Odds and Ends. Catching Up.

Twin Peaks at Wonder Bar

Quiet But Busy

I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, but I've really had a hard time sitting down and focusing on writing for the blog lately. The last 12 months have been stressful, to say the least; and I'm sure anyone who's been dealing with some heavy issues in their life can relate to the exhaustion and loss of focus that can come with just getting through every day. That said, I have maintained a pretty rigorous show-going schedule. I've been taking pictures and trying to keep the CoolDad Music Instagram account active. One of the things that I used to pride myself on here at CoolDad Music, though, was sharing the details of my live music experiences. With that in mind, here are some of the highlights from the past week or so.

Thursday, 9/27. Alvvays, Snail Mail, Hatchie at Warsaw

No camera for Alvvays, so phone pics will have to do.

It feels like I had tickets to this one for months. Turns out that was a good idea because Alvvays sold out three consecutive nights at Warsaw in Brooklyn. Thursday was their second night at the venue headlining an absolutely amazing bill that also featured Snail Mail and Australia's Hatchie.

A few weeks ago, it became clear that CoolMom wasn't gonna make this one, so I reached out to my fellow Alvvays fans, the Bornemanns, to see if anyone wanted to join me. Emily already had plans to see one of the shows, so Justin and I made the trip up to Brooklyn together. This was the second time that I wasn't able to obtain photo credentials to shoot Alvvays in Brooklyn; so it was just enjoy the show with my buddy, which is always cool. Oh, also, pierogies.

Opener Hatchie, whose Sugar & Spice EP came out this past spring, opened with her ethereal and accessible dream pop. I heard a lot of 80s alternative pop influence in her sound -- at one point turning to Justin and mentioning that I was getting a John Hughes movie vibe. I also kept thinking of The Sundays.

Hatchie

Snail Mail have been relentless road dogs since the release of Lush back in June. I felt like they changed up the tempo on a couple of the songs like "Heat Wave" and "Pristine" from the recorded versions, slowing things down just a bit. Even so, the set flew by and I was surprised and slightly bummed when it ended. Always leave 'em wanting more isn't a bad thing, though. There was a healthy portion of the sold-out crowd that was there specifically to see Lindsey Jordan and company, and they ate it up.

Snail Mail

A couple of random notes from Snail Mail's set: Drummer Ray Brown carried his snare on stage in a case adorned with a RockNRoll HiFives sticker. Lindsey Jordan's referring to Alvvays as a "no mistakes core" band was spot on.

Alvvays blew me away. As Jordan pointed out, they were amazingly tight and on-point. Molly Rankin's vocals were so perfect that I had to look and listen closely a couple of times just to see whether or not the band were playing to tracks. They weren't. The set was everything I, as a big fan of the band, could have wanted. It featured my favorite songs ("In Undertow," "Lollipop," "Plimsoll Punks," "Adult Diversion," "Next of Kin," and stone classic "Archie, Marry Me," among others) from both of Alvvays's stunning albums. Understandably, the set was heavier on the band's sophomore record, Antisocialites; but that was fine by me.

This ranks as one of the best bills / shows, top-to-bottom, that I've seen.

Saturday, 9/29. Twin Peaks, Lowlight at Wonder Bar for Sea. Hear. Now Late Show

Twin Peaks

I didn't make it to any of the Sea. Hear. Now festival this weekend in Asbury Park. From what I saw on Instagram and Facebook, it looked absolutely packed. When Chris Dickman and I got to Asbury Park on Saturday night for this show, the place was hopping.

The cooldaughters had their first swim meet of the season this weekend, and heading out to an all-day festival for two days just wasn't in the cards for me. When Lowlight announced they'd be opening this after-show for Twin Peaks, though. I immediately made plans to attend.

As I waited on the ID line to get into the venue, multiple groups of festival-goers in front of me opted to leave rather than pay the $23 cover at the door. I guess I understand that given that they'd already paid for a two-day festival pass and would be able to catch Twin Peaks on the Park Stage the following night. But I can just about guarantee that seeing the band on the big festival stage was nothing compared to seeing them in what ended up being a rowdy, sweaty, and packed-out Wonder Bar.

First things first, though. I did my usual thing (which is, admittedly, getting kind of old) of getting inside and walking up front to stake out a spot to shoot the photo-pitless show. [Aside: Yes, the "three songs and out" rule in the photo pit is arbitrary and annoying; but give me a photo pit and its forced limitations over fighting the crowd every day of the week.] Twin Peaks' fans seem pretty dedicated, and the crowd was already filling in an hour or more before the band was set to take the stage. I was pretty much stuck with one vantage point for the entire show, but that's life.

Lowlight

Lowlight kicked things off and really connected with the Twin Peaks crowd. Lowlight's synth-soaked, expansive sound may not seem like an obvious pairing with Twin Peaks' garage rock leanings; but everyone around me up front was pretty much going nuts for them. That's a testament right there to the fact that good songs always win out. This was another case where the opening set was just a little too short for me, but something tells me I'll catch Lowlight again.

Twin Peaks fans

By the time Twin Peaks hit the stage, Wonder Bar was either sold out or damn close to it. The Chicago band put on a great live show, and their fans love them. I stuck it out up front to get a few shots, but I started to feel like I should let some of these people get up close to their heroes and bailed after a few songs. I kept watching from different points in the venue, and the guys had the crowd going apeshit. Again, if you opted to wait until you saw this band on the big stage outside (where I'm sure they were great, but still...), you done blew it.

Sunday, 9/30. The RockNRoll HiFives at Hoboken Fall Arts & Music Festival

The RockNRoll HiFives

The Centenos have relocated their base of operations to North Carolina, but yesterday they returned to New Jersey to play an afternoon set at the Hoboken Fall Arts & Music Festival. They played the big stage; and, at one point, Joe commented on how cool it was to be playing that stage in Hoboken after all the years he and Gloree had spent walking up and down Washington Street together.

I made the trip up to my early-90s home to catch and catch-up with my friends. They had a good crowd of supporters as well as, I'm sure, people seeing them for the first time. It was a beautiful day; and, as always, The RockNRoll HiFives gave it everything they had in a high-energy, ultra-positive set. Joe flew threw the air. Eilee wildly tossed her hair. Gloree and Evren held everything together with precision.

