The Ovaltines

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“Inside Our Heads”/ I’d Love To Touch The Sky” (2012)


Full album and EP for a price of one download

“I’d Love To Touch The Sky” The Cure cover EP (2012)


  1. 1.One More Time

  2. 2.Catch

  3. 3.World War

  4. 4.Seventeen Seconds

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Japan

Here She Comes Now

- single (2012)

black vinyl available here or bandcamp

Can you hear the inside of their heads? Is the what the fuzz-pop duo is asking of us in the title track of their new album. Princeton NJ based band The Ovaltines make timeless guitar jangle girl/guy vocal pop tunes. The subject matter seems to be consistent, and coming from a dreamy sweet isolated place in their hearts. The band proudly expose their musical influences. This is a mighty list that includes classic bands such as The Velvet Underground, The Pastels, Henry’s Dress, Black Tambourine and Stereolab...along with newer bands like Veronica Falls, Brilliant Colours, Crystal Stilts and Yellow Fever. They’ve mixed it all into a big sonic glass and stirred it till it made...THE OVALTINES!

The vinyl has arrived, and so can you!

Inside our Heads (2012)


  1. 1.Humphrey Hayflower

  2. 2.Thoughts About The World

  3. 3.When The World Is Asleep

  4. 4.Death Of A Holiday

  5. 5.Lines Are Lies

  6. 6.Crawl Babies

  7. 7.Tall Grass

  8. 8.Dreams Are Wide

  9. 9.Inside our Heads

  10. 10. The White Rabbit

LP: $ 12.99

Why Won’t The World Go Away EP (2011)


  1. 1.Slow It Down

  2. 2.The Truth

  3. 3.Drugs In Order

  4. 4.Why Can’t The World Go Away

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videos

Reviews

"Sweeten Your Week With The Ovaltines"

by Chrissi Sepe


Why can't the world go away?  How many times have I wished for that? That's what the song inspired by the title of The Ovaltines' new EP asks the world to do.  Not to go away forever but "just for ONE day?" That would be perfect.  Then once it does, "we can decide if we want to stay."  Dave Schurtman of "Humans" fame and Jaime Piacente are the guy/girl duo who make up "The Ovaltines."  They are a lo-fi, heavy guitar feedback band reminiscent of The Velvet Underground, Jesus and Mary Chain and Ultra Vivid Scene.  But what makes The Ovaltines extra special and unique is the way Dave's velvety low voice and Jaime's pleasant sugary vocals perfectly complement each other.


The Ovaltines' EP contains four songs. The lyrics on all four songs remind me of getting through the work week.  "Why Won't The World Go Away" encapsulates what it feels like to go to work from Monday through Friday.  "Why Can't The World Go Away," which is Track #4, is similar to the first thing I ask myself when my alarm clock goes off on a Monday morning!  It is a slow song where Dave and Jaime ask this question during the chorus.  One of my favorite parts of this song is the beautiful "bell" sounds that remind me of spoons tapping on drinking glasses with the water filled at various levels to make different tones as they play out their angelic melodies. The lo-fi sound of "The Ovaltines" makes me wonder if they REALLY DID spend time filling up drinking glasses with water to play the melodies on this track! I positively would believe it!


Track #1 is called "Slow It Down."  After I heard this track, I realized that The Ovaltines' album could be the soundtrack to a week of work for me! While I'm "walking down the corporate hall," as Dave sings, I really want to "slow it down so I could breathe!!!!"   The lyrics continue with Dave and Jaime "trying to avoid all of mankind so slow it down." The feedback guitars sound like bells chiming in the beginning, and they continue as the voices sing the chorus: "Down down down down down, slow it down," "Down Down Down, slow it down."


Track #2 is "The Truth." It is my personal fave and is the most pop of all the tracks on the EP.  It could definitely be a pop hit and is totally toe-tapping and danceable. Jaime's voice reminds me of the lead vocalists of both the "Primitives" and the "Sundays," and the tune recalls songs of the late '80's   to early 90's Britpop music. There is a tambourine/jingle sound throughout, and the track ends with guitar feedback leading into a scary sample about a man claiming to be a "freak, a side-show."


The "scary sample" continues into the beginning of Track #3, as the man claims it is "50 cents to look, a dollar to touch." This song is called "Drugs In Order." After my work week of wanting the world to go away and for things to slow down (with a little reprieve in the middle where I can dance to "The Truth"), "Drugs In Order" is the perfect song to end my week! By Friday night, I'm more than ready to sit down with a glass of red wine and listen to this song as I sing along to it: "Oh the Green Hills of Freedom," yes, finally!  It repeats over and over again as my muscles relax, so I can get "fuzzed out," just like the fuzzy feel of the entire album.  Every Monday, from now on, I'm going to plug into my "Why Won't The World Go Away" EP so at least I can have some company while anxiously waiting for my Friday to arrive.

more vids on youtube

The Ovaltines

L'Ovomaltina è una bevanda lisergica? Ascoltando la musica degli Ovaltines il dubbio sorge legittimo... Dave Echo e Jaime Piacente sono un duo di Princeton, nel New Jersey, con una vocazione innata per il fuzz-pop. Da sempre fan dei dischi targati Slumberland e Creation, non esitano a citare tra le loro influenze gruppi che vanno dai Velvet Underground ai Crystal Stilts. "Facciamo la musica che avremmo voluto ascoltare quando le nostre band preferite hanno smesso di fare dischi", afferma deciso Echo. E un sapore velvettiano permea le atmosfere di "Let Get Far Away", con un passo sferragliante e un'indolenza nel cantato che rimandano direttamente ai tempi d'oro degli Yo La Tengo. Il primo lavoro sulla lunga distanza degli Ovaltines esce proprio in questi giorni (in vinile) per l'etichetta Blurry World, piccola fucina di pop underground del New Jersey. Si intitola "Inside Our Heads" e l'anteprima preannuncia "sciabordii di feedback, voci angeliche e chitarre jangle in stile anni Novanta".

