HOME BLITZ - A.T.K./Last Cycle

Its okay there arent any two Home Blitz releases which sound alike. Sure, bandleader Daniel DiMaggio is involved in all of them -- thats his voice, a British scouser trapped in a latent New Jersey teenagers body -- and theyre all pretty much as lo-fi as you can get without the tape disintegrating, but its his approach to songwriting that changes things up on each new record. Here we have two new ones, songs about nostalgia for experiences not had (A.T.K., which shifts from Incredible Kidda Band style energy to Pavement-esque slacker downbeats in just over two minutes), and experiences in interstate travel and estimation of ones worth (Last Cycle, doing a completely different trick in something more like three). Both songs bristle with the sort of nervous energy that powered groups like the Feelies and Game Theory, two distinct touchpoints in Home Blitzs sloppy, floppy sound, and when they power through it in the live setting (with guitarist Theresa Smith, bassist Jason Sigal and teenage drummer Henry Hynes in tow), they become the greatest band on the East Coast for that moment. - Mexican Summer.