Cough Cool – 29 (Bathetic)
Heavily reverbed bedroom pop, lonely and blurred, ambivalently catchy. Sparse hooks drift out from primitive guitar washes and faded vocals, drum machine loops keep this way more primitive than MBV or early Jesus & Mary Chain, like a blend of Suicide and Lou Barlow bedroom demos filtered through Slowdive’s pedals and pressed to a shellac 78rpm disc. Slathered in vicodin, ripe for the plucking, fans of Jesu, MBV, a lobotomized Neutral Milk Hotel (to quote Your Imaginary Friend on his review of their previous album, “whoa, pass the dust”) won’t want to miss this.

1. (3:31) bouncy bassline, shimmering narcotic chords and guitar harmonies, quiet sentimental whispered vocals
2. (2:55) song’s namesake is the band that released the 7” this band is named after: driving drum machine groove, codeine-drenched vocals and guitar, as close to “punk” as this ever gets
3. (4:59) breathy, spacious drum machine plod and lazy guitar strumming, a twangy flair to the “alright” rambling chorus
4. (4:22) soft pattering, distant tempered fuzz and quiet cooing lullaby loveliness
5. (3:22) repetitive power chord strumming, bored melancholy musings over a simple beat
6. (3:37)slightly upbeat chord progression and simple sad lead guitar, catchy singing, probably the most “accessible” and “indie” this gets, whatever the fuck those words mean these days
7. (2:38) driving, slurred, lethargic beats and very distant guitar, rambling yet coherent vocal hooks keep this somewhere in verse-chorus territory
8. (4:19) very slow and hushed drumbeat, MBV trying to sing a ballad while the morphine drags their eyelids floorward
9. (3:38) blipping electronic beat over some dreamy major-key riffs, also quite accessible, almost sunshiney but still with a disturbing tinge
10. (2:44) slow sad strumming, pessimistic vocals, soft and somber hi-hat beat
11. (2:08) instrumental. Super lo-fi plinking guitar chords, drugged out wandering.