Sunny pop hooks clash with punk riffs and witty lyrics/vocals in The Everson’s debut LP, Summer Feeling. Influences run rampant, ranging from a predilection toward the vocal harmonies of 60s pop, early pop-punk, and more recent art wave.

The New Zealand band’s guitar-based features Mark Turner of Little Pictures as lead vocalist (well, one of them; Chris also sings lead/writes songs, and a few other members take lead on a few songs), who messaged me about this new project. It wasn’t the first time he’d messaged me; I found another email that included this great little video for “Hyacinth Girl”.

In it the band takes a voyage across the sea, encountering sea sickness, sea monsters and chilly lightning storms. And that’s just the first half. “Hyacinth Girl” is off The Everson’s free self-titled EP.

But don’t forget their new one! Summer Feeling is out now on Lil Chief Records (The Brunettes, The Ruby Suns, Lawrence Arabia, Little Pictures). Check out the video for “Hyacinth Girl” below, along with the opening track off Summer Feelings, then go grab the album!

Download: “Could It Ever Get Better?” by The Eversons

Referencing early indie pop artists like Orange Juice, Electricity In Our Homes is precisely what I look for in a pop band: a hint of jangle guitar, some catchy harmony vocals (a male, a female, maybe more) and a melody that gets stuck in your head. “Oranges” has an off-beat sound that is hard to ignore.

Electricity In Our Homes released a new album called Dear Shareholder a few weeks back on Fierce Panda Records. In this song, I definitely hear something a little out there; the vocals, in a way, remind me a bit of Television Personalities at times.

Anyway, the song is phenomenal. It’s definitely worth a listen or two. And, if you’re so inclined (as I am), you’ll dig a bit deeper into Dear Shareholder and perhaps grab a copy of the LP for yourself from Fierce Panda.

Download: “Oranges” by Electricity In Our Homes

Last weekend was my grandmother’s Celebration of Life. It would have been her 92nd birthday. We all had margaritas (it was also Cinco de Mayo; I had three) and told funny stories about her life. It was a blast, a good closure and celebration to a woman who meant a lot to a lot of people.

Upon returning on Monday, I took a trip out to Anacortes and The Business, picking up the new Cloud Nothings LP, Attack On Memory, which served as inspiration for tonight’s show.

The album, as I note in my review, reminded me of bands from the mid- to late-90s, and even early 2000s. The pre-mainstreaming of emo, which ultimately tarnished the genre to absolute ridiculousness. It was unfortunate, as many bands were phenomenal musicians and created some pretty great work.

The second part of the show was dedicated a bit more toward some avant garde thanks to the second record I picked up at The Business: Nat Baldwin’s People Changes.

The bolded items below link to pages where you can download or sample the selected track or read more about the artist. For your sampling pleasure, Mission of Burma’s “Dust Devil” is a link to download the mp3.

Here’s the track list:

“The D In Detroit” by The Anniversary off Designing A Nervous Breakdown
“Outro In No Minor” by The Anniversary off Designing A Nervous Breakdown
“My Funeral Party” by The Gloria Record off Start Here

“Morale Is Low” by Jejune off R.I.P.
“But The Regrets Are Killing Me by American Football off American Football LP

“Gloria” by Mineral off Power Of Failing
“Silver” by Mineral off Power Of Failing
“Our Plan” by Cloud Nothings off Attack On Memory
“Dust Devil” by Mission Of Burma off Unsound (mp3 link)

“Wasted Days” by Cloud Nothings off Attack On Memory

“Marigold & Patchwork” by The Appleseed Cast off The End of the Ring Wars
“Stars” by The Appleseed Cast off The End of the Ring Wars

“Black Angel” by Neighbors off John In Babeland
“(They Found Me In The Back Of) The Galaxy” by The Intelligence w/ Kelley Stoltz off 7″
“Oranges” by Electricity In Our Homes off Dear Shareholder
“Try Me out Sometime” by Broncho off Can’t Get Past The Lips

“Who Could Win A Rabbit” by Animal Collective off Sung Tongs
“Weights” by Nat Baldwin off People Changes
“Lifted” by Nat Baldwin off People Changes

“Slippery Slope (Studio Pigalle Session)” by The Dø

“Tak Terbatas” by Arrington de Dionyso’s Malaikat Dan Singa off Malaikat Dan Singa

Insanely infectious, “Try Me Out Sometime” is a homage to the heyday of 70s puck rock. Broncho makes the song’s rapid pace seem almost laid back, a hint of unbounded garage-pop. This is, no surprise, emphasized by Ryan Lindsey’s punchy vocals and complemented in full by a backing band that includes Johnathon Ford on bass, Ben King on guitar and Nathan Price on drums.

