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| New Shellshag! |
It Ain't Over
At the end of the year, with everyone dumping their TopBestFavorite lists on you, it's easy to miss some of the new stuff that comes along. This is just a little reminder that we've still got a little more than two weeks left in 2016, and there's still a chance to make this a great year. It's slim, I know; but these bands are here to help in any way they can.
Shellshag, "More Survival Tips from the Bay"
It's always great to get new music from one of your favorite bands. Shellshag's songs are often catchy and upbeat, even when they're about difficult subjects. "Hello My Name Is," the A-side on this three-song single is an example of that as Shell sings, "I got a little monkey on my back / Now the quicksand's up to my neck / Rescue me."
Shellshag recorded the title track for San Francisco's Streetopia, providing lyrics for music by Matty Luv and Aesop Decker who both get mentions in the song. Part of Shellshag's heart is always in the Bay Area, and that comes out in the song.
This was a nice, little, year-end surprise for me. "More Survival Tips from the Bay" is available now via Shellshag's Starcleaner Records.
Yawn Mower, Yawn Mower Ruins Christmas
Just today, our buds in Yawn Mower released this 5-song Christmas EP. Every band needs a Christmas record, right? Here, we get Yawn Mower's take on classics like "Frosty the Snowman" and "Silent Night." That means noisy, fuzzy versions of some of your favorites; and you get an Asbury-born version of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" that isn't the mind-numbingly ubiquitous version you hear every year. That alone makes this one worth it.
Yawn Mower Ruins Christmas is available as a Name Your Price download over at Yawn Mower's Bandcamp page or as a limited-edition 7" lathe-cut vinyl from In The Clouds Records.
Ba Babes, "Dareo Days / Come Back Home (With Me)"
Toms River garage rockers, Ba Babes, have done a few dates recently featuring their original two-piece lineup of James Reilly and Michael Walsh. As sort of a commemoration of that, I guess, the band released for the first time two songs recorded back in 2011.
Recorded by Nicky G at The Byrdhouse in Toms River with help from Biff Swenson (currently of some band called Yawn Mower), both tracks are fast, frantic, lo-fi garage rock. They're the kind of thing to which you want to be bouncing wildly as you spill beer all over anyone within a few feet of you. Both Nick and Biff have also played in various incarnations of Ba Babes over the years; and, whatever the future holds for the band, this release is a nice little record of a moment in their history.
The tracks are available as a Name Your Price download or as a very limited lathe-cut vinyl over at Ba Babes' Bandcamp page. Ba Babes original, two-piece lineup plays Deck The Hall 4 in Asbury Park's Convention Hall this Saturday, 12/17.
