Almost Ready

Cheater Slicks

Live On WFMU / At Carabar

Almost Ready

***A-side features five songs the Cheater Slicks recorded live on Terre T's Cherry Blossom Clinic show on WMFU in 2004. B-side rips four more recorded at Carabar in 2006. Pressed on blue vinyl.

Ravi Shavi

Erase America

Almost Ready

***Opening with the distorted chant “Erase America!” over angle-grinder guitar, Ravi Shavi dispense with any subtlety and deliver their most caustic and combative work yet, their fifth release on arbiter of outsider punk Almost Ready Records. Frontman and brainchild Rafay Rashid has long possessed an ability to channel the canonical saints of underground rock; if past releases found him scaling a Punk Rushmore of Ziggy, Iggy, and Lou, Erase America burns a votive candle for the profane soul of Mark E. Smith. Songs like “Intifada”, “US Rat”, and “Miracle Bombs” fuse the paranoid catharsis of post-punk and no wave with the avant-noise nihilism of the band’s Providence, R.I. home base. The resulting speedball might be the first record to fully look the fetid corpse of post-empire America eye to eye. “The motherland of killing another man” indeed.

Top Sinnaz

Sink Water & Wonder Bread

Almost Ready

***If 2025 is the year hip-hop left the pop charts, 2026 is the year Top Sinnaz light a torch that shows the way forward, with five hood sagas straight from East Orange, New Jerusalem. Delivered with intensity, melody, and a firm grasp of the past, present, and future—from the street, from the soul, from starving mouths raised on Sink Water and Wonder Bread.Those lucky enough to cop the scarce copies of the Jadakiss-blessed promo got their ears handed to them, and were left stuttering hallowed names like Dilla and DOOM, Prodigy and Nas to anyone that would listen. Here at last is the official release: “Peasants” pulls no punches, you’re dropped into the slums where even Newark’s lights are too far away for salvation; Pythf and Rae trade rapid verses and Bone Thug inflected harmony over the blunted horns on “Attendance”; while producer Drunk Dodgers unfurls a quiet storm on “Poverty” that haunts like the bass thumps from an Eldorado peeling out in the rain.This is your introduction to the Mills Brothers Empire, and they're just getting warmed up. Fuck around and find out.

Ashley, Greg

Neon Exotica

Almost Ready

***"Greg Ashley (The Gris Gris, The Mirrors) keeps the flame lit with a new solo record for Almost Ready. The album opener, “Medication #11,” has a weary wobble to it, a kind of beleaguered grace that floats the song’s invective on pungent breezes. There’s a sense that Ashley’s done taking shit, finished suffering fools and, honestly who can’t relate about now? The song starts out the cycle on his new album Neon Exotica..."—Raven Sings The Blues

Ashley, Greg

Jailbirds And Vagabonds / Six AM At The Black And White

Almost Ready

***Greg Ashley is back with a couple new versions of previously released tunes from his album Pictures of Saint Paul Street. The A side is a second look at "Jailbirds And Vagabonds," while the flip is Saint Paul Street's closer "Six AM at the Black & White".

Cheater Slicks

Live At CBGBs 1992

Almost Ready

***"This recording is from the second time we played at CBGB. We had been invited by Jon Spencer to play at a Blues Explosion show there. Jon had been generously inviting us to play shows in New York City since 1991 or so. It was a great thrill and helped us get out of the insular Boston scene and out into the real world, so to speak. This show was held around the time that our second LP Destination Lonely was released but we had already moved away from that more bare boned garage sound, and were starting to play songs that would be released on subsequent records such as Whiskey and Don’t Like You. We were beginning to come into our own as a bass-less, three piece band, learning how to play in the heavy style that would come into full being in the mid-90s. At that time, we just wanted to play as wild as we could. I think this show is a great representation of that. The show was remastered by Marco Butcher from edited masters of the original board tape."—Tom Shannon

