Mikal Cronin on Turntable Kitchen Records

I think I first heard Mikal on that split/collaboration Reverse Shark Attack with Ty Segall and I've been trying to pick apart their subtle differences and influences ever since. Not because I don't appreciate this combination, I just wonder what the relationship was, who influenced who...or was it just their similar sound that brought them together? Either way....It was a historic pairing and being clearly endorsed by Ty put him on the map for me.
This single with Turntable Kitchen marks another great collaboration from Mikal. Singles and food? That pretty much covers everything...all of my basic human needs in one tiny cardboard box. Apparently it wasn't enough work to get a record pressed and mailed out, they wanted to get ingredients and recipe's involved. I have to confess I didn't get a chance to use the ingredients from the last shipment.. I want to think I have enough energy to make crepes or tarts while I listen to tiny records, but they're still sitting there in the pantry. Somewhere though, I do like the idea of baking cookies right next to that portable turntable, making a huge mess. To hell with mint condition, I need to hear this!

This one rounds out the first year of this food/records subscription series and it sounds like they're doing good, I'm sure they'll keep the series going. I could see them expanding into a full length record you get with your reservation, before a tasting menu at an actual restaurant.

Sample the track over at their site, and I think you can still get in on this one...I wonder if in 10 years you'll see a copy on ebay with the spices and recipe cards still.

The Unwed Teenage Mothers on Speakertree Records

I've been emailing back and forth with Blair from Speakertree Records the past few weeks, he put out that great Cloud Nothings full length a while ago, on sky blue marbly vinyl I might add...the one that started it all. The second I heard a track somewhere on someone's blog...or maybe it was a single, I had to track down the label and hear more of the bedroom multilayered recordings of Dylan Baldi. I love Turning On, I like his recent stuff as well, but for me it's always amazing to hear the very first effort of someone like this, what can be done with next to nothing, no audience yet even...I guess it's about that perfect moment when no one else is even involved...it's completely pure in some inexplicable way.
The reason I'm even talking about Dylan is that this single from The Unwed Teenage Mothers sounds a lot like those collaged, cut and paste pop songs on that album, with a glam/garage focused twists and turns. Colin Sneed is the bass drum (and snare, etc) in the Bass Drum of Death along with three other gentlemen and this sounds a lot like Colin endlessly messing around, Adam Widener style at all hours.

"If You Think Your Lonely Now" hit me with all the home craftiness that Turning On did, because this is obviously a label completely after my heart and every last spareable dollar. The track is completely optimistic, with a far off, under a matress vocal and insane attention to these hooks, they're completely deliberated, hours of spontaneous chord contemplations. It's all here...the choppy boosted low end and the room tone of all kinds of spaces, direct line in guitars, and empty concrete rooms...the layers all lining up in support of this heartbreaking pop song. Sad because it sounds like there's so much of the band invested in this, how they're trying to make it sound like it's not a big deal. Like those moments when Sebadoh would almost go too far, but somehow still got away with it. They make an upbeat pop sound while the content goes exactly the opposite, overcompensating almost for not meaning to blast you with so much raw sunshine. "FFI" the second one, did I mention this is a four song EP? What else would come out of this home pop? There's a real muted and echo'd vocal under the instrumentation, and again...that's what I love about this sound, it's got a sense of space, the tiny bedroom, a cavernous basement, it gives the track a weird sense of time also. You inherently feel it must have all been completed at different times, pieced together during different moods... An acoustic slowly works it's calm way out of the haze by the end and I love the callback to the foundation of this one. It was always there, you get that sense of where it came from...that bluesy beginning, and end up going glam. Sugary fun, pop tracks, intimately fawned over. Like Jeff Novak demo tracks, a huge amount of pure talent... all unfiltered, unpolished....the best kind, perfect for a seven inch.
"Why does it have to be tonight?" on the B-Side crafts a heavy phaser, wet guitar track... all these pieces are so heavily thought out, they carry that frantic, pop energy but are really skillfully thought out. There's a careful attention to detail in all the punches...like this backup singing and spazzy drums. The vocals are still super buried, giving him room to really belt this out, but weirdly it's taking me back to something like Sebadoh rather than straight garage rock. I guess I'm hearing the seriousness... it isn't a jokey, drunken mess. It feels like a huge elephant carefull stepping around the furniture, massive and incredible.
"Rain" takes the fuzz and just pounds away in this steady beat, a few layers of strum, all jammed together, getting a capella almost, a sort of JAMC with multiple thin, english layers...into Happy Monday bouncing dance places. Heavy fuzz comes back with a classic, beefy rock style, all the the pieces carefully placed into this intricate mosaic. Some english glam and so much harmony under this distortion sound. Not an strangling wall...a warm blanket.
Lot's of experimentation from guys who know their way around an instrument or two, and a hell of a catalog to draw from in their head. From Speakertree Records...who have a physical store by the way...run by the guys from Harding St Assembly Labs.

Shiva Trash on Cholo Punks Records

Mark from his project Shiva Trash, out of San Diego, let me know about a new single he just put out on his own Cholo Punks label and from what I gather (god forbid I actually do some research) is sort of a loose collection of bands aligning themselves under this trashy garage flag. Like dirty beaches, not the band, I'm talking about really gross sand. Is it me or are they spoofing a captured tracks cover over at their Facebook? Ha, that's awesome, a west coast stab at the Brooklyn hipsters. An SAT question for you: A Giant cavernous empty warehouse in williamsburg is to ______ in San Diego. A trash fire on the beach, that's right.

"Bleach Bath" has a dirty, mess of a surf vibe, clean vibrato electric driving out in front of everything in its own single note melody... almost a rolling along instrumental until Mark comes in with a bluesy freakout delivery, yelping about "Super..sti...tion!". Another line of low end scuzz has been rumbling from the other guitar because these guys don't need no stinkin bass. All kinds strumming at speed, bashing the drum kit, don't mistake the laid back surf vibe for incompetence, they're hitting hard with a force that's only going to get better live. A completely bouncy sound, the slight reverb and tempo reminds me of the east coast jokers Personal and the Pizzas, or Midnight Snaxxx. A punk attitude applied with sex wax. Man would you get in trouble if you wore that shirt to school. "Residual Backwash" gets into the true direction of Shiva Trash, which is of course, making a weird, sunshine garage sound with echo plastered on the vocal doubled up from the rays. These rhythm guitars keep positively switching up the melody... one second stuttering in a jerky post punk, devo way, herky jerky automoton, and back to the smooth jangly verse. It's hard to pin their sound down, as I notice it getting darker on that boardwalk, that carnival is back in town as soon as the sun goes down. Up a manic fret scale, getting fuzzier, but still in line with this reverb/big muff sound. Why am I getting the feeling this is at least three surf instrumentals chopped up and slammed back together? Mark's into this phasery sweep in his vocal here, and they don't show any signs of slowing up here.

