Dig! Records

Jacky Cougar & The Vampyres From Africa

s/t

Dig! Records

***JACKY COUGAR & THE VAMPYRES FROM AFRICA is the electro punk project from JACK ABOK (THEE LOLITAS, FOUL SWOOPS, DES DEMONAS, SEX FACES) melding his love of the delta blues, hip hop, post punk and Krautrock. "I want the album to mean to the listeners what the Beatles White Album meant to the Manson Family," Abok says. VAMPYRES FROM AFRICA MANIFESTO: 1. Ideas > skill 2. Don’t be a musician 3. Cool > smart 4. It’s not about money or being liked, it’s about expressing ourselves. 5. Bands should have an expiration date 6. Fuck originality! 7. Don’t stop creating “All movements is accomplished in six stages And the seventh brings return The seven is the number of the young light It forms when darkness is increased by one Change/ return /success Going and coming without error Action brings good fortune Sunset”—Syd’s Angelika Piper at the gates of dawn. The Vampyres from Africa are: Jack, HANA, THEODORA, SAL and LILLIPUT KLEENEX "THE ENIGMA"

Loose Lips

Last Laugh

Dig! Records

***True enough, “loose lips sink ships” but depending on what’s being said, those same lips have the uncanny fast’n’loose power to SHAKE HIPS. Now just like all those sage philosopher kings and queens of yore would say, friends, it’s long time we: SPILL IT!Melbourne, Australia’s LOOSE LIPS couldn’t concur more on their debut album Last Laugh, proudly released by Dig! Records, and self-released by the band from their home base in Melbourne, Australia.The world may be ending, and you’re not getting any younger, but rock’n’roll rings eternal, so we’re letting it all hang out across 10 unadulterated tracks of spirited revelry, plenty: young, loud and snotty. But also skilled, melodic and heartfelt.If you haven’t yet heard the word, Loose Lips are Josh Hardy (guitar/ vocals; the Chats and the Unknowns), Ethan Stahl (bass/ vocals; Chubby and the Gang, The Prize, Street Sweeper) and Nadine Muller (drums/ vocals; the Prize). The sum of their top-shelf pedigree, Last Laugh, is a certified heater sure to rattle your jelly brain and jumpstart all your other fun parts.Forged from rock’n’roll incarnate, Josh and Nadine met on tour with their other bands, and bonded handedly over their love of 60s groups like the Ronettes, The Dave Clark 5 and the Shangri-Las, alongside their later counterparts: the New York Dolls, Eddie and the Hot Rods and Blondie. Last Laugh is a DIY love letter sealed with a kiss; made by friends, for friends—new, old and waiting in the wings.

Brower

Flour

Dig! Records

***Flour is the long-awaited, much-anticipated, full-course follow-up to Buzzsaws—Brower’s debut album from 2018. Sure, there’s been tasty snacks and treats to sustain folks along the way: several singles worth, and a totally authentic “Live” album. But this is the fresh new long-player platter you’ve hungered for. Again, recorded entirely by Nat, at home and in the practice space (that is, various different practice spaces, due to unruly landlords) in Brooklyn. The recording project spanned several years due to touring, gigging, and rehearsing with the myriad of bands that form the Brower Cinematic Universe (including the live band, Brower; plus Josephine Network, Nancy, Metalleg, and The Wand-ers), not to mention working the many day-jobs it requires to barley sustain life in NYC. Flour is benefited by this kind of “slow” practice, where time lends itself to exploration. One gets a sense of Brower’s freedom to stretch out and try new things, new instrumentation, and take a deeper dive into the songwriting always brewing between his ears. In Brower’s kitchen, his recipe for Flour was created, tasted, tested, reworked, revisited, and rebuilt—from scratch—to the delight of the most choosy of rock ‘n’ roll gourmands and punk rock bon vivants. As they say, good food takes time. Now, once again, Brower is served. RECOMMENDED IF YOU DIG! Lennon, Nilsson, Beach Boys, Sweet, or Elton Motello.

