Installment in Dull Knife’s singer songwriter series of deluxe 7” singles from Dan Melchior, with two side of post-Syd DIY garage crank and downer psychedelic ballads. Already sold out from the label. This one comes in three different sleeves, each one featuring a separate full-colour photograph affixed to the back. Hand-numbered edition of 300 copies.

Full-length LP from this Columbus, Ohio based group with connections to Psychedelic Horseshit. This is a weird pop-rock hybrid, with a distant, dislocated recording style, haunted piano, trading male/female vocals, a pop aesthetic that reflects on the more wayward International cells associated with K Records (Cannanes circa African Man’s Tomato maybe?), primitive post-Velvet Underground garage stagger (that eventually give sway to a full-blown “Sister Ray” styled jam) and an overall weird private press folk/rock atmosphere, heightened by both sides of the cover art. I dunno. This one sits in such a weird area, between a bunch of confusing and confused approaches, that has meant I have been repeatedly going back to it without fully understanding it. Either way, it’s an addictive spin.

Limited edition 7” from Dull Knife as part of their new singer-songwriter series. Each 7 comes in a hard card sleeve with an option of three different photographic sleeves. Richard sings and plays acoustic and electric guitar, electric bass and synthesizer. This is one of his wildest outings of late, with a fuzzy-caked psych rocker topped off with screaming distortion and an ultra-distorted vocal that relocates his cantorial style somewhere downwind of William Bennett. Flip has a distorted spoken word piece that has a nice, haunted atmosphere. Hand-numbered edition of 300 copies.

Hand-numbered edition of 300 copies 7” from this Baltimore boy/girl duo with a similar feel to early Charalambides and the basement styles of the 90s underground. The fuzz guitar approximates the infinite riffing euphoria of Luxurious Bags’ classic Frayed Knots side, with floating female vocals and handclaps that pilot it straight into the narcotic pop zone and a brokedown/avant garage style that is aesthetically spot-on. Excellent. 

“You may know the band from their fine releases on In The Red Records. Fans have been waiting a while for these two favourites to be released on record, and I’m thrilled they chose Dull Knife for the job. “Niels Bohr” has to be considered one of, if not the best song yet from the Los Angeles trio. Its guitar riff jackhammers into your brain before giving way to a deadpan chorus that is catchy as hell. The flip side is a killer noisy number in the Amp Rep tradition, and is the perfect foil to the A-side. In fact, let’s just call this a double A-sided 7”. – DKR. Edition of 500 copies.