Glass Hits / Accordion Crimes split on Snappy Little Numbers Records

Snappy Little Numbers has outdone themselves with this one...a three color screened 1/4" thick plywood cover of a sad bee specimen, heavy and imposing, a real work of art. Then they carry the bee colors into the vinyl pressing of yellow/orange with black and yellow center label. Chuck and Cause Medic Ink sent the interns to Home Depot and had them cutting up 7" size squares long into the night. They went a little nuts with the amount of time and effort put into each single but then these two Denver bands aren't exactly new to getting attention but usually it's just for the tracks inside. Both of these guys opened for one of my favorite bands of all time A Minor Forest recently

Glass Hits side "Action Potential" opens with a heavy gravely guitar quickly joined by another layer of pushy compressed distortion with the vocals doing their best to match with raw throaty screaming the crunch of these two guitars tracked together. Truly aggressive At The Drive In sounding dense layered stuff that must take everything out of all involved and be an insane live show - there's no way you could just stand back and witness this. He's got one of those high register deliveries while the instrumnetation is winding a complex heavy mammoth trail, plowing over anything in their way like a sharper take on Red Medicine. "Dying on the vine" is another guitar driven number where they seem to zoom in on a looped fast tempo riff that winds in around itself and squeeze like that (hot) snake. This time Greg is slightly going easy with his voice, with a Suicide Invoice feel the big jagged stuff that hits the glass. These drums are played in a huge cathedral right against a wall, the bass is in the opposite corner like Steve Albini a shallow reverb peaking out and it's the thing that overwhelms. You're never really ready for it. No matter how many times you put the needle back at the beginning.

Accordion Crimes "New Technique" has a disjointed murky beat, an unsettling loop for bass or low tuned guitar to force this single note down like some kind of audio foie gras, in the way they become a post punk combination of Shellac and Gang of Four and hit those perfect references for me. The line stuttered in perfect time with the spastic chord bursts I...am not...Jackson Pollack with nimble stops and starts, perfect control over huge tough sounds. The vocals drop way out into that room underneath the floorboards like Mr Pollack himself chained up in the basement.

Get this from Snappy Little Numbers direct.

Lion Sized / Accordion Crimes Split on Cash Cow Productions Records

Cash Cow Records, who has recently relaunched their label after a lengthy 13 year hiatus is back with this split single from two bands I've sadly never heard out of Denver, CO...there is definitely some angry, alienated Albini stylings in the water out there, and it's actually surprising now that I hear this more bands aren't carrying that torch. Steve couldn't possibly have explored every aspect to that minimal, aggressive sound.

Lion Sized's offering, 'Three bed, Two bath' is a massive abrupt stop start produced Les Savy Fav or Hot Snakes frantic rock sound, right down to the vocals...huge punches of percussion in a scientifically sine wave balanced room. Dirty...raw bass where the strings are vibrating, it's actually sitting on top of the mix, right next to the vocal, clean as day. Immediately this made me want to go hear Action Park...again. The same volume and craft is present here...with more energy...a different kind of immediate pacing. Shellac seems to take a slow burn approach, hitting you when you least expect..right in the speaker cone. Like the little breakdown section which drives that messy bass home...it feels like they've been at this for years, and really deserve some attention for this thing....that goes for both of these guys.
I love the end of this track, they stop on a dime and you hear drum sticks drop and cables pulled out of jacks...when they're done, they mean it, break that shit down quick.

Accordion Crimes bring a similar clean crunch, dark alley sound with their track 'Academy', these guys go in s different Gang of Four severe direction, when they break into syllable bursts of ultra-post punk, statement driven spoken word... 'I would kill for an original thought.' Metal electric guitar scrapes chords over unnatural drums that are all punches... as hard as possible. It builds to a cathartic final verse...he means it. Literally he's going to kill someone. Shellac is definitely haunting the magnetic particles in that reel to reel box on the sleeve. This one might even be more bass centric than Lion Sized...where do both of these bands get off letting the bassists write songs? I mean, who knew they had it in them?
These are best played loud of course, mastered by Bob Weston (ah ha) it's really a perfect split...these two must play together in CO, and if that's the case, I couldn't imagine a better live show. All this leads me to believe Denver has some angry and cold underpinnings, both of these bands are playing with such measured expression, nothings wasted on excess or god forbid...emotion. Can I even go further and use it as some kind of metaphor for the country? Well...it makes sense.
There's a lot of frustration out there.

If the bank foreclosed on your house, get this one from Cash Cow Records. It's only $5. It's the only thing besides devil alcohol that will make you feel better.