The Baby Seals - "I Will Panic if I Want to Shirley"

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Our favorite Cambridgeshire garage punks are back with a new single just in time for the holidays. "I Will Panic if I Want to Shirley" isn't exactly a Christmas song, but it does take place at Christmas, so we're counting it. This new song is a noisy mid-tempo track filled with harmonies about how stressful this time of year can be. The song is dripping with menace and The Baby Seals' trademark humor. If anything, the harmonies seem to be used to help keep the chaos within the song at a minimum until it no longer can, which also fits the theme of the song. Last year's Chaos was one of my favorites of the year, so we're thrilled to see The Baby Seals continue to make killer music.

Front woman Kerry says of the band's latest single:

“... The song’s about something that happened to our drummer, Amy. She’s autistic, and that can sometimes lead to confrontations or misunderstandings with strangers. Just before Christmas last year, she took her car in for its MOT. The garage offered to drop it back off afterwards and put the keys through her letterbox. When the car hadn’t arrived later that day, Amy called the garage, only to discover they’d already closed for the Christmas holidays. She then rang her friend Shirley, who said, 'Don’t panic, Amy!' Amy’s response was, 'I’ll panic if I want to, Shirley.'... (Shirley and her husband Ian went out to look for the car and, by some completely insane coincidence, found it parked on a random street, with the keys pushed through a random stranger’s door!)"

You can watch the video for "I Will Panic if I Want to Shirley" below. The single is out now via Trapped Animal Records and Green Island Music. For more on The Baby Seals, check out the band's website.

On Repeat...

Minibeast - "High Sea"

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Somehow Peter Prescott of Mission of Burma and Volcano Suns has another band that I never knew about. Minibeast already released an album that I completely missed back in 2012, and they are currently at work on the follow up, Free Will. Based on a track from the upcoming album, "High Sea," Minibeast shares some common sonic ground with Mission of Burma, but with an added emphasis on the groovy side of things. It's basically the noise and dissonance of Burma but heard through a 60s surf groove, as if Frankie and Annette were punks. You can listen to "High Sea" below. Minibeast currently have a Kickstarter to help fund the final production of Free Will. You can get more information on that here . It should be out sometime in June.
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There's a new Limp Bizkit video, because sure, why not?

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Earlier this week I was expressing sympathy for Limp Bizkit. Limp Bizkit just don't seem to be riding that surge of 90s nostalgia that all sorts of other terrible bands from that era are. Sure, they're terrible. But are they really  that much worse than Filter, Alien Ant Farm, and other bands on those 90s nostalgia packages. And then this video is released. The first lyrics to the song are literally "Go fuck yourself." It then features Fred Durst sitting on a toilet, bikini clad chicks pretending to fellate garden hoses and leaf blowers, and Fred Durst talking about fucking bitches, all while wearing a hoodie and a backwards red baseball hat. Then Lil Wayne comes out. Please keep in mind Fred Durst is a 42 year old man.
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Monday Mix: Newport Folk Festival 2014 Must See Bands

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With this weekend's upcoming Newport Folk Festival, we thought we'd highlight some of this year's can't miss acts. We're focusing on the bands playing smaller stages and earlier in the day. I mean, you're obviously going to see Ryan Adams and Jack White. Instead, these are the acts worth getting there early for, and seeking out the smaller stages. Phox Friday, 1:50, Quad Stage Phox hails from Baraboo, WI, the winter home of the Ringling Brothers' Circus. I'm not sure if that is connected to their music or not, but Phox has an otherworldly charm and a magical feel. They come across as a more grounded St. Vincent or a less intense version of early Tori Amos. Their music is simply beautiful and uplifting.  Reignwolf Friday, 2:55, Quad Stage Truly pushing the boundaries of what can be considered "folk" are Reignwolf. Reignwolf is Jordan Cook, who sounds like a mixture of The Black Keys and Queens of the Stone Age, mixed with just a lit...
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