Man, is it just me or did 2010 suffer a major drought of good country/folk music? With only a handful of acts rising above the fold — none of which being good enough to even make my initial year end album list — Sonny Smith is here to save the day with the release of his 100 Records Box Set!
A small sliver of his massive project is available now through a 7” being released by Endless Nest. “Throw My Ashes From This Pier When I Die”, the opening track from the record, is a beautifully twangy track (faux circa 1950) assembled by Smith and his San Fran brethren, and PT-Music favorites, The Sandwitches. You can check out the song below and head over to the Endless Nest store to pick up the 7”:
I was super pumped when I got my second Memoryhouse 7” in the mail (courtesy of Suicide Squeeze Records) yesterday and I played it pretty much non-stop until I fell asleep early this morning.
The ten minutes of music on this condensed vinyl is split more-or-less evenly between the two sides. “Caregiver” is an ethereal piece fit for the standard headphone listen which is sure to please the hoards of converts that have gravitated to their bedroom-pop tunes over the past year. Although lacking the instant attraction as other Memoryhousetracks, it’s a pleasant enough song that I’ll probably not skip when playing their discography (or more accurately, mp3ography) straight through.
Now the B-side is where I got the tingles. The more uptempo “Heirloom” is about as close to a “Radium Girls” as the band has got since, well, “Radium Girls”. With a more filled out instrumentation (it’s amazing how much the inclusion of simple live drums does for you), this is the type of band I would love to see live: delicate, yet powerful. You can stream the track below courtesy of Memoryhouse’s Soundcloud:
Besides being two rad as fuck guys, The Numerators make some pretty solid garage rock jams — and it seems like the folks over at Suicide Squeeze Records has recognized this fact. Teaming up with Atlanta’s The Coathangers, the Rana brothers will have half of a split 7” out November 30th featuring the oldie-but-goodie “Strawberry Dreams” (the ladies are contributing “Chicken 30″). You can check out the track below and head over to Suicide Squeeze’s store to pre-order the record.
Father Daughter Records just keeps on killin’ it! Their latest signee is Florida’s prolific musician David Levesque, who goes by the more condensed stage name of Levek. The A-side of the upcoming self-titled 7”, “Look on the Brightside” is wrapped around a straight-up Al Green-esque soul groove that is sure to be responsible for a handful of future unplanned pregnancies. Check out the track below and pre-order the 7” from the F/D store here:
By now you’ve probably heard the new Smith Westerns jam “Weekend” (if not, you can stream it at the end of this post). Now you may or may not have heard of a split 7”, released on Fat Possum Records, that the Chicago Wunderkinds did with Magic Kids back in April. Their contribution to the record is the anthem-ready “Imagine, Pt. 3″ which is cut in the same cloth as their much heralded selt-titled debut. Raspy vocals, courtesy of lead-singer Cullen Omori, hover over the catchy 60s pop guitar rifts while synth lines oftentimes flutter in the background.
You can hear an amped up version of the track from a live recording captured at the Pitchfork Showpaper benefit a year ago, and if you want to purchase the 7”, head on over to the Fat Possum store.
After sifting through about a billion e-mails and separating the wheat from the chaff, it became apparent that one band in particular had risen past the doldrums of generic fuzz-rock and bedroom-pop tracks that clutter my inbox on a daily basis. Kind of surprising that in the gray and dreary city of Seattle a band like Seapony can churn out some of the most brightly tracks I’ve heard since Cults burst onto the scene a half year back (has it been that long?).
With a digital EP already under their belt, the trio is set to jump into the physical realm by releasing a three track 7” on the upstart (and label of the year candidate) Double Denim Records imprint. Opening with the infectious (and heavilypublicized) track “Dreaming”, it takes almost no time to fall in love with the band. By the time you go through the Best Coast-tinged “So Low” and the all-to-appropriately titled track “Late Summer”, your instant enthusiasm has turned into a rabid obsession, making you unable to get enough of the band!
You can check out “Dreaming” below and stream the remainder of the 7” through their bandcamp page. Also, you can order both The Seapony 7” and the Blackbird Blackbird/PaoPao split 7” for £7.50 (£11.00/$17.00 if you’re shipping to The States) for a limited time, so take advantage of that offer.
Probably the most pleasant surprise from this mid-summer Captured Tracks 7” release extravaganza was getting to hear a trio of tracks from Brooklyn’s hazy indie-rock group Minks. Other than playing an mp3 of “Funeral Song” a while back, I hadn’t had a chance to get my feet wet with their tunes; but after a couple of spins of their latest 7”, I think it’s safe to say that I’m an auto-fan now.
Opening with the reverb-laden “Ophelia” on the A-side, Minks don’t get too lost in the mist of echo-y vocals and fuzzed out background guitar. At the one minute forty-five second mark, a crisp, and catchy, lead guitar line not only holds your attention but forces you to tap your foot to the groove. The reprieve from the fuzz is slight, as you get tossed back into the sea foam of the singer’s vocals and drift away for the remaining fifty seconds. On the B-side, Minks open with a dreamy, synth-heavy head-bobbin’ track in “Our Ritual” followed by a fucking-around instrumental, entitled “Believer Dog”, filled with noisy dissonance and groan-like sounds. Maybe it’s my being inundated with out-there instrumental music lately, but this third track is my favorite in the bunch.
Got my mid-summer batch of 7”s from Captured Tracks earlier this week and, surprise surprise, they are all pretty damn AMAZING. Starting off the four-pack was the new 7” from Vancouver BC minimalist electro-pop group Cosmetics. With “Sleepwalking”, the A-side to this two-track vinyl, the synth/vocal duo of Aja Emma and Nic M produces a more upbeat track than what we’re used to, with the slightly spaced-out, woozy synth line reminding me more of drunken afternoons in the park than back alley solicitations. The B-side “The Cries” is a bit of a return-to-form for the pair, with driving bass pulses and near-monotonic, ritualistically chants of “I got the cries” pushing the track deeper into darkness.
You can check out the A-side and GvB approved “Sleepwalking” below before inevitably deciding to snag the 7” for a measly $5.50 (I seriously don’t know how they make money at C/T). An added bonus is that the vinyl is on clear wax (pictured above) which makes the physical release so much more aesthetically pleasing than an intangible mp3 file.
For anyone who reads my site on the regular, it isn’t a surprise that I love remixes. That’s why I auto-clicked when I got an e-mail containing Roman Ruins remix to Beach House’s stellar Teen Dream track “Lover of Mine”. Now I haven’t heardtoo many Beach House remixes (this must be a testament on how hard it is to tackle their music), however I think it’s safe to say that Roman Ruins puts in a damn good attempt at making his own spin on this modern classic. Maybe it’s due to the fact that he’s their tour drummer that he’s able to put in such a great effort…
Meant to be a promotion for his newly released PASTOR/AL 7”, available on Gold Robot Records, I have to say that the remix pales in comparison to the two original tracks on the 7”. I was blown away when I first tuned in to the B-side “The Comedown” for the first time. Complete with woozy vocals and skylit synths, the track is a definitely headphone listen that is sure to capture your attention until the last airy syllables.
Check out the two tracks below and head on over and cop yourself a sweet orange 7” at Gold Robot’s shop for a measly $5+S/H (I already did!).