Not all heroes wear capes, but some do.

When they were done, it was hugs and a little bit of chit-chat before I headed back home for dinner with the CoolFamily. It was a quick hit, but totally worth it.
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So that's that. I'm really going to make a concerted effort to get some reviews and stuff posted on the site this week, especially with the North Jersey Indie Rock Festival -- which I'm co-sponsoring again -- coming up this Saturday at White Eagle Hall. No promises, but you can always stay up to date with my comings and goings by keeping an eye on the Flickr galleries and Instagram.

NJ Stuff from The Skullers, Lowlight, and The RockNRoll Hi-Fives

Lowlight released a live album last week.

Catching Up

I've been trying to build a little bit of blog / life balance into my routine lately. The obsession with cycling that consumed me in my late teens / early twenties has returned, and I've been getting out there almost daily this summer. And I've been making an effort to spend a little more time with the coolfamily rather than out at so many shows. That's led to my posting a lot less around here and falling waaay behind on the email and release games. Oh well. There have been a few things recently that I've been meaning to call your attention to, so here are some of those.

The Skullers, "I'm Your Man"

Last month, NJ blues rockers The Skullers released a cover of Richard Hell's "I'm Your Man." All proceeds from the song go to benefit Career Gear. Career Gear provides "professional clothing, mentoring and life-skills to help men in poverty become stronger contributors to their families and communities."

The band had the opportunity to meet with the Career Gear team in their New York offices and donated some suits to help further the organization's mission.



The Skullers' take on the Richard Hell b-side combines singer / guitarist Jack Skuller's passion for the blues with bassist Luigi Sardi's punk leanings into a version that's become a fan favorite at the band's live shows. Check out the Skullers' cover of "I'm Your Man" below.

The band will play the Johnny Thunders Birthday Bash at The Bowery Electric on July 15th.



Lowlight, It's Later Than You Think

Two of my favorite live music moments from the last 18 months or so happened both times I saw Lowlight open for Pretenders. The first time, at Terminal 5, I got a little choked up watching friends of mine play the stage at a big venue in the big city as they opened for rock royalty. The second time, at Red Bank's Count Basie Theatre, it was wonderful to see the outpouring of support from all of the Jersey locals who turned out and helped sell out the show. In both cases, as always, Lowlight gave an honest and heartfelt performance. That's always been the appeal of the band to me. No matter how many times I see them live or hear their songs, the band deliver the set as if it were the first (or maybe the last) time.

Last week, Lowlight released a live album that was recorded during their last run with Pretenders. It's Later Than You Think includes live renditions of cuts from both the band's full-length (Where Do We Go From Here) and their recent EP (Born to Run).

The versions here of, say, "Motel Chronicles," "'86 Parisienne," or "Nights and Weekends" illustrate what I'm talking about. Even through a recording, Lowlight's live performance reaches into your chest and grabs you in a way that few other bands do.

The set also includes performances of some unreleased songs like "California Blue" and songwriter Renee Maskin's journalistic observations of life in Asbury Park, "Locals Only." Both of these tracks should, once and for all, get people to stop trying to pigeonhole Lowlight as a country / Americana act. And no Lowlight live recording would be complete without a bit of Maskin's trademark TV-MA ("My mom hates this.") banter.

It's Later Than You Think is out now.



The RockNRoll Hi-Fives, Re-Introducing The RockNRoll Hi-Fives

At the risk of fully transforming this site into CoolDadMusicRockNRollHiFives.com, I need to at least tell you about the band's debut full-length, which came out last week.

I've reviewed every one of The RockNRoll Hi-Fives' EPs: here, here, and here. I've booked the band for many, many shows (including the first show I ever threw in 2014). I freaking lived with the Centenos for two weeks as we toured Japan this past April. There's no possible way for me to be impartial about this record. With all that out of the way, I can tell you that this album is an absolute blast. Made up of most of the band's 2016 EP, the Beat the Sound the Dragon's Roar, four new tracks, and Hi-Fives' classic "Livin' the Lost Boy Life," Re-Introducing The RockNRoll Hi-Fives is a glam-infused, hook-filled, loud rock and roll party.

You can hear the increased confidence and skill that have come from doing this family project for the last four-or-so years. Relatively new musicians Gloree, Evren, and Eilee have grown into serious rockers; and veteran guitar hero, Joe, doesn't have to do anywhere near as much of the heavy lifting as before. Eilee has become a legitimate force as a frontperson. Moonlight Mile Recording's Mike Moebius has captured all of this perfectly.

I've seen The RockNRoll Hi-Fives perform almost more times than I can count. I can't hear "Hold On" without seeing Eilee's sneakers stomp around the stage in time with the chugging chorus. I can't hear "Same Mistakes" without seeing her throw her hair as she sings "Honey You. Make the Same! Mis! Takes! I! Do!" I can see Joe doing his "guitar jumping jacks" or running back and forth across the stage during "C'est La Vie." And, while you may not have the same images in your mind as I do, I think anyone listening to this can feel that same energy.

I think I've said some version of this in every one of the reviews I've written of a RockNRoll Hi-Fives' release, so I'll say it again: Music connects people. The RockNRoll Hi-Fives connect with each other as they make music and, in doing that, they bring us all into their orbit.

Re-Introducing The RockNRoll Hi-Fives is out now on Little Dickman Records.

New Stuff for a Weird Friday from Quiet Slang and The RockNRoll Hi-Fives

The RockNRoll Hi-Fives

Closure

This has been a weird Friday around here. On the Jersey Shore, we're on like day 47 in a row of rain. The fact that Asbury Lanes is forever gone will be driven home this evening as the new venue at that address holds its "soft opening." This morning, I watched the guy who caused my brother's accident get handcuffed and taken away to serve out his seven-year prison sentence. Weird, to say the least.

At times like this, when I'm feeling kind of disconnected and disjointed, I turn to music that holds meaning for me.

Quiet Slang, "Bad Art & Weirdo Ideas"

Beach Slang's James Alex released Everything Matters But No One Is Listening today. Put out under the name Quiet Slang, the album re-imagines the melodramatic, romantic, and loud punk rock of Beach Slang. Alex calms things down, adding piano and strings where before there were "Guitar, bass, and drums. Played loudly."

