Roanoke, Virginia's Eternal Summers released one of our favorite EPs of 2011 in their irresistible Prisoner 12"—four songs that seamlessly weaved strummy and honey-sweet dream-pop alongside pedal-to-the-floor pop-punk. However, the Prisoner 12" is just the tip of this group's delectable pop iceberg. Brooklyn label Kanine Records is now re-releasing the band's long sold-out debut EP as a 12", with a B-side dedicated to previously released 7"s and three vinyl-only covers: The Lemoneheads' "Into Your Arms," Neil Young's "Down To The Wire," and Guided By Voices' "A Salty Salute." Sold yet? The record, aptly dubbed The Dawn of The Eternal Summers, will be pressed onto colored vinyl and released in time for everyone's favorite April holiday, Record Store Day.

If you're like me and want to ensure you snag one of these beauties, preorder is already up on Kanine.

Eternal Summers - "Lightswitch" (from Eternal Summers EP)
Eternal Summers - "Fall Straight Back" (from Eternal Summers EP)

L.A. four-piece So Many Wizards made the rounds here last year with their impressive Inner City 7" (I still can't get enough of the dreamy falsetto-drenched B-side "Best Friends"). Nima Kazerouni and company are now back with the first track from their forthcoming full-length debut, Warm Nothing, due out later this year on Echo Park label JAXART. The track, "Lose Your Mind," is a strummy bubbling nugget of pop goodness that rides a steady drum beat and heady rotary-effected guitar licks alongside Kazerouni's charming vocals, the latter of which perfectly cuts through the mix like a knife through butter.

"Let Go" by Staten Island, New York band Dirty Looks is power-pop delivered at its nerviest and feistiest: sharp layered harmonies, high-octane bass riffs, frenetic clean-toned leads, and absolutely ace out-of-this-world drumming. London's Stiff Records, dubbed "the world's most flexible label," released "Let Go" as a 7" single and on the band's eponymous debut LP back in 1980. Though the Dirty Looks were later sunken by a disastrously received follow-up, songs like "Let Go" and the killer ska number "Disappearing" earned them a proper cult following, the devotees of which to this day hail the group as one of the best and most tragically overlooked of the early 80s post-punk scene.

Dirty Looks - "Let Go" (from Let Go 7")

"It's better to burn out than to fade away" is the rock 'n' roll wisdom Neil Young offered up on his career-revitalizing LP Rust Never Sleeps back in 1979. In 2012, those "my my's" and "hey hey's" are now in the hands of Portland, Oregon's Chromatics in what is the second single from the band's forthcoming LP, Kill For Love. We named the first single, the album's title-track, one of our favorite jams of 2011—and the quality doesn't drop here. The Chromatics are a group that's never been shy of tackling other artist's definitive tracks—see their take on Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" or the Boss's "I'm On Fire"—and "Into The Black" is another excellent, subtly stated re-imagining: a dark, sparsely colored pop gem dominated by that signature lingering guitar lick and Ruth Radelet's sultry low-key vocals.

Chromatics - "Into The Black" (from Kill For Love)

Previously:
Chromatics - "Kil For Love"
Drive :: Italians Do It Better // Valerie Collective

Watch the video for the track, shot in "gemini vision," after the jump.

Forever, the new three-track EP from the Los Angeles sisters known as HAIM, has been releasing some seriously funky Kate Bush vibes into the atmosphere of late. Danielle, Este, and Alana Haim gracefully step from layers of jumpy R&B flavored harmonies on opener "Better Off" to the sensual call-and-response burn of "Go Slow" and the epic closer and title-track, "Forever"—a sharp and masterful cut of bass-driven grooves and dance floor candy. "Forever" is a song you can't just play once. In fact, it's hard to stop playing. That handclap and synth breakdown near the 3:20 mark? Hips will move and mountains will shake. If you dig, last month we wrote about Danielle Haim's excellent collabs with her beau, guitar extraordinaire Blake Mills. Danielle also recently classed it up on Conan with Mills in what is easily the best musical performance I've ever seen on late night television.

Enter your email below to download the Forever EP.

HAIM - "Forever" (from Forever EP)

Here's the newest joint from Burger Records: a full-length from Philadelphia's The Tough Shits. The spirit here may be wild, abrasive, and ramshackle, but the band's jangly pop-punk numbers are expertly polished, filled with addictive and impossible-to-shake candy-eared hooks and melodies. The Tough Shits have put out 7-inches on Desert Island Discs in Seattle and another on Ramo Records in Minneapolis—the latter of which features the hilariously great toe-tapper "Pretty Wild"—but this marks the band's first attempt at a long player, and judging from sneak peak single "Cats & Dogs," it should be a hell of a good time.

Pre-order the LP from Burger on gold vinyl.



The Tough Shits - "Pretty Wild" (from Pretty Wild 7")

We've been keeping close tabs on Austin's TV Torso of late, as the band puts the finishing touches on its forthcoming LP. According to an update on the band's Facebook page, they're still hammering away in Matt Oliver's Big Orange studio with about 18 songs left to complete. In January, we heard one track that's going to wind up on the record: the holy-shit-this-is-good jaw-dropper, "No Idea Why." Now, thanks to Oliver, we have another track from the recording sessions: "Big Flash, No Crash." According to Oliver, this is one that may not make it on the record: "[It's] a little oddball nonce-song that nobody in our camp knows what to do with." One thing's for sure: it's hard to imagine a discard pile full of material of this quality.

TV Torso - "Big Flash, No Crash"