Still Caves - Static Lips (2012)

I attribute my affection for garage rock to being a jaded and ornery 30-something. By the time some reach this age, the idealism of the late teens/early 20's mindset is a once vibrant garden since entangled and suppressed by an invasive ivy called "conformism". After school, you'll need work and, chances are, it'll suck and you'll have to dance like a damned monkey to get it. Bad break-ups, grandparents passing away, demoralizing assclown politicians, and colonoscopies just 20 short years away? Ah yes... the 30's are a tattered stage where the dramas of love, work, health, and debt are played out by several lonely, jobless, and alcohol-addicted clones of yourself. 


Then there's all that Taco Bell you keep putting on your credit card.  


Some say bad addictions can be replaced with healthier ones and, while I personally haven't given up my Gordita Supremes, garage rock has become a reliable crutch for a world that makes the mind weary.  


Enter Portland band, Still Caves. They seemingly came out of nowhere and immediately found themselves playing with up-and-coming Portland bands like Psychic Feline and recent K Records signee Nucular Aminals. After hearing their dirty and dismal two-chord garage, it's no wonder. All the elements are here: lo-fi recordings; guitars crunching through tube amps; vocals awash in caverns of cold reverb; and the steady pounding of a well-worn floor tom. "Great Recession" and "No Company" chug along with such gritty voracity you'll have to clean gravel from your ears. And while the EP opens with a shimmering, melodic anthem ("Dutch") worthy of lemonade and sunny drives on hot summer days, don't be fooled. The bulk of Static Lips is whiskey-soaked garage rock heard through a heavy downpour.


Still Caves are here to cure what ails you. 6 songs I'll surely be driving around to, regardless of the weather or beverage at hand.


Still Caves - Static Lips