Beach Slang were the last band to play Asbury Lanes before it closed in 2015, and I always associate  "Bad Art & Weirdo Ideas" -- and screaming along to that song with friends old and new in the front row -- with that evening.

It seems appropriate that we get this sad, quiet version of that song, along with the rest of Everything Matters..., on this dreary, rainy day when it becomes official that Asbury Lanes is never coming back.

Everything Matters But No One Is Listening is out now on Polyvinyl.



The RockNRoll Hi-Fives, "Hold On"

The RockNRoll Hi-Fives played the first set I got out to see following my brother's accident. I don't know if it was the best set they ever played. I don't know if it was the worst set they ever played. I don't know if it fell somewhere in between. What I do know is that show was exactly what I needed right when I needed it. The songs that The RockNRoll Hi-Fives played that night gave me the push I needed to get myself through the immensely difficult next few days and beyond.

I recently accompanied Joe, Gloree, Eilee, and Evren Centeno on their tour of Japan. We spent lots and lots of time together; and I got to feel that same lift, that same push, at each show. It was like getting a little refill every couple of days of the fuel I needed to keep on keeping on.

Earlier this week, the band released the first single from their forthcoming LP, Re-Introducing the RockNRoll Hi-Fives. With "Hold On," the family band take their sound into the glam stratosphere; and it's one of the songs on which Eilee really comes into her own as front-person. I can't help but see her flaming Vans stomping around the stage every time that chorus comes around.

Re-Introducing The RockNRoll Hi-Fives comes out June 29th on Little Dickman Records, and the band will play Asbury Park Yacht Club next week, May 26th, with our good friends in Dentist.

Ken Geiger's Album Round-Up

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New Stuff from Ella Ross, The Cold Seas, A Deer A Horse

"Cold Shoulder" artwork and layout by Rachel R. Adler.

Gettin' Back into the Swing of Things

I won't be able to ride this excuse for much longer, but I've spent the better part of March getting ready for, attending, or recovering from South By Southwest. The world keeps turning, though, even when I'm on my little musical Spring Break; and there are a few things I wanted to share with you even though I may be a little late to the party.

Ella Ross, "Hurt."

Asbury Park-based singer / songwriter, Ella Ross, is working on the follow-up to last year's Uncharted Waters EP. Her sophomore effort, Wasted Youth, is due this summer; and, earlier this month, Ross shared single "Hurt."

Ross co-wrote "Hurt." with Tor Miller; and, like she did with Uncharted Waters, Ross went into Asbury's Lakehouse Recording Studios to record the track. The song is expansive, danceable pop rock about moving forward with someone against your better judgment. "Hurt." has a sound that I could see taking Ella Ross pretty far.

"Hurt." is available from your favorite digital music outlet.



The Cold Seas, "Retrograde"

Another Asbury Park band, The Cold Seas, released the video for their single "Retrograde" last Friday.

The Cold Seas are Eric Rudic (guitar / keys), Nash Breen (drums), and Chad Sabo (vox / guitar / keys). The band are coming off a string of successes that include a tour with NJ compatriots, Armor For Sleep, a set at Brooklyn's Barclay's Center alongside Deadmau5 and D.R.A.M., and Sabo's production and songwriting work on Rihanna's platinum-selling Anti.

"Retrograde" is the first of several singles the band plan to release throughout 2018 as a follow-up to last year's Bad Dreams EP. "Retrograde" is brooding, synth-heavy pop; and the black and white clip directed by Dom P plays right into the song's overall mood. The song deals with longing for the past, and there's a dreamy quality to the video that has moments that play like memories.



A Deer A Horse, "Cold Shoulder"

From slick, Asbury Park pop, we turn to jagged, Brooklyn rock.

A Deer A Horse are back with a new single "Cold Shoulder." The song finds the trio of Rebecca Satellite (guitar / vox), Angela Phillips (bass / backing vox), and Dylan Teggart (drums) hammering out another artfully aggressive slice of post-punk noise. Confrontational both sonically and lyrically, "Cold Shoulder" builds tension and demands your attention through tempo changes and some off-kilter beats.

It's available now over at A Deer A Horse's Bandcamp page as a download or as a limited edition cassingle from GP Stripes.

New Stuff from Quiet Slang, Japanese Breakfast, Big Ups

James Alex will be releasing a Quiet Slang LP.

Trying to Swim through the Flood

The South By Southwest music festival starts next week; and, when I signed up, I checked the little box that said I'd be willing to have showcasing artists contact me with information. Hoo boy. Let's just say it's been a lot. I'm pretty much a one-man show here with very poor organizational skills and the flood of incoming information has been sort of paralyzing. A good problem to have, I guess.

Anyway.

I made an effort over the last couple of days to try and make sense of what's coming in, and I'll share some of the SXSW- and non-SXSW-related stuff I find most interesting in a series of round-up posts.

Quiet Slang, "Dirty Cigarettes"

Quiet Slang is the solo, acoustic project of Beach Slang frontman James Alex. In October of last year, Alex released we were babies & we were dirtbags, a four-song, Quiet Slang EP featuring reworked versions of a pair of Beach Slang tracks ("Future Mixtape for the Art Kids," "Bad Art & Weirdo Ideas") along with covers of The Replacements' "Androgynous" and Big Star's "Thirteen."

Today, Alex announced that the first Quiet Slang LP, Everything Matters But No One Is Listening, is due from Polyvinyl on May 18th. To coincide with the announcement, Quiet Slang gives us the video for "Dirty Cigarettes." This version replaces the wall of guitars found on Cheap Thrills on a Dead End Street with piano and strings. The video features Mynabirds' Laura Burhenn and Heather McIntosh of the Elephant 6 collective.

James Alex is bringing his Quiet Slang to Austin for a couple of sets at SXSW next week, and [Loud] Beach Slang will be opening for Dashboard Confessional on a tour that brings them to The Stone Pony on April 2nd.



