>> Glaswegian shoegaze demigods The Cherry Wave this week fired a shot across the bow, issuing to the wilds of the Interzizzles the first preview track from its sure-to-be world-eating debut LP Avalancher. The set is slated for release in November, and the new tune culled from it, "Whitey," has us amply excited. When we last checked in with the quartet in August, all that we knew about the forthcoming LP was that it will close with a nine-minute epic titled "Fuzzthrower." "Whitey," by contrast, is compact, kinetic and markedly tuneful. The song evidences that The Cherry Wave seems to have struck an admirable balance in its aural mix: while tunes from its prior EPs often featured crushing walls of guitar, the guitars in "Whitey" are relatively reigned in, allowing room for crisp drumming and steady, impressionistic vocals to find equal footing in the stereo field. The overall effect recalls somewhat the work of North American contemporaries Ringo Deathstarr, with whom, coincidentally, The Cherry Wave played a show late in the summer. Almost abruptly as it starts, "Whitey" winks out. Stream the tune via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through to download the track in exchange for a dollar amount of your choosing. As we said in August during Show Us Yours 21, we expect Avalancher to hit and hit hard, so if you are not yet versed in the wonders of the Wave, now's the time to get into it. Bring on November.
>> Too often we have turned on to bands just as they are about to toss themselves into a pile of mothballs, and only very rarely have we experienced the thrill of getting one of those bands back. The band's original run was from 2006 to 2009, and a scan of the CC archives suggests we turned onto them about a year before they called it a day. So last week's expected announcement about the forthcoming reunion record from The Manhattan Love Suicides was quite a thrill. The Leeds-based foursome's comeback LP is titled More Heat! More Panic!, and its preview track "(Never Stop) Hating You" is a sure bet to inspire some of each, with its JAMC-inspired guitar cacaphony and candy-coated singing delivering an arresting blend of noise and melody. More Heat! More Panic! is a co-release of brilliant London label Odd Box Records and veteran U.K. label Squirrel Records, which we believe is run by Darren Lockwood and Caroline McChrystal of Manhattan Love Suicides. A limited number of red vinyl+t-shirt bundles alotted to Odd Box sold out in just a day when they went on offer earlier this week, but the Internet tells us that Squirrel still has a couple. Otherwise, a larger number of black vinyl+t-shirt and digital+t-shirt bundles -- as well as simple straight black vinyl or download options -- remain available for pre-order. The release date for More Heat! More Panic! is presently listed at the Odd Box Bandcamp as 26 January 2015, which is a terribly distant date. While away some of the hours in between by streaming "(Never Stop) Hating You" via the Bandcamp embed below.
>> Is there no half- or dim-witted publication out there that won't ridiculously assert that garage rock has "returned?" We find it hard to believe that we've actually progressed so far, as a culture, that this hasn't happened more recently, since it seemed like an almost annual occurrence during the first five years or so of this young century. We don't give any credence to such an assertion, of course: long-time readers know well our position, that there is always excellent garage rock happening (or polka, or trance, or string quartets, et cetera), one just needs to seek it out. But with the recent successes of the widely touted Parquet Courts, L.A.'s Meatbodies, Baltimore's Second Best Westerns and now Weird Womb, we're pleasantly surprised some neophyte -- or, more likely, dozens of neophytes all stealing furtive glances at each other and texting together but not actually talking because real life is scary -- isn't declaring garage rock is "back." Weird Womb's Laziness EP, which was issued by the Boston- and New York-based indie Midriff Records late last month, certainly packs enough beery bashing and blunt-force hooks to legitimately excite the sensibilities of any rock fan. The Brooklyn-based and Arizona-bred foursome's six-song set shakes with a fun, wholly unpretentious energy for almost 16 entire minutes, then it ends because fuck you. The massive EP highlight "Luxury Punks" hits hard with a three-chord assault punctuated by fronter Dakota Pollock's slacker hollering, which sounds always at the verge of an slippery, universe-unlocking, last-call-fueled revelation. Weird Womb play a hotly anticipated local show at Great Scott in Boston Oct. 27, on a bill top-lined by The Wytches; the band has a number of other dates lined up presently, that will lead the band on an unsteady march out to Lexington, KY and back for a pair of obligatory CMJ shows. Midriff released Weird Womb's Laziness EP Sept. 23 on vinyl and digital download, both of which can be ordered directly from the Midriff High Command right here. Try before you buy? Why, sure you can -- the entirety of Laziness is posted to Soundcloud and can be streamed via the embed below. Sounds great right now, will sound even better at the bottom of a 30-pack of Genny Red cans at 3AM on a Sunday morning; choose wisely.
