MÚSICA CRÓNICA playlist MADE IN AMERICA 2014

Another year is coming to an end here at Música Crónica and that means our four year end playlists are all gift wrapped and ready for your ears just in time for Christmas! During the first week of December we released our 2014 International playlist which highlighted our favorites from around the globe. The second week in December brought you the 2014 National playlist that zeroed in on our Spanish bands and artists. This week is a one-two punch to the senses. 2014 Made In The UK rolled out on the 16th and featured great tunes from across the pond and now, wait for it, wait for it, the 2014 Made In America playlist! 

Made In America - BLEACHED, "For The Feel" 7" EP (2014)

L.A.'s Bleached (Jennifer and Jessica Clavin) were one of the first two bands covered on Made In America way back in 2013. Since then the band has been endlessly touring and no doubt contributing to summer playlists around the world.

Their new EP For The Feel, out digitally on July 24th and as a 7-inch single on September 16th via Dead Oceans, is a continuation of the summer sound and L.A. feel of their debut album Ride Your Heart. It's actually from the Ride Your Heart sessions but failed to make the album cut and was re-recorded for the new EP. The B-side will contain the song "Poison Ivy" and a cover of The Damned's "Born To Kill".

Made In America - La Luz, "It's Alive" (2013)

I don't know what it is about 60's inspired surf-rock that's really grabbed my attention lately. In my first blog post for "Made In America" I swooned over L.A. surf-punks Bleached and then again in May with The Allah-Las. This week we head back up the west coast for Seattle's La Luz.

Shana Cleveland (guitar), Marian Li Pino (drums), Abbey Blackwell (bass), and Alice Sandahl (electric piano) formed La Luz just last summer and quickly self-released a five song EP Damp Face which was named after a steamy summer recording session in an un-airconditioned apartment in Washington state. The EP has since then been picked up and re-released digitally and on cassette via Burger Records. The ladies, known for their tight and interactive live shows, straddle and sometimes blur the lines between near-riotous danceable garage rock and etheral mood music. The music is crafted well enough to hold up as Ventures-style instrumental, with that wet Fender slack-jawed reverb and punchy electric piano, but it's the atmospheric vocals and quad-harmonies that really pushes you over the edge and into that warm salty water.

Made In America - Wildcat! Wildcat! and Bleached

Here in the U.S., spring is slowly emerging from its winter slumber bringing color back to our faces and more importantly into our lives. By “color into our lives”  I mean that the time is near for the South by Southwest festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. For fans of music, comedy, film, and related technology SXSW offers more than a week (this year it’s March 8-17) of live music and comedy, film, and forums and related technology, it’s a literal feast for the senses. 

In a U.S. state where everything is bigger, SXSW Music is the largest music festival of its kind in the world, with more than 2500 "official" performers/bands playing in more than 100 venues and focuses mainly on new talent in the music and film industry. 

Two bands in this year’s lineup who are due to make their breakout is Wildcat! Wildcat! and Bleached. 

Wildcat! Wildcat! are a Los Angeles based trio that specializes in creating infectious synth-based pop goodness that is sure to have you humming to yourself long after the end of the last track. My first listen evoked memories of MGMT and Neon Indian.

Together since 2011, the band’s earliest releases Mr. Quiche and End of the World Everyday came at the beginning of 2012. A double A-side 7” single for Mr. Quiche and The Chief was released later that summer by Neon Gold Records. Those three songs plus Please and Thank You are available for a listen on the Wildcats! Wildcats! website via Soundcloud.

Wildcat! Wildcat! - Mr. Quiche

Sisters, Jennifer and Jessica Clavin, formerly of LA's favorite all-girl punk outfit Mika Miko, make up the Los Angeles band, Bleached. Close your eyes and envision The Ramones, in tank tops and short shorts, basking under a West Coast sun. I know, you can’t un-see that image, now add absurdly catchy guitar-driven So-Cal (Southern California) post-punk and you have yourself your next summer soundtrack.

Having previously released three buzz-worthy 7” singles, Carter on Art Fag, Francis on Ooga Booga, and Searching Through The Past on Suicide Squeeze, the band is schedule to drop their debut album Ride Your Heart on the Dead Oceans Label on April 2^nd.

Bleached - Searching Through The Past

Do yourself a favor, listen to the this song through to the end and then "come on back".