The B-Side gets into "Gnarly Thirst" which reminds me of when These Are Powers were doing this kind of ghost punk...a creepy, primal dance punk and I think Shiva Trash is nailing the equivalent of dread in their surf/garage scene...call it what you will, but it starts with Mr. Dale, passes through The Cramps and then hits alongside The Tijuana Panthers.... all part of the Shred the Gnar/Cholo Punks beach rock collective. Locals only. Unless you go undercover with the FBI and infiltrate the bank robbing surf gang.

I heard they're almost out of these...Get it from their bigcartel store.

Ski Lodge at Glasslands Gallery 9-24-12

Imagine if The Smiths were just starting out in something like today's music environment where there are multiple ways to discover bands and the financial barriers for entry into distribution and recording are nonexistent. Imagine that you went to see them before they even had a proper full length at a smaller sized venue with a hundred people. The only reason I'm painting this ridiculous picture is because to compare a band, like Ski Lodge, to the almighty Smiths dooms them to be passed over by a lot of people. I'm just asking you, dear reader, to try your hardest to remember what it might have been like to have seen a band who once were just like any other band, who happened to have been called The Smiths and featured a lead singer named Steven. Just a collection of friends, playing together on a Monday night….the heavy reins of history stripped away.
Ski Lodge felt a lot like that band last night at Glasslands. They have a similar deceptively simple sound from a couple of rhythm guitars, playing off one another, trading leads under a heavy shining chorus. It's probably more optimistic than the usual subject matter from Moz and tracks sound written around a bouncy, melodic line that leaves the bulk of the work to the timing and vocal delivery of Andrew Marr, the solid anchor for the band. He was singing last night with a slight reverb (under crepe paper clouds) in a high indie register, drawing out phrases that complement the connecting shiny tune.
Tracks from their EP, like "A Game" and "I Would Die to Be" were delivered with their particular ease and spontaneity… they've got a catchy attitude but aren't overly selling the danceability, forcing even an obvious timing on anyone. The crowd last night was moving at all kinds of different speeds, but unable to stop themselves.
But they wouldn't be uniquely great unless they took that inherent Smiths sound as a starting point and went their own direction… and that's where this laid back, tropical style seems to kick in. The choppy, muted, almost reggae guitar rhythms and steel drum picked high notes on "The View" come off like an uncharted island soundtrack without resorting to the obvious instrumentation. In those moments they sound almost like a summery Real Estate, effortlessly happening across this catchy phrase. They make the songwriting process seem easy, because they have a natural talent for not overthinking the things that work so well, those intangible things that are equally as hard to describe when it comes to that unnamed band that humbly became an influence for everything to come after. The one I am NOT comparing to Ski Lodge.

Memory Motel self released single

Got an email a while back from the guys in Memory Motel, a trio out of Reno, Nevada whose members are just barely out of their teens and are creating a huge, spaced out, modern electronic psych sound well beyond their collective years. An incredibly solid single experimenting with a range of complex sound, from atmospheric shoegaze to electronica rock.

"Wasted days" opens with a backwards shuffling rhythm and gong crash under a warbling phasery moog or farfisa organ, getting right to an eclectic mix of instrumentation, all skillfully woven together and actually sounding like it all makes sense in their weird psych universe. Ben Ashlock is tackling his drums, heavy and complex with one of those crafty high hat patterns, ultra jazzy, as the organ keys get to twinkling behind it. The guitar is bouncing around under a huge hall delay, while CJ Gibson has all kinds of subtle effects on his vocal tracks, there's a kind of fading backmasking sound playing into the breathy, chopped up Thom Yorke style vocal, even getting into that same delicate falsetto. Sixteen year old Ben drops the track into a tom rhythm and the keys turn into a glassy chime as they build this back up. This is a futuristic psych… a Flaming Lips, Radiohead combination of anything goes with genre's along with something that marks the current state of technology, but not completely dated either, Memory Motel is using the classic parts of this stuff in completely new sounding ways which is hard to do.


"Lost Souls" on the B-Side features a minimally plucked warm electric with CJ under a slight reverb, delivering his vocal in one of those cold, hard, massive rooms… he's a great vocalist, belting out a massive range of dynamics, really unaccompanied in this space without any sense of imperfection. He should be out there by himself, working this vague sense of tension that should be blowing up any moment but never rises above this ultra slow almost nonexistent tempo. The handle they have on production is pretty nuts, it's already working in the way a band gets to about halfway around the time they have to reinvent themselves. They became successful doing one thing, but they can't keep playing songs from those first few albums, night after night, so they get advice from producers, and those alientating electronics, guiding them through those layered foreign sounds. Memory Motel is already there. Seriously impressive stuff already…way beyond where any normal barely out of high school band should be. These guys are focused as hell and have to be insanely knowledgeable in production, or someone's dad is a real big shot. This track ends whistling along with this surf, Ennio Morricone, lonesome guitar sound right after a wash of arpeggios in the string section, everything is game for their electronic psych, and that's the kind of classy package you're going to get from these guys.

Self released, from the Memory Motel bandcamp page, splatter vinyl, 500 of these.

Fawn Spots on Louder than War Records

I got word the other day that John Robb who runs the great Louder than War site has released a new single from Fawn Spots out of York, England. A duo of guitar and drums, my favorite kind, they're working in this great big sound, heavy hitting, massive chord style that's reminding me of a looser, more spontaneous No Age.

