Cayucas

It’s been pretty cold where I live. Mother Nature has been teasing us with hints of spring for the past few weeks. Giving us a warm day followed by a week of cold days. The forecast looks to be in our favor, finally, with consistent warm days coming up in the forecast. The warm, almost tropical sounds of Cayucas debut album, Bigfoot, has been the perfect soundtrack to get me through these cold days. Check out the driving beat, shimmery guitars and Zach Yudin’s echoed vocals on, opening track, “Cayucos” (below), It’s the perfect song for that summer mix tape, and is just a taste of Bigfoot‘s awesomeness. Be sure to snag Bigfoot on April 30, from Secretly Canadian.

Cayucas – Cayucos from Bigfoot (2013)

Cayucas

Secretly Canadian

The Lovely Bad Things

Orange County’s The Lovely Bad Things are right up my alley. They play infectious, hook-driven garage rock, sounding like a mixture of The Soviettes, Pretty Girls Make Graves and The Pixies. They also appeal to the geek in me by referencing Star Wars and Macho Man Randy Savage on three of their song titles. They even have an image of Bigfoot on the album cover.

The Pixies influence is strong on “Fried Eyes” (below) with spoken-word vocals and the laid-back, Kim Deal bass line. “Hear or Anywhere” (also below) the opening track from their new album, The Late Great Whatever, starts the album off right with sugar-sweet female vocals and pounding drums. The Late Great Whatever is out now on Volcom. For all of the analog lovers out there you can get this on cassette as well from Burger Records.

The Lovely Bad Things – Fried Eyes from The Late Great Whatever (2013)

The Lovely Bad Things – Hear or Anywhere from The Late Great Whatever (2013)

The Lovely Bad Things

The Three O’Clock

Before I began this post, I plugged the Three O’Clock into our search bar to see how many times I’ve referred to this band. I was surprised and more than slightly disappointed in myself that there have only been two previous mentions (and only one by me!). You see, the Three O’Clock is one of my all-time favorite bands. They were one of the first bands I discovered on my own, once I had graduated from my parents’ Beach Boys, Bee Gees and Carpenters records (those records primed me for the Three O’Clock’s 60s-throwback sound). I can recall the night I first heard their album Sixteen Tambourines like it was last night: lounging in the back of a van, packed with friends, cruising down PCH, the crisp guitars, clean bass lines, and Michael Quercio’s magical voice ringing in my ears.

I immediately acquired that album and the band’s previous releases: their early garage-pop album as the Salvation Army and the first EP with their new name. These songs were my teenage years. These songs helped me navigate my formative relationships with girls as they, the relationships, ignited, crashed, and burned. No matter my mood, The Three O’Clock fit to a T. Any time a new girl caught my eye, “With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend” its driving drums and hopefully-baroque keyboards nudged me forward. Then when said girl reciprocated not ever, or for a year, two, then never again, “She Turns To Flowers” and its backwards guitar twisting through the refrain of “then she is no more,” saved me from wallowing too deep in teenage despair.

Then a funny thing happened. I never outgrew the band. Even after the band imploded I tracked subsequent projects with equal enthusiasm: Louis and Mary’s Danish, Michael and Permanent Green Light, and later, Jupiter Affect. By this point I was working full-time in radio and was quite the evangelist for all four aforementioned bands. I even brought out Permanent Green Light out to play a grand opening party for a music store I was managing. When my first son was two, I included The Three O’Clock’s cover of “Sorry” by The Easybeats in the first mix CD I made for him. We’ve been geeking out on the Three O’Clock together ever since. Now he’s sixteen. Now he just snags albums off my harddrive.

Fast forward a decade and the Three O’Clock and its members have lain largely dormant until late last year when blips of the band began surfacing on the radar of social media. I suspected these flickers of resurrection portended a much bigger event. And while the initial announcement that the band would be reuniting for Coachella was impressive, I’m much more thrilled that they’re playing a string of smaller shows, so my kid and I can be reunited with our paisley pals in a more intimate setting. I want to be crammed into a club with people who share my affinity for the band rather than fighting an indifferent crowd of 80k in the middle of the desert.

Michael, Louis, Danny, welcome back! See you Saturday!

The Three O’Clock on Facebook

on Twitter

Telekinesis

Michael Benjamin Lerner is back with his third release, Dormarion, under the Telekinesis moniker. He recorded the album with Spoon drummer and producer Jim Eno at Eno’s Public Hi-Fi studio in Austin, Texas. On Dormarion Lane, to be precise.

