The Mantles – “Lily Never Married”

Tonight, celebrate the release of The Mantles‘ new Mexican Summer EP, Pink Information at The Knockout with Fungi Girls and Royal Baths (9pm, $6). The 5-song record includes some of the most energized, perfected surf-rock jams from the band yet, including the single “Lily Never Married,” revealed this past spring. Instead of raving on, I’ll hand it over to the Aquarius Records newsletter, which says it best:

MANTLES, THE “Pink Information” (Mexican Summer) 12″ 26.00

Latest from the Mexican Summer label, in their ongoing campaign to seemingly release at least one record by every one of the coolest bands around these days, which has been a pretty serious success so far (barring the always inordinately OUCH-worthy Mexican Summer pricetag), and continues to be, with this, a brand new ep from SF power pop drone rockers The Mantles, who with the opening track, “Cascades”, a brief two minute blast of some seriously perfect pop, render the aforementioned pricetag a non issue, cuz, you NEED this track, and if there was ever a $26 jam, this is it. Easy, the shortest, sharpest, catchiest track the Mantles have produced, it’s still got some of that Velvet Underground swagger, but it’s doused in power pop perfection, a crazy killer main melody, some sweet “ooooooh” background vocals, propulsive drumming, all wrapped in a dreamy haze, we’d be surprised if you didn’t find yourself playing that one track over and over and over. But once you’ve got that out of your system, you can dig a bit deeper, the very Wipers sounding “Situations”, all dour and minor key, the sun dappled hypnorock of “Lily Never Married, sounding a bit like a slightly more upbeat Spacemen 3, “Summer Read” all fuzzy and retro, with another cool tangly guitar melody, the sound crunchy and raw and urgent, a little Swell Maps, and still a lots Velvets, and finally, “Waiting Out The Storm”, a brooding dirgey slowpop gem, all minimal drumming, and super distorted low slung riffage, laconic vocals, laid back and woozy and druggy, think Loop or Spacemen 3 again, but even slower and more washed out and lysergic, the sort of jam that live could get stretched out forEVER… Rad stuff. Way recommended. But remember, it’s on Mexican Summer, so it’s limited and odds are it will be gone in a flash…