Back in 1997, we were all crammed into A. Ron Turner’s apartment back in Boston, talking about the first Miltown seven-inch like it just gave us a reach-around in the men’s room. On the other side of the country—San Francisco, to be precise—four dudes we’d never met put out a record called Nervous Circuits. Originally released on Honey Bear Records, the album unveiled the kind of punked-up robotic noise and feverish melodies that anticipated the vast and varied keyboard-enhanced punk/rock stylings of These Arms Are Snakes, The Faint and Death From Above 1979. Featuring former Angel Hair members Sonny Kay (vocals) and Joshua Hughes (guitar) alongside bassist/keyboardist Andrew Rothbard and drummer Dave Clifford, The VSS filtered Black Flag’s nihilism through a litany of crooks, hooks, edges and angularities (and their own light show, as seen on the bonus live DVD) to create “an environment of total saturation of sound, light and motion.” It was our kind of shit, but we just didn’t know it yet. And then the fuckers had to go and break up—before forming Pleasure Forever (Clifford, Rothbard, Hughes), Year Future (Kay) and Gold Standard Laboratories (Kay). But hey—thank Christ for reissues.

A brief history and disclaimer:

The VSS began in Boulder, Colorado in January 1995 and ended unceremoniously in July 1997. In that time the band relocated to San Francisco, toured the U.S. twice and Europe/UK once, released a series of 7-inch EPs and issued Nervous Circuits, its only full length album. It was recorded and mixed over the course of one week of sessions (usually lasting upwards of 16-hours per day) in October 1996 at the same Denver studio in which The VSS recorded its debut EP. Tracking of Nervous Circuits began on a Monday morning and the last mix was completed that Friday (Halloween) at midnight. The band then raced across town to play a late-night show that was one the most intense and unhinged performances of its brief tenure.

To this day, The VSS is commonly known for two things, 1) its inventive use of horror-film keyboards, angular guitar, unusual rhythmic shifts and vocal effects in creating a dark, jarring sound that merged punk, goth, psychedelia and experimental rock, and 2) its "crazy" light show, an unprecedented notion for the underground basement show set. These two components are said to be influential on the aesthetics of myriad bands to follow in the decade since the band's demise. Of course, the synthesizer was nothing new in punk rock. However, by the mid-90s, the synthesizer was such anathema to musicians still reveling in the faux-grit of grunge, that to the members of The VSS, adding keyboards to underground noise-punk seemed the perfect prescription for what had become a staggeringly dull scene.

The live footage included on the enclosed bonus DVD has been assembled from VHS tapes traded and distributed by fans over the years. Considering that many of the copies that found their way to us were fifth or perhaps even tenth generation and shot on consumer VHS camcorders at all ages venues, the video content is far from professional. However, we feel that these video clips capture the essence of The VSS aesthetic -- to create an environment of total saturation of sound, light and motion within a realm far distanced from the tedious trappings of arena rock posturing and production values. The footage here represents a good deal of the disorienting, unnerving and cathartic live experience of The VSS... perhaps an essential component to placing Nervous Circuits in context today.

* The VSS members currently play in: Year Future (Kay), Red Sparowes (Clifford), Rabbits (Hughes) and Andrew Douglas Rothbard (solo.)

“Nervous Circuits” CD
1. Death Scene
2. In Miniature
3. Sibling Ascending
4. Effigy
5. Lunar Weight
6. Conscious
7. What Kind of Ticks?
8. Chemical In Chemistry
9. Swift Kicks
10. Nervous Circuits

“The Skin of Tiny Teeth” CD (Bonus Disc/Digital content)

Studio recordings:
1. No Hands
2. Rats
3. Accessory
4. Silt, Etc.
5. Tone Dialer
Live on KZSC radio Santa Cruz, CA:
6. Trajectory
7. Death Scene
8. Swift Kicks
9. In Miniature
10. Sibling Ascending
11. Solid Gold Follower
12. What Kind of Ticks?
13. Lunar Weight
14. Nervous Circuits

DVD contents:

A) Nervous Circuits Tour 1997 (select performances of songs)
1. Death Scene (Fireside Bowl - Chicago)
2. What Kind of Ticks? (Fireside Bowl - Chicago)
3. I'll Wait Right Here* (DUMBO Warehouse - Brooklyn)
4. Swift Kicks (DUMBO Warehouse - Brooklyn)
5. Chemical In Chemistry (Black Cat - DC)
6. Lunar Weight (First Unitarian Church - Philadelphia)
7. Sibling Ascending (The Depot - Boulder)
8. I Cut My Teeth (The Depot - Boulder)
9. Nervous Circuits (The Depot - Boulder)