“Try Me Out Sometime” is off Broncho’s debut full-length Can’t Get Past the Lips. The song is currently my favorite off the album thanks to highly catchy melodies dealt out both via instrumentally and vocally. Close behind is a new, recently released video for “I Don’t Really Wanna Be Social”, which you can check out over on Spinner.

Download: “Try Me Out Sometime” by Broncho

An avid fan of eccentric jazz of avant garde nature, I was immediately drawn to Nat Baldwin‘s new LP, People Changes. As an upright bassist, Baldwin can be found pouring his soul into Dirty Projectors, a band that prides itself in obscure pop sensibilities. His solo stuff, however, is where he truly shines.

“Weights” is a recent video that blends Nat’s bizarre style of pop-meets-free jazz with an off-beat music video plot. A nostalgic horse hosting a garage sale? Sure. Why not!?

In the song, you hear traces of the free jazz spirit. A clarinet (or maybe it’s a bass clarinet) drops into a wild but subtle solo. Nat Baldwin himself, utilizes his voice in a non traditional way that makes his work entirely unique. There is nothing quite like this.

Sub titles portray the words characters speak, and the twist and the end left me laughing in delight. That’s what I find great about Baldwin’s work: it’s packed with emotion. The songs are filled with sadness and nostalgia, laughter and joy; and they all take place simultaneously.

Grab “Lifted” (currently my favorite from People Changes) and watch “Weights” below. Find People Changes on Western Vinyl.

Download: “Lifted” by Nat Baldwin

Damn. Why did I wait so long to check out anything off Cloud Nothings‘ new LP, Attack On Memory!? On a whim, I requested The Business in Anacortes hold a copy on vinyl for me after ordering Nat Baldwin’s phenomenal record People Changes. Today I picked up both, and Attack On Memory was the first to hit the record player.

This is how I like it: my first listen completely unfettered by judgement. As of the needle hitting wax, I had yet to read an article about Dylan Baldi’s band or even hear a track. All I had to go on was knowledge of existing hype around Attack On Memory and the term Lo-Fi written on a sticky note on the cover’s wrapping.

Coincidence, then, that I spent the morning listening to bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, Gravel and Mineral? These bands fit the emo genre before it went mainstream, changed completely and gained negative connotation. Cloud Nothings fit this realm almost perfectly; their inspiration drawn straight from these bands.

“No Future / No Past” begins soft, with melodic vocals, a simple but powerful guitar riff, and hefty percussion before swirling into a hailstorm of shoegaze-meets-post rock deafening fuzz.

This is a common trait on songs throughout Attack On Memory. “Our Plan” and “Wasted Days” both capitalize on the trait, leading them to be standouts. Other songs begin with it: “No Sentiment” begins with the craziness before Cloud Nothings pull back slightly to bring on the melody.

On the other end, songs like “Fall In” and “Stay Useless” drop the shoegaze sensibilities for ones that easily fit the early emo sound; a focus on mopey lyrics, poppy melodies, and cathy riffs, all of it loud.

It’s easy to hear why Attack On Memory has received acclaim of late. The album is powerful, extremely good, and highly appealing. In drawing influence from great artists from around the late 90s, they’ve brought back a sound that has truly been missed.

Download: “No Future / No Past” by Cloud Nothings

Carpark Records [LP, 2012]

1. Cut You
2. Fall In
3. No Future / No Past
4. No Sentiment
5. Our Plan
6. Separation
7. Stay Useless
8. Wasted Days

I love it when music videos come with a warning. Be it the infamous (and slightly coveted) NSFW label, or, in the case of “All Night Low” by Violens, the Epileptic-inducing, flashing lights, strobe-effect warning. Whatever the warning may say, this is what I read: we’ve got something a little different for you, we’re taking things to a whole new level, and get ready for awesomeness.

