Browsing Category Tracks

Jeanines – “Been In The Dark”

by on ·Bits & Pieces, Tracks

Last year NYC’s Jeanines put out a charming burst of jangle-pop sunshine on Slumberland. The band, which paired songwriter Alicia Jeanine with veteran jangler Jed Smith (My Teenage Stride, Mick Trouble), is back with a new single for the UK imprint Where It’s At Is Where You Are. While the label name’s a mouthful, the first taste of the single is another delight from the duo. “Been In The Dark” swoons back and forth in a sunbeam of strings, a bubble wrap ratatat of drums and Alicia’s bittersweet vocals that tie it all together with the timeless pop bounce of bands like Look Blue Go Purple, Shop Assistants, or newer faves like Veronica Falls (minus the three part harms). The addition of violin sway gives it a particularly plucky feeling and its hard to not want this one to soundtrack every sunny day from here until August. The single is out March 6th. Nab one while you can.



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Dire Wolves – “Flow and Heady > By The Fireside”

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Brand new heady jammer from Dire Wolves is up today and heralding a live release split between Feeding Tube and Cardinal Fuzz. The set was recorded live at the Festival of Endless Gratitude in Copenhagen last year and presents the band in full shamanic glory. The opener “Flow and Heady > By The Fireside” plunges straight into the heart of the beast, clawing through the psychedelic ephemera like only Dire Wolves could. Alexander’s guitars are as hooked into the ether as ever and as would be expected the track is doused in a swirling interplay between violin and voice that’s disorienting and delightful. The band has had an unstoppable couple of years and this LP shows no signs of stopping their roll. The LP lands on the tables April 17th. Definitely get in the running for one of these limited pressers.



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Rose City Band – “Only Lonely”

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After last year’s stunner of a private press presentation on Ripley and Sanae’s Jean Sandwich Records, Rose City Band wafts out of the morning haze with a renewed focus on its principle songwriter (Ripley Johnson) and an even greater glint of late afternoon sun between its bars. The band signs to Thrill Jockey for a sophomore LP, Summerlong, and fades even further into the dusted dirt and sun-ripple rock of ‘70s country-psych and private press folk. Rip seems to have mastered the melancholy moments of clarity that cropped up on long lost singer-songwriter sojourns destined for dollar bin rescue by collector’s with keen ears. “Only Lonely” starts off the LP with a hip-swung jaunt — lofted high on late afternoon jangles, the buttery bliss of slide, and Johnson’s vocals dipping in and out of the smoke curls rising to the rafters. While the debut snagged the attention of the jam diggers and new-country creepers, this one’s poised to let everyone in on the secret sway that Rose City Band holds over a room. It’s only March, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t already one of 2020’s essential offerings right here.



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Doug Tuttle – “No No No No”

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Doug Tuttle’s psychedelic folk LP from last year was a definite highlight that left the listener wishing for more from the Massachusetts songwriter. Seems that he might have agreed, and to follow up on the album there’s a very limited (ltd to 50) single coming out this spring on Six Tonnes de Chair. The b-side here, “No No No No,” continues the record’s mix of dreamy psychedelics and country touches. Autumn strums and sighed slides meld together into a track that’s bittersweet, with an overcast tone that’s cool and calm. As I mentioned this one is scarce at best, but even if you grab a digital of this, it feels like an essential piece of the Tuttle catalog. The single is out April 3rd.



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Odd Hope – “All The Things”

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It’s been a good week for limited singles collections. Following two stellar entries to Sub Pop’s singles club, the next couple of entries from the Slumberland 30 collection hit the internet today and included is an absolute gem from RSTB faves Odd Hope. The band, fronted by Portland songwriter Tim Tinderholt, has had an album and previous single on Fruits & Flowers, both solid and highly recommended. This single follows in fine fashion, picking up Tim’s thickly frothed jangle-pop, spreading some early summer vibes while there’s still frost clinging to the branches. “All The Things” is pinned to a hard charging guitar line that wouldn’t be out of place on a Power Pop comp, but it’s offset by spindly jangles and Tinderholt’s lightly warped croon, making this an indie pop gem that won’t crawl out from under your skin soon. On the flip, the more languid and lankier “What’s Your Part Of It makes for a fine companion. Pick this one up now. More people need to be singing the praises of Odd Hope.




