Sharing the sharing.
Digging from vinyl bins all around the globe the beat making dynamic duo of Paces Lift & Ben Bounce go deep into the vast world of psych and tropical grooves on their sophomore release Tropikoro. Give the standout tracks “Telephone”, “The Marketplace” and “The Great Phantasmo” a spin below for a taste of Tropikoro’s radness.
Tropikoro is available now on vinyl (recommended) and digitally via Wax Thématique and Paces Lift & Ben Bounce’s Bandcamp page. Enjoy.
San Francisco’s The Love-Birds play an infectious brand of melodic power-pop on their debut long player In The Lover’s Corner. It’s full of jangly guitars, killer vocal harmonies and everything else you’ve come to expect from a solid pop record. Listen to the pogo-inducing standout “Angela” below for a taste.
In The Lover’s Corner is out now via Trouble In Mind Records – it belongs in your collection.
Billy & Dolly’s new album Five Suns arrived in my inbox some time ago. I hadn’t heard of them and almost passed the release up, but their label name, Shit Krystal, peaked my interest enough to give it a spin and I am so glad that I did. Turns out these two are THE Bill and Dahlia from the early to mid 00’s band The Monolith, who I love!
Five Suns, their third release under the Billy & Dolly moniker is a solid slab of 12 distorted, grimy, indie-pop nuggets with just enough heavy (like Black Sabbath heavy) guitar parts to keep things interesting. Check out “Setting Sun” and “Marooned” below for a sampling. Five Suns is available digitally and on vinyl or cassette via Billy & Dolly’s Bandcamp page. Enjoy.
L.A. producer/beat-maker Benedek’s new EP, Kushel, caught my attention right off the bat as it’s opening track “Geo-Soul Anthem” sounds like it could have come from my all-time favorite skateboarding video The Search For Animal Chin. My good friend Viet and I watched that video almost every day for an entire summer before carving up the local curbs and speed bumps.
Kushel is one of my favorite EPs of the year. It has just enough chilled-out groove to go along with its head-nodding beats – a perfect soundtrack to your next get together or grinding up some curbs 80’s style. You can get Kushel now on cassette or digitally from Leaving Records. Enjoy.
Portland OR quartet, Lithics, bring the heat and melt faces on their new album Mating Surfaces. Their razor-sharp, tinnitus-causing, post-punk hooks you right at the needle drop of opening track “Excuse Generator” (below) and doesn’t let go for 29 minutes, leaving you exhausted – yet begging for more.
Mating Surfaces is out now via Kill Rock Stars. Enjoy.
Corey Flood’s debut EP, Wish You Hadn’t is a dark, brooding and quite addicting indie-pop meets post-punk effort. Clocking in at just under 12 minutes Wish You Hadn’t ends way too soon – there should be like 8 more songs – I want more Corey Flood! Hopefully there will be more to come.
I couldn’t choose a song to highlight because they are all so good. Please enjoy the entire EP stream below.
Wish You Hadn’t is available digitally and on cassette via Fire Talk records.
Shout out to Sam for getting the debut Durand Jones & The Indications’ record up on our Co-op Shop. Sam’s on point description: “Pure, timeless soul — rugged and raw enough to help ease the pain of losing Charles Bradley last year.” was all it took to get me to check this out.
Durand Jones & The Indications is an outstanding soul record that’s 100% percent worth your time. Although it’s only 8 tracks deep, the amount of groove packed into this bad boy is huge. Give “Groovy Babe” and “Tuck ‘N’ Roll” a spin (below) to see for yourself.
Collaborators Nadia Hulett (Phantom Posse), Carlos Hernandez (Ava Luna) and Juian Fader (Ava Luna) also known as NADINE bring the smooth on their chilled-out, indie-pop debut Oh My.
Check out my favorite track from Oh My, the early Rilo Kiley-esque “Can’t Be Helped” (below) for a sampling. Oh My is out now via Father/Daughter Records. Enjoy.
New Zealand’s Salad Boys have returned with their newest long player This is Glue. Like previous Salad Boys’ releases, This Is Glue blurs the lines between in-your-face rock and roll and laid-back jangle-pop. Give opening tracks “Blown Up” and “Hatred” (below) a spin to see what I mean.
This Is Glue is out now and available from Trouble In Mind Records. Enjoy.
Philadelphia 3-piece, Droopies, are the definition of the term power-trio. Their sophomore release Responsible People is packed with in-your-face hooks as they bounce between shoegazey punk rock and jangly psych-pop, with one common denominator: fuzz and lots of it. These guys get pretty big sound for there just being three of them.
Responsible People is out now digitally via Droopies Bandcamp page and on a limited cassette release through Funny / Not Funny Records. Give “Gone Wrong” (below) a spin, then go get your hands on a copy of this bad boy. Enjoy.