About a year or so ago this San Diego based band was operating under the name
the Muslims. A decision was made to change the name for the obvious reason that some might find it offensive or interpret it as them making a mockery. Other reasons for the name change was that maybe they didn't want to cringe when some snarky blogger would make some dumb joke or comment at their expense not to mention it wasn't really all that great of a name to begin with. Not that the Soft Pack is all that great of a choice either but we all should by now that a lot of the already best band names have been taken.
The band's sound, heavily rooted in the Velvet Underground's third album and the things it influence like the nervous smart kid sound of the Feelies, hasn't changed with the 4 songs here.
"C'mon" kicks off the record with something that if heard coming out of the radio of signal quickly fading college station while driving through a barren strip of the midwest you'd pull over the side of the highway to hear the dj tell you who it was. Then you'd scour record stores until you were once again able to hear it's bright jangle and simply catchy slightly off key harmonies in the chorus. Tables are turned on "Eat Gold" where it's a heads down straight into the storm bash and raw throated yearning resembling Hootenanny era Replacements trying their hand at sounding like the Swans.
"Answer To Yourself" is full of a really wet surf reverb guitar licks backed by loud twitchiness, a full on middle part of noise and topped with heavy lidded singing. The record ends with "Faithman" which shows the world how comfortably 60's garage comp's sit next to Sonic Youth records.
http://thesoftpackofficial.com/
the Muslims. A decision was made to change the name for the obvious reason that some might find it offensive or interpret it as them making a mockery. Other reasons for the name change was that maybe they didn't want to cringe when some snarky blogger would make some dumb joke or comment at their expense not to mention it wasn't really all that great of a name to begin with. Not that the Soft Pack is all that great of a choice either but we all should by now that a lot of the already best band names have been taken.The band's sound, heavily rooted in the Velvet Underground's third album and the things it influence like the nervous smart kid sound of the Feelies, hasn't changed with the 4 songs here.
"C'mon" kicks off the record with something that if heard coming out of the radio of signal quickly fading college station while driving through a barren strip of the midwest you'd pull over the side of the highway to hear the dj tell you who it was. Then you'd scour record stores until you were once again able to hear it's bright jangle and simply catchy slightly off key harmonies in the chorus. Tables are turned on "Eat Gold" where it's a heads down straight into the storm bash and raw throated yearning resembling Hootenanny era Replacements trying their hand at sounding like the Swans.
"Answer To Yourself" is full of a really wet surf reverb guitar licks backed by loud twitchiness, a full on middle part of noise and topped with heavy lidded singing. The record ends with "Faithman" which shows the world how comfortably 60's garage comp's sit next to Sonic Youth records.
http://thesoftpackofficial.com/
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