Extraspecialgood

Batwings

At the Mercy of Technology Demo

Got all the hardcore you can handle? Well, make room in the boiling pot of pissed for one more dash of fuck-all, cuz here come Batwings. Dubbing themselves as “experimental post indie hardcore,” they are that glorious, unrealized country between Minor Threat and Fugazi, Black Flag and Rollins Band. The opener, “Knives,” starts expectedly with a speedy riff and a space-monkey wail but then segues into a proggy, paranoid crawl. “We Don't Have the Answers” and “Carbon Based Dream” sound like what we all wish The Liars and Fugazi still sounded like. The rest plays out similarly-spastic and abrasive one minute, intricate and melodic the next. Let's hope they don't take their album title too seriously, 'cause if we can get these guys in with Justin Pearson behind the knobs, their white heat will only sound better.

-Seth Combs

Batwings play a benefit show for Alpha Project along with six other bands at the Alibi on March 31. Doors open at 8 p.m. $6. 619-295-0881. MS/batwingskillyou.

Hell Yeah

Return to Karate Island

Before I even gave this disc a listen, I knew it was gonna come off hot and unpolished. Calling your album Return to Karate Island just suggests you push around a wheelbarrow in which you carry your balls. Listed as a “four man power trio,” this group stands (or stumbles) as the perfect, unapologetic, “humor and heart over practice and polish” garage band. With songs like “The Rockin Rockr,” “Too Chicken to Rock” and “Bucktooth Bullet Bait,” they back up their titles with lo-fi, fuck-if-it's-in-tune-let's-rock energy. These guys might be the ultimate backyard party band-just watch your girlfriends, cuz they might be as smart as they are drunk. MS/hellyeahtheband.

-Loren Graves

Greg Friedman

Souls of Passing Feet

The one-time D.C. punk and current bassist for The Truckee Brothers, Friedman's solo debut is a cleanly constructed departure into the world of indie pop. It's basically a 12-song road trip along routes traveled by Elliott Smith and Evan Dando, with stops in all the standard spots of painful personal exploration and humorous deprecation. Good shit, front to back. MS/gregfriedman.

-Loren Graves

The Creepy Creeps

The Creepshow Must Go On

There's nothing better than spectacle and talent coming together. The Creepy Creeps may dress like cavemen, spacemen or skull-faced mariachi men, but they have the musical chops to back up the tripped-out get-ups and the go-go dancers who get down with them at every show. Fronted by Dr. Creepenstein and his coffin-ensconced organ, the Creeps play a blistering, nasty surf-rock with a deadly undertow of hot, throbbing bass. Highlights include “Solid Goul Stomp,” “Tiki Mug Shot” and my favorite, “You Must Fight to Live on the Planet of the Apes.” So sad, but ultimately true. MS/thecreepycreeps.

-Anders Wright

Saba

Demo

You have to like the flowing melodies of this indie-folk girl who's been plugging away in the San Diego coffeehouse scene for a few years now. With her sultry voice, decisive instruments and ready lyrics on heartbreak, Saba knows how to transform love's death-gargle into one hell of a catchy song. Halfway between a rockin' break-up album and an empowering “I'll get over you” vibe, Saba's someone to listen to whether you're going through a rough patch or want to remember what heartache felt like. www.sabamusic.com.

-Candis Krueger

Lonely Mattress Salesman

Demo

With the exception of Elton John and Rufus Wainwright, piano-driven soft-rock isn't really my thing. But these guys are just too good not to recommend. From the opening piano chords of “Everybody” to singer Steve Loase's inviting and opulent voice, you can't help but stop and wonder, Where the hell did these guys come from? Every one of these six singles-waiting-to-happen sounds like it was genetically engineered in a lab using the DNA of Chris Martin, Randy Newman and Phil Spector. And while I'd have liked a bit more like the vaudeville-banger “Mr. Death,” it's hard to split hairs when it sounds this grand. Give these guys a contract and The Fray's marketing agent and they'll be headlining a sold-out House of Blues in two years. Just watch. MS/lonelymattresssalesman.

-Seth Combs

The Muslims

Demo

Art Fag Records is one of the biggest stories of the past year in San Diego. First they put out the dead-eyed industrial rock of Kill Me Tomorrow, then the boy-group '60s sounds of The Prayers and even terminally shy yet phenomenal Kelly Alvarez. Now, it's The Muslims. As they sing in “Future Rock,” “Everybody's talking and talking and talking”-have been since before their first live show, for good reason. It's simple throwback rock with a deadly wry undercurrent. The big, sock-hop beat of “Extinction” sounds like the manifesto of a quiet, unassuming man right before he puts a round of slugs in some smarmy power broker. “Future Rock” best displays their Velvet Underground influence, with vocalist Matt Lamkin's conversational, desperately apathetic singing style much like Lou Reed or even Jim Morrison. On “Learn,” the band caterwauls into deeper punk territory, but mostly this is simple, sexy rock 'n' roll, the sound of quiet, menacing men celebrating in the only way they know how. MS/themuslims.

