Kamikaze Danya Loses It Over Teenage Burritos

Here's an enamouring 7" that came out a few weeks ago through Volar records from San Diego band Teenage Burritos. The band is a bit of a "supergroup" (as in there are members of Christmas Island and Plateaus in the mix, with Andreas from Swedish killers Holograms appearing on the B-side track 'Kamikaze'), and this debut single 'Danya' is a lot of sunny yet grimy take on upper echelon punk. The tracks were recorded on an 8-track where the tape caught jammed, so the warble throughout the two tracks is accidental yet sublime - offering an off-kilter immediacy. 'Kamikaze' in particular slays, and the band have intimated that their upcoming LP (that will be out through Volar and Burger Records any day now - we'll be back on that when it hits our clammy hands) will follow in this vein. They do remind me of a more urgent younger sibling of Veronica Falls, which is a great thing indeed. I don't care how young or old the burritos are, just give me a lifetime supply.

Buy Danya/Kamikaze from Volar Records here.

Playing Plateaus, Wasting Time

San Diego's purveyors of playful perversions Plateaus have brought out a one-sided 10" EP through Mt St Mtn Records. I've had this debate before (IE Why press ten-inch records?). Yes, it sounds amazing. Yes, it's that annoying length. Yes, it's the least likely normal format to make your money back on. Actually you can disagree with any/all of these points. The thing is, if it's as good as Wasting Time, who cares what form it takes? Four tracks of lackadaisical squall, a tempered trawl through the backalleys of grimy garage before dusting off the remnants of the era, buffing it up and dragging it front and centre into the warm sunlight. Boys doin their thang how they want to, when they want to. They don't sit still - they have short attention spans - but the aesthetic is the same - streamlined ploys for slacker noise. If you aren't on board - that's a shame. More for us then.

You can purchase Wasting Time in excellent clear with rainbow spatter vinyl here.

Grinning Out On The Plateaus

 

The debut self-titled record from Southern Californian ne’er-do-wells Plateaus came out late last year on Art Fag, and is an interesting amalgam of doo-wop pop, sneering punk, and scuzzy garage rock, infused with a strangely sunny disposition. Only in California, right? The production is a little cleaned up after their Hozac release earlier in 2012, and it imbues these short spikes with some much wanted vigour. It’s true that some of these songs bleed into each other, but that isn’t an altogether bad thing – this is the kind of sunny party record that I want to chuck on. Its fun, unpretentious, precocious, and coy – but above all, it makes me smile. And that’s really the point. A good rock record that makes you smile is always going to win out.

 

You can get Plateaus (on white vinyl!) over this-a-way.

Plateaus – Jump Now
Plateaus – Do It For You
Plateaus – Jasmine

A Dripping Sex Pile

 

Wow. Talk about an Internet-baiting headline...

There are moments when you discover bands that are good from the first note, and after living wit the music for a few days, or even hours, it becomes ingrained in your sonic psyche for forever more. Then there are bands that are insidious, their pull imperceptible, worming its way into your central core until your dreamscapes and nightmares are scored by their apocryphal affectations.

But occasionally there comes a song or album that blows you away so unexpectedly that everything changes. We all have at least one of these transcendental moments in our lives, where a song, a voice, a riff, a roll, a drone, a scream, smashes its imprint on your soul, and you spend the rest of your life reliving that moment. It would certainly be rash to put a small band from Boston into my list, but Pile's 3rd record Dripping blindsided me so completely that I had gravel rash underneath my chin AND my tongue. It’s probably futile to describe this album, but I’ll briefly try.

From the raw energy of opener ‘Baby Boy’, this record never lets up, incorporating the indie rock of the 90s (when it truly was independent) with a crunchier, heavier edge and hair-on-your-chest yowls from frontman Rick Maguire that evokes a simpler, grungier Modest Mouse who are most definitely still on the self-flagellation and sauce downward spiral.

