Teenage Moods on Salvaged Productions Records

Got this one in from Ian over at 25 Diamonds a fairly new (?) label out of Minneapolis....this one has taken it's sweet time getting to the turntable...first getting xeroxed up, folded and hand stamped with 'Teenage Moods' stamp, packed up, then having a time at the post office. Then of course I would sit on this ramshackle pop single for far too long before it hit the record player this morning, but this vintage tattered guitar, thrift store pop is only going to get better. In fact it's almost working in the way that some of this reverb wall of sound homage stuff, but instead this one is going back to the middle nineties and mining some of those home recorded sincere sounds once again.

The A-Side, "Sugar Band" is beginning like a faster Eric's Trip track, those times when they got distorted out with sweeter more polished vocals, going for big sound. This isn't exactly high production, they've sort of moved out to the livingroom at least and have some different microphone options, it's still sounding frantically patched together, making sure to keep the whole thing dripping with cheery pop, and it helps to repeat, "Sweet... sweet". Chained together hyper vocals about this 'sugar' band, all the members chiming in on this pure indie number. The guitar leading a distorted wall, all the layers crashing together in a pinnacle of pop, like those early Lilys tracks. There's a learned student of the harmony and bedroom + garage rocker here. Not too much out there on the interweb about these guys, and for me, it's only working for them.

B-Side's, "Flower Hunting" is still getting away with what should be too damn cute again. This lyric about hunting for flowers (!), with a looping repeating jangle guitar...they leave enough room for this one to still feel loose, and I think it's all this noise that basically balances out that super melodic vocal that at the end of the day is still singing about flowers....the balls...I know it seems like that could never work, but there isn't a hint of irony or jaded listening behind this. Is it romancing that guitar distortion sound again? Is that why Dump, John Davis or GBV are still touchstones of that era, because they made the electric anybody-can-play guitar king again? Between that and laying everything down on a $300 dollar 4-track it was easy to feel like you could be part of the music game. Teenage Moods are far reaching beyond that initial pressing of record, but it's reminding me of the K recs days, and not being such a tough guy.

Get this handmade piece of work from 25 diamonds, (the distro'ers) who look to running out of these! Plus they have a full length? Where have I been...