SXSW - Gold Robot - Father and Daughter - Small Plates Records - Split

I've heard of three way band split singles but three labels?

Three labels I've been following since the beginning of 7inches came together in Austin recently for a showcase at SXSW. If there was one reason I would have braved the insanity to go down there it would have been to check this show out. At the very least just to meet Hunter and Jessi who've I've emailed with a bunch over the years and are the kind of super nice I'm happy to support as much as possible. I also love that they all know each other and joined forces to put this single together specifically for the show. Great idea and they have a few left from Gold Robot Records. From SXSW and back....

This limited edition flexi 7" was given away to attendees of the 1st annual SXSW showcase put on by Gold Robot, Father/Daughter, and Small Plates Records. It features unreleased tracks by Monster Rally, The Everywheres, & Gracie. A limited number are being made available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis. LIMIT ONE PER PERSON/HOUSEHOLD.

Cocktails on Father Daughter Records

Jess emailed me about the latest single on Father Daughter Records, their newest signing, the san francisco power-pop band, cocktails. I loved how this 4 song EP combines scuzzy garage through an old transistor radio with power harmony punk... wouldn't you know it this has Matthew Melton's (and Rob Good's) recording and mixing hand all over this. The hit machine himself, the Phil Spector of blown out guitar and power punk sonic experimentalism. This record is a perfect sum of these parts and a damn fine debut.

A-Side's "No Blondes (In California)" has the most underwater, muffled drum kit sound of all time! Is this even live or some piece of junk, chopped sample? Twinkling triangle?! Ballsy choices with reverb peppy vocals and the beach sweet harmony! You forgot already that we haven't even gotten to the chorus yet. A solid, warm organ, thin background scuzz guitar...leave it to Matt to keep finding a new way to deliver this wired garage sound. Taking the rainbow of harmony and giving it a faded leather jacket, it's got the right balance, like Hunx, the throwback, homage sound faithfully echoing that era, but snarling in it's face at the same time. "Hitchhiking down the coast of CA, kids raging", these are the sentiments in the middle of a Northeastern snow storm...of course I'm jealous - they have all the fun. I would have to buy a car and play this nonstop, next to the ocean. Oh, but it's a record.
"Hey Winnie" crashes big cymbal hits, landing right on that downstroke. Back and forth guy/girl vocals are making this even greater. A Heavy psych phaser solo... super pop nowhere near the garage, no dirt on this gleaming pile...well, not the regular sort of hissy dirt anyway. If Honeydrum went and practiced the guitar for a long while.
"Willowbrook Lane" on the B-Side has a bouncy bassline with layers of crisp electric and acoustic...is this a duet? This dude and a lady friend going over their strained relationship in a ballad rock way. It's also got a faded layer of '80s time life compilations in an Ariel Pink way, like these could be the lost recordings on The Miami Connection Soundtrack. Heavy pop and riffing guitar split into the left channel...reminiscing back and forth about high school. This captures perfectly that faded photo... I say screw you if you think music back then or from any time was better! The best stuff is happening right now dammit! Someone like Cocktails takes that nostalgic sentiment and combines it with contemporary dirty power punk! - No contest, call the record books.
It sucked all the feeling from the ballad,pop rock sounds of an '80s bmx movie and distilled down to three minutes, they studied those chorus guitar sounds and channeled Joan Jett... not snarly but more civilized asking 'Why you wanna let go?"
"Tear it to pieces" tosses a heavy scuzz vibe on this one along with a little classic rock. Oh god, the sweet layers of crunch, and the drop out of percussion, heavy under the hiss, ultra serrated metal comes in on one of the layers, with a Kinks garage, or a little Elvis costello here. A pure singalong groove, heavy with reverb and belonging to that '60s garage era which is quickly sounding like it's been ripping stuff like THIS off all along. A Looper situation.
Why does this sound like muscle cars and hot dogs? Handclaps and hammond organ. Perfect level of production, unpolished because this sound is perfect the way it is. It's not perfect - nothing is and that makes this all that much better.

BLONDE or black variations of perfection from Father Daughter records.