“All Night Low” is the latest tune to surface from Violens’ new LP, True, out May 15 on Slumberland Records. The video is true black and white (screw gray-scale), showing the band performing in, as the warning notes, fast edits.

Violens’ music is hyper-paced and dark, hinting of Brit-pop and featuring a heavy dose of fuzz. You can hear this in “Der Microarc” (which you can grab below), “All Night Low”, and in my personal favorite “Unfolding Black Wings”.

Download: “Der Microarc” by Violens

What began as an over-the-phone collaboration between Nashville resident (at the time) Stuart Edwards and Andy Holmes of their mutual hometown of Rocky Mount, NC ultimately became Old Bricks. The story is one of some length, and includes a now non-existant band, a little moving around, and the disillusionment of a self-satisfying local scene.

This dates back pre 2009, before Edwards returned to NC to record his debut EP as Old Bricks. Ultimately he landed in Chapel Hill, Holmes in Raleigh. Farmers, their debut LP, was released shortly after the move.

Now may of 2012, Old Bricks is poised to release City Lights, their sophomore LP. And the last track on that album is “Anthem”.

What strikes me about Old Bricks is the way their music seems to flow through you. “Anthem”, and in fact many tracks found on City Lights, have a continual buzz to them. They’re folk-rock songs, but they have almost shoegaze-style sensibilities.

“Anthem” is perhaps the truest example of this, though as a whole City Lights is sure to please. Check out the track below and keep an eye out for Old Bricks’ new LP, out next Tuesday, May 8 via Grip Tapes.

Download: “Anthem” by Old Bricks

Orcas is the collaborative project of Benoît Pioulard and The Sight Below. True to the nature of both artists, both “Carrion” and “Arrow Drawn” are hazy, minimalist pop songs, inherently dreamy and obscure. Its curious balance between ambiance and resonance makes this band both mysterious and endearing.

For those unfamiliar, Benoît Pioulard is Portland-based artist Thomas Meluch and The Sight Below is Seattle-based composer Rafael Anton Irisarri.

Orcas has released a new video for “Arrow Drawn” it fits almost too perfectly with the sound Orcas creates. The band meshes bright colors, overlapping video and kaleidoscope imagery. Unlike “Carrion”, this tune features an infusion of dreamy, harmony vocals.

Both “Carrion” and “Arrow Drawn” can be found on Orcas’s nine-song, self-titled LP (Morr Music. Grab the mp3 of the former and watch a video of the latter below:

Trails And Ways is a dream pop outfit based in Oakland. “Tereza” is a just-released single off their forthcoming debut LP, called Trilingual; there is meaning behind the name, as Trilingual will feature Spanish, English and Portuguese vocals. With “Tereza”, they stick with English.

“Tereza” draws influence from bands such as Beach House, but the band infuses something that sounds much more European. The pre-vocals early moments of the song hint of Swedish electro-pop, while the band dubs their overall sound “Bossa Nova Dream Pop.”

Listen to and download the track below, and keep an eye out for more great stuff from Trails And Ways.

The time has come to ramp up training for the STP (Seattle to Portland bike ride). Last weekend, I took a ride out toward La Conner along my normal route, which takes me down McLean. This particular road is on the path toward the famous Skagit Valley Tulips, and being in the middle of the Tulip Festival, traffic was anything but light.

It’s satisfying, passing a line of 30+ cars, stopped due to heavy traffic. You don’t get that much in the country. On with the music…

Receiving the Letters and Poppet split cassette in the mail last week, paired with the discovery of local Anacortes band Motorbikes and reading about the early days of K Records in Stephen Tow’s The Strangest Tribe, the stage was set for a full-on lo-fi playlist for my late April radio show on KSVR and KSVU.

I decided to do a “Double Dip” and play two songs in a row by either the same band or off the same album. Of course, being me, I play around with the lo-fi theme loosely. The bold listings below direct link to mp3s for sampling, or to related articles that have mp3s for the same purpose.

