JULIANNA BARWICK PACING EP

Julianna Barwick returns with two new haunting compositions. “Pacing” features Barwick’s voice and layered harmonies, “but it’s a bit of a diversion from the vocal loop-based songs I tend to make” says Barwick. “I absolutely love the piano. I wish I could play it better. For the cover, I chose my friend Peter Coffin’s photograph of a piece he did based on the Newton color scale that corresponds perfectly to the musical scale. I absolutely love the image and it corresponds well with the piano pieces on the single.” The b-side, “Call,” is a frail and passionate solo piano piece.

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://suicidesqueeze.bandcamp.com/album/pacing

WHITE WOODS BIG TALKING EP

White Woods is the alias for Julia Kugel, better known for her work as the guitarist and vocalist for Atlanta’s riotous garage rockers The Coathangers. Under her solo moniker, Kugel delivered a heartfelt blend of golden-oldies and subdued Americana with her debut single on Suicide Squeeze last year. Now Kugel is back with another two-song White Woods offering, exploring the same kind of sultry vintage sounds that made her first 7” sell out so quickly. The A-side, “Big Talking,“ takes The Coathangers’ attitude, unplugs it from the amps, and delivers its admonishment with a graceful AM radio vibe. On the flipside, “Corner Town” conjures the sex and strut of David Lynch’s pop-culture nods to ‘50s.

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://suicidesqueeze.bandcamp.com/album/big-talking

NUMERATORS DEAD EP

George W. Bush. Cormac McCarthy novels. Chainsaw massacres. Texas has a reputation for being a grim place. Sure, there’s the rock n’ roll haven of Austin, the metropolitan hubs of Dallas and Houston, and the weird art commune of Marfa. But by and large, it’s a land of dry counties and conservatism. Which makes the demented psych garage of Lubbock’s Numerators all the more compelling. Western Texas is perhaps the most inhospitable region of the state for a young band of misfits to combine a love of David Lynch’s twisted take on the ‘50s with a requisite dash of Lone Star homage to 13th Floor Elevators, yet somehow the Numerators managed to thrive under such stark conditions. Now based in Brooklyn, the trio continues to belt out their hallucinatory reverb-drenched garage rock on their latest single for Suicide Squeeze.

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://suicidesqueeze.bandcamp.com/album/dead

"FINALLY SEES” OFFICIAL VIDEO – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hcn6wbAp3w

AUDACITY FINDERS KEEPERS EP

There’s a common-held notion that great rock music only comes out of big cities, as if the grime and struggle of life in urban spaces is the essential fuel for truly passionate rock n roll. But this was a belief when cities were emptying out and the suburbs were growing. Now we’re witnessing the repopulation of major metropolitan areas. Suburbs are becoming the new wasteland. Perhaps that’s the reason why the Orange County suburb of Fullerton was finally able to birth a band like Audacity. Nurtured by local garage rock havens like record store/label Burger Records, the young brash power pop of Audacity kick out jams that are both aptly sunny and gritty—a perfect blend of SoCal’s good weather and endless concrete. With two LPs under the young four-piece’s belt, they’ve set aside two songs for a 7” on Suicide Squeeze before they unleash another full-length later this year. For the uninitiated, “Finders Keepers” b/w “Onomatopoeia” is the perfect introduction to Audacity’s potent combination of pop melodies and roughly hewn energy.

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://suicidesqueeze.bandcamp.com/album/finders-keepers

THE COATHANGERS / NÜ SENSAE DEREK’S SONG EP

Atlanta’s reigning garage rock daughters The Coathangers return with the third installment in their series of split 7”s on Suicide Squeeze. This time they’ve teamed up with labelmates Nü Sensae. Both new listeners and longtime fans of The Coathangers will be whipped into a frenzy with “Derek’s Song”, a party-banger perfectly encapsulating the quartet’s capacity for sharp hooks and jagged instrumentation. Nü Sensae contribute “Throw” to their side of the split. Rounding out their sound with the recent addition of guitarist Brody McKnight, Nü Sensae’s newest song is a ferocious and harrowing leap forward. Brody unleashes foreboding guitar squalls while bassist/vocalist Andrea Lukic rages like Kim Gordon at her most incendiary moments and Daniel Pitout beats his drums to a bloody pulp. The Coathangers’ side will make you wanna get off your ass and dance while the Nü Sensae side will make you wanna go torch a car.

