They call it transcendental dance pop, which sounds pretty good to me. I’d add in hints of punk and plenty of noise to that description, though. Tunabunny is the latest great thing to come out of Athens, Georgia, a place that needs no introduction when it comes to great independent music. And their new self-titled LP is on Happy Happy Birthday To Me, a label that should also need no introduction.

Tunabunny is a little different for the HHBTM folks, but I can easily see what drew their attention. Tunabunny’s music is raw and quirky, but it’s fun and totally dance-worthy. I hear hints of similarity to noise outfits like PRE and Aids Wolf, but without the distancing, all-encompassing noise elements. It’s certainly loud, but there’s cohesive melody that, above all, is fun and has a bounce to it.

Their video for “I Miss You (You Miss Me Yes)” finds the band rocking out in black-and-white with strobe lights, and generally having a good time. These ladies and gent certainly know how to enjoy life; you can see it on this video and you can hear it in every song they create.

Tunabunny is available now from HHBTM Records. Pick it up on vinyl before it’s gone — only 300 pressings people!

Download: “I Miss You (You Miss Me Yes)” by Tunabunny

Sweater Girls are a new Los Angeles-based group and, according to Mike over at Happy Happy Birthday To Me, their debut 7″ single sold out solely based on word-of-mouth. Listening to the three songs tucked within, it’s easy to hear why — Sweater Girls produce outstanding indie pop music perfect for the HHBTM label, and perfect for everyone’s favorite musical consumption format… vinyl.

Sweater Girls isn’t an all-girl group, as the name might suggest (Joseph Teran is on lead guitar, backed by Allan Kingdom on bass), though they do include a few of the fairer gender. Rounding out the group are Jackie Hundza (percussion), Diana Barraza (guitar and vocals), and Tatiana Sanchez (keys).

Their music does fit the name, though. Lo-fi with bouncy rhythms and a hint of fuz, “Fingers Crossed” and “Haven’t Got A Clue” will have you longing for those early fall days when the cutoffs go back in the closet and snug knit cotton sweaters once again rule the wardrobe. EP is not a single in the traditional sense; rather, all three songs are A-Side worthy.

Whether they are named after a 1978 film whose plot surrounded a club formed by a group of teenage girls centered around preserving their virginity or not, who knows. What we do know is that Sweater Girls produce wholesome, lovable, argyle-obsessed, fun music.

Download: “Haven’t Got A Clue” by Sweater Girls

HHBTM [7" Single, 2010]

1. Do The Sweater
2. Fingers Crossed
3. Haven’t Got A Clue

Bouncy, 90s-influenced, female-fronted pop band Sourpatch recently released a new album, Crushin’ on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records. It’s your standard HHBTM release, filled with pop music created by bands that have affections toward a similar, 90s era punk-pop (when punk-pop was actually good).

These songs hint of a time when sloppy playing was a virtue — technical ability wasn’t needed in your parents garage, and it merely enhanced the sometimes cheesy songs about awkward love and schoolboy/girl crushes. In many ways, that time has returned. It’s not that it ever really went away; it’s that, again, good bands playing sloppy garage pop are gaining in momentum.

Sourpatch is one such band. Songs like “Fun” will get inside your head and make you feel young again, unless you’re young to begin with, which means it’ll just make you feel more alive. And that’s the brilliance behind bands like this. They enhance life, and make things a little simpler, a little better, and a lot more fun.

Sourpatch: Fun [mp3]

There is documentation of creative longevity and then there’s Bunnygrunt, whose sixteen plus years as a band (give or take a few) has gained them notoriety in the areas of lo-fi rock, indie pop and 90s pop-punk. This band’s latest effort is Matt Harnish & Other Delights, a record that takes its name from so-called main Grunter man Matt Harnish, the other half being that of Karen Ried (possibly the ‘other delights?).

Other Delights features an array of pop influence, from their core 90s sound to the same dating back decades and including all of that which is in between. You’ll hear hints at Bunnygrunt contemporaries from their earliest of days (just pre, with Vaselines) in “Don’t Turn Down The High”. You’ll enjoy punk worthy “Shotgun”, and several pop heavy greats like “665 & 1/2 Won’t Do” and “S.Kingshighway Bubblegum Factory”.

