News From The Great Beyond: Kill Rock Stars, Three Widows, Page France, An Albatross, Liquid Soul

We open with two new releases from the Kill Rock Stars imprint. Both CDs are hitting the stores on June 6th (a/k/a 06/06/06). The Paper Chase's (left) Now You Are One of Us features what KRS describes as "strangled guitars, bombastic percussion, terror-stricken strings, bizarre samples and crashing pianos." Enough said.

Meanwhile, something off-the-beaten-path has yet to discover, The Robot Ate Me will issue Good World, featuring 17 tracks clocking in at 23 minutes. Ryland Bouchard (below, right) presents the listener with a imaginative world that presents mythical characters like Djien (a monster spider the size of a man whose heart is buried in the ground causing it to survive the most critical attacks), the Stone Giants (who are invulnerable except on the soles of their feet) and She Owl (the wife of Bloody Knife).

The former members of Breather Resist have been reincarnated under the name Three Widows. Evan Patterson (Black Cross, The National Acrobat), Nick Thieneman, and Geoff Paton will release a new CD entitled Settle Down City, containing 11 songs of hypnotic, heavy, noise-rock anthems. Street date is September 12, 2006.

Seattle based label, Suicide Squeeze, has inked Baltimore's Page France to a recording contract. The label will re-released Hello, Dear Wind on September 12th. The disc offers a spirited mix of campfire sing-a-longs, whimsical pop classics, and a delicate dash of folk innocence. While Hello, Dear Wind features previously released material, front man Michael Nau and his band mates will set out to record new material for a proper label debut.

Psych-grind masters of the spiritual and physical revolution, An Albatross, are currently completing a European trek in support of their forthcoming debut full-length Blessphemy (of the Peace-Beast Feastgiver and the Bear-Warp Kumite), out June 27th on Ace Fu. Pitchfork Media calls this "The trippiest record in the history of the world."

Telarc Records will release One-Two Punch from Liquid Soul, the Grammy-nominated combo that has built its reputation on a compelling mix of jazz, hip-hop, funk and hard-bop. The San Francisco Chronicle calls Liquid Soul "...the tightest and funkiest outfit in America." Also coming from Telarc will be Cold As Ice, the new release from John Lee Hooker, Jr.. It scheduled for a June release.