PAST WAVES: Skee Lo

Skee-Lo - Overdose EP (2010)

Is this shit real? New EP from the bro of hip-hop, Skee-Lo? I WISH it is! D'ohohohohoho.

Heavy Hawaii

Look at this dude. He is one half of Heavy Hawaii and he has a sweet hat. I also wish I had a pair of glasses like he does, maybe he will some day read this blog post and think "yeah, you know what? I'm gonna send Tom some of these glasses" and I will brofist him across the Internet.

There are actually three bros in San Diego's Heavy Hawaii though, who according to their MySpace are "Matt Bahamas, Sundar and Jojo KeyLargo". Makes me wish my last name was KeyLargo. Personally in the opinion of an Englishman I think they sound like the Conservatives if they were a lo-fi, dreamy surf-pop band. It's all very pretty-people-in-the-park, strolling-along-in-the-sunshine-esque. Blue Indian? Toro y Cameron? Hehehehehe.

But, you know, deep down? Rad tropical dream-noise. Ride it.

Heavy Hawaii - Bunch of demos

HEAVY HAWAII - SUICIDE SUMMER from Nathan Gulick on Vimeo.

P.S. I'VE GOT MY SHORTS ON!

Minus the Synthpop Band

Look at those bros. They are the kings of the hazey tropical-daze scene and they know it. They are Minus the Bear and they should be a household name for anyone who even remotely likes chill indie rock or is about 25.

I've always loved them for "Pachuca Sunrise", you know, that song about midnight on a beach in the Mediterranean?" So I was pretty stoked when a new album I didn't even know they were working on leaked yesterday. OMNI

Minus the Bear - OMNI

Basically, if anyone is familiar with the band's song "Knights", it's pretty much that, but with a synthpop party going on in the apartment above it and a 25-year-old bro playing his Menos el Oso CD below in the basement thinking "why did chillwave have to die?"

There's a song about angels in summer though, which is always nice.



BUY: The zoo

COMING SOON: Your less "mnstrm" fix

Ravenous

Thanks to hits from a pretty sweet blogfriend, I've had a few e-mails today from a couple of cool bands I thought I'd share with my bros. There's some other stuff I plan to post too including some Heavy Hawaii which I will get round too, I've just started a new job and they've had me in 40 hours this week... I'm pretty tired, but the chill and the surf and the sun is keeping me alive. ;)

Ravenous are pretty sweet. Straight out of DC, they make jams I can only describe as sludgey, slimey lo-fi classic rock in a sunny swamp. Think Cloud Nothings if they had been listening to a lot of Boston. Coincidentally 'Highway, Holmes' sounds like something you'd listen to on a hazy sunrise as you're driving along the highway on the first five minutes of yr epic road trip. Good noise bros.

Demos

Jacuzzi Boys

"Tropical No Age" is the first thing that sprung to mind the first time I listened to Jacuzzi Boys. Swimming from the sweet location of Miami, FL, three broskateers Gabriel, Diego and Danny are currently taking their sweet lo-fi surf rock'n'roll jams have dates lined up with bros such as No Age, Beings, The Bellys, The Wiggins, The Fresh & Onlys, The Art Museums and more. Pretty much sums up their style, right? Get on this!

Jacuzzi Boys - No Seasons LP



BUY: Jacuzzi Boys - No Seaons @ FLORIDAS DYING

Heavy Times

Heavy Times is dope. Heavy Times is also Bo Hansen. Heavy Times used to record under the name "Slums". Heavy Times is from Chicago, IL and sometimes plays live with Matt Courade and Kyle Reynolds.

But all that aside, Heavy Times are pretty out there. Imagine for one moment Jay Reatard has come back from the grave, but his mind quite isn't the same, his mouth doesn't move in the same way and he can't thrash out on his guitar quite as furiously as before. Instead, he makes new songs with a lot more reverb, and are lot more chilled, and a lot more garagey. This is pretty much what Heavy Times sounds like. Punks on a beach getting high and scuzzing out. RAD TIMES.

