Tlooth returns with a new chapter: a self-titled debut full-length steeped in duality, embracing both lo-fi grit and unexpected beauty. When a band falls apart, it usually stays that way—but for Tlooth, dissolution became the catalyst for something new. The result is a record that retains the raw edges of lo-fi recording while pushing into new sonic territories, balancing the immediacy of live tracking with the textural depth of layered production.
“There was a moment when Tlooth wasn’t a band anymore,” the band admits. After a period of near-collapse, Joe (guitar), Pat (bass), and Dave (percussion) found themselves at a crossroads. Then David (vocals, guitar) witnessed what could have been their final show. “I stepped forward if they ever decided to do it again,” David says. “We didn’t have to think about it long,” Pat adds and laughs. With renewed energy, the four-piece quickly set to work, writing and recording their debut album over the summer and fall of 2024.
The album itself is a study in contrasts—recorded in fragments yet cohesive, embracing imperfection yet deeply intentional. “Recording for this album was in piecemeal,” Joe recalls. “Drums and bass were tracked live in Dave’s nonagon cabin—oh, and fujara as well. I recorded guitars at home or the DIY space Pat and I and friends run called Pleasuretone; David recorded vocals, guitar, and synth at home. Once it was all mixed, Dan Angel mastered everything at his new studio in Germantown.”
Tlooth’s rhythm section is jazz-strong, their guitars roughed-up, and their vocals unflinchingly honest—a sound as restless as the ideas that fuel it. “We’ve always been drawn to sci-fi, the relentless news cycle, the absurdity of end-stage capitalism… aliens,” David shares, reflecting on their wide-ranging influences.
That same sense of playfulness and unpredictability is embedded in their name. Taken from the absurdist novel by American experimental author Harry Mathews, it reflects the band’s wandering, rule-bending approach to music. “Like the book, we stray freely, playing at games that, in the end, may have no purpose past a joke we tell ourselves,” Joe concludes.
With this release, Tlooth is also taking action beyond the music. Proceeds will support Phillips Black, a nonprofit dedicated to providing legal aid for incarcerated individuals facing the harshest penalties under U.S. law. “We believe in a future without prisons,” Joe says simply.
“It was in the crumbling, labyrinthine depths of Philadelphia-a city steeped in the whispers of forgotten centuries and the weight of unspoken horrors-that I first heard the name Family Garden. This blasphemous triad, composed of three figures who seemed less like men and more like vessels for some unfathomable cosmic will, had emerged as if spat forth from the gullet of a ravenous void. Chubbrock, Ryan Flannery, and Evan Madden, though cloaked in the guise of human flesh, bore within them the taint of something far older and more sinister. Their veins pulsed not with blood, but with the eldritch ichor of heaven’s forbidden magic, a dark gift that bound them to their unholy purpose. Their music, a grotesque fusion of black metal’s glacial malevolence, crust punk’s feral rage, and the disorienting, acid-fueled chaos of a mind unraveling, was no mere performance. It was a ritual, a ceaseless call to the cultivation of an earthly garden whose roots delved deep into the abyss, sprouting tendrils of cosmic dread that threatened to ensnare any that dared to listen.
I learned of their past affiliations with ill-reputed harbingers of sonic annihilation YDI, Eat The Turnbuckle, Crackhouse, Woods of Ypres, and Woe yet it was clear that Family Garden represented something far more debauched and terrifying. Chubbrock’s guitar shrieked like the death throes of a dying star, his vocals a ululating invocation of entities best left forgotten. Ryan’s basslines throbbed with the rhythm of a world submerged, his voice a guttural blasphemy that intertwined with the cacophony like a serpent coiling around its prey. Evan’s drums were the heartbeat of the void itself, a relentless, chaotic pulse that seemed to echo the madness of the cosmos blasting deeper into my psyche with each turbulent kick. Together, they tended their garden, a grotesque parody of Eden where the fruits of their labor were not life, but the sweet, rotting nectar of existential despair. To witness Family Garden was to feel the roots of their creation burrow deep into your soul, twisting and spreading until escape was impossible. I know it must have been a dream, for it to be a reality this bleak, this dominating and vile could not exist on Gods earth. And yet, even as I write these words, I cannot shake the feeling that their garden is still growing, its tendrils reaching ever further into the unsuspecting world…” – Fragment of a scrawled note found on South St.
