Flowertown – Time Trials (Paisley Shirt)

Interest in our little overpriced peninsula’s practice-amp fog pop has reached a new plateau with some incredible vinyl on offer this year. You can take all this with a grain of salt because I am located here, but just picture those old gushing scene reports from fanzine salad days, and that is me raving about bands around here that catch my fancy. Time Trials is the 2nd vinyl LP from the duo of Mike (Tony Jay) and Karina (Cindy). The 1st LP was rough but beautiful sounds from the tape hiss sub-basement, while this sophomore LP feels very deliberate and lovingly crafted. The arrangements are stunning, showcasing that Velvet Underground-via-indie pop influence which looms large here. You might picture a Vaselines’ cassette playing on a boombox with fading batteries down a subway tunnel. The album floats by in a cottony grey cloud, but the title track almost has a groove to it with a thumping floor tom beat. “Dim Nik” is worth mentioning too for its bright guitar riff and moving chorus descent. This is one of three new albums you need to check out from the Flowertown/Cindy axis this season alone!

American Music Club – AMC Live 1992-1993 (self-released)

One of my all-time favorite SF bands got wise to Bandcamp and put up this incredible studio-quality live collection. For those not aware, AMC was one of the first to dabble in what would be called slowcore. This was at least a solid part of what they did on some of their early, nearly flawless LPs, classics like Engine and California. But their sound was hard to pin down, mixing up country, torch songs, and post-punk. Mark Eitzel himself said in a fanzine interview way back, “I don’t get what the confusion is, we are a music band.” It was Blue Nile meets Springsteen with a touch of Sleepers’ Painless Nights but really none of those things. They got somewhat popular in the UK and never made it big in the USA like they shoulda. Reissues of their early works are coming, very excited.

David Christian – Bubblegum Summer Beach Bash! (self-released)

David is one of the people behind indie legends Comet Gain. That band has been at it awhile making cool, lo-fi pop records like a cracked take on The Wedding Present, but I think they really hit their stride around 2014’s Paperback Ghosts which was more folk-rock based, very lush with perfect pop songs. Here David is banging out some excellent home-fi pop with touching and, at times, humorous lyrics. The somewhat unhinged delivery brings to mind ’85 Television Personalities or imagine Biff Bang Pow love ballads cut with the scrappiness of the McTells.

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