It’s clear that within the first minute of the first track of the newest from Faux Ferocious you’re listening to some legitimately Hot Shit rock music. By the end of the song the landscape has been established, you’re listening to a well balanced bit of upbeat, desert psych rock mixed with the occasional laid back stoner vibe. I can’t wait to see this live.

At first, I was hesitant to post about Earl Burrows, the side project of Matt Watrous. His prior work is as a member of The Shins and The Raconteurs and, to my knowledge, he’s a recent Nashville transplant. Was this an authentic “Nashville band” or merely another group of folks jumping on the bandwagon?

Turns out, my concerns were ill conceived. Every song that has been released from this project – Hey Me Israeli, Go Home Girl and Our Kind are all spectacular. The last being a song about not feeling welcome in Nashville. 

Well, feel welcome sir. Having heard your full record, the best songs haven’t even made their way into the world yet. Everyone should jump on this when it’s released September 18th.

The new EP from Townies is a scant three songs but they lay a solid groundwork for future endeavors. The dreamy languid vocals evoke a narrator yearning for another place. It’s fitting that they round out the release with a Mazzy Star cover of “Fade Into You” – the perfect fit for the dual vocal duties of Maddie Medley and Emily Clement. 

Nice work Townies, looking forward to more.

I dunno what’s going on this week but great new music is crawling out of the woodwork. This EP from Fuzz Ghost is, as one would hope, a lo-fi, fuzzy, dose of rock songs. I recommend cranking your headphones and going for full sound immersion.

This is absolute absurd, ridiculous and borderline unlistenable at times. I think that’s exactly the point and entirely the fun part of it. Lighten up a little and go dive into “FEMA Deathcamp” and the onslaught of “Inspiring Song.” 

There may only be two tracks on this release but they burn bright with garage rock energy and even manage to sneak in some singalong choruses. Let the sweaty live performance begin.

Another enjoyable instrumental track from the monthly V to Z track. If you’re keeping up, there is an incredibly strong EP’s worth of material to hear over here.

I’m still digging into the original creations of Shanshala but, in the meantime, I’ve been listening to this rather extensive album of covers. Taking on the likes of Pink Floyd, Sheryl Crow, Death Cab for Cutie, Nilsson and The Beach Boys (to name a few) is a risky undertaking but the somewhat (intentional) lo-fi production and psychedelic warbled vocal style creates a nice cohesiveness. It’s also a nice primer on the influences of Shanshala himself.