Arkansas:

Messy Sparkles

CITY: Fayetteville
SONG TO DOWNLOAD: “Feeling Good Forever”
WEBSITE: http://messysparkles.bandcamp.com/

Before Florida’s Total Bummer Fest in May, we knew little about Messy Sparkles — only that he’d previously played FMLY Fest LA, and released a split cassette with tropical pop dude Tree Hopping, out via Wisconsin cassettes-only micro-label MJMJ. After Total Bummer, we learned that Sparkles (a/k/a JD Paul) is not only an extremely personable dude, but he plays high-energy psych-pop that’s carefully-crafted enough to appeal to geeky music bloggers who love loopy lo-fi experimental. And it’s danceable enough to get just about any crowd moving. “I’m using a MacBook and I’m running Garage Band, which is super ghetto, but it’s the only thing I can really comprehend, it’s just so easy,” said Paul at a café/VHS shop in Florida during Bummer. “And then I’m using some Roland samplers and a micro-cord and a microphone. It’s super simple. But it’s the first record I put out. It took me forever to make it because I had no idea how to home record. I had to teach myself all that stuff.” That sort of scuzzy minimalism is part of Messy Sparkles’ charm.

_Liz Pelly

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Record Label You Should Know: Thick Syrup Records

Since 2006, Thick Syrup Records have been releasing garage rock, experimental, punk, and indie in Little Rock.

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