Premiere: Burnt Ones - "Fountain of Youth"

A Burnt Ones song doesn't just play: it quakes, howls, and shakes its hips under the faint light of a blood-red moon. This Bay Area trio's playful penchant for excess comes in the form of thunderous booms of amplified guitar fuzz, which sound at once dizzying, assaultive, and deeply satisfying. This isn't let's sit down and contemplate life by the fire music; this is foot-stomping, thigh-slapping, celebratory, let's jump into the fire just to feel how it hot it burns music. Fresh off releasing a 7" on Oakland's Fuzz City Records and a pair of tracks for two compilations on John Dwyer's Castle Face imprint, Burnt Ones are now set to deliver their second long player, You'll Never Walk Alone. Burger Records, who co-released the band's sublime glam-smacked single "Meet The Golden One" with the band's own Gold Records, will put out You'll Never Walk Alone on April 30th. Below, dig into the raucous first taste, "Fountain of Youth"—all dark walls of guitar-chewing distortion and train-chugging rhythm flavored with an addictive candy-sweet bubblegum pop center.

Follow Burger Records on Facebook for the pre-order announcement. In the meantime, get your paws on previous Burnt Ones releases direct from the band.

Kelley Stoltz - "Sunday Morning"

Bay area pop guru Kelley Stoltz— who's both charmed us as the drummer for Sonny & The Sunsets and with his own varied and formidable solo output—has covered the uncoverable: The Velvet Underground's two-minute and fifty-six seconds of pop perfection, "Sunday Morning." Stoltz though more than pulls of the feat by sticking close to the script, only adding a touch of extra meat to this beloved classic with the subtlest of strokes. "Sunday Morning" is part of a Velvet Underground & Nico covers album orchestrated by Thee Oh Sees' John Dwyer and put out on his own imprint, Castle Face Records. If you do the vinyl thing, word is Castle Face nearly sold out, so get on it.

Thee Oh Sees - "The Dream" & "Carrion Crawler"

Considering Thee Oh Sees' Castlemania is a 16-track double album, it's hard to imagine the band had time to record and release a whole other record in 2011. But then again, Thee Oh Sees are a wildly prolific bunch of weirdos—and that's why we love them. Cut to live tape in Sacramento back in June, Carrion Crawler/The Dream was originally envisioned as two separate EPs, now combined as one purple intestine-covered LP. You can now hear both title tracks below. According to John Dwyer's Castle Face Records homepage, this won't be the band's last release in 2011. Look out for a split 12" with Total Control later this year with art by longtime collaborator William Keihn, which you can check out right here.

Thee Oh Sees - "The Dream" (from Carrion Crawler/The Dream)
Thee Oh Sees - "Carrion Crawler" (from Carrion Crawler/The Dream)

More:
Must-have vinyl: Castle Face Records :: Group Flex
Thee Oh Sees cover The Creation: "If I Stay Too Long"

Mikal Cronin - "Get Along" & "Apathy"

Mikal Cronin, a longtime Ty Segall collaborator and the bassist for west coast punk rockers Moonhearts, is set to venture out on his own on September 20th with his self-titled psych-rock debut via Trouble In Mind Records. Last Friday, we heard Cronin and Segall tear into a David Bowie classic with some rip-roaring guitar work. Here, Cronin is again joined by Segall—this time on drums—along with friends Charlie Moonheart and Thee Oh Sees' John Dwyer, who contributes flute to album opener "Is It Alright." But as heavy and guitar-dominated as the mix is on tracks like "Get Along" and "Apathy," it's Cronin's vocal melodies and delivery that really shine and sink their hooks into the listener as they cut their way through walls of fuzz. Two listens deep and I promise you'll be singing along.

Mikal Cronin - "Get Along" (from Mikal Cronin)
Mikal Cronin - "Apathy" (from Mikal Cronin)

Thee Oh Sees cover The Creation: "If I Stay Too Long"

Side 3 of Thee Oh Sees' most recent psych-rock masterpiece, the double LP Castlemania, features an oddly wonderful collection of covers, including "I Won't Hurt You" by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and "What Are We Craving?" by Norma Tanega. But perhaps none is more compelling than Thee Oh Sees' take on the 1967 single "If I Stay Too Long" by English rock band The Creation.