In keeping with the theme of listening to music that gets me in the mood for all things summer, I dove headfirst into Crazy & The Brains’ Don’t Need No Snacks much like diving headfirst into a kiddie pool full of beer. Only, without the drowning. Because, you know, you can’t actually swim in beer. Much less in a kiddie pool.
Baldy Longhair Records is definitely my favorite independent label at the moment; I am horribly partial to analog, and I love the feeling and sound of vinyls and cassettes in my hands and in my ears. Snacks was released on 100 clear blue, 100 clear orange, 100 clear purple, and 100 clear yellow cassettes (note the album art). “If you’re a collector, get the 4-pack with four different colored tapes and four covers,” the press release says. “If you’re broke, send us six dollars and we’ll send you whichever cover has the band member we think you’ll find the most dreamy.”
Luckily for me, I received the digital copy, which includes the art of all four dreamy covers. The six-song release has been a great addition to my collection; a fun, dance-y, anti-folk sort of punk that, in listening, makes you feel like a really stupid practical joke is about to be played on you. But aside from the sarcasm and some rather interesting lyrics, there’s no joke. Just rock. And a little roll.
It opens with my favorite track, “Let Me Go,” followed by “Snacks” and “Biggest In The World” on side A, and “Lindsay Lohan,” “Outer Space,” and “Saturday Night Live” making up side B. Sometimes on releases such as this you’ll find the band’s best material on the first side, but Snacks is solid and consistent throughout. I think it’s the xylophone. Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s the xylophone.
What they’ve produced here is a fun, upbeat, and young-sounding tape that will please not only newcomers to the punk rock genre, but fans of bands such as The Black Lips, The Moldy Peaches, and one of my personal favorites, The Dead Milkmen. They’ve managed to take a garage rock sound and a sarcastic punk view and make both into a relevant package again. I am stoked to see them on tour with The Disconnects (also on Baldy Longhair) this summer.
In A Word: Yum.