Family Garden is a DIY Punk-Metal three-piece, crafting a sound that is as eclectic as it is powerful. Hailing from the underground Philly scene, the trio has a long-standing musical partnership, but Family Garden marks their most personal and enduring venture yet.
The band’s origins trace back to earlier projects, whose collapse led into a time of uncertainty during the pandemic, after which they determined to start fresh and create something new. Emerging from such a precarious era, the trio of Chubbrock on vocals and guitars, Ryan Flannery on bass and vocals, and Evan Madden on drums, strengthened their bonds through a slow and steady journey of songwriting and recording, leading up to the band’s debut in 2022, Born From The Heavens, a raw EP of Family Garden’s emergence into the world.
Throughout their history of collaboration, the trio’s creative process remains unified, with each member having an equal say in every aspect of creation. Chubbrock and Ryan F. craft a uniquely dark guitar and bass sound, often layering multiple tones and effects to create a massive sonic presence. Evan’s drums anchor the chaos with strength and precision, while Chubbrock and Ryan F.’s vocals carry gripping narratives inspired by sci-fi, horror, real-life tragedy, and the supernatural.
The name Family Garden originated from the band’s guitar player, when his mother sent him a childhood drawing he had made of a garden with his siblings, parents, and pets, titled “A Family’s Garden”. This resonated with the band and became a nod to family, roots, and personal history. Chubbrock’s artwork plays a significant part in Family Garden’s vision, exploring artistic freedom with no rules or obligations, only paint to canvas, and eventually, to album covers.
With each new creation, Family Garden offers a sound that breaks free from tradition and stays true to their DIY roots. Their latest album was an arduous but rewarding journey, recorded at Permanent Hearing Damage in South Philly with Steve Roche, and releasing on Strange Mono Records, whose charitable efforts were a part of the band’s decision to work with the label. Family Garden has chosen PAWS – Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society – as their charity to benefit from the proceeds of Dreams Beyond Control.
Looking ahead, Family Garden is already pondering future releases, with discussions around another full-length album or potential EP. They’ve recently shared the stage with Vile Form, Cesarian, and Thin in Philadelphia, and continue to expand their presence in the punk and metal scenes, and beyond.
Western Massachusetts has a new face of weirdo punk in the likes of Fugue State, who are slated to release their debut LP “In The Lurch” in the spring of 2025 with support from Philadelphia label Strange Mono.
Originating in 2022 as a solo project of songwriter Shane Bruno (Bridge of Flowers), the music of FUGUE STATE is drenched in cavernous echo, searing Soviet fuzz, and raw urgency, accosting the listener through a makeshift telephone mic about ruminations on themes of existential peril, hometown blight, relationships, and other stream of consciousness pontificating.
“In The Lurch” marks Fugue State’s full band debut. Bruno originally recruited Gage O’Brien and fellow Bridge of Flowers comrade Jon Hanson to form a band and reanimate the 2023 six-song EP “Subtlety’s Dead” for live performance. This proved so successful that they managed to churn out enough material to fill out a record, doing so in urgent process.
The resulting effort elaborates on the first release and draws on influences like Pere Ubu and Roxy Music, focused through the lens of contemporary garage rock, punk, and psychedelia. The band’s live sound has drawn comparisons to Butthole Surfers, Crime, The Flesh Eaters, and “The Gun Club if they took mushrooms instead of dope.”
Adding to their eclectic sound, In The Lurch features guest appearances by Wednesday Knudsen (Pigeons, Stella Kola) on tenor saxophone and Vigilance Brandon (Trance Macabre) on trumpet, showcasing the band’s openness to unconventional instrumentation.
The LP will be released on a one-off pressing of 200 vinyl records via Fugue State and Strange Mono. There will also be a limited cassette release, with proceeds supporting mutual aid funds. Fugue State is building a unique niche in the punk genre by blending raw energy, experimental noise, and a DIY ethos that is sure to resonate with weirdo music fan.
