March 1, 2007

Today's Hotness: Fields, Logh, Varsity Drag

Fields>> UK act Fields claims a new vinyl single it will release later this month will be the first ever to feature an etched b-side that contains a code fans can use to digitally access one of two non-album track b-sides. One of those b-sides is a cover of My Bloody Valentine's "When You Sleep" (which reminds us, we heard something very interesting about My Bloody Valentine earlier this week, which we hope to share once we get further confirmation). Anyway. The a-side of the tangible version of Fields' single is "Charming The Flames," and it will be released March 26. The other choice of digital b-side is a track entitled "Cold Hearted Machinery." A purely digital version of "Charming The Flames" will be released this coming Monday. The quintet will issue their debut long-player Everything Last Winter in the US May 8 via Atlantic, although the set will street a month earlier in the UK. And for local fans, Fields play Boston's Paradise Rock Club. Look for us there, as Fields' 7 From The Village EP, was one of our favorite records of 2006. We reviewed it here.

>> Swedish slow-core sextet Logh is streaming its forthcoming single "Saturday Nightmares" at its MySpace hutch here. The production of the tune sounds crisp and zesty, although its piano-driven opening smacks a bit of REO Speedwagon power balladry. It will probably be a huge hit with the "One Tree Hill" set, but it will take us some time to get used to the tune's decidedly non-guitar orientation (actually, in looking for a link to prove the "One Tree Hill" thing, we found that "Saturday Nightmares" is already being used in promos for another nighttime teledrama, "Brothers & Sisters" -- ummmm, yuck). You'd think for a sextet with three, count 'em, three guys named Matthias (two on guitar and one on bass) that at least one of them would have said during the mixing session, "Yeah, this is great, but where did all the guitar tracks go?" Hopefully there is some rock to be heard on Logh's forthcoming set North.

>> True: when pondering the early incarnation of The Lemonheads as we are wont to do now and again we sometimes believe we favor Ben Deily's compositions over those of more well-known alternahunk Evan Dando. Well, at least on the expanded version of Hate Your Friends. Deily's tunes "Ever" and "Anyway" are pop-punk classics. Devoted readers may recall our surprise and delight at learning last year that Deily was currently playing music with an act called Varsity Drag. The Drag have been touring across the pond recently and clips have been popping up on the YouTube. Imagine how stunned and pleased we were to see the clip below of Varsity Drag tearing through the old Lemonheads chestnut "Anyway." Awesome. There's more VD on the YouTube here, here and here. We've linked to these before, but check out some Varsity Drag MP3s while you rock out to the YouTube clip:

Varsity Drag -- "Skinny Ties" -- For Crying Out Loud
Varsity Drag -- "Billy Ruane" -- For Crying Out Loud
[right click and save as]

No comments: