Weak Signal "LP1" RE LP (2019)

Details: NY-based trio Weak Signal's first album reissued and remixed for vinyl and released/reissued in 2019 by Mag Mag Records & Tapes. Black vinyl. New stock, sealed. RIYL: Endless Boogie, The Raveonettes, VU, Suicide, et al

Description: "Those already familiar with the works of Mike Bones have probably already perked their ears at his mention. His solo albums for aughts enclave The Social Registry brought a gnarled sense of indie grandeur, while his album with Soldiers of Fortune (Mexican Summer) produced a supergroup that should have gone down in history, bringing members of Endless Boogie and Oneida together with Matt Sweeney (a wise move if you ask me). It's hard to keep a good slinger down and as proof, Mike’s quietly slipping out a 2019 gem that deserves a few louder shouts. Weak Signal is his most compact vision yet, and appropriately the music is a skin-flayed, no pussyfootin’ vision of indie tumble that’s got teeth in the flesh and smoke in the air. Bones picks at the same carrion carnage in which his contemporaries Sweeney and Chris Forsyth often find themselves embroiled. There’s a sense of timeless tension — every bit the early ‘90s major label gamble and early aughts classicists in one. The trio can wire-strip the soul (“Tell Me How You Like It”) and still seed the clouds for a bare fist melancholy melt (“Lyin”).

The touchstones on Bones’ syllabus feel more than familiar but he’s spinning it anew, lighting a new fire into the indie rock pyre that’s been smoldering to the coals on the back of 2019. Along with a propulsive thunder from rhythm section Sasha Vine and Tran Huynh, and a bevy of complimentary harmonies as well, Weak Signal is proving to be a record that’s hard to shake and harder to evict from the turntable. The album eeked out last year from NYC tape label Reality Delay but finds a welcomed new life on LP from Jacuzzi Boys’ label Mag Mag this year. It’s highly recommended that you put this ring-spun sizzler on the table and let it drip over your soul a few times. Let it burrow under the skin and itch with delicious discomfort." - Raven Sings the Blues (review)

Grade: M (new stock)

TRACK LISTING SIDE A:

A1. Intro / Really Gotta Run
A2. Boy U Better
A3. Dripping In Gold
A4. Miami/Miami Part 2

TRACK LISTING SIDE B:

B1. Lying
B2. Tell Me How You Like It
B3. Haunting The Halls
B4. Bitch I'm Your Baby
B5. I Don't Miss U