Sex Sheet (2015)
A few weeks ago I had reviewed another Sex Sheet record by a band called Hungry Tiger. At the time I called it potentially the best unsolicited record I was ever sent to review. One of the records that is its main competition came in the same package from the same label. Sex Sheet also sent this Beach Party record and it's also on the short list of greatest records anyone has ever sent me for review.
There are a lot of beach bands these days: Beach Slang, Beach House, those pesky Beach Boys. For future bands, I think the word beach is pretty well used up at this point. That being said, Beach Party is worth every bit as much of the attention that those other bands have been receiving. Beach Party is playing a 90's leaning indie rock that owes something of a debt to the lead guitar shredding of bands like Dinosaur Jr. I wouldn't say that Beach Party sounds much like Dinosaur Jr. overall, it's mainly the lead guitar riffing.
The band leans more towards the poppier side of things reminding me at times of Superchunk, but certainly occupying the same space that melodic bands like Overwhelming Colorfast did. The two singers layer on some great harmonies in the always catchy choruses and elevate each vocal melody. Songs like "Hardwick," "Nightmares" and "Carelessly Undefined" really drive the point home and are some of the highlights of the album.
Beach Party was not on my radar at all. If I hadn't been sent this record to review, I'm not sure I would have ever found it on my own and that would have been a real shame. It's one of the better records of the year so don't miss out.
Beach Party - Broken Machine LP:
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