check out Sam Flax, playing NYC soon (dates & streams)

October 3, 2012

by Andrew Sacher

Berkley, CA lo-fi pop artist Sam Flax, like Ariel Pink or Girls, sounds like he’s spent a lot of time with the FM playlists of years past and has now taken to his bedroom to let those influences spill out into his own music. The result is his solid debut full length, Air Waves, which he recorded mostly on his own from 2005 to 2011 and pressed on cassette tape this past February via Burger Records. That pressing (250 copies) has since sold out, but in late September Burger finally got the album out vinyl in the US and The Sounds Of Sweet Nothing did the same in the UK. You can always buy it digitally too, and the whole thing is streaming below.

The album opens strong with “Fire Doesn’t Burn Itself,” which is kind of a (excuse the comparison) better version of Caesars’ “Jerk It Out,” and though it never really returns to that height, Age Wavves remains solid throughout. It bounces back and forth between bubbling disco synth tracks (“Child of Glass” and “Dark Water”) and more guitar pop akin to the album’s opener (“Another Day” and “Further West”). A couple videos from the album are below.

Though Sam recorded most of the album himself, he plays live with a band, and that band will be making their way over to the east coast this month for a show at Glasslands on October 15 with DMTs (OJ from Xray Eyeballs), Starred, and Alexis & Icewater. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Meanwhile, Starred, who just opened for Dum Dum Girls over the weekend (9/30), have other upcoming shows, including one opening for Tamaryn at Knitting Factory on November 10. Tickets for that show are still available.

A list of all dates, videos, and song streams below.

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Sam Flax – “Fire Doesn’t Burn Itself” Official Video