We have been waiting a long time to be able to bring this Actual Pearls album to you all. We are so excited to be able to share it today finally.
Actual Pearls is a tumbling mass of small bytes and bits, pattern upon pattern, with variation, glitch or mutation infiltrating the sonic rubble. It is a music and performance project created by Yianni Kourmadas, stemming from their childhood obsession with creating computer music using MIDI notation software. Using obsolete hard- and soft-ware, Actual Pearls conjures a maximalist minimalism that is not in any known category.
There is a striking honesty in the space presented by Actual Pearls. Everything breathes on an individual level. Each sound a character weaving vignettes that are simultaneously melodic and sporadic. Actual Pearls takes the best parts about the “Cozy Synth” and “Dungeon Synth” trends, the pure MIDI sounds, that nostalgic computer, music and restructures them in elegant and strange ways.
“Surprising beauty that still unfolds and astounds after hundreds (thousands?) of listens. You’ll want to tap your foot, but just as you catch a beat, the gears contort: where is that snare drum, what is that bell? Will you ever hear that melody again? Sure! When you listen to the album for the third time this hour.” – Andrew Keller (Snow Caps)
Spesimin is a Philadelphia-based Metal band. Blending monstrous riffs and horrific imagery, they concoct a sprawling realm that viscerally explores moral ills and the macabre mysteries of the mind. Equally heavy and infectious, Spesimin provides the cathartic soundtrack necessary for our uncompromising modern hellscape.
Spesimin came into being in 2019, when Punk-rooted Ian (Vocals/Drums) and Jazz inflected Alejandro (Guitar) bonded over their shared appreciation for old-school Thrash and Death Metal. Ian’s former bandmate Jeff (Bass) joined in 2020, bringing his love of Florida Death Metal and New York Hardcore to perfectly round out the band’s unique brand of melodic evil Metalpunk.
While fusing elements of Punk, Hardcore, Thrash and Death Metal, Spesimin often defers to Rock grooves and melody over blasts and brutality. The musically adventurous trio has recently refined their approach, transporting their precision riffing and primitive rhythms into slightly Doomier territory, incorporating its long-form technical elements, while continuing to explore deadly serious subjects. They are an anthemic anomaly of their own extreme genre.
The songs are personal and political, probing subjects like addiction, religious mania, the insidious violence of capitalism, and genocide. The result is something cerebral and classic, with gore-soaked imagery that grabs the senses, confronting the darker side of the human experience and evoking a story to be experienced by both musician and listener. The love of horror brings in the right touch of fun, a flagrant indulgence never shying away from the grotesque. Inspiration from horror literature such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau fuel tracks of existential dread and bloodthirsty cravings.
From 2020’s Born In The Crypt and 2022’s Rotting In The Vine, Spesimin’s path of evolution has been clear, but 2025 holds a new chapter with a self-titled discography LP, which compiles their previous releases with their newest EP, entitled Skull Worship. Spesimin generates a pivotal new incarnation as the band’s first vinyl release. Engineer/ album cover artist Dan Angel created unique setups for the band to experiment like mad scientists, their operations polished with mastering by producer Arthur Rizk. Present all along, but fully realized by one of Dan’s drawings, the mascot in their mind was “Spesi”–a primordial fiend without a face, a disembodied brain with diabolical powers, ravenous for revenge against an uncaring world.
While writing and recording has always been their focus, Spesimin does not exist in a vacuum of studio time like samples in a laboratory. On stage, they embody the form of an unnerving and monstrous persona, a destructive unit harnessing punishing riffs and guttural vocals as vehicles for a deeper understanding of the many facets of the mind.
Proceeds from everything sold through us benefit Juntos. Juntos is a community-led, Latine immigrant organization in South Philadelphia fighting for our human rights as workers, parents, youth, and immigrants. www.vamosjuntos.org
Snow Caps is the musical project of Philadelphia songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Keller (they/he/she). Andrew’s deeply personal lyrics and bizarre, beautiful melodies combine to create music that transcends genre. Writing songs is a tenet of Andrew’s daily life that has helped them learn more about themself: they consider Snow Caps “diary music.” A friend once said that Snow Caps is music for anyone who has ever had a feeling.