Paint Fumes

Real Romancer

Dig! Records

***PAINT FUMES have survived a decade of being in Paint Fumes. No small feat for a group that's released 3 albums for 2 distinct and luminary labels (Slovenly and Get Hip), swaying their way between opposite ends of a sonic spectrum (garage and punk; old and new) on a no-fucks-given wrecking ball pendulum. Evolution occurred steadily from their earliest primitivism to more tuneful rockers. Real Romancer, the band's fourth LP is a whole new world of glam stomping', dual-guitar-with-added-bass hammerin' sounds taken to anthemic new heights previously unexplored by this born too loose group. If leader of the pack ELIJAH VON CRAMON's description of the band as "panic attack punk and power pop nightmares" rings true, this is Paint Fumes' KBD-benzo treat-all for a 12-song long wet dream.

Whiffs, The

Scratch 'N' Sniff

Dig! Records

***HEY YOU! Get a whiff of this: Scratch ‘N’ Sniff by The Whiffs — the second album by Kansas City’s foremost power pop foursome is upon us via Dig! Record Co (US) & Bachelor Records (EU). Not unlike their first album (Another Whiff), and as rock critic Jon Harrison heralds in the album’s liner notes: “this sophomoric offering provides all of the things you love about The Whiffs.” … Now, if you’re asking yourself ‘what do I love about the Whiffs’? Here’s a clue: SONGS. You love The Whiffs’ songs! And now Scratch ‘N’ Sniff’s got 13 new boffo numbers brimming with the hook-laden, never-far-from-the-bar pub-rock snarl The Whiffs nail everytime. The Whiffs are less recording artists than a band of journeymen, from the drums Jake Cardwell (C&C Drum Co.) built-by-hand, to Joey Rubbish’s home recording studio (Club Sandwich). It’s only natural Scratch ‘N’ Sniff is a homegrown production from the floor (tom) up, and was recorded in the band’s living room. The songs are all their own too. Whether penned by Cameron (Rory), Campbell (Zach) or Rubbish (Joey), they all stink of The Whiffs broken-in power pop confectionery. A close listen will reveal the cracks of many-a-can and roommates laughing at vocal takes. As such, everyone’s invited to Scratch ‘N’ Sniff and dive in! Recommended if you DIG!: The Whiffs’ previous output, Stiff Records, The Mats, The Rubs and any era of the Fab Four!

Blunda, Christian

Funky Punks In Space

Dig! Records

***ATTENTION MEAN JEANS FANS!!! Socially distanced and feeling the party-pooper pinch of the ‘pandemonic’, CHRISTIAN BLUNDA (also known as MEAN JEANS singer and guitar slinger, BILLY JEANS) hardly recognized himself or the prison-like world shrinking / melting all around. Lucky for us, he emerged from the proverbial funk with this new project, encapsulating his past, while rocketing off to new far-flung cosmic turf, including: hyper punk, sci-fi pop and Hi-NRG slappers.  From fronting pogo-punk maestros the Means Jeans, to his synth-bliss kick with TOUCHY, Christian Blunda has consistently made good on delivering the ear-worm-grade goods. Now, Christian’s songbook expands to further dimensions on Funky Punks in Space, his new solo debut–slash–concept album, showcasing the vast and tripped-out, full-span of his sonic universe, and at 45 RPM baby! Recorded alone at home, in stark contrast to it’s hi-fi slam, these 9 tracks are at times punky and other times funky, synth-heavy anthems performed to the maximum. Set your coordinates for the pop-fueled territory of Phil Lynott’s Solo in Soho cross-faded with a Jeff Lynne Ramone clone to arrive in the Funky Punks In Space zone.  It’s a square world, but what’s next? For Christian it’s this party platter in zero gravity kinda vibe. Grab your shit and check it out!