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Weak Signal – “Rolex”

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A little while back I posted up the other side of this great split from Wharf Cat Records – a seismic cut from NY’s Endless Boogie. Splitting the flip with the Boogie is NY trio Weak Signal. The band, led by Mike Bones (Soldiers of Fortune, Endless Boogie), proves adept at carving memorable matter from minimal hooks. Their sound glows with a dark neon pull, strobing in blacklight brilliance and rendering everything around it in an inverted glow. There’s an aloofness to their sound, but it’s hardly affected with ill intentions, rather it just seems to crop up around them effortlessly like a miasma hung with the intangible vapor of cities at night.

“Rolex,” in this spirit, centers on the story of a con man who steals instinctively, his disgust at a rich mark translating to an impulse to strip the person of property punitively. He is the night and the street and the interloper barely registers save his offense of wealth and banal obliviousness. Karmic collection is brought down and the balance returns. The single follows the band’s sorely overlooked, but quite necessary album from last year, LP1, and a follow-up EP that solidified their status in quick succession. Check the new cut and if you’re unfamiliar, walk back through their works. You won’t be disappointed.

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King Tuff – “I’m Free”

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Well, I’m nothing if not a sucker for more music from King Tuff. This one’s a nice curio that recasts a cut Kyle wrote for Ty Segall’s Freedom’s Goblin. The song’s always been a highlight of that pop Frankenstein, and there’s definitely an air of Tuff’s charm smeared between the bars. For this one-off single version KT gives the song a more pastoral rendition, still capitalizing on the sunny strums but subbing in some plaintive piano and airy whispers of wind threaded throughout. The Segall version acts as a respite from some of the sunburn blasts of Freedom’s Goblin, but here, on its own, the song is a cool drink of water in parched times. It’s got a fuller firmament in Tuff’s version, taking back the track and giving it a wash of his latter-day pop instincts. Good to have even a little bit of Tuff on hand, though I’d take news of a new album anytime this year if that’s what this is hinting at.



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Sunwatchers – “Brave Rats”

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Seems that not only is the world being blessed with a new Sunwatchers full length in April, but now news comes down from Amish Records that a follow-up EP will surface in May as well. The EP is a bit of Odds and Sodds, led by new song “Brave Rats.” The title track comes down hard with synth layers that squeal, tumble down rhythms, a second-degree sax burn, and plenty of other aural chaos inspired by rats in a grease-induced frenzy in Williamsburg. They round out the EP with a Sonny Sharrock cover recorded in 2015, as one of their first studio sessions, an alternate version of “Everybody Play” from last year’s Illegal Moves, another early cut from that 2015 session and a live version of their Alice Coltrane cover, “Ptah, The El Daoud” recorded at Baby’s All Right. Looks like Oh Yeah? just got itself a necessary companion piece right here.



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HITS – “Tried Bikinis”

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Thanks to the tip from the best ears on the ground in pop, Glenn Donaldson, on this one. There are plenty of cuts on Hits that radiate with a faded pastel charm, but the perfect pop of “Tried Bikinis” is unstoppable. The band captures the ‘80s ideals of thriving outside of a system that’s not built for bands that don’t scrub clean and fit the video-ready rabble of pre-fab pop. Infected with the kind of wonky wobble that made Raincoats, Dolly Mixture, and Kleenex work wonders on the spools of a yellow sport Walkman, this cut from Hits comes with the built in feeling of having been passed from mixtape to mixtape before it hit the foam phones wrapped around your teenaged head. The bass is so thick and rubbery its practically tactile through the speakers and just as the hooks start to dig the band pulls the carpet from underneath the catchiness. Its a cacaphonic, saccharine bit of aural bliss and I want it to go on waaaaay longer than the bare minute that it gets. Thankfully there’s plenty else to love on this cassette from the band — downer drowned pop, scotch tap traps, fuzzed hooks and hi-bias jangles. If you haven’t gotten your hands on this yet, go. Don’t wait.



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Cold Meat – “Bad Mood”

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Perth punk hammer Cold Meat graduates from the singles bin to a proper full length stretched across a slew of proper litmus-test labels threaded through the US/UK and their home habitat (Static Shock, Iron Lung, and Helta Skelta). They’ve offered up a couple of cuts from the LP and both flay the skin from the listener immediately, peeling back the bullshit layers from their outer core with a breathless punk assault that’s as snotty as The Dead Boys ever got, but with the added bonus of Ashley Ramsey’s vocals turning the once upon a time sneers of The Saints and Dum Dum Boys into the gnashed teeth yelp you need right now. Every inch of this song reverberates catharsis. If the mood’s this bad, only a proper sore-throated throttle could shake it loose and Cold Meat aim to be the bludgeon to knock ya sideways. The album’s out March 20th.






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