Total Babe – Bearbones
Just before leaving KCRW I asked to review a bunch of the CDs that were sent to the station but were just sitting in the music library waiting to be processed. Stations like KCRW literally get hundreds of CDs each day and the vast majority of them are mediocre at best and in some cases laughably bad. After all these years working in radio, I’m still amazed at how quickly it takes for you to recognize quality material. You can listen to literally hundreds of crappy musicians and as soon as you hear music with talent behind it, you immediately know it. Out of the 300+ CDs I listened to (roughly 90% self-released, which was very different from the mid-90s when I was a Music Director at Album 88 in Atlanta…I blame American Idol for that dynamic) there were only a handful of releases that I thought deserved to be “saved,” of that bunch by far the best music came from this band of teenagers called Total Babe.
When I first came upon this EP from this Minnesota quartet I was intrigued by the Raymond Pettibon-esque cover art. What continues to impress me about this band is their sound, with sugary sweet vocals from Clara Salyer, two guitars, a violin and a boss drummer. All the tracks have this rather lovely and very layered indie-pop style with some interesting and complex chord and rhythmic changes, vaguely reminiscent of a couple of my fave 1990s female led indie-poppers, Lois and Nerdy Girl. I got a feeling that as they continue to mature musically things will only get better. Not having this band slip through the cracks was the best parting gift I could have gotten from KCRW…
In addition to the track above, here’s also a dangerously cute video for another song on the EP, “(Mission Hills Country Club Wall Of) Champions”:
Good stuff as per usual Michael! Is that in the library now? I really want to hear the whole thing now. This also helped me to remember how much I've been itching to play Lois recently.
You might want to check if it's in the digital library. I hand delivered it to EJL, but as you know he is under seige in the library. If it doesn't turn up soon let me know and I'll find a way to get the other tracks to you.