Willie Bess (vocals/guitar), Matty Begnaud (bass) and Derek Begnaud (drums) are Warm Frames. They recently released Might As Well which is a five-song EP. They mention Sonic Youth, The Stooges, Black Flag, My Bloody Valentine, assorted pop music from the ‘80s and ‘90s are some of their influences. As a fan of those bands I would say that makes sense. In fact I first saw Sonic Youth live in the early ’90s and some of their music definitely comes from a similar place.
The band gets going with “Poser” which begins with a sliding guitar riff that is quickly assaulted with drums and bass. I would say as far lo-fi goes this is very lo-fi. It’s hard to tell what’s going on as ghostly vocals sometimes surface and feedback comes from all angles but I still enjoy the ominous sort of quality the song has. “Suburban Brat” is a messy, dissonant yet glorious song. Everything is detuned and this song felt like a mix between The Stooges and Sonic Youth. Trashy drums and distorted guitars mix with a loose vocal performance. Everything feels in the moment and borderline improvised. The bass leads the charge with “Space Gurl.” They more or less jam on this riff for about the first two minutes until everything caves into this soundscape of noise. There’s white noise and honestly what sounds like animals moaning in pain. I’m not sure how they got those sounds but it was cool. It was experimental and absurd and also one of the best moments on the EP. “Orlando is Dying” is very out of tune and dissonant. They still manage to pull off this liberatingf song that sounds inspired by shoegaze. There are moments where the song just crumbles into an aggressive distortion. Things get faster leading to a punk rock riff. They occasionally lock in and then don’t and that’s some of the charm. “Rhythm Zero (bonus)” is an overly distorted cloud of noise. I heard some vocals and guitar in the air. I couldn’t make out a word but I think that might have been the intent. I definitely appreciate the spirit in which this release was made. That being said there were moments that were a little too lo-fi even considering the style of music. On that note I also think there’s a lot of potential here. They are onto something with the mix of Sonic Youth and The Stooges. Recommended.
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