Deschryver’s insistent melee of beats gave the songs a feeling of urgency right out of the gate, as though they’d taken the crescendo at the end of a song by some lame Coldplay-type band and started there, building whole songs around something that felt explosive, hypnotic, and yet grimly final, like watching a tragedy played out over and over again on CNN as you stare, helpless.

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Sam Flax might have been the most impressive new band on the bill, a post-Hawkwind synthy Numan-wave band with two keyboards, a drum machine, and a couple guitars—and they looked as good as they sounded, with a poncho-clad bassist looking like Ariel Pink’s taller brother, and a blond male guitarist/singer wearing a multi-colored windbreaker and Kim Fowley’s cheek makeup. His female co-singer on keys looked pretty bad-assed too, with a futuristic funnel of hair on top of her head …

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Fullerton may have fallen off the map since those glory days, but it seems to be experiencing a full scale renaissance as of late, what with the opening of Burger Records and the trifecta of bands generating much hype: Audacity, Dirt Dress and the Cosmonauts. All these bands make lo-fi stoner garage punk of the highest caliber, overtly borrowing from others while still being undeniably unique (same could be said for Burger’s aesthetics). If Picasso’s quote, “good artists borrow, great artists steal,” is true, then the Fullerton scene is a gang of kleptomaniacal octopi.

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As the drummer for the Nerves and Breakaways and lead singer of the Beat, Paul Collins helped create the genre of power pop. His songs have been covered by virtually every band with a guitar, from Audacity to Green Day to White Fence to the Muffs to the Exploding Hearts to … me. He will play Friday at Blue Star—win tickets here! This interview by Dan Collins and Kristina Benson.

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There are so many highs and lows on this album, but as talented as all the members are, especially Rachman on guitar, Jones is the fulcrum upon which the rest of the band teeters. That’s why the simple acoustic ditty “Summertime Dear” will likely be your favorite tune off the album… like Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day,” all the sincere woo-pitching somehow feels like the naivete of the doomed. Only if you listen closely can you pick out the line about wanting to “keep on running, because we can sleep when we’re dead,” which feels straight out of a poem by Bonnie Parker to Clyde Barrow.

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burger co-owner lee rickerd (r) and nobunny Download: The Burger Basher! Mixtape [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Congrats to the Burger boys for further penetrating the American consciousness via NPR and Matador Records’ Gerard Cosloy! Carrie Brownstein conducted this conversation about the role and the future of the record label which concludes: Carrie [...]

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Hunx is Seff (of Gravy Train!!! and trash-glam-punk-pop going all the way back to an Appleby’s in Tucson, Arizona) and Hunx and His Punx are Seff leading wide-eyed rocker babies through songs equal parts dirty Undertones and dirty underwear. They finish a wild visit to L.A. with an appearance at tonight’s vital Burger Basher! next door to the Smell. This interview by Daniel Clodfelter.

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