Cassette Review // Cold Camp "Winter Dreamz" (Hand'Solo Records)

https://handsolorecords.bandcamp.com/album/winter-dreamz 

Cold Camp is not just an artist, Cold Camp is a state of mind.  This entire cassette has the idea of being frozen about it to the extent where I want to keep it in my freezer.  "Winter Dreamz" begins with an audio clip about how the world is going to freeze over one day and everything will die.  Pleasant tones come in with muffled vocals and then you can hearly someone rapping more clearly.   

After the intro when the third track hits it says: "You don't wanna be a ghost in the snow - no".  This is an interesting idea because what happens to ghosts when it's cold?  I've always heard theories that when you die, if you become a ghost you are basically wearing the clothes that you died in.  So what if you die in the hot summer but have seasons and winter comes along?  Do ghosts feel temperature changes?  Could The Ghostbusters have just frozen the ghosts to catch them?  Is that kind of what they did?

In addition to thinking about things you might not have considered before, Cold Camp has  a way of using the word "cold" (and it's variants) in ways which don't always come through in a literal way.   This comes out in the song "Cold Cash", which is about having money, and it just feels so clever that you can make an entire cassette about being cold but you're also still able to brag about having more money than others.

Audio clips about cold weather, chill beats (see what I did there?) and even sometimes music which feels like it's going to take us into a martial arts film, Cold Camp has managed to create an album themed about being cold.   There's always a question of would you rather be cold or hot, and I'd rather be cold because I'd just keep putting on layers of clothing and blankets if I'm sleeping.  If you're hot, you can't peel your skin off, you know?  So I'm going to stay cold and you should listen to "Winter Dreamz" and stay cold too.