We Are Bloods are a trio, the holy rock trinity of guitar, bass and drums. They're part of the Australian invasion that seems to be swelling on 7inches. (Take that porn searches - ed) Not only do they invoke the rock trinity but they went a step further when Dirk, MC & Sweetie finally committed to their trio ways they decided to swap instruments, forgetting everything they knew to start over behind a different instrument entirely. Dirk, now on drums, played guitar most of his life, Sweetie on bass played the violin before picking up the bass for example. It's a smart approach that leads to still having that punk foundation but stripped of coordination they can recapture that stripped down primal energy of garage that can easily get too intellectual.
A-Side's "Into My Arms" is a sludgy bass end mix of a neon Vivian Girls sound thanks in part to Sweetie's vocals piled up, working in layers of harmony with more of a punk edge like Brilliant colors pushed far off in the background. Letting this fast chorus and heavy heavy layer of reverb run away with things, the guitar coming out of both channels. That reverb pierces through the mud, building a density of frantic pounding and when it switches to a refrain they belt in a harmony for a second and destroy it with a single note solo. Great video. "Mi-Luchador" comes up with a straight electric line covered in gritty distortion, even the drums have that shitty sound slathered all over them, the cymbal crashes devolving into static. I think they're delivering hat least half of these lyrics in spanish and it's been a while since high school. No idea what they're about but it must be a ripping B-movie time. Firey attitude with that Frank Black feel of taking those chances on dynamics adding waaa's and oh's behind here, a scuzzy garage revision to a sock hop sound. It goes full throttle hardcore speed, doubling everything yelling into the mics. Nice overall texture to the release and they manage to pull off a punk-gaze using the same ingredients as everyone else but borrowing unique pieces of hazy sauce.
B-Side's "What Do I Care?" has the best blown out snare a real genius sound, metallic and fed through another broken speaker, but it's a second to count off an even grittier bass, or is that a guitar? Frantic vocals like a Mika Miko demo track or Grass Widow if they merged with White Lung. Somehow keeping things unassuming or pretentious at this hardcore speed. "Next to You" has clean guitar this time and haunted wooo's headed into a ballad sound, a bit like the Coathangers kind of attitude. These guys have those quirks and points of view in spades and when they get together on the mics there's that same kind of harmony magic. Slamming snare in metronome 4/4 going right for the Shangri-La's back and forth vocal, asking each other questions in ghostly reverb. The way this feels unfussy puts it over the edge, I don't want them to lose this homemade quality. They don't mess around with looseness otherwise, they have dialed in the songwriting keeping it tight and it's all about this crazy tones they got after the fact.
This sleeve reminds me of that Jacuzzi Boys No Seasons, just scrawls on a high school notebook, graphiti for yourself, pizza, bikes, panda's , in a giant crazy pattern. Bright red clear vinyl pressing of 500 from Whooping Crane Records
