Cassette Review // Orchard "'Til You Fall Down" (Cruel Nature Records)

https://cruelnaturerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/til-you-fall-down

I love cassettes because I'm never sure what kind of music is going to come out of them when I get them.   Orchard has a loud, punk sound that is quite wild.  It reminds me right away of Be Your Own Pet, but it can also become dark.  The song "Carry" gives us the hook "You're gonna carry it 'til you fall down" and I like that idea because it reminds me of something someone once said about the past weighing us down.

While the songs can be catchy, by "Song For Rosie" they can also start to become a little bit of that grunge and -gaze combination that I so much enjoy.  "4000 Years Old" slows down and is instrumental with big cymbal crashes.  "Hot Sea Waffle" has that specific guitar sound and makes me think of Dinosaur Jr.   It also happens to be instrumental.  

On the flip side I begin to hear a little bit of The B-52's.   Surf rock / garage rock also come into here.   There is a lot of strumming on "Freedom!" and it begins to make me feel like we're listening to a HHBTM! Records type of band.  The song "Burning People To Keep Castles Warm" does in fact sing that in the chorus and I hope it hits closer to home now more than ever as in the United States we have managed to somehow eliminate the middle class.

Whether it be for these powerful lyrics or because you simply want to get up and dance, Orchard is a lot of fun within these sounds.  If you told me this was a cassette you randomly found in a thrift store and it was from 1996 I'd be inclined to believe you, but there is also a modern touch to it which brings it back into the present.  Music which can connect the past with the future often times tends to be the best music for me to listen to and Orchard is just that.