Mom’s Basement Records, 21 May 2021
Long live Beatnik Termites.
I’m not sure that there’s much I’ve been more stoked for this year than the first Beatnik Termites record in nearly twenty years. In a bunch of ways, the band is one of a few that saved me from a cynical and sort-of-nihilistic hardcore pathway by reminding me that music can be fun and pop. I mean, records like Bubblecore and Girl Crazy brilliantly shimmy through high-energy singalongs that few bands can touch. And when I watched the brief performance on the Mom’s Basement Holiday Party in December, I heard the pure pop bliss and doo wop callbacks that are gold to my ears and rare to find done so well (save the consistently wonderful Blendours, who also happen to be from my home state of Iowa).
So after all this time, Beatnik Termites have dug in deep to the sounds of yesteryear. That is to say, doo wop, bubblegum, surf, and 50’s rock ‘n roll is the name of the game. Simply, Sweatin’ To The Termites is thirteen nuggets of pop goodness, mostly at a mid-tempo bounce, and mostly with some of my favorite harmonies in music. Opener “Pet Shop Girl” is a malt shop classic. I remember them performing this acapella during the Mom’s Basement show and both the lead vocal melody and the astounding doo wop vocals have stuck with me since. It’s fantastic with instruments, too, and sets up other doo wop-derived sugar like the harmonizing singalong “My Darling Mary Ann” and the resonating low-end vocals of “Pretty Baby”. On “Summer Summer”, the “doo wop shoo wop” intro is expertly done and the falsetto dripping through the backdrop is gorgeous. And while doo wop is never far, other strands of 50’s nostalgia drift through on “She’s Gonna Kill Me” (which has one of the catchier melodic hooks on here and a great fuzzy guitar solo) and “Rubber City Roller Girl” (which opens with a “Wipeout”-style tom roll and digs into some surfy-kitsch bass vocals that harmonize and sound just right). Elsewhere, “Kennywood” and “Kiss You” lean into the warm glow of yesteryear with fuzzy chiming guitars (“Kennywood”) and gorgeous tremolo balladry that would’ve played great in place of “Earth Angel” in “Back To The Future” (“Kiss You” – a 50’s song that dreams are made of). And when they move a few years forward, shuffling ever-so-slightly into the ‘60’s on “Out Of My League”, they double-tap the snare and toss in some handclaps to adorn one of my favorite melodies. Sweatin’ To The Termites is pretty much front-to-back pop nugget greatness to my ears.
For what it’s worth, the words on Sweatin’ are pretty much what we have come to expect – that is to say, we get songs about girls, relationships, and love. On some songs, he’s in love (“Pet Shop Girl”, “Kennywood”, Kiss You”). On others, he’s melancholy for a lost love (“Denise Marie”). On others yet, he’s working through relationship struggles (an upset girl on “She’s Gonna Kill Me”, a seeming lack of self-confidence on “Out Of My League”, a teen story of breaking curfew rollerskating on “Rubber City Roller Girl”). But with Beatnik Termites, it’s not about the overarching concepts as much as it’s the lyrical craft-the way sounds get used, rhymes get bent, and cadences get shaped. In this, I’d compare Pat’s writing to that of Dr. Frank’s of The Mr. T Experience.
So yea, Beatnik Termites are back, and Sweatin’ To The Termites is even better than I had hoped. I truly have a thing for these classic sounds and the Termites are excavating the hooks with the best of them. Long live Beatnik Termites.
Favorite song: “Rubber City Roller Girl”
Favorite moment: the “dum-diddy-doo-wop”’s on opener “Pet Shop Girl
Favorite whatever else: the surprisingly gentle tremolo guitar on the sweet “Kiss You”
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
