Sauna Youth on Static Shock Records

These days I'm getting so many digital singles sent my way, it's getting impossible to keep up with the physical records that come in and the emails! But when your band name is a play on Sonic Youth, well you have my attention. Heading over to check out Sauna Youth's soundcloud page it ended up being a heavy, catchy indie pop full of thick chord changes and lots of lady harmonies, so I had to pull this one out of the inbox to mention these tracks.

For "False Jesii Pt. II" the press release said this is a big departure from their full length Dreamlands, but this grungy guitar and direct in, vibrating metal string bass sound is a little peek at the crunchy, indie-jangle sound... but not delicate, this has a big distortion footprint. The vocals are where this goes straight into a twee/late '90s Blood on the Wall, Yuck place and beyond. It's a real cute indie rock for Valentine's but the chorus harmony comes out the otherside into Frankie Rose territory, with a line straight back to sha na na's. It's reminding me of that clean, crisply produced Pixies sound from the late '90s and the reference to Sonic Youth is perfect now... this whole scuzzy mess keeps ending up with another layer on top of it. Along with more of these angelic vocals now doing three and four part harmonies, almost getting bigger than that straight groove.

B-sides "Oh Joel" has a dirtier sound and the vocals even have a thin slice of distortion, but it's that kind of fast fun pop, like Dog Day... and these harmonies?! These ladies sound like The Pens fused to the Go Gos. An effortless kind of punk... sweeter than Midnight Snaxxx but it's because they've been mining those Dino jr, and Sebadoh sounds. The demos for this stuff must be fantastic. It's really a complete package, both of these are A-sides, when someone like Sauna Youth hits both out of the park, it's really something special. Every day is anther birthday. It reminds me of the stuff Oddbox was introducing constantly. Are they a really polished version of the Besties, that sort of carfree empty loft space pop?

The site is down at the moment but email staticshockrecords AT gmail for info and ordering this...careful you'll be paying overseas shipping prices. Keep an eye on these guys.