Dandy Boy

Yea-Ming And The Rumours

I Can't Have It All

Dandy Boy

***I Can’t Have It All is the third studio album by Yea-Ming and The Rumours and marks a new line-up and creative era for the band. Frontwoman Yea-Ming Chen has masterfully curated her self-proclaimed “pop record.” Weaving melancholy narratives with catchy hooks in a sound that is more surfy, more punk and more indie than anything the Rumours have done before. Fuller sounding production heavily influenced by groups like Yo La Tengo, Camera Obscura and other early '90s underground college radio favorites, I Can’t Have It All marks the band’s continued evolution. Alongside the usual beautiful imagery, Yea-Ming’s songwriting remains as introspective as ever, but I Can’t Have It All marks a changing point both creatively and personally in the songstress’ life. Written during a difficult period in which she struggled to identify and painfully shed a “false-self" imposed by the outside world, the album follows the personal and relatable journey of accepting loss and making changes. “I realized one day that I have spent most of my life pretending to be someone that other people wanted me to be, and that was probably the source of my anxiety and depression.” Recalls the songwriter. “So I made changes that were really hard and I experienced a lot of grief in letting go of people and situations that held a lot of power over me emotionally—even if it wasn’t intentional—and I became someone that is closer to who I want to be. In that transition, I discovered that it is completely...

1981, The

Move On

Dandy Boy

***The 1981 are an Oakland duo consisting of Adam Widener and Bobby Martinez. Their debut album, Move On, is a buzzy power pop record with layers of guitars, synths, organs and vocals over a melancholy ache. Influenced by the Jesus and Mary Chain’s fuzzed guitars and sweet melodies as well as Comet Gain’s jangle punk narratives, the band plays a pleasant and enjoyable brand of hook driven indie pop. Move On was recorded as it was written by Widener and Martinez in their rehearsal studio before recruiting Phil Lantz (Neutrals, Chime School) to re-record drums on several tracks. The record was sent to the Southern Hemisphere for Matt Bullimore (ex-Legs, ex-Mantles) to mix in Christchurch, New Zealand and Mikey Young (Eddy Current) to master in Melbourne, Australia.

Seablite

Grass Stains and Novocaine

Dandy Boy

***San Francisco’s jangle-gaze sensation, Seablite, has been mesmerizing audiences from the Golden Gate to Glasgow with their brand of dreamy fuzzed-out bliss and announce the reissue of their long out of print debut album, Grass Stains and Novocaine”on Dandy Boy Records. Seablite formed in 2016 when Lauren Matsui (vocals / guitar) and Galine Tumasyan (vocals / bass) bonded over a mutual appreciation of early 90s Britpop and UK underground music and began writing songs together. Soon after Jen Mundy (ex-Wax Idols) joined on second guitar and drummer Andy Pastalaniec (Chime School) would round out the lineup. Their debut album Grass Stains and Novocaine was released in the summer of 2019 and sold out of its initial pressing almost immediately. The album wowed critics and made them friends and fans throughout the US and across the sea in the UK. Repressed on vinyl and remastered by Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring) the album sounds bigger and better than ever. This new version of Grass Stains showcases the band’s noisy beginnings and highlights their love for My Bloody Valentine, Lush, Blur and Ride. The guitars sound more aggressive and textured while the low end is far more present and driving, doing justice to Matt Bullimore’s (ex-Mantles) original mix and allowing a second chance at a first impression.

Goods, The

EP

Dandy Boy

***The Goods combine big guitars, huge hooks, and sweet British Invasion-style harmonies into a distinctive power pop tapestry on their debut, The Goods EP. Singer-songwriter Rob Good is a veteran of the Oakland underground, having played the sideman in stalwart Bay Area outfits such as Sob Stories, Cocktails, and Re-Volts. Good now steps center-stage to showcase a knack for clever songwriting and catchy melodies. He is joined by the propulsive rhythm section of drummer Paul Wiseman (also of the Southern California band Not) and seasoned session bassist Cherron Arens. Self-produced in the band’s own studio in Oakland, CA, The Goods’ debut EP draws on decades of hooky punk and power pop from the 1960s through the 1990s. The three song 7" (with an exclusive fourth digital track) combines classic influences and timeless sounds with a fresh and playful energy. Avoiding retro-revivalism, The Goods' music is earnest and unironic, with just enough grit and muscle to balance its sugary sweetness. Pressed on pink vinyl.