Brower

Live And Contagious

Dig! Records

***All you need to know about BROWER’s new live album, Live And Contagious, is that it’s the last live album ever recorded from the last live concert held––ever. What else there is to know while we’re at it: Live And Contagious is a proper-recorded, full band-represented, career-spanning glam-punk rockathon from the before times; emceed by WFMU’s Todd-o-phonic Todd in front of an unsuspecting, captivated and sold-out crowd back in March of 2020. Opening with the previously unreleased, live staple, and lead single “Heart Is Real,” the stage is set and souped-up for an evening of Brower-brand revelry with the accompaniment of Josephine (Josephine Network) on lead guitar, Hershguy (Dirty Fences) behind the kit and the “Dr.” Josh Hahn (Relic Room Studios)

The Ar-kaics

Live In The Shit

Dig! Records

***DIG! The Ar-Kaics’ latest offering, Live in the Shit—an unrelenting assault recorded live February 16, 2020 in Richmond, Virginia during the waning days of normalcy. This set combines familiar tunes, old and new, along with their first live performance of the unreleased protest song, “Outsider.” Songs run together at a Ramones It's Alive pace—“Sick n Tired” into “You’ll Be Mine” into “No Vacancy” and “Some People"—that propels the set towards a crescendo of damaged-psych oblivion via “Distemper,” “Easy” and “Long Way Down.” For all the out-of-tune guitars, fried vintage gear, and bum notes, the performance is tighter than 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag—you can hear the ‘Kaics bustin’ out! Live in the Shit is a comprehensive demonstration of both where The Ar-Kaics have been and where they’re heading... just as soon as they can!

Josephine & Hershguy

Stocky Tunes

Dig! Records

***In this time of social-distancing and rethinking old norms, Josephine and Hershguy put their heads together (remotely) to create Stocky Tunes, a celebratory rock’n’roll smorgasbord of far-reaching sounds and sonic bedlam. The glam-punk crunch and hard-rock wizardry of the pairs’ respective erstwhile projects (Dirty Fences, Brower, and previously Velveteen Rabbit) are all in play, with added forays into art rock and post punk (á la Roxy Music, Sparks, The Quick, the Slits, Gang of Four et al.). Doubling down on the adventurous and genre-shirking spirit of their solo efforts, Stocky Tunes is as iconic as it is peerless. Dig lyrics comprised of ribald Yiddish slang of yore (“Cockamun”, “Punim Pisher”, etc.) beside modernized protest songs of the day (“Walk Out Loud” and “This is Track 11”—FUCK 12!!!). Whether you’re already a fan, or a seeker stopping by, Stocky Tunes offers nourishment you’ll crave.

The Ar-kaics

Ar-kives: Volume 1

Dig! Records

What can be said or done about 2020? Here at Dig! we’re sticking to what we know and diggin’ in, while making every effort to stop and smell the roses, play more records, and take a moment for hindsight - like the year‘s numeric value suggests - with this trip down memory lane, on The Ar-Kaics’ Ar-Kives: Volume 1. Sidelined from touring and recording their third full length (because COVID), The Ar-Kaics are staying home and finally getting around to doing the laundry. It’s all here, and fresh as a summer daisy; all of the out-of-print, pre-Wick Records 45s, an early demo standout, and an inexplicably unreleased song from their s/t album sessions are all on offer. Remastered loud for maximum rock’n’roll, but unlike the late and great rag of the same name, these songs are here to stay, in print! For those not yet indoctrinated, Ar-Kives brings listeners up to speed on The Ar-Kaics’ off-brand of spot-on 60s garage punk originals, something they’ve been channeling back from the grave and making their own for the better part of the last decade. Now, after 10 releases, it’s high time to rollout Dig! Number 1, simmering on the backburner since the label’s formation. Will this ultimately be the first or last release from Dig!? Only time - not to mention, the survival of humankind matched by the insatiable appetites of music lovers the world over - will tell. In the meantime, stay home, kickback and order-in with this new pandemic-proof platter...

Josephine

Music Is Easy

Dig! Records

***Josephine is a shape-shifting songstress, performance artist, multi-instrumentalist, natural-born yenta, soul-singing diva and sexy socialite making a splash in the New York pop scene—be it at rock clubs, drag nights, freak-art hideaways, or even your cousin Barry’s Bar Mitzvah bash! Something like cognitive dissonance is at play between the sultry, sensitive, cotton-candy crowd-pleasing sounds of '60s/'70s AM she employs, and her bawdy Yiddish showgirl stage persona. Or as she would say: “Cockamun with a bissel hunnick” (that’s “Shit on you with a little honey” for our goyish friends). But make no mistake, the Josephine package is total, executing both performance and song craft with aplomb.    Music is Easy, Josephine’s debut album showcases ten distinct tracks, from lush folk psych ballads to neo Merseybeat stompers; blue-eyed-soul belters to the soaring heights of pure popdom and back again. Recorded at Relic Room NYC by Josh Hahnon, using all analog equipment from the golden era of pop records, of which these nuggets were dug up. The sounds are at once classic and modern = altogether TIMELESS.   From Carole King (on “Through A Sea of Time”) to Tommy James (on “I Heard You’re Going to Leave Him”) and any one of the Beach Boys (on “Me and My Boys” or “Dear Money”), Josephine channels bygone sounds like some kind of sonic psychic medium. For fans of soft-rock gems, soulful sides, early Todd Rundgren or Twilley and Seymour; the sound of a soft morning kiss, the pitter-patter of summer rain,...

Whiffs, The

Another Whiff

Dig! Records

Kansas City’s prodigal sons of power pop are sticking to what they know on Another Whiff, their full-length debut for Dig! Records. Since 2017’s Take A Whiff EP, the band has been busy allowing their auditory aromas to ripen with the addition of JOEY RUBBISH (of THE RUBS) for a fuller, more robust sonic bouquet. While the band can still get it up for Stiff Records—their pop-centric punk remains in full force—the album takes a more epic trip with detours into broken-heart ballads from the heartland, journeying down paths forged by pioneers like Chilton and late Westerberg, the legacy of Petty and the cosmic country harmonies of The Byrds.  Recording sessions over the past year, on and off, in their makeshift basement practice space, Electric Babyland, afforded the band an opportunity to take time while the lineup coalesced, and get tour-tight supporting La Luz, Bad Sports and Patsy’s Rats on the road. The result is a unique album that is at once sprawling in direction and tight in execution, with all the sonic stank you’d expect from sweaty beer plied basement sessions. Out of the gate, “Shakin All Over” will register to all of the senses, like you were there, squatting in the corner of the basement, imbibing with the band and absorbing every hit from Jake’s C&C kit (note frivolous plug for Jake’s drum company). The 14 tracks that emerged as Another Whiff are expertly mixed by Vince Lawhon and mastered by Jordan Peterson for a final package...

Brower

Buzzsaws

Dig! Records

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  Buzzsaws is the debut album by BROWER, the solo project of NAT BROWER, resident of Ridgewood Queens and erstwhile NANCY and METALLEG compatriot, already championing the spirits and sounds of our most cherished Punk and Rock musical varietals the world over. After last spring’s Little Big EP, Brower is back, and the fire behind that ass is simply inextinguishable! Enter Buzzsaws—a glam’d-out glitter-bomb of fuzz guitars and giant vocal melodies within the Venn diagram of Bolan, Bowie and Brett (Smiley). Like Little Big, each song is jammed full of sugarcoated harmonies, laser-beam licks and unearthly hooks. Unlike Little Big, Brower shows his teeth on Buzzsaws—and they are gnarly, thanks to all the sugarcoated harmonies—with several dbs of gain and big city grit added to the mix. The Brower live show features members of DIRTY FENCES and VELVETEEN RABBIT.

Shatterbox

Strung Out On The Line

Dig! Records

***RARE AND RAW SEATTLE PUNK ROCK'N'ROLL FROM '81!!! DIG! Records Archeological Division presents Strung Out on the Line, the all but lost private press powerhouse LP from SHATTERBOX. The band formed in 1979, at a major and sketchy (read: majorly sketchy) generational crossroads for what threatened to be the last gasp of Rock’n’roll in the ‘70s, and the shaky-new directions it’d take in the ‘80s. Recorded in their Seattle basement, the band utilized a mobile studio unit a la a low-rent D.I.Y. Exile Main on St., and self-released the album on New Year’s Day 1981 in an unknown quantity, and in an array of handmade album art designs: stencil and spray paint; paste-on Xerox cutout; and bare-white factory sleeves, Shatterbox never followed standard operating procedures and Strung Out on the Line captures the band’s wild and ragged original sound and style in full. Newly restored and remastered by DAVID ECK from the original quarter-inch reels and housed in properly printed jackets with liner notes displaying the numerous versions of album art and an oral history from the band’s sole surviving member, Richard Pleasant, this LP is finally receiving the presentation it deserves. Rocketing through twelve brash and energetic cuts of exuberant Punk Rock and raw Power Pop, the album sonically falls somewhere between The Heartbreakers, Nervous Eaters and either—or, better yet—both iterations of The Gizmos.

