It finally happened. Winter arrived. Snow fell and we woke up this past Sunday with about three inches of the stuff. I’m glad it didn’t arrive earlier, as Friday saw me at KSVR for a four hour stint of music.

The HHBTM team has sent me two lovely little packages in the past few months, the second of which arrived just last week. I figured it was high time to give them coverage… in list form! HHBTM, if you’re not familiar with the label, is short from Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records, and they’ve released several favorites over the years; bands like Patience Please, Fishboy, The Superions, Bunnygrunt, Casper And The Cookies, Velcro Stars and Eux Autres. Their singles club even includes the likes of Apples …

I’ve been contemplating doing something for Valentine’s Day for years, and I finally settled on something good — a massive post packed with great singles from the past. Seems fitting, being the romantic holiday can be a bit alienating for the single person. Or that the seemingly comfy nature of the 7-inch single, with two (well, typically, with an occasional three or four) great songs placed back to back and stuffed in a typically well-designed sleeve, is a bit romantic in and of itself.

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 …