the Warm Fuzzies
Athens, Georgia, United States | SELF
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Well, right off the bat you've gotta give this an A+ for packaging! It comes in one of those matchbook-like flappy cardboard sleeves that I'm seeing more of these days, designed to look like an old-timey package of bubblegum (hence the title). Open it up to find that not only are the liner notes presented as a Bazooka Joe-esque comic, but the disc itself is coated in a bubblegum-scented scratch and sniff ink (you can do that?!), which is especially apparent when you put it in your cd player! The songs on here are equally playful, with Weezer/Rentals-esque tunes and melodies replete with big guitars and analog synths. Many of the lyrics run on the silly side, and though they can go a bit too far ("Your Dairy King" is especially dorky and their ode to cheese, "Queso Love", is ...um... a bit cheesy), the playfully paranoid "Why Do Girls Wear Big Sunglasses?" was kind of fun, and they also give us the best song about befriending robots since Barcelona. Basically, the band seems to be all about fun, and it really shows! - http://www.indiepages.com
Athens, Georgia is known for R.E.M. and a host of "college rock" bands, but it can produce some fine power pop as well. The Warm Fuzzies hail from Athens, and their debut Bubblegum EP is a treat. Aside from the physical disc itself which has a bubblegum scent, the songs are chewy and tasty as well. There's a bit of the Weezer about them, which is apparent in opening track "Hey, Milunka". Nor would it be shocking to know there are synths in "Space Invaders" or "All My Friends are Robots", the latter of which bears some Superdrag influence. And they ask the musical question that amazingly has not been asked until now: "Why Do Girls Wear Big Sunglasses?", which they rhyme with Onassis (as in Jackie). Did I mention this EP was a lot of fun? - http://www.absolutepowerpop.com
Here's another record that failed to make our best of the year only by virtue of the fact that it was released too close to the end of 2008 for us to place it in our catchment. Certainly, it would have featured in our top 5 EP's of the year as it's as solid a pink piece of prime modern bubblegum as one could ever wish to find.
The great thing for 'Gum aficionados like me, is that each generation brings something fresh to the genre without taking something important away, unlike the Heavy Metal genre for example which seems intent on removing essential elements piece by piece, dimension by dimension to end up with some ghastly one dimensional shadow of its original reference. By contrast, this fine EP has pedigree which reaches all the way back to Kasenetz Katz & The Archies, thru Chinn & Chapman, Fizzy 80's Electronica, Betty Boo, Hanson, right up to today's Ting Tings.
The Warm Fuzzies hail from the rich musical heritage that is Athens, Georgia, but apart from maybe the odd minor nod to Pylon, buck the lineage completely and serve up their very own slab of delicious dessert.
Their 6-song EP specially packaged in an eco-friendly "arigato pak" comes complete with a comic-style liner (like Bazooka Joe's did) and topped with a scratch-n-sniff (ala Raspberries 1st) that smells just like bubblegum!
As soon as your player hits binary you're up and grooving to the Warm Fuzzies infectious concoctions. References abound, Weezer and The Rentals are obvious pointers, but I hear reaches back to 'Gums' mid 60's inception, plus the idiosyncratic influence of Devo, Cheap Trick, TMBG &; that nerdy cool of The Feelies, Presidents of the USA, Wheatus and Bowling For Soup.
So what do you get for the price of your Chewy Chewy few dollars:
'Hey Milunka' opens with a 'Pictures of Matchstick Men' incessant high pitch guitar crochet riff, followed by a run on something which sounds like a resident arcade one arm bandit, then a flutey Casio picks up the gauntlet and gives in to off-the-wall lyrics with a nursery rhyme melody in the classic 'Gum tradition. 'Hey Milunka' is a great opener sitting exactly where the strongest track should - be at the helm.
Gotta mention that the Casio sounds like the classic VL1 Tone model (circa 1980) - the same synth as used famously on Trio's 'Da Da Da' and the Human League's 'Dare'. This tiny hand held instument was an innovative little beast which doubled as a calculator - I used mine at school back in those early electro days.
