The Heat Tape

The Heat Tape [7-inch] (2012)

Joe Pelone

Last year, the Heat Tape dropped a mighty fine lo-fi rocker entitled Raccoon Valley Recordings. It was one of my favorite albums of 2011. This year, the side project of Copyrights guitarist/vocalist Brett Hunter is back with a new, self-titled seven-inch. Sure, it's only four songs to tide me over, but more Heat Tape is always a good thing.

At a mere seven-and-a-half minutes, The Heat Tape's songs get to the point pretty quickly. Anyone who heard Raccoon knows the deal: Quick, punky tunes with a lo-fi Sebadoh-y slant. "Love and Sweat" kicks things off with 97 seconds of crashing drums and profanity. Part of me suspects the Heat Tape named track two "Freebird" just so they'd have something to respond with when drunken assholes play stupid jokes at their shows. It's pretty epic compared to "Love and Sweat," by which I mean it's two seconds longer.

"Elvis" is the strongest, and longest, of the songs. After a pulsing bass intro, the track builds and builds, first by adding in drums and vox and then, finally, roaring guitar. The chorus is simple but effective--"Well how strange." "Deaf and Blind" is a lot slower, but it's a suitable closer to the whole affair. The Heat Tape is a bit of a tease, but it's welcome all the same.