Paper Mice announce new album : "The Funny Papers" (tracklist + studio photos)

It's been three years since Paper Mice debuted their first full length "Paint It Pink". They've been a staple of our DIY scene for even longer, tearing up scuzzy basement and loft spaces, leaving the crowd a sweaty, grinning mess. We saw them make everybody go absolutely apeshit at the Mopery and have been in love ever since. Their songs are mostly minute-long bursts channeling The Minutemen that are over before you realize you were just crowd-surfing. Consistently spectacular live, we've been awaiting some new songs for a while, and they don't disappoint.

"The Funny Papers", due out in March, was recorded by Grayson Elliot Taylor, who has recorded Twista amongst others. It shares stories of madness in the world. "Banking Up The Wrong Tree" tells of Bank of America trying to foreclose a home of a couple...who didn't even have a mortgage with Bank of America. "Angry Meal", a tale of that woman who assaulted a Mcdonalds drive-thru employee. "Cannon Fodder" brings the story of rapper Rico Todriquez Wright, who shot a man and then wrapped about it in a song entitled "Hitting Licks for a Living". He's now in jail for the next 20 years.

Classically trained singer and guitarist Dave Reminick teaches music theory at Columbia. Drummer John Carroll teaches music to elementary school children where this very record was being recorded. There's no shortage of technical prowess in these tracks. The best part of seeing Paper Mice live is grinning at how the hell they stay so tight and energetic while banging out such insane songs.

We've seen some these new ones live, even filmed some of them, and hearing them come to life in the studio, we can safely say this is one high on our list of anticipated records of 2012. When I asked the band what the title meant, John Carrol told us it was "A play on words on the comical nature of the stories we tell in the lyrics. Another pun attempt. We almost called it "Pun's Not Dead!"

You won't have to wait too long to hear a sampling of this new record. We'll have an album preview video up in the next month or so.

Tracklist (final order pending) :

Hot Air
Swine Flue Suits
Cannon Fodder
Dog Only Knows
Simulacra
Don't Worry About The Governor
Banking Up The Wrong Tree
When Bugs Cry
Angry Meal
Big Blank
Research And Destroy