Andrew has contributed deeply to various musical projects in the Philadelphia DIY scene over the years. She played guitar and viola in the band Hermit Thrushes for 14 years. He also collaborated with songwriter Emily Bate in the band Jonagold. They have performed with Folklore, Scott Churchman, Will Henriksen, Foxy Doxies, and most recently, Shanda. They are influenced by many fellow artists on the Philadelphia record label Single Girl Married Girl, who has put out four prior Snow Caps releases. Moondog, Philip Glass, Arthur Russell, and Kate Bush are also pivotal influences. Andrew’s first ideas for “Notes” came during a weekend trip to the beach with some friends in September 2021, the first time that they left the house for more than a few hours after receiving their first covid vaccination. The titles for the songs came to him while drawing, a recent addition to his daily art practice. The song “Lemon eye” was originally intended to be part of a correspondence project with Pittsburgh musician Brian Hecht (Radon Chong, Skinless Boneless) and although “Notes” eventually evolved into a solo venture, Brian’s musical influence remains evident in the compositions. In a somewhat dream-like state, while on walks along nearby Cobbs Creek, Andrew processed the ideas that would comprise this album.
Andrew started playing piano on their own at age 3, violin at age seven, and guitar in middle school. She learned more about avant-garde and experimental music through playing in the band Hermit Thrushes with friend and songwriter Yianni Kourmadas, which influenced Andrew to start writing their own songs. The first Snow Caps album, Baby Bird, was released in 2008, bringing together the pop sensibilities, atypical rhythms, and odd time signatures and soundscapes that would define the project through the next five full-length albums. An English major in college and avid reader, Andrew’s music has been influenced by literature, notably authors like Gertrude Stein, Virginia Woolf, Edmund White, and Elena Ferrante. Andrew held the position of senior editor at the literary journal Painted Bride Quarterly for almost a decade. Their approach to live performance was shaped by completing a Pochinko clowning workshop with Donna Oblongata in 2016. This month-long intensive showed Andrew how to have more fun in creative pursuits, leading to a more playful nature in viewing trauma and life in general. Mental health has always been an important theme in Snow Caps: Andrew was diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder (bipolar type) shortly before starting the project. Her music also deals with personal feelings on sexuality and gender along with ongoing environmental and societal collapse.
“[T]heir latest album, a ten-song cassette simply called Notes, feels oddly familiar. Notes’ version of pop music is warped but still potent” – Rosy Overdrive
“A mélange of personal lyrics not limited to the bizarre and beautiful” – Sun-13
“A rich, bodily experience that you don’t hear in other music. Refined, controlled, but still abstract and experimental.” -Daisy Jaberi (Suver, Shaggy Sample)
“Both haunting and joyful, Snow Caps finds beauty in tumult, creating sonic and emotional spaces that feel intimate and complex.” – Emily Royer, visual artist
“Tears warmer than usual, you laugh as they ramp off your smiling cheeks and hit the beautiful earth beneath you.” Brian Morsberger (Drums Like Machine Guns)
CONCRETE CAVEMAN RETURNS WITH THEIR FOLLOW UP EP “WAR BEHIND GLASS” OFFERING FIVE NEW SKULL SMASHING, BONE CRUNCHING, RABID SONGS SURE TO LOWER YOUR IQ AND MAKE YOU DRAG YOUR KNUCKLES ON THE PAVEMENT.
NEANDERTHAL WITH A GUN: DEEP UNDERGROUND AT AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, NOT FAR FROM WHERE YOU STAND, VARIOUS DARK AND DEMENTED EXPERIMENTS ARE BEING DONE ON REGULAR EVERYDAY CITIZENS LIKE ME AND YOU. TWISTED AND INHUMAN, THE DARKEST OF MANS CURIOSITIES ARE EXPLORED. HOW MANY TIMES MUST WE LEARN SOMETHINGS ARE BEST LEFT UNKNOWN?
