Split 7”
Self-Released, 2017
10/10
A split effort from a pair of bands residing from very different parts of California (San Francisco and Bakersfield), Songs For Snakes and If It Kills You have plenty of ideas about music in common, as they both pen one dynamic and exciting tune here.
Songs For Snakes deliver the outstanding “Cobalt Blue”, where a driving pace of energetic melodies and mild post-punk influences hint at influences like J Robbins or even Naked Raygun on this perfect ‘90s rooted tune. The San Francisco trio already impressed me with their album Crystal Vapour Figure, and this track is only making me a bigger fan.
“A Lifetime On The Phone” is If It Kills You’s contribution, and it’s a chunkier tune where post-hardcore nods are certainly not absent, as the tune is drenched in fuzz, thick drumming and an intensity that still shimmers with plenty of pretty noise that tips it hat to Dischord Records.
A great place to start if you want to test the waters of these two criminally overlooked outfits, I’d be willing to bet you’ll be hunting down their respective albums after listening to this split.
Travels well with: Bob Mould- Sunshine Rock; Porcupine- What You’ve Heard Isn’t Real