Cheater Slicks

Vera 1996

Almost Ready

***"When we first arrived in Europe, we landed at Heathrow airport in London and were taken by ferry across the channel to France and then up to the Netherlands to play our first show in the basement of Vera. Later in the tour we returned to Vera to play the upstairs main stage where this recording was made by our road manager Edwin who worked the soundboard and did the live mix. The tour was in support of our record Don’t Like You and this set list was very representative of our performances at that time. We were having fun, and the partying was pretty much non-stop, especially in Groningen. We are forever grateful to the people at Vera for getting us over to Europe and treating us so kindly. We hope this recording is an accurate reminder of those crazy times. The recording was remastered by Marco Butcher from edited transfers of the original board tape."—Tom Shannon

Atlantic Thrills

III

Almost Ready

***With eleven tracks of monster hooks, fueled in equal measure by homegrown sativa, cheap suds and lysergic diethylamide, Providence, RI's Atlantic Thrills drop their latest disk, Ill, on Almost Ready Records. The world has no shortage of greasy riff-meisters plumbing the depths of Nuggets and Pebbles comps, yet the Thrills set themselves apart with a bombastic sound too big for any garage. Toss in some Radio Birdman and your pick of more pop-forward Killed by Death cuts, shouted choruses and plenty of ooooz and ahhhhs, and if you're not horny for a bone ride to the nearest swimming hole, you'd better have another hit, Jack and Jill. Ill is an obvious nod to the band's third full-length release but also marks their definitive line-up shift to a power trio. Eric Aguiar and Dan Tanner handle bass and guitar respectively, while trading lead vocals and sharing harmonies. Longtime collaborator Mark Ferrara has returned to the fold on drums and proves to be the demented nucleus of this unstable atom. Ill is an album that gets the business end of hard partying and rough loving down to a science.

Lookers

Deeper

Almost Ready

***Recorded and produced by Bradford Krieger at Big Nice Studio, Deeper speaks to the complexity of desire, its erotic absences and desperations, its thrills. With songs originating deep in the shuddering heart of the band, most tracks pull from Muggs Fogarty’s language and Rafay Rashid’s musical instincts. Animal was sparked by Florence Wallis in response to Sinead O’Connor’s "I Want Your (Hands On Me)." Taking the listener with them on a journey through hungry nights in the dirty scenes of Providence, Lookers pulls you across the grit of old mill bricks and into the studio with assertively tight grooves, dynamic vocals and guitar riffs that urge you to move. For all its moments of frenetic brutality, Deeper demands relation, bringing you ultimately into a physical intimacy, a plea for skin to skin contact.

Malakas, The

She's My Walkin' Rock 'N' Roll

Almost Ready

***Two killer rock'n'roll smokers from the Malakas circa 2000 and left unreleased at the time. Led by the late Cranford Nix.

Rashid, Rafay

Kitchen Weapons

Almost Ready

***Kitchen Weapons is the debut solo album from Rafay Rashid. These eight spacious, lushly-rendered songs turn a lens to the spiritual and personal costs of a life spent in pursuit of artistic glory. Unsparing, unrelenting, with a voice by turns anguished, haunted or pleading, Rashid pokes deep into existential dread, processing the ashes of a decade-long relationship and standing on the cusp of his thirties facing mental and physical ruin. Written on a piano in the basement of a decrepit triple-decker during a “moment before the moment of clarity,” the album follows Rashid as he wrestles with ego, questions of identity and autonomy, and the purpose of art itself. Kitchen Weapons marks a creative turn for Rashid from his work as the kinetic frontman of the cult Providence, RI-based band Ravi Shavi. Working with producer and drummer Dennis Ryan, who deftly balances virtuosic takes from his bandmates in Deer Tick, Rashid has assembled a host of stellar contributors, reflecting his time in any number of one-offs, side-projects, and supporting roles across the Providence underground music scene.

Hunches

Same New Thing

Almost Ready

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  THE HUNCHES surfaced in the waking years of this century to hit a nerve that desperately needed hitting. Playing a cacophonic, gritty kind of rock & roll, they were an antithesis to the stylized version of so-called garage rock that had come into favor. The Portland four-piece released three full-lengths and an assortment of singles on labels like In the Red before calling it a day in 2009. Now, Almost Ready Records, who released an album’s worth of demos in 2016, is releasing a second full volume of recordings heretofore unheard. Recorded in 2002, many of these demos would wind up on their first album, Yes No. Shut It. Here, though, cuts like “Explosion” and “Confusion” are less overblown, with the nuances of The Hunches’ attack revealed. Meanwhile, the new songs show that the band had more solid material than one album could contain. Think of these recordings as ground zero, as they laid the foundation for The Hunches’ all too brief, but amazing existence.

