Last Week’s Jams (3.17 – 3.21)

Well, after going pretty nonstop for nearly 20 years, RayRay and I had our first real Spring Break, so we took a few days off…please forgive us! That means that today you’re getting a lot of jams coming your way, new and a week old that I couldn’t ignore! But, even with our time off, Ray and I covered almost 20 new tunes…all but one included in our weekly wrap-up playlist to get your day started. There’s new Buffet Lunch, Mamalarky, Sharp Pins and more. If you want to go back and revisit the “writing,” just scroll through the site, but you’re going to have to try to keep up as the tunes are coming fast and heavy at you today!

Friday Album Streams: Sharp Pins, Exploding Flowers, Cats of Transnistria + More

It’s a really busy week in the music business, with everyone aflutter over the new album from Japanese Breakfast. But, while that’s stealing the headlines, we’ve got some other recommendations we’d like for you to consider before you venture off into the weekend. We’ve been highlighting several of these releases, most notably the reissue from Sharp Pins, which features some incredible new songs. But don’t worry, as usual, the stuff below is all over the map, so feel free to click and find out what you love the most.

 

Sharp PinsRadio DDR (K Records/Perennial Death)

Exploding FlowersWatermelon/Peacock (Meritorio Records)

Cats of TransnistriaIV (Soliti Music)

Private LivesSalt of the Earth (Feel It Records)

Last Week’s Jams (3.3 – 3.7)

Sure, we’ve had our eyes on SXSW as of late, but there were so many great songs coming out, we had to hustle to be sure we got to as many as possible. We covered new stuff from the Gotobeds and Reds, Pinks and Purples, plus we got to highlight longtime favorites like The High Water Marks and Exploding Flowers, just to name a few. We had some quick SXSW interviews with Cloth, Snacktime, Last Waltzon, Two Man Giant Squid and Saint Blonde, so all get a little feature loved today, along with the rest of the weekly bangers. Dive on into the collection below.

Exploding Flowers Release Across a Sea

I’m awaiting my copy of Watermelon/Peacock in the mail, and yet I’m still completely excited there’s another early listen by way of their last single before the big drop from Exploding Flowers. Having adored the band since stumbling upon their last LP, this tune feels like the connecting piece of pop that’s going to make the listen to spectacular. It’s got this casualness or effortlessness to it, bringing out gentle nods of warmth and slightly obscured jangles on the back of a bouncing drum beat. It seems fitting as an album closer too, as it breezily whips from your speakers and out into the world, leaving you with this global yearning that hopefully brings brighter days. Grab a copy of the new LP from Meritorio Records today!

Another Single from Exploding Flowers

An unexpected joy for this year will be getting to hear a new album from Exploding Flowers; they return this Spring with their first new release in 5 long years. This tune finds them in prime guitar pop glory; they settle into the circular seance of guitars, with the occasional drum fill adding in some textural depth. You’ll find a lot of joy in the way the vocals sit, soothingly swimming about in the center of the tune, though they’re not overproduced, so they fit perfectly into the grander picture being pushed out here. And like that, the wind blows the song into a tumbling breakdown and its over, as there’s no need to linger, because you’ll be back to play it again in no time. Watermelon/Peacock will be out on March 21st via Meritorio Records.

Exploding Flowers Announce Watermelon/Peacock

If you go back to 2020, you can check out my Album of the Year list, which included Stumbling Blocks; it was an LP by adored, but fairly unknown, act Exploding Flowers. I’d thought they’d gone the way of most bands, but lo and behold, I wake up to an email from the great folks at Meritorio with news of a brand new LP! Our first peek wastes no time, rolling in on a wave of guitars and steadied thumping on the drum kit; the vocals have this almost wistful exuberance, joyfully looking for promise of any sort on the horizon. There’s this wall of charm that washes over in the melody of the tune, and I’m finding it incredibly hard to not just spin this on repeat all day long! Watermelon/Peacock is out on March 21st.

Nathan’s Favorite Albums of 2020

It’s been a crazy year, and a depressing year, so perhaps we all retreated more into our record collections to seek out that fleeting joy. On my end, I spent a lot of time running/walking in the ‘burbs, so these are the records that played the most in my life…thus they are my Favorite Albums of 2020. The validity means little to anyone other than myself, but since you stop by, perhaps come by and check out my list!

And, just an FYI…there are 30 bands, and I linked back to Bandcamp pages so you can buy directly from the artists…except that one band because apparently they’re too cool…even though that album rips.

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Exploding Flowers Stream Tumbling Blocks

Good things come to those who wait, and we’ve been waiting almost a decade for Exploding Flowers to return with the follow-up to their self-titled debut. “A Daunting Thought” hits you immediately, dropping in this charm that’s part nostalgic California sunpop and part dreamy psychedelia. I love moving on to the ramshackle ditty “Far, But Never Gone,” which would fit along with some of my favorite power-pop hits of the year thus far…and that only gets us to the third track. Other stand outs on a personal note would be “Mirror Mirror, Face to Face” and “My Poor Heart,” but to be completely fair, this might be one of the most complete pop releases I’ve heard this year…every song’s a winner. Seriously, if you have any pop tendeines, be they dream, psych, jangle, power, what have you…you will instantly fall in love here. Stumbling Blocks is out via the Beautiful Music on August 11th, but stream it all below.

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