Dancer

I'm Not Giving Up / Teenage Punk

Dig! Records

***Haters be damned, and punishers beware; DANCER don’t suffer no fools! Here with an anthemic scorcher of an A-Side: “I’m Not Giving Up,” channels equal parts Cheap Trick & Thin Lizzy, delivering the ROCK GOD goods so convincingly its time to THROW your Kiss records out! Flip it over for “Teenage Punk,” a swirling synth punk slice of misfit solace with words to live by (“all our friends, we don’t have friends”). Six singles in, and Dancer proves there are sick new moves comin’ from the crew responsible for APACHE, GLITZ and SLICK! Recorded by GREG ASHLEY in a one-and-done press featuring awesome album art by the Human Lawnmower’s inimitable AVI SPIVAK.

Dangus Tarkus

Rock 'n' Roll For The People

Dig! Records

***After last years dazzling EP on Lumpy Records, its high time for DANGUS TARKUS' mysterious, heretofore cassette-only, killer 2013 glam punk debut, Rock ‘n’ Roll for the People, to get a proper (limited) vinyl release! Dangüs Tarküs is the alter ego of JOE SUSSMAN (frontman and guitar guru of Brook;yn's NANCY). Loyal Nancy fans will recognize Dangüs Tarküs originals on the album (like “My Josie,” “Inverted Kingdom” and “Hot Love”) from Nancy's sizzling live sets, fleshed out here and tracked with a full band. Well worth the wait and it’s weight, listeners can expect to find the best mutant punk blasts since the age of new records from The Spits. Pressed for 45 RPM. Includes a slew of covers, ranging from the classics (Sparks and Nikki & the Corvettes) to the more obscure and under-appreciated (Pantherman). They’re reinvented here, and newly indispensable.

Patsy's Rats

Burnin' Honey

Dig! Records

***Who is PATSY and what's up with her RATS? Patsy is PATSY GELB, formerly of SCAVENGER CUNT, and occasional collaborator with her father Howe Gelb of Giant Sand. Her Rats consist of main-squeeze CHRISTIAN BLUNDA (erstwhile BILLY JEANS of MEAN JEANS) and a rotating door of rock'n'roll vermin for hire. "Burnin' Honey" is a bona fide glam stomper, while the B-side "Nowhere Close" is an epic pop nuggetset on cruise control. Limited edition of 300 copies with only 100 available for distribution.

Strand, The

Seconds Waiting

Dig! Records

Classic power pop reissue from ’83 with unreleased studio track. DIG! Records is proud to announce the archival reissue of THE STRAND’s debut album, Seconds Waiting, originally released by Wasp Records in 1983. An unlikely piece in the underground rock’n’roll puzzle – as much so then as it is now – THE STRAND hail from Old Town, Virginia, a city known more for it’s Presidential Masonic temple than an original independent music scene. Situated on the Potomac River across from Washington D.C. and its much-lauded hardcore scene, its no surprise that with the exception of diehard music nuts the THE STRANDS recorded output has remained an obscurity. NO MORE.By design, pop back-catalogues are a mess of two-or-so minute sides: one-hit-wonders, near misses and flat out failed attempts. SECONDS WAITING, recorded in ’82 at Hit & Run Studios (yeah, like the early Void demos), makes good on POPS PROMISE with a full album worth of hits – take your pick! It’s a rare instance of the power pop gestalt fully realized.“You and Me” kicks the album off with a spot on slice of teenage naivety and a “96 Tears” caliber organ run. “Popular Girl” and “I Understand You” sidestep the saccharine moves of their bubblegum and glam rock neighbors, for more austere vibes of Kinksy doom and gloom, residue from a Brit-invasion hangover. Feedback cues the blitzkrieg of supercharged guitars on “Kids Today”, while the previously unreleased studio track, “Scarred Streets”, showcases the band at their most agro! “One More Ring”...