Hugs deserve hugs, high fives, burritos, and 7"s (things all
these guys love as far as i know) for the things these kids all
do with their lives. So, if you are ever lucky enough to see this
band, shower them with these things. The Tarpit is a record that
seemingly embodies the hearts and souls of everything within these
four sweet Iowa boys. Wildy passionate, imaginative, sincere, good
intentioned, thinking, feeling people have come together to make
a record which immediately reflects such spirits. The lyrics full
of positive, idealistic messages are well thought out, and make
for a good read alone outside of the context of any sort of musical
recording, but when you combine these with the intensly heartfelt
delivery, and the off-kilter tilt-a-whirl styled post-hardcore jammings
of this band, you get quiet an incredible amalgamation. The music
on this is really interesting, which is typical of landlocked midwestern
bands with no coastal trends to pay tribute to. You can tell it
draws from many different influences, which maybe the only negative
thing about this record. Sometimes things are too busy to really
tell what's going on. It's sort of like if The Assistant listened
to more ZZ Top instead of Judas Priest. Out and out metal riffs
are declined in favor of the occaisional big rock sounding guitar
in the background. The Tarpit is a clusterfuck of nasal guitar fills,
bumpin' basslines, piled ontop of late 90's styled hardcore song
structure and traditional punk rock delivery. Does that sound like
a handful to deal with? For those of you wanting me to cut to the
chase already, I'll do it. Hugs music is for fans of bands like
Song of Zarathustra, Harriet the Spy, Pageninetynine, Books Lie,
and Off Minor. The Tarpit is definitely worth your while, and you'll
play it's 13 songs over and over again all day once you get it.
