Wormwood Grasshopper Records

An update of what's going on at the moment.

2012-02-15T15:37:00.003-08:00

Wowzers, here's a couple of reviews of the Hammering the Cramps album from the Still Single blog and Volcanic Tongue.

"RECOMMENDED

A fantastic record with no band to back it up. Hammering the Cramps existed from 2005 through 2007 or thereabouts; members are now doing time in the band Drunk Elk. Perhaps this band/this album was a bit ahead of its time, as the kind of people who are now just discovering New Zealand bands will no doubt flock to this effort, whereas it was still a bit of an antiquity back when this oddly-named group was alive and kicking in Hobart, Tasmania, the kind of place that hasn’t been known to let its wayward coordinates stop great bands (Sea Scouts, The Native Cats, Paint Your Golden Face) from surfacing to the rest of the world. Point is, this one shouldn’t have slipped through the cracks, a real rager that combines the room pressure of Trapdoor Fucking Exit-era Dead C. with the sort of frenetic psychedelic heft of any great Wayne and Kate Village band (hearing Crystalized Movements in the crashing percussion, Major Stars in the overall riff-force and keyed-up delivery), and the sun-blinded free spirit that rises into the air anytime someone plays the Plagal Grind 12”. It sounds as if it could have surfaced as some ambitious Xpressway offshoot back in 1988, the presence of four guys with the third dimension flickering on and off, banging on their cages and letting tiny, powerfully-focused beams of light pierce the painted black walls and rip through to a late afternoon blue sky. That’s a feeling I rarely have about any sort of music anymore, so consider this a must-own, and check to see if you white-knuckled at any point during the raucous middle portion of this fine LP like I did. “Seahorse Song” – good god! 300 copies. (http://wormwoodgrasshopper.blogspot.com)" (Doug Mosurock/Still Single)

"Totally fantastic archival unearthing documenting this pre-Drunk Elk project from Hobart, Tasmania. The sound is classic edge-of-the-world hypnotically degraded avant lurch, with the kinda grasp of extended rock tongue that defined the more damaged group sounds coming out of the Xpressway stable but with an emphatically powerful grasp of massed No Wave guitar movements and the kinda higher-mind feel for tortuously beautiful melodies of This Kind Of Punishment. But it’s the walls of endless strung-out guitars that really seal the deal with a euphoric repeating aspect that comes over like a Valkyrie Dead C or The Clean play Glenn Branca topped off with classic wasted/desperate vocals. Hard to believe they kept themselves a secret for so long but this is fantastic. Edition of 300 copies. Highly recommended!" (David Keenan/Volcanic Tongue)

In the works is another 100 copies of Mad Nanna's "If I Don't Sleep Tonight" 7". This time it will feature white card on the covers instead of black.

Coming soon is a blinding and stumbling 7" from Sprot, which is shaping up to be quite a bad ass thing. In the mixing stage is a 7" EP from Drunk Elk.

Here's how the catalogue looks at the moment;

Drunk Elk "Under Neon Lights" LP (Wormwood Grasshopper) $20

Hammering the Cramps s/t LP (Wormwood Grasshopper) $20

WitMatCwtS tape 1, 2 and cdr 3 (Wormwood Grasshopper) $8 each/$20 package

Mad Nanna "I Hit A Wall" 7" (Quemada) $10

Mole House "Hey Come My Way" 7" (Quemada) $10

The Lost Domain "Drunken Sailor" 7" (Negative Guest List) $10

The Lost Domain "Blondes Chew More Gum" 2xLP (Negative Guest List) $30

3 Toed Sloth "Jukebox Single #2" 7" (Negative Guest List) $10

Moffarfarrah 7" (Albert's Basement) $10

Muura 7" (Alberts Basement) $10

Mad Nanna "I've Been Talking" 7" (Little Big Chief) $10

Coming soon to the distro stash;

Alastair Galbraith - Mass cdr (Next Best Way)

Alastair Galbraith - Mirrorwork cdr (Next Best Way)

Alastair Galbraith - Cry cdr (Next Best Way)

Alastair Galbraith - Radient cdr (Next Best Way)

Alastair Galbraith - Orb cdr (Next Best Way)

A Handful of Dust - Panegyric cdr (Next Best Way)

$100 Band - Waves and Particles cdr (Next Best Way)

and hopefully a stack from Breakdance The Dawn.

2012-02-05T01:54:00.000-08:00

Meat Thump - "Feel Good" - 27.11.2011 from Joshua Watson on Vimeo.

Farewell Brendon, you'll be sorely missed.

WG-02 Hammering The Cramps s/t LP

2011-12-13T03:56:00.000-08:00

I've just received word that the Hammering The Cramps LPs have made it to their US destination -Easter Bilby Distro- and now the rest are on their way to Australia.

Hammering The Cramps were a Hobart band active between 2005 -2007, with this LP being recorded at a rehearsal in Janurary 2007. In Hobart their audience was sadly limited at the time (and still is) and it would be a shame for them to fall between the cracks, because they're one of the greatest groups to come out of this town. Their sound is loose, loud and heartfelt and has a similar charector to that of Xpressway artists, Roky Erickson and Brian Eno's "Here Come The Warm Jets".
The LP jacket features the brilliant artwork of the late Phoebe.

Hammering The Cramps by Wormwood grasshopper

Edition of 300.

$20
$26ppd - Australia

paypal to wormwoodgrasshopper@gmail.com, please put "Hammering The Cramps LP" in the notes. Anyone requiring postage overseas or combing postage, feel free to get in touch and we'll sort something out.

