Art Fag

Wartime

Graffiti Dogs (Ku Ku)

Art Fag

Hailing from a Bedsit in the Uncivilised Kingdom of London. Home of the infamous Tarot Arms to be embraced, music for the perverted and reduced, who shall no longer be subjugated to their diminishing cells! Following in the footsteps of such musical magpies as Arthur Lee, Arthur Baker, Arthur Russell and Arthur Brown, WARTIME brings us his latest bedroom exercise entitled "Graffiti Dogs (Ku Ku)." A title inspired by the lady boys of Bangkok. This eight song album blends pop and poetry with sprinkles of cinematic delirium in-between. It's playful menace congers up both John Waters and Kenneth Anger films. Ramshackle samples collide with wooly drum machines to bring us such originals as "Where Undesirables Grow" and the very Modern Lovers indebted "New Jersey Nets." Sinewy versions of the Dead Boys "All This And More" and the Dictators "Next Big Thing" also feature on this fantastic fry up of both the peculiar and the precocious. All he demands is inconvenience. All he promotes is dissatisfaction. Join the WAR while supplies last. Get up and dance with the fanatically depraved WARTIME band.

Dream Boys

Dream Boys

Art Fag

Independent music from the West Coast of Scotland has always had a kinship with psychedelic pop music from the West Coast of America. Orange Juice loved The Byrds, Teenage Fanclub wanted to be in Buffalo Springfield, The Pastels adored The Electric Prunes. Dream Boys are a modern-day trans-Atlantic love affair realized. Consisting of three Americans and one Scotsman, the group filters the spirit of Postcard Records through the rural haze of the Paisley Underground; pure pop with nods to New Zealand’s Flying Nun Records and Australia’s The Church.   Psychedelic in the truest sense, the band’s self-titled debut album floats around the notions of time and space, love and heartbreak with a range of emotion and introspection. One can’t imagine these songs coming from any other band or from any other time other than now. A Californian sun rises on a Glasgow street, rain falls during an indian summer—Dream Boys lies somewhere in between this musical dream, in love with pop music with a sincerity unmatched.

Heavy Hawaii

Goosebumps

Art Fag

After a number of releases since forming in 2010, Heavy Hawaii presents their debut full-length album. Goosebumps is an extended journey through floating keyboards, peculiar guitars and lush harmonies. These ten hazy and strange compositions showcase frontman Matt Bahamas’s unique take on California life.

Plateaus

S/t

Art Fag

San Diego four-piece Plateaus craft maddeningly catchy burnout pop gems. Following 7-inch releases on HoZac and Art Fag Recordings, they unleash their masterful self-titled debut full-length. Plateaus draws equally from punk, Kiwi-pop and ’90s indie rock, taking influence from the past to create something wholly original. With noisy buzzsaw guitars and pounding drums underpinning tuneful bubblegum vocals, this album is guaranteed to please fans of The Wipers, The Clean, Pavement and The Replacements.

Las Robertas

Dissected Affair

Art Fag

After a two-year absence, Costa Rica’s Las Robertas return with an EP, Dissected Affair, that is well worth the wait. Featuring two originals and a cover of “Foggy Eyes” by their heroes Beat Happening, the record was recorded in Costa Rica and mixed by Plateaus’ Jon Greene at Electric Orange Studio in San Diego.

Cold Showers

Decay

Art Fag

Cold Showers is a four-piece post-punk band from Los Angeles. Their first single for Art Fag Recordings, limited to 1000 copies, follows their debut on Mexican Summer and is a precursor to their upcoming album due out on Dais Records. A-side “So I Can Grow” is a dark dancefloor burner; “Double Life” is a cover of The Cars and features Katy Goodman of Vivian Girls, All Saints Day and La Sera.

Plateaus

Open Skies

Art Fag

Their name a tongue-in-cheek statement, Plateaus formed amid the stagnation of the Southern California music scene. The three-track Open Skies is their latest single and follows 7-inches on Art Fag and HoZac Records. Producer / drummer Jon Greene (Dum Dum Girls, Crocodiles, Soft Pack) and singer / guitarist Kevin Gist model their sound after the production techniques of Spector, Meek and Wilson, but employ a modern punk edge evidenced by the songs’ brevity, catchy hooks and raw energy. A thick, distorted guitars and layers of blown-out vocals swim in a sea or reverberation, replete with catchy leads, sticky vocal melodies, mechanical drumbeats and earth-shaking fuzz bass.