Here’s the set-list:

“Walking the Cow” by Daniel Johnston off The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered
“Dream Scream” by Daniel Johnston off The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered
“Interjection from the Sad Violins” by Poppet off Poppet & Letters Split Cassette

“Yr Million Sweets (Diane Cluck cover) by Letters off Poppet & Letters Split Cassette
“Love Among The Cannibals” by Virgin of the Birds off Fugitive Works
“The Queen Of Sweden” by Virgin of the Birds off Fugitive Works

“Capallero” by Motorbikes off How To Execute?
“How To Execute?” by Motorbikes off How To Execute?
“Patience Boy” by The Seaworthies off We Could Make A Movie Out Of This

“Haelah” by The Seaworthies off We Could Make A Movie Out Of This
“Breath Of Fire” by Stephen Steinbrink off Ugly Unknowns
“Bold With Fire Pt. 2″ by Stephen Steinbrink off It’s Not Just Kissing

“Sarah Jane Part II” by Dennis Driscoll off Voices In The Fog
“I’m In Love With A Ghost” by Dennis Driscoll off Voices In The Fog
“Went To You (feat. Andreanna)” by Gathered Ghosts off Fluttering So Sweetly EP

“Two Apples in a Cherry Tree” by Gathered Ghosts off Fluttering So Sweetly EP
“Louise” by Norwegian Arms off Louise EP
“Run! Ran! Run! Rah!” by Norwegian Arms off Trimmings Of Hides

“Zombie Limbo Time” by Beat Happening off Music To Climb The Apple Tree By
“I Dig You” by Beat Happening off Music To Climb The Apple Tree By
“Glitter Party” by SAUNA off The Teen Angst Tape

“Doing As I Do” by The Beets off Let The Poison Out
“I Think I Might Have Built A Horse” by The Beets off Let The Poison Out
“One Essex Girl” by Tullycraft off Every Scene Needs A Center

“The Last Song” by Tullycraft off Disenchanted Hearts Unite
“The Debut Of The Tambourine Shoe” by Drakkar Sauna off Drakkansasauna
“Icing Down Her Top” by Drakkar Sauna off Drakkansasauna

“HTML Italics” by Nick Butcher off Free Jazz Bitmaps Vol. 1
“HTML Italics” reinterpreted by Jason Stein on bass clarinet off Free Jazz Bitmaps Vol. 1

Little can be found online about Anacortes band Motorbikes, despite recordings dating back to 2007. It could be the commonality of the search term, or maybe a purposeful push for obscurity. I think it’s the latter. Hitting The Business in Anacortes last weekend, I grabbed a copy of the store’s Record Store exclusive, a nondescript CD-R by the band.

In fact, the packaging had no decipherable text and led me to inquire to @thebusinessrecs via Twitter what I had picked up.

Upon hearing the name Motorbikes, I pulled down their 2011 digital LP from bandcamp. It’s called How To Execute? and features tracks that very much fit the tenor of underground music coming out of Anacortes (which has strong ties to that stemming from Olympia).

As time is limited, I’ll let you check a few out yourself (see below), then demand you head over to Motorbikes’ bandcamp page to hear more.

Download: “Late Bloomer” by Motorbikes

Download: “How To Execute?” by Motorbikes

Olympia bands Letters (who we’ve covered several times before) and Poppet have released a new split cassette tape, and they sent me a copy to enjoy. Being that I don’t get too many cassettes, I figured it was time again for a Cover Art piece.

Of Letters, we are familiar. In fact, a band member’s relatives live next door.

Letters’ folk is one undoubtedly lo-fi, signature with a strong predilection toward a heavy yet downplayed beat, a swagger in both vocals and instrumentation. On their side, Letters cover everyone from Poppet and Diane Cluck to Sheryl Crow and Sam Cooke.

Poppet is new to us, but their sound belongs very much to their Olympia hometown. The moniker of California-raised Molly Raney, Poppet’s music is eclectic, eccentric and lo-fi as only one calling Olympia home can manage. Weird pop songs, Poppet blends lo-fi, dream pop, and experimental pop. Her songs take an artist like TuNe-YaRdS and make them normal.

It takes a certain sort of genius to accomplish that. I’ve included a few tracks below for sampling purposes. Grab your own copy of the cassette from Ms. Valerie Park Distro.

Listen: “Yr Million Sweets (Diane Cluck cover)” by Letters

Listen: “Interjection from the Sad Violins” by Poppet

Nick Butcher is known, by the few who have had the honor of hearing his work, as a master of the indie avant garde, a purveyor of a unique blend consisting of free jazz and folk-tronica. It’s an odd combination, one that lends more so to the latter, but with an affection toward the former.

