They only made 50, and when I was in the process of writing up Romero‘s new album, Take the Potion (review here), I stumbled on the band’s prior cassette single — yes, a cassingle — dubbed Couch Lock/In the Heather. Released through Triceratrax Records last year, the limited pressing comes complete with red tape, a 7″ x 14″ foldout (the kind that would normally house a 7″ record) with 3D graphics and 3D glasses to see them. Sorry, but that’s frickin’ awesome.

Both the included tracks on the tape, “Couch Lock” and “In the Heather,” were re-recorded for Take the Potion, but neither is wanting for production on the single either, even if they’re somewhat rawer than they’d wind up. I’ll admit when I shelled out the cash for the tape (I think it was five bucks), it was the packaging that drew me in — the art is by Miranda Martin and guitarist/vocalist Jeffrey Mundt — but it’s not like the Wisconsin trio put all this effort and detail into a practice tape.

And speaking of detail, even the inside of the tape liner — the J-card, as I learned this week that they’re called because of their bend — has a 3D design:

But the righteousness of the design goes further than just the 3D stuff. The layout of the lyric sheet on the inside of the foldout poster (designed by drummer Ben Brooks) is also well thought out and stylized, not to mention hand-numbered:

Of course, there’s good news and bad news. Taking latter first, the pressing of 50 is sold out. I bought the last tape even before I was done with the album review. So unless Romero decide to do another round somewhere down the line, it’s a goner. The good news, however, is that Couch Lock/In the Heather is still up for a pay-what-you-want download, so if you’re thinking of hitting it up, there’s still some opportunity. They’ve even got the 3D images up in case you have a spare pair of glasses around.

To that end, here’s the stream from the Romero Bandcamp:

Romero, Couch Lock/In the Heather Single

Unless you work at The Onion or are on-set editing new episodes of Arrested Development, this is probably the cleverest thing you’re going to see today. Portland, Oregon’s Rabbits last year made a release called Flexihead in honor of Record Store Day. It’s a postcard on one side and on the other is a playable record with two opposing covers — Minor Threat‘s “Straight Edge” and Black Flag‘s “Wasted.”

As if the pairing of those two tracks wasn’t enough — notice “Wasted” comes after “Straight Edge” — the manner of presentation for Flexihead is what makes it. They even went so far as to include a Dorothy Parker quote on the back. The cleverness is pervasive. Check it out:

They only made 250 copies of the 5″ x 7″ postcard, so I felt lucky to get one, and I’ll honestly say that in the whole of my music connection — by no means the world’s largest archive of riffs, but by no means inconsiderable at this point — Flexihead is a one of a kind. Here’s a closer look at the Coke vs. Coors Light art by Kevin Abell:

Now for the big question: Does it play? Not on my turntable it sure doesn’t. I gave it a couple shots and after that decided I didn’t want to either break the arm on my record player or damage the postcard anymore than shipping already had, bent corners and such. Fortunately others had better luck, and the tracks can be heard below, or at the Rabbits Bandcamp, if you’d prefer something even less of the physical realm:

Feel free to applaud the ingenuity of Rabbits on Thee Facebooks

Five bands, five states. Well, NYC has never been anything if it hasn’t been a melting pot, so when Black Thai (from Massachusetts), Infernal Overdrive (New Jersey), When the Deadbolt Breaks (Connecticut), John Wilkes Booth (Long Island, NY) and Wasted Theory (Delaware) converge on Tobacco Road in Manhattan on April 6, at least it’ll be in the borough’s long-standing tradition. If you’re on Thee Facebooks, the event page is here, and I thought I’d share the poster for the show, since it’s awesome.

Behold:

Five bands for $7 is a pretty heavy deal, if you’re into bargain-hunting.

…And it looks like they’re not coming back. Can’t say I blame them, what with the social safety net, centuries of cultural richness, and Scandinavian riffing, but even so, wow, this is the longest list of tour dates I’ve seen in a while.

Good for Red Fang and all, but with so many cities and countries being stormed, one has to wonder how on earth they’re going to have time to get a follow-up out to 2011’s excellent Murder the Mountains. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, there isn’t one part of this that doesn’t bleed its excellence:

Red Fang European Summer 2013 Tour Dates Announced!

May 31 Madrid, ES Auditorio Miguel Rios, Sonisphere
June 01 Barcelona ES Parc del forum,Sonisphere
June 04 Athens, Greece Gagarin 205
June 05 Thessaloniki , Greece Eightball
June 06 Istanbul , Turkey TBA
June 08 Kiev, Ukraine Bingo
June 09 St. Petersburg,Russia Zal Oghidania
June 10 Moscow, Russia Plan B
June 11 Krasnodar, Russia Arena
June 12 Rostov, Russia Podzemka
June 13 Murg-Oberhof , GER Cafe Verkehrt
June 14 Interlaken,Switzerland Greenfield
June 15 Sliedrecht,Netherlands Elektra Tuinfest
June 16 Donnington, UK Download
June 17 Belfast, Northern Ireland Limelight
June 18. Ireland, Dublin Whelans
June 19 Bristol, UK The Fleece
June 20 Jaworzno, Poland Metalfest
June 21 Geneve,Switzerland Fête De La Musique
June 22 Clisson FR Hellfest
June 23 Gigors et Lozeron FR Gigors Electric
June 25 Rome , IT Traffic
June 26 Milano , IT Solo Macello
June 27 Salzburg , Austria Rock House Bar
June 28 Roitschzjora, GER Full Force Festival
June 29 Osnabrück, GER Bastard Club
June 30 Dessel , Belgium Graspop Metal Meeting
July 02 Eindhoven, Netherlands Effenaar
July 03 Marburg GER KFZ
July 04 Bochum GER Matrix
July 05 Sulingen GER Relaod Festival
July 06 Bingen GER Bingener Open Air
July 09 Feldkirch, Austria Poolbar Feldkirch
July 10 Esslingen, GER Komma
July 13 Neskaupstadur, Iceland Eistnaflug Festival

