New Rentals! Been eight years since Matt Sharp’s catchy pop outfit has visited the studio, and sorry, you’ll have to wait ’til early ’08 for an LP. For now Matt says…
Coming off the overwhelming excitement of the last tour our group was filled with so many new songs and creative energy that we soon realized it may take a little while to bring it all together into a cohesive album, so, that?s when we decided to release some of our first home recordings and share a few of these ideas with everyone.
The result is The Last Little Life EP, from the which “The Last Romantic Day” is the lead taste.
The analog synth’s still in the mix, though not to the degree of “Friends Of P.” On this cut, mixed by White Stripes/Shins producer Joe Chiccarelli, we get a pizzicato intro running through Magnetic Fields, some starry-eyed synths, and the Rentals’ easy-breezy beautiful melodicism. A carefree serenade set for summer. Your move, Weezer.
The Last Little Life EP is out 8/14 on Boompa Records.
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Sweet.
One of those bands I like the hell out of, but forget all about, BECAUSE IT’S BEEN SO FREAKING LONG.
aw matt sharp
this song is pretty!
what the fuck!!!! There are more than 3 people in The Rentals. I love Friends of P but I never understood what the hell that shit meant. Someone explain please.
weezer was never the same after matt…. God bless the Rentals
@JAS
The Rentals have always had more than 3 members. And “Friends of P” was about Paulina Porizkova, the supermodel wife of “Blue Album” producer Ric Ocasek. That’s where the title lyrics come from. Not sure about the inspiration for the rest of the song.
I hope this turns out better than Matt’s ill-fated solo career. I love the Rentals and I love all things Weezer, especially the old school.
JAS, “Friends of P” was about supermodel Paulina Porizkova, wife of Weezer-producer Ric Ocasek. No joke!
Wikipedia entry for Paulina
The Rentals’ reunion tour last summer was one of the best fucking shows I’ve ever been to.
Finally! Me likey Rentals. Though it could use a little more rockage.
Is that Jerry?
it’s become painfully obvious (to me, at least) that matt was the true pop genius of weezer.
Nothing made me happier in the last month to find out that The Rentals were playing 10 minutes away in August. And nothing made me sadder in the last month than remembering that I’m going to be about 3000 miles away from home that day.
wonderful track start to finish. i love it.
and i think blue and pinkerton’s greatness can be attributed 50% to rivers and 50% to matt.
wow how fucking boring!! i think “7 more minutes” is the one of the most underrated albums ever and “return” is pure classic but this is just plain bad. what the fuck?!!? it’s like poppy radio crap. oh well, it was good when it was good.
and ps
last summers tour was great. i flew up from florida just to see them at irving plaza and it was a stellar show but this makes me cringe as much as any of the weezer albums after pinkerton.
Any chance of someone getting me an MP3 of this? Pretty please with sugar on top?
Last Summer’s Rentals/Omza tour was totally awesome. My buddies and I drove down from Canada to see that show at Irving Plaza (they never come to Canada!). It was simply magical. I can’t wait to hear more new stuff. I’m sure this is the tip of the iceberg. Expect more great songs to come!
i just listened to this song five times in a row. See you at spaceland The Rentals.
meh. kinda boring actually.
I’ve never had Bubblegum so early in the morning!
Matt, don’t forget about distortion pedals. It just ain’t the Rentals without ‘em.
It’s got almost everything that makes The Rentals The Rentals, minus the cruchy heavy guitars and heavy Gary Numan Synths. It seems a natural progression from 7MM, but alas, I do prefer Return Of. And I agree that 7mm is one of the most underrated albums ever!
I don’t care what people say about the new song…it’s great and i will buy the ep and the shirts and will go to the concert…i’m a fan so what!?
‘friends of p’ is about prozac.
“what the fuck?!!? it’s like poppy radio crap.”
yo, maybe thats what we need to get these guys rich and famous. the song is pretty fantastic. i love the vocals of the new girls and would love to her them sing something other than “its the last romantic day” but even that sounds pretty awesome. cant wait for more!
@mercy fox
Wrong. See above.
And for those saying that Matt was the true genius of Weezer, you might have your facts wrong. Matt wrote virtually nothing on those two albums. Rivers wrote almost everything, including the basslines and falsettos. I’m sure Matt might’ve improvised one or two small things, but it was largely Rivers. However, Matt was certainly the personality of the group, and they lost a LOT when he left. They will never be the same without him.
Inept. Repetitive, predictable and overdone. *snore*
I heard “friends of p” was about Pot, but whatever. I guess the world will never know.
As for the song, ehhh, its okay. Definitely needs some fuzz bass and mini moog, stat.
At any rate, I’m excited. I will go see them in Dallas this september. The show I saw last August in Austin was possibly one of the best, most fun shows I’ve been to ever.
And yes, Rivers owes at least 50% to Matt for making the first two albums classics.
E.L.O. anyone?
Nice. Nothing over/underwhelming. Lord knows, we ALL need more analog synth in our lives and the ladies’ voices are as divine as ever.
During The Rentals first tour, supporting the Red Hot Chili Peppers, they were in Boston (where I was living at the time) and played an in-store at HMV in Cambridge/Harvard Square. After the “acoustic” set, Matt and the band made a point of sticking around to chat. He professed his love of E.L.O. to me and their tour synth guy, Jim Richardson(I think)jumped in to agree. They were all charming and a lot of fun to talk with about old songs, old bands and old gear.
Viva Rentals…ride again!
Fetalpig.blogspot.com has a review of the EP up
Wow! Gads! Cool! How rare in music these days…something to look forward to!
I wouldn’t judge this song so fast without hearing the rest, sheeple. Musicians with brains don’t write the same album over and over and it’s why you liked them in the first place whether you ever realized it or not. I’d also remind you that there is a high probability that even this EP is concept-oriented so the potential for liking this song within the context of the album is higher than rushing to judge it as a hit-single-oriented mind tends to do.
Then again, people are still whining about Seven More Minutes, so what the fuck do I know? I know they don’t get the Rentals, that’s what I know.
Or, maybe you need to get high. That’s always a good way to break the wall of ego ever-hovering in front of your face and just a little more adventurous than routine, complacency and indifference.
Seven More Minutes is the best. I’m skeptical about this new song; it sounds like it would be cool if it were about 1:30 long.
I believe in the rentals. Stumbling and awkward, their humanity in exploring pop and sharp’s sincere poetry are what make me relate to them. I’ve never known them to be cliche without intent, so this song draws me curiously in and makes me want to hear the rest!
“P” is for palm-reading and psychics.