Eric from Make a Mess / Nodzzz emailed about this latest single from the Woods/Vivian Girls side project The Babies. I already missed out on the 'All things come to pass' single on the girls own Wild World Records which I just realized today, so I jumped on this one.
The track on their myspace 'Meet me in the city' has those far off layered reverb backup vocals from Cassie, with the laid back strum rock of Real Estate with straight ahead punchy country vocals. It's a little dose of summertime while the mean memories of winter are fading away. A catchy effortless combination that keeps popping up in your head full of jangly fuzz. Everyone joins in for the chorus 'hey won't you meet me downtown!', and it's a perfect mix follow up to Nodzzz's 'In the City'.... once you get there.
They have some dates coming up in Brooklyn which will be worth catching.... I don't know how they find the time.
Get it direct from Make a Mess.
"Meet Me In The City b/w Somebody Else" is the debut 7" from a new NYC combo, The Babies. The 7" record will be, quite appropriately, the seventh release for San Francisco imprint Make A Mess Records.
'Meet Me In The City' and 'Somebody Else' are rollicking pop gems, pungent with sweet harmonies, raucous beats, tambourines, skyscraping guitars, the works. Summer dreams, psychic revelry, concrete heat, Babies are born!
The individual Babies are no strangers to melodic transcendance, as their work in such groups as psych-pop wonderkinds Woods and chainsaw sirens Vivian Girls will attest to. Anybody with an ear for indie pop mayhem had best put their spending shoes on pronto, as these Babies are star children of an entirely different breed!
I'm going to see Nodzzz on Friday. I'll buy that shit at the show (hopefully). They are opening for Soft Pack (aka Muslims), which for me personally, is very underwhelming. Maybe I'll get a chance to party with them instead of sitting through Soft Pack's set. I'll let you know if they have any vinyl at their table.
ReplyDeleteNice...which one? Mercury or Music Hall?...I think I'm going to the Music Hall show. I was really into the Muslims white bullet shot LP...they still do it for me live, and with nodzzz opening I had to go. Good for them.
ReplyDeleteI'm in NC, they are playing at a venue called Cat's Cradle.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.catscradle.com/schedule.html
I'm newish to NC, and I haven't been to any shows out here yet. I hope the place is worth the 90 minute drive.
I saw on Nodzzz blogspot they have hand painted bags or something. Looks neat. Probably buying one, if it holds LPs snugly enough.
Oh right, I just assumed you were from Brooklyn...maybe it's the name.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of that place in NC...nice. 90 minute drive? Not nice. Hopefully they'll have a bag left with my name on it next week.
Say hi to Eric from 7inches.
Wait, if this is their debut 7 inch, how can they have one already sold out on the VG's Wild World Records?
ReplyDelete(On a seperate side note, do you know which label is Wild World an imprint of?)
I'm not sure, but I think it's a reference to the Kurt Vonnegut "Cat's Cradle", but maybe just that rubber band trick thingy or whatever. North Carolina sucks. I miss big cities.
ReplyDeleteHaven't you interviewed them before? Can't remember now. I know you didn't give them the 16 page college thesis treatment like you did with Jay (which he fucking noticed!!! HOLY SHIT!!!), but I seem to remember you introducing me to them via that first single 'Don't Wanna Smoke Marijauna' b/w 'Animals' or whatever. That was a very long time ago though (musically... if that makes sense).
Yeah man, I'll tell 'em Hi for ya.
I wondered that too...I think someone forgot about the Wild World one which definitely came first and is most definitely gone. Maybe this was intended to come out first?
ReplyDeleteI have no idea, it seems like a Vivian Girls Woodsist or something.
Japanther - haven't talked to them, I should try...good idea. I did write about their self titled in the forums... as far as Jay...I still wonder if he was talking about that thing...I'll never know, he was just inspiring. I learned it from watching you dad!
ReplyDeleteThat's great you checked them out from that single, it was so ridiculous and sincere, I didn't know what to make of it. Plus it was mailed sandwiched in an old pizza box, which was awesome. Best packaging ever.
Damn, wish it was still in print.
ReplyDeleteOK, I went to that show. FUN! The Beaters opened up, and they were nice and had lots of vinyl for sale. My favorite of the 3 45's I picked up was from the Powerchords 'Nightmare' b/w 'Torture'. Sounds very glam/punk decidedly un-Beaters. I was too drunk to remember, but the guys from The Beaters said at least one (maybe all) of the shit they had for sale was side projects of theirs. Their live set was short and modest. The vocals were mixed way too low (already a little too low on their records, imo), but they put on a decent show.
Anyways. NODZZZ was like 45 minutes late and got to the venue 10 minutes before they started. Their vocals were mixed a little low too, but they were fucking awesome. They asked how we were all doing, and I yelled "AL-RIGHT!" Doing my best Nodzzz impression. They laughed and were pretty chill people. They were very audience-aware, and we had a little back and forth chatting.
Nodzzz: "...What was that song about, anyways? What ARE our songs about?"
ME: "Girls!"
Nodzzz: "is it Girls? Maybe..."
ME: "Weed!"
Nodzzz: "Weed huh? Yeah probably..."
ME: "TITS!"
Nodzzz: "Tits. Yes that must be it. We are mildly offensive, I guess."
They played some songs I hadn't heard before, which were very catchy (of course). After their set, I went over to the merch table and they had the True To Life 7'', and their LP. Also they had the hand painted bags, which YES, they do perfectly fit LP's. They only had a few left, I hope you get one.
I asked about this release, and even said 'HI to Eric'. They seemed kinda used to correcting people: "ERIC IS NOT IN THE BAND" So I clarified, asking about this release more specifically, they just said, "That is Eric's thing..." But then they said, hey we do have this comp from Woodsist though. It's a Cassette, has lots of bands that you've reviewed here, and the rest have been on Doug's Still Single column I'm sure. They were polite about correcting me, because they could tell I was a superfan. They even invited me to some kid's house party. They let us follow them there, leaving during Soft Pack's (decent sounding) set. I even got one of their cell-phone numbers in case I got lost, but I promised to lose it after that night. Which I did before that night was even over, waaaaay too drunk.
Holy Shit! Thanks for the wrap up, I should go early for the Beaters and check out their table. The show sounds hilarious, nice job.
ReplyDeleteEric's not in the band? I'm totally confused...wrong as usual, sorry about that. Maybe he just played with them when I saw them? I'll have to check out that cassette comp. You partied with Nodzzz...I'm jealous.