Hey everybody. Sorry for the delay in posting. Five Tunes HQ got bogged down by the flu and various holiday/work related duties, but now we’re back. Today, it’s another “Best of 2009” list from another one of our favorites from last year, Ganglians.
While Woodsist has put out a myriad of great tunes—from the jangly soul pop of Fergus & Geronimo to the dreamy beach sounds of Real Estate—Ganglians are definitely one of the best on the label. The band’s fuzzy psych-pop is amazing. Very few people can toe the line between “catchy” and “weird” when it comes to psychedelia, and Ganglians does an amazing job of incorporating both elements into their songs. If you haven’t listened to Monster Head Room yet, get on it.
Ganglians – “Lost Words” (from Monster Head Room)
Here’s five from Ganglians’ Ryan Grubbs.
five tunes
1) Grass Widow – “Lulu’s Lips” (from Grass Widow)- “Some of the best girl group harmonies to come out in years. Very nice people, too, and a very concise, tight group of musicians.”
2) The Walker Brothers – “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore” (single)- “Emptiness is a cloak you wear” Scott Walker croons before said cloak opens and dispells all the sadness with a chorus so heartbreakingly genuine and questionably hopeful that you’re reminded of every time you saw the light at the end of the tunnel.”
3) The Hospitals – “Scan the Floor for Food” – “The whole Hairdryer Peace album is one big razor edged nightmare of a dream (psychotic, paranoid, in a constant state of confusion, things flying at you from every angle) but when it all slows down to a simmering boil towards the end this song reminds you of all the good times you had getting there, thinking you’re insane all the way trying to hold on to what reality once was. We’re lucky enough to have Adam recording the next Ganglians 7″, he’s a true mastermind with tape machines and we couldn’t be more terrified.”
4) Twinkeyz – “Tonight Again” – “When I first heard this band not too long ago I couldn’t believe they weren’t an early influence of ours. They have all the same aesthetics; aliens, mystery, cartoons, space, outcasts; only 30 years earlier. Donnie Jupiter is now a comic book artist and animator after some really tragic events. And the kicker is they’re also from Sacramento! It may be too late but it’s time this band gets the attention it deserves.”
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5) John Maus – “Tenebrae” (from Love is Real) – “An epic, masonic masterpiece that manages to erect the massive hallowed halls of the intergalactic gods of space and time right in the mind’s eye. Best listened to barreling down a country road on a starry night clutching Aliester Crowley’s Book Of Lies.”
FIVE TUNES 