Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain

Unless this band suddenly decided that a record of slow country jams was the way forward, I don't think there was any way this record wasn't going to be on the list. New fuckin' Lightning Bolt kids! If you're not already well in to this band then you haven't been paying close enough attention. Two guys, one on bass and one on drums, making the most loud, violent and all round mind melting music being created today. I already posted one of their earlier albums in September, download this track and then go check those others, out.

So how does this differ from their previous output? Not a whole lot really. This is one of those bands that no one in their right mind would want to progress. If anything, they've just gotten louder and tighter. They sound more like a band now than two musicians completely loosing their minds in their own separate little musical worlds. But aside from that it's still just breakneck speed noise, all the way. I'm tempted to dub this record of the year.

Riff Wraith

The Evens - S/T

It looks like this list is going to consist of way more than ten records.

So it's been a while since the last Fugazi record. I believe "The Argument" was released in 2000. It's made a lot of people nervous about the future of the band. Personally I don't think you all have much to worry about, I guess they just needed some time apart. Mackaye obviously needed some time to focus on running Dischord, I can imagine running such a complicated label isn't going to be very easy. He also managed to take some time out and made this record.

The only two musicians present are Mackaye and Amy Farina and consists entirely of Mackaye on acoustic guitar and Farina on drums, whilst both take it in turns on vocal duties. It's no where near as raw as any of Mackaye's past musical output but these strummed out acoustic numbers still manage to contain the fierce political and social outlook that Mackaye has become infamous for. Not to dub Farina as a back up musician, from what I'm lead to believe, she had as much creative control as Mackaye. It's certainly a new direction and it works incredibly well. Imagine Elliott Smith doing Fugazi covers and you basically have the sound. And tell me such a concept doesn't sound fantastic?

Shelter Two
Blessed Not Lucky

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Million Dead - Harmony No Harmony

This year I received two music related kicks in the balls. The first struck in January with the break up of Mclusky and the second came a few months ago with Million Dead throwing in the towel. Not a good year for my favorite bands. Fortunately with Million Dead, they managed to give us one final corker of a record as well as some fantastic farewell shows.

So here's another addition to the best records of the year. Million Dead's swan song. Whilst it maintained their debut LP's fierce and intelligent political outlook, there seemed to be a generally calmer tone to the record as well as a more experimental feel to some of the tracks. It seemed like the record of a band with a bright future. A band in their youth and with everything to look forward to. So much for that.

To Whom It May Concern
Murder And Create

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Red Sparowes - At The Soundless Dawn

So it's about that time of year that everyone starts churning out their obligatory "records of the year" lists and we here at Big Static aren't going to be an exception. I will personally give you tracks from at least ten lovely records that hit us this year, before the end of December. However I've already given you French Toast's and Bucket Full Of Teeth's amazing LPs as well as the Melt Banana singles collection (check the archives), so here with Red Sparowes, we already have four. I don't know if Kieran and Alice are going to contribute anything to this list, I don't pay them so they're not really obligated to do anything.

Anyhoo, Red Sparowes made the post-rock record of the year in my humble opinion. Over powering the new Sigur Ros and Pelican to snatch said title. Whilst Pelican were unable to top their previous LP and Sigur Ros managed to bore the living hell out of me, yet again, Red Sparowes managed to create a hugely sweeping and uplifting epic with this, their debut full length. The sound was kin to Explosions In The Sky's finer moments. Whilst they didn't at all sway away from the generic post-rock use of build ups being the primary template for all their songs, they did however prove that they are one of the best bands around doing it.

Buildings Began To Stretch Wide Across The Sky, And The Air Filled With A Reddish Glow..

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Asian Dub Foundation - Rafi's Revenge

The cool shit you can find in your local Woolworths' bargain section, it's quite a surprise. I just went in for a coke but ended coming out with some Neil Young, Sly & The Family Stone, and this amazing record. In all honesty, until earlier today, I'd completely forgotten about this band. It must have been a few years since I last listened to them which is strange as they were one of the acts that got me out of that sad "rap sux" mentality.

