Vinyl of the Week: Sister Mantos' Lo-Fi Mutant Disco, 'Tough Love,' Out on Manimal [MP3]

In the strange wake of music's digital rebirth, vinyl has experienced a modest boom in popularity, seen by many as a replacement for the awkward middleman that is the compact disc. INCHES reviews the output of L.A.'s healthy vinyl community, believing that good music deserves much more than a handful of ones and zeros.

Read previous installments here, or email us here.

Sister Mantos' Manimal debut, "Tough Love" (Chris Martins)

L.A.'s Sister Mantos jumped onto our radar earlier this week with his lo-fi mutant disco revision of the Fool's Gold track "Poseidon," which with healthy doses of synthwork and canned drum tracks, becomes an even split between subtle etherea and deep dance. This goes a long way to explaining the sound that El Salvador-born Oscar Miguel Santos has carved out for himself. On Santos' full-length Manimal Vinyl debut, Tough Love or Fands of Hate, that mix can sound a bit fragmented and watery at times -- think Yacht submerged in a lake -- but that doesn't mean there aren't moments of divine, screwed-up thump.

Take, for instance, the track shared below, "Like I Want 2," a mission statement of sorts that starts slow, then grows into a thick, melodica-haunted slice of weird, wistful disco. Coming closer to the energy of the live show -- where the Mantos band dons homemade Aztec gear and thrashes something fierce -- are tone-warped banger "Disaster Beat WE ARE ONE" and the surprisingly bright "No God," which finds Santos and a female singer explaining, "We believe in the ocean/We believe in starting a commotion/But we don't believe in God."

Here guitar, electric bass and live drums (or live drum samples, at least) help build a more full-bodied Sister Mantos -- a sign of things to come, hopefully.

Listen to all of Tough Love or The Fands of Hate here:

DOWNLOAD: Sister Mantos - "Like I Want 2 [MP3]

Purchase at your local independent record vendor (INCHES recommends Origami or Vacation), or right now via the Sweetheart Society web store.

01. Melvins/ISIS - Split 12-inch (Hydra Head)
02. Torche/Boris - "Chapter Ahead Being Fake" 10-inch (Hydra Head)
03. LA Vampires w/ Zola Jesus - "Bone Is Bloodstone" (Not Not Fun)
04. Greymachine - Disconnected (Sige)
05. Panda Bear - "Tomboy" 7-inch (Paw Tracks)
06. Surfer Blood - "Swim" 7-inch (Kanine)
07. High On Fire - Blessed Black Wings (Relapse)
08. Watain - Lawless Darkness (N.E.D.)
09. VON - "Satanic Blood" (VMG)
10. Moonrats - "Moonrats" 7-inch (Sound Virus)

Vacation Vinyl is located at 4679 Hollywood Blvd., 90027 (323.666.2111).

Vacation Vinyl will be moving to the Sunset Junction area on August 1.