Tag Archives: Outdoor Vinyl Summer Series

Music, Outdoor Vinyl Summer Series, The Electric Bunnies

Outdoor Vinyl Summer Series: Through The Magical Door

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Band: The Electric Bunnies
Year: 2009
Label: Florida’s Dying

Some people might be wired to just not accept this kinda stuff, but if you’re one of the lucky ones, these kinds of records are audible blessings… you ‘get it’ or better yet it just resonates along with the other demented recordings in your library. Like Girls of the Gravitron and Kazalok (to name two bands whose records I acquired via the label that put this one out, Florida’s Dying), Electric Bunnies march in their own universe, to their own conceptual beat, and that’s that. Through The Magical Door is far more psychedelic, eastern sounding, and tribal than those records I mentioned, but it operates along that noisy/garage/folk/luscious pop spectrum which I can not seem to get enough of. The first four songs of Side A and the first two of Side B flow like early Barbaras and Smith Westerns goodies. Sunny punk. There are instrumental oddities galore and big deviations from the standard rock ‘n roll format. I like. The gatefold design and included board game speaks to the VIR of this release. Yes, it is worth the physical luxury. Listening to Through The Magical Door makes me feel like I am in on something like-minded underground heads may have missed (again!) so you like-minded underground heads scurry to your store of choice (Florida’s Dying web store) and get on it. It’s out there, weird, and not straightforward. Like you and me. Personally, I would not be surprised if in due listens this splits time alongside all my favorites I mentioned above. Good work Rich.

Music, Outdoor Vinyl Summer Series, The Sonics

Outdoor Vinyl Summer Series: … The Savage Young Sonics

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Band: The Sonics
Label: Norton Records

Picked up this Norton Records LP from Deep Thoughts on Memorial Day and sadly I haven’t played it as much as a guy like me should. Encompassing the first four years of The Sonics in chronological order from A1 ’61 home recordings to B9 ’64 home recordings and some dance and teen club performances sprinkled in, Savage Young Sonics sounds like a band both comfortable dabbling in instrumental surf and gradually more eager to rock ‘n roll.  Apparently they were able to pack in hundreds of adolescents from all over Tacoma. Maybe a good chunk of older folks too: at the drop of the needle my gram started doing the jitterbug, all while smiling widely throughout the first coupla numbers. She wonders out loud when this music from. 1961 I say. “Back in your day?” Yeah! She’s endured louder, naughtier, more primal records (courtesy of my outdoor record player) so comparatively speaking this one is not nearly as rough as the back cover notes suggest. She’s in shock when Andy from Side B calls for people to come to see them at the Medford Armory. Nat that Medford, but hey what a fun time that must have been. The Sonics influence ain’t a joke, though; the crazed spirit of the ’90s and ’00s ‘garage’ groups can be traced to Sonics mania pre- The Witch. A saucy bunch taking things up a dozen notches. Thank the SAX, thank the ORGAN.

Music, Outdoor Vinyl Summer Series, Ty Segall

Outdoor Vinyl Summer Series: Lemons (2009)

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Band: Ty Segall
Year: 2009
Label: Goner Records

Lemons on this 93 degree sunny breezy day takes me to Costa Mesa, California. I don’t think it gets this hot down there but forget about the weather. Costa Mesa is where Ty recorded this raw rock ‘n ripper in January 2009. Speaking of raw, Lemons is not Ty’s first or second jab at garage punk; he’d been playing in this style and styles that approximate this style since 2005, possibly even before that. His fun ass shakers as part of the Epsilons, Traditional Fools, and Party Fowl can be mined on the Internet and on vinyl and tape. So Lemons is considered Ty’s second solo album. SIDE A, particularly the last three songs “Lovely One,” “Can’t Talk,” and “Cents” are cantgetchaouttamymind top tier, extraordinary, I gotta stop using generic adjectives, HITS. 2009 was the year that ‘Garage’ was being infiltrated by the SCION though let’s be real, it was an amazing time for underground rock ‘n roll. Ty was a part of the crispier, bare, sloppy, loveable punk universe that Goner and In The Red had been nurturing for years, though at that time he was a rather new figure.

Anyhow, Ty – specially considering his solo performance (Lemons is in the full band, Ty on everything mold) – shows his colors as a dude with several sides to him, a harbinger of what would be: mellow (see Goodbye Bread and Sleeper) as on “Rusted Dust,” a midtempo tinkerer as on “Die Tonite,” and as a sludgy screamer on “Johnny,” which is in my ears a precursor to 2012’s Slaughterhouse. The assortment of sounds and approaches on Lemons is different from Ty’s more directed material meaning he probably had more solid ideas for the later albums. Regardless, everything he had done prior to this LP, up to it, and including 2010’s Melted (my sure favorite collection of fuzzy tunes) makes for a daunting discography! Ty is so deserving of the attention he’s received over the past few years and you can see he’s so comfortable playing the shit out of rock n roll. This is reflective of his live shows (also high high up there on funnest experiences). If he doesn’t make ya just want to mess around to your liking on your guitar, you might as well bop your head and move about. I know that can be equally exciting.

Music, Outdoor Vinyl Summer Series, Thee Oh Sees

Outdoor Vinyl Summer Series: Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion (2008)

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Band: Thee Oh Sees
Year: 2008
Label: Castleface Records

This is an islandy (deserted, of course) heck of a record that if you’re down with the style, you’ll be satisfied thru and thru. I am. Minimalism dominates, but there are some fleshed out moments resulting in more of the rock ‘n roll side of the group we’d see on later releases. Brigid and John’s vocals are angelic/psychedelic, matter of fact this might be more like a Jandek in his prime LP if it wasn’t for those two absolutely delighting our ears. The arrangements are pretty sparse with light, eccentric folk guitar and a Beets esque rhthym though Thee Oh Sees do just fine with little or no drums. Like an Island Carnivale wax export from Bermuda, there’s a real personal charm that’s directly connected to nature. The birds are singing along, perhaps fully aware that this group is primitively San Franciscan. Thee Hounds capture an endearing phase of chilled out Oh Sees that your I SAW EM SHRED HARD AT PITCHFORK FEST newbie would probably be surprised and hopefully glad to hear about. Perfect for outdoors vinyl spinning – your neighbors won’t be disturbed, grandma can sneak a nap in, mom will water the plants, and you’ll be there sitting with your shirt off (or on), pen in hand, gentle breeze, and green cup of iced water. Fuck you waited eight months for this moment. BUT this is conversely ideal, winter by the fire, loved ones in full existential quarter life crisis mode. Enjoy the sun while it’s out, you island raiders.