Maybe it’s the influence of Mercury and Saturn’s simultaneous retrograde or maybe just coincidence, but Goner Records at 2152 Young Ave. has been releasing a lot of Memphis music recently.
At the tail end of 2012, the label released the full-length albums of newcomers Ex-Cult and the dormant but reviving Barbaras, and in February the label dropped the seven-inch singles from The Manateees, Sector Zero, True Sons of Thunder and Toxie.
The flood of Memphis music releases was more a product of timing than intention, though Goner co-owner Eric Friedl said the recent success of Ex-Cult, who has been playing sold-out shows around the country with Ty Segall, helped push things forward.
“For whatever reason, there’s a bunch of bands that we’re interested in that had stuff,” Friedl said. “We didn’t really plan it that way, but it made sense after Ex-Cult got their thing going. It just seems like everything kind of came together.”
The Manateees single was reworked in the latter part of last year, but was originally recorded in the home studio of Andrew McCalla before he moved to Austin, Texas, in June 2012. The black or blue vinyl single features songs “Cat Food” and “Treehouse,” which elicit sing-a-longs during live shows. The band recently had a release show at the new Do-It-Yourself show space at 1372 Overton Park in Memphis and another in New Orleans during Mardi Gras weekend.
Manateees play a fast and dark version of punk and post-punk, driven by what White describes as a mixture of isolation and anxiety caused by growing up in Memphis surrounded by the constant threat of violence. Throw in White and bassist Keith Hall’s love of black metal and drummer Charlotte Watson’s first go at the drums, and the Manateees take form.
The Sector Zero single “Guitar Attack” features the late Jay Reatard on drums. The band, which consists of Goner owners Zac Ives and Friedl, has featured a number of drummers, such as Billy Hayes (Jay Reatard, The Barbaras), Nick Diablo (Viva L’American Death Ray) and Abe White. The single encapsulates a new millennium Memphis garage meets punk glory, repetitive and fuzzy around the edges with modulated freak-outs, all played through a tunnel.
Friedl’s other band, True Sons of Thunder, announced the release of its single “Black Astrologer.”
“I wasn’t thinking of black as in a race,” he said. “I was thinking of black as in black metal, and I don’t even know what that means. Then the idea of predicting the past sounded really stupid.” Hence, a song named “Black Astrologer” that repeats “Black astrologer predict the future, Black astrologer predict the past” that breaks into chant and an almost horrific and haunted onslaught of noise like a wall of doom. As Friedl said, “It’s just something that’s kind of wrong, so it’s interesting.”
The combination of Friedl (guitar, vocals), Richard Martin (banjitar, vocals), Sambeaux (bass), Joe Simpson (guitar) and Abe White (drums) has been playing together around subterranean Memphis for years, but started releasing singles in 2011. Much like The Barbaras, their shows often become theatrical with costumes, near chaos and breakdowns.
Reatard recorded The Barbaras album for a release on Los Angeles-based In The Red record label. He thought the recordings were lost on a crashed hard drive, but Goner rescued the drive and retrieved the recordings. Alicja Trout then helped re-master and remix them.
The Barbaras feature Billy Hayes (drums, vocals), Stephen Pope (bass), Alex Gates (guitar, vocals), Will McElroy (keyboards) and Bennett Foster (guitar, vocals). They are known for their warped version of Wilson/Spector-esque pop and their sensational shows played half-naked and covered in paint and balloons. A reunion show is planned for the Hi-Tone’s closing party Feb. 23 with another local cult act the Oblivians.
The Toxie single “Newgate” is a nice contrast to the other harsher, fuzzier seven inches. The blending tastes of McElroy (Magic Kids, Girls of the Gravitron), Alex Burden (vocals, bass), Madison Farmer (guitar, backing vocals) and drummer Ben Bauermeister (Warble, Girls of the Gravitron) craft a post-punk, pop that charms. McElroy said he imagined “Newgate” having a post-apocalyptic “lonely night on Tron-world” feel. The result is space-age pop meets Nico and the Suburban Lawns, nuanced and layered instrumentation with dark fluorescent lyrics delivered in sweet white noise.
And while not a product of the Goner label, local metal veterans Evil Army also released a new single available in the store. “I, Commander” is an accessible thrash metal single that pays homage to fast fingers and marathon drumming.
Over the years, Goner has released albums by Memphis favorites Harlan T. Bobo, Jack Oblivian, Limes, Lost Sounds, Final Solutions, Oblivians and Reatards.
“We’ve always wanted to be putting out Memphis bands and this time it just worked out at once,” Friedl said.
