The Tontons (Houston, TX)
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpV3_E-nHcM?rel=0]
Here's a 1st world problem you're definitely familiar with. For normal people, it's when bands you've never heard of, peddle themselves through twitter. For extraordinary people like me, it's when mediocre bands try to follow me. Not for the fact that I'm extraordinary; it's a problem because they can't seem to draw their crowd naturally, they have to go by-the-rock-n-roll-marketing-book to promote themselves and the worst thing about it, is that it works.
This band has left an imprint in my subconscious to where I know they exist and it's just a matter of time before I heard them. If this were a survey and I were asked if I would ever listen to the tontons, I'd certainly check the box that reads most likely. Well, that happened today.
I hate Houston. There's not a day that goes by I wished it was under a dome. This Houston band is good enough to seize the opportunity to get out of there, but they're also flawed enough to seem desperate to do so. Again, I come back to the marketing because they're hitting all the right circuits for mass distribution, and they're marketing on that pop angle to make it happen but it seems too polished for me to really get into.
The track "Golden" is one of the few that has originality at all but most of the other stuff is forced formula from beginning to end. It's kind of like they went to write these songs and they thought about the dynamics and first impressions before the melody. That's desperate.
But I don't want to give the impression that I hate them or that they're not salvageable. They're doing what they have to do to get their thing going and it will serve them well, the sad thing here is that when you look at their promo pics, you can see that Asli Omar has a better chance at going farther than the rest of the band. I'm pretty certain she's getting talked into doing so or will very soon.
King Tuff (Los Angeles, CA)
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwyCxXRXYfg[/embed]
Rather than go around picking up citation sources or do any research, let this episode of The Gorburger Show give you everything you need to know about King Tuff, right?
I have to say right out that without the association of a select few stoner metal icons, King Tuff would have just been another group of annoying scenesters with a record. We have quite a few of them here in Dallas, but doesn't every city?
Music has always been there during pivotal life decisions such as career choices or major purchases. Thanks to the dirt-bag garage scene, I've really got my eyes set on a tripped out hippie van with carpeting and black lights for the road. At the date gets closer for Kyle Thomas' new release as King Tuff , the title track Black Moon Spell is making its rounds just in time for your life decisions. What can you say about this other then that it rules.
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/163882458" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]
You can't tell me that dirty hook doesn't get to grinding! Their Scooby-Do antics have some merit when you hear shit like this. Also, I'm adding this video as well cause it's awesome and it's my blog so I can do what I want. Kind of like what this dude does for his music!
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgVO4stIEgI[/embed]
I don't see this sound going away for quite some time but I won't put a date on this release cause that will just date this entry. To make this as evergreen as possible, go get you some records.
TEEEL (Brooklyn, NY)
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/37757760" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]
I feel as if I've talked about TEEEL on this blog many times before but really, this is the first time I have. I've been listening to the sounds of TEEEL for a long as time, since 2011 so I'm a big fan of this synth wave sound. The sound is focused on the eighties which is an exhausted resource to many but you can't ignore it when it's done right.
I have a lot of respect for one man jobs like this and Jim Smith has already made a name for himself doing remixes for other indie greats like Toro y Moi. Jim Smith is one of these types that
Above this are a handful of tracks from the soon to be released third album Hydrostatic. You'll hear what I mean when you check out those tracks. The full length second album is available through Amazon but you can also stream that using the soundcloud links in the soundcloud player above.
