Crib Notes

The brothers Carney, Jennings (bass), Lain (drums) and Van (guitar) of the rural, Blue Ridge area of Virginia make an awful lot happen in the small spaces occupied by the songs on Pontiak’s second full-length, Maker (Thrill Jockey). There’s a substantial dose of psychedelic freak-out here, but aside from the album’s 13-minute title track opus, most of the songs don’t go on for much longer than three minutes. The stuttering “Laywayed,” the noisy bursts of “Heat Pleasure,” and the hyper-manic clusters of guitar and drums in “Headless Conference” come together like pop fodder fitted with deep, dark grooves and warrior crooning. As such, Maker can certainly be filed under “stoner rock.” But the short, concise nature of each song makes it a jam for ADD listeners and inward journeymen alike.

Pontiak is playing a free in-store at Criminal Records on Sat., June 13 at 5:30 p.m.

Pontiak – Laywayed from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

(Photo courtesy Thrill Jockey Records)

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Over the weekend Thrill Jockey announced that the label’s contribution to this year’s National Record Store Day (April 18) is a deluxe, handmade compilation LP titled Records Toreism. The LP is limited to 900 copies and features a drawing by Posttypography on one side. The flipside features a photo silk-screen by Crosshair. Both images portray record stores of the future, one shows the fruitful vision of what happens if you support these long-standing community institutions. The other portrays what will happen if you don’t.

Click below to view the track list and the rest of the cover art and more info regarding contributors.

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