Cheap Curls

Jackie Oh

Art Fag

I've wanted Katie Brouillette-Serbian, bassist, guitarist, vocalist, and more importantly, song writer for Cheap Curls to record an album of her bittersweet power pop since I first met her nearly a decade ago.  At the time, she was very much in love with my best friend who was constantly promoting her prolific song writing prowess to me  At that point, however, Katie was stricken with fright when it came down to sharing her home recorded bedroom pop.  Katie strummed on, continuing to discover new personal ground and gain the courage that only these turbulent and accelerated times callfor. She joined the much loved maudlin act Dum Dum Girls and began traveling the world consistently even recording on the act's second full length release, Only In Dreams. Katie had grown up, so to speak, in clubs and on festival stages around the world and was now confident both in her musical and personal life enough to call time on her position in Dum Dum Girls and begin the exciting stages of recording and releasing an album of her own.  She's an exciting musical mind who can wail like Dolly Parton "In Your Arms", and serenade like Roy Orbison in "Message". She also has an exceeding amount of chops as heard on the Blondie-esque "Jackie Oh."  Songwriters such as Paul Weller and Pete Perrett are seemingly over looked on American shores. Let's give Cheap Curls the praise she deserves. The debut EP will be released on California's Art Fag Recordings this...

Yohuna

Revery

Art Fag

Aside from being the phonetic pronunciation of her given name, Yohuna (“yo-HUN-ah”) is the solo project of Johanne Swanson, an unsettled native of Eau Claire, WI, whose hazily brilliant music evokes the purest states of mind. With a Casio keyboard, layered vocal arrangements and vehement, minimal beats, she writes sedated, downbeat anthems. Sounds and lyrics drip with moody reference to past love, loss, reflection and rejection while maintaining a hopeful, airy quality eagerly anticipating an uncertain future. Over the course of a year in New Mexico, with her head and heart in other, faraway places, Swanson transformed her emotions into four enigmatic, intimate, leisurely structured pop gems and a collaborative drone. Recorded December of 2010 with the help of friend Andrew Todryk (Vacation Dad) in a basement during a bitter Wisconsin winter, her debut EP Revery remains relatively unearthed—still frozen in that season waiting to be thawed. Only 50 hand-dubbed cassettes were made, now long sold-out rarities.  Coupled with a considerate amount of blog coverage, however, Revery left an undeniable impression as a meaningful piece of music in early 2011—an essential listen for anyone interested in home recording. Art Fag Recordings, a California-based label home to a small but potent roster of up-and-coming artists, dug it up a year later, and the label is proud to present a remastered Revery on 7-inch and cassette, incontrovertibly giving this hidden treasure the proper release it deserves.

Green, Colleen

Milo Goes To Compton

Art Fag

Colleen Green has accepted reality, and to deal with it, she candidly describes the components of hers—heartache, separation and true love—on her first album, Milo Goes to Compton. Inspired by the honesty of freaks like Mike Hunchback, the shit-fi of DIY bands like The Thermals and Nobunny, and all the poppiest melodies of her favorite singles, stoned songwriter Colleen Green delivers the original pop soundtrack to the days you spend in a daze. This half-hour, eight-song album runs the gamut in musical styles, from Ramones-ripoff pop punk to dreamy, stoned drone to getting-ready-for-da-club shit. It’s dumb, dirty fun for the most part, but it’s also sweet and sincere. Listen once and you will understand that it’s as real as the girl herself.

