Blunt Mechanic, Ben Davis, Black Wine, Boat & Loch Lomond release albums and tour

Blunt Mechanic ("World Record", Barsuk, 1/12):
Blunt Mechanic is the new moniker of Ben Barnett, who you may remember from his decade-long career prolifically writing, recording and performing under the name Kind Of Like Spitting. This record is a phoenix of stoney riffage, infectious hooks and brilliant, inspirational, goofy genius. http://www.barsuk.com/bands/bluntmechanic

Ben Davis ("Charge It Up!", Lovitt, 1/5):
"Charge It Up!", Ben Davis' third solo full-length (and the fourteenth album on which his solo work has appeared) is packed to the gills with the kind of frenetic, danceable, shoutable, undeniably beyond catchy hard pop that has flowed like a river of hot lava through the catalog of his entire career with Sleepytime Trio, Milemarker, Bats and Mice, and making magic collaborating with Des Ark. There's so much more to tell; listen for yourself.

Black Wine ("S/T", Don Giovanni 12/10):
Holy Ergs, this Black Wine debut is tremendous. The newest release from the Don Giovanni family (the label that brought you Screaming Females, who everyone's amped for--by the way, Marissa Paternoster helped record the record) is an early-SST-sounding doozy, full of the kind of frenetic crunch and explosive core that followers of Jersey legends The Ergs (this band includes guitarist Jeff Schroeck) and Hunchback (and also Miranda Taylor and J. Nixon) expect.

Boat ("Setting The Paces", Magic Marker, out this week):
Happy BOAT week--it came out this Tuesday! BOAT is the kind of band you just fully, completely fall in love with in the dorkiest of ways, and devotees are in heaven, because this is their sing-alongiest, most anthemic, raucous, infectious record to date. D. Crane and company have a new video that'll be ready for me to share with you any day now, but until then, do show yr love for the record about which Brooklyn

Vegan just said: "Sporting slightly fancier production than the band's first two albums, Setting the Pacesshows off what BOAT does best: unpretentious, clever, stick-in-your-head indie rock. If you wish there were more bands that reminded you of the good ole '90s (Pavement, Built to Spill, Lotion), BOAT are for you. You can check out three tracks from Paces at the top of this post, plus a couple of their older tracks as well."

Loch Lomond ("Night Bats", Hush, 11/15):
Last but certainly not least and coming up the most quickly is Loch Lomond's "Night Bats"--dudes. If you haven't yet heard their new single, "Wax and Wire", you need at least to hop on over to their MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/lochlomondmusic ) and jam it real fast...the best way to listen is, of course, not via MP3 and on headphones, in the dark, alone, in a quiet place, but you are at work and can't do that right now.

"Night Bats" is such a giant step for LL in terms of a more direct, sophisticated approach to the psychedelically-lyriced chambery gorgeousness they've been perfecting over the last crazy year. The title track is (from where I sit) an allegory about the inherent, small differences between people who deal with the day-to-day (day bats) and people who live artistically (night bats)--there's a hilarious line where vocalist Ritchie Young says, in his birdy falsetto of the night bats: "they nevaaah have moneey 'cause they nevahh stahhhted bands..."


BEN DAVIS
10.30.09 - Atlanta, GA @ Under The Couch
10.31.09 - Gainesville, FL @ The Atlantic (Part Of The Fest)
11.14.09 - Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 w/ Fin Fang Foom (CD Release show!)

BLACK WINE
11.07.09 - Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
11.12.09 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas w/Meat Puppets
11.13.09 - Lakewood, OH @ Soggy Dog House
11.15.09 - Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Lanes
11.17.09 - New Brunswick, NJ @ Court Tavern
11.27.09 - Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar w/Meat Puppets
12.04.09 - Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Lanes

BLACK WHALES
10.27.09 - Austin, TX @ Red Seven
10.29.09 - Denton, TX @ Rubbber Gloves w/ The Strange Attractors
10.31.09 - San Diego, CA @ The Casbah w/ Night Marchers
11.03.09 - Los Angeles, CA @ Silverlake Lounge
11.04.09 - San Francisco, CA @ Three Parkside
11.07.09 - Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern (KEXP Audioasis)
11.01.09 - Los Angeles, CA @ Molly Malones

BOAT
11.05.09 - Portland, OR @ The Woods
11.06.09 - Seattle, WA @ IN-STORE SONIC BOOM RECORDS (7pm, all-ages)
11.11.09 - Boston, MA @ PA's Lounge
11.12.09 - Philadelphia, PA @ Pilam (All-Ages w/ Pants Yell!)
11.13.09 - New York, New York @ Union Hall (w/ How I Became The Bomb)
11.14.09 - New York, New York @ Bruar Falls (New venue from the owners of the Cake Shop!)

LOCH LOMOND
11.09.09 - Pendleton, OR @ Pendleton Center For The Arts
11.10.09 - Portland, OR @ The Woods
11.11.09 - Eugene, OR @ EMU Fish Bowl - University of Oregon
11.12.09 - San Francisco, CA @ Hotel Utah Saloon
11.14.09 - Brookdale, CA @ Historic Brookdale Lodge
11.15.09 - Santa Barbara, CA @ Muddy Waters
11.16.09 - San Diego, CA @ UCSD/The Loft (w/Horse Feathers)
11.17.09 - Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater (w/Horse Feathers)