Yer Mam!: Mixtape Week: Wednesday

Today's mixtape is a rockier affair than the previous two days. Guitar overload, just below the picture of Wednesday Addams. Y'see what I did there?

YER MAM!'S MIXTAPE WEEK: WEDNESDAY

Dan Deacon - Wooody Wooodpecker (Idiot-savant laptop-popper, Dan Deacon is currently one of the most blogged-about artists around. His stuff can sometimes be a little too manic for my liking and it often feels like you really shouldn't be listening, let alone actually enjoying it. The opener of his new album, Spiderman Of The Rings, 'Wooody Wooodpecker', however, just has to be heard to be believed. Try it. You might not understand it, but hey, you might just like it.)
OOIOO - Uma (Eye Mix 1) (Eye from The Boredoms gives the standout from last year's OOIOO album, Taiga a stroboscopic, tribal-trance-rave makeover. Can never get enough of those crazy, chanting Japanese women.)
Von Sudenfed - Flooded ("The other DJ needed a god-damn rubber sheet because he pissed the fuckin' bed". Mark E. Smith = Genius.)
Nine Inch Nails - My Violent Heart (NIN's new album, Year Zero, is the first one that I've ever really given a decent amount of attention to. I've just never really warmed to the overgrown adolescent schtick that Reznor has previously peddled. 'My Violent Heart' is a blitzkrieg-ing show of power from a band who have found a new, more likeable lyrical focus though and just one of the reasons why I think that Year Zero is the best mainstream rock album of the year so far.)
Holy Fuck - Frenchy's (A malevolent electro-noise stomp from Holy Fuck's recent self-titled EP, that's a marked improvement on their debut album from 2005. Expect this one to win a fair few new converts.)
Soft Circle - Earthed (Blackened, percussive, leftfield dance music from Hisham Barroocha (Black Dice). Like Liquid Liquid, raised on Dario Argento films.)
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Sun Lips (The highlight of their patchy new album, Dandelion Gum, this is a queasy, psychedelic slice of trip-hoppy strangeness.)
Sapat - Dark Silver (This track is a loose-groove, funky oasis of focus amidst the aimless jams of Sapat's current album, Mortise And Tenon. One of the most surprising finds of the year.)
Turzi - Animal Signal (More about this one soon, but for now, I'll just say that Turzi's album, A is the third album of dark, prog-inflected psyche-rock to emerge this year, after My Sister Klaus and Joakim.)
Neu! - Hero (Klaus Dinger's proto-punk classic from the second side of Neu! '75 is as menacing and ahead of its time now as it was back then. Brilliant.)
120 Days - Get Away (Norway's 120 Days ally their kraut-y excesses to a love of '80s acts like Echo & The Bunnymen, The Cure and Jesus & Mary Chain, leaving 'Get Away' sounding like it would be at home both on the soundtrack to a John Hughes film and a Werner Herzog film. A recipe for success, if ever I've heard one.)
Parts & Labor - Fractured Skies (Blistering, late-Husker Du-style anthemics from P&L's third and best album, Mapmaker. Owner of one of the best chord changes I've heard in a long time.)
Pissed Jeans - A Bad Wind (Pissed Jeans are the band your mother warned you about; a vicious blend of Mudhoney proto-grunge and the crunch of black metal. New album, Hope For Men is a coruscating listen, but one that reaffirms your faith in good old-fashioned rock 'n' roll sickness.)
Big Business - Hands Up (Big Business make a hell of a lot of noise with just bass and drums and come off a bit like Lightning Bolt writing songs for Motley Crue, with their hair metal-esque vocals. Fist-pumping and artful. Not as bad a combo as it sounds.)
Clutch - Power Player (Clutch borrow their riffs from ZZ Top, but there are worse acts to crib from. No-one really does this kind of bluesy man-rock as good as these guys do right now.)
Queens Of The Stone Age - A Song For The Dead (One of Dave Grohl's finest ever performances behind the drum kit is on this cut from QOTSA's best album to date, Songs For The Deaf. While we wait on Era Vulgaris, let's remind ourselves why this band is one of the best rock bands of the noughties.)
Johnny Thunders - Pipeline (Rocketing cover of the surf-rock classic from the sadly-missed Thunders. Recently heard on The Sopranos too.)
The Pink Mountaintops - Single Life (Recent single from Stephen McBean that cuts a psyche groove not heard since '69. It's a happening!)
The Sonics - Boss Hoss (Rounding things off with a track from the first punk band. Every song sounded the same but it was a trick worth repeating, I'm sure you'll agree.)