Monday 7 March 2016

SHORT HAIR

BandSHORT HAIR
GenresPost-Punk / Hardcore / Screamo / Noise / Prog
Related artists?.
CountryReno, Nevada USA
Years Active2007-2009
Song: "Shark Mountain"
Album: "We Buy From the Children"
Year: 2009
For fans ofThe Blood Brothers, The Jonbenét, Transistor Transistor, Usurp Synapse, Panthers, Teenage Swoon, (late) Loftus, Daughters, Desperado, Kill Sadie, Dance Disaster Movement, Soiled Doves, Head Wound City, Meth And Goats, Scowler, These Arms Are Snakes and Fear Before The March Of Flames aka PROPER SCREAMO.
Label(s): Humaniterrorist
This post's artist is from the March 2016 Mix. This is track #1.
You can download: the March Mix#3 right here or get the new April 2016 Mix#4 here.

I first got into SHORT HAIR because of a review I read on a website and they compared the band to The Blood Brothers. They were spot on about some parts of the band and I'm damn ass glad that I checked them out. And guess what? If you like The Blood Brothers you should too, especially 'We Buy From the Children'.

'Poltergash' is a disjointed soiree of awkward riffs, noises, vocal rumblings and overall sound, in my opinion. They certainly hit on the sound I love but they also focus an excessive amount of effort on the weird instead of the sassy and heavy. The bass on this release and the following 2008 effort 'Short Hair' EP (not the live one!) which also suffers from inconsistencies, is groovin' and one of the best things about the band's early existence. Some good examples of the sweet bassin are "Onwards and F-Words" and "Short Hair vs. The Reversable Convertable". Both albums kind of end up sounding like a mix of Elvis and very early The Blood Brothers.

2009's 'We Buy From the Children' is without a doubt the band's crowning achievement as they finally shed the wasteful sections that dragged the songs down. The songwriting is much more fluid and interesting, but it is rarely predictable. It begins with the phenomenal and very The Blood Brothers-esque "Shark Mountain" that rides out the sass for 30 seconds before swinging around the full-on screams. The instrumentation and vocal delivery are seriously The Blood Brothers, but this mutated clone does a damn fine job of it and the track is also the band's best work. If you start anywhere, start with the album, this song and try not to sing along to "I'm innocent! I'm innocent! I'm innocent! Shark mountain!" The song "Group Hugs" follows at nearly four minutes of eerie post-punk and it is apparent rather quickly that the band has varied up their style, giving two very different songs right off the bat. "Dying Telephone Birds" is a romping good time of playful guitars and bass with strip the paint off wood screams, all of which isn't too far from The Jonbenét and Kill Sadie territory and is over in 1:33. "Hhalf Drank" is a somber and mildly depressing experience with a few rays of light amidst the darkness and acts as an instrumental interlude. "Short Hair vs. The Reversable Convertable" is another decent, sassy song that leads way to the closer "The Overgiver", which sounds a helluva lot like the best These Arms Are Snakes material crossed with The Blood Brothers and it's bliss. Goddamn.

In 2008 the band entered a $10 per person space to record five songs in 10 minutes at the Experience Music Project in Seattle. The live recording isn't the best quality but as is explained in the word document accompanying the digital files this was never the point. All of the songs are previously released and it's worth checking out once but you'll want the proper recordings if you like any of the songs. This was released as 'Short Hair' but is referred to as the 'EMP' record.

In 2012 they released a cover of "Walk Like an Egyptian". I'd pass on that.

So there it is. SHORT HAIR were a very interesting and varied band with some crazy high vocals and great bass riffs. 'We Buy From the Children' is worth checking out for any fan of spazzy, screamy and sassy hardcore. Fuckin' "Shark Mountain", man. Goddamn.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2007 - Poltergash EP (stream/donate/download here)

2008 - Short Hair EP (stream/donate/download here)
2008 - Experience Music Project cdEP (stream/donate/download here)

2009 - We Buy From the Children cdEP (stream/buy here)

2012 - Walk Like an Egyptian digitalsingle (stream/donate/download here)

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(2009) SHORT HAIR - "Shark Mountain" (from 'We Buy From the Children')

(2009) SHORT HAIR - "The Overgiver" (from 'We Buy From the Children')

(2009) SHORT HAIR - "Dying Telephone Birds" (from 'We Buy From the Children')

(2008) SHORT HAIR - "Workin' Up a Black Sweat" (from 'Experience Music Project')

(2008) SHORT HAIR - "Short Hair vs. The Reversable Convertable" (from 'Short Hair')

(2007) SHORT HAIR - "Onwards and F-Words" (from 'Poltergash')

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SHORT HAIR out of print mp3 discography download / additional links

(download here)

Bandcamp
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