DOUSED IN GASOLINE ( IRONY POISONED ): THE CAN OF GASOLINE BECKONS YOU ONCE MORE WITH ITS SIRENS SONG. HOW MUCH LONGER CAN YOU RESIST ITS SWEET SWEET MELODIES? WHEN ALL OF LIFE’S MEANING FEELS LIKE A JOKE WILL YOU BE STRONG ENOUGH TO SEE THE IRONY IN IT ALL OR WILL YOU BECOME TOMMORROWS PUNCHLINE?
BLASTED TO BITS: THEY SAY WAR NEVER CHANGES. WELL IT JUST DID. METAL PUPPETS PILOTED BY FLESH AND BONE TERRORIZE THE SKIES OF THE BATTLEFIELD. KILLING WITHOUT REMORSE OR CONSEQUENCE WHAT WILL BE LEFT OF THE MEN BEHIND THE GLASS?
HIJACKED NEURAL PATHWAYS: CONFUSED, DISORIENTED, AND CHAINED TO THE WALL. SURROUNDED BY NIGHTMARES TORTURING YOU INCESSANTLY. DRAINING YOU OF YOUR SANITY TO THE VERY LAST DROP. YOU WISH THEY’D JUST FINISH THE JOB BUT WHAT’S THE FUN IN THAT?
COSMIC CASKET: TRAPPED INSIDE A BOX DRIFTING THROUGH THE GREAT UNKNOWN ON ONE LAST FINAL JOURNEY. GRIPPED WITH TERROR AND FEAR DESPERATELY TRYING TO ESCAPE ONE’S FATE. WITHOUT A KEY ONE CANNOT OPEN A DOOR THAT IS UNLESS YOUR WILL IS GREATER THAN THAT OF THE DOOR
We know nothing is scarier than looking at your phone right now BUT For this most delightfully ghastly season, we posed a wicked little question to our favorite fiends—I mean, bands: ‘What is the one horror film that every unsuspecting mortal simply must witness?’ The answers, my dear unfortunate souls, have conjured a positively spine-tingling collection! Behold—a handpicked horror hotlist, teeming with obscure monstrosities and deliciously twisted deep cuts, guaranteed to make your skin start crawling… and perhaps never stop! So, light your candles, lock your doors, and prepare yourself… for the thrills that await below!
“Humans being hunted and killed for an alien fast food chain” Where to watch: Internet Archive, YouTube
A gory, darkly comedic cult classic where a group of aliens harvest humans for their intergalactic fast-food chain, and a ragtag team fights to stop them.
BIG BURLY: LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE A.K.A THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE (1974)
“Can I just say Tobe Hooper? I guess I’ll have to go with Dawn of the Dead if I can only pick one.” Where to watch: Internet Archive, Prime
In George A. Romero’s iconic zombie apocalypse, survivors take refuge in a shopping mall, battling the undead and facing the consumerism that traps them within.
“All the practical effects and the plot are so cool and creepy and weird. Very very wet movie. Frank being all goopy and shit.” Where to watch: Internet Archive, Prime
A twisted journey into the dark world of pleasure and pain, where the iconic Cenobites are summoned through an ancient puzzle box.
A nightmarish, cyberpunk fever dream where a man’s body horrifyingly transforms into a mass of scrap metal in a violent collision of flesh and machinery.
“The practical effects are top notch. It’s my favorite example of gross body horror but still campy enough to be enjoyable.” Where to watch: Hulu, Criterion
A grotesque and tragic sci-fi horror where a scientist’s experiment in teleportation goes horrifyingly wrong, fusing his DNA with a housefly.
A zany and comedic sequel where the mischievous Gremlins wreak havoc in a high-tech skyscraper.
SPESIMIN: LUCIO FULCI’S ZOMBIE AKA ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS (1979)
“Right mix of fun and brutality. IF you want something from a different time period just to switch it up check out ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932)” Where to watch: Internet Archive, Shudder
A gruesome Italian horror where flesh-eating zombies rise from their graves in a Caribbean island setting.
A chilling urban legend comes to life as a graduate student uncovers the terrifying myth of the hook-handed Candyman, summoning him with deadly consequences.
