I Just Can't Believe that I'm Smoking PCP

What a fuckin' song.

I discovered Tony Molina's old band Ovens after a guy on an old messageboard I posted on gushed about them. He circulated a triple LP of theirs that was 44 songs, with most being under a minute and a half. It was a lot to take in at first. I didn't listen to it much, but I also rarely delete things from my music library, so the album just in there for a couple of years.

I eventually got really into the album while I lived by myself in Guelph during the summer of 2015 writing my thesis. I have no idea why, but suddenly their ultra minimalist and lo-fi approach to power-pop really took hold of me and was go-to listening while I skateboarded around the city. One memory of the album that stands out in particular was listening to it on the bus ride home from the Bookshelf theatre downtown, where I had just gone to see Noah Baumbach's While We're Young, which was the first time I went to a movie alone. I was mostly by myself that summer and the Ovens seemed like a good soundtrack to the modest amount of self-discovery I did during that time.

Also during that summer I went to go see Ceremony and Pity Sex play in Toronto. I've always liked Ceremony okay and was very excited to Pity Sex. Tony Molina was supposed to open that show, but ended up not being able to get over the border. I had no idea that he was the frontman of Ovens, which I found out after the show, and I was bummed to miss it.

After I found this out, I started to dig into his solo material and found that I enjoyed it even more than Ovens. The short songs, huge hooks, and guitar solos were still there, but the package was more focused. Rather than a sprawling 44-song collection, the pieces were delivered in short, tight packages anywhere from 6 to 14 songs. Before you know it, the song is over and you just want to put it on again.

Molina's music has been one of my favourite things to listen to over the last 3-ish years especially. He put a new album called Kill the Lights last week and I highly recommend that you give it listen.