X-TAL: MORE FUN

Our second archival X-tal release, a collection of little-heard songs from the dark corners of the band's vast catalog. A dizzying array of varied moments from the pen of J Neo Marvin and the talents and inspiration of several different lineups of a band that can still take you by surprise. Recommended tracks include the still-relevant hardcore blast "More Fun In The New World Order", the epic confession "I Was A Teenage Christian", the deadpan, sarcastic environmental protest of "The Humboldt Desert", and the throbbing bass and reverb bliss of "Dub Rat".

THE GRANITE COUNTERTOPS: CRASHING INTO THE FUTURE

The Granite Countertops are dark, whimsical, tender existential action heroes J Neo Marvin and Davis Jones, plus honored guests Matthew Grasso, Lizzie Borden, Junko Suzuki, Mark Parsons, and Stephen Abbate. The music ranges from noisy motivational dance tunes and flamenco/raga/trip-hop protest to populist cowbell rock, conflict-habituated jazz-dub, dissonant garage love ballads and trenchant chatty dronefests. 10 new original numbers, plus two covers of songs by Robert Wyatt and Donovan. It's a sonic pocket zeitgeist for 2010, and we can't wait for you to hear it.

J NEO MARVIN & THE CONTENT PROVIDERS: NINE VERSIONS

Our newest Content Providers release compiles six diverse cover versions from their three CDs, plus three never-before-released renditions of songs by The Magnetic Fields, The Kinks, and Syd Barrett from a 2005 session featuring J Neo Marvin, Davis Jones, Stephen Abbate, and Heiko Bachmann. You know J Neo Marvin the songwriter, now observe him and his comrades in the role of interpreters.

THE EXPERIMENTAL BUNNIES: BIOLOGY AND PHYSICS

The second collection by the Experimental Bunnies once again consists of music made for the Noodle Brain Productions TV series in 2005. BIOLOGY AND PHYSICS is an instrumental journey for these transitional times:

As we walk with confidence straight into the quagmire, we can hear the laments of the gold star moms around us until we keel over from outrage fatigue. It's hard when you're waiting for a bad idea to die. We persevere by carnival crawling, knowing that our just rewards are right around the corner, and there is a rescue remedy. I smell a new world and I'm ready for your instructions.

THE EXPERIMENTAL BUNNIES: MUSIC FOR THE INTEGRITY TONE SCALE

The debut by instrumental sound-scientists the Experimental Bunnies! An original score for Noodle Brain Productions' TV episode on the Integrity Tone Scale. To conjure each one of the 16 states of integrity on the scale, the Experimental Bunnies conceived and recorded their themes as spontaneously as possible into an analogue 4-track recorder, resulting in a score that careens through psychedelic noise, despondent mood pieces, post=punk, surf music, Krautrock, and even disco. The results can either be enjoyed for their own sonic appeal or in the context of a valuable self-awareness tool.

THE BLAME: THE FULL DISCLOSURE PRINCIPLE

Ear Candle Productions' first digital-only release is a five-song EP by The Blame. THE FULL DISCLOSURE PRINCIPLE ranges from innocent pop-folk tunes to noise-laden workplace psychodramas to stirring anthems of empowerment. Includes a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Democracy", the Davis Jones tour de force "Worker Bee", and the cowbell-rock showstopper "Unexpected Impact".

X-TAL: WHO OWNS OUR DREAMS?

San Francisco's X-tal were one of the great unsung bands of the 1990s. Combining the sly pointed lyrics of J Neo Marvin (and others) with a Velvet-y wall of guitars and the twangy crunch of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, X-tal forged a distinctively American sound while daring to shine a light on the flaws of both their country and themselves. WHO OWNS OUR DREAMS? collects, for the first time domestically, some of the best songs from their final albums, which were previously only available on German labels.

J NEO MARVIN & THE CONTENT PROVIDERS: FREEDOM FRIED

FREEDOM FRIED, the third release from J Neo Marvin & the Content Providers, has just been reissued for those who missed it when it first dropped in 2004. 12 songs for the "new American century", Freedom Fried ranges from melodic folk-pop to snarly garage-rock and beyond, all adding up to an unflinching portrait of the state of the union in the first decade of the 21st century. It's music for Americans who have found their home transformed into an occupied country, for foreigners who no longer recognize the once-admired, now scarier than ever, land of rock and roll, blue jeans and silly pop culture, and for any and all human beings who refuse to be stomped into submission.

J NEO MARVIN & THE CONTENT PROVIDERS: WHAT IS TRUTH?

WHAT IS TRUTH? takes its inspiration from psychedelic classics like Their Satanic Majesties Request and Magical Mystery Tour, resulting in an anything-goes approach that stretches the music in whatever direction each song calls for, from the Dylan-goes-to-New-Zealand folk-rock of "Primate House (1731 11th Ave)", to the darkly sad chamber-punk of "Ex-Supernova" or "Stick Figure", to the thumping "Mark E. Smith in Turkey backed by a jazz combo and a Rasta drum circle" ambiance on "Fiscal Year Zero (Charge Of The Lite Brigade)", the catchy Celtic Mariachi drone of "Formerly Boomtown", and the full-on joyful noise of "Kite Song". 28 musicians and singers from all over the musical map contribute to the resulting sonic crazy quilt. Recorded exactingly yet spontaneously in good old-fashioned lysergic 16-track analog by the incomparable Wally Sound, WHAT IS TRUTH? will astonish you with its musical twists and sharp songwriting.

