Young Mountain

The Cootie Pockets EP (2010)

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Young Mountain are a band that formed in October of 2009 in Keene, New Hampshire. Their "Influences" section on their MySpace gives a pretty good idea of what they sound like, including This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb, Andrew Jackson Jihad and Defiance, Ohio, but they put a refreshing yet silly humor to their songs.

This isn't their first release--that would be 2009's Don't Go Changin'. But this short EP shows a talented young band who are getting their name into the folk-punk scene. The standout track would probably be the lighthearted "I Hope the Cannibals Turn You Into Stew," basically mentioning all these B horror movie-esque punishments for someone who has wronged them. This whole EP is an earful of fun. The ending track "Embrace the Love" is just the band saying whatever they felt like at that time, which is awesome.

But this album isn't all silliness. "Hipster" is a great song, basically demeaning every and all fads and cliques, including, well, hipsters, hardcore kids, straight-edge kids, etc. Another song that shows some great songwriting is the opener "97' Blazer," and "South Portland" has the great chorus of "Call me a liar, call me a liar, take everything we've ever had and set it on fire. Call me a cheapskate, call me a whore, say that you don't wanna talk to me anymore."

This EP is showing some serious promise in this young folk-punk band, and yes, the New Hampshire scene as a whole, because members of Young Mountain are also in "CRINGE, PANGEA, That Old Grizzly Bear, the SKAnarchists, Wild and Crazy Kids, Beast Infection, Suture Self, and many more…"