Tooth Ache on father/daughter Records

Another single came my way from father/daughter Records, home of that great Family Trees single, this one from a practically local artist Tooth Ache out of Burlington, VT.

There's a fine line between The Cosmetics and someone like Zola Jesus, in core structure. It's more than just a lean towards minimal instrumentation and a recording aesthetic difference. The tone is decidedly more sinister. Maybe I'm just talking about what they consist of when you examine the pieces...mechanical rhythms, synth melodies. So essentially it's up to the delivery to separate it from something to hit the dance floor. If you even want to separate it. I have to a little to get away from that soulless dance music that gets pumped out of terrible clubs.
Alexandria Hall has a more understated, softer voice than Zola, but the underlying mood is the same for me. It's so ghostly, the vocals fade into pure melody on the A-Side "Skin". Once I found the lyric insert the song changed, the obscure hints at narrative, it could probably stand on it's own and the way she sets this on the mechanics of beats is unique. There's nothing happening in the instrumentation that would lead to this delivery. Sort of an angelic U.S. Girls in idiosyncratic melody, her voice can carry both of these tracks with even less than we're given.

Th B-Side, "Lazarus", is more of her otherworldly vocals over clicks and deep moog. It's somber and cold and the vocals show up like a sparrow in the post nuclear landscape. Just all of a sudden it makes sense, where have you been?

How this comes out of VT, I don't understand, but then maybe this is a case for the lessening gap between geographic musical styles. Or that talent doesn't pay attention to where it grew up.

Get this and Family Trees at Father/Daughter Records.

I want to hear what they release next.

Family Trees on father/daughter Records

Family Trees is just freaking gorgeous, like that fragmented, overexposed double negative photo on the sleeve. It's all that's left of that vacation. Shimmery guitars and guy/girl harmonies informed with some of that West coast surf reverb. The echo is tighter here, and it just slightly leans towards a '50s kind of girl group sound. A full arrangement of huge room kick drums and tremolo electric guitar with vocalizations all throughout.

The A-Side "Dream Talkin" makes use of brilliant pieces of almost minimal melodies that come and go so quickly, it takes a few plays to appreciate completely. For instance, in between verses a heavy over-driven reverb guitar plays along with a hint of xylophone...or bells (?) but there is a bassline that breaks out from the background at an entirely different speed that is so damn catchy. I'm torn...I wish it was the focus of the entire song, but that's why Family Trees are so good...to hold this back? You'll always been craving these moments...and they just pile them on anyway. The back and forth harmonies with the ooooo's, tambourines and shakers: it does all of this things really succinctly and briefly, like the Fresh & Onlys pop haze, with more melancholy and space.

"Baby Come Back" has this moment of harmony, the way it changes...the combination of melody in the chorus is dead on Jens Lekman...if he fronted a caffeinated Belle and Sebastian. The way they find a sound, like strumming the electric near the tuning pegs to get that great harp chime sound....but it's barely audible under the vocal harmonies, it adds more than just the typical homage sound to that era, it improves on it. Well... it makes it sound more than contemporary...and it's not just because it's this sunny pop that's been going on lately. It's understated, they gently coax the tracks together. Just barely stepping on the kick pedal, grazing the strings. It's weird to hear this hushed, huge reverb sound. They've hit on a combination of perfect pop-psyche sound with really intricate songwriting.

I can't get over this first side, both of these are such great tracks, they did you the favor of putting the A and B side together, so they could etch the other side...wait, there's another track?

"Know one will ever know" on the B-Side. Here they keep up this somber, deadpan echo vocals with Amanda's backup ahhhhhh's and joining in for the chorus. There's no formula here, you can hear the layers of construction beyond just a clever melody. I know this might not be a compliment to some people, but it's that same feeling listening to the Vivian Girls first single on Woodsist. Comforting and new.

On clear vinyl with xerox inserts from the Family and father/daughter with digital download card....Get it from father/daughter Records.

Dream Talkin is the debut 7″ from Brooklyn’s Family Trees, available now on clear vinyl, limited to 400. The trio cranks out delicious, pocket-sized beach pop jams that leave you thirsty for more.