mp3: The Meanest Boys "Slow Hand" "Nowhere To Go"

"Something's Have Changed"

I imagine The Meanest Boy's Will Marquis recording in a very old, very haunted cottage perched on a cove in northern California. When it rains, legend has it that Wilma Cotton, for whom the home was built for, roams the premises hoping to catch a glimpse of her wayfaring husband hiking over the ridge. It rains a lot.

In some respects, I hear glimpses of the overdiven, otherwordly melodies Liz Harris perfected as Grouper. At the same time, the handwoven vocal harmonies of the United Church of Brian Wilson (or, more appropriately, Van Dyke Parks). Like "I Don't," a Meanest Boys track on the last Bobkast, the ethereal folk of "Slow Hand" plays like an angelic float down your favorite creek. All forest sprayed sun and salamanders. "Nowhere to Go" is similar, although finds Marquis channeling like-minded experimental bedroom artist Luke Temple, whose Here We Go Magic is most certainly a touch stone, especially for those less than familiar with bedroom folk. While atmospherics play a heavy hand, its really all about the interplay of voice and guitar. That said, If I knew any better I'd think Marquis were cut from the same woolen clock as artists featured on Numero Group's (unsurprisingly) incredible Wayfaring Stranger: Guitar Soli compilation. Smooth, haunting and affecting like a strange breeze swaying curtains in the wind, The Meanest Boys are channeling something. It may be a confederate soldier. It may be a lonely postman. I'm really not sure.

The Meanest Boys- Slow Hand
The Meanest Boys- Nowhere to Go

mp3: Sore Eros "Whisper Me"

"Whisper Me The Moon"

Sore Eros Second Chants has been a favorite summer mellow spin since Tom peeped them a few months back. Admittedly, it was the Kurt Vile, Gary War and Ariel Pink connections that drew me in, however it'd be criminal to simply compare Sore Eros to their D-I-Y brethren. Rather than crafting sludgy, decomposed punk, overdriven blues psych or post-ABBA AM Gold, Sore Eros dwell in a cave often inhabited by folks who've chosen to leave the grid in search of the floating mysticism often found in the Mojave Sky. Sore Eros seem to have channeled such energy in the rolling meadows of Connecticut, a state with a well-chronicled penchant for the occult. While much of Second Chants finds Sore Eros whispering in and out of lulls, its gripping highlight, the lilting "Whisper Me," is the culmination of all the soul searching; easy, everlasting in both tone and manta, and effortless, "Whisper Me" may have been the lullaby accused witches at Farmington hummed at night to keep the evil puritans away.

Sore Eros- Whisper Me

mp3: White Antelope "Two Headed Boy"

"We Will Take Off Our Clothes"Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes covered Neutral Milk Hotel's sweeping "Two Headed Boy" at the Vera Project fundraiser in Seattle. Robin flubs a line, but no worries, as its a much more sweeping rendition than Colin Meloy's. Download entire show here.

Setlist & mp3 via Sound on the Sound
Katie Cruel (trad)
False Knight on the Road (trad)
Silver Dagger (trad)
He Doesn’t Know Why
Oliver James
Two Headed Boy (Neutral Milk Hotel)
Albatross (Fleetwood Mac)
Oh Sister (Bob Dylan)
Early In the Morning (B.B. King)
The Book of Love (the Magnetic Fields)
Icicle Tusk
Mykonos
Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
Blue Spotted Tail

Encore
Dreams (Fleetwood Mac)

Robin Pecknold- Two Headed Boy (NMH cover)

video: Holiday Shores on FADER

"Searching For My Native Tongue"

Shot on a day when Holiday Shores played three gigs, a night after playing one, after a day of driving 24 hours North from Tallahassee, this FADER Open Bar feels sorta like your friends band playing a "kegs and eggs" set where all in attendance are equally foggy with last night's dreams and dilemmas and the only thing that can get one through the day is a cold pint. I've made it known that Holiday Shores Columbus'd The Whim seem to have been crafted in a sort of FUBU way; for day drinkers, by day drinkers. Fortunately, unlike most of us who tend to pass out around 7 after too much sun and too much gin, Holiday Shores just keep going. They must be immune to UV rays, or have a prescription to 5 Hour Energy. Whatever it is, it's enough to keep me going the rest of the summer.

Columbus'd The Whim comes out August 4th on two syllable records. Holiday Shores should be back in NYC at the end of August for a summer blow out.

Presents...Forest Fire at Union Hall

"With Gattling Gun Social Skills"
It is with extreme pleasure and honor that I would like to announce the first Chocolate Bobka Presents... show: Forest Fire's CD release party at Union Hall on Monday August 10th. The show, which will mark the re-release of Forest Fire's ramshackle wonder Survival, which LA BLOGOTHEQUE named "Best Album of 2008." (Not bad, eh?) It should also be noted that the records first "proper" release will come on the brand spanking new Infinite Best label, run by our good friend and former-Bobka contributor Hunter Giles. The show will mark Forest Fire's first time in New York since last winter, and will also feature Shilpa Ray, amongst a bevy of special guests.