Ravi Shavi

Blackout Deluxe

Almost Ready

***RAVI SHAVI is the sound of garage pop: a concoction of classic punk, modern indie, and new wave, with a shot of rock n' roll. After gaining momentum in the United States through DIY touring and supporting larger indie acts the past few years, Ravi Shavi is releasing its latest opus, Blackout Deluxe, on Brooklyn label Almost Ready Records. Produced by JESSE MCFADDEN, who also produced the band’s self-titled album, and featuring a dozen tracks, the record expands upon that garage-pop, at turns being both catchy as hell and virolently raucous. With Blackout Deluxe, the band has continued to make strides and carve out a scene for brown people making music in post 9/11 America.

Trash Monkeys

Trash Monkey Universe

Almost Ready

***"Way back in 1986, back when Cyndi Lauper and Boy George ruled the world with a velvet fist, the TRASH MONKEYS took their first baby steps on the long march to obscurity. Founding members LLOYD JOHNSON, BILL ORCUTT, MARK FEEHAN and GEORGE KELLEY—fueled by a passionate need for public scorn and armed with a witches brew of guitars, Old Milwaukee, illegal chemicals and provocative evening-wear soon began to attract the attention of Miami’s glittering, semi-comatose punk scene. After a few years of legendary shows, highlighted by the creative use of rancid meat, hungry dogs, and Vaseline, the Trash Monkeys came to the shocking conclusion that they were approaching competence and began to drift in other directions. George and Mark left to form the STUN GUNS, Bill (and later Mark) started HARRY PUSSY, and Lloyd accepted a high ranking position within Peru’s Shining Path” rebel army." Four songs.

Ben Edge & The Electric Pencils

S/t

Almost Ready

***BEN EDGE & THE ELECTRIC PENCILS was formed in 2015 by the Artist/Painter Ben Edge who was formerly of THE SPIVS. The name was inspired by a trip to The Collection de l'Art Brut museum in Lausanne, Switzerland where Ben Edge came across the drawings of the recently discovered outsider artist James Edward Deeds (aka the Electric Pencil). The band began originally as a two piece with STEVE COLEY playing the bass and drums as a one man band. After the duo recorded the debut album and made a video for the song 'Extra Curricular' the band temporarily split up. Ben Edge determined to see an official release for the album and keep the band going has since recruited TOM WING on bass and TEODORA KOSANOVIC on drums. The songs themselves are both raw and well crafted and reminiscent of bands such as the Kinks, the Vaselines, the Velvet underground, the Violent Femmes and the Cramps to name a few. This year sees the official release of there self titled debut album on both Almost Ready records and the bands own label One Man Movement.

Cheater Slicks

Destination Lonely

Almost Ready

***REISSUED!!! CHEATER SLICKS' Destination Lonely is perhaps the most important record of their long and spectacular discography. Their second full length, it marks the beginning of their decision to remain a trio after first Alpo and then Merle Allin departed the band and the inability to recruit any suitable replacements on bass. So began the SHANNON / SHANNON / HATCH line-up that still soldiers on today. Originally released on the Australian Dog Meat label, the LP documents the beginnings of what were their most productive years, with three LPs and seven singles (or thereabouts) coming in this fruitful 1991-1995 period. Destination Lonely contains the blueprint for future releases, an unbeatable mix of covers and originals played through over-amped guitars with DANA and TOM sharing vocal duties. Here we get our first taste of what might be Dana's signature number, the savage knuckle-drag that is "Murder," a song that is still a staple in their live sets. The big heart-render here is "If Heaven is Your Home," one of the first of many, many outpourings of the rawest in real emotion that have become their forte. And the title track is the type of straight-ahead-into-a-brick-wall rock'n'roll burner that will leave your needle scorched. The cover selection is impeccable: two fitting Aussie garage covers ("Rum Drunk" and "This Life of Mine"), a blistering "In and Out" (before The Mummies did it) and a handful more ranging from the obscure (Silverfleet?!) to the almost popular (Love's "Can't Explain"). These are the sounds of...