Japanese Breakfast, "Boyish"

Japanese Breakfast's Soft Sounds from Another Planet, with its combination of shoegaze, dreampop, and general spaciness, was one of our favorite albums of 2017. Japanese Breakfast is the solo project of Michelle Zauner, but Zauner has collaborated with Adam Kolodny on several videos. Zauner and Kolodny worked together once again on the video for "Boyish," and the clip shows that Japanese Breakfast is maturing visually as well as musically.

The song has kind of a sad, 60s vibe; and its themes of insecurity and unrequited love are captured perfectly by the setting of a school dance.



One of my great regrets has to be that I still haven't managed to catch Japanese Breakfast live. A spring / summer tour makes its way to TCNJ on 3/23, Warsaw in Brooklyn (SOLD OUT) on 5/31, Philly's Union Transfer on 6/3, and Panorama Fest in NYC on 7/28. Maybe I'll check that box after all.

Soft Sounds from Another Planet is out now on Dead Oceans.

Big Ups, "PPP"

I stumbled upon a set from Big Ups at the end of a long day at Northside Festival a couple of years ago. It was a stifling hot evening at Silent Barn, and I was spent. The band's energy, though, was contagious; and I left that show pumped and a fan.

Joe Galarraga (vocals), Brendan Finn (drums), Amar Lal (guitar), and Carlos Salguero Jr. (bass) have been at it for eight years. The post-hardcore four-piece have produced two essential albums in Eighteen Hours of Static and Before A Million Universes; and, yesterday, they announced that their third LP, Two Parts Together, would be out on May 18th via Exploding In Sound.

"PPP" is the first single from that record. The song is thrashing and confrontational. It uses the image of looking into a broken crystal ball as a metaphor for the way people can create their own, biased versions of the truth: "see what you wanna see, you wanna see, you wanna see."

Some Early-in-the-Year Stuff from The Double Negatives, Toy Cars, and Hot Blood

Kiley croons the bad news.

NJ Pals

It's been kinda slow going around here lately. January 19th seems to be the big 2018 kick-off for releases; and the bitter cold we've been experiencing locally (along with two snow days for the cooldaughters) has sent me into a kind of stasis, I think. That's all ok because we've got a big week ahead.

Here are some new things coming out of the frozen Garden State for you to check out as we start kicking things into high gear around here.

The Double Negatives, "My Sun Is Setting" / "Commas"

This Belmar-based five-piece kicked off 2018 with the release of "My Sun Is Setting" / "Commas." The singles showcase The Double Negatives' hard to pin down style. "My Sun Is Setting" is a pretty straightforward, indie / garage rocker in the vein of something like Arctic Monkeys; while "Commas" veers off into some jammier, spacier directions.

You can see The Double Negatives this Thursday, January 11th, at The Saint when they kick off the annual Light of Day festival. They'll be on a bill that includes a host of Asbury-area bands including our good friends, Dentist.



Toy Cars, "Iron Me Out"

Toy Cars will be bucking this year's trend. They'll be coming in a week ahead of everyone else when they release Paint Brain this Friday, January 12th. Last week, the band shared "Iron Me Out" off of that record.

I've always had a hard time classifying Toy Cars' sound. There are elements of NJ-bred emo or pop-punk, I guess. Mostly, though, the sound serves the subject matter at hand. "Iron Me Out" effectively builds tension throughout as it deals with the consequences of keeping thoughts and feelings bottled up inside.

Toy Cars celebrate the release of Paint Brain on Friday, January 19th, at Asbury Park's House of Independents. Joining them for that one will be Halogens, Well Wisher, DRMCTHR, and latewaves.



Hot Blood, "Nuclear Summer"

We've got a loose cannon in the White House engaging in a Twitter war with the head of a rogue state who happens to be in possession of nuclear weapons. What could possibly go wrong?

Leave it to our friends in Hot Blood to tackle the issues of the day head-on. Today, the band released the first single off of their upcoming Fear of a Unified Public LP in the form of a video for "Nuclear Summer." The song is to-the-point as Kiley tells it like it is, gently breaking the news that, "We're all going to die," as is his way.

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.

Friday Stuff from SLEEPiES and Blushing

Friday Listening

It's been kind of a free-form day around here. I've spent some time listening to new releases. I set up one of the guitars that I use alone in my room every day to play the same 5 or 6 songs over and over again. I tried getting the last-minute word out about our free Brixton Riot record release show tonight at Asbury Park Yacht Club that also features Dentist and The RockNRoll HiFives (This was a plug). I ate a big salad.

Here are two kinda newish things that I've spent some time with while doing all of that super-important stuff.

SLEEPiES, Melt To You

SLEEPiES are a favorite of mine from the early days of CoolDad Music. It's been almost five years since I glommed onto their Weird Wild World, and that album is still one I find myself going back to even to this day.

About a month ago, SLEEPiES released the four-song Melt To You on Mirror Universe Tapes; and it reminds me of the things I've always liked about this band. "Barf Haus" and "Detective Behavior" are both high-strung, brittle, jittery. Vintage SLEEPiES. "Hive Shadow" trades some of SLEEPiES' manic energy for darker, more bass-heavy post-punk. Melt To You closes with kind of a surf / spy rock / western take on Gary U.S. Bonds's "I Wanna Holler."

I've always been drawn to SLEEPiES' attention to detail. A quick listen to a SLEEPiES track, and you may come away thinking that this is lovably messy punk rock. But just an extra minute reveals a deep well of influences -- from 80s punk / post-punk / hardcore to the aforementioned surf sound -- deployed in all the right spots.

Melt To You is out now on Mirror Universe Tapes.



Blushing, "Weak"

Blushing by Jake Soto

Let's stay with the idea of 80s influences for a minute, but we'll move on to a slightly different set of sounds: The Cure, Cocteau Twins, Lush, The Sundays (first single, 1989). Early dream pop / proto-shoegaze. Whatever you wanna call it, it's a big influence on Austin's Blushing.

Blushing formed in 2015 when Michelle Soto (guitar, vocals) shared some songs with her friend, classically-trained vocalist, Christina Carmona (vocals, bass). They fleshed out Soto's ideas and filled out the band with their spouses Jake Soto (guitar, keys) and Noe Carmona (drums).

Back in January, the four-piece released their debut EP, Tether. Earlier this week, they announced that their second EP, Weak, would arrive on January 26, 2018 via Austin Town Hall Records. Blushing also shared the EP's title track.

