By Mariana Timony

In the last edition of ATG, a commenter informed me that my thesis-young men make exceptionally good rock music because rock and roll is about sex and boys are obsessed with sex-was sexist. Ok, it was a little sexist, which I considered at the time. Yet somehow I didn’t think a piece about Pangea’s live show was the correct forum in which to discuss the finer points of misogyny in rock and roll. In addition, I never meant to imply that young women don’t think about sex or make good rock and roll because duh, of course they do. It’s just that the results are different. Anyway, I love girl bands, don’t you?

So let’s talk about , the new project from Jessica and Jennifer Clavin, formerly of Mika Miko. Last week I saw this three-girl-one-boy band supporting Shannon and the Clams, the Trashies, and Royal Baths at , which is quickly becoming one of my favorite L.A. venues for its low key vibe, excellent bands, cheap beer, and free hot dogs. Check it out if you’re down, SF kids, and bring ear plugs.

Bleached went on around 6:30, when it was still bright and sunny, and kicked out a tight set of catchy punk songs that had the entire place on their feet (and considering the amount of beer and pot being passed around, that’s no mean feat). Jessica, front and center in a floppy felt hat and sunglasses, commented on the casual yet upbeat feel of the early evening: “It’s like a backyard show!” Couldn’t agree more. Blondie comparisons may seem a little easy, but if you err on the punk side and substitute L.A. for New York, you’d get something akin to Bleached’s sound. The music isn’t a million miles away from Mika Miko’s tarty punk songs, but Bleached is a little less thrashy and a little more pop. I wrote “Undertones” down in my notebook.

To bring it back round to the feminine mystique, take a listen to “Think of You”. On the one hand, the yearning, wistful lyrics are right at home alongside any girl group tune of similar sentiment. Yet Bleached pairs them with music so basic, so indifferently upbeat and hard edged, it’s power-pop in the sweetest sense.

Bleached are playing a bunch of dates around Southern California in early September, so check their page for all the details (also the band’s and ). But here’s one show you shouldn’t miss: on September 22nd, Bleached will be rocking the L.A. Public Library in downtown. Be there or be square.

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Image Credit: Bleached

(A weekly column where we take a look at the latest sounds from the Other Half of California)

by Mariana Timony

Rock and roll comes in many forms, but at its core it’s about one thing: sex. That’s why young men are capable of making exceptionally good rock and roll - cuz sex is all they think about. With this in mind, consider pub rock. Americans never really had the genre, but to the Brits it’s basically super basic, dirty rock and roll that plays well to basic, dirty people.

We were reminded of it at the tape release show last friday night, where the star of the evening wasn’t the skater bros from Costa Mesa, but supporting band , who, as far as we’re concerned, blew everybody else off the stage with a set of banged out pop punk that was all about getting fucked and getting fucked, if you know what I mean.

On record you can clearly hear the shiny tones of California pop bands past playing out in Pangea’s tunes, but we’re calling this music pub rock on a philosophical level. Unlike many of their contemporaries, Pangea aren’t burying their music in shit tons of reverb and dosing it with orange sunshine. Nothing heady, just loud guitars and crashing drums and songs about being being pissed off and pissed up or hungover or all three at once. It’s juvenilia you can sing along with. The charmingly titled “Too Drunk to Cum” is the catchiest track on the Living Dummy, Pangea’s new-ish record, originally released on cassette and soon to be re-released on vinyl by and CD by . It’s a solid album, but doesn’t capture the manic, youthful energy we witnessed at their live show; pub rock always did lose something in the translation from pub to studio.

Lest you think we’re insulting these fine hooligans by calling them a bar band, just remember that Pangea’s in fine company. As our British companion points out, even the Stranglers - who share Pangea’s penchant for pairing laddish humor with hardcore pop - were considered pub rock, so it’s no slam. Unless you hate the Stranglers, in which case you suck. But if you long for the days when rock was crude and boys were boys, stream Living Dummy and catch Pangea when they play Hemlock Tavern on August 28th as part of the last week of . We’ll see you there. -

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Surf music is cool and all, but it’s getting hard to find a band doing something halfway creative with the genre, especially here in Southern Cal, where you can’t throw a stone without hitting some nascent surf-hybrid band or another. It comes with the territory.

La Mirada’s Lovely Bad Things aren’t exactly an exception. As , the band have the obligatory mellow surf pop thing down pat. However, the Internet yields up a couple of tracks that are decidedly more anarchic than we’re used to hearing from a scene full of bands playing mellow surf pop. The exuberant “Kevin” stitches together surf riffs, indie moxie, and sugary pop vocals into an unhinged teenaged symphony goes straight for the grime. Surf always was too clean and shiny for it’s own good, so it’s refreshing to hear a band giving it a much needed kick in the teeth.

We’re going to reserve full judgement on Lovely Bad Things until we listen to their , which we ordered from after getting tired of listening to this band solely through the Internet. And in case you were wondering, no, of course we couldn’t be bothered to drive 15 miles to the Burger Records store and buy it in person - this is L.A., duh. -

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(A weekly column where we take a look at the latest sounds from the Other Half of California.)

In the ocean of drone currently washing across California, it’s refreshing to hear kids making shambling indie pop in the style of super-early Slumberland groups. of Huntington Beach have a couple of songs up on that put us in mind of My Bloody Valentine circa Ecstasy, only with less jangle and fuzzier edges.

“Coast” is a dreamy track with a melody sweet enough to make you forget those Field Mice singles you’ve been spinning since 1988. We love the combination of shimmery guitars, muted vocals, and melancholy tones layered over a snappy beat. With pop instincts this fierce, could Black Sea be the second coming of Lush? Maybe not, but a girl can dream. The band give themselves a cheer as the tune runs out, and it’s well-deserved. Pure, perfect pop for people who know that Pam Berry is more than just the name of a Shin’s song.

Black Sea play the Prospector in Long Beach on July 17th with SoCal favorites , , and . Our L.A. contingent won’t be in attendance as we’ll be causing havoc in San Francisco with the rest of the PD crew, but those of you in the area should check it out. - MT