too shy

Today, Shy Girls is excited to announce a string of West Coast tour dates. To coincide with the tour announcement, Shy Girls shares a live performance of “When I Say I Love U” via Yours Truly. The EP is now available digitally through iTunes, and on CD and vinyl via Hit City U.S.A. in the US and ASL in the UK/EU. Check out the Yours Truly session and the tour dates below.

WATCH: Yours Truly session

Shy Girls – “When I Say I Love U”

Link:

 http://vimeo.com/70466990

SHY BOYS ANNOUNCE DEBUT SELF-TITLED LP  SHARE FIRST SINGLE ONLINE FOR FREE Available January 21, 2014 on High Dive Records    Download and Share “Keeps Me on My Toes” Courtesy of AdHoc.FM

Until now the self-proclaimed “landlocked surf outfit” Shy Boys have barely existed outside of living rooms and smoky basements across Kansas City, MO. Their upcoming self-titled debut, available January 21, 2014 on High Dive Records, features ten melodic tracks clocking in at a always-engaging twenty minutes. To celebrate the release, the band is making the first single “Keeps Me on My Toes” available for free download. “Toes was written while a girl I was seeing at the time was taking a shower in another room,” explains CollinRausch, the bands singer and creative force. “The whole thing came together in that 15 minute window, which kind of makes sense when you listen to it.” Download and share “Keeps Me on My Toes” via AdHoc.FM. (code) Shy Boys earnestly began as an outlet to escape from their day jobs or an excuse to ditch class. After returning to school in 2011, Collin quickly enlisted brother Kyle Rausch and roommate Konnor Ervin to critique some rough mixes and demos he’d been working on in his free time. Though musicians in their respective fields, Collin had never played guitar, Konnor wasn’t a drummer, and Kyle had never picked up a bass in his life. The response? Fuck it. From the first song it was contagious, energetic and downright sloppy They quickly removed the furniture from their house in the city’s artist-heavy midtown to make way for a practice room and DIY performance space. “We had a house show and were basically too lazy to move any of our stuff back in. The shows ended up being cool because they put us close to the people watching us play, literally face-to-face” Collin explains. What came together were songs about unattainable girls that evolved into songs about dogs (“Keeps Me on My Toes”) or broken down cars (“Is This Who You Are?”). Perhaps the standout, “Bully Fight,” comes from the news coverage of a school bully, Richard Gale, who became an international asshole when his antics were posted on YouTube. “We’re all into pop music and vocal groups-quick songs with weird arrangements and choir boy vocals. If a song gets too long we get bored with it. Some things are important to hold on to, everything else isn’t.”

That’s right. Consecutive email blasts from Shy Girls and Shy Boys. Not necessarily confusing if you’re a fan of either artist, it nonetheless hints at a growing concern within popular music: the ever-increasing challenge of coming up with a cool name for your musical project. So many of the great names — from Dead Kennedys to John Cougar Concentration Camp to Hall & Oates have now been taken. Earlier this week, a publicist friend even put out a call on Facebook for a cool name for a client. I refrained from offering my usual Henderson Has Scored For Canada or Closed For Renovations, or any of the others I have on a list somewhere. At a certain point, bands have to think for themselves. Coming up with the music is only part of the job, after all — falling somewhere behind looks, image and a talent for mimicry in importance. A cool name rates somewhere in the middle.Shy Girls is not so much a band as it is Portland-based veteran producer and vocalist Dan Vidmar, who introduced the name two years ago for a self-released EP. Kansas City’s Shy Boys, meanwhile, is a trio that also claims to have been making noise since 2011, and is not to be confused with this band, whose background is sketchy but probably dates back two years.

At present, there does not appear to be a Shy Transgenders on either coast, so there may be an opening there if you need a name for your next musical project. If asked, remember to say you’ve been using the name since 2011.

Better yet, try to come up with an original name. Don’t be shy.