-Troy Johnson

The Paddle Boat

Demo

Very few bands take their time anymore. The Paddle Boat does, and their languorous pop hits you like a sweet breeze off the lake on a warm summer day (keep entering rustic clichés until you get it). Primarily propelled by Jeremy Scott, the sound is simple, soft and pleasant, the songs well-written, with relaxed melodies and lyrics that are intelligent, abstract and accessible-especially true on “Let's Have a Disagreement” and “The Curse.” The Boat is a side project for Scott, who has no intention of leaving his main gig in The Vision of a Dying World but who needs a place, he says, to “put songs that don't work with the Vision's style and an excuse for me to play them live.” Word is he wants to eventually release a full-length. That's good for us, because otherwise we're up the creek without a Paddle Boat. MS/thepaddleboats.

-Anders Wright

The Roman Spring

Bedroom Recordings

The Roman Spring want you to know this demo was recorded with pirated software and about $100 dollars worth of equipment. Seriously, guys, we don't need the caveats, 'cause these songs are fantastic. Written and performed by long-time Louis XIV studio intern Alex Albrecht, Bedroom Recordings exposes us to a talented young musician with a penchant for garage crunch and a knack for Beatles-style harmonies. Sure, the recording might be rough around the edges, but the songs are so overwhelmingly catchy and well written that you just don't care. Nevertheless, we should all be excited for a proper release from Alex and his bandmates. With plans already in the works for a new self-produced EP, and hopefully some studio time at XIV Recorders, it doesn't look like we'll have to wait long. MS/theromanspring.

-Sohrob Nikzad

Kzo Rock

New Fruits & No Icon

This album reminds me of Jimi Hendrix or The Stooges at their most unrefined. With a talent for finding all the right wrong notes in his solos, dissonant chords riding funky bass lines and mountains of that classic '70s distortion, Kzo (pronounced “kay-so”) has found a new fan. Kzo hails from Japan, where he still occasionally performs with his longstanding band The Nonfiction. After studying the History of Jazz and Rock in America at Palomar College in 1987, he ventured to Nigeria (where he got to meet Fela Kuti), and those travels come out in the music. Recorded by Mike Kamoo of The Stereotypes (for whom Kzo briefly played guitar), this release is really two albums. The first, New Fruits, shines as more inspired and experimental, with the grittiness of the recording balancing the thrash of the guitar in a way that makes the actual recording of the album serve as an instrument. Kzo also plays locally in Kzo Rock & The Boogiemen and as a one-man band, giving you ample opportunity to catch one of his musical incarnations soon. Don't miss out. MS/kzorock.

-Sohrob Nikzad

Swim Party

Sewing and Blood EP

Miss the days when Modest Mouse was modest and Arcade Fire was just a spark in the indie-rock blaze? Even though they aren't exactly new to the scene (we featured them in our last issue), you should get behind Swim Party pronto. Songs like "Twenty Five” and "On Bloom and Line” show enough promise that they'll be cramming scenesters into Scolari's for a huge collective arm-cross in no time. Singer Eric Tremblay has the perfect indie-rock voice, lost in space somewhere between Isaac Brock and Ian Curtis. Add lush orchestration, a great rhythmic sense and a taste for experimentation and the result is one of the most original sounds to emerge out of the scene in quite awhile. All and all, these five songs sound like Side A of what will surely be an amazing full-length. Can't wait. MS/swimparty.

-Seth Combs

Calico Cartel

Kill the Lights

When CityBeat reported a rumor that Cape May had broken up, frontman Andre Che wrote us to say that they hadn't split, adding, however, that our brief piece had prompted them to bail on their “watered-down blues-rock recipe” and break up anyway. Ouch. We're sorry, guys. But to think that because of our rumor-mongering we somehow pushed Che to concentrate on Calico Cartel, well, we're not sorry about that. The Cartel serves up a way-too-addictive dance of uptempo keys, horns, strings and, of course, Che's dark-funk croon. The recording, produced by Che, ripples with flamenco rhythms and a slithering bass that would put a sinister skip into the step of even the most god-drunk bargoer. Beware, good citizens-the gypsy punks have landed on our shores. MS/calicocartel.

-Sohrob Nikzad

The Censored

The Censored

With a combined age of less than 40, this trio's CD seemed destined to suck. But I was completely slapped in the face by this real-life School of Rock. Not only can these kiddos play with spunk, they also write cool little punk-rock songs that don't sound like emo. Yes, there is hope. The original songs include offerings about getting out of their way (“Get Out of My Way”) not agreeing (“Disagree”) and, of course, not doing something again (“Never Again”). Sure the sentiments are old as dirt, but that's how punk rock these kids are-they don't even care that it's all been covered before. Punk rock! MS/censoredrock.

-Dryw Keltz