"Spanish Glass" comes in soft with fading delayed guitar tones bouncing all over the place (now that I hear it immediately after the second track, it might be a loop from "From Pierce") to a taught electric melody to line up the bashing rhythm. It's one of those perfect guitar tones, slightly distorted and doubled like something off Bakesale, immediately catchy and taking the best pages out of those late '90s indie rock books. They have the spirit of Yuck maybe, with a raw punk leaning...the drums aren't a metronome and sometimes the guitar is slightly off but it's because, like anything great, it's practically just been written and there's never going to be a better take that captures the sincere sound they have going. They made the right choice. Caveman stomp beat, 1,2,1,2 it's a pure form of rock and roll distilled down to the essence. Both guys chiming in for this chorus with a larger echo and layered distortions. They (and I) are in love with the guitar, it's meant for this kind of noise that somehow comes off as full of joy pop. Long tail of fading feedback, because that's exactly what happened when they stopped playing.
"From Pierce" starts out with one of those made for a pop song electric melodies taking the lead. Tight, contained cymbal and tom bashing on the beat is the only rhythm for the first verse, and Johnathan or Lee is yelling on the mic, trying to hold this vocal above the pop fuzz, when they both join in with no echo in the breaking vocals.. it's reminding me of My Name is Jonas from the band that I can't bring myself to mention by name anymore...they have that smart sound that doesn't come off as too overly thought out, it's all energy and emotion. I wouldn't call this lo-fi, it's crystal clear, the hum and distortion coming only from that guitar, maybe more their approach, which is unabashedly celebrating a sustained distorted guitar in a stripped down punk style, but the texture here is nicely crisp and gleaming. The only shame is reminding myself they probably won't be playing the states anytime soon...or will they? It's a great single that won't let you choose the better track. Thankfully you don't have to make up your mind.

Import only through Southern or Bad Paintings...fantastic single, sample their self released "Hair Play" below:

Bad Indians - Sun People EP on Urinal Cake Records

Urinal Cake is back with a single this time from a five piece out of the Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti area, Bad Indians. Trading off vocals and instruments across the four tracks, they work in a loose, throwback '60s garage revival style that's closely related to another band on the label, The Johnny Ill Band and their straight, sincere sounding approach to rock.

A-Side's "Sun People" starts out with a duo of minimal electric melodies and Ian takes on the vocal under a garage reverb delay. It's all raw sounding, the instrumentation deliberately laid back, strumming away just out of sync, the drum rhythm wanders between snare and tom and a jazzy high hat beat. Ian sings about a mythical group and their surroundings, in a kind of naturalistic surf without a wave for miles. A cavernous pop feel, like Radar Eyes with that West Coast lazy Nodzzz vibe, appearing out of the haze with a psych edge, smoothing it out with their own unpolished accessibility.
"If I Had the Chance" brings in Autumn on etherial, breathy vocals over a light organ melody and rhythm that quickly speeds things up for the chorus and continues teetering between these two poppy sides of this sort of yearning. A more measured introspective approach until you just can't take it anymore and get to how you really feel when that doesn't work. It's got all of the charm and craft of that garage pop homage sound the likes of Frankie Rose and the Crystal Stilts. They finally take this all the way down to the slowest possible tempo, to bring it back faster and faster with Autumn finally giving in completely, singing "I need my baby!".
B-Side's "Hate" features Morgan on vocals and this one has a bigger epic psych feel, with a heavy organ line and that caveman tom beat. Morgan's vocals are deeper back in this mix, it's a plodding, surefooted sound with electric distorted wanderings screeching in the distance. A little darker sounding with big harmonies from everyone involved in this blinders-on track, just as loose as the A-Side but steadfast and devoted to the main line. The way that Tim Cohen summons a pop sound right out of the cloudy haze, breaking that horse. "The Other Side" cranks things up with Jules now on vocals, all toms this time with a tight phase all over the guitars, he's more energetic, delivering higher register bursts on The Make-Up updated psych sound. There's still plenty of room in the huge space they create for distorted solos and crashing cymbals to take this out.

It's impressive to hear an entire band not tied to any predetermined place in it, all these influences are closely related and yet you come off with an entirely different slant on any given track. The overall path to the sound is clear, but who exactly is going to execute it is a surprise and you half expect in a couple years they will have disbanded to all form their own side projects because it's almost mean to keep all this talent together for yourself.

Get one of the first hundred of these on clear blue vinyl from Urinal Cake Records.

Flesh Lights 2x7" on Super Secret Records

Wow, I haven't seen a double single in many a year, I might have last spotted one as part of that AC/DC tribute double single with Shellac many ages ago now, or maybe it was the Summer Burns Tyvek double single?...Either wat, Richard over at Super Secret Records has also attempted the insane endeavor that is the double 7" with Austin Texas' own Flesh Lights. I might be more shocked that there isn't another band with this perfect name, which virtually makes them damn near impossible to find online.
"Too Big to Fail" starts out with crunchy muted chords that explode into high speed pop punk that had me checking the pitch speed on the turntable. Screaming solo right into big pop backup vocal behind bassist Jeremy Steen's maniac delivery, these guys waste no time in landing right on power punk. Caveman chorus of oooo's between Jeremy's lyric, this three piece is making one hell of a dense, clean sound. Max on guitar can't help himself, taking every free moment to blast through another solo, while the whole track keeps plowing faster and faster with the rest of the band joining in on the title lyric. They've pushed this one to the limit, threw in the kitchen sink and collapsed. Insane.
B-Side's "Flashback to the Majestic" has some freak out, delayed weirdo guitar to psych this into their rolling beat and bass. An acoustic even works into this more garage-y sounding jam and Jeremy's got a little bit of fuzz on the doubled up vocal, coming off with a poppier hillbilly sound this time. Working this glammy melody along, Max shreds incessantly to a hard drop out. Eventually by the time it hits that chorus lyric at the end here they've gone down south for a dose of heavy '70s ROCK that flips this whole thing into Thin Lizzy territory.
C-Side's "No No No" has Jeremy shrieking under a big time echo over Max's treble heavy thick distortion. They keep switching between tight punk bursts and a loose heavy rock sound, a little bit of Cheap Time polish, and Oblivians blues. Sounds like this is a stalker situation, "I've got you thinking / that I am the man / You've got me running / as fast as I can / I never want / to see you again"
"Lens" on the D-Side is their demented take on being on the other side of that obsession, reminding me of the gems that Natural Child or Personal and the Pizzas can get away with. These guys have that same punk garage spirit of being complete loveable offensive goofballs talking about "...if I were you I'd take pictures of myself all day". This one wanders off track into funkytown for a second just to blast back up into "YOU'RE A LENS!". Everyone of these is a hit, and it's an obvious choice to get even more tracks out there and go for the two for one. An impressive folder sleeve, for a hell of a record.

Get one of three hundred from Super Secret Records, on green or black, two times the polished trash punk from Super Secret Records.

Family Curse / White Murder on Doormat/Drawingroom Records

Got another single from Drawing Room Records sister label, Doormat Records from Jeff, who turns out goes to the Word book store bookclub group we've both been attending for a while. The seven inches world got a little bit smaller, and if I wasn't talking about these already I'd definitely be tracking them down, the guy knows music, all kinds of music and just wants to get quality stuff out there he stands behind...exactly what singles have always been about...a financially ruinous way to show you REALLY care about the music. Isn't it enough to see a show, or buy a CD? JEff says no.

