Stream: Thee Oh Sees - Singles Collection Volume Three

Since last August, Thee Oh Sees have been amassing even more material in its already endless catalog with the Singles Collection series. Parts one and two are available courtesy of Last.FM, and now we get the third installment, available in full below.

The ten-track collection features several off-hand singles, including the band's tracks from the two split 7" singles with Ty Segall. As well, the explosive and confidingly excellent "Devil Again" from the Adult Swim Garage Swim compilation can also be found in the collection. Check it out before the official November 26 release on John Dwyer's Castle Face imprint and get another heaping mound of evidence of why Thee Oh Sees are one of the best acts out there.

Stream: Garage Swim (ft. Bass Drum of Death, Thee Oh Sees, King Tuff, and more)

Usually fans of electronic-oriented and rap-heavy mixes, Williams Street Records (the Adult Swim imprint) have fully released the wonderfully stacked Garage Swim mixtape. The 15-track record is loaded with familiars, including Thee Oh Sees, King Tuff, Bass Drum of Death, Black Lips, King Khan, and plenty more worth your time. And as a usual Williams Street bonus, the whole thing is available for free.

For now, stream the whole mix below.

Thee Oh Sees video - Lupine Dominus

John Dwyer and Thee Oh Sees getting more attention is always a good thing. Fresh off the release of their new album Putrifiers II, the band debuted this very compelling and well-shot video from John Strong for "Lupine Dominus." Maybe not what you're expecting, but well done regardless.

The band has one final show remaining on the leg of their lengthy U.S. tour in their home town. Check them out Friday night at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall alongside Sic Alps, Sonny & The Sunsets, and The Mallard.

New Ty Segall video - The Hill

Last month we debuted Ty Segall's "The Hill," but now you can watch Segall's directorial debut for the video, courtesy of NPR. As well, more dates have been added to his already lengthy tour alongside Thee Oh Sees, which should be available on Segall's site soon.

Albums of the Month: June 2012

Albums of the Month - June 2012

With summer officially beginning, we're more than halfway through 2012. While the year started out casually slow, the succession of months has really displayed some intensely original and invigorating material. This past month featured one of the year's most hyped releases (and it delivered!), emerging artists, and one man who shows up on Bears and Bullets fairly often. Here are my favorite three.

3.) Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse

Continually rising in from the San Francisco garage scene, Ty Segall's stamp on 2012 is more profound than ever. With his band's album Slaughterhouse (Insound), a blistering charm of cruising garage punk, an album collaboration with White Fence, and an upcoming tour with fellow San Fran-soon-to-be-legends Thee Oh Sees, Segall affirmed his name as the apparent torch-bearer to the late Jay Reatard. While there still seems to be a way to go before his name is put on the same pedestal as the Nashville punk pioneer, Slaughterhouse is the next step in that progression. Still unquestionably raw, especially on tracks like "The Bag I'm In," Segall put together his finest album yet.

2.) Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel ...
This year's front-runner for longest album title, the ageless (seriously, I don't think she ages) icon Fiona Apple's first album in seven years, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (Insound) continues the confusing mad-woman allure that is Fiona. She's cleverly affectionate, playing with the ideas of need, desire, and love to the point where the definition is null. There are few who can do this, mending through unconventional rhythms and vocal renditions to the poignant stories in songs like "Werewolf" and "Anything We Want." It's those sweetly chaotic moments, with Apple dolling out melancholy verse between odd-ball sounds, that give you a moment to step into the 34-year-old genius' mind. And maybe it doesn't make sense to you, but there's a serene satisfaction knowing it does to her.

1.) The Tallest Man On Earth - There's No Leaving Now
If you're familiar with Bears and Bullets, then you're aware of my outward affection of Kristian Mattson, The Tallest Man On Earth. On his third album, and first since 2010's The Wild Hunt, Mattson has found his unavoidable niche. The jarring, unequivocally saddening and uplifting style of modern folk music is usually nothing more than acoustics and an occasional piano, but his romantic verses are what keep pushing the limits of his artistic flexibility. Songs like the title track and "Little Brother" are impossibly emotional, evoking scenes that very, very few others are even capable of. But maybe I'm biased. 

