Teen Dream, Beach House‘s last LP, came in as my number 2 album of 2010. Within its cover are 10 songs, not a single one weak. Beach House is back with Myth off their forthcoming album Bloom and if this song is telltale for what we can expect, the new album could be a solid contender for 2012.

I haven’t had much time of late to write. The house project of repainting walls, painting trim, pulling up carpets, and laying down bamboo has absolutely dominated my time. That and working on my BMW, which in the past few weeks has received a full tune-up (with exception of replacing points and cleaning the carb).

We’ve been doing up the floors in our house, stripping out the carpet, repainting the walls, painting the trim and doors, and laying down a rich brown woven bamboo (hence the lateness of this post and the general lack of posts this week). It’s a project that should add equity to our house and, one day, our pockets. I threw this playlist together Friday morning and set to work stripping carpet from the hallway while it played in the background.

“Nightmare” mixes post-punk and fuzz for a highly infectious coldwave sound. It’s a bit odd, coming from Seattle. The fuzz seeps into everything, the harmony vocals, the percussion, all stemming from the guitar. Grave Babies maintain the nonchalant-ness of their chosen genre, yet there’s something oddly upbeat and positive about “Nightmare”.

Man, what a wild week. And I’m not talking about the wild you indie folk are used to, likely boozing it up and partying every night. I’m talking about the working life, the stress of the job, the busy days and exhaustion-laden nights. Going to bed at 9:30; I feel old.

I fixed my tail light. It was a simple matter of checking the fuses, noting that the 8A fuse was blown, and swapping it out. Still having issues with the front indicator and running light, but thanks to the good folk at BMW 2002 FAQ, I should have it figured out in the near future. On to the show.

On my radio show last week, I played a song called “Losing, Lost” by Two Suns. What drew me to the song was its dreamy nature, through the soft instrumentation but even more so through the wispy vocals. The song is what member Jake Davidson dubs psychedelic slowcore. And it fits.

Dana Buoy (aka Dana Janssen, percussionist for Akron/Family) is set to release his debut LP (Summer Bodies) on May 8, courtesy Lefse Records. “Call To Be” is the first tune to be released from the album and it’s an interesting pop song, upbeat in a tropical Pacific Northwest meets NYC sort of way. (I know, huh!?) It’s dreamy, hypnotic, but most intriguing of all, it has a sci-fi beach sound to it that’s unquestionably awesome.

White Fence is the project of Tim Presley (Darker My Love), and it rocks. Presley joins fuzzy psychedelic sounds with hazy garage pop on “Swagger Vets and Double Moon”. It’s similar in its pop sensibilities to the track “Lillian (Won’t You Play Drums)” off Is Growing Faith, but it’s even catchier thanks to the psychedelic aspects Presley employs.

I got pulled over tonight. Nothing big, just a bad taillight. The cop may have thought I was trying to evade him, pulling into the dark, always vacant Skagit Valley College parking lot late on a Friday night. As soon as I rounded the corner, his lights went on.