On 14th May 2012, Best Coast will release their highly anticipated new album The Only Place via Wichita Recordings. The record will be preceded a week earlier on 7th May by a single, the album’s title track.

This follow-up to 2010’s acclaimed Crazy For You finds the proudly Southern Californian duo of Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno maturing in both their sound and perspective. While Crazy For You was a nostalgic tribute to teenage feelings, The Only Place finds front woman Cosentino starting a transition into adulthood. “I’m trying really hard to grow up,” she says. “I’m trying to let go of my bad habits and the immature things I still drag around with me.” Of course this adjusting comes with uncertainty and self-doubt, two feelings at the emotional center of an album that also features a love song to her home state of California in the title track. All encompassed in the memorable album cover, derived from a 1913 sheet music illustration paying homage to the golden state.

As with Best Coast’s previous recordings, on The Only Place Cosentino handles all songwriting, lyrics, vocals and rhythm guitar, while multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno plays lead guitar, bass and drums. What’s new this time is their decision to work with producer and composer Jon Brion. A revered figure in the music world, Brion has collaborated with artists including Fiona Apple and Kanye West and created the scores for such films as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind  and Punch-Drunk Love. Recorded at Capitol Records’ famed Studio B, The Only Place features a cleaner and richer sound than other Best Coast releases. Many of the songs’ arrangements are detailed with subtle percussion and unexpected instrumentation. Intricate but never overworked, the biggest change from previous releases is how it showcases Cosentino’s voice, this time letting it ring clear, unhidden by distortion and reverb.

Often described as one of Canada’s best up-and-coming acts, Hey Ocean is a young band with a remarkable talent for blending various musical styles into a brand of infectious Pop that is uniquely their own.

The Dollyrots are a punk rock band but their CDs are very pop. Rah rah rah. Kelly is sugar sweet but mischievous and might sucker punch you if you're dumb enough to try her patience. Which she has a lot of, if she hasn't been visiting her friends Jack, Jim or Jameson. She likes to do girl things like grow plants and sew up her t-shirts and crochet and make strawberry cakes. But she also likes to play her basses til they are sprinkled with blood and drives soo fast she's not allowed behind the wheel. She likes to get carsick reading and writing postcards from the road. Her favorite guy is Quito, her dog, who you'll meet after the show if you come see the band on tour. She loves Irish punk rock, girl groups, and anything off the "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack. And she smells great.

Then there is Luis... Luis is mysterious. And very smart. He is one of those guys who you meet and think maybe you'd join his cult. I hear he has his own religion, based on the Sun God so it's not really a stretch. Ask him about it sometime; he'll tell you about freaking that room full of people out while rambling about western religion while on some weird head trip. He is also known to get feisty when he's hungry or afraid he's getting sick. It's really easy to get Luis to flinch, he's not crazy about people touching him. Maybe it's because he was abducted by ETs when he lived in Ecuador as a child. He likes good Brit punk, music of the early 90's because it's honest and don't forget Chuck Berry and Patsy Cline. On the road he likes to read parts of books he never finishes and stare out the window. He's good to talk to.

The Dollyrots have released four full length albums and several singles and EPs through the Lookout, Blackheart, and Brando record labels. Their music has earned them song placements, commercials, and acting stints in film & TV including Disney/Pixar's Brave, Hewlett-Packard, Kohls, CSI:NY, among others. The band has logged hundreds of thousands of miles in the U.S. touring consistently since 2003, cultivating a rabidly loyal fan base while headlining and playing one-off shows in the US & UK alongside Bowling For Soup, Buzzcocks, and Joan Jett, Forever the Sickest Kids, Paramore, The Breeders, and The Go-Gos. The band is currently in studio recording their 5th LP, which is being put together with the direct support of their fans through PledgeMusic.

You’ve probably seen or heard some of WASHINGTON’s stuff over the years, what with the operas and TV soundtracks and TED Talks and voicing cartoon characters and that really dark eye shadow she wore while bringing showtunes back at the ARIAs in 2010. 

Maybe you forgot during all the colour and noise that while Meg Washington can do heaps of impressive stuff, the most impressive thing she does is write great songs. Meg doesn’t blame you for that; for a while there, she almost forgot that herself. 

So here we are, then. Dark Parts. Dark Parts is the single that begets the album, but we’ll talk about that later.  A bonkers, kind-of pop song that’s in ⅞ time.  It’s the sound of pop music tearing at its own fabric, writhing in the darkness as Washington, ever the maestro, conducts this chaos from the centre.  

She worked with Sam Dixon (Sia, Adele, Meg) and Konstantin Kersting (The Jungle Giants, Mallrat, Tones and I) and the animated video is stuffed with intriguing creatures Meg’s been hand-drawing in her daydreams and wickedly assembling in real life.

Honestly? It’s just some really impressive shit.

Jeff Koid is following