At long last, the vinyl debut from one of Toronto (and North America for that matter) Canada's greatest and most mysterious home recording outfits, First Base hits the shelves and it's already sending rippling vibrations of Summer euphoria right down my spine. As one of the absolute best out of the micro pool of anonymous pop noisemakers currently whittling away future classics with minimal instrumentation, they hold something very rarely attained in the fleetingly effervescent miniature world of budget pop: songs that are instant hits, with a flow that never seems to stop. Pizza Party Records has the honor of releasing the debut "I've Got A Girl" 7" single featuring two of the many marvels that First Base has thrust forth on the world, and this tremendous two-sider arrives right as Summer's apex hits perfectly. With a primitive rush of lo-fi pop brilliance, First Base are a band that hasn't slipped up yet, and with the strength of this fine debut 7" single, they will be hard to forget and impossible to ignore. Once you get a taste, it's easy to see that their mastery of the rinky-dink sound of a child's electric piano, overlaid with lush yet powerful acoustic guitar pop hooks and whispered, yet intensely perfect vocals is just too good to pass up. The adorable primitiveness is one thing, but the trail of unforgettable songs belted out with such a high level of quantity and quality is quite another.
If you've been keeping track like we have, you'll know that over the past year, First Base has a continual string of new material appearing on their site each time we check, and that seems to be pretty often. Although they have only a sole cassette single released otherwise (also on Pizza Party), they seem to have the potential to unleash at least one full-length (if not more) of killer lo-fi pop, that has a sound all it's own. If you were one of the lucky ones, you may have ordered this single direct from the label like we did, and received the coveted "free gift," an untitled cassette single with two extra songs that are, believe it or not, even more incredible that the two on the record. Dive head first into First Base, and find out how much more you can get out of your Summer, and revel in the simplicity and innocence of pop music created with the purest of intentions. And you haven't heard the flipside song, "Nobody Makes My Girl Cry But Me," then you're in for a hell of a treat. Pick up a copy of the debut single through Florida's Dying or Tic Tac Totally, or direct from the label, right HERE.
Check out a video clip from a rare First Base live show in Toronto from 2008, performing the B-side of the debut single, courtesy of realtrashpizzaparty, right here:
