Drug Store Supplies by Dead Ghosts

Drug Store Supplies by Dead Ghosts

Staff Writer: Drew Burgess

1960’s counterculture exists in the same dimension as the Dead Ghosts. Their track, Drug Store Supplies, romances the wild and free on the fringe living and self-medicating that any desert traveling biker encounters, through vintage vibey lyrics over shiny guitarwork and tight percussion.

The vocal themes of Defining One’s Self Through Actions, and foundational knowledge (all I really know) feeding present-day and apparent bad ideas (I do it again and again and again and again) are just the metaphysical touch needed to pull this fun garage rocker into the multi-dimensional realms of psych rock. These rebels imply more than they say, and what they say is worth checking out. Holy smokes!

Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #91 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

https://deadghosts.bandcamp.com/track/drugstore-supplies

Ripe For Consumption, by Weeping Icon

Ripe For Consumption, by Weeping Icon

What sort of wild fruit is this? 

A roaring chaotic entanglement of unnaturally electric wild things, the textures and energies of Ripe For Consumption blast into one’s ears in a raucous, carefree, and joyous attack.

This is a party song if I’ve ever heard one, drawing imagery of hitting the rare isolated straightaway with friends on the way to a party, and wringing fourth gear of all its juice just for kicks as the sun gets all dark orange and melty. 

And upon listening I agree; with reference to the track’s title; that it is indeed Ripe To Consume, and pairs wonderfully with a Pabst Blue Ribbon or three.Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #89 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

Your Disaster, by The Kindest People

Your Disaster, by The Kindest People

Your Disaster rings in with glassy cleans, jangle-y guitars interweaving with a dance-ready bouncing bass and riff-oriented drums, beneath a tiled-bathroom reverb/echo drenched vocal. The takeaway is an innocent perspective on a burgeoning self-awareness, or a retrospective glance to a highlight reel of a bad relationship.

My favorite part is the city-surf style guitar lick, which carries the song into ear-worm territory. The Kindest People keep this one true throughout, and Your Disaster was stuck in my head hours after I heard the track. Kudos to this power-quartet for their efforts, apparent in this hook-heavy summer anthem.Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #89 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

Donna, by the Beauticians

Donna, by the Beauticians

All the great things of the mid-80’s have culminated their holy spirits into the members of The Beauticians. This is art-rock in its roots, when garage rock got synths and poetic prose lyric content. The driving rhythm of the one-and-two-and drum track parallels the Jesus Mary Chain while the remainder of the tune brings to mind The Cars or Modern English. How can this be a recent song? Its a dance anthem, powerful in its simplicity and huge in it’s swells and footprint.

Donna is either front row and center stage waving her bangle-clad arms, or she’s at home, hurting still over the heartbreak that inspired the tune. Either way, she’s left a mark on one of these boys that you need to take a look at- and a listen to.Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #89 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

Purr With Me, by Three Star Hotel

Purr With Me, by Three Star Hotel

There’s something so beautiful and pretty in this pop perfection. It’s this upbeat, double vocalists, catchy guitar-synth gem. Be the love of my life. Be the love of my life. These guys lean into the right tradition of the best indie pop writers – the best songwriters who understand song writing like those Brill Building writers. Vampire Weekend is the most modern reference, but also Blur and Elvis Costello understood song like these boys. 

This is the podcast which elevates the art form of song. Thank you and thank you for this piece of perfection. Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #89 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

Feel’n Bad by The Side Bets

Feel’n Bad by The Side Bets

I have so much love for The Side Bets and Dougie Ramone. It’s impossible to see a band for the first time and really understand anything of the music and vocals. I mean, you get the essence of whether the lead singer has a certain energy and charisma and if the guitarist can play a million notes – but the challenge for us all is to have people walk out of the club and remember our songs. You have to boil down and boil down your songs until the only thing left is the hooks. You will remember this song!

This is a straight hit. This is the song that you walk out of a show singing. Complexity is easy. It is far harder to take everything back down to the essence of gritty garage rock, dirty sleazy guitar, and being fearless and shouting on stage about “feelin’ bad” and “all the good things we use to have!” This is the haiku of underground rock music!Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #89 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

ROBOJOM, “Monster Cookie”

ROBOJOM, “Monster Cookie”

Proving the age-old wisdom – you can sing whatever the hell you want as long as the music is this banging and your singer delivers. A trashy electro song about a monster cookie and a spicy spicy spicy popsicle stick? Maybe this is a metaphor? Or code? I don’t really care. This is amazing fun – and this is what really great art does: calms me down and makes me smile. I’m so glad I live in a universe where there is a total club banger which is both totally hilarious and totally sexy.Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #88 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

THE STYROFOAM TURTLES, “Sad Soul”

THE STYROFOAM TURTLES, “Sad Soul”

I love watching this band – and their great steps along their artistic path. So I know the back story, the previous show, the proposal, the obvious waves of positive energy when Tristen sat down to write this. It is supposed to be about the sad soul – an overly dramatic person acting overly dramatic – but somehow this song is suffused with so much lightness and kindness and hope and love. The bass is so catchy, the accented “ah is wonderful, and then the chord progression in the chorus rises away from the darkness and towards the sun.Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #88 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

UGLY RUNNER, “She Was Your Girl”

UGLY RUNNER, “She Was Your Girl”

It’s easy to tell when a band has a good time together on a stage, but much harder to capture that energy in a studio. But on the short and sweet “She Was Your Girl” by Ugly Runner, confirmation of those good times come in the hoots and hollers behind Stephen Britt’s guitar solo centerpiece: this band simply works well together. With the call-and-response that accompanies Britt’s “I didn’t know she was your girl,” the blues rock charms of The Yardbirds come front and center and smartly underscores the blame game played by the song’s narrator. It’s an intoxicating mix of pitch-perfect pop song construction and garage rock swagger, and stakes out a corner of the scene for Ugly Runner’s unique take on that classic rock sound.Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #88 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

https://uglyrunner.bandcamp.com/album/romanticizer