Swimsuit!!!

Ypsilanti's own, Swimsuit!

Not since getting ahold of the Weed Hounds demo last year, have I been so excited and blown away by the first listen of demo. The band is Swimsuit and they're from Ypsilanti, MI! They're relatively fresh out of the over and are not to be slept on! Fred Thomas of the amazing, incredible, best ever Saturday Looks Good To Me teamed up with friends Shelley, Dina (of Secret Twins), and Amber to form Swimsuit back sometime around the beginning of the year. They've since released a Demo EP, Life Like, and since hearing it, oh, just about an hour ago, I've fallen madly in love. The melodies are surfy and as catchy as I could have hoped for (and frankly I do believe I could have guessed Fred was involved even if no one told me). The vocals, which I believe come from Dina — who lent her vocal chords to Stuart Murdoch's God Help The Girl project — are also pretty to die for. Listen to "Evaporation" below! If you love it as much as I do you'll definitely want to download the Life Like HERE.

[MP3]: Swimsuit :: Evaporation (SO, SO Rec'd!)

Swimsuit on MySpace!

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The Champagne Socialists

The Champagne Socialists

Ah! So close the Summer is now! I've got one, two, three paintings to turn in on Tuesday, but then I am DONE until the Fall. Of course, halfway through Summer I'll slip into boredom and long for more schoolwork – funny how that works, huh?

Anyway, with all this new found free time I've had for the past couple days, I've spent a little more time on Myspace stumbling upon good songs. After noticing that they'll be opening the Pains Westcoast tour for four days in July, I felt like L.A.'s Champagne Socialists were something worth checking out. While their biographical background may be a bit confusing, their music is anything but. The duo(?) play fuzzy pop songs influenced by classic Westcoast pop of the 50s and 60s. A nice, quick reference would be something like early Saturday Looks Good To Me.

[MP3]: The Champagne Socialists :: Teardrop Tattoo (Highly Recommended!)
The opening riff of this song pretty much says it all. Whether you're willing or not, you're going to be a dancing fool for the next two minutes. It's like the pop song equivalent of running through all the sprinklers up and down your street in the middle of the hottest Summer day. So in short, "Teardrop Tattoo" is a really good day – erm, song.

The Champagne Socialists on MySpace!

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Brown Recluse Sings: "Night Train"

Brown Recluse Sings

Philadelphia's Brown Recluse Sings have been on a roll since releasing their debut Black Sunday EP last year and they've already got some new stuff on the way! I heard the brand new song "Night Train" a week or so back and it's been stuck in my head so I figured I better share it with you. I believe this will be on the upcoming record, The Soft Skin, but more details on that later. For now, check out "Night Train".

[MP3]: Brown Recluse Sings :: Night Train (Highly Rec'd!!)
I loved everything on the Black Sunday EP, but I think this song has gotta be my favorite BRS track to date. It's got a much more "poppier" feel to it than most of their previous material, and I'm really digging it. I'd say if I had to offer up some sort of blatant comparison, I'd say it's sounds like what I think James Mercer fronting Saturday Looks Good To Me would sound. The bright, poppy keyboards and the horns mesh perfectly, creating a nice, lush melody that, well, get's stuck in your head pretty quick.

Check out BRS on MySpace

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FILL UP THE ROOM!

The release date of Saturday Looks Good To Me's new record, Fill Up The Room, has now been pushed back to October 23rd, due to the fact that Fred couldn't finish the artwork in time. However, the artwork has now been finished and I think it's probably my favorite cover art of the year so far. LOOK!



So, again, Fill Up The Room will now be out on October 23rd (Two days before my Birthday!) on the mighty K Records! HOORAY! There's a pretty good live recording of "Money In The Afterlife" up on SLGTM's MySpace right now, too, so you shoul go listen to it.

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Youtube videos that I like [6.8.07]

I haven't really felt like blogging to much lately, but I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos. I will now share with you some videos I've been watching pretty excessively for the past week(s). Some live, some not live, some old, and some new. FUN STUFF!

This first one is a real good one, I think. Might not be the greatest live recording in the history of live recordings, but due to the sheer lack of Broadcast videos -- and the ever increasing difficulty of actually finding them -- on YouTube, I was pretty damn excited to find this.

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Never thought a video for this song ever existed. Happy as pie. Pam Berry. Pam Berry. Pam Berry. Pam Berry. Pam Berry. Pam Berry. Pam Berry. Pam Berry. Pam Berry. Pam Berry. Pam Berry. Pam Berry. Pam Berry. One day I'm gonna do a real good Pam Berry post. One day...

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Betty Marie Barnes occasionally plays with Saturday Looks Good To Me and was on their record Every Night. She has a really good voice and is apparently a make-up extraordinaire. You can should listen to some of her solo stuff on her MySpace.

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If you don't already know it -- Tyvek are REALLY REALLY AWESOME. This song is called "Mary Ellen Claims" and it's from an in-store they did at Passout Records in Brooklyn.

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"Red Door" is such an ace song. That's it, that's all.



I hope at least one or two (or all) of these were new to you and you're day was enhanced greatly by viewing them. Take care and enjoy the weekend to the fullest.

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