Brown Sugar / Mayday!: Split EP

Two of Buffalo’s best-kept secrets on one record? Color me stoked. BROWN SUGAR’s first song kicks things off at a lazy tempo, and a feeling that’s somewhere between early ’70s urban decay and early ’80s sun-drenched suburban boredom, with vocals that are equally lethargic, snotty, and aggro. For the rest of their side, the feeling remains, but the speed increases to a hardcore pace, and has them gratuitously/blatantly lifting a riff from BLACK SABBATH’s “The Wizard” at one point. On this record, they have a loose, unpolished sound with a slightly jangly guitar tone and a bass that sounds like it’s being run through a shitty, overdriven solid state amp. I get the impression that this band is comprised of avid record collectors that are just as influenced by ’60s and ’70s rock, garage, psych, and maybe even soul records as they are classic hardcore records. On the other side is MAYDAY!, whose ALLEY CATS-meets-B-52′S dystopian beach party stylings instantly won me over when I heard their 7” from last year, and these two songs are even more captivating. Their sound here is darker and more pissed (especially in the vocals), but without having lost any of the sass and melody of their earlier stuff. Both bands are doing their own unique things, and I highly recommend this record. -Maximumrocknroll record of the week: http://maximumrocknroll.com/2011/06/29/record-of-the-week-brown-sugarmayday-split-ep/