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.)
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.
MP3: Fergus & Geronimo – “Harder Than It’s Ever Been” This is the A-side of the Denton duo’s new 7-inch for Woodsist, and its minute-forty-seven of ramshackle pop has been perfectly sating my hungry ears all morning.
It’s “sort of” out now (i.e., I don’t think Woodsist has updated their site to list it, but you can get it from Fusetron).
Update: Woodsist has it available now (as does Fusetron.)
Photo by YST
My dear ol’ friends, Missouri’s favorite sons, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, went and did an amazing thing: they wrote and recorded a stadium anthem for their own hometown minor-league team, the Springfield Cardinals. And it is awesome.
MP3: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – “Cardinal Rules”
I didn’t know the boys had a rousing Springsteen / Tom Petty / FM radio rager in them, but they certainly did. “I’M GOIN’ DOWNTOWN! SPRINGFIELD, ALRIGHT!” Awesome.
And purely because this song has gotten me all pumped up with feelgood, I talked to Polyvinyl, and they were good enought to set up a special promotion for you: take 30% off EVERYTHING in the Polyvinyl E-Store from now until 7/17 simply by entering code CATBIRD at checkout.
It wasn’t enough that Drag City rescued the scant recorded output of 1970’s Detroit’s African-American proto-punks Death; it wasn’t enough that the tunes turned out to be flat-out awesome; it wasn’t enough that For The Whole World To See has proven to be so popular that Drag City has had to repress the vinyl at least 4 times since the album’s release in Feburary. Nope, it wasn’t enough… so just to push the amazing story of Death’s return just one level higher, the band has booked shows for September. Only 2 dates so far, one on 9/25 at the Magic Stick in Detroit, and one on 9/26 at the Empty Bottle in Chicago– but this is a pretty rare opportunity. If you get the chance to go, go.
MP3: Death – “Politicians In My Eyes”
MP3: Death – “Keep On Knocking”
(h/t to Renton, thx)
Apollo Ghosts
Apollo Ghosts
Fulton Lights
G. Washington Brown
