Tiger High on Trashy Creatures / Volar Records

After checking out Tiger High's latest single, a split release between Trashy Creatures and Volar Records, I think I'm getting their surrealist psych cover art on this single and full length Inside the Acid Coven. If ever there was a case for the direct link between T Rex glam pop and punk power psych than this may very well be the textbook example. These four guys from Memphis with ties to Rich Reatard and Jack Oblivian have a few well received full length releases out already and have honed this special combination to a unique point. They included a couple of non-LP tracks on the B-Side which is always appreciated by those looking for MORE on these tiny records. The sole reason I started writing about the seven inch was those unreleased songs from Sebadoh or The Palace Brothers that only showed up on the B-Side's of these things. They should be a place for a band to experiment, or in this case, take their brand of glam psych to an epic place.

A-Side's "Christine" shakes in with shrill riffs and an electronic throbbing bassline that dives into a thick garage psych with swirling muted clicks and chords, delayed and bouncing across this cloud ring. There's layers of high static guitars in a choir of glam theatrics with lines about 'purple women and purple haze' teetering between a low baritone delivery and out of control yelling into the mic. This mix can't handle the way they've pushed this right into the red giving it a clear coat of static that only enhances this contact high. Going for the most bizarre solo of the year so far not giving away how they've managed to strike these strings. Meticulous attention to those guitar details creating appropriately dense and mysterious textures and this literally blows up outside the grooves with it's big ass sound.
B-Side's "More" comes out with a jagged burst of chords from warbling guitars in such a gleaming racket without a second to take any of this in, only time to get swept up in this massive sound. It's a shock and awe approach to that sweaty glitter punk sound. Like anybody else, they "want more" in that almost religious, gospel yeh-yeh sound. The vocals play with various sonic distances in the spirit of messing with their own special party psych that aims to have pounding garage come at you from all angles. Glitchy squeals and feedback fade into "Shakey Legs" with a seriously blown out organ grind in that We Will Rock You primal stomp. Harmonies layered up each step, countless vocals before the warped circuits take over the guitar signals and the digital haze clears. Clearly taking the altered consciousness sounds of the '60s and injecting spit and gravel from the punk prophets.

Get it from Trashy Creatures or Volar Records direct.

Susan on Volar Records

I don't know if there's such a thing as 'the sound of summer' or if densely layered pop can evoke that season but I'm willing to try anything at this point. The sweaty pop from the LA based trio of Susan is a pretty good start to at least start thinking about some warmer weather with teeth. It could be that laid back feel to a huge set of layers that reminds you of being too hot to move, the humidity settling in like an invisible cloud...but once you start paying attention to the lyric, you'd better not get too comfortable.

A-Side's "Just Call it" bounds in with a layered blast of vocals and fuzzy chords in a polished post Vivian Girls dense shoegaze sound of jangle and harmony. Something of a combination of Grass Widow and Frankie Rose or the off balance rhythms of Crystal Stilts, heading right for big harmonies and playing with the back and forth of channels answering each others vocal in a snarly Go Go's sound. Belinda Carlisle played drums for the Germs, believe it or not. It's a real crazy mix of throwing vocals around in all directions, stepping on each other, the airy mix packed with takes and takes of voices. This track is about the existential dilemma still around today, to call or not to call, especially since you're going to get that person on the other end of the phone. Well maybe that's easier these days, don't get me started about having to talk to a girls parents. They break for 'oooo's' and that three chord jangle spreads out for a bit, rounding the whole thing out nailing a weird half step rhythm finish.
B-Side's "Frenchie" slams in cut up blocks of chords, their jabbing of post punk sliding into a weirder chorus, making a little bit of fun of an angst ridden dude. This sugary pop is taunting and switches from a rigid chant to a laid back groove with that push and pull, sending mixed messages to the annoying poser. Screeching feedback squeals right into a delayed solo that pretty much destroys everything. "Pancake" rides on with heavy three chord rushes and the eerie harmony from these three in overdrive. You might have been impressed with their three part harmony before but here it's a real solid dense impenetrable fog of sugar. Forcing an unmelodic rhythm that works only because they will it into repetition with a chorus inspired by the classic '60s girl group sound ending with a pillowy "...I hope you die alone."

Pick this up from Volar Records, green or black vinyl.

The Stalins of Sound on Volar Records

It can be a hard sell when a band goes right to the drum machine. Even more unlikely the Stalins of Sound, choose to employ the mechanical, inhuman element in a punk/hardcore style coming out on the other side avoiding Pigface or Killing Joke's industrial apocalyptic disco.

