Mikey and the Drags - Spill Your Guts b/w Solstice
A flipside of slices of big time surf-adled garage rock a la 1960's LA. You just gotta love the swirling hypnosis of that big Farfisa organ and crunching guitar. Think the Sonics, but more lost in the depths of the garage. The Seeds but more hip. Let's go with ? and the Mysterians if they were a tad more pissed off and nasty. Both songs here are perfect slices of that long-lost garage beat. Seedy and dirty and they simply rock. Don't delay. Go get this one.
Heavy Glow - Mine All Mine b/w Headhunter
Heavy Glow has been kicking around the underground for a while now, but with this single, that might all change. "Mine all Mine" is about as addictive as garage/stoner/psychedelic blues gets and is the sort of song that could bust the doors wide open for this LA group. Great riffage, tempered with gobs of candy-sweet melodies. It's heavy, but all tempered with restraint and more than a touch of fuzz. Flipside "Headhunter" keeps that cool swagger going, sounding like a lost Santana track with it's understated beat and searing leads. All pressed on gorgeous marble-grey. Check it.
Black Tusk/Fight Amp - split 7"
From Brutal Panda we get this split of sincere heaviness. The pummeling doom and stoner assault of Black Tusk charges straight to the solar plexus like a rhinoceros on speed. The ground quakes under my speakers. Flipside, Fight Amp doesn't let up for a second, bringing a ravaging hoarde of water buffalo to trample on my already crippled body. A touch of hardcore, a load of doom, a bong of stoner. All here. First pressings of this split long ago sold out, but second pressings are still available.
Monarch Project - A Better Part of You b/w Desire
Wow! I didn't know what to expect from this slice of vinyl pizza when it came in. I'd never heard the guys before, but let me tell you , they sent it to the right place. Sounding cut from the same mold as Ripple favorite Aussie rockers, Grand Atlantic, Monarch Project bring on a classy cut of swirling psychedelic flavored pop/rock. Songs like this need hooks and melody to make them stand out and Monarch Project brings em both in bucketloads. "A Better Part of You" is about as sweet and succulent as it gets for psych pop, loaded with colorful guitars and undulating bass lines. And hooks. You want hooks, we got more hooks here than a bait shop! Flipside "Desire" follows suit over a slightly more mellow, yet no less captivating, beat. Reminds me of Oasis when I liked them. Solid stuff.
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