Dripping comes from recording the album in Philadelphia in the middle of summer, and the heat, sweat, anguish and ephemeral base emotions comes bleeding out of these tracks. Even when things slow down (‘Prom Song’, ‘Bubblegum’) there is a feverish itch that pervades, albeit one that has you grinning maniacally. And when they kick it into an addictive rhythmic gear as they do with ‘Bump A Grape’, ‘The Jones’ and the acidic ‘Grunt Like A Pig’, it takes all your might to stop from tearing your own face off with glee. This may sound all perfunctory and stupid, but that is the power of these songs over me. I struggle to comprehend the power that these guitar lines, insistent bass and rumbling drums have over me. And that wail…

When you wake from a dream where your band was playing these songs, and they killed – thus its your subconsciousness telling you that your band will never make songs as good as these in real life – then you know you have something pretty great on your hands.

There have been quite a few bands that have stirred me in this fashion this year – Spook Houses, Tiny Spiders, Dikes of Holland, Grass Cannons, Plateaus, Iowa, Looks Like Miaou, Invisible Things, PAWS, Scott & Charlene’s Wedding, Post Teens, Sleepies, and I'm leaving a few out – and it’s these moments, just as much as when a feverishly anticipated release like GY!BE, Ty Segall or Swans slays mightily, that keeps the faith burning bright.

A glowing review? Sure. Dripping isn’t perfect by any means – but that makes it even better, because the next album could be bullshit good, and that’s worth living for.

 

Pile’s Dripping can be gleaned via Exploding In Sound Records here.

Hozac Nation

Ive been remiss for not listing some killer Hozac releases lately (sorry Radar Eyes!), so I thought I would deliver a hefty spark of releases that are all ace, some incendiary...


Let's start with one of the latter then. I have been a massive fan of Nice Face since Can I Fuck It?'s arrival that showcase the NYers' penchant for visceral punk noise abandon, and Inner Etwas (on Sacred Bones) was the culmination of this. Now we have Horizon Fires, and it's a different approach, albeit abound with their trademark twisted malice and delight. And to celebrate its imminent depravity, I have a track to give you! Let the mind-meld begin... (And seriously give this dude the kudos he deserves!)

Nice Face - You're So Dramatic




Hands down the best album cover-album title connection so far this year (in my opinion) is Texan garage skronkers Rayon Beach with This Looks Serious. C'mon - how can you go past a washed out still of Steven and Alex P. Keaton in an earnest, angsty tete-a-tete? The music is as bombastic as their Death Rides A Horse 7" suggested, and although I think the mix could have been a touch pared back, allowing the music to breath rather than suffocate on the fuzz, it promises to be a great calling card, and handy when at a loose end and with a carton, an ounce and a lady at hand.




Let's step out with the first band I didn't know before my Hozac OD - Cozy. This Minneapolis boy band has in Cola Shock Kids enough pizazz, sugar and spice to get any heart racing, and are the perfect mix of the Monkees and the Ramones. Don't believe me? Have a taste below. These guys are rampantly stupid, and all the better for it. Get on this bad boy.




Plateaus are a San Diego quartet whose MO is bouncing, jangly mutated punk pop as it was meant to be. Forget those SoCal wipeouts, Plateaus exists solely to erase those inane memories and replace them with sweat, serotonin and saliva. And their A-Side to their 7" 'Do It For You' will crawl inside you and latch on like a tapeworm. Leave it there - it will make you stronger.




And finally, another band I had no idea about until this week is Far-Out Fangtooth, whose The Thorns 7" EP is pretty special. The title track is by far the best cut, whose plodding squall manages to explode without truly releasing the tension - almost like a phantom orgasm, it leaves you ecstatic and bewildered at the same time. I'm not sure if the Philly trio would like such a connotation, but it works for me. Anyway, here is the rad war propaganda video for said song, see what you think.



You can pre-order/buy these and many other ace releases over at the Hozac webstore here. If you don't already, keep an eye on this label at all times. They are the bizness.