Heavy Hawaii

Super Bowl XXIX

Art Fag

***Waking up on the floor is not extremely abnormal for MATT BAHAMAS—on HEAVY HAWAII’s latest 7-inch, shaggy-haired front man Bahamas hums and laments over opportunities lost; metaphors for relationship and life troubles—paralleling the major upset of his hometown football heroes’ one chance at winning the Super Bowl in the mid ‘90s. Since then time has passed and it looks like Heavy Hawaii have kept their neon sonic jangled guitars and creamy atmospheric vintage keyboards on the title track “Super Bowl XXIX.” A perfect companion to the end of a wintry depression and an ode to a hopeful whiff of something resembling Spring in the air, the new Super Bowl XXIX 7-inch by Heavy Hawaii is a welcome addition to this melodic, lo-fi pop act’s already wonderful catalogue of music. Heavy Hawaii, formed in 2009, features Matt Bahamas (vocals/guitar/keys), JOJO KEYLARGO (guitar/backup vocals), MIKEY PETERSON (drums/percussion), DEREK BUTLER (bass guitar), and AIMEE SANCHEZ (keys/backup vocals). Edition of 500 copies.

Green, Colleen

Cujo

Art Fag

***BACK IN PRINT ON NEW BLOOD RED VINYL!!!  A Boston native turned California Girl, Colleen Green subscribes to the Ramones’ grungy lessons and adds to them the laissez-faire cool of modern California stoner pop. With songs about the little things—dancing with your friends or wanting boys to like you—Green explores the ways one tries to get rid of heartache. She’s a sad songwriter, without a doubt, and the upbeat, clapping drumbeats and simple chord progressions only facilitate her cathartic tales of loneliness. On past releases, Green has covered everyone from Blink-182 to NoBunny to get her feelings across. “I just love songs with catchy melodies and sad-sack lyrics,” she says. Green’s live show is a lesson in being the coolest girl in school—she stands stark still, alone on stage (save for sometimes a drummer), her face half-obscured by bangs and sunglasses, and sings her songs without many flourishes. Green describes herself as “wicked lazy and poor,” but exudes that I-couldn’t-possibly-give-less-of-a-fuck vibe more than anything else. To celebrate the release of the limited-edition Cujo EP, she will embark on a tour supporting Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles in October.

Psychic Dancehall

Dreamers

Art Fag

With every relationship comes the creation of a brand new world. When Psychic Dancehall’s Dorian Wartime and Sylvia Innocent took an apartment in a run-down section of San Diego during the rainiest period in the city’s history and set about creating their world together, they’d no idea that fate and the weather would conspire to make that world worth sharing. Their apartment was adjacent to a drag bar where Innocent and Wartime would go every night. Trapped in their little house all day, venturing down to the bar, as well as to the Red Wing, the lesbian bar down the street, was really their only escape. The two felt safe and welcomed by the communities there and related vignettes of their nocturnal adventures back to one another when they went home. These experiences began to transform themselves into songs. Both being musicians, tinkering away with samples and keyboards was the most natural way for the couple to share their moments together and make them into something whole. “A Love that Kills,” a slightly sinister toe-tapper with a Serge Gainsbourg twinge and a reverb-heavy, breathy chorus, is a play between dark and light. “White City” was born from a fortunate mistake—the couple’s next-door neighbor Lexus was locked out of her apartment one night, and came over while waiting to get her keys. Lexus was famous for her karaoke skill, and together the three wrote the song’s hook. Dreamers is timelessly emotional, akin to the experimentation of Arthur Russell or Scott Walker,...

Dunes

Old Souls

Art Fag

***DUNES is an LA-based trio, who bend timeless, ornate darkness into new and forlorn forms. The three artists have deconstructed the classic instrumental set up and rebuilt from the drums up, creating tools for their own dreamy vision of pop. Their inspiration forms itself in themes from outside forces to inner balance. Though serious in musical intentions, they do bring a fun and kinetic element to their live performances. Roommates and bandmates but mostly just friends, Dunes keeps it cozy in their home, serenading their neighbors and drawing inspiration from their living room walls. You can hear them on the streets. Produced and recorded by BOBB BRUNO of BEST COAST, the record reflects Dunes' echoed-out style that's gained them recent critical acclaim, as they're quickly becoming one of the most talked about new artists online. Pressed in an edition of 500 vinyl records, Old Souls features all exclusive unreleased tracks.

