Diggin’ on the odd Nuggets vibe I’m getting from San Francisco’s Maus Haus. Maus Haus is certainly a quirky burgoo. The vocals reminds me a bit of Jason Lytle from the much missed Grandaddy, accompanied by a backing back of dudes with reverence for retro kitsch, sci fi movies, old modem sounds, theremins, and grimy garage rock. The melodies are firmly planted in major key, instantly hummable, almost bubblegum hooks. Yet something sinister brews under the surface that remains somewhat intangible. Hence the paradoxical “noir” label immediately following “bubblegum.” Therein lies the reason Maus Haus is an interesting listen.

Though they haven’t ventures too far out from the Bay Area, they’ve opened up shop for heavy hitters such as Black Moth Super Rainbow and Wooden Shjips. The group has a full length called Lark Marvels that you can grip through their MySpazz.

MP3 :::
Maus Haus – We Used Technology (But Technology Let Us Down)
Maus Haus –  Rigid Breakfast

While on the surface the band employs the same fuzzy guitars, punchy rhythm, infectious melodies, touch of surf, and doo wop stomp that represents the cadence of the time, the Mumbles kept their subject matter pitch black. No flower power or free love on their 1966 eponymous full length – this jam’s about broken dreams, civil strife, walking through your hometown realizing that the whole place has gone bellyup, and how some dumb-ass ho has done M Yonks wrong. And all this was recorded when he was still a teenager!

Yonkers remains somewhat reclusive these days, partly due to medical issues. However, when Sub Pop reissued Microminiature Love in 2003 to wide distribution (the record was originally released vinyl-only on De Stijl), interest was strongly renewed in the niche he carved in the late ’60s. Yonkers has since played live with acts as diverse as Six Organs of Admittance, Wolf Eyes, and Low. With the Mumbles LP, you can hear the very first chapter in an artist’s career that should’ve been much longer.

In all of its remastered glory, Michael and the Mumbles drops on November 3 courtesy of De Stijl and will be available for preorder soon. Vinyl only.

For fans of:  Strawberry Alarm Clock, Link Wray, 13th Floor Elevators, The Seeds

MP3 :::
Michael & The Mumbles – Need Your Love
Michael & The Mumbles – Anything

Haven’t had a news roundup in a while, so let’s do this like Buddhists…

I’ve been grooving on Psychic Ills’ Mirror Eye since it dropped last month. It’s not groundbreaking material, but it’s good enough, and it’s the sound I enjoy in modern music (which is, let’s be honest, anything droney with lots of reverb and the tweaking of various knobs). I’d give Mirror Eye a solid B. Pitchfork disagreed (a 1.4 no less), and the Ills decided to post a response… for a bit.

Swan Fungus broke this story last week, but since then, the blog entry has disappeared!  Does Pitchfork have wiseguys that pay you a visit for your skulduggery?  Shit is nefarious, dudes.  Gee whiz… so anyway, the Ills wrote a review of P4Ker Joe Colley’s review and it cultivated a respectable amount of lolz.

From all we gather Colly’s transparent interest in and knowledge of music seems limited to recent trend fucking, and while that doesn’t shock, the fact that he gets so bent out of shape about music that he’s not into is interesting at the very least. Definitely not a fan of “abstract tendencies” or “eschewing traditional means of songcraft” Colly seems content in not having a mind of his own.

The response written was not a sour grapes type of retort – it was witty, intelligent, and honestly, they had a bad break with this review and were fairly justified in firing up the keyboard.  Colley admits, indirectly, to liking feel good crap your hands say yeah pop, so it’s no wonder that Mirror Eye harshed his mellow. But now… now the blog entry is gone!  Has a bounty been placed?  Sinister.

Well… thinking logically here, though I would love to uncover some sort of conspiracy with hipster shadow people and deep throats, the Ills were probably advised by management to not get into a pissing contest with the mighty ‘Fork.  Regardless, I’m still shooting Bob Woodward an email.

Perhaps all this will help generate more (and I think deserved) buzz about Mirror Eye, as this writer points out, since a dreadful review gets more exposure than a lukewarm one.  And that makes sense – wouldn’t you, as an artist, rather illicit any response, good or bad, than instill complacency?

::: ::: :::

A calmer and more genial Brian Jonestown Massacre is ready to hit the road next month. Though, I should mention that I’m not going to make any cracks at Anton Newcombe in this article. Sure, there’s little doubt as to Newcombe’s status as being absolutely batshit crazy, but this makes him too easy a target. So, despite TMT’s penchant for poking fun at some artists who we do genuinely like, ragging on Anton is akin to igniting a bag of dog poop on your curmudgeonly neighbor’s porch. You know what you’re getting into and, hence, it’s not really worth it. So to that end, I just wanna chime in here to establish the following premises:

Anton and the latest (seventh perhaps?) incarnation of the Brian Jonestown Massacre are touring.
The BJM are amazing live, under the conditions when everything goes to plan.
Things have been on plan in the last couple of years.

Therefore, you should go see them (make haste!). Expect a cross-catalog setlist, at least one face-kick, and music that’s better than the majority of what’s coming out these days. Oh, and you lucky bastards who live on the Left Coast will get to witness our leather jacket-clad boys open for Primal “fuckin’” Scream! And I hate each and every one of you for this.

03.16.09 – Los Angeles, CA – Club Nokia #
03.17.09 – San Francisco, CA – The Filmore #
03.20.09 – Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
03.21.09 – Seattle, WA – Neumos
03.24.09 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theater
03.26.09 – Minneapolis, MN – Turner Hall
03.28.09 – Chicago, IL – The Metro
03.29.09 – Cleveland, OH – The Grog Shop
03.30.09 – Pittsburgh, PA – Rex Theater
04.02.09 – Boston, MA – Paradise Theater
04.03.09 – Northampton, MA – Pearl Street
04.04.09 – Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero
04.06.09 – Washington, DC – 930 Club
04.07.09 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
04.08.09 – Asheville, NC – Orange Peel
04.09.09 – Nashville, TN – Exit/In
04.10.09 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
04.11.09 – Memphis, TN – Hi Tones
04.13.09 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
04.14.09 – Austin, TX – Emo’s
04.16.09 – Tempe, AZ – Club House

# Primal Scream

::: ::: :::

Finally, it looks like the Chicago Sun Times’ Roger Ebert has, indeed, acquired a prescription for medical marijuana.  His Feb. 8 entry Ending up in a kind of soundlessly spinning ethereal void as we all must drops some next level science on yr. dome.

As you probably know, Ebert has had serious health problems recently, so it’s fair to postulate that he took some max strength pain killers and wrote a totally insane journal post adorned with fractal art.  It’s one of the more obtuse career moves I’ve seen a writer do – and also one of the more entertaining.

I certainly wish him the best, as I think Ebert is one of the most intelligent and, most importantly, fair critics in the game right now.  But godddammmm. That was the most 420 shit I’ve ever read that didn’t feature the frequent utilization of the pronoun “man.”

MP3 :::
Psychic Ills – Eyes Closed
The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Here It Comes
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Getting High in the Morning
Frank Zappa – Flower Punk