A Vinyl Friday, Split Double

Name: The Radiation Flowers/Hawkeyes

Origin: Saskatchewan / Kitchner, Canada
Album: Summer Loop / Split
Year: 2017
Links: Cardinal Fuzz Bigcartel Radiation Flowers Bandcamp
Label: Cardinal Fuzz & Sunmask

Limited to 350 Copies on Blue Vinyl

Continuing from where we left off with the last post, this weeks post is all about connections and links between bands. The previous post was from Canadian band Shooting Guns which leads to this weeks post from a band called The Radiation Flowers. The connection between these two bands is Christopher Laramee, he being a member in both bands. 

The Radiation Flowers were previously known as Powder Blue which was lead by Shelby Gaudet (who is in fact Mrs Laramee) They did a bit of a reshuffle and brought in Chris and changed their name. They have since recorded a couple of albums. The one I'm posting today is called Summer Loop. This came out last year on a limited CDR. I'm glad to say it has just been released on vinyl this very week. There  are in fact a few subtle differences between both. Firstly, there is a reshuffle with tracklisting and an extra new song added to allow for the vinyl two sides issue. The mix is a little different in a number of songs, some with added organ.

The album is released today so get over to their Bandcamp page and give the whole album a listen. The sound is completely different from Shooting Guns. There more of a Psychgaze feel about Rad Flow.

Summer Of Burnout is an Instrumental track which lets the band loose and jam away with a blissfully summertime tune. 

 

Walking Down The Street was originally the opening track on the CDR which came out last year.


 

Walking Reprise is an acoustic instrumental rework of Walking Down The Street. This is a wonderful song that reminds me of an outtake of a Radiohead song from The Bends.

This album is released on both Sunmask (CA) and Cardinal Fuzz (UK) Unfortunately Cardinal Fuzz has already sold out it's allotted number. 

Limited to 350 copies on light blue vinyl

This leads me on to my next connection! This weeks also sees the release of a split LP by both Hawkeyes and The Radiation Flowers. You may remember from a previous post I posted a split Lp by Shooting Guns and Hawkeyes. Well Chris has teamed up with Hawkeyes  to give us another fantastic untitled split. Both bands have upped their game on this split. It gives us some idea of how the bands have progressed from their previous release. I believe Hawkeyes have an album coming out in the near future. There are close connections between all the Canadian bands and I believe Chris has joined Hawkeyes on stage at a gig last year. It went down so well that he has been welcomed back anytime.

The Opening track 33 Floors Up is an instrumental 

 

The Second track is a cover "Never Fade" from Sun Dials 1992 album Reflecter

This again is released on through both Sunmask and Cardinal Fuzz. 350 copies were pressed, again this was snapped up very quickly and is sold out on Cardinal Fuzz. Sunmask don't have an official site but sell all their releases through Discogs from Canada. I believe they still have copies of both albums. 

Hawkeyes/Radiation Flowers Full Album

Split #4

Name: Shooting Guns/ Hawkeyes
Origon: Canada
Album: Brothers Of The Nod
Year: 2015
Label: Pre-Rock Records
Links: Shooting Guns Bandcamp, Hawkeyes Bandcamp

Brotherhood Of The Nod Limited to 60 copies on Blue vinyl

A number of weeks ago I posted an album by Canadian band Shooting Guns. Today I give you a split with fellow Canadians Hawkeyes. Both these bands follow in the same vain so if you liked the initial post, then this is for you. Both these bands are heading a big psych scene in Canada along with 'The Band Who's Name Is A Symbol, Moths & Locusts, Betrayers, Backhomes and The Radiation Flowers to name but a few. In fact Hawkeyes and The Radiation Flowers have a split due for release anytime now.

Shooting Guns - Mega Volcano

This split sees both bands include 3 tracks each with side A blasting out tunes by Shooting Guns.  More people would be familiar with Shooting Guns having released quite a few albums whereas Hawkeyes have only released their debut called Poison Slows You Down. I believe they have an album along with the split due for release this year.

Hawkeyes - Hotter Than Ten Hundred Suns

This split has had a number of reissues due to it's popularity. My blue version is limited to 60. Apparently this version was meant to have an orange swirl in the blue but mine doesn't seem to have any. Guess that makes mine ultra rare! 

Full Album

Split #3

Name: Gnod / White Hills‎
Album: Gnod Drop Out With White Hills II
Year: 2010
Label: Rocket Records
Links: Gnod Bandcamp Rocket Recordings Bandcamp

2015 re-pressing of 500 copies

I'm not a big fan of GNOD at all! I guess that's not the start of this weeks Split #3 post you were looking for but there is White Hills to throw into the mix as well. This weeks split is not really a split but a collaboration between two bands. They both went into the studio (not necessarily together!) and bashed out a stunning album called  GNOD Drop Out With White Hills II.

