Tag: Beehive

Top 30 albums of 2019: #’s 25 – 21

Here we are at my top 25 albums that I heard from 2019.

#25 – Fat White Family – Serfs Up!

These hard-partying Brit weirdos make mind-warping rock that blends psychedelia with 1970’s funk. Serfs Up! is a cool blend of both genres and tackles themes of 1%’ers taking advantage of all of us.

#24 – Bayonne – Drastic Measures

Drastic Measures is another fine electro record from Bayonne. I love how he blends his vocals with bright synths, sometimes to the point where you can’t tell one from the other. The lyrics aren’t often discernible, but that’s okay. The album is meant to be experienced as a soundscape. Just sink into it and experience bliss.

#23 – The Schizophonics – People in the Sky

This album is loud, brash, cocky, and everything you need if you love garage rock, sweaty dive bars, the MC5, and power trios. It’s the antithesis of overproduced dreck that pollutes most of the FM airwaves, which means it’s great.

#22 – Skull Practitioners – Death Buy

This EP from Skull Practitioners has more guitar shredding than some double albums by more well-known rock acts. It’s a sonic assault that can catch you unprepared, so have the volume up and brace for impact when you play it.

#21 – Beehive – Depressed + Distressed

Beehive weren’t on my radar until their label sent me this fun record of grunge / shoegaze rock that captures millennial angst (and self-deprecation) in its title and lyrics. It pays homage to their rock idols and also trashes them (The song “90’s Trash” is particularly good.).

Come back tomorrow when we reach the top 20!

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Beehive – Depressed + Distressed

Hailing from northern California, Beehive is one of the most appropriately named bands I’ve heard so far this year.  Bassist Bud Amentia and vocalist / guitarist Jake Sprecher (and a drum machine, which they apparently don’t turn off between songs during their live sets) make music that buzzes with energy and danger.  Listening to their debut EP Depressed + Distressed is like standing near a beehive.  You’re on the edge of danger all the time.

The instrumental into of “Tick Tock” delivers this message right away.  It’s just over a minute of menace with poppy drum machine beats that belie something heavy about to land in your lap.  That heavy thing is the song “Get Off My Back,” which has Sprecher’s guitars howling like a chainsaw in a thunderstorm and Amentia’s bass coming at you like an unrelenting rain. 

“You’re So Fascinating” is a funny track about the fake images we create in hopes that people will like us.  Sprecher’s vocal delivery brings Glenn Danzig to mind, but with more post-punk attitude instead of goth rage.  The funniest track on the EP is “90’s Trash,” in which Sprecher talks about buying a CD of the songs that form the “graveyard of his youth” that make him both nostalgic and depressed.  He and Amentia play a riff that sounds exactly like every 1990’s rock song you’ve heard as Sprecher name checks the Smoking Popes, Spacehog, Soundgarden, third wave ska, Save Ferris, Flaming Lips, and (the one that most makes Sprecher ill) Ugly Kid Joe.

“When Can I See You Again?” is a punk rager expressing the panic, rush, and angst all of us have felt in a new relationship.  “Don’t Try” is almost a rallying cry to do just the opposite.  Beehive are pissed about everyone telling them (and all of us, if you watch enough news) not to bother, so they’re responding with a sonic boot stomp to the chest.  The EP closes with “Wasting Our Time.”  Beehive have no time for people who drain their energy with drama (“You’re wasting my time, I’m wasting my time with you.”).  Amentia’s bass on this track is particularly heavy and is a great mix with Sprecher’s Jon Spencer-like riffs.

The EP’s title sums up not only Beehive’s feelings about Millennial life, but also the lives of practically everyone else.  Everyone’s depressed or distressed about something – usually things that don’t matter (as evidenced in the last track of the EP).  If Beehive have to sting us to wake us up from our doldrums, they will.  You can’t escape a swarm, and you won’t be able to escape this record once you hear it.

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“Don’t Try” to ignore Beehive or their latest single.

Northern California duo Beehive share a new track from their forthcoming debut EP Depressed + Distressed via Spill Magazine. Hear and share “Don’t Try” HERE.

The Big Takeover recently shared lead single “When Can I See You Again?” HERE.

