In the time when things could still be seen, you might have seen Pearie Sol, keyboardist for DC-area rockers Gauche. Times being as they are, many musical projects have been put on hold, with members having to seek new outlets for their creative talents. For Pearie Sol, his new solo album, Real Happiness—which, he assures us, is not quite a lockdown album, having been conceived largely in 2019. On first listen, Real Happiness might make you smile. And how could you resist the charm of the dramatic, over-the-top Fred Schneider-like vocals of “Apathy” the jaunty, junkyard Jad Fair-isms of “Slime Pit,” or the catchy, danceable title track? Pearie’s flamboyant, over-the-top style is fun personified and vocalized and all those things in between. But don’t be fooled; Real Happiness reveals something upon second listen: a very emotional, somewhat melancholic album about life and the frustrations with the foibles of human interaction. Like a cabaret new wave Pagliacci, Pearie Sol’s songs reveal the tears of a clown. Just listen to those last few songs on the record; gone is the cuteness, and Pearie Sol focuses straight on emotion: it’s not wrong of us to say that “Marched On” and “November Frost” deliver powerful showtune ballads a la John Cameron Mitchell with a lyrical style reminiscent of Scott Walker’s first four albums. And yet, don’t let the melancholy scare you, either; Real Happiness isn’t a sad record, by any means. Instead, it’s a real record documenting real emotions and feelings and observations of a young man living every day of his life the best he can—good or bad, happy or sad. That he’s allowed us to peek into his Real Happiness is an honor one should not take for granted.

American Culture's third album 'For My Animals' was finished pre-COVID and sent to us at HHBTM Records around early March 2020. What would become 'the great isolation of 2020' was just beginning. At that time we didn't know if the world was going to have any use for records. (Or, more specifically, a record industry.) We still don't. Will there still be a world? However, the more we sat with this record through the intense summer of 2020, we decided that absolutely YES... the world needs weirdos making things in every corner, more 4 track song sketches, more xeroxed zines, more hand folded J cards, more screen printed LP jackets. Now more than ever. The industry may die, but this culture is unstoppable.

So, we decided to press it on vinyl. No touring in sight. But it's not just a product. This album was made for hearing. It can't just sit around waiting for industry standards to come back. There was something special about this album. It spoke directly with the listener, one-on-one just like the band has at so many shows. The artwork and packaging had to do the same. Handmade art objects. Each physical record is a labor of love, like the recordings themselves.

'For My Animals' isn't strict about genre. Like their favorites, The Meat Puppets, Crass, The Grateful Dead, The Feelies, this band does whatever they feel. There's bits of noise-pop, outsider lo-fi, washes of psychedelia and even hints of Jamaican dub influence here. It's definitely punk. Punk but not rock. This album seems to be set in a different era. A time when people didn't have much to do but chill at the mall. You made new friends by maybe seeing a Dead Milkmen tattoo peeking out from under a sleeve, or 'Sonic Youth' scrawled in sharpie on the rubber toe of their converse. You didn't know each other, but, also, somehow, you did. Same with this album.