This is an album that might put a question mark in your eyebrows from the get-go; it’s one that you have to sit on for a listen or two. Given a short amount of time, you’ll see beyond the simple hooks and upbeat… beats. You’ll hear the swirling cacophony in “Fix It, Because You Can”, you’ll fall in love with the noise-ridden solo guitar in “Don’t Turn Down The High”, and the poppy rock-centric “Where Eagles Dare, Part II” will rocket to the front of your playlist of repeated songs.

But perhaps the most cherishing element of this album is how flat-out amazing it is. Sure, this sound has plenty of traces of bands and genres that you may know and love. The band knows best, labeling their influences as “60s pop, 70s rock, 80s punk, 90s indie rock” and they round it off with a “00s ??”. It’s an array of genres that, when mashed together, sum something epic. That being Bunnygrunt.

Bunnygrunt: Don’t Turn Down The High [mp3]

Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records [CD, 2009]

1. 665 & 1/2 Won’t Do
2. the Limits of Southern Hospitality
3. Shotgun
4. 1000% Not Creepy
5. Don’t Turn Down the High
6. S.Kingshighway Bubblegum Factory
7. Fix It Because You Can
8. Where Eagles Dare Part II
9. You Get What You Get
10. Southtown Famous

Cold City finds the Larimer siblings that make up Eux Autres maturing as musicians and songwriters. Where Hell Is Eux Autres included many viable tracks, the recordings were stiff. Still, despite the slightly lower production value, many of those older songs remain true favorites; and Cold City packs in several new favorites as well.

Included in this mix are “Molly” and “When I’m Up”. The first has catchy hooks in the chorus and includes a heavy reverb in vocals. The latter sees Heather taking the lead vocals in the verses with Nicholas joining during the chorus. In Hell Is Eux Autres, it was noticeable that the band was simply two, while Cold City gives the impression of a larger group—it’s not due to added instruments or a choir of vocals, instead the sound is simply fuller.

It is also important to note that despite the matured songwriting style, Eux Autres maintains their heavy 70s French pop influences. And that can be seen in “Gratte-Ciel”, the sole song sung in that language (as opposed to several tracks with French vocals on Hell Is Eux Autres). “Gratte-Ciel” also finds Eux Autres at their most pop-ridden, and in a minor sense, their most rewarding.

“Anne Boleyn” includes slightly sparser percussion from Heather that hints of their earlier work yet finds the band in their most mellow and melodic, which can be attributed to the inclusion of strings and keys, as well as the lighter edge in Heather and Nicolas’ vocals. “The City All To Himself” harmonizes the siblings for one of the most lovable melodies.

Overall, Cold City blends the lovable aspects of 70s French pop with the indie rock of today’s more twee-focused artists. And it finds Happy Happy Birthday To Me with yet another phenomenal release in 2007, adding Cold City to an already powerful lineup including Fleeting Frequencies by Patience Please, Albatross by Fishboy, and Unclever by Keith John Adams, among others.

This review was originally published November 29, 2007 on the old version of FensePost. Eux Autres recently released a new single called You’re Alright. It can be purchased from the Eux Autres website.

Eux Autres: When I’m Up [mp3]

HHBTM [CD, 2007]

1. The Deadball Era
2. Molly
3. Gratte-Ciel
4. When I’m Up
5. Anne Boleyn
6. The Town That Never Was
7. The City All To Himself
8. Graceful Exit
9. Collision Theory
10. Park Bench Vacation

In retrospect, Fishboy‘s Albatross should have garnered my #1 album slot for 2007. Seriously: the album remains one of the most-listened-to albums even today. The oft dubbed Twee Rock Opera was a truly brilliant concoction. And, as front-man Eric Michener quietly hints at a follow-up, he releases Nom, a nine-song EP consisting of rejects from the original concept album.

If you find Albatross to be an interesting concept, Nom will follow suit. Fishboy sent the songs to a band of friends (the band: Om Nom Noms) who put the words music. For the next phase, it is worth noting the band’s words sans any paraphrasing or other crap like slicing and dicing:

Nugget #1: The writing process of Albatross was 95% linear, in that nearly every track was written in the order it appears on the album. After the first song was completed, some thought was put into where to take the storyline and the musical flow of the album. Oftentimes full songs were completed and then scrapped because one of these two things wasn’t working out — either the plot came to a dead end or the flow of the album didn’t work. When it was time to start the follow up to Albatross, it became clear that any attempt to use these songs would result in a lyrically confused mess of an album. Not that the songs weren’t good; they were just abandoned plot lines to an alternate rock opera reality. And so a plan was hatched.

