Rumspringa @ The Smell
LA Record - Heather Dean

I'm not quite sure about the "Swim Team" part, but Halloween Swim Team - I shit you not - actually sound like Halloween. With eerie guitar melodies and pleasantly abrasive organ sounds, theirs is the kind of blissfully drone-y set that warrants a cigarette whether you want one or not. I was pretty concerned with my post-HST cigarette until I heard what sounded like some kind of 1960s-Harlem R&B-meets-acid-washed-Sunset-Strip dance-off from outside. It takes a lot to get me to put out a cigarette prematurely, and they are called Rumspringa. I could say that for a minute, I thought I was hearing Howlin’Äô Wolf’Äôs guitar pushed up against some electronic delays, and that the next song reminded me of Orangutan, this 70s "prog" band with sick riffs’Ķ Or I could say that the next song was like some 1940s African Lingala rumba which (holy shit) runs into Ratatat? But even with all the wordy comparisons, I'd be missing tons, and more importantly, I'd be missing the point. While my imagination may have run wild trying to figure out "what" or "who" they "sound like," it didn't stop me from just kind of standing back and going, "Wow. This guitar kicks so much ass right now." ’ÄúWait. What’Äôs that second drum set over there for? Yes! Double drum sesh!’Äù And most importantly: ’ÄúSince when does the ’ÄòJimi Hendrix’Äô-brand wah pedal actually sound that good?"

back