Shortly after I moved back to Northern California in 2009, I went to a house show in San Francisco in order to see the brilliant Onion Flavored Rings. I didn’t have any knowledge whatsoever about the other bands who were to play that night. One of the bands who played was Fleabag, a three-piece. The guitarist/vocalist was taking the front of the room for the second time that evening, as she had played bass in the first band that night. I thought the first band was pretty good, so I was thinking that this band with two other guys should be at least decent. They were much more than decent. Their songs were at the right part of the tricky intersection of punk and indie. I was blown away by their coupling of melody and intensity. Marilyn, the vocalist/guitarist, is not a physically large person by any measure, but her voice is immense and her guitar playing is sublime. I ended up getting a copy of the Fleabag tape from her in the mail not too long after the show. I listened to that thing like Muslims pray towards mecca. Those five sweet and poppy tracks with their lyrics telling of inner malaise are imprinted on my mind. What does Fleabag have to do with anything, you may be asking. Aye Nako used to be Fleabag, who was once Aye Nako before that. The first iteration of Aye Nako was initiated in the Midwest. Then Fleabag did time in Oakland, CA. Now the second coming of Aye Nako is Brooklyn-based. All that said, I was stoked to see this cassette come my way. Marilyn and Joe, the bassist, have been the constant two-thirds of all three units. The output on all three tapes has sounded like a raw, DIY take on some amalgamation of Superchunk and Tiger Trap. They have honed in on their craft over the course of their years, which has resulted in a more finely tuned (and dare I say polished) sound. While the Fleabag recordings will hold a special place with me, I must say that this cassette is a definite positive growth in song writing and recording (with a hardcore song thrown in the mix, which is okay for what it is, but totally caught me off guard. I just didn’t think that the emotional turmoil of the band would manifest itself in such a fashion). If the world worked the way it should, you’d already be listening to this. Wholeheartedly recommended.
–Vincent (Self-released)