Nugget #2: Instead of gathering the band together to spend precious writing and arranging hours on these songs, the decision was made to blindly put them in the hands of a group of musicians with nothing to lose. Michener decided to hand over all musical duties and decisions to a local Denton, TX group of super-producers known as the Om Nom Noms. Michener took one trip into the studio, recorded vocals and scratch guitar, the guitar was deleted, and the Noms reconstructed the songs however they saw fit. Some upbeat songs became ambient, some hushed finger picked songs became rockers, and anything was possible in between.

Fishboy proved with Albatross that they were a forward-thinking, state-of-the-art type of band. And with Nom they continue to prove to the world that Fishboy is one of the most awesome, totally spectacular and unparalleledly phenomenal bands in the whole freakin’ world.

Fishboy: Tired Tried [mp3]

HHBTM [12" EP, 2009]

1. Bricks Part 1
2. Bricks Part 2
3. Cobra Cobra
4. Gabe Saucedo Hates My Guts
5. Broken Bones
6. Hovercraft
7. Accidents
8. Larger Than Before
9. Tired Tried

Quick, furious, and externally tempting are the best available adjectives to describe Forever and their self-titled debut EP. Their songs seem to focus on the triumph and/or tyranny of love. Vocalist Shenna Corbridge spends an electrically-fused 15 minutes screaming truths she makes you believe are self-evident. This is a group that says what they want, when they want. And in 50 words or less at times.

As Forever most likely hope for, a Dead Milkmen impression is obviously notable on tracks like “Who’s Haunting Me?” and “Psychic Resistance”. The general listener may only hear the 80′s punk influenced, western-like quick draw riffs and spills on this album. But safety pins and torn Levi’s aside, this is a solid and original album. “Tumbleweed” lands itself centered of the track list, but highest ranked as far as originality and could be a punk rock prophecy for the new millennium.

This is a group that, among other things, begs for a live audience. Even on this EP, it is extremely rational to believe that their sound would be nothing short of exciting and turbulence riddled (as they have proven audience all over the U.S.). Imagine the covers they might do. Despite this obvious revelation. This is, again, a very solid record. It is a six-track example of the high speed fundamentals that Forever have to offer the world.

Forever: Tumbleweed [mp3]

HHBTM [CDEP, 2009]

1. Oh Distant Heart
2. Something’s Missing
3. Tumbleweed
4. You Don’t Care
5. Who’s Haunting Me?
6. Psychic Resistance

Casper And The Cookies (MySpace) are an interesting bunch. Modern Silence demonstrates their agility in creating bizarre pop songs in the vein of early Of Montreal and Apples In Stereo, the Elephant 6 entourage, and underground glam pop. While front-man Jason NeSmith had a brief stint in Of Montreal, it should be noted that Casper And The Cookies were already in existence, and had been, for nearly half a decade.

So the sound mixes that highly infectious and awkward lo-fi, key heavy sound of e6 pop; it always has. Modern Silence finds the band effectively translating this sound into their own with the intense “Little Kings”, the melodic pop of “You Love Me”, and the catchy guitar riffs of “Sharp!”. This continues throughout the album in tracks like the bouncy “Eulogy For Marcel Marsalis”; even ballads such as “Your Eyes Are Gold” and closer “I Am Gone” find a unique place on the album.

Still, tracks like “Peter Erchick Bicentennial Service Area” may be a bit of a stretch for some. This song features Kay Stanton on lead vocals and her pointed vocals differentiate the song a bit more than one would expect given her noteworthy backing vocals in other tracks. Stanton makes a more than viable comeback in tracks like “Sunshine Girl”.

Modern Silence is long. The album has a full 18 tracks that clock in at an impressive 68 and a half minutes. But for pop fans, this merely means there is more to enjoy. And in that sense Casper And The Cookies delivers wholeheartedly.

