If you've been reading Scott Wright's Dollars to Pounds column, then you're probably pretty up on the UK's lo-fi scene. If you're not, the short of it is that in an amazing bit of synergy, bands in both the US and the UK thought it would be a great time to record music into a toy microphone at the bottom of a well. It's admittedly a little overwhelming: bands change names, release singles, work on albums that come out on multiple labels in ridiculously short time frames. You know your favorites are out there, sometimes it's just hard to find them. Paradise Vendors Inc. and Italian Beach Babes have linked up to put together a 12-inch compilation featuring some of our favorite new bands kicking around the UK. Highlights include, but are in no way limited to, Male Bonding's ready-for-Warped-Tour "Carrying" and Cold Pumas' "Tropical Guilt," which might actually just be three minutes of dudes going WHOOOO OOHH ohhhhh over cowbell and layers of dissonant rough-edged guitar. Check out "Tropical Guilt" below, and while you listen scrounge up some foreign currency from your couch cushions and pre-order here.
Download: Cold Pumas, "Tropical Guilt"