HEAT TAPE, THE:
Raccoon Valley Recordings: CD
I am so tired of all the hype swirling around this record. Yes, okay Red Scare, we fuckin’ get it: Brett lives in a trailer. This was recorded in a trailer park. Ergo, it must be “real” and authentic. (Has “punk” [whatever the fuck that even means anymore] really degenerated to the point where we ape hip-hop culture’s tedious attempts to “keep it real”?) The sad thing is; this is a pretty solid album. It doesn’t need the stupid trailer park campaign blitz. It could just (I know, I know, this is insane) stand on the tunes alone. The songs are catchy and about as well written as could be expected, as it only took a day to write and record each one. The melodies actually remind me a lot of The Jesus And Mary Chain. (The fuzzy guitars too—how has nobody picked up on that yet? I guess they’re all too focused on how “real” this is. Skinny English people aren’t very “real,” so best not to mention them…) Any of these songs could have worked on the next Dear Landlord record if they were recorded/played a little differently. Though I would have preferred that Brett had saved them for that (I can only spin Dream Homes so much—I need more!) I’ll take what I can get. Ignore the hype and check out The Heat Tape. –Ryan Horky (Red Scare, redscare.net)