Limiñanas

…and a whole lot of fooling around. Hey, look! Summer Friday are back!

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Are you ready for the summer? Are you ready for the good times? Are you ready for the birds and bees? The apple trees? And a whole lot of indie rock? Well you’re in luck because that’s what we have here with the first mix of Summer Fridays 2012.* I am hoping to do these every Friday, though I’m gainfully employed now (we don’t get summer Fridays at my job, unfortunately) and have a lot less time — and energy — than I have the last four years. Which is good! Anyway, we’ll see how I do. This kickoff mix has lots of great new music, I think, and a few oldies peppered in as well. Like usual. Slide away…

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 5.1 (alt Mediafire link)

Tracklist:
1. The Intelligence – Reading and Writing About Partying
2. The Limiñanas – I Know There’s an Answer
3. The Primitives – Who Are You Trying to Fool?
4. Flop – Hello
5. Exlovers – This Love Will Lead You On
6. Pushy Parents – Secret Secret
7. Eternal Summers – You Kill
8. Terry Malts – Disconnected
9. TV Girl – Sweaters
10. Smile – Satellite Blues
11. The Upsetters – V-S Panta Rock
12. Race Horses – Mates
13. Orca Team – 8×8
14. Nick Waterhouse – (If) You Want Trouble
15. Grass Widow – Under the Atmosphere
16. Evans the Death – Catch Your Cold
17. Kelley Stoltz – Marcy
18. The Teardrop Explodes – When I Dream
19. King Khan & the Shrines – Bite My Tongue
20. Novella – Don’t Believe Ayn Rand
21. No Joy – Junior

No shuffling! Liner notes are below.

*This mix has no birds, bees or apple trees.

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…Unless Round is Funny: Summer Fridays 4.15

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Labor Day weekend, folks. Party it up, you’ve earned it. Here in New York, we’ve recently weathered earthquakes and minor hurricanes and other inconveniences. So fire up the grill, put a cold beverage in your hand and turn up the mildly twee indie pop jams on this week’s mix. Cover art photo was taken by Kate Bryant at the Friends With You inflatable sculpture park which is at the upper end of the Highline park.

While Labor Day is seen as the end of summer, Summer Fridays mixes will continue to the Autumn Equinox… so you get two more after this. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 4.15

Tracklist:
1.  Zumpano! – The Party Rages On
2.  Allo Darlin’ – Darren
3.  Future Bible Heroes – Hopeless
4.  Ski Lodge – I Would Die to Be
5.  Murder Mystery – Problems
6.  XTC – Day In Day Out
7.  Peggy Sue – Song & Dance
8.  Devon Williams – All My Living Goes to You
9.  Papas Fritas – My Revolution
10. Radiation City – The Color of Industry
11. The Liminanas – (I’ve Got) Trouble in Mind
12. The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Hide and Seek
13. Music Machine – The People in Me
14. The Fresh & Onlys – I Would Not Know the Devil
15. Pale Saints – Fell from the Sun
16. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Keep Me Waiting
17. Grandaddy – Chartsengrafs
18. Destroyer – Savage Night at the Opera

I’m not even going to write it this week, but you know what I’m talking about. Liner notes after the jump.
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Un, Deux, Trois, Cat! The Limiñanas + Gaz Gaz + The Gytters | Death by Audio | 8.17.2011

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Death by Audio, one of Williamsburg’s longest running DIY spaces, is probably the perfect place to catch a couple French garage rock bands. It’s one of the few clubs in New York where you still leave smelling like an ashtray. I know it’s a stereotype but smoking and the French do pretty much go hand-in-hand. A lot more so than rock music and the French, though both The Limiñanas and Gaz Gaz proved that not all clichés hold true.

Mind you, both bands’ brand of rock n’ roll was as influenced by Serge Gainsbourg and Jacques Dutronc as it was the Velvet Underground and The Seeds. It’s when French bands try to sound American that it falls flat like a bad soufflé. Here we got lyrics spoken in cigarette-scarred baritone, melodicas, and a new wave cool that cannot be faked.

This was a two car garage, different makes and models from the same manufacturer. Gaz Gaz were of the caveman beat / party rock variety, not afraid to have fun, even braking out kazoos for “Iodine Summer Dream.”

When their set ended, the band changed into all-black clothing and there was some instrument switching, and a minimal drumkit (kick, snare, tom) was brought to the front of the stage. Lio and Marie Limiñana joined the rest of them and morphed into The Limiñanas. I was a little worried they wouldn’t be able to follow Gaz Gaz’s high-energy set, but once everyone settled into The Limiñanas’ motorik groove, it all hypnotic effortless cool from there.

MP3: Gaz Gaz – Faster (buy it)
MP3: The  Limiñanas – Funeral Baby (buy it)

Both The Limiñanas and Gaz Gaz play again tonight in NYC at Cake Shop with fellow Trouble in Mind artist The Wrong Words. Go see this show! They also play Columbus, OH tomorrow (8/19) and Lafayette, MO on Saturday (8/20).

There were American bands on the bill too. The Gytters are have only played a handful of shows but have figured out their sound, a twangy take on ’90s indie rock. Southern-fried Sebadoh? Maybe. They’re pretty good. (And, full disclosure, they’re friends of mine.) In addition to their own very catchy songs, we got a slightly shambolic take on Squeeze’s “Up the Junction.”

MP3: The Gytters – Dialed In (more at Bandcamp)

It was around that point in The Gytters’ set when I couldn’t help but notice a woman behind me dancing up a storm. I turned around briefly and immediately did a double-take: it was Frances McDormand who had, apparently, wandered in off the street. Randomest celebrity sighting ever. (Popjew, who booked the show, has more on her blog.) Maybe she’d come from seeing Buck at nearby Indiescreen or maybe dinner at uberhip new restaurant Isa? Who can say, but she didn’t stick around for the French portion of the evening. Her loss.