Formerly known as Lite Brite until the threat of legal action necessitated a name change, Sacramento’s American Killers are anything but delicate. Set to bring back various old school rock styles on their debut EP, this three piece band are loud, brash and subtle as bricks. What they aren’t is very good. These five songs show off a lot of bravado and volume, but are ultimately the work of four musicians who understand nothing about range or emotion.
MIND VICE – Humanimality EP
In the mid-90s, lo-fi producer Conrad Uno was a busy man. He put his name to various Mudhoney projects, produced the Supersuckers, Fastbacks, Zeke, The Groovie Ghoulies and countless other bands. He founded the PopLlama record label. In terms of commercial success, however, he’s probably best known as the man who produced the debut album by novelty rock band The Presidents of the United States of America, a record that spawned sizeable hits in ‘Peaches’ and ‘Lump’.
HECTOR AND THE LEAVES – Little Bee EP
London based singer-songwriter Tom Hector has an old spirit. On this, his third EP, his music has a dreamy quality, resurrecting sixties pop and sunny attitudes, replayed through a sort of nineties filter. It results in four tunes that might appeal to fans of the Beach Boys or The Feeling, yet at the same time he presents material that holds on to a slightly woozy attitude that might just catch the ear of those who’ve followed the solo career of The Bluetones’ Mark Morriss.
¡VAMANOS! – ¡Vamanos! Presents A Ten Inch At 45RPMs
In 2014, as one of the first batch of releases issued by cassette specialists King Pizza Records, Brooklyn’s ¡Vamanos! dropped a handful of tracks that truly set the pace with regard to two-man garage blues noise-making. The five tracks demonstrated a powerhouse performance, culminating with perhaps the filthiest rendition of ‘Death Letter’ committed to tape. The live shows, of course, were even more intense – “disgusting”, even, to quote their label boss. At the beginning of 2016, Alex (g/v) and Tyler (d/v) returned to Danny Rose’s studio – the location of prior recordings – to try and capture an even rawer and more intense representation of the band.
JOYKILL COLLECTIVE – Joykill Collective EP
Joykill Collective are a collective in the genuine sense. Formed in the attic of a shared house, the band are not a band at all, but a gathering fronted by a man named Leif, whose primary interests appear to be music and left-wing politics. With friends, he created music, grew his own food in a rooftop garden and shared political ideals. This debut EP collects the Collective’s earliest recordings, four songs of heavy-ish, guitar driven indie rockers that often have a sinister edge, conveying the dark political times in which they were written.