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Coming...
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Pitchfork Track Review for "Summer Jammin'" (Rating of 7):
Bands are getting noisier. It's either lo-fi or it's loud, it's hazy or
"experimental," and overall, yeah, it's noisy. But sometimes all that
dissonance can sound downright disaffected. That's why it's been hard
for me to contain my excitement over the three tracks that make up
Whatever Brains' addictive new 7", "Mt. Whatever". However regrettable
the moniker may be, these strident, Raleigh, North Carolina,
thrash-brats are plugging into an inspiriting boisterousness that's
been too often lost in all the feedback.
The single's "Summer Jammin'" is one of the few existing Whatever
Brains' songs that doesn't surrender to the panicked, paranoid
histrionics they seem so fond of, running at half-speed and indulging
in that waltzy guitar jangle that got people so excited about Black
Lips a few years ago. Singer Rich Ivey seems inspired by Trail of
Dead's Conrad Keely, able to soar above the dredge and manic attention
deficit to attain something positively emotive and melodic. "Jammin'"
is certainly a little deranged and a little bleary-eyed (let's just say
that if Travis Bickle ever decided to start a garage band, the Brains
would be out of a job), but by the time that tidal-wave of a chorus
kicks in, you'd be hard pressed to find a soul in the joint unable to
throw his arms up in testimony.
- zach kelly
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Still Single, Dusted Online Zine:
Rickety,
flying off the tracks power pop/garage action from some Chicago Raleigh
kids with a finely tuned sense of chord structure and progression,
which allows them to jump all over the place with odd, clashing
melodies against a punk framework. They speed it up on the title track,
slow it down on “Summer Jammin’” and hang out in the middle on “Crass
Ringtones,” each track holding its own in a sea of competitors thanks
to their more or less unique sound. The songs stuck with me, as did the
nasal, triple-tracked vocals and the overall tightness of the rhythm
section, velocity be damned. Good times!
- doug mosurock
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