Hailing from Vancouver comes the four-piece, heavy rocking BUMMER HIGH. This is their second cassette on Green Burrito Records after their debut on Southpaw from last year.
To acquaint yourself a little better with Bummer High, they feature members from bands like Indian Wars and Timecopz, who all happen to reside in Vancouver. Their new cassette EP includes five healthy tracks, all of which stick to their invigorating sound that falls somewhere between psyched-out garage rock and sharp post-punk with a dash of atmosphere, but neither element seems to overshadow the other – they keep it balanced better than you might think.
“Old Chief” is an unsettling and rowdy introduction to begin the cassette, as these dudes plow through with all sorts of energy that seemingly comes from nowhere. Right off the bat this begins to be the theme in these five songs, where cassette highlight “Cough Syrup” goes a long way to help us classify the kind of sound they’re striving for. Metallic guitars sound both sharp and glowing as they crash onward into these haunting and menacing noise attacks that swirl and explode while you simultaneously widen your eyes in shock. That relentless black hole of noise you were just introduced to combines with destructive cymbal beatings which is like the equivalent of exposure to toxic amounts of radiation. Or something like that.
The self-titled track “Lost Highway” features guitars that twang and quiver as they stomp along, almost supplying a folk-tinge somewhere deep in the depths. They eventually roll into this heavyweight exit which sounds drastically jagged and threatening, so consider yourself warned. Following that, “Hang’em High” strolls in with a marching snare drum beat that drives the song. The march leads us straight into some excellent soloing which is just as rough and rugged as the rest of these burners, while closer “Something’s Wrong” wraps up with gleaming guitar strums that sound empowered and heavenly. All that being said, you should probably get into it before it’s too late. Snag a tape now from Green Burrito Records, there’s only 90 to go around.
Cough Syrup –
Hang’em High –
My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Post-Punk, Noise Rock, Alternative
Lost Highway CS: Tracklist:
1.) Old Chief
2.) Cough Syrup
3.) Lost Highway
4.) Hang’em High
5.) Something’s Wrong
BUY the cassette directly from Green Burrito Records – limited to 90, act fast !
Bummer High on Facebook
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