Shannon & The Clams - I Wanna Go Home (2009)

Shannon & The Clams are an Oakland, CA, based garage rock/surf-revival group who do that style of music exceptionally well. 50s/60s girls-in-the-garage pop, prom night love songs, and malt shop rockers. Released on CD on 1-2-3-4-Go! records in 2009 and a limited edition (250 pressings) cassette reissue recently came out on Burger Records, get'em while they're hot!

Buy Here (CD)
Or Here (Ltd. Cass.)
Download Here

Abe Vigoda - Skeleton (2008)

I'm lazy, so here's another review to tell you the story:

AV Club:

"Proud veterans of The Smell, the not-for-profit L.A. venue/art space beloved for its vegan snacks, $5 covers, and inclusive ideology, tropical punks Abe Vigoda are fuzzy and tenuous in the vein of peers No Age or Mika Miko, peddling post-hardcore guitars and flat, muted vocals. But despite an obvious affinity for echo and murk, the Chino band's third LP, Skeleton, is surprisingly delicate, its punk rock bravado countered by an unexpected (and not unwelcome) fragility—as if the whole thing might just burst into shards if you dare to turn it up too loud. Mostly, Skeleton is jagged and weird: Opener "Dead City/Waste Wilderness," with its trilling, crooked guitars and nonstop cymbal crashes, is about as sweet as Abe Vigoda gets (see the nail-chewing dissonance of "The Garden," "World Heart," or "Endless Sleeper," which feels like a music box gone wrong). But if you can take the knocks, the band is at its finest when embracing discordance—listening to Skeleton can feel a little bit like getting whacked backwards by a wave, mouth full of sand, ears ringing, equilibrium gone, praying for light and air, and savoring the ride."

Try it
Buy it
Wiki

(ed's note: Haven't had the chance to listen to their new album yet. Will post when I can.)

Track of the Day for September 22, 2010

Ducktails is an artist I discovered back last spring when it was starting to get hot again and my mind started bringing up thoughts of the beach, great summer nights, and a general love of the ocean. His music has transformed into something less loop-based and less-chillwave sounding, but it still works so well. This, along with being on the upcoming "Hamilton Road" single, will be on his new album "Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics", due out in November.

Ducktails - Art Vandelay

Man or Astro-Man? - Destroy All Astromen! (1994)

Only Man or Astro-man? could incorporate NASA samples into their music and make them sound exciting, with their hypnotic surf rock and infatuation with cheesy, low-grade sci-fi flicks. Covers of Dick Dale, the Rezillos, and even the Mystery Science 3000 theme song can be found on this album. Not as experimental or "out there" in comparison to their material on Touch and Go Records, but it still holds true to the Man or Astro-man? ethics of being ahead of their time in the surf genre.

Not going to lie I got this album primarily because of the album cover and band name. But I'm really glad that I decided to pick this one up. Every track is bursting with hard nosed traditional surf complimented by their trademark space-age sounds. Masterful guitar work and those wacky voice clips from old B-movies.

Try it
Buy it
Sample

Gellers - Gellers (2007)

Maybe you've heard of Shugo Tokumaru. His unique, cutesy folk sound with atypical instruments and various toy sounds has been gaining attention since his debut in 2004, but most notably capturing listeners with 2007's Exit and more recently with his fantastic album from the present year, Port Entropy. Here, he performs with four others, including drummer Shingo Shinmachi, who creates a unique noise-pop sound under the moniker of Chanson Sigeru to make a very interesting sound, blending various style into a delicious pop/rock brew.

The album seems to be a bit split, however. The first two songs are these abrasive, thick sounds with only a slight resemblance of Shugo's folk leanings. Noise pop, shoegaze, math rock, folk rock, etc. etc. etc.; it's tough to get a perfect grasp when relegating to common music "genre"s. 9 Teeth Picahia starts us with these nice calm melodies, even with the distortion, with soothing male vocals floating above it, and then slams the drums and increases the feedback, keying to the vocalist that he should probably shout to be heard. He obliges. And it continues to flow between the two in the 7minute track, occasionally throwing some samples just to make sure we aren't settling into the sound. The next track, Buscape, starts with an oddly timed riff, a cowbell, and shouting far off into the distance before fading off only to come back to a much more dense form of the beginning riff, supported this time by drums and a synth composition with a sound somewhere between a car horn and the broken accordion. Intensity builds up and falls off until finally leading us into a cacophony of sound, stopping to reprise and then leading into the next.

And it's at this point that it seems that Shugo takes command. The album because much softer, those charming melodies that were there before become even more charming, but also a bit clearer (not necessarily cleaner, however) and I believe Shugo also handles more of the vocal work (not cited) . It really ends up becoming very reminiscent of 60's pop bands. A little Beach Boys here, a little The Zombies there, and then taking that sound on a tour through modern Tokyo.

Buy (this is about the only place I can find it, sorry)

Download

Official site (this is one of the coolest band pages I've seen in a long time. I can't really get past the language barrier, unfortunately)

myspace | last.fm

The Trashmen - Surfin' Bird (1964)

I literally have two or three minutes to write this, so here we go. The Trashmen are a surf rock band known best for the song "Surfin' Bird", which was repopularized recently by (unfortunately) Family Guy. There's so much more to them than a silly novelty song, though. There are some excellent cuts on this album - a cover of Dick Dale's "Misirlou", a tongue-in-cheek song entitled "My Woodie", and "King of the Surf" and "Bird Bath" are also standouts. One of the best surf rock bands to ever exist.

Surfin' Bird

Try it
Buy it
Wiki

Real Estate - s/t (2009)

It's too hot, too sunny, and too July 4th weekend to not post this.

Pitchfork:

"Real Estate were born in the depths of one New Jersey summer. Frontman Martin Courtney had just returned home to his native Ridgewood from college in Washington State, a few fresh songs in his pockets. He'd been playing music with bassist Alex Bleeker and guitarist Matthew Mondanile since high school in various forms, even covering Weezer and the Strokes records from tip to tail. But during the summer of 2008, Real Estate didn't get nostalgic for just their specific suburban nights, crushes, or favorite bands as teens-- they fashioned a tin can-and-string to memories more universal. Their self-titled debut LP is a collection of those first underwater pop songs and onward, 7" cuts and mpfrees that have been backstroking their way across the Web and into lo-fi nerdpiles. Over the past year, many of these songs have soundtracked a time when it feels like every kid in or just out of college seems to be handcrafting/clamoring for music that shuttles us back to a time before career choices, adult responsibility, and this recession.

And while the Jersey Shore has clearly become the beating heart of their current aesthetic, Real Estate captures a rock band several lengths ahead of the fuzzy beach bums with which they pine. Real Estate share tones with North Jersey indie rock titans Yo La Tengo and the Feelies, pouring those influences through warm impressions of oldies radio. Riffs are cyclical and massaged, harmonies familiar. Each song is dunked in reverb and delay, though always with serious restraint. Most importantly, all boast architecture that still allows for swaths of jamming, the feeling that every measure's unfolding as easily as life ought to."

"Beach Comber"
"Fake Blues"

Try it
Buy it
MySpace
Wiki

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It's July 5th. Did you enjoy your hangover this morning? Go out and have some fun tonight.

Small Black - Despicable Dogs