All items in our Music section are 50% off until Midnight Pacific Time, April 21/22, 2012 in celebration of Record Store Day. Discount applied when items are added to your cart.
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82 year old American teenager poised for holographic comeback. The original fanboy who leant his likeness to brilliantly packaged nostalgia injections – as pictured above – has joined the aether. His tortured gravely voiced accompaniment to recent annual roll overs in the city that never sleeps served to underline the terminal subtext of such celebrations. We are lesser for his loss.. Lien bearers to an infinitude of continued nostalgias without frontier. Witnesses to an infinity of gloved cartoon feet pressing against our sinuses with the urgency of a bear tainted by the taste for the fruits of the city. About the BBC has shared a selection of photographs charting the life of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a department based at Maida Vale Studios in Delaware Road, West London dedicated to producing sound effects and new music set up in 1958 and closed down forty years later. They were freaking awesome. More reading on Sound on Sound. You are also required to watch the Alchemists of Sound. Part one is below. By Marc Arsenault | April 14th, 2012 |  Leave a comment
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Categories: music, Why We Do This, Wow Cool For those who were without New York public access TV or forgot to steam this last night. It’s Jason Martin on the Chris Gethard Show. Apologies to our Philly friends. The Jason action starts around 21 minutes in with “Alpha Dog”. They return at 45:30 with Mariah Moriah. After that you’re on your own. It’s pretty much an Evolution Revolution reunion with Aaron Smith, Troy Pohl and Jesse Pellerin. Chris knows his history, and he gives a little love to Brown Cuts Neighbors:
In other Jason news, there are some astounding photos up on Brooklyn Vegan of the Andrew W. K. show from a few nights ago which featured Jason’s Power Animals with Aleister X. Get Jason’s songs on his SoundCloud page. The show is also available as a podcast on iTunes It’s episode #41. Sarah, as Mike Kirsch, has been one of the most distinctive voices in punk for many bands you may know (Fuel, Sawhorse, Pinhead Gunpowder, John Henry West, Torches To Rome, Bread And Circuits, Please Inform The Captain This Is A Hijack, Baader Brains, Mothercountry Motherfuckers, etc.). She not too long ago came out as a proud trans-woman, and almost immediately was confronted with these terrible health problems. Money is badly needed. Details: Aside from the unconditional emotional and physical support Sarah has received from her devoted extended family and friends, donations to date have been enormously helpful in lightening the financial burden of this kind of illness. The demand for supplies not covered by insurance is, however, unending and deepening — from food to cleaning supplies to lotion to kleenex to parking at the hospital… and this is to say nothing of larger caregiving expenses. It is all adding up and multiple life savings have already been depleted. ??If you’re able and would like to contribute in this way, please check out our WePay account below. There is no donation too small, every $ helps.?? Sarah was bandmates with our own Joshua Baker in Sawhorse. I was going to use some more recent video, but couldn’t resist this classic clip of the mighty Fuel. Most of this post was lifted straight off of Maximum RockNRoll. Happy Music Monday with this 1999 clip of Nick Cave talking about the mighty Pop Group. Sorry there was a bit of a blogging blackout here last week. It wasn’t intentional, just slightly less than usual going on. Will try to get a thorough update of all the little bits happening up here on Tuesday. By Marc Arsenault | April 2nd, 2012 | Leave a comment
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Categories: music, Why We Do This, Wow Cool New song. 2012. Radio Friendly. Jason Martin Website After this past weekend I think we all need a double dose of the following… Three of my all-time favorite songs from when I first heard them to forever. By Marc Arsenault | March 12th, 2012 | Leave a comment
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Categories: music, Video, Why We Do This, Wow Cool Erin is my hero. Go listen to her awesome Life During Wartime radio show, which she’s been co-hosting for over 15 years. The shows used to be released on cassette back in the ’90s. This is the video of the week over on Maximum RockNRoll, where Erin and I are both fairly lazy contributors. OMG, the cameraman is quite in love with Erick Lyle and Anandi in that concert video! Erin rocked the drums with our own Joshua Baker in Things I Hate and Chased and Smashed (as seen in the video, duh). The Chased and Smashed – 30 Seconds Over Hillsboro EP is still available right here. By Marc Arsenault | March 10th, 2012 | Leave a comment
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Categories: Andy's Chair, music, Video, Wow Cool
Discovered via Brian Chippendale’s Twitter, Lightning Bolt shares a very recent 20-odd minute jam. Released today on BandCamp. Enjoy.