Heavy Times - The Future Rules [DC16]

BUY: SOLD OUT [@ Dinosaur Club]

Heavy Times Beach Sleep from Imaginary Animal on Vimeo.

Small Black

I'm really late on these guys but this EP will blow your mind in to a hazy dreamscape up in surfer heaven. Small Black a Brooklyn, NY four-piece whose most recent adventures include playing as Washed Out's backing band and touring with him and Pictureplane.

The best way I can describe them is through fantastic debut single 'Dispicable Dogs' - think the dreampop-esque, chilled out sandy vibes of Washed Out/Neon Indian but with less electro and more Japanther-like drum beats and lo-fi, cloudy vocals.

"Do it without me, do it when I'm gone"

Small Black - 12" EP



One of my new favourite bands for sure, I can't stop spinning this. Gonna try and find their split with Washed Out and post it up for ya'll.

BUY: Small Black - 12" [CassClub] @ Insound

Fair Ohs

Fair Ohs bring the surf of the finest California beaches and the tropical dance-daze anthems of Delorean and put it all in a smoothie maker in a Caribbean cafe in East London. This is their split 7" (with Spectrals) on Tough Love Records in the UK. First track 'Hey Lizzie' is probably the best, a srsly sweet jam full of summer vibes and hazy dreamscapes. Like No Age, but on a beach.

Fair Ohs/Spectrals split 7"

BUY: Tough Love Records

new Cloud Nothings

Found this on one of the best blogs ever and just wanted to share the love with ya'll. More lo-fi garage rock anthems from curret pioneers of the genre Cloud Nothings! I haven't listened to Campfires yet but based on the name alone I'm sure they're worth listening to.

Cloud Nothings/Campfires Split Tape

BUY: Bathic Records

Delorean

This is the shit! Delorean are Spanish tropical synthpop chill-dance heroes. The song below 'Stay Close' sounds like the backing music to an advert for the best holiday ever. If there's one anthem you need this summer apart from KISSES, this is it. If Delorean were an island, it would be an island floating in the bluest skies, selling the milkiest cookies to the most perfect girls surrounded by everyone riding the waves. A bit more electro than most other similar bands, but it doesn't matter - it's way too catchy. Get on this now.

Delorean - Subiza

BUY: Delorean - Subiza [True Panther] @ Matador Records

UPSURFIN': Dirty Beaches

Never has the name of a band been so relevant to their sound. Dirty Beaches sounds just as filthy as it's name - hideously beautiful scratchy guitar tag-teamed with some pretty funky looping drone and the haunting voice of Alex Zhang Hungtai, a dude all the way from that Canada place. This is for those days when a big black cloud decides to shit all over yr beach trip.



I'll try and find some MP3s soon.

MALE BONDING Album Stream

these dudes are getting their MALE BONDING on!



Thrashy noise-punk rockafellas MALE BONDING have put their debut album 'Nothing Hurts' up to stream on their blog, but I'm gonna embed it here because I'm nice like that.



I really wish they'd stuck with their 'raw roots' though, this album sounds a bit too polished for the genre, but it's still pretty A+++ lo-fi kerfuffle.

Gonna find a new EP or something to post tomorrow.

UPSURFIN': Sun Araw

New double LP from the tropical drone maestro hit the blogosphere quite recently, you can find it in all the usual places.

I keep imaging myself listening to this during twilight in a palm tree. Makes me sleepy.

Lemonade

Lemonade are three broskateers Ben, Alex and Callan from San Francisco, Brooklyn and Californa USA. Three sweet cities coming together to form one of the illest bands of the year - these guys make jams as if they were Japandroids hanging out in a beach hut. My favourite song from the EP definitely has to be 'Lifted' - you don't get much more tropical than looping underwater sounds and a drum beat that sounds like it's made on a bunch of seashells. This is going to be big on my playlist this summer.

Lemonade - Pure Moods EP

BUY: True Panther Sounds