Anything worth discussing today? Well, Cars 3 was just as good as I thought it was going to be, with new characters making their way into the trilogy of films but other lovable ones like Mater didn’t have enough screen time I thought. Eh, it was what it is, it is what it was. But moving on…! It’s a long weekend for some, a bit of a hurdle for most so this week’s Rollout(!) we’re keeping short and sweet.
Fruit & Flowers is from, of all places, Brooklyn N.Y. Now while I’m usually hesitant to believe anymore that anyone from N.Y. is actually originally from N.Y. aside from my friends and family, it doesn’t matter. I’m always open to look past that as the years go by. But I digress. The Brooklyn-based band classifies itself as a “surf noir” garage psych band but what I can tell from its latest E.P. Drug Tax (Little Dickman), there’s more going on here than they might give themselves credit for. Don’t get me wrong, they do have elements within their music but they’re wrapped around these pop/punk jams.  “Out Of Time” is catchy as fuck where you have vocalist Caroline Yoder’s voice holding things down but the musical backbone doesn’t play second fiddle. They’re equally intriguing but that rhythm will have listens swaying back & forth while the quick pace of “Subway Surfer” will drag you through tracks and feed your sense at the same time. But it’s the band’s thoughtful cooing on “Down Down Down” on this unrelenting track full of layered vocals that’ll have you swimming in the lush wall of sound they create. They end things here with the haunting title track which offers up a little bit more of everything that they do well, showcasing the guitar chops and so much more. At just a mere 6 tracks Drug Tax has a lot to offer. Brooklyn in the house.

Now here I am wondering WTF is this Holy Wars. Is this the year of discontent? Of a coming reckoning? I’m not sure but the new self-released E.P. Mother is explosive! Sure there’s been the synth-goth comparisons to other groups that came before Holy Wars but this 3-song release is rife with power and more than what the sub-genre holds tightly to. From the start, opening number “I Can’t Feel A Thing” sounds like a rallying emotive cry where front woman Kat Leon imagery of solitude yearns for more while the driving musical force behind her captures the sadness with anger and power. “Warrior” is a mid-tempo’d number with Leon’s sexy caterwauling that’s just easy to fall in love with.  But it’s “Orphan” that challenges, changing the vibe slightly with sultry vocals and odd sounds emanating from those synths. That rhythm though is like the syringe in your veins that makes your head nod.  At only 3 songs Mother is a powerful release. I can’t wait to hear what’s next with the follow-up release, the Father E.P.

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