{"id":22295,"date":"2022-01-14T05:30:02","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T10:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22295"},"modified":"2025-05-13T11:42:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T15:42:27","slug":"album-review-hushdrops-the-static","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/14\/album-review-hushdrops-the-static\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Hushdrops — The Static"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Hey, remember the \u201890s? No, not the hair metal-lite of the era, and not the flannel-wrapped grunge of the Pacific Northwest. Well, maybe a little of that. What I\u2019m thinking of is the rise and codification of \u201calternative rock,\u201d a loosely-defined but distinctive style that combined the best of power pop, hard rock and good old-fashioned rock and roll spirit.<\/p>\n

Maybe you heard it in albums by Teenage Fanclub. Maybe you dug Evan Dando\u2019s Lemonheads. Perhaps you dug Sugar, a band that combined a hardcore sensibility with ear candy melodies. Whatever. The thing is, it\u2019s that era that immediately springs to mind when I listen to The Static<\/em>, the third (and possibly final) album from Chicago-based band Hushdrops.<\/p>\n

Hushdrops has all of the qualities to which I alluded in the previous paragraphs. And there\u2019s a distinctive Chicago\/Midwest vibe, one that places Hushdrops in the good sonic company of artists like Urge Overkill, Liz Phair and …you get the idea.<\/p>\n

Sadly, Hushdrops drummer Joe Camarillo passed away suddenly just as the album\u2019s finishing touches were being applied. But there\u2019s nothing unfinished about The Static<\/i>. Employing a remarkably spare set of tools, the group paints a sonic picture that\u2019s deeply textured. The creamy backing vocals of \u201cOne of the Guys\u201d blend seamlessly with the guitar\/bass\/drums arrangement. Subtle touches of electric sitar are woven into the mix, but done in a way that doesn\u2019t render the song as a retro piece.<\/p>\n

And when Hushdrops traffic in guitar riffage, it\u2019s still wholly in service to the songs. Some bands craft songs as little more than vehicles for riffs or hooks, and that\u2019s fine. But Hushdrops bring the tunes, and then add understated bits of filigree.<\/p>\n

And the group displays impressive stylistic range within its chosen style. \u201cThe Lummox\u201d opens with a lumbering arrangement that owes as much to Black Sabbath as anything else. But the tune shifts gears into something a bit shoegazier, with string synth taking the tune in a vaguely psychedelic direciton. And then the song shifts gears yet again. And again, and again. In the space of less than two minutes, Hushdrops have created a miniature instro-prog epic.<\/p>\n

And \u201cElevator\u201d is a lush pop epic that somehow feels like Burt Bacharach updated for today (well, let\u2019s say the 1990s.). And \u201cTomorrow Takes the Sun\u201d sounds like the Yardbirds playing Rubber Soul<\/i> outtakes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not at all clear if the group will be in a position to continue in the face of losing Camarillo. But whether they do or not, Hushdrops have brought forth a superb album in the form of The Static<\/i>. If they stop here, it\u2019s a loss for those who enjoy their music. But if The Static<\/i> is the way they go out, it\u2019s a triumphant finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey, remember the \u201890s? No, not the hair metal-lite of the era, and not the flannel-wrapped grunge of the Pacific Northwest. Well, maybe a little of that. What I\u2019m thinking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,49,62,65],"tags":[4750],"class_list":["post-22295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie","category-new-release","category-rawk","category-review","tag-hushdrops","cat-39-id","cat-49-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22295"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29410,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22295\/revisions\/29410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}