Melted Sunglasses on Weird Hug Records

Here's a new one from Weird Hug, a single from the band Melted Sunglasses who have connections to Jacuzzi Boys and TeePee??? Great southern weirdness in the Floridas Dying label scene.

Here the speakers are decoding grinding layers of guitars, sweet sustained distortion fed through a bad am radio speaker under the mess of scratchy vocals. I'm hearing a little Mayyors vibe here too, must be that pummeling full guitar.
Make no mistake, they want to rock, 'Yea.... It's party time' you get where this is going, balls out rock, act like an idiot, make some glorious noise. We're not too serious, you shouldn't be either.
'Sparks' the A-Side, is on their myspace and they are referring to that mutated jacked up sports drink, not the things that fly off in industrial videos from welding. You can just make out the can on the cover, very subtle, as soon as those guys put the needle on the record you should expect a call from their legal team.
I don't know how this fits into the above mentioned bands, if this is a one off side project, or you see where it goes. That seems to be an interesting trend, to see what hits, have a few projects going at once, it kind of shows no matter the talent, there's still a lot of luck involved.
Well go luck to you guys, great name and fuzzed out garage sound that's everywhere...it's a no brainer.

Get it from Weird Hug records...still pressing the freaking hits!

MELTED SUNGLASSES - s/t - Weird Hug - WHR 004 - 7"
Debut Single from Miami, Florida's MELTED SUNGLASSES. These guys just want to drink with you. Psychedelic, yet super catchy guitar riffs, with a luster of pounding punk sound. These songs showcase the guitar brilliance of band member Teepee and with songs about shotgunning Sparks cans and sunglasses melting off your face, these guys are just looking for a good time.

Shannon and the clams on weirdhug records

Shannon and the clams want bowties on everything...burgers, wolfmen, dolphins. It's weirdly appropriate. It's a little B-Movie, 50's surf/greaser sound. Complete with a grindhouse ballad at the end of the B-Side that just kills...in the best possible way. It's a perfect John Waters-esque moment. All is not right in suburbia, or in this case, Oakland. Well, was it ever right in Oakland? Williamsburg is a far cry from that part of Cali, I have to hand it to them, it's a rough part of the west coast, let me tell you....and I know next to nothing.

This really succeeds ultimately because it never gets kitch, that can be an easy line to cross in this style of reminiscent garage. Even the first track on the B-Side 'Hunk Hunt', with an a capella chorus at the start, going heavy with surf rock twang vibrato guitar then shifting down on the next track 'Heart Break' a reverb heavy ballad. Her classic sounding vocals give something extra to that era that's usually missing this real mean edge. The drums are booming, slow guitar twang melody. I think Shannon nails the tone on all these tracks, she has a really incredible voice which immediately sets this apart. It sounds dangerous all while belting it out. She's got a gift, which goes further than just being a great vocalist, it's all feeling.

More perfection on 'Would you love me if I was dead?' The second track on the A-Side. There's a serious dark tone to the reverb 50's pop harmonies. They genuinely pay homage to this sound, it's seriously transporting.

Playing this all at 33 just adds to the grittiness Get it on weird hug who is batting 1000 so far...I love everything, teepee, bundle of fags...nice freaking work. Keep it up.

TeePee on Weird Hug records

Weird Hug records also sent along their second release (002)....TeePee, a one-man project from Miami.
According to TeePee's myspace this is the first of a bunch of singles coming out as part of the Hozac singles club and on the Florida's Dying label. When a group of people get behind something like this, you know it's got a pretty amazing seal of approval.
Rest easy ordering a couple of these from TeePee's myspace. He's also got a blog I've been looking over...with lots of limited cassette releases and compilations he's contributed to for download.
All the singles, look like they have the same type of cover art...kind of tribal, pen and ink or wodcut drawings. I would worry that it's so calculatedly done like Blank Dogs that it couldn't be good, but trust me, it really stands on it's own...in that genre of solo tortured bedroom geniuses, that I can never get enough of really...at least when they are writing slightly experimental, near pop...now that I think about it, it's like the even moodier side of Owen from Casiotone for the Painfully Alone.

The A-Side, or actually the 'T' side is titled 'So sure that I'....a weird slow oscillating drone sample starts the track off and really never leaves. It's like a sci-fi flashback sound effect or some kind of future jail electric hum...you know, the kind without bars, just an invisible shield. Then a slightly mechanical echoed drum beat comes in with a stripped down, no effects, huge guitar chord melody that repeats throughout. The vocals are slow, spoken and mixed barely audibly with just a tiny hint of melody that follows the guitar...it's minimal, dark, but so listenable...easy to keep flipping over and over.
Lyrically it's mirroring the repetition of the melodies...he says 'So sure that I....married you/killed you/carried you' but practically whispered, I didn't notice the naunce in verse at first.

The 'P' side - MBISO has the usual backing of a drum machine....I just want to point out he seems to be using organic drum sounds...real kicks, high hats....you can just tell it's too on time not to be machine...and there's a little room echo, which sounds like he plays it through a PA to play the track 'live' to tape. It seems like he wants to provide just the most basic rhythm, it doesn't really have changes, it isn't filtered or messed with really in any way. It's admitting what it is: I need a rhythm to work off.
This one is plodding along...really hypnotic....lyrically he's doing the same thing here as the 'T' side: repeat a main idea: "I've seen the way....they touched you/loved you" etc. sung over and over. Steadily, like he's convincing himself.
TP is just a great craftsman at slow catchy guitar melodies. Making something out of nothing...or maybe more accurately willing to let the essence of the song idea come through. It doesn't need too many extra layers. He's not trying to hide behind anything. There's a great section at the end where he's strumming, doubling the drum tempo and he's singing 'oooo wooo oooo'. The whole thing builds up here, completely changing the slow head banging up to this point.

I like this home recorded one man band stuff, it really got me thinking about that single vision and how it can be so great...how the home 4-track, and later computer software really let all of these Brian Wilson's out of the bag. Maybe it's the purity I'm attracted to. The Ariel Pink's and Conner Oberst's that have no choice but to get it down in their audio diary....by themselves, in the middle of the night, quietly, with whatever fits in their room. Even when it's bad it's pretty much good. TeePee is doing that, but definitely live, I don't get the feel he's laboriously punching in tracks and editing each sample, who knows how many takes, or how long to find that sound...it's the sound of playing with yourself live.

(I'm talking about music....sicko)

Bundle of Fags on Weird Hug Records

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