If I remember the old stories correctly, this band met at a government sponsored music group aimed at teaching under privileged Asian kids how to use instruments. Using their new found skills they formed this band. An interesting blend of UK styled hip-hop with intelligent and thought provoking rhymes, with dance hall rhythms and beats, with elements of dub in the mix as well. They took the UK by storm and received some what of a cult following, I don't know if that extended to other countries, maybe one of you readers can help me out with that?

They're still around today and still making great records. Still laying waste to every irritating dub infused hip-hop act that's popped up of late and still playing great shows.

Buzzin'
Assassin

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New York Dolls - S/T

It is one cold, souless little bastard that doesn't have some love for the New York Dolls.

Back in 1973, the five of them basically created that whole over the top, lipstick wearing, glam as fuck take on rock 'n' roll that's been ripped off and ruined for the last thirty years. Punk and glam owe an absurd amount to The Dolls, yet as far as I can see, they've been somewhat written out of the importance that they deserve. Who were the first punk band? "Ummm, probably The Ramones and Sex Pistols man". Wrong! The Stooges and The Dolls was what it was all about.

Aside from their extreme importance, they were also ridiculously fun. Five blokes with little to no care about how the world would perceive them, playing some fantastic, over the top, rock. Just listen to "Jet Boy" and see what I mean. Simple brilliance in high heels. Pay your respect kids and buy the back catalogue. Heroin isn't free ya know.

Personality Crisis
Jet Boy

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William S. Burroughs - Dead City Radio

You know people say you should be grateful to your parents? Well I'm more grateful than you can imagine to my dad for introducing me to this. I remember being twelve and him sitting me down in his studio to listen to "Dead City Radio". In my youthful ignorance I put up a fair bit of a fight about it but after a few minutes of absorbing Burroughs' dry aged voice, I had no intention of leaving my chair. Even at that young age I could tell the man was a literary genius.

Burroughs' was a writer but he put out a number of spoken word records towards the end of his life. The one that gripped me the hardest was this. An hour of him hacking away at the bitter, corrupt and ill place that America was and is. He was the conscience that America didn't know it had. Whilst he himself had done a number of immoral and unpleasant things throughout his life, he was still fantastic at attacking the greater evils in society. He wasn't a revolutionary by any standards. More of a man with the intention of making us all think about our actions and what we're contributing to the world whilst he fiercely dug in to the people in power.

I've given you two sample tracks that are fantastic little stories in their own right. But for the full experience, get the record. If you have a very long attention span and the ability to follow the most bizarre trains of though, I recommend his books too.

Ah Pook The Destroyer
Kill The Badger

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Bob Log III - Trike

I stumbled across this guy a while ago. The whole concept behind him was enough to immediately want to give him a try. It's a guy in a motorcycle helmet, playing songs that are mainly about boobs with only the aid of a beaten up old guitar and a kick drum. His singing is so ridiculously muffled that the lyrics are impossible to make out, probably because of that helmet he wears that covers his mouth. All though that does beg the question: was he wearing it when he recorded this album? Wouldn't give me a heart attack if he was.

There really isn't much more to this guy's music. I guess that's why I love it so much. His music basically redefines simple whilst still being ever so entertaining.

Six Stringer Kicker
Log Dirty Down

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The Dwarves - Blood, Guts & Pussy

Yeah, it's a dirty punk band. From the album name and artwork, I can imagine that was pretty obvious. In fact, it's one of the dirtiest and most violent records ever made. The Dwarves are one of the few still going punk bands that are actually worth caring about. Whilst most generic three-chords-and-some-oi bands have managed to delude themselves in to thinking it's still the 70s and anarchy is still on the horizon, The Dwarves couldn't give less of a shit about politics, the youth of today or their fans. Infamous for being the pranksters of the punk scene, The Dwarves were always happy to turn up to a gig ripped to their teeth, give twenty minutes of speed punk mayhem, strip naked, destroy everything and leave. The word "punk" just seems too appropriate.

