Bunny's A Swine - Nothing Bad Will Happen (self released, 2009)

Bunny's A Swine - Valium Bread


More awesomeness by way of Western Mass! Bunny's A Swine hail from Northampton, which means I won't get to go out and see them in Boston whenever I want to, but that doesn't stop any of us from gettin down to their fantastically awkward pop rock.

Nothing Bad Will Happen has an unnatural feeling to it and I think it's mostly due to the male vocalist. He's got an abrasive voice similar to Falco from McLusky, and it's always got this discordant sound to it, even if he's in the right key. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but the one thing I need to get across is that it's not annoying. It might be if it were on its own, but it's paired with a girl singer, and it ends up being just totally fucking magical. A beauty & the beast kinda thing.

The tunes on this are some of the catchiest anti-twee indie rock I've heard since A Faulty Chromosome, although here we have a lot more buzzing walls of guitars and feedback than busted Casios and handclaps. But they fucking rock. This is the stuff I want to blast when I'm done with Pavement or Built To Spill. These are the songs I'm gonna put on mixes for when my friends come over (the friends who aren't really into the weird noise/drone shit I so often listen to) and they're gonna be like "OMG what is this it's fucking great make me a copy i'm gonna put this on my ipod and listen to it everywhere i go and learn all the words and be their biggest fan ever thank you so much justin for turning me on to this amazing stuff." And I'll be their hero.

Honestly, it took me a few listens to really get ahold of what Bunny's A Swine was going for, but their website claims they're "your new favorite band" and while there are a couple of stipulations that go along with that (add a couple of subgenre terms, then we're talking), they're absolutely right. I fucking love these guys. I can't get enough. I just want more and more of their off-kilter rock. PLUSSSS it's all Creative Commons so everyone hop on the remixin train and have a fucking BLAST.

Video: The Besnard Lakes - Albatross

The Besnard Lakes are a band on the cusp of fame that kind makes me feel I shouldn't really write about them too much on AGB. BUT I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. Thankfully, I have absolutely no problem posting a video of theirs.

"Albatross" comes from their newest ...Are The Roaring Night and is totally single worthy. Superb cinematography, the video is a weird drama noir type thing with a couple of mysterious movie critics and it has the most contextually relevant "found footage" I've yet to see in any music video. And the obligatory sweet climax, like most Besnard Lakes tunes. If you're not listening to them, you should be.

King Kong Ding Dong - Youth Culture Index (self released, 2009)

King Kong Ding Dong - Distant Drums


I listen to King Kong Ding Dong a lot and have little to say about them. I decided to write this review when I realized why that was. Because their name is King Kong Ding Dong. Yeah. Say that out loud, please. There ya go. That's pretty much all I think about when I'm listening to them. That, and how fucking ridiculously fantastic this album is.

Youth Culture Index is about to blow up. Once people know it exists, it will literally explode. Some sort of self aware timer or something. I dunno. But it's got all the makings of a classic. Kinda tropical, kinda tribal, kinda fucked up, kinda 100% AWESOME... you get the idea.

Also, I just found out that this is available for free. FUCKING SERIOUSLY. Click here already. There isn't a single reason you shouldn't have at least 5 copies of this on your hard drive. And then buy it, too. It's only 7 bucks cheapskate.