"Weak" goes all in on that combination of swirling and explosive that shoegaze nerdlings (a phrase I stole from a tweet by SLEEPiES, funnily enough, and still use often) like me swoon over. The intertwining vocals, all the delay, reverb, chorus, whatever. It's just my thing. What can I say?

You can stream "Weak" over at Blushing's Bandcamp page.

New(ish) EPs from Ragged Lines, Fun While You Wait, and The Values

I Have No Plan Here

I've written before about having to have some kind of spreadsheet or schedule to keep track of all the things I want to mention here. The way my mind works, though, taking the time to get organized and build schedules and enter stuff into spreadsheets or calendars just seems like a whole bunch of extra work. That, plus the fact that, every time I've ever tried something like that, new, shiny objects have come along to distract me and mess the whole thing up.

Anyway.

Here are a few EPs I've been meaning to mention for a couple of weeks now.

Ragged Lines, Red Lights, Your Ghost

Following the dissolution of his former band, Monterey, singer / guitarist Carter Henry began performing as Ragged Lines. That project expanded to a duo with the addition of Lucas Dalakian on bass and eventually grew to its current three-piece form when Matt Viani joined to play drums.

Earlier this month, Ragged Lines released their first proper EP in the form of Red Lights, Your Ghost. I spent a lot of time with the EP this week, and it's a truly impressive debut. All of the songs here are big, from the pop rock of "Rut" and "Red Eye" to the blues of "Warm Visions" to the swaying, almost 50s vibe of "She's Been Waiting."

Red Lights, Your Ghost is heartfelt and full of self-examination throughout, but the band and producer Erik Romero manage to make it rock.

Red Lights, Your Ghost is out now.



Fun While You Wait, Of Course

Freehold's Fun While You Wait released Of Course on September 1st. We premiered opening track "Yes / No" here; and, back then, I said that Fun While You Wait sound "like what you might get if Neutral Milk Hotel made pop love songs instead of songs about Anne Frank."

There is definitely an Elephant 6-ish organic feel to all of the songs here. The ukulele, Bruce Krywinski's trumpet, singer Devon Moore's vocals. There's a lightness that you'd expect on songs like the optimistic, you-and-me-against-the-world "Silver Linings" or the tropical feeling "Evergreens." But even on the more serious tracks like "Ghost Ship" and "Wolves," the arrangements allow Moore's voice to shine. "Wolves," especially, which goes out on a raucous outro would be something totally different -- heavier more jammy -- if it were more electrified. Here it has the feel of a kind of, I don't know, hootenanny? Is that a dumb word? Anyway, it's fun.

Of Course is out now.



The Values, The Values

Brooklyn's The Values released their latest, self-titled EP about two weeks ago. The band's sound centers on synths and the powerful, intertwining vocals of Mason Taub and Nathalie and Mel Escudero. The band draw on a disparate set of influences over the course of the EP.

Opener "Colors," for which the band recently released a Thomas Ignatius-directed video, has a new wave, 80s, synth-pop vibe; while "Hey Julia" is more in-line with what you'd hear today on SiriusXMU: mellow, slinky, soulful. "Polyester" feels like it's straight off of the cast album to a 70s Broadway, rock opera.

That last, theatrical, aspect is the theme that runs through the entire EP. The Values differ from a lot of what you hear coming out of the Brooklyn scene by virtue of their unselfconscious and refreshing theatricality. I've never seen The Values perform, but I can only imagine how that vibe translates to their live show.

The Values is out now.

Some New Stuff from Underlined Passages, Bully, and Sharkmuffin

Sharkmuffin released a new video and have several upcoming NJ dates.

Inbox'n

Today was a crazy morning. Both cooldaughters left for swim practice just after 6am. Then it started to pour and thunder. The coaches kept them there waiting for the thunder and lightning to pass until it became clear that they wouldn't be able to practice. They finally called practice at about 7am, and the mom who had driven the kids had to turn around to go back and pick them up. But CoolDaughter 1 and another member of the team have the Zones swim meet next week, so their coach kept them -- and only them -- behind to get in a few laps. CoolDaughter 2 walked into the house, and we both got in the car to go pick up the last two girls. Anyway, crazy. You don't care.

Here are some things from the inbox that caught my attention over the last few days.

Underlined Passages, "Silverlake"

I first came across Baltimore's Underlined Passages at last year's North Jersey Indie Rock Festival. They were one of the two bands I got to introduce for the day, so I made it a point to familiarize myself with their catalog. As an introduction to my introduction, I wrote a review of 2016's The Fantastic Quest.

The duo of Michael Nestor (guitar / vocals) and Jamaal Turner (drums) just announced that they'll be releasing their new album, Tandi My Dicafi, on on September 15th via Mint400 Records. They gave us single "Silverlake" as a preview.

The band say they're going for a heavier sound on Tandi My Dicafi; and, to that end, they worked with Frank Marchand (The Thermals, Bob Mould) on the recording and mixing. "Silverlake" definitely has a bigger sound than much of The Fantastic Quest, but it also retains the jangly dreaminess that first drew me to Underlined Passages.



Underlined Passages play Brighton Bar this Sunday, August 6th, as part of The Clydes' EP release party along with Casino Sundae and Trim Tabs.

Bully, "Feel the Same"

Bully's debut, Feels Like, was one of my favorite album's of 2015. As frontperson and engineer, Alicia Bognanno gave Bully's major label debut a rawness and honesty that I don't often think of when I think of "alt rock" anymore. But the album gave me a pre-Nevermind, before everything went bananas kind of vibe.

Bully recently announced that they'll be releasing their next album, Losing, with Sub Pop on October 20th; and the match between Bully's 90s-influenced sound and the Seattle label just feels right. Bognanno, once again, engineered this one at Chicago's Electrical Audio. We get the first taste of what's to come with first single "Feel the Same." There are clear influences here from Pixies and Sonic Youth, and Bognanno's rasp is back to rough things up.



Sharkmuffin, "Factory"

Sharkmuffin released a video for Tsuki track, "Factory," last week. The Eric Durkin-directed clip employs an old-style silent film look to tell the story of some factory workers turned vampire factory owners who ultimately have to save their business from a small-handed con artist.

