"Blow a goodbye kiss / On the way to work / Burnin rubbermaid / Cruisin USA..."
The off balanced, tilting post grunge seesaw of "Cruisin USA" by Portland born alt rock hybrid Soft Cheese, and from their third full length "SFTCHZ", is a compelling mix of sludge pop, alt rock psychedelia and a kind of bipolar exercise between meditative ruminations and dissonant guitar heavy slaps. Let's talk about the bass. It is deliciously 90's grunge on heavy narcotics, it sounds amazing as does the plodding meter of the drums, perfectly simple but absolutely serving the track in a Ringo sort of way. While Soft Cheese is, has always been a band circling around the songs of guitarist / singer Hugh Jepson with Annie Miranda on bass, Dustin Stallings on drums and Connor O'Shea on guitar, SFTCHZ was solely written, performed, recorded by Jepson while living in Minneapolis (with backing vocals by Isabel Zacharias on "Cruisin USA" and track 2) and as LINER NOTES indicate "has a more stripped down and less produced vibe than their previous efforts, and was inspired by 90's video games and Steve Albini's music philosophy and approach" but this is the thing, it fully sounds like a band to me which is very much appreciated.
[SFTCHZ was made in Hugh's Minneapolis apartment between Sept 24 - June 25, as a kind of love letter to his bandmates in Portland, who he misses very much.]
"Cruisin USA" as Jepson shares is "a song inspired by the 90's midway arcade game, but set in the horrific 24/7 nightmare that is present day USA." AND is utterly a hypnotic sludgy pummeling wash of melancholia / detachment when detachment is your only form of survival instincts. At least this is how I see it, feel it.
"Blow a goodbye kiss
On the way to work
Burnin rubbermaid
Cruisin USA
Twenty four hour
Nonstop horsepower
Check out my motor
See the sun go down
See the sun come up
Im just shitting brain
Cruisin USA
Im out for blood"
On the way to work
Burnin rubbermaid
Cruisin USA
Twenty four hour
Nonstop horsepower
Check out my motor
See the sun go down
See the sun come up
Im just shitting brain
Cruisin USA
Im out for blood"
[Proceeds from album sales will be donated to the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), a Minneapolis based organization that "fights for legalization for all, an end to immigration raids and deportations, an end to all anti-immigrant laws, and full equality in all areas of life", and that is outspoken in demanding divestment of institutions in Minnesota from Israel's apartheid and genocide in Palestine. Find out more at www.miracmn.com]
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://soundcloud.com/soft-cheese
https://softcheese.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/sftchz/
https://www.facebook.com/sftchz/
https://x.com/sftchz
Soft Cheese churns out tunes that have been described as shoegazey, grungey, dreamy and all around delightful. Since forming in Portland, OR in 2019, this quattro formaggi, comprised of Hugh Jepson, Annie Miranda, Dustin Stallings & Conner O'Shea, have been making music to eat pizza and cry to. In 2020, the group released two self-recorded EPs, "Blue Sausage Fruit'' and "Tarp," as well as their self-titled LP that was recorded and mixed by Cam Spies at Trash Treasury Studios. All three releases were compiled and released on the “Fromage à Trois” cassette by budtapes in 2022.
Over the last few years Soft Cheese has opened for acts such as Wolf Parade, Oberhofer, and Summer Cannibals, and also headlined shows at Mississippi Studios and the 2022 PDX Pop Now! Festival. In 2023, the foursome made their way to an ocean forest retreat to record their second full length album, "Dream Body", which was released on Literal Gold.
Hugh wrote, performed, recorded, and mixed their lasted album, "SFTCHZ", while living in Minneapolis. It has a more stripped down and less produced vibe than their previous efforts, and was inspired by 90's video games and Steve Albini's music philosophy and approach.
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://soundcloud.com/soft-cheese
https://softcheese.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/sftchz/
https://www.facebook.com/sftchz/
https://x.com/sftchz
Soft Cheese churns out tunes that have been described as shoegazey, grungey, dreamy and all around delightful. Since forming in Portland, OR in 2019, this quattro formaggi, comprised of Hugh Jepson, Annie Miranda, Dustin Stallings & Conner O'Shea, have been making music to eat pizza and cry to. In 2020, the group released two self-recorded EPs, "Blue Sausage Fruit'' and "Tarp," as well as their self-titled LP that was recorded and mixed by Cam Spies at Trash Treasury Studios. All three releases were compiled and released on the “Fromage à Trois” cassette by budtapes in 2022.
Over the last few years Soft Cheese has opened for acts such as Wolf Parade, Oberhofer, and Summer Cannibals, and also headlined shows at Mississippi Studios and the 2022 PDX Pop Now! Festival. In 2023, the foursome made their way to an ocean forest retreat to record their second full length album, "Dream Body", which was released on Literal Gold.
Hugh wrote, performed, recorded, and mixed their lasted album, "SFTCHZ", while living in Minneapolis. It has a more stripped down and less produced vibe than their previous efforts, and was inspired by 90's video games and Steve Albini's music philosophy and approach.
Soft Cheese, alt rock, post grunge, grunge, indie rock, songs shaped around the songwriting of Hugh Jepson, Portland birthed, social commentary, post punk, lo fi, beautiful dissonance, "Cruisin USA", NEW album "SFTCHZ",
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