CHROMEWAVES RADIO: July 2013

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

ANY PORT IN A STORM by Scott & Charlene's Wedding

Scott & Charlene's Wedding are another force that come to us from Australia. The band's second LP, Any Port In A Storm, was released by Fire Records on July 22 and deals with his difficulties in moving to New York, the troubles with a personal relationship, loneliness, and his able persistence in coping with it all and moving forward. There are fragile songs with outward lyrics that are easy to relate to and delivered with a vocal style reminiscent of Lou Reed. As you can expect with many Australian outputs these days the LP is packed with enjoyable slacker-filled jangle, fuzz, and upbeat rhythms that make you feel safe in the simplest of ways. It's not perfectly crafted musically or poetically, but therein is where most of its charm lies.

BUY IT HERE

Monday, July 29, 2013

[on repeat] HELLO GRIEFBIRDS! by The Shine Brothers

The Shine Brothers are a Los Angeles based band that I had the pleasure of coming across while perusing one of my favorite blogs over at Proper Yarn. You may recall the man responsible for Proper Yarn from the awesome guest mix provided here last year. Anyways, The Shine Brothers features Nate Ryan and Colin Ryan who were in Black Angels and Woven Bones, respectively. The band just released Hello Griefbirds! and it's a mind melting collection of garage psych with grime and harmoney that shouldn't be missed. It comes to us in cassette from the folks over at Burger Records and you can stream more at their Bandcamp.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

[on repeat] THE LONG HAIR OF DEATH by Quailbones

This 5-piece out of Kentucky has a new 7" titled Lord Dion's House of Discovery and it follows the same fantastically spastic and high energy post-punk displayed on last year's debut 7" for Crane Wilbur. Quailbones sophomore 7" contains three full-throttle tracks brought to us by Ghost Orchard Records on a run of 300 copies (buy). You can sense immediately from the frantic drumming at the start of the opening track, 'We're Good Men,' that it's going to be a short, fun ride that necessitates holding on to your hats for the entire 7", but a real highlight for me is when things get shaky, quivvery, and echo-y on the manically melodic and fierce closing track 'The Long Hair of Death.' After you realize how much you love this 7' be sure to check out their Bandcamp to stream all three tracks from the 7" and to grab some free downloads of earlier material, but don't be cheap...cop a buck or two.

BUY IT HERE

Thursday, July 18, 2013

NO EXPRESSION by The Sufis

The Sufis are a duo out of Nashvillle and they are following up last year's self-titeld debut LP, with Inventions...brought to us from Burger Records (US) and Ample Play Records (UK). Inventions is another wonderfully dreamy collection of 60's tinged psychedelic pop that is masterfully simple pop at its finest. Inventions will be out Aug. 6th. In the meantime, stream two tracks off the LP above.

Monday, July 15, 2013

NO WAVES by The Shivas

The Shivas new LP, Whiteout, is their second full-length cassette release, but it's ther first full-length vinyl output that occurred courtesy of K Records this past spring. The LP opens with the epic 'Swimming With Sharks' that gets things kicked off with a serious BANG! Things mellow out quickly after that with songs like 'Thrill Yr Idols' and 'Baby I Need You' highlighting a lovely penchant for retro 60's style British pop and twee (when Kristin graces us with her vocals). The Shivas sound is hard to pin down in just a few simple adjectives since the songs widely vary in energy, style, and emotion and successfully incorporate jangle, melody, laid-back acoustic guitar, and Cramps style twang in this must listen to collection. These two songs don't paint the full picture of this band so go listen.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

[on repeat] AMERICAN LOVE by Heavy Times

(previously on CWR)

I've steadily enjoyed each Heavy Times release more than the previous and this progression definitely doesn't stop with their 3rd LP, Fix It Alone. These true rock 'n rollers infuse fuzz and melody with their driving forceful guitar hooks that make for the perfect recipe of modern era punk. As with their previous LP, Fix It Alone, comes to us from the band's fellow Chicago-resident label HoZac Records and copies are shipping as we speak. There might even be some gold editions left so you'd better get right on it (buy), but I'm sure it'll sound just as satisfying on good ol' black wax. These guys really seemed to begin to flourish on last year's 3-track 7" EP, which featured the title track 'I'm Single' and on the tunes contributed to Windian Records Subscription Series #1 box set...and Fix It Alone continues down this path and is a clear force to be reckoned with in this year's list of great releases. I've described them previously as scuzzy, slacker garage rock that makes you move and the description still applies. I posted the tune 'Kidnapped' from Fix It Alone in a playlist last week and couldn't resist sharing another as part of this post. Enjoy.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

[on repeat] SO LET'S PINCH by The Go

I'm dumbfounded as to why I haven't posted about Fiesta yet. The bright orange sherbet LP has been spinning regularly on my turntable since its release in January and has been the impetus for many impromptu living room dance sessions, but for whatever reason it's slyfully avoided my desire to share with the world. Well, if you've been fortunate enough to have listened to The Go's album, Fiesta, then you know what I'm referring to. If you haven't, then you should give this Detroit band's 7th album a listen. The band isn't new to the scene...amassing 15 years of working together and it shows on this Burger Records release. Besides the beautiful artwork, the album crosses over an abundance of influences highlighted on their previous releases and focuses on the upbeat tendencies of 60's psychedelia, classic 70's swagger, and the uplifting jangle of 80's college rock. They've put together the uncharacterically large collection of 20 songs on the double gatefold LP that is full of some truly great moments. The choruses will get stuck in your head, the general playfulness of the record will lift your spirits, the simplicity will appeal immediately, and the range in diversity will leave you in awe. It's one of those albums that has already made a mark on me for this year...FIESTA!

Listen to the whole album over at Bandcamp.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

[on repeat] MOUNTAIN by Ghost Wave

(previously on CWR)

I've been waiting for Ghost Wave's debut LP since my ears first got wind of their energy-laden single 'Hippy' in 2011. The time has arrived and their Ages LP will be released from Flying Nun Records on August 27th as the labels first new release since announcing its partnership with Captured Tracks. This New Zealand band appears more than capable of catching on to a wide mainstream audience once it falls into the right hands. The LP features the first single 'Here She Comes' along with plenty of other highlights such as 'Country Rider.' The band will start touring the US closer the LP release date.

by Ariel

RIYL: The Clean, Sea Pinks, Surf Club