Phantasia - All the Flowers

  

  Phantasia are from New York and feature a line up of Tara Atefi (Vocals),  Grace Scott (Guitar), Emma Hendry (Keyboard), Gary Canino (Bass), Dylan Cameron (Drums) and Corey Evans (he plays drums on portions of the new album). 

  That new album will be titled Ghost Stories and it's out on July 22nd on Beach Impediment Records. 

  Now given that Corey Evans has featured in bands such as GLOSS, Rik And The Pigs, Stiff Love & Clock Of Time, you might cast a glance at the cover of Ghost Stories and assume you're in for something a little on the heavy side.

  In reality, you'll be treated to 9 tracks of "nightmare pop" which mix post punk with catchy C-86. Three tracks from the album are streaming here :                    https://phantasia.bandcamp.com/album/ghost-stories

  This is my favourite of the songs so far and the reason I mentioned C-86. It's really rather dreamy and it's called All The Flowers... 

Wasted another summer walking down the gutter. We had always suffered in denial of one another. I stayed by your side, found you with flowers you denied. Hiding in your room buried deep, checking your pulse while you sleep. If you die, I die. I stayed by your side, found you with flowers you denied. Hiding in your room buried deep, checking your pulse while you sleep. We had always suffered. If you die, I die. This world is no fun just as one.

Star Party - Thru The Flowers

  

  What a day to be alive! 

  It's 07.53 as I type this, as usual I'm up early so I can write out today's blog entry before I set off for work. And today's blog entry is one of those that has me buzzing. Before I went to bed last night I saw the tracklist for a new compilation album from Portland, Oregon label Girlsville Records (https://www.facebook.com/GirlsvilleRecords) and I was excited to discover that amongst the tracks that jumped out at me was a cover of The Primitives' 1986 debut single Thru The Flowers. It's reimagined by Washington State trio Star Party, a band that put out one of last year's best eps, an ep which featured a wonderful Shop Assistants cover (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2020/11/star-party-something-to-do.html), an equally wonderful Bob Dylan cover and, remarkably, 2 original tracks that were the equal of the covers (get the ep as a name your price download here : https://starpartyrocks.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2020).

  So whilst eagerly adding the Primitives' cover to JSPS, I'm sitting here listening to more tracks from the comp. It's called Paid By Rock (it's a follow up to 2020's Be Gay, Do Crime!) and it features some totally terrific music. Amongst the treasures to jump out at me on first play are a great cover of Patrick Fitzgerald's Safety Pin Stuck In My Heart by Fun Time Objects, The Maxines' demo of Drugstore, Adulkt Life's gnarly Lower Dens and Mr. And The Mrs.' raging Fuck Cops. It's a highly recommended release, a joy to listen to even at this time in the morning on a work day, and you can get it here on either cassette or digital download :  https://girlsville.bandcamp.com/album/paid-by-rock

  This is Star Party bringing plenty of fuzzy distortion (or misty coastal rock as they describe it) with Thru The Flowers... 

Feel the sun burning bright
I'm cut loose, out of sight
Slipping through shadows
You won't find me
Found myself all at sea
And you won't see me, no, no
And you won't see me, no, no
And you will never know
What it took to let you go
If I could only make you see
Then you could follow me
Through the flowers
Through the flowers

Feel the sun burning bright
I'm cut loose, out of sight
Singing in the daises
You won't find me
Found myself all at sea
And you won't see me, no, no
And you won't see me, no, no

And you will never know
What it took to let you go
If I could only make you see
Then you could follow me
Through the flowers
Through the flowers