"Pool of Piranha" is a minimal Urinals meets Digital Leather sound with hyper static thudding and more of a sense of humor. Cheap synths, metal growly vocals and jagged as a rusty tin can lid from old potted meat. The name makes perfect sense, they don't leave any room for improvisation and the programmed percussion keeps them on track, head down, blinders on, STEADY. Heavy gates on the overdriven glitching electronics which feel super home recorded and that's where I can get into this, like Juiceboxxx when he goes no-fi I can give this huge leeway. If these guys keep this held together with their premium duct tape then I'll put the needle back on the record. There's a lot of effects on the next track, "Panik" a cover of one of the first french punk bands, Metal Urbain and they give the original a choppy robotic edge that could be an '80s arcade nightmare at points.

B-Side "Rapture in Blood" is serious sine wave synth waves rising and falling with vocorder vocals, robotically proclaiming, Rapture in blood / is our mission. You couldn't use these sounds and take your self too seriously right? It's like Devo and The Units were in an epic weekend marathon battle of junkyard wars. Building the most cobbled together tunes that can barely make it to the end of the track, but not the buried at sea for decades feel of Lust for Youth, this is clear and loud as anything almost like that Destruction Unit stuff that I heard with Jay R. a while ago. Real power and punk in it's extreme outlook. Totally specific and bizarre, dark and maybe into a little S&M?

I think the handwritten center label says 11 of 15? Guys I'm not worthy!
Get this as part of the Volar Records Strange Mutations Vol.1 Set. That miht be the only way to get your hands on this, or go back in time and start a blog where all you do is talk about seven inch singles. That might work too.

Volar Records - Strange Mutations 7" series

Just heard about this Volar Records series that just went up for sale the other day, 5 singles for $25 bucks, great deal and what must be the first single from Eat Skull in a few years, good to hear those guys are still playing together and I'm so curious to hear how damaged they've gotten since, or it's totally my fault and I haven't been paying close enough attention. Then you've got an Audacity/Big Eyes split, last heard from Audacity on Volar, a new Stalins of Sound single with more of their demented dark sounds and Beaters weird layered folk and Far Corners who I think just had something out on Limited Appeal Records?

Get this packaged set from Volar Records while you're clicking around the rest of the internet at work checking off your xmas list. You deserve it.

Volar Records' first proper singles series, Strange Mutations, collected here in its first volume. Set comes specially packaged. Set of five 7"s includes:

Beaters--"Jester" b/w "911=11"
Eat Skull--"Where'd You Go" + "Medication Time" b/w "Jefferson Angel"
Stalins of Sound--"Pool of Piranha" + "Panik" b/w "Rapture in Blood
Far Corners--"Sanity Suck" + "Not So Hot Right Now" b/w "Asleep Since the 70s"
Audacity/Big Eyes split 7"--"Bottle It Up" b/w "Half the Time"

Tropical Popsicle on Volar Records

Just checked out the A-Side from Tropical Popsicle's latest on Volar Records out today, "Ghost Beacons", they have this great psych pop, big layered, shoegaze/coldwave sound. I could throw in a few more adjectives because just when it starts to be optimistic, dramatic indie pop they go sort of goth/bummer on you. It's a slippery mix, of deliberate, plodding echo, distant hazy synth and minimal bass, they're making this single note work really hard. Completely restrained and then getting all out epic, crystal clear, without a single hint of silence, the piling on is deep and catchy. Looking for a full length soon.

Get it from Volar Records.

6x2x12 comp on Volar Records

Today you lucky jerks, I'm going to talk about this 12" comp from Volar Records, and it's been while since I had a 12" compilation in my hands. I remember old label cassette comps, but this is like the World Lousy With Ideas volumes. Why not have the modern comp be a label curated single mixtape...but on vinyl?

The Defektors kick this whole thing off with, "Not the one" a jangly stuttered guitar rock from the annals of post punk, except for that solo. Jittery rhythms that explode into a chorus looking forward inline with Hot Snakes.
Next up is a track from the O Voids: A minimal, lumbering away instrumental like some kind of ancient war song the third day into the ceremony. It's a great effort just to continue on, the drugs are wearing off and the villagers are leaving, but this transition is necessary to get to that transcendental place. This circle of melody repeats a few times and "Crawling Machine" is picking up their limbs and placing them a few inches forward.

