Sweetie – Kill, Baby, Kill – Review

Sweetie

Kill, Baby, Kill
by Scott Hefflon

As one of the more interesting local releases is some time, this is actually a nightmare to try to put in words. While most bands stick to the standard I-play-guitar-pretty-well-and-my-friend-can-sing reasons for existing, Sweetie start from a whole different angle. It begins with a sample. Imagine a collage of samples stripped on top of a song mat. The samples are in the foreground and appear to be the focus of the piece, but it is the “background” mat that defines the edges and the idea. The songs on Kill, Baby, Kill are a dreamy concoction of smooth pop and ragged-edged samples. Slick keys or distorted-rantings, Sweetie skates comfortably along.

My favorite song title is “Chopping the Cow in Apocalypse Now.” You can imagine the lyrical content. The voices of Rob Zamarki and Emily Unverferth contrast beautifully. Also featured on the tape are the talents of Thalia Zedek (Come), Eric Brosius (Tribe), and Robotkid (Institute of Technology). Eric has been known to lend a bit of additional guitar mayhem during live shows. The members also get, shall we say, decked out for the occassion, bringing a rather mind-fuck recording to a performance art level for live shows. The shows are pretty hit-or-miss, as the band is still reasonably new and they tackle large ideas. The band is most successful during it’s blatent over-production, but I naturally prefer big, loud and in-your-face bands. The introspective, subtler moments are well-done, but can be hard to pull off live. As a recording, the production and diverse styles provide a shining example of the possibilities an unsigned band can explore. Check out their demo and see them live for two very different experiences.