Whatever else German retro heavy specialists Kadavar do, they take a good picture. Fortunately they also rock, so you can imagine that once Abra Kadavar, their Nuclear Blast label debut and second offering behind last year’s self-titled, drops, it’ll live up to the high standard set by their facial hair below. If such a thing is possible. The album cover was unveiled today, and it goes a little something like this:

Kadavar, “Black Sun” Official Video

Moscow-based heavy psych outfit The Re-Stoned have sandwiched the bulk of the material on their new album between two massive 11-minute tracks, opener “Faces of Earth” and closer “Alpha Rhythm,” but that’s really just the beginning of the story when it comes to how Plasma is put together. The instrumental band led by and mostly comprised of guitarist/bassist Ilya Lipkin released their last record, Analog (review here), through R.A.I.G. in 2010, and Plasma sees issue through the same label as well, but instead of a jewel case arrives bundled in a folded cardboard box — almost like a miniaturized vinyl mailer with the logo printed on the front and the album info on back. It may not prove the most durable packaging option when it comes to standing the test of time, but it certainly is creative.

Lipkin, who is joined by drummers Vasily Bartov, Pavel Voloshin and Evgeny Tkachev throughout Plasma‘s eight tracks/58 minutes, employs a host of effects on his guitar and bass to add flourish to the tradicionnyj stoner riffing that lies at the heart of the band’s sound, and while the cardboard packaging doesn’t seem to have any direct correlation to what’s happening musically or thematically with the album or its titles —  though one does unfold the package and the flow of the album unfolds as well — it does grab the attention as only intricate physical media can. I’ve never thought of cardboard as particularly groovy, but maybe that’s what Lipkin is going for. I couldn’t really say.

The album boasts two covers — an extended jam on Jefferson Airplane’s “Today” in the first half and one on Pink Floyd‘s “Julia Dream” in the second — and with guest vocals from Veronika Martynova, they stand out in the tracklisting immediately and wind up as some of the record’s strongest material, incorporating elements of psychedelic folk with Lipkin layering acoustic and electric guitar. Elsewhere, the standout soloing of “Moon Dust” seems to be surfing with Joe Satriani‘s alien, while the riffs on the earlier “Grease” remind of some of the Karma to Burn-isms that showed up last time around. Fittingly titled, “Acoustic” is no less rich than any of the other material, given depth by Arkady Fedotov‘s synth and Tkachev‘s percussion, and as it occurs directly toward the middle of the album, it too seems to fall in line as another well-placed element at work to the benefit of Plasma.

Really, rather than be fed into by the music as part of an overarching theme, the uncommon packaging option for Plasma serves as an example of how intricately the record as a whole is constructed, be it the space-rocking jam of “The Clay God” or the more open, airy musicality of “Alpha Rhythm,” slowly developing over the calming course of its 11:26. The Re-Stoned and in particular Lipkin as the driving force behind the band impress on all fronts, and if it’s the package housing the CD that gets you to notice the album first, it’s one more thing to be thankful for after you’ve heard it later.

I’ve spouted off plenty of times about what a difference physical media can make in giving someone an impression of a work, so I’ll spare it, but in a case like this, the artwork — Lipkin also designed the logo — and the presentation to the audience becomes a part of the experience, and every time I reach for Plasma, it will be a different feeling than anything else that might be situated on that shelf, including Analog. If the record wasn’t up to par as a listen, it would be gimmicky, but The Re-Stoned have even more tools with which to satisfy sonically than they do in terms of the aesthetic in their choice of casing, so in addition to being a nice package, Plasma is also a complete one.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t really even have a good excuse for posting this flyer, I’m just psyched for the show. On Saturday, Feb. 23, Acid King will return to the East Coast for the first time in I don’t even know how long it’s been, and Maple Forum alums and all-around excellent human beings Kings Destroy have signed on to support along with Blackout on the three-band bill. I guess at that point, I don’t need an excuse. It’s just awesome. All hail crushing February:

Currently based in L.A., psychedelic desert rockers Blaak Heat Shujaa will make their full-length debut on Tee Pee Records with The Edge of an Era on April 9. Today I have the pleasure of hosting for your check-it-outs the cover art by the Paris-based Arrache toi un oeil! collective. Below, artist Emy Rojas give some background on the inspiration for the pieces. The Edge of an Era was produced by none other than Scott “Yes that Scott Reeder” Reeder and follows on the heels of BHS‘ Tee Pee debut EP, The Storm Generation (review here).

According to guitarist/vocalist Thomas Bellier, The Edge of an Era will have two separate covers — one for the digipak CD release and one for the vinyl, both courtesy of Rojas, who offered the following:

“Arrache toi un oeil! made many silk screened gig posters in Paris, that’s how Thomas from Blaak Heat Shujaa discovered my work and then asked me to work on the cover of the album. The title “The edge of an era” inspired me a lot, something psychedelic, mystical, cosmic that flies away…and, at some point, ends but then announces something new. So I tried to have an image of this idea which also matched the style of the band. When I draw a cover, I always listen to the band to get closer to its universe, that’s very important for me.”

Here is the artwork in hi-resolution. Please click either image to enlarge.

Digipak CD

Vinyl

The Edge of an Era is due out April 9. Stay tuned for more on the album ahead of the release.

Blaak Heat Shujaa on Thee Facebooks

Tee Pee Records website

Arrache toi un oeil website