Made In America - CONNECTIONS, "Body Language" (2013)

Being prolific in the music business is no easy task, well, it's no easy task for most. Look at Frank Zappa's sixty plus albums during his career, and I've still only listened to Freak Out! and maybe one of the fifteen albums he released posthumously. So I should really change my opening to something along the lines of being a music factory is one thing, turning out quality product worth a listen is the difficult part.

Columbus, Ohio's Connections are off to a pretty good start. Seven months detached from their debut album Private Airplane, Connections are back with their second effort Body Language, out on Anyway Records. They are also rumored to be studio bound to begin work on a third album to be released some time in the new year. That's a lot of music in such a short time but Connections seem to be on top of their quality control department.

Made In America - Heavy Times, "I'm Single" 7" (2013)

I like to think that I have a decent handle on new music but in this day and age with so many bands self-releasing music on the internet sometimes good bands just slip through the cracks. Chicago's Heavy Times are one of those bands that I completely missed the boat on, and shamefully so because they are right up my ally.

Lo-fi garage rock with pop tendencies is as close as I can get to describing Heavy Times whose sound really doesn't fit into any one category and you can't do a band like this justice by pigeonholing them. If I had to draw comparisons to other bands I would immediatly go to Guided By Voices and Husker Du who share two common traits in their songs, melodic driving guitar riffs and monster choruses that will eat you alive.

Heavy Times released their debut album Dead on Rotted Tooth Recordings in 2010 and their breakout record Jacker, released on Hozac Records, the following year. Their latest, I'm Single, a three song 7", also out on the Hozac lable, defines their sound nicely and keeps you believing that Heavy Times are destined for something bigger. The closing song "Bath Salts" just might containg the catchiest guitar hook I've heard in years. Listen to it and you'll be instantly addicted like I was.

Heavy Times - Skull Hair - From the album Jacker

Made In America - Tony Molina, "Dissed and Dismissed" (2013)

For those of you who have a spare eleven minutes or so in your day, maybe around lunch time or just before bed tonight, you'll want to check out the full-length debut album Dissed and Dismissed from San Fransisco-based singer/guitarist Tony Molina. Molina is probably best known for his time with underground lo-fi heros Ovens but has used Sopors, Violent Change, and Caged Animals as creative outlets as well.

Dissed and Dismissed, released earlier this year on the Melters label, clocks in at just over eleven minutes. That's twelve songs, eleven minutes, I listened to the album ten times in a row while doing research for and then writing this blog post. So what do you get when each song averages less than a minute? With Molina, you get in, you get your mind blown, and then you get the hell out, that's it. Why repeat the chorus when you've heard it once already?

Molina's vocals are soothing and can hook you in the same way that J. Mascis does with Dinosaur, Jr. or Robert Pollard does with Guided By Voices (G.B.V.). And speaking of Ninties indie rock influences, he handles his guitar-work in a similar manner as Mascis with super-fuzzy riffs and screaching solos and also pays tribute to G.B.V. with his cover of "Wondering Boy Poet".

Molina's songs, while short, are well written and feel complete, and don't leave you wanting for more. He manages to get you from point A to point B in as little time as needed, without being redundant. Proving that sometimes the best gifts do come in the smallest packages.

Here is Tony Molina's Bandcamp page for a complete listen to Dissed and Dismissed:

 

Tony Molina - Don't Come Back