Garage Swim Compilation

I usually try to shy as far away as possible from releases like this. Corporate created labels diving into the indie world to extract bands into a release that will give the brand a degree of hipness, complete with another corporate sponsor in it as well. See everything within the Scion Audio/Visual spectrum. However, Garage Swim is far too great a release to be ignored by me in anyway. Put together by the folks at Williams Street, Adult Swim's inhouse label, Garage Swim is fifteen tracks of some of the best garage rockers out there in one tight, digital, and completely free package.

The most outstanding thing about this though, might be the outstanding degree of quality of it though. It's like every artist decided to hold onto one of their best songs just for this release. Thee Oh Sees' "Devil Again" is them at their catchiest, all nervous energy, popping keyboards, and hidden darkness underneath. Mikal Cronin's "Better Man" feels like the the lost gap between his new album and previous one, pure sunshine power-pop and noise guitar roar on top of one another. Mind Spiders are all dark punk glory, JEFF the Brotherhood channel Black Sabbath, and King Tuff's song with Gap Dream sounds absolutely nothing like a King Tuff (it's super slow! It has '80s synths in it!), but it still sounds awesome. The Gories have a new(?!) song on here that feels like a tribute to the older garage styles, and yet works just as well as anything else on here. The release closes with a mini-epic from Weekend, who should be completely out of place on an release like this, but the spacey psychedelia of "Teal Kia" is instead ends Garage Swim on a surprisingly uplifting note. Corporate or not, Garage Swim is 15 very awesome songs, and should be promptly shoved in the face of the next person who says guitar rock is dead.



Links:

Download Garage Swim here, from Williams Street Records

Thee Oh Sees-Minotaur

To say Thee Oh Sees are back always seems wrong because they never really leave. If they're not releasing a new album, they're releasing a new single. If they're not touring (and they are always touring), then they are collaborating with another artist, or running Castle Face Records to help bring more music into the world. The energy required to keep track of everything they do is quite massive, but well worth it for a band as creative as these four art damaged, garage weirdos. Everything about their upcoming latest album screams that nutball mentality, from the eerie/trippy/crazy cover art and equally freaky (but awesome) title Floating Coffin. However, "Minotaur" the closer from that album, invokes not just the opposite of all that, but almost the opposite of everything one knows about Thee Oh Sees now.

It is a slow burner, a near waltz in it's percussion and John Dwyer's vocals, which are stripped of their usual falsetto and instead now contain lovely, near cool mid-tone to them. Their guitar chords are deliberate and strong, never noodling or flying off the hinges, perfectly enhanced by the strings that float around the song. Even during the band's early, sun baked folk days did they create something this cohesive or melancholy. This probably the most mature Thee Oh Sees have ever been, and while a tag like "maturity" seems ghastly inappropriate for them, "Minotaur" proves just the opposite.



Links:

Thee Oh Sees' Website
Pre-order Floating Coffin here, from Castle Face Records

The Wiener Dog Benefit Comp

Burger Records are just purely awesome. For proof of this just look at the Kitty Comp they released earlier this year. A massive, 60 50 song, double tape collection of unreleased songs from Burger-related bands all to support an injured cat the label heads had found on the highway. Like I said, Burger is awesome. Now, they have put together another compilation to help an animal in need. The Wiener Dog Benefit Comp was put together to help Popcorn the wiener dog get an operation from a growth in her belly. An even more massive 71 song compilation, the likes of Redd Kross, King Tuff, White Fang, The Memories, Free Weed, Gap Dream, Cleaners from Venus and so many more all of unreleased tracks on this comp. Thee Oh Sees contribution is the sun baked "Teacher's Holiday", a sparse, raw, and surreal track that would have fit perfectly on Castlemania. So go help a doggy in need an get some great tunes out of it in the process.



