Tag Archives: Thee Oh Sees

New songs to listen to this week

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Blitzen Trapper- photo by Leslie Simon

Blitzen Trapper- photo by Leslie Simon

New music to listen to this week- the sun is shining, spring has arrived, and I’m really feeling sunny, dreamy songs with the occasional dance beat to get down to. Here are some of my favorite songs that have been released recently that you should check out:

King of Prussia “Your Work is Magic”- uptempo indie tambourine pop out of Athens, Georgia with unexpected and fantastic horns that remind me of a less political King Khan. Available for stream or download here at Stereogum:
http://www.stereogum.com/1673969/king-of-prussia-your-work-is-magic-stereogum-premiere/mp3s/

Yann Tiersen “A Midsummer Evening”- Toy instruments mix with acoustic to create a warped, gorgeous song complete with angelic backing vocals. Psychedelic church.

Medeski, Martin and Wood + Nels Cline “Bonjour Bese”- mixing wild spacey reverb noise with the heavy hitting sounds of MMW is a dream come true. If you don’t like dissonant noise fast forward three minutes (but really you should embrace the noise, it’s beautiful). Exclusively at Esquire here:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/mmw_nels_cline

Alpha Consumer “Ms Positron”- taking cues from 80’s art rock and adding mega fuzzy guitar riffs and catchy hooks, this Minneapolis group has collaborated with everyone from Andrew Bird to Brother Ali and are releasing their new album April 15th.

Thee Oh Sees “The Lens”- yet another awesome track from the upcoming release. Monty Python-esque psychedelic videos that are done well are always a treat.

Allah-Las “Had It All”- california psych pop with a delicate touch and throwback as hell

Chain and the Gang “Devitalize”- some of my favorite garage rock that doesn’t take itself so seriously. Plus, I’m a sucker for really bratty vocals.

Horse Thief “Little Dust”- psych tinged roots rock from Oklahoma City with theatrical fascinating Cameron Neal’s quirky pretty vocals taking the lead.

Driving Mrs. Satan “Hells Bells”- when I got an email about this band and saw “acoustic heavy metal” I put it on thinking I would get a laugh. Instead, I found they have beautiful arrangements, gorgeous vocals, and I like it better than the original.

Band of the Day – The Spyrals

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SPYRALS

Hypnotic garage bands from San Francisco absolutely do it for me. The Spyrals have risen above the rest with a more classic approach, tight drumming and dizzy guitar riffs. This trio is jangly, fuzzy, trippy, and lead singer Jeff Lewis has a great commanding presence and a perfect rock star voice, he can cry without whining the way Neil Young sings. Their album they released this summer, “Out of Sight”, is a great collection of tight, Bay Area sounding rock and roll. I know it’s a cheap cop out to say a band sounds like another, but these guys really do the early Rolling Stones sound well. Opener “Need Your Fire” sounds like it should be in a Quentin Tarantino movie, while “Such A Pain” makes you shimmy with the heavy use of tambourine and delicate repeated guitar riffs. The title track is exactly what you would think a San Francisco garage rock band would sound like, man they nail this sound.

Most of the songs clock in under three minutes, making this album very economical and great for running errands, you never have to sit in the parking lot for eleven more minutes til the song ends like you do with the Grateful Dead. While they have psychedelic tendencies live, at the end of the day this is a tight, concise garage rock band that needs to be played on everyone’s radio. The bassist Dylan Edrich has done time with Thee Oh Sees and Mikal Cronin, so fans of those should check these guys out. Future looks jangly and bright for these guys.

Listen to the album at their bandcamp: The Spyrals “Out of Sight”

Garage Swim – Adult Swim’s Garage Compilation – FREE Download

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Cartoon Network’s new Adult Swim compilation Garage Swim continues the tradition of Adult Swim programmers having good taste in music. They’ve been playing Battles “Ice Cream” for awhile, and now they’ve brought tons of the current popular garage acts together for the compilation. Thee Oh Sees, Mikal Cronin, King Tuff, King Khan and others are all on here, noising and prettying it up. Some might say the new garage wave has no edge, and this absolutely helps their debate. I’m just glad loud, noisy and powerful are back again. Again. For people that keep up with my blog, you’ve seen me list a lot of these bands here, this is a good free album to get a taste of a bunch of them.

Garage Swim Free Download

New JEFF the Brotherhood single off free Adult Swim album available May 6th

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I loooove JEFF the Brotherhood, from their adorable brotherly relationship, to their see through instruments (done well before the new Daft Punk video with clear instruments) to their fuzz filled sonic noisescapes they create. Cartoon Network Adult Swim has created a compilation of unreleased songs called Garage Swim, of which they have already put out a song by Thee Oh Sees. It will be free for everyone on May 6th at adultswim.com. Check out the JtB song right now as well as the track listing with songs by Black Lips, King Tuff, all the goods.

Personal tidbit- I’ve been in the Adult Swim offices. They have AstroTurf for a carpet and huge Space Ghost and Boba Fett costumes. Neat-o.

JEFF the Brotherhood single from Garage Swim

Thee Oh Sees “Devil Again”