Ketamines and The Vignettes split single on Oddbox Records

Got another one in from the series over at Odd Box Records and wouldn't you know it, this one's got a side from The Ketamines, long time internet buddy Paul Lawton's band, and they just put out a great full length on Southpaw Records, which I'm finally getting around to pulling the trigger on, especially after hearing this...all the little tastes from their hozac singles and this one build up to this critical mass of ..."I have to hear that full length!"

So The Ketamines first track, "A Rotten Bond", had me remembering the crazy psych pop sound, from their hozac single, there's so much reverb at times it veers into monster mash party territory, like an old surf 45... god... even like Deadbolt. But on this track they don't even give you a second to figure out where their coming from before the haze has completely obscured everything. There's a real eerie vibe to this, like the surfy Tiki Men singles (Yeti has a great article this issue about those guys...and a single!), they're completely unhinged, slightly loose, packing an assortment of catchy melodies into the layers. Like the Fresh and Onlys this one keeps growing on me everytime I spin it, it's simply great, but packed with a layered amount of extras...like this twinkly crazy key breakdown, taking the swirl from the depths of the basement croon, bass vocal to this all out freak style.
Up next, "1yr" creates a see saw organ line and heavily separated slow surf guitar lines, they're working with that 13th Floor Elevators sound the way Hunx is after The Angels. The way they want 'Just one more year' is creepy in that 'I don't know how to deal with loss so I have my mother's corpse in a chair' way. It's a crazy world to live in for 5 minutes....and all too quiet when it's over.
Go get that full length already.

Then we've got The Vignettes, a duo from Memphis on the flip side, who take a more stripped down garage approach to their side, initially the name struck me as sounding like they'd come out of Shannon and the Clams field, but instead they've got more of a Cramps style sound, the guitars loose and flailing, with big time attitude and echo on the vocal.
First up, "Baby Angel Boy", uses a tom rhythm under a real frantic, nervous breakdown vocal, sounding like a three piece, trying to pack in that kind of overwhelming energy into these screamy brief tracks. It's a frantic back and forth between this crunchy electric and Francis's vocal, who's almost fighting with that guitar tone, battling it out for #1. "Not Too Much To Say", has Francis showing off again...because she's got one of those powerful voices that here.. combined with these bare distorted chords has a little bit of that PJ Harvey, 4track demos sound. A massive amount of attitude and delivery jammed into a single line of lyric. Both of these are punchy, tense power pop punches to the guts.

Get this one from Odd Box, who have a pretty crazy deal of 3 singles for 12 pounds if you don't want to spring for the whole series....you Ketamines completists out there.