A Couple of Killer Album Closers

Just another day. It's not like I'm voting on the future of my homeland or anything. All the best to my pals in Scotland. If I could do anything to mark this auspicious day, I would be on a plane to Los Angeles to buy Scottish sounds from Postcard, Creeping Bent, Fast Product, Chemikal Underground and the like. You see, Wombleton Records is celebrating its 4th birthday tonight. If it's not my favorite shop in all of America, it's certainly in the top 2. Wombleton just got back from one of their legendary vinyl-finding trips, this time to England, and they will be unveiling a bevy of used booty at 8PM. Check out some of what you'll find right here. Man, I'm 1,135 miles from heaven, and it feels even further.

Since I have "La La Land" on my mind, here are a couple from the city's mid-'90s power-pop scene. Both of these songs are -- what is commonly referred to in the biz as -- deep cuts. In fact, they are final tracks from two absolutely perfect full-length debuts. I love both bands dearly, but neither can be described as prolific, and I have always found their sporadic and extremely limited output frustrating. It probably doesn't help that, to my knowledge, neither band has officially retired from recording. So, I keep holding out hope there will be new work... even though Wondermints haven't had a new album since 2002, and Sugarplastic's last release was in 2005. It really is a pity, but at least we have these catchy gems. Both debut albums are out of print, but you can still find used copies from the links below.

Wondermints - "Carnival of Souls" from 'Wondermints'
Sugarplastic - "Howl a Little" from 'Radio Jejune'