Sweet Valley and Heaven
 
There’s a new Sweet Valley track out. Who’s that, you ask? It’s Nathan Williams of Wavves, along with his brother, Kynan. “Total Carnage,” from their upcoming debut record, Stay Calm, is warped, instrumental surf rock that makes its looping riff sound like an endless summer. You want to just put it on, lay at the beach and never have that moment end. Stay Calm is out Aug. 7 from Fool’s Gold.
 

 
And speaking of Wavves, Wavves drummer Jacob Safari debuted songs from his new project Heaven via Vice’s blog this week. “Hanging Out” is kind of industrial and cool, with a foreboding beat and spacey vocals, while “Can’t Grow Up With Poison” is more of a straight-up shoegazer with a driving beat and a more melodic bent. I’m really digging this, obviously. An EP is due soon!
 
 
Wild Eyes – Blue Haze
 
New band crush: Wild Eyes, a So. Cal. shoegaze band with heart-and-brain-melting tracks that recall the best of the genre — Ride, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine. Found this one over at Buzzbands.la, where I learned they recorded their Blue Haze EP in a garage and rehearsal space. For such humble beginnings, the thing approaches Creation status. Gotta love those garage-gaze bands!
 

Mr. Little Jeans – Runaway (Wavves remix)
 
Mr. Little Jeans’ electro-pop ditty “Runaway” was already a pretty sweet Spring surprise of a song, but the L.A.-by-way-of-London rising star has been remixed by So. Cal. in human form Nathan Williams aka Wavves. I have to say I’m digging this remix even more than the original, and I’m not really a remix guy. Williams slows down and reverbs out her vocals to sound like they’re whispering through seafoam, while adding heavy drums and, I’m gonna say, naughty Nuggets organs. I think I like this remix so much because it’s like a big welcome to L.A., stripping a song of its cosmopolitan cool and washing it in sonic warmth. We’re happy to have you, Mr. Little Jeans.

 

New Beach House song “Lazuli” — I don’t care that they’re not from L.A.
 
Does the new Beach House song “Lazuli” sound like Enya? Do I love this new Beach House song? Does this new Beach House song sound like Enya but is still somehow amazing? Do I love Enya? Do I kind of like Enya sometimes? What is a lazuli? Does Beach House spend a lot of time researching things like rare bright blue stones that sound cool and mysterious for sick song titles? (Preorder the new Beach House album Bloom now! And come to Record Store Day April 21 to buy the "Lazuli" single!)

Desert Daze 
 
Coachella needs me to hype them like I need to hear that terrible Fun. song again (thanks, Chevy!), but there’s still time to make it to Desert Daze, a festival that started yesterday and runs through April 22. Today the biddies at L.A. Record along with Blundertown and Burger Records are throwing a massive show with Bleached, Audacity, Pangea, Lovely Bad Things and so many more L.A. goodies. The show is only a $5 suggested donation. It takes place at a secret location near Dillon’s Roadhouse in North Palm Springs; email moonblockmotel@gmail.com to book a room. (Disclaimer: I have no idea if there are any rooms left available, but email them and find out before it’s too late! Unless it already is.)
 
Highlights from the rest of the festival:
 
Saturday: Moving Units, Gangi, Dante vs. Zombies (ALSO: see them live for free at Amoeba Hollywood tonight at 7 p.m.),
Monday: Allah Las, Driftwood Singers, Pool Honeys
Tuesday: The Fresh & Onlys, Crystal Antlers, Babies on Acid, Henry Clay People (hear their newly released jam “25 For the Rest of Our Lives,” courtesy of Buzzbands.la)
Wednesday: Breakestra, Funky Sole DJs Miles and Clifton
Saturday: Dead Meadow, Spindrift, Dirt Dress
Sunday: Akron/Family, Here We Go Magic, The Entrance Band

Grass Widow – “Goldilocks Zone”

San Fran trio Grass Widow have a new album coming out May 22 on HLR called Internal Logic. The first song from it, “Goldilocks Zone,” sports the casual girl cool of The Breeders with a bit more post-punk angularity and noise-rock sound effects. Definitely excited to hear the full-length!

 

Dante vs Zombies – “Natural Disaster”

L.A.’s Dante vs. Zombies are set to release their first full-length April 10 from Neurotic Yell, called BUH. This is a band I wasn’t sure I’d like from reading about them, seeming kinda kitschy. Listening to “Natural Disaster,” I hear exquisitely polished, noir-ish indie rock with style to spare, reminding me a bit of another L.A. band, Fool’s Gold, and also recent Yeasayer. Plus singer Dante White-Aliano has killer pipes. Love the speed-up at the end. (Download via RCRDLBL.com)

 

 

Races – Full Album Stream

Races are a band I’ve written about a couple of times here as their sweeping orchestral pop showed major promise. Now their first full-length, Year of the Witch, is imminent, and they’ve put the whole thing up for streaming via SoundCloud. Sounds awesome!

There's a ton of great music out to there to compile your own personal beach mix-tape style compilation soundtrack for a summer's day down at the shore - songs like the Embers' beach music classic "I Love Beach Music" or the Beach Boys' "Surfin USA." Below are a bunch of randomly chosen videos of songs for the beach (most of them - not all - shot down at the beach) including the aforementioned Beach Boys at a later career stage when they teamed up in the 80's with the Fat Boys for a rock/rap version of "Wipeout."

Also below are LA's brilliant Surf Punks and their song "My Beach" which had several video versions including the one in the 1982 music documentary Urgh! A Music War. The one below is the video that was shot a bit later in 1983 for the KABC Los Angeles' video show "Goodnight L.A." Other videos below include Swedish duo Air France's "Beach Party" (although only a small part shot at the beach), Washington DC's Slickee Boys' 1983 summer anthem "When I Go To The Beach," The Wavves' "King of the Beach" (unofficial fan made video by YouTuber CuppinNuggets), and one of two video versions of "Boys On The Beach" by UK satirical fictional (but very entertaining) rap character MC Devvo.



I've also included the video for NorCal group the Surf MCs who were signed to Profile Records for a minute back in the 80's and marketed as a rap/rock surf/skater ensemble. This song and video, which could fall under the so-bad-its-good category, came out in 1987 and the video, while not shot at the actual beach, conveys the feeling of being down at the beach on a summer's day like today.

by Sally
Davey Havoc pic by Audra, all other pics by Kaitlin.

Every year Record Store Day just gets bigger and bigger, and the craziness grows! Here in SF before we opened the line was INSANE outside our doors and the first person in line had been there since 6am! That's some dedication! Even more astounding, customers were calling Friday night and asking if they could camp out for prime spots on the big day!

At 10:30am on the button, the doors were opened and people swarmed into the treasure-laden vinyl aisles of Amoeba SF. There were hoardes of people packing the rows and surrounding the 7"s. Watch an awesome video below shot by Audra of the line and the vibe before the doors were flung open!