Photo by Tara Dwelsdorf
Vancouver, British Columbia’s Needles//Pins have been penning scratchy lo-fi power pop jams for just over 3 years now. With the release of their debut full length 12:34 on the budding Lethbridge, Alberta label Mammoth Cave Recording Co. the band has began really coming into their own, beefing up older classics and releasing some of the catchiest punk rock from a country that’s seemingly at the forefront of the genre. After a handful of cassettes and 7”s, 12:34 looks to be the release that’ll take them on a number of tours across the continent, turning heads and taping toes alike.
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Mean Jeans
On Mars
Dirtnap Records
Buy This Record
Mean Jeans’ sophomore output On Mars doesn’t exactly pick up where their 2009 debut Are You Serious? left off, but the connections aren’t particularly hard to make. There are still plenty of hooks, and childish jokes; pretty much it’s the soundtrack to getting day drunk. The few slow burners that they’ve released thus far have, in hindsight, alluded to the direction of On Mars rather well, as there’s a ton of slowed down tracks here (“School Lunch Victim”, “2 Twisted 2 Luv U”). However that’s not to say there are no fun-soaked tracks running a mile-a-minute here either. The opener “Ready 2 Rip” both catches you up to speed on their antics and changes over the last three years as well as provides an apt starting point for any new comers.
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Portland’s Mean Jeans have released the first video from their upcoming record On Mars, due out on April 17th, 2012 on Dirtnap Records. On Mars is the band’s follow up to the 2008 debut on the label Are You Serious?.