It looks like the band had a lot of fun with this one. And who doesn't love vampires?

Sharkmuffin are getting set to head out AGAIN on tour; and they've got several dates this month lined up in the Garden State, including an August 19th appearance at The Mad Liberation Festival in Hammonton, NJ.

Check out the video for "Factory" and all of Sharkmuffin's upcoming dates below.



Sharkmuffin on tour

8/11 @ Brooklyn Bazaar w/ Hanks Cupcakes
8/12 @ Porta Pizza, Jersey City, NJ w/ The Big Drops
8/16 @ The Meatlocker, Montclair, NJ~
8/19 @ Mad Liberation Fest, Hammonton, NJ~
8/20 TBA, Ashville, NC
8/22 @ Snug Harbor, Charlotte, NC~
8/23 @ TBA, Nashville, TN~
8/24 @ Best Friend Bar, Lexington, KY~
8/25 @ Jurassic Park, Chicago IL~
8/26 @ Milkies, Buffalo, NY~


~= w/ Wild Moon

A Few Post-Swim Meet Things from White Reaper, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, and Beaches

White Reaper at SXSW 2017

Is It August Yet?

Have I mentioned how crazy July is around here? I probably have. So many swim meets. I spent the first half of today at the NJ Junior Olympics swim meet where CoolDaughter #1 swam the (extremely grueling) 200m breaststroke. She qualified 6th for the finals, and CoolMom gets to take her back to Rutgers for that this evening. I've been pretty useless for much of the day since arriving at the pool for this morning's early warm-up, but a cup of cold brew perked me up. I've been going through the inbox to see what's what.

White Reaper, "Judy French"

How far this Louisville band have come in just a few short years. They've gone from playing to about 12 people on a rainy Wednesday at Asbury Lanes to making videos that star Alexandra Daddario as "the band."

"Judy French" is more of their arena-sized, hook-laden rock and roll; and the Brandon Dermer-directed video is simple in its execution and a great-looking complement to the The World's Best American Band highlight.

The World's Best American Band is out now on Polyvinyl.



The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, "When I Dance with You"

I fell in love with 2009, self-titled debut from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and absolutely wore the album out (metaphorically, of course) on runs, in the car, at my desk. I've been a fan of the Brooklyn band's retro-influenced indie pop ever since and was excited to hear about their upcoming fourth LP, The Echo of Pleasure, which is due from the band's own Painbow label as a digital release on 9/1 with physical copies to follow on 9/15.

"When I Dance with You" finds the band moving beyond the post-punk and shoegaze influences of their earlier efforts into something a little more synth-heavy. Even though he's working with some slightly different sounds here, frontman and songwriter, Kip Berman, still knows his way around a pop song.



Beaches, "When You're Gone"

Australian psych rock five-piece, Beaches, will be releasing a double LP, Second of Spring, with Chapter Music on 9/8. Earlier this week, they shared single "When You're Gone."

"When You're Gone" isn't so much a psychedelic freakout as it is a catchy, almost surfy, bit of fuzz pop. It's a contrast to earlier single, "Void," which is darker and hurtles along on a motorik beat. Taken together, what the band have shared so far shows that they can cover a wide range within the genre of psych rock. It should be pretty interesting to see what they do over the course of a double LP.

Stuff I've Been Listening To from Quality Living, Mise En Scene, Daddy Issues

Summertime

Eventful few days around CDMHQ.

Both cooldaughters reached educational milestones with CD #1 graduating from middle school and CD #2 "graduating" from fourth grade (which is a thing in our town). There were last-day-of-school parties; and both kiddos then immediately went into the summer long-course swimming season which means getting up before 6am to go to practice. Fun!

For our part, CoolMom and I spent her day off re-upping on the minvan life for a few more years when we replaced our Toyota Sienna with one that is 10 years newer. I'm sure we overpaid, but it's super nice with all that new technology -- like Bluetooth -- that all the kids use these days.

Anyway...

A few things...

Quality Living, "Oh No"

About a year ago, I premiered the very first single from Ringwood's Quality Living. That song, "Amber Sun," bounced along on a summery vibe that recalled AM radio pop as filtered through bands like The Shins or Real Estate.

Quality Living are back with new single, "Oh No;" and, once again, they show their facility with easygoing indie pop. The song is a nod to the surprises that can await at a basement show and captures that feeling of letting the moment take you where it will.

You can stream / download "Oh No" over on Quality Living's Bandcamp page.

The band return to Hansil's in Oakland, NJ on July 8th with Sniffling Indie Kids label mates LKFFCT and Adam and The Plants. Also on that bill are Ringwood's Night On The Sun.



Mise En Scene, "Waster"

I did pretty well at SXSW 2017 as far as checking bands I wanted to see off of my list. One of the bands I never managed to catch up with, though, was Winnipeg's Mise En Scene. Something about the band's combination of garage rock and soaring, country-esque vocals really drew me in. They just released single, "Waster," on Friday; and that's all there.

The song starts off sounding almost pop punk until Stefanie Blondal Johnson comes in to tell someone off with a voice that rings like a bell. "You're a waster. Yeah, you wasted time. I won't miss this..."

"Waster" is off of Mise En Scene's upcoming Still Life on Fire, which is due June 30th from Light Organ Records.



Daddy Issues, Deep Dream

I've had a few records in heavy rotation this spring: Charly Bliss's Guppy, Baked's Farnham, and Daddy Issues' Deep Dream. The Jake Orrall (JEFF The Brotherhood)-produced debut from Nashville trio, Daddy Issues, combines heavy, 90s-influenced fuzz with singer / songwriter-style honesty.

Opener "Mosquito Bite" thrums along as singer / guitarist Jenna Moynihan looks back at a bad relationship. She's bounced back, become a stronger person, and gained perspective. On "In Your Head," Moynihan imagines her ex imagining her miserable following their breakup. "High St." is fuzzy pop, the guitars and vocal harmonies working to give things a hazy, dreamy feel. The distorted country of "I'm Not" is soul-baring. Daddy Issues' cover of "Boys of Summer" transforms the 80s, MTV, buttoned-up coolness of that song into something that oozes a little blood and sweat.

