“Titus Andronicus” by Titus Andronicus
Remember when Kurt Cobain opened Nirvana’s 1994 edition of MTV Unplugged by prefacing “About A Girl” with “This song is off our first record. Most people don’t own it,”? The same can be said about this next track and its record of origin. The Glen Rock, New Jersey Indie-Punk collective released it’s lesser known debut album, The Airing Of Grievances, in 2008 which garnered a positive review by Pitchfork and developed the outfit a small regional following, allowing the band to knock on the door of stardom. In 2010, Titus Andronicus kicked the door down with The Monitor earning the group national notoriety and a spot at Coachella. But let’s remain focused, because this self-titled song is where it all started.
“Floodwaters” by Vampire Bats
The Vampire Bat are the embodiment of of blood sucking, night stalking enigma wrapped in an intriguing mystery. There are no photos of the band, no Web site, no information, only a Facebook profile with four names that lead to more dead ends and a statement that describes the music as “Ancient Folk Rock from the year 3069.” What I do know is that the band is from somewhere along the Jersey Shore, played a show at The Saint on Tuesday, and sits somewhere on the Low-Fi Garage-Rock spectrum between early tunes from The Sonics and T-Rex. The band’s 2010 demo has just been made available and this next track is more Rockin’ and Rollin’ than some of the band’s other work.
“Since You Left” by Big Eyes
Big Eyes is another New Brunswick basement feeder that is quickly captivating audiences around New Jersey and New York City. Most recently the Rock N’ Roll three-piece was tapped by former Don Giovanni label-mates Full Of Fancy to close out FOF’s final show with Screaming Females at Asbury Lanes. Big Eyes is another quality act to emerge from the Hub City. This next cut is from the band’s latest release, a two-track, self-titled 7″, that came out in late December of 2010.
“Couch Critics” by Black Wine
Composed of former members of such prominent Garden State acts as The Ergs (Jeff Schroek), Hunchback (J. Nixon), and Full Of Fancy (Miranda Taylor), Black Wine is a New Jersey Punk-Rock Super-Group that would have fit perfectly within Seattle’s thriving music scene in the late ’80s and early ’90s…but is doing pretty well for itself today in New Brunswick and Asbury, Park. This next track is from the Don Giovanni signee’s 2010 self-titled debut.
“Untitled” by The Paper Suns
The departure of lead guitarist, turned solo-artist, Kevin Basko did not phase the three remaining members of Finale Hill who have carried on under the monicker The Paper Suns, with a new axe-wielder, George Verveeniotis, and a new sound, which can be classified as trippy, cavernous Psychedelic-Rock. The band is planning an their debut record, but in the mean time, look for more releases of this nature and for a show announcement in the very near future.
Speak Into My Good Eye 