Artist: Slaughter Beach
Title: Dawg EP
Genre: Emo, Alt-Punk

The question of why artists don’t just put out their far from flawless mini collection of songs they hastily write while on the subway or at a McDonalds always crossed my mind. Why do we always have to expect these things to come in shiny packages and red bows? Why can’t we receive the same presents in a barely-96kbps-“is-this-the-demo?” format? Luckily for us curious folks, Jake Ewald of Modern Baseball appears to share similar sentiments. He recently, under the name of Slaughter Beach, unexpectedly put out a three-track EP, entitled Dawg, via Bandcamp.

Unlike Modern Baseball’s chipper, happy-go-lucky dynamic, Dawg is a set of “Timmy Bowers” and “The Old Gospel Choir” sounds meshed into heavy amounts of distortion. Stapled onto Ewald as a musician, his ability to narrate stories of his everyday adventures in the quirkiest manner remains untouched. “Mall-Rat Semi-Annual” was semi-energetic and steady. Metaphorical as ever, comprehending the meaning behind his lyrics may take time, and as an avid Modern Baseball fan, that’s a small amount of time potentially well spent.

“Real Annie” is more MoBo than the two other tracks on this EP. It has the right amount of wordy-ness and melodic charm. The breakdown (although arguably one) about a minute and twenty seconds in — up until thirty seconds later when it ended — was a solid moment for me. It’s pretty cool how those little things can make or break a track. The EP’s closer, “Bed Fest,” would have to be my favorite. This song was more than easy to digest, and quickly found its place in my head. It ended with Ewald’s infamous off-key last note which I have admittedly grown to love over the past couple releases.

I can picture these songs being written in a dorm room after a night of involuntary Bud Light beer pong and two $5.99 Dominoes pies. Whether or not that was the case, this EP is raw and contains the right amount of edge (minimal), pleasantries (optimal), and above-par lyricism, and I don’t think I have ever been more stoked to hear new material by surprise.

SCORE: 8/10
Review written by Dana Reandelar

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Dana Reandelar

If not hunched over her desk writing about music, Dana can be found binge-watching old episodes of Gilmore Girls or condensing long rants to 140 characters. She also writes for Idobi Radio, and is an Off The Record podcast contributor.

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