Artist: Homemade Ski Mask
Album: redballbluechicago
Label: Big Eleanor Records
Release Date: 17/01/2021
Country: United States
Let’s take a look at Homemade Ski Mask and their debut EP redballbluechicago, released on January 17th on Big Eleanor Records.
The two-piece outfit hail from Lancaster, Pennsylvania consisting of members Mike Tennant and Danny NoNo. The duo is joined by guest artists/friends of the band Howzit and Gnar Cyst on track 5. The band play a blend of punk, noise and fuzz rock and have a high level of energy and a noticeable sense of humour. The album was recorded at the Kaleidoscope, Pennsylvania.
The album has an overall punk essence to it, this comes through in the lyrics, the instrumental aspects and in the overall pissed off angsty vibe of the music itself. Having said that there is a solid blend of noise and fuzz rock elements in the overall mix. The use of both clean and distorted punk vocals gives the whole album a nice bit of variety. There’s also a good mix in regard to the guitar on the album, with the band shifting between riffs that are clearly punk influenced and those that sit much more firmly in the fuzz or noise rock camp. The guitar tone is also varied, changing as is needed depending on the overall energy of the track. The bass is required by law of all punk releases has a thickness to it and runs consistently at a higher energy level. Drum wise we also get a great blend of styles, but that underlying punk energy is always there driving the performance. This is another example of the promise of the new wave of modern punk music, sitting in the same vein as bands like IDLES and Viagra Boys.
The tempo and aggression levels on each track rise and fall as the EP progresses. Song such as Back on My Bullshit definitely lean more into pun aggression, while tracks like Shooter are much more on the mellow side of things. Then you get songs like Sperry Stomp that are a perfect mix of the two, giving us a great blend of catchy rock rhythms, angsty punk riffs and hooks and a great blend vocally speaking. The chorus on that track is also super catchy and had me coming back to this song over and over again. Boogey Woogey would have to be the most experimental track on the album and features the most noise elements by far, making for an interesting listen. Backwoods, the final song on the EP is the track that features both of the album’s guest artists. This is by far the most aggressive song on the album and both of the guest vocalists give a stellar performance, fully embracing the punk energy on the release. This also another song that I came back to a few times and is a perfect way to close off the album.
Overall, this is an interesting and varied debut EP. Personally I’m a big fan of what the band is laying down and look forward to seeing what they do next. I think their style will appeal to a lot of people as there’s influences from a few different genres blended here. There is enough raw punk energy to please a lot of fans, but there’s enough noise and fuzz elements to please fans of those genre’s too. So, take 15 minutes out of your day and give this bad boy a spin or two.
Listen to and order the album below:
Bandcamp:
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