SEVEN NOISES

And yes we are already reviewing the first of the coming releases prepared for Record Store Day 2011, and even that it's become one of the most important days of the year (music related speaking) in just three editions (this year's, on April 16th, will be the forth). And the first release I'll talk about is actually a reissue of one of the most stupidly forgotten and overlooked bands that really should need more recognition. The Scottish band The Wake who started by the edge of post-punk meets new pop could be put under the same entourage as The Associates, Orange Juice or Josef K and other Postcard bands (or later The Pastels) because of sharing, not only a Geographic but also a sound in common (if we obvious the highly Joy Division influenced first Factory LP), but also commonly compared to New Order through their mid 80s records. And Captured Tracks are proud to announced they will re-release their first single (and only pre-Factory release) and their last 80's single (and also their first post-Factory record, which was actually released on the also mythical Sarah Records label and helped to design and define what would be the very recognizable sound of the label.

But that's not the only good news coming from Captured Tracks regarding their Record Store Day releases. To celebrate these two records, they'll also put out a single with two of their most emblematic bands, Wild Nothing and Beach Fossils, covering two tracks from The Wake, called Gruesome Flowers (as they will cover Plastic Flowers and Gruesome Castle, both from the 1987 Something That No One Else Could Bring EP).

I can't be more excited about these news.

Beach Fossils' first album came out on Captured Tracks at the same time as Wild Nothing's fact that made eclipse a bit its impact as all the media and people attention focused on the beauty of Gemini (anyway, much deserved) but massively ignored the great melodies that also existed along that record. Some months later, Beach Fossils are back with a new single that, definitely, are not extra tracks from the album's sessions, but two new songs recorded later as the sound differs, being more crystalline and clean. The two songs, Face It and Distance are among their best tracks yet and, ironically, the closest they've been to Wild Nothing's sound (for a moment I thought I was hearing one of his songs) but still with their own personality.
The single will come out next month on Captured Tracks.
and they'll soon on tour around Europe.

If you check my labels section you will probably realise that the Captured Tracks one is the one with more entries. How can I avoid talking about most of the references when they have released more than 40 records in a year, most of them 7 inches and most of them great? One year ago Captured Tracks was only known in small circles, I suppose that mainly locally around Brooklyn and people who spend a lot of time online checking for whatever is new and relevant. These days, you can find articles about this label in more mainstream magazines and every blog on earth and they got it without making any concession to their sound or philosophy. Luckily, this means that now it's much easier to get those records outside the USA without having to page huge amounts of money on postage as a better distribution has been placed.
So one of the last references is the first Beach Fossils 7", Daydream, an advance of his eminent first LP also on Captured Tracks coming in April. Some Beach Fossils demos have circulated on the internet for a long time, including the A side on this single. His tracks are always evocative of 60s and 80s garage, like on the B side Desert Sand, but also post-punk pop with great guitar and bass lines, like the ones here that takes you to the first New Order songs or even Blank Dogs itself, although the final result is much more sunny and colourful.