Tag: Den Tapes

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Sun Spots Shares Anthemic “Rocket”

Pacific Northwest-based indie rock outfit Sun Spots features members of essential regional punk and hardcore acts, including Criminal Code, Nudes and Bricklayer. With the release of their debut EP, 2022’s Loosey, Sun Spots quickly established a songwriting process that they’ve jokingly dubbed pop songs for hardcore fans — or hardcore songs for pop fans, depending on your perspective.

The Pacific Northwest-based outfit’s sophomore EP, Dog Is Calling is slated for a Friday release through Seattle-based indie label Den Tapes. Engineered and mixed in Seattle by Cameron Heck and mastered by Greg Obis, the EP features four upbeat and driving songs that sees the band pairing thick, crunchy guitar riffs with buoyant melodies, showcasing their love of the Big Muff pedal and big, catchy hooks.

Dog Is Calling‘s lead single “Rocket” will bring back warm and hazily nostalgic memories of 120 Minutes MTV-era grunge for all of you fellow olds as the song showcases the band’s penchant for pairing big, crunchy riffs with even bigger hooks with saccharine sweet, pop melodies. And of course, this is placed with a classic grunge song structure — alternating quiet verses and loud choruses. Play loud.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Seattle-based indie rock trio Fluung — Donald Wymer (vocals, guitar), Joe Holcomb (bass) and Drew Davis (drums, percussion) — have developed a sound that owes a debt to 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock paired with world-building, story-driven lyrics inspired by Neil Young and Crazy Horse, but within a modern context.

The band believes that their style of guitar rock captures the energy of modern American working life: The grim, never-ending grind to survive, working shit jobs with even shittier employers while reflecting the quiet existential and introspective moments spent in your car after clocking out or spent at home before going to sleep and repeating it all yet again.

The Seattle-based indie outfit’s newest album The Vine is slated for a Friday release through Setterwind Records, who will release the vinyl version and Den Tapes, who will release the cassette version. But in the meantime, album single “Decades,” is a bit of classic 90s grunge/alt rock with a sugary, power pop air as buzzing power chords and thunderous drumming is paired with enormous, shout-along worthy choruses and heartbroken lyrics that sound — and feel — wholly lived in.

“The riff in ‘Decades’ came so easy to us during the writing process,” Fluung recalls. The lyrics, like every song on our record The Vine, are incredibly personal. Every song seems to bleed from our lives as we’re getting older.”