Recommendation: SIXES – ‘Champ’
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SIXES is a trio out of San Diego playing a brand of garage rock that draws heavily on early punk and hardcore music and is laced with a tinge of poppy soul. According to them their influences range from the proto-punk of The Stooges and MC5, the power pop of The Nerves, the post-punk of Gang of Four and Devo, and even back to classic 60s pop and soul like Mary Wells and Otis Redding. However, SIXES is definitely also for fans of “surfy indie punk” like Wavves and even early Arctic Monkey’s albums. From a humble beginning to becoming a fixture at popular local clubs like Soda Bar and the Casbah, SIXES now aims to build an online following and take over nationwide. Their debut EP Hisss proved that while punk bands grow on trees, ones with roots as deep as SIXES are much harder to come by.
Champ continues to exude what the band does best, taking their loud punk energy and harmonizing it with infectious riffs and melodies. It covers the topics of existential musings, fleeting encounters with strangers, tongue-in-cheek diatribes against outsiders, and the bittersweet feeling of a love destined to end. The tracks on this ep are fun and flirty but also provide a level of ass-kickery that’s hard to put into words. Something that draws my attention to the group is their recording process. Here’s what they had to say on the matter:
”When it comes to our recording process, we are stubbornly old school in our outlook. While we are not above using digital technology in the post-production process, we are suckers for the audio aesthetic of tape recordings and firmly believe in capturing an authentic performance. We track our instrument sessions live, together in the same room, to a vintage Tascam 244 4-track cassette machine, overdubbing only the vocal track afterward, which itself we do as one complete take with no punching-in. In short, what we play is what you get.”
Unlike many in their genre, they don’t piece together a final product from track-by-track sessions. No comping, no cut-and-paste, no pitch correction, no triggers.The result is a more authentic representation of their energy and sound, unique from the sterile, squeaky-clean overproduction characteristic of most modern recorded music.
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Jordi Perbtani | @halo2remastered
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