Links:

Buy The Wiener Dog Benefit Comp here, from Burger Records
Thee Oh Sees' Website
Excess money from the compilation will be donated to ASPCA, which you can support here

Single Alert: Thee Oh Sees w/ The Mallard Split 7"

Famous Class Records has been doing something every cool with their LAMC single series. They ask one established band to contribute a new song to one side of a single, then ask that band to pick another band they like to be featured on the other side. Thus creating a showcase for not only new bands, but an awesome split single in the process. The latest band to contribute to the LAMC project is the ever prolific Thee Oh Sees. "Wait Let's Go" is Thee Oh Sees in their chill, '60s mood: simple, clean acoustic guitar over Beatles' like harmonies and slinky bass lines. People forget that Thee Oh Sees are not just manic energy, but can create really catchy pop songs too, as " Wait Let's Go" proves so well. Thee Oh Sees choose fellow San Franciscans (as well as fellow Castle Face record mates) The Mallard as their flip side band. And if The Mallard stay true to their psychedelia damaged post-punk, one can expect a a quality juxtaposition between the two sides.


Links:

Thee Oh Sees' Website
The Mallard's Tumblr
Buy the split single here, from Famous Class Records

Live: Thee Oh Sees/Ty Segall/Flesh Lights/Gal Pals @ La Zona Rosa9/15/12

I thought I had a proper idea of the chaos that would ensue when I entered this show. Hell, I had even seen Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall at fests and other clubs before. However, under the darkened lights of La Zona Rosa something happened that morphed this from just a standard garage/punk show to something more. At its core it was the degree of insanity and intensity that was shared between the bands and the crowd as one played while the other went wild. More so though, the thing that made said insanity and intensity so constant through out the night was the fact that every band that touched the stage played like they were on fire. It was a manic, hot, and seemingly crazy night, but also one of the best shows I have seen all year.

Gal Pals

Unfortunately, one band has the duty to start everything off and that night it fell upon Gal Pals. A local band that I hadn't heard of until that night, they weren't bad in any sense. In fact they performed quite simple but catchy distorted pop-garage; a little Super Wild Horses with some Vivian Girls in their as well. The set though was just so minimal that it just didn't grab you, no matter how hard they tried. Still, it wasn't a half bad intro for the night, even though the cat calls and douchebagish taunts in between songs didn't help.

Flesh Lights

When the Flesh Lights took the stage is when the show truly started. Shedding any of the power-pop hooks that balance out their jagged punk sound on record, the Flesh Lights played a set of hyper-gruff, solo filled, modern punk that immediately ignited a mosh pit in the crowd that would last for the rest of the night. The Flesh Lights soundtracked it perfectly, being everything a local punk band should be. They went crazy with their guitarist flailing, their bassist jumping from his own amp, and their stone-faced drummer both bashed away at her kit and kept the band steady as well. As a perfect finale, they invited a friend to play drums while the Flesh Lights own drummer grabbed the microphone. The band then launched into a stupendous cover of Suicidal Tendencies' "Institutionalized" that confirmed the Flesh Lights are one of the best bands in Austin.

Ty Segall

At some point Ty Segall will stop being good. His songs won't be as great as they are now, and he won't be able to rock out with his band like he does now. That time is nowhere close to coming. Easily the best Ty Segall show I have ever seen, it worked because, contradictory, of the constraint. This is not to say Segall and his cohorts did not go crazy. They went beyond crazy, shoving so much energy and noise into their songs that it was a miracle that the show didn't deform or start blurring together. But because Segall eventually would have to get off stage for Thee Oh Sees, the sprawl that sometimes emerges from his sets didn't occur here, leading to much more focused set instead. Like I said earlier, not to say their was any lack of energy from the band at all. They were beyond full force here, just laying waste to every song they played. It was summed up perfectly as Segall pulled off a rock star move, trying to have the crowd carry him and his mic while he played "Caesar". It seemed like he was actually pulling it off before he was quickly dropped. That didn't matter though as Segall quickly jumped back on stage and bashed through the rest of the song as members of the crowd sang the song through the discard microphone. It was rock star glory and sloppy, garage abandonment all rolled into one, and the perfect embodiment of the show (and band) itself.