The Goner singles can be previewed on Goner’s Soundcloud page.
At the tail end of 2012, the label released the full-length albums of newcomers Ex-Cult and the dormant but reviving Barbaras, and in February the label dropped the seven-inch singles from The Manateees, Sector Zero, True Sons of Thunder and Toxie.
The flood of Memphis music releases was more a product of timing than intention, though Goner co-owner Eric Friedl said the recent success of Ex-Cult, who has been playing sold-out shows around the country with Ty Segall, helped push things forward.
“For whatever reason, there’s a bunch of bands that we’re interested in that had stuff,” Friedl said. “We didn’t really plan it that way, but it made sense after Ex-Cult got their thing going. It just seems like everything kind of came together.”
The Manateees single was reworked in the latter part of last year, but was originally recorded in the home studio of Andrew McCalla before he moved to Austin, Texas, in June 2012. The black or blue vinyl single features songs “Cat Food” and “Treehouse,” which elicit sing-a-longs during live shows. The band recently had a release show at the new Do-It-Yourself show space at 1372 Overton Park in Memphis and another in New Orleans during Mardi Gras weekend.
Manateees play a fast and dark version of punk and post-punk, driven by what White describes as a mixture of isolation and anxiety caused by growing up in Memphis surrounded by the constant threat of violence. Throw in White and bassist Keith Hall’s love of black metal and drummer Charlotte Watson’s first go at the drums, and the Manateees take form.
The Sector Zero single “Guitar Attack” features the late Jay Reatard on drums. The band, which consists of Goner owners Zac Ives and Friedl, has featured a number of drummers, such as Billy Hayes (Jay Reatard, The Barbaras), Nick Diablo (Viva L’American Death Ray) and Abe White. The single encapsulates a new millennium Memphis garage meets punk glory, repetitive and fuzzy around the edges with modulated freak-outs, all played through a tunnel.
Friedl’s other band, True Sons of Thunder, announced the release of its single “Black Astrologer.”
“I wasn’t thinking of black as in a race,” he said. “I was thinking of black as in black metal, and I don’t even know what that means. Then the idea of predicting the past sounded really stupid.” Hence, a song named “Black Astrologer” that repeats “Black astrologer predict the future, Black astrologer predict the past” that breaks into chant and an almost horrific and haunted onslaught of noise like a wall of doom. As Friedl said, “It’s just something that’s kind of wrong, so it’s interesting.”
The combination of Friedl (guitar, vocals), Richard Martin (banjitar, vocals), Sambeaux (bass), Joe Simpson (guitar) and Abe White (drums) has been playing together around subterranean Memphis for years, but started releasing singles in 2011. Much like The Barbaras, their shows often become theatrical with costumes, near chaos and breakdowns.
Reatard recorded The Barbaras album for a release on Los Angeles-based In The Red record label. He thought the recordings were lost on a crashed hard drive, but Goner rescued the drive and retrieved the recordings. Alicja Trout then helped re-master and remix them.
The Barbaras feature Billy Hayes (drums, vocals), Stephen Pope (bass), Alex Gates (guitar, vocals), Will McElroy (keyboards) and Bennett Foster (guitar, vocals). They are known for their warped version of Wilson/Spector-esque pop and their sensational shows played half-naked and covered in paint and balloons. A reunion show is planned for the Hi-Tone’s closing party Feb. 23 with another local cult act the Oblivians.
The Toxie single “Newgate” is a nice contrast to the other harsher, fuzzier seven inches. The blending tastes of McElroy (Magic Kids, Girls of the Gravitron), Alex Burden (vocals, bass), Madison Farmer (guitar, backing vocals) and drummer Ben Bauermeister (Warble, Girls of the Gravitron) craft a post-punk, pop that charms. McElroy said he imagined “Newgate” having a post-apocalyptic “lonely night on Tron-world” feel. The result is space-age pop meets Nico and the Suburban Lawns, nuanced and layered instrumentation with dark fluorescent lyrics delivered in sweet white noise.
And while not a product of the Goner label, local metal veterans Evil Army also released a new single available in the store. “I, Commander” is an accessible thrash metal single that pays homage to fast fingers and marathon drumming.
Over the years, Goner has released albums by Memphis favorites Harlan T. Bobo, Jack Oblivian, Limes, Lost Sounds, Final Solutions, Oblivians and Reatards.
“We’ve always wanted to be putting out Memphis bands and this time it just worked out at once,” Friedl said.
The Goner singles can be previewed on Goner’s Soundcloud page.