Holiday Email Mining with BIRDS, QWAM, and Walrus

QWAM by Karen Sophia Colon

My Back Hurts

Yeah. My back hurts like real bad. Not sure why, but it's been very distracting. I'm stretching and eating ibuprofen like candy in an attempt to make it out to hear some music and to take some pictures tonight.

Anyway...

I was digging through the emails today (as I sat, in pain, in my office chair. Have I whined enough now?) and came up with a few things to share on this holiday weekend Saturday.

BIRDS, "Most Ghost"

I mentioned BIRDS' Everything All At Once when it came out back in August. Earlier this month, the Brooklyn four-piece released a split single with their neighbors in Stuyedeyed. BIRDS' contribution is the fuzzed-up garage rocker, "Most Ghost."

Like the band's LP, "Most Ghost" draws on influences from psych to dream pop as it alternates between heavy and soaring.

I can be a little slow on the uptake around here, and I didn't post this in time to tell you about the tour that BIRDS just finished up with Stuyedeyed. But that means they're back in Brooklyn, and I can hopefully catch a set from them soon.

The split is available now from Greenway Records.



QWAM, "Doggie Door"

A couple of weeks ago, Brooklyn punk quartet QWAM announced that they'd be releasing their debut EP, Feed Me, in January. They accompanied the announcement with lead single "Doggie Door."

With rapid-fire percussion and shout along "whoah-ohs," "Doggie Door" is a two-minute, fist-pumping anthem. "Take your badge of way too cool / And drown it in your backyard pool." QWAM clearly have little patience for phonies.

You can pre-order Feed Me over at QWAM's Bandcamp page.



Walrus, "Family Hangover"

Walrus are from Halifax, Nova Scotia. They've played on bills with Ty Segall and Preoccupations. This past summer, they released their debut LP Family Hangover. The album blends dreamy, Beatle-esque pop and psychedelia with some heavy freakouts.

That's exemplified on the album's title track for which the band released a video on Halloween. The clip focuses on a family that could be out of the Alien Nation TV series of the late 80s as they celebrate a birthday party. Things are calm and bucolic until everybody starts downing the PBRs.

Walrus released the Luke McCutcheon and Michael Yablonski-directed clip on Halloween, but I think it plays pretty well post-Thanksgiving.

Family Hangover is out now on Madic Records.



Enjoy the rest of your weekend; and, if you know any secret backache remedies, pass them on.

That Was Some Week, Huh? Round Up with Modern Leisure, Reptaliens, and BIRDS

Fried-Day

I spent most of last week with CoolDaughter #1 in and around Richmond, VA. She had two events in the 2017 Eastern Zone Long Course Swim Championships separated by four days, so we had plenty of opportunity to spend some time together. We did some rafting down the James River through Richmond. We hit Kings Dominion. On Friday, we spent the afternoon in Charlottesville at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation does a nice job presenting all sides of our founding father; and, by itself, our trip to Monticello was a pretty heavy and contemplative experience. We headed back to Richmond for the next day's events just before all hell broke loose in Charlottesville. Maybe I'm too sensitive, but the whole week since has been one big psychological drain.

Anyway...

I spent a good chunk of today sifting through stuff that came in while we were away, and I wanted to share some of that with you in the hopes of ending the week on a positive note.

Modern Leisure, "The Secret Art"

Modern Lesiure is the indie pop project of Denver's Casey Banker. "The Secret Art" is the first single from that project's upcoming Super Sad Rom-Com. Banker calls it a "thesis statement for the album" which, he says, covers the romantic trials and tribulations of his young adulthood.

The song has a pristine sound that brings to my mind some of the early 21st century indie pop -- especially of the Elephant 6 variety (Beulah, Apples In Stereo) -- that has always made me so happy.

"The Secret Art" is available now digitally and as a limited 7". Super Sad Rom-Com comes out on 10/20 via Guilty Pleasure Records, and I'll be looking for it.



Reptaliens, "If You Want"

Portland, Oregon's Reptaliens formed after now husband and wife Cole and Bambi Browning met on a basketball court. They released the first single from their upcoming FM-2030 earlier this week in the form of "If You Want."

The band say they take their name from "their interests in cult mentality, transhumanism, and conspiracy theories;" but "If You Want" is a pretty straightforward, dreamy, pop love song. I'm always a sucker for twinkly, twee-sounding pop and "If You Want" nails it.

FM-2030 comes out on 10/6 via Captured Tracks.



BIRDS, Everything All at Once

I got this album from Brooklyn's BIRDS just the other day, and I've been spending a lot of time with it. Originally the solo project, of singer / guitarist Duane Lauginiger, BIRDS are now a full band featuring Jessica Reynoza (bass / vocals), Jess Rees (guitar), and Tim Plunkett (drums). Everything All at Once is an infectious combination of psych, pop, and garage rock.

Tracks like "Scatter," "Get Away," and "I Can't Wait" feel a little bit like the proto-shoegaze of The Jesus And Mary Chain. "Falling" displays the influence of a kind of 70s, George Harrison-type pop. There's a heavy element of psychedelic rock here, especially on songs like "I Can't Wait" and "Slow Time;" but BIRDS resist the temptation to go for the free-form, jammy freakout and, instead, manage to keep things tight and cohesive.

Everything All at Once is available now digitally and on cassette via Greenway Records.



Have a good weekend everybody, and be good to each other.