This one is a split from Family Curse (NO 'THE") out of Brooklyn and LA's White Murder, I was a little familiar with Family Curse from their first single on Drawing Room a little while back and A-Side's "Middle Age America" has it's speed pop punk sights sent on the rapidly shrinking middle class. They're losing their McMansions and jobs at AIG, and Family Curse wants you to know it's their own damn fault. These guys seem to be working right on the serrated edge of a post hardcore and catchy punk, they list Drive Like Jehu as an influence and that's a good place to start. Erick Bradshaw has a similar powerful delivery while this rhythm section of punchy distortion and speed time signatures keeps things in perfect tight unison. Mindblowingly quick, it's all a burst of that old school punk attitude of anything on Alternative Tentacles, the evils of Corporations and Nostalgia with a polish and craft of the Hot Snakes, going straight for the suburban jugular with the chops to back it up.
B-Side's "Breakdown" from White Murder sounds like a dirtier garage located take on that post punk sound, the guitar holds the sustained bends a little longer, it's got just a hint of a blues distortion in a sort of Rocket from the Crypt way, but the vocals in unison from Hannah and Mary give this a unique slant on that cocky, leather jacket punk. Reminding me of the tougher sounds of The Coathangers, or going back even to Bratmobile, but with a polished sheen on the old dirty punk. Chugging along, they leave room for that overdrive solo, and a whispery breakdown before ending with an all out repeated chorus, "Shut the fuck up! / Motherfucker!" You'd be surprised how those two lines go together. Two coasts, in a nice pissing contest over the never ending bullshit that can be life sometimes. But at least this single should do the trick for a little while after you get that foreclosure notice. I'm talking to you america. Jeff and I are too busy spending the tiny amounts of saved money we have pressing singles. The bank can't take my records away...right?

Most Vertical Primate Erickelric from Family Curse was interviewed about the connection between these two for the Village Voice, check it out.

On black vinyl, download card with scrawled messages (duh) in the gutter on Drawing room / Doormat Records.

She Ripped on PRF Records

Jake from She Ripped, a four piece out of Wales, sent this over a few weeks back. It's always a little unbelievable that a band working off thousands of miles away in another country would think of sending their single in for review. It's a miracle nothing happened to the tiny vinyl and I was checking it out over the weekend.

A-Side's "Ultra Social Happy Man" is aligning itself with post punk in it's mechanical use of "Dr. Rhythm" who's credited on the reverse of the single and may or may not actually be a real person according to Facebook. The nearly deadpan delivery of Jake Healy's vocal, never getting overly emotional but settling for that Prinzhorn Dance School style of minimal delivery is combined with Gang of Four style anti-social themes that unsuprisingly still apply today; becoming numb in societies conventions and the daily grind wearing away any sort of passion for anything. That's the trade off in modern culture, with all it's comforts and security, the struggle is gone…and you get "ultra-social happy man". The track is one of those deceptively dance centric numbers, poppy and pounding away the uptime with a heavy on the edge of feedback distortion. It's as if the song itself is reflecting that mindless style but She Ripped is still going to make you get off on it. The guitar lines are tough and take liberties running this riff through the paces, driving alongside an equally gritty baseline…there's a hint of peaking, fuzz in everything but the vocal and that direct guitar. Like the Relations on 100m records, they're taking those great elements of post punk and putting their own, still appropriate spin on the content.

B-Side's "Mind the Gap" comes a little bit harder and that machine, and I definitely mean a real person, is back… and let me tell you, no electronics are going to pound with aggression like this. Coming off like an unearthed Shellac track, minor heavy hitting rhythms, the beefy distortions clipped and hard, carry along with them that line of rumbling dirty bass that always sounds like a punch to the gut. Going from that reflective post Wire style to something more dangerous and on the offensive. "And We Know" has Jake attempting a melody here, sounding a lot like Eddie Argos' style of bizarre storytelling that has equal parts folk and rowdy punk… there's an air of not trying so hard or letting your guard down. This is a precise, emotionless affair in vocals only, working against the direction of the huge barrage of sound. As noted on the sleeve a "doomed bedroom rant", the delivery as much a statement of that apathy as any mental scream. He does go off the rails at the end, and maybe there's some humanity left after all?

On black vinyl with an appropriately cynical insert of a table of contents from a cheesy book about making it in the music business. Import from the band direct.

K9 Sniffies on Urinal Cake Records

Got a new one in today from Urinal Cake Records who put out that great Johnny Ill Band full length a while back, and with this one, UC seems to be extending it's scuzz rock reach out from Detroit to Ann Arbor, Michigan to snare the dirty, massive psych sound of K9 Sniffies.

"Rawsonville" the A-Side track comes on pounding heavy with a massive crashing rhythm that never lets up on the rolling tom fill to bashing cymbals beat...a thick blanket of distorted guitar lays in that solid foundation of fuzz and low levels of howling low end drone. Another track of lead blown out squealing scuzz handles the solo melodies between verses of gravelly bellows in a haze of a freak out cavern. This is out to overwhelm like the Mayyors at any volume, a dense wall of classic '70s metal sounds and the tight fist of Earth's scary drones. Unholy neverending blast of a hard living fueled furnace of hell. Way to open a single with a throbbing mass like this.
B-Side's "The Mask" blasts right into another rager, this time leaning towards that Cramps or Deadbolt evil, echo-y, biker chick charm, the vocals have a big echo on the howl. Something other than guitar providing the underlying rhythm like that dark carnival ride. But that could be the layers of guitars building up swaths of fuzz, completely in effects spazz mode, coming off with that high tremolo of a theremin for god's sake. They all bleed together, the metal, the muff, the overdrive...heavy repeated lines with a hell of a impenetrable sound.

Eleanor at Afraid of Daily Living blog and WCBN Ann Arbor has a great live set of these guys in the WCBN studio, and a great show in general I might add.....

On white vinyl with xerox insert and sweet, anti-design sleeve that says, we must ROCK and spend time on the music inside, not on our computers. From Urinal Cake Records.

Brightly self released single "Sarah"

Autotune is one of those tools that, along with the cheap electronic glitchy drum machines is best used by embracing it's cheesy quality completely. If you're trying to hide a bad performance, you aren't getting the point of this insane way to manipulate a vocal.

