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Hear Tashaki Miyaki’s Paisley-Spangled Jangler ‘Tonight’

Tashaki Miyaki

One of this writer’s favorite Bob Dylan covers is “I’ll Keep It With Mine” by Rainy Day, a sort of mini-supergroup made up of bands from L.A.’s early-’80s Paisley Underground scene. No less gifted interpreters than Judy Collins, Nico, and Fairport Convention had previously performed the wistfully jangling song, which centers around a beautifully evocative idea of time as a physical thing you can store somewhere. But Rainy Day’s version has an affectingly warm, clear-eyed vocal by the Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs, plus stabbing strings, rickety guitar strums (Mazzy Star’s David Roback was also a member), and tuneful bass. A lone tambourine sits at the bottom of a pocket Wall of Sound.

Emerging L.A. duo Tashaki Miyaki strike at a similar blend of folk, psych-rock, and dream-pop on their songs so far, including fuzz-infused jangler “Best Friends”, reverb-swallowed reassurance “Somethin’ Is Better Than Nothin'”, and dusky cowboy-shoegaze ballad “Get It Right.” They’ve also gorgeously covered the Everly Brothers — not Dylan, but just as appropriate. “Tonight,” the other side of Tashaki Miyaki’s new double-A-sided “Best Friends” single (due out August 7 via Luv Luv Luv Records), moves more clearly into the stomping dream-pop territory of the Jesus and Mary Chain circa “Just Like Honey” — so it’s worth keeping in mind all this stylistic variation to help see what sets these two apart from other JAMC torch carriers.

“I wanna go out dancing,” begins the hard-to-identify female singer, over bouncy percussion and buzzing guitar, but she doesn’t sound like she wants to go out dancing. Her voice is wispy, removed; an effects-drenched guitar solo interrupts the song, as if suggesting her escape this evening will be more about turning on and dropping out than shaking her tail-feather. It’s not far off from fuzzy shimmy of current bands like the Raveonettes or Dum Dum Girls, but another reference point might be the sort of lilting, hazy pop of Mazzy Star-hazy pop, the same that Taken By Trees’ Victoria Bergsman reinterpreted a few years back with the Concretes. That’s promising company.

You can also catch Tashaki Miyaki on the road. They open for Florence and the Machine tomorrow night in Toronto, and they’ll stop at the Glasslands in Brooklyn on August 6 and Piano’s in Manhattan on the 7th before playing in L.A. on August 22. In the meantime, listen to “Tonight” exclusively below, and if we can save you any vinyl, we’ll keep it with ours: