The Single Life - 7" of Fun - Featuring The Vinyl Stitches, Chrome Spiders, The Cold Beat, and Movers & Shakers

The Vinyl Stitches - Beautiful Mistake, Panther Sex b/w I Said Alright, Runaway Baby

Coming from Death Pop Records, those fine purveyors of maximally fuzzed out garage trash, comes this absolute gem of a 4-song 7".  And without a doubt, this is the finest piece of underground garage fuzz that I've ever heard coming from the Deathpopsters.  Absolutely soaked in the oil-stained concrete garage floors of the Stooges, 13th Floor Elevators, The Velvet Underground and any one else you want to throw into the mix, this is an absolute bliss of primitive surf nirvana.  These songs don't just rock, they positively percolate, rummaging across a thunderously heavy bottom end layered with a heady dose of screaming fuzz psychedelia.  Fun, fun, fun.  I defy anybody who claims to be a fan of garage rock to not get their groove on to any one of these cuts.  Rightfully, the Stitches declared the 7" to be an A side and a double A side, cause their ain't no B cut songs on this baby.

Take every garage band you've ever loved, throw in a dozen lava lamps, some mod haircuts, and a wall of sliced-to-stitches amps, toss it all into a blender, put it on puree, and the sound that comes out is The Vinyl Stitches.  And the sound is good.  Oh, so good.

http://www.myspace.com/thevinylstitches




Chrome Spiders - Black Butterfly b/w TheWhip Hand

While we're on the topic of garage trash . . . let's take that theme and weld to it some truly classic rock riffmeistering, and a nasty bit of psychosis and what you get is the Chrome Spiders. Calling their sound Primal Sophistication, the Chrome Spiders were formed when Detroit ex-pat Thomas Jackson Potter (Bantam Rooster, Dirtbombs, Detroit City Council, Seger Liberation Army) moved to the lovely lakeside resort of Muskegon, MI. Unable to stand musical retirement for long, he hooked up with Kalamazoo native Sean Barney (Menthols, The Breaks, Deconstruction) Marc Savage (The Bitters) and Michael Sheneman (The Bitters) and launched themselves down the road to almost certain destruction.  With the band raging with a mania that verges on psychosis, Chrome Spiders are more addictive than a mainline of narcs right in the brain.  I haven't been this caught up in a raunchy, scratchy groove since the first time I heard the Angels.  And that's what "Black Butterfly" sounds like, Doc Neeson and his band of cretins, dirtied up, roughed up and raging on after an all nighter.  Huge riffs, manic vocals, undying beat.  Great stuff.  "The Whip Hand" dirties up the garage with a face wash of The Cramps eerie intensity.  Perfectly done.  Don't miss it.


http://www.myspace.com/chromespiders

The Cold Beat/Movers & Shakers - split 7"

Keeping the garage rock intensity but adding in their own touches, flips, and twists, we got us a tasty split 7" featuring two Boston bands definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Starting off on the Cold Beat side, we get the passion of garage indy rock married to the darker textures of post-punk bands that followed in the old Echo and Joy Division vibe.  Not that these cats sound like that, but they do favor the same huge, looping bass and angular guitar runs, fusing that darkness to a roughened post-Replacements ragged glory of mid-America indie rock.  And let me tell you, this is my kinda gig, and I knew that right off the bat.  Give me some vocals that bleed with intensity, while that massive bass rocks my ass in the background.  Add in some Andy Gil-esque guitar flares with touches of a hefty crunch, and put that package together with some serious songwriting chops and I'm hooked.  


Movers & Shakers comes next adding a touch of Elvis Costello to their Paul Westerberg-inspired roots garage.  Featuring some dynamite finger picking guitar and some nicely weathered vocals, Movers & Shakers cut a wide swath through the homespun, rustic world of indy americana.   Still raw enough to encompass that gritty garage vibe, there's some serious songcraft going on here, from the more complex song structures to the drill-it-into-my-head infectious choruses.  This is kinda what we all wanted The Gin Blossoms to sound like, once upon a time.  Thank God, it's here at last.

Toss in the fact that this split 7" comes on a gorgeous platter of light blue marbled vinyl and it's a treasure find for any serious indy rock fan.  Gobble this one up.  They only printed 500, I really don't expect it to last for long.

www.myspace.com/thecoldbeat
www.myspace.com/moversandshakers