Shapes and Sizes - "I Need An Outlet".

A man goes shopping for boxes. He walks the aisles, cart-casters squeaking. From the shelves he pulls cardboard boxes, steel boxes, wooden boxes. He will bring these boxes home. He will put things in them.

A man goes shopping for fires. He walks the aisles, warily, cart-casters pushing through smoke. From the shelves he pulls lighter flames, house fires, forest fires. He will bring these fires home. He will figure it out when he gets there.

["I Need an Outlet" is from Shapes and Sizes' forthcoming Candle To Your Eyes, an album of prowl and purr. This tune is nervy, Rory-led, whereas the others are mostly simmering, Caila-sung. Shades even of Wooden Stars, in with the boiling reverse funk. This is the song of Dorothy's Scarecrow, late in the game. Emerald City, have mercy! -- Candle To Your Eyes. is out August 3, more here, including previous albums.]

Cotton Mouth - "Black Hand".

Roddy Puke was the most feared jockey in all the AAA. He would enter the jockeys' bar and the other competitors would whisper, spill their drinks, fall down, shaken by Puke's terrible black gaze and his thunderous denim stride. Puke had won the AAA crown three times, the Raptureshire Stakes, the Rufus Prize and even the Holly Medal. He had once raced Marchfield in 2:38. Two thirty-eight! Puke would step onto his horse, Springtime, and they would plunge into the course like an avalanche thrown downhill. Before the race, he would sit sipping club soda at a plastic table, no one willing to rest their bones beside him. He smelled of musk and victory.

One day, they realised Springtime, Roddy Puke's horse, was actually a flight of black swallows. It was not a horse: it was a flock of birds. Puke was disqualified.

[from Cotton Mouth's new tour EP / MySpace]

(image source/photographer unknown)