Cheater Slicks

On Your Knees

Almost Ready

***"Long-awaited reissue of the first CHEATER SLICKS full length, recorded during their Boston tenure during the '80s. Originally released via the Gadawful label in 1989 and quickly disappearing, On Your Knees has sat atop many a Slicks fan's wantlist until now. Recorded as a four-piece with MERLE ALLIN on bass, the Slicks run through eleven numbers with the same intensity and weathered guitar-storm they would still be unleashing on the world over 25 years later. Contains tracks such as 'Bruno's Night Out,' 'I Won't Last Another Day,' 'Chaos' and 'I've Been Had' that remain among their best and begins their habit of recovering forgotten gems from the past, covering Mad Mike & The Maniacs ('The Hunch') and The Bell Tones ('A Sad Guitar'). An essential piece of the Slicks' discography, but aren't they all?"

1-800-band

High Beams

Almost Ready

***Delving into the darkest corners of the rock’n’roll story, drawing from 99-cent power pop, country weepers, pub rock, and glam, with a just a lil tinge of heartland rock, 1-800-BAND play loose but well-crafted songs built on alarm-clock-radio hooks. High Beams was produced by the mighty MITCH EASTER, and you can hear his sweet, sweet jangle on a couple of tunes. For fans of Blue Northern, the Jacobites, Dwight Twilley, Pretenders, late Kinks, Tom Petty, Elliott Murphy. From glass-in-the-air anthems to American heartbreakers, this record has got it all.

Hunches

S/t

Almost Ready

***Long lost first recordings from 2001, unearthed and mastered for vinyl. A full studio session for an LP that never was, revealing the genesis of their sound.

Hunches

You'll Never Get Away With My Heart

Almost Ready

***The turn of the century was a scary time for many of us. Unsure of where we were going, unsure of what the world had left to offer, if anything. Y2K, 911, financial collapse, bullshit wars, bullshit politics, natural disasters the world had never seen the likes of before…it was as if the very fiber of the planet was being torn asunder as we watched, waiting for it to strike us personally. But for most of us it never did. We buoyed ourselves against the storm with the music of THE HUNCHES, and although we may have come through beaten, bruised and scarred, we made it. The Hunches did not. The paid for our sins, they took the bullet, they shielded us from the blow over three LPs and a handful of singles. These are their earliest recordings as a band, demos from way back in 2001, the songs themselves buried away until now, only ever rearing their heads on obscure CD only comps. They show the genesis of the sound that gave us all so much joy when we needed it most, so much surety in times of doubt, so much solace in times of sad recollection. Two caveman hymns, songs for misanthropes who’ve realized that they’re really in love with the world, two rough cut gems of simple and heartfelt brilliance. Few bands have reached further into the depths of human emotion and come up with songs so chillingly beautiful. These are two them, songs to remind you...

Bummers Eve

Fly On The Wall

Almost Ready

***Both tracks from this 7-inch are urgent, catchy, and reverb dipped. "Fly On The Wall" has all of the pop elements to make it catchy and sing-along, while still maintaining a garage punk/surf undertone. On the flip side, “Blue” starts at a frantic pace and a relentless sense of urgency while telling a tale of lost youth. Expect to hear fuzzy guitars, heavy phazed bass, warped keys i.e. The Screamers, and vocals to match any paint fume high. Fans of stripped down '70s punk, and current West Coast garage will both find this 7-inch accessible and must have for their record collections. A very Midwest take on punk and surf rock from the “coast” of the Ohio River.

Sneaky Pinks

I’m Punk / Puke Pudding

Almost Ready

***THE SNEAKY PINKS are the best band for jacking off with used lube or getting your pussy licked by a german shepard mix. On their third 7", Sneaky Pinks expand thier art funk sound and explore even new musical terrorrism with hired prodoucher RICKLES RUBINSTEINBERG. "It was fucking easy," said bassist TRENT PURD "we had the time, the cocaine, and the talent. The only thing missing was the fellatio, but honestly I'm getting more into Pokemon anyway". Singer JUSTIN CHAMPLIN sheepishly admitted, "It's the best music being made at the moment. There is no greater poet than me. I am the lord. Nibble on my nuts". The New York Tymes called the new record "Nazi Punk Kiddie Porn for collector faggots and the working class hipster. Toilet humor and inside jokes that make the Jean Means seem mature. Songs so beautiful you'd swear you were right next to a seafood dumpster." With swine flu, government shuttdowns, and thee end of times near, there is nothing more important going on than acquiring this 7". Buy by any means necessary.