More details in the near future, but for now, mark your calendars, as August 10th is going to be a really fun night.

PS- There will be cookies. (I am not joking.)


Forest Fire- Fortune Teller

"Fortune Teller" live at The Apartment

new: Ducktails/Julian Lynch 7"

"Parasailing"

As I sit at my kitchen table in my boxers eating a burnt egg sandwich, recovering from a brutal night of ingesting Maryland style crabs and Sailor Jerry, I could not be more relieved that Sawyer from Underwater Peoples sent over the new Julian Lynch/Ducktails split 7". No surprise here, just like bubble hash, it's all the gooey hydroponic joy you'd expect from the UP crew, who've put out some of the best releases of the year so far. The new 7", which features Ducktails "Parasailing" along with Julian Lynch's "Garden 2" and "Topi", goes on sale Monday, but you can pre-order over at UP. Go ahead and do that so that the rest of your Summer hangovers aren't as bad as the one I'm working off.

Ducktails- Parasailing

mp3: Abner Jay "I Wanna Job"

"I Can't Get No Job Cause They Say I'm No Good"
"I don't wanna fuss nor fight, all I want is a job, I'll work day and night...Lord knows all I want is a J-O-B, a dog gone, good cotton picking job!" Abner Jay howls on this unrelenting, unapologetic plea to employers.

Abner Jay, a Georgia-bred one-man band, sums up the frustrations, pain and discouraging nature of trying to find work on "I Wanna Job," which kicks off Yeti 7's phenomenal companion disc. (Highly, highly recommended. Buy it now. Seriously. Do it.) Jay's tune is the ultimate unemployment ballad, as affecting and appropriate now as it was during the Civil Rights era.

In line with the song, anybody got any work for me? Ha. But, seriously.

Abner Jay- I Wanna Job

mp3: Girls "Lauren Marie"

"Dreams Can Still Come True"
Those of you who've been following Girls since GvB plugged "Hellhole Ratrace" well over a year ago might remember "Lauren Marie" as one of the few gems the band had streaming on their MySpace. In fact, there was a time when I was visiting the site daily to listen to "Lauren Marie" on repeat, as it was the only one of the five ("Hellhole Ratrace," "God Damned," "Lust for Life," "Morning Light") songs that I didn't have an mp3 of. Well, now I do. While the tune, a dopey, somber Rickenbacher/Orbison/Costello ballad, is set to appear on the forthcoming Album, my guess is that the LP version will most likely (?) be re-worked and fleshed out (maybe with J.Spaceman strings?!). Then again, what do I know.

Oh, and speaking of Elvis Costello, San Fran correspondent Dura passed along this eMusic Jukebox Jury interview with Elvis Costello, in which, upon first listen, Elvis compares Girls "Hellhole Ratrace" to tunes by Jarvis Cocker, Spiritualized, Phil Spector, George Harrison, Doc Pomus and the Flaming Lips. Not bad, not bad at all.

Girls- Lauren Marie

mp3: The Skygreen Leopard

"Disciples of California"
While the Skygreen Leopards are set to release a new album on JagJaguwar, I'm currently digging on their 2006 release Disciples of California thanks to those bitches over at Butter Face, who dubbed the ode to the Sunshine State one of "8 albums to help keep you cool this summer." If anything can be said about the Skygreen Leopards its that they have done their homework in the paisley department, so much so that it can be hard to find anything but nostalgic glee and worry in their sedated, sun burnt voices. "Disciples of California," in name alone, eerily sums up the Skygreen Leopards aesthetic, as if the band miraculously used their vintage VW convertible to transport themselves back to the Laurel Canyon scene. While that might sound a little biting (and rather cliche), as an East Coaster whose spent very little time in California, I tend to believe that the mythology and ethos of the free willing Southern California seventies lives on, albeit in patches and nooks, in the state's native spirit. The Skygreen Leopard's MySpace describes them as "California's family band" and in that apt description their sound is summed up.

If you find yourself in (or going to) San Francisco on July 11th, the Skygreen Leopard will play a record release party at Amnesia. Their new album, Gorgeous Johnny, hits shelves July 21st.

The Skygreen Leopards- Disciples of California
The Skygreen Leopards- Dixie Cups in the Dead Grass

mp3: Best Coast "Up All Night"

"Here I Am"
You don't have a job. You wake up at noon daily and watch re-runs of Chappelle's Show your girlfriend DVR'd before leaving her apartment. The next logical move is to get coffee. But you hate coffee...unless your stoned. So you head to the bathroom, pack a bowl, puff and exhale into the exhaust fan, in fear that your girlfriend's ninety-year old neighbor, and her beloved dog Foxy, may catch a whiff of your ganj. You ash the bowl in the toilet, think about brushing your teeth and leave....

