Zoomers “Exist” [hyped2death]

Thurston Hunger   11/9/2004   A Library, CD, Format

Another fine reissue/revival from Chuck Warner’s Hyped2Death
efforts (aka Homework #204 on that label). Check the liner
notes. While this has one sort of ambling jam (“Freak at the
Greek”), most of the tracks are short tightrope walks over
inner anxieties and damp, cramped tape e.q. It sounds pretty
swank for 1981 cassette culture, though every once in a
while a track sorta goes through a tunnel of sound, some of
that those is a result of flanger fanaticism. Lyrics are
delivered in bursts, that sort of romance vs. robot approach.
The vocals often accentuated by a gasp or a whisper and oft
times both, they are nicely up front in the mix. Drums keep
time, squeeze in some rat-a-tight snare fills, occasionally
get completely lost. It’s the odder guitar fills (and sax,
piano and especially synthesizer with well-detuned delivery)
that augment the angst and make this a Louisiana winner. “All
We Need” is just too strange and estranging to simply file as
“rock” but this album (even that track) has moments that rock
solidly and artfully. There are some really wrong notes at
exactly the right moments on this!