One of my hot buttons in music is preciousness. I have no patience for “watching people make a sweater made out of musical notes instead of yarn” music. And although Cheeto Champ play their music with an undeniable sweetness and vulnerability, they more than balance it out by some furious pedaling, plenty of crunch, and well-placed “i!i!i!”s. Sweet is balanced with the sour. The sour balanced with salty and spicy. Cheeto Champ is the Takis Fuego of punk. Or cactus punk: able to thrive in harsh and barren environments, outward spines against intruders, solemn beauty. Adrian is one of the singers of God Equals Genocide. In Cheeto Champ, she pulls a vast majority of the lead vocal duties, and with that longer exposure, she really sounds like Iceland’s Björk Guðmundsdóttir of the Sugarcubes, circa Life’s too Good. Only took me five or six years to realize that.Comes inside an impressive letter press cover and stamped CD artwork. I like this a lot.
–todd (Lauren, Lauren-records.com / Bite The Cactus, [email protected])