This affinity finds a home on his new work, Free Jazz Bitmaps Vol. 1, available from Hometapes. Originally released as a collective of A-side / B-side lathe-cut 7″records, it now comes to us in true LP form with artwork as a “composite of the art created for each 7-inch release.”

This is a unique concept in and of itself. The album is split between an A-side, featuring original tracks by Nick Butcher himself, and a B-side where free-jazz artists reinterpret his works.

Originality, too, is skewed here. Butcher pieces together samples for a sound that is quite unlike any other — so, too, his work is a reinterpretation at its core.

Free Jazz Bitmaps Vol. 1, then, isn’t for the common fan. There is no love for standardized song structure common in pop music, for love of vocals for there are none, for trace recognizability of what one might call the norm.

Obscurity is the path Butcher takes, and it’s one he has traveled well over his career as a musician. “10,000″ opens with a nice, soft melody before diving into the heavy, subtle pounding of the tonal “Great Lake”. Here, Nick builds to a slight thunder in the last minute, with a deep rumble.

The thumping continues on “Implements”, a song that has a little more structure but plays somewhat with beats and time within its given signature.

In “Cozy Kitchen”, we finally hear a bit more of the free jazz side of Butcher. The beginning is open and lacks congruency, which is precisely what you want with free jazz, before it strips away to minimalism. “HTML Italics” and “Formants” continue the trend.

This is all and good, but it’s the B-side where things get a bit hairy. The reinterpretations, done on everything from a marimba to a bass clarinet to a double bass, are inherently minimal. Each are completed by a single instrument and are, in their truest sense, free jazz.

On side B, there is no structure outside of a beginning and an end. And I’ll bet you’ll be hard pressed to decipher (outside of looking at the name of the song), which goes with which. It’s actually quite brilliant.

1. 10,000
2. Great Lake
3. Implements
4. Cozy Kitchen
5. HTML Italics
6. Formants
7. 10,000 (reinterpreted by Keefe Jackson, tenor saxophone)
8. Great Lake (reinterpreted by Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone)
9. Implements (reinterpreted by Jason Roebke, double bass)
10. Cozy Kitchen (reinterpreted by Tim Daisy, marimba)
11. HTML Italics (reinterpreted by Jason Stein, bass clarinet)
12. Formants (reinterpreted by Mike Reed, drums)

I didn’t post at all on FensePost last week. That’s crazy. I had been on a roll, pumping out posts on a daily basis, then I hit a wall and needed an immediate break. But my breaks are typically filled with, well, something else. They’re aren’t true breaks, in the informal-synonym-for-vacation sense of the word.

That’s right, it was pledge week at KSVR and KSVU. Being pledge week, I came in Wednesday night and sat in on Jackson Stewart’s Blue Boulevard and we had some friendly banter while taking calls during the membership drive.

And before that, the weekend prior was spent wrapping the bamboo floors at home, putting back together my vinyl-centric “man room.”

My radio show, too, continued this “break” theme with short sets and lots of calls to action. And as promised during Blue Boulevard, it had a folk and blues theme.

“How Come” by Avi Buffalo off How Come 7″ Single
“Sugar Lips” by North Highlands off Sugar Lips EP

“Tighten Up” by The Black Keys off Brothers
“I Found You” by Alabama Shakes off Alabama Shakes EP

“We Can’t All Be Blessed” by The Moondoggies off Tidelands
“Teeth” by The Ettes off Teeth 7″ Single

“Bottle” by Texture Like Sun off Bottle (Single)
“The Organ Grinder” by The Migrant off Travels In Lowland

“Let It Die” by The Dutchess And The Duke off Sunset / Sunrise
“Unfaithful” by Charles Leo Gebhardt IV off Unfaithful EP

“Ivory Coast” by Pure Bathing Culture off Pure Bathing Culture EP
“Love Like A River” by Girls off Father, Son, Holy Ghost
“The Golden Age Of Aviation” by The Lucksmiths off Staring At The Sky

“While You Were Sleeping” by Elvis Perkins off Ash Wednesday
“No Surprise” by Quiet Life off Big Green

“Called” by The Cave Singers off Invitation Songs
“Blood Of Angels” by Brown Bird off Salt For Salt