Aluminum

Windowpane

Dandy Boy

***Aluminum are guitarist/vocalist Marc Leyda (Wild Moth), bassist / vocalist Ryann Gonsalves (Torrey),guitarist Austin Montanari (Wild Moth), and new drummer Chris Natividad (Marbled Eye). Started in 2020 by Marc Leyda as a bedroom recordingproject, Aluminum has evolved into its current 4piece iteration located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Equally in
uenced by the '80s American underground and Creation Records, Aluminummanufactures a chaotic soundscape with pop melodies. Dual vocals interweave with walls ofguitars and dayglo samples in an attempt to find bliss in disorder. Following the self-released Spinning Backwards digital single, Windowpane EP shows the group covering new territory, ranging from dizzying janglepop to raucous post-punk ripping.

Blue Ocean, The

The Blue Ocean

Dandy Boy

***Blue Ocean are Rick Altieri and David Stringi; long-time friends and former bandmates from the Boston acid punk band Puke. Since relocating and reuniting in Oakland, the two have been making two chord pop with layers of swirling noise and synth pads, backed by a pulsing drum machine beneath a mess of cables and hissing distortion. The pair craft a swirling haze of sound glazed over dreamy pop songs, leaving a shimmering electric roar and a slight grin. The duo merges shoegaze & noise pop to make a sound that is somewhere between My Bloody Valentine's You Made Me Realise era and C86 jangle leaving the listener to wonder what year it is. The Blue Ocean LP compiles their two most recent EPs: Summer Of Hands and Fade (previously released on cassette by the band and Paisley Shirt Records) mastered and cleaned up by Mikey Young.

Sob Stories

Fair Shake

Dandy Boy

***Fair Shakes is the debut LP from Oakland's own Sob Stories. A full length follow up to their 2017 self-titled debut 12" EP on Emotional Response, Fair Shakes picks up right where they left off. Frontman Joel Cusumano (also known for playing guitar with SF sugar poppers Cocktails and post-punk art rockers Body Double) plays the role of the tongue-in-cheek / heart-on-the-sleeve troubadour as he weaves through a dozen broken hearted / lovelorn laments. Hailing influence from the golden era of college radio the Sobs bring it back to the left of the dial offerings of the db's, Teenage Fanclub and Guided By Voices, while standing shoulder to shoulder with contemporaries like Supercrush and Young Guv. Cusumano wrote Fair Shakes over the course of several years, focusing on themes like heartache, neuroticism, and dealing with the chasm between self-centered desires and the harsh realities of life.

Yea-Ming And The Rumours

So, Bird...

Dandy Boy

***Yea-Ming and the Rumours swing, shimmer, and whisper through a confessional map of the landscape of heartbreak on their new album, So, Bird… Yea-Ming Chen has a distinctive, whispery alto that deliversthe kind of confident melancholy—a matter-of-factness about her own emotional ghosts—that shows itself in varying opacities, from psychedelic dream-logic to the nakedness of a psychotherapist’s notepad. Touching on everything from American indie pop, twee and jangle pop to country, folk, and even a bit of Brill Building pop, So, Bird... offers 11 more broken hearted songs to fall to pieces over. The perfect record for solo adventures and long drives with no specific destination. The Oakland based four piece features Yea-Ming Chen on vocals, guitar and keys, Anna Hillburg onbass and backing vocals, Eoin P. Galvin on guitarand lap steel and Sonia Hayden on drums. Chenand Hillburg have been playing together since their college indie pop group, Dream Date. So, Bird... is their second album following their self released digital album I Will Make You Mine and their self released 7" single Baby Blue.

James Wavey

Snowy Beach

Dandy Boy

***Oakland California’s James Wavey (aka Michael Bridgmon, aka Alleyes Manifest) is known for rhythmic poeticisms and presents them in a psychedelic hip hop style. His music production is influenced by jazz with funk undertones. Snowy Beach is a journal entry documenting a trip through America, a blotter paper of contradictions: snowy beaches, cold shoulders. Recorded at the height of the pandemic as American civil unrest was across the nation, Snowy Beach captures the moment and serves as a polaroid of the times. "These times are changing / made it to a Snowy Beach / relearned who I’m supposed to be" Wavey carefully selects from jazz, live instruments, California soul samples to Turkish down beat groves—a backdrop for revolutionary poetry to shine on, shine on, shine on. The tracks for Snowy Beach stand alone as they stand together, a hot body of work forged on an increasingly incoherent planet. Central to this effort, Wavey seems to build a strong foundation on contradictions and obscurities. Originally self-released on cassette in March of 2021, Dandy Boy Records is proud to present Snowy Beach for the first time on vinyl. Edition of 250 copies.