*Previously unrecorded

B) Full live set: Brooklyn, NY - DUMBO Warehouse
1. What Kind of Ticks?
2. Sibling Ascending
3. Death Scene
4. I'll Wait Right Here
5. Swift Kicks
6.I Cut My Teeth

C) Full live set: Boulder, CO - The Depot
1. Intro
2. What Kind of Ticks?
3. Death Scene
4. Sibling Ascending
5. I Cut My Teeth
6. Swift Kicks
7. Nervous Circuits

D) Full live set: Berkeley, CA - Co-op
1. Swift Kicks
2. What Kind of Ticks?3. Lunar Weight
4. Evolution

E) Slideshow gallery:
1. Photos
2. Fliers

For more information, visit:
www.thevss.com
www.myspace.com/thevssmusic

Torche/Boris US Tour
6/24 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
6/25 Tempe, AZ @ The Clubhouse
6/27 Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
6/28 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
6/29 San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit
7/1 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
7/2 Gainesville, FL @ Common Grounds
7/3 Orlando, FL @ The Social
7/5 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
7/6 Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle
7/8 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
7/9 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
7/10 New York, NY @ Webster Hall
7/11 Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East
7/12 Montreal, Quebec @ La Sala Rosa
7/13 Ottawa, Ontario @ Barrymore
7/14 Toronto, Ontario @ Lee's Palace
7/15 Buffalo, NY @ Tralf
7/16 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
7/17 Pittsburgh, PA @ Diesel
7/18 Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall
7/19 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
7/22 Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
7/23 Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theatre
7/25 Denver, CO @ Marquis Theater
7/26 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
7/29 Seattle, WA @ Neumo's

CLICK HERE to preorder

Back in 1997, we were all crammed into A. Ron Turner’s apartment back in Boston, talking about the first Miltown seven-inch like it just gave us a reach-around in the men’s room. On the other side of the country—San Francisco, to be precise—four dudes we’d never met put out a record called “Nervous Circuits”. Originally released on Honey Bear Records, the album unveiled the kind of punked-up robotic noise and feverish melodies that anticipated the vast and varied keyboardenhanced punk/rock stylings of These Arms Are Snakes, The Faint and Death From Above 1979. Featuring former Angel Hair members Sonny Kay (vocals) and Joshua Hughes (guitar) alongside bassist/keyboardist Andrew Rothbard and drummer Dave Clifford, The VSS filtered Black Flag’s nihilism through a litany of crooks, hooks, edges and angularities (and their own light show, as seen on the bonus live DVD) to create “an environment of total saturation of sound, light and motion.” It was our kind of shit, but we just didn’t know it yet. And then the fuckers had to go and break up-before forming Pleasure Forever (Clifford, Rothbard, Hughes), Year Future (Kay) and Gold Standard Laboratories (Kay). But hey—thank Christ for reissues.

This one is a doozy...a CD/DVD reissue of The VSS's "Nervous Circuits" album from an entire decade ago...and its pretty much been out of print the whole time. The CD is remastered, the DVD is loaded with select footage from through out the bands history as well as 3 additional full live sets...and for the first 1000 folks to buy the album they'll get a 14 track bonus disc containing 5 unreleased studio tracks and a 9 song live set.

Pre-order today and not only will you secure the limited (only 1,000) bonus disc, but also the option to add a VSS t-shirt, girl's shirt (who loves ya ladies), pullover hoodie, or heck all 3!

DAUGHTERS TOUR

5/30 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop *Daughters only
5/31 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean *Daughters only
6/1 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club *Daughters only
6/3 Iowa City, IA @ Picador w/ Russian Circles
6/4 St Louis, MO @ Bluebird Theater w/ Russian Circles
6/5 Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room w/ Russian Circles
6/6 Denver, CO @ Marquis w/ Russian Circles
6/7 Salt Lake City, UT @ Burt's Tiki Lounge w/ Russian Circles
6/8 Boise, ID @ Neurolux w/ Russian Circles
6/9 Seattle, WA @ Neumos w/ Russian Circles
6/10 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge w/ Russian Circles
6/11 Chico, CA @ Cafe Coda w/ Russian Circles
6/12 San Francisco, CA @ Slims w/ Russian Circles
6/14 Pomona, CA @ The Glasshouse w/ Russian Circles
6/15 Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour w/ Russian Circles
6/16 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah w/ Russian Circles
6/18 Phoenix, AZ @ The Clubhouse w/ Russian Circles
6/20 Austin, TX @ Red 7 w/ Russian Circles
6/21 Ft Worth, TX @ Lolas w/ Russian Circles
6/22 Houston, TX @ Rudyards w/ Russian Circles
6/23 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon w/ Russian Circles
6/24 Birmingham, AL @ Bottle Tree w/ Russian Circles
6/25 Atlanta, GA @ The Drunken Unicorn w/ Russian Circles
6/26 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 w/ Russian Circles
6/27 Wilmington, DE @ Harmony Grange w/ Russian Circles
6/28 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs w/ Russian Circles
6/29 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ Russian Circles
6/30 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar w/ Russian Circles
7/1 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place w/ Russian Circles

CLICK HERE to preorder
Album Stream: www.bluelambencydownward.com

For a VERY limited time you can get Kayo Dot's new album along with a limited-edition pillowcase, t-shirt, or both. These garments will be made ONLY for this pre-order, and are only going to be available to purchase through April 30th. After that you can still get the CD, but you'll be crying into your (ugly) pillow about missing this deal. The Kayo Dot pillowcases are hand-dyed and hand screen printed using water-based inks for a super-soft feel in the bedroom. We won't say they'll get you laid for sure, but artisan pillowcases always point to somebody with an appreciation for the finer things in life - such as Kayo Dot and hand-dyed pillowcases. And why stop there when you could also get a limited-edition Kayo Dot shirt to complete the whole effect? There is no good reason, friend - none.

The more we write these things, the more we begin to think that words simply don’t suffice. It’s like, first Pyramids, then Torche, and now this: Back-to-back-to-back WTF?s. We were thinking about how we should describe Blue Lambency Downward, and all kinds of phrases popped up—phrases like “a sonic experience unlike any other,” “Kayo Dot send irreverent compositional colors and supreme tonal iridescence bursting through the underground’s monotonous black & white” or “Kayo Dot levy a jazz-tinged sadness upon experimental rock’s triumphalist tendencies”—phrases sullied by overuse, vague incompatibility and the fact that if you’re reading this with even a passing interest, the word “jazz” probably bums you out. And yet multi-instrumentalists Toby Driver and Mia Matsumiya lull you into a dream state with a small cavalcade of instrumentation, plying an almost noir-ish sensibility at once moody and contemplative, bristling and demure. With a history that includes avant-metallurgists Maudlin Of The Well (Driver was the band’s, uh, driving force), John Zorn’s Tzadik Records (2003’s Choirs Of The Eye), Robotic Empire (2006’s Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue), and instruction from renowned jazz musician Dr. Yusef Lateef, Kayo Dot have delivered an unclassifiable masterpiece.

Track Listing:

1. Blue Lambency Downward (10:00)
2. Clelia Walking (5:29)
3. Right Hand is the One I Want (6:54)
4. The Sow Submits (4:02)
5. The Awkward Wind Wheel (3:29)
6. The Useless Ladder (2:40)
7. Symmetrical Arizona (10:48)

CLICK HERE to preorder
Album Stream: www.theresistingdreamer.com

Alright, we know this record has already been released, but until April 28th, you can pre-order your copy of Tusk's resisting dreamer LP WITH a limited-edition Tusk t-shirt. This shirt is offered exclusively with this pre-order - you can't get one without ordering a copy of the record, you can't get this shirt anywhere else (except maybe on Ebay in a couple of months), and you won't be able to order a shirt after April 28th (but you can still get the vinyl).

Track Listing:

1. The Everlasting Taste of Disguise (07:32)
2. Cold Twisted Aisle (07:43)
3. Life's Denial (05:58)
4. The Lewdness and Frenzy of Surrender (16:13)

CLICK HERE to preorder
Album Stream : www.pyramids-selftitled.com

It starts in the upper atmosphere, in that rarefied air where silence sings and time is little more than an abstraction. As it makes its way down through the tree line, to sea level, to the ear canals, elliptical windows and auditory nerves of the great unwashed, the shapes begin to shift. The sine waves become more distinct: swarming, swirling guitars, drums like a churning steam press, a chorus of celestial voices. Instruments collude and collide in a roiling shoal and then dissipate, leaving a cavernous hole, a ghost town, the vestiges and echoes of a brief terrestrial existence. Out in Dallas and “other parts of the country,” where seemingly mild psychotropic disturbances can have vast and sinister implications for certain elements within the local populaces, Pyramids conjure the cacophonies of the great unknown, one song at a time.

Until the end of April 27th, We've got a really snazzy looking limited edition t-shirt and hoodie that you can order along with your Pyramids 2XCD - word on the street is that they're designed by Aaron Turner (and might be screen printed with his blood).