One of my favorite jokes on the original Muppet Show series is a throw-away comment by one of the Statler and Waldorf duo about how the only papers he reads are the New York Times and the Manchester Guardian. It works on several levels, and seems to have been likely constructed thus. On the surface it’s the throwaway comment that indicates he has no clue what, exactly, the other has said. The content of the comment is inclusive with regards to the two primary english speaking audiences of the show – American and British (note: the show was produced in the UK, and the episodes broadcast there had a greater length, typically including a muppet version of an English music hall standard that was omitted in the US version); and, possibly most humorously, the Guardian had dropped ‘Manchester’ from it’s masthead many years earlier – in 1959 – thus playing on the aged dottiness of the character. I only bring this up, because, in my experience, the talented and well traveled cartoonist and musician Jeffrey Lewis has only ever received much press attention from the Guardian and, now, The New York Times. Good work if you can get it, as they say. Create hopelessly obscure personal work, get all but ignored by the underground but routinely receive notice(s) from the best of the mainstream press. So, in keeping with this (perceived) tradition, a nearly decade-old song of Jeffrey’s is given full play by the artist himself in both text and comic form in the New York Times. The NYT itself having recently come under some scrutiny for cartoonist hiring tactics. Although not any kind of clinician, physician, pediatrician, psycheotrician myself, this sounds more like good old-fashioned insomnia to me and not a proper anxiety attack being described in the song. As mentioned somewhere in there, Jeffrey also does the music for Jon Ronson’s series Esc and Ctrl, which is well worth a view anyways. By Marc Arsenault | February 15th, 2012 | Leave a comment
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Categories: Funny Books, music, Wow Cool CASH Music Platform. You just need to go and read the whole pitch on this one. I imagine if you are not a music maker you might not care. I am very happy to see this happening. Some of the people involved are quite close to things you will be hearing about coming from Wow Cool quite soon, some others I have met and talked to and greatly respect their work, and the fact that they are behind this speaks volumes. Sorry if that’s a bit vague. Get behind this. By Marc Arsenault | February 14th, 2012 | Leave a comment
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Categories: music, Upcoming Blasts, Wow Cool Live at The Brick House – Turners Falls, MA. Otherwise unreleased track. Release show for the Harmonic Time Cycles & Scary Guitar Man Cassette on Yeay! Every once in a blue moon, tabs get cleared out and links get posted. Here’s the latest installment of the cool stuff roundup. If you can click on only one, please check out “The 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores in the World” by Emily Temple, on FlavorWire. The ultimate in shelf porn. I think I’ve been to only one of these, Shakespeare & Company in Paris. As you may have heard, the artist Mike Kelley is dead. The above video of the unholy trinity of art hooligans Mike, Gary Panter and Matt Groening is a great romp to lift your spirits. The Magic Band (as in Captain Beefheart’s) has been touring recently – with original members John “Drumbo” French, Mark “Rockette Morton” Boston and Denny “Feelers Rebo” Walley. This tour report from Drumbo is much more interesting than you might guess. His history of the band Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic is well worth tracking down. Sold out of its first printing well before it actually goes on sale this Monday, the new comic book of Adventure Time looks like it might actually be ‘all that’. The many alternate covers of issue three – including one by Michael DeForge – are previewed on the Frederator site. Read Wow Cool’s roundup of the Artists of Adventure Time. You may have heard of 24-Hour Comic Day, there appears to also be something called Hourly Comic Day – “On February