Mark William Wales: Matt Mondanile

Monday, 26 July 2010

Ducktails - Mirror Image 7"

Ducktails aka Matt Mondanile of Real Estate released his 7" 'Mirror Image' a couple of months ago and I completely forgot to mention it. Anyway, I am now and you can check out the video to the A-side, 'Applewalk', over on Choc Bobka and take a listen to the B-side, 'Mirror Image Index', below. Perfect tropicala lo-fi goodness to kick back to! You can pick the 7" up over on Shdwply Records.

Mirror Image Index (mp3 from Impose)

Saturday, 9 January 2010

Alex Bleeker and the Freaks

Real Estate's album was one of my favourites of last year and I've recently got into Ducktails' album, 'Landscapes'. All of these guys went to high school together in new Jersey and have played together for years. Now we have Alex Bleeker and the Freaks. Alex plays bass in Real Estate and is joined by Martin Courtney on bass and Matt Mondanile (Ducktails) on drums both also of Real Estate and Julian Lynch. Julian Lynch also released his full-length debut last year ('Orange You Glad'), though I haven't heard it yet.

I haven't heard this album yet, but have listened to several tracks on You Tube/Vimeo and really like what I'm hearing. All these guys seem to have a similar sound, but each has their own take on it. Maybe it's just a perfect way for them all to express themselves. Although these are still early days, they kinda remind of Crosby, Still, Nash & Young in the way all the members had solo projects alongside various group offerings. So here are a couple of nice tracks I found on Vimeo...the first being a cover of Mountain Man's 'Animal Tracks' (also included below) which is kinda like a more Crazy Horse style take on the song. The second song, 'Summer>Epilogue' sounds a little Neil Youngesque, mixed with some almost country-style singing and a little Grateful Dead style haziness.