The Beets - Howard Stern Covers on Hardly Art Records preorder

Working hard on editing an interview I did with Kris Thompson of the Prefab Messiahs for Monday but in the meantime I heard about this crazy single from The Beets on Hardly Art Records where they cover a couple of songs that Howard Stern wrote with his high school band. These were the perfect guys to do this. It's cool that he's into these guys, staying hip and it's the first I'm hearing about it. Weird and awesome.
The A-Side is full steam Nodzzz style, I really need to check out The Beets back catalog, their combination of laid back, no style rock is great. They can pull off this jangle and loose party rock, like Wounded Lion and The Jacuzzi Boys with scratchy one take vocals. Effortless bands like this make you want to start a band, they make the whole thing seem fun, anyone can do this messy breakdown and then come back together. You get to play every town in the country and drink for free and become friends with Howard Stern? Why isn't everyone doing this?

On Hardly Art who says:

In this 7", the Beets (of Queens, NY) win the prize of performing two cover songs originally written by Howard Stern's first band, when he was in sixth grade. Limited pressing on black vinyl, with artwork by Matt Volz!

Please note, this is a preorder -- all items (and anything ordered with them) won't ship until early October.

Catalog #: HAR-075
Release date: October 15, 2013

TGI-Seven inches

La Sera is a Katy Goodman from the Vivian Girls sort of side project? There was a single earlier this year from another project "All Saints Day" on Art Fag which is still available over there. She seems to have a never ending supply of dreamy, reverb washed melodies.

LA SERA
[mp3] "Never Come Around" b/w "Behind Your Eyes

This is the first material from La Sera, in advance of a full-length due in 2011. "Never Come Around" is a track from the aforementioned upcoming full-length, while "Behind Your Eyes" is a b-side exclusive to this 7". Please note that preorders won't ship until early November.

Catalog #: HAR-024
Release date: November 16, 2010

From Hardly Art Records

Next up is a single on Mt St Mtn, from the Standard Tribesmen, who are bringing a similar scuzzy, distorted out mess that was Mayyors, with a decidedly rockabilly-hell feel. Plenty of reverb.

[9/9/10] The Standard Tribesmen "Waiting" b/w "Young Lovers/Luv In A Car" 7 inch [mtn-06] ships next week! What started as the one-man Sores side-project of Julian Elorduy IV (MAYYORS), Standard Tribesmen solidified as a skronky, rock n’ roll 6-piece (featuring MAYYORS’ Chris Woodhouse on bass) that crashed about Northern California for a couple of years before imploding. Luckily Woodhouse put a smoldering handful of tracks to tape, three of which are available on this very limited slab of wax. Packaging consists of a hand-punched outer cover with a 2 color offset insert featuring artwork by Jay Howell. “If you plotted The Sonics, the Contortions, and Feedtime on a graph, the Standard Tribesmen are somewhere in between that triangle, shading a bit toward the Sonics’ corner.” - DJ Rick of KDVS 90.3fm

Order: PayPal $6.50 USD to mtstmtn (at) hotmail.com or get it from Forced Exposure

Here's a sprawling epic track from The Soft Pack across two sides. Gagdad is as great as anything they've done, but keeping it different at the same time. They continue to prove that insane self titled 12" was just the beginning. This one takes their straight ahead catchyness and draws it out into their Stairway to Heaven about the sea.

The Soft Pack celebrates their jump over to the tanning rays of Mexican Summer with a brand new single. “Gagdad” sprawls across both sides of a 7” with a party-starting organ groove, slamming drums, and the unmistakable vibes that one of our catchiest acts has no trouble bringing across. No matter what time of year, the distinct Fall/VU groove of “Gagdad” will convince you to don some shades, make it down to your nearest body of water, and get your own beach party happening, under the auspices of no man-made laws.

On Mexican Summer Records.


The Coathangers have a split with the Numerators on Suicide Squeeze up for preorder this week, great gory sleeve of missing heads that the numerators are holding on the opposite side. They've been all over the place with recent tracks and you really never know what to expect except distinctive vocals and weirdo guitar lines. They're coming to Death By Audio Nov 14th. The Numerators are all blasted out echo punk trio, lots of noise in 2 minutes. Nice.

THE COATHANGERS & THE NUMERATORS SPLIT 7" PRE-ORDER

The Coathangers & The Numerators first got it together on the road. Summer tour 2009: Atlanta's favorite ladies were touring behind "Scramble," while the Lubbock boys were kicking it in the sun, rocking their local haunts. Their quick fling of shared dates and stages turned out to be a productive one, culminating in this split single.

