Reviews

Becky & the Politicians Play the Early Hits of Cub cassette

This cassette is in honor of CUB’s original drummer Valeria Fellini. CUB is the Vancouver, BC icon of twee pop and cuddlecore that was, intentionally or not, the foundation of the bedroom projects that surfaced during the pandemic. All nine tracks are CUB covers, as BECKY & THE POLITICIANS skip down the road and hold hands with contemporaries like 1-800-MIKEY, RICHARD HAMILTON, BABY TYLER, BILLIAM…the list could go on. BECKY & THE POLITICIANS play a jangly guitar, an obstinate bass, and a tight little hi-hat drum beat that are—collaborative-sounding band name aside—the solo project of Jacyn Nickle, also of COLLATE, CONDITIONER DISCO GROUP and the BEDROOMS. With quite a few other releases on Kennel Jitters (Options, Punk Rolls Over the Hill, Drop Acid, and Own Thing), I first heard the “band” on the 2022 Girlsville comp She Don’t Need You that I reviewed. On Play the Early Hits of Cub, the synth is put away, which gives a much different tone to the whole thing compared to those previously mentioned releases, creating distance from the synth cover band pigeonhole that BECKY & THE POLITICIANS isn’t in. Awesome lo-fi recording that honors the life of Valeria Fellini and pays homage to CUB’s greatness.