Brat Curse Brat Curse LP
Straight out of Columbus, OH, BRAT CURSE leans heavily on a mixture of power pop and grunge. It takes some real vision to take two distinctly different genres and squish them into one band without it being a jarring clash between the two, though they manage to remind me of MARKED MEN, the BREEDERS, and LUSH all at the same time. There’s this beautiful guitar part over the bridge of “Under the Gun” that just screams late-’80s shoegaze. It’s almost like feedback, but instead it builds into this screechy warble that when put into words doesn’t sound appealing, though I promise it is! A layer of dreamy wash of melody undercuts many of their tracks, really making a case for adding shoegaze to their list of styles. They have a soft reverb on the vocals, snappy drums, and guitars that both wail and crunch. It’s mellow, yet upbeat. I’m into it.