MP3: Fergus & Geronimo – “Tell It (In My Ear)”
MP3: Fergus & Geronimo – “Glistening Smiles”
London’s excellent Transparent organisation is on the cusp of releasing a brand new Fergus & Geronimo 7″, for “Tell It In My Ear” b/w “Glistening Smiles.” Its limited to 300 copies, and Pure Groove is the exclusive UK dealer. They say that some retailers in the US will have copies, but honestly, you’re probably better off to just pay a bit more and import from Pure Groove, so as to not take any chances.

• Holiday Shores – “Phones Don’t Feud”
• Rainbow Bridge – “Big Wave Rider”
• Jumbling Towers – “The Kanetown City Rips”
• Fergus & Geronimo – “Harder Than Its Ever Been”
• Frankie & the Heartstrings – “Possibilities”
• Crayon Fields – “All the Pleasures”
• Beach Fossils – “Vacation”
• Haunted House – “Chandaliers”
• Earthmen & Strangers – “Bartender”
• Fluffy Lumbers – “Cruisers”
• That Ghost – “Never Have Fun”

Subscribe to the Catbirdseat podcast.

Apollo Ghosts, makers of My most favoritest album of the year, kick off a Pacific Northwest tour tonight. I predict that they are going to blow away the crowd at every one of these shows, resulting in me quickly selling out of the scant few copies of the Hastings Sunrise LP that we still have in stock at Catbird Recs.

Dates:
7/31 – Vancouver, BC – Hoko’s
8/1 – Bellingham, WA – Friendship City
8/2 – Seattle, WA – Chai House
8/4 – Olympia, WA – Kimya & Angelo’s House (w/Kimya, Tender Forever + More)
8/6 – TBA
8/7 – Port Townsend, WA – Boiler Room
8/8 – Anacortes, WA – Dept. of Safety (w/Rose Melberg)
8/9 – Bellingham, WA – Friendship City

MP3: Apollo Ghosts – “Land of the Morning Calm”

Stream: Apollo Ghosts – Hastings Sunrise at Listen@MBV
Stream: Apollo Ghosts – Forgotten Triangle EP at Listen@MBV

Remember Jumbling Towers? Of course you do. Well, the UK’s Half Machine Records is releasing their 7″ in September, for “Kanetown City Rips” b/w “Gilberta,” and the record has just gone up for pre-order. Here’s the b-side:

MP3: Jumbling Towers – “Gilberta”

Sex Beet are a group of London lads, and they nail all of the currently approved indie touchpoints (lo-fi, garagey, AND beach-centric)– but whereas most of this year’s crop would shape that into a California coast psych haze or some kind of chilled-out bro-lounge, these kids run it through an organ-ground Crampsian filter and come out with a great manic Psycho Beach Party vibe. I dig.

MP3: Sex Beet – “Scarecrow”

They’ve got a 7-inch coming out on Fistful of Records in September, and a 4-way split on London’s Holy Twist label shortly thereafter.

Many moons ago, I pointed you to a wonderful collab between Richmond, VA’s The Great White Jenkins and the incomparable Karl Blau, called “Look Out World”– a really great tune, done up in TGWJ’s charming, ramshackle style, along with a definite flourish of Blau-itude. Thing is, only way you could hear the song was to stream it on their Myspace. But that is now changed. The band has just released the track as a the A-side to a new 7-inch (with another TGWJ/Blau track, “Tell Me Something Good,” on the flip), and are kicking off a short East Coast tour to support, starting tonight in Richmond, VA.

MP3: The Great White Jenkins ft. Karl Blau – “Look Out World”

Where to pick up the 7-inch? Well, I assume at one of the shows, but outside of that, they didn’t say…. I guess you need to write to ‘em and tell ‘em you want a copy!

(and PS, as long as we’re talking about Karl Blau, I should probably tip you that he’s got a new full-length, called Zebra, due out 10/6 from K.)

I’m sure everyone heard “Hey Boy” when it made the blog rounds a few months ago, but the Transparent Blog just posted the b-side to Magic Kids forthcoming 7″ for Goner, and it’s every bit as good.

MP3: Magic Kids – “Good To Be”
(via Transparent Blog)

MP3: Forest Fire – “Fortune Teller”

It was right about this time last year that Catbird Records put out Forest Fire’s first long-player, Survival, (following up on their debut EP of the year prior). It was a masterful album that earned a lot of accolades (including a surprising “Album of the Year” nod from Le Blogotheque).

In the year since, a lot has happened: the album was picked up for Europe by the great Talitres label, and just recently, scrappy UK indie Broken Sound picked it up for a UK release, preceded by a limited-edition 7-inch of “Fortune Teller.” That’s what you see in the photo above… it just arrived this week, and wow, the moment I heard the songs wrapped in that warm vinyl sound, I knew that was the way FF has always meant to be heard.

Which makes it all the more exciting to announce that Survival is also getting a full US rerelease from brand-new label Infinite Best, which will include vinyl. There’s a launch party coming up on 8/10 at Union Hall, sponsored by our friends at Chocolate Bobka. This will mark their first show in NYC since last winter, and then they’re off to Europe. And I gotta tell you, I was at that last NY show in the winter– where they were playing mostly new material, and whoa. Talk about melting faces… the new stuff is going to pull some Ark of the Covenant shit on you when hear it.

MP3: Earthmen and Strangers – “Bartender”

Here’s my on-repeat-all-morning song for the day, courtesy of Tempe AZ’s (!) Earthmen and Strangers, from their almost-totally sold-out s/t LP that recently came out on FDH Records.

I *think* they might have a 7″ coming out in the near future on Jay Reatard’s Shattered label, but I’m not sure. For now, you’d do well to pick up a copy of the LP before they’re gone.

Have you noticed that there’s a complete and utter dearth of bands using beach / sun / surf themes these days?

I’m joking, obvs. Yes, of course there’s an excessive amount of that beachy vibe going around, but if you wanna turn into Old Man Grumpass about it and plug up your ears out of spite, you’re going to miss some good stuff. Case in point: Olympia, WA’s Rainbow Bridge and their track, “Big Wave Rider.”

MP3: Rainbow Bridge – “Big Wave Rider”

True Panther will be releasing this as a 7-inch very soon; keep your eyes peeled (and your ears open) on 9/8 — you can pre-order on the True Panther site now.