Sharp Ends round out this Canadian side and I just caught their latest from Mammoth Cave. Terribly long stick count in...waaay past 8? Is that because they're on some weird alternate clock...well no, call this one straight ahead 4/4. Hit the kit on every beat all the way to the finish. The guitar isn't even really an instrument as much as another hitting device via strings. I love this far off heavy Bauhaus echo on the vocal, it turns an otherwise garage track into something much creepier.

I feel weirdly lazy not having to flip this thing over every song.
Maybe this is sort of a Volar faceoff? USA Vs Canada? No...wait Volar says competition through cruelty? Hmmmm, maybe the opposite, I forget.
Anyway I'm happy to see this kind of a comp that's like a split single times 10, you hear some new bands that undoubtedly are related and that's a good thing.

The (USA) Side features, Ale mania who are fresh in my mind from that previous Volar release but this one feels like it has almost nothing in common with that single. Pure chameleons of a nightmare Cramps style rocker with some yelling spoken word in the middle. The guitar section living alongside the machine gun sampled riffs of ancient Ministry.
The Beaters track, "They don't really care about us"...do what else? Beat on the tom and kick into this equally creepy buried track. If Blessure Grave approached their output from a more punk place it might have ended up in this place. It's no wonder BG had such a brief run, they were creating this ominously heavy, dark rock that inevitably has to explode, the same way Justin Beiber (I don't care how to spell it either - ed) is going to on the other end of the spectrum.
The Beaters here are dark and fast. Nice under-usage of a synth sound. Just enough to question who's side their on.
Spirit Photography make their ghostly appearance last. What's been going on with them since that single on Sacred Bones? A track like "Where is the Light"'s layered muddy drum machine, paced, slow vocal haze. Where's the light?... Where's the full length?
Just as creepy but pretty frantically hypnotic with a lot of distorted guitar work that honestly could have gone on a lot longer in my book.

A comp from Volar that says, what year are you living in anyway?

Have a listen to the streaming tracks from Volar or pick up a copy, still available on white vinyl.

Ratas del Vaticano on Volar Records

Here's another one from Volar Records, probably old news by now, but I'm just getting around to putting it on the turntable and already I can see that these 4 tracks are going to be monsters, hardly taking up half of the side of a 45. More than just their name, the reverse sleeve has the track titles in spanish, specifically these guys are from Monterrey, Mexico and even my rudimentary high school spanish could figure out Ratas del Vaticano is Rats of the Vatican (I hope)...or maybe in the Vatican? Who cares.... it's furious punk, recorded as raw as anything from the heyday of the genre.

The A-Side "All authority is a joke (which does not make me laugh)" I love translating these song titles, they just get better and better.
The fact that this is coming from Mexico just makes me think about how it's even more punk to write in your own language...of course, let's stop thinking English has to be the default way to communicate in music. When my brother was in Denmark, it seemed sad to me that all the bands he came across had to write everything in English just to have any kind of future outside of their own country. Good music, played like this with the kind of energy and punk shouldn't matter if you understand every word. There are plenty of live Germs shows that I don't understand a word of, Darby had his own messed up inebriated language.

"Would be cool that there was no law", the dual guy/girl vocals are right up in front, like any self respecting flat out punk should be, with that flat instrument distortion sound, no low end, two people yelling as loud as anything about anarchy. I don't think it has to be nostalgic or quaint...people aren't that jaded are they...and look at the revolutions going on around the planet. All of them should have this soundtrack. I don't want to mix politics and 7inches but if the punk fits... this kind of sentiment is always going to be valid. Musicians like this are as important as the press in

The B-Side, "I can not stop", has a more forward sounding guitar driving this melody and the guy/girl vocals are back, leaving room this time for the song to stretch out a little and get a power chord chorus going. There's even a fade out
"I seek no problems with authority" this one feels like it could have something in common with the echo-y garage sounds from Nashville, at full speed of course, but the distortion in the vocals, and gritty texture reminds me of something off Teenage Hate and that guitar screech from one speaker to the other is a nice touch.

Get this one from the Volar Records blog, another lable I can barely keep up with the slew of quality releases from these guys. Opening minds and ears.
And if this is definitely your bag, Siltbreeze has a full length from these guys which should have about 2000 songs on it.

The Stalins of Sound on Volar Records

Here's another single from Volar Records who, based on the past few I've heard lately, are on top of this bedroom, minimal, metal-punk scene. They are raising it up local, I wonder if it isn't the case of a total of 8 obsessed dudes cross pollinating each others bands kind of deal, but the volume of material in this lockstep style denotes something happening under the surface in San Diego.

