victim of time
Easter is right around the corner, so what better way to welcome the cutest, fluffiest, and rising-from-the-deadest season than with the aptly-timed release of the debut 7" by Miami's The Electric Bunnies on Florida's Dying Records. This record from the mysterious Floridian band, comes packed with three songs of noise-driven and punishingly great sludge-pop heaven that run the gamut from nervous to nerveless and stick right in your skull at first poke. The A-side's lead off, and instant smash hit is "Eskimo," (check it out HERE) a track so bubblegummy and sunny sounding you can just tell they're really glad they're not stuck up in the North with us suckers still getting snowed on in April. The Zeros really nailed this similar sound with songs like "Hand Grenade Heart" back in the 70s, and The Electric Bunnies hit the same infectious stride and then dump a loud-humming food processor on top of it. By this time, you can already tell something's warming up inside you, and yes, it's the record, but you better get yourself ready. The next track, "Eat Worms," has got to have one of the best recording/production awards from 2007 handed to it. The song orgiastically bleeds black blood out of the speakers and makes you shudder with pleasure as the puked-up, echo-fucked guitar squelches drive you literally over the edge. Explosive, powerful, and right to the point, yet with an authentic, grimy personality that seems like it could drive these dudes right up the, uh, charts! Although we've already got a home run single going here, the B-side may cause a few noses to turn, yet it's really just a small part of a 3-song glimpse into their vast spectrum of fuzzy musical personalities. So look out all you over-categorizers, this band takes a little from the best of all angles so that usually guarantees a great knack for exciting song writing is somewhere in the formula. After playing this about ten times in a row, it's become apparent that it's an essential piece of modern punk without boundaries that if you're lucky, you can still pick up right HERE or at their record release show April 20th at Copper Rocket Pub in Orlando.

TERMINAL BOREDOM
Debut single from this Floridian trio and it's pretty damn great. "Eskimo" leads things off, as it should, as it's the bona fide pop hit. Retardedly catchy and sing-a-long friendly, it shows how these guys have a knack for crafting wonderfully simple pop songs but aren't afraid to fuck with the prettiness a bit by adding a layer or two of warbling feedback underneath the whole thing. "Eat Worms" follows and while not as immediately satisfying as "Eskimo" it still oozes enough grubby spunk to garner repeated plays. The flip, "Counting Sheep", will probably piss some people off, but I love it. Sounding absolutely nothing like the band on the A-side (or how the band sounded live), it's a mutant lullaby with slow, hypnotic vocals over top of primitive, warbling synths and feedback with uber-primitive thud-thud-plink percussion. With three fairly different songs, all of them being high quality, and a solid live show I'd say there's yet another new band out there to pay attention to. More, please. (JG)
...Here's what this single has going for it: two eminently catchy tunes that sound nothing like each other. "Eskimo" is a fairly straightforward pop song, albeit a slightly warped one. The verse is built on the deadly one-two punch of a taut bass-line/handclap combination that serves as a nice prelude to a ridiculously awesome chorus. 'Eskimo" is followed up by "Eat Worms" which is more of a thud-thud blown out affair that benefits greatly from a bizarre hook (can't tell if it's vocal or instrumental) that repeats itself at the end of each line of the verse. I like it. On the B-side they lose me with an interminable song called "Counting Sheep" that is one of the more painful listens it has ever been my misfortune to stumble upon. If the goal of this song was to replicate the annoyance of not being able to sleep they did a bang up job. What takes this from just overlong and boring to realms of sonic torture I never dreamed possible is an ear-piercing click that repeats itself throughout the entire song. It feels like being chained to a wall and tortured by a dripping faucet just beyond my grasp. After listening to this for four minutes (or was it four hours?) I've determined that it sounds like the noise of a hammer hitting a stone on a Super Nintendo game. Did they sample "The Secret of Mana" or something?!?!?? Despite the lame 33rpm seven inch format - and b-side that makes the cries of a dog caught in a bear trap sound like the Kinks - the A-side is strong enough to make this a recommended purchase. You'll never need to flip it over though, trust me.(SB)