“Own Stunts” by Breathe Owl Breathe off Magic Central
“Lifted” by Nat Baldwin off People Changes

In almost any other city in the world, the crowd at Backspace may have been considered….to say the least, a bit odd.  Angel headed hipsters all decked out in their finest flannel shirts and skinny jeans, and fueled by the spirit in which the Goofpunx Festival provides annually (and maybe a few cans of PBR).  But, this is Portland.  A city that has taken the right ideas of absurdity and artistic reality from the likes of Greenwich Village and/or San Francisco to a whole new bizarro type of direction.  And for fans of punk and/or enlightening freaked out music, there couldn’t be a far more perfect way to spend and evening with the legendary group we all know and love, Bobby Joe Ebola & The Children Macnuggits.

BJE made their fanatical return back in 2010 in a major way.  After a decade of absence, the dynamic duo (and now, sometimes full band) have been working diligently to spread their beloved message of “just because we’re laughing, doesn’t mean we’re joking”.  And they did a damn fine job on this beautiful spring night among a hundred plus freaks, geeks, and geniuses during the Goofpunx Festival.  It was astonishingly sweet and incredible to see so many people sing along to the glorious message they want to shout to the world with tracks from their latest album, F, like “Life Is Excellent” and “Sandwiches and Ammunition”.  

The newfound maturity and free-flowing expresionalist way abouts in what the illustrious Dan and Corbett are creating now is absolutely phenomenal.  And what showmen!  They are truly entertainers in every sense of the word.  Corbett with his wacky and “totally into it” vibes, and Dan with his Dave Grohl-esque character in which he blurs the lines between seriousness and comedic relief in such a truly unique fashion.  

If these straight unlaced cats don’t nab you with their beautiful and unique sense of character, their live performance will surely kick you in the brain and get your funny bone and your tendered heart spun around into a frenzied motion.

It’s a very well known fact that simply have fun, catchy, and all around great songs are not factors that will win over audiences.  Genuine showmanship and an acute sense of joy for what you do is what will win over the masses.  It doesn’t seem at all possible for an audience member to go to a Bobby Joe Ebola show and not leave in spirits far greater than they could have ever imagine.  If you are one to do this, you may have issues far greater than any therapist or Baptist preacher could ever heal.  This is about as good timin’, thought-provokin’, and boot strapped to a candy coated ass kickin’ kind of fun you could ever dream of having.  

And they’re doing it all for you, folks.  

They’re always touring!  So the next time they stroll through your hometown….be sure to thank them for their service.  They will surely thank you right back for yours. Stream a track from F below and enjoy the ride!

Listen: “Life Is Excellent” by Bobby Joe Ebola & The Children Macnuggits

Javier Suarez (Craft Spells, Yarn Owl) is back with a new video from his solo project Gathered Ghosts. “Two Apples In A Cherry Tree” finds Suarez taking on some light Craft Spells influence (as opposed to the soft and slow favorite “Went To You” we wrote about a while back) with some solid dreamy jangle pop.

The video is a humorous one, complemented by a narrative and filmed in Suarez’s father’s lab in Pullman (home of my Alma Mater, Washington State University). I keep coming back to one line in the video that just makes me smile: “Who knows, maybe this rock music has some scientific value after all.”

Check out the video below and find “Two Apples In A Cherry Tree” on Gathered Ghosts’ Fluttering So Sweetly EP.

This was supposed to be a productive week, those hours after work. But I ended up doing what any solid music nerd would: procrastinate by going through my records and singles, rediscovering old favorites and discovering new treasures hidden within my collection. We listened to The Smiths on repeat for a few days. I dug out an old single by The Rondelles.

I got Andi into Crystal Stilts.

