Upside Drown, what a cute band name! Woah, this band is way
beyond cute, this band is really good! Their new record “Mood Music” is a gloom
folk wonderland just garage enough to get the heavy homies at the show bobbing
their heads up and down. The Guitar licks on the piece are badass! At times the
melodies even break into these weird little no wave parts. This tape is really
perfect for the upcoming winter season, these guys and gals from Oakland really
know how to keep it real and suck you in.
Think a softer Grass Widow with a wider palette. This stuff
is really good; the obvious single is “Even Dead Bodies” because of it’s catchy
little chorus, “Eeeevuhn Dead Bodieesssss take up room” it’s haunting but
playful like a kid playing with a dead bird on the side of the road finding
curiosity in the bird’s rigamortis. So morbid, oh well! Despite the single
coming early in the record Upside Drown manage to push this record to a
blissful limit. I think I listened to it 10 times on repeat last night alone.
Open Palms, is my other favorite track on here. It’s a
slower track that really drifts along with a tender vocal styling and odd
percussion that is different than the rest of the tracks on the record. It slowly
builds up and sinks back down into itself and opens up for a tiny little
ripping distorted guitar solo, so dreamy! You have to buy this tape people!
Packaging wise this is one of the most beautifully done
tapes I have seen in awhile. The J-card is letter-pressed and there is even a
little zine containing lyrics stuffed in there! Actually the J-card might be
polymer plate printed, either way it is still very nice! This tape comes with a
download code as well for digital files. A really gorgeous release from Upside
Drown and the good label heads over at Antiquated Future. I can’t wait to see
what the young Olympia label dishes out next!
Buy and Listen HERE
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