Track Listing:

CD 1:

1. Sleds (3:12)
2. Igloo (3:19)
3. The Echo of Something Lovely (3:23)
4. End Resolve (3:44)
5. Hellmonk (3:16)
6. This House is Like Any Other World (3:03)
7. Hillary (3:18)
8. Ghost (3:30)
9. Monks (2:31)
10. 1, 2, 3 (2:35)

CD 2: Remixes

1. The Echo of Something Lovely [Toby Driver/Ted Parsons/Colin Marston] (5:34)
2. 1, 2, 3 [James Plotkin] (4:30)
3. The Echo of Something Lovely [Jesu] (6:18)
4. Sleds [loveliescrushing] (3:49)
5. Ghost [Birchville Cat Motel] (9:54)
6. Sleds [Blut Aus Nord] (3:35)
7. The Echo of Something Lovely [James Plotkin] (3:15)
8. The Echo of Something Lovely [loveliescrushing] (3:27)

www.myspace.com/pyramidsmusic

If you were ever wondering how complete your Pelican collection of vinyl was, some dude detailed EVERY aspect of every variety of Pelican vinyl over the years... check it out HERE

Meanderthal is an album people will be talking about all year. - Iann Robinson // Nonelouder.com

The group's definitive statement - Decibel Magazine

With a full-length and an EP under their belt, finally Torche's anthemic melodies, psychedelic freak-outs and foundation-rumbling tones have been captured on tape in a way that does justice to their notorious live show, as well as housing their most indie-rock-inspired melodies to date. - PaperThinWalls

One night some months ago we had a dream that one of our favorite bands would be on one of our favorite labels and together would release one of the most satisfying records in the history of forever. And the heavens would part, the Billboard charts would collapse under the sheer sonic awesomeness, and the world would become a better place — a place where everyone had free health care and a money tree in their backyard and a hot trophy wife or strapping young houseboy or whatever. And that band, ladies and gentlemen, was Torche.

And wouldn't you know it, that shit totally came true (we're waiting on the health care, the money tree, the houseboy and the Billboard thing, but still). And that record is Meanderthal. Call it the band's second official full-length (entrusted to us by our good friends at Robotic Empire) and follow-up to last year's six-song mini-epic In Return. Call it the latest and greatest bomb-string stoner pop/thunder rock/doom pop classic from Torche mastermind Steve Brooks and his fellow hook heroes. Call it the sweetest, catchiest, hugest riff colossus since Sky Valley. Shit, call it Album Of The Year if you want. That's what we're going with, anyway.

Stream all of Meanderthal at www.torche-meanderthal.com
and then go pick up a copy of your own at www.hydraheadshop.com

Meanderthal Tracklist
1. Triumph of Venus
2. Grenades
3. Piranha
4. Sandstorm 5. Speed of the Nail
6. Healer
7. Across the Shields
8. Sundown
9. Little Champion
10. Without A Sound
11. Fat Waves
12. Amnesian
13. Meanderthal

Torche Tour Dates:
w/ Stinking Lizaveta
May 7 2008 Downtown Music Little Rock, Arkansas
May 8 2008 Emo's Austin, Texas
May 30 2008 One Eyed Jacks New Orleans, Louisiana

w/ The Sword and Stinking Lizaveta
May 9 2008 Lola's Fort Worth, Texas
May 10 2008 Hi Tone Memphis, Tennessee
May 11 2008 Exit/In Nashville, Tennessee
May 12 2008 The Mad Hatter Covington, Kentucky
May 13 2008 The Magic Stick Detroit, Michigan
May 14 2008 Ravari Room Columbus, Ohio
May 15 2008 Rock and Roll Hotel Washington DC
May 16 2008 First Unitarian Church Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 17 2008 Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, New York
May 18 2008 Middle East Cambridge, Massachusetts
May 20 2008 Lincoln Theater Raleigh, North Carolina
May 21 2008 The Jinx Savannah, Georgia
May 22 2008 The Beta Bar Tallahassee, Florida
May 23 2008 Common Grounds Gainesville, Florida
May 24 2008 The Social Orlando, Florida
May 25 2008 State Theater St Pete, Florida
May 26 2008 Lenny's Atlanta, Georgia
May 27 2008 Bottle Tree Birmingham, Alabama
May 28 2008 Spanish Moon Baton Rouge, Louisiana
May 29 2008 Rudyard's Houston, Texas

For more information, visit:
www.myspace.com/torche

Sarah doesn't know how to blog.

As they head out west to begin their tour with Thrice and Circa Survive, the Pelican boys will be stopping in Omaha, NE for an in-store performance at Homers Music Orchard Plaza on Saturday April 12th. more info can be found at www.homersmusic.com

In addition, they will be doing a second in-store performance the following day, Sunday April 13th in Denver, CO at Twist & Shout at 4pm. info on this one can be attained from www.twistandshout.com