The Endless Latino label, who have a Shearing Pinx 12" that I'll have to check out, just released this single from Christmas out of Olympia, just in time for the holiday, I think.
It's sparsely live sounding, with a count-off before every track. Emily on vocals is heavily echoed in that garage aesthetic, seriously self assured and belting out, 'Winter..... never come home!' She's really pleading with the season, it's a rain dance for the Spring, she's literally trying to will Winter away one way or another. It's got both hands drenched in reverb surf, with a sort of unpretentiousness like the Jacuzzi Boys, or Wounded Lion...Or even a garage psychobilly Pocahaunted. She's got that mysterious haunting voice, that draws you in and then scares the hell out of you. A little possessed.
On the B-Side in 'Gut' Emily's really unleashed, she must love this sound as much as I do, the shrieks fading out in the echo, at this point she's pushing the rest of the band to keep up. If she isn't playing the echo, she's yelling vocals as fast as they come to her. It's a little over a minute of ghost-punk.
'Castle', this one is a little more restrained...well, quiet in a unsettling way, relying on a eerie bassline, and before you know it you're in a haunted castle. There's a little Deadbolt in here as well, with the rockabilly guitar melodies that punctuate the silences of echo with bursts of chords.
You really have to hear Pies on their myspace, along with all these tracks from the single, it's a little different, practically instrumental, but they're making this psyche-crampsy sound all their own.
Distributed on the classic K Recs who says:
Christmas is a psych-dance-punk band from Olympia, Washington. Toxic surf, reverb mirrors, sinewy grime and polish (and Polish). This single includes three songs: "Winter," "Gut" and "Castle," on the first 7" from Endless Latino.
This 45 rpm corker includes an MP3 download code. "Lydia Lunch meets Scratch Acid meets current and past San Francisco sounds" - Jon Dwyer (Thee Oh Sees, The Coachwhips)
christmas is an incredible band... i saw them live this summer and they were probably the most energetic band out of olympia i've seen in years
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