Hear Two Awesome Songs From Tony Molina’s Old Band OVENS

As a solo artist, Tony Molina has developed a reputation as one of the best power-pop singer-songwriters going, churning out short, sweet pop tunes at an alarming clip. He honed that skill in a series of bands over the years, including one called OVENS. The band’s 44-track self-titled double LP will soon be released on vinyl for the first time after its initial CD run in 2009, and although as a rule we don’t post “previously unreleased” music that has been sitting there on YouTube for years, I thought this one was cool enough to spotlight.

OVENS is billed as a turning point in Molina’s musical history, the moment when he began to zero in on that signature songwriting style. You can certainly hear that in “Fired From The Vogue Pt. 1” and “Lame Song #224,” the two tracks being recirculated today along with the reissue announcement. The former is a quick-and-dirty 49-second distortion rush that matches Pinkerton-worship guitar-sludge action with sly harmonized lyrics about smoking PCP and getting revenge on everyone. The latter runs a bit shy of two minutes and shows off a cleaner, more Beatles-esque approach — but not without further shredding.

Hear both songs below.

The OVENS reissue is out 12/2 on TankCrimes.