Nothington

San Fransisco trio Nothington (named after the guitarist/vocalist Jay Northington?) offers up some nice sing-along “anthemic punk” in the late-Social Distortion/Dropkick Murphys style on their third album Borrowed Time released on BYO Records. Formed after the break-up of pop-punk outfit Tsunami Bomb, this incarnation offers up more classic-sounding punk with a tight delivery from the band and great, gravelly-voiced vocals courtesy singer Jay that really makes them stand out.

Great production and some really good songs perfect for drinking Irish whiskey, the band is touring extensively on both sides of the Atlantic so make sure you catch them live. Great!

Sample track:

Bandcamp: http://nothington.bandcamp.com/
Website: http://www.facebook.com/nothington

An Evening with Adam West

Well, I’m gonna try to write this without resorting to “na-na-na-na-nah-nah – Batman!”. Recorded at The Jon Lovitz Podcast Theatre, An Evening with Adam West is a 90-minute retrospective hosted by Ralph Garman focusing on Adam West and his illustrious 50+ year career. Crammed with info, the pair cover everything from his TV-westerns to the (in)famous Batman series.

A pretty fun interview if you’re a fan of Adam West and all proceeds finance his upcoming star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Pictures and videos from the event are available on the website.

Sample track:

Bandcamp: http://ralphgarman.bandcamp.com/album/an-evening-with-adam-west
Website: http://eveningwithadamwest.tumblr.com/

The Ganaschz

More garage duo action is served up by Australian outfit The Ganaschz on their self-titled EP released in the summer of 2011. Primitive no-filler punk in the same vein as Red Aunts, the band has a great femme screecher delivering the vocals that really makes ’em stand out. Add a production that’s noisy without ever resorting to being lo-fi, punchy delivery and a general sense of fun bringing to mind early The Donnas and you got yourself a winner!

Four songs in total of noisy swamp blues-influenced garage punk with a nice quality recording made to be cranked up loud. On the final track they even manage to get a slight bit of AC/DC thing going! Three EP’s so far, check ’em out!

Sample track:

Bandcamp: http://theganaschz.bandcamp.com/
Website: http://www.facebook.com/TheGanaschz

T Rex/Bolan Boogie

Wow! Usually I try to focus on independent music, but I’m going to make an exception in my coverage today because this is a damn treasure trove for fans of Marc Bolan and T Rex too damn good not to write about! The Bolan Boogie site on Bandcamp offers up tons of previously unrelased material from this great R&R artist – all for mere pocket change!

You get five live albums, three appearances at the BBC, one album compiling alternate takes from studio recordings, albums compiling US radio tracks – and more! Sound quality varies but with an average price of £2 you ain’t got that much to lose. Check it out!

Sample track:

Bandcamp: http://bolan-boogie.bandcamp.com/
Website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bolan-Boogie/214712905281572

Donald Seward

Some great instrumental soul/funk jams are served up by French Canadian Donald Seward and his backing band on their debut offering Studio “B” Funk EP, released on Les Disques Pluton in 2010. Drenched in roots they got the sound down pat with a great rythm section, nice action on the hammond and horn section – with some occasional jazz flute too boot!

Three songs in total (four if you download) of great classic funk served up with fitting 70’s style production. If you’re into classic 70’s TV themes a’la Streets of San Fransisco or cult blaxploitation like Shaft make sure you check this out! Bio is in French I’m afraid so I couldn’t really make much out of it.

Sample track:

Bandcamp: http://donaldseward.bandcamp.com/
Website: http://lesdisquespluton.com/

Donald Thompson

For a slice of great punk rock ‘n’ roll in the same vein as Electric Frankenstein, check out Donald Thompson‘s promotional material on Bandcamp! Unfortunately kinda light in the bio department – the only thing I could make out is he’s apparently living in Italy – his music is pretty basic rock and roll injected with a healthy dose of punk energy.

Two records was released in November 2011; the promotional EP Promo Tracks 2011, and (my fave) the song Bite My Ass. Cool, short burst of “action rock”, great production and really sweet artwork courtesy Coop himself. Three free downloads in total so check him out!

Sample track:

Bandcamp: http://donaldthompson.bandcamp.com/
Website: N/A

The Protons

Well, there’s no beating around the bush on this one, Portland outfit The Protons serve up tons of cool modern garage rock/surf instrumentals in the same vein as Man or Astro Man?, and even got the odd band member aliases down. Still they manage to steer clear of being outright copy-cats and the songs they offer up are pretty damn good. Add some nice  production – minus the samples MoAM? always used – and you got yourself a pretty good collection of tunes!

Great, sci-fi themed instrumental music – with a definitive slant on robots – showing off some great musicianship and cool  song ideas. There’s  eleven tracks – no album! – available on their Bandcamp as of now, but I gotta say it’s pretty annoying having each song as a separate release instead of collecting ’em all in one place. Let’s hope there’s an album coming soon!

Sample track:

Bandcamp: http://theprotons.bandcamp.com
Website: http://www.facebook.com/TheProtons

Fidlar

Well, drunk punk is nothing new, but every now and then it’s really fun to play loud – if nothing else to celebrate hedonism. Los Angeles outfit Fidlar offers up pretty classic sounding songs blending the hardcore of FEAR and Gang Green with 90’s trashy garage a’la The Mummies/The Spider Babies on their second offering – the 4-track EP DIYDUI.

Loud fun delivered with a healthy amount of speed and noisy production, nice sing-a-longs and pretty funny lyrics, the opening track Wake Bake Skate is a future classic that instantly grabbed me and had me humming along by the second listen. The debut song Chinese Weed is available as a free download and there’s a vinyl version of the EP for us record collector nerds available too. Make sure you check out their video as well!

Sample track:

Bandcamp: http://fidlar.bandcamp.com/
Website: http://www.myspace.com/fidlar

The Black Mill Tapes Vol.3

Library music meets early synth retro with Pye Corner Audio‘s The Black Mill Tapes series, compiling what they claim are a collection of obscure cassette and 1/4″ reel tape recordings from an unknown artist recorded sometime in the 80’s. Compiled by The Head Technician (true identity apparently withheld), the third installment offers up twelve tracks of early transcendent electronica faintly reminiscent of late 70’s Kraftwerk.

We’re talking heavy Moog sounds with fairly primitive rythms, but it really works and oddly enough brought back a lot of memories from the golden days of video horror, as the songs really reminds me of soundtracks from Carpenter and even the Italo splatterfests by Lucio Fulci. Free downloads are available, so check ’em out!

Sample track:

Bandcamp: http://pyecorneraudio.bandcamp.com/
Website: http://pyecorneraudio.wordpress.com/

Fear of Lipstick

Canadian quartet Fear of Lipstick serves up a take on Pop Punk that’s very refreshing on their latest album Seasons. Nice staccato guitars, singalong choruses and tons of hooks bringing to mind the classic ’77 sounds of Buzzcocks and a bit of Generation X – without ever trying to ape the bigger names of the 90’s Pop Punk explosion (a common problem in that scene I gotta say). Add a great production steering clear of the lo-fi camp and good vocal delivery and you got a nice little gem on your hands!

You get fourteen high-energy pop blasts on the album that’s available as a free download (yay!), and the vinyl version will be released later on this year by German label P Trash Records.

Sample track:

Bandcamp: http://fearoflipstick.bandcamp.com/
Website: http://www.facebook.com/fearoflipstick