Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Ave Satanas! - ALTARS / HALLA split


A long time friend dropped me a line out of blue a few weeks back, asking me about the label. I explained to him my recent decision to restart the label after a few years hiatus and he in turn asked if I had heard of his latest project, ALTARS. My eyes immediately widened as the only thing I had been able to obtain by them prior was a one-sided 7" released on Down in The Ground Records entitled "Ewig Verloren". I had no idea that someone I knew was responsible for the cacophonous and violent musical outbursts committed to that release. He went on to explain that they just recorded for a split single with a band from Iran (!!!) called HALLA (Allah spelled backwards) and we immediately forged a plan to release this project onto the world. If you are unfamiliar with either band and enjoy raw noisy black metal than I strongly suggest you check out the links above. As for this project, it will be limited to 350 copies and is underway now to hopefully be available sometime in July / early August for consumption.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Termbo praise for EARTHMEN & STRANGERS!

The reviews are in! Everyone including the fine folks over at Terminal Boredom are singing the praises of Perfectly Round Records latest release for EARTHMEN & STRANGERS. See for yourself...

Earthmen & Strangers "Painter" 7"
Jay Reatard and Ryan Wong always tended to head in the same directions, whether it was actually playing vicious punk together in the Reatards or going synth-punk before it was hip with Lost Sounds/Destruction Unit or coming around to punk with pop hooks via Jay's solo career and Ryan's current outfit Earthmen & Strangers. I don't think one was following the other in any way, I just think they had/have similar visions and interests which took them to the same conclusions. I honestly feel the E&S LP did a better job at the 'Blood Visions' sound than Jay did himself, for what it's worth. This new single (originally meant to be released on Jay's revitialized Shattered Records) takes things a step forward from there, much as Jay's final records did. "Painter" shows more complex songsmithery and detailed guitar pop with a fragile agressiveness, taking some influence from favorite Kiwi-pop sources. B-Side is "Space on Our Hands" which continues the same themes, upbeat guitar pop showing some delicate tension and played with plenty of finesse. Not a rocker by any means, but a beautifully constructed pop song with guts. Well done Mr. Rousseau. While I don't want to insinuate anyone will ever replace Jay Reatard, I think a lot of his ideas and soul carry on via Ryan, one of his longstanding bandmates and friends who he shared very similar ideas with for what they wanted to do with rock music. Ryan's had a long and illustrious career on his own anyway, which should be reason enough to pay attention. Scum stats: 500 pressed on purple vinyl, 6 test presses with alternate color sleeves. Comes in one of those resealable mylar bags Arizona boutique labels seem to have a real fetish for and has some very creative obi-strip style packaging/art.(RK)
(Perfectly Round Records // kotmrecords-at-hotmail.com)