A-Side's "Sarah" from the Melbourne based band, Brightly, wastes no time in getting right to the electronic vocal, and it has absolutely nothing to do with Charlie's ability, who is clearly gifted with a soulful emotive delivery on this one. It seems to be working in the way that Tunng is combining those abrasive electronic elements into an otherwise plaintive folk track. It's almost minimal in it's composition, a clear, timid acoustic and piano work up to the main beat, subtle electronic sweeps rise and fade just under the surface, while this impossibly fluttering vocal works against the heartbreaking place "Sarah" is going. As if this mournful ballad might be too much to take otherwise, they're after taking classic songwriting elements and turning the whole thing on it's head with the kitchy effect. It leaves you questioning the place this character is coming from, his motives behind this lovesong. To blatantly draw attention to this jarring manipulation definitely says something about the authenticity of the sentiment, beyond just being a clever statement about pop music in general.
B-Side's "Doubt" starts out with high pitch droning tones that end up with a heavy saxophone solo blasting in, underneath a slow glitchy rhythm. The sax is quickly broken down into a one note looped sample as bridge for verses between Charlie's polished delivery. The glitch rhythm turns into mic'd handclaps, and Brightly keeps blurring that line between what is being performed and what has been emulated. Effortlessly switching between the 'real' elements and clearly digitally created, if you aren't listening closely, you might miss it and that feels like the point here. It's all on an equal playing ground, and Brightly is doing a hel of a job elevating those unworthy sounds to something greater than it's parts.

Import only on super thick (lathe cut?) clear vinyl, with hand painted sleeves and download card direct from the band.

The Wrong Words on Trouble in Mind Records

Just got this single in from old faithful, Trouble in Mind Records, ever pressing away in Chicago and this one from The Wrong Words seems to be following up on that Resonars single with more glammy, sweet, infinite layered garage pop. This time the trio from San Francisco feels slightly looser than the impressively balanced Resonars, but after that same devotion to the vocal harmony, which is the best part of these records at the end of the day. You can't nail a catchy pop song like this without the study of great vocalists before you and The Wrong Words combine psych and bubblegum garage to unreachable heights with Josh Miller's vocals.

The A-Side "I Will Change Your Mind" leads this off with a complex bouncy electric rhythm with Josh belting out his sunny pop verses barley straining at these almost falsetto vocals, he's just on the edge of his range. He manages to run through a hidden scale on any given lyric, creating entire melodies out of a single word. The acoustic running throughout over this bass line also taking liberties with any straight line, but not overly rehearsed or trying to nail some impossible phrase. It's an absurdly sunny take on a late '90s rock, something like The Posies or the equally glam pop sounds of something like Jeff Novak or Gentlemen Jesse. They are devout purveyors of the harmony, it rules this track, and Josh's vocal control makes it impossible to sing along to unfortunately, not that that's going to stop you, but remember this guy is a professional. A gritty, loud solo breaks up this otherwise almost TOO perfect of a sound, kind of like that last "....your mind!!" which deliberately breaks that interlocked harmony for just a second long enough to remind you we're supposed to be having fun right?
"How to Keep a Straight Face" on the B-Side reminded me that these guys are from the very birthplace of psych, and draw on those far out sounds to pound away a real crazy trip, complete with a heavy wah guitar. Kind of like those well crafted places the Lilys went. Honestly the only reason I really went back to the Beatles catalog....(it's a long story) is because of Kurt Heasley and Elliott Smith who made it seem alright to be mining that stuff again, and paying real attention to the nuts and bolts of songwriting. I don't want to learn either...but honestly how long can you go on deliberately ignoring the actual craft? Not that it's overly apparent here, there's a natural delivery here that isn't trying so hard to overcomplicate things. Tim Cohen is further down this psych-hole than The Wrong Words but the laser focus on the songwriting and vocals (in a far different register) are here. It's tripping right out that era at times, like polished Apples in Stereo. If it didn't have this easygoing vibe it would be suspect somehow. What am I, some kind of Narc?

Pick this one up on dark purply marble vinyl with download card from Trouble in Mind Records. Click this link for a sample of the A-Side....and wouldn't you know it, this single will have to tide you over because the LP is SOLD OUT.

One of our absolute favorite bands is back with a killer new single! This two-songer is the perfect follow-up to their TiM debut LP from last March. All the elements are here that made their full-length so great; the guitar work, thumping bass and drums, great lyrics, and the same one-two, eff-you pop-punch.

"I Will Change Your Mind" has singer/guitarist Josh Miller hitting some new highs not only in guitar riff-ery but hitting those vocal high notes like he is some kind of power-pop Rob Halford - it’s a real roller coaster of a tune, that takes the listener on a journey through the melodic vocabulary of folks like Roy Wood, Nick Lowe & Paul Collins without losing their own personal voice. The flip, "How To Keep A Straight Face" kicks open the door & stomps in with a killer riff & some down and dirty wah-wah action, before smartly swaying into a great laid back northern California-cool melodic feel not-unlike Boz Scaggs jamming with the Barracudas. A terrific teaser for what’s on the horizon from this trio!

Not from this single, but here's an idea:

Dragon Turtle and Eric de Jesus on La Societe Expeditionnaire Records

Got an email from La Societe Expeditionnaire, a label I'm just finding out about today based in The Delaware Gap, PA...it's funny how something like this would come across my desk right after finishing that Love Rock Revolution book, reading about that period of K recs that included Slim Moon going off to start Kill Rock Stars and releasing his own and other artists wordcore singles. That's exactly what's going on with this single from Dragon Turtle and Eric De Jesus. It's a combination of atmospheric instrumental tracks from the geographically separated duo of Brian Lightbody from Brooklyn and Tom Asselin from PA and poet Eric de Jesus. This isn't the first time these three have collaborated, in addition to working numerous times with Eric live, the two Dragon Turtle tracks are actually outakes from a split full length also from La Soc, the Dragon Turtle / Goodnight Stars Goodnight Air Split 12". They reworked these outakes from a couple years back, while Eric put together two story/poems from 1988, the perfect setup for a single, the cast off orphans without a home, coming together on the lowly format.
On "The Second Summer of Love" a heavily looped picked guitar in a higher range melody is looping lazily over rolling electronics, a hazy layer of fading in synth. This abbreviated rhythm is subtly changing as Eric comes in. He's slowly delivering a story of what I'm guessing is a kind of stream of consciousness walk through New York? But that could be my own interpretation of this city he keeps talking about...and all I know. The whole scene is laid out, change to a punk rock girl, it's one of those seemingly perfect moments, stopped in slow motion...not even perfect really, just everything coming together in a way you suddenly appreciate. An epiphany that no one else is having. It's sounding like a melodic, flowing Gastr del Sol, June of '44, or Godspeed You Black Emperor when they revert to context and narrative without the distraction of tunes. That's the best entry point for me listening to this. I have no idea about the contemporary state of poetry...it should be a part of more things like this. Spoken word should be combined with more accessible arts? Not that spoken word shouldn't be the most inherently pedestrian, but all I can think of is the Nuyerican Cafe and the way Slam poetry is typically delivered. It's my fault, but it's maybe been pigeonholed to this particular kind of framework that seems to be holding it down. But then again, I don't know what's going on in the world of poetry, but here it doesn't seem like it's coming from a place of trying to prove anything, or shock the audience...it's even a little bit buried at points, allowing for those interesting moments of misinterpretation and re-listening, catching a new phrase or memory. The percussion that rolls in after a minute is hugely mic'd, adding to this giant, epic lonely landscape feel, the only thing that would make sense alongside the inner thoughts from Eric wandering around streets and tall buildings.
"The Leaves on the Trees were Green with Youth (The 20th Anniversary of Paris '68)" fades in already humming, a new dense construction of flickering rhythms, a tight snare marching along. There's even an acoustic sound, or at least the capturing of metal strings unamplified. Eric this time has a slight echo on his vocal, like he doesn't need to carry a tune, or cleverly rhyme words with one another, this gets to a more primal place somehow, this chaos of instrumentation rattling behind him, while he calmly wanders in a perfect straight line of memory. Now past the 40th anniversary of Paris 1968, it's even more interesting how things haven't really changed. Sure, we can do cool things with our phones and blogs, but you walk around and have a day like the leaves on the tres green with youth.

