Song of the Day: Terry Malts - Seen Everything

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the day podcast subscription.  This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear.  Today’s song, featured on the Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole, is “Seen Everything” by Terry Malts from their third album, Lost at the Party, on Slumberland Records.Terry Malts - Seen Everything (MP3)Coming off the success of their 2014 Insides EP and 2013 Nobody Realized This Is Nowhere  LP, the Bay Area-via-LA rippers of Terry Malts have released their third full-length, Lost at the Party, on Slumberland Records. Corey Cunningham, Phil Benson, and Nathan Sweatt spawned the buzz pop punk-y Terry Malts back in 2009 as a side project of Magic Bullets. Magic Bullets ended up taking a bit of a breather and now the Smiths-riffy crew have added Jake Sprecher on guitar  are painting cleaner punk strokes this time around compared to their more adrenaline-junky punk strokes. They've incorporated some pastel colors into their power-chord-savvy landscape to balance out their previously more scuzzy, blunt tones. That said, their crisp distortion and gritty attitude are still intact and infused throughout Lost at the Party.

Listening to their first single, "Seen Everything," situated as track seven out of eleven, there's definitely some 2000s-era Guided By Voices vibes dancing toe-to-toe with their voracious Ramones pop sensibility. The 3:16-long song hooks you from the get-go with a melodically descending guitar riffs that is later echoed in angelically harmonious "Ahh-Ahh-Ahh-Ahh-Ahh" choruses that soon become backing vocals to lead singer Phil Benson's repeated, "I've seen everything." With boisterous bass, Hüsker Dü gusto, punchy new wave rhythms, and pretty progressions, Terry Malts have slightly molted from their old skin and sharped a new edge in their pop rock and punk dynamics.

Terry Malts will be playing The Vera Project on Friday, November 18th, with Rainy Day, Versing, and Killer Ghost. After that they'll be heading down the West Coast. Keep tabs on them via their website and Facebook page. For now, watch the official music video for "Gentle Eyes", also from Lost at the Party, directed by Terry Malt's own Corey Cunningham: