Sometimes good music needs to be found while searching among the record bins, the internet and intimate live music clubs. For every Fall Out Boy and One Direction there are a dozen bands that do not have massive marketing campaigns, hours of airplay, big production budgets or copious amounts of TV exposure. It is these independent musicians that deliver more creative and better sounding music almost every time out,American Culture is included in this category.
Emerging from the Four Corners Desert, American Culture has delivered an expirament in lo-fi music Pure American Gum. The ten track album takes listeners on a whirlwind tour of the bands orchestrated noise. Always on the verge of careening into utter chaos underlying pop melodies provide the guard rails that preserve order with in the album. Theor songs are short and to the point packing more intrinsic value in two minutes than most bloated musicians can muster in four or five. Songs such as “My Teeth Are Sharp”and “ We Wanna Go To The Movies” are built around rhythms that sludge along with jangly guitars breaking through adding a melodic foundation to hang onto. They follow no set formula which doesn’t matter because that is what makes them good. “Just Driving Around” is one of the more ambitious tunes on the record. American Culture combines a plethora of musical layers creating a big bold sound. The complimentary vocals on “I Wanna Be Your Animal” are the strength that drives the song and you get to see their punk side on the loud and aggressive “About A Friend”. The meat of this record is supplied by a trifecta of songs, “Social Anxiety”, “I Like American Culture” and “And That’s Enough For Me”. Fierce guitar playing leads the way as the nonchalant slacker vocals weave their way through the myriad of rhythms and melodies providing the attitude of the record.
From start to finish Pure American Gum is an entertaining listen. Catchy riffs, infectious melodies and quirky lyrics show American Culture is more worried about substance that style. Pulling from their influences you can hear a bit of Sonic Youth, Guided By Voices and Dinosaur Jr in every song. If you want to listen to rehashed formulaic music then by all means go right ahead, but if you want to jam to music that will stimulate your aural senses give American Culture a spin.
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