Slumberland (2014)
I became intrigued with Tony Molina thanks to his participation in the Matador single club this past year. That club had its ups and downs, but the Tony Molina 7" was absolutely the biggest and best surprise of the batch. When I found that Molina also had a full length album that was currently out of print; it was a relief to hear that Slumberland was going to be reissuing it shortly. And here it is.
Yeah, as a nerdy collector, I would probably prefer to have the original pressing of this, but I'll absolutely jump on a limited colored vinyl version of the reissue. This record is short. Really short. The songs themselves are short. Really short. Typically this would probably annoy me a bit, but Tony Molina crams so much into each pop blast it's quite remarkable.
We have fast fuzzy guitar pop crammed full of hooks, melodies, strong vocals and some of the most intense guitar solos I've ever hear during songs so short. When I wrote about the Matador 7" I compared the guitar solos to The Minibosses. That comparison still stands I think and they add so much to each track. I'll go on record and say that in general I think most guitar solos like this are self indulgent wanking, but damn if each and every one of them doesn't work in the context of this album. It's really something.
Tony Molina - "Change My Ways":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRCXGT8dTmo
Tony Molina - "Walk Away":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlzR_3_pDfU
