Sex Rays "Midnight Caller" on Pinata Records

Big release party this past Saturday from the Sex Rays on Pinata Records to kick off this single in Minneapolis. These guys started out as a one show Link Wray cover band a few years ago and couldn't leave well enough alone. They had to take that scrappy dawn of reverb sound and drag it into the next century with raw punk attitude and power chords. It's tough and loud stompy garage punk that's never going away. These guys though went back to the very source of the springy metallic stuff for inspiration.

A-Side's "Midnight caller" has heavily gated, choppy guitars that open in pin drop separation like they're playing into one of those silenced rooms with all the soundproofing wedges in the world are set up to absorb every stray crackle. That grit and mess that makes it through are only the chunkiest beefy riffs. The bass comes in and runs right alongside this guitar melody and the single power snare hits echo through the space, with that garage snarl and a little bit of attitude in the vocals. You know what this midnight caller is up to, things get a little mellow and slowed down for the organ to make that psych entrance getting creepy before returning to that midnight caller riff and then the whole thing going solidly off the rails. Like the OBN III's it's a fast punch to the guts, but they're just fucking around...stop hitting yourself!

B-Side's asks "Where's the Tambourine?". Good question and I keep thinking I have to hear one in this, but theres just an awful lot of high hats muted in time and an organ makes the first move for the ripping guitar riff to pick up and trade tempo breaking out on its own into this instrumental sounding piece where they swap measures trying to one up each other. Hey guitars! Take a back seat for that Elvis Costello hammond solo to leap out front and center before starting up again in their jazzy stutter syncopation getting funky but then this is from the label that brought you Black Diet and Southside Desire

Pick this up from Pinata Records who say they've got some long players coming up by the end of the year and a great shirt on their bandcamp.

Grolar Bears on Pinata Records

To give you an idea about what The Grolar Bears are like all you need to know is that last year they released a '70s style exploitation full length soundtrack to a fictional movie. A short film based on the soundtrack was eventually shot. It tends to be the other way around usually. This is an awesome idea that you wouldn't think a band like this would actually go and record, there's a lot to love about those funk wah guitars that could use a contemporary twist. It sounds like this single is still working with a lot of those ideas on their latest from Pinata Records.

On A-Side's "Midnight Stew" serious upper level expressive piano chords bounce in an angelic sounding tempo which shifts suddenly into a crazy funk inspired groove with hints of the Polyphonic Spree in orchestral sound with a thousand voices. This combination of funk bass line and stutter rhythm guitar is a funky gospel church feeling with no real lead vocal. Individual voices occasionally make their way out front for a moment and then disappear back in the crowd. You don't hear recent funk singles taking the ensemble approach like this. It's always a group effort in the esoteric funk world on Cole Mine Records and Electric Cowbell, their groups already must be unmanageable arrangements of people to get together just to rehearse but The Grolar Bears eighteen members seem to be taking that idea to a real extreme.

The instrumental B-Side side is always fun if you want to examine things further or try to pair this up in your DJ set with something with a similar BPM. Not entirely instrumental, the choir is back there rising up through those horns. Would have loved to hear another track to see if that A-Side was a great punchline or if they have an entire set worth of gospel funk like this.

Pick this one up from Pinata Records.

Podcast - Episode 15 - Pinata Records Interview

After reviewing that split last week between Southside Desire and Black Diet Damien from Pinata Records and I emailed back and forth about the other releases on his label and I asked if he wanted to come on the show. We talk about the accidental start of Pinata Records, his band, Southside Desire's split with Black Diet, their latest from Mystery Date and a label showcase this Saturday the 15th at 331 Club with the entire label lineup.

Get the show on itunes here.

I'm a mess without Darren, you have been warned.

Southside Desire / Black Diet split single on Pinata Records

Really great cooperative split single to finish the week from two contemporary soul bands out of Minneapolis, Southside Desire and Black Diet. They've shared more than just vinyl before, the sleeve shows them sharing a bill together at "In The Entry" and according to the insert they share members on each others recordings as well with Sean Schultz lending keys to both sides. But mostly they approach their sound with a similar modern take on this heavy genre without sounding at all like an imitation.

That sleeve says a lot about where "Casualty of Love" from Southside Desire is headed; the scrawled track list on a wall, the front announcing their show together. It's a welcome punk attitude to the usually mellow RnB aesthetic. This isn't going to be as safe and categorizable. With Marvel Devitt on vocals she takes this smooth soul to an epic, slightly indie pop place. It's kind of working in between Jens Lekman or Beirut in the way they've adopted their own idiosyncratic nostalgic mood. You can hear this had to be recorded all together in one studio with lots of background ahhh vocals and solid backing instrumentation but Marvel is running far away with this covering the whole mellow shuffle groove with her vocal that comes up with it's own melodic path in a way only the seriously trained and confident. "Better" opens with Gloria Iacono's slow dance, prom feel. Dancehall reverb on the vocal and soft then impossible loud vocal about heartbreak of course. Third person to someone else describing this terrible scene and delivered like this you actually feel something. The dynamics on those drums, the slow rim shot quiet beat that rises with her vocally with low end thuds. A breathier sweeter delivery than Shannon from the Clams but working in that same kind of throwback way with a modern style... Real devotion to this sound that doesn't come around much these days. Did I mention they like Ween?

Black Diet opens the B-Side with "You Did it to Yourself" and it's bass line centric heavy back beat foundation with a melodic guitar line that meanders into focus. Jonathan Tolliver comes in live with his genial roar and slight echo sounding like this is right over the next baffle on a PA. The seven of them in a room, take after take to get this warm orchestral sound. It's an understated soul track led by Jonathan who is even going falsetto in the chorus. He doesn't overwhelm with a lot of vocal gymnastics even though he could obviously go there. Nice higher register gentlemen backing this chorus not admonishing as a narrator but just stating the obvious. Riding that line between a groove based soul and a jazzy rock track it's not the usual sort of thing to come across my desk. For as much as Lee Fields is delivering a perfect nostalgic snapshot in Faithful Man, Black Diet is very much hard lined into 2014 while still referencing that classic stuff. "Slow it Down" does just the opposite with this doubled up tempo and hardcore Wurlitzer stabs. The bass line drives this scaled blues tempo number so Jonathan can take things faster and higher. Fast electric blues down the fretboard so Jonathan stays frantic slipping into that higher register to nail home how fast we're actually going no matter how many times he keeps asking 'to slow it down'. This screaming guitar solo isn't helping to calm things down either. Falling on deaf ears this plows right through the end. Really incredible contemporary soul from these two. Hope this finds an audience with the format as it ought to live on the 45 still. Colemine and Electric Cowbell should be listening.

Black vinyl on Pinata Records.



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