'Space Invaders' opens with fizzy Moog and toy fuzz guitar and addresses that very serious issue of encroaching on your colleagues space in the office. In fact, this could have been the soundtrack to Ricky Gervais' "The Office", later personified by Steve Carell in the US version of the same. "Disorder, ...border, ...space invader".
'Your Dairy King' - employs the band's knack of including great puns in both their song titles and lyrics, plus (in fine 'Gum tradition again) the all important confectionery link. 'Your Dairy King' features brand loyalty in a song which raises the ad jingle way above its usual disposable status.
'Why Do Girls Wear Big Sunglasses' - is perhaps the bands best song other than the hit starter. This manages the stupendous feat of recalling for this writer, both XTC's 'I'm Bugged': "You're all look like insects, in your brand new sun specs" and John Fred/Playboy band 'Judy in Disguise' - all top notch 'Gum references.
There's an infectious cheesiness that pervades the whole Warm Fuzzies experience. A fact not overlooked by the band themselves as they celebrate with their collective tongues in their cheeks, when they promote their love for cheese in their sign-off 'Queso Love'.
The band may not have intended it, but for this writer, this is not a million miles away, in concept, from another grand trash aesthetic & artistic project: 'Groovy Neighborhood' by Pianosaurus, produced by the dBs/REM/Continental Drifters shaker Peter Holsapple, where all the songs were performed with vigor and enthusiasm on toy instruments with wonderful aplomb.
The Warm Fuzzies hook-laden guitars, cheesy cheapo synths, grunge pop and magnetic melodies are 'bob-on' fantabulous. However don't go to your local record stores (not that there are any left anymore, anyway) - take a magic swirling trip to your local candy store (although in the UK we call them sweets and we would buy them at Tuck Shops). Anyhow, it's in the Tuck Shop where you'd find the Warm Fuzzies, right next to Swizzlers Love hearts, Penny Arrow Bars and Chocolate Firemen in the box labeled 'Happiness is a Warm Fuzz' - indeedy! Buy, buy, buy. - http://powerpopreview.blogspot.com/2009/03/happiness-is-warm-fuzz.html
Discography
Extinction (Fall 2013)
Fuzz Of The Month
You're Dang Right It's Friday!
AthFest 2009 Compilation
The Bubblegum EP - 2008
Photos
Bio
Listen, we’re not going to beat around the bush here. We’re the Warm Fuzzies, and we like to play loud, fuzzy powerpop songs for people who enjoy these sorts of things. Because we’re honest, we’ll admit we’re trying to kill you softly like Roberta Flack and get you with our rhythm like Gloria Estefan. Because we’re an indie rock band, though, we not always do a good job of letting you know how we feel about you. We have to play it cool, you know?
Currently we’re at The Glow Recording Studio with engineer Jesse Mangum making a record that will be out Fall of 2013. Last year, we released one delicious track right after another on a monthly basis for your listening pleasure. We called it the “Fuzz of the Month,” which narrowly defeated our other option, “What the Fuzz?” in a narrow internal ballot. It was tense. One of those songs – “Surf’s Up” – was featured on a local distro label called Gumball Machine Records in actual gumball machines around Athens.
And that fit well because we released an EP a couple of years ago (okay, it was nearly three years ago) called the Bubblegum EP. It was generally well-reviewed by people who like bands like Weezer and the Rentals and Ozma, and we liked it, too. Back then, people still occasionally bought these things called "compact discs" upon which "music" was contained, and so we decided to put some real sizzle into the release and made the disc a pink bubblegum "scratch n' sniff" that made your car smell a bit like little league when the disc warmed up. Umm.... bubblegum.
Way back in 2009, we had a track on the annual Athfest compilation ("Flux Capacitor," if you're scoring at home) and were nominated for "Upstart of the Year" by the local weekly, Flagpole. We played a bunch in Athens, a little in Atlanta, and continued to wait for the monetary value of recorded music to reach it's near-zero so that we could then release our new recordings without having to take any responsibility for not actually selling any of them.
So here we are. Enjoy!
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