Artist: Pamela
Album: 7″ EP
Hails From: Oakland
Release Date: Pre-order now
Featured Track: “Desert”
I feel a Southpaw Records homage coming. Here’s another Southpaw nugget from the group Pamela, featuring members of The Splinters/Ex-Wax Idols, who are set to release their 7″ EP. Pre-order it now. Only 300 copies.
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Artist: Royal Baths
Album: Better Luck Next Life
Hails From: Brooklyn by way of SF
Release Date: February 7, 2012
Featured Track: “Darling Devine”
I silently stalked the Royal Baths (formerly known as The Baths) during their debut album launch for Litanies last year, simultaneously in awe of their lo fi sound and androgynistic style. While it took a while to track down a consumable format for their music (no, I still don’t own a tape deck), they had no shortage of local live shows to satisfy my hunger; opening for some of my fav local acts like Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall and The Fresh and Onlys. Unfortunately for me those SF beer soaked bar room sets are over. The group recently signed with Brooklyn-based tastemaker label, Kanine Records, and relocated to the indie music mecca to release their sophomore album, Better Luck Next Life. How fortunate for them.
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It’s 10:10 AM on 10/10/10. A perfect 10. These tri-numeral dates come around once a year and this year it falls on the number 10. Is it an auspicious day or a bunch of hullaballoo? There is a certain completeness of order with the number 10. For the Chinese the number is lucky, representing perfection or completion. We’re born with 10 fingers and 10 toes after all. Perfect beauty is measured on its scale. Top 10 lists are ubiquitous. And any respectable album contains at least 10 songs.
If you’re technologically-inclined, today is a “binary” day. The ones-and-zeros representing the binary code or the mathematical language “spoken” by computers to create all things digital. Converting the date 10/10/10 to binary code gives us 101010. And in the binary counting system, that number translates to 42, which means…absolutely nothing.
But hey, it’s a nice theme for a post isn’t it? And everyone loves a top 10 list. So, here’s mine. The 10 albums I’m obsessed with on this month, this day, this year. The albums I have on heavy rotation right now and keep coming back to again and again. Ten, in a long list, of albums you should most definitely own. Listed in no particular order, they are:
Artist: Royal Baths
Album: Litanies
Track: “Nikki Don’t”
Artist: Deerhunter
Album: Halcyon Digest
Track: “Desire Lines”
Artist: Sea of Bees
Album: Songs for the Raven
Track: “Marmalade”
Artist: Sonny & The Sunsets
Album: Tomorrow is Alright
Track: “Lovin’ on an Older Gal”
Artist: Lower Dens
Album: Twin Hand Movement
Track: “A Dog’s Dick”
Artist: Tame Impala
Album: Innerspeaker
Track: “Vital Signs”
Artist: Future Islands
Album: In the Evening Air
Track: “As I Fall”
Artist: Ty Segall
Album: Melted
Track: “Cesar”
Artist: Tamaryn
Album: The Waves
Track: “Mild Confusion”
Royal Baths – “Nikki Don’t”
Meet your new favorite San Francisco garage rock band: Royal Baths (formerly known as The Baths but forced to change their name so not to be confused with LA’s Baths). I’ve been silently stalking these guys for about a year. Unable to satisfy my craving for their music because they only released cassette tapes (a most annoying trend, btw), I was oh so thrilled when they signed to the tastemaker Woodsist label. The future looked bright with the promise of a debut LP on a format I could actually consume. And that day has finally arrived. “Litanies” is out and my need for a whole and complete Royal Baths fix has been satisfied. So satisfied. Lo-fi, dark, brooding goodness is what this is all about. With a heavy dose of eccentricity. Future SF garage rock royalty in the making.
the OCMD 