Record Store Day: Sunflower Bean, Sneaks, Today is the Day, Charly Bliss, Beverly, Steve Earle

Sunflower Bean find magic within friction. The New York trio’s full-length debut album, Human Ceremony [Fat Possum Records], emerges at the intersection of dreamy modern psychedelica and urgent fuzzed-out bliss. That push-and-pull colors the aural tapestry of these three musicians—Jacob Faber [drums], Julia Cumming [vocals/bass], and Nick Kivlen [vocals/guitars].

“Everything comes from a conflicting interest,” affirms Nick. “We love dream pop, but we also really love rock ‘n’ roll. It’s those two spectrums.”

“You’re allowed to obsess over Black Sabbath as well as The Cure,” adds Julia. “It’d be boring if everything was just one way or the other.”

That diversity defined the group’s approach since Nick and Jacob started jamming back in high school. They would hole up in Jacob’s Long Island basement for hours on end, channeling this vast cadre of influences. Julia’s addition would only expand that creative palette further in 2013.

Through constant gigging around New York, Sunflower Bean sprouted into a sonic enigma, boasting a fiery musical call-and-response that serves as a centerpiece, giving the music what Jacob refers to as a “lyrical aspect” between the guitars, drums, and bass.

They transferred this multi-headed energy into their 2015 Independent EP, Show Me Your Seven Secrets. At the same time, this distinct alchemy enchanted ever-growing audiences live. By the time, they entered the studio for Human Ceremony, Sunflower Bean had a lively aural cauldron from which to draw.
They took the summer of 2015 off and retreated to Jacob’s basement to write together. Taking the ideas out of the basement, they hit a Brooklyn studio with producer Matt Molnar [Friends] and tracked eleven tunes in just seven days. Whereas the EP was recorded after Sunflower Bean played 100 shows in one year, Human Ceremony showed the band’s studio side with richer soundscapes, overdubs, and music that had yet to be debuted live.

On the lead track “Easier Said,” Julia’s delicate vocals glide over a lilting clean guitar that spirals off into a vibrant hum.

Sunflower Bean’s spell is cast on Human Ceremony.

“When you’re in a band, you always dream about the first record,” Julia concludes. “It’s that moment where you explore everything that’s been inspiring you.”

Led by visionary frontman Steve Austin, Today Is The Day reigns as one of the most unique and influential bands of the past two decades. The band’s violent and anthemic style, which blends metal, noise, psychedelia, and rock, has won worldwide acclaim ever since the debut album, Supernova, first hit in the early 90s. Nine studio albums have been released on such labels as Amphetamine Reptile and Relapse — including modern-day classics like Willpower, Temple of the Morning Star, and In the Eyes of God — and the band’s changing lineup has included such musicians as Brann Dailor and Bill Kelliher, who would later go on to form Mastodon. Today Is The Day has toured the world with Motorhead, Helmet, The Melvins, Morbid Angel, Converge, Napalm Death, Neurosis, Eyehategod, Unsane, Coalesce, and many more. Steve Austin has also made a name as a producer, helping create seminal albums for Lamb Of God, Converge, Deadguy, and more.

On the verge of releasing their debut full length, Charly Bliss are poised to become your new favorite band and your new best friends. 2014’s Soft Serve EP combines elastic guitars and kinetic drumming with lead singer Eva Hendricks’ acute and buoyant voice, making them feel like a new three dimensional idea of 90s pop rock. Live, Hendricks is part pugilist part doubledutch champion as she and the band embody the songs with reckless enthusiasm, like Pixie Stix emptied into a Jolt can. Whether it’s prom, a party, or the ensuing morning hangover, Charly Bliss is the perfect accompaniment.

Since the summer of 2014 and the release of Careers, which Stereogum dubbed an “exceptional shoegazepop debut album,” the main driving force behind Beverly has been Drew Citron. While Beverly began as a recording project between two friends, The Blue Swell out May 6th, 2016 on Kanine Records represents a fresh start for the band.

What do you do when your original writing partner up and moves to Los Angeles upon album release? You quickly form a new live touring band. And when you live in Bushwick in 2014 and you build and run indie rock venue Alphaville, that’s easy to do. You even turn your two person project into a full blown rock band with energetic live shows. Then, you tour – across America and Europe – up and down the east coast and add in a few trips to the midwest. All the while, you never stop writing and collaborating.

On The Blue Swell, Citron’s main collaborator is longtime tour mate and noise pop producer Scott Rosenthal (The Beets, Crystal Stilts), with Kip Berman (The Pains of Being Pure at Heart) lending co-writing talents to Victoria. Careers is acclaimed for its “fuzzed distortion and melodic sugar” (Rolling Stone) and its variety, with Pitchfork noting how it “careens from venomous, angry punk to jangly, mild lust to blown-out emotional hangover.” While you’ll still find reverb, catchy hooks and a track or two like Bulldozer or South Collins that could perhaps fit into the debut, the new album takes a less aggressive and more melodic turn.

Lead single Crooked Cop, a dreamy allegory about deceit and confusion, sounds like a female fronted Teenage Fanclub. A direct hit like Contact is juxtaposed with the pretty and more leisurely The Smokey Pines.

Citron says, “It wasn’t necessarily a conscious decision to create- or not create – a new sound, but changes were inevitable, and we’re working harder than ever to get at what we love about good songs, what we can do with them, and how they can connect to people.”

The new album is, in some respects, bolder, more playful yet more grounded. The Blue Swell was not conceived by two friends taking a piss on the road; it was lovingly crafted by a band putting down roots. It marks a new beginning for Beverly.