Take the first track from the Stalins of Sound, 'Bread and Circuses', based on the mechanical sampled sounds from machines must be due to their Stalinist upbringing on sandy, low resolution snare hits. It's a cold, cold world, not in the depressing, goth way that this robotic melancholia can go, but really getting punk and infusing as much melody into the track within this rigid structure as possible. It's maybe a case of setting up this structure to get off on breaking the rules a little bit.
A little bit like The Units, thy have a saw-blade rhythm, one, two, one, two...a Devo odd melody structure, but then those guitar chords land the whole thing in a indie or punk town, squarely miles from the Autobahn.
'Genocide Erection'..now we're talking...this uber rigid to attempt at revolution rock with programmed sequences is ambitious. But it's near impossible for these guys to have any kind of loose, improv quality. Obviously that isn't what they're going for.

Then B-Side's 'Baton of Discipline', does away with any of the members individuality, all of their decisions are informed by the Stalins. And by now I'm really getting on board with their fascist, unbending vision of punk. The mechanical beats are in such lockstep you wonder if it's possible to create a guitar version of the drum machine by now. Who needs someone to stand there and strum strings? These guys make that idea of a 'playable' instrument seem archaic. I wonder if they didn't take it upon themselves to have samples or robots at work here like those monkeys at typewriters and the Stalins take the choice cut riffs they feel, work.
'Grapevine' veers away from the super rigid structure more than anything else here with the introduction of a warbling phaser effect that seeps into everything, the guitars, the drums, the vocals. Making it the most melodic and natural sounding. I know that's probably going against everything they're trying to achieve here, but I appreciate that contrast once in a while, not that the irony is lost on an effect making them sound more human. That's a good trick.
I don't think I mentioned the vocals yet... I'm picturing a Sid Vicious, or Peter Murphy character, sung with a sneer and safety pins. The metronome 1,2,1,2 beat never wavers and the heavily emotional punk snarling works.
Given the minimal black and white soviet imagery and typeface on the sleeve this is all part of a well thought out master plan. I would have to say it's soulless, except for the vocals, and I'm sure they would take that as a compliment. Like SIDS they're trying to deliver on that promise of future punk. I'm not sure if music criticism exhausted or even answered that question yet? Because every kind of imaginary future is immediately outdated, and what is the promise anyway? All keyboards? Computers randomly generating melody based on 'pleasing' combinations? Then punk itself it never became mainstream enough to be completely rejected like the hippy rock or prog. There wasn't that huge shift by mainstream America to tear it down to start over. Music was either too fractured and idiosyncratic to ever be mainstream enough to have a reaction against again?
Punk either changed too quickly in style to be written off so easily or the moniker itself was just applied to so much across the board it became band-aid or xerox but then allows it to be reinvented all the time.
Even with this anti-punk going on in the Stalins of Sound, Drum machines? Synth? Rigid Structure?...not exactly the characteristics of punk, they apply it to that dystopian future where all the values and ideals are just a little off. After all humans rationalize anything in our behaviors to fit this sort of ever changing undefinable morality.


Get it straight from Volar records who says:

KBD-inspired, high-energy, satirical anti-establishmentarian synth punk from Hadi Fever of the defunct Dissimilars (who saw releases on Plastic Idol/Out of Order/Green Door, and featured Larry from Genetic Disorder and Jimmy from Slab City), this debut 7” represents years of anti-status quo angst unleashed in a four-song fury. Think Metal Urbain, the Spits, Mark Sultan’s the Mind Controls (see the cover of “Grapevine” on this), a little Slayer for good measure. With song titles like “Genocide Erection” and “Baton of Discipline,” these malcontents are sure to put an uneasy smile on your face while bobbing along to this fast, punchy Molotov cocktail of a record. They’ve already shared the stage with the likes of Nobunny, the Spits, Lenguas Largas, Earthmen and Strangers, and Destruction Unit, the latter of which they’ll join on a West Coast tour in the near future.

Limited to 90 on red vinyl, an edition of 200 on black vinyl.

Ale Mania on Volar Records

Ale Mania came to me in a much appreciated shipment from Volar Records the other day. Ale Mania, according to the back liner notes, looks to be the work of two guys, Jeremy R, who penned the trippy, squiggle pattern owl on the cover sleeve and Andrew M. Both produced and composed the dancy, electronic, '70s-'90s era mashup single. 2 tracks from 2 dudes, which is always impressive on any level given the layers of instrumentation, all while going for this super pop sound which could easily be at home in the heydey of over the top pop in the '90s or '80s...to it's credit, it's pretty unspecific in it's synth and groove elements, they wouldn't give away any specific year this could have been created. That's the key for this kind of sound for me, when it can create an indie electronic sound that won't immediately be completely tied to a specific date and never age well.

