Coin Opportunity - Tiny Patches

Coin Opportunity

Tiny Patches
self-released; 2015

3.4 out of 5

By Megan Gazzo

Coin Opportunity by Tiny Patches is a dynamic album that brings many flavors of punk to the table. The first song “Bytes” is a soft punk feel. Definitely get a Pixies vibe mixed with Courtney Love. The main vocals are childlike and innocent. She sounds like a little pixie from the forest but one with an edge. The drums are loose and unkempt and the guitar solo is screechy and takes us on a walk down its chords into the darker riffs. The next song “When It Passes” is high tempo and upbeat. Her vocals are super soft and fun dip like. She almost sounds modest, but her lyrics certainly aren't and neither is the music. The drums are simplistic and rapid fire while the guitar has some killer solos that really make me feel the Pixies again.

The next song brings in a male singer as well. The song is called “Rainbows.” This song reminds me of a group of darkly clad individuals eating Skittles while they loiter and cause havoc. It walks that line between being dark and grime-y, but something silly like Skittles or strawberry bubblegum is favored by them. Their undying innocence and vulnerability yearns to be covered up by what seems to be their hard exterior and thickly shelled punk music exterior, but it is obvious that they have a soft side. A punk song about rainbows is funny for everyone. Why or how could one be slightly agitated by something as beautiful as some water droplets in the sky? But hey the color black is just the rainbow all mixed together. right? 

The next song “Knitted” is another funny topic for punk music to cover. "Knitted" reminds me of the love that this grunge/punk group has for their grandmas. Again, so tough and so untouchable, yet a candy apple vocalist and a song about knitting. I think this music is great for those that feel misunderstood and love to get down and dirty at a show, but are still extremely soft, emotional people. The recording of this album is overly basic. It does not sound over mastered or maybe even mastered at all. All of the instrumentals even sound somewhat distant less the guitar solos. The main vocalist never rises out of her softly spoken singing voice. She always continues to keep it even keeled. One can imagine her with hair in front of her face, stage fright ridden and very shy - yet able to pull off putting this album together. On the last song “Crab Angst” the singer is able to pull her vocals forward more with a little more energy behind her lyrics. She offers some soft screaming. Feels higher energy than most the songs on the piece - a good closing act. 

If you like punk/grunge music you will like this album. It is consistent in its sound and overall one dimensional in its recording. The guitarist is talented and has a few star moments, and the singer really perfumes the whole album with her sweet, reaching voice. This is like a punk 101 album for those that aren't really that into the hard core moshing pits, but like a little head banging and jumping around mindlessly and aimlessly. I like the way this album brings me back to the good old days growing up in the industrial city of Pittsburgh and all of the punk bands that were mushrooming up in high school. Everyone wanted to be in one, no matter how talented they were at actually playing drums and guitar. If you could hold a beat - a rhythm - then you were on to be in the band. This reminds me of that. It is raw and unkempt - unrefined and undefined - and yet something that hits as a reminder of those high school moments and the angst-y need to scream off the extra emotion and turn it into something productive and creative.

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