New Thee Oh Sees - Lupine Dominus

The newest from San Francisco workaholics Thee Oh Sees comes from the band's upcoming album Putrifiers II, which is due for release September 14. Check out "Lupine Dominus" below, along with the band's upcoming super-tour with Ty Segall, with tour dates listed here.

Thursday Bears: Last adds to Pitchfork Music Festival

As usual with Pitchfork Music Festival, a large amount of late-adds have been etched onto the July 13-15 billing. Included with the previously mentioned big names of Vampire Weekend, Feist, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Hot Chip are a solid class of additions, which are:

Wild Flag, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Beach House, Real Estate, Dirty Projectors, Atlas Sound, Big K.R.I.T., Nicolas Jaar, Cults, Chavez, Oneohtrix Point Never, Youth Lagoon, King Krule, Dirty Beaches, Lotus Plaza, Lower Dens, Milk Music, The Psychic Paramount, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Outer Minds, and A Lull.

Familiar with Bears and Bullets and summer music festivals? Well, if you aren't, whatever acts play Pitchfork Music Festival cannot play Lollapalooza. That being said, while there are a few very solid acts I'd like to be able to see (Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Atlas Sound, among others), the lineup doesn't take too much away from what Lollapalooza could end up being - which, by the way, will be revealed at midnight, Tuesday. Stay tuned for that.

Three-day passes for Pitchfork Music Festival are sold out, but single day tickets are still available. Check which acts are playing which days here.

Albums of the Month - November 2011

Albums of the Month - November 2011

Only one month remains before our annual (now expanded) end of the year lists. But for now, here's my three favorite albums for the month of November.

3. Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream
Parts messy punk interludes, part downtrodden midnight white boy blues, Carrion Crawler/The Dream is the most recent joyful (and mysterious) jab by Thee Oh Sees at a genre they seem to patent. There's a casual knuckle-splitting feeling throughout the album, particularly in the first half with gems like "Contraption/Soul Desert" which very often forgets to find itself, in the very best way.

Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream (Insound)

2. A$AP Rocky - LIVELOVEA$AP
Really? The super-drug addled breakout New York mixtape from a guy who has a dollar sign in his name? Unfair perception. No one's jumping out saying the A$AP Rocky's LIVELOVEA$AP is the best rap album of the year, because it isn't. He doesn't match the visceral thrill of Kendrick Lamar's Section.80 or Big K.R.I.T.'s Returnof4eva, or the utter fantastic weirdness of Danny Brown's XXX, but there's always something to be made of the case of a rapper that just does the part right. No mask of fake attitude, no presumptions, damning and memorable beats (constructed by Clams Casino), and a kid who has true potential. It may come a little empty for some, but for others, this is how modern rap should be built.

A$AP Rocky - LIVELOVEA$AP (Download)

1. Atlas Sound - Parallax
If Brandford Cox's second prominent project, Atlas Sound, is confusing anybody with Deerhunter, Cox's more well-known outfit, don't worry. As the years and sheer volume of Cox's work continue to pile on, the collective sounds begin to aesthetically merge: subtle strings of synthetic noise effortless in the background of his echoing (yet quiet) vocal style, letting his songwriter play the forefront. "Te Amo," one of Parallax's more stellar outputs, sounds particularly akin to the final track on Deerhunter's previous album Halcyon Digest, "He Would Have Laughed." From then on out, however, the album builds itself as a particular outlier, collectively unique to the new, crafty Bradford Cox. The album's final calls drift into a dark, ethereal sound, that is until you hear "Lightworks," the most upbeat thing in the man's endless catalog. One of which will continue to grow and perfect itself.

Atlas Sound - Parallax (Insound)