This Weeks Short Bursts : Sex Tide, Connections, + Mincer Ray

In this weeks short bursts we're obliged to direct you to The Birthpace of Aviation as well as to The Grey City for three outfits who share an appreciation of earnest lo-fi pop and arresting guitar fuzz anthems. From the basements and garages of Columbus and Berlin to your ears.

With the release of Flash Fuck, rising Columbus, OH's skuzz pop outfit, Sex Tide have delivered a exemplary EP of jarring garage rock in the vein of fellow Ohioan's, Times New Viking and the sorely missed, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments. Sex Tide is comprised of standing drummer and vocalist, Aurelie Celine along with dual guitarists Chad Bad and Chris Corbin, On Flash Fuck the trio runs through 7 sludge filled art damaged garage pop in 20 minutes and not a second is wasted, in fact it's due to that brevity that has us reaching for this EP over and over. Recorded on quarter inch analog tape which gives these song considerable density and perfectly capture Sex Tides' voluminous cacophony. Volume required.



Back in June we were compelled to tell you about the Columbus, OH supergroup Connections in our debut Currently Obsessed segment. The band that features members of both 84 Nash and Times New Viking have just released their second full lenth and third overall realease of the year Body Langauage and the new set finds the quintet picking up where they left us on both the Tough City EP and their charging debut LP, Private Airplane by sharpening their focus to their artful distillation of 90's lo-fi in conjunction with intelligent songwriting, buzzing guitars and gigantic pop hooks. Connections recorded Body Lanuguage at a brisk pace and according to a recent Facebook post, the band have no plans of slowing their pace as they will be headed back into the studio shortly to churn out another healthy collection of power chord pop anthems. Check Body Language's Summer Creeps for the catchiest damn thing we've heard this year.



Last spring, Berlin based Mincer Ray issued A Magnates Reach, a sturdy and engaging collection of skewed indie pop. The trio features three distinctive songwriters, two American's and a Brazillian, all of whom contribute to the varied texture of the EP. Initially we had our doubts,was Mincer Ray another GBV retread or Tobin Sprout tribute band? We're happy to report all our suspicions were unfounded. Yes, there's an obvious Guided By Voices influence at work here, but Mincer Ray exhibits quite a bit of precision as well as unique song craft which enables the trio to distribute five diverse and exuberant songs, that will make you wish A Magnates Reach was about five tracks longer.

Reviewed :: Robert Pollard - Lord of The Birdcage

For his second solo and fourth overall release of 2011, Robert Pollard went to a collection of previously penned poems, with assistance from frequent collaborator and producer , Todd Tobias and transformed them into a cohesive LP filled with haunting acoustics, frantic power pop, and lush balladry. Having already released high caliber recordings with Mars Classroom (Gary Waliek of Big Dipper) Lifeguards, (former GBV guitarist Doug Gillard), and his own Space City Kicks this year, Pollard is operating with dare I say, surgical focus. [Apologies for the pun readers and uncle Bob, I couldn't resist working that in -Ed.]

Perhaps it was the description of the album in the press release that lessened my expectations, however I wasn't prepared for Lord of The Birdcage to be this good. The album opens with Smashed Middle Finger, at first a gentle guitar strummer, but only to give way to a fist pumping Who-esque romp with a killer chorus "I got a Smashed Middle Finger, I want to give to the world". Elsewhere Pollard delivers earnest and durable melodies. Dunce Codex shares qualities with some of Pollard's best songs, however that never distracts from the infectious and utterly addicting track. Like most releases from Robert Pollard, Lord of The Birdcage rewards the listener on repeated listens, especially on the prog punk of You Can't Challenge Forward Progress, the glam stomper Ribbon of Fat and the gorgeous acoustic ballad, In A Circle. But there's an argument to be made that Pollard saves his best songs to serve as album closers, as is the case with the power pop gem, Ash Ript Telecopter.

It can be daunting to keep up with the Über prolific release schedule of Robert Pollard, but when he continues to record and release consistently rich and engaging material like that found on Lord of The Birdcage, it continues to be (at least for this reviewer), an incredibly rewarding exorcise.

Lord of The Birdcage will be released on June 7th via GBV, Inc. and is currently getting the pre-release stream treatment over at Spinner.

Buy the album from GBV Digital or The Factory of Raw Essentials/Rockathon