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![Sleepies - More Humans EP - 2013 [GODMODE]](https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000057148976-zyanvj-t1080x1080.jpg)
ALL CONCERN RESTS WITH THE DEAD
Sleepies and the shake of punk to come
By Nick Sylvester
What a beautiful thing, to work with a band at the height of their powers!
But working with a band right at the moment they are becoming more than themselves...
I adore these a-sides: Curled upper lip type snarling and nobody out there does it better than Sleepies. Who has written a better hook than "Get fucked and other suggestions"? Who but Josh could pull off a "Sweet Emotion" nod and get away with it? What drummer has more defined musculature than Max, and the gall to play the bell of a cymbal when we all expect a crash? Punk songs with "moments". When was the last time you looked forward to one very particular *thing* happening in a song? Cued it up and waited for that thing to happen. Whatever there is of a punk rock black belt, these guys got all four stripes. What a beautiful thing.
But then there's this "Annalisa" cover, which--
How do you go back? From this?
This is the shake of punk to come. It is not disco, or post-punk, or even death disco, but there's a ferocious and beguiling stomp to it all, kinda like the Dicks' "Saturday Night At the Bookstore". More than anything, it just feels now, in a way that the whole "total energy thing"--which Sleepies were smart enough to avoid the first time--is feeling a lot less like now.
This fucking cover. Jesus! I love how the boys reconfigured the original to have a Theo Parrish-like disco edit feel: the way the guitar riff cuts off all the sudden, followed quickly by the next verse. That was all done live, and the unique structure didn't strike me until we were recording at Silent Barn this past May. (For the tape nerds out there: Yes, this was recorded on the legendary Tascam 388.)
The extreme restraint these three bring at the top of the song slowly unfurls, and by the time they reach the end, it's devolved into the most pleasant creaking ship cacophony imaginable. An unreal amount of self-control, to pull this off convincingly. We decided to let love live, and didn't trim a second of it.
*More Humans* is available on hand-stamped, hand-numbered electric blue cassette, limited to 100 copies. Available now at GODMODE.
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SLEEPIES
More Humans EP
GODMODE CAT NO 032
SLEEPIES:
Thomas Seely - vocals, guitar
Josh Intrator - bass
Max Tremblay - drums
Recorded by Nick Sylvester at Silent Barn, BK, NY
Mixed by Nick Sylvester at Sound City, BK, NY
Mastered by Sarah Register at The Lodge, NY, NY
"Big Rip", "Dig", and "Plant Life" by Sleepies.
"Annalisa" by Public Image Limited.
All sounds by Sleepies
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press inquiries: nbs at entergodmode dot com
- Genre
- punk
Contains tracks
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