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://thecoathangers.bandcamp.com/album/dereks-song-throw

“DEREK’S SONG” OFFICIAL VIDEO – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu6wUrCNYlQ

DESTRUCTION UNIT TWO STRONG HITS EP

Newly reborn out of the Ascetic House art collective, Destruction Unit emerges with “Two Strong Hits,“ a 7” single that will stick in your head for weeks, more and more echoed until you no longer hear it – you LIVE it. It is organized, driving chaos, determined to break everything loose and free everybody from their imaginary prisons and phony leaders. In just under eight minutes, Destruction Unit’s sonic repetition, feedback experimentation and pummeling drums make for two songs that go off like a machine gun in the trenches of your psyche, all without a note feeling out of place. They will drive you crazy out of your head and into your body. Both tracks are loud, noisy and organic, no flashy solos or technical pandering. In fact, don’t expect to find music at all. Destruction Unit is a direct message from the American underground – and the message is FREEDOM! Turn everything over to the freaks and BE FREE!

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://suicidesqueeze.bandcamp.com/album/two-strong-hits

“SONIC PEARL” OFFICIAL VIDEO – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkbgRkHihvI

ANTWON DYING IN THE PUSSY EP

Hip-hop has always been a cultural mash-up. Starting with the mixed-genre sources of its turntable roots and evidenced in its appropriation into other music forms, hip-hop thrives under the absorption and re-contextualizing of the world around it. San Jose artist Antwon is a continuation of hip-hop’s legacy of amalgams. Rather than building songs out of drumbreaks from old funk and disco records, Antwon is more likely to rap over shoegaze and post-rock samples. He commiserates and collaborates with black metal bands and chillwave pioneers. His performances garner crowds more akin to Gilman Street punk shows than rap concerts—an appropriate development considering his outspoken appreciation for Bay Area powerviolence bands. In keeping with his unlikely bedfellows, Antwon’s latest EP comes courtesy of indie stalwart Suicide Squeeze. Mixed by Lars Stalfors, producer and engineer behind multiple Mars Volta and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez albums, “Dying In The Pussy” marries an MC’s traditional sexual bravado with a signature style of smoked-out fatalism over ominous interweaving synth lines. In contrast to the A-side’s sinister swagger, “Life Is What You Make It” is Antwon’s summer jam. A stylistic continuation of last year’s collaboration with Pictureplane, this b-side gem is a perfect blend of chilled-out West Coast hip-hop set against the backdrop of glitchy, warbling electropop.

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://suicidesqueeze.bandcamp.com/album/dying-in-the-pussy

“DYING IN THE PUSSY” OFFICIAL VIDEO – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9saLEZlKEU

YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN YT//ST CD/LP (re-issue)

YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN are a psychedelic noh-wave opera group fusing noise, metal, pop and folk music into a multidisciplinary hyper-orientalist cesspool of ‘eastern’ culture in giant monochrome paper sets. Blending Noh, Peking Opera, Buddhist Ritual Punk, Taiko Shows, Tokusatsu, Performance Art, Rock Opera and their own mangaesque cardboard ‘NEVERFLAT’ style of 2.5D set design, their bizarre form of music//altheater have awed and shocked audiences in Montreal for several years.

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://suicidesqueeze.bandcamp.com/album/yt-st

“HOSHI NEKO” OFFICIAL VIDEO – http://vimeo.com/36662755

LA LUZ BRAINWASH EP

Seattle quartet La Luz immediately brings to mind the girl groups of the ‘50s and ‘60s. The immaculate four-part harmonies, the luscious layers of reverb, the occasional choreographed dance move, even the band’s penchant for oldies-style artwork—it all conjures images of beehived ladies singing sweetly on grainy black-and-white television. But give the new “Brainwash b/w T.V. Dream” single a spin and try to pin down a specific reference point from the past. You can’t. The dexterous but economic keyboard lines of Alice Sandahl and the stripped-down groove laid down by the rhythm section of Abbey Blackwell and Marian Li Pino don’t fit in with wall-of-sound icons like The Crystals or The Ronettes. The nimble surf rock twang of guitarist Shana Cleveland is at odds with classic Motown groups like The Marvelettes or The Supremes. Yes, the doo-wop nostalgia is certainly there, but the manufactured glamour and studio sheen is absent. The ladies of La Luz are true Pacific Northwesterners–swathed in warm wool sweaters, laying into their instruments as their hair messily spills over their faces, making records in trailer parks on the outskirts of the city, and battling the gloomy weather by channeling the summer on the two golden nuggets of their latest EP.