This is one I keep coming back to -- in the car, at my desk. Moynihan, Jenna Mitchell (bass), and Emily Maxwell (drums) hit my favorite sweet spot somewhere between heavier rock and pop, and the lo-fi realness of it all is irresistible to me.

Anyway...

Deep Dream is out now via Infinity Cat Recordings. Daddy Issues play Brooklyn Bowl on June 30th with their Nashville compadres, Diarrhea Planet.

Bad Mood Stuff from Brackish, Trü, and Charly Bliss

Charly Bliss at Baby's All Right in May

I've Been in a Bad Mood...

...I'm not sure why exactly. I guess it's been a pretty stressful time as CoolDaughter #1 prepares to graduate from middle school while all of the other end-of-school-year stuff has been happening. I've seen CoolMom for a total of about 6 hours in the last two weeks. The coolvan's AC has been kind of on the fritz. And I'm just about through cleaning and disinfecting our shed of the giant pile of rodent shit that accumulated in there over the winter. Could be any one or a combination of those things.

That's kind of put a damper on my ability / motivation / desire to post stuff here, but there have been a few things I've been meaning to tell you about.

Brackish, "Teflon"

Philadelphia band Brackish announced last week that they'd be releasing a new 7". Coming Down is due later this summer from Black Numbers; and the band released first single, "Teflon," to go along with their announcement.

Brackish's late lead guitarist Chris Baranowski wrote all of the guitar parts for "Teflon;" and singer Connor Byrne says that the release is a tribute to his friend Chris as well as to the New Jersey punk bands who exerted so much influence on the pair when they were teenagers. That should tell you a lot about what you'll hear on "Teflon."

Check out the song; and you can check out Brackish when they play tonight, June 14th, upstairs at Philly's Kung Fu Necktie with Remnants, Evergreen, Jon Hernandez, and Greg Baker. On June 23rd. the band play Everybody Hits! with Captain We're Sinking, Loose Tooth, and Queen Jesus.



Trü, Trü

New Jersey four-piece Trü formed when guitarists Pat Defrancisci and Keith Williams cooked up a plan over drinks at a friend's wedding last October. They hooked up with bassist / vocalist Cindy Ward and drummer Steve Cerri; and, just this past Friday, managed to release their first EP.

The set moves easily between shoegaze ("Trouble") and power-pop ("Kirsti") displaying influences from My Bloody Valentine to Weezer to Built To Spill. Trü is a solid effort from a newly-formed band, and it's definitely worth a listen.



Charly Bliss, video for "Westermarck"

Sometimes, when I'm feeling like I want to punch a hole through a wall, it's nice to come across something fun. The Charly Bliss release show a few weeks back was an upbeat highlight of the last month or so; and, yesterday, the band released a new video.

Charly Bliss fully embraced their pop proclivities on their debut, Guppy; and they just released a video for album -- I was gonna say "standout" but I really love all the songs on this record -- track, "Westermarck."

It features the band at summer camp, painting each other's faces, and spinning singer Eva Hendricks in a bowl. Like lots of the songs on Guppy, the syrupy-sweet delivery often masks some darker things ("The scar on your face from the birthday fight..."), but it's still fun to sing and bounce along.

I may have even cracked a smile for a second.

Cool Stuff for a Hot Friday from Francie Moon and Charly Bliss

Francie Moon by John Meeks Craddock

Hot Takes

Looks like we're done for the time being with April showers, and we can start looking ahead to May flowers. This weekend kicks off a big run of activity that goes into next week, so I figured I'd send you out there with a couple of things that I've been enjoying over the last couple of days.

Francie Moon, So This Is Life

Francie Moon (aka, Melissa Lucciola) is a New Jersey treasure. Francie Moon bleeds and sweats the music she makes; and, I'm ashamed to say, I haven't given her work the coverage it deserves here. Back in September, I did manage to share single "Red Cloud Road," which shows up as the closing track on Francie Moon's debut LP So This Is Life.

I said of that track that it sounds like it "could be playing for you from an old, beat-up radio on a hot day as you drink an ice-cold Coke from a glass bottle." I may have been a little off with that. As I listen to So This Is Life -- which Moon originally recorded to cassette with Richie Samartin before transferring, overdubbing, mixing, and mastering the final product with Samartin and Jon Irizarry -- I do get the retro feel I was trying to evoke with that description. It's less relaxing, though, more full of some kind of fire.

Opener "Grow" is bluesy and yearning with Moon's singular voice howling "I wanna grow, but I don't know how." "Charmed" sways on bendy guitars as it makes the case for living in the moment. The title track tells of people living their lives, while it asks "is that all?" and the guitar wails away in the background.

Throughout So This Is Life, Francie Moon sounds wise beyond her years. She possesses a voice and a delivery that make you feel like you're listening to a revered singer from a by-gone era. Her songs seem to come from someone who's seen a great deal and still has some big questions.

So This Is Life is available over at Francie Moon's Bandcamp page.



Charly Bliss, Guppy

Last Friday, Brooklyn's Charly Bliss released their long-awaited debut LP, Guppy. I waited for this one for a long time, and I spent all of this week being not disappointed. Charly Bliss have said that they spent a while trying to find themselves playing among avant-garde and experimental bands in Brooklyn. It was when they finally decided to embrace the fact that they are a pop band that things finally came together.

"Glitter" finds singer Eva Hendricks asking, "Am I the best? Or just the first person to say yes?" while sticking with a relationship she kind of hates. I saw a YouTube comment on the video for "Ruby" that said something like, "Weezer fronted by Alvin from The Chipmunks." While that was probably intended to be mean-spirited in the way YouTube comments can be, it's the combination of sugary pop vocals and heavy 90s guitar riffs that make Guppy so addictive. And Hendricks's vocals can go from teeny-bopper innocence to manic freakout in a split second as they do a few times on "Percolator."

I've always loved that strain of power pop that combines hooks and heaviness. Charly Bliss add something extra by making exuberant pop that goes right up to the edge of bursting into something wilder. On "DQ," Hendricks sings, "I bounced so high, I peed the trampoline;" and almost every song here is like that. Flying high to the point where you just about lose control.

