Wyatt Blair :: Banana Cream Dream

The time I devote to Everybody Taste these days is negatively impacting the forthcoming brick 'n' mortar retail food market I plan to open in the Fall. So if I'm writing here—instead of working on something far more important to my future well-being—it's because I can't fucking control myself: I've been moved by the power of rock 'n' roll, and my music nerd instincts are compelling me to immediately share it with you. The power-pop currently racing out of the brain of Los Angeles-based and Orange Country-bred musician Wyatt Blair is that inspiring force and it's all sugary excitement, throaty Marc Bolan swagger, and thunderous hip-twisting foot-stomping power-chord fun. Blair, who's toured alongside the likes of The Lovely Bad Things and Peach Kelli Pop and released an EP called Peach Colored Pussy, works equal parts humor and melody into each of his charmingly simple and infectiously malted pop confections. Blair's newest release, Banana Cream Dream, is out now on cassette from (who else) Burger Records with a forthcoming vinyl release due out on Resurrection Records. From the uproarious muted-guitar hum of "Girls!" to the swinging blues and stutter on "Sweet Operator (Talkin' On The Telephone)", the songs on Banana Cream Dream are so instantaneously uplifting and savagely simple that it's nearly impossible to escape the fun. This summer, whether you're cruising a dark highway, swatting away mosquitoes and crushing beer cans on a back porch somewhere, or simply doing the dishes alone in the kitchen, please pop in this record and proceed to shimmy, head bang, and pogo forth all that is wonderful, sweet, and forever satisfying about a fresh new slab of boogie-friendly rock 'n' roll.

Buy Banana Cream Dream digitally from the band. Get the tape from Burger. 

Lovely Bad Things - "Hear or Anywhere"

La Mirada's Lovely Bad Things wooed me a few years back with the lovable handrawn art, jubilant bonfire-on-the-beach vibe, and sharp cutting melodies of their Shark Week and New Ghost / Old Waves cassettes. Now, freshly signed to Volcom Entertainment, the quartet are set to release their very first long player: The Late Great Whatever. Brimming with Star Wars and Randy Savage references, forceful driving beats, crashing fuzzed-out waves of guitars, and dynamic rotating lead vocals, the group's charming brand of garage rock is poised to commence world domination. Below, peep the sweeping and massively appealing Lauren Curtius-sung "Hear or Anywhere," which for some reason at the moment is taking me back to 1995 and Kevin Smith's excellent punk-smattered Mallrats soundtrack. As Brodie once poetically explained: "Breakfast, shmreakfast. Look at the score, for Christ's sake. It's only the second period and I'm up 12 to 2. Breakfasts come and go, Rene, but Hartford, 'the Whale,' they only beat Vancouver once, maybe twice in a lifetime."

Pre-order the record from Volcom.

The Lovely Bad Things: Bonfires & Surf-Garage-Fuzz

La Mirada, California's The Lovely Bad Things do a pitch-perfect job of fusing surf-rock guitar tones with jangly garage fuzz and ear-pleasing harmony-glazed vocal melodies. Songs like "Cult Life" and "I Just Want You To Go Away" belong at a beach party right beside a blazing bonfire and a mass of jubilant dancing and singing party-goers. To put it simply, this is feel good music. To date, the band has put out two cassette tapes: one on Ultravivid Recordings in 2010 and a follow-up on Burger Records this past July. As soon as this band releases something on vinyl, I'm buying. (via R&G)

While Shark Week is sold out, you can still buy the S/T cassette from Burger Records.

The Lovely Bad Things - "Cult Life" (from Shark Week)

The Lovely Bad Things - "I Just Want You To Go Away" (from S/T)