Cotton Candy – Jingles + Fanci Pantz (Live)

Part 1 of 5 in the Teen Beat 26 Anniversary Showcase: Teen Beat Week!

The DC/Cambridge based label Teen Beat held a short six day East Coast tour celebrating Teen Beat’s 26th year of purveyors of the best in indie rock. Each of the dates on the tour had wildly differing line-ups with the only constant being Unrest headlining each of the proceedings. I was only able to make it to one of the three NYC area shows and therefore missed the show that included Tuscadero. (plaintive scream: “Whyyyyy!”) The line-up I did catch was nonetheless wall-to-wall great – the July 9 show at The Bell House:
UNREST
VERSUS
THE RONDELLES
BOSSANOVA
COTTON CANDY

This whole week (5 days only – we be lazy) will feature the first TSOI week-long label showcase. Let’s call it Teen Beat Week! In this case, all the bands that played at this one particular show.

In the order that they played a song will be featured from each of the Teen Beat showcase bands each day this week with Friday ending with the (ohh baby) penultimate post, Unrest!:

Be sure to check in daily for the next Teen Beat installment.

Cotton Candy :

I was no fool and thereby made a point to show up to the Teen Beat showcase frightfully early as to not miss Mark Robinson and Evelyn Hurly’s project Cotton Candy. The original material of Cotton Candy is great as one would expect if you are familiar with Mark’s other bands (Unrest, Air Miami, Flin Flon, etc..). [Ed Note: Now if you are not familiar with Unrest, Air Miami, Flin Flon etc then God have pity on you and go out there and rectify that stat!].

One can be more readily forgiven for not being too familiar with the great original songs of Cotton Candy since they are a bit obscured as they are tucked in a sea of renditions of jingles. I have been listening to Cotton Candy’s Top Notch & First Rate this week and really dig it, in particular since Mark has gotten his paws on a drum-machine, which reap further rewards by encouraging Mark to do his robot-dance when performing live. The point is, Cotton Candy is not to be ignored. Note the TSOI Cotton Candy post earlier in the year.

Download: Cotton Candy – Jingles + Fanci Pantz (Live)