This album has been on my want list for sometime and I managed to nab myself a copy in January. It is a double containing 8 songs. Each one brilliant in a different way from the next. I don't know what it is about Gnod on their own that doesn't appeal to me, but the blend of both these bands together gives for a very balanced album.

Run-a-Round

The opening track on the albums is ‘Run-A-Round’, which is a fluid Motorik drive with calming vocals from Dave W (from White Hills). There is a fan made clip on YouTube where somebody has sound-tracked their rainy nighttime journey down a motorway with the musical soundscape of ‘Run-A-Round’in the background. It is strangely fitting, and to my mind at least, very Gnod. Pun intended!

Title Track - Drop Out

The beautiful artwork on the sleeve is done by Johnny O Rocket. He has also done other artwork for both these bands along with The Heads, Acid Mothers Temple, Mudhoney, Serpentina Satelite and many more.

 This Pink sleeve version is a repress. The original sleeve was without the pink art added. The first pink re-press was in 2013 with pink vinyl. The pink copy I have is a 2015 re-press on white vinyl limited to 500. There was also a  2011 yellow version of the pink style on yellow translucent vinyl. Get whatever copy you can cause they are hard to come by!!

Full Album

Split #2

Name: The Myrrors / Centralstödet ‎
Album: Ljudkamrater
Year: 2017
Label: Cardinal Fuzz (UK), Sky Lantern Records (US)
Links: Cardinal Fuzz Bandcamp , Sky Lantern Bandcamp

Black & cream edition of 150 copies.

I wanted to do a vinyl Friday post on The Myrrors before I posted this split but I couldn't wait until next Friday before I posted something by them! Who knows, maybe I'll do both in the one week by posting them next Friday too! They are a band worthy of a double post. This was only released a number of weeks ago, so it is on heavy rotation at the moment. When buying this split I knew The Myrrors but only heard of Centralstödet so it was a good opportunity to get a first impression of what they sounded like. What I did know about them was they are from Denmark. Yet another Scandinavian band in the long line of brilliant bands from that region. Unfortunately YouTube doesn't have any of the 3 tracks posted for this split, so here is something else to wet your appetite!

Centralstödet - Monokelklåda

Now back to The Myrrors! I can't rate these highly enough. Their sound is very much from the hot desert of Arizona.  I'm not going to go much into them as they will feature on Vinyl Friday soooon! One of the cool features of The Myrrors side is it has a locked groove at the end. For those of you who, like me, never heard of a locked groove, it is a continuous loop of music the length of one full rotation of the record. Normally a record has a silent groove at the end.To be honest I never even noticed it!

This split is a joint collaboration between two labels Cardinal Fuzz and Sky Lantern Records (which is run by a member of The Myrrors) The Black and cream version I have here is limited to 150 copies. The black version is limited to 350. There are 3 tracks by Centralstödet and 2 by The Myrrors.

The Myrrors - Rayuela

Split #1

Name: Mugstar/Cosmic Dead
Album: Burning Mirror / Fuckahyoocastaluh Split
Year: 2014
Label: Evilhoodoo
Links: Bandcamp

The split single/EP/LP is something relatively new to me.  For those of you not familiar with the term, it's when a number of bands (mainly two) release a single/EP or indeed an album. Generally speaking each band have a number of their own songs on each side of a vinyl record.

It's a very good idea for a number of reasons. Firstly, the bands would have their own sets of fans and it is a good way for each band to seek out new fans. More often than not, both bands would have a similar style in music. I know I've bought LPs from the unknown band on the other side because of the effectiveness of the split.

 Secondly, unless you are signed to a major label, which most bands in the universe aren't, then  they have to cough up the money themselves to release an album/LP. I'm guessing most bands wouldn't have that kinda cash to burn so it spreads the cost of releasing an EP/LP in half for both bands.

Plenty of people will tell you that the bands only use material that is left over from recording an album or EP themselves. i.e. The songs being of an inferior quality. Well, I can tell you any Split I've bought are top notch, so don't let that stop you!

The Cosmic Dead-Fukahyoocastulah

The first split I'm going to share with you is one that was recommended to me. Up until then I didn't have a split in my collection so I asked a couple of like minded people if they could recommend one. This is what they came up with! Mugstar / Cosmic Dead ‎– Burning Mirror / Fuckahyoocastaluh. I have to say it blew my mind. I hadn't anything in my collection by either band and have since bought a number of releases by both.

Full album

It is released on Evilhoodoo Records in a limited edition of 1000 copies in official Evil Hoodoo hand-made cotton sleeve (if bought direct from them) 600 on black vinyl and 400 on ox-blood-red vinyl. Both these bands will feature on Vinyl Friday in the weeks to come.

As you can see the sleeve is a mock of a very well known album cover, can you name it?