NICE GUYS/FREE PIZZA SPLIT TAPE.

Very cool new fast and punky tape courtesy of Boston’s own BUFU Records. This spilt features one local punk staple and one that once was local, but now international. One side features two new tunes and one ballad by Allston bad boys Nice Guys. Their side is loud and lo-fi. “Reels of Fire” is rolling and tumbling through fuzzy riffs and heavy drums. At just under a minute, “Best Buds” does not let this tape skip a beat as this song keep shouting at you. They end their side with a semimental lullaby about how they “miss my Free Pizza”. Nice Guys is what garage punk should be: rough and fast and fun.

Free Pizza absence from Boston has surely been felt since they moved to Florida then Germany, but that is just what makes this tapes so sweet. Their three tracks are just like the friendly n’ fun punk Free Pizza you remember. You might even know some of the songs if you’ve seen them live, like “Oh Yeah That Deep Breath.” Free Pizza is so cool because all of the music is so happy, positive, and easily applicable. The lyrics and hooks are catchy, simple, and have the perfect amount of garage rock mixed in with an arty pop. It is very easy to feel good and hopefully while listening to Free Pizza.

Guerilla Toss - Flood Dosed

They recently announced their signing with DFA Records, and they’ve been playing a lot of shows with their new lineup. Even though they live in New York it still feels like they are playing just as many Boston shows at the same venues. And now they’ve released three new songs!If you’ve seen Guerilla Toss in the past few months, then some of the tracks might sound kind of familiar. The EP introduces a gentler Gtoss. “Realistic Rabbit” features vocals the echo through whatever spaceship is was recorded on, then speeds up into Kassie chanting accompanied by a saxophone and the groove heavy rhythm section. “Ritual in Light” sounds reminiscent of 367 Equalizer by going in and out of burst of hyper calls and dour recitatives, and the bass and guitar sound deeper than ever. “Polly’s Crystal” is very rhythm heavy, cool, and fast. Most importantly, Kassie sings on all of it! She always has, but her vocals are heard more than ever before and it’s amazing! Kassie is so clear, it still sounds Avant, but not screams. It is hard to speculate what the lyrics mean, but you can understand every word. People can listen to them and try to find their own meanings, which I think is something people do with Guerilla Toss a lot,  by channeling their own energy into the band, like when seeing them live or just listening at home. That is where that certain level of spirituality associated with Guerilla Toss comes into play. There are more effects, more psych, more jams, and same amount of funk. New age more than no wave. New age jam-psych with rage is what you could call it. The music sounds just as nuts as ever, but it’s a different type of nuts. It’s always exciting to see bands you like doing new shit. This was billed as just a taste of the new Guerilla Toss direction, because their first full length EP since Gay Disco is going to be out in early 2016, and I feel like it is going to get more eyes on it. DFA is based out of NYC and they announced their signing around the same time they moved, which feels like a big deal. Because now they are actually getting help with publicity stuff. If you go on the website of Pitch Perfect PR, Gtoss is listed as one of the clients. And in their bio it describes their signing with DFA as “the next logical step in the band’s mission to becoming the world’s largest rage-psych phenomenon”. It’s like a whole new era in Gtoss ritual. They only made 300 “Flood Dosed” tapes, so order one while you can!

Hi, Guerilla Toss!