first a bunch of people make a journal comic every hour they are awake. and then they show these journal comics to other people on the internet.” Bad Machinery‘s John Allison participated. I’m sure others did, but there are only so many hours in the day… Apparently Too Much Coffee Man shows up as an NPC in some strange incarnation of Half-Life. Lynda Barry delights in coloring book misuse and abuse and many other wondrous sights on her tumblr. Didn’t hear much noise about this elsewhere, but it seems that the “Monty Python team set for film reunion with Absolutely Anything” It’s animated, yes. I’m currently in the process of reading this interview with and exploring the sounds and software of Richard Devine. I’m a particular fan of Graincube. Richard’s DEVSND blog. Wow Cool crucial guy Joshua Baker has recently returned to Portland after a long sojourn up in Maine. He and partner Eli have a blog of their trip up that you may enjoy. So… does this mean a chapter three in the God Hates Computers/Chased and Smashed Saga (or is that a chapter four in the Things I Hate/God Hates Computers/Chased and Smashed Saga? Or wait, are there more?… goddamn punk bands…) Simon Gane draws cathedrals. Sure, mummies and Rodan are cool, but these big ass churchy things could probably kick your ass too! By Marc Arsenault | February 6th, 2012 | Leave a comment
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Categories: Funny Books, music, Video, Wow Cool
Out on the Warp label this Tuesday, January 24 is Gonjasufi‘s MU.ZZ.LE. Although it’s just ten short tracks, this could well be the album of the year (hey, early days… but this is an incredible collection of music). You can preview the entire record on Fader. Audio CD and Vinyl release out on Tuesday. Digital presumably out then too (Gonjasufi iTunes page). Hopefully you also checked out Ganjasufi’s interview and 20-minute guest mix on Tom Ravenscroft’s BBC 6Music show from January 13 (Friday the 13th!). Maybe it will turn up on Gonjasufi’s SoundCloud page. In 1977, Ringo Starr did four commercials hawking Simple Life Leisure Suits for Japanese TV. They contained variations of the song, “I Love My Suit” – sung by Ringo, featuring background vocals by Harry Nilsson and Davy Jones of The Monkees. I can’t begin to say how awesome I think this song and video are. Would love to see a higher quality copy of the commercial. Info here. Download the song from backup singer Davy Jones.
UNREST Perfect Teeth / 7″ Box Set from Teen-Beat on Vimeo. UNREST’s landmark indie-rock album, Perfect Teeth, has been out of print for 15 years. Their last, and widely considered their best album. Featuring M.T.V. hits “Make Out Club” and “Cath Carroll”, the other 8 songs, plus 6 non-LP tracks. it is being re-released in it’s original 7″ vinyl box set format, revised with a 7″ 24-page booklet filled with photographs of the band by Erin Smith and recording session photos by Mark Robinson, six records all on color vinyl, full-color labels, replicas of the Unrest and Teen-Beat stickers, and a download coupon. Just like the original, the box will be printed by Independent Project Press, this time with metallic gold ink. Each box will be numbered. You may pre-order it today at http://teenbeatrecords.com It will ship in Spring, 2012. It is no secret that we at Wow Cool *heart* Unrest all over like a cheap suit. By Marc Arsenault | January 18th, 2012 | Leave a comment
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Categories: music, Upcoming Blasts, Video, Wow Cool
Adam Arcuragi and The Lupine Chorale Society – with Andrew Gerhan on Bass – kicks off a one month US Tour on Wednesday, January 18th at Los Angeles’ Bootleg Bar. More local to Wow Cool HQ, they will be in San Francisco at The Hotel Utah on Thursday. They’ll be hitting 22 states, so there is a good chance they will be playing somewhere near you soon. Their album Like a fire that consumes all before it… Andrew Gerhan is, of course, the chief audio mixer and general knob fiddler for Wow Cool. Two of the records he added massive polishing to will be released this spring. Stay tuned for more news… By Marc Arsenault | January 17th, 2012 | Leave a comment
