MP3 of the Week: Mascara, "B261"

Next Friday will see the release of Fountain of Tears, the latest full-length installment of fabulously bent garage prog from Boston’s own MASCARA. Chris Mascara tells us that Fountain pays track-by-track tribute to a host of trailblazing iconoclasts and tragic heroes, from murdered poet Federico García Lorca to undersung soul singer Jackie Wilson. The latter is honored here with “B261” (the number a reference to his anonymous grave marker), and it’s no “Lonely Teardrops” — “B261” is a charging beast of tantrum-esque vocals, barreling drums, and temperamental guitars caught up in beastly tunings. Maybe it’s just because it’s Kramer on the boards, but the whole thing whisks us back to simpler times in indie rock, when all we craved was controlled confusion.

- Michael Brodeur

LISTEN:  Mascara, "B261" (mp3)