As the deluge of bandcamp Friday begins we here @strange_mono , in collaboration with our trusted friends @blightrecords, present: ASSISTED LIVING – IS COMING
@asstdlvng is available now on the beautiful cassettes you so desperately need, coming soon on COMPACT DISC!
At some point alternative music started parodying itself/ But, for a time, alternative meant just that, another option from whatever the mouthbreathers were into; it meant underground, DIY, which, in turn, meant whatever the heck that meant. Assisted Living is a new band but they fall into that sweet spot, back when alternative was fresh. They took Chavez and Polvo, Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers, Lilys and Hum (like old Hum), put them in a grinder, packed a very serious bowl and smoked ‘em. And what you8 get in your earholes is a daydream of those halcyon days: tone chyasers for the heads but fun for the hippies, a kinda pre-internet gauze on finding a band and falling for them deeply and forever.
Assisted Living boasts members who’ve done time in Ugh God, Nyxy Nyx, Sun Organ, Bad History Month and an iteration of Golden Apples, back when they were called Cherry. And, if you know any of those bands, you’ll know the pedigree with which we’re dealing here. There’s a Philly band slacker element that’s meant to remind everyone that Philly doesn’t give a shit, but its really good at not giving a shit.
Assisted Living is from the muddy banks of the Schuylkill. Drew Saracco, Shane Moore, Jesse Kennedy & Dylan Larkin all played instruments.
Webb Chapel operates on impulse, chance, and what sounds right. Since 2022’s Moverama, the project’s freewheeling approach to tape recording has yielded an enigmatic collection of raw art rock and guitar pop unattached to any one specific sound or idea. Thus far, primary songwriter Zack Claxton has taken a singular approach to Webb Chapel by binge-writing in seclusion and steering clear of anything resembling a press photo. Now reimagined as a full band, Webb Chapel enters the studio for the first time; World Cup is the sound of a rapidly evolving project leaning into collaborative trust and doubling down on creative instinct.
Recorded and mixed over six days with engineer Dan Angel, World Cup was beholden to fate and changes in both scenery and personnel. “Alone at the Fair” was reworked after studio soundcheck, as listening back gave the song more context. “There’s something about hearing people playing things in a room,” Claxton explains, “Sometimes you’ll listen back and be like ‘What’s going on here?’” The immediate challenges of recording with a full band forced Claxton’s hand in more deliberate arrangement decisions while entrusting the band with making creative decisions themselves.
Studio 4 Vinyl uses a blend of eco friendly recycled vinyl that has been processed and cleaned. The repurposed mixes have been carefully selected to create one of a kind color ways that are environmentally friendly while still providing crispy clean audio quality.
Rachel Gordon (Nine of Swords, Greg Electric) takes vocal duties for highlights “Black Car” and leadoff cut “Springtime,” pushing Claxton further into the directorial role of “background lead.” A cruising intro prefaces the latter track’s crushing percussive backbone, capturing the full band’s urgency to let listeners know Webb Chapel is alive. Gordon’s restless wail is passionate and instantly gripping, setting the tone of side A beside thrilling uptempo cuts like “Pretty” and “Shipping Containers Anonymous.” With Josh Lesser (Blue Smiley, TAGABOW) on guitar and Christian Mailloux (Sweepers) on drums, World Cup finds Webb Chapel rounding out their live roster with some of Philly’s finest.
No stranger to a speedy recording process, Claxton was right at home with World Cup’s one-week turnaround. Webb Chapel’s home recordings were often written and recorded in one day, but World Cup marks the band’s fluid evolution from bedroom afternoons to coordinated studio sessions. The intentions Webb Chapel set with World Cup lay the foundations for the city’s best new secret; an unpinnable project, faceless and shapeless, cemented in trust and intuition.
All proceeds benefit The Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society phillypaws.org “A non-profit organization dedicated to saving Philadelphia’s homeless and at-risk pets. PAWS is the city’s largest rescue partner and provider of affordable, basic veterinary care for pet owners and rescue organizations that cannot otherwise access it.”
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