Thee Oh Sees

Jesus Christ. Let it be know that every story you have ever heard of how incredible Thee Oh Sees are live is absolutely true. After the glory that was Ty Segall and co.'s set, one would think that anyone that stepped on stage and tried to match it that would be setting themselves up for an impossible goal. Thee Oh Sees pulled it off without a slightest bit of effort on their part. As drained as the crowd was from Segall set, as soon as the band launched into "The Dream" a second wind enveloped everyone, the wonderfully spastic and weird energy from the band being absorbed by everyone as they played. While there was no shortage of stage diving with Ty Segall's set, with Thee Oh Sees it was just kicked into overdrive, with people practically diving to every song, especially when the realization hit that not only was the back area not guarded (thus allowing for prime stage access), but that security was not going to do anything to stop the stage divers either. It was that constant danger/excitement, along with the wild pit, all soundtracked to Thee Oh Sees' psychotic garage psych that made the set so incredible. Their was never one point during their show where one of your senses was not hit was some sense of craziness. But Thee Oh Sees found the good kind of crazy, and brought that sense to everyone at La Zona Rosa.

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011: Day 1 (Part 2)

Thee Oh Sees



Take everything I said about Ty Segall's set and multiply it by three. That is what Thee Oh Sees were like. For the 50 minutes they were on stage a sense of insanity took hold of the crowd and the Black Stage. I don't know why I haven't listened more to Thee Oh Sees now, but I have learned my lesson. They were twitchy, spastic animals, playing hyper psych-damaged garage rock that that was both insanely off-kilter yet super catchy as well. That they not only kept that degree of energy through out their entire set, with all their songs, but lent the excess to the crowd, who happily went crazy, it beyond impressive. All hail the glory that is Thee Oh Sees and the twisted, glorious music they make.







Okkervil River



Okkervil River's set felt a lot like their songs; so filled with different elements that it feels like it is going to burst at the seems. Will Sheff and co. burst on stage and performed like the rock stars they sing about. Okkervil River are always great live, where Sheffs's sounds and more so his lyrics are give much more roof to stretch, but with this line-up they gave new life to songs that were still thriving. "Our Life is not a Movie or Maybe" eve sounded more potent then here with Sheff nearly screaming out the lyrics. Pair together with ripe new songs like "Rider" or "Our Past Life as a Blast", Okkervil River delivered a set filled with rock clichés (bright colored lights, constant hand claps requests from the audience), but managed to escape all of them and pull something exuberant and great from it.







Reggie Watts



I don't know how to put into words Reggie Watts' performance. Parts stick out: squeaky voices, a robot dance, randomness in its purest form, and loops upon loops upon loops. All separate this comes off as some surrealist nightmare. But let me tell you that in Watt's hands I never stopped laughing. He deconstructs comedy right before your eyes and puts it together in a new, askew shape that makes you scratch your head, but still giggle the same time. I don't know how he does it, make comedy out of pure randomness, but he does and it is slightly magical every time you see it.



Public Enemy



I don't know what drew me to Public Enemy. Something in the back of mind told me to close out Friday night with them. Apparently my mind knew what was going to happen with Danzig, but that is besides the point. Public Enemy, after more than 25+ years, can still put on a good show. It wasn't perfect, with the stage banter sometimes coming off as time killing, and a weird part of the show dedicated to showing off Flavor Flav's nephew's abysmal rap skills. Still, the rhythm between Mike D and Flav has barely disintegrated in all this time, and Mike D is still the same killer performer you have always heard about. The bombast, from the lights to the noise to performers on stage, could be overwhelming and disconcerting, but to a degree that what's Public Enemy has always been about. Oh, and "Fight the Power" threw everyone in the crowd into a mad frenzy, and that should always be commended.