Guppy is out now on Barsuk Records.



OK. That's it for now. Have a great weekend. Get outside. Ride a bike. Play some baseball.

New (ish) Stuff from Sunflower, The Courtneys, and Aye Nako

Aye Nako at last year's New Alternative Music Festival in Asbury Park's Convention Hall

All Dug Out

After a pretty lazy -- except for the excruciating driveway shoveling workout -- day yesterday, I wanted to share with you some of the cool stuff I've been hearing over the past few weeks. If today's group of songs has a theme, I'd say it's probably that all of these draw on some 90s sounds that I've always loved. Check them out and see what you think.

Sunflower, "World of Porcelain"

Cedar Grove's Sunflower released their latest single back in January. The band's 2015 self-titled EP had the organic feel of the music that was coming out of the Elephant 6 Collective back in the 90s, and "World of Porcelain" captures that vibe as well.

Employing piano, ukulele, and strings with a more traditional guitar, bass, drums set-up, the song is simultaneously folksy, poppy, and psychedelic. It twirls, round-style, as the layers build. Like much of the most interesting stuff coming out of NJ these days, "World of Porcelain" was recorded and mixed by one Max Rauch.



The Courtneys, "Minnesota"

I've been obsessively listening to Vancouver's The Courtneys for the last month or so. Earlier this week, the band released the third single from their sophomore LP -- and their debut for New Zealand's legendary Flying Nun Records. The Courtneys II is due next Friday, February 17th; and it will be the first release of a non-New Zealand band for Flying Nun.

"Minnesota" is fuzzy, grungy power-pop. The song chugs forward on Courtney Loove's guitar and Sydney Koke's bass. Drummer / lead singer Jen Twynn Payne's vocals help to place the song somewhere between gritty and dreamy. The Courtneys (like so many others) are clearly influenced by the bands who preceded them on Flying Nun -- The Clean, The Chills, Chris Knox -- and are a perfect fit for the label. This one is shaping up to be one of my favorite releases of 2017.



Aye Nako, "Particle Mace"

Earlier this week, Brooklyn queer-punk four-piece, Aye Nako, announced their forthcoming album for Don Giovanni Records, Silver Haze, by releasing the jagged and explosive "Particle Mace." The band say, "they are actively seeking a planet where those who fall in the margins can feel OK about being themselves."

That comes through in the song as singer / guitarist Jade Payne deadpans, "...with a sigh of relief that we're finally safe here. That's what I want to believe." Aye Nako are political and bring a perspective that is all-too-often overlooked by genres that profess to be inclusive and progressive. That, and they flat out burn it up on "Particle Mace."

Silver Haze is due April 7th.

New, Notable Noms from Mint 400 Records, Davey Jones, and Waiting On Mongo

Lost Boy ?'s Davey Jones at a recent gig with The So So Glos

Covers and Jams

My email and messages and social media feeds have been lighting up with interesting stuff lately. All of that, on top of the list of things I have written down (in the virtual notepad of my mind), makes me think I should just be putting a post up every hour to let you know what's going on. I'm way too lazy for that, though. Instead, I'll do it in little bursts like this.

Various Artists, Mint 400 Records Presents: Nirvana 'In Utero'

A few years ago, New Jersey label, Mint 400, did a full-album cover of The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds as interpreted by the bands on their roster. The label is back this month with their take on Nirvana's controversial swan song, In Utero. Despite rumors that Nirvana's label may not even release the album, which was a significant departure from Nevermind, In Utero went on to do pretty ok, selling a few million copies.

And, despite his image as the counter-cultural voice of a generation, Kurt Cobain also happened to be a really good commercial pop songwriter. What we get here are some reinterpretations of the originals that show these songs holding up under some pretty significant alterations. The Duke Of Norfolk transform "Heart-shaped Box" into soothing electro-pop; while the other huge single, "All Apologies," gets the psychedelic treatment from The Maravines. Chris Bobbins and Paul Vanderwal deliver an instrumental "Rape Me" on piano and strings. A. Bird gives us his first official recording following the break-up of Those Mockingbirds with an eerie version of "Very Ape." And we get not one, but two instrumental covers of "Tourettes" -- a version from Defend The Rhino that sounds like a throwback to that Pet Sounds release and a full-on surf instrumental from dollys.

I always find covers fun whether they're faithful or way out there. Mint 400 Records Presents: Nirvana 'In Utero' falls, mostly, into the latter category. It simultaneously showcases the pop sensibility of Cobain and some excellent Tri-State Area bands. The comp is available for free over at the Mint 400 Bandcamp page.



Lost Boy ?, "Grinding Halt (The Cure)"

Our prolific friend Davey Jones of Lost Boy ? takes a break from his own material to delve deep into the dawn of post-punk with his version of The Cure's "Grinding Halt." The song made its first appearance nearly 40 years ago on The Cure's 1979 debut, Three Imaginary Boys / Boys Don't Cry.

I'm gonna place this one in the "pretty faithful" box when it comes to covers. The driving bass is still there; but Jones lets his voice sink further back into the mix than Robert Smith's, adding a hint of swirly psychedelia to the angular post-punk.



Waiting On Mongo, Just a Taste

Listen. I'm going to be the first person to tell you that I am no expert on jam / funk music. I've always been much more of the two- and three-minute pop song, or even 1-minute punk song, kinda guy. That said, I think I can recognize when a hard-working band has talent and a commitment to their craft.

Waiting On Mongo are relentless. I write the show listings every week; and these guys are playing two, three, four shows every time. From what I saw at the most recent Asbury Music Awards, Waiting On Mongo have managed to cultivate a devoted and rabid fanbase.

Just a Taste is a relentless EP, too. None of the songs here clock in at under 5 minutes and 45 seconds. Everyone is on point, especially the super-tight horn section. From the bouncing funk of the title track to the smooth and slinky "Let's Ride," Just a Taste shows a band with some serious chops doling out positive vibes. The production, handled by Jeff "Mudd" Mahajan, is pristine.

Waiting On Mongo promise that Just a Taste is exactly what its title says, so look for more from these guys soon. Just a Taste is available now wherever you like to get your digital music, but you can also grab it direct from Waiting On Mongo's Bandcamp page.