A Thriving Psych-Surf Rock Single from Bad Mothers Union
Bad Mothers Union just dropped a new single that breaks the boundaries between surf, psychedelic, and even hints of shoegaze, mending them together in a way that gives the whole thing a righteous and vivacious approach, colorful but slightly edgy, and serving up a damn good time.
"God's Intercom" comes right in, giving you this sort of vintage guitar tone, breeding a thick surf rock sound, and everything is recorded in a way that gives off that classic aesthetic perfectly.
The guitar work across this track is absolutely everything. It's wild and a little rambunctious, thrashy, but not over the top. The distortion isn't super heavy or anything. It's slightly clean, but it's slammed, giving you this massive energy that is very quickly infectious, along with drumming that brings the song to life even more, but doesn't sit on top of everything.
The drums on this track are balanced with the guitars. I love this because, with classic surf rock, the guitar is often the main focus.
The drums are amazing here, and they have these hints of reverb effect all over them, as do the guitars, giving the song that distant and sort of layered feel.
Having said that, the track also has a live performance vibe to it. You get the feeling that watching this as a live performance would be immense.
Now, a lot of this does have to do with the energy, and maybe they recorded this whole thing live, right on the floor, so that everyone could just feed off of each other.
I'm not sure, of course, but it certainly feels that way, and listening to it makes you want to go see it performed.
As I mentioned earlier, the track does hit plenty of psych-rock approaches, and the vocals really push that even further.
The vocals are performed in two-part harmonies throughout a lot of the track. These also have some wet effects to them so that they are sort of floating around in the same atmosphere as the rest of the song.
The mix of this track is really what makes it special. Whoever mixed this song, whether it was the band themselves or a producer who understood the mission, really knew what they were doing in terms of making sure the song actually felt like waves rolling in.
Everything has a bit of depth to it in terms of its tones, from the instruments to the vocals alike.
The drum beat is that classic old school '60s surf rock drum beat, especially during the verses, so you have one guitar that's doing a plucky sort of Dick Dale thing, while another guitar is performing bopping chords over that, providing you with a lot to groove with and a lot to chew on.
Throughout those sections, because there's so much bopping going on, the vocals are solid. They hold out long notes all the way through the bopping, and so you have something to hold on to through all of that.
This is what I really like about it. The vocals are almost like instruments themselves. Not like a main vocal track giving you an in-your-face style approach, but rather vocals that are adding more melody and layers of texture to the song.
I love it when the guitar bursts into distortion and starts really hitting hard, just as they did at the start of the song. It really gives things a little bit of a heavier feel and bursts of climactic intensities that serve very well for the song's arrangement.
The vocals can be sort of animated. The whole song has a great feel, but the vocals make things even more theatrical, innocent.
There are some great little breakdown sections after certain choruses towards the end of the song, where the vocals really take the cake and give you that character.
Of course, the entire song provides you with a lot of character.
This was something that really thrived. You can tell everyone is having an absolute blast, whether or not they were recording it live.
You can still feel this electric sort of energy coming through, and they weren't afraid to lace the song with all kinds of different effects from echoes and delays to loads of reverbs to give the song that psychedelic undertone.
This was driving, charismatic, and endlessly fun, with a very excitable and jumpy feel that sort of gives you a burst of energy.
I love the blend of color and edginess, and how those two elements come together seamlessly.
This was a banger of a track, and I had a great time listening to it. I think you will too, especially if you love surf rock drenched and wetness and being unafraid to deliver trippiness and color.
Check this one out and turn it up when you do; it's best to listen to it that way.
What are you waiting for? You shouldn't be reading this unless you're actually listening to the song right now. So dive in and hear exactly what I'm talking about.
Bad Mothers Union - 'God's Intercom' on Spotify
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