A monthly mix: July!

Photo of kids by .Dianna. on flickr.

It's new mix time! I'm a few days late on this one, but hopefully you'll forgive me. The last couple weeks I've been in a bit of shoegaze listening mood, so I decided to make the July's mix a shoegaze fest! While my shoegaze interests tend to lie more on the noisier side than the ethereal, ambient side, you'll still find few shimmering, dreamy tracks peppered into the mix. Everywhere else however you'll be hearing lots of fuzz and lots of feedback, but above all, I wouldn't have picked any of these songs if it weren't for their perfect melodies. So, enjoy! As always, the mix are tagged as a compilation, with artwork and proper track order, so it should be pretty easy for you to handle.

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Tracklist:
01. Medicine :: A Short Happy Life
02. Swirlies :: Pancake
03. Maribel :: Ecstatic
04. My Bloody Valentine :: Off Your Face
05. The Charlottes :: Beautify
06. Pale Saints :: She Rides The Waves
07. Difference Engine :: Simon's Day
08. Skywave :: Nothing
09. Dreamtiger :: Fragile Girl
10. Surefire Broadcast :: Stars Hang Bright
11. Lilys :: Claire Hates Me
12. The Nightblooms :: One Weak Moment
13. Slowdive :: Beach Song
14. Honeybreath :: Overcoat

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Grass Widow

Grass Widow

Hannah, Raven, and Lillian are Grass Widow – a fantastic pop group from San Francisco! They recently released their debut 12" LP on Make A Mess Records and it's totally rad and full of fast girl-girl-girl pop songs. In a time flooded with this type of stuff, Grass Widow seem to stand out for me, and I reckon it's their knack for vocal melodies and the occasional, yet wonderful, horns on the record that just ease it up to a higher level. Nonetheless, "To Where" is a killer pop song with vocal melodies dancing all over each other and it's just perfect music to my ears. The record has been sold out since June, but you might be able to get ahold of one from the band themselves. Their 7" on Cape Shok/Captured Tracks should be out soon, too, I think.

[MP3]: Grass Widow :: To Where (Highly Recommended!!!)

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The Accents: "A Hundred Wailin' Cats"

The amount of fun contained in this song is unbelievable.

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New Summer Cats: "Hey You, It's Me (Oh My)"

Songs For Tuesdays' blinding cover artwork.

Summer Cats' debut LP, Songs For Tuesdays, will finally be out on Slumberland Records come July 14th! – just two weeks away! Before hearing even a note of the record I'd decided it would probably be one of my favorite records of the year, and now, since hearing the new song "Hey You, It's Me (Oh My)" I'm almost sure of it! Not only will it be full of fantastic fuzzy pop songs, but it's sporting some of the most brilliantly colorful cover art I've ever laid eyes on. Sure wouldn't expect a song like this to lie inside that cover would you?! We can play tennis til the sun goes down. "Hey You, It's Me (Oh My)" is just another perfect summer pop song from a band with a million of them.

[MP3]: Summer Cats :: Hey You, It's Me (Oh My) (So many recommended!)

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Tigerella

Tigerella

Tigerella were a L.A.-based five-piece indiepop band active during the early 2000s. They played catchy songs with a sound not too far from that of perhaps Velocity Girl – thanks mostly in part to the at-times noisy guitars and lead singer Yvonne's sweet, yet powerful vocals. They released the Existential War EP of Shelflife's CDr Series in 2003 and followed up with a full-length on Schmat Records later that same year. In the years following, they began to dwindle and by they end of 2004 they seemed to be done for good, but don't hold me to that. I've yet to hear their LP, but the three songs on the EP sound just great to me. Listen to "E-Ticket Ride", it sports some pretty twinkling lead guitar and even nicer alternating vocals.

[MP3]: Tigerella :: E-Ticket Ride (Highly Recommended!)

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All My Summer Songs No. 5

Number Five!
[MP3]: Pants Yell! :: Stop Making Music
(Submitted by myself!)

After three fantastic outside submissions in a row, I thought it was about time to to post another one of my 'Summer Songs'. As you've likely already gathered, the song is "Stop Making Music" by Pants Yell!. It was one of the b-sides on their '83 in '05 7" released back in 2005. I fondly remember playing the heck out of it on many a lazy day the last Summer before I moved up to school. Not only is it a fantastic song, but these days just hearing that melody just makes me long for Summers already past. The glockenspiel solo just kills me. That Summer feeling will indeed haunt me the rest of my life.

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The Depreciation Guild: "Dream About Me" Video

I tend to not read Pitchfork too much these days, but thankfully Ed Shelflife does or I would have have missed The Depreciation Guild's new video for their new single "Dream About Me". The song is a total bliss-out – like some perfect blend of New Order and Spooky-era Lush – and the video just accents it perfectly. The single was apparently supposed to be out of Shelflife, but now it will be seeing a release on Kanine Records on July 7. You can preorder it from Kanine's shop.

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Best Coast

Beach ladies.

Best Coast is the L.A.-based pop project of Bethany Consentino of Pocahaunted along with Bobb Bruno. I'm not a very big fan of Pocahaunted, but Best Coast's fuzzy pop songs are right up my alley. This is some seriously lo-fi stuff, but the melodies are definitely there and they're pretty memorable – at least to me. They've got a tape and a 7" slated for release on Blackest Rainbow and Art Fag Recordings, respectively. Not sure if this song will end up on either of the releases, but it's my favorite of the bunch I've heard. It reminds me a little of MBV's "Sometimes" if it were perhaps thrown through a woodchipper.

[MP3]: Best Coast :: Up All Night (Highly Recommended!)

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Sushi

Better than cold fish.

Sushi were a six-piece Bay area pop band with an all too short lifespan. They released an EP on Swingset Records in 1999 (which I've never heard) and an album on Shelflife in 2000 titled The Quiet Space Between Houses, along with a couple comp appearances. Later in 2000 they called it quits, but core members Jeff and Jared started a new band called The History of Utah. They supposedly had a single slated for Shelflife, but to my knowledge that never saw the light of day. I wonder if it was ever recorded? As for Sushi, have a listen – especially if smooth, jazzy indiepop is your cup of tea. This song comes from The Quiet Space Between Houses, which you can actually still buy from the Shelflife Shop – though it's almost gone!

[MP3]: Sushi :: Strip Mall Breed (Highly Recommended!)

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Tomorrow Today

Seeland

I've been loving Seeland's debut LP Tomorrow Today since in was finally released back in March of this year. To be honest, I was initially drawn in by the LP's fantastic artwork at the mention of ex-Broadcast member Tim Felton. After realizing Tim was in the band and that Seeland's influences lie basically in the same field as Broadcast's, I expected some sort of Broadcast rehashing – which to be clear, I wouldn't have entirely minded. But such was not the case. To my surprise, the majority of Tomorrow Today is actually brimming with catchy pop tunes. The songs range from 80s electronic anthems ala OMD, to summery space-age pop in the vein of Stereolab, though always more or less wrapped in some of the band's library music and analog electronics influences. "Turnaround" is one of my favorites, have a listen!

[MP3]: Seeland :: Turnaround (Highly Recommended!!!)

Seeland on MySpace!
Tomorrow Today is out now on Loaf Recordings.

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