The Ovaltines - Let Get Far Away [download]

WOW ! - The Ovaltines - Inside Our Heads reviewed on OPINEARS !

Coming off a largely sleepless weekend with Lollapalooza, friends in from out of town on an unrelated matter, and pet sitting at a couple houses, I don’t have much capacity for critical listening or typing. Thankfully the sleepy garage rock of The Ovaltines are perfectly suited for where I’m at this morning.

A guy/girl two piece from Princeton New Jersey, The Ovaltines have snuck in with an EP last year, and a full length this year coupled with an EP of Cure covers (which I have not heard, but I could see working exceptionally well). The Ovaltines philosophy to sound is simple: fuzz on everything. A very ideal vocal match up with trebley male vocals and a dreamy female counterpart, under-ridden with a very straight forward rhythm and thick, swirly guitar and bass sound. All together, a very easy to digest sound on a headache ridden morning, but still challenging enough to make for an interesting and unique record. - MO

I could get used to this. If I could invite one band to play a private concert for my little self, I’m thinking that The Ovaltines would have a very good chance of getting picked. Inside Our Heads is a lo-fi Raveonettes-esque dream. With plenty of tambourines and sweet melodies to keep you warm, The Ovaltines have served up what is sure to rise to the top of your record/mp3 collection. They have released a fuzzy sound that makes it impossible to do anything but fall head over heels in love. I’m in love with a sound, a band and once you have a listen, you too shall be swooning. @LeahLovecat

Featured on the music site DINGUS

Featured on the music Italian music site Ondarock and their compilation of indie psychedelic pop OndaDrops Vol. “6 Million ribbons and floating stars”.  Featuring an exclusive track by The Ovaltines “Lets Get Far Away”

From SupaJam.com

The Ovaltines cover a classic!

My favorite song on the LP is “While The World Is Sleeping” and upon first listen it’s easy to see why.  The perfect vocal harmony between band mates Jaime Piacente and Dave Schurtman stand out from the very beginning.  There is something special about how the tone of their voices brilliantly flow against each other teetering on the edge of being out of tune.   Throw in a simple but driving guitar melody atop a steady drum beat and all the ingredients for a great lo-fi pop rock tune are present and accounted for.  The only issue for me, if you can call it that, is the length of the song which seems to end way to quickly for my liking.

The OVALTINES have produced an interesting LP to say the least and the overall sound takes some getting used to for those used to unoriginal pop or massed produced one hit wonders.  But take a step back, throw on ‘While The World Is Sleeping” and let your mind take you away from all the everyday drivel.  If you enjoy “While The World Is Sleeping”, be sure to check out the rest of the LP ‘Inside Our Heads’ and have a go at the album’s titled track which is fantastic!  In the fitting words of Dave Echo, “Happy Listening”!   by Dan R.

The New Jersey lo-fi pop rock band THE OVALTINES have had a very busy year.   Last month the duo released a 4-track THE CURE cover EP, “I’d Love To Touch The Sky”, and this October tackled the classic VELVET UNDERGROUND tune “Here She Comes Now”.

Both renditions sound great paying homage to a few major influences of their musical style but the music doesn’t stop there.  In the midst of these releases came the intoxicating full length LP “Inside Our Heads” putting their own underground like sound center stage for all the world to see.

Though My Headphones .com

                            All the best of lo-fi garage rock spins out in to the room when play is hit and The Ovaltines is able to deliver something that is almost an oxymoron in the genre, there are effectively only two of them, but it sounds to be many more, but this isn’t done through production values or loudness, simply by some intricate compositions which meld the guitar and drum in to a power-ball of joy. Influences from The Velvet Underground are shredded in to sounds of the 21st Century to reveal a gauze of melancholic angsts, which are delivered in a shroud of fuzzed sound with the essential echoes and squeals of feedback.  The duality of vocal adds an engaging texture to the material which creates a quirky and unexpected sound that the duo are able to pull-off to the betterment of the out-put, which also adds to the sing-a-long-ability of the material.

Working in this style tests the mettle of the players as any and each error is magnified by the very nature of the sound. With great confidence The Ovaltines is able to rise to the challenge and produce something that is pretty special and worth more than a fleeting glance even if it may not be a sound that sits naturally in your head. For me, as you well know by now, lo-fi and my head have a very happy connection.

Indie bands blog

The Ovaltines are a couple who met in New York in the mid 1990s, which begs the question: is Ovaltine something different in the US and we shouldn’t be thinking of the calming drink? But don’t worry about that, focus on their sun drenched, fuzzed up version of the Velvet Underground’s ‘Here She Comes Now’. If you like it you can buy it cheaply off bandcamp, but you should probably check out their album ‘Inside Our Heads’ which is out now. Bonus points for releasing your first EP on your wedding anniversary (that should give you fuzzies instead of shaking your dying hearts.)

Written by MediaMonkey

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