Okay Pants, look at you with these snazzy jazzy rock tunes I imagine I will be jamming to quite often. The band's main motivation is make listeners "dance their pants off." In the era of yoga pants and skinny jeans that's quite a feat, and I respect their ambition. Pants is an indie funk and other junk band cut from the cloth of Seattle's music scene. With just five tracks, they managed to seduce me rather easily.
Opening the flood gates is the first track, "Breakdown." It's a six-minute jam fest that hold itself together VERY well. It's a TIGHT six minutes. It is fluid and high energy without being overly stimulating. Next up comes "Disappear" which is a little more quirky with pointed lyrics. This one really digs into the smooth jazz elements that give this album a cheeky sort of ironic elevation. You can't not at least give these guys a little shoulder action with this tune. Track three is "Back In The Gun." It's got a great indie rock jam vibe, very surfy, very groovy. This song also houses some of my favorite lyrics on the album. "Lost Myself" goes in hard with the synth and epic rock riffs. Something about this song just turns on the neon lights in my head. Where's the fog machine? Last but not least is "Fight To Shine." Great title, and again fantastic lyrics. This made for such a great closer to this album because the narrative stakes are so high in this one. This band is bursting with musical talent. These guitar riffs, the delicious bass lines - good lord, the experimental percussive elements. They really know how to command time. None of these songs felt like they were longer than three minutes. One element I want to put a spotlight on is the vocal performances in the album. So utterly fabulous, he put his whole rib cage into it. Their energy was so symbiotic and alive. Plus, you can tell they were having a damn good time making this music. The production on this album is pretty clean. It was engineered to go big, epic and even a little theatrical. Not Sold In Stores was a studio project recorded in Chartreuse Muffin Studio in Washington. Mixing and mastering was done by the hands of Max Stephens wielding ProTools. There was special attention paid to highlighting the quirks and diverse samples that gave this album so much flavor. I wanted to make sure I took time to commend the production efforts. Man, I really gotta get out to Seattle and see these guys with my own eyes and ears. I definitely have to buy a damn pair of pants 'cuz that name is AWESOME. I think this group is a solid lineup of talent and I think album is incredibly cool. It's a classic of putting lots of good in and getting cool, groovy jams out.
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