TONY MOLINA - IN THE FADE LP It would be impossible to encapsulate the entire Tony Molina musical worldview in a single record. This is a man whose home stereo, in a single day, could be blaring The Move, Malo, Internal Bleeding, Dear Nora, and The Melvins. All that said, you'd be hard pressed to find a better entry point to his work than In the Fade, a record that according to the artist himself, ties the entire catalog together. Recorded in spurts over two years in the Bay Area with an array of longtime friends and collaborators, In the Fade is a mix of both new and old for Tony's first solo album in four years. The record came together almost like a compilation, the result of Tony taking inventory of both his extensive solo career and his time in the criminally-underrated band Ovens in the early to mid 2000's. This introspection makes for a very "pop" album - hooks permeate the record's heavier guitar-pop tunes as well as its more delicate folk-rock and indie-pop tracks. It's a return in part to the Ovens sound, but also features elements of his more recent material and introduces some intriguing new wrinkles. In the Fade evokes the sounds of some of Tony's favorite bands: Fastbacks, The Flaming Lips, The Muffs. There's a Black Sabbath cover, some reworked songs from his past and most important of all, some of Tony Molina's finest original songs to date. As a whole, In the Fade encompasses every phase of his recording career to date while also fitting together as a tight, endlessly listenable album - a showcase of Tony Molina's love for well-crafted songs that proves he's one of the best in the game at writing them.