Samuel “Babydude” Yager has been honing his craft as Birthdays for more than two years now, which is an appropriate length of time to prepare—and now drop—a self-titled album. And it's safe to say the culmination of his efforts is nothing short of exceptional. With a heightening of recording quality over previous releases (recorded by Kevin Kenkel and mastered by J. Mendicino), Yager's Birthdays project is given room to breathe between the droned out synth layers and the bombastic dance moments. I'm even reluctant to use the word “drone” so there's no mistaking Birthdays for anything other than what it is: an uplifting party jam that playfully rests on the shoulders of your favorite 4/4 beats.
Of course, we must claim bias, as it was 2010 when Impose Records released his Hawaiian Punch Wave cassette (thus why we know he's been performing for at least that long), but there is symmetry between the two records. The track “Procreating Flower Bug” has been re-worked as “Howolding Girls”, which you can listen to with it's FLMY of tracks below. Cassette copies of Birthdays will be released on October 21 via Everyday Is a Mix Tape, but you can get it in advance at one of his upcoming tour dates with Little Spoon. It kicks off today in Boston and then wraps around a sea of midwestern senior citizens.
