YAY! A second song from the forthcoming, long-unexpected new LP from Saturday Looks Good To Me! Fred Thomas and his ever rotating cast of pop geniuses are responsible for a handful or more of my favorite songs of the past ten years. I was initially a little let down by “Sunglasses” when it showed up last year, but “Invisible Friend” is on par with some of the finest gems the band has churned out over the years. Listen! And get excited!
Lots of great records out this week!!!
Golden Grrrls S/T (Slumberland Records/Night School Records)
Sally Shapiro Somewhere Else (Paperbag Records)
Girls Names The New Life (Slumberland Records/Tough Love Records)
These three will probably end up being some of the very best of the year. They are all currently streaming on Spotify, etc, but it’s much worth noting that they are all packaged beautifully and you should probably grab them all from their respective labels, distros, record shops, supermarkets, guy on the corner, too.
Panda Riot’s Northern Automatic Music also came out this week on Saint Marie Records and it’s worth many a listens. So get on that, too!
Waxahatchee’s fantastic sophomore LP Cerulean Salt is streaming now in full on NPR! Go go go!
No Joy “Lunar Phobia”
Instead of the wooly, Sonic Youth-esque fuzz and bombast that so blatantly marked their earlier releases, the new single from Montreal’s No Joy sounds more like danceable, beat-driven noise of Cranes, or perhaps some of Medicine’s more sprawling moments. And I am so very into it.
As just announced via twitter this evening, this May, as their 50th release, Chicago’s fantastic Trouble In Mind Records will reissue one of the greatest pop records ever recorded (IMO, of course): The Dentists’ Some People Are On The Pitch They Think It’s All Over It Is Now. Anyone familiar with the record knows how tough it is to track down an original copy, so this is brilliant news! YAY!
Juniper "Making Gerard Smile"
Juniper
Making Gerard Smile
Making Gerard Smile
It’s not even close to Spring here yet, but it’s never to early to start getting some Juniper into your rotation. “Making Gerard Smile” is probably one of the finest shambling American pop singles to ever be released ever ever ever. Blast it!
Heathers "Teenage Clothes"
Heathers
Teenage Clothes
Teenage Clothes
The first track unveiled by new-ish-ish LA popkids Heathers last week is a top-shelf jangler, with just enough west coast fuzz around the edges that you could probably even convince your wavvves coast friends to take it for a spin. It sounds like Coca-Colas (with whiskey? Maybe. I know Michael would approve.) and swimming pools, or maybe an endless loop of that moment on the log plume where you hit the water at the bottom of the first big drop. And this is all amidst an 18 degree wind chill. I can only imagine how great this will sound when it’s not soundtracking an east coast Winter. I give it 3 out of 4 Zac Efrons.
Download it for free on bandcamp!
Joanna Gruesome "Do You Really Wanna Know Why Yr Still In Love With Me?"
Joanna Gruesome
Do You Really Wanna Know Why Yr Still In Love With Me?
Do You Really Wanna Know Why Yr Still In Love With Me?
Joanna Gruesome might be one of my favorite bands going right now—and probably the most exciting. If there’s any justice, when their debut LP finally hits later this year it’s going to drop like a fuzz bomb of pop brillance, knocking down everything in its path. The two tracks on their recent Happy Happy Birthday To Me-released 7” are not only indicative of their wide-eyed energy and ability to write a fine hook, but also—and most importantly—that they aren’t afraid to kick you in the face and spit on your shoes. Just wait for “Secret Surprise” and you’ll really get it.
But for now we’ve got “Do You Really Wanna Know Why Yr Still In Love With Me?”: A song as impressive in its shimmering melodic drive and sheer length of title as Airport Girl’s indiepop classic “The Foolishness That We Create Through Love Is The Closest We Come To Greatness”. But where Airport Girl’s ode to life-affirming love runs on wonderfully blind optimism, you get the sense that JGro aren’t quite that naive. Love cuts, folks.
Get it from Happy Happy Birthday To Me or yr favorite distro.
The Monochrome Set at NYC Popfest this year!
OMG OMG OMG
Catnaps “Novelty” Video
The new winter formal-themed music video from Philadelphia’s Catnaps premiered today and it’s kind of perfect. It’s almost exactly how I would have pictured “Novelty”—my favorite track from their new Shuteye EP—to take visual shape. It’s shimmering, romantic, and awkward; just like the song. You can grab the EP for “name your own price” over at bandcamp, but be a doll and toss them a few bucks!
