KAWAGUCHI MASAMI’S NEW ROCK SYNDICATE

Cat vs. Frog

(Palindrone - PAL02) LP $16.00

Exceptional wailing and burning garage psych-rock grounded in heart-breaking, melancholic intensity are guitar monster Kawaguchi’s trademarks; bassist Akira Kikuchi and drummer Nao Shibata (Hijokaidan, Doodles) are primo enablers. Forty minutes of instantly hummable, head-nodding, toe-tapping riffs and melodies, and unavoidable white-light-white-heat guitar solos by this trio of vets from PSF’s Tokyo Flashback vol. 6. White vinyl. Edition of 500. Imported from New Zealand. Cover art by Sandra Schmidt.

STUMPS

Split Fleet Dodge

(Palindrone - PAL01) LP $15.00

This 2006 album by Seht, Antony Milton, and James Kirk (from Sandoz Lab Technicians, Black Bones Angel, and Wisher Table-era Gate) peppers what could be called “prototypically New Zealand” laid-back blown-out noise rock with free jazz drum splatter that careens haphazardly over thick slabs of distant, distorted riffage. Guest appearance by Cambell Kneale (aka Birchville Cat Motel) on wild, disembodied prog keyboards and electronics that swirl and wobble. Edition of 300. Imported from New Zealand.