The Knew on Snappy Little Numbers

Maybe I've been listening to a lot of Warm Soda lately, but The Knew out of Denver have a lot on common with that bands fist in the air bubblegum garage sound combined with an after school basement glam sound that's accessible and near impossible to duplicate. It's no surprise that neighbors Snappy Little Numbers were there to scrape together the sticky confetti into the squished grooves of mixed color vinyl on their latest single.

A-Side's "What's Hip (Long Walk)" opens up on crunchy riffs that expand into an orchestral epic sound that includes a sax, another impossible element you wouldn't set out to try and incorporate. I think I read some reference to Springsteen and you get that ensemble rock sound for a few seconds until the vocals hit and they become more like Nude Beach. A casual tried and true rock sound is at the core of the layered theatrics, like the way The Annuals take the simplest melody and expand it into an anthemic ROCK. The track drops down to the bass and a piano takes over plowing up and frown the keys. They can't wait to build this back up bigger than before with a bit of Love is All manic energy or Andrew WK spotlight. "The Long Walk" call and response lyric from the band and Jacob Hansen has a tiny bit of Sandanista in here and the Clash's willingness to go wherever to song led them while squeezing in ska and rockabilly along the way, hell anything they felt like cramming in.

An organ and snare trade beats on B-Side's "World War Ay Ay Ay (Alright​)" in a faster tempo, a morning sounding power pop with layers packed into glam pops and bursts with a watery phase on these vocals. The rest of the band riles up Jacob with every HEY they can fit in edgewise. When they get this up to full gallop speed you realize this was that big race for all the chips. They aren't saving anything for later, completely going for it so however it plays out it doesn't really matter, it's going to stand. They were given a bit of rope and ran away with it, exploring every dense melody of power pop. It's all been pulled out of the closet. The stuff saved up for years laid out on the sidewalk one weekend. A garage sale from former roommates Marc Bolan and Paul Westerberg. They're finally moving out of this dumb town and going to make it big.

Get this one from Snappy Little Numbers on randomly mixed color vinyl.