On marbly plum colored vinyl, Get this one from La Societe Expeditionnaire Records.

asentimentalsong / Guilty Ghosts split on Harding St. Assembly Labs

I’ve been listening to another 10” in The Harding St. Assembly Labs series, documenting the best underground music in Lynchburg, Virginia. This ambitious 10” vinyl series of ambient, atmospheric artists has been incredible, including this release from asentimentalsong and Guilty Ghosts. Two sides with a similar approach to sound but entirely individual takes on the swing of emotion that can be made with contemporary instrumental guitar based music.

Joe Morgan is the solo artist behind the A-Side track from his project, asentimentalsong. You might know him already from his project with friend and long time collaborator Nathan McGothlin with The Late Virginia Summers who also are featured on a side of another record in this series. There’s a lot of similarities in the shoegaze layered dynamics of TLVS but in his solo effort it sounds like Joe is taking those ideas even further into really epic reaches of what is possible with heavy manipulation of amplified strings under a wash of effects.
“A Midsummer Night’s Gleam” is Joe's sprawling fifteen minute track that, thanks to being on this longer format than we’re used to, takes it’s time building incredible highs and lows out of little more than a guitar and an array of chained together blinking boxes. It’s the kind of sound that sneaks up on you, like the slowly degrading tapes of William Basinski’s The Disintegration Loops. It seems like there aren’t any clearly audible changes, somehow you end up in a completely different place than where you started and it's a mystery everytime.
A shimmering, distant guitar slowly repeats over swelling low end rumblings. It’s an incredibly restrained piece considering the energy that is trapped here, never allowed to rise much beyond this distant space just over the horizon. It’s reminding me of Stars of the Lid or even Music for Airports; an epic piece of the landscape, not just a tiny square polaroid snapshot. There’s such a sense of space, at times leaving the earth completely. Possibly he’s attacking and clawing at this guitar but under the layers of effects and delay it’s massively strangled, barely coming up for air and somehow still coming off as feeling completely free. This single phrase could have started long before they hit record and this is merely the long sad decay of a sound captured on that crumbling magnetic tape. That’s just when a distant acoustic strumming fades in out of the rumbling tones, the aftershocks of that big bang. It’s so expansive you literally have trouble with the persistence of memory, a melody can only exist if your brain can still remember that last note. asentimentalsong seems to be testing those limits in an exercise of subtle shifts in tone and again that’s the great thing about being on the vinyl format, the interaction it takes to physically start the piece and actively listen to the spiral move ever closer towards the center of the disc. It’s easy to get carried away philosophically when listening to this emptiness. The strings slowly begin peaking out, as if the guitar is bowed but at the same time the actual devices used in this performance are so completely foreign and otherworldly sounding, it's impossible to imagine. Incredibly long, it’s doing something the best seven inch singles can do...give you just enough to leave you wanting more, ending as far from the opening tones as possible. The last section of the piece hints at a peek of chaos, piecing itself together into an immense wall of sound with a thick, rumbling foundation under overdriven brittle highs that can’t possibly sustain as long as they do, but how you always end up here is a never-ending mystery.

Tristan O’Donnell on the other side is from Brooklyn and his solo effort Guilty Ghosts is working in slightly shorter form throughout his three tracks but climbing to epic heights in a massive sonic landcape.
“Stampede” begins with tapping notes rising in, the slight striking of guitar strings with a wooden stick or delayed piano strikes...but that's me trying to uselessly dissect the thing. A deeper register rattling bass note hits with a big time delay guitar and a literal lightning strike loud as hell, it scares me everytime. A rhythm starts to appear, with higher tone guitar and the loop pedals are on everdrive. Another lightning strike and I’m looking out the window for heat lightning. Reminding me of a quieter, rolling Locrian "Lowe" starts to fade into the sun coming out from behind those dark clouds, the high, epicly delayed melodies soaring around pure optimism. It’s going to be alright somehow thanks to this completely uplifting melody as the layers keep piling on, blowing in from down in the valley. He's really playing on an emotional level here, the high trebling quiver of Explosions in the Sky, a dense heavy hand manipulating this rhythm into the top of the plateau...but it’s over as soon as it began.
There's still room for "Locusts" to hum in with slowed delayed electric not as exuberant this time. It’s insane to get this kind of range and feeling without any obvious sense of rhythm guiding this... just atmosphere and hints of tune. Feedback from just barely touching the strings becomes a ringing out, long distortion ride. Doubled up metal string scratching, like insects, far off dangerous, ominous and infinite... it’s getting louder, more desperate, hardly human. A depressing chiming low melody starts in behind this wall of a single repeated note which might have been the impetus for the entire track. The time Guilty Ghosts take to slowly develop these tracks is impressive and like the rest of the 10”'s in this series it’s an exhausting ride of guitar exploration.

Super limited pressing on marble vinyl, housed in a blank white sleeve with a handprinted printed mythical scene from Harding St. Assembly Labs.
Listen below:

Lecherous Gaze on Who Can You Trust Records

Chris over at Who Can You Trust? Records let me know about this single from a four piece, Lecherous Gaze out of the west coast band hotbed that is known as Oakland. From what I gather, it can be a pretty sketchy neighborhood and that means cheap rent, giant spaces and neighbors who can't hear/don't care about the huge, stoner, classic rock that is blasting at all hours in that warehouse. That's exactly what Lecherous Gaze is putting together and they just passed through these parts at St. Vitus if that helps you decide to give this a listen.

