You know what, readers? Sometimes we try too damn hard in life. Sometimes we plan shit out, detail-by-detail, miles in advance; we agonize over logistics, struggle for the “just the right words to express” whatever it is we’re trying to express, end up losing whatever steam was propelling us initially, and wind-up face-up on the couch, shot-to-hell, petting cats and watching episode after episode of The Joy of Paining with Bob Ross on YouTube just to calm the fuck down again. And yet, other times, we find that, lo and behold: entire GLORIOUS MASTER PLANS just kinda… come together while we’re chilling with friends in the Alps passing around the raclette.
And that’s pretty much exactly what happened in the case of L.A.-based, guitar-‘n-drums duo Bulbs (a.k.a. ex-Axolotl William Sabiston and Jon Almaraz) and their newest album for Bartolomé Sanson & Félicia Atkinson’s Shelter Press label.
And when I say “exactly,” I mean LITERALLY: “two years ago Shelter Press was based in the Alps where Pete Swanson made a few days stop while he was on tour,” chimes the press release for Bulbs’ new album Color Attic, which is due February 16. “Not sure why we started to talk about this LA-based duo he released a few year back but the idea of having Bulbs doing a new recording for Shelter Press came up before dessert.” See? Sometimes its just that easy.
And heck, speaking of “easy,” I can pretty much just let Pete Swansonhimself take it from here, readers:
Bulbs is a band that I like so much that I started a record label to rep their work. I put out their Light Ships album in 2008 because I was so impressed with how futuristic their music was […, which] does not sound like the guitar/drum instrumentation would indicate. They have much more to do with Chain Reaction than White Stripes, but with the benefit of live instrumentation and an adventurous edge, they end up much wilder, looser, more organic than anything coming out of Berlin.
But it gets even better and easier still, readers! Because our first taste of the record, a lush and sinuous album-closing hypno-jam called “Yoke” premieres today. And, yup: with just one click of a little button, you can stream it down below just as many times as you please, perhaps while you dreamily spoon your way through a cozy and decadent dessert and wait dreamily for the LP to drop.
Color Attic tracklisting:
A1. Ladder Wing
A2. Skylight
B1. Big Tuna
B2. Yoke
More about: Axolotl, Bulbs, Jon Almaraz, William Sabiston