It’s the simple things that matter, right? Beehive know this well. The Northern California duo writes short, deceptively simple rock songs in the vein of early Wire, Suicide, The Spits and Television Personalities. Each song seems laser focused on a desperately repeated vocal phrase and repeatedly hammered riff splayed out over the emotional indifference of a Hammond Auto-Vari 64 drum machine.

Vocalist/guitarist Jake Sprecher — who also played in Terry Malts (SF), Smokescreens (LA) and Business of Dreams (LA), all part of Slumberland Records family – urgently yelps and howls desperate and angry lyrics like a man with no time to waste. Bassist Bud Amenti (also of Shutups) fills in any gaps with subtle walks and fills while holding down the band’s monolithic sound. Beehive never stop the drum machine during their live set, there are no breaks, which adds to the intensity.

Beehive came into existence at the beginning of 2019, but in that short time has been hitting venues hard up and down the West Coast to set up their 7-song debut EP Depressed + Distressed for release in early Fall. The EP was recorded live in the studio in one take to 1/2″ tape. No messing around.

Depressed + Distressed opens with a short intro (“Tick Tock”) leading into the mantra-like wail of “Get Off My Back,” as the duo holds and pummels an A-major chord, as Sprecher chants over the top. Elsewhere, “90’s Trash” sarcastically rips up nostalgia for music of our youth and disposable culture. “When Can I See You Again?” seethes with desperation and obsession we’ve all experienced at some point, the guitars clattering and clawing, perhaps trying in vain to stop the incessant drum machine. “Wasting Our Time” wastes no time getting to the point: Our time, our lives, as a measure of existence, is only wasted by ourselves and each other. Kind of heady and deep, but utterly simple.

Depressed + Distressed will be available on 10″ EP and download on September 6th, 2019 via Jester Records.

BEEHIVE LIVE 2019: 09/14 San Francisco, CA @ Knockout 10/09 Portland, OR @ Valentine’s 10/10 Seattle, WA @ Cha Cha Lounge 10/11 Eugene, OR @ Spectrum 10/17 Oakland, CA @ Golden Bull

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Beehive’s “When Can I See You Again?” is a manic punk rager to which all of us can relate.

Northern California duo Beehive share the first track from their forthcoming debut EP Depressed + Distressed via The Big Takeover. Hear and share “When Can I See You Again?” HERE. (Direct Bandcamp and Soundcloud.)

It’s the simple things that matter, right? Beehive know this well. The Northern California duo writes short, deceptively simple rock songs in the vein of early Wire, Suicide, The Spits and Television Personalities. Each song seems laser focused on a desperately repeated vocal phrase and repeatedly hammered riff splayed out over the emotional indifference of a Hammond Auto-Vari 64 drum machine.

Vocalist/guitarist Jake Sprecher — who also.played in Terry Malts (SF), Smokescreens (LA) and Business of Dreams (LA), all part of Slumberland Records family – urgently yelps and howls desperate and angry lyrics like a man with no time to waste. Bassist Bud Amenti (also of Shutups) fills in any gaps with subtle walks and fills while holding down the band’s monolithic sound. Beehive never stop the drum machine during their live set, there are no breaks, which adds to the intensity.

Beehive came into existence at the beginning of 2019, but in that short time has been hitting venues hard up and down the West Coast to set up their 7-song debut EP Depressed + Distressed for release in early Fall. The EP was recorded live in the studio in one take to 1/2″ tape. No messing around.

Depressed + Distressed opens with a short intro (“Tick Tock”) leading into the mantra-like wail of “Get Off My Back,” as the duo holds and pummels an A-major chord, as Sprecher chants over the top. Elsewhere, “90’s Trash” sarcastically rips up nostalgia for music of our youth and disposable culture. “When Can I See You Again?” seethes with desperation and obsession we’ve all experienced at some point, the guitars clattering and clawing, perhaps trying in vain to stop the incessant drum machine. “Wasting Our Time” wastes no time getting to the point: Our time, our lives, as a measure of existence, is only wasted by ourselves and each other. Kind of heady and deep, but utterly simple.

Depressed + Distressed will be available on 10″ EP and download on September 6th, 2019 via Jester Records.

BEEHIVE LIVE 2019: 09/14 San Francisco, CA @ Knockout 10/09 Portland, OR @ Valentine’s 10/10 Seattle, WA @ Cha Cha Lounge

On The Web: beehive1.bandcamp.com

instagram.com/beehive_trash

facebook.com/beehivetrash

Keep your mind open.

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