Quakers (self-titled) - 2012 LP

 Sometimes I walk to the studio.....no driving.....no using a bike.....I just walk, throw on some headphones and zombie-out....prepare for the day of making and selling paintings.  Before I listen to an album I try to do as little research as possible......If it's good then I'll go out of my way to find OUt more.....When Quakers came on I stopped walking.....I felt like running.....I felt like running through a brick wall....I wanted to strut.....Vintage/90s nostalgia rap/old school hip hop is hard to find.....Quakers not only perform it....they've conquered it.....this album is dope......so f*ing rad (thanks beg)......one of the best rap albums I've heard in years.....and it's brand spanking new:

LISTEN HERE:

Quakers "Russia With Love feat. Coin Locker Kid" mp3

Quakers "There It Is feat. The Champs" mp3

BUY HERE:

Stonesthrow Records

Bad Weather California "Sunkissed" - 2012 LP

I need sunshine.  I wake up early.  Like ass crack of dawn early.....that's when I put out a majority of my public installations.  Today I slept in....Rumor has it a bartender over served me last night.  All lies...I deny it all....Fuck, okay, i was in the mood....I needed to drink off a little steam....sip on some whiskey with a beer back.....turn my breath into kerosene.....howl at the moon......become a beast.  I woke up....tried to pester my girlfriend....then went outside.....It rained.  Goddamnit it's not suppose to rain in LA.  I left a new canvas outside and a few of my wino-strut bottles.....they're ruined.  I quickly retreated to my headphones and put on Bad Weather California (rad website)....which I had never heard of and assumed it was heavy rock.  I was wrong.  Bad Weather California is bright happy fun pop/modern/Cali-surf psych/quirky.....with a major Cars and early Flaming Lips influence. I got my sunshine:

LISTEN HERE:

Bad Weather California "When You Smile" mp3

Bad Weather California "I'll Reach Out My Hand" mp3

BUY HERE:

Insound

Bill Baird "Career" - 2012 LP

About a year ago I got a call from Bill...."I'm in Hollywood, I'm walking down Sunset, what are you doing?"  Well, anytime I get that call I drop just about anything...So after about an hour of shutting down the studio I hopped in my truck from Venice headed towards Hollywood....I couldn't find Bill....I drove all the way down Sunset past Silverlake.....After that point your between Chinatown and Downtown....Just as I was making a U-turn I spotted a long haired blonde dude with an arm full of records and leather patches on his elbows....He had been walking miles.....Bill hopped in and immediately started "What have you been listening too?"....After giving my normal response of hipster indie garage bands...Bill started to play me what I thought was a Captian Beefheart mixtape....Then his newest tracks started up....I had never heard him write this kind of music...It was unlike any music I had ever heard....We continued OUr journey back to my studio, looked at some paintings, then set out on the town in what I can only remember as some sort of blurred hybrid of Withnail and I or Fear and Loathing...Ironically, I dropped Bill off right where I found him....On Sunset Blvd......Now a year later with the songs mixed and complete "Career" is here....It....like all of Bill's albums...is spectacular and groundbreaking:

LISTEN HERE:

Bill Baird "Your Dark Sunglasses Won't Make You Lou Reed" mp3

Bill Baird "Captain Brain" mp3

BUY HERE:

BandCamp  (get the limited edition vinyl) (in 15 years of collecting it is one of my top 3 in packaging.....ever)

Weird Dreams "Choreography" - 2012 LP

Weird Dreams first got my attention by mentioning the filmwork of David Lynch as a major influence.  So I got my hands on the album and I didn't get the Lynch influence.  I liked the album but the whole Lost Highway vibe was lost on me.....Then one day at the studio it hit me....I started to hear the eerie-ness in their interpretation of doo-wop melding with modern rock...I started to feel the odd Lynch version of Americana......This album is badass and a hell of debut album.  Guarantee these buys blow up in 2013.  Everytime I listen to this album I find a dabbling in a new genre...pop/bee-bop/50s rock/Girls influence (sf band, not the sex)....scissor me timbers:

LISTEN HERE:

Weird Dreams "Little Girl" mp3

Weird Dreams "Hurt So Bad" mp3

BUY HERE:

Tough Love Records

Netherfriends "Middle America" - 2012 LP

Ahhhhh.....Middle America.....corn, bibles, Wal-Mart, gettin' married in your 20s, Bud Light, spanking babies.....wait a minute....I'm not harping on the fly over states here...Hell, I'm from Oklahoma and damn proud of that.....Apparently, Netherfriends spent some time there as well......Take a look at the tracklist from their 2012 effort "Middle America"....Every track is the name of a midwest city and state....And guess twhat?.....This album is badass....an awesome reflection of  being in a tour band/pop sprawling rock/echoed reverb guitar (Ganglians style)/very modern sOUnd.....very good:

LISTEN HERE:

Netherfriends "Bloomington, IN mp3

Netherfriends "Kalamazoo, MI" mp3

BUY HERE:

Kilo Records