I’ll come clean right away and admit that it was Live 105’s Aaron Axelsen who was first responsible for pointing out this band (to me at least). He included a link to their website in his Player Picks months ago, so of course I had to check it out. I thought it was a joke. A nine-year-old drummer and an eleven-year-old keyboardist (both sing) getting props from one of the country’s top programmers? I checked out an MP3, thought it was OK and that was about it. Then I received the band’s debut full length in the mail and was shocked to find that it was actually pretty damn good. Considering it’s a pair of pre-teen girls, the album is amazing, but some of these songs even hold their own against today’s indie rock finest. “La Pump” is an electro/dance/rock tune in the vein of The Faint while “She Like Electric” is a screechy Le Tigre-esque electro freak out. The majority of the tracks, due to the stripped down production with only keyboard and drums, sound like Lawrence, KS, indie-tastic boy/girl rockers Mates of State but I think these girls are even more accessible. And before you say it, NO, they are not a girl version of Hanson, though they do have blonde hair. These chicks are some die hard indie rockers. Keyboardist Asya even has a Long Winters sticker on her keyboard! Smoosh opened for Jimmy Eat World earlier this month, have done an in-studio at KEXP (they’re from Seattle) and even landed on the Tripwire Top 30 last week. They’re clearly generating some buzz and deservedly so. The more I listen to this record, the more I dig it (and the more I freak out that I’m loving music made by junior high kids). They are, without a doubt, worth checking out.

Smoosh
Pattern 25 Records

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5. Smoosh Sign To Barsuk