Big Dipper

Crashes On The Platinum Planet

Almost Ready

***Big Dipper Crashes on the Platinum Planet is the latest, and perhaps boldest, excursion into the perilous realm of Astronomy Pop by veteran indie-rockers BIG DIPPER. Inspired by a triumphant reunion tour in support of Merge Records' 2008 3-disc retrospective Supercluster: The Big Dipper Anthology, the band returned from the stratosphere with a stellar collection of brand new songs. Just a few weeks after touring, Big Dipper began recording the new material in GARY WALEIK’s top-secret Command Module studio. The album boasts cover art by Guided By Voices' main-man ROB POLLARD, a huge Big Dipper fan (Pollard rates them the 20th greatest band in rock history, #19 being T. Rex!). The recording line-up consists of guitarist/vocalist BILL GOFFRIER, drummer/vocalist JEFF OLIPHANT, late-era Dipper alum TOM BREWITT on bass and the aforementioned vocalist/multi-instrumentalist/producer Waleik, with special guest appearances by Commander FRANK BORMAN and Command Module Pilot JIM LOVELL of the Apollo 8 Mission as well as some of the Dippers' offspring. The disc's 12 songs shimmer with Big Dipper's trademark sound: twin vocals, ethereal harmonies, dynamic guitar arrangements by Goffrier and Waleik (dubbed by some a "two-headed guitar monster"), Oliphant's powerful drumming and Brewitt's melodic bass playing. But longtime fans may also be surprised at how easily Dipper has stretched its own boundaries. 

Grand Trine

Bohemians

Almost Ready

***The imprint of the finest new fools, Almost Ready Records, has roped in Montreal, Canada's GRAND TRINE. One of the Trines members, TOBIAS ROCHMAN (COSMETICS) had a dad in '60s garage punk band, THE BOHEMIANS, and herein Grand Trine skuzz out pop's classic tunes.

Home Blitz

Perpetual Night

Almost Ready

***"Perhaps DANIEL’s most accomplished recordings to date. Mastered loud and clear by JOHN GOLDEN. Full color / heavy weight pocket sleeves. If you buy one modern single this year...this be it!"— Almost Ready

Pink Noise

Alpha

Almost Ready

***NOW AVAILABLE!!! This is the band’s follow to the Dream Code LP that was released on Sacred Bones. These recordings mark the first time the band has recorded using live drums. Limited to 700 copies.

Prefab Messiahs

Franz Kafka

Almost Ready

***NOW AVAILABLE!!! Cobbwebbed-basement mystery surrounds this early-80s "Wormtown" (Worcester MA) combo that dared (if they were even aware of it) to infuse proto-lo-fi post-punk sounds with drizzles of off-kilter psych and lashings of garage-pop melodicism—all informed by an attitude that combined cryptic social digs, bone-dry wit and Dadaist pranksterism. Anthology Recordings (a one-time digital retailer of rare/collectible music) declared that THE PREFAB MESSIAHS "manage to perfectly execute the difficult joining of punk, psych, and garage." Some have waxed less analytical: in psych-legend BOBB TRIMBLES’ song "Armour of the Shroud," he wrote "Well the Rolling Stones come to town / dont throw the Prefab Messiahs out of bounds / God save those dreamers / theyre all thats left sometimes." Now Almost Ready brings you the two lead-off tracks from the as-yet-unreissued Devolver album in a handsome 7" package. Features: art & layout from Prefabs singer XETH “XEROX” FEINBERG and band photos by Bobb Trimble (the band’s friend, guru, and sometime producer).

V/a

Worlds Lousy With Ideas 6

Almost Ready

***NOW AVAILABLE!!! Volume 6 in the beloved series features tracks from faves LITTLE CLAW, EAT SKULL, and PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT. The “shitgaze” edition for those keeping score.