kind, Tape-Toons, Will Sessions and other awesome stuff!

Before I get back to the MBV posts (of which there are two more) I wanted to share some info about some things coming up and some recent releases.



kind are going to be performing live on October 23rd at Akron's Musica with Full Wave Rectifier so make sure you go! It's gonna be Full Wave Rectifer's last show and I'm so bummed! I just found out about them and then they've gotta break up? WAHHHHH!!! Still though, they rock and I'm sure everyone will continue to rock in their own fashion. kind ain't going anywhere though, they're still working on new songs and getting them recorded. Hopefully there will be some new music soon from them! But in the meantime, get yourself to Musica so you can give a warm finale to Full Wave Rectifier and let them and kind rock your worlds!


I'm going to be posting a full review for a band that's local to me named Tape-Toons in the near future. They're from the Kent, Ohio area and just pressed up CDs of their debut album, Gravel Love, and it's really, REALLY good! Because I'm going to be doing a full review of their CD and talking with them for a post I'm not gonna say much here, but you can check out their song, Mice In The Walls, via the link below. They'll have a video for it online soon which is being done by my buddy, Bobby Makar, who did the logo for us here at The Unheard Music. In regards to their sound, it's bluesy but noisy and a little out there. Very cool guys and very cool music! You can check out their MySpace and Facebook pages for more details..

Tape-Toons - Mice In The Walls



I just got to hear the new Will Sessions EP, Kindred, the other day and it's damn smooth. Will Sessions is the brainchild of Sam Beaubien who plays trumpet and keyboards and does arrangements. The new EP is a tribute to the pioneers of jazz fusion (actually the EP's proper title is Kindred: A Tribute To The Pioneers Of Jazz Fusion) and it does it's job really well. The pieces on the EP are full compositions so don't expect Will Sessions to get wild like mid-seventies Miles Davis but the record is so full of soul and the performances lively. Sam's trumpet really reminds me of Miles' seventies space funk and if that gets your interest you'll love the record. It's coming out on The Few Records and being distributed by Community Projects, a subsidiary of Carl Craig's Planet E Records. I've got a track below for you to check out from the record and it's hot! Make sure you get the EP when it drops and I'll have more info as to where you can get it ASAP.

Will Sessions - Polyester People



There have been a lot of really high profile releases this week and I wanted to remind folks of a few of them.



Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score for The Social Network is out digitally as of yesterday and you can pre-order physical copies right now via Trent's Null Corporation label. As of right now you can get the album as high quality MP3s for $2.99 from Amazon but you can get lossless formats as of tomorrow from the Null Corp. site. On top of that, if you order the physical release you'll get an immediate download of the album in lossless, MP3 or a variety of formats. The soundtrack is excellent and it makes me think Trent should have done the new Tron movie instead of Daft Punk. He and Atticus clearly have a Wendy Carlos influence in their sound. Going to see the movie on Friday too. Hope it's great!



Schematic's StiLL iLL is now available via Amazon digital and iTunes! GET IT NOW!


If you pre-ordered the new Sufjan Stevens before, I believe last Friday, you should have received a free download in lossless, MP3 or just about any other format you could want of the full album, The Age Of Adz, and man is it incredible! Electronics play a more significant role throughout the album and might be a little surprising for those not expecting that sound, but the songs are as wonderful as ever and everyone should be pleased. The album will receive a normal physical and digital release on October 12th. You can still pre-order it but you'll have to wait until then for your download. If you can't wait though, you can stream the whole album over at NPR.



Neil Young's Le Noise is out and it's awesome! Get it on iTunes, Amazon digital, or at your favorite shop where you buy CDs. This is definitely his best album in years!



And just in case you missed it, No Age's Everything In Between came out last Tuesday. It's awesome and you can get it digitally or physically via your favorite shops. The vinyl version comes with a huge booklet of photos, lyrics and other imagery. It's a really beautiful release and totally worth it if you wanna spend a few extra dollars.



And on a few other notes...



Got my copy of The State's Comedy For Gracious Living yesterday, and it has the most absurd CD packaging I've ever seen. The liner notes fold out so you can compare your height with that of the individual members of The State. Totally insane! I don't know how many copies are left, but I heard that about two thousand were made available so you should head on over to Rhino Handmade quick if you want to purchase one. It's totally worth it!



Soctt Pilgrim vs. The World gets a DVD/Blu-Ray release on November 7th! I hate to say it but I may end up buying a Blu-Ray player for all the incredible bonus features. It's gonna be so SWEET!!!!!



On a side note, Cee-Lo Green's new album, The Lady Killer, got moved up for release also on November 7th! That album is gonna be sweet!




I'll be back tomorrow with my second My Bloody Valentine post, and yes, I will include We Have All The Time In The World in that or the third post. Also, I'm planning my Christmas/holiday/whateveryouwannacallit gift and was wondering if anyone out there might want to assist me. The big thing at this point is I'd like some help with the art. If you are an artist and might like to help me with a reinterpretation of something, please drop me a line and we can chat about it. I'll be asking for some more assistance as we get closer to December, but it's mostly going to be so I can have some help distributing it.

Take care everyone and see you all tomorrow!




PS - This was the most difficult post I've done in forever. Way too difficult to get all these images to work right! Hell, The State pic is frickin' sideways! WTF?

kind: The Killer Instinct Never Dies!

So I've mentioned kind here on a few different occasions but haven't gone into great detail. They're a five-piece band from the Akron, Ohio area and sound something like Neil Young & Crazy Horse meeting Sonic Youth with an industrial drummer crushing everything in it's path. In other words, SIMPLY AWESOME!