A-Side kicks off with "Babagazo" which Zaryan Zaidi, their somewhat new lead singer is yelling over and over in a gravely deep growl. Try to google it, I'll be damned if I know what it means, but it's sure to be one of those lyrics that you're dumb friend will interpret as 'banging the zoo!'. It's some kind of insult or dude's name. This is full of deep classic rock riffage, plowing it's way out of that stack of amps. They're coming together with those rattling, sub bass frequencies, shaking the hell out of these chords. Zaryan has a little bit of that Rob Zombie vibe here. A kind of Big Daddy Roth biker gang sound full of leather and metal with the obligatory ridiculously technical solo that's letting you know there's heaps of skill here if you didn't already get that. A Sabbath and Dead Meadow mix at volume.
B-Sides "Scorpion" slowly headbangs in slower chords but it's destined to pickup into a speed line of metal guitar, in a Motorhead style with a cavernous echo on the vocal. Everything is balanced, the smashing percussion and tube-y distortions into a classic sounding ballsy rock, that doesn't sound like it was recorded yesterday...there's some kind of deliberate nice weathering across this.
"Feathered Fish" is a Sons of Adam cover, which one of the guys from Love was in, and that's another perfect reference to what these guys are up to and here they rev it up to a classic metal sounding place with the changes and original phrasing intact. Real snarly, bellowing feel to the vocal and they blow this out to epic proportions, like the rest of this one. Massive dark metal sounds from the West Coast with something of a layered psych feel which has to be in the water, or all that hydroponic.

Pick this up import only from Germany's Who Can You Trust Records.

The Jawaz on Wolf on a Bridge Records

The guys from The Jawaz, out of Southern California sent in their latest single on Wolf on a Bridge Records. This four piece has been in and out of existence since long before facebook...or myspace for that matter. Grinding away in the punk scene out there on the west coast and on their latest sound like they're combining a lot of that catchy poppier punk sound with hard metal influences.
"Not for Me" starts their attack with a beefy thrash guitar sound, really tight and polished, Brian, on vocals is delivering this vocal in a rapid fire burst. Landing right on the end syllable right in time with this bassline in a combination of snotty Jello and that huge lower end focused Boston hardcore...like say Gang Green? But maybe that's just me, anyone's entry point in this genre can go a million different directions. They seem to find this complex verse melody that's beyond the usual couple of power chord at speed technique, and the inclusion of a screeching solo isn't showing off, they've just put in the time to work beyond those basics.
"Stand up" comes at this one fast and hard with even more power guitar lines, severely metal, working between the sustained distortion and barring that chord for the muted attack. Like the rest of the tracks on this, they're after the middle of the road, conformists. I was watching My Peristroika the other day, and we pretty much take these ideas for granted. The former USSR's citizens had a bitch of a time in the modern, well late '90s age of self reliance and not standing at attention when they played the national anthem....ON TV! The most well adjusted guy was...no surprise, part of an early now successful punk band. He was pissed that his buddies were selling out, working at banks....things never change. The Jawaz would go shot for shot with this guy at the kitchen table. "Stand up" sounds to me like pretty much written for the former soviet people of the late '90s...that's what I'm trying to say. It's silly to write off sounds like this coming from disenfranchised groups as just an outlet for pissed off kids (or now adults), it's an important statement. Maybe even more these days.
B-Side's "Modern Tragedy" goes for the darker bass line and measured huge chords, now that I'm thinking about this decidedly metal slant to these guys it's reminding me a lot of D.R.I., they rock through all kinds of changes to this rhythm, sliding between speed solo lines and straight up giant chords. This one is just on the edge of that punk/black metal era at points but they keep bringing it back around to the big chorus. Punk is never going away.

On black vinyl (mine came with a beer cozy which I have used) with scrawled lyrics on notebook paper insert from Wolf on a Bridge Records.

Mad Nanna on Quemada Records

Got a new one in from Quemada Records, just over the bridge in Queens. This one from Melbourne's Mad Nanna, someone I haven't come across, but has an extensive discography and sounds like so far he's got a lot in common with Beat Happening or Pink Reason, that similar spirit of community and expression in spite of it all. It's a selfless, unrewarded act of willing a recording like this into existence. You get the idea that the raw, uncomplicated way this is delivered is a deliberate choice to remain accessible, maybe a little too unrehearsed, but that's the charm of A-Side's "I Hit a Wall". The ramshackle feel of a middle of the night basement recording. The instrumentation is barely crawling forward, a sincere struggle to summon the bleary chords. A slight distortion on the vocal with a sense of conceding to a sad hopelessness. The main melody is endlessly repeated with a soft percussion grazing the ride cymbal, it's a lot like those old John Davis singles. Recorded live, the sense of space and casual delivery is just as important as the sound captured. A conscious effort to never let this get away from them, this tempo isn't going to pick up, it's a cohesive whole, with everyone on that same lonely plane. Creating for the sake of creation and maybe in their unrestrained effort can challenge some of those ideas about songwriting.
B-Side's "untitled" (?) comes up with a slightly quicker repeated chord and high plinking chimes from played strings way past the fretboard. A similar kind of weird tension in never deviating from this straight line, the vocals, clear, but buried right in between being able to decipher the narrative and midnight ramblings. The emotional direction is blurry, we're driving, barreling ahead towards what exactly? Isn't that what the Velvet underground was built on? This single note that ends up sounding angry or reserved, dirty and monotonous.

Paired nicely with the deliberately sketchy, mysterious drawings from Antony Riddell, an octopus creature headed towards a burning oven, as minimal and rough as the tunes inside...from Quemada Records.

