Fresh & Only’s/Golden Triangle 7″ Split Review
Fresh & Only’s: 78/100
Golden Triangle: 83/100
The Fresh and Only’s have a siege mentality when it comes to releasing music – instead of relying on one big push at a time the San Francisco four piece relentlessly chips away at music consciousness with a constant stream of new tunes. The barrage includes splits, EP’s, and compilation offerings, not to mention LP’s (of which the nascent band already has at least a couple). So it is logical that such a plethora of tunes is bound to include some bad with the good. The band’s tune on this year’s In a Cloud compilation wasn’t all that strong for instance. On the other hand though – there was a lot of great material on the band’s last full length, Grey Eyed Girls.
The two new songs on the group’s new split are just that – split down the middle in terms of quality. On one hand you have the gritty repetitive bang of “Head of Steam” which sounds like the kind of tune the Fresh and Only’s could write in their sleep. The vocals are a little too mushed together and the hook just doesn’t really stick. On the other side of the coin though, the slightly cleaner “I’m Not Myself Today” has killer surf guitar hook and the background vocal harmonies are a lot more distinguishable.
Up and coming Brooklyn group Golden Triangle have two songs on the split as well which are a little more even quality-wise. “Cold Bones” is an anthemic garage/grrl tune with a relentless bassline and disaffected vocals along the same lines of groups like the Girls Dum Dum and Vivian. “Jungle Jim” is a psychedelic/tropical party tune that spreads layers of guitar distortion and animal noises over simple chords. Golden Triangle have been gaining a lot of critical steam lately and with tracks like this it is easy to see why. While they play a genre of music currently saturated with throwback garage girl rock, they are definitely near the front of the pack.
Only a 1,000 copies of the split are being pressed but you can get your own copy here today (first 300 sold will be on green vinyl)
— Jon Behm
