Lofter

LOFTER,a recent band to have come out in the past couple of years. lofter comprises of arman, becky who used to be in sad bitch, cj who at one point was in joyce manor (dont ask him about it) and elan who i think was in sally field. anyways this band is nothing short of a demon spawn created by the genes of drive like jehu, nomeansno, early 200's screamo, et cetera et cetera. if you have had the pleasure of knowing arman you know this is the type of band he would be in. album's good by the way, worth checking out. their release featured here was put out by hairgrowth records on tape so cop it from there or download here

UNiTY

this is it - probably Oakland's most ubiquitous band to have ever come out in recent years. definitely the best around. Unity started out as a two piece between local artist Gabriel Ramierez and other (also ubiquitous) artist and guitarist/part singer of Meat Market Jeff Cheung. The band came into formation i think around 2012ish and stayed a two piece for while cranking out singles every now and then but was soon added by Alex Shen and Ian Tatum of meat market fame and Ayana from sally field, all forming a tight nit five piece. i dont know what to call Unity other than a really good ass rock guitar pop band, the music speaks for itself. the band has put out releases on bandcamp and self dubbed tapes every now and then but this is their main release, their self titled LP put out by ronnie from digital regress who was in a band called bicycle day. just know if that you leave this blog knowing anything about the bay is that Unity = Oakland.

10 tracks. you can download this via media fire our through digital regress's bandcamp here

FiSH BREATH :': Songs from the chaparral

ok so i think from now on i won't be quite consistent with new releases, there's a lot to cherish in recent years that can't be avoided. every now i'll sprinkle some blasts from the past saved from my drafts.

back to business. this is probably one of my favorite releases ever to come out of the bay from one of my favorite bands - fish breath's first album 'songs from the chaparral. this was released back in 2013 but i think had a year's worth of recordings prior to that. fish breath basically started as a solo project from George Carpenter, a now SFSU alum from san clemente who was in a band called red asphalt. that's probably getting a little to personal but basically this entire album was recorded by himself which i think is pretty neat. george was soon joined by oliver o'haver on guitar who is in other sf bands like dennis and toyota and michael cruz as bassist. fish breath has gone through a rotation of drummers but as a unit the band has always featured those three. some would point that fish breath has a touch of some stuff like unwound, swirlies or duster but this album has a mark of it's own. the songwriting is definitely creative in it's own right to be not to be considered as another 'revival' band like many others in the bay but its easy to see where some influences are drawn. that's just me though, i dont know. if anything i like to describe this album as 'mystical' and 'elusive' even though it just seems like another rock album. it's nothing but roughness around the edges. the volume dynamics is all fucked up and vocals are distinguishable but that's what makes it so good. see for yourself.

8 tracks, you can download the album via mediafire here or check out fish breath's bandcamp

NeMaTOdE

this is the label/press that i run where i release music from my friends' bands and projects from the bay area. at the moment they're all tapes but i've been thinking about expanding to other media soon and releasing distro items from other people. i charge only for the cost of making the cassettes themselves for the bands and not for any labor or profit and dub them all myself. since most of these tapes aren't online, the idea is to put whatever surplus/additional stock i make with my own money and sell them online, using the profits to go to charity like http://www.bayareagirlsrockcamp.org/ instead of keeping for myself. The bands with on this label include:

Summer Peaks

Jay Som

Crush

Buddies

Toner

Valley Girls

Check it out for yourself:

nematode.world

DAiSY WORLD ::: 7"

here it is, Daisy World's debut public release. their music was only previously available through on tape found at shows or on their soundcloud but this new 7" showcases some newly recorded tracks that have otherwise been unavailable. chock-full drony/loud guitar + drums and plodding vocals much like their live shows but with less feedback

http://www.mediafire.com/download/6fogg0hjljirij8/Daisy_World_-_7_inch.zip

CRAZY BUGS ::: BUG-OUT BAG

not at all from the bay area but definitely worth sharing: this release is from Vancouver's very Own crazy Bugs. featuring katayoon from OTHER JESUS and TOUGH CUSTOMER and Will 'flipmcgeesandy' from WEED and Marisa from CAVE GIRL. might be their debut release or might not, whatever, they played 34th and Telegraph in Oakland and El Rio in San Francisco not long ago and killed it. very hardhitting and fast punk rock with some cool lyrics, most is a little bit unintelligible due to the qaulity of the tape. the tape i got from them was a dubbed over voice cassette on flavonoids and free radicals. weird stuff.  still sounds good though, you can download it here:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/trq6ydj9c5hr8vw/Crazy_Bugs_-_Bug_Out_Bag.zip

FROOGYS GROOVIES ::: MOOVES

a semi fresh cut from san francisco's own Death Records, this album is the featured debut from local artist Emmet 'Muzzy' Moskowitz who's in a slew of other Death bands like Emotional, Healing Potpourri and Teenage Chain. these 11 tracks feature some pretty happy-jammy tunes made by Muzzy himself on guitar drums and vocals and whatever the heck else. albums like this are hard to come by because some Death Records releases never see the light of day online and only on tape so don't miss out!

http://www.mediafire.com/download/8b7bh9bvudyh53y/froogys_groovies_-_mooves.zip

EDIT: you can actually find this album here but not cut up into separate tracks/ you can also check out some more tunes of his here

PANG COMPILATION

the complete collection of tunes of former bay area band PANG whose songs are otherwise hard to come by. this comp is available as 'fan' package from special view and comes with the comp on cassette, a zine and an enamel pin. shame they never stuck around because all their songs RIP. luckily almost all the members are still off doing music here in the bay area: alexa is in MANY MANY bands including Violent Change, Rays, The World, amongst others; Elyse is in PUZZLED and also the World and maybe some other band that i can't remember off the top my head; Candace is in a band called Mansion who came out with a cool album last year called Early Life. The link below comes with all songs and a pdf scan of the zine

http://www.mediafire.com/download/yo0i1hixkxxlz7z/PANG.zip

BAJA BOYS ::: CS 1

new debut release from oakland natives BAJA BOYS. members of BONER, ABUSIVO, MEAT HEAD, HARSH VIBES, BEAUTIFIL FEELING, NEW CIRCLE, and SNVCKS. great for fans of blotter, glue or literally any other punk band with a bandcamp. recorded by a borrowed tascam by oliver o'savior of fish breath/dennis/toyota fame.