Br'er - Virtual single on Everything is Chemical

Benjamin from Br'er let me know about a free digital EP they released in conjunction with the Everything is Chemical blog, which I was just checking out today. When they mentioned they were applying their dense carnivalesque technique to a Throbbing Gristle cover I had to have a listen. That's another band I've been barely scratching the surface of, the 33 1/3 20 Jazz Funk Greats book waiting on the shelf. The track they cover here is "Persuasion" actually from that album and here they take a minimal electronic approach with guest vocals for Cosey's part in the original and her vocal is breathy, buried in echo, sounding a whole lot sweeter than the source material, which of course equals a perfect demented twist on the original delivery. The plodding glitchy rhythm track is accompanied by whirring mechanics and beaten metal, coming out of nowhere, placing this solidly in a haunted space. Big wave synth slowly leads the beat around, further down that dark path and the vocal heads into the sinister sampled part, and a nearly a capella section. A great update to something that has to be intimidating, where do you approach a cover like that? Capturing the same kind of dread with your own twist. Br'er pulls it off to the point of wanting to reexamine the original, and that's the best kind of cover.
"Dozen Dream" has this great Magnetic Fields style polyrhtyhmic style, somehow crafting a really catchy optimistic feel out of unusual percussion and melody that should be inherently dark. It's heavily electronic but doesn't feel overly programmed or mechanical, just completely bizarre and unique songwriting. Insanely dense remaining essentially pop, somehow like Xiu Xiu, Benjamin is rewriting what pleasurable pop music can be when taken to this single minded endgame. the energy keeps rising on this one all the way to the end. Br'er stays impressively surprising and this one is no exception.

The final track "Empathy" has a real live sound, the dynamics on a loose rattly snare, shuffling around with a delicate harpsichord sounding instrument providing that weirdo turn where you have no idea where this could end up. Benjamin is closely mic'd and brings a vulnerability to the track, on the verge of a raw, naked breakdown. When the first movement slows down, he dives further into those primal polarizing emotions of killing and love. It's always epic, in part to his dreamlike narrative style, and the mastery of every type of instrument. Organic forgotten sounds, massive booming toms...just arranging this is impressive, but the amount of melodies and sounds coming together is solidly orchestral, a huge pallet of melodies. Some people get hung up on a blank page, Br'er on the other hand has a solid, exacting idea of how to fill it.

This one is free at their bandcamp, or listen below:

Death by Steamship - Facetious on Whoa! Boat Records

Got a new single from Whoa! Boat up today from Death by Steamship. I covered their full length almost a year ago and remember that the Seattle straight up rock sound, not necessarily saying there's any kind of specific grunge sound or anything, just that spirit of hard working, no shit rock.
They're back with this "Facetious" single and it sounds like they're taking that classic solid rock to a serious rhythmic pop post-punk place. A-Side's "Smoke and Sweat", after a slow build up comes off with a Les Savy Fav explosive anarchist rhythm, Jason's yelling like Tim, a distanced hoarse delivery about listening to the radio. "Why does every song sound so much better unexpected on the radio?!" The times I randomly have the tiny kitchen transistor tuned to 91.5, the alternate side and when they randomly play The Smiths or Ariel Pink, it's that weird moment of recognition that I love, you know this...how do you know this? It's a weird kind of connection, happening live that you suddenly appreciate when everything is basically self programmed these days. Every playlist and queue you created and pretty much know. Even Pandora doesn't give you that completely random (and maddening) experience that someone out there is creating. Another ode to the radio, and this one a good thirty years later, there's still something about that medium that isn't going away. These guys just want to hang out, have a couple of beers and listen to that radio still...no regrets. Simple ideals with this off beat, an anthem to turning it up. The vocal melody feels worked out almost first so these subtle shifting rhythms can back it up, and support the whole thing into a completely post-punk dance place. The back and forth antics of vocals, pushing that energy of this main guitar melody with Eric's weirdo beat. A solid opening track and I definitely want to hear more of this aggressive direction. A DJ comes in at the end of this taking you out to transition into a cheesey casio.
"Dirty Venetian Blinds" has another unbalanced rhythm thanks to Eric, who's going with a metallic clink in place of the snare. Watery distortion follows on guitar and Jason grabbing right onto a vocal line that only he's privy to. It explodes into hard rock, nearly with hardcore tendencies, the rest of the guys coming in with "Take 'em down! Take em down!" If there's one thing you come away with is that these guys will only tolerate so much before flying off the handle. This more complex sound with anti-rock beats is taking their stuff into a new place, while keeping that down and dirty attitude.
The B-Side opens with "You Need a Super, Special, Specialized, Specialist" and a new direct line in crunchy guitar sound skitters in, headed back to those heavy rock geographic roots again. Vocally Jason is dark and stuck behind an echo'd distortion, the texture of Raw Power, or Bauhaus...it's another side of the die. The guitar is almost metal, the percussion this time right where it should be, big room mic'd and booming. Going even further away from that full length, Death by Steamship sound like they're just getting started, making really unique choices on this single, further defining their sound. It's been running through the randomly colored beakers and tubes, evaporating down to the slow drip into that last test tube.

On baby blue or black vinyl with download card from Whoa! Boat Records.

Incredible Kidda Band on Last Laugh Records

There's gaps in anyone's music collection, I'm not afraid to admit it, the number of times I've kicked myself for not listening to something sooner only happens more and more. It's humbling and important...a reminder to keep looking for stuff, and always be digging, not just crates of records, but time periods and influences. Maybe the older you get the more you keep working backwards, or you smarten up. I was just reading Love Rock Revolution by Mark Baumgarten about K recs that just came out recently. There was a story about Calvin Johnson on a school trip to England buying a Jam single, being obsessed with punk and leading directly to working at a radio station in Olympia. Calvin would have been right to check out The Kidda Band as well who sound like they're working with the same kind of raw power punk sounds and this reimagined single from Last Laugh is exactly what should have come out way back when to be a touchstone of the genre, a kind of bridge between snotty angsty punk and power pop glam.
"Radio Caroline" is an ode to that floating pirate radio station, playing rock and roll anti-BBC style, all day, all indie rock, in the safety of international waters. The Kidda Band has this great dual distortion harmony guitar sound, and the cut here is appropriately overdriven into static-y peaks. Completely polished and tight, with a raw energy, it's a perfect snapshot. They have an impressive knack for vocal harmonies and all out dirty choruses which don't care anything about time or history. His radio is useless, bring back Radio Caroline. How are there so many great songs about the radio? That idea is practically archaic at this point, but the medium itself inspired tunes about it. Where's the songs about myspace...or Napster? They're probably out there...after all the great singles from Last Laugh from these guys, I'm converted.
"We're Gonna Make it" comes in with long gritty chords and that smacking snare. Sounding a little bit darker, this isn't party pop, Alan is sick of the road, and making it sound damn good. He isn't just a jaded rock star, it's the struggle that ended up being autobiographical... one of those stories of just brushing against commercial success through no fault of their skill at crafting punchy punk. But you know better, and there's a reason that this has the longevity to be sought after for decades on ebay and thankfully has been economically rereleased to inspire a new generation.
Glad to see these guys through Last Laugh, getting another chance to set the record straight. Might be out at the source, but Floridas Dying has copies.