Blog Archives

January 8, 2013

The Daily Choice: The Bad Lovers – Things I Forgot

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The Bad Lovers, a trio of Austin rockers, could’ve been sucked through as seething time-space wormhole in to the modern day. Though the band looks like your more standard, hipster long-hairs, the sound they craft exists somewhere in The Beatles world pre-Revolver. Short, sharp bursts of twang brush nicely with the McCartney like vocals of the lead singer, all wrapped in to a particularly vintage feeling sound. Perhaps The Bad Lovers aren’t torch bearers for overflowing originality, but this is a choice cut none the less. The type of melodic proto-punk that gets the skirts spinning and arms flailing.

The Bad Lovers album Actin’ Strange is out now on Burger Records.

September 21, 2012

The Daily Choice: Sam Flax – Fire Doesn’t Burn Itself

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If Los Angeles can boast anything these days musically it would seem to be Ariel Pink and the advent of a little genre called VHS-rock. Somewhere between the badly recorded soft-core flicks of your middle school days and the soundtrack of an after school special, VHS-rock is the sex-music played by 80s nerds. Sam Flax, in a defining manner, is VHS-rock. “Age Waves”, though on the more rock, less VHS sound of his oeuvre, bumps with a dim-neon funk that you might find in a dark alley in Los Angeles circa 1985 just as that Southern Californian sun is cresting over the smog line. It’s catchy and strangely seductive, somehow diluted and vibrant in the same glowing cursive stroke.

Sam Flax’s cassette Age Waves is currently sold out on Burger Records.

July 19, 2012

The Daily Choice: Cosmonauts – Emerald Green

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The Daily Choice

Though Cosmonauts get lumped in with the high-energy burst that is Thee Oh Sees more times than not, I find, more and more, that there’s something darker at play in the throbbing crunch of the Cosmonauts. Sure, this is garage rock as recently defined by the San Francisco scene, but where Thee Oh Sees toss out pulsating blasts of wind-up repetition, Cosmonauts deafeningly leak out their noise in waves of sonic fuzz. “Emerald Green”, the first single off their upcoming release, feels peppier than anything Psychic Denim offered, but it still wallows in the murkier part of the garage swimming pool. A promising first track off a much-anticipated album.

Cosmonauts new 12″ ‘If You Wanna Die, I Wanna Die” is out on Burger Records now.

Cosmonauts - Emerald Green

June 12, 2012

The Daily Choice: Gap Dream – Cover It Up

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King Tuff (TDCed here) recently spent some time with the fine folks of Aquarium Drunkard spelling out his recent listens. It’s a fine read, and I’ve found myself tumbling head over heels in to the little Burger Records wormhole he’s opened up in front of me. Gap Dream is the first discovery on this uncontrollable journey. “Cover It Up” is the slow draw of a match against the side of a box. Fuzz, a mournful guitar solo, a reverb heavy voice clawing its way out of the mess – each element slowly stacking together, until the drums come in, the guitar gets cranked, and someone kicks the mic stand over. A fine bit of psych rock.

Gap Dream’s self-titled album is out on Burger Records.

Gap Dream – Cover It Up

March 12, 2012

The Daily Choice: Burnt Ones – Meet the Golden One

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Who hasn’t been eagerly awaiting some new fuzz-soaked cut from San Francisco’s Burnt Ones? Who hasn’t been tying back their ponytails and pulling on their tight jeans and sparkly shirts and just waiting for Burnt Ones to send another pure cut of rock and roll right in to the atmosphere? Well, good folk, it has arrived and the disappointment level is non-existent. “Meet the Golden One” seems to burble out of a rock ‘n’ roll cave. It begins low and long and slow and you wonder if maybe Burnt Ones decided to stray a new direction for their new 7″ but before you can murmur “rock and fucking roll” the drums kick, the keyboards pulse and the boozy swagger of Mark Tester’s vocals saunters on to the stage. It’s Burnt Ones as they do best, good times rock ‘n’ roll that deserves a cold beer and leopard-printed head band.

“Meet the Golden One” is out now on a 7″ from Burger Records.

Burnt Ones – Meet the Golden One