twice this month, scion has brought us brand new eps by bands much loved by tiny grooves...... first there was the king khan experience ep and now there's a new mini album by the REIGNING SOUND......
more soulful rock n roll from greg cartwright and his band of garage rock stalwarts...... every song sounds like a classic.....bursting with that punk energy that greg honed in the oblivians and catchy lyrics that make you wish that ABDICATION was a follow up to 2009's LOVE AND CURSES lp and not just eight songs long....
you may know from reading this blog that the oblivians are one of my favorite bands and the various projects they've been involved with since demise of the great garage punk band have also been a huge influence on my musical leanings....... greg has been keeping busy with REIGNING SOUND, eric with GONER RECORDS and JACK OBLIVIAN with his awesome solo records........
and JACK OBLIVIAN has a new rock n roller of an lp "RAT CITY" just out on BIG LEGAL MESS.....
the garage punk swagger is still there, but on his new album, jack oblivian mixes MEMPHIS rock and soul with post punk, classic rock boogie, fuzzed out psych and drunken blues together in one big fun late night mess.........
this is good rock n roll, at a time when way too many people stay confined within their small subgenres..... if you like anything i post on TINY GROOVES, you need to check out JACK OBLIVIAN, he's way too under-appreciated for such an awesome musician....
scion may or may not be encroaching on our beloved garage rock scene, but free music from our favorite bands is never a terrible thing.
so i guess we owe a thanks to scion for this singles series.......
as far a i can tell this is every release in the scion a/v club garage/punk 7 inch collection...... (they have also released a few other rock, metal and hiphop singles, but that's less interesting....)
(grouped as another .zip
so the spits fans can just grab these two releases.....) the spits "haunted fang castle" ep (which is quite weird)& the spits / dan melchior split
i must admit i'm a fan of everything greg cartwright has done musically. so its not too surprising that i love his new project, the parting gifts. melodic soulful garage pop with a hint of country southern blues and good old rock n roll unpretentiousness....
the parting gifts is greg trying to replicate the record he did with mary weiss of the shangri las, "dangerous game" (on norton records). the parting gifts just trade in a legend of 60s girl group pop for the young lead singer, coco, of the ettes. i'm not much a fan of the ettes punk girl group vibe, but coco is a good vocalist and an awesome counterpoint to greg's raspy singing. thus there's a layer of harmony to the parting gifts you don't often get in the other current garage bands.....and well greg cartwright has written so many awesome songs that ought to be pop standards that any chance for more tunes from him is always welcomed. "keep on walking" gets stuck in my head just as much as "bad man" or "stop and think it over"....
the point is that there are many good bands that write good music, but so few people can consistently write catchy rock n roll songs like greg cartwright. and to see the parting gifts live, you'll see all the energy and heart he pours into the music. music that makes you want to dance and party and unwind from the the 9 to 5...... and fuck the music critic in me, last night at the empty bottle was a fantastic rock n roll time. you need to see the parting gifts live.....or if not them, catch greg out on the next reigning sound tour. well worth yer time and money....
