Johnny de Courcy
Bad Teeth
Green Burrito Tapes

Not long ago, teenage dirtbag Johnny de Courcy parted ways with his brothers in the Canadian stoner/doom band Black Wizard, citing a dissociation with the band and its music. You see, Johnny, underneath all that greasy hair and through all that pot smoke, is a bit of dandy, and while the follies of indiscriminate youth were best experienced through heavy electric noise, it’s now his inner Ziggy Stardust that yearns to be free. Johnny’s heart, no doubt saturated with chemical fumes inhaled at his print shop hideaway, bursts with foppish psych-pop, and the five songs on this acoustic EP move about as though Syd Barrett is dancing a jewelry box ballerina all the way to Mars. It’s an incredible turnabout, but one that suits Johnny like a fresh string of pearls, and the sweet sounding truth of his weird and whimsical ways are beautifully inspirational.

Bad Teeth has been released on cassette, but if that’s too strange a format for you to get back into, go listen to it and download it for free right here!

Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction
We Are Volsung
SPV/Steamhammer

Dripping with pure gonzo rock action, Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction have endured decades of decadence, befouling the sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll idiom with a more dangerous brand of sex, far deadlier drugs, and a nastier, sleazier style of rock n’ roll. Led by the tattooed beat messiah himself, Mark Manning, artist, wordsmith, and debauched raconteur, and guitarist Cobalt Stargazer, the Duffy to Manning’s Astbury, Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction have earned a cult following by pushing a larger than life libido up the tailpipe of any teenage runaway (girl or boy…they don’t discriminate) hungry for a backseat education. We Are Volsung then, the band’s sixth full-length, is every bit the riff riot you’ve come to expect from these vaudeville villains, liquor-drenched, leather-chapped viking rock, hard charging and chest thumping, with more of a nod to Norse mythology than back alley hi-jinx. Man, with classic, unbeatable songs like the title track, “Stark Von Oben,” “We Ride,” and “White Trash,” as well as the mean-boned rattlesnake slide of “Kill A Mockingbird,” who cares if Turbonegro ever gets their shit sorted out. And if you’re worried that Manning and Stargazer might be getting long in the tooth, don’t, because they continue to surround themselves with young destroyers with names like Jack Shitt and The Cat, and they can still sink each one of their pearly switchblades deep into your flesh and make you love every minute of it.

Listen to “We Are Volsung” from We Are Volsung!

Biters
It’s OK to Like Biters
Underrated Records

Another Biters EP? Oh, that’s right, Jack. I guess releasing one outta-this-world album in 2010 wasn’t enough for these power pop superheroes because they’ve gone ahead and dropped yet another five-song masterpiece on us like a sack full o’ diamonds. Seriously, if they keep this up my heart’s gonna explode in a shower of cocktail napkin confetti. But really, can you think of a better way to go? Sure, you’re saying, when I’m balls deep in a teenage scream queen. Well, I got news for ya, friend. This is better than that. I’ll take your juicy thighs and smeared lipstick and raise you an orgy of rock n’ roll, cotton candy, jungle cats, wet tongues, and champagne bubbles. It’s just all sorts of crazy good stuff, ya know? When I had a go at their self-titled EP, I said that  if the Biters weren’t the biggest band in the world real soon that we’d all be doomed, and I believe that now more than ever. So do the Biters apparently, who are doing their part by releasing the most amazing music at a roller-skate pace. It may be OK to like Biters, but it’s better to fucking love Biters. In fact, it’s pretty much mandatory.

Listen to “Melody For Lovers” from It’s OK to Like Biters!