CD Review: Hot Garbage

by Jason Broome, June 28, 2011

Questionable band name aside, Hot Garbage’s new six-song EP, the Beacon group’s third release, delivers warm and fuzzy diversions. The CD has a washing machine-like scrub, rinse, and spin quality. The cycles are refreshing: varying between delicate and permanent press, occasionally going off balance like a wet pillow until, once in a while, the belt frays and snaps. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It forces attention and analysis and brings relief in the respite of resolve. Compositions like “Awaiting in the Melting Tray” embrace emotions that swim deep with post-tornado-like trauma, only to re-surface for air with an “in this together” community voice. These swings are due in no small part to the stark influence of having two very different lead voices that also play guitar. The instrumental interplay is an easy standout, swaying from tender intricacy to chaotic discord; from the wistfulness of Television to the tension of Slint. Cormac Gartland possesses hearts-on-a-sleeve-with-tinges-of-Elliot-Smith musings and timbre, while Jason Price rests in the ironic dichotomy of a painfully aware and detached yet down-to-Earth Lou Barlow. The music begs for more description by association: lo-fi in the vein of Pavement, shoegaze à la Dinosaur Jr., East Village noise rock circa early-to-mid Sonic Youth with premature Flaming Lips pop ejaculations. For better or worse, Probably Not was recorded in two days and it shows. The devil-may-care dissonance dances around the slop well enough for DIY indie rock, but the band’s potential deserves more studio time and a few notches on the instrumental bedpost. www.myspace.com/therealhotgarbage.