We're barely 40 days into 2011 and it's already off to a fast start. Aside from the quality LPs we've seen from Tennis, James Blake, and Smith Westerns, Hear Hums have dropped one of my surprise favorite albums of the year. We first heard from the Jacksonville, FL trio (wonder if they hang out with unouomedude?) on the Dope Mountain Fuck cassette, where their 6:23 marathon jam "Mokom Wolos" made episode #9 of our show. Then the beautiful Feels-inspired "BXYZ" made epsiode #14 of our show last week.On their second album, Psych Cycles (Crash Symbols, 12/21/10), there are no shortage of beautiful songs, from the soundscapes of "Mokom Wolos" to the stuttering breakbeats of "Change" to the, well, sunsoaked shimmer of "Sunsoaked." And, of course, there's "BXYZ," which could legitimately be accused of sounding a little too much like "The Purple Bottle," but we're not going to bother with pedantic influence-spotting exercises because it just sounds so good.
Besides, Psych Cycles never lets one influence dominate. The fact that all of these songs can fit together in one album means you should go buy it now. It's only limited to 300 copies, and because Hear Hums are nice dudes, there's even a free download link further down the page.
