Under a Snappy Spell: SPELLS RULES

Under a Snappy Spell

Review of Four Titles from Snappy Little Number Records and a band called SPELLS

Article by Joseph Timmons: IndiePulse Music Magazine

Independent labels are saving the music culture, by giving bands the opportunity to produce and distribute music in a classic and lovable medium, Vinyl, and promoting a global music scene. One such label is Snappy Little Number, an indie label run as a labor of love by the label’s owner Chuck Coffey. I found Snappy Little Number while perusing the web through a record collectors group IndieWax, which is the location to connect with the new indie labels, and it is rewarding and refreshing to see so many innovative producers looking at reviving the music world. I like it when I find the label that has creative intelligence and the humility of a real artist, which is Snappy Little Numbers.

I reached out to Snappy Little Numbers to get some titles and learn more about his label, and again, not one disappointment, I addition I found a band well worth the attention of the masses. Growing up in the 80’s in New York, I was a dweller of the Hard Rock, Punk and Metal music scenes, countless nights in dark bars, pubs and crawlspaces that were over packed with the angry youth I called brethren. When I think of Punk Rock, I think CBGB’s, SoHo and Mohawks, not to mention angst… lots of angst, buckets full.

 

Snappy Little Number sent me several great singles, EPs and Albums, all, to be really straight forward, great, and that is surprising, not to defame anyone, but for an indie label to score a couple of great bands is one thing, but everyone in the Snappy catalog is great. One group that stands out, to me is SPELLS, the band has a homegrown Punk sound that is the real deal, Garage Punk brought into the studio and back onto the streets.

“The” SPELLS have a powerful and passionate sound, to describe it I could use all the “Buzz” words and gape in awe at their “Significant Talent” and “Social – Cultural Awareness”… but then they would probably show up at my door and sock me a good one for making them sound so… so… well, just so “Bieber”

Let’s begin this trip down the Dark alley known as “The Review”

First up, the Single (A-Side) Slice Away (B-Side) Take Time: this single is a great intro to the band and their music, crank it up, brash and rambunctious, both sides rule. For those of you that like rough vocals and guitars that sound like chainsaws, this is your forest.

The next selection is a 7” / 4 Track EP Land Locked, Songs – I Don’t Want a Legacy, En Vouge, Outta Control and I Want Fun. The styles on this EP swap with Every Track, we got a “Clash” sound mixed with The Dickies in I Don’t Want a Legacy, En Vouge has a 60’s Ravagers sound, kind of “{Soul-ish” but with punch, mix in a little new wave and .. perfect. Following track Outta Control has a Boomtown Rats sound, ripping chords and makes ya move. I Want Fun has an iggy pop influence vocally, with Rockabilly undertones. I threw a lot of “Sounds like” in the commentary, and it was to really give SPELLS Props and respect, they nail the Punk genre hard and bring masterful composition to the EP.

Next up is “The” SPELLS Big Boring Meeting – 6 Tracks on a 7” at 33RPM, now, I know due to length of each track, this may just be an “EP”, but really, this is an Epic Mini-Album, I have included, as with the 2 prior descriptions, the Bandcamp Stream embed, so you can hear the pure punk glory of it all. Track listing – Deceiver, I Wanna Know, Big Boring Meeting, No AC, She Wants To Die Before I Do and Tom.

SPELLS takes a step back, gripping hard on the roots of Punk, short songs with deep meaning and hard truths, dealing with reality and all its injustices, like sitting through utter BS for a Paycheck, among other travesties of life’s banality.

As a Big Finish, “The” SPELLS Staying In > Going Out, which is a full voluptuous 12 sexy tracks of Pure Punk…

The Freak Out, 1^st track on the album really sets the tone, party theme, high energy, rebellious and tawny, SPELLS kicks into high gear, the whole album is packed with punch, and like the video for Staying In Is The New Going Out, you can sit within your den of inequity, stewing in your juices and feel as anti-social as you want and still, know how to have a good time. Seriously though, Staying In > Going Out is a great album, a very ideologically mature and superior album that sets a great tone for the bands career.

“The” SPELLS have many other selections available, visiting their Bandcamp Page, Snappy Little Number’s Outlet for Quality Audio Recordings was definitely an experience as so often Indie Labels do some stuff and their merch pages may not reflect all of their offerings, be out of date or just a mess to order from, but the Retail Page for Snappy Little Numbers was easy to navigate, and easy to locate anything and everything from SPELLS and their other artists. Now, the Bandcamp is primarily for the purchase of Digital Albums, to buy on Vinyl, go to their Webpage proper.  Snappy Little Number titles are also available in select record stores.

The artists on Snappy Little Number are diverse and multi-talented, giving 100% to every note. One thing I want to point out is the quality of production, the records are produced very well, the label art is superb and somewhat nostalgic, the album cover art ranges from pro-press to hand done and many will be collector’s items. The final result of all the work is a perfect limited run collection of singles, splits, EP’s and albums that would rival that of larger production companies, yet have the humble simplicity that we, the Vinyl Addicts of America yearn for.

 

The links below for Snappy Little Number

• http://snappylittlenumbers.blogspot.com
• http://snappylittlenumbers.storenvy.com
• http://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com
• http://www.facebook.com/snappylittlenumbers
• http://twitter.com/SnappyLNumbers
• Instagram: @snappylittlenumbers
• snappylittlenumbers@gmail.com

Find out more about SPELLS

• http://www.spellsrules.com
• http://www.facebook.com/spellsrules
• http://www.instagram.com/spellsrules
• SPELLS on YouTube