Top 10 7 inches of 2011 with Darren from VOS

TOP

Darren, from Velocity of Sound and I talked about our top 7" picks for the year.
Spoiler Alert.

Darren:

10) Wilco - Dpm records

9) The Ketamines - Hozac records 

8) Fresh and Onlys - Sexbeat Records

7) Raw Blow - self released

6) The Boomgates - Smart Guy records

5) The Vivian Girls - Polyvinyl Records

4) The Lower Dens - Sub Pop

3) D Watusi - Cass Records

2) Diarrhea Planet - Infinity Cat

1) Tim Cohen - Captured Tracks

Jason:

10) Natural Child/Liquor Store split on Almost Ready Records

9) Snakeflower 2 - Southpaw Records

8) The Whines - Mt. St. Mtn. Records

7) Ty Segall - Drag City

6) Jeff Novak - Trouble in Mind

5) Real Numbers - Floridas Dying

4) Grass Widow - HLR Records

3) Art Museums - Dul-Ci-Tone Records

2) White Stripes - Third Man Records

1) Jay Reatard - Shattered Records

Now go listen to us play excerpts and defend our picks - download the show here (48mb).

Stay tuned for an upcoming TOP 30! with Styrofoam Drone as I reserve the right to completely change the entire list.

The Whines on Mt St Mtn Records preorder

Got an email about this Whines single coming out on the venerable Mt. St. Mtn. Records, with their typically tiny pressing, and awesome packaging (that image above is not it). They're taking preorders for this one which will ship in a couple of weeks.

To me, Hell to Play was a return to that scrappy, local band sound that didn't have a gimmick of any kind at all. They aren't the loudest, the most lo-fi.... they don't combine weird genres or have a ukulele. Just a group of friends coming up with some great solid songs that you're going to want to put on and listen straight through. I've been steadily listening to this full length since it came out a few months ago...whenever I don't feel like working on another review.
They will play a rocking epic, layered, off the rails psycheout and then they come up with the simplest acoustic stripped down melody. I remember when I first listened to that Blue cover debut Health album and how varied it was, how they would go all over the place one track tot he next. It still had an overall sound, but they were really diverse....maybe it's that willingness to experiment, or that they really go where ever the sound takes them.
There isn't one hint of hype with The Whines, whatever you hear about them is deserved, like Broken Water, it sounds '90s or classic, but to me that's because they take those elements that any band has, the drums, guitar and bass...they care about the songs, there's no image it seems like...but of course that is one....
I could go on and on why I relate to these guys, you don't need convincing.

All I could find was this track, Straybird to check out, sounds like they're going unplugged acoustic, slow tempo on this one, and like Pink Reason they're not going to be that band with that one sound. Solid all around....always and forever.

The Whines - "Shootinhead" b/w "Straybird" 7 inch
45 rpm, limited to 300 copies, mtn-07
Digital print with one-color letterpress, debossed overlay on thick uncoated stock
Illustration by Jay Howell, Design by Mark Kaiser

... Ships in 2-3 weeks, $7 ppd to mtstmtn [at] hotmail [dot] com. Overseas customers get in touch for shipping rates.

Hot on the heels of their awesome debut LP Hell To Play, we've got two exclusive tracks on limited edition wax. The Whines have been on our radar for some time, with Karianne hopping in on drums for Eat Skull for all of ten minutes and their debut 7″ making rounds a year or two ago. Previously backed by alternating members of the aforementioned Portland faves, The Whines have solidified a touring band and are hitting the road in May. They offered us these two reverb soaked noise pop tracks, one new and one alternate recording off the Hell To Play LP. Layers of over-saturated tape hiss, as well as Karianne’s sweet-to-sad-to-sexy vocals, glue this hot little single together. A dreary Portland Sunday with a hangover put to wax just for you.

U.S. tour information here.

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.

THE MANTLES on mt st mtn - preorder

Not sure if this is the sleeve image, but I like it....The Mantles are San Francisco's answer to the Crystal Stilts....I know.... you could argue that these guys were around before the Stilts, that this sound maybe even originated in San Francisco, but I don't know if any of that is true. It's just my point of entrance to this.
I know that I'm happy to buy anything from Mt St Mtn, they are in the middle of a great scene going on...they aren't pushing out quantity but instead take their time to press the best....do I have to remind anyone of the Mayyors? No.
Or then there's the fact The Mantles full length is scheduled to be pressed by Siltbreeze? Forget it, this is going to be everywhere.
So why am I thinking of the Crystal Stilts? Well it's 60's psychedelic, fuzzy, a little druggy echo reverb all over, but there's an air of optimism. If Crystal Stilts are Joy Division, then the Mantles are New Order. Not quite as dark sounding to me as Dead Meadow, or Wooden Shjips, who are almost experimental.... more of a party with Austin Powers here...a velvet paisley freakout. A little groovy baby. Really faithful to this era's sound in an eerie way. The could crossover all kinds of noise jam/lo-fi/psyche shows...fit onto a bunch of different bills. It's building on that sound without becoming stereotypical garage or junky. Like the vocals...it's not as theatrical and lifeless as the Stilts...more feeling. It manages to be just as catchy...really great.

Neither of these tracks are on their myspace...

THE MANTLES "Trust" b/w "Secret Heart" 7 inch {MTN-O5}
limited to 300 copies, 45rpm, black vinyl
1 color silk-screened outer cover
$6.50 ppd (overseas orders, $5 + shipping cost, contact first), paypal to mtstmtn-at-hotmail.com

THIS RECORD WILL SHIP IN ABOUT 2-3 WEEKS With the deceptively determined surge of a sleepy glacier, The Mantles have been quietly and slowly perfecting their trademarked dark n' dirge pop sound over the past few years. Starting as a trio, the band recorded their Dulc-i-Tone single with the mysterious & unreliable Cram-Ro production team. The band then dug themselves out of the Cram-Ro shit-morass for a batch of sunnier sounds courtesy Papercuts' Jason Quever, two songs of which make up their forthcoming Mt. St. Mtn single. Soon after this session, the band lost a bass player but simultaneously absorbed both halves of the Cram-Ro team (including the half that sometimes gets "Personal" wink-wink), and it's this current four-piece incarnation that recorded the upcoming Siltbreeze full-length album with Gris Gris' Greg Ashley. Reviewers & showgoers alike regularly struggle without success to pin down the Mantles sound, though the Paisley Underground scene somehow seems to come up alot, and though reviewers have an affinity for the words 'New' and 'Zealand' when describing the Mantles, band members insist that Mantles songwriting mainman and Graeme Downes-lookalike Michael O. has no idea what Flying Nun is other than a goofy TV show, nor is he familiar with that "Slitbree" label people keep talking about.
release show: MAY 30th @ Amnesia, San Francisco The Mantles, Brilliant Colors, Aerosols

They also have a single from Dulc-i-tone, their first...don't know if it's possible any are still left, might be hard to get a hold of the guy at that label to see....the Eat Skull / Ganglians split was worth it though.