We got an e-mail this past week from one of our favorite Brooklyn bands who used to go by the name of Muggabears, maybe you’ve heard of them? If you have, forget it, because they’re now called The Muslims. No seriously, as awesome as that would be, they’re actually now called Grooms, and they have a new record they want you to hear.

The band formerly known as Muggabears have been floating around the Brooklyn scene for the past 5 years, but given the name change, we’re calling them new. And while we could fill you in on the details of their new album, we’ll let the Grooms’ very own Emily Ambruso fill you in.

We just finished up mastering a full-length record and I wanted to send it to you guys. The album is 10 songs and called Rejoicer. We recorded at Civil Defense studio and mixed at Rare Book Room. We’re really happy with it!

Well Emily, so are we, and because of that, we’re posting the first song from Rejoicer — “Dreamsucker” — so everyone else can hear it too.

Grooms – “Dreamsucker”

We got an e-mail this past week from one of our favorite Brooklyn bands who used to go by the name of Muggabears, maybe you’ve heard of them? If you have, forget it, because they’re now called The Muslims. No seriously, as awesome as that would be, they’re actually now called Grooms, and they have a new record they want you to hear.

The band formerly known as Muggabears have been floating around the Brooklyn scene for the past 5 years, but given the name change, we’re calling them new. And while we could fill you in on the details of their new album, we’ll let the Grooms’ very own Emily Ambruso fill you in.

We just finished up mastering a full-length record and I wanted to send it to you guys. The album is 10 songs and called Rejoicer. We recorded at Civil Defense studio and mixed at Rare Book Room. We’re really happy with it!

Well Emily, so are we, and because of that, we’re posting the first song from Rejoicer — “Dreamsucker” — so everyone else can hear it too.

Grooms – “Dreamsucker”

Since they changed their name to try and avoid any controversy, we figured to bring back a little of it with our news post title to declare that The Soft Pack are digitally re-releasing their 12″ LP from back when they were known as The Muslims.

After the name change and signing on to Kemado Records this past January, The Soft Pack are ready to release the appropriately-titled The Muslim EP digitally next week. The EP, which will include the ten tracks on their self-released, sold-out 12″ will come out on March 10 in digital formats only (and under the name of The Soft Pack). No word yet if they plan on re-pressing the vinyl and if they do, under which band name it will appear.

The Muslims EP track listing
01. Right and Wong
02. Beside Myself
03. Call It A Day
04. Extinction
05. Nightlife
06. Future Rock
07. On My Time
08. Religion
09. American
10. Bright Side

And as previously mentioned, The Soft Pack will be hitting the road in support of their new digital EP as part of an NME-sponsored tour with Friendly Fires and White Lies throughout March and April.

In this installment of The Singles Collection, we look back on two great 7″ that current industry darlings Wavves and, ahem, The Muslims, put out last year. The two slabs of wax we’ve got this week are as good as they get, and we urge you to get out and snatch ‘em up while they are still around. After all, we’d hate to say we told you so… but we will.

The first single we’ve got this week is from San Diego’s shit-hot The Muslims (they have since changed their name to The Soft Pack), on the upstart I Hate Rock ‘n’ Roll imprint. “Parasites” b/w “Walking with Jesus” is a cool brace of Flying Nun-style pop-rock delivered with such an impassioned-yet-relaxed verve that they damn well might have recorded the whole thing while still asleep. The A-Side rumbles along on a gnarled, muscular riff accentuated by taut drumming and a just on the right side of monotone vocal delivery that’s somewhere between (JAMC’s) Jim Reid and Little Richard. The B-Side, a cover of Spacemen 3’s “Walking with Jesus”, strips the interstellar flanging/phasing and impossible feedback squalls of the original, revealing the song’s furious, stripped-down skeleton and jangly ’60s pop undertones. That they can take a song that’s been covered extensively and make it their very own (and somewhat unrecognizable to whit) is a testament to their audacious versatility as a unit.

Our second single this week is from another California dreamer, beach-combing pop wonder Wavves. “Beach Demon” b/w “Weed Demon”, released on Tic Tac Totally was — across the board — one of the best singles released last year (it eked its way out in the last days of ‘08). Its packaging is beyond over the top, with a handmade sleeve made entirely out of grip tape and accompanied by two clear transfers that create the single’s front and rear covers, one of which features a brilliant re-conceptualization of the Natas’ classic Santa Cruz deck design. As if that weren’t enough, the songs here are absolutely fucking killer, the A-Side “Beach Demon” is a skuzzy, hook-filled ride down the PCH at 100mph. Its trashcan rhythms and dirt-encrusted guitar lines held together by barely discernable vocals and a bevy of sunburst melodies struggling to emerge from the murk. On the flip, “Weed Demon” is the perfect foil, a Quaalude-addled slice of pure Californian pop bliss, replete with four-part harmonies and a simple, delicate guitar tacet that, strangely reminds of Smashing Pumpkins‘ “Soma”, especially in its gorgeously fragile last moments.

That’s it for this week, short-but-sweet, but we are resting up, drinking lots of fluids and gearing up for a great year bringing you the finest seven-inch singles the world has to offer.