I can’t believe I haven’t gotten hooked on Ty Segall sooner. His woozy, laissez-faire garage rock is perfectly formed sing-along anthem material. Goodbye Bread is his new album, released yesterday, and it’s so lovable – the insanely catchy melodies resonate immediately and have a wonderful classic style. The pop melodies are balanced by Ty’s raw, unaffected delivery and scuzzed out production, but he’s not new around here. Ty’s a stalwart of the San Francisco scene, having played in Sic Alps (hear this possible influence in his song ‘I Can’t Feel It’) and made a name for himself with Epsilons, The Traditional Fools, Party Fowl and The Perverts.
This weeks round up of the tracks that I haven’t had the space to post…
Dreamy dance pop that makes you go all wonky at the knees. 
LoveLikeFire
From: San Francisco, United States
‘Dust’, the new album from San Franciscans LoveLikeFire (spaces are like so last year darlink), could have been recorded in England anytime between the winter of 1986 and the summer of 2009. It is a stunning blend of the retro rock of ‘Porcupine’ era Echo & The Bunnymen with the modern snaps and glitches of the xx.
There’s nothing overtly psychedelic or doomy about Grooms ’ "Acid King Of Hell (Guitar Feelings)," but the parenthetical bears some insight, since it’s on their loud-quiet-loud amp exorcisms that this one really gets lifted.
Thoughts: With all the hype swirling around Northern California’s all guy group Girls, I was a little tentative going into my first listen of their debut record aptly titled Album. I thought it would be more of the same lo-fi that’s been pouring out of every corner of the U.S. this year, but like Nodzzz before them Girls prove that the lo-fi aesthetic of San Francisco is not to hide flaws but to make pop perfection seem a little dirtier. The songs found on Album range from short little pop vignettes, to beautifully fleshed out pop anthems that soar through a range of emotions all while being recorded on the low end side of things. It makes for a wonderful listen, particularly the two singles "Hellhole Ratrace" and "Lust for Life". I’m thoroughly impressed with this record, and to think I was worried that Matador was just looking to cash in on the lo-fi craze of ‘09 but nothing could be further from the truth. These guys are truly legit.
My First Earthquake
Genre: Indie / Electro / Rock
From: San Francisco, California, United States
New rave, new wave, new disco from frisco? Who gives a stuff when it sounds this good? San Francisco’s My First Earthquake serve up massive helpings of brain hugging, romper room electro pop that gets the feet twitching like you’ve been electrocuted.
Photons
Genre: Indie / Alternative / Rock
From: San Francisco, California, United States
When did size become so important for North American and Canadian bands? I’ve been trying to convince Mrs Devil that size ain’t important and now it seems that you can’t be in a band if it’s got less members than there are legs at an octopuses garden party.
It was a total High Fidelity moment. I was hanging out at Academy Records Annex, getting my fingers dirty flipping through used records something came over the speakers that instantly made me prick up my ears. Low-fi pop, a bit shambly, but in the best way and every song was super-catchy and there was a clever wit going on too. They had by by the third song and I went up and asked what was playing. "So Cow. He’s this Irish guy, played an in-store here last year. Some of the record was made Korea, so…a real international affair." Indeed.
The San Francisco area has no shortage of amazing garage/psych/pop bands. The Fresh & Onlys are one of the latest, having only been together for about a year but have quickly become ones to watch with an onslaught of releases on a variety of labels like Chuffed (Kelley Stoltz’s new label), John Dwyer’s Castle Face, and Seattle’s Dirty Knobby, as well as upcoming platters on HoZac and Woodsist. (They stay busy.) Founders Tim Cohen and Shayde Sartin are no strangers to bands, though, having spent time in Black Fiction and the Skygreen Leopards, respectively… among many others. I caught The Fresh & Onlys at SXSW (where I took these pictures) and have been hooked since. Sartin, the band’s bassist who knows his music and food, was kind enough to answer a bunch of questions.
Review - The Comic's New Format (that's The NME to you guv).
I've just read (!) the new format Comic, purely for the purposes of research you understand, in fact it's the first issue of The Comic I'...
Photos from a recent FOE gig - a friend of our friends Hold Your Horse Is - she’s gonna be big!!! Read the gig review after the jump.
Shots of North Carolina’s folk-rocking Avett Brothers’ stop in Glasgow - 22.08.11
Read the review of the gig here.
Take a look at the acts and art on offer at this year’s Latitude Festival in Suffolk. Included are the likes of Fight Like Apes, Lykke Li, Sea of Bees and Seasick Steve. Photos from our own...
Good time with Bad Guys. Photos from the May 29th gig at the Old Blue Last. Read the review by the Bad Guy himself, Stuart London after the jump.
Artrocker.com exclusive: for fans of White Lies and Crocodiles we’ve got some fresh pictures from their UK show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire earlier this month, courtesy of Alessandro...
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