Stream a new Mind Spiders track!
http://www.spin.com/articles/mind-spiders-inside-you-stream/

Welcome to the insanely-overdue new Dirtnap Records website!

It’s not 100% done, but we can’t stand to look at our old website for another second. Not another second.

Pre-2009 releases are still being added. In the meantime, for a full list of available Dirtnap titles, please visit our mailorder site at www.greennoiserecords.com

Denton/Austin’s Bad Sports are back with their third album – and second on Dirtnap. Produced by the Marked Men’s Mark Ryan and Jeff Burke, Bras is a major departure from the ’77 pop/punk feel of 2011’s terrific Kings of the Weekend.

This time the band brings a tougher, harder-edged sound and takes on a wider variety of musical styles. While still very much in the classic vein of Texan garage/punk, Bad Sports are also bringing to mind the heyday of New York City punk. With hints of Dead Boys snarl, Dictators thump, and even some artier Lou Reed/Television leanings, this record finds the trio refining its songwriting chops and rocking harder than ever. The album’s got a little bit of everything – from booming Cheap Trick style power pop to straight-up catchy garage punk to grimy proto-punk not far removed from Orville’s other band OBN IIIs.

And while Bras builds on the foundation of previous records, quite frankly it blows away anything else the band has done to date. Scorching tracks like “Washed Up” and “Race To The Bottom” beg to be played at obnoxiously loud volumes, while “Nothing In This World” might be the best pop song you hear this year. Elsewhere, “Get You” and “Terrible Place” manage to satisfy the fan base even as they push the band’s sound to the next level. Lots of bands pay lip service to the idea of duplicating the energy of their live shows on record. Bad Sports have gone out and done it! Turn it up!

All copies come with printed inner sleeve and download coupon.

Yellow vinyl out of print, black still available!

YELLOW VINYL OUT OF PRINT, BLACK STILL AVAILABLE.

The Novice was based in Mito, Japan and were active between April 2010 and August 2012. Members included Jeff Burke of Marked Men/Potential Johns fame, Takahiro Hashimoto and Isao Fujita who have both played in numerous punk bands and Seiko Harada, whose first band was The Novice. Recorded with Fumito Yamazaki from Your Pest Band in April (?) 2012 and Jimbo Kawamata from Firestarter designed the cover. Jeff Burke is one of the most distinctive singer/songwriters in punk today, and this single will be instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with his work. Short, choppy, fast, catchy buzzsaw pop, with the perfect balance of melody and grit. This is the first and likely the last release under the name The Novice, as Jeff has recently moved back to Texas from Japan, put together a new lineup, and is changing the name.

One time only pressing of 1000, all copies come with download coupon.

Betsy (The Flips) and Jon (Teenage Rejects, Catholic Boys, Tuff Bananas, Sticks’n’Stones, Rumble) Heibler started the Sugar Stems in the fall of 2007 with bassist Steph Swinney Conard (also of The Flips). The band played its first show in May of 2008, and originally featured Zach Byrne (Goodnight Loving) on guitar. The current lineup was cemented when Drew Fredrichsen (Leg Hounds, Jetty Boys) took over on guitar and backing vocals. The band released its debut single, “Beat Beat Beat” b/w “Crybaby”, on Bachelor Records in 2009 and a year later issued its full-length debut Sweet Songs of the Sugar Stems on Bachelor and Dusty Medical Records.

Those of us who’d been long awaiting an heir apparent to The Shivvers and Nikki and the Corvettes literally jumped for joy when we heard Sweet Songs, spending the subsequent months dancing in the streets and angrily rebuking local radio stations for failing to play “I Gotta Know”. If you think it’s a stretch to call said album a modern classic of power pop, you probably haven’t heard it! The Sugar Stems returned in 2012 with a pair of incredible singles on Certified PR Records that suggested the band had somehow managed to improve upon perfection. It was perfectly appropriate, then, that the title of the band’s long-awaited sophomore album would be Can’t Wait. Released at the tail end of 2012 by Screaming Apple Records (Germany) and Dream On Records (Japan), Can’t Wait now gets an American release on Dirtnap. This terrific LP shows “growth” in all the best ways. Without abandoning its signature honeyed melodies and high-spirited candy pop style, the band has made a more mature and consistent album that’s definitely its best to date. The production has been stepped up another notch, and every song sounds like a hit. If you missed the singles “Greatest Pretender” and “Like I Do”, they’re here in all their infectious glory. But it’s the more melancholy tracks that really showcase Betsy Heibler’s development into one of the finest songwriters working today. Songs like “Make Up Your Mind” and the gorgeous “Love You To Pieces” are steeped in the timeless traditions of Brill Building and British Invasion pop, yet feel entirely fresh in the year 2013. Even when the songs themselves are not exactly happy, there’s something about the Sugar Stems’ music that just makes you feel good. No sophomore jinx here, folks. Can’t Wait was totally worth the wait. Why is this band not huge?!

ALL COPIES COME WITH DOWNLOAD COUPON. FIRST 200 LP’S ON YELLOW VINYL AND ARE ONLY AVAILABLE VIA MAILORDER. ALL MAILORDER COPIES ALSO COME WITH POSTER, WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.