'Lustfull Fistfull' on the A-Side has this geeky, staccato rhythm from something like Devo, a jerky, frantic, spaz beat, just hearing it makes you uptight, the muscles in your neck start seizing up. This is further punctuated by muted guitar downtrokes of chords that eventually gets into some pretty major solo jams at points. Vocally, it's taking a backseat to the dance direction of the track with Alan Vega style heavily echo'd lyrics. It's not so dependent on electronics though, it's grounded in all those rock and roll sounds that remind me of !!! or ILYBICD.

The B-Side, Vomitpig, is chiming synth melodied over another pounding bassline, always ultra clean and studio sounding....I keep checking if I have the right single? This has to be a little tounge in cheek, it's taking itself very seriously in execution, but there is a rawness that might hint at the fact this isn't a huge studio, they aren't wearing headbands under neon signs. They carrying a faithful torch for the new wave with some '70s funk or groove influences. I'm pretty sure no one mentions anything about a 'vomitpig' though and this that's sort of a cue this is some kid of nod at things unrelated to the thumping dance floor.

Both of these tracks are amazingly short, you can literally see you're in for a quick ride, given all the clear space at the end of both sides....the long run into the gutter. But they have a concise burst of groove to deliver and move on, you can't sleep on this one...they might be due for the 12" extended dub remix at some point, but they also aren't waiting around for you.

Check out these two at their bandcamp page.

DIE MYSPACE DIE!

Audacity EP on I hate Rock and Roll Records and Volar Records

Why does this cover remind of Snoop's Doggystyle? Ok, it's a surreal, Dali version of that brick wall cartoon, so maybe this is the reinterpretation, after the party...and it's a really bizarre first impression of these guys. But you could take it as the notebook psyche scrawlings of the alienated garage band with hardcore stars in their eyes.
Audacity is a 4 piece from Fullerton, CA, and the first track, 'Ears and Eyes' is hitting that Replacements place for me, a great way to kick off a 4 song EP. It's the rocking replacements, the part I always wanted more of...not that I wasn't into the slower stuff...they were all over the place anyway and wanted it that way. So take 'Seen your video' or 'Favorite thing' speed it up just a bit, lose the super production and you'd get Audacity. The vocals are slightly blown out, the entire studio really couldn't contain any of this, they had the levels all set during rehearsal and then god dammit if they didn't go completely balls out and now there's no dialing it down. Did they plan it they way? Maybe. They switch up rhythms with a little bit of Smith Westerns blown out glam in there (?), but he really sounds like Paul Westerberg...a little gravely 'tude in there, that working man's springsteen blues voice.
'Don't be a Menace', I was stuck on this line, 'We don't go Eco!' or it's Ego, so I'm thinking it's either a nod to the Minutemen, or they're against ego rock, which of course sounds like a nightmare. I was surprised to hear another track start and realize this was a four song EP, how these guys manage to jam all this into a 45 has to have a little to do with D. Boone creeping through the grooves. They appreciate the succinct statement, the high tempo punk haiku.
The B-Side, this whole single has this great guitar distortion sound, it's thin, mixed just off into the background, with no low end...classic. The riffs again are thrown around here next to more catchy choruses...like the Hunx or Pizza's, they have a really epic energy, but seem to be a little more serious...I haven't heard one word about rock and roll or girls. It's a combination of working almost hardcore: as fast as possible and melodic harmony pop punk, all the catchy moments strung together. A little bit of a late '90s sound that takes me back to skating in the garage to old tapes of the Guerrilla Biscuits and 7 Seconds.
It makes the completely spazz solo on 'What not to do' almost impossible to replay, but they only need to ever capture half the spirit of this effort and they should be happy.

Get this one on purple or black vinyl from Volar Records, who have a bunch of other great releases to check out, including this Under the Covers Vol2 comp which is amazing...or head over to I hate rock and roll records, and get it there.

Black Orphan on Volar Records

This Black Orphan single just came in with a batch of Volar's latest...I actually remember this Melchior/F&O's split from a long time ago and it looks like they've been busy this past winter.
So I put this on, not really knowing where that mask face was taking me and damn if you don't go one minute from stripped down primal rock to nightmare electronic death in the space of a few minutes in the world of singles, that's 7inches. This single is a 4 song, mini EP from Black Orphan which I know Mr. Sniper would greatly appreciate.

