Beach Boys - "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring"

I saw this on TV when I was eight and remembered it for 50 years -- even the "shirts and money" joke. Back then, I thought it was wimpy. Now, it makes me tear up a bit. The Four Freshmen. Who knew? (Hint: Brian.)

Latin Breed - "El Tejano Enamorado"

I had been trying to find out what this song was since I heard Latin Express play it at an Air Force buddy's wedding, 30 years ago. Leo Saenz of Latin Express/Front Porch Conjunto put me wise. My feedback-scorched ears had reharmonized it, but this is the tune. Hooray!

Bad Times' "When I Am Empty, Dispose of Me Properly"

To cap today's flurry of Bandcamp-link posts, here's the latest from Bad Times, a trio co-helmed by Alex Atchley (whose other band, the Devonian Blank Men, played their third gig to the multitudes at some outdoor wingding headlined by local faves the Toadies) and Donovan Ford. In truth, this link's just a placeholder; only one song's currently streamable, but lyrics for all are available for your perusal, and the remainder will be available in the fullness of time (digitally and on cassette). If you like your existential angst over a punk rock beat, this might be just your cuppa. Hubba hubba.

FOGG's "OGAM O"

Teenagers from Aledo, that already have a record out on Tee Pee. Jon Teague was running sound for them one night and said they checked with an obscuro jam by Japanese oddball J.A. Seazer (which was right up JT's alley; could they have known?). Ben Schultz told me he once asked the guitar player, "So let me guess -- your dad's a guitar player, and you've been playing since you were six, ri-i-ight?" only to be informed that no, Chase's dad weren't no guitar-slinger, and he's figured it all out on his own the last four or five years. Ty Choat told me the kid's secret is he started out focusing on tone, not licks. Whatevah; sounds like it's working. As is Ethan Lyons' Elvin Jones-inspahrd groove.

Sarah Ruth's "Words on the Wind"

Singer/multi-instrumentalist Sarah Ruth grew up on a farm in West Texas and studied opera singing at UNT in Denton. She's equally at home in contexts from weird folk (Warren Jackson Hearne) to harsh noise (Vexed UK) to prog rock (Cerulean Giallo) and amorphous improv (Violent Squid). On this solo project -- released earlier this year in cassette and digital formats -- she's ethereal, haunting, and spectral. ("Visions of an Insomniac" might just be my favorite new thing I've heard this year, but "I Am My Own" is the pick to click. A karaoke version is thoughtfully provided.) She's also augmented jazz-rock force of nature Unconscious Collective, and has a new project with their kind-of-terrifying guitarist Gregg Prickett, They Say the Wind Made Them Crazy, that I'm dying to hear. Check her out.

Andy Pickett's "It Happens Every Night"

A friend sent me a link to this FTW cat's album and the bit I heard reminded me of Robert Wyatt. Now in a period of forced leisure, I'm checking it out entahr and it's a goodun. But don't take my word for it.

"If You're Not Dead, Play!"

Phil Hoffman's doco on the '70s Akron scene. Ohio is the secret music capital of America.

Darrin Kobetich's "Free"

The title of itinerant axe-slinger Darrin Kobetich's new album, Free, refers not to its price (it'll cost ya seven bucks), but to the state of mind he found himself in last year, unmoored from the straight job he held for almost three decades, but plying his trade around town and on the road, both solo and as a member of Boxcar Bandits (bluegrass/mountain music), Rageout Orchestra (experimental improv), and Chrome Mags (surf/spaghetti Western). It's his first album recorded in a studio (Fort Worth Sound) with a producer (Bart Rose), and it showcases all of his signature strengths -- flatpicking facility, percussive syncopation, chiming harmonics, and a flair for exotic scales -- in a frame as spacious as the wide open vistas Da Kobe has encountered on his travels. But don't take my word for it; check it out and spring for a download if you like what you hear. You don't have to be a millionaire to subsidize the arts.

Wreck Room Wrevival

Nice to see Kat Shimamoto's pics in this video montage. You can see lots more here.