J NEO MARVIN & THE CONTENT PROVIDERS: SLOWLY I TURNED

REASON IS 6/7 OF TREASON

"X-tal have been around the Bay Area for an incredibly long time with astonishingly little concrete output to show for either their years or their overall fabulousness in tackling, in a wholly undumb manner, music that shows resin of the boho/jangle/paisley-folk grain. This debut scoops up the morning-dew innocence of the least embarrassing Haight-Ashbury petal-babies of the `60s with the world-bleary wisdom of all those SF/LA punk-worn people who turned their matured underground gaze upon gentler, more introspective directions (Penelope Houston, Yo, the Catheads, the roster of Heyday Records). And voila, X-tal is neither too precious, too glib nor so laidback as to be dismissable, and they don't take themselves too seriously either. X-tal makes music that one can empathize with even if you don't own a pair of china slippers, joining (or rather, justifying their membership with) the electric bard elite of a tricky, strangely touching nature peculiar to the California-located. Cuts of choice are 'Your Fragile Mind,' 'Encore,' 'Amateur Alchemist' and 'Dogma Suit.'" - : CMJ New Music Report Issue: 192 - Mar 30, 1990

DIE MONSTER DIE

"It's a wiser and angrier X-tal that graces our stereo this year, these San Francisco-reared citizens matching a carnival of instruments with a torrent of well-enumerated opinions on everything from ganja to old, paunchy rock stars. Extinct is the sad-toned reflective X-tal of Reason Is 6/7 Of Treason, their arrangements and imaginations fired up by philosophical coffee-house brawls and an influx of Gaelic, African and Appalachian migrant musics, all brandished with a college student's indignant gleam. Matching up snarl and swing, the band fits the Young Fresh Fellows' whiny wit with a Mekons-tinged, violin-fortified ease of rhythm. Their pan-cultural instrumental smorgasbord stays fast and punchy, lest the verbal sentiments get too weighty and predictable, interchanging ska beats, Irish jigs and suburban twitch with tales of oppressor and oppressed. Oppression, ignorance and complacency are where X-tal's lyrical lance is aimed, and with an equally provocative dancefloor bounce, Die Monster Die is first-class world punk music. Top Cuts: 'Zion (Just A Cloud),''An Old Colonial's Hard Luck Story' and 'Goldfish Bowl.'" - : CMJ New Music Report Issue: 229 - Mar 29, 1991

EVERYTHING CRASH

"When S.F. rock-crit-cum-musician J Neo Marvin name-drops both Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky in the first couplet of the album, we are reassured that this is the same old X-tal, embroidering a pan-folkie instrumental melting pot with lyrical intentions that are sometimes too smart and aware for their own good. Neo's fearless examinations can lambaste the sort of desperate cries for attention in the name of art and nonconformity which abound in cities like San Francisco ('Easily Impressed,''Que Lastima'), while edging perilously close to self-pitying superiority himself. Neo, however, seems to realize that writing about the bourgeoisie and El Salvador doesn't make him a saint among men, and his constant looks over his shoulder, trying to catch himself in the web of hypocrisy as well, are part of what makes this record fascinating. X-tal's musical melange-dolloping lap steel guitars, melodica, violins and other strummy elements atop the usual righteously electric instruments-finds a harmony and common attitude that it lacked on their first record, making melodious good sense ('Black Russian,' 'Passing') besides showing good intentions. When faced with a band that follows a cover of Crucifix's 'Stop Torture' with one from Richard Thompson, deciding whether the band's heartfelt, riled-up ambitions are quixotic or just pretentious is almost beside the point-the sheer chutzpah of Everything Crash keeps X-tal afloat." - Deborah Orr: CMJ New Music Report Issue: 282 - May 01, 1992

GOOD LUCK

"Singer J Neo Marvin has sort of a grating, piercing little voice that's so reedy and nasal-y it takes getting used to (much like David Byrne's did), but his songs are well developed, and that sound — that sound! The twin-guitar barrage is fierce but controlled simultaneously, and best of all, the Chiccarelli specialty, Good Luck's bass and drums, from the talented and pretty Allison Moseley, who should sing more (angelic lead voice on "I Know That"), and solid Mick Freeman, respectively, crackles with the deepest bottom end displayed on these shores. With such a house-burning temperature in the rhythm section, the well laid-out guitar passages, from stinging lead guitar overdubs to terse feedback passages, just shine through further, and the songs stand out from immediate plays (try the realistically cynical "Smells Like Smoke"). Other up-right production touches such as just the right percussion in the choruses and swells out of the verses make Good Luck a unique pleasure. Good band and a great sound makes for a first rate mini-LP experience." Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover

BITING THE UGLY BISCUIT

"Odds and sods. Highlights: recordings by the original band from 1984; superior original versions of 'Happy Americans' and 'Encore'; Sel Wahng's brilliant psychodrama 'I'll Behave'; Jimmy Broustis's brief blast, 'Emotional Consumerism'; the extended dub mix of 'White Rat'; the 'Carnegie Hall' mix of 'Goldfish Bowl' with only Allison Moseley's piano and Mick Freeman's voice; 'Black Russian' live at the Elysee Montmartre in Paris. For the hardcore fans. So out of print it's not even funny." - J Neo Marvin