Dormarion is catchy as hell. It’s a great follow up to his excellent 2011 release 12 Desperate Straight Lines. On “Empathetic People” (below) the drums blast you into submission as the layers of guitars wind in, out and around Lerner’s fuzzed vocals. Also for your listening pleasure is the over-before-you-know-it “Laissez-faire”. Please enjoy these tracks. Dormarion releases tomorrow, April 2 on Merge Records. You should buy it, it’s indie rock gold and I highly recommend it.

 Telekinesis – Empathetic People from Dormarion (2013)

Telekinesis – Laissez-faire from Dormarion (2013)

Telekinesis

Merge

The Cave Singers

The Cave Singers are back with Naomi, their fourth LP and second release with Jagjaguwar. Vocalist Peter Quirk’s raspy voice is the real star on this album. “Have To Pretend” (below), with it’s driving rhythm section, oohs, and noodly guitar is one of the standout tracks on the album, and really showcases what the Cave Singers do best. Please enjoy, and be sure to catch them on tour in a neighborhood near you.

The Cave Singers – Have To Pretend from Naomi (2013)

The Cave Singers

Jagjaguwar

3hive post from 2011

Campfires

In this world of lo-fi music around every corner, Jeff Walls’ Campfires is a breath of fresh air. Utilizing layers of jangly guitar, and just the right amount of fuzz, Jeff has created a sunny brand of lo-fi pop music sure to make fans of bands like The Kinks take notice. He just released his first full length LP as Campfires, Tomorrow, Tomorrow on Fire Talk Records. Check out the songs below, I am sure you will be adding them to your new summertime mix tape.

Campfires – Fortune Teller from Tomorrow, Tomorrow (2013)

Campfires – Bayonet from Tomorrow, Tomorrow (2013)

Campfires

Fire Talk Records

Shout Out Louds

Shout Out Louds, shouldn’t need an introduction. This 5-piece band out of Sweden has been releasing solid music since 2003. We reviewed them back in ‘07, and I am happy to update this site with their fourth full length album Optica, which was released a few days ago on Merge Records.

The driving bass line and distorted guitar, on the upbeat opening track, “Sugar” (below), combined with Adam Olenius’ voice sounds quite a bit like The Cure, which is definitely not a bad thing, and makes the track one of the standouts on the album. “Blue Ice” (also below), another excellent track from Optica, switches things up a bit, into a more melancholy feel as Olenius sings, “It hurts when I breathe, it hurts when I speak, you want everything I own, everything you wanted.” Optica is a must buy and will end up on lots of year end lists. Enjoy.

Shout Out Louds – Sugar from Optica (2013)

Shout Out Louds – Blue Ice from Optica (2013)

Shout Out Louds

Merge

Maston

Maston (Frank Maston) is a California-based multi-instrumentalist. He recently released his first proper album, Shadows on Trouble In Mind. Maston played all instruments on the album (except for the harp, played by Ana Caravelle).
I have been listening to, and enjoying this album for several weeks now, but have been struggling to find the right words to describe it. The best I can come up with this, a psychedelic, surf, pop rock album that sounds like it could have been recorded in the 60’s. Check out “Young Hearts” below, It’s damn good, and a great example of the entire album.

Maston – Young Hearts from Shadows (2013)

Maston

Trouble In Mind

Cocktails

I think it’s pretty obvious from a lot of my posts, that I have a fondness for anything punk rock. Cocktails are no exception. This San Francisco quartet’s just released, self-titled EP with Father Daughter Records, pulls at all my strings, with it’s power-pop, hook-filled, super catchy 4 songs in 11 minutes formula. Check out the hooky, suger-sweet melodies on opening track, “No Blondes (In California)” (below) to see what I mean. It’s sure to get you out of your seat. You might even find yourself shaking things you didn’t know you could shake, at least that’s what I’ve been doing while listening to it. Head over to Father/Daughter’s site and snag you a copy of the EP before they are gone.

Cocktails – No Blondes (In California) from S/T EP (2013)

Cocktails

Father/Daughter

Widowspeak

Widowspeak is a two-piece band comprised of Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas. They recently released their second full length album Almanac, on Captured Tracks earlier this year. Musically they have been compared to Fleetwood Mac, but Molly Hamilton’s haunting vocals make it easy to draw a comparison to Mazzy Star. On “Ballad of the Golden Hour” (below), Hamilton’s inner Sandoval shines alongside the layers of slide and acoustic guitars to make it one of the standout tracks on the album. Enjoy.

Widowspeak – Ballad of the Golden Hour from Almanac (2013)

Stream the entire album

Widowspeak

Captured Tracks