Heavy Hawaii

Teen Angel

Art Fag

***HEAVY HAWAII makes their Art Fag debut with Teen Angel. If you remember their breaking-out with the incredibly catchy “Sleeping Bag” from the Summer Bummer (Get Laid, Get Wasted) compilation on Bathetic, then you’re already aware of the hammocked lazy-day vibes radiating from their tunes. “Teen Angel,” highlights HH’s uncanny vocal harmonies and is a perfect track for these waning summer days. Six tracks. Edition of 500 copies on colored vinyl.

Las Robertas

Cry Out Loud

Art Fag

***BACK IN STOCK!!! The debut release from Costa Rican heartthrobs LAS ROBERTAS. Formed only a year ago, Costa Rican all-girl garage rock band Las Robertas has all the essential traits of a girl gang from the movies. The band’s epically named members LOLA MICHE (vocals), MONSERRAT VARGAS (bass/vocals), MERCEDES OLLER (guitar/vocals) and ANA M. VALENCIANO (skins) make fuzzy, buzzy, straight-up rock and roll with a perfect mix of teenage sunshine and gritty, fearless attitude. Running the streets of San Jose in their car “Juancho” with their band-hound Perrito Caliente (Hot Dog, obviously), a black daschund who also frequently appears in band photos and videos, the four coltish teenagers simultaneously inhabit the youthful, innocent romance of their girl-group style harmonies and the feisty, off the cuff rebellion of their fast burning, guitar-driven sound.

Plateaus

Beach Coma

Art Fag

***PLATEAUS was created amidst the stagnation of the Southern California music scene. The name its self is a tongue-in-cheek statement about the so cal music scene. Producer/drummer JON GREENE (DUM DUM GIRLS, CROCODILES, SOFT PACK) and singer/guitarist KEVIN GIST founded the band with the goal to craft a sound modeled after the production techniques of Spector, Meek, and Wilson, but with a modern edge. A bed of thick distorted guitars with layers of blown out vocals swimming in a sea or reverberation, catchy guitar leads and sticky vocal melodies, mechanical drum beats, and earth shaking fuzz bass. Plateaus sound is sensibly modern but with a strong foundation in ‘60s pop and ‘70s punk. Building a wall of sound Plateau's make a form of deranged but classic pop music. Their punk rock and pop influences are evident, as their songs remain under 3 minutes and are filled with catchy hooks and raw energy. Plateaus sing about the heartbreaking confusion of a relationship failing in the fuzzy garage rock single “Beach Coma.”

Psychic Dancehall

A Love That Kills

Art Fag

***Coupling an ultra-San Diegan scuzz with bygone '70s West Coast romanticism, PSYCHIC DANCEHALL’s take on reverberant, semi-retrograde noise pop is drenched in a holed-up/tucked-away love that Serge Gainsbourg might dig. Whispered lyrics, smooth drum beats, and pulsing keyboards characterise the duo's gritty, ultra-sensual exchange, carrying a low-lit and world-endlingly pretty moment of curtains shrouded in cigarette smoke.”—Richard MacFarlane, Rose Quartz. A teaser to an upcoming full-length.

Bleached

Carter

Art Fag

***BACK IN PRINT AT A NEW LOWER PRICE!!! “BLEACHED is sister duo JESSICA and JENNIFER CLAVIN, formerly of the hell-raising L.A. punk crew MIKA MIKO. "Think of You" is a strummy heartbreaker that finds them in much less abrasive territory.”—Pitchfork. New pressing on lavender and white marbled vinyl. 

Best Coast

She Was High (So Was I)

Art Fag

***BACK IN PRINT!!! Former POCAHAUNTED member BETHANY COSENTINO (aka BEST COAST) embodies California. Her songs are effortlessly ramshackle, layers of fuzzed guitar and a voice with enough heft and soul that it brings to mind 1950s girl soul groups or even a female-centric Beach Boys. There’s also a sense of permanent longing, an inescapable melancholy that can only come from living near the beach, perpetually sunny but a little sad too.Features the songs “The Sun Was High (So Was I),” “So Gone” and “That’s the Way Boys.”