Casper And The Cookies: Little King [mp3]

Happy Happy Birthday To Me [CD, 2009]

1. Little Kings
2. You Love Me
3. Pete Erchick Bicentennial Service Area
4. Sharp!
5. Song Across The Sea
6. Little Lady Larva
7. Cloud Of Bees
8. Moldy Flower
9. Meredith
10. New Day Zero
11. Nagoya
12. Keep Talking
13. Sunshine Girl
14. Eulogy For Marcel Marsalis
15. Chocolate Cake And Coffee
16. I Am Happy
17. Your Eyes Of Gold
18. I Am Gone

Written by Fense

Okay, something has changed chemically in my brain since the last time I listened to The Lolligags (MySpace). Either that, or this band has altered the way they write songs. To be honest – completely honest, bearing my soul here folks – I didn’t really care for The Lolligags’ EP from last year. There was a catchy song or two, but it failed to hold my interest. Well, that sad fate is no longer. Out of Perversity Join Hands is absolutely brilliant!

The Lolligags consist of two eclectic individuals. Their music is haunting, in the indie pop sense along the lines of, say, Belaire. Practically every tune on Out Of Perversity Join Hands is fit for a Halloween party. One is left with the thrill and excitement, the rush of energy and endorphins and adrenaline one gets when totally freaked out. It’s fit for a horror flick – not a lame one that leaves you bored; no, one like The Shining.

Part of what makes this album shine, if you can call it that, is the powerful synth lines that combine perfectly with the percussion. Add to that the perfectly spookish vocals of Dallion Lollihag (as their website dubs her), and the sound rounds into what can only be dubbed as deliciously evil pop. Titles like “Merry Go Round” and “Best Behavior” might not strike fear into the hearts of pop fans, but look at their successors: “All The Deer Daughters” and “Kitten, Come Over (Andy’s Blood Mix)”. Right damn spooky.

I’ve long vowed that not enough bands make this style of music. Finally, here’s a group I can confidently place next to Belaire’s self-titled LP and the Don’t They Know It’s Halloween Benefit EP. Yes, this is the music that you want to have haunt your dreams while you sleep, follow you down dark alleyways, and whisper to you from darkened corners and closets as you clutch the covers over your mouth in fright whilst attempting to return to slumber after being startled awake.

The Lolligags: Merry Go Round [mp3]

HHBTM Records [CD, 2008]

1. Merry Go Round
2. Sister Lover
3. All The Deer Daughters
4. A Spanner In The Works
5. Best Behavior
6. Kitten, Come Over (Andy’s Blood Mix)
7. My Mascera (Ruby Isle Remix)

Written by Fense

The Smittens (MySpace) fit the darker side of indie pop, a side not often heard but easily welcome. Their chord progressions are filled with minors and, while ultimately upbeat, the songs are not nearly as cheerful. This rings as true on “The Interstate” as it does on “Half My Heart Beats”, a song that is undoubtedly more upbeat and cheerful, but one that also includes several of the aforementioned darker elements.

Now, this doesn’t mean that The Smittens are filled with evil or are overly emotive or sad. They aren’t. They’ve simply tweaked the typical genre sensibilities of indie pop to create a unique sound a bit out of the norm.

Sure, these songs include frequent hand claps, as well as the beloved tambourine, but the guitars have a unique distortion for the sub-genre and the vocals are tweaked in an equally fresh way; a super low male voice counteracts with a more “normal” male voice and higher-pitched female voice. Despite these statements, the songs on The Coolest Thing About Love are all super poppy. Tunes like “C’mon! (When The Grass Grows Tall And…)” and “On Hundred Roses” are instant favorites.

Perhaps the album highpoint is “It’s A Saturday”, where the group spells out their name S-M-I-T-T-E-N-S and launches into a chorus of What the fuck / Yeah, it’s a Saturday, where “yeah” is often replaced with a band member’s first name as the chorus continues. So good!

While referencing Calvin Johnson is a bit of a stretch in comparison to the lower of the male voices, as Johnson’s vocals are about as low as they get, it’s about the closest one can come. Furthermore, Johnson filled an odd role in the development of US twee – he and his earlier moniker Halo Benders were less pop and more folk than you’ll hear from The Smittens. Still, all these elements lead up to The Coolest Thing About Love being an interesting album, both highly enjoyable and super fun.

The Smittens: The Interstate [mp3]

The Smittens: Gumdrops [mp3]

Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records [CD, 2009]

1. The Interstate
2. Half My Heart Beats
3. 11:11
4. C’mon! (When The Grass Grows Tall And Green)
5. Baby, Don’t You Know
6. Something Sassy
7. Good To Go
8. Magpies And Eccles Cakes
9. One Hundred Roses
10. All The Love In The World
11. It’s A Saturday
12. H&M (+A)
13. Gumdrops
14. The One For Me