Very Very Happy

Bush Tetras – Very Very Happy
Reviewed by Sadie O., 12/29/07
Some old and some recently recorded cuts from NYC post-punk faves. Definitely from the artier and more mental end of the punk spectrum (I hear LOTS of Gang of Four). Loud, jangly guitar and nice, fat bass, female vocals.
No FCCs detected. Tracks 4 and 11 are great, 8 is terrific.
1. **folky, strummy intro into ponderous post-punk hard rock, introspective lyrics. Nice interplay of jangly guitars and bass.
2. ***dissonant guitars and thick running bass, a bit of Gang of Four.
3. ***very slow jangly guitars with a bit of whammy bar, a slight dab of funk to the beat, and a bit of the arty edge of punk.
4. ****bass intro, VERY swingy downtempo punk stroll, falls apart dischordantly and gets back up again. Quite a bit of the sort of guitar that causes neural fusion in geese…
5. ***midtempo and extremely jangly, lots of battling guitars.
6. ***downtempo, very aggressive bass, very shrill guitars.
7. **uptempo 60’s dance beat, but with alarming post punk sound, seems to have been recorded in a bathroom.
8. *****some random drum beats, then a wonderful cobbled together funky beat, part metronome, part dub… One of the earliest recordings – 1981. Great slide bass.
9. ***downtempo, screaming guitars and fuzzed-out bass, slinky vocals. Almost more disturbed than the original…
10. **two-note bass intro, then hi-hat and squeepy things… slow zombie march, first-person narrative about the start of Jaws – very evocative, I must say. Definitely will get your blood pumping… eek!
11. ****funky swingy jangly slightly downtempo, less noisy than most of the songs, lots of bass. Ends a few seconds shy.
12. **very live sound. Very slow, sweet vocals, music builds from minimalist to loud (rather Velvet Underground sound, oddly.)
13. **jangly, a bit downtempo, vocals a bit back in the mix. Lots of bass, but other than that pretty true to the spirit of the original.