The eleventh track we’re offering as part of _The Covers Album_ by Smallpox is a reimagining of the 1985 track “Voices Carry,” by ‘Til Tuesday (one of our favorite songs as well). Dan Smith of Smallpox opines on the song:

“March of 1985, ‘Til Tuesday releases their first single and there begins my lifelong “thing” for Aimee Mann. That same summer, a girl with the same hairdo from Paterson, NJ, of all places, moves into my neighborhood and ends up becoming one of the best friends I’ve ever had. And the thing is, we’re both sort of in love with each other but were too dumb to actually say it.”

As is often the case with stories like this, it takes a macabre and sad turn. “Fast forward to April ’87, I finally work up the nerve to tell her,” Smith continues, “and literally the day I’m going to call, her sister calls me to tell me that she died in a car accident. God sure has a wicked sense of humor sometimes.”

As you might be able to tell, each of the tracks featured on _The Covers Album_ comes with deep personal meaning from far in Smith’s past, each contributing to his own musical vocabulary, which you can hear on Smallpox’ album _For A Girl_ (Eyeball Records), or on Dan Smith’s Dromedary release _Groping For Luna, Vol. 1_

You can get “Voices Carry” for just one dollar “here”:https://dromedaryrecords.bandcamp.com/track/voices-carry, or pick up the entire album for $18 and have immediate access to each song as we upload them every other week (plus extras).

New Noise magazine was kind enough to premiere the video for “Snowglobe,” by *Sugar Fight*, calling the track “a wistful meditation on leaving the city, with melancholy that is belied by a joyful pop-punk melody and walls of guitar.”

You can read their comments “here”:https://newnoisemagazine.com/video-premiere-sugar-fight-snowglobe/?fbclid=IwAR0t8eY0ak-avGymBDTHjsRV3CLKEHhRkKQ4i-8tAULoHyRQM8VLq_3LKvw

Watch the video here:

We’re thrilled to announce our first project with musicians from New York’s Hudson Valley: a brand-new single by *Sugar Fight*.

Initially conceived as a songwriting exercise by bassist Mark Lerner, the pandemic power pop project quickly evolved into something greater, as area musicians climbed on board to make the sugary sweet songs a reality. In addition to Lerner, drummer Lukas Lerner (Brass Orchid), guitarist and studio wizard Chris Maxwell (Skeleton Key, Gunbunnies and his own solo career), and vocalists Frank McGinnis and Peter Naddeo (Archipelago) signed on, and the result is an outstanding three-song single (two originals and a cover) that we’ll be releasing on May 7.

The songs will be available digitally in all formats (including streaming), as well as via limited-edition lathe-cut 7″, the latest in our series of gorgeous handmade plexiglas picture discs.

You can preorder the discs now at our “webstore”:https://dromedaryrecords.bandcamp.com/album/snowglobe

The latest cover we’re releasing in Smallpox’ _Covers Album_ project is “Steppin’ Out,” originally recorded by Joe Jackson and released on his _Night and Day_ album in 1982. Listen to it “here”:https://dromedaryrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-covers-album.

For me (this is Al from Dromedary writing), Joe Jackson circa-1979 was an introduction to a whole world of new sounds. Thing is, they were _punk_ sounds in 1979 – snotty, aggressive, and yes, mainstream – but they opened doors to a whole new place for me. _I’m the Man_ was an absolutely critical record in my own development. The music was aggressive, the subject matter literate and interesting, and man, the _hooks_. And next came a record that turned me on to reggae, and a Jimmy Cliff cover. Amazing. These were life-changing albums for me.

Next, though? Next was a big band record, _Jumpin’ Jive_. Young me just figured it was a novelty thing, like a Joe Jackson’s covers record, or Bing Crosby doing a duet with David Bowie, or like the Kiss solo albums – not something to be taken seriously.

When “Steppin’ Out” came out, though, that was it for me. My own tastes had gotten angrier and louder; at that point I was listening mostly to metal. My intro to angry rock had sold out. Joe Jackson was playing elevator jazz, and I most certainly was not buying in.

It was only years later, when discovering the unbelievable musicianship of Joe Jackson’s band (particularly Graham Maby’s amazing bass work) that I took time to revisit those later Joe Jackson records, with fresh, more mature ears. Unfortunately, I still hate them.

Still, Dan Smith is one of my favorite bass players, and so is Graham Maby, so when I saw “Steppin’ Out” listed among the covers that Smallpox would be releasing with this project, I gave it _another_ set of fresh ears, and found Dan tearing the song apart, layering it with heavy guitar and a driving beat, only a tiny hint of Maby’s signature bass line remaining from the original. Not a bad song for rolling down the windows and barreling down some highway somewhere, if I may suggest a weekend activity.

Every once in a while we enjoy springing an unannounced release on you, so here’s a cool piece of psych from some of New Jersey and NYC’s indie rock royalty – *Psych-O-Positive*, whose new psychedelic single “Gummy Bear” is available today on limited-edition lathe-cut 7″ and all digital formats via our webstore.

An iconoclastic attack on prohibition, “Gummy Bear” is a celebration of the mind unleashed. Hooked into the zeitgeist and freed from the shackles of criminality, screaming guitars, sotto voce harmonies layered with sick licks dominate this highly-infused track. There is no better way to kick off the new roaring twenties than with the complexity and color of a tune so intense that it’s practically edible!

This week’s *Smallpox* cover is their version of the Dead Milkmen’s “Dean’s Dream.”

Daniel Smith relates “At one point, Bob (Diamond, drummer) and I had this idea about starting a Dead Milkmen tribute band, but that went down the shitter pretty fast, because of a few inherent problems.

First, we were probably going to have a hard time finding two more band members who were willing to learn their catalog and not get paid very much (or at all).

Second, we were definitely going to have a hard time finding gigs, because aside from “Punk Rock Girl,” most people generally don’t give a shit about them.

So instead, we’d just jam on Milkmen covers from time to time, make inside jokes about Milkmen lyrics that nobody else understood, and act like dickheads.

Anyway, if I remember correctly, we were going to record a cover of “Life is Shit.” That didn’t exactly work out, either. But we did do “Dean’s Dream.”

You can download “Dean’s Dream” for a buck “here”:https://dromedaryrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-covers-album – or buy the whole album, with a new download every other week, for $18.