (Not Not Fun)



Singles / EPs

Real Numbers - Tear it in Two (Florida's Dying)
Lower Dens - Deer Knives (Sub Pop)
Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Walking in Unison (Captcha)
Mad Nanna - Mad Nanna (Eggy)
Mad Nanna - I've Been Talking (Albert's Basement)
Jonathan Halper - Puce Moment (Bootleg)
Art Museums - S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G. (Dulcitone)
Grudge - When Christine Comes Around (re, Mighty Mouth)
The UV Race - Acid Trip (Sweet Rot)
The Mantles - Raspberry Thighs (SDZ)
Muura - Untitled (Albert's Basement)
Scrotum Poles- Revelation (re, Ducitone)
Just Urbain - Everybody Loves (re, 540)
Three Legged Race - Raining Order (NNA Tapes)
Cuffs - Privilege (Ride the Snake)
Lures - New Boy (Salvaged)
The Moondogs - Heads I Win (re, Sing Sing)
Gold-Bears - Something to Think About (Cloudberry)


Last but not least, a recap of all things Soft Abuse from 2011, listed chronologically --

Horrid Red - Pink Flowers EP
Primitive Motion - Certain Materials EP
Brute Heart - Lonely Hunter
Horrid Red - Silent Party EP
Julian Lynch - Music for How Mata Hari Lost Her Head and Found Her Body
Pumice - Pebbles (remastered LP)
Primitive Motion - By Arc or Chord
Pigeons - They Sweetheartstammers
Ulaan Khol - La Catacomb

& the above list, in playlist form -

Soft Abuse 2011 by Soft Abuse

Video from Horrid Red's debut live show

First video (that I've found) from the string of debut shows from Horrid Red this past week. This one's taken from their debut show, at Haunted Oak in Davis, CA (a house venue; RIP The Hub). I'll share some live photos from their gig at The Echo shortly...

Horrd Red plot tour & prep new EP

Trans-continental post-punks HORRID RED release a new EP, Silent Party, in time for their debut live performances in June. This freshly hatched EP recorded March 2011 in Berlin & San Francisco, in anticipation of their summer tour, kicks off with the somewhat funky title track (it might be a fun party jam if it wasn't so creepy). From there it descends into the Red Western nightmare that is The Horror & The Cruelty, built on a galloping Wall of Voodoo beat & twangy guitars. Meanwhile the b-side mini-opus Marble Staircase Parts I & II comes on like a Colin Newman solo track, with atonal crooning over watery guitars, and dissolves into a morbid piano ballad (featuring Clay Ruby tickling the ivories). Tying it all together as always is Bunker Wolf's inimitable German-language rants & producer Edmund Xavier's high lonesome guitar melodies.

Horrid Red will make their live debut in June, as a six piece (!!), on a four-day trek through California. Yours truly is making the trip out to bear witness.

16 June - Sacramento, CA - The Hub (with Burial Hex, Ganglians)
17 June - San Francisco, CA - Hemlock Tavern (with Burial Hex, Brute Heart)
18 June - Santa Cruz, CA - Brookdale Lodge (with Brute Heart, Fresh & Onlys, Donovan Quinn)
19 June - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo / Part Time Punks

Horrid Red "The Horror & The Cruelty" video

Edmund Xavier has unleashed a new video from the forthcoming Horrid Red 7" on Soft Abuse called Silent Party, due in June.

Horrid Red "Pink Flowers" video

Edmond Xavier just completed his video for the song Pink Flowers, from the upcoming Pink Flowers EP. Check it out --

Say hello to HORRID RED

First up on Soft Abuse in '11 is a single from Horrid Red, an offshoot of Teenage Panzerkorps (Der TPK), titled Pink Flowers. Der TPK deal in frenzied post-punk britzkriegs, but Horrid Red take a more delicate, less blown-out approach. Pink Flowers arrives on the heels on the acclaimed Empty Lungs 12" on Holidays Records (a recent pick of the week in German Vice!) & dials back the moody synth touches in favor of a (Euro) pop vision shared by Can ca. Future Days or The Fall ca. This Nat-ions Saving Grace.




Pink Flowers is now available for pre-orders, all of which will ship to arrive before the 15 February 'official' release date... The 7" version is limited to 300; the cassette version is limited to 50 (pro-printed, etc) & includes three additional tracks. Each version includes a gratis DL with all the bonus tracks, one of which was made in collaboration with Burial Hex.

Hear a few tracks from the single (& buy the DL direct from the band) at the BORUNDI CLOUD bandcamp page.