The A-Side, 'Metal Leg' is a chopped heavily gated fuzz guitar with live drums and all kinds of ancient synth sounds glitching. There's a deep hardly discernible Sisters of Mercy vocal gothing away under the definitely home recorded sounding affair. The claustrophobia and the alienation that these sort of sounds inherently have when patched straight onto magnetic tape, bounced down, and dubbed.

The next one, 'Asteroids' is surprisingly melodic once you get under the haze of layered guitars, that trebly click from a disembodied drum track rising out of the underwater hiss. A phasery warbling vocal gives this ominous bass heavy track some breathing room and catchiness. This theremin-like solo is a nice touch. 'Asteroids' is almost sing-a-longable except that there isn't a human voice to recognize. There's humanity is all over these changes and it still has the warped sensibility of a more experimental Lou Barlow cassette collage. When it either gets sick of hearing it's own voice that it injects this machine and dehumanizing effect into the mix to stay surprising especially to the creators.

The front of this sleeve even echo's Blank Dogs mask iconography. Of course it's always creepy to have this human stand-in staring back at you, whose lack of expression never changes, it's a good choice for the robots. Then on the reverse there's some kind of disturbing nail ridden man doll. A bit heavy handed maybe, but why not scare off the alt country scene looking for a good cry and maybe appeal to the metal crowd.

'Doorways', from the B-Side keeps this intense hyper layered, 4track guitar sound going. Also like Blank Dogs, when you finally get down to that base melody, it sticks with you. It's not easy to unearth, and the harsh electronics keep pushing back but that's all part of the challenge here.
'Slain' has a decidedly goth feel, digital tom pad rhythms and (actual) organ sound with electronics. Here a real human voice only can whisper 'Ahhhh' in a quiet wail. The sounds are sci-fi - detached from any organic instrumentation or even those sounds that attempt to mimic an instrument. They get into the machines and program the sine waves, the envelopes so this hissy bleep isn't going to remind you of anything out there in the natural world.
These sounds have that unsettling quality because they only exist in synth, it's a subconscious instrument and Black Orphan is aware that it's not a cheap imitation of life, but another form altogether.
So it stays creepy, they even exploit the atmosphere and it's caught between the dawn of synth days and the nihilism and alienation of a punk sound. It's all slightly hidden, shrouded in being captured on second rate equipment. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Disturbing in that subtle intellectual cold way, rejecting the huge sound metal surface horror and getting deeper into something that's hard to leave behind.

Waiting for more of the intersection of angsty high school 7Inches and the realities of real problems 7inches.

If anything else on the label remotely resembles this single, I'm going to have to do some ordering from Volar Records, like the Destruction Unit LP, Dirt Dress 7", Pope Anything 7", Cold Pumas 7" super pack for $30 bucks!

Fresh and Onlys Dan Melchior split on Volar Records

Dan Melchior Und Das Menace:
Daylight Robbery
A Delicate Genius Backstage

Fresh & Onlys:
A Taste Of Hunger
Black Coffin

The fresh and onlys have a couple of new singles coming out lately, just in time for the holidays! Like this split with Dan Melchior on the fledgling Volar Records, they still have color and reg vinyl available, but not for long I'm sure.

The Fresh and Onlys have been steadily evolving since their first fuzzy garage-y one. After that solo full length from Tim Cohen, I'm convinced they can and will go anywhere successfully. The foundation of elements are all there, the melodies, lyrically he's great, they play with early rock elements making that unsettling new/old sound. I've heard this before right? Sort of.
The new ones on myspace from their full length are just getting even catchier with sort of that Jeff Novak 60's reinterpretation feel. They actual era never sounded do good trust me...they are what it should have been. Lots of harmonies and jagged cuts, and all with a kind of optimism, keeping it all upbeat. The perfect way to sit down with some coffee and start the day off, I'm telling you.

Dan Melchior I have less experience with, just a couple of random singles after hearing so much about him, I still have no idea what to expect every time I put one on. Then recently he's exploded with a million releases, I can't keep up, and I push him to the back of the line...slow down man! But on a split with the F&O's? Of course I'm in. It ranges from tepid hippy-ish jams to screaming lo-fi distorted guitar solo for 2 minutes...a genre chameleon, all with an english accent. These are a perfect match.

Goner records has it and Academy too.