Haybaby - A musical fray you want to step into

New musical discoveries are so much fun. I recently found out about Brooklyn based post punk rock band Haybaby. A great introduction to them is posted below. It is a link to a live studio session on BreakThruRado. As I listened to this great music I thought of pioneering bands like The Talking Heads and the related Tom Tom Club as well a bit of the Pixies and Yuck. Their songs are sonically diverse but always sewn together by heavy- well composed bass lines. Guitarist / sometimes drummer Leslie Hong's vocals can disarm you in about 3 seconds. She has a cute and crazy undertone with melodies that masterfully dance from strident - to pretty - to on the edge of dissonance. There is the breezy punkish beauty of Mad Girls Love Song to the quirky yet sonically explosive My Mother Tells Me were she sings "I'm shivering because I'm scared of things that grow like love and... mold" in a distant self reflective "koo koo" sort of way as the song pumps slowly around her only to burst into big glorious rockish breaks. I love the dynamics in this song.

As much as I am having in instant crush on Leslie's vocals, I would not specifically say she is the lead vocalist as the drummer / sometimes guitarist Zach Ellis pops up in many of the songs. In Noodles, he sings "I don't need, need, need, need, need, need, need, need you.... there's a needle, needle, needle, needle, needle, needle, needle in you..." amidst a very sweet punchy music bed as Leslie provides an array of harmonious and contra-posing vocal lines. This song, in particular, has an art rock feel in that aforementioned Talking Heads vein. It is as quirky as it is catchy and the lyrics (as potent as a bottle of Jack Daniels) could be swallowed straight or with a dash of metaphors. 

Yeerks ("Sometimes, I'm nervous but mostly I'm crazy") moves so well. Babies is a silly sock hoppish slow punk dance and deliciously fun. Summertime with Zach on guitar /vocals and Leslie on the drums is a bit of garden rock that makes me think of Woodstock and Lou Reed.  Wash You starts with an almost porch blues rock feel as Leslie croons with a fair amount of punch drunk swagger, "Wash your dirty face girl, glance your dirty hands. Go put in your eyes girl, start taking commands. You... just written on my wrists... my viens were cold and dry. Your ear against my hollow chest... a desert in my eyes. All my words have left me... mouth thick with useless tongue. An empty brain and shrinking skull directs my breathless lung."
Soon after... all Hell breaks loose.

Haybaby is a band to get excited about.
-
Adler Bloom

you've been sent a show from BreakThru Radio

 00:00 Themetune
00:43 Mr Jason talking
01:40 Cellar Door - Haybaby - Live @ Old School Studios
03:52 Mad Girl's Love Song - Haybaby - Live @ Old School Studios
07:52 My Mother Tells Me - Haybaby - Live @ Old School Studios
14:04 Noodles - Haybaby - Live @ Old School Studios
19:43 Summertime - Haybaby - Live @ Old School Studios
23:24 Yeerks - Haybaby - Live @ Old School Studios
28:16 Babies - Haybaby - Live @ Old School Studios
31:22 Wash You - Haybaby - Live @ Old School Studios
34:44 The Moon - Haybaby - Live @ Old School Studios
39:51 Mr Jason talking
40:43 Themetune

Haybaby is:

Zach Ellis
Sam Jacoff
Leslie Hong
Caleb Larson

HAYBABY
Haybaby Facebook