These songs will download pretty fast as they're all about a minute long. But with in the course of that minute you've been treated to a riff that sounds like a chainsaw, an angry guy shouting about how rad pussy is and a show of the fact that talent can mean fuck all when you're that entertaining. This stuff shows tedious shit like Crass, Choking Victim and generic anarchy band 637 up for being the misguided nonsense that it is. That music sucked and the message did too. Glad to see the kids are even more dumb now then they were when revolution was vaguely realistic.

Fuck You Up And Get High
Astro Boy
Motherfucker

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Rapeman - Two Nuns And A Pack Mule

And the Steve Albini obsession continues. I swear, if it wasn't for my desire to be diverse, all I'd post would be stuff that involves Albini, Yow and Jason Spaceman.

Albini's lyrics make me cringe sometimes. And trust me, I'm a hard person to make cringe, I can watch the rape scene in Scum with out batting an eye lid. It's not because his wording is on any level bad, but because it's so spiteful, realistic and unpleasant. Take "Trouser Minnow" for example. That song is basically Albini describing some frat girl's sex life from her perspective. Along with the dark, spikey guitar work, it's enough to really make you feel uncomfortable. If music is supposed to be uplifting and life affirming, no one told Albini.

In relation to his other bands Big Black and Shellac, Rapeman shares more musically with Shellac. It was where he started to move away from the big industrial sound and focus more on his distorted twanging. The guitar still sounds as awkward and unsettling as tracks like "Kerosene" but a progression was essential for him if he wanted to get out of the rut that Big Black left him in.

Steak And Black Onions
Radar Love Lizard
Trouser Minnow

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The Upsetters

6:30 am update! Woooo for sleeping badly.

As I've said before, I know next to nothing about reggae as a genre so this write up isn't going to be very easy. Here's what I do know: The Upsetters were debatable a backing band supporting uber reggae producer and stoned nut bar, Lee "Scratch" Perry. Despite there being five of them in total, it is questionable where Perry ends and The Upsetters begin. They released a shed load of records, none of which I own as these tracks are taken from The Perry Arkology, which is really quite good and you should probably own it.

Anyhoo, I decided to put these tracks up, over everything else on the three CD set simply because they seem to be some of Perry's finest. His tried and tested dub and roots reggae sound is present in all tracks which generally blows the collective minds of stoners everywhere. It's also just incredibly relaxing. After a whole day of doing whatever it is you do, it's probably nice to sit down and pretend you're from Jamaica, where nothing bad ever happens.....

One Step Dub
Life Is Not Easy Dub
No Peace Dub

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The Duhks - s/t

As some of you know, I come from a family of morris-dancing hippie folk fanatics, and every year since I was yay high I have been packed into our car and taken to Cambridge Folk Festival. This isn't actually as lame as it sounds, honest. It's actually full of incredible laid-back friendly people, listening to some of the most amazing music on the planet. I know most people who will read this think folk music is all old men with penny whistles and sheepdogs, but it really isn't. "Folk" means "people", right? Folk music is definitely "for the people", more than any other form of music I can think of.

This year at Cambridge Folk Festival, I was introduced to a Canadian band called The Duhks, and was completely blown over. I've never seen my friend Hamish dance before - and despite the fact that he was just slightly intoxicated - this was the only band that got him jigging like a maddened folk-dancing pro. Every year I discover something life-changing at Cambridge. One year it was Joe Strummer (what can I say? The Clash were before my time!), one year it was Suzanne Vega, this year it was The Duhks.

They blend all the traditional elements; celtic fiddles, old-time banjo, gospel-esque vocals, latin percussion, acoustic guitar... and put it in a blender with some extra ingredients and produce something amazing.

Not many bands can capture their live performance on a studio-recorded CD, but The Duhks just about manage it (although if you get a chance to see them live ever, make sure you fight your way to the front), partly with some producing help from the legendary Bela Fleck - possibly the most worshipped contemporary banjo player around?? Not that I know what I'm talking about, but he seems to be the man when it comes to banjos, and whatever he does evidentally works because this album is awesome.