And despite all this recounting of the past, of all the listening to albums already in my collection, I took the time to put together a playlist full of brand new stuff to play on my April 6 show. In true form for such a show, the numerous bold items below will allow you to sample (stream and download) cleared tracks. It commences:

“Black Fur” by Fredrik off Na Na Ni

“Miracle” by Johnny Bertram And The Golden Bicycles off Neon City
“This Could Take All Night” by Belaire off Resonating Symphony

“Your Graduating Hours” by King Of Prussia off Transmissions From The Grand Stand
“Gold Morning Mend” by Ian McGlynn off Now We’re Golden
“14″ by Carrousel off 27 Rue De Mi’chelle

“The Same Tattoos” by Fences off Daytrotter Studio 4/7/2011
“Acid Rain” by Saintseneca off Last
“Eternal Adolescence” by Eamon McGrath off Young Canadians

“Tuck The Darkness In” by Bowerbirds off The Clearing
“Warsaw” by Sharon Van Etten off Tramp
“Boggs” by Like Pioneers off Oh, Magic

“Under The Bridge Pt. 2″ by Elephant Child off The Demon Beat / Elephant Child Split 7″

“California” by Diamond Center off Diamond Center 7″
“Lost From Long Ago” by The Zoltars off Should I Try Once More?

“Decomposing” by Earthy Babes off The Waiting Week
“Try Me Out Sometime” by Broncho off Can’t Get Past The Lips

“Waves & Waves” by Funeral Club off Waves & Waves
“Misery Train” by Conduits off Conduits
“Passage” by Exitmusic off Passage

“Parallels (Radio Edit)” by Black City Lights off Parallels
“Sedated” by Choir of Young Believers off Rhine Gold
“Let’s Go” by James & Evander off Let’s Go

“Lonely Summer” by Twin Cabins off I’m Sure

“Never The Same Way Twice” by Shout Out Out Out Out off Spanish Moss And Total Loss

Big Pink Cake Records is set to release a new single by The Garlands called You Never Notice Me b/w Continue. What immediately struck me upon first listening to the A side track, “You Never Notice me”, is that The Garlands draw influence from select post C86 era indie pop and twee; artists like Tallulah Gosh and Heavenly.

It saddens me that I’m just now checking out The Garlands for the first time. They’ve been around since 2007, when Christin Wolderth and Roger Gunnarsson (Free Loan Investments) joined together to form the band. And since that time, they’ve put out releases on the likes of Cloudberry, Atomic Beat, and Cosy Recordings.

It’s funny; “You Never Notice Me” was among the band’s earliest songs, but is only now getting an official release. It’s solid, much more so than you’d expect from being among a band’s earliest of tunes. However, they’ve likely honed it and polished it over the years.

Head over to Big Pink Cake and keep an eye out for The Garlands’ new single!

(PS: You’ll notice the likes of several like-minded bands over there… The Manhattan Love Suicides, Peru, The Mai 68s, Amida, Tender Trap, The Hi-Life Companion, and many more!)

On Friday, I received a nice little package in the mail by Funny/Not Funny Records containing three 7-inch singles. As it’s been a very long time since I’ve done a Cover Art piece, and with our nice new bamboo floor, I figured now was the time to reinstate that section on FensePost. All three are super limited pressings of 300 each.

The Demon Beat / Elephant Child Split

The first up is The Demon Beat split with Elephant Child. The Demon Beat is trio Adam Meisterhans, Jordan Hudkins, Tucker Riggleman from West Virginia, and their sound is full, loud rock with wild, pseudo-screamy vocals. “Teenage Wasteland” and “Change The Subject” make up their side of the record.

Funny/Not Funny notes on their Elephant Child band page that this might be how the lovechild between Nirvana and The Velvet Underground would sound. Whether or not I find this true (I haven’t given it much thought) is beside the point; what matters is “Under The Bridge Pt. 2″, the only Elephant Child contribution to the single, is an easy favorite among many from this group of singles. EC is from F/NF’s hometown of Harrisonburg, VA.

The Diamond Center: California/Bells

“California” on the A-side and “Bells” on the B. The Diamond Center is a lot dreamier a band than the others that arrived via this package. The band centers around core duo Kyle Harris and Brandi Price, and currently includes Lindsay Phillips, Tim Falen with assistance by Will Godwin. They’ve been together since 2007, releasing psychedelic dreamstate tracks like the two found here.

The Cinnamon Band: Black Love/Tough Love

John Harouff and Neil Campbell are the guitar/drums duo The Cinnamon Band. And while their name may reminisce of an indiepop/twee heyday, that is not necessarily what you’ll find when the needle hits wax. It’s pop, but it’s stripped-down, raw but lightly produced, and filled with a southern-tinged style of vocals set to harmony. The two tracks here are lost in nostalgia and heartbreak; it may take a moment for them to sink in, but when they do, you just get it.