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.

It’s hard to imagine that just a few short months ago we were enjoying sunny summer days. 2011 was my best year yet, having achieved a few milestones: four and a half years running FensePost, riding my bike from Seattle to Portland and logging over 1,000 total on those two wheels between January and December, enjoying life with the love of my life (Andi), and a few defining mindset changes that put the two of us on a path to minimalism and frugality.

I figured with my previous show being devoted to songs that remind me of sleep, this one would be the opposite. After a few bouts of standard indie rock, things got thick and loud.

You know that old saying about blinking — like, don’t blink or you’ll miss it, or time goes by in the blink of an eye or some cliche crap like that? Well, shocker: It’s true. Things move fast and now as I quickly encroach upon three decades of personal existence (a mere months away at this time), it seems ever more prevalent a concept. So I decided to take a brief look back at a few bands I should have checked out last year but didn’t for …

Listening to The Mantles, I am having a difficult time discerning anything truly unique about this group’s sound. They fit the standard mold of a 60s garage-pop-influenced artist swung into modern times and set to 2009′s favorite: lo-fi fuzzed-out distortion. That in itself isn’t uncommon given the decades-old influence. Their melodies are a standard sort of catchy, not too hook-ridden yet not overly complacent.