-A huge thank you goes out to Renai Gard for the excellent preservation of the artwork and to Brendan Boucher for all the help with the layout.-

Garbage & The Flowers' 'Stoned Rehearsal' -- Quemada Records

2011-11-13T04:10:00.000-08:00

The Garbage & The Flowers LP's from Quemada Records have turned up, and boy is it a stunning album! I've got two copies left for $25 plus postage.

The Garbage and The Flowers-Elizabeth (slight edit) by Quemada Records

WG-03... Mad Nanna - 'If I Don't Sleep Tonight'

2011-10-11T01:45:00.000-07:00

Proudly presenting, 7" no. 2 from Melbourne's Mad Nanna. Two very mysterious sides that serve as a nice follow on from their fantastic debut 7".. A late night classic. Edition of 100, get 'em while they're hot.

"Massively limited new single by another of VT’s many, many favourite groups coming out of Australia right now, in an edition of only 100 copies. This is staggering navigation of brokedown de-tuned guitar, expiring rhythms and hypnotic downer vocals that should appeal to anyone who ever wept over the first couple of Shadow Ring albums and who thinks the second Godz album was ‘too musical’. Mad Nanna have such a profoundly personal take on the sound of collapsing universes that they rival early Kousokuya and the first Royal Trux album in terms of falling apart to stay together. Profoundly strung out, idiotically moving, highly recommended!" -David Keenan/Volcanic Tongue

Mad Nanna - If I Dont Sleep Tonight by wormwoodgrasshopper

SOLD OUT

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Also for $10, I've got a handful of Mad Nanna's debut 7" (the Little Big Cheif edition) and the Muura 7" that Albert's Basement put out, both are brilliant. Message me on wormwoodgrasshopper@gmail.com if you'd like one. Coming soon(ish) to this little distribution list is the incredible Garbage and The Flowers' 'Stoned Rehersal' LP (Quemada records).

I've Been Talking by Mad Nanna by Alberts Basement

'Untitled' by Muura by Alberts Basement

WG-01... Drunk Elk's 'Under Neon Lights' LP

2011-10-03T01:09:00.000-07:00

'Drunk Elk is an experience of a forgotten place. Each track a cracked sermon for those spoilt by a lifetime of drums. The lesson we can't have it all. 'Pieces of People We Have Known' was unhinged, 'Under Neon Lights' fills out; has more rage, more range, and focuses to describe the madness as something clearer, louder and more felt. Picture Father Yod, disrobed, and dispatched to a very different island, landing in the hands of a mischievous Current 93. Drunk Elk have the driving stare of the Pin Group, the sideways hit of early Terminals and sound like they've only heard Joy Division described.' - Paul Garcia.

"Much anticipated full length LP from VT faves Drunk Elk who come out of Hobart, Tasmania. The trio use vocals, organs, bass and guitars – no drums – to navigate the kind of beautiful edge-of-the-world tuneage of NZ/OZ faves like This Kind Of Punishment, The Garbage And The Flowers, Builders et al. Vocalist Dave Askew is as distinctive a stylist as Richard Youngs, Pip Proud or Alastair Galbraith while sounding like approximately none of them. Tracks vary from slow-motion organ-led heartbreak to crude DIY avant-folk in a way that is as staggering as anything by The Scrotum Poles but the overall atmosphere is of late 80s/early 90s underground moves cut with a time-lag/lost in translation vibe that is hard to put your finger on. Drunk Elk somehow combine earnest, sad, heart on your sleeve songwriting with a ton of avant smarts and a crude underground aesthetic that is just totally beguiling. Heart-stoppingly beautiful, peerlessly inventive to the point that you keep throwing names at em – Kiwi Animal?! – but none of em stick. Only wish we could’ve caught these guys live when we were in Tasmania ourselves. Edition of only 300 copies. Very highly recommended" -David Keenan/Volcanic Tongue
"

Drunk Elk - Under Neon Lights LP by wormwoodgrasshopper

Edition of 300.

$20
$26ppd - Australia

paypal to wormwoodgrasshopper@gmail.com, please put "Drunk Elk LP" in the notes though.

*** anyone requiring postage out of Australia; please get in touch with the above email address and I'll try and sort something out***

Seneca's Last Breath.... Drunk Elk 7" out now on Quemada Records

2011-06-06T04:12:00.000-07:00

Quemada Records have released Drunk Elk's vinyl debut. It features one heavy song and one light song.

You can purchase it direct from Quemada Records as well as the following stores...

Vox Cyclops (Newcastle), Sunshine and Grease (Melbourne), Rockinghorse (Brisbane), Tommy Gun Records (Hobart), Missing Link (Melbourne), Fusetron (USA), Tedium House (USA), Midheaven/Revolver (USA), All Day Records (USA), Florida's Dying (USA), Permanent Records (USA), Selection Records (USA), Little Big Chief Records (USA), Shiny Beast (Europe), Volcanic Tongue (UK) and Juno Records (UK).

What's also exciting is that Quemada Records' next release is a vinyl edition of The Garbage and The Flowers' 'Stoned Rehersal'. There's something to look forward to!

"Vinyl debut of this amazing band from Hobart, Tasmania: Drunk Elk play dark, droning avant garage in the tradition of Garbage & The Flowers, Vacuum, Builders, Pin Group et al with Messthetics-style three chord dirges over classic wild/emotive vocals that wrap themselves around the guitars in beautiful convulsive shapes. If this hadda been some archival exhumation by Siltbreeze everyone would be falling over themselves to make space in the pantheon but this is happening right now and it makes for one of the most exciting continuations of the NZ/OZ underground rock sound since, fuck, the 1990s? Can’t get enough of this: one to watch for sure. Highly recommended!" -Volcanic Tongue.