Quiet Color

by kevin diamond

I’m drinking a Kombucha. It’s got probiotics and antioxidants and, like, mucus and shit. I’m the last person to go for new-age fads and all that hippy bullshit, but something about the active cultures in this sour-tasting tea makes my poops feel good. Too much information?

Here’s the hype filter, pre-digested by the active cultures of MY MIND and ready for your consumption.

Artist: Pterodactyl Song: First Daze

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I seriously love the band Pterodactyl, and I’ve only seen them live once. In a basement. With poor sound equipment. They were a sloppy mess. But every recorded song I’ve heard by them is better than their last. They play Mercury Lounge on March 8th and Don Pedro’s on the 11th, and their new album World Wild drops April 4th.

Get the whole thing as a .zip here or catch the tracks one by one after the jump

Artist: Harlem Shakes Song: Strictly Game

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This song is off Harlem Shakes upcoming album Technicoler Health. I love the rubber synth, the v-drum toms and the repetitive guitar line that start if off. And then “This will be a better year” is such an easy yet amazing hook, it almost upsets me. Makes me bob up and down like a baby playing synthesizer.

Artist: Crocodile Song: August is Over

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It’s funny, I thought I was done with the disco-rock high hat-kick drum beat that serves as this song’s spine, but Crocodiles have proved that, in the right hands, it can still be used wisely. Kind of like a Wah Wah pedal, it must be used in moderation and only for good, never evil. There’s a little MGMT in here, but I forgive them.

Artist: Spacekamp Song: Girls On Bikes

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“I said I like GIrls on Bikes!” shouts one lively band member who I can only imagine is the drummer. Because it’s always the drummer who yells shit like that at the top of songs. The chorus of this one is a rip off of a 13th Floor Elevators tune “You’re Gonna Miss Me.” But that’s okay. Hats off to SpaceKamp for the middle section, a clap along jam that should put a smile on anybody’s face.

Artist: Real Estate Song: Suburban Beverage

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Real Estate have had a bunch of comparisons thrown at them, but i’d like to add one. To my ears, the atmospheric, moody, slow Suburban Beverage sounds like early Yo La Tengo. Not a bad thing to sound like by any stretch. They play Dead Herring on the 7th.

Artist: The Beets Song: Happy But On My Way

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Not this beets, but this beets. I only presume they’re named after the cartoon band from Doug. Their music is simple and catchy, and seemingly recorded from the bottom of a tin can. They play Monster Island tonight, and Don Pedros and Glasslands throughout the rest of the week.

Artist: Sarandon Song: Mike’s Dollar

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This song by british band Sarandon is relatively old, coming off of last april’s Kill Twee Pop, but I like it and hadn’t heard it before. Starts of innoculous enough and then drops the straight post punk on your ass. They’re on the Slumberland label with bands like CAuse Co-Motion and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart.

Artist: Kittens Ablaze Song: Gloom Doom Buttercups

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Winner of the greatest band name ever award, Kittens Ablaze. They’re anthemic and energetic and wordy and fun. Pretty much as youthful and ireverent as you’d expect a band with such a name to be. They just self-released their album The Monstrous Vangaurd. You can get it at InSound.

Artist: Vibes Song: Honeycomb

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Their casset-only album You God It just came out, and the limited 100 copies are… gone. Vibes is dirty and druggy and loud. This track Honeycomb reminds me of The Residents if they were fronted by Kim Deal. No telling if these are good vibes are bad vibes, but they certaintly are effecting my psyche.

Artist: dum dum girls Song: Brite Futures

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More simple, poorly recorded garage rock. This time, it’s dum dum girls. This is gonna start getting old soon. But until then, the chorus of this song will sit in the little cave next to my heart where my soul used to live. Come by and say hi some time.