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Categories: music, Upcoming Blasts, Wow Cool This is a couple years old, but somehow I totally missed it. The Empire State’s favorite sons The Scientific Maps present a video loveletter to Albany, New York(!!!???). Starring ace designer Philip Pascuzzo as the bubblegum bandit. Makes a nice follow up to the Andy’s Chair 4 video zine posted here awhile ago – see the same settings virtually unchanged after over a decade and a half. Look for a special appearance by my Brown Cuts Neighbors “Make Room” poster featuring Frank Beam, towards the end of the video. Thanks to all the folks that shared this on facebook this week. Yes, it is I. The irregular Wow Cool link dump. Usually posted on a Monday or Tuesday, often in two parts, often skipping many weeks. We are well back from the holidays, and therefore it is time to obliterate every open tab and share the good bits that emerge. We open with the fight song from of the original St. Trinnian’s films. As you may have heard, St. Trinnian’s creator Ronald Searle passed away a few days ago. He has been remembered far and wide. I tried and failed to find what I thought would be the perfect image to present, so I went with the video instead. If you are going to read only one obituary of the late British cartoonist, you should read the one by Steven Heller in the New York Times. And, hey, I actually liked the newer St. Trinnian’s films. If you have a couple days to spare you really should take the time to read this interview with amigo Steve Bissette – part of the Comics Reporter holiday interview series. I could list about half of the rest as must reads too, but I’ll let you pick your own favorites. I was hit totally from left field to see that the Comics Journal had run this astoundingly comprehensive profile of the great Motorbooty zine assembled by Frank Santoro. Mark Dancey is the man and make no doubt. Our late friend and inspiration Dylan Williams, of Sparkplug Comics, is being chronicled in bloggy fashion at the DYLAN WILLIAMS ARCHIVES – The life and work of Dylan F. Williams 1970 – 2011. “We are attempting to archive the life and work of Dylan Williams: Collected writings, comics, artwork, sketches, letters, stories, photos and tributes. This is an ongoing project compiled by Dylan’s friends and family. If you have something you would like to contribute, please write to tom (at) iwilldestroyyou (dot) com” If you knew Dylan, then the Amazon reviews will make you chuckle and miss him all the more. I lied a couple paragraphs ago, you also must read this Comics Reporter holiday interview with the current proprietors of Sparkplug. I would be amiss to not give a shout-out to Sean T. Collins for giving us a Shout-out in this post-holiday roundup of amazing comics stuff. It’s part three of… how many? Does this guy ever sleep? So much goodness out there. In related news, CBR’s Robot 6 has gone into overdrive the last few days (while most of us were relaxing) with great news, bits, previews and more. Seriously, too much to mention, just start digging. And give special attention to this Robot 6 exclusive preview of titles coming from Koyama Press in 2012. We’ve just added a couple more Koyama titles to the shop here at Wow Cool. Snatch those up, because they are low in quantity and not likely to be reprinted. OK… in more related news, just one more specific Robot 6 link, and another Koyama-related bit, even… you should really read their recent interview with Michael DeForge, who is also one of the featured artists at Wow Cool. I’m not sure if Wednesday or Thursday is new comics day where you are. All I know is Paul Grist’s Mudman issue 2 is out from Image. Go get that! I’m sure I could go on… but I refuse. Carry on… single file, begone with you! Link dumpage composed while listening to Tom Ravenscroft sitting in for Gideon Coe on BBC 6Music. By Marc Arsenault | January 5th, 2012 | Leave a comment
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Categories: Funny Books, Hearts and Minds, music, Upcoming Blasts, Why We Do This, Wow Cool |
      
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will be released on January 31st on the Thirty Tigers label.