I play it at work and some of the regular customers can now even sing along to the chorus of Death Came A Knockin'. Get this album, whether you're into Agoraphobic Nosebleed or 50 Cent or Bob Dylan. This band is a bunch of really friendly, really talented people, and they deserve your complete attention!

The Wagoner's Lad
Dance Hall Girls

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Fannypack - See You Next Tuesday

Fannypack were, like much of my musical taste, a discovery made on a mix-CD made for me by an eccentric acquaintance. Fannypack are certainly eccentric themselves. Kind of like if Gravy Train!!! hooked up with Gwen Stefani and Missy Elliot and found some really insane male DJs in day-glo outfits with pencil moustaches in a gay club in New York to back them and formed a band together. You know that M.I.A girl? I bet she has this album.

You get the feeling that this record is entirely tongue-in-cheek, sort of the new Chicks On Speed, only less annoying. Even the album title is endeering in a strange sort of way.

I know it is traditional to post the cover of the album with Big Static posts, but the cover of this is boring whilst the bandmembers themselves are slightly more eyecatching, even if the two guys in the band are excluded from this photo. According to Amazon, "other people that bought this album also bought M.I.A, Sleater Kinney, Chicks On Speed..."

Cheeky, catchy, dance hip-hop. Fun stuff!

Seven One Eight
Pump That

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Come Organisation Anthology 1: Archives 1979 - 1981

Since compilations are not a regular feature on Big Static, I thought that this one should be brought to light. Once upon a time, my friend Tim told me all about Whitehouse - the band who were allegedly all paedophiles, and proud of it, and played violent experimental music that apparently gave you headaches. Then, one rainy afternoon, months after Tim had told me the tale at hand, I was at work. I work in a second hand record shop, and we have a massive filing cabinet full of CDs, taken out of their jewel cases and stuffed loosely in rows, lined up in their naked disc-and-paper-inlay rows. I'd say there was easily 3000 CDs in that filing cabinet, mostly crap. But this one afternoon I was absent-mindedly flicking through the only part of the shop I don't know like the back of my hand, and I found this CD tucked between some old Coldplay single inlays and a dodgy happy hardcore album from the 80s.

At first I didn't believe it was really the horrible Whitehouse that Tim had mentioned, but when I looked inside the inlay and found diagrams of dismembered feotuses and eye-ball surgery and fisting and other such things you don't want to see, I knew it must be the very same.

As far as I can tell, there was a band called 'come' (without a capital letter) who were sort of like Throbbing Gristle, only with impressively even more shock value, who also couldn't get signed anywhere - so inspired by TG's Industrial Records, decided to form their own experimental noise label, called the Come Organisation. The band slowly disbanded into many other offshoots and side-projects and so on, including Whitehouse, Nurse With Wound, The Sodality, The 150 Murderous Passions and Bradford Red Light District. Blah blah blah...

This is pretty cool, I suppose. Although, in some sense it is all the glorified sexual perversions and mutilated eardrums of Throbbing Gristle, only without the integrity and genuine pioneering talent and influence of the fabulous Gristle gang.

Worth a listen, nonetheless.

Whitehouse - Shitfun 2
Nurse With Wound - Untitled

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Meat Puppets - II

A lot of you may know the track "Lake Of Fire" from Nirvana's "Unplugged In New York" album. Whilst I seem to be one of the few people who actually still like Nirvana, I have to say their cover did the original no justice. Instead of Curt Kirkwoods gloriously over the top, high vocals we were treated to Cobains dry and in this instance dull vocals and the song just didn't sound right. So I've given you the original to check out and you'll probably get what I'm writing about.

The Meat Puppets reached acclaim during the grunge era, however much like The Butthole Surfers they didn't really utilize the genre's obvious sound. As well as the basic rock elements there were elements of country and folk, topped off with some of the most acid infused lyrics ever to be written. Then add Kirkwood's insane vocals and you have possibly the most interesting band of the grunge era. They didn't really make music that was supposed to change your life or give you insight in to anything really, they just liked making deranged nonsense with a bizarre yet catchy melody behind it.

Lake Of Fire
The Whistling Song

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Songs: Ohia - Tigress

I can only apologise for having taken such a long time with a new post. I don't really have any excuse either, other than having been distracted by other, less important things. It's quite nice to share something I really love after such a long time of not posting, though. Songs: Ohia are not a band so much as just singer-songwriter Jason Molina, who plays with a backing band who seem to exist in a constant state of flux and rearrangement. On The Lioness album, Molina recruited Aiden and David from Arab Strap (yet another band that everybody should check out) and someone else from a band called Apendix Out, who I have never heard but are probably awesome if any of them have anything to do with Songs: Ohia.

This album was released the same year as another Songs: Ohia album, Ghost Tropic. I don't really understand why the two were not released as one double album, because there is none of that acoustic/electric two-albums-released-at-the-same-time faffing about that Bright Eyes tried - which backfired on them anyway since the acoustic album was great and the electric one was a vague mediocre attempt at re-recording their previous albums. Rather, Songs: Ohia released one of the two (I'm not sure if Ghost Tropic or Lioness came first) and then seemed to release an entirely separate but very similar album just a few months later. The latter album, whichever one that is, is almost a continuation of the former; as if Molina recorded one album and just carried on writing songs for the same record, of equal integrity and genius, and so had to release a "part two".

Anyway - I couldn't think of any words really worthy of Songs: Ohia so I googled them to see what other people had said of them and I found a review that said something along the lines of "a quasi-yodeling falsetto, bitter lyrics of heartache, lonely acoustic guitar, spare pseudo-country arrangements, stark melodrama." Cool!

Seriously - you've never heard anything in your life as tragic and starkly depressing as this. Play this on a cold grey day and you'll see what I mean. I know nothing about playing music but according to my friend, the guitar arangements are very simple, which I suppose in a sense is why this music is so beautiful; it's so simple and mournful, and free of pointless complications, that it gets straight to the point. Fans of Neil Young, Nirvana Unplugged, early blues, Jeff Buckley, and every other acoustic heart-wrenching melancholy record ever released, will adore this.

Tigress
Just A Spark

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Ol' Dirty Bastard - Nigga Please

The ODB's death was in the proper meaning of the term, a tragedy. A man with an increadible talent, brought down by a flaw that was obvious in his personality from the beginning. That flaw obviously being that he was a drug crazed nut bar with complete contempt for his long term health. It was the one year anniversary of his death a few months ago and to be honest, I completely forgot about it. I think everyone did. I didn't see any tributes or magazine articles on the matter and the only reminder I got was from hearing his incredible shouty style of rapping whilst I was listening to "The 36 Chambers" on my walkman earlier today. Always expect our beloved media to follow and fuel someone's downward spiral for our entertainmet and then forget about them when that spiral reaches an end.

In case you didn't already know, The ODB was an important member of The Wu-Tang Clan. Not that they all weren't important but somehow he always stood out more for me. The second it came to his turn to start rapping on a Wu-Tang track, the Bastard would steal the show with his rhymes. I think what really made him stand out was his unique take on rapping. Such enthusiasm went in to his rapping that eventually he'd almost be screaming his rhymes out.

I've given you a handful of tracks from one of his solo records. It wasn't the finest release he took part in but it gives you some insight in to where it started to go wrong for him. His ego had started to swell and he'd realized that people would buy anything that he put out. Still, "Nigga Please" is not a bad record, it's not even a mediocre record. Even with his raving crack addiction he could still make some great music and in comparison to the majority of mainstream hip-hop records, this wipes the floor with them. I guess this is the only ODB tribute you're going to see so if you're a fan, I hope we've done the man justice. If you're not already the owner of most of this guys work, for fuck's sake go out and get the whole lot of it.

I Can't Wait
Cold Blooded
All In Together Now

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Deerhoof - Milk Man

It took me a little while to get in to them, but Deerhoof finally started making sense to me. All of those songs about ducks and Pandas stopped sounding completely stupid, Satomi's high pitched singing voice finally went past being really irritating and now feels friendly and sweet. I still have a lot of trouble going along with their train of thought, but then, I think everyone who's ever heard them has the same problem.

So I've given you some tracks from their release last year and I think it's supposed to be a concept album. From reading the lyrics, I think it's about a psychotic man calling himself the milk man, kidnapping kids and taking them to some far off land. It's basically like an indy Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I may be way off on that one but what ever they're going on about, they still make some fun, unpredictable indy-pop that gives you the smiles. I've given you some of my favorite tracks from the album but if you want to try and tackle the concept of the full length, you'll have to go out and buy it. It's an enjoybale fifty minutes anyway so it's money well spent.

Giga Dance
C
Milking

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400 Blows - Black Rainbow

For some reason this band reminds me of The Melvins. Perhaps it's the grizzled punk band playing metal songs sound and image, maybe it's just the bowl loosening heavy nature of most of the songs. Either way it's hard to complain, The Melvins are great and so are 400 Blows. The band consists of three pissed of LA residents, one on drums, one plays guitar and one screams. No bass is present but with the buzz-saw sound of the guitar, it's not like it matters.

They released another record this year titled "Angels Trumpets And Devils Trombones", it's tight and you should scrape some money together and get it. But I've decided to put their debut album up which is equally as good but also contains my favorite 400 Blows track, "The Root Of Our Nature". That song gets me every time. Towards the middle of the song when the band suddenly stop being so disjointed and come together to work together on a fucking huge riff, that's what makes it my favorite. I decided not to be stingey and coughed up another pair of tracks, both are also heavy as hell and the ideal sound track to pissing off everyone around you.

The Root Of Our Nature
Thinking Of You
The Bull That Killed The Matador

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Far - Water And Solutions

Want to hear one of the most ripped-off bands of the 90s? Look no further. It seems everywhere we look nowadays there's some heart torn idiots recycling old Far riffs whilst making complete fools of themselves. Listen to "Mother Mary" and you'll get every Lost Prophets song minus the horrific vocals. But ask thirty scenesters who Far are, I'm pretty sure you'd get maybe one who's heard of them. Hell, I'd probably hate this band for all the shit they've spawned if they weren't so damn enjoyable. Lovely post-hardcore riffs topped off with Jonah Matranga's cold, high and soft vocals. They were on all accounts, the most enjoyable emo/post-emo band of recent times. Their lyrics also covered the traditional "emo" topics such as politics in tracks such as "The System" as well as the inward looking perspective in tracks such as "Bury White".

Relationships would quickly go sour within the band and a number of new, really quite bad acts would come from the rise. Members of Far can now be seen playing in The Revolution Smile and The Gratitude, both of whom are pretty dull. I've also been told that The Gratitude have been touring with Funeral For A Friend. If you find yourself at a Funeral show (which I really hope you won't if you're reading this blog) then you get to see Jonah take to the stage with Funeral and do Far covers......sounds fantastic.

Bury White
Mother Mary

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TV On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

Lets go on a trip back to last year. TV On The Radio had received marginal acclaim from their debut ep "Young Liars" and were all set to blow our minds with their first full length. The thing was, they just seemed like another band a really horrible music rag would write about to get you to pick up their record of god awful 80s revivalism bullshit that everyone will get sick of in a few months. Anyone else wondering when The Datsuns are going to "save rock 'n' roll"? So obviously I looked in to this band with a degree of apathy. What came of it was in fact my favorite record of 2004.

There's just nothing that bugs me about this band. The lead vocals are amazing, the lyrics are heart wrenching and all use of instruments is handled perfectly. The first song on the record to get my attention was "Ambulance", a song where the only instruments used is the bands collective mouths. Pretty quickly I'd gain a liking for every track on the album. I'd like to give you a stronger description of their sound but I couldn't give this band a genre if I tried. There's some rock, some soul, some synth, if you want to make up a genre name for all that then be my guest. All I know is that this record has been on my play list for basically a year now and I still feel good when ever I throw it on.

Dreams
Ambulance

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