With everyone gazing backwards to the '90s with rose-tinted glasses, sometimes we forget that the cassette was probably the least-desirable form of audio in this lauded era. In reality mix-CDs reigned supreme and all the cool kids were rocking The Lost Boys movie posters on their bedroom walls.
Whether or not influenced by the movie, New York's Lost Boy ? is able to lay waste to the lo-fi fuzz with the swagger of a young Jack Bauer on their upcoming Exploding In Sound cassette, Wasted. Packed with melodies that will keep any generation's attention span intact, there's no need to reminisce when your music and lyrics are rife with auspicious reminders of jamming in your parent's basement, or your friend's backyard, or on a stage in some run-down bar. There's a reason we can romanticize these seemingly mundane events, just as most of us can appreciate a catchy pop-tune. And when you can sing about being wasted with a heartfelt sense of tired responsibility, that's something we can all relate to.
With a sarcastic call to “flip the tape,” as the four-song, seven-minute burner comes to a close, I'm left hoping this small phrase is a tongue-in-cheek ode to the nihilistic realism that filled the air as we replaced our cassette decks with CD players, while all those 20-year-old major label “classics” were being released. At the very least, I can emphatically claim that there are plenty of great New York rock bands to go around.
Lost Boy ?'s Wasted is available on cassette May 27 from Exploding In Sound. You can stream it below:
