I must have lost count of all the great Trouble In Mind releases towards the end of 2010, cause not only did I miss Sticks N Stones’ (featuring Natalie of The Flips) follow-up to their great Dusty Medical single, “Is It You”, I also missed out on the insanely catchy “What Went Wrong” by San Francisco’s The Wrong Words. If you haven’t heard it yet, you can still check out the video here.
Their self-titled debut is just out now, as part of TIM’s slew of spring release which also includes a truly psychedelic LP from The Paperhead. If White Wires were the powerpop crush of last autumn, The Wrong Words is where it’s at this spring. If you dig The Tranzmitors, The Rantouls and The Scruffs you will play this record on repeat. My favourite track is probably “Summer’s Gone”, which is the free mp3 floating around and also playing on the TIM site, where you can order the record for cheap. Some other great tunes are the short and jangly “Lie Detector”, the almost Raspberries-class “Everything Is Different Now”, and “Wrong Again” that combines relentless strumming with a fuzz lead. And of course “Cross the Line” wins me over immediately with its 12-string riff. The only thing that surprises me is that they weren’t on the fantastic tribute to The Nerves (and related bands) on Volar, called Under the Covers Vol. 2. That’s definitely the best compilation of new bands I’ve heard for over a year, and The Wrong Words really are up there with The Mantles, Audacity, Moonhearts and Grass Widow (who are all on that comp).
