Record Release Roundup

Lights On celebrates their debut full-length Here Comes the Ocean with a release party on Saturday, July 3, at the Tin Can Ale House. “We’re doing a vinyl and cassette release only, with a digital download card,” reports the band. “Our friends Writer will be playing with us, and DJs C-Wizard [Cory Casey] and Meth Combs will be flipping your mind as well.”

The Taz Taylor Band will release the Big Dumb Rock album at Brick by Brick on July 18. “We’ll be playing exactly what the name promises,” says Taylor. “The title song is based around this huge, very cliché guitar riff, with bass and drum hits on the two and four. If we presented it as a serious rock song with vocals, it would be so Poison-Ratt cheesy ’80s hair metal that we wouldn’t even do it. But as an instrumental with a self-mocking title, it’s great fun!”

Normandie Wilson’s release party for The Flower Box happens July 28 at the Soda Bar. “I was living in L.A. for the past five years and playing with Red Pony Clock,” she says. “After coming down to San Diego so often for shows and recording and everything, I recently moved back, to put my focus on recording some new indie-pop material here.”

Alternative R&B singer-songwriter Simeon Flick is preparing his Piquant CD for a late-July release. “It’s got the usual protest and empowerment anthems,” he says. “What sets it apart from the previous three albums is that I decided to self-produce and record it at home, in addition to the usual writing and playing all the instruments. The irony of CityBeat slamming me and the record in their ‘Great Demo Review’ was that they praised the backing musicians, not knowing it was all done by me!”

Other locals with releases this month include the New Archaic (Movers & Fakers); the Punch Brothers, featuring Nickel Creek’s Chris Thile (Antifogmatic); Scott West (Austin, with drummer Mick Fleetwood); Echo Revolution (including guest player Wendy Bailey); and Greg Laswell (Take a Bow).

August will see releases from prog-inclined folkies Endoxi (Earthbound), fuzz-pop duo Crocodiles (Sleep Forever), low-fi poster boy Wavves, and a debut full-length from River City.