VIDEOTAPE "Salty" / IMPULSIVE HEARTS "MDB"
(impossible colors records split cassingle club)



This “split cassingle from Chicago dream pop bands” totally sounds like a split cassingle from Chicago dream pop bands. And it is a really good split cassingle from Chicago dream pop bands. I like side two the best. Impulsive Hearts choogle along like an early Arcade Fire and then jam the fuel tank into the gas on the outtro with an extra layer of Honey’s Dead! era JAMC-like verb and fuzz and really exciting rhythmic chant/shout backing vox that sound a lot like early Arcade Fire. I think they are shouting “I, I, fall over” but I can’t really tell. It might be “ai, ai, dung raver” or “nigh, nigh, dump love urffs.” I guess the ambiguity is dreamy. Anyway you wanna appease it, the rhythmic chanting/shouting is exciting over the top of all that pretty fuzz. Side 1 begins with a couple of tentative ooh ooh oohs before a driving guitar and synth hook kicks in to give a fleshed out chorus of ooh ooh oohs firm footing. This one is a pretty lil fuzz pop burner and I can tell from the way the drummer pounds out the steady deep tom 8 counts that turn the tune back round into the hook that Videotape would probably be a fun live prospect. The outtro jam on this one isn’t as exciting as the flip side’s and consists of some too concise modal delayed guitar soloing over the recurring main hook. Videotape’s production isn’t as crisp as Impulsive Hearts’ either and the lack of treble bite kind of sucks some energy out of what could be an even more (er)rousing tune. I guess that muffled quality is kind of dreamy.  Either way I do like this split cassingle from Chicago dream pop bands. I do generally like my dreams weirder and my fuzz louder but that’s my problem I guess. These guys and gals are probably doing just fine.


-- Brantley Fletcher