8/14/26.
I really don't do this as much as you might think, or as often as I should. This post was motivated by looking at my record collection. This morning I hovered over the beginning of the M section, thinking I might see a record by the M's. Instead, I saw two records by The Mantles (Oakland, California). This made me think of Michael Olivares. So I sat down and typed his name into a Discogs search.
Turns out he still musically active along with Virginia Weatherby. They're up in Bellingham, Washington, recording as Tangle Map. There's only two songs, so this detour led me back to The Mantles.
I realized two things: (1) That I never gave The Mantles their own post, and (2) I don't own "All Odds End", their last album (Slumberland). Once The Mantles ended, Michael Olivares went on to make a couple of singles and a full length LP as Michael O. He came to Davis and played an amazing show with Dick Diver.
The Mantles played music that AllMusic describes as "sweet yet gritty San Francisco-based indie pop outfit rooted in 1960s garage rock, paisley underground, and the C-86 sound". Bands like The Dream Syndicate, The Verlaines, Barbara Manning, Sonny & the Sunsets and 28th Day come to mind when I think of the band.
