Premiere: Ugly Sweaters, ‘Dancing Shoes’ (full EP)
Kevin Bronson on
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L.A. indie-rockers Ugly Sweaters haven’t released any music since 2012’s “L.A. L.A. EP,” and they’ve obviously spent the duration concocting ways to make their indie-pop even more fun. Either that, or it took a long time to hand-make every single copy of their new “Dancing Shoes” EP. The seven-song collection, out this week, is a quick-witted, briskly paced cocktail of garage- and power-pop built around the chemistry between Mandlenkosi “Mandla” Daley and his wife Claire, and augmented by the rhythm secton of Alex Pfender and Clay Taylor. Mandla Daley grew up rural South Africa and Zimbabwe, went to high school in Australia and moved to L.A. to study music, and the EP — made with the help of Avi Zahner-Isenberg (of Avi Buffalo) — is sometimes all over the map too, in a good way.
The title track embodies Ugly Sweaters’ infectious, smile-till-you-drop energy. “We dance and we stomp and we grin when we clap / We flash skin when we spin in the hall with a slap / We bounce in the back bob our head to the bass / ’Til we can’t see the floor and we can’t feel our face,” they chant. On both “Snakes and Bricks” and the EP’s closer “Watching” — the latter a shout-out to East L.A. pride — the couple’s boy/girl vocals become rhythm instruments. Guitars tickle and prod on the songs “Evergreen” and “Golden State,” the former a wistful track that imagines Local Natives as power-poppers and the latter a romp through the duality of California life. Or, as Mandla sings, “She likes to tune in to KIIS-FM / I like Metallica’s S&M.” The sweet anthem “Home” could just as well be titled “Love”; it’s all about togetherness.
Oh, and we weren’t kidding about Ugly Sweaters’ making their new EP by hand — physical copies of the CD come in a hand-sewn cases, with mini “lyric zines” containing hand-written lyrics and guitar chords. They’ll be available at the release show Wednesday night.
||| Stream: the “Dancing Shoes” EP
||| Live: Ugly Sweaters celebrate their EP release with a free show Wednesday night at Villains Tavern in downtown L.A., joined by the World Record and the Singles.
Great sparkling dancin’ music — listening to the Ugly Sweaters results in a good feeling and a genuine smile.
[…] ► At Harvard & Stone, it’s Moon Honey, HOTT MT and Cellars. ► And Ugly Sweaters [see “Dancing Shoes”] celebrate the release of their new EP at Villains Tavern, joined by the Singles and the World […]
[…] duo Mandla and Claire Daley backed by the rhythm section Alex Pfender and Ian Meltzer. They titled their 2016 EP “Dancing Shoes” with good reason — comfy footwear seems a prerequisite for its seven songs of retro pop-punk. The […]
[…] ||| Previously: “Sisters,” “Dancing Shoes” EP, […]