July “7 Selection
LAMC Series No.11 (500 copy limited edition)
A-side Mikal Cronin – Soul in Motion b/w Wand – Screaming Eye
Mikal Cronin is a California based indie rocker who recently released his second solo album MCII (one of Dingo Vinyl’s favorite albums of 2013). Mikal’s music is a unique mix of melodic pop hooks with in your face guitar rock. In addition to his solo work Mikal has teamed up with Ty Segall for “Reverse Shark Attack” and is featured on several albums by Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees. We saw Mikal’s live show at the Rickshaw Stop’s anniversary gig. Where Mikal’s music has a great balance between the pop melodies and the rock guitar sound his live shows pack a lot more pure energy. The band is tight but pushes the energy level moving the pop melodies to the back in favor of a high energy performance more commonly found with pure punk bands. Mikal Cronin is on the Dingo Vinyl list of bands we don’t miss when they are in town.
Soul in Motion features Mikal’s melody pop to guitar rock structure and is as strong of an offering as any of the tracks off MCII. The song starts quite with a drum/synth intro building to the guitar rock chorus. As the song progress the fuzz/distortion starts to bleed into the verse evolving into a more straight forward punk number.
Wand is Victoria, BC musician Derek Janzen. Wand’s debut album, Mt. ST Helens, 2012 (you can stream the album at wand.bandcamp.com) and is currently working on the follow-up. Dingo Vinyl caught Wand live at the Burger Boogaloo festival in Oakland over the July 4th weekend. Early in their set you could hear heavy prog rock influences as the set went on the band built momentum and their sound developed rougher edges becoming more raw than the tighter prog rock start.
Screaming Eye fits well as the B-side to Mikal Cronin. Melodic vocals are contrasted with more noise than pop sounds as the chorus and bridge build to a sloppy climax. This single had a lot more noise and less of the prog influences that we heard when seeing the band live.
July 12″ Selection
Terry Malts
Killing Time
Slumberland 2012
With ex-members of Youth Decay and Bad President, San Francisco’s Terry Malts are a punk trio that balances Corey Cunningham’s distortion power chords and blistering guitar solos with Phil Benson’s (via the Ramones) Phil Spector / girl group melodies. The songs vary in their aggression but what makes the Terry Malts sound is that the guitars stay load as the vocals never break into a scream. Phil’s voice has been compared to Morrisey or Robert Smith but it’s hard to hear either on Killing Time due to the more Joey Ramone style melodies. Fans of the album will not be disappointed in the Terry Malts live shows, the under produced raw sound of the album comes across onstage.