Kevin Bronson on February 19th, 2023

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Guitars on, and mostly up, for this new singles rounding, featuring songs from Good Bison, Mediocre, Blame My Youth and Giant Killer Bats …

GOOD BISON, “Better Lies”

Miami ex-pat Pablo Alvarez — dba Good Bison — caught our ears with the high-viscosity lyricism and high-velocity charm of his 2021 EP, “Scattered Storms.” He follows up this week with an even more engaging EP, “Ghost on Mulholland,” an R.L. Stine-inspired narrative of torment and denial, with a moral to the story. “There’s no way of knowing what someone is going through, unless they tell you … and oftentimes, people will not tell you,” Alvarez says. “It’s easy to feel pressured to always be OK. Smiling can be a coping mechanism. That’s why it’s important to give others, and yourself, the benefit of the doubt. There’s arguments inside all of our heads, and sometimes they grow unbearably loud.” Estefania Krol of Krölhaus directs the video, which features Alvarez’s bestie, Chancellor Puppytine.

MEDIOCRE, “To Know You’re Screwed Is to Know a Lot”

Rock duo Mediocre — Piper Torrison and Keely Martin — jetted out of DIY-land in 2021 when they released two singles via Dangerbird Records’ Microdose series. Last May, they got together at the label’s studio with drummer Jake Pavlica and producer-engineers Joe Reinhart (Hop Along) and Algernon Cadwallader to make a bigger dose of their ferocious garage-rock. They’ll released their new EP, “To Know You’re Screwed,” on April 7 via Dangerbird, and the lead single “To Know You’re Screwed Is to Know a Lot” speaks volumes. Martin’s production company, Bowie Nix, is responsible for the video. “We wanted to capture the chaotic and futile experience of running away from your own mess – literally and figuratively,” the duo says. “Sometimes the awareness of being screwed is comforting, but sometimes ignorance is bliss.”

BLAME MY YOUTH, “Prizefighter”

Blame My Youth professed to “Dance With My Demons” (see “Fantastic” and the title track) on last year’s debut EP. Now the Sean Van Vleet-led quartet might be punching them out? Signed, appropriately, to Big Loud Records, the band last week released “Prizefighter,” an arena-aspiring rocker produced by Grammy winner Joey Moi. It’s as if grandeur decided to ratchet up the grandiose. Catch Blame My Youth on tour with Hardy on March 10 at the House of Blues Anaheim.

GIANT KILLER BATS, “Red Square Dancer Girl”

The follow-up to November’s single “Yom Petty,” “Red Square Dancer Girl” is the latest from McCoy Kirgo’s solo project Giant Killer Bats. Like GKB’s previous music, there’s a majesty to the guitars reminiscent of Teenage Fanclub (and that sphere of bands). The lyrics have an almost tragic air: “Red Square dancer girl / Is blackout at the bar / Talking to her hand, convincing it to buy the next round,” Kirgo sings. The song, the songwriter says, “came to me while I was attending a dance performance at Cal Arts. The piece depicted, to me, a woman going through the various stages of losing her mind.”