This summers proven to be a real bitch and more than the ungodly heat I've been suffering through without A/C at work or home. I mean more serious and stupid protracted issues like trying unsuccessfully to deal with the police after an attempted mugging, having my identity stole only for the cable company to be uncooperative in resolving the problem and a feeling I am getting further from graduate school that should be a ticket out of this town. Little of this relates to the blot save for reasons that I've been lax in regular posting, especially for as long as my name is wrongly soiled with cable company internet isn't available to me. Nonetheless, my mood has paradoxically been improving despite all these setbacks, and I've been finding myself with more energy and thirst for music. Accordingly I've hunted down some garage rock and surf EPs that are just the sort of thing I want to hear as I enjoy a beer after leaving work. So in the desire to share my elevated mood, there are some gems I've been captivated by.
To be had here:
Same as all these EPs I found this kicking around on bandcamp during a retreat to my folks' place. I was looking for surf purposefully, and that's something do deliever yet there's something tinging the songs of these Hot Babes. As the tracks progress it is like they've fallen into a region between Dick Dale's reverberated surf and the rhythmic beats and off-kilter singing of Gang of Four. Risking stating the obvious, I think it is brilliant.
Following the recommendations I saw while downloading Hot Babes I stumbled into the Amphibious Man's noisy garage rock. Everything echos in a way the charms my heart throughly with the lo-fi fuzz and soulful with a touch of angst sort of vocals that I could happily hear for hours.
Discovered via the same method as the previous EP, I was pleases thrice over when shortly into the first track I got an ear-full of wildly distorted guitar strumming. In an almost schizophrenic fashion, this band lives up to its name, being both the most pop of the three EPs but no less rawly lo-fi. Perhaps the term garage pop was coined to describe just this sort of phenomena. The longest by track number, but the fleeting short songs makes it only the longest time-wise by the narrowest of margins. Gotta love short and intense.
these Hot Babes are really cool!
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