...Then, just as the door closes, you realize you left your keys and your phone in her bedroom. Stoned and without 21st century communications tools, you wander until Best Coast's "Up All Night" creeps into your psyche and your girlfriend gets home from work.

Buy Best Coast's Where The Boys Are cassette here.

Best Coast- Up All Night (Mediafire link) (via No Conclussion)

video: new Girls "Ghostmouth"

"And Get To Heaven"

In my excitement that Bill captured Girls covering Vivian Girls "Wild Eyes" at Cake Shop the night after they played it at Monster Island, I failed to notice that he also shot video of Girls performing "Ghostmouth," a new personal fav in the Girls repertoire. "Ghostmouth" is a woozy, narcotic ballad similar to "Solitude," but slightly more hopeful, as Christopher Owens pines over a chance to pick up all the pieces and head toward salvation. I should also note that Girls 10" should be available for purchase today, although I've yet to see where. (True Panther? Matador? Bueller?)

BTW, if you don't follow SoundBites on YouTube, now may be the time to rectify that situation, as Bill has been consistently posting video of the some pretty fresh acts.

Girls "Ghostmouth" at Cake Shop

video: Girls live at Monster Island Basement

"I Really Wanna Be Your Friend Forever"

Looks like those dudes shooting with DV cams at the Beach Fossils, Real Estate, Girls, Kurt Vile show last Friday night were from The Fader. And, well, those dudes did a pretty good job of capturing the hot-as-fuck vibe at Monster Island. So great, in fact, that I jumped in my roommates Jeep after the show and drove down the shore only to enter a friend's bay-side bungalow in the middle of a Strat-Congo rendition of "Jesus Left Chicago," during which no one addressed my presence until twenty minutes after my arrival. Yeah, it was that kind of night.

video: Holiday Shores "Phones Don't Feud"

"I Will Haunt You, If You Haunt Me Too"

Debut video by Florida's finest purveyors of sandy-trip pop, Holiday Shores, whose debut full-length, Columbus’d The Whim will be available via our friends at two syllable on August 4th. After a successful week's run in New York earlier this Summer, rumor has it the band will be back in the City in late August. Keep your fingers crossed for sun showers, rainbows and a trip to Rock-Rock-Rockaway Beach.

mp3: Dylan Shearer "Dailydoms"

"All Over The Sea"
Encompassing the hypothetical image of Ray Davies driving a dilapidated soap box up the Pacific Coast Highway to Big Sur, Dylan Shearer sounds world like some Benjamin Button/Jack man-child– world weary, wide-eyed, ambitious, and yet, despite being an "adult," life is filtered through the half-cocked lens of an all-seeing, all knowing young boy fascinated with caterpillars and salamanders. All the youthful sentiment, love and whispery idealism is wrapped up in a mere 1:25 on "Dailydoms", one of the finest tracks I've heard all summer.

Planted/Plants was released by Yik Yak in a handnumbered set of 100 LP's and is long since sold out. However, the tracks are available for download on iTunes and Amazon, and, according to his MySpace page, if you email Mr. Shearer he will send you a copy on CD-R.

Dylan Shearer- Dailydoms

live: Beach Fossils, Real Estate, Girls

"I've Got Wild Eyes"
Friday night at Water St's Monster Island Basement was one of the best lineups of the year, if not for the plethora of future stars then for it's unbriddled cohessiveness. Hats off to Todd P, who, once again, curated a night of near-perfect music from Beach Fossils, Real Estate, Girls and Kurt Vile & the Violators. Hazy surf-psych, lazy beach pop, narcotic Costello grooves and mega-feedback, it was almost as if the boundaries dividing each act bleed into each other, so that the revolving cast of musicians, actually felt like a revovling cast, rather than a drastic 180 degree turn taking . While Girls wowed me for the second night, especially their righteous cover of Vivian Girls "Wild Eyes" and Real Estate showed that they just keep getting tighter and tighter, the real surprise of the night was Beach Fossils, whom, despite being a one-man act on record, really fleshed their sound out nicely for the live performance. The band's short, remarkably clear sounding set include Bobka-favorites "Daydream" and "Vacation," as well as "Lazy Day", which continues Beach Fossils "I'm really baked and it's way too hot to do anything but pass out in the sun" vibe. While I heard muttering that Beach Fossils vocal effect may have been "a little much," I'm going to let it slide, as the warbled-flange is the vocal equivalent to someone muttering strange thoughts in your ear whilst passed out on the beach.

Beach Fossils- Vacation
Real Estate- Black Lake

Girls covering "Wild Eyes" at Cake Shop (Shot by Bill)


Girls "Solitude" (new song)