The Numerators give us something called "Strawberry Dreams." Yeah, it's a song, but it feels more of a dirge, a drill in motion, coring out a hole to the center of your brain where you hope they'll stay and ravage forever in repetition.

"Chicken 30" struts its way into The Coathangers catalog of unforgettable anthems. It's the first new song they've released since "Scramble," plucky and punky, full of sweet fury; the kind of tune that, should you happen to meet it in a bar before closing, might buy you a shot, but most certainly would throw it in your face before you could say, "Thanks!" And still you'd dream about it...

Available from Suicide Squeeze Records December 7th, this 7-inch EP is limited to 500 copies (100 opaque red, 400 black) worldwide.

ORDER HERE:


Finally The Dum Dum Girls have a new one on Slumberland, and I think what sold me was the B-Side cover of Last Caress which I have to hear. I'm into their mix of the sweet and demented, so that track is a natural fit.

Led by the mysterious Dee Dee, Dum Dum Girls churn out pop music that adheres to her self-proclaimed M.O.: "blissed-out buzz saw." Dee Dee formed DDG in late 2008 as a solo project -- the name a nod to both The Vaselines' album, Dum-Dum, and the Iggy Pop song "Dum Dum Boys" -- and released a series of great singles on esteemed labels like Hozac and Captured Tracks, culminating in the fab debut album I Will Be on Sub Pop.

Dee Dee wrote and recorded the songs that became I Will Be over the first eight months of 2009, and upon completion handed them over to the legendary Richard Gottehrer (The Angels, Strangeloves, Blondie, The Go-Gos) for production. The result is one of the great pop records of 2010, a tribute to love, loss, fear, fun, the classic pop form of the '60s girl groups and early punk rockers. Deftly straddling the line between pop and the garage punk that Dee Dee loves, I Will Be is a textbook example of how to make music at once familiar but totally new, classic but also bang up-to-date.

"Bhang Bhang, I'm A Burnout" is one of the toughest songs on the album, a fuzz-laden slice of garage pop with a killer chorus that muses on the virtues of psychedelics. It's one of our favorite Dum Dum Girls songs, and thanks to our friends at Sub Pop we're now able to bring it to you on the perfect 7" single format. Trippy but also dripping with attitude, "Bhang Bhang" is Dee Dee's Sunset Strip '67 moment and we love it.

"Last Caress" on the flip is of course a cover of the classic horror-punk Misfits tune. It hearkens back to Dee Dee's more minimal roots, her fragile vocals and jangling guitar getting right to the pop at the core of the song. While most Misfits covers try to out-punk the originals, Dee Dee wisely plays to her strengths and comes up with something haunting and completely true to her vision.

From Slumberland Records.

Golden Triangle - Fresh and Onlys split on Hardly Art

Just heard about this split on Golden Triangle's blog that came out a few days ago with my favs The Fresh and Onlys. The Triangle, from Brooklyn, I haven't come across before, but that's the genius thing about splits with someone you're already into. Chances are these two are related in some way already sonically, and now that they inhabit the same single, it's official. I'll definitely get this and chances are I'm going to be into GT as well.
Couldn't find any samples of the F&O tracks anywhere, but it's really not necessary. Damn 'Peacock and Wing' is so great. The duo of vocals over a huge room of reverb, they can write a great pop leaning song with enough layers of noise to keep me interested. It's garage and raw, rooted in all kinds of 60's influence...the back and forth guy girl vocals that show up here and there set them apart. The sad part in the life of 7Inches is that I'm so busy tracking down these splits that I just realized they have a couple of full lengths out already. I end up getting a weird impression from the 4 or 5 singles on the shelf, they feel like a different band every time, 'this song is these guys too?'. The sound doesn't get old, with a one trick pony effect.
I have no idea what a back to back package would sound like. That's gotta change this weekend.
So I went right to Golden Triangle and this track, Cold Bones. It's cleanly produced with layers of vocals, harmonizing, that occasionally break off on their own melody. They're still a part of this garage scene though in spirit, not recording style, with that familiar shangri la's base with faster tempo punk feeling chorus bursts. This can stand up without some kind of stereotyped sound that can only work for one album. They're both in their own distinct worlds and I'm getting it from Hardly Art..

Golden Triangle made a split single with the Fresh & Onlys, their
brothers from the west coast. It's 2 new songs , "Cold Bones" and
"Jungle Jim" that don't appear on the Double Jointer album. Fresh &
Onlys' 2 songs are "Head of Steam" and "I'm Not Myself Today". Only
1000 pressed, 300 on fly green vinyl! Better get it fast!

Also Golden Triangle + Fresh and Onlys + Babies (Vivian Girls+Woods) @
Monster Island on May 14th