The first things some people point out about the band is that three of its members were in Dink, an industrial/dance/rock band also formed in the Kent/Akron area in the nineties who grabbed fame with their hit single, Green Mind, and their self-titled debut. They also point out the similarity between band names, kind vs. Dink. Next, many assume there must be a further connection between the bands, as if kind was the logical progression from Dink. They would be wrong though, as the D word is rarely spoken by members of the band and their sound couldn't be further from that of Dink. Gone is the electronic/industrial sheen, replaced by vocalist/guitarist Teresa F. Bosko's hauntingly poetic voice and songs, as she is the primary songwriter. Sean Carlin, on guitar and occasional vocals, brings the noise with Steve Gang, also on guitar and vocals, going off like Pee Wee Herman possessed, all the while backed by Jeff Finn holding it down on bass and Ed VanDerKuil destroying everything in his path via his drum kit.

After hanging with the band at a rehearsal and recording session, I was asked if I wanted to come see the band play live. They didn't need to ask twice, but I couldn't get to their first official show in 2009, so this past Saturday I went down to Akron's Musica for a night of rock. They were joined by opener Collideascope and co-headliner, Full Wave Rectifier, which features ex-Dink vocalist, Jer Herring.

Not to be cruel, but Collideascope were weak. Not much in the way of melodies or changes was displayed by the group, although they had a full-blown merchandise table they didn't even use. On the other hand though, Full Wave Rectifier kicked ass! You can find more about them at their myspace site and I'm definitely grabbing some of their releases very soon. They even went so far as to perform an awesome rendition of Dink's Green Mind with Bob Serpentini samples to boot! Full Wave Rectifier are probably easiest to describe as indie, but their sound is full of pop and punk influences.

kind took the stage around eleven and shook the house with their Cowboy Song, which starts off slow moving to an eventual whiplash pace. I recognized most of the songs from previous hearings, but they seemed to take on a new energy with Ed's percussion being so tight and the band sounding purely on fire. Teresa's vocals are almost like a conversation, as if she's telling you what she's seen and you're her confidant. Her voice reminds me of Tori Amos, not saying that Teresa sounds like Tori though, but rather that she exudes a power and confidence which strikes you without the need to scream or yell, although she sounds just as mighty when she does get loud. For instance, during In The Passing Lane With Neil Young, she sings about what sounds like the final days during the end of the world as we or at least someone knows it. She never forces it down your throat, rather she quietly grabs your attention as the band creates a storm of a performance, though no matter how loud they are you're always focused on what she has to say, and she sounds so sure of every word.

Teresa doesn't completely handle the vocal duties, as Steve takes the mic on three songs. His vocals remind me of Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh on overdrive, or as I mentioned earlier, a darker, crazier Pee Wee Herman. During the Dog/God song he went buckwild about nuns and religion, and Creepy Crawly is like a psycho take on the Velvet Underground's Waiting For My Man. Apart from Steve's jump to front and center, the only other vocals were provided by Sean on the sole holdover from the Dink days, The Heroin Song, now a stompingly angry love/sex letter with a needle in it's vein. The band finished off with Your Favorite Song, featuring a furious vocal from Teresa letting everyone know they shouldn't mistake kind's music for anyone else, although I don't know if anyone could mistake their sound for another band. That's a compliment by the way!

Right now, the only sampling I can provide you of kind's sound is what they have on their myspace page. Sean let me know that these are rough mixes and that more complete mixes have been made since, they just haven't been uploaded yet. Hopefully, if they don't put them on the myspace page, they will be available elsewhere, maybe even here, but for now you should check these versions out ASAP! And if you're liking what you're hearing, drop them a line and let them know, they will appreciate it. Better yet, see them live next time!

Attention: Cats

I'm sure you all noticed I started this year with some momentum, but it broke last week when an emergency arose within my family. I can't say that it's been resolved, so I can't promise regular updates this week, but I'll try to continue the momentum nonetheless. That said, today's post won't be the most detailed and has been simmering for quite a while, but if you're into experimental, noise and electronic music I'm sure you'll find it quite enjoyable.



Keith Fullerton Whitman, also known as Hrvatski, has released quite a few records under that pseudonym as well as his own name, but one of his first releases was under multiple aliases making itself out to be a compilation of artists from his Massachusetts scene. This comp was released on vinyl only under the name Attention: Cats, although years later, Keith admitted that it was all him when he announced an intended reissue of his amazing Oiseaux album (which you can still download here!). That reissue never happened, but Attention: Cats still circulated online between fans of Keith's releases.

This rip is taken from my own original vinyl pressing, although the rip is quite old. In my opinion, it's still a very good quality, but I may have to update it eventually. For more info on this album, check the bottom of this page from Keith's record shop, Mimaroglu Music Sales, detailing his discography as well as the reference page at Discogs. You can also check out some demos from this album, Oiseaux and some early Hrvatski tracks at this page on Keith's site.


Attention: Cats



PS - Unrelated to Mr. Whitman and the namesake compilation of this post, I wanted to point your attention to my friends in the band kind and their myspace page. They have posted rough mixes of their first two demos, although the finished mixes should be online sometime in the near future. Also, they'll be playing Musica in Akron, Ohio this Saturday the 23rd with Full Wave Rectifier and another band whose name escapes me at the moment (sorry fellas). I suggest you go get rocked if you're in the area!