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://suicidesqueeze.bandcamp.com/album/brainwash

“BRAINWASH” OFFICIAL VIDEO – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cahFMKorqM

MEAT MARKET TOO TIRED EP

With a name like Meat Market, you’d expect this Oakland-based band to sound like the soundtrack to Saturday night in some douchey velvet-roped nightclub. You’d expect big thumping booty-bass and lascivious lyrics. You’d expect a fan-base of popped collars and bared midriffs. While the quartet does wield the power to pack in throngs of sweaty young people looking to dance, their sound bears little resemblance to the incessant thud of your standard club-banger. Instead, these four college-aged kids bust out a blend of surf guitar twang with garage-crafted power pop–think The Ventures meets The Marked Men. The band has already amassed a solid following in California and along the route to SXSW with just a self-titled cassette/LP to their name. Meat Market now offers up two new songs via Suicide Squeeze. “Too Tired” perfectly encapsulates their sound: a marriage of propulsive Stratocaster riffs with a big catchy chorus. B-side “The Return of Prince Donathunn” is an even stronger nod to the wave-riding instrumental groups of the ‘60s, with the steady 4/4 beat and dueling guitar leads belying the bands outspoken apathy towards surfing.

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://suicidesqueeze.bandcamp.com/album/too-tired

THE COATHANGERS / AUDACITY ADDERALL EP

The Coathangers are a relentless force. Not content to rest on their laurels with 2011’s sweaty summer classic Larceny & Old Lace, Atlanta’s roadwarrior daughters delivered a new split 7” every six months courtesy of Suicide Squeeze Records. Previous installments have paired their no-fucks-given badassery with Puerto Rican partiers Davila 666, Canadian bass-riff maestros Nu Sensae, and Nashville vintage-rockers Heavy Cream. The Coathangers’ final chapter in the series has them sharing a slab of vinyl with recent Suicide Squeeze signees Audacity. Hailing from Orange County, Audacity perfectly embody Southern California’s polarizing elements of sunshine and urban density. While not exactly “Good Vibrations” or “Welcome To The Jungle”, Audacity’s split-exclusive “Earthbot” shows both undeniable pop savvy and savage fretboard awareness. For their side, The Coathangers pay homage to driver’s-little-helper with “Adderall”. Showcasing the grittier side of their sound while still maintaining all of their token swagger, “Adderall” is a fitting cap on the split 7” series that carried through two years of relentless touring across North America and Europe.

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://thecoathangers.bandcamp.com/album/adderall-earthbot

AUDACITY BUTTER KNIFE CD/LP

Audacity’s latest full-length Butter Knife is still, at its core, a garage rock record. Album opener “Couldn’t Hold A Candle” is a perfect introduction to Audacity’s battle plan—a balanced blend of pop sensibility and ribald power. “Hole In The Sky” showcases the band’s gift for the on-the-dime changes, sophisticated melodies, and clever instrumental interplay. “Red Wine” demonstrates a Robert Pollard-like knack for turning an unexpected chord combination into a remarkably punchy chorus. And album closer “Autumn” harkens back to the balladry of power pop kings Big Star. All of which is to say, Audacity are tighter and more clever than your average suburban band, and consequently they’re one of the strongest acts in the Southern Californian garage rock scene.

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://suicidesqueeze.bandcamp.com/album/butter-knife

“HOLE IN THE SKY” OFFICIAL VIDEO – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzNp8pcdoog

MINUS THE BEAR ACOUSTICS II LP

In February 2009, an EP called Acoustics was released featuring newly recorded acoustic versions of fan favorites from Minus the Bear’s prolific career along with one new track. Limited to 5000 copies of vinyl, Acoustics is now out of print. Acoustics II is the second volume in this exciting series and this time it’s a full LP containing a batch of eight newly recorded and interpreted stand out tracks in addition to two brand new songs entitled “The Storm” and “Riddles”. Acoustics II is sure to please long time fans and welcome new fans to this critically acclaimed rock band.

