Coming from a small independent DIY label based in Plymouth, Portsmouth and Weymouth (depending on the season) comes a split 7″ from Exeter’s New Years Evil and Falmouth’s The Black Tambourines. The name of the label is Art Is Hard Records (which could be a reference to Cursive?), and this happens to be their second official release. Their first release was put out in quite a unique fashion, as they sold t-shirts along with a download card of a compilation album from nine of their favorite local bands. This time they stuck to the traditions of putting this 7″ out on wax, but who knows what’s to come down the road. It seems like these two brotherly bros running the show have some new and innovative ideas up their sleeves.
While we don’t know what’s coming next, we can always bring our attention to what we have right now. It’s a 7″ with a song on each side, one from New Years Evil called “Shame”, and one from The Black Tambourines called “Tommy”. New Years Evil come at you full force in “Shame” with crazy rampant drumming, springy bass lines, and some fiery guitar licks that are sure to please. The guitar undoubtedly gets crazy during the final minute after a quick build up, resulting in mind-bending solo action that literally sounds like the dudes fingers were on fire while he played.
Flip that wax and it’s time for the B-side “Tommy”, which starts out on a slower note, only to quickly pick up speed. After that injection of energy the song takes form, bringing concentrated, almost fuzzy guitars to the table with a scuzzy wall of lo-fi grit filling out the song. The tom-tom driven drumming is enough to keep your feet tapping along as the choppy guitars continue to tear everything up in their path, and there’s even some cheerful “woo-woo” chanting in there to help lift the mood that much more, as if this song wasn’t perky enough already. After the joyful chants and forceful drumming, the song starts to slowly fade away into a mysterious abyss with some careful guitar picking, which brings the song to an end. Without a doubt these two songs need to be heard, and you can do so simply by playing them below. If you’re really feeling daring today, why not visit Art Is Hard Records and snag a copy for yourself? I’m sure it’ll be worth it. See ya tomorrow.
New Years Evil – Shame –
The Black Tambourines – Tommy –
My Rating: 7.5/10
Genre/ Tags: Garage Rock, Lo-Fi, Pop
Split 7″: Tracklist:
1.) New Years Evil – Shame
2.) The Black Tambourines – Tommy
New Years Evil on Myspace
New Years Evil on Bandcamp
The Black Tambourines on Myspace
The Black Tambourines on Facebook
BUY the 7″ directly from Art is Hard Records
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