Slumberland's 20th Redux

Really? Really? Words cannot express the awesomeness that is this line-up.

March 27 at The Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, CA
All ages, doors at 5:00pm

• Boyracer
• Brilliant Colors
• Brown Recluse
• Devon Williams
• Go Sailor
• Henry's Dress
• Neverever
• Pants Yell!
• Summer Cats
• The How

March 28 Part Time Punks at The Echo, Los Angeles, CA
All ages, doors at 7:00pm « tickets »

• Boyracer
• Brown Recluse
• Devon Williams
• Go Sailor
• Henry's Dress
• Neverever
• Pants Yell!
• Summer Cats
• The How
  

New Black Tambourine!

From Slumberland:
"March 30 will bring the long-awaited return to vinyl for Black Tambourine. This is no mere reissue, though; we've added unreleased songs, new liner notes and a trove of never-before-seen photos of the band, all wrapped up in a spiffy gatefold sleeve."

I believe this calls for a "YEOW!"

The Fictional West

Some of you may have seen that Tweefort has expanded to the point of starting its own online record label. Now Danny's a pretty cool guy and has pretty good taste, so needless to say I had some pretty high expectations. The Fictional West, a recently formed three-piece from Connecticut definitely exceeded them.
























With hints of The Magnetic Fields, the Smiths, and what I say tastes like Orange Juice have a perfect formula for down-tempo jangle pop, seeing as their jangle isn't exactly jangle-y, The Fictional West play that lazy-day, let's go for a drive, indiepop that I'm so fond of. And they don't just sound like the aforementioned groups, they also have the same knack for songwriting. No lie, the Giant Clouds single sounds like it could have been sent in to NME and gotten lost in the post for 20 years.

You can download the single directly from Tweefort here.

Quince Records is effing sweet!

So I've been meaning to mention some more recent releases from those fine folks that brought us Half Dreaming (which is still brilliant) for a while, and it just never happened. That said, here's two Quince Records releases that have been getting some pretty heavy play lately.

























SPC ECO put out an album in June last year, and I have to say they're one of the best, true-blue, shoegaze acts out there. Sure they have a leg up on the competition seeing as Dean has umpteen years of shoegaze-xperience (remember Curve?). But you know they're good when they get Andy-fucking-Bell on one of their tracks. Talk about indie-cred. In the dead of winter there's only two things that pass through my headphones: Rose Melberg, or shoegaze. Unlike in the 15th century, everyone is a winner because Rose Berlin's voice can melt your heart faster than snow on a city street.

You're Alright .mp3





























Speaking of shoegaze and things I've been listening to, Quince also put out a Maribel album almost a year ago. I know I'm a little late (I think Matt from Skatterbrain used one of the tracks on a mix), but Aesthetics still warrants all the attention it can get. Between the fuzzy guitars, breathy lyrics, and occasional atmospheric dreamscapes Maribel have a bright future of staring at little LEDs.

Downstairs .mp3

Check out Quince's myspace for some other bands/releases as well. They have a really great roster.

A very late New Year's song

So, I got Allo, Darlin's "Will You Please Spend New Years With Me?" with plenty of time to fit in a write-up before New Years. Instead, I think I took a nap and baked, but that's besides the point. The point is, New Year's Eve is but a distant memory at this point, yet this "holiday" song is still getting pretty heavy rotation. It's just so cute, I can't resist giving it a proverbial spin at least once a day. Oh, did I mention it's a b-side? The "a-side" has the same sort of upbeat, melancholy, earnest lyrics based around a relationship and a Polaroid picture. If you haven't already (considering most blogs have given it the attention it deserves), head over to Fortuna Pop this instant!

Will You Please Spend New Years With Me? .mp3

Big Boy Genius Plans

I must be the laziest person I know. There's a plethora of great pop happenings right now and I haven't written a word. For starters Boy Genius put out a pretty ace video for their new single "Old New England" that features everything New England (aka rain, fields, lobster, and triangle hats), and everything Boy Genius (aka a pretty rockin pop song). It's from their forthcoming album Staggering, which I'm quite looking forward to since it seems they've been honing their chops since their last record. And they're on tour if you need something to do later this month (check their myspace for dates).