“ACOUSTICS II” OFFICIAL TRAILER – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txBJugGYll4

YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN UZU CD/LP

With their sophomore effort UZU, Alaska and Ruby continue their exploration of cultural dualities. While YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN has always provided an outlet for the core duo’s celebration of their Asian heritage, the inclusion of auxiliary musicians and artists into the fold has reinforced one of the most crucial defining dualities of the group: the merging of diasporic and indigenous perspectives. This meeting of East and West is perhaps most visible in UZU’s lead single “One”. As the first YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN song to extend the songwriting credits beyond the core duo, “One” incorporates the indigenous upbringings of the extended group by leading off with a traditional Iroquois song. The introductory chant is a social song calling all people together, and is performed by people of the Mohawk tribe. From there, the band kicks into a driving guitar line and a vocal hook as sweet as any J-pop hit. Metal riffing, free-jazz cacophony, and meditative Eastern percussion patterns accentuate the song. In the hands of lesser visionaries, this kind of cross-pollination would sound like a schizophrenic genre mash-up. But YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN’s appropriations never sound forced. Rather, it sounds like a celebration of the cultural collision of Alaska and Ruby’s upbringing. The hybridization is evident throughout UZU—you can hear it in the operatic piano-and-vocal opener “Atalanta” segueing into the dynamic prog of “Whalesong”, the Eastern melodies seamlessly melding into the synth arpeggio and guitar dirge of “Windflower”, the musical storytelling tradition of “Seasickness Pt. 1” juxtaposing with the Heart-like classic rock gallop of “Seasickness Pt. 2”, and the closing choir passage of “Saturn’s Return” descending into Merzbow-esque white noise. It is safe to say there is no other band like YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN on the planet. In a world that is increasingly homogenized, a record like UZU is all the more important for demonstrating how disparate cultural perspectives can merge into something entirely new while retaining their individual sovereign character.

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://suicidesqueeze.bandcamp.com/album/uzu

“ONE” OFFICIAL VIDEO – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH3X4D0NyS8

“SATURN’S RETURN” OFFICIAL VIDEO – http://vimeo.com/75122835

NATURAL CHILD / GUANTANAMO BAYWATCH SURF N TURF EP

There couldn’t be a better title than Surf N Turf for a split 7” between Portland, Oregon’s Guantanamo Baywatch and Nashville, Tennessee’s Natural Child. While Guantanamo Baywatch bask in the coastal traditions of surf rock, Natural Child deliver the backwoods boogie of the landlocked Southern interior. To be fair, there’s much more to GB than vibrato-soaked Mosrite guitars. The recent Suicide Squeeze signees offset their Dick Dale-styled twang with the trashy hybrid of garage punk and surf rock spewed out by The Mummies. Sure, “Raunch Stomp” is in step with the Ventures’ tremolo-picking tradition, but a song like “Love This Time” explains why the band spent time on the boisterous Dirtnap Records roster. Neither is Natural Child to be mistaken for mere good ol’ boy sons of Skynyrd. Though they’ve certainly got a knack for a country-fried ballad (as evidenced on “Don’t Wake The Baby”) or a sweetly stoned fuzzed-out lead on guitar, the trio are better suited for sharing a beer-soaked bar stage with fellow Nashevillians JEFF the Brotherhood and Heavy Cream than headlining the mainstage at the state fair.

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://suicidesqueeze.bandcamp.com/album/surf-n-turf

EATING OUT BURN EP

Eating Out is the crunchy, distorted, pop-oriented project of Nü Sensae drummer Daniel Pitout. The big distorted guitar riffs and heartfelt melodies of Pitout’s brainchild are a notable departure from Nü Sensae’s roaring assault. But Eating Out also has the proud distinction of being a Vancouver supergroup of sorts. While Pitout assumes the songwriting duties and the accompanying positions of guitarist and vocalist, fellow Sensae Brody McKnight rounds out the guitar department, White Lung vocalist Mish Way lends her bass skills, and Peace’s Geoff Dembicki fills in on drums. While vestiges of Nü Sensae’s brash tonalities, White Lung’s melodic treatment of hardcore, and Peace’s bold anglophile pop can all be heard in Eating Out, Pitout’s songs owe more to girl-grunge groups of the early nineties than to any of his co-conspirators’ primary projects. The three songs on their 7” for Suicide Squeeze Records originally appeared on a limited run of 150 cassettes released by Burger Records back in 2012. “Burn”, “Come Around”, and “That’s My Man” are given a new life on vinyl, showcasing Pitout’s penchant for the triumphant loud-quiet-loud structures and electric catharsis of groups like Hole and L7.

FULL ALBUM STREAM – http://suicidesqueeze.bandcamp.com/album/burn

“BURN” OFFICIAL VIDEO – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5sE9p4NAaI