King Tuff - "Bad Thing"

We've heard the two singles from Kyle "King Tuff" Thomas's Suicide Squeeze 7"—"WIld Desire" and "Hole In My Head"—and now the fine folks at neighboring Seattle label Sub Pop have unleashed the first jam from Tuff's forthcoming self-titled LP: "Bad Thing." A gnarly bit of glam, attitude, and amped-up guitars, "Bad Thing" is really all you could hope for out of an LP with Thomas's throaty vocals at turns whispering and shouting: "I'm a bad bad thing." The artwork isn't too shabby either, continuing King Tuff's line of classic album covers with its devil horned bat carrying an axe and star-topped magic wand. The 12-track record is out on May 29th.

King Tuff - "Bad Thing" (from King Tuff)

King Tuff - "Hole In My Head"

Few things lift the storm clouds quite like a new King Tuff track on a weekday morning: a rainbowed arch of perfectly shredded and fried weirdo glam-rock and power-pop. We told you about "Wild Desire," the great A-side to Tuff's new 7" on Suicide Squeeze last month. Now peep the "unmitigated stokedness" of the jangly riff-soaked B-side, "Hole In My Head." But first, a few words from the label: "King Tuff is what you put on when it's supposed to be winter time but you wake up to consistent sixty degree days because it's the end of the world. King Tuff is what you put on when you get to work and realize you have double the desk space because the person who normally sits next to you is home sick puking up fish tacos." He makes a lot of good points: mostly, be careful where you order your fish tacos.

Pre-order the 7" from Suicide Squeeze.

King Tuff - "Hole In My Head" (from Wild Desire 7")

King Tuff - "Wild Desire"

Though a passed around CDR from 2006 dubbed Mindblow predates it, the 2008 LP Was Dead is Kyle Thomas's only properly released album as King Tuff and it plays like some sort of secret super-powered freaked-out jukebox: a near greatest hits-quality collection of riff-heavy glam-fueled power-pop that begs for repeated spins. The record may only be a few years old, but the vinyl has already earned itself cult classic status with three sold-out pressings and hefty prices on eBay. Though Thomas keeps busy playing with everyone from J. Mascis to Seth "Hunx" Bogart and releases records under other aliases like Happy Birthday, rumor is we're finally getting a second King Tuff album this year, this time with a producer in tow—Bobby Harlow of Go and Conspiracy of Owls. The new album was recorded last summer over a two-week span in an abandoned Detroit schoolhouse. Though no details are available yet on the release, one of our favorite labels, Suicide Squeeze, has what may just be the first sneak peak of the King's new work in "Wild Desire." The track is part of Suicide Squeeze's 2012 single series and will be available on limited edition 7" vinyl April 3rd along with B-side "Hole In My Head." So, how good is "Wild Desire"? Well, let's just say there's talk of outer space and enough glitter, sparkle, and six-stringed shreddage to take you there.